Phone
06 830 1199 Extension: 5199
Areas of Teaching
Wine Science, Viticulture
Qualifications
PhD, MSc (Viticulture), BSc (Vit&Oen), NZCertAdTT
Profile
Professional Statement
To ensure that all students feel successful and confident upon completion of their course, meet their individual goals, and have the necessary skills to establish themselves in their future careers. This is achieved by cultivating a safe supportive learning environment where students are enabled to develop the critical skills necessary to effectively step into industry. The foundation of this is built upon the ethos of using research to develop tools to solve problems directly applicable to industry.
Research Expertise
Dr Chandré Honeth received her PhD from the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) were she investigated the influence of UVB radiation of berry metabolites in Sauvignon blanc grape berries. Since then, her research career, focused by her interests in viticulture and the influence of terroir dynamics on berry characteristics, has included investigations into the impacts vineyard management practises, climatic factors and seasonal effects have on berry composition linking to wine organoleptic properties. This has given her expansive expertise in the area of stress induced responses in grapevine physiology, including grape berry sugar loading, metabolite development, UVB light stress induced responses in grape berry metabolism and ultimately chemical analysis and data mining.
Industry collaborations include with the Hawkes Bay Vine group (part of New Zealand winegrowers), The Bragato Research Institute, Plant and Food, Thoughtful Viticulture and a number of local Hawkes Bay producers. Working in and collaborating with industry has given her broad practical experience in vineyard maintenance and management – ensuring optimal berry development and ripening and wine production. Due to her diverse range of experience she is an effective critical thinker.
Research Projects
Over the last decade Chandré has been involved in a number of small and large scale investigations into influences of berry characteristics. Presently she is working with local Hawkes Bay vineyards researching viticultural methods optimising Syrah berry ripening. She is also involved in a study investigating vine pathogen reduction techniques. Past projects include investigating the influence of UVB radiation on berry metabolites and examining the dynamics of grape berry metabolism and grapevine development. The projects include:
- Investigating the dynamics or source-sink relationships in Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines – Stellenbosch University
- The impact of UV-light on grapevine berry and wine metabolites – Stellenbosch University and Umeå Universitet
- Biological methods for Mealy bug control – Plant and Food
- Viticultural treatments for improving Syrah quality – Thoughtful Viticulture, BRI, HBVine
Read more about Chandré on Linked in.