Tool seeks out Hawke's Bay's wine 'sweet spot'
Hawke's Bay is set to become the country's first winemaking region to embark on a trial project aimed at finding the "sweet spot" of red wines in a push to boost their growing international reputation.
The region's export-orientated wineries are being invited to work with the Australian Wine Research Institute, whose tannin-profiling technology allows winemakers to measure the complete chemistry in ferments and finished wines.
New Zealand lacks a similar tool and it will be the first time the institute's technology has been used outside Australia. The trial will be run by Hawke's Bay Winegrowers, with funding from TechNZ, the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology's business programme which is delivered through its regional partner, Venture Hawke's Bay.
"Hawke's Bay wines are frequently compared to other premium red wines in the world and having a clear understanding of the technical make up of our wines' tannin profile will help us produce even better red wines," Te Mata Estate winemaker Peter Cowley said.
The pilot project comes after a TechNZ seminar last May in association with winegrowers and the EIT School of Viticulture. Winemakers and viticulturists learned about the specialist research into tannin and phenolic chemistry from Dr Paul Smith, the research manager from the Australian Wine Research Institute.
Tannin concentration is significantly related to climate and is a major part of defining a region's wine style.
The Australian institute's research has plotted tannin against wine quality produced and identified that above a certain tannin level, quality drops irrespective of region and grape variety.
"This indicates there is a quality 'sweet spot' for red wines at a high, but not too high, tannin level," Mr Cowley said.
"The pilot project will allow us to assess the profile of our red wines against the research and see how we might adjust our winemaking to fine tune the critical tannin level."