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, Vivian:

Where are you from?

China

How did you get here?

I applied…

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

I studied winemaking for the last three years in New Zealand. I was at Hawkes Bay where they grow Bordeaux varietals, but I love Pinot Noir so I wanted to work with Pinot Noir.

What’s your favorite harvest task & why?

Innoculations – because different yeasts all have different smells. I love the smell of the different yeasts – is that weird?

(We agreed the smells of different yeast strains are awesome)

What’s one of your hidden talents?

I just came from skiing in Whakapapa, New Zealand.

Are you a good skiier?

I’m good at skiing in the beginning area! I’m from the SE part of China, Fuzhou, where it never snows.