In Burgundy, the region that has defined Pinot Noir, it’s taken as a given that high-quality wine can only be produced from low yields. The rest of the world has followed Burgundy’s lead but New Zealanders, with their have-a-go attitude, are questioning hundreds of years of grape-growing experience and asking if it’s possible to get a larger crop from this capricious red variety without diluting quality.
The Pinot Noir Programme is a five-year research project which began in 2018. So far it has received NZ$9.3m ($6.3m) of government investment and an additional NZ$1m from the national wine association, New Zealand Winegrowers. Wine is now the country’s fifth most exported good, worth close to NZ$2bn, and it was perhaps only a matter of time before Pinot Noir, the country’s most-planted and most-exported red variety would receive state funding; the government had previously funded deep-dive research into Sauvignon Blanc and, more recently, lighter-in-alcohol wines.
The government hopes it is an investment in the financial success of the local wine industry: better yields from Pinot Noir without a loss of quality would mean better returns for the country’s producers. What’s perhaps most interesting for wine lovers is that it dares to question the age-old belief that low yields produce higher quality wine, while it also has greater goals. “To get funding for such a project you need to be showing you are increasing production for the country but equally it applies from a quality point of view,” says Oliver Masters, winemaker for Central Otago’s Misha’s Vineyard and the industry representative on the project.
New ways to supply the market
Pinot Noir has an almost mythical status among wine lovers and to suggest that yields can rise from 6 to 10 tonnes per hectare without negatively affecting quality has raised a few eyebrows. Masters cautions people not to overreact. “We all react to the idea we are just trying to grow more, but that’s just an oversimplification.”
The project’s aim is not simply to find ways to churn out higher volume Pinot Noir; rather, it takes a more holistic look at growing, making and selling the grape. In the first year, market research was undertaken across its main markets to see if there was an export opportunity for higher-yielding, cheaper Pinot Noir. “The findings showed that world wants more Pinot Noir wine and the main limitation is that they can’t access it in their liquor store or supermarket. There just isn’t enough to go around,” said Dr. Matias Kinzurik, who at the time of writing managed the research programme. Pinot Noir is also often the only New Zealand red wine on offer, despite the country’s ability to make distinctive Syrah and structured Merlot/Cabernet blends.
“I think more and more customers understand the world-class quality of New Zealand Pinot,” said Beth Pearce MW, the New Zealand buyer for UK retailer Majestic Wine. She added, however, that the higher price points are difficult to swallow for the average New Zealand white wine drinkers. “If it’s a typical New Zealand customer buying lots of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris, then yes the higher price of Pinot Noir will likely be a barrier – we tend to see those customers buying into Malbecs or Australian Shiraz. But comparable to Burgundy, I think customers can see great value in New Zealand Pinot, and many of our customers seem to agree.”
While Pinot Noir has always been more expensive than most red varieties, Pearce’s comments would suggest that in the world of Pinot Noir, New Zealand is fairly priced. However, at the producer-level, making Pinot Noir financially viable requires consistency and economic efficiency, which often proves elusive. It’s no surprise that many contract growers have opted to grow Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris instead, because it offers easier management and better yields. “The reason why a lot of areas struggle with Pinot Noir is that the yields are not good enough,” says Masters. “In Central Otago, for premium Pinot Noir, yields are around four to six tonnes per hectare but if producers could get another half tonne per hectare they would be very happy.”
In an effort to achieve this, researchers are currently exploring elements of the vine including the shape and size of both berries and bunches and their relationship with wine quality and style. The sensory science side of the project aims to understand what both experts and consumers identify as the key quality markers of Pinot Noir. This sensory aspect is being paired with painstaking chemical analysis to identify those quality markers, which will then be used to guide the management of the vineyards and the resulting winemaking.
Studies elsewhere
It’s not the first time that yields and their relationship with quality have been addressed. This has been the subject of numerous studies, particularly in warmer regions, with varied results. Some found lower crop loads led to improved quality, while others found it made no difference. Cool climate varieties, including Pinot Noir, have received less attention. One 2016 study from Oregon, a state where Pinot Noir accounts for almost two-thirds of vineyard area, surveyed and interviewed the local wine industry, asking about their Pinot Noir yield management. The researchers, who published their findings in the Journal of Extension, discovered that yields across the state’s vineyards are kept low to ensure the crop ripens in a cool climate, to avoid disease and – here’s the crux – because there’s a belief that low yields mean better quality. Lower yields, however, increase costs of production. Since 1981, annual fruit yields per hectare have been between 1.5 and 2.5 per ton per hectare. Over that time, vine density has increased, which means higher costs to achieve these yields, without any additional benefit from the land. It costs about $540 an acre to cluster thin, equivalent to 10% of the annual management costs – and this might be money spent unwisely. The results from the New Zealand vineyard trials, which are currently at the half-way point, may provide Pinot Noir growers around the world with science-based evidence that such techniques are not necessary.
The discussion of yields and quality requires context. It is traditionally thought that higher density vineyards are better suited to quality wine production based on a Bordeaux and Burgundy model. In these regions, 10,000 vines per hectare is the standard for producing top-flight wines. The age-old reasoning behind this is that the more vines per hectare, the greater the competition. This competition is said to lead to fewer bunches of better-quality fruit. The challenge with high plant density is higher maintenance, including pruning and canopy management to avoid shading and reduce disease pressure. The cost of maintaining Ernie Loosen’s steep Kinheim vineyard in the Mosel proved too high and thus every third row was ripped out to allow mechanisation and fruit quality does not appeared to have suffered.
However, in warm, dry climates, particularly where irrigation is forbidden, lower density planting is wise to avoid excessive water stress. The late Bordeaux-based Professor Denis Dubourdieu calculated there are 11,000 to 15,000 leaves per square metre in Bordeaux and Burgundy vineyards but half the leaves in Chianti and Rioja, which reduces the evapotranspiration rate and decrease the level of water stress, aiding quality.
Conversely, in the early 1990s, Richard Smart argued that leaf area to fruit weight ratio was more important than kilos per vine and high fruit quality could be achieved with low plant densities by using different trellising systems. The Scott Henry system increases the effective leaf surface area, so more leaves are photosynthesising, increasing the rate of ripening. A divided canopy also allows more air movement, reducing disease pressure. At that time, it was a practice adopted by many Australian and New Zealand grape growers but is less popular today as they pursue a higher density approach.
While there are many differing views on vine density, yields and resulting quality, the decision to keep crops small could actually be based on producers’ mindset. The authors of the Oregon study, Dionne Uzes, a graduate student, and Patricia Skinkis, associate professor of the department of horticulture, Oregon Wine Research Institute, discovered that a number of viticulturists surveyed thought that they could thin less in warmer seasons and still ripen a higher crop load but they are generally not the key decision-makers; the winery staff or winery owners surveyed were often making these calls, although they spent less time in the vineyard. Due to long-held beliefs that quality is inextricably linked with low yields, there was also a concern that producing a higher crop than the industry standard could be detrimental to marketing. What’s more, small wineries – and Oregon is a state of small-scale wine producers – were even less likely to deviate from industry standards, perhaps due to less experience or an unwillingness to take greater risks.
Behind closed doors, there are plenty of Kiwi producers that grumble about the money being spent on the Pinot Noir Programme. Based on their experiences, it is evident that Pinot Noir requires low yields to make good quality wine, However, the results of previous large-scale research projects funded by the New Zealand government and national wine association suggest that producers will welcome the findings that will be revealed at the end of the project in 2023, particularly if it means they can increase yields, however marginally, without reducing quality. Kinzurik says: “The industry is quite open to taking on the science. Our goal is to find techniques and best practices that can be applied. If we go to them at the end of the five-year project and say we were able to produce higher yielding, quality Pinot Noir and show them how, I believe many of them would take it on board.”
Rebecca Gibb MW
