Manu's Memos

It was great news to hear this week that our R&D project focused on indigenous yeasts has been successful in the current Endeavour funding round.

This is an exciting opportunity for mana whenua from across Aotearoa to be part of a commercial research programme utilising unique organisms for flavouring in fermentation of non-alcoholic beverages for domestic and global markets.

The research team including Peter Bircham, Simon Hinkley, Sarah Knight, Andrew Munkacsi, Maui Hudson, Pita Turei, Garage Project, Bragato Research Institute, Te Kotahi Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Auckland and many others is almost as diverse as the yeasts and communities we’ll be working with.

Of course I’m a little biased, but this is exactly the kind of research and innovation that ministers Shane Reti MP and Hon. Tama Potaka should be supporting as part of the Going For Growth economic development/survival agenda of the current administration.


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Official project information:

Contract value (GST excl): $7,803,067
Contract term: 5 years
Funding awarded in: 2025
Principal Investigator/s: Peter Bircham, Simon Hinkley

Alcoholic beverages are falling out of favour as social attitudes pivot towards health-conscious and socially responsible lifestyles. Non-alcoholic options are in huge demand and are growing exponentially in sales. This growing market is a huge opportunity for Aotearoa New Zealand’s NZ$7B wine and beer industry.

Recent technological advances are starting to produce non-alcoholic beers that are beginning to approach the quality of their alcoholic counterparts. However, current technologies are limited in range, expensive, and result in products with undesirable flavour attributes. The wine industry faces even greater challenges, calling for natural approaches to preserving quality and complexity in dealcoholized products.

This research programme will generate indigenous yeasts and the technologies to produce non-alcoholic beer and wine with desirable characteristics, and without the drawbacks of existing methodologies. Drawing inspiration from Aotearoa’s unique terroir, this project will discover and curate indigenous wild yeast under a mātauranga Māori framework, providing the beverage industries with a high-value commercial resource to meet the world’s changing demand for beer and wine.

The University of Auckland, Waikato University and Victoria University of Wellington will work together to achieve the programme’s objectives. Partnership with industry leaders including the Bragato Research Institute, Garage Project, leading NZ wineries, and yeast producers will keep this research endeavour in close alignment with industry interests. The methodologies developed here offer a more accessible, generalised means for small and large producers to create non-alcoholic beverages without compromising the subtle flavours that distinguish artisanal brews and vintages.