Wine & Viticulture Journal

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 · Volume 29 Number 1

INDUSTRY SUSTAINABILITY • Lighter bottles - 'green' and lighter on the hip pocket • Solar power - lessons learned and the business case • Sustainable practice in a bottle - do consumers really care?

• Tamburlaine - leading the way in sustainable viticulture • Tasting: Montepulciano

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Editorial Advisory Panel Gary Baldwin Peter Dry Mark Krstic Armando Corsi Markus Herderich Editorial Assistance Lauren Jones, Write Lane CONTRIBUTING WRITERS David Beutefuer Bob Dambergs Andreas Clark Dugald Close John Constable Peter Dry Everard Edwards James Evers John Gilbert Richard Halstead Cathy Howard Ursula Kennedy Ana Kumar Jasmine MacDonald Paul Petrie Mark Rowley Suren Samuelian Paul Smith Mark Viviers

Matthew Brittingham Mike Carson Peter Clingeleffer Justin Cohen Armando Corsi Kathryn Eales Paul Evans Jim Fortune Paul Grbin Tony Hoare Dan Johnson Tony Keys Larry Lockshin Linda Ovington Ben Riggs Anthony Saliba Mark Smith Angela Sparrow Eric Wilkes

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Sonya Logan, Editor

W

elcome to the first issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal for 2014.

Many of you will be up to your headingdown boards in vintage or pre-vintage preparations right now, so here’s a snapshot of what you can look forward to in this issue when you manage to grab a few quiet moments over the next couple of weeks.

The focus of this issue is ‘industry sustainability’, both from an environmental perspective and a business perspective.

Kicking off the first of the articles on this subject is Cathy Howard with her look into lightweight bottles and what is driving their uptake by the industry nearly five years down the track from their release onto the Australian market.

De Bortoli recently commissioned the biggest solar installation at an Australian winery at its Bilbul site, and similarly, d’Arenberg the biggest in South Australia at its McLaren Vale winery. I caught up with De Bortoli’s operations manager at Bilbul, Rob Glastonbury, and d’Arenberg’s Chester Osborn, to learn more about the environmental initiatives their respective wine companies have implemented.

A joint three-year project between The University of Adelaide , CSIRO Land and Water, and JJC Engineering, is under way aimed at understanding the relationships between winery effluent chemistry microbial populations in biological systems and operational parameters.

The researchers outline the scope of this study in article starting on page 36.

Regular contributor Tony Hoare begins our viticulture section with an interview with Tamburlaine’s Orange vineyard manger, Clayton Kiely, after Tony was struck by the balance in the vineyard, which is certified organic, across a number of red and white grape varieties, as well as the overall health of the vines and their fruitfulness.

In Business & Marketing, researchers from the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre reveal the results of their investigations into whether consumers’ attitudes toward ‘green’ wines have changed. David Buetefuer, from the Solar Project, the company that designed and constructed the solar installations at De Bortoli and d’Arenberg, describes some of the lessons his company’s clients have learned when it comes to solar generation and states the business case for solar power now that many of the government rebates are no longer available. We then have an account, courtesy of Finlaysons, of how the Wine Equalisation Tax and WET rebate has evolved into its current form – a timely reminder given the recent attention put on the rebate during the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia’s drafting of its action plan for restoring profitability to the Australian wine industry – which is paired with some thoughts on the rebate by three different wine producers.

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Regular features

News Wine Australia WFA ASVO Tony Keys

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AWRI Report Alternative Varieties Varietal Report Tasting

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V I T I C U LT U R E

8 WINE AUSTRALIA (Andreas Clark): Building the foundations for a prosperous new year

41 Tamburlaine – a pioneer and still leading the way in sustainable viticulture

10 WFA (Paul Evans): 2014 – a watershed for the Australian wine industry 11 ASVO (Paul Petrie): News from the ASVO's AGM 12 KEY FILES: All the fun of the fair – Part 2

E V E N TS

16 SIMEI steps up for sustainable grape and wine production 44 Sustainable viticulture – a Granite Belt perspective and a great educational opportunity 45 Long-term use of regulated deficit irrigation does not lead to a decline in vine performance

W I N E M A K I N G

20 Lighter bottles – ‘green’ and lighter on the hip pocket 24 Cutting edge Pinot – reducing skin particle size early in fermentation is the key

50 Sparkling wine research heats up in cool climate Tasmania 54 ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES: Malvasia Istriana

25 Sustainability a hot topic at De Bortoli business & marketing

55 Sustainable practice in a botte – do consumers really care?

57 Solar power – lessons learned and the underlying business case for wine producers 60 Sensing a new horizon for the Tasmanian wine sector 62 Are Australian wines well known in China?

64 Chinese austerity measures slow wine imports 66 History of the WET and the WET Producer Rebate 68 The WET rebate – a producer’s view 70 Keeping up with your consumers 34 Upsurge in the ‘green’ factor at the home of the ‘red stripe’ 36 Winery wastewater project refreshes understanding of treatment processes – can we help manage biological wastewater treatment systems better?

34 AWRI REPORT: The role of trace metals in wine ‘reduction’ V2 9N 1

W I N E T A ST I N G

72 Montelpulciano

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www.winebiz. com . au

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WFA unveils blueprint to lift industry profitability T

he Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) has released its action plan to lift the profitability of Australian wine businesses.

Contained in a 105-page document titled ‘Actions for Industry Profitability 2014-2016’ (available from the WFA website www.wfa.org.au), the 43 action plans aim to position the country’s wine sector for growth in both domestic and export markets.

The actions address key issue areas for the industry including capturing the demand opportunity for Australian wine internationally, the wine and health debate, and working with national wine retailers on growing the category locally among consumers.

The plans follow an independent analysis of the industry on which a series of proposed actions were developed by the WFA in consultation with other wine industry bodies. These proposed actions were then put out to industry for consultation and revised for the final document.

The actions include initiatives to help wine businesses in entering and succeeding in key overseas markets such as the US and China; continue the

sector’s commitment to responsible consumption and a balanced regulatory framework; bring the supply and demand for Australian wine into better balance; retain, with some changes, the wine equalisation tax rebate; and develop a voluntary code of conduct with national wine retailers.

“The invaluable input from the consultations has led to the actions increasing from 33 to 43 and with modification of others. These changes have been clearly identified in the report so that those who participated can see that their views mattered,” said WFA chief executive Paul Evans.

“We believe we have a solid and robust industry blueprint which has very wide support.

“We now look forward to maintaining the momentum and to continuing to work with our members, governments and other stakeholders to implement these actions.”

One of the draft proposals that attracted significant debate and comment during the consultation process was the one that suggested future eligibility for the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) rebate be

restricted to those who had “substantial investment in physical grapegrowing and wine production”.

The feedback from industry was that this proposal would result in those who contracted or leased production assets being excluded from future eligibility, which would discriminate against branded wine producers who may have invested in non-fixed assets (such as the marketing of their brands) or those who could not raise the capital to acquire physical assets. Removing the rebate from those producers would potentially introduce a competitive disadvantage with other brand owners, cost jobs and pose a risk to the diversity of the category.

The point was also made that at a time when the industry was in significant over-supply and over-capacity, proposing to restrict the rebate to those who already owned production assets or could develop these assets seemed counter intuitive to the aims of WFA’s action plan.

Following this feedback, the WFA subsequently decided not to go ahead with this proposal.

Researchers map out world’s winegrape varieties University of Adelaide researchers have compiled statistics from 44 countries to develop the first database of the world’s winegrape varieties and regions.

The new database, funded by the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC), provides an in-depth analysis of the world’s wine varieties and winegrape growing nations that account for 99% of global wine production.

University of Adelaide School of Economics Professor Kym Anderson said a database of this nature had been highly sought by the wine industry.

“In the wake of wine’s globalisation, wine producers need to exploit their geographical and varietal distinctiveness in order to boost their

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competitiveness. This database, for the first time, offers transparency across the world’s wine varieties and regions,” Anderson said.

This detailed database also uncovers more about changing trends in wine consumer behaviour.

“The database reveals that 20 years ago Airen, a white winegrape variety from Spain, was the most widely grown globally, but now Cabernet Sauvignon is the world’s most grown winegrape,” Anderson said.

“In 2000, white winegrapes were more widely grown; however, in the decade to 2010 red winegrapes increased their share of the global vine-bearing area from 49% to 55%. This is consistent with what we know about changes in W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

wine consumption, with numerous countries moving away from white and consumption rising in recent years in China where red wine is preferred.”

Anderson said wine growers could also use this database to adapt to climate change.

“Wine producers are well aware of the impact climate change is having on their winegrapes. They’re continually on the lookout for varieties that perform well in climates similar to what they expect theirs to become in the decades ahead.”

The database is available online at: www.adelaide.edu.au/wine-econ/ databases/winegrapes and an e-book can be freely downloaded at: www.adelaide.edu.au/press/titles/ winegrapes V29N1

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letter to the editor

I

felt compelled to write following the publication of ‘Let’s not be screwed’,

by Alison Eisermann-Ctercteko (September/October 2013 Wine & Viticulture Journal, pages 38-44). I am keen to distance myself from ‘the research’ and the conclusions drawn in the article as since publication, it has been pointed out to me that as a member of the editorial advisory panel for the WVJ, I should have been more diligent in checking the science and the claims made in the article.

On this occasion I did not see the article before publication. But I would also defend your decision to publish it as the article appears on the surface to have some new information of interest to readers, and you would have seen the imprimatur of the acclaimed Masters of Wine!

But enough of why it has been published and let’s get to the point – is it science and are the conclusions correct?

The basic claim appears to be that 11,500 bottles were “surveyed” in retail bottleshops in Sydney and London and that

overall physical damage to caps was 26%, and that 8.2% showed “significant chemical changes”. But where is the data and how were the 11,500 bottles “surveyed”?

Rather than careful experimental design, it looks suspiciously like a casual scanning of some bottleshops looking for damaged caps and this is no way to conduct science. If this was science the bottles would have been randomly selected, or every bottle in the shop or warehouse would have been examined and, more importantly, all the data would be available for scrutiny.

We are then told that 600 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc were tested and based on the sulfur dioxide measurements that there proved “statistically significant negative wine quality changes”. This is not the conclusion that can be made from the data presented. The data shows a reduction of free sulfur dioxide concentration around 5mg/L and final concentrations still more than 30mg/L. In the first instance, this would not be “significant”, especially given

experimental error, but more importantly, a wine with more than 30mg/L free sulfur dioxide would not show oxidised or negative quality changes.

All in all, I think this article misrepresents science and is simply a commentary on a series of unscientific observations, none of which may be wrong but have been taken out of context and do not have the controls necessary for any serious scientific research.

My main concern is that I have been made aware that one of our major trading partners has already contacted Wine Australia concerned about the results published in this article and questioning the use of screwcaps in our industry. But our trading partners need not be concerned, there is no problem, this is not science it is a beat up!

The Institute of Masters of wine should be embarrassed.

Gary Baldwin Director, Owner & Principle Consultant Wine Network Consulting

As per the experimental design, the wine bottles that were surveyed were: • Sauvignon Blanc with screwcaps from any country with screwcap bottles that stores stocked (mainly Australia, New Zealand, Chile, France) • from fridge, cartons, open shelves, closed shelves, display racks • entire store floor stock in medium and small outlets, and every second brand in large outlets • store counting time varied from two to four hours depending on stock • bottles were picked up and caps observed for any physical damage and returned to the shelf • the level of physical external damage was classified on the severity of damage as per the categories determined.

The dissertation process requires the use of correct scientific experimental design and analysis and this needs to be outlined in a proposed synopsis and approved before any research is undertaken. Disappointingly, my first submission of the work was returned requiring a larger sample size and more statistical analysis. This added a further year and the dissertation was passed last year by the Institute’s examination panel.

The work was undertaken as an investigative research project to determine what is the actual incidence of cap denting in the marketplace (26%) and

what level of damage will cause wine changes (8.2% had small but statistically significant differences) . It also had the aim to make the trade and consumers aware of the additional care required in handling screwcapped wine bottles. There were many other useful findings, such as screwcap colour and print design that can affect the strength of screwcaps. Superior products such as Stelvin Luxe had no damage so there are choices for producers just as with carton quality and bottling facilities used.

The interest in this research work has had equal positive and negative feedback. Some very prominent industry people have been supportive of the work and for actually discussing some of the potential problems of screwcaps. Most of the negative and critical commenting has been from parties with vested interests or that have a disappointing opinion of the MW qualification. The negative comments regarding my dissertation work and the Institute are offensive and show little understanding of the qualification, its requirements and the amount of work undertaken.

In reply I am responding to the correspondence you received from Gary Baldwin regarding my article in the September/October issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal and my MW dissertation. First, I would like to clarify that as a winemaker, judge, wine educator and communicator I have used screwcaps and believe they are the best closure for most wines as long as they are handled correctly during packaging, storage, handling and at point of sale, whether retail or on-trade.

I have known, worked and judged with Gary for many years and was disappointed that his opinions and misunderstandings were reached with no contact with me or any request for further supporting information. Unfortunately this has been the case with several other critics. Those genuinely interested in the article have corresponded and been satisfied with the further data and information provided.

Gary asked, where is the data and evidence?

All the data is contained in the 200page dissertation and appendices and six foolscap folders and bags of screwcaps and photos compiled over three years of work.

In regards to my random, casual perusal to find damaged bottles being “no way to conduct science”, more than four months was spent surveying stores to collect data in Australia and more than 20 hours in the UK without financial assistance, support or subsidy.

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Alison Eisermann Ctercteko MW B.App.Sci (Wine Science) Charles Sturt University, B.Sci (Micro/Biochem) Macquarie University, Grad.Dip.(Education) Macquarie University, Master of Wine, UK www.winebiz. com . au

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W ine A u s t ra l ia

Building the foundations for a prosperous new year

By Andreas Clark Acting Chief Executive, Wine Australia

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he operating environment for the Australian wine industry remains challenging, but trends are slowly shifting. We have an evolving export footprint and market mix, many opportunistic traders have come and gone, and we are seeing growth at more sustainable price points. A galvanised approach to key sector priorities will enable us to capture the opportunities and set the industry up for future value growth. Wine Australia’s focus is on long-term, consistent investment in activities that build the reputation of the category in our major markets.

KEY MARKET OPPORTUNITIES The industry is working collectively to ensure there is greater awareness around the world of the quality and diversity of Australian wine to help improve returns for grapegrowers and winemakers. This strategy to build a stronger perception of the quality of Australian wine is achieving cutthrough, particularly in Asia where Australian wine has experienced 16% per annum growth over the past five years. China, in particular, is driving that growth and at higher and more sustainable price segments. China has now become the biggest market for Australian bottled exports above A$7.50 per litre, and remains a significant growth opportunity for our sector. The emerging Asian markets provide an exciting prospect, given their proximity, emerging middle class, population and the growing cultural interest in wine.

The sector needs to continue to explore the opportunity in these markets.

However, rather than supplying one-off opportunities as is currently prevalent, investing in brand-building in channels within markets has to be the priority.

In some of Australia’s more mature markets such as the US, we are starting to see an improved shift in sentiment, with increasing recognition of high quality Australian wines. The US remains the biggest premium imported wine market in the world and Australian

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wine is the second largest category. In the UK, Australia remains the number one category for volume and value in the market, although the market conditions remain challenging. It’s important that Australian wineries continue to support initiatives to take our diverse range of wines into these mature markets and increase our representation across the various price segments.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES Throughout the year, Wine Australia articulated its six strategic priorities and delivered initiatives that provide the maximum return on investment for our industry and levy payers across the organisation’s four main areas of responsibility: building the reputation of Australian wine; protecting the reputation of Australian wine through a credible regulatory system; addressing market access barriers and removing trade impediments; and providing information and analysis that supports informed decision-making. Here’s what we delivered against those priorities: 1. National reform - merger The journey towards national structural reform for the wine sector continues, with the merger between the Wine Australia Corporation and the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC) scheduled to happen by 1 July 2014.

Both organisations are working closely together to ensure a smooth transition into the merged entity – The Australian Grape and Wine Authority – which will create one unified wine sector statutory body to better align wine sector investment and priorities.

2. New Wine Australia website The new Wine Australia corporate and industry website at www. wineaustralia.com is well and truly up and running and includes a range of new features to ensure levy payers can easily access the information they need, including content to assist with W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

navigating export processes and keeping abreast of changes to the regulatory environment. In addition, research, data, statistics and analysis is available to help inform business decision-making.

3. Market development Wine Australia continues to focus its core activities on positively positioning the quality, diversity and regionality of Australian wine through a range of core services and initiatives, including: • delivering our A+ Australian Wine educational programs including sommelier and trade immersion programs, A+ Australian Wine schools, one-day wine schools, the visitor program and the A+ Australian Wine specialist program • working with a global network of sommeliers, importers, distributors, retailers, wine educators, wine and lifestyle media, wine commentators, bloggers, other Australian government agencies and key influencers to promote the diversity, regionality, and quality of Australian wine.

On top of our core services, we also continue to build the user-pays market programs, which attracted strong signup from wine producers and brands, regional wine associations and state bodies. This partnership approach has enabled us to achieve far greater reach with our marketing and educational efforts. It provides our partners with an opportunity to reach influential trade, media and consumers in key markets around the world through trade shows, themed tastings, Landmark Australia tastings, roadshows, regional visits, retail promotions and consumerfacing events and activities. Major initiatives throughout the year included the Australia Day tasting, in the UK; ProWein, in Germany; the Next Chapter tastings, in the US; tastings and events with the liquor boards in Canada; the China National Wine, Spirits and Food Fair and the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair.

Central to the priority of building the reputation of our category, Wine V29N1

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Australia has been working closely with our memorandum of understanding partner - Tourism Australia - as it works towards bringing the ‘Restaurant Australia’ food and wine positioning to life. This is a really important opportunity for the wine sector to extend its consumer reach on a scale that has not been achieved before.

As a precursor to this, Wine Australia used part of a $2.1 million Australian Government grant to create Savour Australia 2013 – Australia’s first global wine forum, which was held in Adelaide in September. This was a major undertaking for the industry and brought together nearly 800 of the world’s leading wine trade professionals including retailers, sommeliers, importers, distributors, media and Australian wine producers to have their palates opened to Australia’s best wines. The aim was to ignite the world’s interest in Australian wines and help get more quality Australian wines onto the world’s retail shelves and wine lists.

Delegate feedback suggests that some of the bigger retailers have already expanded their Australian wine portfolios, however, details are still confidential. This is a slow burn initiative because it will take time for the networking from Savour Australia 2013 to translate into new business, but it’s encouraging to see the event is already starting to generate commercial outcomes at this early stage.

The event has also been an enormous success from a media communications perspective and has ramped up the conversation about Australian wine in all our major markets around the world. The event has generated nearly 280 media mentions to date across print, television, radio and online channels talking about the event, the wines tasted, the food experiences, the diversity of Australian wines and regions, the regional visits and Tourism Australia’s ‘Restaurant Australia’ food and wine positioning.

The buzz also spread throughout social media channels with #savouroz tweets reaching more than 900,000 Twitter users, and images from the event reaching more than 50,000 Instagram users and tweeted to more than 200,000

Twitter users. Savour-related content reached potentially more than 74.2 million Sina Weibo users in China.

4. Compliance The new, overhauled regulatory and compliance system has been operating successfully for nearly two years, underpinned by a rigorous auditing presence that continues to protect the quality and integrity of Australian wine.

Last year, we expanded our auditing presence.

5. Market access Wine Australia continues to participate in a range of influential global forums and organisations to help improve market access for Australian wine exports, including the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Wine Regulatory Forum, the World Wine Trade Group (WWTG), the Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. These are slow burn initiatives that don’t deliver results overnight. Patience is required, but it’s critical that Wine Australia continues to have a seat at the table for these important forums, to create a favourable trading environment for Australian wine around the world. The free trade agreement with South Korea, for example, is welcome news and means tariffs for wine exports to South Korea will be eliminated. This puts us on a more even playing field with some of our competitors.

6. Industry communication We continue to expand our communication platforms to feed positive news about the Australian industry into markets around the world. We aim to keep the industry updated with the latest market intelligence through editorials, events, the new Wine Australia website and the country-specific versions, e-newsletters and social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Sina Weibo in China, Instagram and a Vimeo video channel.

THE YEAR AHEAD The Australian wine industry still has some way to go to address

profitability issues in the supply base and this remains a focus, however, it’s also important to invest in market opportunities to achieve a sustainable future. In keeping with this, our major focus for the first half of 2014 will be continuing to build on the overwhelmingly positive feedback from Savour Australia 2013 through our global program of educational initiatives, tastings, masterclasses, trade and consumer events and retail promotions in all our markets. Activities will include the Australia Day tasting, in the UK; ProWein, in Germany; Aussie wine month, in Australia; the China National Food, Wine and Spirits Fair; the Wine Australia Trade Roadshow, in the US; and the in-store tastings with various liquor boards in Canada.

Wine Australia will continue to innovate and find new ways to provide return on investment for levy payers through: • exploring options to make the online export approval interface simpler and more user friendly • continuing to work with industry partners, including wine producers, regional wine associations, state wine bodies and industry bodies, to align industry resources and strategies and provide partnership opportunities through a global program of userpays activities and events • working with government bodies in Australia and around the world to pool resources and deliver favourable outcomes for the wine sector • working with governments and industry groups in Australia and around the world to assist the sector’s competitiveness through lower tariff and non-tariff trade barriers • identifying new ways to communicate the latest data, market intelligence and analysis to help producers and growers identify sustainable business opportunities and understand the operating environment.

Focussing on actions that best support the industry’s return to sustainable profitability and restoring value in underlying assets will continue WVJ to be our focus throughout 2014.

Surf here FIRST! Australia’s wine industry portal by Winetitles

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A ustralasia’s leadingwine industry portal, www.winebiz.com.au, offers WID online, wine industry news, vintage reports, a searchable database of Australian wineries, a wine show calendar AND MUCH MORE W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

www.winebiz. com . au

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W FA

2014 – a watershed year for the Australian wine industry

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

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his year will be a very important and potentially transformational year for the Australian wine industry. We have a Government committed to completing a free trade agreement with China by year’s end and it will conduct a ‘root and branch review’ of the competition framework and the issues at the heart of the market power of the two dominant wine retailers.

At the same time our two statutory authorities, the Grape & Wine Research & Development Corporation and Wine Australia, will merge and a new board and management team will be put in place to invest some $35 million of annual levies and government support back into the sector. Exchange rates have fallen and hopefully will remain well below parity for the foreseeable future, and there are some emerging signs of consumer confidence returning to the critical North American market.

All of these developments stand to benefit the sector and the efforts being made by individual wine businesses to grow share and margin. Another important support for the industry will be the implementation of the actions released by the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia in December aimed at lifting profitability and asset values (see related story page 6). These initiatives cover growing demand, accelerating the supply correction, improving transparency and fairness in the domestic marketplace, retaining the WET rebate with some changes, and proactively engaging the wine and health debate. They were developed after an extensive consultation process with industry following the release of draft actions and independent expert analysis on the dynamics of the sector (further details can be found at www.wfa.org.au) The priority actions are those that will grow the demand opportunity in our key markets by enhancing the funding, capabilities and programs of Wine Australia and by improving market access. There is a particular emphasis on supporting the activities of individual wine companies in the key North

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American and China markets, with a focus on exciting distributors and other key gatekeepers with a reinvigorated Australian category proposition and overcoming specific route-tomarket challenges. In addition, more investment will be put into trade shows, in-market consumer education and the existing Visitors Program. The aim is to also hold a regular Savour Australia event to ensure continuity in Wine Australia’s campaigning to the world.

The priority actions are those that will grow the demand opportunity in our key markets by enhancing the funding, capabilities and programs of Wine Australia and by improving market access.

The Federation will also work closely with the Australian Government to reform the Export Market Development Grants scheme. The benefits of this scheme are well-known throughout the industry but the pool of money available to the sector needs to be increased and the eligibility criteria needs to be reviewed and reformed, so that our leading businesses can continue to access the support.

Our good work in partnership with several government agencies and Wine Australia in opening up markets and reducing trade barriers also needs to continue, and we were all very pleased to see the completion of the free trade agreement with South Korea in late 2013. We will continue to lobby for adequate government resourcing and priority to be given to improving market access for the Australian wine industry.

We know the Australian wine industry has a truly globally competitive product at all price points in regards to quality. Our growing conditions are unique and offer enormous diversity and the people working in the sector are among the best and W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

most innovative in the world. This sets our industry apart from other sectors of the manufacturing economy, such as car making and commoditybased agriculture. With the right support, we will be a sustainable and profitable industry again. The steps outlined above along with the other actions, combined with early signs of global economic recovery and a lower exchange rate, will make a difference and enable the sector to reassert that competiveness over the coming years.

Another important initiative area is to continue the sector’s commitment to responsible consumption and the health and wellbeing of our consumers.

We are already well placed to deliver on this commitment – wine businesses are often the lifeblood of the regions they operate in and they share a deep connection to local communities. I believe this means our industry has an instinctive sense of responsibility to do the right thing for the long term. I see this playing out everywhere I look, whether it is a small family-owned cellar door taking on the Federation’s Responsible Winery initiative, or our larger members contributing significant funds and resourcing to organisations like DrinkWise Australia which aims to promote a more moderate drinking culture, or the vast majority of the industry adopting voluntary messaging on labels that it is safest not to drink during pregnancy.

These efforts are a pro-active response to rising community expectations around what’s acceptable when alcohol is consumed. The Federation will continue to develop programs and initiatives in this area. In 2014, we will look at appropriate means to include moderation messaging into the industry’s broader marketing campaigns, and work with DrinkWise Australia on a national consumerfacing standard drinks campaign.

These are not only the right things to do, but also ensures our sector has credibility and a seat at the table when policy discussions on the future of WVJ alcohol regulation take place.

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a s v o

News from the ASVO’s AGM

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

I

n late November 2013, the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology conducted its annual general meeting.

It was an opportunity to reflect on what the ASVO had achieved during the year, including the establishment of the successful Awards for Excellence, the Efficiency and Sustainability in the Winery seminar and organisation of the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference (in collaboration with the Australian Wine Research Institute).

At the AGM the treasurer announced an operating surplus for the year. This pleasing result consolidated the previous year’s increase in reserve funds and ensures that the ASVO is now on a secure financial footing. Membership renewal numbers, however, were below expectation and reflect the continuing struggles of the wine industry. The ASVO board can take advantage of this financial stability to implement strategic initiatives that will add value to ASVO membership and give more people a reason to join. Some of these initiatives are already evident, such as the Awards for Excellence. Other programs, such as the wine show judges register, are still being developed.

The results for the general board elections were also announced at the AGM. Seven candidates nominated for election for five general positions. In our inaugural online voting, 267 valid ballots votes were received, representing 41.5% of eligible voters. Thanks to all candidates for their commitment to the profession and willingness to participate.

The ASVO also thanks every member who participated by voting in one of our most important governance events. Paul Petrie was re-elected to the board and has been chosen for a further term as president.

One of the new board members, Mardi Longbottom, senior viticulturist at the AWRI, was elected as vice-president.

The other newly-elected board members were Brett McClen, chief viticulturist, Brown Brothers; Associate Professor Mike Trought, principal scientist, Plant and Food Research (in New Zealand and our first board member not based in Australia); and Dr Mark Downey, formerly of the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries.

Kristy Bartrop was elected to the position of treasurer and Bob Dambergs will once again act as secretary. There are short biographies of the new and returning

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board members on the ASVO website, www.asvo.com.au/about-the-society/ executive-board/ The ASVO board acknowledges the contribution made to the society by Alan Hoey (formerly vice-president), Mark Gishen (formerly treasurer) and Greg Dunn, all of whom chose not to stand for re-election.

At the AGM it was also announced that Malcolm Allen had been made a fellow of the Society. The ASVO board elects fellows from members who have made a particularly outstanding and meritorious contribution to the grape and wine industry. The criteria for this award include making a major contribution in an industry, scientific, educational or Society role and having been a member of the Society for at least 10 years. Allen’s contributions include being a board member and secretary between 1998 and 2010, and acting as an associate editor for the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research since its inception in 1995, and pioneering research into how methoxypyrazines act as grape flavour components.

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11

K EN Y EFWI S L E S

All the fun of the fair – Part 2

By Tony Keys

Continuing his investigations into which of the world’s wine trade fairs are currently the most productive for Australia’s wineries, Tony Keys looks at those fairs held outside Europe and North America.

I

n the November/December 2013 issue of Wine & Viticulture Journal, trade fairs in Europe and North America were covered. In short, the article stated that Europe is important for Australian wine; ProWein is good, but Vinexpo is not; and the London Wine Trade Fair has slipped down the ‘worth it’ ladder but some exhibitors are willing to give it another go. There was also support, especially in the UK, to attend fairs organised by a distributor or retailer, i.e., Tesco.

North America does not have the same focus on trade fairs. Regional director for Wine Australia Angela Slade pointed out that local festivals (lifestyle weekends) were worth looking at, but make sure the target is worth it for your brand as they can be expensive.

The rest of the world excludes South America, Russia and Africa, as Australian wine has a very small footprint in those regions at present.

In practical terms the rest of the world is Asia, and standing tall among the Asian countries is China. Before moving on to export markets, it is worth noting Australia’s return to the wine show scene this year with the Savour Australia event, held in Adelaide in mid-September 2013.

What did Savour do for the Australian wine industry? Here’s a repeat of text published in a Tony Keys Report shortly after the event: “Savour put pride back into the Australian wine industry. It lifted chins, straightened backs and puffed chests out. It’s good to see this elevation of spirit. Now that the game has moved to another level, let’s see a continuation of this. Let Savour not be a one-night stand. This needs to be a long-term commitment.

“It really wouldn’t be me if I didn’t include a caveat. This is only the start of a new era; not all wineries can be great or all regions gain justified recognition.

Not all wine-drinking consumers will think Australian wine is first-class or even worth consideration. Orders will not magically appear and prices won’t automatically rise. Many markets will think our entry level wines too expensive

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and, moving up the scale, think premium and upwards outrageously priced. Yes, it is unfair but please learn the difficulty of being a player in a global market.

“It’s also unwise to think making good wine is the answer. Unfortunately, it’s not. It is extremely important but not the whole.”

Gemtree Wines' managing director, Andrew Buttery, said of Savour, “I had one live lead from (the event), so it was not hugely successful. However, I like the fact that we had a crack and there were many pluses. The business sessions under delivered, which was disappointing.”

A question Savour raised is was this grand extravaganza going to divert funds from overseas trade shows?

Perhaps material for a future article is the worth of exhibiting in the country of export versus the worth of bringing people to Australia. Common sense says there is a need for both, but money is limited.

Shingleback Wines' general manager of sales and marketing, Carey Weston, said, “Savour was sensational but we have to keep ‘showing up’ as an industry

initial ProWine China. It appeared to be a success and many Australian wineries that attended were pleased with the results. The aspect that revived criticism and found media attention was the lack of Wine Australia presence.

Wine Australia's general manager of market development, James Gosper, provided the following answer: “The reason why we did not coordinate a presence at this year’s ProWine China is that there are many longstanding and well-established trade shows held in China and we simply do not have the resources to commit to all of them.

“Given this was the first ProWine, we wanted to get a feel for the event to see how relevant, useful and successful it would be for Australian wineries, so we could consider our involvement in the future. To this end, we funded our regional manager for China, Willa Yang, to attend the event and get a sense of how influential it might be before we commit to getting involved. When we coordinate an Australian presence at trade shows, we do so on a user-pays basis. In other words, we invite winery

[ProWine China] appeared to be a success and many Australian wineries who attended were pleased with the results. The aspect that revived criticism and found media attention was the lack of Wine Australia presence. to the world of wine buyers. When we don’t, we are lost.”

Pernod Ricard Winemakers global head of communications Kerry Parkin said of Savour, “A great event; expensive, but given the lack of contact at this level by the Australian industry over the past decade, it was well worth the investment.”

While money is in the mind, there were issues raised about this year’s W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

and/or regional partners to join us to participate. We would not want to invite wineries to participate in an event that has not been tried and tested before.

“Wine Australia is already coordinating an Australian wine presence and Australian winery participation at a number of trade events in China this financial year including the Wine100 Expo, which was supposed to be held in September but V29N1

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.

K E Y

F I L E S

China facts from the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia Actions for Industry Profitability 2014–2016 report •F rom 2007 to 2012, exports to China rose 144% (26 million litres) by volume.

• I n value, they rose 333% ($186 million).

•C hina is just 6% of total export volume and 13% of value.

•F rom 2007 to 2012, the value of wine exports fell by $1336 million (excluding China).

•T he increase in exports to China mitigated 14% of this fall.

•O ver half the increase in the value of exports to China came from A and B quality wines, of which there is limited supply.

•M argins have fallen in key export markets (US, UK and Canada), while those in China have grown. was cancelled by the organiser; the China National Food, Wine and Spirits Fair in March; the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair; and Vinexpo and SIAL China, both in May. And, of course, our global team has been flat out on Savour Australia 2013, with many of our overseas teams hosting Savour-related visits up until the end of October. We do not have the resources to commit to an event that doesn’t have a proven track record.”

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia's 'Actions for Industry Profitability 2014–2016' were released in December.

China features prominently in the report. The suggestions are valid but very loosely defended with such statements as WFA urging, “the Australian Government to rigorously pursue the free-trade agreement (FTA) with China”. As Australia commenced negotiations with China on an FTA in 2005, it’s unlikely the might of WFA carries much weight at all.

WFA also suggests,“establishing a much stronger presence at key trade shows. Developing appropriate branding of larger scale pavilions and making a greater statement at these key shows is important, particularly in Asia, where face and image are vital considerations. Australia’s presence at these shows is currently fragmented and understated in comparison to competitors, and this needs to be addressed.”

Wine Australia's regional director of Australia, Asia and emerging markets, Aaron Brasher, said: “We participated in the Hong Kong Wine and Spirits Fair in November with around 20 wineries on the Wine Australia stand. With Vinexpo happening in May, there has possibly been some attrition, but we still had a strong showing. The HKWSF is an excellent show to propagate new business as its catchment of attendees

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is broader than just HK and China.

The final day of the three is also for consumers and this has its challenges.

“We conducted masterclasses on the stands over the three days and covered topics such as Regional Heroes, Australian Shiraz and an Introduction to Australian Wine. The sessions are alternated between Mandarin, Cantonese and English.

of a show, Yang looks for “the professionalism of the organiser and what audience it attracts”. The pattern for fairs at the moment as far as Wine Australia is concerned is one or two of the larger ones in first-tier cities like Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou, and then one regional trade show which aims at expanding wine business to inner cities/regions throughout China.

Proprietor of Shelmerdine Vineyards (Heathcote and Yarra Valley) Stephen Shelmerdine said his Chinese importer advises avoiding the big shows and leaves other decisions to his agent.

“Our agent handles shows and events at his discretion,” he said.

Shelmerdine believes more firmly in building relationships and connections in the vineyard and getting people on his own turf. Big, grand shows are fine for big companies, but for small family and artisan winemakers, the best business is done onsite or at dedicated wine dinners or regional wine and food events.

Big, grand shows are fine for big companies, but for small family and artisan winemakers, the best business is done onsite or at dedicated wine dinners or regional wine and food events.

“Vinexpo HK is shaping up to be a strong showing of Australian wineries, even though it is a more expensive event to participate in. Each of our regions researches the viability/reach/ demographic of any fairs and puts a fairly rigorous process around whether to get involved or not, as we don’t want to clutter the prospectus with too many offerings. ‘Less is more’ has been our maxim over the last year.”

Unlike most of the responses regarding trade fairs in Europe, Wine Australia regional manager for China, Willa Yang, believes trade shows in China are better if they have consumer content. “Given consumer wine knowledge in China is still limited, we should attend more and more consumer-oriented trade fairs,” Yang said.

When considering the suitability W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

What role should regions play in providing money and support for trade fairs? It’s difficult because regional wine associations are not usually that well funded. There is also the issue of decision-making. People contributing funds want a say in proceedings, which may be democratic but not often a practicable operation. As yet, Tasmania only exports around 10 percent of wine production. According to Wine Tasmania chief executive Sheralee Davies, “There are no events at which we have a regular Tasmanian presence.

In the past, we have had a small group participate in the Hong Kong Wine Fair”.

“From a Wine Tasmania perspective, we’ll support a regional presence if there are sufficient individual wine producers wishing to participate. These producers will make a commercial V29N1

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decision about the costs versus benefits of participation,” Davies added.

When reviewing a show or fair, Davies looks for both branding and tangible sales outcomes. Although interested in export markets, there is still plenty of work to be done on the Australian mainland to establish Tasmanian wine. This involves roadshows through Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, along with partnering with retailers such as the Oak Barrel (Sydney) and Prince Wine Store (Melbourne) for targeted Tasmanian wine (and cider) tasting events, which encourage sales.

Robert Hill-Smith and his team at Yalumba look for location, timing, pricing, demographic target and other exhibitors when assessing trade fairs.

They are not in favour of a consumer aspect to trade fairs and, like many others, now believe that working direct with importers is a better way to approach consumers.

Yalumba has cut down on the number of fairs it attends, but has not increased its presence in Asian fairs. Hill-Smith explains, “Our spend reflects where the demand sits and also the sophistication of the attendee.

If Australia achieves a FTA with China, then shows like Vinexpo China or ProWine China may have some real leverage.”

Tyrrell’s Wines chief executive Bruce Tyrrell holds a similar view as Hill-Smith, saying, “In Asia, I don’t see the time has come yet. Mostly because the suppliers do not know who all the customers are. This is particularly relevant to the grey market in China.” d’Arenberg is not shy in any market; working hard to keep the profile high in Asia, the team regularly attends Vinexpo Asia. Sales and marketing general manager Philip Jeffries said, “It’s good value, as there are a lot of importers/buyers not only from Hong Kong and China, but other markets in the region. d’Arenberg has also attended the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair as part of Wine Australia and we were pleased with the result.”

A company doing well in China and Asia in recent years is Pernod Ricard, the world’s second-biggest drinks company and owner of Jacob’s Creek.

However, like Treasury Wine Estates, it has seen a decline in volume since the Chinese government’s clampdown on banquet spending and other austerity measures.

Parkin says Vinexpo Asia is “a very good event, if only to demonstrate that Australia is open for business to V2 9N 1

a region of significant and growing importance. It’s quite expensive, exacerbated by on-costs such as travel and accommodation.”

Taylor’s Wines export manager, Neil Hadley MW, attends Vinexpo Asia, but leaves any others in the region to his agents. “There are a lot of tyre kickers here and it’s very hard to know how to begin follow up. Once again, however, things are shifting. We have recently

F I L E S

trade visits with existing distributors, as the Asian relationships require considerable nurturing and patience.”

Asia was summed up by Louise Hemsley-Smith, of Edge Hill Vineyard, also in McLaren Vale: “We should be attending some events in Asia, but it’s all so confusing about which one to do.”

Casella is also taking Asia one step at a time. Global marketing manger

…it seems the Asian region is still unclear for many, as the wine fairs and shows there are not as defined as in Europe. Many wineries are looking to their agent for advice and, as yet, are not sure if the results are worth it. employed a Hong Kong-based market manager for China and Hong Kong, so he is starting to look more closely at whether some of these shows present opportunities for growth,” Hadley said.

Accolade Wines mentions a wine show in China that not many others have noted (except Casella), the Chengdu Spring Sugar and Wine Fair (held in the last week of March).

Accolade’s reasons include: • the event is the largest scale wine fair in China • it attracts a lot of local distributors to exhibit their products too, so the quality of the exhibits can vary from strong international brands to customised local brands. There is a large variance on the quality of wine too.

In another sector others have not mentioned, Accolade attends the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference, held in May each year.

From responses it seems the Asian region is still unclear for many, as the wine fairs and shows there are not as defined as in Europe. Many wineries are looking to their agent for advice and, as yet, are not sure if the results are worth it. Maybe this makes Michael Fragos, winemaker and manger at Chapel Hill Winery, in McLaren Vale, the wise operator. Fragos said, “We have not attended any Asian trade fairs and are concentrating our efforts on targeted W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

Libby Nutt said the company was putting more focus on China and Hong Kong, hence starting to spend more effort on the shows in Asia.

Asia holds promise, but it is proving to be a slippery customer. As yet, there is more supposition than known fact.

China is looked at as the pot of gold at the end of the vinous rainbow, but is also proving elusive to find.

It’s a long, winding road; where it will lead, who knows? But I hope it leads to positive sales and good profits WVJ for all.

To advertise in the Journal phone Nicole Evans (08) 8369 9515 widsales@ winetitles.com.au www.winebiz. com . au

15

even t s

s imei

SIMEI steps up for sustainable grape and wine production

By Dr Jim Fortune

Representing the Wine & Viticulture Journal, Jim Fortune, former executive director of the Grape & Wine Research & Development Corporation, attended SIMEI, the International Enological and Bottling Equipment Exhibition, held in Milan, Italy, in early November. Fortune reports here on a two-day international conference that was held as part of the event which explored the theme of sustainability in the vineyard and winery, designed to highlight the critical issues and opportunities in the sector.

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he two-day vineyard and winery sustainability-focussed conference held during SIMEI featured several passionate and bureaucratic presentations covering systems in the European Union, Australia, US and South Africa, with some global wraparounds by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). The presentations were given in English, with another day devoted to the Italian system Tergeo, described as ‘a project of collection, qualification and diffusion of innovative, technological and management solutions to improve the sustainability of wineries’.

The aims of the conference were to: • report on the state-of-the-art, identify the needs and gaps, and draw elements for guidelines towards a common understanding of the practices and measures adopted worldwide in sustainable wine production • affect decision-making and innovation on the future of sustainable viticulture and wine production at political, commercial, industrial and scientific levels.

It wasn’t clear if the speakers had taken the time to glimpse the broader SIMEI displays, as so many of the providers of equipment and services have been a key part of the improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the whole sector and its sustainability. There were several claims from speakers about economic, environmental and social considerations, but overall discussion was very light in terms of reference to costs to grapegrowers and wine producers of implementation of particular systems.

To add some detail to this, part of sustainability costs are compliance costs associated with operating under the regulatory frameworks arising from public policy in the various production environments and countries. When the costs of industry or company-led sustainability initiatives to integrate

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Delegates listen in on the Sustainable Viticulture and Wine Production conference. information and guidance on best management practice (growing and production) are added to these, the costs per unit area of grapes or bottle of wine are significant. This is not an issue that the combined meeting seemed to wish to address, as they busily discussed the relative merits of types of measurements for indicators, carbon footprints, lifecycle analyses and benchmarks. Realistic discussion about profitability and brand image by Dr Cecil Camilleri (Australia) as measurable outcomes did not seem to engage the technocrats in the audience.

This is something that has also been recently addressed quite strongly by an Italian team (Santini et al. 2013) in a wideranging review of sustainability and the wine industry.

Perhaps some of the apparent paradox arises from some people treating, or perhaps implying, that there is something very new in the work that they are doing on sustainability. Consider some examples: the first Lodi (California) Winegrower Workbook was released in 2000, the first Australian Wine Industry Environment Conference in 2000 (The South Australian Wine Industry Association is organising the seventh conference for 2014), and the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Workbook originally released in 2002, a second edition in late 2006, and the most W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

recent third edition in January 2013. The workbook is now a set of 15 chapters and 191 criteria, which includes a builtin system with metrics to measure performance. And still we need more?

I will speculate that what is new is the European shift from production to environmental subsidies where payments are now decoupled from production and focussed on greening and rural development. The strong driver for interest in sustainability in the EU can be expressed in green terms and the money it attracts (common agriculture policy or CAP payments represent about 30% of EU farmer’s incomes) as was presented by Francesca Bignami (CopaCogeca – European farmers and farmer’s cooperatives representing some 12 million farmers). Unfortunately, Bignami was one of the last speakers in the workshop, so her linkages between compliance, greening and rural development did not receive the attention they deserved. While discussion of CAP can be quite dry, the numbers are large; currently in excess of €50 billion per year (or about A$77 billion). It sounds like an excellent incentive to talk the language of sustainability and to develop more sets of measurements to suit local circumstances.

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sustainability has developed. However, committing time to an event like SIMEI pushes thinking and critical evaluation, and opens the eyes and ears to the huge range of challenges that grapegrowers and winemakers face all over the world.

Footnote

Some of the speakers at the conference included (from left) Steve Smit (Constellation Wines, US), Federico Castellucci (OIV), Aurora Abad (Comité Européen des Enterprises Vins, EU) and Alison Hodder (Food and Agriculture Organisation, UN). wide-ranging discussions, aided by rapid electronic polling of ideas and opinions. For a meeting that could have been dominated by loud voices, expert facilitation and rapid generation of shared ideas in summary form was a great feature that ensured opportunity for all to express themselves.

Full marks to Natasha Walker, an independent communications consultant, and the Italian hosts (UIV – Union Italia Vini) for their efforts and planning.

There were a number of national or regional presentations, but Dr Lucrezia

Lamastra (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) and Allison Jordan (Wine Institute, California) both provided excellent overviews with comparisons of the different national systems. They highlighted the challenges of being able to measure and compare elements where different methods have been used.

It was a privilege to be able to listen to the scope of work being undertaken. It is always enjoyable to listen to enthusiastic presenters, and it was an important reminder of just how far the Australian discussion and shared knowledge of

In the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia’s recently-released document Actions for Industry Profitability 2014 – 2016, wine and health is the number one action. WFA says, ‘There is also widespread concern in the wine industry regarding the imbalance between the importance of the wine and health debate for the sustainability of the sectors...’ It is curious that in the days of sustainability discussion at SIMEI, this element seemed to be missing. Maybe next time.

References Santini, C.; Cavicchi, A and Casini, L. (2013) Sustainability trends in the wine industry: key questions and research trends, Agricultural and Food Economics 1:9 (open access), http://www.agrifoodecon.com/ content/1/1/9) http://www.simei.it/en/contenuti. aspx?idContenuto=2747 provides access to most of the SIMEI sustainability presentations.

WVJ

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VISIT www.winebiz.com.au/guide • Select the option “Brokers (Grape) & Grape Sales” from the Buyers’ Guide categories listed to view companies that offer these services

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VISIT www.winebiz.com.au/widonline/wineries • Easily locate wineries that are using selected Varieties in their production • Scroll down to “Variety” search option, select the variety you are trying to sell 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)

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W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

V29N1

WINEMAKING

lightweight bottles

Lighter bottles – ‘green’ and lighter on the hip pocket

By Cathy Howard

It has been nearly five years since the first lightweight bottles were made available to the Australian wine industry. Cathy Howard asks whether wineries are now choosing them to enhance and promote their environmental sustainability credentials to their customers, or merely to replace the more expensive, heavier and taller bottles with lighter and narrower alternatives?

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he process to produce lightweight bottles is known as ‘narrow neck press and blow’ (NNPB). The process produces bottles that are between 18-28 percent lighter than regular wine bottles, lower in height and also narrower in diameter.

In 2009, global glass container giant O-I started production of NNPB bottles at its plant in Adelaide, South Australia, the first O-I wine bottle plant globally to make lightweight glass wine bottles that retain conventional wine bottle shapes.

Amcor installed a new furnace the following year dedicated to producing NNPB bottles. Since then, the company has also retrofitted another furnace to improve its capability to produce increasing quantities of NNPB bottles as demand requires.

In mid-2009, lightweight bottles were being heralded as the next big thing.

According to some reports, Australia was on the verge of becoming a major user of lightweight wine bottles. At the time, the environmental benefits of using NNPB bottles were being promoted by O-I Asia Pacific president Greg Ridder as having “struck a chord with retailers, customers and the Australian wine industry. But they (the wineries) are not just buying packaging; they are also attaching the positive attributes of the packaging to their brands”.

In an article by Simone Mueller, Haan Kweh and Larry Lockshin in the Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal (predecessor to the Wine & Viticulture Journal) the following year (January/ February 2010), these questions were posed: • do consumers appreciate environmental benefits more than the reduced ability of heavy wine packaging to signal quality and value?

• do companies have to make a decision

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between the environment and the consumer when determining the packaging of their wine?

• what are the existing differences in packaging between wines at different price and quality points in the market?

Is there a relationship between price and bottle size and weight?

The article went on to discuss how consumers in the US choose one wine package over another based on subconscious quality cues. In conclusion, “These results reflect that the market still uses weight and bottle height to differentiate the premium price segment of wine from lower price tiers. These findings confirm... that expensive food items, in this case premium wines, gain a premium image through heavier bottles. These expensive items are likely to be resistant to efforts to create lighterweight versions”.

Another interesting point raised in this article is, “We also know through research by our wine marketing group and others, that environmental attributes are not very important in choosing wines. Lighter weight and more environmentallyfriendly packaging are important to retailers and to governments, but have low salience to the average wine consumer”.

Plenty of food for thought, and nearly five years on from the launch of NNPB bottles in 2009, are wineries still choosing them to enhance and promote their environmental sustainability credentials to their customers? Or is it more a case of reducing costs throughout the production process and, therefore, replacing more expensive, heavier, taller bottles with lighter, narrower NNPB bottles?

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

Taylors’ production manager Andreas Reisinger with some lightweight bottles.

From a glass manufacturer’s perspective: Maria Armstrong, wine marketing manager, O-I Australia O-I launched the Lean+Green® wine bottle range in 2009 as a direct result of customer and industry demand.

Lighter weight packaging aligned with the Australian wine industry’s increased focus on sustainability and also provided significant freight efficiency improvements, which were particularly beneficial to companies that were exporting wines to different markets around the world.

“We expect the growth of our Lean+Green range will continue to occur within the high-volume commercial end of the wine market, as heavier weight bottles continue to dominate the premium segment, which represents less than 10% of Australia’s wine market.

“Our Lean+Green sales continue to rise as more brands choose to convert from heavier bottles to our lightweight Lean+Green alternatives. During this year V29N1

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“We currently offer customers premium burgundy and premium claret Lean+Green bottles and are exploring cork-mouth claret and burgundy lightweight options that are aimed at customers exporting to China and the US, where screwcap adoption has been limited,” she said.

With regard to the extent of the current range of Lean+Green available, O-I does “get a lot of requests for proprietary Lean+Green bottles and we currently produce a number of exclusive lightweight bottles for many of our Australian customers,” Armstrong explained.

Taylors uses a range of lightweight glass across its Taylors Estate (right), Eighty Acres (left) and Promised Land ranges.

[2013] alone, we have seen at least 20 brands convert to Lean+Green, which requires no significant changes to customer filling lines. To meet the increasing demand, we are able to accommodate a greater amount of Lean+Green production if required and are happy to discuss conversion options with our customers,” Maria Armstrong said.

Graphic Language DESIGN

When comparing these trends in Australia to the uptake of lightweight bottles in Europe and the US, Armstrong said, “There has been a definite increase in interest and use of lightweight bottles in Europe, however, as the US market continues to be dominated by cork mouth and heavier weight bottles, the growth potential there is more limited.

From a winery’s perspective: Jonathan Lord, senior brand manager, new product development, Taylors Wines Taylors Wines is one of many wineries using NNPB bottles in its wine range.

Taylors Wines engaged Provisor to assist with the development of a life cycle assessment (LCA) model for the winery that complied with ISO 14044, the standard required by Australian authorities for products that claim to be carbon neutral. The standard

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WINEMAKING

lightweight bottles

Peter Walker, business development manager for Portavin - Margaret River, says there is minimal cost to upgrade its bottling lines to accommodate the narrowerdiameter lightweight bottles, and the new bottles have better uniformity of wall thickness, leading to fewer label application problems on the line. expects a product’s carbon footprint to be measured at every step in its life cycle, from the vineyard ending with the consumption, disposal and recycling of the finished packaging.

Taylors Wines was one of the first wineries in Australia to introduce O-I’s innovative Lean+Green lightweight glass.

This glass was almost 40% lighter than the original glass used in its Eighty

Acres range of wines and equates to a reduction in carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per bottle of 15%.

“Taylors uses a range of O-I’s Lean+Green lightweight glass across our Taylors Estate, Eighty Acres and Promised Land ranges,” Jonathan Lord said.

The current range of lightweight bottle shapes is not restrictive in terms

of placing Taylors Wines super premium wines into lightweight glass.

“We have previously trialled O-I’s Lean+Green premium claret bottle and reached the conclusion that lightweighted narrow neck press and blow wine glass production is not compatible with the super premium brand presentation to which we aspire nor with what consumers and the wine trade expect,” Lord explained.

Interestingly, Lord said, “The use of O-I’s Lean+Green glass is not an important consumer marketing tool for us. In our experience, there is currently little direct correlation between consumers’ environmental concerns and their purchasing behaviours in store. At a trade marketing level, the use of O-I’s Lean+Green glass has delivered realisable freight efficiencies that have assisted our trade customers to achieve greater efficiencies in their warehousing and supply chain logistics.

From a corporate social responsibility perspective, the use of O-I’s Lean+Green glass has not only assisted in Taylors Wines' ability to deliver an ongoing significant reduction in the carbon footprint of our wine products, but also provided a tangible means to

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For all your packaging requirements contact: Contact John Camilleri or Peter Cole: 5 Edison Drive, Golden Grove, South Australia 5125

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W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

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communicate this to the global wine industry at large. Any customer feedback we have received in this space has been broadly supportive especially at the more commercial end of the spectrum. However, in some export markets, we have received negative feedback that our products may not present as well as other comparative global wine competitors due to our use of lightweight glass.

“We do not directly communicate on any of our products the use of O-I’s Lean+Green glass other than the branded indent on the base of each bottle. With respect to carbon neutrality, our Eighty Acres range of wines feature our trademarked ‘100% carbon neutral - ISO 14044’ green leaf symbol on the front label.

These wines also feature additional consumer communication regarding their carbon neutral status via both the front and back labels,” Lord said.

From a bottling service provider’s perspective: Peter Walker, business development manager, Portavin - Margaret River At Portavin, the three most commonly used NNPB bottle shapes are: the claret without the punt; the punted claret; and the punted burgundy. Portavin uses both Amcor and O-I NNPB bottles. Peter Walker commented that there were minimal costs involved for upgrading its bottling lines to accommodate the narrower diameter bottles, and the new NNPB process produced bottles with far better uniformity in wall thickness and, therefore, less label application problems were generally experienced on the line.

Starting in 2009, there was an initial rapid increase in the number of products and wineries using the NNPB bottles. Over the past year or so, Walker noted that this growth has slowed and flattened out.

For Portavin’s customers, Walker said, “Their reasons for choosing to use NNPB bottles varies from customer to customer, depending on their priorities at the time. Some initially chose to use NNPB bottles for environmental and sustainability reasons, and others chose to use these bottles simply because they reduced their bottling costs significantly, particularly for their commercial wine ranges.”

Portavin has not been approached by any of its customers for any other bottle styles in NNPB glass. In Portavin’s opinion, the current range of NNPB bottle shapes available from both suppliers appears adequate to meet the current requirements of its customers. In Western Australia, there has been a definite move towards more wineries using heavier, taller glass bottles for their top end, super premium wines.

Conclusions The reasons behind using NNPB glass has changed for many winery businesses, with the focus purely on reducing carbon footprint and improving the winery’s environmental credentials moving towards the reduction of costs wherever possible, particularly in the lower margin, commercial wine ranges. The need to more clearly differentiate super premium wines for their customers has also seen many wineries move towards using heavier and taller bottles in these ranges.

Taylors Wines’ Jonathan Lord sums it up well by saying, “The introduction of O-I’s Lean+Green premium lightweight glass in 2009 definitely marked a step change for the Australian wine industry and allowed greater diversification of finished wine packaging options”.

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 20 years. She also consults part time to some wineries in the Geographe region. WVJ V2 9N 1

For further information, please contact Kauri NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE NZ Fax: 04 910 7415 Email: winery@kauri.co.nz

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 AUS Fax: 1800 127 609 Website: www.kauriwine.com

www.winebiz. com . au

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WINEMAKING

P I N OT N O I R

Cutting edge Pinot

Reducing skin particle size early in fermentation is the key

By Angela Sparrow, Bob Dambergs and Dugald Close Perennial Horticulture Centre, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, PO Box 46, Kings Meadows, Tasmania 7249, Australia.

P

inot Noir is known to have thin skins and low concentrations of skin tannin relative to other red winegrape varieties. However, the seeds compensate for this shortfall by having 50 times (w/w) higher tannin concentration than the skins. During winemaking, the two tannin types compete for binding sites with the coloured pigment anthocyanin to form stable pigmented tannins. However, at high concentration, seed tannins tend to compromise both the taste and colour stability of the wine.

In order to improve the quality of Pinot Noir, our 2012 trials investigated how to extract more tannin from the skin to compete with the seed tannin. This was done by cutting the skins early in the fermentation, reducing the skin particle size to 10 percent of its original size, which allowed tannin and pigment to diffuse from the cut skin edges more rapidly (Figure 1).

Using an ultra-microvinification technique (200g fruit) the procedure was imposed one, three or five days after inoculation.

The phenolic composition of the wine was determined by spectral analysis at bottling and six months bottle age.

There was no significant difference attributed to the day on which the procedure took place, but significant changes in wine phenolic characteristics were apparent. We observed an increase in total tannin, pigmented tannin and colour density of the treated wines. After six months in the bottle, the total amount of tannin in ‘Cutting Edge’ Pinot Noir wines had increased by 73% relative to the control wines in which the skins were not cut.

Pigmented tannin had increased by 40% and the colour density by 31%, relative to the control wines (data not shown).

The next step was to trial this technique with larger ferments. In 2013 three Tasmanian wineries (W1, W2, W3) were involved in ‘Cutting Edge’ Pinot trials. Each winery used the same Pinot Noir clone and the same culture of malolactic bacteria.

The ferment sizes varied, with fruit capacity ranging from 250kg to 1 tonne.

The fermenting musts were subjected to pomace cutting as soon as the cap was afloat (36 hours from inoculation). At this stage the seeds were still robust and were easily dispersed out of the way of the

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Figure 1. Fragment size of crushed (uncut) and cut grapes; diagram representing movement of anthocyanin and tannin from ruptured grape skin fragment.

Figure 2.A. Mean daily tannin and free anthocyanin content during fermentation (n=3). B. Potential reduction in tank space following removal of grape solids. moving cutting blades, thereby minimising seed damage. The wines were fermented to dryness and pressed off (Figure 2).

Further analysis of samples taken during winemaking showed that the ratio of skin to seed tannin was significantly higher within 48 hours of inoculation. We conclude that in order to maximise wine colour and avoid bitterness and astringency associated with excess seed tannin, it may be beneficial to press the fermenting must off the pomace soon after cutting the cap and ferment to dryness in the absence of grape solids.

This would not only have the advantage of sequestering stable pigmented tannin, but also reduce tank space in the winery.

In addition to laboratory analyses of wine phenolic characters in the finished wine, a six-person tasting panel tested the wines.

The panel included winemakers from each of the commercial wineries where the trial was conducted. Overall, the ‘Cutting Edge’ Pinot Noir wines (cut cap) were rated as a 32% improvement on the control (uncut) wines (Figure 3).

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

Figure 3. Characteristics of ‘Cutting Edge’ Pinot Noir: Comparison of laboratory analysis and tasting panel assessment of control wines (uncut) and treated wines (cut).

This procedure has beneficial implications for colour stability in lightly pigmented red wines. It may be a valuable alternative used to promote skin colour and tannin extraction in preference to coldsoaking the must before fermentation or extended maceration post-fermentation, consequently increasing winery throughput.

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WINEMAKING

Sustainability a hot topic at De Bortoli

By Sonya Logan

I

n October, De Bortoli Wines officially flicked the switch on the largest solar system and solar thermal plant at an Australian winery at its Bilbul site, near Griffith, in New South Wales.

Notwithstanding their size, the 230kW solar system and the 200kW solar thermal plant are just two components of a string of initiatives the company has implemented over recent years, and plans to roll out in the near future, as part of its sustainability project aimed at minimising waste and reducing its energy costs across its eight sites in New South Wales,

Victoria, Queensland, South and Western Australia.

De Bortoli’s sustainability project took root back in 2004 with the arrival of Rob Glastonbury as the company’s new operations manager at the Bilbul site. In a matter of days, Glastonbury learned that nearby residents had petitioned the local council requesting that De Bortoli reduce the odours from its wastewater treatment system – which at the time comprised biodigestion and evaporation systems during vintage.

At that time, the company was looking to expand production

capacity at the Bilbul site from 85,000 to 150,000 thousand tonnes per annum within seven years.

Under state environmental laws, the existence of the petition compelled both the local council and Environmental Protection Agency to ensure De Bortoli began rectifying the odour issue. The local council also insisted the company provide plans and costing for any future developments and that an environmental assessment for these proposed developments be completed.

The additional infrastructure needed for the company’s proposed

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WINEMAKING

S U ST A I N A B I L I T Y

De Bortli’s 230kW solar system is the largest installed at an Australian winery.

expansion meant it was classified as a major development under the state’s environmental planning policy and, consequently, an environmental assessment also had to be prepared before approval for the expansion could be granted.

Preparing an environmental assessment that would suit the requirements of both the local and state governments triggered a number of environmental initiatives at the Bilbul site. Changing the method of treating wastewater was among the more significant. As a first step, managing director Darren De Bortoli made the decision to remove sodium from the winemaking process, which not only acknowledged the detrimental effect that sodium was having in the Murray Darling Basin but enabled the wastewater to be reused for irrigation.

“In 2004, we were not managing our wastewater very well,” admits Rob Glastonbury. “We were sending our

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wastewater containing sodium out to our treatment plant, pH adjusting and aerating it in the vain hope it didn’t smell. We then just let the wastewater evaporate, further concentrating the salt in solution.

“Changing from sodium to potassium in 2004 immediately flipped our thinking around on what we could do with the wastewater. Plants will consume potassium, so we started looking at reusing the wastewater on broadacre cereal crops. We didn’t want to put wastewater back into the vineyards during vintage because of its effect on fruit composition. We were also worried about potential disease issues that might arise in sending the wastewater to the vineyards.”

So, in 2005, De Bortoli purchased an adjacent 65ha farm for the strict purpose of planting crops that could reuse wastewater. Since then, they’ve trialled numerous crops in the pursuit of finding one that makes best use of the wastewater.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

“We’re essentially trying to take out as much potassium from the soil in a dry mass as we can while not wasting the water as it becomes available,” Glastonbury said.

“We’ve played with 30-odd different grain cultivars. Some, like sorghum, absolutely rip potassium out of the ground. We’ve had a few experimental crops that didn’t work well. In principle, if a plant can take up 3% potassium and we harvest 6000kg/ha of grain and 10,000kg/ha of straw, we are picking up 480kg of potassium per hectare.

“The sale of the crop and straw further offsets a majority of the costs in managing the wastewater in the first place,” Glastonbury said.

With the purchase of the farm came an upgrade to the wastewater treatment system: a lime dosing system was initially installed to control pH. Lime was selected on the basis that it has a positive effect on V29N1

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De Bortoli’s new 12,000-bottle-per-hour bottling line incorporates a bottle warmer to overcome the need for relabelling due to ‘sweating bottles’. The design of the warmer includes two 0.5MW boilers, but as the company is now utilising solargenerated hot water, the boilers remain idle.

soil composition. The lime and any solids emanating from the winery were then extracted into settling ponds for later use on the farm. The existing aerators, which used around 400kW of electricity to run each day during vintage, were replaced with an 8kW aeration system, saving $200,000 a year in power.

In March 2006, the New South Wales Government consented to De Bortoli’s expansion plans at Bilbul, and late in that year, the Riverina Winemakers’ Association decided to make use of the NSW Government’s Sustainability Advantage program which provided Riverina wineries with the expertise to evaluate their environmental performance and identify ways for them to benefit from sustainable practices.

“As a consequence of the program,” Glastonbury recalls, “we developed a 10-year wish list of improvements for our site.”

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In 2012, De Bortoli’s environmental ‘wish list’ received a shot in the arm through a grant of $4.8 million facilitated by AusIndustry. The grant helped top up an $11 million project that the company had already committed to spending and brought forward the implementation of several initiatives the company had identified in a project document titled ‘Reengineering our future for a carbon economy’. As Glastonbury explained at the time of the announcement of the grant, “Where previously we have focused on sustainability on the farm and in the vineyard, this project places greater emphasis on our production and warehousing sites in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria and includes upgrades to refrigeration, winemaking systems, packaging lines, electrical and lighting systems.”

One of the first initiatives to be implemented from the project, and one that was identified through the W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

Sustainability Advantage program, was a power factor correction at the Bilbul site. Prior to the correction, De Bortoli was only using 80% of the power delivered (and billed) to the property.

“If you’re running a business that uses a lot of power, this is the first thing you should check,” Glastonbury said. “The seven transformers at Bilbul were assessed to have a power factor of 85%. Whereas previously a pump rated at 10kW might draw the equivalent of 12kW of delivered power, with the power factor corrected that would now be closer to 10kW,” he explained. The power factor correction units were installed midway through last year and their effect on the winery’s power consumption is already evident, showing a 5-7% drop in its electricity consumption.

The two refrigeration plants at Bilbul are also receiving attention.

Both plants use around 400kW per hour at the height of vintage. The www.winebiz. com . au

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DeBortoli's operations manager Rob Glastonbury.

newly-installed solar panels will now generate around half that load during daylight hours, while an upgrade to the refrigeration plants themselves is now under way to lower their energy consumption. The upgrade includes a changeover from refrigerant to a water-cooled heat exchanger for cooling the oil that lubricates the refrigeration compressors, installing speed controls for head pressure and condenser fans so that they ramp up and down according to demand, and optimising control on the plants for better efficiency.

For eight years, De Bortoli has been working on implementing a “one-shot production system” at Bilbul – in other words, keeping the steps required to produce its wines to a minimum.

“We were typically handling our commercial still and sparkling wines 10-15 times after fermentation. We’ve now got that down to four or five times for some of our major commercial wines,” Glastonbury noted. “And because there’s much less handling, there’s decreased energy consumption and decreased risk. Every time you handle a wine there’s a risk of microbial or chemical contamination

and wine loss. The fewer process steps also mean a lot less work in the cellar too.”

As Glastonbury puts it, one-shot production requires “deft use of automation across the wine production process”. This has included the recent introduction of three crossflow filters as alternatives to the less efficient earth filters it had previously been using, which have also enabled the introduction of in-line cold stabilisation, reducing the time needed for cold stabilisation from days to minutes.

A new 12,000-bottle-per-hour bottling line has also been installed designed with a focus on reliability and to minimise product changeover times.

“Our production speed and changeover times are continuing to improve as the staff gain confidence with the new equipment and then begin to shift their thinking from being machine-centric to being line-centric” Glastonbury said.

The new bottling line is not only more efficient but increases the company’s ability to pack to order, lessening the need for back-up stock and the warehousing to accommodate it.

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S U ST A I N A B I L I T Y

For the past eight years, De Bortoli has been working on implementing a ‘oneshot production system’ at Bilbul which has included the recent introduction of three crossflow filters as alternatives to the less efficient earth filters it had previously been using. Their installation has also enabled the introduction of inline cold stabilisation, reducing the time needed for cold stabilisation from days to minutes.

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W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

With the new bottling line, De Bortoli has also taken the opportunity to add on a bottle warmer to overcome the need for relabelling due to “sweating bottles”.

“Over the last few years we’ve definitely been experiencing more humidity at Bilbul,” Glastonbury said.

‘Sweating bottles’ are normally only a problem with our sparkling wine, which is bottled at 2°C, but we’ve even found it a problem on still wines over the last two seasons which has caused labels to slip when applied or they don’t stick at all. In 2011, De Bortoli had to relabel 1.7 million bottles owing to the humidity. Now we can just turn the bottle warmer on when required.”

The timing of the arrival of the bottling line and bottle warmer meant it could be included in the company’s plans for solar generation.

“A bottle warmer would normally use a fair chunk of energy,” Glastonbury said. “The design includes two 0.5MW boilers, but our design utilises solar-generated hot water while the boilers remain idle.”

The use of energy-saving lighting across all De Bortoli’s sites has also seen a reduction in the company’s energy consumption.

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In its major warehouses, De Boeroli has installed skylighting which has enabled lights to be turned off, resulting in a reduction in energy use.

“We’ve audited all our offices and warehouses and used a software program called Dialux to work out how many lights or light sources each of the sites need. We’ve since commenced replacing old and faulty flourescent lights at the Bilbul, Yarra Valley, Melbourne and Queensland sites with LED fluorescent lights. The LEDs have a lower transmission factor and a longer useful life. In our major warehouses, skylighting has also been installed and we’ve even been able to turn lights off,” Glastonbury said.

Although De Bortoli’s Yarra Valley and Bilbul wineries have completely different environmental imperatives, the underlying drive at both sites is to create a sustainable legacy for future generations of the family. This was recognised in 2011 when De Bortoli won the ‘Sustainability Award’ at the Drinks Business Green Awards. The judges said that De Bortoli stood out for putting sustainability at the forefront of its business activity, and particularly acknowledged its 40% reduction in landfill waste and its aeration system for being a relatively inexpensive initiative that other producers could adopt.

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Italian inspiration for novel Nero d’Avola making

Va R I E ta l R E P O R t

Putting the sparkle in sparkling rosé 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.

By Brad Hickey, Brash Higgins Wine Co., McLaren Vale, South Australia

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

need to find information on oak, pruning or the AsVO? type in your topic of choice to locate previously published articles.

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.

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)

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,

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.

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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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.

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 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. win e b iz . c o m . a u

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Only available to subscribers. Visit www.winebiz.com.au/wvj T: +618 8369 9500 F: +618 8369 9501 E: subs@winetitles.com.au W: www.winebiz.com.au

PROVIDING SOLUTIONS TO THE WINE INDUSTRY

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INTRODUCING

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S U ST A I N A B I L I T Y

Were you ready Upsurge in the ‘green’ factor at the home of last Vintage? the ‘red stripe’ Suppliers of Climaveneta Chillers MTA Chillers Phasefale Controls

By Sonya Logan

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Winery Refrigeration Solutions BRINE & PIPE SYSTEMS • Packaged Brine Chillers • Brine Reticulation Systems • Stainless Steel Pipe Work • Copper Pipe Work • ABS & PVC Pipe Work • Process Lines • Compressed Air Lines SERVICE • Planned Maintenance • Repairs & Breakdowns • System & Application Solutions

www.w i n eb i z .c om.au

“It means that for most of the year we won’t be paying for power at all.

And at vintage time we will be reducing our consumption so that will reduce our supply charge,” explained chief winemaker and viticulturist Chester Osborn, adding that payback on the system will be achieved in just over four years.

The solar system is the second to be installed by d’Arenberg following the company’s decision to put one on the roof of a shed at another property it owns in the hills around McLaren Flat.

“We put that in a couple of years ago.

It’s only about 15% of the size of the new system, but we don’t use much power down there at all – just some lights and occasionally we run a small bore. Most of the power that system generates is fed back into the grid,” Osborn said.

Even before installing the solar system at the winery, d’Arenberg had

REFRIGERATION • Refrigeration Plant • Coolrooms • Barrel Store Cooling • Neck Freezer Upgrades • Plant Upgrades CONTROL • Temperature Control • Humidity Control • Network Based & Single Tank Control Systems

Phone: (03) 9773 6459 Fax: (03) 9773 6435 Email: brian@serchill.com.au Web: www.serchill.com.au

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mproved wine quality. Reduced costs. d’Arenberg’s reasons for increasing the ‘green’ initiatives in its vineyards and winery are as simple as that. Sure, there’s a proportion of customers who might find its wines all the more appealing for knowing about these initiatives, but they are by no means the main driver.

For example, receiving bills of up to $40,000 and more for a month’s supply of electricity was incentive enough for the McLaren Vale winery to give the green light to installing a solar system, even if a Federal Government grant may have turned the idea into a reality a little quicker than they’d planned.

Measuring 200kW, d’Arenberg now boasts the largest solar photovoltaic generator at a South Australian winery which sits atop its barrel hall and will supply about 28% of the company’s power.

d’Arenberg’s chief winemaker and viticulturist Chester Osborn against a backdrop of some of the winery’s 450 acres of vineyard which from 2015 will be all certified organic.

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already taken steps to reduce its power consumption, which has included changing over all globes to LEDs; increasing the chilling temperature for cold settling to reduce the need for warming; using the latent heat from the compressors on the refrigeration plants to heat juices, making use of what is effectively free heat; increasing brine temperatures by 2-3°C outside of vintage time, significantly reducing heat loads; recycling 100% of its wastewater on site; and using lightweight bottles.

Excluding the recycling of wastewater, which the company has done for almost 15 years, most of these initiatives are fairly recent, but out in the company’s 450 acres of vineyards, d’Arenberg has been thinking and acting green for much longer, and it is there where the company says quality improvements have been noted. d’Arenberg stopped cultivation in its vineyards some 20 years ago at the same time it decided to no longer use fertilisers.

“We gave up fertiliser as we found that the wines were more mineral,” Osborn explained. “That was after I started working with derelict vineyards of Grenache that had amazing tannins in them, so we started to question why we fertilising our reds.

“Our yields haven’t reduced much at all yet the quality has gone through the roof. And the vines have much better disease resistance. In 2011, when other growers were having a lot of problems with botrytis, we had no issues with it in our vineyards at all. We put that down to the lack of use of fertilisers largely.

“We actually haven’t sprayed much at all in the vineyards over the years. We did some spraying in the late 1960s and early 1970s but dad eventually gave it away other than the occasional sulfur spray. But, in the 1991-92 season we started to notice a lot of powdery mildew. And in 1992-93, we lost a lot of flowers to botrytis. These disease problems all started after we began fertilising in 1989 and introduced drip irrigation. So it was about then that we gave up using fertilisers and cultivation.”

Osborn said the lack of cultivation had dramatically rejuvenated soils and resulted in an increase in populations of ‘good bugs’ and microflora.

“Back when we were cultivating, I’d dig a hole in the middle of a vineyard row and not see any roots there. If you were to dig a hole in the middle of a vineyard row now there will be roots down there. So we’ve increased the soil volume per vine which has increased the ability of the vine to access water which means we don’t have to irrigate as much.

“Interestingly, when we gave up cultivation, the vigour of the vines declined a little but after about three years the vigour went forward again and since then they’ve grown to be more balanced. They seem to be much better at coping with stress and drought too.

“What we do now is mow the midrow and undervine areas but we also have our own sheep that we put in the vineyards in the winter months as soon as leaves start falling and pull them out before budburst. The sheep do a lot of the mowing so we’ve reduced our undervine mowing to one pass per season.

However, this season, because it was so dry so quickly, the grasses under the vines died almost straight away and we haven’t bothered to mow them at all – we’ve only mowed in the middle.”

Osborn said the company ran about 1000 sheep spread over its 450 acres of vineyard, but added that it probably wasn’t enough.

“The sheep don’t cost us anything because they pay for themselves effectively through the returns we get from the meat. And the quality of the grapes has gone up significantly while yields haven’t gone down at all.”

Herbicides are also no longer used in d’Arenberg vineyards.

“We gave up herbicides about six years ago. Fortunately, when we did so several wet years followed which was perfect V2 9N 1

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OAK per fection

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

For further information, please contact Kauri NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE NZ Fax: 04 910 7415 Email: winery@kauri.co.nz

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 AUS Fax: 1800 127 609 Website: www.kauriwine.com

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timing because the herbicides had sterilised the zone under the vines, so it needed a few good wet years to flush the herbicides out and start growing plants again. The vines also seemed to rejuvenate in that environment. Back in 2007 we had a real drought year - the only real drought we’ve had in the last 20 years - and the shoots on the vines were quite a bit shorter than normal. Although we haven’t experienced a drought that severe since, we’ve had years that have been pretty dry and we haven’t seen anywhere near the shortness of shoots.

I’ve been quite surprised at the effect not herbiciding has had on the vines themselves.” d’Arenberg has only ever used organic sprays, namely copper and sulfur, in its vineyards, bar the rare occasion in the last 30 years when a synthetic has been

called upon. But, in one of its vineyards, sprays of any sort have ceased to be used from the 2013-14 season as part of an experiment to see what effect a hands-off approach might have on the vines in this vineyard known as the Otherside – the oldest Grenache vineyard in McLaren Vale.

“We’re not even going in that vineyard with tractors; we’re not even mowing it,” Osborn said.

“We’re not spraying in that vineyard at all and we’ve probably picked the right season to start. Due to the dry conditions – the driest spring on record - I don’t think the disease pressure has been anything to worry about. There’s been other Grenache vineyards that we’ve bought in the past that have been derelict and had no sprays applied to them and have not had disease issues so we know it works.”

As well as composting all its marc

to throw back out on its vineyards, d’Arenberg also maintains nearly 40ac of heritage-listed scrubs across its vineyards and has also tried to increase biodiversity around headlands by planting native plants.

And from 2015, all the company’s vineyards will be certified organic and some are also being managed according to biodynamic principles.

“Going organic was a natural progression for us because it’s simply a cheaper form of vineyard management.

Biodynamics is more expensive to do and whether there’s much advantage in doing it, we don’t know yet. I suspect there isn’t, so if we’re getting the same quality of grapes from biodynamic practices, then the only advantage in using them will be a marketing WVJ advantage.”

Winery wastewater project refreshes understanding of treatment processes Can we help manage biological wastewater treatment systems better?

By Kathryn Eales1*, Mike Carson2, John Constable2, Anu Kumar3 and Paul Grbin1 1 School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, PMB 1 Glen Osmond, SA 5064 2 JJC Engineering, 34 Logan St, Canterbury, VIC 3126 3 CSIRO Land and Water, PMB 2 Glen Osmond, SA 5064 *Corresponding author: Kathryn.Eales@adelaide.edu.au

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three-year GWRDC-funded project has begun into the biological treatment of winery wastewater (WWW), correlating operational data, microbiology and chemical analyses. It is a joint project between The University of Adelaide School of Agriculture, Food & Wine, CSIRO Land and Water, and JJC Engineering.

WWW is dynamic due to the dramatic seasonal fluctuations in composition and volume, and can be particularly troublesome to manage. Plant operators of these systems have few guidelines to help direct the control parameters they have at their disposal. This project aims to understand the relationships between winery effluent chemistry, microbial populations in biological systems and operational parameters. The ability to predict and control these systems

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would be of considerable economic and environmental benefit.

The project will examine these factors at wineries that use small sequencing batch reactors (SBR) and those employing large anaerobic and aerobic lagoons (Figures 1 and 2). This will occur across a range of wineries nationwide, crushing between 200 and 160,000 tonnes of grapes, and those with and without bottling capabilities.

Three distinct periods in WWW treatment that have unique microbiological and operational problems will be investigated, namely: •S tart-up: at the onset of vintage. It can take up to four weeks for the microbial communities to be at the necessary levels for adequate treatment. This delay means WWW is often poorly treated, plants are overloaded and failures W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

frequently occur during this key period.

• Peak vintage flow: the carbon composition changes from sugar to alcohol as vintage progresses and large volumes of water need to be processed quickly.

• Quiescent: this is outside of the vintage period and is characterised by low organics and low volume, poor settling and algal blooms.

Microbiology The project team will microscopically characterise a large number of plants and urge wineries with a biological treatment plant to contact us so that their treatment plant can be included in our microbiological analyses. Understanding which bacteria are routinely found in wineries will help us develop troubleshooting tools for problematic V29N1

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organisms and promote the growth of beneficial bacteria.

In many industries, the populations of problematic bacteria that are routinely observed are well documented (Table 1).

Monitoring such populations and changing plant operations to control their growth can minimise the risk of plant problems and failures. A thorough microbiological investigation into winery wastewater has never been conducted, so these populations are not yet known.

One reoccurring group of organisms we observe in WWW-activated sludge is the G-bacteria (Figure 3). When these organisms are present in high numbers they result in poor sludge settling, poor effluent clarity and difficulties in sludge dewatering. Others have also reported them both domestically and internationally in WWW. G-bacteria are a physiologicallyrelated group of bacteria. They are characterised by being able to consume a large array of simple sugars (plentiful in WWW systems during vintage) and convert them into a storage material called PHA using glycogen. These PHA stores can then be used as an energy and carbon source when conditions in their environment become less favorable for growth. From our observations, these organisms are always present in low numbers, but sometimes they proliferate to troublesome levels. Their favoured conditions appear to be a nitrogen or phosphorus deficiency in the mixed liquor.

The microbiology will be investigated in detail using the latest techniques available in microbial ecology studies. The viability of the biomass will be determined, novel organisms identified and population dynamics explored.

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Figure 1. Biological wastewater treatment process.

Figure 2. An aerated lagoon.

Figure 3. G-bacteria observed in winery wastewater under the microscope.

Table 1. Common bacteria observed in industrial wastewater treatment systems.

Operational parameters

Industry

Major populations

The growth of organisms is also determined by operational conditions such as temperature, pH, wastewater composition (COD:N:P), loading, retention times and oxygen supply. Managing WWW treatment plants is particularly difficult because of their unique properties.

Also, many of the standard values that are used by plant operators, such as sludge volume index, sludge age and carbon:nitrogen:phosphorus ratios are unachievable for WWW. Specific guidelines for WWW are required to help direct process operations to control microbial populations, which will be a key outcome for the project.

Brewery

Type 0092, Type 1701, Type 021N, Type 0041

Dairy

Type 021N, Type 1701, H.hydrossis, Type 0092

Effluent chemistry Which organisms will survive, grow and proliferate in the treatment plant is dependent on the substrates or ‘food’ available to them. The microbial community V2 9N 1

Fruit processing Type 0041, Type 0092, Type 021N, S.natans, M.parvicella Paper mills

Type 0041/0675, N.limicola II and III, Type 1851, Type 1701, Type 0092

Tannery

Microthrix, Nostocoida limicola, Gordonia

Textile

Nostocoida limicola, Type 0041, Type 00803

in activated sludge is not constant and will continually change as a result of food sources and availability, giving different species of bacteria growth advantages.

We will monitor the changing winery effluent; the levels and types of sugars, alcohols, phenols and organic acids present.

We will observe winery operations and their outcomes on effluent chemistry, from the effect of reds and whites, to lees and caustic management, to cleaning regimes. Knowing W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

winery effluent chemistry can help predict microbial growth and may help direct plant operations to control their growth.

As intensification of winemaking in Australia continues, wineries will be under increased pressure to control odour, recycle wastewater and reduce environmental footprints. As a result, all wineries will benefits from improved understanding, design and operation of biological treatment WVJ processes. www.winebiz. com . au

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The role of trace metals in wine ‘reduction’

By Marlize Viviers, Mark Smith, Eric Wilkes, Paul Smith and Dan Johnson The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia

Managing director Dan Johnson

Copper salts have traditionally been added to wines to remove unpleasant volatile sulfur aromas. However, investigations of interactions between metals and volatile sulfur compounds are now revealing that metals can also promote the formation and release of these unwanted aroma compounds, particularly in low oxygen storage environments. Winemakers can minimise the risk of ‘reductive’ aromas by managing the timing of any copper additions and taking steps to minimise metal concentrations.

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inemakers are familiar with adding copper sulfate to wines that show rotten egg or other ‘reductive’ characters when in tank.

Many winemakers have also seen these ‘reductive’ characters disappear from their wines in the short term, only to see them return at a later date, sometimes after bottling. By exploring the chemistry of volatile sulfur compound formation and the important role played by metals, these common winemaking observations can be better understood, potentially leading to recommendations on ways to reduce the risk of unwanted ‘reductive’ aromas.

WHERE DO ‘REDUCTIVE’ AROMA COMPOUNDS COME FROM? The volatile sulfur compounds responsible for ‘reductive’ aromas in wine are mainly derived from yeast metabolism. They can also form via the degradation of sulfur-containing amino acids and sulfur-containing pesticides.

One of the important factors that influence their production is the amount of oxygen a wine is exposed to postbottling, with wines exposed to very low levels of oxygen more likely to develop ‘reductive’ aromas (Ugliano 2013). Recent reports have shown that H2S, MeSH and DMS concentrations can increase in wine post-bottling and that lower post-bottling oxygen exposure results in greater increases (Ugliano et al. 2012, Ugliano et al. 2011, Lopes et al. 2009).

Metal ions are naturally present in grapes and wine. In trace amounts, metals are important in fermentation.

They can also be introduced into wine by human activity, both through direct addition and as a by-product of other winery processes. Metals such as

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AT A GLANCE • ‘reductive’ aromas in wine are caused by volatile sulfur compounds including hydrogen sulfide (H2S), methanethiol (MeSH) and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) • H2S is described as rotten egg, MeSH as rubber or natural gas, and DMS in high concentration as canned corn or vegetal • metal ions have been shown to affect the formation and release of these unpleasant aroma compounds in wine • some reactions of metal ions with volatile sulfur compounds are reversible – with metal ions initially decreasing their concentration but later resulting in high concentrations • to reduce the risk of ‘reductive’ aromas, grapegrowers and winemakers should aim to minimise the metal concentrations in grapes and wine • copper additions are most effective if made around the end of fermentation, when yeast cells are still available to remove residual copper ions.

tungsten (W), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni) and manganese (Mn) all have the ability to catalyse oxidation and reduction reactions, but of these only Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn are likely to be present in wine at concentrations high enough to have a significant effect (Lachner and Nicolini 2008). Aluminium (Al) has also been shown to be important in limiting oxygen consumption in wine (Vivas 2002). Several of these metals have been associated with undesirable effects in wine.

A MULTI-METAL EXPERIMENT To investigate the effects of metals on the formation of the ‘reduced’ aroma compounds MeSH, H2S and DMS during bottle ageing, a large experiment was designed where five metals (Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Al) were added to Chardonnay and Shiraz wine samples singly and in all possible combinations (31 metal treatments, one control) (Viviers et al.

2013). The metals were present at two W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

levels: a low level equivalent to the concentration of the metals already present in the base wine, and a high level that was spiked to approximately 10 times the concentration of the metals measured in the base wine.

The concentrations of volatile sulfur compounds in the wines were analysed over a 12-month period. At bottling, the wines contained oxygen at around the recommended level of 1mg/L (Chardonnay 1.11 ± 0.34mg/L; Shiraz 1.43 ± 0.35mg/L) and after four months of anaerobic storage the dissolved oxygen (DO) of both Chardonnay and Shiraz samples decreased to 0µg/L. Significant changes in volatile sulfur compounds were observed over the 12-month period, with the Chardonnay samples showing increases in H2S and DMS, and the Shiraz samples showing increases in H2S and MeSH. IT’S NOT ONLY COPPER The most remarkable results of this current study were the effects observed V29N1

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a

b

Figure 1. Line graphs showing three of the metal additions that were associated with the largest increases in H2S concentrations at the twelfth month for Chardonnay samples (a) and three of the metal additions associated with the largest increases in MeSH concentrations at the twelfth month for Shiraz samples (b). Odour threshold values are indicated by the dashed black line parallel to the x-axis at 1.1-1.6µg/L for H2S and 1.8-3.1µg/L for MeSH.

Figure 2. The relationship between Cu dose and H2S formation after six months for a bentonite-fined and unfined Chardonnay wine bottled under commercial conditions. due to metals that have not previously been considered in the context of volatile sulfur compounds in wine (Mn, Zn and Al), as well as the interactions between the five metals. If the Chardonnay and Shiraz samples are considered together, only seven of the 31 metal treatments significantly affected the evolution of H2S in both wines: Cu, Fe, Zn, Al, Cu*Fe1, Cu*Mn*Al and Cu*Zn*Al. Three of the metal treatments - Zn, Mn*Zn*Al and Cu*Fe*Mn*Zn - associated with the largest increases in H2S concentrations in the Chardonnay samples at the tenth month are shown in Figure 1a. Using multivariate statistics, we found that the increases in H2S concentrations shown in the figure were due to the specific metal combinations: Zn, Al, Zn*Al or Mn*Zn*Al and were not influenced by Cu or Fe. Similarly, three examples of metal treatments associated with some of the largest increases in MeSH concentration in the Shiraz samples are shown in Figure 1b. The increased MeSH concentrations in samples with added Cu*Mn*Zn, Cu*Zn*Al and Cu were found to be driven by the significant effect of Cu, and not through the interaction with the other metals.

Overall, fewer metals produced significant effects on DMS evolution, and the effect of the metal treatments was mostly associated with an overall decrease in DMS concentration. The only metal treatments associated with significant effects on DMS concentration in both Chardonnay and Shiraz samples were Al and Zn*Al. The effects of these metals in decreasing the DMS concentration could possibly be due to the metals inhibiting the formation of DMS from its precursor molecules already present in the wine, or due to the catalytic degradation of DMS. V2 9N 1

Figure 3. The relationship between Cu:Fe ratio and H2S formation after six months for bentonite-fined and unfined Chardonnay wine. The blue diamonds represent the unfined wines (Fe 0.2mg/L), the yellow diamonds the fined wines (Fe 0.5mg/L) and the two red squares the wines with the extreme Cu dose (1.5mg/L).

BUT COPPER IS STILL IMPORTANT The influence of the concentration of Cu and other metals in wine on H2S production was reinforced in another recent AWRI trial where different levels of Cu (0, 0.2, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.5mg/L) were added to a Chardonnay (both bentonite-fined and unfined) which was then bottled under commercial conditions. After six months, the wines with a 0.5mg/L or greater Cu addition had significantly higher H2S concentrations than the lower dose wines (Figure 2). The dosing relationship was especially apparent for the wine that had not been bentonite-fined for protein stability.

The difference in results for the fined and unfined wines led to further investigations of these wines, which revealed that they had significantly different iron (Fe) levels (0.2mg/L for the unfined wine and 0.5mg/L for the bentonite-fined wine). The extra Fe was added through the bentonite fining process. When the levels of H2S formed after six months were plotted against the Cu:Fe ratio for each dose rate, a significant linear trend was apparent for Cu additions below 1.5mg/L (Figure 3). This clearly shows the importance of the Cu:Fe ratio in the formation of H2S. The non-linear results seen at the highest dose rate suggest that once this high level of Cu was reached, the chemistry followed a different pathway.

IT’S NOT JUST ‘ACADEMIC’ These effects are not just limited to ‘academic’ trials. The metal concentrations in 144 wines rejected from a 2011 international

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Figure 4. Typical chromatograms for the analysis of H2S and MeSH in Shiraz wine samples with added Cu, Fe and the metal combination Cu*Fe shown here at (a) Day 1 and at (b) the twelfth month. The metals Cu, Fe and Cu*Fe were associated with significant decreases in H2S concentration at Day 1, but after 12 months of anaerobic storage Cu and Cu*Fe were associated with significant increases in H2S and MeSH concentrations. wine show because of ‘reduced’ characters were analysed and compared with the metal concentrations of another 514 wines rejected for other faults unlikely to be influenced by metal content. Comparing the concentrations of metals for wines that were shown to have above-threshold levels for MeSH (>1µg/L) to those that did not, it was apparent that higher levels of Fe and Mg and lower levels of Al were associated with the ‘reduced’ wines compared with the non-‘reduced’ wines. Interestingly this study did not show any effect of copper, probably because the majority of wines tested in this study had a relatively low copper concentration (median <0.1mg/L for both ‘reduced’ and non-‘reduced’ groups).

METAL EFFECTS CAN BE REVERSIBLE In the large multi-metals study, some metal treatments were initially associated with decreases in volatile sulfur compound concentrations, but these effects were shown to reverse after four months of anaerobic storage (Figure 4). At Day 1, when samples were analysed directly after metal spiking, when DO concentrations were high (0.150–1.50mg/L), the three metal treatments (Cu, Fe and Cu*Fe) decreased the H2S concentration compared with the control, but after 12 months of anaerobic storage, the samples treated with Cu and with Cu*Fe displayed significant increases in H2S concentration.

In the Chardonnay and Shiraz samples the same reversible effect was observed for MeSH as was seen for H2S. At Day 1 no MeSH was measurable in Shiraz samples with or without added Cu, but after one month of anaerobic storage the samples not treated with Cu showed increases in MeSH compared with the Cu-treated samples. However, as the wine consumed all available oxygen, the MeSH concentration in the Cu-treated wines slowly increased. After 12 months of anaerobic storage, the MeSH concentration

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in all samples with added Cu had reached an average of 6.39µg/L, substantially higher than its odour threshold value of 1.83.1µg/L (Siebert et al. 2010). These results show that the formation of MeSH is not only influenced by the presence of metals, but that the oxygen concentration in wine also significantly affects its evolution.

BE CONSCIOUS OF WHAT YOU’RE ADDING TO YOUR WINE Winemakers should pay attention to this observation of reactions reversing over time, particularly when considering routine additions of copper to remove unwanted sulfur aromas from wine. Copper additions are effective if made early in a wine’s life, preferably around the end of fermentation, when yeast cells are still available to help ‘mop up’ residual metals. If, however, copper is added later, significant amounts can remain in the final wine, greatly increasing the risk of developing ‘reductive’ aroma compounds in bottle. This study has demonstrated the importance of keeping metal concentrations as low as possible in wine, as the metals can act singly or in combination to greatly influence evolution of unwelcome ‘reductive’ aromas.

FOOTNOTE 1

The notation ‘Cu*Fe’ indicates a treatment of Cu

and Fe in combination.

REFERENCES Lachner, R. and Nicolini, G. (2008) Elements and inorganic anions in winemaking: Analysis and application. In Hyphenated Techniques in Grape and Wine Chemistry; R. Flamini, Ed.; John Wiley & Sons Ltd: Chichester. 290.

Lopes, M.; Silvia, M.A.; Pons, A.; Tominaga, T.; Lavigne, V.; Saucier, C.; Darriet, P.; Teissedre, P.-L. and Dubourdieu, D. (2009) Impact of oxygen dissolved at bottling and transmitted through closures on the composition and sensory properties of a Sauvignon Blanc wine during bottle storage. J. Agric. Food Chem.

57:10261-10270.

Siebert, T.E.; Solomon, M.R.; Pollnitz, A.P. and Jeffery, D.W. (2010) Selective determination of volatile sulfur compounds in wine by gas chromatography with sulfur chemiluminescence detection. J. Agric. Food Chem. 58:9454-9462.

Ugliano, M. (2013) Oxygen contribution to wine aroma evolution during bottle ageing. J. Agric. Food Chem. 61:6125-6136.

Ugliano, M.; Diéval, J.-B.; Siebert, T.E; Kwiatkowski, M.; Aagaard, O.; Vidal, S. and Waters, E.J. (2012) Oxygen consumption and development of volatile sulfur

Acknowledgements

compounds during bottle ageing of two Shiraz wines.

This research was facilitated using infrastructure provided by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster, in Adelaide, South Australia. The work was supported by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body, the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, with matching funds from the Australian Government. Ella Robinson is thanked for her editorial assistance.

exposure. J. Agric. Food Chem. 60:8561-8570.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

Influence of pre- and post-bottling controlled oxygen Ugliano, M; Kwiatkowski, M.; Vidal, S.; Capone, D.; Siebert, T.E.; Dieval, J.-B.; Aagaard, O. and Waters, E.J. (2011) Evolution of 3-mercaptohexanol, hydrogen sulfide, and methyl mercaptan during bottle storage of Sauvignon Blanc wines. Effect of glutathione, copper, oxygen exposure, and closure-derived oxygen. J. Agric.

Food Chem. 59:2564-2572.

Vivas, N. (2002) Les Oxydations et Les Réductions Dans Les Mouts et Les Vins. Edited by Feret; Bordeaux.

Viviers, M.; Smith, M.; Wilkes, E. and Smith, P.A. (2013) Effects of five metals on the evolution of hydrogen sulfide, methanethiol and dimethyl sulfide during anaerobic storage of Chardonnay and Shiraz wines.

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Tamburlaine – a pioneer and still leading the way in sustainable viticulture

By Tony Hoare

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

Founded in the Hunter Valley in 1966, Tamburlaine vineyard and winery were purchased by a group of friends and relatives, led by managing director and chief winemaker Mark Davidson, in 1985. Twelve years later, Tamburlaine expanded its production into Orange. Both the Hunter and Orange vineyards are now certified organic, the latter supplying up to 85% of the winery’s annual production. Tony Hoare visited the Orange vineyard recently where he caught up with its manager, Clayton Kiely, to find out more about the sustainable practices that have been adopted on the site.

T

amburlaine’s 90 ha Orange vineyard was established in 1997 on deep red basalt soil. It is managed by Clayton Kiely, who has successfully implemented viticultural practices that have improved the overall sustainability of the vineyard. When visiting the vineyard recently, I was struck by the balance of the vineyard across a number of different red and white winegrape varieties. The overall vine health was perfect and the vine fruitfulness was on par with district averages (6-8t/ ha) for premium fruit production. As a leader in the areas of organic and biodynamic viticulture on a commercial scale, I posed some questions to Clayton.

What was the motivation for Tamburlaine deciding to improve its sustainability?

For wine quality as well as the environment. To adopt organic farming practices was a company strategy, however, after five years we decided to also incorporate biodynamics.

How did Tamburlaine vineyard become more sustainable?

In 1998, the company undertook a cleaner production and sustainability review of all aspects of winery and vineyard operation. One of the results was a decision to move towards organic practices in the vineyards.

Some of the outcomes are best discussed as follows: Undervine weed control In winter and spring we graze the entire vineyard with sheep in order to reduce the amount of bulk.

We trailed a lot of equipment to see what was going to suit the vineyard. For example, we tried six different undervine weeders before settling on a Clemens. This machine is easy to operate and allows us to travel at seven to eight kilometres an hour which was the same speed as spraying herbicide. It has been used in the vineyard for two years now and while does not kill all weeds, the small percentage that remain are suppressed by the Clemens as it cuts their roots. They, therefore, do not compete with the vines for soil moisture and nutrients.

We have found that the weed residue provides a benefit to the vineyard by keeping the soil cooler with better moisture retention and by acting as an effective mulch while increasing organic matter in summer time thereby improving soil health.

Some of the annual oats and grasses die off and remain undervine.

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While not aesthetically pleasing, this has no practical effect on moisture and available nutrients.

We have not had any issues with snails, earwigs or weevils which we attribute mainly to the local temperature fluctuations that range from snow blizzards to heatwaves. We have not had any vine losses to speak of from the weeder as the vines were well laid out and planted in straight rows. Overall, we have eliminated chemical costs associated with non-organic weed control.

Disease control Disease prevention begins with: • understanding our disease risks and their life cycles • closely observing the effects of weather and how this effects diseases • understanding prevention is the best form of disease control.

Next, we set about identifying the best spray unit to suit our needs and then the products that have been found to be most effective. We purchased a FMR Spraypro® fungice unit which has been perfect for our vineyard. The unit is able to recycle 80% of spray early in the season which reduces to about 20% by full canopy. The fibreglass shrouds are tough and easy to repair and allow us to spray in wind conditions where other sprayers could not be used without spraydrift issues. The hydraulic pump is very efficient as it allows the tractor to operate at reduced RPM, resulting in fuel savings. Over the seasons, we have estimated that our chemical costs have been reduced by around 30%. Disease control has been just as effective as when we were using systemic controls.

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

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How do the current management practices differ from previous as far as the profitability of the vineyard is concerned?

The vineyard operation budget has benefitted from reduced chemical costs. There is a slight labour cost increase, however, nothing significant. There is a perception that organic and biodynamic practices can be a cover for ‘slack’ vineyard management. This is simply not the reality because we have to be more vigilant with our fungicide program and monitoring as we do not have the synthetic chemical ‘fix it’ sprays, although we have previously found that a number of these are not as effective as once believed.

Do you participate in any industry sustainability programs?

Tamburlaine road-tested six different undervine weeders before settling on this one by Clemens.

The company has silver status in the New South Wales Government’s Sustainability Advantage program. I am a volunteer with the regional growers’ committee and I help organise field days, workshops and lectures for local growers.

This helps increase awareness of equipment and research developments. We are audited by Australian Certified Organic each season.

Are there added costs in becoming accredited or maintaining your sustainability status?

There are costs associated with maintaining our Australian Certified Organic accreditation that are dependent on yield, but these are relatively small.

Is there added risk to fruit yield and quality by being sustainable?

Tamburlaine’s FMR Spraypro fungiciding unit is able to recycle 80% of spray early in the season, reducing to about 20% with a full canopy and can be used in wind conditions where other sprayers could not due to spraydrift issues.

There has been no added pest or disease risk that we have seen. Even in the tough, wet conditions of the 2011 vintage, our yields were on par with the regional average and all varieties were harvested. Yields across most varieties have been consistent, except Shiraz which fluctuates in accordance with the experience of the region. Overall, the quality is consistent with our winemakers’ specifications. There was an initial yield reduction as the vineyard was in conversion.

We don’t aim to overcrop and the vines seem to have found a good overall balance.

We carefully work out when bud initiation is and make sure our canopies are open at this stage to maximise light infiltration and the following year’s fruitfulness.

Are there sufficient effective products on the market for pest and disease control without using synthetic chemicals?

We are constantly evaluating the data from trials on new products. There is growing availability of nutritional and other products for organic and biodynamic agriculture. It is simply a matter of sifting through them.

Wire lifted Riesling in Tamburlaine’s Orange vineyard.

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From my observations, Tamburlaine’s vineyard in Orange is a great example of what can be achieved with a good philosophy, well-managed plan and passionate staff who are constantly looking for improvements in their production of quality winegrapes with minimal effect on the surrounding environment.

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When it comes to effectiveness and economy, an R-Series Sprayer gives you the best of both worlds.

also important to us because off-target spray drift is wasted product. The robust construction of the sprayer is important to us as we have large area to be sprayed.

It penetrates leaves and bunches to apply spray exactly where it’s needed, while its unique shroud design captures and recycles up to 90% of spray that would otherwise be lost as spray drift – even in high winds.

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sustainable practices

Sustainable viticulture - a Granite Belt perspective and a great educational opportunity

By Ursula Kennedy, University of Southern Queensland. Email: Ursula.Kennedy@usq.edu.au

S

ustainable farming practices are regarded as those that are environmentally and socially appropriate, while being economically viable. Growers must be aware not only of the effect of their practices on a siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history, but must also consider the long-term effects on the health of their land, their surroundings and the ecosystem as a whole. Sustainable agriculture is underscored by the use of natural, low-energy and economically practicable inputs.

Being able to satisfy all of these criteria is not easy. However, winegrape growers in the Granite Belt region of Queensland are addressing issues of long-term sustainability with good results. The regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original plantings date back to the late 1960s, and many vineyards in the past were managed with traditional Mediterranean practices of cultivation and liberal herbicide and pesticide applications. Nowadays, many vineyards in the region are managed with minimalist, bordering on organic practices. This is aided by the nature of the soils, being typically decomposed granite with some areas of loam, and the fortuitous lack of a number of pests and diseases.

An example of movement to a more sustainable form of winegrape growing can be seen at the Sirromet sites.

Manager of the Sirromet vineyards Robyn Robertson explains the reason behind a number of the company's recent changes to viticultural practices. The gravel nature of the soils and the common summer rains have led to the decision to apply foliar nutrients, with the application of nutrients via foliar spray used to better target the vine where and when nutrients are required, avoiding nutrients being leached into the soil. Summer rainfall patterns in the area can be problematic. However, good canopy management to maintain airflow goes a long way to combat problems of humidity, leaving summer rains as a godsend in terms of sustainable water management. Close monitoring of soil moisture is carried out by many growers, including on the Sirromet vineyards, to ensure soil water levels remain adequate.

Reduction of the area of land under-vine on the Sirromet vineyards over recent years has left more land fallow; it will be left alone for the time being to encourage greater biodiversity.

This land will, at a later date, be planted out to crops such as rye, which will then be a convenient source of mulch.

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Volunteer mid-row growth in a Sirromet vineyard.

Practices such as allowing volunteer growth as opposed to cultivation or sowing of cover crops are now seen widely in the area. Cultivation is particularly avoided, as growers must be able to access vineyards for needed sprays after heavy rain events that occur in some seasons. Volunteer growth allows better water infiltration and stabilisation of soils. Mulching is also commonly carried out. However, as many sites tend to be frost prone, this is carried out in late winter to allow mulches to settle before budburst.

Application of natural soil conditioners and composts is also now common. A local mushroom farm is a handy supply of mushroom compost. Growers are also trialling charcoal, wood mulch and manures. Seaweed extracts have also been taken onboard by growers, some believing that this type of product will also give a degree of frost protection to young vines.

The University of Southern Queensland is also pleased to announce a recent development which will be of significant benefit to the industry in terms of education for a sustainable future. The Wine Science program is now offered as a major in the Bachelor of Science, which is able to be combined with other focus topics to give a double major award. Many students are now in the process of enrolling in the double major, in combination with Environment and Sustainability, and in combination with Climatology. USQ prides itself on being a leader in distance education and this program is also well suited to external study. More information is available on the USQ website: http://www.usq.edu.au/degrees/bachelor-of-science-winestudies

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Long-term use of regulated deficit irrigation does not lead to a decline in vine performance

By Everard J. Edwards* and Peter R. Clingeleffer, CSIRO Plant Industry, PO Box 350, Glen Osmond, SA 5064 *Corresponding author: Everard.Edwards@csiro.au Introduction

R

egulated deficit irrigation (RDI) is the controlled use of soil water deficit during a specific period of crop development to achieve a desired management outcome.

In grapevines, RDI typically involves reducing irrigation to 50% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc, the water required by the vineyard for full growth), beginning shortly after fruitset and ending some time prior to veraison.

Initial development of RDI was in stonefruit trees during the 1980s and used water stress to limit vegetative growth during early fruit development, where the demand for resources by the fruit was low (Mitchell and Chalmers 1982). The technique had a number of benefits, including increased light penetration into the canopy and reduced water use throughout the season, due to the smaller canopy. All of this was achieved without a reduction in fruit size.

Despite the differences in phenology between the two crops, RDI was introduced into viticulture during the 1990s (Goodwin and Jerie 1992, McCarthy 1997). RDI was found to be effective in controlling vigour in winegrapes, with an increase in red wine colour density also commonly observed. Uptake of RDI in management of red winegrape varieties has been rapid and is now widespread. However, the widespread use of deficit irrigation, particularly in combination with drip irrigation systems, caused considerable industry concern that the vines may be ‘run down’, resulting in declining yields. Such a scenario would mean that continued use of RDI was not economically sustainable in the longer-term. In addition, it was not known how quickly the yield of RDI irrigated vines would respond when returned to full irrigation over the entire season.

To address this concern, the GWRDC funded a project by CSIRO Plant Industry that would extend a previous deficit irrigation trial, providing a unique opportunity to examine the long-term effects. The project was run from the CSIRO site at

Merbein, with the trial itself being at the Deakin Estate vineyard, both in the Sunraysia region of Victoria. An early analysis of the work was presented in a paper at the 14th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference (Edwards et al. 2010), with the complete crop production and vine growth results recently published in the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research (Edwards and Clingeleffer 2013).

The RDI trial The CSIRO trial at the Deakin Estate site (Figure 1) was in an 8ha block of Cabernet Sauvignon vines, planted in 1994 and had been in place since the 2002-03 season. The three treatments included RDI, an extended RDI treatment (termed prolonged deficit: PD) and a fully irrigated control. The timing and amount of irrigation on the RDI treatment was determined by the vineyard manager in line with the rest of the plantings, thereby maintaining industry relevance in using current industry practice. 

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Figure 1. The trial site at the Deakin Estate vineyard in Sunraysia, Victoria.

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Table 1. Average seasonal water application for each of the irrigation treatments over the three seasons from 2005-06 to 2007-08 and estimated crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for the site.

Irrigation Irrigation Treatment

ETc

Pre-harvest

Season

Pre-harvest

Season

(mm)

(mm)

(mm)

(mm)

Control

951

1116

-

-

RDI

476

558

615

744

PD

360

450

-

-

The PD treatment extended the RDI strategy by generating a water deficit that was both longer in duration and greater in severity than the standard RDI practice. This treatment involved stopping all irrigation at the time where the RDI vines were returned to full irrigation until the onset of veraison or when the PD vines showed a significant stress response, typically after 10-14 days. Between 2002-03 and 2004-05, the control vines received double the vineyard irrigation during the designated RDI period (based on the RDI vines only receiving

approximately 50% of ETc at that time). However, for the subsequent three seasons covered by the project described here (2005-06 to 2007-08), the control treatment received double irrigation throughout the season to ensure that those vines were irrigated to excess and never under water stress at any point of their growth cycle.

Over the three seasons of the work the control typically received about 90% of reference evapotranspiration (Eto), but was always irrigated in excess of ETc (Table 1). The RDI vines were irrigated to about 75% of ETc

and the PD vines about 75% of the RDI vines. Consequently, the RDI strategy employed by the grower saved about 25% of the water required to fully irrigate throughout the season and the PD strategy about 33%.

Due to utilising an existing trial site, the project included vines that had received RDI since reaching full bearing, vines receiving an extended RDI treatment (PD) for four to six seasons and vines receiving irrigation in excess of full ETc for one to three seasons. This allowed a number of questions to be addressed: • Does using RDI over many years lead to a progressive decline in productivity?

• Is there a yield suppression in vines receiving long-term RDI and if so, how large is that suppression?

• How many seasons of full irrigation are required for vines previously receiving RDI to recover to their full yield potential?

Vine growth responses Despite the reduced irrigation requirements when employing an RDI strategy, RDI is most commonly employed

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Figure 3. Photographs of row ends from vines rows irrigated using control, RDI and PD strategies to illustrate differences in canopy size at fruit set in the 200607 season.

Figure 2. Leaf area index (LAI) of Cabernet Sauvignon vines with full irrigation (control), regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) or prolonged deficit irrigation (PD) at a) peak canopy size and b) at flowering averaged over the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons. to limit vine vigour, rather than reduce water use. The mechanism for this is thought to be due to the direct effect of mild water stress on growth and, therefore, occurs within the growing season that RDI is used. However, the end result of lower vigour is a smaller canopy area with which to photosynthesise, so there is a potential for RDI to also result in lower reserves over winter. These reserves are used for early season growth, so RDI has the potential to cause effects across multiple seasons.

To assess both the within-season and long-term effects of RDI on the vine, canopy size was measured during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons as leaf area index (LAI: the area of

that there was a difference in canopy growth between the control vines and the RDI vines before the nominal start of the RDI period of reduced irrigation. The latter observation is less certain as irrigation from budburst to the start of RDI was slightly less than ETc in the RDI vines. Neither soil moisture measurements (data in Edwards and Clingeleffer 2013) nor canopy physiology measurements (unpublished data) suggested that water stress occurred during this period, however.

The effects of the irrigation treatments on vine growth were not only seen in canopy size, but were also observed in pruning weights (Figure 4a, see page 48), trunk growth (Figure 4b, page 48) and root biomass (Figure 4c, page 48), demonstrating the whole vine effect of the deficit irrigation treatments. Despite this, there was no effect of irrigation on bud number per vine, burst buds or fruitfulness (data in Edwards and Clingeleffer 2013), suggesting that the yield potential in any given season was unaffected.

canopy divided by the area of ground under the vine). Pruning weight was measured in all three seasons and during the 2007-08 season a range of additional growth measurements were made. Trunk expansion was measured throughout the season, the size of the overwintering root system determined and early season growth/fruitfulness assessed using a Merbein bunch count.

Peak canopy size (assessed as LAI) was greatest in the control vines and lowest in the PD vines (Figure 2a and Figure 3). The difference between control and RDI vines was consistent with the literature on RDI (e.g. McCarthy 1997) and with grower expectations. However, the data on LAI also suggested that the irrigation treatments within a season had longer-term effects that were observed in subsequent years. First, the PD treatment in each season was not applied until canopy growth was complete and, therefore, could only affect canopy size by reducing growth in the subsequent seasons. Secondly, measurements of LAI made early in the season (Figure 2b) suggested

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Figure 5. Harvest yield of Cabernet Sauvignon vines with full irrigation (control), regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) or prolonged deficit irrigation (PD) for three seasons from 2005-06 to 2007-08.

Vine productivity

Figure 4. Growth measurements of Cabernet Sauvignon vines with full irrigation (control), regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) or prolonged deficit irrigation (PD), a) pruning weights averaged over the three seasons between 2005-06 to 2007-08, b) % increase in trunk diameter in 2007-08 and c) root dry mass to a depth of 0.75m estimated from nine soil cores per replicate in the winter of 2007.

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Harvest yield was estimated on single vines (12 per treatment) in each season, with yield components recorded in 2006 and 2008, but only limited berry parameters recorded in 2007. Yield varied from 23-25kg per vine in the control vines, 20-23kg per vine in the RDI vines and 17-20kg per vine in the PD vines (Figure 5). Clearly, despite the deficit being timed to minimise the effect on the fruit development, the deficit irrigation treatments resulted in a yield reduction and this reduction was greater with increased deficit. Previous studies on RDI have also found significant yield reductions in winegrapes, unlike the studies on stonefruit (see above and Kriedemann and Goodwin 2004). This difference is due to the differing timing of vegetative growth, flowering and fruit formation in the two crops. Yield of the control vines in 2006 was identical to that of the RDI vines, whereas in 2007 and 2008 yield of control vines was significantly higher. The 2005-06 season was the first that the control vines were provided with non-limiting water throughout the season and, thus, represents a ‘recovery’ season, despite having had increased irrigation for part of the season between 2002-03 and 2004-05.

In the two seasons where LAI data were available, yield per unit of canopy area was not significantly different between any of the treatments. Unfortunately, LAI data were not available for the 2005-06 season, but the pruning weights suggest that the control vines did have a larger canopy in 2005-06 which, in turn, suggests that the yield per unit of canopy area would have been lower than the RDI vines in 2006. Two conclusions can be drawn from this. First, that when using a form of regulated water deficit, the yield reduction is directly proportional to the reduction in canopy size. Secondly, that the full yield potential of vines previously irrigated using an RDI type strategy is likely to be returned in the second whole season of full irrigation. However, this conclusion should not be extrapolated to vines subjected to ‘sustained deficit irrigation’ (vines irrigated below ETc for the entire season). This latter scenario has been investigated in a separate GWRDC funded project due to report in early 2014.

Importantly, whilst the yield of the RDI vines was indeed below that of the fully irrigated vines and the yield of the PD vines below that of the RDI vines, in both cases yields were stable during the three seasons of the project.

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Although regulated deficit irrigation strategies do reduce yields as well as vine vigour, the yield reduction is stable over many seasons, even when a significantly extended RDI strategy is used.

There was no evidence of vine decline, despite the RDI vines being irrigated with an RDI strategy for 10+ seasons and the PD vines being irrigated with an extended RDI strategy for up to six seasons.

Conclusions The data reported in Edwards and Clingeleffer 2013 demonstrate that although regulated deficit irrigation strategies do reduce yields as well as vine vigour, the yield reduction is stable over many seasons, even when a significantly extended RDI strategy is used. In addition, it is likely that even after many years of using RDI, maximum yield potential is restored in the second season of return to full irrigation.

Our 2013 paper also reports that wine colour density was improved under deficit irrigation and that, despite the reduction in water consumption under an RDI strategy, RDI may not significantly improve water use efficiency (expressed as yield per unit of water used by the vine). This project also investigated the physiology behind the results reported here and

assistance, Dr Dean Lanyon and Damian Mowat for assistance with the soil coring, and finally, Craig Thornton, Justin McPhee and their staff for the use of their site and assistance with maintaining and running the trial.

References Edwards, E.J. and Clingeleffer, P.R. (2013) Inter-seasonal effects of regulated deficit irrigation on growth, yield, water-use, berry composition and wine attributes of Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 19, 261-276.

Edwards, E.J.; Downie, A.F. & Clingeleffer, P.R. (2010) Vine response to, and recovery from, multiple years of deficit irrigation. Proceedings 14th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference. pp182-187.

in Edwards and Clingeleffer (2013) and these results will be published at a later date.

Goodwin, I. and Jerie, P. (1992) Regulated deficit irrigation: from concept to practice. Wine Industry Journal 7(4):258–261.

Acknowledgements

Kriedemann, P.E. and Goodwin, I. (2004) Regulated deficit irrigation and partial rootzone drying. Irrigation insights No. 3 (Land & Water Australia: Canberra, ACT).

This work was supported financially

by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body, the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, with matching funds from the Australian Government. We would like to thank Rachel Hanlin, Catherine Beattie and Caroline Tarr for technical

Strainer Posts & Trellis Lines

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McCarthy, M.G. (1997) Effect of timing of water deficit on fruit development and composition of Vitis vinifera cv. Shiraz. PhD Thesis, Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, University of Adelaide, SA, Australia, 194 pp.

Mitchell, P.D. and Chalmers, D.J. (1982) The effect of reduced water supply on peach tree growth and yields. Journal of the American Society of Horticultural Science 107: 853–856.

WVJ

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s park l in g wine

Sparkling wine research heats up in cool climate Tasmania

By Mark Smith

Celebrating his 20th year writing about wine and viticulture in Tasmania, Mark Smith summarises the highlights of a workshop held recently in a small southern Tasmanian vineyard on the outskirts of Hobart on the complexities of growing cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to meet the specific requirements for high-end bottle-fermented sparkling wine.

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s a young Tasmanian agricultural science student, all Fiona Kerslake (nee Chopping) planned to do on graduating from university was to work in the field of animal production. She never imagined that in less than a decade she would become a Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) junior research fellow with a doctorate in viticulture and specialist knowledge and skills in cool climate wine production.

Times change, and so has the fabric of the wine industry in the Apple Isle. Today, bottle-fermented sparkling wine is one of the great success stories of the wine industry there. Indeed, depending upon vintage, somewhere between 42%-50% of all winegrapes grown in the island state now end up in bottles of premium fizz.

“With that in mind, it’s incredibly important that we continue to lead Australia’s premium sparkling wine production and research,” mused Jansz Tasmania winemaker Natalie Fryar, as she welcomed the three dozen or so Tasmanian wine industry participants who gathered at Coal Valley Vineyard in late September 2013 to workshop sparkling wine viticulture.

The small southern Tasmanian vineyard on the outskirts of Hobart played host to a diverse range of industry players. All were united by mutual ambition and the desire to develop an

The experimental vineyard block at Kayena Vineyard, in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley. Pinot Noir vines (clonal selection 114) were planted here in 2000. These provide a home base for in-vineyard research into cool climate viticulture.

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understanding of the complexities – and, indeed, some of the mythologies – of growing cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to meet the specific requirements for high-end bottle-fermented sparkling wine.

Back in the 1990s, such an event would have hardly raised an eyebrow. At best, many Tasmanian growers and winemakers regarded sparkling wine as the logical end point for fruit that was surplus to table wine requirements. At worst, it was seen as a destination of last resort for high acid, under-ripe fruit in ultra cool seasons like 1996. Viticulturally, the differences hardly mattered.

Vineyard management practices were largely based upon a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

“We can’t just assume that applying the management practices used in table wine vineyards will provide us with the best way of managing sparkling wine production,” added Fryar in her opening address.

“We have to be prepared to go out and challenge some of those ideas. I think anyone who wants to produce a flagship sparkling wine has really got to go out and do that. I think I can say that just looking back over the past 14 years – the period of time I’ve been working with Tasmanian vineyards – the industry here has done incredibly well in meeting those challenges.

“Sparkling wine is fundamental to the business of the Tasmanian wine industry. And, yet, it’s a place where even growing fruit on the same site can change markedly from vintage to vintage. It’s a place where you really need to have a very close relationship with the person who’s going to be making your wine. Your role is all about being in the vineyard, day after day, tasting your fruit.”

Sharing the role of workshop facilitator with Fryar and renowned Tasmanian wine industry pioneer Dr Andrew Pirie, Dr Kerslake pointed out that the first vineyard component of the island’s sparkling wine research project began in vintage 2009. She went on to outline the key role played by recently retired South Australian Dr Bob Dambergs, who was the Australian Wine Research Institute’s man on the ground in Tasmania during the sparkling wine research.

Formally attached to TIA, in Hobart, he was AWRI's first senior research scientist to be based outside Adelaide.

Over the project’s three-year period of Federal Government Ausindustry funding, Dambergs and Kerslake vinified hundreds of 12kg ferments of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir samples. These were obtained at the end of carefully devised trials of common viticultural management practices, carried out in dedicated sparkling wine vineyards located in northern and southern Tasmania.

Dambergs subsequently went on to analyse the data obtained from the sparkling wine bases created from these project ferments.

His skillful use of ultra-violet spectral measurement and principal component analysis enabled Kerslake and Dr Joanna Jones – research fellow at the TIA – to identify the many distinct clusters

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of data that revealed significant effects on winegrape and sparkling wine quality.

With Jones working at Tolpuddle Vineyard, in southern Tasmania, and Kerslake based at Kayena Vineyard, in northern Tasmania, the pair conducted a range of cane and spur-pruning trials during the growing seasons that led up to vintages 2010-2013 inclusive.

Cane pruning is the predominant method for establishing vine architecture in Tasmania. However, its pre-eminence is generally compromised by additional cost factors and the greater level of skill required to perform it properly. Indeed, Jones’ pruning trials of Pinot Noir (clone D5V12) and Chardonnay (clone I10V1) over three seasons at Tolpuddle Vineyard confirmed pronounced apical dominance among the project’s cane-pruned vines.

Careful canopy assessment of the property’s Chardonnay vines provided additional data that revealed significant differences in canopy density between the two pruning regimes.

“Our overall results indicated that canopies established much more quickly and were denser and more even when vines were spur pruned,” Kerslake explained.

“Spur pruning also resulted in the production of many more smaller bunches without any significant differences in yield per vine. The only exception we found came from spur pruned Chardonnay vines in 2012, which favoured increased yields over cane pruning. Similarly, we found that while fruit quality parameters were not significantly different, the analyses of base wine spectral data showed that there were distinct separations between the two systems. This suggests that there may be detectable sensory effects in the base or finished wines.

“There are two qualifications needed here, however. One is that in 2010, when vines had just been converted to spur pruning, vines had significantly lower total grape phenolics. That effect appears to fade over time as there were no differences between established spur pruned and cane pruned vines. The second is that while we did some analyses of vine carbohydrate reserves and found spur pruned Pinot Noir vines had higher levels of overwintering carbohydrates in their canes in some years, the biggest differences noted were between the seasons. In other words, all of the various seasonal effects were greater than the experimental effects.”

At this point in the workshop’s discussion program, Pirie offered additional anecdotal evidence highlighting the potential critical outcomes of abnormal seasonal effects in Tasmania.

“I can recall that during my time at Tamar Ridge, we conducted various spur versus cane pruning trials,” he said.

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The facilitators of the sparkling wine viticulture workshop Dr Andrew Pirie and Dr Fiona Kerslake, which was held at Coal Valley Vineyard, in southern Tasmania, in late September.

“For a fair number of years, it looked like the spur pruning guys were winning the economic battle because of the cost savings they were able to achieve. But then in 2012, there were very dramatic seasonal effects, with certain clones of Pinot Noir producing almost no fruit on their spurs. Vintage 2012 had a very difficult fertility season because of the weather influences that year.

“What subsequently happened was that those spur pruned vines then leapt into a big vigour cycle, and that’s the real danger of going to spur pruning, especially in the wetter parts of the industry. Spur pruning might look alright for a while, but then it can suddenly collapse and you’ve got major problems.”

Pirie went on to briefly affirm the merits of the cane-pruned unilateral system he has established at his Apogee Vineyard*, at Lebrina, in Tasmania’s northeast. These Scott Henry trellised vines – which have shoots on their lower cordon trained downwards and those above trained upwards – are established with very effective ventilation windows between their two arms. These allow enhanced air movement and, thus, increased protection from botrytis bunch rot and powdery mildew. Spacings of about 30-40cm between successive canes also facilitate better sunlight penetration during the growing season, thus alleviating cane pruning’s characteristic apical dominance, as well as improving bud initiation and bud fruitfulness.

“That highlights another aspect of our Tamar Ridge experiences,” Pirie noted.

“We found we’d do all these cane and spur pruning trials – and we’d make some very significant cost savings on the W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

Dr Bob Dambergs, recently retired senior research scientist with the Australian Wine Research Institute, played a key role in Tasmania’s sparkling wine research project. latter – but come the end of the season and we’d often find we had botrytis issues. You’d then need to do a whole lot of expensive bunch-thinning that had never been factored into the cost analysis. My feeling is that while cane pruning and Scott Henry trellising have much more of an upfront cost associated with them, the lack of botrytis you get in using them provides you with a payback at the end of the season. Spur pruning looks really cheap when you do it, but you’ve got major problems with it in Tasmania when you get a wet season.” www.winebiz. com . au

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Fiona Kerslake making experimental wine at Brown Brothers’ Kayena Vineyard micro-winery, assisted by her husband Brock. A blind tasting of four samples of this experimental sparkling wine, which she made in 2010 and 2011, was conducted at the end of the workshop providing participants with some impressive physical evidence of the value of the project team’s crop load investigations.

Last September’s sparkling wine workshop ended on a high note with Kerslake conducting a blind tasting of four samples of recently disgorged experimental sparkling wine. Made by Kerslake herself during her research at Brown Brothers’ Kayena Vineyard micro-winery in 2010 and 2011, they provided workshop participants

with some impressive physical evidence of the value of the project team’s crop load investigations.

The tasting’s two highest pointed wines resulted from cane-pruned vines bearing the highest crop loads. In both cases, the vines were pruned to 60 nodes per vines – essentially, six canes bearing 10

nodes each. The tasting’s clear favourite carried additional weight in its saddlebag.

Its origins harked back to 2011 (a cool, wet year), having been made from Clone 114 Pinot Noir vines yielding at 18.4 tonnes per hectare. The wine perceived as the group’s second highest pointed wine was created from the same clonal selection cropped at 13.3t/ha in the warm, dry season of 2010.

The two wines regarded as the tasting’s least preferred samples were derived from 10 nodes per vine Pinot Noir cropped at 8.2t/ha and 5.5t/ha.

“Everything about the winemaking was standardised,” explained Kerslake, “and within each year, the fruit was harvested on the same day.”

Of course, in the real world, high yielding Pinot Noir vines could never produce premium quality, bottle-fermented sparkling wine. Or could they? Watch this space. It seems interest in cool climate sparkling wine production is about to heat up a little if TIA’s current and ongoing research results are a portent of the island’s future successes. *See Mark Smith’s article on Dr Pirie’s Apogee Vineyard – Tasmania’s 2013 Vineyard of the Year – in the September/October 2013 WVJ issue of Wine & Viticulture Journal.

Correction to article in last issue In the article ‘The effect of grape variety and smoking duration on the accumulation of smoke taint compounds in wine’, published on pages 48-49 of the November/ December 2013 issue of the Wine &

Viticulture Journal, the concentrations referred to in Figures 3 and 4 appeared as milligrams per litre instead of micrograms per litre.

The Wine & Viticulture Journal apologises for the error, which occurred

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.

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during the production process. The corrected figures and captions are printed here. The online version of the article available to subscribers via our website www.winebiz.com.au has been amended accordingly.

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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ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES

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Beautiful Malvasia Istriana

By Sonya Logan

W

hile you’d be hard-pressed to put your hands on a bottle of an Australian-made varietal Malvasia Istriana right now, it may not be too long before a few start bobbing up if the praises from a couple of local industry proponents is anything to go by.

One of those fans is Kim Chalmers, whose family imported a clone of Malvasia Istriana (VCR4) into Australia along with some 70 other clones and varieties in 2000 to take up root in the family vine nursery business which they owned at the time at Euston, in New South Wales.

“The first time I tried a Malvasia Istriana I remember thinking, ‘what a beautiful wine’,” Kim Chalmers recalls. She also fondly recalls tasting the Malvasia Istriana that won the Chairman’s Wine to Watch trophy at the Alternative Varieties Wine Show in 2011 – known as the Green Man Malvasia produced from the 2010 vintage. “It was a cracking wine!” she said.

Kim Chalmers and her family made a 100% Malvasia Istriana themselves back in 2005 as a project wine under their Chalmers Wines label – a dry table wine – and a dessert style wine in 2009.

With her husband Bart and sister Tenille, she also made some Malvasia Istriana in 2013 as part of a project the trio have dubbed Bucketwine, so named

Malvasia Istriana

By Peter Dry Viticulture Consultant The Australian Wine Research Institute Background Malvasia Istriana (pronounced mal-VAH-zia is-treeAHN-a) originated in the Istria peninsula of northwest Croatia and spread down the coast to Dalmatia. It is chiefly grown in Istria where it is the main variety of any colour, and the second-most important in Croatia overall with 3410 ha in 2009. In northeast Italy there are now just 300 ha or so at present, well down from the 4000 ha in the 1970s. Malvasia Istriana is just one of many varieties known as ‘Malvasia’ that are grown from one end of the Mediterranean to the other. However, these varieties do not have a common origin and may be genetically very distinct. Malvasia Istriana is genetically close to Malvasia di Lipari (syn. Malvasia di Sardegna), Malvasia Bianca Lunga and Malvasia Nera di Brindisi, but does not have a close relationship with the widely planted Malvasia Bianca di Candia (in Italy) or Malvasia Bianca di Piemonte (in California). In the past Malvasia Istriana was thought to have a Greek origin—but the genetic research does not support this proposition. Synonyms include Malvazija Istarska (Croatia), Malvasia del Carso and Malvasia Friulana (north-east Italy) and Polijšakica Drnovk (Slovenia). There are at least six wine producers of Malvasia Istriana in Australian regions including Tasmania, Sunbury, Heathcote and Adelaide Hills.

Viticulture Malvasia Istriana is said to be easy to grow. Budburst is mid-season to late and maturity is mid-season. Growth habit is semi-erect and vigour is high. Bunches are medium to large, well-filled and berries medium to large, yellowish with thick skin, juicy flesh and neutral taste. Yield is moderate and regular with some millerandage in cool seasons. Cane pruning is most common. Susceptibility to diseases is average with the exception of powdery mildew to which it is very susceptible. It has good tolerance of cold winters, early frosts and windy sites. Good canopy management and yield control are necessary in most locations.

Wine Acidity is moderate and alcohol can be potentially high. Wines vary considerably in style from light and fresh to full-bodied, soft and luscious (somewhat analogous to Pinot G). Malvasia Istriana wines tend to be fresher than wines from most other ‘Malvasias’—but some Istrian examples can have excessive phenolics due to long skin contact.

There is some clonal variation in terms of expression of citrus, apple, muscat and minty notes while a distinctive ’honey-like tang’ seems to be common to all.

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

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ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES

because most of the wines in the project were small enough in volume to be fermented in white buckets. And there are plans to make more Bucketwine Malvasia this year.

“We recently opened a bottle of Malvasia that we made back in 2005 and it had a flintyness and a clean wetstone character. The wines that we’ve made from Malvasia have also had a pleasant

dry straw character to them.”

Chalmers said Malvasia Istriana wasn’t “too precious” in hot conditions and was “middle of the road” for acidity.

“It’s definitely a wine that I recommend people try,” she said.

Also a fan is Patrick Sullivan, of Thousand Candles wine company, based in the Yarra Valley. Sullivan purchased some fruit from Chalmers’ vineyard last

year and although ended up blending it away, plans on making some more when the quantities allow.

“I think Malvasia is fantastic. I drink lots of it – always have. I used a bit of skin contact when I made it last year and although it was savoury it still had a brightness about it as well which I like.

It tastes like sunshine without being insipid,” Sullivan said.

Malvasia in the Chalmers Wines’ Merbein vineyard.

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Distributed to over 11,000 subscribers V29N1

consumer perceptions

business & marketing

Sustainable practice in a bottle do consumers really care?

By Linda Ovington, Anthony Saliba*, Suren Samuelian, Jasmine MacDonald National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Charles Sturt University *Corresponding author: ASaliba@csu.edu.au Consumer attitudes to environmental practices used in the wine industry

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eports have indicated that consumers are changing their views toward environmentally sustainable practices to the degree that they now seek these products, even at greater expense.

Other reports are saying the opposite, that environmentally friendly products are slow to take off due to the perception that these products do not offer any special benefits and that consumers distrust claims made by these companies (Bhaskaran, Polonsky, Cary and Fernandez 2006).

Barriers to purchasing environmentally sustainable products include higher costs and the confusion over concepts like organic, biodynamic, green and environmentally friendly.

The question we were interested in is whether attitudes toward environmentally friendly practices have changed over time.

Attitudes may change according to themes in the media, through education, peer influences and social trends, amongst others. Our article aims to describe the changes found in attitudes toward ‘green’ wines and wines produced from genetically modified (GM) grapes, through an exploratory study. We report on the results of a recent survey conducted in Australia in 2011 and compare with a matched sample survey from 2007.

Finally, we will discuss the current trends extracted from our survey results compared with the findings of the wider research on environmentally friendly practices in farming and winemaking, and offer suggestions to guide future decisions.

Study method The two surveys were conducted in Australia - a telephone survey in 2007 and an online survey in 2011 - with 1229 and 2001 respondents, respectively.

Both samples were collected using population sampling techniques to match demographic variables to known Australian Bureau of Statistics records,

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Figure 1. Percentage differences in attitude toward sustainable practice, organic wine and genetically modified crops (2007 to 2011). to make an accurate approximation of the Australian population. The second sample was adjusted to match the first sample as much as possible for comparison.

For that reason, results reflect changes in attitudes between 2007 and 2011 as opposed to demographic variability between samples. Approximately 60% of respondents in both studies indicated that they consumed wine on a regular basis – everyday, several times a week, or once a week.

Results and discussion From the results we found that the number of Australian wine consumers who previously sought environmentally friendly and organic wines have remained stable, and those who previously would not purchase these products are now leaning more toward being ‘indifferent’. Since the 2007 survey the number of people concerned with the use of environmental practices as an influence on wine purchasing behaviours has remained the W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

same in 2011, with the exception of fewer ‘strongly agreeing’ but more ‘agreeing’ (see Figure 1). There was an 18% increase in the number of respondents indicating indifference toward purchasing wines using environmentally sound practices.

This change, however, is due to a shift in greater numbers who previously disagreed (including strongly disagreed) that environmentally friendly products influence their purchase intentions. A similar pattern is also evident for organic wines. Over one-third of respondents in both studies strongly agreed or agreed that they were more likely to consume wine if it was organic, although attitudes were not as strong in 2011. For those who are ‘indifferent’ to organic wines the shift increased in 2011 by 15%. Far fewer respondents (19%) in 2011 disagreed that they would be inclined to purchase organic wine. Results did not change even after controlling for age, gender, education and household income.

We also found that currently fewer people are against GM wine products. www.winebiz. com . au

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consumer perceptions

Willingness to purchase wine derived from GM grapes increased by 9% in the 2007 to 2011 period. Those who are indifferent to whether their wine is GM derived almost doubled from 20% to 39%. Hence, fewer people are reporting that they are opposed to GM products. Less than half of the respondents in 2011 said they would not purchase GM products as opposed to almost three-quarters of respondents in 2007.

Past research, current findings and future considerations Environmental practices Our results suggest that marketing wines as environmentally friendly or organic will not necessarily increase sales. Similarly, a study comparing attitude changes between 2007 and 2009 toward eco-friendly wine by Mueller and Remaud (2010) found an increase in consumers who are ‘eco-allergic’. These consumers were reportedly males and young to middle-aged, and were wary of the ‘marketing hype’ of eco-friendly wines. More recently Vecchio (2013) found females and older people are more willing to pay a premium for eco-friendly wine. Does this also mean that the wine industry should not employ ecofriendly practices? Environmental laws governing growing practices are becoming increasingly stringent in an attempt to protect the ecology. These laws inevitably have a cost effect on the grower and wine producer. Furthermore, droughts and water management costs are also having profound effects on the wine industry.

Positive environmental practices, on the other hand, such as water recycling and limiting the use of pesticides can help to not only save money, but also contribute to a safer product. Some small wineries have already reported their aim to increase environmentally sustainable practices, particularly in response to water shortages (Alonso 2010). While consumer concern about eco-friendly wine has not altered, deciding whether to implement changes needs to be evaluated against climate change and current government implementations of environmental laws.

Organic wine and wine produced from GM grapes In 2008, 40% of Australian consumers purchased organic products, rising to 60% in 2010 (Mitchell, Kristiansen, Bez and Monk 2010). The organic wine market was valued at $2,341,720 in 2010; with only 17 certified organic wineries and vineyards in Australia in 2002, the number is now estimated at around 130 (Mitchell et al.

2010). No doubt, the ‘green’ niche in the market was there and many wineries profited after meeting this demand.

Currently, organic and biodynamic wines are easier for consumers to find with some online stores devoted solely to these sales (e.g. Lowe Wines). Australian organic wine production is going well. The strong niche in the market is enjoying a consumer following who are prepared to pay extra.

The question remains that if fewer consumers are willing to purchase green wines, then the current growth of organic wines may slow or soon hit its peak.

In opposition to organic wines lies the possible future of wines derived from GM grapes. The results of our study found that acceptance of GM products has grown since 2007. The perception of GM food as safe for human consumption has increased by 27%. The European Commission found that farmers globally are rapidly deciding to grow GM crops due to reduced production costs and use of toxic pesticides, as well as increased yield and profits. Further perceived environment benefits to the environment include reduced erosion and greenhouse gas emissions. In 2011, Canada approved the use of GM wine yeast purporting to prevent headaches and migraines. In France, a wine producer has also been given approval to begin trialling GM vines. According to our data, customers are generally accepting of GM products.

Like organic wines, the niche in the market is there. GM food, however, is still controversial; this view may change in the future, but since wine has long enjoyed the position of a ‘natural product’, the consequences of GM should be considered carefully. Furthermore, the effect of GM on wine quality should be taken into consideration; research is

needed to determine this. Importantly, the consequences of introducing GM may be irreversible, so the Australian wine industry is understandably cautious in this area.

Conclusion Results from our study suggest that promoting wines that are sourced from sound environmental practices will not necessarily win consumers over. It is not our contention that grapegrowers and winemakers should not continue to move toward environmentally sustainable or minimum input practices. Pressure from government bodies and nonprofit organisations will likely continue to enforce responsible growing and manufacturing practices. Businesses on a low budget, however, are not likely to lose sales due to consumer judgements over their practising behaviours if they were to change gradually. For larger businesses, the change may occur more rapidly and be linked to efficiency benefits, such as reduction to power costs. Ongoing exploration of consumer attitude changes, as well as behaviours and the growth of the organic market, will continue to inform grapegrowers and wine producers about what consumers are looking for.

Conversely, the wine industry may educate consumers on the importance of adopting their wines made from environmentally sound practices.

References Alonso, A.D. (2010) How ‘green’ are small wineries?

Western Australia’s case, British Food Journal 112(2):155-170.

Bhaskaran, S.; Polonsky, M.; Cary, J. and Fernandez, S. (2006) Environmentally sustainable food production and marketing: opportunity or hype? British Food Journal 108(8):677-690.

Mitchell, A.; Kristiansen, P.; Bez, N. and Monk, A. (2010) Australian organic market report 2010.

Mueller, S. and Remaud, H. (2010) Are Australian wine consumers becoming more environmentally conscious? Robustness of latent preference segments over time. Paper presented at the International Conference of the Academy of Wine Business Research, Auckland, New Zealand.

Vecchio, R. (2013) Determinants of willingness-topay for sustainable wine: evidence from experimental auctions, Wine Economics and Policy.

WVJ

Winebiz online Buyers’ Guide Equipment, Supplies & Services for the wine & grape industry www.winebiz.com.au/guide 56

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s o l ar p o wer

business & marketing

Barossa Vintners 90kW solar PV array.

Solar power – lessons learned and the underlying business case for wine producers

By David Buetefuer Director, Sales and Business Development, The Solar Project. Email: david@thesolarproject.com.au

Last year, The Solar Project designed and constructed three large solar power installations at Australian wineries – one at De Bortoli’s winery in Bilbul, near Griffith, New South Wales, and the others at d’Arenberg, in McLaren Vale, and Barossa Vintners, in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. The De Bortoli installation is the largest solar array at an Australian winery while d’Arenberg’s is the largest at a South Australian winery. We asked The Solar Project’s David Buetefuer to state the case for solar power now that many of the government rebates are no longer available and to describe some of the lessons the company’s clients have learned when embarking on solar installations.

A

s we enter 2014 and look around our built environment, one thing is noticeable compared with a decade ago – you can’t drive through any country town or suburban street without noticing solar panels on rooftops.

Like them or loath them (let’s be honest, there are some ugly, poorly thought through domestic installations out there), solar photovoltaics (PV) are not just here to stay, but they are now becoming a fixture on many commercial and industrial properties.

In recent years, the Australian wine industry has been more active than other industries in embracing sustainable technologies like solar power generation.

Most wineries are looking to project a clean and green image; what better way to demonstrate a commitment to environmental sustainability than a permanent, visible statement of getting on V2 9N 1

with the job of cleaning up CO2 emissions.

The business case for the installation of commercial-scale solar power facilities on wineries is strong for a number of reasons: • perennial electricity demand – when we look at wine production, electricity will often be the biggest individual overhead •d aytime electricity demand - is more pronounced due to refrigeration (a nice match for solar power) • t enure – most wineries own their site of operations or have long-term lease arrangements in place •a vailable roof space or land – many wineries have large roof areas, or potentially adjacent available land, that can accommodate large solar arrays •e lectrical infrastructure – due to the high demands of vintage, wineries tend to have significant connected grid capacity, which usually makes W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

accommodation of commercialscale solar relatively simple from a network approval and connections cost perspective • rising energy costs – the long-term historical growth in electricity costs is greater than 5% per annum and these are expected to accelerate due to a number of drivers, including rising costs to generate and distribute electricity, as well as costs to achieve renewable energy and CO2 emission reduction targets • solar PV costs – these have reduced significantly in the last five years, driven by the scale of global demand (from 4 gigawatts in 2008 to 38GW in 2013), technology improvements, and Chinese mass production driving down prices across the board, including from European, US and Japanese manufacturers. In Australia, more than www.winebiz. com . au

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2.5GW of solar power has been installed.

Installed prices have dropped from around $10 per watt installed in 2008 to $2-2.50/W today.

• without subsidy, payback times of three to six years are achievable • simple operational expenditure reduction strategy – equipment finance solutions are in many cases cashflow positive, and have strong tax benefits over traditional capital expenditure • long operating life – appropriately designed and constructed solar arrays will operate for more than 25 years providing free electricity with extremely low operational and maintenance costs.

Solar is happening out there, but check your assumptions…

There have been a number of large solar power installations on wineries across Australia in the last 12 months – a number of these are projects that have been ‘brought forward’ by funding opportunities courtesy of the previous Federal Government.

Press announcements have been made about projects with highly unrealistic financial savings pronounced. In the rush to secure Federal funding and install solar power, some wineries have not checked their assumptions and have made decisions without all the facts provided by vendors.

Below are some lessons learned or things to look out for in the development of solar energy projects: Correct system sizing integrating with load Solar power system sizing is critical to getting the business case right. As most electricity retailers will initially pay nothing1 for surplus solar power sold to the grid in the daytime, for most investors in solar power the key is to maximise the financial returns, which means optimising the size of the solar generator to the actual electrical load at the site (and forecast future load), and supplying most of the solar energy ‘your side of the meter’ on a moment-to-moment basis, not an annual cumulative basis.

Solar photovoltaic arrays that generate 100% of annual energy demand (in kWh) will result in significant overcapitalisation due to the law of diminishing returns.

Optimal system sizing can be achieved through appropriate energy modelling of the site which experienced commercial solar power system integrators can provide.

Small wineries and network rules South Australia has a number of cases in which the return on investment for solar projects in small wineries have not

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been met. Why? Network service provider rules in SA dictate that customers with more than a 100-amp network connection must be compelled to a demand tariff if a change to the connection is made. This has two immediate implications: • t he value that can be captured ‘back of the meter’ is typically half what the winery expected ‘on paper’ when comparing its costs per kilowatt hour (kWh) to the solar power generated (in kWh) • f or small using sites of <200MWh ($60,000 p.a.) there is a strong risk of higher network (poles and wires) charges.

At least one small winery in McLaren Vale has faced a higher electricity bill as a result of installing solar panels. This fate was entirely predictable, but the winery was not advised by the national solar panel retailer involved. As most solar contractors in the Australian market are domestic oriented, wineries need to beware the risk of getting poor or nonrelevant advice.

The Solar Project is currently engaged with a number of small South Australian wineries, providing professional feasibility services to assist their evaluation of the business case for solar power investments. For a small number the answer has been ‘not now’ due to this local regulatory hurdle. For others, small energy storage or load reduction or load shifting strategies are being explored.

Presently, other state network service providers have less draconian regimes, and are not imposing detrimental tariffs like those in SA on their existing electricity consumers, but it pays to check.

Small wineries that install up to 30kW of solar power generation will benefit from the relatively simple connection approval process which in most states is a free exercise, with the costs of a meter upgrade only required.

Static load – can your buildings take the weight?

Most buildings have not necessarily been built to take an extra 12 tonnes or more of solar panels, and an independent structural report will need to be conducted from a certified practising structural engineer to assess the static (extra weight) and live (wind) load from the introduced solar array. An important note is that tilted solar panels will increase the live load significantly as they become a wind sail – they also reduce the available area for further solar power generation due to the shading they introduce to the area around each row of panels.

De Bortoli Wines required structural support columns to be installed in its barrel hall and bottling halls to provide suitable bracing for the solar PV and W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

thermal arrays, whereas its ‘Southside’ PV array required no such works.

For d’Arenberg’s 200kW facility, the commissioned structural report revealed deficiency in the fly bracing along one wall of the barrel hall. In this case, the fly braces were manufactured in house at a cost of about $2500 including labour.

One alternative to the use of rooftops is to install the solar array on the ground adjacent or near the point of electrical demand. Ground-based arrays introduce other considerations to the project’s feasibility.

Using a solar retailer or an experienced system integrator with project management systems Unlike domestic solar installations, commercial solar projects are that – projects in themselves. They are more than just the delivery of some hardware.

Scheduling, work sequencing, external and internal approvals, design documents, as-built drawings, OH&S requirements, quality, certificates and test results, operation and maintenance training and manuals, and integrated data logging systems are all deliverables on top of a working solar power system.

Project management starts in the development phase, where it is essential to establish stakeholder expectations, determine customer requirements, make the business case, establish a quality baseline and consider early involvement with a preferred contractor.

According to Lincoln Ridley, chief financial officer of d’Arenberg, the following factors should be taken into account when finding the right installer: •e xperience completing projects of similar size •e xperience obtaining grants and working with governments •e xperience working with distribution network service providers for large generator connection costs • r ealistic forecasts based on actual modelling of power use and generation.

Commercial system integrators typically execute small numbers of large projects annually, work to a defined project scope, have a dedicated project team and project manager, apply project and site specific design by experienced engineers, execute to an agreed project schedule, site manage subcontractors, execute quality assurance measures, and deliver project-specific documentation.

Solar retailers tend to have a lot of experience in large volume, small system delivery, which typically results in cookie cutter design, scheduling driven by vendor priorities and multiple points of contact from separate vendor departments, and often no site management or quality assurance processes.

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Funding and financing projects While a number of projects in recent years have capitalised on available grants or government funding opportunities, there have been many disappointed wine producers who have committed time, money and resources to preparing and writing funding applications and have missed out.

The former Federal Government’s Clean Technology Food and Foundries Investment Program is over. However, the business case is strong for most wineries today without government subsidy. Numerous non-bank equipment finance providers have entered the market in the last two years offering solar equipment finance, including chattel mortgages, operating leases and finance leases, which have various tax benefits. Recently, CBA has entered the market with its Energy Efficiency Loan program.

Equipment financing is allowing businesses to proceed with projects without recourse to capital budgets, capturing the operational savings from the solar power generation to cover equipment repayments, making the case that it is cheaper to proceed today than to wait and see what happens in two to three years time.

Consider it an OPEX solution: the case for equipment financing today Graeme Harris, of CAFG Australease, a non-bank equipment finance specialist – and one of the first Australian equipment finance companies to fund solar projects - is currently assisting one winery with a structured finance solution for a number of clean technologies, including solar PV, worth more than $800,000.

According to Harris, “Solar is great, as for a while it directs part of your current electricity expense to the financing. It is predictable and quantifiable and delivers a vastly superior net present value dollar improvement over the business-as-usual scenario – paying your power bills month in, month out for the big boys in the power market to generate your power”.

Is solar for you?

Under current economic conditions and with the uncertainty in the wine industry, many wineries’ policies involve keeping capital investment to a minimum.

Solar power requires significant capital investment, but as already discussed, equipment financing and high energy costs are now making it feasible to

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proceed without reliance on government funding, at no upfront capital cost, still resulting in an immediate reduction in operating costs, and an even bigger effect on CO2 emissions and green credentials.

Full consideration of a winery’s specific site and energy requirements should be taken into account, as well as connection approvals, costs and getting the business case right – in short, spend the time or money required to ensure there are no surprises leading to buyer’s remorse.

Choosing to partner with an experienced contractor with verified industry references early in the development phase can help you get there unscathed.

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lthough the weighted average value of renewable A energy in the national electricity market is approximately $0.07/kWh, most wineries will be operating on a contract with their electricity retailer which will have no provision for buyback of onsite electricity generation. This will need to be negotiated in the next round of contracting for retail power supply. State-mandated solar feed-in tariffs do not apply generally to commercial installations, and have now broadly been phased out in most states and territories. The best value will be captured ‘back of the meter’ supplying actual electrical energy demand WVJ as it is needed.

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software

Sensing a new horizon for the Tasmanian wine sector A new data modelling system called Sense-T is being developed in a collaboration between the University of Tasmania, CSIRO, IBM and the Tasmanian Government which promises to help the wine sector be more competitive, efficient and sustainable.

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he Tasmanian wine sector stands to benefit from a worldleading data and technology program that happens to be on its doorstep.

Sense-T is developing smart phone apps, online tools, advanced research and new sensor technology, to help the wine sector be more competitive, efficient and sustainable.

It is all powered by a big data engine that pulls together valuable information, including real-time sensor data from networks across the state, to support decision-making.

About Sense-T Sense-T is a partnership between the University of Tasmania, CSIRO, IBM and the Tasmanian Government.

Sense-T program manager Amanda Castray said, “Its core purpose is to create public good and drive innovation through data”.

“We’re essentially building a digital view of the Tasmanian economy,” Castray said.

“By making the data more accessible, we hope people will find new, innovative ways to make the economy work better – socially, environmentally and economically. We can conduct research, develop new technology, create digital services and inform government policy.”

Sense-T is working with key industries on demonstration projects, bringing together industry representatives to focus the agenda, researchers to help solve the problems and businesses to deliver commercial solutions.

Chief executive of Wine Tasmania Sheralee Davies said the inclusion of viticulture as one of the first projects was positive.

“This is a major opportunity for the Tasmanian wine sector,” Davies said. “The potential of Sense-T is to allow vineyard managers to monitor their vineyard in real-time and make management decisions to optimise production and efficiencies, as well as manage risks.”

Industry leading the way on research The traditional research model involves scientists identifying a hypothesis and designing a research program that culminates in publication. The results are then presented to industry for their application.

Sense-T’s approach puts the end-user at the centre of project design, according to Dr Kathy Evans, of the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA). Evans leads the Sense-T viticulture project, and has a strong background in industry-led science research through her work at TIA. “Together with Wine Tasmania and representatives from across the wine sector, we talked about their greatest challenges and how they envisioned Sense-T working for them, then designed the research project to meet their needs,” Evans explained.

Evans works with colleagues at CSIRO to test algorithms that predict botrytis. She is also working on systems to provide frost alerts.

“We feed these algorithms and models with real-time data from sensors across the vineyard, along with other data, from the Bureau of Meteorology, for example.

“We aim to provide grapegrowers with accurate, real-time information about disease and frost risks specific to their vineyard,” Evans said.

Co-manager of Pooley Wines, Matthew Pooley, has allowed his Campania Vineyard to be used as a Sense-T trial site.

“The contours of the property and surrounding landscape create microclimates across the vineyard. Some areas seem to form humid pockets where botrytis can creep up pretty quickly,” Pooley said.

“We need information about the different microclimates, so we can decide where exactly we need to take action. Ultimately, I hope we will reduce spraying because we will have a better understanding of the risks and will only spray when and where we absolutely need to,” Pooley added.

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Next generation sensing technology One of the key propositions of Sense-T is that more sensing points will allow for more sophisticated data modelling and research and finer-grained information to help people make decisions.

Sense-T encourages organisations to install sensors and feed the data back into its data cloud. The data, in turn, generates new tools and services that help the organisations to be more competitive, productive and sustainable.

But Sense-T initially identified a significant barrier, explained Castray.

“One of the first things we realised when we started working on Sense-T was that the sensing equipment on the market was expensive. If businesses are going to invest in sensors, we needed to design new technology that could deliver the same accuracy, but at a fraction of the cost,” Castray said.

Sense-T forged a partnership with Grey Innovation, a company with a track record in commercialising research technology (it lists the bionic eye among its current collaborations).

Engineers at Grey Innovation helped Sense-T to design a prototype sensing system that is easy to install and operate and will cost significantly less than other systems on the market. The technology is currently being trialled at five sites across Tasmania and is expected to be on the market in late 2014.

The sensors measure soil moisture and temperature at various depths, as well as above-ground temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation and leaf wetness. They connect wirelessly to sensor nodes, which all link back up to one gateway that connects to the national broadband network or 3G. That means telemetry costs can be kept very low, potentially even zero.

The systems can theoretically link thousands of sensors into one gateway, although the trials are testing how many data points grapegrowers actually need.

Josef Chromy Wines vineyard manager Andrew Terry hosts another Sense-T trial site.

“It can take a person up to a day just to get the soil moisture across the whole site,” Terry said. “With sensors across the vineyard, we will be able to hone in on certain areas, get an accurate reading in real-time and irrigate accordingly.”

It isn’t just the price of sensing equipment that Sense-T wants to change.

“We want the equipment to be beautifully designed, compact and unobtrusive. We also want the user experience to be simple,” Castray said.

The resulting sensors look a far cry from traditional research equipment. The leaf wetness sensors even mimic the curves of a leaf. The sensors automatically connect with each other and register with Sense-T through a simple smart phone app.

A world of data in the palm of your hand All of this data isn’t much use if it is difficult to access or understand. Sense-T is designing prototype smart phone apps that deliver the data from the sensors. Again, user experience and beautiful design has been central, as has industry input.

TIA’s Kathy Evans worked with Wine Tasmania to convene a workshop with more than 20 vineyard managers, winemakers and technical experts.

Participants were asked several key questions: • what are the most critical decisions you have to make?

• what information do you need to make those decisions?

• how do you prefer to access information? For example, via smart phone, tablet or desktop computer?

• what are the consequences of poor decisions?

The first prototype apps are currently being designed and will be ready to be road tested along with the new sensors in early 2014.

New functionalities can be plugged into the apps as research is completed.

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Matthew Pooley, co-manager of Pooley Wines, whose Campania Vineyard is a trial site for Sense-T, a data and technology program comprising sensors that feed data back into its data cloud where it is used to generate new tools and services that help organisations be more competitive, productive and sustainable.

The apps will ultimately be supported by a company or third party providing services to industry, rather than by Sense-T itself.

How grapegrowers can help oyster farmers Because the data from the vineyards all flows back into the Sense-T data cloud, it can be used to create value on many different levels.

For example, oyster farmers downstream could access data from vineyard sensors to manage water quality and support production decisions. It could also be accessed by science students to study the environment or by government to cut red and green tape.

As long as the use of the data meets the Sense-T purpose of creating public good, the data could be used in a multitude of ways.

“The whole Sense-T model is built around trust – you share your data, we will create value for you and, more broadly, for society and we’ll protect your privacy,” Castray explained.

“It requires very strict privacy and confidentiality controls, so people can access the information, but in a way that doesn’t identify individuals or businesses. We will also tell people how their data is shared, so it’s completely transparent,” Castray said.

Sense-T has benefited from a close association with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which helped to develop the data privacy policies and protocols.

The future possibilities Third-generation viticulturist Matthew Pooley, who grew up working on vineyards alongside his grandparents, reflected on the changes in the industry and the possibilities.

“When I think back to how my grandmother and grandfather used to manage the vineyard, it was very much by gut feel. Now, we’ll be able to collect data in real-time and tap into it at any stage.

“I’m also interested in how we might be able to use some of the data we collect during production to help market our premium wines.”

According to Castray, that is certainly on the cards.

“We’re investigating innovative ways to present data to consumers, for example, through virtual reality tools,” she said.

But Castray predicts that the most exciting innovations will come from unexpected quarters.

“For example, a 13-year-old student could use Sense-T to develop a smart phone app that revolutionises the viticulture industry. Who knows? That’s the beauty of innovation!

“Our job is to create the environment and the tools, so that clever people can come up with things we’ve never even dreamed of.” WVJ

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Are Australian wines well known in China?

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

Communications to Chinese wine drinkers about Australia’s premium offering needs to be improved, lest we continue to possess the reputation of making and exporting the best wine that few Chinese people have heard of.

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he Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC) identified in July 2012 the need to better understand the attitudes, perceptions and behaviour of Chinese wine drinkers to help the Australian wine sector better compete in this growing market. This article reports on findings from one of the several China wine projects managed by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute (EBI) and generously funded by the GWRDC. The China Wine Barometer (CWB) is a three-year tracking study conducted twice yearly across six cities in China to map the evolution of Chinese wine preferences and to measure the position of Australian wines, regions and grape varieties compared with our major competitors. The project is conducted in partnership with Wine Intelligence (WI), uniting the research skills of the EBI with WI’s market accessibility.

China will play a pivotal role in the future success of the Australian wine industry. Recent statistics show that China is the fastest growing wine market in the world. Australian bottled wine exports to China grew by 15 percent to 35 million litres at the end of 2012 and the average value of bottled exports increased to A$6.39 per litre, +6% compared with 2011.

Australia is the second biggest bottled wine exporter to China after France, with 15% market share in value and 13% in volume in the imported wine market (Wine Australia 2013). This all sounds pretty good. Australia must be effective in its China market strategy, right? Primary data collected in the first wave of the CWB in March 2013 tells a different story.

Anyone reading this article is likely to have a solid knowledge and interest

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Figure 1. Wine awareness in China (based on % ‘aware’ or % spending on-premise). in wine. It would be safe to say that wine consumes your life professionally.

In your personal life, wine is a part of celebrations, commiserations or just a ritual drop at the end of a day’s work.

We must be careful not to impose our beliefs, attitudes or thought structures on an average Chinese wine drinker.

We have to be realistic about the development of the Chinese market.

There are many passionate pieces that exist in various forms of media that glorify the Chinese wine experience, tout their knowledge and value as consumers and extoll the perfect wine pairing between a particular wine style and Chinese cuisine from a particular region. It is great to be optimistic, but at the risk of getting ahead of ourselves, it is important that a logical, rational and scientific approach to understanding consumer preferences be applied.

The data presented in this article was collected in March 2013. The sample consisted of 913 respondents, W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

socio-demographically representative in terms of age, gender and income of the upper-middle class urban population aged 18-49 living in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang, and Wuhan who drink imported wine at least twice a year.

Figure 1 illustrates Chinese awareness for country of origin, regions of origin, grape variety and proportion buying at different price points.

It can be concluded that the quintessential bottle of wine is a French Cabernet Sauvignon from Bordeaux, priced below RMB 250.

The collective marketing activities of the Australian industry should be commended. Three-quarters of the wine-drinking population are aware of Australia as a producing country.

What becomes a concern is that the most well known Australian wine region in China, the Barossa Valley, is only known by just over half the wine drinking population, and our V29N1

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celebrated grape variety Shiraz/Syrah is only known by about one-third of Chinese wine drinkers. This indicates the challenge that exists for our premier region and grape variety. It can be extrapolated that the challenge is greater for our lesser known varieties and regions. Although Chinese wine drinkers are obviously buying Australian wine, their knowledge is quite low.

Countries of origin perceptions were further investigated using a pick-any method (Driesener and Romaniuk 2006). This method measures the perceptions consumers have about products (in this case, wineproducing countries) in relation to different product dimensions (taste profile, distinctiveness, wine types, consumption occasions, labelling, packaging and price). It is a method of testing what attributes are in the mind of a typical imported wine drinker.

Figure 2 demonstrates that France dominates mental availability, being the most salient of wine-producing nations, using a sample of product characteristics to illustrate this point.

Chinese consumers can easily connect French wines with the various product characteristics measured. When consumers consider a particular aspect of a wine, France tends to always be ‘top of mind’. This method is powerful in that it can also identify different positioning for each country. For example, while France is dominant on virtually all cues, it is poorly associated with the term ‘taste the same’ and other commercial descriptors, suggesting its premium perception. Both Italy and China follow behind France in the number of associations, which means they are more mentally available to Chinese wine drinkers than Australian wines.

However, Australia is unique in that while being top of mind slightly less than Italy or China, the connections are balanced across all cues and don’t lean in a particular direction, suggesting a broad position for Australian wines.

The product characteristics used in this study were grouped into two categories: commercial and premium attributes. Commercial attributes include elements such as ‘easy to drink’, ‘boring’, ‘good to drink at home’, ‘good value for money’, while premium attributes comprise terms such as ‘complex’, ‘exciting’, ‘suitable to drink at fine dining restaurants’, ‘expensive’, etc.

We counted the average number of times each respondent selected any of the commercial and premium items V2 9N 1

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Figure 2. Mental availability of wine-producing nations in China.

Figure 3. Commercial vs. premium wine associations - by country.

for each country of origin, providing a measure of the inclination towards each of the two images conveyed by each country. Figure 3 presents the perceived value position of key wineproducing nations in China.

France clearly communicates a premium image, while China has a strong commercial positioning. As for Australia, the country is currently at a watershed. The premium and commercial positions are roughly equivalent. There is confusion in China about what Australia stands for. The industry needs to decide strategically what future actions will be taken in China and how these perceptions might be shaped.

What the results of this research indicate is that Australia and other wine-producing nations are losing significantly to the French in dominating the minds of Chinese wine drinkers. This article should hopefully serve as a call to action for W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

the industry as a whole to focus on the battle for mental availability. Australia is obviously gaining physical availability by placing wines in retail stores and restaurants and wine bars. But we are failing at gaining recognition and awareness by the specific segment we want to target and grow. This means improving our communications to Chinese wine drinkers and the trade, especially of premium-type characteristics. If this issue is ignored, many of us will continue to possess the dubious title of producing and exporting the best wine to China that few people have heard of.

References Driesener, C. and Romaniuk, J. (2006) Comparing methods of brand image measurement. International Journal of Market Research 48(6):681-698.

Wine Australia (2013) China, market programs.

Available online at http://www.wineaustralia.com/ en/Market%20Development/Market%20Programs/ WVJ China.aspx www.winebiz. com . au

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Chinese austerity measures slow wine imports

By Mark Rowley, Industry Analyst, Wine Australia

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n the July/August 2013 issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal I wrote about the early implications of Chinese President Xi’s austerity measures on wine imports. With a further six months of import data to analyse, it is clear that the measures have contributed to a halt in the growth of wine imports. On a 12-monthly basis the volume of wine imports is flat, while on a three- and six-monthly basis imports have declined. However, growth in wine imports was slowing before the measures were announced.

Figure 1 illustrates the rolling growth rate in wine imports in China over three different periods. The ‘3MI’ (threemonth indicator) compares the latest three months with the corresponding three months a year earlier, while the ‘6MI’ and ‘12MI’ present the same for a six and 12-month period, respectively (12MI represents the annual rate of growth). The shorter time periods will predict where the annual rate of growth will trend towards and, as such, are considered a leading indicator.

It is clear that from around December 2011, all indicators started to trend downward. Growth in the imported wine market was slowing a year before the president called for austerity. As mentioned in the previous article, there was a slowdown around the time of the announcement (see 3MI in December 2012). However, the timing of this year’s Chinese New Year is likely to have contributed to some of this slowdown.

After this period, imports rebounded and continued to grow in the 10-20% range until the middle of the year, when all three indicators began to trend towards negative territory. In September 2013 the 6MI turned negative for the first time, and the 12MI rate is likely to become negative by the end of 2013. This would represent the first decline on an annual basis in bottled wine imports to China since 2000.

Figure 2 illustrates that all countries supplying wine to China have been subject to the downturn. Although the chart is somewhat busy, it is evident that every country’s 6MI rate turned negative

by October 2013 - the only exception

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Figure 1. Bottled wine imports by growth rates at three, six and 12 months.

Source: Global Wine Atlas

Figure 2. Bottled wine imports – six-month indicator by country of origin.

Source: Global Wine Atlas being Spain, which is also showing a distinct downward trajectory.

Figure 3 illustrates the 3MI of the top six sources of imported bottled wine in a shorter timeframe to focus on what W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

has occurred in 2013. For most of the year Australia’s 3MI has managed to stay positive, however, it tracked negative for the first time in October. The other major suppliers – France, Spain and Chile V29N1

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were also negative and on a downward trajectory. Meanwhile, the US and Italy had been in negative territory, but recorded growth in imports in September and October and pushed their imports from negative to positive territory.

With a very high average annual growth rate of 50% over the previous years before 2012, it is expected that the growth rate in wine imports would slow. Furthermore, a slowdown in imports does not necessarily mean that wine consumption in China has slowed; rather, wine importers may have over-shot forward sale projections, resulting in them holding excess stocks. Euromonitor International reports that per capita wine consumption increased by 18% to 1.5 litres per head in 2012, while bottled imports over the same period grew by only 9%.

Note that imported wines account for between 15-20% of total wine consumption in China.

Despite the slowdown in imports, some analysts believe there will be solid growth over the next five years. For example, Euromonitor International has forecast wine sales in China to more than double in the next five years to become the world’s largest wine market by 2016, ahead of the US. There are many unknowns in the market and things can change quickly, however, there is still a significant upside.

Research by Wine Intelligence suggests that there are currently 19 million urban upper-middle class drinkers of imported wines in China. This represents just 6% of the pool of potential imported wine drinkers of 345 million 18-49 year olds living in urban areas. The percentage of the population living in urban areas continues to grow; 53% of the population were living in urban areas in 2012 compared with 40% in 2009 and 20% in 1978.

Wine Australia has a team in China, based in Shanghai.

Educating trade, media and consumers is central to Wine

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Figure 3. Bottled wine imports – three-month indicator by top six countries of origin. Source: Global Wine Atlas Australia’s strategy in China. Wine Australia’s major focus in the market includes: • targeted trade education programs to build a network of A+ Australian wine trade and education specialists in China • participation in key trade shows and promotions to positively position Australian wine • targeted public relations and communications via traditional, online, mobile and social media platforms.

For more information on the China market, contact Wine Australia’s Regional Manager for China, Willa Yang, email: willa.

WVJ yang@wineaustralia.com or telephone +86 21 6103 5638.

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we t & we t reba t e

History of the WET and the WET Producer Rebate

By Mathew Brittingham Senior Associate, Finlaysons, 81 Flinders Street, Adelaide, South Australia 5000

During the consultation process for the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia’s recently released ‘Actions for Profitability 2014-16’, the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) and the WET Producers Rebate attracted a significant share of the debate off the back of the proposal to restrict eligibility for the rebate to wine producers who have “susbtantial investment in physical and grapegrowing and wine production”. The proposal was subsequently dropped (see related story page 6), but with the WFA due to review the rebate in three years time, we thought it timely to review the history of the WET and its rebate to remind the industry how their current structure came into being, and asked three producers for their thoughts on what effect the WET rebate has on their businesses and the industry and whether any changes should be considered in the future.

Background

T

his article explains how the WET (Wine Equalisation Tax) and the WET rebate were born at the same time as Wholesale Sales Tax (WST) was abolished and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced. It then discusses how the WET rebate expanded from simply being a $42,000 per annum cellar door subsidy to promote tourism in regional areas to a $500,000 per annum rebate available to all producers, including ‘virtual blenders’ and New Zealand producers.

Origins of WET

From 1984 until the introduction of the GST on 1 July 2000, the wine industry was subject to WST.1 The WST rate started at 10 per cent and increased to 26% in 1996.2 At the same time, state governments also indirectly collected a tax of around 15% on wine through state business franchise fees.3 However, in 1997 the High Court, in Ha v State of New South Wales,4 held that the state licensing fees were ‘duties of excise’ and thus invalid under the Commonwealth Constitution. To assist the states make up for that lost source of revenue, the Federal Government increased the applicable rate of WST to 41%, and paid the additional 15% to the states as ‘revenue replacement grants’.5 The states passed on a portion of those revenue replacement grants to wineries through cellar door/liquor licensing subsidiary schemes.6 WST was abolished in 2000 at the time of the introduction of GST. However, to

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ensure wine prices would remain stable and to maintain the revenue collected from wine sales, WET was imposed on the last wholesale of wine (before adding GST).7 Although the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia recommended that the WET be charged at the rate of 24.5%,8 so as to create an equivalent tax burden to that imposed by the WST, the WET rate was set at 29%. As a result, the effective indirect tax rate on wine through the combination of WET and GST remained in the order of 41%.

Origin of WET Rebate In order to obtain the support of the Australian Democrats for its GST reform package, the Liberal Government ‘undertook to ensure that arrangements were established which provided a tax exemption for cellar door and mail order sales up to a wholesale value of $300,000 per annum’.9 These arrangements were given statutory force by the Indirect Tax Legislation Amendment Act 2000, which in turn amended the A New Tax System (Wine Equalization Tax) Act 1999 (WET Act).

The Indirect Tax Legislation Amendment Act provided a 14% WET rebate from 1 July 2000 on cellar door and mail order sales (and applications to own use) up to a maximum of $300,000 of sales per annum.10 The rebate tapered down to zero for sales between $300,000 and $580,000 per annum.11 The WET rebate applied in conjunction with the applicable 15% state cellar door subsidy.

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The combination of the 14% WET rebate and the 15% state subsidy meant that cellar door and mail order sales up to $300,000 per annum were effectively WET-free.12 To be eligible to claim the WET rebate, the producer was required to hold a license issued under a state law to make retail sales of wine from particular premises as a wine producer or a vigneron (i.e., a producer’s license under state liquor licensing laws).13 Hence, the WET rebate was limited to wine and did not include other products captured under the WET Act such as cider, perry and sake.

The WET rebate was inserted to primarily to provide assistance to small and medium sized winemakers and to promote tourism in regional areas through increased incentives to open cellar doors.14 First Expansion of WET Rebate Cellar Door Scheme replaced by a producer system From 1 October 2004, the cellar door WET rebate scheme was replaced by the current system which allows a wine producer, or a group of associated wine producers, to claim an annual WET rebate regardless of whether they make cellar door sales.15 The maximum rebate payable to a producer, or group of associated producers, was initially limited to $290,000 per annum.16 The rebate therefore effectively exempted $1 million of each producer’s, or group of associated producers’, domestic wine sales per financial year.17 V29N1

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The amount of the rebate was calculated as 29% of the ‘wholesale value’ of the wine.18 The Government predicted that these measures would allow around 90% of wine producers to fully offset their WET liability, and that 85% of the benefits of the WET rebate would be received by small wine producers in rural and regional Australia.19 No requirement for producers to hold a state liquor license Importantly, the WET rebate was paid to wine producers regardless of whether they held a producer’s license under state liquor laws.20 Rebate extended to cider, perry and sake At the same time, the new WET rebate was extended to allow producers of all products to which WET applied (i.e. cider, perry and sake) to claim a rebate on wholesale sales of those products.21 No State subsidy on first $1m sales From 1 October 2004, the state government cellar door/ liquor subsidies were only paid on cellar door sales above the first $1 million of ‘total’ wine sales made by the producer, given the full WET rebate applied to first $1million of wine sales.22 Second Expansion of WET Rebate WET rebate extended to New Zealand producers From 1 July 2005, the WET rebate scheme was extended to include New Zealand producers.23 This was done to enable Australia to satisfy its obligations under the Australia and New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement of 1983 (i.e., so there was no policy differentiation in the tax treatment of Australian and New Zealand wine producers).24 New Zealand producers became eligible to claim the WET rebate provided: (1) they produced wine in New Zealand; (2) exported that wine to Australia; and (3) Australian WET was paid on that wine.25

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TA 2013/2 – ATO targets WET rebate schemes On 8 October 2013, the ATO issued Taxpayer Alert TA 2013/2.

The Alert describes two arrangements the ATO believes are contrived, and are designed to create additional WET rebates through non-commercial dealings between entities.

The first arrangement involves additional manufacturers being established to manufacture some of a regular producer’s wine.

Although those additional manufacturers have no real role in the manufacturing process, they, along with the ‘real’ wine producer, claim WET rebates.

The second arrangement involves a wine producer selling its wine to other entities for blending, but with the wine producer organising and maintaining control of all the blending in the chain. Although those blending entities may simply be conduit virtual wine producers in the chain (i.e., do not have any substantial operations of their own), all entities in the chain claim WET rebates on wine sales.

On 11 December 2013, the Commissioner issued Draft Wine Equalization Tax Ruling WETR 2013/D1, which sets out the Commissioner’s views on TA 2012/13. In particular, the Commissioner considers that the general anti-avoidance rules in Division 165 of the GST Act will likely apply to both arrangements discussed in TA 2013/2.31 NSW Cellar Door Subsidy Scheme Abolished On 30 June 2012, the New South Wales Government abolished its cellar door sale subsidy scheme.32 South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia still have cellar door sales subsidy schemes in place, although in South Australia from 1 July 2011, the maximum subsidy cap was significantly reduced from $512,000 to $50,000 per annum per producer. 

WET rebate increased to $500,000 per annum From 1 July 2006, the WET rebate each producer (or group of associated producers) could claim was increased to a maximum rebateable amount of $500,000 each financial year.26 This enhanced assistance effectively exempts up to around $1.7 million of domestic wholesale wine sales from WET each year per wine producer (or group of associated producers).

No state subsidy on first $1.7m sales From 1 October 2004, the State Government cellar door/liquor subsidies were only paid on cellar door sales above the first $1.7m of ‘total’ wine sales made by the producer given the full WET rebate applied to the first $1.7m of wine sales.27 Blending Rules WETR 2009/2 - Blending accepted by ATO On 24 June 2009, the ATO issued Wine Equalization Tax Ruling WETR 2009/2, which stated that the blending of wines to produce a commercially distinct product will constitute the ‘manufacture’ of wine, and that the entity which manufactures such blends will thus be a wine producer for the purposes of the WET Act.28 Amendments to THE WET Act to reduce WET rebates on blended wine With effect from 10 December 2012, the WET Act was amended to reduce the WET rebates a producer can claim on blended wine.29 Pursuant to the new blending rules, producers of blended wine must reduce the amount of WET rebates claimed on a blend by the sum of the amounts of any earlier producer rebates claimed by their suppliers with respect to the wine used in that blend.30 V2 9N 1

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WET REBATE

Conclusion As is evident from the above, the WET rebate has expanded significantly in both value and reach since its introduction.

Indeed, from the 2004-05 financial year to 2012-13, the WET rebate paid to producers has increased from $60m per annum to $280m per annum.33 It is therefore not surprising that both the Legislature and the ATO have recently taken steps to rein in its expansion.

Disclaimer The material and opinions in the paper should not be used or treated as professional advice and readers should rely on their own enquiries in making any decisions concerning their own interests References Bills Digest No. 151 1998-99, A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Bill 1999.

2

Ibid.

3

Ibid.

4

(1997) 189 CLR 465.

5

Bills Digest No. 151 1998-99, A New Tax System

(Wine Equalisation Tax) Bill 1999; and Tony Blackshield and George Williams, Australian Constitutional Law and Theory Commentary and Materials (4th ed 2006), p 1100.

6

ew South Wales, Parliamentary Debates, N Legislative Assembly, 26 February 2013, 18005 (Clayton Barr).

7

ills Digest No. 151 1998-99, A New Tax System B (Wine Equalisation Tax) Bill 1999.

8

enate Select Committee on a New Tax System, S Winemakers’ Federation of Australia Submission No. 938, 28.

9

upplementary Explanatory Memorandum, Indirect S Tax Legislation Amendment Bill 2000, [2.27].

20

I bid, Comparison of key features of new law and current law.

21

ax Laws Amendment (Wine Producer Rebate and T Other Measures) Act 2004, Schedule 1, Item 6A.

22

ee for example, State Revenue Office of Victoria, S Guidelines for the exercise of powers under section 177 of the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998, [2.7]; and Western Australian Office of Racing, Gaming and Liquor’s, Claim Form for Liquor Subsidy, Notes for Completing Subsidy Form, [4].

23

ax Laws Amendment (2005 Measures No. 4) T Act 2005, Schedule 4.

24

Treasury Executive Minute No. 2010/3468.

25

ax Laws Amendment (2005 Measures No. 4) T Act 2005, Schedule 4, Item 9.

26

ax Laws Amendment (2006 Measures No. 3) T Act 2006, Schedule 14. ee South Australian Office of the Liquor and S Gambling Commissioner, Lodgement Guide South Australian Liquor Subsidy Scheme.

10

Ibid, [2.29] and [2.46].

11

Ibid.

12

Ibid, [2.29].

13

ee sections 19-10 and 33-1 of the WET Act, as S inserted by the Indirect Tax Legislation Amendment Act 2000.

27

14

upplementary Explanatory Memorandum, Indirect S Tax Legislation Amendment Bill 2000, [2.38-2.39].

28

WETR 2009/2, paras 18 and 38-40.

29

ax Laws Amendment (2012 Measures No. 5 ) T Act 2012, Schedule 6.

15

ax Laws Amendment (Wine Producer Rebate and T Other Measures) Act 2004, Schedule 1.

16

ax Laws Amendment (Wine Producer Rebate and T Other Measures) Act 2004, Schedule 1, Item 1.

17

evised Explanatory Memorandum, Tax Laws R Amendment (Wine Producer Rebate and Other Measures) Bill 2004, [1.3].

18

I bid, Comparison of key features of new law and current law.

19

Ibid, [1.7].

30

WET Act, section 19-17(1).

31

WETR 2013/D1, paras 15-17.

NSW Office of Liquor, Gambling & Racing, NSW Cellar Door Subsidy Scheme Trade & Investment Office of Liquor, Gambling & Racing http://www olgr.nsw.gov.au/liquor_info_cellar_door.asp.

32

33

ee Treasury, Tax Expenditures Statement 2006, S table F16, p 159 and Tax Expenditures Statement WVJ 2012, table F21 p183.

The WET rebate – a producer’s view Following the significant reaction from the industry to the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia’s former proposal to restrict eligibility for the WET rebate to wine producers who have “susbstantial investment in physical and grapegrowing and wine production” as part of its actions for lifting the profitability of Australian wine businesses, we asked three Australian wineries of differing sizes, in different regions and with differing business models to explain what effect the WET rebate has on their businesses and the industry, what they thought of the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia’s former proposal to restrict eligibility for the rebate to wine producers who and whether any changes should be considered in the future.

Redmond Sweeney, Snake and Herring, Western Australia President, Wines of WA; member, WA representative on Winemakers’ Federtion of Australia’s Small Winemakers Committee Current size of production: 84,000 cases Percentage of production sold domestically: 90%, but wanting to expand exports to 30% Percentage of wine produced using contracted fruit: 85% Percentage of wine produced is done so using bulk wine: less than 2%

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Percentage of production made in own processing facilities: We own our own tanks, barrels and refrigerated storage for barrel fermentation; we contract process the front end The WET rebate in its current form is a story of the good, the bad and the ugly.

If you look to the submissions by Wines of Western Australia (WoWA) and Wine Victoria to the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia in response to its proposed actions (available from www.wfa.org.au), the WET rebate is critical to the regional profitability of wine producers, e.g., in 2011, WoWA did a survey and 95% of the respondents said that they wouldn’t be profitable without the rebate. Therefore, the rebate has done what it was designed to do.

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Has rebate evolved beyond its original intent? No. At the end of the day, the production of wine is a rural pursuit that has the highest level of value adding in any rural/regional sector. In purist of this thinking, any rebate that flows ultimately provides some rural/regional benefit. The main issue is how the rebate is currently legally used with certain arrangements to ratchet down pricing and reduce shelf space to authentic producers.

With reference to the WoWA interim response to WFA’s proposed actions, the proposal to limit the WET rebate eligibility to producers that have a substantial investment in physical grapegrowing and wine production infrastructure, I believe the focus should V29N1

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be on authenticity tests, not the size of your investment. WFA had the right ambitions, but the policy was not quite right.

Placing a ‘value’ on the size of investment will starve the industry of capital investment (human capital, inventory investment, marketing development, etc) and be anticompetitive. When we develop policy, we need to look at history to help define the future. We had a wool stockpile that lasted a decade because a floor pricing policy distorted supply. We have oversupply in the wine industry due to the managed investment schemedriven developments from which many promoters profiteered. The WFA expert review pointed that the WET rebate applies to 12% of production – therefore the WET rebate doesn’t significantly influence the oversupply issue. However, over the longer term, the current WET legislation is not helping pull the trigger on true market signals and where investment needs to be focused. It’s being called a ‘sticky’ supply signal.

Limiting the WET rebate to producers who have ‘substantial assets’ in the industry could be a barrier to entry for future players in the industry as it would favour those with existing assets to access to significant capital and, therefore, by anti-competitive. Obviously, this would eliminate a small winemaker’s ability to enter the market and not be a desirable outcome at all. Many great small winemakers become great medium (or large) sized winemakers over decades and are a critical part of the regeneration of new thinking in the industry without the need to answer to corporate greed.

WFA’s finalised action to remove eligibility for the WET rebate from bulk, unpackaged, unbranded and wine for retailers’ private labels is the fastest way to achieve true market signals and maintain authenticity in the rebate (i.e., we will see change rapidly which is what needs happen). Grapegrowers who have set up winemaking supply agreements that allow them to claim the rebate will not agree with this thinking, but I sincerely hope they understand the longterm benefit this brings to the industry as a whole. That is why WFA included a phase-out provision to allow time for those affected to address the issue by becoming a grape seller again, invest in a finished product of their own, or evaluate the true profitability of the vineyard (restructure or remove).

Regarding the finalised action to remove the ability of New Zealand and foreign entities from the ability to access the WET rebate, I have a slight protectionist view to agriculture rather V2 9N 1

than a lassie faire approach. I cannot believe that we allowed this to happen in the first place. I like to try imported wines for my own education, but funding another country to continue to dominate a category is illogical.

I recently heard an Australian Taxation Office (ATO) auditor mention that the ATO has issues with the WET rebate and how it is being manipulated with bulk wine.

The Australian wine industry has to lead the charge here or be batting off the back foot on a green wicket. We have to invent our own future. If we are not united as an industry to the best long-term position, I am afraid someone else will determine it for us.

Stephen Doyle, Bloodwood, Orange, New South Wales Current size of production: 25004500 cases Percentage of production sold domestically: 100% Percentage of production sold via cellar door: 60%+ Percentage of wine produced using contracted fruit: 0% Percentage of wine produced using bulk wine: 0% Percentage of production made in own processing facilities: 100% The WET rebate has mutated since 2004 from a tax rebate for those small wineries in regional Australia badly affected by the introduction of the Wine Equalisation Tax with the GST changes of 2000 into an industry welfare scheme abused by shadowy financial operators aligned with the corporate players in the current industry. The original idea was to encourage regional

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wineries to integrate more fully into the local tourism sector by supporting struggling cellar door operations and improving employment prospects through ameliorating profitability in the wine growing areas of rural Australia.

The current oversupply and resultant depressed prices of winegrapes has allowed manipulations of the original intent of the rebate. I strongly support the original structure of the rebate but fail to see why operators with no physical ‘skin’ in the Australian wine industry continue to profit through abuse of the intent of the original tax concession.

I think this abuse has only added to the commodification of wine as just another retail line fighting for shelf space where price is all. The recognition of provenance and the encouragement of economic integration of wine producers in their local areas seems to have fallen by the wayside.

With respect to the WFA’s former proposed action limit the WET rebate eligibility to producers that have production assets in physical grapegrowing and wine production infrastructure, and the finalised actions to remove eligibility for the WET rebate from bulk, unpackaged and unbranded wine and wine that is not a finished product fit for retail (e.g cleanskins) and remove New Zealand producers from eligibility for the WET rebate, I broadly agree with them but with one caveat. I don’t know how many tax dollars these changes would ‘save’ the Government, but it is likely to run into the millions. The money ‘saved’ through these proposed changes should be re-invested into the industry - R&D, sales promotion programs, climate change preparation and attention to the concerns of the health lobby spring to mind.

WFA’s finalised action to remove eligibility for the WET rebate from bulk, unpackaged, unbranded and wine for retailers’ private labels is the fastest way to achieve true market signals and maintain authenticity in the rebate…

Grapegrowers who have set up winemaking supply agreements that allow them to claim the rebate will not agree with this thinking, but I sincerely hope they understand the long-term benefit this brings to the industry as a whole.

- Redmond Sweeney, Snake and Herring, Western Australia W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

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Bruce Tyrrell, Tyrrell’s Wines, Hunter Valley, New South Wales Current size of production: 250,000 cases Percentage of production sold domestically: 80% Percentage of wine produced using contracted fruit: 70% Percentage of wine produced using bulk wine: 30% Tyrrell’s is now one of the least competitive wineries in Australia since the New South Wales Government abolished its cellar door sale subsidy scheme [under which it provided a rebate to wineries that sold in excess of $500,000 worth of wine directly to the public] on 30 June 2012.

This has taken around $3m out of the Hunter. The subsidy has been a part of our business for as long as I can remember.

In taking it away, wineries either have to put up their prices or increase sales.

They’re not magically going to be able to absorb the loss. For Tyrrell’s to replace the subsidy, we would have to increase our sales by at least 20%. That’s the sort of effect the removal of the rebate has had. The Hunter used to attract around 3m tourists a year, but the numbers have definitely dropped since the rebate was removed.

With respect to the WET rebate, any attempt to remove it is going to have a massive effect on the industry and a dramatic effect on regional tourism. It

People have argued that many small wineries only exist because of the rebate. This is true, so by taking the rebate away it would wipe them out and we’d lose a lot of wine labels…

There’s a lot of little guys getting the rebate now that are a crucial part of the fabric of the industry and regional tourism.

Without them, the industry will just become a very large fluid handling business.”

-Bruce Tyrrell, Tyrrell’s Wines, Hunter Valley, New South Wales won’t just affect wineries. If you take the WET rebate away, there’s suddenly a lot less money available to wineries to spend on local wine tourism. Tourism in towns like Orange, Mudgee and Macedon would drop away to nothing. Then government’s would have to spend money reviving those towns anyway.

Where there’s a healthy growing wine industry there’s healthy regional tourism.

People have argued that many small wineries only exist because of the rebate.

This is true, so by taking the rebate away it would wipe them out and we’d lose a lot of wine labels. I don’t think that’s where we want to be as an industry.

There’s a lot of little guys getting the rebate now that are a crucial part of the fabric of the industry and regional tourism. Without them, the industry will just become a very large fluid handling

business and it would look very different.

Smaller wineries are more in the tourism industry than they are in the wine industry.

They do a much better job of wine tourism than the bigger companies can do. You can’t meet Peter Gago at a cellar door!

I didn’t have a problem with the WFA’s former proposal to limit the WET rebate eligibility to producers that have production assets in physical grapegrowing and wine production infrastructure. You’ve got to have ‘skin’ in the game. It’s all about allowing the farm to sell its produce at the farm gate. I don’t see much difference between a wine company owning a vineyard or having a long-term lease on a vineyard for, say, 20 years. If you’ve signed a 20-year lease, then you’ve got plenty of ‘skin’ in the game. If you’re just floating around buying leftover crops, then you WVJ don’t have any skin in it.

Keeping up with your consumers

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

There is great potential for makers of sparkling wine to capitalise on the increasing success of the category among younger drinkers in Australia.

S

omething interesting is happening in sparkling wine around the world. At a time when wine consumption in many larger, more mature markets is in steep decline, sparkling wine is holding its own, while streaking ahead in growth markets.

America’s drinkers consumed just shy of 50 million more bottles of fizz in 2012 compared with five years earlier; Brits have increased their sparkling wine habit by a more modest, but still

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significant, five million bottles. China is also putting in spectacular growth, but from a tiny base: it consumed 40 percent more sparkling last year compared with 2011, putting it just ahead of Romania and one-sixtieth of Germany, the market leader (which itself saw growth in 2012).

Around the globe, sparkling’s new adherents tend to be younger, and not necessarily committed wine drinkers.

Their choice of sparkling tends to be W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

driven by public social settings, where drink choice tends to be governed by group dynamics, and what drinks are easiest to order or serve, and are a suitable compromise for the whole group to enjoy.

At the heart of the change is a significant – and generational – shift in behaviour. Younger adults today are far more likely to socialise in mixed gender groups compared with 20 years ago.

Tribal etiquette (plus convenience) often V29N1

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dictates a common drink of choice.

While these days plenty of women drink beer and plenty of men drink wine, the stereotype remains: beer is ‘male’, while white or rosé wine is ‘female’. Into this divide comes sparkling wine, which seems to toe the fine line between gender-politicised drinks while, at the same time, give a more celebratory significance to the occasion.

Consumer sparkling wine portfolios are also expanding as more sparkling products enter markets at different price points, and consumers grow used to the idea of making choices in the category.

How these consumer behaviour trends are affecting the Australian sparkling category was the subject of a recent Wine Intelligence report (Sparkling Wine in Australia, published November 2013). Sparkling wine holds a special place in the Australian market: it is relatively larger and more important than in other countries, it is dominated by domestic producers and, generally speaking, Aussie consumers have a high regard for it.

What’s fascinating is that many of

Champagne, by contrast, may be the second most widely consumed sparkling wine in Australia in terms of the number of drinkers it reaches over the course of a year, but only a fraction of consumers drink it regularly, partly due to its higher price and also its image as a product to be reserved for special occasions.

We see that most drinkers only drink Champagne once a year, and perhaps even less frequently than that.

One in three Champagne drinkers told us they are likely to drink less in the future. This is a trend that is likely to be exacerbated by the weakening Australian dollar: Champagne, which is hardly cheap as it is, is likely to get more expensive.

This is clearly good news for Australian sparkling wine, whose consumer base looks much more solid and entrenched than that of Champagne. Domestic fizz also enjoys higher quality and value perceptions than other rivals, namely New Zealand sparkling wine, and Prosecco, Asti and Cava, according to the report. These wines do have significant followings in

The big news is that sparkling wine is attracting an increasing number of younger drinkers. The sweet spot for sparkling wine drinkers appears to be between 25 and 35 years old. These drinkers are also most likely to have experienced a broader portfolio of sparkling wine than average. the consumer trends observed in other markets are also occurring in Australia.

Some can be seen as good news for Aussie sparkling producers; however, others point to more difficult times ahead.

Sparkling wine is big business in Australia. Almost half the nation’s 17.2 million adults enjoy sparkling wine. Of these consumers, more than half enjoy fizz at least once a month. Another useful piece of trivia: sparkling wine is enjoyed by almost as many people as beer, according to our most recent research into alcohol drinking in Australia.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised at this. Australia makes some worldclass sparkling wine, and its inhabitants provide an eager and convenient audience.

The fact that the domestic offer comes with less social baggage than sparkling wines from other countries means that Australians are typically happy to enjoy it in informal settings, and on a more frequent basis.

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Australia, but they tend to be explored only by more involved wine consumers.

Can the sparkling wine market in Australia grow any bigger? An optimist would look at the data and note that the category doesn’t attract regular drinkers – that is, consumers who drink at least once a month – in the same way that we see with still wine and spirits. In fact, cider and premixed beverages both do better on this measure.

The big news is that sparkling wine is attracting an increasing number of younger drinkers. The sweet spot for sparkling wine drinkers appears to be between 25 and 35 years old. These drinkers are also most likely to have experienced a broader portfolio of sparkling wine than average.

There are other positives to factor in. Sparkling wine is considered a significantly more sophisticated drink than spirits (though, admittedly, marginally less sophisticated than still W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

Photo: Lachlan Hardy

wine). Packaging is considered more attractive than in most other drinks categories. Also, general product quality is perceived to be high.

There are several areas, though, in which sparkling wine could do better.

Australians don’t think sparkling wine is particularly good value for money, and as a food match it lags a long way behind still wine, and slightly behind beer, in the minds of Australian consumers.

Predicting the future is never easy, especially in a category or market where sales and penetration are already high and further growth can’t be taken for granted. Perhaps the next phase in sparkling wine’s development will involve addressing some of the issues listed in this article; perhaps it will involve some jostling for position between the four main countries of origin and their respective styles, and the data would suggest that Australian sparkling wine is at a distinct WVJ advantage in this regard. www.winebiz. com . au

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The full Monte – the Australian way The producers of the top three wines in our recent Montepulciano tasting (see results page 76) take us behind the labels to shed light on what went into their making.

James Evers Senior Winemaker McGuigan Barossa Valley, South Australia Wine: 2013 McGuigan Shortlist Barossa Valley Montepulciano – tank sample (RRP$29.00/bottle) VITICULTURE The vineyard from which the Montepulciano is sourced is part of the winery site on Hermann Thumm Drive at Lyndoch. The block has a gentle, northfacing slope. The soil is shallow red clay loam, intermixed with shale.

We have approximately four hectares planted to Montepulciano on Ruggeri rootstock. The vines are spur pruned and grown on a single cordon with one catch wire; rows are 2.7 metres apart and vines 1.8m apart. Both shoot thinning and bunch thinning is carried out.

The vines are hand pruned as they are only four years old.

A Montepulciano vine in the McGuigan vineyard in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. The vines are only four years old and produced their first commercial crop in 2013.

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Future methods of management will focus on maintaining a good canopy to avoid berries suffering from sunburn.

A typical analysis at harvest Baume 14.0 pH 3.50 TA 6.50g/L The Montepulciano yielded 6t/ha from their first crop after bunch thinning.

WINEMAKING The fruit was machine picked, crushed and destemmed into open fermenters and allowed to cold soak for 24 hours prior to inoculation with an aroma-enhancing yeast strain.

Fermentation occurred at 22-24°C, following which the wine was pressed to tank, settled and racked to one-year-old oak to finish malolactic fermentation.

Post-malo, the wine was sulfered and matured in oak for 10 months.

This is our first vintage of this wine, so we are still learning about the variety.

However, preserving the variety’s strengths - aroma, fruit purity, palate weight, length and structure - are our main objectives.

MARKETING Australian expressions of this variety are still rare within the domestic market and basically unheard of in export markets. We feel the variety will excel, initially off the back of consumer interest.

Ben Riggs Winemaker Mr Riggs Wine Company McLaren Vale, South Australia Wine: Mr Riggs 2012 Montepulciano d’Adelaide Hills (RRP$27.00/bottle) VITICULTURE Montepulciano is Italy’s most exported wine. In Italy, Montepulciano yields high tonnages per hectare - 12-14 tonnes per hectare or more. We have planted around

Montepulciano from the McGuigan vineyard in an open tank fermenter with heading down boards.

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4ha of Montepulciano in stony, tough soils in the Adelaide Hills where we get 5-7t/ha.

The site is around 320 metres above sea level, has a northerly aspect and is on a hump that runs east to west.

The vines are own-rooted (clone SAVII01), and grown on a VSP trellis planted at 2470 vines per hectare (2.7m row spacings, 1.5m vine spacings).

The vines are shoot-thinned when shoots are 15-20cm in length to remove non-fruitful shoots and doubles. No bunch thinning is required; nature does that with the poor set. The vines are mechanically pre-pruned followed by a hand finish to produce 30-32 buds per vine.

Irrigation water is supplied via a dam and bore. We have an enormous colony of frogs in the dam which signifies a healthy eco system.

The vines don’t suffer any major disease issues. A natural sward is cultivated in the mid-rows. We don’t disturb the soils with disking or turning over the soil. The climate is cool, however, we are the warmest site in the cool region of the Adelaide Hills.

WINEMAKING The fruit is machine harvested with a Gregoire harvester, open fermented, hand plunged, and pressed straight into barrels on lees - 20% new French oak for 14 months. The winemaking process is really simple; it’s all about the fruit and the vineyard.

MARKETING The Montepulciano is part of our Generation Series range of wines, which includes small volumes of varieties that Ben Riggs loves to make and, most importantly, drink himself.

It is currently selling very well through our Eastern Seaboard distributor Fesq and Co on premise, and is always a favourite at our cellar door. We like to promote it direct to consumers through mail club offers. It seems that more and more people are familiar with it, and because it’s such a great food wine, people just love it. Smooth and velvety to drink, it is simply a divine drop.

John Gilbert

By Jingo Wines Mount Barker, South Australia Wine: 2008 By Jingo! Montepulciano (RRP$55.00/bottle) Viticulture Situated at an altitude of 340 metres, the location for the vineyard was determined by a number of factors, including well-drained soils and good air drainage for frost prevention to avoid V2 9N 1

Winemaker for the Mr Riggs Wine Company, Ben Riggs. cold air from pooling. The gentle sloping block has a northern aspect which falls gently to a dam that burns off cooler inversion layers and allows air passage down the north-south oriented vine rows.

The size of the vineyard (approximately 2ha) was determined by an underlying band of ironstone buckshot gravels over deep clay that delineate the boundary of plantings.

Vine rows are three metres wide with vine intervals of 1.5m, with all vines grown on a VSP/Ballerina trellis with permanent lift wires. All the vines Monepulciano, Zinfandel, Nero d’Avola, Negro Amaro and Grillo - are planted on own roots.

Bunch thinning is carried out on juvenile vines only while spur pruning is done by hand – like all tasks in the vineyard - to leave approximately 30 buds W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

per vine. Airflow through the canopy is promoted to avoid disease load.

Irrigation is limited to around six schedules per season and comes from a dam, supplemented by a bore.

Harvest is determined chiefly by tannin ripeness and development. Acid is also important, for the fruit must retain vibrancy. Montepulciano develops savoury fruit characters with the texture of beetroot and rhubarb once these characters are present. The fruit must be monitored constantly for tannin ripeness.

Physiological ripeness is the point at which the flavours, acid and tannins all come into line and can only be determined by tasting the fruit and stalks. Tannin is a crucial determinant of this variety and is the single most important factor of varietal definition (as with mostly all Italian varieties).  www.winebiz. com . au

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John Gilbert, of By Jingo, based near Mount Barker, in South Australia.

It is the structure of a wine, not the composition, that determines flavour and integration. We aim to produce a firmer, more tannic style of Montepulciano so the focus is on managing these tannins.

The ratio of anthocyanins to tannins is important in affecting the extent of polymerisation. This is highly crucial because the degree of polymerisation affects astringency. Grapes producing the most intense, balanced wines with the greatest longevity usually have a high anthocyanin-to-tannin ratio. Anthocyanin development is the product of the fruitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exposure to sunlight, so we ensure sunlight penetration with the VSP and leaf plucking.

Winemaking Starting with the tannins, the wine is made back to front, that is, tannins, tannins, tannins. The fruit flavours are only a small part of the summation and will remain in the background.

Approximately 90% of the bunches are destemmed while the remainder is left as whole bunches and cold soaked to

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allow the more subtle floral components to be dissolved in the aqueous solution.

Fermentation is the result of indigenous yeasts and is allowed to reach up to 30°C for a duration of 24 hours to assist in binding anthocyanins and colour. One of the aims at fermentation is to aerate/oxygenate the must with an emphasis on oxidative handling practices.

In open fermenters, the cap is managed by plunging and pumping over, with a complete drain and return at least twice during fermentation. At the completion of fermentation, the fermenter is sealed and maceration is extended for 14 days, or roughly 30 days from the date of harvest.

Maturation takes place in old French oak hogsheads for three years (five years in the case of our 2006 vintage) which sees the young, rough-edged tannins polymerise and flavours become more integrated as the wine evolves from up-front fruit to a more singularly vinous animal.

Montepulciano requires a greater duration for polymerisation to occur W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

than varieties such as Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon. This may be due to the greater concentration of flavanol phenols, anthocyanins and tannins in the thick skins of the berries. The polymerisation process results in a more supple wine that is ready to be consumed upon release. The wine is on lees for the same duration. Unfiltered and unfined the wine undergoes a final racking just prior to bottling. It is then matured in bottle for six months prior to release.

Marketing The on-premise trade is our focus and we like to be seen at a small number of exclusive venues on the Eastern Seaboard. Keeping in mind that our volumes are not excessive, we normally see each release disappear within a couple of months. We are always rewarded with a number of medals at various wine shows and, along with great reviews from the wine writing opinion leaders, we have developed a loyal following. The reward is in the glass. WVJ V29N1

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Pictured after tasting their way through 15 Australian Montepulcianos are (from left) Peter Dry, Matt Holdstock and John Gilbert.

Montepulciano shows promise under hot Australian conditions The growth in plantings of Montepulciano particularly in South Australia was evident in our latest tasting, with all but one of the 15 wines submitted sourced from grapes from the state.

F

ifteen Australian-made Montepulcianos from vintages 20112013, as well as one from 2008, were put before the Wine & Viticulture Journal’s tasting panel for this issue.

Making up the panel were By Jingo winemaker John Gilbert, and Peter Dry, viticulture consultant, and Matt Holdstock, senior oenologist, both with the Australian Wine Research Institute.

All but one of the wines were made from fruit sourced from South Australia, particularly the Riverland, Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills. The outsider hailed from Heathcote, in Victoria.

Peter Dry has previously stated that he thinks Montepulciano holds a lot of promise in Australia’s warming climate.

“I think Montepulciano will become a significant variety in Australia in the future. It’s certainly tougher under hot conditions and has better acid retention and pH compared with Shiraz,” Dry said during the discussion between the panellists that followed the tasting.

“I think some of the wines out of the Riverland have been very promising. And in the future there could be a lot more Montepulciano grown in that region.

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“And it’s a good food wine. A lot of these wines [in the tasting], in spite of the deficiencies of some of them, would go well with a lot of food.”

Dry said that, in general, the wines in the tasting were “very drinkable”.

“They’re not necessarily complex or elegant but you can see how there would be a lot of consumer appeal for them.

“They’re not as rough and raw as the Italian versions – I think we’re making them softer and approachable and perhaps more Shiraz-like.”

Dry said the diversity in the wines in the tasting seemed to mainly stem from when the fruit was picked. Matt Holdstock agreed, saying the use of oak was about the only other differentiating factor.

“Otherwise, most of them have been made in much the same way,” Holdstock said.

John Gilbert said Montepulciano lost varietal definition after a certain point of ripeness.

“Montepulciano doesn’t get overripe easily. It shows savoury definition all the way through to 14-15 Baume. Picking it underripe is more of an issue. I thought some of these wines were underripe. There W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

were some that were overripe and flabby but I think that comes from the climate the fruit is grown in. If it’s grown in a hot climate it’s going to get riper quicker, so that window of opportunity to pick it at its optimum is a lot smaller. The Adelaide Hills is pretty forgiving because you’ve got a much bigger window,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert said Montepulciano had more dimension, a better flavour profile and texture to Shiraz, agreeing with Dry that it stood up in heat much better than Shiraz.

“I find that Monte needs to be in oak for three years before it loses that fruit forwardness. And most of these wines have not been in oak for that long. These all have upfront fruit and don’t show the savouriness and secondary characters that Monte has the potential to show.”

He said the deficiencies in some of the wines in the tasting were expected, given a lot of the vines in Australia were still young and winemakers were still finding their way with the variety.

The panel singled out the following wines as the best in the tasting: McGuigan’s tank sample of its 2013 Shortlist Montepulciano, Mr Riggs 2012 Montepulciano d’Adelaide Hills and By Jingo’s 2008 Montepulciano. WVJ www.winebiz. com . au

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McGuigan 2013 Shortlist Montepulciano – tank sample

Mr Riggs 2012 d’Adelaide Hills Montepulciano

By Jingo! 2008 Montepulciano

Barossa Valley, South Australia 15.0% v/v RRP$29.00/bottle

McLaren Vale, South Australia 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$27.00/bottle

Mount Barker, South Australia 14.2% v/v – screwcap RRP$55.00/bottle

Best of tasting: Deep red in colour with a purple hue.

Upfront fruit on the nose, including cherry. Palate is full bodied, rich, quite intense and vibrant, featuring blackberry and cherry fruit flavours. Lots of grippy tannins, but is perhaps slightly extracted. Good length and focus.

Best of tasting: Mid to full red in colour with a purple hue. An unusual but likeable nose – described as a “beef fat nose” by one taster; fruit salad-like, herbal with spice and plums. Good acid on the palate which is ripe and also somewhat unusual featuring blackcurrant, spice and oak characters. A somewhat different but likeable wine.

Best of tasting: Mid-red in colour with a brown tint. A very developed, complex and spicy nose. One taster thought he detected a mint character. “Reminded me a lot of an old Shiraz,” said another taster. Palate is soft and persistent; volatility lifts the fruit out of the glass.

Minty, leathery finish. Good balance. An interesting indication of how this variety might age under our conditions. A great food wine.

el e r r pl a B m Sa Brown Brothers 2013 Cellar Door Release Heathcote Montepulciano

Cirami Estate 2013 Montepulciano

Catlin 2013 Montepulciano – barrel sample

Riverland, South Australia 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$18.00/bottle

Adelaide Hills, South Australia 13.5% v/v RRP$33.00/bottle

Mid-red in colour with a purple hue. Nose is young and vibrant with a low-to-moderate intensity; dark fruits evident along with some slight leather, rubber and leesy notes. Moderate blackfruit flavours in the mouth, as well as good acid and grippy tranins. Finished a touch short.

Mid-red in colour with a purple hue. Slightly leathery, perfumed and floral nose featuring spicy blackcurrant and berry fruit and some nice oak to match. Mediumbodied palate of spice, Christmas cake, plums and blackcurrants. Good intensity, weight and balance.

Slightly hollow back palate and perhaps a little short.

Mid-red in colour with a purple hue. A slightly dulled nose of spice, cinnamon and clove with darker plums and cherries beneath; oak a little predominant. Full-bodied palate of vibrant black fruit and spice. Fruit seems to drop away slightly resulting in an oaky, dry finish. One taster thought this wine was a little extracted.

WayWood Wines 2012 Montepulciano

Bassham 2012 Montepulciano

KirRihill 2012 Montepulciano

McLaren Vale, South Australia 14.1% v/v - screwcap RRP$35.00/bottle

Riverland, South Australia 13.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$24.00/bottle

Clare Valley, South Australia 14.9%v/v - screwcap RRP$28.00/bottle

Mid-red in colour with a crimson hue. Moderate intensity nose with aromas of ripe cherry, blueberry and subtle floral notes; some spice. Soft dark fruits on the fullbodied palate which is slightly extracted. “Grippy tannin which is ripe but there’s just a lot of it!” noted one taster.

“An overall good wine with good potential,” said another.

Mid to full red in colour with a brick red hue. A slightly dulled nose featuring violet-like florals, leather, spice, plums/prunes, dry grass and cherry oak notes. Palate is closed, tight and steely with ripe sweet fruit; lacks some flavour which is a shame as it has a ripe, silky mouthfeel.

A bit short.

Deep, full red in colour. Lots of cinnamon, clove-like oak spice, plums and dark fruits on the complex nose. A syrupy palate consisting of vibrant dark fruit, spice and ripe extract. Tannin is firm with a silky edge which gives appeal. Oak is prominent.

14.2% v/v – screwcap RRP$20.90/bottle

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Salena Estate 2012 Ink Series Montepulciano

Delluva Wines 2012 Montepulciano – barrel sample

Cirami Estate 2012 Montepulciano

Riverland, South Australia 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$20.00/bottle

Barossa Valley, South Australia 14.5% v/v RRP$45.00/bottle

Riverland, South Australia 13.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$20.00/bottle

Mid-red in colour. A somewhat earthy nose of low to moderate intensity featuring cherry, blackcurrant and subtle spice. Somewhat simple fruits on the palate which has good acid but a slightly green edge that makes the tannin a bit tough. Lacks persistence.

Mid to full red in colour. Intense nose of spice, cinnamon, clove; oak notes sit over the fruit. The nose follows through to the full-bodied, persistent palate where new oak is prominent, somewhat swamping the fruit. “This style will appeal to the drinkers of big Shiraz,” noted one taster. “The balance between the fruit and oak is not quite right,” said another.

Mid to full red with a purple hue. Quite a complex and pretty nose featuring vanilla, plums, esters, and glace cherries. One taster thought he detected a plasticine or plastic-like character. A savoury, dry and textural palate with good structure and ripe fruits but lacks a little flavour. A spicy finish.

Whistling Kite 2012 Biodynamic Montepulciano

Jacob’s Creek 2011 Earth.Vine.

Grape Montepulciano

Whistling Kite 2011 Biodynamic Montepulciano

Riverland, South Australia 15.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$28.00/bottle

13.2% v/v - screwcap RRP$14.99/bottle

Riverland, South Australia 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$30.00/bottle

Mid to full red in colour with bright purple hue. Rich, ripe fruit characters on the nose, featuring black cherries, plum skin, spice and a slight dirty oak character. Rich, ripe fruit also evident on the full-bodied, persistent and balanced palate which has moderate ripe tannins and features plums and ripe cherry fruit. A warmish finish.

Mid-red in colour. Nose is a touch dull and simple and features a slight earthy note and interesting complexity derived from some bottle age. Fruit seems somewhat dried out in the mouth and is somewhat lean on flavour.

Savoury, drying tannins.

Mid-red in colour with a brick red hue. A complex, developed and savoury nose. Palate is varietal and definitive with a juicy mid-palate and drying, savoury tannins; a bit short.

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The VinSuite platform, of which VINx2 is an integral component, leverages Cloud computing, enabling wineries to sell more wine by streamlining the many complications of disparate software platforms.

In Australia and New Zealand, Vinx2 will be offering the direct-to-consumer (DTC) modules, which make up the VinSuite platform, from the first quarter of 2014. This includes the following solutions: eCommerce (online cart), to create more sales; point of sale (POS), making tasting room sales simple and easy; and wine club and customer relationship management (CRM), to help wineries of all sizes maximise profits by staying in touch with their most loyal fans.

“The online sale of wine is a growing market and an important sales channel for wineries of all sizes. The ‘e-tailer’ Vinomofo just recorded 1723% revenue growth over three years. Wineries of

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all sizes can capitalise on their online sales potential and VinSuite provides the perfect platform to do that”, said Joshua Abra, director of VINx2.

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The VinSuite Club and CRM is tailored specifically for the wine industry, and is intended to make selling simple and productive. Surprisingly, more than 62%

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2014

of survey respondents said they didn’t operate any form of wine club. Those that did cited the difficulty in managing their customer lists as the main reason for the club’s poor performance.

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For more information about VINx2 and VinSuite in Australia and New Zealand contact Joshua Abra, phone +613 9015 9625 or email: josh@jx2.com.au.

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