Managing Compressed Vintages at VinLink Marlborough A case study

- Dave Pearce NEW ZEALAND MORE THAN SHEEP AND HOBBITS • Increase in value of NZ wine exports. Approximately 1.5 Billion p.a.

• Big increases in total sales. Up by nearly 10% this year

• dominates NZ wine exports. Currently 86% by volume REGIONAL VINEYARD GROWTH

25000

20000

15000 Marlborough Hawkes Bay 10000 Gisborne Central Otago 5000 Vineyard area (hectares) 0 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Year MARLBOROUGH WINE REGION(S)

WAIRAU VALLEY AWATERE VALLEY

New Zealand's largest New Zealand's 2nd largest wine region wine region SAUVIGNON BLANC “MONOCULTURE” VINLINK MARLBOROUGH VINLINK HISTORY

• Independent contract winemaking facility. • Established in 2012. • First started processing in vintage 2013. • 11,231 tonne for its first vintage. • Increased to 21,322 tonne for its second vintage. • New Zealand’s largest ever winery growth rate.

VinLink 2012 Stage One COMPANY STRUCTURE (NON-VINTAGE)

Board of Directors: Phil Turner (Board Chair), Simon Gilbertson (Managing Partner), Rob Godwin (Managing Partner), John Gilbertson, Reid Fletcher

General Manager

Dave Pearce BRC HACCP Deputy Chair

Administration Quality Systems Production Production Production Manager Manager Winemaker Winemaker Winemaker

Jackie Doull Shelley Wetton Jeff Lee Kerrie Stronge Kathy Cooney BRC HACCP Chair H&S Chair

Administration Laboratory Cellar Assistant Assistant Technician Supervisor Winemaker

Tanya Grieve Mai Nguyen Andrew Bassett Jeremy Tod H&S Officer H&S Deputy Chair

Cellarhand Cellarhand Cellarhand

Mary-Ann Reinke Daniel Ching Currently unfilled

DAVE PEARCE VinLink General Manager

• Has worked in wineries since 1978 as a Cellar Hand, Lab Tech, Distiller, Production Manager, Winemaker, Chief Winemaker, General Manager. • B. Food Technology (hons) - Massey NZ. • Headed the conversion of the world’s first carbon neutral (carboNZero) winery. • First to make a Sauvignon Blanc “Top wine of NZ” (Royal Easter Wine Show - 1997), later a “World’s Best Sauvignon Blanc” (Int. Wine Challenge - 2006). • Has received International trophies for , Riesling, , Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc (most auspiciously “Top Wine In The World With Oysters”). MARLBOROUGH - 1983 TO 2015

Vintage growth around 3,300%

Sauvignon Blanc increase from about 5% to about 85%

1983 normal vintage 6 weeks

2015 normal vintage 3 weeks

Overall increase in Sauvignon Blanc intake rate: approximately 110,000% MARLBOROUGH SAUVIGNON BLANC

Comparative aromatic profile of Sauvignon Blanc.

Marlborough vs. Bordeaux INTRODUCTION

“You know in Marlborough you really need to be able to get your fruit in over a two week period.

Shouldn’t happen… but you need to plan for it.” CAUSES OF VINTAGE COMPRESSION (IN MARLBOROUGH)

• Frost  Early end to vintage • Stress  Water (usually..) • Monoculture  All the same variety • Botrytis  And other infections • Rain  Can bucket down • Heat  SB Over-ripens very quickly • Drought  Irrigation can be stopped • Viticulture  Evens out performance • Sprays  Standardised schedules • Market  Little stylistic variation AND.. (IN MARLBOROUGH)

• Harvesting! Big advances in harvesting technology and logistics; the “down-side”, if there is one, to managing all the others. MAIN DRIVERS? (AND I GENERALISE)

Cold and/or wet - 2 in 5 vintages

Hot and dry - 1 in 5 vintages Because that’s the way it is, deal with it! - 2 in 5 vintages

And because timing is everything.. Dry Season Precautions in the Vineyard As we come into what is expected to be a very dry growing season, Wine Marlborough will be hosting a brief seminar for members.

1. Rob Agnew from Plant and Food Research will provide an overview of how the current season has started out with regard to Temperature, Rainfall, Soil Moisture, Water Deficit, in relation to previous seasons and the current climate situation as reported and forecast by NIWA. …. 4.Members of the Viticulture Task force will be discussing how they manage these conditions on the ground.

Dry Season precautions in the vineyard When: Tuesday 17th November 2015 Where: Marlborough Research Centre Theatre, 85 Budge Street Time: 4.00pm approx. 1 hour RSVP: To [email protected] MANAGING VINTAGE COMPRESSION (A TRADITIONAL WINERY VIEWPOINT) “We can’t justify investing that sort of money when vintage only lasts for six weeks of the year.” A TRADITIONAL RESULT MANAGING VINTAGE COMPRESSION (A CONTRACT PROCESSOR’S VIEWPOINT)

“Because VinLink makes nothing if it doesn’t get its clients’ fruit in we’ve made sure we’ve got the horsepower up front to do so.” A BETTER RESULT

3 independent runways, each with a 200HL and 240HL press. 35 tonne/hour per runway continuous intake (105 T/hr overall). Red and White simultaneously. 100 minute press cycles. Barcoded deliveries. AND THE REAL DIFFERENCE? (TRADITIONAL WINERY VS CONTRACT PROCESSOR)

None!

…no winery makes anything without the fruit coming in. The very worst case being the winery that’s made the fullest investment in the fruit, from vineyard development to in-market representation.

(in other words the “traditional” winery structure) “Every step along the value chain is critical to a winery’s success and none more important than ensuring that the value created in the vineyard is transferred successfully into the winery.” A CASE STUDY

VinLink’s strategy to get that value out of the vineyards and into our winery. IDENTIFY, MITIGATE AND MANAGE THE ISSUES

Starting here Process

People Plant

“These Issues”

Procedures Partners

Planning PROCESS

“Design your Process flow.

Design it to do the volumes in the timelines you need to them it in.

Be realistic, if vintage can be as short as two weeks then process flow rates should show that.” A PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM (A STARTING POINT) PROCESS FLOW INFORMATION EVERYTHING SPECIFIED

 Decision making points – fruit booking  Product flow rates – freight, crush, press  Human input – work, decisions  Delay times - presses, lab, cellar  Alternate pathways - quarantine  Dry goods use – locations, waste  Fermentation rates – start, middle, finish  Inert gas use – type, rates  Energy use – power, heating, fuel  Waste streams - water, marc, perlite  Refrigeration loads – ferment, cooling PLANT

“Plant must be sized to match the process flow.”

“All of it!” PLANT SIZING EXAMPLE DETAILED REFRIGERATION MODELLING SURPRISING RESULTS

• Completed 2015, two units.

• One is the largest refrigeration compressor in a New Zealand winery (1.18 MW)

• Room for expansion… PARTNERS

“An area easily overlooked and often a downfall. These are the many inputs into your process that can miss a mention.” SOME OF OUR PARTNERS

Appreciate how many you have and choose them well! WHY PARTNERS?

Vintage stops just as quickly with a food poisoning outbreak as with a water shortage. PLANNING

“Planning should be clear, specific, involve everyone and be well communicated. It needs to cover the unlikely as well as the expected. Do it well, as no matter how well you do it it’s not going to be the way it happens.” A PART OF THE PLAN A SECTION FROM VINLINK’S CLIENT CHECKLIST PROCEDURES

“You can certainly have too many standard operating procedures (SOP’s), - but probably not before 300 or so.” WINEMAKER SOP’S PEOPLE

“Staff are both an integral component of shareholders’ investment as well as a pivotal driver of shareholder value; something not as widely appreciated as it could be in the industry.” QUALITY SYSTEMS MANAGER

SHELLEY WETTON (QSM) Diploma in Viticulture & Winemaking (NMIT). 9 vintages experience in Marlborough.

VinLink employed a full time Quality Systems Manager from the beginning, given the vital importance systems and structures have in allowing people to do their jobs effectively. WINEMAKERS

JEFF LEE Degree in fermentation science (Oregon State). Initially brewing then went on to winemaking in regions including Oregon & Marlborough. 12 vintages experience.

KATHY COONEY Undergraduate degree in biochemistry (Canterbury). Post Grad (Masters) (University of Adelaide). 12 vintages including Germany, France, Oregon, Central Otago and Marlborough.

KERRIE STRONGE Undergraduate degree in microbiology (Massey). Masters in applied wine science (first class honours) (Lincoln). 16 vintages in Australia and NZ, primarily Marlborough.

JEREMY TOD BV&O (Lincoln). 13 vintages including California, Australia, Mexico, Chile and New Zealand. OUTCOME?

Process

People Plant

Performance!

Procedures Partners

Planning CONCLUSIONS

“Vintage Compression” is a challenge we either experience already or will do so in the near future.

Managing vintage compression is a significant issue for winemaking caught unawares.

The strategy should be to conduct a realistic assessment of your winery’s current capabilities.

This information must go to everyone with influence in the decision making (capex and opex) processes, because… LIKE IT, OR NOT, THEY’RE ALL INVOLVED BECAUSE…

“The best return you can make on your shareholders’ investment is getting their fruit into your winery, in the best possible condition.” AND.

We all know what it feels like when we get it wrong!