Bryn Craddock, a third year Bachelor of Viticulture and Wine Science student at EIT|Te Pūkenga, has been named as Hawke’s Bay A&P Society & Craggy Range Young Vintner of the Year for 2022.

The award was presented to Bryn at the Hawke’s Bay A&P Bayleys Wine Awards dinner on Thursday night (10 November 2022).

As part of the scholarship prize, Bryn wins $2,000 towards study from the Hawke’s Bay A&P Society and a vintage position at Craggy Range Winery for the harvest season of ’23. She will also be an associate judge for the Hawke’s Bay A&P Bayleys Wine Awards next year.

“I’m really pleased to get this award and am excited about the vintage opportunity at Craggy Range.”

Twenty-five-year-old Bryn says the application for the award involved her having to write an essay explaining why she thought she was the best candidate for the opportunity. This was followed by an interview with a panel of judges.

The judges for the Young Vintner of the Year this year were Elisha Milmine, the General Manager of the Hawke’s Bay A&P Society; and Ben Tombs, Winemaker at Craggy Range.

Elisha says: “We were extremely impressed at the level of all applicants and are thrilled to have offered Bryn this award.  Her passion for the viticulture industry was clear throughout the interview, her time at Craggy Range will be a great start to what I hope is a long enjoyable career in the industry.”

 Ben says: “Bryn’s enthusiasm and dedication towards her wine education really shined. We’re thrilled to offer her the opportunity to join the cellar team at Craggy Range for vintage 2023 as part of this award”.

Sue Blackmore, the Head of the School of Viticulture and Wine Science at EIT|Te Pūkenga, says, “Bryn is a very worthy recipient of this award. She has been a strong student, very involved in the practical work necessary for this industry qualification and completed an excellent research project this year, in collaboration with Dr Victor Ye on Sensory Wine Analysis Using Sensory Napping®. Congratulations Bryn from the whole school team.”   

The Award is the result of hard work by Bryn who enrolled in the EIT Bachelor of Viticulture and Wine Science in 2020.  However, wine was not on her radar as a career as she was growing up.

Born in Wellington, Bryn spent most of her life in Pennsylvania in the United States, where her parents still live. Her plan was always to return home.

“My family came back for a big holiday when I was a teenager, but then after I finished school I came down here for a while and then ended up teaching snowboarding for a couple of years.”

After a few years of following the northern and southern hemisphere winters, Bryn decided it was time to study, so came to Hawke’s Bay where her Gran lives in Te Awanga.

“My sister was also working in the restaurant at Craggy Range at the time and she told me about the degree at EIT.”

Bryn says that what attracted her to EIT’s Bachelor of Viticulture and Wine Science is that it is a “mixture of creativity and science”.

“I grew up as a dancer, so was always interested in that more creative side. And then I have always enjoyed science as well. And this just seemed like a really cool mixture of both.”

Bryn says that while she enjoys the viticulture side of the industry, she is finding that she has more of an interest in winemaking.

“I am definitely not opposed to working in viticulture because you are able to grow the grapes and get the flavours and quality you want. But I do enjoy winemaking with the blending and getting the product to where you want it to be.”

While she has enjoyed her time at EIT, COVID-19 and lockdowns did provide its challenges when it came to the practical side of studying viticulture and wine science.

As for the future, the Young Vintner of the Year for 2022 plans to stay in the region for a while, before going to Europe to learn even more about her craft.