New Zealand Winegrower Aug - Sep 2014

NEW ZEALAND WINEGROWER

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THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF NEW ZEALAND WINEGROWERS AU GU S T / S E P TE MB E R 2014 I SSU E 8 7

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CONTENTS

ISSUE 87

78 R E GUL A R S

4

Editorial

10

The Impact Of A Name

Tessa Nicholson

Are alternative wine varieties at risk of not succeeding in New Zealand, simply because we can’t manage to pronounce them? Two men in the know, believe so. Geoff Thorpe and Simon Nunns say the consumer reluctance to try foreign sounding wines is stymieing the ability for the industry to broaden its horizons.

8

In Brief

News From Around the Country

30 Young Guns

From Central Otago

90 Bob’s Blog

Bob Campbell MW

26

Top Vintage Stacks Up

The first of the 2013 red wines are due to hit the shelves soon, and as Joelle Thomson discovers, the hype surrounding them is well justified. She investigates why and how 2013 was such a special vintage for full-bodied reds.

94 Not On The Label

Legal Matters with Marija Batistich Bell Gully

127 Calendar

Wine happenings in New Zealand

130 Research Supplement

24

34 Babich Wines New Winery

The latest science and research projects funded by NZWinegrowers

Cover Shot: Misha’s Vineyard Wine Ltd, Central Otago. Supplied by Winegrowers

FEATURES

For 98 years the Babich family have been making wine in New Zealand. But in all that time they have never had a custom built winery. That changed this year, when the company unveiled their new state of the art facility in Marlborough.

52

Pruning Robots - The Reality Draws Closer

Three years into a five-year research project, scientists at Canterbury University are about to unleash robotic pruners into the vineyard. Believed to be the first system in the world that is focused on cane pruning, the ramifications of the research will be life changing for the New Zealand wine industry.

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E D I TO R Tessa Nicholson tessa.nicholson@me.com

FROM THE EDITOR TESSA NICHOLSON

CO R R E SP O N D E NTS Auckland: Joelle Thomson joellethomson@vodafone.co.nz Gisborne: Justine Tyerman justine.tyerman@clear.net.nz Hawkes Bay: Mary Shanahan maryshanahan173@gmail.com Nelson: Neil Hodson neil@hodgson.net.nz Canterbury: Jo Burzynska joburzynska@talk21.com

A DV E R T I SI N G Sales Manager: Ted Darley ted@ruralnews.co.nz Ph: 07 854 6292 Mobile: 021 832 505 Upper North Island: Stephen Pollard stephenp@ruralnews.co.nz Ph: 09 913 9637 Mobile: 021 963 166 Lower North Island: Mark Macfarlane Ph: 04 234 6239 Mobile: 021 453 914 South Island: Kaye Sutherland kayes@ruralnews.co.nz Ph: 03 376 5552 Mobile: 021 221 1994

C I R C U L AT I O N & SUBSCRIPTIONS Lorraine Rudelj lorraine@nzwine.com Ph: 09 303 3527 Fax: 09 302 2969 New Zealand Winegrowers PO Box 90 276, Auckland Mail Centre, New Zealand

PUBLISHING & P R E - P R E SS Rural News Group PO Box 331100, Takapuna, Auckland 0740 Ph: 09 307 0399 Location: Top Floor, 29 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland 0622 Publisher: Brian Hight Managing Editor: Adam Fricker Production: Dave Ferguson, Rebecca Williams

Published by Rural News Group Ltd under authority of New Zealand Winegrowers (jointly representing Wine Institute of New Zealand Inc and New Zealand Grape Growers Council Inc).

Unless directly attributed, opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of Rural News Group and/or its directors or management, New Zealand Winegrowers or its constituent organisations.

Published every second month. One free copy is mailed to every member of the Institute, the Council, the New Zealand Society of Viticulture & Oenology and the New Zealand Vine Improvement Group, and to such other persons or organisations as directed by the owners, with provision for additional copies and other recipients to be on a subscription basis.

ISSN 1174-5223

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

R

omeo Bragato – it’s a name that slides off the tongue easily and is as well known in New Zealand as say - Sauvignon Blanc.

Why he is so linked to our wine industry though is something that at times gets forgotten.

Born in Austria-Hungary, Bragato studied viticulture and oenology in Italy, and arrived in the Southern Hemisphere at the age of 31 as the Government viticulturist in Victoria, Australia.

In 1895 the Australians allowed him to travel to New Zealand, where the newly formed Department of Agriculture was interested in putting his skills to the test.

They wanted to know if there were areas within New Zealand that would be suitable for winegrowing, where they were and how any potential industry should be formed.

Ironically his first port of call was probably the least likely place in the country for wine – Bluff. Oysters yes – but grape growing – unlikely.

However Bragato quickly moved north, was impressed by the Central Otago region and also Nelson. Interestingly he had nothing to say about Marlborough.

Within seven months he had produced a report – Prospects of Viticulture in New Zealand and after presenting it to the premier, he headed back to Australia.

That report, penned nearly 125 years ago provided an astute blueprint of how this country should go about developing a wine industry. It highlighted areas where viticulture could flourish and provided details of how the Department of Agriculture should go about it. Regional associations should be formed so “each district would determine the most suitable varieties for planting, collect and spread local data and this in great measure secure the industry against failure. Each district would subsequently gain notoriety for the wine produced as in the famous districts of the Continent.”

While there was initially great

excitement, much of Bragato’s report, including suggestions that phylloxera resistant rootstock should be imported, was not acted on. When the Auckland vineyards began to be decimated by the very thing he had warned about, Bragato was asked to come back to New Zealand, this time as the head of a viticultural research base that had been established at Te Kauwhata. He quickly began establishing a vineyard at the station, where all the vines were grafted onto resistant rootstock.

He held field days for those interested in learning more about grape growing. He even wrote a guide to viticulture booklet.

Way ahead of its time, it defined which varieties would do well in which region, how to graft European varieties onto the resistant root stock, the best way to plant a vineyard, how to prune effectively and how to deal with potential diseases.

Utilising the fruit from the experimental vineyard, he also made wine that was beyond anything else produced in New Zealand at that stage. Five of those wines went on to win medals at the Franco-British wine exhibition, proving beyond doubt that New Zealand could produce a world-class product.

Initially the enthusiasm of Bragato was matched by that of the Government – until the temperance movement began to grow.

As it grew, support for a wine industry in New Zealand waned. By 1909 Bragato had had enough and left for Canada.

That may have been the last we heard of him, if it hadn’t been for the resurfacing of his viticulture handbook 40 years ago.

Much of what he had written in 1895 and 1906 was still relevant decades later.

Following the advice from so many years ago has allowed the New Zealand wine industry to establish itself on the world stage.

Hence the reason we celebrate Romeo Bragato, the father of New Zealand wine, with the annual wine industry conference. ■

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BREAKING NEWS

CREATING A SUSTAINABILITY HUB TESSA NICHOLSON

N

ew Zealand Winegrowers’ commitment to sustainability has been enforced with the news that a new management led hub will be established in Marlborough.

From October, Philip Manson, GM of Sustainable Winegrowing, will be based in the country’s largest wine region, instead of in the head office in Auckland.

“It makes perfect sense for me to be on the ground, in the centre of the wine industry, dealing face to face with members,” Manson said.

Sustainable Winegrowing already has a base in Marlborough, but Manson said there is now a need to expand that.

“Sustainability is not just about scorecards and spray diaries. They are vital components but there are other areas that dovetail into the

whole sustainability portfolio.

Labour and bio security are two that we are very aware of.”

The threat of a pest or disease incursion damaging to the wine industry, has become a fear of many members, one that NZW is well aware of.

In the next few months a bio security manager will be appointed and they will be part of the hub in Philip Manson Blenheim.

“This will provide us with a great opportunity to engage with the members who are most at risk in a bio security emergency.

If there was an incursion in Marlborough, it would be

devastating to the wine industry overall, given the region produces more than three quarters of New Zealand’s wine.

So it makes sense to have someone on the ground there working alongside growers and winemakers.”

Retaining a reliable and skilled workforce has been an on-going battle for the wine industry. While RSE has provided some solutions, the importance of having labour, when it is needed is something NZW have been aware of. Manson says the labour issue falls squarely into the sustainability portfolio.

“We need skilled workers throughout the entire year, not just at pruning,” he said. “And we need to know that they are available and ready to work.

But we are also very aware of how important it is that our labour force is meeting all the sustainability requirements.

That is something our markets demand. So developing a national labour management strategy will be a priority. It is also likely that a part time resource will be added to the hub, concentrating on all issues surrounding labour.”

The new hub is expected to be up and running by October, and for Manson the move south is a little bit like a home coming, given he was born in Marlborough.

Admittedly he left when he was four, this time he plans on staying put a lot longer. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor, I read with much interest the article from CEO Philip Gregan ‘Proud and Wise’ in issue 86.

The article covers in some detail the setting up and history of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ). However there are two significant omissions.

Originally known as Integrated Winegrape

6 //

Production (IWP), it really gained traction following the 2nd Romeo Bragato Conference, held in Napier in August 1996.

That year the New Zealand Grape Growers Council invited Carmo Vasconcelos to deliver the Bragato Address. Carmo was at that time a Professor at Oregon State University, but had been closely involved with the development of

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

IWP, particularly the scheme developed in Waedenswil, Switzerland.

The delegates were enthused by the address, and following the conference the Winegrowers of New Zeaand Research Committee set up an Integrated Winegrape Production committee. This committee was chaired by Past President Ross Goodin ONZM. Over its formative years and

under Ross’s guidence the SWNZ as we now know it developed.

Ross is now retired and living in Auckland and Carmo is a Professor at the Eastern Institute of Technology, Hawke’s Bay. Regards Kevyn Moore • NZWinegrower welcomes letters to the Editor. Please feel free to email to tessa.nicholson@me.com

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IN BRIEF

NATIONAL Air New Zealand Wine Award Dates Aug 11: Entries open Sep 19: Entries close Nov 3-5: Judging at Mt Smart Stadium Nov 11: Individual results to entrants Nov 12: Results announced to public / media / VIP / Media Gold Medal Tasting Nov 22: Hawke’s Bay Regional Tasting, Awards Dinner at Pettigrew Green Arena Nov 24: Auckland Regional Tasting Nov 25: Marlborough Regional Tasting

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Wine Wall Fundraiser Agrisea New Zealand is inviting wineries throughout the country to donate two bottles of wine, to a “wall” that will be auctioned off later this year. All funds raised from the event will go to charities throughout New Zealand. Fifty auctions of 50 bottles as well as 50 signed celebrity bottles will go under the hammer, or should that be mouse, when the auction kicks off on Trade Me on Friday September 12.

The money raised will be spread between the following charities; CanTeen, Sustainable Coastlines, SPCA and Starship.

If you are interested in donating or finding out more details, check out www.agrisea. co.nz/wallofwine

Wine Master Class Seven New Zealand Masters of Wine will take part in an open day event in Auckland this August, providing information on the ins and outs of studying to become an MW. The MW Master Class will be held at the Villa Maria Winery in Mangere, and will cover the background of the institute and what it takes to gain MW status.

A tasting to demonstrate the MW approach will allow potential students an insight into what skills are required to undertake the programme, while a theory workshop will look closely at the syllabus. The next MW programme begins in November and applications need to be submitted by September 1. If you would like more information on the open day, visit; www.amiando. com/mwmasterclassnewzealand2014

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

GISBORNE New Writer

New Home For Festival

Justine Tyerman is NZ Winegrower’s new Gisborne correspondent, and has lived and worked in Gisborne for 35 years. An Otago and Canterbury University English graduate, she has worked as a journalist and sub-editor for The Gisborne Herald for the past 17 years. She currently edits and writes for The Gisborne Herald Weekender.

She is also a travel writer with articles published in a wide range of national and international magazines.

She and her husband Chris, a banker, had a small vineyard for 25 years and grew Chardonnay for a variety of companies. Many

Gisborne’s Labour Weekend Wine and Food Festival will be held at a single venue adjacent to Midway Beach this year. Festival steering committee chairwoman Kerry Taggart said Awapuni Stadium would be the new home for the “refreshed and refocused” event, now in its 18th year.

“Location was a big consideration in our community and stakeholder consultation. It became clear that people have enjoyed both the single and multi-site festivals, but transport has always been an issue. So the closer we bring it to town, the easier the access will be,” she said.

The festival will focus on local entertainment with multiple informal zones accommodating musical acts and other activities.

“We really want to get away from the headline act model, where the day is completely dominated by what happens on the stage,” said Gisborne Winegrowers’ president Doug Bell. “We’re going for a day that feels more like a garden party than a rock concert and that’s an important distinction for attracting the more mature market back to this event,” he said.

Tickets for the October 26 event went on sale on August 1st.

of their friends are growers and winemakers so she is familiar with the industry.

Before becoming a journalist, Justine was a social worker, a stay-athome mum raising two daughters and a polytechnic tutor, teaching English as a foreign language.

To contact Justine email; Justine. tyerman@clear.net.nz

HAWKE’S BAY National Winner Hawke’s Bay’s Elephant Hill has been named New Zealand’s Best Winery Restaurant in the Cuisine Good Food Awards. Assessing 80 wineries throughout the country, the magazine’s judging panel scored the Te Awanga winery 15.5 out of a possible 20 points for a combination of food, service and ambience. The panel made particular mention of Elephant Hill’s smart surrounds, sea views and good food.

MARLBOROUGH

CANTERBURY

New Partnership With China

Organic Course Closure Upsets

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) is partnering with two Chinese universities to deliver joint education programmes in viticulture and wine.

NMIT Chief Executive Tony Gray recently travelled to China where he signed a cooperation agreement with China Agriculture University, Yantai Campus, a top agricultural university in China.

The major areas of focus for cooperation are in viticulture and wine and commerce. NMIT has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Beijing Agricultural University (BAU) to cooperate in viticulture and wine education.

Under both initiatives, students will initially study in China utilising the NMIT curriculum, and also studying English as part of their programme. Students will later have the opportunity to complete part of their education in New Zealand through NMIT. Cooperation in activities such as student and staff exchanges and joint research projects is also being explored.

The cutting of organic courses at Lincoln University is shortsighted and a move in the wrong direction, according to the Soil & Health Association. As part of a number of course and staff cuts at Lincoln University, three organic courses are to be dropped, and one full-time senior lecturer position will be disestablished. In its submission to Lincoln University in May, Soil & Health strongly supported retaining the courses, and encouraged the university to show leadership for the future of sustainable, organic production in New Zealand, and to market these courses as a point of difference. “We appreciate the tough economic realities that tertiary education providers are facing,” Marion Thomson, co-chair of Soil & Health said. “Soil & Health would like to see significant investment by the government in sustainable, organic farming, and also in education to support it. It makes no sense to keep backing intensive, industralised farming and genetic engineering when people want safe organic food and a clean environment.”

Student feedback about the courses has been overwhelmingly positive, and enrolment numbers have increased in recent years.

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 9

ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES

THE IMPACT OF A NAME TESSA NICHOLSON

I

s New Zealand’s mono linguistic heritage stymieing the ability of the wine industry to broaden its horizons in terms of new varieties? The answer to that is a resounding yes, according to two men who have been at the forefront of alternative varieties.

Geoff Thorpe, Riversun’s Managing Director and Simon Nunns, Coopers Creek winemaker, both believe the ability to pronounce a wine variety is one of the most important aspects of a wine’s ability to sell.

As Nunns points out, there are thousands of different wine cultivars throughout the world, but most people will only ever drink around half a dozen of those in their lifetime.

“That’s not to say they are not interested in expanding their horizons, but most people will simply not want to make a fool of themselves in a public situation.

So they will see something they think might be interesting, but will

go ‘oh I can’t say it’, so will order a glass of something else – something they can say.”

That consumer reaction is not unusual and it’s also not new. As Thorpe says, New Zealand has been making fantastic Gewurztraminers for years now – but when it comes to establishing a consumer following, there has been no traction.

“If consumers can’t get their tongues around it easily, they hesitate to order or buy it. That is probably the biggest single resistance. If you put a different name on some of those wines and consumers tasted them, they would love it.”

Coopers Creek have been a leader in terms of alternative varieties in New Zealand. They have been the first producers of Arneis, Gruner Veltliner, Marsanne, Albarino and this year are producing the country’s first Vermintino. But they are carefully considering if they will continue on that alternative path.

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“We are putting more and more thought into whether or not a certain variety is worth it, because a certain name might be so hard to say, no matter how good it might be, you are damned from day one in our English speaking home market.”

Nunns puts that hard to sell issue down to New Zealander’s mono linguistic heritage. We are comfortable with words that are born of the English language, but those that aren’t tend to scare us off.

“If the name is so hard that people are never in a million years going to come to grips with it, are you just banging your head against a brick wall? We now know people are scared of wine they can’t pronounce, so is it even worth it?

In some cases it is but the path to success is a very hands on one. You can’t just make the wine and hope it will sell. It will only sell if you tell people about it. You have to explain to on-premise staff and wine store staff – increase their

knowledge and give them the skills to increase the knowledge of the people they serve.”

The issues Nunns raises are well known to Thorpe who says consumer reaction to the new varieties already in the market is filtering back down the chain.

“I have clients looking at what we have imported and a lot of their decisions about whether they buy are based on whether they can sell it, and that is now based a lot on the name of the variety. They look at say Fiano and it looks interesting and sounds like what it looks like on the label. Whereas something like Saperavi, Primitivo and many other varieties which are hard to pronounce, they are not keen on.”

The fact we even have any of these new varieties is thanks to Riversun, who back in 2003 established an importation programme that saw close to 150 grape varieties come into New Zealand. Many of those are new clones of classics such as Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

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Sauvignon Blanc languished in the wilderness for 30 years before it arrived in Marlborough. Now it is New Zealand’s greatest export.

Will the names of these new varieties continue to put consumers off in the future?

Chardonnay. But in amongst those 150 are 20 new varieties never seen in New Zealand prior to 2003. The importation programme is not for the faint hearted, given it takes up to five years from woe to go.

“Firstly you have to source it, you have to make sure there is quarantine space available and then once you get it into the country it has to spend two years in quarantine,” Thorpe says. “Then it takes at least another year bulking it up so you have enough material so you can actually graft. We only take three plants out of quarantine, so to go from three plants to have 10,000 plus available, takes you between 10 and 15 months of rapid multiplication.”

That is just the initial phase he says.

“People who are really keen (on a new variety) will plant say half a hectare. They have to learn how to grow it, learn how to make the wine and then see if there is a market. All that takes another five years and then if they start to get some traction, they might start planting more. I have always said to start getting some real commercial demand, it is at least 10 years.”

Given all that, Thorpe says he isn’t sure there is the

market demand for increasing the portfolio of new varieties in the immediate future. Advertisements placed last year asked for wineries and growers to let them know if there was any particular new variety they were interested in.

“The message was, we are looking to bring in another round of imports, so if there is something you think should be in there, give us a call. We didn’t get a single phone call.”

Does that mean the appetite for trying something different is not there? He says probably not, given there are still a large number of varieties within the collection that haven’t yet been picked up by the industry.

“When we started this programme we said if one in 10 of what we import gets commercial, we are probably doing pretty well.

“Sauvignon Blanc is a great example of that. It sat in the national collection in Te Kauwhata for years. Nobody wanted it. They planted it in Auckland and that didn’t work.

It was seen as a useless variety until it landed in Marlborough. So the key message here is that it sat around in the industry for 30 years before it found its place. The same could be the case for some of the new varieties in our collection. Which is why the industry needs people like the Bells in Gisborne who have planted a whole lot of new imports. Some they will probably pull out, others they might plant more. But there is only one way to find out. You have to try it.”

And if the name is hard to pronounce then you have to ensure the marketing is followed up by education. Otherwise New Zealanders will continue to drink their way through five or six varieties during their lifetime, rather than experimenting with the many hundredsw of others that are out there. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 11

VINEYARD NEWS

POWDERY MILDEW – THE SEXUAL STAGE TESSA NICHOLSON

I

t has taken about 144 years since the introduction of powdery mildew to New Zealand for the sexual stage to arrive. Now growers have a tougher battle on their hands.

At the NZW Grape Days Peter Wood from Plant and Food described powdery mildew as “arguably the most important fungal pathogen” in grape vines. Why? Because it reduces grape yields and quality and can go on to reduce vine vigour and productivity. Anyone who suffered from this year, will agree. Once it affects the berries and reaches epidemic proportions, it is fatal to fruit quality.

Now that the sexual phase of this pathogen has been confirmed by Wood as being present in New Zealand, management techniques will have to be carefully controlled. Especially when it comes down to use of fungicides.

Using a scanning electron microscope shows the sexual stage.

PHOTO: PETER WOOD.

What is powdery mildew?

It is a biotrophic pathogen, which means it doesn’t kill the host, unlike botrytis which will kill the berries it is growing on, Wood said. It lives on the outside of the berry and only penetrates one cell deep.

Genetically speaking there are two types of powdery mildew. Group A is an asexual type, which over winters in a dormant bud and emerges from flag shoots, spreading infection steadily.

Group B is the sexual stage, which has been discovered in Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Kapiti and Marlborough during the past season. This group can over winter in the bark of the vine as chasmothecia (cleisotothecia), and doesn’t require a bud to survive during these months.

Wood said this type is active during the entire epidemic and is a more genetically diverse population of powdery mildew.

Both groups thrive in low UV light, in other words as the canopy becomes

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Powdery Mildew sexual stage – close up.

PHOTO: PETER WOOD.

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

dense, the pathogen can build up more rapidly. It is damaged by rain or cold conditions, but loves humidity. The disease cycle continues to go round and round, building up. It affects all green parts of the vine, including shoots, leaves and berries. If measures are taken in the early part of the season, it can be controlled. But this requires regular spraying at timely intervals.

The crop is very susceptible preflowering to five weeks after capfall, a period when the canopy has covered the fruit zone. As it is vital to ensure your spray is hitting the target and protecting the crop, use spray papers to ensure good coverage.

The spray programme should begin when shoots hit the 5cm mark and the interval between sprays should be every 10 – 14 days, with emphasis on shorter intervals when the crop is susceptible.

Fungicide resistance This is the greatest issue facing growers now that the sexual stage of powdery mildew is present. The reason why is explained in the following extract from a paper released by Margaret Tuttle McGrath of Cornell University, Riverhead, NY. “Systemic and translaminar fungicides are generally more at risk for resistance development than contact fungicides because they typically have specific, singlesite modes of action, which means they are active against only one point in one metabolic pathway in a pathogen. When resistance results from modification of a single major gene, pathogens are either resistant or sensitive to the pesticide and disruptive selection occurs. Resistance in this case is seen as complete loss of disease control that cannot be regained by using higher rates or more fre-

quent fungicide applications.”

What you use, when you use it, how often and how well applied, will become the most important decisions for growers trying to control powdery mildew in the future. If resistance occurs, they will lose one of the most important weapons in their arsenal.

NZW have released a Powdery Mildew fact sheet, which provides in-depth information on how to manage this pathogen. One of the key points, is the description of the two broad groups of fungicides which can be used for control, and how best to use them.

Multi-site fungicides (including sulphur, oils, bicarbonates and fatty acids): These feature multiple modes of action and are not at risk of resistance development. They form the basis of protectant/ eradicant programmes. Apart

from oils, these fungicides may be recommended for use alone or in mixtures or for alternating with fungicides at risk of developing resistance.

Single-site fungicides (including DMIs, strobilurins and azonaphthalenes): These are useful for protecting the foliage and bunches at any time but may have more strategic value when spray coverage is harder to achieve – that is, from the onset of flowering to pre-bunch closure.

Note: It is important that applications are managed to reduce resistance. Meaning you should restrict the number of applications of these products per season. Use in mixtures or alternate with other produces and do not use when attempting to control high levels of disease. ■ For a full copy of this fact sheet, visit the NZW members website.

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 13

RESEARCH NEWS

POWDERY MILDEW RESISTANCE TESSA NICHOLSON

A

fter a season where powdery mildew ran rampant in certain areas, growers are wondering if something has changed in terms of resistance to certain protective controls.

Trevor Lupton, from Lewis Wright Valuation and Consultancy in Gisborne, says his first thought when he heard of bad cases of powdery, was growers weren’t getting good spray coverage.

“Because powdery mildew is a great indicator of poor

spray coverage.”

But on further investigation, he realised that maybe there was something else going on. At the recent NZW Grape Days, Lupton explained how he had researched the spray diaries of a number of Gisborne growers to discover just what controls were being used and how often.

“I took two examples, one that had a good outcome and one that had a bad outcome. Both used the same spray unit, they had the same variety, same training system and

The forward facing bunch of grapes after spraying show no sign of powdery mildew.

14 //

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

were in a similar location. I wanted to break down the spray diaries to three parts. I wanted to know what went on from bud burst to pre flowering, but in particular I wanted to know what went on from flowering to bunch closure.”

Lupton said when he looked at the spray diary of the grower who had a bad outcome, he couldn’t understand the reason why. But as he started to look at more spray diaries a trend began to emerge.

“The blocks with good outcomes tended to use none or just one DMI in that crucial pre flowering to pre bunch closure period.

Blocks that had a poor outcome, tended to use one or two DMIs in the same period.”

While Lupton was investigating in Gisborne a research trial was being undertaken in Hawke’s Bay. This Grochem trial began their spray programme after pre flowering. Treatments included an untreated control, three different DMIs and a further treatment

using Quinoxyfen. The results showed dramatic differences in the level of powdery infection in the bunches at harvest.

“The untreated sat at 20 percent,” Lupton said. “The three different DMIs ranged from about five through to seven and up to 10 percent. The Quinoxyfen was sitting at 1.8 percent. Historically I would have expected the DMIs to have been at least as good as the Quinoxyfen, but they weren’t.”

He believes that may be due to the way it has been used, or at least how often it has been used in a particular season.

“If you read the label it says you should only apply a maximum of two DMIs on their own, a maximum of four with two in the mix and not to use as an eradicant.

But what has been the standard practice in this industry when we have powdery mildew outbreaks is we apply two DMIs back to back, seven to 10 days apart.

Whereas the back of the bunch shows signs of powdery, where the sprays haven’t reached.

“So it’s not the DMIs themselves, it’s the way we have been using them.”

Within his Gisborne survey of growers, he discovered a small group who had a tough time with powdery in 2013, but this year had a good outcome. The common denominator among these three was they moved from using three to four DMIs during the season in 2013, to using only one or none at all this year.

Given Powdery mildew is considered a two-year disease, with the inoculum being carried over from one year to the next, the positive outcome of three growers, who limited their use of DMIs was significant, Lupton said.

His advice to growers for the future, is to limit the use of DMIs on their own to two per season, and no more than four when mixed with a multi fungicide. They should only be applied when disease levels are low, and not once an outbreak has occurred.

Ensure that the spray unit is targeting the areas of concern, double check with spray papers, and ensure you don’t leave too long an interval between sprays – no more than 14 days. Spray from alternate direction to ensure you fill in all gaps. And open the canopy up as much as is possible, given powdery mildew does not like UV light. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 15

Let Battle Commence:

Protector and HML 3 hml

This programme has powdery mildew Woolly bud

SIGNIFICANT

7% lime sulphur

Powdery mildew infection last season:

LOW or NO Powdery mildew infection last season:

Why is this programme based on the control of powdery mildew?

Powdery mildew

Protectorhml and HML 32 Armour plate for grapes Used with additives, this is a proven treatment for the control of powdery mildew, botrytis, downy mildew, phomopsis and black spot.

Entirely suitable to meet the challenge raised by the recent discovery of the sexual phase of powdery mildew, whether it is earlier sporulation or treatment resistance.

Is one of the main reasons wineries reject a crop; it can cause a musty off flavour in finished wine. It is also an important pre-cursor to botrytis and other rots.

Other diseases The addition of copper offers effective control of phomopsis, downy mildew and black spot. Copper should always be applied in good drying conditions.

The spray of HML32 + sulphur + copper before flowering and then at 80% cap fall eradicates and protects against further microscopic powdery mildew or botrytis infection.

Botrytis control otherwise is achieved by using HML32 throughout the season.

Notes for growers: Rates HML32 - always use at the prescribed rate Sulphur - 3 Kg/ha all season Copper - 45g metallic copper / 100 litres.

Our preference is red copper (cuprous oxide) as it presented no spray tank issues in the field trials.

Contact your local Farmlands representative.

For both sulphur and copper, take into account local use rates and manufacturer’s recommendations.

DISCLAIMER: The Supply Terms of Henry Manufacturing Limited and Farmlands Co-operative Society Limited apply to the use of this spray programme.

Liability whether in tort (including negligence), contract or otherwise, for any loss, crop or vine injury or crop or vine failure, resulting from the application of this spray programme is excluded. Any user of this spray programme accepts this disclaimer.

co

L 32: Fungal Spray Programme 2014/15

w

control as the priority and contains both preventative and eradicative elements.

First leaf unfolded to inflorescences opening

Inflorescences open to 80% capfall

80% capfall to pre-bunch closure

Pre-bunch closure to veraison

HML32 + sulphur + copper at 10 -14 day intervals

If desired other products can be used at this growth stage for enhanced botrytis control

HML32 + sulphur + copper at 10 -14 day intervals

HML32 + sulphur + copper* at 10 -14 day intervals

First application HML32 + sulphur + copper

First application HML32 + sulphur + copper*

Follow up with 0.5% Protectorhml + sulphur at 10 -14 day intervals.

Add copper if required for the control of other diseases

If season presents high risk, continue with HML32 + sulphur + copper* at 10-14 day intervals

Spray with 0.5% Protectorhml + sulphur at 10 -14 day intervals. Add copper if required for the control of other diseases Final spray with HML32 + sulphur before inflorescences opening. Copper is optional but recommended as it provides a higher level of powdery mildew control

Spray timing This spray programme nominates a 10 -14 day spray pattern. This timing should be tempered by best local practices, disease pressure and weather. Where possible, spray ahead of weather events.

Application Good coverage is critical. Sprayer performance should be confirmed with water sensitive papers. Application should take into account canopy density and bunch exposure. Adjust operating speeds accordingly and consider alternating spraying direction.

Water rates

Otherwise, follow-up with 0.5% Protectorhml + sulphur at 10-14 day intervals. Add copper* if required for control of other diseases. * check with winery PHIs

Results proven in the field Last season we undertook a screening trial to examine the capacity of HML32 (with and without additives) to eradicate live powdery mildew. The results (shown below) prove HML32 with particular additives produces high performance for the control and eradication of powdery mildew. The full report and a video of the trial is published on our website.

Farmlands Horticulture independently conducted a trial with a wide variety of chemistry including HML32 with additives. It was also one of their best performing treatments. Their report is also published on our website.

Avoid low or ultra-low rates.

100

HML 32 Powdery Mildew Eradication Study January 2014

Compatibility with other products Both Protectorhml and HML32 are alkaline. Under normal conditions both products are compatible with wettable sulphurs and copper hydroxide/ oxide fungicides, as well as seaweed products.

Incompatibility occurs with some foliar fertilizers such as calcium.

Before mixing in the sprayer, do a ‘jar test’ with spray water and all ingredients to check for flocculation, separation, etc.

Further information and advice Visit www.henrymanufacturing.co.nz for full trial reports and supporting data, including notes on sprayer audit.

Call Chris Henry on 027 294 1490 or email: chris@henrymanufacturing.co.nz Contact your local Farmlands representative.

80

83%

83%

Reinfection 14 and 21 days after spraying 60

Percent active powdery mildew

60%

X 1 – one application X 2 – two applications HML – HML32 at 1.25 litres per 100 litres 300, 600, 900 – grams of potassium bicarbonate per 100 litres Cu – 45 grams of metallic copper per 100 litres

50% 40

20

18%

16%

4% 0

4%

6% 0%

0.1%

3%

0.1%

VINTAGE 2014

UNIQUE VINTAGE TESSA NICHOLSON

V

intage 2014 may have been bigger than initially expected, but then so too is the export growth. The 29 percent increase in tonnages will go a long way to continue that growth and help wineries that were beginning to feel the bite of low inventory.

In total New Zealand harvested 445,000 tonnes, with the majority of that coming out of Marlborough.

But it wasn’t the only region to see an increase in yields. Every one saw a rise, with the increases varying from up two percent in Canterbury and Wairarapa, to up 35 percent in Nelson.

By Region: • Marlborough – 329,572 tonnes up 31% • Hawke’s Bay – 44,502 tonnes up 15% • Gisborne – 16,192 tonnes up 4% • Central Otago – 10,540 tonnes up 25% • Nelson – 10,494 tonnes up 35% • Waipara – 10,127 tonnes up 32% • Wairarapa – 5,743 tonnes up 2% • Auckland – 1,392 tonnes up 76% • Canterbury – 835 tonnes up 20% • Northland – 210 tonnes up 61% • Waikato – 63 tonnes up 411% Sauvignon Blanc made up more than 72 percent of the total yield, with 310,240 tonnes. But it wasn’t just in Marlborough that this variety was by far the largest. NZWinegrower CEO Philip Gregan said it was the largest variety harvested

18 //

in Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa, Nelson and Waipara – a first for the industry.

All of the major varieties saw an increase, with Merlot and Chardonnay growing by 7%, Pinot Gris

up 8%, Pinot Noir up 15% and Sauvignon Blanc up 36%.

What’s more there were three

NEW ZEALAND WINE INDUSTRY VINTAGE INDICATORS BY REGION 2014

TOTAL VOLUME OF GRAPES HARVESTED

29%

445,000 tonnes

*

figures based on * Estimated production the 2014 vintage survey.

% of total harvest

tonnage per region

76.7%

Marlborough 329, 572 tonnes

10.4%

3.8% 2.5% 2.4% 2.4% 1.3%

Hawke’s Bay 44,502

tonnes

Gisborne 16,192 tonnes

52.2% GROWERS

Central Otago 10,540 tonnes

ALL REGIONS 2014

Nelson 10,494 tonnes

Change on previous vintage

Northland +61% Waipara 10,127 tonnes Wairarapa 5,743 tonnes

.3%

Auckland 1,392 tonnes

.2%

Canterbury 835 tonnes

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

SHARE OF VINTAGE WINERIES 47.8%

Northland 210 tonnes Waikato 63 tonnes

Auckland +76%

Waikato + 4 1 1%

Nelson +3 5%

Gisborne + 4 %

+1 5% Hawke’s Bay

Wairarapa +2 0 % +3 1% Marlborough

Waipara Valley +3 2 %

Canterbury +2 0 % +2 5% Central Otago

regions that for the first time ever surpassed the 10,000 tonne mark – they were Nelson, Central Otago and Waipara.

Gregan says every region benefited from a benign spring with no major frost events, followed by a stunning flowering and fruit set.

“What happened then? There seemed from our perspective to be a record level of intervention in the vineyards to get the crops down to manageable sizes,” he says.

The large vintage is in sharp contrast to the situation New Zealand found itself in, back in 2012, when only 263,944 tonnes were harvested. That created a number of headaches for wineries that had been steadily growing their export markets only to find themselves in a situation where they couldn’t supply. By the time it got to vintage 2013, stocks were almost nonexistent, and the higher yields last

year helped to alleviate that somewhat. Gregan says by looking at the export figures since 2009, you can see when the lack of stock began to affect exports back towards the end of 2012. They only began to rise again after the 2013 vintage came on stream, although even that large harvest didn’t give wineries much leeway.

“We know a number of wineries were quite low going into harvest. We also know that two and a half million litres of 2014 wine was exported in May, which is a record high level for that time of the year.

That is an indication of a very early change over. We are expecting to have exported 190 million litres of wine at the year end June.”

While there might be some disconcerted people following the record harvest, Gregan says the situation this year is totally different to what happened in 2008 and 2009.

“Our take is that we have had a very good growing season. This isn’t a jump in production fuelled by a whole lot of extra vineyards coming into production. Instead we see this year as pretty much a one off, because of the conditions.

We had winery demand for more

grapes. That was combined with fully mature vineyards out there.

Then we had a great bud burst, a really good flowering and fantastic weather in March. When you put all those factors together, it was a season that was pretty much unique in the past 20 years.” ■

The effect of a small vintage in 2012 is reflected in the drop off in export sales.

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 19

WINE NEWS

MANIPULATING PINOT NOIR PHENOLICS TESSA NICHOLSON

P

inot Noir is a fickle grape and even more fickle in the winery. But research from Australia may have just made the winemaking task a little easier.

All great red wines, Pinot Noir included, require the right balance of tannins for mouth feel, and anthocyanins for colour. Unfortunately for Pinot though, both these phenolics are unusual in terms of their stability and levels, says Dr Bob Dambergs, a Research Associate at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture.

“Pinot Noir is different to other varieties. Although the grapes seem to have a high tannin concentration, it is mostly seed tannin, as the skin to seed tannin ratio is low,” Dambergs says.

Adding to that, Pinot Noir is also low in anthocyanins and these in turn are also quite unstable, which can lead to colour degradation in the resulting wines.

“Even though anthocyanins are the colour in the grape, they are not the final colour in the wine.

They have to react with the tannins to produce large pigmented compounds.”

Given the problems, Dambergs’ research was looking for ways of manipulating both phenolics, once the fruit hits the winery.

There are a number of tried and tested methods of winemaking when it comes to Pinot. Cold maceration is one way, as is running some juice off the skins immediately.

Some winemakers prefer to perform extended maceration

20 //

“Winemakers are used to running juice off as soon as they crush, a method known as saignée, which is French for bleeding. So you bleed some of the juice off, which allows more skin concentration.”

where the skins are left in for an extended period after ferment, others prefer to add stems to the ferment or to perform whole bunch ferments.

“We have benchmarked a lot of these techniques, but then we tried some unusual methods to enhance tannin extraction and not necessarily colour extraction but colour stabilisation. One method is really simple to perform.

“Winemakers are used to running juice off as soon as they crush, a method known as saignée, which is French for bleeding. So you bleed some of the juice off, which allows more skin concentration.”

What Dambergs and his team found though, was if that juice was stored cold and placed back into the tank near the end of ferment, the end result was more tannin in the final wine.

“The yeast has a lot to do with these extraction processes,” Dambergs says. “Some of the metabolites the yeast produce also cause these reactions, but these metabolites are only produced from actively fermenting yeast.

Near the end of ferment, when

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

Bob Dambergs

the yeast metabolism is slowing down, the concentrations of these metabolites fall off.

But if you bleed some juice off early and feed it back near the end of the ferment, it actually helps keep them kicking along a bit more and enhances the tannin extraction.

“We have also worked on methods to enhance skin tannin extraction over seed tannin and to allow extraction before fermentation, so that the wines can then be fermented at cooler temperatures, to assist in retaining volatile aromas,” Dambergs says.

“The ramification of this research is that it will give winemakers better control over wine style”.

He also believes more winemakers should be testing

their tannin levels, than are currently, given this is such an important aspect of the final wine.

For example, when testing tannin levels in a range of Burgundies, Dambergs found their average level was at 2.4 grams of tannin per litre of wine. Whereas the average in Tasmania was 1.2, with some wine’s levels being as low as 0.3. New Zealand Pinot Noir tannin levels are in a similar range to Tasmanian.

“Some of the best wines in the world are made from Pinot Noir in Burgundy.

“They are difficult wines to make, but winemakers love the challenge and love the wines .”

This research may help those winemakers to get closer to achieving the goal of producing the perfect Pinot ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

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WINE AWARDS

AIR NEW ZEALAND WINE AWARDS T

wo highly respected international wine personalities will be joining this year’s judging panel for the country’s premier wine competition, the Air New Zealand Wine Awards.

Respected wine writer David Brookes from Australian Gourmet Traveller WINE, Wine Companion and Wine & Spirits magazines, and Sebastian Braun, one of Sweden’s leading wine buyers, will be joining the judging team of 26 for this year’s competition.

Judging for the 2014 Air New Zealand Wine Awards will take place November 3 - 5, in Auckland. Announcement of the gold medal winners will be a week later, prior to the trophy announcements, which will be revealed at the black tie dinner in Hawke’s Bay on November 22.

In last year’s competition 1,379 wines were entered across 16 different classes. A total of 655 medals were awarded: 111 gold, 196 silver and 348 bronze.

Sebastian Braun

A i r Ne w Z e a l a n d W i n e Aw a r d s Chair of Judges Michael Brajkovich MW, says having international judges involved in the process ensures the Awards maintain their high standard.

“The Air New Zealand Wine Awards is a highly respected competition internationally,” he says. “Our winemakers are world-renowned and having an experienced judging panel is critical in helping the industry strive for improvement in quality and innovation.”

The competition has been running for over 30 years, recognising excellence in New Zealand winemaking. Entries for the 2014 competition open to New Zealand wineries on 11 August.

For more information visit www.airnzwineawards.co.nz

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WINE MARKETING

THE CHANGING CONSUMER TESSA NICHOLSON

T

he age of the Australian wine consumer is changing and with it the way they look at where their wine is coming from. That’s the opinion of wine commentator Mike Bennie, who among other outlets, writes for Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine, Sydney Style Magazine and is Editor at large of the online WineFront.com.au In Marlborough last month as a judge at the Spiegelau International Wine Competition, Bennie said it is the younger generation, 18 – 35-year-olds, who are “very much plugged in to wine”.

They are also the generation that is becoming more conscious of what they are eating, drinking and where it is coming from.

“This generation is asking where their wine comes from and how it is made. They are interested in consuming things that they equate with what’s in their pantry.

So if they have organic vegetables from the farmer’s market in their cupboard and produce from the food markets they are using for their daily consumption, then they want to know their wine has a similar philosophy behind it.”

That has led directly to a far greater awareness of organic, biodynamic and natural wines. Never was that more obvious than at Rootstock 2014, held in Sydney earlier this year. The two-day event attracted 13,500 people, making it the largest wine and food festival ever held in Australia. Bennie says it has set a precedence that all consumable producers should be tuned in to.

24 //

“And certainly it was the younger generation, largely again those 18 – 35-year-olds that were there in huge numbers. They were highly engaged and having a great time.”

That is not to say there is no place for conventional wines, far from it, but Bennie said there needs to be more acceptance of different philosophies.

“There is a strange line drawn in the sand that really shouldn’t be so contested. The debate between producers who are farming organically and biodynamically, and those who choose to make the most of their grapes by extrapolating what they can in the winery to produce wines of great consistency, needn’t be a tooth and nail fight. It’s really about giving consumers something that is aligned more with their consumption philosophies. It is a bit of a ying and yang thing. There are many people who are not interested and don’t care (where their food or wine comes from) but then there are a number of others who are truly interested. Rootstock is evidence of that.”

Bennie strongly believes that wine shouldn’t be treated as an aside when it comes to accompanying a meal.

“Food and wine are too intrinsically linked and wine is another food. It really should be seen as a condiment on the table, and not necessarily something that is set to the side.”

That is already the case in many top restaurants, where chefs and

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

sommeliers work hard to partner their food with the wine list. It is in this area, that he says organic, biodynamic and natural wines are starting to make an impression.

“Sommeliers and chefs are more engaged with their entire set of products. If you’re a chef and you are foraging, or using sustainably farmed produce or sourcing from a single source for your beef programme, then it should be that your wine programme matches that. Serving up mass produced wine alongside single farm pork is a bit of a lack of alignment in terms of what you are offering. So I think chefs are becoming more aware that they have to have an

entire experience at their restaurant and are working to match the sustainable food with the equivalent wine.”

There are some producers who will say, taking the organic or biodynamic route can be more expensive. Can wines produced in this way command higher prices?

“I think so. Fine wine has precedence in the world, of being very expensive. Compared to the fine wines of the world, the wines produced with a keen eye on sustainability are relatively inexpensive.”

Theoretically New Zealand should be well placed to take advantage given

Mike Bennie

Rootstock – Sydney 2014

the emphasis placed on Sustainable Winegrowing. While full of praise for the way the New Zealand wine industry has worked together to deliver the programme Bennie believes there is more needed to ensure the consumer understands it.

“There needs to be more consumer generated talk, to gain more interest in what is going

on,” Bennie said. “Sitting down with New Zealand Wine is quite inspiring. I find them and the powers that be, very acutely aware of being progressive and having a contemporary understanding of wine and this younger generation.

And I think there will be great success, once the sustainability programme is communicated more clearly.”

On a completely different note, Bennie allayed fears that Australian consumers have ended their love affair with Sauvignon Blanc.

Important that they haven’t, given they are our largest market. He said while there appeared to be a backlash to the variety, that came more from media than it did from consumers.

“The drinking public has had

no backlash. It has an equal and/ or greater thirst for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Perhaps the media in terms of understanding consumers are missing the mark a little bit, in terms of the way they are communicating to them.”

Just another area for producers to focus on when it comes to marketing. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 25

WINE UPDATE

TOP VINTAGE NUMBERS STACK UP Why and how was 2013 such an exceptional vintage for full bodied New Zealand reds?

Joelle Thomson investigates.

“I TRULY believe that 2013 is the vintage that will firmly put Hawke’s Bay on the international map and am confident that these wines can go up against Bordeaux wines worth much more and come out looking very good,” says Nick Picone, senior Auckland winemaker for Villa Maria.

The wines he refers to are the full bodied reds from Hawke’s Bay’s 2013 vintage; a year that is widely being hailed as the best or one of the best in modern New Zealand wine history.

The summer weather in 2013 was warm, dry and relatively rainfree. The season was long. Disease risk was minimal to non-existent in many parts of the Bay. As we talk about these factors, Picone pours Hawke’s Bay barrel

components of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Malbec from the 2013 vintage into our tasting glasses. It is May this year when we taste, so these wines are all but finished. They are extremely deep in colour, extremely high in tannin and extremely ripe in flavour; all signs of a potentially long life ahead.

Picone says that the deep colour of 2013 reds was more uniform than in most vintages, especially compared with the challenging 2012 vintage reds, in which cool days and lack of sunshine stood in stark contrast to 2013 and 2014.

The samples we tasted for this story contained a maximum of 20% new oak and their alcohol levels were also moderate; all under 14% ABV. Both of these figures are

lower than usual, says Picone.

It is the Merlot that surprises most with its intense colour, flavour and tannins. Picone describes it as classic. He is not alone.

“Poor old Merlot. I think it is very underestimated, both in terms of its potential quality and in how hard it is to make well. We talk a lot in New Zealand about how hard it is to make great Pinot Noir, but I think it is just as hard to create great Merlot. There are few people doing it well outside of Bordeaux; good value Merlot comes from Chile and some good wines from Washington. And Merlot is one of Hawke’s Bay’s great strengths.”

These wines and Picone’s words call to mind the 2013 barrel components for another top

Nic Picone

26 //

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

red Hawke’s Bay wine from 2013; Craggy Range Sophia.

Craggy Range general manager and Master of Wine Steve Smith has been doing an international tasting tour this year of component wines from 2013, showing Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot to trade and media in the UK and US as well as in this country.

“There have been a lot of aha moments at these tastings of these component wines,” says Smith.

“Whichever way you look at it, 2013 and 2014 are both great years, but I am strongly of the view that ‘13 is a better vintage because the heat between flowering and veraison was really warm, whereas it was cool in 2014 until the end of January and then pretty warm around veraison into March.

The 2013’s are going to be very classic wines whereas the 2014 vintage has given us very open, forward, delicious wines – I think they’ll be glamour wines but the ‘13s are classics.”

Classic or glamour, two years with such strong heat summation signal a reversal of fortune for Hawke’s Bay, whose winemakers struggled with ripeness levels in the cool 2012 vintage.

The numbers stack up for the past two vintages in more ways than one. While flavours in the 2013 vintage reds from the Bay are extremely ripe, the alcohol levels remain moderate with

Craggy Range Sophia finishing at 13.6% ABV, which Smith attributes to vine age as well as a long, dry vintage.

In the summer of 2013, Hawke’s Bay was officially in drought.

“This wine (Sophia) and others we are working with are made from vines that are now 15 years old. That’s giving the vines – and us - the ability to show different characters than they did in their youth.

“And since we planted those vines ourselves, we are now watching the fruit of our labours translate in riper grapes at lower sugar levels than many winemakers have ever seen before in New Zealand,” says Smith.

Picone says the moderate alcohol levels can also be attributed to the high diurnal range during the 2013 summer, which, combined with dry weather, enabled top vine health.

Cool nights and relatively dry weather leading into the 2013 vintage ensured minimal disease.

“These are not blockbuster wines because they don’t have high alcohol levels,” Picone says.

“Instead, there’s an incredible purity and fineness of flavour without high alcohol. The cool nights lengthened the vintage and the ripening, so 2013 wines will age well because the components are so well balanced,” he adds.

It was a similar story in North Canterbury. Ataahua winemaker Stephanie Hen-

derson, who is working with vines that she planted herself in the early 1990s, says that 2013 was a long season with cool nights, a dry finish to the season, minimal disease pressure and intense tannins and colour.

“We had cool nights and a dry vintage, so there was no pressure to bring grapes in earlier than scheduled in 2013, which made it an ideal harvest. Sometimes we get so much heat over summer that the acids tend to drop but in 2013 we had such a long season with cool nights that we got intense colour and lots of tannins in the Pinot Noir.”

It was a season in which minimal sprays were used, due to the dry weather, says Henderson, who uses her grapes to produce her relatively new Ataahua wines; first made from the 2008 vintage.

For many winemakers in both islands, vineyard maturity is a key

Steve Smith

to rising quality, says Smith.

“Over the past year I have heard time and again from winemakers all over the country that they are getting maturity coming through in the vines which is translating lower alcohol levels with ripeness that we just wouldn’t have seen in the past.”

There is at least one more reason for high quality wines of 2013; low cropping.

The vines were naturally in a low cropping mode after 2012, says Smith.

“They weren’t overly vigorous because in a cool year they don’t put down a lot of stored energy, so that’s another reason why 2013 has been so good.”

So there was a silver lining to the cool 2012 vintage after all. joellethomson@vodafone.co.nz ■ * While most of the 2013 reds have yet to pour out of wineries, the trickle of wine that is already on the market proves these numbers with their moderate alcohol levels, intense colour, ripe tannins and flavours.

Craggy Range’s Sophia Cellar.

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 27

REGIONS NELSON

NEW LOOK FOR NELSON The interim logo of Wine Nelson.

TESSA NICHOLSON

H

ats off to Nelson Winegrowers who in just under a year have gone from deciding to take a closer look at their branding, to being almost ready to launch a new name and look.

It was only last August at their AGM that the possibility of moving away from the name Nelson Wineart was first raised. Some of those present felt maybe this designation had passed its use by date.

What began as a discussion, moved at an exponential pace into a decision to strategically review the entire positioning of Nelson Winegrowers and their marketing arm. Chair of the marketing committee, Andrew Sutherland said two consultants were employed to help with the review, which began with extensive interviews of industry members including growers and winery owners.

“We also talked to wine writers and influencers as well as people from around the world,” Sutherland said. “We wanted to

28 //

test their perceptions of the Nelson wine region, and our name and what it meant to them. The over riding conclusion was we should move away from using Wineart to something new.”

The Wineart title was always an appropriate one, given the strength of the artistic community residing in the Nelson region. No more so than when the city was home to The World of Wearable Arts, (which has now moved to Wellington). But it was fairly obvious Sutherland said, that it was no longer as appropriate in this day and age.

The end result is Wine Nelson will be the new moniker for the region – simplistic and to the point.

But the changes don’t stop with the new name. There are three other goals the organisation is working towards as well.

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

Nelson Marketing Committee Chair, Andrew Sutherland.

“Firstly to strengthen Nelson’s wine marketing capability. Second to strengthen communications and enhance what we have been doing in the past. And the third is to develop strategic partnerships.

We will be looking for key people and organisations to partner and look at how we increase awareness of who we are and the quality of what we do as we head into the future.”

Following on from the strategic review, Nelson Winegrowers has appointed two new staff members. Replacing Gisela Purcell who has been General Manager at the helm for six years, are Jane

Docherty(winemaker) and Andrea McLeay (Marketing, Communication and Engagement Specialist) Docherty will take on the administration role, while McLeay has been contracted as Marketing Manager. She said now the name has been confirmed, her next step will be to create a distinctive brand identity and a guiding “toolkit” for everyone in the Nelson wine industry from growers, to cellar doors and winemakers.

“It is really important what we put around the Wine Nelson name; the imagery and a tone of voice that express our story. It will be the stories we tell about this region, and the experience people have when they visit that will help us take Nelson wines to the level where they should be.”

She said the toolkit will help everyone involved with Nelson wine industry to speak with “one clear voice.”

“That is very important as we move forward into the future.” ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

YOUNG GUNS

Brought to you by

YOUNG GUNS CENTRAL OTAGO How Long Have You Worked In Central Otago?

Eight and a half years.

Having an incredible hands on role, from in the vineyard, the cellar and laboratory.

and knowledge sharing are as open and loose as late nights are during The Pinot Celebration.

What Brought You To Central Otago?

Liaising and learning from our viticultural team.

When You’re Not Making Wine?

I was in pursuit of a profoundly perfect Pinot Noir posting.

Adapting to and experiencing each growing season within our vineyards, the evolution of our techniques and wines.

I’m thrust into outdoor adventures, usually with Dog leading the way. For 2014 we are in constant search of lakes, rivers and beach experiences, no matter how chilly it may be.

Where Have You Travelled In Wine To Get Here?

It began with my Dad and Uncle in Mount Gambier, thrusting Chardonnay and Pinot Noir twigs into the ground in the early nineties.

Warm climate winemaking in McLaren Vale and a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Oenology) at University of Adelaide in the early 2000s.

What Do You Enjoy Most About Central Otago?

The people and camaraderie within the wine industry. From the region’s pioneers, along with its eccentric, eclectic and electric personalities. Discussions

Over to Margaret River to make Chardonnay and Cabernet before launching into Central Otago. In between all of this frivolity, a couple of overseas jaunts to Austria’s Kamptal making Grüner Veltliner and Riesling and into Italy’s Le Marche making Pinot Noir, Albanella, Sangiovese and Ancellotta.

There are no cold Emersons in the fridge at 4pm during harvest!

I run out of clean, comfortable warm socks also during harvest.

I split my favourite winery pants two years running, climbing ladders or fences, again during harvest.

Your Favourite Wine?

I have a quite a few favourites at any one time. Currently I’m into the deliciousness of ChigninBergeron from the Savoie, Chardonnay from Western Australia – particularly form Donnybrook and Pemberton, Pinot Noir dominant blend Champagne/ Sparkling with no dosage, full MLF and 3 years on lees, Pinot Noir from the Gibbston sub region of Central Otago.

Mount Gambier in the Limestone Coast of South Australia, The Henty region of South Western Victoria and The Jura.

Future Aspirations?

The diversity of role; having to know ample about everything, or at least know where to find the information, but be a master of none of it. From civil engineering, to geology, organic chemistry and psychology.

Being able to take my best mate Zeus to work every day.

30 //

Holidaying in Australia with my hilarious and engaging family.

It Sucks When….

Which Wine Region Excites You Most Right Now?

What Do You Enjoy Most About Your Job?

Interacting, discussing, challenging, laughing and tasting with the GVW team, particularly CK, Swirtz and Sheeba.

Always trying to keep on top of veggie patch maintenance with a mild self sufficient twist.

Experimental cooking.

SASCHA HERBET AGE 39 TITLE WINEMAKER G I B B S T O N VA L L E Y W I N E S

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

Obtain a Stainless Steel Welding qualification, to articulate better in social occasions, have a herd of Buffalo and make my own mozzarella, create an unforgettable dining experience for David Attenborough, Damon Albarn and Robert Downey Jnr and finally, travel to Copenhagen and get our Home Block Le Maitre Pinot Noir on the wine list at Noma. ■

How Long Have You Worked In Central Otago?

10 yrs What Brought You To Central Otago?

Lifestyle outside of work and close to home Where Have You Travelled In Wine To Get Here?

France, Germany, USA, Switzerland What Do You Enjoy Most About Your Job? Being outside every day What Do You Enjoy Most About Central Otago?

The amazing scenery and ability to explore so easily, rivers and mountains which are on our doorstep When You’re Not Making Wine Or Growing Grapes?

Kayaking, mountain biking, snowboarding It Sucks When….

The frost alarm goes off before you’ve gone to bed Your Favourite Wine?

Any 2007 Central Otago Pinot right now..

Which Wine Region Excites You Most Right Now? Central Otago N I C K PA U L I N AGE 30 T I T L E V I T I C U LT U R I S T AT PEREGRINE WINES

Future Aspirations?

Continue to explore, learn and understand the world of wine and use it to grow the best wine I can, and have fun along the way. ■

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 31

D AV E S U T T O N AGE: 29 TITLE: WINEMAKER FOR V I N P R O LT D

How Long Have You Worked In Central Otago?

Three years going on four.

What Brought You To Central Otago?

I worked a vintage at Peregrine in 2010 and just fell in love with the place, so when a permanent job came up at VinPro I jumped at the chance.

Where Have You Travelled In Wine To Get Here?

Several harvests each in Australia, France and Ukraine, plus the USA, Chile, Spain and Germany. Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay round out my New

Zealand experience.

What Do You Enjoy Most About Your Job? The wide variety of quality fruit we get to work with here.

We see almost every sub-region and variety produced in Otago, and it gives a real understanding of what each parcel can do and their individual strengths.

What Do You Enjoy Most About Central Otago?

The epic scenery and lifestyle. In terms of work, I love the way that Central Otago winemakers work together, sharing equipment,

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32 //

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

experience and even staff. It’s definitely not as cutthroat as other regions I have worked in.

When You’re Not Making Wine Or Growing Grapes?

Brewing beer, snowboarding and getting stuck into the garden.

It Sucks When….

The weather dictates your picking decisions. The big issue down here is frost, and it’s heart breaking to see a good block get fried before it can deliver to its full potential.

Your Favourite Wine?

Central Pinot of course!

Which Wine Region Excites You Most Right Now? China. It’s so massive, and the momentum is building to make premium wines there, so I think the next 10 years will see Chinese wine go from strength to strength.

Future Aspirations?

Always striving to increase knowledge and skills and to continue making wines that I can stand behind and be proud of. In time I’d like to extend that right through to point of sale with my own label. ■

Some may speak of range.

Others of quality.

All speak of

LEN IBBOTSON AGE: 34 T I T L E : H E A D O F V I T I C U LT U R E T E R R A S A N C TA

How Long Have You Worked In Central Otago?

I began working in Central Otago in late 2007 and became firmly entrenched in the vineyard with regular forays into the winery during harvest and then off to the northern hemisphere during our southern winters.

What Brought You To Central Otago?

While studying at Lincoln, I had the grandest job ever where I worked at a wine bar that served Central Otago Pinot Noir. After becoming familiar with these mysterious wines, I immediately felt drawn to this part of New Zealand that I had previously not explored.

Where Have You Travelled In Wine To Get Here?

I started thinking about wine seriously at Lincoln University then moved to southern France for a year before shifting to Central Otago. Since arriving, I’ve been lucky enough to have the flexibility to work northern hemisphere vintages in Canada and a couple of times in Burgundy.

What Do You Enjoy Most About Your Job? The diversity. I work with a small company that has a great team. I like the mixture of farming, science and creativity that results in a most interesting product.

What Do You Enjoy Most About Central Otago?

The scenery is breath-taking. I really like the distinct change in seasons, from dusty, dry and hot to shivering cold, hoar frosts and snowing in the hills. The isolation can be challenging sometimes but then growing grapes is a somewhat rural occupation.

When You’re Not Making Wine Or Growing Grapes?

In the summer, I like to go kayaking and mountain biking and wintertime is skiing. I love cooking, having dinner parties and sharing time with friends, my wife and our two spoilt rotten dogs Edgar-Allen and Sophia.

It Sucks When….

Nature changes the rules.

Your Favourite Wine?

Not sure that’s a fair question; there’s just too many. It’s the glass of wine that I’m drinking with family and friends at the dinner table that captures my attention then pairs perfectly with the meal.

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Which Wine Region Excites You Most Right Now? Absolutely, it’s Central Otago.

It’s a relatively young region with unlimited potential. At Terra Sancta, I am privileged to work with some of the oldest vines in the region and as a result I have some insight into what the future may look like for Central Otago Pinot Noir. It’s exciting!

Future Aspirations?

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Keep learning, stay engaged and have a bit of fun along the way. ■

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 33

REGIONS MARLBOROUGH

BABICH WINERY – A FAMILY INVESTMENT TESSA NICHOLSON

T

he Babich name goes back to 1916 when a young Josip released his first wine. The grapes were his own, grown in the far north (Kaikino) personally trod and made, and then sold in a wine shop he opened.

These days the Babich name is associated with fine wines that emanate from Henderson,

Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough.

While the company has been producing wine for 98 years, they have never had a custom built winery – something that has now been remedied with a state of the art facility in Marlborough.

The new winery, commissioned in time for the 2014 vintage, is the biggest investment ever made by his family, Managing

Director Joe Babich says.

The design and construction was undertaken by Apollo Projects and was the first greenfield project in the region for four years. Originally when the build began, Babich says the aim was to have a 3000 tonne facility.

“We had consent for 6000 tonne and this year we put through 4820 tonne, so it became

a 4000 tonne winery during the build.”

In that sense the winery had to undergo some major expansion, with part of that occurring during vintage itself.

“Stage two was due to start about mid May, but the four tanks we put in, went in during vintage because our estimates were showing that this year The colours of the winery reflect the nearby Wither Hills.

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was potentially going to be very big,” Babich said. “We started to become a bit nervous about whether we could accommodate all the fruit. So we put in four extra tanks and three of them were filled in the last week of vintage.”

The multi million dollar winery is an indication of the commitment Babich has to the Marlborough region.

“We have investment in Hawke’s Bay and Auckland, but we have more money invested in Marlborough than we have in the rest of New Zealand. That is the way the market has gone and we have gone with it.”

The specifications for the winery were to be able to complete harvest in a 20 day window, bringing in 200 tonne a day, working up to a maximum of 300 tonne a day. However the reality was slightly different in

36 //

this the first year of operation.

“The total intake was 4820 tonnes and we were able to ramp up to 350 tonnes a day, and for two days we did 450 tonne.”

Not all the fruit coming in, came in large tonnages. One of the specifics Babich was adamant about was the ability to continue to make artisan wines, from small batches of fruit. While at the front of the winery there are four presses catering for up to 400 tonnes a day, at the rear, there is a small crusher and press (for whole bunch pressing) that deals with just three to four tonnes of fruit.

Given Babich was the company winemaker for 35 years, he must be marvelling at the new technology available and wishing he could be hands on once again.

“Put it this way, I am just happy to direct it.”

But his experience has played

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

a large part in the development of the facility.

“I learnt a lot in those 35 years and it was very nice to be able to put all of my experience into this winery, knowing exactly what we wanted.”

And it might not finish here, especially given the expansion that occurred during vintage 2014. With 1.6ha of land at the Cloudy Bay Industrial Park site, Babich is not ruling out further expansion in the future, but only if it is managed properly.

“We have the scope to expand, but the thing is we are a family company and we have no ideas or reason to expand for expansion’s sake. We have not set the company up for sale, we are not selling it!,” he said adamantly.

“We are setting the company up for the next generation.”

With Joe and brother Peter the second generation, the third

is already represented by Peter’s son David who is now the general manager.

So would his dad Josip who began the dynasty, be proud?

“I think he would think we were mad. My father had real sound principals of winemaking, but when you have enough, why go further? I am not like that. To me, business is the game and I like it. So to me it is a business progression. I have no interest in growing it to make more money, but you do have to go forward or backwards. We are not in the business to go backwards, but I do not necessarily want to go forward just to get bigger and make a million cases. That doesn’t appeal to me. I just want to make better wine and hand it on to the next generation.” ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com A family affair, Peter (left), Joe and David Babich.

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REGIONS HAWKE’S BAY

DELEGAT’S SHOWPIECE MARY SHANAHAN

D

elegat’s new winery northwest of Hastings is designed to establish the company’s presence and public face in Hawke’s Bay and to be a showcase for the processes involved in growing and making wine.

Prominently located alongside the Hawke’s Bay expressway and with a vineyard to be established alongside, the winery will have a glazed façade to allow views through, into and out of the building.

Australian-based architects Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp say “the parts of the winery will be clearly apparent to visitors and celebrate the whole winemaking process of growing, harvesting, pressing, aging, decanting and consumption.”

Currently under construction, the winery, with a floor area of up to 18,980sq m, is being future proofed to handle up to 20,000 tonnes of grapes a year. As a yardstick of its capacity, Hawke’s Bay’s total production in 2014 was 44,502 tonnes.

Delegat’s, which has a 14 percent share by volume of New

38 //

Zealand wine exports, says the Hawke’s Bay climate and soils have unique qualities which make them ideal for producing worldclass cool climate wines. It regards Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris as the region’s leading varietals.

The company’s extensive Hawke’s Bay plantings include sites on the Heretaunga Plains, Gimblett Gravels and the Crownthorpe subregion. The 500 hectares of plantings represent around 10 percent of the region’s vineyard area, making Delegat’s one of Hawke’s Bay’s largest producers.

The new winery, under construction on the southeastern corner of a 13.42ha site on the corner of the expressway and Everden Road, is to be a dedicated Delegat’s facility and won’t be undertaking contract winemaking. The proposed operational date is early 2015, ready for that year’s harvest.

To be “a landmark within the Hawke’s Bay landscape”, the complex will include a grape receival area, wine processing and

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

cellaring areas, laboratory, staff facilities, administration offices and reception and a cellar door which will be open seven days a week year round.

“As the expressway is an important public face to the development, it is proposed to have glazing along this building frontage, with wine vines in the foreground, allowing views through to the activity and function of the building.”

Delegat’s say the development, with its focus on the winemaking experience and close proximity to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Sports Park and Hastings’ network of cycling and walking pathways, will add to the tourism experience offered by the region.

In three lots, the flat site was formerly used for agriculture, including for cropping and lamb fattening and more recently an apple orchard. The vineyard, to cover about half the site, is likely to be planted in Chardonnay and Pinot Gris.

The development has required a restricted discretionary consent as the gross floor area exceeds the permitted threshold limit for a

winery building in the Hastings District Council’s Plains zone.

Delegat’s plans to employ a maximum of 27 permanent staff in the winery and two permanent cellar door staff, expanding that to include 62 seasonal workers during the six weeks of harvest.

“We are positioned to continue to grow our production substantially in the Hawke’s Bay region and our intention (is) to increase our vineyard plantings in the region.”

“To meet our growth plans for the region we require a state of the art winery and cellar door. This winery development will need to showcase the integral relationship between the land and the planting, picking and processing of grapes into wine, which we consider is one of the essential principles of our winemaking story.

“The winery and cellar door, in the surrounds of the vineyard, will provide an opportunity for wine tasting and education on the vinification and viticulture education from Hawke’s Bay as one of the world’s great New World wine regions.” ■ maryshanahan173@gmail.com

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MARKET NEWS

NEW ZEALAND VS FRANCE J A N E S K I LT O N M W

W

ith their lo ve of a c h a l l e n g e Ne w Zealanders can turn almost any occasion into a competition. So what better way to create a splash in the increasingly important Chinese market than to hold a France v New Zealand wine tasting? This was the idea of Jerry Hong, Shanghai-based Business Development Manager for NZ Trade and Enterprise. I was already in Shanghai to judge the Wine 100 competition so was delighted to be asked to lead the tasting there.

I was joined by five Chinese panel judges; Martin Hao, Ronnie Lau, Stephen Li, Yang Lu and Fongyee Walker (who also doubled as my interpreter).

We tasted without discussion, handing our sheets to Natalie Potts, NZWG Asia Marketing Manager, who collated the scores and ensured the integrity

40 //

of the results.

An important feature of this tasting was that before the results of the panel were revealed, the audience, which consisted of 18 interested consumers, 13 wine media and 44 sommeliers and distributors was asked to vote on which wine they preferred.

This meant they gave an honest reaction to the wines, rather than be potentially swayed by the professional panel.

A criticism often levelled at these events is a flawed selection process for the wines. Same vintage? Same price range?

Ensuring a level playing field is a tough ask and the only way I attempted this was to ensure that all the wines should be currently available in the Chinese market.

The Chardonnay flight was probably the one where style differences were most subtle.

Kumeu River Hunting Hill and Vidal Legacy showed that, on

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

form, New Zealand Chardonnay ranks with the best from anywhere, taking first and second place respectively.

The Pinot Noir flight contained six wines from the most recent vintages. Again, New Zealand wines took first and second place in both the audience and panel votes.

Syrah continues to confound.

Whilst attracting positive press from wine media both at home and overseas, the tiny amount produced means it cannot (yet) get the traction enjoyed by Pinot Noir and so was a relatively unknown quantity on the Chinese market. But at this tasting (and the Mature Red Masterclass presented by myself and Debra Meiberg MW at VinExpo Hong Kong), it was the variety that shone. Against stiff competition, 2010 Craggy Range Le Sol looked stellar, claiming first place from both panel and audience.

The Cabernet Merlot class was always going to be the most competitive, given China’s fondness for Bordeaux.

Interestingly the panel scores showed little consistency; whereas I found the Leoville Poyferré jammy, others awarded it their highest score. The purity of the Villa Maria Reserve and Te Mata Coleraine impressed but the audience preferred to stay with the style they knew best.

A spirited Q&A session followed. One person asked whether it was fair to show youthful French wines, that “needed cellaring time to show at

their best” alongside New Zealand wines which, by implication, didn’t. I replied that was a rather clichéd view; the VinExpo tasting showed New Zealand reds were capable of cellaring just as well as any. Indeed the beauty of the New Zealand wines was their ability to be enjoyed both in youth and with some age.

Following the tasting we asked the audience for feedback, which was overwhelmingly positive.

Sylvain Shi, Education Manager for Summergate Fine Wines was surprised by the “ incredible performance of the New Zealand wines” whilst Yanni Wu, CEO of Wine 100 was very curious about the result of the blind tasting and said “ New Zealand wines didn’t let me down’.

Whilst no comparison of price was made, nevertheless it was no surprise that the New Zealand wines were considerably less expensive than their French competition. This, together with the strong showing in the tasting should give considerable encouragement for the continuing promotion of premium New Zealand wines in this market with huge potential for growth. ■ • My thanks to Jerry Hong and Vanessa Chan from NZTE and Natalie Potts NZWG

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REGIONS GISBORNE

GISBORNE INNOVATION JOELLE THOMSON

T

he number of grape growers in New Zealand has declined since its dizzying height of 1,128 in 2009, but the diversity of what they grow now includes an idiosyncratic bunch, especially in Gisborne.

Albarino, Arneis, Gewurztraminer, Gruner Veltliner and Viognier have all shown unprecedented growth in the number of vines supplied to growers over the past five years, says Geoff Thorpe, managing director of the largest vine nursery in the country, Riv-

ersun.

The wines made from these white grapes are beginning to shine too, as judges at the fourth annual Gisborne Regional Wine Awards in May this year saw – and rewarded.

On the table at the end of the day-long event was the most unusual range of contenders at any wine show this year.

The five great whites vying for top spot were made from Albarino, Arneis, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Gewürztraminer.

The trophy was awarded to the 2012 Villa Maria Reserve Barrel Fermented Gisborne Chardonnay; a good choice, but a tough one to make. Comparing Chardonnay with Chenin and Albarino with Arneis is not exactly comparing apples with apples.

The staggering range of winning wines is an indication of Gisborne’s diversity, which is helping to change the bulk mentality label given to the region in the past. A lot of that diversity can be put down to the range of vines now

available via Riversun Nursery.

L i k e m a n y, R i v e r s u n retrenched when the Global Financial Crisis hit six years ago, but the change in growers and winemaker attitudes helped keep business ticking over, says Thorpe.

“Over the past few years it has been the lesser known varieties such as Albarino, Arneis and Gruner Veltliner that have quietly ticked along and now interest in them is growing.

In 2002, he signed a long term contract with the French

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vine nursery, ENTAV; home to the grape experts who cracked the confusion in Chilean Merlot when they discovered that much ‘Merlot’ was actually Carmenere.

These grape busters have raised the global viticultural bar.

Gisborne winemaker Steve Voysey is one of many in the region whose experimentation with Viognier and Syrah has now expanded to include St Laurent, Gruner Veltliner, Tempranillo, Albarino, Marsanne and Petit Manseng.

He now has his sights on Glera (formerly known as Prosecco), which has yet to be released from quarantine. Winemaker James Millton now has Marsanne and Rousanne, which supplement his long-term commitment to championing diversity with such outstanding examples of Chenin Blanc and Muscat. These two are at the forefront of experimentation and show that Gisborne has many more strengths to offer both the industry and New Zealand wine drinkers.

Two top performing new white wine grapes Albarino Albarino originally comes from the Spanish-Portugeuse border where it is also known as Alvarinho (in Portugal). It is traditionally from a warm maritime climate One of the many winemakers experimenting with new varieties – Steve Voysey.

and works well in Gisborne for this reason, says Gisborne viticulturist Doug Bell. “I grow it on a spur pruned system with total ground cover, avoiding herbicides.

The bunch structure is such that it throws a wing to the bunch, not a second set of fruit as such, but it can cause issues with green berries on the bunch, so pruning is important.”

Arneis Arneis is originally from the Roero and Langhe in Piemonte in north west Italy. It is known there as a varietal dry white, but was historically also planted alongside Nebbiolo to attract the birds to its powerful perfume (and away from precious Nebbiolo grapes), writes Master of Wine Jancis Robinson in Wine Grapes. It was also historically blended with Nebbiolo. Villa Maria Estates appears to have the largest plantings in New Zealand of Arneis because its founder and managing director, Sir George Fistonich, is a great fan of this grape.

New Zealand Arneis is, like the Italian versions, bone dry. It has a moderate lemon- zest like acidity and lends itself to a small portion of barrel ferment or aging. ■ joellethomson@vodafone.co.nz • Joelle Thomson judged at the fourth Gisborne Regional Wine Awards in May this year.

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REGIONS MARLBOROUGH

GREAT YEAR FOR MECHANICAL THINNING TESSA NICHOLSON

A

fter four years of trials funded by NZWinegrowers, the 2014 season has given researchers their best ever opportunity to determine the worth of mechanical thinning.

The trials over recent years have focused on Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay, although this year the commercial uptake in Marl-

44 //

borough was far greater than its northern counterpart.

With a bumper season, growers and wineries alike were keen to reduce yields to ensure quality within the vineyard. In total more than 2,500 hectares in Marlborough alone, were mechanically thinned. The trial’s project manager, Mark Allen says they hadn’t expected to get to that level of

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

interest and participation this early on in the trial process.

“It’s fantastic for a lot of reasons. But the number one reason is we will get a lot of data out of this season.”

Given the potential size of the crops, he says most people were looking at substantial thinning, which offered up some interesting scenarios.

“In the (past) trials we have been trying to reduce yields by between five and 10-15 percent.

That has been mainly because crop levels haven’t been high in previous years. But this year they (growers) have wanted to try and reduce by 30 to 35 percent. So that was quite a new territory for us in terms of the harvester settings.”

There is no exact science with

mechanical thinning; you can’t just dial up a reduction of say 25 percent. It all comes down to how many beats or shakes the vine gets per minute, and that is also affected by the ground speed of the harvester undertaking the shaking. The faster it goes the less shaking of the vine overall.

The slower the harvester, combined with increased speed of the rods that are hitting the vine, will increase the crop reduction. But knowing how and where to place the rods that are doing the beating is another factor that requires consideration Allen says.

“The critical thing if you want to get more off is to lower the rod to approximately 30 mm above the top cane. You only have to go up say 20 mm and you will take less off. The height of the rod is quite critical. You can imagine if you put the rod in the fruiting zone, you would end up taking everything

off.”

What has been determined during the trials, is the percentage of yield reduction is not limited to the fruit you can see come off at the time. There are a number of other factors that result in reduced yield.

“We work on the proportion of 50 percent being removed when you are doing the shake and the other 50 percent will shrivel up in the canopy. So if you want to remove a kilo a vine, 500 grams will be physically removed at the time of shaking, the other 500 grams shrivel in the canopy from berries being damaged and the overall berry size being smaller and thicker skinned. The impact of hitting the trunk affects both the bunch size and creates a looser architecture.”

The last four years of trials have shown that at veraison the thinned bunches lag 5 – 7 days

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A Pinot Gris bunch, from a vine that was mechanically thinned with no sign of botrytis.

The unthinned Pinot Gris bunches were tighter and far more prone to botrytis as can be seen.

behind the unthinned (control) vines, which has concerned some growers thinking that ripening will be delayed. Allen says despite the lag at veraison, they have found the thinned bunches ripening catches up to show no discernable difference at 20 – 21 brix. This is most likely a function of the lighter crop load.

The shaking also removes a large amount of floral trash, which

has been proven to reduce the incidence of botrytis later in the season. Allen says that is a major financial benefit growers need to calculate into their budgets when considering whether to hand thin or mechanical thin.

“We know that even a ‘light’ shake targeting 5% or less crop reduction removes the same amount of floral trash as a ‘heavy’ shake targeting 15% or more crop

reduction. Along with other methods such as the Collard, it would appear that shaking vines even lightly, has great potential as a cultural method of Botrytis control.

“A lot of people have said they can hand thin for the same price as machine thinning, which is probably true. But then if you are going to get a botrytis benefit at the end of it, you are starting to get a financial benefit.”

This year as part of the research, a cost sensitivity analysis will be undertaken on mechanical thinning, that will be able to highlight just what those financial benefits are.

There is a timeframe when the mechanical thinning needs to be undertaken to be effective. But Allen says this year, normal was been thrown out the window.

“It is normally undertaken in

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

the first few weeks of January, but this year we did 40 days of mechanical thinning. I was at the stage I didn’t want to see another harvester for quite some time.”

Due to the warm spring experienced in Marlborough he says the bunches grew quite long and for a long period of time, the berries were relatively loose, drawing out the time frame where shaking the vine could be undertaken.

“That was peculiar to a season like we have had, but in most seasons you would have about three weeks in January when it would be suitable.”

The Mechanical Thinning project was made possible by your levy, with co-funding coming from SSF (MPI). ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com • Photos Marlborough Plant and Food Research.

WINE SHOWS

THE VALUE OF WINE COMPETITIONS JIM HARRE

W

ith the number of wine shows seeking entries, both in New Zealand and internationally, the choice and what they offer, has become bewildering. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in the show system and judge in quite a number of them, and managed properly by the winery, wine competitions are capable of adding value to the winery both in qualitative assessment and the marketing of the wines. In some instances the easiest way to get your name out there is to leverage off the show success of your wines.

Wine shows are not infallible, the result will always be a consensus decision of three judges who have independently tasted the wine and then argued to an agreed consensus view based on how they saw the wine on that day and in that glass. In 20 years of judging, I have always been impressed how often there is complete consensus and how consistent the results of wine shows in New Zealand are.

Like Australia we currently have a great pool of very high quality, well-trained professional judges who judge regularly in most of our competitions.

So often the question is, should I enter wines into shows and which ones will provide the best return?

Unfortunately there is no easy “one size fits all” answer, but there are some considerations that should be weighed up when deciding which competitions to enter.

If entering New Zealand competitions, are you looking to benchmark your wines in the

48 //

pursuit of quality or provide the consumer a guarantee of the quality of the wine (often these are one and the same) or to drive forward sales? Competitions such as the Air New Zealand Wine Awards and the Royal Easter Show provide both prestige and visibility, with an Air New Zealand Wine Award’s Trophy winner recently experiencing a 300% increase across all of their brands in Cellar Door sales. Consumers recognize the award stickers from

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

both these shows and relate to the quality endorsement they provide. Similarly competitions such as the International Wine Show and the Spiegelau Wine Competition are great shows to benchmark your wines against international wines. For direct sales of wines, the Cuisine tasting is recognized by consumers as a great endorsement and the top 50 wines selected at the New World Wine Awards ( a little disclosure here; I am the Chair of Judges) are a guaranteed

six weeks marketing, exposure and sales through the New World Supermarket chain nation-wide.

Regionally there are a number of very well run shows that create local exposure, give importers a good look at what is coming out of a region and are often accompanied by a public exhibition of the wines. Good examples of these shows are the Gisborne Wine Competition, Marlborough Wine Show, International Aromatic Competition as well

as some of our regional A and P shows and specialist shows such as the Bragato Wine Awards which is focused on being a single vineyard competition rather than the wine producer competition.

International competitions are often quite different in their organization, structure and the benefits available to New Zealand producers. Other than a third party endorsement, the major benefit from International competitions comes from the export potential their exposure provides. If you are exporting into the UK or European markets then the two biggest competitions are the Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine Chal-

Since I last judged in the Decanter Awards, Bob Campbell has taken over as Regional Chair, the first time a New Zealand based judge has held the position which is a positive move for New Zealand wine in that competition.

The IWC operates on a different system where in the first half of the competition, all the wines are judged as medal or no medal, then all of the medal wines are re judged and awards given. In addition to this the IWC has five Chairs who re taste every wine judged “no medal” in the first round to make sure that nothing is missed and then every medal wine in the second round to make sure the medals reflect consistency across

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Wine competitions if managed properly, are a cost effective way to benchmark the quality of your wines and also add to your marketing profile, but just like any other part of your business, it’s about applying good background research and entering those competitions that will provide value to your brand. lenge (IWC). These are important awards as the judges are often journalists or members of the wine trade who have an in depth understanding of the markets, what will sell and are often themselves involved in the sales of New Zealand wine.

I have judged in both competitions and continue to judge at the IWC, both are quite different in structure. Decanter has specialist panels that only judge the wines of a specific country while the IWC has panels that are changed every day and judge a range of wines from all countries and regions. In theory having a group of New Zealand wine experts judge your wine makes sense although in my experience, more often judges were put on the New Zealand panel to fill places rather than for their expert knowledge of New Zealand wine!

the competition. So every medal winning wine has been judged at least three times by separate panels. Both these competitions employ a great collection of the worlds best judges.

Two competitions in Asia that stand out are the Japan Wine Challenge and the China Wine Challenge, both are owned and run by Ronald Brown a winemaker who originally hails from England and has spent most of his working life in the Asian Wine and Spirits trade. The point of difference with these two competitions is the use of International Panel Chairs.

There is a strong training component within the panels; the local judges who tend to be sommeliers, wine buyers and importers all have great palates but are developing their judging experience. These are palates that enjoy the vibrancy

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of New Zealand wine and in their daily lives are often buyers looking for wines to put on restaurant lists or importers; a great opportunity for New Zealand producers in these markets. Both these competitions have a charity component; raising money in China to finance the digging of fresh water wells in a project called Wine into Water and in Japan working with the competition’s Patron, Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado.

Whatever competition you

enter your wines, select the wines that are the most appropriate to the competition. The role of the judges is to asses the quality of the wine not the style, make sure you have the stock volume required to leverage the marketing ability of the Competition; this will require the involvement of both the sales/ marketing teams and winemakers and check that the competition is supported where you intend to market your wines.

There is no point in winning

a Gold medal in a competition if your retailer won’t allow you to use the medal stickers as it has a tie-in with a competing competition.

Wine competitions if managed properly, are a cost effective way to benchmark the quality of your wines and also add to your marketing profile, but just like any other part of your business, it’s about applying good background research and entering those competitions that will provide value

to your brand. The most expensive part of a Wine Show is taking advantage of your good results so as to gain both sales and brand leverage. This will involve advertising and marketing the result; competition organizers and sponsors can only do so much, the rest is up to you. ■ • Jim has been a wine judge for over 20 years and regularly judges in most New Zealand competitions as well as internationally in USA, China, Japan, UK and Australia.

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VINEYARD NEWS

ROBOTIC PRUNERS ARE COMING TESSA NICHOLSON

W

hen I was younger, I thought by the time we reached 2015, we would have robots to do all those menial tasks that humans hate. Washing, cleaning, ironing and even cooking. While those childish fantasies may have been way out in terms of time frame, there is one robotic force that is getting ready to be unleashed – pruners.

Three years ago Dr Richard Green of University of Canterbury received $3million dollars in an MBIE grant to research the possibility of cre-

ating a vision based automated cane-pruning system. In layman terms, that means a robot that could prune grape vines. The funding was to be spread over five years.

The idea of creating an automated workforce for one of the hardest jobs in the wine industry’s cycle came from NZWinegrowers and Pernod Ricard.

If it was at all possible, it would solve

huge problems of finding a competent and skilled workforce every year. What’s more it was estimated that the savings to the wine industry would be $27.5 million a year.

Green had no doubts about the feasibility of the idea – although he admits the success

One thing is for certain when it comes to the robotic pruner, they won’t look anything like these US military designs.

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

achieved in just three years is well above what he had imagined back in 2011.

“I am really excited, because we can now do this. It is now a reality, not just a research project which we hope to achieve.”

His excitement is due to the fact that into its third year, the researchers are about to employ robots in the field for the first time, to prune vines in Lincoln University’s vineyard.

Getting to this stage has taken a lot of hard work from a myriad of experts in computer vision, robotics, software and hardware, manufacturing and viticulture.

The most difficult task for the team was ensuring the brain of the robot had a clear, 3D vision of the vine, so it knows where to make the correct cuts.

“It required a lot of computer vision expertise, which is about 95 percent of the work. We needed to get the robot to see the vines clearly in 3D,” Green says.

The robots require cameras to be able to view what is in front of them. The problem with that Green says, is that most cameras with 3D sensors don’t work effectively in sunlight. So the team came up with the idea of creating a mobile outside laboratory, with the robot inside away from infrared light.

“So we have a mobile canopy where we have controlled lighting inside and high resolution cameras which allow us to see more pixels per vine.”

The system created is unique.

“There is no other system that we are aware of, where they can do 3D models of vines with so much complexity in real time from a dynamic moving platform. No one else appears to be attempting cane pruning,” Green says.

Creating something that has the ability to determine which canes should be cut and which should be left, was the next hurdle the scientists had to overcome.

“We have been telling robots where to go for decades with sub millimetre accuracy. The trick here though is we have something moving. Before we make a single cut, we have to have the perfect 3D model of the whole vine. That could be seven canes overlapping at some point. Even humans have difficulty sometimes to see which vine is which. We have to do this without touching them.”

Understandably, Green and the team are not keen to let too much information out into the public, with the IP being carefully guarded. But what he will say is that they are now in the proof of concept state and will begin pruning rows at Lincoln University this year. By next year, he hopes they will be able to do demonstrations for the industry.

“We have two seasons to go.

We have had a significant increase in accuracy and the robot arm is working accurately to the cut points so we will continue to trial this and next season.”

The benefits of such a creation are huge. Imagine if pruning could be undertaken 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all under the cover of a canopy? The robot could be spraying pruning wounds as it goes, helping prevent trunk diseases. It wouldn’t have to stop because of weather conditions.

And there is also the chance that a second robot following behind, could be tying canes down. In years to come, they could be developed to pick grapes.

The ramifications are substantial not only for the New Zealand wine industry, but New Zealand as a whole. Export earnings from this technology are expected to be $200 million within 10 years of release.

But for growers who dread the thought of winter pruning, the benefits of having a robot doing the job, will be far closer to home. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 53

NZW NEWS

TEN YEARS IN THE HOT SEAT TESSA NICHOLSON

A

fter 10 years of holding down the hot seat of advocacy and trade, John Barker is leaving NZ Winegrowers.

A lawyer by trade, Barker came into the wine industry after working as a lawyer specialising in wine law in Australia and a stint at the New Zealand Food Safety Authority. Which meant he brought to the table a raft of skills that have been put to good use over the past 10 years.

It has been a decade of monu-

mental growth for the wine industry and with that growth has come an array of issues that needed a clear head to sort through.

Barker has been at the forefront of those, whether they be fighting for the right to use frost fans, through to the Wine Act, developing geographical indications to the WWTG agreement.

The Wine Act is one that commanded a great deal of time, but he says it has proved to be an achievement he will remember.

“The Act was a very long and

challenging process, but in the end we ended up with something that I think is terrific. The GI act will probably follow a similar path, where nothing comes easily, but we will have something that will be beneficial to the industry.”

Since 2004 Barker has also been involved in the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), representing New Zealand as an Export Delegate.

“I mainly worked in commission three which is the law and economy commission. That is

important because it deals with product definitions and labelling, things which are esssential to trade.”

Between 2009 and 2012 he was the President of that commission and is still the Vice President.

During his tenure at OIV he has seen some dramatic changes, which have been of benefit not only to New Zealand, but other new world producers.

“When I first went to the OIV the organisation had re-formed itself essentially to be a bit more

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democratic. The old structure and voting system was very Eurocentric. I would like to think that I have played a part in trying to change the base of the organisation to take more into account new world positions.”

Issues such as whether or not oak chips should be accepted as a winemaking practice have been discussed and more recently Barker has been involved in discussing the issues surrounding the production of low alcohol wines.

“It has been a very long and difficult process looking at de alcoholisation and those processes where you fraction wine and take bits out of it. We have had to think about the legal implications and implications for definitions of those sort of technologies. That is very relevant to New Zealand, not that we are fractioning wine, but because we are looking to produce low alcohol wines in other ways.”

In 2004 when Barker took up his role, New Zealand wine exports were aiming for $1billion. Ten years later those exports have hit $1.39 billion and are heading for $1.5billion, something he describes as an amazing achievement. He puts a lot of that success down to the unity within the industry, something other countries envy.

“That and the fact we have focused on premium and added value products.”

As to the future, he believes there are more challenges to come, with the greatest likely to be the “well founded public concern about the harmful consumption of alcohol.”

“From the wine industry’s perspective, we are trying to do something meaningful and genuine to reduce harmful alcohol consumption. But we don’t want to see unnecessary neo prohibitionist restrictions placed on us

as an industry. That will be one of the challenges to be faced in the future.”

Barker is due to leave NZW in mid September and is establishing his own law firm, specialising in food and beverage law.

“It’s a niche area but I like to think I can bring some of what I have learned from NZSFA and NZW to it.” ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

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REGIONS GISBORNE

TOP GISBORNE WINE COMPANY DIANA DOBSON

M

atawhero Wines’ owners Kirsten and Richard Searle feel they’re reaping the reward of six years of hard work after a haul of medals and trophies at the fourth annual Gisborne Regional Wine Awards.

The winery, which was started

by Denis and Bill Irwin in 1975 and bought by the Searle family in 2008, won the Trophy for The Highest Awarded Wine Company, along with other accolades at the recent gala dinner.

En route to the top company trophy, Matawhero won gold medals for their 2013 Pinot Rosé, 2013 Church House Arneis, 2013 Church House Chenin Blanc and 2013 Church House Albariño. They also collected class wins for the Pinot Rosé, Arneis, 2013 Church House Malbec and 2013 Gisborne Chardonnay, and best new white varietal with the 2013 Church House Albariño. Matawhero’s company viticulturist Jeremy Hyland won the Lead Viticulturist Trophy.

“Our passion behind reviving the historic winery was to showcase the Gisborne region as one of quality and diversity,” says Kirsten Searle. “We are thrilled to be awarded the accolade for The Highest Awarded Winery Trophy.

It feels like a reward for all the hard work our family, winemaking team and growers have put in since we bought Matawhero.”

To have gold medals awarded to the company’s emerging varieties, was vindication in their belief that Albariño, Arneis and Chenin

56 //

A winning team . . . Matawhero Wines’ coowner Kirsten Searle and viticulturist Jeremy Hyland with their trophies and the winning wines from the Gisborne Regional Wine Awards.

Photograph by Diana Dobson/ The Black Balloon

Blanc thrive in the challenging Gisborne terroir. Sourcing fruit from around the region, as well as their own vineyard in Riverpoint Road, allows them to celebrate the best of Gisborne in their wines.

“Our Church House range was launched specifically to carry on the pioneering spirit that Matawhero was renowned for, so to receive awards for these wines feels like we are heading in the right direction,” Searle said.

“As a region, Gisborne is very fortunate to have a company like Riversun, who has done a lot of work with importing these new varieties into New Zealand, and we believe this gives us as a real edge to shine as a region with a difference.”

She also applauded those who

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

had produced the winning grapes for Matawhero.

“It was nice to see gold medals awarded to wines coming from different appellations in the Gisborne region, and from longtime grape growers like Paul and Jenny Tietjen (Golden Slopes) who grew the Pinot Noir for our Rosé and also the Albariño, Pete and Robyn Briant (Patutahi) who grew the Chenin Blanc, and Doug and Delwyn Bell (Hexton) who grew the Arneis.

“This highlights our winemaking philosophy at Matawhero to showcase the Gisborne region as a whole.”

All of Matawhero’s wines are made in Gisborne’s state-of-theart GisVin contract winemaking facility.

S e a r l e p a i d t r i b u te to

viticulturlist Jeremy Hyland, who is based in Marlborough where he runs his own consultancy business, but is originally from Gisborne.

“He is very much still involved in the Gisborne grape growing scene, looking after Matawhero’s company and grower vineyards.”

Jeremy started his career at Corbans in the early 1990s, was head viticulturist at Kim Crawford Wines from 2004-2007, and now consults to Astrolabe, Jules Taylor and Eradus, as well as Matawhero.

“Some say Jeremy is the best viticulturist in the country due to his ability to provide the desired fruit flavours to the winemaker through intelligent vineyard management techniques . . . we tend to agree.” ■

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SCIENCE PROFILE

THE SCIENCE OF WINE TESSA NICHOLSON

T

he importance of scientific research in the growth of the New Zealand wine industry cannot be underestimated. Yet while we laud growers and winemakers for their skills at creating the perfect wine, the people who provide the tools to accomplish that are often unknown.

In this issue, we begin a series that will profile some of the scientists who provide us with the information that allows us to do our job that much better.

First up, the General Manager of Research for NZ Winegrowers – Dr Simon Hooker.

Utilising science to create business is a driving force for Hooker. As is getting the results of research back to the people who can use it.

Having been a part of the science and research arm of NZW for the past six years, Hooker came to the table with no intimate knowledge of wine.

Rather, his background was in marine science, coupled with experience in business development and accessing funding for scientific research.

Following an undergraduate degree at Auckland University, he undertook a PhD at the Leigh Marine Laboratory in Northland.

His exploration of pipis, cockles, tuatuas and surf clams was followed by a post-doctorate in crayfish aquaculture. Applying for and receiving the David Johnston Memorial Scholarship (administered by the Guardian Trust) perhaps provided the first

58 //

hint of the unique career path Hooker would follow.

“The scholarship was for farmers who wanted to develop farming,” Hooker explains. “I argued that aquaculture was farming and I was successful. It

viable to take baby crayfish caught in the wild and grow them on for sale. Nevertheless, the project did highlight an enduring passion for Hooker.

“I realised that my interest was creating wealth out of

was the first time they had not funded a land-based project.”

The scholarship was to investigate commercially farming crayfish. Unfortunately, the research showed that at that time it probably wasn’t commercially

science. That gap between knowledge and someone making money really interested me, so much so that I wanted to use my science background to create business.”

That was something that

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

caught the interest of the CEO of NIWA, who headhunted Hooker just as he was finishing his post doc.

“I was offered a job as their business development manager of aquaculture.”

For the next eight years he worked for NIWA and was responsible for creating an aquaculture facility in Northland. From finding the land, to planning the facility, to overseeing the building of it, through to commissioning, Hooker was in control. He also undertook business administration studies, earning a Grad. Dip. Bus. Admin. from Auckland University.

By the early 2000s, he and his wife were planning to take a break from New Zealand and live overseas for a period. Sweden became home for the next three years, until his two sons reached an age when a permanent base was necessary.

“It was either going to be Sweden or New Zealand, but to be honest, the winters in Sweden are a bit hard for a Kiwi boy like me.”

He wasn’t back in New Zealand for long when he saw the job of Research Manager for NZW advertised.

“It really interested me, that interface between science and commerce. So I applied and got it.”

While he had some formal qualifications in terms of commerce, the world of wine was a long way from the world of pipis and surf clams.

“Technically I knew very little about grapes and wine.

But the research committee was effectively the technical brains behind me,” Hooker says. “ I n s o m e w ay s i t w a s advantageous that I didn’t have the knowledge, because then I didn’t put my views on the table. Technically that committee was very good, but the one thing I did notice was there was not a dedicated tech transfer component to what we were doing. That is one thing I am very keen on. It is fine doing all the science, but we have to integrate it into the industry.”

All the research undertaken by NZW is determined by industry and paid for with a portion of members’ levy funds, which are then leveraged with additional government funding on a projectby-project basis – typically, on a six to one ratio. Using members’

levies for research is vital Hooker says.

“There would be no reason for the government to invest in our industry if we weren’t spending our own money. If you put cash

“Take a biosecurity incursion, for example. If we didn’t have the science team already working in the wine industry, we would have to crank a team up in a short period of time. That isn’t likely

All the research undertaken by NZW is determined by industry and paid for with a portion of members’ levy funds, which are then leveraged with additional government funding on a project-by-project basis. into research, that is the litmus test that shows it is important to the industry, and then the government is willing to co-fund it.”

While the information that comes from research is an easy to see bonus, Hooker says there are other benefits that are not so obvious.

to happen. It takes years to gain an understanding of an industry, and that is something that people underestimate. We have pathologists, plant physiologists, spray technologists, sensory scientists, chemists, consumer scientists – the whole range.

And the fact that we are one organisation working with a

range of different research provider organisations enables a unified approach. Having that one body looking after the whole industry is a major benefit. I think many other sectors and countries are envious of that.”

And well they might be, especially as moving forward the research team is not resting on its laurels. The PGP Lower Alcohol/ Lower Calorie wine programme is the largest ever undertaken by NZW. It will begin this year and continue for another six with a total investment of $17 million.

Given the potential outcomes, the expenditure on R&D is a drop in the bucket of wine sales and vineyard practices that could eventuate.

A great example of the potential interface between science and commercial success.

■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

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RESEARCH NEWS

A WINE REVOLUTION T

he global wine industry may be on the cusp of a revolution, thanks to pioneering genetic research conducted by scientists at Lincoln University and Plant & Food Research. The research not only has ramifications for controlling disease and increasing productivity, but will quite likely mean completely new varieties of grapes and styles of wine.

The research project initially commenced to fill a knowledge gap in the identification and function of the genes that underpin the key characteristics of grapevines. The goal was to bed down a research framework, such as those used by researchers with other plant species, to establish a knowledge base for the study of gene behaviour and the critical processes of grape production.

As the research developed, however, new opportunities became apparent, and a greater emphasis was placed on investigating the potential for manufacturing and encouraging the expression of genetic elements within grapevines which may, in turn, come with commercial benefits.

At the heart of the research

are transposons: naturally occurring, mobile DNA sequences that have the ability to replicate and insert themselves into new positions within the same or another chromosome.

All living organisms have transposons and often in very high quantities. Up to 40 percent of the grape genome is made up of transposons with most interclonal diversity within grapevines caused by them. Yet, while most transposon expression within a grape variety is unwelcome or harmful, they usually remain ‘silenced’ through the plant’s own internal system which looks to prevent new mutations.

There are numerous cases, however, where transposons can be activated; under certain stress conditions, for instance, such as UV exposure, temperature shocks, or exposure to certain microorganisms such as bacteria or fungi.

As such, the researchers explored how to activate and identify transposon expression within grapevines with a view to producing a population of plants in which each plant contained a number of new insertions.

“Through our five year project with Plant & Food Research we

have now proven this to be possible and are looking to extend this work to produce populations of grapevines in which every gene in the genome contains a transposon insertion,” says Dr Chris Winefield, project team leader and Senior Lecturer in Plant Molecular Biology at Lincoln University.

“In a sense we’re looking to create stress conditions so as to ‘hyper-activate’ the genome, thereby creating conditions conducive for dense, multiple transposon insertions. We can then search the individual plants for transposon insertions in their genes and subsequently assess to what extent the transposon has disrupted the gene and what impact this will have on the plant.

“From there, we can assess which plants we could be interested in from a commercial perspective; for instance, for reasons such as disease tolerance, sustainable production, or a capacity to produce an interesting new variety of wine.”

In order to activate the transposons, the researchers worked with plant tissue cultures from grapevines. After subjecting these cultures to a range of stress treatments, the plants were regener-

ated from the cultures and new transposons insertions identified using bioinformatics.

The work of Lincoln University PhD candidate Darrell Lizamore was crucial in developing a means for identifying and measuring these genetic mutations: work which earned him the prestigious David Jackson prize in 2013.

The problem of finding a method for identifying new transposon insertions was made all the more difficult by the large ‘background’ of ancient transposons in the grapevine genome, and the fact that new transposon insertions might only make up 0.2% of the entire transposon compliment.

To overcome this, transposons were ‘tagged’ using a fluorescent dye, after which the tagged DNA was sorted using a capillary DNA sequencer. This allowed transposons to be grouped according to their particular type and position within the grapevine’s DNA. The systematic, multi-experimentation approach to overcome the problem of transposon identification, as well as other problems, such as the development of treatment protocols capable of activating specific transposons, has meant a considerable body of

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Team leader Chris Winefield (left) and PhD candidate Darrell Lizamore.

information is now available to the wine industry. This information is of particular importance as it involves sequencing approaches across the entire grape genome.

Now that the ‘hard yards’ are done, this sequencing and resequencing information is openly available to researchers who wish to identify individual plants with interesting new mutations with an eye for replicating them further. Resequencing is a process whereby the complete set of genes making up a genome are catalogued and usually compared to the sequence (or catalogue) of genes from an original reference genome.

“The upshot of this work is that we are now in a position to encourage, identify and replicate mobile genetic elements so as to increase genetic diversity in grapevines,” says Dr Winefield. “This approach is non-GE and uses the same processes that underpin the formation of common bud-sports in grapes and other similar species

“As far as the wine industry itself is concerned, we now have the means to generate new clones of existing varietals and the experimental framework to explore the production of completely new wines. This is very exciting and significant.”

The possibility of New Zealand leading the world in the production of completely new varieties has exciting commercial implications for a competitive industry where differentiation is important and where grape types are used to market products as a marker of style and quality.

Plant & Food Research has played a pivotal role in the project.

As a Crown Research Institute, it is responsible for delivering research and development to support a range of primary sector industries, including wine, and has a long history of working closely with these industry partners. This project has also been partly funded via the Ron Bonfiglioli PhD Fellowship, awarded by NZ Winegrowers. ■

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 61

HR AND THE WINE INDUSTRY PADDY BATTERSBY

PROPOSED CHANGES TO HEALTH AND SAFETY

T

he Health and Safety Reform Bill currently before Parliament is expected to become the new Health and Safety at Work Act in April next year.

The Bill is part of a package of major changes to the health and safety system and will provide a new regulatory framework for work health and safety, largely shaped on the Australian model - anyone who has worked in Australia will understand the implications of what lies ahead.

The Act will be supported

by Regulations and Codes of Practice which are expected to be available nearer the end of 2015. Regulations explain the How, What, Where, When and Why of the requirements of the Act. There are 3 principles to the Regulations – to provide clarity and certainty of the rules; outline responsibility; and provide for an increase in Health and Safety activity and awareness.

The new regime (under a stand-alone health and safety regulatory agency, WorkSafe New Zealand) recognises that a well-functioning health and safety system relies on participation, leadership, and accountability by government, business, and workers. This includes— • a law flexible enough to work appropriately for small and large businesses and high-risk and low-risk sectors, without imposing unnecessary compliance costs • obligations placed on the

62 //

people in a work environment who create the risk and are best able to manage the risk • a worker participation model that provides for better levels of participation and helps workers to have the knowledge and accountability to keep their colleagues safe • an appropriate system of regulations and guidance to ensure that people understand their obligations and can comply with them • an effective enforcement regime with graduated categories of offences and penalties to provide better guidance to the courts about appropriate fine levels • ensuring that participants in the health and safety regulatory system are able to share information where appropriate While it is likely that there may be some amendments before the Bill becomes the Act, it is widely accepted some of the changes in the pipeline include: • The Reform Bill requires the undertaking of “reasonably practicable” steps, being a step that a person could reasonably take at a particular time to ensure health and safety measures are in place. In other words there is a paradigm shift from hazard identification to risk management. This is a higher test and means one can’t hide behind “I wasn’t aware of that” excuse.

• The Bill imposes a primary duty of care on a Person Conducting a Business or Undertak-

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

ing – PCBU. (Some clarification on the exact definition of this is to come).

• Those in governance roles assume a positive duty of “Due Diligence” to ensure the health and safety of people at the work site. An officer of a PCBU is any person who is a director, partner, general partner, or any person occupying a position in a body that is comparable with that of a director. This is a new concept that includes any other person who makes decisions that affect the whole or a substantial part of the PCBU e.g. Chief Executive Officer, General Manager and possibly senior managers • There will be significant due diligence requirements for Company Officers including:Keeping up to date with health and safety matters of the PCBU. Analysing/assessing the risks associated with the business.

Ensuring that the business has appropriate resources and processes in place.

Ensuring that communication and reportage are in place.

• Duties are not transferable nor can they be contracted out, and a person may have more than one duty at a time.

• Moving from the current concept and obligations of employers and employees, future workplace safety will be about businesses and workers, with the allocation of a general duty to keep all workers safe at work.

• There is no longer a refer-

ence to employee, principals, contractors, visitors, subcontractors. There is more onus on providing a safe workplace no matter who is the working group.

• The new legislation doesn’t care about categories of people – if you are in command or control and people are on your property/workplace, they are your concern.

• The current term “Serious harm” is being replaced by “notifiable injuries”.

• A new concept - “Notifiable incident” - being an incident that exposes the worker or any other person to a serious risk to that person’s health and safety.

• A far greater focus on the duty to engage workers in the management of health and safety through work groups and active worker representation.

• For breach of the duty to keep workers safe at work, penalties will significantly increase.

This overview is designed to give you a flavour of some of the likely changes coming. One thing is certain - those businesses who are not doing enough already will find the new law more onerous than those who are already managing health and safety in a systematic way and meeting their current obligations.

Those in the know are telling us these changes will be costly to businesses, so start budgeting now. There is much work to be done by many employers.

Paddy Battersby Email paddy@battersbyhr.com ■

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HORTICULTURE

WINEMAKER NEWS

MICRO FOR WINEMAKERS – FAQ’S KIRSTEN CREASY

What types of tests are there for microbiology and how do I choose which one to use?

Microscopy If you are looking for fast results that will give you a general ‘picture’ of your juice or wine I would always advocate a microscope exam first – this is a “quick and dirty” method that gives ‘instant’ results as well as pointers on how to proceed. A

good compound microscope will allow you to examine a wet mount for yeast and bacteria – it is a great method where you can check yeast viability and counts (good for slow / stuck ferments), monitor the diversity of yeast populations for non-inoculated ferments, monitor the populations of bacteria and the like. However, the two main limitations on the microscope is that the yeast and bacteria need to be present

in high levels – the generally held view is that is you see 1 cell out of 10 views of a slide, this is roughly equivalent to 10,000 cells / ml. And, secondly, you can only provide presumptive results on both quantity and identity.

Yeast and bacteria morphology can alter radically based on their environment and the age of the colony and therefore the results will only ever be indicative of what is in your wine.

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

Plating onto agar Further clarification of presumptive microscope results can be found by plating onto specific agar. These agars can inhibit or promote growth of desired micro-organisms depending on what you are trying to identify. This will prevent potential overgrowth of quick growing yeast or bacteria which may hide the real issue in the wine.

Plating can be used in

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several different ways: presumptive identification and quantification of yeast and bacteria as in the above example; an affirmation of the integrity of filters and sterilization on bottling lines, and when used in conjunction with real time PCR, a confirmation that the management of wines containing viable but non-culturable microbes is working.

Generally any wines that are unfinished (unfiltered) can be directly plated onto the agar but anything that is filtered or has been sitting in tank for long periods and is ‘bright’ will require filter plating.

The limitations of plating are the length of time it takes (up to 10 days for some slow growing yeasts like Brettanomyces) and that the results are only presumptive.

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR or Rapid DNA or Scorpions®) This method involves equipment that amplifies and reads the DNA of common wine yeast and bacteria present in the sample. It is a very fast test (2-3 hours) and provides absolute identification and quantification of what is in your wine. It is able to identify 5 yeasts, all the most prevalent species of Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Acetobacter and Oenococcus down to a detection level of 5-10 cells / ml. It is an incredible tool to determine the baseline of what living microbes are in your sample but should be used in conjunction with plating which detects culturable cells.

What are VBNC microbes?

VBNC stands for viable but not culturable – in other words, the cells are live and able to grow in the future but due to some environmental pressures (usually sulphur) are not able to be cultured onto agar. The most common example of this is Brettanomyces, but it can also affect lactobacillus.

This means that if you just use plating, you may get a false result about the microbial status of your wine. The best way to determine if you have VBNC microbes in your wine is through PCR.

I think I have Brettanomyces - what

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is the best way to monitor my wine?

The most important thing to do is to get a base line of the Brettanomyces population in your wine. The best way to do this is using PCR. Whether you are trying to eliminate it or create complexity in your wines, you need to have a clear figure in your mind of what level of Brettanomyces you will accept.

If your result exceeds your tolerance, you will need to take remedial action immediately.

A general rule of thumb is that when Brett reaches levels of between 10,000-100,000, the yeast will start producing volatile phenols (4-EP, 4-EG), which will start to impact on the aromatics of the wine at about 400 ppb.

If the levels of Brettanomyces are acceptable then it is a simple matter to regularly monitor the wine. I suggest a combination

of chemistry (VA, RS, SO2) and plating.

The reason to use plating at this point is to monitor how effectively you are controlling the Brett population through the use of SO 2 , cool cellar

good history as well as a clear picture of how you may want to finish the wine to bottle.

How many cells are too many?

This is a hard question to

Each wine situation is different and is best discussed with your lab provider.

te mpe ratures and topped barrels. If the Brettanomyces does not show up on the plates, you know you have kept the yeast in a VBNC state and that your cellar practices are controlling the population.

It is a good idea to use PCR once throughout the aging process and again at the final blending. This will give you a

answer in general terms, as there are so many different scenarios.

However, micro results should never be considered in isolation but always in conjunction with the wine history, chemistry and understanding of how the wine will be finished.

Points to consider are zero tolerance for Zygosaccharomyces and

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Saccharomyces on finished wine with residual sugar; proactive SO2 management for Lactic acid bacteria in wines that will not go through MLF; filtration level on wines that have a pH of >3.6, RS of >0.5g/l and Brettanomyces >10 cells/ml.

Each wine situation is different and is best discussed with your lab provider.

Identifying and tracking the microbes in your wine throughout the winemaking process allows clear, confident decisions to be made about managing all wines, and it p r o v i d e s g r e a t h i s to r i c a l information in understanding what is ‘normal’ for your wines/ vineyard.

All three of the main methods have limitations and should be used hand in hand to get a full picture of what is growing (or not!) in your juice or wine. ■

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

Value Adding from Grape to Glass

YEASTS Microbe

Substrate

Comments

Hanseniaspora

Fermentable sugars

Distinctly ovoid to lemon-shaped under the

uvarum / Kloeckera

Requires B vitamins from the

microscope; can be responsible for

apiculata

must

increased levels of VA, esters

Pichia

Anaerobic- Sugar OR

Can be responsible for undesirable levels of

membranifaciens,

Aerobic - EtOH, acids

acetaldehydes and acetates post ferment but

Pichia anomala

can also produce positive esters during fermentation

Zygosaccharomyces

Fermentable sugar, preferably Metabolises sugar and malic acid, can

bailii

fructose

increase acetic and succinic acids.

Brettanomyces

All sugars (as low as 0.275g/l

Can increase acetic acid, volatile phenols.

bruxellensis

could support a population)

Sugars include trehalose, galactose, possibly

or EtOH

cellobiose LACTIC ACID BACTERIA

A group of bacteria who utilize sugar and malic acid; require low – zero O2 conditions Microbe

Substrate

Comments

Lactobacillus

All sugars, malic acid

Depending on the pathway, a combination of Lactic acid, EtOH (homo-fermenters) and acetic acid (hetero-fermenter) will be produced. Di-acetyl production can be high.

Oenococcus oeni Pediococcus

Fermentable sugars, malic

Preferred MLF bacteria; can produced

and citric acid

higher levels of acetate, EtOH

All sugars

Can lead to increased di-acetyl, biogenic amines (homofermenter so no acetic acid production) ACETIC ACID BACTERIA

Aerobic group of bacteria that produce high levels of acetic acid and ethyl acetate from the breakdown of sugars or EtOH Microbe

Substrate

Comments

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 67

NZW NEWS

CELEBRATING #SAUVBLANC

F

riday May the 16th marked International Sauvignon Blanc Day, or ‘#SauvBlanc Day’, an online initiative dedicated to the wine and the grape from which it comes!

Celebrated the world over, #SauvBlanc Day is an event that originated in California as a global social media wine tasting of Sauvignon Blanc exclusively. Media, retailers, restaurants, wine bars, importers, distributors, media and consumers alike are encouraged to discuss, delight in, and most importantly drink Sauvignon Blanc, and then share their experience with

the world on Twitter.

In order to create the maximum amount of noise, NZW organised events in all major international markets. These events were primarily designed to celebrate and encourage tweeting prior to, during, and post events, and also to facilitate relationships with influential and socially active wine media. In addition, given the timezones of the varied markets, through these international events #SauvBlanc Day was able to be celebrated by New Zealand wine for 43 hours, beginning in New Zealand and culminating in San Francisco,

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fittingly at Twitter Headquarters.

Wine Marlborough began the official celebrations with a Friday afternoon drinks event at the Cloudy Bay Treehouse. Australia and Hong Kong followed soon after, with intimate Sauvignon Blanc themed lunches for top media, organised by NZW’s international offices.

In Europe, London trade and media were hosted for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and canapés at Peter Gordon’s famed Providores. In addition, UK-based Will Lyons of the Wall Street Journal penned an article on New Zealand Sauvignon, as well as a television segment devoted to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc on WSJ TV (USA).

Oysters featured in Canada, with NZW Canada hosting a Sauvignon Blanc and oyster shucking afternoon with TV celebrity and oyster shucker Guinness World Record holder, Paddy Murray in Toronto.

Finally across both sides of the United States, NZW organised Sauvignon Blanc tastings for top trade and media at Michelin starred Kiwi

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

restaurant The Musket Room in New York, and the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco in association with Napa wineries.

Eventually the global celebrations concluded with a tasting of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc at Twitter Headquarters itself, with a number of wineries who had attended the New Zealand Wine Fair in San Francisco the previous day.

The whole event, had incredible exposure worldwide over a two week period, reaching 12.7 million Twitter users with 34.1 million impressions! The top hashtags were #SauvBlanc with 19.7 million impressions, immediately followed by #nzwine with 10.8 million impressions. The top tweet of the event, with 7.5 million impressions, was from New Zealand wine’s own Twitter account, @nzwine, kicking off the celebrations!

Looking forward, #SauvBlanc Day 2015 holds huge opportunity for New Zealand wine, in the buildup to the industry’s inaugural conference celebrating the grape in early 2016. ■

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EVENTS BRAGATO

ROMEO BRAGATO NEW HORIZONS N

ow in its 20th year, the Romeo Bragato Conference is entering a new era. Over the last few years the conference has been primarily focused on the outcomes of, and developments in technical research. While this year’s Bragato will continue to have strong research components, the scope has been widened to include sessions and discussion from other activity areas including Sustainability, Marketing and Advocacy. It is

70 //

evolving into a true national conference.

The two and a half day conference will once again feature the Bragato Wine Awards and dinner, as well as the finals of the National Young Viticulturist of the Year.

Guest speakers throughout the event come from far and wide, including; the Key Note speaker Kym Anderson - Professor of Economics from University of Adelaide, Alison Jordan - Sustainability Director for

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

Californian Winegrowers, Shari Mogk Edwards, VP, Products, Sales and Merchandising from the LCBO and Peter Margarey from Australia, to name a few.

The NZW international marketing team will also be present and will present at various times including an early session prior to the official opening, on exporting into our key markets.

Sustainability and what it means to different people and markets will be one focus.

Another will be new research

and the issues of quality versus yields, below ground management, powdery mildew and managing a difficult vintage, are all up for discussion. Winegrowing with technology is likely to have many talking, with guest speakers Ruby Andrew, Mark Krstic of AWRI Adelaide and Mark Shaw from Social Guy. Where to in terms of GIs and how they might be perceived by international markets is another hot topic to be discussed.

Following on from the success of last year, a wine tasting from outside New Zealand will be a feature. This year, the wines are from California, with Mike Insley, who spent many years working in that part of the world, leading a panel of international viticulturists and marketers.

This year’s keynote speaker will end the conference. Sir Ray Avery, who went from being a street kid to an internationally renowned scientist will speak on Customer Centric Business Strategies for the Wine Industry.

All in all, the 20th Romeo Bragato promises to be the most wide reaching ever. Registrations are available at www. bragato.org.nz ■ • (Full programme available on page 74.)

Romeo Bragato 20th Annual Conference Marlborough Convention Centre 42A Alfred Street, Blenheim 27-29 August, 2014

2.5 m

INDUSTRY EXHIBITION LAYOUT

Fir

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57 58 59

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fire exit 2.5M

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SITE ALLOCATIONS Site Number

Organisation

15, 16, 17

AgriSea NZ Ltd

62

Asure Quality Drawn by: Peek Exhibition

Copyright of this drawing is reserved by

4

Peek Display Corporation Ltd. and is issued on the condition that it is not copied, reproduced or disclosed to any third party

24 & 35

either wholly or in part without the consent in writing of Peek Display Corporation Ltd.

Stand Size:

Client:

MCC

Event Co-ordinator:

3.0m x 1.8m

Project: Aurora Process Scale: 1:195Solutions Initial Plan date:

19 March 2014

Room/Level: Venue:

Revised Plandate: 19 March 2014 BASF The Chemical Company Drawing Number:

One

Site Number

Organisation

10 Show Dates:

Klima 27th - 29th August 2014

Fiona Lovell-Smith

Shell scheme type:

Frontrunner

Romeo Bragato6 Mantissa Crop Ltd Marlborough Convention Centre 56 Misty Valley Nursery MCC

3

Netafim New Zealand

BioStart Limited

42

O-I New Zealand

9

Cuddon Limited

22, 23

Riversun Nursery Limited

33, 34

Della Toffola Pacific

51

Randox Food Diagnostics

5

EcoTrellis (NZ Tube Mills)

27

Silvan NZ Pty Ltd

20

Empak Distribution

32

Stanmore Farm

48

Extenday

68

United Fisheries Limited

64-66, 70-72

FMR Group Ltd

54

Valtex Horticultural Products

29

Hill Laboratories

37, 38

Vitis (NZ) Ltd

13, 14

Hydralada Company Limited HCL

19

Water Supply Products Ltd

1, 2

Horticentre (Tasman Crop)

61

WaterForce Ltd

44

Bertolini Australasia

55

info@peek.co.nz | www.peek.co.nz

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 71

EXHIBITORS & SITE NUMBERS

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 73

BRAGATO PROGRAMME

Day 1

WEDNES DAY AUGUST 2 7

8am

Registration desk opens Sponsor’s area open to non-registrants from 9:00am to 11:30pm 9am First steps to exporting - Additional $25 fee

Thinking of exporting? Come and meet members of our international team, and hear tips for exporting to key markets.

11am Conference opening 11.15am Wine, a new icon for New Zealand - Steve Green 11.35am Bragato Address

New Zealand in the modern wine world - Kym Anderson, Professor of Economics from University of Adelaide and Australian National University.

12.15pm Lunch and AGMS for NZGGC and Wine Institute 1.30pm Sustainability the Great Debate Sponsor: Riversun

What does sustainability mean to us and the world? Chair of the New Zealand Winegrowers

Sustainability Committee Gwyn Williams will be joined with presentations from James Millton,

74 //

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

Organic Winegrowers New Zealand and Alison Jordan, Sustainability Director for the Californian Winegrowers Association as well as Dr Mat Goddard from the University of Auckland, to present different perspectives on what sustainability means to different people.

2.45pm Bragato Wine Awards – Chief judges report 2.55pm Afternoon Tea 3.25pm Concurrent forums 1

1A. Technical: Are yields and quality truly opposed? Sponsor: Tasman Crop

Dr Mike Trought from Plant and Food Research is joined by international scientists Dr Mark Krasnow from the Culinary Institute of America and Dr Nick Dokoozlian from Gallo Estates California, to give insight into whether low yields always lead to high quality in cool climate viticulture.

1B. Technical: Managing a difficult vintage Sponsor: FMG Advise & Insurance

Join New Zealand Winemakers Tony Robb and Steve Voysey as well as Sileni Estate Viticulturist Stephen Bradley as they give their perspective on

how to manage a difficult vintage in the vineyard and in the winery.

1C. Marketing: USA, Canada and Asia

New Zealand Winegrowers Market Managers David Strada, Robert Ketchin and Natalie Potts present updates from their markets in USA, Canada and Asia.

1D. Advocacy: Crossing the borders – is the time right for Geographical Indications?

What do Geographical Indications look like, is the time right for this and are our markets ready for more precise definitions of regions on our bottles of wine? Dr Glen Creasy from Lincoln University and Emma Jenkins MW provide insight on this topic.

4.35pm Concurrent forums 2

2A. Sustainability: Sustainable Winegrowing NZ, Learning from Successes

FMR Group

Hear first hand what has been the most workable aspect of Sustainable Winegrowing NZ for some New Zealand wineries, and how the Sustainable Winegrowing NZ programme has influenced their operations.

2B. Technical: Below ground management for above ground quality and productivity

Is contouring all that bad? How important is our topsoil, and should we all be changing our practice to Biological Farming. Dr Scott Sharp-Heward, Dr Brent Clothier and Nicole Masters pass on some insights into the soil beneath our vines.

2C. Technical: What’s making my wine special?

Wine Microbial Ecology

Is everything everywhere? Are there microbial patterns across New Zealand vineyards and what is happening with yeasts in Australia? Join Auckland University’s Dr Mat Goddard, Sarah Knight and Australian Professor Vladimir Jiranek as they flesh out this topic.

2D. Advocacy: Eco-labelling, Organics and sustainability

Come listen to Paul Melville from Ministry for Primary Industries speak through the European Union Environmental Footprint Project, and Dr Michelle Glogau from BioGro talk on the market rules for Organic Wine.

5.45pm Bragato Wine Awards tasting Sponsor: O-I

Bragato Wine Awards tasting to 7.30 pm

Day 2

THURSDAY AU GUST 2 8

7.30am 8.30am 9am

Breakfast in the sponsor’s area Registration desk opens Biosecurity What will happen if an incursion occurs in our

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backyard? New Zealand Winegrowers Sustainability. General Manager, Philip Manson and Andrew Coleman of Ministry of Primary Industries lead this session on ‘Are we prepared for an incursion?’

10.20am Morning tea 11am Young Viticulturist of the Year, quick fire questions 11.20am Winegrowing with technology Sponsor: Vitis (NZ) Ltd

Keep abreast of current technology for the wine industry, with presentations from Ruby Andrew, New Zealand Winegrowers, Mark Krstic of AWRI Adelaide and Mark Shaw from Social Guy. 12.15pm Lunch and Poster Session 1.30pm Concurrent forums 3

3A. Sustainability: Future Sustainability

Join members of the NZW Sustainability Committee in this open discussion on the role of sustainability in the future, including Sustainable Winegrowing NZ.

3B. Technical: Hot off the press Sponsor: Plant & Food Research

Join four students from around New Zealand as they present their technical research on Viticulture and Winemaking.

3C. Marketing: Australia, UK & Europe

New Zealand Winegrowers Market Managers, Natalie Corkery (Australia) and Chris Stroud (UK/ Europe) present market updates and where sustainability fits in the future.

3D. Tasting: Californian Wines - Additional $50 charge

Join Mike Insley and his panel of international viticulturists and marketers as they talk you through a tasting of Californian wines.

Important note: This has very limited numbers, tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

2.40pm Afternoon tea 3.20pm to 4.30pm

Concurrent forums 4

4A. Succession Planning: The baby boomers dilemma

The modern NZ wine industry is the creation of the baby boomers, what happens next for the businesses they have built up? Hear from Philip Gregan from New Zealand Winegrowers, PWC’s Richard Longman, Mal McLennan from MaiMai Creek Wines and Tony Hammington of Rabobank discuss the issues and options.

4B. Technical: Powdery Mildew, Slipskin & Botrytis

Sponsor: BASF - The Chemical Company

If you have experienced any of these in your vineyard come along to hear Peter Magarey from Australia, Gareth Hill and Rob Beresford from Plant & Food Research update you on the latest infor-

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

7pm

mation on these pesky problems.

4C. Advocacy: Wine marketing in the modern environment Social responsibility is a key part of the modern marketing environment. This session looks at current and future labelling rules as well as ways that industry can make a positive difference to drinking behaviours through Cheers!

4D. Tasting: Californian Wines - Additional $50 charge (repeat of 1.40 Session) Join Mike Insley and his panel of international viticulturists and marketers as they talk you through a tasting of Californian wines.

Important note: This has very limited numbers, tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Conference Dinner Join our host Chef Michael Van de Elzen from The Food Truck, as we present the Bragato Wine Awards winners and listen to speeches from the finalists of the Young Viticulturist of the Year.

Day 3

F R I D AY A U G U S T 2 9

8.20am REGISTRATION DESK OPENS 9am Is ‘sustainability’ sustainable in the market place?

Join both Kevin Bowler, Chief Executive of Tourism of New Zealand and Shari Mogk Edwards, VicePresident, Products, Sales and Merchandising from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario as they speak on the importance of New Zealand’s sustainability image to both our international visitors and the retailer.

9.50am Morning tea 10.30am Future leaders Sponsor: Rabobank

They hold the key to the future of the industry, hear the vision of some young viticulturists, winemakers, executives and marketers as they talk about their vision for the industry.

11.05am Rabobank speaker David Clarke, Regional Manager for Northern South Island 11.10am Keynote guest speaker Sponsor: Rabobank

New Zealander of the Year 2010 and celebrated author, Sir Ray Avery, is a former street kid turned scientist - his low cost, sustainable medical devices, invented in his home garage, are making a difference to millions of the world’s most vulnerable!

Sir Ray Avery will be speaking on ‘Customer Centric Business Strategies for the Wine Industry’ 12.30pm Conference closure

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REGIONS WAIPARA

Mike and Claudia Weersling

ART AND WINE P

yramid Valley Vineyards, have taken the art of wine a step further with two street artists helping to adorn their new winery in North Canterbury.

It was the Cranmer Cantina, a pop-up fundraising restaurant in Christchurch that Pyramid Valley Vineyards has been involved with since 2012, that sparked the connection with two of that city’s respected street artists. Morpork and Yikes have created an eight metre by four metre artwork on the inside back wall of Pyramid Valley’s new winery completed earlier this year.

Owners Claudia and Mike Weersing wanted to support the talent of street artists of Christchurch and invited them to visit the vineyard to commission a bespoke piece of art.

“I wanted them to show their expression of Pyramid Valley and what they felt while they were here,” says Claudia “The art was to be totally representative of their emotions when walking the property and their subsequent creativity.

“It took four days to complete and was a very emotional piece for me. It embraces everything about what we do here at Pyramid and the gifts of life we enjoy living in

78 //

The street art wall by leading Christchurch street artists, Morpork and Yikes that adorns Pyramid Valley’s new winery.

the country.”

Morpork and Yikes visited the vineyard while the winery was under construction and together walked the property to get a sense of the style that is unique to Pyramid Valley, and developed their work that depicts the philosophies, flora and fauna of the property.

The development of the Pyramid Valley winery means for the first time, everything is on the one site – the home block, in North Canterbury. Self sufficiency is at the heart of the development, and

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

provides enough space to not only make the Growers Collection and the Home Collection under one roof, but also to allow storage and dispatch to happen from the one location.

“This will give us complete control over the whole winemaking and logistics process, which is a huge benefit for us” says Managing Director Caine Thompson.

In keeping with the tradition of growing all of its fruit using organic and biodynamic practices, the new winery has been built with energy conservation in mind.

“We use very little energy in our wine making process. We have no pumps as we gravity feed, we have no filtering devices as we naturally settle, and we have no heating or cooling systems.

“The winery is very well insulated and because it’s relatively small, we can use nature’s elements to heat and cool wine.

“This is simply done by removing tanks in the evening to cool and returning them inside to warm, wrapped with blankets in the morning.

“Being such a small highly focused winery, each tank can be individually treated this way.

Energy consumption is minute and as a result, our energy footprint is one of the lowest in the industry, way below industry benchmarks,” says Thompson.

All the fermenters are 1000 litres or less, providing a very hands-on abiity.

It allows for hand and foot plunging “and allows us to listen to the health of each ferment before we intervene”.

Claudia and Mike Weersling arrived in New Zealand back in 1996, with Mike first employed at Neudorf Wineyards in Nelson.

The couple bought their property in North Canterbury’s Pyramid Valley near Waitaki in 2000. ■

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 79

REGIONS HAWKE’S BAY

KNIGHTHOOD FOR INDUSTRY GREAT MARY SHANAHAN

S

ileni Estates founder Graeme Avery may have a knighthood, but he feels there is still much to be achieved with his Hawke’s Baybased wine company and other business and sport endeavours.

Avery was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and sport in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours list.

Having moved to Hawke’s Bay from Auckland 15 years ago, Avery says the region has a lot of unre-

98 5 Since 1

alised potential. Agri-business, added-value food products and inbound tourism have yet to be properly harnessed.

His efforts to realise that potential include establishing the Hawke’s Bay Food Group and the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market and spearheading the formation of the Hawke’s Bay Wine Country Tourism Association.

Avery transformed medical publishing company Adis International, a company he launched in 1963, into a $100m worldwide

business. He went Avery has o n to e s t a b l i s h attracted many honaward-winning Sileni ours and accolades.

Estates on the Bridge In 2002, he was North and South Pa Triangle. Over the magazine’s New years, the company Zealander of the has extended its vineyard developments to Year and in 2007 he include Mangatahi, was made an Officer further west of Hast- Graeme Avery of the New Zealand ings, and Marlborough.

Order of Merit for services for He partnered with AUT to cre- business and sport. In August, ate the $30m Millennium Institute he is to be inducted into the New of Sport and Health as a sport and Zealand Business Hall of Fame. ■ fitness academy for top athletes. maryshanahan173@gmail.com

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FOR SALE

There will be many winemakers and industry personnel who will recognise this building. It is the original research station for New Zealand’s viticulture industry, Te Kauwhata.

A slice of history, this heritage building has seen many of today and yesterday’s winemakers walk through its doors. Built back in 1903, it was the base for Romeo Bragato as he studied the potential of viticulture in this part of the world.

While Bragato may have left these shores, the building continued as a research station right through until 1992, when Rongopai Wines bought it. In 2007 it was on sold to TK Vintners and Bottlers, who placed it on the market in June.

The building and land are currently on the market for $1,890,000 plus GST. I don’t think even Romeo Bragato could have predicted that.

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 83

REGIONS GISBORNE

REVIVING VINEYARDS JUSTINE TYERMAN

S

ubstantial vineyard redevelopment by a major player in the wine industry is under way on the Poverty Bay Flats around Gisborne.

Indevin Partners are replanting 40 to 50 hectares a year in the district in addition to 35 hectares a year in their Hawke’s Bay vineyards.

Indevin regional vineyards manager Andrew Blakeman says project “Revive” - launched at the company’s Patutahi Estate in September last year - is indicative of the company’s confidence

in the future of the industry in the region.

An ongoing operation over the next 12 to 15 years, Indevin is planning to spend $5 million in the first five years of the project, the majority of this in Gisborne, says Blakeman.

“We are one year into this major redevelopment project and due to plant our second area of new vines in September. We planted 46,000 in our Gisborne vineyards last year and are looking at planting 93,000 this year.”

The high demand for wine, the buoyant state of the industry

and the advancing age of vines in Indevin’s vineyards are behind the decision to undertake the huge project which will see 75 hectares of new planting this spring, 40 hectares in Gisborne and 35 in Hawke’s Bay. “The average age of our vines is 17 to 20 years. The optimum age for a vine is about 12 to 14 years after which the yield drops off.”

The demand for the product, especially Chardonnay, is high and increasing, he says.

“Sixty percent of the area under redevelopment in Gisborne is being planted in Chardonnay

and 40 percent in Pinot Gris with small amounts of other varieties like Pinot Noir and Merlot in Hawke’s Bay.” Indevin’s senior viticulturist Sarah Phillips is the one who determines the best variety, clone and rootstock selections for each site, he says.

It’s a massive undertaking involving not just the removal and replanting of vines but the replacement of all the trellising.

“We are standardising all the trellises from 3 metres to 2.4 metres between rows in order to gain 25 percent more vines per

Indevin Partners regional vineyards manager Andrew Blakeman pictured in Gisborne’s Patutahi Estate vineyard with Chardonnay clone 809 vines on 3309 rootstock planted last September. “The growth has been phenomenal,” he says.

84 //

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

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hectare, so everything comes out, Phillips says.

“After the wires, nails and staples are removed, a bobcat is used to pull the posts, strainers and vines out of the ground. The bare ground is ripped and cultivated to get as many of the roots out as we can and we then go through and pick up the remaining root material by hand. The roots harbour mealybug so it’s important to get rid of as much as possible. A lot of the posts are reused but the wire suffers fatigue so usually cannot be used again. What we can’t reuse, we recycle.

“We’ve just finished pulling out vines in the next areas to be planted - a 20-hectare block in Gisborne and 20 hectares in Hawke’s Bay. The drainage has gone in and we now wait until the 3rd week of September to plant the new vines. The timing of that is weather-dependent though – there’s no point planting into cold, wet ground,” she says.

“We had a phenomenal spring last year and the planting went

very well. The new vines put on incredible growth, about double what we expected,” Blakeman says.

He attributes this to four or five good waterings over the summer, great weather, excellent weed control and vigorous plants with great root development.

“Revive is a huge vote of confidence for this area. We haven’t had a planting programme like this since 1999. And it’s a great boost for the Gisborne region too as it’s an all-local operation from the Riversun plants to the Coxco contractors.”

Indevin Partners own 380 hectares in Poverty Bay and 180 hectares in Hawke’s Bay. The bulk of the area is in Chardonnay followed by Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer with smaller areas of Merlot, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Pinotage, Arneis, Viognier and Semillon.

“Chardonnay is still the big one for us here in Gisborne though,” he says. ■ justine.tyerman@clear.net.nz

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ROMEO BRAGATO

YOUNG VIT 2014 TESSA NICHOLSON

W

ho will take out the title of New Zealand Young Viticulturist of the Year for 2014? With more competitors than in any other year, the competition is likely to be a tough one.

At the time of going to print, not all the regional finalists were confirmed, so we can’t give you a run down on who is vying for the title.

But we can give you a heads up on just why so many are keen to pit their skills against their peers.

Not only will they take out the national title, they will also go on to represent the viticulture industry at the National Young Horticulturist of the Year, in November.

On top of that, they will receive $2000 in cash, a NZSVO travel grant worth $5000, a week of learning with wine industry

leaders, plus a 12-month lease of a brand new Hyundai Santa Fe. Well worth competing for.

But before they get to that stage, the contestants will be put through their paces in a variety of ways.

Running in conjunction with the Romeo Bragato Conference, all the competitors will have to compete in a practical component on the Tuesday before Bra-

The contestants in last year’s competition, won by Mat Fox from Gisborne. Who will take out this year’s title?

gato begins. If that gets the brain cells working overtime, the next event, Biostart Horty Sports will push them to the limit in a myriad of fun ways. That is being held at the Marlborough Vintners Hotel, between 1pm and 1.30, allowing those attending the NZSVO workshop to cheer on their local representative.

In the afternoon, there will be more practical components to complete, before the day ends.

The day of the Bragato opening, will give them all a rest, but not for long, as on Thursday they will take part in an interview with industry members, then prepare for a quick-fire general knowledge quiz in front of the delegates. Later, at the Bragato Wine Awards dinner each competitor will deliver a prepared three-minute speech, on a topic provided to them by organisers.

The overall winner will be announced that night.

Good luck to all the competitors, and in the next issue of NZ Winegrower, we look forward to introducing you to the Young Viticulturist of the Year, 2014. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

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NZW NEWS

THE WiSE CHOICE TESSA NICHOLSON

N

ow in operation, WiSE (Wine Industry Sustainability Engine) is receiving the accolades that the former software provider failed to achieve.

For Philip Manson, NZW Sustainability GM, that is satisfying, given how much concern members expressed about the previous scorecard system in last year’s member survey.

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“There were elements about Sustainable Winegrowing that needed to change and we have listened to those concerns. It has changed and those changes are embodied in the launch of WiSE,” he said.

Not only is the new system already proven in other agricultural fields, it has been fine tuned specifically for the New Zealand wine industry, with ease of use

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

being one of the main attractions.

“One of the things members told us, was getting into their scorecard was like mission impossible. They had to climb through all sorts of hoops and then when they got to it, they found themselves locked out. So one of our key focuses was to make it really easy to access.”

All members need is their user name (email address), which is the

password already used to get onto the NZW member’s website.

Once in, the layout is also much clearer, with the ability to answer just the compulsory questions, or go for broke and answer everything. This is a big advantage Manson said.

“The compulsory questions are the ones you need to answer to be able to meet the base line agreed internationally for sustainable

 

 production of grapes and wine.

“The voluntary questions are everything else. These answers are what give you the information around benchmarking, like the amount of water and energy you use.

“So if you value the information coming back from those, then you can fill them out. The choice is yours.”

Those who have already trialled the WiSE software have been pleased to note that irrelevant questions are no longer part and parcel of the scorecard.

“We had a lot of feedback about why we were asking questions that weren’t relevant. This software is really responsive to answers. If you tick a box saying ‘no I don’t irrigate,’ then you won’t get any questions relating to irrigation.”

The aim of keeping it simple and relevant follows through each aspect of the new system Manson said.

“We have tried to reduce the workload and make things more efficient.”

Where information has already been supplied to NZW, for example via the vineyard register, then this will already be input. While there will be a need to fill out much of this year’s scorecard, many of those answers will be able to be cut and pasted in next year, saving even more time.

“Over time we will look to do more of that. We had hoped to pre populate the whole scorecard but it wasn’t possible. But next year you will be able to copy the answers on core elements that don’t change from year to year, straight across.”

Some of the other advantages of the new software include; being able to attach electronic files to the scorecard in the appropriate place, meaning they are readily available at audit time.

The task manager, which while manual at the moment will become automated later this

year, will allow you to record work required and assign to staff members.

Because the auditors are using the same system, Manson said they are working off the same page as members, and are able to access all attached documents.

“We recognise an audit can be stressful, so WiSE streamlines it and makes it easier. WiSE is being seen as a platform for new thinking. It gives us flexibility to no longer be “one size fits all” and we are looking in the future to what an extended Sustainable Winegrowing programme would look like for those who want to do more and be recognised for it.”

As mentioned, members appear to be more than happy with the change. The following are comments made at the launch of WiSE in June.

Guess what? One of our vineyard managers just told me he LIKED the new scorecard!!! Unheard of.

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“All previous irritants (e.g. nonuse of water for irrigation, frost protection etc.) have been fixed.

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Manson said comments like that make the hard work undertaken by the Sustainability team to get WiSE up and running, well worth it. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

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BOB’S BLOG BOB CAMPBELL MW

The vinous equivalent to an archaeological dig Vertical tastings are very revealing. They illustrate the evolution of a wine style, its ability to

age and the influence of vintage. I’ve enjoyed several vertical tastings in the space of just a few weeks.

At Man O’War’s Waiheke tasting room I joined Mike Cooper in a fascinating tasting that featured five vintages of their Bordeaux blend “Ironclad”. I expected the 2010 vintage to be my favourite and so it was, although the overall standard was very high with four of the wines earning gold medal ratings.

Te Mata offered nine vintages of their barrel-fermented Sauvignon Blanc, Cape Crest, generously throwing in a 1er crus Graves, 2010 Château Malartic-Lagravière, as a reference point. The tasting illustrated how well Sauvignon Blanc can age – my top wines were 2006, 2010 and 2013. They also opened nine vintages of Elston Chardonnay together with a 1er cru Burgundy, 2010 Jean-Marc Boillot Puligny-Montrachet Les Referts. Favourite vintages were 2006, 2007 and 2013. The Burgundy earned top spot.

Mark Mason from Quest Farm in Central Otago opened seven vintages of his single vineyard Pinot Noir all of which showed a strong vineyard character. My top wine was 2010.

In an interview reported in Wine Searcher recently the top Burgundian producer, Frederic Mugnier, claimed that it was just as important for him to express vintage character as it was vineyard character. I absolutely agree. Without vintage differences wine would be as exciting as … well, beer.

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FOLLOW US

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To view the link on the right simply: 1. Download DIGIMARC for free from the Apps store on your Smartphone; 2. Launch the App; 3. Hold your device over the QR CODE; 4. Watch the link come to life.

New York vs San Francisco Last year I conducted two tastings in the US each featuring a dozen examples of New Zealand Pinot Noir from all the major regions. One of the tastings was in New York while the second was in San Francisco. Both were attended by a sophisticated audience of wine writers and wine buyers. After each tasting I asked the audience to vote for their favourite wine. There was little or no consensus which made me wonder whether wine tastes differ on the east and west coast of America. It was an eye-opening exercise in other respects with considerable enthusiasm shown for New Zealand Pinot Noir generally.

This year I conducted a second tasting in the same two cities for similar audiences.

Both tastings featured the same New Zealand Chardonnays from eight regions. The same wine won by a considerable margin in San Francisco and New York. It was Neudorf 2012 Moutere Chardonnay. This time the audience reaction was one of surprise. A common response was “I didn’t know you made Chardonnay that good!”

Why did the audiences in both cities agree

white burgundy – intensity, complexity, good acidity and an influence of chalky minerality.

The audiences in both cities are familiar with good white Burgundy and voted accordingly.

on the best Chardonnay but not on Pinot Noir? I think it’s because Neudorf Chardonnay (as well as several other wines in the tastings) have some of the attributes of

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Pigeon New Zealand My office window looks out onto a Puriri tree where a particularly twitchy Native Wood Pigeon regularly dines. It has taken me one year to get a photo of him. It may not have anything to do with wine, but I really wanted to publish the picture.

Merlot is hot The Six Nations Wine Competition features a class “Merlot & Carmenere” which should, in theory at least, be dominated by Chile.

Carmenere is Chile’s signature grape with Merlot close behind. Last year I could only find four wines worthy of entry and yet New Zealand scored top place with Villa Maria 2010 Reserve Merlot and won the class by scoring the most points overall.

I have been astounded by the quality of a handful of mostly inexpensive Merlots from Hawke’s Bay’s 2013 vintage, a year that Craggy Range’s winemaker, Matt Stafford described by saying, “No other season has come together like 2013. The stars truly aligned to provide the vintage of a generation.”

Matt was so excited about the vintage that he offered a tasting of barrel samples of the 2013 components of Sophia, a blended wine that is 60% Merlot. The Merlot component was truly spectacular.

Move over Chateau Petrus!

Selecting a top team For the eleventh year in a row I’ve just spent several days choosing wines for the Six Nations Wine Challenge to be held in Sydney this August. I have to choose 110 wines divided into 17 different classes with a maximum of 10 wines per class although I don’t have to enter every class.

I don’t bother with blended whites, other non-aromatic whites (kidnapped with ease

by Australian Semillon), Malbec (Argentina rules) and other red varietals (we’re outclassed by five countries here).

I start by making up a list of the small

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

handful of wineries who I know will refuse our invitation to enter. I accept that they have their own very good reasons for not wanting to enter but wish they would be motivated a little more by national pride rather than (I suspect) fear of failure.

Next I review the entries and winners last year before searching my database for prospects. Finally I select the strongest team of wines that I can find. New Zealand has had a string of successes in the past.

We have (naturally) dominated Sauvignon Blanc but have also done consistently well

with Riesling, aromatic whites, Pinot Noir, Merlot/Carmenere, Shiraz/Syrah, and dessert wines. New Zealand has only been the outright winner twice with Australia occupying top slot for the other nine competitions.

The competition has certainly got stronger since the US joined last year. In the trophy tasting at the end of last year’s show I was elated to taste a Pinot Noir that I felt sure was from Central Otago. It was from the Russian River Valley of California.

Damn!

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NZ WINEGROWER  AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014  //   93

NOT ON THE LABEL LEGAL MATTERS WITH MARIJA BATISTICH SENIOR ASSOCIATE AND KRISTIN WILSON, SENIOR SOLICITOR – BELL GULLY

EARNING THE GOLD STARS – THE INTRODUCTION OF THE VOLUNTARY HEALTH STAR RATING SCHEME

O

n 27 June 2014 the Minister for Food Safety announced that the Government would be joining with Australia in introducing a voluntary labelling system to show the nutritional value of food products. New Zealand and Australia will both operate under the Health Star Rating Scheme (HSR Scheme), which will rank products based on overall nutritional value. The

HRS Scheme will be able to be used for most packaged food products available for retail sale.

Alcohol is explicitly excluded from the scheme, which means that the Health Stars cannot be displayed on products such as wine, beer or spirits (regardless of the potential health benefits of an occasional glass of red wine).

The HSR Scheme is designed to allow customers to make

better informed and healthier choices, by making the nutritional value of products more obvious to consumers at the point of sale. Nutrition labels can be confusing, and terms such as ‘low fat’ or ‘high fibre’ can sometimes hide the fact that products are less healthy in other ways. Under the new system, shoppers will be able to quickly get an accurate and comprehensive idea of the

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

nutritional value of a product by looking at the front of the packaging.

The HSR Scheme will use a rating scale of 1/2 to 5 stars. The more stars a food is allocated, the higher the nutritional value of that food.

In addition to the stars, the voluntary label will show the amount of energy, saturated fat, sugar, sodium and one optional positive nutrient (for exam-

the results for certain nutrients individually. The traffic light system in Britain is also focussed only on the negative aspects of food, and not on the presence of both positive and negative nutrients as required by New Zealand dietary guidelines.

Major players in the industry also appear to approve of the scheme, with Woolworths and Sanitarium both announcing that they will apply the new labels to all of their products.

The Food and Grocery Council has stated that it is confident that a significant number of manufacturers would also sign up. The labelling scheme is likely to be embraced by manufacturers which are already producing relatively healthy foods, for obvious reasons.

There are of course drawbacks to the proposed labelling system. One is that the scheme

ple fibre or calcium) in 100g or 100ml of the product. The amount of stars a product will have will be determined by the levels of these nutrients and can be calculated using an algorithm that is available at foodsafety. govt.nz.

By way of example, most soft drinks are likely to be rated as 0.5 – 1 star, most breakfast cereals will be around 2.5 stars, and trim milk and unsweetened yoghurt are likely to be 5 stars.

Most health experts appear to be in favour of the HSR Scheme, noting that it is simple but more comprehensive than the ‘traffic light’ labelling that was also considered. The advantage of the HSR Scheme over the traffic light system that is used in Britain is that it allows the nutritional value of the product to be assessed as a whole, rather than evaluating and displaying

is voluntary, meaning that products that have a low nutritional value are less likely to adopt this labelling. Nutrition is also complex and there is regular debate about what kinds of food are best for people to be consuming.

The HSR Scheme needs to be simple to be effective, but there is a risk that the HSR Scheme oversimplifies the nutritional assessment.

Products that are highly processed for example may fare better than products which are closer to being natural (for example low fat flavoured milk is likely to have more stars than regular whole milk).

Additionally, as was pointed out by the Food and Grocery Council, the fact that the nutritional content of products is measured per 100g may cause anomalies for some products.

Vegemite and Marmite are

likely to both receive a reduced number of stars as they are high in sodium. A consumer would however use far less than 100g of these spreads per serving, which means that nutritionally the picture is not as negative as it would appear.

It is likely that we will start seeing these new labels on products on the shelf in the next 6-12 months, and an education period will be required for both the industry and consumers to allow them to understand the labels.

The effectiveness of the calculator and the style guide will be reviewed in two years, and a review in five years will evaluate the system as a whole, including the level of voluntary uptake. If there is not ‘consistent and widespread’ uptake of the system, it is possible that this labelling scheme may be made compulsory. ■

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INDUSTRY PROFILE

MINES TO VINES TESSA NICHOLSON

H

idden amongst the many vineyards of Marlborough is a man who has undergone a metamorphous, from clearing landmines to tending vines.

The former Major John Flanagan, now known simply as Flan, spent 11 years working in some of the worst war devastated zones in the world. From Cambodia, to Bosnia, Kosovo to Afghanistan, Lebanon to Sudan, he has worked to clear landmines and cluster bombs, making the areas safe for the people living there.

These days he is the vineyard manager at McLean Estate at the top of the Wairau Valley in Marlborough.

Joining the army at age 16, Flan’s first overseas posting was to Cambodia after the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from the country. His task was to help map and clear the country of the millions of landmines that had been planted during the conflict. It was a devastating introduction to the aftermath of war.

“One of the most shocking things when I first arrived in Cambodia was seeing the number of people who were missing arms and legs, or had been blinded by explosions. People were forced to go out into the fields to make a living, and with no records kept of where the mines were laid, they had no idea when they would come across them. Often the only way we knew there was a minefield in the area was when people were killed or injured. It was a sad aspect of the job, that you always had to be talking to the victims, to get them to show you where they were blown up.”

96 //

Flan was deployed in Cambodia for a year, before coming back to New Zealand. But his experiences there, paved the way for his future.

In 1997 he went to the UN headquarters in New York to help establish the Mine Action Service,

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

as an operations officer. The twoyear posting saw him set up mine clearance systems that ensured operators around the world were working together. Much of the UN focus at the time was based around Bosnia. But Kosovo was also entering a period of major unrest, with

NATO forces and the Serbian military at loggerheads. The end result was a concerted bombing of the small country in May 1999.

Due to return to New Zealand in June 1999, Flan was trying hard not to get involved with Kosovo.

He wasn’t successful.

Flan with one of the many bombing victims in Cambodia.

Photo: NZDF Official

“It was a Thursday and I was due to leave New York the following week. That afternoon I had to attend a Kosovo planning meeting, where the impending UN support programme was being discussed.

Everyone was talking different game plans, which got me really wound up. After the meeting I went in to see the boss and said, ‘You guys are going to screw this up. It’s not going to work as there is no vision for how this is opera-

So while he had signed on for a six-month period, he ended up extending that to two and a half years.

While Cambodia had been subjected to landmines, Kosovo was suffering from unexploded cluster bombs as well. These were designed to be dropped from the air and explode on contact with the land. However between 10 and 15% of those bombs didn’t explode and were left lying either

“One of the cluster bomb designers was a Norwegian fellow and he wouldn’t believe they weren’t exploding on impact. We brought him out (to Lebanon) and showed him all these areas and he just transformed overnight from being a cluster bomb designer to being a proponent of banning them.” tion should be managed.’ He said if I was so clever, why didn’t I manage the programme? I said ‘I will, but you have until next Tuesday to make it happen because the packers are coming to our apartment then and we are heading back to New Zealand. Good luck getting me out of there once I’m home.’”

Not for one minute did Flan think his boss was serious. After all there were only four days until he left New York, and there were a number of diplomatic and bureaucratic hurdles to be cleared for such a decision to be made. So the packers arrived, everything was boxed up, waiting for the truck.

All his army gear was sitting in the corner – just in case. “Next thing the phone rang and my boss said, ‘yeah you are going to Kosovo.’ Oh Shit! The guys were all standing round and I asked them to give me five minutes to explain the situation to my wife, Sally.”

He quickly realised that the Kosovo situation wasn’t going to be fixed in a matter of months.

on the surface or buried in the soft ground half a metre deep.

“When NATO bombed Kosovo, 800,000 refugees fled across the border. Then when the Serbs pulled out, these people wanted to come back and pick up their lives.

I got thrown in there in June of 99 and the place was just chaotic. The land mines were obviously a problem but the unexploded cluster bombs were worse. They were everywhere and they were really attractive to kids because most had a sort of parachute, and were yellow in colour. In the first month there were 130 people killed or injured. Farmers wanted to get back in to plough their fields, so they were ploughing these things up and people had no idea of what they were encountering. They had huge destructive power. So the awareness problem had to change from land mines and unexploded ordnance, to focus specifically on cluster bombs.”

The systems he helped put in place, were unique in terms

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 97

of mine clearance programmes.

With full autonomy, the UN was able to ensure all the organisations were working off the same page, meaning within two and a half years, the area was deemed clean – well as clean as anything ever can be after a war. During that time 10,000 landmines and 25,000 cluster bombs were cleared from the small country.

Satisfied with a job well done, Flan came back to New Zealand and the army, at the end of 2001.

He was due to go to staff college in 03, but as he puts it, he “accidentally got a job in New York.”

That accident, as he puts it, saw him become the Chief of Operations for the UN Mine Action Service a programme that grew over his five and half years in the UN, (he went on to become Acting Director in his last 12 months). Sponsors to help with the clearing of war-ravaged areas

98 //

also increased, helped substantially by the fundraising Flan was doing with heads of governments throughout the world. Seeing the devastation cluster bombs were creating, he was also instrumental in helping to ban their use in future conflicts.

“One of the cluster bomb designers was a Norwegian fellow and he wouldn’t believe they weren’t exploding on impact. We brought him out (to Lebanon) and showed him all these areas and he just transformed overnight from being a cluster bomb designer to being a proponent of banning them.”

He got onto the Norwegian government and once they got on board they provided money to start this movement to ban cluster bombs. New Zealand was a particularly strong player in that movement as one of the five core countries organising the ban.

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

And the ban took effect just as I was leaving at the end of 2008. So now cluster bombs are on the prohibited weapons list for the majority of countries. That was a great result. I could actually walk away from the UN being very happy with what I had contributed for the last five and a half years and also in Kosovo.”

And walk away he did, arriving back in New Zealand in late 2008, with three young children and no career in the army. With family based in Blenheim, he was lured by the growth of the local wine industry. With a half share in a vineyard, (bought back in 2003) he saw the possibility of changing his focus completely. After the highpowered job in the UN, the prospect of working the land without having to worry about bombs of any sort, appealed.

After a year’s correspondence in Viticulture and Oenology at

EIT, he then transferred to the on-line course at NMIT in 2010.

Despite being challenged on a world scale in his former life, Flan admits the getting back to education was just as much of a challenge. Last December the hard work paid off, with his graduation and a Diploma in Viticulture and Wine Production.

Now he manages his own shared vineyard and is the vineyard manager for McKean Estate.

And while he still keeps tabs on what is happening globally, he doesn’t really miss the cut and thrust of his former job.

“I left at a really positive time and it’s time for someone else to carry the mantle. Besides I love what I am doing and I love where I am doing it. It’s just great, a very special place.” ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com • This article was first published in Winepress earlier this year.

John Flanagan

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WINEMAKING NEWS

CREATING BUBBLES WITH MAGNETS JOELLE THOMSON

A

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The use of magnets in sparkling wine sees magnetic nanoparticles attach to the surface of the yeast in the wine. This reduces what the researchers refer to as the ‘waste’ of yeast extraction, but perhaps more importantly for many winemakers, it takes just 15-20 minutes. The researchers say that this

100 //

is 4,000 times faster than the traditional method of using yeast to create a secondary fermentation to produce carbon dioxide (CO2).

The yeast remains unaltered by being magnetised after fermentation. Sensory tests by the researchers suggest that the wine’s aroma, texture, body, taste and the size of the bubbles are all unaffected by the magnetizing process.

“As the global population grows

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

there is pressure on food and drink manufacturers to become more efficient. Saving time and energy

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“The inventiveness of chemical and biochemical engineers demonstrates that wine production can be made more efficient with clever nanotechnology combined with simple magnets.” ■ joellethomson@vodafone.co.nz

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REGIONS GISBORNE

MOVING ON JUSTINE TYERMAN

T

wo vintages of exceptional quality, the prospect of oversupply of grapes and ‘perfect storm’ conditions for powdery mildew are among the good, the bad and the ugly elements outgoing president of the Gisborne Winegrowers’ Association Doug Bell has experienced during his term in office.

Bell, who steps down in August after two years at the helm of the group that represents the district’s grape-growers and wineries, says he has been very lucky in his time as president.

“I have had the good fortune to be president during the best vintages in recent memory - 2013

102 //

and 2014 have been exceptional seasons for us,” he says.

“The two prior to that were not so good and I think growers lost heart in what they were doing. Poor vintages can affect your whole demeanour. But the past two excellent vintages have injected positivity into the industry. This has been reflected in major planting and replanting by two of the largest players in the industry here, Leaderbrand and Indevin. Investment in new planting represents a significant commitment to the district by these companies.”

Bell says while he didn’t seek the position as president, after

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

being vice-president for five years or so, he was happy to take it on, ever mindful of “the big boots the previous president John Clarke had left behind”.

“I knew John had left the committee in good spirits, and it was the right thing to do. I think everyone should take their turn at contributing to the community at some stage and I’m pleased I’ve done it.”

He says the workload wasn’t extraordinary but the responsibility was.

“The need for careful stewardship was something I learned as time went by. You have to remember which hat you are wearing and

the far-reaching impact of any statements you might make.”

There were monthly meetings with the committee of 12 and other meetings as required.

“I was very fortunate to have a fabulous committee, really lovely people all there for the same reason – a belief in the district and desire to guide its promotion - but each adding a different skill-set to the group. Working with such enthusiastic, good-humoured people has definitely been a high point of my time as president. Being involved with like-minded folk who have knitted well together has been very pleasurable indeed.

They have been a tremendous sup-

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 103

Doug Bell’s beloved WWII aircraft, Allison - gets a mention on the Coopers Creek Marsanne.

port network for me.”

One of the challenges has been allocating sufficient time to the job in an already busy schedule.

“The role must take priority so other things are, of necessity, squeezed into the extremities of the day resulting in some very late nights. It’s important to understand the commitment and do the job wholeheartedly,” Bell says.

“And you have to recognise that you can’t keep everyone happy all the time. Ultimately you have to do what’s best for the region. You might set out to achieve consensus but it’s not always possible.”

“Gisborne is gaining a reputation for the diversity of its varieties and there can’t be many that aren’t being tried here.”

While the past two vintages have been outstanding, they have not been without their headaches for growers.

“The irony of it is that the same dry weather that has provided great growing conditions for the grapes has also been the ‘perfect storm’ for powdery mildew.

“We are now seeing a different type of powdery mildew which reproduces in a different manner so growers must be far more careful and diligent with management practices. It’s fair to say that everyone in this region has had powdery mildew to a greater or lesser degree. In fact all the main grape growing regions in the country

have experienced it this year. It’s serious stuff.

“The worst-case scenario is that wineries can reject crops with bad powdery mildew. Growers need to pay attention now.

Ignore it at your peril!”

Another major concern locally is the impact a large national grape crop will have on pricing, says Bell.

“Any oversupply of grapes will always impact on prices. While the industry cannot influence the national crop, individually growers and wineries need to understand the ramifications of a large crop.”

Bell believes like all industries, winegrowing needs to change with

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the market.

“Gisborne grows good Chardonnay and it has been one of our great strengths. There’s been a resurgence in planting especially since the newer high-health clones have been available. But in addition Gisborne is gaining a reputation for the diversity of its varieties and there can’t be many that aren’t being tried here,” he says.

“Gisborne has recently become the New Zealand home of Albariño, a Spanish variety first imported and first grown in this district. Growing it has been an incredibly rewarding journey for us personally, and for Coopers Creek who make the wine. To have a new variety achieve such success on its first commercial release was fantastic - it won a gold medal in every competition it was entered into and won the Other White Wine Trophy in four

of those shows.

“So now we ponder what will shine in the other varieties that are in the trial block - Sauvignon Gris, Fiano, Vermentino, Lagrein,

think Gisborne is a bulk-wine region, Bell says, “We left that label far behind in another era, two decades ago. Have a look at what we have to offer now and surprise

“Any oversupply of grapes will always impact on prices. While the industry cannot influence the national crop, individually growers and wineries need to understand the ramifications of a large crop.”

new clones of Chenin Blanc? Varieties have come and gone on our 30-hectare vineyard over the past 30 years and there will inevitably be more decisions to make about ‘what to plant next’ as the preferences of wine drinkers change yet again,” he says.

Answering the critics who still

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So what advantages does Gisborne have over other regions?

“Gisborne has a very important part to play in the industry because growers here can produce reasonably-priced grapes that are attractive to the wineries. Our wines tend to be low in

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acid and this enables them to be released early with full, rich, fruit characters.

“I also believe we have a good marketing direction here now and it’s the right time to put this region in front of a bigger audience, nationally and internationally,” he says.

And how does Bell plan to use the all free time he will have after August?

“I’m confident the gap left by this role will be filled by something lurking in the shed,” he says with a broad grin, alluding to his beloved Allison, the WW2 aircraft engine he is restoring.

His wife and full-time vineyard/ business partner Delwyn also has a number of projects lined up for her engineer-handyman husband.

“I don’t think for a minute there will be any free time!” he says. ■ justine.tyerman@clear.net.nz

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 105

LOOKING BACK

FROM COLD DUCK TO ALBARINO The 1990s – Decade of the Wine Rush T H I S A R T I C L E WA S W R I T T E N B Y P E T E R S A U N D E R S , W H O E X P R E S S E S S I N C E R E T H A N K S T O M I C H A E L C O O P E R A N D T E R R Y D U N L E AV Y F O R T H E I R A S S I S TA N C E A N D I N - P U T.

T

he 1990s was the rushed decade, not in a bad way, but so much happened in ten years. Hundreds of new names of winemakers and brands appeared, new buildings and new vineyards changed the landscape of Marlborough in particular, with Waipara and Central Otago on the verge of a similar explosion.

In wine industry terms internationally, the 1990s were indeed ‘quite a rush’. Exports grew from 4 million litres in 1990 to almost 20 million a decade later when exports were earning New Zealand about $180 million dollars.

The number of wine producing companies grew from 135 in 1990 to 331 in 2000, according to Wine Institute Annual Reports. The same reference marks the climb in New Zealand vineyards from 5,500 hectares in 1990 to 13,000 in 2000.

Growth was only part of the rush. Muller Thurgau dropped from being the leading grape variety planted in New Zealand to just 400 hectares in 2000, behind Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Merlot. Even Riesling in 2000 showed more planted hectares than Muller Thurgau. By the end of the decade, Pinot Gris

was starting to show as significant in the New Zealand vineyard.

The corporate structure was changing too. Montana Wines Ltd became a subsidiary of Corporate Investments when Seagrams sold their 40% share to Peter Masfen.

Nobilo, deRedcliffe (Hotel du Vin) and Morton Estate became listed public companies.

Overseas investment saw Craggy Range become the most talked about winery and produced wines to mark that standard. Kemblefield planted five terraces in Hawkes Bay under USA finance.

Other investors were ‘looking’ from overseas, making their move

Graeme Avery (now Sir Graeme) established Sileni Estate in the 1990s with the help of winemaker Grant Edmonds who remains at Sileni. This attractive winery and restaurants with four Hawke’s Bay vineyards attracted a heap of attention in its formative years and now has a sales force operating overseas.

106 //

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

in the following decade, all alert to New Zealand wine – and its potential.

Local investment too glowed as Sileni established major premises and vineyards in Hawke’s Bay. Just south of Blenheim Mount Riley showed a grand new winery with Digger Hennessey as winemaker.

Babich produced a wonderful new establishment around the humble cellars and wine shop that had served for decades in Henderson. .

Villa Maria built a winery in Marlborough on a site big enough to serve company needs for at least 50 years. In Auckland, they built a sloping cellar for barrels

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John Buck, founder and now Chairman of Te Mata Estate, played an important role in the changing form of the Wine Institute from a ‘committee’ to a Board of Directors with a CEO.

and storage alongside the aging property on Kirkbride Road which comprised of add-on lean-tos and old homes..

Names with a big future appeared from just below the horizon, like for example Dry River, Martinborough Vineyard, Palliser Estate, Kumeu River, Waimea and Fromm to name but a few. Most remain with us today in even stronger form.

Competition of course increased in New Zealand with so many new names and brands but steadily export became the drive.

Terry Dunleavys says: “There was much more than just impressive numbers: our member wineries ensured that our export wines expressed the unique flavour profiles of our largely cool climate

108 //

terroir and created a reputation for consistency of quality at an affordable price. It was the decade in which we came of age as a wine export nation.”

The Wine Guild within the Institute was a user-paying bunch of wineries focusing on export and a New Zealand sales office was established in London. This was part of a change in the Wine Institute. The structure begun in 1976, was of a seven person committee, plus a salaried Executive Officer (Terry Dunleavy, later Philip Gregan). In the 1990s, the committee became a Board of Directors and the full time head became CEO. It was an important corporate-structural change.

What we saw was a new look, taken all round, helped by a vision-

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

ary Chairman of Directors in John Buck. Instead of a ‘them and us’ relationship between wine makers and grape growers, the combination took on greater unity. It was a forerunner to the new body, New Zealand Winegrowers. Sales, especially exports, became the industry focus.

The existing companies had their own frenzy; Montana built their new Brancott winery near Riverlands in Marlborough, complete with a new restaurant. Other significantly sized wineries were built nearby thereafter. Morton Estate began their expansion in Hawke’s Bay following a small beginning in Kati Kati. Larry McKenna from Delegats became a hero at Martinborough Vineyard.

Simon Waghorn left the corporate

comfort of Corbans and moved to Whitehaven in Marlborough before establishing Astrolabe.

Selaks built a new winery in Marlborough. And so on. Action aplenty amongst the established names came with the new faces.

But this was not all. Many farmers became grape growers and later many of those, in turn, later established wine companies or brands. Facilities may have been contracted out or shared with another winery.

This was an exciting decade, expanding and maturing as fast as it could. Under John Buck as Chairman of the Wine Institute in 1993, an export target of $100 million was set by the Wine Institute for the turn of the century, only to see such a statistic exceeded well

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

before the millennium change.

A billon dollars of export shifted from a dream towards a reality.

New Zealand optimism grew for wine and the wine industry.

Grape varieties grew and styles changed. Sauvignon Blanc became the most planted and the most exported grape variety of New Zealand. This partly reflected the change towards drier wine styles by those who grew up with 25 grams of sugar per litre in their Muller – under whatever name.

Chardonnay expanded, along with a little (or perhaps a lot) of ‘value added’ through the forceful use of oak.

Cabernet Sauvignon became Merlot-Cabernet, the Merlot vines initially from Davis in California, but more recently from Bordeaux with a closer climatic similarity to New Zealand. Pinot Noir expanded, new clones helping. Even Syrah was given a shot in the 1990s, to emerge over the next decades as a winner especially in Hawke’s Bay and Waiheke Island. Zinfandel and Tempranillo showed their head.

Central Otago became more than a skiing escape. Pioneer work

by Rolfe Mills and Alan Brady took on a new look when the region discovered Pinot Noir magic here. In Marlborough with rising Rapaura land prices, vineyards moved outwards, to the Awatere and Waihopai Valleys.

Some went even further afield and planted grapes in the Waipara Valley, south of Marlborough, 45 minutes drive north of Christchurch. It was a move to bring its own intrigue and rewards and more and more companies including Montana planted in the Waipara-Amberley area.

Modern wineries and new barrels revealed the potential of the New Zealand climate for well-fruited wines from all sorts of unexpected grapes. Behind this was of course a new personal talent pool, some educated in wine off-shore, some from a growing New Zealand wine campus.

The two wine competitions both closed down fortified wine classes. The growing range of table wines was filling the time

®

Villa Maria’s move into Marlborough ensured demand for a local winery to handle volume.

The new site was bought and designed for 50 years of growth

by Sir George Fistonich ‘so future generations of owners will not have to worry about location’.

available for judging anyway and the shows grew from two panels each to four in the 1990s. Instead of being presided over by an important overseas name, the talent in New Zealand steadily made this unnecessary and whilst a big name or two from overseas were welcomed in the judging, they sat under a New Zealand chief judge, a practice continued to this day.

The Auckland A&P show became The Royal Easter Show Wine Awards. The move in the qualifying scores to earn a medal occurred.: What used to be 13 or more panel average for a bronze medal became 15.5; silver level went up from 15.5 to 17 and gold from 17 to 18.5. The interesting point resulting from the alteration was that there was little change in the number of medals awarded in each category, a signal of the ongoing rise in quality.

Such quality was quickly spotted by wine buyers, journalists and merchants in the United Kingdom.

Exports have been on-going with small downwards spikes only when light yields shortened sup-

ply. In the 1990s, Australia, USA and China were just warming to New Zealand wine and have gone on to become major buyers.

Was the New Zealand wine quality going up through the 1990s or was wine, and New Zealand wine becoming more part of our way of life? A bit of each, perhaps, but without doubt the 1990s brought a quality orientation.

Even the winemakers accepted what we now know as ‘Sustainable Viticulture’ to protect the environment where vineyards existed alongside other people. Considerations of longevity, rejuvenation of both the vineyards and the industry brought many to accept the standards which started to be required by commercial buyers overseas anyway.

The 1990s bustled through with growth, development and change If nothing was set in concrete, so to speak, the decade ahead would bring some consolidation, but, as Peter Hubscher said on his retirement, don’t expect the next ten years to stop changing or developing. It hasn’t. ■

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 111

REGIONS GISBORNE

A GISBORNE BLOG JUSTINE TYERMAN

S

teve Abramowitz’s conservative parents found it hard to handle their son’s announcement that he was quitting university in favour of travelling the world.

The Rhodesian-raised marketing consultant to the Gisborne Winegrowers’ Association globetrotted or rather galloped for the next decade, not getting his first proper job until nearly 30.

“I landed an advertising role in 1989 in Johannesburg, thanks to my big mouth,” says Steve who still tells people he comes from Rhodesia, because he never lived in Zimbabwe.

“That’s not a political thing. It’s just a fact,” he says.

This led on to a 20-odd year career in advertising, and, following his passion for wine and food, a threeyear stint as a restaurateur.

He has lived and worked in exotic spots all around the world and received many international awards for his creative endeavours.

However eight years ago, Steve and “the fragrant one” - his wife Suzie, who grew up in Gisborne – gave up the sophisticated high life in favour of “la bonne vie” in a rambling old house with chickens, beehives, fruit trees, an olive tree and a vegetable garden in Gisborne.

It’s the simple things in life that Steve loves – selecting fresh produce at Gisborne Farmers’ Market, looking for a good local wine to drink with it and cooking a meal at home.

Earlier this year, Steve’s mar-

112 //

keting consultancy business, Big White Shirt – “because I wear a lot of them” – was contracted by the Gisborne Winegrowers’ Association to formulate a marketing strategy.

“Gisborne did not appear to have a regional message to take to New Zealand and then to the world. Central Otago is synony-

but not feasible in the implementation phase so I had to look at a different vehicle to get Gisborne wines out there, quickly and costeffectively.

“In late May, I launched a blog, The Gisborne Gourmet, featuring postings about our great regional lifestyle and recipes using fresh local produce matched with

mous with Pinot Noir and Marlborough with Sauvignon Blanc but Gisborne did not seem to have an identity. We grow great Chardonnay and other varieties here . . . but we don’t know it or believe it. The wines here will blow you away,” he says.

“My first thought was to take the mountain to Mohammed – get hold of a shipping container and cart it round New Zealand as a pop-up cellar door, featuring tastings of Gisborne’s splendid wines at places like Britomart where there’s foot traffic of tens of thousands of people in rush hour. The pop-up idea was good

our wonderful wines. The blog, designed to promote Gisborne as a brand, has been a huge success so far with 2800-plus views from all over world in the first few weeks.

The tags are carefully chosen - Gisborne, Wine, Food - so those who visit the blog are already a dedicated audience.

“Wine tourists spend 40 percent more than the average tourist so they are the people we want to attract to the region. We need to market the attributes of this region to them - great weather, great produce, great wines . . . the romance that is Gisborne. A blog has wonderful flexibility and

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

immediacy. It’s a great vehicle for spreading information. It works like a Petri dish, you set it going, feed it, cover it, go away and come back to find it has multiplied.

“The tag line we arrived at is: ‘Gisborne wines - surprise yourself ’. It is a really simple brand statement that challenges you on every level. A call to action . . . with no assumptions. A firm foundation on which to build, and something Gisborne can deliver on.

“We make beautiful wines here. Gisborne can put its white wines up against anywhere. They are of international quality. But we have to believe they are great.”

The Gisborne Gourmet has had a great start but now Steve is looking for wineries to add in the personal factor and offer rewards for reading the blog.

“For example, providing a platter and a tasting, a chance to meet the winemaker, picking grapes for a day, watching the harvest. How about a glass of Méthode Champenoise while feeding the stingrays at Tatapouri? Now that would be a first!

“One of the things I love about Gisborne is the blood and sweat invested in the land here. There is real grit in this district, like in southern France. Nothing is taken for granted. But we don’t do enough celebrating. We need to shout out about Gisborne. We need to shout it out to Gisborne, New Zealand and then to the whole world.” ■ justine.tyerman@clear.net.nz

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MEMBRANE BIOREACTORS D R . M A T T S AV A G E P H . D , M I C H E M E , C E N G .

M

embrane Bioreactors are a technology that offer reliable treatment of industrial waste water to a very high level.

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) is a biological wastewater treatment system that incorporates a microfiltration membrane on the discharge (Typically a 0.1-micron flat sheet low-pressure filter submerged in the treatment tank) to remove virtually 100% of sus-

pended solids, bacteria, and protozoa from wastewater.

Due to the formation of a biofilm on the surface of the membrane, MBR membranes have been tested to provide much finer filtration than 0.1 micron due to colloidal particles and viruses being adsorbed onto bacterial flocs and captured in the biofilm on the membranes.

For example in tests where a 0.03micron virus was dosed into

an MBR with a 0.1micron nominal pore size, the MBR system showed a total removal rate of 98% of the virus. This level of removal of bacteria and viruses far exceeds the capabilities of almost all other types of winery wastewater treatment.

As well as directly cleaning up the wastewater discharge by filtering out these contaminants, the fact that this system retains virtually 100% of the bacteria that

are used for reducing the organic and nutrient loading of the wastewater, means that typically three times as much organic loading can also be removed in a given size aerobic wastewater treatment plant into which the membranes are incorporated. This is due to the concentration of water treatment bacteria in MBR systems being over five times that found in traditional biological treatment systems.

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

Supporting New Zealand’s Wine Industry

Raw and treated water from an Apex Environmental MBR.

Another positive effect of operating the MBR at such high biomass (sludge) concentrations is that this often results in a very low food to biomass ratio in the reactor, which can significantly reduce the mass of waste sludge produced. The total volume of waste sludge produced by the system is further reduced by the high strength of the sludge – with-

water To enable treatment of sewage (e.g. from an on site restaurant) in the same system as the trade waste.

In the case of this last point, MBRs are one of the few wastewater treatment systems where this can be done. In traditional systems the mixing of human pathogens from sewage into the

Another positive effect of operating the MBR at such high biomass (sludge) concentrations is that this often results in a very low food to biomass ratio in the reactor, which can significantly reduce the mass of waste sludge produced.

AsureQuality’s dedicated wine laboratory is staffed by scientists and technicians with over 70 years’ collective experience.

Using test methods recognised by the NZFSA and based on EU reference techniques, we can verify your wine meets export standards.

We test for: • Actual Alcohol (distillation/density) • Total Alcohol (sugars/ alcohol by calculation) • Total Dry Extract (density)

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• Allergen Testing

• Total Sulphur Dioxide (Monier-Williams) • Total Sugars (HPLC) • Sorbic Acid (HPLC)

out any additional thickening the sludge is already at 1.5 to 2% solids when it is discharged directly from the treatment process.

New Zealand wine and cider producers that have implemented MBR treatment of their wastewater have typically done so for the following reasons: To reduce their environmental footprint to worlds best practice To be able to discharge to surface water (lake, creek, river etc.)

To allow beneficial reuse rather than just disposal of the treated

tradewaste introduces significant risks and limitations as to how the treated product can be disposed of. Because the MBR system removes these pathogens, the two streams can be combined.

Two such examples in New Zealand are Craggy Range’s Giants winery and restaurant in Hawke’s Bay, and Mt Difficulty’s winery and restaurant in Central Otago. At these sites a number of synergies arise by being able to combine the two waste streams in an MBR. Firstly the more continu-

We also offer:

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 115

Flat sheet membranes installed in a winery.

ous production of sewage from the restaurant helps to keep the system running optimally outside of the highly seasonal wine mak-

ing vintage, and secondly, whilst restaurant waste and sewage are high in nutrients that need to be removed, winery wastewater is

notoriously nutrient deficient and therefore the biological processes in the treatment plant benefit significantly from the additional sew-

age nutrients.

Another area where MBRs are seeing a rapid rise in popularity is in large-scale industrial wastewa-

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

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ter treatment where industries are seeing the need to either find better reuse options for their treated wastewater, or open up alternative means of disposal. A current example of this is Redwood Cellars in Nelson who operate a large cider factory, and wished to achieve a very high level of treatment prior to discharging any waste to the environment. Using a membrane bioreactor they have been able to reduce their tradewaste strength from around 9,000mg/L BOD down to as low as < 5mg/L. Whilst the technological advances have been significant, one of the key factors in the growing adoption of MBRs is the significant reduction in capital cost of the systems.

As MBR technology has matured, the increase in the number of companies manufacturing membranes and improvements in materials of construction have

These advances in technology and capital cost have now reached the point where over a large range of plant sizes, the cost of installing an MBR is equivalent and in a number of recent cases less than, that of installing a traditional biological treatment system.

significantly reduced the capital cost of such projects.

For example, whilst all of the first generation of flat sheet MBRs in New Zealand were based on Chlorinated Polyethylene Kubota membranes with a nominal 0.4micron pore size, recent advances have seen more chemically resistant and easier to clean 0.1micron PVDF membranes, manufactured by SINAP, enter the market. A significant number of existing MBRs in New Zealand

already have, or are in the process of, removing their old membranes and replacing them with the new generation of SINAP membranes.

Along with being manufactured from more inert materials, the significant reduction in cost of the newer membranes reduces both the capital cost of new plants and the on-going cost of replacement membranes in existing plants.

The availability of a high quality, lower cost membrane has also gone a long way towards de-risk-

ing the installed capacity of these systems. Where there was previously a strong economic driver to install the minimum number of membranes possible due to their extremely high cost, system designers can now allow significant contingency in the installed capacity of the plant and still come in at a lower capital cost than previously.

These advances in technology and capital cost have now reached the point where over a large range of plant sizes, the cost of installing an MBR is equivalent and in a number of recent cases less than, that of installing a traditional biological treatment system.

When combined with the world best practice level of treatment achieved and the other advantages of MBR technology, this has now become an increasingly appealing option for wastewater treatment. ■

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 117

INDUSTRY NEWS

CELLAR TRAINING N

ew nationally-recognised we don’t have formal training or qualifications developed ways to recognise the skills of by industry members and people working in this part of our launching next year will industry.” give cellar workers a cost-effective way to build their skills and careers About the qualifications on-the-job..

The new qualifications (New Until now, a university degree Zealand Certificates) will be availhas been the only option available able at three levels, providing a for many people. clear pathway of learning on-the“I’ve thought for many years job for people who want to build that New Zealand needs formal their skills and a career in the wine qualifications for cellar workers, industry. as they have in other countries,” The level 3 qualification is says Steve Simpson, Production aimed at cellar hands and has a Winemaker at Foley Family Wines, strong focus on health and safety.

Blenheim.

The level 4 qualification is “Winery work is technical, and aimed at cellar hands who may be needs a lot of training and exper- responsible for other workers, for tise. always me that ensuring practices 217It’s 2E7-01 TCconcerned Winery – HPL, 180 x 120mm + safe 3mmwork Bleed, CMYK and

for meeting production requirements. Graduates will understand the technical principles and processes, plant and equipment involved in producing wine.

Graduates of the level 5 qualification will be responsible for managing people and processes to meet and improve safety, productivity and quality. They will understand the specialised technical aspects involved in producing wine.

Involving members of the industry Industry involvement is critical at all stages of this work to make sure the qualifications benefit everyone in the industry and

meet the needs of all employers and learners. Industry Training Organisation Competenz is leading the work to develop the new qualifications. Members of the industry are heavily involved and some have taken part in regional meetings held recently to learn about the proposed qualifications.

Next steps Thanks to the wine industry’s support, Competenz has gained approval from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) to develop the cellar operations qualifications. The next step involves setting up an industry working group to work on the detailed content. ■

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REGIONS NELSON

NEXT GENERATIONS NEIL HODGSON

E

very family owned business has to face this question at some stage “how are we going to get out”?

For some the answer is simple, just sell it. Others however can have a huge emotional attachment or the business may be so big it isn’t easy to sell. Many wineries fit into this latter category.

The wine industry brings out the passion in people like few other industries can. Being a rural sector there are a variety of risks and these add to the emotion of owning a winemaking business.

It is very difficult to separate personal life from work life when you have absolutely everything (all of your money, often your home and

The epitome of a family business, the Seifrieds, from left; Anna, Heidi, Chris, Agnes and Hermann.

120 //

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

normally plenty of debt) tied up in one asset.

Another obvious way to exit a business is to pass it on to the next generation and this can have significant pitfalls if it isn’t handled correctly, each sibling needs to be treated fairly to avoid a huge family bust-up in future years.

One wine company that has

been quietly thinking about the next stage is Seifried Estate in Nelson. When I spoke with Anna Seifried she asked me why I wanted to use them as an example of handing over a business to the next generation because they aren’t doing anything special.

I have known the Seifried family for many of the 40 years they

have been in business and have watched it grow from a small producer in the Upper Moutere Village to the large enterprise it now is. Anyone who knows Hermann and Agnes Seifried will know of their huge capacity for work and this work ethic has been passed on to their children, Heidi, Chris and Anna.

Agnes says while they always hoped the kids would stay involved she and Hermann also knew they had to find their own way in life and come back to the family business if and when they were ready.

Obviously having grown up with jobs to do around the vineyards and winery there was s a high likelihood they would return; they already had an emotional connection.

And that is the Seifried secret to handing over the business to the next generation. The children have always been part of and are

fully integrated into it. A real key to the success of Seifried’s business is that the children didn’t just walk into a job in the winery when they left school. Instead they all went to univeristy and then onto jobs with other companies. Heidi’s first qualification was as a dental surgeon an industry she worked fulltime in for three years. She then went back to Lincoln University where she completed her Post Grad Diploma in Viticulture and Oeneology.

She still spends some time honing her dentistry skills on a part time basis while juggling a young family and working in the family business four days a week.

Chris has a winemaking qualification from Charles Sturt University, as well as a Post Grad Diploma in Marketing from Lincoln University, and has worked in wineries in Australia, USA, Austria and France. He came back to New

Zealand for a harvest at home in 2001, and has been a major part of the family business ever since. In 2007 he enrolled for the Ice House Owner Manager Programme.

Anna has a Marketing Degree from Otago, as well as a Post Grad Diploma in Wine Marketing from Adelaide University. She spent a few years in Australia working with Coles Myer, before returning home in 2003 to work alongside Agnes in sales and marketing.

Since the early 2000’s the Seifried children have all drifted back into working fulltime for the business, bringing loads of experience with them.

Given Seifried’s was going through a significant growth phase at the time, building and relocating into a new winery complex and significantly increasing vineyard area; the children had real jobs to come back to, not just jobs created for them.

Another key to Hermann and Agnes making sure the business is in good hands in the future is that none of the Seifried family have job titles on their business card. If a job needs doing it gets done and if that means Anna, who deals with much of the marketing and administration with Agnes, has to spend some time on the bottling line she does – “it’s a good opportunity to make sure we all know our own business inside out” says Anna.

Everyone in the family has a role representing the business in the market place.

Hermann and Agnes can rightly be proud of what they have created and that their family will continue that legacy. They now can have confidence to spend more time with their grandchildren, knowing the company will continue to prosper – even so, don’t use the ‘retire’ word around Hermann. ■ neil@hodgson.net.nz.

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 121

REGIONS MARLBOROUGH

SUSTAINABLE GRAPE MARC A

number of Marlborough’s largest wine producers have come together with the Marlborough District Council in a new collaborative approach to manage the disposal of grape marc.

With tens of thousands of tonnes of marc produced every year, the collaboration will ensure it is turned into a commercially viable and environmentally sustainable product.

With the assistance of the District Council, participating wine companies have formed the “Marlborough Grape Marc (MGM) group” to realise a proposal for an environmentally sustainable use of the wine industry’s waste streams.

The MGM group is chaired

by Eric Hughes of Pernod Ricard Winemakers with representatives from Cloudy Bay, Constellation Brands, Delegat’s, Giesen, Indevin, Matua, Mount Riley, NZ Wineries, Saint Clair and Villa Maria. The group members generate approximately 80% of the wine production in Marlborough.

MGM is an open collective and it’s hoped further companies will join the initiative.

MGM has selected the Australian-based Tarac Technologies Pty Ltd (Tarac) proposal submitted for consideration.

Tarac proposes to use all grape marc and residuals produced in the Marlborough region, extracting alcohol from the by-products and converting the spent marc (or steam distilled grape marc), into compost and stock feed, thus returning the nutrients to the land.

122 //

Marc like this will be turned into an environemntally sustainable product, thanks to a collaboration in Marlborough.

Tarac was established in 1930 by ex-CSIRO scientist Alfred Allen in the heartland of the Australian Wine Industry – the Barossa Valley, South Australia. Tarac services the Australian wine industry through the processing of winery residuals, as well as supplying valued products and advice. At present Tarac processes approximately 125,000 tonnes of grape marc, over 40 million litres of liquid waste and about 7,000 tonnes of solid waste for the Australian industry.

By comparison, the Marlborough industry generates approximately 35,000 to 45,000 tonnes of grape marc annually.

Chief Executive, Jeremy Blanks says he is “impressed with the collaborative approach taken by the industry and Marlborough District Council to seek solutions which create value and enhance the image of the New Zealand Wine Industry”.

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

He was especially complimentary of the Marlborough District Council and Marlborough Research Centre and the coordination and assistance they have provided.

“The Food and Beverage Innovation cluster is a leading example of how to facilitate regional economic development through collaboration,” he said.

“Without the facilitation and assistance provided it is doubtful we would have looked to expand into Marlborough.”

MGM Chairman Eric Hughes is pleased with the outcome achieved by the collective and believes further collaborative opportunities exist which will provide similar mutual benefit.

“The Marlborough District Council and the Marlborough Research Centre deserve a lot of credit for the facilitation role they have played.”

Marlborough Research Centre

CEO Gerald Hope said this was exactly the sort of outcome the Food and Beverage Innovation cluster was formed to achieve.

The partnership between Massey University, Riddet Institute and Marlborough Research Centre supports the food and beverage sector to innovate and grow.

“It’s inspiring for everyone to see how collaboration, co-ordination and connection can achieve great regional outcomes.”

The Food and Beverage Innovation cluster, through the support of the ANZ Bank and the Marlborough District Council, has assisted the industry achieve significant environmental and economic outcomes.

Mayor Alistair Sowman said he is looking forward to Tarac establishing in Marlborough and is pleased Council had been able to play a role in helping achieve such an excellent outcome for the region.■

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INDUSTRY NEWS

INNOVATION RECOGNISED A

major investment in technology by Zelam Limited, a New Plymouth-based agrichemical company, has been recognised by Callaghan Innovation.

Zelam is well-known among grape growers for its agrichemical brands – like Apex, Nexus, Vixen and Zed. But few will be aware that the company behind these brands has one of the country’s largest research teams outside the universities and CRIs. Each year, Zelam invests up to $3 million in chemistry, field trials and analyses. Now 20% of its New

Zealand research budget is being refunded by way of R&D grants from Callaghan Innovation, a government agency that helps fund businesses that invest in research and development.

The aim of the grants is to accelerate innovation by firms in New Zealand, so they turn ideas into marketable products and services more quickly and successfully.

“Of our 45 staff, 17 are full-time researchers,” says general manager Andrew Thompson.

“Our research focus is on tried and true agrichemicals that are

2925

124 //

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

off-patent. By developing novel formulations and delivery mechanisms for these products, we are helping farmers to beat weeds, pest and diseases that continue to prevent crops reaching full yield potential.

“We have developed formulations that are effective at lower application rates than established products. In addition, our oleo formulations make it easier for farmers by providing a onedrum product, versus having to mix separate products that are not normally stable in water.”

Of the company’s 10 top sell-

ing products, eight are based on Zelam IP. These include innovative mixes of chemical actives, the use of micro-encapsulation technology developed by Zelam and the adaptation through trial work in New Zealand of actives used in unrelated crops overseas.

Some of Zelam’s formulations have a big potential to earn foreign exchange from sales overseas. But most of the company’s products will reward taxpayer support indirectly – by making farmers and growers more efficient and helping boost the primary export economy. ■

INDUSTRY NEWS

BARREL LEASING N

ew wine barrels are an expensive, rapidly depreciating asset and funding annual purchases can put significant pressure on any winery’s cash resources and lines of credit. Of course, paying cash is pretty attractive to some businesses. But cash isn’t free, it’s a limited asset and there may be better ways to use it than tying it up in depreciating assets like barrels.

A Vintech Pacific Barrel Lease combines proven Phoenix Barrel Rejuvenation technology with a simple operating lease. The service life of your existing barrels is extended by at least three years and the cost of your barrel inventory is reduced by leasing, rather than buying.

This means a reduced cost per litre of wine produced, with-

out compromising wine quality while your business’s cash and

credit resources remain available for funding assets that will appreciate in value and create wealth.

Buying capital equipment such as barrels often involves a lengthy budget approval process. Choosing leasing can help shorten the process, achieving the result you want, faster.

For winemakers, a barrel lease is a great way to minimize the impact on your oak capital budget, since month-to-month payments usually come out of your cash budget.

At the end of the term, leasing gives you the option of simply returning the barrels or extending the contract, making it easier to cascade, upgrade or dispose of the barrels. ■

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NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 125

REGIONS CANTERBURY

WINNING RESEARCH A

study into a fungal disease with the potential to negatively affect New Zealand’s $1.3B wine export industry has won a Lincoln University student a prestigious industry prize.

Lincoln viticulture student Jackie Sammonds was awarded the David Jackson Prize at the Wines of Canterbury David Jackson Dinner in June. The $2000 award recognises wine industry research that displays both academic rigour and innovative thinking, but must also show how the findings could lead to a beneficial change within the industry.

Sammonds’ research focused on the behaviour of Botryosphaeria fungal spores prior to infection. The fungi are a growing issue for New Zealand’s wine industry, causing a fall in production or even death in vines.

Although the fungi have spread worldwide, she says there is still a lot about the disease cycle of these pathogens that we don’t understand.

“This research will improve the understanding of the disease infection process, specifically during the early stages of disease development. This information

Lincoln University Associate Professor in Oenology Roland Harrison, and David Jackson Prize winner, Jackie Sammonds, at the Wines of Canterbury David Jackson Dinner PHOTO: PAM CARMICHAEL PHOTOGRAPHY

may be useful in order to develop new disease control strategies.”

Sammonds’ study investigated the properties of the fungal spores and the processes that occur before penetration into the plant – information that could be useful in preventing infection.

Botryosphaeria spores infect directly through wounds or natural openings in the plant, so the research focused on the spore’s adhesion properties – studying how they bond to the plant long

enough to infect the healthy vine.

The research also indicated that spores are only travelling a relatively short distance, so infection is likely to be coming from within the vineyards themselves, rather than travelling over long distances. This highlights that emphasis should be placed on disease free vines and clearing pruned or harvested wood as soon as possible.

Sammonds says she was inspired to follow the course of

research during her early education at Lincoln.

“During my undergraduate studies, I encountered Professor Marlene Jaspers who taught a number of pest and disease management, plant protection and plant pathology courses.

“She had a lot of knowledge regarding diseases of grapevines caused by Botryosphaeria fungi so it was a natural progression for my research to be based on these pathogens.” ■

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126 //

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

CALENDAR AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

All month:

27: Awards Dinner International Wine Show 2014

5 – 6:

- Auckland

New World Wine Awards Judging

OCTOBER

8: – Auckland

11: Air New Zealand Wine Award Entries open

18: Inaugural Master of Wine Class – Villa Maria, details www.amiando.com/ mwmasterclassnewzealand2014

26: NZSVO Pinot Gris Workshop

Pick The Trophies Tastings – New Zealand International Wine Show, 2014 – Auckland

Auckland Restaurant Month

Spiegelau International Wine Competition Awards Dinner

25:

2: Taste Waipara Valley Boutique Wine Tasting – Christchurch Casino

6: Pinot at Cloudy Bay – Marlborough

8 – 22:

4-6: International Aromatic Wine Competition (Canterbury A&P Show) - Christchurch

Introduction to Wine – New Zealand School Of Food And Wine

7-8:

- Auckland

Marlborough Wine Show Judging - Marlborough

– Blenheim

18 – 19:

26 – 28: National Young Viticulturist Competition

WinEng 2014 New Zealand Conference and Exhibition ‘Value Adding From Grape to Glass’

– Blenheim

– Napier War Memorial Centre

– Auckland

27 – 29:

22:

6:

Romeo Bragato Conference

Waiheke Island of Wine Expo 2014

Gisborne Wine and Food Festival

- Blenheim

– Sofitel Hotel, Viaduct Harbour

- Gisborne

16: Gimblett Gravels 2013 Pre Release Barrel Tasting

NOVEMBER 16: Toast Martinborough - Martinborough

22: Air New Zealand Wine Awards Dinner – Pettigrew Green Arena Hawke’s Bay

NZ WINEGROWER JUNE/JULY 2012 // 127

The New Zealand Wine Global Events Programme for 2014-15 kicks off with a busy schedule of events this side of Christmas. These include NEW events in Chicago, Sydney, Singapore, Melbourne and Brisbane as well as a presence for the first time at ProWine China.

SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER

OCTOBER

• New Zealand Wine presence at the ‘Three Wine Men’ and ‘The Wine Gang’ consumer shows in seven key cities throughout the UK

• New Zealand Wine tastings for trade, media and/or consumers in Stockholm, Berlin, London and Chicago • New Zealand Wine presence at the FIZZ sparkling wine trade tasting in London

NOVEMBER • New Zealand Wine tastings for trade, media and/or consumers in Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo and Osaka • New Zealand Wine pavilion at ProWine China in Shanghai • Air New Zealand Wine Awards tastings for trade and media in Melbourne and Brisbane Booklets detailing the 2014-15 Global Marketing and Events Programmes will be set to all winery members in early August and are available at www.nzwinemarketing.com for more information and to register for these events.

FIRST STEPS TO EXPORTING PRESENTATION Team members from our Asia, Australia, Canada, UK/Ireland/Europe and USA offices will be visiting New Zealand in late August to attend the Bragato National Conference and to participate in a Global Marketing and Events roadshow.

MEET THE GLOBAL MARKETING AND EVENTS TEAM Monday 25 August: Roadshow, Auckland and Hawke’s Bay Tuesday 26 August: Roadshow, Wairarapa Wednesday 27 – Friday 29 August: Bragato National Conference Friday 29 August : Roadshow, Marlborough Wednesday 3 September: Roadshow, Gisborne

Thursday 4 September: Roadshow, Nelson and Canterbury Friday 5 September: Roadshow, Otago Please register your attendance at the roadshow presentation in your region via the Events Calendar at http://www.nzwine.com/members/tools/

2029-08 layout_global_P 9/23/08 9:32 AM Page 1 C

Composite 128 // NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

M

Y

CM

MY

CY CMY

K

STATISTICS

MAJOR NZ VINEYARD AREAS PRODUCING HECTARES

PRINCIPAL EXPORT MARKETS

Region Region (Actual)

2012 2014

2015 2016 (forecast) (forecast)

% % of of Total Total

Marlborough Marlborough Hawkes Bay Hawkes Bay Otago Otago Gisborne

22.903.1 22,587.3 4815.7 4,841.4 1979.2 1,786.7 1602.4

23,287.3 23.017.7 4895.4 4,938.5 2012.3 1,791.9 1615.9

Gisborne Waipara

1,616.5 1266.4

1,586.2 1272.0

5% 3.5

Wairarapa / Wellington Waipara

996.7 1,034.5

1008.5 1,082.2

2.8 3%

Nelson Wairarapa / Wellington

1114.7 941.9

1152.1 943.5

3.2 3%

Auckland / Northland Nelson Cantebury Auckland / Northland Waikato / Bay of Plenty Waikato / Bay of Plenty National Total

372.0 962.6 195.8 319.77 22.8 16.1 35,312.8

374.1 1,015.4 206.7 315.7 22.3 10.2 35,894.4

1 3% 0.6 1% 0.1 0%

National Total

34,269.5

34,952.8

64.9 66% 13.6 14% 5.6 5% 4.5

Exports up again Exports for the year to date to the end of May 2014

Exports for the 11 months to end of May 2013 (Moving Annual Total) (Moving Annual Total) Litres Litres (m) (m)

Country Country

United Kingdom UK

$ FOB $ FOB

Average Average Average Average 2014 $/L $/L 2013 $/L$/L 2012 2011

47,811 52,189

273,830 318,578

4.93 $5.73

USA USA

42,473 49,124

281,135 328,442

6.62 $6.69

6.36 $6.62

Australia Australia

49,460 53,643

368,191 382,038

7.44 $7.12

7.11 $7.44

MAJOR VARIETIES IN MAJOR AREAS

Canada Canada

7448 7,579

80,322 78,127

10.78 $10.31

10.82 $10.78

New New Zealand’s Zealand’s total total producing producing vineyard vineyard will will increase increase by by only only 0.5% 0.5% over over the the next next 22 years. years. This This table table shows shows the the variation variation for for major major varieties varieties (in (in Ha), Ha), with with % % change change and and percentage percentage of of total total in in 2012.

2012.

Netherlands Netherlands

3806 5,437

24,213 36,273

6.36 $6.67

5.78 $6.36

Denmark Denmark

0.792 0.759

5446 5,975

6.87 $7.87

6.55 $6.87

Ireland Ireland

2089 2,173

14,830 15,971

7.10 $7.35

7.55 $7.10

1129 1,205

13,203 14,061

11.69 $11.67

11.46 $11.69

Germany Germany

1661 2,690

9844 14,557

5.92 $5.41

5.70 $5.92

China China

2366 1,819

28,978 24,891

12.24 $13.68

12.10 $12.24

Hong Hong Kong Kong

1541 1,381

19,940 17,666

12.94 $12.79

12.10 $12.94

Singapore Singapore

1252 1,572

16,066 20,960

12.83 $13.33

12.72 $12.83

Finland Finland

0.163 0.260

1356 2,301

8.31 $8.82

9.73 $8.31

Norway Norway

0.201 0.336

1326 2,850

6.59 $8.47

7.42 $6.59

Sweden Sweden

1.603 1,495

13,425 12,143

8.37 $8.12

8.12 $8.37

Others Others

5,057 5,655

48,820 54,881

9.65 $9.70

9.79 $9.65

187,325,295 1,329,720,617 168,861 1,200,933

$7.10 7.11

$7.11 6.56

Variety Variety

20122013

% producing 2015 area % producing area

% producing 2016 forecast area

Sauvignon Sauvignon Blanc Blanc

19,929.8 20,014.7

58.2

20,214.7 56.9

57.8 20,260

Pinot Pinot Noir Noir

5096.4 5487.9

14.9

5175.1 15.6

14.8 5734.5

Chardonnay Chardonnay

3120.9 3202.3

9.1

3164.0 9.1

9.1 3247.0

Pinot Pinot Gris Gris

2396.2 2402.7

7.0

2399.7 6.8

6.9 2448.8

Merlot Merlot

1195.91245.6

3.5

1245.4 3.6

3.6 1288.5

Riesling Riesling

719.0787.0

2.1

746.2 2.2

791.72.1

Japan Japan

Syrah Syrah

354.1408.4

1.0

400.6 1.2

430.1 1

Gewurztraminer Gewurztraminer

331.3333.6

1.0

311.4 0.9

0.9 332.7

Cabernet Cabernet Sauv Sauv

284.8300.5

0.8

323.7 0.9

0.9 314.9

Viognier Viognier

160.8160.4

0.5

146.5 0.5

0.4 158.4

Malbec Malbec

130.2141.8

0.4

143.9 0.4

0.4 144.5

Cabernet Cabernet Franc Franc

111.6 118.6

0.3

108.9 0.3

118.10.3

All All other other varieties varieties

438.7569.6

1.3

572.7 1.6

1.6 625.0

Total Total

34,269 35,182

34,952.9

35,894.4

PRODUCING AREA IN HECTARES BY SIZE - NUMBER OF VINEYARDS Region Region

0-5

10.01-2010.01-20 20.01-50 20.01-50 50.01 & 0-5 5.01-10 5.01-10 over

Aklnd Aklnd // Nthlnd Nthlnd

90 60

Canterbury Canterbury

26

16

7

Gisborne Gisborne

26 20

33

Hawkes Bay Bay Hawkes

14

13

4

6

2

30 24

3 0

Regional 50.01 Total and over

01

109

1

2 0

01

36

1

25 12

137

102

7 21

81 75

67

56 64

5732

22 32

266

203 190

315

291 214

210182

101 181

1015 100

Nelson Nelson

55 45

36

37

17

12 7

63

118

3

Otago Otago

100 80

67

61 28

26 17

153

215

3

1—

— _

10

_

64

65

4

118

3

Marlborough Marlborough

Waikato // BoP BoP Waikato Waipara Waipara Wairarapa // Wgtn Wgtn Wairarapa National National

9

2

1

1

—

23

12

21

16

9

3 8

78

61

17

16

10

10 10

83

691 561

578

527 372

268 349

145 261

2054143

TOTAL Total

*(npr = not previously recorded separately) *n.c. = no change NZ WINEGROWER DECEMBER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013/JANUARY 2014 2014 // NZ WINEGROWER // 129 129

RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT Information and Updates on NZ Winegrowers Research Programmes.

Editor: Dr Simon Hooker, General Manager Research and Innovation

A regular feature at the back of each issue of WineGrower to inform industry people about research projects being undertaken for their benefit. Newly approved projects (when available) are briefly summarised in the first section ‘Introducing New Projects’. Longer reports in the section headed ‘Progress Reports’, will describe what has been achieved so far. Scientists in charge of each project have been asked to make these reports reader-friendly rather than to follow the usual format of scientific papers. When completed, each project will be reported in full detail, with references, on the website: www.nzwine.com/members/research

LIST OF PROJECTS Quality Wine Styles for Existing and Developing Markets The pathway of volatile sulphur compounds in wine yeast – The Bragato Trust and NZW Scholarship University of Auckland – (Dr Bruno Fedrizzi - student Matias Kinzurk) Literature review of grape and wine anthocyanins and phenolics to give viticulturists and winemakers knowledge Lincoln University (Roland Harrison) Preliminary investigation of factors responsible for variability in tartaric acid additions to Pinot noir Lincoln University (Roland Harrison) Influence of juice pH on thiol production Plant and Food Research (Claire Grose) Identification of natural genetic variation in grapevine contributing to pathogen resistance Lincoln University (Chris Winefield) The pathway of volatile sulphur compounds in wine yeast – The Bragato Trust and NZW Scholarship University of Auckland (Dr Bruno Fedrizzi - student Matias Kinzurk)

130 //

Pests and Disease

Sustainability/Organics

Virus diversity in New Zealand grapevines: sequence, ecology and impact – The Rod Bonfiglioli Scholarship Plant and Food Research (Dr Robin MacDiarmid - student Arnaud Blouin)

Organic Focus Vineyard Project Organic Winegrowers New Zealand (Rebecca Reider) Supported by MPI Sustainable Farming Fund

Sustaining vineyards through practical management of grapevine trunk diseases South Australian Research & Development Institute (Mark Sosnowski) Supported by MPI Sustainable Farming Fund Implementation of Virus Elimination Strategy Various (Nick Hoskins – Project Manager) Supported by MPI Sustainable Farming Fund Virus diversity in New Zealand grapevines: sequence, ecology and impact – The Rod Bonfiglioli Scholarship Plant and Food Research (Dr Robin MacDiarmid - student Arnaud Blouin) Sector weather data licence & tools HortPlus (NZ) Ltd.

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

Effects of undervine vegetation management on grape quality, vine performance, grape composition, and soil properties Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) (Mark Krasnow)

Cost Reduction/Increased Profitability New opportunities for sustainable grape thinning Plant and Food Research (Mike Trought) Supported by MPI Sustainable Farming Fund Reduced berry size and Botrytis tolerance through trauma to the vine Plant and Food Research (Mike Trought)

PROGRESS REPORTS

New opportunities for sustainable grape thinning – what have we learned after five years of research?

Trought M1*, Neal S1, Mundy D1, Grose C1, Pineau B2, Beresford M2, McLachlan A3, Allen M4 The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Marlborough Wine Research Centre, PO Box 845, Blenheim

1

Plant & Food Research, Auckland

2

Plant & Food Research, Palmerston North

3

Allen Vineyard Advisory, Blenheim

4

*Corresponding author mike.trought@plantfood.co.nz 11-101 The production of high quality wine starts in the vineyard by growing fruit capable of delivering optimal grape flavour attributes.

This has to be done profitably by minimising costs and maximising the return to growers and wineries. In some recent years (between 2009 to 2014), grape yields above the contracted target obliged some growers to remove fruit.

Historically this was generally done by hand thinning vines after fruit set, a labour-intensive and expensive exercise. A New Zealand Winegrowers programme investigating the use of machine harvesters to thin vines shortly after fruit set was started in 2009.

Initial trials focused on Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. In 2011 this was expanded through additional funding from a Ministry for Primary Industries Sustainable Farming Fund grant to include Pinot noir and Pinot Gris in Marlborough, and Merlot and Pinot Gris in Hawke’s Bay. Machine harvesters (Gregoire, Pellanc, Braud and Nairn) were used to shake vines shortly after fruit set, once yields had been established, to remove a proportion of the fruit on the vines.

Initial concerns that machine thinning may increase disease (in

particular the incidence of botrytis bunch rot) proved unfounded.

In fact, machine thinning resulted in the same or lower incidence and severity of botrytis bunch rot than was found in the unthinned controls at harvest. While disease pressure was generally Figure 1: Trash on a white tray after low (reflecting good botrytis machine thinning Sauvignon Blanc management by the commervines. The tray was placed in the row directly under the vine to assess cial vineyards on which trials the amount of fruit removed during were undertaken), on one site thinning. in 2012 the severity of botrytis bunch rot was reduced on (Figure 1). This trash (flower Pinot gris from 13.1% to 1.8% as a caps, aborted berries etc.) forms result of machine thinning. a potent Botrytis cinerea inocuOur research indicates that lum source within the bunch and this is the result of a combination an initial infection source within of factors, including the presence the bunch. of less-dense bunches, caused by A third factor that may conberry loss during thinning and/or tribute to reduced susceptibility smaller berries at harvest. of berries to infection is increasThis reduced compactness of ing skin thickness and/or elicitor the bunch means that the berries concentrations. While machine do not suffer the same degree of thinning is unlikely to replace the splitting as they expand and press use of fungicides in the vineyard against each other during ripening. entirely, it does potentially proLikewise mycelia growth from vide a useful, non-chemical, means one berry to another is likely to be of reducing botrytis risk at harvest. slower.

Mechanical thinning, unlike Another factor contributing hand thinning, reduced average to reduced botrytis severity is the Sauvignon Blanc bunch and berry removal of significant amounts weights (Table 1) and increased of trash from within the bunches the proportion of small berries at

all sites. This effect, caused by a transient slowing of berry growth shortly after thinning, was consistently observed in all the trials. Approximately seven days after thinning, berries resumed a growth rate equivalent to that seen in the unthinned controls, but failed to catch up in size by harvest.

This slowing of berry development was also reflected in the later date of véraison, of generally four to five days, once vines had been machine thinned.

However, the lower yields resulted in faster soluble solids accumulation, and generally harvest dates were either unaffected or advanced over those of the unthinned controls. The earlier harvest dates, together with the lower disease pressure, combined to reduce botrytis severity further at harvest (Figure 2).

Accurately assessing the amount of fruit removed during machine thinning has proved difficult.

However, when the weight of fruit collected in the trays under the vine was expressed as a proportion of vine yield at thinning, a relationship has been developed using combined data col-

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 131

lected from 13 Sauvignon Blanc trials conducted between 2009 and 2013.

This indicated that the total vine yield loss at harvest was twice that collected under the vines at thinning i.e. a weight of fruit in the tray equal to 10% of the crop at the time of thinning resulted in a 20% yield reduction at harvest.

The difficulties in predicting yield reductions reflect the vineto-vine yield variability and differences in canopy structure within and between vineyards.

At the same time, the time of day (fruit appeared to be easier to remove early in the morning) and/or changes in the machine, in particular the temperature of the beater rods, also appeared to affect the degree of fruit removal.

These changes in fruit removal responses are well known by machine harvester operators, who when harvesting vines will adjust the machine settings accordingly.

Exceptionally high yields were experienced in 2014, with the result that approximately 2,500 ha of vines were commercially machine thinned in Marlborough alone. Unlike in our trials, most commercial trials did not remove the belts or “elephant ears” from the harvester.

To determine the amount of fruit removed at any setting, we operated the machine over a predetermined row length, collecting the fruit in the belts. The machine was then emptied by running the belts into a bucket, and collecting the fruit from the on-board gondola to measure the amount removed. This protocol has a number of potential advantages, as the harvester does not have to be modified before thinning, the degree of fruit removal is determined over a greater distance, it integrates the vineyard variability, and thinning assessment can be undertaken several times during the day to ensure that the original settings are still appropriate.

132 //

Table 1: Influence of thinning on vine yield, bunch number and bunch weight of Sauvignon blanc at harvest maturity (Trought et al. 2012b). Vines were thinned by hand or machine shortly after fruit set. Thinning was undertaken using a Nairn harvester with a ground speed of 3.2 km/h and beater speeds of 400 or 459 strokes per minute for light and heavy machine thinning respectively.

Yield (kg/wine)

Average bunch weight (g)

Average berry weight (g)

Unthinned control

16.3 c*

150 c

1.86 c

Hand thinned

11.9 ab

140 c

1.83 c

Light machine thinned

12.5 b

120 b

1.61 b

Heavy machine thinned

9.4 a

103 a

1.49 a

*Thinning treatment means in each column with different letters are significantly different (<0.05).

Field observations suggest that yield reductions were generally greater where beaters struck within the fruiting zone. Of the varieties assessed, the degree of yield reduction in Riesling was the easiest to determine, as the machine removed whole bunches.

In contrast, thinning the other varieties generally resulted in berries and/or part bunches being removed.

The commercial thinning in the 2103-14 season started in late December and continued into early February. At this time we fielded numerous enquiries from the industry, which raised some additional questions, in particular: How early and late in fruit development can machine thinning be used?

We concluded that berries needed to have sufficient mass for efficient thinning to occur.

Thinning Merlot vines in 2011 was a challenge, the fruit having insufficient mass, and as a result machine settings caused damage to shoots and bunches. In this particular case, as the vines were spur pruned, damage to shoots generally occurred above the pruning cuts, but had the vines been cane pruned, some problems at pruning might have been anticipated, particularly with canes breaking during wrapping. We concluded that berries needed to be greater than 5 mm in diameter before thinning should be implemented.

In our trials in 2009-10, mechanical thinning was under-

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

Figure 2. The estimated degree of botrytis bunch rot incidence for the various Sauvignon Blanc thinning treatments at harvest (vertical bars are the harvest dates of each treatment at 21.5°Brix) (Trought et al. 2012b).

Vines were planted 2 m apart within the row. Vine yields are given in Table 1.

taken on two separate dates (four weeks post flowering on 13 January 2010) or shortly before bunch closure (26 January 2010). The timing of thinning had no significant (P<0.05) effect on yield, berry or bunch weight, although the early thinning resulted in a soluble solids content at harvest of 22.1 oBrix compared with 21.1 oBrix for the later thinning.

Experience in Australia has indicated that vines should not be machine thinned once fruit start to soften and are far more easily damaged. At this time, grape juice is very acidic and machine thinning can cause defoliation of vines.

How much crop can be removed?

We received requests from growers in January 2014 asking if machine thinning could be used to reduce yields by 20 T/ha (or 50% of the original potential yield). This degree of thinning is significantly greater than we have undertaken in our trials, and our answer to that answer to the question is “no” that to remove this amount of the crop will probably result in

damage to the canopy (and potentially the machine harvester).

In our opinion, aiming for this degree of crop removal emphasises the need to gain good yield estimates early in the growing season, at a time that cane cutting could be undertaken.

Further moderate yield reduction could be undertaken using machine thinning after that time, if required, for botrytis management.

Can one set the machine up to thin vines by trunk shaking only?

Research reported elsewhere (Trought et al. 2014a) indicates that shaking the trunk alone does not provide sufficient shaking to the canopy as a whole. Trunk shaking affects only bunches around the head of the vine, having little effect on bunches arising from shoots at the end of the canes.

In total, 26 wines were vinified at the Plant & Food Research micro-vinification unit from seven sites over three seasons (five Sauvignon Blanc, four Pinot Gris and two each of Pinot Noir and Mer-

lot). All wines were subjected to formal sensory evaluation.

In each case, where fruit from machine thinned vines were harvested at equivalent soluble solids content to fruit from un-thinned vines, our expert panel, with the odd exception could not differentiate wines made from grapes from the machine-thinned and non machine-thinned treatments.

The study provided evidence that, on an experimental scale, machine thinning of grape vines had no detrimental sensory effect on the resulting wine, irrespective of the grape variety considered.

An experimental, accelerated aging protocol (storing the wines at 50oC for nine weeks and measuring the OD 420, browning

of wine) was used to investigate the potential of wines to store for prolonged periods.

With the exception of Pinot gris, machine thinning appeared to have no adverse effect on the ability of wines to age. After nine weeks of storage, wine made from machine-thinned Pinot Gris had a higher OD420 value than the non-machine thinned control, although this also reflected differences in browning at the start of the storage experiment. Conclusions Mechanically thinning grape vines, shortly after fruit set, provides a valuable tool to growers for crop reduction.

We conclude that machine thinning had no adverse effects on

wine sensory properties or aging ability, but generally reduced botrytis severity at harvest through a combination of reduced bunch trash, compactness and increased resistance of the skin to Botrytis cinerea infection.

The high yields in the 2014 season resulted in machine thinning being used on approximately 2,500 ha of vines in Marlborough.

Further details of protocols for machine use for thinning/Botrytis management can be found in reports listed in the reference section and on the New Zealand Winegrowers Fact Sheet “Mechanical thinning & yield reduction”.

Acknowledgements This research was commis-

sioned and funded by New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW08-334; NZW11-101).

Additional funding from the Ministry for Primary Industries Sustainable Farming Fund is appreciated.

The support is appreciated of wine companies, in particular Villa Maria, Wither Hills, Pernod Ricard, Constellation and Matador Estate, who actively participated in the programme, providing staff, vineyards and machines for the trials.

We also recognise and thank the Plant & Food Research laboratory, winery and field staff at the Marlborough Wine Research Centre who assisted in the smooth running of the programme.

Prevalence of grapevine trunk disease in New Zealand vineyards Mark Sosnowski1 and Dion Mundy2 South Australian Research & Development Institute

1

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

2

13-100 Introduction Eutypa and botryosphaeria dieback are major grapevine trunk diseases worldwide, causing significant yield and quality reduction. Trunk pathogens infect vines through pruning wounds, colonise woody tissue, and cause dieback of cordons and trunks, observed as dark wedge-shaped tissue in cross-section.

The Eutypa lata fungus produces toxic metabolites which are translocated to the foliage, causing stunted shoots, necrotic and distorted leaves, reduced bunch size and uneven ripening.

Up to 100% of vines in older vineyards are affected by trunk diseases around the world. New

Zealand vineyards have been recorded with species that cause both botryosphaeria and eutypa dieback. With reliance on the highly susceptible variety Sauvignon Blanc, trunk diseases threaten the sustainability of the $1.9 billion New Zealand wine industry and are becoming an increasing problem as vineyards age.

A survey of vineyards was conducted in the Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough regions to provide a snapshot of the extent of trunk disease in the country. It will also provide data for economic analysis of the cost of the disease to the industry and the benefits of managing trunk disease.

Survey In December 2013, 256 vineyard blocks were assessed in Hawke’s Bay, ranging in age from 4 to 24 years and included 21 varieties, with Chardonnay and Merlot the most common. In Marlborough, 441 vineyard blocks were assessed, ranging in age from 4 to 33 years, and included 11 varieties with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir the most common. The average age of all vineyards surveyed was 12 years old, which was also the average age of the vineyards surveyed in each region. The proportion of blocks surveyed for each variety was consistent with the proportional area planted to each variety in New Zealand.

In each block, 200 vines were visually assessed for both dieback and foliar symptoms of eutypa dieback. Symptoms classed as ‘dieback’ consisted of at least two dead spurs or dead canes on at least one side of a vine. Missing vines were not counted in the survey, as it was not possible to determine the cause of the vine loss. Whilst it was possibly trunk disease, it may also have been because of virus elimination or other causes. The numbers of vines with the above symptoms were counted and incidence calculated.

Data were analysed by linear regression, and coefficients of determination (R2) were calculated using Microsoft® Excel, and

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 133

Fig 1a

Fig 1b

Fig 1c

Fig 1d

Fig 1e

Figure 1. Grapevine trunk disease symptoms observed during the December 2013 survey of Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough vineyards: (a-b) dead arms, (c) dieback, (d) trunk canker and (e) dead vine.

results and correlations presented graphically.

Observations Dieback symptoms, which ranged from two dead spurs to dead arms and completely dead vines, were observed in Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough (Figure 1a-d).

Foliar symptoms characteristic of eutypa dieback were also observed in vineyards in both regions (Figure 2a-d, pg 135).

Other observations during the surveys were the proactive management strategies in place in some vineyards, including the use of remedial surgery to renew

134 //

infected vines (Figure 3a, pg 136), and removal of dead arms from vines, temporarily heaped up at the end of rows (Figure 3b), which will eventually be removed completely from the vineyard to avoid their becoming sources of further inoculum. In addition, the use of pruning wound paints was seen in some vineyards on pruning wounds ranging in size from 1-year-old spur wounds to large trunk wounds (Figure 3c).

However, there was also evidence of poor wound coverage in some instances from either careless application (Figure 3d), sap flow after paint was applied (Figure 3e), no protection at all (Figure

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

3f ), or applying paint years after the wound had callused (Figure 3g). Another observation was that some dead arms were associated with strangulation of cordons on the trellis wire (Figure 3h), which may have been caused by wrapping canes too tightly.

Effect of variety, age and region Data for the nine varieties that were represented by 10 or more vineyards in the survey of both regions combined are presented in Table 1. Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon were observed to have the greatest overall mean incidence of dieback, 31 and 21%,

respectively. Chardonnay, Riesling and Syrah had 11-13% incidence of dieback. Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris were recorded with only 6-8% incidence, and notably lower average ages of 9-12 years, except for Merlot (14 years old). When only considering mature vines (15+ years old), the incidence of dieback in Sauvignon Blanc was 17%, which was greater than that for all other varieties except Malbec (49%), Cabernet Sauvignon (32%), Chardonnay and Syrah (22%). The overall mean incidence of foliar symptoms was low, with a maximum of 2.6% for Cabernet Sauvignon, down to no foliar symptoms

Fig 2a

Fig 2b

Fig 2c

Figure 2. Foliar symptoms of eutypa dieback observed during the December 2013 survey of Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough vineyards.

recorded on three varieties.

The influence of vine age and region on incidence of dieback and foliar symptoms is shown in Figure 4. The youngest vines recorded with dieback in Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough were 4 (3%) and 6 (2%) years old, respectively. The prevalence of dieback increased with age, more rapidly in Hawke’s Bay (2.4% per year on average) than in Marlborough (1.3%), with a great deal of variation observed in both regions. The maximum incidence of dieback recorded was 88% in a 19-year-old vineyard in Hawke’s Bay and 80% in a 14-yearold vineyard in Marlborough.

The incidence of foliar symptoms was considerably lower than that of dieback. Foliar symptoms of eutypa dieback were recorded on vines as young as 7 years old in both regions, with incidences of 0.5-1%. The prevalence of foliar

symptoms increased with age but at a lower rate than that of dieback incidence. Foliar symptom incidence increased by <0.1% per year on average in Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough, with variation observed in both regions.

In Hawke’s Bay, the maximum incidence of foliar symptoms recorded was 10.5% in a 21-yearold vineyard and in Marlborough, 1.7% in a 33-year-old vineyard.

The influence of age on incidence of dieback for varieties represented in at least 15 vineyards in both regions combined is shown in Figure 5. One Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard had reached 88% incidence of dieback by 19 years of age, and a Pinot Noir vineyard had 80% by 14 years of age. Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc were recorded with maxima of 62, 59 and 51% dieback incidence in 9-, 21- and 8-year-old

Fig 2d

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 135

Fig 3a Fig 3c

Fig 3b

Fig 3d

Fig 3e

Figure 3. Observations from the December 2013 grapevine trunk disease survey in Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough vineyards: (a) remedial surgery, (b) dead arms removed from vines in a pile awaiting removal, (c) pruning wound protected with paint (d) careless application coverage, (e) poor coverage due to sap flow, (f) no coverage on a large wound, (g) poor timing of application and (h) trellis wire strangulation of cordon.

vines, respectively. A Merlot vineyard was recorded with the lowest maximum incidence of 27%.

The greatest mean rate of increase (6.8% per year) for dieback incidence was recorded in Cabernet Sauvignon, greater than that of all

136 //

other varieties, ranging between 3.3 and 0.3% per year. Sauvignon Blanc was recorded to have 1.3% increase in dieback incidence each year.

The greatest incidences of foliar symptoms were recorded

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

in a Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard (10.5%, 21 years old) and a Sauvignon Blanc vineyard (7%, 19 years old). Foliar symptoms were recorded on up to 2.3% of all other varieties, with no foliar symptoms recorded in any Merlot vineyards.

Discussion Preliminary analysis of the survey data indicates that Cabernet Sauvignon is the variety most susceptible to trunk disease, and Pinot Gris and Merlot the least suscepti-

Fig 3f

Fig 3g

Fig 3h

Figure 3. Observations from the December 2013 grapevine trunk disease survey in Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough vineyards: (f) no coverage on a large wound, (g) poor timing of application and (h) trellis wire strangulation of cordon.

ble, supporting results from previous research and surveys in Australia.

Many vineyards in Australia are up 50 years old, whereas most New Zealand vineyards are still less than 25 years old. This age difference may account for the lower mean incidences of trunk disease symptoms observed in this

survey than in previous surveys in Australia.

The fungi that cause eutypa and botryosphaeria progress and kill mature grapevine wood at a rate from 10 to 80 mm/year, depending on the species and variety, so it can take many years for external dieback symptoms to become visible. Similarly, foliar symptoms of eutypa

dieback take from 3 to 8 years after infection to manifest.. The older the vineyards become, the more chance they have to be infected and then for symptoms to be expressed. In this survey, vineyards that were 15 years of age and above tended to have greater incidences of both dieback and foliar symptoms. Given the average

Table 1. Grapevine varieties surveyed in Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough in December 2013, number of blocks and average age (years) for each variety. The mean incidence of vines recorded with dieback and foliar symptoms are given for vines: 4-9 years, 10-14 years, 15+ years and all vines.

Variety

Sauvignon Blanc

Blocks surveyed Average age (y)

Dieback incidence (%) 4-9 yo

10-14 yo

Folia symptom incidence (%)

15+ yo

All

4-9 yo

10-14 yo

15+ yo

All

265

11

7

4

17

6

0.01

0.03

0.29

0.08

115

12

0

6

14

7

0

0.01

0

0

107

14

0.5

5

22

11

0

0

0.13

0.06

Merlot

55

14

2

6

10

8

0

0

0

0

Pinot Gris

42

9

6

6

10

6

0.04

0

0

0.02

Cabernet Sauvignon

32

14

na

14

32

21

na

2.64

1.89

2.64

Pinot Noir Chardonnay

Syrah

15

12

3

12

22

13

0

0.05

0

0.09

Malbec

12

18

na

15

49

31

na

0

0

0.14

Riesling

10

16

3

11

14

11

0

0

0

0

na = not applicable

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 // 137

age of vineyards in the survey was 12 years, it can be expected that there will be a marked increase in trunk disease incidence in New Zealand vineyards over the next decade if strategies for managing disease are not implemented.

Sauvignon Blanc vines have been reported as being highly susceptible to trunk disease in Australia.

The average age of Sauvignon Blanc vines in this survey was only 11 years. It could be reasonably expected that once New Zealand vines mature, in the absence of management strategies, they too will exhibit a high incidence of trunk disease symptoms.

Incidence of symptoms was greater in Hawke’s Bay than in Marlborough. As the average age of vineyards in both regions was the same, and annual rainfall similar in each region, the most likely reason for the difference is the higher prevalence of cordon pruning in Hawke’s Bay. Long-term research in France has revealed that foliar symptoms of eutypa dieback are more prevalent in cordon-pruned vines, but that greater mortality occurs in cane-pruned vines.

Therefore symptoms will be visible earlier on cordon-pruned vines, which have greater numbers and surface area of pruning wounds than cane-pruned vines.

However, large wounds located close to the trunk on cane-pruned vines can lead to infection, causing vine death in mature vines with fewer visible external symptoms.

Linear regression coefficients were relatively low for relationships between vine age and incidence of dieback (R2 = 0.3) and extremely low for incidence foliar symptoms (R2=0.07).

Coefficients improved for some varieties to R2≤0.5 for dieback symptoms.

However, these results indicate that variables other than age and variety may account for the incidence of trunk disease symptoms.

138 //

Additional data collected from growers, including information on clone, rootstock, pruning management system, remediation, frost protection and irrigation system will be analysed and may provide a clearer understanding of the effect of planting material and vineyard management on disease incidence. In addition, survey data are being incorporated into an economic analysis to establish the cost of trunk diseases, and the benefits to the wine industry of managing them.

Encouraging observations during the survey were the extensive Figure 4: The relationship between age and region on incidence of dieback and use of pruning wound foliar symptoms in all grapevine varieties combined, surveyed in Hawke’s Bay and paints and remedial Marlborough in December 2013. surgery already being practised. However, rather than waiting until symptoms appear, early intervention will be important to avoid infection of young vines. During the surveys, poor coverage of wounds with paints for various reasons was also observed, which will reduce efficacy, so it Figure 5. The relationship between age and variety on incidence of dieback in is imperative to ensure grapevines for both regions combined, surveyed in Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough in December 2013. good coverage.

The current project is also developing more practical survey, only vines 4 years of age Ministry for Primary Industries and efficient methods for the pro- and over were included, to target Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF tection of pruning wounds against disease caused by pruning wound 13-071). The authors wish to thank infection so that this can become infection. There is also a need for the survey team for their contria routine practice in New Zealand future surveys in vines 3 years and bution: Mike Manning, Matthew vineyards. under, to establish the status of Ayres, José Ramón Úrbez Torres, It is recommended that this young vine decline.

Amna Shafi and Marlene Jaspers. survey be repeated in the same We also thank Villa Maria, Pernodvineyards in 5 and/or 10 years, to Acknowledgements Ricard NZ, Delegats and Constelmonitor the rate of increase in This project was made possi- lation Brands for providing access disease incidence and impact of ble by funding from New Zealand to and detailed information on management strategies. In this Winegrowers and the New Zealand vineyards.■

NZ WINEGROWER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014

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