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Research Winery Blog
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The Pinot Noir Programme is a research programme led by the Bragato Research Institute and co-funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) through its Endeavour Programme. The Endeavour Funds are for long-term, scientific excellence-derived research programmes and are aimed at increasing the competitiveness of New Zealand industries.
The programme will tackle the yield-quality detachment associated with Pinot Noir production through four interlinked research areas:
For more information on the Pinot Noir Programme please click here and you will be taken to the Members login area of the NZW website.
UC Davis collaboration to determine factors that affect colour in Pinot Noir wines when grapes are harvested at lower than target berry soluble solids
Plant and Food Research (C Grose)
The project will investigate the relative impacts of juice and pomace on the sensory properties and phenolic (especially anthocyanin) composition of Pinot Noir wines as grape ripening advances. Factors that contribute to poor colour in Pinot Noir wines when grapes are harvested at lower than target berry soluble solids will be determined and reported to industry. The international collaboration with UC Davis will generate new knowledge for the development of commercially suitable colour in Pinot Noir wine to support the growing New Zealand Pinot Noir market.
The role of microbes in regional Pinot Noir quality and style
University of Auckland (M Goddard)
The objectives of this project are to characterise the microbial communities and populations associated with Pinot Noir in three wine growing regions in NZ and to investigate if these communities and populations have a bearing on wine quality. During the 2018 harvest, samples of soil and bark were taken from the vineyards and fruit was harvested and spontaneously fermented.
‘Lighter Wines’, a research programme led by New Zealand Winegrowers and co-funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Primary Growth Partnership (PGP), is designed to position New Zealand as the world’s top producer of premium lower alcohol and lower calorie wines. The seven-year programme (formerly known as ‘Lifestyle Wines’) started in March 2014 and aims to capitalise on market-led opportunities, using approaches developed from applied research to naturally produce lighter wines. Research is conducted in the main areas within the programme
For more information on the Lighter Wines Programme please click here and you will be taken to the Members login area of the NZW website. You can also find out more at the NZ Lighter Wines website.
Shoot trimming effects on Pinot Noir vine leaf area to fruit weight ratio, productivity and fruit composition
Lincoln University (A Parker)
The objectives of this project are to characterise how shoot trimming and its timing affects Pinot Noir vine performance at three different sites and how it affects Pinot Noir fruit ripening and composition. The project also aims to measure the relative impacts of shoot trimming and its timing on the development of fruit sugar versus other wine quality-related components.
Low alcohol-reduced calorie wines using molecular sponges for sugar removal
Auckland University (B Fedrizzi)
The objectives of this project are the synthesis of monomers and their polymerisation to form different sponge candidates and the evaluation of the various sponge’s binding potential on different sugars to determine the most effective molecular sugar sponge.
Climate change research has been identified as a high priority in the BRI Research Strategy. It contributes to our research theme ‘Protecting our Terroir, Provenance and Eco-systems’ and represents innovative long-term research.
In 2018 we commenced a Climate Change Adaptation research programme. Our aim is to identify and understand the possible impacts of climate change on grape and wine production in NZ, and develop a toolbox of adaptation strategies to manage the impact of that change.
Our Climate Change Adaptation Research Programme is comprised of 3 phases.
In 2018, BRI commissioned the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) to model climate change projections for the 9 wine regions of NZ.
Projections were based on 2 time horizons – 2040 and 2090 – and 2 emissions scenarios. 15 different variables were modelled, from temperature and Growing Degree Days (GDD) to rainfall, humidity, frosts, Potential evapotranspiration deficit (PED) and soil moisture deficit, amongst others. The 5km granularity of the data will enable projections of key variables to be made at a sub-regional scale.
Log-on to the members site and click here to access climate change projections for each wine region:
https://www.nzwine.com/members/grow/vineyard-resources/climate-change/regional-reports-and-presentations/
The aim of Phase 2 is to identify and analyse the potential impacts of climate change on grape and wine production in NZ. The output is a new climate change research programme based on:
In February 2019, BRI contracted Dr Amber Parker, Senior Lecturer in Viticulture at Lincoln University, to design this research programme.
Dr Amber Parker
BSc (Hons) (University of Canterbury), MSc (ESA, France), PhD (Lincoln)
Senior Lecturer in Viticulture, Lincoln University
Amber’s areas of research are:
She is involved in developing phenological observational methods, testing and developing new approaches in phenological modelling for the grapevine, and characterising phenology of varieties and of winegrowing regions. She is also involved in ongoing research investigating the effect of modifying the leaf area to fruit weight ratio on the time of phenological events, vine performance, berry composition and fruit synchrony during ripening. Recent research has looked into understanding impact and adaptations for viticulture in the context of climate change.
Based on potential impacts understood from Phase 2, Phase 3 of the programme will build a set of adaptation tools for members to use to mitigate the risks and secure opportunities posed by changing climatic conditions. These tools will cover short, medium and long term strategies.
An important part of this research programme is building climate change collaborations, both within NZ and abroad, as well as identifying funding opportunities and partnerships for future research.
In 2018 we hosted seminars from visiting French climatologists who work with the European project LIFE ADVICLIM (ADaptation to VIticulture under CLIMate change).
We have also hosted scientists from the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) to speak about climate change adaptation at our annual Bragato conference.
Copies of these presentations can be found on the Members site by clicking here.
In 2019 we also signed up as a partner to a new collaboration between France (CNRS/University of Rennes 2) and New Zealand (University of Canterbury). This is a 5-year project called “VinAdapt” (Scénarios à haute résolution d’adaptation des agrosystèmes au changement climatique : application à la viticulture). We believe that significant benefits will be gained by bringing together researchers from France and New Zealand to help develop mitigation and adaptation tools to ensure the future sustainability of New Zealand’s grape and wine production.
Hervé Quénol
Researcher at CNRS/University of Rennes
Want to know more?
For any queries on our climate change research programme or to submit Expressions Of Interest, please contact info@bri.co.nz
Vineyard Ecosystems is a seven year research programme led by New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) and co-funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) through its Science and Innovation Partnership programme. The programme was born out of the following hypothesis: the vineyard biota and the ecosystem services they deliver are significantly altered by vineyard practices. Thus, vineyard practices can be designed to enhance vineyard longevity, soil health, and vine performance.
The programme represents a shift in the way we look at vineyards, moving away from “firefighting” (issue-by-issue) based research, where pathologists and plant physiologists look at improving ways to kill or control individual pathogens (such as botrytis, trunk fungi, powdery mildew), to a more integrated understanding of the ecology of the vineyard as a whole.
Under two fundamentally different management regimes (‘Contemporary’ and ‘Future’) this programme explores the impact that two distinct farming systems impart on the wider microbial and chemical environments in soils and in vines across 24 vineyards in two geographic locales. Three varieties are being studied with technologies like Next-Generation DNA Sequencing and Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction, among other advanced analytical methods. The results of this stock take are fed through into a Bayesian model where inferences are informed by evidence collecting that is consistent or inconsistent with the hypothesis, and thus, produce mathematical estimates in degrees of belief, or probabilities, among a complex web of variables that comprise the Vineyard Ecosystem Programme.
Optimising management of grapevine trunk diseases for vineyard longevity
The South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) (M Sosnowski)
The objectives of this project are to optimise timing of wound protection treatments and to investigate the duration of pruning wound susceptibility. The project will also ascertain inoculum dispersal throughout the pruning season and survey vineyards to track progress of trunk disease.
Exploring the chemical space in Vineyard Ecosystems (VE) Programme juices and wines
University of Auckland (B Fedrizzi)
This project will provide an in depth characterisation of the VE juices chemical and wine composition and aims to understand the pressure applied by VE programme vineyard management regimes on grape and wine chemical composition.
