EIT Student Wins Viticulture Award

EIT Student Wins Viticulture Award

Constellation Brands scholarship winner Jascha Oldham-Selak is upholding a long family tradition in pursuing a passion for wine.

The 25-year-old was recently awarded this year’s Constellation Brands New Zealand Ltd wine industry scholarship for a student enrolled in viticulture degree studies at EIT.

The $5000 scholarship will help fund Jascha’s Bachelor of Viticulture and Bachelor of Wine Science concurrent degree studies. In his second year at EIT, he will also work in the company’s vineyards during study breaks, helping to meet the qualification’s requirement for hands-on industry experience.

Marino Selak, who founded the New Zealand company of the same name, was Jascha’s second cousin on his mother’s side. His great grandfather helped invest in the land where Marino established the wine business.

Fittingly enough, Constellation Brands now owns the well-known Selak’s brand.

Jascha had always been interested in wine.

“We always had wine at family occasions and were encouraged to appreciate it, to look into the glass rather than just drink alcohol. I wanted to know the whole science of it since about the age of 20 and asked more questions about our family’s involvement.”

Although he finished his airline pilot qualifications, Jascha is happy studying grape growing and winemaking.

“This has more meaning to me,” he says. “My background supports it.”

Marino Selak arrived in New Zealand from his native Croatia in 1906. Having established a vineyard, he encouraged his nephew Mate Selak to also leave his homeland to help with the venture. Mate developed the business, buying 20 acres in the Kumeu area in west Auckland. Later still, Selak’s expanded into Marlborough.

These days, the Selak’s label has a significant Hawke’s Bay link. Constellation Brands have substantially expanded the company’s plantings in the region and operate a winery off Highway 50 at Maraekakaho.

Born and raised in west Auckland, Jascha feels the Hawke’s Bay wine region has a lot of room to grow. The upward-tracking export market, he says, has been led by the Sauvignon Blanc boom and he anticipates that carrying through to other varieties with the production of intense varietal wines.

He’s enjoyed success with his own winemaking efforts, winning bronze at last year’s Romeo Bragato Awards and in the Hawke’s Bay A & P Wine Awards student class as well as silver in EIT’s own student wine awards. The medals were all for the same wine, a 2014 Syrah called JOS Vintages, made from Gimblett Gravels fruit.

“The wine was only three months old when it was first entered in competition. The grapes were picked after rain. I learnt you can make a very acceptable wine from lesser quality grapes so I was pretty happy about that.”

Living with his partner on Napier’s Bluff Hill, Jascha appreciates the easy pace of Hawke’s Bay.

“I grew up on a country block,” he points out, “and don’t like fast city life.”

He’s also enjoying his studies at EIT.

“It’s going by too fast, I’m finding there is so much more to know than I ever thought and with the support of knowledgeable lecturers and access to great facilities I can further my understanding of the wine and viticulture sciences.”

ENDS

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