Winepress - September 2020

Winepress THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF WINE MARLBOROUGH

ISSUE NO. 309/ SEPTEMEBER 2020

VINTAGE 2021

DIGITAL DIVIDE

BUSINESS CONTINUITY

LOWLANDS WINES

Photo: Jim Tannock

wine-marlborough.co.nz

15 12

this issue...

REGULARS

FEATURES

3 4 6

10 Vintage 2021

22 24 26 28 30 32

Editorial - Sophie Preece

From The Board - Stu Dudley TasmanCrop Met Report Rob Agnew Forgotten Corners Lowlands Wines

12

Pioneer - Warwick Foley Generation Y-ine Amy Richards Biosecurity Watch Jim Herdman

Foreign visa holders made up two thirds of the 2020 vintage workforce. With borders now closed, the wine industry is working on new ways to tempt Kiwis to jump into a season in the cellar.

22

Six-day Vintage Week One of the major challenges in a six-day vintage week is convincing staff to take a break, according to speakers at a recent seminar.

14 Digi-tools

Industry News Wine Happenings

The onset of Covid-19 has been a “deeply unfortunate wake-up call� for wine companies with unrealised digital ambitions, says Rabobank senior wine analyst Hayden Higgins.

26

18 Post-Waste Cover: A fresh season at Dog Point Vineyards. Photo Jim Tannock

Vineyards stockpiling unwanted posts need to ensure they minimise impacts on soils and people, says a Sustainability Guardians industry group in new best practice guidelines.

Winepress September 2020 / 1

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General Manager: Marcus Pickens 03 577 9299 marcus@winemarlborough.nz Editor: Sophie Preece 027 308 4455 sophie@sophiepreece.co.nz Advertising and Subscriptions: Sarah Linklater 021 704 733 sarah@winemarlborough.nz Wine Marlborough Board: Ben Ensor ben@mcdonaldtextiles.co.nz Beth Forrest Beth@forrest.co.nz Callum Linklater callum@csviticulture.co.nz Jack Glover jack.glover@accolade-wines.co.nz Kirsty Harkness kirsty@mountbase.co.nz Nick Entwistle nick@wairauriverwines.com Stuart Dudley (Deputy Chair) stuartd@villamaria.co.nz Tom Trolove (Chair) tom.trolove@framingham.co.nz Tracy Johnston Tracy@dayvinleigh.co.nz Jamie Marfell Jamie.Marfell@pernod-ricard.com Designed by: Blenheim Print Ltd 03 578 1322 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.

This document is printed on an environmentally responsible paper, produced using elemental chlorine free (EFC), third party pulp from responsible sources, manufactured under the strict ISO 14001 Environmental Management System and is 100% Recyclable.

From the Editor THERE’S SOME irony in the fact that just as wine companies begin to see the wisdom in moderating working hours over vintage, they are faced with an unprecedented cellar staff challenge. This edition has a story on the scramble to secure harvest 2021 staff, as border closures knock out two thirds of the typical vintage winery workforce. That’s immediately followed by a story on the six-day vintage week, which has been gaining momentum in recent years, as companies realise it’s untenable to have their people working several weeks of 12-hour shifts without days off to recover.

Companies that have adopted an enforced day off proclaim the virtues of the model, from better succession opportunities and decision making, to enhanced wellbeing of staff - in both their health and the reduction in accidents and near misses. But as industry careens towards the 2021 vintage with a fraction of the skilled cellar staff they need, it is going to be challenging for many to put in place, despite their best intentions.

Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Vance Kerslake says that was an issue raised at last month’s Vintage 2021 workshops, where industry brainstormed solutions to the looming labour crisis. “I think it comes down to what works for each winery,” he says. “For some wineries they might work longer hours which allows them to have fewer staff. Others are planning to work shorter shifts or have flexible work pattern to try and attract people.” A six-day vintage week seminar preceded the vintage workshop, “because we wanted wineries to be aware of their options”, he says. “So if they want to run a six- day roster, they know how it can be done.”

In both the seminar and the vintage workshop, the wine industry’s culture of camaraderie was in full force, with industry representatives taking time out to share their innovative ideas and successful practices with their competitors.

That culture “is gold” right now and will stand the industry in good stead for the challenges ahead, says Vance. “It’s easy to do what we have always done, but innovation and changes tend to come out of challenging situations.”

You may have noticed a new look on the cover of this month’s Winepress, which better aligns the magazine with Wine Marlborough’s website refresh. If you haven’t already, head in and take a look at wine-marlborough.co.nz, which is intended to inform members and consumers about what’s happening in our industry.

As always, I’d love to hear any thoughts from industry on what you’d like to read more about in the magazine, so do get in touch if there’s a story you think needs to be told.

Ngā manaakitanga SOPHIE PREECE

Winepress September 2020 / 3

PROTECT

From the Board The vital value of Marlborough Winegrowers STU DUDLEY

NOT AGAIN! That was definitely the thought I had on August 11, when I heard the coronavirus was back and Auckland was heading into lockdown. Back came all the memories of having to adjust to a new normal and installing procedures across our businesses, which were fortunate enough to still operate through Alert Level 4 earlier this year. Also, the memories of the difficulties social distancing created, and the genuine stress it placed on people and families. However, if a 24/7 harvest can be handled, then I am sure we can work through most other periods of the winemaking calendar with a bit of effort.

What has been great through this and other events is the ability of Wine Marlborough to go to bat and support our membership, and promote our fantastic region. I have been lucky enough to be part of the Marlborough Winegrowers Board for almost six years. It has been great to be involved with this organisation and get an insight not only into the work this special team does, but also into many of the challenges being faced by our industry. Often I feel that much of this work, especially the smaller detail stuff, does go unnoticed in the wider industry. But I want recognise it as an important part of the region’s fabric and resilience.

The Marlborough Wine & Food Festival, Marlborough Wine Show, and this magazine are brilliant advertisements for us, and in some ways the face of Wine Marlborough. These more visible offerings should not, however, overshadow the ongoing advocacy work that is being done to better our industry and work for the membership.

For me, Covid-19 and its fallout would seem the biggest issue the advocacy team have had to deal with to date, with the earthquake in 2016 and some of the ongoing Marlborough Environment Plan work also having real significance. Due to Covid issues, labour shortages in vineyards and the upcoming skills shortage in our wineries is demanding attention, and there are some positive steps in how this will be managed. Again, it will require collaboration of all stakeholders, including Wine Marlborough, to try and 4 / Winepress September 2020

make this work. It was great to see the adjustment needed through the pruning season to get the job done, and for me it really highlighted just how dependent we are on our skilled vineyard labour teams, the excellent work they carry out, and also the ability of our industry to pivot and adjust where required. It is likely a similar perspective will be seen in vintage 2021 when it is unlikely that we will have the usual numbers of skilled winery workers returning to our shores.

The other piece of work that I feel needs mention, and support, is the work Marlborough Winegrowers has done and continues to look at, regarding the Marlborough Environment Plan and protecting our industry. Of most significance is the appeal from Fish & Game who are wanting to significantly raise the water cut-off levels in the Wairau River, which would be crippling for our industry.

I hope there is awareness out there of exactly what is happening and how this would affect you all as members.

As it’s my last opportunity for now, I want to thank the other board members I have worked with over the past six years. Special mentions go to chairpersons Clive Jones, Rhyan Wardman and Tom Trolove, who have all been great to work with and learn from during these years. It has also been a pleasure to work alongside Marcus and the team at Wine Marlborough and I wish them all the best for the future. There is always another challenge on the horizon and I am sure they will continue to meet them. Finally, I would urge you to stand in future elections - it is a very rewarding job and a great way to support Marlborough to be one of the great wine regions of the world. See you out in the vines!

Stu Dudley has stepped down from the Marlborough Winegrowers Board. Voting for two winery board members and one grape grower board member opens on September 15 and closes at noon on September 28. Results will be notified on October 1.

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Winepress September 2020 / 5

MET REPORT Table 1: Blenheim Weather Data – August 2020

Temperature Blenheim recorded a mean temperature of 10.3°C during August 2020, 1.2°C above the long-term average (LTA). The first and fourth weeks of August 2020 both recorded well above average temperatures whereas the second and third weeks both recorded slightly below average mean temperatures (Table 2). However, the final three days of the month were exceptionally warm, with a mean temperature of 15.1°C; 6.0°C above the August LTA. To put the mean temperature of 15.1°C over the final three days of August into context, this is warmer than the LTA mean temperature for November of 14.8°C.

August August August Period August

2020 2020 LTA of LTA 2019 compared

to LTA GDD’s for month -Max/Min¹ 34.8 183% 19.0 (1996-2019) 11.7 GDD’s for month – Mean² 52.1 146% 35.8 (1996-2019) 34.8 Growing Degree Days Total Jul – Aug 20 – Max/Min 45.3 159% 28.5 (1996-2019) 29.6 Jul - Aug 20 – Mean 78.4 132% 59.6 (1996-2019) 71.3 Mean Maximum (°C) 15.8 +1.6°C 14.2 (1986-2019) 14.5 Mean Minimum (°C) 4.7 +0.8°C 3.9 (1986-2019) 3.0 Mean Temp (°C) 10.3 +1.2°C 9.1 (1986-2019) 8.8 Grass Frosts (<= -1.0°C) 6 4.3 less 10.3 (1986-2019) 13 Air Frosts (0.0°C) 1 2.7 less 3.7 (1986-2019) 3 Sunshine hours 222.9 121% 184.7 (1986-2019) 221.9 Sunshine hours – lowest 129.2 1941 Sunshine hours – highest 235.0 2011 Sunshine hours total – 2020 1681.6 106% 1588.7 (1986-2019) 1788 Rainfall (mm) 49.6 80% 61.9 (1986-2019) 56.6 Rainfall (mm) – lowest 4.6 1969 Rainfall (mm) – highest 172.1 1990 Rainfall total (mm) -2020 269.8 62% 433.8 (1986-2019) 435.8 Evapotranspiration – mm 60.3 123% 49.2 (1996-2019) 57.2 Windrun (km) 207.8 89% 233.2 (1996-2019) 243.4 Mean soil temp – 10cm 7.7 +1.1°C 6.6 (1986-2019) 5.7 Mean soil temp – 30cm 9.6 +1.1°C 8.5 1986-2019) 8.0 1

Highest ever August maximum temperatures recorded two days in a row The 30th August recorded a maximum temperature of 21.7°C. This surpassed the previous highest ever August maximum temperature of 21.6°C recorded on 31st August 2006.

However, 30th August only held the record for one day as the 31st August recorded a maximum temperature of 23.8°C. The 31st August 2020 is now the warmest August day on

¹GDD’s Max/Min are calculated from absolute daily maximum and minimum temperatures ²GDD’s Mean are calculated from average hourly temperatures

Table 2: Weekly weather data during August 2020

Mean Mean

Max (°C) Min (°C)

1st - 7th 16.7 6.1 8th - 14th 14.7 3.1 15th - 21st 14.0 3.0 22nd - 28th 15.5 5.1 29th – 31st (3 days) 21.6 8.6 1st – 31st 15.8 4.7 August 2020 (+1.6) (+0.8) August LTA (1986 – 2019) 14.2 3.9 LTA – Long Term Average

6 / Winepress September 2020

Mean (°C) Deviation 11.4 (+2.3) 8.9 (-0.2) 8.5 (-0.6) 10.3 (+1.2)

Ground Air Frosts Frosts

Rainfal Sunshine (mm) (hours)

0 2 3 1

5.4 0.0 22.0 22.2

37.3 57.2 49.8 50.1

15.1 (+6.0) 0 0 10.3 6 1 (+1.2)

0.0 49.6 (80%)

28.5 222.9 (121%)

9.1

61.9

184.7

10.3

0 0 1 0

3.7

record for Blenheim over the 89 years 1932 to 2020. To put the maximum temperature of 23.8°C on 31st August into perspective, the LTA daily maximum temperature for January is 23.6°C. Despite the fact that the second and third weeks of August recorded below average mean temperatures August 2020 still managed to become the fifth warmest August on record for Blenheim. Of the 10 warmest August mean temperatures on record for Blenheim for the 89 years 1932 to 2020, eight of those 10 years have occurred since 2005.

Blenheim was the sunniest town in New Zealand during August, 26.4 hours ahead of Richmond, in second place.

However, at the end of August 2020 Whakatane had the highest sunshine total for the first eight months of 2020 and was 87.3 hours ahead of Blenheim.

Rainfall

Frosts There were only six ground frosts and one air frost recorded in Blenheim during August 2020, well below the LTA. In contrast there were 13 ground frosts and 3 air frosts in August 2019.

Sunshine Blenheim recorded 222.9 hours sunshine during August or 121% of the LTA. August 2020 is now the third sunniest August on record for Blenheim for the 91 years 1930 to 2020.

49.6 mm rain was recorded in Blenheim during August, only 80% of the LTA. Total rainfall for Blenheim for the eight months January to August 2020 is 269.8 mm or 62% of the LTA of 433.8 mm. This is the fourth lowest January to August rainfall total on record for Blenheim for the 91 years 1930 to 2020. Figure 1 clearly illustrates that Blenheim has recorded very low rainfall in five of the eight months so far in 2020, and slightly below average in August. Only May and June recorded slightly higher than average rainfall. At the end of August 2020 the rainfall deficit for the first eight months of 2020 was 164 mm. This is the equivalent of three months ‘normal’ rainfall that Blenheim has missed out on.

Wind

Figure 1: Blenheim monthly and cumulative rainfall from January to August 2020 compared to the long-term average

Average daily wind run for August 2020 was 207.8 km, with an average wind speed of 8.7 km/hr. The LTA wind-run for August is 233.2 km (19962019). Only eight days during August recorded above average wind-run, 23 days recorded below average wind-run.

August 2020 continued the trend that has occurred over the last 10 years, with the vast majority of months recording below average wind-run; i.e. from January 2010 to August 2020 is a period of 10 years and 8 months. Of these 128 months 104 have recorded below average wind-run (81%) and only 24 have recorded above average windrun (19%).

Table 3: Summary of winter weather parameters for Blenheim for the five years 2015 to 2020 compared to the long-term average June, July, August Mean air temp (°C) Mean 30 cm soil temp (°C) Number of ground frosts Mean ground frost temp (°C) Total rainfall Total sunshine Average daily wind-run (km)

LTA 8.6 8.0 37.3 NA 190.5 498.8 227.9

Winter 2020 Table 3 summarises the main weather parameters over the three winter months of June, July and August for the six years 2015 to 2020 compared to the LTA.

2015 8.6 7.9 41 -3.1 172.0 560.4 240.8

2016 9.0 8.6 32 -2.8 150.4 537.5 229.6

2017 9.0 9.5 30 -3.0 146.6 504.6 195.1

2018 9.3 9.0 36 -2.1 170.6 504.8 207.9

2019 9.0 8.5 36 -2.8 194.2 529.2 208.9

2020 9.5 9.2 23 -2.4 144.0 510.8 194.6

All three winter months in 2020, (June, July, August) recorded well above average mean temperatures (individual monthly data not shown in Table 3). The mean winter air temperature of 9.5°C was 0.9°C warmer than the LTA. The winter of 2020 is now the second warmest winter on record for Blenheim (1932 to 2020), second only to the winter of 2013. Figure 2 appeared in Met Report one year ago, but given the very warm winter in 2020 it is worth updating. As shown, Blenheim’s average winter temperatures have warmed dramatically over the past Winepress September 2020 / 7

89 years. The red trend line indicates that Blenheim’s winter temperatures have warmed by 2.03°C over the 91 years from 1930 to 2020. Of the 10 warmest winters on record for Blenheim (1932 to 2020), nine of those 10 years have been in the 21 year period 2000 to 2020.

Figure 2: Mean air temperature in Blenheim over winter (June, July, August) 1932 to 2020 and trend in temperature over the 89 years

As a consequence of warmer than average air temperatures and lower than average number of ground frosts, the mean 30 cm soil temperature over winter was much warmer than the LTA. Deeper in the profile the soil temperatures were also warm. The mean soil temperature at 1 metre depth for August 2020 was 11.1°C. This is the warmest 1 metre mean soil temperature for August for the 35 years 1986 to 2020. Along with soils being warmer than normal they are also drier than normal at depth. These two factors will undoubtedly have an influence in driving a fairly early budburst in 2020.

23 ground frosts were recorded over winter, compared to the LTA of 37.3. This is the lowest total number of winter ground frosts recorded in Blenheim over the 89 years 1932 to 2020.

Total rainfall over winter of 144.0 mm is 76% of the LTA of 190.5 mm, slightly lower than in 2016 and 2017. It is interesting to note that five of the six winters from 2015 to 2020 recorded below average rainfall. As signalled in Met Report in the last couple of months, Blenheim needed well above average rainfall over winter in order to make up for the lack of rainfall earlier in 2020. This hasn’t happened and many soil types will still be below field capacity going into the spring.

Rob Agnew Plant & Food Research / Marlborough Research Centre

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Dramatic Changes Required A Shoot Thinning Trial on High Vigour Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc - Part 3 (Final) Chris Henry of Henry Manufacturing championed a trial last season on vigorous Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc evaluating different shoot thinning regimes on spray penetration for disease control and potential fruitfulness. ”The potential benefits of shoot thinning are well known” says Chris.

“Enhanced fruit-set, more balanced vines, easier pruning in the following year and improved disease control are some of the expected outcomes”.

The results are now in (see table below) and the full

report can be found on www. henrymanufacturing.co.nz.

The vigorous Lower Wairau four cane Sauvignon Blanc canopy has proven to be a formidable challenge; simply put, shoot thinning alone does not provide solutions to address less than adequate spray penetration, says Chris.

for all treatments showed a similar pattern of apical dominance with the mid canes being smaller than the others (see graph). However, the early ‘Full Monty’ treatment was consistently higher in average size than all the other treatments.

Unfortunately Covid-19 prevented a yield assessment.

‘Full Monty’ treatments had fewer bunches but we do not know if they were larger and whether the vine is more balanced vine as a result. We will have to look at the vine next year to see.

Influence of shoot thinning on shoot size

Control Grab

(Note: shoots were graded 0.5, 1 and 2 to represent very small, small and productive shoots)

Stop & Look Monty early

2.0

Monty late

1.5

RESULTS SNAPSHOT Visual

No visual difference in canopy between treatments after one month

1.0

Leaf density

Reduced leaf layer at head for ‘Full Monty’ Reduced leaf layer effect of ‘Full Monty’ along cordon disappeared in 6-8 weeks

0.5

Spray coverage

‘Full Monty’ treatment provided improved coverage, but still not adequate

Shoot quality

Early ‘Full Monty’ had improved cane size across the cordon (see graph)

Powdery Mildew

Full Monty treatments were clean at veraison after earlier eradication. Other treatments and control were also low. Control was at 0.6% crop loss.

We used the Point Quadrat Method to determine leaf layer density and Water Sensitive Papers to assess spray penetration.

The results indicate that ‘Full Monty’ treatments had reduced leaf layer in the head and temporarily reduced leaf layer along the cordon. This is supported by the wettable paper results which showed better coverage.

Powdery mildew assessment was disrupted when severe powdery mildew

infections were found in the block, suggesting a lack of spray coverage from the seven applications up to that point.

In the head of the vines, on average, there were (approximately) eight shoots in the control plots, six shoots for the ‘grab’ and ‘stop and look’ treatments, and four shoots for the ‘Full Monty’ treatments. The number of shoots along the cordon were similar across all treatments.

The quality of the shoots

0

1 Head end

2

3 4 Cordon Section

5

6 End of cane

WHAT DID WE LEARN? More dramatic changes to Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc growing systems (trellising) are likely to be required if disease is to be controlled with softer/other chemistries that require good contact with leaves and bunches.

High vigour Sauvignon Blanc on four cane VSP produces areas of less than optimum fruitfulness in the mid-cane region, and even heavy shoot thinning did not overcome this.

Further research into pruning systems that avoid overlap of shoots is required

as well as encouraging the removal of shoots from the head as industry best practice.

Our thanks to Mike Trought, Mark Allen, Jason Flowerday, Fabiano Frangi, (Giesen Wines), Will Greig, James Jones, David Manktelow and others for their contributions.

Henry Manufacturing will sponsor another season of work to find long-term benefits for this sector of the industry, and invite others who wish to contribute to join our team.

Visit www.henrymanufacturing.co.nz Call Chris Henry on 027 294 1490 email chris@henrymanufacturing.co.nz

Winepress September 2020 / 9

GROW

Vintage 2021 Collective action for vintage workforce SOPHIE PREECE Waipara Hills

TEMPTING KIWIS to trade their big overseas experience for a big Marlborough vintage is just one of the solutions mooted by wine companies as they face a harvest without migrant labour. Wine Marlborough held three vintage 2021 workshops last month, seeking brainstormed solutions to the Covid-19 border closures, which will almost certainly stop the usual flow of foreign workers available for the peak season.

The wine industry’s ability to work together is one of the things that makes it so resilient, says Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Vance Kerslake, who organised the seminars. “You see collaboration and cooperation between companies that are competitors at a level that you just don’t see in other industries.” That allows Wine Marlborough and New Zealand Winegrowers to run seminars where people talk openly about the innovations of their organisation, he adds. “And that is gold right now.”

There were many common themes in the workshops, including employing young adults who’d planned to spend 2021 as a ‘gap’ year or semester overseas. Since they can no longer travel, a season making wine might be an appealing fallback, groups suggested. There was good support for a national advertising campaign, tapping into the power of wine brands and appeal of the regions, to get people around the country excited about a making wine in Marlborough.

However, members warned it would need to be managed in an equitable way, ensuring a fair dispersal of labour.

“Every wine company needs to embrace it or it won’t work.

We have to work collectively and collaboratively on that and that will be the biggest challenge,” said Marlborough

Winegrowers chair Tom Trolove, who is managing director at Framingham.

Tertiary education providers were also seen as “an obvious place to look”, he said. “We need to reach out far and wide.” New Zealand wine schools are likely to have more students working vintage, with both NMIT and EIT rolling out new cellar operations courses and adapted programmes. Seminar participants suggested universities could also be called on to extend their Easter break to six weeks, to allow people to work a vintage. The industry could also collaborate with government to build and deliver a “taster course” of what vintage looks like, giving prospective cellar hands an introduction to the work, while giving industry a perfect recruitment tool, winery representatives said.

Collaboration came into several of the ideas, including wineries sharing a workforce, and industry members sharing training courses for new employees. Some groups suggested working with families in Marlborough, offering a five to six week block of work to a parent normally at home with the kids, and accessing the 65+ age group, including those who might normally travel at that time of year.

One group called for a survey, to better understand and identify the labour gaps, and what might tempt people from other regions to move to Marlborough for a short period of work.

Following the meeting, Vance said Wine Marlborough would provide monthly information updates for wineries, including a “progress bar” on vintage 2021 recruitment. He said they were already working on a benchmark of pay rates

Opportunity Knocks The Ministry for Primary Industries is running a marketing campaign for the primary sector for the next two years, called Opportunity Grows Here. New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) has provided content for the wine page (opportunitygrowshere.nz/winegrowing/), which has had nearly 4000 unique views, and has driven traffic to winejobsonline.com and the NZW wine industry careers page (nzwine.com/en/about-us/careers). NZW external relations manager Nicola Crennan says the industry body is committed to developing targeted seasonal campaigns for wine through Opportunity Grows Here. The organisation has also been working with education and training organisations, alongside industry, to ensure pathways are fit for purpose. NZW has reached out to wine regions, to better understand their seasonal labour needs and offer assistance, Nicola says. “What I took from the Marlborough discussion is that even with so much uncertainty, what is certain is that they will come together to find the best solutions.”

10 / Winepress September 2020

EDUCATE

and benefits, and also a winery facilitated workshop on working “smarter and leaner”.

The situation will cause many to review their existing systems and processes to ensure more efficiency, he said.

“It’s easy to do what we have always done, but innovation and changes tend to come out of challenging situations.”

And he is “optimistic” the industry will be sufficiently geared up for the vintage, “because we have time to plan and prepare”. If wine companies can deliver a vintage during an Alert Level 4 lockdown, as they did this year, “then it feels like there’s nothing the industry can’t achieve when it sets its mind to it”.

Filling the void of foreign cellar staff Two thirds of Marlborough’s 2020 vintage workforce were from overseas, with 490 on a working holiday visa and 431 on essential skills. A remuneration survey from this year’s vintage shows 20% of the cellar crew were permanent staff and 14% New Zealanders, underlining the challenge wineries face for Vintage 2021, with New Zealand’s borders closed, says Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Vance Kerslake.

On the other side of the ledger, Marlborough unemployment has “skyrocketed” in percentage terms, with a 50% lift since Alert Level 4 lockdowns, with most of that increase happening in April. But the increase is off a very low base of 2.6% unemployment, and is just Te Pā Family Vineyards 490 people in real terms, says Vance. “The level of unemployment in Marlborough is a lot lower than was projected by various agencies.”

Before Covid-19, Marlborough had around 1000 people registered as unemployed and half of those were not considered “work ready”, he says. In contrast, the 490 newly unemployed can be assumed to be fit for work, so may seek a vintage season, he adds. “And the number may increase when wage subsidies come off.”

Rachel Brown, marketing manager of winejobsonline.com, says jobs adverts are 40% up on this time last year, but that is driven by typical clients gearing up for vintage sooner than usual. “Those jobs would have been advertised, but they are up earlier.” There have also been a lot more users on the site, she says. “And this year, 80% of our users are New Zealand based.” Applicants for the roles, which range from lab and cellar work to general vineyard roles, have not dropped, with a high percentage of New Zealand based applicants.

Wine Marlborough is supporting New Zealand Winegrowers’ (NZW) work with Horticulture New Zealand to advocate for flexibility around visas for people “stuck in New Zealand”, says Vance. NZW is also developing a case for border exemptions for skilled vintage workers, which Wine Marlborough will provide evidence for.

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) records show 152 vintage hands and 10 winemakers on essential skills visas for vintage 2020 are still in the country, and if the government extends the visas, those people will play a key role in wineries next year, Vance says. Backpacker numbers are “a bit of an unknown” but INZ records show there were about 25,000 still in the country on June 30, he adds. “We don’t know if any were working in wineries last vintage, and pretty much all of those people are due to depart before the next vintage.”

Meanwhile, Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme workers who wish to continue to work in New Zealand have been allowed another six months on their stay, allowing them to work for the same purpose as they were before Covid-19 stranded them in the country.

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Winepress September 2020 / 11

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Rest & Recover Putting on the breaks during vintage SOPHIE PREECE

ONE OF the major challenges in a six-day vintage week is convincing staff to take a break, says Wither Hills winemaker Andrew Petrie. “The biggest hurdle in our experience was culture,” he told attendees at last month’s Six-Day Vintage Week seminar in Blenheim, speaking of the “work hard play hard” tradition of harvest, including shared stories of endless hours. “That was very much part of Wither Hills and other places I have worked for.”

But he and four other speakers - from Matua, Wither Hills and Delegat - said the benefits of an enforced day off were far reaching, from fewer sick days, near misses and accidents at work, to better decision making, greater efficiency and enhanced succession training. “You are encouraging the rest of your team to step up to those positions – even just for a day,” said Matua’s New Zealand winemaker Spring Timlin.

Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Vance Kerslake said the session had been organised in the wake of a Winemaker Survey sent out late last year, which drew responses from 99 winemakers. Nearly half the respondents reported working more than 85 hours a week during vintage, with 16% working more than 96 hours. Most respondents worked three weeks or more at a stretch during vintage, with 15% working between 36 and 57 plus days in a row.

Vance asked attendees at the seminar to imagine a conversation with a WorkSafe inspector if a staff member suffered an injury or fatality at work, or indeed travelling to or from work. Would they find themselves explaining that the person had worked 84 hours a week for three weeks at a stretch? “How would that sound? How would you feel if that was on the front page of the Marlborough Express?”

However, the survey also revealed that several companies in the region capped vintage hours, with a scheduled day off after six or seven days of work, Vance said.

12 / Winepress September 2020

Delegat instigated a seven-day vintage week in 2019, with the eighth day off for all winery operational employees working a 12-hour shift, from winemakers to electricians.

Prior to the 2020 vintage they set up an app to monitor outcomes, intending to collect data on fatigue levels and mood before and during vintage, taking into account the days off as well as the impact of three 30-minute rest breaks in a 12-hour shift. Marlborough Winery operations manager Courtney Morse told seminar attendees that operational errors went down 100% in vintage 2020, compared to 2019, and near misses were reduced by nearly two thirds.

However, he emphasised that there was more at play than just the breaks, with employees all more alert amid the rigorous Covid-19 rules, and daily tonnage down on expectation, due to the length of vintage. Covid-19 also meant the survey was “torpedoed” in its early stages.

There were nonetheless learnings, said Courtney, talking of the importance of clear communication from the interview stage, as many vintage workers had an expectation of working right through. He also said the roster should be printed and transparent, so it’s clear that everyone working the 12-hour shift is taking the time off, including those in more senior positions. “The shadow we all cast as leaders in our businesses has a massive impact on our teams.”

Delegat increased its staffing numbers to allow for the change which, given the benefits, wasn’t a significant financial impact, but Courtney noted that smaller companies might feel a greater financial burden. However, Stewart Maclennan, a winemaker in the seminar audience, said Saint Clair Family Estate’s six-day vintage roster has the same hours as a standard schedule. “It is just how many people you divide it up by - it doesn’t have to be more hours.”

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Spring Timlin and Matua’s cellar manager Lee Williams talked about their company’s six-day vintage week, which has been in place for cellar hands since before Spring joined in 2011 and was expanded to winemakers in 2014. Now, anyone in operations doing a 12-hour shift (or 11 hours under Covid-19 restrictions) has a day off for every six days worked. “The key point is, we want to manage our team’s welfare,” says Spring. “We wanted to help create a work life balance for our team so that we are an attractive employer.”

She notes the enhanced mental health and wellbeing of rested employees on a six-day week, as well as a better attitude to work and fewer sick days. Spring said managing fatigue also reduced the risk of accidents in the workplace and enhanced performance. And while there could be a bit of “kickback” from people at the beginning, Matua staff really look forward to the day they can catch up with family, do “little jobs” and recharge, she said. “We say, ‘use that day to rest so you come to work well’.”

Andrew Petrie, along with fellow Wither Hills’ winemaker Patricia Miranda-Taylor, spoke of Wither Hills’ six-day vintage week, which has been extended from winemaking and cellar operations to the viticulture team.

Like Matua, staff have one day off for six worked and Patricia said it made an obvious and positive difference to workplace safety and efficiency, with no near misses or accidents in vintage 2020. It also leads to better decision making, workplace wellness and culture, leading to better worker retention, and is about “doing the right thing for

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people”, she said.

Andrew said it was important that everyone knows the situation before they join the team, including those with expectations of uninterrupted work. It’s also key that there are no exceptions, he added. Good transferral of processes and information is “critical” when key staff are taking leave, and the company has developed handover sheets to ensure all the information needed is available. People on a day off are only a phone call away, but transparency of information, clear processes and excellent communication can make for seamless transitions and a cross functional team, he said.

“The six-day week is definitely a driver for getting better at processes and planning.”

Key tips • Expectations – ensure you communicate the day off when employing.

• Timekeeper - find the right person to create the roster.

• Experience - don’t roster too many key people off at once.

• No exceptions – senior staff must lead by example.

• Consistency - stick to the message; don’t waver.

• Communicate – ensure excellent transition information.

• Include – invite those rostered off to events or announcements.

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Winepress September 2020 / 13

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Digi-tools

Hayden Higgens

Catching up on ecommerce capability THE ONSET of Covid-19 has been a “deeply unfortunate wake-up call” for wine companies with unrealised digital ambitions, says Rabobank senior wine analyst Hayden Higgins. “Executives have given innovation and ecommerce plenty of airtime, but that talk has rarely translated into additional personnel or bold acquisitions.” Hayden is one of the authors of a new Rabobank report on Covid-19 and the US premium wine sector, subtitled ‘building an ecommerce team 101’. It says the crisis has forced wineries, where able, to lean heavily on digital channels for sales, with data from WineDirect for April and May showing direct to consumer sales increased by 340% year on year, while wine.com reported sales up 300% in April, compared to the same month in 2019.

But some wine companies were ill prepared to take advantage of those climbs. “Before Covid-19, many decision makers in the industry had not proactively invested in their digital capabilities and we’ve come across many large suppliers who did not even have one dedicated ecommerce employee, let alone a whole team,” says Hayden. “Looking forward, the expectation is that more people are likely to shop online… What we are signalling is that ecommerce should come more front of mind in terms of investment.”

Smaller companies may not have the resources to create ecommerce channels in-house, but they have a lot to gain from an online presence, with shelf space perhaps elusive in the real world, but more abundant virtually, says Hayden. The report notes that companies can outsource to a third party provider, then bring the tasks in-house once the strategy and platform are established, with marketing, sales, and brand teams ultimately using them to drive sales.

Wineries should focus on building a robust digital infrastructure before they look to innovative ideas, it says.

“We find many industry leaders are easily distracted by shinier, sexier topics like social commerce,” says Hayden.

“However, we feel most companies will get the most benefit from investing their energy and resources into ‘boring’ tasks, like mapping out the industry and educating their account managers about how to support ecommerce.”

Once that’s done, the ecommerce team “can start to have some fun” with a focus beyond growing ecommerce sales, says Hayden. “The digital environment enables companies to access data, intelligence and brand building opportunities not previously available. And, armed with this information, the ecommerce team should explore how the digital world can enhance sales through more traditional channels and vice-versa.”

14 / Winepress September 2020

Building an ecommerce team 101 – four key steps 1: Map the market - identify which channels are most likely to be successful for the brands, both during the pandemic and once it has ended. Build relationships with key individuals within each ecommerce platform and identify how to support their brands within this environment, says Hayden “In this step, it’s also essential businesses identify data sources for measuring sales within each platform and, if possible, data on how and why consumers shop on the platform. This is essential for measuring progress, setting KPIs and monitoring changes in where and how consumers shop online.”

2: Build the infrastructure - decide which technologies are needed to realise your digital ambitions. “That could include anything from building a platform for ingesting ecommerce sales data to identifying the best platform for their direct-to-customer business,” says Hayden. “It can take months to on-board these kinds of technologies and months to learn how best to deploy them in your business.” This all needs to be undertaken over and above the rest of the ecommerce team’s responsibilities, “so the more support they get, the more able they are to transform and perform simultaneously”.

3: Educate internally and externally – it is crucial the ecommerce team raises awareness of the ecommerce channel with marketing teams, sales teams, senior management, distributors and retailers so they understand how it can best be supported, says Hayden.

4: Delegate day-to-day digital operations - many of the responsibilities of managing a winery’s ecommerce business should eventually be taken over by existing structures within the organisation. “This transition can take a couple of years, but it is necessary to give scale to your ecommerce operations,” says Hayden.

“Some people refer to this process as building out your organisation’s ‘digital muscles’.”

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Content Creator Boutique Bladen connecting with consumers FOR THE past six years, Deni Macdonald has photographed enormous royal weddings in the United Arab Emirates, with up to 2,000 women at each. But for the past six months, she’s instead shared harvest, winemaking and family moments from a boutique Marlborough vineyard, giving Bladen Wines a digital boost, just when they need it most.

“Everyone was consuming content and so many companies didn’t have people to help them make it, because of social distancing. And I was sitting here with the tools to do so, and nothing but time,” says Deni, who “popped back” to Marlborough for a friend’s wedding earlier this year, then decided to stay as lockdown loomed.

Chris and Dave Macdonald established their vineyard in 1989, four years before Deni was born. When they launched their label, Deni and her big brother Blair became its namesakes. Blair returned to the vineyard last year, and it was always Deni’s dream to come back too, so she is philosophical that a short sojourn has transformed into a career U-turn. “I am just terrible at making those big decisions and love when they are made for me.”

That’s pretty much how she found herself in Dubai when she was 20, having applied for what she thought was a photography job in London, where she was living and working in a wine bar. Ten days later she was flying to an “amazing” new chapter, with studio work soon replaced by freelancing at royal weddings in Saudi, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Paris. “So I basically got offered a job in Dubai trying to find a job in London… Thank goodness I don’t read all the words,” she says with a laugh.

After 10 years away from the Macdonald’s vineyard home, lockdown took some getting used to, particularly given the stress of the vintage. But Deni made the most of it by producing video snapshots of harvesting grapes, a tongue in cheek winemaking demonstration, and plenty of family stories, including an introduction to Blair’s baby son Pat, who arrived in June, just after lockdown ended.

“It kind of started organically, creating content for Bladen through the boredom of having nothing to do,” she says. But it soon became clear it was forging a bond with their customers, backed up by boosted sales. It’s also been welcomed by distributors, says Deni. “They love it. It is removing a cost for them.” Because it was her first harvest in a decade, she wore rose tinted glasses, and the content felt fresh and exciting. And the introduction of Bladen’s second

“Everyone was consuming content.”

Deni Macdonald generation, carrying on their parents’ dream, adds lots of heart to their stories, she says. “People were really loving it.”

She says the appetite for online has definitely gone up under Covid-19, and Bladen is happily tapping into it, with online sales making up for the loss in their on-premise orders. Sauvignon Blanc Day on May 1 was evidence of that, says Deni, who created a mail order email to regular clients, talking of Pat’s imminent arrival, adding one of Chris’s recipes, and celebrating Sauvignon. It went out at 6.30 Friday evening – during Alert Level-3 - and by Saturday morning they had been inundated with orders, far exceeding previous email promotions. Meanwhile, their UK distributor had its biggest month ever during the Covid lockdown, putting in a big order with Bladen, which was followed up a similar story from US and Australia, says Deni.

Bladen hasn’t been sluggish with e-commerce in the past, and has built strong connections direct with its customers, including those who have visited its small, award-winning cellar door, where they are always served by a family member, says Deni. “When people leave they can’t help but feel like they are part of our team.”

Winepress September 2020 / 15

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Planning Resilience

Mahi Wines

A guide to protecting business continuity BRIAN DAWSON

AS COVID-19 returned to New Zealand last month, business owners were thinking about the risks to their operation. Those who have put plans in place and built resilience will feel much better prepared that those that haven’t. We work with business owners every day on the future of their business, including what their business could and should look like in five to 10 years’ time, and the actions needed today to deal with the immediate challenges and opportunities ahead. Ensuring business continuity in troubled times requires a multi-faceted approach.

One of the first requirements is emotional resilience an absolute determination about the future of the business.

It requires a clear vision of what success looks like and knowledge that even if the path takes some different twists and turns, or is slower than expected, you will prevail. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be a realist. Some businesses will be left behind in a changed market and smart owners will see that and pivot or move the resources they have to the next business opportunity. Necessity, or indeed desperation, is often the mother of invention. A business that was selling visitor experiences to tourists today can be packaging up their expertise and teaching online what they know about visitor hosting to a worldwide audience next week.

Business Continuity - take home messages • Be ready to adapt • Have a toolkit of actions for good times and bad • Know your cash runway • Hold onto trained staff if you can • Become digitally enabled • Tap into Government funding for business advice Continuity is being strongly supported in current times by government, and in Marlborough’s case the Marlborough District Council is providing access to business advisory support. In good times, business owners can generally get away with limited planning and budgeting, figuring that the money coming in next month is always going to be a bit more than what is going out. This seat-of-the pants 16 / Winepress September 2020

“Covid-19 has delivered some of the most compressed innovation we have ever seen.”

Brian Dawson

approach is simply not going to cut it in less certain times.

Help from a business advisory or a much ‘deeper dive’ with an accountant is an important step to ensuring you have in place the series of actions that need to be taken now, or can be taken as earnings tighten and changes need to be made. This toolkit of actions can aid owners’ stress levels significantly as they have the levers to pull as needed, and can put their energies towards improving their offering and finding new clients in a more constrained market, rather than burning up energy with worry.

We are told time and time again that cash is king.

Businesses don’t go broke because they run out of profit; they fold because of lack of money. Many businesses that fail are profitable, but failed because they didn’t understand their cash cycle. Stock on the shelf and your debtors’ ledger don’t pay the bill - cash does. Protection and awareness of your cash runway is critical to ensure continuity in uncertain times.

Costs need to be at a minimum, but always with an eye to the future. High performing, fully trained staff are by far your biggest asset and every other cost that can be trimmed should be trimmed before you start looking at your wage bill.

Covid-19 has delivered some of the most compressed innovation we have ever seen. Businesses that had planned to be more digitally enabled over time had to respond to a new way of delivering their products and services. An understanding of Zoom, digital signing platforms, digital meeting software, shopping carts and social media channels will be vital in a world where our delivery model may have to regularly change.

Brian Dawson is manager of Business Trust Marlborough, which is able to help businesses access funded support and

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connect business owners to a business mentor. For more information, go to businesstrustmarlborough.co.nz

Seek Expertise There’s plenty of support available for businesses wanting to build resilience during Covid-19, says Marlborough Chamber of Commerce growth advisor Kathryn Stewart. Funding is available through the Regional Business Partner Network to ensure businesses can access expertise to help them remain solvent and sustainable, and to thrive beyond Covid-19, she says.

Businesses negatively impacted by Covid-19 may be eligible for funding to access one-on-one advisory expertise in: • Business strategy and continuity planning (continuity creation; scenario planning; diversification) • Finance and cashflow management (integrated cashflow; modelling; assisting with bank re-financing; budgeting and pricing structures) • Health and wellness (resilience capability; stress management) • Human resources and employment relations • Marketing strategy • Digital enablement strategy For more information email kathryn@mcoc.org.nz

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Winepress September 2020/ 17

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Post Waste Best practice for piling posts SOPHIE PREECE

VINEYARDS STOCKPILING unwanted posts need to ensure they minimise impacts on soils and people, says Sustainability Guardians programme coordinator Bridget Ennals. New Zealand Winegrowers has released new Sustainability Guidelines for the storage and disposal of broken copper, chromium and arsenic (CCA) treated posts, which are known to leach heavy metals into the ground, up to 10cm from the post. “Research has also shown that they continue to leach when we take them out of the ground and put them in a pile on bare ground,” Bridget says. The heavy metals do not disperse easily, so stay localised, but companies need to guard against “creating lots of hot spots”, she adds.

One of the key points of the guidelines, developed by a Sustainability Guardians wine industry group, is for vineyards to have a single site for storing vineyard posts, rather than several smaller piles, says Bridget.

“If you are going stockpile your posts because you think they may be reused and you don’t want them in landfill, keep them in one spot and one spot only. Don’t move it around.”

Based on 580 posts per hectare across Marlborough’s 27,000 hectares of producing vineyard, the region has around 15 million posts in the ground, and most are CCA treated pine.

According to the guidelines, on average 2% to 5% of those are broken each harvest “depending on soil type, soil moisture content and the operation of the harvesters”, resulting in 11 to 29 posts per hectare per year being stored or disposed of.

18 / Winepress September 2020

Photo by Ricky Wilson/Stuff

Plans for a pyrolysis plant in Blenheim didn’t progress, and New Zealand doesn’t have a pyrolysis plant capable of taking posts. There are processes to take unwanted chemicals out of wood, but that technology is neither commercially available nor affordable here, says Bridget. “So at this point of time we have no quick fix. But we can ensure that how we store and dispose of posts is the best practice.”

Vineyard posts can be repurposed by farmers or gardeners, which is how many growers in smaller wine regions deal with breakages. In Marlborough, the scale of post waste is vast compared to the ability of locals to use them, but the Government’s new Healthy Waterways package, which includes fencing fresh waterways, may increase demand, says Bridget. “A lot of farmers will need a lot of posts.” People may feel guilty about resorting to the tip, but if posts cannot be repurposed, it is the “lesser of two evils” as any leachate can be contained, she adds.

The guidelines emphasise that growers must never burn treated wood, which leaches toxic fumes into the environment. And they offer advice for storage, including covering the piles if possible, stacking on an impervious surface, and ensuring the post piles are at least 20 metres from a waterway.

Another key mitigation is to reduce the number of breakages by getting good quality posts in the first place, then working with harvest contractors

to help protect them “Asking for posts to be supplied dry and just in time for installation is key for new vineyard development,” says Bridget. “Likewise, new posts should be stored dry or covered on an impervious surface to limit leaching and information kept on the length of storage and any rainfall events.”

The Sustainability Guardians group wants feedback from members on the guidelines. “This is a long time coming really – they might not be 100% right but we can change as things evolve,” says Bridget. The group is also working on guidelines around alternatives, including steel, hardwood and plastic posts. They will assess the pros and cons of each, including life cycle analysis and cost, “so people can make an educated decision about which posts they would like to use”.

To see the guidelines go to nzwine.com/ cca-treated-posts

Storage guidelines • Store in a well-ventilated area • Keep dry, where possible, from rain and moisture • Avoid storage on bare ground, store on an impervious surface, where possible • Storage area to be located at least 20 metres from waterways • Identify storage areas, dates, and approximate post numbers on Vineyard Plans

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Winepress September 2020 / 19

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Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa

The first stage of the New Zealand Wine Centre, Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, should be built by June 2021.

Marlborough Research Centre (MRC) chief executive Gerald Hope says the Government’s July announcement of $3.79 million in funding followed months of work behind the scenes, “so we want to waste no time getting construction underway”.

Stage one will provide offices, meeting rooms and shared space for wine research institutions and industry to collaborate. When complete, the buildings will cap off nearly four decades since the Marlborough Research Centre was established, says Gerald. The MRC’s work began with Plant & Food Research, later linked with the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT), and more recently has aligned with the wine research facilities of the Bragato Research Institute.

Gerald says the New Zealand Wine Centre will provide integrated facilities for those organisations to work together

with wine industry innovators, as well as with wine researchers from other institutions in New Zealand and from around the world.

NMIT’s director Marlborough, Carole Crawford, says the build will put a new heart into the campus. “Our collaborative approach and response post-Covid has seen a further growth in enrolments and opportunities for tertiary education in the region. With the Government measures to encourage more training, along with the national centre for wine research now underway, this will be a busy and exciting place for students and for Marlborough.”

Once approved, stage two of the New Zealand Wine Centre development will provide a new gateway to the campus through the existing NMIT entrance which will be redeveloped and modernised. Stage three will provide laboratories, offices and future-focussed shared teaching spaces at the campus.

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CELEBRATE

Graham Norton’s 10 million bottles The relationship between Graham Norton and Invivo & Co hit new heights this vintage, with the TV presenter blending a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at home in Ireland, while Invivo co-founders Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron assisted from 1,080 feet.

This is the sixth vintage collaboration between Graham and the Kiwi wine company, and over the years Tim and Rob have smelled, swirled, slurped and spat alongside the celebrity, to produce Graham Norton’s Own Sauvignon Blanc. But Covid-19 meant Graham was in lockdown in West Cork in July, so the Invivo crew sent him six Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc samples, along with a winemaking kit filled with beakers, for a virtual collaboration.

Tim and Rob then got up bright and early to ascend Auckland’s Sky Tower, setting up in The Sugar Club to be remote assistants, 18,311 kilometres away and 11 hours ahead of the 9pm blending in Ireland. “It’s a bit early for you guys, everything is going to taste of toothpaste,” Graham Norton told the pair, as well as the audience to his Twitter feed, comparing the two-hour collaboration to “being an air steward who is being talked into landing the plane”.

The business partners are set to produce their 10 millionth bottle of wine this year, having kickstarted the collaboration in 2014, with 14,000 bottles of Marlborough Sauvignon. Rob says they always look forward to the “blending date” with Graham. “It’s like he’s a full-time member of the winemaking team. Graham seemed to dial straight into what was working and what he was after.”

It’s not Invivo’s first virtual blend this year, with New York-based actress Sarah Jessica Parker dialling in for a two-hour Sauvignon Blanc blending session in July as well. Her first Invivo collaboration was a hit, with the 2019 vintage selling more than 400,000 bottles, and taking six gold medals in wine competitions.

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Winepress September 2020 / 21

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Forgotten Corners

Robert Holdaway

Down the pathway of regenerative viticulture SOPHIE PREECE

ROBERT HOLDAWAY sees science at work when he harvests a salad for dinner, plucking rocket, spinach and beetroot leaves from his Lower Wairau Vineyards. He sees a burgeoning above and below-ground biological community when diverse cover crops flourish down the grape rows, flower heads blazing above the green. And he sees a healthy ecology when driving a mule down a vineyard row becomes a “hazardous” occupation, with the bonnet splattered with insect diversity, from aphids to ladybird larvae.

Measuring an ecosystem via tasty salads, pretty flowers and hit-and-run insects seems imprecise. But Robert - who has a PhD in forest ecology from Cambridge University and spent eight years as an ecosystem ecologist at Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research – says such biodiversity is about making the vineyard “hum”, or function properly. “It’s about getting biodiversity back into the vineyard – plants, insects, fungi, bacteria,” he says. “And if you can get the plants feeding the soil life, the soil life will feed the plants and help protect them from disease… you get functional complementarity.” Each plant supports a different niche of insects and micro-organisms, “and you get the predatorprey relationship, and all that balancing that nature does”.

Robert describes himself as an ideas guy, having returned to Lowlands Wines three years ago, when he became disillusioned by the lack of transfer from science to action. “The pure science was out there telling you what to do and it supports the idea that plant diversity and biologically active soil are critical for plant health and ecosystem function.” So he joined his brother Richard, who had finished his engineering degree in 2003 and returned to Marlborough to help expand and develop the family business. If Robert is the ideas, then Richard is the engine. He says regenerative agriculture is easy to say and hard to do, but he was already heading in that direction when Robert returned. Now, they use Robert’s science and Richard’s nous to plant abundantly diverse cover crops, feed the soil biology, implement biological spray programmes, and cut fungicides and herbicide use, in order to seek that utopian “hum”.

Next season, Lowlands Wines is not planning to use any insecticides at all. “Our cover crops mean we hopefully

22 / Winepress September 2020

have enough beneficials present, and there are biological controls we can turn to if needed,” says Robert. The brothers are also trying to cut back on fungicides, so in the last growing season ran a trial with no chemical canopy sprays beyond an early-season oil, using a biological programme instead. That meant no fungicides - organic or chemical no sulphur and no copper, “in an attempt to pull out all the inputs that are killing the good biology”, says Robert.

In the end a touch of powdery mildew led to a single fungicide application across most of the trial block, then a return to the biological programme. “That’s one instead of 14,” says Robert. “We were able to do that because we are not organic. So instead of going in with soaps and sulphurs and nuking it, we were able to do one targeted powdery spray, which we thought was better for the overall ecosystem.”

The results were compelling, and next season half of Lowland’s 155 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc vineyards will be included in the biological trial, “with the caveat that we will monitor the heck out of it, and if we do get some we will do that one fungicide”, says Robert.

He and Richard are adamant that the flexible use of inputs is a key advantage of regenerative viticulture. In the past, companies have been either organic or conventional, says Richard. “We are going the third way.” That’s why it shouldn’t be certified, he adds. “The whole point is that the toolbox is wide open, and holistic management means you use whatever tools you need to do the best thing for the whole”.

When people ask Robert to explain regenerative viticulture, he calls it a mentality, not a set of practices.

Decision making becomes about putting the biology and the ecosystem first, because “if we get that thriving, the rest will follow”. That means not asking “how do I kill this problem organism?” but “how can I enhance the environment so that

GROW

the pest or disease is naturally supressed?”

Fungi and bacteria play a key role in a plant’s health and defence systems, so killing off everything with a fungicide is “the last thing you want to do”, he says. “In ecology, when you have a slate that is clean, the thing that comes back first is the disease. You see this with the use of harsh chemical controls for mealy bug, for example”. Robert is quick to point out that there is no silver bullet solution - they are still using fungicides. But they use them reluctantly, while continuing to work as hard as they can to improve vine health.

Richard is moving from mitigating herbicide rounds with a biological buffer, to feeding the soil directly all year round with cocktails of biological stimulants to boost the soil’s microbial activity. As soon as harvest ends, they start feeding the bugs for the next season, he says. “It’s your one window in vineyards where you are not driving a tractor through and not putting fungicides on.”

The Holdaway brothers are bemused to see growers doing a winter herbicide spray, or mowing vineyards to a bowling-green neatness. They prefer to let the undervine vegetation grow over winter, feeding both the soil and the sheep while the grapes are dormant. “This is the tidiest you’ll ever see it,” says Robert in August, once the sheep are gone and the fresh green shoots of self-seeded species, including oats, phacelia, mustard and rocket, are pushing up along the row. In summer they let everything grow, mowing occasionally or roller crimping to manage excessive biomass or create undervine mulch.

Land in the Lower Wairau is a “big horsepower system”, says Richard, noting that six trims a season is typical when you “ride the vigour wave”. That means they’ve less to gain from the regenerative viticulture than a grower on less healthy soils. “But there are a lot of other benefits, and disease resistance is the big one,” Robert says. “That is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

It’s likely to be 10 years before they can “get out of the way” of nature, says Richard. “But we are working really hard to get all the building blocks in place.”

Cranking up the compost Making good compost requires an understanding of techniques for success. The latest blog post from Nelson compost company Wholesale Landscapes outlines the technical aspects and processes of making compost, including the goals of breaking down organic materials while destroying plant disease organisms and biological pathogens through the natural heat created through decomposition. That process needs to be done in the shortest possible timeframe, because compost loses carbon and nitrogen to the air as it continues to heat, the blog explains.

The amount of heat produced in compost is influenced by the speed of microbial metabolism and the dimensions of the compost heap, with larger, higher heaps of compost able to accumulate more heat, they explain. The speed of microbial metabolism is also influenced by the carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio, and the moisture content of the mixture. “The C:N ratio is used to predict the effect that the compost is likely to have on plant available nitrogen in the soil and as an indicator of the rate of decomposition. A C:N ratio of about 30 is considered nitrogen neutral - lower ratios will release nitrogen and act as nitrogen fertilisers and higher ratios will immobilise nitrogen as microbial breakdown of the carbon component occurs. In the long term, the nitrogen content will become ‘available’ as carbon decomposition occurs.”

The Wholesale Landscapes piece notes that a bad ‘sour’ smell indicates inadequate decomposition or lack of air, which causes anaerobic microbial activity. “This is typical of a pile of grass clippings left to ‘rot’ where there is no air in the centre of such a pile, the centre is generally dull green, gooey and stinks.”

Commercially made compost provides approximately a year of nutrients into the soil, they say. “The amount of nutrients and value that brings to the soil is determined by the compost inputs. A high quality compost will have beneficial nutrients past one year, however, this is generally when they start diminishing.”

The blog, which was written in collaboration with John Turner of Hill Laboratories, is available at wholesalelandscapes.co.nz/Tips-Advice-Articles

Yealands Estate

Winepress September 2020 / 23

CELEBRATE

Industry Pioneer European roots to ground-breaking Picton winery BRENDA WEBB

SUNDAY AFTERNOON pilgrimages to his parents’ home brewing friends instilled a love of wine in Warwick Foley as a young teenager. “You’d end up trying a black doris plum red wine in their living room. And my dad made gorse petal wine.”

These days Warwick and business partner Edel Everling produce a small quantity of high quality wines under the Johanneshof label from their Koromiko vineyard and cellar.

They’re passionate about what they do and remain true to their roots, which are immersed in traditional European methods.

But back in 1978, when Warwick planted grapes on his parents’ Koromiko hillside, he was taking a punt in an industry making it up as it went along. “I just thought I’d give it a go.” The “naïve” 19-year-old, just out of school, approached what was then the Rural Bank for money to buy an 8 hectare block at Omaka Valley, which was selling for $30,000 with a 15-year contract to grow Müller-Thurgau.

The bank asked what experience he had, then turned him down flat. Undeterred, Warwick went back to Koromiko and did soil tests before planting an odd array of vines, despite grape growing not being allowed north of the Wairau River at that stage. “It was the time that Phil Rose and all those guys were battling the council,” recalls Warwick. “You had to get a permit for change of use and it was hard.”

In the 1970s and ‘80s, the Wairau Plains were patchworked with orchards, cropping, and sheep and beef farming, and grapes were the exception. Allen Hogan was in his early days at Te Whare Ra and Ernie Hunter was starting out on Rapaura Rd. “I met Ernie – an affable Irishman – and we charged up to Massey (University) in an old Range Rover to go to some winemaking and viticulture courses,” Warwick says. “It was a really nice industry back then – everyone knew each other and there were no egos.”

In 1982, Warwick asked Ernie if he could take cuttings from his Riesling, propagated new plants then grew them on 24 / Winepress September 2020

“We are still very passionate about what we do.” their own roots at Koromiko, having pulled out his original vines. “Everyone thought I was nuts – planting on a hillside in an area they thought was too cold.” His faith was driven by a photograph he saw in a Wines of the World book given to him by his parents. The photo showed Riesling vineyards on steep and cold hillsides in Germany.

A few years later he met Edel, from Rheingau in Germany, who was in New Zealand on her OE. And he followed her back to her home country, where his planned five-month stint turned into five years, as Edel undertook a degree in viticulture and oenology, while Warwick cherrypicked the subjects he wanted. “Edel was studying technical subjects like organic chemistry, maths, physics and German wine law, while I just needed to know how to make the bloody stuff.”

During holidays and weekends off, the couple would visit wine growing regions in France and Germany and it was during this time they developed their love of Gewürztraminer. “We’d go to Alsace regularly and eat and drink really well and go to great wineries and we fell in love with Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris. Gewürztraminer is an awesome variety – we loved its headiness and opulence – it’s so powerful and weighty.”

The couple also loved the underground cellars they visited, especially doing tastings where it felt very tactile and hands-on. They used their time in Germany to buy machinery and came home with a container full of equipment, including a press bought from Oppenheim.

When they arrived back in New Zealand in 1990, the industry was still in its infancy, says Warwick. He got a job with Corbans through Alan McCorkindale, who he’d met in Germany. “We thought we were pretty big doing 1,500 tonnes,” he laughs. Finding work wasn’t easy for Edel though and the couple became disillusioned. While well qualified, Edel wasn’t French, and “it was a hard road for a

CELEBRATE

woman back then”, says Warwick. “It was bloody hard work and those first few years were quite soul destroying.”

The couple replanted the Koromiko block with Pinot Noir, mainly because it lent itself to three varieties sparkling, red and Rosè - using contract growers to buy in other fruit. Building an underground cellar became a priority, as it suited the landscape and they felt it provided a perfect environment for fermenting their wines, as well as being a great place for tastings. “Everyone in New Zealand ferments above the ground but you get great thermal affect and high humidity underground- it’s a perfect environment,” Warwick says. In 1993 Johanneshof created New Zealand’s first underground rock cellar, and over the years the couple have been frustrated to see others claiming such firsts for themselves. “We don’t do things because we want to be the first – we are not like that,” says Warwick.

“But we do get annoyed when we see others claim to be the first.”

About then they looked at an 8ha property in the Waihopai Valley that was selling for $60,000, but didn’t buy it. “There was lots of land in Marlborough at that time so we figured we’d be better to go with the cellar, which we have never regretted, but in hindsight it was a mistake not to buy the land. We had no idea prices were going to go through the roof,” says Warwick.

Johanneshof wines include a highly regarded Méthode Traditionelle, which is fermented and riddled in

the underground cellar, and their Gewürztraminer, which is Warwick’s pick. The pair are no longer a couple, but Warwick praises Edel for her dedication to the wines and describes himself as being “very lucky” to have her as a business partner.

In recent years Warwick says he has become slightly disillusioned with the industry’s massive growth, preferring smaller boutique style wineries. “I’m proud we’ve remained true to our original philosophy and we are satisfied we’ve given it out best. We are still very passionate about what we do.”

A 19-year-old Warwick Foley

Winepress September 2020 / 25

CELEBRATE

Generation Y-ine Skiing, samba, sailing and safety SOPHIE PREECE

SOME PEOPLE assume Amy Richards’ life is “pretty boring”, in keeping with her job description. Giesen’s senior health and safety advisor surely wouldn’t have skied neckhigh powder on black diamond trails in Japan, for example, or crewed a boat down Australia’s coastline. Nor would she have danced the Samba on a float in Rio’s Sambadrome in 2018, amid a crowd of 90,000. “People think we are really risk averse,” laughs the former ski instructor, whale watching tour guide and seahorse breeder, who is currently forging plans to sail around the world.

That’s just one of the many incorrect assumptions she faces in a new era of workplace wellness. “Effective health and safety is so much more than procedures, compliance, and checklists,” says the passionate purveyor of carebased infrastructure in the workplace, and one of three finalists in the Practitioner of the Year category of the New Zealand Workplace Health & Safety Awards. “It’s about understanding how work is done, empowering and engaging staff, knowing what activities have value, and measuring what matters.”

Raised in Taupo, Amy studied biological science at Canterbury University, then followed her passion to train as a ski instructor, before four back-to-back winter seasons in New Zealand, Japan and Canada. Fifteen years on, in a role dedicated to employee care, she can’t recall anyone mentioning health and safety to ski instructors on any of the fields.

By 2007 Amy was craving a summer, so moved to Hervey Bay in Australia for a season on a whale watching boat, catching the “amazing” humpback whale migration.

She met her now-husband Luke Hodgson there, and shelved plans to return to Japan’s ski season, instead crewing the boat back to Melbourne, and getting a job in a lab making home testing kits for grape growers on the Mornington Peninsular. That “taster” of the wine industry was soon replaced with marine work, starting with a public aquarium in Tasmania, where they also bred seahorses and sea dragons for use in university studies.

In 2009, Amy moved to an aquarium technician role at a regenerative medicine institute at Monash University in 26 / Winepress September 2020

“People think we are really risk averse.”

Amy Richards Melbourne, “which is like being a cellar hand for fish”. As the facility was new, she was given the task of implementing the university’s health and safety procedures, opening a whole new career path.

When Amy and Luke decided to move to Darwin, with no aquarium work on the horizon, she called on her new skill set, working as a health and safety administrator for a large construction project. In that role, as well as others in civil construction, dredging, maritime logistics, and oil and gas, she found health and safety was largely based on fear. “Historically and in my experience, it has been about looking for what goes wrong, or who is doing the wrong thing, and then disciplining that person.” That can lead to employees being “terrified” of a misstep, so that while the surface shows compliance, the reality is simply a culture of secrecy and non-reporting, Amy says.

She has welcomed the development of Safety II in recent years, with its focus on caring for people, working to

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understand why mistakes happen, and ensuring employees can fail safely. Amy says in past roles she has been involved in regimented processes that were expected but not necessarily effective. “Safety is not about ticking a box. It’s about adding real time value to your company, based on the premise of caring for your people and putting them at the heart of what you do.”

In 2017, Amy and Luke moved to New Zealand and she became Giesen’s first dedicated health and safety employee, determined to be “coach not commander” in helping empower people in the workplace.

“Its about making the most of what you have.”

That’s meant driving a lot of change in herself, which Amy kick-started with an 18-month coaching and leadership course. Her nomination in the New Zealand Workplace Health & Safety Awards was based on work from 2019, during which she had a focus on creativity, promotion and engagement in health and safety, to help embed it in company culture. The list of work done is far from tinderdry compliance, with “the light-hearted side of safety” on show instead. The programme included the Fit-24 health challenge, which involved giving up alcohol and resulted in the launch of Giesen 0% - Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with its alcohol removed. There was also a Biggest Loser Competition, based on the weight loss TV series, a wellbeing colouring in competition, and the Safety at First Sight social media campaign, where staff created short safety videos, including operation winemaker Andrew Hawker giving safe lifting tips with the help of his toddler son. The year wrapped up with a 24-day visit from the Giesen Christmas Elf, who got up to some mischief and left health and safety poems in his wake.

Amy says it is all a far cry from fear and box ticking, and becoming a finalist in the competition has been a “real validation” of the effort she has made to shift her mindset – and that of others – when it comes to being well in the workplace. “Becoming a finalist also shows that you don’t need to be a large company to make a positive impact with health and safety,” she says. “Its about making the most of what you have.”

New Zealand has a long way to go in the maturation of a health and safety culture, but it has potential to lead the world, Amy says. “While we are behind right now, we have the advantage of looking at other jurisdictions and seeing what has worked and what hasn’t. We can dial that up and add our own flair to it. We owe it to all the people in this country who never made it home at night because of work.”

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nmit.ac.nz/viticulture

Winepress September 2020 / 27

PROTECT

Biosecurity Watch Constellation staff raising biosecurity awareness.

JIM HERDMAN

AS FEATURED in last monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Winepress, New Zealand Winegrowers has recently produced some new biosecurity resources to assist members with biosecurity awareness and planning for their vineyards. The resources include a Vineyard Biosecurity Plan template, a Vineyard Biosecurity Guidelines for Best Practice flip chart, a Vineyard Biosecurity Pest and Disease Identification Guide, a Notice to Contractors template and a Biosecurity Sign template.

The resources have been designed to make it easier for vineyard managers and owners to protect their vineyards from biosecurity threats - both overseas threats, and threats that already exist in New Zealand. They are also designed to broaden awareness and knowledge of biosecurity issues among industry members.

Gemma Woolley works for Constellation Brands as their sustainability coordinator here in Marlborough and is working with Constellation staff to raise biosecurity awareness within the wider team. She has recently received 17 packs of the new New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) biosecurity resources to distribute to vineyard managers.

I sat down with Gemma and her colleagues, Jeff Sinnott (national technical viticulturist), and Stephen Bradley (head of viticulture) to discuss how they might use the information.

Constellation vineyard in Awatere Valley

Stephen said there needed to be an emphasis on education and early detection of new pests and diseases, emphasising the importance of keeping an eye out for the most unwanted. The training material included in the pack (the Vineyard Biosecurity Guidelines for Best Practice flip chart, and the Vineyard Biosecurity Pest and Disease Identification Guide) would enable them to raise awareness among Constellation staff and contractors working in the vineyards. He also liked the idea of being able to design their biosecurity plan around risk. As an example, Constellation Brands have experience dealing with biosecurity controls in place in their Awatere vineyards where Chilean needle grass (CNG) is present, so they already have strict protocols in place. Extra vigilance is required in cleaning down machinery and vehicles coming out of the Blind River area due to the CNG controls. However, there is currently less biosecurity risk associated with machinery movement between Constellation vineyards in the Wairau Valley, so the clean down protocol does not need to be as stringent.

Stephen liked the idea of having levels of risk similar to the Covid levels we now are all familiar with: where the biosecurity risk is higher, stronger interventions need to be in place to manage those risks. This kind of approach can be documented in the new biosecurity plan template.

Stephen also acknowledged the need for some type of contractor awareness and the need to include some sort of documentation when contractors were engaged. The Notice to Contractor template included in the biosecurity resource pack can be edited to suit each vineyardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s individual circumstances.

Jeff sees biosecurity as fundamental in good vineyard management. He also sees awareness as one of the main ways to prevent a prolonged serious biosecurity incursion.

Having family involved in the kiwifruit business, he was

IF YOU SEE ANYTHING UNUSUAL

CATCH IT . SNAP IT . REPORT IT .

Call MPI biosecurity hotline 0800 80 99 66 28 / Winepress September 2020

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keen to use the lessons learned from the kiwifruit PSA response to help manage any future biosecurity incursion, not only for the wine industry but the wider horticulture industry as well. Jeff also sees it as essential to have a contingency plan in case there were movement controls implemented as part of a biosecurity response. Movement controls imposed under the Biosecurity Act 1993 could prevent fruit or other plant material from leaving/coming on to a property or passing through an affected area, and could potentially be a disastrous scenario at harvest given

SNOW TUSSOCK CONTRACTING AND PEST CONTROL

Gemma Woolley and Jeff Sinnott

the movement of grapes around the country.

Jeff is pleased to see biosecurity awareness embedded into programmes such as the Young Viticulturist of the Year competition and industry training days such as Spray Days.

It assists new people in the industry, and new industry leaders to have it built into their daily operations, similar to health and safety. He also liked the fact that the Vineyard Pest and Disease Identification Guide could be used to help train and inform staff completely new to the industry.

Gemma plans to run an in-house training showing Constellation staff the new material, and would also like to explore further what a biosecurity response might mean for the team at Constellation, should they ever be involved in one. New Zealand Winegrowers is available to work with Constellation to help run a biosecurity scenario for the team. “It is a bit like a fire drill,” Gemma says. Staff need to be aware of how it may impact on their work and business, as well as how they may be asked to help in a response.

Opportunities for organisations to build capability and receive training to assist in a biosecurity response are also available through NZW and Biosecurity New Zealand.

If you’d like hard copies of the new biosecurity resources or have any queries, feedback, or comments regarding these documents, please send an email to biosecurity@nzwine.com, or give Jim (027 644 8010) or Sophie (027 700 4142) a call. All the materials are also available online electronically in the member’s section of the nzwine.com website on the ‘Biosecurity - Protecting Your Vineyards’ page. New Zealand Winegrowers biosecurity staff are also available to assist with the Vineyard Biosecurity Plan if you need assistance, or if you want to talk over the process of putting together a Biosecurity Plan.

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roundwood@mcalpines.co.nz

Winepress September 2020 / 29

Industry News NZW Fellows Two stalwarts of the Marlborough wine industry – Dr John Forrest and Dr Rengasamy Balasubramaniam (Bala) - have been made New Zealand Winegrowers Fellows, joining Alwyn Corban in the accolade. Bala, who won the Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 Marlborough Wine Show, says becoming a fellow came as a total surprise. “You don’t expect any of these things and when they do come it is a very humbling.”

His a 34-year career in the science and business of wine includes the development of Smartfax in 1997 (now VineFacts) and the Botrytis (Bacchus Infection) Model, and his work at Delegat for the past 20 years. When Bala shed his lab coat to move to Delegat in 2000, some people joked he was heading to the “dark side”, while Jim Delegat told him he was “joining the real world”.

He had loved the applied science work, always driven by the question of “what value can you add to the end user?” But he also enjoyed transferring that knowledge to the field, while helping growers “realise the potential of their land and to grow their prosperity”, says Bala. The highlight all along has been the people he has met, he adds. “Those relationships still continue… and that is an opportunity not many people have.”

John Forrest – winemaker, Forrest Estate founder, screw cap campaigner, lighter wines researcher, Appellation Marlborough Wine deputy chair and selftitled “feather ruffler” – won the Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019 Marlborough Wine Show. Becoming a fellow as well is “pleasantly surprising”, given he has challenged plenty of people and projects over the past 32 years, says John. “I may ruffle feathers, but I try to do it for the genuine good of the advancement of the industry.” He feels “privileged” to have been part of 32 of New Zealand wine’s best years, including his 15 years on the Winegrowers Research Group, during which he helped create Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand and the Bragato Conference.

Alwyn Corban, whose family has made wine in New Zealand for more than a century, established Ngatarawa vineyard and winery in 1981.

John Forrest. Photo by Jim Tannock

30 / Winepress September 2020

Budrubber A simple tool could make all the difference to workers bud rubbing in vineyards, says its Marlborough inventor Martin Thompson. “The Budrubber is an alternative way for de-budding vines.

It saves the back breaking work of bending up and down using the traditional method to de-bud by hand,” he says. The New Zealand-made Budrubber, available from Farmlands, is aluminium with a wooden handle, and comes in two sizes to suit older larger vine trunks, as well as younger vines.

Great Ride - GrapeRide The Whitehaven GrapeRide has a new date, which organisers hope will enable more wine industry folk to get on their bikes. The event has traditionally been held during harvest, but the new February 27 date will allow cellar and vineyard staff to jump in for the road cycle race or the mountain bike options.

The event will also have a kids’ ride, with a 5km loop for under 12-year-olds.

Whitehaven co-founder Sue White says the kids’ ride will run through the company’s vineyards, as well as those of Treasury Wine Estates and Nautilus. “This is a community-wide event that we support whole-heartedly, particularly because it presents kids with a very accessible opportunity to be active in a fun way,” she says. “It’s great to be in a position to help provide opportunities for the community to be involved in their kids’ activities.” graperide.co.nz

Wine Marlborough Update VANCE KERSLAKE The Environment Court process for the Marlborough Environment Plan (MEP) appeals has been delayed, as predicted in the last update. The pre-hearing conference that was scheduled to be held on August 28 has been vacated (cancelled). We will provide an update when the pre-hearing conference is rescheduled and we know more about the appeals process. Three workshops were held with wineries to identify specific actions to assist wineries to attract, recruit and train staff for Vintage 2021. Priority actions for Wine Marlborough, New Zealand Winegrowers, training providers and wineries were identified (see pg 10). The Marlborough Labour Governance Group is working on labour issues for the Summer growing season. RSE repatriation flights remain at very low levels. The next Marlborough Winegrowers meeting with the Marlborough District Council is on November 3, 2020. If you have any issues you want us to raise with council, please email Vance Kerslake, Wine Marlborough advocacy manager, at advocacy@ winemarlborough.nz

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Winery face masks Spy Valley Wines are geared up for the risk of Covid-19, with additional health and safety measures adopted over the past six months, and new Spy-branded face masks on hand. “It’s about keeping our people safe,” says managing director Amanda Johnson.

Forty Sauvignon Blanc wines have already been certified for 2020 and other varieties are to be introduced to the certification, with input from the membership. WineWorks Marlborough and Chandler Glass & Packaging have continued their sponsorship of AMW.

Grape Days 2020

AMW’s Evolution More than a third of Marlborough wine companies are now members of Appellation Marlborough Wine (AMW), according to information released at last month’s annual general meeting. Membership of the organisation, which governs a quality mark to protect the “authenticity, integrity and sustainability” of Marlborough wine, is now at 52. AMW chair Ivan Sutherland says the brand is now trademarked in all major wine consuming countries, with “very favourable support” from wine writers and the trade, “with the general comment being ‘why has it taken so long?’” Ivan says brand identity and associated collateral will be the focus over the next year, raising awareness with the trade and consumers.

Tune in online for an annual research update from the Bragato Research Institute.

•Tues Sept 8(11.30am–12.30pm) - managing grapevine trunk disease with Dr Eline van Zijll de Jong of Linnaeus and Dr Mark Sosnowski of SARDI. •Tues Sept 15 (3–4pm) - an update from the Bragato Research Institute team on our science and extension strategies, the upcoming next generation Sauvignon blanc programme and the research winery.

•Wed Sept 23 (10–11.30am) - maximising on vineyard diversity – a selection of research exploring the benefits of enhancing soil health and biodiversity in your vineyard.

•Tues Sept 29 (3–4.30pm) pick and mix (research in brief).

Highlights from a range of current viticulture research. nzwine.com/en/events/grape-days-2020/

Staete Land Winepress September 2020 / 31

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

To have your event included in October's Wine Happenings, please email details to sophie@sophiepreece.co.nz by September 20.

Due to uncertainty around Covid-19, there may be changes to some of these events. For more information, please use the contact supplied or email sarah@winemarlborough.nz

SEPTEMBER 3 The Marlborough Health and Safety Forum 2020 Expo (marlboroughsafetyforum.com/expo-2020) 8 Grape Days online - managing grapevine trunk disease (pg 30) 15 Grape Days online - Bragato Research Institute science and extension strategies (pg 30) 15 Voting opens for Marlborough Winegrowers Association board 16 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker of the Year, Marlborough (nicky.grandorge@nzwine.com) 18 Entries close for the Marlborough Wine Show, sponsored by QuayConnect (marlboroughwineshow.com) 21-27 Organic Wine Week (organicwinenz.com) 23 Grape Days online - maximising on vineyard diversity (pg 30) 28 Voting closes for Marlborough Winegrowers Association board 29 Grape Days online - Pick and mix; research in brief (pg 30) 30 Entries close for the Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards (cmea.org.nz) OCTOBER 7-8 Corteva Young Viticulturist of the Year 2020, National Final. Wairarapa (nicky.grandorge@nzwine.com) 9 Bayleys Friday Night Feast â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 3.30pm - 8.30pm in Blenheimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CBD (feastmarlborough.nz) 14-16 Judging for Marlborough Wine Show, sponsored by QuayConnect 30 Marlborough Wine Show Celebration

Organic Wine Week - September 21-27

32 / Winepress September 2020

Bayleys Friday Night Feast - October 9

Marlborough Wine Show Celebration - Oct 30

Successful season-long weed control

ChateauÂŽ is a pre-emergent residual herbicide for season-long weed control in grapes, kiwifruit, pipfruit and stonefruit.

It forms a protective barrier on the soil surface which effectively prevents the emergence of a range of both grass and broadleaf annual and perennial weeds after their seeds germinate.

Contact your local Fruitfed Supplies team for more information Images are for illustrative purposes only.

Our Customer Terms of Trade/Sale located at www.pggwrightson.co.nz apply to the sale of products and services listed here unless specified otherwise.

Chateau is a registered trademark of Sumitomo Chemical Australia Pty Ltd

A trading division of PGG Wrightson Ltd