The Competenz Cellar Operations Course, the one year course that, due to COVID-19 issues, in the end took nearly 3 has finally been completed for Saint Clair's talented cellar staff!
From our Cellar Master, Mike Just:
We had great support from Saint Clair throughout with time allocated for study and for training and Neal has personally asked me to thank all involved and congratulate the recipients. I’d also like to thank those in the Admin Team who helped out - support from Becky and a lot of scanning and sending from Emily. The Level 3 course covers details on the NZ Wine Industry along with all the main areas of Cellar work and wine production with both practical training scenarios and extensive theory work.
Every one of these pages has been written up or filled out and there was absolutely no multi choice.
We started the course some time back with a Team of 7 but over time that dropped away to just 4, two of whom have since moved on from Saint Clair.
I’m going to present these hard earned and well deserved certificates to the recipients along with a delicious Magnum of Reserve Chardonnay!
First up is Christelle. She joined us completely new to the industry just 3 years back and totally caught the wine bug and is now leaving to undertake her Degree in Winemaking up in Hawkes Bay.
Next is Laure who’s been with Saint Clair for 5 years and has 18 vintages under her belt. She is currently undertaking the WSET Level 4, which takes 2 years of serious study – and in both cases she has been completing all her work in a language that is not her own.
Marketa ran the lab here for many years and is now doing QC for Stoke Brewery in Nelson – she can’t be here in person but sends virtual hugs to all and I will be sending her prize over. She also completed this in a foreign language and as Lab Manager had no Cellar Training prior to this.
Last but not least is Jefferson. After a 5 year stint with SC where he started at the Vineyard Kitchen and ended as a multitasking Cellar hand – and he’s now moved to a position of Civil Engineering Technician.
So a big congratulations to all and well done!
