Sauvignon Blanc Grapevine Improvement Programme

Traditional grapevine breeding requires multiple generations of crossing to recover traits associated with premium quality wine after a new trait is introduced. That process can take two to three decades, and the resulting plants are a different variety from the parent plants.

In the current programme, new vines will be produced by accelerating a natural system plants have that triggers new diversification in response to environmental stress. Since this doesn’t involve crossings with other vines, the plants are still Sauvignon Blanc, and the new variants are fully formed at the first generation.

Using latest-generation DNA sequencing technology, we can study the rates at which the vines change in response to stress, and exactly where in the DNA these changes have occurred, even before the plants are mature enough to express the new traits. Plants with promising new traits will be observed in vineyard trials towards the end of the 7-year programme.

Although growing vines from cuttings usually result in plants that are genetically identical, portions of the DNA of plants (and animals) can sometimes spontaneously change, altering the way that genes are expressed. Many winegrowers will have seen this in the case of ‘bud sports’ –a vine that looks different to those around it, or even a single branch that suddenly displays a new trait. Research has shown that the underlying ‘jumping genes’ (also known as ‘transposons’) are particularly active in plant cells that are exposed to environmental shock, probably as a way for the plant to adapt its genetics to a change in the environment. This project will use carefully calibrated stress treatments to greatly increase the rate at which this natural genetic change occurs, and in doing so produce a collection of vines that are each subtly different.

New Zealand researchers have already tested this research in pilot studies with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

At the moment, New Zealand research into the use of grapevine genetic diversity is mostly focused on Pinot Noir. This project will scale up this work and adapt it to Sauvignon Blanc, which accounts for 85% of our export value, as the low diversity is a pronounced risk to our industry. Additionally, grapevines have about 30,000 genes and we only understand the function of about 10% of them. What we learn about Sauvignon Blanc can be further applied to other varietals that share these genes, speeding up future improvements.

No. The programme has been specifically designed to make use of the grapevine’s natural ability to increase its own diversity. No foreign introduction of DNA is involved, so the vines will be GMO-free.

Many overseas wine-producing countries have been breeding grapevines for decades, crossing species and varieties to create disease resistant plants that make high-quality wine. That results in new varieties, which in the case of Old World producers, can be incorporated into regional classifications. Consumers of New Zealand wine often use varietal identity as an indicator of quality, so we are pursuing an approach to select improved traits within our premium varieties.

Initially, the focus is on selecting vines with improvements in fungal pathogen resistance, drought tolerance, frost resistance, temperature adaptations, and flavour and aroma compounds in the berries. Like evolution, the current approach depends on selecting improvements from a large pool of new diversity. This gives us the opportunity to keep selecting new traits from the same gene pool. It also means we have a ‘library’ of adaptations to consider if other threats arrive.

“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

The lack of genetic diversity in our vineyards is a risk that’s been identified by experts again and again. The wrong pest or disease could devastate our monoculture. Over the next two to three decades, many Sauvignon Blanc growers will be looking to re-plant their vineyards. This project aims to produce local vines that are specifically suited to the challenges and opportunities on the near horizon for our winegrowing regions and export markets. New Zealand Wine has modelled long-term climate change implications across New Zealand to 2040 and 2090. Continuing to produce quality wines under future conditions will depend on the availability of vines suited to those conditions.

The only way to select the best vines for New Zealand is based on how they perform when they are grown here. Strict biosecurity controls mean that it is not possible to import collections of diversity, all of which have been produced for overseas conditions, for local selection. Instead, our plan is to start with the vines that already perform so well in New Zealand and develop new selections from these. The result of this programme will be the first new variants selected in New Zealand, specifically for the New Zealand industry.

By the end of the 7-year project, the aim is to have identified new variants that offer advantages over the current material available to growers, as demonstrated in field trials. We will be working with contributing members, including the NZ Viticulture Nursery Association (ViNA), to ensure that the new variants are compatible with current propagation and grafting systems so that they can then be bulked up and made available for commercial plantings.

The public report summaries are available on our website here.

Involvement is open to all members of the NZ wine industry. Grantors contribute their time, cash funding and/or in-kind support. To find out how you can be involved in the project email Darrell Lizamore at Darrell.Lizamore@bri.co.nz.

Building on the vineyard establishment work completed in 2025, the new year marked a shift towards collecting in-vineyard data to compare screening methods and determine which of these are scalable and cost-effective. With most field-ready vines now growing in the breeding vineyard, and a large population approaching physiological maturity, work this quarter focused on generating the evidence needed to shape Year 6 selection.

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During the December 2025 quarter, the Programme moved further into the selection phase while completing a major delivery milestone: 10,000 new Sauvignon Blanc clones have now been produced through tissue culture, and over 8,000 are already established in the breeding vineyard for future screening.

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During the winter of 2025, the programme has advanced its goal of establishing a repository of genetic diversity from which new, improved Sauvignon Blanc clones can be identified and selected. Production of the second half of the vine population is now well underway, and the vines produced last year have been pruned in preparation for the first year of trait data collection.

Meanwhile, pilot studies in DNA sequencing, mildew susceptibility testing, frost tolerance, and water use efficiency have provided valuable selection criteria that the research team will be looking to scale up over the growing season. These have been guided and informed by expert technical advisors in the USA and Europe who have generously contributed their knowledge to the programme.

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Over Autumn the first 6,000 vines in the Breeding Vineyard were managed to optimise rapid maturation and preparation for dormancy. Samples have been collected from the most mature vines to enable three different propagation strategies to be tested in the summer. Meanwhile, cell cultures for Year 5 have been established and are showing good potential for the remaining plant production and expansion of the vineyard infrastructure has begun.

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The first phase of the Sauvignon Blanc 2.0 research vineyard has now been fully established with 6,000 healthy Sauvignon Blanc vines growing well for the duration of the summer. Among these, certain vines are already showing interesting physiological differences, and DNA has been collected from each vine to enable genetic differences within the collection to be characterised.

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The Sauvignon Blanc 2.0 Programme continues to make strong progress in developing a collection of novel Sauvignon Blanc clones, advancing trait selection methodologies, and engaging with industry stakeholders on emerging gene technology legislation. During this quarter a new grapevine selection vineyard was established, uniquely designed to facilitate the rapid growth of immature vines and their preparation for genetic and trait-based selection.

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During the winter, DNA from new Sauvignon Blanc (SB) clones and commercial vines was analysed to identify the type of genetic changes that vary among individuals. The established sequencing and data analysis pipelines will be used to characterise the full scope of genetic variation produced during the Programme term.

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Despite the slow regeneration of Sauvignon Blanc plantlets, increased resourcing to plant production and efforts to optimise the growth conditions for the plantlets has enabled the Programme to reach its target of 6,000 new plantlets by the end of June 2024. These new vines will continue to grow in a climate-controlled indoor environment throughout the winter until they can be planted out in a new research vineyard this spring.

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The production rate of new Sauvignon Blanc clones over the summer has continued to increase, as plant growth media have been further optimised. At approximately 60 cm in height, the most mature vines are already demonstrating unique traits indicative of the underlined genetic changes among them. The new clones appear healthy and have been growing rapidly, with the bases of their stems beginning to show sufficient lignification ahead of autumn.

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In November, industry representatives from eighteen grantor companies met at Bragato Research Institute in Blenheim for the second annual Programme Grantors’ Workshop. Over an interactive morning of presentations and conversation, the grantors reviewed the programme progress over the past year and discussed the approaches being used to develop and select New Zealand’s own future clones.

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As a result of the plant production failure identified last quarter, the Programme end date has been delayed by 18 months until April 2030. Plant and Food Research Ltd. have agreed to bear the cost of replacing the plants produced to date and have reached a financial settlement agreement that will ensure the programme funders are not asked to bear additional costs resulting from the delayed milestones. Production of replacement Sauvignon Blanc vines is now well underway.

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After the success of completing production of the project’s first 6,000 new vines ahead of schedule, we were notified of a failure by the plant production subcontractor, who had mistakenly produced and delivered vines that were of the wrong grapevine variety. This will result in a time delay. All other work is progressing on schedule, including plant selection work and DNA sequencing.

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After a very busy summer season, the programme has grown the collection of Sauvignon Blanc (SB) vines to 6,000 plantlets ahead of winter 2023. Leaf samples are now being collected from each plant for DNA extractions so that a database of known genetic diversity can be produced while the plants are dormant over winter.

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Establishing a large population of diverse Sauvignon Blanc vines is the key goal of the first half of this programme. Despite starting at a difficult time in the season, plant production is now ahead of schedule. Over the summer the aim is to grow the new plantlets into strong vines that are well-prepared for winter dormancy.

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New staff have joined BRI’s grapevine Improvement team to support the establishment of the young vines in the nursery and the identification of novel genetic traits with the potential to improve the resilience, productivity, and sustainability of Sauvignon Blanc viticulture.

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Membership of the programme’s Commercial and Technical Advisory groups was determined this quarter, including highly experienced members of the New Zealand wine industry and international experts.

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Over the January to March quarter the New Zealand wine industry’s attention turns to harvesting grapes for the current vintage. For the SB2.0 programme, the focus has been on setting up a new multi-institutional team to deliver the program’s objectives.

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This quarter marks the launch of the programme, which was announced by Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor and New Zealand Wine on 9th December.

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