Grapegrower & Winemaker - February 2016

FEBRUARY 2017

POST-VINTAGE PLANNING Content is still king, but…

Pre-fermentation heating

4 SERIES

Stability and strength, as well as for work between tight orchard rows, where agility is paramount

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Variety of front and rear axle solutions, resulting in different wheel base sizes and track widths

F Model (Narrow orchard) GE Model (Low orchard) GT Model (Large orchard)

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GE Model specialised cab (1.95m)

Powerfarm Series

Total view cab gives superb visibility , with superior heating, cooling and purifying ventilation systems

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1

BRAUD -- DESTEMMER/PROCESSOR -- REWARD - Full berries - least maceration - Clean sample

The 2-BINDESTEMMER system 9090XA • For use in up to 20-tonnes per Ha • Shorter Rows • Bin Capacity – 3.2 m3 • [MOG sample: 0]

2

OPTI-GRAPE System

GOLD MED AL, SITEVI - 20 13

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

3

The 2-BIN “OPTI-GRAPE” DESTEMMER system 9090XAO • For use in up to 8-tonne per Ha • Shorter Rows • Bin Capacity – 3.2m3 • [MOG sample: 0. Removes 95% Petiole] • Sorting Setting: Infinite

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contents features 38 54 68 72 79 86

FEBRUARY 2017

Vineyard Machinery Fermentation Analytical Services Wine Storage Refrigeration Freight & Transport POST-VINTAGE PLANNING

Pre-fermentation heating

Content is still king, but…

COVER It’s that time of year again! Ferments are bubbling up and needing to be plunged back down; grapes are ripening and picking crews are flat out bringing them in. We’ve tried to highlight a few things in this edition that might change the way you do things…

news

grapegrowing

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

Preparing your vines for the next growing season .........................21

Has anything really changed?

On the grapevine .....................................8 Movers & Shakers................................... 12 Future Leaders applications open .............13

Macedon Ranges: Rare microclimates .................................25 25

Regional roundup ...................................14 More than $5million to study terroir ........16 12

Expensive solutions for deer problems ........................................28 Assessing and managing disease levels close to harvest .................32 Vigilance required in phylloxera fight ......................................34 Vineyard Posts: Weighing up the options .........................39

regulars 6 What’s online 17 R&D at Work 32 Ask the AWRI Wine Australia for Australian Wine

Understanding costs should be as easy as ABC Adelaide-based business and engineering consultants 2XE have bought to light some valuable news for the Australian wine community’s bottom line.

In a recent project, funded by Wine Australia, to undertake a life-cycle cost analysis of wine processing, it revealed the enormous potential of what is known as activity-based costing (ABC) as well as some large holes in just how much many wineries know about what their production costs actually are.

This then highlights where changes to processes could increase profits.

A tailored ABC model was prepared for each winery, showing mean costs per kilolitre (kL) of wine for activities such as bottling, barreling and maturation.

The aim was to create an easy-to-use framework that could be customised to suit the needs of each and every wine business.

4 Grapegrower & Winemaker In fact, 2XE CEO Nick Palousis would go so far as to say it is ‘one of the biggest knowledge gaps we’ve seen in the sector’.

Wine Australia is now studying the project report to determine how best to progress the findings.

Nick said ABC represented a different way of looking at costs and their implications. ‘Typically a winery would take its balance sheet and look at the things an accountant usually

88 Winemaker of the month 89 Calendar 90 Marketplace classifieds

help wineries target their efficiency projects towards activities that have the greatest opportunity for increasing profit.

‘For example, the total cost per kL of wine pressed is significantly different when comparing different techniques such as basket press, bag-press and screw-press’, the report says.

‘Also, the way a press is used varies the cost of production per kL. For example, a winery with a bag press using automated pressing cycles may use less labour than one that requires continual monitoring and adjustment.

‘Likewise, a winery that can schedule and separate red and white batches on different days can minimise cleaning and increase labour efficiency

www.winetitles.com.au

February 2017 – Issue 637

February 2017: Issue 637 winemaking The science of increasing sales and profit ......................................64

46

82

UV light used to soften tannins ................46 Wine industry legal risks .........................48 Young Gun: Michael J Corbett .................50

Content is still king, but… ........................66 It must have a purpose and you must be able to measure its performance

Acetaldehyde: How to limit its formation during fermentation.................68

82

sales & marketing 82

Water, chemical and wastewater savings are possible................................52

Wanna come to a wine party? ................82

Pre-fermentation heating of red grapes: .54

How to write effective social media copy .85

A useful tool to manage compressed vintages?

Wine shipping during hot weather ..........86

PUBLISHER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE Hartley Higgins

PRODUCTION Simon Miles

GENERAL MANAGER Elizabeth Bouzoudis

CIRCULATION: Emilie Francis subs@winetitles.com.au

EDITOR Nathan Gogoll editor@grapeandwine.com.au EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Denis Gastin, Dr Steve Goodman, Dr Terry Lee, Paul van der Lee, Bob Campbell MW, Prof Dennis Taylor, Mary Retallack and Corrina Wright EDITORIAL Daniel Whyntie journalist@winetitles.com.au ADVERTISING SALES Maria Stephenson sales@grapeandwine.com.au February 2017 – Issue 637

Turns out lots of people do

WINETITLES MEDIA ABN 85 085 551 980 630 Regency Road, Broadview, South Australia 5083 Phone: (08) 8369 9500 Fax: (08) 8369 9501 info@winetitles.com.au www.winetitles.com.au @Grape_and_Wine Printing by Lane Print Group, Adelaide © Contents copyright Winetitles Media 2014.

All Rights Reserved.

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

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

5

Who said it? what’s ONLINE

Who has been quoted in this edition...

Yellow Tail Super Bowl ad The global marketing boss of Casella Family Brands has said the $5m investment in a 30-second ad for Yellow Tail Wine, was “absolutely” worth the expected 85% viewer reach at the Super Bowl. Casella Family Brands, together with Havas Media, bought individual media slots in 70 markets across the US, making Yellow Tail the first wine brand to advertise at the US’ largest sporting event in 40 years, reports Mumbrella.

Woolworths to break bread with winemakers Supermarket giant Woolworths is seeking to soothe suppliers anxious over a recent court ruling that it did not act unconscionably in demanding as much as $60 million from suppliers to plug a profit shortfall. Martin Smith, the boss of Woolworths’ liquor division, and several of its wine buyers will soon visit South Australia’s Coonawarra region to meet with winemakers and industry leaders, reports WA Today.

Small winemakers strong growth Wine Australia ‘small winemaker production and sales survey’ revealed small wine businesses generated $1 billion in wine sales revenue in 2015-16, an average increase of 12 per cent. The survey also indicated retailers and wholesalers generated 47 per cent of income, with cellar doors accounting for 27 per cent of revenue. With food and wine tourism on the rise, many small wineries are now also attracting consumers to their region via on-site restaurants, cafes, tours and boutique accommodation, as reported on the new Wine Australia website (www. wineaustralia.com).

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

I wouldn’t be where I am without the Future Leaders program. Get ready to challenge yourself and be willing to change your life.

Tom Ward, Swinging Bridge winemaker and NSW Wine Industry Association president (Page 13)

The longer you can retain leaf function post-harvest, the stronger the vines will be for the following growing season.

Andrew Clarke, Yering Station chief viticulturist, Yarra Valley (Page 22)

Shooting is not a good way to manage them, if a deer’s in scrub you could walk 10 meters past it and not see it. They’re all hiding in bush so you never find them.

Franco D’Anna, Hoddles Creek Estate, Yarra Valley (Page 29)

Biosecurity and farm-gate hygiene may not be the most exciting things, but if we get those fundamental things wrong, then our industry will suffer.

Inca Pearce, Vinehealth Australia CEO (Page 34)

If we can have small wins along the way I believe we will be able to ‘convert’ vineyards to a more organic and sustainable practice and also use some biodynamic principles.

Michael Corbett, Vanguardist Wines (Page 51)

Pre-fermentation heating will never replace traditional red wine fermentations. However, it could be a very useful tool for some larger wineries to process part of their grape intake and help manage compressed vintages.

Simon Nordestgaard, The Australian Wine Research Institute (Page 61)

When I say that smaller wineries are doing more ‘direct marketing’, I am giving them too much credit... Yes, they are selling direct, but few actually understand the techniques and science of Direct Marketing (DM) and even fewer are prepared to commit the required time and resources to it.”

Richard Warland, direct marketing consultant (Page 70)

www.winetitles.com.au

February 2017 – Issue 637

from the editor

Nathan Gogoll Editor

Has anything really changed?

WHAT ARE YOU DOING in your current role that is vastly different now, compared to when you started out? Has anything really changed in the business you work for, since you joined it – or started it?

If you’ve honestly answered ‘yes’, then I’m honestly surprised.

(But if you could say ‘yes’ could you please get in touch with me and tell me more… editor@grapeandwine.com.au) Most of the members of the grape and wine community are all going about their working lives in some very familiar patterns.

Prune, spray, pick, rinse, repeat.

Or...

Crush, press, blend, rinse, repeat.

Sure, you might have changed the varietal mix you’re growing in your vineyards.

And yes, I know some of you are lucky enough to work in wineries full of new (or newish) equipment that has changed the way you complete some of the important processes.

Then of course, there are ‘legends’ who walk among us who can still recall what things were like a couple of generations ago when the industry landscape was actually vastly different.

But has anything really changed significantly in the past 25 years?

Actually, yes it has.

You barely have to scratch the surface to come up with a long list of things…

Sub-surface moisture monitors you can check from your phone; on-board sorting on GPS-tracked mechanical harvesters; ferment sensor technology; and you could name plenty more.

I have found myself wondering whether the latest advances match the previous generations of innovations like stainless steel tanks, modern refrigeration systems and screwcaps?

But it’s hard for me to be objective, because the wine world before screwcaps, refrigeration and stainless steel tanks exists only in other people’s memories

February 2017 – Issue 637

and the Grapegrower & Winemaker archive editions. It was all ‘normal’ by the time I started paying attention.

What hasn’t changed is the basic requirement to grow great fruit and look after it in the winery. Sure, technology is there to help at every step, but at the moment it is still chosen by – and kept in check by – the people with the knowledge and experience.

I’ve heard those with experience asking questions about technology when I’ve found myself among growers considering a recycling sprayer unit.

And I’ve seen it on the lunch table at a winery where a dog-eared copy of Bryce Rankine’s Making Good Wine lies open next to a laptop computer that has access to the winery management software via the ‘cloud’.

When I get media releases about the latest in robotic pruning, or read an article that suggests synthetic wines might be possible (no grapes involved) I try to imagine what else will change in vineyards and wineries during my lifetime.

Because I’m interested in where technology might take the grape and wine community, I get curious about what the research priorities are for Wine Australia.

I’m used to seeing updates like ‘new yeasts enhances floral aromas’ and ‘new approach to fighting powdery mildew’.

So I wasn’t expecting to see the focus turn to ‘understanding terroir’.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised? After all, there was a lot of time spent exploring ‘terroir’ at last year’s Tech Conference.

But I would never have predicted Wine Australia was going to announce a six-year, $5.3 million program.

And because of the long list of innovations in the wine industry, I also didn’t expect to get this sort of quote in the press release attributed to Brian Croser: “This is the most exciting and insightful research project I have seen

www.winetitles.com.au

This is the most exciting and insightful research project I have seen undertaken in the Australian wine community in my 40year involvement.

– Brian Croser

undertaken in the Australian wine community in my 40-year involvement”.

A “collaborative suite of research projects” will be undertaken across the University of Adelaide, Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC), South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) and the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI).

I’ll be interested to keep track of the various projects, and I do look forward to seeing whether I’ll get as excited as Croser. But I also really want to know what grapegrowers and winemakers hope all the extra understanding of terroir will deliver? Please track me down if it’s something you are keen to discuss.

Enjoy the read.

By the way, we’ve tried to highlight a few things in this edition that might change the way you do things…

What are the best options for steel posts in your vineyard?

Where can you get inspiration for winery sustainability?

Could heating up your ferments be an option for compressed vintages?

I hope there’s some inspiration for you in this edition.

Grapegrower & Winemaker

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on the grapevine Global wine industry leaders gather in Wellington A LARGE SELECTION of wine influencers descended on the nation’s capital for one of New Zealand’s most significant wine events, Pinot Noir NZ 2017.

The sold out event included a line-up of 30 speakers from Japan, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, who are tasked with sparking thought-provoking discussions among 600 Pinot Noir lovers from 20 different countries.

Spearheading the line-up are the world’s most influential wine writer Jancis Robinson OBE, MW, the world’s only Master of Wine and Sake Ken Ohashi, and Tool frontman and winery owner Maynard James Keenan.

The event champions diverse

communicators and innovative thought.

Wine writer and sonic artist Jo Burzynska considered how wine can be enjoyed in a multi-sensory environment; renowned American writer Elaine Chukan Brown explored the overall concept of future communication, and Australian Andrea Frost discussed new styles of engagement and communication with wine lovers.

The global wine gurus were accompanied by a strong kiwi contingent to tell the New Zealand Pinot Noir story to the world. National treasures include New Zealander of the Year, Dame Anne Salmond, awarded for her contribution to New Zealand cultural history, and Rachel Taulelei, CEO of Kono NZ, one of the New Zealand’s food industry champions.

Together they discussed what binds New Zealand people to the land.

Joining them were four New Zealand Masters of Wine; Jane Skilton, Emma Jenkins and Michael Brajkovich, along with New Zealand’s newest MW Stephen Wong. The event featured great Pinot Noir creators, including Larry McKenna, Blair Walter and winemaker/actor Sam Neill.

Pinot Noir NZ is held every four years, and took place on the Wellington waterfront from 31st January to 2nd February. It has become one of the best Pinot Noir events on the planet, showcasing 115 wineries, with over 600 wines to 600 visionaries, industry leaders, influencers and pure lovers of Pinot Noir.

Yealands recognised for sustainable winegrowing YEALANDS FAMILY WINES has received top honours at the 2017 International Award of Excellence in Sustainable Winegrowing run by The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT).

BRIT honours organisations in the wine industry that are taking a leading role in implementing sustainable practices.

The organisation looks at the implementation of innovative sustainable practices in the categories of air, water and land in both winegrowing and winemaking; social responsibility practices and the quality (taste) of the wine.

Yealands received the top honour for their on-going environmental, economic and social sustainability programs and for how well their wine tastes.

“Yealands’ list of sustainable programs is long and impressive. That takes commitment and vision,” said Ed Schneider, BRIT’s president and director.

“Peter Yealands’ goal of becoming the world’s most sustainable winegrower

could only be slightly upstaged by the quality of his wines.”

In response to the award, Peter Yealands, Founder of Yealands, wanted to thank his team.

“As always, with an amazing award like this, it is achievable only because everyone in the team is so passionate about the work that we do. It’s a true team effort, none of this would be possible without the amazing team that we have formed here,” said Yealands.

“This award really highlights what we’ve been saying all along that creating great tasting wines doesn’t have to cost the earth.”

Yeala nds’ achievements in sustainability include being the world’s first carboNZeroCertTM certified winery as well as being home to the largest solar array in New Zealand, generating over 411 kilowatts of power while offsetting 82 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Their other innovative sustainable programmes include: wind-powered energy; using a flock of miniature Babydoll sheep to graze in between vines

rows reducing the need for mechanical mowing; installing floating solarpowered lighting in its wetlands to attract grass grub beetles thereby reducing the need for chemical pesticides while protecting the grapevines; and burning vine prunings instead of propane gas thus eliminating over 180 tonness of CO2 per year.

When submitting for the competition, wineries are asked to provide a selfassessment of their organization’s accomplishments in sustainable winegrowing, winemaking, and ecopreneural/social responsibility practices.

They describe their organization’s conservation efforts in the field and in operations; how waste is avoided, how it is reclaimed, and how the winery extends conservation efforts to its customers. They also are required to submit a bottle of wine for a tasting by the judging committee.

The wine submitted by Yealands and awarded was Peter Yealands Sauvignon Blanc 2016.

Clare Valley winemakers receive Variety life membership VARIETY LIFE MEMBERSHIPS have been awarded to Tim Adams and Pam Goldsack, founders of Clare Valley-based Tim Adams Wines, for their outstanding contribution to the children’s charity.

Tim Adams Wines has been a dedicated sponsor of Variety since 2001, raising much needed money through its event participation, event sponsorship and general involvement.

“There is no single moment of

8 Grapegrower & Winemaker

participation with any aspect of my involvement which hasn’t been both fulfilling and pleasurable at the same time,” Tim Adams said.

“Pam and I are deeply humbled and overjoyed.”

The husband and wife team have joined an exclusive list of only 13 other people who have received the prestigious award over the organisation’s 33-year history. www.winetitles.com.au

“To be included in the group of SA Life members of Variety – the Children’s Charity, is to be included in a group of outstanding individuals,” Adams said.

The couple’s involvement with the charity has not just been through fundraising, they have worked with the board to create events and increase their reach.

“This is a privilege which we will cherish forever,” Adams said.

February 2017 – Issue 637

It is an important voice to guide research and development priorities; without Australian Vignerons, grape growers will still have to pay compulsory research levies, but they will no longer have a say in how those levies will be invested in projects that affect their businesses.

Andrew Weeks, Australian Vignerons executive director, said without the organisation grape growers would still have to pay compulsory research levies, but they will no longer have a say in how those levies will be invested.

Australian Vignerons will wind up if support fails to increase THE NATIONAL ADVOCACY BODY Australian Vignerons, is in danger of winding up if support fails to increase in coming months. The organisation has written to stakeholders making it clear that unless support is forthcoming the board will have no alternative but to start the wind-up process.

Wine Grape Growers Australia (WGGA) was formed more than a decade ago to provide a national voice for Australian grape growers. It has recently undergone a structural reform and change to trading name to ensure its relevance to industry stakeholders. The changes to membership, board and structure proposed in a new constitution received unanimous support when offered to members at the special general meeting in September 2016. However, this support has not been reflected in increased membership outside of South Australia and Western Australia.

Australian Vignerons provides a national voice for those who grow and make wine, and who are not supported by Winemakers’ Federation of Australia.

Australian Vignerons CEO Andrew Weeks is philosophical about the future of the national body.

“The Chair, the board and I have done all we can to provide vignerons (both wine growers and wine makers) a voice into the future,” Weeks said.

“No one has offered an alternative to the proposed reform.

“It is up to the Australian wine industry to support this body if they want it to succeed. If not, the only remaining national voice for the Australian wine industry will be that of the Winemakers’ Federation.”

Weeks said that this did not reflect apprehension toward the WFA, but was a statement that without Australian Vignerons the national grower voice would disappear, and the Australian Government could not be confident of effectively engaging with the Australian wine industry.

February 2017 – Issue 637

“One of our members puts it perfectly – a national advocacy body is vital insurance against poor policy being implemented, which can lead to damaging outcomes. Australian Vignerons was an important voice in recent WET rebate discussion and the move toward reform.

“It is an important voice to guide research and development priorities; without Australian Vignerons, grape growers will still have to pay compulsory research levies, but they will no longer have a say in how those levies will be invested in projects that affect their businesses.”

“We can only assume that despite direct communications with state and regional bodies, personal presentations at state and regional meetings, numerous media releases and regular newsletters in the Grapegrower and Winemaker clearly stating the current situation, that potential members do not understand the value, or do not see value in the organisation. We are not sure if growers in all regions fully appreciate the gravity of what might unfold if this does occur. State and regional bodies do not have a national remit, and cannot provide national representation. Assistant Minister Ruston has made this point clear many times.”

“On a crude average the cost to maintain Australian Vignerons works out to around 18c per tonne of grapes crushed in the 2016 vintage. If the industry is unwilling to invest 18c in Australian Vignerons for each tonne of fruit produced, then it has a problem.”

Australian Vignerons continues to strive to increase its membership to a sustainable level in a bid to preserve the national voice of growers and makers of wine, for the benefit of the whole wine community. Failure to attract membership from regions in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and the warm inland regions by April this year will result in the wind up of Australia’s national grower organisation.

www.winetitles.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

9

news Partner Update

Tradition and technology in the winery At SIMEI@drinktec, the most important International Exhibition of machinery for wine-making and bottling, innovative and unique solutions to maintain and enhance the quality of wine in the winery.

Designer, gravitational, eco-friendly wineries. In recent years, innovation and the development of production processes have increasingly concerned the structure, functionality and equipment of the rooms where wine is produced. These rooms are no longer just workplaces, they have become real tourist destinations, where the charm of traditional craftsmanship is combined with futuristic shapes and technologies.

Of course, it is not a case of simple aesthetics. It involves continuous research and experimentation to maintain the highest quality of the wine, enhancing its intrinsic characteristics, those of the territory, and promoting its identity, so that it arrives on the market in all its excellence.

An unmissable destination to really experience these technological developments is SIMEI, the world’s leading Exhibition of wine-making and bottling machines. The 27th edition will be held at Messe München in Munich in conjunction with drinktek, in turn the leading trade fair in the beverage and liquid food sectors. Once again, this year the exhibitors, representing Italian excellence in machinery and equipment for the wine production cycle, will be offering the public the best in the industry, including all the delicate phases of the work in the cellar.

Casks and barrels between trends and returns Among the central issues in terms of innovation, there will be of course barrels, barriques and tonneaux. These are exceptional wine-aging instruments, the use of which has varied greatly over time, following both trends and company decisions. Tracing their history, in fact, in the eighties the most popular were barriques, which dominated across

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

What is crucial, therefore, as you will see first-hand at SIMEI@drinktec, are laboratory instruments as well as line instruments, with ph-meters, titrators, spectrophotometers and microbiological instruments that are more and more sophisticated and require staff with a very high level of scientific training.

The monitoring begins in the vineyards, with quick tools able to establish the major grape-ripening parameters, such as sugars and acidity, then continues when the grapes arrive in the cellar, where the values of the components are also relevant for setting prices for wine growers, and finishes in a closed bottle with all the tests on its contents. These are very delicate and essential production processes that require the most advanced technologies and that, at SIMEI@drinktec, it will be possible to see and discover firsthand together with the technical experts who plan them and turn them into added Europe. Then, there was a new boom value for the company. in large wooden containers, but with a SUPPORTED BY new look: tradition combined with new solutions, innovative shapes and patents.

Today, in addition to barrels of various sizes, conical fermentation vats are also in great demand for volumes of 50, 100 and 120 hectolitres. The barrel has, primarily, the function of giving the noble substances of oak to enrich the wine with enhancing tannins, but also of allowing osmotic exchanges with the outside.

Today, combining craftsmanship and research, some coopers offer customised products, ensuring the taste result of the USEFUL INFORMATION wine. This is possible with screening equipment used on the wood, but also DATES by digitally controlling the braziers for toasting the barrels and barriques. For 11-15 September 2017 example, by setting the degrees desired, all the staves reach the same temperature PLACE at the same time without variations in Munich, Germany – Messe München temperature, thus ensuring the maximum Exhibition Centre aromatic expression of the wood.

Monitoring the production processes To be carried out correctly, all these production processes, starting from the field and finishing in the cellar, need to be monitored to achieve the chemicalphysical and sensory parameters defined by both the buyers and the specific rules governing the sector. www.winetitles.com.au

PARTICIPATION • exhibitors: complete the form and follow the instructions in the section “2017 application form” on the official site www.simei.it/en or apply online on www.drinktec.com/simei • visitors: information in the section “Visitors” on the official site www.simei.it/en February 2017 – Issue 637

SUPPORTED BY

SUPPORTED BY

WORLD LEADER IN WINE TECHNOLOGY

27TH EDITION INTERNATIONAL ENOLOGICAL AND BOTTLING EQUIPMENT EXHIBITION

ORGANIZED BY

11th-15th September 2017 Messe München - Germany

SUPPORTED BY

www.simei.it www.drinktec.com/simei

movers & shakers Australian to co-chair world wine awards

Michael Hill Smith

DECANTER MAGAZINE has announced Michael Hill Smith will join Gerard Basset and Sarah Jane Evans as Joint chairs for the Decanter World Wine Awards to be held in London late April 2017.

Hill Smith takes over from Steven Spurrier who has been the awards chair since the launch in 2004. Spurrier will become ‘chairman emeritus’.

The joint chairs will be responsible for overseeing the 260 judges that include more than 85 Masters of Wine, 25 Master Sommeliers plus wine professionals from all across the world.

The Decanter World Wine Awards is viewed as the world’s largest and most influential wine competition and attracts over 16,000 entries sourced from virtually every wine producing country.

Veteran wine writer and judge, Huon Hooke, will replace Hill Smith as Australian regional chair alongside Anthony Rose.

Michael Hill Smith, became Australia’s First Master of Wine in 1988, was awarded an Order of Australia for his contribution to the Australian Wine Industry in 2008, and is co-founder of Shaw + Smith and Tolpuddle Vineyard.

Wine and golf partnership WEST CAPE HOWE WINES will be the ‘official wine partner’ of the inaugural World Super 6 Perth tournament in February.

“Being a local vineyard, we love supporting home grown events so it’s terrific to be a part of an exciting new tournament format launching in Perth,” said Gavin Berry from West Cape Howe Wines.

The World Super 6 Perth will be played at Lake Karrinyup Country Club from 16-19 February and will form part of both the 2017 European Tour Race to Dubai and the PGA Tour of Australasia

Order of Merit.

“Western Australia is synonymous with wine, it is one of the great wine regions of Australia so it was important to us that the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth was aligned with a renowned West Australian wine,” said Stephen Ayles, Chief Commercial Officer for the PGA of Australia.

Founded in 1997, West Cape Howe Wines has quickly become one of the most popular wine brands in Western Australia. Over time it has acquired some of the oldest vineyard resources in the state, giving it unparalleled access

to the best and most consistent quality fruit the Great Southern wine region has to offer.

“West Cape Howe Wines is an excellent partner for this event and we look forward to working with them to further promote Western Australia as a golf and wine region.”

“With two top-10 players, world number eight Patrick Reed and world number nine Alex Noren, already confirmed to be competing there will be plenty of talent on display.”

Chateau Tanunda restructures US approach CH ATEAU TANU N DA has restructured its US operations; created of a joint-partnership import company and hired a US-based representative to manage marketing and distribution.

“This enables us to respond quickly to an ever-changing marketplace and offer significant cost benefits to our distributors,” said John Geber, Château Tanunda owner.

“Whilst Shiraz is the Barossa’s traditional calling card, at Château

Tanunda we also believe in the worldclass potential of Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon.”

The new wine import company, AUSA Pacific, will be a partnership between the Geber family and Jim Lambert, founding owner of Lambert Estate Wines.

US operations for both estates will be managed by industry veteran Dan Goettel through his company, Barossa Napa Vineyards and Estates.

Goettel’s will also oversee a national

distribution network and manage US marketing.

Michelle Geber, Chateau Tanunda general manager, who helped lay the groundwork for Château Tanunda in the US will continue to visit on a regular basis.

As part of the restructure two new wines will be released into the US market, Château Tanunda Matthews Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 and Château Tanunda Triathlon Red Blend 2015.

knowing the varieties or the age of the wines, so that awards are given to wines without prejudice of personal preference or preconceived ideas about varieties,” said Dredge.

“That is what makes the show unique and I won’t be looking to change that.”

Dredge will be joined by wine distributor Mark Reginato who will take over the reigns as chief steward from Trevor Maskell.

Described as a dream team by project

manager Tamrah Petruzzelli, both Dredge and Reginato have been involved with the wine show in the past.

Dredge was a judge in 2013, when James Erskine was chief judge, while Reginato was a guest in 2010.

“Their passionate and creative personalities will drive the show forward in years to come. I am looking forward to ruffling a few more feathers and pushing the envelope with them,” said Erskine.

Judge Dredge WINEMAKER PETER DREDGE will replace Banjo Harris Plane as the new chief judge of South Australian wine show Hot 100 Wines.

Dredge said that after nearly 10 years’ experience in wine shows the Hot 100 is his favourite, and he’ll continue the path that’s been beaten over the last decade by, “encouraging our team to judge purely on style, drinkability and wines that are most quaffable”.

“We’ll continue to judge without

12 Grapegrower & Winemaker

www.winetitles.com.au

February 2017 – Issue 637

Future Leaders 2017 applications now open Applications for the Future Leaders 2017 program are open until early March, to applicants who are early to mid-career and demonstrating leadership potential.

FUNDED BY THE SECTOR and coordinated by Wine Australia, Future Leaders is a unique leadership program that’s been specifically designed for the needs of the Australian grape and wine sector.

The program is an opportunity to bring together emerging leaders from the sector right along the value chain and help them develop the skills to work collaboratively and creatively toward a common goal for long-term prosperity.

THE 2017 PROGRAM This year, Pragmatic Thinking, a behaviour and motivation strategy company, has been brought on board to facilitate the 2017 program.

Participants will explore new avenues in business, marketing and governance, and will also look at how global economics will shape the future.

They will explore new technology, learn contemporary approaches to personnel development and commercial success and hear from some of Australia’s best while connecting with people from across the grape and wine community.

The program consists of six face-to-face sessions over six months, between June and October 2017. Each session will be run over 1-5 days and each will require travel to locations across Australia.

“The future success of our sector is dependent on the strength and capabilities of our people. It’s vital we support them by investing in their professional development so they can confidently lead the sector in the years to come,” said Andreas Clark, Wine Australia CEO. In 2015-16 Wine Australia invested $565K in 88 people development programs, including Future Leaders for those in the Australian grape and wine community.

THE NEXT GENERATION Over the past decade Future Leaders; funded by Australian Vignerons, Wine Australia and Winemakers’ Federation of Australia; has helped the Australian wine community prepare for the challenges of tomorrow.

Anne Duncan, Global Knowledge and People Development Manager at Wine Australia, is overseeing the 2017 program and says a leadership drought is one of the biggest risks the sector faces.

“The international and domestic wine markets are highly competitive and that’s not going to change. To ensure our sector’s future success we need the next generation of leaders to be ready to take us forward,” she said.

“We need leaders who can be catalysts for innovation, who can adapt to the inevitable changes that our sector will face in the future, and who can drive the continual evolution of the Australian wine story, be they winemakers, grapegrowers, export managers or researchers.”

The rapid growth and development of Australian wine in the 1990’s was driven largely by individuals; innovative and collaborative change-makers who contributed their knowledge and time to the greater good of the sector.

February 2017 – Issue 637

HOW TO APPLY Applications are open till 9th March, 2017.

• F uture Leaders will be offered to at least 15 applicants.

• S ix face-to-face sessions held across Australia between June and October 2017.

• P articipants will need to pay travel and accommodation costs.

• U se #FL2017 to tag someone who you think is ready and encourage them to put in an application.

• F ill out an application here: www.winefutureleaders.com/ application

We need leaders who can be catalysts for innovation, who can adapt to the inevitable changes that our sector will face in the future, and who can drive the continual evolution of the Australian wine story.

The Future Leaders program is designed for the next crop of those leaders to step up and take the wine sector to the next level.

ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS Past participant Corrina Wright, Winemaker and Director at Oliver’s Taranga, joined the very first program in 2006.

“Being part of the first intake, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it was really eye-opening. I learned a lot about myself, what sort of leader I am and how the industry ticks. I most enjoyed the people; they are all still close friends and we formed a bond that has been valuable and valued over many years,” she said.

The 91 past Future Leaders participants have include winemakers, grapegrowers, viticulturists, suppliers, researchers, managers and marketers; many of who now head the industry’s national and regional bodies.

Examples like Eliza Brown, Mary Retallack (Wine Australia board members), Andrew Weeks (Australian Vignerons CEO) and Dan Johnson (Managing Director of the Australia Wine Research Institute) are only the tip of an iceberg that includes directors, winemakers and regional leaders across the industry.

Such as Brett McKinnon, Global Operations Director at Pernod Ricard Winemakers and Tom Ward, president of the NSW Wine Industry Association.

“I wouldn’t be where I am without the Future Leaders program. Get ready to challenge yourself and be willing to change your life,” Ward said.

www.winetitles.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

13

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Regional Round up: Western Australia Margaret River wine store opens in Beijing THE MARGARET RIVER REGION is looking to establish its presence in Chinese market by opening a regional wine store.

Located in a high-end area of Beijing, the retail outlet is part of a three storey complex, home to 55 wine outlets operated

by Beijing based wine importers; and will offer the opportunity to sell wine and to raise awareness of the whole region.

Pip Close, Margaret River/Busselton Tourism Association CEO, described the project as a coup for the region’s wine industry.

“The Margaret River region wine store is a significant and exciting opportunity for the region, as it will not only showcase our world-class wine offering, but will be beautifully branded with destination content, including digital screens displaying video content and

photography of the region,” Close said.

Close said the stores unique selling point would be that it is based solely on a single region, believed to be the first of its kind in China.

The project has been driven by Perthbased company Margaret River Wines, in partnership with iconic Margaret River winery Watershed Premium Wines.

Geoff Barrett, Watershed Premium Wines founder and managing director, is confident the news will bear a positive impact for other winery operators.

“Watershed Premium Wines has been operating in China for 12 years and this is an opportunity to consolidate this presence as well as giving other Margaret River region wineries the chance to leverage the market,” Barrett said.

The Margaret River/Busselton Tourism Association has worked to provide

designs for in-store displays, with the generous provision of imagery coming from Margaret River Discovery Co.’s Sean Blocksidge.

The initial store is expected to be the first of 10 by the end of 2017, with outlets scheduled to open in the Guandong Province and Liaoning Province over the course of the next two to three months.

Open for retail as well as wholesale, the store stocks a wide range of Margaret River region wines, with local brands including Watershed Wines, Cape Grace Wines, Flametree Wines, Wills Domain, Happs Wines, Deep Woods Estate, Churchview Estate, Hay Shed Hill, McHenry Hohnen, Forester Estate, Edwards Wines, Amelia Park Wines, Arlewood Estate, Ashbrook Wines and Woodlands Wines.

Varieties for the future field walk WINE GRAPE VARIETIES being evaluated as future prospects to meet changing climatic conditions and consumer trends were inspected in January by Western Australian producers.

The producers viewed 22 alternative varieties, being evaluated as part of research led by the Department of Agriculture and Food, during a field walk in the Shire of Harvey.

“Reliance on a small collection of varietals to sustain the profitability of the WA wine industry while considering challenges such as climate change and market trends for example, does pose a potential limitation,” said Richard Fennessy, Department lead researcher.

Fennessy said about 80 per cent of Western Australia’s wine grape

production comprised of five ‘noble’ French varietals; Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Shiraz and Semillon.

“One tool available to growers to ensure continued optimum production while addressing issues such as increasing temperatures, compressed growing seasons, limited water availability is through varietal selection,” Fennessy said.

“This project aims to change the way growers think when considering the varieties that best suit their region.”

Fennessy said pairing varieties with climates (current and forecast) has the potential to provide growers with the ability to improve their profitability and sustainability.

The trial is looking at Mediterranean varieties which are suited to our climate.

“Field walks, which allow producers to view production in the vineyard, and wine tastings will be a critical part of determining which varieties are worthwhile candidates for adoption,” Fennessy said.

“The research will include the collection of vine performance data, carrying out small lot wine making and undertaking sensory analysis of the select alternative varieties that are currently being grown at the WA Agriculture College.”

The project, funded by Wine Australia, is being carried out in partnership with the WA Vine Improvement Association and WA College of Agriculture.

Punching above its weight WILLOW BRIDGE ESTATE, a family owned winery in the Geographe wine region in Western Australia, has 16 wines on offer and eight – 50% of the winery’s total current offering – have won either a trophy, gold or silver medal in the past few months.

“These awards go a long way to bringing attention to the region -- our wonderful ‘best-kept secret’ -- and its 28 local wineries. All of them are family owned and passionate about their wines,” said Vicki Dewar, Willow Bridge

14 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Estate co-owner.

Willow Bridge Estate is a relative newcomer – established in the Geographe region by the Dewar family in 1997 (the Geographe wine region is a two-hour drive south of Perth).

“Most people think of the Margaret River when they think of Western Australian wines,” said Kim Horton, the chief winemaker. “But this is an area which is fast gaining in recognition and popularity.”

The spate of awards for Willow www.winetitles.com.au

Bridge Estate is particularly impressive as they were achieved despite tragic circumstances. They lost their chief winemaker, Simon Burnell, in March 2015 in a freak windsurfing accident off the Margaret River coast.

“It was a dark time for us,” Dewar said. “We were very fortunate that Kim Horton – with extensive experience in WA, most recently as Senior Winemaker at Ferngrove – was able to join us and continue to build on our momentum and vision.”

February 2017 – Issue 637

Winemakers must be active to secure competitive edge Winemakers’ exporting to Northern Asia could see an increase in their bottom line thanks to tariffs on imported wines being cut in many key Asian markets, but only if they take the necessary steps to secure the preferential rates.

AT A GLANCE Current and future tariffs for wine under each of the North-Asia FTAs: CHINA – AUSTRALIA FTA TARIFF WINS FOR WINE Sparkling wine Was 14%, will be cut to 5.6% on 1 January 2017. To be fully eliminated by 1 January 2019 Bottled wine Was 14%, will be cut to 5.6% on 1 January 2017. To be fully eliminated by 1 January 2019 Bulk wine Was 20%, will be cut to 8% on 1 January 2017. To be fully eliminated on 1 January 2019 Tony Battaglene, Winemakers’ Federation of Australia chief executive, said wine companies must actively take the steps to get the preferential tariff rates available under the FTAs.

AUSTRALIA’S FTAs with China, Japan and South Korea are giving Australian wine makers a competitive edge, by reducing, and in many cases eliminating existing import tariffs on wine in comparison to our major competitors.

Wine Australia has warned winemakers that getting these reduced tariffs is not automatic, it is up to winemakers to secure the necessary additional documentation to be eligible.

“Winemakers must actively take the steps to get the preferential tariff rates available under the FTAs, and we encourage all Australian winemakers to take advantage of them,” said Tony Battaglene, Chief Executive of the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia.

This includes the tariff cut on 1 January 2017, when the tariff paid on Australian wine imports into China fell to 5.6 per cent compared to the 14 per cent most other wine imports will continue to pay.

“The demand for our premium wines in China continues to grow and the latest tariff cut will give us a further advantage over European and US wine,” Battaglene said.

“With a further tariff cut for bottled wine exports to Japan to come in on 1 April 2017 and South Korea having already eliminated tariffs for Australian wine, the Government’s Free Trade agenda is paying dividends for our industry.”

Australian wine exporters will need an additional document - FTA-specific Certificate of Origin (CoO) or Declaration of Origin (DoO) for shipments.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) have produced a short guide to lead wine and other exporters on how to use FTAs, including how to obtain an FTA-specific CoO/DoO. You can reach the short guide through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s website.

February 2017 – Issue 637

JAPAN- AUSTRALIA EPA TARIFF WINS FOR WINE Sparkling wine Was 182 yen/L, will be cut to 91 yen/L on 1 April 2017. To be fully eliminated by 1 April 2021 Bottled wine Was 15% or 125 yen/l, whichever is the less, subject to a minimum customs duty of 67 yen/l. Currently 9.4% or 125 yen/l, whichever is the less, subject to the minimum customs duty of 41.88 yen/l.

Will be reduced progressively to 0% on 1 April 2021 Bulk wine Was 45%, fully eliminated on 15 January 2015

KOREA – AUSTRALIA FTA TARIFF WINS FOR WINE Sparkling wine Was 15%, fully eliminated on 12 December 2014 Bottled wine Was 15%, fully eliminated on 12 December 2014 Bulk wine Was 15%, fully eliminated on 12 December 2014 In other trade news, the WFA welcomed a January announcement from the Federal Government that it would continue to seek the ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2017.

Despite President Trump’s decision not to ratify the TPP at this time, the agreement provides such great opportunities for the Australian wine sector, according to Battaglene that “we must do everything in our power to ensure the agreement comes into force”.

“This is the first agreement to specifically address significant non-tariff trade barriers restricting our export growth as well as promoting significant opportunities within the region. It also provides a template for future agreements,” Battaglene said.

www.winetitles.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

15

news

We already know that unique Australian terroirs exist and that climate, topography, soil chemistry and soil physical properties are the most important factors contributing to the differences between wines from different sites.

What these projects seek to do is to understand how these environmental signals translate into physiological changes…

– Brian Croser

More than $5million to study Australian Shiraz terroir UNDERSTANDING THE INFLUENCE of terroir on wine style and quality will be focus of a six-year, $5.3 million investment in new research and development projects by Wine Australia.

Brian Croser, Wine Australia deputy chair, was thrilled to announce the project.

“This is the most exciting and insightful research project I have seen undertaken in the Australian wine community in my 40-year involvement,” Croser said.

Australia makes wines of exceptional quality and finesse that reflect their provenance and terroir, according to Croser, but in his opinion these wines don’t currently receive the international recognition they merit.

“It is these wines that will most quickly elevate the image and reputation of all wines we produce. We are focused on building international recognition for our wines to increase demand and the price paid for all Australian wines,” Croser said.

“We already know that unique Australian terroirs exist and that climate, topography, soil chemistry and soil physical properties are the most

16 Grapegrower & Winemaker

important factors contributing to the differences between wines from different sites.

“What these projects seek to do is to understand how these environmental signals translate into physiological changes in grapevines that result in changes in berry composition and in turn result in the expression of terroir in wines.

“When we understand how these environmental signals work, we can then understand how winegrowers can refine the expression of terroir and uniqueness in their vineyards, so that they can produce wines that express their unique terroir with greater confidence and obtain the premium such wines warrant.”

Croser said the focus would be on Shiraz, as this is the variety that predominates in Australia.

“Shiraz is the most planted variety, with 26 per cent of Australia’s vineyard area; we have the oldest Shiraz vines in the world; and 40 per cent of Australia’s exports valued at more than $10 per litre FOB are Shiraz,” he said.

A collaborative suite of research projects will be undertaken by a worldleading group of research institutions, the www.winetitles.com.au

University of Adelaide, Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation, National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC), South Australian Research and Development Institute and the Australian Wine Research Institute.

Dr Leigh Schmidtke from Charles Sturt University at the NWGIC will lead the sensory-focused benchmarking project looking for correlations between the sensory properties of a relatively large and diverse set of Australian Shiraz wines, their chemical profiles and the climatic regions from which the grapes were sourced.

Associate Professor Cassandra Collins at the University of Adelaide will lead the vineyard terroir project that will determine marker compounds and chemical profiles for unique Australian Shiraz wines and to understand how vines respond to express terroir.

An international expert perspective will be added through the top sommeliers Wine Australia is hosting as part of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in April. They will help classify a subset of Australian Shiraz wines and selected international Shiraz wines through a blind tasting.

February 2017 – Issue 637

Wine Australia for Australian Wine

It’s stems in the ferment that can make red wines green If you want to avoid red wines that some would consider ‘green’, keep grape stems out of the ferment.

That’s the simple take-home message from a comprehensive study recently completed at the AWRI. There’s a lot more to the story, however, and it includes three plot twists.

The first is that while stems – technically called the rachis – are clearly linked to the green capsicum aromas, acidity and astringency associated with greener wines, leaves are not. In fact, when grape leaves were added to the ferment, the resulting wines tended to be even fruitier than those made from grape must alone.

Dr Dimitra Capone.‘Researchers have just treated them as one thing.

‘Now I’m using other techniques to see if there are additional compounds that I might have missed in specific ferments. It would be nice to have a comprehensive list of all the compounds that are affected by leaves or stems.’

The second is that the chemical found to trigger the ‘green’ characters was not, as had been suspected, one of the grassy C6 compounds The findings have – it was isobutyl immediate implications methoxypyrazine. for those who don’t ‘If you want to avoid red C6 compounds were fuss too much about wines that some would found to be associated what natural materials consider ‘green’, keep grape with the red fruit and end up in the ferment stems out of the ferment.’ confection flavours in or who favour wholethe wines made from bunch pressing. ferments with added Beyond that, Dr Capone and her leaves. colleagues – Wes Pearson, Laura Bey, And the third twist is that the study Alice Barker and Leigh Francis – are found green characters in Shiraz from interested in how this knowledge can be isobutyl methoxypyrazine when stems expanded to give winemakers new tools were included in the ferment, even to enhance their wine. though Shiraz grapes do not have the ‘It has been shown, for example, that gene thought to be required to produce isobutyl methoxypyrazine is affected by these compounds. This suggests ripeness; so, the riper the fruit is, the that the stems bring with them all the less of the green characters you’ll see’, components required for ‘greenness’ to she said. ‘So you could potentially get be triggered. some ripe stems and add them to must ‘No-one’s done this before – testing from less ripe grapes to achieve other ferments with the leaves and stems characters. added separately’, said the study leader,

February 2017 | www.wineaustralia.com

‘I’ve worked with winemakers who carry out whole-bunch pressing to mask other attributes such as eucalypt character from gum trees. If we know more about this, then they have more to work with.’

The study is one component of a broader four-year project, funded by Wine Australia, which is seeking to better understand what causes a range of specific sensory attributes in wine – including stone fruit flavours in white wine and tropical fruit in Chardonnay – and the roles played by specific volatile compounds.

A related study is looking at the influence on wine flavour of trees surrounding vineyards, whether naturally occurring or planted as wind breaks.

Trials have been conducted looking at Pinus radiata pines in the Adelaide Hills, native sheoaks in Langhorne Creek and Monterey cypress in the Yarra Valley.

Preliminary data suggest the cypress is having the greatest effect.

‘We’re looking at the impact of even just having a few leaves or fine needles find their way into the picking bin; I’m sure many people wouldn’t even notice they were there’, Dr Capone said.

www.wineaustralia.com | February 2017

The scourge of a plant that grows too well Comprehensive trial reveals how best to tackle gazanias

Celebrity gardeners aren’t joking when they describe gazanias as hardy plants suited to a range of tough environments. Unfortunately, that’s not such good news when you’re trying to get rid of them.

Gazanias have become such a problem to some grapegrowers in the Riverland that the Riverland Wine Viticulture Technical Group (RWVTG) organised a comprehensive two-year trial to work out how best to tackle them.

‘They are virtually indestructible and don’t need any water so they are either a great plant or an awful weed’, said Riverland Wine’s Chris Bennett. ‘A couple of years of reasonable spring rains has allowed them to germinate and proliferate. After a year like we’ve just had I hate to think what they’ll be like ‘They are next year.’

No matter how sick and sorry the gazanias looked initially, they invariably bounced back stronger than ever.

Spraying large areas requires an awful lot of spray, and thus constant refilling, and there is the added problem that the leaves of the plants are quite hairy, so the droplets often stay suspended above the leaf surface.

When individual experimentation by growers failed to find an effective solution, the RWVTG decided to take a scientific approach, with funding from Wine Australia and support from the South Australian Government through Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA).

‘First we sat down and worked out all the possible combinations of available chemicals virtually and the things that indestructible and don’t A few growers found need any water so they are would improve efficacy, such as using wetters them encroaching either a great plant or an or slowing down the on their vineyards awful weed’ evaporation of droplets and tried to control to give the chemicals them with the normal more time to penetrate’, chemicals registered Mr Bennett said. for vineyard use, but it was as if they were selected for gazanias. ‘They ‘We also looked at a combination of were killing off everything else and the treatments – coming in hard with an gazanias were saying thank you very initial dose then following up while the much,’ Mr Bennett said. plant was still recovering.

The same happened with regular ‘An initial round of trials gave direction to roadside spraying by councils. see if the first thoughts stood up to test.

After that round we realised some were

February 2017 | www.wineaustralia.com

just a waste of time so we concentrated on those that showed more promise.

That gave us the best results and a series of recommendations.’

The recommendations can be found in a factsheet available from the Wine Australia website – www.wineaustralia. com – and Mr Bennett says it is relevant to growers in any regions where gazanias are a problem.

‘The interesting thing is that the recommended solution wasn’t the best the first time around so it was fortunate that we could run the trial over a couple of years’, he said. ‘You’ve got to get the right conditions.’

Based on the trial results, it was concluded (as explained in the fact sheet) that the best treatment is a combination of Glyphosate and Hammer®. Interestingly, this is most effective when the plants are healthy, and preferably actively growing.

‘Under dryland conditions, this means that there is a window of opportunity in winter and spring that must be taken advantage of’, the factsheet says. ‘In a dry year, this window can be very narrow. Plants under stress or with fully matured leaves will not absorb the Glyphosate as well and subsequently the treatment is likely to be less effective.’

Download the Controlling Gazanias in the Riverland factsheet from www.wineaustralia.com.

Surface irrigation remains the best option Growers learn the latest techniques, technology and treatment application

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

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

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

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

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

‘We couldn’t

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

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

‘To be honest, we improvement in yield or water Four irrigation don’t know why. We use savings by switching to treatments were don’t think it’s due to sub-surface irrigation, which established, blocking of the drip was contrary to what we had resulting in lines, although in been led to believe.’ applications of about some areas there’s 50, 67 and 84 per an issue with colloidal cent of the standard clay material in the irrigation (100 per cent) used in the water, which might have some long-term remainder to the block of Chardonnay impact. grapevines, which were planted on to Ramsey rootstock in 2004. The soil type ‘What we are thinking is whether subvaried from sandy to loamy sand across

the trial site.

A split-plot design was used with irrigation volume as the main plot along a single row of vines and irrigation type the sub-plot within the row.

Each sub-plot consisted of nine vines irrigated using the same lateral line and treatments were replicated five times across the width of the block.

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

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

* SARDI is a division of Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA).

www.wineaustralia.com | February 2017

Future Leaders 17 applications now open Be next in 2017

Applications for Future Leaders 17 are now open to those who are ready to step up and be next in leading Australia’s grape and wine community to future prosperity.

Over the past decade, Future Leaders, funded by Wine Australia, and a joint initiative of Wine Australia and the two major sector bodies, Australian Vignerons and Winemakers’ Federation of Australia, has helped the Australian wine community prepare for the challenges of tomorrow by building today the capabilities of the next generation of leaders.

The 91 Future Leaders alumni include winemakers, grapegrowers and viticulturists, business managers and marketers, suppliers and researchers, who have already demonstrated the strong leadership and vision required to position Australia as a fine wine leader on the global stage.

Commercial Director at Lallemand Jason Amos, an alum of Future Leaders 15, relished the learning experience.

‘Future Leaders is an investment in yourself and the sector as a whole.

‘It’s a unique opportunity to learn and understand the dynamics, the people and skills which make up our Australian grape and wine community.

Anne Duncan, Global Knowledge and People Development Manager at Wine Australia, is overseeing the 2017 program and says a leadership drought is one of the biggest risks the sector faces.

‘The international and domestic wine markets are highly competitive and that’s not going to change. To ensure our sector’s future success we need the next generation of leaders to be ready to take us forward.

‘We need leaders who can be catalysts for innovation, who can adapt to the inevitable changes that our sector will face in the future, and who can drive the continual evolution of the Australian wine story, be they winemakers, grapegrowers, export managers or researchers.’

‘We need leaders who can be catalysts for innovation, who can adapt to the inevitable changes that our sector will face in the future, and who can drive the continual evolution of the Australian wine story, be they winemakers, grapegrowers, export managers or researchers.’

They’ll hear from some of Australia’s best speakers on topics such as innovation, leadership and culture, and they’ll connect with people from across the grape and wine community, including Future Leaders alumni.

Future Leaders 17 program

If you’re ready to be challenged, ready to step up and ready to help shape the future of Australia’s grape and wine community, head to www. winefutureleaders.com to apply.

Applications are now open and close on Monday 9 March 2017.

This year, Future Leaders has been reshaped and re-aligned with Pragmatic Thinking brought on board to facilitate the 2017 program.

In a dynamic and evolving sector, this year’s program will explore new avenues in business, marketing and governance, and will also look at how global economics will shape the future.

How to apply

If you know of someone who you think is ready to be next, make sure that you tap them on the shoulder or tag them using #FL2017 and encourage them to put in an application.

‘Participating in the Future Leaders program gave me the tools to effectively manage change, conflict and diversity beyond my normal day to day role.’

Participants will look at new technology, how they can amplify the innovative thinking that already exists in our sector, and will learn contemporary approaches to people development and commercial success.

Wine Australia for Australian February 2017 | www.wineaustralia.com Wine

Wine Australia Industry House cnr Botanic & Hackney Roads Adelaide SA 5000 | PO Box 2733 Kent Town SA 5071 T: 08 8228 2000 | F: 08 8228 2066 | E: research@wineaustralia.com | W: www.wineaustralia.com

Visit www.winefutureleaders.com for more information or to apply.

grapegrowing

Post-vintage planning: Preparing your vines for the next growing season VINTAGE IS ALREADY in full swing in many regions (nearly finished in some, still yet to begin in others), however, grapegrowers and vineyard managers with a passion for planning are already looking past the discussions about picking dates and the next jobs in line.

We’ve asked a group of experts to deliver some post-vintage vineyard care/maintenance advice.

As Liz Riley pointed out, lots of this advice depends on what the season has delivered.

“Much depends on the timing of harvest to dormancy and the seasonal conditions – wet or dry.”

Of course, yields and prices will also have a big impact on the budget considerations as well.

There’s also some rest and recovery for the vineyard team to consider.

“One of the most important things is to give you and your team a long weekend,” Riley said.

THE PANEL OF EXPERTS: Liz Riley, Vitibit Pty Ltd, Hunter NSW: Riley is the owner and operator of Vitibit Pty Ltd. She commenced viticultural consulting in 2000, after 8 years of working in the wine industry on a local, interstate and international basis. Liz has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Wine) from Roseworthy Agricultural College (now a part of the University of Adelaide) and is also an Australian Nuffield Farming Scholar.

While Vitibit Pty Ltd has primarily serviced the Hunter Valley over the last 15 years, Liz has also provided consultancy services in the Granite Belt (QLD), Hilltops and Orange (NSW) and into Tasmania.

Liz is currently providing expertise to Wine Australia in the area of Agrochemicals, and is involved in industry reference group for the Fungicide Resistance Project at SARDI.

Andrew Clarke, Yering Station chief viticulturist, Yarra Valley VIC: Clarke has been the chief viticulturist at Yering Station since 2011.

He started a career viticulture in the McLaren Vale, while studying, and furthered his viticulture experience in Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley. He has also worked winery vintages in the Yarra Valley and Margaret River.

Clarke’s knowledge each micro climates; effective canopy management techniques; and his connection to the land have all been big benefits to the Yering Station winemaking.

He was also a 2015 recipient of a Nuffield scholarship, which provided insights and innovations from other global agricultural industries.

February 2017 – Issue 637

Darren Fahey & Adrian Englefield, NSW Department of Primary Industries viticulture development officers: Fahey delivers the NSW DPI Viticulture Skills Development Program being undertaken by AWRI across NSW/ACT wine regions and the AGWA funded Regional Program for NSW/ACT regions.

Before taking up his DPI role, he worked for the Australian Recycled Organics Association as the market and industry development officer and spent five years as a technical officer for the NSW DPI from 2004 to 2009.

Englefield has been with the DPI as part of the Viticulture Skills and Development Program since August 2015. He is a graduate of Charles Sturt University with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Viticulture) and Bachelor of Applied Science (Wine Science). His experience includes 10 years of vineyard management in North West Victoria as well as a role with the Victorian DEPI as a Plant Standards Officer.

Jenny Venus, Landmark senior viticulturist, Strathalbyn SA: Venus kick-started her career with a scholarship to study Agriculture Science with honours at Waite (Adelaide University).

She then worked in the stone fruit industry for 10 years before going on to train as a viticulturist in a large IAMA agronomy team.

As a viticultural specialist, Venus helps her growers understand market specifications and delivering the fruit quality to meet those specifications. She helps her clients achieve their desired results through new technologies, new chemistries, more effective pruning techniques and managing disease and insect pressures.

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

21

grapegrowing Question: What are the most important jobs in the vineyard after the grapes are picked, but before the vines shut down?

Liz Riley Vitibit Pty Ltd, Hunter NSW We’re an early region (Jan/Feb harvest) so can have another 10-12 weeks of “growing time” before we start shutting down for dormancy. If we have had a tough season or are in a rebuilding phase getting fertiliser and water on within 7-10 days of harvest and supporting a quick flush of growth is really important.

Timing is doing this is really critical – wait three-to-four weeks and then you lose the window for this new foliage to mature and contribute back to the vines.

Where have retained good canopies (and where we have new growth) a spray pass of copper, sulphur and caterpillar spray to help to retain this is advantageous.

If it happens to be wet then keeping on top of weeds so they don’t get away is also important.

Andrew Clarke Yering Station chief viticulturist, Yarra Valley VIC: Rest and recovery…

The vines need a good irrigation, assuming water is available, with a top up of nutrition.

The longer you can retain leaf function post-harvest, the stronger the vines will be for the following growing season. In frost prone areas, later leaf fall can also lead to later budburst.

Darren Fahey & Adrian Englefield NSW Department of Primary Industries viticulture development officers The most important job in the vineyard after harvest is the maintenance of appropriate irrigation and nutrition to allow leaves to continue photosynthesis and assist in the storage of carbohydrate and nutrient reserves to ensure even budburst and early growth in the next season, higher yields may require a longer maintenance and restoration period.

Given the impacts of a changing climate higher winter temperatures may shorten the dormancy period making this facet of vineyard management critical.

Jenny Venus Landmark senior viticulturist, Strathalbyn SA It is important to maintain leaf function after harvest to maximise carbohydrate storage as the vines shut down, continue to irrigate the vines to minimise the risk of early defoliation.

The amount of irrigation required will be season and region dependent and in some season may depend on the availability of water.

Harvesting of fruit removes a significant amount of nutrients particularly in regions that have high cropping levels, it is important to understand how much nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium has been removed and consider replacing at least 40% of the nutrient post-harvest.

Good soil moisture (from irrigation) will allow the vine to access nutrient that remain in the soil or that are applied through fertigation.

Monitor the disease level post-harvest as this information can be important in developing a fungicide spray program for the following season.

Q: When it comes to post-vintage machinery maintenance – what are the most pressing needs?

(And what can be postponed until the grape payments start to arrive).

LR: I’d probably say tractor servicing – these guys have been flat out and are still going to be required for a while yet before dormancy. Sprayers etc. can wait until the dormant season.

AC: Ensuring all harvest equipment is adequately stripped and cleaned as cleaning old crusty skins from harvesters is not

22 Grapegrower & Winemaker

easy. Cover cropping equipment should be up and ready to go ASAP though.

As the majority of tractor operations occur during spring and summer, equipment maintenance can normally be postponed until the grape cheque arrives.

DF & AE: In the post-vintage period, take a break from the vineyard. Address maintenance priorities when you return and budget to ensure pressing needs, including future grape production, is not jeopardised and deadlines are met.

Many growers can postpone machinery maintenance on seasonal equipment such as harvesters after vintage. It is important to record maintenance activities (current and planned) and inspect equipment to plan for future maintenance before machinery is required.

With high powdery mildew pressure across many vineyards, the importance of early season spray equipment efficiency should not be underestimated.

Growers need to inspect spray carts over the winter months (bearing, pumps, nozzles etc.) to minimise the risk of down time and ensure recommended water coverage and chemical application rates.

JV: Machinery isn’t my speciality but it is important to make sure fungicide carts are cleaned out with a tank cleaner (not just water) prior to being put back in the shed.

Generally wash-downs and routine maintenance of all machinery prior to shedding machinery will improve the life of equipment.

Q: Do you recommend growers look back across the season after vintage and review what worked well (perhaps what didn’t go so well) and use this to start planning for the next season?

LR: Absolutely – some reviewing of both underperforming and high performance areas are vital – this may be preliminary until you get feedback on fruit.

Get some soil samples collected and despatched (immediately after harvest so the results are back after post-vintage holidays) and then with these , the previous spring’s petiole analysis and the new seasons weather outlook start to plan nutrition, also make notes on what areas are a priority for dormancy season weed control, mulching etc...

AC: Absolutely. Working in conjunction with your winemakers, it is important that you identify where there are opportunities and risks within the vineyard prior to determining your pruning plan.

Some blocks may be able to return larger yields for better financial returns, whilst others may need to have yields reduced to give greater vine balance and sustainability.

DF & AE: It’s highly recommended to review the season after vintage including spray, irrigation and nutritional programs to assess where changes can be made if required for the next season.

Start in-house, involving all necessary staff to gain a full understanding of where and when issues which may have arisen during the rush of the vintage period and how best to address these and plan for contingencies in future years.

Documenting and reviewing each vintage will assist in finetuning and understanding varietal performance across blocks in a changing climate.

Regional reviews are also recommended among growers given management philosophies are many and varied across a region. For instance powdery mildew can be dealt with in many different ways and the success and/or failure of certain management plans can be highly useful and resourceful to others.

As part of a review, growers in NSW can view the DPI Weather Stations Network. Weather station data from 41 NSW

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February 2017 – Issue 637

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grapegrowing It is never an easy decision to take a block out of production however if the block is continuing to make a loss of several years winter is a good time to develop a plan to rework or replace a block. vineyards across eight regions is available at the AWRI website, http://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/weather-nsw/.

As part of the planning for next season, DPI offers timely advice and reminders on important viticultural practices, pest and disease warnings, industry events and updated weather forecasts and observations.

This information is available through VineWatch and growers can subscribe via the following link http://nsw.us11. list-manage.com/subscribe?u=59ba43482b8c913efe7355823&id= d179b42dac or visiting the DPI grapes website.

JV: Post-harvest is a great time to document what worked well throughout the season and issues that aroused.

In particular the fungicide program, if there where issues with disease control it is a good time to talk to your viticulturist or chemical provider about fungicide options.

If you haven’t change chemistry in the past, it is a good time to review what other options there are to use in the coming season.

Many growers don’t soil test making it difficult to understand the nutrient level in the soil and the salinity levels.

Post-harvest is one of the best times to soil test as the soil

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is often at its lowest nutritional level prior to any post-harvest nutrient applications.

Soil testing does not need to be done every year; a soil test every three-to-five years will provide you with valuable information on what is required over winter and next season.

In particular a soil test will allow you to calculate gypsum or lime requirements to be applied through the winter or liquid gypsum applications for spring.

I think it is really important that growers review every block to look at which blocks are making money and which blocks are not and look at why blocks are losing money.

Was it a season problem like a disease outbreak or a longer term issue such as Eutypa or virus.

Reviewing the return on every block allows growers to put in place a management plan at a block level.

If a block is not preforming it might be worth virus testing the block to see if it is suitable to top work or start looking a program to replace a percentage of the block over a longer period (three or five years).

It is never an easy decision to take a block out of production however if the block is continuing to make a loss of several years winter is a good time to develop a plan to rework or replace a block.

Q: If growers are lucky enough to have access to extra funds in the budget this year… what should be on their post-vintage which list?

LR: Do an equipment review – what things are breaking down a lot, what might have added that bit more agility or capacity?

For some it might be a making a single row unit a dual row unit e.g. herbiciding or trimming, for others it may be things like post-knockers that help with major trellis repairs or development work – with aging vineyards and some new projects this is a much neglected area for many.

Irrigation upgrades too, however I can never go past a soil moisture probe or three if the cheque book comes my way.

AC: A compost spreader, and with the extra ‘extra’ cash I will take a hay spreader also.

DF & AE: I would spend any extra funds on one of the most important aspects of viticulture improving vineyard soil health, with products such as mature compost and wood based mulches.

Numerous benefits will flow on through the use of these soil amendments.

JV: Often poor irrigation systems results in variability in the vineyard. Replacement of old dripline and maintenance of pumps and filters is one way to reduce variability in the vineyard.

It can be a costly program but it is worthwhile. Growers should also look at grants that may be are available through water buy backs schemes and other grants to help improve infrastructure on the vineyard.

Mulching poor preforming sections is another option to reduce variability in the vineyard.

As mentioned earlier if growers have blocks that are running at a loss, putting in place a management plan for those blocks is essential.

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24 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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February 2017 – Issue 637

Macedon Ranges: Rare microclimates Victoria’s Macedon Ranges is Australia’s coolest mainland wine growing region. In this article, Erika Winter, GrapeLinks, and Hew Richards, from the Macedon Ranges Vignerons Association explain the work being done within the region to plot the region’s microclimates.

AT A GLANCE • Measurements of hourly bunch zone temperatures in 26 vineyards of the Macedon Ranges GI excellently characterised vineyards across the past three years and will enable grape growers to implement management practices for the mitigation of the effects of climate variability.

• A common denominator of the region is a large amount of average degree hours below 15 °C during ripening.

• The climatic diversity of the sites is largely attributed to latitude, altitude and airflow from mountain ranges.

Investigations of other site characteristics may be used to further characterize these special terroirs.

Winter in the Macedon Ranges (Photo courtesy Rob Ellis, Hanging Rock Winery).

THE MACEDON RANGES VINEYARDS are among the highest in Victoria, between 400 and 800m above sea level.

Macedon Ranges vignerons produce high quality cool climate wines. The vineyards in the foothills of Mt Macedon often receive winter snowfall.

seasons particularly well characterised through their average degree hours below 15 °C (blue) and above 35 °C (red) before (Table 1) and after veraison (Table 2). Vineyards were grouped according to their temperature signatures and geographic

AIMS The purpose of this temperature-monitoring project is to: 1. Describe each of the vineyards with respect to their hourly measured bunch zone temperatures to empower vineyard managers to instigate site adapted management practices; 2. Demonstrate the diversity and potential of the region to enable the marketing of the very special local attributes and to point to potential new vineyard sites; and 3. Observe temperature signatures over several vintages to develop a comprehensive database on which the definition of the Macedon Ranges climate can be based.

METHODS Vineyards (mainly Chardonnay or other white varieties) received electronic data loggers (Tinytag Gemini, Hastings, Port Macquarie) of which one was attached to the cordons or posts within the vine canopy at the height of the bunch zone (Figure 1) in November. Temperatures were recorded hourly and investigated from 16. December to veraison and from veraison to harvest1. To eliminate the effect of the canopy structure and enable early logging with a low canopy, a second logger was placed in most vineyards in July into a side and bottom open wooden box nailed to a post, south facing at 1.40m above ground. Data from August 1 to December 16, and from then to veraison and harvest were recorded. Average degree hours (cumulative degree hours divided by number of days of the relevant period in order to enable an appropriate comparison of vineyards regardless of veraison or harvest dates) from a base of 0°C and also above 35°C and below 15°C were calculated.

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RESULTS The climatic conditions of these cool climate vineyards, which have a predominance of cold nights, were in all three February 2017 – Issue 637

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2a

1b

2b

1c

2c

Table 1: Average degree hours below 15 °C (blue) and above 35 °C (red), pre-veraison, three seasons (a,b,c).

Table 2: Average degree hours below 15 °C (blue) and above 35 °C (red), veraison to harvest, three seasons (a,b,c).

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Table 3: Degree hours/hangtime above 35 °C and below 15 °C in the bunch zones averaged over 26 Macedon Ranges (MR) Chardonnay and 20 Mornington Peninsula (MP) Pinot noir vineyards 2014-16.

locations. Loggers in boxes (code No. and B) provided additional information eliminating annual variations in bunch zone canopy density and varying logger exposures. Note the low amount of cold hours during the El Niño ripening period of 2016 (Table 2) due to an early harvest in the highest vineyards (right side of graph).

The diversity of the sites can be largely attributed to latitude, elevation and airflow from close by mountain ranges. A geo-climatic map is planned to be produced after prolonged observation, which may be used to highlight the special microclimatic characteristics of the vineyards and point to potentially promising new vineyard sites.

Compared to another Victorian cool climate region (Table 3) the rare occurrence of heatloads (red) but mainly the strong predominance of cold degree hours (blue) during ripening enables the preservation of grape acidity and generates the typical cool climate aromas of the Macedon Ranges wines.

In view of an increasingly variable climate, the detailed information of this study will enable vineyard managers to mitigate the effects of a warming climate by manipulating bunch zone temperatures with canopy management, under-vine vegetation or mulches2. To further characterize the Macedon Ranges vineyard terroirs, rainfall and soil water holding capacity can be determined and the electronic monitoring of

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Fig. 1: Data logger (yellow) embedded in the bunch zone.

soil water content could be included, as water availability is, besides temperature, the second driver of vine growth and grape quality. Lower rainfall may be envisaged in the future, even in this region3.

CONCLUSION Cost effective electronic monitoring of hourly bunch zone temperatures in a large number of vineyards of a GI produces reliable and large datasets, with which site parameters, regional characteristics and seasonal variations can be tracked over time. Calculation of average degree hours above 35°C and below 15°C is one excellent tool to characterise sites and subregions and to direct site and seasonally adapted management practices.

References

1. Winter, E. and Lowe, S. (2011) Canopy management offers solutions to variable climate. The Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker 573, 38-41.

2. Winter, E. and Lowe, S. (2011) Undervine management research reveals fruitzone temperature controls. The Australian & NZ Grapegrower & Winemaker 574, 37-42.

3. A new environment strategy for the Macedon Ranges. Discussion Paper (2015): www.mrsc.vic.gov.au/.../background-paper-enviro-strategy-climate-change-2015

For more information contact Erika Winter, GrapeLinks, via email: e.winter@bigpond.net.au

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Expensive solutions for deer problems Most assessments of viticultural pests don’t take into account, other than birds, anything bigger than a Light Brown Apple Moth, but for those in the path of larger animals the damage can be devastating.

There are about 80 introduced animal species that have established significant wild populations across mainland Australia, and many of them have become pests to farmers.

Vineyards have not been spared from damage caused by introduced species, and growers have turned to the only solution available – significant fencing infrastructure.

KEEPING THEM OUT “The losses have gotten so bad here we’ve had to take drastic action. On the western side of the freeway most people have had to put up deer fences,” said Warren Smith from Pyramid Wines in Queensland’s Granite Belt.

Not only is this an expensive solution, it also impacts the views of open, rolling vineyards which have been important for building tourism appeal and increasing visitor numbers.

Jeff Harden from Bungawarra Wines (another Granite Belt property) is now setting up electric fencing along his boundaries, even though he was initially reluctant because it affects the aesthetics.

“The deer here are a very destructive pest. It is only reluctantly that I’m fencing the vineyard, it is inconvenient and spoils the open nature of the place, but it has become increasingly necessary. I have been told that it is effective, but I’ll find out,” Harden said.

Harden is still not convinced he’s found the complete fix for his problem; even after four hot wires, metre-and-a-half high posts and an earth.

Invasive animals like deer and wild pigs have been a consistent issue, but recently it became impossible to ignore.

“They just got into my block of Traminer, it was a prized block and I lost a quarter of it. They had been in other blocks but then they discovered the Traminer. It ripens earlier and they just destroyed the crop,” said Harden.

Harden had avoided netting, which he considered an ineffective solution which could be damaged easily by the deer’s antlers; but as deer numbers rose and the losses grew he has reassessed his position.

“It was a visibly attractive place, I’ve tried to get the most aesthetic fencing I could; but the openness was the attraction,” said Harden.

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT While native animals have been known to cause some damage in vineyards; introduced species, such as wild deer and pigs, can be highly destructive.

“Deer go through and strip where the shoots are between seven to 25cm. They cut everything back to about half an inch and we pretty much lose everything,” said Franco D’Anna, from Hoddles Creek Estate in Victoria’s Yarra Valley.

Deer species have followed a familiar invasive species pattern; with small initial infestations extending in geographic range and in population density, followed by new outlying populations becoming established then growing until eventually all suitable habitat is infested with large numbers.

In the Yarra Valley the deer target the vines early in the season and eat the young shoots, then return in February and March as the grapes are ripening. Initially outer rows and edges are most susceptible.

“Finally the local council have realised there’s an issue and

28 Grapegrower & Winemaker

AT A GLANCE Deer Target vines at budburst and can reduce yield dramatically.

Victoria appears most at risk.

Less damage to grape bunches, but still contributes to yield loss.

Pigs Damage to fencing and water infrastructure.

Damage to vineyards due to digging around vine root balls.

Eating grapes in the lead up to vintage and rubbing against vine stems also knocks grapes off.

Rabbits/Hares Eating newly-planted vines and those recently grafted.

Native herbivores Eating vines that have just been grafted and recently-established vineyards, consuming grapes leading into vintage.

(Information from the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre)

Deer go through and strip everything back to about half an inch and we pretty much lose everything.

have applied to the State Government for help,” said D’Anna.

State authorities work with landholders to ensure any funds applied to manage pest animals are used as effectively as possible, but long-term answer will hopefully be delivered by the federal authorities who have additional resources to foster innovation in this field.

There are a growing number of products and services to better manage pest animals available to land managers; such as sentinel devices that can recognise pest species or species of interest on one way gateways within exclusion fencing or to alert land managers to the presence of pest animals on their properties.

While new lethal (chemical) and non-lethal (fertility control) population management tools are being researched in collaboration with Australian and International organisations.

MANAGEMENT OF INVASIVE SPECIES “We had to fence our whole lot, because they give you the shits, you close the gate on a block at night and come back and half the blocks eaten. It doesn’t look that pretty but at least deer fence keeps them out,” D’Anna said.

“We deer fenced 60 acres, as soon as we had some time we would go and do a bit, over three years we did the whole block.

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February 2017 – Issue 637

Shooting is not a good way to manage them, if a deer’s in scrub you could walk 10 meters past it and not see it.

It’s expensive but once you’re done it’s there, doesn’t cost you anything else except for maintenance.”

For deer, fencing is the only reliable solution until other control programs start to make an impact. Exclusion fencing is effective at three-to-six foot high, if it includes electric fencing; otherwise the non-electric options are 12-foot high barriers.

Poison baiting is another option, though many growers don’t find it useful; noise deterrents are often quickly adjusted to and ignored; while taste deterrents that can be applied to vines only last for short periods.

Targeted shooting does reduce populations and scares away animals but it is not always a practical solution for growers – and does require an additional skill set.

“Hunting is hard, there’s a real skill to it. There’s lots of scrubby grass, only get them when there in the open,” Smith said.

“I’ve got motion sensor cameras. It’s a good way to get to know where they are, I give that data to hunters. You can get mobs of 50 west of highway.”

PROTECTED PESTS Management of the estimated 200,000 wild deer in Australia is a contentious issue, due to their pluralistic status as a protected game resource in Victoria and introduced pest.

There has been little research into home-range sizes and seasonal movements in Australia, but modelling suggests all deer species currently occupy a fraction of their potential distribution in Australia and have great capacity to expand.

The four main species of feral deer in Australia are Sambar, Red, Fallow and Hog Deer. Each follows a daily pattern of behaviour, spending the daylight hours in, or close to, thick cover but emerging at dusk to feed and returning to cover at or soon after dawn.

“Shooting is not a good way to manage them, if a deer’s in scrub you could walk 10 meters past it and not see it. They’re all hiding in bush so you never find them,” D’Anna said.

“I don’t want protection gone because you get rouge shooters shooting off the road who don’t know where the houses are.”

Recreational hunting is not an effective means of controlling invasive animals, however, the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre said the use of skilled volunteer shooters, recruited and inducted through community hunting organisations under government management, can be one effective tool in an integrated pest control program.

Smith is also highly cautious about who is shooting around his property, only allowing the son of the former owner to hunt.

“He knows the property and where to hunt, sometimes we end up with some Venison in the freezer. Probably shoot two or three a year off our property, and I get a couple, and we shot five pigs last month. Others have a much bigger issue,” said Smith.

It can be hard to know what attracts the pests in the first place, deer and pigs are averse to tannins so damage to grape bunches tends to be concentrated in the lead up to vintage, it also appears to not be the same deer returning with a taste for grapes.

“Only two or three do damage, but two or three in each block means we could have six all up. Even if you shoot one there always a replacement, so I don’t think it’s the same ones who have gotten a taste,” D’Anna said.

February 2017 – Issue 637

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

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

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The Barossa meets McLaren Vale WHILE THE RIVALRY between the Barossa and McLaren Vale is real, there’s also a renewed sense of collaboration towards restoring the natural environment within both premium wineproducing regions.

Late in 2017 a busload of Barossa landholders travelled to the McLaren Vale for some extra inspiration on revegetation projects.

The idea for the McLaren Vale excursion emerged as landholders are

being encouraged to revegetate their creek lines by the Barossa Grape & Wine Association (BGWA) and Natural Resources, Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges (AMLR NRM).

Significant revegetation efforts have already been made in the McLaren Vale (at Chapel Hill, Kay Brothers, and growers associated with Chalk Hill) and in November McLaren Vale environmental leaders Geoff Hayter, Jock Harvey, Rachel Steer, Alice Kay and AMLR NRM’s Dana

AT A GLANCE Challenges shared between Barossa and McLaren Vale include: How to improve environmental performance and a credible environmental record (SAW and Entwine programs); How should the landscape that surrounds vineyards look and feel, especially to visitors (World Heritage Bid for the Mount Lofty Ranges); How to slow down or prevent the creeping expansion of Adelaide that is encroaching on vineyards (Character Preservation Act); and Understanding and preserving the natural landscape that sustains our wine (Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources).

Miles presented this work to the Barossa landholders.

The associated benefits of revegetation projects are known to include improved water and soil health; increased biodiversity; and erosion prevention.

In a project entitled Creating Resilient Landscapes in the Barossa, landholders in the ‘parishes’ of Krondorf, Bethany and Rowland Flat are piloting a program to restore ‘stepping stones’ of native vegetation along their creek lines to the North Para River.

The backdrop to their properties is Kaiserstuhl Conservation Park, a bush reserve of more than 400 hectares in the centre of Barossa which is home to more than 400 species of flora and fauna – some identified as under threat of extinction.

Five years ago, McLaren Vale grape growers pioneered Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SAW).

To improve their biodiversity performance within the SAW program (which BGWA growers are now adopting) McLaren Vale Grape Wine and Tourism Association’s ‘biodiversity group’, with support from AMLR NRM staff and Friends of Willunga Basin, have been successfully running ‘monthly working bees’ which engage volunteers to help manage weeds and revegetate members’ properties.

In future, it is hoped the two regions can combine their enthusiastic voice for stronger action towards preserving and restoring the natural environment.

For more information on BGWA’s environmental initiatives, and to view the Barossa Environmental Champions video series, go to: http://www.barossa. c o m /m e m b e r s / b a r o s s a - g r a p e - a n d w ine-association/bg wa-projects-andinitiatives/environmental-champions-ofthe-barossa

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February 2017 – Issue 637

Merger creates a world leader in micro-irrigation RIVULIS IRRIGATION and Eurodrip S.A. recently entered into a definitive merger agreement in an all-share transaction, creating a global leader in micro irrigation. The merged company will have unparalleled market coverage with 18 factories around the world and 1800 employees across five continents and 30 countries.

Growers around the world will benefit from an extensive product and solution offering, consisting of trusted industry brands such as T-Tape™, Ro-Drip™, Hydrogol™, D5000, Eolos™, Compact™, PC2™ and Olympos™. The merged company will be headquartered in Gvat, Israel and will be named Rivulis Irrigation, Ltd. Richard Klapholz, the current CEO of Rivulis Irrigation, will lead the merged company.

Richard Klapholz, Rivulis Irrigation CEO, said he was thrilled the merger would see the two leading companies “join forces to better serve the growing needs of the irrigation markets around the world”.

“While benefitting from significant operational economies of scale, we will ensure that all commitments to our distribution business partners are maintained and further strengthened,” Klapholz said. “Our goal is to ensure that our business partners will continue to be successful with the products and solutions of both companies – but now with a wider offering and stronger manufacturing base. I am looking forward to working closely with the Eurodrip teams around the world and I am certain that we will all benefit from their vast experience and their continued commitment and dedication.”

Peter Berweger, Eurodrip Group CEO, said he felt honoured to have led the Eurodrip Group across recent years – and into this merger.

“With this transaction, we bring together two excellent micro irrigation businesses with complementary capabilities, and we are offering growers more choice and a wider product range to save water and enhance yield,” Berweger said.

Gillon Beck, the merged company’s chairman, said the Rivulis management team had proven its turnaround skills in the past two-and-a-half years.

“Strengthened by the talent of the Eurodrip management, employees and owners, the joint team can now focus on a different type of development: merging the two companies into one efficient, market oriented, innovative and profitable global entity,” Beck said.

About Rivulis Irrigation: Rivulis Irrigation is one of the leading drip and micro irrigation manufacturers worldwide. With 1000 employees and 11 factories in 25 countries, and a global distribution network of more than 1350 dealers and OEM partners, Rivulis Irrigation is a major player impacting the growing move of agriculture to drip irrigation.

About Eurodrip:

Eurodrip S.A. was established in 1979, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and supplies integrated drip irrigation solutions for agricultural and landscaping applications. Its products include integrated drip line solutions, flat and round drippers, blank tubes and other irrigation products.

February 2017 – Issue 637

Notes for next season Harvest can be an anxious and busy period, so before you really get into the thick of things, taking time to capture some important information now can really help you prepare for next season.

Mapping blocks leading into harvest, block-by-block, for yield and quality is important, as is tracking disease and pest levels. Focus your time now on mites, mildews and Eutypa dieback as these all require very early attention.

If you find mites, first you need to identify which species you have, because not all mites are pests. The broader management principles for the control of troublesome mites like rust, bud and blister mite are similar, however recommended control strategies differ for each. With beneficial species, the most efficient natural predators of mite pests are Euseius victoriensis and Typhlodromus doreenae. These predatory mites are particularly important in several Australian viticultural regions for maintaining low pest mite populations. Predatory mites are susceptible to several insecticides and fungicides, so if you identify predatory mites plan to use products that are predator mite-friendly to ensure high numbers survive in your vineyard.

If you have the unwanted species, early mite management is vital. The best time to control bud mites is just after budburst when mites are exposed on bud scales and leaf axils. If you are looking to control blister mite, initiate measures at the woolly bud stage. Rust mite is most effectively treated by spraying high volumes of wettable sulphur and oil to runoff at the time of chardonnay woolly bud stage and when temperatures reach at least 15°C. For control of all mite pests, use a registered crop protection product according to label instructions.

Identify high-pressure powdery mildew sites now, as they can be a major source of primary infections at the start of next season. There are number of things you can do to help the vine recover, such as opening the canopy to sun and air circulation to improve ventilation and reduce mildew and rot pressure. This also enables spray applications to penetrate the canopy effectively and contact the fruit, instead of dripping off the first few leaf layers. It will also help with the management of other diseases and pests.

The trick is finding how open your canopy can be and how much sun the clusters can take without burning or raisining.

Eutypa dieback is the other disease I suggest you look to identify around this time. This airborne disease fungus is spread via spores released from infected dead wood during rainfall events, infecting exposed pruning wounds. Eutypa dieback progressively kills spurs, cordons and trunks. Wounds are most susceptible to infection in the first two weeks after pruning.

Disease control requires preventative wound treatments and curative remedial surgery. The best preventive method is wound protection and then control the disease with remedial surgery. Decide which limbs to prune, prune hard and manage with fungicide treatment.

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

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ask the

Assessing and managing disease levels close to harvest THE SPRING AND EARLY SUMMER of the 2017 vintage has been unusually mild and wet and this may lead to increased disease pressure. While disease issues at the time of writing do not appear to be as widespread as the very wet 2011 season, the AWRI helpdesk has received more than the usual number of queries about how to manage disease-affected grapes close to harvest.

Chardonnay bunch infected with powdery mildew (photo Eric Wilkes).

>

The vineyard and winery both face a range of decisions when fruit is affected by disease at this point, with questions about whether the fruit is suitable for harvest and processing into the intended wine quality or style.

HOW DO I TELL HOW MUCH DISEASE I HAVE IN THE VINEYARD? If there is any concern about the presence of disease and its potential impact on wine quality, often the first step is to complete a disease assessment. This can be as informal as the winemaker and/or viticulturist walking through a representative section of the vineyard and looking at the fruit.

More often it involves a more formal assessment, especially if the outcome is likely to affect the price paid for the fruit.

The assessment process can vary, but typically 200 or more bunches are inspected from throughout the canopy, evenly spread across the vineyard. Bunches are assessed for the incidence and severity of disease. Incidence is the presence or absence of disease in each bunch, whereas severity is the proportion of each bunch that is affected by disease. Both assessment methods are then averaged across the whole sample.

The assessment of the presence or absence of disease within a bunch is relatively easy and results are normally consistent between assessors.

Assessing disease severity is more subjective, as the proportion of each bunch that is affected by disease needs to be estimated. Normally a key containing diagrams or photographs of disease-affected bunches is used.

The University of Adelaide has recently released a smart phone application to help with the assessment of powdery mildew (search for PMapp in the app store). The app logs the location of the individual bunch assessments as well as the score and then calculates the incidence and severity continually as the assessment progresses. This is a potential improvement on the traditional pen and paper; however, users should make sure their phone is well-charged, as using the screen and GPS for extended periods is demanding on batteries.

PMapp also contains images and diagrams that can be used for practising assessment of powdery mildew. It can also be used to assess other diseases such as Botrytis, but does not

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February 2017 – Issue 637

contain any reference diagrams or pictures. Another online tool, the Bunch Rot Assessment Trainer (http://bunchrot.co.nz/) developed by Plant & Food Research and HortPlus in New Zealand, is a good source of images of Botrytis and also allows users to practise estimating severity.

HOW MUCH DISEASE IS TOO MUCH? The effects of different levels of disease depend greatly on the style of wine that is to be made. For example, the laccase enzyme that is produced by Botrytis is potentially more detrimental to red wine quality than white wine quality, as it will break down the anthocyanins, resulting in brown wine.

Wine companies will often stipulate a rejection threshold of three per cent in their contracts. Care needs to be taken in interpreting this value as there is a large difference between three per cent incidence (three bunches in 100 contain some disease, even one berry) and three per cent severity (the average amount of disease across all bunches in the vineyard is three per cent). Significant changes in Chardonnay sensory profiles have been reported in wine made from bunches with one-tofive per cent severity of powdery mildew infection compared to disease-free grapes (Stummer et al. 2005).

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO MANAGE DISEASE CLOSE TO HARVEST? Immediately prior to harvest there are very few fungicides that can be used effectively to manage or reduce the amount of disease present. So, most of the focus is on monitoring and avoiding harvesting the disease-affected fruit. Monitoring disease development is critical as a block can move from being suitable to unsuitable for winemaking in just a few days, especially if the weather is wet and humid.

Often disease will only be in pockets in the vineyard, for example in low-lying areas where the canopies are larger.

A good strategy is to divide the vineyard into affected and unaffected sections and then harvest the unaffected fruit; the mapping function in PMapp may be useful for this (try importing your disease assessment results into http://batchgeo. com/ to create a map).

Another strategy that can be used for premium fruit is to remove the disease-affected fruit prior to mechanical harvesting or to instruct the pickers to avoid the disease-affected bunches, but the economics of these approaches would need to be considered carefully.

For more information about assessing and managing grapevine disease, please contact the AWRI helpdesk on helpdesk@awri. com.au or 08 8313 6600 or.

February 2017 – Issue 637

MOBILE WATER STATUS SUPPORT A NEW SMARTPHONE APP that helps grapegrowers measure the water status of their vines is being trialled across Australia. The portable viticultural tool has the potential to help grapegrowers make improved water management decisions for their vineyards.

Grapegrowers use a thermal camera attached to their smartphone to take images of the canopy of the grapevine. The image is analysed by the app, which calculates the vine water status.

The technology is being tested by 15 vineyards across South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania for the rest of the growing season.

The Wine Australia-funded project is being led by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), a division of Primary Industries and Regions SA, in close collaboration with The University of New South Wales (UNSW).

“Water and associated pumping costs can be a significant component of the production costs for grapegrowers,” said Dr Kathy Ophel-Keller, the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) acting executive director.

“Uncontrolled water stress has the potential to reduce the yield and quality of grapes and the resulting wine, which in turn reduces the return to growers.

“The management of vine water status is a key tool for grapegrowers to regulate yield and optimise fruit quality and style.

“This new app offers grapegrowers instant feedback on the water status of their vines, and provides them with the flexibility to assess multiple blocks or sections of blocks, and to make irrigation decisions in real time.”

The 18 month project aimed to evaluate a range of smartphonebased sensing systems to develop a cheap, easy-to-use vine water status monitoring app, to assist growers to manage irrigation.

Initial trial results found the thermal camera was the easiest to use and provided accurate information.

The app was developed by UNSW and the tool is now being tested by a variety of wineries, with their feedback helping to inform the further development of the innovative technology.

The aim is to release the final version of the app later in 2017.

Reference

Stummer, B.E., Francis, I.L., Zanker, T., Lattey, K.a., and Scott, E.S. 2005. Effects of powdery mildew on the sensory properties and composition of Chardonnay juice and wine when grape sugar ripeness is standardised. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 11: 66-76.

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w w w.vinehealth.com.au

Figure 1. Phylloxera adults, nymphs and eggs. Photo courtesy of Agriculture Victoria (Rutherglen)

Vigilance required in phylloxera fight Phylloxera, a major biosecurity pest of grapevines, was a buzz word 15 years ago. There was a ‘keep our vineyards phylloxera free’ sticker on the back of every ute. But industry focus on biosecurity has, in recent years, declined.

Vinehealth Australia is planning to turn things around. Suzanne McLoughlin, Vinehealth Australia; Kevin Powell, Agriculture Victoria; and Inca Pearce, Vinehealth Australia report.

INCA PEARCE, the new CEO of Vinehealth Australia (formerly known as the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of SA) is leading a renewed push to refocus industry attention on phylloxera prevention and management.

“I’ve worked in the viticulture industry for the past 19 years and I’ve seen the devastation that pests such as phylloxera can cause. I know how dangerous complacency can be,” Pearce said. “Biosecurity and farm-gate hygiene may not be the most exciting things, but if we get those fundamental things wrong, then our industry will suffer.”

WHAT IS PHYLLOXERA? Grape phylloxera Daktulsphaira vitifoliae is a devastating pest of grapevines worldwide, affecting Vitis species (commercial grapevines and ornamental vines). Phylloxera is an insect native to eastern North America, first affecting European Vitis vinifera in the late 19th century.

There have been several hundred strains of the pest documented worldwide, of which Australia is known

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to have 83 endemic strains (Umina et al., 2007) (Powell and Korosi, 2014).

At present, these endemic strains are confined to parts of Victoria and New South Wales.

The phylloxera lifecycle involves egg, nymph and adult stages. Adult phylloxera are 1mm long and yellow to brown in colour (Figure 1). They feed on leaves and/or grapevine roots causing death of the European grapevine, Vitis vinifera, within five-to-six years on average; but dependent on which endemic strain is present.

The roots of V. vinifera are extremely susceptible to attack by phylloxera, but the leaves are resistant to strains present in Australia; endemic strains of phylloxera in Australia mostly feed on roots.

Root feeding on V. vinifera results in distinctive hook-shaped galls or nodosities on fleshy roots (Figure 2) or tuberosities on older roots. Depending on the phylloxera strain, leaf galls may occur on the leaves of suckers of American Vitis rootstocks. Grapevines grafted to phylloxera tolerant rootstocks may show

signs of phylloxera insects on the roots and damage in the form of nodosities (not tuberosities), however visual symptoms in the canopy do not occur, which makes detection difficult. Grafted vines can sustain populations of phylloxera, which can spread to ungrafted vines. Some phylloxera strains which can feed on tolerant American rootstock leaves and/ or roots cause neither vine decline nor economic damage. Phylloxera resistant grapevines are those on which phylloxera cannot develop to the adult stage so there is no egg production and no gall production (Powell and Krstic, 2015).

Phylloxera tolerant rootstocks are those on which phylloxera can feed, reproduce and cause galling (nodosities). Rootstocks used commercially in Australia are considered to vary in their resistance or tolerance to different phylloxera strains, and research continues in this area.

Phylloxera can survive for up to eight days in warm weather and considerably longer in cooler conditions, without feeding on grapevines. They may be found in the vineyard throughout the year, with populations peaking both above

and below ground between December and February. Early signs of a phylloxera infestation include slow and stunted shoot growth and early yellowing of leaves as they lose function initially.

Leaf yellowing will normally be seen in two to three neighbouring vines – usually, but not always, within the same row. In the mid stages of infestation, an infested vineyard area looks like an ‘oil spot’ in its spreading pattern as the phylloxera move from vine to adjacent vine and from row to row, spreading out from the roots of the vine where it was first introduced. Smaller satellite spots also occur when phylloxera has been accidentally moved on clothing, footwear or vineyard machinery.

Grape phylloxera causes considerable losses in both quality and yield of grapevines throughout many grapeproducing areas around the world (PGIBSA, 2003; INRA, 2009). Crop losses range from no noticeable impact to almost total crop loss. The infestation rate and yield decline is significantly related to vine variety, seasonal temperatures, soil moisture levels and phylloxera strain.

Vines planted on ungrafted V. vinifera rather than onto phylloxera resistant rootstock are most at risk to succumbing to phylloxera.

IMPACT IN AUSTRALIA There is no proven chemical method to eradicate phylloxera on roots of ungrafted V. vinifera grapevines (Loch and Slack, 2007). Little information on biological control of grape phylloxera is available.

In 2007, approximately 80 per cent of Australia’s commercial winegrapes were reported to be ungrafted V. vinifera, susceptible to phylloxera (Trethowan and Powell, 2007). From a South Australian perspective nearly 10 years on, 74 per cent of winegrapes are planted on own roots (Vinehealth Australia, 2016). These figures highlight the risk and potential impact of phylloxera to the Australian wine industry.

With the lack of available chemical or biological controls for phylloxera, the only proven cultural method to manage phylloxera is to pull out infested vines and replant with new vines that have

Figure 2. Galls (nodosities) on grapevine roots. Photo courtesy of Agriculture Victoria (Rutherglen)

been grafted onto phylloxera-resistant American rootstocks.

The cost of grafted material alone is three-to-five times that of own rooted vine material, notwithstanding costs of vine removal, ground preparation, planting, trellising, additional water and nutrition. Besides vine material costs of replanting a vineyard post-phylloxera infection, other secondary management costs may include extra machinery and infrastructure (such as heat sheds, washdown bays, etc.), heightened farmgate hygiene practices (including cleaning and disinfestation), people management, logistics and loss of production while a new vineyard is maturing.

WHERE IS PHYLLOXERA IN AUSTRALIA? Phylloxera is a devastating pest that destroyed more than one million hectares of grapevines in Europe in the late 1800s.

Movement of American propagation material into Europe was a fascination of the wealthy long before anyone began to understand the importance of biosecurity.

French viticulturists allowed importation of propagation material from north-eastern United States until the 1860s, unwittingly and inadvertendly facilitating rapid phylloxera spread.

In 1878, the ‘Agreement of Berne’ set

international rules on phylloxera outbreak notification and border restrictions on movement of propagation material (Hamilton, 2012).

The first detection of phylloxera in Australia was near Geelong, Victoria in 1877. Once several vineyards were found to be infested, a policy of destroying vineyards and leaving them fallow for many years to eradicate the insect was implemented based on the French experience. Unfortunately, this early attempt at eradication was unsuccessful and phylloxera was later detected in other parts of Central and North East Victoria.

The first detection in New South Wales was in 1884 at Camden and further infestations were subsequently found nearby. Phylloxera was first found in Queensland at Enoggera, Brisbane, in 1910 and has not been detected in that state since the 1960s.

South Australia, which had not received infected material, banned movement of vine material under the powers of the Vine Protection Act of 1874.

The first Phylloxera Act was enacted in 1899. Then in 1995, the Act became the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Act 1995 (http://www.vinehealth.com.au/media/ P H Y L L OX E R A- G R A P E -I N DUS T RYACT-1995.pdf) with government support for levies in order to undertake its duties

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FOOTBATH REMINDER Anyone who has already visited a vineyard before they enter yours could potentially carry phylloxera, weed seeds and other pests and diseases with them. An important step to protect your vines is to ensure that everyone coming onto your vineyard is wearing clean clothes and that their footwear is clean and disinfested.

The footwear disinfestation process is also recommended for disinfesting pruning snips, picking snips, shovels and other small hand tools that come into contact with soil and grapevine material.

The footwear disinfestation protocol has been updated and footwear must now be immersed for at least 60 seconds in 2% sodium hypochlorite solution. Do not rinse after immersion.

To view the footwear disinfestation protocol visit www.vinehealth.com.au

under the Act. Currently, declared Phylloxera Infested Zones (PIZ) are confined to areas in Victoria (North East, Maroondah, Nagambie, Mooroopna, Upton and Whitebridge) and New South Wales (Sydney region and Albury/Corowa) – refer to the maps on Page 37.

Since December 2015, there has been an upsurge of new detections of phylloxera within the existing Maroondah PIZ, resulting in boundary adjustments to this zone.

“These outbreaks clearly demonstrate the need for greater awareness, vigilance and requirement for compliance with quarantine legislations. No one can afford to be complacent,” Pearce said.

“It is critical that the wine industry maintains its investment in phylloxera research to ensure industry is armed with the most up-to-date knowledge in fighting phylloxera and that this knowledge strengthens the quarantine regulations.

“Vinehealth Australia acknowledges the proactive awareness campaigns that the Yarra Valley Phylloxera Management Working Group has implemented in an attempt to prevent further spread of phylloxera in and out of the Maroondah PIZ.” Through quarantine measures, implementation of farm-gate hygiene practices and continued vigilance, the states of South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania have not become

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infested with phylloxera; alongside large parts of Victoria and New South Wales. Queensland is thought to be free of phylloxera. For detailed maps of current phylloxera zones, refer to http:// www.vinehealth.com.au/biosecurity-inpractice/maps/phylloxera-managementzones/.

HOW DOES PHYLLOXERA SPREAD? Movement of phylloxera can primarily be attributed to the transfer of first instar (crawler) lifecycle stages, which is associated with the movement of various human assisted vectors that can lead to unlimited spread if no control measures are practiced. Although phylloxera infestations in Europe in the late 19th century have been largely attributed to the movement of propagation material, grape phylloxera can be spread by numerous mechanisms including: • Movement of vineyard machinery, equipment and vehicles: • Soil from a vineyard; • Footwear and clothing; • Grapes – whole or harvested; • Grape products such as unfiltered juice and pre-fermentation grape marc; and • Grapevine material – rootlings, cuttings, potted vines, leaves and shoots.

Crawlers can also naturally spread from vine to vine by crawling along the soil surface and in the canopy or

crawling below ground from root to root.

They may also be carried by wind, with spread of up to 25 metres (Powell, 2000).

Natural spread occurs at a rate of 100-200 metres per year within a vineyard (King and Buchanan, 1986). While crawlers are the most widely spread life-stage, other life-stages including eggs and wingless adults can be spread in soil, in leaves with leaf galls and on planting material.

In Australia, phylloxera adults are all female and are able to reproduce asexually. One adult female is capable of laying up to 200 eggs per cycle and can have several breeding cycles in its lifetime. This means only one insect is needed to infest a vineyard.

WHAT’S BEING DONE TO STOP ITS SPREAD? In Australia, the Commonwealth Government is responsible for regulating the movement of plants and plant products into and out of Australia.

However, each state and territory government is responsible for plant health controls within their individual jurisdiction (DAWR, 2016).

To prevent the spread of phylloxera from infested areas, each state has legislation and associated regulations, which restrict or prohibit the movement of ‘phylloxera risk vectors’. These include grapevine material, grape products and vineyard or winery equipment and machinery (PIRSA, 2015).

These regulations are documented in Plant Quarantine Standards or equivalent, all of which are underpinned by the National Phylloxera Management Protocol, which allows for the delineation of grapegrowing regions by phylloxera status (http://www.vinehealth.com.au/ media/National-Phylloxera-ManagementProtocol.pdf).

Phylloxera Exclusion Zones (PEZ) are areas that have been surveyed and found free of phylloxera or are declared free historically, Phylloxera Risk Zones (PRZ) are areas that have not been surveyed for phylloxera and are of unknown status, and Phylloxera Infested Zones (PIZ) are areas that contain vineyards known to be infested with phylloxera (refer to the maps on Page 37). The boundaries of a PIZ must be a minimum of 5kms from the

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closest infested vineyard (NVHSC, 2009).

Vinehealth Australia has identified an opportunity to assist state governments to communicate these legal requirements around moving grape-related phylloxera vectors between states and between phylloxera management zones within states. Demonstrating a coordinated approach to biosecurity, Vinehealth Australia has initiated the building of a simple, easy to use, online ‘winegrape biosecurity legislation’ tool with the potential to raise the awareness and understanding of these legal requirements and improve compliance with these requirements among users of the tool.

Ultimately, to be successful in stopping the spread of phylloxera, we need to ensure that the surveillance methods we use in vineyards have the highest chance of detecting where phylloxera is and is not.

Since 2013, Vinehealth Australia has

been the lead agency in a collaborative phylloxera research project, funded by the Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre (PBCRC) and Wine Australia, to develop an advanced early detection and surveillance system using phylloxera DNA extracted from soil samples. Once endorsed, the DNA method, which was first developed in 2006 by a collaboration between Agriculture Victoria and SARDI, will form part of an integrated approach for the detection and surveillance of phylloxera.

Favourable results to date indicate this method along with other primary surveillance methods of digging and emergence traps, will be able to support identification and verification of area freedom status to facilitate market access for growers, as well as improving proactive management strategies for phylloxera. For information about this project visit http://www.vinehealth.com.

au/projects/dna-testing-early-accuratedetection/.

Other secondary methods of surveillance, such as aerial imagery, have been used since the early 2000s by Vinehealth Australia and even earlier

by Agriculture Victoria, to look for weak vines using Normalised Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI), hyperspectral imagery and Plant Cell Density (PCD).

Vinehealth Australia continues to use a system of routine aerial imaging followed by on-ground surveying, as a method to detect vine decline across South Australia. Researchers including Dr Kevin Powell have also investigated the potential for electromagnetic inductionbased soil sensing (EM 38) and chemical fingerprinting to assist with phylloxera surveillance.

Phylloxera research in Australia is predominantly undertaken by Australia’s authority on grape phylloxera, Dr Kevin

This book, for grapegrowers and winemakers, is a guide for assessing berries for ripeness and harvest scheduling. It contains detailed instructions on how to examine berries before harvest according to 20 standardised and industrytested criteria, by judging the stalks, skins, pulp and seeds.

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advocates for a national, coordinated approach to education and awareness of phylloxera and other priority biosecurity threats, to arm industry with information required to combat the introduction, establishment and spread of phylloxera and other pests and diseases in Australia.

WHAT ORGANISATIONS ARE INVOLVED IN PHYLLOXERA MANAGEMENT?

Suzanne McLoughlin and Inca Pearce, Vinehealth Australia

Powell, a Principal Research Scientist – Invertebrate Sciences, for Agriculture Victoria based at Rutherglen. Kevin is working to improve our understanding of the comparative levels of virulence of the various phylloxera strains endemic to Australia and therefore the risk of spread of these strains in practice. His current research on phylloxera involves determining the effect of different disinfestation treatments on survival of endemic phylloxera strains, developing effective management options using rootstocks to restrict their further spread and testing of novel detection approaches.

In addition, several projects part of the PBCRC program, include the Vinehealthled ‘On-farm DNA surveillance for grape growers’ mentioned above, as well as WA-based Michael Renton and Maggie Triska’s ‘Design and evaluation of targeted biosecurity surveillance systems’ looking to design biosecurity surveillance systems that are more effective and economical, based on factors such as the number and location of traps or soil samples, and the frequency with which they are conducted or checked.

Importantly, Vinehealth Australia

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Biosecurity management must be viewed across a continuum from preborder, at the border and post-border. The Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources and Plant Health Australia as its conduit to industry, are responsible for managing Australia’s robust biosecurity system.

With regard to phylloxera post-border, responsibility for limiting the infestation and spread of phylloxera between states and within states, is a collective effort between industry, government-industry conduits and national and state-based regulators: • Industry responsibility lies with grapegrowers, winemakers and others in the supply chain to adhere to legal movement requirements, plant with clean propagation material, implement farm-gate hygiene practices, maintain awareness of phylloxera and other pest and disease threats, monitor vineyards and verify anything unusual and to communicate the importance of being vigilant to all staff and visitors; • National, state and regional grape and wine industry bodies have a key role in advocacy, communications and education. Australian Vignerons is signatory to the Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed and provides an industry voice if there is an exotic biosecurity incursion of relevance to the wine industry; • The research, development and extension network, including Wine Australia, The Australian Wine Research Institute, Agriculture Victoria, SARDI, CSIRO and PBCRC, fund and implement phylloxera research priorities and extend results from these scientific studies to industry; • Vinehealth Australia operates under The Phylloxera and Grape Industry Act (1995) and is responsible to the South Australian Parliament through the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. For more than a century Vinehealth Australia (formerly the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of SA) has protected South Australia’s clean-green status by leading industry

initiatives, education and influencing policy to keep vineyards free of phylloxera and other pests and diseases. Vinehealth Australia is a biosecurity regulator in SA and jointly manages biosecurity incursions in SA alongside Biosecurity SA. As phylloxera does not respect state borders, Vinehealth Australia works alongside industry, industry bodies, the research community and regulators, to prevent further spread of endemic strains of phylloxera in Australia and the potential introduction of exotic phylloxera strains into Australia; and • State regulators such as Primary Industries departments are primarily responsible for surveillance and responses to incursions. They also have the responsibility of maintaining adequate quarantine standards and ensuring compliance to these standards.

References

1. Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR) (2016). Draft report for the non-regulated analysis of existing policy for table grapes from Sonora, Mexico.

2. Hamilton, R. (2012). Phylloxera Position Paper.

Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia, Australia.

3. INRA (2009). Viteus vitifoliae (Fitch) Dactylosphaera vitifoliae Fitch, Viteus vitifolii (Shimer).

4. King P. D. and Buchanan G. A. (1986). The dispersal of phylloxera crawlers and spread of phylloxera infestations in New Zealand and Australian vineyards.

American Journal of Enology and Viticulture. 37: 26–33.

5. Loch A. and Slack, J. (2007). Grape phylloxera: the world’s worst grapevine pest. Primefacts: Profitable and Sustainable Primary Industries. 553: 1-4.

6. National Vine Health Steering Committee (NVHSC) (2009). National Phylloxera Management Protocol.

7. PGIBSA (2003) A guide to grape phylloxera in Australia. Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia, Australia.

8. Primary Industries and Resources South Australia (PIRSA) (2015). Plant Quarantine Standard South Australia. Version 11.1.

9. Powell, K.S. (2000). Management of grape phylloxera in South-east Australia Phase I and II. GWRDC Final Project Report, p 17.

10. Powell, K. S. and Korosi, G. A. (2014). ‘Taking the strain’ – selecting the right rootstock to protect against endemic phylloxera strains. Acta Horticulturae. 1045: 99-107.

11. Powell, K. S. and M. Krstic (2015). Phylloxera: Rootstock tolerance and resistance to different genetic strains of phylloxera. Wine and Viticulture Journal. 30(5): 48-51.

12. Trethowan, C.J. and Powell, K.S. (2007).

Rootstock-Phylloxera interactions under Australian field conditions. Acta Horticulturae. 733: 115-122.

13. Umina P. A., Corrie A. M., Herbert K. S., White V. L., Powell K. S., Hoffmann A. A. (2007). The use of DNA markers for pest management: clonal lineages and population biology of Grape phylloxera. Acta Horticulturae. 733: 183-195.

14. Vinehealth Australia (2016). Annual Report 20152016. Vinehealth Australia, South Australia, Australia.

Vineyard Machinery

End assemblies of Steel Tuff at Eldridge Estate of Red Hill

Vineyard Posts: Weighing up the options When my vineyard was set up 33 years ago the choice seemed to be whether to use treated pine posts or treated pine posts. Now, vignerons have a much greater set of options before them. David Lloyd, the owner/ winemaker at Eldridge Estate of Red Hill on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula reports.

RECENTLY I DECIDED to plant some additional vines in my vineyard and thought this provided an opportunity to see what options I had for vineyard posts. But before delving into the options I investigated a quick explanation of why my interest was towards non-timber products.

The traditional treatment of pine posts involves chemicals to impregnate the wood cells, to improve their resistance to decay, insects, weather and fire. These treatments all add to the cost of the timber but in turn they will extend the life of the posts in the vineyard.

The most common treatment, called CCA (Copper, Chromium and Arsenic salts) impregnates the timber with water and salts.

CCA is pressure impregnated and designed to react with the

wood cell components so that the active elements, copper (Cu), chromium (Cr) and arsenic (As) are fixed into the wood’s structure. The arsenic component protects the sapwood from insect attack, the copper and arsenic from fungal degradation, while the chromium component chemically locks the elements into the timber, offering high resistance to leaching. The aim of preventing leaching is so the timber can be exposed to the elements and used in the ground. Treatment penetrates sapwood and a small region of heartwood near the surface of the timber (deeper near the end-grain). However, most of the heartwood remains unprotected though surrounded by a thin layer of CCA-treated timber.

Although the leaching is unlikely I hope that the reader has

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

39

grapegrowing

Gary Baldwin at Capella Vineyard with an ecotrellis post

Installing steel tuff

noticed that the three base chemicals involved are all fairly nasty if ingested by people. For example, as wood dust when drilled or cut. The other issue involves the safe disposal of old treated posts. Essentially they cannot be burnt and only disposed in an approved manner, usually via underground burial by approved tips.

In my vineyard all grapes are hand picked (so problems associated with machine damage during harvest do not occur) I still have posts that rot above ground level and above, as well as developing cracks and splits. The cracks and splits provide great home sites for unwanted pests as well as often meaning my wire clips fall out, which on occasion has punctured my

40 Grapegrower & Winemaker

tractor tyres.

At this stage it should be obvious that I was wanting something better than treated pine posts. In 2007 when I visited a friend with 25 hectares in the Perricoota GI he had cleared his own land and then used the wood to provide his end assemblies.

However, as admirable as that was it was not an option for me.

Tim Brown, viticulturist has used Grey Gum for end assemblies and Ocloc A (http://Ocloc.com.au ) intermediate steel posts for some of his new plantings. Gary Baldwin of Hand Picked Wines used Ecotrellis (http://www.Ecotrellis.com) posts at Capella Vineyard and I tried another Aussie product, Steel Tuff (http:// www.headland.com.au/case-studies/introducing-steeltuff-thenext-best-thing-in-rural-fencing-solutions/). I also spoke to John Kavanagh at Te Kairanga vineyard in Martinborough, NZ who used the Ecotrellis posts.

I also remember seeing a product some years ago that was called the ‘Smart Post’ but a quick search failed to come up with it locally.

I went to see how Brown and Baldwin used their products and got some comparative costings that I have placed in a table.

Is there a superior product? In my opinion that probably depends on what you regard as superior. All are placed in the ground with a post-hole rammer and require a similar effort and time to get in. The Ocloc A has its slots for wires already in place whereas both the Steel Tuff and Ecotrellis require extra work to put the foliage wire clips in place.

The Ecotrellis post has a tube structure with a seam/ join and along its sides are holes where plastic vine clips or blanks can be used. Both Kavanagh and Baldwin commented/ complained of the loud noise made by these posts in the wind with Kavanagh actually using lots of blanks to minimize the pipes playing. I also have concerns about the long term integrity of seams when steel posts are planted in the ground. I have a picture of an unspecified tube that has a seam like that used in the Ecotrellis posts that has the early signs of corrosion.

The Ocloc post has a Galfan coating that protects from corrosion but if you drill holes or damage this, the possibility of corrosion is also there.

The Steel Tuff system uses a hot dip of an alloy of Zinc, Aluminum and Magnesium to protect from corrosion.

Once again I wonder about the long term viability if the vigneron drills holes or damages in other ways as these actions can provide a weak spot where corrosion can occur. One thing I can be certain of with all the steel posts looked at is that they will not provide a refuge for bugs and will not crack up and release wire clips with nails to puncture my tractor tyres.

My personal preference would be for the Ocloc or Steel Tuff

www.winetitles.com.au

February 2017 – Issue 637

INNOVATIVE MACHINERY. IT’S WHAT WE DO.

ERO GRAPELINE HARVESTER Engineered by our German partner ERO to minimise downtime over the short harvest period, with a comfortable cab, ergonomic controls and large fuel tank, they’re also quick in the vineyard and on the road.

Tim Brown Viticulturist with his Grey Gum end assembly

The Ocloc A posts installed at 10 Minutes by Tractor vineyard

much larger vineyard in the Heathcote region where the owner is besotted. I know Brown will keep using Ocloc A, I will keep using Steel Tuff – but could well be tempted to use the Ocloc A. I suspect Kavanagh and Baldwin will use Ecotrellis. I also believe that I will not be around by the time my posts need attention.

Treated Pine

The comparison table (below) uses Australian dollars. The treated pine post end assembly is based on a 3m x 125mm to 150mm post and a 3m x 100mm to 125mm support with wire linkage.

The Grey box based end assembly at $7.50/m used by Tim with the bolt linkage at $4.

Ocloc A

Steel Tuff

CONTACT FMR AUSTRALIA: 1800 269 773 FMRGROUP.NET.AU NEW ZEALAND: 0800 367 583 FMRGROUP.CO.NZ

Ecotrellis

End Assembly

$37

$49

$77

$37

Intermediate 24m

$12.25

$12.60

$20

$17.84

Intermediate 2.7m

$13

$13

$21.50

N/A

February 2017 – Issue 637

Arrange a demonstration on 1800 269 773 or sales@fmrgroup.net.au if you’re serious about improving your harvest outcome.

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

FMR2017C

systems. Side-by-side the Steel Tuff look much stronger but once again we need to wait and see. Baldwin and Brown have used different types of end assemblies so I will make a brief comment on those.

Brown has a very innovative system based on Grey gum posts with a cross member/strainer that is a threaded bolt so tension can be adjusted. Baldwin used a traditional treated pine end assembly.

The Steel Tuff end assemblies are very strong and the cross member can be inside or outside the vine row. The prices quoted in the table are not for a large scale vineyard, which I am assured will get a better pricing scale than the half hectare or so of planting we investigated.

I have seen the Steel Tuff posts in a

41

grapegrowing

Sensor system uses internet to maximise vineyard irrigation efficiency A WIRELESS sensor system to maximise vineyard irrigation efficiency began field trials in January.

SmartVine, developed in South Australia by TK SmartTech, will utilise a network of sensors to collect data on soil, crop health and moisture from across a vineyard.

Using SmartVine’s software, vignerons can then assess and manage their irrigation zones using a central system on their laptop, smartphone or tablet.

TK SmartTech Co-director Tenzin Crouch said the package

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42 Grapegrower & Winemaker

would allow growers to optimise watering solutions based using a series of algorithms.

“You basically end up with a map of the vineyard which shows the areas that are most productive,” he said.

“That way we can easily map the optimum watering to the right type of soil, and work out where your inputs need to go.

“We’ll be running some algorithms for the farmers, based around what agronomists suggest, and that will eliminate the farmer’s need to interpret all this complicated data - they’ll just get some really simple outputs.”

The data from SmartVine will allow growers to more effectively determine optimum watering patterns, reducing waste in the vineyard.

“Of course water is one of the biggest costs for any grower, and it’s a really critical part of the growing process as well,” Crouch said.

“It’s really important to make sure you get the right amount of stress to get the optimum grape, which comes back to how you’re watering.”

While SmartVine can automate the irrigation process based off its algorithms, data gathered using the software can also be sent to other experts for analysis.

Vignerons can then set up watering schedules using the program, based on the individual needs of their crop.

“We’re basically trying to give the grower the tool to make that decision themselves,” Crouch said.

“Our algorithms will be useful to get a good baseline, but sometimes your farmer might want a specific profile, or something based off what their winemaker has said.

In its current form, the sensors will connect to a private system, but as Internet of Things technology grows, SmartVine will take advantage of the rapidly expanding network.

One McLaren Vale vineyard is already locked for the January trial but TK SmartTech is still looking to recruit growers from other regions.

Trials will continue until after harvest with SmartVine with expected to be commercially available by June 2017.

Crouch and fellow TK SmartTech director Kai Harrison recently completed an entrepreneurial course through Flinders University’s New Venture Institute where they were also finalists in a pitch competition with their SmartVine system.

IoT developer Thinxtra announced this month it would partner with the South Australian Government to roll out a statewide network by mid-2017.

www.winetitles.com.au

February 2017 – Issue 637

INNOVATIVE MACHINERY. IT’S WHAT WE DO.

BARREL PRUNER VSL

THE VERY RAPID INTRODUCTION of drone (or unmanned aerial vehicle – UAV) technology into everyday life has led to an explosion of potential uses, including for vineyards where they may well be very useful.

However, there are very real difficulties in managing this explosion in ordinary (civilian) life. Examples where problems have arisen include: hampering of firefighting activities, endangering airspace, the use of drones to spy on neighbours, the worrying appearance of combat like drones available for sale.

There are issues of privacy (images for real estate, surveying firms), or unwanted intrusions into personal life.

Thus, the responsible use of drones is essential, and the high profile media coverage of some recent events mean that the industry should proceed with caution.

UAV technology is available for vineyards through commercial operators who will be very careful to observe regulations, and who will be fully aware of possibilities and responsibilities.

Lincoln University viticulturist Dr Val Saxton has investigated one drone use – to see if they can reduce bird damage to grapes.

The experiment was carried out in Hawkes Bay. A small UAV powered by a 9 volt battery was used. The drone did not fly higher than 30 m or further than 50m distance from the operator and always within line of sight, to see if it would affect bird numbers or bird damage to February 2017 – Issue 637

grapes (Merlot) compared with a similar block where the UAV did not fly.

The results were interesting. Although there was no effect on overall bird numbers, starling numbers were lower where the drone had been flown. This translated into a real reduction in bird damage to grapes in the UAV patrolled block There was much less damage in the interior of this block compared to the control. Because starlings are known to descend into the middle of vineyards this makes sense and indicated that the UAV had probably moved the starlings off the block. Starlings are a flocking species and where one goes the others follow.

We hope to build on these results next vintage.

In New Zealand on August 1st 2015 new drone regulations require UAV pilots to secure permission and give notification for the commercial use of UAVs over public or private land, below a height of 400 feet, and during daylight hours and within line of sight of the controller, and not within 4 km of an airport. For use outside these regulations permission must be sought under CAA rule part 102.

This means that using drones in vineyards that are not on public land and where the owner has consented could be a useful tool in the management of vineyards, for precision viticulture, for soil surveys and for scaring birds.

Whatever the use, responsible flying should be the rule. www.winetitles.com.au

Talk to us today if you’re serious about improving the economic performance of your vineyard.

Call 1800 269 773 or sales@fmrgroup.net.au CONTACT FMR AUSTRALIA: 1800 269 773 FMRGROUP.NET.AU NEW ZEALAND: 0800 367 583 FMRGROUP.CO.NZ Winner 2014 ‘Sustainability Award’ WISA Supplier of the Year Awards

Grapegrower & Winemaker

FMR2017D

Can you use a drone in your vineyard?

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43

grapegrowing

Genomics breakthrough could pave the way for climate-tolerant varieties Plant geneticist Dario Cantu used a new sequencing technology and computer algorithm to produce a highquality draft genome sequence of the Cabernet Sauvignon wine grape.

A NEW SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGY, combined with a new computer algorithm that can yield detailed information about complex genomes of various organisms, has been used to produce a high-quality draft genome sequence of Cabernet Sauvignon, the world’s most popular red wine grape variety, reports a UC Davis genomics expert.

Success of the new genome assembly, which allows researchers to assemble large segments of an organism’s DNA, also was demonstrated on the common research plant Arabidopsis thaliana and the coral mushroom (Clavicorona pyxidata). The findings were reported late in 2016 in the journal Nature Methods.

The three-pronged, proof-of-concept study used an opensource genome assembly process called FALCON-unzip, developed by Pacific Biosciences of Menlo Park, California.

The study was led by Chen-Shan Chin, the firm’s leading bioinformatician. Lead researcher on the Cabernet Sauvignon sequencing effort was Dario Cantu, a plant geneticist specialising in plant and microbial genomics in the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology.

“For grapevine genomics, this new technology solves a problem that has limited the development of genomic resources for wine grape varieties,” Cantu said. “It’s like finally being able to uncork a wine bottle that we have wanted to drink for a long time.

“The new process provides rapid access to genetic information that Cabernet Sauvignon has inherited from both its parents, enabling us to identify genetic markers to use in breeding new vines with improved traits,” he said.

The first genome sequence for the common grapevine, Vitis vinifera, was completed in 2007. Because it was based on a grapevine variety that was generated to simplify the genome assembly procedure, rather than a cultivated variety, that sequence lacks many of the genomic details that economically important wine grape varieties possess, Cantu said.

He noted that the new sequencing technology will enable his research group to conduct comparative studies between cabernet sauvignon and other historically and economically important wine grape varieties.

“This will help us understand what makes Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon,” he said.

OUTMANEUVERING CLIMATE CHANGE “The new genomic information that will be generated with this new genomics approach will accelerate the development of new disease-resistant wine grape varieties that produce highquality, flavourful grapes and are better suited to environmental changes,” Cantu said.

Warmer temperatures attributed to climate change are already being recorded in many prime grape-growing regions of the world. And in California, where the value of grape crops varies widely and is heavily influenced by local climate, it is especially important that new varieties be able thrive despite warming temperatures.

44 Grapegrower & Winemaker

AT A GLANCE • N ew sequencing process should help in breeding grapevines that tolerate climate change • T echnology may also help solve mysteries of cabernet sauvignon’s ancestry • P arents of this popular red wine grape were first identified at UC Davis “In a worsening climate, drought and heat stress will be particularly relevant for high-quality viticultural areas,” Cantu said.

SHEDDING LIGHT ON A VITICULTURAL MYSTERY The new sequencing effort may also answer some of the questions that have surrounded the ancestry of cabernet sauvignon for centuries, Cantu said.

“Having access to this genomic information is historically fascinating,” Cantu said, noting that the Cabernet Sauvignon grape variety is thought to date no later than the 17th century.

He noted that in 1997 UC Davis plant geneticist Carole Meredith used DNA fingerprinting techniques to identify cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc as the two varieties that had crossed to produce cabernet sauvignon.

“Today, you can find Cabernet Sauvignon growing on every continent except Antarctica,” Cantu said. “And because grape vines have been propagated by plant cuttings rather than grown from seed, all of the cabernet sauvignon vines are genetically identical, with the exception of some spontaneous, clonal mutations.”

“Using this new genome sequencing process, we can now develop the genetic markers necessary to combine important traits into new varieties,” Cantu said. “It’s been 400 years since that was last done for cabernet sauvignon; we can do better than that.”

FUNDING AND COLLABORATORS Funding for the Cabernet Sauvignon genome sequencing was provided by J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines.

Collaborating with Cantu on the sauvignon cabernet study were Rosa Figueroa-Balderas and Abraham Morales-Cruz, both of UC Davis; Grant R. Cramer of the University of Nevada, Reno; and Massimo Delledonne of the University of Verona, Italy.

In addition to lead author Chen-Shan Chin, other researchers on the overall sequencing study were Paul Peluso, Gregory T. Concepcion, Christopher Dunn and David R. Rank, all of Pacific Biosciences; Fritz J. Sedlazeck and Michael C. Schatz, both of Johns Hopkins University; Maria Nattestad of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Alicia Clum of the Department of Energy Joint Genomic Institute; and Ronan O’Malley, Chongyuan Luo and Joseph R. Ecker, all of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

www.winetitles.com.au

February 2017 – Issue 637

INNOVATIVE MACHINERY. IT’S WHAT WE DO.

WORKING FOR YOU

Three-row, harvestermounted recycling sprayer THE LATEST vineyard sprayer development from FMR offers a new level of efficiency, capable of spraying three complete rows in a single pass and using the R-Series shrouding system to eliminate drift and recapture unused spray.

Mounted on a harvester, tractor unit or ‘tool carrier’, this machine has been carefully designed to allow operators to work in terraced or undulating vineyards and in a wide variety of different row spacings.

The recycling shroud system meanwhile reduces both spray waste and drift, and results in better performance in spray systems for your vineyard.

The benefits: • Sprays three complete rows in a single pass; • ‘Quick-detach’ system to mount on harvester; • Provides unsurpassed efficiency • Recaptures unused spray; and • Eliminates drift The R-Series recycling sprayer was released in New Zealand in 2010 and has become the market leading vine sprayer throughout Australasia.

Delivering proven results in deposition and spray coverage together with substantial savings gained by reduced wastage, efficiencies from increased working time between tank refills and longer spraying windows with lower fuel usage.

The latest development from FMR offers a new level of efficiency, spraying three complete rows in a single pass, using the R-Series shrouding system to February 2017 – Issue 637

eliminate drift and recapture unused spray.

Mounted on a harvester tractor unit or ‘tool carrier’, this machine has been carefully designed to allow operators to work in terraced or undulating vineyards and in a wide variety of different row spacings, with the ability to quickly and easily adjust the spraying units hydraulically ‘on the go’ using the standard control system of the tractor unit.

With a main tank capacity of 2400lt plus fresh water for flushing and hand washing, the machine is capable of spraying for long periods between refills which, together with the ability to spray three complete row at once, provide unsurpassed efficiency.

A ‘quick-detach’ system allows the entire spray unit to be mounted and dismounted within 15 minutes without specialist tools.

The R-Series system has become the spray application system of choice for the majority of commercial scale vineyards in New Zealand, especially those that are focused on sustainability and environmental responsibility.

FMR Group are proud to bring this new development to the New Zealand market, being the first company globally to offer the combination of recycling technology together with the ability to operate on a range of different tractor units or tool carriers.

It isn’t often that a decision to improve sustainability also results in improved profits through cost reductions and improved operator safety and comfort but the R-Series system is designed to deliver exactly that. www.winetitles.com.au

Our award-winning brand* connects vineyard owners with innovative machinery, both local and international, that makes your work easier, your vineyards healthier and your bottom line stronger.

Talk to us at 1800 269 773 or sales@fmrgroup.net.au about improving the environmental, practical & economic performance of your vineyard.

CONTACT FMR AUSTRALIA: 1800 269 773 FMRGROUP.NET.AU NEW ZEALAND: 0800 367 583 FMRGROUP.CO.NZ *Winner 2014 ‘Sustainability Award’ WISA Supplier of the Year Awards

Grapegrower & Winemaker

FMR2017A

Product Update

45

winemaking UV light used to soften tannins A method to accelerate the natural ripening process may be available to winemakers once it has gained approval for commercial use. Daniel Whyntie reports.

SWISS COMPANY VINOFLUX has developed a method that uses Ultra Violet light to soften tannins and help winemakers combat the issues of overripe fruit characters.

It offers winemakers the chance to adjust problematic batches and also delivers another solution for those seeking to make vegan-friendly wines, as the technology does not rely on additives and serves as an alternative to egg whites, fish products and other animal ingredients for fining wine.

Winemaker Aldo Bratovic is looking to progress the service towards a commercial scale after initial trials and demonstrations with Australian Wineries.

So far Bratovic has run small volume trials of Vinoflux at 80 Australian wineries, treating up to two barrels at a time. There has been no negative feedback.

“All the big wineries in Australia and a lot of wineries through the US and a lot of universities have trialled the machine,” Bratovic said.

“So far 800 to a 1000 wines have been treated in a trial environment.”

GROUP BONDING The process replicates reactions that would naturally take place over time, as the tannins gradually soften making a wine taste smoother.

The process encourages a bond across the exposed hydroxyl groups in short chain tannins, the UV light at specific wave lengths provides a spike of energy which is the catalyst for reaction.

UV light can be harmful to wine but Vinoflux utilises specific wavelengths to produce a smoother wine without negatively influencing the fruit or flavour profile.

Typically the exposed hydroxyl group would react with salvia and give the mouth feel of tannins, by bonding the groups they are removed from being active.

“The more bonding we do, the less groups are able to attach to salvia. This is why they add proteins, ox blood, fish blood, we replace all and every one of those and the process is completely free from any additive,” Bratovic said.

Normally additives can be added, causing the hyrdoxical groups to bond

46 Grapegrower & Winemaker

VINOflux bench top unit with Peristaltic Pump. Used for proof of performance and small scale trials.

It became a lot more useful as a starting point a winemaker could work with. with the protein falling to the bottom of the tank.

By avoiding the use of additives no precipitate or waste is created, meaning there is no change in volume.

SOMETHING A LOT MORE USEFUL Bratovic attends one or two of the big trade events each year and first saw the technology at the Simei trade event, in Milan.

He heard about Dr. Johann Kreutzinger’s tannin modifying machine and had a couple of wines treated, but the wines only slightly responded.

Despite the lacklustre results the pair agreed to meet in Milan, where Kreutzinger happened to have a bottle of very tannic Malbec.

“It went from brutally tannic to something much more acceptable. It didn’t become a great wine but it became a lot more useful as a starting point a www.winetitles.com.au

winemaker could work with,” Bratovic said.

Interested Bratovic wanted to check the science, so he called his old university lecturer who told him the chemistry had been well understood for decades but he had never seen anything using it.

Kreutzinger is a light physicist who studies UV rays and the permeability of cell membranes, he discovered the process during his research.

He works in physics not wine but had a Spanish partner with connections in the industry, this partnership brought about the commercialisation of the technique.

Vinoflux has been launched in the European market, mostly in Spain and Switzerland where the partners are based.

In Australia Vinoflux will be offered as a service to wineries and is currently undergoing trial demonstrations through a portable demonstration model of the device.

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

February 2017 – Issue 637

Partner Update

Bottling, the heart of the wine industry

SUPPORTED BY

SUPPORTED BY

Today, bottling represents a world of choices with thousands of technical and marketing implications that you can discover first-hand at SIMEI@drinktec, the most important International Exhibition for winemaking and bottling machinery.

The preservation and enhancement of quality levels that are achieved first in the vineyard and then in the winery necessarily concern bottling too. Today, there are countless technical opportunities available in terms of containers and closures and related machinery, where the possibility of changing the use of materials, sizes and working capacity to the changing needs in real time is fundamental. Here again, the search for innovative solutions and technology are key and SIMEI@drinktec will be giving exhibitors and visitors the opportunity to explore the new frontiers of this productive sector.

In terms of operations, the bottling plan is drawn up based on production needs and market requirements considering the potential of the wines. Beyond size and hourly productive capacity, bottling lines are generally composed of four sequences that are depalletising, rinsing, filling (often isobaric) and capping.

The conductor of all these important phases is technology, whose cutting-edge solutions aim to achieve two fundamental goals. On the one hand, make the bottling process more efficient and sanitisable, while on the other increase the productivity in terms of bottles produced, thereby reducing downtime, and in terms of flexibility, that is the ability to adapt the machine automatically to different containers.

At SIMEI@drinktec, you can find the most advanced machinery and dedicated equipment to pursue these objectives.

You can explore some sophisticated processes, often managed by just one operator using a panel with a graphic interface.

These range from completely washing the stainless-steel machines, with draining frames and ample space for liquid collection, to performing daily or extraordinary cleaning cycles during production fully automatically.

High engineering for the rinsing phase too, which sanitises the bottles from the glass factory, usually involving a rotary machine equipped with bottle holding clamps. Today, product types not only vary in the number of clamps and nozzles and the rotation speed, but they can work in different atmospheres, perform double washings alternating hot and cold water, create a wash with filtered air or sterilise the water by means of ultraviolet rays.

Afterwards, there is the actual bottling phase, during which it is essential not to alter the physical and organoleptic characteristics of the wine. The models that will be presented at SIMEI@drinktec satisfy a wide range of needs. There are vacuum models, simple gravity models, counter pressure or isobaric models, which are the most used, for all types of

AWAITING SIMEI@drinktec 2017 The SIMEI@drinktec Road Show goes on: Enomaq: Saragozza, 14-17 February 2017 ProWein: Düsseldorf, 19-21 March 2017 Vinitaly: Verona, 9-12 April 2017 London Wine Fair: London, 22-24 May 2017 February 2017 – Issue 637

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wine. And more: displacement pumps and inverters, suitable pipes and modular valves to have an even flow of wine without turbulence. Many ‘self-levelling’ models too, where the bottle is filled and then emptied by way of suction through a special nitrogen-protected circuit. The level is positioned on the set value and the excess wine is recycled, then the full bottle is separated from the tap, drops and leaves the machine, finally to be deposited on the belts and sent to the capping machine.

Capping machines have also undergone many innovations.

New generation ones are ultra-flexible today and able to apply different types of stoppers: from corks (flanged or mushroom, for sparkling wines), to synthetic closures, screw caps in aluminium or plastic.

All these processes, which are essential to preserve the wine in its excellence and ensure that it arrives in perfect condition on the market, are constantly improving. This is thanks to experimentation and research by manufacturing companies that will be brought together at SIMEI@drinktec, a unique showcase to discover the progress made in the sector.

USEFUL INFORMATION DATES 11-15 September 2017 PLACE Munich, Germany – Messe München Exhibition Centre PARTICIPATION • exhibitors: complete the form and follow the instructions in the section “2017 application form” on the official site www.simei.it/en or apply online on www.drinktec.com/simei • visitors: information in the section “Visitors” on the official site www.simei.it/en

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47

winemaking

Wine industry legal risks Mark Hamilton, from Grope Hamilton Lawyers, presents a checklist of the financial and legal ‘risks’ facing business owners across the grape and wine community.

GIVEN THE UNPROFITABLE STATE of Australia’s wine industry during the past 15 years or so, most wine producers and grapegrowers are or have been flat out attempting to survive. Money has been and remains at a premium.

In this environment, it is very easy and understandable to overlook the significant and ever increasing legal and financial risks faced by wineries and grape growers – many of which are in themselves fundamental to financial performance and long term survival. In hard times, these types of issues and marketing budgets take a hit.

To guarantee long term survival it is necessary to devote sufficient management time and expenditure to identify and address all financial and legal risks and requirements. Time spent now will save considerable negative time and expenditure later on and avoid having to involuntarily address problems identified by third parties, such as, in the above circumstances, the Environmental Protection Authority (South Australia) or the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation.

A ‘fingers crossed’ approach may get by, but business failure can be the result if the odds go against you.

Previous press stories about fines imposed by environmental courts upon a large Australian wine producer and the suspension of an export licence of a Riverland winery, were salutary reminders of the reality that, to guarantee long term survival, it is necessary to devote sufficient management time and expenditure to identify and address all financial risks and requirements.

A BASIC CHECK LIST OF MORE OBVIOUS, OR TOPICAL, FINANCIAL AND LEGAL 'RISKS' • Financial failure: An orderly and efficient debt collection system to preserve cashflow and to avoid extending credit to insolvent businesses.

• Winery waste: Identifying and implementing a waste management plan for your winery which both adopts “best practice” and which complies with all relevant environmental, planning and other legal requirements.

Whilst recently constructed wineries are presumably likely (but not certain) to comply with these requirements, long established wineries should not assume that they are exempt by virtue of having been built at some earlier point in time.

There is a positive obligation to comply with many of these requirements – whenever wineries were built. Get some advice.

• Label integrity: Identifying and implementing practices, procedures and record keeping for the wineries grape intake, winemaking and finished goods production to ensure that, firstly, all finished wine products are “true to label” - that they comply with domestic and international labelling and packaging requirements, and secondly, so as to ensure that the winery can immediately establish compliance with these matters by reference to easily accessible, centrally located records If your winemaking records and systems are a priority then this will also act to guard against the likelihood of honest mistakes being made and remaining undetected and unremedied during the grape intake and value adding process.

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Putting deliberate label ‘fraud’ to one side, you do not wish to have your export licence suspended while you spend two frenetic, stress filled weeks collating the relevant information.

• Managing insurance risk and exposure: Reviewing insurance arrangements, policy documents and fine print is not a particularly attractive proposition for most of us, except perhaps the guy on TV who during one season kept on interrupting Port Adelaide AFL matches to extol the virtues of barcodes. This is however a significant risk area for the financial health and existence of your business.

Make sure you get the right person in your organisation to take responsibility for this and ensure that you identify all pertinent risks.

If you are in doubt, or do not have someone within your organisation with the requisite skills, then consider getting in an outside consultant to conduct an insurance review in the first year which will then set you on the right course for future years. This could prove to be money well spent.

• Export credit insurance: This should include, if you are exporting, such things as product liability insurance which operates in your export markets, and credit insurance (through organisations such as EFIC) so as to insure your export order payments. Remember the basic rule that if you cannot get credit insurance on a customer, then it is not worth doing business with the customer.

• Unregistered vehicles: other traps like using unregistered vineyard plant and equipment on public road, and inadequate public liability cover, require careful consideration.

• Export orders: Ensuring that you have clear written agreements with importers regarding product specifications and labelling is vital given the potential for disputation in relation to what was ordered and what was delivered.

• Preparation of food at cellar door sales outlets: Food must be prepared in accordance with all relevant health and planning requirements, and all necessary food preparation facilities must be provided to avoid food health risks. Insurers must be on notice of food preparation and sale activities. Consider the implications of uninsured, food poisoning claims, and the attendant publicity.

• Brand protection: Ensure that you have applied for all relevant trademark protection over your brand both in Australia and overseas wine export markets where you market or intend to market your brand. By seeking trademark protection, you will quickly identify whether you are able to secure a long term right to market wine under that brand in a particular market place. There is little or no point in developing a brand where you do not have a monopoly over the words constituting the brand.

• Registered Purchase Money Security Interests: It is appropriate that you review your arrangements with wineries and distributors, both in Australia and overseas, and with the retail trade if you sell direct, to ensure that you include properly drafted clauses on appropriate contractual documentation and invoices, entitling you to register Purchase Money Security Interests. This is to provide that, in the event that a liquidator or receiver and manager is appointed to a customer, you have security over

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February 2017 – Issue 637

the goods for the unpaid purchase price.

• Occupational health and safety risk: A great starting point for ensure compliance with all occupational health and safety requirements is to get a qualified occupational health and safety consultant to conduct a full review of your business. This will enable you to address or identify major obvious risks immediately, and to fix them, and to draft a plan for “continuous improvement”.

Appoint someone suitable on your staff as the OH&S officer for this purpose. Given the numerous occupational health and safety requirements, it is virtually impossible for any individual – except for a specialist – to be sufficiently familiar with all the requirements to do this without outside assistance. To proceed without outside assistance is to assume risk as it is not good enough that you are trying. You must get it right. Improvement is a possibility here.

• Foreign exchange risk: Ask your banker to refer you to the experts within their organisation for information and advice regarding management of your foreign exchange risk if engaged in wine export. This is a specialist area riddled with risk. You may well choose to do nothing but live with the vagaries of currency fluctuation but it is a good idea to understand the issues and what – if any – mechanisms are available to manage your downside risk without exposing you to unacceptable risks.

• Grape contracts: Given the current grape oversupply situation, it is necessary to carefully read and potentially get some legal advice regarding the meaning and your position under grape contracts before discussing issues arising under contracts with wineries. This may save problems later if wineries know that you understand the parties’ respective rights and

February 2017 – Issue 637

obligations when holding discussions. Do not assume that these wineries will have read your contract before holding discussions with you. Be prepared.

• SARS and War: Unfortunately, with the onset of special acute respiratory symptoms disorder not subsided, and the Iraq and Syria wars, we are reminded that the safety of marketing and business personnel travelling overseas is something to be considered. Common sense is probably the best indicator of action here, however, insurance arrangements for employees engaged in these activities must be considered.

• This is not going to get any better!: These matters are but the tip of a very large and ever increasing iceberg, and are as important to your business as the manufacture and sale of wine products or grapes.

• Are you the right person to manage risk?: One other type of “tip” – if you can’t bring yourself to deal with these issues because (for example) you are a marketing or sales type, then do yourself a favour and get someone who can, or subcontract the task out. A good test is whether you can bring yourself to read through and carefully study the fine print of an insurance policy.

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.

See www.gropehamiltonlawyers.com.au.

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49

young gun

Michael J Corbett: United Nations Vanguardist is an eccentric example of what a multinational wine business can look like in the globalized economy. With an eye on a distinct premium market, winemaker Michael John Corbett moved from New Zealand to Australia to start a wine business with two friends living in France. Daniel Whyntie reports.

WHAT STARTED as a collaborative project between three friends shows how a strong vision can grow a company; even when its members are in different countries. The group slowly came to a realisation, along many late nights in the sleepy town of Hawkes Bay, that they held the same ideals about wine.

“Here Ali and Ed will look to target many high end restaurants through France and the UK with small volumes of our Vanguardist range. This will give us a great idea of where we are sitting in a more global scale, and will provide feedback on where we can continue to improve into the future,” he said.

THE G3 SUMMIT

THE LONG GAME

Alexandra Maurisset (Australia), Edouard Maurisset-Latour (France) and Michael Corbett (New Zealand) met in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand in 2012. Ali and Ed were vintage courting at the time while working at Craggy Range.

Similar ideals, passions and beliefs led to drinking many wines over the next few months while the embryo of Vanguardist was being formed. The three then separated to different parts of the globe, with only a pact that at the right time and place they would launch a small-batch wine business.

“Friends would tell you that I’m not the most patient person, so in 2013 I tried to pull off a Riesling batch ex Central Otago destined for the Australian market (where Ali and Ed where at the time). I really only had a backpack and a guitar at this vagabond point of my life, but we got awfully close,” Corbett said.

The next opportunity arose 18 months later when Corbett returned from France to the Hunter Valley, determined to make this one stick. Ali and Ed were now in Bordeaux, where was Ed finishing his Masters of Wine Business.

“When I said I would make a skin contact, barrel fermented and minimal additive Semillon they weren’t quite as excited. But they did trust in me and so we created the new wine business Vanguardist,” Corbett said.

Ed comes from a long history of producers and negotiants that started in Burgundy, dating back to the late 1700s with strong ties to Louis Latour.

Alexandra also has a Masters in Wine Business from Adelaide University.

Here the expat nature of the team is as an advantage for the long term goal, though it’s not always the case as the daily need to communicate through very early or very late Skype meetings makes living apart Corbett’s biggest challenge.

“The business is likely to take five years to scale to the growth we need to support the three of us. Ali is taking care of marketing, web design and Victoria.

Ed plays a supporting role with sales and I currently make the calls in regards to viticulture and winemaking. Hopefully in the future Ali and Ed will have greater opportunity to be part of these other processes,” Corbett said.

The plan is long term, with balanced growth. Vanguardist is currently only producing a small batch, but this is by design, the ideal of sustainability and a managed controlled growth is not just an environmental concern that dictates how the vines are grown, but an ethic Corbett takes with him into all aspects of his life.

“We started with 150 dozen in 2014, doubled in 2015 and have grown to 800 dozen in 2016. In the scheme this is still very small and we need to continue growth but likely at a slower rate with the goal to reach 1500 cases in 2020,” he said.

While Clare is the current base for Vanguard, the future remains open “I think that proximity to market will finally dictate the best place to be based, and I really hope that Clare becomes more and more relevant to the SA wine tourist market,” he said.

TARGETING THE BEST Before they picked a grape Corbett and his team knew what their demographic was and what their customer looked like.

The business was reverse engineered based on one simple goal, to target the best restaurants in the world.

50 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Michael J Corbett. Photo courtesy of Daniel Purvis.

“There are almost limitless examples of very good classic styles in all the markets we were looking to penetrate.

I didn’t really want to compete in this segment,” he said.

“By targeting great restaurants we are trying to align ourselves with things we love and believe in. Simple ingredients with integrity, often handled with a minimal intervention and with the occasional avant-garde flair.”

During Corbett’s travels he had produced and experienced many great alternatives to the norm, things that bought interest, texture, power of aroma and flavour with feminine structure.

“These were wines that I loved drinking, and complimented the types of food that I really enjoy. This is really where I found my calling, and somewhere I could pull all of my experience to attempt a new wave of textural wines that jump out of the glass with aromatic finesse,” he said.

Corbett focuses on creating wines that will lift many cuisines rather than dominate, or sit in the background.

And Vanguardist; who hit this mark just as often in the form of a backstreet cantina, as a fine dining restaurant; are now ready for stage two of the on-premise focus, sending wine to Europe in 2017. www.winetitles.com.au

VANGUARD OF CHANGE Corbett’s concern with sustainable growth and the effects it will have on farming came about practically as he watched the world around him change.

“As a keen fresh water angler in Hawkes Bay I watched the changing of rivers due to unsustainable farming (both irrigation projects and effluent). Damming projects, algae, didymo (Didymosphenia geminata, February 2017 – Issue 637

commonly known as didymo or rock snot) all left the balance out of whack and this had happened in such a short time in my life. As I watched spacelike suits started being adorned to spray vineyards,” he said.

Originally Corbett felt strongly about having complete control of his vineyard; and that meant owning land where he could make calls like a horse instead of a tractor.

But in 2016 he had a defining moment when considering the best approach forward for Vanguardist and his own impact on viticulture. Corbett had a good experience with organics and biodynamics and held a clear sense of the importance for sustainability throughout his business, but if he wanted to have an impact on a regional or national level he needed to bring others in.

“Rather than our initial approach which was to try to start purchasing our own land to take full control, I am now working closer than before with growers to bring the philosophy into their properties and start to slowly bring a more sustainable change to the growing regime,” he said.

“If we can have small wins along the way I believe we will be able to

‘convert’ vineyards to a more organic and sustainable practice and also use some biodynamic principles. If this is the case our impact will be far greater than just creating our own systems and viticultural ideals.”

ESPECIALLY A LACTATING COW Vanguardist’s growth is not motivated solely by profit, but by a clear vision about the impact he wants to have on the industry as a whole. Corbett currently works as a consultant with a number of vineyards and is slowly beginning the process of converting them; starting at point zero and looking really long term.

“From a biodynamic perspective, it’s really difficult, because it’s not just a changing of product, it’s a changing of culture. For instance, the first time I saw biodynamics in New Zealand in 2005, I thought it was fucking crazy,” he said.

“These guys are talking about the constellations, they’re talking about the moon and the stars, and they’re talking about putting cow horns under the ground and digging them up and putting that on the vine, it was just… this is just fucking stupid.”

Fresh out of University Corbett’s academic eye dismissed biodynamics;

and it wasn’t until working in France with a biodynamic convert, talking about it in a vineyard, that Corbett thought maybe there was some merit in it.

“I was like, ‘Maybe if we stir the water these certain ways we can add energy to water’. We look at the different hydrogen bonds and stuff like that from a pure chemistry point, look at the bonding and what happens with water and how strong that bond is, what happens if we physically agitate it? Maybe we can change the viscosity of water through stirring it,” he said.

“Maybe the energy that happens underneath the ground during winter, from a horn from a lactating cow, which has a lot of the energy is just going literally through the horn of the cow, especially a lactating cow… maybe that can have a real impact.”

Instead of being adverse, Corbett revelled in the experimentation knowing worst case scenario was he would have spent a bunch of time in the vineyard.

But if it does work then he’s created something that used everything around it as efficiently as possible, while creating as little waste, and built a business that is in tune with its resources and its environment.

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February 2017 – Issue 637

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

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winemaking

Winery sustainability: Huge water, chemical and wastewater savings are possible In this article Ian Jeffery takes another look at the advanced sustainability and innovative winemaking ideas from the UC Davis winery and professor Roger Boulton. He suggests there are big savings to be achieved. partly used cleaning chemicals.

‘Single valency’ chemicals such as KOH & KHSO4 pass directly through the nano filter, ‘higher valency’ chemicals are collected and discharged in a waste stream.

The partly-used cleaning chemicals are pH tested and brought up to strength for recirculation and re-use, Roger Boulton claims UC Davis CIP design achieves 99% chemical recovery and 95% water recovery. Potassium based cleaning chemicals KOH & KHSO4 are used as they have been assessed as doing less harm to the soils they are discharged on than Sodium based chemicals.

ACHIEVMENTS OF UC DAVIS CIP DESIGN

OVERVIEW THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS (UC Davis) has a 120 to 180 tonne crush, world leading teaching and research winery. It has been developed as a completely energy and water self-sufficient processing facility.

Solar-powered photo voltaic cells, combined with energy storage meets all electrical power requirements seven-daysa-week, 24-hours a day. A solar-powered hydrogen generator enables all winery vehicles to be hydrogen powered, making them virtually zero greenhouse gas emitters.

All the winery water requirements are met by collecting and recycling rainwater. The recycled rainwater system achieves 95% water recovery and 99% chemical recovery.

The result is an 80% reduction in winery water usage. This would take a typical small winery water usage from about 2.5 litres per litre of wine to 0.5 a litre of water per litre of wine.

CIP (Clean in Place) and POTASSIUM CLEANING CHEMISTRY This article deals with the UC Davis Clean in Place system.

The concept is not new, it’s been around for 50 years and used by the dairy industry, juice and beverage and brewing and to a limited degree by the wine industry.

The UC Davis design however, has taken a unique innovative approach. The design collects and processes winery site rainwater using reverse osmosis, nano filtration, CIP (cleaning in place) and potassium based cleaning chemicals.

Reverse osmosis is used to remove E.coli etc. from the rainwater. Rainwater has very low TDS (total dissolved solids).

Reverse osmosis treatment of rainwater produces water of the highest quality and uses considerably less energy than that required when processing say South Australian water containing a high percentage of Murray River water.

Nano filtration is used to separate the CIP water into two streams, one of solid waste removed by cleaning, the second of

52 Grapegrower & Winemaker

The winery CIP installation with potassium based cleaning chemicals has, reduced winery water use by 80%. This, as mentioned earlier, could achieve significant savings for a small winery - reducing the average of between 2 and to 2.5 litres of water per litre of wine to below 0.5 litres of water per litre of wine.

The 99% recovery of cleaning chemicals is achieved by recirculating and reusing caustic and acid cleaning agents until they are ‘fully spent’ (which results in significant reduction in chemical use and cost), reduced winery waste water production and produced waste water that requires less treatment per litre, improved sustainability by producing waste water that has less impact on the land it is being discharged onto

POTASSIUM VERSUS SODIUM CLEANING CHEMICALS There appears to be some debate about the value of replacing sodium with potassium in winery waste water. The following statements are taken directly from Professor Boulton’s three-day course, ‘The Chemical Engineering of Sustainable Winemaking’.

(And these statements appear to be supported by CSIRO publications on the subject) Professor Boulton advocates using KOH and KHSO4 for wine caustic and acid cleaning respectively. When mixed the spent acid and caustic produce a ‘mild’ K2SO4 salt solution.

Potassium v Sodium for plants and soils: • Most plants have uptake systems for both; • Preference is between 10 to 100 fold in favour of Potassium; and • Sodium generally considered toxic at moderate levels; Chloride, Phosphate, Nitrate, Sulphate for plants and soil • Challenges include chlorosis of plants, phosphate-algal growth and groundwater ‘nitrification’; and • Low to medium levels Sulphate are taken by the vines Sulphate vs Citrate/Citric Acid; • Sulphate is inorganic and has no BOD associated with it; and • 1% w/v Citric Acid has a BOD of 7,496 mg/g.

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February 2017 – Issue 637

GO SEE FOR YOURSELF There is just too much advanced sustainability and innovative winemaking at UC Davis to fit into magazine articles. You need to go to California and see for yourself that UC Davis and Roger Boulton have advanced winemaking ‘another generation’.

But don’t go by yourself; go as a small group of like-minded practical, pragmatic visionaries with long term strategies.

You need a team of critical mass to prevent procrastination, paralysis by analysis and inertia to change by the ‘naysayers’ when you return to your winery.

Note in the late 1970s Boulton trialled and recommended cross flow filters for the wine industry and it then took the industry 20-plus years to take on this technology. We don’t need repeat slow adoption we need to take Boulton’s innovations and put them into operation as rapidly as practical.

CONCLUSION The introduction of CIP and potassium base cleaning chemicals to Australian wineries will improve sustainability by reducing water use, chemical use, and waste water generation and save time and labour.

MORE DETAILS Further detailed information on UC Davis CIP and Potassium Cleaning Chemicals were provided at a three day course given

by Professor Roger Boulton at the University of Melbourne, in December 2013, ‘The Chemical Engineering of Sustainable Winemaking’.

More general discussion on seven innovative winemaking technologies in use or proposed for UC Davis was also provided when Boulton presented at the International Conference for EcoSostenible Wine, back in 2008 on ‘Designing Wineries for Sustainable Practices’.

Ian Jeffery also presented a one-day workshop on these topics… ‘UC DAVIS teaching winery innovative technologies, the thoughts of Professor Roger Boulton and Continuous Improvement (CI)’.

BACKGROUND Previous articles on UC Davis and advanced winemaking technologies include: ‘UC DAVIS experimental super winery has opened its door

for business’, Lance Cutler, US Wine Business Monthly, (and Aust. & NZ Grapegrower & Winemaker, June 2014) ‘Next gen. sustainable solar wineries’, advanced white juice flotation, advanced tartrate stabilisation and winery CO2 sequestration (Aust. & NZ Grapegrower & Winemaker December 2015, March 2016, April 2012 and August 2016)

REFERENCES “The Chemical Engineering of Sustainable Winemaking”a three day course given by Professor Roger Boulton at the University of Melbourne, in December 2013 “Designing Wineries for Sustainable Practices”- Roger Boulton – International Conference – EcoSostenible Wine, Forum Berger Balguer, Vilafranca del Penedes, 27/11/2008.

“UC DAVIS experimental super winery has opened its door for business”, L. Cutler, Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker, June 2014.

For more information, contact Ian Jeffrey via email: robjef@picknowl.com.au

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

53

winemaking

Pre-fermentation heating of red grapes: A useful tool to manage compressed vintages?

Pre-fermentation heating of red grapes can greatly speed up the extraction of skin colour, meaning less time required on skins and less demand on expensive red fermenters. It can also be used to denature laccase, remove ‘green’ aromas, and produce different red wine styles.

While rarely used in Australia, pre-fermentation heating is quite common in France, Germany, Fermentation and other countries for commercial red wine production. Many process variations exist (see summary). Simon Nordestgaard, from The Australian Wine Research Institute, reports.

HEATING GRAPES to enhance extraction of colour from skins is not new.

Considerable research was performed on the topic from the early 20th century (see for example Bioletti 1906, Figure 1), but it was not widely adopted commercially until the 60s and 70s.

Poor vintages in France in the 1960s created interest in finding better ways of managing laccase, and equipment was developed that allowed large tonnages to be quickly and cheaply processed.

This was true thermovinification - short maceration times and liquid phase fermentations.

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There was interest in the topic in Australia as well at that time. For example, there were two presentations on thermovinification at the 1973 Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference and in the same year AWRI researcher Bryce Rankine described in an article that “heat extraction of color (sic) from red grapes prior to fermentation is one of the most important recent developments in Australian winemaking” (Rankine 1973). The subsequent extent of its use in Australia is not clear, but it seems likely that it was not widespread given the near absence of pre-fermentation heating from

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modern Australian wine production.

However, developments have continued to the present day in Europe, particularly in France.

SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS Wines produced with true thermovinification often have poor colour stability and little structure. While coloured anthocyanins are extracted very quickly at high temperature, tannins take longer to extract and after less than an hour of hot maceration they are not at sufficient levels to stabilise anthocyanins or provide much structure.

February 2017 – Issue 637

AT A GLANCE Summary of different pre-fermentation heating processes Thermovinification: Heating to ~70°C for less than one hour followed by liquid-phase fermentation (i.e. pressing is performed before fermentation, as for a white wine).

Pre-fermentation hot maceration (MPC): Heating to ~70°C for a longer period (up to ~15 hours) followed by solid- and/or liquid-phase fermentation.

Short-time-high-temperature treatment with warm maceration (KZHE): Heating to ~85°C for ~2 minutes, cooling to ~45°C (by pre-heating incoming grapes) and holding for ~6-10 hours before liquid-phase fermentation.

Flash détente: Heating to ~85°C for a short time then exposure to a vacuum that vaporises a portion of the grapes, cooling the remainder and weakening skin cell walls.

Solid and/or liquid-phase fermentation follows.

Thermo détente: Heating to ~75°C then pressurisation using compressed gas and release. Pre-fermentation maceration, and solid- and/or liquid-phase fermentation follows.

The process definitions above are based on those used in France, except for KZHE, which is a German process. The term ‘thermovinification’ is used by some as a catchall for all pre-fermentation heating techniques, but this article uses the term as defined above.

There are options to try to address these issues including the use of a longer period of pre-fermentation hot/warm maceration, some period of fermentation on skins and the use of techniques like flash détente.

A summary of typical sensory characteristics associated with different pre-fermentation heating techniques currently used in France is presented in Table 1 (although outcomes of course vary with grape variety and process specifics).

Pre-fermentation heat treatments using short contact times coupled with liquid-phase fermentations have a reputation for producing wines with a generic ‘fruity ester’ profile. Sometimes they are described by French winemakers as ‘banana yoghurt’ (Geffroy et al. 2015).

This profile can reportedly be modulated (if desired) by varying juice clarification levels and fermentation temperature. Wines fermented from juice with initial turbidities less than 100 NTU tend to be more estery, while wines with turbidities greater than 400 NTU tend to have more weight. Juice clarity can be altered by choosing between rotary drum vacuum filtration, flotation, centrifugation or no clarification at all prior to fermentation. Lower fermentation temperatures (18°C) favour ester production, while higher fermentation temperatures (23°C) favour a riper fruit profile. (IFV c. 2013).

Wines produced with pre-fermentation heating techniques do not need to be used pure and are often blended, bringing different sensory characteristics.

TEMPERATURES AND HEATING The higher the temperature used for heating, the faster the rate of anthocyanin February 2017 – Issue 637

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Specialty activated carbon powder.

Cellu Fluxx ®

Specialty filter celluloses.

Figure 1. Cover of Bioletti’s 1906 report showing the French Gomot juice heater used in his work to extract colour with heat in California

extraction; however long periods over 80°C may result in ‘cooked’ flavours (Rankine 1973). If grapes are affected by bunch rots the speed with which grapes are heated is critical since while laccase is denatured quickly over 70°C, its activity actually peaks around 30-50°C. Scraped-surface, immersion and tubein-tube heat exchangers are commonly used for heating. Scraped-surface heat exchangers (Figure 2) have a rotating shaft with elements that help improve heat transfer to the grape must. www.winetitles.com.au

Na Calit®

Evanulated kentonites.

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Innovative copper citrate preparation.

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winemaking Table 1. Typical sensory outcomes for different pre-fermentation heat treatments (adapted from the website of the South-West section of the French Institute of Wine and Vine, IFV c. 2013) Treatment

Aroma • Fresh fruit

Thermovinification

Pre-fermentation hot maceration (MPC)

Flash-détente

(i.e. pressed off skins prior to fermentation)

Comments

• Little body

• Weak concentration •U sed in blends to add fruitiness

•U nstable colour (tannin addition helps)

• Estery Liquid-phase fermentation

Palate

• Riper fruit • Decreased green aromas

• Balance approaching a classic red

•S uitable for grapes with green or neutral aromas •U sed pure or in blends with thermovinified or classically made wines • Useful for underripe grapes

Solid-phase fermentation

• Very ripe fruit

(i.e. fermented on skins)

• Decreased green aromas but some still present

Liquid-phase fermentation

• Fruity to estery

• Balanced wine

• Used pure

• Reductive and green if juice poorly clarified

•G reen tannins if insufficient phenolic maturity

•N ot very suitable for underripe grapes

•R ichness and sweetness of ripe grapes

• Used in blends

(i.e. pressed off skins prior to fermentation) Solid-phase fermentation (i.e. fermented on skins)

(jammy)

• No estery notes •R ipe fruit characters if good grape maturity •G reen characters if average or insufficient grape maturity

• Wealth of tannin and sweetness • Hard tannins, rarely dry

•A ggressive tannins with under-ripe grapes

Figure 2. Schematic of scraped-surface heat exchanger

(a)

(b)

Figure 3. Modern immersion heat exchange systems from (a) Pera-Pellenc and (b) Della Toffola

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•N eeds ageing (micro-oxygenation or wood) •U sed in blends with MPC or thermovinified wines

•N ot very suitable for underripe grapes (aggressive tannins)

They were initially introduced in this application by Gasquet in the 1960s and are now sold by Pera-Pellenc, Bucher-Vaslin and others. Immersion heat exchangers heat pre-drained grape solids in a recirculating bath of hot juice. They were introduced in this application by IMECA in the 1960s and modern versions are now sold by Pera-Pellenc and Della Toffola (Figure 3).

An advantage of scraped-surface exchangers is that they require little supervision and can handle a moderate degree of pre-draining without blocking.

An advantage of immersion baths is that they can handle as much pre-draining as desired since solid material is being conveyed by a separate juice loop. Tubein-tube heat exchangers are the simplest and cheapest of the heat exchangers used for pre-fermentation heating but grape must cannot be significantly pre-drained or tubes may block. Considerable predraining is very useful in wineries that make a lot of rosé. It is also beneficial in terms of energy savings since it minimises the quantity of material that needs to be heated and cooled.

Some German producers use a different approach to save energy. In their short-time high-temperature (KZHE) process (Maurer 1974, Schmidt 2013) they continuously recover heat. Well-mixed grape must without any pre-draining is heated to ~85°C for ~2 minutes before being cooled to ~45°C (by pre-heating incoming grape must) and held for ~6-10 hours before a liquid-phase fermentation.

The exchange between hot and cold grape must would be problematic in a normal tube-in-tube exchanger because the outer February 2017 – Issue 637

tube would be liable to block. To avoid this issue, heat exchange is sometimes performed via an intermediate water loop that circulates in the outer tube of two tube-in-tube exchangers. Alternatively, heat exchange is performed by direct heat exchange between hot and cold must using spiral heat exchangers or a heat exchanger with a section of parallel rectangular channels (Becker Tanks, Figure 4). The KZHE process is clever because the short-time at ~85°C is enough to denature any laccase that would otherwise be active during the ~6-10 hour holding period. Enzymes added during the holding period to enhance pressing and clarification are also highly active at ~45°C. The techniques above are used in a continuous single pass in larger facilities. An alternative used in some smaller wineries is to heat while recirculating on a tank via a tube-in-tube heat exchanger. This results in a slower and often heterogeneous temperature rise and is therefore not suitable for laccaseaffected grapes. Heat is usually provided to exchangers in the form of hot water, glycol or steam from a separate boiler, but packaged systems are available that incorporate both the heat source and

Figure 4. Becker 2-stage heat exchanger with rectangular channel section for heat recovery between hot and cold grape must

heat exchanger in a single unit such as the AP3M Thermopack (Figure 5).

This device uses an oil burner mounted centrally inside a cylinder to heat a water jacket. The tube within which the grape must flows runs back and forth in this jacket. Clauger (Figure 6) has also released a very small capacity packaged system that heats glycol using a heat pump instead of a burner.

COOLING After a period of heating, the grape must or juice needs to be cooled prior to fermentation. Where a purely liquidphase fermentation is performed, cooling could be performed before or after draining/pressing. Where some period of solid-phase fermentation (on skins) is desired, cooling must be performed with solids present.

ProVGreen Pure Must Pea proteins selected for the clarification and treatment of musts against oxidation

MARTIN VIALATTE INNOVATION FOR VEGAN WINES

• Rapid flocculation of suspended particles in must • Removes oxidized or oxidizable phenolic compounds from must • Ensures well compacted must deposits • Contributes to aromatic freshness and to the preservation of a young tint in white and rosé wines

KTS Control

(controls indigenous microorganisms) Specific formulation based on chitosan • Removal of undesirable microorganisms • Significant decrease in Brettanomyces yeasts • Fast acting

National 03 9555 5500 Email info@grapeworks.com.au

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winemaking Similar heat exchange equipment can be used for cooling as for heating.

Generally, it is most energy efficient to cool with as much evaporative cooling as possible followed by refrigerative cooling as needed – i.e. first cooling by exchange with water from a cooling tower, then by exchange with water/ brine/glycol from a refrigeration system down to the fermentation temperature.

Hot grape must/juice is even passed directly through a special cooling tower in some French configurations with the cooling occurring by direct evaporation of some of the juice.

Flash détente, which is usually talked about with respect to its extractive effects, is also a means of rapidly cooling grape must by partial vaporisation.

Figure 5. AP3M Thermopack packaged heating system

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTIVE TECHNIQUES – FLASH AND THERMO DÉTENTE

Figure 6. Clauger heat pump based packaged heating/cooling system

Figure 7. Flash détente vacuum chamber

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In the flash détente process, grape must is heated to ~85°C for a short time before being introduced to a vacuum chamber (Figure 7). In the vacuum chamber, the grape must boiling point is lower than at atmospheric pressure, so a portion of the grape must boils instantly - some from inside skin cells, weakening the skin cell walls and enhancing extractability in subsequent processes. The vapour is condensed and this condensate can be kept separate or added back as desired (sometimes after treatment with activated carbon).

The flash détente process was originally patented in 1993 by INRA, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research. In 2011, INRA and Pera-Pellenc patented a modified ‘half’ flash détente process. In this process a weaker vacuum is employed such that grape must is only cooled to ~50°C instead of the usual ~30°C. Enzymes are added and several hours of skin contact are provided prior to warm pressing and liquid-phase vinification. Like the German KZHE technique, this process has the advantage that the short period of time at ~85°C is enough to denature any laccase, meaning that oxidation is not such an issue during the warm maceration at ~50°C during which time the added enzymes are near their optimum activity. The enzymatic maceration may even be performed while filling a large membrane press, avoiding the use of a separate maceration tank.

In addition to the use of the full or half-flash process, sensory outcomes with flash détente can be modulated by the use of different periods of solidand liquid-phase fermentation, different fermentation temperatures and different clarification levels for liquid-phase fermentations.

February 2017 – Issue 637

détente and is marketed as something that can be easily retrofitted to existing thermovinification installations.

REMOVAL OF METHOXYPYRAZINES, C6 COMPOUNDS AND SMOKE TAINT

Figure 8. Thermo détente pressure bottle

Flash détente style equipment is offered by Pera-Pellenc, Della Toffola and TMCI Padovan.

Another supplementary extraction technique is the thermo détente process from Brunet Ertia (now also sold by Bucher-Vaslin as Extractys). In this process, hot grapes are pressurised in bottles using compressed gas and this pressure is then released (Figure 8).

Two bottles are used alternately to make the process semi-continuous. There is no flash vaporisation, but there is some smaller effect on extractability.

Thermo détente is cheaper than flash

Pre-fermentation heat treatment can also remove ‘green’ aromas. Figure 9 presents results from three studies illustrating the removal of 3-isobutyl-2methoxypyrazine (IBMP), a compound associated with ‘green capsicum’, ‘herbaceous’ and ‘tomato leaf’ aromas.

IBMP has a boiling point of 50°C at atmospheric pressure (Roujou de Boubée 2003) and it is clear from Figure 9 that pre-fermentation heating reduces IBMP levels in wine.

Flash détente appears to be particularly effective (the IBMP is collected in the condensate). C6 compounds that can also be responsible for ‘green’ aromas are also reportedly lower in hot extracted grapes.

Heat denatures enzymes associated with the production of C6 compounds (Fischer et al. 2000). Flash détente has also been suggested as a possible treatment for smoke-affected grapes. Dobson (2015) compared the flash détente treatment of smoke-affected Pinot Noir grapes

with traditional processing, followed by fermentation conducted on skins in both cases.

Nine months post-fermentation, the guaiacol concentration in the flashdétente treated wine was 5.3 μg/L compared with 14.9 μg/L for the control and the 4-methylguaiacol concentration was <1 μg/L compared with 2.5 μg/L for the control. Conceivably the result could have been even more dramatic if flash détente had been coupled with a liquid-phase instead of a solid-phase fermentation because there would have been less skin extraction. In evaluating smoke taint treatments it is important to remember that compounds responsible for smoke taint are mainly present as non-volatile precursors, so if a treatment only removes the free smoke taint compounds, there is a risk that smoke taint can re-emerge when the precursors hydroylse during ageing (Fudge et al.

2011). Nevertheless, the results from this study are promising, and warrant further investigations of flash détente as a treatment for smoke-affected grapes.

COSTS Capital costs for heating equipment vary considerably with process choice.

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winemaking

Figure 9. Changes in pyrazine levels following pre-fermentation heat treatment (data sources shown in brackets)

At the lower priced/lower throughput end of the market, a Thermopack packaged heating system offered by AP3M capable of processing around 10 tonnes/hr costs in the order of $50,000. AP3M also offers a packaged cooling system incorporating evaporative and refrigerative cooling which would cost a further $50,000.

At the high throughput end, a scrapedsurface or immersion heat exchanger capable of processing around 30 tonnes/ hr costs in the order of $300,000. If a flash détente vacuum chamber is to be used this would likely add a further $300,000.

This excludes all other major capital equipment and peripherals that would be required including boilers, cooling towers and storage tanks, which would add considerably to the cost. A process like flash détente does add a major expense, but provides more flexibility than heating alone.

Irrespective of the equipment used there will be some utility costs associated with heating and cooling. These costs are estimated to be in the order of 1 cent per 750 mL bottle for large wineries*.

For Australian wineries to adopt

pre-fermentation heat treatment, the capital costs would have to be justified.

One potential justification relevant to compressed vintages is savings from avoiding purchases of red fermenters through reductions in skin contact time. (* Assumed 1 kg of grapes is needed to produce 1 bottle of wine and the specific heat capacity of grapes is 4 kJ/kg/°C. Assumed grapes are heated from 15 to 70°C with a net grape heating efficiency of 60% from a natural gas-fired boiler and that natural gas costs 2 cents/MJ. Assumed grapes are cooled evaporatively to 35°C with a coefficient of performance (COP) of 10 and then refrigeratively to 20°C with a COP of 2, and that electricity costs 18 cents/kWh.)

CONCLUSIONS This article summarises some of the existing knowledge on pre-fermentation heat treatment, principally based on the French literature. In Australia, there is currently little experience using these techniques and it would be advantageous to build knowledge on them through research and practice. Wines produced with some pre-fermentation heat treatment techniques have been criticised for ‘estery’ sensory characteristics and there is merit in more research to better

FERMENTATION CHARACTERISTICS

ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS

• Alcohol tolerance: up to 16 % vol.

• Wide range of optimal temperatures: 20 - 35°C.

• Very low production of negative sulphur compounds (including SO2 and H2S) and of compounds binding SO2.

• Low nitrogen requirements.

• Masked perception of green characters.

• Moderate volatile acidity production.

• Aromatic freshness and expression of black fruit notes.

• Regular fermentation kinetics.

• Great smoothness of mouthfeel.

• Good malolactic fermentation compatibility.

LAFFORT AUSTRALIA - Tél: 08 8360 2200 - Email: info@laffort.com.au - www.laffort.com

60 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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February 2017 – Issue 637

Australia, with matching funds from the Australian Government. The AWRI is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster in Adelaide.

understand how these and other aroma effects can be modulated. The potential application of pre-fermentation heat treatment techniques like flash détente to smoke-taint remediation is another area that would benefit from further research.

Pre-fermentation heating will never replace traditional red wine fermentations. However, it could be a very useful tool for some larger wineries to process part of their grape intake and help manage compressed vintages.

Readers should undertake their own specific investigations before purchasing equipment or making major process changes. This article should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any of the products described.

Acknowledgements

References and further reading

The author would like to thank the following equipment providers for kindly supplying information on their equipment (now or previously) used directly or as background: Pera-Pellenc (pellenc. com.au, perapellenc.com), Della Toffola (dtpacific.com), Bucher-Vaslin (www. buchervaslin.com), Travhotec (travhotec. com.au), Teralba Industries (teralba. com), Becker Tanks (becker-tanks.de), NOV (monopumps.com.au), Padovan/ Ridgelea (ridgelea.com.au), Clauger (clauger.fr), Reda/Abeve (abeve.com.au), A&G Engineering (agengineering.com. au), and AP3M (ap3m.fr). The AWRI’s communications are supported by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body Wine

Disclaimer

Bioletti, F.T. 1906. A new method of making dry red wine.

Calif. Agric. Exp. Stn. Bull. 177: 1-36 Davaux c. 2005. Syntheses des travaux effectués sur 5 ans par l’IFV Sud-Ouest sur le Fer Servadou et l’IBMP. http://www.vignevin-sudouest.com/publications/compterendus-recherche/pdf/synthese-fer-servadou-ibmp.pdf Dobson, D. 2015. Winemaking game changers, flash détente. Unified Wine & Grape Symposium 2015. www. unifiedsymposium.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/ dobsond.ppsx.

Escudier, J-L., Mikolajczak, M., Bes, M. 2008. Chauffage de la vendange: Les technologies disponibles et les methodes de vinification associées. Proceedings of the technical seminar ‘Micro-organismes et gestion thermique’ 18 December 2008: 32-40. www.vignevin-sudouest. com/publications/itv-colloque/documents/COLLOQUE_ chauffage-vendange_000.pdf.

Ferré, L. 1928. Vinification des vins de Bourgogne par chauffage prealable des raisins. Rev. Vitic. 69(1775): 5-11 and 69(1776): 21-29.

Fischer, U., Strasser, M., Gutzler, K. 2000. Impact of fermentation technology on the phenolic and volatile composition of German red wines. Int. J. Food Sci. Tech.

35: 81-94.

œnologiee

œnologiee

naturee

naturee

IFV c. 2013. Aspects pratiques de la thermovinification et du chauffage de la vendange. www.vignevin-sudouest. com/publications/fiches-pratiques/aspects-pratiquesthermovinification.php.

Jones, R. 2015. To flash and beyond: Review of methods for thermal treatment of grapes. http://ucanr.edu/repository/ fileaccess.cfm?article=158511&p=RGWJTY&CFID=300515 747&CFTOKEN=56286808 Maurer, R. Steinhilper, W., Knoll, P. 1974. Ein wirtschaftliches verfahren zur kurzhocherhitzung von rotweinmaische. Der Deutsche Weinbau (27): 1040-1044 and (28): 1067-1068.

Rankine, B.C. 1973. Heat extraction of color from red grapes of increasing importance. Wines and Vines 54(3): 33-36.

Roujou de Boubée, D. 2003. Recherches sur la 2-méthoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine dans les raisins et dans les vins. Academie Amorim. Grand Prix 2003. http://www. academia-vinhaevinho.com/ckfinder/userfiles/files/fr%20 2003%2010%2031a(1).pdf Schmidt, O. 2013. Moderne kellertechnik. Germany: Ulmer Eugen Verlag.

Yerle, S. 2008. Aspects pratiques de la thermovinification et quelques règles a suivre. Proceedings of the technical seminar ‘Micro-organismes et gestion thermique’ 18 December 2008: 42-44. http://www.vignevin-sudouest. com/publications/itv-colloque/documents/COLLOQUE_ aspects-pratiques-thermovinification.pdf.

For mor e i nfor mat ion, contact the author via email: simon.nordestgaard@awri.com.au

i n n o v a t i o n

TANIN / TANNIN

TANIN / TANNIN

Geffroy, O., Lopez, R., Serrano, E., Dufourq, T., GraciaMoreno, E., Cacho, J. 2015. Changes in analytical and volatile compositions of red wines induced by prefermentation heat treatment of grapes. Food Chem. 187: 243-253.

ricerca innovación ción

ricerca ción innovación

i n n o v a t i o n

TANIN nce VR SUPRA®Élégance

TANIN VR COLOR® OR®®

TANIN SPECIFIQUE DE LA VINIFICATION DES VINS ROUGES

STABILISATION DE LA MATIÈRE COLORANTE NTE

USAGE ŒNOLOGIQUE

USAGE ŒNOLOGIQUE

1 kg

1 kg

February 2017 – Issue 637

Fudge, A. L., Ristic, R., Wollan, D., Wilkinson, K.L. 2011.

Amelioration of smoke taint in wine by reverse osmosis and solid phase adsorption. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 17: S41–S48.

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winemaking

The long uphill ride: Safe-drinking guides AT A GLANCE CURRENT ALCOHOL HEALTH GUIDELINES (National Health and Medical Research Council) • No more than two standard drinks on any day reduces the lifetime risk of harm from either alcohol-related disease or injury.

• No more than four standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcoholrelated injury arising from that occasion.

• For children under 18 years, not drinking alcohol is the safest option.

• Standard drink: 1 middy full-strength beer/100ml wine/30ml spirits

Tyson Stelzer and Drew Tuckwell during the first peloton

LATE IN 2016 the Federal Government began its five yearly review of the Australian safe-drinking guidelines, in what could be an important moment for the industry in the wake of recent antidrinking policies such as those seen in New South Wales.

In 2009 the guidelines controversially halved the suggested safe-drinking level for men to two standard drinks a day, one of the strictest in the world.

Two years overdue, the review will see a 14 member panel decide whether to maintain or change those standards.

The alcohol industry had called on former Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley to alter the members of the panel, with FairFax Media revealing two members are directly tied to proabstinence temperance movements.

Samantha Robertson, executive director of governance at the National Health and Medical Research Council who oversee the guidelines, defended the panel as being made up of a balance of experts and that any findings would be subject to independent review.

“In appointing members to the committee, consideration has been

62 Grapegrower & Winemaker

given to achieving a balance of scientific expertise and experience, with any interests, in order to obtain a diverse range of input on alcohol,” said Robertson.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM? Australia has a drinking problem, but most Australians don’t.

According to a report from the Australian Institute of Criminology in 2010 the total estimated societal cost of alcohol misuse is $14.5 billion a year, while Deloitte Access Economics estimates the benefits of alcohol to be worth $30.7 billion.

The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education’s much higher figure of $36 billion; by including broad social costs and no benefits into their calculations; has been highly disputed in studies such as in the ‘Cost of Costs’ paper by Crampton and Burgess and a recent study commissioned by the Menzies Research Centre, as being based on selective and questionable evidence.

The picture today is one of decreasing overall per capita consumption of alcohol and more people abstaining.

But there are still an average of 10,000 www.winetitles.com.au

people seriously injured as a result of alcohol each year, according to a recent study by the National Drug Research Institute, a figure that has been trending down since 2008.

Alcohol-related violence is a widely recognised problem but in this highly emotional conversation it is not even obvious who can be involved.

The alcohol industry has received a lot of criticism when it has tried to be; one of the best known industry efforts, Drinkwise, has been attacked regularly and described as servicing ‘the commercial objectives of the alcohol industry.’

John Scott, Drinkwise chief executive, responded to criticism that, “a whole of community approach is needed to tackle alcohol abuse,” and that, “individuals taking informed responsibility for their own wellbeing is paramount.”

The industry led introduction of the Drinkwise safe drinking labels and the pregnancy warning logo in recent years has even come under scrutiny; with Deakin University publishing a 2015 study claiming the labels are failing to convey health messages despite a substantial increase in women abstaining during pregnancy since 2007.

One of the report’s authors Professor Peter Miller, went further calling Drinkwise a very successful marketing ploy and recommended cigarette style warnings.

Other than an ineffective bottle with a picture of a cirrhotic liver, how can the industry support both its pride in its product and its community?

A WAY FORWARD The catch 22 of industry involvement motivated Tyson Stelzer to start the Teen Rescue Foundation.

“The industry has an important role to play. I’ve noticed winemakers want to be proactive, they want to put out not just a message but change the whole way wine is treated,” said Stelzer.

“I felt that is where we can step in, I’m not associated with any winery or any label, so we can act as a conduit in between these two groups, in between the wine industry and those working for social justice,” said Stelzer.

That’s why five years ago Stelzer; a former teacher who had been working on alcohol education programs with teens and parents; set out to build links between the industry and community focused organisations.

He reached out to Drew Tuckwell, February 2017 – Issue 637

winemaker at Printhie Wines in Orange, and began to organise a fundraising event that turned into the Wine Peloton ‘Seven Peaks Alpine Ascent Challenge,’ In the challenge a group of wine community cyclists travelled close to 600km across Victoria’s seven Peaks, including Mt Baw Baw the second steepest mountain ascent in the world.

“The industry wanted to take a proactive stance around the unintended consequences of alcohol. I said if you set up a charity I’ll organise fundraising and it took us three years,” said Tuckwell.

Stelzer then spoke to Andy Gourley, founder of non-profit Red Frogs Australia, about donating the funds they raised to the group who organises volunteers around schoolies and other youth events.

Though Gourley loved the idea he told Stelzer Red Frogs couldn’t accept funds from the alcohol industry.

“So we set up an organisation that could act as intermediary and distribute the funds to where they’re needed. In the past two years we’ve raised close to $70,000 for groups like Red Frogs,” said Stelzer.

From the outset they were careful about what their involvement would be,

so Teen Rescue was set to redistribute funds to other groups rather than creating its own campaigns.

“Some particular involvement can look superficial and shallow, and it’s ok to question how much good they’re doing. But we produce a product with alcohol, we produce it with love and with passion and we don’t intend any harmful use,” said Tuckwell.

“We feel we have a moral responsibility for the product we produce to minimise any harmful consequences. And it is morally irresponsible for those to say we shouldn’t be doing anything to minimise any harmful consequence. We put our hands up and we will take responsibility.”

SIGNS OF CHANGE “There is a huge proportion of young people abusing alcohol and I don’t think we are doing enough,” said Stelzer.

“I spent 10 years teaching in high schools and the way young people respond many approaches are necessary.

We need Drinkwise, and Red Frogs for the way in which teens get involved amongst teens. With these resources on the ground we can change things.”

Complicated problems like addiction

SUPERSTART

and alcohol abuse are tied to so many factors in the individual and the society there is no single answer.

For Stelzer and others wary of big political changes, it’s crucial the debate is informed.

The 2009 guidelines, which cut the safe drinking standard, were heavily criticised for including the increased chance of injury from a fall in their modelling on risk of death.

While the new guidelines are a long way off, set to be issued in late 2018, they generally have minimal effect on drinking habits.

“Alcohol is very different to illicit drugs and tobacco, it does have a place in society. It can enhance relationships, community and in particular wine is designed to be combined with food and we want to be encouraging young people to see that,” said Stelzer.

“For the first time we are starting to see a turn around, the stats are showing a decrease in drinking for the first time. So these things are starting to work.”

To find out how to support the Teen Rescue Foundation visit www. teenrescuefoundation.org.au.

R

NATURAL YEAST OPTIMISATION

SUPERSTART® Blanc

February 2017 – Issue 637

SUPERSTART® Rouge

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The science of increasing sales and profit by driving Cellar Door business

Richard Warland is an export direct marketing and customer relationship management. He believes there is a lot of room for wineries to improve on in these areas. Actually, that’s putting it politely... he thinks few people actually understand what direct marketing is – and even fewer are prepared to commit resources to delivering it.

WHY CELLAR DOOR? With Australian wine retailing power dominated

by Woolworths and Coles, plus the move by these two to increasingly sell “own brands”, our smaller winemakers are being forced more and more into Direct to Consumer (DtC) marketing. “Cellar Door Sales” being the commonly used term.

On the positive side, the gross margin from DtC is so attractive that wineries can afford to either sell less, or invest more money on marketing and sell more.

COMMITMENT REQUIRED When I say that smaller wineries are doing more “direct marketing”, I am giving them too much credit... Yes, they are selling direct, but few actually understand the techniques and science of Direct Marketing (DM) and even fewer are prepared to commit the required time and resources to it.

This is not uncommon by the way, as it is the same with retailers… and ditto with online retailers (despite what you may read, e-commerce is just another form of DM). They love the pretty pictures on their web pages and writing lots of cute

64 Grapegrower & Winemaker

copy, but behind the scenes there are few “smarts” being used.

(I have visited some of the biggest online players in the USA and even there, many of them were not using their data in a sophisticated way).

After 34 years in DM and nearly 20 years in online and Loyalty Marketing, in both Australia and Asia, I have come to think that companies are basically too lazy and set in their ways to have the commitment to change that is necessary. After working with some of the biggest retailers and hospitality groups in China I came home quite depressed about the situation there.

IT AIN’T ROCKET SCIENCE! While some of the software we use might fall into the “science” category, the principles of DM are quite simple. In fact the principles of the broader science, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are even simpler – 1. Know your customers.

2. Use this knowledge to serve or communicate with your customers, with offers that are relevant, through the channel they prefer, at a time they prefer.

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February 2017 – Issue 637

People of my age will remember the day’s pre-supermarkets when all of the merchandise was behind the counter and the shop keeper served everyone personally. His “CRM Database” was in his head!

YOUR CRM DATABASE 1. Knowing your customers involves capturing as much relevant data on them as is possible. Personal details, their transactions with you and even their other wine buying (yes, it is possible).

2, Relevant offers, channels and timing requires analysis of the data and methods of reaching out to your customers …and this is where many of you will either throw your hands up in despair or have eyes glazing over!

‘Where am I going to (a) find the time to do that and (b) who in my small team has the knowledge and skills to do that?’ …(b) Is a particularly good question as although some of you will have staff with marketing skills, they may not necessarily have the analytical skills required for DM. In fact, teaching of sophisticated data analytics is sorely missing from most marketing courses. Not only that, but the majority of young people with interest in marketing tend to be ‘right brain’ thinkers, whereas analysts are ‘left brain’ thinkers… The ideal direct marketer has a mix of both and in my long experience, these people are rare!

HELP IS AT HAND Despair not, because with the wonders of the all-electric internet, these days you can outsource analytical and offer generating functions.

Agencies such as my company have the software to automate the majority of the functions and the skills to derive the actionable insights required.

If you wish, we can even generate the communications to your customers using product information taken from your in-house system and/or website.

Furthermore this service comes in the form of SaaS – Software as a Service, meaning that fixed fees are very low and your work is done on a pay-per-service basis. This is not only made possible by today’s technology but also because agencies like mine know that we will deliver incremental sales and are therefore happy to take a “success fee”.

Needless to say, your customer data is treated in strict confidence - as if it were compromised; we would be out of business in no time!

Richard Warland is a Roseworthy Oenology graduate (class of 1970-71). He made wine in the Barossa, McLaren Vale and Hunter before moving on to sales and marketing management and thence to CEO positions in wine direct marketing and retail. From 2005 – 14 he was based in Hong Kong and Macau, consulting on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to companies spanning many industries in China. He is now based in the Adelaide Hills and consults on direct and loyalty marketing in Australia and Greater China.

In future editions of this journal Warland will expand on the issues involved and techniques of implementing a CRM profit centre strategy in your business. If you would like to contact him in the meantime, please email richard.warland@rtsronline.com.

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16:28 Grapegrower &25/11/2016 Winemaker 65

winemaking

Content is still king, but…

It must have a purpose and you must be able to measure its performance Social marketing has evolved beyond the old cliché of content is king. Ken Chan, from marketing agency Dig and Fish, has developed a process to help you find and measure the returns of your marketing activities.

Daniel Whyntie reports.

AT A GLANCE Marketers Lab: A B Testing Ken Chan from Dig and Fish

Is that headline the best? Is that call of action the best?

One simple and efficient way to see what your customers respond to is by splitting your audience and gauging their reaction.

A B testing is used to create alternatives and test two different slightly tweaked versions of an idea.

For example; take an email marketing newsletter that goes out with a promotion, split your database into two and measure response rates.

Break out the variables; for instance tweak the subject line, for variant A, ‘Register now for 50% off’ and variant B, ‘Find out more about our latest offer.’

Split the recipient database so 50% will receive variant A and 50% receive variant B. Then measure the response to see what was more effective.

Look for what are your objectives, what can you test, and what can your variables be.

Local Content: John Leo Weber from Geek Powered Studios

Local businesses have a unique advantage in content marketing, as their audiences can be hyper-targeted geographically, while big brands must scale back and use broader targeting.

A small business can drill down into their local markets to deliver resources, news, and information that offers utility to their community.

There are generally four types of content that align with four strategies: Attracting traffic to your website: local information that will interest people in your area.

Generating links to your website: You want to be cited as a resource by other blogs and articles. Typically informative content pieces include resources, statistics and studies, guides and infographics.

Generating social shares: To get the most out of social, your content needs built-in shareability. These will typically be shorter content pieces like lists, pop culture references, videos, and interviews.

Increasing Brand Awareness: Any local content with your branding at the forefront.

66 Grapegrower & Winemaker

THERE IS AS MUCH CONTENT produced online everyday now as was on the entire internet in 2005, meaning content marketing gets exponentially more difficult every year.

And as the majority of new marketing dollars continues to fly from traditional to digital platforms, it will only get harder.

How do you make a plan and navigate the endless possibilities available through new media and leverage content marketing to achieve your organisations goals.

Speaking as part of the Wine Communicators of Australia webinar series, Ken Chan; senior strategist at the Dig and Fish marketing agency based in Melbourne; laid out what he calls the process. A simple plan that will let you identify the purpose and measure the performance of your content marketing efforts.

CONTENT MARKETING 101 From a tweet to a blog it’s all content and it all has some influence in defining you brand perception.

Broken down content marketing helps your brand create more meaningful and deliberate relationships with customers, drive business objectives and facilitate the path to purchase.

Joe Puilizzi, head of the content marketing institute and one of its early advocates in the US, describes it as, ”A strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience, and ultimately to drive profitable customer action.”

Effective content marketing is about strategy, you have to plan for all the variables behind your marketing plan, not only to create something that is effective and engaging but something that is sustainable and practical for your business to implement.

Using the steps laid out in the process can bring your marketing plan back to the core fundamentals, of how you can approach content marketing without being overwhelmed by this list of formats and forums for content.

OBJECTIVE SETTING: CHART YOUR COURSE Before writing anything assess where you are as a business and a brand right now and where you want to go.

How can content get your business where you want it to go?

Do you want it to sell more? Do you want it to open up dialogue with your audience? Do you want it to be a form of customer service? Understand what you want to achieve, because if you don’t take time to articulate what success looks like for your business you won’t know whether or not you’ve succeeded

IDEA GENERATION: DEVELOP TOO MANY IDEAS Whether you’re a creative person or not everyone hits that wall of I don’t know what to write, so it’s important idea generation doesn’t just start when you’re ready to create a piece of content.

Once you have store house of ideas how do you validate and

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February 2017 – Issue 637

refine what ideas you want to turn into content, Dig and Fish bring it down to the three questions: What do you want to talk about?

You have to be passionate about what you’re creating, so find your passion and where your audience can share that passion.

What can you talk about?

Your experience gives you credibility, be a thought leader or an authority in the space.

What does your audience want to hear? Your ability to meet their needs determines your relevancy.

RESOURCE ASSESSMENT Some people trying to do too much too soon; assess what’s realistic and adopt a crawl, walk and run approach.

The best way is to start small and play to your strengths, if you a good writer or a better photographer then look at creating content based around the best format for you.

Remember it is a team effort, find content champions within your business to share and create content and tap into the knowledge of those around you.

COMMIT TO YOUR SCHEDULE Plan out a content calendar and commit it to paper so you know how much content you are comfortable creating and then stick to it. As technology advances the list of platforms keeps growing; for marketers the challenge is to keep up.

Facebook has a big and broad user base, it also has a lot of cross platform functionality; where something like snapchat is built for a specific purpose.

Another key platform should be Instagram, where it is very easy to create engaging and professional content.

Understand what you want to achieve, because if you don’t take time to articulate what success looks like for your business you won’t know whether or not you’ve succeeded.

REUSE, REPURPOSE, RECYCLE Once you have a piece of content make the most of it; repurposing can help you maximise resource efficiency, amplify your key messages and cross promote other areas of your business.

To extend shelf, life it’s about content topics first and execution second; one topic, one idea, but executed in different ways and across various platforms. A media release can be turned into a blog post, and then again use that base information to create a Facebook event, then take an image and post it on Instagram and tweet a link to blog post on Twitter.

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT The biggest hurdle when it comes to content marketing is measurement; a lot of effort has gone into how and where should I post so it’s crucial to test, learn and optimize.

Content marketing is so new there is no exact science, the more you embrace that spirit of curiosity and wanting to have insight the more successful you are going to become. Establish reviews and document your insights to understand what did and did not work and why.

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1 uch_A4.pdf 27/08/2015 1

winemaking

Analytical Services

Acetaldehyde: How to limit its formation during fermentation

Although most winemakers are aware of acetaldehyde, it still causes some negative impacts on wine quality. It is the main carbonyl compound formed in wine during fermentation, although it can also be produced in wine via other mechanisms. High levels of this aldehyde can have poor sensory effects on wine. There are several tools that a winemaker can use to limit the production and impact of acetaldehyde in wine. Steve Byrne and Greg Howell, from Vintessential Laboratories, explore the options.

3:41 27/08/2015 pm

3:41 pm

IMPACT OF ACETALDEHYDE ON WINE

It is frequently used in manufacturing as an intermediate in the synthesis of other chemicals, including perfumes and dyes.

In large doses it is not pleasant – and in some literature it even gets the blame for the onset of hangovers (although technically speaking by the time a hangover kicks in, acetaldehyde has left the body).

Carbonyl compounds (aldehydes and ketones) in wine such as acetaldehyde bind with bisulfite to form hydroxysulfonates, which render the acetaldehyde compound odourless.

A high ratio of bound SO2 to free SO2 can indicate that a large proportion of added SO2 has had to remedy an oxidation problem by ‘mopping up’ acetaldehyde and other carbonyl compounds.

Acetaldehyde is not the only compound in wine that binds to SO2 - different sugars, acids and polyphenols also form bound complexes.

ACETALDEHYDE is the main aldehyde present in wine. At low concentrations (below 70 mg/L) typical of freshly fermented wine, acetaldehyde can impart a fruity aroma. At higher concentrations (from 100 to 120 mg/L and above) it can become pungent and objectionable, the aroma being described as a bruised green apple, sherry-like, oxidative or nutty character (1).

Acetaldehyde is the main binder of added sulfite molecules.

This binding produces a molecule that has low volatility and low odour, thus limiting the sensory effect of acetaldehyde.

However this binding also reduces the efficacy of the added sulfite.

PROPERTIES Acetaldehyde is a colourless liquid with the chemical formula C2H4O and the systematic name ethanal (not to be confused with ethanol).

Table 1: Proportion of sulfur dioxide typically bound to wine components (2).

STATE OF SULFUR DIOXIDE IN A DRY WHITE WINE

Fast, efficient macerations

Concentration in mg/L Total SO2 Free SO2 Bound SO2

231 25 206

with acetaldehyde

105

with ketonic acids

78

with uronic acids

1

with diketogluconic acid

8

with ketofructose

6

with xylosone

8

In most cases though, acetaldehyde is the major compound associated with bound SO2 (see Table 1).

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68 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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During fermentation, sugars are primarily converted to ethanol and carbon dioxide. Fermentation is not, however, a simple process and many intermediate steps occur. Acetaldehyde is involved in one of these intermediate steps.

Acetaldehyde is not only formed in the fermentative production of ethanol, it is also present in the pathway of olution a unique based solution on naturally based onoccurring naturallymannoproteins occurring mannoproteins that can improve that can theimprove quality the of your quality sparkling of your sparkling production of acetic acid from ethanol by bacteria. Acetic acid nblyit noticeably enhance the enhance mouthfeel the and mouthfeel tartaricand stability, tartaricbutstability, it also preserves but it alsotheir preserves elegance, their freshness elegance,and freshness and bacteria (AAB) usually produce significant levels of acetic acid Liquid enzyme for color egardless nvenient: regardless of whether your of whether sparkling your wine sparkling is made wine isthe made Charmat theorpolyphenols Charmat traditional or method, traditional you method, simplyyou simply Liquid enzyme forbyfast fast colorbyand and polyphenols under conditions of high oxygen and low alcohol, however in extraction in short maceration processes tely P immediately before bottling. before bottling. extraction in short maceration processes wine environments with higher alcohol and low oxygen, there UTE UTE is L a tendency for AAB to favour production of acetaldehyde.

O LL U T E L O L SO While yeast typically reduces acetaldehyde to ethanol, onde ellier Cedex 5 under certain conditions of high oxygen, yeast can also convert 21 285 304 T N N E vintessential.com.au vintessential.com.au Email: info@vintessential.com.au Email: info@vintessential.com.au TSESSE SN E T E S S Eethanol back to acetaldehyde via an oxidative pathway. This Phone: 1300 Phone: 30 2242 1300(Australia-wide) 30 2242 (Australia-wide) or +61 3 5987 or +61 2242.

3 5987 2242. is typical of yeasts appearing on the surface of ullaged tanks or barrels. In some instances the activity of these yeasts is Printed on 100%Printed recycled onpaper.

100% recycled paper. www.winetitles.com.au

February 2017 – Issue 637

encouraged and the oxidative processes utilised in the production of certain styles of wine such as flor sherry.

The natural process of wine ageing also produces acetaldehyde. This is a chemical rather than a microbiological reaction, whereby an oxidizing agent such as hydrogen peroxide is formed as a by-product of phenolic oxidation and then reacts with ethanol to produce acetaldehyde.

HOW TO MINIMISE ITS FORMATION There are a couple of steps involved in fermentation that present the opportunity for the winemaker to influence the production of acetaldehyde.

Sugar is first converted to pyruvate by yeast via the glycolytic pathway.

The pyruvate is then decarboxylated to acetaldehyde with the associated release of carbon dioxide. This acetaldehyde intermediate is then reduced to ethanol.

During this process, excess acetaldehyde can be produced if SO2 is added during fermentation or if there are increases in pH or fermentation temperature.

Yeast strain can also influence the concentration of acetaldehyde – commercial strains can be chosen based on their metabolic characteristics, including whether they produce high or low levels of acetaldehyde.

ANALYSIS OF ACETYLALDEHYDE In our labs, acetaldehyde is analysed

by Gas Chromatography, utilising a Flame Ionisation Detector (GC-FID).

The instrumentation is sophisticated, but the turnaround time of analysis is fast, so it allows winemakers to make quick decisions about remedial treatment of affected wines.

Last year, 68% of wines analysed in our labs had acetaldehyde levels of below 50 mg/L. 18% had levels between 50 mg/L and 120 mg/L and 13% had concentrations greater than 120 mg/L, indicating possible oxidation problems.

The highest value recorded last year in a red table wine was 500 mg/L.

ANALYSIS OF BOUND SO2

If acetaldehyde concentration is not routinely monitored during wine storage, then an analysis of both free and bound SO2 is an important consideration for indirectly assessing the extent of oxidation.

Interestingly, there is still a tendency for some winemakers to not measure bound SO2.

Last year over 40% of routine samples received in our labs for SO2 analysis only requested free SO2, without regard for the February 2017 – Issue 637

bound or total SO2 content. Measuring the bound SO2 in addition to the free level not only aids in monitoring oxidation, it also helps to track the effectiveness and accuracy of SO2 additions, as well as ensuring that your wines are meeting regulatory market requirements for total SO2 concentration.

One reason for the lower incidence of measuring bound SO2 within wineries appears to be the reluctance of some labs to upgrade their existing SO2 aspiration apparatus to be able to measure both free and bound SO2.

All that is required is a gentle heat applied to the acidified wine sample to break the bond between acetaldehyde and SO2, and then measuring the released SO2 in the same way as free SO2 is determined.

It’s important that only a gentle heat is applied to the sample as vigorous boiling can result in distillation of volatile acids from the sample and lead to an overestimation of bound SO2.

The other requirement for the bound test is a cooling system for the heated vapours; this typically uses non recycled water.

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CONCLUSION Acetaldehyde is a well-known but infrequently analysed compound in the Australian wine industry.

Several processes during the life of a wine are involved in its production and certain fermentation conditions and winemaking interventions can be used to influence the levels produced.

Monitoring the effects of oxidation and in particular acetaldehyde production should be a consideration for all winemakers and can be achieved by analysing the compound itself or by indirect analysis of free and bound sulfur dioxide.

References 1. Wine Production and Analysis, Zoecklein et al, 1999, Aspen Publishers, p328 2. Knowing and Making Wine, Peynaud, E; 1981, Wiley, p270 Steve Byrne is General Manager of Vintessential Labs. Greg Howell founded Vintessential Laboratories in 1995, he can be contacted by email on greg@ vintessential.com.au.

More articles on related topics are available on the Vintessential website: w w w.vintessential.com.au/resources/ articles/

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More than journals As publisher of Australia’s leading industry journals, it would be easy to think we are only ink on paper.

But these are more than journals. They are brands.

Wine industry brands that readers and suppliers trust, quote and repond to. Brands that are growing across all platforms.

It’s become a two way relationship online industry offerings, including search, news, blogs, weather, published articles and Directory Buyers’ Guide.

And we are adding so much more in Wine Shows, Events, Classifieds, including Jobs, Real Estate, Sales of Grapes and Wine, Used Barrels and Equipment, Services and Suppliers.

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UNIFIED 2017: Emerging issues, trends and discoveries that will shape the future EVERY FACET of the wine industry, from research and science to emerging trends and markets, was examined, discussed and debated at the 23rd Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, held in Sacramento in January.

The largest wine show of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, Unified drew thousands of industry professionals from all over the world anxious to learn about the latest data, trends, technology, research and issues shaping their business futures.

Presented since 1995 by two non-profit organisations, the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) and the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG), Unified’s growing importance highlights the wine industry’s critical need for leading-edge data and information.

“From the opening address by New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov to the dozens of marketing, business, winemaking and grape growing panel discussions, the Unified delivered exceptional content to our attendees, who leave the show better prepared to make effective decisions for their businesses,” said John Aguirre, CAWG president.

Put on by the industry for the industry, the three-day-long Unified draws from the input of some of the sharpest minds in the wine business. The featured program, which included 19 presentations and panel discussions, was organized by a diverse panel of volunteers who not only crafted topic discussions but

February 2017 – Issue 637

also helped recruit more than 80 experts to speak on these topics. This was all complemented by the two-day 170,000 square foot trade show that housed nearly 700 exhibitors.

“For three days, this is where the most dynamic thinking, discussions and planning take place for the American wine industry,” said Dan Howard ASEV executive director. “Whether it’s on the exhibit floor, in conference rooms or over a glass of wine, the Unified offers a rare opportunity for all elements of our industry to gather and share their thoughts, ideas and insights.”

While Unified focuses primarily on American winemaking and winegrape production, over 30 countries are represented among the guests and exhibitors, underscoring the international flavour of the event. Approximately 14,000 guests attended this year’s Unified.

Jointly organized by ASEV and CAWG, the Unified represents the collective experience, knowledge and background of the entire industry. The 2018 Unified will once again be held at the Sacramento Convention Centre and is slated for January 23-25.

For more information, visit the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium’s website at www.unifiedsymposium.org.

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winemaking

Wine Storage

Investigating the secrets behind quality Australian Pinot Noir

RESEARCHERS AT the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) are investigating the drivers that influence character and quality in Australian pinot noir wines.

The Pinot Noir Provenance project is led by TIA’s Dr Anna Carew and will be run over four years, with $854,000 in funding from Wine Australia and industry partners.

“Pinot Noir is emerging as Australia’s premier red wine, with particular features that make it unique. However, we need to pin down the chemical signatures of our distinctive high-quality Pinot Noirs,” Dr Carew said.

“Through this research we aim to provide winemakers with practical, evidence-based solutions that can be implemented in their vineyards to help them grow, produce and market highquality Pinot Noir.

“Our industry partners want us to distinguish what environmental

factors bring to the wine, and what the winemaker does.”

Dr Carew said the project would include intensive scientific and sensory benchmarking of pinot noir wines from around Australia to identify the principal components driving chemical and sensory markers of quality.

“We recently analysed almost 100 Pinot Noirs entered in the 2015 Vintage Class at this year’s Hobart International Wine Show. Organisers were extremely supportive of our research, providing us with access to the judges’ notes about the sensory characteristics and key indicators of quality Pinot Noir,” Dr Carew said.

“During the coming months our research team will undertake chemical analyses of Pinot Noir wines to discover what the chemical landscape of the sampled wines looks like. This will help us identify variations between wines, regions and vintages.”

The project team consists of a collaboration of researchers, wine consultants, marketing specialists and industry leaders from around Australia, including the Australian Wine Research Institute.

“We are working closely with the Australian Wine Research Institute, which will provide quality analytical support to help identify the viticultural, climatic or winemaking practices that increase the likelihood of desired features in this premium wine variety,” Dr Carew said.

“The broad support for the Pinot Noir Provenance project is a great example of the collaborative nature of the wine industry towards initiatives that support the industry’s ongoing development.”

TIA is a joint venture between the Tasmanian Government and the University of Tasmania.

AT A GLANCE Statement of strength Tasmanian Pinot Noirs won nine gold medals at the 2016 Royal Hobart International Wine Show.

The chair of the show’s organising committee, John Ellis of Hanging Rock Vineyard in Victoria, described the outcome as a statement of strength by Tasmanian Pinot Noir producers.

“Importantly, high quality Pinot Noir production in Tasmania is not limited to one or two regions of the state, but extends right across Tasmania,” Ellis said.

The chair of the judging panel, Louisa Rose, Yalumba and Hill Smith Family Vineyards chief winemaker, said the show reflected the strength and sophistication of the Australian wine industry in 2016.

“The majority of wines entered this year were from the 2010 to 2016 vintages, and more than 90 gold medals were awarded. This is a tremendous accolade for the Australian industry given that a gold medal represents what wine judges collectively agree is a perfect example of variety or style.”

72 Grapegrower & Winemaker

Dr Anna Carew with Matt Pooley of Pooley’s Wines www.winetitles.com.au

February 2017 – Issue 637

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winemaking

Square fermentation tanks save winery space, water and energy costs By switching from round to square tanks, a Californian winery was able to increase capacity by 28 percent and reduce water use by nearly 90 percent. John Intardonato reports.

With their increased capacity they actually cost us less per capacity than if we had to expand the facility. It’s an investment that paid itself off in one and a half years of winemaking.

BEING SQUARE is often considered a negative. But in the wine business, if it can give you both a financial and quality edge, keep your winemaking under one roof without added construction costs and revitalise an old storage shed, perhaps going square can turn out to be pretty hip.

Such seems the case for Sonoma’s historic Rodney Strong Vineyards in Sonoma County, California. By converting to square tanks, Rodney Strong created room to install an additional 17 fermentation tanks in a building that originally could only accommodate 40.

This Russian River landmark has been innovative and cutting-edge since Strong left his Broadway dancing career to go west. He was one of the pioneers in creating the AVA system, helping develop both the Chalk Hill and Russian River AVA designations. He also introduced mail-order wine sales and personalized bottle labeling. The winery has never shied away from trying something new.

“We needed tanks that would hold 6000 gallons (22,500

74 Grapegrower & Winemaker

litres) and handle 20 tonnes each,” said Justin Seidenfeld, the winemaker who helped design the system.

“With regular, round fermenters, we could only squeeze in 40 tanks. With the square design, not only were we able to install as many as 57 tanks, which will now accommodate our full harvest, it has left us some extra room for any surprises.

The round tanks left us 20 percent short of our needs. With the square tanks we were able to increase our capacity by 28 percent in the same space.”

In a unique partnership with La Garde of Quebec, Canada, a 50-year-old manufacturer of high-quality, stainless steel products, the Rodney Strong winery became the largest square tank winery in the world.

“Our goal is to be sustainable and to maximise our efficiency,” said Seidenfeld. “These tanks were designed and built especially for our new winery, which we created from an old 11,000 square foot (3300 square metre) warehouse. The building was already on our property and was just sitting here, taking up space. It was called ‘the bone-yard’ because it’s where we kept all our old stuff.”

The new facility, however, is now a state-of-the-art, out-ofthe-box winery intended to handle the company’s new ultrapremium Bordeaux blend. Its fruit source is from a newly planted 200-acre vineyard leased from the 19,000-acre Cooley Ranch. Located north of Lake Sonoma and west of Cloverdale, the vineyard sits between 800 and 2,000 feet elevation. Rodney Strong has a 70-year lease for 390 acres on the property, and the money paid will help to preserve and maintain the remaining land as a permanent ag preserve.

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February 2017 – Issue 637

winemaking

Square tanks have been around a long time so we didn’t reinvent the wheel. When we began to think about the tanks, we were a little hesitant but not anymore.

“We estimate that the vineyard will produce about 1000 tonnes, and we want to process this exceptional fruit all under one roof. We discovered that if we used the standard round fermenters in the building, there was only capacity for 40 tanks; that’s only about 80 per cent of the harvest,” Seidenfeld said.

He said he started looking around for alternatives and got the idea for the square tanks when he visited the La Garde booth at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento several years ago. The problem, at the time, was that the company only made small tanks – just 1000 to 4000 litres.

However, La Garde director and designer Jostran Lamontagne told Seidenfeld the company could custom-build tanks to the winery’s specifications. Lamontagne then sent his engineers to the winery. The tanks were built and installed in time for the 2014 Clooney Ranch harvest.

While the La Garde units were double the cost of similarcapacity round tanks, Seidenfeld said that difference has already been paid back.

“With their increased capacity they actually cost us less per

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SAVINGS ON WATER AND ENERGY COSTS The tanks have produced additional benefits in production and labour costs, time saved and wine quality, according to Seidenfeld.

“Because the tanks are made of sheet metal rather than rolled steel, they’re three times thicker than round tanks. This allowed us to nano-polish the interior to a very smooth surface so wine residue doesn’t get into the pores. This makes it so easy to clean the tanks with just hot water. No caustic chemicals or excessive scrubbing is needed to remove the wine deposits.”

As a result, Seidenfeld claims they have reduced their water use by almost 90 percent and reduced their cooling and utility costs by 50 per cent.

The tanks, he added, have improved wine quality through enhanced extraction and more balanced fermentations.

“Because the tanks have a wider area, the cap is spread out more, which gives a better skin contact with the juice. This also provides better cooling of the must. We have more consistent fermentation curves, and it reduces heat spikes. It gives a cleaner fermentation with no off characters that we don’t want in our wine,” he said. “The cooling package is actually reduced in size because the tanks are cooling each other. With square tanks there is more metal to metal and less air space to keep cool.”

According to Seidenfeld, the tanks are completely enclosed and can be alternately used as storage, blending and maturation containers. Each tank can also be used for smaller quantities.

“It has six cooling jackets, with the upper and lower jackets on separate controls. They are very versatile containers. I have used these tanks to ferment as little as four tonnes and as much as 22.”

Winery owner Tom Klein is equally enthusiastic.

“We wanted to get a certain quality in this new wine and wanted a special fermenter to accomplish this in the space we had. If we didn’t have these specific goals in mind, we never would have tried these tanks,” said Klein. “Now, when you think about it, it doesn’t make sense to put round tanks in a square building. We saved a lot of wasted space. We’re finding that we’re using less water and less energy. The results are remarkable. Justin was very clever.”

WINE TRIALS: ROUND V SQUARE TANKS

17 TOVA DRIVE, CARRUM DOWNS, VIC 3201

Ph: 03 9775 0339 Fax 03 9775 0338 Email: info@fineweld.com.au

www.fineweld.com.au 76 Grapegrower & Winemaker

capacity than if we had to expand the facility,” he said. “It’s an investment that paid itself off in one and a half years of winemaking.”

Seidenfeld said he is a believer. And he has carried out blind tastings to test the quality.

“As an experiment, we fermented the fruit in round steel, 600-litre oak barrels and square tanks. All were processed in the same way, with 21-day skin contact.”

The consensus: the square tanks produced a better wine.

“We made a winery out of nothing,” he added. “The old shed has been revitalised from top to bottom. Even a special, sloping floor of resin and fibre was added to support the tanks, along with heavy insulation, extra stabilizers and an extensive catwalk.” He said he is getting two full runs: the earlier-ripening Pinot Noir and the Clooney Ranch varietals.

Although excited about the great fruit and the exceptional new facilities, Seidenfeld is modest about his own participation.

“Square tanks have been around a long time so we didn’t reinvent the wheel. When we began to think about the tanks, we were a little hesitant but not anymore,” he added.

This article was first published in the Dec 2015 edition US Wine Business Monthly and has been used with permission.

www.winetitles.com.au

February 2017 – Issue 637

Storage Tanks

BUY OR RENT

– Tanks up to 24,00 0 litre still available to rent – Manufactured capacity still available for 2017 vintage Products available: • Destemmer Crushers • Membrane Presses • Conveying Systems • Incline & Continuous Drains

• Rotary Screens • Receiving Bins • Platforms & Walkways • Open Fermenters

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For more information on our wide range of products visit www.fmiller.com.au

winemaking

There’s an app for that, too THE TECHNOLOGY TO HELP the wine and grape community get through the 2017 vintage fits into your pocket.

This week has delivered the latest news on two phone apps, one for grapegrowers and one for winemakers. One will help winemakers manage ferments in vintage 2017, the other has been designed to help grapegrowers monitor water stress in their vineyards.

The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) has launched an online version of a Ferment Simulator –allowing winemakers to track ferments online and identify problem ferments earlier. The Ferment Simulator app stores all fermentrelated data and uses algorithms to predict the progress of each ferment recorded.

Warnings are provided if ferments run faster or slower than initially predicted, allowing winemakers to respond early.

The app also incorporates a modelling function, giving winemakers the option to test various actions online before making changes in the winery. Hosted on the AWRI’s WineCloud platform, the Ferment Simulator app is available free to all Australian wine producers.

“The new Ferment Simulator app will allow winemakers to manage their ferments better, avoid costly fermentation problems and access fermentation data remotely,” said Dr Eric Wilkes, AWRI Commercial Services group manager. “It is exciting to have this online tool ready for vintage 2017.”

The new Ferment Simulator app is based on the spreadsheet-format Ferment

Simulator released in 2013. The app is supported by a series of video tutorials and an FAQ document, accessible from the AWRI website. Users can register to access the app at www.thewinecloud. com.au.

Meanwhile, a new smartphone app that helps grapegrowers measure the water status of their vines is being trialled across Australia. The portable viticultural tool has the potential to help grapegrowers make improved water management decisions for their vineyards.

Grapegrowers use a thermal camera attached to their smartphone to take images of the canopy of the grapevine.

The image is analysed by the app, which calculates the vine water status.

The technology is being tested by 15 vineyards across South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania for the rest of the growing season.

The Wine Australia-funded project is being led by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), a division of Primary Industries and Regions SA, in close collaboration with The University of New South Wales (UNSW).

“Water and associated pumping costs can be a significant component of the production costs for grapegrowers,” said Dr Kathy Ophel-Keller, the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) acting executive director.

“Uncontrolled water stress has the

The new Ferment Simulator app will allow winemakers to manage their ferments better, avoid costly fermentation problems and access fermentation data remotely. potential to reduce the yield and quality of grapes and the resulting wine, which in turn reduces the return to growers.

“The management of vine water status is a key tool for grapegrowers to regulate yield and optimise fruit quality and style.

“This new app offers grapegrowers instant feedback on the water status of their vines, and provides them with the flexibility to assess multiple blocks or sections of blocks, and to make irrigation decisions in real time.”

The 18 month project aimed to evaluate a range of smartphone-based sensing systems to develop a cheap, easyto-use vine water status monitoring app, to assist growers to manage irrigation.

Initial trial results found the thermal camera was the easiest to use and provided accurate information.

The app was developed by UNSW and the tool is now being tested by a variety of wineries, with their feedback helping to inform the further development of the innovative technology.

The aim is to release the final version of the app later in 2017.

Wine Tank Specialists

32 SPEY STREET, INVERCARGILL 9810 • Ph 03 214 4817 • Fax 03 218 3354 • Email andrew@crownsheetmetal.co.nz 78 Grapegrower & Winemaker

www.winetitles.com.au

February 2017 – Issue 637

Refrigeration

The right choice of refrigeration brine for wineries

WILMAR BIOETHANOL is a leading Australian producer and importer of ethanol products, supplying a significant share to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, printing and general industrial markets - as well as supplying the growing fuel market in Australia.

Recognising the problem facing Australian wineries and manufacturers, Wilmar has designed an antifreeze (Alcool LF) which delivers brine solutions with less than 24% ethanol strength while still achieving optimum refrigeration temperatures of -16ºC. All Wilmar BioEthanol ethanol (ethyl alcohol) is derived from sugar cane or its by-product molasses, produced at its Queensland distillery (located at Sarina, south of Mackay).

As sugar cane is a renewable resource, Wilmar’s products are classified as ‘greenhouse friendly’.

Alcool products take some pressure off brine system pumps, by maintaining low viscosity at low temperatures, with corrosion inhibitor to keep these valuable assets lasting longer.

According to AS1940 (The Australian Standards for the Storage and Handling of Flammable Liquids) ethanol solutions greater than 24% ethanol may be classified as flammable and therefore, may not comply with the standard. Wilmar recognised the problem and set about delivering a solution.

February 2017 – Issue 637

Ethanol based Alcool systems are the most cost effective solution for a formulated brine system. Although when diluted to below 24%, Alcool Products are classified in storage as nonflammable we recognise that some wineries have not got the capability to handle flammable goods on site. Wilmar have a totally non-flammable option available, Alcool NF (Non Flammable), for these situations. This product is more viscous but will provide a non-flammable alternative.

ALCOOL Brine Products are compatible with all current brine solutions and can be formulated to convert any cocktail into a reliable, consistent refrigerant.

There are two other significant advantages of the Alcool products - they inhibit corrosion and have been designed to help detect leaks.

The cooling and piping system needs a stable and reliable corrosion free brine, and Alcool products contain a corrosion inhibitor. Because Wilmar has designed the Alcool product with the corrosion inhibitor already added, there is no need for the winery to need to mix anything else..

Alcool products also contain a bright pink dye to aid detection of leaks in the refrigeration system. The dye can also be removed from most surfaces with a small amount of household bleach.

www.winetitles.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

79

winemaking

Alcool from Wilmar BioEthanol is produced in Queesnland.

WHEN CHOOSING YOUR BRINE IT IS IMPORTANT TO THINK OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: • What is its chemical composition?

• Will the addition of a new brine affect my freezing point test results?

• Can the brine be detected if I have a leak into my wine?

• What percentage needs to be added to reach my desired Freezing Point temperature?

(For example: Alcool LF has a freezing point of -16C at 35%.

If comparing brines what per cent is required to meet that temperature?)

• Is it compatible with my current brine, or will it interfere with testing?

• If I am changing to a new system, what would be the comparable costs to replace all of my system with that brine?

For any queries regarding your refrigeration brine contact Wilmar Bioethanol on 1800 819 618 or email bioethanol@wilmar. com.au.

Wine Producers Guide to Safety 2017 THERE ARE A NUMBER of hazards associated with the winemaking process, however measures can be taken to eliminate or reduce risks to winemakers and other workers involved in this process. Pro-Visual Publishing, in cooperation with Australian Vignerons and Wine Federation Australia, has released the latest edition of the Wine Producers Guide to Safety, which highlights some of the key safety issues facing this industry.

This year innovative Augmented Reality (AR) capabilities have been incorporated into the guide to create a space for interaction, and a window for more information and resources. The free Pro-Vis AR app will allow wine

80 Grapegrower & Winemaker

producers to view 3D animations and download informative PDFs, ensuring they are always equipped with up-todate information and resources right at their fingertips.

Key areas covered in the 2016/17 edition of the guide include: • Machinery safety, e.g. forklift, electric and/or powered snips and pruners: • Heat stress; and • The GHS, which will be mandatory in all states as 1 January 2017.

Along with these topics, the guide also covers manual handling safety procedures, in particular reference to handling barrels. A high proportion of reported accidents and injuries in both the vineyard and winery are a result www.winetitles.com.au

of manual handling tasks including moving and stacking barrels, therefore, it is an essential resource for wineries and vineyards to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved in the winemaking and/or distilling process.

Each guide is practical and informative, providing a quick reference point for management and staff. ProVisual Publishing’s guides are vital resources to ensure workers return home exactly the way they came to work.

For further information, or to obtain additional copies of the Guide, please call (02) 8272 2611, or visit www.provisual.com.au.

February 2017 – Issue 637

ines Great Western, Bremerton Wines, Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard Pty Ltd, Campbells Wines, Cas a Group Pty Ltd, Cellarmaster Group, Charles Melton Wines, Clover Hill Wines, CMV Farms, Coriole Vin ards, Delegats Wine Estate, Delegat’s Wine Estate Limited, DogRidge, Edgemill Group, Fanselow Bell, Fi ar Wines, Fowles Wine, Fuse Wine Services Pty Ltd, Gemtree Vineyards, Glenlofty Wines, Harry Jon ines, Henry’s Drive Vignerons Pty Ltd, Hentley Farm, Hope Estate, Hospitality Recruitment Solution oward Park Wines, Hungerford Hill Wines, Inglewood Wines Pty Ltd, Innocent Bystander, Jack Rabb neyard, Jim Barry Wines, KarriBindi, Kauri, Kingston Estate Wines Pty Ltd, Kirrihill Wines Pty Lt rinklewood Biodynamic Vineyard, L’Atelier by, Aramis Vineyards, Leeuwin Estate, Make WInes Austral cWilliam’s Wines Group, Memstar, Mondo Consulting, Moppity VIneyards, Moxon Oak, Nadalie austral exthire, Oenotec Pty Ltd, Options Wine Merchants, Orlando Wines, Ozpak Pty Ltd, Patrick of Coonawarr antagenet Wines, Portavin Integrated Wine Services, R&D VITICULTURAL SERVICES PTY LTD, Robe atley Vineyards, Rymill Coonawarra, Seville Estate, Stella Bella Wines, Streicker Wines, The Gilbert Fam y Wine Co, The Lane Vineyard, The Scotchmans Hill Group Pty Ltd, The Yalumba Wine Company, Tinta inery, Tower Estate Pty Ltd, Treasury Wine Estates, Turkey Flat Vineyards, Two Hands Wines, Tyrrel ines, Vinpac International, Warburn Estate Pty Ltd, WebAware Pty Ltd, Wine and Vine Personnel Intern onal,Wines Overland, Wingara WIne Group,Wirra Wirra Vineyards, Zilzie Wines, Accolade Wines Austra Limited, Aravina Estate, Australian Vintage Ltd, Barwick Wines, Beltunga, Bests Wines Great Wester remerton Wines, Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard Pty Ltd, Campbells Wines, Casama Group Pty Ltd, C rmaster Group, Charles Melton Wines, Clover Hill Wines, CMV Farms, Coriole Vineyards, Delegats Wi state, Delegat’s Wine Estate Limited, DogRidge, Edgemill Group, Fanselow Bell, Five Star Wines, Fowl ine, Fuse Wine Services Pty Ltd, Gemtree Vineyards, Glenlofty Wines, Harry Jones Wines, Henry’s Dri gnerons Pty Ltd, Hentley Farm, Hope Estate, Hospitality Recruitment Solutions, Howard Park Wine ungerford Hill Wines, Inglewood Wines Pty Ltd, Innocent Bystander, Jack Rabbit Vineyard, Jim Bar ines, KarriBindi, Kauri, Kingston Estate Wines Pty Ltd, Kirrihill Wines Pty Ltd, Krinklewood Biodynam Vineyard, L’Atelier by, Aramis Vineyards, Leeuwin Estate, Make WInes Australia, McWilliam’s Win roup, Memstar, Mondo Consulting, Moppity VIneyards, Moxon Oak, Nadalie australia, Nexthire, Oenot y Ltd, Options Wine Merchants, Orlando Wines, Ozpak Pty Ltd, Patrick of Coonawarra, Plantagenet Wine ortavin Integrated Wine Services, R&D VITICULTURAL SERVICES PTY LTD, Robert Oatley Vineyard ymill Coonawarra, Seville Estate, Stella Bella Wines, Streicker Wines, The Gilbert Family Wine Co, T ane Vineyard, The Scotchmans Hill Group Pty Ltd, The Yalumba Wine Company, Tintara Winery, Tow state Pty Ltd, Treasury Wine Estates, Turkey Flat Vineyards, Two Hands Wines, Tyrrell’s Wines, Vinp ternational, Warburn Estate Pty Ltd, WebAware Pty Ltd, Wine and Vine Personnel International,Win verland, Wingara WIne Group,Wirra Wirra Vineyards, Zilzie Wines, Accolade Wines Australia Limite ravina Estate, Australian Vintage Ltd, Barwick Wines, Beltunga, Bests Wines Great Western, Bremert ines, Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard Pty Ltd, Campbells Wines, Casama Group Pty Ltd, Cellarmast roup, Charles Melton Wines, Clover Hill Wines, CMV Farms, Coriole Vineyards, Delegats Wine Estate, D at’s Wine Estate Limited, DogRidge, Edgemill Group, Fanselow Bell, Five Star Wines, Fowles Wine, Fu ine Services Pty Ltd, Gemtree Vineyards, Glenlofty Wines, Harry Jones Wines, Henry’s Drive Vignero y Ltd, Hentley Farm, Hope Estate, Hospitality Recruitment Solutions, Howard Park Wines, Hungerfo ll Wines, Inglewood Wines Pty Ltd, Innocent Bystander, Jack Rabbit Vineyard, Jim Barry Wines, Ka Bindi, Kauri, Kingston Estate Wines Pty Ltd, Kirrihill Wines Pty Ltd, Krinklewood Biodynamic Vineyar Atelier by, Aramis Vineyards, Leeuwin Estate, Make WInes Australia, McWilliam’s Wines Group, Memsta ondo Consulting, Moppity VIneyards, Moxon Oak, Nadalie australia, Nexthire, Oenotec Pty Ltd, Optio ine Merchants, Orlando Wines, Ozpak Pty Ltd, Patrick of Coonawarra, Plantagenet Wines, Portavin Int ated Wine Services, R&D VITICULTURAL SERVICES PTY LTD, Robert Oatley Vineyards, Rymill Coon arra, Seville Estate, Stella Bella Wines, Streicker Wines, The Gilbert Family Wine Co, The Lane Vineyar he Scotchmans Hill Group Pty Ltd, The Yalumba Wine Company, Tintara Winery, Tower Estate Pty Lt easury Wine Estates, Turkey Flat Vineyards, Two Hands Wines, Tyrrell’s Wines, Vinpac Internation arburn Estate Pty Ltd, WebAware Pty Ltd, Wine and Vine Personnel International,Wines Overland, Wi ra WIne Group,Wirra Wirra Vineyards, Zilzie Wines, Accolade Wines Australia Limited, Aravina Estat ustralian Vintage Ltd, Barwick Wines, Beltunga, Bests Wines Great Western, Bremerton Wines, Brow rothers Milawa Vineyard Pty Ltd, Campbells Wines, Casama Group Pty Ltd, Cellarmaster Group, Charl elton Wines, Clover Hill Wines, CMV Farms, Coriole Vineyards, Delegats Wine Estate, Delegat’s Wine E te Limited, DogRidge, Edgemill Group, Fanselow Bell, Five Star Wines, Fowles Wine, Fuse Wine Servic y Ltd, Gemtree Vineyards, Glenlofty Wines, Harry Jones Wines, Henry’s Drive Vignerons Pty Ltd, Hentl arm, Hope Estate, Hospitality Recruitment Solutions, Howard Park Wines, Hungerford Hill Wines, Ing ood Wines Pty Ltd, Innocent Bystander, Jack Rabbit Vineyard, Jim Barry Wines, KarriBindi, Kauri, Kin on Estate Wines Pty Ltd, Kirrihill Wines Pty Ltd, Krinklewood Biodynamic Vineyard, L’Atelier by, Aram & managed by neyards, Leeuwin created Estate, Make WInes Australia, McWilliam’s Wines Group, Memstar, Mondo Consultin oppity VIneyards, Moxon Oak, Nadalie australia, Nexthire, Oenotec Pty Ltd, Options Wine Merchan lando Wines, Ozpak Pty Ltd, Patrick of Coonawarra, Plantagenet Wines, Portavin Integrated Wine Serv , R&D VITICULTURAL SERVICES PTY LTD, Robert Oatley Vineyards, Rymill Coonawarra, Seville Estat ella Bella Wines, Streicker Wines, The Gilbert Family Wine Co, The Lane Vineyard, The Scotchmans H roup Pty Ltd, The Yalumba Wine Company, Tintara Winery, Tower Estate Pty Ltd, Treasury Wine Estate urkey Flat Vineyards, Two Hands Wines, Tyrrell’s Wines, Vinpac International, Warburn Estate Pty Lt

The Wine Industry’s Leading Online Job Site

Go with the site that leading wine industry companies use.

sales & marketing Wanna come to a wine party?

Turns out lots of people do A new wave of wine tastings are no longer designed to be quiet and intimate, more like music festivals, the challenge for wineries is to stand out. Daniel Whyntie reports.

THE COMBINATION OF food, music, guests and the festival atmosphere offer wineries a unique chance to engage with the public.

The ideal is for all the aspects of the festival to complement each other, balancing the sensory experience of the audience and pointing them towards the wine.

“We see our wineries as ‘investors’ not ‘exhibitors’. For me it’s a big and important distinction. We work hard to make it a great experience for them as much as our attendees,” says Dan Sims, CEO of Bottle Shop Concepts.

THE NEXT GENERATION Events like Pinot Palozza, Rootstock and Hot 100 Wines have been attracting growing and diverse crowds.

We’re not in wine, nor events for that matter, we’re in hospitality. And so is the wine industry.

Bottle Shop Concepts hosts some of the industry’s most popular events, and has seen the numbers attending Game of Rhones and Pinot Palozza double from 2015 to 2016.

Sims said he has been doing everything possible to engage wine drinkers.

“This isn’t just our events, look at Rootstock for example, it’s the ultimate

wine party. You can then add Soulfor, Italian Wine & Food Festival and a host of other smaller ones. All inspire the category,” he said.

The festivals have been able to hook in to that vague but highly desired quality of ‘shareability,’ with most of the crowd drawn by word of mouth and social media.

“People want to learn about wine the same way they consume it; socially. I’d like to think the default setting of death by master class is over,” he said.

“I’m not saying it’s the only way.

Master classes have their place but you have to get people to turn up first. And what better way than saying ‘wanna come to a wine party?’.”

Still developing as they grow, the events are always in a process of fine

NEED HELP WITH YOUR WINERY REFRIGERATION? We provide reliable and impartial engineering design and review services for a range of winery sizes and types: Energy audits OEH Energy Saver panel member Winer y and Tank farm refrigeration capacity Australian Refrigeration Standard AS/NZS 5149 Compliance audits Brine and Glycol system design Cold rooms, grape and must cooling Hot water system design Compressed air design Advice on alternative refrigerants and how to reduce winer y refrigeration carbon emissions Engineering support and grant applications

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82 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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REFRIGERATION SPECIALIST CONSULTANCY

February 2017 – Issue 637

AT A GLANCE Bottle Shop Concepts – 2016 numbers • • • •

27 events, 7 cities, 2 countries 16,500 attendees 21,480 bottles of wine poured 125% attendance increase for Pinot Palooza • 85% attendance increase for Game of Rhones • 60% of attendees are women • 55% under the age of 35

tuning to improve the outcomes for both the ticket holder and winery.

Bottle Shop Concepts and the wineries involved work closely to ensure the events evolve and adapt to the everchanging events landscape.

“There is an old hospitality adage that ‘you’re only as good as your last service’, which means you always strive to do better,” Sims said.

“Sales are, of course, important so we offer a 50% discount on the ticket price if someone spends $250 or more with any one winery. Since setting that up, we’ve seen significant increase in on the day sales.”

BEST WAY FOR WINERIES TO ENGAGE Most wineries go above and beyond at the wine events, according to Sims, but it’s the brands that have a clear goal and focus as to why they are there that do the best.

“The question to ask is ‘why would someone care’ and remember that whatever you do should link to your brand story. Gimmick for gimmick sake doesn’t work,” Sims said.

“It doesn’t have to be a massive activation, as we’ve seen wineries succeed just by being hospitable and February 2017 – Issue 637

friendly. Going into an event with a positive attitude goes a very long way.

Punters pick up on if you don’t want to be there.”

Sims keeps the focus on the customers, his experience in hospitality constantly reminding him that they are the reason he’s there.

“At an event, a winery has 30 seconds to a minute in front of someone to tell their story so that training can no doubt help hone their cellar door pitch,” he said.

“Think of it this way, out of all the wines we have on show that person has decided to come and talk to you, so really all you have to do is not fuck it up!

“It’s the same with a cellar door. Out of all the wineries in a region, that person has made the decision to fly, drive, book accommodation and then come to see you. Start with ‘hello’ and the rest will follow.”

Bottle Shop Concepts’ events celebrate their theme varieties in unique ways, pairing them with music, culture, food and special guests.

At the Gauchito Gil’s Malbec World Day the award winners are presented by the Argentinian Ambassador Hugo Gobbi, but its important additions to the theme are relevant in order to add and www.winetitles.com.au

not distract.

“There have been two ambassadors since we’ve run the event and they’ve been wonderfully supportive and having them there certainly adds to the excitement,” Sims said.

“We love having food folk, influencers, chefs and butchers and the like, but I’d rather keep the attention on the wineries first with anything and anybody else playing a supporting role. At the end of the day, it’s about them first.”

COLLABORATION NOT COMPETITION Involvement from across the industry is encouraged to add expertise and guidance for guests.

“I take a collaborative approach.

The more people involved the better. If everyone wins, everyone wins,” Sims said.

“As a sommelier by trade I really love getting local somms involved in every event. With over 100 wines on tasting, helping people navigate the room is vital to customer experience.”

This open approach to making the world of wine accessible was recognised at the Wine Industry Impact Awards last year, in the marketing and communications category.

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sales & marketing The question to ask is ‘why would someone care’ and remember that whatever you do should link to your brand story. Gimmick for gimmick sake doesn’t work.

“We try to talk differently about wine in so much as we put the wine drinker front and centre. Fun first, facts second.

That’s not saying facts aren’t important, they are, but they shouldn’t be the first

84 Grapegrower & Winemaker

thing out of wine people’s mouths,” he said.

“I’d also like to think that everything that we do is anchored in hospitality.

We’re not in wine, nor events for that

www.winetitles.com.au

matter, we’re in hospitality. And so is the wine industry. The more we embrace this, the more people will join us.”

2017 will see Bottle Shop Concepts continue its strong growth; holding its biggest event ever in Pinot Palooza at the Royal Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, expanding into Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA and rolling out more events across New Zealand.

“We want to be able to spread the good vinous word and help wineries activate in those markets. If we can help get the wine drinkers pumped in those regions, the rest will follow. So we’ll be collaborating very closely with our wineries, local regions and national bodies,” Sims said.

February 2017 – Issue 637

How to write effective social media copy Very few people can instinctively write appealing social media copy. If you have that natural ability, then take a bow. For the rest of us, Lynda Schenk, marketing expert and founder of Adelaide-based Purple Giraffe, offers her 10 Top Tips for making sure your copy will engage your audience.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING is extremely effective, as long as your copy stands out. You don’t need to be a professional at copywriting, but you will need to develop the skills to make it work. This is especially the case with and social media advertising. Here are some handy tips to write effective social media copy to encourage people to like, share or buy your story or products.

STRIP AWAY THE FLUFF More often than not people try to tell a story with their copy.

It’s time to strip away the fluff and just talk to your potential customers. Tell them all about your wine and why you’re offering it. Make it clear why they need it and how they’ll benefit from it. They’re more likely to buy that way.

THINK ABOUT THE HEADLINE The first rule of copywriting is to make sure your headline stands out and grabs attention. It needs to draw people in and make them want to know more. Consumers are more likely to stop scrolling through social media and click on your link. But don’t go with click-bait, people don’t like that. But they do want to be intrigued. There’s a fine line that you will have to master.

HAVE A PURPOSE

their social media activity. So be consistent in your voice, this will help to build trust and familiarity of your brand.

REVIEW, ANALYSE, LEARN AND TRY AGAIN Be sure to analyse past posts to determine what works consistently and what doesn’t. If posts don’t work, learn from them and don’t post them again or adapt them and try again to see if you gain greater engagement.

ALWAYS EDIT YOUR WORK The most critical step in your copy writing process is the editing. Be sure to step back from your writing and put your editor’s hat on. Try to think like you know nothing about the topic, are you explaining things easily for anybody to understand. Having someone else look over what you have written can help immensely at this stage.

Good social media copy will help to build and create a voice for your brand, develop loyal followers and sell your wine.

Employ these basic copywriting skills and see the benefits.

To find out more from Lynda Schenk, visit www.purplegiraffe. com.au.

There’s no point just posting for the sake of posting. Your audience won’t pay much attention to social media advertising that they can’t understand the need for. You’ll need purpose, and make that purpose clear as soon as you start. This draws people in and helps you target the right people from the beginning, making your conversions better.

MAKE IT EASY TO READ Your social media posts need to be easy to read. There’s nothing worse than having to read over something three or four times, they won’t and you will lose them. Social media is fast-paced, so write with that in mind. If in doubt, clearly spell it all out.

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WRITE LIKE YOU SPEAK Being able to writing like you speak is more difficult than you might think. However, when you sound like a real person in your copy you are more likely to engage your reader. Be sure to use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

FOCUS ON THE CONTENT Be sure to focus on the content, not the sales outcome. You will gain greater credibility from creating interesting content that is genuine rather than focussing on the sale.

ADDING SHARED CONTENT You don’t have to do it all alone. Develop a network on trusted social media sites that talks your talk, and share their content on your platform. Be sure their content is meaningful to your target market and audience; only share appropriate content; and don’t share for the sake of sharing.

KEEP A CONSISTENT VOICE Consumers get to know a company’s personality through February 2017 – Issue 637

communicate. collaborate. create. www.gldesign.com.au

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sales & marketing

Freight & Transport

The Parcel Nest product offers customers a secure home delivery service.

Wine shipping during hot weather With cellar door and mail order sales driving strong growth for small wineries, how can you ensure your wine arrives as it should? Daniel Whyntie spoke to two cellar door managers about customer experience and the best ways to transport during hot weather.

AS ONLINE AND CELLAR DOOR sales channels become increasingly profitable how can a winery ensure visitors have the same feeling when their wine arrives as when they tasted it?

Wine is a living and evolving product, it doesn’t like heat or natural light and when it comes to temperature, consistency is very important.

CUSTOMER SERVICE Making sure you deliver value for

Just be honest with them. As long as you make them aware of it, they understand and they leave it up to you. If it’s going to be hot we say to them we prefer to hold it.

86 Grapegrower & Winemaker

money is all about planning ahead and communicating with your customers. In fact, communicating is most helpful with the things you didn’t plan for.

“We sent a box last November and it only arrived two days ago. The guy called us and said it hadn’t arrived so we though it had got lost and we sent another one, now the first one has just arrived and we don’t know where the replacement is,” said Hamish Thomson, Bests wines joint cellar door supervisor.

The wine isn’t the only thing that needs to be handled gently during the hot weather, and some customers will need guidance.

“More serious wine people are very understanding. On and off, first time clients are probably the hardest, but more and more they expect it,” said Tom Ward, Owner of Swinging Bridge Wines.

“High end customers are increasingly aware. Most of the time they are fine to wait, unless it’s for a specific party or something.”

Thompson makes sure he has honest and open conversation with his customers about the wine, explaining to them the processes it goes through and the best www.winetitles.com.au

way to get it to them as it’s meant to be.

“Just be honest with them. As long as you make them aware of it, they understand and they leave it up to you.

If it’s going to be hot we say to them we prefer to hold it,” Thompson said.

“But it is their call, we let them know our concerns and they either want it or they don’t. If it’s hot though we strongly advise them not to.”

When organising deliveries Thompson asks the customer about ‘authority to leave’, and their preferred place for the wine to be left.

SHIPPING PARTNERS Your choice of shipping/freight company is important, and there are a few key variations which can make a difference for your bottom line.

Fastway and Australia post are the most popular choices, and in the battle of public v private the state loses on efficiency.

“Fastway is more efficient. We prefer them over Australia Post when we can because they specialise in bottles, and they don’t break all the bottles,” Ward said.

February 2017 – Issue 637

Ward uses a direct distributor for pallets but Fastway can be a convenient courier for small wineries as they can pick up stock at your cellar door, saving on time and transportation costs.

“We’re too out of the way, it’s hard to get a courier to do a pick up. Most depots are 12 kilometres from here, so if we only have one carton to go we try and organise Fastway to stop in on their way through,” Thompson said.

HOT WEATHER POLICY With no refrigerated couriers available for Thompson transporting wine in weather is an issue he needs to plan for.

“Planning ahead is important, over Christmas we stop sending for 10 days. If it’s going to be hot for two weeks straight we’ll send on a Monday to try and get it to them within a week,” Thompson said.

Ward stores his wine at insulated warehouses in Sydney, meaning he can offer same day delivery from his Sydneybased distributor.

“We don’t ship during bad weather, we sit down and talk strategy with our distributor, and then we go week by week. It’s going to be more of an issue,” Ward said.

Once the product is moving the tracking technology is improving.

“Now we can keep it constantly on the go, don’t hold in warehouse, it’s in a van, the product is constantly moving. Then straight to Wine Ark or Kennard’s Storage for temperature controlled storage.”

NEW TECHNOLOGIES New services like Parcel Nest, and temperature monitors are not yet common

place, but the opportunity for different business models to take advantage of new services and technologies do exist and will be worth further investigation.

Increasingly aspects such as immediacy and instant gratification are valued by consumers as part of their experience.

“They make me think of the Castaway (movie) scene where Tom Hanks put’s the stop watch in to time his package,” Ward said.

“We haven’t tried them yet but we are

From the Vineyard to the Shelf & everything in between

always looking to benchmark against the best, always looking at new studies and new processes.”

Insulated boxes, ice-pack inserts and foil wrapped bottles were not common either, though they are of interest.

“I get a cheese pack delivered to me, which has an ice-pack insert in it.

Insulated boxes and harder cardboards that will regulate the temperature are all very interesting for us,” Ward said.

“We don’t want to be the first, we’re not big enough; but we want to be second.”

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February 2017 – Issue 637

www.winetitles.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

87

industry profile

From peak to peak – New Zealand’s Swiss Pinot Noir pioneer considered a typical New Zealand Pinot Noir.

Why is Marlborough such a great place to grow Pinot Noir?

The cool climate, together with the dry weather conditions, creates the low decrease in pressure, which therefore means it’s not too difficult for us to grow grapes organically.

The grapes also have the ability to reach physical ripeness before excessive sugar accumulation, so we avoid excessive alcohol levels in the finished wines.

How does Aussie Pinot Noir compare to the Pinot Noir Kiwis make?

Hätsch Kalberer of Marlborough’s Fromm Winery

ESCAPING COLD WAR TENSIONS in his homeland of Switzerland in the early 1980s, Hätsch Kalberer of Marlborough’s Fromm Winery, was one of the revolutionaries responsible for making one of New Zealand’s first commercial Pinot Noirs.

As the story goes, Hätsch got a job as a hose dragger at Matawhero Wines, on his arrival to the wild and woolly Southern land, where he slowly learnt the art of winemaking.

“In 1987 at Matawhero Wines we made the first ‘commercial’ Pinot Noir from the first UCD 5 and 6 clones in New Zealand, originally imported by the late Bill Irwin, founder of the estate,” Hätsch said.

“That wine was, and still is, a gift of nature and was an inspiration for many in the region at the time.”

By chance Hätsch then met fellow Swiss, George Fromm, who asked him if he could help establish the Fromm vineyard and winery in Marlborough.

In January 1992 Hätsch took up the offer and hasn’t looked back since.

Pinosity caught up with Hätsch to get the lowdown on his long relationship with New Zealand Pinot Noir, his love of Fromm Winery, and his advice on how to

88 Grapegrower & Winemaker

best enjoy the great grape.

What sparked your interest in winemaking?

I started enjoying and cellaring fine wines at age 20, so it was a natural progression to eventually combine my interest in wine with my working life.

I’ve actually never acquired any formal winemaking qualification.

What are the growing conditions at Fromm Winery?

We are working with several different terroirs here, all of which have some water holding capacity, meaning we have less reliance on irrigation.

Most of our Pinot Noir fruit is sourced from vineyards in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys, which are clay based to various degrees.

The only exception is the Fromm vineyard surrounding the winery, which has layers of alluvial gravel and compacted silt deposits that were formed during many historical flood events across the valley floor.

This is our most unique and expressive terroir, which is somewhat outside the flavour and structure profile of what is www.winetitles.com.au

Tasmanian Pinot has a similar texture and energy to the New Zealand examples from Central Otago, often very dark in colour, dark fruit, very expressive with an almost forceful presence.

Victoria is generally weightier, often with noticeable alcohol. These wines have sweet fruit and are sometimes balanced with lingering, often added acid and oak.

Also, dare I say it, gum trees are a common flavour profile that is not necessarily unpleasant, but one which many drinkers in Australia are immune to: however, New Zealanders always pick it up.

In contrast, the best New Zealand Pinot Noirs have varietal cool climate purity, they can be concentrated, rich (but not hot) and can have some ‘Old World’ refinement. In Marlborough you would probably get the best quality in the entry-level price bracket as well as some of the most profound Pinots New Zealand has to offer.

What’s the best bottle of Pinot Noir you’ve ever had?

There is no absolute best, but the DRC Grand Échézaux 1971 is one wine that comes to mind. I bought it in Beaune in my 20s and I opened it when it was about 36 years old – and please don’t anyone tell me it would have been better under a screw cap.

This profile was originally published

by Pinosity (www.pinosity.com) and has been reproduced with permission.

February 2017 – Issue 637

calendar

looking back

Australia & New Zealand February 17-18 Shakespeare in the Vines, Sevenhill Cellars, Sevenhill, SA, www.sevenhill.com.au 17-19 Canberra Food & Wine Expo, National Convention Centre, Canberra, ACT, www.foodandwineexpo.com.au

24-26 2017 Cellar Door Wine Festival, Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, SA, www.cellardoorfestival.com 25 Wood, Wine & Roses Festival, Heywood, VIC, www.woodwineroses.com

February 1987:

19 Declaration of Vintage, Murray Street, Tanunda, SA, www.baronsofbarossa.com

March 4 The Dog Point/Logan Brown Classik Kiwi Picnic, Dog Point Vineyard, Marlborough, NZ, www.dogpoint.co.nz/events 5 Porongurup Wine Festival, Kerrivale, Porongurup, WA, www.porongurup.com 7-8 ABARES Outlook 2017, National Convention Centre, Canberra, ACT, www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/outlook 7-10 AUSPACK2017, Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park, NSW, www.auspack.com.au 10 Framingham harvest Concert 2017, Framingham Winery, Renwick, Marlborough, NZ, www.framingham.co.nz

11-12 Tastes of Rutherglen, Rutherglen, VIC, www.tastesofrutherglen.com.au 12 Bacchus Marsh Harvest Festival, Bacchus Marsh, VIC, www.visitbacchusmarsh.com.au 12 Waipara Valley Wine & Food Festival North Canterbury, Glenmark Domain, Waipara, NZ, www.waiparavalleywineandfood.co.nz 12 Peninsula Piers & Pinots, Flinders Foreshore, Mornington Peninsula, VIC, www.mpva.com.au 13-14 Rutherglen Tweed Ride, Rutherglen, VIC, www.rutherglenvic.com

10-12 Swan Hill Region Food and Wine Festival, Swan Hill, VIC, www.swanhillfoodandwine.com.au

International February 15-18 MUNDUSvini – The Great International Wine Award, Germany, www.mundusvini.de

18-19 Boston Wine Expo, Seaport Hotel & Wolrd Trade Centre, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, www.wine-expos.com/boston

15-18 BioFach Germany 2017, Nurnberg, Germany, www.biofach.de

20 China Wine & Spirits Awards 2017 – Best Value, Hong Kong, www.cwsa.org

15-18 ExpoVin Moldova 2017, Chisinau, Moldova, www.vinmoldova.md

March 3-6 Oenos, Thessaloniki, Greece, www.helexpo.gr 4-5 Women and Wine of the World – Femmes et Vins du Monde, Monaco, www.womenandwinesoftheworld.com 7-10 Chardonnay du Monde 2017, Burgundy, France, www.chardonnay-du-monde.com 7-10 Foodex Japan 2017, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan, www3.jma.or.jp/foodex/en

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.

10-12 RendezVino Karlsruhe 2017, Messe Karlsruhe, Rheinstetten, Germany, www.rendezvino.info 11-12 International Pinot Noir Symposium, Germany, www.spaetburgunder-symposium.de 15 WiVi – Central Coast Wine Industry Conference, Paso Robles, California, USA, www.wivicentralcoast.com

More grapegrowers were expected to dry their 1987 crop because of disappointing Victorian prices for wine grapes.

The price of $177 a tonne for Sultana and $185 for Gordo compared with $190 and $205 the previous year.

Grapegrowers in the Riverland, Sunraysia and the Murrumbidgee Irrigation area expressed disappointment at the Victorian prices.

Sunraysia Wine Grapegrowers chairman, Leo Englefied, said the Victorian prices were about eight per cent lower than last year.

He said the reduction, following two years of no price increases, had effectively cut grapegrower incomes by 32%.

February 1997: Industry experts were involved in the creation of three new wine courses and a specialist course for wine traders at a leading Victorian TAFE institute.

The three short courses devised by the expanding Tourism and Hospitality School at the Preston Campus of the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE are: Wine of Australia, Wines of the world and The Art of Wine Tasting.

February 2007: Fish, milk and eggs are all used as finings agents to clarify wine before it is bottled.

But in 2007, the virtual shopping list of potential allergens was at the centre of a row between the wine lobby and the American Government.

The government wanted all labels to identify the possible presence of all allergens in wine. Even the wheat-based glue used in construction of some barrels came under fire.

Byproducts of at least three of the eight allergens on the government’s list are commonly used in winemaking. They include egg whites, a milk protein called casein and isinglass, a substance derived from the inner membrane of the swim bladders of sturgeon.

JD = judging date CD= closing date February 2017 – Issue 637

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

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