Grapegrower & Winemaker - July 2016

JULY 2016

Mid-row and under-vine options Sparkling wine explored

Australian en primeur project

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Rivulis has set up their own financing arm specifically to make it easier for farmers to get a full irrigation system.

The rates are competitive and the loan terms are flexible, but best of all, you don’t have to put up your property as security, as the irrigation system itself is the security.

This is great for farmers, as it allows them the immediate benefit of irrigation without the immediate huge hole in their bank account. And it’s great for Rivulis because more and more farms use their products.

So, you know, win-win and all that.

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contents features 43 48 53 74

JULY 2016

Training & Trellising Pruning Irrigation Analytical Services

Mid-row and under-vine options Sparkling wine explored

Australian en primeur project

news

COVER Penfolds recently launched its Magill Cellar 3 barrel program - an en primeur barrel offer with unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the winery.

Peter Gago, Penfolds chief winemaker, said the launch had created “incredible” interest. Read more from Page 62.

grapegrowing

Letter to the editor - Rethinking WET ..........6

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From the editor .........................................7 Morris of Rutherglen deserves another chance

My View: Michael Glover ..........................8 Tell me a story don’t give me a number

Regional Roundup: Victoria .......................9 Full-bodied growth for NZ wine industry ..............................10 On the grapevine ................................... 12 Movers & Shakers...................................14 People & Places ......................................16 Hunter Valley Wine Festival

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Mid-row and under-vine options..............24 Sam Bowman explores the options for mid-row under-vine management

What is the ‘100th monkey effect’? .........28 Technology helps alleviate the impacts of climate change .................30 Biosecurity update from the WGGA .........33 2016 Vinnovation Award winners ............36 VinSites: Insights from grape to glass .......39 Delayed pruning: ...................................48 Barossa Shiraz vineyard and wine case study

regulars 6 What’s online 18 WGGA:

88 Calendar

The Australian Grower

90 Marketplace classifieds

40 Ask the AWRI 4 Grapegrower & Winemaker

www.winetitles.com.au

July 2016 – Issue 630

July 2016: Issue 630 winemaking Bubbling along: .....................................56 Tyson Stelzer’s analysis of the Australian sparkling wine category

WET Rebate reform: Where to next? ........60 An Australian en primeur project with a $198,000 price tag............62

Co-inoculation: The latest great development in malolactic fermentation ....................... 74 WA winemakers put their palates to the test ................................... 76 76

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Wine Law: Effective debt collection ..........65 Saperavi Symposium ..............................68

sales & marketing

Young Gun: Jo Marsh .............................72

Understanding the Chinese consumer .......82

72

Harnessing Chinese social media: A pathway for Australian wine brands ....85

business & technology Fitter on Twitter ..............86 Dr Rebecca Dolan, from The University of Auckland, takes a look at basic Twitter etiquette, options and objectives for Twitter advertising campaigns, and how to analyse Twitter performance.

PUBLISHER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE Hartley Higgins

PRODUCTION Simon Miles

GENERAL MANAGER Peter Muscet

CIRCULATION: Melissa Smithen 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 Emilie Reynolds journalist@winetitles.com.au ADVERTISING SALES Maria Stephenson sales@grapeandwine.com.au July 2016 – Issue 630

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.

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

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letter to the editor what’s ONLINE Rethinking WET Council backs wine research centre The Marlborough District Council has set aside a substantial kitty to help drive regional development over the next five years. Councillors have unanimously backed a proposed world-class wine research centre in Blenheim to the tune of $75,000 this year and a further $150,000 a year for five years. They have also increased the Marlborough Research Centre’s funding from $110,000 to $250,000, reports Stuff.

Wine consumption increases New figures suggest that ‘abstinence’ in young Australians is behind the recent nose-dive in alcohol consumption across the country – although wine consumption is on the up. According to figures published last week, Australia has reached the lowest level per capita consumption since the 1960s, but wine continues to gain traction in the market, reports Harpers.

‘Farming water’ helps wine grape growers stay afloat They’re the farmers trading orange juice for water — crop growers who have been forced to find an alternative source of income, quite literally, to survive life on the land. Fruit growers in the Riverina district are turning their sights to ‘farming water’, rather than toiling on the land, to help them put food on the table as farmgate prices are slashed. As the dairy industry faces milk price cuts, so too are wine grape and citrus growers, which is crippling the industry, reports The Herald Sun.

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.

6 Grapegrower & Winemaker

WHY DO WE tax wine more than other products?

We tax wine due to the negative impacts of alcohol on society, and nothing else.

This acts as a monetary disincentive to reduce the quantity that vulnerable members of society drink, and to provide revenue for the costs of alcohol on the state.

Why then, do we tax the value of wine and not the quantity of alcohol within the wine? Why should someone who purchases a $100 bottle pay $29 tax and someone who purchases a $10 bottle of wine pay $2.90 when they contain the same quantity of alcohol?

The alcohol is the reason there is a tax not the monetary value.

I don’t believe in the rebate, I personally believe that an industry that can’t support itself financially should not receive a hand out from the government.

However, I don’t believe in a tax of 29% based on the monetary value.

Any conversation that occurs in the industry from this point forward on the basis of eligibility criteria will be protectionism dressed up as policy. It will be people trying to maintain and enhance their position at the expense of others based on what is ‘fair’. Fairness depends one where you sit.

Any eligibility criteria will lead to members of the industry spending capital to obtain the criteria as opposed to investing in areas of the business that could actually provide real value and revenue.

We need to simplify this. Businesses fail when red tape and administration bite into the time that could be spent on assets and ideas that will actually provide revenue.

We need to tax the volume of alcohol and not the value of the wine. It could start with 30% of the standard drinks in a product is paid in tax.

If wine has eight standard drinks we pay $2.64 in tax per bottle. This is done in both the UK and Singapore.

This makes cheaper wine more expensive and reduces the amount of alcohol related crimes and health related issues to those that are most vulnerable, but isn’t that the point? The Australian wine industry can’t compete internationally producing cheap generic wine, we have to focus on quality and provenance. This is already known.

A volumetric tax only enhances the competitiveness of those wanting to produce wines in the premium wine sector for those who want to drink responsibly.

We need to stop being afraid of change, otherwise we have the potential to lose all we have achieved. Our own industry needs to lead on this.

A volumetric tax is the only way forward.

Nicolas Peterkin L.A.S. Vino winemaker Margaret River

Australians drinking less, but better AUSTRALIANS are drinking less alcohol but the per capita spend is rising due to a preference for premium quality, according to a recent report.

The Enhanced Media Metrics Australia Alcoholic Beverages Trends & Insights Report interviewed more than 54,000 Australians and found half of people aged 18 years and over say they are drinking less now than they used to. There is also a move to premium beverages, with the dollar value of liquor sales rising 1.5 per cent in 2015, which means Australians are spending more on their favourite drink.

The report said Australia is an “overwhelmingly wine and beer drinking nation” with wine just nudging out beer as the nation’s most popular beverage.

White wine edges out red as the most consumed at 43 per cent of adults, compared to 41 per cent, while 23 per cent enjoy sparkling wine or champagne.

Jane Nicholls, Ipsos Connect Executive Director- Enhanced Media Metrics Australia, said “the trend towards drinking better offers growth opportunities to premium brands that can tap into the mindset of these consumers”.

www.winetitles.com.au

July 2016 – Issue 630

from the editor

Nathan Gogoll Editor

Morris of Rutherglen deserves another chance I REALLY LIKE Australian fortified, but I’ve got a lot in common with most Aussie wine drinkers… I hardly ever buy the stuff. Which reminds me of a conversation I had with a winemaker a couple years ago…

Winemaker: “I love fortified wine and I love making it.”

Me: “Are you making any this vintage?”

Winemaker: “No.” Me: “Why not?”

Winemaker: “I don’t really like wasting money.”

Delicious, yes. But a tricky product when it comes to return-on-investment.

This brings me to the statement put out in June by Pernod Ricard Winemakers about their Rutherglen wine brand, Morris: “Regrettably, we have made the difficult decision to close our Morris winery and vineyard,” said Claire Haigh, Pernod Ricard Winemakers communications director.

“The final date for the purposed changes is yet to be confirmed but we expect it to before the end of 2016, and we anticipate that the cellar door will close on the 31st January 2017.

“Despite many efforts over recent years, we have been unable to turn this into a sustainable operation, due to the ongoing decline in the consumption of fortified wines* and we now need to prioritise resources to strengthen the long-term growth potential of our wine brands. We remain committed to the future of the Australian wine category.

“The wellbeing of our teams is very important to us and our overriding aim is to support them through this difficult period.” *Overall, the fortified category has been declining by 5% globally for the past two years, and has been declining by 4.2% in Australia for the last two years (2013-15.)

(This qualifying information was also supplied by Haigh)

July 2016 – Issue 630

This statement offered no detail about the potential sale of the winery, vineyards, wine stock or the brand.

I’m usually as emotional about these sorts of things as anybody. In fact, I remember being particularly worried about 10 years ago when the Foster’s Group (before the de-merger of the business and the creation of Treasury Wine Estates) put the Seppeltsfield site on the market.

But enter the original members of the Seppeltsfield Estate Trust… Bruce Baudinet, Janet Holmes a Court, Greg Paramor and Nathan Waks who were able to buy the estate in 2007. I don’t know how much they paid, but they got the winery, the vineyards and fortified stocks as well as the fortified brands, while Foster’s retained the Seppelt table wine brands (along with the Great Western winery and Victorian Seppelt vineyards).

Warren Randall arrived two years later when he bought the Holmes a Court share of the estate.

I believe it was about three years ago that Randall increased his ownership share to 90 per cent – which meant the business returned to majority family ownership more than 40 years after the Seppelt family sold that right away.

The Seppeltsfield winery survived through corporate ownership, even though it had been ‘mothballed’. But more importantly, everything the brand stood for had endured… the pioneering efforts, the vines and the wines, the attachment to a special place.

What’s this got to do with the recent Morris announcement? Well, the Morris family wine journey began when George Francis planted vines in 1859 and his descendants remained majority owners until 1970.

The Seppelt family had planted vines about eight years earlier and the family held on until 1971. The Seppeltsfield winery has survived and appears to be as well positioned for sustained success

www.winetitles.com.au

Regrettably, we have made the difficult decision to close our Morris winery and vineyard. The final date for the purposed changes is yet to be confirmed but we expect it to before the end of 2016. as it was in 1878 when Benno finished building the ‘Port Store Cellar’ and set aside the first vintage of Para Liqueur Port for a 100-year rest.

The Morris brand has all the same strengths as Seppeltsfield.

I can find a fair bit of respect for those at Pernod Ricard Winemakers who kept persisting with Morris, and they've lasted almost 10 years longer than the corporate owners of Seppeltsfield, and that decade that will go down in history as an especially difficult one for the Australian wine industry.

I’ve seen what has happened at the end of the palm-tree boulevards in the Barossa. And I’m more than happy to argue the release from the Foster’s ownership was the best thing to happen to the business since Benno Seppelt had an idea to set aside a puncheon of his finest port wine and with the instruction not to be bottle it for 100 years.

For Pernod Ricard Winemakers, the right thing to do is to sell the whole package… the winery, vineyards, fortified stocks and the brand.

If they selfishly hold onto the brand, it will die. A brand like Morris of Rutherglen deserves another chance.

Enjoy the read.

Grapegrower & Winemaker

7

my view My View: Michael Glover

Tell me a story don’t give me a number WINERIES USING A SCORE from a wine writer to promote a wine is not unique to New Zealand. What particularly disturbs me, however, is how often wineries pay reviewers for their reviews.

This is how it works: a producer sends their wine to a reviewer. The reviewer then charges them for each wine that is submitted for assessment.

For me, this begs the question ‘Is a paid review actually independent?’

Of course, the reviewer will justify the payment by saying that they are providing a service. I imagine though, that most people walking into a store and observing a big gold sticker on a bottle with the number ‘95’ on it assume that the number has been awarded in an impartial and objective setting and not subject to a monetary transaction.

Where do we draw the line between genuine criticism and paid advertorial?

This ethical discussion is a hot topic in the NZ wine scene at the moment and rightly so.

WINE AND NUMBERS There’s a bigger question here too. Is the use of numbers and scores, whether paid for or not, in keeping with the ‘spirit’ and ‘endeavour’ of wine?

Any one of us can ‘score’ a wine. We all have an opinion. What many of us cannot do, however, is put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and convey what wine is, what wine means, and what wine can be in our lives. This style of writing is much more about sharing knowledge and a love of a subject than casting judgement from ‘above’.

I believe it was the powerful American critic Robert Parker Jr, who first introduced a wine scoring system, changing the wine world as we knew it.

The score immediately rendered wine language and words irrelevant or a little meaningless. Words were disparaged as being archaic and subjective. Years of personal assessment and journeying were no longer required for people to discover wine. Now all you needed was the latest book full of scores from the best wine critic.

The industry reacted incredibly positively to this new regime. Retailers helped fuel the fire because selling a wine could be reduced down to a number.

A Robert Parker score bestowed a powerful and absolute market value to a

8 Grapegrower & Winemaker

But… it doesn’t have to be this way.

BRING BACK THE WORDS

wine. It removed the need for a personal assessment and an individual opinion, which obviously requires a personal investment of time and money, and allowed for an absolute power that would judge and assess for all.

Wine writer after wine writer complained about the 100 point system and then began using it taking an ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ approach.

I recall a conversation that I had with one of Australia’s pre-eminent wine writers who said “…words don’t put food on the table, points do, and I have mouths to feed”.

Wineries are not without guilt. They saw the potential profits that could be gained and new markets that could be opened up if only they could get a high enough number.

But how to get the high number? It’s not hard to see that wine producers began changing their wine style to suit the palate that had the most power to make them successful.

In Bordeaux it was observed that many Chateaux owners employed the consultant, Michel Rolland, because they believed that he knew how to make a wine to achieve higher Robert Parker scores. The point here is that this was largely driven by the assessment of just one man. The notion that one single palate can set the template for the entire drinking world is beyond description.

The French concept of ‘terroir’ which embraces the philosophy of difference and of unique expression was null and void as producers from different areas desperately tried to make the same wine… the wine that Parker liked. Wine was no longer the expression of a site and a season; it was now a commodity and potentially a ‘luxury item’ that needed to be endorsed. www.winetitles.com.au

As a wine drinker and lover of all things vinous I would say to wine writers, critics and journalists everywhere… bring back WRITING! Bring back the words, description, romance and prose that have been lost to wine. Bring back the explanations and explorations of different varietals in different regions.

Bring back the stories of special bottles opened beside rivers or in mountain cabins. Bring back stories of shared enthusiasm for life because that essentially is what wine IS all about.

For me the role of the wine writer is to inform, educate and, most importantly, to empower the reader to make their own journey with wine.

Tell me about a crazy dude in a cave on top of a mountain doing some inspirational stuff with an ‘alternative’ variety. Tell me why he believes in what he is doing! Tell me about his dog and how he works his vineyard with Bob the horse instead of a tractor. Tell me about his connection with his land. Tell me about his philosophy, his politics, and the bread he bakes with his wife every single day. Engage me! Enlighten me!

Empower me!

MY STANCE As a wine producer I can only do what I feel is right. I do not send any of my wines to a reviewer who requests a payment for that review. From now on I will only publish or use words – rather than scores, ratings, or stars – and I will ask wine critics and journalists to do the same.

A bottle of wine is the end result of a cold winter of pruning, a hopeful spring of growth, a summer of ripening and a nervous autumn of anticipation. Fruit is harvested and turned into wine. That wine can then mature in wooden barrels for possibly years before bottling.

At some point the bottle is opened and poured. This is when the real story begins. A bottle of wine can tell a story of seasons, people and places. It may be conservative or it may be adventurous. It may be loud or it may be quiet. Regardless, it will resonate with some people and not with others… it will be personal.

Does a number really do justice to all of this? Does a number tell a story?

July 2016 – Issue 630

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Regional Roundup: Victoria Marc Scalzo named as finalist in winemaker of the year awards

Marc Scalzo of Rutherglen Estates.

RUTHERGLEN ESTATES recently announced that Marc Scalzo, chief winemaker, has been named amongst the finalists in this years’ Gourmet Traveller Australian Winemaker of the Year awards.

Scalzo joined Rutherglen Estates in 2008, after spending seven years at Brown Brothers, where he was responsible for a very diverse portfolio.

Prior to that, Scalzo has experienced busy vintages in New Zealand with family-owned Delegat and Seresin Estates, and also worked with Rick Kinzbrunner at Giaconda in Beechworth.

Scalzo has been instrumental in developing the range for Rutherglen Estates, which reflects his love of Italian and Mediterranean varietals.

Scalzo said he believed great wines were always made in the vineyard first.

“I think the winemaker’s role is to not push a wine, but to allow the grapes to direct, and then with subtle winemaking techniques add complexity from there” Most notably, Scalzo helped develop the styles of Rutherglen Estates wines, such as the premium Renaissance VRM (Viognier Roussanne Marsanne) and the iconic Renaissance Durif.

“I am honoured to have been named as one of the finalists in the 2016 ‘Australian Winemaker of the Year’ awards, it is wonderful recognition for the hard work our team has put in over the years,” he said. “I am lucky to have such a great team behind me here at Rutherglen Estates.”

King Valley’s royal wine festival THE KING VALLEY played host to more than 3,000 visitors over the June long weekend as 11 wineries came together for the annual Weekend Fit for a King festival.

In its 12th year, Alison Lloyd from Wines of the King Valley said the region was heartened to see plenty of new faces in the crowd enjoying the King Valley’s famed Italian style wine and food.

Brown Brothers, Chrismont, Dal Zotto, Darling Estate, Francesco, La Cantina, Merkel, Pizzini, Politini, Sam Miranda and Symphonia all participated in Weekend Fit for a King with some using the festival to launch new release wines.

“There were some great new wines released - Riesling from emerging winemaker Glen Merkel, traditional cool climate Chardonnay from Darling Estate, Saperavi made by La Cantina with no

preservatives added and a new vintage of Grecanico by Politini Wines,” Lloyd said.

“Dal Zotto and Pizzini Wines added a new Prosecco and Nebbiolo, respectively, to their extensive ranges, and took the opportunity at Weekend Fit for a King to walk visitors through personalised tastings of each.”

Lloyd said the wines were matched with authentic cuisine ranging from wood fired pizza to Nonna’s lasagne and Sicilian cannoli.

“In addition, the festival featured King Valley Ballooning experiences at Brown Brothers, children’s craft activities and jumping castles, a renowned local Art Show and Wangaratta Farmer’s market,” she said. “Our winemaking families look forward to this opportunity each year to connect and celebrate with the locals who are so integral to our success.”

BOUTIQUE VINEYARD & CONTRACT WINERY CELLARDOOR

FOR SALE Situated in the popular tourist, cold climate Granite Belt Region, this award winning 10ha property with winery and vineyard is up for sale.

• Comprises of a modern winery, Cottage with Cellardoor and 3 acres of vineyard.

• This winery will suit dynamic winemaker/couple who want to establish their own brand.

• Contract winemaking/cider clients currently on books.

For more info and details phone Mark on 0414 978 783.

More than 3,000 guests enjoyed classic King Valley Italian style food and wine at the Weekend Fit for a King festival held over the June long weekend.

July 2016 – Issue 630

www.winetitles.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

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news

Full-bodied growth for NZ wine industry NEW ZEALAND’S wine industry is showing full bodied growth as consumers at home and abroad seek out quality beverages, according to a new report in the latest ANZ Agri Focus. The report points to a doubling of wine sector earnings over the past 10 years, with average annual growth of 8.4% lifting annual sales to around $2 billion.

The positive news was delivered not long after the 2016 New Zealand grape harvest had finished, with high quality fruit being picked across the country. Producers benefited from excellent summer and early autumn weather in grape growing regions, enabling full ripening and flavour development.

“Going into harvest, growers and wineries were looking for a larger vintage,” said Philip Gregan, New Zealand Winegrowers CEO. “In the past year we have seen continued strong demand in our key export markets, which exacerbated supply constraints following the small 2015 harvest. With good weather through the summer expectations for the vintage were high.

“This year’s vintage of 436,000 tonnes of grapes will be a welcome boost for markets, growers and wineries.”

The 2016 harvest is up 34% on the small 2015 crop, but is still below the record breaking 2014 vintage.

“New Zealand wine exports are now valued at $1.56 billion, up 13% in the past year,” Gregan said.

“The rebound in production from the 2016 Vintage will be another boost to the export ambitions of our sector. The 2016 Vintage will definitely keep us on track to achieve our goal of $2 billion of wine exports by 2020.”

The growth on sales earnings is being led by New Zealand’s internationally fashionable Sauvignon Blanc, according to the ANZ Agri Focus, which accounts for over 50% of planted area, close to 70% of production and over 80% of exports. In order to meet growing demand, vineyard area is set to increase significantly over the next five years, with new plantings dominated by Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough.

Planting of other varieties such as Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Merlot are also on the rise, albeit on a smaller scale.

“Will there be further upside for New Zealand wine? The

answer appears to be yes,” said Con Williams, ANZ Agri Economist and report author.

“As with many goods, fashion has a role to play and Sauvignon Blanc remains ‘in’ as a wine preference in established markets and is finding favour with new consumers in developed and developing markets.

“There is scope for more growth with consumers increasingly seeking sophisticated food and beverages, a new generation of younger consumers coming through and a trend towards more premium products.

“Health concerns around the amount of alcohol being consumed are having an impact. However, many consumers appear to have opted for a ‘quality over quantity’ attitude. All of these trends suit New Zealand’s market positioning.

“Globally New Zealand is a small player, accounting for just 1% of global production and 3% of the value of global wine trade.

The higher value earned by our producers is underpinned by the premium that quality New Zealand wine is able to command in global markets.”

New Zealand’s domestic market and top three export markets of Australia, the US and UK account for 86% of sales and 83% of revenue. While the potential of other markets such as Germany, the Netherlands and Canada is slowly increasing, the top four markets are expected to continue to dominate sales into the 2020s.

The report points to changing distribution channels, with tasting rooms, wine clubs, online marketing and other direct sales channels that reach consumers though the internet, and mobile apps and social media growing strongly.

It also highlights the growing contribution of wine tourism, with close to one in five international tourists visiting wineries, spending more and staying longer in New Zealand than other tourists.

Mr Williams said cash returns of 5.6% for grape growers and development returns of 120-125% of cost were high enough to stimulate investment.

“However, land suitable for further development is limited in the likes of Marlborough. So we could see scarcity if market demand continues to grow as expected.”

Will there be further upside for New Zealand wine? The answer appears to be yes.

Treasury to consolidate US production TREASURY WINE ESTATES has announced further changes to its wine supply and production network in the United States.

As part of the integration of the recently acquired Diageo Wine business, the company will consolidate winemaking production in California in the Central and North Coast regions; with Luxury wine production focused at the Beringer winery and Masstige wine at the Paso Robles winery.

The company will also consolidate luxury winemaking on-site at Sterling Vineyard and focus winemaking at Beaulieu Vineyard on luxury wine.

10 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Treasury announced it would discontinue winemaking at the Chateau St. Jean winery in Sonoma County, with production moving to Beringer.

In addition to these changes, the company will sell the Paicines winery on California’s Central Coast with production consolidated at Paso Robles and divest a number of vineyards and land holdings.

“Changes to Treasury Wine Estates’ US supply and production footprint will affect a number of roles within the Company; however, some roles may transfer to new owners dependent on relevant sales and divestment processes,” www.winetitles.com.au

a Treasury statement explained. “These initiatives will enable brands recently acquired from Diageo to benefit from the positive transformation already undertaken with the Company’s established portfolio, and are consistent with strategic plans announced at the time of the Diageo Wine acquisition.

It is expected that this next stage of US supply chain optimisation will be complete by the end of fiscal 2018.

The company has also committed to additional investment in its US wineries between Vintage 2016 and Vintage 2018 to support its growth agenda for premium American wines in the Asia region.

July 2016 – Issue 630

16/

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VISIT WWW.WEA.ORG.AU FOR MORE INFORMATION

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on the grapevine Dairy crisis: Why the wine industry should take note THE MURRAY VALLEY WINEGROWERS organisation believes the Australian wine industry should have been paying close attention to the recent dairy crisis which dominated news feeds in late May. Turmoil over prices in the dairy industry led to a government commitment to fund the development of a milk price index, with Agriculture Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce pushing for “greater transparency and market signals” for domestic and global milk prices.

Joyce said the scheme would provide dairy farmers with valuable information for use in supply negotiations and to assist in following international price trends.

Mike Stone, Murray Valley Winegrowers executive officer, said for years wine grape growers have urged wineries to provide earlier advice on grape prices, and for industry bodies to deliver information regularly on supply/demand projections and outlook to assist growers in managing vineyard inputs and risk.

“Eighty per cent of growers’ costs are incurred in the period June to December; pruning, fertilising, irrigating and so forth, preparing for the next harvest. This investment is made with little idea of what the next harvest will bring in terms of fruit demand and price.

“Most growers won’t be told until December what prices to expect, one month or less before harvest starts, if they’re dealing with a winery that’s signed-up to the Australian Wine Industry Code of Conduct. The majority of processors are not signatories and can please themselves when prices are disclosed.”

Stone said growers need to receive credible information each year on likely supply/demand and impact on prices, industry trends and outlook. Vineyard managers could then respond accordingly.

“Prices, too, ought to be disclosed well before the start of harvest,” Stone said. “The standard of industry data coming from Wine Australia has improved markedly in recent years - now we need processors to provide earlier advice of prices.”

Improving profitability through digital technologies WINE AUSTRALIA has welcomed a recent project announcement that aims to develop innovative processes for grape and cotton growers using advanced technology.

The four-year project – a collaboration between Wine Australia, Cotton Research and Development Corporation and Horticulture Innovation Australia – will integrate systems capable of simultaneous measurement and data provision to assist cross-sectoral holistic decision making for the management of yield, disease and stress.

Wine Australia Chief Executive Officer Andreas Clark said the $3million invested through the Rural R&D for Profit program will help grapegrowers to reduce costs and better manage risks.

“This project will allow us to investigate the digital technologies that will assist growers in three key areas where early detection and management can make a significant difference to the profitability for Australia’s grapegrowers,” Clark said.

“Yield loss through disease or weather events and inaccurate grape forecasting affects our sector each year, and advanced technologies are potentially a tool for our grapegrowers to help planning for these risks.

“Through the development of processes and linking to better early detection systems, we hope that this project will help our grapegrowers to make holistic decisions earlier and reduce losses associated with disease, stress and yields.”

Clark said this project linked directly to one of the aims

of the Wine Australia strategic plan – to improve vineyard performance, “which will help to increase the competitiveness of our grape and wine community”.

Digital technologies for dynamic management of disease, stress and yield is a collaborative project between 15 organisations and includes research partners at the CSIRO, University of Queensland, University of Tasmania, The Fraunhofer Institute (Germany), University of South Australia and the AWRI. The project will be undertaken across multiple Australian wine regions.

The project’s outcomes for the grape and wine sector will include: • Improved disease detection in wine grapes using digital technology during the growing season, allowing rapid mitigation strategies to be implemented; • Lower chemical use to manage disease in table and wine grape vineyards; • Improved yield forecasting for grapes to facilitate smart management decision making; • Rapid delivery of information to growers about key crop parameters in the vineyard during the growing season through digital technology that will facilitate smart management decision making; and • A UAV providing real time, high accuracy temperature trends in frost and heat prone vineyards. This advance warning will allow targeted protective measures to be taken prior to vine and crop damage.

$10,000 fellowship supports sustainable winegrowing WINE TASMANIA, together with the Alcorso Foundation, recently launched the 2016 program of the Dr Don Martin Sustainable Viticulture Fellowship.

The Fellowship offers Tasmanian-based wine sector professionals a grant of $10,000 towards study-based travel or as seed funding for new research projects. It provides an outstanding opportunity for Tasmanian-based wine sector professionals to undertake research into topics of relevance to the broader sector, with a focus on environmental, economic and social sustainability.

Sheralee Davies, Wine Tasmania chief executive officer, recognised the Alcorso Foundation for initiating and presenting the Fellowship since 2011, and encouraged wine representatives to apply.

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“This valuable and practical Fellowship supports the ongoing development of the state’s viticultural knowledge, through a focus on innovation, sustainability and best practice,” Davies said. “It provides Tasmania, as an emerging global wine region, to learn from the knowledge of others for the broader benefit of the Tasmanian wine sector.

“As the Tasmanian wine sector continues to grow and to attract investment, this Fellowship provides a significant opportunity for wine growing professionals to bolster Tasmania’s reputation as a benchmark wine region of world renown.”

Caroline Alcorso, the Alcorso Foundation president, said the Fellowship has been made possible through a generous bequest from former CSIRO Chair, Dr Don Martin, made to the Alcorso Foundation in 2007.

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July 2016 – Issue 630

“Dr Martin was a great friend of my father Claudio Alcorso, and shared his passion for both improving the quality of Tasmania’s wine grapes and for the natural environment,” Alcorso said. “This Fellowship commemorates a man known for his generosity and commitment to sharing scientific knowledge for the betterment of Tasmania’s wine industry.”

Past recipients include Paul Smart of Pressing Matters, who undertook international study into biocontrol of plant diseases as well as Jennifer Doyle of Hill Smith Family Vineyards, who researched ‘old world’ proven techniques to manage weeds, pests and diseases.

James Aubrey of Hill Smith Family Vineyards took out the fellowship in 2014 and is currently undertaking his travel

with a focus on research, development and extension activities undertaken in comparable cool climate regions, while last year’s fellowship winner Natalie Fryar of BTD Enterprises, will undertake her travel in late 2016 to study the impacts of changing climates.

The Alcorso Foundation was formed in 2001 in memory of Italian immigrant and war refugee, Claudio Alcorso, founder of Moorilla Estate. Claudio was a pioneering and inspirational man who insisted that all individuals deserved a ‘fair go’ and an opportunity to succeed in their chosen field.

To find out more about the Foundation and its programs please visit www.alcorso.org.

Wolf Blass scores English Premier League sponsorship deal TREASURY WINE ESTATE’S iconic brand Wolf Blass yesterday announced a multi-year marketing partnership with Manchester City Football Club, making Wolf Blass the Official Wine Partner of the English Premier League team for Asia, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Mexico.

The partnership will see Wolf Blass further expand the brand’s sports sponsorship footprint in the region following recently signed agreements with the National Basketball Association in China, and professional baseball organizations in Japan and Korea.

Robert Foye, Treasury Wine Estates president and managing director of Asia, MEA and Latin America, said Wolf Blass has a long association with competitive sports.

“We are thrilled to be involved with the number one sport globally, and one of the most popular and successful football clubs in the world,” he said. “Through this partnership with Manchester City FC, Wolf Blass will bring to life our global brand campaign ‘Here’s To The Chase’, which celebrates the bold pursuit of triumph. We look forward to joining Manchester City in their bid to win more trophies, and celebrate their growing success with our iconic Wolf Blass wines.”

Through the multi-platform agreement, Wolf Blass will engage fans in key markets via consumer campaigns that will include in-store promotions, co-branded merchandising, giveaways, digital and social media activations, as well as consumer events.

Chris Hatcher, Wolf Blass chief winemaker, said the partnership represented a mutual drive for success.

“As one of the most awarded wineries in Australian history, Wolf Blass is always striving for the absolute pinnacle of winemaking, just as Manchester City constantly strives to play the most beautiful football in the world,” Hatcher said.

As the Official Wine Partner of Manchester City, Wolf Blass will have access to more than 240 million fans in Asia, Middle East and Africa, along with millions of followers across the club’s growing social media presence.

Damian Willoughby, VP Director of Partnerships, APAC at City Football Marketing, said Wolf Blass is a pioneer in the wine industry whose commitment to quality, character and consistency echoes the club.

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“Our new partnership offers us an exciting opportunity to connect with fans and consumers and we are looking forward to working with Wolf Blass as we both continue to grow in new and imaginative ways,” Willoughby said.

The Rutherglen Agricultural Society Inc. in conjunction with The Winemakers of Rutherglen present the

128th Annual Rutherglen Wine Show Incorporating

The Australian Fortified Wine Show September 15th - 23th 2016

Sponsored by SPECIALTY PRESS ALBURY Established 1910 Closing Date

Wine Show Chairman

15th August 2016

Mr Chris Pfeiffer (02) 6033 2805

Wine Delivery Closing Date

Presentation of Awards Dinner

7th September 2016

Thursday 22nd September 7.00 p.m. $150.00 pp inclusive (incl. GST)

Special Awards Red & White Wine of Show Awards & Best Barrel matured Wine NE Region Vic. Sponsored by Seguin Moreau Aust.

Best Fortified Wine of Show Award Sponsored by Graphix Best Table Wine produced by a Small Winery Sponsored by Labelhouse

Exhibitors Tasting Friday 23rd September 9am – 1 pm Strictly Exhibitors Only

Public Tasting Friday 23rd September 6.30pm – 10.00 pm $55.00 pp (incl. GST) (Includes Glass, Results Book and Finger Food)

Further inquiries: Show Schedule and Entry Form available from Secretary/Manager: Mr Mark Eltringham PO Box 106 Rutherglen 3685 Ph: 02 6032 8044 Fax: 02 6032 9388 Or can be downloaded from our website: www.rutherglenwineshow.com.au Email: wineagshow@westnet.com.au

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

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movers & shakers Major changes to Riverina Wine Show THE RELEASE of revised guidelines for the conduct of wine shows in Australia has prompted the Riverina Winemakers Association to review the structure of its regional wine show.

The event will now be spilt into two wine shows, with one limited to wines from the Riverina Geographical Indication (GI) and the other open to entries throughout Australia.

Les Worland, Riverina Wine Show president, said the new Riverina Wine Show has been designed to throw the spotlight on the provenance of wine produced in the Riverina.

“It gives us a new forum where we can focus on, and celebrate, the diversity of the Riverina and highlight the specific character and qualities of the wines produced here,” Worland said.

“Importantly, it conforms to National

wine show expectations and also adds a boutique component to the greater mosaic of the Riverina Wine Show, which would not otherwise be available.”

Worland said the show committee has been seeking to give greater recognition of the viticulture aspect of the show by creating an award for grower excellence, which will be linked to medal results in this show.

He said the continuation of the RWS Open Classes recognised the broader national interests of Riverina winemakers who now produce one in every four glasses of Australian wine and draw grapes from every State except Queensland.

“The Riverina Wine Show has been supporting Australian winemakers for the last 42 years,” Worland said. “Not only does it accommodate the fact that many

of our local wineries draw fruit from outside the Riverina but it also provides a forum for other blends and non-regional wines. It is also unique in showcasing ‘popular premium wines’; those wines which have a large production run and are therefore widely available to the general public.”

The judging for both shows will take place 6-7 September with the trophy presentation slated for Friday 30 September as the lead-in event for the unWINEd in the Riverina weekend.

Dates: Entries open Entries close Judging Results announced

20 June 2016 22 July 2016 6 - 8 September 2016 30 September 2016

Distribution changes at Samuel Smith & Son and Negociants SAMUEL SMITH & SON and Negociants Australia announced a major shake-up of their distribution portfolios in June with Wirra Wirra moving to the Samuel Smith and Son portfolio after 23 years with Negociants.

Paul Midolo, director strategy and trading, said the Samuel Smith & Son team were excited to add the iconic McLaren Vale brand to their portfolio.

“We are very happy that our family business will continue to represent Wirra Wirra in the domestic marketplace,” he said.

The Smith & Hooper brand, formally represented by Samuel Smith & Son

has moved to the Negociants Australia portfolio with the company stating they were “delighted to have the opportunity to distribute the Coonawarra wines”.

Barringwood from Tasmania has also commenced national distribution with Negociants Australia Ken Withers, Negociants Australia general manager said, he was very excited to represent this family owned premium Tasmanian producer.

“Their long term vision, commitment to Tasmania and fine wine will add further depth and value to the Negociants Australia offering and align closely with our long term strategy,” he said.

National distribution for Dandelion Vineyards, Heirloom Vineyards and Sister’s Run has also commenced with Negociants.

Zar Brooks, winemaker, said he was excited for the new partnership.

“It is with trembling anticipation that all at Dandelion Vineyards and Heirloom Vineyards and Sister’s Run Wine Company join the pantheon of great kit at Negociants Australia. We don’t take ourselves too seriously but we do take our wines ridiculously seriously.”

Rymill Coonawarra also announced they ceased their distribution partnership with Negociants Australia and joined the

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July 2016 – Issue 630

Oatley Fine Wine Merchants portfolio in June.

John Rymill, the Rymill Coonawarra owner, said the brand was looking to grow with a new and supportive distribution partner.

“As a small family owned, estate grown wine business from Coonawarra, we have always valued partnering with the right people to help us share our wares,”

Rymill said. “This means we need a distribution partner with the enthusiasm to help us grow and connections to the on-trade where we have always had strong support.”

Andrew Oatley, the Oatley Fine Wine Merchants chairman, said he was very excited to be working with the Rymills to represent their impressive range of wines here in Australia.

“We have been big fans of the wines of Coonawarra since our early days in wine,” he said. “They are handson growers, producers and marketers of premium Coonawarra wines and as such are a perfect fit with our own products and those of our terrific range of agency wines from around the world.”

Wine Australia announces new head of market, Americas

Aaron Ridgway joins Wine Australia as head of market, Americas.

ANDREAS CLARK, Wine Australia chief executive officer, announced Aaron Ridgway has been appointed as Wine Australia’s new head of market, Americas.

Clark said he was delighted Aaron was joining the Wine Australia team.

“He is a dedicated and passionate advocate for Australian wine with a sound track record in our important US market, Clark said. “Aaron is joining us at a really exciting time, when the quality and excitement of fine Australian wine is resonating with key influencers,

particularly in the United States and Canada, and we’re seeing growth in interest and sales.”

Ridgway said the American markets were vital for the Australian wine sector.

“I am honoured to be appointed to head up Wine Australia’s Americas team and I’m looking forward to continuing to raise awareness and appreciation for Australia’s impressive wine offering.”

Ridgeway joins Wine Australia from Negociants USA, where he was National Sales Manager and will commence the role on 18 July, based in San Francisco.

Bayer Young Viticulturist comp names first Auckland winner TIM ADAMS from Mudbrick has become the Bayer Auckland/Northern Young Viticulturist of the Year 2016.

Although the national competition is now in its 11th year, this is the first year Auckland has been added as a region to feed into the national final.

Nicky Grandorge, Young Viticulturist of the Year national coordinator said the calibre of the contestants was very high.

“The contestants battled their way through the mud and the rain during the practical activities such as machinery, trellising and pruning yet despite the conditions spirits remained high. They also had an interview, a quick fire buzzer round as well as questions on nutrition, budgeting, pests and diseases and drone usage in the vineyards,” Grandorge said.

“One of the highlights of the day was the BioStart Hortisports race where the contestants went head to head undertaking a variety of challenges amongst the vines. It was tough but both contestants and spectators enjoyed the race.

“The day concluded with a dinner in the Mudbrick restaurant where the contestants all gave very impressive speeches,” Grandorge said. “We were thrilled also to welcome Sir Graham Henry who gave a very inspirational speech on success and how to set goals and work towards them.”

Adams will now go onto the National

July 2016 – Issue 630

Auckland Young Viticulturist finalists Robbie Golding, Mohit Sharma, Blake Tahapehi, Jake Dromgool and Tim Adams (winner).

Final in August which is held in conjunction with Bragato, this year in Marlborough. He will compete against the winners from Marlborough, Central Otago, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa.

The national winner not only gains the title of Bayer Young Viticulturist of the Year, but a prize package consisting of $2000 cash, a $5000 AGMARDT travel scholarship, a Hyundai Santa Fe for a year, wine glasses and a leadership week

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where they meet some of the top leaders in the New Zealand wine industry. They also go on to represent viticulture in the Young Horticulturist of the Year Competition.

“The overall comments from the day applauded the high calibre of the contestants, the camaraderie that grew between them and the positivity and vibrancy of the wine industry as a whole,” Grandorge said.

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15

people & places

Peter Hoft offers tastes of Wollombi wines to a large crowd of guests.

Record breaking numbers for Hunter Valley Wine Festival MORE THAN 1300 people and 60 exhibitors attended the fourth annual Hunter Valley Wine Festival in June breaking all previous records.

The record crowd turned up at the Hunter Valley Conference & Events Centre at the Crowne Plaza despite the threat of torrential rain caused by the East Coast low, which fortunately delayed moving inland till the Festival was over, and then brought very-welcome rain to the Hunter Valley vineyards after a dry spell.

Jenny Farrell, festival director, said the winemakers had a ‘deluge’ of reasons to celebrate the weekend.

“While so much of NSW was experiencing heavy rain, attendees at the Hunter Valley Wine Festival had a very bright experience,” Farrell said.

“Hunter wines from the 2015 and earlier vintages were received extremely well, and with rain coming down almost as soon as we packed up, winemakers said the weekend was the perfect recipe

for a positive start to the 2016-17 season.

“For almost 30 years the Hunter Valley didn’t have an official wine festival, so it is great to be able to put a spotlight on some of Australia’s most renowned and innovative wineries.

“Holding the Wine Festival as part of Hunter Valley Food & Wine Month has proven a great success, so much so that we are happy to announce that we have already settled on next year’s event day – Saturday 3 June.”

Ming and Kathy were all smiles at the Hanging Tree stand.

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July 2016 – Issue 630

Alex Stuart from Ballabourneen entertains guests with a long line of wines to taste.

Howard from Constable Estate.

Richard Feyn from Sydney Brewery.

James Mansfield from Brokenwood.

Joel Condran and Madelyn Parsons pouring tastes of Tempus Two wines.

July 2016 – Issue 630

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July 2016

WGGA and the Big Yellow Taxi Apologies for the gratuitous attention – seeking title. It is intended to be more Joni Mitchell than Roald Dahl. The point is that WGGA is facing some real threats to its viability at present, and in the worst case scenario may not last for another year. It would be a pity if its true value was only realized when it was no longer there.

So what brought WGGA to this point? Put simply, income from grower – funded levies has been decreasing, and by spending money in an effort to serve growers WGGA has exhausted its reserves.

WGGA’s income emanates from voluntary contributions from growers. In the case of South Australian growers, this is a mandatory collection with growers able to request a refund.

It is not surprising that in such difficult times, some growers feel compelled to ask for their money back, purely through financial hardship. Others request a refund claiming not to see value in the activities of the national body; or in some cases the state or regional body in question.

It may be that growers are not aware of the activities of WGGA and what it does to add value. WGGA may be guilty of not clearly communicating the value of its activities in recent times. The end result is that the national grower body is now under massive pressure and may not be viable shortly after the coming financial year.

WGGA has also received income via membership and project funding arrangements with various regional associations.

Some of these members have withdrawn from WGGA due to differences between their own priorities and those identified by WGGA as the highest priority activities at national level.

The two main areas of concern identified by the WGGA executive were advocacy on areas of national policy, and biosecurity responsibilities.

Everything else has been shelved due to lack of resources.

Other concerns related to regional or state issues are outside the remit of WGGA as a national organisation. Biosecurity is the core responsibility of WGGA as it is this organization that is signatory to the Emergency Pest and Plant Response Deed (EPPRD).

Without robust biosecurity, there will be no industry.

2

SO WHAT WOULD BE THE EFFECT IF WGGA WERE FORCED TO WIND UP? Firstly, there would be no national voice for wine growers.

There will be no national voice primarily advocating for grower issues, and WFA would be the default national wine industry voice. During our recent consultations with regional and state it has been made clear; that while there is a strong desire to have a greater collaborative working relationship with WFA, deferring to WFA as a lone industry voice may not adequately meet grower needs. Retention of a national grower voice is imperative.

Secondly; biosecurity would suffer. WGGA is the signatory to the EPPR Deed, and the responsible body to ensure that the wine industry biosecurity responsibilities are fulfilled. There is a huge amount of activity in this space. There are alerts almost weekly for the Consultative Committee on Emergency Plant Pests (CCEPP) that relate to potential risks for wine grapes.

WGGA engages a Biosecurity Officer via the AWRI to manage these ongoing responsibilities in this vital area of concern, and is working collaboratively with other entities to ensure that the wine industry is as prepared as it can be for any possible outbreak or incursion.

If WGGA ceased to exist, the wine industry would be reliant on the Winemakers’ Federation to ‘step up to the plate’ and take on the biosecurity responsibilities at national level. While WFA may would feel compelled to do so out of a sense of obligation and good intent, in the current challenging times when all representative organisations are strapped for cash, and WFA has numerous other tasks it is dealing with, biosecurity priorities would be at risk of being downgraded.

The pressure on WGGA’s survival has increased with the resignation of the Riverina Wine grapes Marketing Board and Murray Valley Winegrowers in the past six months. These resignations from the national body have two main drawbacks.

Firstly, it endangers the viability of the national organization, and potentially jeopardizes the ability to fulfill these functions on behalf of all Australian winegrowers. Secondly, it also means that the growers in these regions are not represented via input into the deliberations of the many industry committees and management bodies.

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@wgga.com.au Website www.wgga.com.au

WGGA News

WHAT ELSE WOULD BE LOST? There are statutory responsibilities that WGGA must fulfill, including selection of the Chair and Non-Executive Directors for Wine Australia. WGGA representatives provide input into the research and development priorities for Wine Australia and the AWRI. WGGA attends various committees to provide a grower perspective into industry issues, including the Joint Policy Forum, the Code Management Committee, the National Vine Biosecurity Committee, Market Access group, OIV Committee, National Wine Implementation Strategy Committee, National Wine Extension and Innovation Network, the Wine Innovation Policy Committee, Wine Industry Technical Advisory Committee, and others. Contributing to the membership of many of these committees relies on the time and commitment of WGGA executive committee and other regional members.

Without WGGA or its equivalent, there would be no national grower representation.

The current federal government has made it clear that it will not be discussing national issues with regional representatives.

When regional bodies choose to withdraw from the national body, their growers no longer have a voice with the federal government via the national advocacy organisation.

Retaining a national organisation is important for the growers whom we represent and work for. Neither the members of the executive committee, the staff, nor I as Executive Director have any misconception of that.

But if there is no support forthcoming, and if the current work is clearly not understood nor supported by the majority of the grower and wine community, then there will be little point in persisting.

Many growers are struggling to keep abreast of the changes needed for them to run viable businesses.

They need competent representation at the national level to: • Deal with biosecurity issues; • Guide the R&D agenda; and • Work with government on the legislation and policy which individual growers may not have the time, background or inclination to deal with.

THE FUTURE

One winegrower recently mused that the perception of WGGA is “arse about”. He suggested that growers really need a national body more than a national body needs them. If this fact is not clearly understood, then there is a significant amount of work to do in a very short time.

Changes are in the wind for WGGA. Discussions are under way with state and regional wine industry bodies to discuss the best options for WGGA in future, and more will become evident soon.

We urge growers to support WGGA by sharing this information, engaging with WGGA or encouraging their regional organization to do so.

The need for a strong, national Grower Advocacy Body ADVOCATE ON WINE ISSUES

a unified and representative voice at national level, addressing national industry issues.

A STRONG NATIONAL FOCUS ON BIOSECURITY

Recent widespread consultation across the wine industry revealed consistent feedback regarding the need for a stronger industry. Most industry participants recognise the need for an empowered, unified voice on wine industry issues as a whole; but also see the need for a strong and independent voice for winegrowers when it is appropriate.

VALUES AND INTEGRITY WITH A NATIONAL COMMITMENT AND FOCUS

Australia’s remote location from other winegrowing countries means that our vignerons produce naturally clean, disease–free fruit. This competitive advantage is not to be taken for granted.

There are numerous exotic pests and diseases that affect vineyards in other countries, and these may endanger Australian vineyards unless we remain vigilant.

Australia is the world’s sixth largest wine producer, and the wine industry contributes over $40bn to the national economy. It provides over 68,000 direct jobs and over 104,000 full and part-time jobs, largely supporting rural and regional Australia. It covers over 132,000 ha of vineyard area. The wine industry is vital and makes up an important part of the fabric of regional Australia.

The national organisation has important national responsibilities, such as selection of members of the Wine Australia board, and it is the signatory to the Emergency Pest and Plant Response Deed (EPPRD).

With seven state and 76 regional wine industry organisations, there must be

Growers and the Australian Wine industry as a whole have a right to expect that an organisation funded by hard-earned industry contributions should: • Be outcome–driven, operate efficiently and deliver results to contributing members that represent value for Australian winegrowers; • Be able to influence national policy through sound and collaborative working relationships with government and other industry organisations; • Be agile, capable and responsive to industry needs; • Have a high standard of governance, and provide exceptional reporting back to members, consistent with a lead industry organisation.

The national grower body is committed to working on behalf of Australian wine grape growers to ensure that correct risk management processes are maintained in the interests of every Australian grower.

The current national grower body is a signatory to the EPPRD. This both enables preventive measures and facilitates compensation for vineyards where crop destruction is necessary for eradication or control of a pest. Failure to strongly enforce this “prevention is better than cure” approach would be like driving an uninsured car, or failing to insure your house. Without biosecurity, growers are not protected, and there is no industry.

WGGA News

ADVOCACY Our leadership is focused, responsive and accountable; trusted by government and stakeholders.

BIOSECURITY Protecting our greatest assets and ensuring a resilient industry.

MARKET ACCESS Creating and shaping policy and generating opportunities across the value chain to build profitable wine communities.

VALUES Ensuring effective national representation; including and collaborating with others. Motivated by results, and underpinned by sound governance.

National Framework

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Influencing and optimising research priorities and outcomes through strong relationships with research and development providers.

NATIONAL SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND EXTENSION Strong input by the national grower voice is vital to ensuring that RD&E priorities reflect the needs of growers, and that their hard–earned levies produce the best “bang for buck”. Australia boasts worldclass research and development in wine and grape production, and it is critical to protect this standard and competitive advantage. With research costs rising, the most efficient outcomes possible must be sought to face challenging

Why we need a strong national voice

trading conditions head on. Strong working relationships and a collaborative approach are hallmarks of the current focus in strengthening the RD&E investment, and preserving the outcomes for Australian growers.

NATIONAL FOCUS ON BUILDING MARKET ACCESS The national grower body works in collaboration with other industry stakeholders to build policy that helps market Australian wine, and with it

Australian growers’ fruit. It has a solid focus on rebuilding industry profitability, and strives to remove barriers that create negative market impacts. One example is tax reform, with a continued push for the removal of negative market distortions and preservation of valuable regional businesses.

WGGA supports work currently under way to ensure that fruit and wine sold globally enhances Australia’s clean and green reputation, and preserves the risk management options available to Australian winegrowers.

WGGA Associate Members

WGGA proudly acknowledges its associate members: • AHA Viticulture

• Lallemand Oenology

• Vine Sight

• Belvino Investments

• Omnia Specialties Australia

• Vitibit

• Broke Fordwich Wine Tourism Association

• Performance Viticulture

• Withnell and Co Solicitors

• River Murray Training

• Woodshield

• Gaetjens Langley

• SCE Energy Solutions

WGGA News

WET WET WET There has been much outpouring of emotion and lots of comments following the announcement in the budget about reforms to the WET rebate. The fact the current government, or any government for that matter, would pursue reforms to the rebate should have been no surprise to anyone. The final result that was announced on budget night was not perfectly in line with industry lobbying, and certainly not the same as industry pre-budget submissions.

This range of opinion reflects the incredible diversity of this industry. A small volume maker of icon wine a cool climate area who sells through their cellar door outlet will have a markedly different business from a large grower in one of the inland regions who sells all of their fruit to a large wine company, which makes commercial wine for export. Clearly WET rebate settings will affect their businesses in different ways. Both are legitimate businesses, and both should have a place in this industry if they are genuinely sustainable. A lot of divisive commentary around the issue seems to spring from a lack of knowledge about how diverse and widespread wine production is in this country.

There was no way the status quo in regard to the rebate would continue forever, regardless of industry lobbying. It was made very clear during many meetings over recent years the situation was not sustainable; as the amount of rebate paid out was steadily increasing in a static domestic market. This clearly showed some businesses were being structured primarily to access the rebate, rather than to make and sell quality wine. To try and pretend it was a case of ‘don’t mention the war’, where if we all ‘kept quiet’ about the rebate, then things would keep ticking along without ruffling any feathers was totally unrealistic.

We should understand the real opposition to the wine industry.

There has been pressure on the wine industry taxation regime from many quarters for some time, including anti-alcohol lobby groups, spirit producers, brewers, and most recently the AMA. There has also been pressure from within the industry itself. If the industry advocacy groups had remained silent in the face of such strident lobbying, much of it misinformed, misguided, and potentially damaging to the wine industry, it would have been a massive failure on their part. The writing was on the wall, and as an industry there was a choice of ignoring the inevitable, or being responsible and being part of the discussion.

The budget reduction in the cap from $500,000 to $290,000 was not part of WFA submission, supported by WGGA. This is the political reality of dealing with government; especially a government under pressure to balance a budget. However, many complainants are criticising WFA (and also WGGA) as if these organisations had ordered the wrong meal at a restaurant, or pressed the wrong button on a vending machine, and stupidly ended up with the ‘wrong’ result. Despite prolonged lobbying and consultation, you don’t always get what you want.

The outcome could have been much more punitive to the whole wine industry than it currently is. There are still forces within both major political parties that support the Henry Review recommendations; a ‘one size fits all’ excise – based alcohol tax is the best option. This might make sense from a pure economic viewpoint, but does not make practical sense for the wine industry. Such an outcome would have been very damaging for all wine producers, with the administrative burden of an excise regime affecting one value segment, and the predicted spike in the price of most wine sold affecting the other. All parts of the industry would be impacted through reduced RD&E funding from the sudden drop in production leading to a commensurate loss of levy income.

WGGA also understands that there was a strong push from some quarters to reduce the amount of rebate even further, or even abolish it and replace it with a government–administered grant. This was hinted in the government’s own WET rebate discussion paper, cynically referred to as the ‘Rebate Rorting For Dummies’ guide. This option would have provided less security for current rebate recipients, with a government grant viewed by lending institutions as less ‘bankable’ than rebate income under the tax regime. To paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill, the current outcome may be the worst option except for everything else being considered.

None of this softens the blow for a brand owner currently contemplating, in some cases, the removal of several hundred thousand dollars from their business. The WGGA position in the rebate argument has been mainly focused on removing the perverse negative impacts of the rebate on wine grape prices.

The availability of rebate on bulk wine has led to an ‘arms race’ between those who are able to access the rebate and those who cannot. This tilted playing field spills over into the global market where rebated wine subject to a ‘change in conditions’ can be redirected to export sales, quit at low prices to ensure a sale and cash flow, where it then contributes to a new base value for the Australian category. Those who cannot access rebate are at an obvious disadvantage when trying to sell in competition with rebated wine, where the cost of production is effectively lower, allowing a lower sale price.

Rather than being involved in an argument about who ‘deserves’ a rebate and who does not, WGGA believes the industry is at a point where the trading conditions for growers and many of the wine companies who buy this fruit could hardly be more dire, and that change is necessary. As stated at the start of this article, it has been made clear that change was unavoidable in any case.

This does not mean that WGGA would be happy in throwing the baby out with the bathwater during the reform process.

There are many small, regionally-based wine brands that generate synergies with tourism, and that add allure and value to the total Australian offering. It was this part of the industry that was the original intended beneficiary of the rebate; where it was realised that the incoming tax regime was disproportionately punitive to this sector in terms of overall profitability and cash flow.

There were some unfortunate statements made immediately following the rebate reform that only owners and operators of a winery would be eligible. That no longer appears to be the case, and it makes sense that producers who have invested hard-earned money in building a brand, and who exploit efficiencies by utilising existing processing facilities should not be significantly worse off.

There is also some potential consideration on the ‘plus side’ of the equation. The proposed savings from reform offer a real opportunity to inject $50million worth of momentum back into marketing and tourism efforts to benefit Australian wine, at a time when the influence of free trade agreements starts to increase. It makes a great deal of sense that while the incentive to remain in the domestic market reduces through reduction of the rebate cap, incentives to assist marketing should facilitate new and more effective export channels.

WGGA strongly supports the consultation that the government is having with industry to make sure that valuable wine businesses that will be a positive contribution to the future of the Australian industry are not excessively set back by these reforms.

WGGA News

BRIEF

ACCC WORKSHOPS As previously reported via other communications, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has formed an agriculture consultative committee, and has started holding horticulture and viticulture workshops across the country to hear information from producers, and to provide information. The following scope of the workshops is from the ACCC press release: • Issues and processes affecting the agriculture sector that fall within the scope of the Act; • Emerging issues or market developments of concern to the agriculture sector; • Information dissemination strategies and appropriate networks available to enhance communication with the agriculture sector; and • Other issues as requested by the ACCC. WGGA continues to field complaints from growers about commercial practices within the industry. These complaints reflect two types of concerns with commercial practices: Illegal or clearly unconscionable conduct.

Such instances are thankfully rare, and it is a ‘no brainer’ that any reasonable person would find such practice unacceptable.

Commercial practices that are legal, but disproportionately apportion risk or cost onto a producer or supplier. Many such practices have become accepted in the wine industry.

An example of the second type of practice is the very late notification of price announcements. In many cases the value of fruit is unknown until a grower has spent 75% of their seasonal expenses. In some cases, the price is not accurately known until after delivery. By this time the grower is fully committed to producing a crop, and it is too late to make any

decision to avoid committing to growing expenses that may result in incurring a loss.

The intent behind establishing a date for notification in the wine industry Code of Conduct was that this would be the LATEST acceptable time that prices would be known. The perverse outcome that has instead resulted is that it has become the EARLIEST date at which prices are known with any degree of confidence.

While a grower commits to acceptance of agricultural risk as a primary producer, this situation, which has now become widely accepted within the industry, apportions a greater market risk from the wine company to the grower by delaying the price announcement. This situation is about to become more problematic, with growers reliant on irrigation from the Murray-Darling system now facing significant increases in water prices and potential shortage of irrigation water due to prolonged periods of low inflow. It is likely that some irrigators will be reticent to commit to incurring production costs unless the likely return is clear much earlier in the season.

This reflects the way in which many wine companies view the wine industry Code of Conduct. The intent of drafting a Code was to encourage good and fair commercial practices. The perverse outcome suggests that this has not been the result.

WGGA supports the recent formation of the agricultural consultative committee, and WGGA’s representative is executive committee member Ben Rose. Growers are urged to attend the remaining workshops, and to convey any concerns about commercial practice directly to the ACCC, or contact WGGA. We can record your concerns and convey them through the Agricultural Consultative Committee.

For more information visit https://consultation.accc.gov.au .

Vinitech Sifel trip to Bordeaux is on again WGGA is pleased to announce the continuation of the opportunity for a grower or viticulturist to attend the Vinitech-Sifel international trade show in Bordeaux, France, from 29 November to 1 December 2016, as a VIP guest of the organisers.

This opportunity has very generously been negotiated through Promosalons, the company promoting and organising this event. Vinitech-Sifel is an international exhibition of equipment and innovations for the wine industry and the fruit and vegetable sector. There are more than 850 exhibitors (representing 1200 brands including 30% international) over an exhibition area of 65,000 square metres.

The group will comprise eight-to-10 people from the wine industry plus

Sandra Trew from Promosalons; the company promoting and organising this VIP delegation. Flight bookings are organised through Promosalons.

Everyone stays at the same hotel and will catch public transport (tram) out to the exhibition. Delegates are free to depart Australia earlier and or depart France later but will be responsible for any additional expense. Hotel bookings, and travel expenses for delegates are provided, but the program is flexible to include partners attending at their own expense.

The VIP package includes a program of equipment demonstrations onsite at the exhibition, business meetings organised with specific exhibitors of interest to the delegate, and one-or-two vineyard visits.

The group will attend an evening event

on the Wednesday organised by Vinitech.

This trip offers a rare opportunity not only to visit one of the premiere international industry exhibitions, but to also visit some of the most exclusive vineyards and Chateaux in Bordeaux.

The successful applicant will be required to produce a detailed report on their experience after their return and must be willing to promote and present the report to peers and industry networks, and to share the experience of Vinitech Sifel with industry colleagues.

For more information about the application process you can visit the WGGA website (www.wgga.com.au) or contact Nikki Zorzi via email at accounts@ wgga.com.au.

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grapegrowing

Mid-row and under-vine options As winter takes hold and we hopefully get some solid rain, it’s a good time of year to think about the options available for mid row management and under vine options. Sam Bowman, from Bowman Viticulture, reports.

THERE ARE A VARIETY of products available on the market providing a range of benefits, choosing what is right for your vineyard can be confusing. Let’s have a look at some of my favourite mid row and under vine options and the reasons why you would employ them.

UNDER VINE Mulches The use of mulch under vine as a protective cover has many benefits, be it straw, cover crop cuttings or inorganic covers.

Mulch reduces solar radiation and wind speed at ground level lowering water loss via evaporation.

The protective layer reduces erosion from rainfall, drip irrigation and wind improving soil structure.

In the first year of application, mulch will suppress weed growth eliminating the need for herbicides and in organic mulches, the growth of saprophytic fungi will be promoted as they are the main organism responsible for the breakdown of material containing lignin (the support tissues of vascular plants) promoting the slow release of nutrients as the material is broken down.

When employing mulch, monitor vines for any potential nitrogen drawdown, keep an eye on soil moisture (soil moisture

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measurement devices are an advantage in vineyards using mulch as a water saving device) and avoid the contact of the mulch directly to the trunk to avoid rots.

With water an ever precious resource, mulch can vastly improve soil water retention and use. I’ve found to get the most out of your mulch, trial a small area and monitor water and herbicide savings for a season to understand the payback period for your blocks.

Material, spreading and transport aren’t cheap so a cost benefit analysis over a season will determine if mulch is the right choice.

If the savings aren’t adding up and you are after the soil benefits of mulch, it’s time to take a look at using compost to condition the soil.

Compost Composts are widely used in Australian viticulture and can add great benefit to soils for many reasons.

Put simply, compost is organic material that has undergone chemical and biological decomposition until it is in a stable state.

Composts increase soil organic matter and humus levels improving soil structure, water infiltration and aeration.

Nutrients in both inorganic and organic forms are readily

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July 2016 – Issue 630

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grapegrowing

available to vines and inorganic forms are slowly released as further biological decomposition occurs.

This makes composts a great addition to any vineyard for a number of reasons.

I have found using composts works best as a soil conditioner either on the topsoil or incorporated into the subsoil.

Layers spread as low as 25mm still have a great effect on vine health and vigour and the improvement in soil structure is fantastic, also a great option for the establishment of young vineyards.

IN THE MID-ROW Cereals Cereal cover crops provide a range of benefits when established in the mid row. They are cost effective, seed is readily available and they can be established in areas with low winter rainfall, perfect for our warmer inland regions.

The fibrous root system is great for improving soil structure and minimising erosion and they establish quickly providing a high amount of dry matter.

Use barley, oats and triticale to lower mid row temperature and reduce reflective heat, a good option for warm low rainfall regions as they establish early and provide a good amount of bulk.

Legumes For years we have used legumes as cover crops for their nitrogen fixing capabilities due to their symbiotic relationship with rhizobia bacteria.

Legumes can add nearly 100kg/N per Ha to the soil if

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incorporated and they have a naturally high nitrogen content and breakdown rapidly.

The root structure is predominantly driven by a single taproot which can increase rainfall penetration in dense clays.

Due to many vineyards utilising drip irrigation, root zones are confined to the drip area and are less likely to receive the vine response from the incorporated legumes in comparison to dry grown vineyards with roots sprawling into the mid row.

That said, field peas and faba beans deliver great dry matter and are a haven for the transfer of beneficial insects.

Use in blocks that are low in organic matter or on green field sites ready for planting for a solid nutrient boost.

Brassicas and buckwheat Many species of brassicas including mustards and radish contain compounds called ‘glucosinolates’ which when incorporated into soils are released and are toxic to nematodes and other soil pathogens, in other words, mustard gas for soil pests.

Again, due to many of our vineyards set up with drip irrigation the benefits in reduction of nematode populations would be minimal as the bio-fumigant properties would not come into contact with the root zone.

Nonetheless, a great bio-friendly path to take to give your mid row a new lease on life.

Many species of radish throw a large taproot which is effective at breaking through hard pans, this is useful in areas prone to flooding or soil compaction.

Establish in areas where you require a high biomass production and have excess N and P as they require a substantial amount for establishment.

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July 2016 – Issue 630

Planning to improve More often than not, success comes from a process of continuous evolution, small improvements that give you the extra results you are striving for. This month, I will take the opportunity to run through some of the areas of crop protection that you may be currently pondering for next season.

Weed management

My last two ‘Vine Talk’ columns have focused on useful tips to get the best out of your weed control program. It’s now time to review your program and consider the need to rotate products and use a knockdown from a different herbicide group to avoid resistance issues. Maybe you have some problem weedy blocks where you need to look at trying something out of the norm. Perhaps a Group G spike with your non-selective Spray.Seed® or glyphosate will help eradicate those marshmallows or capeweed. Perhaps a double-knock strategy with glyphosate followed 7 days later with Spray.Seed is required. Strategic grazing, mowing, mulching may also be an option for your individual situation.

Mites

Winter is the best time to inspect your vines for mites. Identify which species you have and work out what strategy you should use to manage their numbers. Talk to your viticulturist to discuss how your management program is working and consider what they are recommending or how your program compares with others. It could be that you are inadvertently applying products that cause mite numbers to ‘flare up’ due to their impact on beneficial species – it begs asking the question of your viticulturist.

Powdery mildew

I have been using buckwheat as a mid-row cover crop for the past six years in Victoria and South Australia for its benefits in the attraction of beneficial parasitic wasps.

The white flowers on the buckwheat plant are a source of pollen for many beneficial insects which prey on LBAM larvae.

Sown every 10th row right on budburst for best results, buckwheat can add some great diversity to the beneficial populations in the vineyard and again, a bio friendly way of reducing insecticides.

Perennial and annual swards In high vigour/high rainfall situations, an annual or perennial rye grass can be utilised.

For use in sites with steep hillsides which are susceptible to erosion, annual rye grasses can have great influence on soil structure due to their extensive fibrous root system.

They are extremely competitive with vines so will need to be managed in the summer months but in high rainfall/flood situations can be beneficial for the removal of excess moisture.

Use in vineyards prone to flooding, erosion or waterlogging.

There is a large range of products out there to control powdery mildew. Rotation of fungicide groups is key. If your vines have been exposed too often to a particular fungicide group you need to introduce a product from a different group into your program. Understand that not all DMI Group 3 fungicides are the same. Recent trial work has shown that penconazole (e.g. Topas®) still delivers control of powdery mildew comparable with newer and often more expensive products. Recent work by Curtin University showed, of the sites they tested, 45 per cent had resistance issues with the QoI Group 11 fungicides. Only 23 per cent showed some sensitivity shift to penconazole.

Downy mildew

Dry growing conditions such as those experienced in the last two years in the Eastern States can be dangerous because of the temptation or complacency to relax the downy mildew spray program. Excellent chemistry is available to help protect your crop during the critical periods around flowering and capfall. They can provide reassuring piece-of-mind protection and prevent the need for resorting to very expensive salvage options - should the weather or conditions turn high risk (January 2011 will still be fresh in many minds!). Work conducted by Charles Sturt University in 2014 suggests that QoI Group 11 fungicides were experiencing the most pressure with resistance across many of the sites sampled. Revus® (Group 40) was holding up very well with little or no indication of a sensitivity shift.

Botrytis

In some regions, botrytis can be the primary concern. There is limited product choice, so selecting the right management is critical. Botrytis is considered a ‘high risk’ pathogen when it comes to resistance management. Selecting products that combine two Modes of Action rather than solo-formulated products can be a very simple, but wise plan to have. Time your best products to be applied between 80 per cent capfall and pre-bunch closure to maximise the value of your spend.

Remember that with all spray volumes, whether a diluted rate or calculated concentrate rate, it should match canopy size to ensure adequate coverage.

Having a season plan and reviewing it regularly is very important as it can lead to continuous improvement. It is also important to ensure the right people have input into the plan.

CONCLUSION With most things in viticulture, a little planning ahead can go a long way.

When choosing material for mid row or under vine practices always think first, what you are trying to achieve?

We all know every block is different and there are no silver bullets, so matching the product with the goal will give you the effect you desire.

July 2016 – Issue 630

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

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grapegrowing

What is the ‘100th monkey effect’?

The ‘100th monkey effect’ explains the moment when where a critical number of group members adapt to a new behaviour, making that behaviour an accepted part of what they do – rather than something new, or different. How does this relate to a group of grapegrowers? Nathan Gogoll reports.

100TH MONKEY VINGERONS is a cluster group of four grapegrowing families that have joined forces across the past two years, boosted by some ‘cluster funding’ from Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA), to the point where a collective brand has been developed and two independent board members have been appointed, winemaker Sue Bell and

28 Grapegrower & Winemaker

master of wine Phil Reedman. The group represents three per cent of South Australia’s winegrape production.

“I think this cluster coming together is trying to think of different ways to do things, definitely building trust in those relationships,” Sue Bell said. “It’s not just about growing and hoping; it’s not just about growing and seeing how much money you can get – beating your neighbour; it’s about building longterm relationships of trust – and putting back into that land you’re working.”

The four businesses are all family affairs – Karelia Station (Saville family), Liebich Family Vineyards, Ricca Terra Farms (Ratcliff family) and Sherwood Estates (Proud family).

“The first six months was all about trying to get the right people around the table,” Ashley Ratcliff said. “I’m so pleased with the foundation members we’ve got – they all offer something different. As a group, our four growers have nearly three per cent of the state’s grape production. To give that some context, it’s nearly as big as the Clare Valley – nearly as big as Wratonbully.

“We had a group of four individual grapegrowers who wanted to come together as a cluster, but nobody really knew what that would be or what it would do,” Ashley Ratcliff said. “Our next step was to develop identities for the cluster members… so each of the cluster members now has their own logo, they all have their own web pages and their own social media, so all of a sudden they have found that identity and they can take that message to the world.”

All four families are based in South Australia’s Riverland.

Karelia Station is an environmentally-sustainable vineyard and wetland situated near Wigley Flat (next door to Banrock Station, between Waikerie and Berrie). The property is a 256 hectare mixed farm with 50 hectares of vines. Much of the area

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has been re-vegetated and the wetland contains many old grove mallee tress which have been there since before the land was settled.

Karelia Station grows six main varieties of grapes including Merlot, Chardonnay, Muscat Blanc, Pinot Gris and Grenache.

Liebich Family Vineyards currently has more than 230 hectares of vines, producing around 6000 tonnes of grapes per year. The high-quality red grape varieties are grown on hard limestone soils and have a reputation as some of the best-quality grapes in the Riverland.

Four Liebich brothers own and operate seven sites along the Murray River, stretching from Cadell to Waikerie. The varieties grown by Liebich Family Vineyards include Durif, Cabernet, Shiraz, Mataro, Grenache, Gordo, Petit Verdot, Merlot, Colombard, Chardonnay, Semillon, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc.

Ashley and Holly Ratcliff established Ricca Terra Farms in 2003 with the ambition to identify and nurture grape varieties that suited a Mediterranean climate. Today Ricca Terra Farms is one of the leading producers of alternative wine grapes varieties in Australia.

Ricca Terra Farms owns and leases a number of vineyards throughout the Riverland. The diversity of these vineyards range dramatically, from management techniques, soil types and varieties grown. Through the Riverland Alternative Wine Group, Ricca Terra Farms has been an early adopter of Italian wine grape varieties like Vermentino and Nero d’Avola, which are better suited to the hot and dry South Australian climate.

Sherwood Estates is a collaborative farming venture, operated and managed by third and fourth generations of the Proud family.

Sherwood Estates manages 200 hectares of wine grapes and is a showcase example of best practice viticulture in the Riverland, leveraging insights through the industry’s leading networks to consistently deliver outstanding quality grapes.

“It took a little while to come up with the 100th Monkey name,” Ratcliff said. “We made the conscious decision, whether it was right or wrong, not to include ‘Riverland’ in the name.

That isn’t because of embarrassment, whatsoever. But we know in this state, unfortunately, there are people in the wine sector who don’t think the Riverland and quality go hand-in-

July 2016 – Issue 630

hand – and we didn’t want to fight that. So we came up with a name that was a little bit different, the strategy was we would say ‘we’re from 100th Monkey Vignerons’ and people would hopefully ask ‘what does that mean?’. We’ve found, so far, 99.9 per cent of people say ‘what is that? Tell us more about it’, which gives us the opportunity to tell our story about the Riverland and who we are.”

The 100th Monkey Vigneron vision is: To establish a collective group of Riverland grapegrowers who could build a successful, stainable, profitable premium offering (whether that is grapes, wine or services) to the South Australian, Australian and also international wine community.

Brett Proud explained his motivation to join this group by sharing a moment when he heard himself talking about “hopefully” seeing the industry turn around quickly and “hoping” things would get better.

“I thought ‘that doesn’t sound like a good business plan’ to be relying on hope,” Proud said.

His own business has changed and grown through ‘collaborative farming techniques’ and today marks the fifth anniversary of the formation of Sherwood Estates.

“That took a small family farmer, me, and restructured the business to be a corporate viticulture co-operation company – so Sherwood Estates now operates 200 hectares of vineyards, compared to me six years ago who had a little 30 hectare property.

“We needed to take some chances, put our neck on the chopping block and do something different – otherwise we’d always get what we’d always got.

“So we’ve got some people involved who’ve taken a gamble and really tried to do something different for their families and their family farms.”

The grapegrowers involved are proud of the quality of their grape production; proud to be working with alternative varieties; and looking to increase their certified organic production numbers. They are also looking to re-invest in their communities and the Riverland environment through this cluster project.

For more information about the project, and the businesses involved, visit www.100thmonkeyvignerons.com.au.

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Technology helps alleviate the impacts of climate change ONE OF THE WORLD’S largest winemaking companies has armed itself with cutting-edge smart mapping technology to help manage the effects of climate change and safeguard the production of its celebrated wines.

In an effort to manage the threat of global warming, Treasury Wine Estates is using data-rich, interactive maps to analyse environmental changes and inform harvest strategies.

Dave Gerner, Treasury geographic information system (GIS) specialist, said the start of growing season had moved slightly forward each year for the past 30 years, in part due to changing weather patterns – and technology has helped lessen this challenge.

“We used to have 12 to 15 weeks for vintage when all the grapes are picked, brought into the winery, crushed and turned into wine,” Gerner said.

“That would allow six weeks for white grapes, a two-week break, and then about eight weeks for the red grapes.

“Now we are finding there is sometimes an overlap between whites and reds – and technology has proved invaluable in helping us manage the fruit in a shorter period of time.”

The smart maps - layered with aerial images of the vineyards, irrigation data, soil temperature and conditions, weather forecasts and other information - display the health and maturity of the grapes in real-time.

Essentially the technology allows growers to know their product’s characteristics better, and therefore be more agile in directing and fine tuning them. As well as being used to adjust grape characteristics for the current yield, growers can also perform activities in vineyard management that will impact characteristics for next year, such as pruning.

“This technology gives us a greater understanding of environmental and climatic changes, enabling us to adjust our vintage intake practices to match the demand and supply of grapes for different wines,” Mr Gerner said.

“In addition to the technology, we also apply a range of viticulture practices such as mulching, delayed pruning, canopy protection, varietal selection, etc., which all work together to help us improve our vintage planning, wine quality and overall understanding of our entire supply chain.”

Esri Australia agribusiness specialist David Trengove said Treasury has pioneered the adoption of smart mapping technology within the agricultural sector, using it to manage land, grape supply and natural assets since the late 1990s.

“Timing is critical in wine making with the scheduling of grape harvesting, transporting and crushing directly affecting

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the quality of grapes and, ultimately, the quality of wines,” Trengove said.

“It is vital the information collected in the vineyard is accurate, timely and readily available to ensure every part of the organisation is flexible and prepared for any unforeseen occurrences.

“Smart mapping brings all that information together into a single point of truth that is easily accessible across the organisation as well as by viticulturists, farm managers and externally contracted grower liaison officers.

“Treasury were early adopters of smart mapping technology in Australia – and we’re now seeing huge growth in the use of this technology across the entire agribusiness sector.”

The data collected by help to predict the workflow throughout vintage?

Data collected across the past 25 years by Treasury has verified the rate of “compression” the industry has become acutely aware of when managing the peak vintage period.

“We know vintages are happening earlier and earlier and the gap between red and white intake has dramatically reduced,” Gerner said. “As a response to this we’ve had to review and support winery operations to become more efficient and able to manage dramatically increased processing expectations.

“An example of this is a logistics program we’ve developed, with a spatial under-pinning, which provides real-time information on the scheduling and arrival of fruit into wineries.

Having a better understanding of this allows for tighter management of resources and control over workflows to manage fruit intake, optimise our workforce and minimise wastage and loss of fruit.”

The next challenge is using the data to help manage the supply chain – and find efficiencies at vintage time.

“As our growers are ‘living’ climate change they are acutely aware of how it is impacting them, for example often the difficulty in sourcing contract machine harvesters or hand picking crews when grapes are ripe at the same time and all need to be harvested,” Gerner said.

“However, there are some great examples where we’ve been able to react to incidences of pest and disease outbreak in some of our grower blocks that produce high quality fruit for our premium wines. By understanding ‘where’ we’ve been able to mitigate the spread of pest and disease or identify areas within a block that are still able to produce high quality fruit.”

Key Treasury vineyard staff members are already working closely with the technology, but it will be something that will spread further throughout the workforce.

“We’ve rolled out ArcGIS with our GLOs, vineyard management group and technical viticultural staff and are slowly expanding this to other parts of the business to include winemaking, HSE and asset management,” Gerner said. “The technical viticulture part of the business has been using ArcGIS for a long time now.”

But does all the data provide Treasury with the motivation to drastically change what it is doing and address the ‘vintage compression’?

“Understanding the impacts of climate change drives investigation into the long-term viability of production throughout our regions,” Gerner said. “Whilst in the short to medium term climate change is unlikely to drastically

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influence what varieties Treasury’s sources from its regions to fulfil brand requirements – i.e. Barossa shiraz, Coonawarra cabernet – our multi-regional branding model has allowed us to continue to obtain the best fruit from all regions, sometimes in different proportions, according to the seasonal nuances in each region/sub-region.

“This allows us to source fruit from different regions to consistently deliver quality wines. Changing climatic conditions is an opportunity to trial new varieties and new clones of traditional varieties that suit the current and expected future climate of our regions, to enable us to continue our brand offerings.

“Our technical viticulture team spend a lot of time collaborating with research organisations and undertaking trials on ways to delay harvest, manage heatwaves, and irrigate and manage canopies to regulate yield and quality in changing climates.”

The advantages of smart mapping will not be restricted to harvest time, but what will benefit irrigation decisions; pruning decisions; fertiliser and mulch application and more.

“Wineries now have many devices and implements in the field that are sensor based, weather stations for example, that collect information on things like soil moisture, fertiliser levels and pH levels,” Trengove said. “GIS technology provides a means of collating those disparate pieces of information in the one place. This data can then be analysed to determine a series of actions that will lead to an optimum grape product.

“For example, it helps growers understand whether crops need more or less water or fertiliser. Essentially the technology allows growers to know their product’s characteristics better, and therefore be more agile in directing and fine tuning them.

As well as being used to adjust grape characteristics for the current yield, growers can also perform activities in vineyard management that will impact characteristics for next year, such as pruning.”

Trengove said the technology is still just as relevant once the grapes have been harvested.

“GIS can also be used beyond bottling, in areas such as sales and marketing,” he said. “For example, wineries can use the technology to analyse their sales data against other information relating to an area, such as the demographics. By doing this they can gain important insights, such as understanding why certain

Smart mapping brings all that information together into a single point of truth that is easily accessible across the organisation as well as by viticulturists, farm managers and externally contracted grower liaison officers. why brands or variations sell well in certain locations. Then can then use this insight to fine tune their marketing strategy, to target the availability and presentation of a certain product for that demographic in area, to maximise the potential for sales.”

Trengove said the costs should not prevent growers and winemakers from getting involved with this sort of technology.

“The good news for those vineyards who are looking to take advantage of location-based analytics, is there are no rules for adopting this capability. Smart mapping technology can be implemented as either a standalone system or complementary system; and there are different entry levels in terms of technology solutions to match varying budgets,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s an investment that invariably pays for itself – as we’ve seen with the impressive ROI organisations such as Treasury have been able to achieve.”

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Biosecurity update from the WGGA WINE GRAPE GROWERS AUSTRALIA (WGGA) is the industry body responsible for biosecurity responsibilities in the wine industry, as signatory to the Emergency Pest and Plant Response Deed (EPPRD). This ensures that the wine industry is in touch with the national biosecurity body Plant Health Australia, and as a signatory industry, state and federal biosecurity staff will respond to an outbreak of an exotic plant pest. Importantly, there is also scope for compensation for a grower who may have vines destroyed as part of any containment or eradication strategy.

Recently PHA hosted biosecurity meetings in Melbourne, and in particular a workshop on the plant disease Xylella fastidiosa. This is the bacterium that manifests as Pierce’s Disease in vines, and has been responsible for loss of large areas of vineyard in California and parts of the US It is often referred to as “the rabies of the plant world”.

The recent outbreak of the Russian Wheat Aphid in braodacre crops in the Mid North and other parts of South Australia demonstrate how a biosecurity threat can manifest itself very rapidly. There are many disturbing facts about Xylella that were revealed at the Melbourne workshop that should serve as both a warning and a wake-up call to winegrowers who may be complacent about biosecurity.

• There are 359 plant species that can host Xylella, and there are many potential insect vectors. Some of these plants are ornamental and garden plants, often sold through nurseries and hardware stores; • Insects can spread the bacterium by feeding on the xylem of an infected plant, ingesting the bacteria which then multiplies in the insect’s gut, and infects another plant when it feeds again. While much is made of the Glassy – Winged Sharpshooter in the U.S. as a vector on Pierce’s Disease, it is really a special vector as it is large enough to bore into woody tissue, therefore potentially infecting vine while dormant.

There are numerous insects in Australia that might be potential vectors on soft green plant tissue; • Plants typically show a decline in growth as the xylem becomes blocked, and usually die within two years; • There is presently no effective treatment after infection. The main methods of controlling spread of the disease involves removal and burning infected plants, isolating infected areas and eradication of potential insect vectors. This is extremely difficult; • The bacteria infects olives and results in what is known as Olive Quick Decline Syndrome;

July 2016 – Issue 630

• Infection of Xylella in olive groves throughout Southern Italy has now become so prolific that the possibility of eradication is no longer real, and outbreaks of the disease so common that they are no longer reported; • There are presently no controls of movement of diseased material across EU borders; and • In Italy the olive advocacy body took legal action to prevent the removal of infected trees. There is much sensitivity about the cultural value of olives, some of which are approximately one thousand years old. As a result of this court action the rate of disease spread increased.

This raises the question – what would happen should this disease make it to Australia?

This reinforces the need for preparedness, vigilance, and education, and why WGGA takes biosecurity seriously. There is scope under the various plant protection deeds to help Australian winegrowers by: • Increasing their understanding of Xylella and other diseases that affect vines, so that vineyard hygiene and biosecurity exclusion practices are followed; • This both reduces the probability of an outbreak occurring, and increase the speed at which any disease outbreak might be detected; • This in turn markedly improves the likelihood of success of any eradication and containment measures; and • Growers who are forced to remove areas of vineyard may be liable for Outbreak reimbursement costs, to cover the cost of removal and loss of income that results.

Plant Health Australia has suggested several programs that may be used in the near future to increase the awareness of and preparedness to cope with Xylella, including writing a contingency plan, possibly holding an outbreak simulation, increasing knowledge at regional and vineyard owner level to increase the awareness of this disease.

If there is any doubt of the potential serious nature of this problem, bear in mind the following summary: • This is a disease that is widespread throughout North America and Europe; • There is no effective control of infected plants; • It infects a wide range of plants, including ornamental plants, some of which are present in Australia; • It can be spread through a wide range of insect vectors, some of which are present in Australia.

For more information about the biosecurity role of WGGA, visit www.wgga.com.au/policy/biosecurity.

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

33

grapegrowing

New chair for Wine Grape Council of SA HEATHER WEBSTER from Langhorne Creek is the new chair of the Wine Grape Council of South Australia (WGCSA), the grower-funded organisation that seeks to represent SA’s more than 3000 independent winegrape growers.

Heather has a grass-roots appreciation of the dynamic and challenging wine industry and she brings extensive executive and director experience to the role, from her previous work across a number of industries.

“I have served as chair of Langhorne Creek Grape and Wine for a number of years and as their representative on the South Australian Council,” Webster said.

“I am well aware of the challenges and the opportunities facing the industry. In taking on this role, I am committing to add my efforts to the thousands of growers and wine makers who are working hard to achieve a strong and viable industry to benefit their families, their communities and this state.”

Webster is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors as well as

a member of its South Australian board, she also has an MBA and has worked across transport and science roles as well as on the board of a mutual bank.

“I bring broad experience to the council which will assist us to clearly focus

our efforts, cooperate constructively and work efficiently and accountably to deliver benefits to our levy payers,” Webster said.

“I am committed to building partnerships and collaboration to get the best results. It is important that work done at national, state and regional levels is not duplicated, and that the roles and responsibilities at each level are clear. For example, biosecurity affects all vineyards and many others crops.

“While we can all contribute by good vineyard practices, pest and disease incursions can best be tackled effectively at the national level.

“I am pleased to be working with our strong board which represents all of SA’s wine producing areas. We are committed to achieving positive outcomes.”

Heather succeeds Simon Berry from the Adelaide Hills who she thanked for providing excellent service to the council and wine grape growers in South Australia. Simon served as Chair of WGCSA from 2010.

Government commits $2.5million to McLaren Vale irrigation MCLAREN VALE’S Irrigators Council received a $2.5m commitment from the Federal Government to construct a 1200 megalitre dam for water storage – securing a sustainable irrigation future for the region’s growers.

Drier winters and hotter summers are the reality of farming in South Australia and as a consequence, the irrigation requirements of high value and sophisticated viticulture have changed - with a necessity to adapt to constantly changing conditions.

Jock Harvey, McLaren Vale Irrigators Council chair, said the project will provide significant benefits to the region.

“Demand for winter irrigation and additional water during the growing season are now commonplace – substantially increasing demand for economically and environmentally sustainable irrigation water beyond projected over the last decade,” Harvey said.

34 Grapegrower & Winemaker

“The grant commitment from the Coalition will provide triple bottom line benefits – not only guaranteeing the water security for our grape, wine and tourism industries of McLaren Vale, but also reducing the harmful outflow of reclaimed water to the Gulf of St. Vincent by as well as providing hundreds of jobs during construction.”

Jennifer Lynch, McLaren Vale Grape Wine & Tourism Association general manager, said there was a reliance on sustainable water resources and infrastructure in maintaining the region’s reputation and standing within the Australian wine industry.

“McLaren Vale’s grapegrowing and winemaking industries are worth in excess of $1bn per year – this winter water storage project will enable sustainable and efficient management of our precious water resources - adding value by increasing grape yields as well as grape quality,” Lynch said.

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“This grant funding and project supports our Sustainable Australia Winegrowing program which aims to improve viticultural practices, fruit quality and financial viability in the region, including water management.

“Through securing our region’s water supply, we will ensure the premium identity McLaren Vale has established over generations of winemaking is not only maintained, but further enhanced.”

The announcement, held at Torresan Estate bottling facility in McLaren Vale, was attended by Minister for Trade and Investment Steven Ciobo, State Liberal Leader Steven Marshall and then Member for Mayo Jamie Briggs. The grant has been endorsed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Barnaby Joyce and Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Anne Ruston.

July 2016 – Issue 630

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An automated sulfur-dosing station claims the 2016 Vinnovation Award potentially reduces the number of bin MATT LOWE and Jason Standley from tractors needed to service the harvesters.

Treasury Wine Estates have won the 2016 They developed both a mobile station, Vinnovation Award for their automated mounted on the back of a ute, and a sulfur dosing station for grape bins. The fixed station with a larger tank capacity. award, which is sponsored by Primary Because the driver operates the dose from Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA) was within the cabin, there is no exposure announced recently at the SA Winegrape to sulfur fumes. Their innovation also Growers’ Summit, hosted by the Wine reduces the foot traffic required during Grape Council of SA (WGCSA). harvest, which is usually carried out at The award recognises innovations night. which deliver a change in practice or a Simon Berry, the outgoing WGCSA technical breakthrough that improves chairman, said the Vinnovation Award efficiency, reduce OH&S risk and was created to acknowledge and promote increases vineyard profit potential. The groundbreaking and practical solutions 2016 PIRSA Vinnovation Award was a designed by grapegrowers, as well as battle between five project finalists, with celebrating innovative spirits and share two entries being from one person. these adaptors for greater benefit of other Lowe and Standley, who work grapegrowers. together across Treasury’s Wrattonbully “After a decade of arguably the most vineyards, set out to address the time difficult conditions for winegrape consuming job of accurately and safely production grapegrowers are increasingly applying a dose of sulfur to bins of looking for solutions from within,” Berry freshly picked grapes before they leave said. “We were looking for entries that the vineyard site. were practical and which could be The pair designed an automated broadly adopted, both of which apply to sulfur-dosing station that allows the the finalists.” exact dose to be delivered to the bin The other finalists included: without the driver having to get out of the - An attachment that enables tractor cabin. mechanical leaf plucking in cooler The design incorporates two tanks, climates to improve quality in traditional a series of hoses, a 12-volt battery and a ‘sprawl’ canopies, developed by Matt remote control. Their station reduces the Lowe, Treasury Wine Estates Naracoorte process to less than 10 seconds, saving a workshop manager; minimum of five minutes per bin, which 4407Metarex185x88 2016-02-17T14:32:12+11:00 - A mobile phone app that enables reduces downtime during harvest and

greater accuracy for applying mulch in vineyards with highly variable soils, developed by Oli Madgett, Willunga winegrape grower; - Hydraulic heavy duty vine shears for cutting through Eutypa infected vines and wires, and those vines needing restructuring, developed by Charles Rosback, Grape Logistics, Woodside; and - A trenching tool operated from a tractor that eliminates the need for manual digging of trenches for layering vines, developed by Scott Irrgang, Treasury Wine Estates Barossa Valley maintenance coordinator.

The winners were presented with a trophy and $2000 cheque by the Leon Bignell, South Australian Minister for Agriculture.

The award is open to South Australian grapegrowers, vineyard employees and others who derive their income primarily from working within vineyards (but excludes commercial suppliers of products and the employees of industry organisations).

In 2017 the awards will again be looking for any business practice, process, gadget or piece of equipment that has been invented, developed, or adapted in a novel way to improve the profitability of a vineyard business.

For more information, visit www.wgcsa.com.au

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July 2016 – Issue 630

Supplier Update

Valuable test drive opportunity THE 2015 CASE IH Red Power Tour saw a convoy of shiny new red tractors transported around the country on the back of three Iveco trucks, in a roadshow for regional Case IH customers. The tour presented the new Case IH product models for 2015, with over 250 customers attending events held in Perth, Kadina, Mildura, Dubbo and Rockhampton.

The tour will be happening again in 2016, and will be known as the Case IH Red Excellence Tour.

One customer who found the 2015 event to be invaluable is Neville Kies, who purchased a Case IH Farmall 105U after attending the tour in Kadina, South Australia.

Neville, a mixed farmer from South Australia’s Barossa Valley, was in the market for a new utility tractor for his vineyard enterprise after talking to his local dealer about the Case IH Farmall 105U. The Kies family has been farming in the Barossa Valley of South Australia since 1857. These days, they produce grapes for the Shiraz, Mataro, Semillon and Chardonnay wine markets across two farms, along with a broadacre crop rotation of cereals and pulses, and a small herd of Murray Grey beef cattle.

“We’ve always been Case IH orientated, we started using International Harvester machinery over sixty years ago and followed the transition into Case IH when the two brands united in 1985.

“That’s not to say we don’t look at other brands, but we’re consistently happy with the Case IH products we’ve got, and the service and support we receive from our local dealer at Lyndoch Motors. They take a keen interest in what we do and how we do it and are a key factor in our decision to keep using Case IH products.”

It was after discussions with Lyndoch Motors Sales Representative, Duncan McInerney, that Neville began researching the Case IH Farmall 105U. “We had a Case IH 4230 which we purchased in 1994, and after some 20 years of use, we were ready to upgrade. Duncan told us that there was a new Case IH Farmall with a semipowershift transmission coming onto the market. This sounded like it would fit in with our vineyard farming system, so we were about 80% committed to the purchase before attending the Red Power Tour.”

“So we went to the tour with a specific purpose. It was great to have a look at the other products, but the real benefit was being able to talk to the Case IH Product Managers. They really got into the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the Case IH product and spent a lot of time answering questions from farmers – they really knew their product inside and out.”

The opportunity to test drive the Farmall 105U was also important to Neville, who wanted to get a feel for how the machine would perform in field under a variety of speed ranges.

“I was particularly interested in the powershift transmission so we were able to set the tractor up both with and without the Eco PTO, to see how it performs under particular speed ranges.

I had an idea of the speeds that we want to work with – when spraying for instance, we work between 6.8 to 8km/hour – so it was enormously beneficial to be able to get a feel for this before making the purchase.”

“It was also fantastic to have a close up test of the ergonomics of the cab and controls. Case IH’s cabin layouts have really evolved to enhance operator comfort and convenience. Even with higher horsepower than our previous tractor, the Farmall 105U is very quiet in the cab – it’s a pleasure to operate and I’ve July 2016 – Issue 630

found it has really reduced my fatigue. As a result I’m able to spend more time in the Farmall 105U and get more done in a day.”

Since purchasing the Farmall 105U in 2015, Neville says he’s been impressed with the reliability and efficiency gains, which are helping his business with improved productivity.

“As a utility tractor, it’s small enough to work in the vineyards, but has the horsepower to back up our Maxxum 125 tractor and the weight to pull loads comfortably.”

The Case IH Red Excellence Tour is visiting Horsham and Toowoomba in July this year.

For more information contact your local Case IH dealer or visit www.caseih.com.

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

37

grapegrowing

Product Update

Consistency of Avatar® the key in large vineyard THE ABILITY of DuPont™ Avatar® insecticide to consistently control Light brown apple moth (LBAM) larvae under a range of conditions has made it a backbone product in a large vineyard operation in the south-east of South Australia.

Darren Backler, of Padthaway Investments, at Padthaway, South Australia, said they look after 450 hectares and needed an effective product to control LBAM. “The biggest issue is Light Brown Apple Moth for me,” Backler said. We have a lot of farms that we are banked up against us so it’s a beautiful place for the LBAM to stay in. That is an issue for us.”

He said the grubs can do a lot of damage during the growth stage and also move into the grape bunches.

“If it gets into the bunch, it does damage to the bunch and that is the perfect place for botrytis to start. Once you get botrytis in the bunch, everyone knows how hard it is to get out. So that is a big issue,” Backler said.

“Botrytis is one of the few things that is very hard to contain in the vineyard.

You will have some on a bunch and then three or four days later it can spread quickly and by the end of the week you’ve lost your crop. When it is that bad, it works that quick.

“You will nearly always see it if you open up a bunch that you have had

38 Grapegrower & Winemaker

LBAM. You can open up the bunch and pick out the rotten berries and generally down the bottom, an old Light Brown has been in there.”

Avatar® insecticide has been used over many seasons to control the LBAM and has been a very effective option.

“We’ve used Avatar® over a number of years,” Backler said. “It always works.

I must say that the times that I’ve used it, we’ve always had good results. It is something that I’ve never found to be hit and miss. With other products, sometimes you get a good result; sometimes you are not too sure. With the Avatar®, you put it out and you know it is going to work.

It effectively takes the LBAM out. I am quite happy with it.

“With other products, you’ve seen results that you’re not that happy with.

There could be a number of reasons but generally you wonder whether it’s a mixing issue or a spraying issue or the time of the day but with Avatar we’ve used it day and night and even with moisture coming in, we still haven’t had those issues. With an area as big as what we have, it is hard to spray in the ideal conditions.”

Backler said the size of the vineyard, at 450 hectares, meant they didn’t have time to go back over the vineyard if a product didn’t work. He said it took five to six days to spray the whole area early in the season and longer as the water www.winetitles.com.au

rates climb later in the year.

“If it takes you ten days to spray, you don’t want to find out that you’ve had poor results.”

Backler said monitoring and spraying had changed a lot over the years with a product like Avatar® a good option to use as part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program to protect beneficial insects in the vineyard.

“Twenty years ago if you saw two LBAM you would go at it with Lorsban or something and you would kill everything,” he said. “That was just the common practice. We’ve all changed a lot since then. Everyone monitors it now so if the levels are requiring a spray then we will go out.

“You don’t want to try and take out the beneficials. That is one big thing that is an integral part of sustainable practice.”

He said Avatar® was also very compatible in the spray tank and readily mixed with Coppers, Sulphurs and other products.

“I haven’t yet found something that you can’t mix Avatar® with.”

The Padthaway vineyard is a mixture of Shiraz, Cabernet, Malbec, Merlot, Riesling, Chardonnay and other varieties and was planted in the 1970s.

Harvest occurs from the middle of February and is normally completed by the end of March or early April.

July 2016 – Issue 630

VinSites: Insights from grape to glass WESTERN AUSTRALIA has been chosen as the pilot state for VinSites, Wine Australia’s new insights system that will provide grape and wine producers with access to timely and accurate benchmark information, so that they can compare their vineyard’s and/or winery’s business performance with others.

Each vineyard in WA will be mapped in VinSites, a web-based tool, using satellite technology. Maps previously developed by DAFWA and that are freely available to producers, will be used to verify the satellite imagery.

These maps can be downloaded from the department’s website. Vineyard owners can then claim their vineyard and enter their own specific varietal, harvest, rootstock, block and water information.

The vineyard information is also linked to production data, with winery intakes to provide winegrowers and winemakers with accurate and timely information about yields by variety and by region.

In conjunction with Wines of Western Australia and coinciding with the

introduction of an agriculture producers’ committee for winegrapes (APC), the Department of Agriculture and Food in WA (DAFWA) is partnering with Wine Australia, the grape and wine community’s national statutory services body, on a new national benchmarking system.

PROVIDING A SERVICE TO LEVY PAYERS Currently, the wine sector has access to many disparate data repositories, all with slightly different content or out-ofdate information.

VinSites will provide an accurate single source of truth for all wine producers to access. No more unreliable or unconfirmed data.

The information entered will come straight from the user, in as much or as little detail as they choose.

The user can choose who sees what: what the public see, what other growers see and what Wine Australia can see.

The information will give grape and wine producers an insight into their

position in the sector but the value they get out of VinSites will only be as good as the details they enter.

Entering data into VinSites is not mandatory. Once vineyard owners claim their vineyard it will be matched with the known crush data information.

It is then up to each individual how much extra information they wish to enter for their vineyard.

The more information entered, the more accurate and valuable the reports and comparisons become.

The new tool will ‘go live’ in Western Australia and the Riverland in August 2016.

VinSites is a free tool provided by Wine Australia for grape and wine producers.

User privacy and data security is a primary objective of the VinSites development and is assured.

Growers are encouraged to opt in to participate in the pilot.

For more information, visit www. wineaustralia.com/en/vinsites.

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Now available in PRINT and ONLINE! If you’re involved with any facet of the industry, The Directory is an essential reference for sourcing information To order your copy: Ph: +618 8369 9522 E: orders@winetitles.com.au Visit: www.winetitles.com.au July 2016 – Issue 630

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ask the

Help! What cultivar (or clone) is this?

While growers and winemakers generally know which grape cultivars they are growing or making into wine, there are a range of scenarios where it is important to be able to definitively identify a rootstock or scion.

Accurate cultivar identification is essential for nursery operators as part of their quality assurance programs.

IF RECORDS HAVE BEEN LOST, growers can often want to confirm which rootstock has been used, especially if it is performing particularly well (or poorly), or if the block was previously top-worked and they are considering returning it to the original cultivar.

Wineries can also sometimes need assurance that the fruit that has been delivered is the specified cultivar. If a cultivar is identified on the label, then the producer is legally bound to ensure that the correct fruit was used to make the wine.

WHAT IS AMPELOGRAPHY? Ampelography is the study of the identification and classification of grapevines. Traditionally this has been done by examining the shape and colour of the vine leaves, shoot tips and grape berries.

There are books and computer programs available to assist with vine identification; however considerable skill, training and experience are still required to accurately identify grapevine cultivars. Some distinct cultivars may be able to be identified from photos, but to be confident enough to place the

name of the cultivar on a wine label most producers would hire an ampelographer to visit the vineyard in person.

CAN DNA BE USED TO IDENTIFY CULTIVARS? In many cases mature leaves and fruit, and especially young shoot tips, are not available to aid with the identification of a cultivar by ampelography. This is where the use of DNA analysis as a commercial service has revolutionised the identification of grape cultivars across the past 15 years.

While younger, actively-growing material is preferred, a DNA test can be undertaken on virtually any living part of a vine.

DNA testing is a great tool, but there are a couple of points that users need to be aware of.

The accuracy of the identification depends on the validation of the reference vine; that is, if a reference vine in a database has been incorrectly identified then the misidentification will be perpetuated.

Likewise, if the vine needing identification is not recorded in the reference database of the DNA testing service, then it cannot be identified.

What cultivar is this? If you said Temapranillo, give yourelf a pat on the back.

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So if you have a suspicion of the variety you are trying to identify then it pays to confirm that it is included in the database of the testing service.

One of the other limitations of DNA testing is that it can only identify one vine or piece of plant material.

So if you select a piece of rachis or leaf from the top of a bin of fruit and have it analysed, then you can be confident of the identification of that specific piece, but not the rest of the bin.

Likewise, you can identify one plant in a vineyard, but you would then need to complete a visual inspection on the rest of the block to confirm that it is true to type.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT CLONES? Whenever a grape seed grows into a plant, a new cultivar is created, which can have different characteristics from the parent grapevines. In a similar manner, if you plant a seed from a peach or an avocado, the tree that grows will not necessarily produce edible fruit.

By comparison, when vines are propagated using cuttings, this preserves the original cultivar, by creating a clone of the original vine. However, over time and propagation cycles, spontaneous mutations will accumulate in the vine’s DNA and these can lead to subtle differences in vine growth between clones. Clonal selection can then be based on attributes such as phenology, productivity, morphology, flavour, aroma or disease resistance.

The selection of the appropriate clone is an important decision for any new planting. Unfortunately distinguishing between clones is very difficult using traditional ampelography,

as the morphological differences are subtle or only expressed as an average over a number of seasons.

There are research reports of the successful differentiation of limited sets of clones using genetic markers; however, reference databases have not yet been developed that allow the identity of an unknown clone to be confirmed.

This means that a commercial clone identification service is not readily available, but there is at least one laboratory planning to offer this type of service in the near future. Another approach is to sequence the entire genome of the clone that you are interested in.

The AWRI is currently collaborating with the South Australian Research and Development Institute to compare genomes of a range of Chardonnay clones. The cost of this technology continues to fall and one day it may be the preferred method for clonal identification.

The AWRI helpdesk provides a free-of-charge advice service to Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers who pay the Winegrapes and/or Grape Research levies. Advice is available on winemaking, viticulture, regulatory and health-related issues from experienced winemakers, viticulturists and scientists.

The AWRI helpdesk also offers an investigative service for problems that cannot be resolved by advice over the phone or by email. Samples of grapes or wine can be sent in for independent analysis and interpretation to determine the root cause of an issue, with a formal report prepared if required.

For more information, contact the helpdesk: P: 08 8313 6600 during business hours E: helpdesk@awri.com.au

You heard it

FIRST! Distributed to over 11,000 subscribers, Daily Wine News offers a snapshot of wine business, research and marketing content gleaned from Australian and international wine media sources.

Subscription is free and easy!

Visit www.winetitles.com.au to sign up today.

Join the list of leading suppliers who use Daily Wine News for an instant advertising message to the industry!

Contact Dan Brannan for details on +618 8369 9515.

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grapegrowing

The new Silvan 1000 Litre Compact Sprayer fitted with the Radak Air Assist sprayer are Silvan’s spraying specialist Chris Tait with Alastair Hicks principal of the boutique Blue Gables vineyard at Maffra West in Gippsland.

Product Update

New vineyard sprayer a hit at Gippsland’s Blue Gables Vineyard IN 2004 ALISTAIR AND CATHERINE HICKS planted their first vines on an elevated hill side of their family dairy farm property located at Maffra West in the Gippsland area.

The project with four principal variety plantings has flourished and grown to include a food and function venue that is very popular with locals and visitors to the district.

Blue Gables takes its name from the distinctive roof line and the corrugated Colorbond roof profile of the family home.

With the Blue Gables wines winning local wine show awards Alastair is continually advancing his viticultural skills and inputs.

He recently sought out Silvan’s Spraying specialist Chris Tait at the Farm World Field Days at Lardner Park to seek a recommendation for an appropriate choice of a new vineyard sprayer, with a view of increasing productivity & efficiencies in the vineyard.

With the project starting to gain

42 Grapegrower & Winemaker

motion after its establishment, Alistair realised that their old, but simple, Silvan linkage sprayer with a vine boom had performed well, but it was now time to look for a more efficient and effective way of spraying the vineyard that would provide better crop protection.

A new sprayer would also offer superior chemical agitation and the time-saving benefits of the Silvan Air Assist vineyard sprayer, in turn allowing them to improve the productivity and efficiency of the overall operation.

Silvan’s Chris Tait recommended a Silvan 1000 litre capacity air assist compact sprayer with a vineyard conveyor as the best solution for the vineyard.

Tait said there are many features of the 1000 litre sprayer with the vineyard conveyor that make it ideal for small to medium size operations that are not willing to compromise on the most important operation of the vineyard (that is, accurate and efficient spray application) and for those that don’t want the expense of a larger machine.

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The 1000 litre sprayer with the vineyard conveyor uses locally made ‘tried and proven’ Silvan components that will provide the most reliable cost effective and efficient vineyard sprayer of its kind on the market.

This was really a case of ‘out with the old style’ non air assist sprayer and ‘in with the new’ more efficient solution with the Silvan 1000 litre capacity trailed tank with the air assist fan and vineyard conveyor.

Silvan supplied the sprayer combination through its specialist local agent Robert Webber of Cervus Equipment in Maffra.

For further information on custom and vineyard specific Silvan sprayer solutions contact Silvan Australia: Phone: 1300 SILVAN (1300 745 826) Email: info@silvanaust.com Alternatively, growers and vineyard managers can contact their product specialist Chris Tait on 0425 748 945.

July 2016 – Issue 630

Vineyard mapping: From the top-down and the bottom-up

Training & Trellising

Mark Greenspan explores the assessment of patterns of variability and how these can help with vineyard design and management. This article was originally published in US Wine Business Monthly.

FIRSTLY, WHEN WE SAY ‘mapping’, we are not simply talking about drawing boxes to show where our vineyard blocks are. Sure, that’s what a vineyard map is, but that is getting to be old hat for most of us. With GPS units in each of our cell phones and free mapping software, such as Google Earth, drawing boundaries and placing marks for features is no longer the realm of specialists in a Geographic Information System (GIS).

That said, those same GIS specialists are still needed to perform some of the more advanced analytical work that can be used, with the technologies I will now discuss, to create synergies among different types of spatially associated data layers. I will discuss mapping from the bottom-up, from the topdown and then what we can do by exploiting this information.

BOTTOM-UP MAPPING By bottom-up, I really mean ground-based information collecting and mapping.

For the most part, this refers to soil mapping.

What could be more important for a vineyard, especially before it is planted, than knowing what your soils are like, how

soil properties vary across the landscape and how vineyard practices (from planting through everything else) are dictated by those soil characteristics?

Soil analysis is not new. Soil science is as integral to viticulture as varietal selection. But over the last decade, we’ve seen soil descriptions, soil physical information, soil chemistry, hydric properties, etc., be moved into the realm of spatial description.

Whether we use a shovel or hand auger to collect a sample, dig a backhoe pit or use even more advanced technologies, it is simply a matter of associating a spatial tag (latitude and longitude) with each sample we take.

The results we get from those samples and observations can then be represented symbolically on a map, with something like an aerial image underlying those symbols.

Looking at other information contained in the images, as well as topography of the site, we can use our knowledge of how soils vary and draw areas (polygons in GIS parlance) where the soils are more or less uniform and represented by each of their respective data locations.

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grapegrowing Soil information is a collection of numerous individual soil properties, so a map of one characteristic, like exchangeable calcium, does not provide sufficient information from which to make viticultural decisions. Rather, the large collection of maps (there are well over 30 important and commonly-used soil properties that can be mapped) needs to be analysed by an expert such as a soil scientist or agronomist, who will consider all of the information present and produce actionable information from the data set.

For a new vineyard, the soils map is the basis for the design.

Block boundaries, rootstocks, row orientation, row and vine spacing, optimum ripping depths and even variety and clone are among the more important parameters dictated by spatial soils and topographic information.

Soil amendments are usually needed for any vineyard planting, and the soil chemistry maps will help to show not only how much lime and/or gypsum but also fertilisers, like sulfate of potash is needed, but where it is needed. A vineyard plan will include maps of these and their application to the field can be greatly assisted with the maps.

Taking that a step further, it is possible to use the application map to vary the amount of fertilizer applied using something called Variable Rate Technology (VRT). That means using a spreader that has the ability to vary its output rate via electromechanical means that is actuated by an application map loaded into a GPS-guided control unit. This technology exists, however, and I imagine it will only be a matter of developing demand for it in order for it to come into greater practice in our business. However, to make the high-precision VRT most useful to us, we need a high-resolution soil map. Conventional soil sampling, combined with human-assisted boundary creation, does not create a high-resolution map.

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There are technologies available to create higher-resolution spatial soil maps. Soil Electrical Conductivity (EC) can be mapped by several different ground-based technologies. EC can be used to discover variability, but it does not itself correlate to more than a handful of soil properties. The Soil Information System (SIS™) from Trimble Navigation is a set of technologies and processes that creates a set of over 60 high-resolution maps of soil properties, including physical, hydric and chemical.

It’s quite good and allows us to form the basis for very precise vineyard designs. It is truly state-of-the-art.

For existing vineyards, soil maps can be used to explore and understand the soil factors that are causing problems in the vineyard. Note that biological problems, such as nematodes, phylloxera or pathogens, are not well-described by the highresolution maps, but the variability information they provide can help guide sampling for these potential problem-causers.

But seeing how the soil properties vary spatially in context with vine health and canopy density can provide valuable diagnostic information, as well as guide correction efforts, such as amendment rates and locations.

TOP-DOWN MAPPING Top-down largely comprises aerial or satellite imagery. The information they provide continues to evolve and produce greater benefit to growers. Additionally, the cost of these services seems to have declined across the past decade.

Aerial imagery (with cameras mounted to conventional aircraft) seems to be the most commonly available product and is capable of providing very high-resolution (70 centimetre image pixels or less) imagery.

Satellite imagery is also available and can even be obtained free of charge, but it has a much lower resolution (typically a 1 kilometre image pixel). You probably expect me to also add drones to the list of aerial imagery acquisition vehicles, and they certainly can do this. However, the technology needs to be developed better than it is now.

Specialised cameras are not inexpensive, so having one’s own drone and camera will probably not be as good as the commercial aerial imagery providers. Also, the low-altitude of the flights will create smaller strips of images that need to be ‘stitched’ together to form larger ones. Imagery needs to be captured from the same direction each time to avoid different spectra being captured during each pass. Software is needed to mosaic the images together without creating funky seams.

My advice for now is, leave it to the big planes. Drones will certainly play an important part down the road, I’m sure. There are several types of imagery available for use in agriculture. Of course, the standard panchromatic (colour) images can provide information themselves. One can see variations in canopy density, though not as well as with different types of imagery.

Variations in soil surface colour can sometimes be revealed with natural-colour imagery. Other imagery is provided with cameras that capture digital imagery in bands of colour, most commonly blue, green red and near-infrared (NIR). False infrared is another product offered by vendors.

The false infrared can be created from various combinations of visible or near-infrared colour bands. The images typically represent green vegetation as a red colour, the intensity of which can be used to see patterns of vine canopy density.

However, the most common method of representing canopy density is the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), which is created with both the red and the NIR bands. Plant canopies readily absorb red light but absorb very little in the NIR band. Hence, the NIR acts as a normaliser of light intensity for this index. The resulting information provides a very good indication of vegetative canopy density. I hesitate to use the word ‘vigour’ here because vigour refers to a rate of growth.

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Nevertheless, these maps are often called canopy vigour maps.

Each image pixel has an NDVI value, and these values are usually colour-coded so that variations in canopy density can be easily seen. The colour assignments can be chosen such that the image represents a standard NDVI representation, or the contrast can be enhanced by re-assigning colours to cover the range of values in each image.

Many vendors will provide the imagery in more than one colour scheme that will show the high-contrast version, as well as the calibrated version of the image. While the high-contrast format is excellent at identifying spatial variability within the vineyard, it can also exaggerate the actual variability and so should be used with caution.

Don’t create an apparent problem when there is none!

The most typical phenological stage to acquire this type of imagery is at veraison because the canopy should be fully developed by then, but the leaves are still in good condition.

While it may not provide much information to be used during the current growing season, at least not for the near-term, it will provide a resource for diagnostics, ideally when combined with the soil maps. Even then, the weak areas will guide further diagnostics into why that area is weak.

As I mentioned above, it is often soil-related but may also be soil pest/pathogen-related so don’t forget to consider all the possibilities. Weak areas near riparian areas may indicate Pierce’s Disease occurrences, caused by vectoring of the disease by sharpshooter insects. And don’t forget about looking at areas of high canopy density. Those can be just as problematic as the weak areas. Maybe an underground spring is causing excessive vigour, or more commonly, a leak in an irrigation system is making some vines too happy.

I worked with one grower where we were examining his NDVI images and found that the vigorous areas seemed to cut across blocks in a linear pattern. Of course, it did not take much time to deduce that the irrigation system was leaking at most of the risers, and the system needed some serious maintenance.

The non-uniform output within the irrigation system will show some patterns consistent with that, indicating the system needs to be renovated, cleaned or maybe even re-designed.

There are services out there now that provide NDVI imagery on a repeating basis during the growing season—as often as once per week. This brings the aerial imagery into more than just a diagnostic role. It has the potential to bring real-time information to the grower so that issues that cannot be seen on the ground can be noticed from the air for action in the shortterm. Areas that are getting weaker instead of stronger or areas that are growing too fast could signal a pest outbreak or an irrigation leak, respectively.

Again, this gives visibility to something that may not be seen from the perimeter of the vineyard, where most growers

spend their time. That said, the weekly imagery can provide an overwhelming amount of information, and wading through it may be cumbersome for some. Ideally, I would really like to see something that indicates, spatially, change over time.

If we could look at the difference between week 1 and week 2, we could easily decipher short-term changes in the canopy density, which would be more useful than ping-ponging between imagery from two successive weeks. This is called change detection, and it is not as easy to accomplish as it may sound. It is difficult to line up pixels exactly from one image set to another, and the time of day, weather conditions, level of haze can cause problems with trying to accomplish change detection.

I suppose technology will be developed that can mitigate some of the error-producing factors, and we may eventually see true change detection in our imagery products.

Thermal imagery is something I am quite interested in. Some vendors provide this already. Thermal is ‘imagery’ that uses a camera sensitive to the thermal infrared wavelengths. The thermal wavelengths are quite different than the NIR band that I mentioned above and are sensitive to the energy radiated from the earth’s surface (including vegetation), proportional to the temperature of those terrestrial objects.

Thermal imagery is generally of a lower resolution than the visible light products but has the potential to indicate areas of differential plant stress across a vineyard block.

This may truly be a great tool for short-term decision-making and alerting, but it has drawbacks. It is sensitive to weather conditions, time of day and shadows, canopy structure so it is not as simple as it seems. Nevertheless, I have hopes that it can be refined and eventually be calibrated to some known parameter of vine water status. Beyond the multispectral visible imagery and the thermal imagery, hyperspectral imagery is something else that has potential, which I feel has yet to be fully explored and exploited.

Hyperspectral imagery divides the spectrum into finer bands of light than the typical multispectral camera does. With the higher resolution, it may be possible to glean more information than simply how dense the canopy is. I have seen claims that hyperspectral was going to tell us what pests are present, what nutrient is deficient, etc. for about two decades now, and I have yet to see those claims fulfilled. But I know that there are specialists still working in this area and have little doubt that something useful will come from that technology.

With pricing at quite reasonable levels, and quality of imagery always getting better, it makes little sense for growers not to be using top-down vineyard mapping. But its real strength comes in marrying it with bottom up mapping and ground-based, location-specific vineyard monitoring. The technology is there now. Mapping is not just something that is cool - it’s something with true economic value.

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grapegrowing

The practical costs of transitioning to organic Results from the Organic Focus Vineyard Project reveal meaningful, side-by-side comparisons of conventional and organic vineyard management. This report, from Erika Szymanski, was originally published in the US Wine Business Monthly – and is used here with permission.

MEANINGFUL SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISONS of conventional and organic vineyard management are hard to find. Organic Winegrowers New Zealand (OWNZ) set out to create that kind of data with their Organic Focus Vineyard Project, following three vineyards in major New Zealand regions where blocks were split in half, transitioning half to organic and leaving the other half to conventional management.

More precisely, OWNZ set out to convince growers that converting wouldn’t bankrupt the farm; let disease and pests take over; or be a long-term hassle for staff or vines.

Every vineyard's experience was idiosyncratic – but patterns did emerge. The organic transition was easier than growers had imagined and helped them better understand their sites, but required patience. They advised proactive and even aggressive vigour and nutrition management. And though the winemakers involved were happy with wines from the experiment, not all felt that choosing organic was about wine quality.

PROJECT DETAILS OWNZ recruited participation from three well-established companies: Wither Hills in Marlborough, Mission Estate in Hawke’s Bay and Gibbston Valley in Central Otago. Each selected a block each of regionally iconic varieties (Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough, Syrah and Merlot in Hawke’s Bay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris in Otago) and managed half with conventional best practices and half with a certified organic transition regime advised by organic certifier BioGro and organic viticulture consultants. The vineyards were tracked for three years with soil composition; vine nutrition; and fruit and wine data collected by independent laboratories.

Vineyard managers also chronicled their experiences and observations. Small-batch test wines were made in every case, but as the bulk of the fruit was used was left to winemaker discretion, the commercial wines were made in different ways and therefore can’t offer perfect comparisons. At the project’s end in 2014, Mission Estate and Gibbston Valley are sufficiently pleased with the organic program to continue and expand it.

Wither Hills is extending the trial, as yet uncertain that they can achieve their desired yields under organic management.

ORGANIC MORE EXPENSIVE TO ESTABLISH, NOT NECESSARILY TO MAINTAIN Operating costs for the organic half-blocks paralleled the conventional in Hawke’s Bay and Otago – lower yields contributed to higher costs per ton in Marlborough – with higher weeding expenses mostly balanced by agrichemical

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savings and less intensive canopy management for lower-vigour organic vines. The major financial cautions concerned initial planning for under-vine weeding and inter-row cultivating: lifting irrigation drip lines to a safe 40cm, protecting young vines and vineyard hardware and, if a contractor isn’t being used, purchasing equipment.

UC Davis hasn’t generated comparative cost analyses for organic viticulture since 2004 (for Sonoma-grown Chardonnay) and 2005 (for Napa Cabernet Sauvignon), but those reports show much the same thing: total production costs for organic and conventional management were nearly identical for Napa Cabernet, slightly higher for organic Sonoma Chardonnay than conventional, with higher weeding but lower disease spray costs in the organic model.

WEEDING & NUTRITION: BIGGEST CHALLENGES Weeding – to reduce competition and maintain vigour – and supplying adequate nutrition were the two greatest challenges of going organic highlighted by vineyard managers at all three sites. Bart Arnst, the chief organic viticulture consultant on the project, encouraged growers to “keep on top of it” with frequent under-vine weeding, supplemented in most cases with at least some hand-weeding around trunk bases. Mowing wasn’t a reasonable option for any of the sites: Wither Hills had concerns about vigour, Misson’s Gimblett gravels are too stony, and equipment wasn’t available in Otago at the trial’s outset.

Arnst observed that since under-vine mowing can decrease vigour over time, mowing might not have been a good choice for these sites in any case.

All three sites did note that organic practices brought decreased vigour, though the extent to which this was a problem differed widely. Wither Hills complained of uneconomic yields.

They were also looking for crop loads (in the 28 tons/ha range) that most from outside the region found radically high, though Tim White from Cloudy Bay noted that those figures weren’t uncommon for Marlborough. Mission Estate saw the least change in vigour and nearly identical yields, which their viticulturist Caine Thompson attributed to frequent passes with the under-vine weeder. A positive trade-off to both Wither Hills’ and Gibbston’s reduced vigour were significantly lower canopy management costs.

Arnst appealed to soil structure and the consequences of tractor-based viticulture to explain why vines seemed to go through “shock” early in the organic transition. On a conventional regime, vines develop shallow root systems in response to high supplemental nutrition, soils compacted

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by minimizing cover and, in these cases, frequent watering.

Asking vines to source more of their own resources sends root systems broader and deeper. Moving laterally, however, they meet a “wall” of near-impenetrable compacted soil where frequent passes with heavy machinery have laid ruts. The only remaining option is straight down, and vines struggle a bit as they work to explore it.

Though Mission didn’t make this complaint, both Wither Hills and Gibbston struggled to provide enough nutrition to keep leaves on organic vines from yellowing. Both used a combination of tilling (deep ripping in Marlborough, undervine discing in Otago) and soil and foliar nutrition successfully, though Gibbston’s vineyard manager says that they would be more proactive in the future.

PEST AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT: NO PROBLEMS All vineyards experienced low disease incidence across the board. A warm and wet 2013 vintage in Marlborough actually resulted in more Botrytis in the conventional Pinot Noir than the organic, likely due to the former’s denser canopies. Hawke’s Bay also experienced a wet 2013 with an atypically high incidence of powdery mildew, but Mission reported very good success with their organic regime – a mixture of the organic fungicides Serenade and BOTRY-Zen, plus the conventional sulfur and copper – and saw less than 1.5 percent loss to Botrytis for both conventional and organic crops.

SOIL STRUCTURE: CLEAR BENEFITS After three years, soils in the organic blocks had higher bacterial counts than those just several rows away on the conventional side. Soils were less compacted visually and per analyses by Dr. Tim Jenkins, who dug pits on either side of the organic-conventional dividing line. Mission Estate’s vineyard, whose history as a conventional orchard and whose ‘bare earth’ management policy had left very compacted soils indeed, saw the most drastic improvement. Though Gibbston had been concerned about their light soils eroding with the additional cultivation organics brought, they actually saw the opposite: less erosion in the organic half-block.

EFFECTS ON THE WINES? By the numbers, the organic and conventional wines paralleled each other for Baume at harvest and final alcohols,

pH and acidity (analyses were all run independently).

Qualitative differences have been a matter of individual site and wine. Mission found the 2014 organic Syrah riper and more concentrated than the conventional. Wither Hills described quality as excellent, though saw style differences in the organic wines: Sauvignon Blanc followed a typically fruity profile in the conventional case with more green flavours and more body in the organic; their Pinot Noir is riper and heavier in the conventional case, more refined in the organic. The consensus among the group of mostly local viticulturists and winemakers at the Otago event was that Gibbston Valley’s organic Pinot Gris had a more complex aroma and richer mouthfeel than the conventional wine, though their two Pinot Noirs were judged very similar. All winemakers involved in the trial attested that organic grape and wine quality were high, although Gibbston’s Christopher Keys commented that he didn’t feel that the organic choice was about wine quality.

MOVING FORWARD: MIXED DECISIONS Mission Estate and Gibbston Valley have both elected to continue and expand the organic program.

The growers agreed that organic management did require different skills: staff were required to be more proactive, more observant and better educated, in part to ensure their buy-in.

They emphasized the value of gleaning advice from as many other organic growers as possible, heeding paid consultants and starting small. But, in the end, neither the viticultural staff’s skill set nor wine quality was the ultimate factor in evaluating project success. Yield was. At least in the short term, transitioning to organics did decrease vigour and yield which, depending on site and winery demands, was either a gentle positive or a strong negative.

While the bottom line of sustaining high production superseded any less financially tangible benefits for Wither Hills, the balance might well be different for vineyards that show higher-vigour vineyards or under less pressure to generate high yields. Nevertheless, the final consensus – that transitioning to organic is a very learnable curve; that staying ahead of weeding is important, as is supporting vines through at least a few lowervigour years; that organic management improves soil health demonstrably and quickly - are generalisable lessons that speak well for vineyards considering an organic transition, regardless of their situation.

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47

grapegrowing

Pruning

Delayed pruning: A tool to counteract warming effects

Barossa Shiraz vineyard and wine case study Victor Sadras, South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) principal crop ecophysiologist; Martin Moran, SARDI grapevine physiologist; and Paul Petrie, Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) and SARDI viticulture scientist, have tested delayed pruning as a tool to counteract warming effects. Delayed pruning seeks to spread maturity, hence decompressing harvest, and shift berry development into more favourable conditions later in the season, hence preserving fruit balance and regional wine styles.

THE COMPRESSION OF HARVEST, where varieties ripen over a shorter period, the disruption of the balance between sugar, colour and flavour in ripening grapes, and the potential loss of wine’s regional character are all partially related to recent warming.

Vineyards and wineries lack the harvesting and crushing capacity to deal with a narrowing harvest window, leading to fruit becoming overripe and a reduction in quality.

The expansion of processing facilities places more strain on a capital intensive industry. Viticultural practices are needed to deal with these challenges.

Wine Australia and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources have supported a project to test delayed pruning as a tool to counteract warming effects.

Delayed pruning seeks to spread maturity, hence decompressing harvest, and shift berry development into more favourable conditions later in the season, hence preserving fruit balance and regional wine styles.

Two trials were established with Shiraz in the Barossa Valley. First, using open top heating chambers, we increased vineyard temperature and evaluated the interaction between delayed pruning and temperature in the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) experimental vineyard at Nuriootpa.

Second, using large scale trials, we explored the feasibility of delayed pruning in a commercial vineyard at Marananga.

This trial further tested the carry-over effect of repeated late pruning. Three pruning dates were tested in both trials: winter control (current practice), budburst, and once 2-3 leaves have emerged at the top of the unpruned canes.

Table 1. Yield response to pruning time of Shiraz vines at two sites in the Barossa Valley. Pruning times were winter, and late at budburst or 2-3 leaves. Responses were assessed statistically in replicated trials with three possible outcomes: no difference between winter and late pruning (no response), higher yield in late-pruned vines (late > winter) or higher yield in winter pruned wines (winter > late).

Site

Season

Yield response to pruning time

Nuriootpa

2013-14

no response

2014-15

late > winter

2015-16

winter > late

2012-13

no response

2013-14

no response

2014-15

late > winter

2015-16

no response

Marananga

48 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Earlier experiments showed that Shiraz vines do not recover and reduce yield when pruned later than 2-3 leaves.

IMPACT AND FEASIBILITY OF LATE PRUNING To be a viable option in commercial vineyards, delayed pruning has to meet four criteria: 1. Shift phenology and delay maturity; 2. Be positive or neutral for yield; 3. Be positive or neutral for wine quality; and 4. Be neutral for cost and fit current vineyard practices.

PHENOLOGY AND MATURITY Late pruning shifted phenology and the magnitude of this shift depended on developmental stage, seasonal and vine conditions.

Early events such as flowering were clearly separated in winter and late-pruned vines. Spread of maturity between winter and late pruning was as up to two weeks.

This large effect resulted from the combination of delayed onset of sugar accumulation and a reduction in the rate of sugar accumulation at late ripening (Fig. 1).

A delay in sugar accumulation due to unseasonal rains could cancel the effect of pruning time.

In balance late pruning has potential to shift phenology and maturity of Barossa Shiraz, but the actual result depends on seasonal conditions, and possibly other factors such as fruit/ canopy ratio.

YIELD Yield ranged from 1.8 to 4.7 kg per vine across sites and seasons. Late pruning had no effect on yield in four out of seven cases, increased yield in two and reduced yield in one (Table 1).

It is concluded that late pruning of Barossa Shiraz is likely to be neutral for yield as a result of no yield response, or yield reduction compensated by yield increase over a series of seasons.

Results could differ outside the range of yield explored in this study, e.g. high-yielding machine pruned vines or lowvigour vines.

WINE Late-pruned vines produced consistently distinct vines in comparison to winter-pruned vines.

We found an increase in anthocyanins, total polyphenols and colour in wines from late-pruned vines in comparison to their winter-pruned counterparts (see for example Figure 2).

This is important, as one of the main effects of warming is to www.winetitles.com.au

July 2016 – Issue 630

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Figure 1. Dynamics of total soluble sugars in Shiraz berries in response to pruning time, Nuriootpa 2014-15, ambient temperature.

Collectively, two vintages in two sites showed wine’s chemical and sensory attributes from latepruned vines were generally better or similar than those from winterpruned vines. reduce berry pigmentation and wine colour.

Owing to the strong impact of site and seasonal conditions, further tests are needed for a more complete picture of wine responses to the multiple interactions between pruning time, variety, site and vintage.

50 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Figure 2. Late pruning increased anthocyanin concentration in Shiraz wines from Marananga in two vintages.

Collectively, two vintages in two sites showed wine’s chemical and sensory attributes from late-pruned vines were generally better or similar than those from winter-pruned vines.

COST AND VINEYARD PRACTICES Late pruning was tested in a replicated trial on a commercial vineyard over five seasons.

As it involves only a change in the timing of pruning, it is likely to be cost neutral.

A commercial vineyard in Barossa established late pruning in 8 ha, and maintained this practice during four vintages as part of this trial; in 2015-16, an additional 4.8 ha were late– pruned.

In addition late pruning has been trialled in other commercial vineyards in the Barossa valley (20 ha), Langhorne Creek (20 ha), NE Victoria (10 ha) and the Fleurieu peninsula (8 ha).

Logistically, late pruning fits well with standard vineyard

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July 2016 – Issue 630

practices. Some minor adjustments might be needed.

For example, it may be required to fine tune early fungicide sprays and irrigation at the start and end of the season.

CONCLUSION Pruning at budburst or up to the point where 2-3 leaves have developed is a practice with potential for Shiraz in the Barossa Valley.

In relation to winter-pruned vines, late pruning delayed harvest maturity primarily by delaying the onset of sugar accumulation in berries, with further delay associated with slower sugar accumulation.

The actual spread of harvest that can be achieved in relation to winter-pruned vines depends on seasonal conditions; some factors such as untimely rainfall could negate the delay in maturity between late and winter pruned vines.

For vines yielding between 2 and 5 kg of fruit, late-pruning is likely to have little effect on yield when it is averaged over several seasons.

Wine chemical and sensory tests over two sites and two vintages suggest overall positive or neutral effects of late pruning. Enhanced wine colour seemed a consistent response to late pruning in our trials.

However, further tests are needed to explore a wider range of varieties and environments and how they interact with the wine from late-pruned vines.

Logistically, late pruning fits well with vineyard practices.

Some minor adjustments might be needed in irrigation and spraying schedules.

To achieve its goal of spreading maturity, late pruning has to be used on a rotational basis.

This means combining conventional winter pruning and delayed pruning in proportions that have to be defined for the goals and conditions of particular vineyards.

Whereas repeated late pruning over 2-4 seasons had no apparent carry over effect on vigorous vines, we suggest it is safer to avoid late pruning the same vines over successive vintages.

Late pruning can be feasible beyond Barossa Shiraz, but direct experimental tests are recommended for other regions and varieties.

Late pruning delayed harvest maturity primarily by delaying the onset of sugar accumulation in berries, with further delay associated with slower sugar accumulation.

Acknowledgements Denis Taylor, Sue Bastian, Trent Johnson, Mariola Kwiatkowski, Joanna Gambetta, students from the sensory panel of Adelaide University and The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) provided input in wine chemical and sensory analyses.

Tim Malone and Jana Shepherd kindly supported our trial in Treasury Wine Estates vineyard at Marananga.

SARDI’s Nuriootpa staff maintained the experimental vineyard. Jacquie Selles, Gaston Sepulveda, Sandra OlarteMantilla and Marcos Bonada helped with field and laboratory work.

Disclaimer The authors warrant that they have taken all reasonable care in producing this report. The report has been formally approved for release by SARDI Sustainable Systems Chief. Although all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure quality, SARDI and the authors do not warrant that the information in this report is free from errors or omissions.

SARDI and the authors do not accept any liability for the contents of this report or for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed upon it.

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grapegrowing

There’s more to trunk disease than meets the eye CONTROLLING GRAPEVINE TRUNK DISEASE is a pretty simple concept but you have to know a lot of things to do it in the best way and with the least amount of resources.

That reality has underpinned more than a decade of research at the South Australian Research & Development Institute (SARDI), with funding by Wine Australia, which considers it a high priority for the sector.

Current research, led by Dr Mark Sosnowski at SARDI, a division of Primary Industries and Regions SA, in collaboration with the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre and the University of Adelaide, is investigating whether the same practices can be used to manage the two different diseases that cause dieback in grapevines – Eutypa and Botryosphaeria (colloquially known as Bot).

A new three-and-a-half year project beginning next January will take the research further, updating data, ensuring strategies developed are effective for the two diseases, and investigating whether things should be done in certain ways under certain conditions.

Eutypa and Botryosphaeria have similar epidemiology and work in essentially the same way. Fungal spores infect pruning wounds and if not stopped slowly colonise the wood, causing dieback and eventually death. Different fungi are responsible, but they are related.

The major differences are that you see foliar symptoms before dieback in Eutypa

If you start protecting vines from first year you prune the vineyard the likelihood of having major disease issues in 10 to 20 years’ time will be very low. (and thus get some warning) but not in Botryosphaeria, and Eutypa is primarily found in cooler regions.

“If you draw a line from Orange in NSW to Clare in SA, everything above it will only be Bot whereas below it you get both, with Eutypa becoming more and more common the further south you go,” Sosnowski said.

With either disease, the way to stop the infection is to apply fungicides directly to the wound, but there are a number of variables – and things do change.

Dr Sosnowski said the research program was “looking at a lot of different angles”.

“We continue to examine management strategies, which is prevention of infection and timing of the application; after pruning how long have you got to get your protectants on and how long do

they last for?

“We are also learning about the susceptibility of the wounds following pruning; without putting anything on them wounds will heal themselves, but it takes some time. So we are looking at how long they are susceptible at different times of the season.

“The other thing we are looking at is spore dispersal. We are developing methods of spore trapping, and are about to really intensify that in the next project, when we’ll be trying to understand when spores are present exactly and give a clearer picture to growers about when they need to be protecting their wounds, based on spore dispersal.”

The current body of knowledge about Eutypa is being consolidated in a Best Practice Manual, which Dr Sosnowski will have finished and available on the Wine Australia website in the middle of the year.

He also features in an introductory video on trunk disease management funded by the SA Central region (covering McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills and Langhorne Creek), which can be viewed on the Wine Australia website here. One of his key messages is to take a ‘prevention rather than cure’ approach.

“If you start protecting vines from first year you prune the vineyard the likelihood of having major disease issues in 10 to 20 years’ time will be very low,” he said. “It’s pretty much an insurance policy to apply one post-pruning spray per year.”

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July 2016 – Issue 630

Irrigation

Study links irrigation to inaccurate climate perception in New Zealand

RESULTS OF A RECENT STUDY have been described as the “height of irony”, after it was discovered irrigation systems designed to buffer farmers from the effects of climate change may be causing them to think their local area is cooler and wetter than it really is.

Principal investigator Meredith Niles of the University of Vermont recently published her findings in the journal Global Environmental Change and said the paper was the first to show the impact of infrastructure on climate perception.

The research compares the climate record since 1980 of New Zealand wine regions, Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay, with resident farmers’ perceptions of climate change.

Both areas rely heavily on irrigation for growing grapes and other crops.

Although neither region experienced a significant change in annual rainfall since 1980, 51 per cent of farmers in Marlborough thought rainfall had increased over time. In Hawke’s Bay 35 per cent thought rainfall had risen.

Marlborough has about one-and-a-half times more irrigated land than Hawke’s Bay. The types of farmers who had irrigation infrastructure were more likely to be among those who perceived increased rainfall.

“This study is the first to suggest that infrastructure like irrigation that can help farmers deal with the climate may actually affect how they perceive climate change,” Niles said.

“What may have previously been dry pasture is now lush with green leaves and grapes. It’s not surprising that some farmers believe precipitation has increased.”

A significant percentage of farmers in both regions, 45 percent in Marlborough and 38 percent in Hawke’s Bay, also thought summers had cooled, despite the historical climate record showing only winter temperatures had increased in the region.

The belief among farmers that summers were cooler has been linked with perceptions of annual rainfall increases. Farmers who believed the climate was changing were more likely to perceive summer and winter temperatures had risen.

Niles’ co-author in the study, Nathan Mueller of Harvard University, suggested farmer perceptions of cooling might be related to increases in evapotranspiration from irrigation, a phenomenon he has examined in other research.

Other studies have shown evapotranspiration can cool air temperatures in heavily irrigated areas by as much as one to two degrees Celsius, with particularly strong effects on the hottest days.

The findings have been regarded as especially significant due to of their behavioural implications.

Niles and Mueller found farmers who perceived the temperature had increased were more likely to believe in climate change and be concerned about multiple future climate risks; those who perceived it had stayed the same or decreased were less likely.

These beliefs and concerns, in turn, were linked to potential behaviour changes.

Niles said belief in human-induced climate change was necessary for farmers to want to reduce their greenhouse gas impacts and adopt adaptive strategies.

“Absent these experiences and beliefs, farmers indicated they would be less likely to make these behavioural changes,” he said.

July 2016 – Issue 630

The impact of irrigation alone on perception of climate change and resulting behaviour could be significant, according to Niles. Currently 3.2 billion acres of land globally are irrigated, and irrigation water consumption is expected to increase 11 percent by 2050.

“Future research should also examine the impact of other infrastructure like levees and dams, and even air conditioning, on climate perceptions,” Niles said. “This could be a significant factor we’re overlooking.

“While many of these infrastructure systems are critical to help us adapt and manage the climate, they might also influence how we perceive change. And given that experience with climate change is shown to be a critical factor for behaviour change and policy support, this might have profound effects.”

What may have previously been dry pasture is now lush with green leaves and grapes. It’s not surprising that some farmers believe precipitation has increased.

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grapegrowing

Record-breaking numbers for irrigation event VISITORS TO the 2016 Irrigation Australia International Conference and Exhibition were presented with the latest showcase of international and national innovations, the most exhibitors and the biggest educational program in three decades.

Held in Melbourne, the Irrigation Australia International Conference and Exhibition, together with AgriTech Australia, attracted more than 140 exhibiting companies, 100 speakers and 3,500 industry professionals.

Event organisers Exhibitions and Trade Fairs said feedback has been impressive.

“Visitors have gained new insights, information and techniques imperative for the growth of their businesses while exhibitors were very happy with quality of attendees and amount of business generated,” Exhibitions and Trade Fairs said in a statement after the event.

This year’s conference was defined by the theme Irrigation- for prosperity and wellbeing. Key note speakers included Assistant Minister for Agriculture and

This was certainly an event that will be remembered not only for its size but its quality.

The value of face-to-face networking is invaluable and the level of optimism by both exhibitors and visitors was the highest it has been in years.

Water Resources Senator Anne Ruston, Australian businessman John Elliott and Deputy Director of the Environment and Research Division for the Bureau of Meteorology Graham Hawke.

In her opening keynote address, Senator Anne Ruston said the Australian Government has placed a huge priority on water.

“We see water as a fundamental resource for our economy. Irrigation in the southern part of Australia is a vital pillar for the Australian agricultural landscape,” Ruston said.

“We are transitioning out of an economy that was reliant on mining into

an economy of the future, an economy of innovation.

“We now as a Government have decided to focus on becoming the smartest, brightest and most innovative in the world. And your industry is a classic example of an industry transitioning into a new smart industry.

“We need to look at the irrigation industry today and realise it is embracing technology; We are an industry of the future,” Ruston said.

Throughout this year’s events, exhibitors made contact with existing and new customers from across the spectrum of Australia’s irrigation industry.

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July 2016 – Issue 630

Rod Best, Isuzu Engines sales manager, said it was a standout event.

“From our perspective it was an awesome event with good foot traffic across the three days and a high level of interest, not to mention numerous irrigation industry contacts,” Best said.

Rick Smythe, Player Proximity Systems director, said the quantity and quality of attendees was very good.

“I was extremely impressed with the calibre of interest and with winning the Best New Product Award,” Smythe said.

Luke Kasprzak, Irrigation Australia International Conference and Exhibition Director, said the conference and exhibition was the premier event of the

irrigation industry and the only one that combined all levels of irrigation across the entire value chain.

“The Australian Irrigation Industry, when compared to the rest of the world has strength and there are many opportunities, in particular within agriculture,” Kasprzak said.

“With overwhelming positive feedback, this event provided the tools; knowledge and techniques to realise these opportunities and make sure their businesses are fit for such”.

Kasprzak said there was a real buzz across Irrigation Australia International Conference and Exhibition, which he believed would translate into real

opportunities in the future.

“This was certainly an event that will be remembered not only for its size but its quality,” Kasprzak said.

The value of face-to-face networking is invaluable and the level of optimism by both exhibitors and visitors was the highest it has been in years.

“We received positive feedback this year and we have already received a large number of expressions of interest to exhibit at the next show.”

Exhibitions and Trade Fairs has confirmed the show will return in 2018 and location and dates are soon to be announced. The show will be once again co-located with Agritech Australia.

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winemaking

Bubbling along: Tyson Stelzer’s analysis of the Australian sparkling wine category When Tyson Stelzer released his Australian Sparkling Report 2016 earlier this year he made some bold statements about the quality of local product. In this report, the Grapegrower & Winemaker looks at Stelzer’s key findings.

AS ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S leading wine critics – and already internationally acclaimed for the quality of his sparkling wine reports – when Tyson Stelzer puts the magnifying glass on the Australian sparkling wine category his observations are worth paying attention to.

At a time when the Australian sparkling industry has work to do in regaining its position in both domestic and export markets, this report serves to provide both the industry and consumers an insight into Australia’s finest sparkling wines of every style.

“There’s a lot of commentary around this massive category and I thought it really deserves a report on its own,” Stelzer said, explaining his motivation for compiling a year’s worth of tasting notes and category observations.

“I’ve been a little bit surprised by the feedback. I’ve had winemakers tell me how valuable it is and it seems there’s a lot of interest right across the board.”

Stelzer modestly said “fate and extremely good fortune” has seen him become deeply immersed in the great sparkling wines

of the world, but nobody could deny that his work ethic, talent and outstanding palate have played a huge part.

“I have the privilege of reviewing all the Australian sparkling wines for The Halliday Australian Wine Companion, I consult on the first and business class champagne selection for Qantas and I showcase sparkling wines from across the planet at public and corporate tastings and dinners around Australia and the world most weeks of the year,” he said.

The background for his report comes from tasting wines from 310 Australian sparkling producers. But he’s doesn’t restrict himself to the home-grown product.

“I visit Champagne three or four times a year on blisteringly intensive tasting regimes or hosting intimate tour groups and I am currently researching the fifth edition of The Champagne Guide and the first ever Champagne Atlas.”

Stelzer said his inaugural Australian Sparkling Report 2016 set out to “establish a benchmark as Australia’s first comprehensive report” and being dedicated exclusively to sparkling wines it had to include all styles – from méthode traditionnelle to moscato and everything in between.

“I have purposely avoided singling out just one sparkling wine of the year,” he said.

“Every genre deserves its own recognition, so I have selected a ‘sparkling wine of the year’ in each of four different price brackets as well as blanc de blancs, rosé, prosecco, sparkling red and moscato. In each category I have also showcased 10 or 20 runners up worthy of your attention this year. In all, reviews of almost 150 Australian sparkling wines from $11 to $350.”

AUSTRALIAN SPARKLING WINE QUALITY “With all of my writing, travelling and presenting on champagne, I am often asked if I ever choose to drink Australian sparkling wine. The answer is a resounding yes! All the time.”

Stelzer said in the under $40 category it’s “almost impossible” to find a champagne worth drinking, and this is the space where Australia “produces a plethora of truly great sparkling wines”.

“But there’s a more important reason that I adore Australian sparkling wine so much that I devote a decent amount of my year to it,” Stelzer said. “Australian wine possesses an inimitable personality, the essence of a rugged and harsh south land of ancient geologies, of icy latitudes and lofty plateaus.

“It is the story of terroirs more diverse and extreme than any other sparkling wine land, embracing the full sweep of contrast from the nervous tension of Jansz Vintage Chardonnay to the thundering exuberance of Rockford Black Shiraz.

“And it is the tale of an eternal fight against inconsistent yields, droughts, floods, frosts, heatwaves, bushfires, cashflow, oversupply, taxes and currency fluctuations. This is the thrill, and this is the terror, of sparkling winemaking in Australia.”

Stelzer said the calibre of Australian sparkling wine today is higher than he has ever seen before, “thanks to the resilience and sheer determination of a small set of extremely skilful hands in Australia’s sparkling vineyards and wineries”.

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July 2016 – Issue 630

YET SPARKLING SALES STRUGGLE The consumer interest in the sparkling category has never been stronger according to Stelzer, so there is more pressure on the Australian industry to compete.

“In the past twelve months, Australia has registered the fastest growth in champagne consumption in the world, leaping 24% to more than eight million bottles,” he said.

“Despite the explosion in champagne in Australia, domestic sales of Australian sparkling wine actually dropped by 6% in 2015 to 44 million bottles, continuing a downward trend of 18% over the five years since 2010, when Australians popped 54 million bottles of home-grown fizz.”

Australia represents the world’s 10th largest sparkling wine market by volume, with 8.2 million Australians, just over half of all alcohol drinkers, drinking sparkling wine. But increasingly, this market is being snared by imports.

“In 2015, sparkling wine imports surged by 13.5% to almost 18 million bottles – 8.1 million of which were champagne – representing a more than 40% explosion in growth since 2010.

This growth reflects the increasing popularity of imported sparkling wines, particularly champagne, Italian prosecco, cava and New Zealand sparkling.”

Meanwhile, exports are in decline. Australia’s sparkling wine exports dropped 16% by volume and 3% by value in 2015, compared with net rises in volume and value of still white, red and other wine exports.

“These trends are nothing short of frightening for this crucial sector of Australian winemaking. In 2015-16, sparkling wine represented 7.2% of Australian wine production, with a total value of $382M, and 9.1% of wine exports.”

But there is some promise to be found in these trends.

“Reflecting a shift toward more premium sparkling wines and away from bulk wines, the value of bottled exports of Australian sparkling rose by 9.3% in 2015,” Stelzer said.

But why isn’t Australian wine on the international sparkling radar?

Stelzer revealed that back in 2014, UK sparkling critic Tom Stevenson published a piece on the potential of sparkling wine regions beyond Champagne.

“His four top sparkling wine regions of the future were England, China, northeastern Germany and even New Zealand for sparkling Sauvignon Blanc – go figure!. Anderson Valley, Burgundy, Serbia, Greece and Slovenia also ranked. Australia did not even rate a mention,” Stelzer said.

“My opinion is very different to Tom Stevenson’s. I did not taste every Australian sparkling wine I could procure this year with the intention of writing this report. This report was inspired by the calibre of Australian sparkling wines in my tastings this year.”

OTHER AUSSIE CHALLENGES “The biggest challenge facing Australian sparkling winemaking today is that most of this country is too hot to produce truly great fizz,” he said. “And climate change is only serving to exacerbate this situation.”

The reaction for wine growers has been logical – to harvest earlier, “to capture the grapes at moderate levels of sugar ripeness with sufficiently elevated acid levels” to produce elegant base wines.

“The challenge in this response for Australian sparkling winemakers is that a shorter ripening period all too often produces hard, under-ripe acidity, making for astringent

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winemaking sparkling wines of assertive structure,” Stelzer said. “And even, at times, an under-ripe, grassy flavour spectrum.”

Stelzer said the natural response from the winemaker is to counter this challenging acidity with sweetness by increasing the dosage.

“However, rather than producing a seamlessly balanced and palatable sparkling wine, this response instead typically renders a wine not only hard, astringent and underripe, but sweet at the same time, producing a ‘sweet and sour’ effect,” he said. “The only truly fool-proof answer is that there is no substitute for grapes to enjoy long ‘hang time’ – as winemakers call it – in a cool climate.”

The report rated sparkling wines from 50 of Australia’s 63 wine regions and Stelzer delivered a list of the best: 1. Tasmania Topped the charts this year on every measure: number of cuvées tasted (62) and number of highlight cuvées shortlisted for this report (40, representing almost two-thirds of cuvées tasted).

“Tasmania confidently holds its place as Australia’s sparkling capital.”

2. King Valley 18 out of 30, or 60% of cuvées shortlisted, largely for its performance with prosecco (20 out of 30 cuvées tasted).

“King Valley retains its position as king of this style.”

3. Victoria Nine from 18, or 50%, “thanks largely to Chandon and Brown Brothers”.

4. South-Eastern Australia 15 out of 38, or 40%.

5. Yarra Valley Seven out of 19, or 37% of cuvées shortlisted.

6. Adelaide Hills 12 out of 34, or 36%.

7. Macedon Five from 14, or 36%.

Stelzer also listed Australia’s top regions for sparkling reds, as: Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, Clare Valley and McLaren Vale, with Heathcote and Langhorne Creek also worthy of mention.

MAKING SPARKLING WINE So, Stelzer has confirmed that cool climate is king. But that’s only the start of the story.

“Sparkling winemaking is among the most complex, labourintensive and time-consuming winemaking processes of all,” he said.

His explanation of the process, is well worth revisiting: “It begins with careful, selective harvesting and immediate, gentle pressing, capable of extracting white juice even from dark-skinned Pinot Noir and Meunier grapes. The coeur de la cuvée, the heart or middle of the pressing, yields the purest juice. The tailles is the coarser, inferior juice that flows last from the press.

“To create the finest sparkling wine, the juice is settled prior to fermentation to allow the solids and impurities to fall from the must – pressed grape juice – allowing clear juice to be drawn off from the top. This process is called débourbage in French and the most fanatical champagne houses perform it twice to achieve particularly exquisite and fresh cuvées (blends).

“Following the first fermentation, sparkling wines from the coolest regions typically undergo malolactic fermentation to convert tart malic (green apple) acidity into softer lactic (dairy) acidity. With the advent of warmer vintages in the wake of global warming, an increasing number of sparkling winemakers are experimenting with blocking malolactic.

“Sparkling wine is blended following its first fermentation,

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and perhaps a period of ageing on lees in tanks or barrels. Nonvintage wines are a blend of a base (youngest) vintage with reserve wines, older vintages aged in the cellar in tanks and sometimes barrels or bottles. Prior to bottling, a liqueur de tirage of sugar and wine is added so as to induce a secondary fermentation in the bottle, known as the prise de mousse. Held under pressure by a crown seal or cork, the second fermentation produces carbon dioxide which remains dissolved in the wine, creating sparkling wine.

“Following the second fermentation, sparkling wines mature in contact with the lees (dead yeast cells) to mellow, soften and build complexity, mouth feel and texture, a process called autolysis. In Champagne, the mandatory minimum is 15 months for non-vintage and three years for vintage wines, but reputable houses always far exceed these minima.

“Méthode traditionnelle is the ultimate sparkling winemaking process, mandatory in Champagne, and the standard for all of Australia’s top sparkling wines, in which the second fermentation to produce the bubbles occurs in the bottle in which the wine is sold.

“This process is often simplified in other sparkling wine producing regions in the transfer method, in which the wine is transferred to a vat and filtered after the second fermentation, invariably losing some gas. The charmat or tank method is a further simplification in which the second fermentation occurs in large tanks under pressure. Carbonation is the cheapest method of creating sparkling wine, by injecting the wine with carbon dioxide, in the same manner as lemonade.

“Each of these simplifications tactically avoids the most labour-intensive stages of méthode traditionnelle: riddling and disgorgement.

“Second fermentation in bottle creates sediment of lees which must be removed without losing bubbles. Riddling is the process of moving this sediment into the neck of the bottle, traditionally achieved on a riddling rack called a pupitre by giving each bottle a quarter-rotation every day and slowly tilting it from horizontal to upside down. A good riddler can turn some 60,000 bottles a day, but this is a dying art. In modern times, riddling has been largely taken over by gyropalettes, giant robotic arms that slowly rotate large cages of bottles.

“After riddling, the sediment is settled on the inside of the cork or crown cap.

“The neck of the bottle is then frozen, the cap released, and the plug of sediment shot out, leaving perfectly clear wine behind. This process is called disgorgement.

“To replace the volume lost through disgorgement, the bottle is topped up with sweetened wine called liqueur d’expédition and a new cork is inserted. The sweetness of the finished wine is determined by the level of sweetness of the liqueur.

Zero dosage sparkling wines are topped up with dry wine. In Champagne, brut nature or brut zero denote a wine of less than 3g/L of sugar, extra brut (extra dry) less than 6g/L, brut (dry) less than 12g/L, extra dry or extra sec less than 17g/L, sec (dryish) less than 32g/L, demi-sec (half dry) less than 50g/L and doux (sweet) more than 50g/L. “Sparkling rosé is made in the same manner as white sparkling, with colour achieved in one of three ways. Rosé d’assemblage is a blending method, the most common means of making rosé, in which a tiny quantity of pinot noir or meunier made as table wine is added to the white base wine. The saignée method adds free-run juice from just-crushed red grapes, while a limited maceration method produces darker, heavier wines through a quick soak on red grape skins.

“Sparkling red wines begin their life in the same manner as still reds, fermented on skins to extract colour, flavour and tannin. The finest are then privileged to méthode traditionnelle,

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though transfer, charmat or carbonation simplifications are used for cheaper labels.”

SPARKLING CLOSURES On this topic, Stelzer is not afraid to speak his mind.

“I am delighted to report that after 13 years of banging on about the abominable influence of corks on wine bottles, I finally have a number of positive announcements to make,” he said.

“The first is that across my tastings, natural cork has now been relegated to less than one-third of Australia’s sparkling wine labels.

“DIAM now accounts for almost 50%, crown seal almost 15% and screw cap more than 4%, mostly on moscato. All encouraging trends. I have not encountered any bottle variation in my tastings of sparkling wines sealed with DIAM, crown seal or screw cap this year.”

The second encouraging development has been a declining level of cork taint.

Across all his Australian sparkling wine tastings, Stelzer has seen tainted wine decrease by two-thirds of the levels observed five years ago.

“This year, of the 143 Australian sparkling wines I tasted under natural cork, just three were cork tainted (2%). This figure is still too high and it begs two questions. First, why sparkling winemakers persist with natural cork when two-thirds of the market has switched to more reliable technology. And, second, why cork producers continue to supply a flawed product.”

WHO HAS BEEN READING THE REPORT?

took notice…

“A most comprehensive review and an enormously valuable reference... meticulous attention to detail and all supported by exemplary tasting notes,” Ross Brown said, Brown Brothers executive director.

“The scope, level of detail and industry information are fantastic,” said Ed Carr, Accolade Wines group sparkling winemaker.

And, in the first fortnight after the release, the report generated almost 2,300 downloads; more than 100 shares and more than 330 likes across social media.

CONCLUSION “I am often asked if I ever choose to drink Australian sparkling wine. The answer is a resounding yes! All the time,” Stelzer said.

“Under $40 it’s almost impossible to find a champagne worth drinking. Yet Australia produces a plethora of truly great sparkling wines in this space. And let’s be honest, we can’t all afford to pop champagne every night.

“But more than that, the reason I adore Australian sparkling wine so much that I devote a decent amount of my year to it is because it possesses a personality that is inimitable, the signature of this vast and temperamental land.

“Is this stamp of place harder to capture in a bottle of sparkling wine than in still wine? Absolutely. Is the finesse of the one wine style that depends upon a cold climate more than any other a battle to uphold? Without doubt. Is sparkling wine production under greater threat from climate change than any other style in Australia? I would suggest it is.”

Well, Australia’s leading sparkling wine producers certainly

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WET Rebate reform: Where to next?

Across the country, people are wondering how any changes to the WET Rebate will affect their wine business. Wines of Western Australia had an independent report prepared; a law firm well-known for its connection to the wine industry has provided analysis; and the South Australian Wine Industry Association has warned of serious threats to business viability. Meanwhile, Senator Anne Ruston has been touring the country to take on more feedback. Nathan Gogoll reports.

STUART WATSON, Margaret River Wine Association president said independent analysis indicates fine wine regions, including Margaret River, would be most impacted by the “unintended consequence” of WET Rebate changes.

“The long term negative changes that will be disproportionally born by small rural and regional communities Australia wide,” Watson said.

Meanwhile, Brett Zimmermann and John Tucker from DW Fox Tucker Lawyers have also written about the impacts of what has been announced.

“It is accepted and we would agree that a tightening of the provisions is required to curb the use of ‘virtual winemakers’,” they reported. “On the face of the Budget papers and the Assistant Treasurer’s statements on the issue however, the tightening will additionally hit, for example, those producers who own or lease a vineyard, and who convert grapes they own to wine for bulk trade.”

Senator Anne Ruston has followed through on a commitment to “go out to industry to consult and find out what the details of this particular package needed to be so that we could deliver the outcomes the Australian wine industry was seeking to achieve by these changes”.

Ruston said the first thing she has asked in the regions has been ‘what is it you think the rebate is trying to achieve?’.

“Well I think I’ve visited about 14 different wine regions and I’ve got 14 different answers,” she said.

“The next dilemma, obviously, is in the detail of the proposed package. I would have thought the most important issue we’ve got to deal with collectively is going to be – who is eligible for the WET Rebate in the longer term? What does an eligible producer look like?

WA CONCERNS OF COLLATERAL DAMAGE Wines of Western Australia (WoWA) has released the results of an independent survey report undertaken by RSM Australia into the impact of the Federal Government’s proposed wine tax changes within the state. According to the Margaret River Wine Association, the findings are very clear the Margaret River wine region “will suffer short, medium and long term pain”.

The report states the proposed changes will be “a perfect storm of unintended consequence” which will results in “a period of extreme rationalisation” and “this type of rationalisation will be generational”.

The key points of the RSM Australia survey include: • $9.9 million dollars per annum will be removed from Western Australian wine communities as 43% or 84 wine producers surveyed participants don’t have an interest in a winery; • $8.0 million will be removed from Western Australian regional wine communities with the proposed cap reduction to $290,000 per annum impacted on 50 wine producers; • From the 194 survey participants there are 2,157 full time jobs. 50% of the survey participants have indicated they will immediately seek to reduce the number of people they employ; and

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• Western Australia will be disproportionally affected as 29% of WET Rebate claims reaching $500,000 are in the state with 37% impacted by the cap reduction when producers claiming less than $50,000 are excluded.

The Margaret River Wine Association media release also stated: “It appears as though the Wine Equalisation Tax Rebate Consultative Group October 2015 report and subsequent recommendations that sort to maintain the basic principle of wine taxation in that the WET Rebate was established with the policy intent being ‘… recognition of the substantial financial hardship faced by small rural and regional wineries and aimed to support the viability and consequent capacity to generate employment wealth in local communities’ have been set almost completely aside.”

“Collaboration with all parties is necessary to map out a strategic pathway forward.”

FEARS OF MAJOR IMPACTS IN SA The South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA) said the proposed changes to the WET Rebate could seriously threaten “business viability, future growth and investment, loss of jobs and associated flow on impact throughout the supply chain and regional tourism”.

The association gathered more than 220 respondents to a WET reform survey and said it provided a clear message. The key findings included: • The proposed definition for ‘eligible wine producer’ is causing a great deal of concern and confusion; • Timeframes for proposed changes need to allow an adequate period for business models to adjust in order to minimise the potential for closure or other consequences of affected businesses; and • The $50M to promote Australian wine overseas and wine tourism is welcomed, but requires strong industry input and the process is not clear about how industry input will occur.

SAWIA has already written to the relevant Federal Government Ministers to highlight the concerns raised through the survey of members. During July, SAWIA will be further consulting with its members to develop an appropriate definition for an ‘eligible wine producer’. According to SAWIA, the Federal Government (prior to the election) had proposed a consultation process with industry in August.

FROM THE LAWYERS POINT OF VIEW Brett Zimmermann and John Tucker, from DW Fox Tucker, have provided their own views and analysis of the three principal measures announced.

It is interesting to note the pair said the proposal to reduce the rebate cap from $500,000 to $350,000 in July 2017 and further down to $290,000 from July 2018 was “effectively foreshadowed and accordingly not particularly surprising”.

(Editor’s note: No correspondence across my desk prior to the Federal Budget announcements foreshadowed cap reductions.)

According to Zimmermann and Tucker, the Treasury Department has stated that it will introduce amendments to the

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WET Act that will, with effect from 1 July 2019, ‘tighten’ (i.e. restrict) the rules regarding eligibility to wine producers who in order to access the WET rebate must: - “own an interest in a winery” or “have a long term lease over a winery”; and - sell packaged, branded wine domestically.

The lawyers were keen to emphasise the word ‘and’ in the above criteria.

“If the concern of Treasury is just around the exploitation of the provisions as illustrated in ATO published Tax Alerts there remain avenues to target these without such broad sweeping provisions,” Zimmermann and Tucker reported.

“Consequently, the tightening of the rebate appears as much, if not more, a reduction in spend and increase in budget savings than about curbing the use of virtual winemakers.

“The Assistant Commissioner has noted that the final details on the tightened eligibility criteria, including the definition of ‘winery’, will be resolved through further consultation. So it remains to be seen whether ‘winery’ will be expanded to include, for example, significant vineyard infrastructure. “ Zimmermann and Tucker have also drilled down into other technical details and you can access their full analysis online (www.dwfoxtucker.com.au/legal-news-analysis/articles/).

THE SENATOR’S HEADACHE Senator Anne Ruston, as the Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, has been close to the entire WET Rebate reform process. She recently concluded a tour of 14 different wine regions consulting on this topic. It hasn’t given her a clear picture of what the wine industry actually wants, even in specific areas like the criteria for an ‘eligible producer’.

“Every single wine region and every single group of people I’ve spoken to have given me a different definition of what they think eligibility should look like,” Ruston said. “Some people think that everybody should be eligible, some think you should only be eligible if you have a cellar door… there’s just this absolute myriad of things people think should be eligible.

We all understand things look the way they look depending on where you stand, but it does highlight a really significant issue – that is where are we going to go, as the Australian wine and winegrape industry, if we actually can’t come up with a united voice on something as important as taxation reform.”

Ruston said she faces a dilemma when it comes to providing advice to the Treasury Department about what eligibility rules the industry will support.

“I will go back to Canberra and, in the absence of any ability for the industry to get together and come back to me in the formal consultation state – should I be lucky enough firstly to be re-elected and secondly to remain as the minister responsible for the wine industry, I’m going to have to make the decision on where we draw the line,” Ruston said. “And I’m not necessarily sure, despite all my best intentions and my genuine interest and commitment to the wine industry, that I’m the right person or the best person to be making that decision.

“I have made a commitment that I am going to work at a level of detail to get across this and come up with the best-possible outcome.

“Can I challenge you to think very seriously about your industry and about how you can best deliver an outcome…

“What is going to be the model, the structure, that is going to stand everybody in the best state and that will stand the test of time.”

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An Australian en primeur project With a $198,000 price tag PENFOLDS CHOSE HONG KONG and Vinexpo as the launch event for the Magill Cellar 3 barrel program, placing the en primeur type of wine offer of unprecedented behind-the-scenes access onto the international stage.

Peter Gago, Penfolds chief winemaker, said the launch had created“incredible” interest.

“One of the philosophies of the launch was to reach a global audience,” Gago said. “And the concept has just been embraced, not just from a media and trade point of view either.

“This is an industry of relationships and the barrel program will bring people in. The 2015 vintage is already spoken for and it won’t surprise me if I find out the 2016 is sold out already.”

Put simply, the Magill Cellar 3 program offers consumers the chance to purchase the wine set aside in a single barrel, before it

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has been bottled. But there’s more to it than that, as the $198,000 price tag suggests.

“We will fly each owner – first class, with their partner – to Adelaide and they will come here to Magill and taste the wine with the winemakers, behind the scenes,” Gago said.

“This is something we just don’t offer to anyone during maturation.

“The owners will physically get to be involved and they’ll also get all the analytical results so they can be involved in monitoring the maturation.

“At the end of the barrel maturation process, the owner then chooses how many 750ml, magnum and double magnum bottles they’d like and we will then lay the bottles down for another 12 months.

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“When the time comes to release the wine we will fly an ambassador to them, wherever they are in the world, to host an event focussed on this wine.”

It represents the first time in the winery’s 172-year history that consumers will have the opportunity to access Penfolds inner workings and get access to part of the winemaking experience.

“The wines will not be sold commercially, you won’ be able to go to Magill and purchase a bottle, the wine from each barrel only goes to each purchaser,” Gago said.

“The price doesn’t represent the value of the volume of wine in the bottles, it’s much, much more than that because what we have is an experiential offer as much as a wine offer.

“A lot of people will be focussed on the $198,000 and look at it from a price perspective, but I think ‘why not?’. Are expensive wine projects reserved for the top regions in France and the top producers in the Napa?”

THE WINE The wine will not be a replica of any existing Penfolds labels, nor will it be available from any other source (unless the purchaser releases it into the secondary market). Each vintage the wine style will reflect the most optimum style and highest quality blend of Shiraz and/or Cabernet, selected personally by Gago.

“We want it to become a wine program, not a one-off nor every-now-and-then, but every vintage,” Gago said. “We hope it becomes an ongoing program like the other successful things we do, things like the re-corking clinics – they are now part of our DNA and have been with us for a quarter of a century.”

The production is expected to be both extremely limited and somewhat variable. Just a small number of barrels will be available from each release to preserve the uniqueness of a project built on a finite resource and tiny blends.

The 2016 classification was completed a week before Gago travelled to Hong Kong for the launch event. It’s a blend Cabernet and Shiraz with fruit sourced from both the Barossa and Coonawarra.

“There’s a component of Shiraz from Block 3C at Kalimna, which was established in 1948, as well as fruit from our Block 14 Shiraz in Coonawarra. That Coonawarra block was established in 1970 and was planted from Kalimna 3C material,” Gago said.

“Sometimes these things just happen, no-one is clever enough to plan for it – the stars just align.

“I expect the blend will change every year, but it will always be Shiraz and Cabernet.”

The 2015 blend, which has fully allocated, was 85 per cent Shiraz; 15 per cent Cabernet.

This wine is expected to maintain the Penfolds position, which has seen the winery take a pivotal role in the evolution of winemaking in Australia.

Penfolds collection of benchmark wines have been established in a spirit of innovation and the constant and endless pursuit of quality, evidenced from the secret bottling of Grange in 1951 and the unbroken line of vintages of what is now arguably Australia’s most famous wine.

THE CELLAR AND THE BARRELS The handmade barrels made exclusively for this release will reside within the oldest and most intimate cellar at Magill Estate, Cellar 3. The 19th century cellar dates back to the founding days of the winery, which was established in 1844.

“In 2015 we looked at it and said ‘let’s restore this cellar’. It’s quite small and contained, it’s the site’s oldest cellar and it’s only four metres away from where the wines were fermented.”

Penfolds is proud to have partnered with AP John Coopers to develop a proprietary barrel for this project. At 260 litres, the barrel is almost exactly halfway between the size of the AP John barrique and hogshead.

“It’s a clever blend of the two sizes,” Gago said. “From a pure wine quality perspective, we’re 100 per cent confident in these barrels.”

While the oak is all French, the source, seasoning and toasting regime will not be disclosed.

Peter and Alex John said they were very excited to get involved with this project.

“It builds on the back of a 70 or 80-year relationship we have with Penfolds,” Peter John said.

“I knew, because of the relationship we already have, we could work one-on-one and be really specific about the grain selections to match what they wanted to achieve with the finished wine.

“In some ways it was quite different. From the get-go it was all about the relationship between the oak and the fruit – and it was our experience in the cooperage that made sure we could provide something to fully enhance that.”

Alex said it was a case of the cooperage being able to share a few ideas to help “make this project stand alone”.

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winemaking

“It got us excited to be asked what our recommendations were – what we, as the cooperage, could do for this wine,” Alex said.

The best-known connection between AP John and Penfolds belongs to the new American Oak hogsheads which are filled with still-fermenting Grange each year.

“We know there are preconceptions about what we do with Penfolds, because people know we supply the American oak barrels for Grange, but this is something unique – in terms of the oak and the shape which provides a really different surface area and a juxtaposition between the surface area of the barrel and the head, which gave us a lot of opportunity to do something

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different,” Peter John said. “To our knowledge, the 260 litre barrel is something that hasn’t been done before.

“But to take my cooper’s hat off for a bit, and to think about this project from a broader Australian wine community pointof-view, we think this is really something worth talking about – a real en primeur project from Australia. It is essential for Australia to stamp its authority on something it does really well.”

Alex said the winery should be recognised for continuing to be a pioneer for the Australian wine industry.

“Penfolds is really doing something not many other winemakers in the world are doing – and we are really pleased to be a part of that,” Alex said.

His father agreed.

“It can be nothing but good for the Australian wine industry,” Peter John said. “How do we feel about our part in that?

Absolutely honoured and proud of the relationship.

“Winemakers are always driving to something creative and this is a great example, but it would be great if this project creates a bit of awareness of how we can think outside the square.”

And this is why it is an important project for other Australian wineries to take notice of, according to Alex.

“It brings together all of the things we’ve learned as a cooperage, whether that’s from working with alternative varieties or from the work we’ve done with different approaches to Chardonnay.

“And it does highlight how that we are really good at meeting the individual needs winemakers have.”

Peter John said the Magill Cellar 3 project demonstrated all the knowledge of French oak the cooperage has. “We are the guys who are just down the road who work regularly in the forests and the mills,” he said. “Our knowledge of the supply chain is exceptional and it is all built on the relationships we’ve had. Our research and development in this game is so far ahead that things happening today may have first been explored 10 years ago.”

While the winemaking and oak maturation has been a journey based on the shared experience of the winemakers and the coopers, Gago said the most important experiences of this project will belong to the owners of the barrels.

“We took a barrel to Hong Kong so people didn’t just hear us talking about it, they could touch and feel it – and they just loved it,” Gago said. “It has got to be real, it can’t be a gimmick.

“From a pure winemaking project point-of-view, this is something we just launched at. We had the cellar restoration in mind and we’ve matched a fine wine project with it.”

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Wine Law Effective debt collection for wineries Mark Hamilton, of Grope Hamilton Lawyers, provides specialist national legal services to the Australian wine industry. Hamilton has contributed to the Grapegrower & Winemaker magazine in the past and Mark Hamilton Grope Hamilton Lawyers returns with a regular ‘wine law’ advice column. Hamilton’s articles will cover everything from grape contracts to trademark protection for wine brands, but his first offers practical information for wineries about debt collection. Given the state of the wine industry over the last 15 years, effective debt collection policies for wineries is fundamental.

Wine Lawyer

THE MOST EFFECTIVE debt collection strategy is to act promptly. Do not let the receivables ledger grow. When the signs of decline are apparent, watch all accounts receivables and act quickly to address the problem. Strategies may include speeding up billing (don’t wait until the end of the month, send invoices out now), hire lawyers earlier or enforce retention of title rights through registered “Personal Monies Security Interests” (which you must have) when accounts get beyond acceptable terms.

Be pro-active, and be persistent. Make sure that the person responsible for debt collection in your office is suitable and experienced – there is no point in having somebody with a ‘soft touch’ contacting your customers attempting to recover payment of your receivables. The person you would select as your credit control officer will probably not be the person you would select as your chief sales person. Having an appropriate person collecting your debts can nip problems in the bud and lessen the number of debts which have to go to legal recovery.

Maintaining cashflow is vital to any business but is particularly important in a capital intensive industry such as the wine industry. This reality was amplified by the prolonged growth which many under-capitalised wine companies experienced during the pre-Global Financial Crisis export drive.

With export driven growth comes overseas debt exposure to distributors, often for considerable sums of money. Whereas

in the “old days’, exporters were paid upon bill of lading, it is now common for Australia wine companies, other than when dealing with, in particular, China, to give their overseas distributors 60, 90 or even 120 days credit to enable the wine to arrive at its destination and be marketed.

DEBT INSURANCE Debt insurance is an option which must be part of the overheads associated with your export business. In terms of overseas distribution contracts, it is vital that effective retention of title clauses be included. It is obviously difficult and expensive to arrange for your wine products to be recovered from the distributor in a foreign country, however, this is far preferable to not recovering the stock at all, or having a right to do so. Stock could then be kept in the relevant country pending transfer to a new distributor.

Every attempt should be made, when negotiating distribution agreements, to have a governing law and jurisdiction clause which provides that the laws of Australia apply to the contract and that jurisdiction is vested in the Courts of Australia. This enables you to commence proceedings a superior court in your state.

This is because it is obviously difficult and potentially expensive to have to institute debt recovery proceedings in a foreign jurisdiction. It is much easier for you to instruct local

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wine law lawyers and much cheaper to pay legal costs at Australian rates.

By virtue of the distribution contract providing that the laws of your jurisdiction, and the courts of your jurisdiction, will apply to disputes under the distribution agreement (including recovery of your stock), you will have a passing acquaintance, at least, with the laws and courts in your “backyard”, but may have little or no knowledge of the law or court process in your export markets.

AUSTRALIAN DOMESTIC SALES Once the period for payment of an account has expired, you will have to decide whether to adopt a “softly-softly” approach or whether to threaten recovery proceedings if the amount owing is not paid within a specified period.

In terms of domestic sales, these will generally be retail sales to members of the public through mail order, cellar door or even via the Internet, sales to your Australian wholesale distributors or to retailers.

Debt recovery in Australia

INTERNAL RECOVERY ATTEMPTS The earlier contact is made with a debtor to collect the debt without threatening legal action, the better, as this allows you to ultimately threaten recovery proceedings and to proceed, if necessary, before too much time has passed since the account was rendered.

In this way, you will have adopted a customer orientated approach by acting reasonably and by attempting to recover the debt without initially threatening legal proceedings.

REFERRING MATTERS FOR LEGAL ACTION

For further information, please contact Kauri AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 AUS Fax: 1800 127 609 Email: winery@kauri.co.nz

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NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE NZ Fax: 04 910 7415 Website: www.kauriwine.com

If your demand is not met then you should immediately instruct lawyers to take recovery proceedings. Subsequent steps in the debt recovery process should be taken as soon as the relevant time limit allows, so that the debtor is left under no misapprehension as to your determination to promptly recover the debt.

Your debt recovery procedures will lack credibility with your debtors if there are significant pauses in the process and particularly if you do not follow through with immediate action in the terms threatened. Acceptance of your determination to promptly recover the debt, and the inevitability of the process, is more likely to cause the debtor to pay up earlier.

It is also normally a good strategy to refer all contact with the debtor to your solicitor once legal proceedings have been instituted. Say that the matter is out of your hands and that they should speak to your solicitor about the matter.

Referring contact to the solicitor should ensure that any pay-out figure provided to the debtor will include your full entitlement including maximising recovery of the legal costs which you have incurred. The client is often the victim of direct contact with the debtor by virtue of the client agreeing to accept the original debt and failing to recover interest and legal costs.

It is ironically not uncommon for the clients who continue to deal direct with debtors, in these circumstances, to later on be concerned about the cost of recovery.

In terms of cost efficient debt recovery, it is vital to adopt a consistent policy for recovery of all debts. By far the most cost effective and timely approach is to act promptly, hand the entire debt collection matter over to your solicitors and to have standing instructions with them that you will settle for nothing less than the full amount of the claim, interest entitlement and legal costs unless there are unusual or compelling circumstances which dictate a departure from that policy. Do not chop and change your approach.

Debt collection is going to cost you money. However, if you set out with the objective of recovering interest and legal costs

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on delinquent debts and only reluctantly accept less than 100% recovery, then you will minimise the amount of nonrecoverable costs which you incur overall each year. If you keep having direct contact with debtors and “letting them off” the interest and legal costs for no good reason, then your result will be materially different.

STREAMLINE INSTRUCTIONS FOR LAWYERS To streamline your debt collection procedure, and to ensure timeliness and minimalised costs, it is a good idea to have a pro-forma instruction sheet from your solicitors which you can fill in, and to which you can attach the basic documents relating to the debt, and send to your solicitor. This communicates all necessary information to your solicitor in a cost efficient manner, as it avoids the need for lengthy telephone conversations or meetings.

It also allows a solicitor to minimise the cost to you as the instruction sheet should be designed to establish all information necessary for the preparation of a formal letter of demand (if you wish that sent as a precursor to a summons) or a summons to be prepared as a clerical task in a legal office.

FORMAL RECOVERY PROCESS The solicitor will include an amount in a letter of demand, sent upon receiving instructions, and writing the letter of demand as part of the total amount which a debtor must pay within the (probably) seven day period to avoid legal proceedings being instituted.

If the demand is not met, then the summons issued would include a statement of claim setting out the amount owing, the interest you are entitled to, and the amount of legal fees and filing which are permitted under the court-determined scale of costs and fees.

In the event that proceedings are instituted then these will generally be issued (as an example, in South Australia) in either the Magistrates’ Court (or Local Court equivalent) for debts up to $100,000.00, and in the District Court for claims in excess of that amount. It would be rarely necessary for proceedings in the relevant State Supreme Court.

In the great majority of straight forward collection matters, the claim is not disputed (or even if some form of “delaying” defence is filed), the matter does not usually proceed to trial.

The summons provides a time limit for the defendant to enter an appearance or defence, depending upon the procedures in the particular court involved. If the defendant does not enter a defence within the required time, then you will be entitled to sign judgment for the amount of the debt, interest and legal costs incurred to date and to obtain a certificate of judgment as a preparatory step to taking enforcement proceedings against the debtor.

In the event that the debtor has filed a defence which raises a genuine dispute in relation to the debt, then the matter has become “contentious” and will proceed as with any other disputed civil claim. Whilst there may be no dispute about the debt itself, the debtor may be claiming the right to set off some damages claim which they raise by way of a counterclaim to the summons. For example, a claim based upon some alleged breach by you of the distribution agreement or arrangement.

POST JUDGMENT RECOVERY STEPS Assuming that the claim has not been defended and you have obtained judgment, there are various enforcement options open to you. These include: • Obtaining a Charging Order and Warrant of Sale over any real property of the judgment debtor; • Applying to the Sheriff to attend the debtor’s premises and seize goods to the value of the debt. This is potentially effective July 2016 – Issue 630

in motivating payment because of the ‘embarrassment factor’ involved. The goods seized must be the property of the debtor and cannot be encumbered in any other way. Any goods seized are sold at auction and the monies paid to you after payment of the Sheriff’s costs; • Bankruptcy Proceedings against an individual debtor.

Action may be taken to have a personal debtor declared bankrupt. Individuals who cannot pay their debts upon demand (i.e. they are insolvent) can be declared bankrupt provided that the minimum debt including interest and costs is $5,000.00. A bankruptcy notice is served upon the individual debtor setting out the amount owing, attaching a copy of the judgment debt and advising the debtor that unless the amount owing is paid within 21 days of service, they will be deemed to have committed “an act of bankruptcy” and that a creditors petition will be filed in the Federal Court or, if possible, the Federal Magistrates’ Court seeking a bankruptcy order; • In terms of enforcing a debt against the company, you must proceed to wind up the company on the basis that it cannot pay its debts as and when they fall due (i.e. that it is trading as an insolvent company). Again, the minimum amount of the debt must be $2,000.00. The first step is to serve a statutory demand upon the company setting out details of the debt and demanding payment within 21 days. Upon receipt, the company has 21 days from the service of the demand to either pay the debt in full or commence proceedings in the relevant state Supreme Court to dispute the debt; and • If the debt is not paid in full, or to your satisfaction, and the company does not commence proceedings in the relevant state Supreme Court disputing the debt, the Court will order the winding up of the company and the appointment of a liquidator to liquidate its assets for the benefit of its creditors.

REASONS FOR ACTING NOW As a matter of policy, you should work on the ‘squeaky door’ principle and the assumption that the debtor has severe cashflow problems. This assumption will impress upon you the urgency of recovering the debt on the basis of the ‘early bird’ principle. Apart from the fact that you haven’t been paid, you will probably not have actual knowledge of the liquidity position of the debtor. Some businesses simply choose to delay payment.

THE ‘GOLDEN RULE’ OF DEBT COLLECTION Remember the golden rule: the customer who does not pay you is not worth having so there is no good reason not to take a firm but courteous approach to recovering your debts.

For God’s sake, stop supply!

For the same reason, it is imperative to stop supply to a delinquent debtor. This is another compelling reason why early debt recovery steps are necessary in case your marketing people are continuing to sell more wine products to a customer who is already in breach of your terms of trade. Internal communication of the debtor’s list to marketing and sales people is vital.

Debt recovery is not your business. Instruct lawyers early in the process and benefit. Go and sell some more wine to someone who will pay.

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. For more information, visit www. gropehamiltonlawyers.com.au.

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winemaking

Saperavi Symposium: Growers and winemakers gather in McLaren Vale IN MID-JUNE a symposium of Australian Saperavi growers was held in McLaren Vale, South Australia. The gathering of producers and growers included both ‘veterans’ of Saperavi growing in Australia as well as the relatively ‘new recruits’, those who gathered at Hugh Hamilton Wines represented a number of numerous different regions.

The event was structured as an open-table discussion of all things Saperavi. Those involved shared their experiences of growing, picking, pressing, maturing and selling the ancient Georgian variety in great detail and very candidly.

The diversities of regions where Saperavi is grown in Australia, and the contrasts in the conditions prevailing in each region, meant there was plenty to discuss and much to be learnt.

More than 20 examples of Australian Saperavi were blind tasted and critiqued in a way that highlighted some very different winemaking styles and some regional intricacies.

Finished wines from as early as 2012 as well as barrel samples from 2016 were tasted.

Peter McGlashan, Ridgemill Estate winemaker/viticulturist, was one of those who attended – travelling from the Granite Belt in Queensland.

“We started growing Saperavi in 2006 after the owner, Martin Cooper, had travelled to the King Valley and seen it

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It was a brilliant opportunity to taste 30-odd Saperavi wines from around Australia in many different styles, which shows the versatility of the variety. It’s also a chance to discuss and troubleshoot any problems that can or could be associated with the variety and work on solution as a group. growing there,” McGlashan said. Cooper returned with a bottle to try and McGlashan said that “after tasting the wine, there was no doubt in our minds that we had to plant Saperavi”.

McGlashan attended the first Saperavi Symposium in 2012, which had also been hosted by Hugh Hamilton in McLaren Vale. He said the first event was great because “we were all like-minded and had a single goal of making the best varietal

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wine we could from this ancient variety” and it offered both a networking opportunity and a taste through the largest collection of Australian Saperavi.

“Fast-forward to 2016 we all gathered again in McLaren vale to taste an huge array of Saperavi, some from new faces,” McGlashan said. “We tasted and talked Saperavi from breakfast to dinner, almost.

“It was a brilliant opportunity to taste 30-odd Saperavi wines from around Australia in many different styles, which shows the versatility of the variety. It’s also a chance to discuss and troubleshoot any problems that can or could be associated with the variety and work on solution as a group. It’s a great group with one clear objective, make Saperavi great.”

One of the more unusual example at the recent symposium was the Anderson Winery 2012 sparkling Saperavi – a real demonstration of how versatile the grape can be.

Christobelle Anderson, winemaker/owner at Rutherglen’s Anderson Winery, was at the symposium and explained her Sparkling Saperavi is made ‘methode traditionelle’.

“My dad, Howard, was a senior winemaker at Seppelt Great Western for 14 years – from 1971 to 1985 – and traditionally made sparkling wines are now one of our specialties,” Anderson said. “Our other specialty is full bodied reds, so this kind if encapsulates both styles.

“We have only done the one sparkling Saperavi so far, the 2012, but I dare say there’ll be more. It is actually still on yeast lees – we just disgorged a couple if bottles for the symposium.

It was from a cooler year, but is still obviously a fairly big wine, and it’s starting to get some lovely yeast complexity and texture to really fill out the mid palate. When we do release it, it will probably be just to members as it’s a very small amount.”

Anderson said her interest in Saperavi made it “definitely worth travelling to McLaren Vale”.

“Being such an unusual variety it is not easy to access other examples of it to be able to taste and benchmark our own with,” she said. “So we found the day in McLaren Vale very interesting because it allowed us to taste a number of examples of Saperavi all together, and see where ours fits.

“I have to say that the quality of the wines was great – there was not a bad one there. And across all the regions represented, a definite varietal character was evident in all the wines - that Saperavi spice.

“It was also good to talk to other people who grow and make Saperavi, because it does have its quirks. I don’t think there’s any major changes we’ll make with how we work with it as a result of the symposium, but it is always a valuable thing to step out of the business and assess what we are doing. Even if the answer is just ‘yep, I think we’re on the right track’ – which I think we are.”

The tasting left all attendees with confidence that the bar has been set high for Saperavi in Australia. With this level of interest within the industry, there is every indication the variety has a future, with its trademark depth and complexity offering wine lovers a greater element of intrigue than the ‘standard’ well-known and loved reds currently on the market.

The symposium participants all envisage great future for Saperavi, and plan to continue to collaborate to ensure the standard remains high and to facilitate its ongoing development.

Hugh Hamilton said it was a great opportunity to come together from time to time to showcase Saperavi wines.

“We always come away with something to take home and reflect upon,” Hamilton said. “Saperavi is not a grape that rings a lot of bells with consumers…

“Notwithstanding that, we’d be delighted if other growers and makers contacted us so we could keep in touch for future knowledge-sharing events.”

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winemaking

Cool idea leads to national success Oomiak’s 10th anniversary WHEN CATE MCGUIRE and Mark Holden started their own industrial refrigeration company at Dudley Park in South Australia in 2006, they dreamt of growing it into a successful national business.

Ten years on and their dreams for Oomiak have become reality.

From its humble beginnings, the company has become a shining light among South Australian businesses over the past decade, now turning over $20 million a year and employing 45 staff in customer service centres across the country.

Now widely-recognised as a leader in the design and installation of industrial refrigeration in Australia and Asia, Oomiak services a broad range of clients incorporating fresh produce, food processing, supermarkets, dairy, wine, cold storage, mining and manufacturing.

Its impressive client list includes De Bortoli, Woolworths, Aldi, Ingham, Rand Transport, Goodman Fielder, Baiada Poultry, National Foods and Teys, which have all entrusted Oomiak with major capital projects.

For example, last year the company completed an $8.5 million meat processing facility for Woolworths in Victoria, and an $8 million refrigeration system to service the new Melbourne Markets site in Epping. It also completed a $3.7 million distribution centre for Ingham in Sydney, and a $3 million distribution centre for Aldi in Perth.

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Oomiak is also currently working on several other major projects, including a $4 million distribution centre for Newcold in Victoria and a $3.5 million plant room for Richmond Dairies in New South Wales.

For Cate McGuire, company co-founder and chief executive, Oomiak’s outstanding rise has been built on attracting and engaging the best staff, and developing the best business systems.

“Starting the business 10 years ago was definitely a leap of faith, but we were also confident that with the right staff, the right systems and plenty of hard work, that we could turn Oomiak into a successful national business,” McGuire said.

“So it’s certainly rewarding to have grown into a significant player in the market in a relatively short time. It’s also been great to have had the opportunity to work on some fantastic highprofile projects and develop innovative world-class systems that have delivered excellent results for our clients.”

From its headquarters in Adelaide and customer service centres in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Rockhampton, Oomiak’s core role is to undertake major capital projects where it fully designs, fabricates and installs industrial and commercial refrigeration and air-conditioning systems for clients.

It also provides expert refrigeration advice to organisations, and extensive ongoing customer support to help clients maintain their plant and equipment in optimum condition.

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“We think it’s the way we work that sets us apart,” McGuire said, who is also a mother of three; chair of the Christian Brothers College Board; and a volunteer for the St Vincent de Paul Society.

“Our mantra at Oomiak is ‘performance through understanding’ so our focus is always on interpreting our clients’ exact requirements to offer the most appropriate solution for their particular business,” she said.

“It’s a pretty straight-forward philosophy, but one that we adhere to at all costs and which has enabled us to deliver complex, high value projects for leading businesses across Australia and Asia.”

As for the company’s unusual name, McGuire says it stemmed from a desire to choose something that would stand out from the crowd.

“An oomiak is a canoe used by Inuit people which is very light but very stable, and powered by a team rather than one or two people,” she said.

“They are known for their durability, strength and ability to manage tough environments, and given they are used in some of the coldest climates in the world, we felt it would be the perfect name for our refrigeration enterprise.”

Back in May, Oomiak held an event to mark the milestone.

The business celebrated the 10th birthday with an event at Adelaide Oval, with clients, employees, suppliers and the vital people who have contributed to Oomiak’s success over the years. It was an opportunity to look back and reflect on the achievements.

For more information about Oomiak: Visit www.oomiak.com.au.

Gold rush in San Francisco CALABRIA FAMILY WINES are continuing to be recognised at wine competitions around the world as we endure the 2016 show circuit.

As another round of wine shows commence, Calabria Family Wines have won an array of awards from the 2016 San Francisco International Wine Competition. The 2014 3 Bridges Shiraz & 2015 Calabria Private Bin Montepulciano were awarded gold medals while export exclusive product; Nine Stones Barossa Valley Shiraz 2013 vintage also picked up a gold medal.

Calabria’s 3 Bridges Reserve Semillon, 3 Bridges Botrytis Semillon, Calabria Bros. Shiraz, Calabria Private Bin Nero D’Avola, Calabria Private Bin St Macaire, Cool Climate Series Shiraz & Richland Shiraz were all awarded silver medals at the show.

The SFIWC, is the largest, most influential international wine competition in America, it is judged by a prestigious panel of nationally recognized wine experts. More than 4,600 wines were entered from 31 countries, with judging being based on a blind, consensual procedure, ensuring competitive integrity as it remains the nation’s most respected wine competition.

Andrew Calabria, the winery’s sales and marketing manager, said the family was “very excited with the results from the San Francisco Wine Competition, these accolades reinforce our commitment and dedication to the Barossa Valley and Riverina wine regions”.

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July 2016 – Issue 630

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The external drains allow faster press cycles and makes cleaning very quick, thorough, and safe.

Take a look at the benefits and features offered by the smart Europress range. Call Grapeworks for further information.

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young gun

Jo Marsh:

The Alpine alternative MULTI-AWARD WINNING winemaker Jo Marsh, 36, has been taking the wine world by storm since she graduated from a Bachelor of Oenology almost 15 years ago.

Originally from Goolwa, a small beach town on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, Marsh changed her degree part way through her time at the University of Adelaide after being inspired by the wine industry.

“I was studying chemical engineering at the time and was not enjoying the path I was heading down,” she said.

“Winemaking just sounded like more fun.”

Marsh picked up an array of awards on her way out of university, including the SA Wine and Brandy Commission Silver Medal, R.H. Martin Memorial Prize for Sensory Evaluation and the Hyatt/ Advertiser Award for highest fourth year aggregate.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, she captured the attention of one of Australia’s biggest and most successful wine companies, Southcorp Wines’ (now Treasury Wine Estates).

Marsh jumped head first into a graduate recruitment position with the company, working in Nuriootpa for one of Australia’s most renowned wine brands, Penfolds.

She also worked across Rosemount Denman and Lindemans Karadoc through her time in the Barossa, which lasted more than two years.

Alpine Valleys is the undiscovered secret of the Australian wine industry.

TRAVELLING FOR EXPERIENCE Marsh said there was no substitute for experience and proved this by travelling across Australia and the world throughout her 14 year career in the wine industry.

“I believe you should get out there and get as much experience as you can- in operations of all sizes,” she said.

After garnering enough experience in her home state of South Australia, Marsh set her sights to Victoria.

In 2003, just two years out of university, she was appointed assistant winemaker at Seppelt Great Western and was promoted to winemaker in 2005.

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My biggest motivator is my growers – they are truly amazing people who are so easy to work with and will do anything they can to help me and my business.

Marsh was responsible for ‘traditional method’ sparkling wines, in addition to managing operational winemaking for red and white table wines.

In 2007, she flew to the USA to work with Beringer Wines in the Napa Valley for a season before returning to Seppelt where she was promoted to senior winemaker.

Not one to sit still for too long, Marsh travelled back overseas in 2010, this time to Burgundy in France where she worked a vintage with Frédéric Magnien.

Marsh began to attract the attention of the wider wine industry in 2011.

She had already won the Graham Thorp Memorial Scholarship as winemaker for the Best Sparkling Wine at the Sydney Royal Wine Show in 2009, and was known for her regionally expressive wines.

In her last year with Seppelt, Marsh took out the Member’s Choice and Sommelier’s Choice at the Wine Society Young Winemaker of the Year Awards and was selected to participate in the prestigious Len Evans Tutorial Scholarship.

WINEMAKING STYLE Marsh described her winemaking philosophy as “responsive” above all else.

“I let the fruit direct me – working with many unfamiliar varieties I often do not know where the wine is heading until it gets there,” she said.

“In general, I use a higher level of solids in my white ferments, cold soak in my reds, and wild yeast across the board.

I aim for texture and complexity above pristineness.”

After eight years with Seppelt, Marsh ventured out to find her next winemaking home. Remaining in Victoria, she took on a role with Feathertop Wines in Porepunkah as head winemaker.

“I have a passion for cool climate winemaking, developed during my tenure with Seppelt, so it was an imperative that my next position be in a cool climate region, and the Alpine Valleys fit the bill perfectly,” Marsh said.

“My favourite wine styles were July 2016 – Issue 630

cool climate Shiraz and Riesling, but I also have a keen interest in alternative varietals, so Boynton’s Feathertop was a perfect match.”

Working in a winery nestled beneath snow-capped mountains in the famed cool-climate region, Marsh fell in love with the Alpine Valleys.

“Alpine Valleys is the undiscovered secret of the Australian wine industry,” she said. “It’s time for people to discover it for themselves!”

HER OWN BRAND Marsh crafted wines with Feathertop until 2014, when she decided it was time to venture out on her own. With a wealth of knowledge and worldwide experience, she created Billy Button Wines.

Marsh described the wines as a culmination of three factors, “emerging region, varietal diversity and an inspired winemaking vision”.

“In the Billy Button rulebook, well, there is no rulebook,” she said.

Named after the flower officially known as Craspedia, Marsh said “the bouncy yellow balls of goodness that colour the mountain tops of the Alpine Valleys” brought a smile to her face.

“This blanket of yellow that forms during summertime has become an iconic symbol of the Alpine Valleys region,” she said.

With an ‘active mind and curious soul’, Marsh revelled in the Alpine Valleys and used the unusual climactic conditions to her advantage by experimenting with different varieties.

Her line-up of wines included a Gewürztraminer, Arneis, Malvasia, Friula no, Verduzzo, Refosco, Schioppettino and Saperavi, among others.

Marsh said she loved that these alternative varieties had no track record in Australia and was “intent on carving out a reputation” for them on her own terms.

Marsh, who said if she could have her pick of any other career it would be a chef, has now been running her wine brand for almost three years.

She said there was “no such thing” www.winetitles.com.au

as an average day in her life, but enjoyed vegetable gardening, cooking and wood work when she found the time.

“As the operator of a small business with no permanent employees nor a distributor, I’m responsible for lab work, cellar work, record keeping, organising dry goods, labels and bottling, accounting, website, sales, despatch and cellar door.”

She said her biggest achievement so far has just been “surviving”.

“After three vintages of my own business, I am yet to make a profit or draw a wage, but I’ve somehow managed to pay the bills and eat,” she said.

THE BROADER PICTURE When speaking of the wine industry at large, Marsh said there were some big issues regarding profitability which she has personally experienced since venturing out on her own.

“There are so many issues, it’s hard to pick the biggest,” she said.

“With such pressure on price points, how can we ensure wine remains profitable for all parts of the production chain – vineyards, wineries, service providers and retailers?

“If the industry does not remain (or become) profitable, it will not survive.”

Despite her concerns, and surviving without an income for nearly three years, Marsh said she constantly gained inspiration from the people around her, especially the grapegrowers.

“I draw inspiration from many people in my life in different ways,” she said.

“My biggest motivator is my growers – they are truly amazing people who are so easy to work with and will do anything they can to help me and my business, when it has been a long time (if ever) that they have made a profit from their vineyards.”

We’re always on the lookout for people to feature as the Grapegrower & Winemaker ‘young gun’. If you know of a ‘young gun’ in the wine industry, we’d love to hear more about them.

Email journalist@winetitles.com.au or give us a call on (08) 8369 9500.

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Analytical Services

Co-inoculation: The latest great development in malolactic fermentation

In this article Greg Howell, from Vintessential Laboratories, explores the advantages of co-inoculation for alcoholic and malolactic fermentation.

COMMERCIAL STRAINS of malolactic bacterial cultures have been available for many years. Until recently, these cultures were added after the completion of the alcoholic (yeast) fermentation. New research has enabled the development of strains of bacteria that can be added at the same time that yeast is added (co-inoculation). The advantages of co-inoculation are many, and in this article these will be considered in comparison to no inoculation and inoculation after alcoholic fermentation.

MALOLACTIC FERMENTATION Malolactic fermentation (MLF) is widely employed because it metabolises the microbially-unstable malic acid found in many wines, particularly red wines. Almost all finished wine (apart from a small amount of preservative-free wine on the market) is protected from microbial growth by the addition of sulfur dioxide. This preservative inhibits the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in wine that can ferment malic acid. However in red wines there are generally lower levels of sulfur dioxide, and these levels decrease with time in the bottle. Also filtration of red wines does not always remove all bacterial cells from the wine. These are some of the main reasons why most, if not all winemakers want their red wines to undergo MLF. MLF is not always an easy fermentation, especially when compared to yeast fermentation. Much work has been done over recent decades to produce commercial bacterial products that not only make MLF simpler for the winemaker, but also make the fermentation go through to completion.

NO INOCULATION FOR MLF Alcoholic fermentation (AF) by yeast has been widely studied and is well understood, compared to malolactic fermentation (MLF) by bacteria. Non-inoculated MLF has, of course, been occurring since wine has been made. The bacterial species occurring in MLF include Oenococcus, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus, however, results are not guaranteed by using noninoculation. The resulting wine can also be spoiled by other organisms that may grow if the non-inoculated MLF is starting very slowly and proceeding very slowly, whilst being offered little protection from the presence of sulfur dioxide.

• • • • • •

Issues that can occur in non-inoculated MLFs include: Delayed onset of MLF; Lengthy MLF, going on for many months; Production of ‘off’ flavours; Production of biogenic amines such as histamine; Increased volatile acidity; and Co-growth of spoilage organisms such as Brettanomyces.

The main parameters in wine that affect the performance of the different bacterial species include pH, alcohol, temperature and the presence of nutrients. Different species of MLF bacteria differ in their tolerance to these conditions, and if the conditions in a wine have two or more of these parameters at unfavourable levels, MLF can be exceedingly difficult to complete, as many winemakers would be aware.

As a consulting laboratory, we work with many hundreds of wineries and although we receive a number of enquiries about yeast fermentation each year, the problems with MLF are far more frequent and usually more difficult to assist with.

INOCULATION AFTER ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION The use of commercial bacterial cultures carefully selected for MLF and added to the wine after AF is now very common.

This innovation has helped overcome many of the problems that occurred with non-inoculated MLF. The main bacteria that has been used in these commercial products is Oenococcus oeni (formerly known as Leuconostoc oenos). The development of freeze dried bacterial cultures and simple ways of adding these cultures to the wine have also enabled a quite fuss free way to get MLF done.

Much research has been done recently on adding malolactic fermentation bacteria at the start of alcoholic fermentation. It is now to the stage where several commercial products are well established and much experience in the winery has been gained using this process.

74 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Some of the improvements offered by commercial MLF cultures include: • Better control of start time and duration of MLF; • Lessening of biogenic amine production; • Reduced time that wine is unprotected by sulfite and so less potential for spoilage by other organisms; • Reduced incidence of excessive volatile acidity; and • Enhanced flavour profile.

However there are still issues with using commercial MLF bacteria. This is mostly due to the fact that one of the main inhibitors of bacterial activity, and therefor MLF, is present in

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July 2016 – Issue 630

large quantities, just when it is not desired – alcohol.

Some of the issues that can occur with inoculation post-AF include: • Slow MLF due to high ethanol contents; and • The need to warm the wine to ensure MLF proceeds well, with associated costs.

CO-INOCULATION WITH ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION Much research has been done recently on adding MLF bacteria at the start of AF. It is now to the stage where several commercial products are well established and much experience in the winery has been gained using this process.

By adding these bacterial products at the start of AF the inclusion of species other than Oenococcus has also been enabled, thus giving winemakers the opportunity to focus on other aspects of MLF, such as improving flavour development during the fermentation.

One species that has been found to be particularly exciting is Lactobacillus plantarum. Research done with these bacteria has found that key aroma compounds such as esters and terpenes have increased concentrations and provide an extra flavour profile to the resulting wine. As mentioned, this is now accepted practice and many winemakers are using these products to not only complete MLF more easily, but also enhance the flavour profile of their wine.

Some key advantages of using co-inoculation are: • Lower levels of the inhibitory alcohol are present at the start of MLF;

• No need to apply external heating to the ferment due to the heat generated by the yeast fermentation; • Faster completion of MLF, and thus the wine can have sulfite added earlier and so reduce the potential for the growth of spoilage organisms; • By adding the bacteria at the start of the yeast fermentation a nutrient rich environment is encountered; and • Potential to use non Oenococcus strains such as Lactobacillus plantarum to provide enhanced flavour profiles.

CONCLUSION The commercial use of bacterial strains for malolactic fermentation (MLF) has increased markedly in the last couple of decades. The advent of these commercial products has greatly increased the reliability of MLF. Further developments have recently taken place in the use of MLF bacteria applied at the start of alcoholic fermentation.

These improvements, along with the use of innovative species such as Lactobacillus plantarum, have further enhanced the experience of winemakers.

This important, but historically difficult fermentation now has another enhanced technique that winemakers can employ in their quest for making better wines.

Greg Howell founded Vintessential Laboratories in 1995.

More articles on related oenological topics are available on the Vintessential website: www.vintessential.com.au/resources/articles For more information, Greg can be contacted by email: greg@vintessential.com.au.

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winemaking

WA winemakers put their palates to the test WESTERN AUSTRALIAN WINEMAKERS have sampled their way through a series of white wine trials in the name of industry research and development.

Hosted by the Department of Agriculture and Food, the second annual tasting forum attracted 24 winemakers from across the Geographe, Margaret River and Great Southern wine regions.

Department wine and grape research officer Richard Fennessy said the event provided the perfect opportunity for winemakers to share information amongst their peers.

“Winemakers regularly experiment at their own wineries with different techniques to improve wine quality and value,” Fennessy said.

“Peer review can be a really valuable part of the trial process.

“The forum allowed winemakers to bring along their trial wines, discuss production techniques they had experimented with and invite feedback in an informal setting. In essence, this forum is a ‘show and tell’ for winemakers.”

Mr Fennessy said there was plenty of interest and discussion from participants about the various trials.”

Trials being taste-tested focused on a number of innovative winemaking techniques.

“Participants shared their experiences and opinions on the different techniques presented,” Fennessy said.

“The trials are all white varieties from the 2015 and 2016 vintages. The winemakers tasted nine different trials featuring the varieties Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Fiano.”

There was particular interest in the trials involving Chardonnay, particularly how clonal selection can influence wine’s style, the role yeast selection has on sensory attributes and how levels of juice solids can impact style.

“Also featured was a trial demonstrating the efficiencies and sensory influence of a juice clarification technique known as ‘floatation’,” Fennessy said.

“The panel discussed how this technique has potential to improve production efficiencies in clarifying juices of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon without affecting quality when compared to conventional processes.”

Dave Johnson, chief winemaker at Credaro Family Estate, who attended the forum for the second time, said it was a great initiative to get WA winemakers together in an informal setting to discuss ways to be innovative and creative.

“We need to ensure we are dynamic in the way we approach winemaking,” Johnson said.

“We need to embrace technology and tradition and identify production efficiencies while maintaining or improving quality.

This forum offers a great platform to demonstrate and discuss this.”

The forum was held at the Margaret River Education Campus on 30 June.

The department intends to hold the workshop on a regular basis to provide winemakers with the opportunity to share experiences, to seek their colleagues’ feedback on production trials, and to identify research and information needs of WA winemakers.

The second annual tasting forum Margaret River Education Campus, hosted by the Department of Agriculture and Food, attracted 24 winemakers from across the Geographe, Margaret River and Great Southern wine regions.

76 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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July 2016 – Issue 630

INTRODUCING THE VINTESSENTIAL

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Show, congratulated the winners and Dutton, who has been at Penfolds THE AUSTRALIAN WINE RESEARCH said The Royal Adelaide Wine Show has since 2007, said the course revealed a lot INSTITUTE (AWRI) recently announced been very supportive of the excellent about how she worked as an individual. the dux of three recent Advanced Wine training provided by the AWAC. “There’s nowhere to hide,” Dutton Assessment Courses (AWAC).

“We are looking forward to welcoming said. “It reminds you of the attention Tim Perrin, Oakridge Wines LU winemaker, took S O outTdux of AWAC 36; and standard required in both the the two Tims and Stephanie as members B Sons of Eden assistant winery and in a show environment, of the panel of associate judges this year,” Tim Bourne, Brajkovich said. whilst highlighting your personal winemaker, was named dux of AWAC The AWAC, presented by the AWRI, responsibility.”

37; and Stephanie Dutton, Penfolds puts participants through a gruelling The selection of the dux of each course winemaker, was awarded with dux of and intensive four-day program of wine is based on statistical scores, verbal skills AWAC 38.

E T S Sjoined sensory education and assessment. and group interaction.

Perrin, who Oakridge at the EN It aims to prepare potential new wine Con Simos, Group Manager at the start of the 2016 vintage, said completing show judges and develop the sensory AWRI who was responsible for the course, AWAC has allowed him to look at wines analysis capabilities and vocabulary of said the dux winners all demonstrated an with greater focus and precision.

Australian wine professionals at an elite excellent balance of wine knowledge, “It has been one of the best exercises level. Twelve leading wine show judges, sensory skills and ability to describe I have undertaken for sharpening up my journalists and winemakers contribute what they were tasting. own palate,” Perrin said. to the delivery of the course, alongside “They all have a bright future in wine Bourne said the course has helped him AWRI staff. judging,” Simos said. to hone skills which were important for Built in the US and the popular American Thechoice three for winners will wineries, be offeredthe Vintessential ChemWell his career.

The our nexttest twokits: AWACs will be held as associate judges the 2016 use with “This course has discrete opened the door forhas places analyzer been re-programmed forfor dedicated in November 2016. Course details are Royal Adelaide Wine Show, to be held in me to wine judging,” Bourne said. “I the only September ones made exclusively wine industry. available at: http://www.awri.com.au/ – highly sought for afterthe positions would highly recommend it to anyone indust r y_ suppor t/cou r ses-sem ina r sdue to the very limited number available. who is interested in wine judging or workshops/awac/ Michael Brajkovich, Chairman of who is looking to improve their tasting Judges for the 2016 Royal Adelaide Wine skills. “

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winemaking Supplier Update

Alcohol reduction: Spinning Cone Column Tim Birks, from Flavourtech Pty Ltd, explores the Spinning Cone Column as a modern method of reducing alcohol in the winemaking process.

LOWER ALCOHOL WINES and non alcoholic wine products have become increasingly popular in recent times and it appears that they are here to stay. Demand for these products seems mainly driven by consumer’s search for a healthier lifestyle. However, in recent years, governments have made use of incentives (most commonly tax related) and deterrents (such as tougher drink driving laws) in an effort to reduce alcohol consumption.

As higher quality non-alcohol wine products become more readily available, new markets for these products are emerging. Religious groups and pregnant women are now able to enjoy a wine derived beverage in the form of a nonalcoholic wine product that can either be less than 0.1%v/v or less than 0.5%v/v alcohol. In Asia, this market is also steadily growing with demand from China accelerating over the last two years.

Low and zero alcohol products are being requested from many wine producers due to the intolerance of Chinese for alcohol from a health or allergy perspective.

ALCOHOL REDUCTION IN THE WINE MAKING PROCESS To satisfy these market trends, alcohol reduction is fast becoming an essential part of the wine making process. It is being used in two main areas: • As a winemaking tool, whereby a wine’s alcohol level is reduced by a small increment to achieve an optimal balance in the final product. This allows the production of wines with alcohol levels in the range of 9-13%v/v alcohol, instead of the sometimes over powering 14-16%v/v range; and • For the production of low alcohol ‘wine products’ where the final alcohol levels are less than the minimum level required for wine. This includes products in the <0.1%v/v, <0.5%v/v and <5.5%v/v alcohol range.

There are a number of techniques available for removing alcohol in wine.

These techniques include membrane techniques, partial vacuum evaporation, and (vacuum steam) distillation with the latter being widely considered the gentler and more efficient process, especially when the production of lower alcohol ‘wine products’ is the objective. The

78 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Flavourtech Spinning Cone Column (SCC), discussed herein, uses vacuum steam distillation at low temperatures and short residence times thus avoiding thermal degradation of the wine’s flavour and colour.

LEGISLATION Current regulations in Europe allow the SCC to be used as part of the ‘distillation’ technology category and follow regulations set by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).

For the final product to be marketed as a wine the OIV stipulates that: • Alcohol in a wine may be reduced by up to 20% of the total alcohol content, without reducing the final alcohol concentration below the minimum required for the product to qualify as a wine.

For Example: • A 15%abv wine can be reduced by a maximum of 3%abv to 12%abv; • A 10%abv wine can be reduced by a maximum of 2%abv to 8%abv; and • A 9% wine can be reduced by a maximum of 1%abv to 8%abv1.

Where the final product will have an alcohol level below the minimum alcohol concentration for the product to be considered a wine, there are currently two categories: • “Beverage obtained by partial dealcoholisation of wine” for products with an ABV content comprised between the required minimum for wines and 0.5%; and • “Beverage obtained by dealcoholisation of wine” for products with an ABV content below 0.5%.

THE SPINNING CONE COLUMN The Spinning Cone Column (SCC) was developed and commercialised in the 1980s by the Australian company Flavourtech. With its unique ability to gently and efficiently recover volatile components from all kinds of slurries, purees, and clear liquids, it was soon identified as an ideal method for reducing alcohol in wine.

The key attribute of the SCC is its ability to maintain the wine’s quality, and with operating temperatures of between 25-40C, residence times of less than 30seconds, and the ability to preserve www.winetitles.com.au

a wine’s delicate aromas, the SCC is considered the best in class.

Alcohol reduction with SCC is broken down into the following steps: Step 1: Based on the target alcohol level required in the finished product, the winemaker determines the volume of full strength wine to be processed.

Step 2: The wine aroma (approximately 1% of the initial wine volume) is stripped from the wine at around 25-30C (in only 30seconds), condensed as a clear liquid, and stored for re-addition at a later stage.

Step 3: The aroma-stripped wine is then re-processed at around 35-40C (again in less than 30 seconds) to remove the bulk of the alcohol. Alcohol levels in the wine exiting the SCC will typically be between 0.05 and 2% v/v and can be adjusted depending on requirements.

Additionally, the alcohol removed is in the form of a high quality, high strength spirit that can be sold or used in other applications.

Step 4: The stripped wine and the aroma are combined and blended back with the remainder of the bulk wine to achieve a wine of the required alcohol content.

If the requirement is for a low alcohol ‘wine product’ in the range of 0.05-0.5%v/ v then the entire volume of wine will need to be processed through the SCC.

INDUSTRY REFERENCES Many products in this category are now manufactured using the SCC and are experiencing critic’s acclaim and increased market share. One example is Miguel Torres ‘Natureo’ at 0.5%v/v alcohol. Natureo is available in a white muscat, rose, and red. Other producers of note include Gruppo Matarromera in Spain and Vinselekt Michlovsky who is paving the way for high quality low alcohol wine products in Eastern Europe.

Toll Processors in Australia and the US have also established successful businesses through the implementation of the SCC for the dealcoholisation of wine for smaller growers and wineries.

For more information on the SCC and other wine applications, such as grape juice desulphiting, aroma management and grape juice concentration, please visit www.flavourtech.com.

July 2016 – Issue 630

Can science prove wine provenance?

DR ERIC WILKES jokes that people have been seeking a silver bullet for proving wine provenance “forever”.

It’s only really been scientifically feasible for the past 35-40 years, but his comment sums up the complexity of the task.

A new project at the AWRI led by Research Scientist Dr Martin Day is looking to determine whether by combining the right mix of parameters it is possible to prove with sufficient certainty where a wine did – or in some cases didn’t – come from.

“There are two parts to this issue,” said Wilkes, the AWRI’s Group Manager, Commercial Services.

“If you want to know whether a wine is the specific wine it claims to be, that is a simple task.

“We can just get a bottle we know to be genuine and compare the two chemically in a day or so.

“The bigger challenge is to verify a claim that a wine is, say, Australian in origin. We have an idea in our head what that means, but chemically it’s not as well defined because it depends on where the fruit came from, how the winemaker made it, what vintage was like etc.”

Day said there were two broad groups of factors with the potential to provide the right evidence: what comes from the soil and what comes from the environment – sunlight, rainfall, distance from the sea and height above sea level among them.

To date most research, primarily in Europe, has focused on examining one type of data at a time to see if it can provide a clue.

Day’s approach is to bring together two or more unrelated data sets to see if they can provide a clearer picture.

A pilot trial last year analysed 250 samples with promising results, providing the impetus for a larger project funded by Wine Australia.

There are a number of complexities to the task, beyond the pure science. Not the least of these is that the winemaking process can affect how certain elements appear, if at all, in finished wine.

“A really important aspect that an organisation like the AWRI brings to this is our training in oenology,” Wilkes said.

“You need to understand the science in the winemaking context or you could make incorrect assumptions and thus incorrect decisions.”

July 2016 – Issue 630

The bigger challenge is to verify a claim that a wine is, say, Australian in origin. We have an idea in our head what that means, but chemically it’s not as well defined because it depends on where the fruit came from, how the winemaker made it, what vintage was like etc.

A U S T R A L I A

A U S T R A L I A

An important point here is that if the winemaking process can change how things present themselves in the wine, then it might be possible for people to modify a given wine to make it appear as if it came from somewhere else.

“In Europe there’s a lot of secrecy around the data produced for those reasons – so you can’t actually confect something to look like something else,” Day said.

“Wine counterfeiters are always aiming to be one step ahead of the people trying to catch them.”

Both Day and Wilkes are involved with working groups trying to set some internationally recognised parameters around how databases are developed and on what basis one country should be able to make decisions about wines from another country. Some scientific questions are still being challenged.

The reality, of course, is that Day’s research may come to the conclusion that there is no combination of parameters, no matter how complex and comprehensive, that can identify a wine’s origins with the certainty required in all circumstances.

Wilkes compares it to “some of the things happening with DNA evidence”.

How sure do you need to be in certain circumstances? Sometimes 95 per cent may be good enough, but in others only 99 plus per cent will do.

“We have a range of target compounds that we are confident are going to advance our knowledge,” he said. “At the end of the process, when we know what our level of confidence is, that will determine where we go next.” www.winetitles.com.au

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Sirromet’s chief winemaker Adam Chapman (second from right) and Brisbane Bullets Head of Commercial Cameron O’Hara toast to the new partnership and were joined by CJ Bruton (left, Assistant Coach) and key player Adam Gibson.

Brisbane Bullets team up with Sirromet for return to NBL QUEENSLAND WINERY Sirromet has been named as official wine partner of the Brisbane Bullet’s return to the 2016/17 National Basketball League (NBL) season.

After eight years, the Brisbane Bullets are returning to the NBL after strong support from a long list of partners and fans.

Rod Hill, Sirromet head of sales and marketing, said the sponsorship would allow the Queensland born and bred winery to further connect with the rich history of the Brisbane Bullets.

“The winery has a long history supporting Queensland sporting teams and prides itself on contributing to Brisbane’s diverse sporting landscape,” Hill said. “Like Sirromet, the Brisbane Bullets is a proud Queensland institution. They were one of the state’s first great sporting franchises and boast more than 30 years of history and three National Basketball League Championships.

“We’re thrilled to be contributing to what will undoubtedly be a great addition to the local sporting landscape and an exciting season one!”

Mitchell Murphy, Brisbane Bullets chief executive officer, said the partnership with Sirromet will assist the club in offering corporate fans a first class experience at home games.

“Sirromet are an outstanding company to partner with and we’re delighted they have chosen to get right behind our much anticipated return to the NBL,” Murphy said.

“We’ll deliver a first-rate corporate hospitality offering at our home games and undoubtedly our guests will enjoy the quality range of Sirromet wines.

“The Brisbane Bullets are also looking forward to hosting some of our club functions at Sirromet’s superb facilities at Mount Cotton.”

The Brisbane Bullets join Sirromet’s diverse list of local sporting partners including the Brisbane Broncos, Gold Coast Suns and Brisbane Roar.

July 2016 – Issue 630

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sales & marketing

Understanding the Chinese consumer CHINESE CHANGING TRADITIONS IN THE PAST, Chinese drinking culture has been defined by endless rounds of Baijiu shots in business suits, but the traditional down-in-one “ganbei” is giving way to a more sedate form of social drinking.

In a recent Wine Intelligence report, author Chuan Zhou described his childhood spent surrounded by businessmen playing drinking games. It wasn’t until Zhou hit university that he noticed changes in the younger generation’s drinking behaviour.

“Beer was the natural choice for several reasons: available in every store and restaurant, affordable to college students, and, most importantly, much nicer taste than the liquid-razor-blade Baijiu,” he said.

While beer has remained a popular choice, Zhou said Chinese drinkers have started to view wine as a “lifestyle product to facilitate social interaction and demonstrate sophistication”.

“In a recent survey with a representative sample of around 1,000 Chinese urban adults (unlike our other surveys, we didn’t restrict it to just wine drinkers), we asked for their views on different types of alcoholic beverage: grape-based wine, Chinese Baijiu, beer, imported spirits, and Champagne,” Zhou said.

“The majority of respondents associated grape-based wine with positive attributes.”

Zhou said two in five urban adults also associated wine with “good taste”, a ratio significantly higher than beer and Baijiu.

“The beverage also scored high in positive descriptors such as “romantic”, “makes me feel accomplished”, “stylish”, “worth paying more for” and “sophisticated”.

“Together with Champagne, wine was seen as more feminine than masculine, which partly explained its increasing appeal to the new generation of educated, financially independent women in China,” Zhou said.

“As we look at the consumer perceptions and drinking habits of alcohol in China, a lot is changing, and quite rapidly.”

CHINESE PERCEPTION OF AUSTRALIAN WINE For the past three years, researchers from the University of South Australia’s Ehrenberg Bass Institute for Marketing Science have been tracking how the Chinese think, feel and act towards Australian wine.

Led by Dr Armando Corsi, the team looked at consumer behaviour in a range of cities, and across three distribution channels (on premise, retail and online), to highlight trends that could inform the decisions wineries make in relation to their China strategy.

Corsi said Chinese consumers were starting to connect wine with more social situations, which has been improving their general awareness of wine options.

“Unlike France and Italy, Chinese consumer awareness about Australian wine is still relatively low,” he said.

“Barossa is the best known Australian wine region, but it is still low, sitting at ninth place compared to the highest known region of Bordeaux.”

Although not high on consumer awareness, Corsi said Chinese perceptions of Australian wine has grown in terms of premium offerings.

“France and Italy are leading the way with premium perceptions in China,” he said.

“Australia, Spain and Chile have some premium perceptions, but also high commercial perceptions. Since 2013, Australia has grown in its premium perception in China.”

In 2014 the view of Australian wine as “premium” jumped

82 Grapegrower & Winemaker

AT A GLANCE Perceptions about Australian wine from Chinese consumers TOP FIVE: 1. It tastes good 2. Wines for the future 3. Red wines 4. They are exciting 5. They go well with food

BOTTOM FIVE: 1. They are boring 2. Labels are difficult to understand 3. All taste the same 4. Too high in alcohol 5. Expensive

by 54 per cent. In the same year, the perception of Australian wine as “commercial” also jumped by 33 per cent, but declined by 14 per cent in 2015.

Matt Davidson, Casella Family Brands export manager Asia Pacific & emerging markets, said recognition was crucial to increase the drive for premium wines in China.

“That drive for premium has to be backed up by wine that is internationally recognised,” he said. “You can’t sell $500 retail bottles of wine without recognition.”

Andrew Buttery, Gemtree Wines executive director, said it was important to take advantage of the consumer’s existing knowledge about wine and relating to Australian products.

“I’ve found that a Chinese consumer’s first point of reference is France and old world wines,” he said.

“Our message is about the difference between old and new world wines by explaining why our wines are different and how we make very high quality wines. “ Once in the Chinese market, Corsi said the most important on- premise choice driver was brand recognition.

“The key element was whether Chinese consumers had tried the wine before and liked it,” he said.

“Other important elements are whether that can match it to their food, or if the wine had been suggested by another table. Waiter suggestions hold little to no worth for Chinese consumers.”

Davidson said Yellow Tail was a recognisable brand in China, and often picked up the emerging wine consumer.

“We found that one third of consumers who purchased yellowtail in the past three months would recommend to their friends,” he said. “Word of mouth and brand recognition is very important.”

While restaurants still represented the leading location for wine being consumed in China, cafes and pubs were beginning to grow in popularity.

Matthew McCulloch, Chateau Tanunda general manager, said consuming wine has become more mainstream in China.

“Wine is becoming part of people’s lives,” he said.

“There is no main difference between the Chinese consumer and any other consumer. You must consider what the wine is for? Is it a gift? Is it for business?

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July 2016 – Issue 630

“Is it for a friend’s house on a Friday night?

“You need to adapt your offer, for example offer a gift box,” he said. “The more wine becomes less formal, the more opportunities there will be for Australian brands.”

Corsi offered a few tips for wine producers looking to improve their relationship with Chinese consumers.

“Keep pushing,” he said, “Decide on a budget then push into areas you feel comfortable.”

Corsi also suggested producers use the elements that make Australia stand out and feel recognisable.

“It is a long consistent process,” he said. “Australian wine can position itself as the premium choice for everyday consumption.”

DISTRIBUTION IN CHINA There has been a growing demand of the online sector in China, a change which Andrew Buttery said has been difficult.

“It’s challenging producers in terms of what to offer online,” he said. “We don’t want to upset traditional distributors with differential pricing between online and traditional.”

Matt Davidson said there has been a huge uplift in general demand online.

“Online operations are very large but run with famous brands, without a lot of margin,” he said.

“It can upset the rest of the traditional distributors which is challenging and were trying to address it right now.”

Buttery said Gemtree Wines operating in second tier cities has given them the opportunity to further educate Chinese wine distributors.

July 2016 – Issue 630

Unlike France and Italy, Chinese consumer awareness about Australian wine is still relatively low. Barossa is the best known Australian wine region, but it is still low, sitting at ninth place compared to the highest known region of Bordeaux.

“It’s all about the relationships you have in those cities,” he said. “We’ve found were not dealing with sophisticated long term wine distributors in those cities. Helping them develop their expertise around wine can pay long term dividends.”

Matthew McCulloch said Chateau Tanunda representatives visit at least five to 10 cities each time they go to China to better understand the market.”

“In the initial opportunity you go where most people are,” he said. “But we’re a relatively small wine company, and by visiting those second tier cities it can more than satisfy our capabilities.

“We’ve taken a province by province approach as we don’t have enough to saturate the market.

“We’ve employed Chinese Australian people who know about wine to enable us to understand the culture.”

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83

sales & marketing Visit inspires wine trade and media A GROUP OF 22 influential wine trade and media representatives from across Asia have returned home with a greater understanding of Australian wine and the diversity of our regions following a 10-day tour hosted by Wine Australia.

Christian Zhang, head sommelier of Yacht Club on the Bund said the visit helped him “understand Australian wines more deeply, especially its terroir and diversity”.

“The harvest season in Australia impressed me a lot. And I will definitely deliver what I feel and learn during this trip to my co-workers and my consumers in my work,” Zhang said.

Seora Kim, marketing manager at Shinsegae L&B – a wine distributor in South Korea, was equally impressed.

“Whilst the Old World sways between tradition and trends, Australia is a country of freedom and evolution – what an experience,” Kim said.

Geoff Schrapel, from Bethany Wines in the Barossa, was encouraged by the curiosity of guests to learn as much as possible about Australian wine.

“This was the most engaging group of guests from Asia I have seen in many years,” Schrapel said.

Hiro Tejima, Head of Market Asia Pacific, said the Wine Australia ‘visits program’ was a critical piece in promoting Australian wine to the world.

“The best way to tell our Australian wine story and turn international wine influencers into advocates is by bringing these influencers to Australia to taste our wines in the regions where they’re made, to meet the people and see the places behind our wine brands.”

The highly engaged group reflect strong export figures to Asia in 2015.

China, now Australia’s third most valuable export market, saw 66 per cent value growth to A$370 million while Hong Kong is now our fifth most valuable wine export market up 22 per cent to A$132 million. Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, India and Taiwan also experienced value growth in 2015.

Willa Yang, Head of Market China, said this was the sixth year that influencers from China had been hosted “and, again, every guest has been impressed with the wines they’ve tasted and the regions they’ve experienced”.

“They’re all excited to share what they’ve learnt back home and my hope is that they will become promoters of Australian wine in China, helping us to introduce our wines to more consumers as the wine culture continues to grow in this critical export market.”

The regions visited on the tour included Barossa, McLaren Vale, King Valley and Margaret River.

The guests included: • Anson Mui, general manager, Beijing Wine Master Liquor Co Ltd (China); • Ben Cheung, buying and brand manager, Watson’s Wine (Hong Kong); • Chi Sun Lau, editor, Wine Now Monthly (Hong Kong); • Christian Zhang, head sommelier, Yacht Club on the Bund (China); • Corinne Mui, AWSEC (Hong Kong); • Echo Zhan, TasteSpirit.com (China); • Guo Yang, manager, China National Research Institute of Food and Fermentation Industries (China); • Jack Xu, Pudao (China); • James Dai, Gourmet114.com (China); • Jicheng Zhan, associated professor, China Agricultural University (China); • Jing Zhe Lim, business manager, 1855 The Bottle Shop (Singapore); • Joanna Zheng, product senior director, Amazon.cn (China); • Kazunari Kondo, mArcohall/Maruto Mizutani (Japan); • Kobe Hou, beverage manager and sommelier, Kerry Hotel (China); • Oni Zhou, chief sommelier at Mercato

by Jean Georges, Three on the Bund (China); • Seora Kim, marketing manager, Shingsegae L&B (South Korea); and • Serena Xiang, GM Assistant, Wollemi Fine Wines (China).

Wine Australia launches new flavours card for Chinese consumers A NEW ‘WINE FLAVOURS CARD’ aimed at helping Chinese wine drinkers better understand Western wine terminology around tastes and aromas has been released by Wine Australia.

The one-page Australian Wine Flavours Card has been created based on research by the University of South Australia linking an Australian wine descriptor with an equivalent taste identified by Chinese consumers.

Andreas Clark, Wine Australia chief executive officer, said the Australian Wine Flavours Card presents an exciting opportunity for the Australian wine community to better engage with their Chinese customers.

“China is a key market for Australian wines and to be able to talk with these customers about the sensory aspects of our wine in a more relevant way will help our community’s competitiveness,” Clark said. “With the Australian Wine Flavours card we can now help guide Chinese customers through the tasting process by using these identified terms, which will help the sector engage more effectively

84 Grapegrower & Winemaker

and make drinking our wines even more enjoyable.”

Anne Duncan, Wine Australia global knowledge manager, said the Wine Australia-funded research project aimed to identify the terms that Chinese consumers themselves use when describing Australian wine.

“Currently, wine is predominantly described using English sensory terms that may lack meaning for Chinese customers,” she said. “The research helped to bridge this gap by asking regular drinkers of imported wine in China to describe Australian wine during blind tastings.

Duncan said the same wines were also described by sensory experts using common Australian wine terms and the descriptions were then linked.

The Australian Wine Flavours Card was developed to show these equivalent terms and can be used equally by Australian wineries at their cellar door as by retail wine outlets and restaurants.

“The Australian Wine Flavours Card helps wine businesses identify www.winetitles.com.au

descriptors for Australian wine that are easily understood by Chinese wine customers,” Duncan said.

“For example, if an Australian winemaker was to describe a Cabernet as having hints of blackberry preserve, the Card shows that a Chinese customer would more easily identify this flavour as dried Chinese hawthorn. The winemaker could then suggest this to the customer on tasting their wine to facilitate better engagement with the wine.”

China continues to be a market of growth for Australian wine and Chinese customers are important for Australian wine businesses looking to increase their exports. The recent Wine Australia Export Report showed that the value of Australian wine exports to China grew 66 per cent to $370 million in the 12 months to December 2015.

Australian wine businesses can register their interest to receive a free copy of the Australian Wine Flavours Card at www.research.wineaustralia. com/extension-adoption/register-yourinterest-australian-wine-flavours-card/.

July 2016 – Issue 630

Harnessing Chinese social media: A pathway for Australian wine brands Drs Steve Goodman, Sally Rao-Hill, Indrit Troshani and George Tan, from The University of Adelaide, are investigating the opportunities for Australian wineries to engage with their consumers through Chinese social media channels.

SOCIAL MEDIA is experiencing an unparalleled exponential growth across many of its applications and in the process becoming a key channel for firms to promote their brands. Social media such as Facebook and YouTube are blocked in China, the resulting vacuum has been filled by WeChat and Sina Weibo, two China based social media applications. These applications offer the potential to become effective channels that Australian marketers can use to directly communicate and engage with the Chinese audience.

Very little is known about the Chinese social media channels outside China, even though they are used prolifically for branding and commerce at all levels, including wholesale, distribution, and retail. Indeed, many wine business actors including Chinese wine brands, wine retailers, wine distributors, and restaurant businesses are already taking advantage of these applications. There is very little evidence concerning the activity of non-Chinese wine brands in this space. Yet, Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s use of social media is increasing at a rate faster than the rest of the world. Chinese consumers are purchasing both products and services if they see them mentioned on their popular social media applications.

The rise of these social media is offering novel ways of social network marketing activities which are characterised by both intense interactivity and precision of logistics.

Sina Weibo is a Chinese microblogging application, similar to Twitter, which has more than 556 million users, with over 50 million of them being active daily users.

Meanwhile, Wechat has become the dominant mobile social media channel in China. More recently Wechat has also become an all-encompassing marketplace that is being effectively use for business and commerce including B2B and B2C operations. Similar to Facebook, WeChat provides offers services ranging from notification, text/audio/video message push to mobile payments, and order fulfilment. WeChat is free to download, install and use. Launched in 2011, it can be used in all types of smartphone platforms July 2016 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Issue 630

including iOs, Android and Windows Phone operating systems. Furthermore, any individual or entity both private and commercial can freely establish official WeChat accounts by which they can offer easy and fast information dissemination and marketing. WeChat has become a far-reaching and universal social media application in China market.

This presents an enormous opportunity for all players and stakeholders in the Australian Wine Industry that are exporting or attempting to export to the Chinese market. As the players along the wine channel in China have embraced social media to manage their businesses, innovative Australian wineries could achieve positive outcomes by using these unique to China media.

However, in order to capitalise on these opportunities the wider wine business community in Australia needs www.winetitles.com.au

to better understand the potential that these applications can offer and manner how they can be properly leveraged to effectively communicate and engage with the Chinese market. Failure to do so may result in overall missed opportunities to reach a specific customer groups in China and potentially lost revenue for the all players including wine retailer, distributors, and importers.

Funded by AGWA, we, as a team of researchers from three schools at the University of Adelaide are undertaking research that will enhance current understanding of the activities that are taking place on the two dominant social media applications in the context of wine business in China. This research will provide insight concerning the new channels for Australian wines and the ways to educate Chinese consumers concerning Australian wine brands. The results of the research will be available to industry early next year.

Further updates will be disseminated here in the Grapegrower & Winemaker as well as through www.facebook.com/ AustralianWineandSocialMedia/ You can join also join an email list to receive the latest updates, email steve. goodman@adelaide.edu.au Grapegrower & Winemaker

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business & technology

Fitter on Twitter Wine brands continue to move towards Twitter as a platform to interact with customers, brand advocates and key industry influencers. In this article, Dr Rebecca Dolan from The University of Auckland Business School Department of Marketing, takes a look at basic Twitter etiquette, options and objectives for Twitter advertising campaigns, and how to analyse Twitter performance.

SIX STEPS: To nail basic twitter etiquette Give credit when you retweet something. Sharing others’ content is a great idea; it can connect you to industry leaders, and help build relationships with other people in your niche. If you are going to share something that isn’t your content, always give credit.

1

2

Keep the promotional tweets to a minimum. Your target audience doesn’t want to be talked at or sold to; they want to have an interaction and conversation.

3

Respond to questions/comments as often as you can.

Customers use Twitter for customer service and this is a perfect way to start valuable conversations.

Always add value. Every tweet should add value to your followers. This can be achieved through unique, creative and interesting content that a user would not find out about through your other marketing avenues.

4

Don’t just tweet headlines and links. Add some value to the content or link that you are sharing; this can be your opinion, a reason for the audience to open the link, or a question to the audience.

5

Avoid automation where possible. Scheduling tweets can be beneficial and help you to plan ahead and save time. However, ensure that the tweets still sound ‘human’, and ensure there is someone available to engage with followers once the tweets are sent out.

6

ver Hill Wines, CMV Farms, Coriole Vineyards, Delegats Wine Estate, Delegat’s Wine Estate Limited, DogRidge, Edgemill Group, Fanselow Bell, Five Star Wines, Fowles Wine, Fuse Wine Services Pty Ltd, Gemtree Vineyards, Glenlofty Wines, Harry Jones Wines, Henry’s Drive Vi gnerons Pty Ltd, Hentley Farm, Hope Estate, Hospitality Recruitment Solutions, Howard Park Wines, Hungerford Hill Wines, Inglewood Wines Pty Ltd, Innocent Bystander, Jack Rabbit Vine yard, Jim Barry Wines, KarriBindi, Kauri, Kingston Estate Wines Pty Ltd, Kirrihill Wines Pty Ltd, Krinklewood Biodynamic Vineyard, L’Atelier by, Aramis Vineyards, Leeuwin Estate, Make WInes Australia, McWilliam’s Wines Group, Memstar, Mondo Consulting, Moppity VIneyards, Moxon Oak, Nadalie australia, Nexthire, Oenotec Pty Ltd, Options Wine Merchants, Orlando The Wine Industry’s Leading Online Wines, Job SitePortavin Integrated Wine Wines, Ozpak Pty Ltd, Patrick of Coonawarra, Plantagenet Services, R&D VITICULTURAL SERVICES PTY LTD, Robert Oatley Vineyards, Rymill Coona warra, Seville Estate, Stella Bella Wines, Streicker Wines, The Gilbert Family Wine Co, The Lane Vineyard, The Scotchmans Hill Group Pty Ltd, The Yalumba Wine Company, Tintara Win ery, Tower Estate Pty Ltd, Treasury Wine Estates, Turkey Flat Vineyards, Two Hands Wines, Tyrrell’s Wines, Vinpac International, Warburn Estate Pty Ltd, WebAware Pty Ltd, Wine and Vine Personnel International,Wines Overland, Wingara WIne Group,Wirra Wirra Vineyards, Zilzie Wines, Accolade Wines Australia Limited, Aravina Estate, Australian Vintage Ltd, Bar wick Wines, Beltunga, Bests Wines Great Western, Bremerton Wines, Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard Pty Ltd, Campbells Wines, Casama Group Pty Ltd, Cellarmaster Group, Charles Mel ton Wines, Clover Hill Wines, CMV Farms, Coriole Vineyards, Delegats Wine Estate, Delegat’s Wine Estate Limited, DogRidge, Edgemill Group, Fanselow Bell, Five Star Wines, Fowles Wine, Fuse Wine Services Pty Ltd, Gemtree Vineyards, Glenlofty Wines, Harry Jones Wines, Henry’s Drive Vignerons Pty Ltd, Hentley Farm, Hope Estate, Hospitality Recruitment Solutions, How ard Park Wines, Hungerford Hill Wines, Inglewood Wines Pty Ltd, Innocent Bystander, Jack Rabbit Vineyard, Jim Barry Wines, KarriBindi, Kauri, Kingston Estate Wines Pty Ltd, Kirrihill created &Biodynamic managed by Vineyard, L’Atelier by, Aramis Vineyards, Leeuwin Wines Pty Ltd, Krinklewood Estate, Make WInes Australia, McWilliam’s Wines Group, Memstar, Mondo Consulting, Moppity

Go with the site that leading wine industry companies use.

86 Grapegrower & Winemaker

www.winetitles.com.au

July 2016 – Issue 630

Twitter advertising strategies for wine brands Campaign, you will only be charged for engagements on your Promoted Tweets.

Impressions are free.

2. WEBSITE CLICKS OR CONVERSIONS CAMPAIGN These campaigns allow you to feature your website content within a Tweet in a way that is designed to maximize clickthroughs to your website.

Why? If your goal is to drive visits and conversions on your website, then website click campaigns are designed to help you achieve this. $: Twitter’s cost-per-action pricing, in this case the specific cost per link click, ensures you only pay for the link clicks you are looking to drive to your website.

3. LEADS CAMPAIGN

YOUR FOLLOWERS all see different kinds of ads on Twitter. These can include Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts, and Promoted Trends. Brands can create campaigns on Twitter, tailored for a variety of business goals, from driving website traffic to increasing brand awareness. In this section of the article, we take a look at some of the various campaign objectives on Twitter that a brand can use.

1. TWEET ENGAGEMENT CAMPAIGN Tweet engagement campaigns allow you to extend the reach of your content to a relevant audience on Twitter. You can promote Tweets that are published organically or choose to create Tweets only promoted to audiences you target.

Why? Ads promoted through Tweet Engagement campaigns are ‘Promoted Tweets’. They should be used to place your best content in front of the audience.

By using this type of campaign, you can foster dialogue, drive awareness for your brand, expand the reach of content, connect with influencers or brand advocates, and promote awareness around your events or product launches. $: When you run a Tweet Engagement

July 2016 – Issue 630

Leads campaigns are designed to help you collect emails from people who express interest in your offer by allowing Twitter users to quickly and securely share their email address with you.

Why? When someone expands a Tweet with a ‘Lead Generation Card’, they will see their first and last name, @username, and partial email are already pre-filled within the ‘Card’.

With a simple click of a button, the user can send this information directly to you. This is great for businesses who want to grow their customer email lists. $: When you run a Leads Campaign, you will only be charged for the leads acquired. All other actions and engagements (impressions, replies and retweets for example) are free.

4. VIDEO VIEWS CAMPAIGN: Using the Promoted Video tool allows you to effectively reach targeted, engaged consumers. Videos on Twitter drive the highest recall and emotional connection on any digital platform.

Why? Promoted Video is a fantastic way to engage your audience on Twitter.

With the recent addition of auto-play, all videos automatically begin to play as users scroll through their timelines, encouraging interaction with the video by tap or click. $: You will only be charged for video views from that campaign. A view occurs when a video is at least 50% in-view on the user’s device and has been watched for at least 2 seconds, or the user clicks to watch the video in full screen.

www.winetitles.com.au

5. CREATE A FOLLOWERS CAMPAIGN: Building a large base of followers is key to fully leveraging your Twitter presence to drive business results. This amplifies your message and can help attract even more followers.

Why? When someone decides to follow you on Twitter, you gain a chance to engage with that person over time. Each time you engage with your followers, you create new opportunities for them to share content, make purchases or tell others about their positive experiences. $: The cost per follower on Twitter is set by a second price auction among other advertisers – you’ll only ever pay just slightly more than the next highest bidder. According to Twitter, a bid of $2.50 - $3.50 is recommended based on historical averages.

For example, if you want to gain at least 10 followers a day, then you would set your daily budget to $30 and your bid to $3.00.

ANALYSING YOUR TWITTER PERFORMANCE Twitter provides a suite of free analytics tools to help you analyse, scale, and optimise the campaigns described in this article.

With these tools, you can track your impressions, results and cost-per-result across all your different campaign objectives. There are three important dashboards available to help you analyse your Twitter performance: Account home: This is your Twitter report card, with high-level statistics tracked from month to month. It also shows a gallery of your greatest hits.

Twitter will ‘spotlight’ your topperforming Tweets and introduce you to the influencers in your network.

Tweet activity dashboard: This is where you’ll find metrics for every single one of your Tweets.

You’ll know exactly how many times Twitter users have seen, Retweeted, liked and replied to each Tweet.

Audience insights dashboard: This area contains valuable information about the people who follow you on Twitter.

Here you can track your follower growth over time and learn more about your followers’ interests and demographics.

Grapegrower & Winemaker

87

calendar

looking back

Australia & New Zealand July

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.

15-16 Mudgee Small Farm Field Days Mudgee, NSW. www.arec.com.au

July 1986

18 (CD) 2016 NSW Small Winemakers Wine Show Forbes, NSW. www.nswwineshow.com.au

FOUR new Barons and one Companion were made members of the Barons of Barossa last month in recognition of past services of the wine industry and the good name of the Barossa.

The new Barons were: Warren John, Max Schubert, Karl Seppelt and Neil Wilkinson while Kevin Smith was made a companion.

July 1996 WORLD-RENOWNED wine writer, Jancis Robinson, has won an inaugural award which recognises her endeavours in improving public awareness and understanding of wines and spirits.

Robinson was announced as the winner of the Communicator of the Year Award at a gala evening held on the eve of Vinitaly, the annual wine and spirits exhibition held in Verona, Italy. The award was created to mark the 30th anniversary of Vinitaly.

July 2006 AN ESTIMATED 200 growers from the Murray Valley wine-producing region claim they will be putting their properties on the market within the next two years.

Details of the numbers who want to opt out of the industry came to light in a recent survey, along with the fact that the equivalent of about 12% of last year’s winegrape production in the Murray Valley was this year left unharvested or dumped onto the ground.

Exclusive Commission Agents sought for SA / Vic / NSW / QLDS / NZ - rep. organic “game changer” for substantial yield Knowledge of specialist mkts is paramount.

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Interviews : 19-21 July (Aust) & 16 Aug (NZ) Please forward CV: coombesda@gmail.com

88 Grapegrower & Winemaker

15 (CD) 2016 Perth Royal Wine Show Claremont Showground, WA. www. perthroyalshow.com.au

18-21 (JD) 2016 Sydney Royal Wine Show Sydney Olympic Park, NSW. www.sydneyroyal.com.au/wine 20-22 Australian Winter School Conference Brisbane, QLD. www.winterschool.org.au 21-22 Winery Engineering Association National Conference & Exhibition 2016 Marlborough, NZ. www.wea.org.au

24-28 16th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference & Trade Exhibition 2016 Adelaide, SA. www.awitc.com.au 28-31 The Food Show Auckland Auckland, NZ. www.foodshow.co.nz 28 (JD) Heathcote Wine Show 2016 Heathcote, VIC. www.heathcotewinegrowers.com.au 29-31 Winter Blues Festival Echuca, VIC. www.winterblues.com.au 29-31 Winter Reds Weekend Adelaide Hills, SA. www.adelaidehillswine.com.au

August 1-4 (JD) 2016 Australian National Single Vineyard Wine Show & 2016 Cowra Wine Show Cowra, NSW. www.cowrashow.com

5 (CD) Swan Valley Wine Show Swan Valley, WA. www.swanvalleywinemakers.com.au

1-31 Fireside Festival Canberra Region, ACT. www.thepoachersway.com.au

13-14 Langhorne Creek Cellar Treasures Weekend Langhorne Creek, SA. www.langhornecreek.com

5 (CD) Australian Cool Climate Wine Show Murrumbateman (Canberra Region), NSW. www.accwineshow.com.au

13 Mudgee Wine & Food Fair Balmoral Beach Sydney, NSW. www.mudgeewine.com.au

5-7 The Good Food & Wine Show – Sydney Sydney, NSW. www.goodfoodshow.com.au

13 Taste of the Blackwood Bridgetown, WA. www.tasteoftheblackwood.com.au

International July 24-27 Steamboat Pinot Noir Conference Oregon, USA. www.steamboatpinot.com

29-31 International Pinot Noir Celebration Oregon, USA. www.ipnc.org

26-28 (JD) Japan Wine Challenge Tokyo, Japan. www.japanwinechallenge.com

August 2-4 Anuga 2016 Curitiba, Brazil. www.anuga.com

9-12 InterVin International Wine Awards Ontario, Canada. www.intervin.ca

7-9 Mondial des Pinots Sierre, Switzerland. www.mondial-des-pinots.com

10-13 Vietfood & Beverage Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. www.foodexvietnam.com

JD = judging date CD= closing date For a comprehensive list of events, visit www.winetitles.com.au/calendar

www.winetitles.com.au

July 2016 – Issue 630

Australian wine impresses Vinexpo Hong Kong RECORD CROWDS of more than 17,000 highly influential trade visitors from across the Asia Pacific attended the recent Vinexpo event in Hong Kong, with Australian wine named as a highlight for guests.

Joanna Zheng, Amazon China product senior director, said among all of the pavilions, Wine Australia’s pavilion was the most popular and always crowded with visitors.

“The representatives from Australian wineries are very passionate about their wine, and they interacted a lot with visitors,” Zheng said. “I can see that Wine Australia and the wineries and exhibitors they partner with are holding their hands together to bring the fine image of Australian wine to another high level.”

Exhibitors expressed delight at the overwhelming number of visitors to the stand and the opportunity to reach a broad cross-section of influencers from across the Asia Pacific region via one trade event.

Emma Shaw, Langmeil global sales manager, said she was impressed to find Vinexpo was equally as busy as ProWein, which was held earlier in the year in Düsseldorf.

“This is my first time in Hong Kong for Vinexpo,” she said.

“We partnered with Wine Australia at ProWein in Düsseldorf and this year was full-on and I was thinking there’s no way Vinexpo will be anywhere close to that but it is.

“The stand is so busy and we’re making some really good contacts and having a good time as well!”

Sam Holmes, Negociants general manager international sales, said Vinexpo Hong Kong was a valuable trade engagement opportunity in a region where cultivating and maintaining relationships has been key to success.

“Vinexpo has been a great opportunity for us to meet our partners from all over Asia,” Holmes said. “For us it’s not about finding new customers or new markets, we’re pretty extensively distributed in this region. What it does allow us to do is meet with influencers from so many different countries in one spot.

It’s a lot easier to come to Hong Kong than it is to also fly to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Japan and China for example.

“I’ve got sore feet and sore elbows from pouring a lot of wine over the past three days and it seems we’re getting some momentum. The sentiment around Australian wine certainly seems to be a lot more positive. I’m getting a lot of enquiries about expanding our portfolio within existing partnerships so it’s been a worthwhile exercise for us.”

With a number of free trade agreements in place in the region and a 37 per cent increase in the value of Australian wine exports to the Asian region over the last 12 months, exhibitors at the Wine Australia Vinexpo stand maximised their export opportunities, uncovering commercial leads for their brands, making new contacts and strengthening existing trade relationships.

Hiro Tejima, Wine Australia’s Head of Market Asia Pacific, said Vinexpo Hong Kong has always been an important trade event, but 2016 has been “simply stunning for Australian wine”.

“The Wine Australia stand was arguably the busiest throughout the entire show,” Tejima said. “Our exhibitors were constantly surrounded by a crowd of keen wine buyers and media from not only Hong Kong and mainland China but also Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and India among many others.

July 2016 – Issue 630

“There was a very special vibe about our stand that no other stand had, which is indicative of the strength of the Australian wine category in this region. Many of our 27 exhibitors commented that the visitors were remarkably more serious about exploring new business opportunities and partnerships, than they had been in previous years.”

Willa Yang, Wine Australia’s Head of Market China, agreed with Tejima and said he was pleased to see the growing interest in Australian wines from mainland China.

“We met many Chinese visitors seeking business opportunities at Vinexpo,” Yang said. “Our aim was to share the Australian fine wine message during the show by showcasing the diversity and high quality of Australian wines, as well as hosting impressive master classes with incredible wines delivered by Masters of Wine and other key influencers.

“It’s vital that we continue to work with wineries to promote not only the Australian wine message but also the regional messages.”

This year, the Wine Australia stand had a dedicated master class area where seven master classes were conducted by visiting and local tutors, including Corinne Mui from the Asia Wine Service and Education Centre and Eddie McDougall, founder of The Flying Winemaker, a local television series and online wine store.

Australian wine also took centre stage on Vinexpo’s Shiraz Day, the exhibition’s first varietal celebration, at key events such as the Breakfast Shiraz Conference and Wine Australia-hosted Shiraz master classes.

Following a Shiraz master class, one guest commented that his perception of traditional Australian Shiraz had been challenged by the diversity of the wines he’d tasted throughout the session and he’d been impressed by the quality presented.

Australian wine exports to Asia are now valued at $756 million, with higher priced wines over A$10 per litre making up 49.5 per cent of this total.

www.winetitles.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

89

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The logos available on the website are already formatted to these specifications and should not be altered.

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The only colours to be used for the logo are CPA Blue and CPA Yellow. It is important that you ensure the CMYK process coloursfollowing (full-colour) colour specifications are taken into account If printing in four colour process,when use the specified placing orders with printers and suppliers involved CMYK colour breakdowns outlined. in the reproduction of the CPA public practice logo.

Wherever possible, use the specified solid PMS colours and quote the PMS numbers to your printer.

0421 438 169 jbczanik@gmail.com www.acuman.net.au

The only colours to be used for the logo are CPA Blue and CPA Yellow. It is important that you ensure the following colour specifications are taken into account when placing orders with printers and suppliers involved in the reproduction of the CPA public practice logo.

Wherever possible, use the specified solid PMS colours and quote the PMS numbers to your printer.

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90 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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July 2016 – Issue 630

Want the latest wine business information at your fingertips?

PRINT & ONLINE

2016 OUT NOW! • 8,000 Industry listings • 9,000 Personnel • 3,000 Wineries • 5,600 Wine brands • 2,000 Grapegrowers • 1,800 Buyers’ guide listings • 330 Distributors & retailers • 220 Writers & media

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+ Statistics + 2015 Overview + Calendar of events + Wineshows + Courses + Organisations

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To order your copy: Ph: +618 8369 9522 E: orders@winetitles.com.au Visit: www.winetitles.com.au

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