Wine & Viticulture Journal

JULY/AUGUST 2012 · Volume 27 Number 4

trends in large-scale processing • Managing eucalyptus aromas • The effects of a warming climate on warm climate viticulture • Regional focus: Yarra Valley • Varietal report: Touriga & Touriga-dominant blends • Profile: Tony Jordan

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Publisher: Hartley Higgins General Manager: Elizabeth Bouzoudis Editor Sonya Logan Ph (08) 8369 9502 Email

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Associate Editors Gary Baldwin Mark Krstic

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JOURNALIST Matt Byrne Editorial Assistance Lauren Jones, Write Lane CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Tony Battaglene Dimitra Capone Andrew Cottell Mark Downey Peter Dry Paul Fenn Ray Gatt James Gosper Markus Herderich Cathy Howard Tony Keys Kym Ludvigsen Ian McLellan David Nitschke Paul Petrie Richard Smart Mark Smith Dale Unwin

Toby Bekkers Tony Carapetis Ben Craw Nick Dry Everard Edwards Leigh Francis Matthew Gilliham Richard Halstead Tony Hoare Daniel Johnson Mark Krstic Marica Mazza Philippe Morin Jeremy Ottawa Mark Rowley Brady Smith Chris Taylor Helen Waite

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Sonya Logan, Editor

A

s most subscribers would know, we recently ran a online readers’ survey to find out what you think about the Wine & Viticulture Journal, the bits you like the most, and whether you had any suggestions for improvement – this is, after all, a magazine for industry, so it is important that we are meeting your expectations.

The number of people who responded to the survey was overwhelming – it is clear we have a lot of passionate subscribers! Over the coming weeks we will be dissecting all the comments and suggestions with the ultimate goal of delivering a Journal that suits your expectations as close as possible.

In the meantime, I thought I would share just a selection of the comments we received.

Comments such as the following were particularly pleasing: ‘quality contributors’; ‘a good blend of research and current information in one place’; 'it’s a great tool to see what is happening within the industry and any

new technologies or developments within the industry’; ‘it seems to be the most useful practical magazine I know’; ‘it is industry-relevant’; ‘has a good variety of topics, opinions, innovation etc.’; ‘I love the varietal reports but most of all I am simply made to feel ‘connected’ to the industry’; ‘it is the best magazine in terms of quality of editorial content and is more than just advertorial like some of 'the other industry publications available’; the Alternative Varieties column is thorough and educational’; and ‘high quality technical reports’.

When asked what topics they would like to see more of in the Journal, some readers indicated they were entirely happy with the magazine just the way it is, with comments like, ‘more of the same’ and ‘happy with present mix of topics’. Others had plenty of suggestions, which we look forward to exploring as potential articles in future issues.

As always, we are happy for your comments and suggestions on the Journal at any time, sonya@winetitles.com.au

Cover: T his issue's profile column throws the spotlight on Oenotec principal Tony Jordan, see page 77.

Production and Design: Nathan Grant Administration: Esme Parker Subscriptions One-year subscription (6 issues) Australia $77.00 (AUD) Two-year subscription (12 issues) Australia $144.00 (AUD) To subscribe and for overseas prices, visit: www.winebiz.com.au The Wine & Viticulture Journal is published bi-monthly.

Correspondence and enquiries should be directed to Sonya Logan.The views expressed in the Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Journal or its staff.

Regular features

News Opinion Wine Australia WFA ASVO Tony Keys Richard Smart AWRI Report

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Alternative Varieties Mark Rowley Wine Intelligence Super Wines Industry profile Regional report Varietal report Tasting

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Win e & V iticultur e Jo ur na l

JULY/A UGUST 2012

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I n t h is issu e

R E G U L A R FE AT U R E S

c o n t e n ts

V I T I C U LT U R E

8 OPINION (Kym Ludvigsen): Vine improvement in Australia at a crossroad

44 Hot and getting hotter – how will a warming climate affect warm climate viticulture?

12 WINE AUSTRALIA (James Gosper): Good response to new market programs structure 13 WFA (Tony Battaglene): Coordinated approach to trade brings results 14 ASVO (Paul Petrie): New editor for the ‘yellow journal’ 15 KEY FILES: Wine writers - past, present and future 18 RICHARD SMART: China – emerging market or competitor?

59 TONY HOARE: Ethical and free trade branding for wine: harvesting the benefits 49 Grapevine propagation best practices – Part 2 52 Genomics: the key to safeguarding sustainable winegrape production

W I NE M A K I N G

56 Vineyard scoops annual trophy pool

22 AWRI REPORT: Managing eucalyptus aromas

61 Regional profiling: the McLaren Vale experience

28 When size matters: large format oak – why use it?

64 Negro Amaro – a worthy alternative red in the right homoclime

34 Precision management technologies prove their value in selective harvesting in Australia’s major production regions 38 A snapshot of processing trends in Australia’s larger wineries

business & marketing

66 Profile of small exporters 68 To adapt or not to adapt…that is the China question

pr o f il e

77 Chemistry is right for Jordan

R E G I ON A L R E P O R T

79 Yarra Valley, Victoria V2 7N 4

73 The National Water Initiative – financial implications for growers 74 US consumers nearing closure over the influence of seals in wine purchasing decisions

VA R I E TA L R E P O R T

86 Top Touriga producers tell all W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

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NE W S

2012 vintage up 4% on last year with expectations unanimous on stand-out quality

T

he 2012 national vintage has come in at significantly more than early predictions, if the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia’s recently-released annual vintage survey is anything to go.

The survey estimates the crush will be 4% higher than in 2011, topping 1.66 million tonnes. This is close to the latest five-year average of 1.63MT, but well below the peak of 1.93MT in 2005.

The survey is the first quantitative measure of the 2012 vintage, with the data drawn from a survey sent to all known wineries in Australia in April which asked them to provide details of their grape crush for both 2011 and 2012. Survey responses were received from 470 wineries, covering an estimated 93% of the industry’s winegrape intake.

WFA’s manager of economics and policy, Paul van der Lee, said early predictions for the 2012 harvest were around 1.4-1.5MT. “When people make statements that yields are down there is a consequent expectation that the vintage will be down.

But, it depends on where your vineyard site is and the climatic influences it experiences,” van der Lee said. “For example, in 2011, there was an expectation that yields would have been high if it wasn’t for the climatic interventions.

This year, the reverse happened; there was an expectation that yields would be lower but because of the seasonal conditions, particularly in cool climate regions and those in the eastern states that experienced heavy rains and flooding, the effect on yields was not as adverse.”

Van der Lee said the quality expectations for the vintage were unanimously high.

“The fact is that producers in most vintages make claims about quality but this year they have been unanimous and ecstatic across all geography types. It’s more than just people talking up the vintage,” he said.

The survey estimated that the warm

Australia’s total winegrape crush (‘000 tonnes) since 2003.

Source: ABS Catalogue No. 1329.0 except 2012 figure (WFA estimate) inland regions increased their contribution to the national harvest by 7% compared with 2011, accounting for nearly one million tonnes.

Van der Lee said the increase in warm inland production was timely.

“It’s probably not a bad thing that a big vintage has come out of the warm inland regions given our competitive situation, which remains very challenged. By having more grapes at competitive prices and of a high quality may hold us in good stead,” said.

Accompanying the release of the WFA Vintage Survey was a summary of the 2012 Australian Winegrape Purchases Price Dispersion Report issued by Wine Australia, which revealed the first signs of grape prices firming. While the average purchase price from the survey (covering about 80% of all purchases) of $457 per tonne was the second lowest in the last decade, it was 11% higher than the 2011 average of $413 per tonne.

The WFA survey also showed that the sector’s inventory-to-sales ratio is down to the lowest level since 1995.

“This is welcome for breathing space for the industry as it means it has cleared the decks of a lot of surplus that was hanging over its head. But, the fact remains, the industry still has a capacity to produce 1.9MT. “The industry still needs to restructure.

Even if supply and demand were in balance tomorrow, there would still be vineyards out there that were not sustainable in the long term.

“There does seem to be quite a few producers who are not responsive to market signals. It might be that they’re at retirement age and need some cashflow from their vineyard or they have a secondary source of income in addition to their vineyard.”

Van der Lee said the demand for quality wine continued to expand in markets like the US and China, providing an avenue for committed brand owners to convert some of the surplus into sustainable sales.

The clear ‘alternative’ The Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show will be held in November 2012 and online entries are now open.

Since the first show in 2001, the number of entries has grown from 60 to more than 600.

The entrant judged best wine of the show is awarded the Dr Rod Bonfiglioli Trophy. Last year, the trophy was awarded

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to the 2011 Protero 2006 Nebbiolo. In 2011, outgoing chief of judges Max Allen passed over the reins to incoming chief Jane Faulkner, who has judged at the show a number of times since 2001.

Visit www.aavws.com for online entries.

W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

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Riverland Wine Show open for entries

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ntries are being welcomed for the 40th anniversary of the Riverland Wine Show ahead of the judging taking place on 10-11 September.

The 2012 wine show, sponsored by the Wine & Viticulture Journal, has brought about significant amendments to the class schedule, following a review by key industry personnel. Two sections have been added to the schedule to include wines produced from a minimum 51% of grapes grown within the Australian Geographical Indicator regions of Swan Hill, Murray Darling,

Riverina, Rutherglen and Riverland. This is in addition to the existing sections requiring an 85% minimum.

The ‘special classes’ minimum stock requirement has also been reduced from 80 kilolitres to 990 litres. Finally, the fortified classes have been expanded to the more specific classes of Australian, Classic, Grand and Rare, with each of the classes referring to the age of the fortified wines, meaning similarly aged wines can be compared.

Chair of the Riverland Wine Show

committee Paul Kernich said he hoped the review and subsequent amendments would not only encourage additional entries into the wine show but would show the “farreaching influence” of fruit grown in the inland regions.

A new trophy will also be presented this year for ‘best alternative wine’, which is sponsored by the Riverland Alternative Wine Group.

The class schedule and entry is available online at http://www.riverlandwine.org.au/ wineshow

Germplasm collections under review A report outlining Australia’s private and commercial vine germplasm collections and the type of collections best suited to the industry’s future needs has been commissioned by the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC).

Due for delivery to the GWRDC by October, the paper will also examine best practice germplasm management in other industries and will be co-authored by Richard Hamilton, of Hamilton Viticulture, Libby Tassie, of Tassie Viticultural Consulting, and Prue McMichael, of Scholefield Robinson Horticultural Services.

The commissioning of the paper follows concerns by vine improvement groups and industry stakeholders about the health

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status, management and future of the various public grapevine collections and source blocks in Australia. Funding for these collections to date has largely come from grapevine cutting sales, the demand for which has dropped significantly with the downturn in the industry.

Germplasm collections in Australia are currently held by the CSIRO, the South Australian Research & Development Institute (SARDI), independent and wine produceroperated nurseries, and regional and state vine improvement groups. The CSIRO and SARDI hold the largest public germplasm collections at Koorlong, in Victoria’s Murray Valley, and at Nuriootpa, in South Australia’s Barossa Valley, respectively. A survey in 2009 noted the CSIRO collection comprised 1069

W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

different vines, including 245 varieties and 222 clones not held in any other publiclyavailable collections in Australia. The same survey showed SARDI’s collection had 743 vines.

Germplasm has been incorporated into the GWRDC’s yet-to-be-released RD&E plan for 2012-17.

‘The GWRDC has commissioned an objective and independent review of grapevine collections in Australia to assist the sector make informed decisions about the number of collections required to assist the sector’s vine and wine improvement requirements and the biosecurity and health status of the collections, and provide options on how the sector might contribute to their ongoing maintenance’, said Neil Fisher, executive director GWRDC.

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o pi n i o n

Vine improvement in Australia at a crossroad

By Kym Ludvigsen Chair, Australian Vine Improvement Association. Email: ludvigsn@vic.chariot.net.au

To date, Australia’s major public grapevine collections and source blocks have been largely funded through the sale of planting material. The drop in demand for this material over recent years has raised concerns about the future of these collections. Following these concerns, the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation has recently commissioned a paper to document Australia’s current commercial and private collections, examine best-practice germplasm management in other industries, and recommend the type of collections best suited for Australia’s future needs. Kym Ludvigsen says funding for a national clean health plant collection is needed immediately.

V

ine improvement organisations across Australia have been the major supplier of grapevine cuttings to the wine industry since being established by a combination of government and industry from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, working together to produce the best possible planting material.

The introduction of new grape varieties, as well as the expansion of established varieties that occurred during the early 1980s, was considerably enhanced by the availability of improved planting material. These improved plantings placed Australian viticulture in the best position to meet expanding Shiraz_130h_x_90w_2012_DRAFT1_Layout 1 26/06/12 4:48 PM Page 1 markets for wine, first domestically and, then, for the export market.

Each state in Australia established a vine improvement organisation. Until the 2000s, these organisations were supported by co-funding and research links to the various state governments. When we think of government support for vine improvement, we think of Richard Cirami, Michael McCarthy and Phil Nicholas, in South Australia, Graeme Fletcher, in Victoria, and Rob Walker and Peter Clingeleffer, from the CSIRO, who were the leading research providers for propagation material in Australia.

Each state developed their vine improvement associations in different ways in order to reflect their individual needs.

In Victoria this involved a major, centralised mothervine collection of vines and clones, with minor source block plantings on grapegrower properties. The Victorian and Murray Valley Vine Improvement Association (VAMVVIA) Open to commercially available Shiraz of any vintage, is managed by the various industry groups of that state, information available on-line the end of July including prize schedule. including Wine Victoria, Australian dried fruits and tablegrape grower groups, grapegrower organisations in Sunraysia and Entries close: 14th September 2012 Swan Hill, and the grapevine nursery industry.

VAMVVIA provides grapevine cuttings to industry nurseries and, to a lesser extent, grapegrowers, leaving the commercial propagation to the relevant commercial entities. It does not supply vine rootlings.

In South Australia, vine improvement evolved as seven strong sponsorship support for 2012 separate regional organisations, each with their own source blocks mainly planted on grower properties. In 1977, the South Australian Vine Improvement Committee (SAVIC) was formed by the chairpersons of each of the regional committees, with support from vine improvement staff from the Department of Agriculture. SAVIC was supported by an additional levy on propagules sold by the regional Keith Lucas Design committees. SAVIC supported the purchase by the Riverland Vine Improvement Committee (RVIC) of a rootstock For further information visit www.shirazchallenge.com.au or email shirazchallenge@tahbilk.com.au motherblock in Loxton, on behalf of SAVIC. By 1988, this block was no longer able to support state demand for rootstocks,

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o pi n i o n

so, SAVIC supported the purchase of the McCreanor block, which was a virgin block on the outskirts of Monash with a government guarantee for supply of irrigation water. On behalf of SAVIC, RVIC established new rootstock mothervine planting, as well as an increased row collection for key varieties in undersupply from growers’ source blocks around the state. The remaining six vine improvement groups have all their source blocks on grower properties, with some regional groups having small collections of grapevines where deemed necessary.

With the exception of RVIC, all of the South Australian vine improvement groups supply grapevine cuttings only.

The SA emphasis is on supplying both nurseries and grapegrowers.

The NSW vine improvement committee is based at Griffith, in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA), with a major centralised mothervine planting similar to that which exists in Victoria. The MIA Vine Improvement Society (MIAVIS) does not have growerbased source blocks; it supplies cutting to nurseries and grapegrowers, rather than grapevine rootlings.

The other states have significantly smaller vine improvement groups and, as a general rule, supply cuttings to growers as required.

In 1988, a national vine improvement organisation was formed, the Australian Vine Improvement Association (AVIA).

Members included the chairpersons of NSW, SA and Victorian vine improvement groups, together with another nominated member and the Department of Agriculture’s vine improvement specialists, with Richard Hamilton as executive officer.

AVIA’s charter was to ‘coordinate vine improvement activities across Australia and ensure equitable distribution of new and improved propagation material’. Funding for AVIA was provided by levies on cuttings at state and regional level.

In recent times, government input into grapevine clonal and varietal research has all but disappeared, with Victoria removing its total collection in 2006, and the CSIRO removing collections in NSW and Victoria as recently as 2010. South Australia has consolidated its collection at Nuriootpa, with a remnant collection at Loxton.

Access to the SA collection at Nuriootpa and the remaining CSIRO collection has been restricted since 2009, as problems with variety identity and virus infection levels became apparent.

Changes to quarantine regulation since 1992 have opened up the opportunity for the importation of grapevines to any applicant. Prior to this, the majority of grapevine imports were coordinated through AVIA and the CSIRO. This helped manage what was imported, reduced duplication of imports, and ensured knowledge of the source and quality of the grapevines imported.

The current downturn in the planting of grapevines has created a serious reduction in finance for the vine improvement groups as the major suppliers of grapevine planting material in Australia, as all levies are dependent on propagules sales. As a result, the organisations with major varietal and clonal collections are under severe financial pressure.

The maintenance of any varietal and clonal collection is expensive. These collections can have 16 or more clones of a single variety, based on industry requests for particular clones planted over time to meet orders.

Apart from the obvious operational costs of maintaining a grapevine collection, vine improvement groups have a requirement to ensure they supply the best possible planting material.

This can include costs associated with: • importing new varieties • maintaining existing mother plantings • maintaining vineyard and nursery infrastructure • propagation of a new variety or clone to a source block of a size of use to industry • maintaining virus status classifications through regular testing • meeting industry accreditation status • varietal identity by both DNA and ampelography • research into the performance of a varieties and clones • marketing the planting material.

Market failure is likely to occur if the costs of managing the grapevine collections are greater than the returns from the sale of cuttings taken from the collections. This is a situation facing many of the vine improvement groups across Australia at this time.

Approaches have been made to the GWRDC to review and assist in change management within the vine improvement sector of the grape industries, such that market failure does not occur and to ensure that Australia protects its grapevine genetic material. The GWRDC has undertaken

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o pi n i o n

to review the sector and present a case for reform in the next few months to industry.

Much of Australia’s genetic grapevine material is unique within the world.

Australia, in the past, has been isolated from many of the pests and diseases present in the Northern Hemisphere by geographical location and a centrallymanaged quarantine and importing process.

This has changed in recent times, with many importation restrictions lifted, allowing anyone to import grapevines from anywhere in the world with minimal quarantine standards needing to be met (e.g. as leafroll is considered endemic, there are no restrictions on importation of leafroll I and III, which have major impacts on infected vines’ yield and quality).

A greater level of importation of unregistered grapevine material from other countries leads to an increased risk of importation of ‘endemic’ leafroll diseases, and the misidentification of the variety.

Phylloxera and other grapevine pest and diseases decimated Northern Hemisphere germplasms and

collections in the 1860s and 1870s. The Australian wine industry has a unique collection of pre-phylloxera planting material that needs to be maintained.

Key to any reform, however, is the industry’s ability to pay for it.

AVIA is responsible for advocacy for vine improvement across state borders and is requesting the activation of either the Plant Health Australia Biosecurity Levy, presently set at nil value, or an increase in the grower contribution to the Wine Industry Levy to fund a nationally-focussed Australian Clean Plant Health Network as a key outcome of the present GWRDC review.

Initially, the Australian Clean Plant Health Network would establish an agreed structure involving the relevant industry groups, including Federal and state agricultural departments, state vine improvement groups, wine, dried fruit and tablegrape bodies, and nursery interests, and could evolve, over time, to include other horticultural crops.

The Australian Clean Plant Health Network would identify any or all under-utilised infrastructure existing within in the various state Departments of Agriculture and

the CSIRO, coordinate the research effort where relevant, and provide the necessary linkages that work to the benefit of plant health and the whole Australian viticulture industry. The call for technical input for the quarantine restructure is urgent but, at this stage, is lacking coordination. Our industry is responsible for making decisions on biosecurity.

An obvious conclusion is that to maintain a long-term viable future, vine improvement needs to develop into a nationally coordinated group and combine with other major horticultural crops to ensure long-term funding is self-supporting and sustainable.

The present state of issues relating to vine improvement need to be managed in new and different ways to maintain our present levels of supply, and to ensure the longevity and high health of our unique grapevine resources. Without grapevine propagation material managed to vine improvement health and identification standards, we have no industry.

To comment on this article, email editor Sonya Logan, sonya@winetitles.com.au WVJ

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W I NE A U S T R A L I A

Good response to new market programs structure

By James Gosper General Manager, Market Development, Wine Australia

Wine Australia has changed the way it delivers its market programs and, as James Gosper reports, the initial response to the news has been positive.

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ine Australia has not long ago returned from attending trade shows in Montreal, London and Hong Kong, and the feedback we received when talking to exporters in these key markets was similar to what we are hearing at home in Australia; they think the changes make sense and will add a lot more flexibility to our offering.

I admit to being relieved, because I was worried about people accepting change to a system that was working pretty well.

Before I go into detail, let me clarify exactly what programs I am talking about.

Wine Australia uses the export levies collected from the industry by the Federal Government to fund a broad range of promotional work on behalf of the industry.

This allows us to maintain our strategic offices in the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Japan and China and run a range of activities in each of these markets, as well as domestically.

These include education, engagement, relationship building, market intelligence and communications.

This remains our core work, and is unchanged in both structure and intent – though we are always refreshing our individual ideas and initiatives.

Our complementary role is to coordinate activities and events that provide specific exposure and benefits to companies that choose to participate on a user-pays basis. We have programs in all our key markets, as well as some emerging markets, but they differ between markets.

We view these user-pays programs as essentially partnerships that allow industry to jointly invest in the future of the category. They are an efficient utilisation of industry marketing funds, investing in a common and agreed strategy.

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The change is in how these programs are packaged and presented.

Previously, participating companies paid a set membership fee to sign up for a full annual program in each market. Now – as of 1 July, in fact – they can select and pay for only the specific activities and markets that best fit their brands and business strategies.

We still need a commitment upfront to help with planning and logistics, but each company only commits to what best meets its needs.

This evolution allows us to present a diverse range of activities to our increasingly diverse range of stakeholders. We believe our market programs are well-established and we are now at the stage where we can build in a bit more flexibility without compromising what we offer.

We can also do it without compromising our overall marketing strategy, which is vital. Everything we are doing, at home and abroad, is focussed on recapturing the excitement about Australian wine and evolving our global position towards a stronger perception of quality, diversity and value.

I am pretty excited by the results.

We have developed a suite of userpays activities for each key market, with a focus on delivering growth to the category and offering opportunities for a range of stakeholders, including regional wine and smaller producers.

These activities include Australian pavilions at trade shows, on- and offpremise retail promotions, consumerfocussed festivals, sponsorship and events, Australian category trade/ media tastings, regional visits and targetted trade media education seminars.

The full details are set out in the prospectus for individual brand W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

investment that we distributed in May to wine producers, importers, agents and other stakeholders. You can download copies from www. wineaustralia.com/marketprograms, and I urge you to do so. There is a really diverse range of options.

We have also distributed a separate regional and state investment prospectus to regional and state associations and state government agencies, detailing co-investment opportunities more closely aligned with these bodies, and a state or regional message.

The response to this prospectus has been strong, with expressions of interest for various activities from five states and 16 key regions. Interest has been strongest in hosting the three group visits – the Vintage 2013 visit from China, SIE (Sommeliers, Independents, Educators) visit from UK, and SIP (Sommelier Immersion Program) visit from North America.

These visits are creating a growing group of Australian wine ambassadors (75 from this year alone) across our export markets, who return from their visit to Australia filled with our stories (and wines) to share with their customers, readers and students.

Excitingly, other activities, such as the Australian SIP visit and the regional masterclasses in the UK, have also attracted regional association interest.

We are looking forward to working with our regional and state partners on delivering these once-in-a-lifetime visits and masterclasses.

If you have any questions about any of our market program activities, contact Anna Harvey at market.programs@wineaustralia.com or (08) 8228 2000.

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W FA

Coordinated approach to trade brings results

By Tony Battaglene General Manager Strategy & International Affairs, Winemakers’ Federation of Australia

If you have ever wondered what function Australia plays in the operations of the OIV, Tony Battaglene gives an overview of the organisation’s main roles – and explains why it’s vital that Australian wine industry representatives maintain a seat at the table.

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ustralia is very active on the international stage at the moment, dealing with a range of issues that have the potential to improve market access for our exporters and create new market opportunities by reducing trade distortions in global markets.

Much of this slides under the radar, however, because it tends to be ‘out of sight, out of mind’ and many of the benefits are neither immediate nor obvious.

A particular focus is the OIV (International Organisation of Vine and Wine), an intergovernmental organisation that makes non-binding recommendations on a range of viticulture, oenological and regulatory matters relevant to the wine industry. Its 45 members include all major wineproducing countries, except China and the US. For Australia, the OIV is important because the EU bases its authorised oenological practices on those recommended by the OIV, and adopts OIV methods of analysis. The EU also recognises the OIV list of vine varieties and synonyms, which is significant as the inclusion of a name on this list allows for the use of that variety name in the EU market. In addition, many other countries, including China, Brazil and India, either reference or use OIV standards when setting regulations.

The primary goal of Australia’s participation in the OIV is to ensure its resolutions are based on sound science and are minimally trade-restrictive. We then have secondary aims of ensuring that the organisation is well-governed, and that it gathers and provides data for use in strategic planning and competitor analysis for Australia.

We are well-represented and wellrespected at the OIV table, thanks to Australia’s reputation for quality and V2 7N 4

innovation, and a coordinated approach between the national industry bodies and the Federal Government. In fact, you could argue that we have influence beyond our size.

Central to this has been the establishment of a reference group, chaired by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), to enable development of a common strategy and positions to take to OIV meetings. DAFF pays Australia’s annual OIV membership fee, and its manager of wine policy, John Power, ably leads the Australian delegation.

Peter Hayes is current OIV vice president, I am president of the expert group on statistics and economics, and Creina Stockley, from the AWRI, is expected to be elected president of the health and safety commission.

Australia also provides a number of industry technical experts in oenology, viticulture and health to attend technical meetings. Participation at the expert group level allows us to shape OIV resolutions at an early stage and minimise the risk of trade-distorting or contentious decisions being made.

While OIV resolutions rarely progress quickly and often have little direct impact on Australian wine production or exports, they have the potential to be a barrier to trade.

The following are some of the key OIV issues we are engaged in at the moment: • r esolutions setting definitions and processes for reduced alcohol wines were due to be approved by the general assembly in June, and these resolutions will influence European rules for trading and labelling reduced alcohol wine and wine products • t he European Commission is starting to actively direct its influence on the European member states, and it would be in all our interests to have them W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

as a member of the OIV to increase transparency • in a similar vein, we are working with others to influence India to adopt OIVapproved oenological practices in its regulations • we are participating in a working group developing a protocol for the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions created during wine production. It is important that calculations reflect international conditions and cannot be used as mechanism for restricting trade • we are seeking to ensure that any definitions on genetically modified (GM) products are based on science and will be subject to regular review to meet changing market conditions • we are providing leadership in seeking approval for commonly used additives and processing aids in China • we are particularly interested in suggestions by the scientific and technical committee (CST) that existing resolutions on sustainability need to be revised.

The OIV holds three sets of meetings each year. The expert groups, commissions, CST and executive committee meet over two weeks in March, and this is where most of the developmental work is done.

This is followed by meetings of the World Congress of Wine, commissions and general assembly in June/July, then further meetings of commissions, CST, executive committee and an extraordinary general assembly in October. The October meetings usually focus on administration.

The general assembly is important, as it is in this forum that resolutions are debated and voted on, and office holders are elected. Australia has typically sent a smaller delegation to these meetings, although industry scientific experts do take the opportunity of the World Congress to present scientific papers. WVJ www.winebiz. com . au

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A S V O

New editor for the ‘yellow journal’

By Paul Petrie, President, Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology

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he Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology is proud to announce that Dr Terry Lee AO will be the new editor of the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research (AJGWR). Dr Lee brings to the role extensive experience in wine industry research and senior scientific management, which will further lift the profile and impact of the AJGWR. Dr Lee holds a Bachelor of Science and PhD in Food Technology from The University of New South Wales, and is a fellow of both the ASVO and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. He is a patron of the Australian wine industry, and was awarded an Order of Australia medal for his service to the industry in 2007.

In 2004, he retired from the position of vice president and chief scientific officer at E&J Gallo, the largest family-owned wine company in the world. Prior to this position, he was managing director at The Australian Wine Research Institute for 14 years. Dr Lee has continued to serve in several strategic roles within the Australian wine sector in ‘retirement’, including a period as a director of the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation. The AJGWR is the highest Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) ranked oenology and viticulture journal internationally, with an ‘impact factor’ of 2.534 (an indication of how frequently journal articles are quoted and a gauge of the AJGWR’s international profile), and is provided to ASVO members as part of their subscription to the society.

analysis of grapes in the vineyard in order to assess quality. Michael Cleary, from E&J Gallo, in California, will provide a perspective on using sensory data to objectively measure fruit composition in a commercial setting. The full program and registration form are available from the ASVO website (www.asvo.com.au)

ASVO Winemaker of the Year The ASVO Winemaker of the Year award recognises a winemaker within the Australian wine industry who has demonstrated technical mastery over chemical, microbiological and sensorial knowledge aspects of winemaking. The criteria includes looking at continual improvement of technical proficiency both personally and within the business environment, producing wines that are recognised by third parties for their quality, style and innovation.

Terry Lee.

ASVO seminar

AJGWR Best Paper Award The Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research Best Paper Award recognises a paper that is deemed to be outstanding in its content, and a substantial contribution to the field of grape and wine science. The award aims to target papers where the potential application of the science to industry is deemed most significant.

The three awards will be decided by panels of industry experts and presented as part of ASVO and WISA’s awards dinner. This is a black tie event to be held at the Festival Centre, in Adelaide, on Thursday 18 October. Please visit the

Do you know someone who could benefit by joining the ASVO? By taking part in our ‘refer a friend’ promotion, you can encourage your colleagues to become a member. For every friend who joins, the ASVO will enter you and your friend into a prize draw to win a registration to the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference, in Sydney, in 2013. The more friends you nominate, the more chances you have to win! Applications received before 31 July 2012 will be eligible for entry into the promotion. The entry forms and full terms and conditions of the promotion are available from the ASVO website.

Tickets to the joint ASVO and Wine Industry Suppliers Australia Inc. seminar on ‘Objective Measures of Grape and Wine Quality’ are selling fast. The seminar will be held in Mildura on 25-26 July, and will feature a wide range of local and overseas speakers with both industry and research backgrounds.

International speakers include Antonio César da Silva Ferreira, from the Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal, who will speak about using high resolution spectroscopy to perform chemical

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New awards The ASVO is proud to announce three new awards that have been opened to its members.

ASVO Viticulturist of the Year The ASVO Viticulturist of the Year award recognises that great wines begin with good vineyard management, which results in the sustainable and efficient production of high quality, producttargetted fruit. The award will be made to a viticulturist (including dried grapes and table grapes) involved in the recent development of a novel and significant viticultural innovation for the Australian industry.

W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

ASVO website for more details on the awards and to make reservations for the dinner.

Membership drive

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Wine writers - past, present and future

By Tony Keys

French-based wine writer Andrew Jefford recently returned to Australia to deliver the Wine Communicators of Australia’s annual lecture, which was held in four capital cities and entitled ‘Wine and astonishment’. His presentation put philosophy and epiphany in a vinous context. Tony Keys ponders several points raised in Jefford’s discussion, including whether modern wine writers’ shrinking column space is because their articles and tasting notes are overloaded with metaphors, becoming dull and repetitious.

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rench-based wine writer Andrew Jefford was recently in Australia giving presentations to members of Wine Communicators of Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

His subject: ‘Wine and astonishment’.

Although Jefford’s presentation prompted this article, this is not an argumentative or adversary piece. In fact, it’s rather a wandering style and, like Jefford, pulls ideas in, recasts them and releases them for further consideration.

A fundamental part of Jefford’s presentation asked his audience to look at wine with fresh eyes. To achieve this, he suggested philosophy. For me and, I suspect, for many, philosophy is a very high plateau of awareness, one that is sought but rarely achieved.

Jefford didn’t make it easier with his choice of philosopher, Martin Heidegger.

Being less eloquent than Jefford, he was a dogmatic, heavy-duty scholar who was a card-carrying member of the Nazi Party both before and during the Second World War. Heidegger put forward the theory that we had all forgotten the basic question of what ‘being’ is. Jefford translated that into: “We tend to explore unfamiliar places with passionate intensity for two weeks a year and, then, we barely glance at the familiar places where we live for 50 weeks a year. We look with glazed or veiled or, sometimes, ungrateful eyes at those closest to us, those who give us most, whereas indifferent strangers are minutely appraised.”

Jefford was, of course, lecturing to those involved in wine; those who are communicators of wine, who already have an understanding and love of and for the subject. But, what of those who don’t, the millions of people who buy wine every day and, frankly, don’t give a damn?

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If these communicators were inspired

by Jefford and sought to look at wine in a different light, how would they be able to pass this newfound awareness to the consumer at large? Cutting to the chase, it is my belief they would not be able to achieve greater awareness in the consumer, newfound knowledge or not.

The status quo will remain: the all too few interested, and the very many who are not.

Having said that, Jefford was correct in suggesting new approaches, and was truthful when he spoke about the language of wine saying, “It’s easy to use a received language of wine and to assume that it has universal meaning.

Well, it doesn’t. The language of wine is of necessity – highly metaphorical and, hence, puzzling; these are not plain words.”

For me, Jefford’s presentation provoked a segue into writing style, the words used and the philosophy of wine in yesteryear.

Introducing Walter James, who presented the 1953 J.K. Walker Lecture to “members and their womenfolk” of the Wine & Food Society of New South Wales. President Dr Frank Louat QC said, “It is good for us all to turn sometimes from the valued but miniature techniques of appreciation of wine and food, to the fundamental inquiry about philosophic approaches”.

James started his speech recounting his wine epiphany, something Jefford covered later in his presentation, and I will return to this later in this article.

James’ philosophy was not of the depth of Jefford’s, but the point of placing wine within the context of life rather than presenting it on a pedestal came across clearly.

In 1953, James also published a short book titled 'What’s What About Wine', which was described as W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

“a book for beginners, not for seasoned connoisseurs”. It starts: “Pleasure is the reward which comes of the simple-sense organs of sight, smell, taste and hearing.

There are, or so we are told, pleasures higher than these, but although we may occasionally reach out to them and even, like the apostles, ‘touch God with our fingers’, we cannot live daily on such nebulous heights, and those who attempt to do so succeed mainly in making their own and other people’s lives miserable.

For God designed our bodies to be of the earth, earthy, and it is well for our sanity that we should ever bear this in mind.”

To close the chapter on Walter James and to hammer home my point, philosophy and epiphany in a vinous context were alive and well in Australia some six decades before Andrew Jefford raised the subject, despite many in his audience thinking he was presenting new, radical ideas.

It was also alive and well in the UK. The yearly volume of 'The Complete Imbiber (1956 to 1971)', edited by Cyril Ray, had wonderful, witty, political and many philosophical essays on all aspects of alcohol. The first edition included contributions from poet Louis Golding, Nancy Mitford, Wolf Mankowitz, Sir Compton Mackenzie and many other noted people of the day.

“The language of wine is of necessity – highly metaphorical and, hence, puzzling; these are not plain words,” says Jefford. True enough if reading many commentators on wine today is anything to go by, because now we have tasting notes, as opposed to prose on the subject of wine, which led many writers to flights of fancy.

Tim White wrote an article in the Australian Financial Review on Friday 15 June this year about the use of screwcaps for sparkling wine. It is wellwritten and easy to understand, even www.winebiz. com . au

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Andrew Jefford delivers the Wine Communicators of Australia’s annual lecture in Adelaide. for a layman, although I suspect a small amount of knowledge would help. The point being, the language is standard English and would translate into several other languages without losing the message that White is attempting to get across. Accompanying the article were two wine reviews; one was for an Australian sparkling wine - "smells tight, spring-watery, flinty, elemental and ciabatta bready, getting more comfysmelling with time". I have not singled White’s column out for any particular reason; it just happened to be that day’s newspaper on my desk.

Compare White with George Saintsbury writing in 1920 ('Notes on a Cellar-Book'): “The vintage that I laid down most of, and liked, was the 93 [1893]. It took, in some cases, a long time to develop; the Clicquot at eight, even nine, years old, had a peculiar bitterness.

But this worked itself out; it became a very perfect wine.”

Maurice Healy, writing in 1940: “Krug 1928 must be the best wine made in the present century. I never thought much of the popular Widow, and Bollinger has not seemed to me to justify its premium; but P.J. [Perrier Jouët] is nearly always a brisk and cheerful wine.” Michael Broadbent MW tasted the ‘28 Krug in 1957 and wrote, “An appealing pale gold colour with an indolent stream of surprisingly large bubbles; delicately scented, yet rich bouquet. Beautiful flavour, balance and acidity”.

The language is straightforward, as is Tim White’s when he’s writing about the subject. Where White and many others in today’s current genre of wine scribes

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differ is the metaphorical overload when composing tasting notes. I agree with Jefford that the language of wine is highly metaphorical, but disagree it is of necessity. He does point out, “that language needs constant reworking in order to keep meaning fresh and, at the same time, a strenuous search for refreshing can easily teeter over into the ridiculous because of the metaphorical overload”.

Is the current style of wine writing the major reason newspapers are cutting columns? Is research showing readers are not interested in wine because it is the ridiculous use and often abuse of the English language that is off-putting?

Why can’t the modern wine writer be as popular as the food writer or cook/chef that masquerades as a writer?

Has it been wine writers themselves that have cooked the golden goose that provided a very easy income? Let’s be realistic, a weekly wine column of between 500-1000 words is hardly challenging and, of those that remain in print, several follow a dull, repetitive format.

Another attack on wine writing in the hitherto print form is the blogger, with the World Wide Web offering easy access to a possible audience of millions.

The irony is that the strength is also the weakness; the internet allows anyone to put out their opinion that, often, would be better kept among friends or, better still, to oneself. The problem here is finding the interesting among the opinionated and dull that appears to dominate the web. The next step in professional wine writer evolution appears to be having W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

a regular print column backed with a website where more detail can be found, as well as longer articles and more tasting notes. This requires a great deal more work and time on behalf of the writer. Two exponents of this method are James Halliday and Anthony Rose (UK).

The soundest advice Jefford offered was, “It is important to take nothing for granted, to weigh everything in the scales of your own mouth with global benchmarks in mind. Honest opinions, though, can easily congeal into personal dogma. If you have a theory about something, keep testing it; keep putting it to the proof, because it will probably need discarding eventually.”

I have floated the theory that it could well be wine writers themselves that have been responsible for the decline of newspaper columns, the major problems (not in order of importance) being metaphorical overload, dullness, repetition and laziness. Jefford urges, “Writers about wine should, on occasion, at least be troublesome, irritating and critical. Critical disengagement flattens the landscape; critical double-standards blanket it with fog.” How right he is; it forces the question, how often are wine writers troublesome? How few rock the boat? Many sit in the safest place complete with life-jacket, plate of tasty nibbles and a glass that is always half full.

The point where I both agree and, confusingly, disagree with Jefford is this statement: “Wine is quietly unique in human experience. It is a creation in which human beings and the natural world have almost equal roles. It is a creation which is experienced sensually, intellectually and emotionally and, at its best, has a spiritual force, too. Exfoliate the familiarity, detonate the familiarity and you’ve got a substance which, with its remarkable singularity, can take us closer to being itself, to the principal of existence. The mechanism by which you can do this is astonishment. I urge you, therefore, to be as open as possible to astonishment when you speak for and to wine.”

I agree with this statement, because I have looked into many wines in great depth and listened to what they have to say. I have had my senses heightened and the sensual side engaged. Intellectually, I have roamed far and wide calling up the memories of past wines for comparison and experiences wide and varied. All this is hugely enjoyable, intellectually stimulating, and I have been on many occasions astonished, but for me it is also a solo sport. Add a group of people and start the analysis process. What happens? One is often subjected to the V27N4

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loudest and most dogmatic member of the party and their views, which destroys the moment and any spiritual force the wine has generated. Wine, as a lubricant to conversation at the table, is unparalleled; wine, as the sole or dominant subject at the table, is tedious.

Nor can I go along with, “It is a creation in which human beings and the natural world have almost equal roles”. The vine is a forest-loving plant that sends out tendrils in all directions.

The fruit attracts birds, animals and, no doubt, early man to eat and distribute the seeds via natural means.

Man has, for his benefit, dragged this plant out of the forest and, over several millennia, has learnt how to improve the fruit it produces for eating. Somehow along the way he discovered it produces a happy juice now called wine. To do this, the vine is planted in rows to capture the best of the sun, and the wandering tendrils savagely cut. In short, man dominates the vine and what it produces.

I would argue there is no equal role; man has tamed the vine, its fruit and resulting juice to do his bidding for the benefit of man, which is hardly equality.

Wine epiphanies have been wellrecorded over the past century or two, but for every one recorded, there appears to be two warnings (at least) about the evil of wine, as Chaucer wrote in 'The Pardoner’s Tale': A lecherous thyng is wyn, and dronkenesse Is ful of stryvyng and of wrecchednesse.

O dronke man, disfigured is thy face!

Sour is thy breeth, foul artow to embace...

Let’s not depress with the remainder, but return to the vinous epiphany. Walter James had his comeuppance after stealing a bottle of Chateau Lafite 1900 from his father’s cellar and absconding to his room to drink it. It seems many epiphanies involving wine originated from the purloining of a bottle in a less-thanapproved way. I agree with Jefford, it is not always a wine of great reputation and vintage that turns the light on.

Jefford’s view on alcohol in wine was enlightening, not because of originality, but because it does appear to be problematic at the moment: ”It is alcohol that gives wine an emotional, dimensional force, which enables not just to perceive wines’ feeling, but to feel it and to be moved by it. You could even say that alcohol humanises wine”.

Elaborately and prettily put, and also true.

On a personal level, I have come to accept the higher alcohol wines, as they are frequently of better quality than V2 7N 4

many of those tasted and drunk in the 1970 and ‘80s. Balance is the issue; if in balance they are fine, if the whole is out of balance it’s simply a poor wine.

I drift apart from Jefford’s thinking on the wonder of place wine imparts. I feel the sense of place more so from the beans and potatoes pulled direct from the garden 10 paces from the kitchen, and served in the dining room five paces from the kitchen in the other direction. I find greater wonder in going into friends’ orchards in the region I live and picking oranges and other fruits, including bananas, direct from the tree. Wine can convey a sense of place, but I find Jefford’s “drinkers want to hear nature’s heartbeat in wine” fanciful.

The winemaker or winegrower debate is ongoing and will continue to do so.

Each person involved in the industry or trade has a personal view on it. It is easy to think of a winemaker being just that, but only if he or she is totally separated from the vineyard. Most, nowadays, spend quite a time in the vineyard or in consultation with the grapegrower. On the other side, the grapegrower can be considered a farmer if grapes are part of a mixed operation and one of several crops grown.

There is a part of my thinking that says a vineyard connected to a winery and both owned by the person who makes the wine is really deserving of the name winegrower. Although Jefford devoted a part of his presentation to the subject, I see it not an issue of significance.

Good grapes can be turned into good, sometimes great wines; poor grapes can only be turned into poor wine or vinegar.

The poetry of wine, the understanding of wine, the communication between wine and drinker; Jefford covered them all and in an inspiring and eloquent manner. I understand where he is coming from and the direction he is going. I respect his sincerity and the depth of feeling he exhibits on the subject.

Being of a practical nature, I also see Jefford was preaching to the converted, the very small minority who care to the extent he does. It is a higher path he and they tread; as yet, I’m not sure I have ever ascended to it.

Tony Keys is the author of The Key Report (www.thekeyreport.com.au), an independent, weekly e-newsletter on the Australian wine industry containing thought-provoking opinions, critical analysis, fearless comment, no-holdsbarred interviews, and unbiased wine reviews.

To comment on this article, email editor Sonya Logan, sonya@winetitles.com.au

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R ic h ard smart

China - emerging market or competitor?

By Richard Smart

Drawing on the observations from his visits to China in recent years, Richard Smart gives his view on the prospect of this market becoming a key export destination for Australian wine, or a serious competitor in its own right.

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uch is written about Asia in general, but particularly China, as becoming a great market prospect for Australian wine. The Wine Australia website claims: ‘China has been the fastestgrowing export market for Australian wine in recent years, and is now the third largest destination for bottled exports. In the 12 months to the end of March 2012, the value of bottled exports increased by 37% to A$192 million, the volume by 28% to 31 million litres, and the average value by 7% to A$6.11 per litre. Significantly, exports priced at more than A$7.50 per litre rose 47% to A$84m, putting China in first place in this category, ahead of the US (A$48m), Canada (A$47m), Hong Kong (A$35m), Singapore (A$31m) and the UK (A$30m). Australian wine is now the second largest imported wine in China, with a 14% market share in value and 13% in volume’.

This all sounds good, just like the heady days of the 1990s when nothing would stand in the way of the Australian wine exporting juggernaut; watch out world! Now, it is watch out China!

Sadly, we all know what happened in the mid-2000s. Australia lost its market share in exports, and in the domestic market, to other New World wine-producing countries, primarily New Zealand. This was an incredible failure of the bodies entrusted with sector strategy development not to anticipate what was going to happen, and not to issue warnings. I wrote an article in the Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal, the forerunner of this magazine, in May 1994, titled ‘Australia’s competitive advantages in wine exports; what are they?’ I concluded none, that Australia had no sustainable competitive advantage over other New World producers.

In another article published in the March/April ANZWIJ, ‘The Australian wine sector: is the outlook healthy?’, I wrote that Australia was being out-competed in export markets and failing to develop production of cool-climate vineyards and, so, meet market demand. (At this time, however, we were still burdened with the then Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation’s definition

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Richard Smart and translator Vanessa beside a typical soil profile on the plains of Ningxia. These soils are like those in Marlborough, New Zealand, but more uniformly stony, and are typically over 5m deep. The soils are washed down from the nearby Helan Mountains. of ‘cool climate’ as anything but the inland irrigated regions; no wonder producers were confused!)

That may be enough promotion of my skills of clairvoyance. However, is Wine Australia reading China properly now?

Should we be encouraging exports to China as a salvation to the grape and wine surplus or, rather, saying that future Chinese wine production will put the final nail in Australia’s coffin of cheaper wine exports, and maybe even premium wines (and, for some other producing countries as well)?

My vote is for the latter, at least in the medium term (say, 20-30 years), and this column explains why.

Some world statistics Recent world statistics from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) released in 2011 show some W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

interesting trends. The world’s vineyard area is contracting, from a recent high of 7.9 million hectares in 2003. China and Argentina are the only two of the top 14 with increasing area; the rest, including Australia, are decreasing. The grape area includes drying and table grapes. China is now the third largest grape producer in the world, after Italy and the US, and ahead of France and Spain. World wine production is decreasing since a high in 2004; China, Argentina and Russia are the only three of the top 12 that are increasing. China is currently the world’s sixth largest producer after Italy, France, Spain, the US, and Argentina, at 13 million hectolitres. China now produces more wine than Australia (11 million hL). Wine consumption in the top 12 markets is generally declining, or stable; only three markets are increasing: Australia, China and Canada. Exports are V27N4

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stable or decreasing; those increasing are from Italy, Spain, Italy, Chile, Germany, and New Zealand, the latter showing substantial growth. For countries importing wine, only two markets are growing: the US and China, the latter presently around one-third of that of the US. In summary, China is presently a relatively small market, but rapidly growing, and with enormous potential for growth. The world’s major wine producers, Spain, France and Italy, face shrinking domestic markets, and will look increasingly to exports, to China and the US. China is one of the few countries with increasing production. So, if, and when, China produces more wine than it will consume, then it will join the world’s exporters, and all will change.

Manufacturing, garlic, apples, cider and wine Most Australians will be aware of the success of China in manufacturing, likely fewer of their success in agriculture. China produces 66% of the world’s garlic, and 43% of the world’s apples. China produces 29.9 million tonnes of apples, number one in the world. Second place is the US, with only 4.4MT. Cider is increasing its share of the beverage market in Australia. The great

The director of the wine office in Yinchuan, Ningxia, holding the development plan for the Ningxia wine sector. This book contains all aspects of an expanded wine industry, including water resources, and concludes with a proposed northsouth wine route based around wine and other tourist attractions. majority of cider consumed in Australia is made from imported Chinese apple juice concentrate.

China is a very large country, the third largest in the world after Russia and

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Dynasty, and the Pernod Ricard-invested Domaine Helan Mountain, and a Moet Chandon project supposed to produce sparkling wine in a few years. As well, there is Asian Development Bank funding for irrigation developments to improve efficiency, in which vineyards figure largely.

Existing vineyards in Ningxia

Many wineries in ningxia have ‘club houses’, which can be as large as a winery.

Lavishly decorated, these are for club members, and offer tastings and sales.

Members are able to store wine in cellars below the building.

Towards the west, rainfall decreases, summer temperatures are higher and winter temperatures are lower.

China has the land and water resources to greatly expand its wine production, and has plans to do so. There are four principal vineyard regions of China: Shandong Province on the coast, Hebei Province west of Beijing, Ningxia Province in central China, and Xinjiang in the far west. I have consulted in the first three regions, and will here concentrate on Ningxia, where I have had the most recent experience.

Viticulture in China Viticulture in China is generally more difficult than in Australia. There are big problems of fungal diseases, because of summer rainfall and humidity, especially near the coast. Further, rainfall around veraison can stimulate vegetative growth and hinder ripening. Higher night temperatures near the coast also reduce red wine quality.

Inland the climate is more arid, and irrigation must be practised. This is traditionally by flood irrigation, and I have the impression that this is not very well done. Trellis posts are typically square and made of reinforced concrete, and foliage and fruit wires are generally loose and often rusty. Many of the inland soils are very deep (I have seen 100m deep soil profiles) and most are sandy loam in texture, typically with good drainage.

There are indigenous Vitis species in China; one has thorns on the canes!

However, most production is from Vitis vinifera varieties as used in Australia. China has had its share of misnomers like other countries. What was thought to be a local selection Cabernet Gernichet was proved to be Carmeniere. The white Italian variety Sauvignonasse grows well in Shandong

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and resists botrytis effects; it should be considered for the Hunter.

Immediately after harvest, the vineyards are pruned and irrigated, then buried.

Tractors throw up earthern banks, and these are smoothed by shovel. Burial should be complete by early December. Burial does not guarantee survival of vines if winter temperatures are particularly severe.

Viticulture in Ningxia China is committed to expand wine production. The national conference of liquor-making in 1987 set forth the task of ‘change from grain liquor to fruit liquor’, which brought about a new stimulus for wine development. A common beverage in China is ‘Baijiu’, liquor distilled from sorghum and, in my opinion, the world’s worst alcoholic beverage. The government has decided that grain is for food and, so, it is promoting alcohol from fruit, particularly grapes, and especially red wine, which is good for the health. There are current proposals to double wine production.

At the moment, there are some 25,000ha of vineyards in Ningxia province, but I am not sure if this includes table grapes. There are now around 20 wineries. The government program is to increase this area to some 67,000ha within 10 years, and to have 100 wineries. This will make the Ningxia region the number one vineyard region of China.

To put this in perspective, Australia has 157,000ha of vineyards, so Ningxia will have more than one-third of Australia’s vineyard area. And, it is but one of four major regions.

Already, the local government has planned a ‘wine route’, and has begun to attract investment. Great Wall, a Chinese wine company, has planted 500ha at the base of the attractive Helan Mountains.

Other notable wineries involved include large producers Xi Xia King, Changyu and W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

The Ningxia region is arid, with around 200mm of rainfall. Temperatures are very continental, with large diurnal and seasonal differences. Mid-summer is hot, like Loxton in the Riverland, but the ripening and harvest period is cool.

Chinese vineyards are generally not of the standard of Australian ones.

Mechanisation is limited, as can be technical input. Irrigation management is poor, as is trellising and canopy management. Further, vineyards are often out of balance and over-vigorous, with poor fruit exposure and shoot tip growth after veraison. The biggest problem, in my opinion, is the unevenness of vineyards; a mixture of healthy, low vigour, dead vines and, often, replants.

Local wisdom says this is due to winter injury, but my investigations suggest that trunk disease is the major problem. It has only been described in China in 2011. Virus diseases are also widespread.

Existing wines in Ningxia Most commentators are pleasantly surprised by the wine quality, especially for Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmeniere. The wines have good colour and high natural acidity. In 2011, there was great excitement when local winery Helan Qing Xue, saw its Jia Bei Lan wine become the first Chinese wine to win an ‘international trophy‘ at the Decanter World Wine Awards — and in a category for Bordeaux-style wines, no less.

Further, there was a celebrated ‘Bordeaux and Ningxia’ tasting in Beijing in 2011. Five wines from each region and of comparable price were judged blind by five Chinese and five French judges. The Ningxia wines filled the first four places. There is a general appreciation that the area does and will produce quality wines Conclusion Growth and investment in vineyards and wineries are happening, along with a national growth in consumption. To my mind, the trajectories of these growth patterns should be very carefully monitored in Australia. When China’s wine production exceeds local consumption, export is inevitable. The big question is whether it will dominate the world then, as it does for garlic and apples now. My guess is yes. WVJ V27N4

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A W R I

Managing eucalyptus aromas

By Dimitra L. Capone, I. Leigh Francis, Markus J. Herderich and Daniel L. Johnson The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond SA 5064

Mangaging director Dan Johnson

As an investigative story, the hunt for what causes eucalyptus character – and the origin of its aroma compound 1,8-cineole – in wine has the makings of a classic ‘whodunnit’. The search for the ‘culprit’ or ‘ally’, depending on your preference for or against eucalyptus characters, has thrown up false leads, and an unexpected ending. Studying the origin of 1,8-cineole, AWRI research found that the location and leaves of Eucalyptus trees play a direct role in the concentration of 1,8-cineole and occurrence of the ‘eucalypt’, ‘fresh’ or ‘minty’ characters in wine.

N

ative to Australia, Eucalyptus trees have been planted throughout the world, with large populations of the species now growing in China, India and Brazil: they live on every continent apart from Antarctica. Hardy and resilient, they grow in a range of different climates and environments, providing raw timber and wood pulp, as well as large supplies of eucalyptus essential oil.

It is the oil that matters most to winemakers. Most species of Eucalyptus tree contain essential oils in their leaves and, depending on the species, the main component of the oil is a volatile compound called 1,8-cineole, commonly known as eucalyptol. Used as a flavouring agent in a wide range of foods and beverages, as well as being present in a range of

therapeutic products, 1,8-cineole can also be found in red wine, where it is responsible for characters described as ‘eucalypt’, ‘camphor’, ‘fresh’ and ‘minty’.

For some winemakers these characters are a selling point. Some red wines are well-known for their ‘eucalypt’ sensory properties and the compound responsible is considered a help, not a hindrance to the

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winemaker’s craft. For other wine producers, however, ‘eucalypt’ characters are something they prefer to avoid, or at the very least limit through effective management strategies.

Discovering the source of 1,8-cineole and understanding how it gets into wine has become a detective story: a case that wine scientists have been determined to solve.

Early evidence For some time, the origin of 1,8-cineole in wine remained a mystery. Scientists had theories, but none were verified: some researchers believed that ‘eucalypt’ characters were associated with the proximity of vineyards to Eucalyptus trees (Herve et al. 2003); others proposed that there were compounds in grape berries that acted as precursors for 1,8-cineole (Farina et al. 2005).

Further investigations revealed, however, that the precursor proposal did not account for most of the 1,8-cineole found in wine. Research at the AWRI showed that the precursor compounds were unable to generate high enough levels of 1,8-cineole to reach sensory threshold concentrations (Capone et al. 2011). Once this potential source was discounted, the AWRI researchers continued to focus on the

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proximity of Eucalyptus trees to vineyards – historically planted as windbreaks – and whether the location of those trees near vines provided a more likely explanation.

The AWRI also compared red and white wines to see whether there was a clear difference between varieties. A survey of 190 commercially-available Australian wines found eucalyptol, or 1,8-cineole, in significant amounts in red wine varieties only. The survey led to the daily monitoring of two commercial Shiraz ferments from two different winegrowing regions in South Australia throughout fermentation, revealing a continuous increase in the concentration of 1,8-cineole during fermentation that stopped once the wine was drained from the skins. This indicated that the compound was extracted from the grape skins and/or matter other than grapes, commonly known as MOG. How the aroma compound was transferred to grape skins and what is the role of MOG were questions requiring further investigation.

In parallel, consumer studies were carried out by the AWRI sensory team (Osidacz et al.

2010) and they found that overall, participants (104 people) had a slight preference for a wine spiked with 4µg/L and 30µg/L of 1,8-cineole compared with an unspiked one, with a sizable cluster of consumers

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(38%) strongly preferring the wine spiked with 30µg/L of 1,8-cineole. Getting the balance for consumers right requires careful management and to make that happen, winemakers needed to know where the compound 1,8-cineole was coming from. They also needed to know how to control its concentration in wine.

To find out more, the AWRI carried out a detailed study – over three vintages – to investigate the relationship between grape composition and the proximity of vines to Eucalyptus trees. The impact of grape leaves, grape stems and leaves from nearby Eucalyptus trees were also included in the investigation. The results of this work provided important information that has the potential to change the way that winemakers understand and manage ‘eucalypt’ characters in red wines.

Investigative tools Key ingredients for the AWRI study were samples of wine, grapes, grape stems and leaves, as well as samples of Eucalyptus leaves. Wine samples from Great Southern, in Western Australia, Yarra Valley, in Victoria, and Coonawarra, in South Australia were supplied by producers.

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Healthy Shiraz grapes were handharvested from the Padthaway region of South Australia one day prior to commercial harvest. Samples were taken over three vintages (2008, 2009 and 2011), in the same locations each year. To assess the impact of proximity to Eucalyptus trees, three samples of grapes were taken from three separate locations within four different rows of the vineyard (providing 36 samples in all for each vintage). The rows were located at different distances from Eucalyptus trees: the first row within about five metres and the row furthest away, around 125 metres from the trees.

Grape leaves were also collected from the same spots in 2009 and 2011, and Eucalyptus leaves were also taken from the grapevine canopy of the first row in 2011 for analysis and addition to ferment treatments.

Flavour compound traps (consisting of polyethylene sheets) were also installed in a vineyard in 2008 and 2009, to measure airbourne 1,8-cineole levels.

All the samples described here were supplied, collected and stored in line with best scientific practice. They were then subjected to analysis of 1,8-cineole levels using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS).

Solving the case The study consisted of a number of stages. In early investigations, wines were made from batches of grapes harvested at set distances from Eucalyptus trees in single vineyards in Western Australia and Victoria. The results in Figure 1 clearly show that the greatest amount of 1,8-cineole was found in wines made from grapes taken from rows closest to the Eucalyptus trees. In Victoria, grapes harvested within 50 metres of Eucalyptus trees produced wine with a 1,8-cineole concentration of 15.5μg/L, and grapes harvested from rows further away produced a wine with an extremely low 1,8-cineole level of just 0.1μg/L (Figure 1).

In another investigation, wines from consecutive vintages were analysed from the Coonawarra region in South Australia.

The vineyard concerned was in close vicinity to well-established Eucalyptus trees. In this case, the wines produced from this vineyard contained relatively high amounts of 1,8-cineole, at 47μg/L (2006 vintage) and 81.5μg/L (2007 vintage), and were considered by the winemaker to display an obvious ‘eucalypt’ character. They were not sold commercially and may have been blended with other wine, which is a

common practice among winemakers to adjust and refine wine sensory attributes.

These investigations supported the theory that the presence of 1,8-cineole was likely to be related to Eucalyptus trees. Additional vineyard studies were still needed, however, to work out how the compound was transferred from the trees to the vineyard and, ultimately, into wine.

To find out, the AWRI turned its attention to the relationship between grape composition and proximity to Eucalyptus trees; this included the analysis of grape berries, grape stems and grape leaves. A vineyard with Eucalyptus trees close to the vines, that had a history of producing wines with 1,8-cineole concentrations well above sensory threshold levels, was chosen to study.

Analyses showed that grape skins contained much higher concentrations of 1,8-cineole than grape pulp (Figure 2) and that grape stems and grape leaves had even higher levels. To confirm that airborne transmission was responsible for the transfer of 1,8-cineole – from Eucalyptus trees to the vines located close by – passive traps to capture the volatile aroma compound through adsorption onto polyethylene sheets were placed in the canopy at different locations at set distances from the Eucalyptus trees.

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A W R I

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Figure 1. Concentration of 1,8-cineole (µg/L) in wines made from grapes collected at set distances from the Eucalyptus trees grown in Western Australia and Victoria.

Figure 2. Distribution of 1,8-cineole found within the grape berry.

(total weight 3.5g). 1,8-Cineole concentrations were determined daily throughout fermentation.

Again, the results were striking. While the inclusion of grape leaves and stems increased the concentration of 1,8-cineole, adding less than a handful of Eucalyptus leaves had the most dramatic effect of all: it increased concentrations of the compound from under 2μg/L (for the control, i.e., no MOG) to above 30μg/L (Figure 3, see page 26).

Given the high numbers of Eucalyptus trees in the Australian landscape and the fact that large amounts of Eucalyptus leaves can be found naturally in grape bunches – we found 33 Eucalyptus leaves in just one 550kg lot of hand-picked fruit – the impact of Eucalyptus leaves on wine character cannot be underestimated.

Again, the results confirmed previous findings: the closer the traps (and vines) were to Eucalyptus trees, the higher the concentration of 1,8-cineole.

Leaves from Eucalyptus trees themselves 210x297.indd 1 also appeared to play a role. When the Eucalyptus by design researchers collected bunches of grapes for the study, they often found Eucalyptus leaves The results were clear: the presence of lodged in the canopy and within the grape Eucalyptus leaves – and to a lesser extent bunches in vines closer to Eucalyptus trees. grapevine leaves and stems – were key The next step, therefore, was to quantify drivers behind concentrations of 1,8-cineole the effect on 1,8-cineole concentration in wine. if Eucalyptus leaves found their way into While there were apparent differences ferments, in the form of MOG in the between vintages, the proximity of harvest bin.

Eucalyptus trees had an obvious effect. The Five hundred and fifty kilograms of Shiraz impact of MOG – and Eucalyptus leaves in fruit were picked by hand from the rows close particular – was also very clear (Figure 3). to Eucalyptus trees, taking special care to While not all Eucalyptus species have avoid MOG. The fruit was randomised and high levels of 1,8-cineole in their leaves, split into separate lots (50kg) for different many of the common trees in winegrowing treatments: one lot was pressed immediately regions, such as Eucalyptus leucoxylon (rosé style); a second lot contained crushed (Yellow Gum), have great potential to affect berries only with all grape stems and leaves vineyards. In hindsight, it should not be thoroughly removed (no MOG); a third too surprising that Eucalyptus leaves or included grape leaves (500g) and stems (1.3kg) and the final batch included four bark falling from trees can be blown some Eucalyptus leaves and a small piece of bark distance by the wind to lodge in grapevine V2 7N 4

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Figure 3. Concentration of 1,8-cineole (µg/L) during fermentation and the finished wine from the MOG experiments. canopies, and from there be picked with the harvest to affect the wine. This source had not been previously considered, however, with popular thinking that airborne transfer of the eucalypt essential oil volatiles was probably the main avenue. Even though the leaves are dried and brown within vine canopies, they clearly can influence the

character of a wine, and are of greater importance to ultimate 1,8-cineole levels in a wine than simple aerial transfer of the volatiles from the trees to the berry skins.

For winemakers, this presents a range of management options in terms of minimising or maximising ‘eucalypt’ characters. Wine producers may choose to ferment grapes

from vines growing near Eucalyptus trees separately and use this wine as a blending option; they can hand pick those rows closest to trees; or they can ensure that minimal MOG is included in machine harvest bins of grapes. Sorting tables, whether manual or automated, would also be effective but obviously more costly. Adjusting machine harvester settings so that less non-grape material is picked, especially in rows closest to trees, would be another straightforward strategy. By paying closer attention to the volume of grape leaves, stems and Eucalyptus leaves or bark in their ferments, winemakers can exert greater control over the wines they are seeking to create.

This AWRI research also revealed another surprise. It was observed that the 50kg ferments containing additions of grape leaves (but not Eucalyptus leaves) and grape stems had significantly elevated concentrations of another key aroma compound, rotundone, and produced wines with a strong ‘peppery’ aroma (Figure 4).

These results require further validation on a commercial scale, but could provide a new way to manipulate rotundone concentrations and ‘peppery’ aromas in wine which has not been obvious to winemakers before. The discovery could be particularly important for red wine made with whole bunch pressing or for ferments containing some grape

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Both factors have a major impact on sensory characteristics.

Enhancing or reducing ‘eucalypt’ characters is no longer a case of pure chance or serendipity, and winemakers are in a much stronger position to take greater control of 1,8-cineole and adjust eucalyptus character to create wines that express their ‘terroir’ with market appeal.

Acknowledgements

Figure 4. Mean concentration of rotundone (ng/L) in the finished wines from the MOG experiment. Error bars represent the standard deviation from the mean for the replicated ferment treatments. leaves and stems, and is another example that grape processing and winemaking conditions have rather profound effects on wine flavour and expression of ‘terroir’.

Overall, the results described here give winemakers practical ways to control 1,8-cineole concentrations throughout vineyard and winery operations. The closeness of grapevines to Eucalyptus trees has a conclusive effect on 1,8-cineole concentrations in wine, and the presence of MOG can significantly influence 1,8-cineole levels.

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The authors wish to acknowledge numerous Australian wine companies for the generous donations of grape and wine samples, and the contributions of numerous colleagues in particular Drs Mark Sefton and David Jeffery for their contribution to this work and assistance in the preparation of this article. This work was supported by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body, the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, with matching funds from the Australian Government. The AWRI is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster. The authors acknowledge the editorial assistance of Sharon Mascall-Dare and Rae Blair.

For further experimental details on this work, read: Capone, D.L.; Jeffery, D.W. and Sefton, M.A. (2012) Vineyard and fermentation studies to elucidate the origin of 1,8-cineole in Australian red wine. J. Agric. Food Chem. 60:2281-2287.

Capone,D.L.; van Leeuwen, K.; Taylor, D.K.; Jeffery, D.W.; Pardon, K.H.; Elsey, G.M. and Sefton, M.A. (2011) Evolution and occurrence of 1,8-cineole (Eucalyptol) in Australian Wine. J. Agric. Food Chem.

59:953-959.

Osidacz, P.; Geue, J.; Bramley, B.; Siebert, T.E.; Capone, D. and Francis, I.L. (2010) Exploring the influence of pepper, eucalyptus and smoky flavour compounds on consumer preferences of red wines. AWRI Tech. Rev. 189:8-11.

Herve, E.; Price, S. and Burns, G. (2003) In Proceedings VIIème Symposium International d’Œnologie, Actualités Œnologiques, Bordeaux, Lonvaud, A.; De Revel, G. and Darriet, P. (Eds) Tec & Doc; Lavoisier: Paris, France; 598-600.

Farina, L.; Boido, E.; Carrau, F.; Versini, G. and Dellacassa, E. (2005) Terpene compounds as possible precursors of 1,8-Cineole in red grapes and wines. J. Agric. Food Chem. 53:1633-1636. WVJ

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When size matters Large format oak – why use it?

By Cathy Howard

Although hardly new, ‘large format oak’ seems to be experiencing something of a revival in Australia, particularly among younger winemakers. Whicher Ridge winemaker Cathy Howard shares her own reasons for using the vessels, as well as those of some of her industry peers.

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ou may have noticed that many cooperages are now offering their customers a much wider choice in oak vessel formats. Standard 225 litre, 228L and 300L barrel formats are now being offered alongside larger format barrel sizes, ranging from 400L up to 860L. Optional extras for these larger barrels include stainless steel doors, draining valves and custom barrel racks. It doesn’t stop there, as you can now purchase round or oval casks ranging in size from 1000L up to 11,000L, and oak tanks or vats ranging in HCad-130x185-2011.pdf

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size from 1000L to 50,000L. Optional extras for these casks and vats include custommade valves, access doors, sample taps, variable capacity lids and cradles.

Large format oak vessels are not a new concept in Australian winemaking. There are many wineries around Australia that have been using large oak casks and tanks for decades for the maturation of reds and fortifieds.

Changes in winemaking practices are often cyclical. Some practices are in wide use for a period of time, then, fall

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out of favour as winemakers switch to another practice. The change may be driven by tighter economic conditions, or by changing consumer preferences for particular wine styles, or simply by a winemaker’s desire to adopt a practice that is innovative and different from the mainstream.

It was not that long ago that many of us were routinely using 300L hogsheads and 450-500L puncheons for maturing our reds. This was followed by a general move away from puncheons - keeping the

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Cathy Howard stirs yeast lees of 2012 Sauvignon Blanc at Whicher Ridge Wines. hogsheads in the mix - to using a higher percentage of smaller format 225L and 228L barriques.

In recent years, there has been a trend among winemakers towards using puncheons again, as well as larger format oak, such as casks and vats, in their winemaking. This is not only for reds, but also whites. The increase in the variety of oak barrel, cask and vat on offer from the cooperages is a reflection of the increasing demand for larger format oak vessels in the Australian marketplace.

Winemaking at Whicher Ridge Wines (Geographe, Western Australia) saw a change in 2009 to using 500L puncheons for fermenting and maturing a 25-30% portion of our Sauvignon Blanc blend. The inspiration for using large format oak followed a trip to Austria in 2008 to attend the world’s first Sauvignon Blanc congress.

Our inspiration came when we tasted Sauvignon Blanc wines that had been aged on yeast lees for 12-18 months, predominantly in 1200L casks, but also in 300L barrels. The wines had amazing texture, structure and length. They were also more complex, with fruit flavours enhanced by the oak rather than being dominated by it. The wines also matched beautifully with food, which was very important for us. Drawing on my own experiences with using puncheons, most recently at Whicher Ridge but also in the past at St Hallett Wines, I contacted a number of winemakers across Australia to find out what type of large format oak they used, and why.

Why use large format oak?

The most significant benefit for all the winemakers was the gain in textural elements on the palate. Another benefit was the subtleness of the oak characters. The aim was for the oak to build structure and palate weight without dominating. Large format oak offered a more reductive environment for wine maturation, with wines matured in larger casks tasting fresher, more vibrant and with greater fruit intensity. Many found that the larger casks and vats added another layer of complexity to their final blends. Overall, the wines matured in large format oak benefitted from the softening and rounding effects of maturation, while maintaining more of the fruit aromatic and flavour subtleties.

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OAK

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Since the beginning, Saury has operated on the basis that grain is the most important determinant of barrel quality. Today, the cooperage still applies this theory to each and every barrel, growing into a modern, efficient and quality focused cooperage while maintaining its status as a maker of the finest grain oak barrels in the world.

Rob Mann plunging red ferments at Cape Mentelle.

Large format oak makes up to 40% of the winery’s annual oak purchases, comprising puncheons along with a couple of 1500L casks.

For whites, fermentation and maturation on lees is carried out in 1500L and 2500L casks. Other oak barrel sizes used are a mix of hogsheads and puncheons. The Nepenthe Petraea Sauvignon Blanc is 100% fermented in these large casks, followed post-ferment with about 50% of the blend maturing for three months in the large casks on lees. The Nepenthe Altitude Sauvignon Blanc has between 4-5% of the final blend fermented in 300-500L oak (in a mix of new and one-year-old barrels).

For reds, fermentation of Pinot Noir is carried out in a 3000L French oak vat, which is raw oak with no toasting. The 3000L vats are used for maturation of reds post-ferment. They have stainless steel variable capacity lids, which allow for sealing of the vats.

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Sam Middleton, Mount Mary, Yarra Valley, Victoria Mount Mary uses 1575L casks for its Merlot and Cabernet Franc wines that make up part of the Mount Mary Quintet blend. The other barrel sizes used in the Quintet blend are barriques.

Large oak has always been used at the winery since Middleton’s grandfather, John, started making wines there in the early 1970s, and the large oak format is still a very important part of the Mount Mary wine style.

Andrew Marks, The Wanderer Wines, Yarra Valley, Victoria Puncheons and, in particular, older puncheons are used by Marks at The Wanderer Wines. For the Gembrook Hill Vineyard Blanc de Blanc, 100% old (namely, four years and older) French oak puncheons are used. For the Sauvignon Blanc, 40-60% is an

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W I NE M A T U R A T I ON

Wine casks at Nepenthe Wines containing 2012 Petraea Sauvignon Blanc. oaked portion made up of a mix of old French oak puncheons and hogsheads.

Rob Mann, Cape Mentelle, Margaret River, Western Australia Mann has been using large oak in his winemaking since working at Hardys Tintara, in McLaren Vale. Large oak has always been used at Cape Mentelle, and there are vats still in use that are almost 30 years old.

Cape Mentelle uses 3000L, 6000L and 11,000L casks and vats.

This range of large oak formats makes up to 25% of its overall oak regime, with the balance being barriques.

A percentage of the Cape Mentelle Cabernet is fermented in 3000L

WINE GRAPE GROWERS AUSTRALIA

new oak vats. The majority of its large oak is not set-up for primary red fermentation, and is used principally for pre- and post-MLF maturation of small parcels. The Marmaduke Shiraz matures in 100% large oak with no other oak inputs. The Cape Mentelle Shiraz matures in 50% large oak, while the Cabernet Merlot matures in 20% large oak.

Matt Burton, Gun Dog Estate, Hunter Valley, New South Wales Puncheons have been in use at Gun Dog Estate since 2006. Its Hunter Valley Shiraz is medium bodied and elegant, and the use of larger format oak better suits this style of wine. Burton prefers not to use older oak for the premium wines, and by using French oak puncheons, he can use a higher percentage of new oak in the mix, with the resulting wine after maturation being less overtly oaky.

Hungarian oak puncheons have also been trialled on Viognier, with the spicy flavours from the oak enhancing the varietal characters, but further work is needed as there have been some issues with a green edge to the final wine.

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Large oak casks and vats do require some specialist management, particularly in maintaining the integrity of the oak when full and empty.

Ideally, it is best to keep them full as much as possible.

The cleaning of large format oak is basically the same as for any oak barrel: a hot water wash when emptied using a high pressure cleaner.

Conclusions There is a growing trend among winemakers in Australia to incorporate the use of large format oak in their winemaking practices.

The perceived benefits of using larger format oak include enhanced wine texture, fruit lift and structure. Large format oak is also being selectively used to enhance regional wine styles and to adapt wine styles to meet consumer demands for complex, fruit-driven, less obviously oaked wines. Cooperages are now offering a wide variety of large oak formats to meet this change in demand from the country’s winemakers.

Postscript: Since writing this article, I have discovered two more winemakers using large oak formats in my home state of Western Australia, namely, Andries Mostert, of Willoughby Park Winery, and Martin Cooper, of Xabregas Wines, and I am sure that there are many more out there.

Cathy Howard is winemaker and, together with husband Neil, proprietor of Whicher Ridge Wines, near Busselton, in Western Australia, and has been making wine for the past 18 years. She also WVJ consults part time to some wineries in the Geographe region.

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SELECTIVE HARVESTING

Precision management technologies prove their value in selective harvesting in Australia’s major production regions

By Dr Mark Krstic Viticulturist and Manager, Victorian Node - Australian Wine Research Institute. Email: mark.krstic@awri.com.au

Mark Krstic summaries a recently-published paper, which reports on the findings of a study that examined the feasibility of using precision management/selective harvesting technologies when grape and wine production is geared towards large fermentation volumes.

D

r Rob Bramley, from CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, in Adelaide, along with co-authors Jackie Ouzman (CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences) and Craig Thornton (Wingara Wine Group – Deakin Estate) recently published a paper in the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research (Bramley et al. 2011) titled ‘Selective harvesting is a feasible and profitable strategy even when grape and wine production is geared towards large fermentation volumes’.

The paper presents a solid case to industry to consider the value of selective harvesting using precision management technologies, even in the major production regions (Murray Valley, Riverland and Riverina), where prices paid for grapes are often lower than those paid in other premium production regions.

The research follows other research conducted by Rob Bramley and his team over several years, which has looked at both the temporal and spatial variation in yield and grape composition across a number of vineyard sites. In his previous work, the potential for enhancing the profitability of both grapegrowing and winemaking through the use of selective harvesting has been demonstrated conclusively. However, there has been a perception that such selective

management strategies may not be well-suited to Australia’s major production regions (Murray Valley, Riverland and Riverina) where winery infrastructure is geared to large production volumes, and where independent grapegrowers are generally supplying grapes to wineries.

The paper by Bramley et al. aimed to examine the merits of selective harvesting using precision management technologies in these types of growing regions.

The study was undertaken on the Deakin Estate (Wingara Wine Group) property near Nangiloc, Victoria, in the Murray Valley grapegrowing region. Since 2004, Bramley and his team have been collecting data from two 1994-planted Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards at Deakin Estate (row and vine spacing is 3.0m and 2.44m, respectively, trained on a quadrilateral cordon and the vineyard is mechanically hedged) using remotely sensed digital multi-spectral video imagery, collected at veraison, to estimate plant cell density (PCD), a surrogate measure of vine vigour, as well as yield maps. Using this data, Bramley was able to perform a sophisticated multivariate k-means clustering of the PCD data and yield maps to identify similar zones within each vineyard, which were characteristically of either lower (LVY) or

higher (HVY) vigour and yield (Figure 1).

It is important to note that two Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards were required for this study to provide enough selectively harvested fruit from areas characterised as LVY to fill a commercial 75-tonne fermenter at Deakin Estate. The study tracked maturity in a range of randomly allocated vines across each of the LVY and HVY zones leading up to harvest, with the aim of harvesting fruit in each of these zones at 24oBrix (13.3oBaumé).

Commercial harvest in the LVY sections occurred on 6 March 2009, while in the high vigour/high yield sections (HVY) commercial harvest took place over two dates, on 27 March 2009 (in HVY B section) and 3 April 2009 in the HVY A section.

Therefore, three commercial wines were made in this study - one LVY wine and two HVY wines - all made in 75t fermenters at Deakin Estate. Small-lot wines were also made from each of these LVY and HVY zones as part of this study.

Looking at the fruit composition at harvest, the variation in sugar ripeness was not significant, with all fruit being picked between 23.0-23.5oBrix, which was the original aim. The earlier harvest date in the LVY zones (6 March 2009), compared with the HVY zones (27 March and 3 April 2009) was most probably a function of the

Figure 1. Variation in yield and PCD (veraison) in two blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon, vintage 2009. The map shows the results of clustering the yield maps with the remotely sensed imagery (PCD) using k-means clustering; three cluster solutions are shown. The values in the legend are the cluster means; yield values labelled with different letters are significantly different (a = 0.05). Source: Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research (2011) 17:298-305.

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SELECTIVE HARVESTING

lower yield-to-pruning-weight ratios observed in these zones (the average yield in the HVY A zone was 21.2 tonnes per hectare, while in the HVY B zone it was 27.3t/ha, making the overall average for the HVY zone 24.3t/ha). Following on from this, the LVY zones had fruit with lower berry and bunch weights (the average yield in the low vigour zone was 15.9t/ha), higher average colour (1.18 compared with 0.93mg anthocyanin/gram fruit) and higher average phenolic content (1.42 compared with 1.14 absorbance units/gram fruit), compared with fruit from the HVY zones. Pruning weights for all zones are provided in Table 1 (see page 36). All of these fruit compositional measures indicate that fruit from the LVY zones should make some better quality wines, but whether this would be enough to jump from the ‘premium’ to ‘super premium’ wine price points is another matter.

When the commercial-scale wines were assessed by a team of 25 trained sensory panellists, no differences were observed between the two commercial HVY wines. In comparing both the HVY wines with the LVY commercial wine, generally the LVY wine was preferred and considered to have a fruitier aroma, with a fuller body but with less astringency than the HVY A wine. The panellists also identified differences with respect to ‘spicy’ aroma, ‘bitterness’, ‘stalky flavours’ and ‘warmth’. Again, whether this represents enough of a difference in wine quality to justify the jump from a so-called ‘premium’ to ‘super premium’ classification is the key question to justifying the additional harvesting costs and precision viticulture data acquisition and interpretation. The study also looked at a so-called ‘partial gross margin analysis’ from both the perspective of a winery and a grapegrower. In the winery case, considering the additional costs for harvest, including the opportunity cost for not filling

…there has been a perception that such selective management strategies may not be well-suited to Australia’s major production regions…the work clearly demonstrates that selective harvesting can be profitable, even when applied to situations where production is geared to large fermentation volumes. a fermenter in the LVY case, there was a $1211/tonne (or approximately $1.21 per 750mL bottle wine) benefit in using the selective/differential harvesting approach, assuming that the differentially harvested fruit was able to achieve a $5/bottle premium over and above the conventional approach. Even if this differential is $1/bottle, there is still a benefit in selective harvesting the LVY zone relative to the HVY zone. This benefit is $220/t, or approximately $0.22 per 750mL bottle of wine.

While much of the benefit for an increase in wine value is captured by the winery, growers in the major production regions of Australia are typically selling fruit to larger wineries, and there is a perception that they would not receive the benefit from adopting this sort of selective harvesting technology. However, even with factoring in additional harvest costs, and assuming growers would be rewarded in terms of price per tonne paid (in this case, it was assumed that ‘premium’ grade would receive $423/t – the district weighted average for Cabernet Sauvignon in 2009), and that fruit that achieved a ‘super premium’ grade would receive $520/t (conservative estimate), then the benefits of selective harvesting over the conventional approach to harvesting is around $7/t (or $1428 in total) across the 25.3ha Cabernet Sauvignon example presented here in the Murray Valley. This does indicate that most of the value in selective harvesting is V2 7N 4

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SELECTIVE HARVESTING

Table 1. Differences in pruning weights among the sample vineyard zones#.

Vigour Pruning weight (kg)

Block

Parcel (i.e., block by vigour)

High (HVY)

Low (LVY)

Main

Back

Main HVY

Main LVY

Back HVY

Back LVY

0.37a

0.23b

0.22b

0.33a

0.21b

0.23b

0.50a

0.24b

# Each set of comparison (vigour, block, parcel) values not connected by the same letter are significantly different (P<0.05) Source: Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research (2011) 17:298-305.

realised by the wineries (figures based on a corrected Table 3 from Bramley et al. paper).

While this research has demonstrated the potential value of a selective harvesting approach in a region such as the Murray Valley, potential users need to be aware that these â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;partial gross margin analysisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; costings have not incorporated the costs and time inputs to collect the PCD imagery and yield maps data since 2004 in order to be able to produce the normalised PCD, yield maps and k-means clustering analysis of the Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards (which the authors clearly point out in their paper). Also, specialist help from someone like Bramley with expert skills to undertake this type of spatial data analysis and interpretation is

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needed to assist in differentiating the LVY and HVY zones within a vineyard.

Even armed with this information, and depending on your machine harvester technology, there may be some additional complexity required to georeference and mark out the different zones in the vineyard, and to collect different fruit maturity samples leading up to actual harvest. This will add costs over and above the normal conventional machine harvesting process. However, most importantly, before undertaking this selective harvesting process, grape producers would want to be confident that the required differential would be paid at the weighbridge for all these efforts. In the example highlighted in the Murray Valley, the price differential needs to be at least $69/t ($492/t versus $423/t) to justify the additional

W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

harvesting costs associated with using this selective harvesting strategy and to break even. However, in airing these cautionary notes, I think that the work clearly demonstrates that selective harvesting can be profitable, even when applied to situations where production is geared to large fermentation volumes. It does provide a counter to the view that precision viticulture only offers opportunities to small (boutique) producers or to large, well-resourced companies with a flexible winery infrastructure.

Reference Bramley, R.G.V; Ouzman, J. and Thornton, C. (2011) Selective harvesting is a feasible and profitable strategy even when grape and wine production is geared towards large fermentation volumes. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 17(3):298-305.

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A snapshot of processing trends in Australia’s larger wineries We approached three of Australia’s larger processing facilities to learn of the innovations and changes that have taken place in those wineries in recent years and are likely to occur in the near future.

John Ide

Manager Winery Operations Oxford Landing Estates, Moppa, Barossa Valley, South Australia Current capacity of winery: 35,000 tonnes What has been the most significant change - in terms of its scale or impact on efficiency - that has taken place within the winery in recent years?

John Ide (JI): Scheduling of fruit intake at vintage and clarification of juice by flotation. Scheduling was undertaken to coordinate the vineyard, cellar and winemaking teams. This has helped to maximise the efficiencies in each area of the supply chain via better communication.

Clarification by flotation was made possible after the purchase and commission of a Juclas flotation unit.

This enabled one of the main pinch points of juice clarification to be expanded and increased the throughput of the whole operation.

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Alan Kennett

Chief Winemaker/ Winery Manager Casella Wines, Riverina, New South Wales Current capacity of the winery: 200,000 tonnes Alan Kennett (AK): The Casella winery is currently fairly stable compared with the expansion that took place about five years ago.

Paul Davoren (PD): The biggest one is changing from continuous presses to bag presses. The main reason for the change was to bring about an improvement in quality but also easier processing. We weren’t happy with the level of solids and the quality of the juice that we were getting from the continuous presses.

What area or areas are likely to be the target for the next major change in the winery?

JI: Increased red fermentation capacity, if and when required, to maximise the winery’s ability to process red fruit and, thus, increase efficiency

W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

Paul Davoren

Production Manager - Wine De Bortoli Wines, Bilbul, New South Wales Current output of winery: 65,000t

during vintage as well as overall capacity, if required.

AK: Things are pretty stable in terms of sales and production capacity.

We’re now just trying to optimise the machines that we’ve got to improve their performance.

PD: What we’re calling one-shot production. This involves looking at various production techniques, such as cross-flow filters, bentonite fining prior to filtration, and continuous stabilisation, although the latter might take a bit longer to introduce than the others. The aim of one-shot production is to get as near a continuous process as possible. At the moment, we’ve got a batch process of sorts where we go from bentonite fining to stabilisation and maybe back to fining again.

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A view across the tank farm at Casella winery, at Yenda, in the Riverina, New South Wales.

We’re essentially trying to minimise the number of steps needed to create a wine from a grape, which leads to gains in both efficiency and dollar savings.

What improvements, if any, have been introduced to the winery’s batch processing in recent times?

JI: Installation of an additional Della

Toffola 700hL central membrane press (the third bag press for the winery). This will provide more pressing capacity, quality and efficiency.

AK: We’ve been very deliberate in ensuring our batches are as large as possible. They are handled in 1.1 million litre tanks and the blends are all done in large tanks too. We’ve done it that

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To what degree has the winery adopted cross-flow filtration, what impact has it had on the winery’s operation and have there been any teething problems?

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installed in 2010 to filter lees and reduce the requirement for RDV filtration and the use of perlite. When the winery was established, cross-flow was the only finished wine filtration system installed, and it has performed well over the last eight years. The use of cross-flow for lees filtration has halved the use of perlite for RDV and increased the volume and quality of product recovered from lees. The main problems are concerned with training operators in the new style of machine and level of technology, and how to obtain maximum throughput. The quality of filtered wine has always been excellent.

AK: We use ceramic cross-flow filtration quite extensively. We’ve eliminated at least two filtration transfers by using cross-flow filtration. We started introducing cross-flow about five-to-six years ago. Our current set up has been stable for the last two years. The only teething issue we had was finding a cleaning regime that worked.

PD: We’ve got three cross-flow systems being shipped to the winery at the moment. We’ve done more trials on the various systems available than we’ve probably needed in determining which one would suit us best. We’re most impressed with the one we’ve ordered. Because

we’ve got a pretty broad ranges of wines that we produce, we needed a filter with an equally broad application capable of handling sweet wines through to dry wines.

What efforts have been made in the winery recently to improve energy efficiency?

JI: As the winery is only eight years old, it was designed to be very energy efficient from the beginning. It utilises: direct ammonia cooling for both must and storage tanks, avoiding energy losses with brine use and pumping; high relative ammonia temperature to increase compressor efficiency; heat recovery from the super-heated ammonia system; variable speed drive on lag compressor for efficient load shedding; and low energy lighting with daylight monitoring switches.

AK: Our biggest change has been in the cooling of our fermenters. The refrigeration plant automatically sets the temperature on the fermenters 2-3°C lower at night, so they chill as much as they can at night when they can draw offpeak power.

PD: We’re doing more and more heat recovery. We do a fair bit already. At

the moment we recover the heat used during cold settling. Same with cold stabilisation. Recovering waste heat from the refrigeration plant and variable speed drives on condenser fans are some of the things we want to look at next.

What advancements have taken place in the winery over recent years in relation to how barrels and tanks are cleaned?

JI: Tank cleaning is now performed after use, rather than before use, to aid the ease of cleaning and startup for the next job. Additionally, we changed from sodium to potassium hydroxide and implemented a capture and recycling system for this chemical.

The winery water use is already at industry best practice of approximately one litre of water used per litre of wine. Vintage operations have had a far larger influence on this figure than tank cleaning. Caustic use has halved with the introduction of the caustic recycling system.

AK: Not a lot has changed in this area for us.

PD: We have been using the same barrel cleaners for a few years by running a high pressure cleaner through a spray head; they’re fairly water-

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De Bortoli’s winery at Bilbul in the New South Wales Riverina. efficient. We’re always trialling new types of chemicals with the aim of moving away from caustic. We don’t use any sodiumbased cleaners now, only potassiumbased. We made that change a few years ago. But, we’re yet to find a non-caustic cleaner that really cleans the wine tanks like caustic and we’ve trialled around 50.

Are there any other advances in wine processing that the company would like to see explored in future research programs?

JI: Cold (tartrate) stabilisation – minimising energy input and delays in processing; and heat (protein) stabilisation – eliminating the use of bentonite.

AK: We’ve automated everything that can be automated that is cost-effective to do so. Nothing in particular jumps out.

PD: Not really although alternatives to caustic for tank cleaning might be worthwhile.

Are there any processing systems or equipment that you are aware of being utilised in other industries that you would like to see adapted for the wine industry?

JI: Increase in the use of pigging technology to minimise waste and water use.

AK: We’ve just installed a fairly large brewery so if there’s anything there that takes our fancy we’ll get to observe it in action. It’s a very different industry – highly automated.

PD: Not at the moment.

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Hot and getting hotter – how will a warming climate affect warm climate viticulture?

By Everard J. Edwards2, Dale Unwin1, Marica Mazza1 and Mark O. Downey1 Department of Primary Industries, Victoria. PO Box 905, Mildura, Victoria 3502 2 CSIRO Plant Industry, PO Box 350, Glen Osmond, SA 5064.

1

The Department of Primary Industries research facility, in Mildura, has established an experiment to replicate the effects of a warming climate on field-grown mature grapevines. The research results outlined here will assist a large proportion of Australia’s winegrape growers in already warm climates to understand the impacts of climate change on their properties.

Introduction

D

espite controversy in the media, there is a scientific consensus that our planet’s climate is warming and that it will continue to do so. There is less clarity over the degree of warming that will occur.

The Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests a worst case scenario, based on emissions continuing to increase at the current rate, will lead to a global temperature rise of between 2.4-6.4°C during this century (IPCC 2007).

The best case scenario, based on rapid global adoption of new technologies, suggests a rise of between 1.1-2.9°C. Even conservative estimates indicate a rise of more than 2°C (Schmittner et al.

2011). There is little doubt that Australian viticulture will be subjected to increasing air temperatures over the next 30-50 years.

Predictions of the impact of such warming on viticulture vary, but include decreases in both production and wine quality. However, such predictions are largely based on ‘ideal’ climatic ranges for specific cultivars and have not been tested experimentally. Analyses of vintage records suggest that climate warming is already having an effect on phenology, with harvest dates advancing and vintages becoming shorter over the past 30 years (Petrie and Sadras 2008; Webb et al. 2011). This suggests that winegrapes are reaching the sugar concentrations desired by wineries earlier as the climate warms, which is likely to continue.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to disentangle the impact of past warming from other factors, such as consumer wine preferences, changes in viticultural practice and natural year-to-year variation in weather. Although extensive

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Figure 1. Dr Mark Downey (DPI Mildura) standing in the open-top chamber (OTC). The chamber is constructed from a mild steel frame and Laserlite™ panels, with a custom built heating unit/duct running the length of the chamber to circulate the warmed air. and careful analysis can do this to some extent, it is our belief that only direct field manipulation of air temperature over multiple seasons is able to definitively determine the potential impacts of future climate warming. This is what we are attempting to achieve at the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) research facility, in Mildura, as part of a jointly funded project between DPI Victoria, Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC) and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) to examine the impact of future climate warming on warm climate viticulture. To achieve this, we have established a facility that allows warming of field-grown mature vines to the temperatures likely to be experienced over the next few decades by a large proportion of Australia’s winegrape growers.

W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

The climate warming facility Building a field-based system to alter the atmospheric temperature around established vines is a complex and expensive task. The approach selected uses an open-top chamber (OTC) approach, which involves surrounding the vines with a transparent ‘box’ consisting of walls but no top (Figure 1). Unlike a fully enclosed system, this allows the air within the chamber to be manipulated without significantly altering its gaseous composition or the light quality, as well as preventing uncontrollable heating.

On the other hand, it requires a much higher energy input to maintain a given temperature, due to losses from convection and bulk movement of air.

An OTC system provides minimal solar heating, so an active heating system is required. In our case, each OTC contains V27N4

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Figure 2. Sample data illustrating OTC performance. Lines are means of three replicates. three 2.4kW air heating elements in a custom ducting system, which uses a fan to draw air in at ground level and, then, blow it out through a diffuser system that runs along the row. Temperature sensors are placed within the canopy, both inside and outside the chamber, with heating control being achieved by setting the desired temperature difference between the two. In addition, air temperature, relative humidity, vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and soil temperature are separately monitored within each OTC. Other sections of vine row have been assigned as controls, with an equal number as there are OTCs. These are instrumented in the same way, but, not having a chamber, are subject only to ambient environmental conditions.

The responses of three of the varieties most widely grown in the warm climate regions are being examined, namely Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, with three heating OTCs installed within each variety planting, providing nine in total. All the vines are part of mature blocks on sandy loams, typical for the region, and are managed as commercial plots at the DPI Victoria Mildura vineyard. The varietal blocks are approximately half a hectare in size and

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were planted in the mid to late 1990s on a mixture of rootstocks (Chardonnay/ Ramsey, Cabernet Sauvignon/1103 Paulsen, Shiraz/140 Ruggeri). The vines are all on drip irrigation, receiving standard applications for the region, with a seasonal total of 5.1-5.3ML/ha-1, depending on variety.

The OTC itself has some potential to influence vine growth and productivity, as the walls are impacting normal air movement and can affect the light quality reaching the lower canopy and vineyard floor. Furthermore, the fans used to disperse the warm air in the chamber generate air currents that would not naturally occur and could also have some degree of effect on the vine. To allow for any such effects to be determined, a matching set of nine OTCs have been installed in the same blocks of vines, containing a fan system identical to that in the heating OTCs, but without the actual heat unit. Consequently, by comparing the fan-only OTC results with those from the ambient controls and the heating OTCs, we can determine whether responses are indeed due to the temperature differences or an artefact of the system itself, which is a further advantage of the active heating approach.

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The heating OTCs provided approximately 2째C of heating throughout the day and throughout a season, with no consistent influence of time of day or year. The Copenhagen Accord, released in late 2009 and signed by more than 138 countries, includes a commitment to limit climate warming to 2째C. Consequently, the imposed treatment is a realistic scenario for Australian growers in future years, with little chance of climate warming being less than this. Figure 2 provides a typical two-week data set, with a week of warm, bright weather followed by a week of cool, cloudy weather. Much of the hour-to-hour variation is likely to be due to wind, with less heating being achieved during windy periods.

The impact of the fan-only OTCs on air temperature was minimal, generating around 0.2째C of heating when averaged over the season.

Relative humidity (%RH) is directly dependant on air temperature and, not surprisingly, there was an effect of the heating OTCs on %RH. When averaged over the season, this amounted to a reduction of around 6%, compared with the ambient controls. This, in turn, equated to a small increase in VPD of approximately 0.3kPa. Soil warming V27N4

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23/9/11

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Figure 3. Budburst, capfall and veraison in Cabernet Sauvignon vines subject to 2°C warming (bottom row) and ambient conditions (top row). Pairs of photographs were both taken on the day as indicated. was limited, with soil temperatures in the heating OTCs less than 1°C warmer than the ambient controls at a depth of 10cm. Despite this effect, no consistent difference in soil moisture between the treatments was observed.

The OTC system was run throughout the 2010-11 season, having been originally started at flowering in 2009 in the Cabernet Sauvignon and at leaf-fall in 2010 in the Shiraz and Chardonnay vines, thereby allowing the direct effect of climate warming on the vine and the wine to be examined.

Effect on the vines Air temperature and VPD can both have an impact on leaf physiology, as well as on fruit development. However, no consistent differences were seen in leaf photosynthesis, stomatal conductance or leaf transpiration. Therefore, at the leaf level at least, there was no evidence of a change in carbon gain, water use or stress in the heated vines. It is not uncommon for plant species to adjust their physiology to a change in temperature (e.g., Edwards et al. 2004) and it appears that all three varieties were able to acclimate to the imposed 2°C of warming.

The heating OTCs maintained higher air temperatures throughout the winter prior to the 2010-11 season and, despite the acclimation of leaf physiology, warming resulted in an advancement of phenology in all three varieties. For instance, budburst was three to four days earlier in the two red varieties and up to 11 days earlier in Chardonnay (Figure 3).

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It has been suggested that climate warming will not actually alter ‘last frost’ dates in south-eastern Australia, as drier air makes frost more likely (Hayman et al. 2009). Therefore, perhaps counterintuitively, Chardonnay in particular could become more likely to suffer from a frost event in the future, rather than less.

Anthesis was even further advanced by heating, with 50% capfall being eight to nine days earlier in the red varieties and 12 days earlier in Chardonnay. Veraison was also advanced in all three varieties in the heated chambers. In Chardonnay, veraison occurred a week earlier in the heated chamber compared with the control, while veraison was nine days earlier with heating in both Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Fruit were harvested when total soluble solid (TSS) concentration was 23°Brix for Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, and 24°Brix for Shiraz. Differential harvests were required for Chardonnay, as fruit from the Chardonnay controls were only 17°Brix when the heated vines were harvested. Control Chardonnay fruit was harvested seven weeks later and still had a slightly lower TSS concentration than fruit from the heated OTC vines. However, there were only slight differences in TSS between heated and control fruit in the two red varieties, although this may have been due to the low growing season temperatures and record rainfall in Sunraysia during 2010-11, which resulted in an unusually late harvest.

Yields from the OTCs, heated or not, were generally lower than the W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

ambient controls (Figure 4a, see page 48). However, this was not due to the temperature treatments per se, but to differential impacts of disease. A very high incidence of downy mildew was reported throughout south-eastern Australia and this was also true in Sunraysia. The physical constraints of working in the chambers created difficulties in disease management, resulting in greater infection rates in OTC vines than in the ambient controls. It is interesting to note that in all three varieties, the small impact on %RH of the warming treatment mentioned previously was enough to significantly reduce the OTC disease impact, producing a higher yield in the heated OTCs than in the fan-only OTCs in each case.

As well as sugar concentration, there were differences between treatments in a range of measured fruit parameters, such as berry size, pH, titratable acidity, colour and skin tannins. However, due to the differential impact of downy mildew on the three treatments, it is difficult to ascertain whether these differences were caused by temperature or disease.

Impact on the wines Research wines were made from the heated OTC and ambient control treatments for each variety, but not from the fan-only controls. All fruit from a given variety or treatment were combined and then used to create three winemaking replicates. Despite the driver of treatment differences in yield being loss of fruit from disease, rather www.winebiz. com . au

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than an effect of temperature, there was still a strong inverse correlation between yield and wine colour density (Figure 4a and b). The colour density of the Shiraz wines from the heated OTCs was almost half that of the controls, whereas there was little difference between the Cabernet wines. In contrast, total phenolics were much higher in all the wines from heated vines, including Chardonnay, but total anthocyanin content was similar, despite the colour density effects (Figure 4c). Finally, tannins were in order of magnitude, higher in the Cabernet Sauvignon wines from heated OTCs than any other wine. While it is tempting to attribute these differences to the heating effect of the chambers, the increased disease pressure from the very wet 2010-11 season is also a likely cause of increased phenolics in both the fruit and wines, as one of the roles of phenolic compounds in the grape is defence against microbial attack. As data from the current and future seasons is collected, the effect on wine colour, tannin and other phenolics will become clearer.

Climate warming or climate variability?

An increase of 2°C in air temperature seems small compared with the day-to-day differences in air temperature observed in any given growing season, but a 2°C increase each day would lead to many more days when the temperature is in the range currently considered ‘extreme’. Consequently, what is now considered a ‘heatwave’ would become commonplace. Furthermore, climate modelling regularly suggests (IPCC 2007; Min et al. 2011) that seasonal variability will increase as a result of climate change.

Consequently, it is possible that impacts of moderate climate warming on viticulture could be outweighed by the effects of climate variability. Our project includes a component to examine this. Using a portable OTC, capable of heating up to 10°C above ambient, we can impose a short-term ‘heatwave’ on a group of vines in the same way as we are imposing long-term warming (Figure 5).

Conclusions

Figure 4. Harvest yield (a), wine colour density (b), and wine total phenolic content (c) of the three varieties studied. Wines were not made for the fan-only OTC treatments.

References Edwards, E.J. ; Benham, D.G. ; Marland, L.A. and Fitter, A.H. (2004) Root production is determined by radiation flux in a temperate grassland community. Global Change Biology 10:209-227

b

a

The 2010-11 growing season was the first full season of simulated climate warming applied to all of the varieties included in this study. Despite being the first season, advancement of phenology was seen in all three varieties, with budburst and fruitset occurring earlier in each case. Harvest was also well-advanced in Chardonnay, but the extreme 2010-11 season meant that the red varieties were all harvested late at moderately low sugar content.

On the other hand, leaf level physiology appeared to acclimate to the temperature, with no treatment effects observed. The results to date are consistent with previous modelling that indicates a significant advance in phenology with a relatively small increase in the average daily temperature.

Hayman, P.T.; Leske, P. and Nidumolu, U. (2009) Climate change and viticulture.

Informing the decision making at a regional level. South Australian Wine Industry Association and South Australian Research and Development Institute. GWRDC Project SAW 06/01 IPCC (2007) Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S.; Qin, D.; Manning, M.; Chen, Z.; Marquis, M.; Averyt, K.B.; Tignor, M. and Miller, H.L. (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Min, S-K.; Zhang, X.; Zwiers, F.W. and Hegerl, G.C. (2011) Human contribution to more intense precipitation extremes. Nature 470:378-381.

Petrie, P.R. and Sadras, V.O. (2008) Advancement of grapevine maturity in Australia between 1993 and 2006: putative causes, magnitude of trends and viticultural consequences. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 14:33-45.

Figure 5. IR photos of heatwave leaves compared with control leaves.

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Scmittner, A.; Urban, N.; Shakun, J.; Mahowald, N.; Clark, P.; Bartlein, P.; Mix, A. and Rosell-Melé, A. (2011) Climate sensitivity estimated from temperature reconstructions of the last glacial maximum. Science 334:1385-1388.

Webb, L.B.; Whetton, P.H. and Barlow, E.W.R. (2011) Observed trends in winegrape WVJ maturity in Australia. Global Change Biology 17:2707-2719.

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Grapevine propagation best practices-Part 2

By Brady Smith1, Helen Waite2, Nick Dry3 and David Nitschke4 1 CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, PO Box 350, Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064. Email: Brady.Smith@csiro.au 2 National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, 2678 3 Yalumba Nursery, PO Box 10 Angaston, South Australia 5353 4 Riverland Vine Improvement Committee, PO Box 292, Monash, South Australia 5342

This is Part 2 of a brief review of practices used for grape propagation and grafting, and the results of recent research to provide suggestions for best practices. Part 1 was published in the May-June issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal.

Grafting methods and materials Pre-grafting handling methods and sanitation While it is tempting to hold grape material in water after removal from cold storage to prevent hydration while preparing for grafting, his practice results in cross contamination by the microorganisms

inhabiting the bark of the cuttings. For example, recent research indicates that the syndrome Young Vine Decline can result from introduction of pathogens during propagation (M. Weckert pers. com.). Utmost care must be taken to prevent a breakdown in hygienic practices. Ideally, bundles of canes for rootstocks would be removed from cold storage as needed and used immediately, and canes to be

used for scions would be prepared in small batches. Realistically, these practices are seldom followed in large-scale operations. While a completely hygienic environment is not possible, key practices can be implemented to minimise the spread of pathogen inoculum and infection of open wounds of canes that are generated during the grafting procedure. ▶

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If water is to be used to maintain hydration of grape material during the grafting process, it should be changed frequently, and have anti-fungal additives (e.g., chlorine, fungicide or biotic control agents). Equipment used in the grafting procedure, such as secateurs, grafting machines, etc, as well as table-tops and trays, should be disinfected throughout the day with dips or sprays of disinfectants (mild fungicide or methylated spirits), and be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected every night. The common practice of leaving one-bud pieces of scion wood in water for extended periods should be discouraged, and water should have a mild disinfectant, such as MiltonÂŽ sterilising tablets or 5-7ppm free chlorine solution. Workers should be provided with wash stations with anti-microbial soap dispensers. Disposable latex gloves should be available, and workers should be encouraged to change gloves whenever leaving and re-entering the grafting area, moving between grafting areas, and changing rootstock or scion cultivars.

Biological control agents While there has been limited trials with the biotic control agent Trichoderma spp. for the management of fungal pathogens, it appears that commercial products may be as effective as fungicides (Jin et al. 1991, Messina 1998, Smith 2012). Trichoderma spp. is non-pathogenic to grapes and is thought to colonise the grapevine root surface and invade the epidermis, preventing infection by pathogenic fungi. Trichoderma spp. is non-pathogenic to grape and is thought to colonise the grapevine root surface and invade the epidermis, preventing infection by pathogenic fungi..

Biotic control agents cannot be used in conjunction with fungicides.

The beneficial bacteria Pseudonomas spp. was found to inhibit the growth of Botrytis cinerea in vitro (Barka et al.

2002), and may be useful for both micropropagation and traditional grafting methods.

Certified wood and disease indexing The use of certified wood that has been disease indexed is essential for both the viability of the grape and wine industry, as well as the reputation of the nursery.

Certified wood refers to vine material that meets specified standards, giving the customer a high level of confidence in the quality of the product being purchased.

The standards may include correct identity and pathogen status. The correct identity of the grape material is achieved through the cultivar/clone being sourced from recognised germplasm collections, or has been DNA fingerprinted for identity.

Virus status is assessed by testing for the presence of known pathogen through a

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combination of ELISA, PCR testing and biological indexing. There are commercial services available in Australia and internationally that offer disease indexing and cultivar DNA fingerprinting to ensure cultivar identity. The costs of these services are relatively small compared with those of litigation, or the effects of deterioration of a companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reputation. The certification process specifies conditions to prevent and detect subsequent infection of vines by pests. All handling processes need to be documented to provide traceability back to the source. All of the standards are independently audited to ensure compliance.

keep vines upright. Experience in Germany is that high trunk benchgrafts are about twice as expensive as traditional benchgrafts (Jocham Eder, personal communication).

These higher costs may be offset by the lower mortality rates. High trunk benchgrafts require less time to establish vineyards, and are useful when replacing individual vines in established vineyards.

High trunk benchgrafting High trunk benchgrafting is a production method that has recently been gaining attention. In this method, the rootstock canes are cut to 85-95cm and benchgrafted with one-bud scion wood. Compared with traditional benchgrafting, extra cost and labour are required for post-graft handling, including additional wax and the use of a trellis at about 1m in the vine nursery to

Plant growth regulators (PGRs) Some Vitis species and subsequent hybrid rootstocks are known to be difficult to root from dormant cuttings. The application of plant growth regulators (PGRs) in the auxin class has been shown to increase the rooting of difficult-to-root varieties, such as cv. Ramsey, cv. 140 Ruggeri, and cv. 420 A, but have little positive effect on easy-to-root varieties and those completely recalcitrant to rooting (Alley 1979, Harmon 1944). The optimal level of auxin treatment is dependent on the rootstock variety, and in cultural components of mothervine and propagation, generally the range is between 2000-5000ppm (0.2-0.5%). Cultivars of V. vinifera and rootstock that easily root may be damaged by a high dosage application of auxins, evident by symptoms of burn at the basal end (Alley 1979). In addition to PGRs, rooting has been shown to increase by a combination of methods, such as scoring strips of the basal portion of the cane (Williams and Antcliff 1984).

Aside from the use of PGRs to promote root development, PGRs have also been shown to increase the quality of grafted vines. Todic et al. (2005) demonstrated that paclobutrazol and chlormequat treatments increased both the survival rate and number of first-grade graftlings of cv. Cardinal grafted on cv. 5BB Kober. The treatment of either two applications of chlormequat or three applications of paclobutrazol on firstyear graftlings in the nursery resulted in significantly reduced shoot length (P<0.05) and higher dry root weight (P<0.01 and P< 0.05, respectively) when compared with untreated controls.

Nankano et al. (1980) suggested that there is a direct relationship between the decline in endogenous auxin levels and the level of root production of dormant canes of the cv. Delaware. Similarly, Kracke et al. (1981) observed that the easy-to-root cv. 5BB Kober had high levels of auxin during root formation, accompanied by low levels of GA and ABA-like compounds. This relationship was inverse in the hard-to-root cv. 140 Ruggeri. Furthermore, auxin-like compounds are thought to help promote rooting by induction of enzymes, which hydrolyses starch (Kracke et al. 1981). This observation supports the finding of Bartolini et al. (1996) who proposed there to be a correlation between soluble carbohydrates and the rooting rate of cv. 140 Ruggeri.

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Benchgrafting The method of benchgrafting one-bud scion wood to unrooted dormant rootstocks and, then, placing it in moist media at high humidity was found to be superior for the propagation sucess rate of grafted vines (mean=93% for four rootstocks) compared with grafting with pre-rooted vines, then callusing in moistened media (mean=49%) and benchgrafting of unrooted dormant canes followed by callusing in water media (21%) (Kamiloglu 1997).

Water barrier Covering of grafted canes pre- or postcallusing of graft union has been shown to dramatically increase the success rate of benchgrafting. Early methods included covering the graft union with moistened material, such as sawdust, sand, sphagnum moss (peat) or combinations of media.

An unwelcome side-effect of this was to encourage scion rooting, which discouraged graft union callusing and could also be detrimental to grafted vine survival by the removal of roots disrupting the fragile callus at the graft union (Harmon and Weinberger 1963). The use of paraffin waxes to seal the scion and graft union allowed for prevention of desiccation, and also discouraged scion rooting, as the graft union no longer needed to be covered by the callusing media.

The experience of nurseries in the warmer regions of Australia has prompted a move to grafting waxes with a higher melting point to protect against high temperatures that may occur in the field nursery. The wax used should be formulated with polymers that allow for expansion and contraction to accommodate changes in the callus at the graft union.

PROPAGATION/GRAFTING

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In the light While callusing and rooting of cuttings packed in a moistened media which excludes light is the most common commercial method, evidence suggests that rooting may be promoted by allowing shoot development and light exposure. For example, Fournioux (1997) observed that the greatest number of roots and total weight was formed on dormant canes that were allowed to develop shoots in full light.

Conclusion Propagation of grapevines creates wounds for pathogen invasion as well as the means of spreading inoculum. Due diligence in the growing of material to minimise disease pressure and dehydration is a critical step in the production of grapevine nursery stock. The practice of soaking canes to achieve hydration should be challenged as it may do more harm than good towards nursery success rates and long-term health of the vine. Greater research into methods and technologies to control pathogen during storage and propagation of grapevine material is warranted.

References Figure 1. Callus room for healing graft unions and rooting.

Photo: Yalumba Nursery.

Callusing methods

Methods

Callusing Prior to use, the callus room should be cleaned and disinfected. Graftlings should be packaged in hygienic material that allows for air exchange in a sanitary media.

Preventing desiccation of the graft union has a significant effect on mortality (Smith 2012).

Dipping the top portion of the grafted vine in wax after grafting helps prevent the callus at the graft union from drying out (Becker and Hill 1977). It is common practice to use a grafting wax with a fungicide additive.

Alternatively, the graft union can be covered by the callusing mix to prevent desiccation.

In the dark Callus room temperature is set between 26-28°C and 75-80% humidity. Callusing generally takes between 14-21 days.

Rootstocks cs. 1103 Paulsen, 5C Teleki and 101-14 Mgt tend be more rapid in the development of callus compared with cv.

110 Richter, Ramsey and 140 Ruggeri.

In order to reduce planting shock, some nurseries remove the callusing boxes from the dark callusing rooms and sweep away the top couple of inches of medium and allow the cuttings to harden off in a protected environment for a few days before planting out.

Alley, C.J. (1979) Grapevine Propagation XI. Rooting of cuttings effects of indolebutyric acid (IBA) and refrigeration on rooting. Am. J. Enol. Viticult. 30:28-32.

Barka, E.A.; Gogines, S.; Nowak, J.; Audran, J.-C. and Belarbi, A. (2002) Inhibitory effect of enodphyte bacteria on Botriytis cinerea and its influence to promote the grapevine growth. Biological Control 24:135-142.

Fournioux, J.C. (1997) Adult leaves of grapevine cuttings stimulate rhizogenesis. Vitis 36:49-50.

Harmon, F.N. (1944) Influence of indolebutric acid on the rooting of grape cuttings. Proc. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. 42:379-383.

Harmon, F.N. and Weinberger, J.H. (1963) Bench grafting trials with Thompson seedless grapes on various rootstocks. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. 83:379-383.

Jin, X.; Hayes, C.K. and Harman, G.E. (1991) Principles in the development of biological control systems employing Trichoderma species against soil-borne plant pathogenic fungi. In: Frontiers in Industrial Mycology, Ed. Leatham, G.C. (Chapman and Hall: London).

Kamiloglu, Ö. and Tangolar, S. (1997) A comparison of three methods producing grafted vines. Acta Horticulturae 441.

Messina, J. (1998) The use of beneficial Trichoderma in grapevine propagation. Combined proceeding of International Plant Propagator’s Society 49:145-148.

Smith, B.P. (2012) A comparison of handling methods for production of benchgrafted grapevines. Wine Vitic. J. 27:58-62.

Todic, S.; Tesic, D. and Beslic, Z. (2005) The effect of certian exogenous growth regulators on quality of grafted grapevine rootlings. Plant Grow. Reg. 45: 121-126.

Vrsic, S.; Valdhuber, J. and Pulko, B. (2004) Compatibility of the rootstock Borner with various scion varieties. Vitis 43:155-156.

Williams, P.L. and Antcliff, A.J. (1984) Successful propagation of Vitis Berlandieri and Vitis cinerea from hardwood cuttings. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 35:75-76.

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Genomics: the key to safeguarding sustainable winegrape production

By Matthew Gilliham School of Agriculture, Food and Wine & ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Waite Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia. Email: matthew.gilliham@adelaide.edu.au

Matthew Gilliham was recently awarded the 2012 Science and Innovation Award for Young People, sponsored by the GWRDC, and administered by the Commonwealth Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. His project will produce the first genome of a commonly-planted rootstock in Australia. He says genomics will soon provide the means for answering many long-held questions in viticultural and wine research.

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omantic poet John Keats famously taunted scientists with the jibe that they – through their work – ‘unweave a rainbow’, removing poetry from nature’s beauty, leaving the sterile taste of cold philosophy in the mouth. The general public have been told to think the same when it comes to wine.

Consumers of wine have long been fed the notion that they should associate the wine they imbibe as a by-product of art and a whimsical narrative; marketers prefer to leave products, such as toothpaste and shampoo, as the ones shaped by science.

The real story behind the wine industry is quite different. Practitioners have always required a fundamental understanding of the scientific processes associated with their systems to succeed, and the rapid adoption of the most up-to-date technological innovation has always driven our industry forward on many levels; as has happened with any agricultural industry since its inception. Just because science doesn’t sell as easily as mystique, it is often kept out of the limelight. Unfortunately for the marketers and the poets, but certainly not the wine drinkers and researchers, a new challenge to the mystery of wine has arrived that promises a revolution or two; the age of genomics.

The first draft sequence of the Vitis vinifera genome was produced in 2007 (Jaillon et al. 2007; Velasco et al. 2007), wine yeast in 2008 (Borneman et al. 2008) and, hopefully, the first commonly used rootstock in 2012–13. The genome contains all the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) sequence information needed to code for the birth and survival of these organisms; it is the manual, the guidebook, the doctrine and ‘the soul’ of the organism – all in one. In the wine industry, every viticulturist and winemaker uses genetic manipulation on a daily basis, whether they want to or not.

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First, the grapevine clones, rootstocks and yeast (natural or not, intentional or not) are selected, then the expression of grapevine and wine yeast genes are altered by exposing vines or grape juice to certain environments (soil, climate, fermentation) or management techniques to produce the desired grapes or wine. The sequencing of the genomes of these key wine-shaping organisms is a major advance that should speed up our ability to understand just how genes control the wine that is made. In using nucleic acid and protein sequencing technologies, we should be able to come to grips with what accounts for the difference between grapes harvested for icon wines and ones destined for boxed wine, or, compare the same grapevine clones in different micro-climate and soil environments, which will go a long way to explaining the basis for terroir. It is these same technologies that, by comparing rootstocks with different resistances to nematodes, phylloxera, salinity and drought, will provide us with the regions of DNA that encode for the vines’ survival under these challenges.

In 1862, the world’s wine industry changed forever when the soil-borne pest phylloxera was imported from North American shores to the rest of the winegrape-growing world (Campbell 2004). As is still the case, the roots of Vitis vinifera were found to be highly susceptible to phylloxera infestation, suffered yield losses and, as a consequence, eventually died, decimating the global wine industry.

Viticulture had to adapt and it did so through innovation. Initial attempts at chemical interventions were ineffective, so, for the solution they turned to the source of the problem. Monsieur Gaston Bazille, in 1869, hypothesised that the North American Vitis species - themselves making ‘foxy’ wine and were the source of phylloxera when W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

imported to Europe - had roots that were resistant to the pest and could be grafted to Vitis vinifera shoots to make grape production possible in soils that contain phylloxera (Campbell 2004). Grafted vines now make up the majority of vineyards around the world, including the iconic wines of the Old World.

Australia is one of the few wine-producing countries without a widespread phylloxera problem. However, rootstock use has become common in recent years. That is because rootstocks can be used to control vigour, tolerate nematodes, and overcome unfavourable soil or environmental conditions, for example, soils with high lime content or low water availability. In certain areas, even without phylloxera present, rootstocks are taking over. For instance, the vast majority of all new vineyards planted in the Riverland (up to 80% in recent years) use rootstocks because of significant nematode and salinity issues (Dry 2007).

A judicious choice of rootstock and scion can help improve wine quality (Walker et al. 2010). However, the genetic factors that impart these favourable qualities upon rootstocks over V. vinifera are not well understood. Moreover, how the genomes of the scion and rootstock interact to produce a good quality crop is unknown (Tadonnet et al. 2009) – but these are the types of questions that we can now start to address in viticultural science, and this will help tailor the right combination of rootstock and scion, for the right situation, to produce the right wine.

The project, which we have already commenced, will provide the first detailed genetic map, or genome, of a rootstock.

This project will involve researchers at The University of Adelaide’s Waite Campus, CSIRO Plant Industry, the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, in Perth, and the University of Verona, in Italy.

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Matthew Gilliham (centre) is presented with his Viticulture & Oenology 2012 Science and Innovation Award for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry by the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation’s executive director Neil Fischer (left) and chair Rory McEwan.

The rootstock we have chosen to sequence is a commonly-planted rootstock in Australia, 140-Ruggeri, a cross between Vitis berlanderi and Vitis rupestris.

Compared with V. Vinifera, this rootstock has medium to high vigour, good knot nematode resistance and high drought, salinity, lime, and acid soil tolerance (Dry 2007, Walker et al. 2010).

Providing a detailed genetic map, or genome, is an important first step for linking traits to the plants' genetic make-up, an approach that will accelerate breeding for key attributes. This is particularly timely as the industry is facing new challenges, such as a rapidly changing climate and changing consumer preferences. Previously, molecular markers have been used which define a region containing hundreds or thousands of genes. After identifying the genome it will be possible, in time, to pinpoint the particular gene or genes that underlie a specific trait. This will then represent a perfect marker for plant selection.

Until now, despite the dependency upon rootstocks, no rootstock genome has been released into the public domain. This is a logical and important thing to do for the world wine industry, and it is achievable at a fraction of the cost of the grapevine genome produced in 2007 (Jaillon et al.

2007; Velasco et al. 2007) – the cost of which ran into tens of millions of dollars.

With the advent of next-generation sequencing, these costs have reduced rapidly over the last few years. Ten years ago, it would have cost $6000 to read a million characters of a genome, now it can cost as little as nine cents. The Vitis genome has about 500 million (nucleotide) V2 7N 4

characters (~500Mb), and to provide a robust sequence, the machine must read each character 50-100 times to avoid errors and allow the sequence to be placed in the right order. This makes genome sequencing possible for less than $10,000. New developments in the pipeline claim that they will be able to sequence the genome of any species for around $1000.

This study represents a significant first in Australia, but it also is a pilot study that will be used as a basis for studies that will sequence and compile genomes of other rootstocks. The International Grapevine Genomics Program (IGGP) has invited me to talk about this GWRDCfunded project at its annual meeting at Corvallis, in Oregon, in July, and to start co-coordinating similar efforts around the world. The idea would be that we sequence rootstocks important to Australia, and other countries sequence their favourite rootstocks. By mapping the genome of multiple rootstocks, it will give us more confidence in providing robust markers that will accelerate breeding for the delivery of designer traits.

In summary, aligning the natural variation in traits with that of the genomic sequence of V. spp rootstocks will reveal the molecular mechanisms that encode important traits, such as nematode and phylloxera resistance, and drought and salinity tolerance. This project will, therefore, position the GWRDC and Australian scientists at the forefront of this important global initiative. Similar projects in Vitis vinifera and wine yeast will begin to answer other questions about wine styles, climate and terrior.

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As Richard Dawkins argued many years ago following Keats’ ‘unweave a rainbow’ jibe, there is a misconception that there is a conflict between art and science. In reality, in no way does science take beauty away.

In fact, it adds to the awe in which we can hold nature – something that is complex to a mindboggling degree and demands a complex explanation. Genomics holds the key to protecting our industry against pests, pathogens and rapid climatic change; it will help us understand and get the most out of the vines and yeast; and make an invaluable contribution to securing a sustainable future for the wine industry.

References Borneman, A.R.; Forgan, A.H.; Pretorius, I.S. and Chamber, P.J. (2008) Comparative genome analysis of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine strain. FEMS Yeast Research 8:1185–1195.

Campbell, C. (2004) Phylloxera: How wine was saved for the world. Harper Collins, London.

Dry, N. (2007) Grapevine rootstocks: selection and management for South Australian vineyards. Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia, Lythrum Press, Adelaide.

Jaillon, O.; Aury, J.M. and Noel, B. (2007) The grapevine genome sequence suggests ancestral hexaploidisation in major angiosperm phyla. Nature 449:463–467.

Tandonnet J–P.; Cookson, S.J.; Vivin, P. and Ollat, N. (2009) Scion genotype controls biomass allocation and root development in grafted grapevine. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 16:290-300.

Velasco, R.; Zharkikh, A. and Troggio, M.; Cartwright, D. et al. (2007) A high quality draft consensus of the genome of a heterozygous grapevine variety. PLoS One 12:e1326 Walker, R.R.; Blackmore, D.H. and Clingeleffer, P.R. (2010) Impact of rootstock on yield and ion concentrativons in petioles, juice and wine of Shiraz and Chardonnay in different viticultural environments with different irrigation water salinity. Australian Journal of WVJ Grape and Wine Research 16:243–257. www.winebiz. com . au

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New technology to improve post-harvest nutrition management A handy tool for post-harvest nutrition management is being developed as a rapid method for measuring grapevine carbohydrate and nutrient reserves.

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esearchers at the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC), in Wagga Wagga, have developed a rapid infrared spectroscopybased method for measuring starch and nitrogen concentrations in grapevine wood and roots, and are refining the technique for other macro-nutrients and total carbohydrate reserves. This will provide a practical and low-cost method that will enable growers to more readily monitor carbohydrate reserve or nutrient concentrations in their vineyards as part of routine management practices.

Dr Jason Smith and Dr Bruno Holzapfel have had a long involvement in viticulture and carbohydrate reserve research, through projects funded by the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC).

Together with Markus Müller, a winemaker and PhD student from Germany, and CSU wine science lecturer Dr Leigh Schmidtke, they have combined their respective experience with grapevine physiology and chemometric modelling to produce calibrations for the measurement of starch and nitrogen reserves using Attenuated Total

Reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR spectroscopy).

Carbohydrate reserves are a source of stored carbon that support root and shoot growth in early spring. Nutrient reserves are also needed in spring, with up to 50% of the seasonal requirements for nitrogen and phosphorus supplied from stored reserves, with contributions from stored potassium, magnesium and calcium ranging from 5-15%.

“Canopy growth and reproductive development can vary according to the amount of stored reserves, so measurements of nutrient and carbohydrate reserve status after leaf-fall may provide a physiological indicator of vegetative growth and yield potential for the coming season,” Smith said. “Measurements made during the growing season may also allow growers to refine decisions relating to crop load management, irrigation and fertiliser applications.”

Smith said ATR-FT-IR spectroscopy provided an advantage over the analytical methods normally used for carbohydrates and nutrients, as the instrument and running costs

were significantly lower, and the concentrations of multiple compounds could be measured simultaneously.

“The time required for analysis is about two minutes per sample, with dried powdered samples simply placed onto the instrument and analyte concentrations determined from the reflected IR spectra,” he said. Smith added that the starch and nitrogen reserve calibrations developed by NWGIC researchers were also very accurate, with an error of prediction for starch of 1.56% dry weight (DW) across a sample concentration range of 0.25-42.82% DW, and nitrogen 0.07% DW across a concentration range of 0.10-2.65% DW. “These errors compare favourably with the more time-consuming digestion and enzymatic methods commonly used for starch, or combustion analysis for total nitrogen. The calibration has also been validated for different tissue types and varieties, and for samples collected across multiple regions and seasons,” Smith said.

The next stage of the research is to refine sampling protocols to account for vineyard spatial variability, and

Rob Stanic: 0412 550 250

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Surveying a commercial vineyard to assess variability in carbohydrate and nutrient reserve storage (left) and measurement of starch and nitrogen concentrations in a dried grapevine wood sample using the Bruker ALPHA FT-IR spectrometer. Photos: Jason Smith.

However, future work aims to combine determine the extent to which the measurements of reserve status with structural component, or ‘pool size’, of other variables, such as bud fruitfulness reserves needs to be considered in any and climatic conditions, to provide a assessment of vineyard reserve status. more complete framework for assessing “The method is sufficiently accurate to and managing grapevine yield potential,” measure the season-to-season variation Smith said. in root, wood and cane reserves typically By the end of the year, the researchers seen in commercial vineyards, and will add calibrations for the free sugar concentration ranges observed across component of carbohydrate reserves, and previous studies provide a starting point 1 1 3 9 _ v 1 C R T _ N u f a r m3 . p d f Pa ge 1 2 5 / 0 6 / 1 2 , are also looking at the effectiveness of 1 2 for3the interpretation of any new analysis.

the technique for measurement of petiole and leaf tissue.

Further reading Smith, J.; Quirk, L.; Müller, M.; Schmidtke, L. and Holzapfel, B. (2011) Variation in starch and nitrogen reserve storage by grapevines and measurement by ATR-FT-IR spectroscopy.

Proceedings of the 17th GiESCO Symposium. 263-266.

Schmidtke, L.M.; Smith, J.P.; Müller, M.C. and Holzapfel, B.P. (2012) Rapid monitoring of grapevine reserves using ATR–FT-IR

: 5 3

PM

and chemometrics. Analytica Chimica Acta. 732:16-25.

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Vineyard scoops annual trophy pool

By Mark Smith

The Pooley family have owned Belmont Lodge, a jewel in the Tasmanian wine industry’s crown, for three generations. Mark Smith met with the current caretakers of the property to hear their recollections of its early years, and plans for maintaining its viticultural success.

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elmont Lodge. The name sounds every bit the stuff of Victorian novels and country retreats. A precious bit of earth set well away from the city, where nothing much happens from one year to the next, and even the sheep feel its remoteness.

That may have been the case when Hobart wine merchant Benjamin Guy moved into the Coal River Valley in the 1830s, but nothing could be further from the truth since John and Libby Pooley took up residence in 2003. Today, Belmont Lodge is a hive of activity, home base of Pooley Wines, and winner of the 2012 Richard Langdon Trophy for Tasmanian Vineyard of the Year.

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The award is the island state’s most prestigious prize for viticulture and vineyard management. It was established back in 2005 and is intended to encourage world’s best practice among Tasmania’s 240 or so commercial vineyards.

Jointly supported by The Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania, Roberts Rural Supplies, the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, and industry peak body Wine Tasmania, previous trophy winners have included Clover Hill, Tolpuddle Vineyard, Tamar Ridge, Craigow, Kelvedon Estate, and Cape Bernier Vineyard.

During a four-month period spanning November 2011 to March 2012, entrant

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vineyard sites were visited several times by the competition’s judges. These comprised Hobart agricultural consultant and chairperson Frank Walker, internationally respected pest and disease researcher Dr Kathy Evans (Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture), wine industry development officer David Sanderson (Wine Tasmania), and Dr Alistair Christie, Cape Bernier Vineyard owner and the award’s 2010 recipient.

Entrants were judged on more than 40 criteria in categories that included soil management, weed control, disease control, pruning, forming the vine, trellising and water management. Lists of all wines

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produced from each vineyard’s grapes and any recent show results were also submitted.

According to the organisers, the high quality of entries saw judging advance through several rounds before the winner was finally decided. A carefully devised competition theme – Planning for the Future – played a major role in determining the judges’ final assessments. The topic covered a comprehensive range of business objectives, from planning, implementation and analyses of objectives, to business adaptation for the future.

In accepting the Richard Langdon Trophy at an industry field day held at Belmont Vineyard on 24 May, Pooley Wines chief executive John Pooley amused his guests by stating that his company’s award was living proof of the well-known 6Ps principle: Proper planning prevents p*** poor performance.

“That’s something we really believe in because it’s very, very important,” he explained.

“Just like the old adage says, good winemaking really does start in the vineyard, not in the winery. The effort we put into producing all of our premium Pooley wines starts many years before a vintage is picked, and proper planning and management of that effort is absolutely critical.”

Sound advice it may be, but few industry players could have predicted that such a significant and profitable Tasmanian wine business could have sprung from what was essentially a retirement project for John’s late parents, almost 30 years ago.

Denis and Margaret Pooley began their venture by planting 861 vines of Riesling and Pinot Noir on a small property called Cooinda Vale, just north of Campania, in 1985.

“My father was a great lover of food and wine, and his vineyard really was his passion,” John recounted.

Denis’ death in 1993 brought production manager Matthew Pooley into the business.

Then a 23-year-old agricultural college graduate, he felt somewhat ambivalent about his grandparents’ pocket-handkerchief hobby vineyard.

“It was Denis’ wish that the property should stay within the family after his death,” Matthew explained.

“With my dad John having full-time involvement in a retail car business, the vineyard fell on my shoulders. I was the next person in line. Dad could see its potential, but I really had only limited interest in it. It wasn’t a passion like it has become now.”

Matthew returned from working interstate in 1994 and soon set about expanding the vineyard under the unerring gaze of his

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John (left) and Matthew Pooley with the 2012 Richard Langdon Trophy for Tasmanian Vineyard of the Year. grandmother. By the time Margaret Pooley died in 2010, then aged 95 years – and arguably the country’s oldest winegrower and cellar door manager – Pooley Wines had ownership of two separate vineyard sites.

Today, Cooinda Vale and Belmont – located further south in the tiny Coal River township of Richmond – span 12ha of vines.

Their total annual production amounts to just 60 tonnes of winegrapes. Varieties planted include Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Pinot Grigio, as well as lesser amounts of

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Belmont Vineyard located at Richmond in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley.

Eugenana Vineyard owner Aileen Lynch talks with Matthew Pooley about trellising and pruning at the Tasmanian Vineyard of the Year field day.

Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz.

Historically, the wine stars have been the family’s multiple trophy-winning duo, the Riesling and Pinot Noir table wine releases. Rarely publicised is the fact that Denis and Margaret’s original Campania site contributes significant volumes of fruit to Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay and GlaetzerDixon’s Mon Père Shiraz. The latter wine created a stir in Melbourne last year when it became the first Tasmanian Shiraz – indeed, the first Tasmanian wine – to win the coveted Jimmy Watson Trophy.

Located barely 15km from one another, these two family vineyards are totally separate operations that are managed independently, according to their respective viticultural needs and unique roles in the company’s business plans.

Cooinda Vale’s vines – trellised to VSP and set 1.2m apart with 2.0m row spacings – are planted on north-east facing slopes at 130m above sea level. The soils there are brown-black dermosols that are high in acidity (pH5.3), something that is frequently associated with alluvial plains and river terraces. Beneath is a layer of decaying sandstone, with friable clay sub-soil. The sloping aspect offers excellent drainage and good protection from prevailing northwesterly winds.

Oddly enough, the property’s warm temperate climate is influenced by both Tasmania’s maritime location and the site’s almost continental extremes of summer temperature maxima and winter minima.

As a result, the vineyard’s long growing season can extend into May. High sunshine hours, predominately winter rainfall, and occasional frost and snow combine to provide generally favourable conditions for its cool climate selections of Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Riesling and Chardonnay. Yields vary markedly according to variety, block and clone, but fall within a range of 0.75t/ha (Shiraz) to 8.0t/ha (some Pinot Noir).

water is passed through the company’s Hydrosmart technology to remove unwanted mineral salts. De-scaling of pipes, pumps and drippers are welcome additional benefits.

“We use a lot of inter-row cropping to assist our moisture retention,” Matthew explained.

“Of course, there are a lot of other spinoffs, too. As well as helping to maintain natural levels of nitrogen and organic matter in our soils, our management practices ensure the reduction of weed competition, encourage microbial soil activity, and reduce the use of herbicides.

“Seasonal threats of powdery mildew and botrytis bunch rot are the main disease issues here. I figure my role is to try to build strength and resilience into my vines through fine-tuning their nutrition and paying close attention to achieving good balanced canopies. We work with the premise that it’s no good simply relying on chemicals. You have to be able to help a vine help itself.”

After eight years of involvement in research carried out by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture’s Dr Kathy Evans, the Pooleys believe they now have sound theoretical understanding and enhanced practical know-how in attending to disease pressures on their vineyards.

In handing Matthew Pooley a copy of their latest shared report to the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC), Dr Evans acknowledged the value of conducting research trials in a commercial vineyard setting.

“We have been able to learn the practicalities of running a vineyard and the multiplicity of tasks that are involved there, not just in terms of disease management,” she observed.

By all accounts, so too did the 70 participants in this year’s Tasmanian WVJ Vineyard of the Year field day.

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Acquired by John and Libby Pooley in 2003 and planted the same year, Belmont adjoins the tourist route of Richmond Road, making it an ideal location for administration and cellar door sales. Twelve kilometres away – and less than five minutes from Hobart Airport – is the family’s vertically integrated packaging, labelling and wine storage business at Cambridge.

Belmont’s vines straddle the side of Butchers Hill on their VSP trellising. These north-facing slopes are able to capture all-day sun and feature brown dermosols with underlying deposits of sandstone and limestone. Their low acidity (pH7.4) is unusual within the Tasmanian vineyard context. Again, yields vary according to variety, block and clone, but span 4.0t/ha to 10.0t/ha for its Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir.

Approximately 1.0ha each of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are yet to bear fruit, but are being targetted to fall within the same yield range.

The valley’s surprisingly low annual rainfall (typically under 500mm) makes drip irrigation essential on both sites. This is scheduled throughout the growing and ripening seasons on a fortnightly basis, with amendments constantly being made in light of real-time soil moisture analyses and site selective rainfall data.

Soil moisture is monitored via a series of low-cost GBug data loggers, manufactured in Australia by MEA. Each records soil moisture tension readings taken at twohourly intervals from gypsum block sensors buried at 20cm and 40cm across the vineyard.

Mitigation of heat stress during summer is being managed by the use of a proprietary product called Ectol Protect and Grow.

Matthew is a keen advocate of its nutritional properties as well, and believes it has been largely responsible for ripening rates increasing and becoming more even across his vineyard blocks.

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Ethical and free trade branding for wine: harvesting the benefits

By Tony Hoare

Hoare Consulting, PO Box 1106, McLaren Flat 5171 South Australia. Email: tony@hoareconsulting.com.au

The benefits garnered by the coffee, chocolate, forestry and textile industries from the adoption of ethical and fair trade branding holds a mirror to what could also be undertaken by the Australian wine industry.

Could the fair trade system contribute to creating stability with grape pricing and protecting regional brands from exploitation in the marketplace?

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nyone who has bought a coffee or chocolate bar recently would be aware of the spread of ‘fair trade’ or ‘ethical’ branding. Companies are now using this branding to differentiate their products from competitors, based on ethical and sustainable production of their products. Originally intended to protect the exploitation of third-world producers by first-world companies, fair trade branding empowers consumers to make purchasing decisions based on ethical business practices at a quick glance of the packaging. It has since been adopted in textile and forestry industries, and has successfully united those multistakeholder industries in a mutually sustainable way. The fundamental principle of fair trade is that the price paid by companies for raw ingredients covers their average costs of sustainable production. It acts as a safety net for farmers at times when world markets fall below a sustainable business level.

Without this, farmers are completely at the mercy of the market. There are parallels with the Australian wine industry and its levels of fluctuating supply and demand, which could potentially benefit from adoption of an ethical/fair trade practices.

I know there is not much room on the back of Australian wine labels for another logo these days. However, the benefits of fair trade or ethical branding logos are being seen as an advantage by wine-producing countries such as the US, Argentina and Chile. Fair trade branding has been successfully adopted by chocolate and coffee industries, both of which could be seen in the same ‘luxury’ category for consumer spending as wine.

It has been suggested that the South African wine industry has benefitted from growth into markets such as the UK from its fair trade branding. I might add that from my research, the fair trade logo appears on the front of most wine labels.

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Fair trade branding has been successful in allowing consumers to participate through their spending choices in industries through an independent, neutral body.

Could such a system contribute to creating stability with grape pricing and protecting regional brands from exploitation in the marketplace? Are growers being realistic waiting for the next industry boom and record grape prices, which may never come? Would they be better off establishing a more open relationship with wineries and vice versa, so that there was less exploitation of each other during phases of both growth and decline in the Australian wine industry? The supply and demand cycle of boom and bust extremes in the Australian wine industry is a product of our free market economy. Our largely self-managed industry was able to enjoy the highs of its rapid growth phase in the 1990s and, then, the inevitable lows once the bubble burst, which ultimately led to hardship for many growers and wineries, alike. After such a period of growth and then downturn, is there a way in which we, as a multi-stakeholder industry with diverging interests, can share mutual future prosperity? Does the concept of fair trade offer a solution to the cycle of the Australian wine industry, and offer potential stability for future growth?

In essence, fair trade provides an independent third-party certification, which builds trust with consumers. In a domestic wine market where competition for shelf space is fierce and profitability compromised for cashflow, fair trade can provide consumers with a choice not simply based on bottle price. The Australian domestic wine market has no cap on retail outlet ownership as in America, and is dominated by two major retail chains. These retail chains are looking at expanding their homebrand products to eventually represent W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

Could the use of fair trade or ethical branding in the wine industry, like the Fairtrade and Ethical Clothing systems above, help differentiate products from competitors based on their ethical and sustainable production? www.winebiz. com . au

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about a third of their total sales. Making this situation more difficult for wine producers of branded products is the ‘lost leader’ concept. This is where a recognisable, generally successful branded wine product is sold below the recommended retail price of the producer, and sometimes less than the wholesale price. It is used as a strategy to lure consumers through the door of some retail outlets and, ultimately, devalues the brand equity of the product for the producer. The producer is relatively powerless, as there is no legislative protection for brands in this situation. They can send staff into the store to buy back the product or have delivery trucks turned around, or even not sell to those retailers. Consumers are not made aware that this type of discounting is counter productive to profitability in the short term, and brand equity in the long term for the producer.

If there was greater transparency about brand exploitation, would their spending habits change from being price sensitive, to being based more on a social conscience? The fair trade concept empowers consumers to make their purchasing decisions on that basis.

Most previous attempts to establish consumer confidence in Australian wine have been through industry-driven schemes. While these schemes have been designed to differentiate products and brands in the market, they have often been based on trend-driven schemes or philosophies. For consumers, the choice is complicated. It is not just a red or white wine. There are a multitude of options faced by Australian wine consumers, much of which is confusing when faced by a wall of wine in a retail outlet, and can even lead to a phobia of setting foot in a bottleshop. Ultimately, most wine consumers are price-driven in their spending choices. How many consumers are aware that a $2 cleanskin is not produced sustainably, and that it

has been subsidised by someone at their financial disadvantage? Do they also understand the damage done to a wine region’s reputation, which is quite often used as a selling point in the absence of an identifiable producer on cleanskin products?

Regional branding Australia’s wine regions are currently exposed to exploitation in the market.

Wines can be produced and sold without a producer’s name, yet, it can still use a region’s name to promote the sale of that product. Currently, there are no wine quality or price-point barriers preventing the use of a region’s name. Does this situation lead to damage of regional brand image in the minds of consumers?

In the absence of any regional brand protection, will regional brands continue to be exploited to the detriment of future value and potential sub-regional brand development?

Australia’s wine industry is relatively young compared with our European counterparts. We have not had the long history of European wine regions that has allowed the successful establishment of regional and sub-regional boundaries and their governing systems, such as the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée system in France, and Denominazione di origine controllata in Italy. These systems have harnessed the regional brand value in the wines and winegrapes produced in these specific areas of land. They have also helped educate consumers about the optimum value of produce from within these geographical boundaries.

In essence, they inadvertently serve as an ethical or fair trade system in their own right. They help to protect the brand equity of wine producers within specific regions. Australia does not have such regional brand protection for wine producers and, as a result, a region’s name can be used by anyone to sell wine,

as long as there is 85% of the product sourced from the region. The issue here is that wines can appear on the shelf at any price point, and consumers cannot differentiate the value of products based on region. For example, I recently heard advertised a 60-year-old, bush vine, McLaren Vale Grenache wine available as a $2 cleanskin. Surely, that product does not represent the true, sustainable value of a product fitting that description. What it does do is devalue the product for producers of similar wines that are charging realistic pricing, which is sustainable economically. The development of sub-regional boundaries in Australia is a process that is in its early stages of development. In the meantime, could an ethical branding scheme help in protecting regional, grower and wine producer brand equity?

Ethical and fair trade branding allows the consumer to make their purchasing decision with the confidence that no-one is being exploited in the production of the product. It has been successful in the promotion of coffee and chocolate companies, including well-known company Cadbury. The growing popularity of Australian farmers' markets seems to indicate that Australian consumers are already prepared to make purchasing decisions based on social values, rather than price, where they feel the producer and the community around that producer benefits. This is a complex issue and I do not know if a branding logo alone is the answer. However, I do believe our industry is perfectly poised in its current growth phase to debate how we might best protect and enhance our brand image at home and abroad, and ensure future sustainability.

Reference Houston, C. (2012) Wine boss fires parting shot at big two’s retail ‘mafia’. Sydney Morning Herald, 3 WVJ June.

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Regional profiling: the McLaren Vale experience

By Toby Bekkers Consultant and viticulturist. Email: toby@tobybekkers.com

Members of the McLaren Vale Grape, Wine and Tourism Association have undertaken a critical self-analysis to identify ‘districts’ within the region, ultimately enhancing the storytelling to consumers about the region’s ability to produce distinctly terrior-driven wines.

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oncepts such as regionality and terroir receive much attention in the wine trade and media. It has been suggested by many that to redefine the image of Australian wine internationally, the Australian experience and interpretation of regionality must be brought into greater focus. In my view, Australian winemakers have always understood these influences as being important. The desire of Wine Australia and others to bring regionality to the fore is no doubt based on an assumption that Australian winemakers understand their regions, and are able to tell a credible regional story about how this results in both higher quality and regionally distinctive wines. However, to me it seems likely that the strength of large (and often multi-regional) blends, and a focus on grape variety as the hero, have meant that the depth of Australian understanding of regionality and terroir has been somewhat obscured. The often-heard assumption that Australian winemakers have only recently discovered the importance of terroir is, of course, simply erroneous, but it does highlight the fact that we have not thoroughly explained what we do know.

If we accept this premise that natural resource capital drives regional expression, what do we really know about our regions? How much is reality, and how much is unsubstantiated folklore? To maximise a region’s wine quality potential and tell a coherent story about its unique place in the wine world, a methodology to test current assumptions and provide a template for continuous learning would be a powerful tool.

With a vision to be the best studied and understood wine region in Australia, the McLaren Vale Grape, Wine and Tourism Association (MVGWTA) has benefitted from the accumulated experience of a wide group of individuals in developing a practical methodology for better understanding the region. Still very much in its infancy (it is accepted that as a process of continuous learning it will never end) it may provide the stimulus for other regions to undertake such analysis and, as such, improve the visibility of Australian winegrowing expertise.

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Advantages and goals A number of complementary projects aim to: • develop a robust understanding of McLaren Vale based on fact, rather than folklore or assumption • improve wine quality through greater understanding of the region’s natural capital • for all members of MVGWTA to be able to communicate the above with consistency • develop marketing programs that highlight the depth of understanding of the unique attributes of McLaren Vale.

Step one - geology map South Australia is fortunate to have extremely good geological mapping data.

Armed with this, geologists Bill Fairburn, Jeff Olliver, Wolfgang Preiss and writer Philip White collaborated to improve upon Fairburn’s earlier geological map and accompanying text defining and describing the geological history of the McLaren Vale wine region. Published with the assistance of PIRSA and highlighting the geological diversity of the region,

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the map provides an objective base from which to add further layers of complexity.

Independent of soil or climatic factors, the geology map provides a clear picture of the framework from which the region’s landscape has evolved. Additional layers, such as soil, rainfall and temperature data, can be overlaid upon this geological map and, in many cases, the correlations (between soil and geology for example) are obvious. Publishing such overlays is a logical next step for the program, given the success of the original map as an information tool. The map is anecdotally the best selling map through the PIRSA office; 10,000 copies have been printed and sold or distributed.

Such tools are effective because they are scientifically robust, positively showcase a region’s self-understanding and are an attractive, visual means of presenting the complexities of a natural landscape.

Many consumers of this information do not wish to delve into the finest details, but what they are left with is a clear vision of a region that understands its landscape and seeks to learn more.

Step two - ‘districts’ While geology provides a basis for understanding a region’s formation, other factors also contribute to the present-day environmental components of terroir. Using geology as an objective base, a group of respected winemakers, viticulturists and geologists embarked on the task of defining where individual, distinct ‘sub-districts’ might occur within the region. The term sub-region was deliberately avoided, given its use as a legal term. Proposing official

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sub-regions is expressly not an objective of the project. Meetings and field visits were conducted over an 18-month period, and took into account geology, soils, topography, distance from the coast, temperature, rainfall, elevation, etc. Much of this data had been compiled during a previous regional profiling project that succeeded in accumulating all data available up until that date.

McLaren Vale’s diversity was reflected in the classification of 19 individual zones or ‘districts’. These are not set in concrete and will be reviewed periodically for accuracy. Clearly, this level of detail is of more interest to producers than consumers, and in the future there may be opportunities to simplify broader trends for public consumption. However, the robust process and level of detail that has been invested in developing the ‘districts’ report again highlights to those outside the region that McLaren Vale producers regard understanding their region as being of vital importance.

Although examining such indicators as geology, climate, soil and topography is complex, it is probably the simplest part of the process over the long term.

Lines on maps are one thing, but relating what is seen in the landscape to distinct characteristics in finished wines is quite another. What point is there, one may well ask, in distinguishing between ‘districts’ if the wine produced from them shows no difference in character?

some expected and others that challenge traditional perceptions. A logical next step and improvement to the system would include sensory and biostatistician support to assist in structuring and evaluating the viticultural and oenological elements of the ‘district’ activity.

The intended outputs are marketing information, such as regional tasting notes and educational information, as well as facilitating better viticultural and winemaking decision-making. It is envisaged that the information generated through this process will, even in its raw form, be most useful for McLaren Vale growers and winemakers.

It has become clear that this process will assist in achieving the objectives of more robust regional understanding, and improving wine quality through more informed decision-making. However, the level of complexity and detail makes the raw data impractical for use in the trade, for example. How, then, are the objectives of a clear and consistent message that members might take into the wine trade met? How might the region begin to make the unique attributes of McLaren Vale Shiraz visible to consumers in a form they can taste, and in a way that exposes the depth of understanding present among producers? Scarce Earth is the vehicle that enables consumers to explore the region’s diversity and offers the opportunity for those among them who wish to delve more deeply to do so.

Step three - ‘district’ tastings

Step four - Scarce Earth

Most producers in the region hold strong opinions about the oenological strengths and distinct characters of certain parts of McLaren Vale. The next layer of regional profiling aims to examine these trends and build a knowledge base around a standardised methodology.

Each year, MVGWTA members are asked to submit one-year-old Shiraz wines from single vineyard parcels, without the influence of new oak.

Shiraz was the first variety chosen for assessment due to its dominance both in planted area and market recognition.

A panel of respected winemakers, viticulturists and journalists taste the wines and collate flavour descriptors. It is envisaged that over time, this process will produce a database of tasting notes, from which it may be possible to identify distinct attributes of the wines made from each of the 19 ‘districts’. It may be that some adjacent ‘districts’ do not differ significantly, and this may be deemed grounds for amalgamation or shifting boundaries. Although it is too early to make definitive judgements, some very interesting trends have been observed;

The McLaren Vale Scarce Earth initiative aims to encourage discussion and understanding about the unique attributes of Shiraz throughout McLaren Vale. Any member of MVGWTA may present single vineyard Shiraz wines to be tasted by a panel of three local winemakers and three independent panellists from the wine trade or media.

The panel’s role is to ensure that wines selected for the program are free of overt winemaking influences, such as dominant oak, which may mask site expression. By highlighting the sub-district and vineyard each wine comes from, the program aims to provide a starting point for discussion about both regional character and the nuances of individual vineyards and sub-districts.

The wines chosen are able to use the Scarce Earth label and participate in events, most notably a coordinated release (26 months after vintage) of the wines and a public tasting. The wines are available exclusively from cellar doors for three months following release, in an effort to encourage visitation to the region.

Showcasing flights of high quality wines is common. However, programs

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such as this with a structured methodology and that leverage a deeper understanding offer greater potential to tell a credible, distinctive story about a region. Again, the result is two-fold: influencers and consumers are offered a tangible experience and the ability to explore more detailed information if they choose. Most importantly, they leave with a clear impression that McLaren Vale producers seek to understand their region with an enthusiasm equal to that of any producer elsewhere in the world.

Step five – McLaren Vale Sustainable Winegrowing The key objective of McLaren Vale Sustainable Winegrowing Australia is to improve vineyard sustainability.

The program combines data reporting, self-assessment via a workbook of viticultural practices and third-party audits. Chapters are written by local growers and peer reviewed by experts in each field. Chapters include: soil health, nutrition and fertiliser management, pest and disease management, biodiversity management, water management, waste management, and social (work, community and winery relations).

Importantly, while the system aims to collect data and measure performance, there is also a considerable focus on continuous improvement, with the workbook offering a pathway to improved performance that is tailored with consideration to the particular requirements of the region. Given that individual measures of sustainability vary in importance depending upon regional conditions, providing measures and solutions targetted at the regional level is the most effective way to both measure performance and encourage meaningful improvement. Uptake has been excellent, with 41 growers participating in last years’ trial program and many more eager to participate this season. A regional focus and the potential to improve business performance appear to be the drivers of adoption.

Program coordinator Irina Santiago clearly describes the objectives of the system: “Sustainability for us is about developing our vineyards, preserving and/or improving the land, increasing the quality of our grapes, meeting the requirements of the wineries, optimising the use of inputs relative to on-farm returns, and minimising potential negative impacts on the environment.

The program also aims to promote regional social development and well-being of the people who live in our community.”

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The development of a practical methodology for better understanding what makes McLaren Vale unique may provide the stimulus for other regions to undertake such analyses in pursuit of making a success of regionality-led marketing.

While on the surface none of these goals overtly aim to inform a greater understanding of regionality, much of the data collected shows all the signs of being a goldmine for future analysis.

Having a platform through which the regional body can communicate with growers and easily collect information greatly enhances the ability to understand not only the natural resource base of a region, but also the human and operational factors that impact upon regional performance.

Conclusions With 61 different regions in Australia alone, not to mention the hundreds throughout the rest of the world, telling a unique story about a region that gains any sort of attention requires more than just clever word-smithing and an advertising budget. In my view, only those regions that make the effort to understand the fine details of what makes them unique will command any sort of presence or ‘cut-through’ in the marketplace. If a region cannot demonstrate what makes it significantly different from its neighbour, in terms of both natural capital and in wine sensory properties, then any attempt at regionality-led marketing is likely to fail.

Regions will need to ensure their producers have access to relevant, W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

factual information and be able to generate innovative ways to make the story come alive for consumers. Key influencers, particularly international buyers and wine media, have ready access to long-established international regions, and we in Australia need to illustrate that we understand our regions as well as our competitors understand theirs. We cannot hope to do that unless we have done the work to back-up what we often instinctively know.

By no means is McLaren Vale alone in its efforts, but I believe that the sort of multifaceted approach described in this article may offer a template for other regions to better refine their self-understanding. If part of Australia’s wine future lies in telling a credible story about regionality, then gathering current understanding, identifying any shortfalls and continually striving to find out more should be at the forefront of our thinking.

For more information, visit www.mclarenvale.info References Fairburn, W.A.; Olliver, J.G.; Preiss, W.V. and White, P. (2010) Geology of the McLaren Vale Wine region (Map).

PIRSA Minerals and Energy Resources, Adelaide, SA. http:// mclarenvale.info/files/Sub%20Region%20Map.pdf Olliver, J.G. and Hook, J.D. (2011) Viticultural vineyard areas-Terroirs of McLaren Vale wine region. McLaren Vale Grape Wine and Tourism Association, McLaren Vale, SA. WVJ www.winebiz. com . au

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Negro Amaro – a worthy alternative red in the right homoclime

By Andrew Cottell Parish Hill Wines, Adelaide Hills, South Australia.

Andrew Cottell, from Italian variety specialist Parish Hill Wines, is one of just a handful of producers of Negro Amaro in Australia. In 2008, two years after he planted his first vines, Andrew shared his early experiences with the variety in an issue of the Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal – the forerunner to the Wine & Viticulture Journal – and four years on says he’s surprised there have not been more plantings of it in Australia, particularly given its ability to tolerate heat and hold acid.

I

first decided to plant Negro Amaro after seeing the vines growing at Chalmers Nurseries (now known as Binjara Vine Nursery), at Euston, on the New South Wales-Victorian border.

Former proprietor Bruce Chalmers had imported many new Italian varieties and clones that were hitherto unavailable in Australia.

I used to buy fruit from Chalmers from their Italian varieties that I either had growing and were not yet producing, or that I was interested in planting at a later date. This way, I could get a handle on the winemaking for when my vines were producing.

One day, I was picking a variety in the rows alongside where the Negro Amaro was growing and was struck by its large leaves and strong vertical growth. I thought it would suit trellising to VSP.

I was also attracted to the name. I thought ‘Amaro’ was something to do with love or being amorous and would be a good marketing ploy. I was wrong!

I first planted Negro Amaro in 2006, followed by a second planting in 2007. I have around 500-600 vines in total, which are the VCR 10 clone. They are all on Teleki 5C rootstocks. This gives a vine of moderate vigour in our soil and climate.

Negro Amaro has strong, upright growth and forms a good VSP canopy.

Our vines receive two minimal hedging passes with the vine trimmer in summer.

The leaves are quite large, tough, leathery and hairy underneath. The berries are dark, thick-skinned and firmly attached to the pedicel, which may be a problem with mechanical harvesting. Bunches are compact and prone to botrytis attack in late autumn

if there is rain. Our plantings are 2.3m x 1.2m, giving a vine density of 3700 vines/ha.

I don’t plan to plant any more, as supply and demand are about in balance.

Our vineyard is steep with a good west-to-north exposure; it is a warm site in a cool area. Our mean January temperature is 19.5-20°C, which is marginal for this variety. We can ripen the grapes with low crops and good canopy control.

Negro Amaro is fertile and fruitful from the lower buds and generally produces two bunches per shoot, but sometimes three. Due to the fertile lower buds, Negro Amaro is amenable to spur pruning, although we choose to cane prune. In our cooler vineyard, it is very important to thin out the bunches to ensure that the remaining bunches get full exposure for uniform colouring and

Parish Hill Wines Negro Amaro vines during their establishment.

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NEGRO AMARO

By Peter Dry Viticulture Consultant The Australian Wine Research Institute Background Negro Amaro, or Negroamaro (pronounced NEGG-ro ah-MARR-oh), is mainly grown in Puglia, in the south of Italy, particularly in the provinces of Brindisi, Taranto and Lecce. Supposedly of Greek origin, this has yet to be confirmed

by DNA analysis. It is used for both rosé and red wine styles and is the major component of many DOC wines, e.g. Brindisi, Copertino, Squinzano, Rosso di Cerignola and Salice Salentino—in many of these, it is blended with up to 20% Malvasia Nera. The planted area in Italy was 31,000 hectares in 1990, but has decreased since that time. There do not appear to be significant plantings in any other countries. In Australia, there are currently at least seven wine producers according to the Wine Industry Directory. Synonyms include Abbruzzese, Abruzzese, Albese, Arbese, Arbise, Jonico, Lacrima, Mangiaverde, Mangiaverme, Negra della Lorena, Nero Amaro, Nero Leccese, Nicra Amaro, Niuri Maru and Uva Cane.

Viticulture

Parish Hill Wines has been producing Negro Amaro since the 2005 vintage. flavour development but are not touching each other, or are up against a post where they are protected from airflow and solar radiation that can promote botrytis. Our Negro Amaro matures late and the bunches are compact, so the residual effect of the last botrytis spray is minimal.

In our vineyard, all phenological events from budburst to harvest are later than Nebbiolo, Dolcetto and Sangiovese, for example. Flowering occurs at the end of November through to fruitset at the end of the first week of December.

Veraison is in the second week of February and harvest is late, at around the end of April. This phenology would be different in a warmer climate.

Negro Amaro holds its acid well and needs none or minimal adjustment prior to fermentation. This would be a benefit in hot areas. At harvest, the grapes are hand picked, crushed and destemmed, following simple, traditional winemaking practices. The wine receives no oak treatment, as we want to see the expression of varietal fruit for the first few years. The wines are intense ruby red in colour with a blue-violet edge, but not V2 7N 4

Budburst and maturity are mid-season to late. Vines are vigorous and growth habit is erect. Bunches are compact, medium to large and yield is moderate to high.

Berries are purplish-black, medium to large with thick skin. In Italy it has been traditionally grown as bush vines, but performs well on various trellis systems.

With good basal bud fertility, it may be spur pruned. Negro Amaro may be difficult to machine harvest because berries do not detach easily from bunch stems. It is susceptible to botrytis due to the compact bunches, but is tolerant of downy and powdery mildews. With late budburst it can escape early spring frosts. Negro Amaro has performed extremely well under hot and dry conditions in Australia.

Wine Negro Amaro has good acid retention and relatively low pH in hot climates.

Phenolics are moderate to high. Wines have a fruity perfume with good body, are well-rounded and slightly bitter. Descriptors include dark fruits, boysenberry, prune, spicy, dried cherry and chocolate. Wines have good ageing potential.

This is an extract from the manual developed for the Research to Practice workshop on ‘Alternative varieties: emerging options for a changing environment’ (Tassie, L.; Dry, P.R. and Essling, M. 2010). For further information on this and other emerging varieties, contact Marcel Essling (viticulture@awri.com.au; tel. 08 8313 6600) at The Australian Wine Research Institute to arrange the presentation of this Research to Practice program in your region.

as dark as Shiraz or Cabernet, nor is it as tannic.

A pleasant-textured, non-stop palate is full and lingering with a throat-coating finish and flavours of cherry, tobacco, berry, ripe resinous fruit, coconut, toasted coffee, dark chocolate and mocha. Other descriptors include marzipan, rhubarb, lavender, liquorice, fennel and aniseed.

Negro Amaro, like many other red Italian varietals, is a hard sell to people who are chronic Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot drinkers. However, consumers are slowly moving away from those big oaked, 14.5% alcohol wines and W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

appreciating the savoury subtlety of Italian red varieties. They make you think, and get your attention.

In Puglia, the home of Negro Amaro, it is often made into rosé, so we made one in 2011.

I am surprised there have not been more plantings of it in Australia, particularly in warm to hot areas, as it is very heat tolerant and holds its acid well. I think it would be a good option for anyone thinking of planting an alternative red variety in many parts of Australia, especially if a good homoclime match can WVJ be found. www.winebiz. com . au

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Profile of small exporters

By Mark Rowley, Industry Analyst, Wine Australia

As an increasing number of small wine exporters join the fight for market share, Mark Rowley examines the figures to provide a snapshot of the business landscape for these companies.

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he 10 largest Australian wine companies by export volumes accounted for roughly three-quarters of all Australian wine exports in the year ended April 2012. The next 27 companies (all exporting more than one million litres) accounted for a further 15% share. The remaining 10% share comprised the smallest 1231 active Australian wine exporters. While the volume share of these small operators is relatively minor, it is a vital segment in determining the overall brand health of the Australian wine category.

The purpose of this article is to examine how the export profile of Australia’s small operators compares with the medium and large operators.

For this analysis, those companies exporting less than one million litres are referred to as ‘small exporters’, those exporting between one and 10 million litres as ‘medium exporters’ and those exporting more than 10 million litres as ‘large exporters’.

In many markets, the commercial, large volume segments are generally only accessible by the medium and large companies.

The margins are lower and economies of scale are needed to keep average production costs low enough to hit this lower-priced end of the market. A significant proportion of this trade is in bulk.

Figure 1 illustrates that bulk wine accounts for the majority share of the exports of the medium and large companies, with a 59% and 54% share, respectively. In contrast, only 20% of exports from small companies are bulk wine. It is understood that much of the bulk trade for the smaller players in recent years has been related to clearing excess stocks. With stocks moving toward a more sustainable level, bulk exports by the small companies declined by 47% in the latest reported period.

Figure 1. Exports by exporter size and container type.

Source: Wine Australia.

Much of the decline in bulk wine shipments for small exporters was to China. The bulk wine trade in China is very much pricedriven, and the origin of supply switches from year to year, depending on who is offering the best price. In contrast to Australia’s other major export markets, the small exporters are the major bulk wine suppliers to China.

Figure 2 illustrates that total Australian bottled wine shipments have declined since the peak achieved in November 2007. This decline has mainly been driven by the large and medium exporters.

This is partly the result of a shift from exporting in bottles to bulk

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Figure 2. Australian bottled exports by exporter size (volume).

Figure 3. Australian bottled exports by exporter size (average value).

containers. The bottled exports of the small exporters have been relatively stable since 2009.

Figure 3 shows that the average value of Australian bottled wine exports has been on the rise since hitting a low in June 2010. Since that time, the average value of bottled wine has increased by 8% to A$4.36 per litre. Small exporters have been a significant contributor to this growth. Over the same period, the average value of bottled exports of small exporters increased by 7% to A$7.47 per litre. In contrast, the average value for the medium exporters increased by 5% to A$4.37 and, for the large exporters, grew by 3% to A$3.69.

While the overall average value of bottled wine has increased, the average export revenue per small exporter has declined as more small businesses have begun to export. Five years ago, there were 989 small exporters; this has since grown to 1231. This illustrates

that an increasing number of small exporters are fighting for roughly the same piece of pie.

It is notable that the newer small exporters (those who have been exporting for five years or less) have taken share from the more established small exporters (those who have been exporting for more than five years).

This article has provided a brief look at the export profile of Australia’s small exporters. Disaggregating the export data in this manner enables small exporters to benchmark their individual performances in a more meaningful way. The analysis shown here is just a snapshot of the information that is available.

For more insights, contact Wine Australia at info@wineaustralia.com or (08) 8228 2010.

WVJ

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To adapt or not adapt...that is the China question

By Richard Halstead Chief Operating Officer, Wine Intelligence. Email: info@wineintelligence.com

Richard Halstead gives examples from other successful industries exporting to the Chinese market to offer an answer to the question, ‘How far should we go in terms of market adaptation for imported wine in China?’

I

t is easy to get excited about wine in China. The market for imported wine seems to have risen out of nowhere in just over a decade; it has become a business plan anchor for any serious global player, and a mandatory talking point whenever I sit down with clients.

At the same time, China is forcing the more far-sighted brand owners in the wine industry into a very uncomfortable position: that of reconsidering and re-evaluating every aspect of their brand proposition. It is becoming increasingly clear that selling wine in China needs a fundamentally different approach - a fact that other industries grasped some time ago.

Take the folks at Kraft Foods, for example. The world’s second largest food business (behind Nestle) owns some of the most powerful snack brands on the planet, and has a marketing budget measured in the billions of dollars. You would imagine that Kraft would be pretty confident - dare one say, arrogant - about the power and value of brands like Ritz crackers, Kool-Aid, Philadelphia cream cheese, Maxwell House coffee, and so on.

Yet, the company’s approach to China bears scrutiny. The sales chart for snack foods in China looks similar to wine – sales up 44% in the past four years to

RMB 77 billion (US$12 billion), according to Euromonitor. The temptation would be to park rows and rows of existing product on the shelves of Chinese supermarkets, and wait for the money to roll in.

Instead, Kraft has gone back to basics (it does help that the company has been operating in China since 1988, and has probably learned all the hard lessons that the wine industry is now facing). It has analysed Chinese tastes, examined the kinds of products that work well in China, and has created an entirely new approach. Ritz crackers in the Lotus supermarket in Shanghai bear scant relation to the brand’s product line anywhere else. For one thing, some of the crackers are made with a potato base (as opposed to wheat), and boast flavours including ‘fantastic beef stew’ and ‘very spicy chicken’. It also offers products that sandwich a layer of sweet chocolate, lemon and orange paste between two Ritz crackers, which are only sold in China.

The more one looks into the question of how Western brands work in China, the more examples of adaptation one finds.

The Oreo cookies (another Kraft brand) you buy in China are completely different from any other Oreo you might come across – layers of wafers with cream

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filling instead of a cookie. The back story is even more extraordinary: one of the biggest selling brands of biscuit in the world effectively took a blank sheet of paper and redesigned its product for the Chinese market. The ‘Chinese Oreo’ is now China’s biggest selling biscuit.

You can also find the original cookies there, but in a smaller pack (so it is more affordable to Chinese middle-classes), lower in sugar, and offering flavours including green tea.

The list goes on: Volkswagen, the number-one car brand in China, makes products such as the Lavida, a car mechanically similar to the Golf, but designed and built in China and sold nowhere else in the world. Rivals in the car industry now face an uphill battle to ‘Chinalise’ their products – General Motors claims that its design division in China now employs 1700 people, up from 80 in 2005.

So, back to wine. How far should we go in terms of market adaptation for imported wine in China? If we were to follow the lead of global brands, it seems that the answer should be that some adaptation to local tastes, culture, cuisine and traditions should be considered. Yet, remarkably few wine companies are doing even the most

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W I NE I N T E L L I G EN C E

basic housekeeping, such as actually understanding what their (mandatory) Chinese back label says, and working out whether the translation that has been applied to their brand name is either a) appropriate, or b) something they can actually trademark.

At the heart of the wine industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s illusion about China is the surprisingly pervasive notion that, somehow Chinese consumers will just work everything out for themselves and that the wine industry simply has to show up to sell container-loads of product. The origin of this theory is a bit difficult to pin down, but I think it was given legs by the extraordinary period, starting in late 2009 and continuing through to the start of this year, where Chinese trade buyers were snapping up wines in significant quantities, whether they had local market pedigree or not.

I now believe that this version of the Chinese wine market, which brought profits to brands both good and bad, is about to end. It will be replaced by a harsher but, ultimately, fairer market dynamic: where successful brands are those that invest in understanding their customers and tailoring their products to meet genuine market needs; and those that assume the good times will continue indefinitely will find themselves frozen out.

The path to success starts with an understanding about what a brand owner is getting into when he or she enters the Chinese market. Building a brand in China requires not only the same level of strategic planning as in any other competitive global market, it also requires understanding the very specific quirks of doing business in China specifically. Within the confines of this article, I will look at just two ingredients of the plan: understanding where the Chinese wine market is going, and what a successful product of the future needs to look like.

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A recent interview program that Wine Intelligence conducted among the leaders of the Chinese wine trade confirmed some existing thinking, and set some interesting new dilemmas.

We asked them how they currently view the market, where they see the biggest opportunities, and how they predict the market will develop. Our panel included importers and distributors, retailers and wine educators. We covered both the high-end markets in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, as well as internal â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;emergingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; markets in Tier 2 cities, such as Wuhan and Chengdu.

Although perspectives and points of view varied, we saw a set of patterns across the interviews, which we have weaved together into the analysis and predictions in this report.

Some of the feedback was not surprising, such as the perception that consumers would continue to broaden their wine repertoires as

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they familiarised themselves with the category beyond the basic gift-andholiday occasion. Other predictions were more newsworthy: there seems to be strong support for a future where white wine plays a meaningful role in the market, particularly in southern China, where it matches well with the fishoriented cuisine.

The consistent advice from the trade was to avoid the common trap of thinking of China as a single market. While China appears to be a monolithic entity to outsiders, some Chinese provinces have entirely different social and cultural behaviours. Added to the gulf in knowledge, education and income between consumer groups, producers are often pitching their product to wine drinkers with very different needs and motivations.

Once you have understood the market dynamic as best you can, how do you respond in terms of product and positioning? Say you are about to

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W I NE I N T E L L I G EN C E

enter the Chinese market with a brand that has enjoyed global success, and a label design that works for consumers in your core Western markets. Can you assume that your label will work in China? What type of label style should you use to convey the brand positioning needed for your strategy in China?

The simple answer to the first question is 'no', while the answer to the second question is more complex. Wine Intelligence conducted a research project with Chinese consumers, which we have published recently, looking at how consumers in China view and categorise different styles of wine labels, and the implications for brand positioning.

We talked to 40 consumers in Beijing and Shanghai, exploring how they categorise different label designs (both imported and domestic), what the brand positioning of various styles is for them, and what the implications are for their purchase decisions.

Some of the initial takeaway messages have been surprising. The traditional view of label design in the Chinese market has been that Chinese consumers like traditional and French

wines – and that the better a label is able to reflect this image, the better it will perform.

Our research showed that, in fact, mainstream consumers are more open to ‘contemporary’ design styles than many in the trade may believe, as long as these styles convey the type of elegance and sophistication that is sought after in wine. This positioning is conveyed through specific design and a story to tell, which differentiate these labels from ‘eclectic’ styles, which appeal to some younger drinkers as a fun choice for an occasional gift for a friend, but are treated with caution for more formal occasions.

For me, the bottom line is that no brand owner should make major assumptions about China based on experience elsewhere. If the lessons of other industries are any guide, wine brand owners need to adapt their products – in some cases, radically – to stand any chance of success.

A successful strategy also requires an understanding of the situation as it currently stands, but also being prepared for the future before it arrives.

The Chinese market may be challenging, WVJ but it is nothing if not exciting.

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The traditional view of label design in the Chinese market has been that consumers like traditional and French wines – and that the better a label is able to reflect this image, the better it will perform. Research

by Wine Intelligence has shown that, in fact, mainstream consumers are more open to ‘contemporary’ design styles than many in the trade may believe, as long as these styles convey the type of elegance and sophistication that is sought after in wine.

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The National Water Initiative – financial implications for growers

By Ben Craw, senior manager, and Paul Fenn, analyst PPB Advisory, Sydney, NSW. Email: BCraw@ppbadvisory.com

PPB Advisory explores how the recent introduction of the National Water Market could affect irrigators in private water schemes, particularly their relationship with their financiers.

T

he introduction of a National Water Market in Australia in 2011 has raised significant concerns for growers who obtain water via private irrigation schemes. Introducing a national water scheme was an attempt by the Australian Federal Government to enhance water tradeability between states and river systems. However, separation of water contracts from the underlying land has caused some private schemes to alter their constitutions.

Changing contractual rights between schemes and their customers potentially increases both compliance costs and risks for financiers. As a result, financiers may reassess their lending criteria to growers operating in regions where a private scheme is in place.

Private schemes – a background The ability of grapegrowers to effectively utilise water from private schemes has been a large source of the industry’s historical growth in Australia.

Private schemes hold water access licences issued by state governments and, then, contract to deliver the water to their members. Such schemes include Murray Irrigation Ltd, Western Murray Irrigation Ltd, Jemalog Irrigation

Ltd, Coleambally Irrigation Ltd and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Ltd. A change for financiers Financiers have traditionally been in the practise of using water rights derived from private schemes as collateral for loans. Lending over water rights has been an essential component to the development of business in irrigated areas. The recent changes have decoupled the ownership of land and the right to receive water, casting doubt over the adequacy of the security held by financiers. These recent changes may make growers who are members of private schemes more costly for financiers, which may, in turn, impact the availability of capital to these operators.

The solution This issue has been identified as an unintended consequence of the legislation which will require a cooperative solution. Private scheme operators have a vested interest in finding a solution to this issue, as it relates directly to the current and future viability of their members. The uncertainty created for financiers may

lead to raised compliance costs, and if a cooperative solution is not brokered, may cause financiers to re-assess their lending criteria for businesses in privately irrigated regions.

The scale of changes and seriousness of the potential consequences present a need for cooperation between financiers, growers and irrigation bodies. Importantly, operators of private schemes should be made aware of the issues associated with the recent changes in legislation and their potential WVJ consequences.

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cl o sur e s

US consumers nearing closure over the influence of seals in wine purchasing decisions

T

he majority of core US wine consumers are not heavily influenced by closure type in their purchasing decisions, a recent independent survey, commissioned by Nomacorc, the world’s largest producer of synthetic wine closures, has revealed.

The online survey, conducted in early 2012 by market research company Merrill Research, comprised nearly 600 US participants who consumed wine at least once a week.

This type of consumer represents 50% of wine drinkers in the US and account for around 93% of the country’s wine

87 percent said they would still buy the wine if their favorite, traditionally cork-closed wine switched to a synthetic cork. consumption by volume, according to a study completed

by Merrill Research in 2011. The survey respondents frequently spent $7-20 on a bottle of wine and were either the primary household wine purchaser or shared responsibility.

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cl o sur e s

The results of the survey showed that the type of closure was not a key decision factor when purchasing a wine, especially when dining out (Figure 1). Furthermore, only 3% of the respondents reported that closure type was among their top three wine purchase consideration factors, with variety, price and geographical region the three most important criteria (Figure 2).

When asked about a closureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role, the vast majority of participants (92%) indicated that their main concern about closures was protecting the wine.

Thirty-five percent of respondents indicated that they would buy a wine with a synthetic cork in the next three months, with 73% saying they definitely or probably would.

Of the respondents polled, 87 percent said they would still buy the wine if their favorite, traditionally cork-closed wine switched to a synthetic cork. â&#x20AC;&#x153;While we continue to see the strong impact of label design on wine purchasing, we see little importance placed on the wine closure materials and methods and a continuance of the decade-long trend toward broader acceptance of less traditional closures,â&#x20AC;? said Pat Merrill, co-founder and partner at Merrill Research.

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S U P ER

W I NE S

2009 Gatt High Eden Shiraz In late May, Ray Gatt, owner of Barossa Valley-based Gatt Wines, attended the awards ceremony for the 2012 Citadelles du Vin international wine and spirits competition in Hong Kong, held during Vinexpo Asia-Pacific, where he was presented with the FIJEV (International Federation of Wine and Spirits Journalists and Writers) award for the 2009 Gatt High Eden Shiraz. The award is presented each year to an appellation, region, or country and, in 2012, the organisers decided to throw the spotlight on Australia, with the Gatt Shiraz judged the best of the 48 Australian wines entered.

Location of vineyard Fully estate-grown Shiraz from Eden Springs’ High Eden Vineyard, in the beautiful cool-climate country at the pinnacle of the Barossa Valley.

The vineyard site Eden Springs’ High Eden Vineyard is situated atop the High Eden Ridge on an easterly-facing slope between 470-510m above sea level, running in a north-south direction. The original 1972 vines are planted on the contour, as was the fashion in those years and due to slopes in excess of 22° falling to the east. The High Eden area is a series of steep hills with alluvial gully floors.

Our soils are predominately grey-brown loam over a quartz clay base, with a pH of 6-7.

In general, summers are mild and combine with cool nighttime temperatures to encourage a long, even ripening season with excellent natural acid balance. We are largely protected from south-westerly winds, but our ridges can suffer during flowering. The winters are cold and wet, and there are days when pruning is not possible. We are protected from frost due to high altitude and good airflow.

The vines High Eden Shiraz is comprised of three blocks of original clones: 1972 contour planting (2.78 hectares), 1994 planting (5.25ha) just under the top of the ridge, and a small patch of 1997

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planting. The 1972 plantings are at 3.66m x 1.82m (1501 vines per hectare). Rows generally run north-south on an easterlyfacing ridge. All areas have been re-trellised to VSP using steel stakes and two sets of foliage wires, which are employed as dictated by the growing season.

Vine management We work hard to create a viticultural environment that is in balance with the land, while retaining the flexibility to meet seasonal demands. We employ sustainable vineyard management techniques with minimal impact on the environment.

No pre-emergents are used, and any herbicide or fungicide that is necessitated by the season is carefully monitored.

A new drip irrigation scheme has been installed with weather stations and soil moisture probes for control of moisture demands. We have instituted an ongoing program of undervine mulching to preserve moisture around the root system. The establishment of permanent swards to limit evaporation has effectively reduced annual water usage to approximately 35mm/ha.

The vines are hand pruned and a permanent cordon has been established with five, twobud spurs per side. Unseasonal heatwaves in 2008 and 2009 necessitated a review of our canopy techniques. We changed the positioning of foliage wires to allow a greater overhang of canopy to protect the fruit.

Average yield of vines We aim to produce an average load with a maximum crop level of 5-6 tonnes per hectare across the site. The High Eden Shiraz is cropped at 2.1t/ha. the winemaking processes The long, cool season in 2009 gave life to a wine of perfume and elegance. We experienced outstanding ripening conditions and superb fruit quality, with intense concentration and layering of flavour. Harvest is based on optimal ripeness and flavour assessment to attain signature High Eden character. Fruit is hand picked into 500kg bins and processed as individual blocks.

W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

We practise minimal intervention in the winery and craft each parcel to exacting quality standards.

Fruit is destemmed via a Velo 20-tonne per hour destemmer, and whole berries are transported to fermenters via conveyor rather than pumping. The wine is fermented on skins in state-of-the-art 2t or 5t stainless steel open fermenters, depending on block yields. Once the cap has risen, the ferments are pumped over twice daily by hand to ensure the cap is thoroughly broken up, and to avoid heat pockets and channeling of juice through the cap. Ferments run at approximately 15-20°C with automatic cooling to avoid yeast stress. Ferments are pressed at greater than 2°Baumé, which is generally achieved at about seven days on skins. Pressing takes place in a Velo slotted-cage bag press, with pressings generally added back to the free run. The wine is racked to oak two days after pressing to complete malolactic fermentation and maturation in barrel for 18 months in new and seasoned French and American oak barriques. Only the highest quality, fine-grained, medium toast is employed.

Post-maturation, extensive barrel tasting determines wines selected for inclusion in the final blend.

The wine analysis was 13.7% v/v, 3.48pH, and 6.25g/L TA. PRICE OF WINE RRP $55/bottle QUANTITIES MADE Limited quantities produced.

WHERE SOLD Australia and Asia RECENT AWARDS FIJEV Special Prize, 2012 Les Citadelles du Vin; Trophy - Citadelles d’Or, 2012 Les Citadelles du Vin; gold, 2012 Selections Mondiales des Vins, Canada; gold, 2012 VinAgora International Wine Competition, Hungary.

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Chemistry is right for Jordan

By Matt Byrne

A PhD in chemical physics proved to be the springboard for Tony Jordan’s career into the wine industry, which has seen him consult to clients all over the world. But, for the former managing director and winemaker for Domaine Chandon, it’s the Yarra Valley that he continues to call home.

T

ony Jordan knows what makes great wine and great wineries.

The urbane Oenotec proprietor roams the international stage consulting in winemaking and wine business in New Zealand, Europe, China, India and, of course, Australia. This global outlook continues through his non-executive position on the board of Wine Australia and his wine judging at home and abroad.

But, his heart remains in the Yarra Valley, where he owns a tiny vineyard that suits his hands-on approach to the business he loves.

Jordan spent 21 years working for the Moet Hennessy Group, has investments in vineyards in South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, and is a past president of the Yarra Valley Wine Growers' Association and the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology.

His initial grounding in chemical physics and research science provided the perfect foundation for his stellar career.

After completing his PhD in 1970, Jordan worked as a postdoctoral researcher at University College, in London, before funding for his position dried up. He returned to Australia, took a job as a patent attorney in Sydney, before a job ad in the paper caught his attention.

“I saw an ad for Riverina College (now Charles Sturt University) for a physical chemist/oenologist which was the most extraordinary thing, almost providence, I thought. Since my uni days I’d been a wine nut, probably a wine bore, and I tried to extend my knowledge in tasting as much as you could in those days.

“So, I hastened down there and spoke to the principal and said physical chemistry is fine, but I don’t have winemaking skills but am willing to learn.”

Jordan began lecturing in wine chemistry and then oenology at Charles Sturt University (CSU), and subsequently helped establish the wine science course, which set him up for the consultancy in winemaking and viticulture that was to come.

Jordan began his wine education with Don Lester, who was chief viticulturist at Orlando for many years.

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Tony Jordan with a glass of Chandon sparkling from the winery he helped establish in 1986.

“I assisted him in getting the course going, enthusing the industry and structuring it,” he said. “I went in as a wine chemist, did a sabbatical at Geisenheim for a year and then came back.”

On returning to CSU, he joined forces with Brian Croser, who’d been employed by the university as an oenologist and, again, the chemistry was right.

“He and I had always got on pretty well. Brian could see the rapid expansion of the industry and the coming need for technical knowledge and a contemporary winemaking approach for new wineries.

“Brian didn't stay at Riverina that long, just a few years. He left to get Petaluma going in the Adelaide Hills.

“In 1978, Brian said, ‘why don’t we get W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

a consultancy going?’ And that was the beginning of Oenotec.”

Jordan decided to take the leap of faith, never realising how big it would become.

“In those days we were young enough to say, ‘yeah that sounds like a great idea - let’s do it!’” he said. “But, of course, for the first year we didn’t earn a penny but that was okay because pretty soon it all came together.

“What Brian and I offered was the forefront of modern winemaking with some solid technical backing to it.”

He remains an owner and director of the business to this day.

Jordan said the emergence of the New World opened up opportunities for Oenotec. ▶ www.winebiz. com . au

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“Before the ‘80s, wine wasn’t a global industry. It was Spain, France, Italy and Germany,” he said. “It was the emergence of the New World, led by Australia and California in the ‘80s, which started making wine that was accepted by the Europeans, that made it become a global business. So, if you had expertise in winemaking and viticulture you could now sell that expertise anywhere in the world.”

Jordan and Croser consulted widely for a decade when Jordan’s career took another path courtesy of one of their

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clients, the Moet Hennesy Group, which asked Jordan to help establish Domaine Chandon in Australia.

“When Moet Hennessy approached me it was one of 30 consultancies I had at the time, and James Halliday recommended us,” he said.

“The brief was wide: they said they’d like to set up a sparkling wine facility in Australia. They had precedents in Argentina and California, so they knew what they were doing.

“They saw Australia in the mid ‘80s was ready to start producing and appreciating serious, higher-priced sparkling wine.

“They gave me an open brief to start something in Australia so I looked in various places like SA, Tasmania, Victoria and even contemplated New Zealand.”

But, it was the Yarra Valley that ticked all the boxes.

“The original Domaine Chandon property was run for a few horses and cattle … there were no grapes. It was a good site, it was what I was looking for, and it’s proven to be a good choice.”

Having helped Moet Hennesy select the land, plant the vineyards and begin to establish the Domaine Chandon winery, the company then asked Jordan to find a managing director for the operation.

Moet Hennesy eventually asked Jordan if he would be interested in the job.

“I thought, well, I’ve been running around like a hairy-assed fly for 10 years. It’s berserk what you do when you’re young, driving all over Australia with so many consultancies going – it was great fun. But, then I thought, why not? It might be time to be a bit more fixed. That turned out to be a joke, but that’s what I said.”

It was now 1987 and Jordan by this stage had bought Brian Croser out of Oenotec.

Jordan joined Moet Hennessy as both managing director and winemaker for Domaine Chandon.

Jordan said the Yarra Valley offered enormous opportunities.

“It is an excellent viticultural area and offers a great diversity of site: it’s a big valley going up to Warburton and it has a big change in altitude, going from Domaine Chandon at 100m, up to as high as you want to go,” he said.

“We have grapes grown here up to 450m which means there’s some really, really cool sites, making them ideal for sparkling production.

“You can make very approachable, very attractive sparkling wine in warmer climates. But, when you want to get into W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

some of the finer-structured wines, then having a cool climate is very useful.”

In the 1990s, Jordan became consulting winemaker to the Chandon wineries around the world, and in 2003 became chief executive of Domaine Chandon Australia, Cape Mentelle and Cloudy Bay NZ. In mid-2008, after 21 years with Moet Hennesy, Jordan reactivated the consultancy he’d founded with Croser, having effectively put it on ice while with the group.

Jordan said Australia’s challenges were many, but not insurmountable.

“Technically, we are up there with the rest of the world. We have much better training for our young winemakers now than we did 20 years ago,” he said.

“Our growth during the ‘80s and ‘90s was topsy-turvy and we made good and bad choices, but time will sort that out.

“In the ‘90s, we should have looked at the latest clones coming out of France, especially for Pinot Noir, so we’re only now just catching up.

“We went narrowly down the French varietal route, when we should have been exploring more Italian, Spanish and Portuguese varieties in the late '80s and early '90s.”

Jordan said the international marketing of Australian wine had given it a reputation for “well made, good value wine”, but says there should have been more to the story.

“We should have been looking at some of the European models where they have very strong regional identification. We are more than just a taste of sunshine; it’s about quality and regionality.”

Of the Yarra Valley, Jordan said: “I love the Yarra. I have a house here and my little vineyard, my arboretum and I intend to stay here. I love the area,” he said.

“My retirement hasn’t quite worked out. I’m 67 years old and I don’t want to start something that would involve setting up another label and buying into the whole thing. I want to keep it small, plant some more varieties, and lease one of the vineyards, until I wind down.”

Jordan revealed one of his preferred wines at present was Nebbiolo.

“I’ve just discovered it properly four or five years ago, and it appears fairly regularly on my table,” he said.

“I also love a great Bordeaux blend or Shiraz. I also love sparkling; the best are great wines and some of them are increasingly coming from Australia and, WVJ of course, the Yarra Valley.”

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Living with phylloxera

By Matt Byrne

Journalist Matt Byrne travelled to Victoria’s Yarra Valley for this issue’s regional report to learn how its growers and winery operators are grappling with the threats of phylloxera, urban encroachment and smoke taint.

I

t was nearly five years ago that the Yarra Valley received the unpalatable news that the presence of phylloxera had been confirmed in the region. The infested property was immediately quarantined, and a 5km radius quarantine zone set up around it.

Surveys of vineyards within the zone and in associated vineyards outside the zone failed to find any further infestations.

A phylloxera inclusion zone (PIZ) was officially gazetted on 1 March 2007, which essentially took in the original 5km quarantine zone, but was adjusted for natural boundaries, such as roads, and to include a contract processing winery on the north-western edge of the zone. Around 40% of the vineyard area in the Yarra Valley was inside the zone.

In mid-November 2008, the aphid was detected again, this time in a vineyard over the road from the original site. A few weeks later, there were three more detections: two in the same road as the first two, and a third in a vineyard about 5km away. The latter was owned by the same company as the originally infested site.

The PIZ was subsequently extended to incorporate the furthest new infested site and three large wineries that requested to be included in the zone. If the latter didn’t happen, vineyards inside the zone would not have had a processor for their fruit, and the processors themselves would have lost customers.

Strict protocols are now in place governing the management of phylloxera in and out of the Maroondah PIZ, as it is officially known.

These protocols not only affect growers and wineries, but vineyard workers and visitors.

For Willy Lunn, winemaker for Yering Station, which is located within the PIZ, this is not the first time he has had to be mindful of phylloxera.

“My first experience with it was when I was working in Oregon, in the US, when it was initially found there in 1990,” Lunn said.

Although phylloxera has never been found in the Yering Station vineyards, Lunn said the winery spent $200,000 a year to protect itself from the aphid.

“We have to wash and spray all our bins and heat treat all our equipment. We run seven vineyards here, so we have to do it between each site. It’s a pain. But, we look at it and say: if we have phylloxera, we do not want to give it to anyone else. We want to be a good corporate citizen, grower and winery.”

Lunn said that although the only way to get rid of phylloxera once detected in a vineyard was to replant vines, this presented an opportunity to “really look at your viticulture”.

“If you have varieties planted in the wrong spot, you can replace them and start again, in a better spot,” he said. “It forces you to do the right thing and get your density and your viticulture right. If you plant on rootstocks, you might also get better vine balance.”

Lunn said the stigma and public perception about phylloxera was often over-estimated.

“The general public don’t know what phylloxera is and they don’t care,” he said. “People care about quality, and for those that have to replant, the quality should go up, because if you are replanting to what’s better for that site, then you should grow a better grape.”

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Lunn said despite the strict protocols in place to manage the spread of phylloxera, it is “hard to stop”.

“There’s rabbits running across the road and crows flying in and out; natural things we can’t control,” he said.

Lunn said accepting phylloxera’s presence enabled wineries to make tough but profitable decisions.

“If you think you won’t get phylloxera if it is in your area, then you are dreaming,” he said. “So, pull out vines and replant and proof yourself against it for future vines.”

Lunn said although phylloxera was “pretty topical” in the Valley early on, most people were now “living with it and working our way through it”.

“It costs you money but, in the long term, we will benefit from it.”

Margaret Van Der Meulen, viticulturist for Seville Estate - which is outside the Maroondah PIZ, but is in a declared phylloxera risk zone (areas where phylloxera has not been detected and have not

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Yering Station winemaker Willy Lunn, who first encountered phylloxera while working in Oregon, in the US, when the aphid was initially detected in the region in 1990.

Husband and wife team Margaret (viticulturist) and Graham (sales & marketing manager) Van Der Meulen, whose Seville Estate sits outside the Maroondah phylloxera inclusion zone.

been surveyed) - said the Yarra Valley Winegrowers’ Association (YVWA) had run a useful workshop on phylloxera shortly after the first detection.

“It was so heavily supported and attended, they ran it three times,” Van Der Meulen said.

“We got to see them and how to identify them. I couldn’t find any on our property, but if you don’t have good info, you can’t make good decisions.”

Seville Estate’s marketing manager Graham Van Der Meulen said the winery was “extremely diligent” about adhering to the phylloxera management protocols.

“Nobody who has been in another vineyard can come into our vineyard without going through a dip, for all clothes. Luckily, we don’t have to bring in any external machinery because we have our own.”

When the original PIZ was declared, the DeBortoli winery was outside it, but most of its vineyards were inside. The modification to the zone in 2009 brought the winery into the zone, allowing it to process its own fruit from within the PIZ. De Bortoli Wines winemaker Steve Webber described phylloxera in the Yarra as “a fact of life”.

“Most of us are in a phylloxera zone and a few aren’t,” Webber said.

“I just don’t bother dealing with anyone who isn’t in a phylloxera region any more.

“Generally, we deal with the upper Yarra and we’re very stringent on how we sterilise the bins and use different transport companies for that fruit.”

Webber said around 60 per cent of De Bortoli’s vines in the Yarra were on rootstocks, adding that the planting of new vines in the Valley since the discovery of the aphid would pay off handsomely for the region.

“It will put us 20 years ahead of any other premium wine region

in Australia, because the new planting material is far superior to a lot of the older vines,” he said.

Leanne De Bortoli said dealing with phylloxera meant being a good corporate citizen.

“We want human interaction with the vineyard,” she said. “We want people to touch it and feel it and stand in it, so they can appreciate our vineyards. But, we balance that with proper farmgate practices.”

Past president of the YVWA and Yarra Valley vineyard owner Tony Jordan said there hadn’t been any new phylloxera discoveries in three years.

“It’s certainly not marching through the Yarra like a dose of salts, to use a mixed analogy,” Jordan said.

He said the seeming lack of spread may be “biotype-related”.

“We may be lucky in the Yarra because we have a fairly slowmoving biotype,” he said. “Phylloxera needs an agent to carry it, be it a rabbit, tractor or a sheep, and we’re doing our best to prevent that.”

“The main complication is you can’t move stuff from phylloxera to non-phylloxera areas. And, there’s the extra cost of processing locally to wine or juice.

“It creates a financial impact that everyone would rather not have, but it’s not the end of the world.”

Jordan agreed with Willy Lunn that phylloxera represented an opportunity to “get it right in the vineyard”.

“California is the great example,” he said. “The whole of the state’s viticulture was utterly transformed by phylloxera when vines had to be pulled and new rootstock planted, and the quality went up almost overnight.”

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References Phylloxera in the Yarra Valley: A case study (2010) Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of SA. http://www.healthyvines.com.au/Portals/1/DOCUMENTS/REPORTS/YARRA_ WVJ VALLEY_STUDY_2010.pdf (Accessed 29 June 2012)

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Urban encroachment without and within the Yarra

By Matt Byrne

T

he Yarra Valley’s proximity to Melbourne is one of its greatest strengths, and it's future weakness.

Seemingly protected by Victoria’s Green Wedges - the non-urban areas of metropolitan Melbourne that have been identified to conserve rural activities and significant natural features and resources as the outskirts of the city spread the wine region is still being chipped away at by development without and within.

Despite council legislation limiting the size that properties can be broken down for sub-division, the houses keep coming.

Yarra Glen Vineyards vineyard manager Chris Messerle said Green Wedges was a misnomer.

“It’s there to guarantee that there is no urban encroachment of rural areas,” Messerle said. “The problem is when they allow the housing to go right up to the edge of the Green Wedge.

“A lot of the Green Wedge is farm and, suddenly, you have houses right next to them. In the old days, there was a right to farm, but that is no longer applicable.”

Yarra Valley Wine Growers’ chief executive Richard Howden said people moving into the region for the rural lifestyle found it was not as quiet as they had imagined.

“They don’t want scare guns going off and they say the nets are unsightly,” Howden said.

Messerle said there had also been issues with the use of frost fans.

“We are on the edge of Yarra Glen and the locals decided they weren’t a good thing and opposed them,” he said. “They said the fans were a noise issue – without any evidence – unsightly, massive and grotesque. We took it to the highest civil authority and they ruled we had a right to use them to protect our business. But, it cost us a lot of money to prove there was no noise problem.

Howden said there was “always talk of reassessing Green Wedges”.

“There’s pressure from the need to build more housing,” he said. “They want to maintain the Wedges, but there’s this continuous pressure.”

Messerle said there were also threats from within hamlets like Yarra Glen.

“They’ve just opened up land for 60 new houses in Yarra Glen,” he said. “We have 160 acres right on the edge of Yarra Glen, and virtually two blocks away from us is suburbs.

“Other agricultural industries are also facing this problem; we are all fighting the same battle.”

Howden said, ultimately, protection of the Green Wedges “purely comes down to economics”.

“The council needs more money to run everything. It is going to stick an extra 60 houses in Yarra Glen on a block of land that it is not collecting any rates from at the moment,” he said.

“To an extent, Yarra Glen has gone from something quite pretty to something that’s becoming unsightly; it’s almost like a housing estate.”

Messerle didn’t oppose initial urban development in Yarra Glen.

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“But, it’s now gone a bit far; we’re almost becoming a suburb of Melbourne.

“It’s really the hobby farmers, not the townsfolk, who buy next to a vineyard and cause the most problems.

“They come out for the rural lifestyle, then fail to understand it, and complain about it.”

Former Domaine Chandon managing director and winemaker Tony Jordan, said he opposed “the cancer of houses crawling over the hills”.

“It’s up to government and the people of Melbourne as to what they want their city to be,” Jordan said.

“Australia does not have a good city, town and recreational planning record, and the sprawl of development continues.

“Hopefully the Yarra Valley will be just like it is now in 20 years, but it’s possible it won’t be; I think urban encroachment is a genuine threat.

“It’s always about the immediate bottom line: we need cheaper housing, so that land has to go. ▶

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De Bortoli’s husband and wife team Leanne De Bortoli and Steve Webber are seeking a balance between maintaining vineyard boundaries and allowing development within hamlets like Yarra Glen.

Oakridge Wines winemaker Dave Bicknell says that in Australia, too often houses are put it “in front of food”.

Yarra Glen Vineyards vineyard manager Chris Messerle, whose 160 acres sits right on the edge of Yarra Glen, just a couple of blocks away from a new housing development.

Yarra Valley Wine Growers’ chief executive Richard Howden said people moving into the Yarra Valley for the rural lifestyle often found it was not as quiet as they had imagined.

“Those same people’s grandchildren will regret the decisions made in their grandparents’ time.”

Yering Station winemaker Willy Lunn said the Yarra Valley was still finding new sites for vineyards.

“There’s still a huge amount of untapped vineyard sites in the Yarra Valley.

Only in the past 20 years has there been a signficiant growth in vineyards.

“Unfortunately, the best vineyard sites often make good housing sites.”

Lunn said lobbying the government was an ongoing process.

“This is a very special part of the world and we need to protect it,” he said. “We want to protect food sources, whether it's grapes or orchards.”

Lunn said newcomers had to realise they were now in an agricultural area.

“If you’re going to move out here, you have to appreciate what is happening here.

“Everyone wants to have their two hectares – well, bad luck! We don’t want it happening here.”

Seville Estate viticulturist Margaret Van Der Meulen said it simply: “We were here first.”

“The Shire had been pretty active in preventing sub-divisions,” Van Der Meulen said. “Council wants to make the blocks bigger rather than smaller, and are not allowing any less than fourhectare lots.”

Husband and Seville Estate marketing manager Graham Van Der Meulen said, “a lot of people moved out here on 10 acre blocks, but didn’t want noise or spraying.”

“We’re very conscious of staying green, but we also have to operate as a viable business and there are things we need to do that don’t work for an urban environment.”

De Bortoli Wines marketing manager Leanne De Bortoli and husband and winemaker Steve Webber are seeking a balance between maintaining vineyard boundaries and allowing development within the hamlets like Yarra Glen.

“We want Yarra Glen to be a lovely little village with strict boundaries that allow more people within it,” Webber said. “Yarra Glen needs another 1000 to 1500 people within the town. We want a little bit more infrastructure out here and some more nice restaurants.”

Leanne De Bortoli said the Yarra had to offer tourists more options in the way of accommodation.

“But the accommodation really needs to be in the villages,” she said. “People like the rural vistas, but they don’t want the tractors and spraying.”

Coldstream Hills winemaker Andrew Fleming said encroachment needed careful management.

“I would like to think that while wineries and horticulture are still viable, then this area has a pretty strong future,” Fleming said.

“We are very close to the city, so people can just drop into the Yarra Valley.

“Do we need multi-storey hotel chains? I guess you do what is appropriate.”

Fleming said while urban development of the Yarra Valley was a consequence of being close to Melbourne, the Yarra’s natural beauty had to be protected.

“As well as 40ha of vineyard, we have a similar area of native forest,” he said.

“I can walk up to our forest and see James Halliday’s house, then look back to the west and see the Melbourne CBD skyline.”

TarraWarra general manager Simon Napthine said there was some security for their picturesque property.

“We are lucky in that we are very solidly in a Green Wedge area and with very large farm holdings,” Napthine said.

“As long as they are not sub-divided, then we should be okay. Let’s keep the urban development within the hamlets, not the whole valley.”

Giant Steps boss Phil Sexton said urban encroachment had a flipside in that it had brought a lot of retail trade to their cellar door on the Maroondah Highway, in Healesville.

“We’re very much in the consumer’s eye and that’s a big advantage to us,” he said. “We’re open 10am to 10pm, seven days a week to accommodate the huge passing trade.

“We haven’t increased our crush for six years and we are 1000-tonne operation, and very happy to stay that way.”

Oakridge Wines winemaker Dave Bicknell said urban encroachment was inevitable: “We can see it creeping over the mountain.”

“It’s real and it’s been happening for a long time; it’s a process of chipping away,” Bicknell said.

“The loss of agricultural land shows you how stupid we are in this country,” he said. “Wherever we put houses, too often we put it in front of food.

“It would be awful to see that happen WVJ to the Yarra Valley,” he said.

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Smoke leaves tainted love for the Yarra

By Matt Byrne

A

nnual government burn-offs in the heavily-forested Yarra Valley, together with the increasing threat of bushfires, has meant the region is only too familiar with the prospect of smoke taint.

In May 2011, the Victorian State Government announced it would allocate $4 million over four years to fund a Centre for Expertise in Smoke Taint Research based at the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, in Mildura. The centre is supplementing research under way elsewhere by the likes of The Australian Wine Research Institute. Its aims include identifying smoke taint compounds and their mode of entry into grapevines and fruit; and examining varietal differences in smoke taint accumulation and identifying the critical periods in grape berry development to help determine the best times of year for prescribed burning, to reduce the impact of smoke on vines.

An experimental winery was recently opened as part of the centre, which will process grapes grown in areas where prescribed burns have taken place.

Smoke taint came to a head in the Yarra Valley on Boxing Day 2007, when prevailing winds sent smoke from bushfires in the north-east of the state into the region where the smoke settled for a month, significantly affecting that vintage.

Worse was to come in 2009 when, after four major heat spikes, Black Saturday bushfires brought the flames and smoke to their door.

TarraWarra Estate general manager Simon Napthine said, “ironically, 2007 was more damaging when the fires weren’t in our region, compared with 2009.”

“Every time there is an incident we find out more, so what we now know after 2007 and 2009 is far more than we did before,” Napthine said.

“Since 2009, we’ve learnt that glycol readings can act as an indicator compound. Yet, you can have high readings, but not taste smoke taint.

“It can also be in wine, but not detectable on the palate until later stages in the wine’s development,” he said.

“Prior to 2007 we thought that smoke taint was something that affected grapes, post-veraison. We have now learned that it can significantly affect vines in their highly vegetative state, pre-veraison.

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Coldstream Hills winemaker Andrew Fleming, who says after observing the impacts of the smoke-affected 2007 vintage, the winery played the 2009 smoke-affected vintage fairly cautiously, rejecting fruit that showed signs of taint.

TarraWarra Estate general manager Simon Napthine says the heatwave that preceded the 2009 bushfires saved its grapes from smoke taint.

“The 2007 bushfires were quite a time away from pre-veraison. It wasn’t until we’d picked the grapes and made the wine that we discovered there were flavours there that we didn’t particularly like.

“Significant decisions were made to decommission all our whites, and we didn’t make any reserve red,” he said.

Then, a surprise lay in store.

“In 2009 we wanted to show a new winemaker what smoke taint was like. We opened some of the bottles from 2007 to demonstrate, but the smoke taint wasn’t there anymore. It was just in a phase where it wasn’t perceptible. It is just like phases in wine. Flavour compounds don’t disappear, but others can take over and mask it.

“There’s no way we would have taken the risk on it, though. At this point in time, you can only go on what you are perceiving at the time it is made.”

Napthine said the 2009 bushfires appeared as though they would wreak similar havoc on TarraWarra’s production, but the winery tried a new tactic.

“In 2009, we were really panicking about what was going to happen after the bushfires; we could literally lick the ash off the grapes,” he said.

“We started planning to decommission, and searched five different areas to source what we were going to call ‘bushfire wine’.

“There was a massive heatwave in 2009. Leading up to the bushfires, some vineyards had lost all their fruit and shed their canopy by the time the fires had even come through.

“Fortunately, we had good healthy canopies and on the morning of the fires, I remember saying that our fruit was looking really good.”

Ironically, it was that heat spike that saved the TarraWarra vintage.

“We discovered later that the vines flat lined and shut down in the heatwave,” he said. “The Baumé dropped and the vines shut down, so they didn’t take the smoke through the leaves into the grapes. We think the heat spikes were a mitigating factor.”

Napthine said testing for smoke taint ▶ had a long way to go.

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Giant Steps and Innocent Bystander founder Phil Sexton says the issue of smoke taint is compounded because the window for reducing forest fuel loads opens up around March and goes through to at least May, which is when varieties like Shiraz and Cabernet are still on the vine.

“Smoke taint can be like licking the bottom of a budgie cage. I like the aroma of cigar smoke, but I don’t want to taste cigar ash.

There’s still a lot more to learn, a lot more science to be done on it.”

Oenotec consultant Tony Jordan said that it was burn-offs more so than bushfires that posed the biggest threat to vineyards.

“From veraison up to harvest is the worst time, and that’s when they burn,” he said.

“Fuel reduction burns should occur, but there could be a lot more cooperation between the authorities and particular industries, like the wine industry. We see the need for the government to control the amount of fuel in the forests but we’re also saying, ‘hey, can we please explore the windows of burn-offs very early in the season, and then late in the season?’”

Yering Station winemaker Willy Lunn said 2009 had provided a steep learning curve for his introduction to smoke taint.

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“In 2007, there were massive fires up in the King Valley in the north and the smoke came down, flooded the valley and sat here for a month in December; the whole valley was full of smoke.”

“We learnt from that that it’s really hard to know what impact smoke will have on grapes, because it depends on how long the smoke hangs around, the proximity of a vineyard to a fire, the thickness of the smoke and what’s been burnt.”

Lunn said smoke taint wasn’t always obvious.

“We found it’s very hard to look at grapes in the vineyard and say: these are going to be smoke affected. If you picked some and put them in a plastic bag and took them home, then you could smell smoke on them, so we then didn’t pick that section.”

Lunn said research had already shown smoke taint’s effects on different varieties.

“Shiraz is very susceptible,” he said. “Shiraz is quite stressy; maybe those little stomata are staying open and it’s transferring more air, more smoke.

Lunn said whites fared better than reds.

“When you hand pick Chardonnay and whole bunch press it, you can’t smell it at all,” he said. “But, if you machine pick it and it is sitting around on the skins, then you can smell it.

For red wine, because you’ve got to ferment it on skins, that’s when it becomes a problem. Halfway through ferment you’ll go, ‘it smells a bit like an ashtray!’”

Lunn said they had been ruthless in their treatment of fruit where smoke taint was concerned.

“We were ruthless about selection,” he said.

“We look at it and say, if it was riddled with botrytis, we wouldn’t use it. If it was cork tainted or mouldy, or hail affected, we wouldn’t use it either. That’s how you have to treat smoke taint.

Coldstream Hills winemaker Andrew Fleming said the 2009 bushfires “were significant for us”. In 2007, Fleming said wine that initially looked “quite good” began to increasingly exhibit smoke taint characters.

“We had to draw the line and didn’t release a lot of it. The cost was horrendous,” he said.

“We were fairly cautious for vintage 2009. Like several others, we went down the path of making small batches before we actually picked anything. We’d pick a couple of kilos, make the wine and see what it looked like. We also performed a backup analysis. We were able to send samples to Abbotsford, in Melbourne, and get answers pretty quickly.

“We took the line that if it wasn’t up to the mark for ourselves then, sadly, for our growers it was the same situation. We saw a number of examples where it really wasn’t up to the mark.

Ultimately, if you release something that’s not up to the mark in quality, it hurts us all.”

Giant Steps boss Phil Sexton explained that one of the reasons why smoke taint was such a problem for the Yarra was because the forest loads in south-eastern Victoria were “significantly higher” than they should be.

“It’s built up over the last 20 years, mainly due to environmental pressure and lack of maintenance,” Sexton said.

“So, everyone is playing catch-up by having to burn, and if we don’t burn, we end up with a fuel load that helped create the problems in 2007 and, especially, 2009.

“The problem is compounded because the window for reducing forest fuel loads doesn’t really open up until about March and goes through to at least May, which is when our late ripeners, like Shiraz and Cabernet, will still be hanging out there.”

Sexton said: “We can’t get in the way of it – we don’t want a repeat of 2009. We can’t be the industry that stops things WVJ getting back into ecological balance,” he said.

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Top Touriga producers tell all This issue’s tasting featured straight Touriga Nacional varietals and blends in which Touriga was the main component (see results page 94). Nineteen wines were tasted in all and, here, the producers behind the top two varietals and top blend provide the story behind their production.

Jeremy Ottawa Winemaker St Hallett Wines Barossa Valley, South Australia Wine: St Hallett 2009 Touriga Nacional cellar door release (RRP $25.00) Background St Hallett Wines was established in 1944, and up until the early 1980s was making mostly fortified wines. St Hallett’s first planting of Touriga Nacional took place in 1978, which we now call our ‘source block’. It was originally planted for fortified winemaking, but when consumer interest in fortified wines began to rapidly decline from the early ‘80s, senior winemaker Stuart Blackwell spent the next few years undertaking winemaking trials on several traditional port varieties to assess their table wine potential.

Touriga Nacional was the only one that caught his interest.

Since the early ‘90s, St Hallett has consistently used Touriga Nacional in its Gamekeepers Reserve blend (ShirazGrenache-Touriga) and, more recently, in other blends, and as a varietal.

Viticulture The clone of our source block is E6V12, a UC Davis selection (now FPS) imported into Australia by the CSIRO in 1969. This block is also a certified cuttings source block for the Barossa Grapegrowers Vine Selection Society, and has been DNA and virus tested. There are other clonal selections in Victoria, but it appears these aren’t readily available. St Hallett also sources Touriga Nacional from contracted growers in the Barossa Valley. According to the Phylloxera & Grape Industry Board of South Australia, there are about 14 hectares of Touriga Nacional planted in the Barossa Valley, compared with about 82 hectares in Australia (Kerridge & Gackle. 2005, ‘Vines for Wines’).

The St Hallett source block is on the estate vineyards in the Hallett Valley area of the Barossa Valley. The 1.3 hectare block is situated on a small ridge with a mostly westerly aspect at approximately 265m elevation. The Barossa Valley has a mean January temperature of 21.2°C, and an annual rainfall of 500mm.

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St Hallett winemakers Jeremy Ottawa (left) and Toby Barlow.

The vines are planted at a row and vine spacing of 3.6m x 2.4m, respectively, on a single wire cordon trellis, while the rows run in an east-west direction. Recent plantings have included a static foliage wire at 300mm.

The soil is a sandy clay-loam over red clay and calcrete. Soil and nutrition management consists of a mown midrow sward, under-vine herbiciding, and Neutrog Rapid Raiser is spread each winter. Next year we plan to apply undervine straw mulch to more of the vineyard to continue reducing herbicide and water inputs, and increase soil organic matter.

We find vigour to be moderate, although on deeper soils it would probably be high. In 2008, we planted another 3.1ha on our estate vineyards. We found vine establishment to be slower than, say, Shiraz, and early bunch thinning has been required to maintain vine balance.

Irrigation is via drip from a bore on the property, which is managed using a Sentek Diviner. Short irrigations approximately weekly are applied during the peak summer period, and then tapered off near harvest.

Pruning consists of machine prepruning followed by detailed hand pruning.

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In contrast to the commentary from Portugal, we find Touriga to be reasonably fruitful, with high bud fruitfulness at the first node. Several years ago, it produced 7-9 tonnes/ha, but it was a long haul to get ripe, and stalled at about 12oBaumé.

The wines still displayed good colour and aroma, but lacked intensity and consistency. In recent years, we have pruned much harder to one and two-node spurs to reduce yields, and to drive good canopy and shoot length. Our target yield is now around 5t/ha to ensure faster ripening and good flavour intensity every year.

While the berries have thick, tough skins and a heavy, waxy bloom – hence, they aren’t prone to sunburn - we like to avoid high fruit exposure in our climate to preserve aromatics and acidity. Shoot thinning is undertaken in some years depending on shoot density, and we sometimes do green-bunch thinning at veraison to remove any laggard bunches.

The only canopy management is a light trimming/skirting in December. Touriga isn’t as droopy in growth habit as Shiraz, but the canopy can peel open late in the season, leading to basal leaf loss and high fruit exposure if the pruning level and yield isn’t balanced with the vigour.

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Due to Touriga’s late ripening and moderate susceptibility to powdery mildew, we find that powdery sprays need to be maintained later into the season than our other varieties. The bunches are quite small and ‘close up’ relatively early, but aren’t tight or prone to rain-splitting or botrytis. Fruitset can be a bit variable, but it isn’t as variable from year to year like Grenache or Tempranillo can be.

Typical phenology: Budburst 21 September Flowering 15 November Veraison 25 January Harvest 4 April.

All our Touriga blocks are machine picked, which we find picks as well as any other variety.

Typical analysis at harvest: Baumé 13.8 pH 3.65 TA 5.5 Sugar has been as high as 16Be when we left some grapes on the vine to make a bit of vintage port in 2005 and 2008.

The biggest challenge in producing quality Touriga Nacional is implementing the right yield and irrigation management for the site and vigour to ensure it is balanced, and achieves good sugar and flavour maturity every year. Too much yield or a cold/wet end to vintage will stall ripening and produce ‘sappy’, lightweight wines. Nonetheless, it’s important to maintain good soil moisture during heat spikes to prevent leaf scorch, which the variety can be prone to. We find it behaves a bit like Tempranillo - heat tolerant but not overly drought tolerant, and it’s rate of sugar accumulation tapers off as ripening progresses. Touriga has inherently good colour so that’s rarely an issue.

Our picking decision is based around waiting for the initially green-plum flavours to develop into the forest-fruit spectrum, with slippery tannins. We don’t like to ‘hang’ Touriga, as our aim is to retain its hallmark lifted aromatics, and avoid high pHs. Low yields and good leaf function are important to achieving this.

Touriga doesn’t shrivel like some other varieties, so hang time doesn’t concentrate the flavours anyway.

Winemaking Fermentation is undertaken in stainless steel fermenters for a period of 10 days. In an effort to highlight the soft, supple and sexy palate structure, which is a delicious characteristic of Touriga Nacional, we run a series of short, gentle pumpovers.

Once the wine is pressed off skins, it is allowed 36 hours to settle.

This is followed by inoculating with malolactic bacteria, and is then warmed and racked to older American oak hogsheads. Over a 12-month period the wine is racked twice.

Older oak is used to ensure that the wine holds onto the lifted aromas of Turkish delight, earl grey tea, rose petal and blackberries.

Our focus on oak selection for Touriga is about adding a level of underlying structure without overpowering the beautiful aromas and slippery, silken palate. Over time, we have fine-tuned our pumpover regimes to a shorter, gentle massage.

Technical details: Residual sugar 0g/L pH 3.5 TA 5.9g/L Alcohol 14.0%

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Marketing St Hallett has been using Touriga National in our Gamekeepers Reserve and GST blends for many years now.

Touriga Nacional brings beautiful aromas of perfumed spice to the blends and with that comes the luscious, slippery palate. ▶ V2 7N 4

08 8349 7654

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In vintages that Touriga truly shines as an independent variety, we have the pleasure of selecting the best barrels of that vintage to make a limited cellar door release.

Ian McLellan, Director Mansfield Wines Mudgee, New South Wales Wine: Mansfield Wines 2009 Touriga Nacional (RRP $18.00) Viticulture The vineyard is approximately seven kilometres north of Mudgee, at Eurunderee, and is situated on a northwesterly slope. The site has an elevation 475m and features clay- loam soil. The average maximum temperature at the site during the growing season is 31°C, while the average minimum is 8°C. Occasional late spring frosts will affect yield. Winds tend to be south-easterly or westerly. The average annual rainfall is 650mm.

We have one hectare of Touriga (clone CSIRO) on its own-roots. The vines have a row and vine spacing of 3m x 1.6m, respectively, and are trellised to VSP. Vigorous growth requires some shoot thinning and summer trimming.

Depending on the weather conditions, drip irrigation from an underground bore is used when necessary.

Mulch is placed under the vines using the slashed mid-row grass and prunings. We apply fertiliser regularly based on petiole or soil analysis.

The vines are mechanically prepruned, followed by hand spur pruning to 30-40 buds.

In terms of diseases, there are no real problems with the Touriga.

However, botrytis pressure can occur in wet autumn years (rare in Mudgee).

Our biggest challenge is increasing yields without affecting fruit quality.

At harvest we look for balanced flavours and some shrivelling grapes.

The Touriga yields an average of 3-4t/ha.

A typical analysis at harvest: Baumé 13-14 TA 6.5 pH 3.5 Winemaking The grapes are machine harvested, crushed/destemmed into an open fermenter, and hand plunged three times a day. The juice is then basket pressed, with 40% going to new puncheons and barriques, and 60% in one-to three-year-old barrels, for 14 months before bottling.

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St Hallett’s ‘source block’ of Touriga Nacional was first planted in 1978 for fortified production but was subsequently identified by winemaker Stuart Blackwell as being worthy of table wine production.

Marketing Touriga is largely an unknown variety in Australia among wine consumers, thus, making it more challenging to sell.

However, at the cellar door, regional wine tastings and local independent bottleshops, it sells consistently well. Touriga Nacional has distinctive characters that give it a point of difference in a market filled with Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon wines. Our advice to any grower would be to have patience. As with any unfamiliar grape variety, it takes time to gain greater market perception, although we believe this grape variety has a good future when grown in the right regions of Australia.

Chris Taylor, Tony Carapetis & Philippe Morin Quattro Mano Barossa Valley, South Australia Wine: Quattro Mano 2010 La Morada (RRP $25.00) Viticulture The 2010 La Morada is a blend of Touriga (53%), Tinta Amarela (31%) and Tinta Cao (16%). All varieties were sourced from the Linke vineyard situated on the edge of the township of Stockwell, in the north-eastern corner of the Barossa Valley.

The climate is warm and continental, and the annual rainfall is approximately 450mm. The average minimum temperature during the growing season (October-April) is 12ºC, while the average maximum is 24ºC. Frost risk is a concern from September to the end of October.

The vineyard was planted in the early ‘70s, with the vines now more than 40 W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

years old. There is a total area of 1.4ha of Touriga and 0.7ha each of Tinta Amarela and Tinta Cao. It is unknown whether the vines are on own-roots or rootstocks. The clonal identity of each of the varieties is also unknown.

The vineyard is flat with an elevation of 300m above sea level. The vine rows run north-south and are spaced 3.6m apart, while the vines are planted 2.4m apart.

The vines are trellised to a single wire with a single foliage wire to help keep the canopy open and provide support from rolling in south-easterly/westerly winds.

The vines are hand spur-pruned to approximately 35- 40 buds per vine.

The vineyard was regenerated about four years ago; dead wood was cut away and removed, and vines were retrained to produce new permanent cordons with better spur placement. We first received fruit from this vineyard in 2009 and, since that time, have not had to utilise any additional canopy management practices (i.e., shoot thinning, bunch thinning, leaf plucking). We feel that vine age probably helps moderate yield, with the vineyard producing 5–6.5t/ha from 2009–2011, although the 2012 vintage saw yields decline to 3t/ha.

The soil comprises brown loam (ca.

30cm) and heavy brown loam (ca. 20cm) over red clay with a pH of 5.7. The midrow is sparsely populated by grasses, along with a heterogeneous mixture of weeds. It is managed by slashing two to three times throughout the growing season. The under-vine area is mounded and managed via herbicide once or twice per year.

A standard preventative spray program based on copper and sulfur is in place, with good results.

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Quattro Mano collaborators (from left) Tony Carapetis, Chris Taylor and Philippe Morin.

Touriga produces small, compact bunches. The small berries have thick skins and the variety appears to be resilient to mildew and botrytis, as attested by the harvest of good quality fruit late in March 2011, after one of the wettest vintages in the Barossa Valley on record.

Touriga ripens mid-late March in this vineyard. The main qualities we look for at harvest are ripe tannins, the absence of herbaceous characters, colour released readily from the skins and dark berry fruit (blackcurrant) characters.

A typical analysis of the Touriga at harvest: Baumé 12.8-13.3 pH 3.5-3.7 TA 5.0-5.5g/L Winemaking The Touriga (as well as Tinta Amarela and Tinta Cao) is machine picked either at night or very early in the morning to ensure the fruit arrives at the winery as cold as possible. The Touriga for the 2010 La Morada was harvested on 23 March at 12.8Be. Fruit is de-stemmed with the rollers removed and transferred to small (3.5-5t) open fermenters via a fourinch, open throat, mono-type pump.

A small addition of PMS (50-100g/t) is made at the crusher to allow the must to be cold soaked at 12-15ºC for two to three days before the onset of primary fermentation. The must is also acidadjusted (if required) at this point. Where possible, we try to allow the fermentation to proceed without inoculating. In the case of the 2010 vintage, all varieties fermented to dryness uninoculated.

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The must is pumped over once per day for 10-20 minutes during the cold soaking period to extract colour, flavour and tannins without the presence of alcohol. Once fermentation has commenced, the cap is manually plunged twice a day, and the wine pumped over one to two times per day until midferment. At mid-ferment, the cap is then manually plunged generally once a day coupled with one or two shorter pump overs. The wine is allowed to ferment to <0Be on skins (usually 7-10 days) before being pressed off. Ferment temperatures are allowed to peak at 30-32ºC in the initial stages of fermentation, before being brought down to an average of 2224ºC via cooling for the remainder of the fermentation period.

Pressing is via a slotted membrane press. The wine is drained off skins and the marc transferred to the press via a four-inch, open throat, mono-type pump. Pressing is via the standard red pressing program and typically takes 90 minutes, although it is monitored throughout and cut when the tannins begin to become coarse. The pressings are added back to the free-run/light pressings fractions. The wine is then settled off gross lees for one to three days, depending on workload and tank capacity, before being transferred to oak for malolactic fermentation (MLF). MLF in 2010 was spontaneous, although we do occasionally inoculate (e.g., 2011).

We use a mixture of new and seasoned French oak barriques, hogsheads and puncheons, with most of the wine for La Morada seeing 18 months in seasoned French barriques. The wine is racked at the end of MLF and 80-100ppm total W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

sulfur added before returning to oak. The wine is then racked once more during the maturation period. At around 18 months, the wine is racked from oak, blended in tank, sulfur adjusted and bottled without fining and generally without filtration.

Our approach to winemaking hasn't really altered over the years and, currently, we see no real need to make any major changes. Naturally, subtle changes (e.g., fermenter size, ferment temperature, duration of pumpovers, etc.) are made from vintage to vintage to allow us to manage vintage variation in the fruit and maintain stylistic consistency.

Marketing The focus of Quattro Mano is the production of premium wines from Portuguese and Spanish grape varieties.

There are currently three ‘tiers’ of products, with La Morada sitting in the middle alongside the La Reto Tempranillo.

Touriga is a largely unknown variety in Australia (especially as a dry red table wine) and the domestic consumer has had limited exposure to this variety.

Consequently, our two Touriga-based blends are ‘hand-sells’, both retail and on-premise. The most critical aspect of marketing, in our opinion, is to get people to taste the wines.

We are currently represented on the eastern seaboard, with sales in both independent retailers and on-premise.

Small volumes of all of our wines have been exported to Japan and will also soon be exported to the US. Feedback from the Japan market towards La Morada has been positive, with listings in a number of WVJ restaurants in Tokyo. www.winebiz. com . au

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Touriga Nacional – a worthy contender in a warming climate

P

rompted by a suggestion from a Wine & Viticulture Journal subscriber, this issue’s tasting comprised Australian-made Touriga Nacional varietal wines and Touriga Nacional blends in which the Portuguese grape was the dominant component.

An invitation to Australian producers resulted in 13 straight Tourigas and four blends being submitted to the blind tasting, which included a barrel and tank sample from the 2012 vintage, through to a 2003 straight Touriga.

The tasting was held in the Wine Innovation Central building at the Waite campus of The University of Adelaide, where the following five panellists assembled to taste Touriga: Duane Coates, winemaker for McLaren Valebased Coates Wines; Jeremy Ottawa, winemaker for St Hallett, in the Barossa Valley; Sue Bastian, senior lecturer in oenology and sensory studies at The University of Adelaide; and oenology students Emma Barnes and Oscar Delgado Gaona.

Duane Coates, who produces a Touriga Nacional table and fortified wine using grapes sourced from Langhorne Creek and worked with the variety in Portugal’s Duoro Valley while employed

by Taylors some 10 years ago, said one of the key varietal characteristics of a straight Touriga was Earl Grey tea.

Turkish delight was another hallmark Touriga character, Coates said, even though it was more associated with Traminer. It was also not uncommon to smell and taste a menthol character in the wine.

Coates said: “One of the reasons new oak is almost required with Touriga is that the floral and Earl Grey tea characters can almost be over-powering in barrel. You almost have to restrain its natural varietal character because it can be too much of a good thing.”

Coates said he used a Bordelaise-like oak regime in making Touriga, using 25% new oak barriques.

Jeremy Ottawa cautioned: “If too much oak is used you lose that vibrant, floral, perfume lift and it can almost taste sappy. If you’re using good oak and just highlighting some of the clove, nutmeg and spice characters, they can marry quite well the floral perfume.

Too much and that’s all you’ll see – oak

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The five panellists for the tasting of Touriga and Touriga-dominant blends were (from left) Duane Coates, winemaker for McLaren Vale-based Coates Wines; oenology student Emma Barnes; Sue Bastian, senior lecturer in oenology and sensory studies at The University of Adelaide; oenology student Oscar Delgado Gaona; and Jeremy Ottawa, winemaker for St Hallett, in the Barossa Valley. on the nose, palate and finish. We use 30% new oak in our Touriga; the rest is three-to-four-year-old French oak.”

Coates said he thought Touriga had “a big future in Australia” because “you can’t kill a Touriga in the winery very easily and it stands up to hot weather”.

“In 2008, I was surprised how well the Touriga we picked in Langhorne Creek stood up after the heatwave. We didn’t pick it until April, yet it was only at 13.2Be. At the same time, there was Cabernet Sauvignon in Langhorne Creek being brought in it at 17Be. “I make a number of Shiraz wines under my range, but I find Touriga to be more suited to growing in Australian conditions than Shiraz. Shiraz pushes its sugar and salt up; one hot day and it looks like a train wreck. It’s an absolute princess, whereas Touriga doesn’t seem to care about the heat.”

Coates said Touriga tended to “go nuts” in Australia’s old soils.

“Langhorne Creek has very good soils for growing, so we tend to run kicker canes to try to keep the vigour down.

At harvest, Touriga’s still got activelygrowing tips. It doesn’t necessarily grow lots of canes, it just doesn’t stop W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

growing. I think Touriga is probably just spoilt in Australian soils.”

The panel agreed because that because Touriga could be produced at lower alcohol made it attractive, as Coates said: “Although there were a couple of higher alcohol wines in this tasting, generally they were between 12.5-13.5%, which is refreshing in Australia.”

He said it would be interesting to see how many producers were making Touriga in five years time.

“The name isn’t sexy, means nothing to anyone and then, when you say it’s a Portuguese variety, that’s three strikes.

It’s a hard thing to market. It will take one of the bigger guys to take up the challenge for it to become more mainstream.”

Ottawa said that based on St Hallett’s own cellar door experience with Touriga, it was the younger wines that people liked most, when they were “vibrant and pretty”.

The panel identified Mansfield Wines 2009 Touriga Nacional and St Hallett 2009 Touriga Nacional as the top straight Tourigas in the tasting, with the Quattro Mano 2010 La Morada (53% Touriga, 30% Tinta Amarela, 17% Tinta Cao) rated best among the blends.

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St Hallett 2009 Touriga Nacional Barossa Valley, South Australia 14.0% v/v - screwcap RRP$25.00/bottle Deep ruby in colour with a slight brown hue. A floral/ spice lift on the nose, which features stressed red fruits, melon, Turkish delight and savoury accents. A voluptuous, well-weighted palate with coating tannins, sweet fruit, savoury/earthy notes, chocolate, secondary oak and a white cherry drive. Excellent length. ‘Very European in style,’ said one taster.

Mansfield Wines 2009 Touriga Nacional Mudgee, New South Wales 13.5% v/v - cork RRP$18.00/bottle Dark garnet in colour with a slight brown tint. Intense, complex nose with savoury and roast meat characters, pepper, spice, dark fruits, forest fruits, fresh herbs and a hint of vanilla and pencil shavings underlying some citrus notes. Excellent flavour weight with a refined tannin backbone. ‘Not particularly varietal, but an excellent wine,’ said one taster.

Quattro Mano 2011 Duende Pinta

919 Wines 2011 Touriga Nacional

(50% Touriga Nacional, 32% Tinta Cao, 18% Tinta Amarela) Barossa Valley, South Australia 12.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$18.00/bottle

Riverland, South Australia 13.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$38.00/bottle

Magenta in colour. Very intense, complex nose with earthy, forest floor characters, dark berries. Very supple, voluptuous palate that delivers a mouthfull of fruits and some green herbal notes. Typical of an Iberian-style wine. A powerful wine but still elegant, possibly due to the fine tannins.

Sevenhill Cellars 2010 Four Buckets Touriga Nacional/ Shiraz/Malbec Clare Valley, South Australia 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$20.00/bottle (cellar door only) Deep red in colour with garnet hues. Subtle, pretty nose with characters of Earl Grey tea, Turkish delight, confectionary, musk stick and mixed berries with a floral and spice lift. Round, voluptuous and good-structured palate, which has a toasty French oak influence. Finelayered tannins and a very long finish. One taster didn’t think the nose quite lived up to its promise.

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Deep crimson red. Quite intense nose with subtle florals, spice, mocha, butter menthol and blackberry jam.

Grainy, coating tannins on the palate – acid a bit overt.

Quattro Mano 2010 La Morada (53% Touriga Nacional, 30% Tinta Amarela, 17% Tinta Cao) Barossa Valley, South Australia 13.0% v/v - screwcap RRP$26.00/bottle Deep ruby in colour with a pink, watery rim. Highly intense nose featuring pretty florals, bergamot, sweet red fruits, blackberries, and a hint of game and forest fruits. Earthy, savoury style palate, which is very European in structure. Creamy red berry drive in the mouth. A balanced wine with good length and velvet, coating tannins.

Tscharke 2010 Matching Socks Touriga Nacional Barossa Valley, South Australia 13.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$21.00/bottle Deep red in colour with a crimson hue. Florals, black fruits, ripe peach, Earl Grey tea, dried orange peel and savoury notes on the nose. Mid-full bodied. Round, soft, rolling palate with fine, coating tannins. Good flavour weight. Lovely oak influence. Very good length. A classic varietal Touriga Nacional – a very interesting wine.

Tscharke 2012 Matching Socks Touriga Nacional (barrel sample)

Coates Wines 2010 Touriga Nacional

Barossa Valley, South Australia 13.00% v/v – screwcap RRP$21.00/bottle

Langhorne Creek, South Australia 12.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$35.00/bottle

Deep ruby red in colour with a purple rim. Delicate, slightly perfumed nose with lifted florals, blackberry fruits, and varietal characters of Early Grey tea/ bergamot. Medium to full-bodied, soft and voluptuous palate which is clean, fresh and zesty. Hint of citrus peel and blackberry/liquorice. Nice oak integration. Good length of fruit. Will age nicely. Quintessential Touriga Nacional.

Inky magenta in colour. Intense nose with black and red fruits, roast parsnip, toffee/caramel, peat, bitumen and a sweet oak lift. Bold palate with velvety, grainy tannins and a slight butter menthol character. Good structure.

Lots of toasty wood. Perhaps a little short and firm on acidity.

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Gapsted 2009 Limited Release Touriga Nacional (barrel sample)

Gapsted 2011 Limited Release Touriga Nacional (barrel sample)

Gapsted 2012 Limited Release Touriga Nacional (tank sample)

Alpine Valleys, Victoria 14.1% v/v – cork RRP$27.00/bottle (due for release September 2012)

Alpine Valleys, Victoria 13.0% v/v – cork RRP$27.00/bottle (due for release February 2014)

Alpine Valleys, Victoria 13.5% v/v – cork RRP$27.00/bottle (due for release February 2015)

Deep, inky crimson in colour. ‘Wow, inky city,’ said one taster. Some blueberry, blackberry, plum, nutmeg and clove on the nose. Lots of lovely dark fruits in the mouth.

Good structure. Plenty of grippy tannin. Nice length but perhaps somewhat over-oaked. A good drink.

Deep ruby in colour with a slight pink/purple rim. Lack of perfumed florals on the nose but features nice vanilla and coconut notes, and hints of roast parsnip, coffee/ burnt toffee and earthy secondary characters. Palate has a nice tannin structure, firm acid, ripe red to black fruits and an obvious oak influence. Very good length with a hint of warmth on the finish.

Myattsfield Vineyards 2009 Left Field Club Touriga Nacional

Old Mill Estate 2009 Touriga Nacional

Coates Wines 2009 Touriga Nacional

Perth Hills, Western Australia 14.9% v/v - screwcap RRP$24.00/bottle

Langhorne Creek, South Australia 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$28.00/bottle

Langhorne Creek, South Australia 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$35.00/bottle

Deep ruby in appearance with a brown tint. Showing secondary Touriga characters on the nose that come with bottle age, such as cola, as well as dark fruit, florals, dried herbs, some spearmint and toasty oak. Rich, dark fruit in the mouth, including blackcurrant. Slightly sweet with a bitter back palate

Dark ruby colour with purple and slight brown tints.

Cooked brambly fruit on the nose, as well as stressed red fruits, burnt toffee, coconut, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, hints of soapy florals and citrus and a slight estery character. On the palate, intense fruit and earthy/savoury secondary characters with a slight estery character.

Lovely sweaty, drying, chewy tannins. Good length of fruit. Very appealing glass of wine.

Deep ruby in colour. Herbaceous and savoury/earthy nose with subtle florals, dark and red fruits, and vegetable soup characters. Savoury/earthy palate, which has very good flavour weight and comprises sweet red fruits, dark fruits, herbs and hints of rum and raisin chocolate. Good length. Nice drive and balance.

Yarra Yering 2008 Dry Red Wine No.3

St Hallett 2003 Touriga Nacional

(43% Touriga Nacional, 30% Tinta Cao, 27% Tinta Alvarelhao) Yarra Valley, Victoria 14.5% v/v – cork RRP$81.00/bottle (cellar door only)

Barossa Valley, South Australia 13.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$23.00/bottle

Colour is very deep magenta with brown tints. Nose suggests cool climate origins and features blackberry jam, liquorice, spice, violet, herbs, vegetal notes and a subtle green bean and crushed ant character.

Blackcurrant and blackberry fruits in the mouth. Firm acid and grippy tannins. ‘A chewy, well-balanced, rolling, textural palate,’ said one taster.

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Mid to deep garnet in colour with brown hues. Aged dry red characters apparent on the nose, which is complex and also features red fruits, burnt toffee, vanilla, tobacco, cola and rubber. Palate is beautifully fresh with excellent flavour weight, earthy/savoury, coffee, chocolate, sweet dark fruits and vanilla characters. Good length with firm tannins. Ageing gracefully.

W i n e & V i t i c ultur e Jo ur n a l JULY/A UGUST 2012

Inky crimson in colour. Intense nose, with very ripe black fruits, subtle citrus and Earl Grey notes and a hint of barnyard character. One taster detected a sweaty character similar to Cabernet Sauvignon. Big, chewy style in the mouth which shows subtle wood influence and features grippy, grainy tannins and some citrus. One taster thought the wine was a bit disjointed. Good length.

To u r i g a tasting

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Products & services

Australia’s first screw-capped sparkling launched

D

e Bortoli Wines has partnered with two of Australia’s leading packaging suppliers to launch the country’s first screw-capped sparkling wines.

The company has applied the sparkling screw-cap to its Trevi range, which includes three varietals as well as its on-premise premium Willowglen Sparkling Brut.

The innovative screw-cap, dubbed Viiva™, was developed locally by Guala Closures Australia in response to ongoing complaints from industry and consumers about traditional cork-closed sparkling wines, including opening difficulty and loss of carbonation.

Guala Closures Australia worked in collaboration with glass manufacturer O-I to develop a bottle specifically designed to fit the closure.

Simon Yudelevich, sales and marketing manager for Guala Closures Australia, said the Viiva closure system provided greater convenience for consumers, was familiar and easy to open. As it could be resealed, it also minimised wastage and enhanced consumer value.

He said the closure had taken five years to develop and significant investment in research and development to ensure it was suited to traditional five-gas-volume sparkling wines.

De Bortoli Wines’ national sales manager Peter Yeoman said his company had made the decision to convert the entire Trevi range and Willowglen Sparkling Brut exclusively to the new closure because the technology was “truly ground-breaking” and would “put Australia’s sparkling wine industry at the forefront of innovation”.

The new sparkling screw-cap also provides additional benefits for on-premise customers and event organisers.

“This technology appeals to on-premise customers because it reduces the time staff spend opening sparkling wines, a major advantage when dealing with multiple bottle openings at busy venues or events when speedy service is critical,” said Yeoman.

“It’s also the ideal solution for venues wishing to serve sparkling wine by the glass while reducing wastage and cost," he said.

For further information contact Guala Closures Australia, phone (03) 9688 7700, or visit www.gualaclosures.com

Simon Yudelevich, sales and marketing manager for Guala Closures Australia, with the Viiva sparkling screw cap developed by the company.

Absolute brand protection now available to Australian wine industry The cloning of brands is a very real problem in international markets leading to the rapid deterioration of brand integrity and value. This trend exists throughout many market sectors.

The Australian wine industry is currently suffering this fate with many documented examples of wellknown brands being copied and sold in emerging markets. Reduction of market share, reduced brand integrity and margins flow quickly when cloning operates unabated.

After 12 months’ development, Jamesprint, in partnership with Product Protection Solutions Pty Ltd, have released a fully-integrated label protection solution.

Jamesprint’s general manager Denny Fox said the NCiD security tags were totally non-clonable and effectively gave every individual bottle of wine a personal identification that V2 7N 4

could be traced throughout the supply chain from manufacturing to point of sale.

Employing non-clonable, random nano technology, each individual bottle is catalogued on a database and traceable throughout its life.

“The NCiD solution provides distributors, retailers and consumers with the ability to quickly verify the authenticity of wine bottles throughout the distribution and sale process,” Fox said.

The process operates at multiple levels utilising smart phone technology and product scanners.

“As a trusted wine label producer it is important for us to be pro-active in providing real benefits and security to our customers. Working with Product Protection Solutions we have developed the NCiD security tags to provide absolute brand protection to our customers. We see this as integral to our wine customers being able to maximise W i n e & Viticultur e Jo ur na l JULY/A UGUST 2012

their returns in the developing wine markets.

NCiD incorporates a 2-D barcode that acts identically to a QR code, with an I-phone app already available for consumers to personally verify each NCiD security tag on the wine bottle.

“With NCiD the nature of the verification process can enable wineries to capture consumer data and provide direct marketing, including purchasing reward systems and competitions. The reporting elements of NCiD allow the winery to track each bottle of wine, provide the consumer with absolute brand and wine quality protection, secure the integrity of the brand, and also opens up a multitude of marketing possibilities” Denny said.

For further information contact Jamesprint, phone (03) 5021 3222. www.winebiz. com . au

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For classified bookings contact: Nicole Evans (08) 8369 9515 widsales@winetitles.com.au

C lassi f i e ds

VINE GRAFTING Bruce Gilbert 0428 233 544 Brian Phillips 0417 131 764 fax 03 5025 2321

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Dedicated to covering all aspects of winemaking and technology, viticulture, wine business and marketing – from vine to market.

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