Winepress - April 2024

From the Editor

THIS MONTH’S magazine could have been filled to the brim with stories of innovation and tech in New Zealand’s wine industry, and more specifically in Marlborough. From a robot cruising some Marlborough vineyards this vintage, running field trials with new disease sensing technology, to the fully automated smart spray technology developed by SWE for Pernod Ricard Winemakers (see page 19), to Indevin’s work with Amazon Web Services to collect and manage a vast amount of data, the appetite for new and better ways of doing things continues to drive success.

I visited Indevin’s Bankhouse Vineyard on the last day of its Sauvignon Blanc harvest, to see the “single source of truth” developed to cover every aspect of the harvesting process – from vineyards, harvesters and harvest bins to the trucks and the wineries using internet of things sensors, which provide realtime data on wine presses, loading bins, pumps, flow meters, and temperatures. “Climate change is making harvest periods shorter and more challenging,” says Indevin Group winemaker Jason Cook. “Winemaking is an interesting paradigm of science and art. To make wine you need a positive tension between the two, however the manufacturing of wine lends itself to the ‘facts not feelings’ mantra, so having this data is invaluable.”

Some of that tech talk will be covered in the May Winepress, in the lead up to Tech Week in May, WinePro in June, and the opening of Marlborough’s Tech and Innovation Hub in July. New Zealand’s wine industry is known for its curiosity and innovation, says Wine Marlborough general manager Marcus Pickens in our WinePro preview on page 18. “It’s an ingenuity that helped Marlborough Wine become what it is in 50 short years. Now we are seeing groundbreaking startups working with future-focused growers and wine companies to supercharge that innovation.”

Despite myriad tech topics, the main theme of this edition is, quite predictably, vintage 2024. Because while winegrowing is a year-round game, there are a few weeks where the rubber truly hits the road for viticulturists, winemakers, marketers, accountants, truckdrivers, and an army of international cellar talent. This year’s light harvest, dry conditions, and excellent fruit have made it a “pretty dreamy vintage” says Josh Lee, the Huia winemaker on this month’s cover. “Of the 63 harvests this is the cleanest I have seen, by some margin,” says Matt Thomson, comparing vintage 2024 to his 32 harvests in Marlborough and 31 in the northern hemisphere. “It is incredible.”

There’s financial cost to the light yields, but Rosie Jarvis of BDO Marlborough says the region’s wine industry continues to be resilient, thanks in large part to the “saviour” of Sauvignon Blanc. “While other wine regions around the world turn to the ugly task of ripping out vines, Marlborough’s outlook continues to be positive, despite the pain of smaller lower yielding harvest.”

SOPHIE PREECE