Marlborough’s Corteva Young Viticulturist of the Year 2021

This story was written by Brenda Webb, for the August 2021 edition of Winepress.

Jess Wilson reckons she has the best job in the world. The 29-year-old Whitehaven viticulturalist loves the variety her role involves, satisfying both her love of horticulture and science, enjoyment of dealing with people and a good balance of indoor and outdoor work. 

Last month Jess took the title of Corteva Marlborough Young Viticulturist of the Year, following a competition that saw her tested on everything from trellising and irrigation to her interview and speech skills. 

During her secondary school years, Jess didn’t really have any idea what career path she wanted to take, only that she didn’t want to be stuck in an office. Growing up south of Auckland at Waiau Pā, any free weekends, after school time and school holidays were spent working in her parents’ hydroponic lettuce and herb farm. While she insists that was to earn pocket money, a love of horticulture was obviously sparked. “Mum and I went to Lincoln during the holidays and I saw the viticulture and oenology degree – the winemaking side appealed to me because I’d loved chemistry and so I enrolled,” she says. After finishing her degree, she emailed many companies, but it was Whitehaven’s viticulturist Sioban Harnett who gave her the opportunity. “She gave me a summer job and then I went on to do a harvest in the winery.” 

It wasn’t until Jess had completed her honours degree at Adelaide University that she decided to go down the viticulture route rather than winemaking, having mentally debated between the two. “There were bits of both jobs I really enjoyed, but the viticulture aspect finally won out,” she says. 

Returning to Marlborough, Jess did a two-year graduate programme with Delegat. The programme covered all aspects of viticulture, including irrigation, young vine training, pest disease monitoring and trunk disease. Jess also did a harvest in Oregon which she loved. “It was fantastic – they really are kindred spirits over there, but what I noticed was how small scale it was compared to here,” she says. “Everything is done by hand. It was a great learning curve.” 

With fond memories of her days at Whitehaven, where Sioban was her mentor, Jess was delighted when a full-time job became available with the company as assistant viticulturist. She had two years in that role before stepping up to viticulturist after harvest last year, when Sioban left the company. 

The biggest change Jess has noticed in her time in the industry has been the increased interest in soil health through planting cover crops and a genuine shift towards recognition of the ecosystem – industry wide. “It used to be that people would maximise the land, start with a clean slate, take shelter belts out and level the ground,” she says. “Now I think people are looking at working with the land and trees in a more sensitive way rather than the monocultural aspect of the past in trying to use every available piece of land.” 

Jess cites Whitehaven’s new development in the upper Wairau Valley as a good example of minimal earthworks and only some trees removed. “We’ve tried to work with the shape of the land and have left lots of trees, especially the big old macrocarpa,” she says. “We’re also implementing different technology such as eco trellis, plastic posts and subsurface irrigation.” 

Being a viticulturist in Marlborough meant the bulk of Jess’s work was always going to be with Sauvignon Blanc, but luckily Whitehaven grows enough other varietals to keep her interest piqued. “Sauvignon grows incredibly well here but we grow Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Riesling and we are talking about Alberino and Syrah too,” she says.

Last year’s growing season was worrying, with frosts, but the two issues Jess sees facing the industry going forward are trunk disease - very relevant as she wrote her thesis on grapevine susceptibility to eutypa dieback - and labour. “Frost is what it is and we’ve put more frost fans in in frost prone areas. But trunk disease, given many vines in Marlborough are getting to 20 or 30 years old, is a huge issue - and of course the ongoing labour shortages,” she says. 

Jess loves her role and feels she still has a lot to learn which is why she enjoys being in Marlborough, with its collegial environment. “Everyone is so willing to share information – there are no secrets here,” she says. “I still have so much more to learn and I love learning.”