Professional training

"I’m a driver and vineyard worker. I look after the grape picking machines, so I have to be a bit of a mechanic as well. I’m also a tutor for the young students at the school of viticulture and wine, and I co-ordinate things when groups come here as part of their training, to learn about our methods. It’s a tough job, I have to admit, but you’re working in the fresh air, you’re part of a team. What I like is giving, teaching others what I know. Transmitting our skills to the younger generation is important. I'll be happy to retire if I’m sure that I've passed on everything I know. The school is tremendous. It’s very difficult to find young people to do these jobs… so that’s why giving a diploma, giving importance to the profession is fantastic."

"It’s coming up to thirty years that I’ve been here, I’m one of the longest serving people in the company. I learned on the job. My favourite moment is pruning, I love that! There’s thought behind it, you have to look hard at the vine, the whole plant. That’s where It all starts. For me it’s the most interesting part. Techniques are evolving at the moment, there’s more thought given to the life of the vine. I’m now part of a group that’s training for the Diploma in Pruning and Priming, with the objective of being able to pass on these skills to the young… It’s really important to preserve our way of doing things, so I’m going back to school again! It’s a physically demanding job, sometimes it’s hard, but the company does everything it can to make it easier. We work all year for 2 or 3 weeks of harvest, always with an eye out for hail, or storms. We worry about it… but when we see the harvest, and how healthy it is, we’re happy, it’s a great moment."

Lifelong Learning Programmes

We have put Individual Training Plans in place for our employees which enable us to follow their progress and help them to evolve and become more qualified over the years. As part of our human resources strategy it also helps to build team loyalty. It allows us to monitor training expenditure, the percentage of staff that have undergone training, the number of hours dedicated to training (in 2013, 98% of staff had followed a training course), the quality of the training and levels of staff satisfaction.