Brancott unveils wine innovation competition

New Zealand winery Brancott Estate has teamed up with a tech start-up in Sydney to launch the ‘Winexplorer Innovation Challenge’, a Dragon’s Den-style competition which it hopes will help it discover the next big thing in wine.

Patrick Materman, chief winemaker at Brancott Estate in Marlborough, New Zealand

The Marlborough winery is working with Sydney-based company BlueChilli to launch Winexplorer, a competition aimed at “entrepreneurs, wine enthusiasts, researchers, technologists and innovators”. Its aim is to foster innovation that might change the way people enjoy wine in the future.

“When we decided to plant Sauvignon Blanc vines in Marlborough in 1975, we created one of the world’s most popular wine styles,” said Brancott Estate chief winemaker Patrick Materman. “Now we are looking to change the wine world again by identifying ideas that will fundamentally change the way people enjoy wine.”

The top five submissions will be shared on social media for people to vote on, with a final judging event taking place in Sydney on April 7, where the final five will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges.

The winner will receive a prize of A$35,000 and the chance to work with BlueChilli and Brancott Estate to make their innovation a reality.

Materman will be one of the judges of the Winexplorer Innovation Challenge, which is open to participants from Australia and New Zealand who have until 6 March to submit their ideas.

Pointing to screw-caps or QR codes as modern innovations that have changed how people consume wine, Materman said  “not about the wine itself”, but how people engage with wine, “which could mean how the bottle looks, or how they buy it.”

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