WVJ November/December 2014

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER · Volume 29 Number 6

WINERY BEST PRACTICE • Best practice MLF • Exploring oxygen's influence • Seasonal yield adjustment - optimising timing and results • The rise of foreign wine demand in China • Tasting: Shiraz Viognier

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

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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 Kym Anderson Tony Battaglene Keren Bindon

Malcolm Burdett

Justin Cohen

Simon Clarke

Armando Corsi

Sarah Crowe

Wies Cynkar

Martin Day

Peter Dry

Nuredin Habili

Kate Harvey

Markus Herderich

Tony Hoare

Allison Hobbs

Greg Hobbs

Cathy Howard

Dan Johnson

Stella Kassara

Tony Keys

Radka Kolouchova

Amanda Leister

Geoffrey Lewis

Larry Lockshin

Jim Lumbers

Scott McDonald

Jacqui McRae

Andrew Muhammad Anthony Murphy Paul Petrie

Stefano Poni

Suzy Rogiers

Simon Schmidt

Alex Schulkin

Neil Scrimgeour

Paul Smith

Andrew Weeks

Eric Wilkes

Tatiana Zalan

Advertising Sales: Dan Brannan Ph (08) 8369 9515 Fax (08) 8369 9529 Email d.brannan@winetitles.com.au Production and Design: Maria Baker Subscriptions One-year subscription (6 issues) Australia $77.00 (AUD) Two-year subscription (12 issues) Australia $144.00 (AUD) To subscribe and for overseas prices, visit: www.winebiz.com.au The Wine & Viticulture Journal is published bi-monthly.

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

Sonya Logan, Editor

I

started writing this editorial while sitting in my Sydney CBD hotel suite just prior to getting my glad rags on to attend the 2014 Wine Communicator Awards, presented by the Wine Communicators of Australia, for which I am proud to say I was nominated for Best Trade or Technical Wine Writer Award. I was even prouder that two of the other three nominees who were short-listed for the award are long-time writers for this mag: Cathy Howard and Tony Hoare.

I’ve heard many a people in the running for awards say how it is an honour just be nominated, but always felt that this was just a way of hedging their bets publicly should they not win. However, now that I’ve become a nominee myself, I can honestly say that, at least for me, it truly has been an honour and a much-appreciated paton-the-back for the work I’ve done over the last 20 years on this magazine, its predecessors the Wine Industry Journal and Australian Viticulture, and the Grapegrower & Winemaker magazine before that.

I am thrilled to report that Cathy Howard (that’s her on the right) took out the gong which I’ve claimed as a win for me by proxy! Well, more specifically, a win for the Journal and due acknowledgement for the quality of the articles that she brings to the publication.

In awarding Cathy with her title, the judges commented that she “is able to combine the expert experience of a winemaker with some strong journalism skills – an uncommon achievement”. It was a pleasure to finally meet Cathy in person at the awards ceremony having only communicated with her via email and phone over the years from her place of abode near Geographe in WA and

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celebrate her (our!) triumph.

Cathy keeps up the good work in this issue by turning her hand to the subject of malolactic fermentation, specifically exploring those practices that give winemakers the best chances of achieving the outcomes they desire whether using cultured or ambient yeasts (page 18).

As for my fellow nominee Tony Hoare, he looks at the options available to growers to manipulate yields to compensate for seasonal climate variations and in turn maintain fruit quality to maximise their economic returns (page 37).

Other highlights in this issue include Tony Keys’ look at the rise and plateau in the popularity of Viognier and Shiraz Viognier (page 14), our related Shiraz Viognier tasting (page 77), the AWRI’s look at the influence of oxygen (page 33) and a comparison of excise taxes on wines, beers and spirits throughout the world by Kym Anderson, of the University of Adelaide.

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Website www.winebiz.com.au Printed by Lane Print, Adelaide, South Australia.

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News WFA AGWA ASVO Tony Keys

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6 11 12 13 14

AWRI Report Alternative Varieties Varietal Report Tasting

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In this issue

R E GULA R F E ATU R E S

con t en t s

V I T I C ULTU R E

11 WFA (Tony Battaglene): Talking China – improving market access

37 TONY HOARE : Seasonal yield adjustment – optimising timing and results

12 AGWA (Kate Harvey): Building our future by developing tomorrow’s thought leaders, innovators and game changers 13 ASVO (Paul Petrie): A very successful seminar awards evening and AGM 14 14 KEY FILES (TONY KEYS): Viognier fading

W I N E M A K I N G

18 CATHY HOWARD: Best practice in managing MLF whether adopting a cultured approach or leaving it up to nature

40 The impact of leaf removal and the management of crop load on fruit quality – a European insight 49 Shiraz Disease goes viral 51 Grapevine vegetative and reproductive development respond to soil temperature

26 Wild and woolly? Does the use of ambient yeast influence the approach to winery hygiene?

28 Unravelling the relationship between grape and wine tannin and colour 33 AWRI REPORT: Exploring oxygen’s influence

business & marketing

W I N E TAST I N G

56 Playing the long game in China: How the Chinese lexicon can support market development

77 Shiraz Viognier

58 The rise of foreign wine demand in China 61 The commoditisation of Australian wine in export markets 66 Excise taxes on wines, beers and spirits: an updated international comparison

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A N N UAL I N D E X

80 Index to articles published in the Journal during 2014

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N E W S

S N I P S

Report into ‘incomplete’ letter released A review carried out by retired South Australian Supreme Court Judge David Bleby into how and why the McLaren Vale Grape Wine & Tourism Association (MVGWT) was provided a redacted version of an independent assessment of its sustainability program and WFA’s Entwine program has been completed.

As reported in the last issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal, an incomplete covering letter to the report of the assessment (with one paragraph and a letterhead edited out) was provided to the WVGWT on Friday 5 September. The assessment by AusQual was to determine whether the McLaren Vale program, Sustainable Australia Winegrowing, met the required standard for recognition under the Entwine program. MVGWT has been seeking to have its program qualify for full Entwine membership for some time.

Bleby’s terms of reference was to examine the events relating to the provision of the covering letter and differences between the original and copy provided, speak to those involved as he deemed necessary and make any other enquiries as he saw fit.

Bleby’s report includes a chronology of events leading to the incident and its aftermath and an analysis of and commentary on the more significant events, and concludes with some recommendations.

Bleby noted there was distrust and suspicion between the two organisations surrounding the incident.

The paragraph deleted by Gioia Small, chair of WFA’s Wine Industry National Environment Committee (WINEC) was the following: “The ongoing performance of both programs is dependent on the development and implementation by the individual or a particular group driven by improvement in environmental sustainability. The Freshcare Code of Practice Environmental Viticulture 2nd Edition certification compliance is based on prescribed criteria and once achieved may not present an opportunity for continued improvement. The McLaren Vale Sustainable Winegrowing Australia Program Version 4, while also having certification requirements is annually assessed for specific criteria for the McLaren Vale region and where necessary amended to ensure continued improvement.”

Of this deletion, Bleby noted: “Because it was critical of one aspect of Freshcare, I have little doubt that it was withheld because of a fear, in the prevailing atmosphere of distrust

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and suspicion, of pointed and adverse publicity, harmful to Freshcare, in the elation of MV’s success after four years.”

Bleby went on to say: “If the paragraph was considered to be inaccurate, inappropriate or misleading, that was a matter to be taken up with Aus-Qual in a timely fashion and not to be withheld at the instance of WFA. “Even if the report was the property of WFA to release at such time and in such manner as it should determine, the deletion was a significant error of judgment in an emotionally charged atmosphere of suspicion and distrust which could only exacerbate such problems and bring the reputation of WFA into disrepute,” “There were other and more satisfactory ways in which the situation could have been handled,” he noted.

Bleby then made several suggestions on how such a situation might be avoided in the future.

In a letter to WFA members following the release of Bleby’s report, president Tony D’Aloisio said the WFA board had concluded that “when examined fairly and dispassionately and with the benefit of Mr Bleby’s report”, asking Small to resign as chair of WINEC “would neither be fair nor proportionate”. “Indeed such a step would deprive WINEC of the chair’s commitment and skills and expertise to the detriment of the wine industry,” D’Aloisio said.

He said WFA welcomed Bleby’s recommendations “as a way of assisting it to improve future processes” and had taken action to address each one.

A full copy of Bleby’s report and D’Aloisio’s letter can be found on the WFA website, www.wfa.org.au Australian winegrape crush down 7% The nation’s wineries crushed an estimated 1.70 million tonnes of grapes in vintage 2014, according to the latest vintage report released by the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia – down from WFA’s estimate of vintage 2013 of 1.83 million tonnes.

The decrease in the crush was attributed to generally lower yields per hectare in some of the cooler temperate regions, offset by higher yields in the warm inland regions.

WFA chief executive Paul Evans said while the crush estimate of 1.70 million tonnes was 136,000 tonnes less than last year, any positive impact on the demand-supply imbalance would be offset by increased inventory levels and large vintages in the northern hemisphere.

“This year’s vintage is down slightly W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur na l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

on the high of 2013 which helps but we are still not seeing the structural adjustment required to deliver a transformational shift in favour of increased industry profitability,” Evans said.

“We must take immediate action with government to grow demand for our wine and accelerate the correction to the supply base. Otherwise we will continue to see downward pressure on prices around an already low base, with AGWA’s latest figures showing an average grape purchase price of $441 per tonne, down 12% on 2013.

“The case for government to supplement industry resources and invest $25 million over four years in the international promotion and marketing of our wine is clear and urgent. This, along with changes to competition law in the domestic retail market and a fairer wine tax system that doesn’t support competitor countries like New Zealand, are necessary steps in the right direction.”

Wine tax rates a drag on international competitiveness Australia’s wine industry is being held back internationally because it’s among the most heavily taxed wine-producing nations in the world.

That was the message from Winemakers’ Federation of Australia chief executive Paul Evans in an address to the Wine Industry Outlook Conference held in Adelaide in early October.

“The latest research has identified that Australia is already one of the most heavily taxed wine exporting nations, with the domestic tax rate on Australian wine a critical issue even though we are a significant exporter,” he said.

“Paying excessive taxes at home impacts the ability of winemakers to build strong businesses and brands at home to confidently launch into the global marketplace.”

The research Evans referred to was carried out by Professor Kym Anderson, from the University of Adelaide’s Wine Economics Research Centre, whose findings are presented in this issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal (page 66).

Anderson compared various excise taxes applied to wholesale prices for wines and other alcohol products and, by nominating wholesale price points in common currency and averaged alcohol contents, has enabled a country-bycountry comparison.

Evans said the analysis discredited proposals to increase wine taxes.

“Not only is Australian wine heavily taxed already when compared to our competitors, our tax rates need to V29N6

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reflect that alcohol industries are not the same,” he said.

“Industry profitability, structure, production risks and the economic footprint of Australian wine compared to spirits and beer are very different and clearly warrant a different tax rate.”

Philip Laffer (far left) receiving his Life Member of the Australian Wine Industry award from Leon Bignell (centre), South Australian Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and Tourism, and Peter Wall, former wine and vineyard director for Yalumba and a member of the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia’s College of Patrons.

Philip Laffer and Peter Dry awarded industry gongs One of the architects of Jacobs Creek, Philip Laffer, has been named Life Member of the Australian Wine Industry – the first recipient to receive the new national award.

Administered by the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA), the Life Member of the Australian Wine Industry Award recognises outstanding leadership and contribution to the nation’s wine industry, going over and above an individual’s career achievements.

Laffer was presented his award in Adelaide at the official opening of the Wine Industry Outlook Conference in early October.

Laffer has held trade, marketing, winemaking, viticulture and management positions within the industry over the years. WFA chief executive Paul Evans said Laffer had spent his entire life promoting the nation’s wine industry – and it was richer for it.

“We need champions like Philip and it is important for industry and the wider community to hold our pioneers in high regard because we can both learn from them and encourage the next and future generations to follow in their footsteps,” Evans said.

Laffer graduated with an agriculture degree from Roseworthy College in 1961, and an oenology degree in 1963.

He filled various positions at Lindeman’s Holdings, namely as winemaker, technical director, head of marketing/ sales and then executive director, from 1963-1990.

From 1990-2012 he worked at Orlando Wyndham, Pernod-Ricard Pacific and Premium Wine Brands.

Since 2013, Laffer has continued in the industry as a winemaking and viticulture consultant in Australia, China and Argentina.

Meanwhile, Peter Dry, emeritus

fellow with the Australian Wine Research Institute, was named the winner of the 2014 Maurice O’Shea Award, an award presented every two years by the McWilliams wine company to an individual, group, corporation or entity that has made a significant contribution to the Australian wine industry.

A viticultural researcher and educator, Dry was unable to accept the award in person due to being overseas at the time, but his son Nick received it on his behalf during a ceremony held at the Adelaide Convention Centre in October.

Dry began his career in 1970 when he took up a research officer position in Loxton with the South Australian Department of Agriculture. After five years, he moved to Roseworthy College as a lecturer, not just in viticulture, but in biology, plant pathology, microbiology and sensory evaluation. It was at Roseworthy in the early 1980s that Dry and Dr Richard Smart developed the first climatic classification for Australian viticultural regions.

When Roseworthy College merged with the University of Adelaide in 1990, Dry’s work began to focus more on research.

During the 1990s Dry worked with Dr Brian Loveys from CSIRO and conducted the research that led to the development of partial rootzone drying.

Dry retired from the University of Adelaide in 2008, and until recently worked as a viticultural consultant with the Australian Wine Research Institute.

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O UTL O O K 2 0 1 4

Unity, innovation and optimism themes at this year’s Wine Industry Outlook Conference The following summary of the recent Wine Industry Outlook Conference is drawn from Winetitles’ broader coverage of the event by Sonya Logan and Nathan Gogoll, editors of the Wine & Viticulture Journal and its sister publication Grapegrower & Winemaker, respectively, as published on Daily Wine News (www.winebiz.com.au/dwn).

The need for the Australian wine industry to be united and innovative and the reasons for it to be optimistic about its immediate future were messages that peppered several of the presentations at this year’s Wine Industry Outlook Conference held in Adelaide in early October.

Federal Senator Anne Ruston, who is based in South Australia’s Riverland, was the first to mention the subject of unity in her official welcoming address to delegates. She said the industry needed to speak up with a common voice to ensure the best response from government, using the tax on wine as an example where unity was needed.

“The Coalition Government has no appetite to change to a volumetric tax. It is not motivated in any way to change it.

In fact, the only way that will happen is if you as an industry, speaking with one voice, seek for it to be changed. If you want government to retain the ad valorem tax I can’t emphasise enough the need for you to be united in communicating that message to it. If government sees a division they’ll often make decisions that no one likes,” Ruston said.

The importance of unity was mentioned several times by WFA president Tony D’Aloisio in his 20-minute welcoming address.

“We need to present a united, positioning voice,” he said. “There is now clear evidence that unity is achieving results.

“I’m not saying there is total unity across industry or within the wine bodies.

Nor am I saying there is no disagreement on issues. Necessarily in taking positions not everyone will agree but the evidence is a growing spirit of compromise and consensus.”

Lulie Halstead, chief executive of Wine Intelligence, was the first keynote speaker for the event tackling the subject ‘The demand opportunity - anticipating consumer trends in key markets’.

“I remember what the Australian wine industry was doing 20 years ago and how excited we were about it. I remember the trade missions that caught everyone in the excitement,” Halstead said. “There was a willingness to break the rules. That’s what Australia can do. Don’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd. Make a stand in what

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From left, Fiona Findlay, Voyager Estate; Corinna Wright, Olivers Taranga; Kristy Bartrop, Wine Grapes Marketing Board; and Alex Burt, Voyager Estate. you believe in. Test the boundaries.”

Matt Jones, Better Happy director and creative strategist, the second keynote speaker on Day 1, tackled ‘The cultural drivers behind future marketing needs — how to get ahead of the curve’ in a fairly rapid-fire presentation.

He said people want to find authenticity, make connections, and value heritage.

“People want to see behind the scenes, that’s what they’re interested in. Lots of our wine brands have the depth, but they need to catch up on intimacy in the modern complex communication channels.”

The first ‘expert panel session’ for the conference stirred up the most emotion.

Titled ‘Profitability, progress and long term sustainability', the session was prefaced by some depressing figures by John Roberts, from Centaurus Partners, who drew from his company’s report into the profitability and dynamics of the industry, but there were rays of sunshine from the panel.

Bill Moularadellis, managing director of Kingston Estate, had a motivational message — “people need to get on planes and do their share of the heavy lifting to sell 60 per cent of our production internationally.”

“We have to continually look at innovation, continually reinvent ourselves and continually serve new and innovative solutions to our consumers,” Moularadellis said.

Brian Croser, Tapanappa Wines, talked up the diversity of the industry, saying small producers had emerged to deliver all the things both keynote speakers had requested, adding they actually “respond to all the consumer wants and needs”.

Michael East, general manager of W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur na l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

Outlook presenter Lulie Halstead (left), from Wine Intelligence with Matt Tallentire and Libby Nutt of Casella.

Brian Simpson, of the Wine Grapes Marketing Board (left) with Mike Stone, of Murray Valley Winegrowers’.

Accolade Wines Australia/New Zealand, said there was room for wineries of all shapes and sizes, because “it’s all about what the consumer wants to experience and what they want to buy”.

Tony D’Aloisio agreed it was important to listen to consumers, because, “if they’ve changed, if they’ve moved, we need to understand why”.

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Paul Morony and Ann-Marie Walladge of Pernod Ricard Winemakers.

Brenton Fry (left), from Negoiciants, with Bill Moularadellis, from Kingston Estate.

From left, David Watkins, of Fleurieu Vintners/Boars Rock; Robin Shaw, of the Adelaide Hills Wine Region Inc; and Chester Osborn of d’Arenberg.

Eliza Brown, Peter R Brown Family Vineyards chief executive officer, backed the call for positive attitudes, “we need to get really excited about what we do and get out there and tell our stories”.

An optimistic mood was established on the second day of the Outlook Conference thanks to Michael Walton, who works in consumer and business intelligence for Nielsen, and his “concentrated happiness” message.

Starting the day by testing the level of optimism in the room, he asked everyone in the conference room to stand up and identify how positive they were about their own situation within the industry.

The largest group by a long shot was ‘a little bit positive’ and those leaning toward

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From left, Leon Deans, Pernod Ricard; Matt Alexander, Advanced Viticulture Management; Toby Langley, Gaetjens Langley; and Adrian Loschiavo, Australian Grape and Wine Authority. ‘positive’ far outnumbered those in the ‘negative’.

Walton shared encouraging global news, pointing out that “consumer confidence is more positive in the UK and the US than here at home”.

“Consumer confidence doesn’t always relate to better spending power, but it’s a good precursor,” Walton said.

After the positive kick-start then followed the launch of the 2014 Vintage Report. Paul Evans, chief executive of WFA; Katrina Edillor, WFA economist; and Lawrie Stanford, WGGA executive director, were on hand to offer explanation and evaluation.

“The decrease in average grape price and stock-to-sales ratio, the increase in unprofitable production and relatively flat demand projections will continue, unless we do something about it,” Evans said.

Katrina Edillor had some particularly stark figures on profitability. “Assuming the cost of production hasn’t changed since 2012, more than 80 per cent of production in 2014 has been defined as unprofitable… where the price paid per tonne of grapes is lower than cost of production".

Stanford explored what 1.7 million tonnes of grapes in 2014 meant for supply and demand by looking at inventory and comparing stocks to sales.

Jean-Marie Aurand, director general of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine followed, bringing some international perspective and reminding everyone that Australia has some significant competitive advantages on the global scale, including the homogenous (consistent) offer of wines, concentration of industry and strong regulatory environment.

Another expert panel session followed Aurand’s presentation titled ‘Pricing, Profitability and the sustainability of grape and wine supply’ featuring seven different panel members.

Marc Soccio, senior analyst for Rabobank senior analyst, made a point W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

the Australian wine industry has “achieved a hell of a lot in the global scheme of things, and you shouldn’t lose sight of that”. He also stressed the structure of the industry offers a great position to be able to compete from.

Steve Dorfman, Ciatti partner and broker, provided some extra international perspective. “I sit in these sort of events all over the world and everyone is having these some conversations as you are”.

“Don’t forget you have become an incredible international force, even in the US we haven’t lost that good positive feel for Australia in the lexicon. People still say ‘no worries’, and that’s thanks to the positives Americans associate with Australia.”

During the sixth keynote address of the conference, Toby Langley continued the day’s focus on global competitiveness.

Langley said there is still a lot of C-grade fruit being made into wine at A-grade prices and a lot of “fruit being grown in the wrong places”.

“Revenue per hectare is ridiculously low compared to international examples,” Langley said. “I really don’t think there’s been enough talk about where we can innovate. People need to review their business models. If you haven’t got significant scale you have to ask if you’re a significant player.”

Paul Evans delivered the next keynote address, the case for ‘defending the differentiated wine tax rate’.

“There is a strong push for tax equivalency across alcohol sectors. We will lobby against that,” Evans said. “We have to defend our position and it is time to recognise our external threats may be our biggest. We’re in for a fight in the next 12 months, we’ve acknowledged the threat and we will respond.”

Evans also discussed the WFA push to re-set the WET Rebate to its original intention. “We are going to take action so the system is still there for legitimate WVJ businesses.”

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OPINION

Outlook 2014 – a viticulturist’s perspective

By Andrew Weeks, Renmark, South Australia

Andrew Weeks is a winegrape grower from Renmark, in South Australia’s Riverland, and is currently a member of the Riverland Wine Grape Growers’ Association, the regional industry group ‘Riverland Wine’, and is the Riverland representative on the board of Wine Grape Growers Australia. Until recently, he was employed as senior viticulture officer for CCW Cooperative, and has just taken up a new position as business manager for Riverland Wine. As a delegate at the recent Wine Industry Outlook Conference in Adelaide, Andrew shares his thoughts on some of the presentations on winegrape production in particular.

Outlook 2014 was a well organised and professional event.

There were many high calibre speakers, and while the analysis of the ongoing industry malaise was not a buoyant message, there may be hope for the future.

Speaking from a production viewpoint, there have been many issues that continue to contribute to the ‘stickiness’ in supply adjustment, and many were identified in the Centaurus Partners’ Expert Report on the Profitability & Dynamics of the Australian Wine Industry released last year.

What is often overlooked is the market signals conveyed to grapegrowers during this current depressed time in the industry. As winegrape prices have fallen growers have worked to reduce their costs of production in order to remain in business. As prices have continued to decline growers have had little choice but to maximise production in order to avoid going out of business quickly. As Toby Langley pointed out during his presentation ‘The global competitiveness of Australian wine and grape production’, the ability of a vineyard business to make returns currently hinges on yield.

Some have argued that viticulture practices in the warm inland regions are not pretty at the moment, with light pruning the order of the day to encourage higher production levels. This has little to do with viticulture and everything to do with business. Most of the cost of production in vineyards is fixed, so vineyards with low production are liable to go out of business quickly.

Interestingly, there has been little fruit remaining unharvested and left in vineyards in recent seasons. So while we hear of an ‘oversupply’ or ‘under-demand’ for wine, processors are still purchasing this fruit provided it can be acquired at a low price. Many wine companies are taking a similar approach in trying to maximise the throughput of wineries to amortise the cost of production across the greatest amount of output. This maintains a market for low value wine and the fruit that feeds it. Decreasing prices have led to growers actively boosting production, which in turn has led to the production of increasing stocks of wine that are a negative impact on the stock-to-sales ratio; and so the cycle continues.

In his presentation ‘Post vintage 2014 implications’, Lawrie Stanford pointed out that one of the many obstacles to adjustment is the timing of the announcement of winegrape prices. It is difficult to see how an industry can have confidence when the value of the product is not accurately known until a few weeks prior to harvest. By this time growers have typically expended two-thirds of their

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discretionary spending, and have no opportunity to alter course, or take unprofitable patches out of production.

There are some patches of fruit that would not have been produced last season had it been known earlier that there was no way that growers would meet the costs of growing them. The end result of this timing is to pass more market risk onto growers who are already wearing the agricultural risk of production. It is understandable at present that wine companies are increasingly sensitive about being held accountable for indicative information on prices at a later time. It would be a significant improvement if there was more effective communication of the anticipated fruit value between growers and winemakers during the early stages of the season, so that growers can make sound decisions about their production targets. As Lawrie pointed out, markets cannot work without good signals.

The overarching theme of Outlook was that markets are constantly changing, and that we need to embrace new ways of engaging with consumers or we will be history. Despite this, there still appears to be some who maintain that there are ‘two different industries’, and that the majority of market spend should be on the high end ‘A’ and ‘B’ categories (which are doing well), with the assumption that some type of venturi effect will draw the rest of the industry along.

While there are some small to medium often family-owned companies that are doing well at present, overall the industry is in trouble. This widespread suffering shows that there is one industry, not two. It is difficult to see how marketing targeted at two value categories comprising a total of 3% of the recent annual crush will realistically address the current supply and demand imbalance that is having such a negative impact on the whole industry. This use of marketing funds would hardly be the approach of a unified industry.

On 15 October seven senior wine company managers whose companies operate in the Riverland region met to discuss in an open forum their views for the future of the region. While it was uniformly agreed that there was likely to be a continuation of difficult times in the coming vintage, the growers present agreed that receiving such open communication was welcome. It is this type of collaboration and acting as a unified industry that will help us recover; not trying to build barriers and thinking that one region or sector of the industry can succeed by running another down. While the overarching themes of Outlook were well articulated and well intended, the real test will be with the action by WVJ individuals in the months and years ahead.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

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W FA

Talking China – improving market access

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

Drawing on his presentation at the recent Wine Industry Outlook Conference in Adelaide, Tony Battaglene discusses how the ability of the Australian wine industry to maximise opportunities in China requires more than just brand building and good marketing.

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia Outlook Conference held in Adelaide in October headlined the status and outlook for the Australian wine sector. Central to the improved demand prospects for Australian wine is the Chinese market. China has been the fastest growing export market for Australian wine for several years, despite a 7% drop in bottled wine exports in 2013.

This was in keeping with a slowdown in the imported wine market across the board, mainly due to the austerity measures introduced by the Chinese Government at the end of 2012 to curb spending by government bodies on luxury goods, such as premium imported wines.

Despite this, Australia remains wellplaced in China, second behind France, and is achieving the highest average value among the top 10 importing countries.

However, Australia’s prospects of improving profitability in the China market do not just depend on brand building and marketing, but are significantly reliant on improved market access.

Market access issues in China The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) is the key regulator of wine imports entering China. AQSIQ advises that the biggest problems seen in imports of wine concern: • non-compliant labels • dry extract • manganese, iron and copper.

From the perspective of AQSIQ these problems arise due to: • difficulties in the verification of the authenticity of certificates of origin because they can be issued by many bodies • differing winemaking standards between countries • lack of availability of scientific assessment of naturally occurring substances (e.g. manganese) • ignorance of China regulations and standards by foreign wine exporters.

The response from the Chinese V2 9N 6

government is to increase regulation, strengthen the testing regime and increase certification to ensure the compliance of imported wine with Chinese regulations.

Key issues and responses Australia-China Free Trade Agreement Australia has finalised a Free Trade Agreement with China. Australia has received tarrif concessions similar to New Zealand, with a four-year phase out from 14% for bottled wine and 20% for bulk wine.

Manganese in China Manganese in wine exported to China continues to be a major barrier for the Australian wine industry. AQSIQ has acknowledged that there is a problem, and it appears that it is still seeking a face-saving solution. It reported that it was seeking reports into the toxicological impacts on manganese, and Australia would be well advised to offer our assistance in this. In addition, we could seek to establish a higher limit for manganese; or seek to negotiate an exemption that recognises the naturallyoccurring levels found in Australian wine.

This remains a major priority for the wine sector.

Bilateral harmonisation activities WFA and WGGA have employed a consultant in China to assist in the development of an import MRL for phosphorous acid. This application has been submitted to the China Department of Agriculture – the first time that such an application has been considered from outside China. There will be a number of ongoing technical issues that we will need to work on in the course of this application, but we are hoping for approval in the next 12 months.

WFA has been actively seeking approval of a number of wine additives for use in wine exported to China. Dimethyl dicarbonate (DMDC) has been assessed and we are awaiting the results. Ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbate have been W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

approved for use in wine exported to China. Copper citrate and calcium tartrate required verification information for testing/inspection method and original copies of inspection reports for quality and specification were submitted in October.

European Union countries have completed dossiers on five additives: potassium ferrocyanide, sodium carboxy methyl cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, chitosan and metatartaric acid. These dossiers are with the French embassy in Beijing and WFA is assisting in this process.

The United States has prepared dossiers on potassium carbonate, oxygen and argon. These will shortly be submitted.

Broader negotiations Within the APEC Wine Regulatory Forum and APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum we are negotiating harmonised maximum residue limits for agrichemicals used in viticulture and may be present in wine; standard certification procedures; common methods of analysis; and adoption of principles for better regulation.

The World Wine Trade Group is looking at developing a memorandum of understanding to deal with counterfeiting and fraud. Part of this work will investigate the opportunity for signatories from Asia, including China.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is looking to harmonise additives for use in wine through the Codex Committee for Food Additives, which will permit China to adopt a harmonised system with key wine exporters.

Conclusion The recent successful conclusion of FTA negotiations with China will give a springboard from which to raise awareness for Australian wine as well as reduce tariff barriers over time. However, to maximise these opportunities requires the reduction of non-tariff barriers to reduce the costs of our exports in both WVJ time and money. www.winebiz. com . au

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Building our future by developing tomorrow’s thought leaders, innovators and game changers

By Kate Harvey General Manager - Research, Development and Extension, Australian Grape and Wine Authority The Australian grape and wine industry is made up of tens of thousands of individuals who have a shared passion for producing and selling quality Australian wines. Working day-today in vineyards, wineries, cellar doors and labs, these people are the heart and soul of the sector. Developing and harnessing their potential is one of the ways that we will succeed as a prosperous wine sector.

The Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) is committed to building the sector’s future leaders by developing the capacity of wine sector researchers and participants through scholarships, programs and awards. By supporting a new generation of wine sector leaders, we strive to encourage the thought-leadership, innovation and game-changing business behaviours that will underpin a successful future.

Great research starts with great researchers. To capture the enthusiasm and inquiry of the next generation of wine sector researchers, we offer PhD, Masters and Honours scholarships to the best students. We anticipate that the scholarship recipients will represent the future leaders in grape and wine research and that they will make positive contributions to the wine community and Australian agricultural sector.

Further encouragement for your scientists, researchers and innovators is provided through the annual Science and Innovation Awards for Young People in Agriculture. The young grape and wine researcher with the best innovative science research project receives a $22,000 grant to conduct his or her research. Recent winners have investigated the influence of climate and variety on the effectiveness of ‘cold soak’ (Richard Fennessy, 2013) and are developing a low-cost, lightweight, high-performance infrared spectrometer to detect grapevine water stress in real time (Ramin Rafiei, 2014).

We also encourage fresh thinking through two annual scholarships for wine sector participants. These scholarships are helping to develop a culture where open-minded thinking and challenging the norm is encouraged and rewarded.

Our Australian Rural Leadership Program scholarship (run by the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation) builds broad and deep leadership skills, while the Nuffield Farming Scholarship (run by Nuffield Australia) helps develop business skills and knowledge through study of an agricultural topic of choice. Recent Nuffield scholar Stuart Sharman, vineyard manager for Wynns Coonawarra, studied continuous improvement and its application in viticulture, while current recipient Andrew Clarke, chief viticulturist for Yering Station, is investigating managing subsoil restrictions in established vineyards.

To encourage the intergenerational sharing of knowledge and experiences, AGWA recently launched a pilot mentoring program in the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. The two mentoring circles are designed to support wine sector businesses and to encourage adoption and adaption of research findings in regional areas. Helping pave the way for these future leaders, we’re delighted to have Dr John Harvey (McLaren

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In September, a one-day alumni symposium was held for past participants of AGWA’s various group leadership programs – an initiative designed to sustain and build participants’ leadership skills. The key theme of leadership was explored, what it means to lead now and what the future of leadership looks like. Graduates were also introduced to some of the latest R&D findings and given the chance to connect and reconnect with fellow graduates from across different programs and different years.

Vale) and Peter Fuller (Barossa Valley) join us as the regional mentors, meeting with the groups throughout the year to coach them in modern-day business and leadership in the wine sector.

AGWA has also supported a range of group leadership programs, from the Future Leaders program to the Barossa Next Crop and the Riverina Next Bunch. These programs look to build people’s skills so that they can make more effective contributions to the sector through their businesses and regions.

Our latest investment is designed to sustain and continuously build the leadership skills of past program participants. A desire to connect the graduates of our programs and harness their collective knowledge and enthusiasm led to a full-day alumni symposium in September.

The symposium provided more than 40 alumni with a platform to explore the key theme of leadership; what it means to lead now and what the future of leadership looks like. The group was introduced to the latest in leadership thinking, new ways of doing business and they were encouraged to challenge assumptions that we make individually and as a sector. In addition, graduates were introduced to some of the latest R&D findings and given the chance to connect, and reconnect, with fellow graduates from across different programs and different years.

We’re excited to be able to continue to build the skills of the next generation of the wine sector by coordinating the next Future Leaders program. We anticipate that applications for this program will be invited before Christmas to commence in May or June 2014. Stay tuned by signing up for AGWA’s R&D news at WVJ www.agwa.net.au.

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A very successful seminar awards evening and AGM

By Paul Petrie, President, Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology We would like to thank everyone who attended the recent seminar ‘Inputs to outputs – is less more?’, which concluded just as this issue of the Wine and Viticulture Journal was going to print. Associate Professor Jim Harbertson gave a very engaging presentation on tannin additions and how best to use them in the production of red wines and, likewise, Professor Dominik Durner on his work on optimising the use of micro-oxidation for different red wine varieties and styles which has lots of potential applications in Australia. Look out for the videos of Jim and Dominik answering questions submitted from across the industry on the ASVO and AGWA websites.

Other highlights of the seminar included Simon Nordestgaard (AWRI), who presented a review of digital grape sorting technology; Paul Boss (CSIRO), who discussed the impact of green berries and petioles on red wine; and Leigh Schmidtke (Charles Sturt University), who spoke on technology for reduced alcohol wines. Don Bruce, from Treasury Wine Estates, presented on efficiency gains from lightweight bottles, while Nick Palousis spoke about technology from other industries that can improve winery efficiency. The ASVO is now busy editing the papers from these and the other speakers at the seminar and will have the proceedings distributed to conference delegates and for sale to the industry as soon as possible.

The ASVO held its annual Awards for Excellence Gala Dinner between the two days of the seminar. The ‘Paper of the Year’ awards are sponsored by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority and are selected from the research papers published in the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research in the last 12 months. Viticulture and winemaking papers were selected by a team of industry judges who were asked to choose the paper that was most likely to have an impact on the Australian wine industry. The authors of the winning viticulture paper were Jason Smith, Leigh Schmidtke, Markus Müller and Bruno Holzapfel for a paper titled ‘Measurement of the concentration of nutrients in grapevine petioles by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics’. The winemaking paper of the year was written by Richard Gawel, Alexander Schulkin, Paul Smith and Elizabeth Waters and was titled ‘Taste and textural characters of mixtures of caftaric acid and grape reaction product in model wine’.

The ASVO welcomed Amorim as the new sponsor of the ‘Winemaker of the Year’ award. This award aims to recognise a winemaker within the wine industry who has demonstrated technical mastery over any aspect of winemaking. It was presented to Sue Bell of Coonawarra winery Bellwether.

The ‘Viticulturist of the Year’ award was again sponsored

by Bayer CropScience, and honoured an outstanding viticulturist involved in the development of a novel and significant viticultural innovation or introduction of a novel viticultural practice. It was presented to Matthew Bailey, vineyard manager and horticulturist for Tattarni, in Victoria's Pyrenees, for his work in establishing an insectarium on the property.

The ASVO held its annual general meeting at the V2 9N 6

conclusion of the seminar. At the meeting the society was pleased to report a small surplus for the year. This was a good outcome considering the society didn’t directly stage any seminars during the 2013-14 financial year as the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference was held during this time. We also welcomed two new board members who will represent Victoria and Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland and farewelled departing board members Mark Krstic and Bob Dambergs. Mark has been a member of the ASVO board for six years and was president of the society for two; he was instrumental in the establishment of the Awards for Excellence. Bob acted as secretary for his two years on the board.

The ASVO sponsored the prizes for the three-minute student presentations at Crush 2014, a two-day national symposium dedicated to grape and wine research held by the Wine Industry Cluster at the Waite campus of the University of Adelaide, in September. Sijing Li was the winner of the best oenology paper and Emily Higginson the best viticulture presentation, with each student receiving a prize of $500 WVJ supported by the society.

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Viognier fading

By Tony Keys

To coincide with this issue’s Shiraz Viognier tasting, the results of which can be found starting on page 77, Tony Keys explores why the blend and straight Viogniers for that matter have found little favour among the wine-drinking public in Australia.

I was sure it was early in the 1980s (‘82 I thought) I was talking to a young winemaker in Melbourne when the wine buzz of the time was the Yarra Valley and wines such as Yarra Yering. “I know the secret of the Yering Number 2,” said the young winemaker in a conspiratorial tone, “it’s Viognier.” “What, as they do in the Rhone?” I inquired. “Yes,” said the young man, eyes wide as if he was divulging the secret of life, the universe and everything.

I admit the passing of time may mean I have mixed up my dates because looking back at books such as ‘Wines and Wineries of Victoria’ by James Halliday, published in 1982, at that time it was Pinot Noir in the Yarra Yering No 2 Shiraz that gave “the dominant fruit character in the wine”.

Nor is Viognier cited in ‘Minor Wine Grape Varieties of Australia’, by A.J. Antcliff, published in 1983. Fortunately, Halliday knew when Viognier was first planted at Yarra Yering, informing me, “right from the outset (1969) the Viognier was inter-planted, hence a field blend (plus other varieties dotted here and there in puppy dogs’ tails percentages).”

of Australian Shiraz, no mater its retail price or origin, boasting Viognier content on the label. The reason for this article was the change in fashion.

On a recent visit to my local bottle shop, I counted 40 Shiraz wines either labelled straight or blended but only one was a Shiraz Viognier, although I have no doubt many had a component of Viognier in the mix.

It appears producers have forsaken the name Viognier on the label as it has little or no marketing clout. The question is why. How can such a hipster grape a decade ago now be considered not hipster?

This is where the article divides; it’s easy to understand why the Shiraz Viognier mix has lost favour. In a way it’s the same reason why Australian wine lost a certain amount of respect in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The focus shifted from interesting individual quality wines to bland branded styles that kept the masses happy. Producers, possibly guided by their smart young marketing people at the time, jumped on the Viognier bandwagon. The result was a lot of Shiraz wines from warmer

It’s easy to understand why the Shiraz Viognier mix has lost favour. In a way it’s the same reason why Australian wine lost a certain amount of respect in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The focus shifted from interesting individual quality wines to bland branded styles that kept the masses happy.

If the date of my conversation is somewhat vague, the conversation itself is true enough and whatever year it took place, Viognier wasn’t in vogue at the time either as a straight varietal or blended with Shiraz. Viognier didn’t become a noted sidekick to Shiraz in Australia until the nineties when Clonakilla released a Shiraz Viognier in 1992, the Viognier vines having been planted in 1986.

During the 1990s and into this century the retail trade saw an influx

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regions already rich in flavour that were overblown with the addition of Viognier, itself flabby because it was also being grown without understanding its best requirements.

For the majority of Shiraz wines on the market in the late ‘90s and early this century, a spoonful or cup of Viognier turned them from plump to obese. Cool climate-grown Viognier added in small quantities, normally 5 per cent or less, to cool climate grown Shiraz can be a wonderful combination.

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Turning to the on-trade, the rise of the cult of sommeliers in restaurants has not been good for Viognier.

According to Stuart Knox, owner of Fix St James, in Sydney, “the confusion for customers with the white/red blend is probably the reason behind its disappearance”. He adds, “the fact that labelling laws allow up to 15 per cent of another variety before it has to be stated on the label, why bother listing the 2-6% Viognier content”.

It’s a decade since the Wine Industry Journal, the forerunner to this publication, carried an article by Nick Bullied MW on Shiraz Viognier and the magazine held a tasting of the blend.

Bullied goes into the reason for co-fermenting Shiraz and Viognier in some detail but let’s skip to marketing.

Bullied said: “For some companies, the Shiraz Viognier blend creates some marketing dilemmas. If you have a successful Shiraz, do you launch a Shiraz Viognier alongside it, or allow one wine to evolve into the other?

“We’ve already seen enough of Shiraz Viognier to recognise that some excellent wines have been created, but many questions remain unanswered.

Will this be an entirely new category, or will Viognier’s declaration largely disappear, with the variety remaining as a condiment to add a touch of fragrance to Shiraz?”

Bullied’s perception proved correct because Viognier’s declaration on the label has largely disappeared. As has, fortunately, its inclusion in already over-ripe, jammy Shiraz wines it appears.

It’s at this point we fade the story of Shiraz Viognier blends. Viognier has, as Bullied astutely surmised, became a condiment to Shiraz.

But what of straight Viognier? Why hasn’t it climbed up the white wine popularity ladder? Before tackling that question it’s worth looking at the fascinating history of the grape.

It’s widely known as a grape from the Rhone and the most famous regions

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are Condrieu and Château-Grillet, the latter unique in being the only single vineyard in France that also has its own appellation - a monopoly of one producer, one variety, on just 3.5 hectares with a production just short of 1000 cases per year. Condrieu is just to the south of Grillet. The small region only produces white wine and the only grape permitted is Viognier.

Legend has it the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Equitius Probus (AD232-282) planted the vineyard at Château-Grillet, the original Viognier vines coming from Dalmatia. It’s a legend the owners of Grillet are happy to perpetuate. It’s refuted in the great tome ‘Wine Grapes’, by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and Jose Vouillamoz. They say there is no DNA evidence linking Viognier with Dalmatian vines, although there is a strong connection to Shiraz.

There is another legend recounted

by Cyrus Redding in ‘A History and Description of Modern Wines’, published in 1851, that goes: “Tradition says that an inhabitant of the town of Condrieu determined to turn hermit, and established his cell on an uncultivated hill near Tain. He amused his leisure hours by breaking the stones and rocks to pieces which surrounded his dwelling, and planting among them some vine-slips of the vionnier (Redding spelling) species, from Condrieu. The Shiraz, or scyras vine, was afterwards introduced. It succeeded to admiration. The hermit’s example was copied by others, and the sterile hill-side was soon converted into a vineyard.”

Could this be the inspiration for

Dr Bailey Carrodus' field planting of Shiraz and assorted varieties? Also, it is interesting in this version Viognier is the original cultivator with Shiraz coming later.

Curnonsky, included Château-Grillet in his selection of the five great white wines of France; others were Montrachet (Burgundy), Coulée de Serrant (Loire Valley), Château Yquem

“Too many styles have turned experimenters off the wine being too phenolic and hot and coarse. My peeve is the apathy shown here by sommeliers, who are in love with anything imported and purportedly mystical! Our friends, oddly enough, are overseas; Canada, London, Scandinavia they get the quality! We have a seriously deep empathy with the grape and have now 13 clones in the ground, all mature.” - Robert Hill-Smith In the 21st century the general consensus seems to be to drink Viognier young or certainly within five years, but according to Redding, in the 19th century: "The best white wines are those of Condrieu, grown at St. Colombe, about eight leagues south of Lyons. These are of a luscious taste, and have a smell and aroma remarkably agreeable. They keep a long while, and become of an amber colour by age.

The same kind of wine is made in the neighbouring vineyards, but all are inferior to that made at Condrieu, though they are sold under the name.

The first quality of this wine brings from fifty to a hundred francs the hectolitre. It is eagerly bought up by the merchants, both of Lyons and Paris, as soon as the vintage is over. This wine is made from the vionnier plant.”

Maurice Edmond Sailland (1872-1956), a French gastronomic critic better known by his pen-name

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(Sauterne Bordeaux) and Château Chalon (Jura).

Viognier, a grape that gives Shiraz a heightened nose with its perfume and also deepens the colour, was once revered as one of France’s greatest white wines. One wonders why it doesn’t appear in the James Busby collection brought to Australia in 1832.

In France, Viognier nearly became extinct in the 1960s with less than 20 hectares of vineyard surviving. Jancis Robinson, writing in ‘Vines Grapes & Wines’ published in 1986, could only find records accounting for 32 hectares globally.

Its revival started when it was taken to the south of France and became an ingredient in various white blends or simple wines as a solo grape. Before it had any great recognition in Australia it had success in California, the first there being Napa producer Joseph Phelps, but it has also found a home and great success in Virginia on the east coast

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where 84 of the 255 wineries produce a wine made from Viognier with Dennis Horton, the Virginian innovator, introducing Viognier in 1988 along with other Rhone varieties. In 1995 the Wine Spectator named Horton Vineyard Viognier in the world’s top 100 wines.

Yalumba is the recognised Australian Viognier champion, with senior winemaker Louisa Rose the foremost and respected Australian crafter of the variety. Yalumba chief executive Robert Hill-Smith said the variety first became a serious contender for the company to grow after Peter Wall, the company’s wine and vineyard director at the time, paid a visit to Chateau Grillet. After Wall, Hill-Smith visited the Chateau, returning unimpressed with the way it was operating at the time.

From another angle, the then head of winemaking Brian Walsh was urging the company to spread the load and not be reliant, as most of the Australian wine industry was, on Chardonnay, Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc. “It took us a while to love it, but we now think we are a quality leader in the world of Viognier,” says Hill-Smith.

matching. We really lean toward lighter styles and Viognier is now seen as a fuller style.”

Yalumba senior winemaker Louisa Rose agrees with Hill-Smith on the domestic market rejection of Viognier adding, “10 years ago it looked like Viognier was reaching critical mass; there were restaurants that had Viognier sections on their lists rather than just a Viognier in the list of ‘other white wine’. Now Viognier is mostly back in the ‘other’ restaurant wine list on the domestic market.”

She points out that Yalumba calls The Virgilius Yalumba Viognier its flagship white wine, which is a huge complement when one considers the complete Yalumba white wine portfolio.

The Virgilius is made from vines planted in 1980 in the Eden Valley and spends 11 months on lees.

Rose is adamant Viognier is Yalumba’s most important white variety and seems disappointed that the percentage planted in Australia looks to have plateaued. The spread of Viognier is as follows (figures rounded) with the total amounting to 1194 hectares:

“Viognier isn’t a multipurpose wine many wine consumers think white wines should be. Because of its richness, complexity and naturally low acidity it’s not the perfect aperitif or one to have a glass of in the afternoon after you have mowed the lawn. You need to think about Viognier – not just sip it for a refreshing simple experience.

Viognier is all about being part of a meal.” - Louisa Rose Being the global quality leader is a good position to hold, or it would have been had Viognier followed the same boon as Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. As Viognier has only had a limited success rate and could now be considered a niche product, has this been detrimental to Yalumba? Robert Hill-Smith: “Yes and no, we need friends at the quality end that help recruit consumers. Too many styles have turned experimenters off the wine being too phenolic and hot and coarse.

My peeve is the apathy shown here by sommeliers, who are in love with anything imported and purportedly mystical! Our friends, oddly enough, are overseas; Canada, London, Scandinavia - they get the quality! We have a seriously deep empathy with the grape and have now 13 clones in the ground, all mature.”

Stuart Knox presents the sommeliers argument on the lack of success of straight Viognier: “The style got very heavy and floral, too much so for food

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• • • • • • •

South Australia: 446 hectares (37 per cent) New South Wales: 391 hectares (33 per cent) Victoria: 227 hectares (19 per cent) Western Australia: 103 hectares (9 per cent) ACT: 15 hectares (1 per cent) Queensland: 11 hectares (1 per cent) Tasmania 1 hectare (0 per cent)

Rose is passionate about Viognier and plainly disagrees with the anti companion to food view that Stuart Knox presents on behalf of sommeliers.

She puts forward the following argument: “Viognier isn’t a multipurpose wine many wine consumers think white wines should be. Because of its richness, complexity and naturally low acidity it’s not the perfect aperitif or one to have a glass of in the afternoon after you have mowed the lawn. You need to think about Viognier – not just sip it for a refreshing simple experience.

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Viognier is all about being part of a meal. It is one of the most versatile food wine varieties that we make. It is often talked about as the red wine drinkers white wine. People who ‘get’ Viognier understand this and will start the meal or occasion with something suitable, and bring the Viognier out when the food arrives. Having done many food and wine dinners I have heard people exclaim so often when they taste the wine with food and feel the sensorial magic unfold in the mouth.”

Rose becomes philosophical with this statement: “It’s a pity in some ways that Viognier doesn’t have a red colour – I think more people would drink it appropriately and love it if that were the case.”

She is not talking about Shiraz with a dash of Viognier, of which she says Yalumba has three styles in the portfolio. All are co-fermented with the Viognier at a content of around 3-5%.

Rose explains: “The essence of these wines is the cooler expression of Shiraz from cooler vineyards (e.g. Eden Valley rather than Barossa Valley). The Viognier is just sub threshold in these wines, adding a subtle lift to the already aromatic and perfumed Shiraz and a velvety texture to the palate, but not adding Viognier aromas and flavours. These wines would be very similar in style if they didn’t have the Viognier in them.”

The romantic in Rose comes out in this line: “The Viognier just hints at a bit of magic.”

The magic that Rose, I and HillSmith (plus others) find in Viognier is bafflement to others, as Hill-Smith says: “It seems to have scared the average consumer. It’s polarising and has polarised with Clonakilla being the latest cult wine, but the less educated and experimental drinkers run away.

We are still persisting with it as it does shine in the glass. Many producers are, in fact, using co-ferment but leave the fact off the label. In truth the market works from a very limited conservative palate.”

Ashley Ratcliff is a viticulturist and manager for Yalumba’s Oxford Landing vineyards and winery. He says Viognier can be scary to grow at first as it looks messy, but invest the time in gaining knowledge and it’s not at all difficult.

Rose concurred with Ratcliff regarding the growing, adding the winemaking aspect: “Not made properly it makes a very boring and bland, or in the worst case, bitter, oily ugly wine which is another reason that many don’t drink Viognier if their

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first experience has been one of these wines.” She adds it is about balance from vineyard to winemaking. The Rose key to growing and making Viognier: “Get the vines balanced early. Viognier vines have the tendency to throw multiple shoots from each bud, all fruitful, and if not checked they try to ripen everything at the expense of growing leaves and the result is poorly developed, small bitter berries, not ‘ripe’ before they get to very high sugars and never achieving good flavour. We learnt that balance can be achieved easily by early shoot thinning of the vines, and we do this in all regions in early spring.

“Flavours develop in berries that have some sun exposure. Fully shaded Viognier grapes take a lot longer to gain favours if at all. Flavourful Viognier grapes are often copper in colour (almost sunburnt) and often start to bag and shrivel (more like Shiraz).

“Get it ripe in the vineyard and then pick it. Flavour can take a while to develop in the grapes – as soon as it does there’s nothing to wait for.

“Let the juice naturally react with the air, oxidising out the larger bitter phenolics that if left in the wine will lead to the ugliness described before.

“Leave the juice whole – don’t settle or remove any solids and let the natural yeasts that have come from the vineyard do the work (you do need to have healthy biodiverse vineyards for this to work). This is the case whether in barrels (only older oak, barriques and puncheons) or tanks.

“After fermentation leave the wine with its yeast lees for a while as they help to refine the wine (final product dependant this may be three to 11 months).

“Respect the naturally low acidity of the variety – the fine phenolics that are left in the wine give structure and length and keep the wine fresh (they are natural antioxidants after all). As an aside we are seeing some exciting ability to age in the Virgilius wines.

“Further to the previous point – don’t fine away the phenolics – you need them.”

The best advice Rose gives to fellow winemakers is “trust yourself”. The reason: “None of the above is in the text books.” The wines she overseas, apart from The Virgilius, are: • Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier: grapes originate from self explanatory • Yalumba Y series Viognier: grapes

F I L E S

from everywhere other than Eden Valley, i.e., Barossa, Adelaide Hills, Wrattonbully and Riverland • Yalumba Organic Viognier: grapes from two organically certified vineyards on the Murray River • Yalumba FSW8B: botrytis grapes from Wrattonbully • V de Vie is a single distilled spirit from Eden Valley Viognier.

The 2014 Australian vintage produced 14,575 tonnes of Viognier which was 878 tonnes up on the 2013 vintage overall. It represented just 0.86% of the total Australian crush.

The average national price per tonne was just $398 a tonne, while the average state prices were: • South Australia: $497 tonne • Victoria (excluding Murray Darling –Swan Hill): $448 tonne • Murray Darling - Swan Hill: $306 tonne • New South Wales (Excluding Murray Darling –Swan Hill): $277 tonne Prices for ACT, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia were WVJ not available at the time of print.

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Best practice in managing MLF whether adopting a cultured approach or leaving it up to nature

By Cathy Howard

Cathy explores the best practices for managing malolactic fermentation, both inoculated and natural.

Malolactic fermentation (MLF) is one of several key processes in wine production. As well as affecting wine quality, it can have a significant impact on wine operation efficiency, particularly if it does not go to plan. It is carried out on most red wines, on some white wines and in sparkling wine bases. The end result of allowing a wine to go through MLF is a reduction in a wine’s acidity, an increased microbial stability of the wine through the removal of a potential food source for spoilage bacteria, and a modification to the wine’s aroma, flavour and mouthfeel due to the biological activities of the lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The byproducts formed will be dependent upon which LAB species are present in the wine, and how these species metabolise malic acid.

MANAGING mlf - positive outcomes and possible risks Lactic acid bacteria MLF is undertaken by three genera of LAB, Oenococcus, Pediococcus and Lactobacillus, which are able to convert L-malic acid to L-lactic acid. There is only one species of Oenococcus (Oenococcus oeni), a few Pediococcus species (P. Damnosus, P. Parvulus, P. Pentosaceus, and P. Acidilactici), and many species of Lactobacillus (including L. Bavaricus, L. Casei, L. Saki, L. Plantarum, L. Brevis, and L. Hilgardii).

Oenococcus oeni generally dominates MLF as it has a greater tolerance than the other LAB to the harsher environmental conditions present in wine. It is also the most desirable LAB as it typically produces pleasant wine sensory attributes, whereas other LAB tend to be associated with wine spoilage characters.

Some of the Lactobacillus species are responsible for the production of undesirable characters of fetid milk, sauerkraut and sweat, and others are responsible for the production of ‘mousy taint’ which is arguably the most unpleasant of all wine faults.

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According to the AWRI (June 2012), previous trials in Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec have shown that strains of Lactobacillus plantarum are able to conduct an efficient MLF and also produce desirable sensory attributes in red wines.

Reduction of acidity This is particularly important from a wine quality aspect for high acid wines from cooler areas where a reduction in acidity is required to soften and balance a wine on the palate.

Depending on the starting malic acid in the wine, the pH may increase by 0.3 units or more. This is very important to keep in mind because the raising of the pH may reach a level in the wine which supports the growth of many more species of LAB, and this in turn may increase the risk of the formation of undesirable sensory products.

Monitoring the progress of MLF not only by analytical methods, but also with regular sensory evaluations will pick up wine sensory problems early.

Enhance bacterial stability MLF also confers bacterial stability to the wine, inhibiting the growth of other organisms. This is due to the consumption of nutrients so that conditions are not conducive for other microbes, but it may also be a consequence of the production of toxins by the LAB that may inhibit the growth of other spoilage bacteria.

Modify wine aromas, flavours and textures In addition to the conversion of L-malic acid to L-lactic acid, MLF is associated with a broad range of other metabolic processes that impact on a wine’s sensory profile. Sensory attributes that can be modified through MLF and bacterial metabolism are diacetyl, (buttery flavours); mouthfeel; fruity and estery characters; and oak character.

Wine aroma and flavour are affected by volatile compounds, and the mouthfeel of wine is influenced by non-volatile compounds.

If molecular oxygen is available, acetic acid will be produced during MLF, and this is one reason that extensive aeration of the wine during MLF is not recommended.

Another very important compound produced by LAB through the metabolism of citric acid is diacetyl. This compound has a characteristic buttery note, which in high concentration can become as strong as popcorn butter and may take on a rancid taint which is considered undesirable. The sensory perception of diacetyl is dependent not only on its concentration in the wine, but also on the presence of other wine compounds.

For example, diacetyl can be masked by strong oak or by very fruity characters.

The formation of diacetyl during MLF can be relatively easily managed with various winemaking techniques, which are outlined in Table 1.

LAB can also produce some ester

Table 1. MLF winemaking techniques that can be used to enhance or diminish diacetyl concentration in wine. Source: AWRI Fact Sheet June 2012 Effect on diacetyl in wine

Wine factor Choice of O. oeni strain

Variable; some strains able to produce high concentrations

Inoculation rate

High O. oeni numbers – lower concentration Low O. oeni numbers – higher concentration

MLF duration

Longer MLF – higher concentration

Temperature

18°C – higher concentration 25°C – lower concentration

Oxygen

Anaerobic – lower concentration

pH

Lower pH – supports formation

Yeast lees contact

Long contact – lower concentration

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compounds that contribute positively to the aroma profile of the wine. The production of red berry, fruity aromas comes about through a complex interaction between fruity esters, norisoprenoids, dimethyl sulfide, ethanol and other components. According to the AWRI, 'Various strains of Oenococcus oeni vary in their ability to generate or release these compounds. Recent trials have demonstrated that the wine matrix composition, especially pH, can influence O. oeni metabolism during MLF, resulting in the production of different concentrations of these crucial esters in wine. Trials in Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon have established that the timing of MLF inoculation can influence the fruity characters of the wine. Red wines produced using co-inoculation of MLF with alcoholic fermentation were rated as more fruity by a sensory panel. This was consistent with higher concentrations of the esters which contribute to red wine fruity characters.

Recent research in other red and white varieties (Malbec, Chardonnay and Riesling) has also shown that coinoculated MLF resulted in wines with a fruitier character than in wines produced with sequential MLF'.

Wine conditions LAB are fussy about their environmental conditions, and they do not tolerate high alcohol, high total SO2, high and low temperature extremes, and low pH. One of the most important factors affecting the progression of MLF is pH. The pH of the wine determines which LAB will be present and it also impacts bacterial cell viability and growth rate, and it influences how the LAB present metabolise. For example, MLF will progress approximately 10 times slower

at pH3.2 compared with pH3.8. There is also considerable LAB species and strain variation with respect to their pH tolerance.

Another factor that is very important in managing MLF is the use of SO2. LAB are very sensitive to SO2, both free and bound, and all genera appear to be equally sensitive.

Nutrient availability is as important in encouraging LAB and MLF, as it is for yeast and alcoholic fermentation. LAB, however, are more fastidious than yeast, requiring many more micronutrients and growth factors. This is one reason why MLF is stimulated by the autolysis of yeast during lees contact, as well as by extended skin contact and higher solids levels.

Several proprietary mixes of lactic acid nutrients are available, but if added early in the fermentation, the nutrients may also stimulate yeast growth and metabolism.

High alcohol levels slow MLF down as it affects cell viability. The alcohol level also influences which species and strains of LAB are present. Similar to yeast, LAB have an upper limit of ethanol that can be tolerated. They are generally inhibited above 14% ethanol, but some species display a much stronger sensitivity and others a slightly higher tolerance.

When the decision has been made to allow MLF in a wine, the winemaker has a few more decisions to make: • whether to inoculate with ML bacteria or whether to allow a natural ML fermentation to occur • if inoculating, the timing of the addition of the ML bacteria.

To gain a better understanding of the best practices to consider for managing MLF, both inoculated and natural, I contacted a supplier, a researcher and two winemakers.

Amanda Tanga, Business Manager, Wine, CHR Hansen Pty Ltd Tanga says that there are optimal wine conditions for a relative troublefree MLF, and each of the wine conditions of temperature, pH, SO2 levels, and alcohol have an accumulative effect on the difficulty of wines completing MLF. “Normally, warm climate, higher alcohol wines have relatively low malic acid levels (1.5-2g/L) so CH-16 (an appropriate strain for higher alcohols) would be considered easier to complete MLF. A cool climate Cabernet, on the other hand, with a combination of high alcohol, lower pH, and higher levels of phenolics and malic acid (3-4g/L) would be considered a more difficult wine for MLF, so it would take longer to complete MLF even with using an appropriate strain.

Tanga continues, “If SO2 is high (greater than 40ppm), alcohol high (greater than 16%) and pH low (less than 3.2), this would be very difficult to ensure MLF completion. We would recommend a Stuck MLF Protocol which encompasses adapting the culture to the wine conditions in a small volume and building up the cell numbers”.

Tanga adds that the addition of MLF nutrients is advisable when wines have a history of difficult MLF fermentation, or when using a yeast like EC118 which produces a lot of long chain free fatty acids (FFA) C10 and C12. Stuck MLF protocols also use nutrients. Refer to Table 2.

When asked about best possible timings for inoculating with malolactic bacteria (MLB), Tanga states that there “are five possible timings for MLB inoculation”, which are: • co-inoculation - reverse inoculation (bacteria inoculation first, then

Table 2. Summary of troubleshooting MLF problems. Source: Amanda Tanga, CHR Hansen Pty Ltd Parameter

Reason

Remedy

Temperature

MLB tend to be fastest around 20oC

Alcohol

Ethanol inhibits MLF to a greater or lesser extent

1. Inoculate with an ethanol tolerant strain 2. Reduce ethanol then re-inoculate

Free fatty acids

C10 and C12 FFAs are produced by some yeast, inhibit MLB. It tends to be a bigger problem in cool climates

1. Add an MLF nutrient to yeast hulls to bind FFAs (re-inoculating is probably also needed) 2. Next time use a non-FFA producing strain (Not Prise de Mousse)

SO2

SO2 inhibits MLB, even when in bound form

Phenolics

Phenolic compounds have antimicrobial properties. Quercetin, trans-resveratrol, myricetin, ferulic acid are the worst offenders.

Only really a problem in Merlot with extended maceration

1. Blend wine with other varieties 2. Next time consider using co-inoculation to get MLF done before maceration is completed

Cell Count

MLF only happens when cell count > 106 CFU/mL. Cell count can be checked with microscopy or plating

1. Re-inoculate if cell count is <106 CFU/mL 2. Wait until population multiplies and reaches > 106 CFU/mL

pH

MLB have varying pH tolerances (pH 2.9 to 3.4)

1. Check pH and MLB used are compatible 2. If pH is <2.9, then use an adaptation protocol or a build-up culture

Malic Acid

MLF is difficult to start (or recommence) if malate is <1g/L

1. Add L-Malic acid to bring above 1g/L 2. Blend to get malic acid higher

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Warm wine to 18-22oC

Reduce SO2 concentration by H2O2 or blending, and re-inoculate

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Malolactic bacteria are added to a small wine tank. Source: Chr Hansen Pty Ltd • • • •

primary yeast inoculation) co-inoculation - early inoculation (bacteria and yeast inoculation made at the same time) co-inoculation – late inoculation (yeast first, then bacteria) sequential – after completion of primary ferment sequential – with up to a fivemonth interval between yeast and bacteria additions.

Tanga continues: “The best practices to maintain a rapid and steady rate of MLF are to build up an Oenococcus oeni population to the magic number of >106. Direct inoculation is the fastest, safest and cleanest method of MLF. The others take time and involve increased risk. Pumping over and stirring is not necessary, but is a good practice in winemaking.

“Optimal temperature range for most MLF bacteria is, in most cases,

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18-23oC. Temperature is important for a successful MLF. Temperatures above 25oC for MLF is enough to drop the bacterial numbers below the magic number and result in the MLF sticking. In this case, it is best to re-inoculate especially at higher pHs where indigenous MLF is probably Lactobacillus or Pediococcus, both of which have a faster reproductive rate.

A temperature too cool is fine, as the MLB bugs remain dormant and the cell count is unaffected. When wines are warmed, the bugs start working again.

In regards to best handling a slow or stuck MLF, two approaches can be taken. One is to mix the tank and to re-inoculate with double the recommended rate of MLB culture to the tank along with the addition of a nutrient. The other procedure is the adaptation procedure, which involves inoculating a suitable starter culture to some other wine that has not gone through MLF, along with a nutrient. The other wine has wine parameters of pH, total SO2, temperature and alcohol all within the optimal ranges. The stuck wine is slowly added to the inoculated mixture at a rate of 1:1 every few days.”

It is not advisable to use another tank of wine actively going through

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MLF as a MLF culture, and Tanga recommends using direct inoculation, along with a nutrient, using a stuck protocol, but advises to keep in mind that anything under 1g/L malic acid is very difficult to re-start. For more information, visit the CHR Hansen website at www.chr-hansen.com Eveline Bartowsky, Senior Research Microbiologist, AWRI Bartowsky concurs with Tanga: “There is an accumulative effect with the wine parameters of temperature, pH, total SO2 levels, and alcohol on MLF. If one or two of these parameters are a bit higher or outside the typical range, the rate of MLF will be slowed down. If these factors are exceeded in any way, it will be quite difficult to ‘coax’ the MLF through. Alcohol and temperature have an important interplay as the membrane of the bacteria will be affected by both parameters. As alcohol increases, the membrane becomes more fluid, which can lead to lysis, thus a lower temperature for MLF as the alcohol increase is important (hence recommending 18-22oC for MLF in wine).”

Bartowsky continues: “The yeast-bacteria interaction is also an important consideration, as some yeasts are more unfriendly towards bacteria. Yeasts can produce various compounds that can be inhibitory to MLB including SO2 and short to medium-chained fatty acids”. With regard to obtaining more information about this yeast and bacteria interaction, she said: “There is some information on the suppliers’ websites, but these are limited to their own products. As winemakers often use products from different suppliers this is not much use! It may be helpful for winemakers to check the nutritional requirements of the yeast to see if they are vigorous fermenters. Generally,

yeasts with high nutritional requirements will be less friendly towards MLF. Vigorous fermenters are also generally less friendly towards MLF.” “The AWRI has done one study where yeast and bacteria strains were examined from numerous suppliers and tested the ability of bacteria to conduct MLF in red wines made with different yeasts. This was presented as a poster at the last Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference. We have not expanded this to white wine. At this point in time, as it has been only a single study we are not able to provide any recommended combinations. We will be working on a fact sheet about this topic.”

With regard to using MLF nutrients, Bartowsky said their use could be considered when a wine is known to be difficult or if the yeast used is known to be particularly ‘hungry’ for nutrients. She adds: “It is important to remember that wine is not microbially sterile, so when nutrients are added for MLF, other yeast and bacteria can also use them!

“The timing of addition of MLF cultures is a personal preference for the winemaker. If doing co-inoculation, it is recommended to add about 24 hours after adding the yeast as this allows for the yeast to get going and if there is any SO2 around, absorbance by the yeast will help reduce the SO2 (which can impact the bacteria).

“The best practice to maintain a rapid, steady rate of MLF is to try and maintain an even temperature. Spikes in temperature will affect the bacteria, for example if it gets too cold at night, then the bacteria could stop growing and metabolising, resulting in a slow or stalled MLF (time for the bacteria to recover and build up numbers again). Most likely the bacterial population will have crashed if left at too cool a temperature, ▶ and it will take a while for the population to recover.

Table 3. Optimal and limiting wine parameters for malolactic fermentation.

Source: AWRI, Bartowsky 2014 Condition Temperature (oC)

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A five-litre MLF red wine trial under way at the AWRI.

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If it gets too hot with alcohol present it is likely that the MLB population has died or declined and a re-inoculation would be recommended when the temperature was brought down again to within range.”

With a slow or stuck MLF, Bartowsky says: “The best way to manage the restart will depend on the reason for the slow or stuck MLF. If it is an unfriendly yeast product, it will be more difficult to coax through. Re-inoculation with nutrients can help a slow MLF, as well as seeding from a wine with an active MLF. “If seeding from another tank (this should be done with lots of caution) or from a culture that is being adapted to the wine, it is best to add the culture when about half to two-thirds of the starting malic acid level has been metabolised, i.e., it is an active metabolising culture.”

With natural MLF, Bartowsky says that the major risks with this option are not knowing what the strains and species are, and what the sensory profile of the strains present will be, as well as not knowing when the natural MLF will begin.

The best type of monitoring to carry out to keep an eye on undesirable natural MLF by-products depends on the analytical capability of the winery. Most undesirable compounds are not easily measured in a winery besides tasting the wine regularly to pick up any hints of undesirable character.

acid, and these batches generally need “cooling down” with regard to their acidity level. Retention of natural acidity is not an issue in the Mornington Peninsula.

Magyar adds SO2 to bins at picking at 80–100ppm.

The batches of Chardonnay are whole bunch pressed, with pressings juices going to tank first where they are homogenised and then transferred into barrels and mixed in with the free run juices. Magyar believes that high levels of solids with their nutrient levels are the key to healthy, natural ferments and for healthy, natural MLF. The batches remain in barrel until blending for bottling.

Battonage is used through all the batches, but only for the benefit of adding creaminess to the palate, not to keep MLF lees in suspension.

Over winter, temperatures in the cellar drop down to around 8oC. With the arrival of September, the cellar starts to warm up to around 12oC and MLF starts to kick off, and it usually takes about two to four weeks to complete. The batches are left unsulfured and on lees until January, when the wines are blended and sulfured for bottling.

With Pinot Noir, Magyar wants to encourage MLF earlier, so he retains the yeast and malolactic lees from the previous year’s Chardonnay barrels and uses this as an MLF inoculant.

The lees are accumulated and stored off ullage in a small drum or tank, then bucketed into the Pinot ferments once they reach dryness, and when the ferment is still warm.

Magyar’s handy hints for managing natural MLF is to have a high solids content which he considers to be very important, and “hold your nerves!” He regularly tastes each barrel. He has also found that simply moving stubborn Chardonnay barrels out into the sun in spring will kickstart a sluggish MLF.

Jeremy Magyar, Senior Winemaker, Ten Minutes by Tractor, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria Ten Minutes by Tractor uses natural MLF at varying levels in its Chardonnay batches each year, and the volume allowed to go to MLF can be anywhere between 30-100%. Factors that Magyar considers are seasonal influences due to acid profile, the weight and balance of the wine post-primary ferment, and the destination product. He finds that in certain years, such as a cool year and high malic acid for instance, using 100% malic to reduce the acidity leads to a quite obvious MLF flavour, which is undesirable.

The first step each vintage is to find out how much malic acid is present. The decision to allow MLF is based on a combination of taste and what the analytical numbers are.

Magyar has 15 different batches of Chardonnay that are kept separate right up until blending for bottling, and he likes to keep his options open as to which product each individual barrel will go to. He bases his decision regarding how much MLF for each batch on a combination of past batch history, starting malic acid level, and wine quality from the vintage.

Magyar tastes all barrels post-ferment, then decides which batches are put through MLF and what percentage will be allowed to go through natural MLF. Chardonnays from higher vineyards, and from cooler areas, obviously have plenty of

Steve Baraglia, Winemaker, Pikes Wines, Clare Valley, South Australia Pikes has been using natural MLF on all its reds for many years and rarely has any trouble. In fact, in the past 12 years, Baraglia recalls only having to inoculate six to 10 wines that had stuck, and those were usually wines with high alcohols.

About one-third to half of the Pike’s reds also go through a natural primary fermentation.

Reds are generally picked between 13 and 14.2 Baume, and a small amount of SO2 is added at the crusher (50g/ tonne). Typically, at the end of primary ferment, total SO2 levels are around 10-15ppm. About one-third to half of the Pike’s reds go through natural primary fermentation. All of the batches are kept separate and most go to barrel for MLF. Baraglia checks each batch regularly by taste as well as testing, and keeps to a strict regime of topping barrels and keeping them off ullage. He finds that by the end of May,

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most of his reds have completed MLF. Those barrels that are slower are placed into a temperature-controlled area to maintain their temperatures between 18-20oC, and any reds in tank that are slow are warmed either using an immersion heater or by passing through a heat exchanger.

Baraglia says that their endemic MLB has very rarely produced any faulty characters. He went on to say that they’ve attempted MLF with some of their Chardonnay batches in the past, with the 2011 vintage in particular having a higher percentage of MLF. As the Chardonnay is left unsulfured for an extended period of time on lees, some barrels do go through a partial natural MLF. A handy hint from Baraglia for managing a natural MLF is to maintain an even temperature and not allow wines to get too cold. He also checks his malic acid and alcohol levels post-primary ferment and carries out monthly enzymatic analysis. He also regularly tastes the barrels and tanks to monitor progress. He also suspects that nutrients may be an issue for a smooth MLF progression from some vineyards, and YAN testing on juices may assist him with managing these batches better. He doesn’t use ML nutrient at all.

CONCLUSION The spectrum of compounds produced by LAB during MLF are dependent upon the species present and the composition of the wine, juice or must at the time of the malolactic conversion.

There are winemaking decisions that also affect the outcome of MLF, particularly its effect on wine quality and the wine’s final sensory profile, most notably the choice to inoculate with a MLB culture or allow natural MLF. For those who choose the natural path, vigilance is required with monitoring, tasting and keeping wines off ullage. It’s a lucky winery indeed that has its own reliable endemic MLB that consistently completes MLF year in, year out with minimal fuss and with no adverse sensory issues.

If using a cultured LAB strain, the winemaker now has a range of LAB at his or her fingertips which can not only be chosen to best suit a wine’s parameters for a successful MLF, but to specifically modify or enhance certain desirable sensory attributes in wine.

A Few References that could be Helpful Abrahamse, C. and Bartowsky, E. (2012) Inoculation for MLF reduces overall vinification time: New research based on laboratory and winery trials in Shiraz delivers potential time and cost benefits. The Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker 578:41-46.

AWRI Fact Sheet: Using Malo Lactic Fermentation (MLF) to Modulate Wine Style. Updated June 2012.

Bartowsky, E.J. and Fleet, G.H. (2013) Malolactic Fermentation. In: Australian Winemaking (ed V. Jiranek and N. Bullied), Trivinum Press, Adelaide.

Curtin, C.D.; Bellon, J.R.; Bartowsky, E.J.; Henschke, P.A.; Chambers, P.J.; Herderich, M.J. and Pretorius I.S. (2011) Harnessing AWRI’s yeast and bacterial research to shape ‘next-gen’ Chardonnay Part 2: Influence of yeast, nutritional management and malolactic fermentation. Wine & Viticulture Journal 26(2):15-24.

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 more than 20 years.

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

WVJ

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Wild and woolly?

Does using ambient yeast influence the approach to winery hygiene?

It seems somewhat logical to speculate that in an effort to encourage as many native yeasts to flourish around the winery as possible, producers carrying out wild ferments may not keep their wineries as clean as their counterparts who opt for inoculation. But our straw poll of a handful of Australian wineries embracing spontaneous fermentation suggests that’s far from the case.

“We would clean the same if we weren’t doing wild ferments. Half our time is spent cleaning. Hygiene is vital,” says Jon Heslop, winemaker for Witches Falls based on Mount Tamborine, in Queensland’s Gold Coast Hinterland.

Around a quarter of Witches Falls production is made from wild ferments, a practice the winery has used since 2005 and is responsible for its highest selling wine, its Wild Ferment Chardonnay. Chardonnay was the first variety that Heslop allowed to spontaneously ferment, with several varieties now undergoing the same treatment: Sauvignon Blanc, Verdelho, Fiano, Viognier, Pinot, Grenache, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese and Mouvedre. Some co-inoculated ferments are also carried out.

We’ll then turn the barrels upside down and let them air dry for a couple of days,” Heslop explained.

“The crusher will get a good caustic soda clean prior to vintage, as will all hoses and pumps.

“I don’t think making use of wild yeasts leads you to clean the winery less. I’d say the opposite is true; I think you’re probably stricter.”

Echoing this sentiment are David, Sue and Chris Carpenter of Lark Hill Biodynamic Wines in Canberra, who have been utilising wild yeasts for 12 years.

“We clean everything thoroughly before and after a winemaking operation; there is no difference in our approach to cleaning the winery if we were inoculating,” Sue says.

“We use pressure hot water to clean everything after a clean rinse with cold water. We don’t use detergent or any other cleaning agents, although we occasionally use caustic, which is allowable under biodynamic certification, for hard

“Winery hygiene is important for any ferments…Wild yeasts are not as strong as selected cultivated yeasts so ferments are likely to be slower so, if anything, cleanliness is paramount.”

- Lark Hill Biodynamic Wines “We get everything in the winery as clean as we can get it. If you start off with great hygiene, whether you use commercial or native yeasts, you give fermentation every chance to run smoothly.

“The only thing we do differently now that we wild ferment is we add a higher level of sulfur to the must at the time we would normally be inoculating. We adopted that idea after I saw what some producers were doing in France when I visited there in 2008. I saw them use high levels of sulfur.

Their theory for doing so is that they believe the yeasts they think are going to do the better job are more resistant to sulfur dioxide, and that the yeasts that are less desirable are more susceptible to SO2. They might add 80-100ppm of SO2, and in some parts of France it’s as much as 120ppm,” Heslop said. “I don’t have any scientific evidence to back their theory up, but I’ve conducted little experiments in the winery in which I’ve split a load of Chardonnay grapes in half and added more sulfur to one lot than the other. I’ve noticed that the must that has the lower sulfur content tends to be less efficient at converting sugar to alcohol.”

Heslop says his winery cleaning regime consists of using caustic soda on tanks if significant amounts of tartrate are present, otherwise a gentler alkaline product is used. Any protein stains are scrubbed – “in my experience that’s the only way to get them off,” Heslop says, “caustic does nothing” – then hosed down.

Barrels are washed using a high pressure water cleaner with water heated to 90°C. “Depending on the barrel, we’ll do that for three and a half to four minutes and often do it twice until all the washings coming out of the barrel appear clean.

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Jon Heslop, winemaker for Witches Falls, located on Mount Tambourine in Queensland’s Gold Coast Hinterland.

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tartrate deposits. We are fanatical about pressure cleaning barrels before storage after emptying for bottling and red barrels are checked carefully during storage.

“Winery hygiene is important for any ferments; cleanliness is paramount in all winery operations.

“Wild yeasts are not as strong as selected cultivated yeasts so ferments are likely to be slower so, if anything, cleanliness is paramount,” Sue said.

While Peter Schell, winemaker for Spinifex Wines in the Barossa Valley, says he keeps his winery “reasonably clean” using water with the possible addition of a detergent or slightly alkaline cleaner, that’s not because he’s worried about the effect that any yeasts floating about might have on his wild ferments.

“I’m pretty sure the yeasts in my ferments are 95% vineyard derived. I’d be surprised if the amount of yeasts a must would pick up out of the air is significant. In a load of three tonnes of grapes, I’d say the amount of natural yeast would be far more significant than the scattering of yeast in the winery that might find their way to the fermenter. Most natural ferments start in the cap and yeast can’t penetrate through there,” Schell says.

All of Spinifex’s 250-tonne production undergoes spontaneous fermentation, although Schell admits he wouldn’t hesitate to inoculate if an issue were to arise. And in the years he’s been carryout wild ferments, he’s never had a problem arise that has made him feel the need to make any changes to the cleaning regime around the winery.

“If you pick your grapes at appropriate maturities and have healthy vines and healthy fruit you shouldn’t have any issues. I’ve never had any crazy VA or other nasties happen in 5-7 years that I’ve been doing wild ferments. I might change my point of view if something bad did happen.

But, so far I haven’t had stuff get out of control.”

Former nurses Alan and Nelly Cooper, of certified organic and biodynamic producer Cobaw Ridge, in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges, know only too well about the importance of hygiene. The winery’s entire 20-50t production has been made using wild yeasts for the past five years, and Alan Cooper says the cleaning regime is in line with conventional winery practices.

Caustic soda is used as a cleaning agent in combination with scrubbing if need be, followed by a hydrogen peroxide wash, which are applied both

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before and after using any equipment.

Tanks also receive a sulfur acid wash prior to vintage. Alan Cooper said the cleaning routine at the winery hadn’t undergone any changes since wild ferments became standard.

There would be few more passionate about wild yeasts than James Erskine, of Juma Wines. Although based at Mylor in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills, most of Juma’s fruit since its first vintage five years ago has come from McLaren Vale, and having his wines reflect the region and vintage as much as possible is central to Erskine’s winemaking philosophy.

“I’ve tasted most of the common strains of yeast used to inoculate ferments and they all taste like banana to me and that’s not at all interesting.

I want to make the most exciting wine and best reflection of the vintage that I can,” Erskine says.

“The key to a successful wild ferment is having high populations of diverse yeasts and bacteria around as it supports the survival of the naturallystrongest yeast that will ensure a smoother ferment. You want to keep a maximum population and diversity

I NEE M M AA KKI N G G WW I N I N

of yeast and bacteria around as possible because if you hyper-sterilise everything you’ll encourage things like Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Dekkera.”

That’s not to say that Erskine lets things go completely feral in the winery.

“We use a detergent and spray things out with water. And at the end of a vintage and start of a new vintage we apply a caustic-soda like substance to give everything a good clean out. But, that’s more to clean out the macro bits of dirt. Barrels are also sulfured and we use sulfur to clean sometimes,” he said.

Erskine says while the emphasis on hygiene at wineries carrying out wild ferments isn’t less than their inoculating counterparts, he suggested smaller wineries by virtue of their size don’t have to be quite so heavy-handed.

“One of the reasons we don’t need to sterilise so rigorously as a larger winery is because of the size of our tanks and fermenters which are a maximum of 250L so you can get in and scrub them whereas in a larger facility you’d need a different approach,” he WVJ surmised.

Joshua, Alan and Nelly Cooper, of certified biodynamic Cobaw Ridge, in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.

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Unravelling the relationship between grape and wine tannin and colour

By Neil Scrimgeour, Keren Bindon, Eric Wilkes, Paul Smith and Wies Cynkar The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064

The concentration of tannins and anthocyanins in red grapes is an important factor in defining the colour and texture of red wines and is influenced by a wide range of factors.

These compounds are present in the pulp, skins and seeds of grapes, but the degree to which they are extracted during the winemaking process can vary significantly.

Skin tannins and anthocyanins are generally extracted quickly during the initial part of ferment once the yeast is active (Peyrot des Gachons and Kennedy 2003, Cerpa-Calderon and Kennedy 2008). Seed tannins are extracted during the latter part of fermentation and this tends to coincide with the formation of tannin-anthocyanin condensation products (pigmented tannins), which stabilise red wine colour. The use of alternative winemaking techniques, such as extended maceration, can increase both tannin and anthocyanin concentration in wine.

A number of published studies have attempted to explain the relationship between phenolic compounds in grapes and those present in wines. Many have shown a strong correlation between the two for anthocyanins (Fragoso et al. 2011, du

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Figure 1. Comparison of total grape tannin measured following extraction using different homogenisers.

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Toit and Visagie 2012), but generally the relationship is much weaker for tannins. This is principally due to the analytical methods employed to measure grape tannins.

Most grape analysis methods use an exhaustive extraction approach to maximise tannin extraction from the grapes (AWRI publications #894, #975). This typically involves the use of high power homogenisation equipment to break up the seeds and skins as much as possible. The reality of the winemaking process, however, is that the extraction environment is much milder and leads to a lower concentration of (predominantly skin) tannins in the finished wine. Analytical measures for both maximum potential tannin and extractable tannin could inform wine producers on the best approach to processing grapes and guide decisions on aspects such as pressing or maceration.

Total(mg/g) tannins (mg/g) Shiraz - high-power unit Total tannins Shiraz - high-power unit

Introduction

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Figure 2. Comparison of total phenolics measured following extraction using different homogenisers.

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Figure 3. Experimental approach for comparing grape tannin and anthocyanin levels extracted with two different methods.

Influence of sample preparation method A previous AWRI study (AWRI publication #814) has shown that the way grapes are prepared can have an impact on the analysis of colour components. The type of homogenisation method employed can affect the accuracy of phenolic measurements and measured anthocyanin concentrations have been shown to decrease when grapes have been frozen for longer than three months. High-powered homogenisation equipment is powerful enough to break up the skins and seeds and enhance the extraction of tannins prior to measurement.

Tannin results generated using the AWRI’s methyl cellulose precipitation (MCP) assay appear to be approximately two to three times higher (Figure 1) and total phenolics are approximately 50-100% higher (Figure 2) when using a highpowered homogeniser compared with a kitchen-type blender.

The magnitude of these differences appears to be variety specific. The variability in tannin, colour and phenolics data is also higher when a standard kitchen-type blender is used.

Further studies carried out in collaboration with wine producers in Europe have also shown that the extraction medium used and its volume compared with the amount of grape homogenate can also affect on grape tannin measurement.

Influence of sample extraction method In order to assess the impact of sample preparation and extraction solvent on measured grape tannins, a detailed study was carried out (AWRI publication #1616) that compared the total anthocyanins and tannin measured from extraction of grapes using two different methods (Figure 3): • the standard industry method - 50% acidified ethanol extraction of grape homogenate (Iland et al. 2004).

• a new ‘wine-like’ extraction method which involves gentle crushing of 50g grapes, adjusting to 15% (v/v) ethanol, pH 3.4 and extraction for 40 hours.

The grapes were vinified using a standardised winemaking procedure in triplicate 1kg lots and the wines produced were analysed for tannin and anthocyanin using both the MCP tannin assay and the modified Somers method, respectively. The study included 39 batches of 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz grapes at different ripeness levels from various regions within Australia.

Grape anthocyanin concentrations, measured using the two extraction methods, correlated strongly with the anthocyanin concentrations in the wines (Figure 4B, D - see page 30). Grape tannin levels were strongly correlated with the tannin levels seen in the wines when the 15% method was employed (Figure 4A). When considered on a varietal basis, correlations between the grape tannins measured using the 50% extraction method and resulting wine tannins were strong (Figure 4C - see page 30). ▶ V2 9N 6

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Wine tannin (g/L)

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Grape anthocyanin concentration in wine-like extract (mg/g)

Wine tannin g/L)

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Grape tannin concentration in urine-like extract (mg/g)

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Grape anthocyanin concentration in homogenate extract (mg/g)

Figure 4. Correlation of grape tannin and anthocyanin concentrations, measured using two different extraction methods, with resulting wine tannin and anthocyanin concentrations.

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Figure 5. Grape maturity trending using the Grape Portal.

The actual concentrations of grape anthocyanins and tannins measured using the 15% method were very similar to those observed in the wines. The concentrations measured using the 50% method were very different to the levels seen in the wines: grape anthocyanins were approximately twice the final concentration in the wines and grape tannins tended to be significantly over-estimated compared with tannin concentrations in the wines. The relative difference between the grape and wine tannin concentrations was higher with Cabernet Sauvignon than with Shiraz.

AWRI Commercial Services has built a calibration model that allows the prediction of extractable grape tannin concentration using absorbance values at three specific wavelengths (280nm, 320nm and 520nm). The relationship between tannin concentration measured using the reference MCP assay and that predicted using UV-Vis data is strong, with the calibration model

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exhibiting a standard measurement error of 0.18g/L total tannin.

This body of work has shown that the use of a ‘wine-like’ 15% ethanol extraction method for grapes can provide a strong indication of tannin concentration that is likely to result from vinification of those grapes. The predictive method, utilising UV-Vis spectral data, will allow wine producers to access this capability in a practical way.

WINEMAKING

varieties could yield important information, particularly when combined with information on viticultural management practices being used. This may allow producers to select the most appropriate management techniques and growing attributes that can yield grapes with the optimal characteristics for the intended wine.

Implications of measuring extractable tannin

Providing the capability to measure extractable tannin

Currently available methods for grape tannin analysis provide a good indication of the ‘total tannin potential’ available within the grapes. However, not all of this tannin is accessible, in practical terms, depending on the part of the berry that the tannin resides in and the winemaking methods employed to extract it. The application of a ‘wine-like’ extraction method would provide a good indication of tannin and anthocyanin concentrations that are extractable during fermentation. However, it is important to note that different winemaking practices can impact on total tannin concentration in the wine (Sacchi et al. 2005).

Based on this, knowledge of the extractable components of tannin and anthocyanin in grapes could provide winemakers with the information they need to make informed decisions for the processing of grapes and achieve specific targeted tannin and anthocyanin concentrations in the finished wines. For example, for grapes with a high level of extractable tannin, adequate extraction may be obtained through a short skin-contact period; whereas for grapes exhibiting a relatively low level of extractable tannin, extended maceration time or the use of targeted yeasts known to increase tannin extraction (AWRI publications #1542, #1562) may be required.

The benchmarking of extractable grape tannins and anthocyanins across different vintages, regions, vineyards and

The Grape Portal is part of the AWRI WineCloud, a web-based application that can be used to measure and compare a range of attributes in grape and wine samples. Users can generate total tannin, anthocyanin and phenolics data for grapes and wine using their own UV/Vis equipment, through the use of a predictive spectral method developed by the AWRI (AWRI publication #1436).

This predictive model is based on tannin measurement using the exhaustive 50% ethanol extraction method, which provides an indication of the ‘total tannin potential’ of the grapes. This spectral method could be adjusted for a particular cultivar to allow accurate predictions of wine tannin concentration by using the approach outlined in the tannin extractability study.

AWRI Commercial Services is currently working to incorporate the extractable tannin measurement into the WineCloud in time for use during vintage 2015. This would allow users to measure both the ‘total tannin potential’ and extractable tannin components simultaneously, as well as the total anthocyanins and phenolics.

This type of capability could allow: • more efficient viticultural management and improved harvesting logistics • more objective fruit grading and allocation • enhanced ferment management to achieve desired tannin and ▶ anthocyanin profile

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better understanding of factors influencing wine colour development and stability.

In summary A number of different methods are available for determining the tannin and anthocyanin concentrations in grapes and wine, but very few provide the capability to directly explore the relationship between the two. Rapid measurement techniques developed by the AWRI can be used to investigate both the ‘total tannin potential’ and extractable tannin components in grapes and provide a better understanding of the likely phenolic profile of the resulting wines. Being able to identify the optimal winemaking approach for any individual batch of grapes could be a very powerful weapon in the winemaker’s arsenal.

The WineCloud is a subscription-based service. For more details please contact AWRI Commercial Services at commercialservices@awri.com.au or telephone (08) 8313 6600.

Acknowledgements This work is supported by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body, the Australian Grape and Wine Authority, with matching funds from the Australian Government. The AWRI is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster in Adelaide, South Australia.

References AWRI publication #814 Cynkar, W.U.; Cozzolino, D.; Dambergs, R.G.; Janik, L. and Gishen, M. (2004) The effects of homogenisation method and freezing on the determination of quality parameters in red grape berries of Vitis vinifera. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 10:236–242.

AWRI publication #894 Sarneckis, C.J.; Dambergs, R.G.; Jones, P.; Mercurio, M.; Herderich, M.J. and Smith, P.A. (2006) Quantification of condensed tannins by precipitation with methyl cellulose: development and validation of an optimised

tool for grape and wine analysis. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 12:39–49.

AWRI publication #975 Mercurio, M.D.; Dambergs, R.G.; Herderich, M.J. and Smith, P.A. (2007) High throughput analysis of red wine and grape phenolicsadaptation and validation of methyl cellulose precipitable tannin assay and modified Somers colour assay to a rapid 96 well plate format. J. Agric. Food Chem.

55(12):4651–4657.

AWRI publication #1436 Dambergs, R.G.; Mercurio, M.D.; Kassara, S.; Cozzolino, D. and Smith, P.A. (2012) Rapid measurement of methyl cellulose precipitable tannins using ultraviolet spectroscopy with chemometrics: application to red wine and inter-laboratory calibration transfer. Appl. Spectrosc. 66(6):656664.

AWRI publication #1542 Holt, H.; Cozzolino, D.; McCarthy, J.; Abrahamse, C.; Holt, S.; Solomon, M.; Smith, P.; Chambers, P.J. and Curtin, C. (2013) Influence of yeast strain on Shiraz wine quality indicators. Int. J. Food Microbiol. 165(3):302–311.

AWRI publication #1562 Carew, A.L.; Smith, P.; Close, D.C.; Curtin, C. and Dambergs, R.G. (2013) Yeast effects on Pinot Noir wine phenolics, colour, and tannin composition. J. Agric. Food Chem. 61(41):9892-9898.

AWRI publication #1616 Bindon, K.A.; Kassara, S.; Cynkar, W.U.; Robinson, E.M.C.; Scrimgeour, N. and Smith, P.A. (2014) Comparison of extraction protocols to determine differences in wine-extractable tannin and anthocyanin in Vitis vinifera L. Cv. Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. J. Agric. Food Chem.

62(20):4558-4576.

Cerpa-Calderon, F.K. and Kennedy, J.A. (2008) Berry integrity and extraction of skin and seed proanthocyanidins during red wine fermentation. J. Agric. Food Chem. 56(19):9006−9014. du Toit, W.J. and Visagie, M. (2012) Correlations between South African red grape and wine colour and phenolic composition: Comparing the glories, Iland and bovine serum albumin tannin precipitation methods. S. Afr. J. Enol. Vitic.

33(1):33−41.

Fragoso, S.; Guasch, J.; Acena, L.; Mestres, M. and Busto, O. (2011) Prediction of red wine colour and phenolic parameters from the analysis of its grape extract.

Int. J. Food Sci. Technol. 46(12):2569−2575.

Iland, P.; Bruer, N.; Wilkes, E. and Edward, G. (2004) Chemical analysis of grapes and wine: techniques and concepts, Broadview, Australia, Winetitles. 44.

Peyrot des Gachons, C. and Kennedy, J.A. (2003) Direct method for determining seed and skin proanthocyanidin extraction into red wine. J. Agric. Food Chem.

51(20):5877−5881.

Sacchi, K.L.; Bisson, L.F. and Adams, D.O. (2005) A review of the effect of winemaking techniques on phenolic extraction in red wines. Am. J. Enol. Vitic.

56(3):197−206.

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Exploring oxygen’s influence

By Paul Smith, Martin Day, Simon Schmidt, Jacqui McRae, Keren Bindon, Stella Kassara, Alex Schulkin, Radka Kolouchova, Eric Wilkes, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson Managing director Dan Johnson The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia

There are a number of unanswered questions about oxygen’s role in the winemaking process. How much oxygen gets into juice through production? What does juice exposure to oxygen do to final wine style and composition? What does oxygen exposure during fermentation do to wine style? Can oxygen be better measured during winemaking or markers for exposure be identified? This article presents results from the first stage of a research program at the AWRI investigating influences on wine style from management of oxygen during winemaking.

Oxygen in Australian winemaking The practice of winemaking in Australia has a tendency to focus on excluding oxygen, sometimes described as a ‘reductive’ winemaking style. Dry ice and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are used liberally to protect grapes during crushing and pressing and juices during transfer. While serving to protect against the negative effects of oxidation, blanket application of these approaches may increase the risk of sulfidic off-characters and also unnecessarily limit the tools available to winemakers to manipulate wine style.

Consultation with industry indicates sporadic use of oxygen during primary fermentation, especially with red musts. Some wineries use air to minimise sulfidic (or ‘reductive’) aroma formation and other wineries use oxygen to help stabilise colour. There is limited scientific understanding of how these practices impact on wine and very little scientific research has been reported on the effects of oxygen use during fermentation on wine composition or sensory properties.

What is already known about THE effects of oxygen during fermentation?

Oxygen exposure occurs naturally to varying degrees through the production of grape juice during mechanical harvesting, crushing and pressing. Studies of inert juice pressing (using nitrogen gas blanketing during the operation of a tank/membrane press) and hyperoxidation (phenolic stabilisation by exposure to very large amounts of oxygen after pressing) have been reported (Boselli et al. 2010, Cejudo-Bastante et al. 2011). These treatments were found to affect juice phenolic composition in different ways, and the ▶

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AT A GLANCE • Knowledge about the influence of oxygen (O2) during fermentation on wine composition and sensory properties is currently limited.

• A pilot-scale experiment investigated the effects of delivering three different gas treatments to Shiraz ferments: (1) air, (2) 40% oxygen/60% nitrogen and (3) 100% nitrogen (N2). A control ferment received no gas delivery.

• Ferments treated with air or 40% O2 completed alcoholic and malolactic fermentations more quickly than the N2treated or control ferments.

• Wines resulting from air or 40% O2 treatments were found to have more stable pigments and smaller tannins; they also exhibited less astringency and bitterness.

• Wines exposed to air or O2 during fermentation were less susceptible to oxidation by oxygen ingress through the bottle closure during 12 months’ bottle ageing.

• Increased oxygen exposure during red winemaking may reduce the need for extended wine ageing, resulting in the less astringent mouthfeel characteristics usually associated with aged wines at a much earlier stage.

• This work forms part of a broader research program at the AWRI, investigating the impact of early oxygen exposure on wine style.

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hyperoxidation treatment was also shown to cause decreases in important aroma compounds. However, these studies represent the extremes of winemaking practice and do not shed much light on the effects of more moderate oxygen exposure. Research into the role of oxygen in fermentation has generally been focussed on the stimulation of fermentation rates and assisting in the completion of difficult fermentations.

In terms of oxygen effects on wine composition, the limited literature shows that single dose oxygen exposure during fermentation can alter the ester profile, increase the production of higher alcohols and alter the volatile fatty acid composition compared with strictly anaerobic fermentations.

Oxygen dose and duration have not been explored. The major project on wine and oxygen at the AWRI aims to study dose-controlled additions of oxygen and monitor effects on fermentation efficiency and wine composition. This report discusses the effects of oxygen on phenolics, metals and malolactic fermentation observed in a study conducted during the 2012 vintage.

Controlled oxygen delivery during red wine fermentations Shiraz wines (730kg batches) were made in triplicate using rotary fermenters each fitted with three stainless steel sintered sparging heads used to deliver gases during fermentation. The three gas treatments in the experiment were air (containing approximately 20% oxygen), a mixture of 40% oxygen and 60% nitrogen (O240) and pure nitrogen (N2). A control treatment

received no gas addition at all. Fermentations were conducted at 25°C and a total of eight gas treatments were applied for 60 minutes every 12 hours, starting 24 hours after inoculation.

Wine colour and tannin were measured after fermentation (time 0), and after two and 12 monthsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bottle ageing under two different screwcap liners, Saran Tin (ST) and Saranex (Sx).

Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation efficiency The air and O240 treatments completed alcoholic fermentation five days after inoculation, one day earlier than the N2 and control treatments. Throughout the fermentation, the number of viable yeast cells was similar across all treatments, suggesting that any differences between treatments were not related to biomass changes. Malolactic fermentation (MLF) was also more rapid in the air and O240-treated wines (completed in eight days) than the control or N2-treated wines (completed in 17 days), potentially due to the production of yeast fermentation products in the O2-exposed wines or variations in metal concentrations that led to more favourable MLF conditions.

Other factors that influence MLF, including fermentation temperature, wine pH, and alcohol concentrations, did not vary significantly between treatments (AWRI publication #1659).

Colour, tannin and sensory effects The O2-treated (O240 and air) wines were significantly lower in total anthocyanin than the control or N2-treated wines, and were slightly higher in non-bleachable pigments (Figure 1). This suggested that the pigments formed in the presence of higher O2 were more stable. The wine colour

Figure 1. Results of methyl cellulose precipitable tannin (MCPT) and colour measurements made immediately after the end of alcoholic fermentation, showing enhanced and stabilised pigments but lower phenolics and anthocyanins in 40% oxygen and air treatments.

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wine tannins in structure more than young wine tannins, possibly making wines with these sorts of tannins less astringent.

This observation was confirmed by sensory analysis where the O240 and air treatments scored lowest for bitter and for astringency, while the N2 treatment scored highest for astringency (Figure 2). These results are also consistent with anecdotal evidence that oxygen diminishes the astringency of red wines.

Impact on metal concentrations After bottling, the O2-treated wines contained significantly lower concentrations of iron, copper and zinc than the control or N2-treated wines (AWRI publication #1659). The cause of this drop in metal concentrations is unknown, but it could be related to chemical changes in wine components that bind metals, allowing for stronger interactions, or perhaps increased binding by yeast cells. Recent studies have shown the particular importance of metals in the formation of both positive and negative flavour and texture compounds, and on the shelf-life of wine (AWRI publication #1577). The presence of metal ions in wine during storage has been associated with increased concentrations of volatile sulfur compounds responsible for unpleasant aromas as well as more rapid depletion of SO2, affecting shelf-life. Other effects associated with metals include increased risk of some wine hazes and faster depletion of some positive flavour compounds.

Research in this area is continuing at the AWRI and these results suggest that early oxygen exposure in red wines is likely to influence metal-catalysed changes in composition. ▶

Figure 2. Principal component analysis (PCA) of sensory scores two months after bottling. Wines made with 40% oxygen and air treatments exhibited red fruit characters on aroma and palate, while nitrogen and control treatments were characterised by sulfurous aromas and higher astringency. density (WCD) remained relatively consistent regardless of fermentation treatment.

Tannin composition was significantly different between the wines produced by the O2-treated ferments (O240 and air) and those produced from the control or N2-treated ferments. The tannins from the O240 and air wines were less susceptible to depolymerisation reactions (i.e., they were more ‘cross linked’), were more coloured and smaller (AWRI publication #1659). Essentially, this means that they resembled aged

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Impact of wine ageing and closure type on wine composition After 12 months’ bottle ageing of the control and N2 wines, the colour measures and two tannin compositional characteristics associated with ageing were similar to those of the air and O240-treated wines after two months of bottle ageing (AWRI publication #1659). This highlights the effect of O2 during fermentation in producing aged wine-like characteristics. Thus, the level of O2 exposure during fermentation may also improve the mouthfeel of young red wines by modifying their tannins.

The effect of O2 exposure during fermentation was also compared with the impact of relatively limited O2 exposure during bottle-ageing under two different screwcaps: Saranex (Sx), which allows some O2 ingress, and Saran Tin (ST), which significantly restricts O2 ingress. The impact of closure type on colour and tannin after 12 months in bottle was greater in the control and N2-treated wines than the air/O240 wines (AWRI publication #1659). This may relate to differences in the formation of tannin under each fermentation treatment type.

Greater O2 exposure during fermentation may increase the proportion of oxidised tannins, resulting in the formation of stabilised tannins resistant to further oxidation from O2 ingress through bottle closures. Thus, the oxidation induced by slight O2 ingress through the Sx closures was more pronounced in the control and N2-treated wines than in the air/O240 wines.

Increased O2 exposure during wine fermentation had a much greater impact on tannin structure in the resulting wine than closure type, and this again highlights the significance of O2 exposure during fermentation to tannin formation, development and stabilisation.

metal concentrations in O2-treated wines post-ferment may benefit shelf-life and could lower the risk of reductive aromas.

The significantly faster rates of malolactic fermentation in wines that had received O2 or air treatments might provide a practical tool to assist in the reliable completion of malolactic fermentation. As such, the MLF implications of oxygen exposure are continuing to be investigated.

Research will continue to improve understanding of how oxygen management during processing and fermentation affects areas other than fermentation efficiency. Experiments will explore how oxygenation of ferments can be used to remediate or prevent reductive aromas or to manipulate attributes considered to have a positive impact on wine style.

Outcomes from this research represent a significant opportunity for the Australian wine sector to diversify style, manage oxygen exposure effectively and reduce the costs derived from potentially excessive reductive handling of wines.

Acknowledgements This work was supported by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body the Australian Grape and Wine Authority, with matching funds from the Australian Government. The AWRI is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster. Ella Robinson is thanked for her editorial assistance.

References AWRI publication #1577 Viviers, M.Z.; Smith, M.E.; Wilkes, E. and Smith, P. (2013) Effects of five metals on the evolution of hydrogen sulphide, methanethiol, and dimethyl sulphide during anaerobic storage of Chardonnay and Shiraz wines.

J. Agric. Food Chem. 61(50):12,385–12,396.

Conclusions Greater oxygen exposure during fermentation produced wines with more ‘aged’ characteristics in terms of greater hue, fewer anthocyanins, lower tannin concentrations, and smaller tannins with more cross-linked structure. These changes were similar to those induced by 12 months’ bottle ageing in wines deprived of oxygen during fermentation. The 40% O2 and air treatments resulted in wines that were the least bitter and astringent, while the N2 treatment resulted in wine that was the most astringent. These observations suggest that increased oxygen exposure during winemaking may reduce the need for extended wine ageing, saving winemakers the cost of tannin fining and extended storage. In addition, decreased

AWRI publication #1659 McRae, J.M.; Day, M.P.; Bindon, K.A.; Kassara, S.; Schmidt, S.A.; Schulkin, A.; Kolouchova, R. and Smith, P.A. (2014) Effect of early exposure oxygen on red wine colour and tannins. Tetrahedron, DOI 10.1016/j. tet.2014.08.059 Boselli, E.; Di Lecce, G.; Alberti, F. and Frega, N.G. (2010) Nitrogen gas affects the quality and the phenolic profile of must obtained from vacuum-pressed white grapes. LWT - Food Sci. Technol. 43(10):1494-1500.

Cejudo-Bastante, M.J.; Castro-Vazquez, L.; Hermosin-Gutierrez, I. and PerezCoello, M.S. (2011) Combined effects of prefermentative skin maceration and oxygen addition of must on colour-related phenolics, volatile composition, and sensory characteristics of Airén white wine. J. Agric. Food Chem. 59(22):12,171WVJ 12,182.

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Seasonal yield adjustment â&#x20AC;&#x201C; optimising timing and results

By Tony Hoare

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

Yield fluctuations are an annual occurrence for most winegrape growers.

These fluctuations have economic implications for both winegrape growers and winemakers alike. What options are available to growers to manipulate yield to maximise economic returns by compensating for seasonal climate variation and maintain fruit quality?

Total winegrape yield is a product of total bunch numbers per vine multiplied by bunch weight. Bunch numbers are greatly influenced by climate which has a bearing on yield outcomes, particularly daily maximum temperatures around flowering and fruitset. Vineyard management, especially nutrition and irrigation, can also manipulate yield at various stages of the season to compensate for seasonal climate variation to some degree. Nutritional deficiencies, particularly phosphorus and the trace elements zinc, manganese, boron and molybdenum at flowering can reduce fruitset significantly. Soil moisture deficits and waterlogging during flowering will also have a negative effect on fruitset.

Bunch weight is also influenced by weather conditions at fruitset, as determined by the number of berries that set per bunch, and again during veraison, depending on the size those berries develop. Management of irrigation during the season and nutrition prior to fruitset also have a great influence on bunch weight and, therefore, yield outcomes.

Pest and disease issues can affect yield at various stages of the season as well, and the risk of economic thresholds should be evaluated so a control program can be implemented to avoid yield loss.

Optimising yield and fruit quality is usually the aim of most winegrape growers. If this is achieved and market conditions are favourable, then there are usually economic benefits to growers.

Aiming for maximum yield can lead to overshooting yield targets which can result in lowering fruit quality or having a surplus to requirement which may, in turn, lead to wasted inputs if the fruit cannot be placed elsewhere.

Yield adjustment options are available throughout the season to avoid this situation.

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Considering the unknown outcomes of bud fruitfulness and fruitset it is best to overcompensate for bud numbers at pruning by leaving extra buds. It is easier to reduce yield but virtually impossible to increase yield if bud fruitfulness and fruitset are low.

What are the options for yield adjustment timing and what are the implications of these options?

The annual winegrape growth cycle and its influence on yield adjustment Pruning This is the main time that yield can be manipulated by regulating the amount of fruitful buds per vine. It is also the most cost effective time for yield regulation.

Prior to pruning, bud fruitfulness can be estimated through microscopic bud dissections to estimate the amount of bunches per shoot which ranges from one to two. This is done by examining a bud cross section under a microscope to look at the inflorescence primordia (fruiting bodies formed the previous season) within the bud to observe if a bunch or a tendril has been formed for that season. While bud dissections can allow you to prune for a desired yield it should be noted that W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

this fruitfulness is still dependent on bud mite damage in spring. Bud fruitfulness is not guaranteed from bud dissections, so it is prudent to overcompensate with bud numbers at pruning to allow for reductions in fruitfulness due to damage to buds by bud mite, which are not seen until spring when it is too late to change pruning numbers and harvesters.

Monitoring for bud mite and then using sprays of sulfur and oil to reduce mite numbers at early budburst will help avoid bud mite damage and yield loss.

Pruning is also the most influential time for maximising vine balance. Vines can be pruned to balance whereby the number of fruitful buds left behind after pruning is determined by the vineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capacity to physiologically ripen that fruit.

In other words, the lower the vigour, the less buds should be retained to balance a vineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential to ripen fruit to its desirable level for winery specifications.

Bunch weight is influenced by vine

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TONY HOARE

When hand harvesting add an extra 5% for stalk weight in yield estimates. This does not translate as extra wine, only extra waste as marc for wineries. balance, and generally speaking, bunch weights will be optimal in a balanced vine.

Considering the unknown outcomes of bud fruitfulness and fruitset it is in the grower’s best interest to overcompensate for bud numbers at pruning by leaving extra buds. It is easier to reduce yield but virtually impossible to increase yield if bud fruitfulness and fruitset are low. This can be done in a number of ways, such as finger and thumb where a three to five bud ‘finger’ is retained with a two bud spur (thumb). Additional canes are also a good way to maximise yield and can be easily removed to reduce yield if required.

Budburst to flowering Budburst can often result in more than one shoot from each bud. This can lead to the need to adjust shoot numbers. If left unattended in premium vineyards the presence of secondary shoots can result in unwanted extra yield which can lower fruit quality. In many highend winegrape crops, shoot thinning of these secondary shoots will allow the maintenance of desirable yield and quality targets. Shoot thinning at this time is cost effective in fruit destined for premium wines, however, it has some pitfalls. As this thinning is performed before fruitset, a poor fruitset can lead to a yield below expectations. This is particularly a gamble in cool climate regions where the onset of cool spring weather, frost or vine damage can reduce the remaining crop yield through damage to remaining shoots and their bunches.

A successful result will maintain yield as desired and allow vine balance to maximise fruit quality throughout the remainder of the season with no further

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crop regulation through intervention.

Fruitset to veraison Post-fruitset is another time for yield regulation. At this stage of the season it becomes more apparent what the final yield result will be. Yield estimates at this stage of the season with some consideration for bunch weights and harvest techniques are reasonably accurate. If hand harvesting add an extra 5% for stalk weight in yield estimates.

This does not translate as extra wine, only extra waste as marc for wineries.

Fruitset is a good time for yield adjustment when issues such as eutypa arise. The restricted spring growth caused by Eutypa lata (deadarm) infection produces bunches on shoots that have restricted growth and require removal as the bunches never develop to full ripeness and can lower the overall wine quality from affected blocks. If machine harvesting is used then thinning at this time is prudent. If hand picking is employed then the same result can be achieved at harvest through selective picking.

Even in the absence of Eutypa lata symptoms, crop adjustment through shoot thinning can be of benefit at this stage of the season. In some seasons and in most varieties there can be an issue with short, stunted shoots, usually secondary, basal shoots emerging which can produce ‘half’ bunches. Thinning these shoots improves wine quality. If they remain wine quality can be reduced by as much as two grades with the presence of as little as 5% of fruit from these short, under-developed bunches.

In ‘bumper’ years when fruitfulness is W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

at a premium, then crop thinning at this stage can be beneficial. Estimating final bunch weights is a key to the success of thinning at this stage of winegrape development, so as not to reduce yield below the target level.

Removal of diseased fruit can also be done at this stage to enhance fruit quality and value. Powdery mildew is a disease that has visible symptoms around this time through flag shoots and infected bunches. Thinning of infected shoots and bunches at this growth stage is a benefit to yield by reducing potential crop loss through further spread of the disease or having to selectively harvest blocks.

The growth stage of fruitset to veraison is also the time when irrigation can have a bearing on yield outcomes. This period of growth is when the size of berries is being determined by the vine. In general if there is a water deficit or water stress situation at this time berry size will be reduced.

The opposite response occurs in berry size when there is field capacity. Irrigation strategies such as regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) can be used effectively to reduce berry size and increase the skinto-pulp ratio which is a particular benefit in red varieties, especially Shiraz.

Veraison to harvest Late season thinning is more expensive than early from a labour point of view. Thinning post-veraison is done mainly in cool climate regions for premium fruit. The benefit of thinning at this stage is that bunch crowding can be alleviated so fruit can ripen more evenly. This is a particular benefit for varieties such as Grenache that can have uneven bunch ripeness when shaded by a neighbouring bunch. The risks of bunch thinning post-veraison is that remaining bunches can be damaged during the thinning process, which can increase the risk if botrytis in wet seasons. Yield may also be reduced below target levels after thinning if remaining bunches are effected by disease, bird damage or shrivel due to extreme heat. Late season thinning should be used as a last resort and it is preferable to have made yield adjustments much earlier in the season.

Yield adjustment at pruning and during the growing season by crop thinning assists in achieving yield and fruit quality targets. As the season progresses, the expense of crop regulation through thinning increases. Maintaining balanced vines through appropriate nutrition, irrigation practices and pest and disease control reduces the need for fruit thinning. Maximising yield and quality through thinning should only be considered a secondary option to a WVJ balanced vine.

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SU M M E R P R U N I N G

The impact of leaf removal and the management of crop load on fruit quality – a European insight

By Stefano Poni, Department of Sustainable Crop Production, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via Emilia Parmense 84, 29122 Piacenza, Italy

The following article is based on Stefano Poni’s keynote presentation at a seminar organised by the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology and held in Mildura, in July.

Introduction Grapevine summer pruning (i.e., shoot trimming, shoot and bunch thinning, leaf removal) includes a series of operations typically carried out during the vegetative period that are usually aimed at remediating deviations of vine development and yield from an ideal pattern. The majority of summer pruning operations are easily mechanised with the exception of shoot and bunch thinning which, as a consequence, have a notable impact on yearly vineyard workload (Intrieri and Poni 1995). Today, under the pressure of global warming resulting in crops ripening faster and a higher incidence of multiple summer stresses and sunburn damage, as well as the fact that economic sustainability is a worldwide must, the philosophy of and goals underlying several summer pruning operations are also evolving.

Given the ample literature on the effects of bunch microclimate on berry ripening, a general consensus seems to have been reached that excessive light and thermal exposure of bunches should be avoided, especially in warm environments (Bergqvist et al. 2001, Downey et al. 2006). It has been shown, for instance, that anthocyanin synthesis and degradation are both quite sensitive to bunch temperature since they decrease and increase, respectively, when bunch temperature starts exceeding the threshold of 35°C (Price et al. 1995, Mori et al. 2007).

In whites, a shared concern is that prolonged exposure of bunches to high light and temperature leads to excessive loss or degradation of aroma, thereby reducing freshness in favour of either untypical or overripe flavours.

Concurrently, total acidity is reduced due to excessive malic acid degradation and must pH increases, compromising microbiological stability (Marais et al. 1999).

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In addition, summer heat stresses may aggravate berry sunburn and shrivel disorders (Krasnow et al. 2009, Chorti et al. 2010) as well as enhance chronic photo-inhibition of basal leaves (Palliotti et al. 2009).

Within such a scenario, traditional leaf removal, typically performed between fruitset and veraison by manually removing all the leaves surrounding the bunches, is now being regarded in a much more conservative manner and, if applied, targeted to avoid abrupt re-exposure of bunches to high light by retaining some protecting leaf cover around the bunches themselves (Dry et al. 2009). If done by hand, this can be achieved by either selectively removing primary and/or lateral leaves or by limiting leaf removal to the least exposed row side (e.g. the east-facing side in a north-south row orientation). Irrespective of the obvious economic benefits, mechanical leaf removal is generally advisable since the inherent nonselective nature of the machine action (some leaves or portions thereof are

always left) can make it easier to achieve partial foliage coverage of bunches.

Early leaf removal Due to global warming, summer pruning strategies have undergone a further significant change. Traditionally, summer pruning has been used to amend out-of-balance situations like excessive vigour. Conversely, a somewhat different and innovative approach has seen summer pruning purposely applied to induce specific vine responses and direct grape composition toward a welldefined pattern. Over the last decade, the most successful case in point has likely been pre-flowering leaf removal (Poni et al. 2006, Palliotti et al. 2011), which besides being easily mechanised (Intrieri et al. 2008) finds its best application in high-yielding vineyards marked by large and compact bunches that have poor phenolics and flavor ripening (Figure 1).

This practice has been largely inspired by the knowledge that carbohydrate supply at flowering is a primary

Figure 1. A row of cv. Sangiovese after pre-flowering hand leaf removal applied by removing the first six main basal leaves from each shoot.

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SU M M E R P R U N I N G

Table 1. Yield components and bunch rot incidence recorded in Trebbiano R. vines subjected to different early leaf removal treatments or non-defoliated (ND). I-8 = eight primary leaves removed pre-flowering; II-8 = eight primary leaves removed post-flowering; I-II-4 = four leaves removed pre-flowering and four post-flowering. Data are 2003-2005 means. From Poni et al. (2006).

Treatment

Fruitset (%) Cluster weight (g) Berry weight (g) Berries/bunch

Bud fertility Rot (%) (bunches/shoot)

ND

42.9a

400a

1.97a

210a

5.8a

1.02

I-8

29.4b

210b

1.86b

111b

1.4b

0.82

II - 8

32.6b

223b

1.74c

130b

0.61b

0.93

I - II - 4

30.8b

199b

1.78bc

114b

1.26b

0.82

**

**

**

**

**

ns

Sig.

zMeans separated within columns by SNK test. Y *,**, ns: Significant at p < 0.05, 0.01, or not significant, respectively.

Figure 2. Representative Trebbiano Romagnolo bunches for the treatments described in Table 1.

Table 2. Grape composition and leaf-to-fruit ratio recorded in Trebbiano R. vines subjected to different early leaf removal treatments or non-defoliated (ND). I-8 = eight primary leaves removed pre-flowering; II-8 = eight primary leaves removed post-flowering; I-II-4 = four leaves removed pre-flowering and four post-flowering. Data are 2003-2005 means. From Poni et al. (2006) Brix (%)

TA (g/L)

pH

Tart (g/L)

Mal (g/L)

LA/Y (cm2/g)

ND

19.0c

5.8

3.30a

6.1b

1.52a

6.2b

I-8

21.4a

5.6

3.30a

6.3b

1.45a

8.9a

II - 8

20.3b

6.2

3.16b

6.7a

1.27b

7.6ab

I - II - 4

21.0a

6.2

3.20b

7.1a

1.23b

9.4a

**

**

**

**

**

**

Treatment

Sig.

zy

Means separated within columns by SNK test. *,**, ns: Significant at p < 0.05, 0.01, or not significant, respectively.

z

Y

Table 3. Yield components, bunch compactness and source-sink balance (shoot basis) recorded in Sangiovese potted vines subjected to pre-flowering leaf removal (six basal leaves pulled out) or nondefoliated (control). NCER = net CO2 exchange rate derived from whole canopy gas exchange monitoring extending from pre-treatment until harvest. From Poni et al. (2008) Variable

Flowers/ Fruitset (%) Total berries/ Bunch Berry NCER shoot/ Bunch thickness cluster cluster weight (g) weight (g) yield (nmol/s*g) (OIV rating)

Control

435

38.8a

169a

334a

1.98

2.43b

6.60a

Defoliated

487

21.0b

103b

207b

2.01

3.31a

4.25b

Sig zy

ns

**

**

**

ns

**

**

Means separated within columns by SNK test. Y *,**, ns: Significant at p < 0.05, 0.01, or not significant, respectively.

z

determinant of fruitset (Coombe 1962).

Removing an average of six main basal leaves before flowering has led to a significant decrease in fruitset under a broad array of genotypes and growing conditions, which in turn increases cluster looseness (Figure 2) and tolerance to rot (Table 1). Yet, the most important outcome is that, irrespective of genotype, this early leaf removal markedly improves grape composition and wine sensory properties compared with non-defoliated shoots (Vilanova et al. 2012, Sternat Lemut et al. 2013) (Table 2).

There are multiple mechanisms involved in such a positive response.

Shoots defoliated at flowering generally result in a higher leaf-to-fruit ratio at harvest than the un-defoliated control

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(Table 1). This is due to the greater impact on set and berry size, thus offsetting the limitation due to the removal of some source leaves. Improved grape composition in the defoliated shoots also relates to the ‘quality’ of the source. For example, removing the six main basal leaves at pre-bloom causes an abrupt and severe decrease in vine photosynthesis. However, removing source leaves around bloom also triggers a series of dynamic changes in canopy growth, age and photosynthesis.

Defoliated vines have a ‘younger’ canopy at veraison since median and apical shoot leaves at this time are now mature and more lateral leaves may be present as a compensating reaction to early main leaf removal. Furthermore, some - albeit temporary - photosynthetic

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compensation usually occurs in both main and lateral leaves of defoliated plants. Poni et al. (2008) have shown that whole canopy net CO2 exchange rates (NCER) monitored continuously for three months in defoliated (D) vs. non-defoliated (ND) Sangiovese vines indicated no differences for data expressed on a per-vine basis. Yet, when the same data were given on a per-unit leaf area basis, defoliated vines showed higher rates than ND vines (4.75µmol m-2 s-1 vs. 4.16µmol m-2 s-1) and, most importantly, NCER/yield increased by 38% in D vines, thus resulting in enhanced carbohydrate supply for ripening (Table 3).

The most intriguing outcome from these early-season defoliation tests is that a significant increase in relative skin mass has been consistently found in separate field studies conducted on a three-year basis in cv. Barbera, regardless of absolute berry mass (Poni et al. 2010). It is reasonable to think that such an early basal leaf removal, besides favouring berry hardening in the long run, would also impose more favourable microclimate conditions for cell division and berry skin deposition, which typically takes place within four to five weeks after flowering (Keller 2010). Mescalchin et al. (2008) have shown in Pinot Gris that the earlier the defoliation, the lesser the incidence of skin burning on VSP and pergola trained varieties due to both more time allowed for cluster cover after treatment and adaptation towards the formation of a thicker skin.

Mechanisation is feasible using an air pressure blowing machine (Figure 3, see page 44), preferably at pre-flowering (i.e., closed flowers stage), which can run two passes per row in about 5-7 hours/ha.

Best performance is obtained on well shoot-positioned, vertical, single canopies and on cultivars that have mostly erect inflorescences (Figure 4, see page 45). Intrieri et al. 2008 tested V29N6

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whether pre- and post-bloom hand (HD) and mechanical (MD) defoliation were effective in limiting the yield of a highcropping cultivar such as Sangiovese in a three-year field study (Table 4). The

first six basal leaves and any laterals were removed by hand, and the same area was subjected to MD, the latter removing 48.3% of the leaf area removed manually. Both treatments significantly

Figure 3. Pulse air system machine working on a low VSP trelis in Spain.

Table 4. Yield components, bunch compactness and bunch rot severity recorded in field–grown Sangiovese vines subjected to pre-flowering (I) and post-flowering (II) leaf removal (six basal leaves pulled out) either manual (Ma) or mechanical (Me). Data are 2006-2008 means. Two machine runs per row. From Intrieri et al, 2008, Austr. J. Grape. Wine Res. 14: 25-32.

Yield/shoot (g)

Bunch weight (g)

Berry weight (g)

Bunch thickness (OIV rating)

Bunch rot (%)

ND

854a

508a

1.83

7.9a

5.6

Ma - I

494b

292b

1.70

6.0b

1.2

Me - I

656ab

398ab

1.85

6.8b

1.4

Ma - II

498b

304b

1.57

6.5b

2.4

Me - II

619ab

368b

1.80

6.7b

1.2

*

*

ns

*

ns

Treatment

Sig.

Means within columns designated by different letters are significantly different by Student-Newman Keuls (SNK) test. (*) P = 0.05, (**) P = 0.01, and (ns) not significant

Table 5. Yield components, cluster morphology and grape composition recorded over 2007-2009 on field-grown Sangiovese vines sprayed twice with Vapor Gard (T) at pre-flowering or left untreated (from Palliotti et al., 2010: 16, 426-433).

2007

Treatment

2008

2009

Year x tr. int.

C

T

C

T

C

T

Yield/vine (/kg)

4.1b

3.6a

4.8b

3.5a

4.5b

3.7a

**

Berry number/cluster

142

139

180

185

144

141

ns

Berry weight

2.35b

2.03a

2.02b

1.79a

2.08b

1.84a

***

Compactness (OIV rating)

7.0b

4.4a

6.8a

6.9a

7.1a

5.8b

*

Soluble solids (°Brix)

22.4a

23.1a

21.6a

23.2b

21.8a

23.6b

*

Phenols (mg/g)

2010a

2140b

1870a

1950a

2258a

2320a

*

Anth. (mg/g)

1050a

1210b

661a

843b

1650a

1691a

ns

Variable

In case of significant year x treatment interaction, superscripts indicate mean separation within rows and years by t-test. **, *, ns: Significant at P < 0.01, 0.05 or not significant, respectively.

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reduced fruitset, yield per shoot, bunch weight, berries per bunch and bunch compactness. Yield per hectare declined from 32.8 tonnes in control vines to 24.4 and 19.0 tonnes for MD and HD (pre- and post-bloom treatment means), respectively. Leaf-to-fruit ratios were unaffected by defoliation as the leaf loss was fully offset by yield decline.

Soluble solids concentration and total anthocyanins on a fresh-weight basis increased by 2.4°Brix and 0.2mg/g in HD and by 2.2°Brix and 0.08mg/g in MD compared with that in non-defoliated control. Although results from HD reinforced the physiological basis of the technique’s effectiveness, MD proved likewise effective in reducing yield and improving grape quality.

Early leaf removal is specifically recommended in highly productive vineyards that are associated with heavy, thick bunches very susceptible to rot.

Based on the consistency of the results obtained under the above circumstances, this practice is an interesting alternative to traditional methods of crop control such as bunch thinning. The advantages include the feasibility of mechanisation, hence money saving, and the different mechanisms by which the crop level on the vine is adjusted. If early leaf removal is chosen, the primary reason for crop regulation is via a decrease in fruitset with or without a significant reduction in berry size. Therefore, cluster number is unchanged, yet each bunch is smaller and looser. Conversely, hand bunch thinning, besides being time consuming, drastically lowers bunch number per vine and favours undesirable yield compensation mechanisms such as larger berries and heavier clusters.

A very recent development of the above work investigated whether the temporary loss of photosynthates sought with early leaf removal can be induced through the non-invasive and easyto-do application of anti-transpirants.

Their use would sort out the inherent limitation of high labour demand for manual work while eliminating the risks of direct damage to the inflorescences linked to the use of a leaf plucker.

Results reported for cvs. Sangiovese and Ciliegiolo subjected to pre-bloom treatment of anti-transpirant Vapor Gard® (active ingredient: di-1-pmenthene at 3% concentration, Miller Chemical and Fertilizer Corporation, USA) show similar reductions of net photosynthesis (from 30% to 70%) over several weeks after spraying compared with control vines (Palliotti et al. 2010).

The treated Sangiovese vines showed reduced yield, berry weight, cluster compactness and, on a two-year basis,

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lower vigour and unchanged vine capacity per year (Table 5). At harvest, the treated vines showed higher Brix in all seasons and higher anthocyanin concentration two years out of three. Overall, early season applications of a film-forming anti-transpirant caused a leaf function limitation strong enough to reduce yield and cluster compactness through smaller final berry size.

Apical to the bunches – late leaf removal The most recent developments in summer pruning application deal with the quite frequent need in warm areas to prevent rapid ripening that in some instances leads to higher alcohol wines lacking in typical flavour. Along with altered or atypical phenolic and aroma profiles, extra-early seasonal ripening and the subsequent compression of the growing season strongly challenge vineyard management and winery facilities in relation to the feasibility of night harvesting, operational opening dates and the handling practices of warm grapes that are more prone to oxidation.

Thus, crop management demands for delaying ripening are more pressing and driven not only by the pressures of global warming but also by emerging

Figure 4. Close view of the fruiting area of Grenache after the blowing machine has passed through. approaches rely on techniques aimed at inducing effects that can run contrary to perceived wisdom. For instance, there are several traditional ways of achieving delayed ripening: by a calibrated yield increase, late-season vine growth through scheduled shoot trimming and

social attitudes towards ‘light and more responsible’ drinking that tend to prefer wines of moderate alcohol content (Seccia and Maggi 2011).

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water supply, or even by imposing a reduction in photosynthesis on the vine canopy at specific dates via the use of shading nets, leaf removal or shoot trimming and anti-transpirant sprays (Filippetti et al. 2011). Recent work by Palliotti et al. (2010) showed that the antitranspirant Vapor Gard applied twice at a 10-day interval on a portion of Sangiovese and Ciliegiolo canopies limited gas exchange (i.e., net photosynthesis (Pn) and stomatal conductance (gs)) by 40–70% compared with that of the

unsprayed control, and that this effect typically lasted 40–45 days after first spraying. Interestingly, once the spray is washed off, leaves show the ability to completely recover their function.

This implies that a late-season antitranspirant treatment could prove to be a powerful tool for controlling ripening.

Another alternative is the application of growth regulators. Böttcher et al. (2011) recently reported that a preveraison treatment with 1-naphthaleneacetic acid was effective in both delaying ripening

Figure 5. Apical to the bunch leaf removal performed on potted (B) and fieldgrown (D) grapevines. in B the gas exchange system used to monitor its effects of seasonal canopy photosynthesis and, in C, a leaf plucking machine operating in the vineyard Table 6. Leaf area (total and lateral fraction), yield components, grape composition and leaf-to-fruit ratio recorded at harvest in Sangiovese vines subjected to mechanised, apical to the bunches leaf removal applied at post-veraison (D) or control (C). Data averaged over treatments and years in the absence of significant interactions. From Palliotti et al. (2013) Defoliation

Parameter

Year

C

D

Sig.†

2011

2015

Sig.†

Total leaf area/vine (m2)

4.28a

2.80b

**

3.88a

3.20b

*

Lateral leaf area/vine (m2)

1.60a

0.72b

**

1.36a

0.96b

*

Clusters/vine

10.0

10.3

ns

10.6

9.8

ns

Yield/vine (kg)

2.51

2.63

ns

3.26a

1.88b

**

Cluster weight (g)

250.0

243.0

ns

310.0a

183.0b

**

Berry weight (g)

2.05

2.03

ns

2.54a

1.54b

**

Total soluble solids (°Brix)

23.9a

22.7b

*

22.9b

23.8a

*

Titratable acidity (g/L)

6.35

6.15

ns

6.23

6.40

ns

Must pH

3.26

3.31

ns

3.30

3.47

ns

Anthocyanins (mg/cm2 skin)

0.419

0.411

ns

0.344b

0.486a

**

Total phenolics (mg/cm )

0.59

0.57

ns

0.56

0.59

ns

Leaf-to-fruit ratio (m /kg)

1.77a

1.13b

*

1.21b

1.70a

*

2

2

†Means within rows designed by different superscript letters are significantly different by the StudentNewman-Keuls test. *, **, ns indicate significance at P ≤ 0.05 and 0.01 or not significant, respectively

46

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and ameliorating synchronicity in sugar accumulation in Shiraz. In addition, it has been shown that the application of brassinazole and 1-methylcyclopropene (inhibitors of brassinosteroids and ethylene perception, respectively) can postpone ripening (Symons et al. 2006). A somewhat newer approach to desirable delayed ripening is the use of unripe grapes harvested during bunch thinning as a method for reducing wine alcohol content and pH (Kontoudakis et al. 2011).

Well-established leaf age versus Pn relationships (Kriedemann et al. 1970, Poni et al. 1994) show that the leaves with the highest photosynthesis rates are located in the middle of the shoot between fruitset and veraison and in the apical part of the shoot post-veraison.

Poni at al. (2013) proposed that ripening could be conveniently delayed through pre- or post-veraison leaf removal which, in contrast with the traditional approach, is deliberately performed in the upper two-thirds of the canopy (i.e., apical to the bunches) where the most functional leaves are located at that time of the season (Figure 5).

To verify the hypothesis, potted cv.

Sangiovese grapevines were subjected to leaf removal treatments applied pre-veraison (DEF-I) and post-veraison (DEF-II) by pulling out six to seven primary leaves and laterals above the bunch zone; untouched vines served as the control. Whole-canopy net CO2 gas exchange was monitored seasonally from nine days before DEF-I to 35 days after DEF-II. Concurrently, single-leaf gas exchange was assessed, and at harvest yield components, grape composition and the leaf-to-fruit ratio were determined.

The seasonal carbon/yield ratio did not differ between treatments because of the high capacity for photosynthetic compensation shown by the DEF treatments, quantified as about a 35% higher net CO2 gas exchange per unit of leaf area per day. While ripening was temporarily retarded in both DEF treatments, with sugar content being lower and titratable acidity higher, a week later both treatments had fully or partially recovered; phenolic ripening was unaffected at either harvest date.

The main conclusion of this work was that defoliation above the bunch zone applied at lag-phase and post-veraison (average 12°Brix) was effective in temporarily delaying technological ripeness without affecting colour and phenolics. This result depended upon the high compensation capacity for photosynthesis shown by vines in both treatments.

To verify the effectiveness of the technique in the field, defoliation

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treatments were applied in 2011 and 2012 post-veraison to cv. Sangiovese vines (D) on either side of each row using a mechanical leaf remover (Figure 5), and these D vines were compared with a non-defoliated control (C) (Palliotti et al. 2013). The machine removed 35% of the leaves on the vine and created a 50cm vertical window without leaves above the bunch area, but retained a few leaves at the canopy apex (about 0.50m2/ vine). In both years, leaf removal reduced the rate of berry sugar accumulation and led to a 1.2 lower harvest Brix and, consequently, a lower wine alcohol (-0.6%) content in D relative to that of C vines(Table 6). In 2012, sugar content of D vines, monitored in a group of vines that was not harvested, had recovered to that of C vines two weeks after harvest.

The concentration of total phenolic compounds in the grapes, the chemical and spectral characteristics of the wines and the replenishment of soluble sugars, starch and total nitrogen in the canes and roots were similar in the D and C vines. In conclusion, to achieve an effective delay in sugar accumulation in the berries, leaves should be removed at 16–17°Brix, and at least 30–35% of vine leaf area should be removed.

Interestingly, the operation can be mechanised at higher speed than any basal leaf removal since the working area is bunch-free and does not directly impact on bunch microclimate, which remained unchanged compared with the non-defoliated vines.

To provide growers with an additional, non-invasive technique that

V2 9N 6

produced similar results to what was achieved with the early leaf removal, the effectiveness of a post-veraison application of the film-forming antitranspirant Vapor Gard was investigated as a technique to delay grape ripening and reduce sugar accumulation in the berry (Palliotti et al. 2013). The study was carried out over the 2010–11 seasons in a non-irrigated vineyard of cv. Sangiovese in central Italy.

Vapor Gard (VG) was applied at 2% concentration to the upper two-thirds of the canopy (most functional leaves) and it significantly lowered leaf assimilation and transpiration rates and increased intrinsic water use efficiency. In both years VG treatment reduced the pace of sugar accumulation in the berry compared with the control vines, scoring a -1.2°Brix at harvest and wine alcohol content at -1% without compromising the recovery of concentrations of carbohydrates and total nitrogen in canes and roots. Concurrently, organic acids, pH and phenolic richness of grapes and wines were unaffected, whereas there was a decrease in anthocyanin content in the berry (-19% compared with control vines) and in the wine (-15% compared with the control vines). The application of VG at postveraison above the cluster zone is an effective, simple and viable technique to hinder berry sugaring and obtain less alcoholic wines. To be effective the spraying should be performed at ~14-15°Brix, making sure that the lower leaf epidermis is fully wetted by the chemical.

W i n e & V i t i c u ltur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

vi tt ic ic u u ll tt u u re re vi

Conclusions The cultural practice of leaf removal has been re-interpreted in terms of timing and methods compared with the classic application typically performed anywhere from fruitset until veraison on the basal portion of the canopy with the aim of improving the exposure of clusters to light and ventilation. Adjusting timing and methods of leaf removal allow either the promotion of ripening (i.e., early leaf removal of at least six basal main leaves) or delay ripening (i.e., leaf removal of a similar amount of leaf area performed apical to the clusters around veraison). Both operations have solid physiological background and, especially in the more trialed early leaf removal, has shown consistency in effects across a range of genotypes and environments.

Technically, these practices are quite attractive since they can both be easily mechanised and, in cases where some leaf cover is desirable, their effects can be quite consistently reproduced using an anti-transpirant compound.

Overall, knowledge about grapevine physiology allows us to use certain summer pruning operations as tools to achieve a specific and desired grape composition pattern while departing from the rule of thumb that the same operations are something that growers just ‘have’ to do, with no or little control of subsequent vine reaction.

References Bergqvist, J.; Dokoozlian, N. and Ebisuda, N. (2001) Sunlight exposure and temperature effects on

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berry growth and composition of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache in the Central San Joaquin Valley of California. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 52:1-6.

Böttcher, C.; Harvey, K.; Forde, C.G.; Boss, P.K. and Davies, C. (2011) Auxin treatment of pre-veraison grape (Vitis vinifera L.) berries both delays ripening and increases the synchronicity of sugar accumulation. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 17:1-8.

Chorti, E.; Guidoni, S.; Ferrandino, A. and Novello, V. (2010) Effect of different cluster sunlight exposure levels on ripening and anthocyanins accumulation in Nebbiolo grapes. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 61:23-30.

Coombe, B.G. (1962) The effect of removing leaves, flowers and shoot tips on fruit-set in Vitis vinifera L. J. Hortic. Sci. 37:1-15.

Downey, M.O.; Dokoozlian, N.K. and Krstic, M.P. (2006) Cultural practices and environmental impacts on the flavonoid composition of grapes and wine: a review of recent research. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 57:257-268.

Dry, P.R.; Simos, C.A. and Sartorius, L.S. (2009) Do we need a new approach to bunch exposure in Australian vineyards? Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal 24:28-30.

Filippetti, I.; Allegro, G.; Mohaved, N.; Pastore, C.; Valentini, G. and Intrieri, C. (2011) Effects of late-season source limitations induced by trimming and antitranspirants canopy sprays on grape composition during ripening in Vitis vinifera L. cv. Sangiovese. Proceedings 17th international symposium GiESCO, 29 August-2 September 2011; Alba, Italy. pp259-262.

Intrieri, C. and S. Poni. (1995) Integrated evolution of trellis training systems and machines to improve grape and vintage quality of mechanized Italian vineyards. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 46:116-127.

Intrieri, C.; Filippetti, I.; Allegro, G.; Centinari, M. and Poni, S. (2008) Early defoliation (hand vs. mechanical) for improved crop control and grape composition in Sangiovese (Vitis vinifera L.). Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 1:25-32 Kontoudakis, N.; Esteruelas, M.; Fort, F.; Canals, J.M. and Zamora, F. (2011) Use of unripe grapes harvested during cluster thinning as a method for reducing alcohol content and pH of wine. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 17:230-238.

Krasnow, M.; Weis, N.; Smith, R.J.; Jason Benz, M.; Matthews, M. and Shackel, K. (2009) Inception, progression and compositional consequences of a berry shrivel disorder. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 60: 24-34.

Kriedemann, P.E.; Kliewer, W.M. and Harris, J.M. (1970) Leaf age and

photosynthesis in Vitis vinifera L. Vitis 9:97-104.

Marais, J.; Hunter, J.J. and Haasbroek, P.D. (1999) Effect of canopy microclimate, season and region on Sauvignon blanc grape composition and wine quality. South African Journal of Enology and Viticulture 20:19-30.

Mescalchin, E.; Bottura, M.; Cainelli, R.; Fellin, F.; Gobber, M.; Lucin, R.; Margoni, M. and Ribolli, F. (2008) Sfogliare precocemente la vite per evitare scottature e botrite. L’Informatore Agrario 17:39-42.

Mori, K.; Goto-Yamamoto, N.; Kitayama, M. and Hashizume, K. (2007) Loss of anthocyanins in red-wine grape under high temperature. Journal of Experimental Botany 58:1935-1945.

Palliotti, A.; Silvestroni, O. and Petoumenu, D. (2009) Photosynthetic and photoinhibition behavior of two field-grown grapevine cultivars under multiple summer stresses. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 60:189-198.

Palliotti, A.; Poni, S.; Berrios, J.G. and Bernizzoni, F. (2010) Vine performance and grape composition as affected by early-season source limitation induced with anti-transpirants in two red Vitis vinifera cultivars. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 16:426-433.

Palliotti, A.; Gatti, M. and Poni, S. (2011) Early leaf removal to improve vineyard efficiency: gas exchange, source-to-sink balance and reserve storage response.

American Journal of Enology and Viticulture. J. Enol. Vitic. 62:219-228.

Palliotti, A.; Panara, F.; Silvestroni, O.; Lanari, V.; Sabbatini, P.; Howell, G.S.; Gatti, M. and Poni, S. (2013) Influence of mechanical post-veraison leaf removal apical to the cluster zone on delay of fruit ripening in Sangiovese (Vitis vinifera L.) grapevines. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. doi: 10.1111/ ajgw.12033.

Poni, S.; Intrieri, C. and Silvestroni, O. (1994) Interactions of leaf age, fruiting, and exogenous cytokinins in Sangiovese grapevines under non-irrigated conditions. I. Gas exchange. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 45:71-78.

Poni, S.; Casalini, L.; Bernizzoni, F.; Civardi, S. and Intrieri, C. (2006) Effects of early defoliation on shoot photosynthesis, yield components, and grape quality.

American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 57:397-407.

Poni, S.; Bernizzoni, F. and Civardi, S. (2008) The effect of early leaf removal on whole-canopy gas exchange and vine performance of Vitis vinifera L. ‘Sangiovese’.

Vitis 47:1-6.

Poni, S. and Bernizzoni, F. (2010) A three-year survey on the impact of preflowering leaf removal on berry growth components and grape composition in cv.

Barbera vines. J. Int. Sci. Vigne Vin 44:1-10.

Poni, S.; Gatti, M.; Bernizzoni, F.; Civardi, S.; Bobeica, N.; Magnanini, E. and Palliotti, A. (2013) Late leaf removal aimed at delaying ripening in cv. Sangiovese: Physiological assessment and vine performance. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 19:378-387.

Price, S.F.; Breen, P.J.; Valladao, M. and Watson, T. (2005) Cluster sun exposure and quercetin in Pinot noir grapes and wine. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 46:187-194.

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Seccia, A. and Maggi, G. (2011) Futuro roseo per i vitigni a bassa gradazione alcolica. L’informatore Agrario 13:11-14.

Spayd, S.E.; Tarara, J.M.; Mee, D.L. and Ferguson, J.C. (2002) Separation of sunlight and temperature effects on the composition of Vitis vinifera cv. Merlot berries. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 53:171-182.

Sternad Lemut, M.; Trost, K.; Sivilotti, P.; Arapitsas, P. and Vrhovsek, U. (2013) Early versus late leaf removal strategies for Pinot Noir (Vitis vinifera L.): Effect on colour-related phenolics in young wines following alcoholic fermentation Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 93:3670-3681.

Symons, G.M.; Davies, C.; Shakurov, Y.; Dry, I.B.; Reid, J.B. and Thomas, M.R. (2006) Grapes and steroids. Brassinosteroids are involved in grape berry ripening.

Plant Physiology 140:150-158.

Vilanova, M.; Diago, M.P.; Genisheva, Z.; Oliveira, J.M. and Tardaguila, J. (2012) Early leaf removal impact on volatile composition of Tempranillo wines. Journal of WVJ the Science of Food and Agriculture 92:935-942.

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Shiraz Disease goes viral

By Nuredin Habili Waite Diagnostics, University of Adelaide. Email: nuredin.habili@adelaide.edu.au

Figure 1. Delayed shooting of grafted Shiraz buds in spring is a sign of Shiraz Disease. We have been inundated with these samples this spring.

In the January/February 2013 issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal we described in detail the damaging effect of grapevine virus A (GVA) which expresses itself as ‘Shiraz Disease’ (SD) in one of the most important grapevine varieties in Australia, Shiraz. Discussions held recently with a viticulturist highlighted that due to an increasing demand in the market for Shiraz grapes, wineries are asking growers to change over to that variety. The change-over is commonly achieved by grafting the Shiraz scion onto an existing unmarketable variety.

This year Waite Diagnostics has received a number of diseased samples from South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

All samples shared the following characteristics typical of Shiraz Disease: • • • •

had recently been grafted (within the last 12-24 months) onto Chardonnay or onto any GVA-tolerant variety like Riesling lagged behind in growth compared with unaffected grafted vines sometimes even growing in the same row (Figure 1) affected vines tested positive for GVA in the lab leaves of affected vines turn red in late autumn and remain on the canopy through to late winter

•

•

an additional characteristic symptom we noticed this year is longitudinal cracking in one-year-old woody cordon of Shiraz, but not on the rootstock (Figure 2 - see page 50); some darkening of stem piths was also observed (Figure 2) (we overlooked this symptom in previous years, so thanks to the young grower in the Barossa Valley for pointing this out) no natural transmission of the disease in the vineyards so no apparent spread occurs by any equipment or by insects in Australia, although GVA is transmitted by mealybugs in Europe.

Economic Impact A vineyard of 5000 grafted vines at Langhorne Creek had to be removed because 4000 of the young Shiraz vines showed the SD infection and tested positive for GVA. Likewise, another vineyard in Barossa Valley had to be dug out.

It has been estimated that the cost of establishing a vineyard, including preparing the land, trellising, irrigation and planting is about $50,000. This excludes the costs for top-working and fumigation. ▶

WVJ

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Figure 2. One-year-old Shiraz wood infected with Shiraz Disease showing longitudinal cracks and dark stains in the trunk of the same vine. Photo courtesy Professor John Randles Recommendations Before changing over an established vineyard to Shiraz make sure the vineyard is not ‘dirty’ i.e. it is not infected with GVA. We recommend not buying a GVA-infected vineyard in the first place.

You can select a scion from any Shiraz clone, so long as the source block does not turn red in autumn. If Shiraz leaves turn red in autumn (Figure 3) it is an indication of a ‘virus’ infection.

If you have already grafted an infected vineyard and the signs of the virus are already appearing, you can cut off (all) the Shiraz section and use the rootstock (or its water shoots) to graft a tolerant variety over it. Cabernet Sauvignon is tolerant to GVA. After all, its infamous clone SA125 has GVA and it does not show any sign of infection. If you are adamant about planting Shiraz, you will have to bear the cost of digging WVJ out and re-establishing the vineyard.

Figfure 3. Symptoms of Shiraz Disease in autumn. Shiraz was grafted onto Chardonnay which tested positive to GVA but did not show any symptoms.

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Grapevine vegetative and reproductive development respond to soil temperature

By Suzy Rogiers* and Simon Clarke,

*Corresponding author: suzy.rogiers@dpi.nsw.gov.au National Wine & Grape Industry Centre, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2650

Why study soil temperature?

The growth and development of vines are closely linked to environmental factors such as temperature, light and water. Air temperature has received considerable attention in viticultural research, from the regional scale to the vineyard level to the bunchzone. Soil temperature, however, has received little consideration despite its significant effect on root functioning, including root growth, water and nutrient uptake, carbohydrate reserve mobilisation and the production of signalling molecules.

Here we report the results of an experiment that examined the response of grapevine canopy and berry development to soil temperature. The cultivar chosen for the experiment was Shiraz (clone 1654) and the plants were grown outdoors in pots. We warmed (+3°C), cooled (-5°C) or left their soil temperature unchanged (22°C) between budburst and fruitset. We then allowed the soil of all pots to remain at ambient temperature for the rest of the season (Figure 1).

What happens when the soil is warmed?

Soil temperature had a pronounced effect on the concentration of starch in grapevine roots (Figure 2 - see page 52). Grapevines use the starch stored in roots over winter as a carbon source to develop shoots and leaves in spring. By fruitset, grapevines potted in warmed soil dropped their starch content by about half (from 28% to 14% on a dry weight basis). Grapevines exposed to soil at ambient temperature dropped their starch content to a similar level (16%). In contrast, the plants with a cooled rootzone dropped their starch content very little (25%). This trend could also be seen in the below-ground trunk but not in any other tissues (above-ground trunk, cordon, spur and shoots).

The most likely fate of the starch rapidly mobilised by the warm soil treatments is the provision of energy and structural compounds to support the initial stages of canopy development.

Warmed rootzones resulted in plants

Figure 1. Simon Clarke taking measurements in the rootzone temperature experiment.

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with accelerated leaf emergence, longer shoots, larger leaves and greater vegetative biomass.

The elastic response of leaf gas exchange We observed an elastic response in leaf gas exchange to warm soils in spring. Leaf gas exchange refers to water leaving leaf pores as a vapour and CO2 entering as a gas. A physiological process with an elastic response performs the same before and after a potentially stressful event.

In this case the stress is abnormally warm or cool soil. An elastic response is analogous to flexing a rubber band and allowing it to return to its original shape.

The stomatal conductance of the grapevine leaves in our experiment behaved elastically. The stomata are tiny pores on the underside of a grapevine leaf that regulate the exchange of gases between the leaf and surrounding atmosphere. While the treatments were applied, warm soil temperatures promoted the opening of stomata, increasing their conductance. This enabled the leaves of those vines that were exposed to warm rootzones to undergo higher rates of photosynthesis (CO2 conversion into sugars). The stomata of the plants with cool soil remained relatively closed.

This pattern was observed during the day but was also present at night, at which time conductance was about five times lower. Night-time stomatal conductance is important because it can account for 10% of the daily water use. These patterns in stomatal conductance persisted throughout the treatment period – leaf gas exchange did not adjust to the soil temperature conditions we imposed. The elastic nature of the response was observed when the soil temperature treatments were turned off. After fruitset, with the soil of all pots at the same temperature, the previous persistent contrast in stomatal conductance disappeared. The metaphorical rubber band returned to its original shape. ▶

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Soil temperature and developmental rates

Figure 2. Starch concentrations in Shiraz roots, spurs and shoots at fruitset after 60 days of cool, ambient or warm rootzone temperature treatments applied from budburst. Starch concentrations within roots and spurs during dormancy are also shown.

Figure 3. Effect of rootzone temperature on the onset of flowering (capfall) and veraison. The rootzone treatments were applied for 60 days from budburst to fruitset. Veraison commenced 48 days after treatment initiation.

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Warming and cooling the soil of potted grapevines influenced their rate of growth and phenology. Growth rate refers to biomass accumulation with respect to time, such as the number of centimetres a shoot grows per week. Phenology refers to the timing of readily identifiable plant growth stages. These growth stages could be the appearance of particular organs (e.g., budburst, leaf emergence) or phenomena (such as berry colour change, veraison).

As mentioned earlier, warm soil temperatures increased the rate of shoot growth and the rate of leaf emergence.

This temperature treatment also resulted in earlier flower capfall (Figure 3A). It did not, however, increase the number of flowers or the proportion of flowers that were converted into berries. Fruitset is dependent on carbon derived from photosynthesis as opposed to carbon from the reserves. The lack of an effect on fruitset indicates that this source of carbon was in good supply across all soil temperature treatments.

Veraison was brought forward by several days in berries of vines exposed to warm soil (Figure 3B), and this was likely the result of the earlier flowering and higher photosynthesis rates of these vines. Berry enlargement was also accelerated prior to and after veraison, but by the time the berries were fully mature they were no longer very different in size. At commercial harvest, the berries were also not different in sugar (째Brix) or colour (anthocyanin concentrations).

Sugar per berry was greater in those plants subjected to warm soils back in spring, primarily because berries were slightly larger. High grape juice pH and low titratable acidity were also evident in these berries and again may be the result of accelerated development of the fruit.

Petiole analyses indicated that the vines from the warm soil treatment contained greater concentrations of K and this may have also contributed to the high berry pH. The results of this study on potted vines suggest that as well as carbon acquisition and allocation, soil temperature may influence root growth and nutrient uptake.

For example, for plants grown in warm soils we observed that fine root growth and root branching was stimulated and macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) were present in greater concentrations in leaf petioles. Nitrogen isotope analyses indicate that most of this element was derived from reserves in the perennial tissues and, at least while soils were warm, root fertiliser uptake was stimulated. Overall, the results suggest that grapevines should exhibit a V29N6

S O I L T E M P E R ATU R E

coordinated response to soil temperature, whereby warm soil temperatures stimulate the mobilisation of both nitrogen and carbon (starch) reserves in the below ground perennial tissues to support new season vegetative and reproductive growth.

Practical implications From this research we infer that spatial variations in vineyard spring soil temperature may produce within-block variability in grapevine phenology (e.g., flowering and veraison) and contribute to variations in canopy vigour. Because uniformity is desirable from a management perspective it is important that ideas for ameliorating variations in soil temperature be tested, such as mulching and varying vegetative cover. These factors also alter soil moisture content. Therefore, their application needs to be considered in conjunction with irrigation regimes and climate.

Our results also suggest that spring soil temperature may contribute to betweenvintage variations in the progression of fruit and canopy development. Warm spring soils should be associated with accelerated shoot growth and larger leaves, and earlier dates for flowering and the onset of veraison. They offer an explanation for

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seasonal variations in the calendar date of viticultural events such as fruitset, lifting training wires and bunch closure, and the effectiveness of viticultural treatments such as regulated deficit irrigation (RDI).

The results of this experiment also challenge our ideas about where to obtain physiologically-meaningful measurements of vineyard temperature. Air temperature has been used for many years to model grapevine budburst, canopy development, leaf gas exchange and the suitability of cultivars to particular growing regions.

These models indicate temperature is a key determinant of grapevine physiology.

An implication of the experiment presented here is that these models could well be improved by the incorporation of information on vineyard soil temperature.

Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge funding support by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

References Rogiers, S.Y.; Clarke, S.J. and Schmidtke, L.M. (2014) Elevated rootzone temperature hastens

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vi t ic u l t u re

vegetative and reproductive development in Shiraz grapevines. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 20:123-133.

Rogiers, S.Y. and Clarke, S.J. (2013) Nocturnal and daytime stomatal conductance respond to rootzone temperature in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Shirazâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; grapevines. Annals of Botany 111:433-444.

Rogiers, S.Y. and Clarke, S.J. (2013) Vegetative growth and cluster development in Shiraz grapevines subjected to partial rootzone cooling. AoB Plants 5: plt036, doi: 10.1093/aobpla/plt036.

Rogiers, S.Y.; Smith, J.P.; Holzapfel, B.P. and Hardie, W.J. (2011) Soil temperature moderates grapevine carbohydrate reserves after budbreak and conditions fruitset responses to photoassimilatory stress. Functional Plant Biology 38:899-909.

Rogiers, S.Y.; Hardie, W.J. and Smith, J.P. (2011) Stomatal density of grapevine leaves (V. vinifera L) responds to soil temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 17:147-152.

Field, S.K.; Smith, J.P.; Holzapfel, B.P.; Hardie, W.J. and Emery, R.J.N. (2009) Grapevine response to soil temperature: xylem cytokinins and carbohydrate reserve mobilisation from budbreak to anthesis.

American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 60:164172.

Clarke, S.J.; Lamont, K.J.; Pan, H.Y.; Barry, L.; Hall, A. and Rogiers, S.Y. (2015) Rootzone temperature regulates root growth, nutrient acquisition and shoot growth dynamics in grapevines.

Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research (in WVJ review)

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Verdejo shows promising signs at Trentham Estate

By Anthony Murphy, Managing Director/Chief Winemaker, Trentham Estate, Murray Darling, New South Wales

Trentham Estateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s managing director and chief winemaker Anthony Murphy.

I was fortunate enough to join a tour group led by Richard Smart through the winegrape growing regions of Spain. On this trip we visited Rueda where Verdejo is the main variety grown. The vineyards were a remarkable sight, both bush and trellised vines planted in large gravel flats at around 700m above sea level.

With no other vegetation on the rocky landscape it was quite hot despite the elevation.

We visited a new winery of Jose Pariente which was still being built. An impressive modern building filled with new state-of-the-art stainless steel equipment. Verdejo was their flagship variety and the winery was looking to crush 250 tonnes that coming vintage.

Winemaker Victoria Pariente said they usually picked over 15-20 days aiming for 12.5 Baume with a TA of 7.0g/L and pH of 3.20. At the winery must was chilled then pressed after 8-12 hours of skin contact. Fermentation was all in stainless steel tanks. The wine would remain on lees until required for bottling.

We tasted the 2007 Jose Pariente Verdejo; the first Verdejo I had ever tried.

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A Verdejo vine in the Trentham Estate vineyard.

Trentham Estate viticulturist Pat Murphy.

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VERdejo

By Peter Dry Emeritus Fellow, The Australian Wine Research Institute

A Verdejo bunch.

The wine was a striking mix of tropical fruit and herbaceous flavours, good acid and more body and structure than I expected. Trentham Estate has long been growing and making alternative variety wines. Our current releases include Pinot Grigio, Vermentino, Taminga, Nebbiolo and Lambrusco Maestri, so tasting the Verdejo was of great interest.

Two years later, by chance, I was contacted by Paul Croxton from Boulevarde Nurseries in Irymple asking whether we’d be interested in planting Verdejo. The nursery had brought in Verdejo cuttings from Spain and they had been released after two years in quarantine. Boulevarde Nurseries used plant tissue culture to rapidly propagate the Verdejo vines.

Coincidently the call came around the time of the announcement that Australia’s Albarino plantings weren’t actually Albarino. We had good success with our first and only release - 2008 Estate Albarino. Sales were going well, we’d almost sold out of the 2008 and we were preparing the 2009 for bottling. We decided not to release a Savagnin and looked to Verdejo.

In December 2010 we planted 0.6 hectares of Verdejo; clone 77 on own roots just across the road from the winery. Vines were planted in an eastwest facing direction, 1.83m apart with a row spacing of 3.35m. They are trained on a two-wire vertical trellis and spur pruned to two buds. The vines have medium to high vigour and produce quite loose medium-sized bunches with medium-sized berries. The vines are irrigated with under-vine sprinklers.

Our first pick totalled 6.5 tonnes on 12 February 2013. The fruit was machine picked in the early morning into 2.5-tonne bins with 100mg/L PMS and delivered to the winery within minutes of being harvested. The juice was handled reductively, free run and pressings fined separately, then combined after cold settling. A pre-ferment juice analysis showed 12.2 Baume, pH3.69, 4.9g/L TA V2 9N 6

Background Verdejo (ver-DECK-ho) originated in Castilla y Léon, Spain. The name refers to the green colour of the berries. Traditionally it was mainly restricted to the Rueda region where it was used to make a sherry-style wine. Changes in winemaking practice to reduce oxidation and the introduction of picking at night have allowed fine table wines to be produced from this variety since the 1970s, resulting in a significant expansion in plantings. For example, plantings have grown from 4453ha in 2000 to 16,578ha in 2010. Today it is the fifth most important white variety in Spain, mainly grown in Castilla y Léon with smaller areas in Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura. DNA profiling indicates that Albillo de Nava (grown in Rueda) is identical to Verdejo (but not related to either Albillo Mayor or Albillo Real) and that Godello (Gouveio) is a sibling. It is not related to either Verdejo Negro (syn. Verdejo Tinto) or Verdejo Colorado (syn. Pedral). Also, a previously reported relationship with Damaschino (syn. Planta Fina) has been recently disproved. Other synonyms include Boton de Gallo Blanco and Verdeja. Outside of Spain it is almost non-existent with tiny areas planted in both USA and Australia (there are at least two wine producers at present in the Murray Darling and Barossa Valley regions).

Viticulture Budburst is mid-season and maturity is early to mid-season. Vigour is low and yield is moderate. Maximum permitted yield in Rueda is 10 tonnes per hectare for trellised vines. Bunches are small to medium and compact with small to medium thin-skinned berries with a distinctive blue-green bloom. Tolerance of drought and heat is good but it is very susceptible to powdery mildew. Pruning is generally to canes or long spurs due to low to medium bud fertility. Clonal selection in Spain has shown variation between clones—but at the present time there may be only a single clone in Australia.

Wine Wines in Spain are medium to full-bodied with good acidity and are very aromatic with notes of laurel and bitter almond. Verdejo is used as a single variety or blended, most commonly with Sauvignon Blanc.

For further information on this and other emerging varieties, contact Marcel Essling (marcel.essling@awri.com.au or 08 8313 6600) at The Australian Wine Research Institute to arrange the presentation of the Alternative Varieties Research to Practice program in your region. and 106NTU. 2g/L of tartaric acid was added before seeding with a commercial S.cerevisiae yeast strain. Fermentation took place at between 12-17oC to dryness.

The wine remained on yeast lees until stabilising and clarifying just prior to bottling in early June 2013. At the time of release, we were the only Australian Verdejo commercially available. The wine has distinctive flavours, a mixture of fresh stone fruit and tropical fruit flavours with some grassy and cut hay notes. Despite being 12% alcohol the palate is full and soft. You could say it looks like a cross between an unoaked Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. The 2013 Verdejo has received five trophies including the Best Spanish Variety and Best Murray Darling Wine at the 2013 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show.

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This year we picked 11 tonnes on 12 February at 12.1 Baume, the same picking date and Baume to 2013. We experienced a heatwave from 13-17 January with temperatures between 40 and 45oC. The vines handled the heat well, and we had no sunburn on the fruit.

The juice was a little fuller with more colour and phenolics than 2013 and we chose not to include any pressings in the 2014 wine. The wine was bottled in midJune and is consistent in flavour and body to the 2013.

We are happy with our style of Verdejo and it sits well in our Estate range, offering a wine lighter in style to our Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, and fresh yet more complex and fuller than our Sauvignon Blanc. As long as sales continue to do well it’s here to stay. WVJ

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business & marketing

CHINA

Playing the long game in China: How the Chinese lexicon can support market development

By Justin Cohen, Larry Lockshin and Armando Corsi, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, University of South Australia In the September-October 2014 issue of this journal, key findings from the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) funded Chinese lexicon project were presented. For detailed reporting on this and other China-focussed research, visit the AGWA website, http:// research.agwa.net.au. This article will position these research outcomes within a broader portfolio of our research insights on both short and long-term marketing planning. Our industry can use these results to develop a sustainable competitive advantage in the China wine market.

Some of you would have attended the Wine Industry Outlook conference held in October. Some speakers and attendees commented on the pessimism of the industry. This article is not really a pep talk, but focusses on the opportunity in China as one part of success in the global market.

In order to succeed in China, we must have a long-term vision rather than just a focus on short-term success. This is easy to say, but hard to do. In business, all decisions are tempered by the real fear of negative cashflow. A market must be crafted that can generate sustained volume and value growth, not just for the next quarter or even next year, but for decades to come.

Australia is already doing reasonably well in China. There are many wine businesses pounding the pavement across China spreading the message about Australian wine. More hard work is required. However, we have the opportunity to not just work harder, but work smarter. AGWA supports numerous China-focussed initiatives that generate market intelligence that can help.

If you require insights to frame immediate marketing action then please refer to the China Wine Barometer (via the AGWA website). This project is ongoing and provides regular updates on the awareness and image of Australia

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The Chinese lexicon project validated the terms Chinese wine consumers use to describe wines and measured consumers’ likability, willingness to pay, perceived price point and most suitable consumption occasion for our key wine styles, enabling producers across Australia to assess whether their products are currently suitable and profitable for export to China. Photo: Wine Australia and its key competitors in China, as well as the ‘state of play’ in the major retail channels. This is where route to market decisions can be derived at a winery level and where the industry should look to understand how to optimise Brand Australia growth through brand image data. In addition, the Chinese lexicon project has made a contribution by increasing our understanding of Chinese preferences for wine styles. We didn’t only validate the lexicon used to describe the wines, but also measured Chinese wine drinkers’ likability, willingness to pay, perceived price point and most suitable consumption occasion for our key wine styles. This can help producers across Australia immediately assess whether their products are currently suitable and profitable for export to China.

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This research is ground breaking due to the use of consumers rather than an expert panel to develop terms and descriptions. Our lexicon research demonstrates that current Chinese wine drinkers slightly favour Western descriptors both in laboratory and applied settings. This can be explained by the fact that Western descriptors are the dominant tool used in education and communication with those selling and consuming wine today. Almost all consumer research in China is conducted on current users of the category, with only a few studies investigating non-drinkers of wine.

It is quite possible that those alcohol consumers who do not drink grape wine will have virtually no knowledge of the category and very little acclimation to Western culture, food or other products.

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Australia has the opportunity to educate and communicate with this much larger cohort of potential wine buyers in a more culturally suited manner. This could be a key factor in developing a sustainable competitive advantage for Australia in China.

business & marketing

One problem for business is that most decisions are made and performance pegged on short-term goals. It is important to grasp that the evolution of the China wine market will not happen overnight. What we see now is just the start of a long-term trend towards wine consumption. Australia has

Our research indicates that Chinese wine drinkers hold little regard for the recommendations by sales staff in a retail environment or service staff in an on-premise setting. This could be partially attributed to a genuine lack of wine knowledge... Perhaps we can support those who do business on our behalf in China to better serve potential Australian wine buyers through increasing their wine education and training.

The missing link between Australia and the development of the China market are the Chinese, who are working in a direct sales capacity. Our research indicates that Chinese wine drinkers hold little regard for the recommendations by sales staff in a retail environment or service staff in an on-premise setting. This could be partially attributed to a genuine lack of wine knowledge. We have spoken with many retailers, distributors and Australian wineries with a presence in China and this issue is pervasive. Perhaps we can support those who do business on our behalf in China to better serve potential Australian wine buyers through increasing their wine education and training. The Chinese lexicon has a role in improving the wine knowledge of Chinese direct sellers.

The Chinese lexicon project provides knowledge that can help us play the long game in supporting market development.

Much of the wine business marketing activity in China is at the wrong end of the spectrum. We plan wine dinners, galas and tasting events; launch promotions through bricks and mortar and online retailers; and engage buyers through Chinese social media. All of this is good, but it tends to be directed at consumers of the category and these tend to skew towards being heavy users already. Much of our effort is focussed on passionate consumers who we have already hooked.

The long game should see us focus on growing penetration to other alcohol drinkers. The path to market growth is through increasing the number of buyers (penetration). The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science is supported by more than 90 of the top consumer product companies in the world (including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Kraft, Mars, CNN, Coca-Cola, Lion Nathan, Carlton United Brewery, to name a few) with penetration as a starting point for brand growth.

As an industry we must work together to increase our pool of potential buyers. China is doing its part with an economy that has supported the development of a rapidly growing middle class. It is the job of Australia to find ways to engage these potential customers, educate them about wine in general and Australian wine in particular. We can communicate with them in a way that best encodes the image and value proposition of the Australian category, so that we are top of mind as this cohort develops an interest in wine.

Australia needs a measured, rational and steady approach both at the individual producer level and more strategically at the industry level. In many ways, marketing is much like viticulture. Vines take years to mature. A viticulturist must cultivate and maintain the health of young vines to grow a mature long-term producing vineyard. A marketer cannot build brand equity, construct or shift brand image nor improve mental availability overnight. This takes a long-term focus.

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the opportunity to change the game in China in terms of wine education and communication. Through a concerted and team effort, we might be able to train the distribution, services and retail industries in China in order to facilitate our route to market. By better supporting them, we can better support our current Chinese wine consuming cohort and engage Chinese non-wine drinkers. Australia will reap what it sows. We need to play the long game by investing in education of the trade to use more Chinese based terms and descriptors. We believe this activity will grow the category over time to include new wine drinkers. What we are recommending is similar to what the French have done in the high-end trade; but we should target the much bigger growing middle class through industry WVJ education using a Chinese focussed context.

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CHINA

The rise of foreign wine demand in China

By Andrew Muhammad1* and Amanda M. Leister2 1 US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service 2 Colorado State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource *Corresponding author: amuhammad@ers.usda.gov The growth of the Chinese economy over the past 20 years has led to rising incomes and changes in consumer preferences, resulting in increased demand for luxury goods and consumption of higher quality food and beverages. Although there is a long standing tradition of grain-based alcohol consumption in China, rising education, income, and Westernisation has led to Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emergence as a major player in global wine trade. In 2000, China ranked 51st among world wine importers with just $4.9 million in bottled wine imports, making it a significantly smaller importer than major importers such as the UK and US. By 2011, Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imports increased to $1.3 billion, making it the fifth largest bottled-wine importing country in the world.

According to China Customs data, bottled wine imports consistently grew over the last decade, even doubling in some years (Table 1). From 2000 to 2011, imports increased steeply from $4.87 million to $1.274 billion. France has consistently been the primary supplier, accounting for 44 percent of the foreign bottled wine market on

average. While the share of Australian wine to total imports fluctuates from year to year, Australia has consistently been the second largest supplier averaging 19% since 2000, reaching $200 million in 2011. The average market share for the remaining major suppliers is 8.2% (US), 8.1% (Italy), 5.3% (Chile), and 4.7% (Spain). In 2004, the US share of the Chinese foreign bottled wine market peaked at 12.6%, but has since declined and is now around 4.2%.

Wine prices by exporting country are given in Table 2 and indicate that not only has the volume of wine imports increased in recent years, but that Chinese consumers are purchasing more expensive imports. Note that the prices in the table are based on cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) import values and may not fully reflect prices at the retail level. The average price of a bottle of French wine was $2.71 per litre in 2000, but increased to $5.99/L by 2011. This appears to be the case for all major suppliers, with the exception of Spain. During the same period, Australian wine increased from $2.42/L to $5.94/L, Italian wine from $2.23/L to

Table 1. Chinese bottled wine imports and exporter market share: 2000-2011.

Imports

Year

France

Spain

Italy

($US mill.)

Australia

Chile

U.S

ROW

Market share %

2000

4.87

36.28

2.63

15.08

12.78

10.13

10.19

12.91

2001

4.98

48.67

4.93

8.57

16.08

1.57

11.39

8.78

2002

9.26

42.39

4.85

7.63

16.62

3.66

12.53

12.32

2003

12.89

43.39

4.46

6.75

19.34

4.01

11.74

10.31

2004

25.25

37.26

4.69

6.68

22.55

5.28

12.62

10.91

2005

39.94

37.67

4.02

7.09

22.61

6.4

8.58

13.62

2006

77.26

37.8

7.8

9.73

22.14

5.37

6.86

10.52

2007

184.13

44.93

6.76

9.71

19.8

4.61

4.67

9.53

2008

276.31

45.94

4.34

7.82

19.87

5.21

5.34

11.48

2009

377.41

47.99

3.64

5.98

21.22

6.37

5.54

9.24

2010

657.35

51.68

4.04

5.91

17.71

5.63

4.88

10.15

2011

1,274.26

55.39

4.86

6.07

15.21

5.4

4.23

8.83

245.33

44.12

4.73

8.09

18.83

5.31

8.21

10.72

Average

Note: ROW is the 'rest of the world'.

Source: World Trade AtlasÂŽ, Global Trade Information Services, Inc.

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$4.10/L, and US wine from $1.89/L to $4.35/L. Chinese wine consumers are primarily interested in purchases that convey a level of prestige, status and respect, all of which are important components of Chinese culture. Consequently, quality wines, especially quality imported wines have become the choice of many high-end consumers. This preference for imported wine is also brand driven, often lacking emphasis on taste. Bordeaux and Burgundy wines enjoy strong recognition among Chinese consumers, and high-end consumers demand first-growth French wines, such as Lafite and Latour. Furthermore, one of the main features of the Chinese wine market, as opposed to Western markets, is the predominance of red over white wine. Approximately 90% of the wine consumed in China is red. The preference for red wine is rooted in Chinese culture where red is associated with celebrations and happiness. Although red wines dominate the Chinese market, white wine demand has been increasing, which is primarily attributed to female consumers who prefer the lighter taste of white wines.

A number of factors have contributed to the increase in wine consumption and, hence, wine imports in recent years. The average wine consumer in China tends to be college educated, and in 2011, nearly six million people graduated from universities and colleges, up from just one million in 2001. The average wine consumer is also a relatively wealthy part of a growing middle and upper income class. Chinese wine consumers are placing increased importance on perceived prestige, status, and respect.

Consequently, quality imported wines have become the choice of many high-end consumers. The growth in Chinese wine imports and the apparent preference for high quality raises questions about future trends in Chinese wine imports. In particular, as the Chinese economy grows and incomes rise, which exporting countries are likely to benefit as more

V29N6

CHINA

Table 2. Chinese bottled wine import prices by source: 2000−2011.

France

Year

Australia

Spain

Italy

Chile

U.S

$US/litre 2000

2.71

2.42

2.14

2.23

2.70

1.89

2001

4.44

1.87

2.70

2.28

2.18

1.53

2002

2.55

2.46

1.82

2.40

2.37

2.62

2003

3.01

3.13

1.76

2.81

2.83

2.78

2004

3.69

4.01

2.39

4.20

2.85

3.21

2005

4.39

4.00

4.42

3.94

3.10

3.35

2006

4.24

3.73

3.26

4.07

3.34

3.19

2007

5.33

4.15

3.66

3.50

3.21

3.64

2008

5.53

4.72

3.82

4.28

3.42

3.82

2009

4.46

4.29

2.96

3.58

3.54

3.34

2010

5.01

4.90

2.76

3.46

3.52

3.49

2011

5.99

5.94

3.27

4.10

3.94

4.35

Average

4.11

3.80

2.75

3.40

3.08

3.10

®

Source: World Trade Atlas , Global Trade Information Services, Inc.

income is allocated to foreign wine?

Using China Customs data on bottled wine imports during the period from 2002–2011, Economic Research Service researchers analysed foreign wine demand in China by origin

(France, Spain, Italy, Australia, Chile, and US). The study used an economic modelling procedure that accounted for changes in the responsiveness of wine imports by source to changes in export prices and total wine

business& &marketing marketing business

expenditures over time.

Results of the study include estimates of the marginal expenditure share for the exporting sources over time (see Figure 1 - see page 60).

The marginal expenditure share shows how a $1 increase in total wine imports affects exports from a particular country. For instance, in the first quarter of 2011, for every $1 increase in total wine imports, China spent $0.55 on French wine, $0.20 on Australian wine, $0.09 on Italian wine, $0.03 on Spanish wine, $0.03 on Chilean wine, $0.02 on American wine, and $0.08 on wine from all other sources.

Overall, results show that the marginal expenditure share for French and Italian wine imports increased since 2006, remained relatively stable for Australian imports, and decreased for imports of Spanish, Chilean, and American wine. In 2007, about $0.37 of every dollar spent on imported wine in China went to French wine, while about $0.13 of every dollar went to American wine. Since that time, there has been a growing preference for French wine, with a corresponding decrease in preference for American wine.

Currently, about $0.55 of every dollar

Our purpose is to provide buyers the best choice and sellers the best opportunities when dealing with Australian Bulk Wines.

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CHIna

will likely not be as strong.

Although the growth in Chinese wine imports has been phenomenal, there is the potential for further growth in the future. Domestic wine still accounts for the majority of wine sales, but the share of imports in total sales has been increasing. In the early 2000s, imports were around 10% of the total market. Estimates for 2011 indicate that Chinese wine production reached 1.16 billion litres, while imports were about 365 million litres, which is 25% of the total market. Although per capita wine consumption in China more than tripled in recent years to 0.9L, this is still low when compared with France (45L), Argentina (25L), Australia (25L), and US (9L). Old World countries like Italy and Spain are gaining more recognition as Chinese consumers gain a greater knowledge of wine.

Additionally, imports from New World countries like Australia and Chile are also growing as they sell at lower price points than other foreign suppliers.

Figure 1.The effects of a $1 increase in total wine imports in China on an exporting country (marginal expenditure share): 2006:Q1-2011:Q4. is spent on French wine, and $0.02 on American wine.

The results suggest an increasing preference for wine from traditional Old World suppliers like Italy and France, likely due to wine from these countries being perceived as higher

quality. Evidence suggests that the Chinese wine market will continue to grow, creating opportunities for all exporting countries. However, given the status of French wine among Chinese consumers, the growth of wine exports to China from other countries

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors, and may not be attributed to the Economic Research Service or the US Department of Agriculture.

This article is drawn from Muhammad, A.; Leister, A.M.; McPhail, L. and Chen, W. (2014) The evolution of foreign wine demand in China.

Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 58(3):392â&#x20AC;&#x201C;408. Available online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/14678489.12029/abstract WVJ

Note: Marginal expenditure shares are the responsiveness of Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bottled wine imports from a particular country to a $1 increase in total wine imports at a particular point in time, assuming wine prices across the exporting countries do not change. For instance, in the first quarter of 2011, for $1 increase in total wine imports, China spent $0.55 on French wine, $0.09 on Italian wine, $0.03 on Spanish wine, $0.20 on Australian wine, $0.03 on Chilean wine, and $0.02 on American (US) wine.

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business & marketing

The commoditisation of Australian wine in export markets

By Geoffrey Lewis1 and Tatiana Zalan2 Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Business School, 200 Leicester Street, Carlton Victoria 3053. Email: g.lewis@mbs.edu Associate Professor, Torrens University Australia, 220 Victoria Square, Adelaide 5000. Email: Tatiana.Zalan@tua.edu.au

1 2

A recent series of wine-tasting experiments shed light on the role price plays in consumer buying decisions and partly explain how commoditisation occurs. The authors also speculate as to what the industry should do in future to avoid the commoditisation trap in export markets.

INTRODUCTION

grew rapidly, until in 2002 they overtook domestic sales value. Exports continued to grow until 2007, when they were valued at $2879m (versus $2005m domestic).

After 2007 export volumes plateaued, but sales value plunged. The fifth industry cycle bust was in large part due to a collapse of prices in the key export markets. While the weakening Australian dollar impacted the profitability of export sales, the root cause of the export market collapse was the rapid decline in prices achieved in the two key markets (see Table 1).

The aim of this article is to explain the collapse of prices achieved for Australian wine in these markets. Simple supply and demand explanations are clearly inadequate (the volume of wine produced in Australia fell sharply in 2007, and barely got back to 2006 levels in 2010 (see

The Australian wine industry has experienced five boom and bust cycles over its history (Osmond and Anderson 1998). The fifth boom and bust cycle – which started in 1987 – was an export phenomenon. Before the boom, exports were a very small proportion of the industry, some 3.4 per cent (Grapegrower & Winemaker 2012). Exports accelerated in 1987-1989, the vineyard area took off dramatically in 1993 (to peak in 2007), and the export boom lasted through 19872007.

In 1996 (the year that Strategy 2025, the industry strategy, was launched by the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia), Australian domestic sales value was $1365 million compared with exports of $551m. Over the next five years exports

Table 1. Australian imports into the UK and the US (in local currencies).

UK (value in British pounds) Total Value

US *(Value in USD)

Year

Volume, L

Unit Value

Volume, L

1996

67,483,700

18,469,800

1997

80,125,300

25,774,288

Total Value 85,913,715 124,081,720

Unit Value 4.65 4.81

1998

92,609,000

202,315,353

2.18

31,805,493

151,879,061

4.78

1999

108,712,900

260,955,542

2.40

41,159,901

204,406,370

4.97

2000

148,786,600

287,608,663

1.93

56,487,155

281,881,254

4.99

2001

183,490,500

385,820,812

2.10

74,099,846

347,777,022

4.69

2002

200,661,600

408,032,791

2.03

111,972,435

460,744,397

4.11

2003

215,205,000

420,402,815

1.95

151,688,990

626,698,194

4.13

2004

229,541,000

467,369,876

2.04

182,309,757

731,824,757

4.01

2005

222,613,100

421,903,555

1.90

202,081,509

765,371,457

3.79

2006

228,287,000

426,748,558

1.87

215,764,381

766,072,990

3.55

2007

234,346,900

461,359,301

1.97

204,035,890

797,296,349

3.91

2008

214,539,800

440,864,147

2.05

193,656,681

701,160,064

3.62

2009

219,920,400

386,327,236

1.76

242,698,296

642,241,357

2.65

2010

243,959,600

303,198,914

1.24

212,937,819

609,424,685

2.86

2011

240,205,800

299,706,943

1.25

183,921,631

557,164,002

3.03

2012

231,188,000

291,942,154

1.26

205,285,817

535,093,667

2.61

2013

164,946,764

233,810,787

1.42

180,968,092

500,339,309

2.76

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Figure 1 - see page 62). It seems that consumers in the US and UK were simply unwilling to pay more for Australian wine – it had become a commodity bought solely on the basis of price.

The discussion is structured in three parts. First, we provide our interpretation of the key events that led to the crisis.

Secondly, we describe a series of winetasting experiments which shed light on the role price plays in consumer buying decisions. The results of the experiments go some way in explaining how commoditisation occurs. Thirdly, we speculate as to what the industry should do in future to avoid the commoditisation trap in export markets.

CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE INDUSTRY CRISIS A trigger of the industry boom and inevitable bust was the change to a significant increase in wine wholesale tax announced in the 1993 budget and the outcry and WFA lobbying that followed.

The tax increase was stalled and WFA secured government concessions that allowed accelerated depreciation of vineyard establishment costs (see Figure 1). This, in turn, led to the setting up of an official study into the industry and its taxation, headed by leading industry figures including the chairman of WFA. A cursory glance would suggest that the report, entitled The Winegrape and Wine Industry in Australia (Industry Commission 1995), was dominated by taxation issues.

The report can be seen as a direct progenitor of Strategy 2025 (released in 1996 and published by WFA), an influential industry document that gave the industry body a central role in influencing the direction of the industry. The vision of Strategy 2025 was for Australia ‘to become the world’s most influential and profitable supplier of branded wines which reflect the distinctiveness of variety, region and producer’. In terms of export growth, Strategy 2025 outlined three stages: 1. Volume growth (1996-2002), during www.winebiz. com . au

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Figure 1. The Australian wine industry’s fifth boom and bust. which rapid vineyard expansion would overcome product shortages, thereby enabling expansion in existing markets and penetration of new markets 2. Value growth (2002-2015), which would place increased emphasis on building brand strength, market share and margins 3. Pre-eminence (2015-2025), when Australia would have established brand leadership in specific market segments.

By the mid-1980s, the Australian wine industry had a 40-year history of exports averaging less than 6% of total production, which meant that nearly all of the new production needed to be exported (see Osmond and Anderson 1998, Table 3).

The notion of Australian firms having an international competitive advantage, as suggested in Strategy 2025, was based on what can best be described as superficial analysis, which was confined to the gross national level and did not address competitiveness issues at the level of individual firms.

Strategy 2025 was being developed at a time when Australian wine exports were starting to take off and vineyard expansion was already under way following the tax concessions. Initial export success (total value of exports increased from $293.2m in 1993 to $471.6m in 1996) led to increased planting by existing growers and drew in new investors including MIS (managed investment schemes, introduced in 1998), supported by generous long-term contracts offered by wine producers to grapegrowers. By 1999, Australia had established itself as the fourth largest exporter of wine in the world. In 2002, plantings reached their first peak of 159,594ha and then peaked

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again at 173,776ha in 2007. Thus, over the 15-year period from 1993 to 2007, the vineyard area increased by 2.77 times, and wine production increased by 3.1 times (from 457,779KL to 1,434,500KL, the peak in 2006). The large wine companies drove Strategy 2025 with such enthusiasm that the target of $4.5 billion in annual sales by 2025 was surpassed in 2005, two decades ahead of the plan.

The promise of Strategy 2025 Stage 1 of volume growth was fulfilled, but what happened with Stage 2, value growth?

In order to shed light on Australia’s competitive advantage in export markets we analysed trade statistics for wine imported into the UK, US and China for the period 1996-2013 (Lewis, Zalan and Schebella 2013; 2014a and 2014b). We collected data on imports (total value, volume and unit value), rather than exports, as has been customary in wine industry research, in order to focus on the competitive position of Australian wine in these markets (see Table 1). Total value and unit value were calculated in local currencies to avoid foreign exchange effects. The total imports were broken down into separate wine categories to differentiate between bottled, bulk and sparkling wine. We compared Australia with its major New World competitors (Argentina, Chile and the US) and Old World countries (France, Italy and Spain).

The overall conclusion from our analysis is that Australia failed to sustainably create value in the UK and the US. In the UK market, Australia was initially very successful at aggressively building volume from 1996 until 2007, overtaking Italy in terms of volume in 1999. Australia maintained unit value during this period, so that in terms of total value it emerged as a clear number two

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

to France. After 2007, Australia sacrificed its position in bottled wine, but secured a strong position in bulk wine, yet overall it lost significant total value (GBP234 million in 2013 compared with a peak of GBP467 million in 2004). At the beginning of the fifth boom-bust cycle Australia was poorly positioned in the US market, but by 2002 emerged as a strong third competitor (to France and Italy), with volume approaching France and unit value slightly higher than Italy. Overall, Australia had a strong position in bottled wine until 2005, but then made a push into the bulk wine market, and by 2010 had secured a leadership position in terms of volume. In terms of total value, winning in bulk wine was at the expense of hundreds of millions in total value overall – as was the case in the UK market.

Because the fifth industry cycle was an export phenomenon, it is necessary to consider the effect of currency fluctuations on industry profitability. As new production came on stream in 19962001, the Australian dollar weakened considerably, enabling wine exporters to sell the production in excess of domestic requirements at relatively high prices in export markets (Australian wine had the highest unit value in the UK during this period). This was undoubtedly profitable business. One might have expected that the appreciation of the Australian dollar following 2001 would have resulted in Australian wine companies pursuing higher prices. They were, however, on the horns of a dilemma – the vineyard area had increased two-and-a-half times since 1990 and was still increasing. The large companies had locked themselves into long-term contracts with grapegrowers.

Markets had to be found for the huge and increasing volumes of wine being produced. There is little doubt that the taxation changes, which induced a rampup in plantings and production, combined with an ‘industry strategy’ (Strategy 2025) which focussed on ‘pre-eminence’ of Australian wine in international markets, resulted in wine companies having to use price to move the volumes of wine produced through distribution channels.

This is what happened. Prices declined, there was a shift from bottled to bulk, and volume. This was the ultimate production-driven, rather than marketdriven, strategy. In general, in the period 2001 to 2012, in local currencies, there was a decline in unit value, regardless of foreign exchange movements: unit value was declining while the Australian dollar was still weak, and then continued to decline as the currency strengthened.

The dramatic loss of total value in the key export markets, where well over 30% of value was lost, was reflected

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in low profitability and asset values in Australia. The industry was in crisis.

Using price to gain share resulted in the commoditisation of Australian wine.

Price became the key determinant of the consumer’s buying decision and prices continued to fall even when volume growth had plateaued. The strengthening Australian dollar exacerbated the decline in profitability.

This explanation of the Australian industry crisis hinges on the proposition that for wine consumers, there exists a relationship between price and their willingness to pay (WTP) for wine.

The average consumer cannot make independent judgements based entirely on the intrinsic quality of wine, and even wine experts disagree on wine quality (e.g. Weil 2001, 2005; Ashton 2012). Research has revealed that WTP is driven by ‘objective’ characteristics (brand, label, price, etc).

Our recently published experimental study has confirmed empirically that the price of wine influences WTP and enjoyment more strongly than the wine itself (Lewis and Zalan 2014).

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY: PRICE AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY To understand the impact of price on WTP, we conducted a series of winetasting experiments with 107 non-expert wine drinkers using a manipulation of price similar to that used by Plassman et al. (2008) – that is, unbeknown to the tasters, the same wines (all Australian Shiraz) were presented at different prices (see Table 2).

The true price was the price paid for the wine at a retail wine merchant. The wines were presented to the participants in paper bags to hide the label, but the retail prices were displayed on the tasting form. The tasters were asked to indicate what they would be willing to pay for each of the wines in a retail liquor store and to make tasting notes on the form provided, while attempting to identify the region and vintage of each wine and rating each wine on a 1-6 scale (with 1 being ‘I don’t like it at all’ and 6 being ‘I like it very much’).

The experimental manipulation was that the participants were actually tasting only three wines, with wine 2 and wine 4 presented twice (see Table 2). Wine 2 was presented at its actual retail price of $16.25 and at a higher price of $44.95 (as Wine 5). Wine 4 was presented at its actual retail price of $36.45 and at a lower price of $9.60 (as Wine 1). Wine 3 was presented only once, at its actual retail price of $24.95. The key results are presented graphically in Figure 2 and Table 2.

The first key conclusion from the study is that the participants did not detect the deception and, importantly, there was V2 9N 6

business & & marketing marketing business

Figure 2. Presented price, willingness to pay (WTP), true price and taster rating.

Table 2. Prices, willingness to pay (WTP) and appreciation.

Wine*

True (retail) Price

Presented Price

WTP (mean)

Appreciation (Rating 1 - 6)

1

$36.45

$9.60

$11.49

2.8

2

$16.25

$16.25

$14.91

3.2

3

$24.95

$24.95

$19.80

3.6

4

$36.45

$36.45

$26.74

4.5

5

$16.25

$44.95

$25.06

3.9

* Experimental manipulation: Wines 1 and 4, and wines 2 and 5, are actually the same wines.

Table 3. Tasters’ comments.

Participant ID

Wine 1 ($36.47 presented at $9.62)

Wine 4 ($36.47 presented at $36.47)

ID8

Has a 'bite'

Distinct flavour, smooth

ID11

Vinegary, didn't like the initial tast, but enjoyed the aftertaste

I like this one, has complexity

ID12

Smell: mainly alcohol; taste: apricot, slightly acidic

Smell: red fruit; taste: balanced, fruity

ID26

Light flavour for Shiraz, but spicy

Lots of spices, good with steak

ID28

Tart

Smooth

ID29

Light, mild aroma

Fuller, smooth after taste

Wine 2 ($15.99 presented at $15.99)

Wine 5 ($15.99presented at $43.95)

ID2

Astringent, sharp

Balanced, hit of oak, lingering, 'plum'

ID5

Vanilla, bit of oak, no 'brown' sign of age

Seems to be well balanced`

ID8

Too fruity

A bit dry

ID13

Young, apricot, musky

Oaky, butty, clean and complex

ID21

A bit bland initially, not much aroma

Smooth, woody

ID23

A little more acidic

Best of the lot, very nice

ID25

Don't like the taste, quite boring

Very fruity, quite 'muddy' taste

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W I N E expor t s

no relationship between intrinsic wine character and their enjoyment (measured as rating on a 1-6 scale), as the individuals rated the same wines quite differently (see Table 1). The quantitative results were supported by the tasters’ comments where different evaluations were given to the same wine (see Table 3).

The second conclusion is that price influences both appreciation of wine and WTP, but the latter more strongly (see Figure 2). For example, the statistically significant differences in WTP ($14.90 and $26.75 for wine 2 and wine 4, respectively) confirm the relationship between true price and WTP. The non-expert tasters in our study were willing to pay nearly twice as much for wine 4 than for wine 2 – reflecting the relativity of the true price signals. Further, the significant difference between WTP of wine 1 ($11.50) and wine 5 ($25.05) indicate that the false presented prices overwhelmed the higher quality of wine 1 (assuming quality is a function of price). Due to the false presented prices, participants were willing to pay twice as much for a wine whose true price was less than half what they were led to believe.

These tests show that presented price significantly affects WTP. To sum up, no matter how good the wine in the bottle, price influences WTP more strongly than subjective sensory characteristics.

Overall, the findings of the study demonstrate that a complex, dynamic relationship exists between the key factors that determine buying decisions of wine consumers. Consumer choice is determined by ‘buyer surplus’ (the difference between WTP and price) and, yet, for non-expert wine drinkers, WTP is itself strongly influenced by price. The relationship between price and WTP is at the heart of competitive dynamics that exist in a market with multiple firms vying for market share. Price is always an element of the value proposition. In the case of luxury goods (including iconic wines), high price is an inherent element of the value proposition – the intangible components of the value proposition such as status rely on price being sufficiently high to confer exclusivity. In these segments, cost plays a minor role in competitive advantage. Conversely, value propositions such as ‘we won’t be beaten on price’ tend to reduce WTP, and competitive advantage depends largely on being the low-cost producer.

Based on this understanding of the dynamic between WTP and price, we suggest that the cause of the industry crisis was the positioning of the Australian wine industry in international markets.

This positioning – to a large extent driven by overproduction following tax concessions – and articulated in Stage 1 of

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Strategy 2025 was fundamentally flawed, as it implicitly involved a strategy of rapidly gaining market share using price.

The decline in unit value of Australian wine post-2001 can be directly attributed to a ‘commoditisation doom loop’, as exporting companies struggled to increase volume in key markets. Investment in large-scale production resulted in cost advantages, but required huge volumes of wine to be sold, largely through the mass retailers. As Australian wine producers kept lowering their prices to provide sufficient consumer surplus to increase market share, price became the dominant component of the value proposition.

This commoditisation of Australian wine resulted in a progressive erosion of consumer WTP and, with it, declining consumer surplus. With reducing WTP, prices had to be further lowered to maintain consumer surplus and sales volume, resulting in a continuing margin squeeze. In response, wine producers sought ways to further reduce costs, and this resulted in lower wine quality (Smart 2010), damaging consumers’ perception of Australian wine and further eroding consumers’ WTP. This is a classic commoditisation trap (D’Aveni 2010) with failing WTP, prices and margins.

Australian wine became a commodity in international markets, fully exposed to supply and demand pressures. By contrast, France and Italy, Australia’s main competitors in these markets, managed to continually increase their prices and were willing to sacrifice volume in order to maximise total value (Lewis et al. 2013, 2014a, 2014b).

THE FUTURE OF THE AUSTRALIAN WINE INDUSTRY Australian wine producers face a difficult problem because reducing supply will not automatically increase WTP and rebuilding ‘Brand Australia’ may prove to be hard work in markets where Australian wine has come to equate with ‘cheap wine’.

In the commercial (read commodity) wine segment, the Australian industry does not have the cost base to compete with the New World countries such as Chile, Argentina and South Africa – unless there is a dramatic weakening of the Australian dollar. On the other hand, increasing price to signal a luxury good will take time, and is a positioning option only for the fine wine producers. There are indications that the latter is under way in the US, but will hinge on wine producers’ commitment to further developing their marketing and distribution capabilities.

The UK market is proving more difficult – the reputation of ‘Brand Australia’ has been severely damaged, and the mass W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

retailers continue to be the gatekeepers of the market.

In contrast, in China, Australia has positioned itself as the number two player (in terms of both volume and total value) behind France. To date, Australia has avoided the commoditisation trap it fell into in the UK and US markets. It has been willing to sacrifice market share in order to maintain unit value, giving up share in the last few years to Spain and Chile (Lewis et al. 2014a, 2014b). While the Australian industry naturally is looking to the Chinese market to sell its commercial wines, spillover of consumer perceptions from the bulk market to the bottled market must be avoided.

When the sixth Australian wine industry boom comes around, as it surely will, hopefully the lessons from the fifth cycle crisis will be remembered – if you sell wine cheaply to deal with over production, it inevitably becomes cheap wine in the mind of the consumer.

References Ashton, R. (2012) Reliability and consensus of experienced wine judges: Expertise within and between? Journal of Wine Economics 7(1):70-87.

D’Aveni, R. (2010) Beating the commodity Trap: How to maximise your competitive position and increase your pricing power. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Anon. (2012) Do past mistakes continue to haunt the industry? Grapegrower & Winemaker, March 578:23-26.

Industry Commission (1995) Winegrape and wine industry in Australia: A report by the committee of inquiry into the winegrape and wine industry.

Canberra: AGPS. Lewis, G. and Zalan, T. (2014) The strategic implications of the relationship between price and willingness to pay: Evidence from a wine-tasting experiment. Journal of Wine Economics 9(2):115-134.

Lewis, G.; Zalan, T. and Schebella, M. (2013) The Australian wine industry. An unsustainable boom and inevitable bust. Analysis of strategic positioning.

American Association of Wine Economists annual conference, 26-29 June, Stellenbosch.

Lewis, G.; Zalan, T. and Schebella, M. (2014a) Winners and losers in the global wine industry.

Enometrics / VDQS conference, Lyons, 4-7 June.

Lewis, G.; Zalan, T. and Schebella, M. (2014b) A strategic approach to the analysis of global wine industry positioning, Academy of Wine Business Research 8th International Conference, 28-30 June, Geisenheim.

Osmond, R. and K. Anderson (1998) Trends and cycles in the Australian wine industry, 1850 to 2000.

Centre for International Economic Studies, University of Adelaide.

Plassman, H.; O’Doherty, J.; Shiv, B. and Rangel, A. (2008) Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(3):1050-1054.

Smart, R. (2010). Has the mantra of vineyard costcutting contributed to the present problems of the wine sector? Wine Industry Journal 25(1):8-10.

Weil, R.L. (2001) Parker vs. Prial: The death of the vintage chart. Chance:14(4):27-31.

Weil, R.L. (2005) Analysis of reserve and regular bottlings: Why pay for a difference only the critics claim to notice? Chance 18(3):9-15.

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Excise taxes on wines, beers and spirits: an updated international comparison

By Kym Anderson (with the assistance of Nanda Aryal), Wine Economics Research Centre, School of Economics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005. Email: kym.anderson@adelaide.edu.au

This article is based on Kym Anderson’s presentation at the recent Wine Industry Outlook Conference held in Adelaide.

Australia’s rate of wine consumer taxation was shown by Berger and Anderson (1999) to be high by OECD standards at that time, and especially by the standards of significant wine producing/exporting countries. That was also true when those numbers were updated to 2008 by Anderson (2010).

Australia’s type of wine tax is unusual in being ad valorem (a percentage of the wholesale price) rather than specific (in cents per litre of alcohol), so the comparison depends on what price level is the focus of attention.

The Australian Government considered undertaking major tax reform following a 2009 review of the overall Australian tax system (Henry 2009). As part of that review, the question of wine and other alcohol tax rates and instruments came into focus – encouraged somewhat by the call by the World Health Organisation (2009) for stronger measures to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, and the recent adoption of tougher measures in such countries as France and the United Kingdom.

It has been argued that the rate of taxation of wine should not be raised because (a) it is still high by international standards and (b) wine is drunk mainly by adults in moderation with food rather than being the main beverage of choice for young binge drinkers such that it has fewer social costs than other forms of alcohol (WFA 2010). This paper examines that first claim by comparing recent tax measures for Australia with those of other countries as a contribution to the debate. In doing so, tax rates for other alcoholic beverages are also compiled, since the optimal wine tax is not independent of the tax rates affecting consumption of substitute beverages.

The present paper reviews the data available and the methodology for comparing rates of taxation across countries. Estimates are then presented of the domestic alcohol taxes in Australia and the other high-income and key developing countries that together account for more than 90 per cent of global wine consumption. The tax rates are expressed both as ad valorem equivalents and as volumetric rates per standard drink of alcohol1, and at a selection of still wine price points. The latter is helpful for considering the impact these taxes are having on different types of consumers; but it is also helpful for analysts seeking to use these estimates in economic models of wine markets in which the distinction is made between, say, non-premium, commercial premium and super-premium wines (as in Wittwer and Anderson 2003 and Anderson and Wittwer 2013).

1 One standard drink in Australia is 12.5ml of pure alcohol (and so is equivalent to 250ml of beer at 5% alcohol or 12.5o Plato, or 100ml of wine at 12.5% alcohol, or 31.25ml of spirits at 40% alcohol). Thus, the specific tax rate becomes an A$ tax per standard drink by multiplying by 0.000125 the regular-strength beer, wine and spirits tax rates per hectolitre per degree of alcohol. See www.alcohol.gov.au

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At a glance •

•

•

•

•

For commercial premium wines (retail AUD$12), Australia’s 29% is the highest tax rate among the significant wine-exporting countries: the majority have zero taxes on such wines, France has 0.7%, South Africa 4%, the United States 6% and Canada 8%.

At higher price points, only Korea and Norway among OECD countries have a higher tax rate than Australia’s 29%.

When expressed in Australian cents per standard drink of alcohol, Australia’s wholesale tax for commercial premium wines (22 cents) is the same as New Zealand’s in 2012, but at any higher price point Australia’s tax exceeds New Zealand’s.

Wine is taxed less than spirits in all countries but Japan, and is taxed at a similar or lower rate than beer in all but a handful of countries.

Australia is taxing wine relative to other alcoholic beverages more than most wine-exporting countries, the main exception being Chile where beer is very lightly taxed.

Methodology and data sources In the many countries in which specific (volumetric, dollars per litre of beverage or of alcohol) tax rates are used without or with ad valorem (percentage) rates, the consumer tax equivalent (CTE) in percentage terms varies with the price of wine. This distinction is important because in recent years the world wine market has been characterised by a trend towards premium wine consumption, and in some traditional wine-consuming countries the volume of non-premium wine consumption has fallen greatly. We therefore identify the tax type (specific and/or ad valorem) and express the CTE in terms of dollars per standard alcoholic drink as well as an ad valorem equivalent.

Specifically, CTEs are calculated for regular beer (5% alcohol, A$2/litre wholesale pre-tax) and spirits (40% alcohol, A$15/litre wholesale pre-tax) and for wines at four different wholesale pre-tax prices assuming all have an alcohol content of 12.5%: non-premium still wine (A$2.50/ litre at the wholesale pre-tax level), mid-range commercial premium still wine (A$7.50/litre), super-premium still wine (A$20/litre), and sparkling wine (A$25/litre).

For non-premium wine such as those products sold in casks (A$2.50/litre), given a 29% excise tax (WET), a 33% mark-up to retail, and the 10% GST,a retail price in Australia of $18.90 for a four-litre cask can be implied. For

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Table 1. Ad valorem consumer tax equivalent of excise taxes on wines, beers and spiritsb, 1 January 2012 (as % of the wholesale wholesale pre-tax prices per litre shown in column heads).

Ad valorem equivalent rates at the quoted wholesale pre-tax price

Non-premium wine

Commercial premium wine

Super premium wine

Sparkling wine

Beer

Spirits

$2.50

$7.50

$20

$25

$2

$15

VAT/GST (%)

Argentina

AR

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

8.0

20.0

21

Australia

AU

29.0

29.0

29.0

29.0

107.1

184.4

10

Austria

AT

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

15.8

33.6

20

Belgium

BE

23.7

7.9

3.0

8.1

13.5

58.9

21

Canada

CA

23.7

7.9

3.0

2.4

74.7

29.9

~15

Chile

CL

15.0

15.0

15.0

15.0

15.0

27.0

19

Czech Rep.

CZ

0.0

0.0

0.0

4.6

3.9

37.2

20

Denamrk

DK

71.9

24.0

9.0

9.6

26.9

67.7

25

Estonia

EE

36.8

12.3

4.6

3.74

17.1

47.7

20

Finland

FI

157.4

52.5

19.7

15.7

94.3

154.9

23

France

FR

2.0

0.7

0.3

0.5

8.7

55.8

20

Germany

DE

0.0

0.0

0.0

6.9

6.2

43.8

19

Greece

EL

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

20.5

82.4

23

Hungary

HU

0.0

0.0

0.0

2.4

14.6

30.8

27

Ireland

IE

132.1

44.0

16.5

26.4

49.5

104.7

23

Israel

IL

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

137.4

110.3

16

Italy

IT

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

18.5

26.9

21

Japan

JP

40.5

13.5

5.1

4.0

34.8

13.5

5

Korea

KR

33.0

33.0

33.0

33.0

94.0

91.0

10

Luxembourg

LU

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

6.2

35.0

15

Mexico

MX

25.0

25.0

25.0

25.0

25.0

50.0

16

Netherlands

NL

35.8

11.9

4.5

12.2

17.3

50.6

19

New Zealand

NZ

86.1

28.7

10.8

8.6

51.8

251.5

15

Norway

NO

343.1

114.4

42.9

34.3

178.7

292.4

25

Poland

PL

17.8

5.9

2.2

1.8

13.7

37.3

23

Portugal

PT

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

58.09

37.3

23

Slovak Rep.

SK

0.0

0.0

0.0

4.0

11.3

36.6

20

Slovenia

SI

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

31.5

33.6

20

South Africa

ZA

12.0

4.0

1.5

3.6

17.8

35.7

10

Spain

ES

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

31.4

27.9

18

Sweden

SE

122.0

40.7

15.3

12.2

58.7

189.0

25

Switzerland

CH

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

43.7

80.0

8

Turkey

TR

40.3

13.4

5.0

25.5

63.0

90.6

18

UK

UK

145.5

48.5

18.2

18.7

70.1

102.7

20

USA

US

a

OECD av.c

18.3

6.1

2.3

4.5

53.4

25.2

0

40.3

15.4

7.6

8.9

42.6

73.9

18

Turkey still wine data are for 2010 Wine and beer degree alcohol contents are assumed to be 12% and 4%, respectively; the absolute alcohol content for spirits is assumed to be 40%.

Unweighted average

a

b c

commercial premium wine, A$7.50/litre wholesale implies, with a 29% excise tax (WET), a 50% mark-up to retail and 10% GST, a retail price of $12 for a 750ml bottle; and for super-premium and sparkling wine (A$20 and $25 per litre, respectively), the same mark-ups as commercial premium implies a retail price of around $32 and $40, respectively, for a 750ml bottle.

The ad valorem consumer tax equivalent (CTE) is defined as the percentage by which the pre-tax wholesale price has been raised by beverage taxes (but not including the GST

V2 9N 6

or VAT)2. To estimate it, numerous assumptions have to be made.

2 Most countries also have a value-added or goods-and-services tax applying to beverages, but since those taxes apply at the retail level to most other goods as well, we do not add them to the beverage-specific taxes. However, for completeness they are reported in Table 1. The foreign exchange rates used to convert specific tax rates expressed in national currencies to the Australian currency are reported in Tables 2 and 4, based on Reserve Bank of Australia rates on 3 January 2012 and 1 July 2014 (RBA 2014).

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Table 2. Excise taxes on alcoholic beverages per standard drink of alcoholic for wines, beers and spirits, 1 January 2012 (Australian cents at the wholesale pre-tax prices per litre shown in column heads).

Ad valorem equivalent rates at the quoted wholesale pre-tax price

Non-premium wine Commercial premium wine Super premium wine Sparkling wine

Beer

Spirits

$2.50

$7.50

$20

$25

$2

$15

Exchange rate (local currency per AUD)

Argentina*

AR

0

0

0

0

8

10

4.47

Australia*

AU

7

22

58

73

54

86

1.00

Austria

AT

0

0

0

0

8

16

0.79 0.79

Belgium

BE

6

6

6

20

7

28

Canada

CA

6

6

6

6

37

14

1.04

Chile

CL

4

11

30

38

8

13

533.62 20.44

Czech Rep.

CZ

0

0

0

11

2

17

Denamrk

DK

18

18

18

24

13

32

5.91

Estonia

EE

9

9

9

9

9

22

0.79

Finland

FI

39

39

39

39

47

68

0.79

France

FR

1

1

1

1

4

26

0.79 0.79

Germany

DE

0

0

0

17

3

21

Greece

EL

0

0

0

0

10

39

0.79

Hungary

HU

0

0

0

6

7

14

250.94

Ireland

IE

33

33

33

66

25

49

0.79

Israel

IL

0

0

0

0

69

17

3.97

Italy

IT

0

0

0

0

9

13

0.79

Japan

JP

10

10

10

10

17

6

79.09

Korea*

KR

8

25

66

83

47

43

1184.17

Luxembourg

LU

0

0

0

0

3

16

0.79

Mexico*

MX

6

19

50

63

13

23

14.19

Netherlands

NL

9

9

9

30

9

24

0.79

New Zealand

NZ

22

22

22

22

26

118

1.31

Norway

NO

86

86

86

86

89

137

6.13

Poland

PL

4

4

4

4

7

17

3.54

Portugal

PT

0

0

0

0

29

17

0.79

Slovak Rep.

SK

0

0

0

10

6

17

0.79

Slovenia

SI

0

0

0

0

16

16

0.79

South Africa

ZA

3

3

3

9

9

17

8.33

Spain

ES

0

0

0

0

16

13

0.79

Sweden

SE

31

31

31

31

29

89

7.07

Switzerland

CH

0

0

0

0

22

38

0.97

Turkey

TR

10

10

10

64

32

42

1.94

UK

UK

36

36

36

47

35

48

0.66

USA

US

5

5

5

12

28

13

1.03

10

12

15

22

22

34

a

OECD av.

c

Turkey still wine data are for 2010 *Argentina, Australia, Chile, Korea and Mexico have an ad valorem tax on non-premium, commercial premium and super premium wines One standard drink in Australia is 12.5ml of pure alcohol, and so is equivalent to 250ml of beer at 5% alcohol or 12.5o Plato, or 100ml of wine at 12.5% alcohol, or 31.25ml of spirits at 40% alcohol. d Unweighted average a

c

First, the CTE is assumed to apply also at the retail level, on the assumption that the wholesale-to-retail margin is ad valorem. If, in fact, those margins are somewhat independent of the product price, then our CTE estimate will overstate the proportional impact of the tax on consumers at the retail level.

Secondly, neither the average pre-tax retail prices of a bottle of commercial or super-premium wine or a litre of

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non-premium wine, nor the shares of each of these types in national wine consumption, are reliably known for more than a handful of countries. Hence, an average CTE for each country is not calculated for wine as a group. Instead we calculate the CTE at price levels that approximate the average prices in Australian dollars for the three chosen categories of still wine sold in Australia in 2014. For beer, spirits and sparkling wine we use, for simplicity of

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Table 3. Ad valorem consumer tax equivalent of excise taxes on wines, beers and spiritsb, 1 July 2014 (as a % of the wholesale wholesale pre-tax prices per litre shown in column heads).

Ad valorem equivalent rates at the quoted wholesale pre-tax price

Non-premium wine

Commercial premium wine

Super premium wine

Sparkling wine

Beer

Spirits

$2.50

$7.50

$20

$25

$2

$15

Argentina

AR

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

8.0

20.0

VAT/GST (%)

21

Australia

AU

29.0

29.0

29.0

29.0

116.9

211.3

10

Austria

AT

0.0

2.2

0.0

5.8

18.1

46.3

20

Belgium

BE

33.0

11.0

4.1

11.3

16.7

81.8

21

Chile

CL

15.0

15.0

15.0

15.0

15.0

27.0

19

Czech Rep.

CZ

0.0

0.0

0.0

4.9

4.2

39.9

21

Denamrk

DK

85.2

28.4

10.6

11.0

27.1

77.4

25

Estonia

EE

49.2

16.4

6.2

4.9

22.7

63.4

20

Finland

FI

196.3

65.4

24.5

19.6

116.0

175.8

24

France

FR

2.3

0.8

0.3

0.5

26.5

66.4

20

Germany

DE

0.0

0.0

0.0

7.9

7.1

50.3

19

Greece

EL

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

23.5

94.6

23

Hungary

HU

0.0

0.0

0.0

30.0

18.7

41.1

27

Ireland

IE

246.1

82.0

30.8

49.2

81.6

164.3

21

Italy

IT

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

24.4

36.4

22

Luxembourg

LU

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

7.2

40.2

15

Netherlands

NL

51.0

17.0

6.4

14.7

17.2

65.1

21

New Zealand

NZ

104.8

34.9

13.1

10.5

65.5

127.3

15

Poland

PL

21.9

7.3

2.7

2.2

16.9

52.7

23

Portugal

PT

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

68.3

48.3

23

Slovak Rep.

SK

0.0

0.0

0.0

4.6

13.0

41.7

20

Slovenia

SI

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

43.8

51.0

22

South Africa

ZA

11.4

3.8

1.4

3.6

17.1

36.5

14

Spain

ES

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

36.0

35.2

21

Sweden

SE

145.4

48.5

18.2

14.5

70.1

212.6

25

UK

UK

1974.8

65.9

24.7

25.3

86.5

136.2

20

USA*

US

19.9

6.6

2.5

4.9

58.2

27.5

0

USA data are for 2012 Wine and beer degree alcohol contents are assumed to be 12% and 4%, respectively; the absolute alcohol content for spirits is assumed to be 40%.

*

b

comparison, only one representative price for each of those products (A$2, $15 and $25 per litre at the wholesale pre-tax level, respectively).

The primary source for domestic tax data are the OECD (2012) and the European Commission (2014), supplemented by national government websites for a few additional countries not included in those official publications3. These sources express the specific taxes in national currency per hectolitre per degree of alcohol if the tax instrument is not an ad valorem percentage.

Consumer Tax Equivalent (CTE) calculations Tables 1 and 3 (see page 67 and this page) show the excise taxes in 2012 and 2014 for wines, beers and spirits expressed as a percentage of the selected wholesale pre-tax prices shown at the top of each column. They do not include 3 For example, United States rates for 2014 are obtained from www. taxadmin.org/fta/ and those for Argentina in 2010 and 2014 from http:// infoleg.mecon.gov.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/35000-39999/38621/texact.htm

V2 9N 6

the VAT or GST (shown in the final column), which would be added at the retail level. For commercial premium wines (the sort that would retail at A$12 for a 750ml bottle in Australia inclusive of GST), those rates are depicted in Figure 1 (see page 71), where it is clear that in 2012 Australia’s 29% was the highest tax rate among the significant wine-exporting countries: the majority have zero taxes on such wines, France has 0.7%, South Africa 4%, the United States 6% and Canada 8%. At higher price points, such as for the super premium wine category in the middle of Table 1, only Korea and Norway among OECD countries had a higher tax rate than Australia’s 29%.

Tables 2 (see page 68) and 4 (see page 70) show the excise taxes in 2012 and 2014 for wines, beers and spirits expressed in Australian cents per standard drink of alcohol. They are converted from the national currencies at the exchange rates shown in the final column. In 2012 Australia’s wholesale tax per standard drink is the same as New Zealand’s for commercial premium wines (22 cents) but is higher at any higher price point above A$7.50/ litre. It compares with zero in Argentina, 3 cents in South

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W I N E TA X E S

Table 4. Excise taxes on alcoholic beverages per standard drink of alcoholic for wines, beers and spirits, 1 July 2014 (Australian cents at the wholesale pre-tax prices per litre shown in column heads).

AUD in cents

Non-premium wine Commercial premium wine $2.50

$7.50

Super premium wine

Sparkling wine

Beer

Spirits

$20

$25

$2

$15

Exchange rate (local currency per AUD)

Argentina*

AR

0

0

0

0

8

10

7.72

Australia*

AU

7

22

58

73

58

99

1.00

Austria

AT

0

0

0

14

9

22

0.69

Belgium

BE

8

8

8

28

8

38

0.69

Chile*

CL

4

11

30

38

8

13

523.83 19.03

Czech Rep.

CZ

0

0

0

12

0

19

Denamrk

DK

21

21

21

27

14

36

5.13

Estonia

EE

12

12

12

12

11

30

0.69

Finland

FI

49

49

49

49

58

82

0.69

France

FR

1

1

1

1

13

31

0.69

Germany

DE

0

0

0

20

4

24

0.69

Greece

EL

0

0

0

0

12

44

0.69

Hungary

HU

0

0

0

8

9

19

216.17

Ireland

IE

62

62

62

123

41

77

0.69

Italy

IT

0

0

0

0

12

17

0.69

Luxembourg

LU

0

0

0

0

4

19

0.69

Netherlands

NL

13

13

13

37

9

31

0.69

New Zealand

NZ

26

26

26

26

33

60

1.08

Poland

PL

5

5

5

5

8

25

2.88 0.69

Portugal

PT

0

0

0

0

34

23

Slovak Rep.

SK

0

0

0

13

6

20

0.69

Slovenia

SI

0

0

0

0

22

24

0.69

South Africa

ZA

3

3

3

9

9

17

10.06

Spain

ES

0

0

0

0

18

17

0.69

Sweden

SE

36

36

36

36

35

100

6.35

UK

UK

49

49

49

63

43

64

0.55

USAa

US

5

5

5

12

29

13

0.95

USA data are for 2012 *Argentina, Australia and Chile have an ad valorem tax on wines One standard drink in Australia is 12.5ml of pure alcohol, and so is equivalent to 250ml of beer at 5% alcohol or 12.5o Plato, or 100ml of wine at 12.5% alcohol, or 31.25ml of spirits at 40% alcohol. a c

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rates are shown at the bottom of Tables 1 and 2. Australia’s rate is twice the average for commercial premium wines and almost four times the averages for super premium and sparkling wines. Only for non-premium wine is it below those averages, and only slightly.

Acknowledgements Thanks are due to the Winemakers' Federation of Australia for funding this update of earlier work undertaken in 2010 under GWRDC Research Project UA 0804. The update is part of the WFA’s effort to increase public knowledge about the nature and extent of Australia’s wine taxation.

References Anderson, K. (2010) Excise and Import Taxes on Wine vs Beer and Spirits: An International Comparison, Economic Papers 29(2): 215-28, June.

Anderson, K. and G. Wittwer (2013) Modeling Global Wine Markets to 2018: Exchange Rates, Taste Changes, and China’s Import Growth, Journal of Wine Economics 8(2): 131-58.

Figure 2. Specific consumer tax on commercial premium wines as a percentage of that on beers per standard drink, 1 January 2012 and 1 July 2014 (percent).

Africa, 5 cents in the United States, and 6 cents in Canada – and just 1 cent in France and zero in the other Old World wine-exporting countries. That indicator for wines can be expressed as a percentage of those for other beverages, as in Figures 2 and 3. Wine is taxed less than spirits in all but Japan, and it is taxed at a similar or lower rate than beer in all but a handful of countries. Again, Australia is taxing wine relative to other alcoholic beverages more than most wineexporting countries, the main exception being Chile where beer is very lightly taxed.

The unweighted averages of the OECD countries’ 2012 V2 9N 6

Figure 3. Specific consumer tax on commercial premium wines as a percentage of that on spirits per standard drink, 1 January 2012 and 1 July 2014 (percent).

Berger, N. and K. Anderson (1999), “Consumer and Import Taxes in the World Wine Market: Australia in International Perspective”, Australasian Agribusiness Review 7(3), June. http://www.agrifood.info/review/1999/Berger. html European Commission (2014) Excise Duty Tables: Part 1: Alcoholic Beverages, Brussels: European Commission, accessed 19 August 2014. http:// ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/excise_duties/ alcoholic_beverages/rates/excise_duties-part_i_alcohol_en.pdf Henry, K. (2009) Australia’s Future Tax System: Report to the Treasurer (The Henry Review), Canberra: The Treasury, December. www.taxreview. treasury.gov.au OECD (2012) Consumption Tax Trends 2012: VAT/GST and Excise Rates, Trends and Administration Issues, Paris: OECD Publishing, accessed 19 August 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/ctt-2012-en RBA (2014) Exchange rates, daily, Sydney: Reserve Bank of Australia, accessed 19 August 2014. http://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/historical-data.html Wittwer, G. and K. Anderson (2002) Impact of the GST and Wine Tax Reform on Australia’s Wine Industry: A CGE Analysis, Australian Economic Papers WVJ 41(1): 69-81, March.

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CORRECTION

Correction to article in September-October issue In the article ‘Decline in Australian wine exports to China shows signs of easing’, written by Mark Rowley of the Australian Grape and Wine Authority and published on pages 70-71 of the September-October 2014 issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal, Figures 1 and 4 were printed incorrectly.

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The Wine & Viticulture Journal apologises for the error, which occurred during the production process.

The corrected figures are printed here and the online version of the issue and article available via our website www.winebiz. com.au have been amended accordingly.

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Figure 1. Total volume and average price of Australian bottled exports to China (moving annual total). Source: AGWA

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Figure 4. Bottled exports by price point index.

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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

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.

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

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.

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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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Crafting the synergy that is Shiraz Viognier Our recent Shiraz Viognier tasting (see results page 77) featured two distinct styles among the 17 wines - elegant on the one hand, and big and round on the other. The tasting panellists felt both styles were worthy of highlighting and singled out four wines as being the most outstanding examples in the line-up.

Their producers provide some background on how they were made below.

Sarah Crowe, Winemaker Yarra Yering Yarra Valley, Victoria Wine: Yarra Yering 2012 Dry Red Wine No. 2 (RRP$92.00/bottle)

The vines are not irrigated while grass is grown as cover crop. Hand cane pruning is carried out. Our biggest threat is phylloxera but eutypa is also a concern. The Shiraz yields 1.5 tones per acre on average.

WINEMAKING The Shiraz is hand harvested and destemmed to retain whole berries. There is some use of stalks during fermentation.

Frozen Viognier skins are added to the fermenter. The must is hand plunged twice daily for gentle extraction of tannins in 600kg tea chest fermenters. Gentle basket pressing minimises tannin extraction before malolactic fermentation in French oak barrels comprising 50% new oak. The wine is matured for 20 months in casks.

MARKETING Our Dry Red Wine No.2 is predominantly sold through cellar door and via the Yarra Yering mailing list. We target on-premise venues, predominantly restaurants, but it can also be found in select bottle shops in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. It is also exported to Hong Kong, China, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

The label has remained the same since the first vintage in 1973.

Yarra Yering winemaker Sarah Crowe.

The Yarra Yering estate vineyard showing the 1995 planted Shiraz and some of the 1969 planted Shiraz.

Scott McDonald, Winemaker Torbreck Barossa Valley, South Australia Wine: Torbreck 2010 Descendant (RRP$125.00/bottle)

VITICULTURE Fruit for this wine is all estate grown on 70 acres in the Yarra Valley. It is a blend of 1969 planted and 1995 planted Shiraz.

The vineyard sits below the Warramate Hills and has a gentle slope that faces north. Rows run north-south. The elevation of the site sits at around 160m above sea level and is considered cool climate although we can get some hot days in January. The highest temperature recorded to date is 42°C while the lowest is -3.2°C. The heat doesn’t stay long and the weather returns to milder conditions with cool nights for ripening. The Yarra Yering vineyard has never been frosted to my knowledge. Winds can be strong at times causing cane damage.

The vines are 100% own rooted; the clone is unknown. The majority of the fruit is sourced from the original 1969 plantings which is now supplemented with the 1995 planted Shiraz.

A VSP trellis is generally used across all Shiraz blocks, with 3m wide rows and vine spacings of about 2m. Some bunch thinning is carried out as required. Without irrigation, shoot thinning is not generally necessary.

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Torbreck winemaker Scott McDonald with a bottle of the Descendant Shiraz Viognier, pictured in the vineyard block from which the fruit is sourced.

VITICULTURE Descendant is the name of our home vineyard block located just behind our cellar door at Marananga in the Barossa Valley.

Our Descendant Shiraz Viognier is sourced solely from this

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property, which is planted to mostly Shiraz but also includes Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne and Mataro.

The Descendant block has a slightly northerly facing slope where rows run roughly west to east for maximum airflow. The block is not a frost risk area.

Vines were planted on own roots in 1994 from cuttings taken from the best and oldest traditional Barossa clones. They have a two-metre vine spacing and 3.6m row spacing.

The Shiraz and Viognier are both cane pruned to roughly 12 buds per cane, with the Viognier bunch thinned if needed.

Minimal to no irrigation is applied.

Alternate-row cover crops of legumes and cereal crops are cultivated, while a compost is also applied of leftover grape marc and a combination of hay and manure.

The vines yield an average of 1 to 2 tonnes per hectare.

WINEMAKING All fruit is hand-picked at optimal ripeness. The Viognier is picked in the cool of the morning and lightly bag pressed.

Skins are then removed, destemmed and weighed. The Shiraz is hand-picked and destemmed into open top concrete fermenters; 8% Viognier is then added to the Shiraz. Must is left to sit for 12-24 hours then inoculated and pumped over twice daily for colour and flavour extraction. It is then pressed slightly sweet in basket presses and aged in second fill French barriques for 18 months.

Very floral, bright and lively early in its life, Viognier takes time to fully integrate. The wine always has a very distinctive tannin profile and lovely velvety finish.

Lerida Estate 2013 winemaking team (from left) assistant winemaker Lucie Bouvier, vineyard hand Michael Thompson and Lerida Estate winemaker Malcolm Burdett.

MARKETING The wine is named Descendant because it is a descendant of our Run Rig (another Shiraz/Viognier we make). It was planted with cuttings from Run Rig vineyards and aged in barrels previously used for Run Rig. It is sold in 35 different countries.

Its main markets include the eastern seaboard of Australia, the US, Canada and many Asian and European markets. Labelling has stayed the same throughout the history of the wine. It was first produced from the 1998 vintage and released in November 1999. It is a highly valued member of our wine portfolio although there are a few more wines above it in terms of price and cult following. It was included in the latest release of Langtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Classification of Australian Wines for the first time.

Malcolm Burdett, winemaker, Jim Lumbers, proprietor Lerida Estate Lake George, Canberra District Wine: 2013 Lerida Estate Shiraz Viognier (RRP$49.50/bottle)

Jim Lumbers, owner of Lerida Estate, with winery dog Max.

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The Lerida Estate vineyard (bottom of image) which extends to the trees at the end of the second block of vines lying to the north of the winery; the Shiraz vines are the top eight rows of the second block of vines.

VITICULTURE This wine was made from nearly 90% of single vineyard fruit from Lerida Estate, located at the north-west end of Lake George on deep, free-draining, colluvial soil on the east-facing slopes of the Cullerin Range (elevation 680720m). A small amount of fruit is sourced from two vineyards at Hall and Murrumbateman, also in the Canberra wine region.

The rainfall and temperature at the Lerida Estate vineyard are highly variable with the greatest risk being from excessive rain close to vintage. The 2013 growing season was near perfect, being slightly warmer and significantly drier than average. The vineyard is higher and cooler than most in the district, and is marginal for Shiraz, which failed in 2014.

There is a significant frost risk in the district in October and November and April and May, but our production has not been affected by this.

The vines are mostly 16 years old and are growing on their own roots. They are trellised to a VSP modified to Smart Dyson, with rows 3m apart and vines 1.5m apart. The modification to a Smart Dyson followed trials in different

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areas of the vineyard during 2010-11.

We leaf pluck close to vintage to try and mitigate botrytis infection. This season we are trialling earlier leaf plucking at fruitset.

No irrigation is used now the vineyard is established.

Soil treatments consist of lime throughout the vineyard, raising the pH from about 6.4 to 7.1. A single treatment of boron was applied at planting with a subsequent foliar application of manganese. Mulch is applied to the poorest soil. A volunteer sward is maintained between rows to improve soil structure. It is mowed closely to mitigate frost risk and help maintain soil fertility. No trace element deficiencies have been identified in the last 10 years.

All vines are hand pruned to two-bud spurs with 20-22 buds per vine.

The vineyard is high and quite windy with generally low disease pressure, which is maintained with sprays of mainly copper and sulfur when required. Botrytis is a major threat in wetter years, like 2011 and 2014. Leaf plucking and a bioactive spray of the fungus Trichoderma are used to try and combat this.

Yields vary from near zero in a cool wet year to six to seven tonnes per hectare in a good year like 2013.

Contracted fruit comes from Hall and Murrumbateman, where the vines are of similar age and yield and experience similar growing conditions. However, these vines are planted about 100-200m lower than Lerida Estate and are growing on decomposed granite soils.

The main qualities we look for in the grapes at harvest are flavour ripeness and colour, plus the absence of disease or bird damage. Spicy flavour notes are also sought with good tannin mouthfeel.

The vines yield an average of 6-7 tonnes per hectare.

and our wines being stocked in the major chains. We have rejected approaches to export as production is limited and the label plays such an important role locally.

Pinot Noir, which is much more reliable than Shiraz in our very cool vineyard, provides our most prestigious wine, the Josephine Pinot Noir, and is also made in very limited quantities, retailing for $75. The Shiraz Viognier, at $49.50, is the next most expensive. The rest of our range retails for $16.50-$35.00.

Direct-to-consumer sales via the cellar door and, increasingly, on-line are important, especially for these higher price point wines. We support these sales with an active program of events to attract cellar door visitation and build our mailing lists.

We are concerned about the apparent decline in interest in Shiraz Viognier as a category, especially in on-premise outlets where it is sold with other red blends, which tend to be less sought after than straight varietals. The fact that Viognier is not spelled phonetically also contributes to the difficulty of maintaining interest in all but the best-informed consumer.

We have debated dropping Viognier from the name but decided against it in favour of more actively promoting the wine through tastings as this gives us the chance to show more of our range, especially the Pinot Noirs.

Greg and Allison Hobbs Owners/Directors Hobbs of Barossa Ranges Barossa Ranges, South Australia Wine: Hobbs of Barossa 2012 Tango Shiraz Viognier (RRP $110/bottle)

WINEMAKING The fruit is hand-picked and passed over a sorting table to eliminate all green and defective berries. It is destemmed without crushing and chilled to 10°C. Frozen Viognier skins are added plus some Shiraz stalks. The must is then cold soaked for four days in 0.75 tonne fermenters with a light plunge once a day. Most start fermenting naturally, but this is then seeded with Syrah FX10 or Fusion yeast and malolactic bacteria.

Once fermentation starts, the wine is hand plunged three times a day. The temperature rises to 32-35°C. Ambient temperature in the winery is 5-15°C at this time.

The wine is pressed in an air bag press when nearly dry, then settled for two to three hours and racked into a mix of new and up to three-year-old barrels from Sirugue, Francoise Frères, Baron and St Martin. Barrels are held at 20°C to complete malolactic fermentation, then racked and returned with a light aeration and small SO2 addition.

The barrels are evaluated in January of the following year with only the top category selected for bottling as Shiraz Viognier in May. The wine is not filtered and only a light eggwhite fining is used.

Key recent changes to the making of this wine have been the use of Viognier skins instead of whole berries; getting through malolactic fermentation straight after alcoholic fermentation; the addition of stalks to the must and the use of Baron barrels.

MARKETING This style of wine, which over the years has won five trophies (one international) and 40 gold and silver medals, has been important in building the Lerida Estate brand

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Hobbs of Barossa Ranges owners Allison and Greg Hobbs.

VITICULTURE The fruit for this wine is single vineyard, sourced from our own estate. Our vineyard is situated on the eastern ridge of the Barossa Ranges overlooking Flaxmans Valley. With an elevation 500m, the vineyard is classed as cooler climate. The block faces north-east.

Soils are shallow yellow podzolic with a layer of underlying podzolic clay.

Daytime temperatures during the growing season are 17-29°C (with frequent hot days of 30-36°C during January February) while nights are 12-14°C. The growing season in the Barossa Ranges is typically three to four weeks behind the Barossa Valley floor meaning the vines are still ripening

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A view across the Hobbs vineyard on the eastern ridge of the Barossa Ranges. as the temperatures start to cool. The cooler temperatures slow the ripening phase. We regularly pick our Shiraz in the last two weeks of April to the first week of May. There is little frost risk in the vineyard as it slopes allowing the cold air to drain away.

The Barossa Ranges typically enjoy gully breezes most evenings throughout the warmer seasons.

The Shiraz was planted in 2005-06 on own roots from cuttings taken from the old vines growing in our vineyard.

These were planted in 1905. The Viognier was grafted over from 12-year-old Semillon in 1998.

The vines are grown on a double wire vertical trellis and are spaced 2m apart, with rows 3m apart. The vines are widely spaced and the distance between the two trellis wires sufficient to allow maximum sunlight to the canopy and allow maximum wind flow through the foliage.

Each vine is hand pruned hard. Bunch and shoot thinning has never been required. Because each vine is hand pruned, minimal summer pruning of water shoots is required.

The vines are more or less dry grown. Drip irrigation is installed but it has a minimal water source, namely a six million litre dam which is only sufficient for subsistence watering of our 15 acre vineyard if required. During the last few drought years we have applied approximately 4L/hr/ vine -18 hours maximum (approx.72L per vine) during the growing season. The underlying podzolic clay seems to store enough water to make irrigating only necessary if there is a prolonged number of extreme heat days forecasted.

We believe in using sustainable vineyard practices as much as possible therefore no tillage of the soil is carried out, allowing the growth of natural grasses throughout the vineyard. Weed management is by slashing and under vine mowing. Regular organic and biodynamic soil fertilisers such as seaweed, biodynamic brews and preparations are applied.

We cane prune each vine by hand to approximately 40-50 buds per vine. For a few years pruning was done by a team but more recently we have gone back to pruning ourselves with the help of a couple of local pruners.

We tend to have minimal disease risk due to the trellis positioning, canopy management and our regular spraying regime of natural sustaining nutrients, such as seaweed

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spray and sulfur.

Due to the lack of insecticide and minimal chemical use there is a large population of natural predatory insects.

However, vigilant observation is key and any unwanted pests noticed are removed by hand.

Additional pest control is planned over the next few years through the introduction of geese into the vineyard.

Planting of an insectarium in the paddock alongside the vineyard is also planned to boost and enhance the natural insect population and maintain dominance of good predatory insects.

Over the last 15 years the yields for the Shiraz and Viognier has regularly been between .75 and 1.5 tonnes per acre.

WINEMAKING All the fruit is hand harvested. The grapes are transported to the winery approximately 8km away for crushing and destemming. The Viogier is crushed separately and the wet skins only added to the Shiraz to co-ferment. Must is fermented in open vats with gentle pump-overs and basket pressed into new French oak hogsheads and matured for 24 months.

MARKETING The Tango Shiraz Viognier is one of our three top-end wines. The Tango is a tiny production of 150 dozen.

Hobbs is one of the Artisans of Barossa, a group of seven individual, like-minded producers with a common goal to protect and promote small batch, sub-regional winemaking.

Our wines are available for tasting every day at the Artisans of Barossa tasting room in Tanunda and we are regularly there to pour wine and meet visitors.

We have a growing number of mail order clients most of whom we have hosted for private tastings at home, met through our wine tours or travels or through the Artisans of Barossa.

Our wines are sold around the world to a number of small markets. We also sell wine to a very small number of bottle shops and restaurants on the eastern seaboard of Australia.

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Shiraz Viognier: getting the balance right It has been 10 years since the Wine & Viticulture Journal last tasted Shiraz Viognier, when wine writer Nick Bulleid described the blend as “the newest wine style to hit the market”.

Our recent blind tasting aimed to get a snapshot of how far the style has come in a decade, and has suggested that those who have chosen to not only persist with the blend but declare the two varieties on the label are giving it more considered thought. Our invitation to Australian Shiraz Viognier producers to submit wines to our tasting resulted in 17 wines being received, with all bar one – the Yarra Yering Dry Red No.2 declaring both varieties on the label.

This raises the likelihood that many Australian producers are making the blend but simply not declaring Viognier as a component of their Shiraz, given local labelling laws don’t require they do so unless it makes up more than 15% of the blend.

Making up the tasting panel for our latest line-up of Shiraz Viogniers were Marc van Halderen, winemaker for Yalumba; Scott McDonald, winemaker for Torbreck; Jack Walton, senior winemaker for d’Arenberg, and University of Adelaide Wine Business student Vaite Jeanne Teriierooiterai.

“In this line-up of 17, there were only three or four wines where I thought the Viognier was a bit heavy-handed. I suspect if we did this tasting five or six years ago there might have been 12 or 13 where the Viognier was over the top.

I saw a lot of balanced wines in there,” Jack Walton said.

“Yarra Yering was the first in Australia to blend Shiraz and Viognier, although didn’t declare it on the label, and then Clonakilla started making it and putting it on the label and got some incredible write-ups for it. On the back of that a whole raft of people entered the game, often clumsily. In the end you had people adding Viognier to Shiraz as a marketing tool but not necessarily getting the blend right – just throwing the two together.

“Now, because the blend has been criticised to some extent, producers have lifted their game. The people who were making it for a marketing or economic edge alone have dropped out

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The tasting panel for our Shiraz Viognier line-up were (from left) Marc van Halderen, winemaker for Yalumba; University of Adelaide Wine Business student Vaite Jeanne Teriierooiterai; Scott McDonald, winemaker for Torbreck; and Jack Walton, senior winemaker for d’Arenberg. and the people who are left are doing things a lot better.

“I think winemakers have learnt that integration is the key. If a Shiraz Viognier doesn’t stand on the table next to a Shiraz and is equally as good if not better than the Shiraz then there’s no point in making it.

“At the end of the day you need to be dealing with good Shiraz and good Viognier – it can’t just be leftover fruit.

You’ve got to decide to make that style and shoot for it. For that you need Shiraz with good structure but if you’re producing Viognier at 17% alcohol, then it’s going to flabby, alcoholic and oily and that isn’t going to add anything to the blend except over-ripe apricot characters. Instead you want ginger and blossom characters – now we’re talking about lifting aromatics - and texture in a structural sense not in an oily way.

“We don’t often talk about how Viognier can improve the texture of a wine by adding to its tannin structure through a co-ferment. Viognier has this beautiful flowery tannin that is long and seamless. Put that in with Shiraz and it changes the whole length of that wine,” Walton said.

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Marc van Halderen said as a South African, the tasting had demonstrated Australian producers were “a bit further ahead” than their South African counterparts in how to blend Shiraz and Viognier.

“There’s no more overtly noticeable Viognier characters. There seems to be a bit more intellect in how to use it and maybe that’s simply being brought about by using it in lower percentages.

In South Africa, Viognier is often still showy. But, in this line-up I appreciate that there are not too many that are overtly commercial or have simply used Viognier to ‘hot up’ Shiraz,” van Halderen said.

Our panel was somewhat divided on their view of the best examples of Shiraz Viognier in the line-up, with some favouring the pretty and elegant styles and others the bigger, richer, riper styles, so both were chosen to be represented in the top wines of the tasting: Lerida Estate 2013 Lake George Shiraz Viognier, Yarra Yering 2012 Dry Red No.2, Torbreck 2010 Descendant Shiraz Viognier and Hobbs of Barossa Ranges 2012 Tango Shiraz Viognier. WVJ

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TAST I N G N O T E S

Lerida Estate 2013 Lake George Shiraz Viognier (95% Shiraz/5% Viognier) Canberra 14.2% v/v - screwcap RRP$49.50/bottle

Yarra Yering 2012 Dry Red No.2 (97.8% Shiraz/1% Viognier/ 0.7% Mataro/0.5% Marsanne) Yarra Valley, Victoria 13.0% v/v – cork RRP$92.00/bottle

Torbreck 2010 Descendant Shiraz Viognier (92% Shiraz/8% Viognier) Barossa Valley, South Australia 15.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$130.00/bottle

Best of tasting: Vibrant red in colour. Nose closed to start dominated by woody notes. But with time revealed dark fruits, spice, black pepper, mocca/coffee notes, and some stalkiness with good oak integration. Palate is well-balanced, generous, fine, precise, savoury and moreish with a mocha follow-through. Rich mouthfeel filled out by chewy oak. Good length and texture. Fruit quality comes through with time.

Best of tasting: Deep ruby red in colour with a brown tinge. Nose is very complex with some development; nice herbal character as well as sooty, peaty and meaty notes supported by mulberry, plum and fennel. Good and generous sweet fruit in the mouth which oozes forest berries, musk and cherries and has a slight compost edge; softening tannins. Elegant but complex wine with lovely funky and gritty characters. “A cool wine,” said one taster.

Best of tasting: Bright, deep ruby red in colour. Plums, dark berries and fruit sweetness on the nose, as well as umami, Asian spice, raisins, earth and an interesting vegetal character. Sweet and plush palate with prune, blackcurrant, raspberry, coconut and black olive characters; chewy and grippy tannins; long finish.

Hobbs of Barossa Ranges 2012 Tango Shiraz Viognier

Just Red Wines 2014 Shiraz Viognier

Sirromet 2013 Signature Collection Shiraz Viognier

(96% Shiraz, 4% Viognier) Barossa Ranges, South Australia 16.2% v/v - cork RRP$110.00/bottle

(97% Shiraz, 3% Viognier) Granite Belt, Queensland 12.2%v/v - screwcap RRP$25.00/bottle

(97.5% Shiraz, 2.5% Viognier) Granite Belt, Queensland 13.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$30.00/bottle

Best of tasting: Deep ruby red in colour with a dark brown tinge. Woody notes dominate the nose which also features dark fruits, cherries and slight dusty character. Palate is rich, silky sweet, polished, textured and layered; one of the roundest in the line-up. Fruit is all up front and has quite a long and woody finish. Great tannins. Good rustic style.

Deep, bright crimson in colour with purple hues. Very fresh, sweet and lush nose with purple fruits, floral notes and a hint of spice. One taster described the nose as “incredibly alluring”.

“Almost Beaujolais-like”, said another, “as if you’ve dipped into an estery ferment”. Punchy and bright on the palate which features floral and raspberry notes. Touch of chalk on the finish. Overall, palate is a touch raw and the acid a bit pokey. A promising wine; clean, well-made and well-balanced.

Almost water white in colour. Green nose with mint, herbs, grass, sileage, gooseberry and lemongrass; hint of oak.

Very fresh in the mouth; lean and green with some yeast and flint. Could possibly benefit from some more texture.

“What this wine lacks in complexity it makes up for in spunk,” said one taster.

Glenlofty 2012 Shiraz Viognier

Millbrook 2011 Shiraz Viognier

(94.7% Shiraz, 5.3% Viognier) Pyrenees, Victoria 14.0% v/v - screwcap RRP$19.50/bottle

(95% Shiraz, 5% Viognier) Perth Hills, Western Australia 14.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$35.00/bottle

Sirromet 2010 Le Sauvage Shiraz Viognier

Deep ruby red in colour. Clean, pleasant and youthful nose featuring sweet fruits, strawberries and cream, confectionary, noticeable vanilla oak, toasty notes and spice. Big, powerful, juicy and complex palate with more sweet fruit, well-balanced tannin and oak. Lovely line of fruit and mouthfeel. Good commercial wine.

Dark red in colour. Elegant, open, warm and accessible nose with dark, spicy, earthy notes; quite a sooty, meaty style; purple fruits come through as it opens up. Palate is dense, rich and generous and has loads of earthy characters. Lovely cedary finish with long, chalky tannins. Sweet fruits balanced by a lovely complex savouriness. “Powerful and friendly,” said one taster.

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(93% Shiraz, 7% Viognier) Granite Belt, Queensland 13.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$80.00/bottle Deep brick red in colour. Nose is showing significant development with characters of fruitcake, raisins, cinnamon, baked apple and menthol notes; some dusty oak and perhaps a slight Brett character. Juicy, round mid-palate but falls away quite quickly leaving leathery, leafy, aged notes; light oak.

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TAST I N G N O T E S

McKellar Ridge 2013 Shiraz Viognier

Leogate 2013 Brokenback Vineyard Shiraz Viognier

Mistletoe 2013 Hilltops Shiraz Viognier

(98% Shiraz, 2% Viognier) Canberra 13.7% v/v – screwcap RRP$30.00/bottle

(95% Shiraz, 5% Viognier) Hunter Valley, New South Wales 13.0% v/v - screwcap RRP$35.00/bottle

(97% Shiraz, 3% Viognier) Hunter Valley, New South Wales 14.9% v/v – screwcap RRP$25.00/bottle

Deep ruby in colour with a slight brick hue. Bubblegum, spice, plum, smoky, bacon fat and woody notes on the nose; slight lavender character also evident. Rich and mouth-coating palate although the oak sticks out a bit.

A little bit light on the mid-palate. Finishes with sweet Viognier and oak characters. Oak needs some more time to integrate. “A slick, clean, well-made, balanced wine; a crowd pleaser,” noted one taster.

Bright deep red in colour with purple hues. Well-balanced nose with clean and elegant red and blueberry fruits, plums, blossom, a lick of white stone fruit, a hint of spice, a faint powdery character and a nice cedar note. Good fruit and texture in the mouth. Supple tannins with wood and spice. A little light on the mid-palate. Easy drinking with a chiselled pucker. “A good wine, needs time,” said one taster. “Good Viognier integration,” said another.

Vibrant colour of deep ruby with purple hues. Elegant and complex nose with quite heady aromas of sandlewood, berries, jubes and a spicy sweetness; touch of eucalypt but nicely balanced; green/stalky character also apparent.

Well balanced, well-made, fairly seamless and solid palate with mouth-coating tannins that could benefit from time in bottle to fully integrate. Nice mid-palate with a hint of earth.

Nice core of savoury fruit but a sweet fruit character slightly detracts from what the rest of the wine is trying to achieve.

Millbrook 2010 Shiraz Viognier

Lerida Estate 2009 Lake George Shiraz Viognier

De Beaurepaire 2009 Rylestone Shiraz Viognierc

(95% Shiraz, 5% Viognier) Canberra 14.9% v/v – screwcap RRP$95.00/bottle

(95% Shiraz, 5% Viognier) Mudgee, New South Wales 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$39.00/bottle

Deep brown to brick red in colour. Good, clean, lovely nose showing rustic development; characters of anise, truffle, chocolate, forest floor, coffee grounds, mocha and some leafiness. Lovely balance and energy on the palate which is luscious and generous, has some beautiful sweet aged notes, silky tannins, leather and blackberry characters. “This wine is in the zone for drinking,” said one taster.

Deep ruby to brick red in colour – “a beautifully aged appearance”, noted one taster. Leafy and leathery notes on the nose, as well as a prune or date-like aroma and some spice and caramel. Fully developed flavours on the palate, with soft tannins, cherry, earthy, strawberry and raisin characters; possibly a touch short.

(95% Shiraz, 5% Viognier) Perth Hills, Western Australia 14% v/v – screwcap RRP$35.00/bottle Deep ruby red with some development. Open and inviting nose showing nice development with good faint spice and floral notes, exotic fruits, musk, menthol, and a nice woody addition. Panel was divided on their opinion of the palate: easy, simple, and commercial vs long and generous with a good mix of Shiraz fruits as well as blackberry, plum, spice and liquorice. Gritty tannins.

Panel was divided on whether it was past its prime or ageing gracefully.

Eden Hall 2004 Shiraz Viognier

Eden Hall 2003 Shiraz Viognier

(95% Shiraz, 5% Viognier) Eden Valley, South Australia 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$40.00/bottle

(95% Shiraz, 5% Viognier) Eden Valley, South Australia 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$40.00/bottle

Deep brown to brick red in colour. Leather almost ranciolike nose with spicy wood, forest floor, soy sauce, nuts and fungal notes. Palate is big and rich with highly developed characters but still has some length; lovely balance of savoury and tannin and acid.

Deep ruby to brick red in colour. Nose features good spice, sandalwood, Christmas cake, meatiness, cured meats, leather and dark violets. Palate is slightly porty and sweet, has a nice lively punch and still has a lovely chalkiness and fine tannins that add life. Ageing well but drink now.

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Shiraz Viognier

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Index to articles from Volume 29 of the Wine & Viticulture Journal ALCOHOL The influence of alcohol on the sensory perception of red wines Ellena King, Randall Dunn and Hildegarde Heymann, March/April 2014, p34-37 ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES Albarino – one of life’s more interesting journeys Doug Bell, July/August 2014, p59-60 Beautiful Malvasia Istriana Sonya Logan, January/February 2014, p53-54 Pfeiffer Wines takes a walk on the lighter side with Gamay Sonya Logan, May/June 2014, p58-59 Saperavi – a fascintating standalone wine and a great blender Lilian Carter, September/October 2014, p53-54 Sensational Souzao – if not every year Sonya Logan, March/April 2014, p60-61 Verdejo shows promising signs at Trentham Estate Anthony Murphy, November/December 2014, p54-55 AUSTRALIAN GRAPE AND WINE AUTHORITY (FORMERLY WINE AUSTRALIA) (column) Australia raises a glass to local wines Aaron Brasher, May/June 2014, p10 Building the foundations for a prosperous new year Andreas Clark, January/February 2014, p8-9 Building our future by developing tomorrow’s thought leaders, innovators and game changers Kate Harvey, November/December 2014, p12 Protecting the reputation of Australian wine – Australia’s regulatory system Steve Guy, March/April 2014, p10 There’s nothing like Australian wine, so tell your story to the world James Gosper, September/October 2014, p10 The reasons for raising a red flag to the use of the term ‘orange’ Steve Guy, July/August 2014, p10 AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF VITICULTURE & OENOLOGY (column) A very successful seminar awards evening and AGM Paul Petrie, November/December 2014, p13 Excitement fermenting over Adelaide seminar and awards for excellence Paul Petrie, September/October 2014, p11

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Mildura seminar program confirmed Paul Petrie, May/June 2014, p11 News from the ASVO’s AGM Paul Petrie, January/February 2014, p11 Nominations for ASVO Awards for Excellence now open Paul Petrie, July/August 2014, p9 Searching for the sweet spot – the quest for optimal yield and quality Paul Petrie, March/April 2014, p9 AUSTRALIAN WINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE REPORTS Influence of phenolics on white wine quality and style Richard Gawel, Peter Godden, Patricia Williamson, Leigh Francis, Paul Smith, Liz Waters, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson, May/June 2014, p34-36 Staying a step ahead of ‘Brett’ Chris Curtin, Anthony Borneman, Ryan Zeppel, Toni Cordente, Robyn Kievit, Paul Chambers, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson, September/October 2014, p34, 36-37 Tannin: impacts and opportunities along the value chain Paul Smith, Keren Bindon, Jacqui McRae, Stella Kassara and Dan Johnson, March/ April 2014, p38-41 The role of trace metals in wine ‘reduction’ Marlize Viviers, Mark Smith, Eric Wilkes, Paul Smith and Dan Johnson, January/ February 2014, p38-40 Vintage 2014 – trends from the AWRI helpdesk Adrian Coulter, Geoff Cowey, Peter Dry, Marcel Essling, Matt Holdstock, Creina Stockley, Con Simos and Dan Johnson, July/August 2014, p34-36 BOTTLING, LABELLING & PACKAGING Lighter bottles – ‘green’ and lighter on the hip pocket Cathy Howard, January/February 2014, p20-23 BUSINESS Factors in the commodity wine market Mark Rowley, May/June 2014, p60-62 History of the WET and the WET Producer Rebate Matthew Brittingham, January/February 2014, p66-68 Solar power – lessons learned and the underlying business case for wine producers David Buetefuer, January/February 2014, p57-59 Stategies to improve profitability in the winery Ben Caw and Paul Fenn, March/April W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

2014, p62-63 The commoditisation of Australian wine in export markets Geoffrey Lewis and Tatiana Zalan, November/December 2014, p61-62 The WET rebate – a producer’s view January/February 2014, p68-70 CANOPY MANAGEMENT Canopy management strategies to decrease wine pH – a Spanish trial Fernando Martinez de Toda and Pedro Balda, September/October 2014, p50-52 CATHY HOWARD Best practice in managing MLF whether adopting a cultured approach or leaving it up to nature November/December 2014, p18, 20-22, 24-25 Floating through vintage – what’s changed in 20 years March/April 2014, p24-28 Grape sorting on the move – the effects on juice and wine quality May/June 2014, p37-38, 40, 42, 44.

Lighter bottles – ‘green’ and lighter on the hip pocket January/February 2014, p20-23 Oxygen – another tool for the winemaker’s kit bag July/August 2014, p16-21 Winemaking trials in smaller wineries can be valuable if done properly September/October 2014, p15-19 CHINA Decline in Australian wine exports to China shows signs of easing Mark Rowley, September/October 2014, p70-71 Forget special occasions, it is time to relax in China Justin Cohen, Armando Corsi and Larry Lockshin, July/August 2014, p66-67 Playing the long game in China: How the Chinese lexicon can support market development Justin Cohen, Larry Lockshin and Armando Corsi, November/December 2014, p56-57 The rise of foreign wine demand in China Andrew Muhammad and Amanda Leister, November/December 2014, p58-60 Thinking outside the bottle: information about Australia can increase the choice of Australian wines by Chinese consumers Patricia Osidacz Williamson, Simone Mueller Loose, Larry Lockshin and Leigh Francies, May/June 2014, p71-74 Words are powerful: How are they used to describe wine in China?

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Armando Corsi, Justin Cohen and Larry Lockshin, September/October 2014, p66-68 ‘Writing to learn’ or ‘learning to write’: is there a place for self-reported reviews in wine education?

Justin Cohen, Armando Corsi and Larry Lockshin, March/April 2014, p71-73 CLARIFICATION Floating through vintage – what’s changed in 20 years Cathy Howard, March/April 2014, p24-28

FILTRATION

oak barrel alternatives matures

The advantages of crossflow filtration becomes clearer for smaller producers Sonya Logan, March/April 2013, p26-29

Mark O’Callaghan, July/August 2014, p22-24

FROST Canberra sees the silver lining in damaging frosts Sonya Logan, September/October 2014, p48-49 GRAFTING

Vintage 2030 and beyond: producing quality wines in warmer times Mark Krisic and Snow Barlow, March/ April 2014, p52-57

Benefits and pitfalls of field grafting winegrapes – Part 1 Tony Hoare, March/April 2014, p42, 44-45 Benefits and pitfalls of field grafting winegrapes – Part 2 Tony Hoare, May/June 2014, p52-53

CLOSURES

GRAPE SORTING

What’s new in closures?

Sonya Logan, March/April 14, p30, 32-33.

Grape sorting on the move – the effects on juice and wine quality Cathy Howard, May/June 2014, p37-38, 40, 42, 44.

CLIMATE CHANGE

CONSUMER INSIGHTS Consumer perceptions of premium and luxury wine brands Therese Sjostrom, Armando Corsi and Larry Lockshin, May/June 2014, 68-70 Consumer perceptions of wine brand names Sharon Forbes and David Dean, September/October 2014, p55-58 Feeling the flavour: the wine industry gets emotional Sue Bastian, Renata Ristic, Trent Johnson and Annet Hoek, March/April 2014, p64-65 Sustainable practice in a bottle – do consumers really care?

Linda Ovington, Anthony Saliba, Suren Samuelian and Jasmine MacDonald, January/February 2014, p55-56 COVER CROPS Cover crop water use in relation to vineyard floor management practices Michela Centinari, Ilaria Filippetti, Taryn Bauerle, Gianluca Allegro, Gabriele Valentini and Stefano Poni, July/August 2014, p41-43 FERMENTATION Best practice in managing MLF whether adopting a cultured approach or leaving it up to nature Cathy Howard, November/December 2014, p18, 20-22, 24-25 Cutting edge Pinot: reducing skin particle size early in fermentation is the key Angela Sparrow, Bob Dambergs and Dugald Close, January/February 2014, p24

INDUSTRY EVENTS Unity, innovation and optimism themes at this year's Wine Industry Outlook Conference November/December 2014, p8-9 IRRIGATION Long-term use of regulated deficit irrigation does not lead to a decline in vine performance Everard Edwards and Peter Clingeleffer, January/February 2014, p45-49 Water – can you afford it?

Tony Hoare, July/August 2014, p37-38, 40 MARKETING & SALES Keeping up with your consumers Richard Halstead, January/February 2014, p70-71 The triumph of perception over reality Jonathan Cahill, May/June 2014, p8-9 The untapped potential of wines’ stories Jonathan Cahill, September/October 2014, p60-61 When social media goes bad: how to prepare for and manage issues online Renee Creer, September/October 2014, p62, 64-65 Why do people avoid wine? Comparisons across Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, United States and India Linda Ovington, Erica McIntyre, Anthony Saliba and Johan Bruwer, July/August 2014, p63-65 MATURATION Australian winemakers’ views towards

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OPINION COLUMN Natural wine a treasure to the Australian industry James Erskine, January/February 2013, p9-10 Outlook 2014 –a viticulturist’s perspective Andrew Weeks, November/December 2014, p10 OVERSEAS Developments in education and research in the English wine industry Tony Milanowski, March/April 2014, p79 Sparkling wine production in the southeast of England Pascal Marty and Peter Dry, July/August 2014, p73-75 Wine tourism: the French exception Damien Wilson, July/August 2014, p71-72 PESTS & DISEASES Shiraz Disease goes viral Nuredin Habili, November/December 2014, p49-50 PHENOLICS Influence of phenolics on white wine quality and style Richard Gawel, Peter Godden, Patricia Williamson, Leigh Francis, Paul Smith, Liz Waters, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson, May/June 2014, p34-36 PRUNING Mechanical pruning: it seemed like a good idea at the time Richard Smart, September/October 2014, p38, 40, 42-44 REAL ESTATE The year in review in vineyard and winery sales Colin Gaetjens, May/June 2014, p64 REGIONALITY Preliminary insights into the regional characteristics of Australian Shiraz Trent Johnson, Anne Hasted, Renata Ristic and Susan Bastian, March/April 2014, p66-70 RESEARCH REVIEW What’s the world doing in grape and wine research? Part 1 Sonya Logan, March/April 2014, p15-22 What’s the world doing in grape and wine research? Part 2 Sonya Logan, May/June 2014, p17-27 www.winebiz. com . au

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SOIL Choosing biological indicators for monitoring vineyard soil quality Jacky Edwards, Ian Porter, David Riches, Danni Oliver, Rob Bramley, Belinda Rawnsley and Bob White, March/April 2014, p48-51 Grapevine vegetative and reproductive development respond to soil temperature Suzy Rogiers and Simon Clarke, November/December 2014, p51-53 Smarter thinking on terroir Rob Bramley, July/August 2014, p53-58 SPARKLING WINE What a robot an tell you about the quality of your sparkling wine: share a glass with FIZZeye-Robot Sigfredo Fuentes, Bruna Conde, Maeva Caron, Sonja Needs, Bart Tesselaar, Jeffrey Hollingworth, Daniel Fraser, Richard Collmann and Kate Howell, July/ August 2014, p25-29 SUSTAINABILITY Improving energy efficiency with the Winery Energy Saver Toolkit Mark Gishen, September/October 2014, p72-73 Solar power – lessons learned and the underlying business case for wine producers David Buetefuer, January/February 2014, p57-59 Sustainability a hot topic at De Bortoli Sonya Logan, January/February 2014, p25-28, 30, 32 Sustainable viticulture – a Granite Belt perspective and a great educational opportunity Ursula Kennedy, January/February 2014, p44 Tamburlaine – a pioneer and still leading the way in sustainable viticulture Tony Hoare, January/February 2014, p41-42 Upsurge in the ‘green’ factor at the home of the ‘red stripe’ Sonya Logan, January/February 2014, p34-35 Winery wastewater project refreshes understanding of treatment processes: can we help manage biological wastewater treatment systems better?

Kathryn Eales, Mike Carson, John Constable, Anu Kumar and Paul Grbin, January/February 2014, p36-37 TANNINS Cutting edge Pinot: reducing skin particle size early in fermentation is the key Angela Sparrow, Bob Dambergs and Dugald Close, January/February 2014, p24 Tannin: impacts and opportunities along the value chain Paul Smith, Keren Bindon, Jacqui McRae,

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Stella Kassara and Dan Johnson, March/ April 2014, p38-41 Unravelling the relationship between grape and wine tannin and colour Neil Scrimgeour, Keren Bindon, Eric Wilkes, Paul Smith and Wies Cynkar, November/December 2014, p28-32 TAX Economic research studies on heavy drinking and alcohol prices: what do systematic reviews demonstrate?

Jon Nelson, July/August 2014, p61-62 Excise taxes on wines, beers and spirits: an updated international comparison Kym Anderson, November/December 2014, p66-71 History of the WET and the WET Producer Rebate Matthew Brittingham, January/February 2014, p66-68 The WET rebate – a producer’s view January/February 2014, p68-70 TECHNOLOGY Sensing a new horizon for the Tasmanian wine sector January/February 2014, p60-61 Technology needn’t be high-tech when it comes to saving money in the winery Sonya Logan, September/October 2014, p20-21 TONY HOARE Benefits and pitfalls of field grafting winegrapes – Part 1 March/April 2014, p42, 44-45 Benefits and pitfalls of field grafting winegrapes – Part 2 Tony Hoare, May/June 2014, p52-53.

Seasonal yield adjustment – optimising timing and results November/December 2014, p37-38 Tamburlaine – a pioneer and still leading the way in sustainable viticulture January/February 2014, p41-42 Vine age versus vine balance – which is more important?

September/October 2014, p45-46.

TONY KEYS (column) All the fun of the fair – Part 2 January/February 2014, p12, 14-15 America: for and against!

March/April 2014, p12-14 Crack in the China?

May/June 2014, p14-16 Dreaming of treasure September/October 2014, p13-14 Tasmania – the path divides July/August 2014, p11-14 Viognier fading November/December 2014, p14-17 TRELLISING Improved trellis systems – is Australia W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2014

keeping up?

Richard Smart, May/June 2014, p55-57 VARIETAL REPORTS ‘Alternative’ rose March/April 2014, p80-82 Dolcetto July/August 2014, p76-78 Fumé Blanc September/October 2014, p74-76 Montelpulciano January/February 2014, p72-74 Viognier May/June 2014, p75-77 VINE IMPROVEMENT Varieties and clones – what’s hot and what’s not for planting Sonya Logan, July/August 2014, p44-48 VITICULTURE Carignan – the unmasking of an imposter Peter Dry and Nick Dry, July/August 2014, p49-52 Size does matter for infrared water status assessment – newly-developed infrared scanners could offer comparable results against highresolution thermal cameras Sigredo Fuentes, Carlos PobleteEcheverria, Gustavo Lobos and Richard Collmann, May/June 2014, p45-48, 50-51.

Tasmanian wine is ripe for investment Richard Smart, March/April 2014, 57-59 Vineyard redevelopment – using Old World wisdom to tackle New World challenges Ursula Kennedy, March/April 2014, p46-47 Vine age versus vine balance – which is more important?

Tony Hoare, September/October 2014, p45-46.

WINEMAKERS’ FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA (column) 2014 – a watershed year for the Australian wine industry Paul Evans, January/February 2014, p10 Free trade agreements and the Australian wine sector Tony Battaglene, May/June 2014, p12 Improving market access through APEC Tony Battaglene, September/October 2014, p12 The International Organisation of Vine and Wine and the Australian wine sector Tony Battaglene, July/August 2014, p8 Talking China – improving market access Tony Battaglene, November/December 2014, p11 Trade priorities and strategy – Australian wine sector Tony Battaglene, March/April 2014, p8 WINEMAKING Exploring oxygen’s influence V29N6

Paul Smith, Martin Day, Simon Schmidt, Jacqui McRae, Keren Bindon, Stella Kassara, Alex Schulkin, Radka Kolouchova, Eric Wilkes, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson, November/ December 2014, p33-36 Influence of climate and variety on the effectiveness of pre-fermentative cold maceration Richard Fennessy, September/October 2014, p24-28, 30, 32-33 Oxygen – another tool for the winemaker’s kit bag Cathy Howard, July/August 2014, p16-21 The dirt behind the quest for cleaner and cleaner fruit – is the war against MOG removing more than just the nasties?

Winemaker forum, May/June 2014, 28-32 Staying a step ahead of ‘Brett’ Chris Curtin, Anthony Borneman, Ryan Zeppel, Toni Cordente, Robyn Kievit, Paul Chambers, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson, September/October 2014, p34, 36-37 The role of trace metals in wine ‘reduction’ Marlize Viviers, Mark Smith, Eric Wilkes, Paul Smith and Dan Johnson, January/ February 2014, p38-40 Winemaking trials in smaller wineries can be valuable if done properly Cathy Howard, September/October 2014, p15-19

WINERY WASTEWATER Winery wastewater project refreshes understanding of treatment processes: can we help manage biological wastewater treatment systems better?

Kathryn Eales, Mike Carson, John Constable, Anu Kumar and Paul Grbin, January/February 2014, p36-37 WINE ANALYSIS Accurate mid-infrared analysis in wine production – fact or fable?

Eric Wilkes and Luke Warner, May/June 2014, p64-67 WINE & VITICULTURE JOURNAL TASTINGS ‘Alternative’ rose March/April 2014, p83-85 Dolcetto July/August 2014, p79-81 Fumé Blanc September/October 2014, p77-81 Montepulciano January/February 2014, p75-77 Viognier May/June 2014, p78-81 WINE EXPORTS Decline in Australian wine exports to China shows signs of easing

Mark Rowley, September/October 2014, p70-71 Global wine shipments down in volume but up in value Mark Rowley, July/August 2014, p69-70 Packaging in the US off-trade wine market Mark Rowley, March/April 2014, p77-78 WINE FAIRS All the fun of the fair – Part 2 Tony Keys, January/February 2014, p12, 14-15 WINE TASTING Perceived minerality in wine: a sensory reality?

Jordi Ballester, Mihaela Mihnea, Dominique Peyron and Dominique Valentin, July/August 2014, p30-33 YIELD MANAGEMENT Seasonal yield adjustment – optimising timing and results Tony Hoare, November/December 2014, p37-38 The impact of leaf removal and the management of crop load on fruit quality – a European insight Stefano Poni, November/December 2014, p40, 42, 44-48

ENO144365 WVN/DEC/14

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Equipment

FROM GRAPE TO THE BOTTLE

REFRIGERATION MONOBLOCS Europe’s leading refrigeration supplier now in Australia Kreyer are specialists in manufacture of products for temperature controlled processing of grape juice, fruit juice and wine. All products are made in Germany and carry a 2 year warranty and a 24 hour customer support service.

Kreyer’s range includes ‘MCK” and ‘Chilly Max’ monobloc chillers and heaters for all sized wineries as well as the unique ‘Kreyopack’ range with built in tube n tube for fast and efficient temperature control.

Also available are individual and multi tank temperature control systems.

KREYOPACK 9-100KW Cooling Capacity

MCK 18-85KW Cooling Capacity

Tank Control Systems with Digital Thermometer

CHILLY MAX 6 – 11KW Cooling Capacity

For further details, contact us on: Melbourne 59 Banbury Rd, Reservoir Ph. 1300 882 850 Adelaide 12 Hamilton Tce, Newton Ph. 08 8365 0044 New Zealand 4c Titoki Place, Albany, Auckland Ph. 0800 699 599 E. sales@winequip.com.au www.winequip.com.au www.winequip.co.nz

Solenoid Valves and simple control boxes with BUS interface