Bragato Scholar

And so it was for Hawke’s Bay’s Maddison Airey, who didn’t consider a career in wine until she travelled abroad and “realised the wine industry was pretty damned cool overseas”.

Those travels, including through Ireland, Belgium, France and Italy, as well as wine regions of Germany, illustrated the integration of wine and life in the northern hemisphere, which she loved. “I also thought ‘this is fantastic; to be in a business that is producing a product that you can celebrate with your family and friends’.”

Maddison already had some experience in New Zealand wine, having worked at the Mission Estate restaurant during her high school years. She went on to study health science at the University of Auckland, where she enjoyed the chemistry, “but didn’t love the blood and gore”, so took off on a gap year.

The year turned into three, as she worked and explored her way through Central and North America, as well as Europe, getting a taste for the culture of winemaking and forging a new life plan. “I thought, ‘let’s take wine and my love of science and make a job out of it’.”

When she returned to New Zealand, she picked up a job in the Craggy Range restaurant and enrolled in the Bachelor of Viticulture and Wine at Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT), where the study – and industry it revolves around – has far exceeded her expectations. “It has that perfect balance of practical and theory,” says Maddison, who worked vintage at Craggy Range this year and has continued as a part time cellar hand, with EIT offering flexibility for study and work. This summer, at the end of her second year of study, she will be in Craggy Range’s vineyards, looking at biodynamic practices as well as yield manipulation to positively impact fruit composition and therefore wine sensory profiles.

Maddison says she is passionate about viticulture and winemaking, with the vineyard offering myriad opportunities to impact on the grapes and wines they produce, through management and canopy manipulation. “Successful viticulture is essential for quality wine production,” she says. Meanwhile, winemaking indulges her love of chemistry and fascination with ferments, and offers opportunities to do so many different things with the fruit that comes in, to create the wine style desired. Watching grapes move from one domain to the other makes for “such a satisfying end product”, she adds.

There’ll be plenty more time away, with plans to learn more about wine styles via overseas vintages, but Maddison’s plan is to ultimately end up winemaking back in Hawke’s Bay.

Throughout her work and study she’s been impressed by the camaraderie of the New Zealand industry. “They are all really supportive and helpful to each other because at the end of the day they want to produce quality wines that reflect New Zealand and what we’re capable of.”

The Bragato Trust

The Bragato Trust was formed in memory of viticulturist and visionary Romeo Bragato, who trained at the School of Viticulture and Oenology in Conegliano, Italy, from 1878 to 1883. Romeo was the Victorian Government Viticulturist Expert from 1888 to 1901, and visited New Zealand in 1895 and 1901, before moving here in 1902 and serving as New Zealand Government Viticulturist until 1909. The Bragato Trust was enabled by a bequest from the estate of the late Jan Colville, granddaughter of Romeo and Laura Bragato, and a grant from the New Zealand Grape Growers Council. The trust’s scholarships aim to support research relevant to the viticulture and wine industry, and to promote the development and dissemination of viticulture knowledge and practice in New Zealand.

For more information: nzwine.com/en/events/bragato-trust-scholarships