The Yarra Glen resident has won a month-long placement at an acclaimed vineyard near Vertus in France.
Ms Wellington will be provided with accommodation in France and said she was looking forward to the experience.
“It’ll be a great chance for me to get over there and see how they do things,” Ms Wellington said.
“It will give me extra experience and maybe a point of difference. They’ve got their champagne down pat; it’ll be like learning from the gurus.”
Her father and a past employer encouraged her to enter the competition and Ms Wellington said they were shocked and pleased when they found out she had won.
In her second year out of an honours degree in oenology, Ms Wellington said she researched the winery for a short essay she had to write as part of the competition’s entry requirements.
“The more I read the more I saw they really cared about what they did. They put in the extra effort and attention to detail,” she said.
Ms Wellington hasn’t travelled overseas before but has planned a six-week trip to South Otago in April which she says will be a good stepping stone before France.
She will be travelling to France work at the grower-producer Champagne Larmandier-Bernier in September, to coincide with the 2009 vintage.