Grapegrower & Winemaker - January 2017

JANUARY 2017

SPARKLING FOCUS Popping the cork on the latest research New options in the winemakers’ toolbox

Water into wine

After the hail hits

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See the video on Daily Wine News Gentle air cushion (white arrows) blows away Petiole, Botrytis grape, and all other Mog. Only full juicy berries fall past air cushion and into bin

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contents features 39

Vineyard Machinery

46

Fermentation

72

Analytical Services

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Export

JANUARY 2017

SPARKLING FOCUS Popping the cork on the latest research New options in the winemakers’ toolbox

Water into wine

After the hail hits

COVER Sparkling wine is the focus for both the lead articles in both the grapegrowing and winemaking sections.

While sparkling wine is one of the ‘go to’ options for festive celebrations, we’ve aimed to provide so ‘go to’ information for sparkling grapegrower and winemakers.

news

grapegrowing

From the editor .........................................7

Popping the cork on sparkling wine research ..........................23

Rising up to the challenge

On the grapevine .....................................8 Movers & Shakers................................... 12 Regional roundup ...................................14 15

After the hail hits: Best-practice recovery .............................26 The energizer bunny abroad: Italian viticulture .....................................28 Shavkapito: Coming soon to a vineyard near you ...........................30 Who has the bargaining power? .............32 Virtual fence to protect SA’s wine industry ..................................34 Research finds some ‘red warning flags’ in the vineyard .................35 Powdery mildew app goes global ...........36

My View: Clare Burder............................ 15 Mind the gap: Women in wine media

Vintage predictions .................................16

VineRobot introduces its second prototype ...............................39 Surface irrigation remains the best option........................................42

regulars 6 What’s online 19 Australian Vignerons:

The Australian Winegrower

76 Ask the AWRI 4 Grapegrower & Winemaker

84 Winemaker of the month 85 Calendar 86 Marketplace classifieds

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January 2017 – Issue 636

January 2017: Issue 636 winemaking

business & technology

New options in the sparkling winemakers’ toolbox................46

‘Wine growth’ fund delivers across Victoria ........................................78

46

National conference and trade show news ....................................80 80

Water into wine......................................50 Approval for winemakers to add water to assist fermentation

Oxygen and fermentation: Research project recognised with an ASVO award ............54

sales & marketing 82

Wine industry litigation ...........................60 Robert Stein’s Riesling success story .........63

Exports to China increase as consumers embrace Aussie wine .............82

Young Gun: Michael Downer ...................64 Profitability impacts of the WET Rebate cap changes ........................67 Ethyl acetate – a misunderstood fermentation problem .............................72

PUBLISHER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE Hartley Higgins

PRODUCTION Simon Miles

GENERAL MANAGER Elizabeth Bouzoudis

CIRCULATION: Emilie Francis subs@winetitles.com.au

EDITOR Nathan Gogoll editor@grapeandwine.com.au EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Denis Gastin, Dr Steve Goodman, Dr Terry Lee, Paul van der Lee, Bob Campbell MW, Prof Dennis Taylor, Mary Retallack and Corrina Wright EDITORIAL Daniel Whyntie journalist@winetitles.com.au ADVERTISING SALES Maria Stephenson sales@grapeandwine.com.au January 2017 – Issue 636

Barossa joins the Global Coalition to Protect Wine Place Names ......................83

WINETITLES MEDIA ABN 85 085 551 980 630 Regency Road, Broadview, South Australia 5083 Phone: (08) 8369 9500 Fax: (08) 8369 9501 info@winetitles.com.au www.winetitles.com.au @Grape_and_Wine Printing by Lane Print Group, Adelaide © Contents copyright Winetitles Media 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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Grapegrower & Winemaker

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Letter to the editor what’s ONLINE Treasury Wines to finish bottling with Accolade Treasury Wines Estates has added a little wrinkle to the potential float of Accolade Wines by terminating a wine bottling deal in the United Kingdom with the ASX aspirant.

Treasury has given Accolade notice that it intends to cease a wine bottling initiative whereby many of Treasury’s European brands are packaged up at the large Accolade facility in Bristol, reports the Australian Financial Review.

Chasing fashions I JOINED THE Australian industry in 1968 and subsequently I have witnessed the rise, fall and rise of many ‘fashions’.

Some have even fallen for a second time during my five decades!

My observation is that the industry itself has often killed these ‘fashions’ by virtue of what I call ‘cowboy’ winemaking and marketing.

Fashions – such as the revival of Rosé, most often start on the back of great wines made by smart winemakers... but once the cowboys spot a trend, out they come with crappy wines, clichéd packaging and deep discounts. Consumers rapidly turn off and it soon becomes ‘unfashionable’ to be seen drinking that category.

The other issue is ‘me toos’ from unsuitable viticultural regions. Pinot

Noir is probably the best example, with gorgeous Pinots coming out of New Zealand, Tasmania and parts of Victoria and South Australia – but total consumer confusion from the warm/hot climate regions.

Many winemakers have to chase fashion to survive, but I doubt that we will ever be able to declare that we have a mature industry until we only make wines from fruit which shines in its region. Mind you, in the ‘mature industry’ of France, some winemakers are pushing the other way...

Richard Warland Managing Director Reversing The Silk Road Pty Ltd

Coal-free zone bid in Hunter Valley

Max moves on

The NSW government is drawing up plans to create buffer zones around a controversial open-cut coal mine project.

The Baird government’s preferred option is changing mining laws to allow the cancellation of exploration licences – like the one held by Anglo American over the Drayton South project in the Hunter Valley – if a planning application has been rejected several times, reports The Australian.

MAX ALLEN’S FAREWELL COLUMN appeared in The Australian in the week before Christmas (although he promised one more on sparkling wine before the end of 2016).

When he announced the news on Twitter there was a big response from across the grape and wine community. Here’s a snapshot:

Yarra Valley Wine and Food Festival The Yarra Valley will play to its strengths in 2017, with the Victorian government announcing the Yarra Valley Wine and Food Festival.

Set on the grounds of Rochford Winery, the festival will have produce from across the region and is expected to attract 6000 visitors to the Yarra Valley when it runs on April 1 and 2, reports the Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader.

@maxallenwine

My last weekly wine column for The Australian. After 19 years it’s time to move on.

Sue Bell @Bellwetherwine

@maxallenwine @australian well thank you for everything you have done to contribute to making it exciting, value your columns & philosophies Tim Kirk @Clonakilla

@maxallenwine I’m very sorry to hear this news Max! A loss. With warm wishes for the next exciting chapter, all the same...

Cam Haskell @camhaskell

@maxallenwine G’day Max. Sincere thanks for so much great writing, consideration & support of better bits of the industry. #hatsoff Kim Chalmers @KimChalmers78

@maxallenwine Good luck with the next phase. Thanks for being an enthusiastic champion for people like us in Australia’s national rag Andrea Frost @andreajfrost

@maxallenwine 19 years? Congratulations, Max. Look forward to seeing you — and your words — somewhere soon.

Steve Leszczynski @Qwine

@maxallenwine @australian great work Max. Always an informative read. All the best with the next chapter.

Ed Merrison @VinMerrison

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.winetitles.com.au/dwn.

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Pity that one’s polished off (no sign of dregs, at least). Good luck @maxallenwine; I look forward to what’s next The Yeastie Boys @Yeastie_Boys_YV

We need a full time lead Mandolinist. One door closes, another opens @maxallenwine

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January 2017 – Issue 636

from the editor

Nathan Gogoll Editor

Rising up to the challenge I’VE BEEN WONDERING how I can (and whether I should) articulate how I feel about the Australian Women in Wine awards. I realise this is risky, but I think it’s worth doing.

Here’s the thing, I really like the initiative... I just really wish the awards weren’t necessary.

And I keep asking myself if the grape and wine community will evolve sufficiently to make these awards redundant?

Unfortunately, when I focus on the issues, I find that sexism pops up far too frequently.

It comes across my desk; it sneaks into my social media streams; and I hear it on the balcony of my local pub.

When I look back at the examples of wine industry sexism I find myself asking two questions: Why am I not strong enough to challenge sexism?

And, can the grape and wine community take the leadership required not to accept the double standards and damaging attitudes?

Just as I’m trying to get my head around the answers, I find myself involved in a mix up that didn’t help.

We had a situation with our Daily Wine News e-bulletin one Friday in late November where we announced Shavaughn Wells from Saltram was the first female ‘winemaker of the year’ in the Winestate Magazine awards. Only for Fiona Donald to email us a few hours later with a photo of her name on the 2001 trophy.

Fiona earned the award for her work with the Edwards and Chaffey brand (then owned by Southcorp). I think Treasury Wine Estates has mothballed that brand – but Fiona and Shavaughn were essentially working for the same corporate company when they both won the award.

All we could do was say sorry for sending out the wrong information and commend both the winemakers.

January 2017 – Issue 636

We’ve learned one valuable lesson for Daily Wine News (and for here in these pages)… unless we absolutely know for sure, we’re never going to call anything or anyone the ‘first’ again.

But there was another element to this situation. By the time our correction and apology went out the Monday after the error, we were also challenged by Vicki Denig’s article… ‘Why I hate female sommeliers and so should you’.

Her argument: “Rather than admit women into the ranks of winemakers and sommeliers as full-fledged professionals, we call them “female sommeliers” and “female winemakers”. That celebratory gendered adjective is proof not of women’s advances in the wine industry, but quite the opposite. It’s a marker of how far they still have to go to be treated equally by the industry and the papers that write about it.”

As I read this, and went back through it a couple times, I decided Vicki’s conclusion backs up my feelings about the Women in Wine Awards.

“Tackling those larger issues starts with breaking down the barriers that are helping prop them up, and speaking of ‘female’ sommeliers or winemakers is one of them. The irony in the wine industry is that breaking that glass ceiling starts with taking the ‘female’ out of these headlines, and finding ways to actually support women making it to the top echelons.”

I decided that I should try to help.

I reached out to Jane Thomson, who is the founder and chair of the Australian Women in Wine Awards, and she re-assured me it was okay to aim for a day when the awards aren’t necessary.

“I always say to people that my dream is that these awards will only be around for a short time before they’re not needed at all,” Jane told me. “And that it’s a shame they are indeed needed at all.

“As I see it if these awards just cause more people to think, and to have

www.winetitles.com.au

discourse around the issues then they are already doing the job.”

But to be honest, at that stage I didn’t know how I could actually do anything meaningful about all this.

I didn’t have to wait long for inspiration. In mid-December, I stumbled across Clare Burder’s blog post from earlier in the year… Mind The Gap: Women in Wine Media (you can read a version of it on Page 15).

Clare knows how I can help. In her article she called for wine media editors to step up and say… ‘yep, from now on 50% of content will be written by women’.

I’m up for the challenge she set.

I’ve got no idea how difficult or easy it will be, but I’ve set the target for 2017.

I’ll keep the statistics and keep everyone updated throughout the year. And if it works, it will become a permanent policy for the magazine.

We already try to get a gender balance with our ‘young gun’ profiles, but we have fallen just short of a 50/50 balance (from our past 16 ‘young gun’ profiles we had nine males/eight female – which adds up to 17, but one profile was done on the Unico Zelo duo of Laura and Brendan Carter).

I’m happy to commit to actually achieving the 50/50 target in this area as well.

But here’s the thing… I’m going to need a lot of help.

I need everybody who reads this to think about it… to think of the talented women they know who have interesting grape and wine projects on the go. I’m particularly looking for articles packed with practical information. And then I want to know about them, so please let me know – or let those involved know to get in touch with me.

Email: editor@grapeandwine.com.au Enjoy the read

Grapegrower & Winemaker

7

on the grapevine Gentleman’s Collection raises more than $61K for Movember AS PART OF the Gentleman’s Collection’s partnership with Movember, Treasury Wine Estates and the Liquor Marketing Group staff have collectively raised more than $61,000 for the foundation that raises awareness for men’s health issues.

The Gentleman’s Collection generated more than $40,000 through staff engagement, which placed the parent company at 10th place on the Movember team fundraising leaderboard.

The Liquor Marketing Group joined the Gentleman’s Collection in its

support through point-of-sale in store and by encouraging staff sign-ups, which generated almost $20,000 for the foundation.

“The commitment and enthusiasm we’ve seen from our ‘Mo Bros’ and ‘Mo Sistas’ in their fundraising efforts for Movember has been outstanding,” said Kate Adamson, Gentleman’s Collection marketing manager.

“We are delighted with the support that our staff and retail partners have fostered and the funds raised are a significant contribution to men’s health.

“We could not have anticipated such strong support and this is a great outcome in the first year of our partnership with Movember.”

Damien Page, Liquor Marketing Group general manager of merchandise and marketing said, “we’ve been impressed not only by the significant funds raised by the team, but also by the discussion that this campaign has generated”.

“To raise the awareness of Movember and to have men’s health part of the daily conversation has been an impressive step forward.”

Winestate Australian Winemaker of the Year SHAVAUGHN WELLS, Saltram winemaker, was recognised as the Australian Winemaker of the Year by Winestate Magazine at their annual awards held late in 2016. The honour is awarded to the winemaker who produces the largest number of high ranking wines over the course of the year.

Winestate evaluated over 10,000 wines from Australia and New Zealand, with judging panels of industry winemaker peers, Master of Wine individuals and industry experts, in order to come to their decision regarding Australia’s finest wine producer. Less than five per cent of wines entered reached the finalist stage this year.

Wells was humbled by the honour.

“It’s such great recognition that reflects upon Saltram’s amazing vineyards and the dedicated and passionate people I work with, many of whom often work behind the scenes,” she said.

“I believe that wine plays its place in telling the history of a time and region and the Barossa and Saltram have so much to offer on this front. It’s personally a thrill and this recognition will further inspire my passion and curiosity for making wines which express our region and challenge the future.”

Shavaughn Wells, Winestate ‘winemaker of the year’.

Wells has been at Saltram since 2005.

Her early affinity for wine spurred from the influences of growing up on a vineyard in Merbein, Victoria, and having a grandfather who was a winemaker and

Mildara Wines managing director.

Wells is the second female to take home the award after Fiona Donald, who received the award in 2001, representing Edwards and Chaffey.

Sustainable wine production grabs the LA limelight THE ‘SUSTAINABLE BECAUSE’ video from New Zealand Winegrowers has received three category nominations at this year’s Annual Taste Awards in Los Angeles.

“The short documentary created

by WINERAM Productions cleverly encapsulates the reasons why sustainability is important to so many New Zealand wine producers,”

8 Grapegrower & Winemaker

said Sarah Szegota, New Zealand Winegrowers communications manager.

“Not only are the category nominations testament to the skill of the team at WINERAM, but also to New Zealand’s winemakers and grape growers who are leading the charge in sustainable, organic and biodynamic wine production.”

‘Sustainable because’ has been

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nominated for ‘best reality series’, ‘best regional program’, and the ‘viewer’s choice award for best international program’.

Almost 95 per cent of New Zealand’s vineyard area is certified by Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand; unmatched by any voluntary scheme around the world.

January 2017 – Issue 636

One year milestone: China-Australia Free Trade Agreement DECEMBER 20 marked the one-year anniversary of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. In the 12 months since, Australian wine exporters have benefitted from tariff reductions and sales of Australian wine in China have surged.

For most wine, the rate has fallen from 14% to the current rate of 8.4% and dropped further to 5.6% from 1 January 2017. The agreement gives Australian winemakers a competitive advantage over European counterparts.

Since the free trade agreement was enacted, Australian wine exports to China have gown strongly and the China market is now Australia’s most valuable.

In the last 12 months, exports to mainland China have grown by more than 50% per cent to almost $500 million. Just 10 years ago, wine exports to China were valued at less than $30 million.

“The demand for our premium wines in China shows no sign of abating and

January 2017 – Issue 636

The demand for our premium wines in China shows no sign of abating. the next round of tariff cuts will give us a further advantage over our next biggest rivals in France,” said Tony Battaglene, Winemakers’ Federation of Australia chief executive.

“The Australian Governments’ continued emphasis on pursuing trade opportunities and reducing market access barriers is welcomed by the wine sector and the benefits of this will flow on to rural and regional Australia over the next decade.”

The agreement phases out existing tariff barriers across four years (down

from 14% for Australian bottled wine and 20% for bulk wine) and will put Australian wine exporters on par with Chile, whose wines became tariff free in China in 2015 year and New Zealand wines which have been tariff free since 2012.

The benefits of the China–Australia Free Trade Agreement, and the growing Chinese middle class’ increased interest in wine, have meant that more than a third of Australian wine exports priced $10 and more per litre FOB, are now destined for China (valued at almost $200 million and up over 60 per cent).

Andrew Robb, Federal Trade and Investment Minister, said the agreement with Australia’s biggest trading partner will continue to support “economic growth, job creation and higher living standards through increased goods and services trade, and investment. China, presents enormous opportunities for Australian businesses.”

MEANS

MEANS

MEANS

MEANS

VITICULTURE AND WINEMAKING

WINEMAKING

VITICULTURE AND WINEMAKING

WINEMAKING

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

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news

From the vineyards to the winery, the new frontiers of winemaking technology The most advanced winemaking technology is becoming increasingly seen in wineries wanting to produce not only quality wine but also wine with a strong identity. SIMEI, the most important international trade fair for winemaking and bottling machinery and equipment, will be an opportunity to discover this technology first-hand.

The constant search for quality in wine production implies knowing how to combine tradition with innovation.

Tradition lies in the preservation of the land, the protection of the vineyards and their enhancement so that the grapes remain a real expression of the territory of origin. All subsequent phases, precisely to keep the product’s identity intact, require constant innovation, both in the agronomic practices and in the work in the cellar, to reach the standards required by increasingly demanding markets.

The progress of recent years has placed technology even more at the centre of the production processes, thereby bringing economic and social benefits to the company and pursuing the goals of sustainability and environmental protection even more closely.

AWAITING SIMEI 2017 The SIMEI@drinktec Road Show: Enomaq: Saragozza, 14-17 February 2017 ProWein: Düsseldorf, 19-21 March 2017 Vinitaly: Verona, 9-12 April 2017 London Wine Fair: London, 22-24 May 2017 10 Grapegrower & Winemaker

The best results that technological innovation proposes for each individual phase of these processes is what SIMEI@drinktec, due to be held from 11 to 15 September 2017 in Munich, Germany at Messe München, will be offering its audience. The event will in fact be a unique opportunity to see production excellence and what is new in terms of machinery and equipment in the sector, from production to conditioning and storage, from bottling to packaging, not forgetting logistics and services.

This is the first in a series of articles, to be continued over the next few issues, in which we will be telling you about some of the most important innovative solutions that can be found at SIMEI@drinktec.

In the following lines, we will be speaking about the technologies for the first phase of the production process.

That is, from when the grapes, once harvested, are transported to the wineries to be turned into wine.

it possible to obtain wines of the best sensory qualities, with the right stability and durability. Hence, the grapes leave the vineyard in harvest carts made inert, powered directly by the grape harvesters and then the chain of protection must be maintained in the winery too. Lower temperatures, inertization and fast extraction of the colouring substances are the requirements of the first stages of production, met by cutting-edge solutions to be found at SIMEI@drinktec. The aim is to optimize, regulate and accelerate the diffusion processes from the berry to the must of all the substances of interest for the wine, from the colour to the aromas, avoiding detrimental effects on the final quality. So, this is where the various crushing and pressing systems come in. These are becoming increasingly effective but also respectful of the raw material, with machinery that can combine the refrigeration of the product and its protection from oxidation using inert gas (nitrogen or carbon dioxide) and at the same time leading to a From the field to the cellar positive bacteriostatic effect. Then, at the The processing of grapes that are as time of fermentation, fermentation vats intact as possible, at low temperatures of various materials and shapes come and in the shortest possible time makes into play, incorporating homogenizers, www.winetitles.com.au

January 2017 – Issue 636

heating-cooling elements, oxygenators, reassembly methods and selective extraction.

SUPPORTED BY

A great contribution to the development of these technologies has also come from the increasingly progressive stainless steel industry, which has designed, tested and put new products on the market for winemaking and the food industry in general. As you will see for yourselves at SIMEI@drinktec, tanks, surge tanks, pipes and pumps can be customised, both in terms of shape and size and functionality and integration of auxiliary or control processes, including on-line monitoring with the possibility of remote control.

Filtration and Adjuvants Once the wine has been made, the phases to make it suitable for the subsequent aging and bottling operations (operations we will be talking about in the next issues) begin. Here again, visiting SIMEI@drinktec, you will notice how today all clarification and filtration technologies are so effective, on a level unthinkable in the past, and they can be managed electronically by user-friendly software.

SUPPORTED BY

WORLD LEADER IN WINE TECHNOLOGY

27TH EDITION INTERNATIONAL ENOLOGICAL AND BOTTLING EQUIPMENT EXHIBITION

Old ways of separation of impurities in the wine have been totally renewed.

Cross flow filtration, that involves the passage of the wine over filtering ORGANIZED BY elements with a cross flow as opposed th th to a front flow, is becoming increasingly widespread. Filter membranes, capable of eliminating not only the coarser, solid SUPPORTED BY impurities but also yeast and bacteria, are www.simei.it also undergoing developments. In other www.drinktec.com/simei options, especially in the case of products with a high solids content, the traditional polymeric membranes of cross-flow filters are replaced by sintered stainless steel resistance to pressure, thermal shock and colloidal system and on the variables membranes, which guarantees high washing with strong detergents. Another that may disturb it and by identifying excellence is the possibility of managing specific adjuvants on ‘molecule targets’. both the filtration phases and the rinse Therefore, the issues of product ‘integrity’ USEFUL INFORMATION phases totally automatically with the are on the one hand optimising the storage of ‘recipes’ related to the type of use of the most effective traditional DATES product and automatic integrity tests. adjuvants and on the other identifying 11-15 September 2017 The excellent responses from the new ones, which are sustainable for the industry that you will see at SIMEI@drinktec environment and often obtained from the also involve oenological adjuvants. actual by-products of the wine-making PLACE Technology in this sense is dedicated industry, such as the marc, seeds and Munich, Germany – Messe München to improving the usability of adjuvants stalks. Once again to confirm how the Exhibition Centre to simplify and speed up the operations more technology advances, the more we of clarification and stabilisation. This return to a recovery of the authenticity PARTICIPATION is possible thanks to acquisitions on of the processes and the bond with the • exhibitors: complete the form and the elements that make up the wine territory. follow the instructions in the section SUPPORTED BY “2017 application form” on the official site www.simei.it/en or apply online on www.drinktec.com/simei • visitors: information in the section “Visitors” on the official site www.simei.it/en

11 -15 September 2017 Messe München - Germany

January 2017 – Issue 636

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

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movers & shakers New owner and winemaker at Hungerford Hill HUNGERFORD HILL WINES has a new owner after being purchased by Iris Capital, owned by Sam Arnaout. Arnaout and his family take over ownership of the successful winery, vineyard and brand from James Kirby, who acquired the brand in 2002.

The purchase of Hungerford Hill is the second significant wine-related investment in the Hunter Valley by Iris Capital, after the purchase of Sweetwater Estate in 2016.

The combination of Sweetwater Estate with its highly regarded mature vineyard of Shiraz, Cabernet and Semillon and the

award-winning Hungerford Hill winery and vineyard, is a considered strategic move to target the production of super premium estate wines from the Hunter Valley.

Also announced was the appointment of Bryan Currie as senior winemaker and general manager of Hungerford Hill and Sweetwater Estate.

“I’m extremely pleased to announce Bryan’s appointment. His award winning expertise, energy and passion will be a true asset to the winery taking it to the next level and we look forward to working closely with him. It’s an exciting

time for the brand,” Arnaout said.

Currie’s winemaking career has been based in New South Wales for the past 18 years. First, as Calabria Family Wines chief winemaker then, most recently, as McWilliam’s winemaking manager.

Currie became a winemaker after an early career change from being a palaeontologist.

“I am excited to move to the Hunter Valley and to work with Sam, his family and team to take Hungerford Hill and Sweetwater Estate to a new level of wine quality and brand recognition in Australia and the world,” Currie said.

Hongell switches between big Barossa brands PETER LEHMANN WINES has been searching for a new chief winemaker on the eve of vintage after Ian Hongell announced he was leaving the Casellaowned company in December to join another high profile Barossa winery.

“Ian’s knowledge of the Barossa, relationships with growers, exceptional winemaking skills and jovial presence will be sorely missed,” John Casella said.

“We thank him for his dedication and efforts over the years and wish him all the very best in his next endeavour.”

It is understood that Hongell will be joining Torbreck in the build up to the 2017 vintage, which will be the handover season from Craig Isbel, the current senior winemaker.

Hongell had a long connection with Peter Lehmann Wines, having joined the company in 1998.

Hongell grew up in Tanunda, within walking distance of the Peter Lehmann winery; and his father (John) worked alongside Peter Lehmann himself at Saltram in the 1970s.

Following his studies at Roseworthy College, he worked with Penfolds and also gained experience in California, France and Germany. Before joining Peter Lehmann Wines, Hongell headed up one of the largest operations in NSW as winemaker at The Cranswick Estate.

Ian Hongell has switched from Peter Lehmann Wines to Torbreck.

New general manager at Rockburn Wines REBECCA POYNTER will take over as General Manager of Rockburn Wines in mid-January, following the resignation of Paul Donaghy who, after six years with the winery, is leaving to pursue new projects.

Poynter has extensive wine industry experience in general management, sales, marketing, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and export market development for Australian and New Zealand wineries,

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and will return from over ten years in Australia to take up this position.

“I am excited to be returning to New Zealand to work for Rockburn, a Central Otago winery with an excellent reputation both in New Zealand and its export markets,” Poynter said.

“The winery has a very strong lineup of beautifully crafted wines, and the calibre of Rockburn’s Pinot Noir is regularly recognised with a multitude www.winetitles.com.au

of international awards over successive vintages.”

Over the past six years Poynter has been the Bimbadgen winery general manager, one of the Hunter Valley’s most prestigious winery tourism operations.

She moved to Bimbadgen from a Sydney-based role with Villa Maria Estate, as their market manager for Australia and Asia.

January 2017 – Issue 636

Michelle Geber takes over at Château Tanunda THE FAMILY-OWNED Château Tanunda, in the Barossa Valley, has appointed Michelle Geber as general manager.

Geber will take over from Matthew McCulloch, who has switched to another Barossa winery – taking up the role as Langmeil CEO. Michelle has a background in

marketing and operations. She was responsible for launching Chateau Tanunda’s brand internationally during a lengthy stint in the United States from 2009.

Michelle’s father John, who acquired Château Tanunda in 1998, has assumed the role of executive chairman and will dedicate his time to driving sales growth

in specific markets across the USA and Europe.

“After looking high and low in a long recruitment process we found that the best candidate was within our own organisation,” John said.

The winery has also appointed Matthew Fitzgerald as the global sales manager.

Kono’s Queensland partnership NEW ZEALAND’S KONO BEVERAGES has announced a distribution partnership in Australia with Bouchon Wines and Spirits. Bouchon will add eight Kono wines to its portfolio and exclusively promote the Tohu and Aronui brands in Queensland.

The Kono winery is located in the Awatere Valley in Marlborough where Bruce Taylor, the chief winemaker, sources premium fruit from across Marlborough and Nelson.

“The team at Bouchon Wines and Spirits is delighted to announce the

inclusion of Tohu and Aronui Wines into the portfolio,” said Rory Smith, Bouchon owner.

“We are very excited about these wines. They represent both great value and a ‘modern classic’ style of winemaking. With some unusual grape varieties like Grüner Veltliner and Albariño plus traditional varieties like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a pleasure to be working with New Zealand’s first Māori owned wine company.”

Adam Cording, Australian Market

Manager for Kono Beverages said: “We are very happy to have our Tohu and Aronui brands in such capable hands, with Bouchon helping us to tell the unique story of our Kaitiakitanga – guardianship and protection of the land.

Bouchon Wines and Spirits is a dynamic business. Being proudly Queensland owned and operated is a perfect fit for our business’ values. We look forward to working alongside Bouchon Wines and Spirits as we promote our award winning wines in the Queensland market.”

16 years at the Helm KEN HELM has stood down as chairman of the Canberra International Riesling Challenge after 16 years.

Helm, who was the founding chairman, has led and developed the Challenge since its inception and will remain on the board, ensuring that his extensive knowledge of the event and the wine industry is not lost.

“The Canberra International Riesling Challenge is now bigger than one person and is internationally recognised as a major promotion of Riesling and Canberra. I have made this difficult decision due to increasing demands from the Helm Wine business and family responsibilities which make it difficult to devote the time necessary to be the chairman,” Helm said.

“My time as chairman has been very satisfying and rewarding in many ways. It has allowed me to develop close relationships with many members of the diplomatic community in Canberra, wine organisations and friends in the Australian and International wine industries, who have been crucial in sourcing judges and bringing the entries to the Canberra International Riesling Challenge.”

James Service, a founding member of the Challenge, has been elected to replace Helm as chairman.

Service paid tribute to the outgoing chairman: “Ken Helm’s vision, passion January 2017 – Issue 636

Ken Helm and his daughter, Stephanie. (Photo: Id Photographics Irene Dowdy)

and commitment has seen the Challenge cement itself as an international event showcasing not only the Canberra district wines but also the whole city and region www.winetitles.com.au

and its collective capacity to create and maintain world class events which bring significant and lasting benefits.”

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REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Regional Roundup: South Australia Alpha Box and Dice fire SERVICE RETURNED TO NORMAL at the Alpha Box and Dice cellar door just a week after a fire damaged a detached storage building.

While the majority of the winery’s stock was not on the site, some premium and museum wines were destroyed. One of the big losses was the 2012 Hercules Shiraz, described by head winemaker Sam Berketa as “irreplaceable and rare”.

“We are so happy that no one got hurt.

I’ve been blown away by the support coming from the community, in the wine industry and outside of it. All the love

and support we have received has been amazing. A really nice feeling,” Berketa said.

The fire started on a Sunday when Berketa was doing his regular weekend stint in the cellar door, the visitors there had to be evacuated by Berketa and the team.

An office was destroyed in the blaze that appears to have been caused by an electrical fault. Initial mainstream media reports listed the damage bill at $400,000; however Lachlan Aird, Alpha Box and Dice brand manager, said it was

still too early to accurately estimate the total cost.

“We are not sure where that figure came from, but we haven’t got to that stage yet,” Aird said.

The blaze took half an hour to extinguish; with the CFS responding quickly – on the scene within 15 minutes.

“We are eternally grateful for everything they do,” Aird said.

The damaged building is still structurally sound and Alpha Box and Dice are now talking to engineers the rebuild process.

Valley, with Something For Kate, You Am I, Spiderbait, Jebediah and the Meanies hitting the stage.

The same day of the milestone also saw Rodriguez, Xavier Rudd, Russell Morris and Archie Roach play at a DOTG event at Bimbadgen, in the Hunter Valley.

Also in the Barossa on the same weekend, LTJ Bukem and Late Nite Tuff Guy played the Vineyard Party at Lindsay Wine Estate; and 1980s iconic pop group Culture Club stopped in at Seppeltsfield a few weeks later, as part of a national tour.

McLaren Vale also joined in with two big event live events: There were 5500 people at Serafino Wines to see The Hot Dub Time Machine, with Client Liaison and Bag Raiders; and Carl Cox and Eric Powell’s ‘Mobile Disco’ set up at S.C. Pannell with DE LA SOUL as the headline act. Daniel Michael, Hot Dub Wine Machine event director, said “vineyards are increasing popular venues... many have ample space allowing the talent as well as food and beverage to be showcased well”.

Music in the vines WHILE MAINSTREAM MUSIC FESTIVALS have struggled in recent years, wineries appear to have become a new home for curated concert events.

The long-running Day on the Green concert series, which began on Australia Day in 2001 at Morning Star Estate on the Mornington Peninsula, has become one of the country’s most successful outdoor concert events with total crowds approaching three million. In November the series celebrated its 400th show at Peter Lehmann Wines, in the Barossa

Doc Adams new cellar door JAY WEATHERILL, the South Australian Premier, was on hand for the official opening of the Doc Adams cellar door in McLaren Vale late in 2016.

“We are excited to now have a home in the heart of McLaren Vale where we can share and showcase our premium wines with local produce in a unique and engaging environment. It’s another step in our developing engagement with international and local customers. We would love to welcome you to our new home soon,” said Adam Jacobs, Doc Adams managing director.

The formalities on the day included the announcement of an export agreement which is set to provide growth for the company, and boost employment opportunities. The opening showcased the new cellar door’s architecturally designed building, sophisticated tasting facilities, outdoor alfresco setting and internationally renowned wines.

Dr Darren Waters (Doc), Adam Jacobs and Jay Weatherill.

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www.winetitles.com.au

January 2017 – Issue 636

my view Mind the gap: Women in wine media Last year, a ground-breaking survey of women in the wine industry highlighted some truly dismal stats around the big issues of pay gaps, sexism, maternity leave and advancement. Participation wise, women are a minority in viticulture and winemaking (~10% according to Wine Australia) and there are no reliable statistics for other areas like research, marketing or tourism. Clare Burder took a look at the wine media output to draw attention to gender issues in wine. Her quick analysis of five Australian wine magazines showed, on average, about a quarter of the content was written by women.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Wine media is the way our industry talks to the people and businesses within it, its consumers and its future employees, leaders, innovators and contributors.

For our industry to maintain and/or improve competitiveness, communications should logically reflect to a greater extent the diversity of our society.

THE COMMON ARGUMENTS Without reliable data we have to assume that there are fewer female journalists and less female wine and viticulture academics. At 28% there are certainly fewer female MW’s.

But they do exist and there is, I should think, sufficient numbers of female wine communicators to contribute content well above the averages noted in the magazines surveyed.

If you think this is about talent then you need to think harder. This is an argument which proposes that men get the jobs because they’re smarter; that their merit elevates them in a meritocracy.

What is a meritocracy?

A brilliant concept that helpfully lets us believe that the people doing the work currently are unmatched in their ability, even though measuring ability is a bit tricky. It also assumes that the person hiring subordinates have no bias (in hiring people who are like them) and that they have no interest in maintaining the status quo. It is worth mentioning that meritocracies exist in female dominated industries too.

Quotas aim to balance gender splits in unbalanced environments – obviously this is controversial: If an editor (in this case) implements a quota framework it is seen to discriminate against men. By this logic, it’s unacceptable for a man to lose a job because of a quota, but it’s somehow acceptable for a woman to be subjected to invisible discriminations – or never get the job in the first place.

I’m not saying quotas are a perfect solution – but whatever is holding the numbers down I don’t think it’s the lack of talent. I suspect it is complicated but January 2017 – Issue 636

Clare Burder

until more research identifies the factors, I’m limited to speculation.

So – speculation aside for the minute, why should our media industry aspire to equality?

LEADING BY EXAMPLE Editors and publishers answer to their readership and the wider industry. The industry needs to demand more equal representation and the editors need to implement it. It’s 2016. Set an example.

Make it policy. Choose it. Just because it’s unregulated and historically ‘normal’ doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do better.

Women are equally capable of doing the work, so it follows that they should be doing an equal amount of that work.

DIVERSE CONTENT And surely, there’s something in the idea that a diverse group of writers and contributors (not just more women of course, but ethnic diversity too) will make for a better magazine? Better magazines make more money and from what I’m hearing, everyone needs more money. It appears to me these magazines are beating their drums harder and harder, without considering they could add another one.

WOMEN IN WINE IN GENERAL I’m talking about media specifically but it’s just one aspect of an industry wide imbalance. In context, what do we www.winetitles.com.au

have to offer the next generation, not to mention the current one?

Imagine you’re called upon to give a talk to a group of girls about the wine industry – to promote it and provide some insights on what makes wine or viticulture a solid career option. What would you say? ‘’Our industry is full of passionate winemakers – mostly men, passionate viticulturists – mostly men, passionate wine communicators – mostly men too.

But they’re so passionate! And often very nice! You’ll work harder to be seen to do the same amount as your male colleagues, it’ll be harder to advance, you’ll probably experience various forms of everyday sexism, you’ll get paid roughly 20% less than your male colleagues*. And, then if you move into a life phase involving having children, you’ll struggle to keep your job, even though it’s technically illegal to move you out of it.’

If that was 18 year old me sitting there, I would not want to fight that fight. [* This calculator puts the difference at 22%; all other claims supported by anecdotal evidence & the WIW stats here] To the people who are sitting back in their chairs thinking ‘god this women is a whiner’ I ask you one question: What would you say if one of those girls was your daughter/sister/friend?

How do you justify workplace inequality in 2017? The lack of mentors?

The disconnect between a young woman’s effort and the opportunity for career advancement?

Unfortunately to bring attention to this situation does require some solid bitching. If you can explain to me how keeping women at a low percentage of the workforce will keep our industry pushing ahead, I’d love to hear it.

It makes me wonder, if the editors all just said ‘yep, from now on 50% of content will be written by women’ what would happen? Not much outwardly.

But, it would create an invisible yet fundamental change which gives women in our industry something to get excited about, rather than fight for.

I, for one would welcome the change.

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news

Vintage predictions A WET winter and a cool spring has Australia well placed for another strong wine vintage, with the conditions set to push vintage back later compared to recent years.

Grapegrowers across Australia say the wet winter and spring has given vines a good base for a strong growing season.

The 2016 national crush in Australia was split fairly evenly between red and white varieties and was up by six per cent to an estimated 1.8 million tonnes.

According to the Orgainsation of Vine and Wine, Australia was the world’s fifth largest wine-producing nation in 2016 behind Italy, France, Spain and the United States.

About two months from the 2017 vintage, growers are predicting another strong harvest in terms of quality and quality.

Nationally, this year was Australia’s second-wettest winter on record, with rainfall 82 per cent above average for the season.

Colin Bell, WA-based viticulturist and Australian Vignerons board member, said

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factors such as the wet winter coupled with a slow start to summer meant most regions were fairly consistent across all wine producing states.

Bell said the predicted later vintage would likely push grape picking back into autumn and away from the heat of summer, leading to potentially fresher and more aromatic flavours, particularly for white wines.

“With these earlier and compressed vintages we’ve been having, whites come in sometimes at a very hot time of year, so what we’re going to see across many regions this year is whites ripening a little bit later,” he said.

“I’m quite excited about the quality of whites that could come off in the late summer to autumn conditions – I’m hoping we’ll have a fresher, more acidic, aromatic profile than if we were to go through the last stages of ripening in 30-plus degree weather.”

While most of the nation had enjoyed a good start to the growing season, some vignerons in the prolific Riverland and Sunraysia regions were wiped out by

www.winetitles.com.au

hail storms in November, which Bell said could reduce the national crush by up to 75,000 tonnes.

With a quick glance around the states, Bell summarised:

WESTERN AUSTRALIA “In WA we feel like we are a couple of weeks behind in Chardonnay – our most forward variety. The later bursting varieties are probably not that far behind because they missed that cold early spring weather. Picking is likely to run from mid-to late February through to April and we are hopeful of a good vintage again in 2017 with a slightly above average harvest.”

NEW SOUTH WALES “The growers in New South Wales are also feeling like they’re a little bit late.

The next four to six weeks in the Hunter Valley is really going to be make or break.

If it’s dry they will have a glorious year but if they get a lot of rain in January it gets more difficult. That’s a challenge they face in the Hunter every year.”

January 2017 – Issue 636

VICTORIAN AND TASMANIA “These regions have just finished or are still going through the flowering period. They are also feeling behind because of the cooler spring and are heading towards a March/April vintage.

The later harvest would be suitable for their styles, many of which will be used as a base for sparkling wine – you don’t want to be harvesting that in heat.”

WELCOME DELAY “I think we’re all just used to having a warmer spring arriving in Australia in recent years but it’s just taken a bit longer to get going after a wet winter,” Bell said.

“The next six weeks are critical for all of us but where it’s sitting now everyone’s quite comfortable.

“What most people don’t want is too much wet weather from now and we don’t want heat spikes or prolonged heatwaves.

“The only real risk of a later vintage is if autumn closes in early then you can have some complications on the back end.

Bell said the two things most Australian regions would welcome as a result of a later harvest was the opportunity to ripen white grapes in slightly cooler conditions and to have a less compressed vintage where grapes needed picking at the same time due to hot summer conditions.

“From the feedback I’ve got, everybody’s pretty jubilant about where they’re sitting right now. We’ve got through a wet spring and it has warmed up. Coming in to Christmas is when everyone sort of assesses where they are at and I think in general it’s looking pretty good.”

The average price paid for wine grapes also increased by 14 per cent to $526 a tonne in 2016 and reached the highest level since 2009.

Bell said this showed the demand

and supply for grapes had levelled out in recent years.

“Those sort of signs are really promising because they show there’s a better balance in the industry with demand to the point where growers can start to look at their operation and bargain a bit harder with their winery,” he said.

Barossa Valley vigneron Anthony Scholz supplies Shiraz grapes to 11 wineries in the region.

He said the Barossa had just gone through fruit set following a good flowering period.

“Things look pretty good, we’ve got good soil moisture from the wet, wet winter we had – we certainly haven’t seen a winter like that for a long time.

It’s been a cool spring and now we’re into summer the vines are growing quite rapidly,” he said.

“Last year was hot and dry and the aim of watering was to keep leaves on the vine whereas this year it’s a bit the opposite – the topsoil is starting to dry out to about 50cm but under that it’s still wet, wet, wet.

“We’ll probably start to pick about the 6th or 10th of March, which will be about three weeks later than last year and some of that will be crop load, it’s been a good year, and some of it will be just the cooler season.”

McLaren Vale Agronomist and Winemaker James Hook said his region was running about three weeks behind recent years, making it more akin to typical seasons in the 1990s, meaning most of the grapes will be picked in March.

“As soon as the weather got warm they grew very quickly so they probably did two month’s worth of growth in one month – it’s really accelerated growth because they had a belly full of water in winter and spring and it took a long time

From the feedback I’ve got, everybody’s pretty jubilant about where they’re sitting right now. We’ve got through a wet spring and it has warmed up. Coming in to Christmas is when everyone sort of assesses where they are at and I think in general it’s looking pretty good. for the weather to warm up,” he said.

“We’re looking at a larger vintage again like last year.

“If the summer doesn’t turn into a scorching heatwave I think it will be a very good year. At the moment the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting average conditions so if that happens over the next two or three months it will be good for quantity and quality, which both sides of the market like – the grape growers get good tonnage and the consumer likes it as well because they get good wine.

“People are fairly optimistic and from a weather point of view if we get average weather from here it will be a good year.”

Vintage feedback is always welcome, so if you have something you would like to share please send us an email: editor@grapeandwine.com.au

WANT MORE

WINE INDUSTRY NEWS? Get your daily fix with Subscribe at www.winetitles.com.au/dtn January 2017 – Issue 636

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news

A mix of old and new on the research agenda A COMBINATION of new technology and tried-and-true field work is helping winemakers and grapegrowers across the Greater NSW/ACT region address challenges and maximise opportunities.

On the technology front, the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI), with funding from Wine Australia, ran seven workshops during August and September to showcase innovations that can help improve vineyard operations.

Demonstrations included drones capturing imagery, monitoring nitrogen status and releasing predatory insects, and satellite tracking of irrigation and soil moisture via IrriSat technologies.

A case study highlighted how laser technology can assist with bird control.

There were also presentations on the development of new apps that will revolutionise disease modelling, yield estimation, berry flavour and aroma through image analysis.

Meanwhile, a number of research projects and trials have been completed or are ongoing across the region.

Several replicated trial sites recently were established to evaluate timing of leaf removal treatments at various phenological points throughout the growing season, along with hormone use to alter bunch morphology to combat weather-driven diseases such as Botrytis and non-Botrytis bunch rots.

It is hoped the project will lead to the use of new approaches to managing these diseases, which are known to cause significant loss of grape yield and wine quality.

“Last vintage, leaf removal of the bunch zone was effective in drying bunches out from surface wetness, and it also allowed for greater spray coverage of bunches later in the season,” said Darren Fahey, NSW DPI’s viticulture development officer.

“We are also looking at manipulating ripening with the use of hormones and anti-transpirants across several replicated trial sites given the compression of harvests due to a changing climate over the past few vintages.”

In Orange and Hunter Valley, trials in October demonstrated the use of different brassica and legume mid–row crops.

By promoting biologically active soils, growers should benefit from reduced requirements of inputs such as fertiliser and water.

Several different plant species also

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Darren Fahey, NSW DPI’s viticulture development officer.

We are also looking at manipulating ripening with the use of hormones and anti-transpirants across several replicated trial sites given the compression of harvests due to a changing climate over the past few vintages. will be evaluated in the mid-row area for better management of soil carbon levels.

In Wagga Wagga, a sector workshop in November provided an update on a project to evaluate and demonstrate new disease-resistant cultivars for warm irrigated regions, with presentations from key researchers from CSIRO, NSW DPI, Charles Sturt University and the University of Adelaide.

In the Riverina, NSW DPI is testing the use of various under-vine cover-crops on grapevine yield, wine quality and soil health. Data is currently being analysed from several seasons and will be collated in a set of recommendations for the wine sector. www.winetitles.com.au

A joint project between the University of NSW and Treasury Wine Estates has developed image-based tools to rapidly assess both flower number and berry number in the vineyard.

These tools are being tested this year in Orange and Clare Valley in various systems to accurately predict yield in vineyards.

Wine Australia also funds a number of research projects at the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre in Wagga Wagga, including a ‘berry ripening’ project and the development of a phonebased app for assessment of berry colour and volume.

January 2017 – Issue 636

National framework for a strong national voice

The Newsletter of Australian Vignerons

January 2017

Press on Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On!” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

- Calvin Coolidge.

I am sure that the 30th President of the United States would have had great need for persistence, and it is a characteristic evident in our incredible wine community. For many years, growers, winemakers and others have persisted at doing what they do well and doing what they love, against the odds. The stoic attitude and commitment of the growers in the Riverland and Sunraysia affected by the terrible hailstorms in November is further evidence of this character trait.

Right now, there is real cause for optimism. Currency exchange rates are improving, Free Trade Agreements are gaining traction, and there is renewed interest in Australian wine in traditional and emerging markets. Sales of higher value wines are improving.

Wine writers are talking up the new styles of Australian Chardonnay and are interested in the novel approaches being taken by Australian winemakers which are diversifying the offering.

Australian Vignerons (AV) has arisen in direct response to the changing needs of the Australian wine community. AV has evolved from a representative body for independent growers into a national body that supports the pursuits of growers and makers of wine.

At the time of writing, the membership of Australian Vignerons, includes each of

the South Australian regions represented on the Wine Grape Council of S.A, and the regions of Western Australia, via Wines of W.A. This constitutes approximately 53% of the national wine grape volume and 65% of its value.

The Council membership is a work in progress as members join, and it is possible that it will continue to evolve.

advocated for reforms which it believed would benefit the wine industry as a whole and we are satisfied that the outcome arrived at will achieve this.

I have travelled to each major wine producing state, many of the nation’s wine regions, and have been in constant phone and email contact with people on the ground to ensure that everyone understands the benefits of being represented by Australian Vignerons.

The key outcomes include:

Australian Vignerons has two core functions: 1. National advocacy; and 2. National leadership of biosecurity.

NATIONAL ADVOCACY

The recent announcement of the plans for the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) rebate by Minister Kelly O’Dwyer and Assistant Minster Ruston have been widely welcomed by the wine industry.

The process of consulting with industry and advocating to government has occupied an enormous amount of time and energy. Australian Vignerons

To fully appreciate the outcome of the WET reforms, these reforms must be compared with the measures that were announced in the May 2016 budget.

• The rebate cap will remain at $500,000 for an extra year, and will decrease from July 1, 2018; • The cap will reduce to a maximum of $350,000, not $290,000 as previously planned; • There is potential for businesses exceeding the $350,000 rebate cap to qualify for a cellar door grant up to a maximum of $100,000; • The rebate will only apply to packaged, branded wine; and • A producer must own at least 85% of the fruit throughout the winemaking process, from the crusher through to the final product; Next on the agenda for Australian Vignerons is to engage in the much broader agenda of tax and levy reform.

Level 1, Industry House, National Wine Centre Cnr Botanic and Hackney Roads, Adelaide, SA 5000 Telephone (08) 8133 4400 Fax (08)8133 4466 Email info@australianvignerons.com.au Website www.australinvignerons.com.au

Australian Vignerons News

Our observation of the recent industry consultations is that the relationships between regional, state and national bodies have strengthened and it was clearly demonstrated that there is a strong desire to work in the national interest. The open-minded approach of “leaving everything on the table”, having frank and open conversations about such issues, and making policy decisions based on pragmatism rather than emotion has served us well. We believe that the wine industry is well positioned for the next engagement.

Prices, contracts and the ‘code’ As this article is being prepared we were nearing December 15; the date intended under the formation of the Wine Industry Code of Conduct to be the latest date at which signatories under the Code communicate the intended prices for the coming vintage. It is disappointing to report that once again, it seems that this will be the earliest date at which many growers will learn the likely return from their crop. This is despite many growers dealing with major crop losses from hailstorms across some of the warm inland regions, and their need to have some accurate indications of returns to enable them to make difficult business decisions.

Australian Vignerons as a national industry body does not have a place in becoming involved in contractual arrangements between businesses, such as the contractual arrangement between wine companies and growers. Issues relating to fruit value and regional pricing are best dealt with at regional level, where there is greater understanding about the value of wine grapes and the respective balance between supply and demand on a regional basis. The lack of accurate market signals between retailers, makers and growers of wine is one of the biggest obstacles to industry readjustment, and is therefore an issue of national interest. Recent engagement with the ACCC Agriculture Consultative Committee confirmed that there is some room for improvement in commercial arrangements across primary industry.

It is disappointing therefore, that we face another year where many winegrowers do not accurately know their likely return until mid December immediately before vintage. For many, it will be Andrew Weeks Australian Vignerons chief executive officer

2

even later, possibly at harvest time. As members of the wine community we must ask ourselves the question: “is this the best we can be?” Without some form of confidence underpinning the investment in their businesses to reflect the agricultural risk, there will be a lack of confidence in this whole industry.

Most vineyards start the annual production cycle in June or July, with pruning. Many growers will have spent between two thirds and three quarters of their annual expenditure before December 15 each year. For most, December 15 is too late to change vital production decisions in response to this information. As such, by this time they are effectively “all in”; where they are committed to producing and delivering the existing crop. We are hearing reports from growers that the prices offered for contracted fruit are lower than prices offered on the spot or annual market. It will be disappointing if that situation does eventuate, where growers committed to long-term supply and who are contractually bound may be at a disadvantage.

Thankfully, there are some buyers of wine grapes who are committed to regular and transparent communication with the growers of that fruit, and are committed to paying a fair price that reflects the inherent value of the resulting wine. Unfortunately it seems many in this industry still have a commercial arrangement that is adversarial rather than collaborative; where the price paid for fruit is as low as possible from the buyer’s perspective. This exists in commercial dealings between retailers, distributors, winemakers and growers.

Typically one party is attempting to make a return at the expense of another, rather than two parties working as business partners, to boost the overall return.

Is this really the best we can be as an industry?

Biosecurity focus Australian Vignerons may appear to be the graceful swan upon the lake but I can assure you that in recent weeks there has been a flurry of activity below the surface. Australian Vignerons is the signatory to the Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed (EPPRD). This means that for every biosecurity incursion that has the potential to affect grapevines across Australia, Australian Vignerons provides

advice on appropriate quarantine, control and eradication measures. These requests are frequent and in the past six weeks we have responded to two biosecurity incursions with the potential to impact wine-grapes.

The maintenance of national biosecurity activities is critical to the success and sustainability of the Australian wine industry. Australian Vignerons is committed to collaborating effectively with key partners to ensure that national biosecurity activities are coordinated across national, state and regional jurisdictions, between industry and government organisations and that strong relationships exist with technical experts and service providers such as diagnosticians.

Another core biosecurity function of Australian Vignerons is the facilitation of the National Viticulture Biosecurity Committee (NVBC). The NVBC provides a forum for industry and government to come together to discuss national biosecurity issues, to identify opportunities for collaboration and to identify potential sources of funding to resource biosecurity projects. The structure and function of the NVBC is currently being reviewed to ensure that it functions efficiently and effectively.

Even with all of this in place, there is no substitute for the support provided by the wine community itself. Everyone who enters and leaves our vineyards, cellar doors and wineries needs to understand the biosecurity risks to the wine industry. The importance of prevention, identification, vigilance, and reporting protocols must be instilled in the people on the ground. If we are effective in achieving this, we will have more than six thousand active biosecurity surveillance personnel on the job. Over the next 1224 months, Australian Vignerons will be working towards increased engagement in biosecurity issues by growers and makers of wine.

Australian Vignerons has committed to delivering these core activities on behalf of Australia’s growers and makers of wine because of a passion and a belief in the future of the Australian wine industry. These are vital tasks, and we are committed to completing them on behalf of all in the wine community. We will be persistent. We can only be persistent, however, as long as we are supported.

Australian Vignerons News

Reports from the inaugural AGM of Australian Vignerons, November 23: Chair’s Report Thank you for attending our first AGM as Australian Vignerons.

It has been a busy year and rest assured it is more than just a change of name.

I am always up for a challenge. This year has certainly tested that.

I came into this position as Independent Chair solely on the back of my experience in good corporate governance practice and my legal knowledge. This was a strategic decision made by the then WGGA Committee at the time to appoint someone with expertise in Governance and not from within the Industry.

As an outsider to begin with, I give some comments on my first impressions of this great Industry.

I often recall my first board meeting of WGGA where I was an observer. We have certainly come a long way since then.

There is no substitution for proper and good governance.

Without proper governance, lines are blurred, bad behaviour seems excusable and ultimately an unhealthy culture permeates and rots to the core of the business, its purpose and its people.

It is vital that for us who believe in proper governance, good business practice and a respectful workplace stand up against such culture. There is a cohort of people within this industry that take pleasure in undermining and in other people’s failures even if it is to the detriment of the wine community; seemingly doing so to justify their own poor behaviour. Thankfully this cohort is very small; yet they try to throw their weight around. It is up to the rest of us to stand up for what is right.

In my year, I have met industry legends and icons who are out there doing great things for the wine community. Their wisdom and experience is invaluable, volunteering their advice and encouraging the younger generation like me to give it a go and do what is right for Australian Wine. I take my lead from them.

My introduction to WGGA was eventful. The Executive Director was retiring within weeks with no succession plan for his place, an industry - led forum which quite frankly was costly, lacked leadership and more devastatingly, no money and the threat of further funds being pulled as the body was not meeting targets for its members. We had a year to pull a new truly national

industry body that was accountable or close up shop.

Australian Vignerons is the opportunity to have a truly national body for the wine industry. It is the opportunity for winemakers to work collaboratively and in a positive way with wine growers.

Many growers also make wine and vice versa. There is no future in promulgating an ‘us and them’ environment. It is the opportunity to take the lead on national biosecurity issues in a professional and accountable way. It is the opportunity to truly advocate for what is in the national interest of our wine community. This has already been demonstrated with Andrew’s hard work and engagement with the WET rebate recently.

I won’t repeat what was in his report but it speaks for itself.

Actions speak louder than words.

I urge the entire industry to get behind Australian Vignerons.

This is your opportunity. This can be your future. I can tell you all that if this opportunity for a truly national body that is focused only on national issues, is accountable and professionally run with a Council of Members and an independent board is not taken up; then I worry for the future of the Australian Wine industry and its values.

I want to thank the board and Heather Webster who has recently retired for the tireless hours put in to create Australian Vignerons, its concept, strategy and structure. Many of the board members travelled extensively and all volunteered their time gratis because they believe in the changes that needed to occur for a viable and accountable national industry voice.

I want to also thank Andrew who has gone above and beyond his duties as CEO and travelled countless hours over the past year to give Australian Vignerons its best chance. I want to also thank his wife Lara who I have no doubt has been Andrew’s greatest support and has put up with a part time husband and father. Lastly I want to acknowledge and thank Nikki for all her time and support in helping Andrew as he has said to me on more than one occasion that he wouldn’t know what to do without her.

Thank you and I urge everyone to support Australian Vignerons so that we are here again next year successfully reporting against our strategic objectives.

Joanna Andrew Australian Vignerons, Independent Chair

CEO’s Report In reporting on the past year of WGGA and now Australian Vignerons, nothing is as important or relevant as the work done to restructure and refocus the national organisation. From the time of starting my tenure in January this year until now, that has occupied the number one priority of focus, as without the national body being sustainable, there is no future, and everything else is irrelevant.

It has been made very clear through meetings, written and electronic publication in our “Australian Winegrower” article in the highly-valued Grapegrower & Winemaker magazine and the regular e-alerts that continuing on with WGGA in its previous form was not sustainable. The national body that at that time only represented independent growers was on track to exhaust its financial reserve; and in a climate of reducing income it

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Australian Vignerons News

would have been facing wind-up proceedings as we speak, if not earlier. This is an unavoidable fact. WGGA could not have continued on in its previous form.

The WGGA Executive Committee, led by Joanna Andrew as the new Independent Chair, undertook an honest self-assessment and embarked on setting a new strategic direction for WGGA. This included improving governance procedures, cutting expenditure, and trying to make the national body relevant and valuable to all those who grow and make wine. This resulted in the formation of Australian Vignerons after a strategy meeting in late April. These reforms were not unanimously supported, with the Riverina Winegrapes Marketing Board choosing to resign from WGGA on the 12th February, before the strategic reform commenced. Murray Valley Winegrowers supported the strategic reforms, but later chose to resign on May 5th of this year.

The new focus of Australian Vignerons was set on national issues, particularly around grower advocacy, biosecurity, R&D priorities and increasing involvement in the market access space. The next major step was to invoke the changes while building membership support.

The consultation behind this reform involved endless phone calls, emails, articles in the Grapegrower & Winemaker, e-alerts, travel to Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, Perth, Limestone Coast, McLaren Vale, the Barossa Valley, Riverland, Margaret River, and Murray Valley. I was invited to travel with Assistant Minister Anne Ruston on the tax consultation sessions, and did so.

The input from the staff and boards of regional and state wine industry associations was used to shape the strategy behind the formation of Australian Vignerons.

Despite this ongoing consultation and articulating the clear need for change, garnering uptake for the industry has been extremely difficult, with only the South Australian regions, including Riverland, Langhorne Creek, the Barossa Valley, Padthaway, Coonawarra, Clare, McLaren Vale, The Adelaide Hills, Wrattonbully and Western Australia providing the leadership to drive Australian Vignerons forward. This represents 53% of the national wine grape volume and 65% of value. While it would be ideal for all eligible producers to become members and to support Australian Vignerons, this is the list of members despite the level of consultation and engagement, rather than because of it. The unanimous vote of support at the special general meeting in September has not yet translated to national financial support. Discussions are continuing with all eligible member organisations, and it is likely that the membership will expand after the AGM. The low uptake of members and the short time since the special general meeting means that selection of an independent board has not been possible at this time. The plan is to continue the interim board until the Council of members can call for expressions of interest and attract suitable board members, and continue the reform process. The period from now to the end of the current financial year will effectively be a testing ground for the new organisation, and by June 30 2017 a decision will need to be made about the viability of Australian Vignerons.

All the while this process has been going on, the need to commit to the national priorities does not disappear. Australian Andrew Weeks Australian Vignerons chief executive officer

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Vignerons, has been represented at national biosecurity meetings, either by me personally or through the Biosecurity Officer. That position is now filled by Mardi Longbottom, and before her Kerry DeGaris. Both have done a wonderful job, and have brought a level of commitment and professionalism to the task. There are some impending developments unfolding with biosecurity, which are aimed at seeking efficiencies through collaboration and better efficiency of operation, all of which are intended to reduce costs and deliver better outcomes for members.

Another area of significant commitment through the year has been tax policy. In this instance, Australian Vignerons consulted its member base, and joined the Winemakers’ Federation in a positive way to pursue a common industry interest. This was a great example of how collaborating can yield dividends.

This has been a difficult process for Australian Vignerons, as finding a ‘one size fits all’ policy position across such a large and diverse wine community is nearly impossible, and it is inevitable that some will not be happy with the position that has been taken. The process was worthwhile, and the very act of collaborating with wine industry bodies from different regions across the nation, and the increasing knowledge and awareness of the issues facing those different regions was valuable. We await and hope for a positive outcome in regard to tax. This experience has also strengthened an already solid relationship with the office of Assistant Minister Ruston.

It must also be noted that in recent times there is an increasing willingness at the Winemakers’ Federation to work collaboratively with Australian Vignerons; yet acknowledgement that the two bodies are separate, and can speak with different voices when the need arises. I thank Tony Battaglene, the CEO of Winemakers’ Federation for his inclusive approach and commitment to improvement across the whole wine community, as this will lead to improvement for growers and makers of wine alike.

Change is often difficult, and many people resist and dislike change. At the start of this report I made I made it clear that for WGGA at the time the choice was to either change or perish. The Chair, the Board of Australian Vignerons, and I are not campaigning for change. It was recognised that the status quo was not sustainable, and following a substantial amount of work, much of it voluntary, this reform offers a future. This is a considered offer by a Board that represents the nation’s winegrowers and winemakers; acting in the interests of those winegrowers, and the national wine community. It is the prerogative of industry associations as to whether they accept this offer or not, and that decision carries with it consequences.

Finally, I would like to recognise and thank the interim Board of Australian Vignerons, for its commitment to its members, their support and embracing the challenge and responsibility that goes with it. I must also thank Independent Chair Joanna Andrew for her strategic mindset, her knowledge of governance and commitment to taking on such a role. Finally, and in particular I must thank and commend Nikki Zorzi for her commitment, application and for the standard of her work being the go-to person and the voice and face of Australian Vignerons, and before that WGGA.

grapegrowing

Hand-harvested Chardonnay grapes from Tasmania’s Jansz vineyards.

Popping the cork on sparkling wine research LATE IN 2016 Tasmanian wine producers had the opportunity to sample sparkling wines produced as part of a Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) research project looking at the impact of vineyard treatments on sparkling wine characteristics.

At the Effervescence Technical Day held at the Tamar Ridge Cellar Door Fiona Kerslake, TIA research fellow popped the cork on 18 sparkling wines produced as part of a 2010 research project.

“The tasting represents almost six years of research which commenced with Tasmanian vineyard trials looking at the impact that isolated viticulture practices such as leaf removal, crop load and pruning techniques have on the characteristics of sparkling wine produced in the state,” Kerslake said.

“Tasmanian wine producers now have the opportunity to taste the sparkling wine produced during this project and will seek to identify and provide tasting notes on the characteristics resulting from different viticulture practices.”

Kerslake said most wine producers apply a variety of vineyard treatments during the year which makes it difficult to pinpoint which treatment contributed to a particular characteristic in the sparkling wine.

“By looking at the different treatments in isolation it is hoped that our findings will help wine producers manage their vines to produce the fruit needed to create a particular style of sparkling January 2017 – Issue 636

wine,” Kerslake said.

“The next phase of this project is to investigate technologies to shorten the process of ageing premium sparkling wines whilst maintaining or improving the quality. This aim is to provide an efficiency increase for wine producers by enabling them to get product on the shelves in a shorter period of time while improving quality.”

This project was supported by a paper written by lead author Joanna Jones, together with her TIA perennial horticulture colleagues Fiona Kerslake, Dugald Close and Robert Dambergs, which reviewed the scientific literature in the area of viticultural management for sparkling wine production. The key findings from this paper – on variety, planting density, pruning method, local climate and soils, in the context of achieving a desired harvest quality – are outlined here:

FRUIT QUALITY GOALS FOR SPARKLING WINE Fruit destined for sparkling wine production is generally harvested at a relatively low pH, higher titratable acidity, and lower soluble sugars than fruit for table wine. In Champagne, harvest date is decided for each region by the National Institute of Appellation of Origin (INAO), which tracks maturity by sampling every three to four days.

The desired maturity at the beginning of harvest is fruit that will produce 9% www.winetitles.com.au

alcohol (v/v), and contain 12 g/L tartaric acid for acidity and pH 2.9; however, these figures vary from year to year (Coppolani 1994). The targeted parameters are remarkably similar among regions that produce sparkling wine, including those specified in France, California, and Australia.

Fruit quality parameters for sparkling wine production can help growers to establish dedicated blocks and use specific management techniques in order to produce superior fruit for production of sparkling wines. Such considerations include grape variety, vine density and pruning, canopy management, climate and soil, and yield.

GRAPE VARIETY Grape variety has been described as one of the three major factors influencing the character of bottle-fermented sparkling wines, together with vineyard location and yeast autolysis (de La PresaOwens et al. 1998). Different sparkling wine producing regions use different grape varieties to produce their desired styles of sparkling wine. In Champagne, the permitted varieties are restricted to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and the rarely used Petit Meslier and Arbanne (Coppolani 1994).

Chenin Blanc is grown in the Loire Valley of France for sparkling wine production, in particular for its naturally high acidity retention, and also in the Limoux region of France together with Grapegrower & Winemaker

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grapegrowing the more traditional variety of Mauzac (Robinson 2006).

Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Blanc are varieties most commonly used for sparkling wine production in California (Zoecklein 2002, de la Presa-Owens et al. 1998), while Chardonnay and Pinot noir are predominantly used in cool-climate regions such as New Zealand (Hancock 1994) and Australia, with the occasional use of Pinot Meunier and Pinot Blanc.

VINEYARD MANAGEMENT Both vine density and pruning system have been tightly legislated and controlled in Champagne by the INAO since 1938 (Coppolani 1994). The sum of the distance between rows and vines must be less than 2.5 m, which results in a high-density planting in the order of 8000 vines per hectare.

Hancock (1994) states that planting distances and row orientation, trellis training, and pruning are all important considerations for quality sparkling wine production, in that they control fruit exposure and vigour which impact on fruit flavours and acid balance. However, no such standard practice for planting density occurs for sparkling production in New World countries such as Australia.

The permitted pruning systems in Champagne are Chablis, Royat, Guyot, and Vallée de la Marne; however, only the Chablis and Royat systems are permitted for Champagne Grands Crus (Coppolani 1994). New World sparkling wine vineyards commonly use vertical shootpositioning (VSP) for ease of management or a Scott Henry trellis, which has the advantage of being adaptable for either cane- or spur-pruning.

With a rise in the use of mechanical pruning, trials comparing the fruit and wine quality from spur- and cane-pruned vines are becoming more common; however, to date studies have focused on table wine rather than sparkling wine.

Canopy management in the form of different trellising options can be used to manipulate key berry attributes at harvest.

A common method to increase light incidence on berries is to remove leaves, predominantly in the fruiting zone.

Removal of different quantities of leaves as they appeared on Pinot Noir vines resulted in slower initial berry growth and a delay in veraison in one study (Petrie et al. 2000). Shade, whether natural or artificial, typically reduces sugar levels and usually increases acidity on any one date, a response normally interpreted as delayed maturity (Reynolds et al. 1985). For this reason, it is possible that a degree of shading

24 Grapegrower & Winemaker

may be beneficial for sparkling wine production.

In order to achieve the highest quality sparkling wine, traditional ‘late (preveraison) leaf removal should be avoided, as it usually permanently overexposes clusters and leads to an undesirable decrease in malic acid. ‘Early’ (i.e., flowering) leaf removal does not seem to lead to overexposure, since the season is long enough to cast some shade on the clusters, while Poni et al. (2005) found that an early leaf removal promotes tartaric acid. The decision about early season leaf removal needs to consider the cost involved and the potential improvement in the resulting wine quality.

The composition of juice will also be affected by harvesting method, which in Champagne is limited to hand harvesting only (Coppolani 1994). Machine harvesting of fruit has been reported to damage berries, which can result in juice oxidation (Hancock 1994). The time and extent of skin contact of machineharvested fruit will also impact fruit and juice quality; however, this observation is anecdotal.

CLIMATE AND SOIL FACTORS As noted earlier, vineyard location has been described as one of the key factors influencing the character of bottlefermented sparkling wines (de La PresaOwens et al. 1998). Climate has been attributed as the most important factor affecting quality in Champagne (Thibaut and Parsiot 1994). In managing vines for sparkling production, the effects of local climatic patterns, both seasonal and diurnal, on basic juice composition should be considered.

A general guideline is the warmer the sparkling wine producing region, the earlier the grapes need to be harvested to ensure low pH and high acidity levels, as sparkling wines with higher pH and lower acidity levels tend to develop more quickly and are more likely to display more overt fruit flavours and less complexity (Zoecklein 2002).

Coelho et al. (2009) compared sparkling wines made from grapes produced in three types of soil and concluded that soil type impacted on wine quality. The claycalcareous and clay soils that had good water-holding and drainage capacity produced wines richer in volatiles than wines produced from fruit grown on sandy soils. Based on a New Zealand study, the authors suggest that physical characteristics of different soil types should be considered relevant at least because of their apparent effect on soil temperature and soil moisture content, which in turn impact vine growth and resulting wine quality (Tesic et al. 2002). www.winetitles.com.au

YIELD Yields in Champagne are prescribed and a similar regulation exists in Spain for the production of cava (Pozo-Bayon et al. 2004). There is a lack of research specifically with sparkling wines to support the notion that lower yields lead to higher quality, and it is quite possible that if the crop level is too low, the fruit may become overripe, especially in warm seasons.

In some regions the decision to limit yield may not be related to fruit quality, but rather to limit wine production and retain higher prices. In other coolclimate sparkling wine production regions, such as New Zealand, crop level is managed in order to improve fruit flavour intensity (Hancock 1994) by manipulating vine balance. In Australia, while evidence is based on commercial experience, higher yields (for example up to 16 tonnes/ha using a VSP system on a fertile site) are more accepted for sparkling wine production than for table wine production; however, these yields are not regulated and price is set using quality perceived by winemakers. The ideal cropping level may be dependent on the desired style of sparkling wine, with some producers preferring high-acid, less fruit-driven styles.

Winter pruning is the first opportunity to manipulate yield. A primary aim when choosing bud number per vine is to achieve balance between vegetative and fruit growth while simultaneously providing appropriate fruit composition for winemaking (Jackson and Lombard 1993, Tassie and Freeman 2004).

In Champagne, vines are not pruned too early in the attempt to avoid early budburst and possible spring frost damage (Coppolani 1994). The link between later pruning and later budburst is supported on a study in which delaying pruning by six weeks delayed budburst, and maturity by approximately five days (Martin and Dunn 2000). Thus, pruning time may be an important factor to consider in planning vineyard operations for sparkling wine production.

The $1.4 million research project has been funded by Wine Australia and received in-kind support from TIA, Hill-Smith Family Vineyards (Jansz/ Dalrymple/Yalumba), University of Adelaide, Apogee Tasmania and Josef Chromy.

The original 2010 project, Improving Australian sparkling wine and Pinot Noir, was funded by AusIndustry in collaboration with Wine Tasmania and a consortium of wine companies.

January 2017 – Issue 636

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grapegrowing

After the hail hits: Best-practice recovery Those affected by a storm that hit the Riverland and Sunraysia on Remembrance Day are benefitting from the insights from those impacted by a similar event two years earlier. Daniel Whyntie reports.

YOUNG VINES In young grapevines, hail can cause significant wounding on the shoot that is to become the future trunk of the vine.

If the shoots extending up to the trellis wire are badly scarred, cutting it back and retraining a new shoot should be considered.

The scarring on a shoot that will eventually become the trunk can both interfere with sap flow and may also provide sites for the entry of trunk diseases in the future. If the damage is not extensive, the vine will often recover quickly.

the vines grow a new canopy to support a viable crop for next season. The shoots will need to grow from secondary buds on surviving shoots or from previously dormant primary buds that did not burst. Patches that have been less severely damaged will still need to grow new shoots to provide a full canopy by the end of this season.

Pruning of the sites in the MVW trial’s at dormancy found that there was a greater number of lignified canes to choose from compared to other sites that had been left. The basal buds that re-shot provided evidence that they did not lignify fully leading to die back in the blocks not pruned.

NUTRITION AND IRRIGATION IN NOVEMBER 2014, a severe storm tore through the Sunraysia district, with Gol Gol in New South Wales one of the hardest places hit – hail stripped vines bare and extreme winds pushed entire rows flat to the ground.

Those affected reached out for guidance, but found little was known about the best way forward after such a devastating late season event. Most literature centred on early season damage well before flowering (in fact, a recent research paper from Murray Valley Winegrowers and the AWRI only referenced two previous sources of information; one of those from the pages of the Grapegrower & Winemaker in 1986).

Two years later and another storm hit growers on Remembrance Day storm. This time around there was more advice addresses some of the immediate issues of concern for growers following storm and hail events. The joint efforts of Murray Valley Winegrowers, NSW Local Land Services, CCW Co-operative Limited (informal hail advisory paper) as well as growers from the affected areas –has helped provide information and advice for those recently affected.

Gol Gol Grower Alf Sapuppo has been one grower at the centre of all the information. Unfortunately he was one of the hardest hit in November 2014, but he has been busy since documenting his recovery efforts and his work is helping to deliver the best-possible advice to those affected in 2016.

HAIL DAMAGE ASSESSMENT AND PRUNING There are potential benefits to growers who get busy straight away after hail damage.

“I needed to do something to keep me occupied,” admitted Sapuppo.

However, he was also keen to make sure he was being proactive to ensure his vineyards would return to production “as soon as possible”.

It is important to inspect damaged vines as soon as possible after a hail event has occurred, as the level of damage may be obscured by any new growth. Growers with hail damage insurance should contact their insurer as soon as possible.

Although the hail damage can appear to be extreme, vines have the ability to recover by reshooting from other buds on the vine. The degree of recovery depends on the severity of damage on each individual vine.

In the recent storm some vineyards sustained 100% crop loss, with only broken and largely leafless shoots remaining.

In these extreme situations, all efforts will be to ensure that

26 Grapegrower & Winemaker

At this stage there are still conflicting views on this topic.

“If this happened again I would do the same thing and prune with more frequent watering and increase fertiliser to push the vines into growing stronger canes,” Sapuppo said.

The MVW trials showed a regime of daily watering and weekly fertilising to generate new shoots provided canes that were of thicker diameter and lignified late in the season. This lignification helped with greater cane selection for the coming season. Growers that did not prune and who had scaled back their irrigation, found that their vines did not have the quality of canes going into the coming season.

The trial advice is growers should look to continue irrigating vines and fertilise to initiate new growth. Growers should aim to regrow and retain a healthy canopy for driving good carbohydrate storages for the following season.

Every variety was different in responding after the damage.

They would also look to install water monitoring devices to help in establishing a water regime The CCW Co-operative however, suggested the temptation to increase the application of fertiliser to “kick-start” vine growth after the damage should be avoided.

The CCW advice: The nutrient demand will decrease in proportion to the loss of canopy. At this time of year (flowering-fruit set), vines would have already been adequately supplied with essential nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and zinc. Growers should aim to regrow and retain a healthy canopy for driving good carbohydrate storages for the following season.

Similar to nutrition, application of extra irrigation water is to be avoided. The water use of the vine will be reduced in proportion the loss of canopy. For example, if 50% of the canopy has been lost, the irrigation requirements will be reduced by 50%. The aim will be to apply water only sufficient to ensure adequate moisture for the needs of the remaining canopy.

As new growth occurs, the water requirements of vines will increase.

DISEASE MANAGEMENT A disease management strategy to protect against botrytis, powdery mildew and Eutypa trunk diseases should be initiated.

The hail impact and wind caused leaf tattering and damage to shoots, leaves, flowers and berries. Potentially, these wounds would have provided infection sites for pathogens such as Botrytis.

However, there were no Botrytis infection events following

www.winetitles.com.au

January 2017 – Issue 636

the storm – as dry conditions in the following weeks allowed the damaged tissue to heal the scars caused by hail impact.

Callus growth over these scars will provide a natural barrier to future infections.

Botrytis: Since there has been no Botrytis infection event, there is no need to apply a Botrytis protectant unless you were already planning a spray prior to the storm. Some of the most susceptible varieties are Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Chenin Blanc and Colombard. If infection is a concern treatments to protect against botrytis should be applied immediately after hail damage and before any further wet weather.

Powdery: Protection against powdery mildew must be maintained to prevent infections developing on remaining fruit.

Protection must also be maintained to ensure that the buds on new growth do not become infected.

Downy mildew: The threat of Downy Mildew is becoming less as the season progresses. The storm did not provide conditions for a primary infection and it is doubtful that any oil spots would still be viable, even if they were present in the first place. No protectants for Downy are required if a period of dry weather follows the storm.

The research of Mark Sosnowski has shown that the registered fungicides containing tebuconazole and pyraclostrobin should have the additional effect of protecting any damaged wood from both Eutypa and Botryosphaeria infection.

SHOOT TIPPING / TRIMMING Shoot tipping at this time (between flowering to fruit set) is an important practice to divert vine resources from further shoot growth into the fruiting processes (i.e. flowering, pollination, fruit set and berry cell division and enlargement).

Tipping may also stimulate the growth of new shoots from dormant primary buds or secondary buds. In general, tipping would be recommended, however, the tipping or trimming should not be too severe. The damaged vine still requires as much leaf as possible area to support remaining crop and new growth.

TRELLIS REPAIRS Some vineyards have suffered severe trellis damage, with many part or whole rows being blown over in the wind. It is important to stand the vines up as soon as possible to minimise damage to the trunk, canopy and shoots.

However, growers need to be prepared for smaller issues to emerge.

“It's all the little things, that I didn’t see until start up,” Sapuppo said. “These included cracked emitters from the hail and broken posts.”

For more information: Managing grapevines post hail damage, written by Mark Krstic (AWRI), Marcel Essling (AWRI) and Liz Singh (Murray Valley Winegrowers) is available from the ‘fact sheet’ library on the Murray Valley Winegrowers website, www.mvwi.com.au.

January 2017 – Issue 636

Maximum Residue Limits As the Australian wine industry operates in both the domestic and global markets, it’s important to take into account Maximum Residue Limits (MRL’s), especially as grape harvest draws closer. Countries we export wine to can have different food safety standards to us whereby they may have different, lower, or no MRL’s for the crop protection products we use in Australia. Unplanned or accidental use of the wrong product close to harvest can have costly consequences.

A list of MRL’s established for our domestic and export wine grape markets can be found at the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) website at: http://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/ viticulture/agrochemicals/mrls/ To assist with managing the risk of exceeding the MRL of one of our export countries, the AWRI publishes a list of agrochemicals registered for use in Australian viticulture (otherwise known as the Dog Book).

The Dog Book lists active constituents registered for use on wine grapes and includes tables of recommended products for each active ingredient. An AWRI Dog Book app for smart phone or tablets is also available.

As an example, the Australian SWITCH® Fungicide label, in the critical comments section, states application can be made at 5% capfall, 80% capfall and pre-bunch closure or veraison. These withholding periods are acceptable if the fruit is destined to remain in the domestic wine market.

The withholding period for SWITCH in the Dog Book states a much longer period i.e. Use no later than E-L 29, berries peppercorn size (4 mm diameter). Do not use within 60 days of harvest. This is the recommendation growers should follow for any fruit destined for export wine.

The longer withholding period in the Dog Book is designed to minimise the risk of residue remaining on the fruit by allowing more time for the chemical to degrade through normal biological and environmental processes.

A late application to grapes destined for the export market is likely to be detected during testing where they can measure down to parts per billion – so it is best to adhere to the recommended application timings.

I recommend that you continuously consult the Dog Book recommendations as they are updated yearly and they contain the latest CROPLIFE resistance management strategies.

Vine Talk is compiled by Dave Antrobus, Syngenta Solutions Development Lead dave.antrobus@syngenta.com 0429 133 436

www.winetitles.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

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grapegrowing

The energizer bunny abroad: Sam Bowman reports from Italy When I’m not hurtling around the South Eastern Australian countryside as fast as legally possible, checking in on my clients and growers, I love travelling and exploring new regions. Back in August, I was lucky enough to travel to Italy and France and meet with some of Europe’s best producers, viticulturists and nursery operators.

Here is an overview of what I found happening among the vineyard of our European counterparts.

IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE, there is another viticulturist hurtling round the Italian countryside at a rapid rate. His name is Stefano Dini. Educated in Italy and trained under the likes of Bruce Chalmers and Alberto Antonini, Dini is now independently consulting the length of the country as well as abroad – in Chile, Hungary, Kosovo and Serbia.

If you said he had a fair idea of the direction of global viticulture it would be a massive understatement. I was lucky enough to spend two days nervously clutching at the safety handle of Stefanos Hyundai while we visited his many clients in the Tuscan countryside.

The industry in Italy is governed under the DOC (Controlled and Guaranteed Origin Denomination) which strictly governs how a producer can cultivate their vines, use irrigation, which varieties can be chosen to plant – and, in the prestigious DOCG, the eventual alcohol of the resultant wines.

While this has protected the authenticity and integrity of Italian exports, Dini believes it is quite limiting as it impacts the fluidity in which producers can shift with the ever changing wine industry. For example Dini believes zoning, along the lines of the Australian geographical indication (GI) system, is very important and should be reviewed as both markets and climates change around us.

In terms of management, we have many similarities. Pruning is a crucial part of the year and only performed by highlytrained crews. Guyot, arched cane and sylvoz methods are employed alongside unilateral spur which is common place in many high density vineyards.

As Dini explains, “each plant should be pruned in a specific way and the pruner with his choices imposes how to manage the number of shoots later”.

“This does not mean that the other operations lose importance but the number of buds, the length of the spurs, the shape and length of the fruitful cane, define a setting that hardly can be changed by the following operations.”

Shoot and bunch thinning are employed to regulate the tonnage on heavy cropping Italian varieties and leaf plucking

is also quite commonplace to achieve desired sugar levels. As irrigation is outlawed in many DOCG vineyards, the soil is managed accordingly. Building soil organics via mulch and cover crops, midrow tilling to reduce evaporation and capillary rising are used in place of supplementary irrigation but the initial preparation is key.

Selection of variety and rootstock are as vital as effective deep cross ripping when establishing vineyards without irrigation.

The stock is planted in the winter with the scion field grafted on in the summer to ensure the effective root development.

PEST AND DISEASE Looking at viticultural issues in the region the largest issues are Esca (trunk disease), mildews (Powdery and Downy) and in terms of pests believe it or not… wild boar! Many vineyards employ the use of electric perimeter fences to keep the beasts at bay. With my Australian experience in the fight against trunk diseases (commonly Eutypa Lata and Botryspheria) I was interested to learn more about how Dini is dealing with Esca from a management perspective. The disease is caused predominantly by the fungus Phaeomoniella chlamydospora and is the most economically devastating trunk disease in Europe. He explained: “The first step is to understand if it is really Esca or a different wood disease. The scientific world is going to aid with enzymatic testing and in vitro growth tests.

The other important aspect is a good knowledge of symptoms on leaves and wood. You have to know that it is impossible to eradicate this complex of fungi, you have just to find the best way so that vine and Esca can coexist.”

To reduce the risk of spreading, it is important: • Plant healthy (certificated) vines; • Train the vines without making big cuts during growing season and pruning; • If you make big cuts, remember to cover them with natural glue containing copper; and • If you detect a vine that for two seasons shows Esca symptoms, pull out the vine and replace it with a healthy one.

Vines were about three weeks out from harvest while we were looking through the vineyards and it had been a rough season in terms of disease management. Some vineyards had conducted up to 20 cover sprays which, even for our high-input risk regions, is substantial.

SUSTAINABILITY

Rootstock planted ready to be field grafted.

28 Grapegrower & Winemaker

I queried Stefano on the efforts of growers moving towards more sustainable management systems. “I believe that the number of sprays should be reduced for both environmental problems and production cost, but without putting at risk the production,” he said.

“New technologies, for example weather stations with mathematical forecasting models for main pest and disease are increasingly modern and accurate, can aid but the knowledge of www.winetitles.com.au

January 2017 – Issue 636

Esca infected vine.

Stefano Dini and Sam Bowman inspecting a Tuscan vineyard.

the single vineyard and variety and understanding molecules to be used and their application methods, is essential.

“Only through a good combination of all these elements you can reduce the number of treatments.” Many of Dini’s clients are moving towards organics with the split roughly 60% organic, 10% Biodynamic and the remaining 30% using some form of integrated pest management (IPM) system.

TALKING ABOUT VARIETIES As a Tuscan himself, Dini can’t go past Sangiovese – in fact, he sees it as the most versatile and interesting to grow. But in truth, it’s probably got as much to do with the romantic Italian in him suggests “ones’ first love can never be forgotten”.

To give some context to Australia, grape prices for Sangiovese range between .25 euro/kg ($360 AUD/tonne) for easy drinking IGT Sangiovese to 4 euro/kg ($5720/tonne) for Brunello Riserva DOCG. Syrah also holds a special place for Dini, most likely he thinks because of the time spent working in the old Chalmers vineyard at Euston NSW with industry legend, Italian variety champion, Bruce Chalmers.

As he states “when I have tried to plant this variety in Italy and abroad, always I got good results”.

I asked Dini what Australian growers could learn from the Italians? It seems no matter where you are in the world; sustainability in agriculture is the way forward especially when

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it comes to the infrastructure in our vineyards: He believes Australian growers “could improve the use of different material in the trellis system, in particular by using hot galvanized and corten-weathering steel posts and giving importance to the stake”.

The battle against Copper Chrome Arsenate (CCA) stills runs hot in Australia, but it’s great to see many companies developing sustainable steel options for our vineyards. Looking at the price difference in Italy of wood vs steel the comparison is around 1 euro and freight is usually very cost effective, this shows the limiting factor and resistance to the uptake of steel in Australia, is price.

WRAPPING UP No matter where I travel to look at vineyards I am always surprised with what I find. The process of growing grapes, no matter where you are in the world, how much you have studied or how long you have been doing it is always fascinating and there is always something to learn. That is the reason this field attracts likeminded passionate people, and it’s also the reason I love what I do.

Editor’s note: Quick shout out to let people know Bowman got married to Tennille Chalmers in November. Congratulations!

And Bruce Chalmers gave a great ‘father-of-the-bride’ speech.

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

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Shavkapito

Coming soon to a vineyard near you The inaugural ‘sponsor-a-variety’ program from the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show has been selected – and the winner is Shavkapito, nominated by Anna Hooper, Cape Jaffa owner and winemaker.

NEVER HEARD OF Shavkapito? Not many have. In fact, there is only a small amount of it (10 hectares) growing in Georgia. However, Anna Hooper has. She spent two months in the country which has Russia as its main neighbour, along with Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Black Sea. Not many regular Australian wine consumers would associate Georgia with winemaking at all – let alone give it the credit it deserves for thousands of years of winemaking heritage and home to more than 500 grape varieties.

Vitis vinifera winegrape varieties are grown in trial rows.

As a finished wine, Shavkapito stood out for its aromatic qualities on the nose, its liveliness, and the fact that it is can produce a light – medium bodied style with character.

In the vineyards, the variety tends to have loose bunches with medium in sized berries and thick skins.

THIS IS HOOPER’S SHAVKAPITO NOMINATION:

WINE STYLE(S) PRODUCED

I am the head winemaker at Cape Jaffa Wines in Mt Benson where we produce wines from our own certified biodynamic vineyard and also partner with like-minded growers all over the Limestone Coast. Throughout my career I have respected the importance of the vineyard in creating balanced wines and I spend just as much time in the vineyard as the winery.

My winemaking has been shaped by my passion for travel and a will to be individual in the wines I create. I love to push the boundaries and produce wines with natural balance using both modern and old vinification ideas. Experimentation is not only a passion for me but I see it as an integral part of market differentiation in a small business. I would love to be the first producer to trial a new variety.

In 2014 I spent two months in Georgia EU, home to over 500 grape varieties. As well as working at both Pheasant’s Tear and Schuchmann Wines, I travelled all over the country tasting many different varieties. I also visited the Georgian Wine Association trial vineyard where more than 500 indigenous

Shavkapito is a red variety. The variety is known to be reflective of it terrior and produces a range of styles. When grown in certain climates it can create a light and fresh aromatic style of red, however in warmer areas tends to be more full-bodied.

There is only a very small area of the variety planted in Georgia and two producers, Chateau Mukhrani and Pheasant’s Tears. Both make a medium bodied style displaying different characters. The Mukhrani is aged in oak but still shows bright and floral aromatics whereas the Pheasant’s Tears is made in Qvevri with very low Sulphur. It has bright ripe raspberry aromas and the classic natural wine ‘alive’ character.

Simon Woolf of The Morning Claret wholeheartedly agrees with my fondness of this variety claiming to have “fallen in love” with it in an article published after his visit to Georgia in 2012. He describes Shavkapito as “naturally low in alcohol (The Muhkrani example is 12%, Pheasant’s Tears 12.5%), and soft-textured, making it terrifically easy to drink and really quite moreish”.

According to master of wine Jancis Robinson, Shavkapito produces “red-fruited wine with a smoky flavour, even without the influence of oak”.

AT A GLANCE Notes from the Georgian Wine Association: Synonym names of this variety are Shavi Kapito and Lurjpotola.

Sahvkapito originated in Kartli, Eastern Georgia. The variety is included in the official list of grapevine varieties, recommended for cultivation in Georgia. It is one of the basic wine varieties in the Samachablo region.

The mature leaf is medium size, rounded, three to five lobed. The petiole is shorter than the main vein. The bunch is medium size (160-180 g), conical or cylindrical-conical, winged, medium dense or dense. The berry is medium size, rounded and dark blue. The juice is colourless.

The yield is medium or higher than medium. Shavkapito has ‘medium resistance’ to odium and mildew. The juice contains 16.0 – 20.0% of sugar and 4.5 – 9.5 g/l of total acidity. The grapes grown on skeletal soils give pleasant, soft, very light and rather fresh wines with 11.0% alcohol and 7.0 g/l total acidity. Good quality wines are made in pre-mountain and mountain regions.

30 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Prime Name: Shavkapito.

Synonyms: Shavi Kapito, Lurjpotola.Sahvkapito

DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL MARKET OPPORTUNITY Shavkapito is a catchy name and is one of the very few Georgian varieties that is pronounced as it is spelt. It has a tremendous point of difference from many Australian imports in its Eastern European origin, its bright characterful flavours and its light to medium palate weight.

There is a growing interest in lighter bodied, food friendly red wines in Australia yet few varieties that can produce such a style at the same time as maintaining a degree of individuality.

I believe that Shavkapito might just fill this gap.

CLIMATIC SUITABILITY There are only 10 hectares of this variety in Georgia, all in the Kartli region of Kakheti. In these areas, the variety’s sugar concentration coincides most closely with Saperavi and harvest dates range from 17th September and 21st October at approximately 12.5 Baume. The harvest data shows a tendency for the variety to be higher in sugar in a warm year and lower

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January 2017 – Issue 636

Anna Hooper (and Kim Chalmers) at the announcement during the Australian Alternatives Wine Show awards long lunch.

in sugar in a cooler year when compared to other varieties.

This might suggest that the variety is low in plasticity and well suited to a more forgiving maritime climate such as Australia.

The climate in Kartli is very continental with warm to hot summers (MJT 24.4°C) and very cold winters. According to mean July/January temperature, Mildura (24.2°C) is Australia’s closest homoclime however it’s well worth noting that Georgia is much more continental than any Australian region, and for this reason, it is difficult to make assumptions on MJT alone.

Unfortunately data on heat degree days was unavailable.

The later ripening dates compared to inland Australia suggest that this variety might also be well suited to cooler climates near the coast. With maritime climates being less limited by seasonal extremes, and hence allowing a wider spread of viticulture, this variety should do well in a range of Australian climates.

With its thick skins and loose bunches, the variety is expected to be disease resistant in a range of climates (according to conversations with winemaker, Lado Uzunashvili while in Georgia).

ADAPTABILITY TO A CHANGING CLIMATE Anecdotally, I have been told that Shavkapito is not particularly heat resistant in Georgia. However, the majority of this country is dry-grown so their experience is not necessarily indicative of how the variety would perform in Australia under irrigation.

Kakheti has a continental climate so although all varieties ripen late in the season, personal experience picking in 40°C, as well as a look at weather data shows that the daytime maximums can reach high extremes in Shavkapito’s homeland.

The variety’s thick skins could assist in buffering against such heat.

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SOURCES OF PROPAGATION MATERIAL AND HEALTH STATUS I understand that the Georgian wine Association can provide planting material.

January 2017 – Issue 636

Lado Uzunashvili, who presented at the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show Talk & Taste event in 2014, has offered to help source the material.

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Who has the bargaining power?

Senator labels the industry code a “toothless Chihuahua” Grapegrowers who are frustrated by last-minute price offers and the terms of their grape contracts now have the ACCC and Nick Xenophon on their side.

Daniel Whyntie reports.

WHILE THE GRAPE AND WINE supply chain waits for positive export figures to translate into a real business boost, initial reports of suggest the grape price per tonne is hovering between $370 and $400 throughout the inland regions (Murray Darling, Riverina and Riverland).

This represents a slight jump up from last year’s average of about $320 a tonne; offering hope of a recovery to good returns for both grapegrowers and wineries.

Grapegrowers spend the vast majority of their annual expenses before vintage – in fact before the December 15 date which the Australian Wine Industry Code of Conduct sets out for price notifications.

Some growers, however, remain frustrated by a either a lack of information or the restrictive nature of their contract which has last years’ low price rolling across to 2017. There have even been rumours of a ‘tractor blockade’ and grower boycotts.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) declared that contracting practices were the most significant issue affecting viticulture in a 2016 report into the sector.

“The risk sharing weighs strongly against the growers; they find it difficult to know what price they will receive and some are only paid after delivery. It’s not the equitable sharing of risk we’d like to see in good contracting practices,” said Mick Keogh, ACCC commissioner.

Nick Xenophon

32 Grapegrower & Winemaker

AT A GLANCE The law sets out examples of terms that may be unfair: Terms that enable one party (but not another) to avoid or limit their obligations under the contract.

Terms that enable one party (but not another) to terminate the contract.

Terms that penalise one party (but not another) for breaching or terminating the contract.

Terms that enable one party (but not another) to vary the terms of the contract.

Ultimately, only a court or tribunal (not the ACCC) can decide that a term is unfair.

If a court or tribunal finds that a term is ‘unfair’, the term will be void – this means it is not binding on the parties. The rest of the contract will continue to bind the parties to the extent it is capable of operating without the unfair term.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, leader of the Nick Xenophon Team political party, has been a vocal critic of industry’s price-setting regime and actively called on the ACCC to investigate.

“Unless we give medium to small business a chance to grow without fear of the big boys we won’t grow are economy. I’ll be pushing for access to justice, we need provisions that make it easier for people to prosecute abuses of market power,” said Xenophon.

Xenophon wants to see a mandatory code that covers the whole supply chain; along with a low cost, fast track method of dispute resolution to be made available.

“At the moment the viticulture code has less bite than a toothless Chihuahua, at least a Chihuahua, makes noise and jumps up and down. The rules need to be stronger or they are not effective,” said Xenophon.

“If a small producer has to go to court it costs millions. For a small company to blow two or three years profit on a court case they just can’t do it. We need access to justice through a fast track low cost dispute resolution. I want any changes to include a dispute settlement process with teeth.”

Xenophon said we will need time to see if the new unfair contract terms protections will address the issues; but that the recent Woolworths ‘Mind The Gap’ scandal shows how weak the current laws are, likening them to having a speed limit without a speed camera.

At the moment the viticulture code has less bite than a toothless Chihuahua, at least a Chihuahua, makes noise and jumps up and down. www.winetitles.com.au

January 2017 – Issue 636

AT A GLANCE Price Notification Where the Agreement requires a price offer or a negotiation as part of the calculation of the price for the winegrapes, the winegrape purchaser must, unless prevented due to unforeseen and extraordinary reasons: • By 15 December each year - provide to its winegrape grower(s) in the Hunter Valley, Riverina, Murray Darling/Swan Hill and Riverland regions Indicative Regional Prices for each variety of winegrape; or • By 15 January each year - use its best reasonable endeavours to provide to its winegrape grower(s) in all other regions Indicative Regional Prices for each variety of winegrape.

There is a strong incentive for companies to get it right or they risk prosecution; not by the grower but by the ACCC – Mick Keogh

There is a presumption that a contract is a standard form contract, so the party that prepared the contract has to prove it isn’t (e.g. by demonstrating a real willingness to make requested changes to key terms).

“Once the ACCC is aware, it can choose to prosecute, or courts can strike the clause. So there is a strong incentive for companies to get it right or they risk prosecution; not by the grower but by the ACCC; and they would not be able to enforce their contract,” Keogh said.

The ACCC has analysed standard form contracts across a range of industries, and published its interpretation of the new law on its website for guidance.

“We have looked at terms and brought to certain companies’ attention, some undertook to alter their contracts but some haven’t. The ACCC has published its view, there will be some qualification as these things get worked through in court, but ultimately it is a strong guide,” Keogh said.

The new law will not address word of mouth contracts were nothing is in writing.

“We’ve seen a lot of cases where there is nothing in writing and there is no understanding of proper practices,” Keogh said.

Importantly, terms that set the up-front price payable under the contract are not covered by the law.

The protections apply to standard form contracts entered into or renewed on or after 12 November 2016, but will not apply to pre-existing contracts that were ‘assigned’ on or after 12 November 2016.

UNFAIR CONTRACT PROTECTIONS In an aim to address imbalances in bargaining power a new law came into effect last year. From November 2016 the new ‘unfair contract terms’ law will protect growers and small businesses from unfair terms in standard form contracts where a small business has had limited or no opportunity to negotiate the terms of the arrangement.

“It will relate to small business and standard form contracts, if they fall into these categories it applies. A good comparison is a mobile phone contract where you don’t haggle over the details; if the terms are presented as take it or leave it then it applies,” Keogh said.

A contract term may be unfair if it causes significant imbalance, is not reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the party advantaged by the term, and would cause harm to the other party if it were relied on.

For example, a term that enables a wholesale or retailer to unilaterally vary quality requirements after an agreement has been made may be an unfair term.

WHAT TO DO If you think terms in a contract being offered are unfair make contact with the ACCC, a good first contact is with an industry body which may have a better understanding of the terms and how they relate specifically to viticulture.

“ACCC has a role in pursuing these cases and over the next 12 months it will be a focus for us. There will be a period of education over the next six months but further down the track we will be; looking to identify those not doing the right thing and prosecute those cases,” Keogh said.

The law applies to standard form contracts where at least one of the businesses involved employs less than 20 people, and the price payable under the contract is no more than $300,000 or $1 million if the contract is for more than 12 months.

A standard form contract is usually one that has been prepared by one party to the contract and where the other party has little or no opportunity to negotiate the terms – that is, it is offered on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis.

January 2017 – Issue 636

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Prue Henschke, viticulturist at Henschke Cellars said this initiative is an exciting new tool for protecting vineyard health and ensuring vine longevity.

Virtual fence to protect SA’s wine industry A CUTTING-EDGE vineyard monitoring system, designed to keep South Australia’s $1.78 billion wine industry free of devastating pests and diseases such as phylloxera, was launched recently.

Funded by the SA Government and Vinehealth Australia, Project Boundary Rider creates a virtual boundary – or geofence – around vineyards and uses smartphone app technology to monitor the movement of people entering vineyards.

Inca Pearce, Vinehealth Australia CEO, said the geofencing technology will enable growers to better integrate an important farm gate hygiene practice of recording visitor movements into daily operations.

“It means growers can remotely record the arrival and departure of visitors as part of their day-to-day management, which is essential in preventing damaging pest and disease incursions in our vineyards,” she said.

Growers receive an immediate notification when someone has entered a vineyard, while visitors with the Boundary Rider app are greeted on their smartphone with a welcome or instructional message.

Information from app users is uploaded to create an electronic log book accessible to the owner of the vineyard. In the event of a pest or disease outbreak, the technology provides instant data to enable a rapid response to contain the spread and minimise loss.

The instant alerts for vineyard owners, when anyone crosses their property line, could be critical in preventing the spread of pests such as phylloxera – which can be spread by machinery or even on shoes and clothing worn by people who have travelled between infected and non-infected areas.

The Boundary Rider pilot project, initiated by Vinehealth Australia, will be rolled out across 30 of the state’s winegrowing properties throughout McLaren Vale and the Barossa.

The pilot, which runs until mid-2017, has attracted strong support from winegrowers. Businesses taking part include Chapel Hill Winery, Charles Melton Wines, D’Arenberg, Dorrien Winemaking, Gemtree Wines, Henschke Cellars, Noon Winery, Scholz Estate, St Hallett Wines, Torbreck Vintners, Wirra Vineyards and Wright Vineyard Trust.

34 Grapegrower & Winemaker

“We view this ground breaking project with much anticipation and excitement because the health of our vines is paramount and we are always looking for new and improved ways of ensuring their longevity,” said Prue Henschke, viticulturist at Henschke Cellars’.

Melissa Brown, Gemtree Wines’ viticulturist, has also been keen to be part of the initiative.

“Being certified organic and biodynamic, as well as owning a number of different vineyards, means having an effective monitoring system is a really important tool for managing security and protecting our precious resource,” Brown said.

Safeguarding the privacy of users is an important feature of the Boundary Rider app. The technology does not track people inside or outside the geofence boundary, and property owners can only access records of visitors crossing geofences on their own properties.

The identity of individual visitors and vineyards can only be used in an emergency outbreak and is only accessible by system administrators at Vinehealth Australia.

Leon Bignell, SA Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Minister, said the innovative system was a first in biosecurity for the Australian grape and wine community.

“It will protect vineyards from pest and disease threats and provide critical intelligence about the movement of people coming in and out of properties,” Bignell said.

“Wine is one of South Australia’s key export industries and we grow about 50 per cent of Australia’s grapes. It’s vital we do everything we can to protect the industry’s future and South Australia’s reputation as the producer of premium food and wine from our clean environment.

“Historically we have an enviable reputation globally for the strength of our biosecurity systems and Project Boundary Rider will take it to another level.”

The pilot is being supported by the McLaren Vale Grape, Wine and Tourism Association and Barossa Grape and Wine Association.

For more information go to www.vinehealth.com.au/projects/ project-boundary-rider/.

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January 2017 – Issue 636

Research finds some ‘red warning flags’ in the vineyard FUNGICIDE RESISTANCE in Australian vineyards is not at crisis levels but, as Barbara Hall puts it, there are ‘red warning flags all over the place’.

Hall, a pathologist and Senior Research Scientist with the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), is leading a collaborative national project designed to determine the incidence and severity of resistant fungal populations of the big three diseases (powdery mildew, downy mildew and botrytis), better understand how resistance develops, and work out the best response.

The researchers have largely completed the first bit and are making progress with the others but have quickly discovered just how complex a task it is, and why very few researchers have ventured into the area.

First things first.

“What we can say at this point is that fungicide resistance is an issue, but growers are still getting control if they’ve got a good spray program,” Hall said. “But if we don’t start looking after the fungicides we’ve got, there could be serious issues.

“By looking after fungicides I mean understanding them, knowing and following resistance management strategies, mixing and matching, and minimising their use.”

The trap with fungicides is that a grower can be technically doing the right thing in terms of how often they spray, but it might be the wrong thing for their vineyard at a given point in time.

The ultimate goal for Hall and her colleagues is to be able to understand each of the 15 or so individual fungus/

January 2017 – Issue 636

fungicide combinations to the extent that they can develop a testing service so growers can know where they sit and how to respond. Or, in the first instance, discover whether it is a resistance issue, or just an inappropriate spray program and/or poor spray technique.

“With any f ungus/f ungicide combination, if you can keep the resistance below that level you are going to keep achieving efficacy. Once resistance goes above that level you’re going to start seeing loss of field control.”

While this research work continues, the best approach is to stay vigilant and to understand the basics. The rule of thumb is that the more often you use an individual fungicide, the more likely it is to build resistance.

“Look what happened with Cabrio,” Hall said. “Everyone embraced it as the most fantastic fungicide because it controlled powdery and downy and had an effect on botrytis. The industry used it widely and resistance grew. Scientists found in America that resistance can start with just 20 applications, so if you spray three times a year that can happen in less than eight years.”

Resistance usually – but not always – develops when mutant genes that already exist at a low level in a fungal population are able to survive and thrive after exposure to a fungicide. Whether or not that happens depends on how many mutant genes there are, how strong they are relative to the other genes, and whether the conditions are right.

What makes the science so complicated is that mutant genes can be present at even quite high levels without a vineyard actually having a resistance problem.

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With any fungus/ fungicide combination, if you can keep the resistance below that level you are going to keep achieving efficacy. Once resistance goes above that level you’re going to start seeing loss of field control.

There are relatively simple molecular tests to assess whether mutants are present (in Europe they are part of a compulsory annual test for all chemical companies) but they don’t tell you whether this is leading to failure in the field.

The path Hall’s team plans to take will use more complicated phenological and genetic testing in vineyards and in the laboratory. They started with the DMI and QoI fungicide groups, which the sector told them were the priorities, and will now start to look at the newer SDHI group.

The project, funded by Wine Australia, is a collaboration between SARDI – a division of Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA), the Australian Wine Research Institute, Curtin University, the University of Adelaide, the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre and the WA Department of Agriculture and Food.

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Powdery mildew app goes global A FREE MOBILE app to help vignerons and winemakers quickly assess grapes for powdery mildew in the field is being made available to growers globally.

Developed in South Australia by the University of Adelaide in collaboration with industry and Wine Australia, the app was initially launched for use exclusively in Australia ahead of the 2016 vintage.

PMapp has been downloaded more than 1000 times and been well received by the Australian industry, prompting the construction of a training website to support the app and its international release this month.

Powdery mildew is a serious disease that affects grapevines worldwide and can cause off flavours and aromas in wine if not controlled.

Eileen Scott, University of Adelaide professor of plant pathology and project leader, said she had already responded to inquiries about the app from North America, Chile, Europe and New Zealand.

“Powdery mildew is probably the most ubiquitous disease of grapevines – it occurs everywhere because it’s much less sensitive to weather conditions than

How the App displays the affected surface area of a grape bunch.

36 Grapegrower & Winemaker

other diseases like downy mildew or botrytis,” Scott said.

The disease is assessed in the vineyard as the percentage surface area of grape bunches affected, which gives a measure of disease severity.

PMapp allows the user to visually assess the severity by matching it with computer-generated images.

The app allows disease data to be entered quickly in the vineyard.

Assessors then email the results and analyse the resulting spreadsheet, which records GPS co-ordinates and other assessment details.

Prof Scott said having Australian growers use the app for a year before the rest of the world allowed the system to be trialled thoroughly so any glitches could be fine-tuned.

“What we’ve built on to the app since we did the Australian release was a website designed to support diagnosis and recognition of powdery mildew as well as more training in early assessment than we could build into the app,” she said.

“The app allows people to enter their assessment quickly and efficiently to

get an on the run average severity and average incidence across the block they are assessing.

“The website is designed for previntage training of new staff and up-skilling or refreshing of existing and experienced staff so when they go out into the field they feel better prepared for the assessments.”

Australian users of the app in the 2016 vintage said it would become a valuable industry tool with some even using it to also assess grapes for bunch rot.

Andrew Weeks, Australian Vignerons CEO, said PMapp offered the potential for a uniform and reliable assessment procedure for powdery mildew, which in turn provided a consistent market signal for winegrowers.

“PMapp was a great tool in making decisions acceptable to both grower and winery,” Weeks said.

Alex Sas, Accolade Wines chief viticulturist, also supported the app.

“PMapp will quickly become part of the standard operating procedures of large wine companies in Australia and worldwide,” Sas said.

A bunch with powdery mildew.

www.winetitles.com.au

January 2017 – Issue 636

Comply with labels or risks fines BIOSECURITY SA is urging producers to follow label instructions before commencing spraying operations. This follows recent unacceptable chemical drift incidents in the Riverland and Limestone Coast that were caused by not following label directions.

The use of agricultural chemical products in South Australia is regulated through the Agricultural and Veterinary Products (Control of Use) Act 2002. This Act aims to maximise the economic benefits of using agricultural and veterinary chemicals and fertilisers, while managing the risks of such use in terms of harm to plants, animals, trade, human health and the environment.

Biosecurity SA recently issued two expiation notices to a producer who caused spray to unacceptably drift onto a neighbouring property. The chemical user was expiated for two offences for spraying a Group I herbicide without having appropriate training, as required by the Agricultural and Veterinary Products (Control of Use) Regulations 2004. The expiation fee (fine) for this offence is $315 plus a $60 Victims of Crime levy.

When used correctly, agricultural and veterinary chemicals maximise the quality and yield of crops and livestock. If used incorrectly, they can damage crops, harm the environment and put human health at risk.

Biosecurity SA remains committed to working with producers and industry to promote training and education on the safe use of chemicals.

REMINDER: CHANGES TO CHEMICAL LABELLING A number of chemical companies have recently added mandatory down-wind buffer distances onto some product labels. The restraints sections of the label will list a range of DO NOT, MUST or MUST NOT statements. If any of these are not complied with the user could be prosecuted.

FAREWELL TO FENTHION Do you still have Fenthion products in your shed? Use of products containing Fenthion is not permitted and must be disposed of responsibly since the 12-month phase-out period of the chemical ended in October 2015.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority’s (APVMA) review of Fenthion found that the use of products containing Fenthion poses undue risks to human health and the environment.

NEW ACTIVE CONSTITUENT FOR POWDERY MILDEW APVMA has approved the active constituent pyriofenone for use on wine-grapes. Pyriofenone is a U8 activity group.

Kusabi 300 SC is registered for control of powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator) in grapevines and is distributed by AgNova Technologies Pty Ltd. The label withholding period (WHP) for Kusabi 300 SC is five weeks before harvest.

Recommended restriction on use for grapes destined for export wine: Use no later than E-L 31, berries pea-size (7mm diameter).

NEW HERBICIDE REGISTERED FOR USE IN VITICULTURE APVMA has approved the active constituent nonanoic acid for use in vineyards on young broadleaf and grass weeds.

Nonanoic acid is classified as activity group Z as the sites of action are unknown. The product Slasher is registered for control of young annual and perennial weeds and grasses and is distributed by Organic Crop Protectants Pty Ltd. Please refer to APVMA website (www.apvma.gov.au) for more information.

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January 2017 – Issue 636

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

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grapegrowing

Australian farmers start the year with optimism RURAL CONFIDENCE levels across the nation finished 2016 on a high and Australian farmers are looking to 2017 with optimism.

The final Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey for the year has found Australian farmer confidence has been sustained at historically high levels throughout the past quarter, buoyed by good seasonal conditions across much of the country and solid prices for many commodities.

Rabobank national manager Country Banking Australia Todd Charteris said confidence in the agri sector remained strong, underpinned by good seasonal conditions across much of the country and positive market fundamentals for beef, sheep, cotton and sugar – and increasingly, dairy.

“Much of the country is experiencing a good season, following the second wettest winter on record, and a wet start to spring,” he said.

The survey found cotton and sugar producers to be particularly bullish about the coming year, while sentiment remained strong in the sheep and beef sectors. Dairy farmers staged the largest turnaround in confidence, as global commodity markets continue to recover.

Meanwhile it was a mixed outlook for the nation’s grains sector, with many looking to harvest a sizable crop, but expectations reined in by frost damage in Western Australia and excessive rainfall in parts of the eastern states.

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After posting a significant upswing in rural confidence last quarter, the net confidence indicator remained unchanged and at strong levels, indicating a larger proportion of farmers continue to expect agricultural economic conditions to improve (36 per cent) rather than worsen (15 per cent) over the coming 12 months. While the majority (46 per cent) expect the next 12 months to be similar to the last.

The nation’s grain producers are the biggest beneficiary of the rain, Charteris said, with many on the cusp of harvesting a sizable crop – particularly in Victoria and South Australia.

“That said, the rain has been excessive in northern Tasmania and parts of New South Wales and Victoria, with flooding causing water logging of pastures and crops, which has led to some pretty significant downgrades to crop yields,” he said.

“The Western Australian crop has also been hit by mother nature, with the crop now expected to be three million tonnes down on earlier projections due to early spring frosts.”

Charteris said the rain had also given the cotton industry a considerable boost, with 62 per cent of cotton producers expecting conditions to improve over the coming 12 months.

“The rain has not only spurred a large dryland plant this year, it has also shored up water availability for irrigators.”

Graziers were also buoyed by the season and strong market conditions, with 40 per cent of beef and 35 per cent of sheep producers expecting conditions to be better next year.

With much of the strong sentiment prevailing across the country driven by commodity prices and the season, these factors were nominated, respectively, by 74 per cent and 68 per cent of farmers as reasons conditions were likely to improve.

Optimism in the market outlook wasn’t shared by all however, with the global grains complex remaining burdened by record stocks, Charteris said.

“While the upside for grain prices is currently limited, thankfully the yields are there for many Australian farmers this year, which will help offset the low prices,” he said.

EDUCATION/TRAINING This quarter the survey also questioned primary producers across the country about their education and training needs, finding 34 per cent were looking to increase their skills and knowledge over the coming year.

Improving on-farm management practices was top of the agenda, with 75 per cent looking to increase knowledge around maximising crop and livestock productivity, while 57 per cent were interested in garnering more information on emerging technologies.

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38 Grapegrower & Winemaker

In line with overall confidence levels, Australian farmers retained their strong outlook for the performance of their own farming business.

Of those surveyed, 34 per cent expected an improved financial result next year, while 46 per cent expected incomes to be relatively unchanged – with both these readings in line with last quarter’s results.

Longer-term confidence across the agri sector also remained strong, as reflected in investment intentions, with 92 per cent of the nation’s farmers looking to increase or maintain their level of farm business investment over the coming 12 months – up slightly from 90 per cent in the previous survey.

www.winetitles.com.au

January 2017 – Issue 636

Vineyard Machinery

VineRobot introduces its second prototype THE VINEROBOT PROJECT introduced its second prototype at the agro-technological fair ‘Intervitis Interfructa Hortitechnica 2016’, which was held from in November in Stuttgart, Germany.

The robot, developed by a consortium of three universities and five companies from Spain, France, Italy and Germany, offers relevant information to the farmer about the status of his vineyard, allowing him to maximize resources and results.

VineRobot autonomously navigates along the vineyards, gathering, in real time, data of special relevance for the grapegrower.

The project is an example of application of ‘big data’ and ‘artificial intelligence’ in the field.

The VineRobot sensing technologies are capable of estimating the nitrogen content in the leaves and the anthocyanin content of the fruit directly in the vineyard.

The robot yields maps from the collected data. These can be read very simply on the screen of the computer and sent to the winegrower for decision making.

Modern agriculture demands January 2017 – Issue 636

advanced services like VineRobot and the autonomous character of the robot, as well as its ease of use, connects with the new generation emerging in the grape and wine community – those who look for intelligent solutions.

VineRobot is the first generation of artificial intelligence applied to viticulture that gives objective results.

The new prototype includes an artificial vision system that discriminates, with high level of detail, leaves and grapes in real time, while the robot moves within the rows of the vineyard.

One of the major challenges facing this second prototype is the measurement of anthocyanins (berry colour). For this, the sensor must ride within 30 centimetres of the bunch, which implies a high precision for an autonomous navigation system.

Among the novel features of this second prototype of the VineRobot, the safety features have been upgraded as well as the power supply, by the inclusion of two new solar panels that will guarantee 120 extra watts.

This will allow the computer in charge of navigation and safety to continue operating at a low level of batteries. It www.winetitles.com.au

is estimated that the VineRobot will be fully operational – at the laboratory scale – by the end of May 2017.

THE VINEROBOT PROJECT: VineRobot is a research consortium of eight European organisations (five SMEs and three universities), that have developed an autonomous robot that will measure vineyard parameters on-the-go in a non-invasive way to help grapegrowing and winemaking decisions.

Universidad de La Rioja (Spain) leads the Consortium also formed by the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Spain), Hochschule Geisenheim University (Germany), the Spanish company Avanzare Innovacion Tecnologica SL, the French companies Les Vignerons de Buzet, FORCE-A and Wall-YE, and the Italian enterprise Sivis.

The project has received more then €2million funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration.

For more information, visit www.vinerobot.eu.

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grapegrowing

New vineyard weather stations FOUR NEW vineyard weather stations in the Hilltops and Southern Highlands wine regions have extended the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) monitoring network to 42 stations across eight wine growing regions.

Adrian Englefield, DPI viticultural development officer , said high rainfall this winter and spring has increased vineyard pest and disease pressure for many NSW winegrape growers.

“Up-to-date weat her station information from the DPI Weather Station Network is helping growers make informed and timely management decisions,” Englefield said.

“DPI’s weather station network gives winegrape growers real time vineyard weather information, which can be used to tailor vineyard spray applications to manage pest and diseases.”

The new weather stations complement 38 existing weather stations across the Riverina, Mudgee, Orange, Tumbarumba, Canberra and Hunter Valley wine regions.

High adoption rates by the industry have seen 16,500 page views recorded from across the network during the 201516 growing season.

DPI vineyard weather station data is available via the Australian Wine Research Institute website http://www. awri.com.au/industry_support/weathernsw/ Also available online, a fortnightly DPI viticulture bulletin, VineWatch, delivers industry news and events, seasonal updates, weather forecasts, viticultural updates and pest and disease warnings for 10 NSW wine regions.

The DPI weather station network and VineWatch are funded under the DPI Skills Development Program for Viticulture. The New South Wales Weather Station Network forms part of a broader electronic pest and disease warning system, a key initiative of the Skills Development Program for NSW grapegrowers and winemakers. This Program builds the capacity of the NSW wine industry to resolve issues and implement innovation, and is funded by NSW Department of Primary Industries and delivered by the AWRI. The Network includes new weather stations that have been installed and are operational in Griffith, Mudgee, Hunter Valley, Orange, Tumbarumba and Canberra.

40 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Mark Bourne, Southern Highlands Food and Wine Association president, at one of the four new weather stations.

STATION LOCATIONS (Stations marked with an asterisk* are privately owned weather stations.)

BROKE

HUNTER

ORANGE

Beyond Broke* Bin688* Pooles Rock*

McCaffreys Estate* Adina Vineyard* Mt Pleasant Estate* Hermitage Road Hunter Valley Gardens Ben Ean Estate* Audrey Wilkinson Vineyard*

Springvale* Cargo Road Pinnacle Road Balmoral* Bellview* Annangrove*

CANBERRA Brindabella Murrumbateman

HILLTOPS Hilltops north Hilltops south

MUDGEE Gooree Park Logan Stein Woodbrook Yeates

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RIVERINA Beelbangera* Leeton Hanwood Lake Wyangan* Kooba Nericon Stanbridge* Tharbogang* Willbriggie* Yenda

SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS High Range Sutton Forrest

TUMBARUMBA Courabyra Maragle

UPPER HUNTER VALLEY Glenesk Vineyard (Venahill)* Winbirra Estate Vineyard* Inglewood Vineyard*

January 2017 – Issue 636

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grapegrowing

Surface irrigation remains the best option IN THE MIDDLE of the millennium drought, conventional wisdom was that sub-surface irrigation was the best way forward if water restrictions were to become the norm. Five years of good science supported by Wine Australia now suggests otherwise.

The final report of a project led by Mike McCarthy, Principal Scientist with the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), shows that there is no value in going underground except possibly in times of extreme and sustained water shortages.

“We couldn’t demonstrate any improvement in yield or water use savings by switching to sub-surface irrigation, which was contrary to what we had been led to believe,” McCarthy said. “In fact, there was actually a yield penalty in going to sub-surface at the normal rates of irrigation that growers might be using.

“To be honest, we don’t know why. We don’t think it’s due to blocking of the drip lines, although in some areas there’s an issue with colloidal clay material in the water, which might have some long-term impact.

“What we are thinking is whether sub-surface drip is not keeping the root zone cool. If you put water on the surface it’s cooling the upper part of the root zone, but that’s not happening if the drippers are about 30 centimetres below ground.”

The initiative to test the claims of sub-surface irrigation advocates in Australian conditions was instigated by Treasury Wine Estates, which worked with SARDI to set up a large field experiment at its Markaranka vineyard in the Riverland in 2009.

What we are thinking is whether sub-surface drip is not keeping the root zone cool. If you put water on the surface it’s cooling the upper part of the root zone, but that’s not happening if the drippers are about 30 centimetres below ground.

Funding from Wine Australia expanded the project, including the installation of monitoring equipment in 2010 and the collection of soil and water salinity data over five seasons.

Three types of irrigation were installed: standard drip irrigation, sub-surface drip and sub-surface drip within a porous fabric cover designed to increase the lateral movement of water away from the emitter.

Four irrigation treatments were established, resulting in applications of about 50, 67 and 84 per cent of the standard irrigation (100 per cent) used in the remainder to the block of Chardonnay grapevines, which were planted on to Ramsey rootstock in 2004. The soil type varied from sandy to loamy sand across the trial site.

A split-plot design was used with irrigation volume as the main plot along a single row of vines and irrigation type the sub-plot within the row. Each sub-plot consisted of nine vines irrigated using the same lateral line and treatments were replicated five times across the width of the block.

Aggregated data for season and irrigation volume indicated that the yield of subsurface irrigated vines was significantly lower than standard drip or fabric covered subsurface, which were similar. However, there was a significant interaction between irrigation type and volume.

“For 100 per cent irrigation volume, subsurface drip yielded significantly less fruit than the other two irrigation types,” the final report said. “Under severely restricted irrigation (50 per cent), vines irrigated with the standard drip were significantly lower in yield than the other irrigation types, which were similar. The yield of 50 per cent subsurface irrigated vines was less than all irrigation types at 67 per cent, indicating that a change to subsurface irrigation does not maintain yield with less water.”

42 Grapegrower & Winemaker

www.winetitles.com.au

January 2017 – Issue 636

Measuring greenhouse gases in agricultural landscapes A TRIAL IN A PADDOCK at Charles Sturt University (CSU) is assessing how new techniques can lead to more accurate measurements of greenhouse gas emissions in agricultural landscapes.

The pilot project, involving CSU, the University of Wollongong and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology (ANSTO), has been measuring greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, in the paddock in Wagga Wagga during the past four months.

In a new approach in the field, the study utilises the measurement of emissions of radon gas, a naturally occurring radioactive gas found in soil and rocks.

“We are measuring the radon and greenhouse gases at the same time on the Charles Sturt University Farm at Wagga Wagga,” said Julia Howitt, CSU environmental chemist.

“The inclusion of both radon and the trace gases is significant because it allows us to improve our understanding of what the atmosphere is doing and therefore more accurately collect data on the greenhouse gases emissions, especially at night.”

Through instruments on a tower in the paddock, the gases are sampled at 10 metres and two metres above the soil and then fed into a nearby shed containing equipment from the three organisations

including portable greenhouse gas analysers.

“The research is being undertaken in a ‘typical’ paddock of lucerne and rye grass and grazing sheep,” Howitt said.

“The instruments are very sensitive as you can see spikes in the data when the sheep were moved into the paddock and during the recent hay bailing.

“This paddock is being used as the research site not only because it represents a typical large scale agricultural landscape but also because comparable greenhouse gas data was collected during research at the same site nearly 20 years ago.

“Therefore we have some existing data to compare the results of this project.”

While Howitt is on the ground at CSU in Wagga Wagga, the equipment can be remotely accessed by her co-researchers at the University of Wollongong and ANSTO in Sydney.

“Radon is a radioactive gas that is emitted naturally from the landscape,” said Alastair Williams, from ANSTO. “Because it’s chemically unreactive and emitted at a fairly consistent rate from the ground, it can be used as a reliable tracer or yardstick to estimate emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane, which fluctuate more rapidly from place to place and from day to night.

“Radon-based tracer methods are

This paddock is being used as the research site not only because it represents a typical large scale agricultural landscape but also because comparable greenhouse gas data was collected during research at the same site nearly 20 years ago. particularly useful when wind speeds are calm during the night, as the more traditional techniques for measuring greenhouse gas emissions perform badly when there is very little atmospheric turbulence present.

“We measure radon in air using a dual flow loop two filter radon detector.

These instruments are designed, developed and built by ANSTO, and recognised internationally as being the best of their kind, due to their extremely high sensitivity and accuracy. As radon in the atmosphere exists at ultra-low concentrations, it can only be measured using nuclear techniques by virtue of its radioactivity,” Williams said.

Dr Howitt is a lecturer in chemistry in the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at CSU. She is also a member of the University’s Institute for Land, Water and Society.

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grapegrowing

At the delivery and commissioning of the new Silvan Turbo SCRAM vineyard sprayer at the award winning Goaty Hill vineyard in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley were from left Silvan’s area representative Chris Tait, Goaty Hill partner Markus Maislinger and Silvan’s resident Tasmanian representative Richard Palmer.

Supplier Update

Investing in new and better vineyard technology Goaty Hill vineyard, in the Tamar Valley, chooses a ultra-efficient, high air velocity spray unit TASMANIA’S WINE INDUSTRY continues to expand at the premium end of the spectrum with its many small vineyards winning significant national awards and major wine corporates like Brown Brothers and McWilliams making significant new investments in vineyards on the island.

The Goaty Hill vineyard, winery and cellar door at Kayena in the Tamar Valley has been winning significant awards for its Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris

wines produced from the 20 hectares of vineyards.

A partnership of the Maislinger and Nieuwhof families, all four of whom have since given up their own personal and corporate business careers in Tasmania and elsewhere, to contribute their personal skills in vine growing, winemaking, marketing and finance to the project.

Initially they just produced grapes which were sold to the main Tasmanian

With its distinctive wrap around boom assembly fitted with the hydraulically powered centrifugal fans high air velocity is provided to give optimum spray coverage.

44 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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producers of sparkling wines but since 2006 the grapes have gone into their own label wines.

Their first vintage was a bit of a success – the wines claimed gold medals at the Sydney Wine Show and elsewhere.

Goaty Hill is also investing in new and better vineyard technology having recently added a Silvan Turbo SCRAM vineyard sprayer to its fleet to replace an original Silvan Turbomiser spray unit.

Silvan’s patented SCRAM (Silvan Centrifugal Remote Air Model) was developed in conjunction with Australia’s major vineyards to provide unparalleled vine coverage with water and chemical savings to give ultra-efficient, even, high velocity air for optimum penetration of the spray coverage into the canopy.

Chris Tait, Silvan Australia’s Victoria/

January 2017 – Issue 636

Tasmania area manager, said the SCRAM unit supplied to the Goaty Hill vineyard is achieving low power needs by reducing the power take off revolutions down to 450 revolutions per minute thereby reducing the tractor fuel consumption by 30 per cent.

“The Silvan Turbo SCRAM is available in optional 2000, 3000 and 4000 litre tank capacity while the galvanized steel chassis with a tandem axle suspension also ensures a smooth ride on often uneven vineyard surfaces,” Tait said.

“With its distinctive wrap around boom assembly fitted with the hydraulically powered centrifugal fans high air velocity is provided to give optimum spray coverage.”

The Silvan SCRAM was delivered and commissioned by Silvan’s resident Tasmanian representative Richard Palmer who is based at the Latrobe branch of major Tasmanian tractor and machinery distributors Midland Tractors.

For further information on the extensive range of Silvan spraying solutions for vineyards and other crops freecall 1300 745 826, email info@silvanaust.com or see www.silvan.com.au

AT A GLANCE The new Turbo SCRAM sprayer has arrived Silvan’s Turbo SCRAM combines the coverage and water savings of Turbomiser technology with efficiency & safety advantages of a hydraulic drive, for ultra-efficient crop protection.

The new Turbo SCRAM is the result of extensive research and development combined with the ability to source the best available components to provide what clients want. Available on Silvan 2,000, 3,500 and 4,000L tank capacity spray units and can also be fitted to the Silvan G2E and G2 sprayers.

The Turbo SCRAM utilises Turbomiser technology which eliminates nozzle wear and produces a narrow droplet spectrum for excellent coverage and more efficient chemical use.

Turbomisers combine air shear technology with the advantage of using up to 65% less water.

The Turbo SCRAM features: High performance hydraulic drive centrifugal fans which are engineered to provide the high air velocity for optimum spray coverage. The Top mounted fans eliminate leaf blockages and no fruit ‘sandblasting’ damage.

The Fan hydraulic motor is isolated from the airstream meaning no chance of oil contamination if seals are compromised. The Fan is German engineered for low noise and increased efficiency.

Hitch mounted hydraulic powerpack means PTO is protected and manoeuvrability is increased. Ideal for narrow vineyard headlands where tighter turns can save time.

The specially designed Silvan ‘wrap’ tube assembly is supported by an anodised marine grade aluminium exoskeleton with its proven wrap around profile designed to create air turbulence in the vine canopy.

Other key features are a fully galvanised rectangular hollow section steel chassis frame and spray boom assembly with a hydraulic opening and closing function plus rollers for easy row width adjustment. The chassis is supported by a tandem suspension axle for a smooth ride.

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Go with the site that leading wine industry companies use.

January 2017 – Issue 636

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winemaking

Fermentation

New options in the sparkling winemakers’ toolbox Jenny Bellon, Australian Wine Research Institute senior scientist, has been developing hybrid yeasts which could provide sparkling winemakers with a broader range of options for traditional method production. Nathan Gogoll reports.

THE AUSTRALIAN WINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE has been developing a new breed of interspecific hybrid wine yeast that allow winemakers to look beyond grape varietals to the fermentation process itself to find flavour and aroma diversity.

The hybrid wine yeast combine the genomes of commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with other yeast species. The collective qualities of the hybrids can help achieve a broader spectrum of flavours and aromas.

Jenny Bellon, AWRI senior scientist, said the latest project has focussed on sparkling winemaking and the aim of the research was to identify new wine yeasts which completed the traditional bottle fermentation (secondary ferment at tirage) efficiently and which offer different flavours and aromas.

In the traditional method of making sparkling wine, the second fermentation and the following maturation in the bottle with the yeast lees are important components in flavour and aroma development.

46 Grapegrower & Winemaker

After the base wine has been fermented, this is mixed with a yeast and sugar solution before being bottled. The yeast ferments the added sugar, which creates carbon dioxide gas – which dissolves into the wine. The dead yeast cells impart the autolytic flavours that high-quality, traditional method sparkling wine is known for.

Bellon explained the reason for her work was to “generate more complex yeast – to produce more complex flavours in the wine”.

IN THE BEGINNING The starting point was actually “one of the most robust strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, because we wanted to work with a very strong, robust fermenter which was also quite linear in its flavour profile” according to Bellon.

“We started with something very strong, but basic,” she said.

“In 2012 we had eight different yeasts. We had a wide

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winemaking spectrum. We didn’t expect anything wouldn’t perform the fermentation the way we expected, but we were interested in things like the timing – which can impact on the temperature,” Bellon said.

Louisa Rose, Yalumba chief winemaker and chair of the AWRI board, was involved from early in the process. This gave the project a practical winemaking outlook.

For example: “Louisa was definitely not looking for options that fermented too quickly, she prefers a somewhat slower ferment for temperature control,” Bellon said.

The aim of the project was to find incremental improvements.

“In some ways it is only a small part of the winemaking process, and you are only really looking to ferment about one per cent alcohol in the process,” Rose said.

“But you get a lot of characters provided by that process into the final wine.”

SHARING THE RESULTS Bellon presented her research ninth International Cool Climate Wine Symposium in mid-2016 in Brighton, England.

Wines from the trial that highlighted the greatest differences from the yeast breeding program were tasted with the presentation. Those who participated in the tasting could test the flavour and aroma differences from the yeast hybrids.

Rose was also involved with the presentation of the wines and results at the symposium.

“We have shown the trial wines to a lot of people – across two ‘tech conferences’ (AWITC) as well as the International Cool Climate Wine Symposium,” Rose said. “And we very rarely find there is only one yeast that everybody likes – similarly we don’t find a yeast that nobody likes.

In some ways it is only a small part of the winemaking process, and you are only really looking to ferment about one per cent alcohol in the process. But you get a lot of characters provided by that process into the final wine.

“But what this work does is give the winemaker the opportunity to differentiate and that is the great thing about it.”

Examples: AWRI 2526: A S. cerevisiae / S. mikatae hybrid “Provided complexity and savoury characters,” Rose said.

AWRI 1571: S. cerevisiae / S. uvarum hybrid “Showed complexity again, more than just the primary fruit characters,” Rose said.

Sally Easton, UK-based Master of Wine, was in the Cool Climate Symposium crowd and described the experience: “In this research, non-Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts were traditionally bred (not genetically engineered) with Saccharomyces yeasts to create new strains. These new strains offer new flavours as a sparkling wine matures on the yeast lees.

“A series of wines were presented to delegates, which had been on lees for nearly four years. “Delegates were asked to look

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January 2017 – Issue 636

for differences in the five sets of three wines. In each set the wine was the same, the second fermentation yeast was different.

“Bellon said for good wine, you need good yeast and experienced winemakers. ‘An inoculate of a single yeast culture is common. It’s reliable but mono-dimensional. Wild ferments are unreliable, inconsistent from one vintage to another, but complex’.

“To bridge that span between a single flavour profile and a more complex flavour and aroma profile, she said ‘you can make a more complex yeast by hybridising with a non-Saccharomyces yeast’.

“Phenotypic characters of the progeny were examined, both fermentation kinetics and flavour traits. “For example, Bellon said three of the hybrids showed a lag time (after inoculation), ‘which we don’t want in commercial yeast because it would allow spoilage, so they get knocked off’.

“Various volatile fermentation products were desired, such as primary fruits and floral perfume. And non-targeted fermentation products identified, such as cheese and toffee.

“The research proved chemical differences exist. It then set out to identify if sensory differences exist. Which led in to the symposium demonstration tasting … which was fascinating in its exposure of how organoleptically important and different are different yeast species.”

THE NEXT STEP Bellon said she has received mixed responses when presenting her research and results. She said there was potentially more interest from winemakers based in England than those in France, who keep their “cards close”.

“One of the reasons I went to the cool climate symposium

was to get some exposure in that market, which can be a bit of a ‘closed shop’ and can be a little bit of a hard place to get innovative ideas through,” Bellon said.

The next step for the project will to look at commercialising the popular hybrids.

Bellon and the AWRI have already worked with AB Mauri on this sort of project.

“We do have other companies interested in commercialising our yeasts,” Bellon said. “And the aim will be to effectively commercialise as many strains that perform well.

“There are different companies that have already made strains from our trails available on a very small scale for wineries to use.”

While Rose doesn’t anticipate using the hybrid yeasts in her commercial sparkling winemaking at this stage, she is excited to see what the development can offer.

“What is really setting Australian sparkling wine apart is the quality of the vineyards and the fruit from some of the premium cool climates.”

With that solid foundation of quality fruit, Rose said winemakers can then “look around and start to ask ‘how can I add another one per cent’ to what I’m doing?”

“And that’s where this work can provide something for them to look at.

“We took part in the trial out of interest; it has given us a lot of information and I really enjoyed being a part of it. While there were some yeasts I really liked, we’re not planning to use them for any commercial projects at this stage.”

Bellon is also optimistic the work will add another element to the strength of Australian sparkling wine.

“I’m hopeful.”

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winemaking

Water into wine Approval for winemakers to add water to assist fermentation AN APPLICATION TO ALLOW Australian winemakers to add water to grape must has been favourably considered by Food Standards Australian New Zealand (FSANZ).

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) made the application vary an existing Standard in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code which currently does not allow for the addition of water to facilitate fermentation.

The change to the standard will explicitly enable the addition of water to dilute high sugar must to aid fermentation – a change that has been supported by the Wine Australia (Australian Grape and Wine Authority).

The FSANZ board’s decision: “To prepare a variation to the code to permit the addition of water to dilute high sugar musts to aid fermentation in the production of wine, sparkling wine and fortified wine.”

The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation and, unless there is a request for a review, the matter will progress to stakeholder and public notification of the variation to the code.

THE CURRENT STANDARD The current standard: Subclause 5(7) of Standard 4.5.1 contains requirements when water can be added during wine production.

Wine, sparkling wine and fortified wine may contain added

For further information, please contact Kauri AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 Email: info@kauriwine.com

50 Grapegrower & Winemaker

NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE Website: www.kauriwine.com

water in proportion not exceeding 70 mL/L where that water is necessary for the incorporation of any substance specified in clause 3 or clause 4, or where that water is incidental to the winemaking process and where the presence of water in wine is in conformance with good manufacturing practice.

Incidental water is intended to cover small amounts of water which may be present from production processes such as residual water remaining in tanks and pipes after washing and cleaning and hosing out bins to force the last of the grapes into the crushers, where the water used is the minimum needed to perform the technological purpose (i.e. using good manufacturing practices). Water is also permitted to include the addition of processing aids and food additives added as an aqueous solution.

The subclause does not contain an express permission for water added to dilute high sugar musts to limit the occurrence of ‘stuck’ fermentations.

THE WFA PROPOSAL FSANZ assessed an Application from the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) which sought to amend existing Standards in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) dealing with the timing and purpose of adding water during wine production.

The Australian wine industry has issues with “stuck” fermentations, which are slow fermentations that do not proceed smoothly to completion, but require various interventions in the winery to resolve. It is also possible that they may produce sub-standard wines.

The Application stated the wine industry believes the occurrence of ‘stuck’ fermentations is increasing due to shorter, warmer vintage (grape harvest) periods. Shorter, warmer vintages are claimed to increase, and likely to continue to increase, the chances of more harvested grapes with higher than optimal sugar contents. It is also claimed such climatic conditions can cause a more compressed vintage period that causes logistical problems in the winery, exacerbating the problems of high sugar grapes.

The Application proposed a method that wineries can use to limit “stuck” fermentations i.e. diluting high sugar musts (grape juice before yeast is added to initiate fermentation) by adding water. However, no provisions existed in the Code that allowed for this remedy.

The Code imposes strict conditions on when wineries can add water during wine production.

Wine regulations in the United States of America (USA) allow water addition to “facilitate fermentation” in a similar way to that proposed by the Application. In the European Union wine regulations, water is prohibited during wine production “except where required on account of a specific technical necessity”.

FSANZ accepted the arguments and justification provided in the Application and noted the proposed provision to use water to dilute high sugar musts to limit “stuck” fermentations is similar to that in the USA regulations.

FSANZ amended Standard 4.5.1 to provide a provision to add water to high sugar grape must to facilitate fermentation.

However, a limit has been set so that the dilution must not dilute the grape must below 13.5 degrees Baumé (Bé) which is a measurement of grape sugar content. The Australian wine industry is more familiar with degrees Baumé than degrees Brix

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which is used in the USA regulations. No amendments were made to Standards 1.1.2 and 2.7.4 due to the lack of technical necessity for New Zealand wine, New Zealand stakeholder opposition and other factors.

In its proposal, the WFA said the change would ensure Australian wine producers are “provided access to techniques enabling the production of the best wine possible from the grapes at their disposal”.

SUMMARY OF ISSUES Wine Grape Council SA submission summary: It is concerned that higher sugar levels due to shorter warmer vintage periods is not the complete picture. Other factors that can cause higher than optimum sugar concentrations (Bé levels) such as reduction and consolidation of processing capacity and a reluctance to blend fruit at different stages of ripeness.

It feels there could be economic implications to its members where wine producers may use the proposed amendment for their economic benefit but at the expense of grape growers.

It is worried that the change as requested may become standard practice so it supports the principle of only allowing dilution to occur above a certain sugar content, though it is not in a position to comment on the specific limit. This helps limit the addition to exception rather than a general rule.

Wine grapes are typically sold by weight so as sugar content increases due to high temperatures which causes moisture loss after optimum ripeness which in turn causes a reduction in the weight of the grape, hence a reduction in the return to the grape grower.

FSANZ response: FSANZ has proposed having a specific sugar concentration limit on the grape must as a way to ensure this proposed adjustment is the exception rather than the norm. The approved draft variation sets a specific limit.

It requires that the water added to facilitate fermentation does not dilute the must below 13.5 degrees Bé. FSANZ also notes the evidence from the Applicant, supported by other submitters, that climatic factors outside the control of industry are a cause of higher sugar levels in production.

Issues relating to industry processing capacity and decisionmaking in terms of harvest timing and spread are considered out of scope of the Application.

FSANZ notes the comment on the possible impact on payments to grape growers if higher sugar grapes can be sold, and also the comment that despite this the submitter supports the application.

This has been factored in the cost benefit analysis.

Australian Vignerons submission summary: It is understood that yield loss due to heat events is a significant problem for both grape growers and wine producers where everyone suffers loss; but the grape grower suffers the greatest loss to income.

There is concern that wine producers have a ready remedy to treat high sugar content musts which could become routine practice rather than working diligently and in good faith to ensure grapes are taken in good time, as specified in many grape supply contracts.

The ability to treat must with water should be treated as a last

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winemaking resort and should not be viewed as an alternative to harvesting fruit at the optimum condition.

Another way to help alleviate the issue is to invest in processing capacity. It agrees that a minimum sugar content (proposed at 15 Bé in the Call for Submissions, now reduced to 13.5 Bé) is important.

FSANZ response: Noted, see previous response.

New South Wales Food Authority submission summary: The term “high sugar grape must” should be defined to make clear that it is referring to grape juice and to clearly distinguish it from the use of the word “must” as a verb in other provisions to denote a compliance obligation.

FSANZ response: Noted. FSANZ does not consider that a definition is required as the term “must” is a well understood term in the grape and wine industry and will be given its ordinary meaning.

The Macquarie Dictionary, for example defines must as “the unfermented juice as pressed from the grape or other fruit”.

FSANZ does not consider that a definition of “high sugar” must is needed because the new provision in subclause (7C) of 4.5.1 indicates that only must above 13.5 degrees Bé would meet this description.

For further information, please contact Kauri AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 Email: info@kauriwine.com

52 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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Pernod Ricard Winemakers submission 1: It supports the Application as there have been difficult climatic conditions which resulted in high sugar grapes which led to stuck fermentations and they would have appreciated the ability to reduce the sugar content of the must at the time.

However, it believes the minimum level of sugar concentration in the grape must of 15 Bé is too high as from their experience such high grape sugar musts can still lead to stuck fermentations.

The US regulation allows for a reduction in sugar concentration to 22°Brix which is equivalent to 12.2 Bé.

Therefore, it suggests that the sugar concentration limit in the grape must be reduced from 15 Bé to 13.5 Bé.

FSANZ response: Agreed.

The approved draft variation imposes a limit of 13.5 Bé.

This takes account of the submissions received on the need for a lower limit than that proposed at Call for Submissions (see section 2.2.4.3).

The Applicant also requested a reduction to 13.5 Bé as proposed by the submitter who is one of its members. The Applicant considered that a numerical limit (of 13.5 Bé) should be specified to ensure clarity, consistency with international practice (in particular the US regulation) and to avoid any perception that water addition is unlimited and can be normal practice.

The Applicant indicated that a principal reason that fermentations do not proceed to completion (i.e. become a stuck fermentation) is the detrimental effect the accumulation of alcohol (from the wine fermentation) has on yeast activity.

It is a winery rule of thumb that 15 Bé in the grape must converts to 15% alcohol after fermentation. 15% alcohol has commonly been thought as the point where fermentation problems can start to manifest themselves. However, there are additional reasons why this is an underestimate: • Commercial yeast varieties have been selected for fermentation efficiency and the Baume to alcohol rule of thumb conversion can underestimate total alcohol by at least 0.5% ; • The conversion from the Baume scale to g/L of available sugar is not linear and at high sugar concentrations such as 15 Bé can vary by as much as 4%;

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January 2017 – Issue 636

• As well in red wine, some sugar is bound in other grape components in the grape must and so does not contribute to the sugar concentration reading.

Pernod Ricard Winemakers submission 2: In addition to imposing a 13.5 Bé limit, the draft variation should also require that the addition of water to dilute high sugar grape must to facilitate fermentation shall not reduce the must by more than 2 Bé.

This additional measure is required to prevent a downgrade of final wine quality.

FSANZ response: FSANZ does not propose to impose this additional measure as it may impose unnecessary restrictions and result in a failure to address adequately the problem of stuck fermentations.

Pernod Ricard Winemakers submission 3: Believes the proposed practice should be compliant with all export markets’ regulations and recommends that other export market regulations be considered to those noted in the report.

It is concerned that some export markets will not accept the proposed practice.

FSANZ response: Noted. FSANZ has had due regard to international standards.

The measures contained in the draft variation are deregulatory and voluntary.

The draft variation does not mandate that water be added to facilitate fermentation or that wine contain such water. The addition of water to wine for this purpose remains a choice for individual producers. They are also responsible for ensuring

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that their product complies with the requirements of those countries they export to.

Furthermore, the WWTG MAA requires that WWTG member countries permit the importation of wine which are produced in accordance with domestic requirements.

Pernod Ricard Winemakers submission 4: Water addition to high sugar grape musts may result in lower dry extracts concentrations that can be important considerations for some markets such as China. It understands that there have been occasions where Australian wine that did not meet this requirement has been rejected.

FSANZ response: Noted, see previous response.

Pernod Ricard Winemakers submission 5: The “Agreement between Australia and the European Community on Trade in Wine” may need to be updated.

FSANZ response: The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources is responsible for the “Agreement between Australia and the European Community on Trade in Wine”, along with the Australian wine industry represented by the Applicant. FSANZ understands that the draft variation would not require an update to the Agreement.

All the information about this issue is available online at www.foodstandards.gov.au/code/applications.

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THE 2016 ASVO OENOLOGY ‘paper of the year’ award was presented in part because of the project’s potential for high rates of immediate adoption by the sector – and that potential is already being realised.

Winemakers are using oxygen during fermentation with more confidence and much greater knowledge of the impact in specific situations, thanks to the work of a team at the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI).

The four-year project, funded by Wine Australia, is still under way, but findings are being disseminated via roadshows, seminars, webinars, journal articles and a workshop at the recent Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference. The workshop – which included a tasting – looked not just at the value of using oxygen, but also at ways to remediate the reductive characteristics that can occur if you don’t.

“It is fantastic to see how we can support the sector and give winemakers practical advice on how they can produce better wines,” said Marlize Bekker, a research scientist who was one of the authors on the paper that impressed the ASVO judges.

“The project included a number of elements. We not only investigated the unwanted aroma compounds associated with ‘reductive aromas’ that may be produced during fermentation during low oxygen conditions, but also investigated the beneficial varietal aroma characters, as well as compounds associated with wine texture, such as tannins and polyphenols. It’s many of the things a winemaker would want to know if they applied a specific treatment to their wines, what would the overall outcome be?”

The project was led by Martin Day,

who worked with Simon Schmidt, Paul Smith and Eric Wilkes to develop the experimental design.

Bekker managed the sulfur chemistry and analysis, with Helen Holt and Wes Pearson responsible for the sensory side of things.

There’s also been a lot of sector input, both before and during the research.

“Several wine sector players have been doing their own work, so empirically we have learned from them and then we have brought some scientific assessment to the things they were observing,” Smith said.

“So I think we’ve been able to explain the reasons behind the effects they were seeing. We’ve closed the loop.”

One of the main findings to date is that when using oxygen to create specific wine styles the overall amount of oxygen is important, but also when you add it and how long you take to add it is also important.

“We thought adding oxygen late in the process might cause negative stylistic attributes, but that doesn’t seem to be the case,” Schmidt said.

“But timing is critical when using oxygen to stimulate fermentation. You have to be within a certain window for maximum benefit.”

The ultimate aim of the project is to create a tool kit to guide winemakers in how and when to use oxygen to achieve different results.

Strangely, given the impact oxygen can have on wine, not much research has been done in this area internationally.

Day found only a handful of papers over the past 20 years that carry research through to the sensory stage.

Part of the reason may be that it is a challenging area. The sensors that make it possible to measure oxygen levels in a

We thought adding oxygen late in the process might cause negative stylistic attributes, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. But timing is critical when using oxygen to stimulate fermentation. www.winetitles.com.au

January 2017 – Issue 636

Eric Wilkes, Paul Smith, Marlize Bekker and Martin Day. Photo credit: Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology (ASVO).

liquid have not been around for long, and even with this new technology it can be exacting work.

The AWRI’s initial research looked primarily at the impact of large doses of

January 2017 – Issue 636

oxygen, but the focus now is on refining the knowledge by comparing different dosages to see which are the most beneficial in specific situations.

“We want to be able to provide accurate

www.winetitles.com.au

advice to winemakers on what to expect from their fermentation efficiency and wine aroma profiles when applying oxygen treatments to their wines,” Bekker said.

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winemaking

Top yeast products WHEN CURTIS PHILLIPS started looking to build a list of exciting new winemaking products in 2016 he had no shortage of options. His latest list was strong in new yeast releases – and given there is a focus on fermentation in this edition, we have focussed specifically on this area.

Chr. Hansen Viniflora Concerto

increase wine total acidity. The yeast belongs to the species Kluyveromyces thermotolerans and is one of the more interesting winemaking tools now available for winemakers who produce red or white wines in warm climate conditions. It is meant to be used in sequential inoculation where Concerto initiates the alcoholic fermentation and then a classical Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain will achieve the primary fermentation.

This yeast-selected strain is a natural way to balance wines to bring acidity and a hint of additional flavour complexity.

WHAT’S COOL: This could be used to make wines with slightly lower levels of ethanol and slightly higher total acidity.

Laffort Oenolees

This specialty yeast for winemakers has been used in winemaking trials for the past three years in the United States with great success. The yeast has been selected by Chr. Hansen for its ability to convert sugars into lactic acid and therefore

Oenolees was developed as a result of eight years of research Laffort conducted on the properties of yeast lees and their importance in wine fining.

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Oenolees is a specific preparation of yeast cell walls enriched with a specific peptide fraction extracted from yeast cells. The cell wall component works as a fining agent to remove specific polyphenols responsible for bitterness and astringency. The peptide fraction dissolves into the wine and elevates mid-palate sensation – this peptide is what is naturally released by yeast during autolysis (maturing on lees). Oenolees can replace bad (off) natural lees for sur lie ageing — if fruit comes in mouldy or the fermentation gets reductive, the winemaker will rack off lees for aging.

Adding Oenolees allows the wine to have the same effect as aging on its natural lees. When a winemaker must use copper sulfate to remove reduction from a wine, Oenolees can be added to remove excess copper and replace midpalate weight that was removed in the copper fining treatment. It can also be used to replace egg white or gelatin fining in countries that require allergen labelling for the wine industry.

WHAT’S COOL: As a long-time believer in yeast-hull fining, I like the potential of this product even though I’m still going to fine with egg-whites and/or gelatin if I think I need to.

alcoholic fermentation itself. Instead it is a form of bio-control for undesired non-saccharomyces yeast, like Kloeckera apiculata, apparently without inhibiting Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The research I’ve seen indicates that the mechanism is unlike the ‘killer’ activity seen in some Saccharomyces strains. Instead, M. pulcherrima produces pulcherriminic acid, which consumes any iron present in the must, thus making it unavailable to the other non-Saccharomyces yeast.

WHAT’S COOL: Gaîa MP98.3 is a benign yeast that inhibits Kloeckera apiculata growth and acetic acid production and can act as a biological alternative to SO2.

About the author: Curtis Phillips, has been an editor for US publication Wine Business Monthly since 2000; he is a graduate of UC Davis; has been a winemaker since 1984; and an agricultural consultant since 1979.

This article first appeared in the US magazine Wine Business Monthly and is re-published here with permission.

Lallemand Metschnikowia IFV Gaîa MP98 .3

The disclaimer:

Like most non-Saccharomyces yeast, the Metschnikowia pulcherrima strain IFV Gaîa MP98.3 isn’t intended for primary

Usually when I write about new products, I haven’t had the chance to use any of them in my own winemaking or consulting. In building my list of top products, I’m not making any sort of endorsements beyond my usual, “that looks cool and it might be worth checking out for yourself”. Readers are always encouraged to do more than merely take my word for it. That said, I do try to have an eye for products that could prove to have an impact on the wine industry.

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winemaking Supplier Update

Bring out the best in Rosé with Non-Saccharomyces Create a competitive edge with Viniflora®

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GLOBALLY, SALES OF ROSÉ wine In contrast to this the Concerto™ are(Kluyveromyces on the increase.

Last year sales grew thermotolerans) adds seven cent worldwide, and bothper Strawberry fruit notes as wellin as key wine export markets as the UK adding more savourysuch complexity, withand USA, the growth of Rosé is significantly increased acidity and bitter notes. Lastly, outperforming the rest delbrueckii) of the tablehas wine Prelude™ (Torulaspora market. the biggest effect on palate-weight of Roséof is becoming and a more any the however non-Saccharomyces, while crowded segment.

Non-Saccharomyces having a comparatively neutral effect on yeast are an extremely useful tool to the wine aroma when compared with ensure a wine has the organoleptic either FrootZen™ or Concerto™, still characteristics to effectively compete increases the Plum character. Given the in this market – not only by adding characters that each impart, FrootZen™ is mouthfeel but also by effectively recommended for ‘fruity’ Rosé, Prelude™ bringing out the most from the natural for ‘gastronomic’ Rosé and Concerto™ for fruit precursors.

‘Blush’ styles, as summarised below.

Rosé wine is a relatively broad area with three general methods of the production, and three general styles. To Rosé Style level most Recommended produce Rosé, Sugar the two traditional

Rosé Wine from Bobal, La Mancha 2012 Acidity 7 6

Green Bean

4 3 2

Strawberry

Bitterness

Plum

Concerto™

FrootZen™

Aromatic white wine yeast (either thiol producing or amylic)

For Fruity Rosé (often referred to Amylic Rosé), FrootZen is the perfect choice.

FrootZen™ will work in conjuction with the Saccharomyces to bring an emphasis on fruit.

Gastronomic Rosé

Dry (<5g/L RS)

Prelude™

Aromatic white wine yeast (Ester producing)

For Gastronomic Rosé, Prelude™ adds significant palateweight, without accentuating the fruit profile, to bring an overall balance and length to a Rosé well suited to gastronomy.

Medium (20-50 g/L RS)

Concerto™

Neutral, ‘bayanus-type’ yeast

For Blush styles, both the strawberry and savoury dimensions that Concerto™ imparts is well suited to the sweeter flavour profile of the wine.

of MLF

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cost

FrootZen™

Dry to off-dry (2-8g/L RS)

sation

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Prelude™

Fruity Rosé

here

gar

Cherry

techniques are either the Saignée method (bleeding) or the short maceration/skin Saccharomyces contact of red must. Comments type

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Palateweight

1 0

Blackberry

Non-Saccharomyces

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Overall Fruitiness

5

9 9 9 Blush 9

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The third method is the blending of white and red must or wines, as is used for the production of Rosé Champagne.

In terms of styles, Rosé can be split into three subtypes: fruit-driven dry/off-dry Rosé; medium blush styles; and lastly – the most ‘serious’ of type – gastronomic Rosé.

Chr. Hansen produce three different pure non-Saccharomyces yeasts in the Viniflora® range, each perfectly suited to the three types.

To illustrate the differences between the three non-Saccharomyces strains in Rosé, the spider diagram shows the flavour impact of these different species on the same Rosé must produced from Bobal (La Mancha, 2012).

The Saccharomyces used was SG101 (Springer Oenologie ®), and was added

January 2017 – Issue 636

…AND NOT FORGETTING, MALOLACTIC FERMENTATION WITH VINIFLORA® CiNe™ Previously, malolactic fermentation (MLF) and Rosé wine production have not been particularly compatible concepts, due to the production of diacetyl masking fruit character. At best a partial MLF could be carried out, before diacetyl levels increase, but that carries risks and requires careful monitoring. With Viniflora® CiNe™ it is now possible to have full MLF and retain 100% of fruit character, as CiNe™ is unable to produce any diacetyl.

Putting a Rosé wine through MLF with CiNe™ is useful where microbial stabilisation is required, or simply where the added mouthfeel of MLF is desired. In Rosé wines from low pH musts or in cooler regions – acidity can be reduced, making dry styles more attractive. For sweeter styles, less residual-sugar is then required to balance the final blend, adding cost efficiency.

48 hours after each non-Saccharomyces yeast.

All of the wines were treated the same way, the only difference being the non-Saccharomyces used. As the diagram demonstrates, FrootZen™ (Pichia kluyveri) enhances overall fruit character.

This strain has been well documented and found to increase levels of volatile thiols and medium-chain fatty acid esters.

In contrast to this the Concerto™ (Kluyveromyces thermotolerans) adds both Strawberry fruit notes as well as adding more savoury complexity, with increased acidity and bitter notes.

Lastly, Prelude™ (Torulaspora delbrueckii) has the biggest effect on palate-weight of any of the nonSaccharomyces, and while having a comparatively neutral effect on the wine aroma when compared with either FrootZen™ or Concerto™, still increases

Non-Saccharomyces yeast are an extremely useful tool to ensure a wine has the organoleptic characteristics to effectively compete in this market. the Plum character. Given the characters that each impart, FrootZen™ is recommended for ‘fruity’ Rosé, Prelude™ for ‘gastronomic’ Rosé and Concerto™ for ‘Blush’ styles.

FERMENTATION CHARACTERISTICS

ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS

• Alcohol tolerance: up to 16 % vol.

• Wide range of optimal temperatures: 20 - 35°C.

• Very low production of negative sulphur compounds (including SO2 and H2S) and of compounds binding SO2.

• Low nitrogen requirements.

• Masked perception of green characters.

• Moderate volatile acidity production.

• Aromatic freshness and expression of black fruit notes.

• Regular fermentation kinetics.

• Great smoothness of mouthfeel.

• Good malolactic fermentation compatibility.

LAFFORT AUSTRALIA - Tél: 08 8360 2200 - Email: info@laffort.com.au - www.laffort.com

January 2017 – Issue 636

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wine law

Wine industry litigation COMMERCIAL LAWSUITS arise out of disputes between people, businesses, or other entities, including government entities. Lawsuits generally proceed through distinct steps: pleadings, discovery, trial, and possibly an appeal. However, parties can halt this process by voluntarily settling at any time. Most cases settle before reaching trial. Mediation or a formal court settlement conference is usually desirable before trial.

PLEADINGS Each party in a lawsuit files initial papers, known as “pleadings”. The pleadings explain each party’s side of the dispute.

Statement of Claim: Litigation begins when the plaintiff files an initiating Summons and Statement of Claim with the court and serves a copy on the defendant.

The Statement of Claim describes what the defendant did (or failed to do) that said to have caused harm to the plaintiff and the legal basis for holding the defendant responsible for that harm.

The Defence: The defendant is given a specific amount of time to file a Defence to the Statement of Claim.

The Defence provides the defendant’s side of the dispute.

The defendant may also file Counterclaim (that is, a “cross-claim”) against the plaintiff, alleging that the plaintiff has caused some form of commercial harm to the defendant and should be held liable for that harm.

Sometimes, the plaintiff responds to the defendant’s Defence or Counterclaim by filing a Reply to Defence and Defence to Counterclaim.

In some instances, in lieu or in advance of a Defence to Counterclaim or Reply, a party may request that the other party clarify or correct deficiencies in its factual allegations or legal theories, or may ask the court to dismiss part or all of the lawsuit.

This may lead to amended Statements of Claim or amended Defences. Once the parties have completed the Statement of Claim, Defence, and any Reply, the issues for resolution by the court have been defined.

DISCOVERY Thorough case preparation is critical to any successful litigation. Discovery is the method by which parties gather relevant information from each other or from third parties. Research of the law, document review and organisation, and witness interviews help clients and their lawyers assess the merits of claims and defences. The extent to which these and other steps are needed is determined by the issues of the case.

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Wine Lawyer Mark Hamilton

Grope Hamilton Lawyers

Discovery: Discovery is usually the longest part of the case. It begins soon after a lawsuit is filed and often does not stop until shortly before trial.

During discovery, the parties ask each other and third parties for information about the facts and issues of the case.

Information is gathered formally through written questions (known as “interrogatories”), requests for copies of documents, and requests for admission (which ask a party to admit or deny statements of fact).

Expert Witnesses: Often a claim or defence requires support from expert witnesses to explain technical information or validate an argument or claim.

One or more experts might be needed to testify about the connection between the defendant’s conduct and the loss suffered by the plaintiff, or the existence and amount of the plaintiff’s damages.

Expert witnesses work closely with a party’s representatives and barristers to prepare the party’s case.

Motions: Before trial, the parties may use motions, often called pre-trial applications, to ask the court to rule or act. Motions usually relate to law or facts in the case, but sometimes they seek clarification or resolution of procedural disputes between the parties. Some motions, such as a motion for summary judgment, which asks the court to dismiss part or all of a plaintiff’s case or a defendant’s defence, dispose of issues without trial.

Other motions might ask the court to order a party to produce specified documents or to exclude evidence from trial.

Timing: The duration of a legal case depends on the issues of the case, the amount of discovery to be conducted, and court scheduling and availability.

The parties, guided by the rules of www.winetitles.com.au

court, usually decide the timing of discovery.

Trial dates are set by the court. Timing and scheduling differ between state and federal courts.

TRIAL At trial, the parties present oral and other evidence in support of their claims or defences to a judge.

Trial: Immediately before trial, the plaintiff provides to the judge a book of documents, called a “Trial Book”, which contains a copy of pleadings and important affidavits.

Once the trial begins, each party presents its outline of the case in an opening statement.

Then, the parties present evidence.

Each party may call witnesses or introduce documents and exhibits in support of its arguments.

After each witness is called and questioned, the opposing party has an opportunity to cross-examine the witness.

The plaintiff presents evidence first, then the defendant. Sometimes, the plaintiff is allowed to present additional evidence, called rebuttal evidence, after the defendant has finished presenting its case.

Once all the evidence has been presented, the parties give their closing arguments. After closing arguments, the judge usually reserves his or her judgment, then deliberates and reaches a decision.

Costs and Fees: The party who succeeds at trial will usually request the court to order the losing party to pay the successful party’s costs to prosecute or defend the case.

Recoverable costs are defined by rules of court. As a rough rule of thumb, these might represent about two-thirds of the costs incurred by the successful party.

APPEAL Following trial, a party dissatisfied with the result may appeal. During an appeal, a party asks a higher court to review the trial court proceeding.

The parties present their arguments in Notices of Appeal and Outline of January 2017 – Issue 636

THE SHOWCASE OF EXCELLENCE

SUPPORTED BY

SUPPORTED BY

The Unione Italiana Vini presents the 27th edition of SIMEI, the international trade fair for winemaking and bottling machinery and equipment “Drinktec in Munich, Germany is an international reference point for the beverage industry. In 2017, the German trade fair will be enriched by the presence of SIMEI, with a specialised area extending over an area of 20 thousand square metres dedicated to wine. An international audience will have the opportunity to experience the best of technology for the wineproducing sector, of which Italy is the largest producer. “ This is how Paolo Castelletti, General Secretary of the Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), commented on the 27th Edition of SIMEI, the most important international trade fair for winemaking and bottling machinery and equipment to be held from 11 to 15 September 2017 in Munich, Germany, alongside drinktec, the leading trade fair in the liquid food and beverage industry.

“Not only will it be an opportunity not to be missed to find out about the innovative solutions in terms of machinery and equipment in the industry - Castelletti explained – but like the UIV, which has been organising this event since 1963, we shall be inviting the main European organisations representing the world of wine, including the CEEV (Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins), coordinating round tables and discussions, forums and workshops where companies will have the ideal opportunity to present and illustrate their products”.

The Unione Italiana Vini is the only European organisation that has created and runs a trade fair like SIMEI, and over the years it has acquired the expertise necessary to understand and meet the requirements of companies and hence of SIMEI’s exhibitors. “Furthermore - Castelletti added - the association ANFORMAPE is a member of the UIV and comprises producers of winemaking machinery and accessories. Many of these producers work with the companies that are members of the UIV to experiment their technology and validate practices that will then be applied on an EC level. This combination of technology producers and final users - Castelletti concluded – creates a unique synergy within the Association, a synergy that will be noticeable at SIMEI”.

ON THE RUN-UP TO SIMEI Over to one large producer of Italian wines that tells us why it is important to take part in SIMEI 2017 Lamberto Frescobaldi – Frescobaldi Territories and ancient traditions are part of you: what role do technology and innovation play in your company?

To produce excellent wines, for those of us who control the entire production chain means following production processes that will enhance the territorial peculiarities while respecting

AWAITING SIMEI@drinktec 2017 The SIMEI@drinktec Road Show goes on: Enomaq: Saragozza, 14-17 February 2017 ProWein: Düsseldorf, 19-21 March 2017 Vinitaly: Verona, 9-12 April 2017 London Wine Fair: London, 22-24 May 2017 January 2017 – Issue 636

WORLD LEADER IN WINE TECHNOLOGY 27TH EDITION INTERNATIONAL ENOLOGICAL AND BOTTLING EQUIPMENT EXHIBITION

ORGANIZED BY

11th-15th September 2017 Messe München - Germany

SUPPORTED BY

www.simei.it www.drinktec.com/simei

the product. The evolution of technology has led to the improvement of physical processes, abandoning what once was a belief, chemistry. The more technology advances, the greater the recovery of the authenticity of the processes and the link with the territory.

What is SIMEI for you?

It is an extremely important event not only for the excellence on show but also for the opportunity it offers to compare production processes. It is essential to be there to build contacts but above all to see what is new because there is nothing worse than thinking you have made it. You have to be humble and go as curious as possible to bring home new ideas that will boost continuous improvements.

SIMEI 2017 in Munich: what do you expect from this edition?

We are expecting a large audience and this means time for discussion and growth. SIMEI has always been a fair of the highest level, so we hope that Munich, with its international centre of gravity, can stimulate our imagination even more and give new impetus, essential to continue and take off again.

USEFUL INFORMATION DATES 11-15 September 2017 PLACE Munich, Germany – Messe München Exhibition Centre PARTICIPATION • exhibitors: complete the form and follow the instructions in the section “2017 application form” on the official site www.simei.it/en or apply online on www.drinktec.com/simei • visitors: information in the section “Visitors” on the official site www.simei.it/en

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winemaking Arguments, supplemented by oral submissions, which are presented to the appellate court along with the record of evidence from the trial court. The appellate court usually reviews a case for legal error only.

Except where plainly in error, the appellate court will not review factual evidence or override a judge’s finding of fact. The appellate court then delivers its decision. The appellate court will dismiss the appeal if it finds that there was no error in the trial court proceeding. However, if there was an error, the appellate court can allow the appeal and substitute its own decision or order the trial court to conduct a new trial. An appeal can extend the litigation process by a year or more.

ALTERNATIVES TO LITIGATION Alternatives to litigation can save time and expense, but they may not result in a final resolution of the dispute. The

desirability of these alternatives should be evaluated early to allow their timely implementation.

Settlement: It is generally wise at the outset of any litigation proceeding to review the potential for an out-of-court settlement.

Indeed, most matters settle before reaching the trial stage. Settlement can be discussed by any party at any time during litigation and is often a costeffective alternative to trial. Depending upon the court rules, the judicial officer dealing with the pre-trial matters may or may not require the parties to discuss or attempt settlement, but most courts have procedures by which a party can request the court’s assistance in settlement.

Mediation: The parties may be able to negotiate a settlement without outside help, but it is common to involve a neutral third party, known as a “mediator”. This person might be another judge or a retired

YALUMBA LOSES SIGNATURE BATTLE YALUMBA HAS LOST a Federal Court trademark case it hoped would prevent Jacob’s Creek from using the word ‘signature’ to describe a range of Barossa wines.

Since 1966 Yalumba has produced a premium Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz blend which bears the signature of one of the significant members of the winery team on the label.

Jacob’s Creek, owned by Pernod Ricard Winemakers, released three red wines in September 2015 under the Barossa Signature range.

Lawyers representing Yalumba claimed Pernod Ricard had used “deceptive similarity” when it used the ‘signature’ branding. However, Pernod Ricard rejected the notion, arguing the label reflected both the wine’s geographical location and characteristics, and ‘signature’ was used adjectively.

Christophe Jean-Coutures, Pernod Ricard’s chief executive officer, claimed in his affidavit evidence he used the word ‘signature’ in the sense the new products would be identifiable as “quintessential Barossa red wine and that of Jacob’s Creek’s renowned or signature region, the home of the brand, the Barossa”.

When handing down the judgment, Natalie Charlesworth said the case came down to three questions: 1. Whether Pernod Ricard used the words ‘Barossa Signature’ appropriately under the Trade Marks Act; 2. Whether it was deceptively similar to the Yalumba Trademark; and 3. Whether Pernod Ricard used the term “in good faith to indicate the kind, quality, intended purpose, geographical origin or some other characteristic”.

Charlesworth’s conclusion: “The first of those questions should be answered yes. The second should be answered no. It follows that Yalumba’s application must be dismissed. Had it been necessary to answer the third question, I would have determined that issue against Pernod Ricard.”

Robert Hill Smith, Yalumba chairman, told Business Insider he was disappointed the case had been dismissed.

“We have worked long and hard to build the reputation of our fine wine mark, The Signature, which embodies so much that is valued by our wider Yalumba community,” Hill Smith said. “So whilst the law is one aspect of this saga, we value many other aspects of our Australian wine growing culture and its fraternity. We shall be careful to embrace those values forever.”

Yalumba has until late January to appeal the decision.

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judge. The mediator’s job is to assist the parties’ settlement efforts. The parties select the mediator, who meets privately with each party to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each side’s case. The mediator helps the parties identify the risks of the case and encourages them to consider how those risks can affect their goals. The mediator does not have the power to force the parties to agree on a settlement.

Arbitration: Arbitration is an adversarial proceeding in which the parties select a neutral third party, called an “arbitrator”, to resolve their dispute. In arbitration, the parties present evidence and argue the case to the arbitrator, who then decides which party wins. The process is abbreviated and less formal than a trial.

Arbitration often arises from private agreement. Parties who agree to settle their dispute using binding arbitration usually cannot appeal the arbitrator’s ruling to a court.

TEAMWORK A positive result in litigation is nearly always the product of teamwork. By using a team approach, clients and litigation solicitors can adopt the litigation strategy that best suits the clients’ risk tolerance, financial position and overall business objectives. Clients contribute by providing business expertise and knowledge of the facts.

Lawyers, meanwhile, provide expertise on the legal issues, the trial process, the client’s options for resolution, and the potential risks and rewards of each option.

GET LEGAL ADVICE EARLY I have acted as a lawyer in numerous commercial court disputes in the wine industry, ranging from trademark disputes, the Coonawarra GI boundary determination, disputes over the sale and purchase agreements for vineyards and wineries, grape contracts, distribution agreements and a variety of contractual matters. Getting advice early is, in my experience, vital to minimising cost and delay, and getting a strategic advantage in the dispute. Be the prepared one, on the front foot.

Mark Hamilton of Grope Hamilton Lawyers provides specialist national legal services to the Australian wine industry. He has a lifetime of wine sector experience through his involvement with Hamilton’s Ewell Vineyards. He can be contacted on (08) 8231 00898 or 0412 842 359 or by email at mhamilton@ gropehamiltonlawyers.com.au.

January 2017 – Issue 636

Robert Stein’s Riesling success story ROBERT STEIN WINES celebrated their 40th anniversary recently with the release of three new Rieslings and a prerelease of their new flagship red wine, the 2014 Robert Stein ‘The Kinnear’ (RRP $80).

The Anniversary lunch was celebrated with Mudgee’s winemaking fraternity, with patriarch Drew Stein delivering a heartfelt speech on the history of his family and their place in Australia’s winemaking story. Drew’s son and winemaker, Jacob Stein then presented the new wines.

“Our 40th vintage in Mudgee was one of the best in recent memory; a perfect growing season ensuring fantastic flavours and ripeness across a range of varieties,” explained Jacob.

The single vineyard 2016 Robert Stein ‘Reserve’ Riesling is made from grapes grown on Robert Stein’s original 40-year-old ‘Block 1’ plantings. The fruit was whole bunch pressed with minimal winemaking intervention. Fermented with natural yeasts, then matured in older oak barrels on lees.

The 2016 Robert Stein ‘Half Dry’ Riesling has gained a steady following over the past number of years. Hand-picked and whole bunch pressed, 20 per cent of the blend was fermented with wild yeast prior to maturation in seasoned French hogsheads.

The ferment was halted at 10 grams per litre of residual sugar in the style that has proved so popular.

The third Riesling in the portfolio, the highly awarded 2016 Robert Stein Riesling, was made from grapes grown on the Block 1 vineyard and a near-by 47-year-old Mudgee vineyard.

“It’s a real privilege to be making wine here on the family vineyard,” continued Jacob. “Three generations of winemakers is a pretty rare thing. Being able to taste wines that Bob, my Grandfather, made from the vineyards that he planted in 1976, and then use fruit from those very vineyards is quite special.

“Riesling, or Rhine Riesling as it was known in the 70s, was quite different to what we are doing now. Our Reserve and premium Rieslings are bone dry, with crisp acidity. They are wines that will mature in the cellar for decades.”

The history of Robert Stein is one that stems back to 1838 when three Stein brothers ventured to New South Wales as contracted ‘Vine Dressers’ for the Macarthurs of Camden.

2016 RIESLING AWARDS 2016 Robert Stein ‘Reserve’ Riesling • Gold medal: 2016 Australian Southern Highlands Wine Show

2016 Robert Stein ‘Half Dry’ Riesling • Best white wine of show trophy: 2016 Australian Highlands Wine Show • Best Riesling of show trophy: 2016 Australian Highlands Wine Show • Gold medal: 2016 Australian Highlands Wine Show

2016 Robert Stein Riesling • Best Riesling of show trophy: 2016 Cowra Wine Show • Best Riesling of show trophy: 2016 NSW Small Winemakers Wine Show • Elite Gold medal: 2016 Canberra International Riesling Challenge (96+ points) • Gold medal: 2016 Cowra Wine Show • Gold medal: 2016 NSW Small Winemakers Show • Gold medal: 2016 Mudgee Wine Show • Gold medal: 2016 Winewise Small Vigneron Awards • Gold medal: 2016 Australian Small Winemakers Show Johann Stein was the first to arrive, bringing with him Rhine Riesling vines. The original Robert Stein vineyard in Mudgee was established as ‘Sandal Park Estate’. This was a nod to their ancestors ‘Sandal Hill Farm’ in Camden. However, during the early years, it was Bob and his name that customers came to know, and so ‘Sandal Park Estate’ faded from the label.

“Riesling has a strong history in our family,” Jacob said.

“It’s an exciting variety that can be made in more styles than almost any other variety. Spending time in the Rheingau and Rheinhessen regions of Germany fuelled my interest in the variety, and taught me how to coax more complexity and flavour out of our Rieslings.”

Wine Tank Specialists

32 SPEY STREET, INVERCARGILL 9810 • Ph 03 214 4817 • Fax 03 218 3354 • Email andrew@crownsheetmetal.co.nz January 2017 – Issue 636

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young gun

Michael Downer introducing The Surrey Pinot Meunier at the Murdoch Hill cellar door.

Changemaker: Michael Downer Michael Downer is the third generation of his family to work the Murdoch Hill farm, in the Adelaide Hills, but his time there has not been business as usual for the family. Daniel Whyntie reports.

THE FAMILY PROPERTY used to be as much about cattle as it was focussed on growing vines, but Michael Downer’s Artisan Series has built on the reputation of the Murdoch Hill wines and marked a turning point in the farming business.

Downer has applied the lessons learnt from his travels and set out to create wines that would set him apart; wines that have earned him the Young Gun Of Wine ‘winemakers’ choice’ award two years running.

PEER PERFORMANCE There’s no better compliment than that of your competitors, and Downer is on a hot streak. His Artisan Series has now won him back-to-back recognition at the Young Gun Of Wine industry awards.

“It is really an honour to be selected as the winemakers’ choice for the YGOW, it was a huge thrill they enjoyed the wines. I am just trying to make pure wines that are reflective of the fruit I source whilst displaying drinkability, so hopefully this is what the others were seeing,” Downer said.

After studying Oenology Downer embarked on a globetrotting adventure, touring the great wine regions of the world and picking up some experience doing vintages in Barolo, Italy and around Australia, with a few stints in Great Western, Victoria and around the Adelaide Hills.

The Artisan Series was a departure from the established Murdoch Hill wine range and gave Downer the chance to experiment with what he had learnt about the craft.

“The Artisan Series came about from my return to the family vineyard back in 2012, where I wanted to use some of the idea’s

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I had gained from my travels. I felt introducing a new series where I had more freedom to express my ideas and to tell an individual story was important,” Downer said.

The labels tell the story Downer’s grandfather, who established the Murdoch Hill farm back in 1939. Downer developed the idea of paying tribute with his older brother and graphic designer Andrew.

“Andrew had been working wine brands as a designer for a couple of years. We wanted to bring it back to our history; to link the history, the farm and the wine,” Downer said.

“Each wine is named after different horse drawn carriages, my grandfather T. E. Downer was a collector of these carriages of which we still have many at the farm. That timeless technique of transportation, the horse and carriage, fit really well with our old world traditional style winemaking.”

IN THE FAMILY Although Downer has being making his name through the changes he has brought to the winery, his pride in his connection to the family history shines through.

The brothers work together one day a week, when Andrew has some time away from designing and can help out with labels and tastings. And with plans for a full-time cellar door, Downer would love to bring the family back to the farm full time, if his brother can put up with him.

“I would love to be working together. He’s really talented and full of great ideas, I can be a bit bossy but it would be real positive to be working together,” Downer said.

“I am a third-generation farmer, my grandfather bought this

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January 2017 – Issue 636

property back in the early 1930s and my father was an innovator working with various different fields of agriculture. Murdoch Hill is very much a family owned and operated business and is certainly rewarding to be part of that and offer something new to the business.”

The connection he has with the family property means there has never been much thought given to going off and working for another winery.

“I am very fortunate to be giving the opportunity and to be entrusted by the family. I was very young when returning home and have learnt so much since,” Downer said.

The property as a bit of a connection to the odd gamble, with Downer’s grandfather stepping in to buy the farm when the previous owners fell into receivership – after spending too much time at the bookies betting on horses. T. E. was far more interested in the horses when they were attached to carriages, but the family’s move into the winemaking business has proved to be a safer bet.

“Having a small-scale winery has allowed me to experiment with loads of different ideas and is critical in allowing the best parcels to make the premium grade.”

HISTORY IN THE MAKING Across the past five years things have changed dramatically at Murdoch Hill. When Michael first returned home, he spent most of his time looking after the cattle and the vineyard side – rather than making wines.

“When I grew up we had 300 head of cattle. Mum and dad planted the vineyard in 1998 with Sauvignon Blanc, supplying the local market. Then stretched into Cabernet and Chardonnay, then into Shiraz. It was the late 90s era of a lot of new plantings, we had 50 acres and sold most of the fruit.”

Today Downer takes about a third of what is grown on the property and spends most of his time on his own wines. He reckons the willingness to adapt comes from his dad, Charlie – who has a keen eye for opportunity and readiness to try anything.

“Dad’s always done a mix of some sort; we’ve had potatoes, tulips nursery. There was always something different, then investors from town came out with the opportunity, we got the right consultants in and made sure we picked the right varieties,” Downer said. “We’re a farming family so understand how it works. We’ve had some tough years, some low yield years, ups and downs, but the cattle price wasn’t great then either so it always looked like a great investment.”

Downer has been on a mission to systematically improve the vineyard, the winemaking and the finished products since taking over the reins, starting with the first few barrels of the Artisan Series.

“I have converted most the vineyard to cane pruning and started a program to eradicate Eutypa. This year we are trialling an undervine mower to free us of any herbicide use, over the coming years I will be looking into converting the vineyard to more organic sustainable vineyard practices,” he said.

“I started changing our fruit source to growers in the higher parts of the (Adelaide) Hills for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, and I now want to improve the material in our vineyard with improved clones and new varieties so more fruit from the vineyard can go into the Murdoch Hill wines.”

While his first steps with the Artisan Series wines were intuitive, the success has shown him the way forward.

“Making those first wines and getting recognition for the shift in style I had taken was a huge highlight along with my first trophy for Shiraz at the local wine show. The evolution and transition of the core Murdoch Hill wines was more challenging as it stemmed away from the core wine business my family introduced and shifted to a more dynamic market.”

January 2017 – Issue 636

ARTISAN BUSINESS Downer is now the winemaker behind both the Artisan Series and the core range of Murdoch Hill wines, allowing him to better control both directions in a way that compliments each other; one left of centre, the other more mainstream.

“I wanted to significantly improve the quality to not only make high quality wines but also give people drinkable wine styles. I wanted people to hear and talk about the wines Murdoch Hill is producing, bring some energy and excitement to the business,” he said.

He uses a minimalistic approach when styling his Artisan Series. The handmade wines are made in small batches using a diverse range of vineyard sites throughout the Adelaide Hills.

“These wines are made in a less conventional approach, reflecting either unique vineyards or wine styles from the Adelaide Hills,” Downer said.

“I am looking to make vibrant, nervy wines that showcase the vineyard or style.

“Firstly looking at harvesting much earlier to keep natural acidity and freshness in mind, gentle extraction or infusion techniques with high level of whole bunch resulting in much more vibrant but gentle wines for early enjoyment, to retain this freshness I am looking at largely old barrel maturation for a shorter period of time and the wines are bottled earlier with freshness in mind.

“Selling those first releases of the Artisan Series was tough, however it was imperative to gain an understanding of the markets and what the consumers either in retail or on premise were looking for. I think spending time on the ground in those early days really set us up to find a good distribution and understand the market,” he said.

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winemaking

2016 wine show winners: Most successful exhibitor: Shingleback Wines Best small producer: 2014 Zerella Home Block Shiraz Best single vineyard wine (any style other than Shiraz): 2015 S.C. Pannell Touriga Cabernet Mataro Best single vineyard viticulturist: Richard Leaske Best single vineyard Shiraz: 2014 Zerella Home Block Shiraz Best Grenache: 2015 Willunga 100 The Hundred Grenache Best Shiraz: 2015 Serafino Sorrento Shiraz Best Cabernet Sauvignon: 2015 Hardy Chronicles Cabernet Sauvignon McLaren Vale royalty: Steve Pannell and Fiona Lindquist.

Two-in-a-row for Mclaren Vale’s Steve Pannell MCLAREN VALE WINEMAKER and industry icon, Steve Pannell of S.C. Pannell Wines, has been re-crowned as the 2016 Bushing King; his second consecutive win of the region’s top award in the McLaren Vale Wine Show.

The prestigious title was awarded at the 52nd annual MGA Insurance McLaren Vale Winemakers Bushing Lunch held at Serafino Wines.

The 2015 S.C. Pannell Touriga Cabernet Mataro was the highest scoring wine of the 2016 Wine Show as judged by an impressive panel of international and Australian judges including Adam Dromi, The Wine House LA, Dave Bicknell, Chief Winemaker Oakridge Estate and David Le Mire MW of Shaw & Smith.

Jim Chatto, 2016 Chair of Judges, praised the emerging varietals of the region.

“My brief to the judges was simple; look for delicious regional wines of natural fruit character, balance and harmony, regardless of variety and/or style. Look for wines which complement

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the place, the cuisine, and the lifestyle; that is McLaren Vale,” said Chatto.

“Every time I visit McLaren vale I am blown away by the enthusiasm and energy throughout industry. McLaren Vale is easily one of the most dynamic and exciting wine regions in Australia today.”

This year’s McLaren Vale Wine Show received more than 700 entries from 102 producers, with gold medals being awarded to 34 different producers.

Grenache dominant blends were the one of the strongest classes of the 2016 Wine Show, with a large portion of the gold medal wines awarded in the varietal class, reinforcing McLaren Vale’s declaration as Australia’s leading Grenache producing region.

Jennifer Lynch, McLaren Vale Grape Wine & Tourism Association General Manager, is pleased the annual Wine Show continues to be recognised as the premier regional wine show in Australia.

“The McLaren Vale Wine Show showcases not just the premium wines www.winetitles.com.au

Every time I visit McLaren vale I am blown away by the enthusiasm and energy throughout industry. McLaren Vale is easily one of the most dynamic and exciting wine regions in Australia today. of the region, but the unique people and their stories too,” Lynch said.

“Acting as a vehicle to champion our regional varietal heroes – The Bushing Lunch is the perfect culmination to celebrate the fantastic food and wine culture the McLaren Vale region is renowned for.”

January 2017 – Issue 636

Profitability impacts of the WET Rebate cap changes University research to identify whether certain geographical areas will be significantly affected Aron Woosnam and Steve Goodman, from the University of Adelaide Business School, will lead a project which will plot the regional impacts of changes to the WET Rebate cap.

THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE’S Masters of Business Administration program has a research component of the program that is dedicated to business problems and solutions.

A project about to commence, involves research on the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) and more specifically, researching the effects of changes in the WET Rebate cap on producers’ profitability.

Principally this will involve surveying a selection of representative producers to gain a detailed understanding of the operational cost structures and balance sheets of producers.

The selection of wine producers will be limited to those that have at least $1,000,000 and no more than $3,000,000 in revenue from WET applicable sales.

This is going to be undertaken using an online survey, supported by Winetitles using information from the Wine Industry Directory.

This selection will provide a sample of producers that are most likely to be effected by changes in WET cap. By using a model borrowed from corporate valuation (Free Cash Flow) it should be possible to determine the current profitability of producers within this sample and rank them against an industry benchmark.

Once a baseline case has been generated with the current WET Rebate Cap it will be possible to change the value at which the WET Rebate Cap becomes binding and therefore determine the effect on profitability.

After the effects have been discovered, the intention is to map these effects to geographic locations across Australia to model which areas that will be most affected from changes in the WET Rebate Cap. Since consultation with producers and the Federal Government on changes in the WET Rebate cap and the definition of a producers has concluded, it is expected the WET Rebate Cap and the definition of a producer will be significant changed in the coming year.

For this reason, the research is examining the effects of different WET Rebate Caps on the profitability of producers and attempting to measure if any certain geographical areas would be significantly affected by these modelled changes in the WET Rebate Cap. The findings from the research should be able to illustrated the predictable effect of changes in the WET Rebate Cap on the expected profitability of producers.

Specifically, producers that are similar to the representative sample will be able to use the finding as a guide for navigating future changes in the WET Rebate Cap and changes to the definition of a wine producer.

The benchmarking of the industry’s profitability will also provide producers with a suitable benchmark and techniques to measure their own operations, to ascertain if continued production is a suitable course of action into the future.

January 2017 – Issue 636

Lastly mapping the expected effects on wine producers to geographic areas will provide insights to industry bodies and Government organisations to the regional effects of changes to the WET Rebate Cap.

About the researchers: Aron Woosnam is a Financial Analyst at Paradigm Advice who specialises in complex financial situations and is currently undertaking is MBA at the University of Adelaide.

Dr Steve Goodman is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Adelaide who specialises in Wine Business research. He is the author of Principles of Wine Marketing.

For further information, please contact Kauri AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 Email: info@kauriwine.com

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NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE Website: www.kauriwine.com

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Bruce Tyrrell claims the Graham Gregory Award BRUCE TYRRELL, managing director at Tyrrell’s Wines, was presented with the prestigious Graham Gregory Award at the 2016 NSW Wine Awards, held late in 2016 at Pier One, on Sydney Harbour.

The Graham Gregory Award is a highly-coveted citation, named after wine industry pioneer and former Deputy Director General of NSW Agriculture – Graham Gregory. The award recognises an outstanding lifetime contribution to the New South Wales wine industry.

At the helm of one of Australia’s most successf ul family-owned, multigenerational wine companies, Tyrrell has a long history of being highly active in the NSW Hunter Valley industry, serving in a number of high profile positions including director of the Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association (HVWTA); former president of Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association; and director of the Hunter Valley Research Foundation.

Bruce Tyrrell, managing director at Tyrrell’s Wines.

Bruce is a tireless advocate of Australian wine and embodies the essence of the industry itself.

His knowledge and understanding of the history of the industry is profound and he has played a pivotal role in the shaping of the Australian wine industry’s enviable position on the world stage.

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“Bruce is a tireless advocate of Australian wine and embodies the essence of the industry itself. His knowledge and understanding of the history of the industry is profound and he has played a pivotal role in the shaping of the Australian wine industry’s enviable position on the world stage,” said George Souris, HVWTA chairman.

Bruce is third representative of the Tyrrell’s wine company to be awarded the Graham Gregory. His father, Murray, was given the honour in 1993 and Murray Flannigan, Tyrrell’s long-serving cellar door ‘private bin’ host, claimed the award in 2007.

The past winners’ list features some of the most significant figures in the Hunter Valley grape and wine community – Phil Ryan (former Mt Pleasant chief winemaker); Iain Riggs (Brokenwood managing director, chief winemaker and part owner); Brian McGuigan (former Wyndham Estate owner and McGuigan Wines co-founder); and the late Len Evans (who was described as “Australia’s leading ambassador of wine”).

Also announced at the NSW Wine Awards gala presentation lunch were the top trophy results and included winning wines from an incredible six Hunter Valley producers: Best young Semillon: First Creek 2016 SV Murphys Semillon (Hunter Valley); Best young Chardonnay: First Creek 2014 Winemakers Reserve Chardonnay (Hunter Valley); Best young white (other varieties): Tulloch Wines 2016 Cellar Door Release Pinot Gris (Orange); Best mature dry white: Tyrrell’s 2009 Vat 1 Semillon (Hunter Valley); Best light red: Tulloch Wines 2016 Cellar Door Release Sangiovese Rosé (Orange); Best young other red: Tamburlaine 2015 Reserve Malbec (Orange); Best young red blend: Pokolbin Estate 2014 Phoenix Shiraz Tempranillo (Hunter Valley); Best organic wine: Tamburlaine 2015 Reserve Malbec (Orange); Best sparkling wine: De Iuliis 2011 Sparkling Chardonnay (Hunter Valley); and Best dry white: Tyrrell’s 2009 Vat 1 Semillon (Hunter Valley).

January 2017 – Issue 636

The teams catch up at the 19th hole to rehydrate.

Della Toffola Pacific Masters: Glenelg 2016 BACK AT THE inaugural home – the Glenelg Golf Course, where it all started back in 2013 – the 2016 Masters field was hotly contested with 11 teams vying for the coveted DT Masters trophy. This year saw an overall representation from 24 wineries and associated wine service companies across six wine regions hit the links on December 8.

In challenging conditions the team of Dan Standish (Standish Wine Company), Fraser McKinley (Sami Odi), Ben Marx (Knappstein) and Karl Knight (Accolade – Berri Estates) took out the honours with an overall score of 58.5.

Blair Hanel, Della Toffola Pacific national sales manager said the DT Masters has grown to be a leading wine industry event “and being back at Glenelg offered everyone a chance to play on a championship golf course”.

“Of course there was lots of camaraderie and even more heightened stories of good and bad golf, but the main thing was to be able to bring back some good old-fashioned networking amongst peers alike in the wine industry,” Hanel said.

January 2017 – Issue 636

Winners are grinners: Ben Marx, Fraser McKinley, Blair Hanel, Dan Standish, and Karl Knight.

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people & places

Wine Industry Suppliers Australia AGM THE WINE INDUSTRY SUPPLIERS AUSTRALIA AGM and networking barbecue was held at the Leukaemia Foundation Village, in Northfield (Adelaide) on December 15.

The committee farewelled outgoing member Elizabeth Bouzoudis (Winetitles Media); confirmed the renominated and continuing members – David Evans (Scholle IPN), Jordan Abbott (Bentleys SA), Darren Oemcke (Hydra), Eddie Lane (Cold Logic), Paula Edwards (Wine Grapes Australia), Kate Bickford (DW Fox

tucker Lawyers) and Chris Mulhallen (Cru.io Wine Marketing); and welcomed two new committee members – Ron Chowanetz (Money Resources) and Nathan Gogoll (Winetitles Media).

Evans was re-elected as the chair; Edwards was elected as the vice chair; and Abbott as treasurer/public officer/secretary.

A positive end-of-year result for the association allowed for a $5000 donation to the Leukaemia Foundation.

David Evans, WISA chair, presented Simon Matthias, representing the Leukaemia Foundation, with a cheque for $5000.

Gaetan Tissier (J.M. Tissier), Carol Haslam (Slow Tours) and George Willcox (George Willcox Consulting).

Alex Bloke, Stephanie Derwent-Smith (VWR International) and Matthew Moate (WISA).

Hartley Higgins (Winetitles Media), Ron Chowanetz (Money Resources) and Katherine Crane (bizeez communications) with Matilda.

Nicholas Rayner (RS Components) and Maria Stephenson (Winetitles Media).

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Jordan Abbott (Bentleys SA), Jim Travers and Brian Cook (Corporate Machinery Brokers), with Patrick and Judith Iland (Patrick Iland Wine Promotions). www.winetitles.com.au

January 2017 – Issue 636

Long list of accolades for Tamburlaine in 2016 TAMBURLAINE ORGANIC WINES collected a swag of trophies and medals in 2016, with accolades from the NSW Wine Awards; National Cool Climate Wine Show; Australian Highlands Wine Show; Hunter Valley Wine Show; Orange Wine Awards; and the International Riesling Challenge.

Mark Davidson, Tamburlaine winemaker and managing director, said across 10 years of organic viticulture in Orange the vineyards had produced stellar results.

“As well as the results in wine shows this year, the Borenore vineyard which was a sheep farm 20 years ago, has over

AWARDS RECEIVED IN 2016: 2015 Orange Reserve Malbec: • Two trophies at the National Cool Climate Wine Show • Trophy at the Orange Wine Show • Gold medal at the NSW Wine Awards • Gold medal at the Australian Highlands Wine Show 2004 Orange Reserve Riesling: • 95 points and a gold medal at the International Riesling Challenge 2015 Hunter Reserve Chardonnay: • Silver medal Hunter Valley Wine Show 2015 Orange Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon: • Silver medal Orange Wine Show • Silver medal Australian Highlands Wine Show • Silver medal NSW Wine Awards 2015 Wine Lovers Red Blend: • Silver medal Orange Wine Show

2015 On the Grapevine Merlot: • Silver medal National Cool Climate Wine Show 2015 Orange Reserve Chardonnay: • Silver medal Australian Highlands Wine Show • Bronze medal Orange Wine Show 2016 Orange Reserve Sauvignon Blanc: • Silver medal Australian Highlands Wine Show 2015 Orange Reserve Merlot: • Silver medal Australian Highlands Wine Show • Bronze medal Orange Wine Show 2015 Orange Reserve Riesling: • Bronze medal International Riesling Challenge • Bronze medal Orange Wine Show 2016 Orange Reserve Riesling: • Bronze medal Orange Wine Show

the years picked up golds and trophies for Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and botrytis wines and has not had systemic fungicides, pesticides or herbicides applied for over a decade.

“We don’t need more evidence about the quality of this vineyard, organic management or the versatility of the Orange climate for premium varietals.”

As reinforced by the NSW Wine Awards, Orange is proving to be a top region for organic wine. Tamburlaine winemakers collected ‘best other red variety’ for the second year running with their Malbec, as well as ‘best organic wine’ in NSW, also for the second successive year. The Malbec also collected ‘champion dry red’ at the National Cool Climate Wine Show.

Aaron Mercer, Tamburlaine senior winemaker added: “It’s so encouraging to see organics making a statement in the wine industry. We hope to go beyond this and see more vineyard carbon neutrality, no added preservative and vegan-friendly wines in the spotlight in coming years.”

We don’t need more evidence about the quality of this vineyard, organic management or the versatility of the Orange climate for premium varietals.

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January 2017 – Issue 636

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Ethyl acetate – a misunderstood fermentation problem Analytical Services

Steve Byrne and Greg Howell, from Vintessential Laboratories, provide some background to ethyl acetate formation in wine, including factors that can lead to increased concentration. The pair will also clarify how it is analysed in the lab (or more importantly, how it is not analysed) and examine the correlation between ethyl acetate and acetic acid formation in wine.

ETHYL ACETATE has long been associated with wine spoilage, imparting a distinct nail polish remover aroma to affected wine. Although a common taint, it has not traditionally been a very common test in our labs.

One reason for this may be due to misconceptions about how it is measured in the lab and the misapprehension that it can be estimated from more common tests such as volatile acidity or acetic acid – which it can’t!

Recently however, there has been a surge in requests for this analysis across our five labs and it has prompted us to take a closer look at this compound.

FERMENTATION ORIGIN Ethyl acetate is the most common ester produced in wine.

In simplified terms, an ester is an organic aroma-producing compound formed by a reaction between an acid and an alcohol.

In grapes and wine, they are most commonly produced by yeasts during fermentation, creating by-products that react with ethanol to form esters.

Some of these esters are used within the yeast cell for other processes; some are produced in excess and excreted into the wine.

Ethyl acetate can also be produced by acetic acid bacteria, reportedly under low oxygen conditions (1) and also by very slow esterification of ethanol and acetic acid over time.

In addition to these main factors, other factors such as the level of nitrogen present, the concentration of sulfur dioxide and the activity of acetic acid bacteria can also affect the amount of ethyl acetate produced.

SENSORY THRESHOLD The presence of ethyl acetate is not all bad. At low levels it imparts a fruity character to wine and a positive contribution to wine aroma.

The aroma threshold in wine is around 12-14mg/L (4) and levels up to around 60mg/L are considered to have a positive effect on the wine.

The concentration at which ethyl acetate is described as imparting a spoilage character to the wine is subjective and depends on variety, wine style and a drinker’s sensitivity to the ester. A general consensus is that levels above 150mg/L are problematic.

The average concentration across all wines tested in our labs across the past five years is 127 mg/L. Around 25% of all wines had a concentration of less than 60 mg/L. 34% of all wines tested had a concentration greater than 150 mg/L and a handful of wines reached concentrations in excess of 600 mg/L.

FACTORS AFFECTING FORMATION DURING FERMENTATION Some species of yeasts have a propensity to produce more ethyl acetate than others (see Table 1).

‘Native’ or ‘spoilage’ yeasts are known to produce higher levels than Saccharomyces species, so it makes sense that the prevalence of these yeasts can lead to increased levels of ethyl acetate in the finished wine.

Any environmental factors that increase the speed of fermentation will decrease the rate of ester production. High fermentation temperatures generally speed up a ferment, so cooler temperatures can result in higher ester production and retention - one source reported that maximum formation of ethyl acetate occurred over the temperature range of 10 to 21 degrees Celsius (2).

Table 1: Level of ethyl acetate produced by different yeast species during fermentation. (3) SPECIES

ETHYL ACETATE PRODUCED

Saccharomyces cerivisiae

10 - 100mg/L

Kloeckera apiculata

25 - 375mg/L

Candida krusei

220 - 730mg/L

Hansenula anomala

137 - 2150mg/L

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Figure 1: Survey of ethyl acetate concentration in 2016 Pinot Noir samples.

A recent analysis of around 50 wines of the same variety, same vintage and made in Victorian regions showed a range of ethyl acetate concentrations from just above 50 mg/L up to 170 mg/L (see Figure 1).

TESTING FOR ETHYL ACETATE Ethyl acetate is the ester of acetic acid and many of the factors contributing to high levels of ethyl acetate also contribute to production of acetic acid. Generally speaking, high levels of acetic acid correlate with high levels of ethyl acetate present in a wine. This is not always the case and factors such as yeast strain and fermentation conditions can lead to high levels of

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January 2017 – Issue 636

Figure 2: Correlation between concentration of ethyl acetate and acetic acid in 2016 pinot noir samples.

ethyl acetate with corresponding low levels of acetic acid. For this reason, it is not always wise to rely on analysis of acetic acid alone as an indicator of wine spoilage.

Figure 2 shows the correlation between wines tested in our lab for both ethyl acetate and acetic acid. As you can see, a positive correlation exists, however itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a relatively weak linear relationship.

Although measurements of high and low ethyl acetate were observed under all different winemaking approaches, it was generally observed within this data set that wines containing high ethyl acetate and low acetic acid had longer pre-ferment macerations, longer fermentation duration and were made without the addition of a commercial yeast.

Ethyl acetate is analysed in our lab by Gas Chromatography (see figure 3). It cannot be analysed by the steam distillation

January 2017 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Issue 636

determination of Volatile Acidity (VA). Put simply, the Volatile Acidity test by definition measures acids â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and ethyl acetate is not an acid.

We have found this to be a major misconception in the wine industry: that ethyl acetate is included in the analysis and reporting of VA. It is understandable that this misconception exists - many text books more than 10 years old incorrectly state that ethyl acetate is measured as part of VA. It is not. To summarise the relationship between the three terms that are often (and incorrectly) used interchangeably:

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• Acetic acid is the main volatile acid in wine and is included in the analysis of VA by steam distillation. It is also analysed by more specific methods, most commonly enzymatic analysis; and • Ethyl acetate is not a volatile acid and therefore not determined by steam distillation or specific methods determining acetic acid. Its presence in wine can enhance the perception of volatile acidity, however that is a sensory effect and is not related to a particular analytical determination.

• Volatile Acidity (VA) is a measure of all volatile acids in wine. These acids can include: acetic acid (the main volatile acid in wine), lactic acid, formic acid, butyric acid, propionic acid, sorbic acid, carbonic acid and sulfurous acid;

ANCHOR ALCHEMY RED Two new yeast blends scientifically formulated for enhanced fruitiness and complexity in quality red wines

CONCLUSION Ethyl acetate has long been known to impact on wine quality in both a positive and negative way. Concentrations can vary from levels below sensory threshold up to spoilage levels greater than 150 mg/L. Yeast strain, fermentation conditions and bacterial activity are some of the main factors affecting concentration.

Although high acetic acid content and the presence of ethyl acetate are generally associated with each other, the two compounds are not always produced in a set ratio. Importantly, acetic acid can be determined by VA analysis, ethyl acetate cannot. Analysis of ethyl acetate by GC has become more popular recently, with winemakers using this result as a tool to better gauge spoilage levels in their wine, rather than analysis of VA or acetic acid alone.

make to make the perfect the perfect sparkling sparkling wine. wine.

References

1. Fugelsang, K.C; Wine Microbiology, Chapman & Hall, 1996, p.56.

2. Zoecklein, BW. Fugelsang, KC. Gump, BH. Nury, FS; Wine Analysis and Production, Aspen Publishers, Inc., New York 1995, p. 196.

olution a unique based solution on naturally based onoccurring naturallymannoproteins occurring mannoproteins that can improve that can theimprove quality the of your quality sparkling of your sparkling Complex Red Wines Intense Fruit Red Wines Fleet, G; Wine Microbiology and Biotechnology, CRC Press, 1993 p.39. nblyit noticeably enhance the enhance mouthfeel the and mouthfeel tartaricand stability, tartaricbutstability, it also preserves but it alsotheir preserves elegance, their freshness elegance,and freshness3.and egardless nvenient: regardless of whether your of whether sparkling yourwine sparkling is made wine byisthe made Charmat by theorCharmat traditional or method, traditional you method, simplyyou simply 4. Margalit, Y; Concepts in Wine Chemistry, The Wine Appreciation Guild, South tely P immediately before bottling. before bottling.

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Phone: 1300(Australia-wide) 30 2242 (Australia-wide) or +61 3 5987 2242.

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January 2017 – Issue 636

World’s best sommeliers to visit Australia THE BEST SOMMELIERS in the world will be invited to discover Australia’s incredible wine offering as part of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017, being held in Melbourne in April. The World’s 50 Best Restaurants have partnered with Tourism Australia to bring the renowned event to Australian shores, where world-leading chefs, restaurateurs, media and influencers will gather to celebrate the best in global gastronomy.

Adding to the excitement of the most influential chefs across the globe visiting Australia for the awards, Wine Australia will host the world’s leading sommeliers at the same time.

The group will include sommeliers from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, the Best Sommelier in the World competition and top sommeliers in New Zealand and Australia.

“This event presents a wonderful opportunity for us to engage with sommeliers who are at the top of their game and showcase the sophistication and diversity of Australian wine, alongside our unique produce,” said Andreas Clark, Wine Australia CEO. “This will be the first time we have so many of the world’s best and most influential sommeliers in the country at the same time. We look forward to immersing them in our dynamic wine culture and hope they walk away with a refreshed perspective and love of Australian wine.”

The sommeliers will participate in a dedicated program designed by Wine Australia and experience all that the culinary capital of Melbourne has to offer during the awards, which coincides with the 25th Anniversary of Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. As Official Wine Partner of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, Wine Australia has selected a panel of renowned Australian wine experts to choose the wines being served across the official program of events.

The panel has been designed to capture a wealth of experience and diversity in the wine sector with members including Franck Moreau, MS, wine writer Mike Bennie and Andrew Calliard, MW. “The panel will play an important role using its expertise to ensure a range of our finest wines are presented at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ events. It is no small task to choose from so many fantastic Australian wines and each bottle will be carefully considered to match the style and menus being created for the events,” Clark said.

William Drew, Group Editor of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, said: “We could not be more delighted to be partnering with Wine Australia for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017 event program. Wine is a key aspect of the overall gastronomic experience and Australia boasts some of the finest wine producers in the world, so this collaboration makes perfect sense.”

Members of the Wine Australia World’s 50 Best Restaurants panel include: Ned Goodwin (MW, wine consultant), Andrew Calliard (MW, Langtons), Phil Reedman (MW, wine consultant), Franck Moreau (MS, Merivale), Sebastian Crowther (MS, Rockpool Group), Amanda Yallop (Quay), Mike Bennie (wine journalist), Andrea Frost (wine journalist), Dan Sims (Bottle Shop Concepts), Judy Sarris (Gourmet Traveller Wine), Geoff Ikin (Tourism Australia) and Mark Davidson (Wine Australia).

January 2017 – Issue 636

NEW 2016-17 VINTAGE CATALOGUE OUT NOW! Packed with Vintage essentials. Available for download from our website.

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ask the Understanding molecular SO2 Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a key preservative used in winemaking, but how it works in wine is quite complicated.

Concentrations of SO2 required to prevent microbial growth are often quoted as molecular SO2, but winemakers can be more familiar with discussing free and total SO2. This column brings together answers to some of the more common questions about the different forms of SO2 in wine, how much is needed and which factors can change its effectiveness.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF SO2 PRESENT IN WINE?

WHAT CONCENTRATION OF MOLECULAR SO2 SHOULD I AIM FOR?

Sulfur dioxide exists as a gas but when added to wine it converts to one of three forms: molecular (SO2), bisulfite(HSO3-) and sulfite (SO32-). At wine pH, the most abundant forms of SO2 are molecular SO2 and bisulfite. The molecular form is responsible for the antioxidant and antimicrobial effects of SO2 in wine.

The answer to this question depends on many factors, including the type of wine (red, white, sweet or dry etc.), whether you are trying to protect against oxidation or whether you are trying to inhibit a particular microorganism. However, in general, winemakers should aim to achieve more than 0.8 mg/L molecular SO2 in white wines and more than 0.6 mg/L in reds.

HOW ARE THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF SO2 MEASURED IN WINE? In wineries, SO2 is measured as free, bound and total forms.

The free SO2 is the unreacted components and is made up of mostly the molecular (SO2) and bisulfite (HSO3-) forms. Bound SO2 is the portion of the bisulfite form which binds with other wine components such as pigments and phenolics. Total SO2 is the total amount of SO2 added, or the sum of the free and bound fractions.

HOW DO I CALCULATE THE CONCENTRATION OF MOLECULAR SO2?

The easiest way to obtain a molecular SO2 value is to use the AWRI’s molecular SO2 calculator, which can be found on the calculators page on the AWRI website. To calculate molecular SO2, the concentration of free SO2 and the wine pH must be known. The AWRI calculator uses the following formula: Molecular SO2 = free SO2 / (1 + 10pH-1.8) (Margalit 1997)

WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW THE PH WHEN CONSIDERING MY SO2 ADDITIONS?

Wine pH influences the amount of SO2 that is present in the molecular form. Molecular SO2 is more abundant at low pH than at high pH. For example, for the same level of free SO2, there will be twice as much molecular SO2 at pH 3.5 than at pH 3.8 (Delfini and Formica, 2001). The effect that pH has on the equilibrium between the molecular and bisulfite forms of SO2 is shown in Figure 1.

where the values for both the molecular and free SO2 are in mg/L. This formula was derived using data for the SO2 equilibrium in water at 25°C, so the influence of alcohol content is not considered.

WHICH OTHER WINE PARAMETERS AFFECT THE AMOUNT OF MOLECULAR SO2 PRESENT IN WINE?

After pH, the main two compositional factors that influence the amount of molecular SO2 in wine are temperature and alcohol. Increases in these two factors lead to increases in the molecular SO2 concentration, with temperature having a greater effect than alcohol. This means that for a given pH and free SO2 level, a lower alcohol wine will have lower molecular SO2 than a higher alcohol wine and a wine held at a lower temperature will have lower molecular SO2 than a wine held at a higher temperature.

For more information about SO2 in wine, contact the AWRI helpdesk on helpdesk@awri.com.au or 08 8313 6600.

References

Delfini, C., Formica, J. V. 2001. Wine microbiology: science and technology. New York, USA: Marcel Dekker Inc.: 99–111.

Margalit, Y. 1997. Concepts in wine chemistry. The Wine Appreciation Guild Ltd: South San Francisco, CA, USA: 255–257.

Figure 1. Distribution by percentage of the molecular and bisulfite forms of SO2 as a function of pH (at 20°C and 0% alcohol).

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January 2017 – Issue 636

Winery safety guide launched in time for vintage SAFEWORK NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association have launched a new safety guide for the NSW wine industry to keep the thousands of workers in the industry safe.

The Guide to managing risks in wineries was launched at Tyrrell’s Winery in the Hunter Valley late in 2016 with representatives from industry and local wineries in attendance.

Tony Williams, SafeWork NSW Regional Operations and Sector Initiatives group director, said the publication provides practical guidance on how businesses and workers can manage work health and safety in wineries.

“Wineries need effective safety controls due to the high risk tasks that are undertaken, including confined space work, hot work, forklift operations and the handling and storage of hazardous chemicals, including ethanol,” Williams said.

“The importance of controlling these risks is highlighted by the 1206 reported employment injuries during the last five

years at a cost of $15 million to the NSW Workers Compensation System.

“The most common injuries include trips, slips and falls, and musculoskeletal injuries from hazardous manual tasks.

“Every worker has the right to return home safely to their loved ones at the end of the working day and this guide will play an important role in keeping workers in the industry safe.”

Tom Ward, president of NSW Wine Industry Association said: “The New South Wales Wine Industry Association recognises that work health and safety is the responsibility of each and every one of us, and is pleased to have been working in partnership with SafeWork to pursue a common aim to minimise the incidence of serious workplace injury.”

The Guide to managing risks in wineries is relevant to everyone working in a winery, including those in wine production, bottling, packaging, storage, sales and distribution. It should be read in conjunction with other codes of practice relevant to wine production.

Work health and safety is the responsibility of each and every one of us, and is pleased to have been working in partnership with SafeWork to pursue a common aim to minimise the incidence of serious workplace injury.

The Guide and other information on safe wine production can be found on the SafeWork NSW website, www.safework. nsw.gov.au.

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January 2017 – Issue 636

HOURS New Zealand

Australia P 02 9882 3666 E amsl@amsl.com.au W www.amsl.com.au

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P 09 259 4062 E nzms@nzms.co.nz W www.nzms.co.nz

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‘Wine growth’ fund delivers across Victoria A U S T R A L I A

A U S T R A L I A

VICTORIA’S WINE INDUSTRY has been backed with more than $650,000 in funding given to businesses and organisations that plan to increase exports into overseas markets, boost wine tourism and grow the wine community.

Wine Victoria joined Jaala Pulford, the Minister for Agriculture, to launch the $1million Wine Growth Fund which aims to develop and sustainably grow the wine industry in Victoria by providing growers and winemakers with funding to build both domestic and international markets.

“These grants will help producers, intermediaries and representative bodies to maximised the opportunities available to better market and export some of Australia’s best wine,” Pulford said.

Grants of up to $20,000 were available to individual organisations and $50,000 was available for collaborative projects, to support activities including marketing, exporting, tourism and business development and is provided on a matched contribution basis (dollarfor-dollar).

Damien Sheehan, Wine Victoria chair, welcomed the government support of the grape and wine community.

“As the Australian dollar drops and the strength of Victoria’s tourism grows, now is the time to increase the world’s knowledge of our premium wine offering by increasing cellar door visitation and growing exports in key markets,” Sheehan said.

“The investment gives us the ability to partner with the government on key issues that can reverse our profitability issues.”

THE SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS: A.T. Richardson Wines – $20,000 for a cellar door/visitor facility; Alpine Valley Vignerons – $20,000 for the regional project; Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show – $15,000 for the 2016 Talk & Taste; Beechworth Vignerons Association – $5000 for trade and media tastings; Bendigo Winegrowers Association – $20,000 for a ‘brand awareness’ project; Billy Button Wines – $19,000 for a cellar door development project; Campbells Wines –$10,000 for export market development; Domaine Asmara – $8000 foster the Chinese export market; Rutherglen Estates – $20,000 for cellar

78 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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door upgrade and art gallery; Geelong Winegrowers Association – $20,000 for wine tourism projects; Grampians & Pyrenees Tourism – $30,000 for a wine tourism plan; Grampians & Pyrenees – $17,000 for the Great Southern Road trip itinerary; Grampians Winemakers – $5500 for strategic marketing and branding; Heathcote Cellar Doors Alliance – $10,000 for a digital/social campaign; Heathcote Winegrowers Association – $10,000 for a multi-platform website; Indigo Wine Company – $15,000 for a limited pop-up wine events vehicle; Jones Winery & Vineyard – $10,000 for a export sales project; Kyneton Ridge Estate – $5000 for a regeneration initiative; Lethbridge Wines – $16,145 for a ‘sustainability through mulch and compost’ project; Lyons Will Estate – $17,500 for the development of a cellar door; McPherson Wines Victoria – $7,500 for My Wine Country; Mitchelton Wines – $25,000 for a chocolate festival; Montara Winery – $15,000 for a cellar door expansion; Mount Langi Ghiran Winery – $3950 for the Mount Langi Ghiran Picnic Idyll; Mount Towrong Vineyard – $20,000 establish a cellar door and café; North East Wine Tourism and Cellar Door – $50,000 visitation research project; Pfeiffer Wines – $10,000 for a UK consultant; Pyrenees Grape Growers and Winemakers Association – $23,500 for the Pyrenees Unearthed stage 2; Rosdal Wines – $20,000 for a new, purpose-built cellar door; Serengale Vineyard – $20,000 for a cellar door development project; Tahbilk Winery & Vineyard – $25,000 for the Nagambie Lakes Opera Festival; Ultimate Winery Experiences – $34,000 for a wine trail launch; Victorian Alps Winery/Gapsted Wines – $10,000 for a website and App; Vinea Marson – $20,000 for a cellar door development project; and Wine Victoria – $35,000 for a North America inbound trade mission in 2017; Wines of Gippsland – $25,000 for branding and promotion for the Wines of Gippsland; and Wines of the King Valley – $25,000 for Sydney market development.

January 2017 – Issue 636

business & technology

Peter Hasko and Ben Hasko (right) celebrate the recent success.

Australia gains a third Master Sommelier Ben Hasko has just become only the third Australian to complete from the Master Sommelier examination.

Sydney based Ben Hasko, who runs Cru Wines (a specialist wine importer and distributor) and Bootleggers (an equally exclusive online wine retailer), joins Franck Moreau MS of Merivale and Sebastian Crowther MS of the Rockpool Group, who have also passed one of the hardest exams known to man to earn the right to put the letters MS after their names.

Becoming a Master Sommelier is no mean feat and many have argued that the process of testing and preparing for entry into the Court of Master Sommeliers is even harder than studying for a medical degree, taking years to prepare for.

To even be eligible for the exam you must first graduate as an Introductory Sommelier, then a Certified Sommelier, and then an Advanced Sommelier, before applying to be considered.

Entrance to the final exam is by invitation only. Since the Court’s inception in 1969, only 236 (with Ben being officially no. 236) have graduated and each year the pass rate is normally less than per cent. In 2016, just 6 people gained one of the most exclusive professional credentials in the world: Master Sommelier.

Ben’s achievement is even more unique and impressive when you take in to account that he passed on the first attempt; something that has only happened a handful of times. The average candidate sits for the exam around three times.

“It is a pretty intense experience,” Hasko said. “There are three components to the MS diploma. If you pass one or two components the first time you try then they say ‘the clock has started’. You then get two more attempts over the next two years to be successful in the remaining components. If you aren’t, then you have to start all three from scratch. I am very fortunate to have achieved all three components in one sitting and I’m very honoured to have been awarded the inaugural Dom Ruinart Trophy in recognition of this.”

The journey to become a Master Sommelier takes both talent and commitment.

“You need to commit both your time and considerable finances in pursuit of the diploma. I am fortunate that my January 2017 – Issue 636

job involves travel, and meeting some great sommeliers and winemakers around the globe. It also gives me a lot of exposure to high quality – and often high priced - wines, which helped reduce the financial side of things. But balancing work time, family time and study time was a real challenge. Particularly as our companies Cru Wines and Bootleggers only started two years ago.”

Hasko first developed an interest for wine whilst he was studying engineering and his first dream was actually to achieve the Master of Wine. He wasn’t long into studying for the WSET Diploma before he decided he needed to turn this passion into a career and got a job within the wine industry, first with Rockpool in Sydney and then Vue de Monde in Melbourne.

“I really enjoyed being a Sommelier. Not only discovering amazing wines for myself but learning how to read a customer’s palate, understanding what they want and will love – even when they sometimes can’t communicate it themselves – and being a part of them discovering something new. This is what got me interested in starting to study for the Sommelier exams back in 2011 and it was a natural progression that I ended up studying for both the Master of Wine and Master Sommelier at the same time,” he said.

“Both the Master of Wine and Master Sommelier exams are incredibly challenging but in different ways; one more academic and one more practical. However what impresses me most with both is how open everyone is to help. Whenever I have reached out to someone, they have always given so much time and knowledge to help me. It’s like there is an unwritten rule that once you have reached the highest level achievable, it is then your role to help others get there too. The generosity of the wine industry never ceases to amaze me and I look forward to upholding this tradition.”

What else is next?

“I will continue my search for the world’s most interesting wines for Cru Wines and Bootleggers, and continue studying towards the Master of Wine exams in June.”

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business & technology

Action at the trade exhibition in 2016.

National conference and trade show news THE ORGANISERS of the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference (AWITC) have confirmed the format of incorporating the Outlook Conference into a single event, as per 2016, will be repeated in 2019. Meanwhile, the WineTech organisers have postponed the July 2017 trade exhibition and further discussions are planned for re-aligning with the AWITC/E. Dan Johnson, the AWITC chair and AWRI managing director, welcomed the continuing alignment with the Outlook conference.

“It is very pleasing to be able to build on the success of the 2016 conference and again deliver an event that will address both technical and business issues in one forum,” Johnson said. “This makes a lot of sense at a time when questions of profitability and sustainability are at the forefront for the Australian wine community.”

Feedback from delegates at that event indicated overwhelming support for the combined AWITC/Outlook conference format and its mix of industry policy, business and marketing content with the latest technical breakthroughs in grapegrowing and winemaking.

Johnson said survey feedback after the AWITC/E in July 2016 revealed: • Close to 90% support for the inclusion of the Outlook content; • Similar level of support for the three year gap between events; • Majority support for Adelaide as the ongoing host city; and • Three-quarters of those surveyed rated the trade show component as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA), which used to host the

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TRADE/ INDUSTRY EVENT ATTENDANCE Combined WineTech / AWITC 2010 (Adelaide) Delegates: 1,262 Trade Show Only: 1,553 Total: 2,815

Combined WineTech / AWITC 2013 (Sydney) Delegates: 1,028 Trade Show Only: 903 Total: 1,931

WineTech 2015 (Adelaide) Trade Show Total: 1,212

AWITC/E and OUTLOOK 2016 (Adelaide) Delegates: 1,200-1,300 Trade Show Only: 1,071 Total: 2,371 (using the 1,300 trade show visitors) stand-alone Outlook Conference every second year, confirmed the alignment would again provide a forum for all members of the Australian grape and wine community to come together in 2019.

“This event will continue to deliver opportunities to discuss the key issues affecting our industry’s direction and will drive developments in the national policy agenda,” said Tony Battaglene, WFA chief executive.

The combined conference will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre and www.winetitles.com.au

will be complemented by the Australian Wine Industry Trade Exhibition (AWITE) – Australia’s premier showcase of wine technology, equipment and services.

The WFA will seek to hold a smaller event in the off-years, which may take the form of a workshop or smaller program on a targeted issue with an Outlook session. The 2014 WFA Outlook conference generated about $70,000 for the organisation, while the 2016 event was not a revenue raiser.

“WFA made the decision that the key objective from our combined conference was to improve our service to the industry with the provision of a strong program with timely and pertinent content. We do not seek to make money from this but to provide a service to the industry,” a spokesperson from the WFA told the Grapegrower & Winemaker.

WINETECH 2017 POSTPONED Meanwhile, Wine Industry Suppliers Australia (WISA), the peak body representing the grape and wine supply chain, has made the decision to postpone WineTech to a later date. WineTech will not be held in 2017 as previously planned.

WISA recently undertook a key research project and an industry survey aimed at understanding how to deliver higher value trade events. The results have provided WISA with the opportunity to re-think the national grape and wine trade show, WineTech.

Partnering with the Flinders University New Venture Institute and associated Business School, WISA worked with a team to investigate the key outcomes exhibitors sought to achieve from participating at trade events. A random selection of suppliers participated in January 2017 – Issue 636

in-depth trade interviews. This was complemented by a value proposition workshop along with identifying growth hacking strategies.

“In the past, we’ve largely relied on our internal experiences, assumptions and anecdotal evidence to deliver value through the services offered as part of WineTech,” said Matthew Moate, WISA Executive Officer.

“This new and independent analytical process was highly successful for WISA as it allowed us to drill down to the key objectives our members and the wider supply sector were seeking to achieve from a trade show.”

The research with exhibitors identified several key services and expectations including the desire to create a greater number of connections as well as access learning and sales opportunities through a varied program and events based platform.

“Exhibitors are looking to a trade show organiser to provide them with varying and numerous ways to create connections, learn and to share their knowledge with industry at these events.

They expect organisers to ensure they are seamlessly integrated into the event, associated program and with the visitors,” said Matthew.

January 2017 – Issue 636

WISA also recognised the importance of capturing the needs of event visitors and addressed this by commissioning Adelaide based Harrison Research to conduct an industry-wide survey.

“We created a survey with openedended questions as we sought to understand the key drivers of value for attendees at wine industry trade events,” said Matthew.

“The key messages that visitors sited in the survey was their desire for bigger events, where they could participate in genuine new experiential based learning and information sharing and networking activities that could add value to their business capability and competitiveness.”

WISA will diligently review the research and survey results before consulting with the industry on future trade exhibition plans.

However, the research and the survey feedback has given WISA the ambition to deliver a more experiential, collaborative and engaging event which delivers the highest possible value to both visitors and exhibitors.

“We have an excellent opportunity for the industry to unite, grow and try something new and this research appears to be calling for that,” said Matthew.

“Our recent inaugural Wine Industry

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Impact Awards showed the industry reacts well to new ideas and events that are genuinely inclusive and accessible.

We look forward to working to create partnerships and leverage resources to implement new ideas aimed at delivering higher value in the future.”

WineTech was planned to be held at the Adelaide Show Grounds, 5-7 July 2017 but has been postponed until a future date.

A COMBINED FUTURE? Johnson said he had a “vision” for a whole week of industry meetings, workshops, conferences, exhibitions and social events in the future.

“We have got to give people lots of reasons to make the effort,” he said.

“Maybe there is more to bolt on?

“I think the industry wants one trade show – and one big week of events.”

Johnson said there seemed to be momentum “at a principal level” toward the AWITC/E and WineTech joining together in some format for a single 2019 event.

“I’m open and receptive to discussions,” he said.

“I would like to lock that away sooner, rather than later, for all the parties involved.”

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sales & marketing Export

Exports to China increase as consumers embrace Aussie wine

CHINA’S WINE MARKET is emerging from its recent state of flux providing great relief to wine businesses that are increasingly invested in “what is now one of the world’s largest wine import markets”, according to a recently-released Rabobank report.

The report, The rise, fall and rise (again) of China’s wine market, was launched late in 2016 at an international wine conference Wine Vision in Sonoma, California.

Speaking about the report’s findings Marc Soccio, Rabobank senior analyst, said the evolution of the Chinese consumer base was central to its recent turnaround in demand for imported wine.

“With much of the market previously centred around business and government entertainment, we’ve recently seen a significant shift in the way wine is distributed, purchased and consumed in China,” he said.

“There is now a shift towards a younger retail consumer who is looking to engage more intently with the wine category, displaying a thirst for foreign wine culture and education. They are also much more willing to purchase wine for their own personal and social consumption, rather than as a gift, as older generation have done.”

THE RISE OF E-COMMERCE Fuelled by highly connected shoppers, the growth of e-commerce in China has been impressive the Rabobank report said. This was evidenced by the results of Alibaba’s ‘Single’s Day’ promotion on 11 November 2016, where sales across all consumer categories hit USD 17.8 billion, up from USD 14.3 billion in 2015 and USD 9.3 billion the year before.

“While Alibaba is a well-known site, it is just one of a myriad of sites currently vying for the Chinese consumer dollar, providing new opportunities for wine businesses,” Soccio said.

“The average age of subscribers to Alibaba’s business to consumer sales platform, Tmall, is just 27 – making this an important platform to engage

science that can be challenging for wine companies to navigate.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR WINE EXPORTERS

Marc Soccio, Rabobank senior analyst.

Demand appears to be well-supported by the way in which younger and increasingly affluent Chinese consumers are gravitating to wine and wine culture, which is particularly benefiting foreign brands in the market. with younger consumers. This is just one example of a platform that has been hugely effective at directly connecting wine companies and wholesalers with budding consumers.”

Soccio said on top of providing a “growing route to market”, these sites are also acting as important tools for wine companies to set and signal market prices. While e-commerce is ultimately acting to deliver better pricing and convenience to consumers, he warns managing these platforms is an evolving

According to the report, the recent changes in the market provide more confidence that the current and future growth in the Chinese wine market is being built on stronger foundations.

“Demand appears to be well-supported by the way in which younger and increasingly affluent Chinese consumers are gravitating to wine and wine culture, which is particularly benefiting foreign brands in the market,” Soccio said.

While recent growth appears more reasonably based, Mr Soccio said China is a market that is still very much in transition.

“With the recent evolution of the market, Chinese wine consumers have become much more price-sensitive and value-oriented than in the past, and this has seen bottled wine imports experience a noticeable shift down-market,” he said.

Lower-value offerings have been experiencing higher growth, he said, and this has resulted in suppliers from Spain, Chile and Italy establishing a stronger presence in the market. However, wines from France and Australia continue to play a dominant role, commanding over 55 per cent of volume and 70 per cent of value of still bottled wine imports.

“Australia continues to be a stand-out performer, having forged an enviable position in the Chinese market,” he said.

“Australian wine companies have been spending a great deal of time in the market forging strong trade relationships and building valuable brand awareness and a premium positioning in the market, which has recently resulted in China becoming the ‘number one’ importer of Australian wine, based on value.

“This level of investment in marketing and promotion will be increasingly important in the future, as rising competition and more price sensitive consumers place pressure on pricing and returns in the market.”

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

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January 2017 – Issue 636

Barossa joins the Global Coalition to Protect Wine Place Names THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN wine region became the latest signatory of the Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin, a global movement to ensure wine place names are protected and not abused or miscommunicated to consumers.

“We are honoured to join this remarkable group of leading world wine regions dedicated to protecting place names.

Barossa wines, like all those represented in this coalition, are unique in representing their sense of place,” said James March, Barossa Grape & Wine Association CEO. “Despite our fierce competition in the worldwide marketplace, we all agree that location is the most important ingredient in creating truly unique and distinctive wines.”

The coalition welcomed the Barossa at a meeting in San Francisco, where members discussed how to build on the coalition’s recent effort to protect place names online.

“Over the last year, our coalition has expanded its work to protect wine place names globally, including online where consumers increasingly shop for the wines they love,” said Linda Reiff, Napa Valley Vintners wine trade association president and CEO – one of the founding signatories to the Declaration.

“We are proud to have another esteemed winemaking region join our collective efforts to ensure consumers aren’t misled and that the identity of a wine’s place is protected.”

January 2017 – Issue 636

In January 2016, American-based Internet name registry Donuts launched the new .wine and .vin domain extensions.

Prior to the launch, members of the Declaration worked with Donuts on an agreement that put safeguards in place to ensure the extensions could not be falsely used to mislead consumers.

ABOUT THE DECLARATION The Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place Names & Origin was signed in Napa Valley on July 26, 2005.

The signatories of the Declaration include: Barossa, Bordeaux, Bourgogne/Chablis, Champagne, Chianti Classico, Jerez-XérèsSherry, Long Island, Napa Valley, Oregon, Paso Robles, Porto, Rioja, Santa Barbara County, Sonoma County, Victoria, Tokaj, Walla Walla Valley, Washington state, Willamette Valley and Western Australia.

Since it was first signed in 2005, the Declaration efforts have led to increasing attention around the protection of wine place names.

For example, this year members of the Napa Valley Vintners announced they will give up use of the name Port. While they have a grandfathered legal right, each agreed to abandon the semi-generic term in support of Napa Valley’s efforts to protect winemaking place names and its alliance with Porto in the Declaration.

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industry profile Winemaker of the month

Empowering women in wine

Janice McDonald Burch Family Wines and Howard Park chief winemaker McDonald took up the role as chief winemaker for Burch Family Wines in January 2011, overseeing both the Margaret River and Denmark wineries and teams.

McDonald has more than 25 years’ experience in brewing and winemaking.

She has held the head brewing positions at Matilda Bay and Little Creatures as well as winemaking roles at Vasse Felix, Brown Brothers and Devil’s Lair. McDonald was also the founding chief winemaker at Stella Bella.

WHEN JANICE MCDONALD, the chief winemaker at Howard Park and Burch Family Wines, was asked to speak about the wine varietal that meant the most to her across her career, her choice was clear. It was a bottle of Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon; the varietal that she’s been producing since she first started in winemaking almost three decades ago.

Speaking at the Women in Wine Leadership Symposium in late October 2016, McDonald shared her experiences about her whole career, from the thing that led her into winemaking to the present day. It was a fantastic opportunity that celebrated her success and allowed her to connect with a range of prominent faces in the industry.

“When I first started in winemaking, I was young, naïve and fresh out of university. I wanted a job at a winery, so I wrote to a few in Western Australia to ask around. I didn’t receive a response, so I just jumped in the car and made

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the cross-coastal trip from Sydney to Margaret River,” McDonald said.

“Eventually I secured a wine making role in this region and made my first Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon in 1990 and I have been making it ever since.

“In 2011, I became the chief winemaker at Burch Family Wines and today make the very wine that some 25 years ago inspired me and was integral and significant in shaping why I live where I live and why I do what I do.”

The symposium is an annual, one-day conference held in New York City for women who work in the wine industry – winemakers, educators, journalists, sommeliers, sales, marketing and public relations specialists.

Not only this, but it was a sign of recognition for Howard Park Winery, the Western Australian winery that produces consistently brilliant varietals, year on year.

It’s an all-inclusive event that aims www.winetitles.com.au

to empower women in the industry by sharing experiences and information with other women who are leaders in their fields.

The event was empowering, uplifting and inspiring – delivered with a strong sense of sharing and camaraderie. What’s more, it gave women the chance to find role models in the industry, gain a sense of self-confidence and network with like-minded individuals, who they can interact with long after the event is over.

“If you’re good at what you do and speak with substance, strength and conviction, you’ll naturally succeed in most workplaces. This is the tack that I’ve followed through my career and it’s something that’s worked for me,” McDonald said.

“Women bring diversity of thought to any industry and workplace and diversity is critical. Without it, innovation wouldn’t happen – you’d simply be stuck in a room hitting a brick wall whenever you tried to come up with an idea.”

January 2017 – Issue 636

calendar

looking back

Australia & New Zealand January 16-20 (JD) Tasmanian Wine Show Hobart, TAS. www.taswineshow.org

28-30 New Zealand Aromatics Symposium Nelson, NZ. www.winenelson.co.nz

27-29 Crush Wine & Food Festival Adelaide Hills, SA. www.crushfestival.com.au

31 January-2 February 2017 Pinot Noir NZ 2017 Wellington, NZ. www.pinotnz.co.nz

28 3rd Annual Taste Eden Riesling Festival Angaston, SA. www.tasteedenvalley.com.au/blog

January 1987:

February 5 A Day on The Green McLaren Vale, SA. www.adayonthegreen. com.au/catalogue/219/annies-lane-sa 5 Telltale and Vine McLaren Vale, SA. www.foxcreekwines.com

10-12 Festivale 2017 Launceston, TAS. www.festivale.com.au 10-11 Mornington Peninsula International Pinot Noir Celebration Mornington Peninsula, VIC. www.mpva.com.au

International 24-26 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium California, USA. www.unifiedsymposium.org

February 2-7 Salon de Vin Sofia, Bulgaria. www.food-exhibitions.bg

14-17 TECNOVID 2017 Zaragoza, Spain. www.feriazaragoza.com

14-17 ENOMAQ Zaragoza, Spain. www.feriazaragoza.com JD = judging date CD= closing date For a comprehensive list of events, visit www.winetitles.com.au/calendar

WANT MORE

WINE INDUSTRY NEWS? Get your daily fix with Subscribe at www.winetitles.com.au/dtn January 2017 – Issue 636

Grape growers should be careful about lease arrangements with wineries, according to the president of the Wine Grape Growers Council of Australia, Roger Hoare. Hoare said he believed that with some leases growers were offered a price that was much lower than the fruit’s market price. It had not been a major problem in the Riverland, he said, but growers should be careful with leasing arrangements.

January 1997:

January 17-19 SIVAL Angers, France. www.sival-angers.com

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.

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Glenara wines, of the Adelaide Hills, has produced the first two wines to be certified by the Organic Vignerons Association of Australia as totally organic, that is, they are organically produced wines made from organically grown grapes. The wines have both won bronze medals at wine shows this year, one at the Perth Royal Show and the second at the Annual Rutherglen Wine Show.

The OVAA was formed in 1992 to specifically cater to the needs of organic grapegrowers and winemakers, and while there have been lots of grapes certified as being organically grown since then, these two wines are the first to be certified as being organic in the winemaking process as well.

January 2007: At its annual general meeting, held in Adelaide, The Winemakers Federation of Australia announced a significant overhaul of its constitution. As part of the restructure a new medium wineries forum is being created.

WFA chied executive Stephen Strachan said the changes were to bring the organisation’s structure into line with the profile of an industry that had developed; following growth, mergers and acquisitions that had taken place over the last decade.

The key components of the changes adopted by the WFA are to create three WFA membership categories for small, medium and large Winemakers.

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Marketplace

All advertisements also appear on www.winetitles.com.au/classifieds/

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• Preventative maintenance & breakdown repairs for all makes and models.

• 24/7 coverage during vintage • Large inventory of spare parts.

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ne exchange Maria Stephenson on industry (08) 8369 9513 or 03 9455 3339 • www.rapidfil.com.au

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