Vintage 2023 was another busy year at the Bragato Research Winery. The state-of-the-art facility processed only 8.4 tonnes of grapes, but undertook 200 individual ferments across 23 trials for industry clients and our research projects. This is the fourth year of consecutive growth at the winery.

The Research Winery was designed so the wine industry can conduct independent trials at a busy time of year. The reason there were so many ferments compared to trials is thanks to our custom fermentation tanks. These tanks either hold 200 litres for a single fermentation or have four 17-litre tanks inserted to house up to four individual fermentations, all controlled under the same conditions.

This vintage, trials were run on winemaking techniques and ingredients, such as antioxidant products, novel yeasts, novel malolactic cultures, new settling enzymes, alternative products to increase thiols and the impact of differing levels of whole bunch on Pinot Noir.

There were also many trials focused on the finished impact of vineyard practices, including the effects of long spur pruning on Sauvignon Blanc wines, novel canopy management techniques, mealybug spraying, and enhancing Pinot Noir colour.

Now is a great time to start thinking about what types of trials you may want to run next vintage. To learn more about our Research Winery trials, contact the winery team or read more here. Thank you to the Research Winery sponsors and clients whose support ensures the wine industry can continue to access research winemaking at a scale and degree of experimental control not available elsewhere in New Zealand.