Students shine at wine show

EIT students harvested a bumper crop of medals at the regional wine awards, an event in which their entries were judged using the same criteria as for commercially produced wines. Fifteen of the 20 student entries in the Hawke’s Bay A & P Bayleys Wine Awards won medals – seven silver and eight bronze. That made it the best-ever result achieved by EIT in the awards’ student wine class. Convenor of judges Warren Gibson said it was a very strong student class, with strong wines across different styles. While another good Hawke’s Bay vintage was a plus for all those entered in the awards, the students faced the challenge of working with small lots of fruit, most donated by local wineries and vineyards.