48 minute read
Marketing Matters
I am sure I am not alone in the group of people who are dumbstruck by some of the names that people give their children. We have all heard them – the names that bring a smile to the faces of those not inflicted.
Have you met Chastity Beltz, Wrigley Fields, Justin Credible, Tiny Bimbo, or a girl whose father was an auto mechanic but somehow didn’t realize he was effectively giving her the name of a tyre: Michele Lynn? I mean really, where do some people get off? Not all parents know when they’ve crossed the line, but these kids surely won’t be spared at school. While kids can be cruel, so too can the wine trade if we don’t get things just right. Chances are few and making strong decisions are imperative at this time. So for these reasons I want your feedback and involvement in considering the branding of an emerging wine category, one that I believe has some potential to extend the interest and profile of our key Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc category. It is currently mostly called ‘Alternative’ Sauvignon Blanc. This category refers to wines such as Te Koko, Dog Point Section 94 etc, Sauvignon Blancs that have been aged with oak, or produced in a non mainstream way. To my mind, this category is mislabelled. However it is important to remember that winemakers, viticulturists, marketers and many in the wine media and wine trade are well aware of what we mean by “Alternative.” I see huge potential within these wine styles to quietly lobby the world and to build distinction and diversity within our world class Sauvignon Blanc category. Don’t get me wrong, this is a tiny category, usually targeted at the elite end of the (on premise) wine trade. But from observation, the quantity and quality of wines in this new category is growing, and importantly this isn’t at the expense of our day to day offerings which remain world class. I love the additional layering, depth and texture that can be introduced by astute viticulture and practiced winemakers through techniques such as lees stirring, careful/delicate oak contact and natural fermentation. To me there are three or more benefits that having a distinctly different Sauvignon Blanc in your portfolio can offer. Such a wine or category can enable sales and marketing to; • Target/enter different market sectors • Get distinction between your core brand and this wine or • Gain a higher price for this special wine. So what’s wrong with the name Alternative Sauvignon Blanc as a category? Sectors of the wine trade or indeed wine consumers can be notoriously conservative – would telling these sectors that our wines are alternative be the best positioning? Alternative can conjure up images of rebellious, untested, unproven, different and unexpected. Some of these connotations are okay in the right hands, but downright off putting if not handled correctly. I am not convinced this is the right word. What about Oak Aged Sauvignon Blanc then, surely that says it all? Well no – the risk is we define these wine more tightly than we need to. We want to encourage understanding and trial by the sectors of the market we think the majority of these wines are going to be consumed in. That to me is the on trade. The ground swell against Chardonnay was partially driven by a new aversion to oak flavours and Marlborough linking this developmental style to oak wouldn’t be wise to my thinking. So what it is the appropriate name? I’ve been searching for a while but need your help. Talk it over during vintage and let me know. As a final word what I don’t like are names that detract from or belittle our key existing and far more commercially sensitive Sauvignon Blanc category – for instance ‘Winemakers Sauvignon Blanc’ does make traditional Sauvignon Blanc sound like lab/recipe made Sauvignon Blanc. And, just in case you are tempted: Fumé is passé now of course!
Marlborough’s Sub Regions Impress Pinot Author
Benjamin Lewin MW was expecting to be able to taste the regional differences in New Zealand Pinot Noir. What he wasn’t expecting was the sub regional differences he discovered here in Marlborough.
Benjamin Lewin is an interesting character. A former molecular scientist, he threw away his career and sold his very successful scientific publishing company back in 1999, planning to follow his other passion - wine. Ever aware that he might not be taken seriously in the world of wine because of his scientific background, he decided to ensure he had credibility – he studied for his Master of Wine, achieving that in 2003. Now he is a regular contributor to Decanter magazine and the World of Fine Wine and is the author of two highly successful wine related books. The first What Price Bordeaux examined the history behind one of the world’s most renowned wine producing regions. His second Wine Myths and Reality took on the mystery and folklore that tends to surround wine production. Currently he is completing a book entitled In Search of Pinot Noir that takes more conventional wisdom and examines it in a concise and methodical way. “One of the questions I asked in Wine Myths and Reality and now can go into more detail on is whether the differences between the wines of different regions are due to something intrinsic, for example terroir including soil, climate and all the non man made effects of the site, or are they due to the choices made during winemaking? To what extent is wine reflecting an intrinsic property of a site and to what extent does it reflect the choices that a winemaker makes when he produces it?” The book covers the history of Pinot Noir and the entire Pinot family. It focuses on old world regions and new world producers. Which is why he decided New Zealand deserved a dedicated chapter. “The chapter I am doing the research for now is the Southern Hemisphere. This really focuses largely on New Zealand, basically Martinborough, Marlborough and Central Otago. There will be something in the chapter on Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula, and there will also be a little bit on South America and South Africa, but in terms of where the defining force for new world Pinot Noir is coming from, it sort of splits in my mind between North America and New Zealand.” He expected the three New Zealand regions would throw up different Pinot Noir characteristics, but he was “very interested” in the fact that Marlborough had distinct sub regional characteristics, something he wasn’t expecting. “I am interested in that, because it is something that is completely obscure. It may not be as obscure in Marlborough itself, but it is outside of New Zealand. I think it deserves further exploration.” The tasting arranged by Wine Marlborough categorised the 38 wines into sub regions, allowing Benjamin to compare.
“What I saw in the Southern Valleys, especially in the Brancott area was a more obvious sense of gravelly texture. You get a sense of the wine as you roll it around your tongue that there is some sort of texture here. Whereas from the Wairau I got much more of a superficial red fruit fleshiness and I didn’t get quite that sense of texture to it. I tried about three or four from Brancott area and five or six from Wairau and there was a real difference there. The wines from the Awatere Valley definitely had a leaner character, much less fleshiness to the fruits. These are differences I was not conscious of before I came here.” It is not only sub regional differences here in Marlborough that consumers are likely to be unaware of he says. Regional differences are also something the industry needs to work on. “In New Zealand it may be that people are really conscious of the differences between Martinborough, Marlborough and Central Otago, but it’s not the case in somewhere like London. If you go to a restaurant in London, your choice of Pinot Noir will be between old world and new world. The old world will be Burgundy and the new world is likely to be New Zealand, rather than America. But I don’t think consumers will draw a distinction between the New Zealand regions. Hopefully this book will take that on; to what extent the regional specificities are.” With so many varieties to concentrate on, Benjamin says he chose Pinot Noir because it is one of only two varieties that is transparent to its site. The other one being Riesling. “With each of them you see a range of differences that relate in some way to where they come from. I don’t think you see that in the same way with say Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon. Pinot Noir is much more reflective of the site it comes from. But what I wanted to find out is whether that reflection of site determines the wine, or whether it is the input of the winemaker.” Impressed with what he was tasting here in New Zealand, Benjamin did have one
major gripe. He believes we are selling our Pinot Noir too early. “It is my belief that these wines are being drunk too early. I was really struck in the restaurants in Wellington, that the wine lists basically only had Pinot Noirs from 2008 and 2009. There was an occasional 2007, but in all the evenings we ate out I found only one 03 and one 05 on the list. For my money, those 08 and 09s, although the producers are producing them with the intention they be drunk and enjoyed when they are released, are really too young.” He believes the region is underselling itself and in some ways short changing the consumer, who never get the opportunity to taste the wines as they mature. “I understand there is commercial pressure to get them onto the market. The producer can’t afford to hold them and release them later. The restaurant can’t afford to hold them either. So what you are doing is offering the consumers a monotone view. I grant you that there is an impression out there that the consumer market wants wines that are bursting with fruit and are young.
But for my money you actually see the fruit flavours of those wines and their potential complexity much better after a year or two.”
In his book, Benjamin will list the wines he has tasted and rate their ideal drinking age.
“Not everybody likes older wines.
So I give a specific drinking age of a range of years for each wine. It starts when the tannins have softened and in almost every case that is not going to be the current vintage, but two or three years down the road. The end of the range will be when I think the wine will begin to turn from fruity to savoury notes. I say explicitly if you like fruity wines drink it before that range. But if you prefer wine with a slightly savoury overtone, you can drink these wines well beyond the range I have indicated. “But even people who would prefer fruitiness I think would find the 08 and 09 vintage much more pleasurable and
interesting and showing a much wider range of flavours two years from now. But they are never going to see that. I think you are short changing the region by not finding some way to achieve that.”
Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of his book will his questioning of history and how it relates to Pinot Noir.
“The last chapter of the book is called the
Holy Grail, because people always talk about Pinot Noir being the Holy Grail, so the question becomes, to what extent are we prisoners of history? If Pinot Noir had been grown first of all, let’s just say here 2633_NZ_Global_Ad 03/19/2010 3:29 PM Page 1 in New Zealand, in a site that is warmer and more reliable than Burgundy, and you had been growing it for 200 years and then Burgundy had started planting only 20 years ago, would we consider New Zealand differently? Would we say, ahh, it’s interesting that Burgundy is trying to make Pinot Noir, but the climate there is too inconsistent. It’s too cold, it’s too rainy, they can’t really achieve the true fruitiness or fleshiness we look for in Pinot Noir. I guess the question I am asking is; to what extent is our view of Pinot Noir coloured by history?” An interesting conundrum, which we will have to wait and see if Benjamin manages to answer. In Search of Pinot Noir should be in book stores by mid September.
On the subject of Pinot Noir, Marlborough shone at the recent Royal Easter Show. 21 gold medals were awarded to Pinots. Of those 21, Marlborough wines took more than half – 12 in total. Central Otago won seven golds and two went to the Wairarapa/ Martinborough region. So well done to Marlborough – the success is testimony to the quality Pinot Noir being produced in this
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Back in 2009 Wine Marlborough released details of a new scholarship that would see exchanges between Marlborough and the UK. The aim of the scholarship is to promote the wines of this region in one of our most important markets.
The idea of the scholarship goes back a number of years with Don Walker (Link Foundation, New Zealand) and John Avery MW (UK) working hard to get it off the ground. Both men believed there was a strong need to cement links between the two countries, in terms of wine promotion. In 2009 when John Avery attended the second Marlborough Wine Weekend, he confirmed that the scholarship was to go ahead, with the help of the NZUK Link Foundation. This organisation has existed for 11 years and creates and promotes educational and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Known formerly as the Waitangi Foundation, it was established in 1990 as part of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Since then it has supported more than 260 individuals and groups keen to strengthen ties with the UK. The aim of the Wine Marlborough scholarship is to promote commercial links between this region’s wine producers and importers, distributors and retailers in the UK market. Helen Middleton from NZ-UK Link Foundation says given how important wine is to the New Zealand economy, this scholarship offers huge potential. “This is a project that both Don and John have been working on for a number of years. Both of them are very experienced in the wine industry and they understand how important it is to have someone promoting a region, face to face.” This year to help establish the scholarship, Wine Marlborough’s GM Marcus Pickens will spend up to three weeks in the UK, talking with key players in the distribution and retail sectors and promoting not only Marlborough wine, but also the scholarship itself. “It takes a long time to get a scholarship up and running,” Helen says. “Which is why it is important that anyone working towards its successful establishment has to be steeped in knowledge of the region and its future goals. We think Marcus will do that extremely well.” Given a scholarship recipient will come from the UK in 2012, Helen says it is important that it is promoted heavily this year. The aim is to have someone from the UK who is already involved in the wine industry, be that in distribution, retail or on premise. That recipient will be hosted by Wine Marlborough and placed at a Marlborough winery or series of wineries for up to four weeks during 2012, experiencing first hand local viticultural standards, learning about the sub regional differences, the array of varieties produced, quality standards and the export competitiveness. The successful applicant will hopefully go on to be a strong advocate for Marlborough within the UK market place. Until recently the UK has been New Zealand’s number one export market. Since the first Marlborough wines appeared on the shelves back in the 1980s, there has been a love affair between the British and Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Despite tough economic times in the past two years, that love affair has continued. The NZ UK Link Foundation Scholarship intends capitalising on that and helping it grow even further.
Funding for the scholarship has come from John Avery MW, Wine Marlborough, Liquorland Top 100 Fellowship and the NZ UK Link Foundation.
Spur Pruning Trials Prove Fruitful
Last month we took a close look at spur pruning versus cane. Two viticulturists said while spur was better suited to Pinot Noir or some clones of Chardonnay, it possibly wasn’t the best option for Sauvignon Blanc. This month we look at an Awatere vineyard that has had great success with spur pruned savvy.
Some of the reasons for not spur pruning Sauvignon Blanc, as explained by viticulturists Dominic Pecchenino and Mike Insley last month include: • Bud differentiation tends to occur at the base and head of the vine – and at bud burst the climatic conditions are not conducive to fruit initiation on the basal buds • Spur pruned vines tend to have extra canopy and Sauvignon Blanc is already a vigorous grower • Bunches tend to be smaller and tighter and therefore more susceptible to disease • There is increased danger of Eutypa in spur pruning due to the older wood being left With all of that in mind, we now skip to a three terraced vineyard right on the banks of the Awatere River. The 60 hectares being managed by Glen Pope, is producing fruit for some premium labels. Like everyone else in the region, yield caps have been enforced and Glen says those caps are easier and cheaper to maintain in the spur pruned blocks than they are in the cane pruned. After talking with contractor Brian Woods - Glen decided to give spur pruning a go. Currently he has 22 hectares spur pruned. The bunch size is smaller, more open and spread more throughout the canopy. “I have 45 bunches on my cane pruned blocks, and I have 50 bunches on the spur pruned block. But those 50 bunches are smaller with 15% less berries on them. In the cane pruned I have around 110 berries per bunch. Spur pruned I have 90. The really big bunches in the savvy here tend to come from buds 7, 8 or 9. But with spur pruning we are only using buds 3, 4 and 5, so it is limiting the amount of fruit we have.” Given he has had to drastically fruit thin this season, he says the benefits of having smaller bunches is a big cost saver. Whereas he was removing up to 20 bunches per vine in the cane pruned areas, he has only had to remove 15 from the spur pruned. “That is quite a saving, in terms of labour costs.” There are other financial benefits too, given Glen alternates between spur and cane. The blocks currently spur pruned will this year revert back to cane. Current cane pruned blocks will be spur pruned this year. And given mechanisation can make light work of spur pruning, there are huge cost savings. “At the moment everyone is looking for ways of saving money. We have to and we have to look at doing things differently. I can save up to $1100 a hectare if I spur prune.” With cordons being laid down only every second year, it means they don’t grow to a large size and are easy enough to remove. “If I left a cordon on it would become too big and then it becomes quite hard. There are plenty of options for canes to lay down when we transfer back to cane pruning. If you don’t rotate, you lose any benefits of the pruning costs. Whereas by rotating, every year I am saving money because of the cheaper pruning methods involved with spur pruning.” It also allows him to prolong the pruning period, without fear of damaging the next vintage’s fruit. “I would have an extra two week window
Spur pruned Sauvignon Blanc.
when I spur prune. I can barrel prune and leave the canes and when it comes to bud burst I can go through and cut every second one off. I don’t have to strip canes out or worry about damaging those furry buds when I wrap the canes. It just makes it so much easier.” The risk of Eutypa is also mitigated by the rotation system. By removing the cordon every second year, you are effectively cutting out any potential diseased wood. Reverting back to cane pruning isn’t difficult and he says the canopy shoots tend to be much stronger after a season where they were spur pruned. “I tend to get more of the big strong shoots in spur pruning, probably about 30% more. So I am growing a bigger stronger canopy and that can be important on some of my exposed areas. And looking closely at the spur vines versus the cane, it becomes apparent that the canopies are quite different. The inside leaves tend to drop off earlier with spur, which can be advantageous if you want to expose the fruit to to good airflow.” Given the cost savings, ($1100 per ha), the smaller berry numbers and bunches, the ease of mechanising the pruning and the extension of the pruning time frame, Glen says he is a complete convert. Just like his vines.
Canopy differences and size of bunches are apparent in this cane pruned vine.
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How to Protect Your Wine When It Travels
As more and more of our wine is exported, it has become vital to ensure the product arrives at its destination in the same condition as it left New Zealand. JF Hillebrand has come up with a way of providing that protection – a VinLiner.
The VinLiner is made from woven polyethylene fabric that is coated with aluminium. Designed to fit inside varying sizes of containers or even over individual pallets, it provides insulation and a hygienic environment in which wine can be transported. Thermal shock to wine is something the industry wants to avoid at all costs. There is undisputable research that shows wine is best stored at even temperatures and doesn’t react well to extremes in temperature range. However with New Zealand so far away from its export markets, it is inevitable that wine travelling will encounter huge ranges in temperature while on the water and during loading and unloading. The box left shows the average time it takes for wine leaving Auckland, to reach its destination. Basically the average time of travel, is 32 days. So if your wine is being transported in a dry container, it will spend on average a month exposed to a range of temperatures. Despite increasing technology, that time frame is not likely to decrease in the near future. In fact it is the reverse according to Pierre Corvisier, Director of new services at JF Hillebrand in France. He says the time frames are starting to increase as the world wide recession hits the shipping industry. Up to 30% and sometimes 40% have undergone fleet reduction. Those that are still operating are carrying larger loads and tending to travel more slowly in an effort to save fuel, an activity that is known as “slow steaming.” Longer on the water, more down time in ports and having to be transferred from larger ships to smaller feeder ships all adds up to a substantial period of time that wine may be exposed to the elements. To get a better idea of just what the temperatures were like on a typical container ship, JF Hillebrand used Sensitech e-data loggers that recorded the temperature at regular one hour periods during a five week journey from Auckland to Tilbury. One temperature logger was placed inside a case of wine that was secured inside a VinLiner. A second logger was placed between the VinLiner and the container wall. The container left Auckland on March 26, arrived in Cartagena on April 20, where it underwent a transhipment and arrived finally in Tilbury on May 11. The graph on the next page is the readout from the temperature loggers. The red line represents the temperature between the VinLiner and the container wall. The green line is the temperature inside the case of wine, within a VinLiner. Temperatures outside of the VinLiner during loading ranged from 15°C to 30°C. In Cartagena the temperature inside the container reached a staggering 47°C, and dropped down to 5°C when it was unloaded in Tilbury. So over the five week period if this had been a dry container with your wine stored inside, it would have experienced temperature shifts of 42°C difference, in just five weeks.
Compared to those results, the wine stored inside the VinLiner experienced only a 10 degree change. The lowest temperature reached was 20°C, the highest 30°C. “What this is telling us is that if the wine is not protected in anyway, it will experience these peaks and troughs,” said Olivier Daull, New Zealand Branch Manager. “This would happen on pretty much any single shipment, any day of the year. No matter which way it goes, it will go through the equator, it will go through either the Caribbean or Suez and the wine will be subjected to changes in heat. Forty-five degrees during the day and 25°C at night. In less than six or seven hours the temperature inside of the container has changed 20 degrees. You do not want this to happen to your wine.” JF Hillebrand has access to VinRoute which can track the possible temperature ranges on any journey by sea, at any time of the year. Using data from the World Meteorological Organisation, Vin Route can accurately predict both ambient temperature and humidity levels at any point of the ship’s journey. This is a valuable tool if wineries are attempting to plan their exports around potential temperature extremes, prior to shipping. While the ability to control thermal shock is a massive advantage, the VinLiner also provides wineries with the opportunity to protect the cases of wine from any residue left behind by previous cargos. Mr Corvisier says these days containerised transport accounts for 90% of the world’s trade. Which means where conventional shipping used to transport what he refers to as “dirty” products, such as scrap metal, plastics and paper, they are now being transported in container ships. Your wine could easily be the next cargo inside that container.
There is also the possibility that the container carrying your wine is contaminated with bacteria, smells and germs. There could be the presence of fumigants and solvents, such as methy sulfuryl fluoride, phosphine, toluene and benzene following active and passive fumigation of containers when they reach port.
Because the VinLiner attaches to the ceiling and walls of a container and has a sealed, zipped closed protective barrier, it ensures the products inside are sealed away from any smells, dampness or fumigants.
And while the liners should only be used once, the material they are constructed from can be recycled.
Pierre Corvisier besides a container fitted out with a VinLiner
Management of Winery Waste - Code of Practice
This Code of Practice (CoP) was commissioned by the Winegrowers of New Zealand who are committed to 100% sustainability of New Zealand Wine and sustainable environmental practices. It is intended to replace the previous Management of Waste By-Products Code of Practice for Wineries 2000.
The purpose of this CoP is to provide practical guidance to winery management and staff on strategies for managing solid and liquid wastes generated by wineries. The overall goal is to promote cleaner production and sound environmental practices in the New Zealand Wine Industry. The CoP sets out practices to avoid, remedy or mitigate potential environmental effects of solid and liquid wastes generated by wineries, such as: • loss of downstream surface water or groundwater quality due to nutrient enrichment or salinisation • degradation of soil structure or contamination • odours from waste facilities The following is a summary of the CoP and includes recommendations for each particular section. The full report is now with wineries and is also available on the Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand website. There is also an associated checklist to assist wineries with the management aspects of the CoP.
Waste Management Process
The process which wineries are recommended to follow in order to make choices regarding the sustainable management of their solid and liquid wastes includes seven key steps (Figure 1). 1. Legislative Requirements:
Knowledge of the legislative requirements within New Zealand is a key factor with regard to waste management in wineries. This includes existing national legislation and policies, regional and district rules and potential legislative changes being promoted by Government.
Recomendations:
• Identify the legislative and other requirements which are relevant to your winery and the waste streams generated, including national and local, mandatory and voluntary. • Get up-to-date copies of the relevant legislative and other requirements. • Undertake a comprehensive audit of process operations, inputs and outputs of raw products and energy, human resource management and fate of waste products to determine how the
relevant requirements impact on the design and operation of your winery. • Establish and maintain the necessary systems and procedures to ensure compliance with the relevant legislative and other requirements. • Undertake regular reviews to ensure that any changes to existing legislative and other requirements are identified. 2. Receiving Environment: The requirements for reuse, treatment and/ or disposal are dependent on the nature of the receiving environment.
This will also determine contaminants that must be avoided.
Recommendations:
• Identify all the solid, liquid and gaseous discharges from your winery processes. Include vintage, non vintage, continuous, intermittent and emergency discharges. • Determine the quantity and quality of each of the discharges from your winery processes. • Identify the potential receiving environments for each of the discharges from your winery processes. • Undertake an assessment of the most appropriate receiving environment for different waste streams by considering the issues. • Obtain the necessary permits and consents to ensure compliance with
the relevant legislative and other requirements for your winery 3. Beneficial Reuse: The potential for beneficial reuse of winery wastes streams should be considered as a key priority and is likely to reduce the consumption of precious resources such as water as well as limiting the generation of wastes for subsequent disposal.
Recommendations:
• Identify the discharges from your winery processes. Include vintage, non vintage, continuous , intermittent and emergency discharges. • Determine the quality and quantity of each of the discharges from your winery processes. • Identify potential options for reuse of each of the discharges to different receiving environments. • Undertake an assessment of the most appropriate reuse options for different waste streams by considering the issues. Identify potential issues associated with the reuse of solid wastes generated in the winery. • Identify and obtain the necessary permits and consents to ensure compliance with the relevant legislative and other requirements for your winery. 4. Combined Effluent Systems: The decision as to whether to combine winery wastewater with domestic wastewater and/or stormwater generated within the winery will have a number of implications in terms of the treatment and disposal options for the waste streams. Stormwater generated during the vintage period may be dealt with differently than outside the vintage period.
Recommendations:
• Determine the quantity and quality of the winery wastewater, domestic wastewater and stormwater. • Identify potential options for combining winery wastewater with domestic wastewater or stormwater. • Determine whether combined systems are likely to be appropriate based on issues outlined elsewhere. 5. Cleaner Production. The adoption of cleaner production techniques
such as preventing or minimising the generation of waste at source, efficient utilisation of resources and minimising contamination of waste streams will ensure sustainable practices and decrease adverse effects on the environment.
Recommendations:
• Read and implement “Winery
Wastewater Handbook” by Jeanette
Chapman published by Winetitles. • Utilise the checklist included in the full CoP to identify potential cleaner production strategies for your winery. • Encourage and incentivise winery staff to identify cleaner production options. • Use the hierarchy to determine which
Cleaner Production Strategies to focus on initially. • Before making any substantial changes to the current system it is necessary to weigh up the relative benefits to be gained from implementing ‘cleaner production’ strategies in the winery, upgrading or replacing wastewater treatment equipment and/or modifying aspects of the wastewater disposalreuse strategy. • Identify the key parameters to be monitored for your winery discharges and implement a routine monitoring programme for vintage and nonvintage activities.
6. Waste Production: When assessing the quantity and quality of waste generated in a winery it is critical to identify the source of the waste and any potential contaminants as this will assist in managing the impact of such wastes on the environment.
Recommendations:
• Identify who is responsible for winery wastes three months prior to vintage. • Consolidate the information on systems, backup and equipment in an
Operations and Maintenance Manual. • List all unit process operations used in your winery (include cooling towers as they generate waste.) • Prepare a flow chart that shows the flow of product between the processes, (grapes, must, wine etc). These will include one-way flows, loops, or both,
to account for variations between different wine types. • Prepare a second flow chart that identifies all input materials other than product, and any output of materials used elsewhere in the winery. • Assess the nature of wastewater, stormwater and solid waste generated from the winery processes and associated operations. • Determine the quantities of different types of waste produced. Information may be available from existing collection and disposal records. • Focus on minimising production of waste and providing adequate onsite collection of different categories of solid waste. • Operators are responsible for ensuring that waste is adequately disposed of, whether by appropriately licensed collectors and depots or on site.
Winery Wastewater
• Calculate the quantity of wastewater generated by each unit process (such as washing of; barrels, press, grape bins, floor, filters etc) by weeks 1-52 of the year. • Estimate the frequency per week for each unit process, such as number of barrels washed. • Measure the water used for each unit process by filling a known volume with stopwatch or flowmeter. • Record results and assumptions on a spreadsheet. • Compare recorded wastewater flow meter records TO estimated water usage above to check reality. • Test high strength wastewaters such as lees and caustic soda wash water and separate from normal wastewater treatment process • Use cleaning agents that do not require a subsequent water rinse. 7. Waste Treatment: The final step in the waste management process for wineries is to determine the most appropriate methods for treatment and disposal of the residual waste streams.
Consideration should be given to the potential impacts of the treatment processes themselves as well as any potential by-products generated.
Recommendations: • Determine the quantity and quality of winery discharge. • Make allowances for any reduction in quantities achieved by applying
Cleaner Production Strategies. • Taking into account the legislative requirements and relevant receiving environment, select the most appropriate treatment option for each waste stream. • Assume that the existing Regional or
Unitary Plant Rules will change and become more stringent. • When considering the future of the winery wastewater system, estimate the winery production out to minimum of 35 years to future proof the operations and allow space for wastewater treatment and disposal/reuse options. • Consider modular treatment systems
that can be readily upgraded. • Design and built the treatment system with automated control systems, data collection, flow monitoring, fault diagnostics and reporting through internet system with auto-diallers to phones for alarms. • Consider how the plant can be arranged and operated manually if the automatic control system or power systems fail. • The final selection and design of the treatment system will most likely be undertaken by a specialist and/or suppliers. Any information you can provide them will assist in the design process. • When selecting the treatment system consider sustainability and lifecycle costs and the on going level of support and expertise you will need. • Require only infrequent operation attention for operation, maintenance and monitoring requirements. The plant should have simple operations, maintenance and testing requirements. • Contract to have commissioning and operation of the treatment plant for 1 – 2 years to identify any consent compliance issues and associated maintenance issues.\Have an adequate maintenance budget for the wastewater treatment system.
For full details of the CoP, visit www. nzwine.com(members section.) or contact Sally van der Zijpp, SWNZ National Co-ordinator, or Kristy McKay NZW Regulatory Affairs Executive
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Earthquake Warning
Recent events in both Christchurch and Japan have understandably got all of us thinking about preparing for a future quake here in Marlborough. Experts tell us, it is not a matter of IF, but a case of when we will experience a big one. We first published the following article back in 2009 – it seems appropriate to repeat it.
Associate Professor Tim Davies from Canterbury University’s Department of Geological Sciences says Marlborough was subjected to one of the largest quakes ever felt in New Zealand, back in 1848. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake was located on the Awatere Fault and was felt most severely in the Wairau Valley and in Cloudy Bay. If a quake of the same magnitude was to hit Marlborough now, the resulting damage could be catastrophic. Tim says to cause major damage, the region would only require a quake of somewhere between 6.5 and 7.0, (depending on the depth it occurs at.) With that basic knowledge, I put a number of questions to Tim and his co-worker Dr Tom Wilson, about how Marlborough’s wine industry will be affected when the next big quake occurs.
Would a major earthquake impact on soil structures within Marlborough?
No, but the soil characteristics will influence the damage to structures. Enhancement (amplification) or attenuation of seismic shaking is possible in structurally weak soils, depending on the frequency of the earthquake shaking, Liquefaction of poorly compacted soils (soft loose sediments greater than 10 metres thick with a high water table) commonly occurs during large earthquakes. Liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the strength and stiffness of a soil is reduced by earthquake shaking or other rapid loading. When it occurs, the strength of the soil decreases and the ability of a soil deposit to support foundations for buildings and bridges is reduced, potentially leading to structural failure.
What impact would a major quake have on Marlborough’s Rivers?
Extra sediment input to rivers from landslides would cause aggradations and rivers breaking out of their banks over the following decades, potentially flooding farmland and disrupting water supply infrastructure – irrigation and drinking. There may also be some liquefaction of stop banks.
In Marlborough there has been a move to establish private dams for water supply. What danger would these pose in an earthquake?
In a quake greater than 7, older dams could be at risk. Newer ones should be designed to cope. But dams can also fail because of slips into them caused by earthquakes. Even small reservoirs on farms can fail due to liquefaction of the banks. DamWatch is the NZ organisation which specialises in dam safety and design if anyone is concerned.
The wine industry is a major player in the Marlborough economy. What are some of the potential effects of a large quake?
On the vineyard, damage to buildings and equipment will depend on the level of shaking, the quality of construction (i.e.; foundations) and how well equipment is restrained to resist movement during shaking. Loss of transport networks would have a significant impact at different times of the year, such as during the harvest or vintage. Roads may become impassable because of slips, road ruptures and damaged bridges, meaning areas may not be able to be reached for a long period of time. Workers may not be able to access vineyards due to transportation network disruption. Transport trucks may not be able to get produce off farm or to the processing plant, or off the processing plant. The loss of water supplies would have devastating implications during the vintage. Communications are vital for business and for personal wellbeing/ coping – expect this to possibly fail. Do wineries have backup generators? Power is likely to be down – and for some time. What happens to the wine in tanks? Indirect impacts may occur, such as transient workers may avoid the area due to the disaster, or accommodation
resources have been damaged/ disrupted, or workers have to look after children due to schools being closed. Further indirect impacts may include the loss of contracts due to export orders not being met.
Tanks full of wine – are these a potential danger?
Rupture of the tanks is a possibility if they are not internally baffled and designed for lateral earthquake loading (though half-empty ones might behave worse due to the liquid slopping to and fro). Tall (aspect ratio >5), thin-walled storage tanks or silos more than quarter full, thinwalled tanks, vats or fluid handling items either supported on spindly legs or with no hold down arrangements are likely to result in high levels of local secondary stresses (buckling) in an earthquake up to 7.5. There may be considerable environmental impacts if contents of tanks spill into water ways.
How can the industry mitigate any future damage?
By asking the sort of questions you are asking, getting answers and thinking about them. Seismic strengthening and proper design of critical facilities, such as processing plants. Ensuring that critical input providers, such as electricity, transport, water network companies have secure, resilient supplies. At the farm level, expect to manage on your own for days to weeks following a large earthquake. Viticulture is constantly using risk management principles to manage frost, drought and disease. Think about earthquakes as one of these risks – but as part of your day-to-day risk management decisions. Many of the actions you take for earthquake preparedness will increase your businesses ability to deal with other disruptions or disasters, such as having a diesel generator in case of power cut, or a large secure water supply for on-farm use will also mitigate drought conditions.
Marlborough Success - Vineyard Irrigation
When Montana’s Yukich brothers were first considering installing irrigation in their newly planted Marlborough vineyards, there were a number of individuals who told them they were mad. “It isn’t necessary” was a common theme. These days, it would be difficult to find any vineyard without the tell tale PVC pipes and drippers.
It’s not as if when Marlborough’s first grapes were planted irrigation was an unknown quantity. John Cuddon, (Cuddon’s Engineering) can remember a massive irrigator being displayed at Pollard Park when he was just a kid. It was transported into the region by Brian Hommersham, on the back of an old Leyland truck. Plus John and Dick Herkt were instrumental in installing pastoral irrigation way before vines starting appearing on the landscape. John says grapes like every other horticultural product need water to survive, even if the early growers didn’t foresee the need. Montana for example saw no necessity when they began their first vineyard plantings at Brancott, probably because they had never needed to install irrigation in any other grape growing region they were involved in. There are countless stories of how the cuttings, taken from Gisborne were literally poked into the ground and urged to grow. Their subsequent failure to thrive nearly undid all the viticulturist’s efforts to establish the property. “I know the old boss (Gorton Cuddon) designed a measure arrangement on a mounted trailer that would water two rows at a time. Somehow it filled up a bucket of water and tipped it out onto the plant.” As antiquated as it seems now, that was Montana’s very first efforts at irrigating the vine cuttings. The first vineyard in the region to get its own specialised irrigation system belonged to John Marris, who at the time was Montana’s vineyard manager. This was in 1978. “We put together a scheme that worked very well and the following year, John Marris talked the Yukich brothers Mate and Frank into putting an irrigation plant into Brancott. It was very different to the irrigation schemes we had been used to putting in and required a lot of calculation. We had all the pipe sizes right, but it was the drippers or whiskers, which were polythene pipe that had a very small bore inside, that caused some extra work. The bore of those varied, so you could vary the lengths to how much pressure you had or the friction loss within that small piece of pipe. So we would have a run of about 200 metres of pipe and then every three metres we had a lateral coming off for the rows. Whereas now you have compensating drippers that mean it doesn’t matter what pressure you have in the line, you will end up with the same amount of water coming out. Back then it was a much bigger job.” Once the irrigation was complete, the scheme was officially opened by then Prime Minister Rob Muldoon – which leads directly to another piece of Marlborough history. The function following the opening was held on a hill that over looked the entire Brancott vineyard and valley. Given the Prime Minister’s enthusiasm at the event, the spot earned the nickname of Rob’s Knob – a title that has lived on 30 years after the function. It is a credit to the company that there were no mishaps with the very first systems, despite the fact John and Dick were learning as they went. There was no one locally to fall back on for advice, as the John Marris vineyard was the very first irrigated in Marlborough and could well have been the very first vineyard irrigation system in the country. Canterbury didn’t require extra water, neither did Auckland or Gisborne. There may have been some irrigated blocks in Hawkes Bay, but it wasn’t something that was common. As the industry grew and contract growers came into play, the irrigation business began to be a major part of Cuddon’s business. John says there were
only a handful, if that, of growers who didn’t install a system when developing their vineyard. And despite the three decades since the initial system was installed, there haven’t been too many major changes, although John says the development of the in-line dripper within the pipe was revolutionary. “You know the length of pipe lateral you have and you know what the frictional losses are going to be in that, you know what the pressure is going to be when it goes into that pipe and you know that you have pressure compensating drippers that means you don’t have to worry about anything. It’s just like a meccano set you can put together.” But perhaps the biggest difference for those with irrigation, is the ability for it to be automatic, rather than having to be manually controlled. Although there was a prototype automatic system developed by Gorton Cuddon in the early 60s, which involved of all things a pneumatic tyre. “It was based on a globe valve and a tyre. When the tyre was blown up it would lift the seat off the globe valve and water would go in. That was all timed on a clock which had pegs in it, that set the timing. It wasn’t dissimilar to the systems you now have in your garden with solenoid valves that do the same thing.” Whether there will be more revolutionary breakthroughs in the future is anyone’s guess. But John believes sustainability and effectiveness are likely to be the major irrigation considerations as we head into the second decade of the 21st century.
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A Time-Saver from Inland Revenue
Pressed for time? You may not always be able to contact Inland Revenue when it suits you. The answer is to go online. In this article, Inland Revenue explains what you can do when you visit www.ird.govt.nz.
You may be familiar with, and already use some of our online services. We’re continually developing further online services for both our business and nonbusiness customers so why not have a look at what’s available?
Your account
With your secure username and password, you can view all your account information that we hold for you, such as your income tax or student loan account. You can get up-to-date information of all transactions and balances. Individual customers can update their bank account and contact details, and request and confirm personal tax summaries immediately. You can also make payments, file your GST returns, and keep track of due dates with your personalised calendar. If you wish to contact us you can use our Secure Mail service which is quick and easy.
IR 3 tax return filing via Online Services
You can file your IR 3 tax return online; all information we hold is pre-populated for you. And you don’t have to do your return all in one go as you can save a draft and return to it later.
Managing your account access
You can give others controlled access to your business accounts through the Manage account access (MAA) service. Different levels of access can be granted to suit the differing roles and responsibilities in your organisation. A demonstration of MAA is available at www.ird.govt.nz.
How do you get an online services account?
It’s easy. Visit www.ird.govt.nz and go to “Secure online services” at the top righthand corner of the home page. Click on “Register now” and follow the onscreen instructions. You’ll be asked to choose a username and password. You can confirm your password over the phone, or you can get a temporary password in the mail.
Support for business
Our “Tool for business” is specially designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It has all the tax information you need in one convenient place. You access it on our website by using the search term “Tool for business”.
If you’d like face-to-face assistance, come along to one of our tax seminars. You can find out about a range of topics including record keeping, expenses and filing returns as well as how to use our online services. There are seminars in most regions – you can book your seat online (search term “seminar”).
Cloud Computing
We are aware that “cloud computing” is becoming a popular way for businesses to set up their IT infrastructures. The use of cloud computing may mean businesses are not meeting their record keeping obligations under the Inland Revenue Acts. You can read more about this on our website – simply search for “cloud computing”.
Our online services are secure and easy to use. With tax time approaching, why not register for an online account now?
Safety Driving Course
Expecting foreigners working in our vineyards to be able to easily adapt to our driving conditions, is not realistic according to Grant Ingersoll from Master Drive Services Ltd. Which is why he is keen to see all workers undertake a driver safety programme.
It’s a common sight on our rural roads. A small van, full of workers either heading out or back from a vineyard where they are employed. They take to the roads in all sorts of weather, rain, frost and sunshine. But Grant Ingersoll believes many have not got the necessary skills to be on the road, let alone be responsible for large numbers of their workmates in the back seats. Master Drive is a transport training provider, which works alongside a number of education outlets like Hort ITO. The company’s goal is to offer a training programme that will provide the skills necessary for drivers to become confident and secure on our roads. “Police quite openly say that having an international driver’s licence is not an assurance that a driver is competent to drive in New Zealand conditions, or that they have the acquired understanding of New Zealand road rules. I have done assessments with some guys (foreign vineyard workers) and I can tell you, that is correct.” As an example, he talks about two pilot courses he helped run last year. In one case he assessed four foreign drivers, during a 45 minute practical. All four failed the test. When he retested two, they failed for a second time. In a second course, of the four assessments carried out, all four failed. The interesting aspect of these assessments, is all of the drivers he was testing were bona fide legal drivers in New Zealand because they had international licences. The Master Drive Services course is aimed at educating foreign workers before they hit our roads. A theory section teaches the drivers about compliance, responsibility, differences in roads, hazards and conditions, stability and handling, road signs and vehicle checks. Drivers are also taught how to recognise signs such as fatigue to ensure they don’t drive when they shouldn’t. “Then we go into the practical phases, where we cover all the theory aspects we talked about in the classroom. Basically it is a chance to show them the rules and regulations in a real life situation and get them out in vans or cars so they can put it into practice.” However the course requires support from employers, as there is a cost involved. Working with the Marlborough District Council and ACC, a discount has been offered to any RSE employer in Marlborough who is keen to enrol one of their workers on such a course. “We have had deaths in New Zealand involving vans with foreign workers and we want to prevent that happening again in the future. And for employers, when you have people driving around in one of your vehicles, they are driving around in your billboard. They are representing your company every time they get behind the wheel. They should be doing that in a safe way. If they get injured they can’t work, which is not what you want to happen. The idea of this course is to keep them safe while they are here and to make our roads safer at the same time.” For more information on the courses, check out the website: www.masterdrive. co.nz
