NZ Winegrower Oct/Nov 2015

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2015

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NEW ZEALAND WINEGROWER

94 ISSUE

BE OV E M /N

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THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF NEW ZEALAND WINEGROWERS

OCT OBE R/ N OVE MBE R 2015

I SSU E 94

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CONTENTS

ISSUE 94

12 R E GUL A R S

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Editorial

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Rising From The Ashes

Tessa Nicholson

The heartbreak of losing a 100-year-old barrel room and cellar is something that can’t be explained easily in a few words. But for the Nooyen family, owners of Vilagrad Winery, the devastation that occurred at the end of June has been put behind them as they get set to reopen their doors this month.

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From The Board

Steve Green

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Regional Review

Marlborough

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In Brief

News from around the country

34 Bob’s Blog

Young Guns

Our Young Viticulturists

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Not On The Label

Legal Matters with Bell Gully

101 Calendar

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Lower Alcohol Wine Potential

The world is our oyster when it comes to low alcohol wine, according to the largest every survey undertaken by NZW. We find out why there is so much excitement about what this style of wine could mean for our industry.

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The Changing Face of Wine Buying

Imagine being able to order wine via your phone and have it delivered to your house within an hour.

Well that’s one of the latest trends occurring in America currently, as Lee Suckling explains.

Bob Campbell MW

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Wine happenings in New Zealand

103 Research Supplement

The latest science and research projects funded by NZ Winegrowers COVER SHOT Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker finalists

FEATURES

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Minimising Water Woes

If experts are right, the east coast of New Zealand is heading for another drought this coming summer. So what can you do to minimize the damage to your vines? Dr Damian Martin from Plant and Food Research has some savvy ideas.

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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 Central Otago: Mark Orton seeingredmedia@yahoo.com

A DV E R T I SI N G Sales Manager & Upper North Island: Stephen Pollard stephenp@ruralnews.co.nz Ph: 09 913 9637 Mobile: 021 963 166 Central North Island: Ted Darley ted@ruralnews.co.nz Ph: 07 854 6292 Mobile: 021 832 505 Lower North Island: Ron Mackay 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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A FAMILY AFFAIR weaknesses and strengths. There will be Recently I received a book written by those that shine and those that feel they Michael and Judith Bassett, that outlines have not received the credit they deserve. the history of the Babich family’s 100 years There will be sibling rivalry and rifts that within the New Zealand wine industry. require gentle handling. There will be It is a fascinating read, not only because those who want to rush headstrong into of the family achievements since 1916, but the world, regardless of consequences and also because the book gives a very concise those that take a more careful measured history of New Zealand wine as a whole. approach. But at the It got me end of the day, the thinking about In this country, the greatest family unit is what how much has brings everyone back been achieved in competitor to any winery or together – it means such a short time region is not the one living more than anything frame, and how down the road, it is the one else. we owe a great living across the sea.

Would Babich deal to those New Zealand wine stands or falls Wines be the early pioneers. as a unit or family – not as powerhouse it is today, There have if family members been many trials an individual. hadn’t been able to and tribulations work alongside each in the past 100 other with like-minded goals? I doubt it. years, highlighting how the wine industry That could well be a lesson New has never been an easy one to survive Zealand’s wine industry should take on in. Taxes, imports, prohibitive licencing board as we head into the future. laws, bureaucracy, disease and gaining Just ask the Nooyen family, owners market share have all been experienced of Vilagrad Wines, who suffered a by companies trying to make their mark. devastating fire earlier this year. They were Some of those hurdles are still there. But overwhelmed by the support and thoughts if The Next Vintage showed me anything, of so many within the wine industry. While it was that working together is the key to they lost 100 years of history in the fire, success. In the Babich case, it has been very they are now moving forward, adding this much a family affair, from Josip, to Joe and terrible chapter to their history. They will Peter and now David running the show. The survive, and they will do so as a family, extended family has also played a major role helped by the larger wine family from in the company’s success. As have friends throughout the country. and fellow wineries.

In this country, the greatest competitor Everyone within the wine industry can to any winery or region is not the one living learn from the Babich story. We are small down the road, it is the one living across the enough (on a world scale) to consider sea.

New Zealand wine stands or falls as a ourselves as just one family. While blood unit or family – not as an individual. is not the common denominator between For a review of the Next Vintage – The Babich us all, what flows through the wineries and Family and 100 years of New Zealand Wines, ends up in the bottle is. go to page 92.

As with all families, there will be

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

“NOT A BLINK AMONGST THEM”

Charlie Johnson, Waipaoa Vineyards, Gisborne - 2014 planting

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FROM THE CHAIR STEVE GREEN

VOTE ‘YES’!

I

n May this year, growers and wineries expressed their strong support for NZ Winegrowers Board proposal to reform the structure and governance of your industry bodies. The referendum followed several years spent considering ways to improve our current structure, and seeking member input. Our careful and deliberate preparation paid off: over 85% of those who voted agreed that New Zealand Winegrowers Incorporated should become a single unified industry body, with a single Board representing all growers and wineries, and replacing both the Wine Institute of NZ (WINZ) and NZ Grape Growers Council (NZGGC).

Since May, the NZW Board has been preparing for the transition, and we are on track for NZW Inc to take over smoothly from NZW from 1 July 2016.

But there is one critical step that you must take to make this a reality: we need members to vote to approve new levy orders in the levy order referenda which are running from 5 to 20 October 2016.

The current levy orders require grape levies to be paid to NZGGC, and wine levies to be paid to WINZ. We now need new levy orders that make the levies payable directly to New Zealand Winegrowers Inc. With the levy orders in place, we will ultimately be able to disestablish NZGGC and WINZ. We strongly urge you to vote in the referenda, and to vote “Yes”!

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If you are in any doubt as to the great value you receive by paying the levy, read on.

What’s different in the new levy orders?

The new levy orders are substantially the same as the current orders, except: The levies will be paid to the new entity, NZW Inc, instead of to WINZ and NZGGC; The minimum payment for wineries will be removed (currently the minimum is $400); A maximum levy payment of $150,000 will be introduced for the levy on grapes sold; and The maximum levy payment by large wineries will be set at $450,000 (at current levy rates).

What value does New Zealand Winegrowers provide for your levy money?

New Zealand Winegrowers’ sole reason for existence is to create value for our members – to do things collectively that members would not be able to do by themselves. We do this to protect the competitive position of NZ wine and to support the profitable growth of NZ wine.

Each year the Board reviews and approves a strategic plan that drives the priorities for spending to best create future value for you. Here’s a snapshot of just some of the ways New Zealand Winegrowers is currently creating value for you with your levy money.

After years of quiet work, we

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

were delighted earlier in the year when the government agreed to bring the Geographical Indications Act into force in 2016. This is a very important decision, one which is fundamental to protecting our international reputation.

We have budgeted to invest over $200,000 in the year ahead to register all our important GIs to ensure they receive the protection they deserve.

We advocate for members’ interests with the government, and with foreign organisations.

We have made very good progress this year towards changes that will clarify the rules on the blending of international wine and New Zealand wine, and other changes to the Customs and Excise Act that should make the imposition of excise tax more flexible.

On the research front, we just released a new book on virus management – Leafroll 3 virus and how to manage it, and we have a new research partnership with MBIE focussing on vineyard ecology. We leverage your levy funds by securing millions of additional dollars of government and corporate research funding each year to create projects that would not otherwise be possible.

A hot topic at Bragato this year was the first results from the research programme on lower alcohol and lower calorie wine – with more people now beginning to understand what this project is all about, and why it will be important in the future.

In terms of marketing, last

year New Zealand Winegrowers hosted over 6,000 trade, media and consumers at masterclasses and seminars that featured over 570 different wines. We brought over 70 guests to New Zealand for the kiwi experience, and they made nearly 850 individual winery and regional visits. We work very closely with NZTE and have signed MoUs with Tourism NZ and Air NZ, all with the aim of telling our New Zealand wine story to an ever growing audience. In the year ahead there will be more seminars, more masterclasses and in summer the first International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration in Marlborough, followed by the Chardonnay and Sparkling Wine Symposium in Gisborne. To these events we will be bringing even more international guests from all of our key markets.

It’s also been a busy year for our sustainability team.

Sustainability is a key plank in the New Zealand wine offering to the market, and a crucial part of our reputation. In the past 12 months: We have launched WiSE and Grapelink to much improved (although not perfect) ratings from members International coverage of our sustainability initiatives has expanded hugely We are in the midst of restructuring our Sustainability team to ensure it better matches our needs going forward, and in the coming months, we will be adding a Bio-security Manager

to the team to lead our involvement with the critical biosecurity issues that are facing the sector.

Underpinning all this activity, all this reputation building, is the information that we provide to members. Above all else, members rate the information that we supply as highly valuable to their businesses. As an example, our current new releases of information to members include: The 2015 Spray Schedule including the new on-line version, the Backpocket Grower 2015 grape price data 2015 Viticulture Monitoring Report 2015 Nursery Survey An updated Bell Gully Legal Guide An updated Guide to International Winemaking practices The new book on virus management A total of 34 different sessions held at the Bragato conference With all this information, we aim to assist decision making by individual growers and wineries.

Decision making that will lead to market place success for you as a levy payer, and an even better

reputation for NZ wine.

Why should you support the levy?

In our recent member survey we asked members what their voting intentions were with respect to the levy referenda.

Just under 50% said they would vote “yes”, with 37% saying they

all the information that you are currently provided with. Each of us would need to go and source for ourselves the information that we take for granted in the winemaking practice guide, the labelling guide, and the spray schedule. There would be no average grape price data.

We would not have the

I am not saying New Zealand Winegrowers is perfect – we are not and never will be. But what I know is that the New Zealand wine industry is far better off with a unified, focused and efficient industry organisation acting for and on behalf of you, than without it. did not know and a little over 10% said they would vote “no”.

In considering this result I was struck by one of the comments from a “don’t know” member. The member said “I can’t say ‘yes’ because I don’t know what the alternative is”.

That’s a fair enough comment.

So what is the alternative? From my perspective: The alternative is that we are not united, the alternative is that you would no longer get

Bragato conference, no Air New Zealand Wine Awards, no inbound media and trade programme providing huge international media coverage for New Zealand wine, no industry funded research programme, and no support for export certification.

There would be no one to lobby the government on market access issues, on the sale of liquor issues, no one focussed on revision of the Customs and

Excise Act, no industry voice on RMA issues, no cohesive voice requesting improved controls on bulk wine exports, no one advocating on so many issues on behalf of every single grower and winery in New Zealand.

There would be no funding of the activities of regional winegrower organisations, no support for Organic Winegrowers, no MOU with the Nursery Association, and no Grafted Grapevine Standard.

I could go on. I am not saying New Zealand Winegrowers is perfect – we are not and never will be. But what I know is that the New Zealand wine industry is far better off with a unified, focused and efficient industry organisation acting for and on behalf of you, than without it.

So check your inboxes now.

Find that email from Electionz. com, open it, and vote “YES” to the levy. You will be voting for and investing in the success of your own future. ■ Steve Green Chairman New Zealand Winegrowers

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 7

REGIONAL VIEWPOINT

MARLBOROUGH Clive Jones – Chair of Wine Marlborough

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pring has sprung according to the new season’s asparagus shoots growing in my garden, although the first few days of spring have been wet and miserable. At least the pruning is complete. The outlook for the upcoming growing season looks challenging with predictions of a cool/variable spring followed by a full on El Nino summer. For the east coast regions that generally means the big dry. A nice, average sized crop is what is needed for 2016 so hopefully all the predictions won’t come true. For the last eight years we seem to have been in a cycle of large followed by small followed by a normal sized vintage. We are due a normal sized one so we would like that pattern to continue. In reality we will get what mother nature allows us and we will endeavour to control the things we can control and minimise the effects of the things we can’t control.

What we do need is a patch of brilliant summer weather from the 1-3rd February when Marlborough is hosting the International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration. We are looking forward to hosting

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our colleagues from other parts of New Zealand, along with some international winemakers and a substantial contingent of media and trade from all over the world.

The program looks superb with a great mix of education, tasting and fun – it is a ‘celebration’ after all.

This event is hugely important to Marlborough and the rest of the New Zealand wine industry as we show off the country’s most commercially important grape variety.

We will be tasting both the fresh vibrant and zingy ‘traditional’ style of Sauvignon Blanc and exploring the more complex ‘alternative’ styles where winemakers are pushing the boundaries and trialling different techniques. You may well be surprised at the quality and scope of the ‘alternative’ expressions of Sauvignon that come out of the woodwork. We will also be showing off this great region along with its bountiful seafood. From green shell mussels and Cloudy Bay clams, to crayfish and salmon, these will all be on the menu to match with our vibrant, aromatic wines. A highlight will be an expedition by train across the Awatere valley and down the

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

beautiful Kaikoura coast to Kekerengu for a traditional Kiwi cook up by the beach featuring plenty of kai moana. I am sure the event will also feature loud shirts, dodgy dance moves and a few cleansing ales at some stage so if you haven’t considered it already – why don’t you come along and enjoy the celebration.

In the meantime many of the 2015 wines are now rattling down the bottling lines. Not many have

reached the market yet, as the remnants of the large 2014 vintage are sold through, but there is certainly an air of excitement about the 2015’s. A feature seems to be the concentration and flavour profile, with a lot of talk about palate weight across all the varieties. It appears the old adage of quality over quantity has rung true in 2015 and I am sure most winery tanks are going to be empty leading into the harvest next year. ■

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IN BRIEF

INTERNATIONAL The New Zealand Cellar Takes Out Top Prize Accolades continue to flow for Mel Brown’s The New Zealand Wine Cellar. At the recent Decanter Retailer Awards in London, Mel’s venture picked up the Specialist New Zealand Retailer. Chief Judge Peter Richards MW described The New Zealand Cellar as; “Inspiring for its bravery and bespoke, personal feel, with a clear commitment to its specialist field, and crowd-funding success to cheer it on its way”.

It is not the first award the newly opened store has received.

In July the New Zealand Cellar picked up the award in New Zealand Specialist Category at the IWSC awards, also held in London. Not bad considering the business only came to being in June 2014.

NATIONAL Consumer Focused Education Programme In China The New Zealand Wine Intermediate Certificate was launched in Shanghai recently, giving Chinese wine consumers the chance to learn about New Zealand’s diverse wine style.

The education programme was developed

by New Zealand Winegrowers and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise in response to

a growing demand for information about New Zealand wine from consumers across China.

“This certificate has been several years in the making. We are working with New Zealand based Master of Wine Jane Skilton and her team at the New Zealand School of Wines & Spirits, whose experience

Agrecovery Rural Recycling Continues To Grow Since starting up in 2007, the Agrecovery Rural Recycling programme has seen more than one million kilograms of container plastic recycled.

And the past 12 months have shown how much the programme is taking off. Provisional results show that in the 12 months up to June, 15,495kg of unwanted chemicals and 240,732kg of recycled plastic were collected by Agrecovery. That’s a 50% jump in container recycling over a two-year period. What’s more the recycling of this amount of product versus using new plastic, saves energy equivalent to 452,000 litres of petrol.

There are six regional collections held in Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Greater Wellington, Marlborough and Canterbury.

The industry-good programme is New Zealand’s solution for the disposal of unwanted agrichemicals (including those used in wineries and vineyards) and the recycling of empty plastic packaging.

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

will prove invaluable” said Chris Yorke, Global Marketing Director at New Zealand Winegrowers. “Education plays a huge part in our marketing strategy for China, and the launch of a programme specially tailored for consumers will help raise awareness and appreciation of our premium wines in a growing market.”

HAWKE’S BAY Death of an Innovator Wim van der Linden, the founder of Hawke’s Bay’s Linden Estate, recently died having made a significant contribution to the New Zealand wine industry. Originally from the Netherlands, it while he was travelling around New Zealand in the 1950s that he met his wife-to-be, Maria Tarasiewicz. The couple bought 150 acres in the Esk Valley and lived at Eskdale until 2001, when they retired to Napier. Wim was an innovative farmer, adopting new practices and starting several new ventures on the property. As well as cropping, kiwifruit, a Suffolk sheep stud, angora goats, beef cattle, deer and farm forestry, he was among the first to grow grapes in the Esk. The van der Lindens established their winery in 1989, selling their wines under the Linden Estate label. Wim joined the Grape Growers’ Association in 1970 and during the 1980s he served as president of the Grape Growers’ Council of New Zealand, contributing to an industry report and submissions to Government. In 2008, recognising his contribution to New Zealand’s viticulture, he was made a life member of Hawke’s Bay Wine Growers Inc.

From Real Estate to Wine Well-known real estate agent Michael Boulgaris is to be the auctioneer at this year’s Hawke’s Bay Charity Fine Wine Auction.

Boulgaris has become a household name for transacting luxury Auckland property deals and his appearances on the TV series Location Location Location.

A fine wine enthusiast, he says his palate has changed over time.

“I’ve experienced a couple of the local vineyards and was in fact introduced to my first Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay at Elephant Hill three years ago. Of course now I’m hooked.”

Hawke’s Bay wineries have donated 40 wine lots for the November 14 auction, to be staged in the atrium of the Hawke’s Bay Opera House in Hastings. A traditional feature lot, this year’s art work will be a painting by Napier-based Martin Poppelwell, one of New Zealand’s most in-demand artists.

Now in its 24th year, the auction raised more than $100,000 for Cranford Hospice in 2014.

MARLBOROUGH 30 Years Celebrated September was the month in which Marlborough based Cloudy Bay celebrated 30 years of life for their iconic wine brand. The first vintage in 1985 was made from grapes that were purchased from growers, some of whom remain suppliers to Cloudy Bay today.

In keeping with the brand’s evocative label, this year’s media celebration of 30 years took place under a shroud of thick Marlborough cloud and rain; at a four course lunch in the Marlborough Sounds. The celebration was also used to launch the 2015 Cloudy Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, which contains 10% of barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc this year; the highest proportion ever.

“We have been intentionally growing that portion of barrel ferment in order to add structure and weight to the body of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc,” says Cloudy Bay senior winemaker Tim Heath.

Chief winemaker Tim Heath (left) and viticulturist Jim White

Winery Looking Immpressive Delegat’s new winery is taking shape on a prominent corner site adjoining the Hawke’s Bay expressway northwest of Hastings.

The winery, which is expected to be ready to handle the 2016 vintage, will have capacity for processing 10,000 tonnes of grapes, providing for a massive expansion in vineyard planting in Hawke’s Bay. Earlier this year, Delegat’s paid $29.3 million for Hawke’s Bay Dairies’ 838ha farms at Crownthorpe to support its long-term growth strategy.

CENTRAL OTAGO Pinot Central Spring Release Heavy spring snowfall and a thick fog cut out nearly half of the attendances at this year’s annual showcase of new Central Otago Pinot Noirs.

The event is hosted for wine media as a blind tasting in September every year by Central Otago Pinot Noir Limited, also known as COPNL. The day of the tasting this year was scheduled for Friday 11 September and the majority of the wines were from 2014 (40 wines in all), many of which have yet to be released. This year’s spring tasting also featured 25 wines from 2013, six wines from 2012 and two from 2011.

Tasters have their individual preferences but the 2014 Rua Bannockburn Pinot Noir does winemaker Matt Connell a credit.

In this writer’s notes, it stood alongside big-name Central Otago Pinots, scoring as high as some of the region’s best-known single vineyard wines, which are considered as classics.

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 11

WINERY NEWS

RISING FROM THE ASHES TESSA NICHOLSON

T

he word devastation doesn’t even begin to describe the situation that occurred at Vilagrad Winery in the early hours of June 29 this year. A fire thought to have started with a faulty florescent light, ripped through 100 years of history, leveling the original barrel room and winery and destroying a century of memories, wine and photos.

Vilagrad Winery was estab-

lished back in 1922 by Ivan Milicich Snr, although he had built the barrel hall years earlier.

His great grandson, Jacob Nooyen is the current winemaker, and along with his two brothers runs the business, which includes a restaurant and function centre.

While firefighters from throughout Waikato descended onto the site and helped save the restaurant, there was nothing they could do to save the winery or bar-

rel room. And that is what hurts the Nooyen family the most.

“That was devastating,” Jacob says. “All our photos, our wine library, our wine stock library and the totara barrels, where we aged our tawny ports were in there. We can’t do anything about the wines or photos, and replacing those totara barrels is going to be very difficult. I didn’t mind that we lost the kitchen, but that barrel room was something else.”

The heat of the fire is hard to comprehend Nooyen says.

“We had a totara barrel at the front (of the barrel room) and the back of it was completely torched.

There are 2000 litres in a totara barrel, it was surprising the fire could get so hot it would burn the barrels completely. We also had 20 200 litre barriques and they are charred or burned. And it was so hot it melted all the glassware and everything including glass in The three Nooyen brothers, from left Jacob, Adam and Kristian, with their Grandmother, 96-year-old Vesna.

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

my lab.”

In total the Vilagrad Winery and Function Centre covered an area of 600 square metres. Four hundred of those were destroyed in the blaze. Nooyen says if it hadn’t been for the amazing efforts by the fire fighters, they would have lost even more.

“Many of them had been here before for lunch and so they knew the restaurant area. They were working hard to stop it spreading into there. It worked because the fire turned, but then it went through the winery and onto the storage areas. That was pretty devastating.”

An extension on the winery was saved, as was the restaurant and courtyard area. Even some of the vines planted in the courtyard were saved, which is a small saving grace, Nooyen says, given they are 70- 80 years old.

The 2015 tanks of Chardonnay and Pinot Gris (for the Three Brothers label) have also been saved.

“Even though the tanks were

The devastating fire took hours to control.

slightly heated, once we got the wines tested and tasted them, they are all safe.”

But while the family has cried buckets of tears since the fire, they have not given up. Nooyen says right from the day of the blaze, they were working towards reopening as soon as possible. With the function centre and restaurant booked out every Friday and Saturday from January (2016) until

Dozens of people were on the scene at Vilgrad winery within hours, to help recover what they could from the building – including this totara barrel full of tawny port.

May, he said they knew they had to get back to business as soon as possible.

So on October 11, the new look and much revised Vilagrad Winery and Function Centre will be once again open to the public. Then on October 31st, a Summervines Fire Festival will be held, with top New Zealand acts such as Tiki Taane and the Black Seeds lined up to perform. Nooyen says the festival

acts have offered to perform free of charge or at a reduced rate, to help the family.

“The support we have had since day one has been fantastic,” he said. “The local community, the councils, family friends such as Mills Reef and the Soljans who have helped us with the remaining wine, they have all been brilliant.

There have been so many people ringing, emailing and texting offering support. It is very humbling.

We even had some local people offer to help with the pruning of the vines, knowing we were a bit busy with everything else. How good is that?”

While the Function Centre will be open in October, Nooyen says the second stage of the rebuild will take a lot longer.

“We will be rebuilding the barrel room, winery and office building and kitchen, but that will probably take over a year.”

He is also hoping that some of the charred remains of the old barrel hall will be able to be incorporated into the new one, as part of the history of the company for future years.

“In 20 or 30 years it will be something that will add to the history of the company and whether we like it or not, it is now part of our heritage.” ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 13

ROMEO BRAGATO

LOWER ALCOHOL WINE POTENTIAL TESSA NICHOLSON

W

ith millions of dollars being invested in the NZW Lifestyle Wine programme, just how much do the world’s consumers want this style of wine?

A lot, if a recent international survey is anything to go by.

Richard Lee is Director of Intellagents, a marketing and innovation consultancy. He is also the Project Marketing Manager for the Lifestyle Wines Programme.

At the Bragato conference he highlighted why this programme is so important to the future growth of New Zealand’s wine industry.

Here at home lower alcohol wines are a major growth sector. Based on supermarket wine sales, (which make up around 65 percent of all wine sold in New

Zealand) lower alcohol wines have increased market share from 0.2% of all wine sales three years ago, to 2.3% in the past year.

“This is the largest market in the world in terms of the proportion of total wine sold as lower alcohol, we are leading this category,” Lee said. “It is in high growth mode, growing at about 50% in terms of value and volume year on year. It is out performing almost everything else in the bottled wine market, ranked number two on dollar growth after Pinot Noir”.

Putting that into monetary terms, lower alcohol wines in New Zealand are estimated to be a $25m business, which equates to around 200,000 cases. If the past growth continues, that will increase to

Supermarkets and liquor stores are also recognising the category, with specialized sections for lower alcohol wines.

14 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

300,000 cases within the next 12 months.

Lower alcohol wine is now a larger category than Riesling, and if the growth continues, it will outstrip sales of Champagne on value sales in the next 12 months.

But as anyone in the industry knows, the New Zealand market is small in comparison to the export market. So what is happening overseas?

As Lee mentioned, New Zealand is leading the world in terms of percentage of sales, but that doesn’t mean our largest markets of the US, UK and Australia are not interested. Following what has been described as the largest international survey ever undertaken by NZW, the results show that the potential in our export

markets is extremely positive.

Working with the UK based Wine Intelligence market research company, the survey aimed to determine whether regular wine drinkers were likely to purchase a lower alcohol wine, if it was of equal quality and flavour to the consumer’s preferred wine.

Starting with our nearest neighbours, Australia, 41% of regular drinkers said they were either highly likely or likely to try a lower alcohol wine.

The figures were just as impressive in the US, with 39% of regular wine drinkers saying they were highly likely or likely to try a low alcohol wine. In Canada the figure was 37% and in the UK it was 27%.

“But that was regular wine drinkers, so what about the premium wine drinkers, as this is where New Zealand competes?”

Lee asked.

The figures become even more impressive, when you look at this category. Across five key markets (US, Canada, UK, Australia and NZ) the premium wine drinker numbers equated to 42% likely to try a lower alcohol wine versus 38% of regular wine drinkers.

There are a number of reasons for consumer interest in lower alcohol wines. Social responsibility is a major one, health and wellness reasons such as watching calorie intake is another,, and wanting to remain more in control in certain social situations.

But and there is always a but, the sensory attributes of the wine

Restaurants and bars are now adding categories for lower alcohol wines.

has to be equivalent to other premium products.

“New Zealand is ahead of the

curve and has a real opportunity to create, build and own a new category,” Lee said. “If we

can achieve parity in quality and flavour to the (currently) preferred New Zealand varietals,

then we address one of the key barriers to purchase.”

If anything can prove the advantages of a more moderate alcohol wine, then Prosecco is a great example. The Italian sparkling wine, which has a lower alcohol level than its nearest rival Champagne, is taking the world by storm. In some countries sales have outstripped Champagne and, along with Rosé, is growing in momentum.

And this may be where New Zealand can jump on the bandwagon of popularity. “If you look at all our major markets that we compete in, Rosé it is right up there, there is no doubt about that.

It has traditionally been a female drink, but it is now being picked up by guys, hence the term “Brosé” referred to in some markets. Rosé is something New Zealand can produce well, although Lee said; “The feedback from some of the

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retail gatekeepers though is that we don’t take it seriously. That shouldn’t be a surprise to people.

Often it is a last ditch wine. ‘We have some juice left in the tank – oh let’s make some Rosé’ But there is a market growing here, so make a really premium quality Rosé designed for that market and take advantage of it.”

The same goes for Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc, Lee said.

“There is an opportunity here if you can craft a real quality product that delivers, then you have a group of loyal premium still Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc consumers who could easily take the step from still to sparkling. At the moment, Prosecco basically gobbles a proportion of these consumers up.”

And by quality, Lee means not using excess Sauvignon Blanc to create a wine – but actually concentrating on making a pre-

mium product that appeals to this growth market.

“I was told that in Sweden there is a New Zealand Sparkling Sauvignon listed and it is doing very, very well. And if you look at the UK market for example, there is no doubt that Prosecco is taking some share away from still white wines and Sauvignon Blanc is a big part of that. So by default, Prosecco is taking some of the Sauvignon Blanc share. It is a threat, but the opportunity is also there to give those loyal New Zealand still Sauvignon Blanc consumers a sparkling wine that fits with their preferred tastes.”

Especially if it can be produced with lower alcohol, yet retain varietal flavour and palate weight. And that is something the Lifestyle Wines Programme will be concentrating on over the next few years. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

IN GOOD HEALTH The survey undertaken as part of the Lifestyle Wines Programme has shown New Zealand wine is in a good space.

Richard Lee said talk of us being a one trick pony, and relying too much on Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, is not necessarily borne out by the results.

As part of the survey, consumers were asked if they had recently purchased a New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. If so, were they likely to buy again or not, or if they had not purchased, were they still open to buying it.

“What is exciting is that the results indicated there are a lot of people in the world who haven’t yet purchased New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, but they remain open to buying in the future, and there is only a very small percentage of people who are over it. That’s pretty healthy I’d say.”

The figures for our largest market at the moment, the US, are the most exciting Lee said.

According to Wine Intelligence, there are 90 million regular wine drinkers in the US. 13% have recently bought a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and would buy again. But 40% have not bought, but remain open to buying it. In Canada the potential Sauvignon Blanc buyers is 41%.

And from the survey the people who are lapsed Sauvignon drinkers (have bought and are unlikely to buy again) ranged from 5% to 8%, meaning the potential for increased growth is much higher than it is for those who are “over it”.

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MANAGING YOUR UNDERSTOREY TESSA NICHOLSON

J

ust what impact does changing your understory management from herbicide to cultivation or mowing have on your vines? That was the burning question researchers were keen to establish, during a threeyear NZW funded project.

Led by Drs Mark Krasnow and Carmo Vasconcelos, the research focused on Merlot and Syrah blocks in Hawke’s Bay and Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc vineyards in Marlborough.

Krasnow told the Bragato conference that they went in with some fairly definite hypotheses prior to the research beginning.

18 //

“We thought that by changing just one parameter, (irrigation, plucking and crop management all remained the same), that mowing and cultivation would devigourate the vines. Mowing because you have actual vegetation under the vines, intercepting the water and using minerals that wouldn’t be available to the vines. And perhaps cultivation would damage some of the shallow roots and impede water or nutrient uptake to the vines.”

Because of that, the researchers also believed that yields would be reduced in the blocks where mowing and cultivation were

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

trialed. They also believed that organic matter in the mowing trial would be higher than the herbicide control.

“On some of these (hypotheses) we were right, some though we were way off,” he said.

Looking at the results, mowing did in fact devigourate the vines.

On closer analysis it became apparent that there were far more gaps within the canopy of the mowed vines, than there were in the herbicide control and the cultivation trial.

“We looked at leaf area per shoot and when we looked at canopy gaps we saw some very

clear differences, particularly in the Merlot vineyards. As you walk among the vines you can tell whether you are in the mowing treatment or the others, because the vines are much shorter.”

The picture below illustrates where the herbicide ends and the mowing begins. Shorter shoots are obvious, there are more gaps and less leaf area per shoot.

In each of the three years of the trial, the story was the same, the Merlot mowing treatment had more gaps than the herbicide and the cultivation. On one day’s Merlot measurements, those gaps equated to 18.2% for herbicide, the

same for cultivation and a massive 36.4% for the mowing.

But when year three of the trial came around, it all changed. All of a sudden, the cultivation treatment showed signs of devigouration – they were now on a par with the mowing treatment compared to the herbicide control. In terms of the Pinot Noir trial, the devigouration was even higher in the cultivation treatment than the mowing.

As the canopy was reduced, so too were yields for the mowing trials.

“We saw yield reduction from the mowing treatment, which made sense. In the Merlot we saw yield reduction every single year, when compared with the herbicide and the cultivated. However it was only the third year that we saw yield reduction in Sauvignon Blanc from mowing.”

Interestingly, the yield reduction wasn’t associated with fewer berries. Instead in the case of Merlot it was consistently due to smaller berries. In year three, the Sauvignon Blanc yield reduction was also associated with smaller berries.

(See figure 1 below).

Grape composition was the next parameter tested. Krasnow said they expected to see some big differences between the herbicide control and the mowing and cultivation treatments.

“But what we saw were very few differences in thinks like pH, TA, Malic acid and Brix.

sense as nothing is competing with the vine for nitrogen. But cultivation is now grouping with mowing, which shows something is happening here with the vines in the third year. We were beginning to see the same effects (in the cultivation treatment) that we had been seeing in the mowing treatment.”

“Mowing devigourated consistently, cultivation devigourated suddenly in the third year.”

“One significant difference we did see though was the reduction in YAN in the mowing treatment.

We found this in all four varieties in all years when it was measured.

Mowing had significant lower YAN than herbicide and cultivation.

Then in the past season, year three of the trial, again things started to change. All of a sudden the cultivation treatment was showing devigouration, more gaps in the canopy, less yield and interestingly, less YAN. “In the 2014/15 year the cultivation treatment is now suddenly grouping with the mowing treatment in as far as YAN goes. Herbicide has the most, which makes

As a caveat, Krasnow said that lower YAN doesn’t necessarily signify lower fruit quality.

Then it came down to basic composition of the wines made from the fruit. While the third year of analyses has yet to be completed, he said the first and second year Sauvignon Blanc wines showed up some interesting differences. “ We f o u n d t h e r e w a s significantly less isobutyl methoxypyrazines – that green capsicum aroma, in the mowing treatment. In the first year the herbicide had the highest. In the second year the cultivation had the highest, which may have been due to higher crops in that treatment

Yield per vine (kg)

CULTIVATION

HERBICIDE

MOWING

Sauvignon blanc

1.8

1.9

1.8

Pinot noir

1.5

1.5

1.5

Merlot

1.4b

1.4b

1.3a

Syrah

1.7

1.7

1.7

Sauvignon blanc

2.1

2.2

2.0

Pinot noir

1.5

1.6

1.5

Merlot

1.2ab

1.3b

1.2a

Syrah

1.5

1.6

1.4

Sauvignon blanc

1.9a

2.0a

1.8b

Pinot noir

1.2

1.4

1.2

Merlot

1.4ab

1.6a

1.3b

Syrah

1.6

1.7

1.5

2012-13 Season

2013-14 Season

2014-15 Season

in that year.”

In terms of whether the mowing treatment would mean more organic matter under the vines, Krasnow says they went into the trial thinking this would be a “slam dunk” yes.

“When we looked at the numbers, what we saw was only about half of the time did the mowing treatment have a higher organic matter than the cultivation or the herbicide. And the only statistically significant difference was in the final season in our Sauvignon Blanc vineyard. That was a surprise.”

Krasnow believes the results from the three-year trial provide important information for growers who are contemplating moving away from herbicide treatments to either mowing or cultivation.

“Mowing devigourated consistently, cultivation devigourated suddenly in the third year. When we saw yield reduction which was every year in Merlot, it was due to smaller berries. That may be a positive in Merlot, providing more skin to pulp ratio.

“We did not see huge differences in grape and wine composition, which is great news for people who want to move away from herbicide – you are not going to sabotage your brix. Your basic grape chemistry is going to remain pretty much the same as what you are used to.

“We did see some drops in methoxypyrazines in the mowing treatment with Sauvignon Blanc.

This could be important for winemaker’s gearing towards different markets, ie; those that don’t want the renowned vegetal characteristics Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is renowned for.

“And while half the time the mowing treatment did have the highest organic matter, it wasn’t the trend we had expected.”

The full report of the threeyear study will be available later this year. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 19

YOUNG WINNERS

A DOUBLE FOR THE BAY TESSA NICHOLSON

I

t was a double celebration for Hawke’s Bay’s wine industry at the recent Bragato Conference. Not only did the region produce the first ever Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker of the year, but it also was the home of the Bayer Young Viticulturist of the Year.

Winemaker Lauren Swift and viticulturist Caleb Dennis were judged the best in their individual fields, after two days of tough competition.

Tonnellerie de Mercurey

Young Winemaker Marlborough born, Lauren has had a finger in the pie of wine, since she was 14. Her first ever holiday job was working for a neighbouring vineyard in the Awatere Valley. Then when her parents removed their apple orchard to replace it with 10 hectares of vines, she and her three siblings got even more involved.

“Our parents made us help them plant the whole vineyard.

We hand dug every vine and laid out everything for the posts. Lucky there were four of us. I am pretty sure that my parents had so many kids, to ensure they always had lots of labour.”

It was enough to put her off the wine industry for life – well at least the viticultural side of the industry.

“It definitely did. I always hated the vineyard, because we were just doing these things, but no one ever bothered telling us why we were doing them, so I had no understanding of it what-so-ever. Then I went to Europe for a year when I was 18, and it was like, oh this wine stuff is not so bad, and ending up coming back to Marlborough and working for Clos Henri.”

The experience that time round was very different to developing the home vineyard. Those she was working with quickly passed on knowledge that gave her a far greater appreciation of what was happening out among the vines.

She also volunteered to work

20 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

in the winery when her day in the field had finished, and it was here her interest in winemaking began to form. “”I was up there on a wooden plank, plunging the big tanks of Pinot Noir and things like that and I really started to enjoy it.”

(After winning the Young Winemaker title, Clos Henri sent her a Magnum of 2008 Pinot, congratulating her on having come so far from plunging, in such a short time.)

After working for the small French owned winery for a year, Lauren moved to Delegat, to undertake a vintage. But she was quick to discover she preferred the smaller operations, rather than the big corporate environment. So it was off to Hawke’s Bay to undertake a Bachelor of Wine Science and Diploma of Wine Marketing at EIT. Since graduating in 2012, she has been working for Ash Ridge

in the Bay, a family owned, highend producer of wines all emanating from the Bridge Pa Triangle.

Within 12 months of graduating she had won a Trophy with the Ash Ridge Estate Merlot – a sign of things to come you might say.

While her employers had great faith in her abilities to take over running the winery, Lauren wasn’t sure she was capable. So she headed to Sonoma to undertake a vintage there.

“I was there to learn as much as I could from the business end of the spectrum. When I came back I felt a little bit better, but still it was pretty crazy, taking over the winery.”

She didn’t need much convincing to take part in the Hawke’s Bay Young Winemaker competition, having seen how much was gained by viticulturists taking part in their own competition. But at no time did she think she would take out

the regional title, let alone the national one.

“It has really surprised me how important these titles are. So many fellow winemaker’s who I didn’t know have been in contact to congratulate me, they all seem to have taken it a lot more seriously than I had thought they would. It is certainly a major positive in terms of getting my name out there.”

While Tonnellerie de Mercurey provided $5000 in travel funds, Lauren says one of the greatest prizes on the night was the offer

by Ben Glover, Chief Judge of the Bragato Wine Awards, to be an associate judge at next year’s competition.

“I was a steward at this year’s competition and I wanted to be out there so badly, judging the wines – but I ended up washing glasses for most of the time. Judging is something that I am really keen to get into, so being involved

next year is going to be great.”

There wasn’t much down time

for Lauren after she took out the title. Within 10 days she was on a

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plane to Rhone, to undertake a vintage at Ogier. With the company being high-end Syrah producers, she is looking forward to honing her skills with one of the Bay’s best known varieties.

Bayer Young Viticulturist

A THIRD ACCOLADE There was a third member of the Hawke’s Bay wine industry that was feted at the Bragato conference.

Emma Taylor, who herself was New Zealand’s Young Viticulturist back in 2007, has been the national coordinator of the competition for the past seven years.

She stepped down from that role in May this year, to concentrate on her work in the Villa Maria Nursery.

It was a surprise accolade for Taylor, with a number of previous Young Viticulturists taking to the stage to present her with a bouquet of flowers, a magnum of Champagne and travel vouchers. It is fair to say that the competition we saw this year, that attracted dozens of entrants from around the regions, would not be in the healthy position it is, without Emma’s previous guidance, enthusiasm and hours of voluntary hard work.

So thanks Emma.

22 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

It may have taken three years for Caleb Dennis to win the Hawke’s Bay regional Young Vit competition, but he didn’t have to wait anywhere near that long to take out the national title.

The 27-year-old Group Technical Officer at Craggy Range is the 2015 Bayer Young Viticulturist of the Year.

Coming from a “long line of accountants and teachers”, Caleb had no background in viticulture.

In fact he admits he really knew nothing what-so-ever about the industry when he was at school.

Contemplating a science degree, it was a trip down south that got him thinking about wine.

“I was driving down to go skiing and went through Marlborough and saw all the vineyards. It got me thinking about viticulture so I started looking into it. I found out you can do a degree in it, so I thought, well maybe I can do that.

“Before I did the degree (at Lincoln University) I spent some time with a friend of ours who has a vineyard in Hawke’s Bay. I trailed around after him for a couple of days and thought to myself; ‘yes I would like this job.”’

In his Lincoln class of 40, only three students had viticulture down as their preferred option – Caleb was one of those.

“I did think about winemaking, but viticulture was the part that I found the most interesting. It was where I felt I could do the most and could also make my mark.”

After practical’s at Craggy Range, Caleb was employed full time in 2010 and has been working his way up the ladder ever since.

“I started out in the regional vineyards with Simon Radburn.

I was pretty much doing all the operations, running contracting gangs, spraying and all that. It was a case of being chucked in the deep end. And from there I managed to get more involved in the technical side of things. Over the next two years it was less and less hands on practical vineyard, to more of the technical side. That evolved over three jobs, to the one I have now.”

With Craggy Range having vineyards in Hawke’s Bay. Martinborough and Marlborough, Caleb is responsible for collecting all the regional data required to ensure the best fruit possible is available at harvest.

“As we go through the season there is usually some data involved, whether it be pruning weights, shoot numbers, counting berries and bunches or leaves.

There are any number of variables where we need to get a really good picture of what we are doing. We have processes in place for that next step to ensure we get the best possible fruit.”

Being involved in three separate regions, means he is gaining a greater understanding of the entire wine industry, rather than being limited to just Hawke’s Bay. That knowledge obviously paid off with the recent competition.

Now Caleb has to prepare for the next one – the Young Horticulturist of the Year, where he will represent the wine industry. That will take place in November.

In the meantime there is some thinking also to be done, on how he will spend the $5000 travel prize, donated by the NZSVO. “There are a lot of wine regions I haven’t been to that I would love to visit. I am quite keen to have a look at Napa Valley or Bordeaux – so over the next few months I will be looking at that.”

Caleb also won $2000 in prize money, the use of a Hyundai Santa Fe for a year, and Spiegelau glasses. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

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BRAGATO WINE AWARDS BEN GLOVER – CHIEF OF JUDGES

T

his Bragato Wine show is a tool for our industry - for you the growers, makers, and owners in helping championing our success and how to tell and convey these success stories through seeking excellence in our vineyards. Our end product which is pretty much what is in the glass – is its sense of place - it’s Turangawaewae – this is a unique asset to your Brand!

So when I spoke last year I talked about the objective of this

24 //

show which is; To give recognition to viticultural excellence and to recognise the influence of grape growers and their vineyards in creating the unique qualities of New Zealand wines, by judging the wines made from grapes grown on such specified vineyards So we set out to make small changes to this year’s show format to reflect this.

We introduced a new Single Vineyard section in which the wines entered had to be at least

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

95% from a single vineyard.

We have maintained the original entry parameters of 85% Estate owned and managed, which we now refer to as the “Domaine section”.

This was a gut feel trial more than anything to see actually how many would be entered as single vineyard. Of the 600 entries - over 400 were, not to mention an exciting number of approximately 20 amateur entries. This differentiation was

exactly what we had hoped to show and reward!

The aim here was, to continue to make this show relevant, to understand our single vineyard sites, and reward them. This means that this year - the Richard Smart Trophy which has historically been awarded to the Reserve Wine of Show, is now awarded to the Domaine Champion Wine of Show and the Bragato Trophy is awarded to the single vineyard wine of show.

The big challenge is also ensuring our judges are relevant to where we want to head and what we want to achieve with the show results through the Bragato Show ‘noise’ from the calibre of the Bragato Wine Show vision.

This year’s judges were; Dave McKee, Rod Easthope, Barry Rewai, Richard Painter, Simon Nunns, James Rowan, Sarah Kate Dineen, and Francis Hutt.

Special mentions though to Emma Jenkins MW, Liz Weadon - GM of the Glengarry’s group, and James Milton, artisan wine grower. This year was the first time we had the opportunity to invite an international Judge. Dan Simms from over the Tasman is a huge advocate for New Zealand wines.

We as Judges are rapt at what we saw this year, with very strong classes of Chardonnay, Bordeaux Red and Syrah – showing off just

how good the 2013 and 2014 vintage’s were.

Sauvignon Blanc was a little shy at coming forward this time due to later bottlings I believe – but what was on the table was extremely poised with some cool alternate styles being recognised.

The Sparkling and Sweet class – some great little beauty’s – really showing off some deft handling and true style masters!

The aromatics Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris again thrived and were a thrill to taste.

The Rosé fantastic, and the Pinot Noir class - such love and diversity, absolutely a pleasure to judge.

Another great result was the 2 golds and 3 Silvers and 3 Bronze to the amateur entries judged alongside the professional wines - and holding their own congratulations to those who

entered these wines!

This show is all about showing off our depth within the industry, what is new, who is doing what,

and what “new stories” can we tell to the world’s wine lovers. It is about giving depth to your biggest asset – your brand – your wines! ■

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AIR NEW ZEALAND WINE AWARDS 2015 TROPHY WINNERS

The Villa Maria team who picked up five trophies on the night, including the top two, Bragato Trophy and the Richard Smart Trophy.

Bragato Trophy and Champion Single Vineyard Wine Villa Maria Single Vineyard Ihumatao Chardonnay 2013 Ihumatao Vineyard, Auckland Brett Donaldson

Richard Smart Trophy and Champion Domaine Wine Villa Maria Reserve Gimblett Gravels Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2013 Vidal Vineyard, Hawke’s Bay Phil Holden

Friedrich Wohnsiedler Trophy Winner and Champion Riesling Thornbury Waipara Riesling 2015 Waiata Vineyard, Waipara Royce McKean

Brother Cyprian Trophy Winner and Champion Pinot Gris Church Road Pinot Gris 2015 Matapiro Estate, Hawke’s Bay Max Bixley

Champion Gewürztraminer Blackenbrook Nelson Gewürztraminer 2014 Blackenbrook Vineyard, Nelson Daniel Schwarzenbach

26 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

Champion Other White Wine Saint Clair Marlborough Premium Grüner Veltliner 2014 Hawkesbury Farm Ltd, Marlborough Robert & Heather Goulter

Champion Sweet Wine Villa Maria Reserve Marlborough Noble Semillon Botrytis Selection 2011 Hammond Vineyard, Marlborough Rob Hammond

New Zealand Wine Cellars Spence Brothers Trophy Winner and Champion Sauvignon Blanc Stoneleigh Rapaura Series Sauvignon Blanc 2015 Stoneleigh, Marlborough Rod Brailsford

Champion Sparkling Wine Akarua Vintage Brut 2010 Akarua Wines, Central Otago Mark Naismith

Bill Irwin Trophy Winner and Champion Chardonnay Villa Maria Single Vineyard Ihumatao Chardonnay 2013 Ihumatao Vineyard, Auckland

Brett Donaldson Champion Rosé Whitehaven Rosé 2015 Whitehaven Wine Company Limited, Marlborough Sioban Harnett

Mike Wolter Memorial Trophy Winner and Champion Pinot Noir Maude, Mt Maude Vineyard, Pinot Noir 2014 Mount Maude Vineyard, Central Otago Terry Wilson

Tom McDonald Memorial Trophy Winner and Champion Classical Red Wine Villa Maria Reserve Gimblett Gravels Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2013 Vidal Vineyard, Hawke’s Bay Phil Holden

Alan Limmer Trophy Winner and Champion Syrah Talisman Syrah 2013 Elms Vineyard, Hawke’s Bay Peter Yealands

AWARDS NEWS

STUDENTS TAKE OUT GOLD MARY SHANAHAN

A

n EIT foursome have achieved a first as the only students to win gold in New Zealand’s Bragato Wine Awards.

Their medal-winning wine, a 2014 Syrah, was made from grapes donated by C J Pask and grown by company viticulturist Danny van Selm. One of 43 Syrahs entered in the awards, it was judged alongside commercial entries and was one of five golds in its class.

Tom Carpenter and classmates Maddie Crozier, Eleisha George and Stephen McGowan harvested the grapes on Good Friday last year after rain.

“Given all the heavy rain, we had to be pretty selective as the fruit had taken a bit of a battering,” Stephen recalls. “We had to get it off skins pretty quickly, but we knew the flavours were there.”

The students picked enough from the Gimblett Gravels vineyard to fill a four-year-old French oak barrel. Wine science and viticulture lecturer Tim Creagh opened up the winery on campus – “he spent most of his day off with us,” says Eleisha.

Six months in and feeling the maturing wine was coming along nicely but in need of a little extra oak, the group added barrel staves.

Tom says there was an ongoing interchange involving the four classmates. The process was so cordial, it inspired the wine’s name, Harmony.

“We did it by the book, with blending and fining trials,” says Stephen, “setting up bench trials for everything.”

Mike Compton says this year was a first for a non-commercial wine to have won gold during his time as awards director, since 1998. ■ maryshanahan173@gmail.com

From left the Golden students; Eleisha, Maddie, Stephen and Tom.

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RESEARCH NEWS

DURABLE POSTS TESSA NICHOLSON

V

ineyard owners and wine companies are being encouraged to start planting specific eucalypt species , that could produce durable hardwood posts in the future.

It may be something of a novel idea here in New Zealand, but as Paul Millen from the NZ Drylands Forest Initiative (NZDFI) says, eucalypt hardwood has a long history of use in vineyards throughout Australia.

Wood durability is what makes

the NZDFI’s species special.

Unlike treated pine which makes up the majority of New Zealand’s current vineyard posts, their hardwood doesn’t need treating to be placed in the ground.

Millen who addressed the recent Organic Winegrowers Conference, says it was brought to his attention back in 2003, that treated Pinus radiata was causing some issues for growers throughout the country. A Marlborough grape grower

One of the species that is showing promise here in New Zealand is E. bosistoana, also known as coastal grey box.

28 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

questioned whether there were any durable timbers available that could be used instead. It got him thinking and researching. What he came up with was the well-known eucalypts. Not only were they fast growing, they also produce very strong timber due to their density and produce natural chemicals that made them durable in the ground.

“I travelled to Australia and discovered that historically all the vineyards there were supported by eucalyptus posts of one sort or another. Some of those posts have been in the ground for more than 50 years.”

Eucalypts are not unknown on this side of the Tasman either, with small tracts of them often grown on rural properties. Millen managed to track down a few small blocks in Marlborough and went about testing his theory that they would be suitable for vineyards.

That was back in 2005, the very first eucalypt posts, untreated, are still standing sentinel to Millen’s vision.

While it might seem like an easy proposition to chop down the few old trees scattering the rural landscape, Millen quickly realised much more research was required. For example there are over 600 species of eucalypt, yet probably less than 30 may grow in New Zealand conditions and produce durable timber.

“You can’t just grab any sort of gum tree and think it will do the job,” he says.

For just like grape varieties, different eucalypts species require different growing conditions to thrive.

So began a $2.6 million breeding programme that has allowed

the NZDFI to trial a variety of species, in a number of different sites.

“Since 2008 we have planted over 140,000 trees, across 26 different sites. We have something like 45 trials going on within those sites,” The project also has five NZ School of Forestry PhD students based at Canterbury University, working solely on the NZDFI’s research programme. Millen says they are vital to the success of the project.

“There has been little research of heartwood forms and why some species create heartwood with cellular extractives that make the wood durable. That is what the team at the University are doing now. Our vision is to be a world leader in breeding ground durable eucalypts, and we are actually there already.”

Funding from MBEI, announced earlier this year means the project can grow even further.

“We are part of a forest industry and MBIE partnership for the next seven years. We plan to roll out selection and outcrossing to improve growth, form, wood quality and pest resistance of the species,” Millen says. “We want growers to match the species to sites as well as apply innovative management and silviculture systems.”

While they are fast growing, Millen says there is still a lot to learn before wide spread eucalypt posts are available for growers.

“The challenge is that every site is going to vary in terms of growth rate, so you can’t lock in a time frame. We don’t know enough yet to say we can grow a crop of posts in say 12 or 15 years.

But that is where our research will

THE COST OF BROKEN POSTS Every year, between three and five percent of a vineyard’s timber posts are damaged by tractors, harvesters and mechanical pruners. The cost to the industry is thought to be in the millions.

Millen says in Marlborough alone, more than half a million timber posts need replacing every year.

Marlborough with say 25,000 hectares of vines Approximately 600 posts per hectare Total existing posts equals 15 million Potential replacement if 3% of those posts are damaged is 450,00 posts a year Potential replacement if 5% is damaged, is 750,000 posts per year.

Adding to that cost scenario, is what do you do with those damaged posts. If those posts have undergone treatment, then they become a health hazard to burn or dump.

Durable eucalypts require no treatment, they are three times stronger than a pine post and can last in the ground for decades.

For more information on the NZDFI, visit their website; www.nzdfi.org.nz

Paul Millen

help us.”

As for growers taking matters into their own hands, Millen is all for it.

“Growers need to be planting their own trees now. You don’t want to grow the trees right on the vineyard, because there are issues

with that. But growers should be getting in with farmers or forestry and look at planting out now. I have an ex grape grower who has bought land out near the Rai Valley (Marlborough) and he is planting a 60 hectare block this year. That is a smart thing to do.”

Despite the wine industry being the initial motivator, Millen says there are many other potential uses for the hardwood.

“For example,” he says, “cross arms for New Zealand’s electricity networks. Sleepers for rail networks, wharf timbers for ports and marinas, residential and commercial high strength LVL beams and finishing timbers and decking

and outdoor furniture.”

With tropical rainforest hardwood getting harder to come by, Millen’s project could end up being a nice export earner for New Zealand in the future.

The NZDFI was this year’s Supreme winner of the Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

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WINERY CELEBRATION

A 100 YEAR WINE DYNASTY PETER SAUNDERS

I

t was 1973, wine was on the front page of the Auckland Star because there was an export order. Five cases of Babich wine were going overseas – what later turned out to be a New Zealand embassy in Tokyo so it didn’t prove to be a big influx of funds for the New Zealand economy!

Yet this was the start of a new export industry and a new beginning for Babich Wines, personified

by Josip Babich and his two sons, Peter and Joe. As a keen young (part time) wine writer, I swung out to meet the new wine export-

ers in Henderson, appropriately on Babich Road.

After the sherry, compulsory in those days, we moved to the emerging range of table wines, Dry White, Dry Red and Vintara and the exported wine, Pinotage-Cabernet. Joe was keen to say that he (winemaker since 1958) and Peter had goals of making a top grade red, perhaps of Bordeaux chateau quality and probably based around Cabernet.

“It may take us 20 years, but we will get there” Joe told me confidently.

What he perhaps had not fore-

seen is that in 20 years Babich Wines would be producing 75 per cent of their product from Sauvignon Blanc, grown in vineyards not outside the door, but in Marlborough. Yet the dream of a fine red was not lost. Babich has vineyards in Hawke’s Bay, now nicely mature and presenting a healthy spectrum of red varieties, including Syrah.

Neither may Joe have envisaged the extent exports would represent the company sales. It was to be a far cry from the ‘sherry to the neighbours’ of the 1950s and 60s. Joe later reported that

when the first container of Babich table wine went off to Europe, his father Josip had a tear in his eye.

To him, such a container meant sending Babich wine ‘back home’ although it was not going to Croatia but Germany. It was a poignant moment for him.

Having come to New Zealand in 1910 at age 14, Josip began his life as a gum digger in Northland, where he spotted the need of his countrymen beside him to enjoy a little something after work. The idea of winemaking moved him.

It was after all, a drink they were all used to seeing in Dalmatia.

The Babich management team, from left; David, Joe and Peter.

30 //

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A vineyard was planted, the first vintage made in 1916. Before too long (1919), the move to Henderson which was also Kauri gum territory, saw Josip and his wife Mara establishing a vineyard and winery. Babich and Henderson were to became synonymous with wine.

Changes came with time.

Whilst fortified wine was the daily bread, table wines were around the corner in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Muller Thurgau replaced Palomino and Baco 22a, Pinotage and Cabernet replaced Siebel red hybrids.

Chardonnay became the dry white wine grape.

It was the days of change in the whole wine industry, shared often with people of Dalmatian heritage. There were the Yukich family of Montana, the Brajkovich family at San Marino, Selaks at Kumeu. Then there was a group called Young Winemakers, including Joe Babich, George Fistonich

(now Sir George), Ross Spence, Jim Delegat and Nick Nobilo.

Together this latter group had an unofficial club, a generation taking over from their dads.

The said Young Winemakers went together to Australia, where they tasted their way through a good many wineries asking about table wines. I was there a little later, and was told by Australian winemakers with eyes wide open that ‘they had left the spittoons dry!’

Change took many forms.

Instead of starting the day by firing up the ‘still to fortify the sherries, ports and cocktails, the big swing towards table wine in the 1970s saw the new grape varieties need a new approach to winemaking as a result. As housing expanded in Henderson, plantings increased in Hawke’s Bay. Refrigeration units became part of winemaking equipment. Old barrels, some twenty

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Babich Headquarters in Henderson.

and more years old, were halved and sold off as planter boxes.

Newer French oak became the norm, joined later by American oak.

Babich kept apace. With one of the first vineyards off Gimblett Road (the Irongate vineyard) in Hawke’s Bay there was a second at Fernhill. The move to Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was an evolution and with time, vineyards were firstly contracted to supply Babich, then purchased, including the sizable Wakefield vineyard in the Awatere Valley.

Becoming active in what was Rapaura Vintners in Blenheim, Babich took larger shareholdings as they became available, before eventually breaking free and building their own winery in Marlborough last year.

Through all this time, Babich wines and the company became an identity aligned with honesty

and strong ethics. Conservative perhaps, but solid. The company continues its sustainability program to leave the earth in a fit state for generations to build on. Some vineyards are certified organic and biodynamic practices can be seen playing their part. All are part of the industry sustainability program.

The quality shows as well; ranges of sound, dependable wines with fine fruit statements. Joe has handed the winemaking on to qualified people while he takes the role as managing director. Peter modestly calls himself ‘the gardener’ but any move to retirement saw him back before long with a ‘a desk in a corner’.

Peter’s son David is active in the business as General Manager, making three Babich generations through the 100 vintages. The range runs from an Estate range, through a Black Label group into Irongate (red and white) to The

Patriarch, the company’s premium red.

Both Joe and Peter have been active in the industry as well as providing mentorship to others.

Peter was on the management committee of The Wine Institute and Deputy Chairman at various times. Joe was chief judge at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards as well as a panel leader at the Auckland Easter Wine Show. Together they have built a fine family company.

It’s a wine company that has seen 100 vintages through hard times and times of change and adaptation from markets to products, viticulture to winemaking.

The product range and the markets around the world testify to a quietly successful and respected entity that can look forward to its second century with confidence – and pride.■ winecast@xtra.co.nz

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BOB’S BLOG BOB CAMPBELL MW

SIX NATIONS WINE CHALLENGE The judging is over although the detailed results have been embargoed until 9 October. You will find them on www. http://boutiquewines.com.au/6-nations-winechallenge/ after that date.

Meanwhile I can report that New Zealand has had its most successful result since the competition began as the Tri-Nations Wine Challenge 13 years ago. New Zealand was voted top country by a larger margin than ever before. We also won the trophy for top wine of the show as well as winning “Nation of Class” in seven out of a total of 16 classes (see below).

The selection process works like this.

A selector/judge from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Argentina and the US each selects 100 of the best wines they can find from their country. We can enter up to 10 wines in any class.

In addition to trophies for Top Red, Top

White and Wine of the Show a trophy is also awarded to the top wine in each class. Even more important in my view is the Nation

Class

Trophy for top wine

Nation of Class

1

Sparkling

AUS

NZ

2

Riesling

CHILE

USA

3

Aromatic

NZ

USA

4

Sauvignon Blanc

NZ

NZ

5

Chardonnay

SA

SA

6*

White Blends

SA

SA

7*

Other White Varieties

SA

SA

8

Pinot Noir

USA

NZ

9

Merlot/Carmenere

CHILE

CHILE

10*

Malbec

ARG

ARG

11

Shiraz/Syrah

USA

NZ

12*

Cabernet Sauvignon

USA

USA

13

Other Red Varieties

SA

SA

14

Bordeaux Blends

NZ

NZ

15

Other Red Blends

NZ

NZ

16

Dessert

NZ

NZ

* = No NZ entries.

34 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

of class awarded to the country earning the highest number of points in each class.

I am able to disclose the country winners but am not allowed to reveal the names of any of the winning wines.

I didn’t enter any wines in the White Blends, Other White Varieties, Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon classes because I felt that we would be more likely to earn points in other classes. I could only find three wines to enter in the Other Red Varieties class. They came first and second and we earned Nation of Class (first and second wines are weighted to contribute more points).

I was disappointed that we didn’t do better in Riesling and Chardonnay, two classes in which New Zealand has performed well in the past. Good to see South Africa show well this year. Their wines have steadily been getting better in recent years.

I wonder whether the gradual adoption of screwcaps has given South Africa a helping hand?

It would also have been nice to win top wine in Pinot Noir and Syrah. New Zealand has won the Syrah class eight times in the past 13 years.

MORE ON ICONS AND CULTS I delivered a lecture on iconic wines at the Bragato conference, having identified the following list of wines which qualify for iconic or cult status. The first 13 “brands” were prepared by Regional Wines in Wellington while I added the last two names.

Te Mata Coleraine Stonyridge Larose Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay Ata Rangi Pinot Noir

Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir Craggy range Le Sol Kumeu River Mate’s Chardonnay Dry River anything Sacred hill Rifleman’s Esk Valley “The Terraces” Trinity Hill Homage Syrah Church Road “Tom” I added another couple …

Destiny Bay Magna Praemia Bell Hill Chardonnay and Pinot Noir I explained to the audience that in my view there were two sorts of cult wines: “Spice Girls” – Where the brand was conceived and managed with cult status in mind. Destiny Bay and Te Mata Coleraine are good examples.

“Nobel Prize” – Where the brand owner is lucky or clever enough to plant a vineyard in a special spot and works hard at making the best wine they can until one day someone taps them on the shoulder and says “congratulations you’ve won the Nobel prize”. Ata Rangi Pinot Noir and Kumeu River Chardonnay are possible examples.

We tasted six of my selected wines and I asked the audience to vote on whether they deserved iconic status, cult status or neither.

Here is the result:

Iconic Status Cloudy Bay 2014 Sauvignon Blanc Kumeu River 2013 Mate’s Vineyard Chardonnay Ata Rangi 2013 Pinot Noir Te Mata 2013 Coleraine

Cult Status Dry River 2014 Gewurztraminer Destiny Bay 2010 Destinae

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TECHNOLOGY NEWS

THE CHANGING FACE OF BUYING WINE LEE SUCKLING

F

or several years, American customers of online giant Amazon.com have been privy to a service we still can’t comprehend down here in New Zealand: one hour delivery of any item from the website.

This winter, Amazon launched into beer, wine, and spirit sales and added them to its one-hourdelivery catalogue.

The company, which has come a long way from being an online bookshop to one of the world’s biggest brands, outsources delivery to courier companies and charges US$7.99 for one hour delivery of alcoholic beverages,

36 //

while subscribers of the “Amazon Prime Now” exclusive benefits service get two-hour delivery for free (“Prime Now” costs US$99 per year).

Over 8000 wines feature in Amazon’s catalogue, including 48 New Zealand wines at the time of writing. The predominant Kiwi labels available to US customers via one-hour delivery are Jules Taylor and Quartz Reef.

For added convenience, Amazon’s Prime Now customers can order their alcohol via an iOS or Android app on their smartphone. This means they don’t even need to leave the couch and start up their laptop to order a Sonoma Valley Chardonnay (or a Central Otago Methodé Traditionelle) right to their doorstep before dinner is on the table.

Such an innovation isn’t unique to Amazon.

In fact, several other US services have launched apps for major American cities that allow for delivery of wine, beer, and spirits within the hour.

Drizly, which was started by a university student from Boston, allows customers to use an app to order alcohol from a local liquor store, and have it delivered by a third-party driver.

Un l i ke A m a z o n , Drizly doesn’t actually stock or sell the product;

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

the company is merely the facilitator of the sale.

Similar apps such as Thirstie, Minibar, DrinkFly, Saucey, and Klink do the same job, whilst adding extra in-app features such as wine pairings, recipes, videos, infographics, and editorial commentary around the culture of wine, beer, and spirit consumption.

So, how do Drizly, Thirstie and others make money? Drizly confirms it charges liquor retailers a monthly licencing fee for marketing their product range and completing the sale via credit card on the app. It also charges a US$5 delivery fee, but this goes direct to the retailer who pays the third-party delivery service. The bottles of wine, beer, and spirits themselves are no more expensive than buying them in-store, so retailers are betting on increased sales opportunities to prove their investment in appbased sales worthwhile.

Specific brands are partnering with some of the aforementioned alcohol delivery companies. AnheuserBusch, parent company o f B u d w e i s e r, f o r example, partnered with Klink in January to develop a brandspecific app called “Bud Light Button”.

The very simple app is exactly as advertised: a large digital button that users can press on their

smartphone, then confirm their location, and an order of between one and 100 cases of Bud Light will be delivered within the hour and charged to their credit card. The app “is about the ease of delivery and getting the product to our consumers so they can continue the fun that they are having,” confirms a representative of the digital agency AKQA, which developed the app.

Fo r a p r o m o t i o n l a s t Christmas, whiskey brand Jack Daniels developed a similar initiative, except with even more “novelty” value. Partnering with Saucey, any bottle of Jack Daniels

ordered on the app was delivered not by a regular delivery person, but a Frank Sinatra impersonator.

While no wine labels have yet de veloped their o wn exclusive delivery apps, it won’t be long before some of the top international wine brands get on board. Perhaps we’ll see Pernod Ricard roll out a Perrier-Jouët app that enables delivery of champagne and strawberries, or LVMH launch a promotion that sees its Moet Hennessy product delivered by Marie Antoinette lookalikes.

With the immense success of these technology-driven developments in wine and other alcohol sales Stateside, one is left wondering if any of it would work in New Zealand.

While most initiatives only operate in very large metropolitan cities such as New York City, Drizly takes a different approach.

The company says it assesses new cities for launch based on demographics and population, in order to assess the likely uptake and success of the app.

The most recent of which was Worcester, Massachusetts, which has a population of under 200,000 (making it less populous than Wellington). Worcester, like Wellington, is home to more than a dozen tertiary institutions and private training establishments for students.

Wine and other alcoholic beverage retailers might see launch opportunities in our capital as a test market, especially given the geographic limitations of the CBD area and ease of which a delivery service could provide orders within the hour.

Minibar’s target market is people organising parties.

Primarily, this suggests it aims at those who do not have the physical ability to pick up large quantities of alcohol the day of the event, or those who foresee running out in the middle of a party and don’t want to send somebody out to the local supermarket or liquor store.

Minibar helps users calculate the volume of wine or other beverage needed dependent on the number of people at the party, and how long the host believes it will go on for.

An opportunity is presented here for an app or online service that can deliver wine and other beverages on-demand for private parties, corporate events, and even weddings as an “11th hour” saviour when stocks are getting low. This would be unique in New Zealand and could be particularly successful in remote, event-centric regions such as Queenstown.

In New Zealand we should anticipate criticism of on-demand alcohol delivery apps from health agencies, particularly as Kiwis’

binge-drinking culture is famously recognised by authorities (and many programmes are in place to reduce, not aid, alcoholic beverage consumption).

Drizly drivers reserve the r i g h t to d e n y alcohol delivery to intoxicated patrons, potentially offering insight into a workaround of the New Zealand law which prevents liquor retailers selling their product to anybody under the influence.

While some apps require proof of identification to verify the user is of legal drinking age, others place this responsibility on the delivery company. It is unclear what happens in the latter situation when a customer is found (upon delivery) to be underage, and whether a fee is charged for an uncompleted order.

This is something New Zealanders should consider when dealing with legal drinking age barriers with online ordering.

As with any off-license

alcohol vendor, there will also be considerations to make around hours of operation, which is noncohesive with the 24/7 nature of online and app-based shopping.

Excepting this and other similar (but not insurmountable) obstacles, there’s little reason why wine and other alcoholic beverage vendors should not be testing out app-based order and delivery services in New Zealand. Such apps could prove as popular as Uber, Tinder, and other localised versions of international apps that are doing well in our market. ■ lee.suckling@gmail.com

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 37

SCHOLARSHIP NEWS

FOUR SCHOLARSHIPS ANNOUNCED F

our young wine industry students have received a financial helping hand thanks to Constellation Wines. The Scholarships are awarded annually to one student from EIT, two from NMIT and one from Lincoln University.

In terms of EIT in the Hawke’s Bay, the winner is upholding a long family tradition in pursuing a passion for wine.

Twenty-five year old Jascha Oldham-Selak is related to Marino Selak who founded the New Zealand wine company of the same name. Marino Selak was Jascha’s second cousin on his mother’s side. His great grandfather helped invest in the land where Marino established the wine business.

Fittingly enough, Constellation Brands now owns the well-known Selak’s brand.

In his second year at EIT Jascha will also work in the company’s vineyards during study breaks, helping to meet the qualification’s requirement for hands-on industry experience.

Jascha Oldham-Selak

38 //

Although he finished his airline pilot qualifications, he is happy studying grape growing and winemaking.

“This has more meaning to me,” he says. “My background supports it.”

There were two scholarship winners at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.

Ari Fratucelli, who is 27-yearsold is in his first year of a three year Degree in Viticulture and Oenology. The Waiheke born student also comes into the course with a background. His uncle in Germany is a wine merchant and it was him that convinced Ari he should consider the world of wine sales as a future career. No need for any further encouragement.

When Ari returned from Europe he enrolled in the degree prgoramme, based in Marlborough. Although his long-term goal is to be involved in sales, he believes having the viticultural and winemaking knowledge the course provides, will certainly help in his career.

Ari Fratucelli

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

Winning the scholarship came as a huge surprise to him, he says, especially since he knew he was up against five other talented applicants.

“I very nearly chickened out of going to the interview. I hold the other applicants in very high regard, so I never thought I had a chance to winning.”

Claire O’Rourke won a Constellation Wines Business Scholarship – aimed at students who are enrolled on NMIT’s Year Two of the Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing or Management. Despite leaving school at the age of 16, the 30-yearold Claire has been thriving during the business course. She says having worked in all fields of the hospitality/food industry since leaving school, she is now keen take her knowledge into the field of consulting.

“In the restaurant and services world, for companies who want to become ecologically friendly and maybe take a more modern holistic approach. I would like to

Claire O’Rourke

be able to look at staff training and how that relates to productivity as well as implementing a green ethos across the board.”

Katie Cameron is the winner of the Lincoln University Constellation Wines Scholarship.

The 20-year-old is following her love of horticulture with a Degree in Viticulture and Oenology.

Studying both sides of the wine industry has her scratching her head about which path she will travel.

“To be honest I just don’t know at this stage. I have been talking to lots of very good winemakers, so I am encouraged by them. But I realise that it is very hard to get up to that level. So at this stage I intend working along both lines with an open mind to where it will lead me.”

As with all the scholarship winners, Katie has been offered a holiday job with Constellation Wines in the future, which she is looking forward to. The money she has received will go towards paying off course fees. ■

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INDUSTRY NEWS

VINEFACTS NEWSLETTER COMING YOUR WAY TESSA NICHOLSON

T

his October, VineFacts will transition from a popular Marlborough newsletter into a national publication for the New Zealand wine industry.

What began as a grape disease management programme back in the 1990s has morphed into a national climate and phenological database that now incorporates Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Waipara, Central Otago and Marlborough.

The transformation is part of a New Zealand Winegrowers’ Research Project, co-funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Farming Fund.

VineFacts Newsletter has been a part of the Marlborough wine scene for close to 20 years.

While originally the data collected helped growers move from a calendar-based to a target-based spray programme, two decades on it has become the go-to for local growers. Weather conditions, growing degree days, phenological

40 //

information, yield component data at harvest and disease information are now part and parcel of the weekly newsletter sent out to all subscribers. That information provides growers and wineries with a heads up on what the season could have in store.

Rob Agnew from Plant & Food Research in Marlborough has been involved since its inception.

“We are now monitoring 28 blocks in the five largest wine growing regions in the country,” he says. “We are establishing a phenological database in each of those regions, which will allow historical comparisons to be built up.”

A weather station in each region will provide climatic conditions, with records going back to 1990 for comparison.

Agnew’s colleague Victoria Raw has already compiled long-term climatic summaries for the regions, which will be integrated

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

with the phenological data.

In terms of why they chose the five regions, Agnew says they wanted to establish a network of reference blocks that would span 90 percent of New Zealand’s vineyard area and 90 percent of the varietal mix. Therefore each region will have a number of blocks representing the major varieties.

In Gisborne there are two blocks of Chardonnay monitored, one at Hexton, the other at Patutahi.

In Hawke’s Bay six blocks are involved. Two Chardonnay, two Merlot, one Pinot Gris and one Sauvignon Blanc. The vineyards are spread throughout the district, in Crownthorpe, Maraekakaho, Bridge Pa, Gimblett Gravels and Te Awanga.

Fourteen blocks are monitored in Marlborough throughout the entire region. Two are Chardonnay, two Pinot Gris, two

Pinot Noir and eight Sauvignon Blanc.

In Waipara two blocks, one Pinot Noir and the other Sauvignon Blanc are part of the monitoring programme.

In Central Otago, four Pinot Noir blocks, in Gibbston, Pisa, Bannockburn and Alexandra will complete the national database

So what can you expect from VineFacts?

Basically, it provides you with details of the weather from the week just gone, and compares that with the past three seasons and the long-term average.

(Bottom left).

The weekly newsletter also has graphs providing details of current growing degree days (GDD) against the long-term average, so you can quickly determine if the current season is warmer or cooler or on par with the average (below).

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This temperature data allow Agnew and Raw to run a flowering prediction model for Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough.

“We use temperature information from previous years,” Agnew says, “and from 50 percent budburst, we can predict the date of 50 percent flowering of Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough. Being able to give a heads up six or seven weeks before flowering is an important tool.”

The weather data also allow the scientists to provide information on disease pressure.

“One of the things that has become increasingly important in recent years is powdery mildew.

We use the Gubler powdery mildew risk model as a guide to where the risk sits in any particular year.

We also do early season botrytis risk for each region.”

In terms of collecting the phenological data, Victoria Raw says they select four bays in each block. Within each of those bays, one vine is targeted and one cane or cordon becomes the focus of all monitoring.

“We monitor the buds as they go through budburst, from dormancy through to just when the shoot tip becomes visible,” she says. “This is done every week.

Later on, using the same cane or spur, we monitor the flowering progression of each inflorescence

twice a week. We can then look at the growing degree days when the vine has reached 50% flowering, which allows us to compare the regions and sites for the same variety.”

Above is an example of how regionality impacts on flowering for Chardonnay.

Given the information is passed on to growers and wineries immediately, there is plenty of time to make decisions should they be required.

“We will begin to understand varietal performances, site differences, regional differences and hopefully seasonal differences as the years go on,” Raw says. “So this is a unique New Zealand dataset and it will be available to everyone within the industry.”

The first weekly issue of Vinefacts for the 2015/2016 growing season is due out on 1 October 2015.

While you no longer have to be a Marlborough resident to reap the benefits, you do have to be a subscriber. As the publication gears up for its seasonal launch, existing readers are invited to renew their subscriptions. And, for a limited time only, new readers outside the Marlborough region can take advantange of a special offer and subscribe for free. For more information on how to subscribe, email vinefacts@nzwine.com. ■

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 41

RESEARCH UPDATE

DEALING TO BROWN BEETLES TESSA NICHOLSON

T

he New Zealand Brown Beetle, commonly referred to as grass grub has been causing agricultural havoc for over 100 years.

They may be only around 1 cm long – but with thousands of relatives they can devastate a vineyard in one night. It is an on-going problem, and while research into pastoral control of the grass grubs has been happening, very little has been undertaken in vineyards.

There is a subtle difference of course. Pastoral damage is caused by the grass grub itself – or the larvae of the beetle. However in vineyards, the major damage is caused by the adult beetle. (That being said the larvae can cause problems to the roots of vines as well). During a short time frame of three to four weeks over November and early December, the adult beetles appear in their thousands, landing on the newly burst leaves and buds.

Last year Lincoln Unviersity PhD student Mauricio Gonzalez Chang undertook a research

project to try and understand the behavior of the beetle in vineyards and potential ways of diminishing its impact.

Working with Kono Beverages in the Awatere Valley (Marlborough) Chang established infra red light cameras among the vines to gain a clearer picture of what the beetles were doing and when.

Those cameras showed that the beetles began flying 30 minutes after sunset. (In this case it was between 8.15pm and 9pm). Initially they hovered over the grass near the vines and then descended on the vines themselves.

“We still don’t know if the females fly first and release sex chemicals (pheromones) which attract the males,” he said.

But what he did notice was that each flight began outside the vines themselves, with the beetles coming from the headlands, wild grass and sometimes neighbouring vineyards.

“They then accumulate on the young vine plant tissue where they mate. Mating

The vines at the front of this photo show what a horde of beetles can do in just one night. Compare them with the vines behind which haven’t been fed on.

42 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

is over a two-hour period and then they feed for around three hours. They then drop to the ground between 11pm and 1am.”

That explains why you don’t know you have a problem until it’s too late – given the beetles are never seen in daylight hours.

Chang said the beetles began appearing on October 27 and were present until December 2.

“There was a huge peak on November 14 and we are still trying to understand why there were so many ups and downs in numbers during the period.”

The vines nearest the edge of the vineyard were the ones that were initially most affected, understandably given they are closer to the source of the beetles.

However over time, there was an increase in the damage to vines in from the edge.

“That might indicate that after the defoliation (at the edge) the beetles were moving inside the vineyard looking for more food.”

Winter sampling of larvae also showed that there were fewer larvae under the vines and interrow, the further into the vineyard you went.

But there were also more larvae immediately under the vines at the edge than there were in the interrow.

“This is explained by the adults dropping off the vine, straight down, which is where they lay their eggs. Only some land in the inter row.”

Which led Chang to research whether there was a product that could prevent the adults damaging the vines and laying their eggs

underneath. The product used was mussel shells. Thick layers of the shells were laid directly under some of the vines, to see if this had an impact.

“We had a very unexpected result,” he said. “One night I went into the vineyard and counted the beetles and I saw the plants that had shells below them had 69 percent fewer adults on them than were on the vines without shells underneath.”

At this stage he is unsure why – but plans further research to find out. He also said he needs to research whether there is any difference between using old mussel shells compared with new New shells have more of a fishy smell, which may be a deterrent to the beetle.

“We also need to see if this approach has some effect on the vines. Does it add calcium and will it affect soil pH which could affect the wine?”

Another experiment undertaken last year was the use of feeding deterrents – diatomaceous earth (DE) and kaolin based dust (clay).

“We used diatomaceous earth mixed with water and sprayed it onto the vines. We used 20 grams per litre of water, 400 litres per hectare.”

Three sprays were undertaken a week apart, from October 30 until November 14. Sprays of DE and kaolin, and a spray of just kaolin were also used.

What was interesting was the different affects on two varieties – Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

The results in each block were

compared with a control, where nothing was sprayed, Chang said.

“When sprayed onto Chardonnay, there was 23 percent less damage when using DE, K-DE and Kaolin when compared with the control.

“On Pinot Noir there was 46 percent less damage. This suggests there is a varietal effect affecting vine consumption by the beetles.”

He followed this up by comparing the severity of damage created by beetles in two blocks, with just a roadway between them. One side of the road had Sauvignon Blanc vines, the other side had Pinot Noir.

“So they had the same soil type and the same exposure. But there was a clear difference between the damage in the two varieties, with Pinot Noir suffering more.”

Chang’s research will continue this season. He said there are a number of avenues he wants to

This is what a leaf decimated by beetles looks like.

follow up on.

“What we want to find more about is the feeding disruption.

We would like to understand the female behaviors better. Do they land first on the plant and then, using pheromones attract the males? If that is the case, we can try to modify that.

“In addition they feed only after they mate. So if we can disrupt the mating, maybe we can stop the feeding. We want to combine the mussel shells with feeding deterrents in one

treatment. We had a 60 percent reduction in damage with shells and about 40 percent with deterrents. If we combine the two, we might have an even better effect.

“We will also look at cover crops and Miscanthus x giganteus, which is a plant that can grow four metres in two years. If we place these plants at the edges of the vineyards, maybe it would act as a barrier and stop the beetles’ flying pathways.”

In the meantime we are

heading into the season when beetles will be out in force. There is some thought that covering the outside vines with netting can be useful in deterring the beetles.

Also cultivating between the rows, which brings the larvae to the surface as fodder for birds is another useful tip. ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com • Chang’s research has been supported by Callaghan Innovation, Kono Beverages, Lincoln University and Bio Protection Research Centre.

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 43

VITICULTURE MONITORING

PROFIT DOWN BUT OPTIMISM UP TESSA NICHOLSON

T

he effects of the larger than average 2014 harvest were felt this year in New Zealand’s two largest wine regions, according to the MPI/NZW Viticulture Monitoring report.

Into its 11th year, the report has undergone some subtle changes, particularly when it comes to monitoring the situation in Hawke’s Bay. A review in 2013 resulted in the report moving towards gross margins of dominant grape varieties, rather than a vineyard model. The model format has been retained for Marlborough, although a Pinot Noir gross margin section has also been included.

Given 2014 was a stellar year for growers around the country due to increased yields, it was inevitable that profits would be down in 2015. However the actual drop was higher than most growers had predicted.

Marlborough

In the case of Marlborough, the model is a 30-hectare producing vineyard, with data collected from 31 vineyards. Of those, 23 were contract growers and eight were winery operated vineyards. Sauvignon Blanc is the dominant grape variety in the model, representing 74 percent of the producing area, followed by Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Riesling.

In Marlborough the profit before tax was reduced by 50 percent this year, when compared with 2014. That is a direct result of a 26 percent drop in yields.

There were a number of reasons for that yield drop – the impact of heavy crops last year, a number of frost events in late spring, cooler weather during flowering, significant powdery mildew pressure and the drought which affected berry size and bunch weights.

Wineries responded to the expected lower yields, by increasing the price paid for fruit – up five percent in 2015, a little more than

had been predicted by growers.

The average price was $1810 across all varieties. Sauvignon Blanc averaged $1710, Pinot Noir (table) averaged $3220 and Riesling was $1785. Both Chardonnay and Pinot Gris prices remained similar to 2014 figures.

In terms of expenditure, the Marlborough model shows working expenses were marginally higher this year. Weather played a role in those expenses, with irrigation costs up significantly due to the drought. Marlborough vineyard irrigation increased 44 percent in 2015, when compared with the average of 2005-14.

While the smaller crop meant manipulation wasn’t a major cost for growers, they did face higher labour costs dealing with the impact of powdery mildew.

A number of growers involved in the model spent on new developments, which MPI says is “representative of some significant new development around the region.”

Looking ahead to 2016, the growers were keen to see a rise in prices paid for fruit.

“Many of the monitored contract growers mentioned that grape prices were still generally flat and they would like an increase. With reduced 2015 yields and a supply deficit forecast, this is possible in 2016.”

Grower morale was positive with the growers generally optimistic about their business. The group is also looking towards improving business viability.

“The most significant of these is further new development including purchasing or leasing land or developed vineyards.

Nurseries are also reporting strong demand for grape vines, with a total of approximately 2500-3000 additional hectares planted in 2014 or planned for 2015. While a small amount of this is expected to be redevelopment of existing vineyard, it indicates an increase of at least five percent in national vineyard area.”

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

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Villa Maria, Hawke’s Bay. Photo supplied by NZW.

Hawke’s Bay

Sauvignon Blanc

The change of direction to gross margins calculates the revenue less direct expenses for growing, harvesting and marketing the crop. It does not take account of overheads such as administration, debt-servicing, tax, drawings or development and capital spending.

The three varieties the report is based on are; Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

As in Marlborough, yields in 2015 were well down on last year.

Across all varieties the drop was 19 percent. The Sauvignon Blanc yield was 26 percent lower than 2014, Chardonnay was 15 percent down and Merlot was eight percent lower than 2014. Those drops were deemed to be a result of reduced carbohydrate levels after the heavy 2014 crops, and cool, wet weather over flowering, reducing pollination.

The gross margin for this variety was $6640 per hectare, the equivalent of $715 per tonne, well below that of Merlot and Chardonnay. Yields averaged out to 9.3 tonnes per producing hectare, well down on last year, and slightly lower than the last five year average of 10 tonnes.

Price wise, the average was $1500 per tonne, a substantial increase of $280 a tonne when compared with the five-year average for the region.

Chardonnay Gross margin for this variety in 2015 was $5360 per hectare, or $815 a tonne.

The report says the yields were lower than last season, but in line with typical yields over the past six years. However quality was reported to be very high, with many of the growers monitored

claiming Chardonnay as the stand out variety of the 2015 vintage.

The average price was $1915 per tonne, which is marginally lower than the previous season, but similar to the two previous years.

“Demand for Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay appears to be strong and underpinning the price increase that occurred in 2013.”

Merlot It was a good year for Merlot growers, with the gross margin for this variety being $9610 per producing hectare, which was equivalent to $1060 per tonne – the highest of all three varieties.

The average yield was 9.1 tonnes, slightly down from the last two years, but on a par with the five-year average. The average price paid for Merlot was $1925, essentially the same as Chardonnay.

“Merlot showed the most price

variability between growers of all three reported varieties in 2015,” the report states. “Prices for Merlot have followed a steadily increasing trend since the low of 2012. Current prices now marginally exceed those of 2008-10.”

Conclusion Growers in Hawke’s Bay are benefitting from three very good years in terms of quality of fruit.

While they feel the future is looking positive for the New Zealand wine industry as international demand for Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is high, they do have concerns over the reliance on that variety.

“Seasonal fluctuations in Sauvignon Blanc yield in Marlborough are seen as a risk to the Hawke’s Bay wine industry,” the report states. “Growers have voiced their concern that better systems need to be in place to predict yields to

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 45

ensure all growers and wineries have accurate information to manage production and supply.”

The growers also expressed concern that the New Zealand wine industry’s reputation is at risk, due to the export of inferior quality bulk wine, particularly

Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

However they were optimistic about the growth in the Chinese market, with its preference for lower acid, more tropical Hawke’s Bay style white wines.

While past monitoring has only included Marlborough and

Hawke’s Bay, MPI spokesman Nick Dalgety says working alongside NZW, there are now plans to expand in the future.

“In 2016 gross margin assessment by variety expands into Gisborne, Marlborough and Central Otago. This should paint a fuller

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REGIONS GISBORNE

A REINVENTION JUSTINE TYERMAN

G

isborne’s traditional Labour Weekend wine and food event has been reinvented.

What began as the Gisborne Wine and Food Festival in 1997 and has seen many incarnations from vineyard-based to single venues and a mixture of both, has this year been reborn as The Weekend of Wine and Food.

Gisborne Winegrowers’ Society has partnered with Tourism Eastland to create a new-look cellar door-based event which organisers say is just what the public has been asking for.

Event manager Prue Younger

48 //

says the two-day event to be held on October 24-25 will provide visitors with an authentic Gisborne wine and food experience.

“We have unique cellar doors around our region and this is a way to get people out to those venues and truly showcase the region, rather than having it all at one site,” says Younger.

“The event will also promote any other activities related to a food or wine experience that the hospitality industry wishes to put on to show off our great Gisborne produce.”

The Weekend of Wine and Food is completely different from

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

earlier festival-type events, with wine and food the top priority, she says.

“There will be entertainment but it will be low-key - this is an event for real wine-lovers.”

The highlight of the weekend will be a six-course ‘Celebrate Chardonnay’ degustation dinner where local winemakers will present their wines matched with Gisborne produce and the culinary talents of Peppers Beachfront chefs Dan and Bridget French. Guests will have the opportunity to score each wine and dish in a ‘People’s Choice’ competition.

Gisborne Winegrowers

marketing sub-commit tee chairman Andrew Vette says the new format will give wine-lovers the event they really want.

“We’re pretty excited to have transport to the cellar doors we have had a huge amount of feedback to say that’s what people have enjoyed in the past and want in the future.”

Tourism Eastland chief executive Stuart Perry says The Weekend of Wine and Food is the first of a number of exciting events planned for ‘Out East’ this summer.

“This celebration of our fine food and stunning wines is a showcase for the region,” says Perry.

“The Labour Weekend timing of the event gives visitors three days to experience the many sights and activities on offer here and savour all that is great about our district.”

Perry is looking to see a big increase in visitors from Hawke’s Bay because their anniversary day falls on the Friday before Labour Weekend giving them a four-day holiday. * Buses will operate two circuits from a base at the Gisborne Wine Centre, stopping at up to 10 cellar-doors at 30-minute intervals on both days, creating an easy ‘hop-on, hop-off’ service. * Tickets are $25 for a one-day pass or $40 for a two-day pass, with a cellar-door pass of $15 for those who want to use their own transport. Available from ticketek.co.nz, Tourism Eastland and the Gisborne Wine Centre.

Bus tickets will be limited to 1000-per-day. Up to 10 winery venues will open from 11am until 5pm. www.gisbornewineandfood. co.nz ■ justine.tyerman@clear.net.nz

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 49

MAKING ZERO ALCOHOL GRAPE JUICE JOELLE THOMSON

“Everyone in the wine business knows that it is possible, but no one in New Zealand has done it to this degree.”

The ‘it’ in question is the commercial launch this year of a zero alcohol juice made from wine grapes grown in New Zealand’s fourth biggest wine region, Gisborne.

The juice is called First Press.

It is an apt description of the production process and the fact that it is the first time a grape juice has been made on a scale that enables it to be sold nationwide to the ontrade.

It was produced partly in response to the progressive decline in the consumption of alcohol-based beverages in bars and restaurants. This decline has been noted by bar and restaurant owners (particularly in Wellington and Auckland) since 1 December 2014; the date that this country’s drink driving laws officially changed.

The production of First Press

juices is an attempt to provide a solution to the drink-driving problem. But the impetus to make the juices came about as a result of another demand altogether; a request from China for kiwifruit juice.

The juices are marketed and sold via Gisborne Gourmet, a food and beverage company owned by a family with a long history of entrepreneurship in the Gisborne region; the Thorpes. Family members are involved across a wide range of wine and food production from producing grafted vines (Geoff Thorpe), cheeses (Rick Thorpe), fruit orchards (Bill Thorpe) and wine (John Thorpe).

The fruit for the wine grape juices comes from Bill Thorpe, who owns a large pack house.

“One of our Chinese clients asked if it was possible to purchase gold and green kiwifruit juice from us and, since John Thorpe had made kiwifruit ‘wine’ back when he was a beekeeper, we knew that we had the expertise to do it. That

a winning influence suppliers of fine corks, barrels, screw caps & capsules

triggered the idea of extending the concept to wine grapes for a non alcoholic juice, so we sat around as a family, and thought, yeah, why not?” says Gene Walker, marketing manager for Gisborne Gourmet.

The family has now built an independent juice processing facility at the Gisborne Wine Company. This is the parent company to Solander Cellars, a winemaking and contract bottling facility on the former Lindauer winemaking site in Gisborne.

The front labels on the First Press bottles state clearly that the juices contain 0% alcohol by volume (ABV) and there has been a strong emphasis on devising labels with an appealing aesthetic, says Walker, who has married his background in design with his new role in marketing the juices. He also married into the family that is producing the new beverages; his partner is John Thorpe’s daughter, Chelsea.

Walker says there is now a desire to grow the range of non

alcoholic fruit juices and create another brand in the process.

The first vintage of First Press was 2015; not that a year of production is noted on the labels.

The 2015 vintage did deliver exceptionally healthy grapes, due to the relatively dry conditions in summer and autumn. This enabled the grapes to be harvested at full ripeness. They were then crushed, pressed and chilled in stainless steel tanks, prior to being pasteurised and bottled.

“Without the alcohol interfering, there is a lovely viscosity to the grape juice,” Walker says.

The richness that he describes is strongly pronounced in the Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer, both of which not only feel full bodied, but also taste of their grapes.

The family chose varietals that Gisborne is well known for, so the First Press range includes Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Merlot and a Rosé. Due to the long growing season in 2015, the

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50 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

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residual sugar in the juices is relatively high for fruit juice. It is approximately 22.5 brix.

The thinking is to look at picking earlier next vintage to keep the sugar lower because this will add another appealing aspect to the trade, which is increasingly being asked for beverages with a relatively low sugar content.

Production may also increase in the future. This year the family drew off between 1500 to 2000 litres of each varietal but with the tank capacity for greater volumes (and greater export demand) there is likely to be a greater amount produced in the future. Slightly more Gewurztraminer was made than the other juices in the range.

Walker says that he is carefully curating where to pitch the juices, in terms of which restaurants and bars to focus on.

One potential problem may be supply and demand. Walker has yet to promote the product in the country’s major cities and sales are already robust. He has plans to work with cocktail bartenders because the richness of flavour and full body (and zero alcohol content) could provide an appealing aspect to cocktailstyle beverages.

“I am finding it easy to get into bars and restaurants in Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne and we are now about to start focusing on areas such as the Mount (Maunganui), Cambridge and Hamilton. We had a hotel in Greytown ask for a dozen of each juice, so word of mouth is already getting out there.”

The products have also been

“And the clear winner in the Botrytis control category is…”

taken to Qatar in the Middle East where they offer the market a valid alternative to an alcohol-based beverage.

“We recently started the business Gisborne Gourmet, a producer owned company which presents some of the best food and drinks products that Gisborne has to offer. Over time we will add more produce to our website site, gisbornegourmet.com, and it is also providing an outlet for the juices.”

Walker designed the labels but the bottle shape and clarity (they are made of clear glass) also add a strong aspect to the design because they allow consumers to see exactly what they are drinking; juice that looks like wine.

“The thing I really want to emphasise about these bottles to our growing clients is that they are highly collectible; I remember my grandmother using these styles of bottles for preserves and my wife has a design store, which sells bottles such as these ones.” ■ joellethomson@vodafone.co.nz

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WINE NEWS

VALUE VS PRICE: THE QPR RATIO JOELLE THOMSON

Value. What does it mean?

T

he word comes from the Latin word valere, which means ‘be worth’; a definition which focuses on products that represent good value for how much they cost rather than providing accessibility and affordability at the (possible) expense of desirability.

When it comes to wines that deliver on the value for money or QPR (quality price ratio), the word ‘value’ is most often used for lower priced, higher volume products.

But there are wines with a high QPR produced in New Zealand, which are higher up the scale. This story focuses on three of them.

Tim Kerruish, co-owner, founder and vigneron of Folding Hill Wines in Bendigo, produces a second tier Pinot Noir, which stands out not only in taste (when tasted blind) but also when its price tag is taken into consideration. This wine consistently stands out due to its concentration of flavour (ripe Bendigo fruit) and its full body (that ripeness again and, in part, because it is not fined or filtered).

Its retail price remains modest, in contrast to many winery’s first tier Pinot Noirs; it costs $29 to $30 a bottle.

Kerruish says that the wine, Folding Hill Ballasalla Pinot Noir, is a blend of barrels that don’t make it into the Folding Hill label, some of which have been cropped at a higher level. The wine making is the same as for his top label, but

52 //

Ballasalla does not go into any new oak barrels whereas Folding Hill Pinot Noir does; 25-30% new Francois Frere barriques. The packaging costs are also lower for the second tier Pinot Noir, Ballasalla.

“I like the concept of QPR; the quality / price ratio, and we price our wines to try and over deliver on quality for the price, at all of our price points. I don’t see that principle changing in the future,” says Kerruish, who says that he follows standard price points of $20, $30, $40 and, occasionally, over $50.

He rarely spends more than $50 on a bottle of wine because he sees a law of diminishing returns.

Martinborough winemaker Helen Masters of Ata Rangi agrees that there is a law of diminishing returns, but says there can be a trap in trying to peg quality to value for money within price bands where wine is concerned.

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

“I’ve been surprised (pleasantly) by $20 wines and unpleasantly by $100 ones.”

Masters also notes that any percentage increase in price is

higher than the increase in quality.

“I’m not sure there’s a perfect sweet spot for a price to quality ratio. It depends on different production costs for different varieties.

There are

certain fundamentals about the cost structure of making great quality wine, and that inevitably has to flow through to price,” she says.

Containing the costs of oak maturation and packaging are two ways to provide value for money.

Another one is to grow the grapes rather than purchase them, says Phil Hanford, one of the founders and owners of Grasshopper Rock Wines in Alexandra.

All of the grapes in Grasshopper Rock Pinot Noir are estate-grown. This has been an intentional strategy from the start, which, Hanford says, was designed to promote quality and cost control.

Grasshopper Rock was first launched in 2008, which makes it a young brand and as such, Hanford says, it would be unreasonable to expect consumers to pay what they might for a premium wine

label that had built a reputation over 20 years or longer.

“Starting in the middle of the global financial crisis was a tough time for us with a new wine label, so we realised at the start that we had to over-deliver on quality for the price. This has happened and not simply because the wine is well priced but more importantly because the quality is consistently high.”

This theory is supported not only by strong awards on the wine show circuit for this wine, but also by sales. Grasshopper Rock Pinot Noir, sells out each year and now operates on allocation for the trade.

The notion of QPR means different things to different people too, says Masters of Ata Rangi.

“I might not even like a wine that has been scored, say, high points from Parker, but it might deliver an experience that I do

enjoy, so the value was good.”

This would not translate as a good QPR for many wine drinkers, however, such as those who Masters and the Ata Rangi team are targeting with their second tier Pinot Noir; Crimson.

“We approach winemaking for Crimson in the same way as our signature Pinot Noir, looking each year for a final blend that best reflects the facets and features of the particular season,” says Masters.

Value is delivered by slightly higher crop levels and younger vines.

The vines that grow the Pinot Noir grapes in Crimson tend to be up to 20 years of age, compared to the 35 year old vines from which Ata Rangi Pinot Noir is made. Both are subject to the same harsh Wairarapa climatic influences, however, which means spring winds, low yields and smaller bunches

and berries as a result. It is a tough way to make a living, but one that makes for more complex wines with high flavour intensity (due to small berry sizes). This is equally true for Crimson and Ata Rangi Pinot Noir, except that the vines for the latter yield particularly small amounts: “It’s certainly not cheap to produce,” says Masters.

“Crimson is about accessibility.

We’d like people to have the experience of good Pinot Noir, explore the variety and Martinborough’s unique impact on it. It’s also been an alliance in support of Project Crimson for over a decade now.

The more people who can hear of the work in reforestation of rata and pohutukawa, the better.

Could we command more for it?

Undoubtedly, but a price jump for Crimson isn’t immediately on our radar. Making it consistently better each year is.” ■ joellethomson@vodafone.co.nz

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 53

INDUSTRY NEWS

THE LEAFROLL 3 ‘TOOLKIT’ B

y far the most destructive virus present in New Zealand vineyards, Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (‘leafroll 3’ for short) spreads rapidly and negatively affects grape and wine quality, particularly in premium red wines.

For more than a decade New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) has consistently dedicated a portion of member levies to fund research pertaining to the control of leafroll 3 virus and the insect vector that spreads infection (mealybug). In late October, a new book will be distributed to all NZW members, providing the latest practical guidance on the subject and entitled Leafroll 3 Virus and How to Manage It. Created as part of NZW’s ‘Virus Elimination Project’ (which ran from 2009 to 2015 and was cofunded by the Ministry for Primary Industries), the book is written by project team members Ruby Andrew, Vaughn Bell, Nick Hoskins, Gerhard Pietersen and Caine Thompson.

Announcing the new book at

54 //

the 2015 Romeo Bragato Conference in August, Ruby Andrew outlined the wide range of techtransfer tools developed throughout the course of the project: 13 fact sheets, providing ‘how to’ information on key steps in managing leafroll 3 (available on nzwine.com).

7-part video series, explaining detailed management actions (available on nzwine.com).

Online photo library, showing symptoms of leafroll 3 infections on red varieties (available on flickr.com).

NZ W’s Leafroll 3 App, launched in 2014 and available in New Zealand by searching for ‘leafroll 3’ on iPhone or Android App stores.

“The book draws together all that practical guidance, and the knowledge we have gained through more than 50 presentations to growers around the country,” said Andrew. “We have updated our recommendations, added photographs, new illustrations and step-by-step instructions to help growers develop an

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

annual integrated management programme tailormade for their own vineyard.”

The book is divided into two main sections: Part 1 summarises the science underpinning current knowledge about the interactions between the virus, the vector and the vine; Part 2 offers the detailed guidance for every step in a control plan.

Topics covered include monitoring symptoms on red varieties, mapping infections in the vineyard, testing white varieties, mealybug control and assessment, vineyard hygiene, treatment and removal of infected vines and recommendations for replacement plantings.

Dr Simon Hooker, NZW General Manager Research, noted that the Virus Elimination Project had set out to explore a range of channels for tech transfer to members, and the results would help to guide communications for other

research projects.

“If you search for manage leafroll 3 virus on Google, you will get nearly 60,000 results,” said Dr Hooker. “The top three results – and many others – direct you to tech-transfer materials created

by New Zealand Winegrowers.”

This is significant, said Dr Hooker, because the web pages that Google lists on the first page of results for any given search term are those considered most relevant and useful.

“The Virus Elimination Project has been successful on many fronts,” said Dr Hooker. “The reduction of infection on participating vineyards demonstrated that leafroll 3 is not an insurmountable problem, and the new book collects the guidance developed in the project to inform and forewarn growers in every winegrowing region.” ■

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OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY E L E N A S Z E N T I VA N Y I , D I R E C T O R , A N D D AV I D M O O R E , S E N I O R A S S O C I AT E – HENRY HUGHES INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES

I

ntellectual property (“IP”) is a valuable asset. You should ensure that the correct person or company owns, and receives the benefit of the IP. This article identifies some common situations where your IP might be owned by another party. To the right is a checklist to help you conduct an audit of your IP assets to ensure that they are appropriately owned.

Who should own your IP? The best way to answer this question is to ask: who is control-

ling the use of the IP? In a small family-owned operation it might be appropriate for an individual (say, the principle winemaker) to own the trade marks and IP. A larger operation might have multiple companies. The company which controls the quality of the wines to which the trade marks are applied should own the trade marks (or be licenced to use the trade marks).

Over time, the day to day function of people or compa-

nies within an organisation may change. Periodically review whether valuable trade marks and IP are owned by the appropriate entity.

Works created by employees Copyright may subsist in original written or graphic works.

The Copyright Act 1994 says that an employer will be the owner of any copyright works created by employees in the course of their employment; that is, while carrying out their normal duties.

If you employ marketers and

designers to create material for you, this is straightforward. It is less clear-cut if an employee’s role has evolved over time and/or their contract is vague.

It is good practice to obtain a separate assignment of copyright for significant documents, artwork or photographs created by employees or contractors.

Label design It is common to outsource the design of bottle labels to a third party. The contract usually contains a scope of work and, of

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course, the designer’s fee. However, it is often silent on IP. You should make sure that you receive an assignment of copyright for any graphics and logos designed for you.

Website content and marketing collateral The written content and images used on your website and in your hardcopy marketing materials – provided that they are original and not copied from elsewhere – are likely to be copyright works and included in your IP assets.

This includes the company history or tasting notes. If any of this material originated from a third party consultant or designer, you may not own it. Check the contract and, if necessary, seek an assignment.

Photographs Your website and marketing material will feature photographs of your bottles, your vines and key

staff members. Ask: who took the photographs?

If the photographer was an employee, copyright in the photos might be owned by the employer. But was the employee taking the photos in the course of her employment? If the person is employed as maître d’ in your cellar door restaurant, taking photos is probably not included in her usual duties. She might retain ownership.

If the photos were commissioned, and paid for, then the Copyright Act says that the person (or company) who commissioned them will be the owner.

Purchasing IP assets from another winery IP acquisitions warrant a text book on their own! For the purposes of this article, we have two important tips if you are purchasing trade marks from another winery (perhaps as part

of an acquisition of the entire business): Always search the Trade Marks Register before signing the Sale & Purchase Agreement. Check that the seller actually owns the trade marks which it is purporting to sell. Make sure that the schedule of trade marks in the Agreement is complete and accurate. Check that none of the trade mark registrations have expired, been cancelled or are in the name of a different company.

Remember that the onus is on you, as purchaser, to record your company as the new owner of the trade mark(s) and update the address for service on the records of the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand.

Checklist We recommend identifying the valuable IP used by your business and checking as follows: Trade marks – who controls

how the trade marks are used and the quality of the wines to which they are applied? The person / company with control should be the owner (or be licenced). Always check and update the Trade Marks Register when acquiring brands from others.

Labels – check the contract with the company who designed the labels. Does the contract assign copyright to you?

Website content / marketing material – Who wrote the text of your website and brochures? If the person was not an employee acting in the course of their employment, you may need an assignment of copyright. Check the origin of other content such as graphics, videos and photos.

Photographs – find out who took the photos and whether they were commissioned or taken by an employee in the course of his/her employment. ■

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VINEYARD NEWS

MINIMISING WATER WOES T E SSA N I C H O L S O N A N D DA M I A N M A R T I N

D

ecreasing your canopy size is the best way of reducing your vineyard’s water needs during a drought. That’s the advice of Dr Damian Martin from Plant & Food Research in Marlborough.

At the recent Organic and B i o d y n a m i c W i n e g ro w i n g Conference, Dr Martin said water woes in the 2015 season saw many growers facing irrigation restrictions, which in turn placed water stress on the vines. The best way to combat that, if another such season occurs, is to ensure you don’t have too much foliage going into the hottest months of

the year. Less leaves, however, also means the vines need to carry less crop.

Past irrigation research undertaken in Marlborough showed that as a rule of thumb, every square metre of vineyard foliage transpires a litre of water, on a sunny day in the middle of summer.

“Large grape vines, big high capacity vines in the lower Wairau in Marlborough can have 10 to 12 square metres of foliage,” Dr Martin said. “So the maximum water (the vine would require) is 10 to 12 litres per vine, per day.

Conversely if you have quite a

small vine which has say three square metres of foliage, then its water requirement is only about three litres a day. It’s that simple.”

However it is ultimately crop load that is the key determinate of water need he said. Roughly speaking, to ripen a kilogram of Sauvignon Blanc grapes in Marlborough, you would require a square metre of foliage.

“So a really big vine can at least sugar ripen 10 kgs of crop, and likewise a small vine with three square metres can only ripen three kgs of crop.”

The ratio is different for premium reds, which proportionally require These vines were stressed due to a lack of water during the ripening period. To prevent this, think carefully about your canopy levels early on in the season.

58 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

50 percent more leaf to crop.

Dr Martin said low leaf areas of say three square metres are not often achieved. Instead the norm is large leafy vines with relatively high crop loads. These vines need a lot of water.

Add to the mix cover crops and undervine plants and even more water is required.

“The amount of water they use through the growing season can be about as much as the grape vine itself.”

So what can you as a grower do to alleviate the need for constant watering via irrigation?

“The key thing,” Dr Martin said, “is to reduce the leaf area and that will reduce the amount of water flowing through your vine, and conserving it in the subsoil.”

If you reduce the shoot vigour early on in the growing season, you can reduce the leaf area of the canopy later on. One way of doing that is to utilize under vine competition in the period from bud burst up to pre- flowering .

“Those under vine plants don’t actually use a lot of water at that time, but they are competing at a key period with the vine, when all that shoot growth potential is being set up. So you can influence the shoot growth very dramatically over quite a short period. You spend a little bit of that soil water in your under vine plant, but you are actually saving it for later in the year, because your vine’s leaf area will be lower.”

There is a caveat though, that under vine competition has to be removed before it gets too strong.

“Swards will use most of the spring and summer rain before the grape will be able to. In situations where you are under pressure for water or don’t want to use a lot of water, then I think you need to consider whether to have a sward. You can consider cultivation, it is not always a bad thing. It refreshes root growth in the top soil, it aerates the soil and reduces compaction, all of which are positive. But don’t over do it.”

Trimming the foliage is the simplest way of controlling the leaf area “Trimming hard and regularly is an effective tool. It is also a tool to reduce the cumulative growth potential over a number of years.

Like a bonsai plant, if you trim a vine hard and often enough over a

period of time, you will gradually reduce its overall capacity and you will change the balance between shoot development and root distribution.”

Balance is the key here though.

You still require a suitable leaf area to crop ratio – so if you take a lot of leaf off, you have to remove a lot of crop as well.

Encouraging the vine to dig deeper for water is something many growers are keen to achieve.

Dr Martin says stimulating rainfall is one of the best ways of achieving that. By that he means, using the irrigation less frequently and for longer periods.

“By irrigating a lot less frequently you achieve partial root zone drying and the vine sets up some protective mechanisms to conserve water. When you irrigate regularly the vine is never set up to undergo any sort of deficit.”

If you are starting from scratch

and developing a new vineyard – think about the following; Short trunks Lower trim heights Drought rootstock Change planting densities Or you could start transitioning to dry farming. (See next story).

That isn’t as easy as it appears, Dr Martin said. While it is a common method in Europe, he said in New Zealand it is more difficult.

“Our vineyard soils are not that great texturally here in New Zealand in terms of being suited to dry farming. They tend to be silty or sandy, which means the vines have easily available water all the way while the soil dries down and then suddenly they are completely dry.”

He said comparing our growing conditions with Europe is like comparing apples with oranges.

The evapotranspiration in this part of the world is far higher

than that experienced in places like Bordeaux and Burgundy.

“In Marlborough we have 7mm of evapotranspiration on a nor-west day, whereas in places like Burgundy or Bordeaux, they will only have 5mm. It is tougher climatically for us to dry farm.”

Dr Martin said the take home messages in an emergency drought situation are the following; Leaf area and then by extension crop load drives the vine’s water requirement Small vines with low leaf areas and low crops need far less water Reduce leaf area and the crop load if your vines are coming under water stress Encourage deeper rooting Avoid frequently rewetting the topsoil ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com Any queries, please contact Dr Martin at; damian.martin@ plantandfood.co.nz

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 59

DRY FARMING SUCCESS TESSA NICHOLSON

A

s mentioned in the previous story, dryland farming is not that easy for grape growers in New Zealand. But one company in Marlborough has had success, although it hasn’t been achieved overnight.

Fromm Winery began its conversion from irrigating to dry farming back in 1999. These days 60 percent of the vines are not irrigated, with some of the older blocks having not been irrigated since 2004. Water savings are calculated at 9.5 million litres a year.

(Irrigation lines are still present, even if they are not used.)

Fromm General Manager William Hoare says once they made the decision to move away from irrigating, it has been a 10-year process. Initially all the young vines planted are irrigated, to allow them to grow in balance and not be stressed.

“We aim for the square metres of leaf to be the same as the square metres of roots. So we get them up, get them strong and then we look at irrigating the vines in the same way as rain.”

That means gradually weaning the vines off daily irrigation, and watering only every two or three weeks - depending of course on the season - for about four to six hours.

“We irrigate in such a way that the vine’s roots have to work to go after the water. We even went to the extent of changing the times each day when the vines were irrigated – this way they don’t rely on their 10 am feed. We have dug holes two and a half metres deep and the roots down there are the

60 //

size of your fingers, big tap roots.”

It is not something you can decide to undertake tomorrow, not unless you want to stress the vines out he says.

“Vines are just like people - if you stress them out, they won’t work. A stressed vine makes really tannic and bitter wines. If you are looking at dry farming, you need old vines and you need to have grown them so the roots have travelled well down.”

William says when French soil scientist Claude Bourguigon visited the vineyard four years ago he made an interesting comment that made sense to the Fromm team.

“He said that with new world wines, where everyone irrigates, the roots don’t have to go looking for water, so they stay in a ball under the dripper. That means the vines make varietal wines, pretty wines, but they can be quite simple. Whereas if you dry farm you try and get the vine roots to go deep. Then the vine has to suck moisture from deep within the soil which makes the wines taste of that site. That helps make each of those wines special and that can be the difference between a really good wine and a great wine.”

While most varieties will benefit from dry farming, William believes you need to be careful with Sauvignon Blanc. “... because if you stress Sauvignon Blanc you end up with much more of the tropical, pineapple characteristics coming out.

They end up looking a bit more like Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon, rather than the typical Marlborough. You can get an incredibly concentrated

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

William Hoare.

aromatic, but it will be different.”

Fromm Winery has a strong organic approach when it comes to its vineyards. But that doesn’t mean it has abandoned science.

William says they now do more testing for nutrient and moisture levels than they did prior to stopping the irrigation. And thanks to a steady compost and mulch regime, the nutrient levels along with moisture levels have been almost perfect according to tests taken.

Perhaps the biggest test was this recent season, which was an extremely dry one. While the older vines coped well, the younger vines, which are still being irrigated, didn’t fare as well.

“We have six-year-old Riesling in front of the winery, which we have been irrigating. But this year it got stressed, the base leaves went yellow, and we had issues with potassium and pH levels, which for a winemaker becomes

a hassle. While this didn’t affect the finished wine, it’s a hassle for the winemaker to manage through the winemaking process. The vines we hadn’t irrigated though were

ditions like that.”

It makes perfect sense that vines, like most organisms, are lazy. They do only as much as they need to to survive. So if the water is

“What seemed to happen was we would irrigate those young vines, then they would dry out, so we would irrigate again. But the vines began to stress, because we couldn’t get the water levels quite right. ” totally fine. The root systems were big enough that they could get what they wanted, when they wanted it and the wines look really good.

“What seemed to happen was we would irrigate those young vines, then they would dry out, so we would irrigate again. But the vines began to stress, because we couldn’t get the water levels quite right. It is a guessing game in con-

being delivered on a daily basis, the roots will stay close to the surface, getting everything they need without having to dig deeper. Gradually remove that source of water and they will have to work for what they require, in the end creating a stronger, more balanced vine. That balance is something William says is apparent in dry farmed vines, when it comes to canopies.

“We only trim them once,

NOW READ IT ONLINE

maybe twice a year and they have that nice balance where the growing tips are healthy but you are not dealing with big canopies.

Leaf plucking is easier, trimming is easier and the actual canopy is easier because it is not being pumped up artificially.”

In terms of advice, he says if you are considering moving towards dry farming, take a good look at your soil type, your root stock, what wine style you are trying to make and the age of your vines.

“If you have older vines, and by that I mean 10 years or older, it is a positive. I would get soil monitoring to measure the humidity in the soil. And then go slowly.

Don’t just randomly do it. It has taken us 15 years to get the vines to the stage where we don’t have to irrigate them. It cannot be done overnight.” ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 61

INDUSTRY NEWS

LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME FOR WOMEN

W

omen involved in the wine industry are being encouraged to connect with a national trust developing leadership, governance and business skills for women in all New Zealand primary industries.

Since it was formed in 2010, the Agri-Women’s Development Trust (AWDT) has delivered leadership, governance and business training and support to more than 1,200 people throughout New Zealand, in partnership with industry.

Despite the name ‘agri’, the trust’s programmes are open to women involved in all primary industries. Graduates come from the honey, horticulture, deer and goat industries along with many more from sheep, beef and dairy.

“Women have a thirst for new skills and a will to contribute to their industries and that is driving demand for personal and professional development,” AWDT founder and executive director Lindy Nelson said.

“In our first five years of working with women in primary industries we have validated the needs established in our initial research.

Women want to step up – but need the skills, development and support to do so. When they get these, they make an instant impact.”

More than 60 of AWDT’s graduates are from Escalator, the trust’s 10-month programme that develops the leadership, governance and business skills of 14 women nationally each year. The

62 //

programme equips women with the skills and support they need to successfully lead and govern in their sectors.

“We have not yet had any women from the wine industry on Escalator and would very much welcome their participation whether they are growers, winemakers or involved in governance or management,” Nelson said.

Escalator was created as a result of AWDT’s extensive research into the role of women in primary industries, and low participation rates at leadership and governance levels. The programme attracts women from grassroots farmers heavily involved in their businesses and communities to women in corporate roles. “This kind of mix has high value through knowledge exchange and widening of very diverse networks, then later on through involvement with a strong alumni group.”

Escalator includes five Wellington-based modules, individualised distance learning, coaching and mentoring supported by the trust and industry organisations.

Graduates leave the programme with the skill, passion and confidence required to take on new roles and with a clear vision of where to engage, their goals and an action plan. They join the AWDT’s active and significant support network that often includes a mentor.

Central to the success of AWDT programmes is the overriding principle of supported growth

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

WDT Escalator Alumni members Dawn Sangster of Central Otago and Helen Gilder of Southland catch up at the 2014 Escalator graduation in Wellington.

– a concept that Nelson says is the key to women’s increased participation in the primary sector.

The trust delivers three other core programmes throughout New Zealand and works with industry organisations to meet the specific needs of their members and staff through tailored workshops and programmes. These have involved both women and men for organisations such as the Beef + Lamb Farmer Council, the Deer Industry Association, Dairy Women’s Network and Rural Women NZ. “While the sectors are different we have found that needs of their women are much the same, which is consistent with our research and

experience.”

The trust has recently made its first formal connection with the wine industry with Yealands Family Wines supplying the wine for AWDT’s fifth birthday celebrations last month in Wellington.

“This generous support is exciting and we would like to build on it to connect with the wine industry and its women as we have done with other sectors,” Nelson said.

The next intake for the Escalator programme will be in the middle of next year, for the 2017 calendar year.

For more about AWDT and its programmes visit www.awdt.org.nz or email marama@awdt.org.nz ■

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AIR NZ UPDATE

EXPANDING PORTFOLIO TESSA NICHOLSON

W

inning a gold medal or a trophy at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards is no longer the only criteria for wines being served in Business Premier on future Air NZ flights.

The inflight wine list is about

to be extended in Business Premier and iconic wines along with winners will be included.

Earlier this year Air NZ moved to a single provider for Economy and Premium Economy classes, with Villa Maria winning the three-year contract. At the

Bruce Parton Air NZ’s Chief Operations officer.

64 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

time Bruce Parton the airline’s Chief Operations Officer said the single supplier was part of a multi pronged proposal to improve the wine service.

Now those proposals are about to fall into place, with a number of significant changes occurring over the next two months.

“Stage one was sorting out the somewhat messy and confusing situation surrounding economy class,” Parton says. “We have done that and basically from the money we have saved by having one provider means we can invest in other significant things.”

First up the airline employed two international judges, who with their knowledge of their own markets, can help identify specific palate requirements.

Fongyee Walker, well known in New Zealand wine circles, will bring her knowledge of the Chinese market to the judging table, while Linda Murphy from the US is keen to share her insights of the American market with the New Zealand wine industry. Both judges will join John Harre and John Belsham on the Business Premier selection panel.

On top of the judging role, both Murphy and Walker will tour the major wine regions to talk to producers. Parton says both have valuable experience when it comes to their home markets and they are keen to pass on advice to producers who are struggling to gain recognition in

either China or the US. They have already toured the country in July and will be back in October.

“Both (Fongyee and Murphy) are people who are flying our flag overseas in markets that are incredibly hard to penetrate.

What we want to do is get them both out amongst the wine community, with their insights and knowledge which we are sure will be of benefit to producers of all sizes.”

With the overseas judges sorted, Parton says the next step was to take a much closer look at what was happening in Business Premier. Feedback from the wine industry had flagged concerns about having to enter the Air NZ Wine Awards to be considered for inclusion. Given only about 50% of wineries enter their wines in shows, Parton says it was obvious a large number of wines were being excluded.

“We will look to try and pick up trophy and gold medal winning wines from the Air NZ Wine Awards. But we are also interested in other top end wines. We want to expand the type of wine we get and the breadth of it – and no longer exclude wines.”

Enter phase three – the choosing of wines that are not part of the awards line-up.

“Some of the feedback we received was along the lines of; ‘I could choose better wines than you do.’ Well we have listened to that and we have invited New Zealand’s 12 Masters of Wine to take part in our selection

process. We have asked each of them to name two iconic wines in each category, so each Master will provide us with two iconic savvies, two Chardonnays, two Pinots etc. We will then look to include those in a tasting. So this gives us a wider group of expertise and a wider group of wine to try.”

T h e a i r l i n e i s ke e n to promote the wine industry via inflight entertainment, but Parton agrees that for many companies there is a need for long term commitment before the marketing value adds up. So Air NZ is looking at “cutting” longer term deals with iconic producers, to ensure quality and volume stacks up.

“If we find an iconic wine and then say to the producers that we will look to buy a certain amount every year, it provides huge benefit to the winery. They

can use that information to under-pin investment. If linking with them up front for a period of time, and investing in their future allows them to invest in their product and increase crop

cheap Parton admits. He says up until October this year, the budget spent on wine on Air NZ flights has doubled. And that is likely to go up even further in the near future.

“If we find an iconic wine and then say to the producers that we will look to buy a certain amount every year, it provides huge benefit to the winery. They can use that information to under-pin investment.

If linking with them up front for a period of time, and investing in their future allows them to invest in their product and increase crop while maintaining quality, then it’s very good for everyone.”

while maintaining quality, then it’s very good for everyone.”

All these changes won’t come

“We are quite frankly moving into a phase where price is not the key driver of wine on board.

We want to be serving New Zealand’s most iconic wines in our Business Premier cabin and we are aware those wines cost a lot of money.”

Looking forward, he says the changes mean the best of the best, as suggested by 12 Masters of Wine and selected by the four internationally experienced judges, will be included on the airline’s wine list. “ I f y o u e n te r a n d a r e successful in the Air NZ Wine Awards, we will be talking to you. If you want to pitch your wines into our wine tastings in October, if they are good enough, we will be talking to you. And if you didn’t do either for whatever reason, but you are iconic, we will be wanting to talk to you as well.

“I think it is exciting times ahead.” ■ Tessa.nicholson@me.com

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 65

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YOUNG GUNS

Roots, Shoots & Fruits Soil Health, Plant Health, OUR Health

OUR VITICULTURAL YOUNG GUNS Four contestants took part in this year’s Bayer Young Viticulturist.

They are the subject of our Young Guns.

(Mike Winter from Central Otago was part of a Young Guns feature in 2014).

How long have you worked in Hawkes Bay? Five years What brought you to this region?

The offer of a job at Craggy Range Where have you travelled in wine to get here?

I haven’t done much wine specific travel yet, but I have travelled in Europe, North America and throughout Asia which has given me a great insight into the cultures and

66 //

customs of these places and I have utilised that experience in my various roles. I am certainly planning to go back to explore many of the world’s wine regions that are on offer though.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Being part of a team that uses the best possible information to assist us in making decisions that allow us to produce fantastic fruit and wine, I get immense satisfaction when I see that fruit I have been a part of crafting

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

region produces.

When you’re not making wine or growing grapes?

Right now I’m usually to be found renovating my house, but when I need a break from that I can often be found either at a café enjoying the Hawke’s Bay weather, or off in the outdoors.

It sucks when….

It rains on the weekend.

Your favourite wine?

Pretty hard to go past a Bordeaux Blend from the Gimblett Gravels.

Which wine region excites you most right now?

I’m really getting into the Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc from Martinborough.

Future aspirations?

Right now I’m focusing on growing my knowledge and skill base, ultimately I would see myself in a national viticulturist role, or leading a great wine CALEB DENNIS AGE: 27 company.

GROUP TECHNICAL Instagram @ OFFICER – CRAGGY CalebDennis87 R A N G E V I N E YA R D S – H A W K E ’ S B AY ■

during the season harvested and turned into fantastic wines I can share with friends.

What do you enjoy most about Hawke’s Bay? I really enjoy the lifestyle that is on offer here, there are a number of outdoor activities on your doorstep, as well as many more within a short drive, and if you’re in a more lazy mood there are plenty of great cafés and restaurants to go and spend a lazy Sunday afternoon enjoying some of the great wines the

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ducing some of the best wines and produce that can only be good for you. With a promising future for our wine industry I am excited to be living and working here, and I couldn’t think of a better place to raise my children.

When you’re not making wine or growing grapes?

I spend time with family and studying towards my Bachelor of Viticulture Degree. I am quite social so I spend a lot of down time with friends. It’s another reason to love the vineyard scene, meeting and talking to so many people from all over the world.

It sucks when….

You run outa gas on the other side of the vineyard, it’s a long walk of shame.

Your favourite wine?

I have a major thing for Hawke’s Bay Syrah at the moment. I cannot get enough of it and it’s some of the best wine coming out of this country, full stop.

Which wine region excites you most right now?

I can’t really single out a particular region. I think New Zealand as a whole is getting bigger and better every year as a serious contender of fine wine production globally, with signature wines from all our regions punching hard and making waves.

Future aspirations?

One day owning my own vineyard. It would become the place to raise my children and grandchildren. A slice of paradise for the future generations. ■

AGRECOVERY

How long have you worked in Martinborough?

For six years, two years firstly as a contract worker and was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to land a full time job at Craggy Range, starting as a general vineyard worker then moving into operations. Before vineyards I was in hospitality around the Wairarapa.

What brought you to Martinborough?

I originally lived in Wellington city until I was 10, then moved to the Wairarapa with my family.

It’s a fantastic region to grow up in if you enjoy the outdoors and making your own fun without the city amenities.

Where have you travelled in wine to get here?

Apart from visiting places throughout New Zealand, the Hawke’s Bay in particular, I haven’t travelled to any other regions of the world. Although I hope to change that soon!

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I love working outdoors and taking on the challenges of the weather in the Wairarapa, well known for wet and windy times but beautiful hot summer days.

I don’t think I could go back to working indoors. The challenge of producing the best possible grapes season to season in variable conditions is what I love most though.

What do you enjoy most about Martinborough?

The country living lifestyle, pro-

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Phone (09) 3729155 Email : rsf@rd2.co.nz Web: www.rd2.co.nz Available through all good Ag retail stores

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 67

Young Guns – brought to you by Roots, Shoots & Fruits

M AT T D U G G A N AGE 29 C L O U D Y B AY, A S S I S TA N T V I T I C U LT U R I S T.

How long have you worked in Marlborough?

Since Dec 2009 (minus 6 months in the UK).

What brought you to Marlborough?

A combination of the thriving wine industry and family.

Where have you travelled in wine to get here?

While I haven’t worked in any other region, I have travelled to all New Zealand wine regions, as well as some in Australia, France, Spain and the UK.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The fact that my philosophies and ambitions to grow the best possible fruit and produce the best possible wine, align perfectly with those of the company – we only have one tier, and it’s the top tier.

What do you enjoy most about Marlborough?

The accessibility of the outdoor pursuits that I love; fishing, diving, hunting, pretty much all sports. And the climate is pretty

good too (having grown up in Wellington, it’s exceptional!).

That’s before even mentioning the local cuisine and of course wine (the local beer is pretty good too).

When you’re not making wine or growing grapes?

As above… fishing, diving, hunting, pretty much all sports, socialising with friends and spending time with family.

It sucks when….

The Hurricanes get all the way to the final, look good, I mean really good to get a win this year – after 20 years of tormenting fans. Then through some miracle, you manage to get hold of the seemingly impossible, get FINALS tickets, pay through the roof for airfares to fly to Wellington, and theeeenn, they lose! (again).

Your favourite wine?

It’s difficult to pick a favourite without being biased, so I

am going to be: Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. I love how it provides me with a fantastic career, but also how it is just a cracking good wine! Nothing better than fresh Marlborough seafood paired with a chilled CB Sauvignon on a hot summer’s day!

Which wine region excites you most right now?

I am genuinely excited about a sub-region in Marlborough; the Southern Valleys. Pinot Noir in this area is really starting to come into its own, as vine age develops. I think that Pinot will continue to go from strength to strength in this area, and I am excited to see it all unfold.

Future aspirations?

Continue growing exceptional fruit to make exceptional wines, and above all maintain health and happiness in all aspects of life.

TWITTER@duggsonline ■

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ROCKBURN EXPANSION JOELLE THOMSON

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The new facility was most recently used as a contract winemaking factory for the company South Island Vintners, which no longer exists.

The facility has now been purchased by the owners of Rockburn,

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which will enable them to produce all of their wines under one roof and also provide future proofing for planned expansion.

“There is about three times’ the space there compared to what we have currently, so there is lots of space to grow, which we need,” says Rockburn winemaker Malcolm Rees-Francis, who was only able to process 300 of the 400+ tonnes that the winery produced this year. The grapes that he was unable to process, due to lack of

space, were fermented at VinPro. Rockburn began life as Hay’s Lake Wines. Its founder, Dunedin cardiothoracic surgeon, Dick Bunton, originally hired Rudi Bauer to make the wine.

It is now owned by Paul Halford and Chris James; Bunton retains a small shareholding in the winery and remains as its chairman.

Rees-Francis anticipates that the winery’s move will take place in time for the 2016 vintage, and

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that it will be staged in an ongoing process.

“It’s a big move; we’ll need trucks, forklifts and so on. We will have the barrels emptied before we move too, so that’s going to put a bit of pressure on because we won’t be emptying the barrels until February.”

The new facility is already set up as a working winery with Cromwell town water supply, drainage and refrigeration.

“If you were going to build a winery from scratch, it would be harder than it used to be because we are all so much more aware of the environmental repercussions of construction these days.

“Consent processes are much harder to obtain than they used to be, so it’s great to have found a facility such as this one.” ■ joellethomson@vodafone.co.nz

70 //

AUSSIE CONNECTION DOUBLES ROCKBURN RIESLING How many New Zealand wineries are able to double their Riesling production?

It’s a rare announcement to make, but one which winemaker Rees-Francis is thrilled to talk about now that the winery has a new Australian distributor.

“Our new Australian distributor is supplying people who are very keen on our Tigermoth Riesling and this year we’ve been getting so many listings of this wine in Australia that we will have to expand the amount that we are making, whereas we still can’t sell it in New Zealand,” he says.

Annual production of Rockburn Tigermoth Riesling has been capped at 250 cases up until now, but he now plans to

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

add another 100 cases annually, which he expects to be able to do with relative ease.

“We are able to move up to that scale for 2016 and still maintain the style and quality of the wine because we have the fruit available to us.”

The Rockburn Tigermoth Riesling is made in a spatlese style, in terms of concentration of flavour, a medium sweet taste (in keeping with the majority of traditional German spatlese styles of riesling) and also at a relatively low alcohol level between 8.4% and 9%, depending on vintage.

“I researched spatlese statistics carefully before describing the style of our wine that way,” says Rees-Francis.

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MARKETING NEWS

RUGBY AND WINE TESSA NICHOLSON

F

our years ago New Zealand was wrapped up in World Cup Rugby fever. This year it is the turn for the UK to play host to fans of the oval ball.

But New Zealand wine is going to be there also.

On October 17 and 18 Cardiff will host two quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup. Renowned for its Millennium Stadium, Cardiff is expected to attract 100,000 plus people. We can but hope that the All Blacks will be there as well, playing not watching.

What better opportunity for New Zealand wine to be showcased? With the support of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, NZ

Winegrowers, Riedel and Roger Jones from The Harrow at Little Bedwym, two major events are planned.

One will be a walk around tasting for 150 people, the other a Gala Dinner prepared by Michelin Star Chef Roger Jones and hosted by some of New Zealand’s finest winemakers.

The walk around tasting will include close to 100 New Zealand wines, celebrating the diversity of the regions. There will also be a variety of 30-minute master classes held with various topics and speakers including Steve Farquharson from Central Otago who will provide a regional overview,

while Melanie Brown from The New Zealand Cellar will host a prestige wine tasting. Roger Jones will also be the host of the ultimate Sauvignon Blanc Tasting.

The Gala Dinner, which is already almost sold out will cater for 100 people and include seven courses matched with seven wines.

Roger says this is “a unique opportunity to have an intimate dinner with one of New Zealand’s finest winemakers.”

Showcasing the varietal depth, means Sparkling and Aromatics will be served with the first two courses. Roger says the Sparkling wines will be matched to dishes

made from Exmoor Caviar including Caviar infused Macaroons with fresh crabmeat. Aromatics, including Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris will be matched to dishes influenced by Foie Gras.

He is keeping quiet about the other five courses at this stage.

Roger who was in New Zealand late last year has been a strong supporter of our wines and sees both events as a way of passing his enthusiasm on to others.

Meanwhile back in London, the Penthouse in New Zealand House will be specially decked out for the duration of the tournament and used for many prestigious events to promote New Zealand and cre-

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ate Business Links within Europe. (see https://www.nzte.govt.nz/en/ the-advantage-line for more info) Central Otago Pinot Noir will be hosting a Trade and Press Tasting on Tuesday October 20, while New Zealand Winegrowers Annual New Release Tasting will also be taking place on Wednesday October 28. This is the week leading up to the Rugby World Cup Final so lets hope that New Zealand is in it as there will be sure to be a buzz around town! ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

Michelin star chef Roger Jones will be preparing the seven course Gala Dinner, to match New Zealand wines.

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EVENT NEWS

SAUVIGNON BLANC CELEBRATION 2016 Once again we talk to a couple of the guest speakers who will be attending the International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration 2016.

DAENNA VAN MULLIGEN

T

he publisher of two websites; WineDiva.ca (since 2004) and WineScores. ca (since 2008) Daenna has been a contributor to TASTE Magazine and Canada’s national Vines Magazine for roughly eight years. She has a segment on the Tasting Room Radio Show in Vancouver. Having visited every major winemaking region in the world as a journalist, she is also an international wine judge and speaker and an accredited sommelier.

Sauvignon Blanc – often not listed among the great “noble” wines of the world. Why do you think that is?

I’m not sure. I’ve always considered it a noble grape variety therefore a noble grape should make a noble wine. It’s silly any-

way. A wine’s popularity should not be based upon whether it’s noble. I think that’s an outdated concept.

Where does Sauvignon Blanc sits in your part of the world?

Sauvignon Blanc and New Zealand wines in general are very popular in Vancouver/British Columbia. I think it’s due to the fact that we have very similar climates and cuisines. Being a coastal province (rainforest) we are very green and have a good respect of nature. We eat a lot of seafood and are very concerned with environment, sustainability and overall wellbeing for each individual.

We are a healthy province – the healthiest in Canada.

What are your thoughts about the

upcoming Sauvignon Blanc 2016 Celebration?

I’m eager to see what the future of Sauvignon Blanc is. What producers are doing and what they are working on to ensure the popularity of Sauvignon Blanc continues.

It’s been five years since I was last in New Zealand so I anticipate I will have seen some very positive changes. Additionally, I look forward to meeting some of the other guest speakers who will be traveling to the conference and I understand I have agreed to play in a touch rugby match. By the way, I’ve never played, or actually seen a live game, so it should be hilarious to watch. I guess I should invest in a rule book…

What are you hoping to take away

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with you from this event?

A greater understanding of the future of the variety, what winemakers are doing in the vineyards and in the winery. Additionally, how my fellow speakers view Sauvignon Blanc and how they see it in their own regions now and in the future.

How important is it for the variety to be the subject of such a celebration? And for this to be held in New Zealand?

Well, despite the roots of Sauvignon Blanc being linked more to the Loire, Marlborough is really

the one who put it on the map – as far as the average wine lover/consumer. Those are the people who spend the most money because they are the vast majority. Marlborough took the snobbery and the mystery out of Sauvignon Blanc.

What are you most looking forward to, as a guest?

The camaraderie of an event like this is inspiring. Sharing ideas and meeting people who make the wine world a more interesting place, everyday, is pretty awesome. ■

Some may speak of range.

Others of quality.

All speak of

DAVID GLEAVE

T

he managing director of Liberty Wines, an importer and distributor of wines based in London. The company import wines from about 275 producers in 17 countries and sell to over 2,000 customers throughout the UK. Sauvignon Blanc – often not listed among the great “noble” wines of the world. Why do you think that is?

The prevailing style of Sauvignon Blanc – unoaked and to be drunk young – does not chime with our perception of nobility. More work needs to be done on promoting its diversity of style and sensitivity to site.

Where does Sauvignon Blanc sits in your part of the world?

It is hugely popular, whether from France, Chile or New Zealand.

What are your thoughts about the upcoming Sauvignon Blanc 2016 Celebration?

I’m looking forward to it as it will provide an opportunity to focus on a variety too many of us just take for granted.

What are you hoping to take away with you from this event?

A renewed focus on the variety.

How important is it for the variety to be the subject of such a celebration?

And for this to be held in NZ? I think it is very important. New Zealand has defined the style of modern Sauvignon Blanc, so it is only just that the celebration be held there. However, New Zealand has also dominated the style, so it will be fitting if this celebration opens the door to other examples of the variety.

What are you most looking forward to, as a guest?

As always in the wine industry, meeting other people from around the world and tasting lots of great wine! ■ For the latest news on ISBC, see page 91.

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 75

WINEMAKING NEWS

MARRIS MAKES NEW MARISCO WINES JOELLE THOMSON

H

ow can a winemaker with decades’ of experience find a new way to express Marlborough at its best?

This is the question that Brent Marris asked himself when planning his new Marisco Craft Series wines, which were released in September this year.

The first official outing of the first trio of Craft Series wines was in December 2014. Marris showed them to Lisa Perotti-Brown from the Wine Advocate, who rated the new 2011 Marisco Craft Series Sauvignon Blanc a 92 out of 100; along with Kevin Judd’s Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc.

“That is the highest rating ever for Sauvignon Blanc in The Wine Advocate,” says Marris.

The Craft Series project dates back to 2011. That vintage delivered Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier grapes, which Marris describes as excellent and, despite the fact these wines have only just been released – at four years of age – they both remain pale lemon in colour with clean, bright, fresh aromas and flavours.

The third wine of the new trio is a Pinot Noir and a Craft Series Chardonnay has yet to be released; it is currently maturing in barrel.

What was his aim in branding

76 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

these new wines ‘Craft’?

“When you think about the truly great wines of the world, we don’t necessarily talk about the grape variety that they are made from as much as we talk about the balance, flavour and texture of the wine itself,” says Marris.

“This new

range is our way of taking our wines to the next level and we also hope and plan to highlight the potential of some other varieties in the future too,” Marris says.

Production is relatively small; approximately 150 to 200 dozen of each wine. There are no plans to increase these numbers and the wines will not be made every year. This eliminates any pressure to compromise on quality during tricky seasons.

The new Craft Series wines are single varietals, but they are not made to highlight fruit forward styles. Instead, the focus is on minimal intervention from vine to glass and, Marris says, about

highlighting beauty and balance.

“Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is usually a fruit forward, grassy and herbaceous white, but for the Craft Series we are aiming to make a beautifully balanced white wine, which happens to be Sauvignon Blanc rather than trying to put its fruitiest flavour foot forward,” he says, of his philosophy behind the new Craft Series wines.

“We want to give each wine a clear identity with the label, hence different brand names for the wines, so each wine has a different team member’s name and details.” ■ joellethomson@vodafone.co.nz

BOARD PROFILE

MEET YOUR BOARD Paul Dunleavy I represent Category 1 (Small) Winemakers.

I

was introduced to the wine industry through school and university holiday jobs at Montana Wines. When my father started The Wine Institute, he brought many overseas experts to evaluate our country’s

potential and share their knowledge. Often they would stay in the nearby Mon Desire Hotel and my mother would send me to keep them company over breakfast where I learned much about the global world of wine.

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I studied law, maths and computing at university and while there undertook the first ever analysis of production and sales data from The Wine Institute’s founding members. I presented this as a profile of the emerging preferences of our typical wine drinker which back in 1971 showed a clear trend away from sherry and port to still table wine and within that a strong move from red to white.

After graduating from Law school I worked in finance and banking including creating financial products enabling wine companies to take advantage of Rob Muldoon’s Industry Development incentives to fund winery infrastructure.

In 1984 I returned to the Hawke’s Bay where I grew up.

There I helped finance conversion to grapes and was mentored by my father’s good friend Tom

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McDonald. Tom inspired me to make wine and in April 1987 I purchased bare land on Waiheke, that with the help of my brother John, was developed into the Te Motu Vineyard.

Despite my predictions of a market preference for white wine, passion ruled my early moves and we planted for a Cabernet/s driven Bordeaux style Claret. Of course, like many others, I was going to make the world’s best wine. We made some good wines but the business was financially challenging which is the case for many small producers and during recent years much bigger companies as well.

At 50, I retired from banking to focus entirely on wine. It was 2006 just before the double hit of the GFC and surplus supply.

Our industry changed radically.

However I could see recovery and growth. I became a Marlborough

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grower and have added a passion for sustainable stewardship of land to my passion for wine.

I see myself as both a grapegrower and a winemaker but in quite distinct roles. Making wine on Waiheke is very different to growing grapes for supply in Marlborough.

My father Terry inspired me to stand for the board. Although our industry is very collegial, I, like many others, was an Island, doing my own thing in my way. I have been privileged to meet and learn from many champions of our industry.

Whatever the issue facing me, Terry could always point me in the direction of an expert willing to help. Terry is big on knowledge sharing, continuous improvement and the need for individuals to give back. It is my turn to give back.

I am on the Finance committee where I have advocated reductions in both levy and reserves. I believe we should only levy as required for an agreed and budgeted level of services and not carry excess reserves. I support increased research expenditure.

I chair a new board “Working Group” which is investigating whether changes can be made to our regulatory framework to protect the reputation of New Zealand wine.

Essentially we want to ensure that wine labelled as New Zealand Wine is made entirely from New Zealand grown grapes that are fit for the purpose of making good quality wine. I believe we can make progress here by formalising Geographic Indications (GIs) and limiting sugar additions to a 1.5% lift in alcohol by volume.

I would like to be on the Advocacy and Research Committees, as I believe this is where I can most benefit members.

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is now a must on the world’s wine list. This I believe is our greatest single achievement to date. It also

gives rise to our greatest threats being: brand erosion through both low value and low quality, commoditisation through oversupply and huge reliance on one variety.

We have seen the market savage Australian Shiraz. Let’s not follow.

I do not see how we can control growth so we must focus on maintaining the quality and integrity of our wines.

The growth of parasitic and pathogenic organisms hosted in our rapidly growing vineyard plantings is a major threat.

Consider how Phylloxera ravaged Europe in the past and more recently how Esca has drastically reduced yields in France and is moving across Europe and is now in California.

These organisms do travel and we need to be prepared.

Emergence of the sexual stage of powdery is a local example and highlighted deficiencies in our spray programs. In this respect we must lift our game.

There are many other biosecurity risks that could have devastating impact such as the brown marmorated stink bug or the glassy-winged sharpshooter and we need operational agreements in place with MPI and other crop growers so we can act with urgency and efficiency if needed.

Looking to the future I see huge potential for our wines. Globally ethnic and cultural veils are being lifted and unsurprisingly people are more similar than different.

They want the same things, including wine.

Wine is an expression of land, soils and seasons; of varieties and styles; and of people and their passion. New Zealand’s story is as diverse as our cultural make up and wine making regions. Our future looks good but we need to protect the foundations of our reputation – vine health and wine integrity. This I see as the prime focus for New Zealand Winegrowers. ■

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 79

REGIONS CENTRAL OTAGO

Antony Worch

THE HIRED GUN MARK ORTON

E

nsconced in an annex next to an unruly shed of tanks and barrels in Alexandra, it doesn’t look much like French winemaker Antony Worch is living the dream. But I suggest you don’t tell him that.

Having moved nearly as far in the world as it’s possible to go from Alsace and his beloved Riesling, Worch can’t stop smiling about the way his career is panning out, and the faith put in him by a small group of Alexandra vineyards. He is now the winemakermanager at Alexandra Vintners.

To understand a little bit about what drives him, its handy to know a little bit of Worch’s backstory and how he found his way to Alexandra. After finishing his Masters in winemaking and viticulture in 2005, Worch and his partner Marion Vialade picked up a map and decided to complete a vintage abroad.

80 //

“If you look at the options on places we could go in the Southern Hemisphere, you have South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. I don’t speak Spanish and where we are from its closer to German-Nordic type of culture rather than a Mediterranean one, so South America wasn’t my first choice.”

Tempted by images of New Zealand, they decided to give it a go. But as they had little information about our wine and where to base themselves, they decided to check with some other graduates who had already completed vintages here.

“Back then the only information we could find tended to start and finish with Marlborough and Sauvignon Blanc,” says Worch.

After doing some more investigation and hearing about Central Otago, Worch figured that if nothing else, the area offered a

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

climate that the couple were keen on, along with varieties they were familiar with.

Arriving in time for the 2005 harvest, Worch landed a job at Peregrine and Marion at William Hill in Alexandra. It was here the couple’s fate was marked.

During 2006 the existing winemaker at William Hill had to resign due to US commitments and there was no winemaker on board for 2007.

“We didn’t have that much experience, but the departing winemaker offered to put in a good word for us with the owners. This was a great opportunity and we had to make a decision, but we didn’t think very long about it.”

The role at William Hill was great preparation for the couple’s current work. With a fair percentage of contract winemaking processed through the winery, the work meant that they wouldn’t be

just working with Alexandra fruit.

But even as they were starting to get to grips with the sub-region variables, storm clouds were brewing. In June of 2009 William Hill went into receivership.

“Some of the clients who had been working with William Hill came to me and said ‘What is going to happen to us’? “ To be honest,” says Worch, “I wasn’t even sure what receivership meant”.

The Alexandra basin is populated by smaller players in the industry, family vineyards that often struggle for recognition within the wider Central Otago region. For many vineyards in the district, their wine was made at William Hill, but when the receivers took over that arrangement was suddenly blown apart.

Making a bold decision to try and keep their grapes close to home, four Alexandra based

wineries (Aravin, Drumsara, Greylands Ridge, Perseverance) banded together to form Alexandra Vintners. Having formed a relationship where the clients were very happy with the way Antony and Marion were making their wine, a deal was struck with the receivers so that the 2010 vintage could still take place at the William Hill winery.

But as they were on borrowed time, long-term decisions had to be made fast.

“Marion and I were 30, we had spent the last five years travelling back and forward to France between vintages, and we wanted to settle a bit more. So, it was really fortunate that those vineyards decided to go it alone with us.”

Thus, Alexandra Vintners was born, and after finding a vacant shed in an industrial complex, plans for the 2011 vintage started to take place. Antony actually talks

about the process being pretty straight forward, but after chatting for a bit you soon appreciate there was a little more to it.

“We came back in January 2011 and we had about two months to finish last year’s wine and be ready for harvest.

“There was a lot of excitement and quite a bit of fear as it was just a shed to start with. We actually had help from the people around us, certainly to take care of the business side of things, but being young I guess it was okay to be a little bit crazy.”

After the initial teething process, there was a fair amount of curiosity from other vineyards in the region keen to see how they performed. Even though some saw it as a gamble to trust their grapes to the new facility, the reality was quite different.

After successfully processing 110 tonnes that first year, momen-

tum at the newly established facility kicked up a gear in 2012. With three new clients and some contract grapes, production increased to 170 tonnes. In 2013 they reached 200 tonnes and in 2014 it topped out at 250 tonnes. For 2015, production was pegged back to 220 tonnes.

“That is a bit of sweet spot for us”, says Worch, “it still allows me some time to spend outside in the vineyards.”

Having been here for 10 years now and well and truly part of the fabric of the Central Otago winemaking community, Worch has an interesting perspective when it comes to the evolution of wine in that time.

“When we first came to the region everyone was trying to construct their Pinots, extract more and make them as big as possible, it was all about getting on the map and making a statement,” he says.

“But you know what… and I don’t want to offend anyone here, but if you go to the supermarket and get a $12 Shiraz from South Australia, you’ll get the tannins and purple tongue for much greater value.

“Fortunately, I think we are no longer trying to achieve that particular style, we know we have great grapes and I am noticing that people are more confident in what they have and they are able to pull back a little bit and let the fruit express itself.”

Throughout the year, Antony is employed full-time by the facility while Marion works as a printmaker and looks after their three-year-old son.

The team swells to seven during vintage, but the long-term goal is not to boost the volume or size of production from where they have it now. ■ seeingredmedia@yahoo.co

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 81

REGIONS CENTRAL OTAGO

DOWN TO EARTH MARK ORTON

E

ver fancied an opportunity to taste Pinot Noir straight from the barrel, listen to live jazz, take a walk through historic gold sluicing’s, take a ride in a chopper and have dinner with a winemaker, all in the same day? Well it’s eminently possible. What’s more, for the inaugural Down to Earth wine celebration in Central Otago, that is just the tip of the iceberg.

As the brainchild of Central Otago tourism, Down to Earth has set its sights firmly on the global wine experience. Harnessing initiatives tried successfully overseas to showcase regional characteristics, the event hopes to capitalise on the ease with which visitors from the East Coast of Australia

82 //

and the North Island can access Central Otago via Queenstown airport.

While a Central Otago wine trail might be well known amongst local wine devotees, the goal with this initiative according to event coordinator Bruce McGechan from destination Queenstown is to create yet another reason for tourists to visit Central Otago.

“We looked at our major markets being the East Coast of Australia and Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and saw that there really is quite strong wine tourism competition in each of those major centers. For instance, people from Sydney have great choices in The Hunter Valley and likewise with Melbourne

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

and the Yarra and Auckland with Waiheke Island, Wellington with the Wairarapa and Christchurch with Waipara. Based off that, we decided that we needed to do something just a little different.

“We looked at wine enthusiasts, by that we mean not just people who drink wine as another beverage, people who are really wanting to extend their knowledge of wine and realised through some research that these people want to be more hands on.”

With an idea to promote an experience that would get wine enthusiasts up close and personal with those at the coalface of wine production in the region, Down to Earth was born. But rather than dictate the type of events that

might be included in the program, the idea was to throw the concept open so that the vineyards themselves could showcase their own unique experience.

“Rather than just hosting a tasting, which is obviously in and of itself an important component of wine tourism, we wanted to offer something more,” says McGechan.

“We used research that looked at what wine tourism activities were more successful than just doing a wine tasting, and we looked for examples from some of the most competitive markets overseas. Napa was one as they had done something similar which formed the basis of the idea.”

It’s all very well having the

enthusiasm for an event such as this driven by the marketing arm of a tourism initiative, but what if the vineyards themselves didn’t believe in it?

“I assumed their reception would be good and fortunately it has turned out way better than expected, to the extent that we have got more than 30 wine growers, depending on how you count them…perhaps even double that number, and when you look at the events, golly there are some creative ideas,” says McGechan.

Utilising social media, on-line advertising and the marketing networks of the wineries themselves, it’s hoped that along with the undisputed pulling power of Queenstown, ‘Down to Earth’ will be simply another reason to entice visitors seeking something ‘slightly less’ adrenaline fuelled but no less invigorating.

“We refer to these as experien-

t ou

H

r

ou

U PL

tial events,” says McGechan, “for instance there is a group called the artisan winegrowers of Central Otago, and they are doing a geology, soils and terroir tour of the Cromwell basin.

“You can also get down and dirty with Nigel Greening at Felton Road who is lifting the lid on Biodynamics, indulge in a degustation dinner, learn how to prepare a banquet by cooking in wine barrel smokers or even take a helicopter tour over one or more of the various sub regions.

“We’re taking a crawl, walk, run approach to this initiative, as being an inaugural event it’s always going to be a little bit difficult getting that awareness. But, after this first one, and hopefully after people realise how fantastic the events are, then we really expect it to take off in the following years.” ■ seeingredmedia@yahoo.com

Photos: Mark Orton

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WINE AWARDS

JUDGES CONFIRMED T

wo highly respected international wine personalities will be joining this year’s Air New Zealand Wine Awards judging panel.

Australian based Mark Protheroe and Ronny Lau from China, will join the New Zealand judges in early November, to swirl, smell and sip the hundreds of local wines entered into the competition.

The Air New Zealand Wine Awards is one of the country’s most prestigious awards, owned

and organized by NZ Winegrowers. Entries opened in August and the judging will take place from November 2 until 4, in Auckland.

International judges play a vital role in the event, bringing their individual expertise to the awards. Chair of Judges, Michael Brajkovich MW says they also get a unique opportunity to discover the style of wine emanating from New Zealand.

“This is important for New Zealand wine makers and the

Mark Protheroe

Ronny Lau

industry as a whole.”

In terms of experience, Mark Protheroe has an impressive CV. Last year he was awarded Sommelier of the Year by The Age Good Food Guide and was one of three national finalists in the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Best Restaurants Guide. He is currently on the national executive for Sommeliers Australia and heads up the beverage operations for the Grossi group of restaurants in Melbourne.

Ronny Lau is an independent wine critic and has been the cochairman of the Shanghai Inter-

national Wine Challenge since 2011. He is a regular wine and spirits columnist for 10 different publications in Hong Kong, mainland China and Malaysia. He has also written six wine books and is the editor and author or two wine books for the Greater China Wine Critics Association.

While the judging will take place early November, wine makers will have to wait to find out if their wine has been awarded a trophy. The Air New Zealand Wine Awards dinner is being held in Nelson this year, on November 28. ■

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

REGIONS MARLBOROUGH

THE SCIENCE OF WINE – DAVE JORDAN TESSA NICHOLSON

G

rowing up in New Zealand’s fruit basket of Katikati, in the Bay of Plenty, it is no surprise Dr Dave Jordan (more commonly known as DJ) found his career niche in the world of horticultural science.

The son of sheep and cattle farmers, Jordan has gone on to become an integral part of the New Zealand wine research team.

Given his background he might have been tempted to head into the agricultural field – but that wasn’t to be.

“I was very keen on outdoor activities” Jordan says, “so I loved horticulture. It also had enough layers of interest. Even though it was manual tasks I was doing as holiday jobs, there was also intellectual stimulus. I worked a couple of seasons with a strawberry grower, who had been the chairman of the Berryfruit Growers and another guy who had chaired the Vegetable Growers Association.

These guys were my bosses and they showed me the opportunities within horticulture that could be

on offer to a young person.”

The fact that dairy, cattle and sheep farming were struggling at the time, while horticulture was booming, was another deciding factor when Jordan decided to undertake a Bachelor of Horticulture Science.

“I could see that there were job opportunities and it gave all this diversity that you could follow as a career – a whole range of opportunities. And it has translated to be that.”

Following in his father’s foot-

steps, Jordan headed to Lincoln University where he completed his degree with First Class Honours. But grapes weren’t on his horizon at that stage. Having said that, he had a smattering of wine knowledge, given one of his lecturers was David Jackson, who had written one of the very first New Zealand wine production books, with Danny Schuster.

“So we got a small slice of viticulture and what it was like to work in the wine industry. But it was only part of a broader spec-

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 85

trum of horticultural crops.”

Jordan hadn’t been wrong in his early assessment that horticulture offered opportunities.

On completing his degree, he had three serious job offers on the table that he had to choose between.

The one he finally decided on was based at Ruakura with MAF Research, where he worked alongside renowned viticulturist Richard Smart. Jordan’s job entailed research into table grapes, while Richard was focused on wine grapes. But at times the research overlapped – as was the case when Richard wrote the book Sunshine Into Wine.

“I edited the book, I went through every word of his hand written draft. There were no word processors in those days and his writing wasn’t the easiest to follow.”

But the task at hand gave him an insight into the world of wine grapes.

After two years of working alongside Richard, Jordan headed to Oregon where he did his PhD at Oregon State University. Oregon at this time was a fledging wine industry focusing on cool climate varieties. It was a vibrant industry with many pioneers making their mark.

“I was starting to focus on grapevines at this stage and I wanted to learn more about bunch stem necrosis that affects fruit set.

I studied the mechanism with my focus around the elevated levels of nitrogen or nitrogen compounds in the bunch and discovered if you had spikes of these compounds you had a poor fruit set and increased bunch stem necrosis.”

By the time his PhD was complete, Richard Smart had decided to move back to Australia and Jordan took over his job at Ruakura. But times were becoming tough within the world of research. Funding was being cut and jobs were going by the wayside. He could see some

86 //

The son of sheep and cattle farmers, Dave Jordan has gone on to become an integral part of the New Zealand wine research team.

difficult years ahead for scientists, particularly those with applied research programmes, and that was confirmed when in his words, “under my watch Te Kauwhata Viticulture Research Station was closed down. It wasn’t a fun time”.

“I had been trying to align the (research) programme with Marlborough as I could see that was where the future of the industry lay. This was 21 years ago – the writing was on the wall and Marlborough was it. I wanted to get the research embedded within the future of the industry.”

With times being so tough in terms of research funding, Jordan began

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

losing his enthusiasm for the job and in 1994 he decided it was time to make a move.

“So I set up Vine to Wine, my consulting business.”

He was one of the very early practitioners in this field, mostly due to the fact the wine industry was still finding its own feet and relatively small. This was also the year that he wrote a report that would be acted on by the industry and would morph into what is now known and recognised as Sustainability Winegrowing New Zealand.

NZW had contracted Jordan to look at other sustainability programmes throughout the world.

As part of that process, and based on an earlier visit to Switzerland, he examined the Wadenswil programme, and recommended that with suitable amendment a similar programme would provide an appropriate sustainability framework for New Zealand.

A pilot programme was launched in 1995 initially with five vineyards. Following that trial, and it being rolled out to all regions for two years, in 1998 The Integrated Winegrape Production (IWP) programme went ‘live’ with 120 participating vineyards and the first technical workshops were held. It is a project that Jordan is

understandably proud of.

“I ran the front end of that scheme working with producers to field test the progamme and worked alongside NZW or the Wine Institute as it was back then to get it up and running. The whole structure we now have is based on that original report I made back in 1994.”

With consulting to the indus-

Wines programme.

Looking forward, having lived through the advent of phylloxera and mealy bug outbreaks, being the first to document the spread of the leafroll virus and goodness knows what other threats vines are constantly under – Jordan feels there are two challenges facing the wine industry.

One is vineyard longevity.

“It’s seeing the start-ups, the companies that are working under the radar but have had phenomenal success.

Some of these projects have been 15 years in the making.” try body a minor part of his professional work, Jordan was also helping newbies to the industry establish themselves. Given he has been a consultant for 21 years, it is an indication of the regard he is held in, that many of those first clients are still clients today in 2015.

Over the years, he has consulted to all the major international wine companies, has worked with small boutique family run wineries, has assisted growers and helped develop business strategies for many of them. It is a satisfying career.

“It’s seeing the start-ups, the companies that are working under the radar but have had phenomenal success. I have been with them from the time they were assessing the property, to helping lay out the vineyard and now how they manage the vines and take them through to the future.

Some of these projects have been 15 years in the making.”

But he has never forgotten his research background. He is heavily involved with the industry body and is a regular speaker at seminars and forums. Currently he has taken on the Programme Manager’s role for the Lifestyle

“It has been a hot topic for me for some time, but we have a long way to go. It is great to see the investment the industry is putting into continuing to improve our understanding in that space.

Because if we can get another five years out of a Sauvignon Blanc vine, then it is worth a lot of money to the industry.”

The other challenge he feels we are facing is how to continue to keep New Zealand wine fresh in the eyes of our world-wide consumers.

“How do we say (to our consumers) that we are still new and vital so keep with us, rather than move to the next more exciting opportunity?

“That is why I am so passionate about the Lifestyle Wines programme – it shows we are continuing to evolve. It shows our distributors and retailers that have been loyal to us, that we are moving forward to keep their business moving forward. It is a unique opportunity to define a new wine category on the world wine stage and for New Zealand to command premium positioning within this category” ■ tessa.nicholson@me.com

A focus on quality.

Our quality commitment runs very deep. We mentor our people and we monitor our procedures, and the result is a host of awards that testify to the very high standards we attain – with equipment positioning; on-time arrivals; documentations speed and accuracy; workplace safety; environmental responsibility, and more.

Quality – we get it. And that means you will, too.

For hands-on help from our local experts: Outbound: (0508) 222 444

Inbound: (0508) 333 666

www.hamburgsud-line.com

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 87

WINERY NEWS

KOSHER WINES NEIL HODGSON

I

t was 1990 when Phil and Sheryl Jones established Spencer Hill Estate in the heart of the premium Moutere Hills sub-region of Nelson.

They bought a stunning piece of land and went about making a range of Chardonnays, Oak Aged Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir.

The first wine they made from young vines was released under the brand of Tasman Bay in 1995 with the Spencer Hill brand retained for the more complex wines to come, as the vines got older. This first Chardonnay (1994 vintage) won the Champion Chardonn ay a n d

varieties would work best on their site and the style of wines they wanted to produce.

Over the years as the business evolved and grew into export markets they saw an opportunity to create a range of wines that targeted residents of Phil’s home country, America. More specifically they saw an opportunity to

Champion White Wine trophies and was named as the Reserve Wine of Show at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards in 1995.

Current General Manager, Matt Rutherford, started working for Spencer Hill Estate on day one, initially helping establish the vineyards. With Phil and Sheryl he planned the development of the business, including deciding what

Rabbi Yossel Serebryanski discusses processes with winery staff member Martin Howard.

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

produce kosher wines for the large Jewish community.

The move to producing kosher wines started in 2005. Having approached the world’s largest kosher wine distributor, Royal Wine Corporation in New York, Phil was told they would take a kosher wine from Spencer Hill if it was good wine as well as being

kosher. However they added that they doubted both of those requirements could be achieved.

The journey of learning had begun, the rules around producing any kosher product are strict and for a non-Jewish winemaker there were plenty of logistical challenges for Matt to manage.

To put these challenges in

perspective it is worth considering what kosher means. KOF-K Kosher Supervision, one of the foremost kosher certification agencies in the United States says “‘Kosher’ is a Hebrew word that literally means ‘fit’ or ‘proper’.

When used in relation to food products, ‘kosher’ means that the item in question meets the dietary requirements of Jewish law.

“The principles governing what is kosher and what is not, are rooted in the Written Torah (the Bible) and the Oral Torah. These laws have been observed

by Jews for over 3,000 years. Over the centuries, the Rabbis have explained, detailed and organized these Divine laws, applying them to ever-changing situations and developing

technologies. The laws relating to kosher foods are intricate and detailed, and it takes years to master the subject in depth.”

Matt says “the rules for making a kosher product, in our case wine, start when the intent is expressed.

So if you decide the quality of a particular parcel of fruit is good enough to be turned into a kosher wine, when the fruit is delivered to the winery then the kosher system kicks in. From the first act of starting the winemaking process, kosher systems and requirements must be strictly observed.”

At this point only a Sabbath observant Jew can touch the wine, handle the equipment, move a hose with wine in it or have any contact with the wine. Non-Sabbath-observant people can’t touch anything. Only when juice or wine has been made as a mevushal wine (flash pasteurised) is a non-Jew allowed to handle it.

Flash Pasteurisation doesn’t harm the wine and some wineries are running trials with this for non-kosher reasons – flavour enhancement, stabilization - and it can help with aroma profile enhancement.

No matter how the wine is made, the process still has to be observed by a Sabbath observant Jew. “Tanks still need to be sealed with kosher seals so no one can touch the wine,” Matt says. “We can’t use many things - no gelatine or milk product for example - so we need to be very careful at the front end of winemaking to make sure we don’t need to use something later in the process. There are so many things we can’t use and that is a key reason we only make kosher wines with exceptional fruit.

“Wine is the most complicated kosher product made because of

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 89

the religious significance of it. It is used at Passover and other religiously important occasions by the Jewish community.”

All ingredients used in the winemaking process must be kosher certified (yeast for example) and many of these are not commonly available in New Zealand. Spencer Hill have to direct import the majority of their kosher supplies.

Another important part of producing kosher wine is that the process has to be overseen by Rabbis Mashgich (supervisor) of an acceptable level to the certifying agency. As there are periods in the year when no Rabbi are available in New Zealand they need to fly one in from Sydney or US. (This normally occurs several times during the winemaking process).

Winemaker Jules Randall can deal with some white wines that are Mervushal wines but he has no access to red wines.

Winemakers can’t just take a sample from a barrel to check.

That can only be done by an appropriate Rabbi.

Matt says, ‘this goes back to being meticulous in everything we do because we simply can’t access the reds to taste and check them.

The barrels are sealed with tape and other seals which are signed multiple times by the Rabbi to ensure they aren’t disturbed.”

But the effort is paying off for Spencer Hill. Within their niche market they sell 8000 cases a year.

Now they are taking their expertise and taking it to the world.

Having purchased land and established vineyards in Washington State in 2007, Phil and Sheryl planted vineyards in Hood River, Colombia Gorge in Oregon and began making American kosher wines. Since 2010, all the wines produced at Hood River have been kosher.

Being able to make wines close to their key New York marketplace has been an important move for Spencer Hill. With Rabbis close by who can supervise and certify wines as kosher they save on some travel and freight costs.

But it does come at a personal cost. Matt, Phil and Sheryl make four or five trips a year to the US to oversee the vineyards and winemaking process.

As Matt says; “the process of making kosher wine isn’t for the faint hearted, it takes huge dedication over and above the work we do in making non-kosher wines.

But it is a valuable market for us and now we have developed a reputation for delivering a quality product our distributors don’t have any problems selling the kosher wine that we market as Goose Bay.” ■ neil@hodgson.net.nz

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90 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

SOIL AERATION SPECIALISTS Maitland RD5, Gore Ph/Fax: 03 207 1837 Mobile: 027 628 5695

EVENT NEWS

ADDING THE WOW FACTOR TESSA NICHOLSON

T

he International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration organisers are adding a wow factor to the threeday-event, with a one off Wearable Arts show. A number of outfits from previous year’s competitions will be part of a show that will be held during the Gala Dinner on the final night.

Patrick Materman, Chair of the organising committee says it is just another in the long list of events planned for the Celebration, and one that is likely to have guests

extremely excited.

“While the Wearable Arts are a New Zealand icon, there are many people who have never had the opportunity to see these remarkable designs. And for the large contingent of international guests, this will be the grand finale of what promises to be an incredible three days.”

He says the link between wine and the WOW show are quite strong.

“As winemakers we are constantly creating new expressions

of wine to enjoy. And WOW is much the same in their innovation of design. The two are a perfect match.”

The Sauvignon Blanc Celebration is living up to its international name, Materman says. Seven other countries besides New Zealand will be represented at the event.

Winemakers from South Africa, Australia, France, Chile, US, Austria and Italy will present their wines in an afternoon of international tasting. The list of guest speakers is as diverse as the

styles of wine, and includes some of the biggest names in the wine industry, including; Matt Kramer, Sam Harrop MW, Oz Clarke, Mike Bennie, Leslie Sbrocco and Julia Harding MW. “This is all about celebrating Sauvignon Blanc in its many forms, and from the many regions that produce it,” Materman says.

The International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration will be held in Marlborough from February 1 – 3.■

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 91

BOOK REVIEWS The Next Vintage – The Babich Family and 100 Years of New Zealand Wine Michael and Judith Bassett.

DAVID LING PUBLISHING LTD. RRP $49.99 REVIEWED BY TESSA NICHOLSON

G

iven the youth of the New Zealand wine industry, it is something of a major achievement that one company is getting set to celebrate its centenary next year. What is even more remarkable is that Babich Wines, established by Josip Babich back in 1916, is still family run and owned.

This book by long-time friends Michael and Judith Bassett tells the story of the past 100 years. Brilliantly researched and full of photos dating back to the early 1900s, it is a story not just of a remarkable family, but

also of the New Zealand wine industry as a whole. The ups and downs of being a winemaker in New Zealand show how tenacious the Babich family has been.

They have succeeded where many others have failed.

From very small beginnings in the gum digging far north, to vineyards spread throughout Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough, the Babich story is one of perseverance, conservative optimism, a never ending desire for quality and most of all family. From fortified wines to Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, the company has moved from a tiny block in

Henderson to owning more than 400 hectares of vines, with their wines exported to more than 40 countries.

While Josip began the company, it is now in the hands of his sons and grandson, with extended family playing a major role in many facets.

While this is an inspiring story of a family business, it is also a wonderful catalogue of New Zealand wine, where it has come from and the many hurdles it has undergone to become a $1.43 billion dollar export industry. ■

Add value to your product with the premium look and feel of custom embossing * Pre-production samples and short runs available

*Contact our sales team today for further information

92 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

Lonely Planet’s Wine Trails RRP: NZ $36.99 REVIEWED BY TESSA NICHOLSON

T

here can’t be many people who haven’t either consulted a Lonely Planet guide for a destination, or in fact bought one of their books. Which means the market for Lonely Planet’s Wine Trails – Plan 52 Perfect Weekends in Wine Country is sure to be a popular one.

Just released, the aim of the book is to provide an overview of 52 individual wine regions throughout the world – New Zealand included.

All right, it is not the definitive answer to wine, with only a handful of wineries actually mentioned in each region. But it is a first in that it provides an over view, a one-stop quick

glance of some of the best in the world. The fact New Zealand is included, does this country proud.

Three regions, Central Otago, Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough make up the New Zealand contingent. With a brief synopsis of each region, a small number of standout winery cellar doors are included, along with where to eat details, what to do, and where to stay.

It is the same for 19 other wine producing countries, with a world-wide total of 52 regions represented. While it would be a heavy tome to travel with, it is a lovely guide to soak up prior to any trip. And as the introduction says; “This is a book for casual

quaffers; there’s no impenetrable language about malolactic fermentation or scoring systems.

Instead we meet some of the

world’s most enthusiastic and knowledgeable winemakers and learn about each region’s wines in their own words.” ■

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 93

ORGANIC NEWS

NEW ORGANIC SERVICE T

he New Zealand wine industry aims to be “20% by 2020,” meaning 20% of all vineyards will be converted to organic production within the next five years.

Currently 5.4% of all viticulture land in New Zealand is certified organic and over 12.5% of winegrowers have at least one certified organic vineyard. BioGro is the premier certifier for New Zealand’s organic wine industry.

Around 95% of all certified viticulture land is currently certified with BioGro. Although “20% by 2020” seems awe-inspiring, BioGro believes it is a goal that is very achievable.

Organic wine production is making steady progress amongst New Zealand’s prominent winemaking regions. Over the last 20 years New Zealand’s organic wine production has grown exponentially.

The newest figures show that New Zealand is not only on par with the rest of the world, but we are global leaders.

Organic winegrowing is more than spray or residue free. It is a holistic approach to farming where the health of the soil and environment is prioritised, including the surrounding flora and fauna. Vine and grape health is built from the ground up. Having to eschew the use of routine

Seresin Estate (BioGro No. 1517).

94 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

synthetic pesticides means vines and soil quickly gain vast improvements in health, nutrience and fertility.

But as we know, organic production takes skill, attention to detail and commitment. It is backed with science, practical techniques and independent certification.

Because of this BioGro recognises that New Zealand winegrowers need support to become certified organic.

New Zealand’s organic industry as a whole is built on networks and connections. It is helpful to be informed and prepared about certification and the transition

to organic before taking the step.

This is where BioGro’s newest organic service comes in.

Launched in November 2014, BioGro’s Initial Contact Meetings are the industry’s newest onboarding programme to help make it easier for anyone to ‘go organic.’

The Initial Contact Meetings have so far proved increasingly popular with over 25 farmers, producers and manufacturers taking part, including wine brands and growers.

BioGro’s CEO Donald Nordeng says the Initial Contact Meetings are a critical part of assisting winegrowers transition to organic production. “The idea around the

Initial Contact Meetings is to give people thinking about organic production an opportunity to learn about what’s involved and how it can benefit them.”

As part of an Initial Contact Meeting a BioGro auditor visits your vineyard or operation to gain a better insight into your brand and business. They provide an in-depth overview about BioGro, the transition process and organic management. They also assess how viable your property and winemaking facilities are in becoming certified.

Commencing an Initial Contact Meeting, BioGro provides you with an initial application pack and a personalised evaluation report. Each meeting is 1-2 hours and costs $150 plus GST. However if certification is applied for within three months of the initial visit, BioGro will deduct 50% of the Initial Contact Meeting fee off the

application for certification.

BioGro sees their role (not only in organics but New Zealand as a whole) as enabling a sustainable and ethical future for producers and consumers. Organic certification has been the way they have supported and implemented this vision.

With an image of clean and green, New Zealand has an enviable image amongst overseas markets and consumers. BioGro’s Initial Contact Meetings are the first step for a winegrower or wine brand to be part of this image, and part of the “20% by 2020” vision.

BioGro certification enables wine brands to communicate their sustainable and organic story, and tap into the growing consumer demand for organic wine worldwide. ■ Want to know more? Visit www. biogro.co.nz to apply for BioGro certification or an Initial Contact

Meeting.

URLAR WINES.

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 95

Join us in celebrating the New Zealand wine industry.

World class wine, people and places.

2015

Awards Dinner 28 November, Nelson Tickets on sale now.

Please contact lorraine@nzwine.com or (09) 303 3527 ext 0

Regional tastings of Trophy, Gold and Silver Medal winners 28 November, Nelson 30 November, Auckland 1 December, Marlborough 2 December, Hawke’s Bay Register your attendance via Events section of NZW Portal

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

THE BIG DIFFERENCE MARY SHANAHAN

E

xploring New Zealand’s wine regions on his month-long Bragato exchange scholarship, Alessandro Mangiameli has encountered a few surprises.

From Treviso in Italy’s Veneto region, the 18-year-old says winery machinery and winemaking processes are much the same in both countries but different vineyard practices reflect the local soils and climatic conditions.

Alessandro’s counterpart at EIT, this year’s New Zealand Bragato scholar Jascha OldhamSelak, will have a like opportunity to check out similarities and differences when he travels to

Alessandro Mangiameli and Jascha OldhamSelak drink to their Bragato exchange scholarship success.

Italy in January.

A third-year student enrolled in the concurrent Bachelor of Wine Science and Bachelor of Viticulture, Jascha is looking forward

to his first experience of old world wine making.

On his scholarship, Jascha will be visiting wine regions in the country’s northeast and spend-

ing time at Romeo Bragato’s alma mater in Conegliano.

Alessandra attends the same school of viticulture and oenology, which is based in a region known for its Prosecco, a sparkling white wine made from Glera grapes.

Visiting the Gisborne, Central Otago, Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay wine regions, he sampled many of the styles associated with this country including Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Riesling, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec as well as a number of blends.

“The New Zealand wines are different,” he says. They have more flavour, more alcohol and more body,” he says.■

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 97

NOT ON THE LABEL LEGAL MATTERS WITH BELL GULLY BELINDA GREEN (SENIOR ASSOCIATE) AND NATASHA GARVAN (SENIOR SOLICITY)

‘CLEAN AND TIDY’ LEASE CLAUSE REQUIRES TENANT TO REMEDIATE SUBSOIL CONTAMINATION

T

he Court of Appeal has overturned ate the contamination it and its predecessors The Court said that, even if the leases had the decision in the High Court, and had caused to the subsoil of the land. not contained an explicit obligation to remediordered Mobil to pay $10 million in ate the contamination, they would have implied damages to its landlord, Auckland The findings the ancient tort of waste into the leases. This Waterfront Development Agency Limited, to In holding that Mobil was liable, the Court signals a possible change in NZ law when it comes to assessing contamination liability remediate subsurface contamination down in made the following findings: the Wynyard Quarter “tank farm” area. As a The repair obligations reached the land (not under leases which are silent on the subject. result of this judgement, tenants may be liable just improvements on the land), and extended The Court examined the history of the leasto remediate contamination puring relationship over the whole suant to repair covenants under 80 year period, and in particular their leases – even with wording considered the business context as seemingly innocuous as an obli- The Court said that, even if the leases had not contained within which the 1985 leases were gation to keep the land in “clean an explicit obligation to remediate the contamination, negotiated. This included things and tidy order”. This case relates they would have implied the ancient tort of waste into like the parties’ knowledge of contamination at the time the to leases and not to contractual the leases. leases were being negotiated; arrangements such as grape supply contracts. their awareness of Mobil’s possible liability to remediate under the The facts old leases; and their knowledge of Various Mobil companies had leased the to the subsurface of the land. This overruled possible future uses of that land. premises under a number of different leases. the High Court’s finding that words good order The reclaimed land on which the premises were and clean and tidy applied to the surface of the Leasing issues situated contained some contaminated materi- land only.

As for what this means for other leases, this als, and pollution from neighbouring sites had If Mobil wanted to show that contamination will depend on the exact wording of each lease also affected the premises. However, Mobil from spillage and dewatering practices was and the context in which it was entered in to. itself caused spills onto the land, and dewa- authorised as part of the permitted use of the If a lease does not expressly refer to contamtered the tanks which released contaminants lease, it had to show that there was no other ination, the repair covenants may still be interinto the land. By the 1970s the land required reasonable way of carrying on the permitted preted as including an obligation to remediate complete remediation. use. Mobil wasn’t able to meet this require- contamination – even wording as seemingly None of the leases expressly mentioned ment. innocuous and ‘boiler plate’ as an obligation contamination – they were all entered in to Mobil was responsible for the costs of reme- to keep the land in clean and tidy order. The before the Resource Management Act 1991, and diating contamination caused not only dur- permitted use of a particular lease may be of in an era of less heightened sensitivity around ing the current lease term, but for the entire assistance in showing that the contamination contamination issues. Instead, what the leases period of occupation – even though different was authorised by the landlord, but only in a had were tenant’s repair and permitted use leases applied, with different Mobil entities. situation where the contaminating practises clauses.

In making this decision the Court favoured the are the only reasonable way of carrying on the The Court looked at the wording of the commercial reality of the leasing relationship permitted use. repair clause which required the tenant to keep between these parties over the legal fiction Mobile may appeal the decision, says Radio the land in good order and clean and tidy and to that when an old lease ends and a new one is New Zealand News.

• This publication is necessarily brief and yield it up in that same condition to the reason- granted there is a moment in time where the able satisfaction of the landlord (the “clean land reverts to the ownership of the landlord. general in nature. You should seek professional and tidy” clause), and found that this wording Two other aspects of the case are also worth advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. ■ included an obligation on the tenant to remedi- mentioning:

98 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

REGIONS MARLBOROUGH

A SPARKLING OCCASION TESSA NICHOLSON

T

wo years ago a group of Marlborough wineries formed a collective to celebrate the quality and heritage of the region’s sparkling wines and Méthode Marlborough was born.

While the region is best known for Sauvignon Blanc, it is also a renowned sparkling wine producer, Since the early days of Daniel le Brun, who established the country’s first winery dedicated solely to sparkling, the style has thrived. There would be very

ANI MARTIGNsince 1958

few companies based in Marlborough not produce a sparkling of some sort.

But where Méthode Marlborough differs, is the set of criteria that members have to adhere to.

Any producer who is making a sparkling wine that meets the following, is welcome to join.

Wines must be 100% grown and made in Marlborough Wines must be made by traditional methods of production, meaning second fermentation is in the bottle, followed by a complex

disgorging process Wines are 100% made of the three traditional varieties (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier) individually or as a blend The wines must be aged for a minimum of 18 months on lees.

So with the rules laid down, how is the group promoting their wares? Via marketing and sparkling occasions such as one coming up on November 21.

Labeled as One Night, Five Courses, Ten Sparklings - the gala dinner is promising a array

Whirlwind Turbo Sprayers

of tantalising moments. The fact that it is being held in the Aviation Heritage Centre, under the wing of a vintage spitfire, will only add to the glamour of the evening.

Wineries involved in Méthode Marlborough are; Allan Scott, Cloudy Bay Vineyards, Daniel Le Brun, Hunter’s Wines, Johanneshof, Nautilus Estate, No 1 Family Estate, Spy Valley, Summerhouse and Tohu Wines.

Tickets for the one off event are available by emailing; Nicola@spyvalley.co.nz. ■

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NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 99

The New Zealand Winegrowers Global Marketing and Events Programme was released at the beginning of July. It outlines the levy-funded global marketing activities and user-pays global events planned for the period 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016 in two handy booklets.

To view digital versions of these booklets, please visit the Members section of nzwine.com and click through to the Marketing section.

Alternatively, if you would like hard copy versions, or wish to speak to one of the team, please contact: Global Marketing Programme Felicity Johnston | Global Marketing Executive | P: +64 9 306 5645 | E: felicity@nzwine.com Global Events Programme Angela Willis | Manager – Global Events | P: +64 9 306 5642 | E: angela@nzwine.com

MARKET

EVENT

EVENT DATE

REGISTRATION DEADLINE

UK

The Wine Gang – London

14 November

ASAP

UK

Three Wine Men – Cardiff

22-22 November

ASAP

UK

Wine Festival - Winchester

27-29 November

ASAP

Australia

Air NZ Wine Awards Tasting – Sydney

1 December

13 November

UK

Three Wine Men – London

4-5 December

ASAP

UK

Three Wine Men – Manchester

12-13 December

ASAP

UK

Annual Trade & Consumer Tasting – London

18 January

30 October

Ireland

Annual Trade & Consumer Tasting – Dublin

21 January

30 October

Sweden

NZ Trade & Consumer Tasting – Stockholm

25 January

30 October

NZ

Chardonnay Sparkling Symposium – Gisborne

4 February

ASAP

USA

NZ Wine Fair – San Francisco

7 March

30 October

Germany

ProWein – Dusseldorf

13-15 March

30 October

China

National Food & Wine & Spirits Fair – Chengdu

March

30 October

USA

NZ Wine Tasting – Los Angeles

April

5 February

Canada

NZ in a Glass – Vancouver

5 May

20 November

100 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

OCTOBER

28: Regional tasting Air New Zealand Wine Awards – Nelson

30:

Regional tasting Air New Zealand Wine Awards – Auckland

20: Hawke’s Bay A&P Bayleys Wine Awards Dinner – Waikoko Gardens

22:

The Marlborough Wine Show Awards Dinner - Blenheim

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 1: Regional Tasting Air New Zealand Wine Awards – Marlborough

2:

Regional Tasting Air New Zealand Wine Awards – Hawke’s Bay

5:

The South Island Wine and Food Festival – Hagley Park – Christchurch

JANUARY 23: 2-4:

Bridge Pa Wine Festival

Air New Zealand Wine Awards Judging

31 – Feb 1:

- Auckland

6:

Pop Up Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc Yacht Race

– Hawke’s Bay

NZSVO 2016 Sauvignon Blanc Workshop.

Details www.nzsvo.org.nz

– Wellington

FEBRUARY

Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction

1-3:

14: 15:

Toast Martinborough

21:

International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration 2016 – Marlborough

Méthode Marlborough Spectacular Dining Event

4:

– Aviation Heritage Centre, Blenheim. Details - nicola@spyvalley.co.nz

Chardonnay and Sparkling Symposium

28:

– Gisborne

Air New Zealand Wine Awards Dinner

13:

– Nelson. For tickets dinner or tastings, please contact lorraine@nzwine. com or (09) 303 3527

Marlborough Wine and Food Festival 2016

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 101

STATISTICS

MAJOR NZ VINEYARD AREAS PRODUCING HECTARES Region

PRINCIPAL EXPORT MARKETS

2014

2017 forecast

22,907.0

23,684.3

67.1

4774.3

4886.6

13.9

Otago

1931.8

1953.2

5.5

Gisborne

1914.6

1961.2

5.6

Waipara

1254.6

1257.2

3.6

1122.7

1159.7

3.3

Wairarapa / Wellington

995.1

1017.7

2.9

Auckland / Northland

392.3

407.1

1.2

24.6

23.28

0.01

35,510.1

36,547.3

Marlborough Hawkes Bay

Nelson

Waikato / Bay of Plenty National Total

% of Total in 2017 forecast

Country

MAJOR VARIETIES IN MAJOR AREAS Variety

2014

% producing area

Exports for the year to date to the end of May 2015 (Moving Annual Total)

56.4

20,697.2

Pinot Noir

5509.2

15.5

5995.5

Chardonnay

3345.5

9.4

3441.1

Pinot Gris

2451.2

6.9

1395.3

Merlot

1290.0

3.6

1395.3

783.7

2.2

781.1

Syrah

433.1

1.2

446.7

Gewurztraminer

375.5

1.1

363.8

Cabernet Sauv

289.4

0.8

306

Viognier

187.4

0.5

182.2

Malbec

126.8

0.4

134.8

112.7

0.3

112

576.3

1.6

Cabernet Franc All other varieties Total

35,510.1

Auckland/Northland Waikato/Bay of Plenty

Number of

Regional area

Average of

Vineyards

Planted ha

area ha

111

392.4

59,015

352,935

15%

11%

USA

54,574

386,307

12%

19%

Australia

56,375

358,828

6%

-4%

Canada

10,043

99,817

31%

29%

6,645

40,597

32%

19%

1,112

7,478

18%

9%

Ireland

2,534

16,880

6%

-4%

Japan

1,245

14,376

9%

7%

Germany

2,282

10,706

-11%

-23%

China

1,847

27,124

4%

13%

Hong Kong

1,346

16,946

-2%

-1%

Singapore

1,601

21,120

1%

-2%

Finland

0.323

2,574

30%

18%

Norway

0.263

2,023

-25%

-30%

Sweden

1.522

12,282

-7%

-9%

12

24.6

2.1

100

1914.6

19.1

Hawke’s Bay

260

4774.3

18.4

118

1122.3

9.5

Marlborough

Others

7,657

66,358

24%

15%

208,390,753

1,436,357,552

12%

9%

1014

22,907.0

22.6

Waipara

64

1254.5

19.6

Canterbury

35

193.0

8.4

Wellington/Wairarapa

119

995.1

9.1

Otago

213

1931.8

17.4

2046

35,510.1

17.4

National

102

// NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

Denmark

3.5

Gisborne

Nelson

Growth Decline FOB %

594.8 36,547.3

AVERAGE VINEYARD SIZE Region

Growth Decline Litres %

2017 forecast

20,029.4

Riesling

$ FOB

UK

Netherlands Sauvignon Blanc

Litres (m)

TOTAL

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) Preliminary investigation of factors responsible for variability in tartaric acid additions to Pinot noir Lincoln University (Roland Harrison)

Lifestyle Wine (PGP) University of Auckland and Plant and Food Research (Various) Jointly funded by NZW and MPI Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) fund.

Virus diversity in New Zealand grapevines: sequence, ecology and impact The Rod Bonfiglioli Scholarship Plant and Food Research (Robin MacDiarmid - student Arnaud Blouin)

Eco-verifying Viticultural Production for Policy, Regulatory & Market Requirements Plant and Food Research (Brent Clothier) Pinot noir wine composition and sensory characteristics as affected by soil type and irrigation in the Waipara region Lincoln University (Glen Creasy)

Sustaining vineyards through practical management of grapevine trunk diseases South Australian Research & Development Institute (Mark Sosnowski) Supported by MPI Sustainable Farming Fund

Cost Reduction/Increased Profitability Grapevine growth stage monitoring for prediction of key phenological events Plant and Food Research (Rob Agnew) Supported by MPI Sustainable Farming Fund

Implementation of Virus Elimination Strategy Various (Nick Hoskins – Project Manager) Supported by MPI Sustainable Farming Fund Sector weather data licence & tools HortPlus (NZ) Ltd.

Pests and Disease Grapevine Trunk Disease; young vine ecology, diagnostics and preventative treatments New Zealand Viticulture Nursery Association Incorporated (VINA)(Nick Hoskins) Leafroll virus and mealybug monitoring in Marlborough, 2015 to 2017 Plant and Food Research (Vaughn Bell)

Developing Powdery Mildew Best Practise in New Zealand Vineyards Lewis Wright Valuation & Consultancy Ltd (Trevor Lupton)

Sustainability/Organics Effects of undervine vegetation management on grape quality, vine performance, grape composition, and soil properties Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) (Mark Krasnow)

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 103

PROGRESS REPORTS

Recommendations for managing grapevine leafroll disease in red berry varieties 12-100

Vaughn Bell and Jim Walker, The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Havelock North Grapevine leafroll disease (GLD) is recognised in all countries that grow grapes. A number of phloemlimited viruses belonging to the family Closteoviridae have been identified as being associated with GLD. One of these associated viruses, Grapevine leafrollassociated virus 3 (leafroll virus), is widely recognised as the most economically important causal agent for GLD in New Zealand and other countries, including South Africa and USA. Among infected vines, leafroll virus adversely alters yield, soluble solids, titratable acidity, and anthocyanins, which when combined can delay fruit ripening and lower wine quality.

Currently, there is no ‘cure’ for vines infected with leafroll virus.

Thus, an active management approach is recommended to reduce the introduction and spread of the virus. Firstly, the introduction of leafroll virus to vineyards is minimised by using nursery vines certified to New Zealand Winegrowers’ Grafted Grapevine Standard. To be in accordance with the standard, the rootstock and scion sources from which vines are produced must be tested for and found to be free of leafroll virus. Secondly, when red berry varieties are leafroll virusinfected, vine foliage undergoes distinctive changes in colour and form (Figure 1). When supported by training, vineyard personnel can use late-season foliar changes to visually identify infected vines, thereby enabling the removal of these vines in a process known as roguing. Thirdly, the risk of leafroll virus spread within vineyards can be further reduced by monitoring

104 //

and controlling the insect vectors that acquire the virus and transmit it to healthy vines.

In New Zealand vineyards,

vines, the mealybug insecticide programme recommended by the New Zealand Winegrowers’ ‘Virus Elimination’ project, is timed to

Figure 1. Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3-symptomatic Cabernet Sauvignon vine in Hawke’s Bay, April 2014. The foliar changes to an infected vine is visually characterised by dark-red downward curling leaves with green veins.

the most commonly found insect vectors of leafroll virus are the citrophilus (Pseudococcus calceolariae) and longtailed (P. longispinus, Figure 2) mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). Where no mealybug insecticides are applied, or they are applied ineffectively, populations can increase substantially in the vine canopy, especially late in the growing season. As a consequence, the dispersal of mealybugs carrying the virus will result in virus transmission to healthy vines. If this scenario eventuates, it has real potential to undermine the benefits of vine certification.

In New Zealand vineyards, mealybug management relies on a combination of biological control (natural enemies) and insecticides applied to vines at an appropriate time and frequency. For cropping

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

occur from pre-budburst to preflowering (Table 1). Assuming good adherence to label guidelines, and consideration of other factors such as sprayer calibration and water volume calculations based on row width and canopy

density, we would expect effective mealybug control.

Mealybug management Effective mealybug control is a critical element for managing the incidence and reducing spread of leafroll virus. Where appropriate, we recommend the instigation (or continuation) of an annual mealybug control programme with sprays applied at application volumes of at least 500 L/ha and for buprofezin, 1000 L/ha. For all vineyard operators pursuing a virus elimination programme, this task should assume priority status.

Where leafroll virus is known to co-exist with mealybugs, we recommend that growers adopt the full mealybug insecticide spray programme as outlined in Table 1.

Current insecticide best practice can also be accessed online via the factsheet “Mealybug Control for cropping vines” (NZVE104, August 2013) www.nzwine.com/ research/virus-free-vineyards-theblog

Figure 2. Longtailed mealybugs, Pseudococcus longispinus. A 1 mm long crawler (first instar) is tucked in against a main leaf vein directly in front of the juvenile longtailed mealybug (centre). Of all the life stages, mealybug crawlers are the most mobile and the most effective and efficient vectors of leafroll virus.

Suggested protocols for finding and monitoring mealybugs in the vineyard are outlined in the factsheet, “Pre-harvest mealybug monitoring” (NZVE111, August 2013), which is also available via the above website.

A sensible long-term strategy to maintain the full effectiveness of mealybug insecticides is not to use products with the same mode of action repeatedly over a long period. Instead, within a season, we recommend alternating buprofezin with spirotetramat (see factsheet NZVE104).

Managing leafroll virus In all red grape variety blocks, vineyard operators should instigate (or continue) a vineyard-wide annual leafroll virus identification programme based on visual symptoms in the vine foliage (Figure 1).

With virus-infected vines identified and tagged using flagging tape around the trunk, vineyard personnel should rogue these vines (whilst retaining all symptomless neighbouring vines) during a post-harvest clean-up. These tasks should be given priority.

We recommend that all vineyard personnel responsible for monitoring and tagging infected vines be suitably trained to visually identify leafroll virus on all red grape varieties. It is not a trivial task to be able to differentiate between virus-infected vines and those affected by cane damage or mineral deficiencies (e.g. magnesium). Therefore, it is important that all personnel are familiar with the issue and able to distinguish between the different symptoms visually.

To assist with educating staff tasked with undertaking visual symptom identification, we recommend accessing the New Zealand Winegrowers’-developed library of foliar images. Covering multiple red berry varieties, this extensive repository can be accessed on the Flickr photo

sharing website (keyword – leafroll virus) https://www.flickr.com/ photos/92930499@N07/sets The success of leafroll virus identification relies on the ability to detect visual symptoms of the disease reliably across all red grape varieties. Therefore, the timing and number of visits to each block is important. For those vineyards where multiple visits per block are achievable, the process should commence in late March and continue through until mid-April.

This timetable will also be suitable for those vineyards where a single visit per block remains the only option. However, operating on this basis will minimise opportunities to detect all virus-infected vines within a single season. In this circumstance, mitigating the risk of virus spread can be accomplished by first attaining and then

maintaining effective mealybug control.

Delaying visual symptom identification until April can be inherently risky. In many New Zealand winegrowing regions the chance of a frost increases greatly later in the growing season. Until the process of symptom identification is concluded and all symptomatic vines are tagged, we recommend vineyard personnel regularly monitor weather forecasts.

Identifying all symptomatic vines is important if the virus is to be controlled within a reasonable timeframe. Once vineyard personnel are allocated the task of visually identifying and tagging symptomatic vines, we recommend that wherever possible they be allowed to focus exclusively on this role until it is complete.

There are other factors that need to be considered when iden-

tifying virus-infected vines. For example, bird netting can impede the ability of assessors to reliably identify the foliar symptoms of leafroll virus. Delaying visual assessments until after the nets are removed is one possible solution to this problem; alternatively, the use of black nets on red grape varieties minimises the risk of not being able to readily identify vines with foliar changes caused by leafroll virus. Wherever possible, the use of white nets should be restricted to white grape varieties where visual symptom identification cannot be undertaken due to the absence of foliar symptoms.

Finally, when roguing infected vines, all vine material, including the roots, should be removed and destroyed. Subterranean populations of the citrophilus mealybug can colonise vine roots to a depth ranging from a few millimetres

Table 1. The mealybug insecticide spray programme developed by the New Zealand Winegrowers’ ‘Virus Elimination’ project. The recommended programme is one pre-budburst application of prothiofos and then (a) two pre-flowering applications of buprofezin, or (b) two pre-flowering applications of spirotetramat, or (c) one application of buprofezin followed by one application of spirotetramat. From 2012, imidacloprid was registered for post-harvest application to the soil around the trunk of virus-infected vines about to be rogued. This table should be read in conjunction with New Zealand Winegrowers’ online resources accessible on www.nzwine.com/research/virus-free-vineyards-the-blog

Active ingredient (product)

Mode of action

Number of sprays, timing & recommended water rate

Prothiofos (Tokuthion®)

Contact stomach poison, acting directly on the nervous system.

1 x pre-budburst application at 1000 L/ha

Buprofezin (e.g. Ovation™)

Contact insecticide. Insect growth regulator that interferes with the moulting of immature life stages. No effect on adults.

2 x pre-flowering applications, 14-21 days apart at 1000 L/ha/ application

Spirotetramat (Movento®)

Systemic insecticide (xylem & phloem mobile). A lipid biosynthesis inhibitor acting against juvenile life stages.

Some reduction to female egg-laying potential & egg viability.

2 x pre-flowering applications, 14-21 days apart at 500 L/ha/ application

Buprofezin followed by spirotetramat

As above:

2 x pre-flowering applications, 14-21 days apart at 1000 & 500 L/ha/application, respectively

Imidacloprid (e.g. Confidor®)‡

Stomach and contact systemic insecticide with good root systemic action.

A single soil drench applied to vines targeted for roguing (post-harvest): 1.5 ml/500ml water/vine

‡ Confidor® registration was recently changed to allow soil application for cropping vines.

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 105

below the soil surface to c. 300 mm. Hence, we recommend that wherever possible, vine roots to c. 300 mm also be targeted for removal and destruction.

Conclusion The virus management recommendations outlined here have been developed over the last six years and are the result of field observations and data analysis undertaken during the ‘Virus Elimination’ project. This combination of observations and analyses has greatly improved our understanding of mealybug management and the practice of identifying and then roguing infected vines. Therefore, when supplemented with the New Zealand Winegrowers’ website (see sidebar, Accessing New Zealand Winegrowers’ online resources), this

guidance represents the most comprehensive set of virus management protocols currently available.

If readers have any questions about any aspect of virus or mealybug management, please refer to the report, ‘Virus-free vineyards: replants and beyond NZW12-100PF, Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough. Final report, August 2015’, which is available on nzwine. com. Alternatively, you can email Vaughn.Bell@plantandfood.co.nz

Acknowledgements The New Zealand Winegrowers Virus Elimination programme was funded by New Zealand Winegrowers and co-funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries under the Sustainable Farming Fund, the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers’ Association and the Marlborough

ACCESSING NEW ZEALAND WINEGROWERS’ ONLINE RESOURCES • 13 Fact sheets – in print and on New Zealand Winegrowers’ website (nzwine.com).

• Seven Videos – showing important how-to information for individual management actions.

• Flickr – an online photo library showing foliar symptoms of leafroll virus on red berry varieties.

• New Zealand Winegrowers’ Leafroll 3 App – designed for mobile devices, the app is available for free and can be downloaded by searching for ‘Leafroll 3’ on your iPhone or Android App store (New Zealand only).

• Virus-Free Vineyards – a blog created by the project and hosted on nzwine.com.

• And, coming soon, a new book that will be distributed to all members of New Zealand Winegrowers this spring.

Winegrowers’ Association. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the many vineyard owners and their staff.

Finally, we would like to remember our friend and colleague, the late Dr Rod Bonfiglioli. His steadfast

commitment to improved vine health saw this research project gain the much needed momentum to enable it to leave the start line.

Now, some six years later, we are confident Rod would have been celebrating the result with us as we cross the finish line. ■

A cost-effective technique to identify leafroll 3 virus in white varieties: the ‘sentinel graft’ 12-100

Caine Thompson, Spatial Solutions, c.thompson@spatialsolutions.net.nz Gerhard Pietersen - University of Pretoria and Peter Holley - Mission Estate Winery The destructive impact of Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3 or leafroll 3) is now well known within the New Zealand wine industry: reductions in yields and sugar levels, increases in acidity, delayed ripening, and, along with a deterioration in vine performance, a shortened lifespan of infected vines. Spread by an insect vector – mealybugs – leafroll 3 can rapidly infect an entire vineyard.

Identified as one of the most significant economic threats to the production of premium wines both at home and overseas, leafroll 3 continues to be a key research

106 //

priority for New Zealand Winegrowers, including the wideranging Virus Elimination Project (co-funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries), which explored the many challenges of vineyard management and control. (The authors participated throughout the life of the project from 20092015).

Over time, the project developed a series of trials involving the identification of symptoms in red varieties, post-harvest vine removal and replant protocols, recommendations for vineyard hygiene practices and insect

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

(mealybug) control. One issue, however, has remained problematic: the identification of infected white varieties in the vineyard.

Red varieties versus white varieties Unlike red varieties (Figure 1), which readily express recognisable symptoms of infection towards harvest, white varieties (Figure 2) may not show symptoms at all: there may be no obvious changes in leaf colour and the typical rolling effect on leaves may not be displayed. This means that roguing – the removal of infected

vines identified via monitoring for symptom expression – remains ‘mission impossible’ for white varieties.

As a result, leafroll 3 has continued to spread through white blocks, almost unnoticed, although deteriorating vine performance and fruit parameters alert viticulturists to a problem.

The only means of confirming suspicions is to use laboratory ELISA testing – and few growers use even minimal testing due to the cost per test (approximately $15) and the time required for sample collection.

Figure 1. Leafroll 3 infection visually expressing on Cabernet Sauvignon (left) and Pinot Noir (right).

Materials and Methods A potential solution – the sentinel graft The concept of field-grafting a red variety bud onto a white variety as a means of detecting visual symptoms of leafroll 3 infection was initially raised by Professor Gerhard Pietersen. This technique is a twist on the ‘biological’ or ‘indicator grafting’ technique, which involves grafting vines of an unknown virus status onto particularly susceptible ‘indicator vines’ (typically a red variety) and monitoring these for symptoms.

The procedure has been widely used in vine germplasm collections and in plant quarantine situations to determine the presence of disease in vines destined for nursery propagation and/or importation programmes.

To the best of our knowledge, however, grafting of an indicator bud onto vines of unknown status had never been undertaken in the field as a means of detecting leafroll 3 infections in white varieties.

Such a practice would provide significant advantages as a means of determining if field-grown white cultivar vines become leafroll infected. The grafting need only be done once in the lifetime of the vine and yet annual monitoring of the indicator bud would reveal leafroll infection through the life of the vine, making it feasible to apply a roguing (vine removal) strategy to control leafroll spread on white cultivars.

A pilot trial was initiated in the spring of 2011 and continued in 2012 to determine if indicator grafting could be put into prac-

tice in a commercial vineyard.

Our initial goal was to establish ‘proof of concept’: if the candidate vines were infected with a leafroll virus, the indicators (red variety buds) would express symptoms with a change in leaf colour with reddening of the intervein area – exactly what occurs in infected red varieties.

Trial setup The trial was established on the Mission Estate Greenmeadows vineyard on established Sauvignon Blanc ( planted in 2001), Chardonnay (planted in 1994) and Pinot Gris (planted in 2007).

Greenmeadows is dry farmed, and there is no provision for irrigation.

In each instance, the presence of leafroll 3 virus had been identified, but not quantified. A

total of 550 vines were grafted in 2011 and a further 350 vines grafted in 2012. The 2011 trial was viewed as a learning period with regard to grafting technique and timing, whereas the 2012 trial was established to assess the potential of indicator grafting. In the spring of 2012, 350 vines were grafted with indicator buds on Chardonnay (150 vines), Pinot Gris (100 vines) and Sauvignon Blanc (100 vines). The grafting began on the 22nd of October and was completed on the 15th of November. Pinot Noir budwood was used for the indicator shoots; Riversun Nursery, through Linnaeus Laboratory, donated all budwood for use in the trial (budwood that had already been tested for a suite of plant viruses and shown to be free of disease).

Figure 2. Comparison of visual symptoms in Sauvignon Blanc. Picture on left is virus free, picture on right is infected with leafroll 3.

(PHOTOS BY NICK HOSKINS)

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 107

Figure 3. The grafting stages: (left) the T-bud is cut halfway up the trunk and the cut Pinot Noir indicator bud is inserted into the trunk, and (right) then wrapped with grafting tape. (PHOTO BY CAINE THOMPSON)

Grafting The T-bud grafting method was used, which involves using a grafting knife to cut a T-shape into the side of the grapevine trunk.

This cut is made halfway up the side portion of the trunk so that it is out of the way of mechanical operations such as weed spraying and bud rubbing. The ‘wings’ of this T-incision are then ‘peeled’ open so that a pre-cut bud of Pinot Noir can be inserted (a Scionon grafting tool was used to cut budwood) (see Figure 3).

Grafting occurred in October and into November.

Discussion We reviewed the following to determine the effectiveness of this technique: • Percentage of graft take.

• Shoot training.

• Cost of installation.

• Ability of the technique to

108 //

express virus symptoms.

• Comparison of the technique with results from lab-based ELISA testing.

What was the percentage rate of graft success?

Determining the effectiveness of grafting a bud onto the side of an established vine was of critical importance because industry adoption of the technique would depend on the outcome. Of the 350 vines that were grafted in 2012, Table 1 highlights the percentages that were recorded for successful graft take and growth. All three varieties demonstrated a graft take above 80%. Spring temperatures were consistently warm, which also resulted in good shoot growth and extension up into the grapevine canopy. The summer that followed, however, was one of the warmest on record, which put

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

significant pressure on the young grafts. As a result, a number of the developing shoots dehydrated and perished.

With no provision for irrigation in the vineyard, the vines could not be watered; grafted shoots started to show signs of stress before ‘drying up,’ with the end number of shoots remaining across the three varieties varying from 19%25% (Figure 4).

As grafts develop, they appear to be extremely sensitive to water stress in this first year.

Shoot training As budburst progressed and shoots grew, very little training was required. The shoots on each vine grew naturally up into the canopy and remained strong and ridged as they ‘climbed’ up into the vine. All grafts required shoot thinning back to one strong shoot and fruit removal from each shoot, so that all available resources could be directed into the developing indicator shoot. The time taken for each of these tasks was recorded so that the ‘management’

Variety

No. Of grafts

No. of grafts taken

% of grafts taken

No. surviving summer

Total % at end of season

Chardonnay

150

127

85%

38

25%

Pinot Gris

100

84

84%

19

19%

Sauvignon Blanc

100

81

81%

25

25%

Table 1. Number of indicator grafts installed on vines and resulting graft take throughout the growing season.

cost of the graft could be quantified.

Does the technique express the virus?

The most critical aspect of the pilot trial was to assess if the indicator shoot expressed the virus.

Our hypothesis was that it would, but we were unsure how long it would take the shoot to express symptoms. The visual monitoring of all 350 vines for leafroll 3 virus began in early March and continued through to the end of April before leaf fall. This resulted in the examination of indicator shoots for the typical symptoms expressed on red varieties. The vines were monitored on four separate occasions to ensure any expression was detected. Across all three varieties, indicator shoots expressed easily detected symptoms of leafroll 3 when the virus was present (see Figure 5).

Costs of installing indicator grafts Once the technique had been refined, the process of grafting proceeded quickly.

Small trolleys were used, capable of storing the tools and budwood and serving as seats for the grafter.

The costs of installation were averaged across all three varieties, with no differences recorded in time to graft due to variety.

• Time taken to perform each graft – 3 minutes • Approximately 20 grafts done in one hour • Labour chargeout rate of $18 per hour • Cost per graft = $0.90 per vine (one-off cost) • Additional costs – collection/ sourcing of budwood (donated

by Riversun)

Annual cost per vine Additional inputs were required during the season to manage the indicator shoots, but, again, the time and costs were modest: • Spur pruning of graft – $0.03

How does the visual identification compare with ELISA testing?

Figure 4. Indicator graft showing signs of water stress and ‘drying up’.

(PHOTO BY CAINE THOMPSON)

per vine • Shoot thinning to one shoot if required – $0.05 per vine • Removal of fruit – $0.05 per vine • Visual monitoring cost (as with

red varieties) • Total annual cost = $0.13 per vine + visual monitoring cost • Compared to single ELISA test of $15 per vine

In order to quantify the technique, we compared the results from visual monitoring of the indicator shoots with that of ELISA testing. Leaf samples were collected in mid-April, with three leaves selected from each vine and shipped to Linnaeus Laboratory

Figure 5. Leafroll 3 symptom expression on indicator shoots (Pinot Noir), showing from left to right on Chardonnay (left) and Pinot Gris (right).

(PHOTOS BY CAINE THOMPSON)

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 109

Variety

Total Sampled

Visually ELISA Incorrect Visually ELISA Incorrect Total % assessed tested tested tested correct positive positive negative negative

Chardonnay

38

22

24

2

16

11

5

31

82

Pinot Gris

19

18

19

1

1

0

1

18

95

Sauvignon Blanc

25

4

0

4

21

25

4

21

84

TOTAL

82

44

43

7

38

36

10

70

87

Table 2. Comparison between visual identification and ELISA testing of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc

for ELISA testing. The results of the ELISA testing and visual identification are outlined in Table 2.

The percentage correlation with ELISA was extremely encouraging, with Chardonnay showing an 81.6% correct identification compared to ELISA, Pinot Gris showing a 94.7% correlation, and Sauvignon Blanc showing an 84% correlation. On average, the indicator shoots showed an 86.8% correlation with ELISA results (positive or negative). Further ELISA testing for GLRaV-1, 2, 3 and GVA was undertaken in late February 2014.

Samples were collected from one false negative vine (that is, a vine that showed no symptoms on the indicator shoot but tested positive

by ELISA) and four false positives (that is, vines that showed symptoms on the indicator shoot but tested negative by ELISA).

The one false positive Pinot Gris vine tested positive for GLRaV-3 and GVA in 2014 and showed symptoms in 2015 (delayed expression). All of the four false negative Sauvignon Blanc Vines that showed symptoms but were negative for GLRaV-3 in 2013 also tested negative for GLRaV-1, 2, 3 and GVA in 2014. Two of the vines showed clear symptoms of magnesium deficiency, and two had shoots that had died, indicating that a poor graft may have been the issue.

Post-harvest We also assessed how well the vine lignified the indicator shoots.

Lignification of the shoot signi-

110 //

fies that it can be spur pruned and locked in place as a spur site for the next season. This allows for ongoing management of leafroll 3 using the indicator shoot: budburst will occur on this spur the following spring, and, later in the season, visual identification can be undertaken to monitor for symptom expression (Figure 6).

All of the 82 successful grafts lignified, and were subsequently spur pruned and locked into the vine for the next season.

Acknowledgments Funding was provided through New Zealand Winegrowers’ Virus Elimination Project, which was co-funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries Sustainable Farming Fund (No. 12-073). The

authors gratefully acknowledge the donation of all budwood by Geoff Thorpe, Managing Director of Riversun Nursery and Linnaeus Laboratory, and the donation of grafting tools and training by Ian Adams, Scionon. ■

Where to from here?

The initial trial demonstrated the potential for indicator grafting to be a cost-effective and reliable method for identifying leafroll 3 infections in white varieties, enabling vines to be rogued in the same fashion as red varieties.

The cost for installing a graft is reasonable (approximately $0.90 per vine, not including budwood) and the system has the added benefit of only needing to be done once, with ongoing maintenance costs of just $0.13 per vine per year.

Given the alternative cost of about $15.00 for a single ELISA test, indicator grafting shows promise as a cost-effective management tool for use in controlling the spread of leafroll 3 in white varieties.

The indicator graft has been named by Gerhard Pietersen and Caine Thompson as the ‘sentinel cane’ for its ability to act as a guard, protecting vines from virus through visual identification, which makes roguing virus possible in white varieties.

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

Figure 6. After leaf fall, the indicator shoot lignifies before it is spur pruned to a single bud so that it can be used in the following season for symptom identification. (PHOTO BY CAINE THOMPSON)

Developing powdery mildew best practice 14-101

Trevor Lupton, Lewis Wright Valuation & Consultancy Ltd, Gisborne David Manktelow, Manktelow and Associates Ltd, Napier Peter Melville, Eurofins Agroscience Services NZ Ltd, Havelock North Craig Howard, Blenheim Powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator) was prevalent across New Zealand’s major growing regions during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, and many growers experienced problems managing it, with some crop rejection or requirements to drop infected bunches prior to harvest.

Following examination of problem vineyards after the 2012-13 season it was felt that the problems could be attributed to some combination of: • Establishment of chasmothecia (the sexual stage of powdery mildew) in New Zealand • Indications that powdery mildew may be losing sensitivity to DMI fungicides. These fungicides have been an important part of powdery mildew management in New Zealand for over 20 years.

• Sprayer coverage, spray intervals, fungicide choice and application rates • Favourable environmental conditions and buildup of inoculum from the previous season.

Chasmothecia were first detected in Australia 30 years ago and New Zealand researcher Peter Wood recorded their presence in NZ during the summer of 2013-14. It is unclear how long the pathogen’s genetic material required for chasmothecia production has been present

in in New Zealand, however, establishment of the sexual stage of the grape powdery mildew pathogen has two important implications for disease management; 1) Sexual reproduction will result in a more genetically diverse powdery mildew population. This is likely to result in more rapid development of resistance to fungicides with single site activity and 2) Ascospores produced from chasmothecia appear to provide a further source of inoculum for primary infections, with inoculum potentially available over the fruit development period.

For the past thirty years the industry has relied on DMI fungicides applied from flowering through early fruit development to suppress early season infections and protect fruit. The systemic movement of DMIs appears to have enabled growers to achieve powdery mildew control despite at time poor spray coverage. The decision on which fungicide to use is an area where information available to growers and their advisers is often lacking and conflicting.

NZ Winegrowers has led the process of developing powdery mildew best practice through publication of the factsheet Managing Powdery Mildew (NZPM 100), arranging visits

from Australian experts Peter Magarey and Trevor Wicks, and presentations at Grape Days and the Romeo Bragato Conference over the past two years. It is important that best practice should achieve a high level of powdery mildew control while maintaining sustainable fungicide use into the future

Evaluating Powdery Mildew Fungicide Options The objective of this study undertaken in 2014/15 was to determine the relative efficacy of various powdery mildew fungicide options. The approach used in these trials was to target three windows in the seasonal powdery mildew control programme: • Late dormant • Budburst to pre flowering • Flowering to pre bunch closure The outcome of these studies is to provide the NZ industry with objective advice on powdery mildew fungicide options.

Late Dormant Lime Sulphur Comparisons This grower case study involved two Gisborne vineyards with high levels of powdery

mildew in the 2013-14 season.

In spring 2014 Lime sulphur was used in both vineyards as a late dormant application targeting the cordons and heads of the vines.

In Vineyard 1 lime sulphur was applied by hand gun at 98 litres per hectare in 1,400 litres per hectare of water targeting older wood. In Vineyard 2 lime sulphur was applied at 70 litres per hectare with a Silvan G3 sprayer applying 500 litres per hectare in a double pass in opposite directions (1,000 litres per hectare in total) targeting older wood. These lime sulphur rates are considerably higher than growers generally apply.

Spray diary analysis of Gisborne vineyards from 2012/13 and 2013/14 indicated growers generally apply lime sulphur at around 28-35 litres per hectare (7 litres lime sulphur per 100 litres of water in 400-500 litres of water per hectare).

Untreated control plots were located in both vineyards.

Each untreated control plot comprised sixteen unsprayed vines located in two adjacent rows.

Two control plots were located in Vineyard 1 and four control plots in Vineyard 2.

Treatment

Vineyard 1

Vineyard 2

Lime Sulphur

1.8%

0.5%

Control

2.8%

0.3%

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 111

The following table sets out the mean severity of powdery mildew in a sample of 100 bunches from vines treated with lime sulphur or adjacent untreated controls.

Each set of vines received the same powdery mildew fungicide programme from bud burst to pre harvest. The variety in each comparison was Chardonnay.

Winery acceptance limits for powdery mildew bunch infection at harvest is typically around 5% mean severity.

In these two vineyards, where powdery mildew levels had been high in the previous season, powdery mildew bunch infections were less than 5% mean severity at harvest. As the control vines received no lime sulphur application there was no indication that the use of lime sulphur was critical to this outcome.

In our opinion the key changes that contributed to the low level of crop infection in 2015 harvest compared with 2014 in these two vineyards were; optimising sprayer performance to improve bunch coverage, use of eradicant fungicides (sulphur + HML 32 + Nordox) as part of the programme, removal of DMI fungicides from

the crop protection programme, and some improvements to canopy management to assist spray penetration.

The following table presents water sensitive papers from a sprayer coverage assessment conducted in Vineyard 2 during March 2014. A Silvan G3 sprayer was used with vines trained to a Sylvos system. The sprayer had been set up with even nozzling across the canopy and was providing poor coverage of the cordon zone - where much of the 2013-14 season fruit loss had occurred. This is demonstrated by papers in the left hand side of the table.

The initial change was to direct 70% of sprayer output to the bunch zone. Papers on the right hand side of the table show the improved coverage of the cordon area in the bunch zone. Sprayer set up and coverage was readjusted in vineyards 1 and 2 pre and post flowering.

These grower case studies demonstrated that it is possible to manage vineyards with a high level of powdery mildew infection in the previous season and achieve low levels of powdery mildew at harvest the

following year. Powdery mildew is a management issue that can be managed, but growers have to ensure that chemical choice, timing, application rates and spray coverage are all effective.

In-Season Spraying Window Trials This work aimed to assess

the relative efficacy of a range of fungicide options, with the efficacy of each option tested in a programme of three or four applications made to protect two distinct infection risk growth stages; • bud break to pre-bloom (protecting developing spring leaf tissue) and

Water sensitive paper assessment of spray coverage, Vineyard 2, March 2014 Even nozzling over the canopy.

cordon

112 //

Sylvos droppers

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

70% of output targetting bunch zone.

cordon

Sylvos droppers

Trial 1: Bud burst to Pre-Flowering

Treatment

Active Ingredient

Product Rate Per Hectare

1. Kumulus DF

800g/kg sulphur

3.0kg

2. Kumulus DF

800g/kg sulphur

4.5kg

3. Kumulus + Protector HML

800g/kg sulphur + 194g/L fatty acids (potassium salts)

3.0kg + 2.5L

4. Kumulus DF + Proector HML + Nordox 75WG

800g/kg sulphur + 194g/L fatty acids (potassium salts) + 750 g/kg cuprous oxide

3.0kg + 2.5 L + 0.7 kg

5. Kumulus DF + HML 32 + Nordox 75WG

800g/kg sulphur + 170g/L fatty acids (potassium salts) + 264g/L potassium bicarbonate + 750 g/kg cuprous oxide

3.0kg + 5.0 L +

6. JMS Stylet -oil (2) then Kumulus DF (2)

971g/L mineral oil then 800g/Kg sulphur

5.0 L then 3.0kg

7. Lime sulphur (2) then Kumulus DF (2)

200 g/litre sulphur as polysulphides then 800g/kg sulphur

17.5 L then 3.0kg

8. Untreated

• flowering to pre-bunch closure (the critical growth stage for protecting young susceptible fruit and the second stage of spring leaf canopy development).

The fungicides evaluated at each growth stage were applied by motorised knapsack sprayers to replicated small plot trials in commercial vineyards on Chardonnay in Gisborne (Sylvos on 3m rows) and on Sauvignon Blanc in Blenheim (Four cane VSP on 2.7m rows).

The standard grower spray programmes were applied across all treatments (including the untreated control plots) outside the two growth stage windows in each trial.

This was done to ensure powdery mildew levels did not become excessive and affect vines and bunches in rows adjacent to the trials. The vineyard blocks selected in each region had both experienced high levels of powdery mildew the previous season.

Trial 1: Bud burst to Pre-Flowering Four applications of the following treatments were made at 14 day intervals in the pre flowering period. The grower

during this period.

In leaves it is more difficult to link infections to a defined period.

Leaves are highly susceptible until 50% of full leaf size and while leaves then develop some tolerance with age, they remain susceptible.

Disease levels on the Blenheim Sauvignon Blanc block were generally low in 2014-15, with only limited differences showing up between the different fungicide treatments. The most important result from the Blenheim trial was fungicides tested in the flowering to pre bunch closure period showed a high level of protection of bunches and leaves compared to the untreated controls. However the DMI fungicide Systhane 200EW provided lower levels of leaf protection than the other fungicide treatments, while still providing statistically lower infection levels than the untreated control.

Disease levels on the Gisborne Chardonnay block were higher than in Blenheim. This is likely to reflect disease pressure carried over from the previous season and warmer temperatures in Gisborne, particularly in the pre flower period.

The trends for fungicide

0.7kg

-

then sprayed the trial vines from flowering to harvest.

In Treatme nt 6 two applications of JMS oil were made at 14 day intervals followed by two applications of Kumulus DF at 14 day intervals. In treatment 7 a similar regime applied with Lime sulphur followed by Kumulus DF.

Trial 2: Flowering to Pre-Bunch Closure: In Gisborne three applications of the following treatments were made at 14 day intervals. In Blenheim four applications of each treatment were made due

to low powdery mildew incidence after three applications. The third application was timed for pre-bunch closure and the fourth application in Blenheim was made at bunch closure. The grower sprayed the trial vines from bud burst to pre-flowering and again from bunch closure to harvest.

Berries develop resistance to powdery mildew infection 3-5 weeks after fruit set. The rachis remains susceptible after this period. This gives a defined period from flowering to bunch closure when berry infection occurs which can be linked to fungicides applied

Trial 2: Flowering to Pre-Bunch Closure

Treatment

Active Ingredient

Product Rate Per Hectare

1. Kumulus DF

800g/kg sulphur

4.0kg

2. Kumulus DF

800g/kg sulphur

5.0kg

3. Kumulus + Protector HML

800g/kg sulphur + 194g/L fatty acids (potassium salts)

4.0kg + 3.5L

4. Cabrio

200g/kg pyraclostrobin

0.5L

5. Talendo

200g/L proquinazid

0.25L

6. Quintec

250g/L quinoxyfen

0.2L

7. Flute

50g/L cyflufenamid

0.25L

8. Systhane 200EW

200g/kg myclobutanil

0.125 L

9. Agpro Cyproconazole

200g/L cyproconazole

0.075 L

10. Topaz 200EW

200g/L penconazole

0.125 L

11. Topaz 200EW + Kumulus DF

200g/L penconazole + 800g/kg sulphur

0.125 L + 4.0kg

12. Untreated

-

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 // 113

efficacy in the windows described above were; • A higher rates of Kumulus DF improved control over lower rates.

• A pre flowering programme of Kumulus DF plus additives (Protector HML + Nordox 75WG or HML32 + Nordox 75 WG ) g av e g o o d l e a f protection.

• A pre flowering programme of two applications of JMS Stylet-oil followed by two applications of Kumulus DF at 3 kg/ha gave good leaf protection, while a programme using two applications of lime sulphur at 3.5 L per 100 litres followed by two applications of Kumulus DF at 3 kg/ha failed to deliver good leaf protection.

• The DMI fungicide Systhane 200EW did not provide powdery mildew protection of fruit.

• Mixing Kumulus DF with Topaz 200EW did not adversely powdery mildew levels compared with Topaz 200EW applied alone.

• Talendo and Quintec fungicide treatments provided acceptable levels of bunch powdery mildew control.

In the previous page graphs the error bars show the Least Significant Difference between treatments (ie a gap in error bars displayed between individual treatments indicates a statistical difference between those treatments).

Are New Zealand Vineyards Underdosing?

Agrichemical labels are based on 3 metre rows, however more than 50% of NZ vineyards now have less than a 2.5 metre row

Powdery mildew infection on the back of a bunch is an indicator of poor sprayer coverage.

width.

Application rates need to take into account row width or row length per hectare as set out in the following table: The need to adjust chemical application rates on the basis of the total surface area of target canopy to spray is logical, but data from spray diaries indicates that many growers may be under-dosing intensively planted blocks. It is expected that recommendations

Row width

3.0m

2.4m

Water rate per hectare

400 litres

500 litres

Sulphur rate per hectare

3.0kg

3.75kg

114 //

NZ WINEGROWER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

for application rate adjustments based on row spacings will be promoted by NZ Winegrowers in 2015-16. The Australian experience of powdery mildew control in the presence of chasmothecia has seen a general lift in sulphur application rates required for effective disease control. The higher sulphur rate treatments in the trials reported here showed better efficacy than tradition 3kg per ha rates. This suggests that higher sulphur rates may be required in NZ. This needs to be treated as a separate issue from row spacing based rate adjustments.

The results from these and

other trials need to be built into a set of clear recommendations to support effective and sustainable powdery mildew control for the NZ grape industry. Effective powdery mildew control requires growers make good fungicide selection and timing decisions that reflect the infection pressure/ risks to which different blocks are exposed. Spray application has been shown to be a weak link in powdery mildew protection and effective spray coverage and chemical application rate decisions are at least as important as fungicide selection and timing.

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