#MakeWineYourCareer - Luke Wolfe - Chapel Down
This week, Luke Wolfe, vineyard manager at Chapel Down, came discuss his career in wine with Plumpton students. Luke previously worked in finance, before studying for a degree in viticulture and oenology at Plumpton, graduating first class in 2012. He held a number of winemaking jobs in the UK, New Zealand, California and France, but working in viticulture was always in the back of his mind. There came a point when he decided it was time to settle down in the UK, rather than being away three to four months at a time. He’s now been at Chapel Down for four and a half years.
Tell us about your job and describe a normal day
It’s awesome. We’re growing rapidly in terms of hectares under vine, so I’m managing multiple sites. I have four to five managers working under me, with 13 additional workers. A normal day begins at about 6am, checking emails. I then try to visit two vineyards per day. The afternoon is often dedicated to paperwork, as I need to ensure managers have adequate staff and resources, and quality assurance is also a part of my role. Sometimes tasks aren’t enjoyable: there’s the unpredictable weather, and managing 50-60 contract workers can be fraught on some occasions. This role is about managing relationships, being prepared, and ready to adapt.
From Lukes time as a student
Harvest is my favourite time of the year, you see the culmination of a year’s work. It’s a time to reflect on what went well and what didn’t. I enjoy collecting data, analyzing it, and seeing how it can help us improve. I have a background in finance, so I enjoy working with numbers. For example, I’ve kept records of my own pruning speeds as well as those of others, so I have an idea of what I’m looking for. I can use this to inform the targets I set for staff.
Logistics at harvest are difficult. And then there’s mud, rain, maintaining staff morale, long days, machinery breaking down, thefts of equipment (security is undoubtedly part of the job), and, of course, invoices and paperwork. It’s incredibly important, as vineyard manager, to be familiar with every job you expect your staff to do so that you can appreciate what it involves, and know what you can expect from them. That even means cleaning the staff toilets. I had management experience from my previous career, and motivating staff is very important.
Demonstrate dedication and passion. I started as Assistant Vineyard Manager at Chapel Down. I took on new responsibilities, new sites, but it was as a result of proving my skills, working hard, getting stuck in. The degree you’ll earn from Plumpton will offer a great foundation, but don’t expect to just walk into a top job. You need to start at the bottom, gain as much experience as possible. And then as you gain experience, the knowledge from your degree will help you progress faster. There’s a shortage of skilled vineyard labour, not just in the UK but abroad. Everyone wants to be a winemaker, but if you look at salaries, those for vineyard managers are catching up with winemaker incomes. I’d also say that, regardless of whether you want to be a winemaker or work in wine sales/buying, it’s important to know about viticulture, so you can build rapport with the growers, and understand what they’re doing.
Luke returns to Plumpton College
A mistake you made in your career?
I rolled a 1500L sprayer full of chemicals: that took a while to clean up and fix. There wasn’t even much of a slope, it happened because I was going too fast. There’s an important lesson there: speed isn’t everything, don’t rush. Admit mistakes when you make them. There is nothing worse than people not admitting or not reporting mistakes they make; it can lead to those mistakes being amplified.
What do you look for in employees?
Employees at Chapel Down are diverse. Aged between 21-55, with different backgrounds. What they have in common is passion, interest in wine, and they enjoy working outside. I advise students to gain as much experience as possible: attend wine tastings, talk with producers, ask them how they make their wines, what the challenges are. The connections you build up will be worth it: perhaps not immediately, but maybe on graduation, or even further down the line.
Kit’s Coty Chardonnay from a key vineyard site on the North Downs. Luke helps to identify the sections of the vineyard where the specially chosen Burgundian clones of Chardonnay perform the best for this still white wine. They are then harvested and processed at the winery to produce a wine with great depth and intensity.
by Sam Middleton, 1st-year wine production
