Young Martinborough Viticulturist Tackles North Island Competition
21 June 2010
Martinborough viticulturist, Rowan Hoskins will be testing his mettle against his North Island peers when he competes in the Markhams Young Viticulturist of the Year competition being held in Napier on June 25.
Rowan will be battling against seven other up and coming viticulture leaders all aged under 31 years from Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, to secure spots in the national final being held in conjunction with the wine industry Romeo Bragato conference in Blenheim on 28 August.
The contestants will be working through a series of eight challenging practical and theoretical questions as well as competing in the popular HortySports at midday. In the evening they compete in a general knowledge quiz and give speeches at a dinner at the winery in front of 120 guests.
Markhams Wairarapa Limited, as part of the Markhams group of chartered accountants and business advisors around the country, is supporting the contest that includes a $7000 prize package for the national winner who then represents viticulture at the grand final of the NZ Horticulture ITO Young Horticulturist of the Year. Other regional contests are being held in Marlborough and Central Otago.
Since the competition’s inception in 2006, there has only been one other Wairarapa competitor, Charles Simon of Craggy Range, who competed last year and reached the national finals. Rowan manages Redbank Estate and Cobblestone Vineyard in the Te Muna Road area, east of Martinborough. He joined his father Nick and brother-in-law Matt, at Vine Managers Ltd in 2006 as a vineyard supervisor and machinery operator. In 2007, Nick took over managing Redbank Estate and in 2009 added the management of Cobblestone Vineyard.
A former electrician, Rowan is keen to apply new technologies to manage or eliminate problems in the vineyard. He is currently involved in a major project to map Grapevine Leafroll-associated Virus Type 3 in Martinborough vineyards. This role covers co-ordinating and training vineyard managers and owners in the use of GPS technology and virus identification. “I love the people, the vineyards and the industry, how it all grows and changes – and then getting to sample the wine at the end of vintage, tops it all off,” says Rowan.
