20 September 2000 Pinot noir colour improvement aim of Lincoln research

A research project which aims to find out how to grow Pinot noir grapes for the right coloured wine has received a grant from Lincoln University's Fund for Excellence.

Dr Glen Creasy of Lincoln's Centre for Viticulture and Oenology is one of six students and five staff who have shared an allocation of funds from the University's Fund for Excellence, which provides money raised from alumni for promising research projects.

Dr Creasy says making Pinot noir which is sufficiently red has been a problem for the New Zealand wine industry, and for Canterbury in particular. Colour is an important aspect in the overall quality of Pinot noir and the New Zealand industry is gearing up to produce increased volumes.

''The aim of the wine industry is to produce a world class Pinot, and to do that it has to produce a wine which has a nice dark red colour," says Dr Creasy. "In New Zealand's cooler wine producing areas that has proven to be difficult, particularly when the yield from the vines is increased.

"If the colour is sufficiently intense, it influences the overall perception of the wine's quality and hence its value. Darker red wines are generally rated more highly than lighter, thinner­ looking wines."

The research will focus on how to ensure the vines develop enough anthocyanins, which are responsible for the colour of red wine, and to determine the ideal crop load. "It's possible to influence the colour artificially but the whole idea is to be able to control and improve the colour naturally in the field, with minimal processing in the winery."

The research will try to find out if there is an upper limit to the amount of colour the vine can make in the berries. As the crop load on the vine increases, the concentration of anthocyanins, which are responsible for the colour of red wine, decreases in each berry.

"We want to identify when the increasing crop yield starts to reduce the colour significantly and how we can get around the trade-off between quantity and quality," says Dr Creasy. "Since the amount of colour in the berries sets the upper limit for colour in the wine, we hope to maximise and improve the colour naturally in the field."

Lincoln's Fund for Excellence was the first of its kind established by a New Zealand university, and aims to promote excellence in teaching, research and student services using funds collected in an annual appeal to alumni, University Council members and friends of Lincoln University.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand