As the years roll by and the hours are clocked up at New Zealand Wineries, a family bond is formed.
This sounds cheesy, but it actually does happen.
This is mainly because harvest is such an intense time of the year, and it is the hard graft that is put in during those weeks of early Autumn that forms the path and mood for the months that follow.
It’s always a treat when foreign faces join the NZW team just in time for the grapes to roll in, have such a wonderful time, and ask if they can stay on.
Katha and Nico turned up at the winery in time for the 2014 harvest; a bubbly couple from Germany and Chile. Their experience in the world of tanks and hoses was somewhat limited, but their enthusiasm, hard graft and passion to learn, was massive.
Katha and Nico were a treat that stayed on with us, racked up hundreds more hours in the cellar, vowed the ‘I do’, and most recently created some kiwi progeny of their own.
That was a real lift for everyone at NZW; right through the team in all areas of the business we were just thrilled to bits for them as they welcomed their tiny son Mateo, who we’ve already claimed as the next generation of winemakers for NZW!
Mateo isn’t the only new pitter patter in the past few months.
Two of our other star cellar hands, Mal and Ray, also each have a new sprong at foot.
Everyone loves new beginnings; They bring hope, excitement, and more often than not plenty of new challenges and learning curves too.
The rolling around of summer time is another catalyst for lifted moods, alongside the first of the goal setting for the following year, and the classic “I can’t believe this year has gone so fast, the months have just flown by!” comments.
On the vines the buds have burst, flowering season has just started; Mother Nature’s way of staking a claim on her new beginnings, and setting the initial tone for the next harvest which will soon enough be just a few weeks away.
Next year more new faces will join the tapestry of the NZW harvest; most will be a brief feature, but some may again stay on and create their part of the NZW family. We’ll just have to wait and see how that forms.
It’s been over a year since NZW had its facelift with inhouse-created company values, work uniforms featuring the company logo, and bright coffee mugs that grace the smoko room tables.
And this company pride just keeps on giving – the morning meeting room’s walls are dotted with creative signs and memos and to-do lists and fact sheets, and the smoko room features the bright faces of the NZW team and what everyone does outside the walls of the cellar; a reminder of why we strive to be safe at work.. so we can continue to do what we love in our spare time.
Rolling into 2016 this good work will continue.
In the meantime the silly season will brings its promise of work Christmas parties and silly costumes, the mad dash of the busy craze before we shut the cellar doors for a few days over the festive break, and the tasty treats of Christmas like mince pies and candy canes will start to find their way into our hands.
So here’s to a fantastic final month of 2015 and with another busy year nearly behind us the crew at NZW looks forward to adding even more value to the foundations of the hard work of this year.
These foundations form solid ground upon for today’s team to work, and lay a firm path for the future generations.
