Anton Luiten is Hawke's Bay Young Viticulturist of the Year

Anton Luiten, of Selaks Winery, is the Bayer Hawke's Bay Young Viticulturist of the Year 2017. Photo/Supplied

Victory was sweet for Anton Luiten on his third entry in the Bayer Hawke's Bay Young Viticulturist of the Year, after being runner-up for the two previous years.

He said he was lucky to be runner-up in his first year with little preparation "which comes back to bite you".

"The first year was pretty good, the second was a bit of a shame - I was quite disappointed - but you have to stick at it," he said.

A graduate of a concurrent Bachelor of Viticulture and Bachelor of Wine Science, he said his choice of study was unusual for a Whangarei high school student.

"I was looking at doing a chemistry-based degree and something that was a little bit more applied was more interesting," he said. "It was a bit of an odd choice, I suppose, but the horticultural aspect of it enticed me I guess."

He has a horticultural background - his family ran an ornamental nursery which morphed into Landscape Construction Ltd.

The National Young Viticulturist of the Year competition takes place on August 29 in Marlborough with a similar format to the regional competition.

The national winner wins $2000 cash, a $5000 travel scholarship, use of a Hyundai Santa Fe for a year and attends a leadership week where they meet some of the top leaders in the New Zealand wine industry.

Hawke's Bay was the first of the five regional competitions to be held. The others are in Auckland, Marlborough, Wairarapa and Otago.

Competitors must be under 30 years old and working in the New Zealand wine industry.

The last three winners of the Hawke's Bay competition have gone on to win the national title. Last year's winner of regional and national titles was Cameron Price, from Villa Maria Hawke's Bay.

"Historically people in winegrowing do quite well in the competition because they have a tertiary education, which helps," he said.

The winner of that competition will go on to represent viticulture in the Young Horticulturist of the Year Competition in November, competing against winners from five other growing sectors.

While he grew up with wine on the dinner table, he said, he only became a fan of it since starting his studies at EIT.

So far he had worked more in the viticulture side of winemaking than the laboratory, but is heading to the United States later this year to do a vintage in the cellar of a winery owned by his employer, Constellation Brands. In Hawke's Bay he works for Selaks Winery.

When asked which was more important for good wine, the field or the cellar, he was diplomatic. "You can make a nice wine with average fruit but you can't make an exceptional wine without exceptional fruit."

Through blending however "two wines that aren't exceptional can create something special when put together". "The real challenge is probably making a blend that matches last year's blend, because people buy what they like and they want the new vintage to taste the same, but a lot of the time the season might be completely different."