The Wildshark Team

Adam

Vineyard Manager

We wanted to introduce you to our vineyard manager, Adam. He’s let us know what he gets up to day to day at the vineyard plus some of his favourite parts of the role.

Can you tell us about your day to day responsibilities?

Ultimately, I oversee the day to day running of the vineyards and estate. This includes organising the teams work and jobs efficiently. We have a small but hardworking team at the vineyard and everyday there are different jobs to be doing from pruning to planting – making sure all of our time is used effectively is imperative to the smooth running of the vineyard.

Another aspect is monitoring the vineyard to make sure everything is healthy and tidy. This is a huge task due to the size of the vineyard. The weather can make a huge difference, if there are storms, we’ve seen trees come down and vines need to be re-secured. It’s also important to be vigilant with the vines and how healthy they are, checking for any parasites or diseases and nipping it in the bud before it worsens. I also keep an eye on soil health and requirements to get the best out of the vines and therefore the most delicious wines and gin.

I also arrange contractors and agency for specialist jobs. There’s a few jobs on the vineyard that we’re not able to complete, this is mainly based on machinery we’re able to keep on the vineyard so sometimes we outsource that work and I arrange the extra hands on deck. I oversee the maintenance of estate trails, we want to make sure the trails through the vineyard are well-kept and easily accessible. This includes through the vines and around our BBQ area, lake house and other places of interest. It’s imperative that our machinery and equipment is handled with care. I make sure all of our machinery and equipment is used only by trained professionals and that they’re constantly monitored and serviced.

We’re always looking to innovate at Wildshark, part of my role is planning out and setting up new projects to keep things fresh and exciting for the customers. This could be new ideas to increase our bio-diversity, or appropriate signage as well as planting trees and wildflowers as well as put up owl boxes to encourage local wildlife. We’ve plated over 4,000 trees and we’ve sewn wildflowers in every other row of the vines. The final push of the year includes planning out harvest and delivering grapes to the winery.

We love having all the help we can get when it comes to harvest and it can be a really great time to bring the community together to pick the grapes ready to be sent off the begin the wine-making process. I organise these days based on the weather and how ripe the grapes are. We all celebrate with a well earned drink afterwards!

Which is your favourite month at the Vineyard?

I would say May as it’s always really exciting to see the vineyard at estate come to life with new growth at the start of the season. Plus, the weather is nicer which makes my job a lot more fun!

What are you most looking forward to in 2025?

Seeing our first full yield harvest, setting up our new vineyard and seeing progress on our new winery.

Ben

Assistant Vineyard Manager

If you’ve not visited the vineyard already, we wanted to introduce you to our Assistant Vineyard Manager, Ben!

You’ll see Ben at the vineyard zooming around in the truck or helping with our tours and tastings, be sure to say Hi if you see him!

What’s your favourite part of working in the industry?

I have to say my favourite part of working at the vineyard in harvest time. Seeing the previous year’s hard work come to fruition (pardon the pun) makes it all worth it. In particular our first harvest was exciting, because we were able to see what our first batches of wine might look like and how much we could produce – it set us up really well for working even harder this year to produce great quality grapes for next year’s wines!

What inspires you within your role?

Something I find truly inspiring working at Wildshark is the endless possibilities the site holds. With such a diverse space, the sky is the limit on what we can achieve. I’m also really passionate about how we’re supporting in every way we can. Planting the wildflowers in every other row, planting thousands of trees and foliage around the site as well as putting up owl boxes and a whole lot more! We want to give back to the vineyard what it gives to us.

What’s the best month for you at the vineyard?

I would have to say October is the best month for me. All the grapes for the year have been picked and set off to be made into delicious wine, there’s a quiet before the storm of preparing for next season and it’s also a chance to reflect on what we, as a team, have achieved.

What are you most looking forward to in 2025?

I’m really excited to plant more vines, expanding what we do in terms of wine the next year. I’m also excited to see developments on the site for tourism, creating more exciting spaces for our customers to explore and seeing how our current planting scheme in the water cress bed take shape. Exciting stuff!

Can you tell us what an average day for you looks like?

Depending on the season, my average day will vary. Winter will include mostly pruning the vines so they have a suitable amount of nodes for the future crop to grow from. While doing the occasional planting of new trees and maintenance around the whole site.

Spring is busy and mostly includes spraying to support the health and growth of our vines. This is when tour’s start as well, so supporting Alex and Martin as and when needed. These tasks include whizzing around in the ATV dropping off wine and picnic hampers.

Summer is all about ensuring vine health with continued sprays that focus on protecting the grape bunches as well as trimming the canopy so that growth can focus on the grapes.

Autumn is all about Harvest and doing what ever job is necessary to ensure grapes get picked at their peak.

Alex

Vineyard Tour Guide

Meet Alex! Alex will be your tour guide when you visit us at Wildshark and is an expert in wine and will be guiding you through the vineyard, sharing his knowledge and conducting your tastings!

He’ll answer any questions you may have and make sure you have the most magical time with us. We had a chat with him to find out what an average day looks like to him and what his favourite part of being a wine tour guide is!

WHAT GOT YOU INTERESTED IN WORKING AT A VINEYARD?

I previously worked as an assistant operations manager with Elite Pubs. This gave me access to learning more about vineyards when learning about wines and this inspired me. I loved the widen open space, being around nature and most of all the wines! Trying the different wines and seeing how the vineyards progress over time made me think a career in wine might be where my passion truly lies.

It amazes me that from a little plant comes a fruit and from a fruit you get a delicious wine to enjoy in the sunshine.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF WORKING AT WILDSHARK?

Without a doubt, my favourite part of working with Wildshark is tasting the delicious wines. Gaining knowledge to then pass on to like-minded wine lovers on tours is so exciting. Getting to meet new people every day and open their minds to the world of wine is something I love about my job.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS YEAR AND NEXT YEAR?

I’m looking forward to making sure that people hear about Wildshark and the super quality wines we currently offer and will be offering in the future, as well as our gin. Getting the Wildshark name out there is really important to me, I want to share my passion with others and over the next few months as we open and into next year, we’ll only grow stronger!

WHAT’S YOUR PERSONAL FAVOURITE WINE?

I don’t really have one favourite wine! I love sparkling wine, I love red, rosé and white – I love them all! It’s pretty amazing the quality of wine we’ve been able to achieve with our vines considering their age!

My favourite depends on my mood but I also love to do wine pairings with food – it depends what I’m eating! I love to try all wines especially from the new world.

WHAT DOES AN AVERAGE DAY AT THE VINEYARD LOOK LIKE TO YOU?

A day at the vineyard starts by preparing for the day the day before. We start by checking everything is set up for the day. Making sure the areas we will be visiting are all clean and tidy as well as ensuring the wine is ready to be served. All the food packages must be ordered and prepared to perfection ready to go. I will then meet and greet our first tour customers before taking them on their wine tour journey, taking in the views and trying superb quality wines. Taking care of our customers every need, answering all questions and making sure customers leave happy! Finally, we’ll clear all the spaces visited after bidding farewell to our lovely customers. We make sure all rubbish is accounted for and re-cycled where we can!

A few days a week, I’ll join the viticulture team. I want to learn as much as I possibly can about the entire process of planting, nurturing, harvesting and finally making the wine to give my customers the very best experience when they come on a tour with me!

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE LOOKING TO BECOME A WINE TOUR GUIDE?

The best advice I would say is to bring your personality with you all the time, be yourself! Start learning as you go, use every experience as a learning experience. When it comes to working with people and doing tours, your personality is so important! You can learn all you need to know about the wines but having that bubbly personality is where you start!

Visit some vineyards and ask if you can shadow or volunteer or start working around wines perhaps in a restaurant or pub – the more knowledge you can pick up along the way will help you greatly!

ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?

I’ve visited many vineyards and Wildshark really has something special. From natural springs to the stunning lake to all the local wildlife is breath-taking and something I’ve never seen before. The viticulture team work tirelessly to ensure the vineyard is always looking its best as well as helping to produce top quality wines!