Grapegrower & Winemaker - August 2014

AUGUST 2014

CLIMATE CRISIS: Special news feature BARREL CLEANING: What works, what doesn’t

LEACHING EFFICIENCY:

Its impact on irrigation sustainability

ch s o et B k a

c DE a N j I d SI N e W eat ILS I h

TA E D

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August 2014: Issue 607

Contents features 30 GWRDC

61

Ben puts his Best foot forward at harvest

57 Trellising

63

Online map to boost phylloxera compliance

61

Vineyard machinery

64 Kiwi clan goes for efficiency at harvest

87

Wine storage

98

Bottling and labelling

winemaking

103

Bulk export

70

Chitosan and Brett – understanding your lab results and sub-lethal populations

news

74

What a bottler of an opportunity for the little guys

7

Opportunities in a new climate – special report

75 The beauty of self destruction: yeast autolysis in sparkling wines

19

Movers and Shakers

78

Wines and vines and a love for swine

20

My View - Sparkling reds have come of age

79

21

How to decide when to sell your wine business

WA winemakers get taste of cold soak technique

82

It seemed like a Valley good idea at the time

87

When too much oak is too much oak

91

Sanitation – the pros and cons of the good and the bad in barrels

23

Roundtable – Getting down to barrel business

28

Regional Roundup – New Zealand’s South Island

sales and marketing

grapegrowing

98

Which label really is worth 1000 words?

34 Leaching efficiency and its impact on the sustainability of irrigation

102 Australia has ‘led the industry’ in New World wine label design

42 ADAMA ready for business Down Under

105

44 How-to manual for assessing the health of your vineyard 47 New standard in vine planting material is a big step forward 57

Ocloc innovation wins innovation grant

JUNE

Survey says screwcap is top choice

business & technology 106

The good, the bad and the casual

2 014

People in research: 7 Dr Justin Cohen 30 “Then instead of returning to the US, to work in corporate management for a hotel group as planned, I accepted a scholarship to undertake a PhD in wine marketing.

cover

“It’s where I first connected with Professor Larry Lockshin (Pro Vice Chancellor for Strategic Coordination andA Head of Marketing at University of South Australia) and his research group.”

Cohen said he happily made the jump.

Dr Cohen continues to work closely with Larry and Armando, particularly on the current China projects.

regulars

“We’re a great team. My focus is particularly managerial, it’s my job to solve problems and come up with ways to overcome hurdles that crop up with such projects.

Vintage at Devil’s Lair in 6 What’s online Western Australia’s Margaret“Working in emerging markets like China now is really exciting, because we are 108 forward River region captured all thegetting past people justLooking espousing their thoughts and feelings. Our EBI team is 109 Advertiser index colour of the season with this actually doing the research in country. We Responsible for the wine marketing can make arguments and claims about picture, whichsupervision, was submitted component and research Dr market dynamics in data and not classifieds 110 founded Marketplace Cohen said that after two exciting years just conjecture.” as part of our vintage of delivering education and2014 conducting research across numerous European photo competition. markets he was ready for the next challenge “Working in emerging markets After completing his PhD, Dr Cohen moved to Europe to work in the Master Vintage program, which is an EU-funded Master of Science program (MSC) for oenology, viticulture and wine business.

Dr Justin Cohen, Research Fellow, Ehrenberg Bass Institute for Marketing Science

Beginning with a childhood spent at Cape Cod in the United States to a career that spans Europe, Australia and now Asia, for Research Fellow Dr Justin Cohen it’s been a journey inspired by great food and wine experiences.

As Research Fellow at the Ehrenberg-Bass

- at the Australian Centre for Retail Studies, a specialised retailing centre at Monash University.

“I focussed my energy on commercial research and strategy implementation for property groups, retailers and brands,

like China now is really exciting.”

Dr Cohen is also enjoying the growing interest and research competition in wine

87

In this issue August THERE is no upside in excess alcohol.

And in this era of excess – from its obesity to its materialism – the wine industry needs to be paying careful attention.

Because government – state and federal – is a creature which can never leave well enough alone.

So the issue of high alcohol content in wine would be like waving the proverbial red rag at a bull when publicity-conscious politicians start looking for new targets.

If you don’t think that’s a possibility look at the news out of the UK where house wine in bars and pubs will be no stronger than 12.5 per cent, under a Government plan to curb binge drinking.

The Government wants to cut the amount of alcohol drunk in Britain by a billion units a year to address its drinking problems.

Cut price deals for alcohol in shops and supermarkets will also be targeted, while super-strength beer will be stopped from being sold in large cans.

Australian wine has the choice of some serious self-regulation, sooner rather than later, in bringing down the alcohol content in some of its production or possibly being forced to stand back while government blunders through the china shop looking for its own solutions.

Which would then be enshrined in a complex set of laws almost certainly riddled with loopholes and causing nothing but ongoing grief.

The research industry has been hot on the trail of this issue for some time, and many growers have been doing their best to address the challenge.

But while government is renowned

for its glacial progress in most matters, it can be amazingly, even frighteningly, quick when TV cameras are staring it in the face.

A classic primary industry case in point is the live export industry and federal cabinet, in an almost overnight decision, suspending a business worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

By the time the dust settled and the full facts were revealed, the stupidity of the original decision became clear but the damage could not be undone.

Many northern Australian cattle producers nearly went to the wall – and some did – because their major market was closed to them at a peak production point in the year.

That was government by television and make no mistake; it wasn’t the first case and certainly won’t be the last.

So as Australia deals with the social problems of alcohol, particularly binge drinking amongst teenagers and 20-somethings, any government with survival in mind will be looking for a soft target and a media-diverting quick fix.

Wine needs to be aware of its vulnerability – a standard comparison between wine and beer shows wine’s alcohol percentage close to three times that of full strength beer.

It’s like most things in this world; if you can’t fix it yourself a nearby government will have a crack on your behalf.

Andrew Mole Editor Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker editor@grapeandwine.com.au

Publisher and Chief Executive Hartley Higgins Managing EDITOR Elizabeth Bouzoudis EDITOR Andrew Mole editor@grapeandwine.com.au Editorial advisory board Dr Jim Fortune, Denis Gastin, Dr Steve Goodman, Dr Terry Lee, Paul van der Lee, Bob Campbell MW, Prof Dennis Taylor and Mary Retallack Editorial Stephanie Timotheou Advertising Sales Chas Barter sales@grapeandwine.com.au Circulation: Melissa Smithen subs@winetitles.com.au Subscription Prices Australia: 1 year (12 issues) $77.50 (inc. GST) 2 years (24 issues) $145 (inc. GST) New Zealand, Asia & Pacific: 1 year (12 issues) $110 (AUD) 2 years (24 issues) $210 (AUD) All other countries: 1 year (12 issues) $174.50 (AUD) 2 years (24 issues) $339 (AUD) Students (Aus only): 1 year (12 issues) $66 (inc. GST) Winetitles Pty. Ltd. 630 Regency Road, Broadview, South Australia 5083 Phone: (08) 8369 9500 Fax (08) 8369 9501 info@winetitles.com.au www.winebiz.com.au

Contributors A graduate of UC Davis, Curtis Phillips has been an editor for the US magazine Wine Business Monthly since 2000, a winemaker since 1984 and agricultural consultant since 1979.

His report on wine barrel sanitation starts on Page 91.

Printing by Lane Print Group, Adelaide © Contents copyright Winetitles Pty Ltd 2014.

All Rights Reserved.

Print Post Approved PP535806/0019 Articles published in this issue of Grapegrower & Winemaker may also appear in full or as extracts on our website.

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SARDI research scientist Mark Skewes has worked on improving irrigation efficiency, soil water monitoring and the effects of drought on permanent horticulture crops, including winegrapes. He is based at Loxton Research Centre in South Australia’s Riverland.

His report starts on Page 34.

on the grapevine Barossa legend dies, aged 62

what’s online Penfolds suffers from China squatters Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) failed to register the Chinese name for Penfolds and is now locked in a protracted legal battle with a notorious trademark squatter in an effort to regain ownership of the name. A rival wine company has registered three variations of Penfolds’ Chinese name, Ben Fu, which potentially leaves TWE open to a hefty fine for trademark infringement and could also allow the rival to sell wine using the Chinese name for Penfolds, reports the Australian Financial Review.

Wine Victoria welcomes investment in R&D to fight Phylloxera Wine Victoria chair Damien Sheehan has welcomed a two-year research partnership between the Victorian Government and the Australia Grape and Wine Authority to fight vineyard pest Phylloxera. The pest attacks the roots of European grapevines (Vitis vinifera), eventually killing those vines and moving on to others, reports Winebiz.

FORMER managing director of Peter Lehmann Wines and Barossa identity Doug Lehmann died in June from a heart attack.

His death came one year and one day after his father Peter, who founded the company, had died.

A sixth generation Barossa Valley local, Lehmann had worked in the wine industry since the early ’70s and retired in 2010, retaining his role as nonexecutive deputy chairman on the Peter Lehmann Wines Board.

Born into a winemaking family, he began his own career in the cellar at Saltram Wines.

He held the position of winemaker and manager at Basedow Wines in 1977, spending 14 years at the Tanunda-based company.

In 1993 Lehmann was appointed managing director of Peter Lehmann Wines – a position he relished for more than 15 years.

Following his retirement he maintained an active role with Peter Lehmann Wines as non-executive deputy chairman, working closely with his successor, chief executive officer Jeff Bond.

Barossa identity Doug Lehmann, son of the late Peter Lehmann, died in June at the age of 62.

“Doug was a team man and always said it was people that make great wines.

With that, he always led by example,” Bond said.

“He upheld the legacy of his father, which remains in every aspect of the company today and will continue to.”

Lehmann is survived by his wife of 40 years Ingrid, sons Michael and Harry and daughter Annika.

Here’s cheers to Padthaway’s 50 years

Mudgee winemakers raise a glass to Japanese FTA The free trade agreement with Japan has been hailed as a “godsend” for Central West wine producers. The deal was made in July during the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to Australia. Mudgee winemaker and vice president of the New South Wales Wine Industry Association David Lowe says wines from the Central West such as Pinots are popular with the Japanese market, reports the ABC.

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Daily Wine News is a snapshot of wine business, research and marketing content gleaned from international wine media sources, with a focus on Australian news and content. To subscribe visit www.winebiz.com.au/dwn.

Turn back time: Old scales used in Padthaway, Limestone Coast. Photo: Padthaway Grape Growers Assoc.

SOUTH Australia’s Padthaway region in the Limestone Coast is this year celebrating 50 years of grapegrowing.

While Padthaway farmers had known it for generations, it was the CSIRO that first officially documented the potential of the district.

A report produced in 1944 described the landscape, approximately 50km north-west of Naracoorte, as a “first class” site for garden soils.

“It’s the highest point between here and Antarctica and some days when you stand there in breeze during winter it feels like it,” says winemaker Sue Bell, who spent nine years at Padthaway winery Stonehaven.

“I think the fact that it’s so flat between here and the coast means that we still get coastal fogs here, so it’s actually still a

maritime climate.”

Combine these factors with a sustainable water source (Padthaway is the Potawurutj Aboriginal word for ‘good water’) and it’s not surprising the big wine corporates caught wind of the area’s potential, planting the first grapes there in 1964.

“It was a serious investment; lots of research, equipment, innovation and knowledge was poured into Padthaway,” Bell says.

And although it’s already been 50 years, everyone in the region agrees it’s just the beginning in terms of potential.

For the full article visit the Grapegrower & Winemaker blog: www. grapegrowerandwinemaker.wordpress. com /2014/07/09/ her es- c he er s-to -50 years/

pportunities In A New Climate The Australian Wine Research Institute presented its Opportunities In A New Climate launch last month and its managing director Dan Johnson says science inevitably concludes our climate is changing, there are real consequences for our businesses, environments and lifestyles, and we need to act collectively and individually to address it.

THE speakers at our Opportunities In A New Climate conference have created a sobering, highly-persuasive case for everyone. And particularly those involved in primary production to take climate adaptation seriously and deeply embed a strategy in their businesses and daily lives.

Most careful observers of the climate discussion are noting the broad consensus of the international scientific community on this topic and making arrangements accordingly.

If you read the scientific press you can’t help but note the tenor of the debate which, although complex, inevitably concludes with the same key messages as those presented today.

In other words, our climate is changing, there are real consequences for our businesses, environments and lifestyles, and we need to act collectively and individually.

Those of us working in the grape and wine sector are already accustomed to an overdose of acronyms for peak bodies and industry initiatives.

But that landscape seems rather simple to navigate when compared to the maze of initiatives, programs and investments the former Labor Government made and the current Coalition Government is likely to make in the area of climate adaptation, emission reductions and renewable energy targets.

And even if you can get your head around that, it can be even trickier to filter the noise and politicisation of science in the climate change/climate adaptation debate to find facts and information that can be adopted in practice.

So a key and arguably missing component of the climate change ‘call to action’ is the ability for Australia’s grape and wine sector to access practical, useable information.

The Opportunities In A New Climate launch is designed to address that gap.

The program comes about as the result of an investment by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture through its Extension and Outreach August 2014 – Issue 607

Program, a program which is a component of the Carbon Farming Futures program.

That investment, which, pleasingly, is over and above the industry levies, is for a program entitled Building Resilience and Sustainability in the Grape and Wine Sector.

The primary objective of this particular program is not to do more research – projects at the AWRI and other organisations are achieving that.

Instead, the program aims to aggregate information already available from research undertaken in Australia and across the world, not just in grape and wine science but in other industries, and

environmental priorities, for example soil stewardship.

The program will also complement the sector’s broader extension strategy by hosting 34 climate-related workshops around Australia in the next 18 to 24 months.

Hundreds of engaged grape and wine sector professionals attend the AWRI’s workshops each year, and more than twothirds of those attendees make a change in their business.

If these new workshops enjoy a similar level of engagement and success our sector will reap the rewards over the coming decades. The same information will be

If these new workshops enjoy a similar level of engagement and success our sector will reap the rewards over the coming decades package that information in a useful form for grape and wine practitioners.

The program builds on a set of grape and wine information resources already available and which grape and wine sector stakeholders have been using for many decades.

Every year AWRI fields roughly 5000 enquiries and requests for information and assistance through the AWRI library and technical helpdesk services.

That service is free, thanks largely to the support of GWRDC/AGWA, and it draws on the latest research and a database of Australian grape and wine compositional trends growing at around 90,000 data points each year.

The Opportunities In A New Climate program adds climate adaptation, greenhouse gas abatement and the broader sustainability agenda to the range of grape and wine information and services that can be accessed, again for free, by grape and wine sector stakeholders.

It also provides a central technical point of reference for regional and state associations looking to identify and action www.winebiz.com.au

available in a dedicated website, fact sheets and webinars.

Through a partnership with the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia producers will also benefit from an improved grape and wine sector carbon calculator, which will integrate with the sector’s Entwine environmental stewardship program and be available on an online, user-friendly format.

And finally, to put a personal face to it, when you call AWRI on this topic or attend one of the workshops, the core team you’ll interact with are Dr Mardi Longbottom, Marcel Essling, Geoff Cowey and Matt Holdstock.

Mardi and Marcel are viticulturists, while Matt and Geoff are oenologists.

This team, which has more than 50 years of collective experience in the grape and wine sector, is supported by nearly 100 other grape and wine technical people at the AWRI and a broad network of collaborators and partners.

Contact: Dan Johnson P: 61 8 8313 6600 E: dan.johnson@awri.com.au Grapegrower & Winemaker

7

Global warming crisis is here – now Professor Will Steffen is a climate change expert and researcher at the Australian National University, Canberra. He was on the panel of experts supporting the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee, has served as the science adviser to the Australian Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and chairs the Antarctic Science Advisory Committee.

PROFESSOR Will Steffen told the Opportunities In A New Climate launch in Adelaide the world’s climate is continuing to be destabilised.

The event, presented by the Australian Wine Research Institute, was designed to help grapegrowers, winemakers and industry researchers build resilience and sustainability in the sector.

But Professor Steffen, from the Climate Council of Australia made it clear the problem, on such a massive scale change was now urgent to even slow the problem, let alone turn it around.

He says human-driven greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause and the risks of a destabilised climate are serious and growing rapidly.

“To stabilise the climate system, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be reduced rapidly and deeply,” Professor Steffen says.

“The total amount of energy in the climate system is increasing, and the largest contribution is the increase in atmospheric concentration of CO2 since 1750,” he says.

“Human influence on the climate system is clear, and its primary influence is the emission of GHG, most importantly

the emission of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels.

“It is extremely likely human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid20th century.”

Professor Steffen says the remaining global budget for CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion is about 600 billion tonnes if we are to stay within the 2C limit.

We can burn only about 20 per cent of the world’s known fossil fuel reserves.

And the rest will have to, must, stay in the ground He says the world’s indicated fossil fuel reserves (coal, oil and gas), if all were burnt, would emit nearly 3000 billion tonnes of CO2 (IEA, 2012).

“This means that we can burn only about 20 per cent of the world’s known fossil fuel reserves,” he cautioned.

“And the rest will have to, must, stay in the ground.”

Professor Steffen says: • The number of heatwave days is increasing.

• Heatwaves are occurring more frequently.

• The duration of the longest yearly heatwave is increasing.

• The first heatwave of the season is occurring earlier.

• The hottest day of a heatwave is becoming hotter.

“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, especially since the 1950s.

The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen,” he says.

“We are more certain than ever the warming since 1950 has been caused primarily by human activities.

“A destabilising climate poses great risks for Australia – these include extreme heat, sea-level rise, heavy rainfall events and increasing bushfire risk.

“To stabilise the climate, the world must move rapidly away from fossil fuels.”

Contact: Will Steffen P: 61 2 6125 5111 E: will.steffen@anu.edu.au

Adaptation in a new climate – an environmental journey As a third generation, proudly family owned wine company; Taylors Wines has always had a commitment to the land.

In the past decade we have reinvigorated that commitment to environmental stewardship through an array of initiatives which we have rolled out across our business.

Our journey and its milestones are a reminder that good quality environmental

8 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Taylors Wines senior brand manager Jonathan Lord is not just the company’s go-to guy for all aspects of innovation, product and packaging development strategies and their implementation he is also responsible for defining and taking to market its 100 per cent carbon neutral commitment for the Eighty Acres range of wines.

www.winebiz.com.au

August 2014 – Issue 607

Opportunities In A New Climate

This unique and rigorous method of genuine cradleto-the-grave measurement enables us to measure and then offset 100 per cent of the carbon dioxide and equivalent emissions outcomes consistently lead to good quality financial outcomes.

WATER RECYCLING In 2005 we installed a state of the art water recycling facility at the Auburn winery site in South Australia which allows us to harvest and recycle all of water runoff from our winery buildings and any waste water used in general winery operations.

ECO-MAPPING AND ISO 14001 The use of the Eco-Mapping program since 2006 has directly led to the creation of a series of environmental best practices across the business and provided the framework for Taylors Wines’ ISO 14001 Environmental Management System.

WORLD’S FIRST 100 PER CENT CARBON NEUTRAL WINE RANGE Taylors Eighty Acres was the first range of wines to have its carbon

footprint assessed in accordance with and independently peer reviewed to the international standard for life cycle assessment ISO14044.

This unique and rigorous method of genuine cradle-to-the-grave measurement enables us to measure and then offset 100 per cent of the carbon dioxide and equivalent emissions using a range of domestically generated carbon offsets certified to the EU Gold Standard.

AMMONIA REFRIGERATION PLANT UPGRADE Energy usage associated with winery refrigeration is the second highest source of greenhouse gas emissions as measured across the complete cradle-to-the-grave life cycle of a wine bottle.

In 2012, to reduce energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions, and with the assistance of a Federal Government environmental grant, we commenced implementation of an

Yalumba case study about changing to meet change Yalumba’s superstar head of winemaking Louisa Rose says while the industry grapples with the challenges of climate change, for the 165-year-old business change has been the one constant since 1849.

SOMETHING is always changing and successful businesses embrace or at least work with change to make the most of it.

The Hill Smith Family has owned Yalumba and associated vineyards since 1849 and has seen a lot of change in 165 years – but has remained relevant and successful with a combination of predicting (and creating) the future, sticking with and fighting for what’s important and being nimble and able to change and evolving as necessary.

August 2014 – Issue 607

ammonia based refrigeration system across our Auburn cellars.

ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES Details on a range of Taylors Wines other environmental initiatives can be found at www.taylorswines.com.au/ sustainability/environment Contact: Jonathan Lord P: 61 2 8585 3518 E: Jonathan.Lord@taylorswines.com.au

Looking for more articles, visit the Grapegrower and Winemaker article archive at: www.winebiz.com.au/gwm

TH E N ATIO N A L

MO S C AT O

CHALLENG E Everyone loves a challenge and so do we at the Australian Inland Wine Show. Our industry is reknown for meeting challenges head on and we are introducing the National Moscato Challenge to be held concurrently with the 34th annual Australian Inland Wine Show.

The National Moscato Challenge is open to all Australian producers of this wine style.

If you would like to enter or for more information please go to our website.

www.nationalmoscatochallenge.com

www.winebiz.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

9

We are always looking for opportunities, and many of the things we are doing and investigating we would have been looking at even if we had never heard of climate change These days at Yalumba what for many decades was quite an organic process is encapsulated in a businesswide ‘Commitment to Sustainable Winemaking’ (CSM).

It has become the framework in which we work in day to day; a framework embracing change and aiming to place the company in a better place for the next generation, with sustainable competitive advantages and profitability.

Yalumba’s CSM encompasses a series of management systems based on the principles of ISO9001 and 14001, HACCP, WHS and ISO 26000 and embodied in viticulture and winemaking practices through the internal programmes of ‘Vitis’ and ‘Bacchus’ and with an emphasis on doing the right thing.

While family, suppliers and employees are active in the process, Dr Cecil Camilleri, manager sustainable wine programs and social ecologist; oversees, inspires and guides us all.

We are always looking for opportunities, and many of the things we are doing and investigating we would have been looking at even if we had never heard of climate change. This is not to say consideration of climate change and the need to adapt is not high on our list of priorities.

Much of our consideration and action around a changing climate is based in the vineyard and wider environment. So what are we doing?

We have a focus and commitment to increasing biodiversity. For every hectare of vineyard we own (800) we have a hectare of native vegetation – either remnant native vegetation or re-vegetated land.

This includes 600ha in the South Australian Riverland on which we have planted 150,000 seedlings.

We have spread our risk by investing in cooler regions with reliable water such as Wrattonbully and Tasmania. But at the same time we haven’t given up on our traditional homes in the Barossa and South Australian Riverland.

When we plant new vineyards we are conscious of maximising opportunity through careful site selection, and detailed effort is applied to soil mapping and water availability, irrigation design and setting up for vineyard monitoring and automation of processes.

Our aim is to get everything right

10 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Head honcho: Louisa Rose not only works with change at Yalumba. The high-profile winemaker is also the new chair of the Australian Wine Research Institute which will be working with the wider industry to address the impacts of climate change.

at the design stage and do the best preparation possible so once planted the vines grow quickly and strongly and become productive as early as possible.

Through the Yalumba nursery, and from conducting many trials and experiments over the years, we know how important rootstock selection is; the right rootstock/variety/site combination can result in better quality grapes (then wine), at higher yield with lower inputs (water, labour, cost etc).

Knowing or finding out about a rootstock: how it may effect ripening time, its tolerance to heat, salinity and water stress or other site issues is crucial to planning a new vineyard.

Some examples include the drought tolerance of Paulsen, Ruggeri and 110 Richter and the good salt, drought and nematode tolerance of Ramsey in Riverland – which we find grows a good quantity and quality when water management is controlled.

Compressed vintages could well be a symptom of a changing climate so strategies to help spread out the peak in the winery will be important. In some varieties we have seen different clones ripen over a period of up to 10 days.

There has also been much reported on different varieties, some coping with heat extremes better than others.

We are lucky in the Barossa where the ‘heat loving’ Grenache has been growing for nearly 170 years in some vineyards.

Exploring ‘new’ varieties has always www.winebiz.com.au

been a part of the Yalumba way; more recently with a focus on varieties likely to do well in warmer and drier conditions.

Tempranillo and Vermentino are recent success stories from this program, and we hope others such as Verdejo will also be.

In the same way that we are not going to move our home as the climate changes, we are not going to pull out all our existing vineyards either, so what can we do to help the vines we already have?

Cover crops and permanent swards are important for reducing refection of heat and evaporation, as well as protecting soil structure and health.

Predicting ripening and strategies to optimising harvest timing are becoming more critical as our vintages become compressed and more pressure is put on the winery to bring on more fruit in the same period of time.

During heatwaves we have found the use of film technologies (such as kaolin clay based products) has reduced canopy temperatures, reduced the level of sunburn, and increased yield and quality.

In the winery we are also busy.

Here too we look at trying to improve efficiencies and have a focus on reuse and recycling to decrease waste.

This includes looking at electricity use, water use, refrigeration and waste water treatment. It’s not just on the winery floor but in the offices as well, in small ways as well as large.

Compression of vintage has already been mentioned, and in winemaking we are looking at ways to efficiently get the fruit through the winery more quickly; how can we make reds with less time on skins? Can we clarify whites more quickly?

We are always looking at new technology and keeping a close watch on the ideas and research being done.

Much of what we now do as a matter of course has been developed in conjunction with the research community, or has been part funded by external sources or grants.

Ultimately whatever wines we are making in the future will need to not only delight our customers and consumers, be made in a sustainable and profitable way.

Contact: Louisa Rose P: 61 8 8561 3261 E: lrose@yalumba.com August 2014 – Issue 607

Opportunities In A New Climate

A changing consumer climate: Are we ready to adapt?

Dr Lilly Lim-Camacho is CSIRO Queensland’s Science into Society research projects officer and she writes a team including Steve Crimp, Gemma Lewis, Anoma Ariyawardana and Mark Howden explored climate change and adaptive value chain approaches in the wine industry through an extensive survey.

A NATIONAL survey of 1532 Australians was conducted in April this year to investigate consumer perspectives of climate adaptation in food and beverage products.

The results indicate that across the people sampled there are five groups of consumers: 1. Sceptics 2. Abdicators 3. Undecided 4. Eco-friendlies 5. Eco-warriors

THE SCEPTICS A small group of consumers (8 per cent of the total) who reject the concept of climate change, with 50 per cent of them believing climate change isn’t happening, while 32 per cent believe it’s a natural fluctuation.

This group is predominantly male (76 per cent) with a large proportion above 40 years of age (76 per cent).

Even though they tend to resist the concept of climate change, some have installed solar panels and water tanks to save money and protect the environment.

Interestingly, this represents an indirect adaptation.

THE ABDICATORS A larger group (16 per cent), the majority of Abdicators think climate change is a natural fluctuation (66 per cent), while a small portion (13 per cent) are unsure of whether climate change is even happening.

Similar to the Sceptics, most Abdicators are aged 40 and above (65 per cent), and might engage in environmentally-friendly activities, but not for climate change reasons.

THE UNDECIDED This group comprises of a third of the August 2014 – Issue 607

From a wine industry perspective, these findings may have implications on how brands are positioned in markets [and] whether or not it is worth communicating/highlighting environmental credentials sample population; more than half of this group believes climate change occurs naturally, while 34 per cent believe it is largely caused by humans.

There is an almost even gender split in this group, with 53 per cent females and 47 per cent males.

Almost 60 per cent of this group are under 40 years of age.

There are indications this group already engages in mitigation and adaptation practices.

THE ECO-FRIENDLIES This group is similar to the Undecided in terms of proportion (30 per cent), gender and age but with a stronger view about climate change.

In this group 72 per cent of respondents believe climate change is largely caused by humans compared with only 22 per cent who believe it is a natural fluctuation.

The Eco-friendlies also show a stronger inclination to act on climate change, by buying local Australian products or growing their own food to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

THE ECO-WARRIORS This group comprises 14 per cent of the population and is predominantly female (60 per cent).

Almost 90 per cent of this group believes climate change is caused by www.winebiz.com.au

humans. At the same time Eco-warriors are also more likely to be actively engaged in various ways to consciously mitigate climate change as well as adapt to its impacts.

This group of consumers engage overtly in activities that help mitigate climate change and/or adapt to its impacts, but the reasons for doing so might vary.

SUMMARY From a wine industry perspective, these findings may have implications on how brands are positioned in markets, whether or not that message is worth communicating/highlighting environmental credentials, and what potential impact adaptation strategies may have on product value.

A full survey report will be released in late 2014 and is part of the project which investigates how Australian food and beverage value chains – from farmer all the way to consumer – consider climate adaptation.

This project is being jointly supported by funding from the Department of Agriculture, the CSIRO, the University of Tasmania and the University of Queensland.

Contact: Lilly Lim-Camacho P: 61 (0)433 120 608 E: Lilly.Lim-Camacho@csiro.au Grapegrower & Winemaker

11

Australia’s mercury just keeps on rising Darren Ray is senior meteorologist/climatologist at the South Australian Regional Climate Services Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and he says his work on climate drivers and analysis and monitoring of climate influences shows there is a definite upward temperature trend in our climate.

AUSTRALIAN temperatures have increased approximately 1C in recent decades, reflected in changes in climate relevant to Australian wine regions.

Mean January temperatures within Australian wine regions have generally increased by between 1C and 2C over the past few decades.

New high temperature records are now being broken in Australia at three to five times the rate of new cold records.

However, it is important to keep in mind that in a gradually warming climate, cold extremes don’t stop occurring but become less frequent.

The numbers of very hot days (>40C) in various wine regions has generally doubled.

Spring is a time of year seeing the strongest temperature increases across Australia.

This can result in early bud burst which research indicates brings harvests forward into times of the year which experience more heat extremes.

So earlier harvests can combine with increased heat extremes to significantly impact on grapes.

A number of tools are available to help the wine industry manage some of these changes.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s MetEye

New high temperature records are now being broken in Australia at three to five times the rate of new cold records. system (www.bom.gov.au) has sevenday temperature forecasts on a 6km grid across Australia, which warns of extreme events.

A pilot heatwave warning service, as of January 2014 (www.bom.gov.au/ australia/) highlights areas expecting heatwave events during the seven-day timeframe.

This will be running again for spring this year.

EXPERIMENTAL OPTIONS Fortnightly and monthly extreme event outlooks using the Bureau of Meteorology POAMA ocean-atmosphere model are available experimentally at present, with some monthly products being incorporated in a revamp of Bureau of Meteorology seasonal forecasting systems, to be released this month.

Daily derived evapotranspiration (Eto) figures from all BOM weather stations (see the Agriculture link on the Bureau homepage) provide recent Reference Eto

values, which can be used to give an indication of crop water use.

Forecast Eto out to seven days is currently under development through MetEye and industry specific schemes.

SUMMARY So this information provides us with warnings of heat extremes and periods of high water requirement to allow grapegrowers to apply more water ahead of heat events.

While the wine industry still has a great deal of adaptive capacity to deal with some further increase in these types of events, it is in the interests of the industry that future emissions of greenhouse gases are minimised to ensure future changes remain within the adaptive range of growers and winemakers.

Contact: Darren Ray P: 61 8 8866 2600 E: d.ray@bom.gov.au

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12 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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Industry updates on the climate change projects Industry peak body Winemakers’ Federation of Australia has been a driving force behind the Australian Wine Carbon Calculator and its natural resource policy and program manager Damien Griffante writes it is now working to take the calculator online.

THE Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) in consultation with the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) will be working to alter the Australian Wine Carbon Calculator into a new online version in order to assist industry to measure, understand and manager their emissions.

CURRENT VERSION The current version will be modified to include: • A simplified online platform for improved ease of use • Calculation of Scope 1 and 2 (onsite emissions) • Guidance in understanding business Scope 3 (offsite) emissions • Advice on opportunities to improve efficiency • Graphical display of carbon footprint • Ability to print/save reports

• Link to Entwine online database for greater capacity to compare and benchmark business efficiency • Updated methodologies and factors for greenhouse gas calculation • Built-in assistance with reporting greenhouse gas emissions The update of the calculator will be just one of a number of WFA environmental sustainability initiatives to be undertaken in 2014.

WFA is also currently seeking feedback on a revised industry climate change policy which will underpin the existing position of the industry.

Linking with these projects will be a significant updates to Entwine Australia, the wine industry’s national environmental assurance program.

Following a strategic review of Entwine Australia in late 2012, WFA and the Wine Industry National Environment

Committee (WINEC) have been working on some important changes to improve the program.

During the next year WFA will be looking at a revised structure and improved communications that will significantly change the way the program is delivered to streamline the program and make it easier to use.

PLANNED CHANGES Some of these changes include: • Greater flexibility in membership options • Expanded tools, benchmarking and information for members • Improved links to regional and company-based initiatives to help streamline processes • Recognition of the program by external bodies and industry stakeholders The WINEC will begin consulting

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14 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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August 2014 – Issue 607

Opportunities In A New Climate

WFA will be looking at a revised structure and improved communications that will significantly change the way the program is delivered with industry stakeholders, planning and implementing the changes.

Industry participants are encouraged to contact me if they would like to provide feedback or more information on any of these initiatives.

The Australian wine industry has always been proactive in its approach to climate change and carbon.

And this is essential as consumer interest in how products are being created and their impact on the environment is an ever-increasing part of successful product marketing.

RETAILER DEMANDS ON PRODUCTS For example, in 2007 the UK retailer Tesco promised its customers “a revolution in green consumption” as the company pledged to put carbon labels on all 70,000 of its products.

It is important to measure and understand and the wine industry has clearly seen a need for a consistent and recognised approach.

So the demand and the long-term sustainability of the industry has seen it working together to provide agreed protocols and methodologies around measuring carbon output for wine production such as the: • International Wine Carbon Protocol – FIVS (2007) • International Wine Carbon Calculator - FIVS (2007) • Australian Wine Carbon Calculator – WFA, SAWIA (2009) • International Wine Carbon Protocol All of which formed a basis for wine industry carbon methodology accounting and was developed by Provisor on behalf of FIVS and led by member organisations: • Winemakers’ Federation of Australia • The Wine Institute of California • New Zealand Winegrowers • Integrated Production of Wine South Africa Contact: Damien Griffante P: 61 8 8133 4300 E: Damien@wfa.org.au

Returning to Adelaide July 2015 WISA presents

The National Wine Industry Supplier Trade Show Everything from the Vine to the Glass

Tuesday July 14 to Thurs July 16, 2015

Goyder Pavilion, Adelaide Showground, SA The Australian wine industry’s premier tradeshow will return to Adelaide in a dynamic new format in 2015. WISA will deliver a different experience, targeting those in the industry with a direct operational focus. The event will showcase leading industry suppliers and be complimented with seminars, workshops, social and networking events.

For further details contact Kym Jones Exhibitions (Exhibition Manager) P: 08 8177 1499 E: kym@kjex.com.au www.winetechaustralia.com.au or Matthew Moate (WISA Executive Officer) P: 0409 783 221 E: eo@wisa.org.au

August 2014 – Issue 607

www.winebiz.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

15

Adaptation, mitigation and innovation in a changing climate The Australian Wine Research Institute’s Dr Mardi Longbottom currently manages two research and extension projects focused on greenhouse gases (GHG) and sustainability in the grape and wine sector and writes that the industry’s greatest challenge in coping with climate change is to produce wines which still meet consumer expectations.

OUR greatest challenge as grape and wine producers is to produce wines that meet customer expectations.

Climate change is presenting the wine industry with challenges which directly influence our ability to do this, but as an industry we are adapting at a rapid rate.

Grape variety, clone and rootstock, temperature, water status, disease and nutrition all influence grape composition and ultimately determine the style of wine that can be made. Changing temperature and rainfall and the flowon effects on grapevine phenology, irrigation requirements, disease severity and grapevine nutrition have required additional management in the vineyard in recent years to produce grapes with compositional characters consistent with the expectations of wineries and consumers.

However, grape producers are now better armed with information and tools to inform their decision making, including new services from the Bureau of Meteorology (MetEye, seasonal and heatwave forecasting etc).

MITIGATION – HOW CAN VINEYARDS CUT EMISSIONS? The largest proportion of emissions from vineyards comes from the use of electricity and fuel, plus a small component of nitrous oxide (N2O) related to fertiliser and soil management. Nitrous oxide is naturally released from soils however, the volume released is affected by the amount and timing of any nitrogen fertiliser applied.

Because the global warming potential of nitrous oxide is around 300 times that of carbon dioxide its contribution to global warming is significant, even though its volume is small.

The AWRI has been working on a project investigating N2O emissions from vineyards.

The aims of the project are to quantify

16 Grapegrower & Winemaker

N2O emissions and soil carbon data for a range of regions, soil types and management practices to establish what could be considered baseline data for those regions using particular practices.

The N2O emissions from and soil carbon storage in different mid-row management techniques are also being measured to provide recommendations to industry on potential options for mitigating GHG emissions.

Preliminary results of these vineyard experiments show the N2O emissions from Australian vineyards are similar to those measured in Californian vineyards and are very low compared to other horticultural crops.

To minimise N2O losses from the vineyard, nitrogen fertilisers should be used efficiently, that is nitrogen should only be applied to the vineyard during periods of uptake at around flowering and during the post-harvest period when active root growth is occurring.

Application of nitrogen fertilisers should be avoided when soils are waterlogged or compacted, as these conditions will increase N2O emissions.

Targeting fuel and electricity use is, however, probably the most effective way for a vineyard to reduce emissions.

INNOVATION BRINGS REWARDS The Australian grape and wine industry has always been interested in and willing to embrace new technologies or innovative practices.

This attitude means we are seeing some really interesting new approaches to dealing with climate change.

One example is the research being conducted at the AWRI on feeding grape marc to ruminant livestock animals (cattle and sheep) to reduce their methane emissions.

This work links the wine industry with livestock producers and has the potential to create a value stream for www.winebiz.com.au

grape marc. If the practicalities of storing and feeding grape marc throughout the year can be optimised, it could become a regular feed additive that farmers will look to source, especially in times of drought.

Also, through the National Livestock Methane Program and the work of Phil Cohn (see story Page 18), there is potential for use of tannin-containing feed, and maybe grape marc alone, to become an approved methodology for reducing methane emissions. This would allow farmers to access the Emissions Reduction Fund reverse auctions.

Other examples of innovation in the wine industry include a range of applications of renewable energy, for example at Australian Tartaric, and proof-of-concept work being conducted in Western Australia to investigate the viability of winery waste bio-digestion and methane capture to provide an alternative energy source to the winery.

CONCLUSION With a combination of efforts in adaptation, mitigation and innovation, the Australian grape and wine industry is in a strong position to deal with a changing climate and to continue to produce wines that meet or exceed consumer expectations.

Importantly, many efforts that reduce emissions or improve overall sustainability bring economic benefits too.

For initiatives requiring up-front investment, it is worth investigating the grants and other incentive schemes that are available.

For more information about the AWRI’s program Opportunities in a new climate, visit the program website www.awri. com.au/industry_support/new_climate.

Contact: Mardi Longbottom P: 61 8 8313 6600 E: viticulture@awri.com.au August 2014 – Issue 607

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spray

Clarifying the CFI and ERF policy brief Philip Cohn is a specialist in carbon markets, climate-smart agriculture and sustainable energy. For the past decade he has been working in the development of large-scale emission reduction programs in Australia, South America and Africa and is currently advising the Meat and Livestock Australia’s methane program.

1. ABOUT THE CARBON FARMING INITIATIVE The Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) aims to provide financial incentives for farmers, forest growers, landholders and landfill operators to develop projects that will reduce or sequester greenhouse gas emissions.

The CFI is a voluntary program – there are no obligations to participate, however, the scheme does present opportunities for those in the agricultural sector to be rewarded for implementing best practice approaches to managing greenhouse gas emissions.

2. THE CHANGING POLICY CONTEXT On July 17 Canberra repealed the carbon price thereby removing limitations on emissions for heavy industry and requirements for polluters to pay for their emissions. Despite this, the CFI will continue, and in fact be expanded under the Government’s proposed alternative climate policy, the Direct Action Plan.

Since late 2013, the Government has implemented a process to further develop its Direct Action Plan, with the Emission Reduction Fund (ERF) as its centerpiece.

The ERF, which will have $2.55 billion available to purchase carbon credits, is intended to replace the carbon pricing mechanism as the policy by which agriculture and other sectors of the economy are incentivised to reduce their emissions.

Essentially the CFI will be folded into the ERF, so there is one program.

The intention is to simplify the existing administrative arrangements under the CFI for land sector projects.

Details of the ERF White Paper can be found on the Department of the Environment website www.environment. gov.au/emissions-reduction-fund.

On May 9 the Government released exposure draft legislation for the implementation of the ERF for public comment.

18 Grapegrower & Winemaker

This legislation - the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Amendment Bill 2014, extends the coverage of the CFI to allow crediting of emissions reductions across the economy.

It also provides for operation of competitive auctions to purchase these emissions reductions through contracts.

The Bill includes arrangements to transition projects and methods from the Carbon Farming Initiative into the Emissions Reduction Fund.

It is anticipated by the Government the Bill will be passed by both Houses of Parliament in August when the new Senate will return from its winter recess.

The passage of this legislation will enable wineries and vineyard operators to begin to consider how they might get involved in the ERF.

3. GETTING INVOLVED There are two categories of offset projects that may be implemented under the CFI/ERF: i. Emission avoidance projects – a project that avoids the emission of greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) or nitrous oxide (N2O), to the atmosphere. An example could be an energy efficiency project or the capture and destruction of methane from wastewater at a winery. ii. Carbon sequestration projects – a project that removes CO2 from the atmosphere and stores it in living biomass such as forests or in soil.

An example could be the growing of a forest, or farming in a manner that enhances soil carbon.

Each tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions that is reduced or stored by a CFI project will be rewarded with one “Australian carbon credit unit” (ACCU).

1 tonne reduction or sequestration of CO2e = 1 ACCU Under the Government’s proposed www.winebiz.com.au

changes, project proponents will sell their ACCUs to the ERF via participation in auctions.

3.1 POTENTIAL PROJECT TYPES FOR THE WINE INDUSTRY AWRI has already undertaken a number of projects in relation to measuring the emissions associated with grape growing and wine making, and has identified a number of options for reducing greenhouse gases, including: • Energy efficiency • Refrigeration + air conditioning • Water heating + heat recovery • Air compressor performance • Wastewater treatment plus other renewables • Fertiliser management In addition, there is currently research underway twhich will explore how wine making by-products might be used in other production systems to reduce emissions.

This includes the potential for grape marc to be utilised for methane inhibition in livestock.

Whatever the particular technology, all ERF projects must apply an approved methodology.

Think of a methodology as the “recipe” that must be followed in order to implement your project.

A methodology sets out the details of the project activity, how the baseline or business-as-scenario usual is defined, monitoring and record keeping requirements and how emissions reductions are calculated.

So, while there has been considerable debate about the best approach to reducing carbon emissions in Australia, considerable opportunity remains for the wine sector to get involved in the Government’s proposed Emission Reduction Fund.

Contact: Philip Cohn P: 61 8 (0)410 411 161 E: phil@rampcarbon.com August 2014 – Issue 607

movers & shakers Major changes FINE wine distributors Samuel Smith & Son (SS&S) and Negociants Australia (NA) have announced a number of changes to their management structure.

The changes, which come into effect on September 1, will see executive director Nick Waterman move into the new role of chief operating officer at Yalumba.

SS&S general manager Paul Midolo will replace Waterman as the new director of strategy and trading while NA general manager Adam O’Neill will take the helm at SS&S. Changes will also occur to the management of SS&S’ Coles and Woolworths business managers, with the company announcing former national business manager for Woolworths Liquor Group Ken Withers is moving into the NA general manager role.

Angus Hyde, who started with SS&S in 2012, will take over the Woolworths business and Coles will be managed by Tom Lovell after several years with NA.

Taylors Wines all aBOARD TAYLORS Wines has become the first Australian winery to implement the internationally-recognised business intelligence and corporate performance management solution BOARD. Data currently residing in various separate systems including its vineyard, e-commerce, ERP system (SAP),

production, sales CRM and marketing systems will be streamed into a central data warehouse and brought to life using BOARD’s advanced analytic and visualisation capabilities.

BOARD will be used to monitor and analyse Taylors’ data and deliver a more integrated, effective and intuitive approach to reporting.

Beyond data visualisation and reporting, BOARD can be used to streamline the budgeting and forecasting process, creating real business benefits.

Major changes at Hills NEW Zealand analytical testing lab, Hill Laboratories has appointed Kevin Taylor as the company’s new South Island manager.

Taylor, who brings more than two decades of experience to the company, will oversee the operational management of the labs in Christchurch and Blenheim.

It has also appointed Hugh Richards as laboratory manager to its newest facility based in Blenheim.

Richards brings to his new position more than a decade of experience across Hill Laboratories’ Hamilton sites.

RMWA has new trophies THE Royal Melbourne Wine Awards (RMWA) has announced the introduction of two new trophies for this year’s program – The Kym Ludvigsen Trophy for Viticultural Excellence and The Victorian

Trophy for Wines of Provenance.

The trophy honouring the late Ludvigsen, who was a regular columnist for Grapegrower & Winemaker, celebrates vineyard workers and managers whose contribution cannot be underestimated in the creation of the most outstanding wines.

The second new trophy replaces the Best Victorian Table Wine Trophy.

It is a nod to the wine producer who shows consistency, quality and excellence over a minimum of 10 years and recognises the skill of the winemaker with three vintages of the same wine label being assessed.

Tarac is making its marc in New Zealand MARLBOROUGH’S wine producers and Marlborough District Council have joined forces in the management of grape marc disposal.

Recruiting Barossa Valley business Tarac Technologies it plans to generate new, commercially viable and environmentally sustainable products from grape waste.

The Kiwi partners have formed the Marlborough Grape Marc (MGM) group to advance a proposal for an environmentally sustainable use of the wine industry’s waste streams.

At present Tarac processes 125,000 tonnes of grape marc, more than 40 million litres of liquid waste and about 7000 tonnes of solid waste.

Moscato makes its mark at Inland Wine Show THE Australian Inland Wine Show has maintained the impetus created earlier this year when it joined with the Swan Hill Food and Wine Festival to showcase its winning wines.

In 2015 it will be back on the streets at the Swan Hill festival but it has also tapped into the changing face of wine drinking with the launch of its National Moscato Challenge.

Wine Show president Peter Holt says since the emergence of the first Moscato wine by Brown Brothers in the 1998 the style has grown at an incredible rate.

Today there are almost 200 products available – with sparkling and pink Moscato wines proving amongst the most popular. Holt says the other big attraction of the Moscato revolution is the low alcohol content of the wine.

“Moscato has grown rapidly in recent years and with so many to choose from the Australian Inland Wine Show, based at Swan Hill, has decided to launch Australia’s first National Moscato Challenge,” Holt says.

“Muscat varieties achieve maximum flavour and sugar levels in the warmer regions, lending to the better Moscato wines originating from the inland regions,” he says.

“So it was a logical extension that a high-profile event such as ours would lead the way with this challenge.”

Moscato is predominantly made from Muscat varieties and August 2014 – Issue 607

the Challenge’s challenge for its wine judges will be to define the wine which best identifies with the core requirements of a good Moscato – being clean, grapey and fresh.

Holt says he and the wine show committee are excited at the new concept and look forward to seeing how many Moscato producers enter the National Moscato Challenge.

He says the Australian Inland Wine Show traditionally attracts entries from Swan Hill, Murray Darling, Riverland, Riverina and Perricoota.

But to capture as many Moscato wines as possible for the inaugural Challenge, the competition is open to any Mosacto wine produced from Australian fruit.

One other change the show committee has announced is the allowance for large volume products over 500,000 litres to enter in a dry red or dry white class if they are a minimum of 51 per cent fruit from the specified regions.

Entries for the Show close on September 1. The public tasting will then coincide with the Swan Hill Food and Wine Festival next March. Further details are available from www. nationalmoscatochallenge.com.

Contact: Peter Holt P: 61 3 5033 1726 E: secretary@inlandwine.com

www.winebiz.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

19

my view

Sparkling reds have come of age Melbourne wine writer and broadcaster Michael Hince, a one-man campaign for, and self-confessed tragic of, sparkling reds, really thinks the time has come for his favourite style and is hatching a plan to revive their long-lost appeal.

I’VE been a closet sparking red drinker for yonks.

Mostly Shiraz.

Till recently it’s been an ephemeral style with a chequered history that’s never really taken off among mainstream drinkers.

Maligned, marginalised and summarily dismissed by serious critics and the wine cognoscente in much the same way as sparkling wine and rosé once were generally; sparkling reds have long been an acquired taste, mostly among ageing baby boomers.

And for good reason as many of the earlier sparkling reds were crude Cold Duck-like carbonated renditions made as an afterthought from excess, inferior fruit. Or they were execrable syrupy, full-on, tannic fizzy fruit bombs which overpowered rather than caressed.

The exception being the classic, bottle-fermented aged sparking Shiraz typified by Great Western (of which the Seppelt Show Reserve Sparkling Shiraz is a good example), and the likes of Bests, Rockford Black Shiraz, Primo Estate’s Joseph, Charles Melton Sparkling Shiraz, Irvine Sparkling Merlot – among others.

The appeal of wines of this ilk lies in the savoury complexity that bottle age imparts and their creamy, smooth, luxuriant mouth feel.

These top quality wines, well-made from good fruit, with character and finesse, deservedly live at the higher end of the wine price wall.

At best, however, they still only represent a niche market.

Despite their inherent quality they can be technically fiddly and time consuming to make, expensive to store on lees and thus are not always an attractive commercial proposition.

That partly explains why there are only about 70 Australian producers.

As the former Wine Australia (now part of AGWA – the Australian Grape and Wine Authority) has no sparkling red classification, this figure is a guesstimate.

Unfortunately both the inferior and superior were once classified as Sparkling Burgundy and Australian sparkling red drinkers were known as Spurglers – a term coined by Ian Loftus, the creator in 1991 of what was once known as National Sparkling Red Day.

20 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Michael Hince

Though sparkling reds are not unique to Australia it’s a matter of debate as to whether sparkling Shiraz is. I suspect there’s been more written about this than there has been red fizz drunk.

Just as our sparkling wine and rosé have come of age, now it may be the turn of sparkling reds as McLaren Vale III Associates’ Sparkling Squid Ink Shiraz has just won the first trophy, a gold medal, ever awarded for a sparking red in the 31-year history of the International Wine Challenge (IWC) .

And a 2007 Gatt High Eden Sparkling Shiraz took out an IWC silver.

Though this highlights Shiraz as the pre-eminent sparkling red, other varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Durif and the obscure Chambourcin are now produced. There’s even a sparkling Saperavi about to hit the market.

Serious, talented winemakers are starting to take this category seriously in response to the quest of younger wine drinkers for new and different wine experiences. www.winebiz.com.au

Once such winemaker is Damien Cofield from Cofield Wines at Rutherglen in Victoria’s North East.

In addition to the big sparkling red producers I think there are plenty of smaller makers producing seriously topquality sparkling reds who would benefit from an initiative to broaden the appeal of such wines says Cofield.

“We sell heaps of it at our cellar door however many younger consumers have yet to discover the appeal and versatility of such wines, you can drink young non vintages that overflow with exuberance or indulge yourself in a top bottle-aged sparkling red,” he concluded.

Opening and pouring a young, exuberant, frothy sparking red and watching the mousse cascade down the side of the glass could well appeal to many a prospective millennial generation drinker.

What better way for Some Gen Ys and many millennials, currently drinking whites, such as sweetish Moscato and a drier Prosecco, to transition into reds than via a well-made sparkling red.

Today’s sparkling reds are made in a range of styles, textures, weights and Baume levels from sweet to semi sweet to bone dry to satisfy the most discriminating palate.

They are especially popular around Christmas as a welcome alternative to opening a still red over Christmas lunch or dinner on a blistering hot summer’s day.

Likewise they are a perfect match for a barbecue, some game dishes and to help celebrate Australia Day with roast lamb.

So it’s time sparkling reds came in from the cold. I invite as many of those 70 or so producers (both large and small, mainstream and offbeat) to register an interest in a promotional initiative I have underway.

It is aimed at putting and keeping sparkling reds on the vinous map, especially among millennial generation white wine drinkers who are about to start drink reds – what an ideal, fun introduction.

So join me and register an interest in this sparkling red obsession.

Contact: Michael Hince P: 61 (0) 0414 848 901 E: vino@hinceonwine.com.au August 2014 – Issue 607

news

Photo: ŠDmitriy Shironosov/123rf.com

How to decide when to sell your wine business Objective tests for a subjective industry Last issue wine tragic Ben Killerby gave us 15 reasons to sell your winery but this month he gets very hands-on when he discusses the timing for the sale and the forces behind picking the right time to making the decision.

WINE is necessarily a subjective thing.

Tasting, judging and winemaking all rely on subjective assessments.

Business, however, is rarely subjective.

So the best time to sell your wine business is an objective decision.

August 2014 – Issue 607

The problem is, in the next 10 years or so, $1.6 trillion in wealth will be transferred because of the retirement of Australian family business owners.

This will lead to a tsunami of businesses being put up for sale as baby

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boomers seek to cash out and fund their retirement all at the same time.

Should you simply ignore this phenomenon and hang on?

Or should you get ready for sale now?

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news REASONS TO PREPARE FOR A SALE NOW There are two reasons you would want to prepare well and in advance for a business exit: • The first is a conscious decision to go out to the market to sell the business.

• The second answer is not so obvious, but it is this: to be prepared if an unexpected and irresistible offer simply lands on your desk.

In both cases, you need to be able to move quickly before a possible deal evaporates.

THE OBJECTIVE TEST FOR DECIDING TO SELL An objective test for anything related to wine can be quite unexpected.

There is, however, a deceptively simple objective test to use to decide whether to sell: It is whether the sale price of the business is greater than the value the shareholders will derive if they continue to own it.

Naturally there are all the other corporate and personal reasons for a business exit, but this is the objective test.

Large corporate winemakers usually consider the divestment of a business according to set criteria.

In that sense, their decisions are quite dispassionate and objective.

In private companies, however, one reason businesses don’t sell at the best time is owners never consider the matter objectively, or they delay doing so for too long.

Many business owners are too busy in the day-to-day running of the business to fully commit to the process of deciding to sell.

Others do not want to let their competitors know that the business is for sale.

Either way, the owners don’t enrol outside experts or key staff in the business exit process and therefore they cannot pursue the exit option with sufficient energy.

Gradually, the option to sell slips away.

THE THREE BEST TIMES TO SELL YOUR BUSINESS How do you know when it is the best time to sell your business?

How do you know when to take decisive action?

As it happens, professional investors say there are three best times to sell a business: 1. At the top of the business cycle The top of a “business cycle” might be a general boom in the economy, but it may also be the top of a cycle in

22 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Sell or be damned: Lawyer Ben Killerby says the true test of any wine business is the decision of when, and why, to sell.

the sector or sub-sector in which the business operates.

Unfortunately, the wine industry is not at the top of a cycle, so there is no frenetic acquisition activity going on at present.

Tasmania as a sub-sector is a little different, so if you are in Tasmania, now might be near the top of your cycle.

For the mainland, however, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consider selling in the top of another business cycle.

For example, some wine business owners in WA did well to sell out when mining was at a peak.

That’s because the fortunes made in mining could finance “passion investments” such as vineyards and wineries.

So a savvy business owner might be asking, “What other sectors are booming right now and how can I find interested buyers in that sector?”

2. When an irresistible offer comes through the door.

To tell if the offer is truly “irresistible,” ask yourself: “Will more value will be generated by accepting the offer than by continuing to run the business?”

‘Irresistible’ in this sense is objective.

It could be a high offer that exceeds the net present value of the cash the business could have generated for you in the coming years.

At the other end of the scale, it could be irresistible in the sense that it is a low offer, but it staves off an impending insolvency and frees you to pursue other ventures.

Another way to view this is to ask yourself: “If I took this offer, would I make more money by investing it than continuing to run the business?” www.winebiz.com.au

For example, if your business was returning 20 per cent ROI year on year, then you would be hard pressed to find another investment that gave a better performance.

In this case, you probably would not sell.

If, however, the business was losing money year on year, you would make more money for less effort by selling and just putting the proceeds in a term deposit.

3. When the business cannot expand (or function) any further without new capital.

In the case of a business requiring new capital, it can be time to sell your business if that capital cannot be obtained, or your available capital needs to be deployed elsewhere, or the capital comes at too high a price.

In these situations, you don’t necessarily have to sell the entire business.

You can do a capital raising, which is selling a percentage of the business and retaining the rest.

Or you can sell the land and lease it back.

If these are not options, then it is probably time to sell the lot.

THE WORST TIME TO SELL YOUR BUSINESS Usually the worst time to sell a business is when you have delayed the decision for so long that you don’t have any other option.

SUMMARY Having your business ready to sell is necessary if you are going to market now – and also if you want to be ready for an irresistible offer that might land on your desk in the future.

The wine business is highly subjective, so you need an objective test to decide whether or not to sell.

Remember, selling at the top of a business cycle doesn’t necessary mean at the top of the wine business cycle, an irresistible offer isn’t necessarily a high offer and selling the business doesn’t necessarily mean selling 100 per cent of it.

Contact: Ben Killerby E: ben.killerby@saxonklein.com.au Ben Killerby is lawyer and corporate advisory manager at Saxon Klein, which specialises in business exits. He has more than 26 years’ experience in private enterprise, as a lawyer and as a corporate adviser. He is also a former vineyard owner in Margaret River.

August 2014 – Issue 607

roundtable

Getting down to barrel business Q: What type of oak do you use?

NP: We select oak from France, the US and Hungary. We use oak barriques exclusively on our mid to high tier wines and oak alternatives including chips, staves and ‘bullets’ on commercial tiers.

We have an extensive range of wine styles so the oak we select reflects this.

LT: I use a variety of different oak in my winemaking. From ferment chips and planks right through to high-end French Barriques and Puncheons.

TS: A variety of oak products from various companies, predominantly French and American.

MP: We use a combination of French, American and Eastern European (Hungarian, Slovakian and Russian) oak. We predominately use 300-litre hogsheads, with a smaller percentage of 500-litre puncheons and 225-litre barriques. We also have several 2500litre French oak Foudres which we use for several of our red wine blends.

This month Grapegrower & Winemaker invited four winemakers – in New Zealand it is Villa Maria’s Nick Picone and in Australia Patrick of Coonawarra’s Luke Tocaciu, Calabria Family Wines’ Tony Steffania and Grant Burge Wines’ Matthew Pellew – to give their opinions on barrels and the use of oak alternatives.

Nick Picone – Senior winemaker, Villa Maria, NZ

NICK Picone had an early start in winemaking, completing his first vintage at Esk Valley Estate in Hawke’s Bay when he was 18.

After completing his BA in wine science, he became Villa Maria’s youngest assistant winemaker at 24 with a shift to Marlborough before becoming the company’s winemaker in 2004. wine that I’m making. The oak type, toast and amount used depend on the final In 2006 Picone moved to Auckland, product and price point. For example, and two years later became Villa a fruit forward early drinking Shiraz Maria’s senior winemaker, overseeing might see a lighter toast plank to express the company’s North Island production more fruit with subtle oak expression, which is primarily from Hawke’s Bay whereas our Grande Reserve Cabernet and Gisborne.

Sauvignon spends up to 36 months in Q: Why do you choose to use that Among many accolades, Picone tight grain French oak Barriques which particular type? was awarded joint winner of the New gives amazing complexity and length.

NP: The type of oak used is dependent Zealand Winemaker of the Year title at TS: Over several years of trialling on the price point and style of the wine, the Royal Easter Show Wine Awards many different products, we selected and also on how the targeted wine style what worked best for our style of wines. will be made.

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0 Consistency of oak is very important LT: I typically work towards a style of

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August 2014 – Issue 607

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roundtable to us. Each year we try to perfect the combination even further.

MP: We try to match wine style to oak type and style. It’s a combination of experience and trial and error however there are some proven combinations which we don’t stray too far from.

Chardonnay with French oak, Cabernet with French and European oak and Shiraz, well that depends on its final product – it could be American, French, European or a combination of oak types.

The cooperages become important when we select which oak for which variety as each cooper will have aspects of their barrels such as age of oak, seasoning conditions and toasting levels and techniques, which vary between them and may or may not suit a particular wine style. This is the “trial and error” component of the selection process and is a particularly important aspect of our oak program.

Q: Do you use oak alternatives?

Why/why not?

NP: Yes, mainly for economy in commercial tiers. It doesn’t just stop with the cost of buying the oak. Wine stored in oak barrels must absorb the costs of wine evaporation, additional labour, maintenance, power and water (refrigerated barrel halls can be expensive to run), storage, increased winery footprint, etc. Each barrel effectively becomes its own small tank, so increases to laboratory sampling, testing and microbial management are also incurred.

LT: Yes, oak alternatives are a big part of modern winemaking. They have come a long way in recent times and I would consider them essential in the winemaking of products where the margins are tighter or the style calls for something other than new barrels.

TS: Our premium wines only see barrels; however staves are very important to our entry level and midrange wines.

MP: No, we don’t use oak barrel alternatives. We buy a few packs of staves every year to have a look at what’s in the market and how they may perform with some of our wines; however oak alternatives do not play an important role in our winemaking process.

Q: If so, do you use cubes, dominoes or beads? Why/why not?

NP: Bullets are the closest for us, which we use for extended maturation and slower ‘release’ (compared with chips).

We use chips mainly for fermentation, and staves and bullets for maturation.

LT: I have been trialling dominoes with a few older barrels in the past few

24 Grapegrower & Winemaker

in place while they absorb the wine and eventually sink.

TS: The majority of our staves are roughly two metres in length. They are added to a tank in bundles of 10. Most suppliers package these in bundles ready to go. Very convenient.

MP: When we use them we chose to use barrel length staves. They are easy to handle and can be easily inserted into our 1000-litre cubes (the vessels which trial our staves).

Tony Steffania – winemaker, Calabria Family Wines, NSW TONY Steffania’s passion for good wine led him to a career in winemaking and at 29 has more than eight years’ experience in the wine industry.

He began his career at Calabria Family Wines in 2001, learning the ropes from the ground up.

In 2002 Steffania was promoted from lab assistant to lab manager, undergoing training in winemaking and getting involved in cellar work during each harvest season.

In 2004 he officially became part of the winemaking team and is currently involved in all aspects of the job.

Steffania’s favourite wine variety is Shiraz and says not only is it Australia’s best known variety, but it’s also the most versatile for blending.

years and have been getting some great results. I much prefer the combination of older oak barrels and oak alternatives as opposed to the use of stainless steel. I find the wines are much more integrated and it gives a better, more balanced palate structure.

TS: No, we have trialled these products before and from what we have seen they’re not as effective as using staves.

MP: We do not use cubes, dominoes or beads. Oak barrel alternatives do not play a role in our oak program at the moment.

Q: What length are your staves and how do you install/insert them?

NP: Different suppliers have different designs. We set up a chain inside our stainless tanks which the stave fan packs are then directly connected to.

LT: I generally work from a square metre rate per 1000 litres and compare that to the surface area of the barrel.

They are secured in a cassette form and are wired to a chain link at the bottom of the tank. The stainless wire holds them www.winebiz.com.au

Q: Do you get custom toast levels or do you just use what the supplier sends?

NP: We have trialled personalised toast levels in the past with mixed success. Most supplier catalogues are reasonably extensive these days and we generally find something that works by trial and error.

LT: I generally use medium or medium plus toast levels but work with the supplier to find out what will be best suited to the style I am making. I also use a variety of toasts within the same blend to increase complexity and give me as many blending options as possible.

TS: We have used custom toasting before and the supplier is always easy to accommodate our requirements. The majority of what we purchase is from their selection on offer. Oak companies are getting more involved with winemakers, always trying to improve their product further.

MP: We work closely with our oak suppliers to get the toasting levels right for our wines. The coopers are the experts and we rely on their expert advice, however not all our oak is toasted the same way and to the same level. We work with each one of the dozen or so suppliers we have to ensure the barrels they supply us are seasoned and toasted to a level that will suit our wine styles.

We don’t always get it right the first time but over time we tend to find a level that works with our wine styles.

Q: How do you balance the cost of oak with the price of wine?

NP: It’s one of the small factors taken into account when reviewing margins.

By reducing the costs of making the wine obviously the profit margin is increased.

On commercial wines where the profit margin is lean this tends to have more impact. We agree on how much new oak to budget for each wine style, the winemaker then has the freedom of selecting the barrels or alternatives he or she sees as best fit.

LT: Although it would be a fantastic proposition to use new oak barrels for everything, but the commercial reality August 2014 – Issue 607

of running a wine business means that every cost must be justified. For wines that retail around $20, oak use, type and costs are a major consideration. For some of Patrick of Coonawarra’s high end products there is no expense spared and I just need to get the best possible oak that works best for that wine.

TS: We taste the wine first and ask ourselves what it needs. We then work out if the cost is justified, and take it from there.

MP: It is a balance that’s not easy to get right. We don’t have a set formula; however we allocate a higher percentage of new oak barrels to our higher priced wines, progressively reducing the percentage of new oak in a wine as the price of the wine reduces. It is not a perfect system as we are predicting the end use of a wine very early in its life and we don’t always get that prediction correct, but we rely on our judgement and it tends to be fairly accurate most of the time.

Q: What’s proving popular in the oak barrel market at the moment?

NP: Sustainability is a hot topic. Forest has died down for many and has been replaced by consistency/grain. ‘High

end’ barrels have started growing in prominence.

LT: I think the immersion bent barrels are making a bit of a resurgence. I think suppliers have a better understanding of what winemakers are wanting and producing a barrel to suit their needs. The immersion bent barrels are an example, producing a more refined tannin profile which suits certain styles of wine.

TS: There’s a lot of great choice out there today. A good barrel should give the wine plenty of structure, but we also look to the more elegant styles. We are longtime supporters of Sansaud, Sirugue, Heinrich, World Cooperage and AP John.

MP: I see a trend toward lighter toast levels and longer, more penetrating toasting of barrels. It was not so many years ago that winemakers were offered essentially three toast levels – medium, medium plus and heavy toast.

These were our options and we would select one of these three and no other discussions were entered into. Now we have any number of combinations, from no toasting, light toasting, medium, medium plus and heavy combined with the length of time of the toasting (short or long), the temperature of the toasting and the technique of toasting (fire or UV).

The other obvious trend is the amount of

Luke Tocaciu – winemaker, Patrick of Coonawarra, SA AFTER graduating from the University of Adelaide with a degree in oenology and completing vintages in Clare, Barossa, Coonawarra and Sonoma Valley in the US, Luke Tocaciu is glad to be home carrying the legacy and tradition of family business Patrick of Coonawarra.

He’s already made his mark on the company securing several trophies, medals and praise from consumers.

Tocaciu is a part of the emerging generation of ‘young gun’ winemakers, demonstrating the ability to adapt to new age trends and consumer demand for his wines.

AGL 2015 AGL Wine Excellence Scholarship.

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Are you a NSW winemaker? Enter the 2015 AGL Wine Excellence Scholarship and you could win a scholarship to Europe or North America.

We supply the grapes. You supply the wine.

AGL owns over 100 acres of vines in the Hunter Valley producing chardonnay, semillon, sauvignon blanc and verdelho.

If you qualify, grapes from these vines will be yours to produce wines which will be entered into national wine shows. We’ll even pay your winemaking, transport and bottling costs. Points will be awarded on the basis of medals and trophies, and the winemaker with the most points wins.

The prize.

AGL will provide the winning winemaker with a funded scholarship to travel to Europe or America to further enrich and strengthen his or her viticultural and oenological knowledge.

For details of our past winners and guidelines please visit our website and agl.com.au/winescholarship.

Interested? For more information contact Alison Crocker, Community Relations Manager, for details on how to enter the 2015 AGL Wine Excellence Scholarship and all the terms and conditions.

Email acrocker@agl.com.au or telephone 0428 027 714.

August 2014 – Issue 607

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roundtable time the oak is seasoned. Standard seasoning is rarely seen on oak order forms now as we now have a choice of standard, 24, 30, 36, 40-plus month seasoned oak. Larger format barrels (400 litres and above) have become common place in many wineries, and there is certainly a trend toward more of these vessels being used as small fermentation vessels prior to being used for wine maturation.

Q: How should winemakers choose the right oak supplier?

NP: Shop around and trial on your own fruit to make your own conclusions. Having said this, keep trials to a manageable level so you don’t over complicate and detract away from the end goal. I would tend to settle on core products for consistency Matthew Pellew – senior red winemaker, Grant and then look at a little stuff on the side every year. Taste the Burge Wines, SA samples that suppliers provide but ask yourself if it’s relevant to your situation. For example, there’s no use getting too IN 1990 Matthew Pellew began his winemaking career as a excited by the look of a specific oak product in a warm climate cellar hand at Wirra Wirra Vineyards in McLaren Vale.

Tempranillo when you are looking to apply to cool climate Pinot Following a vintage with a small winery in the US, he returned Noir. Just because it works for the vineyard down the road, to Wirra Wirra where he was promoted to assistant winemaker. it doesn’t mean it will work for you. Find suppliers you can Since then, Pellew has worked for Primo Estate in the Adelaide trust and enjoy talking to and build a rapport. Having a good Plains and tried his hand as a ‘flying winemaker’ completing relationship ensures you get the best out of the suppliers visit vintages in Italy and France. and suggestions. Be wary of new cooperages and suppliers who Upon his return to Australia in 1997, he secured a position as appear out of nowhere, and finally try not to be influenced by winemaker for Hollick Wines in Coonawarra which led him to aggressive sales tactics (constant harassment doesn’t work for me!)

Southcorp three years later.

LT: It’s all about building relationships. You need to work As the senior red winemaker for Grant Burge Wines, Pellew with your supplier to find out what works for your wines or has the task of producing a wide range of red wines from rosé styles. You also need to trial and experiment with different 3 6 2 7 Q M_ A d _ 1 3 0 x 9 0 1 2 0 1 4 - 0 5 - 1 4 T 1 1to: full 3 0bodied : 3 6 Shiraz + 1 0 :and 0 0Cabernet from both the Barossa and suppliers and types of oak. For me, the more blending options I Eden Valley. have, the better.

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TS: Ask for samples and run tasting trials. It’s the best way to compare products. Some years we are surprised by trialling a new product which eventually makes its way into our selection.

Get to know your oak supplier.

MP: Taste and trial is the only way. We often look at samples the suppliers will bring along to showcase their oak found in other wineries and this gives us an indication of a particular style of oak. However the only way to determine how a barrel will perform is to get it into your winery and fill it with your wine. For this reason, we trial new coopers every year as the only way we can truly determine the quality of a cooper and their oak barrels is to see how our wine responds to the oak and whether it fits into our oak program. We will often show a potential new oak supplier a few examples of our wine in barrels that we like, or talk to them about what we might be looking for from a certain barrel. We then rely on the supplier to give us a barrel that may match our requirements.

Looking for more articles, visit the Grapegrower and Winemaker article archive at:

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26 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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www.winebiz.com.au/gwm August 2014 – Issue 607

news

It’s a wrap at the Phoenix Society The Phoenix Society employs, trains and develops people with disabilities to attain an improved quality of life.

It is an innovative and dynamic employer and its wine services enterprise, which is proving a success with the SA wine industry, is a prime example of the work it does.

GOOD things are happening at Phoenix Society’s centre for wine service excellence at its Elizabeth site in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

After a recent period of investment into upgrading its wine operations its Wine Services and Light Engineering Centre general manager Paul Brannan says “the facility is now thriving”.

Brannan says the Society has almost doubled its wine services business in a short period of time.

“And is fast becoming a leading player in wine packaging and labelling here in South Australia,” Brannan said.

He also said forging strong partnerships with business was an important step forward in Phoenix’s growth plan.

“Phoenix is a cost effective, professional and reliable partner for any business large or small,” he added.

“We have the facilities at our Elizabeth plant to carry out the work to the high standard that the wine sector demands”.

Phoenix already works with some of the most high-profile brands in the wine industry, which includes Pernod Ricard, through to tried and tested South Australian locals such as Chateau Tanunda.

“We are also creating strong partnerships with other wine services operators such as Vinpac,” he says.

August 2014 – Issue 607

“Our location on the fringe of the Barossa makes us an obvious choice for many wineries – from the multi nationals such as Pernod Ricard through to the small owner-operator.

“Phoenix ticks all five boxes you need when making a commercial decision.

“We are reliable, flexible, high quality, cost effective and interested in partnership with other business.

“Our customer’s objectives are equally important to us and we work together with them to achieve the ideal end result.

“Attitude reflects leadership and we aim to be the leading wine services supplier in South Australia,” he explained.

The Phoenix Society’s wine services can complete: • Labelling • Medal application • De-labelling • Repacking • Neck tagging and hooding • Speciality wrapping • Gift packing • Tax bonded storage solutions You can also watch the latest Phoenix wine services video at www.youtube. com/watch?v=yFIi5TA8wr8.

Contact: Paul Brannan P: 61 8 8256 4100 E: administration@phoenixsociety.com.au

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Great opportunities: The Phoenix Society’s wine business provides outstanding opportunities for the development of its greatest asset – its people.

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REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Regional Roundup: South Island, New Zealand This month Stephanie Timotheou heads to New Zealand to see what the South Island Kiwis have been up to. She discovers it’s all happening from celebrations and partnerships to pop-up shops and projects across Marlborough, Central Otago, Waipara Valley, Nelson and Queenstown.

Gibbston Valley Winery suddenly ‘pops up’ at Queenstown airport CENTRAL Otago’s Gibbston Valley Winery unveiled its first pop-up retail store at Queenstown Airport in June.

Launched in partnership with Queenstown Airport’s duty free operator LS Travel Retail Pacific, the new concept store carried a full range of Gibbston Valley wines to purchase with tastings available.

Gibbston Valley Winery chief executive officer Greg Hunt said the new venture complemented the company’s already extensive food and wine offering.

“The pop-up concept was rustic, a reflection of place and enabled us to showcase our award-winning wines to visitors and, of course, locals,” he said.

“Essentially we always want people to personally experience the full Gibbston Valley concept at the winery, but we know that’s not always possible.

“The new airport pop-up store has recreated a small part of what we offer and was extremely convenient for people.”

Queenstown Airport general manager property Sean Thompson said he was “delighted” with the pop-up concept and that it added to the ambience of the terminal, showcasing a “Central Otago experience”.

“The partnership between Gibbston Valley Wines and duty free operators LS

Here’s cheers: LS Travel Retail Pacific regional operation manager Sumeet Dhingra, Gibbston Valley Wines chief executive officer Greg Hunt and Queenstown Airport general manager property Sean Thompson toasting to the success of Gibbston Valley Winery’s latest retail offering in Queenstown Airport.

Travel to create a Central Otago winethemed pop-up perfectly aligned with our strategy to showcase local businesses that represent the unique character and flavour of the region,” Thompson said.

“The shop provided passengers with a fantastic opportunity to try the region’s

internationally-renowned wines and take a little piece of Central Otago home with them.”

Contact: Gibbston Valley Winery P: 64 3 442 6910 E: info@gibbstonvalleynz.com

Waipara Valley celebrates bumper harvest - up 32 per cent on 2013 WAIPARA Valley’s 2014 grape harvest has increased significantly this year, putting the region in a good position to meet consumer demand for New Zealand wine.

According to the latest vintage survey of New Zealand wineries, Waipara’s harvest crop weighed in at 10,127 tonnes – up 32 per cent from last year and higher than the national average of 29 per cent.

It was also the first time the region’s harvest exceeded 10,000 tonnes.

Pegasus Bay winemaker Matt Donaldson said the rain during the picking season had meant this year was

28 Grapegrower & Winemaker

an “intense harvest” but the crops were bigger than usual.

“We started picking the Pinot Noir before the rain set in and we worked some long hours to get all the grapes before they went rotten,” he said.

This year’s grape harvest has also been a success for Marlborough wineries despite prolonged rain in late April.

Foley Family Wines chief winemaker Stu Marfell commended his team for completing the harvest before the adverse weather hit.

“The winemaking team is looking forward to making more world-class www.winebiz.com.au

wines this year,” he said.

For the first time South Island’s Nelson and Central Otago also exceeded 10,000 tonnes and NZ Winegrowers chief executive officer Phillip Gregan said 2014 had been a good growing season across the country.

“People would be pleased with the quality and flavours produced – Waipara is producing some outstanding wines,” he added.

Contact: Pegasus Bay P: 64 3 314 6869 E: info@pegasusbay.com August 2014 – Issue 607

NMIT partners with Chinese universities to deliver wine education programs NELSON Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) has partnered with two Chinese universities to deliver joint education programs in wine, viticulture and commerce.

NMIT chief executive Tony Gray recently travelled to China where he signed a cooperation agreement and Memorandum of Understanding with China Agriculture University and Beijing Agricultural University.

He said the key thrust from NMIT was to choose partners and programs that played to the South Island’s strengths in areas where NMIT had value to add.

“We believe in internationalisation and that’s really important,” Gray said.

“This is not just about numbers; it’s about making sure the sort of students we recruit and the organisations we partner with are relevant to the region and that we’re providing a global set of outcomes for students.”

Nelson-based premium food and beverage company Kono has welcomed NMIT’s new educational link with China in the viticulture and wine sectors.

The company is growing its sales to China at an increasing rate and while the sale of wine is still relatively low,

Kono chief executive Don Everitt said having closer educational links to China was important.

“We need to learn more about the Chinese wine consumer and gain insights into their behaviour,” he said.

“We are partnering with other primary producers from New Zealand to build a presence in the market which will allow us to get closer to consumers there.”

Contact: NMIT P: 64 3 546 9175 E: info@nmit.ac.nz

Best of Central Otago Pinot Noir to be celebrated in style in January ORGANISERS of the 2015 Central Otago Pinot Noir Celebration have announced Queenstown will host wine lovers and connoisseurs from around the world as local winemakers gather to celebrate the region’s acclaimed Pinot Noir during the annual festival.

The event, to be held from 29-31 January, is in its 11th year and has established itself as one of the preeminent Pinot Noir festivals in the world.

Open to anyone with an interest in food and wine, the celebration will include tastings of local Pinot Noir at a master class and grand tasting as well as a formal tasting of international Pinot Noir.

A number of lunches and dinners will also be held in vineyards and at Queenstown’s top restaurants, enabling wine lovers to embrace the local area and sample everything it has to offer.

“Right now we’re busy planning and hope to build on the very successful 10th anniversary celebration we held this year,” festival chair John Wallace said.

Last year’s Central Otago Pinot Noir Celebration master class in action.

“Each year we raise the bar for this event. It’s now by far the best ‘Pinot party’ in this part of the world and I think the best wine event held in New Zealand.

“The local wine community looks forward to hosting the celebration. It’s a must-do for anyone who wants to meet

the people and immerse themselves in our stunning region and wine.

“Whether they’re a wine appreciator, wine professional or wine writer, we want to show them our unique part of the world.”

Contact: John Wallace E: john@chardfarm.co.nz

Marlborough enterprises invest in the future of low-alcohol, low-calorie wines THIRTEEN Marlborough wine companies have invested in a seven-year research and development project in an effort to extract better ways of producing high-quality, low-alcohol and low-calorie wines.

The program titled ‘Lifestyle Wines’ launched earlier this year as a $17m partnership between the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) and various wineries.

Whitehaven chief winemaker Sam Smail said the company invested in the program because they saw a “great future” in wine that was lower in alcohol August 2014 – Issue 607

and had fewer calories.

“We wanted to potentially make great low-alcohol wines without losing the quality impact,” he said.

Low-alcohol wine was produced by extracting alcohol from finished wine, but this program would focus on natural production using sustainable viticultural techniques and native yeasts.

Smail said the aim was to pick fruit at a lower sugar level, but it wouldn’t come without its difficulties.

“They can be quite green if you pick them early so you want ripe fruit with low sugar levels,” he added.

“We want to do it naturally in the www.winebiz.com.au

vineyards, not in the winery and without intervention.”

The program is expected to help grow New Zealand’s $1.3bn wine export market and was designed to position New Zealand as number one in the world for high-quality, low-alcohol and low-calorie wines.

MPI said the low-alcohol wine market could be worth as much as $285m by 2023.

Contact: Philip Gregan New Zealand Winegrowers P: 64 9 306 5555 E: philip@nzwine.com Grapegrower & Winemaker

29

A U G U S T 2 014

Exploring the potential to regulate grape ripening New research by the CSIRO has highlighted the potential to regulate grape ripening by manipulating the plant growth regulators (PGRs) that co-ordinate berry development.

that occur naturally in grapes and affect all aspects of berry development from flowering through to ripening. Some also are involved in the plant’s response to stress.

This opens up the way for grapegrowers to control the timing of veraison and/ or harvest to maximise fruit quality and better suit production schedules.

However, PGRs can also be applied to deliberately advance or delay ripening, and their use to control fruit development and to aid fruit storage is common in horticulture and sometimes in other areas of agriculture.

Controlling harvest timing could also alleviate some of the issues associated with increasing temperatures due to climate change.

The initial findings of the four-year study, co-funded by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA), suggest that the manipulation of berry character independent of yield could increase grape and wine value without the need to reduce production levels. “Possible benefits include the easing of harvest season compression problems, improved winery intake scheduling, optimisation of harvest timing for maximum fruit quality, reduced fruit wastage and the manipulation of fruit composition,� said research leader Dr Chris Davies.

PGRs are small bioactive molecules

The CSIRO study has demonstrated in both white and red skinned Vitis vinifera cultivars that PGRs can be used successfully without detrimental effects on wine flavor or aroma.

PGRs that promote ripening include abscisic acid, castasterone and the gas ethylene, which is more conveniently applied as a synthetic ethylene-releasing compound. Another group of PGRs, auxins, delay the onset of berry ripening.

The researchers used sensory and chemical analysis to test for any effects on wine flavor but found this to be minimal in most cases, even when harvest was delayed for a significant time.

They also noted that the cost of PGR

Effect of auxin treatment in delaying Shiraz berry ripening. The bunch on the left is a control (treated with a wetting agent only). The bunch on the right has been treated with an auxin plus

reagents was relatively modest and that some were already registered for used in grapes.

The project has just finished. Many of the findings have already been published in scientific journals and there are more papers in progress.

Dr Davies is also happy to talk with anyone interested in the research. He can be contacted at christopher.davies@ csiro.au.

Australian Grape and Wine Authority, Industry House cnr Botanic & Hackney Roads Adelaide SA 5000 PO Box 610 Kent Town SA 5071 | T: 08 8228 2000 | F: 08 8228 2066 | E: research@agwa.net.au | W: research.agwa.net.au

Researcher in focus: Dr Jacqui McRae maintains a great interest in medicinal plants, but professionally she found she “just couldn’t do it any more”.

“It is such a long process and I found I wanted to do something more immediately applicable,” she said.

“By the time you do all the work from finding plant, to isolating compounds to developing a medicine that’s going to be of benefit to people, it can be 20 or 30 years.

Dr Jacqui McRae

For a wine scientist, the Australian Wine and Research Institute’s (AWRI) Dr Jacqui McRae has seen a lot of rainforest. The common denominator is chemistry.

Dr McRae was planning a career in environmental science before the chemistry component of that university degree grabbed her attention, and after graduating she took a job working with petrochemicals for Mobil.

Not long after, however, she found herself in a very different place, in more ways than one. She signed on for a three-month volunteer stint in Peru, spending her time studying flora and fauna and learning from the local indigenous people about the potential of medicinal plants.

Three months became six when she was asked to stay on as a trainee, and she eventually returned to Melbourne keen to make a more scientific study of just what those plants could do.

She enrolled in an Honours degree at Swinburne University then spent another two months in the South American jungle – this time helping to establish an ecotourism venture in Ecuador – before undertaking her PhD jointly with Swinburne and the CSIRO. This involved regular trips to north Queensland and a brief sojourn to the rainforests of Sarawak, where she helped a bio-discovery centre set up some methods for isolating natural products.

The PhD was a success and Dr McRae

“And a lot of the time you do a lot of work and find nothing, which can be a bit gut wrenching.”

She hadn’t considered the wine industry until an AWRI advertisement seeking people to work on tannins motivated her to find out more. She discovered that “from a chemistry perspective wine is pretty crazy”.

“I like going out to the wineries and seeing the magic happen.”

“I thought initially it would be something like petrochemicals, where they set standards and you test things to meet a standard,” she said.

“But it turns out that it’s highly reactive and it’s changing always, from the moment it’s bottled – or the moment it’s crushed to be honest. When it’s in the bottle it is still very active and chemically dynamic. It’s very exciting.”

Dr McRae got the job, moved to Adelaide in 2009, and started working with the AWRI’s then tannin expert Jim Kennedy, with a particular focus on tannin structure.

The initial personal challenge was working with tannin molecules, which are “much, much bigger molecules than I had dealt with previously”.

“Tannins have particular structures because the different sub-units that make up the polymers make it either straight or folded over in some way and that changes the reactivity,” Dr McRae said.

“What we are mostly interested in is the sensory aspect – how it influences the palate, is it a pleasant mouth coating, or is it really puckering and drying? Or is it not there at all – a hollow palate?

“Most of the work has been around that. We have got measures for tannin concentration but ideally we want to find similar measures for tannin composition that winemakers can use to determine how the tannins will ultimately influence the palate.”

The team is also interested in how tannins contribute to astringency, and this recently took them to Melbourne to use the Australian Synchrotron to analyse the relative sizes of aged and young wine tannins in different wine-like matrices.

The tannin project has also “morphed”.

Beyond looking just at tannins, Dr McRae and colleagues are now studying how tannins interact with the structure of the wine and with the residual proteins in wine.

Dr McRae herself has moved from reds to whites, with a particular interest in wine clarity and fining.

“We have a number of projects, for example, trying to find alternatives to bentonite,” she said. “Winemakers use it to remove proteins from wine and to ensure that the wine is heat stable for export, but bentonite has some negative issues, including stripping out some aroma and flavour compounds.

“That’s been interesting. It’s not natural product chemistry but it’s coming back to the biology I was doing in my PhD as well. Working out the reactivity and bioactivity of things.”

It’s also a popular topic in the Grape and Wine Roadshows, which give Dr McRae and her colleagues the personal contact and direct feedback she was hoping for in the wine game.

“I like the industry setting,” she said. “I like going out to the wineries and seeing the magic happen.”

Phenolic quality a popular roadshow topic Managing phenolic quality in the vineyard is proving to be one of the more popular topics available in regions as part of the Grape and Wine Roadshow series.

The presentation by Dr Keren Bindon from AWRI summarises what research has taught us about the important phenolic groups in red grapes (mainly anthocyanins and tannins) and aims to provide some intervention options and to explain why sometimes those interventions just won’t work.

Dr Bindon says it’s an intriguing and often complex topic, and one that tends to spark a lot of questions and debate.

“Before you can start talking about viticultural management you need to know ‘where you are’ in terms of phenolic quality,” she said. “Research has shown that higher wine anthocyanin and skin tannin are associated with improved quality, while seed tannin is less important.

“For the most part it seems that grape skin tannin and anthocyanin are related

to each other. A viticultural impact on one often causes a similar change in the other.”

increase in skin tannin, but these do not necessarily correlate to the expected sensory changes.

There is an over-arching impact of region on achievable levels of skin tannin and colour. Climate, with the most likely candidate being elevated temperature, defines a ceiling in terms of how much impact a management practice will have.

Achieving grapevine balance, in other words the balance of vegetative and reproductive growth, is also important in optimising phenolics.

The 2011 season brought a lot of questions about poor wine colour.

Interestingly, research shows that 2011 was actually a high grape colour year, because it was cooler, but it was also a year for low grape and wine tannin. The absence of adequate tannin in the wine possibly led to poor polymeric pigment formation and therefore unstable wine colour.

After this, the timing of a viticultural intervention is crucial, because the genetic machinery that underpins phenolic synthesis is switched on only at certain times. For example, increasing light by defoliation will only be effective if it is applied early.

“Seasonal variability is the thing that cannot easily be managed at present, but it is something that can be better prepared for,” Dr Bindon said. “The best things we can offer are analytical tools for producers to understand their varieties, regions and seasons.“

One of the most frequently asked questions at Dr Bindon’s presentation is how to measure “green tannin” or “ripe tannin”. The reality is that it is not yet chemically possible to define either.

Grape ripening usually causes a large decrease in seed tannin and a small

Regions can request Dr Bindon’s presentation when choosing topics for their next Roadshow. For more information on the Roadshow program, contact Con Simos on 8313 6600 or con. simos@awri.com.au.

How to engage with Chinese tourists about Australian wine How can the Australian wine sector best engage with Chinese tourists to encourage them to buy Australian wine when they return home?

This is the question behind an AGWAfunded R&D project under way at the University of South Australia.

“We see this as complementary to rather than an alternative to marketing in-market but it could be a valuable and cost-effective adjunct – a pull approach to build on company’s ongoing push strategies within China,” said Dr Richard Lee, from the University’s Ehrenberg Bass Institute.

“Tourists come from, and thus will return to, many different parts of China, but they are easy to reach in Australia because they tend to gather in obvious places.”

In the project’s recently completed

first phase, Chinese tourists visiting a leading cellar door and at a popular fish market were questioned about their time in Australia then asked to taste and evaluate a glass of wine and a piece of freshly cooked prawn.

Consistently (and unsurprisingly), those with a more positive experience and of perceptions of Australia as a travel destination tended to rate both the wine and the prawn more highly. Moreover, the wine was rated more highly at the winery than in the market, and the prawn more highly in the market.

“This confirmed the tourism ‘halo effect’ on product evaluation, particularly in a congruent environment where the product fits with the location,” Dr Lee said.

In the second phase, now under way, the wine is being evaluated at different locations that are congruent with wine,

such as vineyards and restaurants. The aim is to drill down further and come up with some advice for wine companies, while also testing for seasonal variations.

“We were at the cellar door over summer the first phase while now we are moving into the slower period for tourists,” Dr Lee said. “It may not be important, but we want to check.”

The third and final phase will test the extent of the tourism effects by comparing responses from Chinese tourists at the winery with those of people in China who have never been to Australia but choose to visit an Australian cellar door in China.

The researchers also will follow up by emailing the tourists they spoke with during phase two to see whether they have bought Australian wine since returning home.

Swiss technology helps uncover oak’s secrets Switzerland may not be renowned as a wine producer, but its mass spectrometric technology could help provide major benefits for winemakers.

Australian PhD student Ross Farrell recently spent 10 weeks at the Zurich University of Applied Science to apply specialised technology to the on-line analysis of the oak toasting process.

His goal is to develop new analytical methods for rapid assessment of oak wood chemistry to provide a direct measurement of oak sensory quality. If he succeeds, winemakers would be able to quickly and regularly source oak wood with known sensory characteristics.

“Current oak evaluation methods require time-consuming and labour-intensive sampling procedures for expert, labbased analysis,” he said.

“The lack of oak chemistry data results in identical seasoning and toasting protocols even though oak is known to vary greatly, among species and sites,

and even between and within trees on the same site.

“The wine industry currently relies on subjective descriptions of oak quality that are inherently difficult to relate to wine quality impact.”

Mr Farrell’s studies at the University of Tasmania are supported by an AGWA Scholarship and an Australian Postgraduate Award, and he visited Switzerland with an AGWA (formerly GWRDC) travel grant.

The focus of his time in Zurich was on the real-time analysis of volatile compounds generated during the toasting of oak staves.

“Although the inherent oak chemistry and seasoning are important factors, the toasting process is widely regarded as the key stage in imparting the desired sensory characteristics to oak,” he said.

“By developing robust systems for realtime monitoring of oak aromas as the wood is toasted we hope to improve our understanding of the process and clarify previous research. This applies to both barrels and barrel alternatives.”

Prior research has shown that the different sizes of pieces used as alternatives to barrels and the different toasting methods applied to them means that the flavour profile of these alternatives is inconsistent when compared with traditional barrel toasting methods.

Ross working as a cellar hand at Tamar Ridge Estates during the 2012 vintage

The chemical composition of barrel alternatives varies greatly and has not been clearly related to quality. Given the

increased use of barrel alternatives for certain wine styles, Mr Farrell believes there is great scope for improving quality control.

He was drawn to this project as a professional wood scientist with “an interest in flavours”.

He completed a Master of Science in Wood Science at the University of British Columbia in 2002 and has since worked in industry and academic roles in Australia and Canada. He is due to complete his PhD in 2017.

International accolade for winegrapes book A book by the School of Economics Professor, Kym Anderson, has received (along with two others) the prestigious International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) Award for the best viticulture books in 2013.

Published by the University of Adelaide Press, Professor Anderson’s book, Which Winegrape Varieties are Grown Where?, is an in-depth analysis of the world’s wine varieties and winegrape growing regions that account for 99 per cent of global wine production.

Following research funded by AGWA the book is the first database of the world’s winegrape varieties and regions, and a valuable resource for the wine industry. It is freely accessible as an e-book at www. adelaide.edu.au/press/titles/winegrapes and the underlying database, available at www.adelaide.edu.au/wine-econ/ databases/winegrapes, is continually being revised and expanded.

Final reports now available: CSP 0903

Molecular and genetic strategies to reduce the susceptibility of wine grapes to fungal pathogens

DPI 1001

Tannin Structure Function Relationships – A Foundation for Understanding Mouthfeel Perception

GWT 1317

10th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Australian Grape and Wine Authority, Industry House cnr Botanic & Hackney Roads Adelaide SA 5000 PO Box 610 Kent Town SA 5071 | T: 08 8228 2000 | F: 08 8228 2066 | E: research@agwa.net.au | W: research.agwa.net.au

grapegrowing

Leaching efficiency and its impact on the sustainability of irrigation SARDI research scientist Mark Skewes and Rob Stevens of RM Stevens Water review the challenge of salinity along the Murray and how leaching plays a pivotal role in its long term management.

OUR understanding of the concept of leaching efficiency (Stevens 2002) and its impact on the sustainability of irrigation has vastly improved with new research.

This article revisits this concept and provides an update on the current understanding of the issue with respect to irrigation with poorer quality (more saline) waters and new techniques to maximise leaching efficiency.

IRRIGATION EFFICIENCY The primary purpose of irrigation is to manage soil water content to maintain water content at a high level to avoid water stress, or to allow a controlled level of stress.

In the process of irrigating, some of the water applied to a vineyard will be lost, through drift, runoff, evaporation and/or deep drainage.

The success of irrigation, either at the scale of individual events or across an irrigation season, can be measured by the irrigation efficiency achieved: Irrigation efficiency = (amount of water available to be used)/ (amount of water applied)×100 Expression of this relationship as an efficiency suggests that the higher the number, the better the irrigator.

Over recent decades irrigation management training, supply infrastructure upgrades to support on-demand irrigation scheduling, conversion to more precise irrigation systems and regulatory pressures have all been associated with a significant rise in vineyard irrigation efficiency.

For example, a study of vineyard water balances in the Riverland in the early 1980s found the average irrigation efficiency was 51 per cent (Cock, et al. 1991).

More recent studies have measured irrigation efficiency at 78 per cent for under-tree sprinklers and 88 per cent for drip (Giddings 2008), and an average across system types of 82 per cent (Skewes and Meissner 1997).

In an ideal world, such increases in irrigation efficiency would be entirely positive, and irrigators would continue to strive toward the magical 100 per cent efficiency goal.

However, the ideal world is one where irrigation water contains no salt whatsoever.

In the real world the presence of salt in all water sources dictates that 100 per cent efficiency is not desirable because some water is required to leach this salt.

IRRIGATION WATER AND SOIL SALINITY All sources of water contain some dissolved salt. Along the River Murray, the salinity of irrigation water is generally quantified by measuring the electrical conductivity of the water (ECi), with salinity expressed in EC units (micro-Siemens per centimetre, abbreviated as µS/cm).

34 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Figure 1. The effect of annually applying 7 ML/ha of irrigation water (450 µS/m) on soil salinity if no water drains from the rootzone. Dashed lines correspond to the soil salinity values at which salinity begins to reduce grapevine yield, and where yield loss reaches 50 per cent (from Stevens 2002).

The weight of salt contained in irrigation water in milligrams per litre (mg/L) is approximately equal to the water EC multiplied by 0.55.

Table 1 shows the amount of salt added per year for a range of irrigation water salinities and irrigation application volumes.

Table 1: Tonnes of salt added per hectare per year through applying various volumes of irrigation water at a range of salinities (1ML/ha = 100 mm depth of water).

Irrigation water salinity (EC units, µS/cm)

Annual irrigation volume (ML/ha) 5

7

11

300

0.8

1.2

1.8

450

1.2

1.7

2.7

600

1.6

2.3

3.6

900

2.5

3.5

5.4

Irrigation waters contain much more salt than rain. At Loxton, the average annual rainfall of 278mm (2.8 ML/ha) adds salt at a rate of 0.07 t/ha/yr (Blackburn and McLeod 1983).

By way of comparison, a grapegrower who annually applies 7 ML/ha of moderately saline water will add between one and two tonnes of salt to each hectare per year.

Soil salinity is measured as the salinity of the saturated soil paste extract (ECe), expressed in deci-semens per metre (dS/m).

The effect on soil salinity of adding salt in irrigation water can be estimated from the values of soil saturation percentage (for example 40 per cent in sandy clay loam (Cock 1985) and the amount of salt added.

Figure 1 shows the effect the annual addition of salts in 7 ML/ha/yr of irrigation water will have on the salinity of a 0.5m deep rootzone of sandy clay loam soil, if no water drains from the rootzone.

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August 2014 – Issue 607

Figure 2. Soil salinity (ECe) with 15, 22 and 30 per cent of applied water draining, for irrigation water salinities (ECi) between 200 and 900 µS/cm under ideal leaching conditions (from Stevens 2002).

The US Department of Agriculture Salinity Laboratory developed a relationship for the impact that a build-up in soil salinity has on vine yield (Maas and Hoffman 1977).

This relationship has been used to calculate soil salinities corresponding to the onset of yield decline and 50 per cent yield decline, also shown in Figure 1 by the use of dashed lines.

By the end of the first season, the build-up in soil salinity would begin to decrease grapevine yield, and by the end of the fourth season the build-up in soil salinity would cause a 50 per cent yield loss.

LEACHING TO REMOVE SALT Irrigated viticulture is only sustainable if the salt added by irrigation is removed from the rootzone by leaching.

Leaching occurs when the amount of water (either irrigation or rainfall) added to the rootzone is in excess of the soil’s waterholding capacity.

The excess drains out of the base of the rootzone, carrying salts with it.

Using a mathematical model, the expected ratio of salinity of the rootzone soil to salinity of applied water can be calculated from knowledge of the percentage of applied irrigation water draining from the rootzone base (Ayers and Westcot 1989).

With average irrigation efficiencies ranging from 70-85 per cent, the average percentage of applied water draining ranges from 30-15 per cent, respectively.

Figure 2 shows the average rootzone salinities predicted by the model when irrigating with water salinities ranging from 200-900 µS/cm, for irrigation practices where 30, 22 and 15 per cent of applied water drains below the rootzone (irrigation efficiency of 70, 78 and 85 per cent respectively).

From Figure 2 it can be seen if the average irrigation efficiency lies somewhere between 70 and 85 per cent (drainage of between 30 and 15 per cent), and if leaching is occurring under near ideal conditions, then with irrigation water salinity at about 400 µS/cm most values of soil salinity should lie below 0.6 dS/m.

LEACHING EFFICIENCY In contrast to the ideal situation portrayed in Figure 2, in the Riverland during years when average irrigation water salinity is about 400 µS/cm, surveys of vineyard soil salinity (ECe) frequently return values greater than 1 dS/m, with values up August 2014 – Issue 607

to 1.3 dS/m (equal to 1300 µS/cm) being common (A.C. Adams, Rural Solutions SA, pers. comm.).

Under the ideal conditions assumed in Figure 2, water added to the rootzone soil by rainfall or irrigation completely intermixes with water and soluble salts already present in the soil, before it drains out of the rootzone.

However, in reality only some of the water added by irrigation intermixes with water and soluble salts already present in rootzone soil, and the rest drains under less than ideal conditions, for example through soil cracks, channels formed where old roots have died and decayed, or via other preferential pathways.

This water bypasses the inter-mixing process, and in doing so fails to pick up salt as it moves out of the rootzone.

The mathematical model used to generate Figure 2 can be applied in reverse, so the percentage of applied irrigation water draining from the rootzone under ideal conditions can be calculated from measurements of irrigation water and soil salinity.

Applying the model in this manner to irrigation water and soil salinity values of 400 and 1300 µS/cm, respectively, produces an estimate that 6 per cent of applied water drains from the rootzone. That is, in such a vineyard, 6 per cent of applied water is draining under ideal conditions.

The efficiency of leaching can be expressed by calculating how closely the amount of water draining under ideal conditions approaches the actual amount draining as follows: Leaching efficiency = (prop. of water draining under ideal conditions)/(proportion of water draining) ×100 So for the example discussed above, where irrigation efficiency is 85 per cent, giving 15 per cent of applied water draining below the rootzone, then with 6 per cent of the water draining under ideal conditions, the leaching efficiency equals 6/15 = 0.40 or 40 per cent. Alternatively, if such a vineyard was only achieving an irrigation efficiency of 70 per cent, then the leaching efficiency equals 6/30 = 0.20 or 20 per cent.

Using an alternative method for estimating leaching efficiency from in-field measurements, Biswas, et al. (2008) calculated leaching efficiency in a 30cm deep drip irrigated vineyard rootzone in the Riverland.

The resultant values for individual irrigation events ranged from 48 per cent to 85 per cent, with an average of 65 per cent.

HOW DOES LEACHING EFFICIENCY EFFECT IRRIGATION SUSTAINABILITY? For irrigation to be sustainable from an environmental viewpoint, its long term salinity impact on the river must be reduced.

Drainage from irrigated areas near the river increases the hydraulic pressure in the regional groundwater aquifer, increasing the rate at which this highly saline aquifer (40,000 µS/cm) flows into the river.

The need to reduce this impact on the river is one of the drivers behind increasing irrigation efficiency.

However, sustainability of irrigation from a crop production point of view mandates that leaching rates must be high enough to prevent crop losses due to a build-up of soil salt.

Thus, for sustainability to be achieved, a balance is needed between reducing the effect of salt flows to the environment, and managing salt build-up in the crop rootzone.

Figure 3 displays the trade-off between irrigation efficiency and leaching efficiency, required to maintain full yield in grapevines.

For a given leaching efficiency (different coloured lines), maximum possible irrigation efficiency decreases as irrigation

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

35

grapegrowing water salinity (ECi) increases, in order to maintain the level of leaching required to keep rootzone salinity below 1.5 dS/m, above which yield loss occurs (Maas and Hoffman 1977).

For example, for irrigation systems with leaching efficiency of 90 per cent (green line), irrigation efficiency can be maintained at 85 per cent without yield loss up to irrigation water salinity of 900 µS/cm.

If irrigation water salinity rises above this value, then the salinity of the rootzone can only be held below 1.5 dS/m by producing more drainage through a reduction in irrigation efficiency.

Current approaches to sustaining irrigation along the River Murray assume irrigation efficiency can reach 85 per cent without loss of yield due to rootzone salt build up.

Whenever river salinity rises above 600 µS/cm this goal will not be reached unless leaching efficiencies are greater than 60 per cent.

ROLE OF SALT TOLERANCE IN SUSTAINING IRRIGATION Certain rootstocks are more salt tolerant than others, and the use of these rootstocks imparts salt tolerance to the resultant vines (Table 2).

For example, at sites with leaching efficiencies greater than or equal to 60 per cent, a grapevine rootstock that does not begin to lose yield until soil salinity rises above 2.5 dS/m would allow maintenance of irrigation efficiency above 85 per cent without yield loss up to irrigation water salinity of 1000 µS/cm, as opposed to only 600 µS/m for own-rooted vines with a threshold salinity of 1.5 dS/m (Stevens 2002).

Note that in Table 2 the threshold ECe for own roots is listed as 1.8 dS/m, rather than 1.5 dS/m as quoted earlier from Maas and Hoffman (1977).

Despite this minor variation, it is still clear that the use of salt tolerant vines will allow continuation of irrigation with efficiency greater than 85 per cent, to higher river salinities with lower leaching efficiencies than the use of own rooted vines or vines on salt sensitive rootstocks.

Table 2: Salt tolerance ranking and approximate threshold salinity for yield loss for a range of grapevine rootstocks (based on Tee, et al. (2003)).

Classification of salt tolerance

Rootstock

Approximate threshold ECe (dS/m)

Sensitive

Own Roots 3309C 1202C K51-40

1.8

Moderately sensitive

5BB Kober 5C Teleki 110 Richter 99 Richter K51-32

2.5

Moderately tolerant

140 Ruggeri Schwarzmann 101-14 Ramsey

3.3

Tolerant

1103 Paulsen

5.6

INCREASING LEACHING EFFICIENCY However, the trade-off between leaching efficiency, irrigation efficiency, irrigation water salinity and crop salt sensitivity dictates very low leaching efficiency will limit the sustainability of irrigated production at some combination of irrigation water salinity and crop sensitivity.

Thus it becomes important to understand how leaching efficiency may be improved.

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Figure 3. Maximum irrigation efficiency at which rootzone salinity remains below 1.5 dS/m, for a range of irrigation water salinities at four leaching efficiencies (from Stevens 2002).

Looking for more articles, visit the Grapegrower and Winemaker article archive at:

61 2 9482 5663 • ppp@tpg.com.au Now available from our New Zealand agent, Amacron Ph 08 00102253

36 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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www.winebiz.com.au/gwm August 2014 – Issue 607

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grapegrowing It has been known for many years the amount of fresh water needed to reclaim saline soils is dependent on the method used to apply the water to the soil surface.

If the water is applied by intermittent sprinkling, then much less is required than if it is applied by ponding on the soil surface (Hoffman, et al. 1980).

Th i s ob ser vat ion indicates the application method can produce a large variation in leaching efficiency.

Figure 4. SoluSampler, used to Cook, et al. (2006) showed collect samples of soil water, for analysis of salt and nutrient levels. the leaching efficiency of sprinkler irrigation (93 per cent) was much higher than that under drip (65 – 79 per cent).

Kies (2006) found intermittent irrigation gave slightly higher salinity of leachate, that is better salt removal, than continuous irrigation.

It is likely this is due to reduced hydraulic pressure from continual application of water at the soil surface, reducing vertical movement of water through the profile, and allowing greater horizontal movement and therefore better mixing of applied water with resident soil water.

Another recommendation is to leach in winter when soil water is high and evapotranspiration demand is low (Cook, et al. 2006).

This strategy also extends to using top up irrigations following or during rainfall events.

In part this is effective because the combined salinity of the applied water sources is lower. The lower application rate of rainfall may also assist in increasing the mixing with resident water.

SPATIAL VARIABILITY UNDER DRIP IRRIGATION It is also relevant to mention here that, under drip irrigation, leaching does not result in exclusively downward movement of salt.

Because drip irrigation systems only wet part of the soil volume, there is significant lateral (sideways) movement of water, and therefore of salt.

As a result, salt is leached outward as well as downward, and accumulates all around the edges of the wetted area.

As a result rainfall can mobilise salt lying near the soil surface, at the edges of the normal wetted area.

It can be important to initiate irrigation when significant rainfall is expected, in order to ensure salt mobilised by rainfall does not move laterally back into the active crop rootzone.

DEFICIT IRRIGATION Deficit irrigation strategies (e.g. Regulated Deficit Irrigation) rely on maintaining reduced water content in the rootzone for a prolonged period.

Irrigations applied during the deficit period are small and do not completely refill the rootzone.

Not enough water is added to cause leaching, and as a result salt accumulates in the rootzone during the deficit irrigation period.

Therefore it is critical rootzone salinity is monitored during the deficit period (see below).

In addition, special care is needed when full irrigations

38 Grapegrower & Winemaker

resume after the deficit period, to adequately refill and then overfill the rootzone, and ensure that salt accumulated during the deficit period is effectively leached.

MONITORING ROOTZONE SALINITY As with most things that require management, it is important to be able to measure rootzone salinity.

There are a number of tools available, including some soil water monitoring technologies which also provide an indication of total salinity of the soil water.

Another useful tool is the soil solution sampler (e.g.

SoluSampler®, Figure 4).

This tool allows the collection of samples of soil water solution from the rootzone, which can be tested for the concentration of salt and/or nutrients.

More information about SoluSamplers is available at the following link: http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au/water/products__ and__services.

When measuring soil water salinity using soil solution samplers, it is critical to be aware soil solution salinity (ECsw) is not the same as salinity of the saturated soil paste extract (ECe).

However, there is a fairly stable relationship between the two, that is ECsw is approximately double ECe (Ayers and Westcot 1989, Biswas, et al. 2008).

Consequently, if the critical value of ECe for own-rooted grapevines in Table 2 is 1.8 dS/m, the equivalent critical value of ECsw is 3.6 dS/m.

CONCLUSIONS Irrigation water contains a significant amount of salt, and in order to sustain irrigated viticulture, salts must be leached from the soil.

Drainage water generated by leaching increases the rate at which the highly saline regional groundwater aquifer discharges into the Murray River, increasing river salinity.

By the end of the first season, the build-up in soil salinity would begin to decrease grapevine yield, and by the end of the fourth season the build-up in soil salinity would cause a 50 per cent yield loss Low leaching efficiency may confound efforts to achieve the twin goals of reducing saline flows to the river by reducing drainage flows, and maintaining sufficient salt leaching to sustain irrigated viticulture.

Salt tolerant rootstocks may assist in managing these conflicting goals.

Careful irrigation management can assist in increasing leaching efficiency.

Monitoring soil solution salinity is an important cross check to ensure high irrigation efficiency is not creating long term rootzone salinity problems.

Contacts: Mark Skewes P: 61 8 8303 9400 E: mark.skewes@sa.gov.au Rob Stevens P: 61 8 8357 1213 E: rmstevens.water@gmail.com

www.winebiz.com.au

August 2014 – Issue 607

Farmoz is now Adama, a leading global provider of crop protection solutions bringing a fresh approach to farming in Australia.

The name Adama means ‘earth’, the essential element of farming. It reflects our commitment to agriculture as well as our down to earth, practical approach and culture.

At Adama we understand that farming is complex and full of ever increasing challenges. We recognise that in order to make a genuine difference, we can’t do this alone. Neither can growers. So we will work together with our partners in Australia and around the world to find ways to simplify it.

Together, we will develop simple, practical and innovative solutions in crop protection and beyond. We will support our partners to ensure growers can get things done. We will connect people through relationships across the global farming community with an honest, open and agile approach. We will use digital technology to build and run a powerful network that brings people together.

We look forward to telling you more about the Adama story as you join us on our exciting new journey.

Simply. Grow. Together.

grapegrowing

Australian first with grapevine trunk disease workshop GRAPEGROWERS and winemakers have an opportunity to learn the latest information and practical management options for grapevine trunk disease.

The 9th International Workshop on Grapevine Trunk Diseases (9IWGTD), sponsored by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA), is being held in Australia for the first time and will showcase the Australian wine industry’s proactive methods for trunk disease management.

Hosted by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) and the University of Adelaide, the workshop will be held at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide from November 18-20 and is being convened by Dr Mark Sosnowski (SARDI).

The third day of the conference is an industry forum day, and Australian grapegrowers and winemakers have been offered a discounted fee to attend it on November 20 through AGWA’s sponsorship.

AGWA’s acting chief executive officer Andreas Clark said the industry forum day presents a rare opportunity for industry members to learn the latest practical management options for trunk diseases from Australian and international experts.

Dr Sosnowski said he “strongly encourages Australian industry representatives to attend the industry forum day, which will focus on the latest information from around the world on practical management options in the vineyard and nursery”.

Industry forum day registration for Australian grapegrowers and winemakers is subsidised to $200, if their registration is received by August 17.

Industry members are also welcome to register for other days if they wish.

Registration details are available from www.plevin.com.au/ iwgtd2014/registration.html.

Contact: Mark Sosnowski P: 61 8 8303 9489 E: Mark.Sosnowski@sa.gov.au

Rare opportunity: Australia’s grapegrowers will have their first chance to attend an international workshop on trunk disease at home with a major event set down for November says convenor Dr Mark Sosnowski (pictured centre with hat).

Leaching efficiency and its impact on the sustainability of irrigation From page 38

REFERENCES:

and Salinity Investigation Programme”, in Department of Agriculture South Australia Technical Report (South Australian Department of Agriculture, Adelaide, 1991), pp. 114.

Biswas, T.K., G. Schrale, and R.J. Stirzaker (2008) New tools and methodologies for in situ monitoring of root zone salinity and leaching efficiency under drip and sprinkler irrigation. Acta Horticulturae 792, 115-122.

Cook, F.J., N.S. Jayawardene, D.W. Rassam, E.W. Christen, J.W. Hornbuckle, R.J. Stirzaker, K.L. Bristow, and T.K. Biswas, “The State of Measuring, Diagnosing, Ameliorating and Managing Solute Effects in Irrigated Systems”, in Technical Report (CRC for Irrigation Futures, Darling Heights, Queensland, 2006), pp. 47.

Blackburn, G. and S. McLeod (1983) Salinity of atmospheric precipitation in the Murray_Darling drainage division, Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 21, 411-434.

Giddings, J. (2008) Improved irrigation efficiency in the lower Murray Darling region of Australia. Acta Horticulturae 792, 305-312.

Ayers, R.S. and D.W. Westcot (1989) Water Quality for Agriculture. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Rome).

Cock, G.J. (1985) Moisture characteristics of irrigated Mallee soils in South Australia. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 25, 209-213.

Cock, G.J., P.J. Cole, A. Zimmerman, and G.C. Harvey, “Water Balances of Irrigated Sultana Vineyards in the Riverland of South Australia: River Murray Irrigation

40 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Hoffman, G.J., R.S. Ayers, E.J. Doering, and B.L. McNeal (1980) Salinity in irrigated agriculture. In: Design and Operation of Farm Irrigation Systems, Ed. M.E. Jensen (American Society of Agricultural Engineers: St. Joseph, Michigan) pp. 145-185.

Kies, S. (2006) Intermittent Irrigation Effects on

www.winebiz.com.au

Root Zone Solute Movement in a Riverland Soil.

BSc (Honours), Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.

Maas, E.V. and G.J. Hoffman (1977) Crop salttolerance - current assessment. Journal of the Irrigation and Drainage Division 103, 115-134.

Skewes, M.A. and A.P. Meissner, “Irrigation Benchmarks and Best Management Practices for Winegrapes”, in Technical Report (Primary Industries and Resources SA, Adelaide, South Australia, 1997).

Stevens, R.M. (2002) Interactions between irrigation, salinity, leaching efficiency, salinity tolerance and sustainability. The Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker 2002, 71-76.

Tee, E., D. Burrows, A.M. Boland, and S. Putland, “Best Irrigation Management Practices for Viticulture in the Murray Darling Basin”, (Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture, Glen Osmond, South Australia, 2003).

August 2014 – Issue 607

Solaris.

Sunlight in a bottle. ®

Solaris® offers high powered defence against Grey Mould under prolonged cool, wet conditions.

Solaris® is formulated as a convenient, easy to handle liquid to provide first class Botrytis control. Apply prior to pre-bunch closure to protect berries as part of a sound preventative disease management program.

Purchase 10 L of Solaris® to receive your Limited Edition Solaris® Cap*.

See your local Innovation Centre for more details.

*While stocks last.

adama.com

grapegrowing

Delivering the message: Adama managing director David Peters tells industry representatives about the plans for the business in Australia.

ADAMA ready for business Down Under THERE’S more to Farmoz today than just its new name – ADAMA. Its evolution from an Australian business into part of a powerful global brand has seen the recruitment of an experienced team of marketing, technical and commercial professionals and the inclusion of a raft of new products.

The global-branding process has been rolling out with staged country-bycountry launches and in July, Farmoz took its first steps in Australia as ADAMA. ADAMA comes from the Hebrew word for “earth” and its Australian horticulture manager Luke Collins says the name reflects “the company’s downto-earth approach and commitment to advancing agriculture in Australia and around the world”.

“Our decision to transition from Farmoz to the single brand ADAMA marks yet another milestone in our evolution into a leading global organisation with shared values, shared culture and the one brand name,” he says.

“As we take on this new shared brand we also recognise the need to balance our global perspective with the ability to continue tailoring operations and solutions to the requirements of growers

42 Grapegrower & Winemaker

and our distribution partners across Australia.

“For this reason, many key aspects of the business will continue to be driven by the needs of our local industry.”

To which end Collins has announced the introduction of two new locallydeveloped solutions for use by vine managers in time for the Australian 2014/15 growing season.

Solaris and Predict are formulations to specifically target Botrytis cinerea.

They join Custodia fungicide, commercially released in 2013 and www.winebiz.com.au

proving effective at managing powdery mildew, downy mildew and botrytis with its combination of strobilurin and triazole chemistry.

South Australian grapegrower Mark Hall, who also manages VBH Supplies at Langhorne Creek, identified the benefits of Custodia and its ability to reduce further development of resistant strains of powdery mildew during local development work with Farmoz two seasons ago.

“We saw Custodia’s strength when targeting powdery and incorporated it into our own programs as soon as it became available last season,” Hall says.

“We used Custodia in blocks of Malbec, Shiraz, Cabernet, Verdelho, Viognier and Lagrein in 2013 to great effect.

“We were pleased to note that – as expected – when using it at the 1L/Ha (100mL/100L) label rate, treated blocks remained free from downy mildew even though neighbouring blocks became significantly affected in the weeks after application.

“We will be using Custodia with even more confidence to manage our vines and those of our customers this season.”

Contact: www.adama.com.

August 2014 – Issue 607

Custodia.

Complex problem, simple solution. ®

Custodia combines two modes of action to assist in fungicide resistance management.

Apply Custodia from the start of flowering through to 80% cap fall in a sound preventative spray program to manage Powdery Mildew, Downy Mildew and Botrytis. ®

®

Purchase 10 L of Custodia® to receive your Limited Edition Custodia® Cap*.

See your local Innovation Centre for more details. *While stocks last.

adama.com

grapegrowing

How-to manual for assessing the soil health of your vineyard The success of the Australasian wine industries is built on the quality of their soils and the good health of the vines they grow. Kiwi soil scientist Graham Shepherd says he has come up with an easy formula to assess the health and potential of your own vineyard.

NEW Zealand soil scientist and agricultural adviser Graham Shepherd has developed a visual soil assessment (VSA) method to provide grapegrowers with a simple system to quickly and effectively assess the condition of their soil (their underground economy) and the related performance of the crop.

Soils with good VSA scores will by and large give the best production with the lowest establishment and operational costs Shepherd says putting the spotlight on the condition of the soil and the performance of the plant in relation to management practices is the first step in improving production and reducing costs.

He says the soil can be read like the pages of a book once you know what you’re looking at. “One of the purposes of the VSA is to train the untrained eye to read and interpret what you’re seeing, the visual messages,” Shepherd says.

“To this end, the VSA takes you through the assessment of 10 key indicators of soil condition and six indicators of plant performance and discusses their significance and implications.

“The system is very good at identifying any issues that may be occurring in a vineyard and draws your attention to those areas where the soil and plant performance could be improved through more appropriate management.

“The maintenance of good soil quality is vital for the environmental and economic sustainability of vineyards.

A decline in soil quality has a marked impact on vine growth, grape quality, production costs and risk of soil erosion, and can therefore have significant consequences on the environment and the economic enterprise of the vineyard.”

A decline in soil physical properties in particular takes considerable time and cost to correct.

At a glance: • VSA trains the untrained eye to read and interpret the condition of the soil and the performance of the crop.

• The program highlights underperforming soil and plant indicators and puts the spotlight on the need for specific mitigating management practices to raise their scores.

• A decline in soil quality has a marked impact on vine growth, grape quality, production costs and risk of soil erosion.

44 Grapegrower & Winemaker

The good book: VSA takes you through the assessment of 10 key indicators of soil condition and six indicators of plant performance.

Safeguarding soil resources for future generations and minimising the ecological footprint of viticulture is an important task for land managers.

The scientist says in his experience too often not enough attention is given to: 1. The basic role of soil quality in efficient and sustained production.

2. The effect of the condition of the soil on the gross profit margin.

3. The long term planning needed to sustain good soil quality.

4. The effect of land management decisions on soil quality.

“Soil type and the effect of management on the condition of the soil are important determinants of the character and quality of wine, and have profound effects on long term profits,” Shepherd says.

“Land managers need reliable, quick and easy-to-use tools to help them assess the condition of their soils,” he says.

“As well as their suitability for growing grapes, and for making rapid, informed decisions that lead to sustainable land and environmental management.

“To this end the VSA provides a quick and simple method to assess soil condition and crop performance.

“It can also be used to assess the suitability and limitations of a soil for viticulture.

www.winebiz.com.au

August 2014 – Issue 607

Your badge of protection

Emblem® fungicide provides Australian wine grape growers with a product to protect crops from phomopsis and Eutypa.* • Emblem is registered for the control of phompsis cane and leaf blight • Emblem has been shown to control Eutypta, application pending with the APVMA • Emblem belongs to the FRAC Group 29 for resistance management strategy • Emblem is soft on beneficial insects when used as directed * Registration Pending. Crop Care Australasia Pty Ltd ACN 061 362 347

www.cropcare.com.au

grapegrowing

With winter winding down there are a number of vineyard jobs that need to be finished. Many growers are still busy pruning and it’s worth remembering that pruning not only has a significant impact on yield potential and crop quality, it also has a major impact on disease management.

Removing, burning or burying pruned material away from the vineyard will help to reduce disease spore loading and future disease pressure. This is particularly important for Botrytis, Phomopsis, Black Spot and Downy Mildew. These diseases overwinter in the vineyard on prunings, and in the case of Downy Mildew, overwinter on old infected leaf material.

We know that sun exposure on the fruit is vital for flavour development and more sun - without burning or raisining - promotes colour, phenolics, and discourages vegetal flavours. To allow sunlight penetration to the fruit, correct shoot spacing is critical. Shoot spacing is also critical to “open up” the canopy so that spray applications can reach more fruit and leaves and for air to flow freely through the vines. Humid air hanging in the canopy for extended periods promotes disease, whereas dryer canopy conditions can minimise infection.

In-season practices that open the canopy to help improve crop quality and disease control include pulling off non-fruitful shoots a few months into spring growth, and plucking leaves from around the fruiting zone.

Beyond this, the two most effective means of disease control will be good canopy management and preventative fungicide treatments.

Preventative fungicides like THIOVIT® JET need to be used on a regular basis; waiting until fungus appears is usually too late and the plant will expend precious energy fighting disease even before symptoms appear.

On the weeds front, good winter rains have resulted in weeds germinating in and around vineyards that are providing a host for diseases like Botrytis and insect pests including Light Brown Apple Moth. Winter dormancy is the ideal time to use herbicides with a greater degree of safety, providing that the bark is brown and there is no visible green plant material on the vines. If you are planning residual herbicide applications, these should be targeted onto to bare earth with good soil moisture to achieve the best results.

As a generalisation, I’d remind growers to introduce further diversity into their weed management practices. A more integrated approach will help reduce populations of herbicide resistant weeds and protect the future of glyphosate. As always, remember to seek professional advice for your specific situation.

Vine Talk is compiled by Dave Antrobus, Syngenta Solutions Development Lead dave.antrobus@syngenta.com 0429 133 436 46 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Easy-to-use kit: The simple VSA tool kit helps growers address environmental and economic impacts on the performance of their vineyards.

“Soils with good VSA scores will by and large give the best production with the lowest establishment and operational costs.”

THE VSA METHOD VSA is based on the visual assessment of key soil and plant performance indicators by comparing three photos of good, moderate and poor, and presented on a scorecard.

Soil quality is ranked by assessment of the soil indicators alone.

Plant indicators require knowledge of the growing history of the crop.

With the exception of soil texture, the soil and plant indicators are dynamic indicators, i.e.

Mr VSA: New Zealand soil scientist can and do change under Graham Shepherd says one of the different management purposes of the VSA is to train the regimes and land use untrained eye to read and interpret pressures. what you’re seeing, the visual messages.

Being sensitive to change, they are useful early warning indicators of changes in soil condition and plant performance and as such provide an effective monitoring tool.

Plant indicators allow you to make cause and affect links between management practices and soil characteristics.

By looking at both the soil and plant indicators, VSA links the natural resource (soil) with plant performance and farm enterprise profitability.

Because of this, the soil quality assessment is not a combination of the ‘soil’ and ‘plant’ scores.

Rather, the scores are looked at separately, and compared.

All you need is a copy of the booklet and the simple tool kit.

Contact: Graham Shepherd P: 64 (06) 355 2717 E: gshepherd@BioAgriNomics.com

www.winebiz.com.au

August 2014 – Issue 607

Shin_Etsu_THIRD_Grapegrower.qxp_Layout 1 16/07

CONTROL

lightbrown apple moth without pesticides!

New standard in vine planting material is a big step forward A tighter Australian standard in the propagation industry means change for grapevine growers but it is still all good news as researchers present a more secure way to save big money in vineyard plantings.

NEW quality assurance standards for grapevine planting material in Australia are now in place.

And a workshop being hosted by the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) in November aims to help the propagation industry meet the grade.

The Growing to the Standard workshop will present Australian and international research in grapevine trunk diseases, viruses, bio-security and propagation.

Workshop organiser and Charles Sturt University (CSU) PhD researcher Helen Waite said the workshop will put together the latest research to help growers, nurseries and vine improvement associations.

“The new Australian Standard for Grapevine Material forms the basis of quality assurance for cuttings and nursery vines in Australia,” Waite says.

“But it’s relevant to vine propagators everywhere,” she said.

“Unhealthy vines are less productive, they produce poorer quality fruit, they’re harder to manage and therefore they cost a lot more money so it can sometimes threaten the sustainability of a vineyard.”

The workshop will follow the 9th International Workshop on Grapevine August 2014 – Issue 607

Trunk Diseases being held on November 2 at the SARDI Plant Research Centre in South Australia.

Waite has played a significant role in also developing a tool to help growers and nurseries plant healthier grapevines.

She has developed the risk assessment tool for reducing trunk diseases in grapevine cuttings as part of her research through the NWGIC in Wagga Wagga.

“It costs from $30,000 to $50,000 to plant a hectare of vines and sometimes people don’t consider what they’re buying other than the variety and type of rootstock,” Waite says.

“It’s only when the vines don’t grow well, or fail within two years, that they start to think about the quality of the planting material, but of course by then it has cost them a lot of time and money,” she says.

Waite said hot water treatment is effective in reducing the spread of trunk diseases in grape-vine cuttings but it can cause stress on the plant.

“Nurseries are a bit wary of using hot water treatment because there have been some failures in the past which have been attributed to the stress that it causes the plant,” she says. www.winebiz.com.au

Use proven mating disruption and leave no trace.

SHIN-ETSU MD LBAM

pheromone dispensers contain a synthetic formulation of LBAM sex pheromones and each dispenser releases pheromone equivalent to thousands of female LBAM. Male moths have great difficulty locating females, and the result is a drastic reduction in LBAM numbers in treated vineyards.

Mating disruption with SHIN-ETSU MD LBAM is: • Pesticide free (no MRL’s) • Suits organics & IPM • Safe to all insects & birds • No O.H. & S concerns • Completely safe • Proven seasonal control • No spraying required • Applied once per season Apply SHIN-ETSU MD LBAM ties in late winter/early spring, before the main spring flight of LBAM; they leave no residues and have no effect on non target insects such as honey bees, lacewing, spiders and trichogramma.

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SHIN ETSU products are made in Japan Grapegrower & Winemaker

47

Some of Australia’s finest Sources of inspiration from every wine region

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Intriguing complexity rewards investigation

HUGH

R

G

A

M S T RO N

– 2002 – SOUTH AUSTRALIA

CRAIG

JAC

KSON

– 1991 – SOUTH AUSTRALIA

A rewarding challenge for the more refined palates, the ‘Hughie’ can make a slightly abrasive first impression but quickly mellows once given a bit of air. There are complex hidden depths here that gradually open up and reveal a veritable encyclopedia of flavour from which ample grace notes constantly emerge.

MARK

OL D S ACK

G

– 1988 – SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Strength of character shines through Intense with a high level of concentration, Craig Jackson nevertheless retains a subtlety that brings out the best in any accompaniment. Likely to blend in harmoniously and unassumingly at a tasting, but can also make a surprisingly forceful impression after a couple of glasses.

CHRIS

AN

DERSON

– 1984 – SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Getting better with every passing year Coming from a classic vintage and ageing superbly, Mark Goldsack features on many winemakers’ ‘Best of…’ lists year after year. Undoubtedly one of South Australia’s finest, this very appealing product of the Riverland sets a fine example with a robust and resounding style.

Another South Australian classic McLaren Vale – like the other South Australian winegrowing areas – has a rich heritage and here’s another very distinguished example of what long breeding can produce: a subtle, elegant experience that is never brash or confronting but can prove unforgettable.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

GRAHAM

H

AT C H E R

– 1997 – SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Savour the classic rewards of maturity In viticulture, nothing produces quality more surely than time. Best appreciated after dinner, but highly enjoyable at any time of day. This longtime favourite of local winemakers has a richness that comes from many seasons coping with the difficult conditions and thriving when better times come along.

www.bayercropscience.com.au

RICK

H

O R B U RY

– 2007 – WESTERN AUSTRALIA

First impressions may deceive There is a complexity about this flagbearer for the Swan Valley and Margaret River that discerning judges quickly come to appreciate.

Grown on an exposed north-facing slope refreshed by Indian Ocean breezes, the Horbury balances light initial roughness with a smooth, gentle finish.

VICTORIA CRAIG

WHITE

– 2005 – WESTERN AUSTRALIA

TIM

WILKIE

– 2003 – WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Clare Valley character plus extra sunshine

SHANE

TR

White by name, but not by nature.

Like all the best cabernet/merlot blends, this robust product of the Clare Valley has gained a softer edge after relocation to the West.

Further mellowing can be anticipated, but aficionados still relish the occasional hints of underlying astringency.

AINER

– 2007 – VICTORIA

Science meets inspiration

Climatic extremes provide fine balance Transplanting from Margaret River to the Yarra Valley demands some fairly drastic climatic adjustment.

Yet the transition has been smooth in this case. Early results are very promising, with surprisingly little change in character detected so far. A valued product of the west now seems set to flourish in the east.

Packing some punch ALISTAIR

BEYER

Bold, vibrant freshness with a dry finish characterise this very approachable blend of sophisticated chemistry and youthful exuberance.

Despite many years of very enjoyable drinking to come, such a clever example of the scientific approach to winemaking is already worth getting to know.

– 2007 – VICTORIA

Unmistakably central Victorian in character: substantial and deceptively high-powered, but will soften with age. Very robust with emerging signs of refinement. You won’t forget an encounter with Alistair Beyer in a hurry and many wine lovers are left raving about the experience.

NEW SOUTH WALES GRAHAM

NICOL

– 1994 – NEW SOUTH WALES

IAN

M

c

MASTER

– 2009 – NEW SOUTH WALES

There’s no time like the present!

A lush late picking ripe for full enjoyment right now, the pride of Mudgee embodies the joys of life.

After years of flavour development, cellaring at this stage would be a criminal waste. Our advice: track down Graham Nicol and prepare to spend a few hours engrossed in pure quaffing pleasure!

Steadily climbing towards a distant peak Despite showing abundant youthful promise and drinking well already, the McMaster won’t peak for a good many years yet. Complex fruit undertones are already much in evidence with very low acidity, so great things are predicted by many good judges. One to watch.

DA R RY L

S

ETTON TR

– 2012 – VICTORIA

SCOTT

WA R D

– 2005 – VICTORIA

Sparkling South African varietal A bubbly newcomer to the Australian scene already making a big impact.

Originally picked in Durban, South Africa for further maturation in NZ, Stretton has an upfront sweetness ideal for kicking off a party.

With a drier finish, that vibrant first impression gives way to a subtler appreciation over time.

Giving the market what it wants Someone has to put commercial priorities first, and here’s triumphant proof. What the market wants, the market gets from Scott Ward: blending material sourced from all over the country to meet or exceed expectations straight off the shelf, creating good memories with a signature touch of class.

Bayer CropScience Pty Ltd, ABN 87 000 226 022, 391– 393 Tooronga Road, Hawthorn East, Victoria 3123. Technical Enquiries 1800 804 479. BCH0506

grapegrowing a

b

a

b

Figure 1a and 1b: Strong vine (a) and weak vine (b). The weak vine is spindly and the graft union is damaged.

Unhealthy vines are less productive, they produce poorer quality fruit, they’re harder to manage and therefore they cost a lot more money so it can sometimes threaten the sustainability of a vineyard “What I’m doing is looking at a system for grape vine propagation that can use hot water safely.”

The research has identified that handling and storage of the cuttings before and after the hot water treatment is crucial.

“If we put them straight into cold storage in sealed plastic bags after treatment it basically suffocates the plant,” Waite says.

“It’s also got to do with how far into the winter they are treated.

VINEYARD CANE RAKES • Very efficient at raking canes and debris • Rake and mulch in one pass • Single or double sided with swing back protection system

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50 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Figure 2a and 2b: (a) Healthy stem tissue and (b) tissue with symptoms of browning that may indicate infection by a trunk disease pathogen.

"If it’s close to spring and they have started to come out of dormancy then the cuttings are going to be much more susceptible to damage in a hot water treatment.”

Waite has developed a risk assessment spreadsheet, with the help of Ken Appleby, which should give grapegrowers more information about what they’re planting.

“The grower can open the package, look at the bundle of vines, use the assessment criteria to get a score, then sample some vines, peeling the bark off and dissecting

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August 2014 – Issue 607

the vines to look for disease,” she says.

“That combined with an examination of the paperwork will give an overall score of the risk of planting that material.”

The research has led to the development a set of guidelines for hot water treatment for cuttings which is being trialled in an Australian nursery this year.

“It’s difficult to change practices at a time when they’re not selling much product due to the downturn in the wine industry but there has been a new willingness on the part of the nurseries, and the vine improvement schemes who supply the cuttings, to change what they are doing to ensure there’s a better product coming out of the system,” she adds.

Contact: Helen Waite P: 0419 522 875 E: hwaite@csu.edu.au

Helping hand: Charles Sturt University PhD student Helen Waite has developed a risk assessment tool for reducing trunk diseases in grapevine cuttings as part of her research through the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre in Wagga Wagga.

Looking for more articles, visit the Grapegrower and Winemaker article archive at: www.winebiz.com.au/gwm

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August 2014 – Issue 607

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51

grapegrowing International workshop for vine propagators THE recently published Australian Standard (AS 5588-2013) for Grapevine Material now forms the basis of quality assurance for cuttings and nursery vines in Australia, but is relevant to vine propagators everywhere.

On November 21 Growing to the Standard will cover the latest national and international developments in grapevine propagation.

This workshop program will be presented by

leading researchers and industry specialists from around the world.

It includes the latest international and Australian research in trunk diseases, viruses, biosecurity and propagation in an integrated approach to the production of high quality cuttings and nursery vines to the new standard.

It will be held at the SARDI Plant Research

Centre at 2B Hartley Grove, Urrbrae, South Australia.

You can register on line at www.csu.edu.au/ nwgic/knowledge/workshops.

The cost is $110 per person for first person from an organisation and $77 for second and subsequent people from the same organisation.

SPEAKERS AND WORKSHOP PROGRAM Peter Hayes – International Consultant, Australia: Australian Standard AS 5588-2013 Grapevine material: what is the standard, why was it developed?

Lucie Morton – Independent Viticulture Consultant, US: Planting material and vineyard productivity. The emperor’s new vineyard; the impact of viruses and trunk diseases on vineyard establishment.

Prue Henschke – Viticulture Biosecurity Industry Reference Group, Australia: On the horizon: known and unknown threats to biosecurity; the role of nurseries and VIAs in grape industry biosecurity and the biosecurity manual for the grape and wine industry.

Dr Peter Clingeleffer – CSIRO Plant Industries, Australia: Rootstocks and the CSIRO vine breeding program.

Dr Nuredin Halibi – Waite Diagnostics, University of Adelaide, Australia: Diagnosis and elimination of viruses from grapevine propagating material.

Dr Laura Mugnai – DISPAA, University of Florence, Italy: Trunk diseases: identity, distribution and epidemiology; an international perspective.

Dr David Gramaje –Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Spanish National Research Council, Spain: Trunk diseases: symptoms and effects on young and mature vines.

Dr Marlene Jaspers – Lincoln University, New Zealand: Dealing with the invisible: managing fungal pathogens in propagation.

Dr Francois Halleen – ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij, South Africa: Managing mother vines for the production of quality cuttings: trunk diseases, trellising, irrigation and nutrition Dr Melanie Weckert – NWGIC, Charles Sturt University and NSW DPI, Australia: Managing trunk diseases and other pathogens in field nursery soils: soil borne pathogens, nematodes and their control.

Dr José Ramón Úrbez-Torres - Canadian Government Laboratory Visiting Fellow, Agriculture and Agri-Food, Canada: Developments in trunk disease diagnostics.

Helen Waite – NWGIC, Charles Sturt University, Australia: Managing stress in propagation: Effects of hot water treatment, hydration, cold storage and other propagation practices on cutting physiology. “Fit Vine” a tool for assessing vines against the standard.

2014 EDITION OUT NOW! PRINT and ONLINE To order your copy Call +618 8369 9522 VISIT www.olivebiz.com.au MEDIA

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52 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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August 2014 – Issue 607

Are you just making do with what you’ve got?

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ask the Viticulture and greenhouse gas emissions Grapegrowers across Australia are already feeling the impact of a changing climate with earlier budburst, shorter winters, compressed vintages and more frequent extreme weather events such as frosts, heat waves and bushfires.

Questions and answers about greenhouse gases and climate change as they relate to viticulture are outlined below.

What are greenhouse gases?

Greenhouse gases (GHG) include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

When these gases are produced, released or retained in the atmosphere they cause increases in the earth’s surface temperature, and changes to the earth’s climate.

Significant world-wide efforts are underway to reduce GHG emissions, with the goal of keeping the increase in global surface temperature below 2C. Around 21 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are generated from the agriculture and forestry sectors, including viticulture.

While the biggest contribution to these emissions comes from livestock production, the winegrape sector still plays a part.

What are the main sources of emissions for vineyard businesses?

The biggest proportion (about 98 per cent) of emissions from vineyard businesses relates to the use of electricity and fuel (diesel and/or petrol) which generate CO2 emissions, plus a small component of nitrous oxide (N2O) related to fertiliser and soil management.

Nitrous oxide is relevant to viticulture because it is naturally released from the soil as a ‘by-product’ of the nitrogen cycle however, the volume released is affected by the amount and timing of nitrogen fertiliser applied.

Because the global warming potential of nitrous oxide is approximately 300 times that of carbon dioxide its contribution to global warming is significant, even though its volume is small.

How can I calculate the emissions of my business?

A wine industry-specific carbon calculator has been developed for grapegrowers and winemakers to estimate their own emissions.

The calculator is available online at: www.wfa.org.au/entwineaustralia/resources/carbon-calculator/

How can vineyards reduce emissions?

In the vineyard, the amount of electricity and fuel used is largely influenced by the type of energy used for pumping irrigation water.

If, for example, a diesel pump is used the total fuel usage will be greater than for electricity. Regardless of the energy type,

consumption is generally related to the volume of irrigation applied.

The total volume of fuel used by a vineyard is also determined by use in tractors and other vineyard vehicles.

One of the best ways to reduce fuel consumption is to reduce the number of tractor passes through the vineyard each year.

Many growers have saved one or two tractor passes per year by grazing sheep in the vineyard during winter.

In large vineyards, fuel savings can also be achieved using multi-row spray equipment.

Another option for reducing emissions is environmental tree plantings which sequester carbon. Depending on government policy, such plantings may be eligible for carbon credits or equivalent.

Recent work conducted at the AWRI (currently unpublished) investigating GHG abatement options for vineyards has demonstrated the production of N2O from vineyards is low compared to other horticultural crops.

It is likely the low production of N2O is related to the relatively conservative use of nitrogen fertilisers in viticulture.

In terms of mitigating N2O losses from the vineyard, nitrogen fertilisers should be used efficiently, that is nitrogen should only be applied to the vineyard during periods of uptake at around flowering and during the post-harvest period when active root growth is occurring.

Application of nitrogen fertilisers should be avoided when soils are waterlogged or compacted, as these conditions will increase N2O emissions.

Government policy seems to be very uncertain at the moment, what should I do?

While it is true the climate policies of the Australian Government are currently under review, this should not concern grapegrowers unduly.

In nearly all cases, actions taken to reduce emissions and improve efficiency (such as reducing fuel or electricity usage, and optimising use of nitrogen fertilisers) will come with a financial benefit as well as an environmental one.

It makes sense for viticultural businesses to take steps to reduce emissions, regardless of where the climate policy ends up.

How can I find out more information?

The AWRI recently launched a new extension program, funded by the Australian Government, to collate and deliver tailored practical resources to the grape and wine industry on climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage.

The program will also include more than 30 workshops across Australia’s wine regions.

To find out more about the program, please contact Mardi Longbottom on 08 8313 6600 or viticulture@awri.com.au.

Winebiz online Buyers’ Guide Equipment, Supplies & Services for the wine & grape industry www.winebiz.com.au/guide 54 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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August 2014 – Issue 607

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grapegrowing

Nutrition Farming: Helping you to grow your future

With new challenges, come new opportunities Find out how Nutrition Farming® programs and products can benefit you www.nutri-tech.com.au or 07 5472 9900

NUTRITION Farming is a farming system developed by Nutri-Tech Solutions (NTS) to ensure the future of global agriculture.

NTS national sales manager Steve Capeness describes it as a practical, proven set of strategies providing viticulturists and winemakers with guidelines to produce high yields of superior quality crops.

And at the same time he says it is helping regenerate agricultural soils and reducing harsh chemical usage.

“Nutrition Farming embraces the best from ‘conventional’ and ‘organic’ inputs in a fusion approach that gets the best from both worlds,” Capeness says.

“Based upon both science and common sense, Nutrition Farming is designed to offer growers a viable alternative to organics while achieving higher nutrient density, flavour, shelflife and the medicinal qualities in the food upon which we all depend,” he says.

“Many winegrape growers are keen to secure better premiums for higher quality produce and it is becoming clearer that soil health and enhanced plant nutrition, culminating in increased nutrient density of fruit, are the keys to enhanced mineral availability, photosynthesis management and increased phenolic complexity in fruit and wines (White, 2009).

HEALTH ADVANTAGES Capeness says Nutrition Farming also has human health advantages as well as flow-on affects to both consumers and producers, including: • Producing nutrient-dense food to restore medicinal qualities.

• Extending shelf-life of fruit and vegetables.

• Delivering forgotten flavours.

• Regenerating agricultural soils for future generations.

• Providing a profound marketing opportunity.

• The knowledge and tools to “farm” more efficiently and sustainably.

• Cost savings to both producers and consumers.

“To find out how Nutrition Farming could benefit your vineyard enterprise, we are encouraging grapegrowers and winemakers to attend the NTS four-day Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture seminar being held at the Coonawarra in South Australia from August 11-14,” he added.

Contact: Mary Kennedy Grapevine Consulting P: 61 (0)419 261075 E: mary@grapevineconsulting.com.au Nutri-Tech Solutions P: 61 7 5472 9900 W: www.nutri-tech.com.au

Reference:

White, R.E., (2009) Understanding Vineyard Soils, Oxford University Press.

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August 2014 – Issue 607

Ocloc innovation wins innovation grant A PRODUCT which may help end the health and pollution risks of creosote and CCA posts in vineyards has Trellising received and innovation grant of more than $40,000 from the SA government.

Ocvitti Australia, maker of Ocloc, says the grapegrowing industry requires the development of a new and improved metal vineyard post to alleviate the use of unsustainable chemically treated creosote and CCA pine in vineyard trellis structures.

Ocvitti’s Brian O’Malley says the international wine market is concerned at the passive uptake of elements and chemicals into wine through use of common vineyard practice.

He says his company’s focus has been to help attain best environmental practices to improve the Australian wine industry’s environmental credentials.

“Environmental authorities in all wine growing states have recognised the need for change with the number of discarded treated posts stockpiled,” O’Malley says.

“South Australia alone generates 160,000 cubic metres per year.

"These CCA and Creosote treated timbers are unable to be disposed of safely,” he says.

“And that’s leading to a looming environmental problem. CCA and

August 2014 – Issue 607

Standing tall: The steel Ocvitti pole in the vineyard alleviates the use of unsustainable chemically treated creosote and CCA pine in vineyard trellis structures.

Creosote are banned in a number of EU countries and in California, a major US competitor in export markets.

“The Ocloc X brackets have reduced this impact.

"The environmental award winning Ocloc keeps the posts in situ and reduces the cost of expensive replacement.”

OCLOC A Brian O’Malley and Nigel Catt, producers of Ocloc have developed a

www.winebiz.com.au

steel post they say is stronger and more practical than any other post on the market.

Ocloc A is high tensile Galvaspan structural steel 1.9mm thick, with the shape designed to increase strength and create less crowding on the cordon.

That alone provides growers with additional protection against disease challenges such as mildew.

O’Malley says other features include the special curved coining of the wire holes to alleviate wear and breakage of the trellis wires.

He says Ocvitti’s design was inspired by posts which have been in use in California for more than 20 years and have stood the test of time with the rigours of mechanised vineyard practises.

Ocvitti’s focus has been to manufacture a quality product – in Australia.

“The Ocloc A has wire hole intervals at 150mm and the rolled, non-abrasive wire slots eliminate the need for clips and staples,” O’Malley adds.

“The angled wire slots create a secure wire slit for permanent wires and ease of positioning for vertical shoot positioning (VSP), taking up to a 3.5mm diameter wire.

“Many growers have recognised the need for change from wood in their existing and new developments.

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57

grapegrowing “Timber posts and coated variations have long term disposal problems.

Recognition of the importance of carbon footprint and supply miles makes a product produced in South Australia for the Australian market with Australian materials and labour far more environmentally sustainable.”

The Ocloc has been six years in development with trials in both Australia and the US as well as research visit to the EU and New Zealand.

Ocvitti has used Andy Stevens, Innovact Consulting, to assist with engineering and design and Conma Engineering in SA to manufacture its products.

“The metal we are using is actually structural steel, so it is really built to last,” O’Malley says.

“We have gone to 450 Galvaspan, an industry measurement which is layman’s terms means a hell of a long lifespan.

“We have rolled up at vineyard after vineyard to see wooden posts barely lasting 10 years – and still presenting an environmental issue when it comes to disposal because of their creosote and CCA. “By using steel, which is totally

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recyclable, we have instantly doubled this lifespan, and probably well beyond that.

“And we know it can take nearly any punishment meted out. For our final product test we hired a guy with a harvester and got him to crash into our posts from every angle – and even park on top of one.

“He just couldn’t break it – and neither will the average grapegrower and that’s another big saving.”

“Orders for redevelopments are being placed now, with growers seeing long term advantages of a sturdy solid post that is more practical, recyclable and incorporates many of their ideas into the design.

“Ocvitti has listened to growers all over Australia and the US and implemented the ideas and requests from the people who grow the fruit.

“We are committed to producing high quality Australian products for use in Australian vineyards”.

Ocloc A will be available throughout Australasia from this month.

Through here: The Ocloc A has wire hole intervals at 150mm and the rolled, nonabrasive wire slots eliminate the need for clips and staples.

Contact: Brian O’Malley P: 61 (0)424 112 120 E: brian123@gotalk.net.au

1300 558 361 www.tuckaway.com.au

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Incorporating mywinejob.com.au

more jobs more winery positions more viticulture positions more industry positions MORE OFTEN… and listed with DailyWineNews For further information contact Andrew Dawson at jobs@winebiz.com.au or by phoning +618 8369 9500 or post your ad online at winejobs.com.au Post your classified listings on the wine industry’s most trusted website, www.winebiz.com.au created and managed by PROVIDING SOLUTIONS TO THE WINE INDUSTRY

58 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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August 2014 – Issue 607

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Steeling himself to cost of better choices Five generations of Hoffmanns have been growing grapes at Ebenezer in the Barossa Valley but the latest man with his hand on the helm has decided tradition only goes so far and he is turning to steel for his posts.

ADRIAN Hoffmann might live at Ebenezer but he’s no Scrooge when it comes to making the best investments in what he uses for his post and trellis work.

And as the fifth generation of his family to run their 100ha of vineyards, when Hoffmann talks posts and wire he is talking big numbers.

Up front he concedes going all steel as an alternate to his traditional wooden posts is perhaps the most expensive option – particularly since competing with China has driven up the price of steel.

But in the long term he says he is way out in front.

“The only time we have had to replace any of the steel it wasn’t because of product failure, it was more a case of driver

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Gripfast is marketed as a cost-effective alternative to traditional trellising

The only time we have had to replace any of the steel it wasn’t because of product failure, it was more a case of driver error with some of our farm machinery whacking into them error with some of our farm machinery whacking into them,” Hoffmann laughs.

“When we first started looking at steel more than 20 years ago we had some concerns about rust, but in some of more acidic soils we have had steel there for 23 years and they aren’t showing any problems,” he says.

“I reckon they will be good for another 20 or 30 years, and possibly more.”

Using Waratah Growire and Gripfast Hoffmann says the alternating system gives him better flex in his trellising.

systems, with its slot design along the length of the post allowing easy height adjustment of foliage wires.

Its six-crescent design profile also allows mechanical harvesting right up to the post and supports closer row spacings.

As no staples or clips are required it also means reduced installation costs and it can be used in both new developments and to maintain existing trellis structures for increased productivity.

Longevity is a better bet at Hoffmann’s

because he only machine harvests about a third of his block with the rest of the grapes being handpicked for the premium market.

“We have the steel posts right through the block now and one of the other big attractions, apart from their actual performance, is that they are totally recyclable,” he says.

“There are none of the issues you have with wooden posts and CCA or creosote.

“We did look at plastic but nothing could match the steel for costeffectiveness and so far we haven’t seen anything to change our minds.”

Hoffmann says he is not the lone ranger at his end of the Barossa Valley when it comes to mixing steel and wood.

He says even some of those who have used plastic still rely on steel to help support those during the region’s hot summers.

“As we do so much hand pruning we find the steel also works well so whichever way you look at it using steel has been good for us.”

The Hoffmanns run mostly Shiraz, Grenache Vitigno, boutique reds and varietals having pulled all their whites to focus on premium reds which supply several medium sized enterprises in the Barossa region “on handshake agreements”.

They normally start harvest in the last week of February or first week of March for 10-12 weeks. This year he says they did not finish until May but yields were hard hit by severe frosts.

Contact: Adrian Hoffmann P: 61 (0)408 854 375 E: dimchurch@bigpond.com

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August 2014 – Issue 607

Ben puts his Best foot forward at harvest As the present incumbent in the multi-generational Best’s Wines in Victoria’s Great Western, Ben Thomson is also a definite multitasker – from running the family business to a long career as a contract harvester.

BEN Thom son started harvesting, and Tractors & contract harvesting, when he turned 18.

Vineyard And he’s still doing Machinery it even though he’s “bloody nearly 50”.

But make no mistake; Thomson is not your run-of-the-mill contractor. First and foremost, he is the fifth generation at the helm of Best’s Wines in Great Western.

Perhaps even more importantly, not just for Australia but for the whole winery

Mr Machinery: Best’s Wines managing director Ben Thomson with a Braud 9090 XA with de-stemmer. It is one of seven Braud’s in his contract harvesting fleet – with Australia’s first OptiGrape on its way from France to keep his business at the cutting edge.

world, he is a keen, and incredibly handson, supporter of Braud grape harvesters out of France.

Not your off-the-shelf stuff either. Our man likes to look at the machinery and then reinvent parts to make it better suited for Australia in particular and the wider world market in general.

Today he runs seven Brauds – four 9090s and three 7090s. He also bought the first Braud de-stemmer and is about to follow that up with the first Opti-Grape – the next generation of the de-stemmer.

Never one to wait, he is going to France next month to see the Opti-Grape in action during the northern hemisphere harvest “to see what we need to change, if anything, for our local conditions”.

“The Opti uses an air turbine to blow a controlled current across the intake to the on-board grape storage bins and anything such as bark, botrytis or other rubbish gets blown out the side leaving only the grape berries and any juice to drop into the bins,” Thomson says.

“In France I want to see it working at

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61

grapegrowing a premium vineyard so I really understand firsthand how it operates and achieves this,” he says. “I understand every nut and bolt in these machines and what needs to be modified to make them work more efficiently. I have had many discussions with the Braud team in France over the years and we have developed a good working relationship because it’s all about making the machinery even better.”

When he’s not behind a machine with his crew of 10 (during harvesting season) Thomson is also the managing director of Best’s, which has been family run since 1866, enhancing the already strong connection and understanding of his time on the machinery and his time in the vineyard and winery.

“One of the main factors behind my decision to adopt Braud’s new technology is because the work the harvesters do in the vineyard minimises the work we need to do in the winery, sometimes cutting out a process altogether,” he says.

“They create a more cost-effective picking process that delivers higher quality fruit into the winery,” Thomson adds.

With biosecurity high on his agenda, Thomson has his own registered heat shed which kills any diseases that might have been picked up in vineyards by his fleet of harvesters.

He says his machines go through it every time they cross the SA-Victorian border, a discipline and commitment to biosecurity which is not just about his own vineyards.

“It works for everyone and should be something of the highest importance with everyone in the industry,” he adds.

And he should know.

Best’s, along with much of Great Western, escaped the phylloxera which almost destroyed Australia’s fledgling wine industry in the eastern states in the late 19th century.

But it was an escape, and a lesson, which has never been forgotten at Best’s.

62 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Braud Australia managing director Angelo Dicesare describes Thomson’s hygiene, cleanliness and maintenance of grape harvesters as “impeccable”.

“It is the best we have ever seen and it is reflected in the condition of the machines which he trades in with us, they are always in amazing shape,” Dicesare says. “When Ben bought his first Braud he was already aware of the great industry reception of the brand in France and throughout Europe,” he says.

“But he was still able to initiate many good modifications on the machine such as re-routing the air chutes and adding cane removers.

“Ben was the first in Australia to purchase the Braud de-stemmer grape harvester and has modified that to better suit our conditions. It now removes leaves, sticks and 50 per cent of petiole and removes and de-stems any whole bunches which the harvester might pick.

“Now he has his sights on Australia’s first Opti-Grape Braud grape harvester.

“This is a hi-tech progression of the de-stemmer but has the ability to remove up to 95 per cent of petioles, dried berries and very small pieces of canes and leaves.

“The machine has only been working in France for two years and we see it as the high-quality winemaker’s dream machine.”

Dicesare says the Opti-Grape system is not going to be suitable for all vineyards but targets those who want their premium blocks picked and cleaned in the best possible way.

He says Opti is designed to eliminate contamination caused by leaf/crushed leaf, petioles, botrytis grapes and canes as it is picked so only the perfect, un-macerated, uncontaminated berries go through.

“One of Ben’s best attributes is his genuine knowledge of the full cycle of the industry from vineyard to equipment to winemaking – it’s in his DNA. “Ben is not a self-promoter, he simply is the genuine article,” Dicesare says.

“It takes a brave man to be first to use unproven machinery in Australia of any sort – but Ben has the passion and the ability to succeed with it.”

Thomson says he has stuck with Braud because of both the quality of the machinery and the willingness of the company to listen and act on his suggestions.

The end results of which are seen and tasted, he says, in the wines coming out under the Best’s label, and also other great winery labels “Our winemaker Justin Purser brings extensive international experience and perspective to Best’s Wines.

“Justin has relocated back to Australia from France for his role as our winemaker.”

It’s no small job he has tackled.

Apart from generations of expectation, Best’s also picked up a Jimmy Watson in 2012 – and would not be upset to collect a few more.

Best’s still has vines that were planted as far back as 1867 and others in the nursery block which are yet to be identified from those early plantings.

“Our nursery block is undeniably one of the most significant vineyards in Australia,” Thomson says.

“It’s a living museum and a part of our history, and we’re so very proud to be the custodians of this very important piece of rare earth.”

Thomson would like to talk more, but there is an engine demanding his attention in the workshop and if he doesn’t get to tinker with some sort of machinery every day he starts to get withdrawals.

Contact: Ben Thomson P: 61 418 501 990 E: ben@bestswines.com

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August 2014 – Issue 607

Online map to boost Phylloxera compliance Brendan Tully in collaboration with Precision Management Solutions, it has been framed to suit tablets and can also be viewed on smart phones.

Nankivell said there was a real risk of Phylloxera establishing new infestations when machinery and equipment that had been in vineyards within PIZs and PRZs was moved between states and regions.

He said the map would be of direct benefit to vineyard and winery owners and had the potential to increase general awareness of, and compliance with, the National Phylloxera Management Protocol and the relevant state plant quarantine standards.

“There is now no reason for anyone to have any doubts about whether a given road passes through either a PIZ or a PRZ,” he said.

“That makes it easier for vineyard owners both to show anyone visiting their properties how and why they have to plan ahead and to justify insisting on vehicles being cleaned before entering the property if there are any doubts.

“The same rules and expectations must

THE exact boundaries of Australia’s Phylloxera infestation and risk zones are now as close as your computer or tablet.

The Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia (PGIBSA) has created an online map which allows users to zoom in to not just see specific areas but to go as close as local roads in any wine region.

“We think this is a really important tool because it allows people to plan the route vehicles should take, or track the route they have taken, to ensure they avoid problematic areas,” said PGIBSA chief executive officer Alan Nankivell.

“Until now we have only had paper maps, which aren’t as accessible, don’t provide pinpoint accuracy and can’t be quickly updated if and when boundaries change,” Nankivell said.

The map superimposes designated Phylloxera Infestation Zones (PIZ), Phylloxera Risk Zones (PRZ) and Phylloxera Exclusion Zones (PEZ) over all registered GI. Created by PGIBSA’s spatial information services administrator

apply to vineyard workers, contractors, fire trucks or utilities such as electricity or phone crews.”

Nankivell also said there was evidence of an increasing understanding in the wine and grape growing industry of the Phylloxera risk and how it spread.

“People are more aware of what they are looking for and are coming forward when they see something of concern,” he said.

Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries fruit biosecurity officer Greg King said the new map would be valuable for anyone buying machinery or grapes from Victoria.

“Wherever you live you can accurately determine the Phyllloxera status of where your potential purchase is coming from and make the best decision on how to proceed,” he said.

The map can be accessed via the Interactive Maps button on the PGIBSA website at www.phylloxera.com.au.

Contact: Alan Nankivell P: 61 8 8362 0488 E: admin@phylloxera.com.au

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

63

grapegrowing

Three amigos: A rose between two roses. Wairau River Wines founder Phil Rose, centre, flanked by sons Sam (left) the winemaker and Hamish, who manages the vineyards.

Kiwi clan goes for efficiency at harvest HAMISH Rose at Wairau River Wines is not all that fussed about being at the ‘cutting edge’ when it comes to machine harvesting.

No sir.

This secondgeneration grapegrower and winemaker in New Zealand’s Marlborough region is much more considered about how he does business.

And with almost 250ha to harvest each year efficiency ranks very highly on his to-do list.

Take the 2014 vintage.

have achieved had he been in the vineyard with a de-stemmer.

“We are all about efficiency,” Rose says.

“At the end of the day you are growing something of quality and you only have a certain period of time to get it done,” he says.

“With our Gregoire it means we can go faster and we do not have to stop at the end of every row to empty – across a harvest that takes up a lot of time.

“We are 80 per cent Sauvignon and

At the end of the day you are growing something of quality and you only have a certain period of time in which to get it done Using his new standard Gregoire with a side arm he had his 5000-tonne harvest in the winery just before the region was hit by almost three weeks of rain.

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Fast cut: The Gregoire with side arm hard at work in the Wairau River Wines vineyards during the recent harvest. The newly-acquired machine gives the Roses what they want most – efficiency and fast turnaround.

with the Gregoire we still get a pretty good sample so if the trade-off on using a de-stemmer is time then right now we are not interested.”

Rose says Wairau River Wines does have a de-stemmer in the winery and an older Gregoire harvester with a de-stemmer on it which it has kept on property as an emergency backup.

“But the new G8 with side arm gave us an amazing sample this year, better than we had seen before.”

Rose says in their management program quality comes first, weather second and harvest speed third.

Everything else is so far back in the field it is out of the running.

“If the weather craps out you are in trouble,” Rose says.

“Right now we try to be totally selfsufficient where possible – our own grapes, our own machinery, our own winery and our own wine,” he adds.

“This year’s vintage was good, yields were up and quality was good but if we had been caught in that rain it would have been a different situation in the winery.

on the vine to the bottle,” he says.

“Everything is done by us, hands on. In the vineyards we take care to keep yields low to ensure the fruit ripens perfectly (in the shallow soil with low fertility which gives rise to such concentrated flavours).

“Once the fruit is picked and brought in to the winery in small parcels, each distinctive block is matched to its own tank, allowing the small batch vintning that is the key to building all the elements of the Wairau River blend.”

Gregoire’s Lee Seatter says the G8 at Wairau River Wines is powered by a Deutz 166hp Intercooled Tier 3 engine.

Seatter says it also includes two lower extractor fans and 2-4 upper extractor fans.

“There is a 500mm wide cross belt and the G8 is capable of handling 30 tonnes an hour at average speeds of 5.5-6km/h,” Seatter adds.

“And it includes a full range of hi-tech cabin commands and controls, making life even easier for the operator."

As a family wine estate, we nurture the wines from the smallest shoot on the vine to the bottle. Everything is done by us, hands on

66 Grapegrower & Winemaker

“We have been working with Gregoire for the past 12 years and with the results we have been getting, I can’t see that we need to change anything right now.”

Wairau River Wines is one of the largest family-owned wine estates in Marlborough and its range of wines is characteristically expressive of its Marlborough roots.

Dominated by Sauvignon it also produces Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir as well as a raft of small plantings including Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Syrah and Merlot to name a few.

Rose says the business targets low crops and ultra-ripe fruit “to produce premium wine that has become recognised for exhibiting intense fruit characteristics and classical elegance”.

“As a family wine estate, we nurture the wines from the smallest shoot www.winebiz.com.au

Contact: Hamish Rose E: hamish@wairauriverwines.com August 2014 – Issue 607

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winemaking Chitosan and Brett – understanding your lab results and sub-lethal populations This series of articles on Chitosan and Brettanomyces began with how No Brett Inside was developed (Issue 604, Page 70), its mode of action and how it can remove Brettanomyces infections from your wine. In this report Olivier Pillet and Simon Kinley investigate the limitations of qPCR as a Brettanomyces detection method post treatment with No Brett Inside.

MANY different strategies can be employed to combat spoilage by Brettanomyces.

These include general sanitation, minimisation of residual sugar and nitrogen content, sulphur dioxide monitoring, pH management, barrel topping, filtration and clarification (Coulter, 2014).

Moreover, under stressful conditions the morphology of the Brettanomyces can change (typically 2 to 7 micron in size), they can become smaller, even to the point that they can pass through a 0.45 micron membrane (Kheir et al 2013) making sterile filtration an important but not absolute method to control Brettanomyces populations.

Certain forms of chitosan also possess interesting antimicrobial properties which can be applied to winemaking.

Recently, chitosan from an Aspergillus niger fungus has been successfully extracted and implemented in oenology in the fight against contamination by Brettanomyces bruxellensis.

Dosage rates of 4g/hL have shown these specialised forms of extracted chitosan can induce the rapid and total mortality of the contaminating cells.

Figure 1. Evolution of the Brettanomyces population after treatment with No Brett Inside showing sub-lethal populations detected through quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).

Chitosan’s mode of action on Brettanomyces is thought to be both biological and physical.

Electrostatic interactions between the Brettanomyces cell membrane and chitosan appear to be responsible for altering the integrity of the yeast membrane, leading to a loss of energy and cell death.

It also appears to contribute to an adsorption, or fining phenomenon, which

accelerates the settling of the cells.

These experiments show longer contact times can protect the wine during aging for periods up to 150 days in some varieties.

Other studies have revealed the existence of sublethal populations of Brettanomyces after treatment with chitosan, i.e., dying but not dead cells detected by certain analytical methods.

These sublethal populations, incapable

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www.winebiz.com.au

August 2014 – Issue 607

We can confirm pure, fungal-source chitosan is of great interest in the battle against Brettanomyces contamination of redeveloping or of producing volatile phenols, are false positives that may remain detectable in the wine for more than two months after the chitosan treatment.

SUBLETHAL POPULATIONS AND FALSE POSITIVES The sublethal populations of Brettanomyces already pose an analytical problem when qPCR controls are carried out.

Although the flow cytometry technique allows us to visualise the ambivalent state of these cells, to date qPCR (a technique which amplifies DNA), has not allowed us to differentiate between living cells and sublethal cells.

According to Chatonnet (2012), several days to several weeks can go by between the death of the cells and the loss of cell integrity, and the total disappearance of amplifiable DNA. As a result, in numerous cases the presence of false positive cells, i.e., cells detected as alive when they were in fact in the sublethal state, can be noted when a qPCR control is carried out after treatment with chitosan.

In the case of a control with selective growth gel media, it was often recommended to wait 10 days after racking the chitosan (which takes place 10 days after adding the chitosan product to the wine) before sampling and plating.

When a control by qPCR was carried out, 10 days was generally shown to be far from sufficient.

Bordeaux Winery 1 (ref: BDX-1111)

Bordeaux Winery 2 (ref: BDX-1108)

Epifluorescence (UFC/ml)

Before treatment

> 20 000

/

/

60 days after treatment

1.1 X 106

<10

1.1 X 106 dead cells

Before treatment

1.8 X 106

/

/

40 days after treatment

1.5 X 106

< 10

5.7 X 105 dead cells

Indeed, numerous experiments treating must with No Brett Inside followed by a qPCR control were carried out in Burgundy, Gironde and Spain (figure 1).

We can readily see certain populations detected as alive are detected as no longer alive only after 30 days or more.

The follow-up after treatment with chitosan compares counting results for different methods (figure 2).

Although the Brettanomyces populations detected through qPCR remain high after 40, and even 60 days, the counts on selective growth gel media show no Brettanomyces and the counts made by epifluorescence show these high population levels correspond to dead cells.

We conducted further experiments to better analyse this bias inferred from the presence of cells in the sublethal state and

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August 2014 – Issue 607

Cell Count by selective medium (UFC/ml)

Figure 2. Comparison of the evolution of Brettanomyces populations after treatment with chitosan counted with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), on selective growth gel medium or by epifluorescence by microscopy.

2 1 Presses In

Cell Count by quantitative PCR (UFC/ml)

www.winebiz.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

71

winemaking the utilisation of qPCR to monitor the effectiveness of the chitosan treatment.

In a vineyard in Gironde we monitored two tanks of must contaminated by Brettanomyces and treated with chitosan at 4 g/hL for several months (figure 3).

Once again, the results show high Brettanomyces populations detected even two months after chitosan treatment.

Indeed, the populations detected show major variations, like a saw tooth wave, that drew our attention. Thus, 45 days after treatment, the same wine samples were sent for qPCR counting in a second independent laboratory.

The technique utilised by the second laboratory gave results were much more regular and, moreover, detected much lower population levels of cells considered to be alive.

In figure 4 we can see in Tank 31 at 70 days that Lab 1 reported a qPCR result of 3000 compared to Lab 2 with a result of 0.

The false positives detected appear to vary according to the qPCR technique utilised.

However, would these sublethal populations be capable of producing volatile phenols?

To answer that question we checked the concentrations of ethyl-4-phenol and ethyl-4-guaiacol in the must from both these tanks (figure 4).

The levels measured at the end of the follow up were identical to the initial levels before treatment with chitosan.

Therefore, these sublethal populations did not produce any volatile phenols. This result was confirmed by an experiment carried out in Spain (data not shown).

From these experiments, three key points are important: • The detection of sublethal populations strongly depends on the analysis method.

• Sometimes, more time is required until these populations can no longer be detected; however, their existence is not necessarily systematic.

• These populations no longer present any risk to the quality of the wine and they always end up dying.

CONCLUSIONS In light of the experiments carried out by various research teams, as well as in our laboratories and in the field, we can confirm pure, fungal-source chitosan is of great interest in the battle against Brettanomyces contamination.

The homogenous incorporation of chitosan into the wine results in either the total destruction of the Brettanomyces populations or a highly significant reduction of the contaminating populations.

However, winemakers must be careful

72 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Figure 3. Long-term follow-up of Brettanomyces populations through quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) after treatment with chitosan, pointing out the presence of false positives.

Figure 4. Long-term follow-up of volatile phenol production after treatment with chitosan, in the presence of false positives: pointing to the absence of volatile phenol production.

that they consider the existence of sublethal populations and the detection of false positives by certain counting methods.

Monitoring of the ethyl phenol levels remains a complementary method to ensure and validate the implementation of any No Brett Inside treatments.

Non-allergenic, naturally sourced and with no negative impact on the sensory quality of wine, fungal-sourced chitosan appears to be an innovative and unique tool to avoid the loss of quality generated

by Brettanomyces bruxellensis.

About the authors: • Olivier Pillet Product manager in charge of Biotechnology Development Institut OEnologique de Champagne ZI de Mardeuil - Route de Cumières Epernay, CEDEX, France E: opillet@ioc.eu.com •

Simon Kinley IOC technical sales manager Lallemand Australia Edwardstown, Adelaide, Australia E: skinley@lallemand.com www.winebiz.com.au

Corresponding author: Simon Kinley P: 61 8 8276 1200 E: skinley@lallemand.com

Acknowledgment: Special thanks to Cécile Bergia from IOC Bordeaux for her trial data presented in this article.

References: Chatonnet, P. 2012. Brettanomyces, mythes et réalités. Revue des oenologues. 144:42-48.

Coulter, A. 2014. Can ‘Brett’ affect white wines?

Australia and new Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker 602 : 54 Gómez-Rivas, L., B. Escudero-Abarca, M. G. AguilarUscanga, P. M. Hayward-Jones, P. Mendoza, and M. Ramírez. 2004. Selective antimicrobial action of chitosan against spoilage yeasts in mixed culture fermentations. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 31:16-22.

Kheir, J., Salameh, D., Strehaiano, P., Brandam, and Lteif, R. 2013 Impact of volatile phenols and their precursors on wine quality and control measures of Brettanomyces/Dekkera yeasts. Eur Food Res Technol 237 :655-671 Sieczkowski, N., and T. Nardi. 2013. Chitosan of fungal origin for anti-microbial applications – R&D and application results. Internal presentation. Lisbonne, Portugal.

Zuehlke, J.M., B. Petrova, and C. G. Edwards.

2013. Advances in the Control of Wine Spoilage by Zygosaccharomyces and Dekkera/Brettanomyces.

Ann. Rev. Food Sci. Technol. 4:4.1-4.22.

August 2014 – Issue 607

For further information, please contact Kauri NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE

AUS Tel: 1800 127 611

Email:

winery@kauri.co.nz

NZ Fax: 04 910 7415

AUS Fax: 1800 127 609

Website: www.kauriwine.com

winemaking

Bottler of an opportunity for the little guys QUITE a number of the smaller Australian and NZ wineries have broken away from using contract bottling companies in recent years to install their own bottling lines says Viniquip’s Rick Penney.

He says this growing trend has been driven by a number of factors such as cost savings and convenience.

But in many cases it is really to improve product quality.

“Contractors do a good job for some companies with larger volumes,” Penney says.

“However, many of the smaller wineries complain of losing control of their wine quality because contractors demand minimum quantities and force winemakers to commit to bottling wines that are often not ready to be handled,” he says.

“Smaller wineries often have limited building space to house a bottling line and there has always been a resistance from winemakers to take on this extra role of actually running their own bottling machines.

“Now, though, demand for greater control of their precious wines changed all that in such a quality-driven, competitive market.

“Viniquip has recognised these customers needed attractively priced, low maintenance and fully-automatic bottling lines that could fit into small areas and be operated with just 3 or 4 casual staff.”

The answer, Penney says, is Viniquip’s long partnership with leading Italian bottling machinery brand GAI Spa. He says Viniquip has been working with the Italians for more than 30 years and it is GAI which has developed what he describes as the perfect compact combination of machines into just two mono-bloc units.

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74 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Little bottler: Good things come in small packages – including easilyoperated bottling lines for Australian and New Zealand boutique and small winemakers.

“Two recent installations in Western Australia demonstrate just how good the end result can be for smaller producers,” Penney adds.

“Upper Reach Winery in the Swan region and Barrecas Winery in Donnybrook both had tiny rooms set aside for their new bottling lines,” he says.

“Viniquip provided a free layout design service and delivered, installed and commissioned these lines.

“Production speeds were set for up to 1600 bottles per hour and the simple and efficient line configuration proved it could be comfortably run with just three non-specialist staff and a fork lift operator.

“Not surprisingly the total capital cost of these new bottling lines showed a pay back of less than three years and then the big savings for years to come.”

Penney says GAI bottling and labelling machines are well recognised on the world stage for their quality and features.

He says they are fully supported in Australia and NZ

by Viniquip, with about 300 systems already installed and operating throughout the regions.

“These state of the art wine lines from GAI are typically made up of the bottling machine monobloc (rinser, gassing, filling, corking, capping, crown capping) and the second packaging machine monobloc (external bottle washer, drier, capsuler, labeller),” he says.

“Bottle handling conveyors are then configured to suit the available room space.

“Viniquip International in Auckland and Australia also specialises in lines for still and sparkling products such as water, wine, cider, beer and fruit juices.

Contact: Rick Penney P: 64 9 578 3740 E: rickpenney@viniquip.co.nz

www.winebiz.com.au

August 2014 – Issue 607

The beauty of self destruction: yeast autolysis in sparkling wines New Zealand consultant Russell Moss looks at sparkling wines and the essential process of autolysis – and explores ways it can be fast-tracked while further improving the quality of the outcome.

THE process of in-bottle ageing after secondary fermentation (prise de mousse – or setting the foam) is essential to sparkling wine production while employing the traditional method.

After this fermentation has come to completion, the wine ages on yeast lees in the bottle.

The yeast consume themselves enzymatically through a process known as autolysis, which literally means “selfdestruction”.

The cells then release their breakdown products, known as autolysates, which impart flavours, aromas and surfactant properties which, in turn, affect bubble production and foam stability (Dharmadhikari, n.d.).

This process is the hallmark of high quality sparkling wine.

However, this also requires considerable resources on behalf of the producer, and few options have been explored to expedite the process and alleviate this financial burden on a winery.

THE PHYSICAL PROCESS The second fermentation is generally undertaken with a strain of Saccharomyces bayanus.

The yeast chosen for this task must be able to withstand a low pH, low temperature and high alcohol content.

The yeast are also chosen for their ability to flocculate and “fall out” as well as their ability to undergo autolysis quickly, as the process represents a substantial spatial commitment on behalf of the producer (Alexandre and Benatier, 2006).

The cuvee is inoculated with about 3-4X106 cells/ml of yeast, which will go through about three or four generations before the end of the secondary fermentation.

At a glance: • Yeast autolysis is the hallmark of high quality sparkling wine.

However, it also requires considerable resources on behalf of the producer.

• The yeast chosen for the second fermentation must be able to withstand a low pH, low temperature and high alcohol content.

• A way in which you can speed up the autolytic process is to introduce a killer yeast strain in conjunction with a sensitive strain upon the second inoculation of the base wine.

• Research on methods to increase the rate of autolysishas yet to produce a commercially viable alternative to the ageold methods used by the Champenois.

August 2014 – Issue 607

For further information, please contact Kauri NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE NZ Fax: 04 910 7415 Email: winery@kauri.co.nz

www.winebiz.com.au

AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 AUS Fax: 1800 127 609 Website: www.kauriwine.com

Grapegrower & Winemaker

75

winemaking This will give a final concentration of yeast of approximately 1-1.5X107 yeast cells/ml.

After about two months the number of fermenting cells will have dramatically decreased to about 106 cells/ml.

Once all of the usable sugars present in the wine have been consumed, the cells show signs of autophagy and will begin to consume their own energy reserves (e.g. glycogen).

The cell then begins to swell and expand prior to undergoing autolysis.

Autolysis occurs upon the death of the yeast cells when the conditions of the medium in which the yeast cells must operate are such that they can no longer perform their normal functions (Castor and Vosti, 1950).

This process occurs over a long period of time due to the low temperature and pH of the wine.

Like any enzymatic reaction, autolysis occurs at faster rates with increasing temperatures until the temperature reaches a point at which the proteins begin to denature.

The optimal temperature for yeast autolysis is approximately 60C. However, it must occur at temperatures around 10-12C, as the wine is stored at a low temperature.

Also, a low pH, as found in sparkling wine, can act as an inhibitor of autolysis (Alexandre and Benatier, 2006).

Another rate limiting factor is CO2.

Autolysis occurs at a slower rate when yeast is in a liquid saturated by carbon dioxide, such as in sparkling wine (Castor and Vosti, 1950).

However, Markides (1987) notes that longer times on yeast lees improves wine flavour and aroma and the low temperature of sparkling wine aging improves the flavours brought forth through autolysis.

Bayon et. al (2003) found the specific yeast strain does not necessarily have a significant impact on the volatile compounds found in sparkling wine.

However, the time the wine spends on yeast lees does appreciably influence the volatile composition of a sparkling wine.

Lees aging is necessary in order to integrate the maximum amount of autolytic breakdown products into the wine.

However, it may also be beneficial for the winemaker to devise methods to speed up the process, as in-bottle autolysis can directly consume time and space and, indirectly, increase cost.

THE BIOCHEMICAL PROCESS After the yeast cell dies, the cellular constituents, including membrane bound organelles, become disorganised

76 Grapegrower & Winemaker

and release enzymes into the cytoplasm which begin to interact with the other components of the cell.

In the beginning, the cell contains enzyme inhibitors which hinder the enzymatic reactions.

However, these inhibitors are soon degraded and the enzymes are then free to break down the various components of the cells.

When the enzymes come into contact with other cellular components, reactions occur and the cellular constituents begin to degrade.

The enzymes released include proteases, which are responsible for the degradation of proteins into smaller units such as polypeptides, peptides and amino acids (Dharmadhikari, n.d.).

However, passive release of amino acids from the yeast cell also occurs soon after the secondary ferment has come to completion.

Therefore, the release of amino acids is not a signal that autolysis has begun (Leroy et. al, 1990).

After cellular death, there is a lag phase between death and autolysis.

Autolysis begins around 4-6 months after the beginning of the secondary fermentation.

During autolysis, the main enzyme involved in the release of amino acids is protease A. About 60 per cent of the nitrogen released during autolysis comes from this enzyme (Alexandre and Benatier, 2006).

STRUCTURAL SUPPORT The yeast cell wall, a rigid and semipermeable barrier, consists primarily of ~60 per cent glucans and ~30 per cent mannoproteins.

These compounds contribute to the shape and strength of the yeast cell.

Besides aiding the structural support of the cell, the mannans are also responsible for acting as a kind of “landing pad” for proteins which are connected to the polysaccharide.

Glucans and mannoproteins are broken down during autolysis by the hydrolytic enzymes, glucanases and proteases.

Glucanases are responsible for hydrolysing the glycosidic links of the glucan chains present in the cell wall, releasing glucose, oligosaccharides and the mannoproteins which are intricately linked with the glucans.

After the release of mannoproteins from the glucans of the cell wall, the protein portion of the mannoproteins are then broken down into polypeptides, peptides and amino acids through proteolysis.

Mannoproteins contribute to the www.winebiz.com.au

reduction of haze formation and they also prevent the precipitation of tartaric salt, as they block the growth of tartaric crystals.

The mannoproteins present in the wine may also positively contribute to mouth-feel, as well as the length and intensity of aroma (Alexandre and Benatier, 2006).

The mannoproteins released also contribute to quality of bubble production.

That is primarily the size and persistence of said bubbles (more mannoproteins = smaller bubbles and more persistent mousse) (Dharmadhikari, n.d.).

CELLULAR DEGRADATION As the cell wall is broken down, the perimeter of the cell becomes porous.

After the wall has become riddled with openings, the autolysates (products of autolysis) can pass freely from the cell into the wine.

Not only are the products of degradation passed into the wine, but the enzymes responsible for this breakdown also find their way into the medium.

Therefore, degradation of cellular components can also occur within the wine, as is true of the polypeptides and peptides, which are later further broken down into their individual components, notably amino acids, if the wine is left on lees for long enough.

The pores created by this process are very small; therefore the autolysates present within the cell must be sufficiently broken down to a size that will allow them to pass through the cell wall.

As the cell continues through autolysis and its various components are degraded through enzymatic reactions, the vacuoles begin to shrink and the cell wall appears wrinkly rather than spherical or ovular as it had when it was thriving in the medium during fermentation.

This change in shape is caused by plasmolysis (Alexandre and Benatier, 2006).

AMINO ACIDS The amino acids and oligopeptides released during this process may contribute to the characteristically “toasty” flavour found in sparkling wines.

Also, this enrichment of amino acids to wine may actually improve the aromas of sparkling wine as they contribute to reactions which are responsible for the creation of certain aromatic compounds, such as lactones which are responsible for a green-nut or curry aroma.

Alexandre and Benatier (2006) hypothesise the monophosphates August 2014 – Issue 607

released during autolysis by nuclease activity on RNA and DNA are responsible for contributing flavours to wine.

However more research is needed as to understand the true nature of the relationship between these monophosphates and their contribution to flavour.

Further, through the release of fatty acids (lipids), this may give rise to esters and aldehydes.

The ester Farsenol is of particular interest, as it increases the intensity of perfume-like aromas.

Aldehydes have also been found to be a product of autolysis.

These are sometimes perceived as being grassy.

However, these Aldehydes disappear after ageing.

Also, various peptides may contribute to a perceived sweetness or bitterness in sparkling wine.

The sensory evaluation of the base wine may not be an effective means of predicting how a wine will taste after a long period of ageing on yeast lees due to the nature of autolysis.

It has been shown one cannot actually discern between varieties or colour after aging on yeast lees because of the dramatic changes which occur to the wine during yeast autolysis (Alexandre and Benatier, 2006).

POWER OF SURFACTANTS Fatty acids and lipids can also have surface effects upon foam quality (Jordan & Napper, 2006).

Su rfacta nts (e.g. proteins, glycoproteins) are brought up to the top of the wine by the production of bubbles.

The surfactants present upon the surface and in contact with the bubbles interlock, which prolongs the “life” of a bubble, allowing it to drain more slowly than without these forces being exacted upon it.

However, the products of autolysis are not always a beneficial factor in the production of bubbles.

Fatty acids and lipids also accumulate at the surface which can, upon coming into contact with a bubble, attract the liquid surrounding the bubble.

This force of attraction thins out the “skin” of the bubble, making it able to rupture more easily.

Thus, if there is a high amount of fatty acids and lipids in the wine, the foam will not persist as long as those wines which are low in fatty acids and lipids (Belair, 2004).

The tables illustrate the autolysate compounds which originate from various parts of the yeast cell, the content of the August 2014 – Issue 607

TABLE 1: Autolysates originating from within the yeast cell (Alexandre and Benatier, 2006) Compound

Contribution to wine

Lipids

Foam quality

proteins

Foam quality and flavour

peptides

Aroma, flavour and foam quality

Amino acids

Aroma, flavour and foam quality

Nucleotides

Flavour

Nucleosides

Flavour

TABLE 2: Autolysates originating from the yeast cell wall (Alexandre and Benatier, 2006) Compound

Contribution to wine

glucans

Foam quality

mannoproteins

Mouthfeel

cytoplasm and the cell wall, and the impacts which they have on sparkling wine.

POSSIBLE METHODS TO INCREASE THE RATE OF AUTOLYSIS Gonzalez et al. (2003) have employed UV mutagenesis on yeast cells in order to increase the quantity of polysaccharides and nitrogenous compounds that are released into a wine during autolysis, as well as increase the rate of this transference.

This use of yeast mutants may provide winemakers with the ability to decrease the time the wine spends on yeast lees.

However, more research needs to be conducted before this process becomes a viable commercial option.

There is a long period of time between the completion of secondary fermentation and autolysis (approximately 2-3 months).

This could be sped up by incorporating dead yeast cells upon the completion of secondary ferment.

A way in which you can speed up the autolytic process is to introduce a killer yeast strain in conjunction with a sensitive strain upon the second inoculation of the base wine.

The killer strain will carry out secondary ferment, whereas the sensitive strain of yeast will die and begin autolysis almost immediately, thereby reducing the time required for aging on yeast lees (Todd et al, 2000).

More recent work on rapid yeast autolysis has led to investigation into the possibility of using genetic modification to increase the speed at which autolysis occurs.

However, this has yet to produce a viable product that is available on a commercial scale (Cebollero et al, 2008). www.winebiz.com.au

CONCLUSION The process of autolysis which occurs during the bottle aging of sparkling wines is crucial to the sensorial impact of this fine effervescent delight.

However, this process presents many challenges to the vigneron.

The most formidable challenge is that of time and space required for bottle aging.

This issue can cause considerable financial strife for a commercial enterprise.

Research has been conducted on methods to increase the rate of autolysis; however it has yet to produce a commercially viable alternative to the age old methods used by the Champenois.

It is only through autolysis the vigneron may achieve the small pearl necklace of bubbles, persistent foam and complex nutty, floral and perfumed aromas that are the hallmark of fine sparkling wines.

Contact: Russell Moss P: 1 803 920 9800 or 64 (0)27 622 8925 E: jamesrm@vt.edu

REFERENCES:

Alexandre, H., Benatier, M.G. (2006). Yeast Autolysis in sparkling wine - a review.Australian journal of grape and wine research. 12,119-127 Bayon, M.A., Pueyo, E., Alvarez, P. J., Rodriguez, A. J., Polo, M.C. (2003). Influence of yeast strain, bentonite addition, and aging time on volatile compounds ofsparkling wines. American journal of enology and viticulture. 54(4), 273-278 Belair, L.G. (2004). Uncorked: the science of champagne. Princeton, N.J.: PrincetonUniversity Press.

Castor, J.G., Vosti, D.C. (1950)Yeast autolysis: a seminar. American journal of enology and viticulture.

1(1), 37-46 Dharmadhikari, M., (n.d.) Yeast autolysis http://www. extension.iastate.edu/NR/rdonlyres/173729E4-C734486A-AD16-778678B3E1CF/56377/yeastautolysis1.

PDF Cebollero, E., Rejas, M., Gonzalez, R. (2008).

Autophagy in wine making. Methods in Enzymology.

451, 163 – 175.

Gonzalez, R., Rodriguez, A.J., Carrascosa, A.V. (2003). Yeast Autolytic mutants potentially useful for sparkling wine production. International journal of food microbiology. 84, 21-26.

Jordan, A.D., Napper, D.H. (2006). Some aspects of the physical chemistry of bubble and foam phenomena in sparkling wine. Proceedings of the sixth Australian wine industry technical conference.

237-246.

Leroy, M.J., Charpentier, M., Duteurtre, B., Feuillat, M., Charpentier, C. (1990). Yeast autolysis during champagne aging. American journal of viticulture and enology. 41(1), 21-28.

Markides, A. J. (1987). The microbiology of methode champenoise. Paper presented at the Sixth Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference, Adelaide. 232236 Todd, B.E., Fleet, G.H., Henschke, P.A. (2000).

Promotion of autolysis through the interaction of killer and sensitive yeasts: potential application in sparkling wine production. American journal of enology and viticulture. 51(1), 65-72.

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Wines and vines and a love for swine Julian Langworthy, this month’s Young Gun, comes from WA’s Margaret River. Stephanie Timotheou caught up with the 34-year-old winemaker and discovered what’s in store for this up-and-coming leader of the pack.

JULIAN Langworthy has seen and done it all – almost.

At 21 he jumped into the industry open-minded to immerse himself on 15 nonstop vintages across Australia, Canada and France.

But if he had to pick just one vintage, his all-time favourite would be at Jameson’s Run in the Coonawarra, where he was also in charge of hiring the winemakers for that year.

He said one of those was a talented young lady fresh from New York and keen on coming to the legendary Coonawarra for vintage.

Alana Hill-Ling came for a vintage, stayed for a few years and now, married to Langworthy, looks like being here for the long haul.

“Yep, she’s been here eight years now and we’ve been married for the past four, have one little winemaker on the ground and maybe a viticulturist on the way,” Langworthy says.

“Needless to say, it was a very successful vintage.”

So now we have the winemaker and the matchmaker.

And incredibly, Langworthy’s range of talents doesn’t stop there.

It seems in addition to his love for his growing family and the wine industry our Young Gun also has a rather peculiar passion – for swine.

Yes, Langworthy just loves his pigs almost as much as the aforementioned family and wine.

Cooked, cured or live, he loves them all.

While working in SA’s Clare Valley as winemaker for Knappstein, Langworthy took ownership of two pigs which went by the names of Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard.

“Both were female – one had big ears and the other was large and red,” he says.

When he wasn’t busy in the winery, Langworthy spent time looking after and nurturing his political pigs – which quickly evolved from pastime to passion.

destination after studying marine biology at the University of WA. Although he confesses socialising and football proved much more appealing than studying, and it showed come exam time.

“I had previously done some winery work and loved the idea of something both creative and science-based that would hopefully be hands on – and winemaking seemed to fit the bill perfectly,” he adds.

Soon after he dropped marine biology and moved to SA to study oenology at the University of Adelaide.

And after all those hard years of study – with more study and less carousing and kicking balls – Langworthy said it has finally paid off.

“I have been very fortunate over the course of my career to work for a range of very knowledgeable and talented winemakers,” he said.

“I think I’ve taken something on board from almost everyone I have worked with.

“A while back I worked with a gentleman named Greg Tillbrook at Wynns Coonawarra and learnt a great wealth of tricks, tips and most importantly, practical winemaking knowledge from him.

“When working as a winemaker at a very big winery you can sometimes lose sight of the practicalities on working on the winery floor, which Greg never did.”

WORK HARD, PLAY HARD

ACHIEVEMENTS AND GOALS

Family aside, Langworthy circa 2014 has arrived at a rather remarkable

At 34 Langworthy has managed to hold the title of group chief winemaker

78 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Down and dirty: Julian Langworthy in a fermenting tank at Deep Woods Estate in Margaret River, WA.

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for WA’s largest family-owned wine company the Fogarty Wine Group (FWG).

Under the company’s banner are Deep Woods Estate, Millbrook, Smithbrook and Lakes Folly.

“Most days I can be found at the helm of Deep Woods Estate in the Yallingup hills obsessing over Cabernet barrels,” he says.

And so far this has been his biggest achievement – moving up the chain at Deep Woods Estate.

“Another achievement I hope to fulfil throughout my career is to continue leading a strong, cohesive and happy work force in my winery that together makes wine we can all be proud of.”

He was also a finalist in the Wine Society 2013 Young Winemaker of the Year but was defeated by Wynns Coonawarra Estate’s Luke Skeer.

ADVICE FOR FELLOW YOUNG GUNS While he’s still a young ’un himself, Langworthy’s best advice to fellow wannabe winemakers who are just starting to dip their toes into the fermenter is to drink and travel widely.

“It’s also important to ensure you have a driving passion for the industry as there are challenges aplenty,” he adds.

“This said, the creation of a unique product that is the culmination of a year’s work is hugely satisfying year after year.”

Contact: Julian Langworthy P: 61 8 9756 6066 E: julian@deepwoods.com.au August 2014 – Issue 607

Smells like: A wine sensory panel with winemakers at the Margaret River Education Campus ‘blind’ tasted 24 wines from the Swan Valley and Mount Barker that consisted of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

WA winemakers get taste of the cold soak technique Department of Agriculture and Food WA researcher Richard Fennessy put together a panel of local winemakers for a blind sensory panel test as part of his work on climate and cold soak in red wines.

WESTERN Australian winemakers recently lent their tasting expertise to research by the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA).

Department researcher Richard Fennessy is investigating the influence of climate on the effectiveness of pre-fermentative cold maceration (cold soak) on red wine varieties.

He recently ran a wine sensory panel with winemakers at the Margaret River Education Campus.

Fennessy says the panel ‘blind’ tasted 24 wines from the Swan Valley and Mount Barker that consisted of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. These wines had been made at the department’s wine laboratory in Bunbury.

Fennessy said the sensory analysis would complement chemical analysis to assess and compare the wines and identify differences between the treatments.

“The sensory analysis looked at specific attributes such as colour, aroma, palate and overall quality,” he said.

This recent panel follows an identical sensory assessment of the wines six months earlier to determine if the character of the wines has changed over this time.

“The initial panel found the quality of Swan Valley Shiraz to be negatively affected by a cold soak but interestingly the Mt Barker wines were no different between treatments,” he said.

“Swan Valley Cabernet Sauvignon quality was markedly improved by a cold soak, the Mt Barker version had higher dark berry aroma after a cold soak.

August 2014 – Issue 607

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Without a cold soak the wines were very fruity and with a cold soak they were deemed more complex “The wine style of Mt Barker Merlot was found to be influenced by the treatments.

“Without a cold soak the wines were very fruity and with a cold soak they were deemed more complex.

“The only difference the panel noted on the Swan Valley Merlot was an improvement in colour after a cold soak.”

Data from the latest sensory testing will be collated and examined.

‘Cold-soak’ is a technique applied after the grapes are crushed and before fermentation begins.

The crushed grapes are held in contact with the skins for an extended period at cold temperature to improve extraction of anthocyanins (colour), flavours and tannins.

The objective is to improve the quality and taste of the resultant wine.

Cold soak is practiced regularly in making premium red wines but researchers have little understanding of the relation and merit of this technique based on specific climates and varieties.

The aim of the research is to determine its economics and effectiveness under both hot and cool climatic conditions when matched with the three most widely planted red wine varieties in Australia – Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Merlot and Shiraz.

The research is funded by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA).

Contact: Richard Fennessy P: 61 8 9780 6219 E: richard.fennessy@agric.wa.gov.au August 2014 – Issue 607

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It seemed like a Valley good idea at the time Michael Hall thought he had a gem of an idea while he was toiling away behind his desk and the auctioneer’s rostrum at Sotheby’s – and boy has it turned out to be a bobby dazzler.

REMARKABLY, Michael Hall only saw Australia as the means to an end.

Trawling through Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine the Englishman only got as far as A, where he discovered the entry, as best he can recall: “Adelaide – a euphemism for Roseworthy, influential centre of winemaking education”.

In his former life as a jewellery valuer for Sotheby’s he had made the occasional visit Down Under to appraise some antipodean sparklers for the auction house.

So the idea of a short reprise to become qualified as a winemaker, and catch a bit of sun, was simply too good a deal to resist.

Up to that point Hall’s only connection with wine was limited.

One man band: It’s a far cry from Geneva and the glitterati but Barossa Valley winemaker and naturalised Aussie Michael Hall says it has all been worthwhile.

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August 2014 – Issue 607

The allure of working with nature to produce something as beautiful as a fine wine was suddenly, overpoweringly, appealing First, on family holidays to Mediterranean climes, often surrounded by vineyards, for a bit of sun (you can see a pattern developing here).

Second was his gradual introduction to wine and his growing enthusiasm with it as an indulgence which became an essential part of his life.

Finally he took the serious step of enrolling in the Wine and Spirit Education Trust – a stepping stone for a possible Master of Wine.

But suddenly, looking around, he discovered he had become the wine nerd in his circle of friends, the one who did all the ordering at restaurants and provided the knowledgeable blah, blah and you get the picture.

URGE TO CREATE Hall was already frustrated by the largely office-bound nature of middle man work with Sotheby’s – despite the glamour, the Swiss location and the salary.

“The real problem was I did not actually create anything, and the allure of working with nature to produce something as beautiful as a fine wine was suddenly, overpoweringly, appealing,” Hall says.

“Robinson’s comments on Roseworthy tipped the scales and I headed for Australia,” he says.

Hall had a plan.

Three years at Roseworthy (by then the Waite campus of the University of Adelaide) on a student visa and then back to France where the bilingual (yes, this Francophile spoke the Gallic Franca lingua as well as his polished Pom) winemaking wannabe would find his future in the cradle of the world’s wine industry.

Armed with his internationally-recognised Australian qualification.

As it turned out Adelaide (nee Roseworthy) wouldn’t take him, through lack of high school chemistry, but Charles Sturt University came to the rescue and he graduated as dux three years later in Wagga.

Talk about an ‘up you’ for the establishment. Hall didn’t say it but could easily be forgiven for thinking it.

So armed with his new degree, a short term plan of heading for la belle France and long term strategy of finding the vineyards he craved with which to make the wine he knew he had in him.

“Trouble was, I found I was building a lot more contacts in Australia than France so rather than think country I narrowed it down to vineyards – it could have been Beechworth or Burgundy,” he says.

It was, as it turned out, the Barossa, the cradle of the modern Australian wine industry.

GLORIFIED CELLAR HAND So life as a quasi-Aussie started as a contract winemaker – or glorified cellar hand as he recalls – before Kym Teusner (then working for Veritas, now Rolf Binder Wines) pointed out the first block to meet Hall’s demanding personal specifications.

It belonged to Binder’s sister Christa and husband Leon and sat high in Eden Valley.

A dyed-in-the-wool cool climate kind of guy greatly enamoured of Shiraz and Chardonnay, the 500m August 2014 – Issue 607

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The bid is: Behind the rostrum at a Sotheby’s jewellery auction Michael Hall turns his valuations into real value for vendors as he runs up the prices.

Shiraz vines in Eden Valley were the clincher.

Our nomadic Pommie was now a dinky-di Australian winemaker and the proud owner of his own label – Michael Hall Wines.

And it just kept getting better.

With two blocks at Piccadilly, another at Summertown in the Hills and back in the Barossa a rare block of Roussanne (a hanky could be thrown over this variety’s total planting in the Valley), a style which for Hall evoked memories of the Rhone region in France and his love of Mediterranean varieties.

Now a naturalised Australian, his English accent is already beginning to go squidgy around the edges (sounding more like an escapee from one of our more illustrious private schools than some snooty guy from Sotheby’s).

But a new passport, new accent and new address have done nothing to dim the fire within.

“The challenge had always been to find good vineyards and good grapes,” Hall says.

“I believe in terroir – what makes our industry is the natural influence, not the chemistry.

"The Shiraz grapes I have in Seppeltsfield come from a biodynamic vineyard and the dialogue with nature is close to my heart.

TERROIR THE BENCHMARK “I work with all the growers, they are fantastic teachers, and we discuss pruning, irrigation and sprays, and finally I’ll do most of the sampling and choose the time to pick.

“And they are all handpicked in slotted bins; which is crucial as I do not crush and like to have the option to process as whole bunches.

August 2014 – Issue 607

“Terroir is the benchmark and I try to keep to that. If there’s no site-specific character then the wine’s unlikely to be loved by me.

"My wines are all wild ferments, which I also attempt to pick at the right time so they don’t need added acid – very hard to achieve in a warm region such as the Barossa.

“I ferment a few small batches on skins in closed barrels. It’s an anaerobic ferment in French oak to preserve the aromatics and give me better oak integration.

“If you get it right the result is spectacular.

"Get it wrong, well, that’s the challenge I love in creating my wines.

“Experimentation always gives more insight and if it doesn’t go the way you want accept it as an expensive lesson and leave it out of the final blend.”

Hall uses only French oak. It is a personal thing.

While he believes they are more savoury and spicy he is also happy to admit it’s a stylistic preference and family holidays there were his first real exposure to wine.

He uses Damy for his whites.

He worked with them at Domaine Leflaive in Burgundy and reckons if they are good enough for those unique wines they are good enough for Michael Hall Wines.

The reds go into Francois Frères and St Martin barrels, the latter producing the barrels he wants with large bungs in the heads allowing him to fill with whole bunches and then remove the skins after fermentation.

From there he presses and then maturation in oak is as normal.

Currently processing about 25 tonnes www.winebiz.com.au

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If you get it right the result is spectacular. Get it wrong, well, that’s the challenge I love in creating my wines annually, at a fairly even spread from each of his supplying vineyards; Hall is producing around 1500 cases a year.

And clearly he knows what he is doing because they are continually selling out.

He says he is able to run a profitable model on that scale because he does not use a distributor and does all his own sales in the eastern states.

MARKETING MAN Every three or four weeks sees him in another capital city, doing the rounds of his client bottle shops and restaurants.

But always on the lookout for three or four new connections in each city because the restaurant business is just as tough as winemaking, and they come and they go.

As a wine artist Hall is always trying to get his work before the public eye.

He says he doesn’t want it to be one of the best-kept secrets in the Barossa

Valley, or the rest of the country for that matter.

Take his Sauvignon Blanc (with grapes from Summertown).

This mainstay of the Kiwi wine industry sees the New Zealand product retail here at around $15.

Michael Hall Wines SB is on the shelves at $32.

“I think it is probably a bit closer to the Fumé Blanc from California or Pouilly Fumé in France,” he says.

“I am after a different market. Mine is more appealing to people who want to think about their wine.

“Because I think most people agree 90 per cent of wine drinkers don’t want to be overly troubled about what they are drinking.

"Brand loyalty and stylistic familiarity count for more than complexity.

"But the other 10 per cent are fascinated.

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"They are my target.”

Right now Hall is sharing production resources with Yelland & Papps in the Valley, having worked with Michael Papps earlier in his career.

It has worked for them until now but the growing production levels of both may soon demand that Hall find a new home soon as Papps owns most of the rest – including the shed and the land it sits on.

“So yes, I am starting to look for a bit of land with a shed and if it happens to have the right small vineyard attached that won’t be such a bad thing,” Hall grins.

“But I also know you cannot do it all. Already I am winemaker, marketer and distributor so can I really be a good viticulturist as well?

“Probably not, but oh, the temptation.”

Temptation has been a powerful force in the new career of Michael Hall.

It got him from a business suit and a swanky European address to a Holden station wagon and your bog-standard tin shed in rural South Australia.

Where he’s living the dream.

Contact: Michael Hall P: 61 (0) 419 126 290 E: info@michaelhallwines.com

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August 2014 – Issue 607

When too much oak is too much oak

August 2014 – Issue 607

MOST winemakers study winemaking at Wine some form of tertiary Storage education facility, Oak & Tanks learning the chemistry, physics and processes involved in winemaking.

The knowledge gained during these years is the decision-making cornerstone all winemakers use during their careers.

And the colleges and universities continually update their curriculums as advances occur to keep students aware of the latest developments.

However, the knowledge of oak and its use in winemaking has hardly changed since the 1980s. Considering oak is used in more than 50 per cent of all wine made and makes up a sizeable proportion of each winery’s budget, it seems this may need re-addressing.

Seguin Moreau national sales and marketing manager Graeme Little says the company conducts guest lectures each year at Adelaide and Curtin universities, with a plan to expand these to other institutions in the future.

Little says their purpose is to give students an insight into oak – one of the most useful winemaking tools in the winemaker’s bag of tricks.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS But how does a winemaker decide what to purchase?

He says there are more than 60 cooperages operating in, and spruiking their wares to, the Australian and New Zealand market – with at least another 20 companies selling alternative oak options as opposed to the traditional barrel.

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“At Seguin Moreau, just in French oak, we are able to offer: • 20 standard barrel types that vary in volume, size and stave thickness.

• 4 standard grain selections.

• 7 toast levels with the option of toasted heads or not.

• Fire or water bent.

• Non-scooped options.

• Icone range – more than 140 variations in size finish and toast levels.

“This gives our winemaker customers more than 1000 different choices in French oak,” Little says.

“However we also offer American, Caucasian and European oak,” he says.

“If required we can also supply oak from individual countries in Europe such as Slovakia, Romania and Germany.

“The point is, if one cooperage can offer more than 1000 oak choices, how can a winemaker with little knowledge about oak make a decision on what oak to purchase when there are 60 cooperages knocking on the door?”

Little says in the current market there are probably 20,000-plus different oak options from which to choose, and just to complicate the equation, just as many alternative oak options.

However, it is most likely only 10 options are probably suitable for the style, budget and winemaking goal required to meet the end retail wine market.

He says most oak decisions are based on the following: • Dart board principle – pick a name and base your selection with no knowledge. Doomed to fail.

• Historical purchases – basing the purchase on what the departing winemaker has ordered previously.

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winemaking Safe option, as you get to see how the oak works with the wines from the sourced vineyards, unless the winemaker was asked to leave because of poor winemaking decisions.

• Advice from a friend or neighbouring winemaker – another good safe option, but the vineyard site, wine style, budget, winemaking practices and winemaking goals need to be similar to reflect the same required end result.

• Advice from the oak sales representative – Seguin Moreau has been selling barrels in Australia since 1980 and like most oak companies is here for the long term. Any form of agriculture is long term, even generational. "Our parent companies Seguin and Moreau cooperages were established in 1870 and 1838 respectively, so we are here for the long term, to work with winemakers to achieve their goals long term," Little says.

“Your oak representative should be able to guide through the multiple options available.

“They should be able to give you specific advice on: • What oaks work best in your region.

• What oak origin is best suited for varieties.

• What oak suits your individual winemaking requirements.

• What maturation periods your gain selection will require.

• What toast levels to use to increase sweetness, volume and other flavour characters.

• How to best manage you oak budget – offer options.

“They should be able give you very specific advice based on your end goals.

“Many winemakers gain knowledge through trial and error, which allows them to gain knowledge slowly each vintage. But your oak sales representative gains knowledge quickly, through tasting oak trials, finished wines across multiple regions and varieties and spending all year, not just through harvest, thinking, tasting and living oak.

“Not many winemakers are exposed to the same level of opportunities and as a result, your oak representative should be

able to give you sound advice based on knowledge and skills learnt.

“I have seven years working in the oak industry and this has allowed me the exciting opportunity to concentrate on one winemaking skill – oak.

“This is the knowledge I pass on to other Seguin Moreau representatives, winemaking students and winemakers in the field.”

Contact: Graeme Little Seguin Moreau Australasia P: 0437 060 943 E: glittle@seguinmoreau.com.au

Wine Tank Specialists

32 SPEY STREET, INVERCARGILL 9810 • Ph 03 214 4817 • Fax 03 218 3354 • Email andrew@crownsheetmetal.co.nz 88 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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August 2014 – Issue 607

Pure T 228L – natural protection against premature oxidation of white wines TARANSAUD researchers Marie Mirabel and Vincent Renouf look at the challenge of white wine oxidation and the role of the barrel in helping winemakers alleviate the problem.

THE premature oxidation of white wines is a significant challenge for winemakers as early oxidation causes those wines to age prematurely – and affects their quality.

It is the result of oxidative phenomena reducing aromatic intensity, altering colour and accentuating sensations of heaviness.

And it is the main challenge faced by white-wine producers around the world.

WOOD, PROTECTING WINE FROM OXIDATION Tannins are significant antioxidants.

They protect the chemical elements located below them on the Redox potential scale (glutathione, SO2, aromas, etc., see diagram).

During ageing, the antioxidants released by wood capture the oxygen that penetrates.

The more reactive antioxidants the barrel produces in conjunction with the wine, the higher the antioxidant capacity.

August 2014 – Issue 607

INNOVATIVE METHOD FOR MEASURING ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY (CAOX) A wine’s oxidation/reduction potential is the result of many Redox couples.

Approaching the phenomenon by only measuring dissolved oxygen or wine polyphenols is misleading.

Electrochemical techniques provide a more exhaustive view.

The TARANSAUD R&D department developed an innovative and exclusive system of ultramicroelectrodes that can be applied on a surface of wood or in a volume of wine.

Potentials are scanned, forcing the compounds to release one or more electrons.

These oxidation reactions are the same as those which occur in wine during ageing.

The higher the measured electric current, the greater the number of compounds likely to oxidise.

This current compared to the surface www.winebiz.com.au

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winemaking

CaOx assay results during a test carried out in triplicate with Pure T barrels and competitor barrels.

area of wood in contact with wine measures the antioxidant capacity, or the CaOx, which is given to the wine by the barrel.

The TARANSAUD Pure T barrel is claimed to provide optimum protection against oxidation.

French oak forests, natural ageing time and toasting, among other things, have an impact on antioxidant capacity.

These parameters were optimised to develop Pure T, the 228 litres barrel that gives wines the highest CaOx (see graph).

There is a delicate balance to be struck in the management of tannins as barrel ageing requires compromise when it comes to protective tannins, so aromatic woody notes can enhance the intrinsic expression of wine without adding notes of dryness, bitterness or astringency.

Pure T offers the best possible synergy between these essential parameters.

Contact: Stéphanie Huilizen P: 33 (0)5 45 36 86 50 E: shuilizen@taransaud.com

Gamajet Intrepid is cleaner, faster but with less water LOW-flow tank rinsing used to be the domain of the spray ball – until now.

Spray Nozzle Engineering has its Gamajet Intrepid tank cleaner on the market with its 360 degree, low-flow rinsing machine.

The company’s marketing coordinator Tricia Yong says the Intrepid offers fast, validatable tank rinsing – and uses 80 per cent less water than the standard spray ball at the same pressure.

Yong says this type of cleaning (fast and thorough without the use of chemicals) is ideal for cleaning light liquids and powders.

“A 1900-litre tank that once took 10 minutes to clean at 60 psi and 60 gpm (227 Lpm) with a spray ball now takes just four minutes using only 15 gpm (56 Lpm) at the same pressure,” she says.

“In addition to the 1930L of water saved, the tank will be cleaned thoroughly, every time, without clogging.”

Unlike traditional Gamajet rotary impingement tank cleaners, the Intrepid utilises a ‘direct-drive’ design, requiring no gear reduction.

However, Yong says the machine still applies concentrated streams in a

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complete, 360 degree pattern like all other Gamajet machines and patents have been applied for this innovative technology.

“The Intrepid operates at pressures 10-80 psi, for up to 120C (when used with steam, up to 148C) and has a cleaning cycle of just 4-8 minutes,” Yong adds.

“It provides cost-effective tank rinsing for tanks up to 0.75m in diameter and varying sanitary inlet adapters are available upon request,” she says.

“Like spray balls the Intrepid is easy to install and incorporates a sanitary design, including FDA compliant materials, self-cleaning and draining capabilities and a high polish, sanitary finish making it the ideal tank cleaning machine for both sanitary and industrial applications.”

Contact: Australia P: 1800 NOZZLE E: sales@spraynozzle.com.au New Zealand P: 0800 NOZZLE E: sales@spraynozzle.co.nz www.winebiz.com.au

AP John’s new model creating a big splash for industry AP JOHN has been producing immersion bent barrels for more than 20 years.

Continued research and development, coupled with customer feedback, has resulted in the company’s high-profile Aquaform barrels.

AP John regional sales manager John McGovern says the Aquaform process differs from traditional fire/ steam bending in that the immersed barrel is “shooked into heated water to activate and stimulate the wood fibres”.

McGovern says this makes the wood malleable, and more ready for bending.

“Then we toast the barrel using our proprietary SFT toasting specifications,” he says.

“The Aquaform bending process also influences the final barrel’s performance.

“The immersion process leaches additional hydrolysable oak tannins and compounds from the wood resulting in a barrel which offers winemakers subdued aromatics and a soft, rounder mid palate that integrates early in the maturation cycle (3-12 months).

“The final product is ideally suited to those delicate wines which would benefit from subtle oak aromatics and early structural integration.”

McGovern says Aquaform is only available in selected American and French oak barrels styles and suggests referring to the AP John product specifications to confirm the availability of a style which would suit your business.

Contact: John McGovern P: 61 8 8563 2178 E: john@apjohn.com.au

August 2014 – Issue 607

Sanitation – the pros and the cons of the good and the bad in barrels ONE of the more interesting bits of research I’ve come across in the past year was a “flash talk” and series of posters presented by Maria de Lourdes Alejandra Aguilar Solis (David M. Gadoury, Zoran Ljepovi, Sean McKenzie and Randy W. Worobo were all listed as co-authors).

Her poster, “Sanitation of Wine Cooperage Using Five Different Treatment Methods: An in Vivo Study,” was awarded the ASEV award for best student enology poster at ASEV in 2013.

Aguilar Solis submitted this research as part of her doctoral dissertation at Cornell University last June.

In the research presented at the 2013 ASEV Annual Meeting, Aguilar Solis looked at five different sanitisers: sulfur dioxide (so2), peroxyacetic acid (paa), chlorine dioxide (clo2), steam and ozone (O3).

Although the research was well done, to the point that I think it should be required reading for any winemaker, I found two things surprising.

Curtis Phillips, an editor for Wine Business Monthly since 2000, is a graduate of UC Davis, has been a winemaker for 30 years and an agricultural consultant for 35 and knows his clean barrels inside and out.

The first surprise was there has been very little previous research on the subject. Certainly there has been a lot of research dealing with food safety and sanitation over the years, but wine is quite different from a lot of other food products.

One difference is simply which bureaucracy has regulatory responsibility over the wine industry. In addition, most food-grade cleaners and sanitisers have been developed to deal with protein and fat build-up and are relatively ineffective on the biofilms, polymeric polyphenol and tartrate scale one finds in wineries.

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I was also surprised by Aguilar Solis’ finding that sulfur dioxide gas was a fairly effective barrel sanitiser for periods as long as six weeks.

Maybe it’s a combination of only remembering the failures and the many tens of thousands of barrels I have used over the years, but I would have thought that SO2 efficacy would drastically decrease after only a couple of weeks.

SULFUR DIOXIDE Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is used extensively in the wine industry as an anti-microbial and antioxidant. Unfortunately, too many winemakers confuse SO2’s role as an antioxidant with its anti-microbial activity.

In an aqueous solution, three forms, molecular SO2, sulfite (SO3-2) and bisulfite (HSO3-), of sulfur dioxide exist in equilibrium. Sulfite and bisulfite are ions in solution while molecular sulfur dioxide is a dissolved gas.

This equilibrium is why the efficacy of

Distributed by

Mark Roberts, Oak Solutions Specialist 04 0920 0737 • mroberts@oaksolutionsgroup.com PO Box 523, Tanunda, South Australia 5352

August 2014 – Issue 607

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winemaking Maybe it’s a combination of only remembering the failures and the many tens of thousands of barrels I have used over the years, but I would have thought that SO2 efficacy would drastically decrease after only a couple of weeks

Cleaning, sanitising, disinfecting and sterilising PERHAPS the most important facet of winery sanitation is grasping that “cleaning,” “sanitising,” “disinfecting” and “sterilising” are not synonymous terms.

We tend to use these terms sloppily and interchangeably in the wine industry.

In my opinion, this is simply because no known human pathogens can live in wine.

If a winery is a little lax in its sanitation, about the worst thing that will happen is the wine will taste bad. One can’t say the same for a cheese maker or for most other food products.

The terms are not synonymous but a hierarchy: One must clean before one can sanitise. Something has to be cleaned and sanitised before it is disinfected.

• Cleaning Cleaning is a macro-scale process. The idea behind cleaning is to remove all the “crud,” to use a technical term; that can give microbes a place to hide.

Cleaning is the mechanical action of removing “crud” and organic matter.

• Sanitising According to the US Federal Drug Administration – I am not sure how this is treated in Australia and New Zealand

– sanitising is a “five-log reduction” of microorganisms of public health importance.

This means 99.999 per cent of human pathogenic microorganisms have to be killed or removed.

This is a bit different than the norm in the wine industry where a three-log (99.9 per cent) reduction in spoilage microorganisms is generally viewed as being enough.

In the rest of the food industry, a three-log reduction is only considered adequate for sanitising surfaces that don’t come into contact with the product.

From a food-safety standpoint, it certainly is good enough since no known human pathogens can survive in wine in the first place.

I’m not so sure, however, that a threelog reduction is really enough from a wine-quality perspective. Removing 99.9 percent of the Brettanomyces cells will still leave enough behind to ruin some wine.

• Disinfecting Disinfecting is the reduction or elimination of all harmful microorganisms. The difference between sanitising and disinfecting

is the degree to which the microbial population is reduced.

If an object is considered sanitised when 99.9 per cent of the microbes have been eliminated, it isn’t disinfected until 99.9999 percent (a 6 log reduction) or more of the original microbial population has been killed or removed. Note that essentially all human disease microbes have to be removed as well.

• Sterilisation Sterilisation means 100 per cent reduction of the initial microbial population.

This is harder to achieve than one might suppose.

It’s not that hard to deal with any bacteria that are harmful to humans, but there is always some microbe that can survive temperatures over 450C or inside of a nuclear reactor.

More to the point, some spoilage yeast are pretty resilient.

Practically, this means using heat, combined with filtration, but the usual 70C regime that is the industry standard for “sterilising” winery bottling equipment is nowhere near high enough for true sterilisation.

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August 2014 – Issue 607

SO2 as an antimicrobial is pH-dependent in an aqueous solution, like wine or barrel “holding-solution”.

When used directly as a fumigation gas, like in dry, empty barrels, sulfur dioxide is not in an aqueous solution and therefore not in equilibrium with the sulfite and bisulfite ions.

Most wineries use potassium metabisulfite to make aqueous SO2 solutions, but it is also available in liquid form. For barrels, liquid SO2 is either used directly, quickly evaporating to SO2 gas, or as a gas. Sulfur dioxide gas also can be obtained by burning pure elemental sulfur in the form of a sulfur disc or wick.

• Advantages: Sulfur dioxide is cheap and, for the most part, it is effective against wine spoilage microorganisms.

• Disadvantages: In a solution, like wine, the antimicrobial action of SO2 is highly dependent on the pH. Also, while SO2 can be an effective inhibitor of bacterial growth, some yeast species are pretty tolerant of SO2.

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Note that this does not apply when

Sulfur confusion: With its tank of AirGas in the background, this barrel is being cleaned with sulfur dioxide. Too many winemakers confuse SO2’s role as an antioxidant with its anti-microbial activity.

Photo: Scott Summers

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winemaking using SO2 gas in dry conditions as a barrel fumigant. Sulfur dioxide is extremely irritating to mucus membranes, including eyes and lungs. The use of SO2 in any form, especially pure liquid and gas, requires specialised safety equipment, adequate ventilation and worker safety training.

My experience has been that “barrel holding solution,” which is an acidic solution of potassium metabisulfite, is not an effective way to store barrels for more than a couple of weeks.

Aguilar Solis found SO2 performed pretty well as a barrel sanitiser. I think the difference is Aguilar Solis used SO2 gas produced by burning sulfur discs in the barrels.

Under dry conditions, like the inside of an empty barrel, SO2 gas is not really pH-dependent since the other forms of SO2 (sulfite and bisulfite ions) need to be in an aqueous solution.

PEROXYACETIC ACID (PAA) One of the disadvantages of coming to winemaking via chemistry is the wine industry uses terms and abbreviations contrary to those I learnt.

Abbreviations such as K-Meta and KMBS will always look stranger than K2S2O5. Peroxyacetic acid (PAA), also known as peracetic acid, is produced by a mixture of acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide.

• Advantages: The main advantages of peroxyacetic acid are it is effective at relatively low concentrations and over a wide range of temperatures.

It also breaks down into non-toxic stuff, like water and acetic acid.

• Disadvantages: Peroxyactic acid is fairly corrosive, especially with extended contact times. It is also less effective at controlling some spoilage yeast than other sanitisers.

All steamed up: While steam kills nearly everything, it requires a large amount of energy to produce.

And it’s not the water, but rather the heat content of the steam, that kills (i.e., cooks) microbes.

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August 2014 – Issue 607

winemaking As a general sanitiser, chlorine dioxide is extremely effective, but it is not really suited for sanitising wooden vessels like barrels because it binds with organic matter CHLORINE DIOXIDE

Sanitation Method

Advantages

Disadvantages

Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) is a powerful anti-microbial commonly used as a disinfectant in public water systems.

There hasn’t been any proven direct link between ClO2 and the formation of chlorinated phenols; but when exposed to ultraviolet light, the ClO2 decomposition reactions do produce chloride (Cl-) and hypochlorite (ClO-). In acidic conditions, chloride and hypochlorite react to produce chlorine gas (Cl2).

Hypochlorite directly reacts with phenols. Chlorinated phenols can be metabolised to chlorinated anisoles, including 2,4,6-trichloronaisole (TCA), by a broad range of molds and some bacteria.

Sulfur Dioxide

Cheap, effective against wine spoilage microorganisms

some yeast species tolerant; requires specialised safety equipment, adequate ventilation, worker safety training

Peroxyacetic Acid (PAA)

Effective at relatively low concentrations over a wide range of temperatures

Fairly corrosive; also less effective at controlling some spoilage yeast

Chlorine Dioxide

Very effective sanitiser

Not suited for wooden vessels; possible risk of TCA contamination

Steam

Non-toxic; Very effective sanitiser

Uses a lot of energy

Ozone

Broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent

Easily deactivated; hard on anything rubber

• Advantages: The main advantage of chlorine dioxide is it doesn’t take much to do the job.

In most applications, ClO2 is an effective sanitiser. Chlorine dioxide can be produced on-site and on-demand.

96 Grapegrower & Winemaker

• Disadvantages: As a general sanitiser, chlorine dioxide is extremely effective, but it is not really suited for sanitising wooden vessels like barrels because it binds with organic matter.

Additionally, there is a theoretical risk of TCA contamination from ClO2 use in wineries.

A direct link between ClO2 and chlorinated phenols has not been proven, but ClO2 does break down

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to hypochlorite and chloride under ultraviolet (UV) light.

Since there isn’t a great deal of UV in the typical wine cellar and certainly not inside of a typical barrel, the actual risk would be minimal-to-nearlynonexistent were it not for typical TCA sensory detection thresholds being in the parts per trillion.

STEAM It seems pedantic to say it, but steam

August 2014 – Issue 607

Chemically, ozone is a strong oxidiser … it quickly kills both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungi, including spores is nothing more than water in its gaseous phase.

It’s not the water, but rather the heat content of the steam, that kills (i.e., cooks) microbes.

• Advantages: The advantage of steam is it kills pretty much everything, provided that the temperature is high enough. Steam is also non-toxic.

• Disadvantages: Steam is great, but it does have a couple disadvantages. It takes a lot of energy to generate steam.

Water is a polar molecule, and it takes more energy to volatilise water to its gaseous phase.

OZONE Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive oxygen molecule. It is a powerful oxidiser and anti-microbial agent.

• Advantages: Chemically, ozone is a strong oxidiser.

This makes it a broad-spectrum anti-

August 2014 – Issue 607

microbial agent.

It quickly kills both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungi, including spores.

Fungal spores tend to be pretty tough to kill so it is not surprising it takes ozone longer to kill them than bacteria.

Ozone has also been shown to be effective on at least some biofilms.

Ozone breaks down into water and oxygen.

• Disadvantages: Ozone only has a few disadvantages.

Its main disadvantage is it deactivated pretty easily. Ozone is also pretty hard on anything made of rubber, such as gaskets and tank door seals.

RESEARCH RESULTS Aguilar Solis compared these five barrel sanitation treatments at high and low levels.

She found three of the treatments (sulfur dioxide, steam and ozone) performed well.

Peroxyacetic acid performed well at a concentration of 200 mg/L but poorly at

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120 mg/L. Chlorine dioxide performed poorly at both concentrations that Aguilar Solis looked at. She hypothesised the ClO2 was binding with the organic matter of the barrels themselves.

Aguilar Solis also found a few barrels treated with ozone were not sufficiently sanitised.

Her conclusion was that this was possibly due to insufficient cleaning prior to the sanitisation with ozone.

BARREL SANITATION One of the things I like to do is to go into wineries with ATP (adenosine triphosphate) bioluminescent dye and a UV light.

The dye glows under UV light if there are living microbes on a surface.

If I’ve been brought in to diagnose something specific, I’ll swab any glowing area and see if whatever bacteria or mold is there can be plated up and identified.

I use this to demonstrate that “clean” is never as clean as one might think.

Contact: Curtis Phillips E: cphillips@winebusiness.com

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sales & marketing Which label really is worth a thousand words?

IF you don’t stand out, you disappear.”

Fra ncis M ichael Claessens, chairman Bottling of brand design & Labelling specialists Claessens International, was one of the most compelling speakers at last year’s Wine Vision conference in London.

His message to the wine industry was clear: the appearance of a wine label is crucially important.

Leading Champagne brand owners have long understood the value of having packaging that can be recognised from a distance – think of Veuve Clicquot’s orange, the Mumm red and white label and the Dom Perignon bottle – but producers of still wines have historically been slower to catch on.

GOOD AT A DISTANCE In recent years, the New World has increased awareness of good packaging, but even today, the readily-recognisable Cloudy Bays, Yellow Tails and d’Arenbergs are exceptions to the rule. So, as Kevin Shaw, head of US- and UK-based design

Graphic Language DESIGN

Your wine label has only a few seconds to attract a customer in a crowded store. How do you make it stand out from the crowd?

What design elements should you consider when targeting different consumer groups? International columnist Robert Joseph talks to some designers. agency Stranger & Stranger says, is Ogio, the label he designed for an Italian Pinot Grigio sold by Tesco.

Shaw, who also designed the striking Clos de Siete label with its gold star for Michel Rolland, believes Ogio to be the most successful thing he’s done, “because you can see it from 50 feet away”.

Neil Tulley MW, founder of UK-based designers, Amphora, says that wines like Ogio have had a significant impact on the market. “In 22 years, we have seen the emergence first of ‘soft brands’ and, more recently, retailer-owned ‘power

brands’, such as Tesco’s Dino [and Ogio]. At the same time, retailers’ own-label propositions have become increasingly convincing, with the more successful acknowledging that the relationship of retailer brand with wine can be significantly different from most other product categories.” In other words, genuine brands now have to compete with eye-catching, best-selling, retailer-exclusive wines saddled with none of the traditional costs of brandbuilding.

Whether the brand is ‘real’ or a retailer exclusive, the packaging has to manage e t he

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Rustic ramifications: Placing the sheep in the vineyard adds a sense of authenticity.

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August 2014 – Issue 607

consumer expectations of what they will experience in terms of style and quality.

Perversely, this last point is especially important to retailers in countries where deep discounting is common.

Most bottles of Ogio and Dino may sell in the UK at a discounted price of around £5 ($8.15), but both brands have to sit on shelves convincingly wearing a £9 tag when they are off-promotion.

Tulley, Shaw and Claessens all agree that the most effective labels combine a collection of qualities, some of which involve Shaw’s 50-feet-away eye catching elements while others are almost subliminal in their impact. The difference in consumer expectations of a wine with a well printed label on high quality off-white paper and one on basic white stock can, Claessens says, be dramatic. And so can the use of perfectly chosen calligraphy and fonts.

Printed letters are not called ‘characters’ for nothing, he points out.

Depictions of the winery and/or vineyards can also attract attention. Here, Claessens reveals a valuable trick of the trade: an apparently three-dimensional image that subconsciously takes people into the label can pay handsome dividends.

Anyone seeking to assimilate these

lessons has, however to bear in mind a crucial point that is stressed by Tulley: “The visual language of wine packaging, the ‘codes’ are sometimes interpreted very differently in varying markets.

Just as with a spoken language, the nuance and intonation does not always travel well. We have to be acutely aware of both how the visual language is ‘spoken’ as much as how it is ‘heard’ by the target consumer.”

DO FOCUS GROUPS HELP? Many might presume the solution to this problem lies in research, but Shaw – one of the few people to predict that Gallo’s heavily researched Red Bicyclette brand with its cutely rustic label, would fail to become a top-selling brand – is sceptical.

“I’ve sat in many focus groups discussing minute design changes with consumers, only for the very same consumers to fail to notice any of those changes to the product when it was on shelf. Focus groups all tend towards average, by definition, and the only real test of any brand and any changes to that brand (assuming you don’t have £25m to spend on advertising) is in situ; what stands out and works on shelf.”

That challenge is exacerbated by the fact

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sales & marketing WHEN DO YOU CHANGE THE LABEL? ANDREW Rosenbaum tackles the subject of when your packaging needs an overhaul.

Should you change the label you’ve been using for years? Ought you to adopt a radically different style for the new wine you are planning to launch? Or will altering the traditional look jeopardise sales? In the US, at least, the answer seems to depend on whether you are you are aiming to sell your wine to Generations X (born between the early 1960s and 1980) and Y (the ‘Millennials’).

One person who has made a detailed study of US Millennials’ reaction to labels is Justina Simanaviciute, who has written a thesis on the subject at the Aarhus School of Business. “For now, there is a pronounced demand for funny wine labels,” she says, thanks partly to the Millennials’ greater likelihood of consuming wine during parties.

This group’s lack of reverence for traditional tropes and values is revealed in its readiness to buy wines with once unimaginable wine names such as Cupcake, Flip Flop, Skinny Girl and Little Black Dress. These are big brands, but the model works for smaller producers too. Peltier Station, for example, is a niche player in California, producing a fortified dessert wine that resembles port. Following agreements with the EU, regionally protected terms like port, however are no longer legally useable outside their officially defined regions. So, the winemaker decided to name the wine a ‘USB port’ thereby calling itself ‘port’ without breaking the rules about geographic designations. The label designer, 6 West Design, also reveals that the USB-tree on the front is composed of binary code that translates to ‘Peltier Station’. The producer won’t provide exact sales figures, but it confirms that orders have doubled since they replaced the traditional label with the clever one.

that, as Shaw continues, “The average consumer spends less than 30 seconds in the wine aisle.

That’s scanning, picking up, reading, choosing and leaving in less than half a minute.”

Another complication in an increasingly globalised industry lies in the variation in the maturity of individual markets and the fact that markets don’t necessarily evolve at the same speed or in the same way.

China, perhaps unsurprisingly given its immaturity, leans heavily on traditional labels and packaging. Fashion is a major factor that also has to be taken into account, especially in markets like the US. A few years ago, anyone launching an inexpensive wine in the US without an animal – a ‘critter’ – on the label was fighting with one hand behind their back. Today, most distributors repeat the mantra that critter brands are dead. Now, the biggest successes are, in Tulley’s words, “approachable, accessible, nonchallenging labels” including wines with names like Little Black Dress and Layer Cake. He acknowledges: “These brands can be polarising, though they do satisfy a certain state of need. I think there will always be an opportunity for labels led by the proposition rather than the wine or region, and these present great creative opportunities. For the wine drinker they can ‘give permission’ to engage with the wine on more comfortable terms.”

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Alongside these, however, ‘traditional’ labels offer reassurance. Tulley says his agency has converted ‘fun’ expressions of a brand to ‘traditional’ with positive results, “where the brand is better aligned with its market.” The success of traditional brands has been paradoxically true in both an immature market like China and in a recession-hit mature one like the UK, where consumers seek reassurance from authoritative packaging when spending their limited funds. Within the other mature markets of Europe, reactions to labels can vary widely.

MY OWN EXPERIENCE We sell 150,000 cases of Le Grand Noir, the Languedoc brand that Kevin Shaw and I created in 2005 with winemaker Hugh Ryman, and the distinctive black sheep on its label has helped to earn good distribution in 20 markets, including Scandinavia, Belgium and Holland.

French consumers, or at least their gatekeepers, however, are more wary of a wine with an animal on its label but no reference to a domaine or château.

The original label that, with a few tweaks, has been largely unchanged, is about to get a major makeover, so those French distributors will get another chance to look at the brand.

Subscribing to the belief that ‘critters are dead’ our distributors in the US – by far the biggest market for this brand – asked for a rethink of the way the sheep www.winebiz.com.au

Market raider: Erik’s the Red is a high-impact label that uses humour to communicate with consumers.

is used; Shaw’s response was to place it in the context of the vineyards where the grapes are grown, incidentally exploiting Claessens’ theory about the value of a three-dimensional image. Depicting the real landscape also reflects what Shaw sees as an important trend. “Right now provenance and authenticity are king,” he says. “Tito’s vodka has gone crazy in the US, not because it’s amazing (it’s the same ethanol and water and milligram of impurities), but because Tito is a real Texan and vodka hasn’t had a real person fronting it before. It’s perceived as being ‘real’, like brands were a few generations ago. Of course when everyone adopts this angle, and it all happens very quickly these days, then the whole cycle will come round again.”

Changing an existing label requires great care, says Claessens whose studio has made incremental changes to wine labels such as Beronia Rioja, Villa Antinori and CAVIT Pinot Grigio. “When you touch the DNA, it dies,” he says, referring to the damage Baileys Cream Liqueur suffered from a succession of unsuccessful redesigns. But Tulley and Shaw both point to situations where bravery has paid dividends. “A well-embedded label or brand may need careful evolution, whereas on occasions the decision is taken that nothing is salvageable."

HUMOUR WORKS Danny Brager, vice president and group director for the Beverage Alcohol Team at The Nielsen Company in New York says that quirky, sexy or humorous labels are proving successful with a very valuable market sector. “Vast segments of consumers, particularly Millennials, August 2014 – Issue 607

but also those in their 40s and 50s, find this kind of label attractive, to the point that it is an effective marketing trigger – one that makes the bottle stand out on supermarket shelves and get noticed.”

Baby Boomers, perhaps unsurprisingly, given their longer exposure to wine, want a combination of eye-catching design with some information about the liquid in the bottle. As Spiros Malandrakis, senior alcoholic drinks analyst at researcher Euromonitor in London points out, the classic French wine label with its name at the centre in cursive type, surrounded by useful information in very small type, isn’t really what they are looking for. A good example of a label that reaches out to this kind of consumer is that of California winemaker Toad Hollow Vineyards. The front of the bottle has the image of a toad dressed as a Viking with a red cape and sword. The toad holds a glass of the wine in one hand. The wine is called ‘Erik’s the Red’.

On the back, the consumer is provided with varietal information, tasting hints, pairing suggestions, descriptions of the winemaking process, and health and safety information.

As Malandrakis says, “Overall, the trade is moving increasingly to the ‘highimpact’ label. While the law obliges

August 2014 – Issue 607

producers to put a certain amount of information on labels, the marketing obligation is clearly predominating over the legal ones”.

SPREADING EFFECT The US-driven move towards adopting quirky labels for a younger set of consumers is not going unnoticed in Europe.

In the Vendôme in France, a producer called Emile Heredia has launched a wine called ‘G-spot’, (Point G, in French) with a red G on a white background on the label, alongside a little spot.

It apparently gets a laugh from most of the consumers who see it.

But the Gamay grapes from which it was made come from very old vines Heredia inherited from his grandfather.

So as Heredia points out: “Just because the label is funny doesn’t mean the wine isn’t as serious as it gets. But the amusing label does wake up the consumer who may not know much about Gamay, or thinks it’s only for Beaujolais”.

Heredia is convinced the label has contributed to sales – they have, he says, increased sharply.

• This article first appeared in Meininger’s Wine Business International.

www.winebiz.com.au

Local take: Australian designer John Jewell gives his view on the role of the label on the bottle and on packaging. Full story next page.

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Personality plus: Tyrell’s Lost Block range was ramped up and revamped with the release of this caricature series of labels across the brand’s range.

Australia has ‘led the industry’ in New World wine label design John Jewell is a wine label designer with representation in Sydney, Melbourne and Italy and has been working at the cutting edge for the past 25 years in which time it has established a significant presence in international wine branding – from the bottle to the boxes in which they are carried. He spoke to Grapegrower & Winemaker about the story behind the label.

TO look at where wine label design is going it is good to see a snapshot of where design went in the past.

In my opinion Australia has led the industry in New World wine designs.

In particular we are very prominent in London and the US and a number of designers, mainly from Adelaide, led the field and the rest of the world followed.

Australia went through the critter brand phenomena for a long time, but basically our business didn’t do them.

I don’t like them – although there is always an exception, which in this case is Yellow Tail.

Spain in particular has copied this critter brand design style; you walk through the Spanish pavilion at international trade shows and their wine labels are full of animal images.

Images that almost look like they were designed by Australian designers – and may well have been.

Although half the labels on shelves still have the old classic design styles the world wine market is now looking for something different.

Not just different design styles but also new packaging, new ways of doing things, new printing techniques and new bottle sizes, so I believe design needs to follow our client’s needs and address these new design requirements.

Design and printing on sleeves for wine bottles is popular in Europe.

Producers of Champagne and sparkling wines have been going down that road for some time now and we think there’s a

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bigger opportunity for both red and white table wines in 750ml bottles.

Printing on a sleeve that goes over the bottle gives you a bigger visual area to work on so we are doing a lot of work for our European clients using this technique.

I also believe that boutique wine label design can be, and sometimes is, more adventurous but budgets and economies of scale in production are sometimes a hindrance.

A good start to creating a successful wine label design is to listen to the client and understand what they require.

Also understanding the nuances of the market and the limitations of budgets allocated for the project are important in matching that desire to financial reality.

Then you can be as creative as you like within those parameters – with the ultimate judge of your success realised through sales.

In my opinion the wine market in Australia is a tough one, but this is not simply because of the dominance of the two big retailers – Coles and Woolworths.

At John Jewell Design we actually have an entire world market to look at and that is the focus of our design business.

I trust my observations and outlook based on our past experience – plus years of extensive travel to international wine fairs – will help Australian wineries boost their bottom lines and grow our wine business overseas.

Contact: John Jewell P: 61 2 6040 4433 E: kimcollins@johnjewelldesign.com.au www.winebiz.com.au

Dr Design: John Jewell has been specialising in wine branding – from labels to packaging – for more than 25 years.

Striking simplicity: A John Jewell design for Summer White makes for a real design standout on retail shelves – and diner tables.

August 2014 – Issue 607

Ten-year strategy provides WA focus on export The WA Wine Industry Strategic Plan 2014-24 is set to provide the state with double exports to $100m by 2017 according to Wines of Western Australia chief executive officer Larry Jorgensen. Stephanie Timotheou spoke with Jorgensen following the plan’s launch in June to discuss what the future holds for the state’s export market.

IT’S all happening in the world of Australian Bulk Wine bulk wine exports.

The Australian Grape Export & and Wine Authority’s Insurance (AGWA) Wine Export Approval Report June 2014 states the average value of wine exports continued to rise in the year ended June 2014, driven by an increase in exports of premium Australian wines in key markets.

And going further west, Wines of Western Australia aims to double the

Wines of Western Australia chief executive officer Larry Jorgensen has launched the WA Wine Industry Strategic Plan 2014-24, which is set to double the state’s wine exports to $100m by 2017.

Photo: ©Ratchanida Thippayos/123rf.com.

state’s export value in just three years as part of its 10-year strategic plan.

The WA Wine Industry Strategic Plan 2014-24 was released by the state’s peak industry body and is a culmination of a seven-month collaborative, whole of industry strategic review process.

It outlines 10 focus areas and initiatives which are broadly grouped into four themes: industry structure and funding, market demand and consumer engagement, research, development and

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extension, and regulation and social responsibility.

WA Wine Industry Strategic Review Reference Group chair Nigel Gallop says the strategic review is a highly constructive process of engagement with industry in shaping its future.

“It is clear we need to be focused on a unified voice from the state association with strong regional associations championing their provenance and personalities,” he adds.

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August 2014 – Issue 607

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sales & marketing THE EXPORT SCENE At present WA exports only 15 per cent of its production which compares to a national average of 60 per cent.

While the latter figure accounts for both bottled and bulk wine across all price points, the reality remains that WA has historically underperformed in this channel, according to Wines of Western Australia chief executive officer Larry Jorgensen.

“While the top 10 producers in WA have always looked to export up to 30 per cent of their production, it is now time for the next 50 producers to also adopt a similar approach,” Jorgensen says.

These small to medium-sized producers will provide added colour and personality to the WA fine wine story or the “Hawaiian shirts to beige overalls” in the words of Wines of Western Australia president Redmond Sweeny.

“We have to export collectively as the fine wine regions of WA with a stronger emphasis on wines of provenance and personality,” Sweeny says.

“Producers from small to large are the ones to deliver the promise of our clean and green regions to the world.”

The state is primarily a producer of premium and ultra-premium wine, with a growing number as both vineyards

and businesses mature. Its competitive advantage lies in the realm of regionally produced fine wine made by the people who live there.

“These people understand the strengths and weaknesses of their region,” Jorgensen says.

“They also know each other and work together on further developing the story of their region. These are the stories that need to be told by an army of producers.”

Demand for wine in these segments is increasing in the state’s top 5 destination countries (China, Hong Kong, UK and the US) as has the value per litre.

THE AIM OF THE PLAN The focus of the strategic plan will be on the fine wine business model in all market development activity.

“As we talk about Broome Pearls, Argyle Diamonds and Manjimup truffles, the same conversation will apply to wine – Margaret River Cabernet, Great Southern Riesling or Pemberton Chardonnay and the sites that exist among our regions,” Jorgensen says.

The aim aligns with the WA Department of Agriculture’s stated goal to double the value of the food and agriculture sector by 2025.

This provides the opportunity for partnerships across sectors in developing markets. Most of WA’s agricultural industries don’t have the scale to meet rising demand for commodity level produce, but most share a premium point of difference with the wine industry.

During the past three years, WA’s wine industry has partnered with the WA Department of Agriculture on export market development.

The state’s international marketing program will continue for the next three years, providing $600,000 for activities domestically over the period.

In the first three years of the program, export value increased 36 per cent from a starting point of $33m dollars in 2010 to $45m dollars in 2013.

“To continue on this growth curve, a higher level of industry participation and contribution is required,” Jorgensen says.

“Working with regional associations, Wines of Western Australia will help in further developing this collaborative approach.

“WA is now open for business in export markets.”

Contact: Larry Jorgensen P: 61 8 9284 3355 M: 61 (0)448 884 161 E: ceo@winewa.asn.au

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August 2014 – Issue 607

Survey says screwcap is the top choice But are winemakers and retailers getting the message?

Cork versus screwcap remains a hot topic in the industry. A survey by one of the world’s largest market research companies suggests consumers prefer wine with a screwcap for its convenience, but one Aussie winemaker claims they still appreciate the tradition of cork.

Stephanie Timotheou reports.

WHEN it comes to wine closures do you choose convenience or tradition?

Turns out most consumers don’t give a damn about the traditional methods of winemaking and bottling.

They just want to get to the wine – and the faster the better.

When 6000 wine and spirits consumers were surveyed by IPSOS about preferences on closures, results confirmed the majority preferred screwcap for its convenience.

The survey, which took place in the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, was commissioned by European screwcap manufacturers and suppliers that are members of the EAFA Closures Group – part of the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA).

When consumers were asked about their preferences for reclosing a bottle of unfinished wine, the screw cap also scored top points.

“Four out of 10 surveyed confirmed they had poured away wine from a bottle closed with a cork closure which had been tainted or spoiled,” EAFA director of communications Guido Aufdemkamp said.

“In markets where screwcaps have a lower market penetration there is less understanding of the convenience offered by them,” he said.

“Even in these countries the majority responding accepted screwcaps offer a more convenient option for reclosing than corks or other types of closure.”

When asked to compare their purchasing intentions of the same bottle of wine with different closures, more than a third said they would prefer to buy wine with a screwcap and a quarter said the type of closure wouldn’t affect their purchase.

The survey also suggested among younger consumers, particularly females, there was a strong preference towards screwcap.

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For the love of cork: Redman Wines winemaker Bruce Redman at his cellar door in Coonawarra, South Australia.

“As the market penetration grows across Europe and the US it is expected that the figures in favour of screw cap will grow even further,” Aufdemkamp added.

“This will increase the pressure on winemakers and retailers to offer greater choices in future.”

WHAT ABOUT AUSSIE CONSUMERS? While it’s evident European and US consumers prefer the screwcap, Redman Wines winemaker Bruce Redman said the South Australian producer still made its wines in a traditional method and believed the use of cork aided in the evolution of its wines.

In response to the survey, Redman said he hasn’t come across any buyer or consumer in South Australia who were hesitant to purchase wine under cork.

“It’s really interesting because at our cellar door we talk to a lot of customers about screwcap versus cork and most are really pleased that cork is still around,” Redman said.

“In Australia certainly the vast majority of wines are bottled under screwcap but our belief at this stage is the results and tests we’ve done show our wines – as we currently make them – do better under cork.

“Having said that, we have been doing a trial with screwcap on our Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon since the 2007 vintage and while we haven’t ruled out the use of screwcap we are looking at how the two closures affect the quality www.winebiz.com.au

of the wines.”

With wine tastings completed at the Coonawarra winery so far, the company has found wines under cork were generally of better quality.

While the company may need to reconsider its position if consumer preference continues to decline, Redman Wines plans to continue using cork because of the traditional way it manufactures its wines.

“If we change to screwcap we may have to change our winemaking and viticulture beliefs,” Redman added.

“There’s no doubt the cork we get today is significantly better quality than the cork we used 10 years ago due to supplier demand and while there is some cork taint being discovered, it’s getting down to very low percentages.”

ADVANCES IN CORK TECHNOLOGY UK-based company CorkGuard has billed itself as a “game changer” in the wine closures market with the release of SmartCork.

The new invention incorporated the advantages of natural cork with a hightech membrane that helped prevent wine spoilage.

CorkGuard director Justin HowardSneyd MW said natural cork’s “fatal flaw” can taint wines and cause huge variation between bottles, but that aside he said he respected natural cork and the ecology that surrounded it.

The SmartCork was designed to prevent taint and cork dust while allowing oxygen to pass through.

Howard-Sneyd said the UK, Australia and New Zealand were already very accepting of the screwcap so the potential for SmartCork wasn’t as great as other regions including Europe, North America and Asia.

Contacts: Guido Aufdemkamp European Aluminium Foil Association P: 49 (0)211 47 96 168 E: enquiries@aluminium-closures.org Bruce Redman P: 61 8 8736 3331 E: wines@redman.com.au W: www.redman.com.au Justin Howard-Sneyd MW E: justin@thehivewine.com Grapegrower & Winemaker

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On the job: Michael Best travelled from the UK to work at SA’s Bird in Hand winery during the 2014 vintage.

The good, the bad and the casual This month Stephanie Timotheou looks at the advantages and disadvantages of hiring casual staff during vintage. She speaks with SA’s Bird in Hand winery which employs casuals every year and Bibber International’s Pamela Campusano who discusses the pros and cons and the right time to hire.

VINTAGE might be over for another year but that doesn’t mean vineyard and winery owners can sit back and relax just yet.

The industry heavily relies on the use of casual staff to see each harvest through, which means employers must seek suitable candidates to lend a helping hand year after year.

Bibber International marketing and program manager Pamela Campusano says the right time to hire a casual depends on each winery’s necessities and starting date of vintage.

“We notice in wineries where vintage starts in early January they normally start looking for staff at the end of August or the beginning of September, however we have wineries looking for staff until late February and sometimes even March,” she says.

“The best time to get staff is before Christmas and New Year; however we understand things are not always ideal so we try to have casual staff available from August until the end of February.

“Even if wineries leave the hiring process to the last minute or the staff they were counting on decide not to work with them anymore, we can help them.”

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At a glance: • Employers can use websites such as Winejobs to recruit candidates directly, or engage employment agencies such as Bibber International to source casual staff.

• University students studying in the field of wine and viticulture are always on the lookout for casual summer jobs to gain hands-on experience while they’re completing their degree.

• The best time to hire casual staff is before Christmas and New Year.

• Employers must ensure they hire people who are planning to develop a career in the wine industry, rather than backpackers looking for jobs purely for money without appreciating the experience.

She says Bibber International ensures it has available, reliable and professional casual staff ready to take on any job until March. www.winebiz.com.au

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ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES Hiring casual staff is a great way for winery and vineyard owners to get the assistance they require during vintage.

The main benefit is most job seekers are young, enthusiastic workers and know the job will have a specific start and end date, but Campusano says wineries need to be careful during the hiring process.

“It’s always a good idea to hire people who are planning to develop a career in the wine industry, rather than backpackers looking for jobs just for money without appreciating the experience,” she says.

“Passionate causal staff will always be better than somebody only looking to make money.”

Disadvantages depend on the selection process a winery implements to hire casual staff.

August 2014 – Issue 607

Campusano says unskilled or inexperienced staff are a gamble for any winery and the lack of commitment to the job may result in serious problems.

“We have heard so many stories of unreliable casual staff – that could be because the winery next door offers them two dollars extra per hour and they just leave or because they have a big night and don’t show up to work next day,” she adds.

Bibber International ensures all applicants have the appropriate qualifications and/or experience in the wine industry and can speak English before offering their services.

CASUAL EMPLOYEES AT BIRD IN HAND South Australia’s Bird in Hand winery regularly employs casual staff to work the vintage each year.

Michael Best from the UK was one of 12 casuals hired to see this vintage through and assisted production winemaker Peter Ruchs during his three-month contract with the company.

He began work at Bird in Hand in mid-February and stayed until the end of vintage in May.

Bird in Hand communications manager Fiona Nieuwenhuizen says the company’s experience in hiring casual staff has been good so far but it can sometimes be difficult to secure the best candidates for the job.

“Candidates can often apply for various jobs and then decide from all their job offers which option will suit them best,” she says.

“This means you don’t always get the staff you first offer the position to, but we do have processes in place to ensure we reference check each candidate so we can source experienced vintage casuals.”

RECRUITMENT OPTIONS There are many benefits to utilising cost-effective job sites and employment agencies that source and screen candidates locally and internationally.

For employers who prefer to manage their own recruitment process, Winejobs, Australia’s leading wine industry jobs site, provides maximum candidate reach at a cost-effective price.

Promoted in print publications and online, the site regularly posts casual, part-time or full-time positions and key international roles, catering for all types

of people seeking work in the industry.

Bibber International arranges overseas workers for seasonal work within Australia during harvest.

The company specialises in wine and agriculture placements and offers assistance with visa requirements for those travelling to Australia from abroad.

“For each applicant we provide a CV, autobiography, reference letter and a YouTube video so the employer can check their English level and personality,” Campusano says.

Contacts: Winejobs P: 61 8 8369 9500 E: jobs@winebiz.com.au W: www.winejobs.com.au Bibber International P: 61 8 8374 0077 E: info@bibber.com.au W: www.bibber.com.au Bird in Hand winery P: 61 8 8389 9488 E: marketing@birdinhand.com.au W: www.birdinhand.com.au

Bumper crush increases need for faster analysis AUSTRALIAN wineries may have to increase testing and analysis given a bumper crush from 2013 according to a leading technology provider.

Randox Food Diagnostics highlighted figures published by the Winemakers Federation of Australia which noted a 10 per cent boost on 2012’s harvest.

The report outlined how growers concerns over sustained periods of heat including some outbreaks of bushfires were alleviated by ready access to irrigation and good winter rains.

Within winemaking Randox Food Diagnostics provides tests for a growing number of parameters including malic acid, acetic acid and glucose/fructose amongst others.

Randox Food Diagnostics Australian business development executive Sally McIntire said as well as high quality testing kits the company has developed the RDX series, its own range of analysers.

“These are trusted by wineries across the globe and our semi-automated option – the RX Monza – is a popular choice with small-to-medium sized wineries, as its ease of use offers a smooth transition to in-house enzymatic testing,” she said.

“However with the boost in harvest this year reaching 1.83 million tonnes, that’s about 100,000 tonnes above average for the past six years.

“With this increased crushing comes increased need for fast and reliable analysis.

“Randox Food Diagnostics will be showcasing our RX Monaco to the wine market at Romeo Bragato in New Zealand from August 27-29.

“This fully automated machine can deliver fast accurate results processing 170 tests per hour, or three tests a minute.

August 2014 – Issue 607

On show: The RX Monaco will be unveiled for the wine market at Romeo Bragato in New Zealand from August 27-29. It can deliver fast accurate results processing 170 tests per hour.

“We’re delighted Australian producers have enjoyed a bumper crush, and believe our expertise and the quality of our technology positions us well to meet any increased requirements they may experience.”

Contact: Sally McIntire P: 61 481 199 914 E: sally.mcintire@randoxfooddiagnostics.com

www.winebiz.com.au

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looking forward 2014

looking back

Australia & New Zealand

We step back in time to see what was happening through the pages of Grapegrower and Winemaker this month 10, 20 and 30 years ago.

August

August 1984 Grapegrowers and consumers will be the real losers from the 10 per cent sales tax on wine announced by Treasurer Paul Keating in the budget, according to the Wine and Brandy Producers’ Association. The association’s president and chief executive of McWilliams Wines Don McWilliam, said the tax would result in an eventual 20 per cent drop in wine sales. Growers could face a crop surplus of 80,000 tonnes next year based on current production of 400,000 tonnes.

August 1994 The growth of Grant Burge Wines continues following the company’s decision to undertake what is believed to be the biggest vineyard development in the Barossa Valley this century. To cost $3 million, the development of more than 100ha of vineyards will increase the size of the company’s holdings in the Barossa Valley to nearly 300ha. This comes less than 12 months after Grant Burge Wines acquired Basedow Wines for $4.25 million from the MS McLeod Group.

Director and winemaker of Grant Burge Wines and Basedow Wines Grant Burge said the vineyard expansion would double the size of his annual grape production to 3000 tonnes.

August 2004 The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia announced a record vintage for the Australian wine industry in 2004 with an estimated crush of 1.86 million tonnes – 40 per cent more than the droughtaffected 2003 vintage and 23 per cent more than the previous record vintage of 1.51 million tonnes in 2002. Increased crop levels were recorded across almost all varieties, with bearing areas up 5 per cent on 2003 and above-average yields in virtually all parts of Australia. WFA chief executive Stephen Strachan said good winter rainfall and favourable weather conditions during spring and summer had delivered a disease-free vintage.

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15 Coonawarra Wine Tasting Roadshow Hobart Hobart, TAS. www.coonawarra.org

24 Hobart Wine Fair Hobart, TAS. www. tasmanianwinecentre.com.au

17 Coonawarra Wine Tasting Roadshow – Adelaide Adelaide, SA. www.coonawarra.org

25-27 (JD) 2014 NSW Small Winemakers Wine Show Forbes, NSW. www. nswwineshow.com.au

18 Finlaysons Wine Roadshow XXII WFA’s Action Agenda (Hobart) Hobart, TAS. www.finlaysons.com.au

26 Finlaysons Wine Roadshow XXII WFA’s Action Agenda (Barossa Valley) Barossa Valley, SA. www.finlaysons.com.au

18 Institute of Masters of Wine hosts inaugural master class in New Zealand Auckland, NZ. www.amiando.com/ MWmasterclassNewZealand2014.html

26 New Zealand Society for Viticulture and Oenology 2014 Technical Workshop Blenheim, NZ. www.nzsvo.org.nz

19 Coonawarra Wine Tasting Roadshow – Perth Perth, WA. www.coonawarra.org

26-27 (JD) Riverina Wine Show Griffith, NSW. www.riverinawinemakers.com.au

19 Finlaysons Wine Roadshow XXII WFA’s Action Agenda (Yarra Valley) Yarra Valley, VIC. www.finlaysons.com.au

27 Finlaysons Wine Roadshow XXII - WFA’s Action Agenda (McLaren Vale) McLaren Vale, SA. www.finlaysons.com.au

20-22 (JD) Six Nations Wine Challenge Concord, NSW. www.boutiquewines.com.au

September

20-22 Taste Orange at Sydney Sydney, NSW. www.winesoforange.com.au

3 Australian Drinks Awards 2014 Sydney, NSW. www.drinkscentral.com.au

21 Finlaysons Wine Roadshow XXII WFA’s Action Agenda (Griffith) Griffith, NSW. www.finlaysons.com.au

5-8 Townsville BMW Sensation Food and Wine Festival Townsville, QLD. www. thesensation.com.au

22-24 (JD) Bragato Wine Awards Marlborough, NZ. www.bragato.org.nz

8-10 (JD) Mudgee Wine Show Mudgee, NSW. www.mudgeewine.com.au

23 Launceston Wine Fair Launceston, TAS. www.tasmanianwinecentre.com.au

8-10 (JD) New Zealand International Wine Show 2014 Auckland, NZ. www.nziws.co.nz

International August 17-21 (JD) Michelangelo International Wine Awards (South Africa) South Africa. www. michelangeloawards.com 28-30 (JD) International Beverage Exposition & Competition (IBEC) Shenzhen, China. www.ib-ec.com

September 7-9 Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2014 London, UK. www.specialityandfinefoodfairs.co.uk

8-11 The 5th Worldwide Distilled Spirits Conference Scotland, UK. www.wdsc2014.org 10-13 Food & Hotel Thailand 2014 Bangkok, Thailand. www.foodhotelthailand.com 12 (CD) Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition Hong Kong. www.hkiwsc.com JD = judging date CD = closing date

For a comprehensive list of events, visit www.winebiz.com.au/calendar www.winebiz.com.au

August 2014 – Issue 607

FIND YOUR SUPPLIER QUICKLY WITH OUR August 2014 Advertiser List Supplier

Page

Supplier

95

Adama Australia

39,41,43

Mirco Bros

62

110

Mr. Nozzle

63

Adro Grafted Vines

MGA Insurance Brokers

Page

A&G Engineering

104

AGL Energy Limited

25

Nadalie Australia

97

Agnova

23

New Holland

67

Australian Inland Wine Show

9

Nick van Vliet First National Real Estate

110

Barrel Finance & Logistics

92

Nutri-Tech Solutions

52

BASF

37

Pastro Custom Ag

63

Bayer

48,49,53

Pellenc Australia

17 99

Bibber International

110

Phoenix Society of South Australia

Biocontrol

47

Plastic Precise Parts

Braud Australia

13

Rapidfil

110

Ryset (Aust)

57

Seguin Moreau

89

Bruce Gilbert Vine Grafting Cropcare

45,55

36 70,110

Croplands

26

Semco Group

64

Crown Sheet Metal

88

South Australian Wine Industry Assoc

21

Della Toffola Pacific

3

Spagnolo Engineering

14

Dow Agrosciences

51

Streamline Cartons

110

evOAK - Oak Solutions Group

91

Suber Lefort Group

87

Fischer Australis

27

Syngenta Australia

2,112

FMR Group

65

Taylors Engineering (Blenheim)

93

Gori Australia

103

Tonnellerie Saint Martin

94

Grapeworks

71

Tuckaway Engineering

58

Graphic Language Design

98

Vine Industry Nursery Association (VINA)

110

Groguard Australia

59

Vine Sight

110

96

Vinewright

110

Viniquip

101

JMA Engineering Kauri Australia

73,75,

79,81,83

KLIMA

69

WineTech 2015

15

Ledgard

61

Whitlands Engineering

50

MEP Instruments

85

Winemakers' Federation of Australia

111

Wood-Shield

60

AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND GRAPEGROWER & WINEMAKER *Australia's largest circulation wine industry trade magazine celebrating more than 50 years of publication. *Now available online to all subscribers. *All Marketplace adverts also appear on Winebiz Classifieds * For advertising enquiries please call Chas Barter on 08 8369 9513, c.barter@winetitles.com.au

Winebiz Calendar

Australia’s most comprehensive list of wine industry related local and international events and courses – available online FREE! Search for conferences, trade shows, competitions, courses, festivals & Australian & international wine shows.

www.winebiz.com.au/calendar August 2014 – Issue 607

www.winebiz.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

109

Marketplace VINEYARD REMOVAL / RE-WORKING • Providing professional services in Vineyard Removal with rates per Ha. • Tom & his team have gained a high reputation in all regions Australia Wide.

• Pulling vines is the sole business for Vine Sight.

Vine Industry Nursery Assoc.

www.vina.net.au

Tom Stephens 0428 443 263

www.vinesight.com.au

Lot 15 Whitings Road, McLaren Vale (Blewitt Springs) 21.2Ha (52.4 Acre) Commercial Vineyard For Sale $1,250,000

Quality Grapevines Paul Wright PO Box 180 Mt Pleasant South Australia 5235 Ph 08 8568 2385 www.vinewright.com.au

• Excellent red/white varieties.

• Superb elevated home site.

ADRO

• Panoramic outlook to sea.

• 15 m/l recycled water.

GRAFTED VINES

• Separate bore.

• Shedding.

Contact Mike Stillwell for planting/crop details 0413 742 344 | sales@southernvales.com.au | www.southernvales.com.au

VINE GRAFTING Bruce Gilbert 0428 233 544 Brian Phillips 0417 131 764 fax 03 5025 2321

brucethegrafter@gmail.com www.brucethegrafter.com

RLA245784

WINE PRESS SERVICING • Preventative maintenance & breakdown repairs for all makes and models.

• • • •

24/7 coverage during vintage Large inventory of spare parts.

Membrane replacement.

PLC upgrades and design improvements.

Electrical & mechanical expertise.

03 9455 3339 • www.rapidfil.com.au

Specialising in Grafted Vines and Rootlings Orders taken for 2015 planting now.

Mobile 0428 447 246 For enquiries please contact Rosanna on

Ph/Fax 02 6964 4288 E-mail: adrografted@bigpond.com

Vine / Tree Guards t Vin

Cane Support Tabs

015

2 age

65 x 65 x 480 Most popular vine size

Qualified vintage staff?

Talk to us!

95 x 95 x 300 2 Lt Milk carton size

75 x 75 x 400

Staple around for bushier trees 75 diameter x 420

Marketplace

• Low cost protection against spray, rabbits, wind etc.

• Long field life of18 months plus • Available in white poly coated cartonboard • Suit vines, trees, olives, citrus etc • Supplied flat in boxes • Just square up and ready to go • Comes with indent cane holder

Streamline Cartons 08 8374 0077

info@bibber.com.au

www.bibber.com.au 110 Grapegrower & Winemaker

www.winebiz.com.au

Ph 1800-227866 Fax (08) 8260 2387

www.streamlinecartons.com.au sales@streamlinecartons.com.au Supplying vine growers for the past 12 years

August 2014 – Issue 607

Powerful protection from Downy Mildew inside and out.

Say goodbye to copper. Revus features clever technology that will change the way you protect your grapes. Revus doesn’t just protect the outside of your vines it also flows inside the plant for more complete protection.

What’s more, Revus is practically harmless to beneficials.

Talk to your local distributor today about Syngenta’s solutions.

For further information please call the Syngenta Technical Product Advice Line on 1800 067 108 or visit www.syngenta.com.au. The information contained in this document is believed to be accurate. No responsibility is accepted in respect of this information, save those non-excludable conditions implied by any Federal or State legislation or law of a Territory. ® Registered trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. ™Trademark of a Syngenta Group Company. AD13/492