Winepress - March 2024

Being Well

Changing traditional mindsets in wine

SOPHIE PREECE

Kathrin Jankowiec at a blending masterclass. Photo Richard Briggs

THE PASSION that helps drive Marlborough’s wine industry is also one of its risk factors, says Kathrin Jankowiec, one of the team behind a wellbeing initiative to be rolled out in the wake of vintage. “The people who are most passionate are the ones most in danger of burnout from over committing.”

The second annual Marlborough Wine Industry Wellness Week will run from May 27, and Kathrin is eager to see more people talking about pressure points in the region’s vineyards and wineries, while sharing strategies for navigating them. “I think a lot of people who are in the industry are doing it because they are so committed and in love with wine,” she says. “It was quite important to me to raise that we may need a different view.”

Kathrin recently stepped back from winemaking to take up a role as a technical sales rep. When she joined the industry the norm was for seven-day weeks and 12-hour days (“or longer”) during harvest. “You worked through until it was done.” She, like many others, accepted relentless hours as an industry tradition, and people were proud of “knuckling down” to get the job done. “Now there’s a real mindset shift. It becomes part of the conversation of what we can do and how we can recover better, and how we can look after our resources, which are our people.” She hopes the wellness initiative will encourage dialogue – during harvest and throughout the year – “about how we address, support and maintain mental health in the work environment”.

The early years of a wine career carry long hours of physical work in the cellar, Kathrin says. “Then when you move to different roles you are exposed to a lot more stress and being available all through the year.” At that level, the harvest is followed by blending and meeting with buyers. “You are months at it before you get a break and a breather. So it doesn’t really seem to be any more that you have a recovery after harvest and start again fresh.”

Ensuring strategies for wellness is about being attractive to new people coming into the industry and retaining the talent already there, she says. As an example, she notes that people with families won’t be able to invest time in harvest if the conditions are unworkable. “It’s a quite multifaceted complex issue that the industry faces and I think it’s important to shine a light on that.”

The inaugural Wine Industry Wellness Week last year highlighted what individual companies were doing, as they shared initiatives on social media. Spy Valley Wines took the Impact Award for its Taco Tuesday event, in which the entire Spy Valley team of 35, including vineyard, winery and office crews, connected during a Mexican feast, before a preview of the 2023 vintage straight from tanks and barrels. Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Nicci Armour said at the time that Taco Tuesday covered several aspects of the Five Ways to Wellbeing – connect, take notice, give, keep learning, be active – and was “nourishing on multiple levels”. The inaugural week grew the conversation around wellness, while celebrating successful initiatives. “I have heard from people that it has made it easier for them to have those conversations, with wellbeing more firmly on the radar for bosses.”

Leadership and performance expert Nick Petrie will present in Marlborough before the 2024 Wellness Week, sharing insights gleaned from the Grow, Perform, Sustain industry workshop he ran with Wine Marlborough last year, supported by the Marlborough District Council. Nick’s research focuses on performing at a high level without sacrificing wellbeing and health, and his work with Marlborough’s wine industry included conversations with several people who scored very highly in reaching that balance, Nicci says. “They were growing and performing and not stressed. Nick interviewed some of them to really dig into what the factors are that underlie that success.”

Kathrin is looking forward to the wellness conversations picking up again in May. “I am really excited that we are finally talking about this and there’s an official group that facilities it. Hopefully a lot of people will jump on the wagon.”