Every year Elk Cove welcomes 4-6 Harvest Interns, mostly students of winemaking. Some come from Europe or the Southern Hemisphere to experience an Oregon vintage, others come from just down the road. An essential part of our winemaking team, our interns work long hours during the surge in activity that Harvest brings. We’d like to share a little bit of their stories here:

An interview with 2015 Harvest Intern, Jonny:

Where are you from?

New Zealand, Nelson area.

How did you get here?

I’d like to say I walked, but it was a 12 hour flight to PDX. Our company, Kono, distributes Elk Cove in New Zealand. Alyssa who worked here last year is now in New Zealand… so we have an exchange going.

What’s something you’d like people to know about you?

My vineyard in Nelson has a similar varietal mix to Elk Cove – mostly Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris with a little Riesling, Gruner Veltliner, Albarino thrown in. I’m keen to learn about how Oregon can make such awesome Pinot Noirs so I can learn to make our awesome Pinot Noirs even more awesome.

What’s your favorite harvest task & why?

Innoculations. Cause that’s what I’m doing right now.  And because it’s the true start of the wine, the act of turning the grape juice into wine.

What’s one of your hidden talents?

I’m a pretty good fly-fisherman. And a keen mountain biker, but I do tend to break a lot of bones.