Viticulturist

Job overview
Viticulturists apply plant science principles to manipulate vines to produce the kind of grapes necessary for the production of different types of wine.

What do people do in this occupation?
Viticulturists are concerned with the production of grapes under a wide variety of natural conditions.

They deal with the preparation of the land, planting, trellising, pruning, and canopy management to achieve optimum ripeness and volumes of grapes.

They can handle both table and wine grapes, getting results by applying plant science principles and processes such as sunlight interception, photosynthesis, etc.

Viticulturists provide guidance to wine farmers on how to manage their vineyards in order to obtain the best results.

What kinds of people are suitable for this career?
Hard-workers with a love of plants and the outdoor life will be successful viticulturists.

What qualifications are needed?
A BSc degree with majors in botany and chemistry, reinforced by postgraduate work related directly to viticulture.