Women in Wine: Jane Cooper and Alexia
Jane Cooper has a soft spot for wines with a point of difference, and there is no shortage of that in her brand Alexia, at home in the heart of Greytown.
“I became intrigued by all the different varieties and colours of wines they were drinking,” says Selaks' Hawke’s Bay Winemaker, who merged that intrigue with her love of plants and horticulture when she opted for a Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology at Lincoln University.
“Initially I thought I would end up in viticulture, working with the vines, but in my second year of university, as I learnt more about the science behind winemaking and started to discover new styles, I knew this was the area I wanted to pursue a career in.”
Her first harvest was 2009 at Giesen in Blenheim, in the third year of her degree.
“I had worked with the winery the summer prior, which was a great way to get a taste for what’s involved before the busy season hit.” She worked the night shift over harvest, mostly dealing with finished wine.
“It was a real eye opener for me, as to how busy harvest time can be and how everyone had their task to do and just got on with it… I was surprised at how cold Marlborough could get; the water hoses used to freeze at the dawn dip.”
On graduating, Kate managed a winery lab for a few years, before working in wineries in Australia and California.
“When I arrived home, I realised that winemaking was really all I knew and so I took on a business internship with Sir Graeme Avery at Sileni Estates, completed a post graduate diploma in business, and worked in a marketing role for a while. This really helped me to see the winery as a whole, and to realise that winemaking was the correct career path for me.”
After five years at Sileni, Kate worked at Sacred Hill winery in Hawke’s Bay for six years, including two as the Hawke’s Bay Winemaker, before joining Constellation Brands at the Selaks Winery in November 2021. It’s a role she loves, both for the team she works with and the creativity she can wield in winemaking.
“It’s a nice mix of production and art.” Working with nature will always come with issues, “and it doesn’t always work in our favour”. There are processes to minimise issues, “but we also like to use these issues as a learning tool to see how we could minimise the risk in the future”, Kate adds. “Being able to keep calm under pressure and to think on your feet is also useful.”
In August, Selaks celebrated 90 years since Marino Selak released his first vintage from a small vineyard in West Auckland.
