Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Generation Y-ine: From vine to bottle
No two wine journeys are the same. Some people follow a linear pathway towards their winemaking ambitions, while others stumble across the industry almost by accident, fall in love and never leave.
Framingham cellar hand Estefania (Stef) Suarez is one of those free-spirited folk who followed her nose into the industry, getting her first taste of winemaking as a vintage cellar hand for Kim Crawford Wines in 2014.
Ten vintages later, Suarez has decided winemaking is more than a passing interest and is cementing her decadelong industry experience with a degree in viticulture and winemaking.
It will take her five years of part-time study to complete the qualification, but after working for many different Marlborough wineries, she feels like she’s exactly where she wants to be at Framingham.
“It’s my happy place,” Stef says. “We’re a small team, so I get to do a little bit of everything from vineyard work to the winery, so it’s never boring.”
She’s learning a lot along the way. “It’s quite nice to see the wine’s journey from the vineyard to the final product. Watching the grapes grow, then bringing them into the winery at harvest and turning them into wine, it’s very special.”
When Suarez first arrived in New Zealand with a group of university friends in late 2009, it was for a three-month working holiday. But after the devastating magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck her home country, Chile, in February 2010, she decided to extend her working holiday rather than return home and attempt to finish her studies through the recovery and continuous aftershocks. Falling for a Kiwi electrician in Blenheim may also have contributed to her reluctance to return home.
She returned to Chile eventually to complete her degree in hotel management, then raced straight back to New Zealand after graduating. With her degree in hand, she worked several jobs in hospitality and tourism in Marlborough, but it wasn’t until her entrance into the winemaking industry in 2014 that she felt a sense of belonging. “I instantly loved it, I learned about winemaking as part of my degree, but I’d never experienced it firsthand before. Winemaking is much more interesting in real life than on paper.”
Suarez worked for a range of wineries before landing her dream role at Framingham. Seeing wine go from vineyard to bottle is akin to being a parent watching your children grow up, she says. “You get to see every milestone, from the vineyard when they are just starting out in life, to when they reach maturity and come into the winery, crushing, fermentation, aging, blending and bottling. Seeing our label on the shelf is a proud feeling.”
Returning to study is a big challenge for Suarez, who loves her dogs and working out at the gym.
“It’s hard to juggle everything but it’s good to be focused on study,” she says. “I never thought I would spend so much time in the library - how lucky the new library is such a beautiful space - it’s my second home now.”