Generic testimonials, the unnamed "amazing program, highly recommend" kind, tell you almost nothing about what studying wine actually involves or where it can lead. Real, named, independently published accounts are more useful precisely because you can trace them back to a source, check the details, and see what a specific person's path actually looked like.
This page does not contain interviews we conducted, and it is not a set of testimonials for Vitis Global or for any project. It is a summary of three publicly published profiles of people who studied viticulture or oenology, with links to the original sources so you can read them directly. We do not fabricate quotes, reviews or endorsements on this site, and nothing below is invented. For more on the site itself, see about us, and for related sessions, see our activities page.
Georgia Mehlhopt: from law to Greystone Wines
According to a profile published by Lincoln University in New Zealand, Georgia Mehlhopt originally trained and worked in law before changing direction. Her account describes becoming interested in winemaking through conversations with winemakers while walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. She went on to complete Lincoln University's one-year Graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology, a postgraduate program open to holders of an existing undergraduate degree, and now works at Greystone Wines in New Zealand. A later Lincoln University news story also reported that she won the Tonnellerie de Mercurey New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year award.
Source: Lincoln University student profile, Georgia Mehlhopt.
Elizabeth Grant-Douglas: first graduating class at Brock, now in California
A Brock University news article from 2010 describes Elizabeth Grant-Douglas as a member of the first graduating class of Brock's Oenology and Viticulture program in Canada, part of the university's Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI). She had started out in an economics program at the University of Waterloo before moving into wine science. The 2010 article reports that, after graduating, she worked a harvest in Washington State before joining La Crema Winery in California's Sonoma County, where she was promoted to head winemaker that year. We are citing the 2010 article specifically; it reflects her role and career stage at that time, and her title or employer may have changed in the years since.
Source: Brock University news, 2010: "Alumna comes home to celebrate CCOVI".
Gwyneth Olsen: biochemistry to chief winemaker
A 2015 profile published by St Margaret's Anglican Girls School in Queensland, Australia, where Gwyneth Olsen was a student from 1996 to 2000, describes her academic background as a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry followed by a Graduate Diploma in Oenology. According to the same profile, she took on the role of Chief Winemaker at Briar Ridge Vineyard in New South Wales's Hunter Valley in 2013, later adding General Manager responsibilities, and the school named her the inaugural recipient of its Young Past Student of Distinction Award in 2015. We are citing the 2015 school profile specifically; more recent reporting elsewhere refers to her under the name "Gwyn Olsen" and describes subsequent moves to other wineries, which this 2015 source does not cover.
Source: St Margaret's Anglican Girls School, 2015: notable alumna profile, Gwyneth Olsen.
| Name | Prior background | Wine qualification | Source and year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia Mehlhopt | Law | Graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology, Lincoln University (NZ) | Lincoln University profile |
| Elizabeth Grant-Douglas | Economics (University of Waterloo) | Oenology and Viticulture degree, Brock University/CCOVI, first graduating class | Brock University news, 2010 |
| Gwyneth Olsen | Biochemistry (BSc) | Graduate Diploma in Oenology | St Margaret's school profile, 2015 |
Why we summarize rather than quote loosely
- We link directly to each original source so you can verify the details yourself.
- We flag the publication year of each source, since career details (titles, employers) can and do change afterward.
- We do not add dialogue, direct quotes, or sentiment that isn't present in the original published material.
- We do not present these as reviews of any course, project or institution; they are career-path summaries, nothing more.
Checklist for evaluating any "graduate story" you find online
- Check who published it, the institution itself, a school, a news outlet, and when.
- Look for a named, identifiable person rather than an anonymous quote.
- Check the publication date before assuming a job title or employer is current.
- Be skeptical of any site that presents unsourced, unnamed testimonials as proof of program quality.
