National Viticulturist Nick Paulin chatted with Emma Jenkins of New Zealand Winegrower Magazine last month and landed himself the cover shot!
Read the excerpt from his interview, republished with permission.
Nick Paulin doesn’t seem like someone who spends a lot of time talking about his underwear. But you might be surprised. His “undies test” – showing the markedly greater decomposition of cotton undies buried in diverse cover crop blocks versus simple grass – is a disarmingly simple teaching tool about the benefits and power of regenerative viticulture. “Everyone gets it, and it blows people’s minds,” he grins. “It’s a great way to start a real conversation about what’s happening underground.”
“You can be regen and going great guns, or you can appear regen but just be greenwashing with sheep in photos.” ⁓ Nick Paulin
Nick’s background in organics dates back to university, and he describes the transition to regeneration as appealing because it prioritises measuring outputs (soil health, biodiversity, resilience) rather than just inputs (certification checklists), aligning well with the views of Aotearoa New Zealand Fine Wine Estates (AONZ) co-owner Steve Smith. Nick acknowledges the grey areas that come with regenerative viticulture’s lack of formal certification. “You can be regen and going great guns, or you can appear regen but just be greenwashing with sheep in photos”.
His mantra is to encourage people to shift, because every small change matters. At AONZ they operate with a “regenerative mindset as a base” approach, layered with certified organic viticulture, incorporating biodynamic principles, at Pyramid Valley.
Certification assists market access, and they have formulated their own regenerative reporting, such as soil organic matter tests and worm counts.
Across sites the work is tailored, and Nick emphasises the trial and error process of refining what works. The old vines of the Low Burn Estate in Central Otago, with its dry-farmed set-up, differs from Pyramid Valley’s high density plantings in Waikari, and Hawke’s Bay’s quicker growth cycle, driving different cover crop strategies. At Waikari, they learnt that cereals created too much humidity in high density blocks, and switched to low growing clover and alyssum. Animals are integrated too – a small sheep mob grazed a high density block pre-budburst – practices Nick sees as “closing the loop”.
Read the full New Zealand Winegrower article here
For more on Nick’s “Soil your undies” experiment, click here.
Drone over Low Burn Estate, Central Otago
Cover crops at Omahu Estate, Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay
Biodynamic preparation at Waikari Estate, North Canterbury