Sophie Matthews has made the most of her experiences.
Global vineyard odyssey led to Sophie Matthews' position as assistant winemaker at Marisco
WHICH HIGH SCHOOL DID YOU GO TO AND WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO TRAIN TO BE A WINEMAKER? WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS THINK? I went to Napier Girls' High School and was doing chemistry and physics with no idea of where I was heading. At 15, Mum took me to a careers expo and she saw the stand for the winemaking course (EIT in Napier) and said that looked like an interesting career path.
So over the next couple of years I looked into it more and decided to give it a shot. I ended up loving it and never looked back. I would say Mum is thrilled as my younger brother is also now winemaking. He decided I was having too much fun travelling the world and transferred his engineering degree to a master of wine science.
LOOKING BACK ON YOUR TIME AT EIT, WHAT WERE THE MOST CHALLENGING PAPERS? Definitely physics and winery engineering, despite half of my extended family being engineers. I clearly didn't inherit those genes!
HOW HAVE YOU MANAGED TO GET SO MUCH EXPERIENCE UNDER YOUR BELT IN SUCH A SHORT TIME? I am 29 this month - sadly, no birthday celebrations during harvest. I worked for Trinity Hill for two years while I was studying at EIT. When I finished my degree I took off for six years to travel the world and work harvests in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres.
First up was Western Australia working for Cape Mentelle. The winemaker there was able to get me a harvest position at Veuve Clicquot in Champagne, which was phenomenal. Then I worked for Wirra Wirra in McLaren Vale. after that it was Barolo in Piedmont, northern Italy to work for family winery, G.D. Vajra. I then returned to Australia and did harvest at Mount Pleasant in the Hunter Valley, rapidly followed by vintage in Central Otago for Peregrine.
I then found myself in the Napa Valley working for Hall and was asked to stay full time in a client winemaking role. After three years I decided it was time to come back to New Zealand and ended up working a harvest at Marisco Vineyard - and have never left.
To this day I still have not had to do a job interview. I love that this industry still works a lot on who you know and that's the great benefit of travelling; you end up meeting so many great people.
DURING THOSE YEARS, WHAT WAS THE MOST SAGE CAREER ADVICE YOU WERE GIVEN, AND BY WHOM? The first was just before I left to go overseas when I was at Trinity Hill. John Hancock and Warren Gibson told me to taste as much wine as possible and to travel for as long as I could. At Cape Mentelle I worked for Rob Mann who set me up with a strong foundation in winemaking, which was to strive for excellence, always.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE WINEMAKING PROCESS?I love the buzz of harvest, an amazing energy that you only get once a year. At Marisco we have about 18 interns each year so you get to work with lots of different people all the time. Also, it's awesome when you see someone put one of the wines you have helped make into their trolley at the supermarket.
HAVE YOU EVER MADE ANY MAJOR MISTAKES? I think I have made most of the standard mistakes that a lot of people have made: blew a hose on my first day in the winery, burned out a stator on a pump and drove a fork of the forklift into the doorway of a barrel hall. But I think those are the ones you learn from the most, you never, ever want to do it again.
ARE THINGS DIFFERENT FOR WOMEN WANTING TO TRAVEL THIS CAREER PATH? WHAT ARE THE PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE JOB?
There are a lot more females in the industry now but I think it is still difficult to get to the top. You need to find a balance between gaining respect from the guys but not being completely walked over either.
I think as long as you work hard and put in the effort it will come through. It can be a very physical job and you can't be worried about getting your hands dirty or breaking a nail.
WHY DID YOU EMBARK ON A MASTER OF WINE BUSINESS QUALIFICATION? The winemaker at Veuve Clicquot advised me to keep my options open for my future in the industry. The business side of the wine industry is quite complex and is a natural avenue that a lot of people take when they reach the top end of the industry.
WHEN DID YOU BECOME ASSISTANT WINEMAKER AT MARISCO AND WHY IS IT A BIG DEAL FOR YOU? I became assistant winemaker at Marisco Vineyards just before harvest 2013, so this is my second harvest in the role. It was a role that was created for me to stay within the company and is one that I've been waiting for for quite some time.
I love it because, in addition to the usual winemaking roles, I'm involved in many other areas of the company, which gives me a much broader idea of how everything links within the business.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY DOING IN YOUR SPARE TIME?I love hosting dinner parties. I have a great group of local industry friends who all enjoy getting together for good food and wine.
I also love travelling and yes, I am a closet quilter (the boys at work are going to give me heaps for that, they don't know that I do it).
IF YOU HADN'T BECOME A WINEMAKER WHAT DIRECTION COULD YOUR LIFE HAVE TAKEN? I have had moments when I thought it was all turning to custard but it all ends up working out in the end. I can imagine I would have gone into something like occupational therapy, which Mum does. We have very similar personalities.
WHAT MUSIC AND TELEVISION DO YOU ENJOY? Florence and the Machine and Metric on the way to work, then to wind down at the end of a long day, a bit of Lorde or London Grammar. And you can't beat a marathon session of Downton Abbey either.