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Dr Darrell Lizamore, Bragato Research Institute
Grapevine Improvement in New Zealand
Darrell is the Principal Research Scientist on the Sauvignon Blanc Grapevine Improvement programme. Originally from the Stellenbosch wine region in South Africa, Darrell established BRI’s Lincoln-based Grapevine Improvement Laboratory in 2019. He now leads a brilliant team of scientists working to improve genetic traits associated with resilience, sustainability and profitability of winegrowing in New Zealand.
Darrell manages a variety of research projects ranging from the rehabilitation of New Zealand’s National Vine Collection to the development of non-GMO tools for regulating the expression of plant traits (e.g. in response to inter-seasonal climate variations). The largest of these, the Sauvignon Blanc Grapevine Improvement Programme, is a 7-year Ministry for Primary Industries/New Zealand Winegrowers partnership that is currently developing New Zealand’s own Sauvignon Blanc clones to increase the resilience of the New Zealand wine industry.
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Dr Annabel Whibley, Bragato Research Institute
Grapevine Improvement in New Zealand
Annabel is a Bioinformatician in the Grapevine Improvement team. Her role explores genomic datasets to glean insights into grapevine biology. Annabel completed her PhD in plant molecular genetics at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. Since then she has applied genomics technologies to questions in clinical research, evolution and conservation. As a bioinformatician at BRI she is characterising genetic and epigenetic diversity in new and existing grapevines to develop more resilient plants for the future.
Annabel also holds an Honorary Academic position in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland.
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Jim White, Cloudy Bay Wine
European Plant Breeding - disease resistant vines
Jim White is the Technical and Sustainable Development Director at Cloudy Bay Vineyards in Marlborough, where he has worked for the past 14 years. Hailing from Melbourne, an interest in horticulture led to studying agriculture from which Jim started his career in viticulture, working across several Australian regions before joining Cloudy Bay in 2010.
Today Jim’s role encompasses vineyard and winery technical matters plus a broad range of responsibilities including H&S, engineering, major capital projects and CSR programs. Jim became interested in disease-resistant varieties (DRV) when attending a Moet Hennessy technical forum in Italy in 2022. A follow-up visit in 2023 was made to nurseries and producers in Italy and France to explore the potential for DVR for Cloudy Bay and the New Zealand wine industry.