The Pinot Noir Programme aimed to help diversify the New Zealand wine industry and enable high-quality Pinot Noir production at higher yields. The research phase concluded in 2022 and now BRI is extending the findings to winemakers over a three-year period.
The workshops will spotlight research on Pinot noir, with presentations from researchers inside of the programme, international research, local perspectives and a tasting of research Pinot Noir from the 2022 vintage.
These workshops will focus on results from yield studies, the resulting research wines, and sensory outcomes—as well as additional commentary from international Pinot noir research.
During the Pinot Noir Programme, sensory analyses by both wine professionals and wine consumers could not distinguish quality differences between the 2021 vintage wines made from vines with mean yields ranging from 1.2 to 3.2 kg per metre. Can you taste the difference in the 2022 vintage research wines?
Science Group Leader - Viticulture & Oenology, Plant & Food Research
Dr Damian Martin is one of the NZ wine industry’s leading grape/wine technicians and innovators, who has worked as a researcher and in significant wine companies (Ara Wines, Corbans, Montana). Damian leads Plant & Food Research’s Viticulture & Oenology Science Group, is Chief Editor of The International Viticulture & Enology Society - International Technical Reviews publication and has made extensive science and leadership contributions to several major NZ Wine research programmes including Lighter Wines and most recently Pinot noir.
Damir Torrico
Senior Lecturer in Sensory Science, Lincoln University
Dr Torrico is a highly accomplished sensory scientist. His interests are primarily focused on foods and beverages, specifically taste perception, food product optimization and consumer acceptability, and physiological and psychological responses of consumers towards food products. He currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Sensory Science at Lincoln University and serves as the Director of the Centre of Excellence – Food for Future Consumers. Through his work at the Centre, Dr Torrico has established a substantial research program in food provenance and sensory analysis of foods and has supervised PhD students and a post-doctoral research fellow.
Andrew Waterhouse
Director, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science
Dr Andrew Waterhouse is a third-generation Californian. He attended the University of Notre Dame where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, and then UC Berkeley for his PhD in organic chemistry. In 1991, he moved to the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis where his research program has delved into wine oxidation as well as various aspects of wine chemistry, with an emphasis on phenolic compounds. He is currently a Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture and is Director of the Robert Mondavi Institute at UC Davis.
In addition, the following local presenters will lead tastings and discussions:
In the Wairarapa workshop, Helen Masters will lead us through a tasting and discussion of 2018 and 2019 Ata Rangi McCrone vineyard wines that formed part of the PN Programme yield study network.
In the Marlborough workshop, Duncan Shouler with help from Nikolai St George will lead us through a tasting and discussion of 2018 and 2019 Giesen Clayvin vineyard wines that formed part of the PN programme yield study network.
In the Central Otago workshop, Gareth King and Larissa Woods will lead us through a tasting and discussion of 2018 and 2019 Felton Road Elms Block 3 wines that formed part of the PN programme yield study network.
About the Pinot Noir Programme
The Pinot Noir Programme was a partnership between New Zealand Winegrowers and MBIE, managed by Bragato Research Institute. Major science providers in the programme included Plant & Food Research, the University of Auckland, and Lincoln University. The programme ran from 2018-2022, with multiple research projects aims and experiments, including field trials, research winemaking and chemistry tied together with consumer and expert sensory evaluations.
