4 May 1994 Lincoln Marks 20 Years of Grape and Wine Research

Lincoln University's influential involvement with the emergence of a modern grape production and wine making industry in Canterbury was marked in September 1993 with '20th anniversary' celebrations.

The year was the 20th anniversary of the first planting of grapes at Lincoln University and the subsequent flourishing of a South Island wine industry built on Lincoln research.

Canterbury and South Island wines are now considered to be of world class and it all stems back to pioneering work at Lincoln led by Dr David Jackson of the University's Horticulture Department.

Dr Jackson is acknowledged as the pioneer of cool climate grape growing in Canterbury and South Island wine production would not have achieved its pre-eminence without his efforts. His work embraced both a fundamental understanding of climate and grape growth and the practical application of new management techniques.

The three days of anniversary celebration in September were a sparkling success and drew grape growers and winemakers from all of the South Island's production areas and the southern part of the North Island as well.

Two guest speakers from overseas also attended – Dr Bryan Coombe, one of the world's top grape physiologists, from the University of Adelaide's Waite Institute, and Lucie Morton from Virginia, USA, internationally known through her books and lectures on rootstocks.

The presence of Dr Coombe was particularly appropriate as Dr Jackson was his first PhD student at the Waite Institute back in the 1960s.

A centre-point of the occasion was a two-day symposium at which the overseas experts and New Zealand speakers presented ideas which will carry the grape and wine industry into the 21st century. Topics such as the control of vigour in New Zealand vines, crop loss due to poor flower initiation and early bunch-stem necrosis, organic grape and wine production, phylloxera and the interface between the vineyard and the winery were all covered.

Industry recognition for the symposium was particularly pleasing and from the Wine Institute Chairman John Buck and Chief Executive Officer Philip Gregan attended.

The symposium and celebrations capped a year in which Dr Jackson, Dr Mike Trought (Horticulture Department), Reader in Wine Science Dr David Heatherbell and others involved with grape growing and wine science at Lincoln revived the holding of a series of campus-based seminar weekends to discuss the latest research and management practices for South Island growers and producers.

The popularity of the seminars and the high level of interest in the anniversary celebrations which capped 1993, all indicate that Lincoln's role in the education of grape growers and wine producers is as strong as ever.

It was perhaps appropriate that in the 20th anniversary year of grape and wine production Lincoln University's most prestigious alumnus award, the Bledisloe Medal, should be awarded to Dr Jackson.