Nicola Crennan

Immigration changes deliver confidence and certainty for seasonal workforce needs

Spring in Central Otago

A cold and early start to winter has been followed by another early start to spring, with mild temperatures through the second half of August and into September.

Molecular imprinted polymers in winemaking

A New Zealand startup that’s helped remediate smoke taint in wine in Canada and the United States could reduce time, additives and waste in wine production. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) underpin amaea’s technology to selectively remove specific molecules and molecular compounds from wine, meaning winemakers can fine-tune their sensory profile with more precision and less waste.

BRI Chief Executive Dr Juliet Ansell.

Juliet Ansell was in her early teens when she colonised her mum’s linen cupboard with a batch of fruit flies, 50 test tubes and a hankering to understand genetics.

Felicity Carter

Felicity Carter - founder of the Drinks Insider podcast and research consultancy and Editorial Director of Areni Global in London - is one of the speakers at the upcoming New Zealand Wine Altogether Unique Business Forum in Wellington. Here she shares a few insights into her wine career, global trends, and why she loves visiting New Zealand.

Ben Leen

Pinot Noir New Zealand 2025 will be held in Ōtautahi Christchurch from 11 to 13 February. Committee member Ben Leen, Winemaker at Amisfield in Central Otago, focuses his Pinot obsession on the upcoming event.

Somewhat Sommit, London

Our second Wine Business Forum is just around the corner and we are so excited about the programme of impressive speakers joining us at Te Papa in Wellington.

When temperatures consistently run above average it can come as a bit of a shock when a cold spell finally arrives.

New Zealand winemakers are increasingly matching fermentation options with the potential of their grapes and “the needs of the wine they are creating”, says Fermentis Director of Sales Jo Pitt.

In an industry where succession stories are an enduring tradition, the Besamusca family has tapped into intergenerational talent to offer layered and accessible data to vineyard operations.

The complete electrification of horticulture, viticulture and farming is inevitable, says Mike Casey from his Central Otago cherry orchard, which runs on sunshine and sells power back to the grid.

Felton Road produces two distinctly different single vineyard Pinot Noirs from two relatively close Bannockburn vineyards, both farmed biodynamically. Ziyu Li, from Lincoln University’s Department of Wine, Food and Molecular Biosciences, has been exploring the distinctive sensory profiles of these wines, along with their chemical differences, by considering the individual sites, rootstocks, soils and rhizosphere microbes. In this Q&A, Ziyu takes us from land to lab to explain her work.

A large part of the Marlborough Research Centre’s success over the past 40 years is the communication carried out by those that worked there, a leading scientist says.

Auckland University PhD candidate Gillean Miller won the best student presentation prize at the inaugural New Zealand Wine Centre Scientific Research Conference late last year, capturing attention and accolades for her research into the biogenesis of gamma-nonalactone during winemaking. She shares some insights into her work and its importance to the wine industry.

In Braden Crosby’s many years as a winemaker and viticulturist in the Wairarapa, he enjoyed the mix of practical, applied research at Grape Days events, “with a little blue sky added for future reference”.

New Zealand's wine industry is “severely lacking in any diversity”, says the head of a research programme working to secure a repository of grapevine genetics, including disease resistant vines.

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