Well-aged wine company
Selaks is celebrating a big birthday in August, marking 90 years since Marino Selak released his first vintage from a small vineyard in West Auckland.
This October the company will look to recruit four cadets, with two at Selaks Winery in Hawke’s Bay and two at Kim Crawford Winery in Marlborough, starting from January.
The cadets spend six months in vineyards and six months in the cellar, with opportunities to explore other areas of the business that interest them.
Rob Lane had a degree in marketing and tourism when he became a cadet in 2014, and has been with the company ever since, recently moving from the winery to a role as vineyard manager, overseeing Erina Downs, The Narrows, and Mills Stream vineyards.
“The cadetship set me up with great opportunities from day one,” Rob says. “It is great to see the number of cadets who have taken on permanent roles within Constellation vineyards, wineries and supply chain after finishing the programme, and we are starting to see that talent filter up to all levels of the company.”
Eleven years after his taster year, he’s helping other cadets navigate the industry, including Briahna Adams, who finished the year-long Marlborough-based cadetship in July 2024.
Now she’s a cellar hand at Kim Crawford Winery and studying for a Bachelor in Viticulture and Winemaking at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.
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“Before the cadetship I had done two vintages in a lab and was super keen to learn more about what the wine industry has to offer,” Briahna says. “One thing I loved most about the cadetship was that it put me out of my comfort zone as I had to move around to different vineyards and then the winery and meet with a lot of different people. I have found that not only have I gained more knowledge about the industry, but I’ve gained a lot of confidence as well.”
