Winepress may2018

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF WINE MARLBOROUGH

ISSUE NO. 281 / MAY 2018

VINTAGE 2018

LABOUR CHECK

Photo: Jim Tannock

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4

this issue...

Photo: Richard Briggs

REGULARS

FEATURES

3 4

Editorial

The Good Stuff - Bart Arnst

22

Gen Y-ine - Kelly Stuart

24

10 Vintage 2018

From the Board - Jack Glover

20

Biosecurity Watch - Samurai Wasp

26

Industry News

28

ANZ Wine Happenings

Cover: The 10th birthday of Hortus in January included an incredible Ni-Vanuatu performance, pg 16. Photo Jim Tannock

14

With perfect December flowering conditions, the hottest January on record and the wettest February by far, Vintage 2018 was ripe with challenges. But as the mud settles on Harvest ‘18, industry leaders are confident they met nature’s onslaught with everything they had, ensuring clean, ripe and intense fruit in the tank.

16

14 Verified Contractors

If New Zealand wants to promote sustainable wine, it must focus on sustainable employment, say industry leaders. Growers are being asked to use verified contractors and make the effort to check their practices, talk to their staff, and sign a contract.

22

20 Unconventional

Herbicide resistant weeds and herbicide resistant consumers are just two great reasons to convert to organics, says Bart Arnst of The Darling.

Winepress May 2018 / 1

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General Manager: Marcus Pickens 03 577 9299 marcus@wine-marlborough.co.nz Editor: Sophie Preece 027 308 4455 sophie@sophiepreece.co.nz Advertising: Harriet Wadworth 03 577 9299 harriet@wine-marlborough.co.nz Wine Marlborough Board: Ben Ensor ben.lisa@clear.net.nz Callum Linklater callum@csviticulture.co.nz Jack Glover jack.glover@accolade-wines.co.nz Michael Wentworth michael.wentworth@yealands.co.nz Nick Entwistle nick@wairauriverwines.co.nz Simon Bishell simon@caythorpe.nz Stuart Dudley (Deputy Chair) stuartd@villamaria.co.nz Tom Trolove (Chair) tom.trolove@framingham.co.nz Tracy Johnston Tracy@dayvinleigh.co.nz

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From the Editor Talking to Marlborough’s wine industry about Vintage 2018 is a to-and-fro between glass-half-full and glass-half-empty perspectives.

Half full: Having a gruelling 2017 vintage taught the industry lessons it could put into play when 2018 followed suit. Half empty: It’s no fun weathering wet vineyards, lost grapes and pressured harvests two years running.

Half empty: Relentless rain resulted in disease pressure and reduced yields.

Half full: The “magnificent” run of good weather in the lead-up to harvest was a last minute reprieve, and the flavours in the can are fantastic.

To be honest, I was dreading writing the vintage wrap, thinking the atypical weather - hottest January and wettest February would pave the way to a story of woe. But many people I spoke to were happy with the outcomes of the vintage, with good quality wines on the horizon, even if there are fewer of them. “I’m not known for looking on the bright side,” says Kevin Judd on pg 10, “but I am pretty damned happy.”

With the wines tucked away, it’s now time to look at the vineyards, with a massive pruning season ahead across 26,000 hectares. The challenge is not just finding the labour to service that area, but also in making sure everyone working in Marlborough vineyards is getting a fair deal.

The good news is that more contractors are becoming certified with Master Contractors (pg 17) which gives growers, wine companies and international markets the assurance of a third party auditor. However, there’s still a way to go, says Labour Inspectorate Regional Manager Kevin Finnegan on pg 14. “We need to be ahead of the game.”

Hortus owner Aaron Jay says demand for contractors with a good reputation is going through the roof, but they cannot take more work. He expects the flowon effect will be positive for the industry, as people unable to contract companies with proven performance will look for peace of mind from their existing contractors. “They are saying ‘we now expect more from you’.”

“It’s now time to look at the vineyards, with a massive pruning season ahead.”

SOPHIE PREECE

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.

Winepress May 2018 / 3

From the Board Sustainably Confused JACK GLOVER

OUR INDUSTRY has a fantastic grape-to-table concept called Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ), delivered competently by New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW).

Grape growers and wine producers are required to adhere to a sustainable programme that regulates the inputs and actions conducted throughout the growing and making of wine. The industry regulated programme is so embedded that our country’s most recognised wine show is now almost exclusively for sustainably produced wines.

The beauty of the sustainable winegrowing initiative is that it is widely supported and adopted growers, wineries and brand owners alike have got in behind this concept and positioned their businesses to be certified sustainable under the SWNZ banner. The big winner is the consumer, who can buy a sustainably made wine at no additional cost or inconvenience. This is surely good news for the New Zealand wine industry!?

Unfortunately I feel something’s missing, and this is where I get confused.

If winegrowing was truly sustainable then we would not only protect the environment, our grapes, our wines and our people but also our market places and, therefore, our sustainable commercial future. This may not be part of the message to our consumers, but it is something that needs focus when interacting with our markets, navigating tough vintages and identifying sustainable commercial

4 / Winepress May 2018

benchmarks. This means industry behaviours that drive and support sustainable price points, drive consistent marketing messaging for NZW, drive sustainable export regulations, sustainable geographical indications (GIs) sustainable labour, and address the bulk versus packaged quality argument in a pragmatic way.

Is this important aspect covered in our sustainable practices currently? If the answer is ‘no’, then is there a place to address this in our SWNZ model?

I’m not sure we are particularly good at collectively thinking of sustainability at a commercial level.

We have been lucky enough in the past that the laws of supply and demand have kept our wines at the top of the $/L global tree and blips like 2008 were largely corrected over a season or two. But I question whether we have the framework, support or leadership model for commercial sustainability of the industry, should the magic global demand curve shift from our favour.

Are we making sustainable decisions now that will help us navigate a rapidly changing and premiumising wine market and consumer base? Or are we finding that this is beginning to be addressed by small groups within our members, looking to ensure the future is sustainable?

I don’t see these questions being answered by our existing sustainable winegrowing platform. I do perhaps think there is a need to understand better what a collective and sustainable commercial model looks like across

all levels of the industry. In the past few years we have had many tests of this sustainability via Brexit, WET rebate changes, vintage anomalies, environmental and labour issues and the increasing consolidation of mature markets. My guess is that understanding a sustainable model that copes with events such as these is worth just as much as the small logo currently adorning the back of our wine labels or our vineyard gates.

Being commercially fit as a business is one thing, but being fit as a collective industry requires focus, discussion and leadership.

As a board at Wine Marlborough we are very focused on looking at all the areas that drive our sustainable future. This sustainable future will impact far more than just our members – it ripples across the whole community. The future of sustainable winegrowing in my view needs to address the commercial responsibilities as much as the environmental ones. In summary, I am confused as to why we are not thinking and talking together in this space, or if the SWNZ model plans to address this aspect. Maybe I am alone on this, but my guess is probably not.

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Winepress May 2018 / 5

MET REPORT Table 1: Blenheim Weather Data – April 2018

April April 2018

2018 compared

to LTD GDD’s for: Month - Max/Min¹ 115.3 104% Month – Mean² 117.5 103% Growing Degree Days Total Jul 17 - Apr 18 – Max/Min 1563.1 118% Jul 17 - Apr 18 – Mean 1582.0 117% Mean Maximum (°C) 18.9 +0.1°C Mean Minimum (°C) 8.5 +0.5°C Mean Temp (°C) 13.7 +0.2°C Grass Frosts (<= -1.0°C) 2 - Air Frosts (<0.0°C) 0 - Sunshine hours 188.0 99% Sunshine hours – lowest Sunshine hours – highest Sunshine hours total – 2018 896.4 98.5% Rainfall (mm) 52.2 103% Rainfall (mm) – lowest Rainfall (mm) – highest Rainfall total (mm) – 2018 367.6 205% Evapotranspiration – mm 75.0 119% Avg. Daily Windrun (km) 223.3 101% Mean soil temp – 10cm 12.1 = Mean soil temp – 30cm 15.0 +0.4°C

April LTA

Period of LTA

April 2017

110.7% 114.0

(1996-2017) (1996-2017)

119.8 119.0

1324.5 (1996-2017) 1361.9 1356.8 (1996-2017) 1329.5 18.8 (1986-2017) 18.5 8.0 (1986-2017) 9.5 13.5 (1986-2017) 14.0 1.13 (1986-2017) 0 0.16 (1986-2017) 0 189.8 (1986-2017) 169.2 92.1 1938 238.5 1958 910.2 (1986-2017) 898.2 50.8 (1986-2017) 131.4 0.6 1992 173.

1962 179.6 (1986-2017) 267.4 62.

(1996-2017) 57.5 220.4 (1996-2017) 181.2 12.1 (1986-2017) 14.2 14.6 (1986-2017) 16.1

¹GDD’s Max/Min are calculated from absolute daily maximum and minimum temperatures ²GDD’s Mean are calculated from average hourly temperatures April 2018 was a very average month. Mean temperature, sunshine hours, rainfall and wind-run were all close to average. Soil moisture was well above average.

Temperature April’s mean temperature of 13.7°C was 0.2°C above the long-term average. However, April 2018 recorded the lowest mean temperature for April in the last six years (2013-2018); i.e. the previous five years were all further above average. The data in Table 2 indicate that the weekly temperatures during April 2018 alternated between warm and cool in

6 / Winepress May 2018

Sunshine April recorded 187.9 hours sunshine, 99% of the long-term average. There were some very sunny days during April. Five days recorded 10 or more hour’s sunshine, compared to April’s long-term average daily sunshine of 6.3 hours. However, there were also five days when no sunshine was recorded. The last three days of April all recorded zero sunshine. Total sunshine for Blenheim from January to April 2018 is 896.3 hours, 98.5% of the long-term average.

Rainfall April recorded 52.2 mm rain, 103% of the long-term average. Total rainfall for Blenheim from January to April was 367.6 mm, 205% of the long-term average of 179.6 mm. The well above average total to date in 2018 is due to the very high rainfall in January and February, as the March and April totals were close to average.

Soil Moisture

Mean Maximum 22.7 (+3.9) 15.3 (-3.5) 20.4 (+1.6) 18.1 (-0.7) 15.0 (-3.8) 18.9 (+0.1°C)

Mean Mean Minimum 12.0 (+4.0) 17.4 (+3.0) 6.7 (-1.3) 11.0 (-2.4) 8.9 (+0.9) 14.6 (+1.2) 5.4 (-2.6) 11.7 (-1.7) 12.7 (+4.7) 13.9 (+0.4) 8.5 (+0.5°C) 13.7 (+0.2°C)

Average shallow (0-35 cm depth) soil moisture for April was 34.2%. This was 10.1% above the April average (2003-2017).

Average soil moisture for the four months

January to April 2018 was 30.6%, also 10% above the long-term average. This is by far Rainfall Sunshine the wettest that the topsoil has been over (mm) (hours) this four month period in the 16 years 2003 0 59.7 to 2018. This also helps to explain why 24.2 24.2 Marlborough has been so green so far in 17.2 49.0 2018, with abundant grass growth.

8.6 55.0 Season Weather Summary (September 2.2 0.0 2017 to April 2018) 52.2 187.9

18.8°C

8.0°C

52.9 mm 187.3 hours

Table 2: Weekly weather data for Blenheim during April 2018

1 – 7 April 8 – 14 April 15 – 21 April 22 – 28 April 29 – 30 April (2 days) April 2018 Long-term Average 1986-2017

each successive week of the month. There were some very warm day time maximum temperatures in the first week of April. The hottest day of the month was 4 April with a maximum temperature of 25.4°C (5.6°C above average). However, there were also some low day time maximum temperatures in the second week of April. 10 April recorded a maximum temperature of only 9.8°C (9.1°C below average). The coldest minimum temperatures of the month were recorded on the morning of 12 April with an air minimum of 0.3°C and a grass minimum of -3.3°C. Two ground frost were recorded during April.

13.4°C

As is usual practice the April Met Report contains a summary for the eight

months of the growing season, September to April. I know that many viticulturists and winemakers are required to write seasonal summaries and hopefully these data are of assistance in that regard.

Further daily data or monthly summaries for the Blenheim and Dashwood weather stations can be found on the Marlborough Research Centre website: www.mrc.org.nz With a mean temperature of 16.24°C the 2017-18 season has entered the record books as the warmest season that Marlborough has experienced since grapevines were first planted in 1973. Prior to 2017-18 all the previous very warm seasons since 1973 were before the new millennium: 1974-75 = 16.16°C, 1980-81 = 16.0°C, 1988-89 = 15.91°C, 1989-90 = 16.11°C, 1997-98 = 15.99°C. However, you need to bear in mind that the Marlborough wine industry was still fairly small when these previous warm years were experienced.

In 1990 Marlborough had only 1500 ha of grapes and in 2000 that had risen to 4100 ha, compared to 27,000 ha in 2018.

While there have been warm seasons since the year 2000, none prior to 2017-18 had got close to those seasons mentioned above. The 2013-14 season, with a mean temperature of 15.6°C, was the warmest for the period 2000 to 2017. Another point to note is that while there were a number of very warm seasons between 1973 and 1999, there were also a number of very cold seasons. The seasonal mean temperatures from 2000 to 2017 did not experience the extreme highs and lows that occurred prior to 2000. Of the 18 seasons from 2000-01 though until 2017-18, 14 of those seasons recorded a mean temperature either equal to or above the long-term average for the period 1986-2017.

The data in Table 3 indicate that

all eight months of the 2017-18 growing season recorded mean temperatures that were above average. April 2018 was the month that had the lowest deviation from its long-term average. The majority of Marlborough’s grapes were harvested by the end of the first week in April. If we were to consider that as the end point of the season the mean for the season would rise to 16.6°C. The latter three weeks of April dragged the mean down considerably. This is illustrated in Figure 1 where the GDD line for the 2017-18 season took a dive in the latter three weeks of April.

Figure 1 includes a number of the warm seasons previously mentioned.

The beauty of the Normalized GDD graph is that it displays how the GDDs (temperatures) deviated from average throughout any particular season. You are able to see when a season was warm and when it was cool. This is important to bear in mind, as you consider the temperatures at any point in the season in relation to the phenological development of the vines; e.g. warm or cool periods from mid-November through until mid-January have a big influence on determining the harvest yield in Marlborough and also on determining the bunch number for the following season. The black line for the 2017-18 season reflects the above average monthly temperatures and GDDs detailed in Table 3. While there were a number of short cool periods during the season most of these only lasted a few days. The longest cool period was 12 days from 10 to 21 November 2017 when the GDD line dropped substantially. However, the warm temperatures in the last nine days of November recovered the GDDs that were lost. The GDD line for 2017-18 continued to climb throughout the season, whereas none

of the other warm seasons on the graph had such consistently above average GDDs. Some of you are probably asking the question, “if the 2017-18 season was the warmest on record why wasn’t the 2018 harvest as early as was initially anticipated?” Besides the warm temperatures, the major difference between the 2017-18 season and previous seasons was the rainfall distribution. The first four months of the 2017-18 season (Sep-Dec) were dry with only 120.2 mm rain, or 58% of the long-term average. You may recall that at the beginning of January 2018 the Wairau River flow got down to about 9 cubic metres per second and the Southern Valleys irrigation scheme was on the brink of being switched off. However, the heavens opened in early January, and January and February recorded 261.8 mm rain (293% of the LTA).

This was 133 mm higher than the 148.8 mm total recorded in January/February 2004, the previous highest total for the period 2000 to 2017. The main effect of the high rainfall and high soil moisture content was to stimulate the grapevines to put on a lot of vegetative growth. Many people have commented that because the vines were growing so vigorously that they struggled to keep up with all the trimming, mowing, leaf plucking and spraying. The excessive vegetative growth began before the onset of ripening in early February and continued throughout the ripening period. A lot of the vines energy that would have normally gone into ripening the fruit was being diverted into vegetative growth. Coupled with this vineyard blocks that were carrying high yields in 2018 took much longer than normal for the fruit to achieve an optimum ripeness. An example of the phenology dates and yield components at one of our monitored Sauvignon blanc

Table 3: Monthly weather summary for Blenheim, for the 2017-18 growing season in comparison to the long-term average (1986-2017)

LTA 17/18 LTA 17/18 LTA 17/18 LTA 17/18 LTA

Rain Rain Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean GDD

mm mm °C °C °C °C °C °C mm Sep 52.7 49.8 16.2 16.7 6.0 7.2 11.1 11.9 (+0.8) 51.8 Oct 59.5 32.4 18.3 19.2 7.8 8.6 13.1 13.9 (+0.8) 100.1 Nov 49.5 16.4 19.9 19.9 9.4 10.3 14.7 15.1 (+0.4) 141.3 Dec 46.5 21.6 21.9 24.5 11.7 12.9 16.8 18.7 (+1.9) 209.4 Jan 44.6 80.4 23.4 25.4 12.7 16.0 18.1 20.7 (+2.6) 247.1 Feb 44.8 181.4 23.2 23.6 12.4 13.9 17.8 18.8 (+1.0) 220.7 Mar 39.4 53.6 21.5 22.3 10.5 11.8 16.0 17.1 (+1.1) 188.0 Apr 50.8 52.2 18.8 18.9 8.0 8.5 13.5 13.7 (+0.2) 105.7 Total 387.8 487.8 1264.2 Mean 20.4 21.3 9.8 11.2 15.1 16.24 % of LTA or deviation 126% +0.9°C +1.4°C +1.1°C

17/18 LTA 17/18 LTA 17/18 GDD ET ET Sun Sun mm hours hours 64.1 71.6 71.9 191.5 183.3 121.1 102.1 109.7 229.0 247.4 153.8 123.2 121.1 241.1 246.5 270.9 141.4 177.8 251.0 319.1 331.3 142.2 135.6 262.5 243.6 244.1 112.0 122.4 227.6 226.4 219.0 99.6 102.5 230.3 238.4 115.3 62.9 75.0 189.8 187.9 1519.6 854.9 916.0 1822.8 1892.6

120%

107%

104%

Long-term average (LTA) – 1986-2017 Winepress May 2018 / 7

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

Table 4: Phenology dates and yield components of 2-cane pruned Sauvignon blanc at a vineyard west of Renwick

2017-18 Long-term average

2005 to 2017 Budburst date 9 Oct 7 Oct Flowering date 5 Dec 11 Dec Days budburst to flowering 57 65.1 8°Brix date (50% véraison) 9 Feb 14 Feb Days flowering to 8°Brix 66 65.5 21.5°Brix date 10 Apr 29 Mar Days 8 to 21.5°Brix 60 42.6 Total days budburst to 21.5°Brix 183 173 Bunch number per vine 48.8 39.8 Berry weight 2.39 g 2.04 g Berry number per bunch 68.4 62.1 Bunch weight 163.9 g 128.7 g Yield per vine 8.0 kg 5.24 kg vineyards is detailed in Table 4.

At this vineyard budburst date was close to average. Flowering and 8°Brix (véraison) were five to six days earlier than average. The budburst to flowering interval was eight days shorter than average.

However, the flowering to 8°Brix interval

This meant that average bunch weight and average yield per vine were both well above average. The 60 days it took for the fruit to ripen from 8 to 21.5°Brix in 2018 was by far the longest ripening period at this vineyard in the 14 years 2005 to 2018. Although much of this extra ripening time can be attributed to the high yield, the yield was obviously not the sole factor. At harvest in 2011 the same vines produced an average yield of 9.0 kg per vine, but with a 50 day ripening period, 10 days shorter than in 2018. We attribute a lot of the additional ripening time in 2018 to the additional vegetative growth that the vines produced.

The extra vegetative growth would have been diverting carbohydrates away from the fruit.

Rob Agnew Plant & Food Research / Marlborough Research Centre

was only average. The date of 21.5°Brix was 12 days later than average and the 8 to 21.5°Brix interval of 60 days was 17 days longer than average. The yield components (bunch number per vine, berry weight, berry number per bunch) were all well above average at this vineyard in 2018.

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Winepress May 2018 / 9

Vintage 2018 Good luck and good management key to surviving the season SOPHIE PREECE

WITH PERFECT December flowering conditions, the hottest January on record, the wettest February by far, and the insidious spread of rot, Vintage 2018 was ripe with challenges.

But as the mud settles on Harvest ‘18, industry leaders are confident they met nature’s onslaught with everything they had, ensuring clean, ripe and intense fruit in the tank. “At the end of the day I think we have dodged a bullet compared to what some people have got,” says Greywacke’s Kevin Judd. “I’m not known for looking on the bright side,” he adds, standing in an empty vineyard in the wake of his 40th harvest. “But I am pretty damned happy.”

Yields are slightly lower than average volumes, because of fruit thinned early on, or rejected in the vineyard or sorting table, but the outlook is positive, says Kevin. “Ivan and I were absolutely staggered at how good the fruit condition was.”

Ivan Sutherland

10 / Winepress May 2018

Vigilant viticultural management pays dividends in every Kevin Judd season, says Dog Point’s Ivan Sutherland, who is also happy with how his grapes came in, particularly on organic blocks. “At the end of the day what won through was lower cropping and open canopies.”

Being “in control of your own destiny” is also a huge help in a vintage like the one just passed, with the ability to harvest fruit at optimum ripeness in a very short time, he says.

Like Kevin, Ivan has been involved in the industry from its earliest years, and has seen a number of unique iterations over the past 40 years including 1995, when the rain was so relentless they were pulling harvesters out of rows with 4WD tractors and the odd bulldozer. “This was a testing vintage that’s for sure, but it’s not the worst vintage Marlborough has had,” he says. “This was a dream compared to 1995,” agrees Kevin.

But the intense weather shows a concerning pattern, says Ivan. “You learn something from each vintage and we are experiencing global extremes in weather. To me it is another warning shot across the bows of the industry here. We need to think very carefully about where we are at and where we are going. It comes back to two key factors - canopy management and crop level.”

Thinking there’s a recipe you pull out each year definitely won’t work in cool climate viticulture, he adds. “You couldn’t say any one season is the same as another. You need to have the ability to adapt.”

Churton owner Sam Weaver says

it was another challenging vintage for everyone in Marlborough’s wine industry. “More than 50% of our annual rainfall came in the first two months of the year, followed by a further 85mm of rain right at the start of harvest.” But despite the weather worries, it was a successful vintage, he says, “We have an amazingly resilient vineyard as a result of our biodynamic philosophy. A healthy organic system with relatively low yields gave us good resistance to disease.”

For the first time ever, Churton started harvest with Sauvignon Blanc.

“Normally we pick Pinot Noir (last week March), Sauvignon Blanc (first week of April), Viognier (second week of April) then Petit Manseng (much later),” he says. Picking all the Pinot and Sauvignon by March 31 was another record for the company.

“I am more than happy with the fruit we picked,” says Sam. “I think the Sauvignon Blanc this year is probably better than any that we have picked since 2015. It has fantastic flavour and a fantastic balance between ripe fruit, with slightly lower potential sugar, but still with good backbone of acidity.”

Pinot Noir was a little tougher, due to disease pressure, requiring “ultraselective” hand picking and sorting at the winery, he says. In general yields were down on last year, mostly due to the severe selection in the vineyard, Sam adds. “As vintage went on and disease pressure grew our yield declined.”

The first predictions for the 2018

Sam Weaver. Photo by Bob Campbell

vintage were made after a cool bunch initiation in December 2016, which would typically lead to lower bunch numbers than usual the following year. That seemed sound reasoning come spring 2017, when bunch number counts came in approximately 15% below average.

But flowering in 2017 was blessed by calm and sunny December days that created big bunches, assessed by some to be 25% up on the usual, offsetting low bunch counts and leading to forecasts of nicely balanced yields - not too big and not too small - with which accountants, growers and winemakers could all rest easy.

Ripening looked like it would be a breeze, with harvest tracking around two weeks early, shimmied along by the hottest January on record.

However, nature had other plans in mind, including 315.4mm of rain in January, February and March, which is 245% of the average for that period. Rob Agnew, from Plant & Food Research Marlborough, says February alone had 181.4mm of rain, which smashed the previous high of 129mm, recorded in 1936. Cold rain is a headache but warm rain can be heartache, nurturing the likes of botrytis and slip skin (see pg 13), fungal diseases that thrive on sweetening grapes in warm wet conditions. It’s weather that demands absolute vigilance in the vineyards,

and pressure in the wineries, with tight picking windows across multiple blocks, meaning an onslaught at the winery “throat”.

The harvest ran hard on the heels of an exhausting 2017 vintage, during which big crop loads struggled to ripen as the weather turned grey and drizzly. Those with lower yields, tighter management and/or good luck came through tired but victorious, while others had fruit rejected and left on the vine.

Grower Simon Bishell, who is on the Marlborough Winegrowers board, says 2017 was a wake up call for many, and while the industry at large hoped it would not be repeated, most had taken its lessons to heart. “2017 taught us a lot and this experience made ‘18 a better vintage.” The big learning curve of V17 took growers out of a “mode of complacency”, he says. “It was fresh in my mind and this season my saying was to ‘ensure we left nothing in the tank’, so that when we came into the ripening period I had done absolutely everything I possibly could.” That meant rigorous canopy management, fruit thinning and careful spray programmes, with his sprayers set up to give total coverage.

Simon says the sunshine in late March was “an absolute godsend” that helped dehydrate fruit and concentrate sugars. “Then there was pressure to get everything off before the weather had a chance to turn again.” With two

Simon Bishell

challenging harvests in a row, he too is “looking forward to an easy vintage in 2019”.

Wine Marlborough General Manager Marcus Pickens says it is early days to be talking of the finished product of Vintage 2018, but from what he has heard from winemakers, “we won’t be disappointed with the quality that comes out”. He says the “magnificent” run of good weather in the lead-up to harvest was a last minute reprieve, “and got us home really”.

He also credits “highly accurate” weather forecasts, which allowed people the opportunity to work around weather interruptions. The take-home message from this vintage, as with 2017, is the vital importance of the wine industry maintaining its reputation, Marcus says. “If last year has taught us anything, it is about focussing on the highest quality and getting the grapes off the vines in the best condition to make that happen.”

Tinpot Hut winemaker and owner Fiona Turner agrees 2018 was another challenging vintage but she is very happy with what she’s working with. “Some of it is the best tasting fruit in the winery that I have seen.”

Fiona says every vintage is different, and “knowing how to respond to the weather you get and the fruit you get is probably the key to it. Perhaps some people have responded better than others.”

She says December provided the best flowering she has ever experienced, with big bunches and big potential berries. “Then the rain we had was consistent enough through the season to make us realise that by the time we got to harvest there could be issues. We decided early on to drop fruit and bring yields right back.

We didn’t want to take the risk of a large crop hanging for a long time.”

She also worked with the company’s growers “who are all exceptionally good and also wanted to manage their risk”. Winemakers need to know their blocks, know their growers, and have long-term established relationships,

Winepress May 2018 / 11

Fiona Turner. Photo by Jim Tannock

“so you trust them and they trust you”, she says.

As well as fruit thinning, Tinpot dropped some diseased fruit before harvest, meaning there is a lower quantity in tanks than normal, “but what has come in has ripe flavours, it’s clean, it’s intense and I think it is as good as the ‘16s we did, and in some ways it is better,” she says. That’s saying something, given the 2016 Tinpot Sauvignon Blanc was rated ‘exceptional’ by Decanter Magazine, scoring 98 out of 100.

Saint Clair Family Estate Winemaker Hamish Clark says this vintage was as challenging as 2017, but the quality of fruit is far better.

“Some of our top blocks are looking exceptional this year,” he says.

Speaking from Godfrey’s Creek vineyard, he says its Noble Riesling

12 / Winepress May 2018

Hamish Clark

is the best he has seen since the 2013 harvest. He agrees it was a “funny old season” that required careful management. “We came out of one of the wettest winters and early springs, when there were blocks we couldn’t get onto with machinery for quite a bit. It’s not very often you see helicopters applying pre-budburst sprays as witnessed this season, which underpins just how wet things were.”

From there they went into “the most perfect December”, heralding a near 100% result at flowering, followed by the “huge growing degree days” of January, which meant vines were well advanced, promising an early vintage.

February’s rain from Cyclone Gita brought a bit of disease pressure to the region, but he says rainfall the week before Easter weekend is when the real damage started “ramping things

up for both botrytis and slip skin”.

To remain nimble, Hamish kept his picking schedules to within 48 hours, and sometimes as little as 12 hours, aware that if there was the least sign of disease, those blocks would need to be prioritised.

He says that while the rain created headaches and, through botrytis drops or berry shrivel, reduced quantity in some cases, the region was lucky to get long extended periods of dry in the lead-up to the main push of harvest.

“If we’d had another rain around Easter it would have been a totally different story to what this vintage has been.”

Even with that reprieve, he is hopeful for fewer challenges in Vintage 2019.

“We could do with an average season – hopefully next year, fingers crossed.”

A Sneaky Rotter Wet weather caused disease pressure this vintage SOPHIE PREECE

SLIP SKIN snuck into Marlborough vineyards this vintage, in some cases revealing itself only by the time the grapes were ruined.

The stealthy rot comes from the same Botrytis cinerea infection that creates botrytis, but instead of the visible grey mould of that more familiar scourge, slip skin works from the inside out, and growers may not realise the problem until the skins literally slip off the pulpy flesh of the grape.

“In a couple of days fruit goes from looking perfectly okay to sludge,” says Plant & Food Research Marlborough’s Dion Mundy. “It is really fast.” That’s because there’ll be a pre-existing infection within the grape, “just sitting there waiting for the right conditions”, he says. Dion worked on a 2013 New Zealand Winegrowers research project, Understanding Causes of Slip Skin, which revealed that those right conditions are wet warm weather and sweet grapes, with 20 plus brix, often very close to harvest. “It strikes apparently healthy fruit that is approaching optimum ripeness, rendering it rotten and unusable,” says the fact sheet that resulted from the research.

More prevalent in Gisborne than in relatively dry Marlborough, this year’s repeated rain events clearly triggered the latent infection in many Marlborough vineyards, Dion says.

“We had a suspicion in February that we would see slip skin, because of the weather events.” The research showed that the best control of slip skin is to manage as you would botrytis, with

fungicides, open canopies and judicious canopy vigour management. Photo from Plant & Food Research, Robert Lamberts Saint Clair Chardonnays, but had to de-prioritise Family Estate Winemaker Hamish some of the other picks scheduled to Clark says slip skin is not immediately noticeable. “At early onset the bunches get it done.

Dog Point Vineyards Viticulturist look fine, but it does not take long Nigel Sowman says slip skin can ruin to spread and start causing damage a block in a matter of days and he saw to quality.” He says the very hot and a block of Riesling start to turn far humid days and nights that followed faster than he expected. “You see a tiny the pre-Easter rain event this vintage brown spot one day and the next day “turbo charged” disease, particularly the bunch is brown.” That means rapid action and making sure no affected fruit makes it to the winery. “If the infection is bad it is almost impossible to press with skins turning to mush filling up the drainers… suddenly a press cycle that might give you around 700 litres a tonne will give you a lot less litres and take three hours,” Nigel says. “Cleaning it out, I would imagine, would be a vintage nightmare. It can stall a winery.”

Dog Point owner Ivan Sutherland says there are likely a few disgruntled growers this year, because either their block fell over, or companies couldn’t get to them in time to pick. “The vagaries of nature sometimes can be a very defining factor.”

“We had a suspicion in February that we would see slip skin, because of the weather events.”

Dion Mundy

slip skin. “Chardonnay in particularly is a very susceptible variety – first signs and you know you have a very limited time to get the fruit in, left too long and it falls off in front of the harvester.” He says he “snuck in in the nick of time” with Saint Clair’s

For more information on slip skin check the fact sheet on the member section of nzwine.com

Winepress May 2018 / 13

Good Job Shining a light on best practice SOPHIE PREECE

IF NEW Zealand wants to promote sustainable wine, it must focus on sustainable employment, says the Labour Inspectorate in the lead-up to pruning season.

Regional Manager Kevin Finnegan says there is “a lot of talk” in the industry around labour as a key pillar of sustainability, but he is not seeing it translated into action for the vast majority of growers. “We need to be ahead of the game,” he insists, talking of “future proofing the industry.”

Kevin says there are “isolated pockets of excellence” in Marlborough, like Yealands Estate, which is using a Sedex Member Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) audit to achieve best practice, and he hopes the rest of the industry will follow suit with third party auditing. That gives vineyard owners assurance that exploitation is not occurring, and in turn strengthens New Zealand’s reputation for sustainability and allows the industry to charge a premium price, he says.

Wine Marlborough General Manager Marcus Pickens says it is a complex issue for New Zealand Winegrowers and Wine Marlborough, because the industry is not a “single desk seller”, like Fonterra or Zespri.

“We cannot make people join these initiatives. We need to craft, consult and implement, so it is a long term project. We continuously talk about our expectations in the industry, try to educate on legal and social obligations, and shine a light on the people doing the right thing.”

Part of that education process is having the Labour Inspectorate at the Growers Workshop this month, as well as a follow-up session in the afternoon

14 / Winepress May 2018

Katrina Jones

so that growers, contractors and wine companies can ask further questions.

“Kevin’s wish list is absolutely correct and we are working towards that,” says Marcus. “And I think we are starting to see a lot more people are taking a lot more responsibility for what happens on their property, which may be why so many more contractors are signing up for certification from the Master Contractors Association.” (See pg 17) Kevin agrees that the boost in

“The world is watching.”

Katrina Jones certified operators is heartening and hopes growers will question their contractors to ensure they are ticking the boxes. “Show me your books, show me how you are paying correctly,” he says.

Yealands Wine Group Quality Assurance Manager Katrina Jones says work to prepare for the SMETA

has revealed the extent of global expectations when it comes to employers, including those in the wine industry. “The world is watching,” she says.

She would like to see the industry adopt a standardised system so all contractors, growers and wine companies can work to the same parameters. “Ultimately, what we would like to achieve is to have an industry standard that is in line with current global standards, such as SMETA. So you don’t have to go through repetitive audits.”

The SMETA audit was a requirement of Sainsbury’s supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, and Katrina believes all companies will meet such scrutiny moving forward. She says the work was not just around labour contractors, although the company now demands a great deal of transparency from that sector and is working with the New Zealand Master Contractors Inc (NZMCI) to understand its criteria.

“It also made us review how we are doing things across all quarters of the company and it definitely enables us

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Winepress May 2018 / 15 BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

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HUMAN RESOURCES

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FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

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RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

to put together more comprehensive systems and processes to make sure that the conditions of work, treatment of employees and entitlements across the board are best practice, whether for contactors or permanent Yealands employees. It has improved that for everyone.”

The company has a new human resources manager and has set in place formal forums for workers to be able to discuss issues on. Katrina says the feedback in the audit process was “very positive”, but the company has worked to improve where it can.

Having worked with all their labour contractors and in-house, Yealands is now in the process of working with contract growers, to make sure their practices are up to standard, says Katrina. “Once you go down this road you need to keep moving.” She says a standard in place,

“as soon as possible”, will mean that everyone will know what is required of them to comply, including small independent growers with only a few staff members.

In addition to the employment standards, Yealands has developed a cultural awareness programme, working with the Marlborough Multicultural Centre (formerly the Migrant Centre) to roll out courses within the company including to cellar staff, winemakers and lab team. “They really enjoyed it,” she says.

Marlborough Multicultural Centre Manager Margaret Western has had approaches from some other wine companies about the Intercultural Awareness and Communication workshop, first held at Yealands last year.

“It is gathering momentum around in the community with employers

and it is very pleasing for our entity to see the interest, and for the wider community to acknowledge the importance of an ethical audit, and of supporting newcomers and supporting the supervisors that work with different cultures.”

Wine Marlborough Labour Coordinator Nicolette Prendergast, who is on the governance committee for the Multicultural Centre, says she would like to see all wine and contracting companies drawing on the communication lessons of the course, whether they are dealing with employees from other parts of the world, or indeed from New Zealand.

Cultural Celebration Hortus owner Aaron Jay says demand for contractors with a good reputation is going through the roof, but there is limited capacity for the likes of Hortus to accept more work. “The preferred employers have risen to the top, but there is a huge amount of pressure because they can’t meet the demand when it comes to accommodation, staff supervisors, vehicles or vineyard workers.”

He expects that the flow on affect will be positive for the industry, as people unable to contract companies with proven performance will look for peace of mind from their existing contractors, by insisting on accountability. “They are saying ‘we now expect more from you’. So hopefully by default they will lift their standard.” Aaron says that for him and his wife, the expectation is that the business will do more than meet its legal and RSE requirements.

“We have always had a motto in our business and that is, ‘never ask anyone to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself, or expect anyone to stay anywhere you wouldn’t stay yourself’.”

Good employers are rewarded with more than good business, says Aaron, whose 10th birthday celebration for Hortus in January included an “incredible” performance from a team of Ni Vanuatu men. “We told them months and months ago that we would do a 10 year celebration, and they said they’d like to do a celebratory dance to say ‘thankyou’,” he says. “Little did I know what it would be like. They made all these amazing costumes and painted

16 / Winepress May 2018

their faces and did four traditional dances. It went on for about an hour.” He says the men first sought and received permission from their home villages, because the dances are traditionally reserved for high-ranking chiefs and government. The dances, along with a song the Judah Woyo, an RSE worker with Hortus, men wrote for takes part in a celebration at Duncannon.

Hortus, were Photo by Jim Tannock. a reminder of the diversity of cultures within Vanuatu, with each of the dances representative of a different area, says Aaron. “They were celebrating the different cultures within their own culture. To be honest I was blown away by it.”

Verified Contractors Contractor certification on the rise VANCE KERSLAKE

THE PHONE rings in the middle of the night. It’s your biggest Northern Hemisphere customer, because a stuff.co.nz media article about labour exploitation in Marlborough has popped up in their Google Alerts.

They want assurances that you’ve got nothing to do with it, and they want it in the next 24 hours.

If you use verified contractors and make the effort to check their practices, talk to their staff, and sign a contract, chances are you’ll be in the clear. Verified contractors are those who have gone through an independent audit process. And the good news is, there are an increasing number of verified contractors in Marlborough.

Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) go through a rigorous process to become accredited as RSE. They must be in a sound financial position, have good workplace and human resource practices, their accommodation is inspected and they must provide pastoral care for workers. The initial

audit is pretty much gold standard, and it’s valid for two years.

Afterwards, an RSE contractor is only audited every three years.

But a lot can happen in a business in three years. Mergers or acquisitions can occur, key staff might come or go, growth might put pressure on systems and processes that worked fine for a smaller business. So, it’s a good idea to check compliance even with an RSE contractor.

New Zealand Master Contractors Inc (NZMCI) is another verification system. Members of NZMCI must demonstrate they are financially viable, comply with relevant New Zealand employment legislation and have good employment practices. An NZMCI auditor conducts a full audit to GlobalGAP and GRASP standards every year. Other companies such as AsureQuality, Telarc, SGS and others also conduct independent audits.

Photo by Richard Briggs

Whatever contractors you work with, it’s important to ask questions.

It can be difficult to tell if a contractor is legitimate or not. New Zealand Wine produces the Working for You Guide and Checklist for Engaging Contractors with questions to ask your contractor.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has a list of most RSE on their website and NZMCI lists their members on their website. MBIE also publishes a list of companies who have been found to be in breach of employment obligations and may be subject to stand down periods affecting their ability to hire migrant workers. Check these lists and ask around to make sure any contractor you are thinking of engaging will be good for your business.

Checklist – an extract from the New Zealand Wine Working for You Guide What questions should I ask a contractor? To protect your business it’s a good idea to satisfy yourself that the contractor: • Can demonstrate they will comply with employment obligations • Can demonstrate their workers are allowed to work in New Zealand – you can ask to see passports and permits or use the tool VisaView to check • Can demonstrate they will comply with health and safety requirements • Are properly set up as a company, sole trader or other legal entity

• Have public liability insurance • Have complied with all Inland Revenue obligations – ask to see a current Certificate of Exemption and/or a letter of compliance • Have not had actions taken against them for breaches of employment obligations – check the MBIE website.

If the contractor does not provide the information or is evasive you should reconsider whether to engage their services.

The full checklist is available at www.nzwine.com/ members/grow/compliance/people/working-for-you/

Winepress May 2018 / 17

Frost Fighters FROST FANS are about more than avoiding “catastrophic” loss in vineyards, says New Zealand Frost Fans New Zealand Sales Manager Andrew Roff. They also help with plant health and protect against cold injury to increase a grower’s current yields and improve the quality of the fruit.

“Anecdotal evidence from growers has shown that while the use of frost fans can save a crop from total loss in a severe frost, they can play a significant role in improving the yields and quality of fruit that can slowly be eroded by multiple previously unrecognised cold events.”

He says that where once frost protection systems would have been used only when a serious frost was forecast, now frost fans will start automatically to prevent damage from cold events that may only last a few hours in the middle of the night or early morning.

The past few years have brought strong demand, with the development of land in areas previously considered marginal, including the Waihopai, Awatere and upper Wairau Valleys, as well as the Northbank, says Andrew.

“Many of these clients are putting frost fans in before the posts and wires and plants go in.”

New Zealand Frost Fans has also been doing a significant number of upgrades and retrofits in Marlborough in the past two years, including the installation of composite blades, centrifugal clutches and controllers.

“It’s about upgrading to new technology to make the fans compliant and improving coverage areas,” says Andrew. “Also, wear and tear is starting to show on some of the older machines.”

Web-based monitoring of frost fans is also becoming more popular, 18 / Winepress May 2018

enabling growers to access realtime monitoring of fans, together with text alarms and historical data and graphs on temperature, run hours and machine performance.

The company has launched a new return on investment (ROI) calculator, which looks at the annual value of a FrostBoss C49 machine over a 20-year lifespan.

The calculation is based on typical low range and high range fan coverage areas, instead of the individual sitespecific conditions taken into account when installing a frost fan.

Users input the crop type, average

“The whole point of frost fans is it gives them peace of mind and they don’t have to take that gamble any longer.”

Andrew Roff

annual crop yield, assuming no frost damage, and the estimated average annual reduction in yield due to frost or cold injury. They also input the crop value per tonne, diesel cost per litre, cost of capital, estimated machine running hours during frost events, and the vineyard/orchard area requiring protection.

It’s a whole different scenario from when Andrew started visiting Marlborough 14 years ago, when it was common to see a huddle of viticulturists with five or six weather maps, trying to decide whether to bring in a helicopter. “There might have been 20 helicopters parked up at the end of the Waihopai Valley Rd, and another 30 or 40 in Marlborough… The whole point of frost fans is it gives them peace of mind and they don’t have to take that gamble any longer.” www.FrostBossROIcalculator.co.nz

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Winepress May 2018 / 19

Good Stuff

Conventional winegrowing is a “snore fest” says The Darling’s Bart Arnst SOPHIE PREECE

HERBICIDE RESISTANT weeds and herbicide resistant consumers are just two great reasons to convert to organics, says Bart Arnst, who has been championing the cause for 20 years. So he’s bemused that the greatest resistance comes from conventional growers, unwilling to adapt. “You don’t know when the penny will drop. Every time in a bad year, people say ‘organic blocks are so much cleaner than everything else’.

Well, why don’t you convert?”

And plenty are of course, with around 80 organic vineyards in Marlborough alone, in a combined planted area of more than 1,000 hectares, and an Organic Winegrowers New Zealand (OWNZ) goal to have 20% of New Zealand’s vineyard land under organics by 2020. Bart, who is an OWNZ founder and executive member, co-owner of The Darling, and an organic viticulture consultant, says the thirst for organic grapes in New Zealand is being driven by international demand. “It’s becoming a foot in the door if you’ve got something

20 / Winepress May 2018

in your portfolio that’s certified organic.”

Villa Maria wants half its company-owned vineyards to be organic by 2020 and industry stalwarts like Ivan Sutherland, who is the largest organic grower in Marlborough, are committed to the value of organic practices. That “critical mass” is leading to left field ideas and groundbreaking momentum, says Bart, in the wake of a vintage where demand for organic Marlborough fruit far outstripped supply. “Early in spring I start getting phone calls from wine companies looking for organic fruit, but all of it is generally tied up. Then there is another spike after ProWein, which has just been, because they are all talking about it in Europe.”

Organic grape growers tend to focus on quality rather than quantity – opting to grow high-quality fruit rather than aiming for maximum yields, he says. “Due to the demand, organic growers are in a strong position to negotiate and maximise their earnings per hectare.”

It’s a far cry from the mid-1990s when Bart convinced the powers that be at Pernod Ricard (then Montana) to give him a corner of Squires Vineyard for organic management. “Once I took roles of responsibility I started to question the chemistry and the reasons why we were doing things. That led me to looking back as opposed to looking forward, because people were growing grapes before all this stuff was around,” he says.

Bart rapidly gained confidence in the results of the Squires block, “using things that were pretty benign to the environment and still getting pretty good results.” He began by looking at different cover crops that could replace various chemicals, by creating a beneficial ecosystem. He wanted plants that would supply nitrogen and reduce compaction by digging roots deep and drawing up minerals. He wanted plants that would increase the organic matter in the topsoil, to make it a better sponge for moisture, and plants that would draw in the right insects to predate on the wrong ones.

He devised a crop mix and got it in the ground, “and before you knew it we had things flying all over the place and staff moaning because they didn’t want to get stung”.

The work brought him into contact with Professor Steve Wratten, an ecologist at Lincoln University, and together they progressed a major buckwheat project, looking at how the Trichogramma wasp could protect vines from the light brown apple moth, given the right habitat.

That is now paying dividends for conventional growers, whether they realise it or not, he says. “People might say, ‘bloody organics what a waste of time’, and I’ll be, ‘ah I see you have buckwheat planted there’,” he laughs.

That kind of thing is happening all the time, and will become more prevalent moving forward, as resistance - of sprays and markets - demands a better way. “We, inadvertently or not, will be supplying information that the industry will need going forward.”

The cover crop plantings impacted on Bart’s life in a number of ways, including shining a light on the work of organics, and getting the attention of Seresin Wines, who then employed Bart to help them convert. It also attracted Australian viticulturist Samantha Scarratt, who moved to New Zealand to complete the buckwheat work for her PhD. She brought her partner Chris Darling with her, and

in 2007, he and Bart established The Darling, a wine company dedicated to organic fruit. In some cases that means taking a grower’s block from mainstream to organic, says Bart. “If someone wants to convert, we go in and convert it for them. If the site is okay, we say we’ll buy their fruit, so they have a guaranteed market.”

But The Darling can only do so much, and he would like to see the companies that were on the hunt pre-vintage or post-ProWein be more proactive in their search. “You must have your own grape growers,” he tells

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them. “Why don’t you get out and talk to them. See who is interested and support them through it.”

Bart says organics produces great grapes, protects staff, and gives customers the assurances they are increasingly seeking. But it has also given people in the industry a “new lease of life”, as they think outside the square. “I could lie here with my eyes closed and tell you exactly how to run a conventional vineyard. It’s a snore fest. If you do that for years and years - following convention - it is so boring.”

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Driving Crop Performance Winepress May 2018 / 21

Generation Y-ine Deciding to become a winemaker was a “lightbulb moment” for Kelly Stuart

SOPHIE PREECE

AS THE buzz of vintage settles to a hum, Kelly Stuart gets down to the nuts and bolts of winemaking.

“One of my favourite jobs, at the end of vintage, is pulling apart all the equipment and taking off as many bolts and things I can find that I will know how to put back together”, says the Cloudy Bay cellar hand, at the end of her second season running the Pinot cellar. “I get it absolutely spotless and back together and that it is job done. I know it won’t grow any disease through the year and is ready for the next vintage.”

And the Pinot cellar certainly requires you to be ready. “We don’t know exactly how much fruit from each block will come in, and sometimes the estimations are not quite right,” says Kelly. Unlike the white cellar, where cellar hands can put juice in a tank and move it if it doesn’t fit, you have to have the perfect amount of red in the right tanks, she says. “Otherwise the plungers don’t plunge properly or it ferments over the top of the tank.”

The winemakers will give her a 22 / Winepress May 2018

rough plan of where they want each block to go, but she and the night supervisor have to stay on their toes to decide which bin goes in which tank, while guiding the new staff each season, including some who have never been through a vintage. “And this is on equipment that only a few places have, so they won’t have seen it before,” she says of one of the country’s only Pellenc destemmer and optical sorters (see sidebox).

It’s a pressured time and place, exacerbated this year by the early onslaught of Central Otago fruit, but Kelly loves it all just the way it is. Becoming a winemaker was a “lightbulb moment”, after a last minute withdrawal from the architecture school she had enrolled in. Her parents have an avocado farm in the Coromandel and she loved growing things, as well as chemistry, so decided to head to Lincoln to study winemaking. “It’s a good mix of what I like to do. I didn’t actually like wine too much at the time, but soon developed a taste for it.”

Her first and third vintages were

at Villa Maria in Auckland, with one in California in between. She then returned to the same Californian winery as a harvest oenologist instead of cellar hand. From there she went to McLaren Vale, the Okanagan in Canada, then to the Clare Valley, working in a “tiny place” with a winemaker, assistant winemaker and her, in dual vineyard and winery roles.

In 2016 Kelly had a vintage in Hawke’s Bay and contemplated one in France, “but I had been living out of a suitcase for four years and I wanted to establish a base somewhere”.

Somewhere ended up being Cloudy Bay, which she calls a fantastic company with a great team. “Even though I am a cellar hand they are very supportive of me in my career progression. They involve us in bench tastings, they want us to learn and they want to help us get to where we want to be. They were in my shoes a long time ago and understand what it’s like.”

That included supporting her through last year’s Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker Competition, where her shoes

Kelly in her moon boot at last year’s Young Winemaker competition. Photo Richard Briggs

included a moon boot. Having dropped a keg on her foot a few weeks before the competition, Kelly hobbled around the competition segments, including a barrel rolling competition, and still limped away with good points.

She says the competition was harder than she expected and “mentally exhausting”, but she finished it confident of her lab skills and ready to improve on her marketing. And she plans to be fighting fit when she hits the Marlborough competition this July, with both feet in steel caps instead.

Camera ready Cloudy Bay uses a Pellenc destemmer and optical sorter, which recognises unsuitable berries or MOG (Material Other than Grapes) and fires it into a waste auger. As the fruit travels on a belt running at 80km/h, the sorter takes a photo of every single berry and decides what can stay and what must go, based on parameters of size, and colour set by the user. If the berry doesn’t meet those parameters - perhaps a raisin, split fruit or unripe - a jet of air shoots it down.

Pellenc sends out a technician from the United States every year and Kelly has being working with him to get the camera focussed on Cloudy Bay’s specific requirements. “It has been quite cool to see what the fruit came out like at the start of last season, compared to the end of this season,” she says. “Just with little tweaks and camera adjustments.”

Every season is different - last year’s berries were small, and this year’s are large - and every parcel needs to be handled individually, she says. “From the start of every block that comes in I spend five to 10 minutes making sure the destemmer is pushing out whole berries, not crushed.” Once that is consistent, she looks to the optical sorter to make sure the settings are appropriate. “Then it’s about constantly going around and checking that what’s kept and what’s rejected is what you are after,” she says. “So it’s a lot of walking around in a really small space.”

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Winepress May 2018 / 23

Biosecurity Watch Make your voice heard: Support the application to use samurai wasp as a brown marmorated stink bug biocontrol DR EDWIN MASSEY

THE BROWN Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) Council, which includes New Zealand Winegrowers, has made an application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to release the samurai wasp to help combat a BMSB incursion, should one be found in New Zealand. EPA consultation on this application is open until May 24, 2018. By making a submission in support of this application, you can play a key role to improve wine industry biosecurity readiness against this high risk threat.

EPA application to import samurai wasp as a brown marmorated stink bug biocontrol The application seeks approval to import and release the samurai wasp in the event of a BMSB incursion. The wasp would be stored in containment and not released into the environment unless it was needed.

The samurai wasp is a natural enemy of BMSB and uses cues to locate and target BMSB egg masses.

Upon release, the samurai wasp would establish a self-sustaining population on the BMSB present in New Zealand, helping to keep numbers down. In combination with other tools, including chemical treatments, the wasp may give us a fighting chance to eradicate a newly established population. So far

significant social nuisance impacts. an established population of BMSB This bug must be considered one of has never been eradicated anywhere New Zealand’s most unwanted pests. in the world, in part because of the New Zealand’s awareness of the challenges associated with detecting BMSB threat is at an all-time high. and eliminating BMSB at low From the start of the high risk season population densities. The wasp has in September to the end of March, MPI evolved alongside BMSB in its home received 931 calls to the biosecurity range in Asia and will have no trouble hotline regarding suspect BMSB, more locating and eliminating BMSB in a than double last season’s tally. March new environment. alone had the highest number ever The likelihood of a BMSB recorded for a month, with 280, in incursion is increasing each year, part as a result of BMSB being in the with interceptions during the 2017/18 news as MPI refused entry to heavily high risk season (September through infested car carrying vessels. Now is April) being significantly higher than the ideal time for this application to 2016/17. BMSB is such a threat to proceed. the wine industry due to its potential impact on production through feeding, What else could the wasp target? and also on wine quality caused by The samurai wasp is not like the taint. Research conducted by NZIER large exotic German or common wasps in 2017 estimated the impact of BMSB could cost the wine industry approximately $600 million in forgone export revenue over the next 20 years.

BMSB can also get to high population densities very quickly, destroying crops and gardens and getting into The samurai wasp – Trissolcus japonicus is about the size of a pin head homes to cause

IF YOU SEE ANYTHING UNUSUAL

CATCH IT . SNAP IT . REPORT IT .

Call MPI biosecurity hotline 0800 80 99 66 24 / Winepress May 2018

found in New Zealand.

The samurai wasp is tiny (about the size of a pin head) and does not sting or bite people or animals. Overseas field and laboratory studies show that the samurai wasp will only target insects in the Pentatomidae family; i.e. stink bugs and shield bugs.

Only eight species from the Pentatomidae family are present in New Zealand.

Four of these are exotic, three are also present in Australia and one species (and two subspecies) are considered endemic. Of these species, one species and one subspecies were not subject to host testing An adult samurai wasp emerging from a parasitised BMSB egg due to their distribution in remote locations (South Island • The samurai wasp as a control growers with an option other than mountain ranges and the Three Kings tool in comparison to other increasing insecticide sprays. Using the Islands off the northern coast). available tools (overseas other samurai wasp as a response tool would Host testing in New Zealand has options primarily include increase the chances of eradicating shown that, with no other hosts to insecticide, trapping and or a newly established population and choose from, the samurai wasp will exclusion netting) make the response more cost effective. parasitise the eggs of New Zealand • Whether you support or oppose For wine industry biosecurity, having pentatomids. However, overseas the release of samurai wasp in the samurai wasp available is a winexperience shows that the wasp has the event of a BMSB incursion win situation. Making a submission a preference for BMSB over other being detected in New Zealand in favor of this application helps to hosts and tends to parasitise BMSB • Your submission could make all mitigate the risk posed by BMSB to eggs over the eggs of other pentatomid your vineyards and wine industry the difference! species. The remote location of the two sustainability.

If you would like more information untested species means their exposure on the samurai wasp or BMSB Have your say to samurai wasp is likely to be nil. please visit the members page of You can have your say on www.nzwine.com or contact New Cost benefit analysis this application throughout the Zealand Winegrowers Biosecurity and New Zealand Winegrowers consultation period closing on May 24. Emergency Response Manager Dr considers that the benefits of this If you would like to lodge a submission Ed Massey on 021 1924 924 or edwin. tool being available against BMSB you can provide a submission via the massey@nzwine.com outweigh any potential impacts on EPA. Visit their website: If you see anything unusual: the environment. BMSB could have https://www.epa.govt.nz/publiccatch it; snap it; report it, call the MPI an extremely significant economic consultations/open-consultations/ biosecurity hotline 0800 80 99 66. impact on the New Zealand wine samurai-to-slay-stink-bug/ industry and become a considerable As you are completing your social nuisance pest. At present, we submission, you may wish to consider: have limited tools to fight this pest, • The potential impact of BMSB with use of broad-spectrum chemicals on: being one of the only options currently - Your job or business available. The samurai wasp presents - Your lifestyle a targeted and self-sustaining control - Your social, cultural and tool that could be used and provides environmental values

Winepress May 2018 / 25

Industry News Rapaura Springs Garden Marlborough Rapaura Springs Wines is the new major sponsor for Garden Marlborough, thanks to an impromptu meeting between neighbours John Neylon, co-owner of Rapaura Springs, and Sara Neill, a Garden Marlborough committee member. “We got talking and I asked, is there anything I can do to help?” says John. His wife Margaret started volunteering for the festival in its first year, and gradually took up hosting guests on the garden tours. “It’s a highly organised event, and a very rewarding day,” she says. “When you’re a gardener, it’s just magic.

Every garden owner is so happy to be sharing their gardens.” Sponsoring the event was an easy decision, she says. “We’re family owned, we’re based in Marlborough, we all love gardening.”

Marketing Director Brendan Neylon says the partnership is a way of giving back to “the amazing Marlborough community” and to those that support the company. “Marlborough is the best place in the country to live, work and play and we’re committed to keeping it that way.” Rapaura Springs Garden Marlborough Chairman Tim Crawford says Rapaura Springs Wines is a great fit with the festival, as a family-owned Marlborough company with a great international reputation. “We’re just really pleased and excited about the match.”

Pacific Access Wine industry members with permanent job vacancies are being invited to a session with John Hellesoe, Pacific Relationship Manager with Immigration New Zealand. Wine Marlborough Advocacy Manager Vance Kerslake says the session will cover the Samoan Quota and Pacific Access Category resident visas, which allow people from Pacific countries to apply for residence, provided they have a suitable job offer.

Each year up to 1,100 Samoan citizens, 250 Tongan and Fijian citizens and 75 Kiribati and Tuvaluan citizens can apply for residence in New Zealand under the scheme. They must be aged between 18 and 45 and have an acceptable job offer. You do not have to check whether there are New Zealanders available to do the work before you offer the job. The scheme randomly selects registered names out of a ballot and invites those selected and their immediate family members 26 / Winepress May 2018

to apply for residence. Pacific Access Category ballots will be announced on June 16 and the Samoan Quota will be announced on July 7.

The session is on Tuesday, May 22 from 10am to 1pm at the Marlborough Research Centre theatre, 85 Budge St, Blenheim. RSVP to Vance at advocacy@winemarlborough.nz by 2pm on Monday, May 21.

Wine Marlborough event designed to stimulate and excite the next generation of winemakers in New Zealand. Participant must be a New Zealand or Australian resident, be 30 years of age or younger as of December 31, 2018, and have a minimum of two previous harvests or two years’ experience in a wine production role in New Zealand. There is an education day at Cartel Bar in Blenheim from 5 to 7pm on June 5, and applications close on June 29. The South Island competition will be held on Friday, July 20, in Marlborough, and the national final will be held in Auckland on August 21. For more information go to the events page of www.winemarlborough.co.nz. To RSVP for the education evening, email Georgie Leach at georgie@wine-marlborough. co.nz 2018 Bayer Young Viticulturist Marlborough’s 2018 Bayer Young Viticulturist of the Year Competition will be held on July 13. Participants must be 30 years of age or under and be working full time in viticulture. The South Island Regional Competition, for contestants from Nelson, Canterbury and Waitaki, will be held in Waipara on June 15. Winners of the regional event will go on to compete at the national final at the 2018 Bragato conference in Wairarapa on Monday, August 27, 2018. For more information, check the events section of www.winemarlborough.co.nz

CLASSIFIEDS photo by Richard Briggs

Young Winemaker of the Year Competition The Tonnellerie de Mercurey New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year Competition is an annual

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Winepress May 2018 / 27

Brought to you by

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

To have your event included in next month’s Wine Happenings or Industry News pages, please email details to sophie@sophiepreece.co.nz by May 10. For more information on the events below email Harriet Wadworth at harriet@wine-marlborough.co.nz

MAY 9 9 10-13 12 16 22 24

Institute of Directors workshop. Chateau Marlborough Working for You with Senior Labour Inspector Laurie Norton, 3pm, MRC Theatre.

Feast Marlborough (www.feastmarlborough.nz) Saint Clair Family Estate Vineyard Half (www.vineyardhalf.com) Grower & Vineyard Manager Workshop. VB Vineyard, 160 Paynters Rd. RSVP to harriet@winemarlborough.nz Workshop on Hiring Staff from the Pacific, 10am, MRC Theatre Education Day for Bayer Young Viticulturist of the Year Competition

JUNE 5 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker Competition Education Evening 18 The Marlborough Careers Evening, including Wine Marlborough JULY 13 20

Marlborough Young Viticulturist of the Year Tonnellerie de Mercurey South Island Young Winemaker of the Year Competition

Grower Workshop - May 16

Young Viticulturist Competition - July 13

Young Winemaker Competition - July 20

HANS HERZOG ESTATE - THE ART OF LIVING WELL...

Let our Master Chefs spoil you in a relaxed and cosy ambience!

Come and enjoy Marlborough's stunning winter days and join us for a casual lunch in the beautiful Bistro gardens or cosy up in front of the open fire for a delicious dinner. All for the love of wine!

And for all you wine aficionados, come and indulge in one of New Zealand’s largest International wine lists!

BISTRO OPENING HOURS - WEDNESDAY TO SUNDAY - LUNCH: 12pm - 3pm DINNER: From 6pm - late CELLAR DOOR: Mon to Fri: 9am to 5pm, Weekends: 11am to 4pm TOURS: Daily at 12pm 81 Jeffries Road | 03 572 8770 | enjoy@herzog.co.nz | www.herzog.co.nz

28 / Winepress May 2018

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