Corey Ryan is this year’s winner of the 2007 Constellation Scholarship of the Institute of Masters of Wine, winning a round-the-world business class trip to visit Constellation’s wineries and vineyards in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, where he will have the opportunity to meet the winemakers, vineyard managers and key people in the business.

The scholarship is awarded to the student with the highest marks across the theory and practical sections of the institute’s first year assessment.

Corey, 37, is Senior Winemaker at Villa Maria in New Zealand. Born and raised in the Barossa Valley, he has a Masters of Oenology and a Graduate Diploma in Wine Business from the University of Adelaide. Corey began his career in the Coonawarra with Southcorp, but has since worked all over the world, including, memorably, the 1998 vintage in the Rhone with Chapoutier. On returning to Australia, he then spent six years with Henschke in Eden Valley, before moving to Villa Maria in 2002.

Villa Maria is imported, marketed and distributed in Malta by Wands Limited, a subsidiary of the Farsons Group of Companies.