New Zealand’s wine story has been one of resounding success over the last decades. Our wine business is now a $2 billion dollar sector, and offers new career opportunities especially in sales and marketing, at the cellar door, in food and wine tourism and enhancing customer experience in restaurants, cafes, bars and hotels.
‘We are thrilled to announce two new NZQA qualifications that are set to transform education about wine and beverages in New Zealand. The focus is on building knowledge of New Zealand and international wine regions through tasting and research and at the same time consider how successful regions manage their tourism and food and wine experiences,’ comments Celia Hay, Director of the New Zealand School of Food and Wine.
‘There is much to learn from understanding what makes a wine region successful and famous as a destination to visit. We see this knowledge as being important and extremely helpful to build our own New Zealand Wine destinations and enhance their visitor experience.’
Wine tasting provides a unique opportunity to actually taste and savour the characteristics of the wine region, in a glass. Whisky is the same as it reflects a style that is associated with the Highland region of Scotland or the smoky peat style that defines whiskies from the Scottish Isles.
The qualifications will also look at the business side of running wineries and restaurants and graduates will develop confidence to use digital marketing applications, understand promotional and sales platforms and techniques – all of which comprise the sales and marketing toolkits of successful businesses.
NZ Certificate in Professional Wine Knowledge Level 5 and the NZ Diploma of Wine Management Level 6 will be available as both full time or as a part time programme with some remote learning options for people living outside of Auckland. They embed the WSET Level 2 and 3 Award in Wine and the WSET Level 2 Award in Spirits. NZ residents will be eligible for student loans and allowances and Free Fees if they meet the criteria.