Tuesday, 14 August 2018 09:51

Kellog Rural Leadership Programme profiles

Written by 
Nigel Sowman, George Miller and Jaimee Whitehead. Nigel Sowman, George Miller and Jaimee Whitehead.

After 38 years, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme in New Zealand had its first member of the wine industry involved last year. Since then another two members of Marlborough’s wine industry have taken part.

The global programme provides a platform for personal development and growth, develops the ‘contextural intelligence’ and thinking required for leadership. After taking part in the programme each of the students had to write a report on something that was relevant to their particular interest. NZWinegrower reviews each of those wine industry reports.

 

Nigel Sowman 

Viticulturist for Dog Point Vineyard and Ashmore Vineyard’s – Marlborough

Project: Short term discomfort for long term gains

Nigel has been the Ashmore Vineyards viticulturist since 2002, and has religiously collected data on yields, disease, soil condition and plant analysis every season. He chose his subject because he wanted to be able to compare quantitatively the vineyards from prior to organic conversion beginning in 2009, through to the current status.

“I had collected the data for 15 years but had not really looked at it closely. I realised that in conversations I was referring back to things that I had seen in the past, things I was seeing now and the changes that had happened. But I had never quantified it. So it was the perfect time to dredge all the information out and do something useful with it.”

While not delving into the financial aspect of the vineyards, Sowman has been able to highlight a  number of interesting points – some that surprised even him – a total convert to organics. 

One area covered in depth, is the issue of pale canopies and what that might mean to the ripening process, disease threat and ensuing wine quality. 

“I got all my petiole tests, I talked to the pickers, the winemakers, got the wine scores of different blocks and put together a bit of a matrix. What I noticed, was the blocks that had the lighter canopies, the ones people were most concerned about, were the first ones harvested, at the correct brix and fully clean. 

“Then later in the season, the bigger canopies with the darker leaves, were the ones that took longer to ripen and had more disease. Yet, and this is the interesting point, there was no difference in crop load. 

“Little insights like that triggered it for me. Maybe dark green leaves aren’t the answer. When I delved a bit more and looked at the petiole tests, all of a sudden, from the time when we went organic, the nitrate levels in the leaves – the things that keep them more green, had progressively dropped away. 

“People would think that was a bad thing. But when you look at it, the reproductive nitrogen is ammonia, and vegetative nitrogen is nitrate. So why late in the season, would you want lots of nitrate when it is for vegetative growth? You actually want reproductive growth instead.

“This project has shown me that a deep green canopy doesn’t necessarily mean a healthy canopy – just one that is still growing actively.”

Another finding in the project, Sowman says, was how little soil tests represent the quality changes in the physical structure of the soil. While this part of his project he is clear to point out, is based more on observation, than science, it still provided him with further evidence on how important organics is for soil structure.

“In 2005 (three years prior to the beginning of organic conversion) we had lots of rain and we had cattle on our hillside block. They were plugging a good 30 centimetres in and it was horrible. There was no way you could get a tractor up there.

“Then we leased a block up behind and in 2015 when I was walking across it, every time I stepped it was bringing water to the surface. 

“Again, we couldn’t possibly get a tractor up there. I decided to go down to the block that back in 2005 had been a quagmire, to see what that was like. 

“The former block had been converted to organics, and it was absolutely fine. We could have driven all over it and there would have been no damage. It was just that we were no longer using herbicides, and the soil had become more of a sponge, holding the water. It was so much easier to deal with.” 

 

George Miller 

Area Manager Farmlands for the Upper South Island

Project: How has the financial viability of Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough changed over the last five years?

As a “sheep and beef boy” George Millar wanted to get closer to understanding the Marlborough wine industry, where it has come from, where it is now and where it is going. Having helped his company Farmlands move into the wine sector, he felt the need to increase his own knowledge of how viable Marlborough’s flagship variety was financially.

“You hear all these rumours that land is too expensive and that you will never be able to make money from (Sauvignon Blanc). I wanted to dive in and have a look, to give me an understanding for the company on where the market is at, where it has come from and where it is going.”

His research for the project involved talking to players within the industry as well as dissecting the MPI/NZW Viticulture Monitoring reports from recent years.

While he knew Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was a success story overall, he was more than surprised at just how much of a success it was.

“What blew me away was the return on investment. From the 2010/11 season where it was 5.5 percent return on investment, and the 11/12 season it was 4 percent, there was a market incline of 100 percent, so the 14/15 season had a 12.4 percent return and 12 months later it was 24.45 percent. That is incredible. So, no wonder we have seen the flurry of activity into buying land in the last 12 to 18 months. The market has been absolutely red hot.”

However he doesn’t believe that sort of growth can continue, in fact he believes that the peak has now been reached.

“I finished my project in June 2017 and I felt (the industry) was at its peak then, or just prior to that. When you look at some of the prices being paid for bare land – around the $175,000 a hectare mark -  I thought you can’t get a return on that. It has become evident that the big players were buying large chunks of land and they could afford to do that, because they had large volumes of land already. 

“They were purely spreading the cost per hectare across another large chunk of land. I don’t think there have been many small growers, of less than 20 hectares, who have gone out there and paid record prices for land. It has been the big guys. But as we sit here today, that hysteria of the land grab from late 2015, all through 2016 and early 2017 – I think it is all over. The market has definitely cooled.

“Everything is cyclic. I see that in farming, it’s either a seven or 10 year cycle. The last real dip (in the wine industry) was back in 2008/09. When you see something go rapidly upwards, you know that it can fall as rapidly as well.”

Other areas to impress Millar from his research, was how well the wine industry has shared knowledge and expertise, better than many other land based industries he believes. And how strong the Marlborough and New Zealand brand is.

“That really hit me in the face, how damn powerful New Zealand Wine’s brand is. Then as I moved through the project, I started to learn how important it is to protect that brand. It would be catastrophic to have that reputation damaged anywhere. I think personally, we have to be careful about the bulk wine going out of here.

“We are on a knife edge here, and having done so well, we have to ensure we continue that into the future.” 

 

Jaimee Whitehead 

Technical vineyard supervisor for Matua in Marlborough

Project: Hitting the Marc in Marlborough

The very first wine industry member to take part in the Kellog Programme, Jaimee Whitehead chose a topical subject for her research project. How to deal with grape marc, in New Zealand’s largest region.

Given expansion within the region over the next few years, Whitehead says grape marc is set to rise by 50 percent by 2027. Already it is an issue – what do wine companies do with the tonnes of waste that emanate from the winemaking process?

“Basically, there has been an attitude about grape marc. It is a waste product and up until recently wineries have paid for someone to take it away, it was something that just needed to be got rid of. But that has now become a cost to the wineries.”

“It is almost impossible to compare Marlborough to any other region, because putting it quite simply, Marlborough is unique. It is still young, it has expanded so quickly and we produce mainly one variety – Sauvignon Blanc.

Given it is mainly one variety, it all tends to come in at the same time and something needs to be done with it straight away.

“We have dairy farmers in north and south Canterbury who would take as much as we could give them, but we don’t have the transportation (network) to get it down there. Plus, it is a tricky product that is high in water content, so it needs to be stored correctly, and Sauvignon Blanc being high in acid could require treatment to prevent it affecting stock.”

But personally, Whitehead believes composting is the best possible solution for the future. The only issue there is who takes ownership of the grape marc? The winery or the grower?

“You have a lot of wine companies who are buying in fruit and may not have their own company vineyards, so where does the grape marc go from there? The wineries have always paid someone to take it away, the growers have never had to deal with it. But I personally feel composting is the best option. You are taking a product from the land, so you put it back. But the cost of establishing compost is quite high and requires staff.”

One solution she believes is for a biannual rotation, for those wineries who have their own vineyards. One year growers take the compost and spread thinly among the vines, the next year it is spread on company vineyards. Growers who supply wineries which do not own vineyards, may need to look at taking ownership of the marc, once the vintage is over. 

“The conclusion I came to is that everything we are doing is right, but it needs to be done on a bigger, more effective scale and it needs to involve both wineries and growers if we want it to lead to a sustainable future. We need to remove the negative stigma around grape marc being a nuisance or a hassle and take ownership and display leadership.”

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