Bragato Research Institute

03/09/2026

The New Zealand wine industry has many trailblazing women. Winemakers, viticulturists, business leaders - their names are well known, their contributions long recognised. Less visible, perhaps, are the scientists working in research and academia, whose work shapes the industry long before anything reaches a bottle. Emma Jenkins talks to some of the women helping shape the future of New Zealand wine, including seven of our talented researchers working in areas from winemaking and data science to genomics - Amy Hill, Ellie Bradley, Cen Liau, Annabel Whibley, Fang Gou, Francesca Cavasin and Juliet Ansell.

Read more: https://www.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz/wine-grower/wg-profiles/women-shaping-new-zealand-wine-science-research

01/09/2026

Yesterday we kicked off Spray Days in Wairarapa.🌿
A Lighter Touch and Bragato have teamed up to deliver a limited series of hands-on spraying workshops in Wairarapa, Central Otago, Waiheke and Nelson wine regions this month.

Led by David Manktelow (who has run previous Spray Days events), the workshops will cover current spray tips and techniques, sprayer set-up and calibration, common application issues, and things to consider when looking to reduce spray inputs without compromising coverage or effectiveness. It is a chance to ask questions, share experiences, and pick up useful ideas that can be taken back into day-to-day vineyard operations.

These workshops are free to attend and include lunch. More information and registration here: nzwine.com/spray-days/

31/08/2026

The wine that led Francesca Cavasin to pursue a career in wine wasn’t from her home in Italy. It was Marlborough Sauvignon blanc.

From vineyard work in New Zealand, to studying in Conegliano where Romeo Bragato once studied, to discovering a love of winemaking in England, and developing a keen interest in DRVs in Luxembourg, her career has been full of interesting twists and turns. It has now come full circle with her current role as Research Winemaker at Bragato Research Institute.

Read more: bri.co.nz/2026/08/31/francesca-cavasin/

27/08/2026

Turning winery waste into a valuable vineyard resource🍇

Every vintage, Marlborough wineries produce large volumes of lees, the sediment left over from winemaking. Traditionally treated as waste, it can be costly to dispose of and places pressure on regional waste and wastewater infrastructure.

Bragato Research Institute is proud to announce the Marlborough Circular Wine Programme, a new initiative to transform winery lees into a beneficial soil amendment for vineyards, reducing waste and emissions while returning valuable organic matter and nutrients back to vineyard soils.

The programme will collect lees from participating wineries and process it with materials such as compost and biochar. Wineries pay a disposal fee designed to be competitive with landfill costs, while the finished product will be returned to participating vineyards at no additional cost.

The programme aims to divert more than 3,500 tonnes of solid lees from landfill and wastewater systems each year and mitigate around 4,700 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually.

Led by BRI and supported by industry, government and regional partners, the programme will test and validate a commercially viable circular solution that could become a blueprint for wine regions across New Zealand.

Interested in participating? Find out more at bri.co.nz/circular-wine or get in touch at [email protected].

19/08/2026

How could advances in grapevine breeding and genetic improvement contribute to a more resilient and sustainable New Zealand wine industry?

Today's NZ Wine Centre Research Snapshots session brings together Dr Phillipa Barrel from Bioeconomy Science Institute and BRI's Dr Ellie Bradley.

Phillipa will provide an update on disease-resistant vines and current gene-editing research, and Ellie will discuss outcome-focused approaches to genetic improvement and how New Zealand research connects with work being explored internationally.

Find out more: mrc.org.nz/research-snapshots

Marlborough Research Centre - MRC NMIT

18/08/2026

Happy International Pinot Noir Day!
Today we’re celebrating New Zealand’s most iconic red varieties and the science helping growers and winemakers get the best from it.

One recent project is uncovering how different clones perform under New Zealand conditions. The Central Otago Pinot noir clonal trial investigated 12 commercially available clones, revealing how clonal selection influences ripeness, colour, phenolic composition and wine style. The research provides valuable insights to support planting, replanting and vineyard management decisions, while highlighting the important role that sites, seasons and clones all play in shaping Pinot noir quality.

Another recent project, led by the University of Auckland, explored one of the industry's most challenging wine faults: reductive aromas. This research investigated how vineyard and winemaking practices influence the formation of volatile sulphur compounds responsible for unwanted reductive characters in Pinot noir, to develop practical strategies that help winemakers minimise off-aromas and produce consistently high-quality wines.

Read more about this work: https://bri.co.nz/category/pinot-noir/

Here's to the growers, winemakers and researchers working together to make great Pinot noir, from vineyard to glass. 🍇🍷

13/08/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Next Generation Viticulture winter pruning open day this morning. The BRI team shared how to train and prune the alternative growing systems. We appreciated everyone who contributed to the conversation!

Thanks to This is Indevin for hosting.

11/08/2026

How sustainable is a bottle of New Zealand wine?
We are proud to announce that New Zealand wine is now included on the Planetary Facts Dashboard, providing a science-based benchmark for understanding the environmental footprint of the average bottle of New Zealand wine.

Working with the Planetary Accounting Network, industry data from the 2024 season was analysed across vineyard operations, winemaking, packaging and distribution to create a Planetary Impact Score for New Zealand wine.

The results show that an average 750ml bottle of New Zealand wine accounts for approximately 1.8% of a person’s daily environmental budget. The assessment also found that choosing wine from your closest region can reduce its environmental footprint by around 25%.

The work highlights the strong sustainability foundations already established through New Zealand wine’s long-term commitment to environmental stewardship, while also identifying opportunities for future improvement, particularly in packaging.

As global expectations for environmental transparency continue to grow, tools such as Planetary Facts help provide credible, science-based information that supports better decision-making across the wine value chain.

Explore the dashboard: https://planetaryfacts.com/home
Learn more about the Planetary Facts assessment for NZ Wine: https://bri.co.nz/2026/01/07/planetary-facts/

30/07/2026

Next Generation Viticulture winter pruning day ✂️
The Next Generation Viticulture programme aims to help growers improve vineyard profitability through the adoption of innovative, efficient canopy systems.

Join BRI’s Winegrowing team at the pruning open day. This day is open to anyone interested in viewing the growing system.

Find out more here: https://www.nzwine.com/en/initiativesevents/research/ngv-winter-pruning-open-day/

27/07/2026

📢 Funded PhD Opportunity
University of Canterbury and Bragato Research Institute are seeking an exceptional research student to investigate new ways to identify grapevines with increased resilience to spring frost.

Spring frost can damage emerging buds, shoots and inflorescences, reducing yield and disrupting seasonal productivity. In many New Zealand vineyards, active frost protection relies on overhead sprinkler systems that require substantial volumes of freshwater. This project will investigate whether rapid, quantitative assessment of grapevine frost responses can support the selection of more resilient plant material.

This funded PhD offers the opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary academic-industry team tackling an important challenge for Aotearoa New Zealand's wine industry.

Learn more:

Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) and Bragato Research Institute (BRI) are seeking an exceptional research student to investigate new ways to identify grapevines with increased resilience to spring frost.