Central Otago Wine Growers Association president Nick Mills
(left) explains how compost is a central component in the
biodynamic principles behind Rippon Vineyard to wine
exchange students (from second left) Pierre Vallet, Tatiana
Bidault, Louis Meunier, and Perrick Bouley, all of
Burgundy, while Otago Polytechnic lecturer and Cromwell
wine-producer Roger Gibson looks on. Photo by Matthew
Haggart.
Four French viticulture students are lending a hand
during the grape harvest at vineyards in Wanaka and the
Cromwell basin this month, as part of an annual exchange.
Otago Polytechnic's Cromwell campus and the Central Otago
Winegrowers Association organise the exchange as a joint
initiative.
This is the fourth time students from a viticulture
institution at Beaune in the wine-growing region of Burgundy
have travelled to Central Otago as part of their studies.
Otago Polytechnic Cromwell campus manager Jean Tilleyshort
said the four students spent this week visiting vineyards and
wineries throughout Wanaka and the Cromwell basin, learning
grape-growing techniques and the principles behind wine
tourism.
"It gives them a really good overview of the different things
we do over here, what our climate is like, and how vineyards
and wineries are involved in wine tourism which doesn't
happen so much in France," she said.
Yesterday the students visited vineyards in Bannockburn,
Bendigo, and Wanaka on their final day of the week-long
polytechnic course.
Mrs Tilleyshort said the students arrived in Central Otago on
Monday and would be balloted to four vineyards to help with
the grape harvest during the next month.
Felton Road, Mt Difficulty, Olssen's, and Rippon would each
put a student to work, she said.
In exchange, three or four students from the polytechnic's
Cromwell campus viticulture course would travel to Beaune for
a similar programme during August and September.
Mrs Tilleyshort said the annual international exchange would
be formally recognised by French and New Zealand officials
during a ceremony later this month.
On April 26 and 27, the polytechnic would welcome
representatives from Beaune's viticulture institution, who
would sign an official exchange agreement with their New
Zealand counterparts.
It was hoped the French ambassador to New Zealand would be
able to attend the ceremony, at which the Burgundy students
would also be present, Mrs Tilleyshort said.
- rosie.manins@odt.co.nz
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