Hiking through Hooker Valley Track at Mount Cook

Author: Kati Rod | Majors: International Business, Agricultural Business | Semester: Summer 2023

For the last eight weeks, my mom has texted me at least once a week telling me about the one-hundred-and-ten-degree weather in my hometown in Texas. Meanwhile, I would recount to her how I was cold and getting rained on during my walk to work. This summer, I decided that I hadn’t had enough winter, and I went to Waiheke Island, New Zealand where it was about sixty degrees cooler than my hometown in Texas and one day ahead in time compared to my family and friends. On Waiheke Island, I interned at Stonyridge Vineyard, a winery that is world famous for its award-winning Bordeaux blend wine, “Larose.” Many of my days were spent covered in mud, food, and rain. As an intern, I spent time in the office performing marketing, financial, and operations management tasks, as well as multiple days a week at front-of-house in the restaurant and outside in the vineyards.

Stonyridge vineyard began as the dream of owner, Steven White, who wanted to create the first Bordeaux style wine in New Zealand. In addition to making excellent wine, Stonyridge also services a full restaurant and wine bar and maintains several vineyard blocks on the property. They also have multiple vineyards situated around the island and grape contracts all over the country. This means that they have enough wine to ship internationally to individual buyers all over the world. This made Stonyridge the perfect fit for me as an international business and agricultural business double-major. At Stonyridge I performed tasks in the business office, in front-of-house services, and outside in the vineyards.

As an office intern at the beginning of the week, my first tasks included creating social media strategy plans and working with the international sales and marketing manager on a social media like Instagram that is popular is Asia called “Little Red Book.” This platform looks different than Instagram because you cannot directly market products on their platform so language had to look different than it would on Instagram. Additionally, I produced marketing materials for display in the restaurant including new menus and critical liquor licensing signage that supported the company’s grant for a new liquor license. During this time, I also worked closely with the operations and financial managers to sort and organize data from their point-of-sale and online storefront systems. Finally, Stonyridge is currently going through a period of rebranding and new ownership. This gave me the opportunity to see first-hand how new ownership and a new image affect a company both internally and externally.

On Wednesday, the scenery always changed. I moved from the warm upstairs office to the cold and usually rainy vineyards. During this time, I learned about vineyard management and maintenance, challenges that come from unpredictable and changing weather patterns, and most importantly, I learned about how to manage a team well. The vineyard manager at Stonyridge does an admirable job of making his team feel valued and like the work they are doing is important. Stonyridge hires many travelers, which is especially true of the vineyard team. This, coupled with the vineyard team being on a different schedule than the other workers at Stonyridge means that they are often isolated from the other teams. The vineyard manager combats this by creating camaraderie in his team through things like wine tastings led by one of the team members and intentional coffee breaks in the morning. Working in the vineyard was also one of my favorite tasks because I gained experience in a niche agricultural field. Coming from a non-agricultural background, I appreciated the field experience that complimented what I was doing in management tasks and what I have learned during my coursework.

Finally, it’s Friday, the start of the weekend hustle, and I am making cheesy jokes with customers as I guide their wine tasting, pouring drinks behind the bar, or serving them in the restaurant. This was definitely the most challenging aspect of my internship but also one of my favorite parts. I loved interacting with customers. During this time, I grew my communication skills and learned how to confidently slide a sales pitch into a conversation with customers. I also learned how to communicate based on the customer’s expectations. For example, I learned how to create a more intentional luxury experience with customers who were mostly interested in the wine, versus a more laid-back conversation with customers who would really appreciate my mediocre jokes and opinions on the wine more than a laundry list of wine facts.

Stonyridge vineyard not only challenged my abilities, it also taught me about the kind of business environment that I enjoy and thrive in. I had so much fun interacting with customers and my coworkers every day. The environment at Stonyridge was casual without neglecting the importance of getting work done. There was never a day that I didn’t get at least one hug, a couple loud “good mornings,” and multiple coffee machine conversations. I also loved the multicultural setting. I was working with people from France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, the Philippines, and even a few other Americans, in addition to my Kiwi coworkers from New Zealand. I also enjoyed the hands-on work I was doing out in the vineyard and in the restaurant. Interning abroad gave me a new perspective on what a work environment can look like and introduced me to the unique agricultural field of alcohol production. The complexity of factors that go into making a quality product is fascinating and I plan to pursue opportunities to learn more about alcohol production and what a future career in this field could look like.