Emily finds a winning blend

Like many, the wine industry bought Emily Gaspard-Clark to Blenheim.

At 28, the former Aucklander, who works as an assistant winemaker at Spy Valley has just won the Tonnellerie de Mercurey Marlborough Young Winemaker of the Year.

She competed against eight others in activities ranging from fault finding, blending, laboratory trials, health and safety, marketing and general wine knowledge.

‘‘It was an overall view of what you have to do as a winemaker,’’ Gaspard-Clark said. ‘‘But mixed into one day.’’

She also had to blend a wine from six white wines and present it to the judges.

‘‘They gave us a brief so they said, this is who you’re pitching the wine to, this is what they’re looking for and here are six wines,’’ Gaspard-Clark said.

Pitched for a European restaurant, Gaspard-Clark said it was a slightly alternative style but it still had to be a Marlborough sauvignon blanc.

She said among the wines given to the contestants to blend, there was a sauvignon blanc from Nelson and a sauvignon gris.

‘‘I didn’t use the Nelson because I wanted to keep it 100 per cent Marlborough, but I did use a small percentage of the gris,’’ Gaspard-Clark said.

At lunchtime, contestants also had to take part in the ‘‘Vin Olympics’’, including blind food and wine tasting, peeling grapes under pressure and ‘‘showing off their spitting skills’’.

Gaspard-Clark said taking part in the competition last year gave her confidence.

‘‘It’s a great way to know where you’re at and what you need to work on,’’ she said.

Along with the first place title, Gaspard-Clark also won $1000, a Villa Maria magnum and has the opportunity to be an associate judge at the Marlborough Wine Show.

Seven of the eight contestants were based in Marlborough, with the other from Nelson. The competition is open to anyone under 30 years of age working in wine production including cellarhands, laboratory technicians, assistant winemakers or winemakers.

Second place was Peter Russel from Matua and third place was Michael Hearn from VinLink.

The Marlborough competition was held at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) on August 7.

Gaspard-Clark will now represent Marlborough at the national competition against winners from Central Otago and Hawkes Bay at NMIT on September 17.

SCOTT HAMMOND/ STUFF Emily Gaspard-Clark is an assistant winemaker at Spy Valley Wines and is the regional winner of the Young Winemaker of the Year.