Winepress - March 2016

Issue No. 256 / March 2016

Work Safe

Dam Builders

Matt Kramer

Alexandre Schmitt

Photo: Jim Tannock

@marlboroughwine

The Official Magazine of

www.wine-marlborough.co.nz

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In this issue...

Regulars

3

Editorial

4

From the Board

6 Report Tasman Crop Met

Features

9

Gen Y-ine Bhanupratap Vanga

26

The Block - te Pā

31

ANZ Wine Happenings

32

Industry News

Editor: Sophie Preece T: 027 308 4455 E: sophie@sophiepreece.co.nz

p16

American wine critic Matt Kramer says Sauvignon Blanc is the world’s most reliably good dry white wine and Marlborough Sauvignon is unmistakable.

14 WorkSafe Visits

WorkSafe New Zealand is checking up on Marlborough vineyards, and has plans for a specialised “toolkit” for the industry.

16 NZSVO

Numbers were crunched, techniques assessed, science assembled and examples sampled at the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Workshop in Marlborough last month.

p18

20 The Dam Builders

Printed by: Blenheim Print Ltd. T: 03 578 1322 Winepress is printed with vegetable oil based inks on elemental chlorine free paper which is sourced 100% from well managed forests and manufactured under ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems.

The International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration was tasked with reigniting people’s passion with Sauvignon Blanc, says Patrick Materman. “The reality is that there’s some great stuff happening.”

12 Matt Kramer

22

ISBC

The past few dry seasons have led to an increased push for water security, with dams large and small going in across Marlborough.

24 Alexandre Schmitt

A French perfumer is teaching the wine world a new language of aroma.

p20 WINEPRESS March 2016 | 1

2 | WINEPRESS March 2016

For Advertising contact: Ph: 03 577 9299 Web: www.wine-marlborough.co.nz harriet@wine-marlborough.co.nz Produced by: Wine Marlborough Free to all levy paying members Associate Members: $77 +GST

Wine Marlborough Board Clive Jones: cjones@nautilusestate.com Ben Ensor: ben.lisa@clear.net.nz Callum Linklater: callumandsarah@xtra.co.nz Jack Glover: jack.glover@accolade-wines.co.nz Jason Yank: jason@astrolabewines.co.nz Nick Entwistle: nick@wairauriverwines.co.nz

From the Editor The transformation of Marlborough’s wine industry from fledgling to soaring is truly remarkable. It’s remarkable for the sea of vines that has spread across the valleys in the past 40 years, for the exploration of sub-regions, and for the clamour of markets keen to taste some more.

It’s remarkable for the oodles of dollars it attracts, making up the lion’s share of the $1.54 billion recorded for New Zealand wine exports in 2015. If those exports hit their target of $2 billion by 2020, Marlborough will be to thank for it. That’s one of the reasons last month’s Sauvignon celebration was so important - to raise a glass to the variety that makes the industry what it is, and by extension to the region that makes 85% of it.

The transformation is also remarkable too, when it comes to what we know about what we grow, thanks to experience, knowledge and science. Forty years ago pioneers built an industry based on what happened in other regions of the world, along with some knowledge of soil types and frost risk here in Marlborough.

There’s been an incredibly steep learning curve in the decades since. These days, references like MIBP, 3MH, 3MHA and 4MMP are part of the vocabulary, scientists are using next generation sequencing (pg 22) to assess disease, and an iPhone app can help check your grapes for botrytis (pg 17).

Dr Damian Martin from Marlborough Plant & Food Research says the industry has reached a point where the science has to be highly sophisticated in order to add value. “There’s enough knowledge and enough experience out there that, from a science perspective, if we are going to make a difference we really need to be operating at the very pointy end of things.”

Helping them do that are the likes of Bhanupratap Vanga (pg 22), a plant pathologist who uses molecular tools to identify disease, and a trio of international interns currently working at the Marlborough Research Centre.

Their work will build on the wealth of knowledge forged by the industry over the past 40 years, and help it fly even higher.

Rhyan Wardman: rhyan@giesen.co.nz Samantha Wickham: samantha@ormondnurseries.co.nz

SOPHIE PREECE sophie@sophiepreece.co.nz

Simon Bishell: simon@caythorpe.nz Stuart Dudley: stuartd@villamaria.co.nz Tom Trolove: tom.trolove@framingham.co.nz

WINEPRESS March 2016 | 3

From Wine Marlborough MARCUS PICKENS

I wanted to share my thoughts with you about what happens behind the scenes here at Wine Marlborough and about the team you have.

I know us kiwis are more than likely just to get on with things and not put ourselves out there and proclaim they are good or even great at them.

However, sometimes things need to be said.

In this case, I am going to break the mould and suggest that it is here at Wine Marlborough that magic happens.

We have formidable expertise and deliver things that we’ve proven to you recently are not just good in a domestic sense, but things I believe are WORLD CLASS. You may have heard that last year the Marlborough Wine & Food Festival was rated by randomly surveyed attendees as having a satisfaction level of 4.76/5 – which the specialist event market research company Fresh:Info acknowledged as higher than almost all events they have ever surveyed, and about as high a ranking as can be achieved. It is similar to our own independent surveys of the past, which repeatedly indicated that approximately 97% of attendees would recommend their friends attend the event. Stunning stuff.

Reports and extensive feedback – both formal and informal chats on the street from wine people and attendees of course – indicate that this year’s event was at the same level. I firmly believe that the event is in a real sweet spot, and one that has been a vision and work of our dedicated Wine Marlborough team and Festival committee particularly over the past four years. It truly is Marlborough’s marquee event.

While I am not here to back-slap, the International Sauvignon Blanc

4 | WINEPRESS March 2016

Celebration appeared to be a critical success (we are waiting for survey results to accurately judge this) and from looking at the photos (we didn’t see too much of the event from the audience’s perspective as were flat-out behind the scenes) it truly looked world class.

It takes a lot of belief, commitment and hunger to deliver things of class.

From the outside the perception is that Wine Marlborough delivers events and maybe not too much else. It is an ongoing challenge to prove we are a lot more than that. Perhaps it is because we seem to deliver a number of events that it is perceived by many as this is solely what we do. But it’s not and we try to excel at so many different things.

Communicating our work in other areas remains a key priority.

What are we on to now? Well, we’ve just had a strategic session led by facilitator Mark Ward, who is Director of Business Engagement at Te Puna Whakatipu and Programme Director of FoodHQ, along with lead

collaborator with the Marlborough Research Centre’s Food and Beverage Innovation Cluster.

He challenged the board to identify the objectives and goals for the organisation for the next 1-3 years. We also discussed our purpose, which was best articulated as “to grow the dollar value per litre of Marlborough wine”, with flowon effects for everyone involved in our industry. Work on our strategic document will occur over harvest, the only time of year when the phone stops ringing, the emails slow and the meetings cease. And I am sure the board would be pleased to share it with you all in due course.

Ambassador Wine Industry Representative on RTO Joining the Destination Marlborough board is another chance to sell Marlborough’s story to the world, says Jane Hunter.

“Over the years I have travelled extensively marketing wine, but also marketing Marlborough at large, because at every event I inevitably get asked by someone to help them plan a forthcoming trip to Marlborough.

I often say I should be paid as an Ambassador for Tourism New Zealand.”

Last month the trustees of Destination Marlborough Trust Inc. announced that Jane had been appointed to the Board, along with Gavin Rutherford from KiwiRail.

Managing Director of Hunter’s Wines, Jane has been an important part of Marlborough’s wine industry since

the mid-1980s and has extensive governance experience, including as a Director of Plant and Food Crown Institute and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

She says her interest around visitors to the region will always have a wine input, but she also looks beyond wine, to put people in touch with the Marlborough Sounds, mussel tours, dining and beach walks at Kekerengu, biking and walking the Wither Hills and special events such as Garden Marlborough and the Wine & Food Festival.

Jane says things have changed in wine tourism over the past 30 years, and where they once had to think up “gimmicky events” to get people to visit the winery and Marlborough, now

the region is top-of-the-list for many people. “With the increasing number of cruise ships coming to the region, we need to re-think what we offer and how.”

Phone us today to discuss your Grape Harvesting requirements Ph: 578 6580 or 0274 441 404 41 St Leonards Road, Blenheim, roseag@xtra.co.nz

WINEPRESS March 2016 | 5

Table 1: Blenheim Weather Data – February 2016

February February 2016 February Period February

2016 compared to LTA LTA of LTA 2015 GDD’s for: Month - Max/Min¹ 290.9 132% 220.8 (1996-2015) 208.4 Month – Mean² 282.1 132% 213.0 (1996-2015) 200.1 Growing Degree Days Total Jul 15–Feb 16 – Max/Min¹ 1073.3 106% 1012.0 (1996-2015) 1029.3 Jul 15 - Feb 16 – Mean² 1108.5 106% 1044.7 (1996-2015) 1077.0 Mean Maximum (°C) 25.6 +2.5°C 23.1 (1986-2015) 23.5 Mean Minimum (°C) 14.5 +2.2°C 12.3 (1986-2015) 11.4 Mean Temp (°C) 20.0 +2.3°C 17.7 (1986-2015) 17.4 Grass Frosts (<= -1.0°C) 0 Equal 0.03 (1986-2015) 0 Air Frosts (0.0°C) 0 Equal 0.0 (1986-2015) 0 Sunshine hours 289.3 128% 226.9 (1930-2015) 264.4 Sunshine hours – lowest 133.6 2012 Sunshine hours – highest 298 1968 Sunshine hours total – 2016 521.7 107% 488.8 (1930-2015) 561.4 Rainfall (mm) 18.0 42% 43.1 (1930-2015) 15.2 Rainfall (mm) – lowest 1 1973 & 1983 Rainfall (mm) – highest 129 1936 Rainfall total (mm) – 2016 87.2 96% 91.2 (1930-2015) 19.6 Evapotranspiration – mm 142.9 130% 109.8 (1996-2015) 117.1 Avg. Daily Windrun (km) 243.7 96% 253.0 (1996-2015) 223.2 Mean soil temp – 10cm 19.8 +1.6°C 18.2 (1986-2015) 18.2 Mean soil temp – 30cm 22.5 +2.0°C 20.5 (1986-2015) 21.6

¹GDD’s Max/Min are calculated from absolute daily maximum and minimum temperatures ²GDD’s Mean are calculated from average hourly temperatures February 2016 was very warm, very sunny and fairly dry.

Temperature February 2016 is now the second warmest February on record for Blenheim for the 84 years 1933 – 2016. The warmest February mean temperature of 20.7°C was recorded in February 1998.

The mean maximum and mean

Table 2: Weekly temperatures during February 2016 February 2016 Mean Mean Mean Daily

°C Maximum Minimum Range 1st to 7th 20.3 25.7 14.9 10.8 8th to 15th 18.5 24.7 12.2 12.5 16th to 21st 20.3 24.9 15.7 9.2 22nd to 29th 21.0 26.8 15.1 11.7 Month Mean 20.0 (+2.3) 25.6 (+2.5) 14.5 (+2.2) 11.1 Long-term average 17.7 23.1 12.3 10.8 6 | WINEPRESS March 2016

minimum temperatures for February were 2.5°C and 2.2°C above their respective long-term averages (Table 2). 15 days recorded a maximum temperature of 25.0°C or greater.

However, only one day during the month, Thursday 25 February, with a maximum temperature of 32.2°C, exceeded 30°C in Blenheim. This was the hottest day in Blenheim since 6 February 2011, which recorded 33.35°C. Blenheim and Woodbourne temperatures For those of you who look at the daily maximum temperatures for Blenheim on TV, you may be wondering how it is that the TV reported a number of days during February 2016, when the maximum temperature was above 30°C. In contrast with the fact that Blenheim only recorded one day above 30°C. The daily maximum temperatures for Blenheim, as reported on TV come from NIWA’s weather station at Woodbourne, not from the Blenheim weather station located at the Marlborough Research Centre’s Grovetown Park campus, on SH1 just north of Blenheim.

The Woodbourne met station, which is 10 km further inland than the Blenheim met station, generally records slightly higher maximum temperatures and slightly lower minimum temperatures, and consequently a higher daily range in temperature (Table 3). The mean monthly temperature for Blenheim is slightly higher than Woodbourne, as are the growing degree days.

Woodbourne recorded five days during February when the maximum temperature was greater than 30°C,

compared to only one day in Blenheim.

Woodbourne’s maximum temperature for February was 34.5°C on the Friday 26th, whereas Blenheim only recorded 29.7°C on the 26th.

Summer temperatures Table 4 indicates that the first month of this past summer, December 2015, was considerably cooler than December 2014. December 2015 with a mean temperature of 15.9°C, (0.9°C below average), was the coolest

since December 2006. Fortunately temperatures picked up in January and more so in February 2016. January 2015 and January 2016 both recorded the same mean temperature of 18.0°C, 0.8C above average. February 2016 (20.1°C) was much warmer (+2.7°C) than February 2015 (17.4°C). The mean maximum temperatures for summer 2014-15 and 2015-16 were only 0.1°C different. However, the mean minimum temperature for summer 2015-16 was 0.8°C warmer than the summer of

Table 3: Blenheim and Woodbourne temperatures days – February 2016 February 2016 Blenheim Mean °C 20.0 Mean Maximum °C 25.6 Mean Minimum °C 14.5 Daily Range °C 11.1 Growing Degree Days 290.9

and growing degree Woodbourne 19.6 26.6 12.7 13.8 279.8

Table 4: Monthly temperatures over the summer of 2014-15 compared to 2015-16

2014-15 2015-16 2014-15 2015-16 2014-15 2015-16

Mean Mean Mean Max Mean Max Mean Min Mean Min

°C °C °C °C °C °C December 17.3 15.9 22.2 21.3 12.3 10.6 January 18.8 18.8 24.3 23.3 13.2 14.2 February 17.4 20.1 23.5 25.7 11.4 14.5 Mean 17.8 18.3 23.3 23.4 12.3 13.1 +/- LTA +0.3 +0.8 +0.5 +0.6 +0.1 +0.9 LTA 17.5 17.5 22.8 22.8 12.2 12.2 L.T.A. – long term average

Figure 1: Normalized Growing degree days for Blenheim: days above (+) or below (-) the long-term average for the period 1 September to 30 April

2014-15; i.e. night time temperatures over summer in January and February 2016 were quite a lot warmer than in 2015. So overall, this past summer 2015-16, was warmer than the previous year 2014-15.

Growing Degree-Days The upwards direction of the black growing degree-day line for February 2016 is a direct result of the warm temperatures. Previous issues of Met Report have made reference to the very warm temperatures and high growing degree days from mid-January 1998 onwards, as indicated in Figure 1. The growing degree day total for February 2016 (290.9), was only slightly lower than February 1998 (299.8). Total GDDs for January and February 2016 were 563.3, compared to 581.6 GDDs for January and February 1998.

Sunshine February 2016 recorded 289.3 hours sunshine or 128% of the long-term average. February 2016 is now the 3rd sunniest February on record for the 87 years 1930-2016. The second sunniest is February 2013 with 291.1 hours and the sunniest February on record is 1968, with 298.0 hours.

Sunshine hours in December 2015 were well above average and in marked contrast with December 2014, which recorded well below average sunshine (Table 5). The reverse was true in January, with 2016 recording much lower sunshine than 2015. Both February 2015 and 2016 recorded well above average sunshine. The end result was that total sunshine hours for the three summer months of 2015-16 were well above average.

Rainfall February 2016 recorded 18.0 mm rain or 42% of the long-term average.

February 2015 rainfall was 15.2 mm February 2014 rainfall was 18.0 mm February 2013 rainfall was 18.6 mm Blenheim only recorded rain on two days during February 2016; 11.0 mm on 17th and 7.0 mm on 18th. For the seventh consecutive year Blenheim has recorded lower than average February rainfall (2010-2016). February rainfall WINEPRESS March 2016 | 7

totals have been almost the same for the last four years (20132016).

The summer of 2015-16 recorded 104.6 mm rain, or 75% of the long-term average. It is remarkable that although this total was well below average it was still double the rainfall received in the previous summer (2014-15). This is a reflection of the fact that in the 20 months from July 2014 to February 2016, only two months recorded well above average rainfall (June 2015 and January 2016).

Table 5: Sunshine hours over the summer of 2014-15 compared to 2015-16

2014-15 % of 2015-16 % of Long-term

LTA LTA Average December 222.6 90% 294.8 120% 246.2 January 296.9 113% 232.4 89% 261.9 February 264.1 116% 289.3 128% 226.9 Total hours & % of LTA 783.6 107% 816.5 111% 735.0 Table 6: Rainfall for the summers of 2014-15 and 2015-16

2014-15 % of 2015-16 % of Long-term

mm LTA mm LTA Average December 31.8 66% 17.4 36% 48.1 January 4.4 9% 69.2 144% 48.1 February 15.2 35% 18.0 42% 43.1 Total 51.4 mm 37% 104.6 mm 75% 139.3 mm

Evapotranspiration Potential evapotranspiration of 142.9 mm was the highest February total on record for the 20 years, 1996 – 2015; 130% of February’s long-term average of 109.8 mm. The total was much higher than average due to the warm days, high daily radiation (sunshine) and low rainfall.

Potential water deficit for summer 2015-16 Potential evapotranspiration for the three months December 2015 to February 2016 was 431.0 mm (LTA is 390.7 mm). In contrast the rainfall for those three months was 104.6 mm (LTA is 139.3 mm).

The potential water deficit was 326.4 mm. The longterm average water deficit for summer (Dec – Feb; 19962015) is 266.3 mm.

Rob Agnew Plant & Food Research / Marlborough Research Centre

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Somewhere Special Sauvignon Blanc is worth cheering about, say those impressed by an international wine gathering in Marlborough.

SOPHIE PREECE If you build it, they will come. That was the title of a session at Sauvignon 2016, but serves as well for the event itself.

After 18 months of building it dreaming, scheming, inviting and implementing – they did come, and they came from all over the world.

The inaugural International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration, held in Marlborough early last month, drew 65 highly influential international wine writers and sommeliers, 70 Sauvignon Blanc producers, and 19 speakers from around the world. They included the likes of Robert Joseph, who spoke of the risks of reinvention, Oz Clarke, who spoke of place, and Matt Kramer (pg 12), who heaped high praise on Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in particular, was a fantastic accomplishment, said Matt.

“And it’s not something to be taken lightly.”

The 375 guests enjoyed three days of fascinating seminars, looking at the past and future of the variety, the impact of region on style, the science of Sauvignon and the markets it goes to.

Sauvignon 2016 chair Patrick Materman said the celebration was about an exciting variety and all the “very cool” things happening with it.

It was about reigniting people’s passion with Sauvignon, and particularly the gatekeepers who are often “ho-hum” about it.

“The reality is that there’s some great stuff happening and I think we managed to convince them of that.”

Some needed little convincing, with Oz Clarke entrancing the room with his recollection of the moment he discovered Sauvignon Blanc had a sense of place.

“Montana 1983 Sauvignon Blanc was introducing itself to the world and my world of wine would never be the same again. Nobody’s world of wine would ever be the same again,” he told an audience at the Marlborough Convention Centre, rebranded as Sauvignon HQ for the event.

“There had never before been a wine that crackled and spat its flavours at you from the glass. A wine that took the whole concept of green and expanded it, stretched it and pummelled it, and gloriously reinterpreted it on a riot of gooseberry and lime zest, green

apples, green pepper, sliced through with an ice-cold knife of steel. Piles of fresh green grass, the leaves from a blackcurrant bush and, in case all of this was just too much to take, a friendly dab of honey and the chaste kiss of peach.”

It tasted of a somewhere no-one knew, he said. “It tasted of a somewhere that hadn’t existed before - ever. It tasted of a whole new world of wine that was going to be full of somewheres that hadn’t existed before.”

Marlborough industry members were similarly enthusiastic.

Cloudy Bay assistant viticulturist Matt Duggan, speaking at the Wild Bunch alternative style tasting at Wairau River Wines, said Sauvignon Blanc was an amazing wine that had put

Clockwise from top, Jamie Marfell, Philip Gregan, WINEPRESS March 2016 | 9 Peter Nixon, Matt Duggan

New Zealand on the world map. “I went to the Pinot celebration in 2013, and thought to myself, ‘why are we doing this?’ We should be celebrating Sauvignon.”

People in Marlborough were prone to saying “it’s just Savvy”, but New Zealand’s wine industry was built on its foundations, he said.

The evolution of Sauvignon Blanc over the past 30 years was a popular topic at the event, with the words aged, wild ferment, oaked and sub-regional challenging the classic vocabulary of Marlborough’s flagship wine.

Stoneleigh winemaker Jamie Marfell said the alternative styles were getting attention now, but had in fact been developed over several years, as some of the region’s winemakers and viticulturists evolved their skills to allow for age and complexity in the wines.

Now there was a “fragmentation” in the market that allowed those at the commercial level to produce “stonking good wines that make us famous”, while individual producers “push the boundaries into this more musical, corruptive, innovative, disruptive space”.

The ISBC was rich with opportunity for industry networking, with dozens of the world’s most influential wine buyers, distributors and writers here to talk Sauvignon Blanc – at the seminars, at the tastings and at the three sublime social engagements showcasing Marlborough and its wine.

Patrick says as well as insights into Sauvignon Blanc, the event

gave international visitors some understanding of New Zealand’s culture, with what he calls “relaxed sophistication”.

Peter Nixon from Dan Murphy’s in Australia said the ISBC was as impressive as any other professional wine event he had attended internationally in his more than 25 years in the industry. “Not only were the speakers of the highest calibre and highly engaging across all relevant categories: viticulture, winemaking, the past, the future, threats, opportunities and of course the consumer, but this was also the opportunity to share ideas.”

“Montana 1983 Sauvignon Blanc was introducing itself to the world and my world of wine would never be the same again.

Nobody’s world of wine would ever be the same again.” Oz Clarke

10 | WINEPRESS March 2016

The event gave great insight into key Sauvignon Blanc regions internationally and the relevance - and uniqueness - of Marlborough, he said. “The event challenged some long-held personal perceptions and the region itself was utterly beautiful, the fresh produce sumptuous. The welcome and camaraderie was truly special.”

Nautilus Estate brought ten people

associated with the brand to the event – including five from Australia, two from Canada, two from the United States and one from the United Kingdom.

“We think it’s a really good investment,” winemaker Clive Jones said at the Spy Valley Classic Tasting. “Those guests will remember this hopefully forever and become friends for life, and that’s what it’s all about.You can leverage so much from it.”

Clive, who also chairs the board of Wine Marlborough, a principal sponsor of the event, said the challenge now was to get even more people engaged going forward. “It’s been a brilliant event and now it will hopefully get some momentum. I am looking forward to the next one in 2019.”

New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan, also speaking from the Spy Valley tasting, said New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in particular, is the wine that has made New Zealand world famous as a wine producer.

“This conference is about simply marketing that and providing a platform for future growth.”

The committee met at the end of last month to discuss the next ISBC, to be held in Marlborough again in 2019 and from then on every four years.

“We’ll regroup, pull it together, go through the feedback and work out where we can improve the event,” says Patrick. “That might mean more space for gatekeepers, with fewer people representing producers, to get best leverage”.

A Classic Train trip to Kekerengu for a Kiwiana Beach Party at The Store

Talking and Tasting

A Wild Bunch tasting at Wairau River

Gorgeous Garden Party at Timara Lodge

A Wearable Arts show that truly wowed

Photos by Richard Briggs, courtesy of New Zealand Winegrowers

All wrapped up in a beautiful Gala Dinner at Brancott Estate

WINEPRESS March 2016 | 11

Talent Beats Luck Marlborough’s wine industry should revel in its success, says a leading wine critic.

SOPHIE PREECE Marlborough’s wine industry is suffering all the angst of a certain age and stage, according to American wine critic Matt Kramer.

“So now it’s 45 years, and there seems, as I perceive it, to be a sense of a little midlife crisis - that somehow you have missed something,” he told a 375 strong audience at the International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration last month.

His advice was simple: Get over it. “You have created one of the world’s most successful wines.You’ve created something that can be identified in a blind tasting by anybody.You’ve created a terroir the world has never known.You’ve taken a variety that is grown in practically every place but the moon, and you have created something nobody else has created.

What the hell do you want?

Mermaids?”

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in particular, was a fantastic accomplishment. “And it’s not something to be taken lightly,” he said, remarking on the American tendency to celebrate success, not cut it down.

Speaking on day three of the event, the influential writer called Sauvignon Blanc the world’s most reliably good dry white wine. “Is it the world’s greatest dry white wine? Does it scale

the pinnacles? Hell no…But day in, day out; country in, country out; consumer in, consumer out - I don’t care if you don’t know a damn thing about wine or if you’re one of the world’s great wine geniuses – Sauvignon Blanc is the world’s most reliably good wine.”

And Marlborough’s Sauvignon Blanc was “unmistakable”. He asked the audience to imagine being a winemaker

“You’ve had your luck, you’ve got your talent, the rest of it is just more and continued success. Which speaking as an American, is a wonderful thing. Enjoy it.”

12 | WINEPRESS February 2016

told to create a wine that everyone will love, and that will sell in large quantities at varying price points and taste like no other wine in the world. A wine that would be instantly recognisable, even by amateurs in a blind tasting, with a terroir so distinctive that it was unmistakable. “Your response, if you have any sense at all, would be ‘f*#@ off ’.”

But that was exactly what Marlborough had achieved, albeit thanks to more luck

than talent, he claimed. Now at the end of phase one, 45-years-old, luck can no longer beat talent (LBT), but talent must beat luck (TBL).

“So what talents are needed now that you’ve had the luck? It’s clear that you are going, collectively, where you necessarily must go.”

He said the trajectory of all fine wine regions was the same – from the general to the specific – and Marlborough’s talent had seen sub-regions developed and a “somewhereness” recognised.

It also had the mix of big and small players required of a mature ecosystem. He said the “big dinosaurs” that eat chunks of the market played a vital role, introducing Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to places and people in the world still waiting to discover it. “Far from not wanting such a thing, you should celebrate it.”

Despite the inevitable “handwringers and naysayers” predicting Marlborough Sauvignon’s star would fall, it had an installed base of customers, the acclaim of the world, and a “pretty good price”, he said. “You’ve had your luck, you’ve got your talent, the rest of it is just more and continued success. Which speaking as an American, is a wonderful thing. Enjoy it.”

Xin Zheng A Scottish castle in a Chinese vineyard was just one of the contrasts Sue Blackmore found when visiting a former NMIT student.

A former student from Marlborough Boys College and NMIT’s Viticulture and Oenology degree is now managing the viticulture and winemaking for Treaty Port Vineyards in the Mulan valley.

Before coming to Marlborough to study, Xin Zheng (Hans) was a high school student from Qingdao, which is the historic capital of China’s Shandong prefecture. After graduating in 2006, he gained valuable experience and skills working at Delegat, before heading back to China.

The Treaty Port Vineyards are 120km south of Yantai, or a five-hour bus trip north from Qingdao along a very empty six-lane highway. I visited Xin there before last harvest, and found a valley of contradictions, with modern wineries and 200ha of planted vines, but a very traditional Chinese backdrop.

The villagers, who are the workforce for all three of the wineries in the valley, dress traditionally, use rotary hoes with trailers as vehicles and find foreigners a novelty. This may change as the valley is garnering interest and investment from China and also France - LafiteRothschild produced their first wine

from the valley in 2013 and will have a 25ha vineyard by mid-2016.

On a short walk from the quaint Mulanguo village to Xin’s winery, we rounded a corner and saw a stone Scottish castle in the middle of the vineyards. Xin explained that the owner, Yorkshireman Chris Ruffle, used a Scottish architect and sent a team of Chinese workers to the UK to train as stonemasons.

The initial 35,000 vines (an experimental fruit salad of twelve varietals) were air freighted from France and planted in 2005. The attempts to develop the vineyard organically proved challenging with high humidity, rampant weed growth and potential rain at harvest. Xin explained that understanding how to get the best out of the vineyard is important and local knowledge has been key to improving crop size and quality. He now manages the vineyard with the assistance of a local ex-table grape grower, with 15 hectares planted predominantly in Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Muscat.

He says the Chinese industry is still emerging from the rapid downturn in

demand and decrease in prices that are the result of President Xi Jinping’s anticorruption laws, because government officials used to be the major purchasers of international and local wine. “Now the local industry has to stand on its own feet honestly and build from there”.

Xin says there has been pressure to produce varietals and styles of wine to fit the market, rather than the style the vineyard would best produce. In the past foreign consultants and overseaseducated Chinese running wine shows had influenced the Chinese market desires.

According to Xin, this is changing as the Chinese wine palate is developing rapidly amongst the growing middle classes. His main aims in the next few years are to produce the best wine possible in the local conditions and, with the owner’s support, to gradually modify the varietal mix.

Sue Blackmore is Educational Developer and Acting Viticulture and Wine Manager at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.

WINEPRESS March 2016 | 13

Working Safer WorkSafe New Zealand vehicles have become a familiar sight in vineyards over recent months.

SOPHIE PREECE Residue testing for organophosphates is one of the health and safety measures being promoted in Marlborough vineyards by WorkSafe New Zealand.

Nick Entwistle from Wairau River Wines says a WorkSafe assessment last month motivated the company to investigate residue testing for vineyard staff as a new form of hazard control.

“We are covering all the current responsibilities well, and this is about pushing to the next level of what is the best practice you can do to support your workers in not exposing them to any risk.”

Anyone using sprays in the vineyard is given gloves, safety glasses and respirators, and works in a contained tractor with cab filters to catch particles.

But the testing for impacts from organophosphates, which are an active

14 | WINEPRESS March 2016

ingredient in insecticides, was about going “one step further” to make sure the controls in place are working.

Wairau River has approached Nelson Nursing Services, which conducts hearing tests for the company’s winery staff, to obtain more information and consent forms they will require to test employees for spray impacts.

It will begin with a baseline blood test before the next spray season, to assess each individual’s levels of cholinesterase, which helps the nervous system work properly. Its production can be impacted by organophosphates, so subsequent tests will indicate whether there is cause for concern.

Nick says the wine industry has a high level of professionalism, which impacts positively on health and safety protocols.

The wearing of helmets on motorbikes in the agricultural sector is a good example, he says. “You drive around Marlborough now and you don’t see many companies with 4WD bikes.”

Instead, vineyard workers use ATVs with roll protection and seat belts. “It’s a response from the industry to say ‘quad bikes are good but we can do better’.”

Other well established wine companies, such as Villa Maria and Delegat, have rigorous corporate regulations, and provide a good yardstick for others in the industry, he says. And protecting employees using best practice makes good sense for wine companies, which have a brand to protect as well.

Despite some negative feeling towards being watched by WorkSafe, their visits do tend to “spark people into action”, Nick says, noting a gradual and generational change in attitudes towards health and safety.

“The number 8 wire attitude has been very successful for New Zealand, but when it comes to health and safety, it’s not enough.

The ‘common sense’ now is that we train people so they know about the hazards. It’s that Wairau River Wines vineyard wineries and operator Terry Jones in some vineyards put of the protective gear used by in the effort to vineyard operators to protect make sure their against chemical exposure. In the background is a recycling people are safe.” sprayer, which reduces the risk of spray drift and wasted spray into the environment.

WorkSafe sent letters to Marlborough vineyard operators late last year, informing them it would be conducting both scheduled and unannounced visits from early January to the end of May. The letter said the visits were to help people get their health and safety up to scratch and target areas of concern to the industry.

In response to questions from Winepress, a spokesperson at WorkSafe said the organisation had visited approximately six vineyards in Marlborough by mid-February and would continue to focus on agriculture visits in the region as part of the Safer Farms work programme.

She said there was no specific concern about viticulture operators, but it was recognised internationally that proactive work had the biggest impact on improving workplace health and safety. Assessment visits allowed for engagement and education, as well as enforcement. “We try to give businesses a chance to work towards compliance prior to resorting to options such as prosecution.”

“The number 8 wire attitude has been very successful for New Zealand, but when it comes to health and safety, it’s not enough.”

RURAL & VITICULTURE EARTHWORKS SPECIALISTS

DEVELOPING A VINEYARD?

TALK TO US ABOUT Earthworks Contouring Drainage Dams Intermediate Posts & Stays

Health and Safety Toolkit WorkSafe’s Agriculture Programme Manager Al McCone is working with New Zealand Winegrowers on a simple “toolkit” that’s specific to the viticulture industry. It will talk in simple language about legal obligations, ensuring staff are engaged and participating in managing workplace health and safety, types of risk management and how they can be communicated to people coming on to the property.

Jeffrey Clarke, General Manager of Advocacy at New Zealand Winegrowers, says the toolkit will be a useful tool. “Health and safety compliance can sometimes seem a bit daunting, especially with a new Act coming into force. The new toolkit should help our members cut through the clutter, and focus on what really matters - how to make sure everyone connected with our industry stays healthy and safe, in a way that makes sense for them.”

CONTACT US TODAY

Hamish Blackwell m: 021 998 440 e: hamish@hblackwell.co.nz web: www.hblackwell.co.nz EARTHWORKS

DAMS

DRAINAGE

WINEPRESS March 2016 | 15

Technically Speaking A technical workshop on Sauvignon Blanc explored the variety’s diversity.

SOPHIE PREECE Numbers were crunched, techniques assessed, science assembled and examples sampled at the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Workshop in Marlborough last month.

The technical session, run by the New Zealand Society for Viticulture and Oenology, offered viticulturists and winemakers a detailed view of the variety, in the field, in the lab and in the winery, says workshop chair Dr Rengasamy Balasubramaniam (Bala) of Delegat.

Following the theme “Diversity is what sets us apart and brings us together”, the workshop ran immediately before the International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration, and drew on some of the same speakers, including Dr Jamie Goode, who provided a summary of the various Sauvignon Blanc growing regions of the world.

While Marlborough has a unique offering to the international consumer, he stressed the importance of understanding consumer needs and constantly changing demographics.

The importance of value-price offerings should not be underestimated, he said. Although New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc continues to have a point of difference, countries such as Chile and South Africa and the USA must be watched, as they try to emulate what’s happening here.

The workshop also assessed wines from Marlborough’s sub regions. Bala says while those sub-regions each brought something unique to the wine, it was also clear that vineyard management

16 | WINEPRESS March 2016

and winemaking techniques were key to creating New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc a quintessential Workshop chair Dr Balasubramaniam Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. urine” can be apparent as well, he said.

“What it does tell you is that the Dr Damian Martin spoke on winemaker can influence the style of wine that is made, by the yeasts and the conventional versus current views, and Dr Mike Trought gave an overview of techniques they use.” He emphasised the uniqueness of climate, soils and risks that diversity was not only found in of the various grape growing regions of single vineyard or sub-regional wines, New Zealand. but in blends that created a complexity As well as heading the committee of flavours. organising the event, Bala gave a Auckland University Professor Paul presentation on managing the effects Kilmartin, in his session on thiols, of water stress on yield and quality. said the well-known intense style of Delegat produced two wines from the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was same block for the event, showing site often characterised by prominent specific impacts from the dry 2014tropical fruity notes, combined with 2015 season. a fresh green edge. The greener The first wine was from a strip of land spectrum has been associated with at the edge of the Taylor River, where the methoxypyrazines such as MIBP, 60% silt loam, surface stones and low and wines containing a high level of this compound Yield & Yield Components and Juice Analyses exhibit a distinct Yield and Composition Unit Stressed Moderately capsicum/ green Stressed bean note.

Yield/hectare Tonnes 10.9 12.6 The varietal thiols Bunch weight Grams 109 126 (3MH, 3MHA Berries/bunch No. 61 63 and 4MMP) have Individual berry weight Grams 1.7 1.9 been associated Fruit exposure % 100 60 more with the Juice extraction L/t 777 782 tropical/ fruity/ Brix 20.5 21.6 passionfruit pH 2.92 3.01 descriptors, while Ta g/L 9.3 9 recognising that Thiol analyses further aromas 3MH ng/L 3,405 4,259 such as “sweaty 3MHA ng/L 460 812 armpit” and “cat’s 4MMP ng/L <11 <11

water holding capacity meant the shut off of the Southern Valleys Irrigation Scheme in February 2015 resulted in a month of water stress.

The second parcel was from the same block, but further from the river, with silt over stony-silt loam, which was free draining with moderate water holding capacity, resulting in moderately stressed vines after the irrigation shut down.

By April, the severely water stressed vines had suffered major leaf loss, and at harvest had 100% fruit exposure, fewer berries, lower bunch weights and brix of 20.5. “It’s not ready, but you can’t

leave it out there because the canopy will shut down and berries would start to shrivel up.”

As a result, “the wine didn’t have mouth feel, depth of character and what I call a distinct Marlborough characteristic in it”.

The moderately stressed vines retained 60% of their leaf cover and were harvested at the same time at 21.6 brix. Bala says the experiment showed the impact of stress on fruit yield and quality, and also the need to manage vines specific to sites.

Marlborough has great diversity,

thanks to its various soils, climate and viticulture management techniques, he says. “The resulting wines are able to express the numerous underlying layers of flavours through the flavour precursors. Winemakers are also able to utilise various techniques to express the desired flavours which contribute to the blends and uniqueness of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.”

The NZSVO is considering a workshop in Marlborough in 2017 on sparkling wine production.

Botrytis Watch Growers can now use their Apple to check their grapes SOPHIE PREECE Last month’s botrytis scare may boost interest in an iPhone app developed to assess the severity of botrytis bunch rot (BBR) on white wine grapes.

The underlying software for RotBot™ was created by Dr Gareth Hill as part of his PhD, then developed through work with HortPlus, for the smartphone app version for iOS. Gareth, a scientist at Plant & Food Research in Auckland, is now working with HortPlus to add BBR epidemic prediction functionality to the app.

“We also have plans to expand RotBot™ further in the future, particularly onto different smartphone platforms.” That work could include using the built-in GPS functionality of the iPhone to provide “heat maps” of BBR in a block, vineyard or even region, he says. It could also be developed to ensure users are sampling bunches in a way that removes as much user bias as possible and to allow “cloud synchronisation” for large-scale vineyard

and block management.

“We see RotBot, and smartphone apps in general, as a great way to get our research out to the industry as quickly as possible, and hope to engage the wine industry in the near future to see what technology they would like to see released,” he says.

Dr Damian Martin from Marlborough Plant & Food Research says there was a severe botrytis infection period in Marlborough last month, but for many Sauvignon Blanc vineyards veraison was not well advanced so the risk of widespread infection is low. “On the other hand, the risk of localised infections in early sites and early varieties is quite high.”

He says the best thing growers can do is be “very vigilant” to keep an

Dr Gareth Hill

eye on how small botrytis infections develop over the coming weeks. “Even if it doesn’t rain, heavy dews can keep the infections ticking over. Manually reducing bunch on bunch clumping where canes might overlap helps slow disease progression.”

He says RotBot™ will help growers objectively measure and track the progression of botrytis infections, “which can then inform discussions with their company viticultural representatives.”

For more information on RotBot™ go to www.rotbot.co.nz.

WINEPRESS March 2016 | 17

Growing Sustainability As part of a new series on sustainability in Marlborough’s wine industry, Kono’s new Chief Executive Rachel Taulelei talks about the fish, the land and the guardians.

SOPHIE PREECE Like many New Zealanders, Rachel Taulelei grew up knowing the luxury of fetching a feed from the sea, whether plucking pipis from the sand and mussels from the rocks, or dropping a line off the edge of a boat. Unlike most of us, she’s made a career of promoting – and protecting – New Zealand’s kai moana.

Speaking at the International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration in Marlborough last month, Kono’s new Chief Executive talked of the genesis and development of her sustainable seafood company Yellow Brick Road, and how kaitiakitanga, guardianship, is also a core aspect of Kono.

“My world view, if you will, is that we are placeholders, with many who have come before and many who will come after us. My job on a daily basis is to protect that legacy and cut the grass for those who are coming after me. If I don’t do that with my lens of sustainability, then frankly I won’t get anywhere near success.”

Yellow Brick Road began 10 years ago, sending line-caught seafood from select fishermen in New Zealand to chefs in the United States, where Rachel had worked as Trade Commissioner.

During her time in North America, hooking New Zealand food and beverage producers up with marketing partners, she saw the seafood she loved pass through a multitude of hands before ending up with a chef.

“I saw a lot of hard work going into

18 | WINEPRESS March 2016

the catch and harvesting and processing of New Zealand food products.

And equally, a huge amount of work going into the presentation of those products when they got to the restaurants.”

Along the way, they ran the risk of losing their integrity, she said.

She founded Yellow Brick Road in 2006, and sent seafood to the states for six months, intent on closing the gaps between those who catch and those who cook. Then she gave some to chefs locally, who reported it was better than most they had seen come into their kitchens. “Mostly this is because we had morphed, much to my surprise, into a nation of skinless, boneless fillet eaters.”

New Zealand was rightly focussed on its export markets, but risking its tourism industry, which needed to provide an excellent food and wine proposition. So she stopped exporting product and began to send the seafood, along with the story of its fishermen and provenance, to restaurants throughout New Zealand.

At that time, the commercial space in New Zealand was still pretty orthodox in its approach to wild fisheries, which she considered a jewel in the crown.

“They were quite firmly fixed on a

Rachel Taulelei says the concept of protecting people, profit and planet – as kaitiaki, or guardians - has been dear to Maori “since time immemorial”.

volume game against a value game.”

Yellow Brick Road came in with a different perspective, seeing a resource that needed to be treated with kid gloves. “There’s a very high demand around the world for our product and a limited supply, and consequently the space we should play in is that of high value.”

In 2006, people easily comprehended the value of free range pork or eggs, but the concept of sustainability in seafood was not well understood she said. It remains one of “the most overused and least understood words in our vernacular”. So Yellow Brick Road “picked responsibility as its space” and went into line-fished catch from known fishermen, who she sees as guardians.

Now the company has relationships with around 20 fishermen selected because they catch and harvest and farm New Zealand seafood in responsible ways. “We look carefully at our fishermen so we can hold hand on heart and say they’re not catching the

last gurnard in the ocean.”

Over the years the company broadened its concept of sustainability, to take into account more than seabirds and fish-stocks.Veering away from the certification route, they also looked at whether local people were employed in the process, whether they were paid a living wage, and the levels of health and safety in their workplace.

The company didn’t set out to be the poster-child for sustainability, she said.

“But we were very, very happy to take up that mantel, because we were small and could agitate around the edges.”

Rachel sold her business to Kono last

year and took over as CEO of what she calls an amazing whanau business with horticultural and seafood interests, as well as Annie’s fruit bars and Tohu wine. “It goes under the radar, but it’s a phenomenal business spread across the top of the South.”

Kono, which translates as food basket, is owned by descendants of the original 254 Maori land owners of Te Tau Ihu, the top of the South, one of whom was Rachel’s great-great-grandfather.

She came to the role with set ideas of what business and sustainability were.

“I understood about the planet, about profit, and I had a pretty good handle

on what I wanted for the people I was working with. What I have now is the ability to wrap legacy around those pillars of sustainability.”

The best path was not about certifications, influence or bottom line, but about how your hardwiring and mind-set drive your behaviours, she told the Sauvignon 2016 audience.

“Ultimately it’s about getting clarity of what that is and it’s about conviction to do the right thing with your lands, with your resources, with your people and your time and your businesses, when no one is watching.”

Toitū New Zealand’s Sustainable Winegrowing Programme was showcased to a host of international media and wine influencers at Marisco Vineyard last month.

New Zealand Winegrowers held The Importance of Toitū (eternal sustainability) the morning after the International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration finished, so visiting wine writers could learn about developments in sustainability.

Six wine companies from around the country shared their organisation’s stories, with Anton Rasmussen from Marisco talking of the importance of legacy and Adam McCone from Spy Valley emphasising the practical benefits of sustainable choices.

“It’s easy to make the decision to do something if it makes our wine better or, like the solar panels, it makes good environmental and economic sense,” Adam told guests.

Philip Manson, New Zealand Winegrowers’ (NZW) General Manager of Sustainability, said 94% of the country’s vineyards were accredited under the Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand Programme, with another 7% of vineyard land certified organic or biodynamic.

“NZW is very proud of its sustainable winegrowing programme, which has been running for 20 years,” he said.

“Whether you are large or small, in the North Island or South Island, running conventionally or organically, the Sustainable Winegrowing seven pillars of sustainability ring true, and are at the core of everything we do as an industry.”

Fabian Yukich spoke of Villa Maria’s journey towards becoming sustainable, including relationships with the Maori community near its Auckland winery, organic vineyards, and major efforts to reduce its waste and energy use.

Clive Paton of Ata Rangi has planted more than 60,000 trees in the past decade, has never used insecticide on his vineyards, and puts crushed bottle glass under vines

to reflect heat and suppress weeds. He said he was proud to be part of an industry that is serious about sustainability.

Craig Erasmus from Amisfield spoke about working with nature, not against it, and outlined the work that has gone into developing New Zealand’s first wetland winery waste-water recycling plant at their Otago site.

Daniel Watson from Craggy Range outlined how they’re working to reduce herbicides and focus on data collection and staff education to detect viruses, to lessen the impact they have on the environment.

Philip says consumers are becoming more interested in understanding what goes into the products that they consume, “and the sustainable winegrowing programme provides a framework for the industry to demonstrate their sustainable credentials, to give consumers peace of mind”.

The Seven Pillars of Sustainability Biodiversity Soil, Water and Air Energy Chemicals Byproducts People Business

WINEPRESS March 2016 | 19

The Dam Builders Small dams are proving big business in Marlborough.

SOPHIE PREECE Marlborough’s dam builders have been busy over the past few years, with an increased push for water security.

Steve Wilkes of Wilkes RM says the past couple of dry summers “have kicked off the interest again”, with dams of various sizes going in on vineyard land throughout the province.

The resource management consultant points out one of 1200 cubic metres “which is tiny”, then the new Leefield Station dam, (pictured), which holds 320,000m³ of water.

MDC Resource Management Officer Glen Parker says the restrictions on irrigation last summer “scared quite a few people” and there’s been a boost to dam application numbers, “including relatively small dams.”

The Marlborough District Council (MDC) issued eight resource consents for dams in 2015, with a total volume of 411,500m³ of capacity. That’s up from three consents totalling 126,150m³ in 2014 and one of 75,000 in 2013.

Two consents have already been issued this year, for a relatively small total of 23,000m³.

However, those numbers don’t take into account the small unconsented dams going in, some of which might contain as much water as a residential swimming pool.

The Marlborough District Council issued eight resource consents for dams in 2015, with a total volume of 411,500m³ of capacity. That’s up from three consents totalling 126,150m³ in 2014 and one of 75,000 in 2013.

20 | WINEPRESS March 2016

Hamish Blackwell

Demand for smaller storage capacity has been strong, says Hamish Blackwell of Damit, who has built seven dams since the company was established last year, in partnership with irrigation firm Liquid Action.

Hamish says while working on vineyard developments through his other company H.Blackwell Contracting, he came across people who were “lost” in their attempts to get water security.

Their dam needs were like a tractor shed on a farm, compared to a freight warehouse at an industrial estate, and could be approached with far less rigmarole than large corporate project, he says.

In a number of cases, those dams could be built as a permitted activity, and were possible on a far smaller budget than the “freight warehouse” version, he says.

The company assesses the dams with a tick-list to see if they need consent, then manages the design and build, including consents and engineering work where required. “We started last winter and haven’t stopped since. We’ve been building dams full-time.”

Glen says there are some “trigger levels” that require a resource consent for a

Steve Wilkes at Leefield Station

dam. If the wall is 4 metres or higher, the dam holds more than 20,000m³, the contributing catchment is more than 50ha in area, the dam intersects a ground water, or it is built within 500m upstream of a dwelling or public roadway, the dam needs a consent. It also needs consent if it is an on-stream dam, built across a waterway, he says.

“We try to avoid that kind of thing.”

Dams that do not trigger any of these are permitted activities, and while those building them are supposed to alert the council, many go under the radar.

“They are supposed to give us records, but a lot of them don’t.”

Most of the applications for resource consent are not publicly notified. “As far as we are concerned, as long as they are designed to the latest standards then they are as safe as houses.” In general, council encourages people to build dams, because it takes pressure off the

water resource, he says.

Steve Wilkes says as more water restrictions come in, there will likely be more dams. Each one needs to be assessed on a case by case basis and landowners should be aware of the consequences of building a dam without consent, and then finding it requires one.

He says it can be difficult under the current rules to build a dam that doesn’t require consent of some nature. “When you actually analyse the permitted activity rules, it’s challenging to meet them all on every occasion.”

The council’s new environment plan, due out soon, could alter the existing provisions regarding storage dams, he says. “It’s important anyone contemplating dams appreciates what the existing plan requires now, and what the new plan may require.”

Steve believes the demand for dams will continue to be steady, particularly if continued dry years see council actively implementing its water allocation regimes.

“In the plan it says they will allocate water A, B and C class and restrict water abstractions down to a certain flow and then shut the abstractions off, so as the river drops there is rationing.”

But while all the A and B class water is allocated, it is not all abstracted. That disparity has seen the council determine in the past that they don’t need to

ration, he says. “In the future, if you assume things will get drier and there’s more usage, and paper allocation meets uptake, then land owners will face the reality of being rationed, not just being shut off.”

Another factor is that there is currently no trigger level on ground water take, but the council is likely to address that in the future. “Then the ground water guys will potentially run the risk of a restricted water take or shut off, based on aquifer levels.”

Water storage is common sense for some operators, such as one of his clients on a relatively small vineyard, who spent up to $80,000 in the last irrigation season trucking in water because their irrigation water was restricted due to low flows. But it’s not viable for everyone, including

some smaller operators or owners with good water security. Dams can cost anywhere from a few dollars to $20 per cubic metre stored, depending on the situation, says Steve. “It’s very site specific.”

As a general guide, in corporate wine company dams, for properties with an Awatere, Wairau or Waihopai River B Class water permit, his company looks to store between 700 and 850m³ per hectare. That number is derived from looking at most of the larger scale dams he has been involved in in the past five years.

Hamish says in smaller privately owned vineyards they see anything between 200 and 800m³ per hectare. “The small vineyards often look at it as a buffer for 20 to 40 days, rather than covering their whole vineyard for a whole season.”

New Look Large or small, the look of dams has evolved over the years. Many in Marlborough are “turkey nest dams”’, which are built up on flat land and are lined with black plastic. And the days of building boring, sterile-looking largescale dams are becoming a thing of the past, says Steve Wilkes. Many have their raised sides planted, to look more natural on the landscape. In many cases no one knows they are there. And in some cases, such as the dam at Marisco Vineyards, river stones and plantings make them look more like a lake than water storage.

Both Steve and Hamish Blackwell urge their clients to fence dams and install a ladder, because if a person or dog falls in, it’s virtually impossible to get out without help.

WINEPRESS March 2016 | 21

Generation Y-ine Mutating pathogens sound like the stuff of science fiction, but for plant scientist Pratap Vanga, this is just another day at the office.

SOPHIE PREECE Bhanupratap Vanga grew up on a chilli farm in India, where the chasm between agricultural scientists and everyday farmers was generally too wide to leap.

“The scientists thought they were superior, educated, and didn’t have to talk to farmers. But the farmers needed the expertise, and had the practical experience to offer.”

Three decades on, 35-year-old Pratap is a plant pathologist with Plant & Food Research Marlborough, doing work he knows will make a real difference to growers.

That work sees him taking parts of the vine to the lab, isolating the DNA, identifying pathogens, following through with next-generation sequencing, then wrapping it up with bioinformatics.

“From the symptoms we can say this has probably come from this pathogen, but molecular tools give a black and white answer – a clear confirmation,” he says.

His journey to this Marlborough Research Centre lab began in a tiny village in Guntur district, on the Bay of Bengal’s southern coast, where 30% of India’s chillies are grown.

As a child he had hands-on lessons in horticulture, from ploughing and sowing seeds, to making nursery beds and spraying.

22 | WINEPRESS March 2016

There were chemicals they could use against fungus and bacteria, but the family feared the viral infection caused by chilli leaf curl complex, which is transmitted by a small sucking pest.

His parents lamented the fact that as farmers they could not call on the expertise of scientists to handle such issues, and urged him to follow that line of education when they saw his passion for agriculture.

Pratap did his Honours Degree in Agricultural Sciences at College of Agriculture, Kolhapur, near Pune, and went on to do a Masters specialising in plant biotechnology and microbiology at University of Madras.

After those initial studies he planned to return to the farm, but his parents urged him to instead continue his education and “explore”.

Pratap moved from a hot Guntur to

a cold Scotland, heading to Glasgow University from 2006 to 2008 for Master of Research studies, which allowed him to specialise in plant pathology, physiology and biochemistry.

From there he applied for PhDs and was given the opportunity, through Plant & Food Research and Otago University, to do work at Plant and Food, Lincoln, on a project funded by the Marsden Fund and supported by a Plant & Food fellowship and the British Society of Plant Pathology fellowship.

The PhD looked at the evolution of an enterobacterial pathogen, which can only live in the gut of animals, into a phytopathogen, which could cause disease to plants.

The bacteria was discovered in animals in the 1960s and 1970s, but by the late 1980s was found living in potatoes. By the 1990s, it was causing disease and

now it is a serious issue for the potato industry, causing soft rot, says Pratap.

His role was to look at why it happened. He isolated the DNA and started looking at it in collaboration with the James Hutton Institute in Scotland, where researchers had identified that the bacteria had “islands” – foreign material within its genome. One of those islands had the “virulence gene”, which produces phytotoxins, allowing the bacteria to survive in plants.

The mutation occurs when the island comes out from the genome and becomes a small chromosome with different attributes to its source. Its replication is far faster than that of the original bacterial genome, he says. “For example, if the actual bacterial chromosome is making one copy every time bacteria replicates, this small portion – where the toxins are - could make 10 copies.” That results in a faster evolution of the genome structure, not to mention problems for the potato industry.

Pratap came to Marlborough in 2015, and now he works mostly with the wine industry, looking at vine leaves, berries and trunks, to identify trunk disease, powdery mildew, grape leaf roller virus and botrytis.

He uses molecular tools to diagnose plant pathogens, by first isolating the DNA and RNA of the pathogens that are present in the plant tissue. He then uses the technology of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) to identify which fungus or bacteria is at work in the plants, and to sequence them using next-generation sequencing. Finally, he uses bioinformatics software – a combination of computer science, statistics, mathematics and engineering - to analyse and interpret the biological data.

Much of his work is with scientist Dion Mundy on trunk disease, looking at plants that are showing symptoms, while also regularly monitoring healthy vines.

Next-generation sequencing has been increasingly used for the past decade, and is a powerful tool for plant pathologists, he says. “We cannot culture all the microbes in the lab, because we still don’t have a suitable media for them to grow in. That makes it difficult to identify some pathogens.” The new technology allows researchers to isolate the DNA and do the sequencing for a much clearer and faster result, he says.

The work stepped up a notch six months ago, with the advent of the new Vineyard Ecology Project, a seven-year, $7-million national research programme tasked with gaining a better understanding of vineyard ecology and the impacts of vineyard management practices.

The project has 12 sites in Marlborough and another 12 in Hawke’s Bay, and Pratap has spent the past six months standardising the protocol to isolate DNA from vine trunks.

Now that the protocol is set, some of the samples will be sent off for next-generation sequencing to see if it’s working the way it should, before it’s applied to the field.

“The end goal is to identify whether there are any unknown pathogens or if there is known pathogen with more concentration, so we can quantify how much is there.”

It’s a long way from chillies in India, but a perfect illustration of science and industry working hand in hand, just as his parents wanted.

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WINEPRESS March 2016 2015 | 23

A Language of Aroma For every 100 pieces of sensory information your brain receives, just one is from the sense of smell, says a man who knows the nose.

SOPHIE PREECE

As a young man, Alexandre Schmitt learned the 1500 scent descriptors required of a Parisian perfumer, overtraining his sense of smell to find a common language.

But when he began training winemakers in olfactory perception 15 years ago, he immediately recognised a chasm of misunderstanding in their communication about wine. “They were not talking the same language and their excuse was ‘we have subjective perception’.”

People have “more or less” the same sense of smell, “but we don’t have the same perception and we don’t train our perception in the same way”, he told an audience of 375 at the International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration last month.

Through the course of his work, he endeavours to teach people a common language around wine, which calls on the vocabulary of chemical compounds, such as methoxypyrazine, as well as other descriptors that can result in more precise descriptions, such as dry earth or potatoes.

When we smell we receive a physiological “sensation”, Alexandre told the audience, which was given three aromas to try and describe. “You get something and it’s a feeling you process. A stimulation.You don’t know what it is, of course, but you know it is something.”

24 | WINEPRESS March 2016

Then there is “perception”, which can depend on who you are, where you come from and what references you have. “So of course if you have been raised in the desert, or in the countryside, or you are a city boy, or if your father was a banker or a carpenter, it means your memories are not the same.”

As an example of “syncretic perception” he spoke of the first time he was exposed to Cis-jasmone, which is a chemical identified in a jasmine extract.

His brain supplied a memory and image of him as a boy in the countryside, in the south west of France. “It was the end of the day after a storm in the summer time.” Assessing that “crystalised memory”, he believes the storm released the smell of the earth and of tar from the damaged path, and that the pine trees released resin, which mixed with the aroma of wild herbs.

Those characters are more or less the smell of Cis-jasmone, but it’s a reference too personal to be understood by others. So he learned the correct descriptions for the extract, including floral, wild flower, jasmine and celery.

“They are objective and rational and they make me able to share much more with you.”

In talking about wine, comments need to be similarly structured to be understood. “On one hand we use

subjective perceptions. On the other hand we want to share our emotion when we are tasting the wine.”

To learn the vocabulary, you need to over train your sense of smell, to know the difference, for example, between lemon, grapefruit, lime, orange and mandarin, along with the chemical language of thiols, 3MH and 3MHA. Alexandre noted the obsession with wine, and desire to discuss and unravel it. “We don’t talk about chicken and green peas in the same way.” But if those tasting wine use their unique subjective perceptions as language around the aroma, they cannot get their meaning across to others. “So how can we share comments when we taste wines, if we don’t use the same perceptions?”

He supplied information on olfactory training at the session, which said it was clear that through “constant, stubborn and guided smelling practice” students could acquire a sound knowledge of the aromatic descriptors of wine.

“It is surprising that wine professionals and amateurs taste wine without having ever received olfactory training. The best musicians spend years studying music theory and practising scales on a daily basis. Why should it be different for wine professionals who use their sense of smell every day?”

Crop Drop Thousands of tonnes of grapes were cut from Marlborough vines last month, as viticulturists dealt with large crop loads across the region.

Spy Valley Wines’ Grovetown vineyard had estimated yields of 30 tonnes per hectare, before contractors were sent in to drop half the crop, with 90 bunches trimmed to 45.

Viticulturist Adam McCone says the vineyard is always a good producer, with heavy, silty loam soils, good water holding capacity and good canopy. “You know you’re going to get a solid crop off it each year.”

But even so, when he did his assessment in the second week of January, counting every 25th plant up every 15th row, and weighing a 100 bunch sample, he second-guessed his calculations. “I thought that can’t be right - 30 tonnes a hectare - so came and rechecked it.”

The company has dropped fruit on all its 170ha of vineyard, and thinned some Pinots and aromatics before flowering, because he knew it would be a flattack February. “We also like to do it because you get a more even set and everything is at the same ripeness.”

Thinning fruit to hit yield targets was always essential, but with the cool start to summer, predicted harvest dates were a week to five days behind in midFebruary, making the process even more important.

“Down here if you have a big crop and a later season, you can run out of time.”

Anika Pauly from Germany, working for Focus Labour Solutions, drops fruit at a Spy Valley vineyard.

WINEPRESS March 2016 | 25

The Block te Pā When it came time to name a wine from the Wairau Bar, it was naturally te Pā.. Sophie Preece visits vineyard land that’s rich with the history of its people.

When Haysley MacDonald was growing up, the land everyone called the pä had paddocks of sheep, cattle and potatoes, which cost more than they earned.

He and his siblings learned to drive tractors from the age of five and worked after school every day, unless they managed to avoid their father’s eye as the bus pulled into the farm.

When they weren’t working, they could gather eels and watercress from the springfed streams, spear flounder at night in the river and grab kina and paua from the sea, just as generations have before them.

This lower Wairau land, bordered by river and ocean, was home to a network of pä sites when Haysley’s ancestor Francis MacDonald arrived from Scotland, ran a pub on the Wairau Bar and married the chief ’s daughter.

But the family’s history goes back further, to 800 years ago, when New Zealand’s first settlers came to the Wairau Bar from tropical Polynesia,

Haysley MacDonald’s family have lived on this land for 800 years

leaving clues for today’s archeologists, like the remains of moa and a Haast eagle.

“It is the number-one most important archeological site for New Zealand and it’s becoming one of the most

wine brand, but when he came up with the name te Pä, he wasn’t thinking marketing. “I have family all around New Zealand and all around the world and if they ring me up they’ll say, ‘what’s going on at the pä?’ So when I named the wine, that came automatically.”

As the brand was developed, and its label imprinted with a map of the land and its history – from pä sites that once were, to eel hunting spots that still are – he became aware that the story was gold.

“It really opened my eyes to what the market around the world is actually looking for.

They are after something authentic, indigenous and with provenance, and they are after something that has got roots that go back centuries. It’s been a really good marketing tool for us.”

The story of te Pä wine began in 2003, when Haysley returned from two years driving trucks in the United States

I have family all around New Zealand and all around the world and if they ring me up they’ll say, ‘what’s going on at the Pā ?’

So when I named the wine, that came automatically.

26 | WINEPRESS March 2016

important ones in the world,” says Haysley. “This land is really special for us as a family. It gives us an identity in Marlborough.”

It’s also one hell of a backstory for a

and he and his father decided to plant grapes. “We had been growing a lot of potatoes, but in the end they were giving them to the cattle, because you couldn’t get anything for them.”

Back then, land in the Lower Wairau was considered no good for grapes, he says. “It was potato country; cabbage country.

But as it’s turned out, it’s become some of the most sought after land for Sauvignon Blanc, and we’ve got a good chunk of it.”

They started out supplying five wineries and selling on the spot market. But in 2008, when contracts dissolved, Haysley started to process his own fruit and consider his own label.

He says that decision allowed them to get profitability back to their vineyard and a better return on their work.

Te Pä started small, with 5000 cases from a special block, which all disappeared quickly when the wine was named New Zealand’s top Sauvignon Blanc by Cuisine magazine.

In the past two years he has bought more land, including a large block in the Awatere Valley, and has been busy developing vineyards, which he loves.

Having 400ha of its own means te Pä isn’t at the mercy of contract growers, he says. “We wanted to own at least 90% of our supply, so I have been in acquisition mode.”

He hasn’t stopped the expansion, and the company is now being structured to support further growth, with new General Manager Nigel Taylor on board to bring marketing and markets in line with vineyard growth.

Te Pä now has a global footprint and is sold across Asia, the UK, Australia and Nova Scotia. The recent China Wine & Spirits Awards saw it win a number of medals, including two golds, highlighting the international appeal of the wines, says Haysley.

Meanwhile, his five children are growing up with a love for

the pä, and everything it means to their family.

Vines now stretch from the side of the river down to the edge of the sea, but there are eels and watercress waiting in the streams, flounder at the Bar, and a family’s future being built on the stories of their past.

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WINEPRESS March 2016 | 27

Fabulous Festivities The music played, the wine flowed, the food matched and the sun sizzled.

SOPHIE PREECE Around 8000 people flocked to Brancott Vineyard for the iconic Marlborough Wine and Food Festival in February, with a full house by early afternoon.

Nicola Clark from Spy Valley wines says it was a great event with a very relaxed and happy crowd. “It’s always a fun day in the sun, and it was great to see so many people enjoying themselves without overindulging.”

Nautilus was busy all day, and sold out of most of their wine, including all the bubbles, says Sales and Marketing Manager Katy Prescott. Meanwhile the Méthode Marlborough Sparkling Master Class was a hit, along with the Cheese and Wine Master Class with Juliet Harbutt, author of The World Encyclopaedia of Cheese.

That class, in which Brancott Estate’s Guy Hernandez presented wines while Juliet explained how each changed the characteristic of the cheese, was so popular it required an extra table and seating.

Celebrity chefs entertained in the packed-out Culinary Pavilion, with Peta Mathias issuing relationship tips as she whipped up a chocolate mousse.

Australian MKR chef Colin Fassnidge adapted his menu on the fly, to the obvious delight of fans.

28 | WINEPRESS March 2016

Wine Marlborough Events Assistant Spring Webb at the 32nd Marlborough Wine and Food Festival.

Marlborough produce was showcased left, right and centre with Peta currying mussels, Nici Wickes of New Zealand Woman’s Weekly preparing Regal Salmon from the Marlborough Sounds, and Michael Meredith, owner of degustation restaurant Meredith’s, cooking with Cloudy Bay Clams.

Beyond the presentations, patrons balanced wine glasses in one hand and delicious dishes in the other, as they danced, talked and explored the stalls of 45 Marlborough wineries and 30 food producers.

The Supreme Food and Wine match was judged by Juliet Harbutt and Peta Mathias and the title went to La Ruca and Yealands Family Wines, for a Churrasco Chacarero matched with Yealands Estate Single Vineyard Rose.

Peta says she’s not an expert on wine, but judges a food and wine match by how they feel together in her mouth.

“Some of them didn’t work for me there was a lot of Chardonnay. But the ones that did, really did.”

Wine Marlborough’s Events Manager Samantha Young says stallholders made

a huge effort with the food they offered, and in providing considered matches.

“The food looked amazing and the feedback we’ve had about it has been great.”

The food and wine may have been the headline acts, but water was a star on the day. Six volunteers from the Wairau Rowing Club were kept busy hydrating festival goers throughout the festival, with around 2500 litres of water poured.

Liquid Action’s Matt Broughan, who sponsors the hydration team each year, says it was the irrigation company’s chance to do their bit for the industry.

He pulled in two extra pourers this year, and put his body on the line to test the results. “Last year I found it a bit hard to find the guys when we needed them, but this year every time I had an empty wine glass there was a water pourer within 50 metres.”

Clockwise from top left, Mel Deben enjoys a marvellous day; Spy Valley’s Wendy Trolove distributes a Spy Valley “Drink Responsibly” beach ball into the crowd; A happy crowd; Peta Mathias in the Culinary Pavilion; Nickie Barker from Nautilus; Australian MKR chef Colin Fassnidge is helped by an Irish audience member; Good times.

WINEPRESS March 2016 | 29

NEW ZEALAND WINE INDUSTRY KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

DEC 2015

TOTAL VALUE OF EXPORTS

$1.54 BILLION

14%

*estimated All f igures are for the 12 months to the date specif ied, f igures are in $NZD unless otherwise specif ied

30 | WINEPRESS March 2016

Wine Happenings A monthly list of events within the New Zealand wine industry.

To have your event included in next month’s calendar please email details to sophie@sophiepreece.co.nz

MARCH 2016 10:

New Zealand Wine Fair - New York

11:

Framingham 2016 Harvest Gig - Marlborough

12:

Renwick’s Pre-Harvest Party - Marlborough

12:

Hokitika Wild Foods Festival - Hokitika

19:

Havelock Mussel Festival - Havelock

19:

Gibbston Wine & Food Festival 2016 - Queenstown

APRIL 2016 2:

Waiheke Wine & Food Festival - Waiheke Island

2:

The Great Kiwi Beer Festival - Christchurch

30 - May 1: The Great NZ Food Show - Hamilton

MAY 2016 1-29:

Catch Pinot – Wellington

6:

International Sauvignon Blanc Day

10:

Pruning workshop - Marlborough

14:

Saint Clair Half Marathon - Marlborough

20:

Health and Safety workshop - Marlborough

21:

Bluff Oyster Festival 2016 - Bluff

26:

Cellar Door debrief - Marlborough

26 – 28:

International Cool Climate Wine Symposium - England

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WINEPRESS March 2016 | 31

Industry News Real Estate Update The weather through February was the best advertisement for buying land in Marlborough, with thousands of visitors in the region, says Joe Blakiston of PGG Wrightson Real Estate. He says the number of sales has slowed in the lead up to what looks set to be a heavy harvest. “The sale of the Ara block to Indevin has attracted most publicity, however there have also been a number of larger off-market transactions of development blocks that are starting to subdue the market.” A large amount of viticultural development land is currently on the market in the Wairau Valley, which will be of interest. Smaller established Sauvignon Blanc vineyards are attracting strong enquiry at prices around the $180,000 per hectare, with some buyer resistance evident at higher asking prices. Joe says a recent trip to Te Puke, where the price of kiwifruit orchards has passed the $600,000 per canopy hectare mark, puts the current Marlborough market into some perspective.

SWNZ Business Manager Justine Tate has joined Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand as Business Manager, with responsibility for the management, operation and

development of the SWNZ programme. She’s just returned home after a 20 year OE and brings skills and experience from a career spanning multiple countries and sectors. Justine says she is looking forward to leading the SWNZ team in creating value for members and contributing to a vibrant, growing industry that is becoming increasingly important to New Zealand.

Giesen Winemaker Winemaker Nikolai St George has become Giesen Wines’ chief winemaker in Marlborough.

Nikolai, formerly of Matua, has worked at wineries in Central Otago and on Waiheke Island, along with roles in several international wine companies.

Marcel Giesen, owner and director of viticulture and winemaking at Giesen Wines, says Nikolai will bring a wealth

of knowledge and a true understanding of the global wine market. “His track record is impeccable and we can’t wait for him to become part of the team and help lead our next phase of development in the wine industry.”

Nikolai has won Winemaker of the Year for the past three consecutive years.

Meanwhile Giesen has also announced that Blenheim born Andrew Jeffries, 21, has been chosen for the inaugural graduate internship at Giesen Wines.

NZW Biosecurity Manager New Zealand Winegrowers has appointed a new Biosecurity Manager to be based at the Marlborough Research Centre in Blenheim. Edwin Massey has ten years’ experience working with MPI, with the last four as manager of the Plant and Environment Response Team and as a principal advisor in the Government Industry Agreement implementation team. He says a key priority this year will be working to design and implement a process for New Zealand Winegrowers to gain a mandate to enter into a Government Industry Agreement with the Crown. “This partnership, and the joint decision making it entails, will help to ensure better biosecurity outcomes for our industry.”

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Disclaimer: The views and articles that are expressed and appear in Winepress are entirely those of contributors and in no way reflect the policy of the Marlborough Winegrowers. Any advice given, implied or suggested should be considered on its merits, and no responsibility can be taken for problems arising from the use of such information.

32 | WINEPRESS March 2016

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