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Akaki Adeishvili said goodbye last month to the world's oldest wine country, ready and willing to discover what the New World could teach him about his craft. "I can take something new back to my country when I'm done," Adeishvili said as he hauled a hose across the floor of La Crema Winery. "Everything is advanced here. Georgia has a great history in wine, but it's in just the first steps of redevelopment."

Adeishvili left his native Georgia, the former Soviet Republic, to join a worldwide migration of winery talent that heads for California each fall. This year interns will train in record numbers in California cellars until just before Christmas. They will then carry their experience back to places like Georgia, perhaps the world's oldest wine country, according to "The World Atlas of Wine" by Hugh Johnson. Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, including La Crema, hosts more interns this year than any other wine company. The Kendall-Jackson intern group has grown to about 40 from just 10 in 1996. Interns, mostly in their 20s with new degrees or a short time in the industry, say they are fascinated with the level of custom handling at Kendall-Jackson, the collegial, efficient culture of work and extensive use of costly barrels for fermentation and aging.

"There must be more barrels here than in all of Mendoza," said Pedro Alejandro Sanchez, referring to his home wine region in Argentina. He scanned the thousands of barrels at Kendall-Jackson's aging center and shook his head.

He and Argentine colleague Mariela Razquin resumed labeling a load of new barrels, while pondering the accelerating rate of cross-pollination in the world of wine. "Just in the last year we've seen an influx of French and others to Mendoza," Razquin said. "It's all the more important, then, that we are here learning these methods. We have to learn from each other.

"Both interns and employers win under the program," said Beverly Gilmartin, who coordinates the Minnesota-based Communicating for Agriculture Exchange Program (CAEP) that links the interns with wineries and other agriculture. Interns get acquainted with American innovation and creativity. They gain exposure to varieties, such as Pinot Noir, they may never handle at home. They learn more English and build a network that can turn into wider job opportunities. "On the other hand, the hosts are able to learn about winemaking techniques and cultural differences from around the world," Gilmartin said. "It upholds the true meaning of exchange."

Twenty-five nations are sending 310 winery interns this year, a record. CAEP is sponsoring close to 1,000 trainees in all classes of American agriculture, also a record. Mike Mendenhall, cellar master at La Crema, said his staff embraces the distinct ideas and culture that interns bring, as well as their eagerness to learn. "They have a vested interest in wine," he said. "That makes them easy to work with, and they work very hard." Gilmartin predicted the program will grow in the coming years as word spreads among world winemakers. South America in particular has boosted its participation, now rivaling Europe in the number of wine interns. A California internship provides winemakers from the Southern Hemisphere an added advantage: they can return home and put their training to use as soon as March, when their home harvest begins. Ximena Pacheco is rehearsing for harvest in her native Chile, where she hopes to work for Calina, part of Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates.

Interns agree that more international exchange will build the distinct wine culture of each nation, not dilute it. "We'll never lose our own style," Argentina's Razquin said. "In the end, it's right there in the land."

Edited by Kerry Cohen

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