Wine & Viticulture Journal

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 · Volume 28 Number 6

OPTIMISING FERMENTATION • Chemical and sensory differentiation from wild yeast fermentation • Do 'natural' wines make conventionally-made wines 'unnatural'?

• China's projected demand for Australian wine by 2018 • Visualising vintage information in real time • Tasting: Prosecco

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Publisher: Hartley Higgins General Manager: Elizabeth Bouzoudis Editor Sonya Logan Ph (08) 8369 9502 Email Associate Editors Gary Baldwin Mark Krstic Markus Herderich

Peter Dry Armando Corsi

Editorial Assistance Lauren Jones, Write Lane CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kym Anderson Nicole Cain Armando Corsi Simon Dillon Paul Evans Peter Godden Paul Grbin Fred Hancock Edward Horton Vladimir Jiranek Ursula Kennedy Tommaso Liccioli Richard Muhlack Warren Proft Peter Rogers Neil Scrimgeour Joanna Sundstrom Michelle Walker Glyn Wittwer

Sonya Logan, Editor

Fax (08) 8369 9501 sonya@winetitles.com.au

Lindsay Brown Justin Cohen Michael Dal Zotto Mark Downey Jennie Gardner James Gosper Richard Halstead Tony Hoare Cathy Howard Dan Johnson Tony Keys Larry Lockshin Paul Petrie Dylan Rhymer Mark Rowley Richard Smart Helen Waite Eric Wilkes Andrew Yap

Advertising Sales: Nicole Evans Ph (08) 8369 9515 Fax (08) 8369 9529 Email n.evans@winetitles.com.au 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.

W

ell, I can’t quite believe it, but here we are again with the final issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal for another year! The festive season is hurtling at us at what seems to me to be the speed of light. The imminent arrival of that bloke in the red suit with the white beard who magically delivers presents to every boy and girl around the world on Christmas eve (yes, I still have believers in my house!) means it also won’t be too long before the first of the harvesters start emerging from their sheds to reap the fruits of vintage 2014.

So, before the silly season that is Christmas and vintage work up so much steam it will be impossible to jump off, devour what you can now of these 84 pages.

The focus of this issue is ‘Optimising Fermentation’, which begins with an article by researchers from The University of Adelaide which summarises the results of a trial in which ‘wild’ ferments were compared alongside Saccharomyces-inoculated ferments to assess the differences in sensory properties, wine chemistry and fermentation volatiles (page 23).

This is followed by another paper from The University of Adelaide in which researchers report on the potential for a special technique they are using as an alternative to genetic modification to improve the oenological traits of wine yeasts (page 26).

Ursula Kennedy, from the University of Southern Queensland, then summarises a trial that was carried out using fruit from the 2013 vintage to assess the influence of yeast selection on the quality of Chardonnay (page 34), which is followed by this issue’s AWRI report which discusses a ferment simulator it has developed that gives winemakers the ability to predict fermentation performance and behaviour, test and evaluate alternative management strategies, monitor refrigeration demand and flag potential problems (page 38).

This issue has something of a subfocus on wine exporting, particularly to China, including the first of a two-part article by Tony Keys in which he has responded to a reader’s request for guidance on which wine trade fairs are currently the most fruitful for Australia’s wineries (page 14); an assessment for the potential of Australian wine exports to China by 2018 by Kym Anderson, of The University of Adelaide, and Glyn Wittwer, from Monash University (page 60); the development of a lexicon of wine descriptors appropriate for use in the Chinese market to help educate drinkers there about Australian wine styles (page 66); and a look at where future opportunities to expand wine sales in the UK exist by Wine Intelligence’s Richard Halstead (page 69).

Wishing our readers a safe and happy Christmas and all the best for the start of the next vintage.

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Cover: C ourtesy once again of Patritti Wines winemaker Ben Heide, who is proving he is just as skilful

Address

behind the lens of a camera as he is at a crushpad, this photo highlights this issue’s focus on fermentation.

630 Regency Road, Broadview, South Australia 5083

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Adelaide ISSN 1838-6547 © Winetitles Pty Ltd, 2013. All rights reserved

Regular features

News Wine Australia ASVO WFA Tony Keys

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AWRI Report Alternative Varieties Varietal Report Tasting

Win e & V iticultur e Jo ur na l

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In this issue

R E GULA R F E ATU R E S

con t en t s

V I T I C ULTU R E

8 WINE AUSTRALIA (James Gosper): Keeping the Savour flavour once the world’s wine trade has departed

44 Vintage operations in real time – creating value through improved efficiency

11 ASVO (Paul Petrie): Highlights from the ASVO Awards for Excellence and natural wine debate

48 The effect of grape variety and smoking duration on the accumulation of smoke taint compounds in wine

13 WFA (Paul Evans): Time for the action to begin 14 KEY FILES: All the fun of the fair – Part 1

50 Understanding trunk diseases: how and why they threaten the wine industry 54 Tasmania’s own Pinot Noir clones 56 Bird control - damned if you do, damned if you don’t

W I N E M A K I N G

58 ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES: Schonburger

18 If there are ‘natural’ wines, then are conventionallymade wines ‘unnatural’? business & marketing

60 How large could Australia’s wine exports to China become by 2018?

65 Barossa breaks new ground with regional education in Hong Kong and China

23 Wild yeast fermentation can allow chemical and sensory differentiation in red and white wines 26 Novel wine yeast for improved performance in fermentation 34 The influence of commercial hybrid yeast strains on the Composition and sensory profile of Granite Belt Chardonnay 52 AWRI REPORT: Optimising fermentation through simulation

A N N UAL I N D E X

69 WINE INTELLIGENCE: The UK wine market: an enigma, with variations?

71 Australian and global wine competition success

V a rie t a l re p or t

79 Index to articles published in the Journal during 2013 V2 8N 6

66 Developing a Chinese lexicon for wine

91 Prosecco

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Industry consultation for WFA’s recommended actions closes The two-month industry consultation period on 33 recommended actions aimed at restoring the profitability of Australia’s wine businesses has ended.

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) released the 33 proposed actions in late August following a sixmonth review of the wine industry by independent economists Centaurus Partners, which included detailed analysis of demand, supply and market distortions.

The WFA board is now considering the feedback generated through the consultation period, and will finalise the actions and implement them as soon as possible in partnership with industry and government.

Eleven regional consultation forums were held across four states in the Riverland, Margaret River, Hunter Valley, Rutherglen, Melbourne, Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Yarra Valley and the Riverina. Each was chaired by a local industry representative, and featured presentations by WFA president Tony D’Aloisio and chief executive Paul Evans, followed by questions and discussion.

Feedback was also received through written submissions from individuals and regional, state and national wine organisations.

“We said at the time that the expert review was the most significant body of work the industry had undertaken in many years and it provided an ideal platform for a comprehensive discussion on the main issues that affect us as an industry,” Evans said. “There was discussion around such issues as retail consolidation, continuing oversupply of grapes and wine, the way to capture market opportunities at home and abroad, potential reform to the WET rebate and the ongoing debate about alcohol and health.”

A summary of the feedback received, and all related documents, can be found on the WFA website at www.wfa.org.au.

Latest export stats show growth aT higher price points Australian bottled wine exports continued to grow across higher price points during the year ending September 2013, while the average value of bottled exports was the highest recorded in five years, according to the latest Wine Export Approval Report released by Wine Australia.

China and Hong Kong led the growth in Australian bottled wine exports above

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A$10 per litre and now account for 42 per cent of these exports. China is the biggest destination for exports in the above A$10 per litre segment, followed by Hong Kong.

The average value of wine exports above A$10 per litre was the highest ever, increasing by 4% to A$19.14 per litre.

While the total volume of wine exports decreased by 3% to 684 million litres (valued at A$1.78 billion), the average value increased by 0.4% to A$2.61 per litre.

The number of active Australian wine exporters increased by 14 to 1371, with increases in the number of exporters to the US (up by 12 to 220 companies) and China (up by 33 to 931 companies).

Wine Australia’s acting chief executive Andreas Clark said growth at higher price points provided opportunities for the wine sector in a challenging environment.

“While the volume of exports has declined overall and across many of our major markets, the growth at higher and more sustainable price points is a positive trend and one we need to build on to improve returns for grapegrowers and winemakers,” Clark said.

“The drop in total export volumes was driven by a number of factors including a decline in exports at lower price points and a fall in red wine exports due to stocks of red wine declining last year.

“Bottled wine exports to the US grew 16% in the above A$7.50 per litre segment, which is encouraging and supports our recent wine trade research that shows that the US is ready for the quality, regionality and diversity of our wines at higher price points.

“The UK market remains challenging with a £2 per bottle wine excise, declines in wine consumption, high unemployment, falling household expenditure and a relatively strong Australian dollar all impacting on wine exports,” he said.

Assessment tool for reducing trunk disease risk A tool to help growers and nurseries plant healthier grapevines has been developed by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher.

CSU PhD student Helen Waite has developed the risk assessment tool for reducing trunk diseases in grapevine cuttings as part of her research through the National Wine & Grape Industry Centre in Wagga Wagga.

Waite said the risk assessment spreadsheet should give grapegrowers more information about what they’re planting.

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“The grower can open the package, look at the bundle of vines, use the assessment criteria to get a score, then sample some vines, peeling the bark off and dissecting the vines to look for disease,” she said. “That combined with an examination of the paperwork will give an overall score of the risk of planting that material.”

Waite’s research has led to the development of a set of guidelines for hot water treatment for cuttings which is being trialled in an Australian nursery this year.

“It’s difficult to change practices at a time when they’re not selling much product due to the down-turn in the wine industry but there has been a new willingness on the part of the nurseries, and the vine improvement schemes who supply the cuttings, to change what they are doing to ensure there’s a better product coming out of the system,” she said.

Medals awarded to half the entries in 2013 Riverland Wine Show Just over half the wines entered in this year’s Riverland Wine Show were awarded medals, with wine show committee chair Eric Semmler describing the result as “outstanding”.

Of the more than 330 wines entered in this year’s Riverland Wine Show, for which the Wine & Viticulture Journal’s parent company Winetitles is a media sponsor, 51 per cent were awarded medals including 18 gold medals, 38 silver and 125 bronze.

The wine show was held in September and concluded with a gala presentation dinner in Renmark attended by 125 guests.

“The Riverland and inland areas remain an integral part of the Australian wine industry and it is heartening to see the quality reflected in these wines across styles,” said Semmler He said a notable trend at this year’s show was the strong performance of alternative and new varieties.

“This indicates the suitability of these varieties to our region and the ability of these Mediterranean varieties to produce high quality wines,” he said.

The trophy for best wine in show was awarded to Lillypilly Estate Wines’ 2011 Lillypilly Noble Blend; Pfieffer Wines received the trophy for most successful exhibitor; while the trophy for best alternative wine went to Accolade Wines 2012 Mediterranean Collection Tempranillo.

A full list of results is available at http://riverlandwine.org.au/wineshow. php.

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The Winemaker of the Year Award was changed slightly this year to recognise an outstanding contribution to the local industry, resulting in a new award, the Riverland Wine Industry Award. It was presented to Ashley Ratcliff, winery and vineyard manager at Yalumba’s Oxford Landing, chair of the Riverland Alternative Wine Group and Barmera grapegrower, for promoting and developing interest in the region’s alternative and emerging varieties.

TWE takes out top gongs at Great Australian Shiraz Challenge The 2013 Visy Great Australian Shiraz Challenge Trophy has been awarded to the 2012 Pepperjack Shiraz, by Treasury Wine Estates.

Winemaker Richard Mattner was presented with the award during the trophy presentation dinner at Tahbilk Winery on 1 November.

The other major trophy in the competition for best Shiraz under $25.00 was awarded to Ingoldby for its 2012 Ingoldby Shiraz, another TWE brand, and was accepted by winemaker Kate Hongell.

In its 19th year, 342 wines competed in this year’s Challenge with vintages ranging from 2004-2013.

The judging panel comprised Gary Baldwin, Sue Bell, Simon Osicka, Jeni Port, Victor Nash and Travis Clydesdale.

Top award at 2013 Canberra International Riesling Challenge goes to Germany The top award at the 14th annual Canberra International Riesling Challenge has been won by Weingut Georg Müller, from the Rheingau region of Germany, with its Stiftung Schützenhaus Trockenbeerenauslese 2011.

Rieslings from eight countries – Australia, New Zealand, USA, Germany, France, South Africa, the Czech Republic and Canada – were judged for trophies of excellence at this year’s Challenge, held at Albert Hall in Canberra.

Judges tasted 487 wines over three days to find the best wines across a number of categories with the presentation ceremony held at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra.

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Winemaker Richard Mattner, with the 2013 Visy Great Australian Shiraz Challenge Trophy for the 2012 Pepperjack Shiraz, and Kate Hongell, winemaker for Ingoldby, with the trophy for best Shiraz under $25 for the 2012 Ingoldby Shiraz.

Chairman of the Riesling Challenge, Ken Helm, said the event had been the most successful of the 13 years due to the support from the eight major Riesling producing countries.

In a special presentation at the launch of the 2013 Challenge, Canberra District winemaker Dr Edgar Riek received an ACT Government Centenary of Canberra Award for his outstanding contribution to the Canberra District wine industry over many years. The two standout wines from the Southern Hemisphere in this year’s Challenge were Pikes Traditionale Riesling 2013 from the Clare Valley in South Australia and the Hunter’s Marlborough Riesling 2012 from New Zealand.

The Wine & Viticulture Journal’s parent company, Winetitles, was a media sponsor of the event.

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Keeping the Savour flavour once the world’s wine trade has departed

By James Gosper General Manager, Market Development, Wine Australia

Savour Australia favourably changed perceptions about Australian wine among leading members of the international trade and media, who liberally shared their excitement via social media during and after the event. Now, the industry needs to ensure the momentum translates into more sales of Australian wines around the world.

A

t Savour Australia 2013, Australia’s first global wine forum, the local wine industry united to present a confident front to more than 800 leading members of the world’s wine trade and drinks and lifestyle media to change perceptions of Australian wine.

The event, held in Adelaide in September, provided a full immersion into Australian wine and food through business sessions led by some of the world’s authorities on wine, consumer trends, and retailing; themed lunches and dinners prepared by some of Australia’s top chefs; more than 400 new business meetings in the entry-to-market lounge; a grand tasting featuring wines from more than 170 Australian wineries, and intimate Landmark Australia tastings to showcase Australia’s ultimate wine offerings.

The buzz in the lead up to and during the event was palpable. Even now, the Savour guests continue to tell their stories about their experience and the many great Australian wines they discovered through their social media channels, blogs, television, radio, magazines and newspapers. During and after the event, #savouroz was trending on Twitter on numerous occasions, as participants enthusiastically posted photos and provided their instant responses to the wines, food, business sessions, Landmark Australia tastings, the grand tasting, dinners and wine region visits. There were more than 4000 uses of #savouroz on Twitter during the event, with a potential reach of more than 3.6 million and more than 430 images posted via Instagram, all helping to bring the story of Australian wine and food to life. This chatter is helping to keep Australia front-of-mind in the world’s cluttered wine markets.

The response to the event and to Australia’s diverse and high quality wine and food offerings has been

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overwhelmingly positive. Anecdotally, the event has generated a renewed focus on the Australian wine category, helped change perceptions and created new business leads. We are still working with our industry partners to determine the tangible business benefits, which may not be seen for months to come, but based on initial feedback, the individual business results are likely be extremely positive.

The Australian wine industry itself has been incredibly complimentary of the event and what it has achieved thus far. We have been inundated by congratulatory emails from wineries of all sizes including small, independent, boutique wineries; larger familyW i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur na l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

owned wineries and the bigger, listed ones. The recurring theme has been around the sense of camaraderie the event has generated among the V28N6

W I N E AUST R AL I A

industry. It brought regions together and was reminiscent of the times the Australian wine industry was united.

There is also the perception that Savour is a potential game changer, a tipping point for the industry to go forward confidently.

Media coverage generated by some of the nearly 70 media professionals who attended the event from around the world is starting to appear and focusses on some of the ‘new’ Australian wines discovered at the event. More than 70 articles have so far been generated around the world thanks to the event. Here is a taste of what the world has been saying:

“There are cool climate Shiraz that would shake up US perceptions of Oz - definitely! And in the UK, and rest of Europe.” Adam Lechmere, Decanter, UK “Enjoying line up of organic/BD/ natural wines chosen by @ #savouroz Not so much the school boy sniggering around BD practices.” Tim Wildman MW, Wine Educator, UK “I got to know so much more about Australian wines. I will be publishing

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what I saw and feel about this event through the China Wines information website, my blog and my Weibo to demonstrate the tradition, innovation and diversity of Australia’s fine wine and food, as well as its scenery.” Qu Xing, China Wines Information Website, China “I will be working hard with my distributors promoting Australia and Australian wine.” Sheila Carey, Wine Buyer, Argonaut Wine & Liquors, US “I hadn’t previously visited Australia (although I’ve now spent almost 10 years as a wine buyer in the UK). For me, this was a fantastic and eye-opening way of learning about the people, place and product in an efficient, yet effective way.” James Davis MW, Greene King, UK “I found incredibly good Mataro (the Australian name for Mourvèdre) and Grenache, which makes a lot more sense in such a hot climate. My shock was the quality of the Aglianico, Sangiovese and Tempranillo.” Bill Zacharkiw, The Montreal Gazette, Canada “… there are some terrific wines on display here. Those include Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, of course, but also some delightful wines made from Tempranillo, Nebbiolo, and even Nero d’Avola. Among whites, Fiano, Roussanne, Verdelho and, of course, Semillon can be stunning. I’ve always felt Aussie Riesling tends toward a clunky style, but I’ve tasted several delicious examples that have me reconsidering my impression. Aussie Chardonnay also has stepped up in recent vintages.” Dave McIntyre, Wine Columnist, The Washington Post, US “The new rock ‘n‘ roll is Chardonnay….

It’s true the north star has shifted. People are making these wines more compelling, crunchy, lighter, brighter, greener, fresher… absolutely excitement in a bottle. You’ve captured lightening in a bottle there.”

Christopher Waters, Editor, Vines Magazine, Canada.

The questions on everyone’s lips at the moment are will this be a one off, and when will the next Savour take place?

Wine Australia is currently working with all Savour delegates, special guests, industry partners and sponsors to assess the value

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of the event, understand the business results, examine what worked and what didn’t work, look at what could be done better and determine the future of the event. A repeat performance would be dependent on future Australian Government funding and partner or sponsor support. Before we look towards the future, we need to make the most of the current opportunity.

We have got the world’s attention.

Now, as an industry, we have to maintain that momentum and build on the positive sentiment, so the excitement translates into more Australian wines on the world’s retail shelves and wine lists.

Wine Australia will continue to work hard in key markets around the world to maintain the momentum and positive sentiment generated by the event through a global program of educational initiatives, tastings and master classes, trade and consumer events and retail promotions. Then there’s Tourism Australia’s ‘Restaurant Australia’

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food and wine positioning, which was announced at Savour Australia 2013 and marks a new era in the promotion of our food and wine. We will be working closely with Tourism Australia to look at ways for the wine sector to leverage this global campaign and to extend our consumer reach on a scale we have not been able to do previously, so that the promotion of wine shifts into the lifestyle space.

I urge our industry partners to also look at ways to take advantage of the positive sentiment by following up their business leads, making in-market sales calls and getting in front of the media that were in attendance. We have laid the foundations and now the industry needs to continue to build on them.

Were there Savour Australia 2013 business sessions you missed or would like to see again? Video, audio and photos from all the business sessions are available from the Savour Australia 2013 website, www.savour-australia.com

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Highlights of ASVO Awards for Excellence and natural wine debate

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

T

he winners of the ASVO Winemaker and Viticulturist of the the year was titled ‘Optimisation of techniques for quantification of Year and the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research Botrytis cinerea in grape berries and receptacles by quantitative Papers of the Year were recently announced at a gala dinner polymerase chain reaction’ and was awarded to a team of plant at the National Wine Centre, in Adelaide. The Winemaker of the Year pathologists from Tasmania and Upstate New York. Tasmanian award was again sponsored by Lallemand Australia and recognises Institute of Agriculture researchers Kathy Evans and Katie Dunne technical mastery over any aspect of winemaking. The award for were on hand to receive the award. The oenology paper of the year 2013 was presented to Louisa Rose (Yalumba Wine Company) for was awarded to ‘White wine fermentation: interaction of assimilable her work on the implementation of wild or natural fermentation nitrogen and grape solids’. This paper was written by a team techniques. The Viticulturist of the Year award was again sponsored led by Erick Casalta and based at the INRA research centre, at

by Bayer Crop Sciences, and honours an outstanding viticulturist Montpellier, in France. involved in the development of a novel and significant viticultural The ASVO thanks everyone who entered the ASVO Winemaker innovation or practice. This year, the award was presented to and Viticulturist of the Year awards. Putting the entries together for Ashley Ratcliff (Yalumba Wine Company) for his work pioneering these awards is no small or easy task. Thanks also to all the judges alternative varieties that are potentially better suited to the current who spent considerable time making some quite difficult decisions and future climatic conditions. on the award winners.

The Paper of the Year awards were open to all research papers Prior to the gala dinner, the ASVO staged an enjoyable and published in the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. entertaining debate about natural wine. Debate chair Brian Walsh These awards were again sponsored by the Grape and Wine set the scene and posed the challenge to the teams to debate the D P 1 5 6 0 _ G W_ 1 3 0 x 1 8 5 . p d f Pa ge 1 1 8 / 0 7 / 1 2 , 3 : 2 2 PM Research and Development Corporation. The viticultural paper of notion that ‘Natural wine is naturally better’. Wine writer Max Allen

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Sponsored by the GWRDC, the trophy for best viticultural paper published in the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research over the past 12 months was awarded to ‘Optimisation of techniques for quantification of Botrytis cinerea in grape berries and receptacles by quantitative polymerase chain reaction’. The award was presented by Stuart Thompson, executive director of the GWRDC, and accepted by two of the paper’s co-authors in Kathy Evans (right), of the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, and Katie Dunne, of TWE Global.

Andrew Murphy (left), director of production at Yalumba, accepted the Winemaker of the Year award from award sponsor Jason Amos (right), of Lallemand Australia, on behalf of Louisa Rose for her work on the implementation of wild or natural fermentation techniques.

spoke first for the affirmative team and introduced natural wine as a philosophy rather than a technique or method, and used music as an analogy for natural wine production where the conventional winemaker was the musician and the natural winemaker was the sound engineer. Wine educator Paul Le Lacheur then introduced the negative side of the debate, asserting that there are no truly

Acknowledging his pioneering of alternative varieties that are potentially better suited to current and future climatic conditions, Ashley Ratcliff (left), of Yalumba, accepted the award for Viticulturist of the Year from Darryl Stretton, representing award sponsor Bayer Crop Sciences.

For further information, please contact Kauri NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 NZ Fax: 04 910 7415 AUS Fax: 1800 127 609 Email: winery@kauri.co.nz Web: www.kauriwine.com

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natural wines in the marketplace, i.e., made with absolutely no human intervention. Viticulture consultant Toby Bekkers urged the audience to beware of the motives of the negative team and said that technology wasn’t the only key to quality wine production. In response, University of Adelaide Professor in Oenology Vladimir Jiranek lamented that the natural winemaking movement was a moving target, and that criteria for natural wine were easily manipulated. Winemaker Sue Bell then described how wine made with less intervention was undoubtedly better. The final speaker, winemaker Ben Riggs, lamented the ‘woofy’ natural wine movement, and the dangers of Brettanomyces taint caused by low sulfur usage.

The post-debate poll suggested that the pre-debate opinions hadn’t changed, and that a majority of the audience was not convinced that natural wine was naturally better. The debate generated a lot of passion from the speakers and the audience; most importantly, it was a lot of fun for all involved. The ASVO appreciates the support that it received from winemaking equipment supplier Australian & New Zealand Winemakers with staging the event, WVJ setting the scene with giant terracotta urns and eggs.

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Time for the action to begin

By Paul Evans, Chief Executive, Winemakers’ Federation of Australia

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FA recently released for consultation 33 ‘actions’ aimed at lifting wine industry profitability and asset values.

Throughout October we travelled to a number of wine regions and also received written submissions, which will be considered by the WFA board in November before we move to implementation.

For a number of reasons, the time is right to finalise these actions and get on with it.

We have the opportunity to work with a new government and take advantage of all the energy a new parliament will bring.

Recent shifts in exchange rates, the successful Savour Australia event and longer-term trends in global supply are stirring a sense of optimism and opportunity. Further, WFA’s actions will provide the incoming board of the new merged statutory authority with a clear sense of industry expectations from start-up.

WFA’s recommended actions are divided among seven initiatives, all equally important.

1. Grow demand for our wine, both domestically and internationally • repositioning ourselves to recover category equity in the US • increase funding to Wine Australia Corporation to rebuild its operational capability and programs • extend export market development grants • improve market access and sign a free trade agreement with China • execute a ‘Buy Australian first’ campaign with the major liquor retailers.

2. Hasten the supply correction • improve vineyard data to support decision making • review the need for further research on vineyard flexibility and profit improvement • s upport the Code of Conduct with growers • a vine buyback scheme was considered by the WFA board but deemed the risk of unintended consequences too high, but it’s now time to hear your views.

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3. W ork with the national wine retailers and competition regulator on fairness, transparency and equity in the domestic wine market • establish a standing working group with the retailers • d evelop a Code of Conduct and agree on a standard of behaviour in the marketplace • engage the policy debate on horizontal and vertical integration • ask the Productivity Commission to further analyse the wine market and competitiveness.

4. R eform the wine equalisation tax rebate to support regional communities • return eligibility to its original policy intent • abolish the separate New Zealand rebate scheme • u ndertake a WET rebate review in three years • i nitiate a standing tax taskforce with the ATO and treasury.

5. M onitor the future of wine tax arrangements in response to changing market conditions • a broader wine tax reform agenda should not be pursued at this time • f uture reform proposals will be analysed along with commercial and community effects of any proposed policy changes related to tax reform.

6. Proactively engage the wine and health debate to promote responsible consumption and ensure an appropriate regulatory framework for our industry 7. Secure the funding to support the recommended reform agenda in partnership with industry and government.

The debate around our proposals to reform the WET rebate has been a key focus of the regional consultation forums.

WFA believes eligibility for the rebate should return to those with a substantial investment in a production asset and in regional jobs and local communities. The integrity of the rebate is under serious pressure and if we aren’t proactive, we will likely have reform thrust upon us by a revenuehungry government.

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WFA believes eligibility for the [WET] rebate should return to those with a substantial investment in a production asset and in regional jobs and local communities. The integrity of the rebate is under serious pressure and if we aren’t proactive, we will likely have reform thrust upon us by a revenue-hungry government.

We aim to restrict eligibility to those with a grapegrowing or winemaking production asset, producing a branded and packaged product. The forums have been valuable in testing the various business models and to hear counter views. All of this feedback will be considered by the board before formalising our approach.

There is a strong consensus for action to be taken on the obvious rorts, the New Zealanders, and the opportunistic virtual winery operators.

Measures aimed at a fairer and more transparent domestic marketplace have also been topical.

Our analysis shows up to 77 percent of off-premise trade is controlled by the two major retailers. To improve the relationship with the major chains we propose a Code of Conduct to set an agreed benchmark for behaviours in commercial negotiations.

We will also work more closely with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to ensure its consideration of further expansion by the grocers into our market is better informed.

Collectively, these measures will make a difference to behaviours and the potential of further vertical and horizontal integration.

More detail on the actions and the next stages of their implementation can be found at www.wfa.org.au www.winebiz. com . au

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All the fun of the fair – Part 1

By Tony Keys

In this two-part article, Tony Keys asks the Australian wine industry which trade fairs are currently the most fruitful. In the first instalment, Tony looks at trade fairs in Europe and North America, while Part 2, to be published in the January/February issue of the Journal, looks at comparable events in the rest of the world.

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ine shows, challenges or competitions can be considered an enigma of the wine industry.

Those who run them say they’re for the benefit of the industry, while those who enter wines into them say they’re about benchmarking, improving the overall quality of wine or a marketing tool to increase sales via giving the brand greater consumer awareness.

If all the above slotted into place as each party intended, doubt in any sense or form would not exist. It’s an ongoing debate and only of use in this article to start the thinking process, the focus of which is the worth of that other enigma of the wine industry, trade shows or fairs.

The response from the industry to my request for feedback on this subject has been overwhelming. Therefore, I have divided the world into Europe/North America and the rest of the world. I will also spread this article over two issues.

Our largest market is still the UK; the latest export stats show that close to 242 million litres of wine was shipped there from 277 companies, but the five biggest exporters to the UK account for 79 per cent of the volume. Is there any worth in attempting to lift profile via attending the London International Wine Fair, now renamed the London Wine Trade Fair (LWTF)?

There used to be, but in changing times ProWein, based in Dusseldorf, Germany, has come to the fore and is challenging both the LWTF and Vinexpo.

Yvonne May, Wine Australia director for UK, Ireland and Europe, said: “LWTF is an expensive fair to participate in versus ProWein and, crucially, the LWTF visitors are increasingly less influential than the key decision-makers and opinion formers that attend ProWein. That makes LWTF an expensive exercise in PR in a mature market, rather than a show that is a trading platform at the crossways of Europe, which is how ProWein is seen.

We still value meeting shop and waiting staff; they are the guys at the sharp

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[The London Wine Trade Fair] is an expensive fair to participate in versus ProWein and, crucially, the LWTF visitors are increasingly less influential than the key decision-makers and opinion formers that attend ProWein.

- Yvonne May, director, Wine Australia - UK, Ireland and Europe end, but when margins are so tight that participating in these events might use every last cent of a producer’s promo budget, then LWTF becomes a hard sell.”

It’s a view supported by many exporters to the UK. Andrew Buttery, managing director of Gemtree Wines, says LWTF is a dead fair for his company. “ProWein is the IT show and better than Vinexpo,” he said. Buttery attended Vinexpo for the first time this year and says he won’t rush back but will support ProWein in 2014 and possibly 2015.

Anita Poddar, head of global external affairs for Accolade Wines, collated responses from her company’s numerous global outposts. In regard to ProWein vs. LWTF, she admits in the recent past the company has paid more attention to ProWein but says Accolade will be returning to the revamped LWTF in 2014.

Poddar walks a diplomatic line when she says, “It’s true that ProWein has increased in significance and importance to the European wine industry but we don’t believe it has taken over from the LWTF. As a global company we will be supporting both shows in 2014.”

Looking towards Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), Australia’s largest wine producer, for guidance or even inspiration will lead nowhere as it walks a tighter line than Accolade. It attends both ProWein and LWTF but refuses to point out good or poor points of each. Worth noting is this statement: “We don’t see trade fairs as one-off occasions that demand W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

immediate sales returns. They are part of a continuous strategy of connection and engagement with retail partners.”

The company opens up a little with this glimpse of its philosophy: “When executed properly, trade fairs can be a really effective means of supporting specific brand marketing strategies. For example, in the last 12 months we have really driven awareness and visibility of Penfolds Bin, icon and luxury wine range, [as well as] the Matua brand, at ProWein, LWTF and the Australia Day tasting in January.”

Global marketing & export sales manager at Casella Wines Libby Nutt says Casella prefers ProWein over LWTF because it sees key UK buyers throughout the year and no business is done at LWTF. At ProWein, “We are able to see all our European distributors, key buyers, press and other partners from North America and Asia under one roof. It is time well spent for us. The German efficiency helps too,” says Nutt.

Tony Jordan, chief executive of Oenotec Pty Ltd, supports Nutt’s view: “ProWein is a very trade orientated, business style fair that brings in trade from many parts of the world, more so than the LWTF, so at the moment it is the best in Europe for Australian producers to show their wines to the trade. LWTF may have suffered due to location but it is moving back to Olympia next year, so it may have more value. Certainly, it should attract a better attendance from the UK trade and maybe the European trade might come back.”

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Indifferent to either show, Matt Fowles, chief executive of Fowles Wines based in Victoria’s Strathbogie Ranges, attended LWTF in 2007 and 2008 which he thought were good, and then went to ProWein in 2009 but was not impressed. “I felt Australia’s presence was badly executed.

For instance, our small winery was located next to two global giants,” Fowles remarked.

Michael Hope, chief executive of Hunter Valley winery Hope Estate, puts forward another aspect of trade shows: “Ultimately, they are a huge cost with travel and time and not much comes from the actual exhibition. Any worthwhile meetings are pre-arranged. It also gets messy when your importer at ProWein, for example, has his or her own stand. Tough to be both on a generic stand, which is good for new business, or the importer's stand, which is good for local business.”

How can a trade show be judged, what can be got out of it, and why should one participate? In the latter part of the 20th century and nudging into the current century when Australian wine became fashionable in the UK, there were several factors involved. The first was Australia; the country, its people, arts and lifestyle became fashionable, not just its wine something a lot of those involved in the industry never grasped. The Brits were encompassing Australia with gusto, film, sport and tourism adding richly to the mix.

The Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) also helped considerably, which are not as generous today.

In a presentation at Savour recently, UK Master of Wine Sarah Ahmed (The Wine Detective) urged Australian wineries to visit the UK, go on the road and promote themselves with more vigour.

One cannot disagree with the sentiment, but the practical aspect is something else. Returning to the statistics on UK exports, the five largest exporters account for 79% of the Australian wine. Assuming these five companies account for the majority, if not all the wine, shipped in bulk containers - which amounts to 196 million litres out of the 242 million litres shipped - there are 272 others sharing the remaining 56 million litres shipped in bottle. Averaging it out, it appears there is still plenty of business but the reality is different. The figures show 41 million of the 56 million litres of bottled wine exported is at the lowest prices, that being $4.99/litre or below.

It’s not unreasonable to assume the UK is worth a direct visit from 15-25 wineries at most, and with such tight margins is it possible to attend the LWTF too? As Yvonne May says, “value meeting shop and waiting staff; they are the guys at the sharp end”.

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It’s a challenge for a winery of our size at these larger trade fairs to obtain traction and air time with the desirable trade and media as the market is saturated with visitors and high profile events. This wine traffic also renders it impossible to conduct any additional trade work while you are there.

- Michael Fragos, Chapel Hill But how does a small, cash-strapped winery keep in contact with its consumers and form new relationships? Greater use of social media is one way; a Facebook page specific to each country to which the winery is exporting should not dent the budget too harshly. There is also the possibility of using shows and events that are directed at the consumer. One word of warning though: often the agent, magazine or retailer can charge a great deal for these events. However, they may be cheaper than a visit, the key question being, will the rep put on the stand give his or her all to promoting the wine?

The UK Accolade personnel say they see benefit in supporting “our retailer partner’s own consumer events (such as the Tesco wine fairs or the Direct Wines show). We also believe supporting non-trade, national consumer shows (e.g., BBC Good Food Show) as a key platform for communicating directly with our consumers. For a trade event to be successful as a consumer event as well, it must allow exhibitors the freedom to fully communicate with the audience and not limit branding or merchandising opportunities, and it must enable the consumers to purchase wines at the event.”

TWE also comments on this aspect: “From time to time, individual retailers will hold their own trade shows and TWE sees these events as an opportunity to expose our brands to retailers from all channels: on-trade, grocery and impulse.”

What has become clear from the various responses is, at this moment in time ProWein is the superior fair to the London Wine Trade Fair. At this stage of the article, it’s worth noting two huge changes to which I've already alluded. In 2014 the show is moving from its present site in East London at the Excel exhibition centre to the more central Olympia. The other is the change in name. Will this make a difference to the way Australian producers think?

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Sean Shortt, executive director of sales and marketing for the Wingara Wine Group, said the company last exhibited at LWTF in 2009 as it wasn’t getting the quality of visitors. He felt the UK trade (specifically on-premise) were reluctant to make the journey out to the Excel exhibition centre for the LWTF and those from the European continent weren’t coming at all to the UK. This year, Wingara attended ProWein for the first time. It saw 90% of its European distributors, and met new European and Middle Eastern customers. The only distributors not to attend, says Shortt, “were the British and the northern Irish”. Wingara will be at ProWein in 2014.

McLaren Vale winery Chapel Hill is a smaller operation than Wingara.

Winemaker and manager Michael Fragos supports ProWein but points out it’s a bad time of year for Australian winemakers (23-25 March 2014). Like Shortt, he appreciates the opportunity to catch up with distributors from smaller countries that the winery is unable to visit regularly.

A drawback to both fairs, he says, is that it’s “a challenge for a winery of our size at these larger trade fairs to obtain traction and air time with the desirable trade and media as the market is saturated with visitors and high profile events. This wine traffic also renders it impossible to conduct any additional trade work while you are there.”

More support for ProWein comes from Neil Hadley MW, export manager for Taylors Wines, known as Wakefield outside of Australia. “I attended ProWein this year instead of LWTF and was glad I did,” Hadley said, but added, “the word from our UK agent was that the LWTF in May was really good, because those that were there were active and positive about finding and doing business. We shall be at London next year for the return to Olympia and there seems to be quite a buzz about it. At this stage I expect we shall alternate between fairs here forward.” www.winebiz. com . au

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Robert Hill-Smith and his team at Yalumba and associated companies have a good word for LWTF. “The move to Olympia will provide a burst of enthusiasm but whether the economy of wine in the UK sustains it will be interesting,” Hill-Smith said, stating that the UK duty is a big threat to wine sales from any country. “ProWein has established itself as the international wine trade fair and London has now realised it has lost many of the continental European visitors to ProWein.

LWTF will be focussing on attracting the UK trade and buyers. While exhibitor numbers and guests to LWTF have plummeted in the last few years, the move to Olympia will help bring back the UK trade as it will be easier to get to than the larger but further away Excel – it will probably not attract many from outside the UK judging from this year’s visitors.”

Philip Jeffries, sales and marketing general manager for d’Arenberg, is pro ProWein, citing the same reasons as the others above. On LWTF, he says: “We will have to wait and see how well it is attended in 2014 with its move back to the original venue in Kensington. In the past it was very expensive. It should be better value now but will most likely be revived as a good fair for UK trade and less so for international buyers. It should be supported as we need to keep our profile up in this challenging market.”

The support for ProWein is overwhelming, yet maybe for sentimental reasons, or a wish for the return to the glory days of trade with the UK; people want LWTF to regain its former position once it moves to Olympia.

Yvonne May points out that trade fairs are big business in Europe - big business for the organisers and a big expense for the participants. Not all are suitable for Australian participation and its worth contacting May at the Wine Australia UK office for advice. She says, “I would see little value, for example, for Australia at Vinitaly with its Italian and southern European exhibitors and visitors. A number of these shows allow consumers in on the last day and it usually turns into a drink-fest”.

In regard to London, she sees it as turning into a national show whilst ProWein is international. There is a swag of consumer shows in the UK but these appear to be better served via the agent/ importer as they are unlikely to generate new business BUT just reinforce presence in the marketplace.

On a user-pays basis, Wine Australia holds its own trade tasting, the big one in London being held on 30 January 2014 (contact Wine Australia for details). There was also a Nordic tasting in Stockholm

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Trade shows are among the most discussed items in our industry…In another generation of time, trade shows were vitally important…However, as the world has got smaller with cheaper and faster international travel, and the ability to share information electronically and airfreight samples, I think they are losing their relevance.

- Bruce Tyrrell, Tyrrell’s Wines this year, but it’s not yet confirmed there will be one in 2014.

Moving across the Atlantic, the US and Canada are different markets and trade shows are a completely different affair.

There were few comments regarding North America from producers so I quote Angela Slade, regional director, North America, Wine Australia: “Large-scale wine fairs aren’t a major focus for the US market. We don’t have a large, singular wine trade fair that dominates the wine industry calendar.

“There is the Boston Wine Expo and the New York Wine Expo - both regional events and the most we’ve done (as Wine Australia) in recent years is secure a table or two.

“There are multiple smaller events (festivals) that are dedicated to the sommelier/media/ independent retail community and keen consumers. These are more lifestyle ‘weekends’ – with celebrity chefs, wine, seminars, themed lunches/dinners, merchandise. We review those each year to ascertain investment level/industry interest; food and wine magazines Pebble Beach and Aspen Classic are the two major festivals; both Pebble Beach and Aspen Classic have been growing in the past couple years.

Aspen went through a dip during the recession years and has been steadily growing again over the past two years.

“Wine Spectator’s New York Wine Experience (bi-annual in NY) and Wine Spectator New World Wine Experience (biannual in Las Vegas) are both three-day/ two-night events that have a strong trade and consumer attendance. These are driven by Wine Spectator which invites the wineries it wants to showcase their wines.

“The wine ‘fair’ I get a lot of business value from in the US is the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers Association. It's trade only and an opportunity for meetings and networking with the larger alcohol beverage distributor network. I use this event to get updated on alcohol beverage trends and to connect with the larger companies that use the days to meet with their distributors and plan the year’s programming. Companies take out suites W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

in the hosting hotel and hold back-toback meetings. This is a distributor and national trade networking event and a business negotiation event that requires prior meeting set-up to be successful.

“None of the fairs mentioned above for the US require huge participation costs or time-consuming stand set-up. It’s critical to be more targeted and plan the combination of activities you need to do to cover off key markets and key influencers within the three-tier system.

“The bottom line is have a strategy, whether that is a state or market focussed event, a broader lifestyle event, or a business-only event, even a combination of all of them.”

Giving a thumbs-up for one Canadian event is Brian Lynn, proprietor of Coonawarra-based Majella: “One festival I do like is the annual Vancouver International Wine Festival. It’s well priced, there’s a good mixture of trade as well as consumers and it’s exceptionally well organised. The organisers keep it relatively small (160-180 exhibitors) and it’s invitation only.”

In summary, quote Bruce Tyrrell, chief executive of Hunter-based Tyrrell’s Wines, and Eliza Brown, chief executive of All Saints Estate, of Rutherglen.

Tyrrell: “Trade shows are among the most discussed items in our industry. The last day can be discounted as the people on the stands are having a drink on other people’s stands. In another generation of time, trade shows were vitally important as the buyers could come to one place and taste and buy to their requirements.

However, as the world has got smaller with cheaper and faster international travel, and the ability to share information electronically and airfreight samples, I think they are losing their relevance – all things have to have a reason to exist.”

Brown: “For the smaller producer, it is very hard to justify the cost and being away from your business. The world is different now; I can meet people through more targeted visits rather than standing around like a lost dog behind a counter for WVJ three days.”

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NATURAL WINEMAKING

If there are ‘natural’ wines, then are conventionally-made wines ‘unnatural’?

By Cathy Howard

The term ‘natural’ in relation to wine remains officially undefined, but a growing band of producers and wine commentators are appreciating the outcomes of a minimalist approach to chemical and technological intervention in winemaking.

T

he surge of interest and discussion about natural wines among wine writers, sommeliers and winemakers is intriguing. The natural wine movement is relatively small, but it is generating a great deal of discussion and debate relative to the amount of wine being produced. Wine writer Max Allen summed up this debate by saying, “Natural wines polarise people. Supporters love the whole organic, minimal intervention vibe and the unforced, juicy flavours they find in most natural wines. Critics hate the whole achingly trendy hipster scene and the cloudy, volatile flavours they say they find in all natural wines”.

The natural wine movement in Australia is linked to the increase in recent years in imported wine, particularly from Italy and France, which have been appearing on wine lists across the country. There is also a small but growing local movement, including producers such as Anton Von Klopper, of Lucy Margaux; James Erskine, of Jauma Wines; Tom Shobbrook, of Shobbrook Wines; and Glenn JamesPritchard, at Ducks in a Row. There are also a number of high-profile sommeliers, particularly in Sydney, who are actively promoting and supporting the natural wine movement. Among them are Stuart Knox, at Fix St James; Matt Sweiboda, at Love, Tilly Devine; and Giorgio De Maria, at 121BC.

When researching for this article, one point that became clear to me was that many of the techniques used in natural winemaking are being followed in conventional winemaking around Australia.

There has been a move in recent years towards making wines in Australia with minimal winemaking intervention. This raises the question, why use the term ‘natural'? Does this then bring to consumers’ minds that ‘conventionally’ made wines are, in some way, unnatural?

What is the definition of a natural wine?

At present, there exists no official or legal definition of natural wine. No legislation has been passed to date by any regional, national or international authority, and there are no organisations that can certify that a wine is natural.

Broadly, a natural wine is made with minimal chemical and technological intervention. The end result is what is described as the most pure expression of the terroir of where the grapes have been grown, and the resulting wine is the most ‘natural’ and unadulterated wine that can possibly be produced from those grapes.

There seems to be a variety of practice, product and quality that falls under the broad natural wine banner. Although in saying this, the following criteria are generally accepted by most natural wine producers:

• organically, biodynamically or sustainably grown grapes, with or without certification • hand picked • no additions (acid, commercial yeast and bacterial strains, tannins, etc) • no external flavour additives, including those derived from new oak barrels, staves, or chips • minimal or no fining or filtration • no technological manipulation • minimal or no added sulfites.

To give a brief overview of the making of ‘natural’ wine in Australia, as well as the varying opinions and debate around them, I contacted Glenn James-Pritchard, James Erskine, Stuart Knox and Huon Hooke.

Glenn James-Pritchard, winemaker and director, Ducks in a Row Three years ago when Glenn JamesPritchard left Treasury Wine Estates, he and wife Amanda Pritchard established Ducks in a Row Wines. At that time, James-Pritchard persuaded TWE to lend him one of the amphorae that had been laying out the back of the old Kaiser Stuhl winery, in Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley. He took it to the winery in McLaren Vale, where he makes his wines.

After cleaning the inside of the amphora, which smelled reminiscent of retsina, a Greek white resinated wine, he coated the

(left) Fiano, Vermentino and Muscat Giallo just placed into an amphora at Ducks in a Row which will eventually become Pandora’s Amphora, and (right) the juice with skins during fermentation.

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Proprietor of Sydney wine bar and restaurant Fix St James, Stuart Knox. some practitioners bury their amphorae inside of the clay vessel with beeswax before using it. After researching the provenance in the earth to enhance the thermal of the Kaiser Stuhl amphorae, Jamesproperties. The wine remains on skins for Pritchard discovered that they were from seven months before being scooped out of Madrid, Spain, and had been originally the amphora and basket-pressed to tank. purchased for a cellar door display at Kaiser James-Pritchard noted that when emptying Stuhl but had not been used in Australia to the amphora by hand, many berries were make wine in. still whole, having gone through a carbonic Following the 2011 vintage, the borrowed maceration. When tasted the berries amphora had to be returned to TWE. After have quite distinctive spicy characters of much searching, James-Pritchard found cinnamon and nutmeg. Sulfur dioxide is a local Adelaide potter who has made two added to the tank to achieve 30ppm free, new amphorae for him. Both amphorae then James-Pritchard racks the wine the are 600-700 litres in volume. Interestingly, following day into an old puncheon where it during a trip to Georgia, James-Pritchard matures for another six months. The typical discovered that the amphorae used there analysis of the Pandora white wine is around are much larger, holding three to four 14% v/v, pH 3.4-3.5 and TA 5.6. tonnes of grapes.

This vintage, James-Pritchard has made While James-Pritchard has other a Mataro in a second amphora. Both the conventionally-made wines in his Ducks Pandora white and the Mataro are single in a Row range, the making of a wine in amphora wines, so limited quantities are 1 a ‘natural’ way came about because he 210x297.indd produced annually. Plans for the future wanted to use the amphora following include having more amphorae made, and the traditional winemaking techniques to produce a multiple amphorae blend, that he had seen in Fruili, in Italy, and in aiming to make a larger volume wine at a Georgia. The Pandora’s Amphora wine is slightly lower price point. a blended white. James-Pritchard uses “I like the idea that I’m using everything equal quantities of Fiano and Vermentino, that comes out of the vineyard; nothing is with 10% conventionally-grown Muscat discarded. I’m extracting everything that the Giallo grapes from the Chalmers family’s vineyard can give,” James-Pritchard said.

Heathcote vineyard.

The grapes are hand-picked on the Stuart Knox, sommelier, Fix St James same day, then lightly destemmed into According to Stuart Knox, the definition the amphora where James-Pritchard lets of a natural wine is “a wine that is farmed “nature do its thing”. It is hand-plunged without any chemical additions and, then, daily. James-Pritchard said that, initially, produced in the winery without any additions the wine tastes quite bitter but then softens or subtractions to the must. Sulfur dioxide at about the same time as he notices the prior to bottling isn’t a problem for most coloured seeds float to the surface. The aficionados, particularly in Australia where amphora gives an even fermentation cellaring below 14oC is unlikely at best.” temperature and doesn’t get over 21oC. When I asked Knox about who he regards James-Pritchard places the amphora in a cool cellar, although he mentioned that as making some of the best natural wines V2 8N 6

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NATURAL WINEMAKING

Jauma Wines winemaker James Erskine, says his goal is to “make the most drinkable and delicious wines from vineyards that are organically farmed and managed by us from varieties that naturally don’t require any pH, acid or tannin adjustment”.

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in Australia, he replied, “Best is a troublesome descriptor. I’d prefer most interesting. I know that sounds like a cop-out but, as a sommelier, the best wine for one guest isn’t the best wine for the next. But, I could mention Tom Shobbrook, Sergio Carlei, James Erskine, Erin Klein, to name a few”.

Knox’s views on natural wines versus conventionally-made wines that have been produced with minimal intervention: “I’m a realist when it comes to the business of making wine. As a business owner, we all do things that may not be exactly how we wanted it to be but are necessary, such as adding tannins or acid. I love the whole movement away from textbook winemaking to a more natural approach, and the natural wine movement may (or may not) be partly responsible for this. For my palate, my preference is for wild ferment and unfined or unfiltered styles, but there are many wines on my list that don't fit this definition that I do still love.”

When queried about the criticism levelled at natural wines in regards to variability in quality, levels of faults and limited ageing ability, Knox replied: “There's good wine and bad wine. Natural or not, it makes no difference. As to faults, most are a subjective thing as to the degree of the effect on balance. Ageing ability falls under the same banner as good or bad, it’s not really to do with the definition of natural. Certainly, wines of great age would have been made using my definition of natural anyway”.

Interestingly, Knox’s view on why some wine consumers are choosing to drink natural wines is that “the general organics movement has had an effect, and the lack of labelling information has led to some scaremongering about what might be in a wine”.

He also adds that, generally, the numbers of customers seeking out natural wines has levelled out. “There is still a lot of interest at Fix St James in unusual wines, which covers a variety of styles and is not just limited solely to natural wines,” Knox said.

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NATURAL WINEMAKING

James Erskine, winemaker, Jauma Wines When asked about his definition of natural wine, James Erskine said: “Australia is a very technical wine environment, where there used to be a right and a wrong with wine. Natural wine in an Australian context for me simply means there’s no right or wrong anymore and nothing is added, nothing is removed. By not adjusting the wine, winemakers are not trying to get the wine somewhere where it cannot naturally go. Therefore, another wine’s nuances cannot be mimicked”.

Erskine’s goal is to “make the most drinkable and delicious wines from vineyards that are organically farmed and managed by us from varieties that naturally don’t require any pH, acid or tannin adjustment. Our wines are a reflection of the year and our lives throughout that year”.

He works closely with two other natural wine producers in South Australia: Tom Shobbrook, of Shobbrook Wines; and Didi and Anton von Klopper, of Lucy Margaux Vineyards and Domaine Lucci. “We share similar cooperative dreams and enjoy feeding people foods we have either grown, collected or hunted along the way to our tastings”.

Erskine’s decision to make natural wines came about through his work as a sommelier and finding that, in his opinion, there were not enough wines that tasted “unforced” in South Australia. His main inspiration came from tasting the wines made by von Klopper. “(At Jauma Wines) we don't crush any grapes. I like my ferments to begin slowly, sort of like a cold soak to obtain a brighter presence of fruit, and I'm also not averse to the kick that the pre-yeast fermenting bacteria provide to our wines. Crushing grapes can lead to more extraction in the finished wine, something we don't look for.

Carbonic and semi-carbonic maceration have particular characters to add to our wines. It's the art of the winemaker to use

these techniques (when suitable) to create wines that leave the drinker wondering ‘how did they get the wine to be like that?’” For Erskine, using SO2 is a great tool to tighten wines. “We use sulfur at bottling, only as we seem to get better free to total balances in doing so. We bottle some of each of our wines without SO2 for ourselves and a small local market that requests them. However, we choose to sulfur most of the wines we ship around Australia and internationally, as we never know exactly how our wines will be stored. I have a strong reaction to higher levels of sulfur in wines which makes me itchy and congested, so we try to keep our additions to a level where there is enough free SO2 in the wines to protect them during the first year of their lives. At bottling, dry whites receive a 50ppm addition and reds receive 30ppm”.

Erskine does not believe that sulfur is the governing factor for ageing potential in wines, but says it certainly hinders the formation of aldehyde in wines that are shipped or cellared in less than ideal environments.

“I believe that wine longevity is more a result of less introduction of oxygen into the wine throughout its fermentation and elevage, which means that tannins are less able to polymerise and, therefore, drop out of solution. I think it is tannins that really help a wine to age, and tannins act as great antioxidants,” Erskine said.

When asked about the generalisation that natural wines tend to contain more offflavours compared with conventional wines, Erskine said “This depends on who has made the wine and the vintage conditions. It also depends what you call an off-flavour, as this could also mean excessive oak sweetness and the harshness of added acids.”

Erskine continued: “Coming from a technical wine background, I was very nervous to release my first white wine that had lifted tones of ethyl acetate (EA)”. The EA came about following a rollover of the truck carrying the Pinot Gris grapes. The grapes warmed and, as a result, late in the ferment EA arose.

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“The EA gave a lifted nose and an amazingly sleek mouthfeel to the wine.

The wine was very popular but did not cellar well. Acetic acid can also look quite interesting and we often see various versions in carbonic maceration and whole bunch wines, especially when the ferments begin with some acetic but then are guided into a reductive environment and the acetic VA seems to fold in on itself. It is an interesting character that I see in many wines from Burgundy, both natural and conventional.

Acetaldehyde is a winemaker’s worst enemy and shows its face quickly if wines are not shipped with either dissolved CO2 or some free sulfur. Strangely, however, I have played around with rosés in tank without sulfur which have gone very nutty from aldehyde, but after some months of observation these have resolved their original fruit characters.

Brettanomyces in all its guises is also an interesting one. In Australia, Brett is an absolute no-no and you are ridiculed if you comment positively on a wine that carries Brett. There are many beautiful wines from all over the world that express Brett. The only sad thing with Brett is that the wines do not age well, as the fruit thins out early in the wines' development and the back of the tongue begins to notice a metallic character,” Erskine said. When asked about whether organically or biodynamicallygrown grapes are an essential part of the production of natural wine, Erskine replied: “No, I think the two are separate. However, once you begin a life of non-addition winemaking, it's more of a lifestyle choice and organics go hand-in-hand with that, as does a focus on community and communal knowledge. I work with viticulturist Fiona Wood who manages all of our vineyard blocks and she has been working with biodynamic techniques for a number of years”.

Erskine concluded by saying, “I have my opinions about how I wish to make my wine, but no right to tell anyone else how they should do anything, or what they should enjoy”.

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NATURAL WINEMAKING

Huon Hooke, wine writer Huon Hooke said,“The term natural is an unfortunate one, and there is a need to find another term. Many natural wines are being made no differently from conventionally-made wines”.

Hooke is positive about the overall trend in Australian winemaking for there being more thought and care put into the process. Many conventional growers are changing their management practices, some following organic or biodynamic principles through to certification, while others are minimising their synthetic inputs and following sustainable vineyard practices, improving the health of their soils and vines.

“A similar shift is happening in winemaking, with more care taken to minimise the manipulation of wine. We are seeing less added tannin and acid, less use of oak and fining agents, gentler filtration, and increased use of ambient yeasts instead of cultured yeasts,” Hooke said.

Hooke approaches wine assessment first by looking at wine quality and the overall value of the wine at a particular price point. Secondary to him is then finding out how the wine has been produced, and the philosophies behind how it was made.

“I am careful not to generalise and collectivise, particularly with certain wine production techniques such as natural versus conventional. Everyone and every wine is different and, for me, most important is overall wine quality,” Hooke said.

“Many natural winemakers claim to be seeking to better express the terroir of their vineyards by intervening as little as possible. If a wine is to express its terroir, it must first be free of faults. Faults not only diminish the pleasure of wine, they also obscure its terroir,” Hooke concluded.

Conclusions The current debate about ‘natural’ wines is certainly polarised.

Opinions are wide and varied as to the true definition of a natural wine. In particular, wine faults are hotly debated, clouding the true terroir or essence of a particular wine. The natural wine movement encompasses a diverse and passionate group of people connected with the wine industry, from winemakers through to sommeliers and wine writers. The ‘natural’ wine movement is developing in Australia in parallel to a much wider and broader trend across the wine

Wine writer Huon Hooke, pictured during the recent Savour event in Adelaide, says he bases his assessment of wines first on the quality and overall value of the wine at a particular price point.

Secondary is finding out how the wine has been produced and the philosophies behind how it was made. industry as a whole towards a more sustainable, minimal intervention approach to both growing and making wines, reducing chemical inputs in the vineyard and in the winery.

The use of the term ‘natural’ will continue to be debated for as long as it is used, as all winemaking production techniques originally evolved from natural fermentation processes discovered by accident thousands of years ago.

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 19 years. She also consults part time to some wineries in the Geographe region.

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Wild yeast fermentation can allow chemical and sensory differentiation in red and white wines

By Simon Dillon, Vladimir Jiranek and Paul Grbin The University of Adelaide, Private Mailbag 1, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia Email: Simon.Dillon@adelaide.edu.au

‘Wild’ ferments were conducted alongside Saccharomyces-inoculated ferments over three vintages and under the same conditions using the same starting must. The trial results reveal differences in sensory properties, wine chemistry and fermentation volatiles between inoculated wines and spontaneous wines.

W

ild, indigenous, spontaneous, natural, autochthonous, feral, uninoculated, minimalist, traditional, native: many names to describe the traditional method of wine fermentation. Uninoculated or wild wines could be defined as: ‘Wines that are fermented without the addition of cultured microorganisms, and where the inoculation of the must is derived from the process environment arising from the vineyard to the winery’. This practice is still widely used across the international wine industry, and many assert that good fermentations can only be obtained with yeast derived from the region where the wines are produced (Francesca et al. 2010). A succession of non-Saccharomyces yeasts dominate the early stages of fermentation until overtaken by Saccharomyces

cerevisiae (Heard and Fleet 1985). Oenologists can, therefore, strongly influence winemaking outcomes by their approach to yeast management. There are inherent risks associated with the use of wild fermentation and it is avoided by many winemakers due to the threat of incomplete fermentation, off-flavour problems and lack of consistency, which the use of selected Saccharomyces strains can control. However, despite the perceived risks, many winemakers still use uninoculated fermentations, as the benefits gained from indigenous yeasts may be balanced against the risks. Wild ferments can provide excellent winemaking outcomes and commercial success, with the regional properties and nuances of the wine remaining (Callejon et al. 2010). ▶

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Figure 1. Average extended fermentation time in ‘wild’ wines (days).

Figure 2. Relative abundance of selected fermentation volatiles: wild wines vs. inoculated wines.

Figure 3. Duo-trio taste analysis. Significant effects are shown as wines not being equal.

The quest for differentiation of wine styles in an increasingly tough world market has prompted many producers to consider using uninoculated fermentations to potentially instil some unique qualities. Winemakers wary of using spontaneous fermentations may forgo different flavour and chemical profiles, which may differentiate their wines (Pretorius et al. 1999). Questions also exist around ferment reliability, but recent innovations by yeast manufacturers now allow winemakers to combine selected non-Saccharomyces yeast with Saccharomyces yeast in their fermentations to imitate the flavour of wild fermentations in a controlled way.

Winemaking and methods Wines were produced over three vintages (2011 to 2013) using standard winemaking practices for three grape varieties (Shiraz, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc). Homogenised must was split into replicate 800 litre batches and no SO2 was added in the vineyard or during fermentation. Replicate Saccharomyces inoculated musts were fermented alongside similarly replicated must that had been allowed to undergo wild fermentation.

Quantitative GC-MS was used for analysis of fermentation volatiles (2012 wines), and wine chemical analysis was according to standard industry practices.

Sensory discrimination testing (duo-trio) was performed at The University of Adelaide sensory laboratory.

Results As expected, the time for the completion of wild ferments was extended when compared with inoculated fermentations, mainly due to an extended lag phase (Figure 1). The additional fermentation times are variable from zero to seven days, but what was apparent was the only real delay in the fermentation was the lag phase, as no fermentations became stuck or sluggish. Sugar levels similarly were comparable between the wild and inoculated wines, although the

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time taken for completion was up to seven days longer. None of the fermentations produced sensorially evident off-flavours, such as volatile acidity or H2S. Chemical differences were significant between some wild and inoculated wines in some years (data not shown). The largest number of differences appeared in Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier fermentations. The acid balance between the wild wines and inoculated wines was different (more so in white wines), due mainly to the fact that the wild wines fostered the malolactic fermentation and allowed partial or completed MLF by the end of alcoholic fermentation. Despite the activity of malolactic bacteria in a sugar-rich environment, there was no increase in acetic acid and all wines were still below the reported sensory threshold for acetic acid in wine (Guth 1997).

The quantitative GC-MS data showed that some aromatic compounds were significantly increased in wild wines and were above reported sensory thresholds. Data from 2012 Viognier showed all of the significant compounds analysed were higher in the wild wines, with the exception of 2-methylbutanol (Figure 2).

The largest difference was ethyl butanoate (wild wines were 550% higher), which is known to have an aroma resembling oranges and pineapple (Figure 2). Similar results appeared in the Shiraz wine (data not shown).

Sensory difference testing by duo-trio (Figure 3) indicated that wild and inoculated Shiraz (2011, 2012 and 2013) wines were not discernable in flavour and aroma. However, 2013 Shiraz wines (wild and inoculated) that had not undergone MLF did appear to be different from each other when duo-trio analysis was performed.

Duo-trio analysis of 2012 and 2013 Viognier indicated the ability of a sensory panel to differentiate the wild from inoculated wines (Figure 3). However, 2011 Sauvignon Blanc was not considered significantly different. The Viognier wines were described as being more developed and ‘oaky’, despite the absence of oak or any further maturation time compared with the inoculated wines.

Conclusion These results reflect the variability of wild ferments on fermentation parameters and the subsequent sensory determinations. However, there may be other factors in play that are beyond the effects of fermentation (viticultural and climate).

Additionally, some of the chemical differences are unimportant from an oenological perspective, as they are below the sensory thresholds.

Depending on where the winemaker determines the fermentation endpoint is, there may only be a couple of days difference between these two methods. Additionally, there were no stuck or sluggish fermentations in any of the wines, and acetic acid and H2S levels were typically low in all wines, indicating that the presence of indigenous yeasts did not form off-flavours.

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The chemical make-up of wild as opposed to inoculated wines was regularly different. Alcohol, for example, has been a matter of discussion within the wine industry. The gradual increase in alcohol in Australian wines has prompted winemakers to explore ways of reducing alcohol, but limiting the effects on flavour and palatability (Godden and Gishen 2005, Gonzalez et al. 2013). Uninoculated winemaking has been suggested as a tool in achieving a moderate reduction in alcohol, based on the research published on nonSaccharomyces yeast Gonzalez et al. 2013). However, only one wine (of a total of six), 2011 to 2013 gave lower alcohol levels. The wild fermentation alcohol levels were 0.1 to 0.3% v/v more than the inoculated wines (data not shown).

A complicating factor in the acid make-up of the wines was the partial or complete MLF that was concurrent with alcoholic fermentation. Some studies have highlighted the effect of MLF on the volatile compounds in wines and the alteration of these after MLF, which may be an important factor in this effect (Izquierdo Cañas et al.

2008). Further work on the effect of MLF on volatile production still remains, but wild MLF may be a characteristic progression in many unsulfited wines undergoing wild yeast fermentation.

GC-MS of the 2012 wines has shown that the fermentation aroma compounds formed may be significantly higher in wild ferments. The difference in volatile aromas and acid structure may have contributed to the discernable sensory differences in Viognier wines. The reason why Shiraz wine treatments where not discriminated (in 2011 and 2012) may reflect less changes in the flavour profile, or may be due to the more complex background matrix of flavours. The 2013 Shiraz wines were discernable if they had not undergone MLF, which could suggest that yeast-induced differences are somehow moderated after MLF. In view of the results of this study, some supporters of wild fermentation may be encouraged that given good quality inputs of fruit and careful management of acid and sanitation, they may be able to produce wines that have some differentiation and consumer uptake.

Acknowledgements This project was supported by the Yalumba Wine Company and the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (project: GWR Ph 1108). The University of Adelaide is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster.

References Fleet, G.H. and Heard, G.M. (1993) Yeast growth during fermentation. In Wine Microbiology and Biotechnology (ed. GH Fleet) 27-53.

Callejon, R.M.; Clavijo, A.; Ortigueira, P.; Troncoso, A.M.; Paneque, P. and Morales, M.L. (2010) Volatile and sensory profile of organic red wines produced by different selected autochthonous and commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. Anal. Chim. Acta.

660(1-2):68-75.

Francesca, N.; Chiurazzi, M.; Romano, R.; Aponte, M.; Settanni, L. and Moschetti, G. (2010) Indigenous yeast communities in the environment of Rovello bianco grape variety and their use in commercial white wine fermentation. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol.

26(2):337-351.

Godden, P. and Gishen, M. (2005) Trends in the composition of Australian wine. The Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal 20(5):21-46.

Gonzalez, R.; Quirós, M. and Morales, P. (2013) Yeast respiration of sugars by nonSaccharomyces yeast species: A promising and barely explored approach to lowering alcohol content of wine. Trends in Food Science & Technology 29(1):55-61.

Guth, H. (1997) Quantitation and sensory studies of character impact odorants of different white wine varieties. J. Agric. Food Chem. 45(8): 3027-3032.

Heard, G.M. and Fleet, G.H. (1985) Growth of natural yeast flora during the fermentation of inoculated wines. Appl. Environ. Microbiol .50(3):727-728.

Izquierdo Cañas, P.M.; García Romero, E.; Gómez Alonso, S. and Palop Herreros, M.L.L. (2008) Changes in the aromatic composition of Tempranillo wines during spontaneous malolactic fermentation. J. Food Compos. Anal. 21(8):724-730.

Pretorius, I.S.; Van Der Westhuizen, T.J. and Augustyn, O.P.H. (1999) Yeast biodiversity in vineyards and wineries and its importance to the South African wine industry: a review.

South African Journal of Enology and Viticulture 20(2):61-75.

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Novel wine yeast for improved performance in fermentation

By T. Liccioli, M.E. Walker, J.F. Sundstrom, J.M. Gardner and V. Jiranek* School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Urrbrae, SA 5064 and Wine Innovation Cluster, Adelaide, South Australia. *Corresponding author: phone +61 8 313 5561, email vladimir.jiranek@adelaide.edu.au

University of Adelaide researchers are using directed evolution techniques as an alternative, non-GMO method for wine yeast strain improvement, with the project ultimately aimed at helping winemakers avoid ‘sticky’ fermentation situations.

O

ne of the greatest concerns for winemakers during wine production is the risk of stuck or sluggish fermentation. New winemaking practices and altered grape composition (due to climate change) often challenge the ability of yeast to complete fermentation and produce a ‘clean’ wine. Residual sugar from

incomplete catabolism of grape sugars by wine yeast can be used as a growth substrate by undesirable microorganisms and can add unwanted sweetness to wine. If fermentations are not promptly re-started, the quality of the wine may be compromised and winery throughput reduced due to altered logistics of processing, resulting in

considerable financial loss. Combining the results of a winemaker survey conducted in 2010 with information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, it was possible to estimate the annual financial loss associated with this problem. Winemakers claimed that approximately eight percent of total fermentations were affected by

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Table 1. Experimental details of the conditions used to compare fermentation kinetics of the improved isolate, parental strain and a commercial reference.

Grapes

Merlot (2010) from The University of Adelaide - Waite Campus (SA). Initial sugar concentration 250g/L and YAN 124mg/L (supplemented with 200mg/L DAP at inoculation).

Fermentation

Twenty kilograms of grapes were de-stemmed and crushed, then placed in 30L plastic tubs provided with water-filled airlocks at room temperature (22°C). Progress of fermentation was monitored though enzymatic measurement of residual sugars.

Mixing regime

Twice daily manual mixing (two minutes each)

microbiological problems. This equates to around 96 million litres, with a domestic wholesale value of around $346 million.

While much of this would be salvaged, if a conservative 10% loss in value of this wine occurs due to it being unsaleable or even downgraded, this represents a loss of $35 million per annum. This value clearly justifies the research effort that has been directed at isolating more robust strains with increased fermentation capabilities.

Among such strains are those that can be used to re-start stuck fermentations.

Traditionally, novel strains are isolated from interesting terroirs, but any improvement is limited to those strains found in the originating environment. With recent progress in genetic engineering, it is now possible to produce novel strains using recombinant techniques. However, difficulties in using this approach are linked with the high level of genetic knowledge

required and some debate surrounding the use of genetically modified organisms in food and beverages. Directed evolution (DE) is an alternative, non-GMO method that can be used for wine yeast strain improvement.

The process involves a biological system, in this case yeast, being grown in a stressful environment, resulting in strains adapted to these conditions (Elena et al. 2003).

The robust and efficient fermentation of sugars under oenological conditions by an adaptively evolved wine yeast strain isolated by this laboratory, has been reported (McBryde et al. 2006). Briefly, a population of commercial wine yeast strain L2056 (Lallemand) was grown under specific stress conditions for 350 generations over almost nine months. Several yeast cells were isolated, grown and tested for improved fermentation capability compared with L2056. Through multiple laboratory and industrial fermentation trials, we have

Figure 1. Sugar catabolism by an evolved wine yeast (s), L2056 (l) and EC1118 (n) in 20kg red grape (2010 Waite Campus Merlot) fermentations. Data presented is the average of triplicate fermentations and includes standard deviations. Total fermentation duration of each strain: evolved (157h), L2056 (181h) and EC1118 (168h).

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139.5 hs

185.5 hs

Parent

60 +/- 11

17 +/- 5

Evolved

32 +/- 8

0.1 +/- 0.5

Evolved (50G)

45 +/- 7

0.3 +/- 0.6

Residual Sugar (g/L)

Inoculums

Yeast strains were propagated overnight at 30°C in combined yeast extract, bacteriological peptone and dextrose medium (YEPD – 20-10-20g/L, respectively).

Subsequently, a sterile solution of 2010 Chardonnay juice and water (50:50) was inoculated (inoculation rate = 2.5 x 106 cells/mL) and used to initiate triplicate fermentations (inoculation rate = 5.0 x 106 cells/mL) after overnight incubation at 30°C.

Table 2. Residual sugar of cultures grown in chemically-defined grape juice medium at either 139.5 or 185.5 hours after inoculation.

shown that one particular evolved strain performs equal to or better than another strain currently considered one of the most robust on the market. An example of such fermentations of Merlot grapes harvested from The University of Adelaide Waite campus vineyard (2010) is shown in Figure 1. The details of the experiment are reported in Table 1.

As shown in Figure 1, parental strain L2056 completed fermentation in 181 hours, while the commercial reference strain EC1118 completed fermentation in 168 hours. The evolved strain was able to complete fermentation (total residual sugars <2.5g/L) in 157 hours, showing improved fermentation kinetics. As mentioned, this trend has been observed in several fermentation trials ranging in volume and media between 200μL of chemically-defined grape juice medium (CDGJM – Jiranek et al. 1995) to 700kg of grapes. The evolved strain was always a more efficient fermenter than L2056 and showed a similar or faster fermentation rate compared with other commercial wine yeast strains.

As part of the characterisation of the evolved strain, the stability of its properties has been examined. Single genetic point changes associated with evolved strains do at times revert, resulting in loss of the evolved traits. To confirm the stability of our evolved strain and that the improved fermentation properties were retained after the imposed stress conditions of the DE experiment were removed, a further investigation was performed. A population of the evolved strain was initially proliferated in a rich (low stress) laboratory medium (YEPD) for 50 generations. The fermentation performance of 38 clonal isolates (individual cells) from this culture (called EVOLVED 50G) was then examined in quadruplicate in CDGJM, while 16 replicates were performed in the case of the parent and original evolved strain.

The average residual sugar of each set of strains is reported (Table 2). No significant differences were found between the evolved strain and its 50G at either of two time points (Student’s T test p<0.05). ▶ V28N6

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Table 3. Rescue inoculum propagation protocol (as per commonly used industrial protocol).

• overnight growth of rescue yeast in YEDP medium • culture step 1: 25% YEPD culture, 25% stuck wine, 50% water, 1.5% glucose, 150mg/L DAP, 1.5% yeast ghosts (BIOCELL- Laffort) • culture step 2: 10% culture 1, 83.5% stuck wine, 5% water, 1.5% glucose, 50mg/L DAP • inoculation: 25% culture 2 , 75% stuck wine.

Figure 2. The utilisation of sugars after inoculation of a rescue culture to either A: 2013 Riesling, a stuck wine sourced from a winery in Barossa Valley, or B: Semillon, a prematurely arrested laboratory wine. Triplicate fermentations were performed in 100mL. In both cases the evolved strains were able to complete fermentation before the parent. This showed that the genetic changes conferring efficient fermentation of this strain were stable across at least 50 generations (yeast usually undergo around seven generations in a batch wine fermentation).

As previously mentioned, one strategy to limit the risk of stuck or sluggish fermentations is to inoculate the juice or must with a strong fermenter. However, it

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is desirable to also identify ‘rescue’ strains that, in case of difficult fermentations, have the ability to re-invigorate or re-start the process. While our evolved strain exhibits faster fermentation kinetics when used to initiate fermentation, we sought to investigate its usefulness as a rescue yeast to re-start stuck or sluggish fermentations.

Wines with arrested or slow fermentations sourced from local wineries or artificially arrested wines produced in our laboratory were used. These were inoculated with W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

rescue cultures propagated specifically for this purpose of either the evolved strain or reference industrial strains. The progress of fermentation was monitored by measurement of residual sugars (Figure 2). The rescue cultures were prepared according to a protocol recommended for the wine industry (see Table 3). We found that our evolved strain was able to re-start and ferment the stuck fermentations to dryness, with kinetics comparable to common commercial strains used in the industry for this purpose (EC1118 and UVAFERM43). Parental strain L2056 was always less efficient in completing these fermentations.

During the process of improving wine yeast, it is important to monitor not only the targeted trait, but also to maintain a general overview of the oenological properties of the strain. Thus, desirable aroma profiling and the absence of the production of undesirable compounds are examples of such characteristics that need to be monitored. Often, particular strains are chosen as parental strains for improvement as they possess other desirable oenological properties. During the strain improvement process it is important to ensure that the latter are retained along with the new traits.

For these reasons, during fermentation experiments, along with kinetic comparisons, we also measured several other parameters, either instrumentally (HPLC, GS-MS, spectrophotometric characterisation, etc.) or performed preliminary sensory evaluation of the finished wines. Generally, measurements obtained from the laboratory showed similar profiling between wines produced with the evolved strain and wines produced with the original parent strain (Figure 3). Also, comments from panelists after informal blind sensory evaluations of these wines usually indicated that wines produced with the improved strain were preferred.

Despite these promising leads, profiling and preferences of the wines requires a full descriptive analysis to be performed.

Lastly, a few points need to be made regarding genetic investigations that have been completed on the evolved strain. Any change in the physiological characteristics of a strain most likely reflect changes at the DNA level (Giudici et al. 2005). It would ultimately be desirable to define the precise nature of any such change(s) in the evolved strain compared with the parental strain.

Complex phenotypes such as fermentation efficiency are most likely due to multiple pathways working in concert and, as such, are difficult to characterise genetically.

In this study we used a systems biology approach to investigate how the evolved strain was able to catabolise all sugars in a shorter time frame than the parent.

We report that the genome sequence V28N6

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of this evolved strain differs from its parent, particularly via single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes required for multiple biological pathways, some known to influence fermentation efficiency (Figure 4, see page 33). However, even with a known genome, determining the relationship of any genomic changes to an improved phenotypic outcome is challenging. For this reason, we are also examining the metabolomic profiles under various conditions, in particular those relevant to industrial winemaking.

Conclusions The work presented in this article, confirms once again the potential for directed evolution to be employed as an effective strategy in improving oenological traits of wine yeast. An adaptively evolved strain was obtained directly from commercial strain L2056, showing improved fermentation kinetics, more reliable and faster re-starting of stuck or sluggish fermentations and the production of wines with desirable sensory profiles.

Its fermentation phenotype was stable and since it was not generated using direct genetic modification, could be directly used in industrial winemaking. Moreover, an indepth genetic examination of fermentation

Figure 3. A selection of volatiles measured by gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS) from 2012 Chardonnay (Barossa Valley) fermented by the evolved strain, its parent or EC1118. Bars are the results of 10L triplicate fermentations (standard deviation shown) inoculated with a similar protocol as described in Table 1.

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An Australian First An innovative renewable energy plant at Australian Tartaric Products’ (ATP) Victorian plant will slash energy costs, improve international competitiveness, significantly reduce the company’s carbon footprint and close the loop on the annual disposal of 90,000 tonnes of grape waste from the wine industry.

ATP collects waste grape marc, sludge and lees from the Murray Darling, Riverina and Swan Hill wine regions and supplies tartaric acid back to the industry for use in the winemaking process.

ATP is the nation’s largest manufacturer of natural tartaric acid, which plays a key role in the chemical stability, taste and pH of wine.

ATP processes waste from the winemaking process, including grape marc, grape lees and sludge, to make a completely natural product from material typically bound for landfill. The company also extracts and converts residual alcohol into potable and low-grade ethanol.

ATP is located in rural Colignan, around 50 kilometres south of Mildura in Victoria. With no access to natural gas, the company has to date relied on trucked-in LPG to ensure its boilers run 24/7.

Thanks to the support of both the Federal and State governments via their respective Clean Energy Technology and Victorian Regional Infrastructure Development funds, ATP has invested in a renewable energy plant supplied and installed by Bono Sistemi.

Major benefits from this investment will include; • Significant reduction in energy costs • Improve competitiveness • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 72% (9813 tonnes of C02e) • Reduce the burden on the environment by preventing the spent marc from ending up in landfill • Close the loop on 90,000 tonnes of waste from wineries • Reduce electricity from the grid by 43% (1656 MWh) • Create additional employment In addition it provides a major benefit to the wider wine industry by providing a sustainable solution to the industry’s waste, ensuring it is utilised in a renewable fashion rather than polluting the nation’s landfills.

Commencing operation in September 2013, the 8MW moving grate biomass boiler will use spent grape marc to produce steam required for the production of tartaric acid and substantially reduce the company’s reliance on fossil fuels. The renewable energy plant will boost confidence in ongoing investment in the region’s wine industry by ensuring a sustainable, reliable and commercial option for the disposal of waste grape marc.

ATP is also installing Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology to sit alongside the new boiler.

This will take surplus steam produced by the boiler and co-generate around 63 per cent of the electricity required for its operations. The ORC plant is being supplied by Australian company gT Energy Technologies.

f ermen t a t ion

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efficient strains, such as the evolved strain described in this work, will result in a better understanding of the basic process of fermentation, as well as identification of the basis for fermentation efficiency. A thorough understanding of the effects of such changes and, in turn, how such strains enable more reliable fermentation will allow a more specific, targeted approach in further yeast strain development.

A better understanding of some of the main contributing metabolic pathways influencing fermentation dynamics, particularly in an industrial setting such as winemaking, will also result.

References Elena, S.F. and Lenski, R.E. (2003) Evolution experiments with microorganisms: the dynamics and genetic bases of adaptation. Nature Review Genetics 4:457-69.

McBryde, C.; Gardner, J.M.; Lopes, M.D. and Jiranek, V. (2006) Generation of novel wine yeast strains by adaptive evolution. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 57:423-430.

Jiranek, V.; Langridge, P. and Henschke, P.A. (1995) Regulation of hydrogen sulfide liberation in wine-producing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains by assimilable nitrogen. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 61:461-467.

Giudici, P.; Solieri, L.; Pulvirenti, A.M. and Cassanelli, S. (2005) Strategies and prospectives for genetic improvement of wine yeasts. Applied Microbiolical Biotechnology 66:622-628.

Figure 4. A gene ontology (GO) analysis of the genes of the evolved strain which have mutations affecting their protein sequence (ns-SNPs). This analysis highlights which GO terms (associated with yeast processes) are enriched or depleted in this gene set and, thus, give clues about which biochemical pathways confer the efficient fermentation WVJ phenotype.

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The influence of commercial hybrid yeast strains on the composition and sensory profile of Granite Belt Chardonnay

By Ursula Kennedy1, Edward Horton1 and Dylan Rhymer2 1 University of Southern Queensland. Corresponding author: Ursula.Kennedy@usq.edu.au 2 Ballandean Estate Wines

Queensland researchers have discovered that the choice of yeast noticeably influences the aroma intensity and palate length of Chardonnay fruit flavours.

T

he most commonly used wine yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is renowned for its ability to tolerate high levels of ethanol, low pH, high sugar, high

University of Southern Queensland wine science students Luke Cavanagh (top) and Ed Horton (bottom) and Ballandean Estate winemaker Dylan Rhymer.

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sulfur dioxide and a low oxygen environment (Fugelsang and Edwards 2007, Jackson 2000). Nevertheless, a number of other species and strains of yeast, such as Candida, Pichia, Torulaspora, Kluyveromyces and Metschnikowia, are resident in the vineyard and winery and can also contribute to the fermentation process. Other undesirable spoilage yeasts such as Brettanomyces and ZygoSaccharomyces may also be present in the vineyard and winery (Ciani et al . 2010, Zoecklein 1995, Zott et al . 2008).

Aside from the production of ethanol from sugar during the fermentation process, there are a number of secondary metabolites such as esters, terpenes, sulfides, higher alcohols, glycerol, aldehydes and acetic acid produced during yeast fermentation, which add characterising features to the sensory profile of the finished wine (Moreno-Arribas and Polo 2009, Torrens et al . 2008). While primary wine aromas and flavours are grape derived, the secondary yeast-derived compounds provide much of the variety and differentiation in wine flavour (Fugelsang and Edwards 2007, Torrens et al . 2008). Different species and strains of yeast produce differing concentrations of these secondary compounds and, thus, the sensory profile of the wine is directly influenced by the mixture of yeast strains involved in primary fermentation (Fugelsang and Edwards 2007, Romano et al . 2003).

In the early stages of fermentation when conditions are favourable, populations of these indigenous yeasts will develop and contribute to the fermentation process. However, as the W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

Table 1. Chardonnay juice analysis pre-fermentation.

TSS

12.5°Be

pH

3.6

Titratable acidity

5.25g/litre

Free SO2

14.5mg/litre

Total SO2

82mg/litre

fermentation progresses, populations of these non- Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts will decline rapidly due to increased levels of ethanol or lack of oxygen, commonly decreasing after two to three days or at ethanol concentrations above 5% v/v (Romano et al . 2003, Zoecklein 1995).

Saccharomyces cerevisiae will then dominate.

A trial was carried out to assess the influence of yeast selection - in particular, use of mixed yeast strains - on the quality of Chardonnay wine.

It also aimed to compare the quality of these wines with a control wine (fermented using Levuline ALS™, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain known to produce good results in unwooded Chardonnay wines).

Wine production The Chardonnay fruit used in this trial was sourced from Ballandean, in Queensland’s Granite Belt region.

Fruit was picked and crushed on 22 February 2013. The juice was settled for a week at 4°C with the addition of 100mg/litre sulfur dioxide (SO 2) to protect the juice from oxidation and prevent the onset of spontaneous fermentation. Juice analysis is shown in Table 1.

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After settling, the juice was allowed to adjust to ambient temperature (approximately 18°C).

The concentration of SO2 was adjusted to obtain a free SO2 of 14.5mg/L. Initial measurements of total soluble solids, pH and titratable acidity were taken, and the juice was divided into 20L samples, each contained within 100L variable capacity tanks.

Juice samples were inoculated with yeasts that had been prepared as per the manufacturer’s recommendations, with one tank left uninoculated to ferment spontaneously. This was done to provide a comparison of the characteristics of the hybrid yeast cultures to those of native yeasts.

Tanks were then moved into a temperature-controlled environment (17°C).

A number of tanks received a subsequent inoculation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae 24-48 hours later as per the manufacturer’s recommendations for a combined yeast culture regime.

When the total soluble solids concentration dropped below 1°Baumé, an enzymatic test kit

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Wine science student Ed Horton prepares an SO2 analysis.

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Figure 1. Chardonnay fermentation progress over time.

was used to test for the presence of glucose and fructose to ensure that the ferments were completely dry. Post-fermentation samples were treated with 75mg/L of SO2 and Ichtyocolle™ and had 0.1mg/L copper (II) sulfate solution added prior to bottling under screwcap.

Analysis Each wine sample was tested for pH and TA to measure for any differences in acid metabolisation between the different yeasts. Ethanol concentration was measured by Ebulliometry to assess the sugar to ethanol conversion rates of the yeasts. The malic acid

content of the wines was tested to ensure that secondary fermentation had not started in any of the samples.

Finally, the acetic acid content of the wines was measured to compare the volatile acidity (VA) production of the different yeasts.

The wines also underwent structured sensory assessment at the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland (RASQ) wine show by a panel of winemakers and industry professionals. This included both descriptive analysis and preference testing to determine what differences there were between the samples, and to assess whether these differences have a positive or negative effect on the finished wine.

The fermentation progress for all the samples is shown in Figure 1. All of the yeasts in the trial displayed similar fermentation characteristics, although the ‘wild’ ferment lagged slightly behind the others. All of the samples fermented strongly and completed in a similar timeframe. Thus, any sensory differences seen are not resultant of differences in fermentation kinetics.

Laboratory analysis of the finished wines showed little difference in TA, pH and SO2 concentrations. There was also negligible difference in the concentration

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of malic acid in all wines, indicating that none of the wines started secondary fermentation. The wines did, however, show some variance in concentrations of ethanol and acetic acid, ranging from 12-13.1% and 0.28-0.62g/L, respectively.

Sensory analysis of the wines showed some variance in the aromatic concentration of common Chardonnay fruit flavours, with citrus, tropical and stonefruit flavours assessed on a fivepoint scale (judges’ median scores shown in Figure 2). Scores varied between one and three for each flavour category, indicating influence of yeast selection on varietal enhancement and aromatic complexity. All wines were also assessed to have an aroma intensity of at least three or four and a complexity of two to three.

The choice of yeast also seemed to influence the palate length (short, medium or long) of the wines, with differences noted.

Wines were also placed in order of preference by each sensory panellist with wines fermented with the control, with AWRI 1503 and Laffort Alpha being the most preferred. The wine that underwent the ‘wild’ ferment was the least preferred.

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Figure 2. Chardonnay wine sensory assessment – judges’ median scores (scale of 0-5).

Conclusion Different combinations of mixed yeast cultures did not have appreciable effects on fermentation kinetics in this trial, and there were few differences noted in final wine sensory assessment. However, the least preferred wine from this trial by far

was the ‘wild’ ferment, which highlights the unpredictability of this method of fermentation with the risk of producing a wine with undesirable characteristics. It is advised that winemakers considering solely wild fermentations first carry out the practice on a small scale to assess the sensorial effects.

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Optimising fermentation through simulation

By Richard Muhlack*, Neil Scrimgeour, Eric Wilkes, Peter Godden and Dan Johnson The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond SA 5064 Managing director Dan Johnson *Email: richard.muhlack@awri.com.au

What if winemakers had advance warning of sluggish fermentation? What if winemakers could predict when a wayward ferment might arise and take steps to prevent it, before it happened? The AWRI Ferment Simulator is a powerful new weapon in the winemaker’s arsenal. It can be used to predict ferment behaviour, test and evaluate alternative ferment management strategies, and monitor refrigeration and electricity demand so that corrective action can be taken on time and on target.

Fermentation: a critical step

D

emanding, resource-intensive and sometimes unreliable: fermentation is, arguably, the most important and critical step in the winemaking process.

Optimal fermentation performance requires significant resources, typically involving daily sample collection, laboratory analysis and winemaker tastings. It also significantly affects equipment availability, energy and water use, and refrigeration capacity. The

At a glance The AWRI’s Ferment Simulator is now available for download from the AWRI website: • Two versions are available – a lite version that provides basic simulation functionality, and a full version that models up to 100 concurrent ferments together with refrigeration demand profiles • Problem fermentation behaviour can be predicted earlier (with both versions) and controlled more effectively through computer simulation, giving winemakers advanced warning of pending issues before they occur • ‘What if?’ analysis provides winemakers with the ability to simulate, evaluate and finetune alternative ferment management strategies • The full version also calculates refrigeration load profiles and peak electricity so that wine producers are better informed to manage site electricity use more effectively and minimise electricity demand tariffs • The AWRI Ferment Simulator is a unique and powerful resource for real-time ferment management and maintaining product consistency. It helps winemakers achieve greater productivity and profitability.

efficiency and productivity of an entire winery can be affected by stuck and sluggish fermentation.

Australian winemakers can reduce such demands on their resources through process automation control strategies. These are commonly used in other industries such as beer, pharmaceuticals and dairy, where quality can be assessed and controlled through online monitoring in real-time. In the wine industry, problem fermentation behaviour could be predicted through computer simulation, giving producers advance warning of pending issues before they happen.

Simulation: a new weapon The AWRI Ferment Simulator is the new weapon in the winemaker’s arsenal.

This novel tool gives winemakers the ability to predict fermentation performance and behaviour, test and evaluate alternative management strategies, monitor refrigeration and

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For an explosion of fruit flavour

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The research and selection were conducted by the Institute for wine biotechnology, University of Stellenbosch (Republic of South Africa) and Lallemand.

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Figure 1. Particle Swarm Analysis allows the simulator to rapidly converge on the optimal parameters, as shown here after one, 10 and 20 calculation steps, respectively, to enable rapid and accurate prediction of ferment status. electricity demand, and flag potential problems so that corrective action can be taken early, exactly when needed.

Two versions of the tool are now available for download from the AWRI website: a lite version that provides basic simulation functionality and ‘what-if?’ capability, and a full version. The full version offers all the features of the lite version and also allows modelling of up to 100 concurrent ferments together with the ability to generate refrigeration demand profiles across the entire tank farm.

How does it work?

The tool applies scientific principles relating to classic engineering process control theory. In order to make correct decisions on how to control a process (in this case, a wine fermentation), information on process conditions must be combined with knowledge of how a process behaves under different circumstances. From an engineering perspective, this knowledge comes not only from human experience, but from process modelling and simulation.

Developing a model can help to promote better understanding and visualisation of the system that users would like to control. The AWRI Ferment

Simulator puts this theory into practice by using biochemical equations to model fermentation performance. In this regard, it is similar to other models that have been presented in scientific literature: see Boulton (1980), Caro et al. (1991), Cramer et al. (2002), Sainz et al. (2003), Malherbe et al. (2004) and Coleman et al.

(2007).

There are drawbacks to these other models, however. They require users to estimate a large number of parameters, which can make them difficult to apply in a commercial situation. Some use artificial intelligence models to generate relationships between variables; others use mathematical models without taking physical processes fully into account. Above all, their fundamental limitation is that, generally, they assume perfect mixing and uniform conditions throughout the fermentation vessel.

Such assumptions may be valid under laboratory conditions in a fermentation shake-flask or micro-fermentor, but they will rarely apply in a large-scale commercial ferment. Although these models can offer general insights into the conditions affecting fermentation, their ability to predict fermentation performance in a commercial environment can be limited.

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The AWRI Ferment Simulator incorporates new elements to address heat transfer and hydro-dynamics – factors that are important in commercial winemaking. One such innovation is particle swarm analysis (PSA), which is used to adapt the simulation to changing commercial ferment conditions such as temperature, yeast, wine type, nutrient levels, agitation regime and tank size.

PSA is a type of artificial intelligence algorithm that has been used for a range of problems across a number of industry sectors including mining, finance, mapping, aerospace and defence. It is designed for modelling complex, nonlinear problems and is well suited to commercial wine fermentation. It allows the simulator to quickly and efficiently determine the optimal parameters that match the real-world ferment being modelled. It generates this key information with minimal computation, as shown in Figure 1.

What can it do?

The AWRI Ferment Simulator was developed over several vintages, incorporating input from industry collaborators to determine its performance requirements and features. To test and evaluate the model, a wide variety of

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commercial fermentation data – across multiple production sites and vintages – was used to assess its performance under different operating conditions. Its performance has been evaluated on two fronts: the ability to consistently fit a full fermentation profile and its capability to reliably predict fermentation performance from initial conditions.

There has been a deliberate effort to minimise the information required to run a simulation. The result is a model that simply requires the user to supply tank volume together with initial temperature and Baume data.

Users can also supply additional information: initial cell mass and nitrogen levels, information on DAP additions, any external agitation applied, the addition of nutrients, and the inoculation date. Information on wine or yeast type is not required.

During industry evaluation, the ferment completion times predicted by the simulator were found to be accurate. Using only two to three days of input data, the difference between actual and simulated ferment times was one to 1.5 days or less, in most cases.

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The full version of the simulator allows wine producers to follow multiple concurrent ferments across a tank farm, with a visual ‘traffic-light’ display indicating the fermentation status of each active ferment. Winemakers can also follow refrigeration load profiles (see Figure 2, see page 42) by tank or across all active ferments based on fermentation progress and expected weather patterns. Warnings are given when total refrigeration capacity is expected to be exceeded.

Both the lite and full versions include a ‘what if?’ analysis capability.

This allows winemakers to assess the impact of management strategies such as temperature adjustment, yeast nutrient addition and tank agitation. For example: “What if I increase the temperature by 2°C on day 3?” or “What if I add DAP on day 4?”

This capability means that changes to processing can be simulated before they are implemented, to ensure that the optimal strategy is chosen (Figure 3, see page 43).

What are the benefits?

The primary benefit of computer simulation is that problem fermentation behaviour can be predicted earlier and controlled more effectively than would otherwise be possible. Early warning gives winemakers the opportunity to take action and prevent problems before they occur.

The risk of a wayward ferment is reduced as a result.

If a potential issue is identified, ‘what if?’ analysis provides winemakers with the ability to simulate, evaluate and finetune alternative ferment management strategies. When using the full version, users can calculate refrigeration load profiles and develop appropriate plans to mitigate the risk of exceeding peak electricity demand. This information can make a significant difference to wine producers’ operating costs and profitability: it offers early warning so that wineries can manage electricity usage effectively (particularly on hot days) and take steps to schedule winery operations appropriately to avoid punitive electricity costs.

The tool provides a unique and powerful resource for continuous quality improvement and product consistency from ferment to ferment.

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Figure 2. Predicted refrigeration demand in relation to plant capacity over the coming 10 days.

Where can I access the AWRI Ferment Simulator?

The two versions of the AWRI Ferment Simulator are now available from the AWRI website.

Both versions can be downloaded as Excel files. The lite version (compatible with Office 2003 onwards) provides basic simulation functionality; the full version (compatible with Office 2007 onwards) offers more advanced features.

A LibreOffice version (compatible with v3.5 onwards) of the AWRI Ferment Simulator â&#x20AC;&#x201C; full version is also available for Linux operating systems. The source code has been unlocked, allowing wine producers to adapt the simulator

For further information, please contact Kauri NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 NZ Fax: 04 910 7415 AUS Fax: 1800 127 609 Email: winery@kauri.co.nz Web: www.kauriwine.com

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Figure 3. After 3.5 days a sluggish ferment (of 14.5 days duration) is predicted (left). An increase in ferment temperature together with a DAP addition and a pump-over is shown to bring the ferment back ‘on-course’, with ferment now complete after eight days (right). functionality to interface directly with their onsite LIMS/PLC/SCADA systems for automatic data acquisition if desired.

To access and download the simulator and obtain further details, visit www.awri.com.au

matching funding from the Australian Government. The AWRI is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster. The authors thank Sharon Mascall-Dare and Ella Robinson for their editorial assistance.

Acknowledgements

References

This work is funded by Australian winemakers and grapegrowers through their investment body, the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, with

Boulton, R.B. (1980) Prediction of fermentation behaviour by a kinetic-model. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 31: 40-45.

Caro, I.; Perez, L. and Cantero, D. (1991) Development of a kinetic-model for the alcoholic fermentation of must. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 38:742-748.

Coleman, M.C.; Fish, R. and Block, D.E. (2007) Temperature-dependent kinetic model for nitrogenlimited wine fermentations. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.

73(18):5875-5884.

Cramer, A.C.; Vlassides, S. and Block, D.E. (2002) Kinetic model for nitrogen-limited wine fermentations, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 77(1):49-60.

Malherba, S.; Fromion, V.; Hilgert, N. and Sablayrolles, J-M. (2004) Modelling the effects of assimilable nitrogen and temperature on fermentation kinetics in enological conditions.

Biotechnol. Bioeng. 86(3):261-272.

Sainz, J.; Pizaro, F.; Perez-Correa, J.R. and Agosin, E. (2003) Modelling of yeast metabolism and process dynamics in batch fermentation, Biotechnol.

WVJ Bioeng. 81(7):818-828.

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Vintage operations in real time – creating value through improved efficiency

By Treasury Wine Estates* *Corresponding author: Gioia Small, email Gioia.Small@tweglobal.com

Treasury Wine Estates and the Herbert Resource Information Centre have conducted a pilot program to investigate means of improving fruit intake and increasing visibility of the effectiveness of harvest and transport operations.

V

intage can be one of the most challenging periods of the year for vineyards and wineries. Despite the best laid plans, vintage activities are always subject to the vagaries of weather and the availability of resources.

Fruit intake is heavily dependent on synchronising harvest, transport and winery operations. In order to do this, it is imperative to have good communications across the supply chain.

Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) has been exploring ways to improve fruit intake and increase visibility of how harvest and transport operations are proceeding throughout vintage.

A review of other industries identified some work that the sugar industry had been implementing on supply chain improvements. Sugar mills were using location-based technology to provide real-time visualisation of harvest activities so that they could better plan and manage their cane intake. The Herbert Resource Information Centre (HRIC) pioneered this work in the Herbert Shire, in Queensland.

In 2012, TWE entered into a partnership with HRIC to see if the wine industry could leverage off the work that had occurred in the sugar industry. HRIC and TWE undertook a review of TWE’s intake processes through the 2012 vintage.

This subsequently led to a collaborative project between TWE and HRIC to develop a web-based platform to improve fruit intake visibility. The platform was piloted at TWE’s Rosemount Estate winery, at McLaren Vale, in the 2013 vintage.

A supply chain approach Using a supply chain model (Figure 1), the platform takes data inputs from multiple sources including global positioning system (GPS) units in tractors and on trucks, and from TWE’s own winery data management systems. These data are then combined and displayed in real time on a map and in several dashboards that are available to users through a dedicated user interface at the vineyard and the winery.

There is also a dashboard available to carriers.

The focus of the platform is to act as a single point of truth and provide users with the right information, at the right time and in the right format. It enables users to view vintage in real time and respond when things don’t go to plan, e.g., a truck delivering a load of fruit is unable to meet its dedicated time slot at the winery.

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Figure 2. Map showing harvest operations in real time.

Figure 1. A model of TWE’s vintage intake platform showing information flow from the field to the user.

The map The map allows users to visualise a variety of information.

Harvester location is provided in real time, while recent harvester activity can be seen by the ‘cookie crumbs’ that are left behind. Figure 2 shows harvester location (purple triangle). The lilac cookie crumbs indicate the harvester picking head was operating, while the salmon-coloured cookie crumbs indicate the harvester was turning. In the future, data collected can be mined and analysed to determine harvester efficiency metrics.

Eggs laid on leaves after spraying are killed

For a vineyard supervisor or manager, particularly in large or geographically dispersed operations, there are clear benefits in visualising this information. The map can be accessed from either a computer or smart device with access to the internet, and harvest progress can be monitored remotely without the need for phone calls or multiple visits. It would be relatively easy to adopt a similar approach for other vineyard operations such as pruning, spraying and slashing.

The map is also able to show a truck’s location. Once the driver has logged the booking number and the tonnes he or she has on board via the GPS unit located in the truck, the vehicle becomes live on the map (Figure 3, see page 46). Work is currently under way to replace the GPS units in trucks with ▶ an application that can be used on a smart phone.

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Figure 3. Map showing truck location in real time.

Figure 4. Map showing status of Baumé levels for a variety of vineyard blocks.

The winery dashboard

Figure 5. Dashboard showing estimated time of arrival for a load.

Other information that can be displayed on the map includes a range of spatial layers that are linked to TWE’s data management system. This information is updated every 15 minutes and includes latest Baumé (fruit ripeness), estimated tonnes and field grades. Virtually any information TWE has in its data management system that is linked to a vineyard block can be depicted in this way. Figure 4 shows an example of the Baumé maps used for fruit assessment. Providing this information in a visual format facilitates planning vineyard visits and gives an instant snapshot of fruit maturity across blocks and regions.

The winery dashboard combines information from TWE’s data management system with real time information being received from the onboard GPS in the delivery vehicle. The booking schedule is updated every 24 hours and a booking becomes live on the dashboard once the booking number and the tonnes onboard are entered in the field by the truck driver.

The dashboard (Figure 5) displays the information that has been entered by the truck driver, so the winery knows in advance how many tonnes are onboard the vehicle. The system also calculates an estimated time of arrival based on the vehicle’s location. This is updated throughout the vehicle’s trip to the winery. A flag beside a designated booking changes colour, depending on whether the booking will be delivered as per the booking schedule or not. This alerts winery staff to potential changes that may be required around fermenter utilisation or crusher set up.

Plans for the 2014 vintage The pilot conducted in 2013 has led to several improvements.

The ability for users to edit the dashboard is being incorporated into plans for the 2014 vintage. Additionally, a notification system will send an email alert to the winery when there is a potential change to the booking schedule due to a delivery vehicle not being on time.

Smart phones are fast becoming ubiquitous, so an application is being developed to enable users with smart phones to input load information via their own devices. This means that access to the technology will become more freely available.

The vineyard dashboard

Conclusion

The vineyard dashboard displays the picking progress for harvesters in the field. Utilising data being sent from the onboard GPS, the dashboard constantly updates to provide information on estimated completion time for the block. The basis for this calculation is the current rate of picking and the area a harvester has already covered. In the 2013 vintage, an on-the-run tonnage estimate for the block was calculated using a nominal bin weight combined with a manual entry by the harvester operator each time the bin was filled. For the 2014 vintage, a different approach will be taken whereby accurate bin weights will be manually entered at the loading pad to give a better picture of yield.

These will be displayed on the dashboard as a running tally for the block.

The ability to remotely access on-the-go tonnage estimates and estimated block completion times means a vineyard manager or supervisor can monitor a number of harvesters and blocks at one time, substantially reducing the requirement for phone calls, CB radio updates and having to physically drive around checking on progress.

If the Australian wine industry is to remain competitive, it needs to focus on maximising efficiencies in the supply chain. Visualising vintage information in real time using maps and dashboards, and making that information available to multiple users at the same time, ensures that everyone involved in the supply chain is seeing the same up-to-date information. It reduces the reliance on spreadsheets and reports that can date quickly.

The value proposition created by the technology described above includes reduced time spent communicating with multiple parties and better information available to the supply chain. The adoption of these technologies is a must if the industry is to stay innovative.

Increasing the efficiency of fruit intake during vintage will ensure the wine industry remains a sustainable and viable industry into the future.

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Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the support of staff at TWE’s McLaren Vale vineyard, Rosemount Estate winery, and carriers and WVJ contractors involved in the pilot.

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vi t ic u l t u re

s moke t a in t

The effect of grape variety and smoking duration on the accumulation of smoke taint compounds in wine

By Nicole Cain1, Fred Hancock2, Peter Rogers2 and Mark Downey2 Centre of Expertise in Smoke Taint Research (CESTR), Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) 1 Ernest Jones Drive, Macleod, Vic 3085 Australia 2 PO Box 905, Mildura, Vic 3502 Australia

T

he risk of bushfires in Australia is on the rise due to global warming. To combat this risk, prescribed burns are also increasing in order to reduce fuel-loads. Smoke from both prescribed burns and wildfires has been shown to directly affect grape composition and subsequent wine quality, resulting in wines exhibiting smoky, dirty, earthy, burnt, smoked meat, damp fire, ashtray and BandAid characters which, together, have become known in the industry as ‘smoke taint’. These smoke events are causing significant financial loss to the wine industry. As a result the issue of smoke taint in wine has become a hot topic in recent years, and despite extensive research, many gaps still exist in our knowledge of this important issue.

The pyrolysis of lignin in vegetative fuel releases a class of chemical compounds known as ‘phenols’, and it is these compounds that give smoke its distinctive taste and smell. A number of these phenols have been confirmed as causing this undesirable taint seen in

wines made from smoke-affected grapes.

Repeated and long smoke exposure is often seen in bushfires, with variances in smoke intensity and duration known to affect the accumulations of smoketaint compounds in the berries and subsequently made wine. Furthermore, different winegrape varieties can also exhibit different smoke taint ‘profiles’ due to differing berry matrices influencing smoke uptake.

One study conducted by the Centre of Expertise in Smoke Taint Research (CESTR) involved performing controlled smoking experiments on the harvested berries of seven different winegrape varieties at two different smoking levels. This was done to simulate both medium and high smoke exposure in order to determine if smoke taint compounds increase proportionally with time in smoke-exposed berries and subsequent wines, and to determine the relative effect of smoking duration across different varieties.

A smoking chamber was set up using a modified industrial oven fitted with an extraction fan, and a purpose-built

Figure 1. The modified oven used to experimentally smoke bunches of winegrapes.

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smoker was used to generate the smoke using barley straw (Figures 1 and 2), burned at a rate to keep the temperature of the fire inside the smoker between 250-650oC to ensure lignin degradation.

The outlet pipe used to transfer smoke to the chamber ran through a heat exchanger to cool the temperature of smoke applied to the grapes below 30oC. Freshly harvested berries (at grape maturity) from seven winegrape varieties were smoked together in order to minimise variation and ensure each variety was exposed to the same intensity of smoke. Each variety was smoked for two time intervals, representing medium (one hour) and high (three hours) smoke exposure, in addition to unsmoked controls. The berries from each treatment were made into two duplicate wines at CESTR’s experimental winemaking facility at Mildura, following standard small-scale winemaking procedures. Red varieties were fermented on skins and white varieties without skins.

Berry and wine samples from each treatment were analysed for free

Figure 2. The purpose-built smoker used to transfer smoke into the smoking chamber.

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Cabernet Sauvignon

Pinot Noir

Merlot

Pinot Gris

Chardonnay

Sauvignon Blanc

12

11

8

8

9

6

9

3

3

3

2

2

2

2

2

Total Phenols

11

3

Syringol

11

3

4-Ethylguaiacol

2,4-Dimethylphenol

11

3

4-Methylguaiacol

4-Ethylphenol

8

Wine

Guaiacol

m-Cresol

Berries2

Berries2

4

5

5

5

7

6

3

4

5

3

4

Wine

3

3

3

3

3

3

2

2

2

3

3

Berries2

4

4

3

3

5

5

3

3

4

3

3

Wine

2

3

2

2

2

3

2

2

2

2

2

Berries2

7

9

9

9

13

13

6

8

9

4

7

Wine

2

3

3

3

3

3

2

3

2

2

2

Berries2

1

3

2

2

3

4

2

2

3

2

2

Wine

1

2

1

2

2

2

1

1

1

2

1

Berries3

2

2

2

2

2

3

2

2

2

1

2

Wine

3

3

2

3

3

2

2

2

2

2

2

Berries3

4

5

4

4

5

5

3

4

4

3

4

Wine

3

4

3

3

4

3

3

3

3

3

3

Calculated by dividing concentration measured for each compound after three hours of smoking by concentration measured after one hour of smoking, for each variety. Rounded to nearest whole number. 2Homogenised berry supernatant.

3 Free run juice.

1

of free phenols in grapes and wine, this increase was not proportional to the increase in smoke duration. A three-fold increase in smoking duration resulted in anywhere from no change to an over tenfold difference in the individual analytes. The finished wines generally exhibited lower relative differences than their corresponding berry samples, pointing towards the concentrations of analytes being

Figure 3. Concentrations (μg/L) of total free forms of smoke taint phenols for berry samples for seven different winegrape varieties smoked for one hour and three hours, along with unsmoked controls. Homogenised berry supernatant samples were used for analysis of Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris; free run juice was used for Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. All control samples showed total concentrations below 30μg/L. V2 8N 6

p-Cresol

Shiraz

o-Cresol

Table 1. Relative differences between one and three-hour experimental smoking for individual free smoke taint phenol concentrations for seven winegrape varieties for both berry and wine samples.1

Phenol

smoke taint compounds using GC-MS methodology. The total concentrations of all measured compounds for each variety and treatment are shown in Figure 3 (berries) and Figure 4 (wine). Individual data for each compound is not shown. Across all varieties, the unsmoked control berry and wine samples revealed natural background levels of the compounds responsible for smoke taint, although total phenols for the unsmoked controls were well below 50mg/L for each berry and wine sample.

The total free phenols measured were higher across all varieties in winegrapes exposed to smoke for three hours compared with one hour, in both berry and wine samples. Guaiacol, a key contributor to smoke taint, showed the highest levels across all varieties in both berries and wine (data not shown). Sauvignon Blanc showed the highest total free phenol concentrations within both berry and wine samples for the three-hour smoking, followed

by Chardonnay, despite differences in winemaking. Previous research has shown that red wines typically exhibit higher levels of smoke taint due to winemaking practices involving fermenting red wines on skins, and white wines without. The relative differences between one and threehour smoking for individual compounds varied among the varieties (Table 1), and was not consistent from berries through to subsequent wines. Pinot Gris was least affected by smoke exposure and had the least increase in free phenols with extended smoke duration, while Shiraz and Merlot berries showed the largest difference between the two smoking levels, although this difference was less in the wine, indicating that the winemaking process does indeed alter the concentration of analytes.

While the data shows that an increase in the duration of smoke exposure does result in an increase in the concentrations

v i t i c u lt u r e

moderated by the winemaking process.

Overall, the effect of increased smoke exposure is not consistent across varieties or within individual smoke taint compounds.

The CESTR team at DEPI currently have several comprehensive field experiments under way to further explore and enhance understanding of the effects that smoking duration and intensity play in the role of WVJ smoke taint in wine.

Figure 4. Concentrations (μg/L) of total free forms of smoke taint phenols for wine samples for seven different winegrape varieties smoked for one hour and three hours, along with unsmoked controls. Results are the average of two duplicate wines. All control samples showed total concentrations below 50μg/L.

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Understanding trunk diseases: how and why they threaten the wine industry

By Helen Waite, National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Charles Sturt University. Email: hwaite@csu.edu.au

Helen Waite, representing the Trunk Disease Action Group that was formed during the trunk diseases workshop at this year's Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference, responds to some of the issues that were raised in the article by Richard Smart, published in the July/August issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal, on the presence of trunk diseases in vine planting material.

R

ichard Smart’s timely article on trunk diseases in the July/August issue of Wine & Viticulture Journal raises important issues that strike at the heart of the wine industry in Australia and overseas. Trunk diseases are an insidious and, with the exception of eutypa, largely unrecognised threat to the sustainability of the wine industry at a time when producers are facing downward pressure on prices, upward pressure on quality and the effects of climate change.

As Smart points out, most producers are either unaware of the debilitating effects of trunk diseases, such as Petri disease, black foot and bot canker, or do not appreciate the full extent of the problem, particularly when it comes to infected planting material. Central to these problems is a lack of understanding of the epidemiology (patterns, causes and effects) of trunk disease pathogens and basic microbial ecology across the whole industry.

Classic eutypa foliar symptoms. Photo: Mark Sosnowski

At a glance • Trunk diseases, including eutypa, Petri disease, bot canker and black foot, are an insidious threat to the sustainability of the wine industry • Trunk diseases infect mature vines through pruning wounds and can also be transmitted in infected planting material • Symptoms in mature vines include stunting and delayed budburst, death of woody tissue in trunks and cordons, sudden wilting and death of whole vines and reduced yield and fruit quality • Young vines that have been infected with trunk diseases via cuttings taken from infected mother vines, or through cross-contamination in the nursery, either die soon after planting or decline over a number of years, resulting in uneven and poorly-performing vineyards • There are now positive moves in the nursery industry to address the issue of trunk disease transmission in propagation including the recent publication of an Australian Standard for Grapevine Material (AS 5588 -2013) • Hot water treatment is the most effective control for latent trunk disease infections in cuttings and crosscontamination can be prevented with good nursery sanitation practices • Management of trunk disease in mature vines includes protection of pruning wounds and remedial surgery to remove infected wood.

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Young vines can be quickly overwhelmed by trunk disease infections acquired during propagation; they may remain stunted or die relatively soon after planting. Unfortunately, it is not until a newly-planted vineyard fails, or establishes poorly, that growers realise that more attention should be paid to the quality of the vines that go in the ground, by which time a great deal of money and an entire growing season has been lost. Misplaced hope that recovery will occur often sees the vine failures unaddressed for several seasons, resulting in uneven and poorly-performing vineyards that never reach their potential.

Trunk disease transmission in planting material is the result of three main factors: latent infections in cuttings taken from infected mother vines, cross-contamination in the nursery, and infection via soil-borne pathogens in the field nursery. Unlike grapevine viruses, trunk diseases are transmitted through wind and rain splash, as well as propagation. Any wound is vulnerable to infection. This, and the multiplicity of alternative host species, makes the control of trunk disease complex and challenging. Simply removing diseased mother vines and replanting will not solve the problem. The myriad wounds that are made when canes are harvested from mother vines and, in the case of rootstock mother vines, that are watered by overhead sprinklers and not usually trellised; the proximity of the crowns to the soil make infection inevitable.

Propagators must, therefore, assume that there is likely to be some level of trunk disease infection either in or on the bark of every batch of cuttings that enters a nursery. However, current nursery practices, particularly soaking cuttings in water that is

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used to fully hydrate cuttings, favour the dispersal of trunk disease pathogens and other microorganisms and result in high levels of unintentional cross-infection.

Cuttings taken from well watered mother vines do not require hydration. In addition to spreading disease, hydration also floods cutting tissue with water and creates oxygen stress and may cuase conditions under which cuttings may ferment.

It should be noted that although hot water treatment is currently the most effective control for known trunk diseases, it is not necessarily a completely effective eradication treatment. Very low levels of infection may persist in a small percentage of treated cuttings and act as a subsequent source of cross-contamination if sanitation is not maintained throughout the propagation period.

It should also be noted that as trunk disease research progresses, new pathogenic organisms are regularly identified. In particular, the role of bacteria in trunk disease development has only just begun to be explored. It is thought that some of the bacteria species found in association with trunk diseases may be pathogens in their own right, or act synergistically with fungal trunk pathogens, but little is known about

vi t ic u l t u re

Classic eutypa wood symptoms. Photo: Mark Sosnowski

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An omega graft infected with trunk disease pathogens. their pathogenicity and epidemiology. For these reasons it is important not to rely solely on hot water treatment for the control of trunk disease organisms, but to incorporate it into a sanitary program spanning all aspects of germplasm and source block and nursery management to ensure the titre of disease is kept below the detection and symptom expression threshold throughout the entire propagation process.

As illustrated by the response of Paul Wright and Nick Dry to Smartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s article (see box on page 18 in Smartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s article), there are positive moves in the nursery industry to address the issue of trunk disease transmission in propagation. However, improvements are hampered by the variations in practice within and between nurseries, a lack of universal, practical and effective propagation protocols for controlling trunk diseases and reducing physical defects in planting material, and the reluctance of nurseries to cease soaking cuttings and vines; the major route of cross-contamination.

There is no simple solution to these complex issues.

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The production of healthy, vigorous planting material requires a multifaceted approach that involves all sectors of the grape and wine industry; from the holders of germplasm collections, vine improvement associations and nurseries, through to grapegrowers, researchers, extension staff and funding bodies.

Moves towards improving the quality and consistency of planting material necessarily begin with a universally accepted and clearly documented description of the characteristics and attributes of quality planting material. That document has now been written and recently published in the form of the Australian Standard for Grapevine Material (AS 5588 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2013 Grapevine propagation material http://www.standards.org.au/SearchandBuyAStandard/ Pages/default.aspx). The standard is the result of many months of collaborative effort and provides a solid platform for developing the protocols required to sustain quality vine production and establishment across all sectors of the industry. Nevertheless, the standard alone will not bring about change unless it is adopted by industry and acted upon.

The first step in managing trunk diseases in propagation and mature vines is to draw together all current knowledge and disseminate it in a coherent and accessible format. There is now a significant body of trunk disease and propagation research around the world that, when viewed as a whole, provides a good picture of trunk disease epidemiology and management. However, much of this research is published in peer reviewed journals that are not readily accessible outside the research community.

Furthermore, the writing style and technical terms used in peer reviewed literature can make these articles impenetrable for those not trained in the field. Nevertheless, efforts to turn research into practical tools and techniques for industry application have resulted in some significant outcomes, including pruning wound treatments and biofumigation of soil that are of direct benefit to industry. However, until the real costs of trunk diseases to industry are more widely appreciated, uptake will be slow.

The Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC) has invested in research that has provided descriptions and identification of the different trunk disease symptoms in mature vines, and recommendations for preventing pruning wound infections and managing infected vines, which have been widely

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published in industry magazines and at seminars and field days (for fact sheets see www.gwrdc.com.au, www.sardi.sa.gov.au/ eutypa_dieback, www.csu.edu.au/nwgic http://www.nzwine.com/ research/fact-sheets-1/pests-and-diseases/).

Another outcome of research has been a spreadsheet developed

by Dion Mundy, from Plant and Food Research, Marlborough, New Zealand, that enables growers to accurately estimate the cost of trunk diseases to their operation and determine if infection levels have reached the point where a vineyard needs to be redeveloped.

The spreadsheet and information on managing trunk diseases can be downloaded from the Plant and Food website at http://www. mrc.org.nz/marlborough-trunk-disease-web/trunk-disease-costcalculations/ Complementary to the cost-estimation spreadsheet is a vine assessment spreadsheet for evaluating the quality of planting material. This spreadsheet, developed by Helen Waite at the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Charles Sturt University, can be used by both nurseries and growers to evaluate the health and quality of every batch of vines and calculate a fitness score that quantifies the risk associated with planting each batch.

Draft propagation protocols have also been developed which were presented at the 8th International Workshop on Grapevine Trunk Diseases in Valencia, Spain, in 2012 and have been widely circulated for comment. They are currently being trialled and evaluated in a commercial vine nursery before publication later in the year. Both documents can be obtained by emailing Helen Waite at hwaite@csu.edu.au Both Paul Wright and Nick Dry call for increased efforts in nursery research, but awareness of the debilitating effects of trunk diseases in planting material is low. Since the vine nursery industry does not contribute to research through the

CROP PROTECTION

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A mixed infection of trunk diseases. Photo: Mark Sosnowski GWRDC levy system, other equally worthy areas of research often take precedence over nursery research. Following discussions at the 15th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference trunk disease workshop in July, a Trunk Disease Action Group consisting of wine industry, nursery industry and research personnel from Australia and New Zealand, has been formed. The aim of the group (convened by Helen Waite), is to raise awareness of the effects of trunk diseases in young vines and mature vineyards, promote research and the adoption of current best practice in the propagation industry and bring trunk disease management practices into standard vineyard management.

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t r u nk di s e a s e s

Email: ssavocchia@csu.edu.au Mark Sosnowski South Australian Research and Development Institute Email: mark.sosnowski@sa.gov.au Telephone: +61 8 8303 9489 Helen Waite The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Charles Sturt University Email: hwaite@csu.edu.au Telephone: +61 2 6933 2940 Melanie Whitelaw-Weckert The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Charles Sturt University Email: mweckert@csu.edu.au Telephone: +61 2 6933 2940 An uninfected scion and infected rootstock.

For further information on trunk diseases and their management in vineyards and nurseries contact: In Australia Sandra Savocchia The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Charles Sturt University

In New Zealand Marlene Jaspers Lincoln University Email: Marlene.Jaspers@lincoln.ac.nz Telephone: +64 3 4230745 Dion Mundy The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited Email: dion.mundy@plantandfood.co.nz Telephone: +64 3 984 4327

Tasmania’s own Pinot Noir clones

By Richard Smart. Email: richard@smartvit.com.au

A Pinot Noir clonal selection study focussed on the highly-regarded clone D4V2 has been conducted at Tamar Ridge vineyards, leading to the surprise discovery of other vines, now dubbed ‘Smart clones’.

P

inot Noir already has a wide range of commercially-available clones, mostly French selections. In my experience, there are bigger effects on the wine from different clones with Pinot Noir than for any other variety, an opinion I share with many oenologists.

At the research winery in Tamar Ridge, in Tasmania, we spent some time evaluating clones, the results of which have been published in the Wine & Viticulture Journal’s sister publication, the Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker (August 2010). We found substantial differences between clones in chemical composition.

We decided to supplement this study by doing some clonal selection in the Tamar Ridge vineyards. The clone D4V2 was the target of our attention, as this, the so-called Pommard clone, is highly regarded in many places including New Zealand and Tasmania. It is the clone that has made Oregon Pinot Noirs famous. In the comparison of clones at Tamar Ridge referred to above, D4V2 was among the most preferred, in sensory evaluation with

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local winemakers, and in chemical analysis, with among the highest values of total phenolics, pigment and tannin.

Clonal selection process Block 12 at Tamar Ridge was planted to D4V2, so was the subject of the study.

The block was small, containing 1648 vines planted in 1998 on 0.62ha on the rootstock Paulsen 1103. The vines were trained to Scott Henry, and the fruit was well regarded by Tamar Ridge winemakers.

The primary selection was made in January and February 2009 using quite simple visual parameters at the early stages of veraison. Vines were selected on the basis of early and extensive fruit colouration and cane lignification, moderate to high yields, and loose bunches.

The selection procedure was quite simple. Rows ran north-south; the selection was made first on the western vine side, and target vines were marked with a ribbon on that side. Then, the W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

vines were inspected from the east side, and, if considered desirable, a check was made for a ribbon on the west side. If the vine had been assessed as desirable from both sides, it would have the trunk marked.

Altogether, 28 clonal mother vines were selected, representing 1.7 percent of the vines.

To everyone’s surprise, three different clones were found in this block, which was meant to be of a single clone D4V2.

So much for the supplying nursery quality assurance procedures! One of the clones I suspect is a common Pinot Noir mutant, where the vines failed to produce a crop.

There are only six or so small, round bunches on each vine. This type of mutant has been observed on other clones of Pinot Noir. It is not known if these vines fail to initiate fruitful buds, or if bunches abort early. There were around 2% of these vines. The second clone discovered to be mixed in with D4V2 was unknown but had a much larger cluster, and it was obviously avoided during the selection.

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Figure 1. The three clones discovered in Block 12, Tamar Ridge. On the left is the unknown clone with a large compact bunch, in the middle D4V2, and on the right, the ‘winemakers clone’.

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Figure 3. Doug Cox and Woodlea staff preparing fruit for making wine from selected clones using microvinification protocols at the Tamar Ridge pilot winery, April 2013.

Figure 2. Richard Smart and Doug Cox, from Woodlea Nursery, evaluating the Smart clones, March 2013, in the replicated field trial in Block 13.

There were about 10% of these vines.

The different bunch types are shown in Figure 1 (see page 56). We called the low-cropping clone the ‘winemakers clone’, because here was a naturally selfthinning, low-yielding vine, an ideal to which many winemakers subscribe.

Subsequently, nearer harvest, vines were checked for leafroll virus symptoms, which occurs in the block. Interestingly, the strain of virus present was mild, as separate research showed little effect on yield and fruit ripening.

Results of selection The vines were individually harvested and bunches counted. The average yield was 1.9kg with 38 bunches. Fruit composition was analysed, and wines were made from each of the mother vines using the pilot winery microvinification procedure with submerged cap fermentations, and spectral analysis performed.

There were eight clones showing higher than average sugar, and for two of these, yields were above 2.5kg. Data from the spectral analysis was encouraging, with wines showing higher phenolics, tannin and pigmented tannin than other research wines ▶ made.

Figure 4. Doug Cox preparing musts for fermentation, Tamar Ridge pilot winery, April 2013.

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t on y h o a re

That winter, cuttings were taken from the 28 mother vines selected for production of vines for planting. An own-rooted clonal comparison trial was planted with eight replicates in the adjacent Block 13 in late 2009. This trial has now produced its second crop.

My contract with Tamar Ridge was terminated on change of ownership from Gunns to Brown Brothers. Brown Brothers was contacted to see if it was prepared to make this improved planting material available to the Tasmanian wine sector, to which it agreed. I then approached Doug Cox, from Woodlea Nursery, to see if he would be interested in helping make this material available for planting in Tasmania.

Together, Cox and I made a further selection of clones within the replicated trial of Block 13 in March 2013. Again, the selection was for moderate to high yield, loose clusters, and freedom from virus symptoms. Wine composition is yet

to be determined. This selection reduced the clone number from 28 to 15. Cox and his team harvested the fruit from 15 clones, tested fruit composition and made microvinifications at Tamar Ridge using the pilot winery protocols.

Cox and I decided to make a further preliminary selection of clones to commence creation of mother vine source blocks in 2013. The 2013 fruit composition and wine spectral analysis results were compared with 2009 yield and wine analysis results to begin a grading of the 28 clones. This resulted in a list of 13 preferred clones.

Cox has made cuttings this year, which were available for planting in Tasmania as future source blocks. He located two growers who agreed to have source blocks of specific clones planted in their vineyard, one row per clone, which can be used as a cuttings source by Woodlea for the future. These will also serve as comparison sites for the clones.

For the moment these can be regarded as

‘mass selected’ clones, but perhaps in the future can be regarded as ‘selected clones’ if grape and wine analysis of the replicated trial continues. Ideally, yield and fruit composition comparisons could be made in 2014 and later years, along with wine for chemical and sensory analysis. Local winemakers would be given the chance to assess the wines.

Conclusion Unfortunately, there are no funding arrangements in place to guarantee further studies of yield, fruit composition and winemaking potential of the replicated trial in Block 13 at Tamar Ridge. This could well have been achieved under projected Federal Government funding for wine sector expansion under the ‘Forest Peace’ deal but, sadly, the opportunity was squandered.

Alternate arrangements will be investigated.

These clones will be known as the ‘Smart clones’, named after my late father, followed WVJ by their number of one through 28.

Bird control - damned if you do, damned if you don’t

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

I

s seems that there is a great disparity between bird control options for winegrapes. Should grapegrowers spend a fortune and have a fighting chance of avoiding bird damage, or take the budget option and get the equivalent bird control return on investment? Essentially, you get what you pay for when it comes to bird control. Isn’t it time to look beyond the traditional control options for something new that can deliver results at an affordable cost? Are unmanned drones capable of delivering a cost-effective option for winegrape growers of all sizes?

Bird damage

Birds damage winegrapes at various stages of the season. Early season damage includes shoot breakage, especially with parrots who find the soft, new shoots of winegrapes very tasty. Even when lignified, canes and their shoots can be targeted by parrots. Then, there is crop loss through bird damage of fruit after veraison. This damage ranges from the complete removal of berries to the frustrating damage to part-bunches, leading to fruit loss from dehydration, thereby predisposing fruit to Botrytis and other fugal pathogens, and the

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development of volatile acidity.

Birds lower winegrape quality, reduce yield and can damage grapevines for the following season.

Currently available bird control options Netting Netting of vineyards works effectively in preventing bird damage of winegrapes. It is arguably the best form of effective bird control currently available. Options for netting range from single row, multiple rows and total block coverage. The choice of option is really dependent on the value of the crop and bird pressure.

When assessing the value of bird netting there are other benefits to consider. Total bird netting eradicates bird damage to shoots early in the season. During the growing season, it has also been shown to reduce the negative effects of extreme heat, protect from hail and frost, and create a more temperate growing environment where humidity is higher and plant growth maximised. While effective, the cost of bird netting adds a considerable amount of expense to the bottom line of a vineyard, W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

so a bird damage assessment should be performed before investing in a netting option. The Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia has produced an excellent reference booklet which can assist winegrape growers in managing birds.

It is available for purchase directly from PGIBSA. Some vineyards are limited to bird netting due to the location of neighbours, which can prohibit the use of noisy gas guns and bird scarers, as well as the risks of shooting in built up areas. After the initial costs of bird netting, there are the ongoing costs of applying and removing nets, as well as storage and maintenance.

Another consideration of bird netting in cool climates or where seasonal rainfall occurs during veraison is the ability to apply late season sprays when seasonal pressure requires.

Gas guns Gas guns have some affect in bird control, however, are not available for use by growers where noise issues may impact on neighbours due to Environment Protection Authority noise restrictions.

They also pose a fire risk. Birds seem to become accustomed to the noise of gas guns and, despite the randomised options, V28N6

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Netting that covers entire blocks of vines, like this fruit tree block in Mildura, can not only eradicate bird damage to shoots early in the season but has also been shown to reduce the negative effects of extreme heat, protect from hail and frost, and creates a more temperate growing environment where humidity is high.

Photo: Paul Scopelliti still ignore them after a period of time. The effectiveness of gas guns is increased when used in conjunction with shooting.

Electronic bird scarers Various options are available with most models mimicking bird distress calls.

Their effectiveness can be limited to some bird species and can be dependent on the volume and placement of the scarers. They seem most effective when incorporated in a multiple control strategy. Placing them in perimeter roosting sites can deter birds from flying in and out of vineyards by reducing the security of a birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roost. Wires between speakers can become entangled and damaged in machinery, and the noise emitted can be a factor for employees and neighbours.

Traps The use of bird traps is underrated, particularly when it comes to introduced species such as starlings and Indian mynas.

Trapping allows the separation of pest species and protected species. It can be used effectively and cheaply as trapped birds can send distress signals to other birds and, then, they can be dispatched humanely using recommended techniques of euthanasia by the RSPCA. Shooting Birds are scared of shooting. Point a V2 8N 6

hockey stick at birds and most species will continue to feast on winegrapes; drive in with a gun and watch them fly away. Crows are particularly canny and the most difficult bird I have encountered to frighten with shooting. The most effective way to use shooting as a bird deterrent is to employ a professional shooter. If the vineyard is isolated and has a high level of bird damage, shooting is a good option to lower the population and can send a message to the bird population that the free feed in your vineyard may come at a cost to their health.

From my experience, a professional shooter more than earns his or her money and the risks are left in the hands of experts.

Permits for population control are also available for certain bird species, which maybe in excessive numbers and targeting your crop. I think the days of paying the town drunk a bottle of port to sit under the vines and take pot shots in between naps and nips are a distant memory.

Falconary Use of birds of prey has been employed for bird control for centuries and is still used in vineyards and even at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for seagulls.

The only issue is that there are very few falconers in the Yellow Pages and the birds only seem to be scared off when they are actually in the area.

W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

Time for some lateral thinking on bird control â&#x20AC;&#x201C; mini drones Although not yet developed for use as a bird deterrent for vineyards, the potential is enormous. A recent edition of Catalyst (ABC TV, http://www.abc.net.au/ catalyst/stories/3856906.htm) discussed the development of drones that are programmable to fly in sequence. These mini drones can fly in fleets and I believe have the potential for controlling bird damage in vineyards in the future. Just imagine a small fleet of drones parked in the shed, able to fly themselves around the vineyard in a programmed pattern and then land without having to lift a finger. With none of the drawbacks of the previously discussed bird control options, there finally might be some glimmer of hope on the horizon for a cost-effective bird control option.

Until a fleet of drones becomes available to winegrape growers, the best strategy for limiting bird damage is either full blockout netting or an integrated approach where multiple options are employed. Mixing it up will hopefully allow you to outsmart those feathered pests.

Reference A Growers Guide to Managing Birds in South Australian Vineyards (2005) Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia www.winebiz. com . au

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ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES

Tasmania flies the flag for Schönburger in Australia

By Sonya Logan

F

red Peacock was a viticulturist with Tasmania’s Department of Primary Industries when he and a colleague were issued a brief in the late 1970s to seek out grape varieties particularly suited to cool climates and which might be of interest to the state’s developing wine industry.

Their investigations ultimately led to contact with German viticulturist and chief of the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute Helmut Becker, who advised that his organisation had bred three white varieties that could fit the bill: Reichensteiner, Ehrenfelser and Schönburger.

The three varieties were subsequently imported into Australia through the CSIRO at Merbein in Victoria, and released to Tasmania’s DPI in 1982 where they were used for a trial planting near Hobart.

“It was pretty obvious that Schönburger had the best character and flavour of the three varieties and cropped well,” Peacock recalls. “The other two were also very good croppers and ripened early, but they had nothing like the flavour of Schönburger, which also had the advantage of being a reliable setter.

All three were very disease resistant, especially for botrytis, which was not surprising seeing they were bred for cool areas in Europe.

“Schönburger has this thick, beautiful dark pink skin and doesn’t retain too much acidity at harvest.”

When Peacock purchased Bream Creek in 1990, overlooking the coast in south-east Tasmania, he did so with two goals in mind: to increase plantings of Pinot Noir on the property and to introduce Sauvignon Blanc and Schönburger – the latter is believed to be the first commercial planting of the German-bred variety in the Southern Hemisphere.

“I was so fascinated with the variety by that stage that when I made the decision to become a grape producer myself, all my industry contacts to whom I was consulting at the time said now was the ideal time to plant the varieties I wanted to,” Peacock said.

Schönburger makes up 0.4ha of the 7.5ha Bream Creek vineyard and yields about four tonnes of fruit each year.

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“We harvest it just before Pinot and just after Chardonnay,” Peacock explained. “We’ve got it in the coldest spot in the vineyard to try and retain acidity as it tends to drop acid very quickly.

“It’s in the southern-most corner of the vineyard on a southeast facing site.

The soil type is a fairly heavy clay loam, which I’m not sure is best suited to the variety; it probably ideally prefers lighter ground.”

Peacock cane prunes his Schonburger vines. “They don’t tend to throw replacement canes very well,” he explains as reason for opting for this method. Leaf plucking is also carried out.

“We leaf pluck to get colour into the bunches and berries because that really seems to enhance the varietal flavour.

“Schönburger is a moderate cropper but fairly reliable across a range of season. Even in Germany it’s not regarded as a high cropper which is

Schönburger

By Peter Dry Viticulture Consultant The Australian Wine Research Institute Background Schönburger (pronounced SHERN-burger) is the result of a cross between Pinot Noir and Pirovano 1 (Chasselas Rose x Muscat of Hamburg) at the Geisenheim research centre in Germany it was originally known as Geisenheim 15-114. It was released in 1979 and renamed after the town of Schönburg in the Mittelrhein. Mainly grown in the Rheinhessen, the planted area in Germany is very small. It has been adopted more enthusiastically by the English wine industry where it has done well in their cool climate there might be as many as 50 ha in the UK. It is also grown in British Columbia (Canada), Washington and Oregon (USA) and South Africa but the areas are small.

There are at least six producers of Schönburger wine in Australia, mostly in Tasmania.

Viticulture Budburst is early and maturity is early to mid-season. Growth habit is upright and vigour is moderate. Bunches are medium and well-filled with medium, pinkcoloured berries. Yield is low to moderate (similar to Riesling) and regular. The lack of acceptance of Schönburger in Germany is said to be due to its low yield, being much less than Bacchus, Kerner or Reichensteiner. Cane pruning is most common. It is tolerant of powdery mildew, downy mildew and botrytis bunch rot. The strong skin of the berries is said to give good protection against Botrytis so the harvest can be late. It is winter-hardy but prefers sheltered sites.

Wine Acidity is relatively low but this is not usually a problem in cool climates. Wines are finely aromatic, Gewürztraminer-like, spicy and soft. If the wine lacks acidity, the muscat-like flavour becomes more dominant. Wines are said to be best with some residual sweetness.

For further information on this and other emerging varieties, contact Marcel Essling (rtp@awri.com.au; tel. 08 8313 6600) at The Australian Wine Research Institute to arrange the presentation of the Research to Practice program on Alternative Varieties in your region.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

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probably why it hasn’t taken Germany by storm. We crop Schönburger at about 9t/ ha. I’ve seen it cropped to more than 14t/ ha on sites where it’s grown in slightly warmer areas and on lighter soil types.”

Peacock said it was important to keep an eye on the balance between flavour and acid in Schönburger and suspects warmer areas would struggle to achieve that balance.

“There’s a risk with the variety that if don’t get the flavour and acid balance right the wine becomes flabby and less structured. It seems to need acidity to generate its varietal flavour.

“We generally pick around 12Be. In some years we’ve picked up around 13Be.” Peacock said. “With Schönburger we cold soak after crushing to draw as much flavour from the skins as possible. This initially created some issues with heat and cold stability, so we had to do some mucking around with the winemaking to solve this problem. We’ve also trialled different soak times and have now settled on a much shorter time with little loss of flavour, so that has helped a lot too.

“During winemaking Schönburger starts off with a tiny bit of salmon colour in the juice, which soon drops out with sulfur additions leaving a very pale coloured white wine.

“Schonburger has aromatics similar to Gewurztraminer but possibly has a slightly softer palate; it also has more texture in the mouth than Gewurztraminer.”

Bream Creek makes two styles of Schönburger: a table-style and a desert-style. The latter is a late-picked style due to Schonburger’s resistance to botrytis.

“The dessert style is sensational,” Peacock noted. “The aromatics are more concentrated.” He said the table style paired well with delicate foods such as sushi, and complemented Asian style cuisine – especially Japanese and Korean.

“This variety has an amazing capacity to match a wide variety of foods,” he said, adding that Schönburger seemed to age well.

“One of my concerns at the outset was that it might not age – perhaps two to three years maximum. But judging by what our customers have told us, it will hold for quite a number of years if cellared properly, and seems to have similar cellaring attributes to Gewurztraminer.”

Peacock’s Schönburger vines are now 20 years old, and he has plans to add a bit more to increase production by about WVJ a tonne.

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Bream Creek proprietor Fred Peacock.

Schonburger in the Bream Creek vineyard in southeast Tasmania.

W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

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How large could Australia’s wine exports to China become by 2018?

By Kym Anderson1 and Glyn Wittwer2 1 Wine Economics Research Centre, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005. Email: kym.anderson@adelaide.edu.au 2 Centre of Policy Studies, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168

China has become the powerhouse of wine-consuming Asia, and Australia is projected to supply around a fifth of the country’s volume and value imports by 2018, as this article details.

T

here is much talk about China being the world’s fastestgrowing market for wine, but little analysis of how large it might become in relation to other Asian markets, in what price segments, and supplied by whom.

The growth in Asian wine export opportunities in the past few years coincided with an appreciation of Australia’s currency, which weakened Australian competitiveness abroad and reduced foreign interest in investing in local wineries. Certainly, the reduction of 10 percent or more in the Australian dollar in recent months (see Figure 1), if sustained, could reverse that decline in competitiveness. However, it is coinciding with a slowdown in Asian income growth and a rapid expansion in domestic wine production in China.

To get a clearer idea of the relative importance of these various and sometimes offsetting forces, the authors (2013) have revised and updated their model of the world’s wine markets (see Wittwer, Berger and Anderson 2003) to project China’s demand for imports from Australia and elsewhere over the period 2011 to 2018. In doing so, the authors pay particular attention to all major bilateral real exchange rate (RER) movements globally, not just the nominal US dollar, Euro and UK pound rates for the Australian dollar. The base scenario assumes no change from 2011 RERs, which are compared with an alternative scenario in which RERs for all but China and India return halfway back to 2009 rates.

While the latter seems the more likely scenario given the fall in the value of the Australian dollar over the past few months, a comparison with the nochange scenario gives a sense of the importance of future exchange rate movements.

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Figure 1. Nominal value of the Australian dollar, January 1970 to September 2013 (US dollars, Euros and UK pounds per AUD).

Source: Reserve Bank of Australia (www.rba.gov.au, accessed 11 October 2013)

Figure 2. China’s increasing dominance in Asian wine consumption, 2000 to 2012 (ML per year). Source: Anderson and Nelgen (2011, Table 16), updated for China from OIV (2013) and for other countries from Euromonitor International.

Exchange rates are not the only pertinent things that will change by 2018, of course. There will be changes in national consumption levels as populations and incomes grow, and also in national preferences, W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

technologies, and capital investments in grape and wine production. For example, the authors assume the global long-trend preference swing away from non-premium wines is projected to continue.

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Table 1. Projected producer price and production volume changes in AUD, 2011 to 2018 (%). (a) 2011 to 2018: Base scenario (assuming no RER changes from 2011)

Non-premium wine Commercial-premium

Price

Production

-15.3

-8.1

2.7

8.1

Super-premium

49.7

15.3

Iconic still wine

44.8

15.4

Sparkling wine

8.3

11.4

Premium grapes

20.1

9.6

Non-premium grapes

-6.1

6.1

(b) 2011 to 2018: Alternative 1 (assuming RERs return halfway from 2011 to 2009 rates)

Non-premium wine

Price

Production

-5.9

1.4

Commercial-premium

19.0

13.4

Super-premium

67.9

18.0

Iconic still wine

49.6

16.3

Sparkling wine

19.0

15.1

Premium grapes

34.6

11.4

Non-premium grapes

12.2

9.6

(c) 2011 to 2018: Alternative 2 (assuming also slower Chinese import growth) Price

Production

Non-premium wine

-11.7

-4.4

Commercial-premium

12.2

11.7

Super-premium

59.0

17.3

Iconic still wine

49.5

16.4

Sparkling wine

18.5

15.3

Premium grapes

29.8

11.0

Non-premium grapes

4.4

8.2

Source: Authors’ model results

In this article the main focus within Asia is on China because, as Figure 2 shows, it is by far the biggest consumer of wine in Asia. In fact, its aggregate wine consumption is around 100 times that of equally populous India, and already seven times that of far-wealthier Japan. The authors assume there will continue to be a considerable taste swing in China towards all wine types as more Chinese earn middle-class incomes - bearing in mind that the number of middle class people in China is currently around 250 million and is growing at 10 million per year (Kharas 2010, Barton, Chen and Jin 2013) - and that grape wine still accounts for less than 5% of Chinese alcohol consumption. As well, grape and wine industry capital (net of depreciation) is assumed to grow at 1.5% per year in China, but zero elsewhere.

Given the uncertainty associated with several dimensions of developments in China’s wine markets, the authors also compare the more likely of two main scenarios to 2018 (in which RERs revert halfway back from 2011 to 2009 rates, called Alternative 1) with another scenario (called Alternative 2) in which three dimensions are altered: China’s V2 8N 6

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expenditure growth during 2011 to 2018 is reduced by onequarter (from 7.5% to 5.6% per year), its RER is lowered 15%, and its grape and wine industry capital is assumed to grow at 3% instead of 1.5% per year. All three changes ensure a much smaller increase in China’s wine imports by 2018 in this second alternative scenario.

The differences between the three scenarios on the projected effects on Australian production and real producer prices in Australian dollars are evident in Table 1. For the period to 2018, Australia’s non-premium grape and wine prices are projected to fall further if real exchange rates don’t change from their 2011 levels, while super-premium and iconic still wine prices rise by more than 40% (Table 1a). If, on the other hand, RERs were to return halfway toward what they were in 2009, real prices in Australia would rise above 2011 levels for most grape and wine types, especially for super-plus premium wines (Table 1b). The extent of those rises would be somewhat, but not substantially, less if China’s import growth were slower, as in the Alternative 2 scenario (Table 1c).

Even if there were no changes in exchange rates, Australia is projected to expand its output by 2018 for all wine types except non-premium. For commercial premium and super-premium, the increases are 8% and 15%, respectively (Table 1a). But, with the reversal in RER trends, those output increases would be 13% and 18%, respectively, unless China’s import growth was much slower, in which case they would be one percentage point less (Tables 1b and 1c).

The income, population and preference changes together mean that global consumption would grow over the period to 2018 for all but non-premium wine, but least so for

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commercial premium. The percentage increases are very similar in the three scenarios for the Old World and Japan, but are somewhat more in the UK, China and especially the US in the altered currencies’ scenarios versus the scenario with no changes in real exchange rates. What is more striking is the concentration of consumption growth and declines. As shown in Figure 3, in all scenarios the growth is concentrated in the US, Brazil and especially China, while there are substantial declines in consumption in

the Old World (mostly of non-premium wines).

When combined with the changes projected in production, it is possible to get a picture of what is projected to happen to wine trade. Table 2 provides projections for the main wine-trading regions. In terms of volumes, world trade grows 6% in the base scenario and 7% in the Alternative 1 scenario in which RERs change. Virtually all of the increase in those two scenarios is due to China’s import growth. In the Alterative 2 scenario, in which

Table 2. Projected change in global wine import and export volumes and values, 2011 to 2018. (a) Imports Volume (ML)

Value (US$m)

Base

Alt. 1

Alt. 2

Base

Alt. 1

United Kingdom

-54

-36

-29

98

174

Alt. 2 93

North America

-23

11

37

961

1097

1015

Other Europe

-122

-162

-140

1012

646

552

China

627

739

334

1948

2305

1178 769

Other Asia

20

14

16

877

788

Other developing

152

133

141

498

311

318

WORLD

600

696

359

5394

5321

3925

(b) Exports Volume (ML) Base

Value (US$m)

Alt. 1

Alt. 2

Base

Alt. 1

Alt. 2

Australia

0

90

59

336

933

675

Other New World

78

219

75

469

954

597

Old World

538

412

263

4370

3489

2653

WORLD

600 (6%)

698 (7%)

359 (4%)

5394 (17%)

5321 (17%)

3925 (15%)

Source: Authors’ model results

China imports less, global trade also expands less (by only 4%). In terms of the real value of global trade, however, the upgrading of demand means that China accounts for only a fraction of the growth in the US dollar value of global imports, namely 36%, 43%, and 30% in the base, Alternative 1 and Alternative 2 scenarios, respectively. In all three scenarios the value of global wine trade rises by about one-sixth (last row of Table 2).

China has already become by far the most important wine-consuming country in Asia (Figure 2). An extra 620940 megalitres is forecast to be added by 2018 to China’s consumption of 1630ML in 2011, making its dominance even greater. Since China’s domestic production is projected to increase by ‘only’ about 210-290ML by 2018, its net imports are projected to rise by between 330-740ML. The Southern Hemisphere supplies a little more than half of those extra imports in the base scenario, and a little less than half in the alternative scenarios. The US reduces its imports by 24ML and expands its exports to China by 50ML in the base scenario, but in the alternative scenarios it increases its imports of premium wines.

Australia is projected to supply between 70-147ML of China’s extra imports, amounting to between US$350-650m per year (Table 3). That represents about one-fifth of China’s total import volume increase, and – more importantly – between 22% and 30% of the value of China’s extra imports.

Figure 3. Changes in wine consumption, China and elsewhere, 2011 to 2018 (ML).

Source: Authors’ model results

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What about Australia’s exports to other countries? Again, it depends very much on the scenario. If real exchange rates did not change from 2011 to 2018, Australia’s exports to all destinations other than Asia would decline, and in aggregate volume would be no more than in 2011. By contrast, if exchange rates were to settle at halfway back to those of 2009 (Alternative 1), Australian total annual exports would increase by 90ML to become about one-eighth more than in 2011; while in Alternative 2 (slower import growth by China) that increase is only two-thirds as large.

The increase in the US dollar value of total exports from Australia is much greater though, ranging from 18% to 49% over 2011 values (last row of Table 3).

There is little joy for Australian producers of non-premium wines (and, thus, grapes) in these projections, however: their exports are expected to fall in all but the most optimistic scenario (Alternative 1). This is partly because only a small fraction (between one-fifth and two-fifths) of the increased volume of imports

by China is projected to be nonpremium wines. For Australia those

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Table 3. Projected change in Australian wine export volumes and values, by destination, 2011 to 2018.

Volume (ML) Base

Value (US$m)

Alt. 1

Alt. 2

Base

Alt. 1

Alt. 2

United Kingdom

-40

-25

-11

-59

42

48

Other Europe

-20

-13

-5

-26

28

36

United States

-36

-14

3

-22

115

130

China

108

147

70

428

649

356

Other

-12

-5

2

15

99

105

WORLD

0 (0%)

90 (13%)

59 (8%)

336 (18%)

933 (49%)

675 (36%)

Source: Authors’ model results Table 4. Shares of Australia’s wine production exported and wine consumption imported, by volume and value, actual 2009 and projected 2018 (%).

Volume

2009

Value

Exports/ domestic production

Imports/ domestic consumption

Exports/ domestic production

Imports/ domestic consumption

64

13

46

14

2018: Base

61

17

40

15

Alt. 1

65

16

45

14

Alt. 2

63

16

43

14

Source: Authors’ model results

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(a) Alternative 1 (assuming RERs return halfway from 2011 to 2009 rates)

wine consumption in China are no faster than what occurred in several Western European wine-importing countries in earlier decades, it is the sheer size of China’s population – and the fact that grape wine still accounts for less than 5% of Chinese alcohol consumption – that makes this import growth opportunity unprecedented. It would be somewhat less if China’s own winegrape production increases faster, as in the Alternative 2 scenario, but certainly in as short a period as the next five years that is not able to reduce the growth in China’s wine imports significantly, especially at the premium end of the spectrum.

Of course, these projections are not predictions. Where exchange rates move to, and how fast Australian wine producers take advantage of the projected market growth opportunities in Asia compared with their competitors abroad, will determine the actual changes in market shares over the coming years.

Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for funding support from Australia’s Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation.

This paper draws on Anderson and Wittwer (2013). The views expressed are the authors' alone.

References

(b) Alternative 2 (assuming also slower Chinese import growth) Figure 4. Shares of value of Australian wine exports to US, UK and China, 2009 to 2018 (%). Source: Historical data from www.wineaustralia.com and projections from authors’ model results fractions are similar: between 25-42% of the projected increase in volume of its exports to China – and much less of the value of those sales – are non-premium.

The share of China in Australia’s total value of wine exports is projected to grow from 6% in 2009 to between 20% and 28% by 2018, depending on how rapidly China’s aggregate wine imports grow.

The UK share, by contrast, is projected to stay flat or fall by two percentage points to be well below China’s by 2018 in the base and Alternative 1 scenarios, and to be barely above it even in the Alternative

2 scenario. Even the US share only just recovers from its low 2012 level and falls below China’s if China keeps growing rapidly (Figure 4).

To conclude, this modelling exercise suggests exchange rates are capable of playing a major role in the years ahead, just as they have in past years.

On top of that, the projections outlined in this article point to the enormous speed with which China may become a dominant market for Australian wine producers. While the recent and projected rates of increase in per capita

Anderson, K. and Nelgen, S. (2011) Global Wine Markets, 1961 to 2009: A Statistical Compendium, Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press. Freely accessible as an e-book at www.adelaide.edu.au/ press/titles/global-wine and as Excel files at www. adelaide.edu.au/wine-econ/databases/GWM Anderson, K. and Wittwer, G. (2013) Modelling Global Wine Markets to 2018: Exchange Rates, Taste Changes, and China’s Import Growth’, Journal of Wine Economics 8(2): forthcoming.

Barton, D.; Chen, Y. and Jin, A. (2013) Mapping China’s Middle Class, McKinsey Quarterly, June. www.mckinsey.com/insights/consumer_and_retail/ mapping_chinas_middle_class Kharas, H. (2010) The Emerging Middle Class in Developing Countries, Working Paper 285, OECD Development Centre, Paris, January.

OIV (2013) State of the Vitiviniculture World Market, Paris: OIV, March (www.oiv.org) Wittwer, G.; Berger, N. and Anderson, K. (2003) A Model of the World’s Wine Markets, Economic Modelling 20(3):487-506.

WVJ

Winebiz online Buyers’ Guide Equipment, Supplies & Services for the wine & grape industry www.winebiz.com.au/guide 64

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Barossa breaks new ground with regional education in Hong Kong and China

By Andrew Yap, Andrew Yap Wine and Food Consulting. Email: wineeducator@ozemail.com.au

S

tudents from the Barossa Wine School (BWS) based in Hong Kong recently participated in the inaugural intensive six-day immersion wine educational program in the Barossa Valley to gain first-hand knowledge about the region and its grape varieties, wines, culture and food. The 14 students from Hong Kong and China who comprised a mixture of wine trade representatives, wine educators and wine lovers came to the Barossa to undertake BWS’s level 3 program.

Launched in Hong Kong in January this year, the BWS is “Australia’s first regional wine education program and demonstrates our commitment to promoting the Barossa internationally”, according to James March, chief executive of the Barossa Grape & Wine Association (BGWA).

Students participating in the level 3 program must have successfully completed the introductory level 1 (Barossa enthusiast) and one-day equivalent level 2 (Barossa specialist) courses in Hong Kong, at the Asia Wine Service and Education Centre (AWSEC).

Under a joint arrangement, students undertake levels 1 and 2 in Hong Kong in English or Chinese, while level 3 is only undertaken in the Barossa.

During the packed program the students spent their time in the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley and tasted hundreds of wines, including the 2013 Barossa Wine Show entries and wines made from the oldest Shiraz, Mataro and Grenache grapevines in the world. The students interacted with winemakers and viticulturists to enhance their understanding of what makes the Barossa hero varieties, such as Barossa Shiraz and Eden Valley Riesling, unique in the world of wines. They also tasted a magnificent range of foods made from regional fare obtained from artisan producers.

“It is fantastic to have had the chance to showcase not only the great wines from our region, but also the history, heritage and local food to guests from Hong Kong and China. The level 3 Barossa Wine School participants have been able to immerse themselves in the Barossa and experience what it is like to

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Barossa Wine School (BWS) students visiting one of the oldest Shiraz vineyards in the Barossa Valley. be part of our community,” said James March.

Accompanying the students was director of Winehero Asia, Lucy Anderson, who assisted in the development of the educational program together with Andrew Yap, formerly senior lecturer in oenology at The University of Adelaide and Roseworthy Agricultural College, and Corrine Mui, of AWSEC. “I think the Barossa Wine School provides a fun, interactive way for people to learn about Australian wine. The classroom activities (level 1 and level 2) in Hong Kong and China use as many images and videos as possible to convey a sense of the region, the people, the food and wine from the Barossa,” Lucy Anderson said.

“Those who sign-up for level 3 have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the Barossa, meet the winemakers, enjoy the food and wine, and learn more about viticulture and winemaking in the region. Experiences include seeing the oldest vines in the world and drinking the wines made from these vines, seeing how wine barrels are made at a cooperage, W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

learning about vine grafting and different clones, as well as winery visits and tastings. Those who participated have already asked where they can sign-up for level 4, which I think speaks to the success of the program, ” Anderson said.

Reporting that highlights of the wine education program were many, Anderson said the ‘Barossa Grounds’ experience received excellent feedback from the entire group.

“We arranged local winemakers and viticulturists to drive groups of three students around to different sites in the Barossa to get a sense of the diversity within the region. St Hallett viticulturist Chris Rogers was one of the hosts, and I think he enjoyed himself as much as the students.

“On returning to Hong Kong, I think the group has a much better understanding of Australia, the Barossa and the quality of wines produced. The visit enabled them to get to know some of the local winegrowing community. They will all be wonderful ambassadors for Australia and the Barossa through sharing their experience with friends, family and colleagues,” WVJ Anderson said. www.winebiz. com . au

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Developing a Chinese lexicon for wine

By Dr Armando Corsi, Dr Justin Cohen and Professor Larry Lockshin Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, University of South Australia

Researchers from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science have collaborated with AWRI staff to collect data to create a lexicon of wine descriptors appropriate for use in the Chinese market, to educate drinkers there about Australian wine styles.

T

he Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC) generously supports numerous research projects conducted by our team in the China market that aim to answer industry-driven questions related to shopper behaviour and consumer preference. The Chinese Lexicon Project introduced in this article is an important pillar in our ongoing research for the industry and is focussed specifically on this issue.

The sensory experience of a wine is complex. Asking a novice wine drinker to describe the taste of a wine will usually

elicit general terminology like ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘sweet’ or ‘sour’. The expectation of more experienced drinkers and wine professionals is that a wine can be described using terms that specify particular fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices and even meats. This task is arduous for most. To ascertain the true sensory characterisation of a wine, one must rely on the convening of an ‘expert panel’, like the ones conducted by our colleagues at the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI), to develop the correct terminology to associate with each wine. The output of these

investigations or the commentary provided by a winemaker, expert reviewer or sommelier are often utilised by wine marketers, retailers and food and beverage providers to assist in the sale of wine in various forms of marketing communications and collateral materials.

Let us now consider an emerging and rapidly growing wine consumption market such as China. The description of wines that is complex for a Western audience is further muddied in the Chinese market for two reasons. The first reason is a lack of wine knowledge and experience. The second is a lack of

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understanding of the sensory descriptors of wines based on Western terms. Certain food products common to a Western diet are alien in a Chinese diet and vice versa. One competitive advantage for Australian producers in a developing market such as China could be to communicate the taste of a wine to a Chinese consumer in a manner to which they are most receptive.

This research was designed in conjunction with our colleagues Leigh Francis and Patricia Williamson, from the AWRI. This made it possible to have expert opinion and research design from both a marketing and sensory standpoint. Wine Intelligence, a wine focussed consumer insights agency, and Anovax, a Chinese food marketing research agency, were retained for the execution of the data collection under the supervision of project team members. Technicians who were fluent in Mandarin and highly knowledgeable of the wine category conducted this research. This research is ongoing and preliminary insights only are presented here.

The first wave of data collection consisted of 12 focus groups across three cities in China – Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shanghai – in March 2013. Respondents were recruited on the following demographics: • between the ages of 25-45 • equal gender split • minimum income of 10,000 RMB per month • employed in a professional position for at least one year • university degree required for respondents under 30.

Respondents were further screened on the following wine consumption criteria: • have bought imported wine at least two to three times in the past six months

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• typically spend between 150-400 RMB on a bottle of wine in retail • do not purchase wines predominantly for gifting • have consumed wine in an on-trade scenario two to three times in the past six months • have consumed wine at home two to three times in the past six months • open to consuming imported grape-based wine.

The groups were conducted in four lots to isolate respondents by gender and age group, as our data provider advised this would be most effective at eliciting feedback in the context of the Chinese culture. The groups were conducted in Mandarin and then translated into English for analytic purposes. Due to the complexity of the interviewing coupled with the tasting of wines to evoke taste descriptors, the groups were limited to four respondents at a time. This pilot phase resulted in 48 consumers interviewed across the three cities.

Each focus group was conducted in two stages. First, as a warm-up task, the moderator asked the participants to discuss the evolution of their wine consumption from recalling their first exposure to the category through to their current motivations to consume and perceptions of imported wines. Results of this component are not reported in this article for brevity. This was followed by a blind tasting of four wine styles: sparkling, white, red, and dessert. The tasting order of wine by style was fixed. However, wines were randomly assigned to each group among a pool of four wines per style. A total of 16 wines were trialled across the 12 focus groups. The wines were chosen during a bench tasting conducted by team members from the AWRI

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Sparkling wines

White wines

Red wines

Dessert wines

Figure 1. Generic and non-culture specific taste descriptors – classified by wine style. (Data visualisation courtesy of Wine Intelligence) Table 1. The top 10 culturally-related flavour descriptors associated with wine – classification by wine style.

Sparkling Wines

Count % White Wines

Count %

Pomelo

67

Kaffir lime

44

Kaffir lime

52

Pomelo

31

Jasmine tea leaves

23

Lemongrass

19

Guava

17

Guava

15

Jackfruit

17

Rambutan

15

Lemongrass

15

Starfruit

13

Cantaloupe

13

Jackfruit

10

Starfruit

10

Gingko nut

10

Rambutan

10

Jasmine tea leaves

8

Dragon fruit

8

Yellow melon

8

Red Wines

Count % Dessert Wines

Count %

Yangmei

42

Longan

38

Dried Chinese hawthorn

33

Jackfruit

38

Dried Chinese red date

31

Pomelo

29

Fresh Wolfberry

27

Cantaloupe

23

Chinese black tea leaf

23

Mango

21

Dried wolfberry

23

Kaffir lime

21

Clove

21

Starfruit

19

Fresh Chinese date

19

Dragon fruit

15

Dried Chinese mushroom

8

Asian pear

15

Persimmon

6

Lemongrass

13

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and the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, who selected the most representative wine styles that Australia currently exports to China.

The first component of this sensory test was to ascertain the generic and non-culture specific lexicon that Chinese drinkers use to describe wine. The most common terminology applied was words such as ‘smooth’, ‘fruity’, ‘sweet’, ‘mellow’ and ‘lengthy aftertaste’. Terms like ‘fresh’, ‘soft’, ‘pure’, ‘good aroma’ and ‘full-bodied’ were elicited, but less frequently.

Specific wine styles had more nuanced descriptions. Figure 1 illustrates the terms used by style and their relative size indicates their usage frequency.

Likeability and explanations of wine preference were recorded by wine and style. However, the sample size was too small to report these outputs. These results are further tested in a later phase of this research, but are beyond the scope of this article.

The main focus of this stage of the research was to develop relevant, culture-appropriate taste descriptors to be applied in the quantitative phase of this research project, which will be reported at a later date. Respondents were provided with a grid of Chinese-specific terms to choose from as they sought to identify the flavour profile of each wine tasted. There were two grids utilised: one more appropriate for white, sparkling and sweet wines and the other more appropriate for red wines. The analysis revealed that fruit flavour descriptors were selected more frequently than vegetable flavour descriptors. Flavours such as ‘kaffir lime’ and ‘pomelo’, are dominant for both white and sparkling wines. Fruits such as ‘yangmei’, ‘dried Chinese hawthorns’, ‘dried Chinese red dates’ and ‘fresh wolfberry’ are most suited for red wine description. Fruits such as ‘longan’ and ‘jackfruit’ are the most prevalent descriptors when tasting dessert wines. Table 1 contains a detailed listing of the terms elicited by wine style.

The culture-specific lexicon developed is the Chinese equivalent of the standard Western descriptors used to describe the sensory profile of wine. These terms are the first to be elicited specifically from Chinese wine consumers to describe Australian wines. In the next stage of the research we recruited larger, more statistically significant samples of Chinese wine consumers to compare the use of these Chinese terms with traditional Western terms for the same set of wines. The results of this larger study are now under analysis.

We note that no previous study has scientifically validated if: these terms are appropriate equivalents; the Chinese are able to better utilise this format to describe a wine; and from a marketing perspective, if the usage of such a lexicon increases preference, willingness to pay or purchase behaviour in the context of different consumption occasions. Providing the answers to these questions could be transformative for the Australian wine industry. The results will improve the way wines are communicated to Chinese consumers across all channels.

The outcomes will be useful for back labels and marketing communications by producers, help wine distributors better support the brands they represent, assist food and beverage outlets in their wine lists, and help both regular and online retailers describe Australian wines more appropriately to Chinese consumers. A detailed final report of the results of the entire Chinese Lexicon Project will be disseminated to the industry by the GWRDC at a later date. An article describing these results will be published in this journal at that time.

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The UK wine market An enigma, with variations?

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

Opportunities to expand wine sales in the UK market could arise from persuading more Brits to invest in a longer-term relationship with wine by committing to the concept of cellaring.

T

he UK wine market remains a fascinating yet frustrating puzzle.

Within the past five years, the global financial crisis, abetted by a crushing series of tax increases on alcohol, have halted the UK’s 30-year growth story in wine.

Even without the economic and regulatory problems, selling wine to the Brits was already rather headacheinducing. This, after all, is a market where the world’s finest producers still make their reputations, and quality is prized like nowhere else. Alongside this, bargain-basement blends endure shrinking margins in an ugly battle for supermarket volume. In that sense, nothing really has changed. Today is like the past, only more so, particularly as most of the retailers trying to occupy the middle ground between the two extremes – Threshers, Victoria Wine, Unwins, Oddbins, Wine Rack, and others – have disappeared or are small shadows of their former selves.

So, is this the shape of things to come? You don’t have to look far into Wine Intelligence’s latest report, 'The UK Wine Market Landscape', to find a gloomy prognosis. Volumes are down.

Per capita consumption is on the slide.

The proportion of consumers drinking wine more than once a week has taken a hit. At the bottom end of the market, it’s quite clear that a whole swathe of consumers has actually abandoned the wine category because they can no longer afford it, possibly via a brief encounter with cheaper and generally poor quality 5.5% v/v wine, which only served to hasten their exit. Instead the bulk of these consumers now choose beers, ciders or mixed drinks, which remain a bit cheaper on the whole than a bottle of wine.

Economics are partly to blame for this shift. Recent figures from the UK Office for National Statistics show that annual grocery inflation is running at

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The UK wine market has taken a few low blows from external forces and experienced the kind of settling-down expected at this stage of its development.

Future success stories are likely to come from market niches. more than 4%. The Retail Prices Index, which includes housing costs, is measured at 3.3%. Meanwhile, average wages are up just 1.1%. If something has got to give in squeezed household budgets, wine is quite often going to be in the line of fire, especially as the government’s policy of applying above-inflation duty increases every spring pushes wine prices significantly higher. It’s also worth noting that the most recent round of tax increases spared the beer sector after furious lobbying from brewers, while the cider sector is also protected by a more benign tax regime because of its connection to British apple farmers.

W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

So, it feels like a dark hour for the UK wine trade. However, history – and business instinct - tells us that these moments offer the best opportunities to place good value bets on the recovery. Therefore, let’s spin the glass-half-full story for the UK. First, the economic picture is changing – finally. The deepest recession for 80 years is now over, with the economy of 2013 still about 3% smaller than its 2008 peak.

The forecasters’ consensus is that the UK economy will grow by about 1% this year, and about 2% next year. Hardly stellar, it’s true, but better than the past three years, which have in effect seen zero growth. On a more practical note, house prices are www.winebiz. com . au

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again rising by 5-7% per year, which strictly speaking changes nothing unless you sell and don’t then buy again, but makes consumers feel a bit better about themselves. Finally, some tax cuts for lower paid workers are starting to filter through into spending.

Confidence is also returning to the booze trade. Retailers and restaurants recorded some grim sales numbers in 2012, thanks to the combination of a wet summer and a virtual shutdown of London during the Olympics.

Among consumers we are also seeing some interesting changes, some positive, others not. The number of people who say that “wine is an important part of my lifestyle” is slightly higher now than it was in 2011. Marginally more consumers feel competent in their wine knowledge.

In fact, the proportion of consumers we term as ‘high involvement’ has registered a small increase.

We are also seeing some interesting changes in consumers’ choice cues. No longer is the promotional offer the most important consideration: people are now more concerned with the grape variety.

Further, although country of origin is slightly less of an influence than it was two years ago, there is more weight attached to the region from which a wine

comes, and what awards it may have won.

The biggest change is in how consumers view alcohol content. More than four in 10 regular wine drinkers now have this on their radar when buying wine, compared with just over two out of every 10 a couple of years ago. Alcoholic strength has long been a hobbyhorse of the UK’s legions of wine writers, and it seems the issue is now resonating with consumers like never before.

For the new report we have also looked at our consumers using two new measures: how much wine they have in their cellars, and what wine accessories they own. Some of the results are fairly predictable: the consumers with the most kit – wine fridges, aerators, decanters - tend to be the ones storing the most bottles, and vice versa.

They are the highly involved end of the market. What was perhaps more startling was that only a quarter of regular wine consumers own 12 or more bottles of wine at any given time, and only 11% can count more than 24 bottles on their premises.

For all the talk in the trade about ageing potential of certain wines, and the amount of press devoted to the returns available to canny investors, very few Brits actually have any sort of ‘cellar’. Wine in the UK remains a product that is bought as needed.

So, the overall conclusion to draw is not so much that the UK wine market is in terminal decline, but that it has taken a few low blows from external forces and experienced the kind of settling-down we’d expect to see at this stage of its development. This is no longer a highgrowth market, but a mature, established one.

Further expansion, if it happens, is likely to be moderate, and perhaps not across the board. Instead, we expect the success stories to come from market niches: perhaps lower-alcohol wines with genuine quality credentials, or products from a currently unfamiliar country or region. The boom in independent wine merchants – where premium wines are the standard offering – looks set to continue as certain types of consumers gravitate beyond the mainstream. Perhaps a few more Brits can be persuaded to invest in a longer-term relationship with wine through buying wines that can be aged. Admittedly, the picture is a complicated one. It is, after all, a complicated market.

Is it a sector that marketers should write off? Absolutely not. Despite all its well-documented challenges, the UK is still in the big league. It’s likely to remain WVJ there for the foreseeable future.

FAQ: How do I find a contract winemaking facility?

VISIT www.winebiz.com.au/guide • Select the option “Winemaking Facility – Contract” from the Buyers’ Guide categories listed to view companies that offer this service

LOOK in your 2013 Wine Industry Directory from page 515 to find companies that offer “Winemaking Facility – Contract”

PROVIDING SOLUTIONS TO THE WINE INDUSTRY

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VISIT www.winebiz.com.au/widonline/wineries • Scroll down to “Other Services” search option, allocate “Contract Winemaking” and hit the search button • Refine your search further by adding “State”, “Zone” and/or “Region” options to your search RememBeR to login first so that you can access the Australian Wineries Advanced Search* *Australian Wineries Advanced Search available only to those who have purchased the Wine Industry Directory (purchase includes annual subscription to WID Online)

To order your copy: Ph: +618 8369 9509 E: orders@winetitles.com.au Visit: www.winebiz.com.au

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

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business & marketing

Australian and global wine competition success

By Mark Rowley, Industry Analyst, Wine Australia

T

he recently announced winners of the 2013 Decanter World Wine Awards have once again reinforced Australia’s position as one of the world’s leading producers of quality wine. In vindication of Australia’s top wines, Australia was awarded the most international trophy awards (the most prestigious Decanter award) of any wineproducing nation. However, the results were far from a one-off event, as Australia has a long track record of excelling in global wine competitions. This article will examine Australia’s performance in two of the world’s leading wine competitions - the International Wine Challenge (IWC) and Decanter’s World Wine Awards.

Over the past six years from 2008 to 2013, Australian wine producers have received the second most Decanter international trophies, as well as the second most gold medals in the Decanter and IWC awards. French wines won the most awards in all three of the categories mentioned. However, France produces five times more wine than Australia and the wine industry in France receives significant subsidies from the European Commission for growing and marketing their wines.

To take the production base into account, a simple ratio can be used to put each country’s competition performances into context – the share of total awards divided by the share of global vineyard area. Using this relative performance ratio, Australia outperforms not only France but also Italy and Spain – the world’s three biggest wine producers.

Figure 1 (see page 72) illustrates results for total IWC gold medals over the last six years. Total medals won is displayed by the columns in the chart (the left axis) while the performance ratio is illustrated by the red dot (the right axis). This dot is included to provide a sense of the relative success of each country.

France was the best performer in absolute terms, winning 514 gold medals, which accounted for a 24% share of all gold medals awarded.

The country accounts for around 19% of global winegrape area and, therefore, outperformed compared with its size. Australia accumulated the second highest number of golds (367, or 17% share of all gold), however, with just 4% of global vineyard area,

massively over-performed relative to its production base. Australia’s relative performance ratio was 4.65 compared with 1.24 for France.

Spain and Italy accumulated the third and fourth highest number of gold medals respectively, however, due to their large production bases, their relative performance ratios were low at 0.37 and 0.43. Conversely, New Zealand’s 145 gold medals and relatively small production base resulted in a very high relative performance ratio of 8.96.

The gold medals that Decanter awarded further verify Australia’s strong performance in both relative and absolute measures (Figure 2, see page 72). Again, France accumulated the most gold (269, or 21% share of all gold) followed by Australia (172, or 13% of all gold). Italy (152 gold), South Africa (119 gold) and Spain (116 gold) were all well ahead of the next five competitors. The ‘Other’ category features prominently with countries that are not Australia’s major competitors, such as Portugal, Hungary, Greece and Canada, ▶ performing well.

Table 1. Count of Decanter and IWC awards (2008-2013) IWC Gold Medals 2013

2012

2011

Decanter Gold Medals

2010

2009

2008

2013

2012

2011

2010

Decanter International Trophy

2009

2008

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Argentina

13

7

4

4

10

8

9

11

18

10

7

2

1

3

5

4

2

2

Australia

81

69

61

65

43

48

27

32

27

26

33

27

6

2

2

2

4

4

Chile

17

13

12

23

20

10

12

6

13

8

4

1

3

5

0

3

4

0

France

113

120

99

74

49

59

40

58

46

47

36

42

3

6

3

5

3

6

Germany

14

11

15

19

16

10

9

3

8

13

7

2

1

0

1

0

0

1

Italy

38

27

31

30

28

17

28

31

31

21

24

17

2

1

2

3

1

2

New Zealand

38

23

20

22

20

22

14

12

11

15

4

1

3

1

3

2

3

0

South Africa

18

13

13

10

9

9

27

15

26

15

23

13

4

2

0

2

2

6

Spain

61

49

37

20

23

13

18

29

20

17

16

16

4

3

2

4

2

3

USA

2

0

2

3

3

4

2

2

3

2

2

1

0

1

0

1

0

0

Other

94

93

81

56

64

53

44

56

34

34

40

32

5

4

6

2

3

2

Total

489

425

375

326

285

253

230

255

237

208

196

154

32

28

24

28

24

26

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W ine S h ow s

Figure 1. IWC gold medal results (2008-2013). Source: International Wine Challenge

Figure 2. Decanter gold medal results (2008-2013). Source: Decanter

Figure 3. Decanter international trophy results (2008-2013) Source: Decanter

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The best relative performance ratio was achieved by New Zealand, followed by South Africa and Australia.

These three countries’ relative performance ratios far exceeded that of Europe’s large wine-producing nations – France, Italy and Spain.

In Decanter’s highest award, the international trophy category (Figure 3), France, with 26 trophies, was the most successful country over the past six years while Australia was ranked second with 20 trophies. Of the 162 trophies awarded, France accounted for a 16% share and Australia accounted for a 12% share.

Again, New Zealand’s relative performance ratio was high at 9.85.

South Africa was ranked second with 4.22 and Australia third with 3.36.

The performance of Australian wine in the Decanter and IWC awards over the last six years shows that Australia continues to punch above its weight. It highlights that Australian wine producers continue to create innovative and outstanding wines that match the best the world has to offer. The challenge is to get these quality wines onto the world’s retail shelves and wine lists. To assist with this, Wine Australia last month held Savour Australia 2013 - the biggest Australian wine forum ever staged.

The event brought together more than 750 of the world’s leading wine trade professionals including retailers, sommeliers, importers, distributors, wine media and Australian wine producers to open the world’s palates to Australia’s best wines.

This showcase was achieved through business sessions, themed lunches and dinners prepared by some of Australia’s top chefs, a grand tasting that featured wines from more than 170 Australian wineries, and intimate Landmark Australia tastings, which highlighted Australia’s ultimate wine offerings.

The wine trade and wine media’s response to the quality, diversity and regionality of Australian wine at Savour Australia 2013 has been overwhelmingly positive.

Wine Australia will continue the momentum through its global calendar of educational programs, events, retail promotions, tastings and masterclasses. It’s now up to the industry to make the most of the new leads generated at the event to maintain and build on the positive sentiment.

For more insights into Savour Australia 2013, refer to Wine Australia’s WVJ column in this issue on page 8.

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V a rie t a l re p or t

What’s cool about Prosecco?

The Wine & Viticulture Journal recently held its first tasting of Australian-made Proseccos, comprising seven non-vintage wines, three from 2013, six from 2012 and two from 2011. Before turning to the full results of the tasting on page 76, read about the production methods behind three of the wines deemed by our tasting panel to be the pick of the bunch.

Warren Proft Winemaker Chrismont King Valley, Victoria Wine: NV Chrismont LaZona Prosecco (RRP$22.00/bottle) VITICULTURE Fruit for the LaZona Prosecco is sourced from both estate vineyards and a contracted grower. All the Prosecco blocks were existing vineyard blocks that have been grafted over to Prosecco progressively during the last seven years.

The estate blocks that have been topworked were chosen for the coolness of the site. They are blocks that are substantially cooler than surrounding sites due to the surrounding topography influencing localised air movement. It is important for Prosecco to have a cool site as it tends to lose acidity quickly as it nears maturation.

It can also exhibit some lifted florals that are not as evident on warmer sites. The estate sites are primarily flat on the valley floor with heavy silts and clays over alluvial gravel. They are prone to spring frosts well into November.

The estate vineyard is planted in 3m rows with 2.4m vine spacings, is trained to 1.1m cordon height, with a canopy supported to 1.8m. The foliage is mostly trained vertically with a pair of moveable wires with the rest allowed to hang down to offer some shading of the fruit zone. Irrigation is unnecessary during years of average rainfall and the canopy is usually hedged once.

Prosecco doesn’t appear to be particularly susceptible to fungal diseases and tends to be very fruitful with large, long, loose bunches. Efforts to control fruit load are largely done at pruning by selecting and spacing short spurs of one to two buds. Newly laid out canes have to be shoot thinned to avoid over cropping the vine.

Harvest typically takes place in late February to early March and is determined by monitoring berry analysis and flavours.

The sugar levels increase steadily until they reach 9.0-9.5Be where they distinctly slow while the acid levels continue to fall. The balance point we look for is green melon flavours with some aromatics, Baume 9.5-10.0, and TA 6.5-7.0. Our cropping levels range from 12-20t/ha though there is potential for them to reach 40t/ha if not managed.

Prosecco is a very light bodied, low extract wine that has subtle flavours and a delicate palate. It seems to be a fragile balance that is easily destroyed by overcropping.

The contracted block is in Whitfield, which is only 10km down the valley but is two weeks more advanced in maturation.

The elevation is the same but the northerly aspect and valley winds make it distinctly warmer. The block adds a slightly different fruit spectrum and helps with fruit security with our own blocks prone to frost. The vineyard runs a Scott Henry trellis and tends to crop higher (20t/ha). The fruit tends to be lower in acid due to the warmer site and the sugar lag at 9Be more noticeable. This fruit is picked around 9.5Be and TA around 6.5.

Chrismont winemaker Warren Proft.

WINEMAKING The goal is a fruit-driven, delicate and crisp light-bodied wine that showcases all the attributes of the variety.

All the Prosecco vineyards are machine harvested as cool as possible in the early hours of the morning. At the winery, bins of fruit are directly tipped into tank presses to assist in fast juice separation with a pressings cut made at around 600L/t.

The juice fractions are then analysed, fined, and adjusted if necessary. Usually with Prosecco there is little need to adjust TA - unless the year has been hot - where 1g/L of tartaric may be required.

Chrismont’s estate vineyard in the King Valley.

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Fowles Wines chief executive Matt Fowles (far left) and the Fowles Wines team illustrate the concept behind its Are You Game? range of wines.

Fowles Wines senior winemaker Lindsay Brown.

Liquid gelatine is used to lightly fine the free run and treat pressings. Prosecco grapes appear to have a low level of phenolics and don’t require a lot of fining, and as a result, most of the pressing juice is returned after settling or floating.

The clarified juice is fermented cool with an aromatic yeast strain (Maurivin Elegance) to dryness when bentonite and SO2 are added.

The dry batches are racked and blended along with a reserve Prosecco blend which is a solera of vintages over the past five years. This blend helps to maintain a point of difference in our style as well as consistency.

The finished blend is cold stabilised, clarified, and delivered to a contractor for pressure packaging using the Charmat method.

The sward is natural and slashed back into the soil.

The main attributes looked for in the Prosecco at harvest are clean characters and crisp fresh acidity.

A typical analysis at harvest: Baume 9.7 pH 3.10 TA 7.5 The Prosecco yields an average of 8-9 tonnes/ha.

MARKETING The LaZona brand within Chrismont represents a range of Italian red and white varietal table wines inspired by the owners’ family heritage. The addition of Prosecco perfectly complements this range by introducing a sparkling wine that is stylistically and uniquely Italian.

The Prosecco, like the rest of the LaZona range, is targeted at the onpremise market. This is due to the wine's compatibility with food as well as it being an ideal environment for people to be introduced to new wine styles. As the interest and demand for the wine has developed, a focus on off-premise has followed.

The Prosecco was also packaged into a classic Italian-looking skittle bottle embossed with ‘King Valley’ to enhance its appearance and shelf appeal. The bottle

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is a proprietary bottle that was developed with other King Valley Prosecco producers to help give an identity to the brand ‘King Valley Prosecco’. The consortium of King Valley producers has also launched other promotional products and activities like the ‘Prosecco Road’ tasting trail and road shows.

Lindsay Brown Senior Winemaker Fowles Wines Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria Wine: 2013 Are You Game? Prosecco (RRP$16.95/bottle) VITICULTURE The fruit for this wine is contracted and sourced from a grower in the Goulburn Valley, located in Mangalore, just off the Goulburn Valley Highway. The vineyard has 2.4 hectares of Prosecco which were grafted onto Cabernet Sauvignon rootstock in 2009. The vines are located on a flat block near Hughes Creek at an elevation of 140m on a grey clay loam soil. The area is prone to spring frosts and experiences an average maximum and minimum of 41.5oC and -0.3oC, respectively, from October-April.

The vines are trained to a single wire trellis with a vine and row spacing of 1.8m x 2.8m. Shoot thinning is used to control vigour.

Drip irrigation is employed as required during the growing season, with water sourced from Hughes Creek.

Vines are pre-pruned by machine and spur pruned by hand.

The main disease pressures for these vines are mildews and botrytis.

A homemade mixture of mushroom mulch, horse manure and cow manure sourced locally is used as fertiliser.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

WINEMAKING Fruit is harvested by machine between midnight and 6.00am to keep the fruit cool and destemmed, crushed and pressed as soon as possible to avoid excessive skin contact.

Fermentation takes place in stainless steel vessels at 12-14oC to retain fresh fruit characters using an aromatic yeast. No oak treatment occurs.

The Are You Game? Prosecco has only been made since vintage 2012.

MARKETING Fowles Wines produces six core wine brands that fall within three ranges: flagship, food and regional. Our Are You Game? wines sit within our ‘food’ range. As well as Prosecco, the Are You Game? range includes Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Cabernet.

Are You Game? was launched in April 2012 and has already picked up some significant accolades here and overseas.

With labels depicting animal illustrations as they appear in nature and not the supermarket shelf, Are You Game? wines are designed to encourage people to think more about the origins of their food and wine.

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V a rie t a l re p or t

Along with the Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch range (wine crafted to match wild game meat), Are You Game? has been a phenomenal success. We are advocates of sustainable food and believe there is growing appreciation among people for real food with lower environmental footprints.

And if the consumer response to Are You Game? is anything to go by, we think we might be right.

Our Are you Game? Prosecco is currently available throughout Australia, at our cellar door and a range of on and off-premise venues.

Michael Dal Zotto Dal Zotto Wines King Valley, Victoria Wine: 2011 Dal Zotto L’Immigrante Prosecco (RRP$33-$36/bottle) VITICULTURE Dal Zotto’s Prosecco vineyard is situated in Cheshunt on a site that is approximately 300m above sea level and has a west-facing aspect. The soil type on this vineyard is white clay over a fine, red shale.

Throughout the growing season we will experience temperatures from the mid 30s during the day that drop significantly during the evening. During October we can experience very low temperatures, as was experienced this year when we had minimum temperatures below zero. This can result in a risk of frost occurring at times, however, most of the time there is a breeze that flows down the Rose River Valley that assists in the minimisation of frost damage, although this is not always the case.

We have 12 hectares of Prosecco planted of the clone Delcin on Schwarzmann rootstock. The vines are planted 1.2m apart while the rows are 3m apart. The vines are all double arch cane; after the first few years we have found it unnecessary to do any bunch thinning as the vine tends to find a balance of production between 4-6 tonnes/ acre.

Since planting Prosecco in 1999 we have found it to be a very hearty vine that gives us little trouble from a disease perspective.

The biggest issue is that while the vines are young they can be quite giving in relation to production levels, therefore causing problems with the quality of the fruit, a lack of development of the traditional Prosecco characters and a loss of acidity.

The main characters we look for in our Prosecco are quite delicate aromatics of wisteria, jasmine and citrus blossom and then citrus, apple and pear on the palate, and we have found that any compromises in the vineyard results in a loss of these characters.

Typically, the fruit will be harvested between 9.5-10Be with a pH of 3.2 and acid of approximately 6-6.5g/L. V2 8N 6

From left, Christian, Otto and Michael Dal Zotto.

WINEMAKING The Prosecco is harvested in mid February by machine in the early morning and top loaded immediately into the press. The first 550 litres is a combination of the free run and the early part of the pressing. The final portion is pressed to a different tank. We tend to get anywhere between 660-700L/t.

After pressing, the juice is left to settle for 24 hours before it is racked. The juice is then inoculated and fermented to dry at a temperature range of 14-16°C. The fermentation generally takes 15-24 days before it is complete. Bentonite and SO2 are then added; the wine is settled, racked and cold stabilised in preparation for the secondary ferment.

As distinct from our Pucino Prosecco which undergoes secondary fermentation in the traditional manner for Prosecco, the L’Immigrante Prosecco’s secondary ferment is carried out in bottle. We used this method when we first released Prosecco as we didn’t have the volume to ferment in tank and were pleased with the flavours that developed from the secondary ferment.

We found that if we held the wine on lees for approximately nine months prior to disgorging we still had those traditional Prosecco characters of citrus, apple and pear. However, in contrast to the tank ferment, we found we had interesting savoury characters coming through, which added to the overall structure of the wine.

Having grown Prosecco for 14 years we have changed our approach over that time from the vines being initially spur pruned to the double arch cane. Harvest was initially carried out above 10.5Be but now would very rarely be above this W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

point. As with anything new, each year provides a new learning experience in the development of our products.

MARKETING When marketing Prosecco we have two specific lines that we sell into the marketplace.

The entry level Prosecco – Dal Zotto Pucino Prosecco NV - is made using the Charmat method, which makes it our traditional-style Prosecco. This wine is named in honour of Empress Livia Augusta who had a particular fondness for Prosecco and called it Pucino.

Prosecco has become our flagship variety and has (since inception) helped us achieve both on-premise and retail success.

On premise, this wine is a ‘must have’ wine for venues by the glass as it is as close to Italian Prosecco as possible. It is also a big mover in the retail market given the price point (sub $20.00/bottle).

The L’Immigrante Prosecco is a vintage Prosecco made according to methode champeniose. The reason for this is when we started to make Prosecco we did not have the volume to make it in Charmat. Then the wine developed a strong following and has since become the benchmark Prosecco in Australia.

Wine writer Nick Stock has called this wine the “full monty of Proseccos”.

The wine is aimed at the higher end of the on-premise market and is not sold in retail stores currently. It is available at cellar door and to wine club members.

We are now at the stage where this particular wine is on allocation. So it is a real testament to the success of Dal WVJ Zotto Prosecco as a wine. www.winebiz. com . au

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TAST I N G N O T E S

Prosecco – beyond a celebratory drink Prosecco is known for being light, fresh and relatively low in alcohol, and although the quality of the 18 wines in our tasting of Australian examples impressed the panellists on the whole, the alcohol level in many of them was arguably on the high side.

E

ighteen Australian-made Proseccos, including at least a third from Victoria’s King Valley, were put to the taste test for the latest blind tasting of the Wine & Viticulture Journal.

Making up the tasting panel were Michael Dal Zotto, whose family has pioneered Prosecco in Australia in the King Valley; Tony Hooper, winemaker for Pernod Ricard Winemakers (formerly Orlando Wines); and Brendan Carter, winemaker for Emerald Vintners and Unico Zelo, both based in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills, and fine wine manager for Parade Cellars in Adelaide.

Dal Zotto said that compared with Proseccos from Italy at similar price points, the wines in the tasting on the whole stood up quite well.

“If you were to compare many of these wines with Proseccos from Italy at the same price point, they would come out on top,” he said, adding that his own winery aimed to produce Prosecco of comparable quality to Italian styles priced at more than $27 a bottle However, Dal Zotto and Hooper questioned whether the alcohol levels in many of the wines were too high. The lowest alcohol level in the tasting was 9.5% v/v, but the majority were over 11.0% v/v, with the highest 12.0% v/v.

“An alcohol level of 10.5% v/v after secondary ferment is what producers should be aiming for,” Dal Zotto offered.

Dal Zotto explained that Prosecco was “very giving” in the vineyard during its early years.

“There were some growers in the King Valley this year who cropped it as high as 35 tonnes per hectare,” he noted. “This might change in a few years time when the vines have a bit more age on them. We’ve had Prosecco vines since 1999 and we’re noticing that although the vines are still very giving, we’re not getting the huge crops we used to. The yields would only differ by one to two tonnes an acre each year.”

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Panellists for the Prosecco tasting (from left) Tony Hooper, winemaker for Pernod Ricard Winemakers (formerly Orlando Wines); Michael Dal Zotto, winemaker for Dal Zotto Wines in Victoria’s King Valley; and Brendan Carter, winemaker for Emerald Vintners and Unico Zelo, based in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills, and fine wine manager for Parade Cellars in Adelaide.

Dal Zotto added that harvest timing was critical for Prosecco to ensure good acid levels, which can quickly fall away.

The panellists agreed the better styles of Prosecco in the tasting had not been over-worked.

“I spent some time in north-east Italy in 2008 and the core of the Proseccos I tried from there were fresh, pretty, bright, and crisp; very few were overly worked,” Dal Zotto.

“Prosecco is an expression of primary fruit. With traditional sparkling wines, you get more secondary ferment characters coming through. But Prosecco should show lovely, fresh, delicate aromatics and have a crisp palate.”

“How complex can you go with Prosecco until it becomes too autolytic?” Brendan Carter added.

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Through his work with Parade Cellars, Carter said he had noticed a “huge increase in interest” in Prosecco among consumers. “If it’s not being picked up in stores, it’s an easy hand-sell. The topend stuff is selling very well at retail.

“Prosecco doesn’t have the reputation of other sparkling wines that it is only to be enjoyed at celebrations. It can be enjoyed over a long lunch or drunk any time really,” he said.

Of the non-vintage Proseccos in the tasting, the tasting panel most liked the Chrismont La Zona NV Prosecco and Dal Zotto Pucino NV Prosecco, while of the vintage Proseccos, they rated the Fowles Wines Are You Game? 2013 Prosecco and Dal Zotto L’Immigrant 2011 Prosecco the WVJ highest.

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TAST I N G N O T E S

Chrismont La Zona NV Prosecco

Dal Zotto Pucino NV Prosecco

King Valley, Victoria 11.5% v/v – crown seal RRP$22.00/bottle

King Valley, Victoria 10.5% v/v – crown seal RRP$19.99/bottle

Best of non-vintage: Pale straw in colour. Aromas of white peach and citrus; slight hint of florals and yeast.

Good acid drive on the palate which is zippy, fresh, wellbalanced and has rich carbonation; hint of lemon zest and citrus. Slightly phenolic finish. A well-made, clean, fresh wine.

Best of non-vintage: Pale straw in colour; sustained mousse. Delicate, floral and pretty nose with light citrus notes. A rich, clean and fresh palate with some citrus and crisp apple; slightly sweet finish. Freshness and acid persists.

Dal Zotto L’Immigrant 2011 Prosecco

Sam Miranda NV Prosecco

Brown Brothers NV Prosecco

King Valley, Victoria 11.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$20.00/bottle

Rutherglen, Victoria 12.0% v/v – cork RRP$18.50/bottle

Pale straw in colour with green hues. A sweet, perfumed, clean and fresh nose with citrus notes. Soft and fresh palate with good balance, but lacks some fruit; a drier style.

Pale straw in colour. Nose is clean, fresh and light with notes of citrus, orange peel, and white peach. Palate is slightly phenolic, but fresh and soft. Good carbonation which carries the acid through.

Santoro NV Prosecco

Minchinbury Blue NV Prosecco

Terra Felix NV Prosecco

King Valley, Victoria 10.5% v/v – cork RRP$14.99/bottle

10.5% v/v - cork RRP$17.99/bottle

Upper Goulburn, Victoria 11.5% v/v - cork $19.80/bottle (winery online price)

King Valley, Victoria 12.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$30.00-36.00/bottle Best of vintage wines: Vibrant, light straw in colour.

A light, tight, bright, clean and fresh nose with some tropical and citrus fruit. Good florals on the palate which is waxy. A good wine which is still fresh for its age; a touch drying on the finish. Acid line is fair but is very well balanced with the fruit weight; good length.

Golden straw in colour. Lifted florals and slight tropicals on the nose as well as good citrus characters. Citrus and green apple flavours in the mouth. A clean wine with good citrus characters but showing some development.

V2 8N 6

Pale straw in colour. A sweet, pretty nose, with honeysuckle, cream, white peach and slight citrus and nuttiness. A nutty, citrus palate which is slightly phenolic and drying and lacks an acid drive. Quite a generous style of Prosecco, noted one taster.

W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

Fowles WineS Are You Game?

2013 Prosecco Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria 11.5% v/v – crown seal RRP$16.95/bottle Best of vintage wines: Light straw in colour. Pretty, clean, fresh, citrus nose with a hint of honey and green apple. Lively palate with good acid structure, balance and tight and grippy fruit.

Medium straw in colour. A honeyed, citrus nose with some apple. Ripe apple in the mouth which lacks fruit and freshness.

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TAST I N G N O T E S

Coriole 2013 Prosecco

Jacob’s Creek 2013 Prosecco

Pizzini 2012 Prosecco

McLaren Vale, South Australia 11.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$20.00/bottle

9.5% v/v - cork RRP$12.00/bottle

King Valley, Victoria 11.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$20.00/bottle

Pale straw in colour. A pleasant citrus nose with some slight floral, and yeast characters. Some citrus fruit characters on the palate but yeast characters tend to over-power them. Bitterness more so than acid seems to drive the palate, noted one taster. Slightly hard and short finish.

Clear, light straw in colour with green hues; one taster thought the wine lacked some carbonation. Citrus and light yeast notes on the nose as well as tropical characters reminiscent of Sauvignon Blanc. Clean, fresh but simple palate which shows evidence of residual sugar; well-balanced acidity.

Brown Brothers Limited Release 2012 Prosecco

Redbank King Valley 2012 Prosecco

Rutherglen, Victoria 11.5% v/v - cork RRP$19.90/bottle

King Valley, Victoria 11.5% v/v - cork RRP$24.95/bottle

Pale straw in colour with green and gold highlights. Nose is clean and fresh with light citrus fruit, honeysuckle, a hint of melon, and some light yeast; one taster detected a “funky rose note”. Palate is fresh, has great fruit weight, acid depth and line. Slightly drying on the finish.

Light straw in colour. Pretty, clean and fresh nose featuring light citrus characters, estery fruit, white peach and sherbet. Palate has good acid drive, depth and fruit weight; notes of apple and citrus evident. Slightly grippy finish which is a little short.

Pizzini Lana 2012 Prosecco

Boyton’s Feathertop 2012 Prosecco

King Valley, Victoria 11.0% v/v - crown RRP$25.00/bottle Pale straw in colour. A honeyed, savoury and developed nose with some yeast complexity. Good grip and acid drive in the mouth. Some citrus notes evident but they are somewhat masked by savoury characters. Tasters questioned whether this wine was varietal.

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Alpine Valleys, Victoria 12.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$30.00/bottle Light straw in colour. Bright, fresh and zippy nose featuring grapefruit, kiwi fruit and a slight lemon zest. Palate has a bold acid drive with fair to good length; Granny Smith apple and kiwifruit evident. Lacks some fruit.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

Clear pale straw in colour. Grass and honey notes on the nose which is somewhat simple and shows some reduced characters. Soft powdery apple on the palate which is also somewhat simple.

Vinea Marson 2012 Prosecco Heathcote, Victoria 11.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$25.00-30.00/bottle Medium straw, developed colour. Savoury nose with a hint of apple. Ripe apple on the palate which is a little short and lacks some fruit.

Parish Hill 2011 Prosecco Adelaide Hills, South Australia 11.5% v/v – crown seal RRP$25.00/bottle Light gold in colour. A sweet, pretty nose featuring good citrus and tropical fruits and rich honeysuckle. Good fruit and soft acid on the palate which has some complexity; slightly drying.

V28N6

2 0 1 3 index

Index to articles from Volume 28 of the Wine & Viticulture Journal ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES Michelinin makes its mark with Marzemino Greg O’Keefe, July/August 2013, p62-63 Perth Hills winery sings praises of Furmint Sonya Logan, January/February 2013, p62-63 Savouring Sagrantino Corrina Wright, March/April 2013, p53-54 Tasmania flies the flag for Schönburger in Australia Sonya Logan, November/December 2013, p58-59 Tinta Cao: grooming the ‘red dog’ Sonya Logan, September/October 2013, p77-78 Verduzzo – a ‘crazy’ white Joel Pizzini, May/June 2013, p56-57 AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF VITICULTURE & OENOLOGY (column) ASVO awards dinner and natural wine debate Paul Petrie, September/October 2013, p11 Highlights of the ASVO Awards for Excellence and natural wine debate Paul Petrie, November/December 2013, p11-12 Industry innovation acknowledge in inaugural ASVO Awards for Excellence Paul Petrie, January/February 2013, p14 Nominations now open for Awards for Excellence Paul Petrie, July/August 2013, p9 Registrations open for Tech Conference Paul Petrie, May/June 2013, p8 AUSTRALIAN WINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE REPORTS Grape quality assessments: a survey of current practice Mardi Longbottom, Con Simos, Mark Krstic and Dan Johnson, May/June 2013, p33-37 Seeing through smoke Mango Parker, Gayle Baldock, Yoji Hayasaka, Christine Mayr, Patricia Williamson, I. Leigh Francis, Mark Krstic, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson, January/February 2013, p42-46 The DNA of innovation Anthony Borneman, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson, September/October 2013, p52-56 The science of texture Richard Gawel, Martin Day, Alex Schulkin, Paul Smith, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson, March/April 2013, p34-38 What’s in a label? How science is helping winemakers to respond to new EU rules concerning allergens in wine Leanne Hoxey, Creina Stockley, Eric Wilkes and Dan Johnson, July/August 2013, p38-41 BOTTLING, LABELLING & PACKAGING The cooler the better: the effects of storage temperature and packaging type V2 8N 6

on the sensory and chemical properties of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon Helene Hopfer, Susan E. Ebeler and Hildegarde Heymann, January/February 2013, p28-32 The sticking points of labeling Rachel Gore, March/April 2013, p65-68 BUSINESS Large crush raises profitability concerns Mark Rowley, September/October 2013, p89-90 Little joy in vineyard real estate market Colin Gaetjens, May/June 2013, p63 The short-term effect of the carbon tax on Australian wine Mark Rowley, January/February 2013, p66-67 Turnaround case study of a medium-scale Riverina-based vineyard Ben Craw, January/February 2013, p64-65 CANOPY MANAGEMENT Spanish trial compares mechanical defoliation and crop thinning for yield management Sonya Logan, May/June 2013, p48-50 CLOSURES Let’s not be screwed! Screwcap damage levels greater than cork taint: implications for producers, the retail sector and consumers Alison Eisermann-Ctercteko, September/ October 2013, p38, 40, 42-44 The scalping of light volatile sulfur compounds by wine closures Maria A Silva, Michael Jourdes, Philippe Darriet and Pierre-Louis Teissedre, March/ April 2013, p30, 32-33 CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS Consumer-sensory evaluation of Australian Chardonnay Anthony J. Saliba, Hildegarde Heymann, John W. Blackman and Jasmine B. MacDonald, May/June 2013, p64-66 The influence of the senses on the consumption and purchase of wine Charles Spence, September/October 2013, p86-88 The position of Australian Chardonnay on the world-wide flavour map Anthony Saliba, John Blackman, Jen Bullock and Leigh Schmidtke, July/August 2013, p67-70 Why do people avoid consuming wine?

Anthony Saliba, Linda Ovington and Charini Gunaratne, September/October 2013, p79-82 COVER CROPS To cultivate or not to cultivate? Floor management and frost risk Chris Penfold, July/August 2013, p53-54 W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

CRUSHING Assessing a new crusher aimed at delivering wines with improved polyphenols and flavours Christophe Arnaud, Remi Niero, Alain Samson, Soline Caille, Marie-Helene Ducasse, Magali Bes and Jean-Michel Salmon, May/June 2013, p25-26, 28, 30, 32 FERMENTATION Co-fermentation of Syrah with various additions of Viognier: effect on colour and phenolics during winemaking and bottle ageing L. Federico Casassa, Landon S. Keirsey, Maria S. Mireles, Richard C. Larsen and James F. Harbertson, September/October 2013, p45-51 Concrete egg vats – are they all they’re cracked up to be? (Forum) July/August 2013, p30-35 Novel wine yeast for improved performance in fermentation T. Liccioli, M.E. Walker, J.F. Sundstrom, J.M. Gardner and V. Jiranek, November/December 2013, p26, 28, 30-31, 33 Optimising fermentation through simulation Richard Muhlack, Neil Scrimgeour, Eric Wilkes, Peter Godden and Dan Johnson, November/December 2013, p38-40-43 The influence of commercial hybrid yeast strains on the composition and sensory profile of Granite Belt Chardonnay Ursula Kennedy, November/December 2013, p34-37 Wild yeast fermentation can allow chemical and sensory differentiation in red and white wines Simon Dillon, Vladimir Jiranek and Paul Grbin, November/December 2013, p23-25 FILTRATION The advantages of crossflow filtration becomes clearer for smaller producers Sonya Logan, March/April 2013, p26-29 FROST To cultivate or not to cultivate? Floor management and frost risk Chris Penfold, July/August 2013, p53-54 INDUSTRY EVENTS Australian wine industry gathers in Sydney for the 15th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference Anon., September/October 2013, p19-21 Celebrating the evolution of Mornington Pinot (International Pinot Noir Celebration) Ed Merrison, March/April 2013, p16-18 Jasper Morris on Mornington Pinot (International Pinot Noir Celebration) Ed Merrison, May/June 2013, p16-17 Key messages from WineHealth 2013 – International Wine and Health Conference www.winebiz. com . au

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Creina Stockley, September/October 2013, p16-18 The allure of Iberian beauties (Talk & Taste seminar, Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show) January/February 2013, p18-19 The concept of ‘noble place’ in New World winegrowing (International Pinot Noir Celebration) Ted Lemon, May/June 2013, p18-19 IRRIGATION Making every drop count – advancements in water budgeting tools Tony Hoare, July/August 2013, p42-44 Night-time plant water loss: the unseen process for local and global water footprint and water balance estimations in grapevines Sigfredo Fuentes, Roberta De Bei and Stephen Tyerman, July/August 2013, p50-52 Variation amongst rootstocks in the tolerance of grafted Chardonnay vines to lethal water-stress Rob M. Stevens, Tim Pitt, Mark Skewes, Joanne M. Pech and Phil R. Nicholas, July/ August 2013, p45-48 LOGISTICS Wineries respond to drive by distributors and retailers to keep wine stocks to a minimum Sonya Logan, July/August 2013, p64-66 LOW ALCOHOL WINE 2013 – the year of the lower alcohol wine?

Richard Halstead, March/April 2013, p62-63 Can the production of low alcohol wines start in the vineyard?

Peter Dry, March/April 2013, p40-43 Consumer attitudes to low alcohol wine: an Australian sample Anthony Saliba, Linda Ovington, Carmen C. Moran and Johan Bruwer, March/April 2013, p58-61 Lightening up in our approach to wine Cathy Howard, March/April 2013, p55-57 Making low alcohol wine inherent attractiveness intact Gary Baldwin, March/April 2013, p19-22, 24 Market analysis for lower alcohol Australian wine Mark Rowley, March/April 2013, p63-64 MARKETING & SALES It takes two to make regional brands stick with tourists Ulrich R. Orth and Albert Stockl, January/ February 2013, p68-71 MATURATION Incidence of some oenological parameters on the content of sotolon in white wines Valerie Lavigne, Alexandre Pons, Philippe Darriet and Denis Dubourdieu, July/August 2013, p25-29 Revisiting extended maturation of white wines ‘sur lies’ Cathy Howard, July/August 2013, p20-24

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NUTRITION

PROFILE

New technology to improve post-harvest nutrition management Anon. July/August 2012, pg54-55

Brother John May March/April 2013, p70-71 David Botting January/February 2013, p75-76

OPINION COLUMN Natural wine a treasure to the Australian industry James Erskine, January/February 2013, p9-10 ORGANICS/BIODYNAMICS/NATURAL WINE If there are ‘natural’ wines, then are conventionally-made wines ‘unnatural’?

Cathy Howard, November/December 2013, p18-22 What’s in a name? The difference between natural wine and organic and biodynamic viticulture Toby Bekkers, January/February 2013, p4749 PESTS & DISEASES Australian Shiraz Disease: an emerging virus disease of Vitis vinifera cv. Shiraz Nuredin Habili, January/February 2013, p59-61 Bird control - damned if you do, damned if you don’t Tony Hoare, November/December 2013, p56-59 Highlights of a newly-emerging grapevine virus: grapevine red blotch-associated virus.

Nuredin Habili, September/October 2013, p58-59 In search of resistance to grapevine trunk diseases Mark Sosnowski, Matthew Ayres, Trevor Wicks and Michael McCarthy, July/August 2013, p55-58 Pathogenicity of fungi causing botryosphaeria dieback of grapevines in Australia Wayne M. Pitt, Rujuan Huang, Christopher C. Steel and Sandra Savocchia, July/August 2013, p59-61 Rising to the challenge of bird control Sonya Logan, September/October 2013, p63-64 The role of other fungi related to Eutypa lata in eutypa dieback disease of the grapevine Wayne M. Pitt, Florent P. Trouillas, Walter D. Gubler, Sanra Savocchia and Mark R. Sosnowski, January/February 2013, p56-58 Trunk diseases…a larger threat than phylloxera?

Richard Smart, July/August 2013, p16-18 Understanding trunk diseases: how and why they threaten the wine industry Helen Waite, November/December 2013, p50-54 PRECISION VITICULTURE Wine sector attitudes to the adoption of Precision Viticulture Rob Bramley, September/October 2013, p69-73 W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

REGIONAL REPORT Clare Valley March/April 2013, p72-79 Great Southern January/February 2013, p77-83 SMOKE TAINT Seeing through smoke Mango Parker, Gayle Baldock, Yoji Hayasaka, Christine Mayr, Patricia Williamson, I. Leigh Francis, Mark Krstic, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson, January/February 2013, p42-46 The effect of grape variety and smoking duration on the accumulation of smoke taint compounds in wine Nicole Cain, Fred Hancock, Peter Rogers and Mark Downey, November/December 2013, p48-49 Varietal response to smoke exposure Renata Ristic and Kerry Wilkinson, January/ February 2013, p40-41 SOIL Soil health – ‘the only show in town’ Ursula Kennedy, January/February 2013, p53 STABILISATION Alternative chilling process crystalises for Barossa winery Sonya Logan, January/February 2013, p24, 26-27.

Assessment of CMC-induced tartrate stability over 12 months Rodney Marsh and Sue Mills, July/August 2013, p36-37 In search of clarity: do cold-active proteases from Antarctic fungi provide alternatives to heat stabilisation with bentonite?

Robyn Peterson, Liisa Kautto, Steven Van Sluyter and Helena Nevalainen, January/ February 2013, p20-23.

SUSTAINABILITY Context and content in grapegrowing sustainability systems: a process Irina Santiago, Johan Bruwer and Cassandra Collins, January/February 2013, p54-55 Working towards building sustainable and viable wine businesses Cathy Howard, January/February 2013, p50-52 TONY HOARE Bird control - damned if you do, damned if you don’t Tony Hoare, November/December 2013, p58-59 Hangtime – optimising harvest timing: Part 1 March/April 2013, p44-48 Hangtime – optimising harvest timing: Part 2 May/June 2013, p51-55 Making every drop count – advancements in V28N6

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water budgeting tools Tony Hoare, July/August 2013, p42-44 TONY KEYS (column) 2012 – the year in review and what it means for 2013 January/February 2013, p15-17 All the fun of the fair – Part 1 Tony Keys, November/December 2013, p14-16 Banking on the wine industry: defining the lending environment between banks and wineries July/August 2013, p11-15 Buried treasure: an anatomy of how Treasury Wine estates arrived at where it is today September/October 2013, p12-15 Into the light: the increasing popularity of low alcohol wines March/April 2013, p12-14 Supermarket wine sales: sinner or saintly saviour?

May/June 2013, p13-15 TOP DROPS Jim Barry Wines 2013 The Lodge Hill Dry Riesling January/February 2013, p85 Ravensworth 2012 Riesling January/February 2013, p84 VARIETAL REPORTS $20-40 Chardonnay May/June 2013, p71-72 Barbera July/August 2013, p75-78 Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio January/February 2013, p86-89 Prosecco November/December 2013, p73-75 Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blends September/October 2013, p91-94 VINE IMPROVEMENT Tasmania’s own Pinot Noir clones Richard Smart, November/December 2013, p54-56 VITICULTURE Apogee Vineyard: combining Old World methods with New World thinking Mark Smith, September/October 2013, p74-76 Changes in the performance of grafted and ungrafted vines with ageing Rob M. Stevens, Tim Pitt, Chris Dyson and Michael G. McCarthy, May/June 2013, p46-47 Grape quality assessments: a survey of current practice Mardi Longbottom, Con Simos, Mark Krstic and Dan Johnson, May/June 2013, p33-37 New and emerging technologies for the vineyard: the Vineyard of the Future initiative Sigfredo Fuentes, Roberta De Bei and Stephen D. Tyerman, May/June 2013, p38-40, 42, 44-45 Sauvignon Blanc gets the chop Sonya Logan, March/April 2013, p49-50, 52 Understanding fungicide resistance in Australian vineyards The Fungicide Resistance Project team, V2 8N 6

September/October 2013, p60-62 Vintage operations in real time – creating value through improved efficiency Treasury Wine Estates, November/December 2013, p44-46 Wine aroma and grapevine berry ripening: how to capture the complexity Alain Deloire, September/October 2013, p65-68 WINEMAKERS’ FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA (column) Credible research tells the real health story Paul Evans, May/June 2013, p11 New projects focus on vital health knowledge Paul Evans, July/August 2013, p10 Profitability and health our two immediate priorities Paul Evans, March/April 2013, p10 Time for the action to begin Paul Evans, November/December 2013, p13 We must reject continuing focus on price Paul Evans, January/February 2013, p13 Wine and health issue is everyone’s responsibility Paul Evans, September/October 2013, p10 WINEMAKING Gently does it – processing premium Chardonnays Cathy Howard, May/June 2013, p20-22 New toys for wineries and vineyards: some highlights of WineTech 2013 Gary Baldwin, September/October 2013, p22, 24-25 Science award leads to cold soak trial Richard Fennessy, May/June 2013, p23-24 Volatile sulfur compounds and ‘reduction’ odour attributes in wine: an update on why some wines ‘stink’, other have ‘complex mineral aromas’ and what winemakers could do about it Maurizio Ugliano, Jean-Baptiste Dieval, Stephanie Begrand and Stephane Vidal, January/February 2013, p34-38.

What’s old is new again with Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blends Cathy Howard, September/October 2013, p32-36 WineTech 2013 product showcase September/October 2013, p26-31 WINE ANALYSIS Proficiency testing for wine analysis Luke Warner, May/June 2013, p58-60 WINE AUSTRALIA (column) Building a high quality perception of Australian wine in China James Gosper, September/October 2013, p8-9 Get on board Savour Australia James Gosper, July/August 2013, p8 Keeping the Savour flavour once the world’s wine trade has departed James Gosper, November/December 2013, p8-10 Navigating the China market: the opportunities and the challenges Steve Guy, March/April 2013, p9 Making the most of last year’s green shoots W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

Andrew Cheesman, January/February 2013, p11-12 Shifting the perception of Australian wine Andrew Cheesman, May/June 2013, p10-11 WINE & VITICULTURE JOURNAL TASTINGS $20-$40 Chardonnay May/June 2013, p73-78 Barbera July/August 2013, p79-81 Low alcohol wine March/April 2013, p80-85 Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio January/February 2013, p90-93 Prosecco November/December 2013, p76-78 Semillon & Sauvignon Blanc blends September/October 2013, p95-97 WINE EXPORTS Austerity decree not evident in China wine imports Mark Rowley, July/August 2013, p71 Barossa breaks new ground with regional education in Hong Kong and China Andrew Yap, November/December 2013, p65 Developing a Chinese lexicon for wine Armando Corsi, Justin Cohen and Larry Lockshin, November/December 2013, p66-68 How large could Australia’s wine exports to China become by 2018?

Kym Anderson and Glyn Wittwer, November/ December 2013, p60-64 Optimising the effect of wine education on Asian international students Armando Corsi, Justin Cohen and Larry Lockshin, September/October 2013, p83-85 The UK wine market: an enigma, with variations?

Richard Halstead, November/December 2013, p69-70 WINE FAIRS All the fun of the fair – Part 1 Tony Keys, November/December 2013, p14-16 WINE IMPORTS Australian wine drinkers remain patriotic Mark Rowley, May/June 2013, p67-68 WINE INTELLIGENCE (column) 2013 – the year of the lower alcohol wine?

Richard Halstead, March/April 2013, p62-63 Cashing in on the wine tourism experience Richard Halstead, May/June 2013, p69-70 Consumer trends in the wine industry for 2013 Lulie Halstead, Janury/February 2013, p72-73 Time for the wine industry to marshal its mavericks to target consumers Richard Halstead, July/August 2013, p73-74 WINE SHOWS Australian and global wine competition success Mark Rowley, November/December 2013, p71-72 www.winebiz. com . au

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PROducts & services

Taking laboratory meters to the edge

H

anna Instruments has released the Edge™, a fullfeatured laboratory meter with revolutionary design features not usually associated with instrumentation.

Edge measures pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen. It is thin and lightweight, measuring only half an inch thick and weighing just 250g; blending elements of portable meters and bench top meters into a single, seamless design.

This versatility enables Edge to be used as a bench top meter, a portable meter, or even attached to a wall to free-up valuable bench space in a laboratory.

In addition to its thin, lightweight design, Edge features a large 5.5” LCD with a wide viewing angle, capacitive touch keypad, dual USB ports, cradle with swivel

arm electrode holder and an included wall mount.

Edge works with Hanna’s digital smart electrodes. Almost as advanced as the meter itself, these electrodes feature a built-in microchip that stores sensor type, ID, and calibration information that is automatically retrieved by Edge once the electrode is plugged in. Simply plug in the sensor you want and begin measuring.

Changing measurement parameters is as simple as changing the sensor. The electrodes have a 3.5mm connector so users don’t have to worry about alignment and pins bending or breaking.

Edge can be purchased as a complete kit, with the sensor of your choice.

Sensors for other measurements can be purchased separately.

For further information visit www.hannainst.com.au , email sales@hannainst.com.au , or phone (03) 9769 0666, fax (03) 9769 0699.

Wider, higher and longer New refrigerated container sets new bar for short-term wine storage A new on-site solution for the short-term storage of any packaged wine overload during vintage is now available through Adelaide-based IRS Refrigeration.

The two-pallet wide, 21-foot refrigerated containers are capable of holding twice as much wine as other refrigerated containers on the market and are available for delivery Australiawide.

IRS managing director Jeff Millar said the containers had a maximum capacity of 10 pallets, compared with the traditional four-pallet model.

“These energy efficient ‘high cubes’ are wider, higher and longer than any other container available,” Millar said.

The containers have an internal length, width and height of 5.9 metres, 2.4 metres and 2.6 metres, respectively, and suit pallets measuring 1.2m x 1.2m x 150 pallets. Their maximum payload is 35,000kg.

The containers’ heavy duty, reinforced floor is capable of withstanding multi forklift entries, while the side walls feature aluminium scuff linings to minimise damage.

The containers also come installed with low voltage internal lighting.

IRS Refrigeration has been servicing the refrigeration container industry for more than 25 years. In addition to refrigerated containers, the company

specialises in container sales and hire, container modifications and site huts.

For further information visit www. irssa.com.au or phone (08) 8447 8800.

Nomacorc releases life cycle analysis results Alternative wine closure producer Nomacorc has released the findings from the first full life cycle analysis (LCA) study on its flagship Nomacorc Classic+ closure.

The study measured the environmental impacts of every step of the life cycle of a Classic+ closure from the cradle (raw materials extraction) to the gate (the distribution of finished closures to customers) at both of Nomacorc’s US and Belgium facilities between 2008 and 2011.

For closures produced in Belgium between 2008 and 2011, the study showed a reduction of impacts ranging from

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13-92%. The improvements were largely attributable to the company’s purchase of 100% wind energy to power the facility.

For closures produced in the US, the study also showed a strong reduction of impacts ranging from 10-23% across all environmental indicators between 2008 and 2011.

The LCA study also provided recommendations for future sustainability improvements on Nomacorc’s product lines, including continuing to increase the use of renewable energy and minimising ancillary packaging where possible.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2013

Earlier this year, Nomacorc announced the development of the world’s first zero carbon footprint wine closure, Select® Bio. Made with plant-based biopolymers derived from sugar cane, the Select Bio Series will be commercially available for the 2014 bottling season.

For more information about Nomacorc’s sustainability progress and objectives, or to view the executive summary of the LCA report, visit http://www.nomacorc.com/nomacorcsustainability.php.

V28N6

Over 1800 archived articles now available online.

Here’s a small sample of the articles available when searching by specific keywords: Pruning • The art and science of pruning, Steve James, Australian Viticulture • Trellising and pruning - going forwards or backwards?, Richard Smart, Wine Industry Journal • Pruning Electric or air - a powerful argument, Laurie Martin, Wine & Viticulture Journal

Harvesting • Integrated vineyard management from the soil to the wine - how science has made this possible, Peter Dry, Wine Industry Journal • Weed control options for commercial organic vineyards, Toby Bekkers, Wine & Viticulture Journal • Irrigation management strategies in vineyards, Rachel Gore and John Runting, Australian Viticulture

Refrigeration • The contribution of refrigeration processes to winery sustainability, Chris Day, Wine Industry Journal • What’s old is new again in refrigeration efficiency, Mark Holden, Wine & Viticulture Journal • Environmental focus is the new cool in winery refrigeration in winery refrigeration, Lauren Jones, Wine Industry Journal

Branding: • Ethical and free trade branding for wine: harvesting the benefits, Tony Hoare, Wine & Viticulture Journal • Branding and Brand Management in the Wine Industry, Larry Lockshin, Wine Industry Journal

altERNatIVE VaRIEtIEs

V I t I C u lt u R E

Va R I E ta l R E P O R t

Italian inspiration for novelPutting the sparkle in sparkling rosé Nero d’Avola making

By Brad Hickey, Brash Higgins Wine Co., McLaren Vale, South Australia

In keeping with the approaching festive season, this issue’s tasting featured sparkling rosés, 28 in all, ranging from non-vintage examples through to one from the 2003 vintage. the tasting panel identified the top wine or wines from the non-vintage entries, those from the 2012 to 2009 vintages and the 2008 to 2003 vintages (see page 102-106 for the complete results), with the producers behind three of those wines revealing what went into their making.

Mclaren Vale-based Nero d’avola producer Brad hickey travelled to sicily, in Italy, in 2011 to investigate local growing and vinification of the variety. In addition to collecting ideas about how to maximise Nero d’avola’s potential on home soil, Brad was inspired to use amphorae as a winemaking technique.

W

hen I moved to McLaren Vale six years ago, after a decade spent buying wine for restaurants in New York City, I started thinking about new varieties we could plant on our vineyard that would not only thrive in McLaren Vale, but make for interesting drinking as well. The drought years had been making life hard, even for our Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon plantings, and we felt we needed to find some better suited grapes to bring onboard.

Nero d’Avola fitted the bill.

In 2009, Brash Higgins obtained some of the first cuttings of the Sicilian red winegrape Nero d’Avola available in Australia from Binjara Vine Nursery (formerly Chalmers Nursery), in Euston, New South Wales. Nero d’Avola is drought and heat tolerant to a certain degree, ripens late and thrives in its native Mediterranean climate, so it seemed like a good fit for coastal McLaren Vale and our evermounting heat and water issues.

VItICultuRE 2009-2010 In October 2009, we dedicated a halfhectare research block on our Omensetter

Vineyard to Nero d’Avola. Soils in this block are relatively shallow (40-50cm) red brown clay loam over a deep, soft marl limestone.

In the winter of 2009, we asked Dr Nuredin Habili, of Plant Diagnostics, at the Waite campus of The University of Adelaide, to perform a virus test on our Shiraz rootstock, which was planted in 1997. The results came back affirmative to graft Nero d’Avola.

Field grafting was conducted later, using two buds per vine on the Matura 1 clone from the Matura Group, in Italy. The clones grew exceptionally well, exhibiting great vigour and not needing any irrigation until the first week of December, followed by small amounts on a regular basis until midFebruary. Vines were trained on a single cordon trellis, and the cordon was filled by February 2010. We noted that foliage was prone to powdery mildew.

2010-11 The first fruit bearing year, we pruned the lateral growth hard from the main cordon back to basal buds. Vines grew strongly, with many double buds providing two shoots per node. These were shootthinned back to one shoot per node. A lazy ballerina trellising system was used,

Mclaren Vale’s Brash higgins obtained some of the first cuttings of Nero d’avola available in australia from Binjara Vine Nursery (formerly Chalmers Nursery) at Euston, in New south Wales in 2009 and planted half a hectare.

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W i n e & V i t i c u lt u r e J o u r n a l N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 2

Josef Chromy Wines in tasmania’s tamar Valley.

Jeremy Dineen Winemaker/general manager Josef Chromy Wines tamar Valley, tasmania Wine: Pepik NV sparkling Rosé (RRP$27.00/bottle) VItICultuRE Fruit for the Pepik NV Sparkling Rosé is estate-grown from our vineyard at Relbia, 15km south of Launceston, Tasmania. The vineyard contains 61ha of vines and has an elevation of 85-170m with north and north-east facing slopes.

The soils range from deep, black, selfmulching clay to shallow brown clay with high gravel content.

The mean January temperature for the area is 16.7°C. It receives an average of 679mm per annum, with 94 rains days. The vines enjoy 1050 heat degree days, and 1758 sunshine hours (October-April).

The average age of the vines in the vineyard is 13 years, which are on a mixture of own roots and rootstocks.

The blend for the Pepik is usually Pinot dominant with some Chardonnay.

The Pinot clones planting in the vineyard comprise D2V5, D5V12, G5V15, G8V3, G8V7, H7V15, 115 and 114.

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The Chardonnay clones are I10V1 and Penfolds.

The vines are trained to Scott-Henry and VSP trellises and have a vine density of 3220 per hectare and 2415 per hectare, respectively. All vines are crown thinned every year. Shoot and/or bunch thinning is carried out depending on the year.

The amount of drip irrigation, which is sourced from our on-farm dam and nearby river, depends on the season.

A permanent sward is grown in the midrows to reduce erosion with farm-produced composts also applied.

The vines are mainly hand cane-pruned with limited mechanical spur pre-pruning carried out.

Botrytis is the biggest disease risk to the vines, which yield an average of 11.5 tonnes per hectare.

WINEMaKINg The hand-picked Pinot Noir is whole bunch pressed, giving a free run of usually 500L/tonne and pressings of 200L/tonne.

The hand-picked and/or machine-picked Chardonnay is pressed to 500L/t free run and 200L/t pressings. The pressings are fined separately while the base juices are settled and combined prior to the primary ferment.

Malolactic fermentation is not carried out.

Wine & Viticulture Journal NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

Josef Chromy Wines winemaker and general manager Jeremy Dineen.

The juice is cold stabilised, partially heat stabilised and cross-flow filtered.

The secondary ferment is commenced in tank and bottled when the viable cell count has reached its target (tirage ferment approximately 15°C).

The wine is bottle aged for 12-18 months prior to disgorging. The dosage liqueur contains Pinot Noir table wine to ensure a consistent salmon pink colour. It is dosed to contain a final sugar content of ▶ 10-12g/L. www.winebiz.com.au

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