While visiting Marlborough in January 2002, Sue Courtney took the opportunity to catch up with Yalumba scholar, Ben Glover.

The telephone rang at the Wither Hills Marlborough Winery. Ben Glover, the company's Marlborough Winemaker answered it.

The voice at the other end of the phone was Clive Weston, boss of Negociants NZ Ltd and agent for Yalumba in New Zealand, the company who was sponsoring one talented New Zealander to the inaugural Len Evans Tutorial to be held in Sydney in November 2001.

Ben was one of four contestants who had made it through the selection stages to the final test in the search for a Kiwi to join a dozen Australians in Sydney for extensive wine tutoring for a new generation of wine judges. Along with Len Evans, the tutors included Australian industry icons such as James Halliday, Ian Mackenzie, Brian Croser, Michael Hill Smith, Bruce Tyrrell and Ian Riggs. The scholarship was valued at NZ$6000.

First step was the application - a letter explaining why you wanted to be the Yalumba Scholar. "I was not really sure what kind of person they were looking for", said Ben. He sent off his CV with the letter highlighting the fact he was a young wine professional who was interested in judging and understanding it.

He said he would like to improve his tasting skills as well as having the opportunity to learn from some of the industry's most respected winemakers and judges, to listen to their stories and to pick their brains. After all the tutors were winemakers first and show judges second.

Ben's application was on the right track. He was amongst the top ten candidates and invited to submit a 5000 word essay on the hot topic of the day ' Stelvin vs Natural Cork'. Was Ben at an advantage because Wither Hills were using both methods of closure on their sauvignon blanc?

It was a good essay. He was in the final four.

The final part of selection was the taste test. Three flights of wines were served and questions asked in the Master of Wine format : -

• What is the wine and why do you come to that conclusion?
• Where is the wine from and why do you come to that conclusion?
• What is your quality assessment of the wine? "

"How do you think you went?" said Clive at the other end of the phone.

"I might have done alright, so long as you could read my writing", answered a hopeful Ben.

"Well", said Clive, "I've got the results and your essay was good - it was the second top essay of the ten".

"Oh", said Ben. "That's good".

"'But you were top in the tasting", continued Clive, "and so we've selected you as the inaugural Yalumba Scholar".

Ben could hardly believe what he was hearing. "I was quietly stoked", he admitted.

Quietly! I think his echoes of triumph should have reverberated around the winery.

It was not surprising that this Marlborough born and bred lad was allured by a vinous career.

Ben's Dad was no different from the other struggling dairy unit holders in Marlborough in the late eighties when the cows were ousted from the paddocks in favour of grapevines.

So Ben's school holidays and later University 'study breaks' were spent working on the family's Dillon's Point Road vineyard on the outskirts of Blenheim township.

Ben's studies, which gained him a Bachelor of Commerce in Business Management at The University of Canterbury and a Post Graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology at Lincoln University College, set the foundation for his future.

As Ben had been involved in the viticulture and spray program on the family's vineyard, he initially went to Lincoln to study viticulture but enjoyed wine and winemaking side of the program so much, he decided this was what he now wanted to do. And perhaps this late change in direction had been further fuelled by an appreciation of wine gained while working a part-time Uni job at the Ferrymead Tavern bottle store.

The new graduate had his first winemaking vintage at Villa Maria in 1995, working alongside Michelle Richardson and group winemaker of the time, Grant Edmonds.

Then 2 years were spent 'chasing vintages around the world'. There was the south east Adriatic coast of Italy at Apulgio with ex Villa Maria group winemaker and noted flying winemaker and Master of Wine, Kim Milne. Then the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand at the Hunters Winery in Marlborough. Back to the northern hemisphere and the west coast of the USA to work the Simi Winery in Sonoma, then down under again, this time to the west coast of Australia to work a vintage at Cape Mentelle.

In 1997 he returned to Marlborough for a respite from travelling to run the Pacific Rim Oenology Lab in Blenheim, an independent technical service for the wine and grape industry while the Technical Director, Lisa van de Water, was back in the States.

As for Wither Hills, working with Brent Marris, one of New Zealand's most talented winemakers, the job didn't come just by chance. In fact, Ben made the first approach. He 'kind of knew' Brent, as his parents sometimes supplied grapes to Delegat's where Brent worked at the time. He told Brent he was looking for a job as Assistant Winemaker in the Marlborough region. Did he know of anyone?

Sometime later Brent rang back and divulged his plans. It was at a time when winemakers for the large companies were staring their own personal ventures. He offered Ben a job. Ben decided to take the punt in the new venture, even though it meant working in Auckland for the next few years until the Wither Hills Marlborough winery was established.

Ben's first vintage at Wither Hills was in 1998. The wine was made at Henderson's Pleasant Valley winery, where Marlborough grapes from both Ben and Brent's parents' vineyards were transported to Auckland for processing. By 1999, some grapes from the new Wither Hills vineyards were being utilised as well.

And the rest is history, as they say. The Marlborough winery is built and Ben uses his University gained skills run the day-to-day side of the Marlborough business as well as being Brent's trusted colleague in the winery.

So now it's 2002 and the Len Evans Tutorial has been and gone. How did Ben find it?

"Simply fantastic", was the ready answer.

It's helped him in what he's seeing

• in and out of the winery
• in the wines
• with his repertoire of descriptors
• in looking at the positives instead of the negatives.

He's going to use what he has learnt as a step towards doing more judging. He's already been an Associate Judge at three main shows in NZ since 1998 - twice at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards, once at the Easter Show in 2001 and at the Liquorland Top 100 since 1998.

He regards that show judging helps him as a winemaker, giving him a good overview of the wines available on the market, which makes sure he doesn't get totally immersed in how own wine and own style.

"It's a continual learning process - learning from the wines and learning from the other others as well as learning from your own palate", he says. He will keep his penchant for learning in check by attending conferences and tasting at every opportunity.

As for Ben's future, he is 100% committed to Wither Hills. He looks after the Marlborough operation as Brent is based in Auckland. It's a busy time with new planting's, the new winery and new export markets

The future looks very exciting.

Update - Dec 2007 - Ben is now Chief Winemaker for Wither Hills. The Marris family sold the company to Lion Nathan in 2002 (after this original piece was written) and Brent Marris left the company earlier this year leaving the way clear for Ben to take over the reins.