Wine is soon to become a big part of Austen Targett’s life.

The former Te Puke High School student heads off this month to Lincoln University to study Viticulture and Oenology, the science and study of wine making.

But first, he had an important event to attend – a BOP Education Trust scholarship function.

Austen is the son of Andrew Targett and Annemarie Cambie and is the first in his family to forge a career in wine.

However, it will be a fabulous addition to the skills within his foodie family where, his chef dad is king of the kitchen.

Targett said his profound interest in plants and horticulture dates back to spending time in the garden with his grandparents who were once large-scale flower growers.

Watching plants thrive, being rewarded with produce and then working with plants that can produce a product such as wine is all enthralling, he says.

His career hopes involve experiencing winemaking around the world, as well as in New Zealand.

“I would like to travel to Europe and learn traditional methods of winemaking to merge with some of the more advanced scientific techniques that are presently utilised. I would like to establish my own vineyard in New Zealand - a chemical free one, as I do not believe in the use of chemicals on the land.”

Targett will be using his scholarship money to help fund his accommodation during year one at Lincoln.

“Receiving this scholarship money brings me a step closer to achieving my goals in my career, owning my own organic vineyard and contributing profits to environmental projects in New Zealand.”

He is one of 19 Bay of Plenty students selected to receive the trust’s Science, Technology and Emerging Industries Scholarships. Each of the scholars from coastal colleges between Katikati and Ōpōtiki will receive $6000 over their years of study.

Trust recipients

BOP Education Trust chairman Nick Earl said the trust, founded in 1985, was firmly committed to investing in the tertiary education of the Bay’s young people.

Over the years, 428 students have benefited from the trust’s scholarships, with more than $2 million gifted in supportive funding.

The other Western BOP recipients who joined Targett on stage this year are: Tilly Thomas (Aquinas College), Emily Gillingham (Bethlehem College), Kyra Murray (Katikati College), Kimera Talbot-Chinula and Kahutia Tukaki (Mount Maunganui College), Jack Page and Haylee Hextall (Ōtūmoetai College), Hayley Manning and Brooke Barry (Pāpāmoa College), Evan Fryer and Anthony Coe (Tauranga Boys’ College), and Jimin Lee and Prachi Patel (Tauranga Girls’ College). Te Wharekura O Mauao was not represented this year.