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Tasman Crop Report
MET REPORT
Table 1: Blenheim Weather Data – October 2018 October October 201 October Period October 2018 compared LTA of LTA 2017 to LTA GDD’s for month -Max/Min¹ 118.3 114% 103.& (1996-2017) 121.1 GDD’s for month – Mean² 118.4 106% 111.5 (1996-2017) 126.1 Growing Degree Days Total Jul – Oct 18 – Max/Min 205.8 109% 188.0 (1996-2017) 228.7 Jul - Oct 18 – Mean 252.5 105% 239.7 (1996-2017) 271.0 Mean Maximum (°C) 19.0 +0.7°C 18.3 (1986-2017) 19.2 Mean Minimum (°C) 8.4 +0.6°C 7.8 (1986-2017) 8.6 Mean Temp (°C) 13.7 +0.6°C 13.1 (1986-2017) 13.9 Grass Frosts (<= -1.0°C) 2 Equal 2.1 (1986-2017) Nil Air Frosts (0.0°C) 0 Equal 0.1 (1986-2017) Nil Sunshine hours 266.1 116% 229.0 (1986-2017) 247.4 Sunshine hours – lowest 140.7 1983 Sunshine hours – highest 299.6 1969 Sunshine hours total – 2018 2070.2 103% 2003.6 (1986-2017) 2038.9 Rainfall (mm) 33.8 57% 59.5 (1986-2017) 32.4 Rainfall (mm) – lowest 2.3 1961 Rainfall (mm) – highest 161.0 2001 Rainfall total (mm) – 2018 693.4 128% 540.0 (1986-2017) 553.4 Evapotranspiration – mm 107.7 105% 102.1 (1996-2017) 109.7 Avg. Daily Windrun (km) 229.6 77% 296.3 (1996-2017) 241.4 Mean soil temp – 10cm 12.6 +0.6°C 12.0 (1986-2017) 13.7 Mean soil temp – 30cm 14.8 +1.2°C 13.6 (1986-2017) 14.8 ¹GDD’s Max/Min are calculated from absolute daily maximum and minimum temperatures ²GDD’s Mean are calculated from average hourly temperatures
October 2018 weather
October 2018 was warm, with well above average sunshine hours and well below average rainfall and wind-run. Temperature
October’s mean temperature of 13.7°C was 0.6°C warmer than the longterm average (LTA). October probably didn’t feel like a warm month as there were a number of ups and down in weekly temperatures as indicated in Table 2. The seven day period from 12 to 18 October was cool, with a mean temperature of 11.4°C, 1.7°C below the October LTA mean. However, the next seven days from 19 to 25 October were very warm, with a mean temperature of 16.5°C, 3.4°C above the October LTA mean.
The warmest maximum temperature of 25.9°C was recorded on 20 October 2018. The coolest minimum temperature of 1.2°C was recorded on 13 October 2018.
In five of the six years 2013 to 2018, the October mean temperature has been well above average (2014 below average). However, in the 11 years 2002 to 2012, the mean October temperature was never above average.
Frosts
Two ground frosts and no air frosts were recorded in October 2018. No ground or air frosts were recorded in October 2017, the only year from 1998 to 2018 not to record a ground frost in October.
Growing degree-days (GDD)
The GDD graph (Figure 1) has been restricted to the period September to December in order to highlight some of the differences between recent seasons during these four months. Once the latter four months of the season (January to April) are added on the Y axis scale needs to become larger and it gets difficult to see the differences between seasons for September and October. 2011/12 has been included as the most recent cool season. 2013/14 is
Table 2: Weekly weather data during October 2018 Mean Max Mean Min Mean Rainfall Sunshine (°C) (°C) (°C) Deviation (mm) (hours)
1st - 7th 18.4 10.1 14.3 (+1.2) 0.0 61.4
8th - 14th
17.3 6.7 12.0 (-1.1) 6.0 57.3 15th - 21st 20.5 8.1 14.3 (+1.2) 0.0 74.2 22nd - 28th 20.7 8.8 14.7 (+1.6) 22.4 60.6 29th – 31st (3 days) 16.8 8.6 12.7 (-0.4) 5.4 12.6 1st – 31st 19.0 8.4 13.7 (+0.6) 33.8 266.1 October 2018 (+0.7) (+0.6) (57%) (116%) October LTA (1986 – 2017) 18.3 7.8 13.1 59.5 229.0 LTA – 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 31 December
included as the warmest season from September to December, even warmer than last season. The 2017/18 season really stood out from all other seasons from January to April 2018 (not shown).
September 2018 recorded a mean temperature equal to the long-term average and the GDD deviation line (black) ended up close to zero at the end of the month. The October 2018 GDD line is reflective of the cool week from 12 to 18 and the warm week from 19 to 25, previously described. However, with the overall mean temperature above average, the GDD deviation at the end of October was higher than at the start of the month. Last year it was not until the end of October and early November 2017 that the season started to have some really warm temperatures.
NIWA’s Climate Outlook for temperature seems to be have been a bit of a moving target over recent months, The chance of above average temperatures for Nelson/ Marlborough in the September to November Outlook was 40%. The October to December Outlook was less certain with only a 25% chance of above average temperatures. The November to December Outlook is back up to a 40% chance of above average temperatures. One year ago the November to December 2017 Outlook was also for 40% chance of above average temperatures and that prediction was fairly accurate. So if the current temperature prediction at the beginning of November 2018 is accurate the 2018/19 GDD line could well follow the same upwards trajectory as the 2013/14 or 2017/18 lines. However, the 2018/19 line is at a lower point at the beginning of November.
While temperatures / growing degree days over the whole season have a major bearing on the timing of the main phenological events (flowering, bunch closure, véraison and harvest) you need to bear in mind that the main determinant of vine yield is the temperature over the relatively short flowering / fruit set period, not the temperature over the month’s preceding or following flowering / fruit set. For a large proportion of Marlborough’s grape crop it is the temperatures in the second and third weeks of December that are critical in determining yield at harvest.
Sunshine
October 2018 recorded 266.1 sunshine hours, 37.1 hours more sunshine than the LTA; i.e. an additional 1.2 hours sunshine per day. Total sunshine from January to October 2018 was 2070.2 hours, 103% of the LTA. Although Blenheim recorded high sunshine hours it was only the third sunniest town in New Zealand during October. Napier was the sunniest with 275.7 hours, followed by Whakatane with 268.2 hours. Of interest is that Richmond recorded only 245.3 hours sunshine in October, 20.8 hours less than Blenheim.
At the end of September Richmond was leading Blenheim by 23.6 hours, for the 2018 total to date. However, at the end of October, Richmond’s lead has been cut to only 2.8 hours. So with two month’s left in 2018 the sunshine race is between Richmond and Blenheim. Whakatane is in third place but too far behind to make up the difference.
Rainfall
Blenheim recorded 33.8 mm rain during October, 57% of the LTA. However, total rainfall for the first 24 days was only 6.0 mm, recorded over the 11th and 12th October. 27.8 mm (82% of the month’s total) rain was recorded over five of the last seven days of October. The highest one day total was 18.8 mm recorded on 25 October.
Total rainfall for January to October 2018 of 693.4 mm was 128% of the long-term average of 540.0 mm. What the rainfall total for 2018 to date doesn’t show is that total rain for September and October 2018 (70.0 mm) is only 62% of the long-term average for these two months (112.2 mm).
Soil Moisture
Topsoil moisture was 33.9% on 1 October 2018 (Figure 2). However, with only 6.0 mm rain recorded in the first 24 days of October the soil moisture fell steadily to 21.5% on the 24th. The loss of 12.4% moisture between 1 and 24 October was about 50% of the available topsoil moisture at the Grovetown Park weather station; i.e. field capacity is approx. 38% and permanent wilting point about 14%. This topsoil moisture loss from an actively growing grass sward (lawn/ pasture), is very typical in Marlborough
during October, when little rainfall is recorded. Up until 24 October the 2018 soil moisture line was tracking downwards in almost identical manner to the 2015 line. However, the 27.8 mm rain between 25 and 30 October boosted the moisture by 4-5% and in early November the soil moisture was at a very similar point as it was in 2017. In 2015 and 2017 rainfall was very low from October to December and the shallow soil moisture was close to its minimum by late November. The late October 2018 rainfall will have given about a week to 10 days delay in the downwards trajectory of the shallow soil moisture, unless substantial rainfall is received in early November. It is interesting to note that of the six years 2012 to 2017, total rainfall from October to December was only slightly above average in 2016, in all other years rainfall was below to well below average. The prediction for November 2018 to January 2019 is for 35% chance of average and 40% chance of below average rainfall.
Wind
October 2018 average daily windrun was 229.6 km. This was 77% of the October mean (1996-2017) of 296.3 km. There were only four days during October that recorded above average wind-run. Of the 12 years 1996 to 2007 only three years recorded below
Figure 2: Shallow soil moisture (0-35 cm) at the Grovetown Park weather station in Blenheim average wind-run during October. However, of the 11 years 2008 to 2018, nine years have recorded lower than average wind-run during October; i.e. October has recorded a lot less wind in the past decade than in the previous decade. The four months October to January are traditionally the windiest months in Blenheim. However, the October trend with less wind in the last decade also applies to November, December and January.
Rob Agnew Plant & Food Research / Marlborough Research Centre
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Good Show!
Marlborough Wine Show celebrates people, place, provenance & Pinot
PINOT NOIR was the pick of the bunch at last month’s Marlborough Wine Show, taking three major awards. Villa Maria’s Single Vineyard Seddon Pinot Noir 2015 won the OI Wine of the Show, while a flight of Villa Maria Single Vineyard Southern Clays Pinot Noirs - 2012, 2015 and 2017 - took the Marlborough Museum Legacy Award. “It was pleasing to see that this year we had Pinot Noir that stood up in this space,” said chief judge Jack Glover. “That quality consistency over a number of vintages of Pinot Noir is showing a coming of age of our vineyards and our winemaking.” The third Pinot triumph was for the Tohu Rore Reserve Pinot Noir 2017, which won The Coterie Trophy for Wine of Provenance, for a wine “that shows where it is from,” said Jack.
The show is unique in a number of ways, beginning with its wines being at least 95% Marlborough grapes, and the sub-regional separation in assessing some varieties. It’s also the only show in New Zealand in which judges taste wines in varietal-specific glassware.
A Marlborough Wine Show Long Lunch, catered by Simon Levy and the
Trophy Winners for Wine Marlborough Show 2018
OI New Zealand Wine of the Show - Villa Maria Single
Vineyard Seddon Pinot Noir 2015 Methode Marlborough Trophy for Champion Sparkling
Wine - Hunter’s Miru Miru Reserve 2013 The De Sangosse Trophy for Champion Riesling - The
Sounds Marlborough Riesling 2018 The Wine Marlborough Trophy for Champion Other White
Varietal - Forrest Chenin Blanc 2017 The Label and Litho Trophy for Champion Pinot Gris -
Wither Hills Pinot Gris 2018 The Wine Brokers New Zealand Trophy for
Champion Gewürztraminer - Cicada Marlborough
Gewürztraminer 2017 The WineWorks Trophy for 2017 and older Champion
Sauvignon Blanc - Giesen Single Vineyard Fuder
Dillons Point Sauvignon Blanc 2015 The WineWorks Trophy for 2018 Champion Sauvignon
Blanc - Peter Yealands Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2018 The Ormond Nurseries Trophy for Champion Chardonnay 2016 - Villa Maria Single Vineyard Taylors Pass
Chardonnay 2016 The Ormond Nurseries Trophy for Champion Chardonnay 2017 - Brancott Estate Letter Series O Chardonnay 2017 The Scenic Hotel Marlborough Trophy for Champion Rosé - The Sounds Rosé 2018 The Classic Oak Products Trophy for 2015 and older
Champion Pinot Noir - Villa Maria Single Vineyard
Seddon Pinot Noir 2015 The Classic Oak Products trophy for 2016 Champion Pinot
Noir - Summerhouse Marlborough Pinot Noir 2016 The Classic Oak Products Trophy for 2017 Champion Pinot
Noir - Isabel Estate Marlborough Pinot Noir 2017 The Wine Marlborough trophy for Champion Other Red
Varietal - Giesen Single Vineyard Clayvin Syrah 2016 The Barrel Finance & Logistics Trophy for Champion
Sweet Wine - Riverby Estate Noble Riesling 2016 The Marlborough Museum Legacy Award - Villa Maria
Single Vineyard Southern Clays Pinot Noir 2012, 2015 and 2017 The Coterie Trophy for Wine of Provenance - Tohu Rore
Reserve Pinot Noir 2017
crew from his Christchurch restaurant Inati, celebrated the 38 gold medal wines as well as 18 trophy winners. MC Tom Trolove, chair of the Marlborough Winegrowers board, told the audience that the awards and lunch were a celebration of the industry’s people as well as its wine. “As we grow and get bigger it gets harder to do what we are doing now…What used to happen by osmosis, we now have to make a conscious effort to make happen.”
The awards saw Dr Rengasamy Balasubramaniam (Bala) awarded the Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award, recognising a huge commitment to the Marlborough wine industry since he joined MAF, later to become HortResearch, in 1986. In presenting the award, Marlborough Winegrowers deputy chair Stuart Dudley, who at the beginning of his career was mentored by Bala, said he could not think of a better person to be acknowledged.
That seemed a common sentiment, as the room stood and cheered to recognise the scientist’s impact on the region’s wine industry. “He was the go-to man for a large number of people in the world of viticulture and there was hardly a viticulture seminar in those early days, where Bala did not present vital information that was readily absorbed by the industry,” Stuart said. “At the forefront of all of his endeavours Bala has been a scientist for the growers, providing them with knowledge and skills to help them flourish and Marlborough to grow as an internationally acclaimed wine region.”
Bala was involved in the New Zealand Society for Viticulture and Oenology (NZVSO) for 21 years, and was president for 10 of them. On stepping down last year, he was made the organisation’s second ever life member. Bala told the Wine Awards audience that he was one of the “back office guys”, and not at the forefront of taking Marlborough to the world. However, when he looked in his “magic bag”, referencing a handy Hermione tool (from the Harry Potter books) which holds a lot in a little, he realised that in fact it was laden.
The December Winepress will profile Bala, to kickstart a new Pioneer series on people with a long and rich history in the region’s wine industry.
Photo on previous page : Villa Maria viticulturist Stuart Dudley stands to accept the Wine of the Show award. Photo Richard Briggs. Photos on facing page, clockwise from top left: International judge Matt Lamb; Shige Kimura and Jamie Goode; stewards track the entries; Tohu’s Bruce Taylor with The Coterie Trophy for Wine of Provenance; Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Dr Rengasamy Balasubramaniam (Bala); The Villa Maria team with the top trophy; Chief judge Jack Glover; Varietal-specific glassware. Photos by Richard Briggs.
Future Proofing
Breathing space for major marc operation
SOPHIE PREECE
A company looking to transform grape marc into bio-nutrient fertiliser says the initiative could help futureproof the wine industry’s reputation and cost structure, with good environmental outcomes.
Remarc’s Warren McNabb told a grape marc meeting in Blenheim last month that the industry will face increased costs from changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme, as the government amps up New Zealand’s response to climate change. Meanwhile, fertiliser has become a geopolitical issue, complicating New Zealand’s “dangerous addiction” to synthetic fertiliser use, he said. “We have to realise there are some really big changes coming that will affect the industry.”
Reducing traditional fertiliser use by transforming grape marc waste into a Remarc resource will help mitigate the impact of those changes, and help protect the region’s reputation, Warren said. “The goal with Remarc is to have a carbon neutral, locally produced biofertiliser, which will hopefully improve marc disposal compliance and soil sustainability benefits.”
Remarc - which is a joint initiative between Warren McNabb’s renewable energy company, Energy3 Limited, and Marlborough wine company Indevin - plans to process the grape marc through a fully contained anaerobic digester, which utilises the nutrients, organic matter and carbon in the grape marc to produce a rich natural fertiliser. The final product will be available to grape growers, at a lower cost than synthetic fertiliser, but other industries have also expressed an The process of making bio-fertiliser interest in accessing it, said Warren.
In 2014, Marlborough wine producers collaborated with the Marlborough District Council in forming the Marlborough Grape Marc (MGM) group to advance a proposal for an environmentally sustainable use of the wine industry’s waste streams. It considered the Remarc proposal, but ultimately followed up with the Australian-based Tarac Technologies, which planned to extract alcohol from all the grape marc and residuals
“The goal with
Warren McNabb produced in Marlborough and convert the spent marc into compost and stock feed.
That project did not proceed on commercial grounds, and grape marc has caused major headaches for the region in recent years, brought to a head by several prosecutions in 2016. Remarc’s renewed interest was given impetus earlier this year when GrowCo, a company with consent to process 40,000 tonnes of marc, closed its doors, leaving many wine companies wondering what would happen next vintage. Warren said the company initially focussed on being ready to go in 2019, but needed industry commitment, resource consent, a facility and consumer confidence in the fertiliser. “This was a challenge to achieve in nine months.” With a risk that it wouldn’t be ready in time for vintage 2019, Remarc has developed a “transition” solution, whereby clients’ marc will be taken to a large unplanted site owned by Indevin, where it can be spread to land. Indevin chief executive Duncan McFarlane says the company is in the process of applying for resource consent for that activity. “We have been working closely with council and our technical teams to ensure what we propose will meet all regulatory and environmental requirements whilst enhancing the land that will be utilised.” Given the “breathing space” offered by the vintage 2019 solution, the Remarc team will have time to create a pilot plant, and to continue work on creating an organic certified fertiliser. The pilot plant will be located at Indevin’s winery at the Cloudy Bay Business Park and is expected to be up and running prior to vintage 2019, says Duncan.
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Composting pitfalls
Rocky trail on grape marc journey
SOPHIE PREECE
BABICH WINES is “gun shy” of composting its own grape marc, following the failure of its $65,000 Waihopai Valley pad, and a subsequent prosecution.
David Babich told an industry meeting in Marlborough last month that the company’s good intentions were foiled by inexperience and poor construction, so that leachate seeped through the clay liner and entered the soils, eventually reaching water bores which supplied six homes, upsetting neighbours and causing the Marlborough District Council (MDC) to act. “We had an intention to recycle and thought we had done it the proper way, but it completely didn’t work out.”
However, he believes the Marlborough wine industry will learn to process its winery waste in a sustainable way, given time to grapple with the pitfalls. “I am very confident in this looking good in five years’ time. It will just be a rocky pathway there, while we work out the best way to deal with it.”
Babich’s “rocky path” began when it decided to “recycle” its grape marc for the good of its soils, having seen the positive impacts of returning the marc to the vineyards. They chose a site in the Waihopai Valley, close enough to the winery to be logistically viable, but far enough from neighbours to mitigate the odour issues of composting marc.
They engaged a construction company to build the pad in 2014 and the next vintage it proved a near perfect solution for 1,000 tonnes of grape marc, with one odour complaint resolved after a visit and advice from the MDC. But a wet 2016 vintage led to a completely different story, when the rain revealed that the pad was permeable.
MDC compliance manager Gina Ferguson said there were many learnings from the 2016 vintage, when council issued several abatement notices to companies in Marlborough, in some cases leading to prosecutions. They were mainly around large-scale storage, she told the group.
Key among the learnings is the extraordinarily high levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in grape marc leachate, with numbers that make raw sewerage look benign, she said. Leachate tested 20,00070,000 g O2/m3 BOD5, compared to raw sewage, which is 150-400 g O2/ m3. Leachate also contains manganese, although not at amounts that would account for the levels council found in groundwater after grape marc issues in 2016, she said. They soon learned that the leachate works to release the arsenic and manganese that occur naturally in the soil, allowing the elements to travel through the soil and into the water table.
This resulted in water supply bores being unsuitable for drinking due to the contamination from the Babich marc pad for up to a year. Babich provided an alternate potable water supply to homes as soon as the cause was ascertained.
The Babich marc pit has been “mothballed” and the cost written off, but David says the company, industry and council has learned a lot from the experience. He doubts Babich will process its own grape marc any time soon, but if it did, the company would use a concrete pad, in lieu of a bunded clay liner, and would have a roof on the pit, instead of the cover that proved insufficient in the wet 2016 season. They would also scrutinise contractors’ work to a far higher level, check the clay compaction, and involve the council from the beginning of the process.
David says their site selection was based largely on odour, but should also have considered the soil type and location of potable water bores. “What are the sensitivities of the site and if this fails what would that look like and who would it affect?”
David Babich
David Babich
Waste not want not
COMBINING TWO of Marlborough’s waste streams might be a winwin solution for council and wine companies composting grape marc.
The Marlborough District Council’s (MDC) green waste collection - made up largely of woody garden cuttings and clippings - could provide a carbon source for grape marc composting, says council’s solid waste manager Alec McNeil. “This material is a good carbon source on its own or can supplement any local, compliant composting operation at your sites.”
Organic Wine Solutions consultant Clive Dougall says good compost is a slow burn, not the rapid bacterial fermentation of nitrogen rich grape marc, which tends to become anaerobic. “If you just compost grape marc alone, with its high nitrogen content and residual sugar as well, you’ll get rapid bacterial growth. That’s what can makes it stink, and be less effective and valuable.”
To slow it down, and create a useful and beneficial compost, it needs to contain a large content of carbon matter, available as woody shredded material, which helps to introduce a fungal content, he says. However, one of the challenges for companies composting grape marc is the scarcity of carbon sources in Marlborough’s wine country.
Sawdust is available but is not an ideal solution, because it is often fine, and can make the compost anaerobic again, Clive says. “In an ideal world you want 50/50 grape marc and dry carbon matter, but I’d say 30% shredded wood is a minimum. So if you Clive Dougall of Organic Wine Solutions have 300 cubic metres of grape marc you’ll need a minimum of 150 cubic metres of carbon rich waste, which can be hard to get hold of.
He says being able to access a source from the council is an “interesting opportunity”, and one that organic growers can tap into as well, as long as the compost is monitored to BioGro standards. “If it is handled properly it will reach a specified temperature where any chemicals are broken down, and it becomes suitable for an organic user.” Alec notes that the shredded green waste has no grass clippings, due to issues with herbicides. The MDC’s Wither Rd facility has bulk loads of shredded green waste available between now and the start of harvest, at a cost $2.50 + GST per cubic metre. There is limited volume available, so it will be sold on a first come first serve basis, Alec says.
Reputation matters
Winemakers and grape growers should be as proud of their waste products as they are of the wines going to market, says New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan. “Individually and collectively, Marlborough needs to ensure the management of grape marc has a positive impact on our reputation, not a negative one,” he said at an industry meeting in Blenheim last month. “We have to make sure as an industry, going into vintage 2019, that everybody has really thought about how they will handle their grape marc.”
Philip noted that the reputation of New Zealand’s wine industry, including its sustainability, had huge value when it comes to price per litre. On average people pay more for New Zealand wines than they do for other wines, in part because they are buying into a reputation, he said. “Without our reputation, New Zealand wine would be uneconomic, given the climate in which we grow grapes.”
So while exporting great wine helps build reputation of the country’s wine industry, exporting bad news could see it steadily, or suddenly, eroded. In revealing a grisly montage of online grape marc images and media stories over the past two years, he noted that they were the sort of headlines that should be avoided at all cost. “Because what is news in Marlborough this morning will be news in London tomorrow morning.”
Waste Watchers
Room for improvement in winery waste results
SOPHIE PREECE
MARLBOROUGH’S WINE industry has continued to increase its winery waste compliance, with Marlborough District Council staff reporting improved management and awareness of grape marc storage in vintage 2018. However, there’s room for improvement, including reducing the volume of wastewater created, improving grape marc storage, and ensuring good record keeping for the entire reporting period, the council’s Environment Committee heard last month.
The 2017/18 Winery Wastewater and Grape Marc Monitoring Report reveals that 40% of the 35 wineries assessed over vintage 2018 were fully compliant with all conditions or rules, giving them a ‘green’ on the council’s traffic light rating system. That was up from 33.3% in 2017 and 23.5% in 2016. No wineries were deemed significantly non-compliant.
Eight wineries (23%) were marked yellow for technical non-compliance, meaning there was a minor breach with no-adverse environmental effects. Another 10 wineries (20%) were rated non-compliant with one condition or rule, and six (17%) were rated noncompliant with two or more conditions or rules, totalling 37% orange light, or non-compliant.
Environmental protection officer Rachel Neal told the committee that the most common area of orange non-compliance was exceeding the permitted pH range on one or more occasions. Seven wineries were noncompliant in their discharge or storage of grape marc in a Soil Sensitive Area, falling foul of a new Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan (PMEP) rule. Another six wineries had minor and substantial ponding. In the three cases of substantial ponding, the wineries involved all took the required corrective actions. Other issues included exceeding the discharge rate, exceeding nitrogen loading levels, odour crossing a property boundary and operating without a resource consent.
Council staff visited 24 wineries during vintage to do wastewater inspections, and also asked where grape marc was disposed of. “Inspections at the wineries during vintage did not identify significant discharge issues, problems with leachate collection and/or odour from their onsite grape marc piles,” the report reads. Ten wineries were found to compost their grape marc on site and then spread it under vines as a soil conditioner, while another 10 spread their grape marc directly to land, and 15 had their grape marc transported offsite for compost, stockpiling and/or stock feed.
The monitoring report assesses the 38 wineries in Marlborough that discharge winery wastewater to land, 32 of which are on the Wairau Plain, one north of Blenheim and five in the Awatere Valley. The wineries within the Riverlands and Cloudy Bay industrial zones that discharge directly to trade waste and three wineries in the rural zone that have their wastewater taken offsite were not monitored.
However, this year wineries located within the industrial zones were asked for information on the quantity of grape marc produced and how it is disposed of. Rachel says the results of that survey are pending. Spot checks of the stormwater drains within the industrial zones were also checked to ensure no waste products were entering the drainage network, with no compliance issues discovered.
For the 2018/2019 season, MDC staff will continue to focus on education on consent conditions, plan rule standards and compliance.
Wheel opportunities
Plenty of good spin-offs from safe cycle ways
SOPHIE PREECE
MARLBOROUGH COULD have the best wine cycle trails in the world, with visitors cruising through vineyards to access an array of cellar doors. But getting cyclists off roads and beside rows is going to require “lateral thinking” from wine companies, says Steve Hill of the Renwick Smart and Connected Bike-Walk Working Group. “It’s easy to put a path beside a road, but if we are truly aiming for the best wine cycling experience in the world, the further from the road we can get, the better.”
A new report on Renwick Wine Trails, commissioned by the Bike Walk Marlborough Trust, identifies options for making the current cellar door cycling experience safer and better. It takes into account the need for better commuting routes for Blenheim and Renwick locals, as well as the need for “world class experiences” in and around the wineries of Renwick and beyond. “This will not only make it safer and more enjoyable for the thousands of visitors currently doing
Marlborough needs more off-road vineyard cycling. Photo from Explore Marlborough
the cycle between wineries, it will also assist in growing the visitor economy significantly,” the report states.
Trails-based tourism is already popular in the region, with 4,000-5,000 people cycling around Marlborough vineyards annually, the report says. “With Marlborough’s relatively warm and dry climate, its outstanding natural scenery and relatively flat terrain, it lends itself extremely well to walking and cycling.”
Steve, who co-owns Wine Tours by Bike, says the increased number of people visiting Marlborough means more cars and more people on bikes, “so it’s really important that we separate them”. The effort over the past several years has to been to nail down the “easy wins”, including tracks alongside State Highway 6, leading to Rapaura Rd and beyond, with track development assisted by Wairau River Wines and Nautilus. They have also established a new track that travels offroad from Vintage Lane to Renwick, Forrest Estate and SH6, as well as a trail on a Hunter’s Wines headland, which accesses the stop bank, providing a conduit to other cellar doors on and around Rapaura Rd.
The next block of work, prioritised according to the outcomes of the Renwick Wine Trails report, is to
Steve Hill
set in place stopgap measures to ensure continued safety for wine cycle tourists and people commuting between Renwick and Blenheim. But the region also needs to step up to create world class cycle trails that are both safe and memorable, Steve says, giving Forrest Estate as an example. That wine company has long invited wine cycle tourists to use the road that runs through the vineyard, which is a much better experience than riding around the outside by the state highway, he says. “People stay safe in both environments, but one of them is a great wine cycling experience.”
The group is inviting landowners to come up with innovative ways in which the trail could wend its way through wine country, using boundaries, sidelands and headlands. “We are asking them, ‘please come to us with some lateral thinking and cool ideas about getting people around the place’.” That might mean cutting a small awkward corner off a vineyard and using it for riders instead of rows, or utilising a paper road through the property.
Fencing a bike track can address many of the health and safety concerns vineyard owners might have. “In those cases we will seek funding to cover the cost of everything from construction of the path to fencing and signage,” Steve says. Alternatively, the wine company might sponsor it, and have that part of the trail named to recognise its input.
Bike Walk Marlborough Trust chair Tracy Johnston, who is also on the board of Wine Marlborough, says the region should absolutely aspire to having the best wine cycle trails in the world. “We have stunning cellar door facilities within such close proximity to each other and the terrain is flat and easy for cycling.”
She agrees the ultimate goal is to get people off road as much as possible and cycling between cellar doors. And the trust is getting good traction, with the Marlborough District Council’s long term plan process promising council commitment to cycle trails for
Steve Hill
Perpetuating Cycle
Bike Walk Marlborough Trust chair Tracy Johnston, formerly head of regional tourism organisation Destination Marlborough, says companies should not underestimate the strong and valuable alignment between Marlborough as a destination and Marlborough as a wine exporter. Visitors who come because of their love of the region’s wine bolster tourism numbers and strengthen their brand devotion. Meanwhile, travellers who come to Marlborough for other reasons and have brilliant wine experiences along the way are likely to leave as new consumers, marketing the next 10 years, she says. “I think it comes back to ensuring the safety of people that are on the wine trail and then ultimately developing a memorable world class experience that provides off-road solutions for visitors and locals to explore Marlborough cellar doors.”
Marlborough and its wine to their circles when they return home. “It’s a perpetuating cycle,” she says.
The recently released Deloitte-ANZ Wine Industry Benchmarking and Insights survey shows wine tourism has a higher spending per person than most other markets in New Zealand. In 2017, 22% of the country’s 3.2 million international visitors went to a winery or vineyard. Those visiting a winery spent $4,500 per visit, significantly higher than $3,200 of those who did not. They also stayed longer in New Zealand and visited more regions.
Count Up
Good yields on the cards for vintage 2019
BUNCH COUNTS in Marlborough vineyards are showing good fruitfulness in all varieties, says Villa Maria viticulturist Stuart Dudley, who is seeing two shoots per bud on many Sauvignon Blanc vines. He says the most of the region came through a series of cold October nights unscathed and, assuming a good flowering, Vintage 2019 should be at or above average yields.
Much of Marlborough had near perfect flowering last year, which has resulted in good fruitfulness this season, he says. The company is already working to thin fruit in blocks with “high potential”, although “there’s still a bit of water to go under the 176W X 124H MM bridge, until we see the conditions of flowering”, he says. “It only takes a few big southerlies in December to change that yield.”
The estimates are in line with the results from the prediction model for Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc yields, which indicated an above average crop next year, assuming typical climate and vineyard management. Earlier this year, Marlborough Plant & Food Research senior scientist Dr Mike Trought said temperatures in the initiation period, between December 2017 and January 2018, were the third highest since he began running the model in 1988, indicating a potential bumper crop in 2019. “There’s a long way to go before then,” he said at the time. “But at the moment things are looking well above average. Assuming an ordinary flowering, we are looking in the top quartile.”
Photo by Richard Briggs
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Good Stuff
As part of a series on Women in Wine, Anabelle Latz talks influence and inspiration with Patricia Miranda-Taylor
FROM A small country town in Chile to a large winery in Marlborough, Patricia Miranda-Taylor’s career has been driven by big aspirations and small limitations. “Set goals and search for opportunities, and with determination this can lead to positive results and amazing achievements,” she says, stealing a moment away from her role as judge at the Marlborough Wine Show.
One of four Wither Hills winemakers, Patricia grew up in an agricultural area of Chile, El Olivar, and studied agronomist engineering, majoring in economics, with a plan to work for her family’s horticulture business and commercialise Chilean produce in markets around the world.
After a stint working at the Central Bank of Chile, she changed tack to study viticulture and winemaking, growing her love of the industry. “My passion of it continues to grow today,” says Patricia, who completed her oenology studies in 2000, before cutting her teeth at Terramater in Chile, followed by extended vintages at Hogue Cellar in Washington State, Zilzie in Victoria, Australia, and then in the Napa Valley at Cardinale.
In 2004 she moved to Marlborough to work at Isabel Estate as chief winemaker, where she stayed for several years, before moving to Yealands, then Villa Maria. “It was terrific to get experience in large wineries after such a long time with a small family business,” she says. In the summer of 2015 she began her role at Wither Hills, where she satisfies a penchant for planning and strategy, as well as completing projects to continually improve the operation. She still loves the challenges harvest brings, along with the onslaught of vintage staff from around the world. It has been an “amazing journey”, she says. “It is still hard for me to believe I am established in Marlborough professionally and personally, as I never planned for it. I have seen Marlborough change over the years and I have been lucky enough to work with some amazing wineries and people.”
Patricia’s tireless determination includes giving plenty back to the industry and community that have welcomed her, including jumping on board the Women in Wine Programme as president of the Marlborough committee. “I am extremely grateful for everything I have had in my life and appreciate the people that have been with me along the way. I feel that is my responsibility now to give back to the wine industry.”
Some of her best career experiences have been due to informal mentorship from people around the world. “For example, Chris Carpenter at Cardinale, and Lokoya, from whom I learned about making premium red wines in Napa Valley. Ernest Loosen in Germany, who taught me all about being dedicated, professional and working 110%, while always having fun along the way. And the Bourgeois family in France, where I learned that even with success to always be humble and kind.”
When she’s not working, judging, volunteering, or helping with Women in Wine, Patricia is likely to be found with her husband and five year-old daughter, tramping with friends, or travelling to different wine regions.
The wine industry has taken her around the world and warmly welcomed her to Marlborough, says Patricia. In return, she wants to help others, offer advice and demonstrate that anything is possible. “It is encouraging and a satisfying feeling when I have any opportunities of coaching and see people flourishing and smiling. Because just one person can have a big influence on your life.”
HML - the recipe for success.
Growth stage
EL
Product
Rate / 100L HML Silco 425g powder / 540ml liquid
Sulphur label
Copper label
Protector 500ml
HML32 1.25L
Nutrients label
Lime Sulphur 3.5-7% Bud burst to pre-flowering (10-14 day interval)
Prebud to budburst
1-4
First leaf separated from shoot tip
7
2-3 leaf shoots 2-4cm long
9 4 leaf 6-7 leaf
8-10 leaf single flower 12 leaf, inflor. Well developed, single flower sep.
11 12-14 14-15 15-16 17
see notes Silco Silco Silco Silco
Sulphur Sulphur Sulphur Sulphur Sulphur
Copper Copper
Protector Protector Protector Protector
Seaweed Magnesium
Seaweed Magnesium Tr. elements
Growth stage
EL
Product
Rate / 100L HML Silco 425g powder / 540ml liquid
Sulphur label
Copper
Protector label
500ml
HML32 1.25L
Nutrients label Pre-flowering to PBC (7-10 day interval)
14 leaf, cap colour fading
18 16 leaf, beg. flowering 50% capfall 80% - 100% capfall Fruitset-Pea Pea size 4mm
19 23 25-26 27 29 Pea size 7mm PBC
31 32
Silco
Sulphur
HML32
Seaweed Silco Silco Silco Silco Silco Silco
Sulphur Sulphur Sulphur Sulphur Sulphur Sulphur
Protector Protector Protector
HML32 HML32 HML32
Seaweed Seaweed Seaweed Magnesium Seaweed Seaweed Magnesium Seaweed
Post PBC to veraison (10-14 day interval)
Growth stage
EL Berries still hard and green
33 34 Earwn Veraison
35 36
Product
Rate / 100L HML Silco 425g powder / 540ml liquid Silco
Sulphur label Sulphur Sulphur
Copper label Copper
Protector 500ml Protector
HML32
Nutrients 1.25L
label Seaweed HML32 HML32 HML32
Henry Manufacturing
non-residual pesticides
Disclaimer: Henry Manufacturing Limited has prepared this programme to assist grape growers using its products. Liability whether in tort (including negligence), contract or otherwise, for any loss, crop injury or crop failure, resulting from the application of this spray programme is excluded. Any user of this spray programme accepts this disclaimer.
1. Lime sulphur only needs to be applied if the previous season had high powdery mildew infection and/or erinose mites. 2. Recover after rain. 3. Applications of copper provides phomopsis and downy mildew control. Note that further copper applications may be required where the downy mildew pressure is high. 4. Early applications of HML Silco helps build plant strength and crop resilience. 5. HML32 mix at EL18 and EL 25 are important applications that brackets flowering. Provides powdery mildew prevention and eradication control as well as botrytis control. 6. If the flowering period is longer than 7 days or is wet, apply Protector mix to maintain powdery mildew cover. 7. For a month after Fruitset EL27 (when plant is still susceptible to powdery mildew), cover at 7 day intervals (10 day maximum) with HML32 mix alternating with Protector mix. If under pressure, use HML32 mix instead of Protector mix. 8. The HML32, sulphur and Silco mix prevents and eradicates powdery mildew. 9. Where there is existing powdery mildew infection, an alternative mix is HML32, copper and HML Potum (potassium bicarbonate). 10. At EL35-36, the application of HML32 can provide botrytis resilience and enhancement maturity. See notes on website for accurate timings for white and red grapes. 11. All HML products are alkaline. Take care when selecting copper and nutrient products to avoid tank mix incompatibility and plant damage. Read the label of HML products. 12. Magnesium sulphate is in most cases compatible with the Protector, HML Silco and sulphur mix. Jar test recommended. Not compatible with HML32. 13. If other trace element applications are required, an extra application round will be required or alternatively drop Protector out of the mix.
Corkscrew Collection
Fromm Winery’s screw-up is a happy day for helixophiles
SOPHIE PREECE
Stephan Walliser
IN 1795 Reverend Samuel Henshall put a concave disc between a steel worm and a wooden handle to achieve the world’s first patent for a corkscrew. More than 200 years later, Fromm Winery has launched a collection of around 700 corkscrew designs - from the beautifully aesthetic to the wonderfully ergonomic - at its renovated cellar door.
There’s an early British version, circa 1800, with a steel frame around an archimedean worm, and the Lund’s “London Lever” (1855), which incorporated pliers and corkscrew. There’s the English double lever (1888), the French “Le Presto” (1899), which has a single lever to draw out the worm, and the French double lever (1929), which has a sliding pin to maintain a vertical extraction.
The corkscrew collection is the final touch on Fromm’s beautiful cellar door renovation, in which a section of the barrel hall has been carved off for tastings, so that guests sit in a gleaming wood-lined room, looking through a wall of windows to the oak barrels beyond.
General manager Stephan Walliser says the renovation inspired Pol Lenzinger, who owns Fromm with Swiss business partner George Walliser, to share his corkscrew collection, amassed over the past 30 years. The helixophile (corkscrew enthusiast) is a member of ICCA - The International Correspondence of Corkscrew Addicts - and owns more than 2,000 corkscrews from around the world, with details on the design and patent of each. A third of that collection is now on show at Fromm, painting a picture of two centuries of wine drinking.
Not all of them are practical, designed more for looks than action, Stephan says. Asked what actually does the job best, he pulls out a Fromm branded sommelier knife, the likes of which sits in countless kitchen drawers or picnic sets. Its success comes down to simplicity, with an easy action and a screw that is compressed enough to offer leverage and long enough to capture the cork, he says.
The newest corkscrew in the collection is one with a New Zealand patent, which had been living in Australia, says Stephan. “That’s obviously not the right place for it.”
From left: A British design circa 1800, English double lever (1888), French “Le Presto” (1899), French double lever (1929), Henshall design, Lund’s “London Lever” (1855)
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Sauvignon 2019
Q&A with Paul Mabray
PAUL MABRAY has been a disruptive agent in the wine industry for the past 25 years, forging initiatives that connect wineries direct to customers on digital platforms. In 2003 he founded Inertia and created the Rethink Engine, an e-commerce platform that changed the way wine was sold. He then established VinTank, which continued to revolutionise the wine industry through e-business, digital products and marketing. He’s speaking digital at the International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration 2019, which will be held in Marlborough from January 28 to 30. He says he is “honoured” to return to New Zealand, “which owns a large part of my heart for the place but especially the people”.
What are the greatest challenges in converting the industry to digital platforms? Culture, a small and balkanised industry, and our multi-faceted requirements (POS + E-com + Subscription). But mostly culture.
What springs to mind when you think of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc? There have been very few success stories that have architected categories like New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. It is a case study in delivering sustainable quality and redefining a traditional variety through the brand of a country.
How do those challenges compare to the ones you faced a decade ago? Sadly, 100% the same with the only difference being that wineries are leaning harder into DTC (direct to consumer) than ever, to stay in business. The “awakening” is now out of necessity, as routes to markets are evaporating and tasting room volume is decreasing, so the only growth alternative is digital.
What’s the biggest opportunity coming up for the industry, in terms of e-business? That’s a great question. In essence, digital is currently the best tool that allows you to scalably reach beyond geography and time and create a direct connection with your customer. Wineries (and all businesses) now have the ability to create direct and long-term relationships with their customers. Let me also be clear, digital are just the tools that help a winery (or any business) reach out to the world, but at the heart of all digital strategies and e-business should be the foundation of customer relationships and customer experience.
What’s your elevator pitch for e-wine-business? The world is bigger than your tasting room and the more efficient and effective way to touch customers around the world, beyond your four walls, is using digital.
From the Committee - Damien Yvon
It’s baffling that Sauvignon Blanc can be viewed as simple, says Sauvignon 2019 committee member Damien Yvon, from Clos Henri Vineyard. “Let’s remind ourselves how privileged we are to nurture one of the varietals that has this incredible ability to express a sense of place, and to adapt to the grower and winemaker’s philosophy, to a point where it can subtly change its expression like a chameleon.” Sauvignon 2019 has the “important task” to deliver that message, he says. “Sauvignon Blanc will excite us - producers and consumers - for the decades to come.” He says speakers on day two of the event should inspire the audience on the technical research and vision for Sauvignon Blanc, “while the Pursuit tasting on day three will keep us engaged with the varietal”.
Photo by Richard Briggs
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