WVJ January/February 2015

JANUARY/FEBRUARY · Volume 30 Number 1

INDUSTRY SUSTAINABILITY • Copper fining of sulfidic off-odours • Can pulsed electric fields improve phenolic extraction in reds?

• Climate change: science, risks and responses • How do cellar door visits impact future sales?

• Tasting: Roussanne and Roussanne - dominant blends

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Publisher: Hartley Higgins General Manager: Elizabeth Bouzoudis Editor Sonya Logan Ph (08) 8369 9502Fax (08) 8369 9501 Email s.logan@winetitles.com.au Editorial Advisory Panel Gary Baldwin Peter Dry Mark Krstic Armando Corsi Markus Herderich Editorial Assistance Lauren Jones, Write Lane CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ignacio Álvarez Robert Ashton Tony Battaglene Luciano Bayer Aaron Brasher Andrew Clark Natalie Cleghorn Justin Cohen Cassandra Collins Armando Corsi Julie Culbert Wies Cynkar Peter Dry Peter Fraser Leigh Gilligan Peter Godden Sarah Gough Paris Grant-Preece Tony Hoare Cathy Howard Dan Johnson Tony Keys Catherine Kidman Larry Lockshin Mardi Longbottom Elisa Luengo Sandra Olarte Mantilla Michael McCarthy Michael Papps Susan Papps Javier Raso Kyra Reznikov Mark Rowley Geoff Scollary Neil Scrimgeour Alana Seabrook Jana Shepherd Will Steffen Stephen Tyerman Naomi Verdonk Helen Waite Eric Wilkes Kerry Wilkinson Advertising Manager: Dan Brannan Ph (08) 8369 9515 Fax (08) 8369 9529 Email d.brannan@winetitles.com.au Production and Design: Luke Westle, 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

W

elcome to the first issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal for 2015. Trust those of you now up to your necks in vintage, or soon to be so, managed to bank some rest and relaxation over the festive season.

As has been the case in recent years, our January/February issue focusses on the topic of sustainability, whether this be environmental or business sustainability. Picking up on this theme, Cathy Howard (page 33) catches up with Taltarni viticulturist Matthew Bailey and winemaker Sue Bell of Bellwether Wines whose recent wins at the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology Awards for Excellence acknowledged their efforts towards achieving sustainable vineyard and winemaking enterprises.

Following Cathy’s article on page 38 is an article by Will Steffen of the Climate Council of Australia whose article, ‘Climate change: science, risks and responses’, is based on a presentation he delivered at the launch of the Australian Wine Research Institutes ‘Opportunities in a New Climate’ program last year and outlines how and why the climate system is changing, the risks those changes present for Australia’s primary industries and touches on some actions that are required to stabilise the climate system.

University of Adelaide researchers then outline a trial that is under way in the Barossa Valley that aims to determine whether the practice of wrapping cordon arms onto trellis wires makes them more susceptible to trunk diseases and other stresses associated with a changing climate (page 48).

And, finally, we present an article by Finlaysons special counsel Kyra Reznikov which details everything you should know

about the legal ramifications of putting ‘green’ statements on your wine labels (page 60).

Other highlights of this issue include Tony Keys look into the ins and outs of exporting, including what went wrong with the export boom of the 1990s and the lessons we’ve learned, and what benefits lie in store for wine producers who do wish to explore export markets in the current climate. Part 1 of Tony’s article begins on Page 11, with Part 2 to be published in the March/April issue of the Journal.

Following an extensive joint project between the University of South Australia and the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre and funded by AGWA, researchers reveal the role of cellar doors in building ongoing brand awareness and repurchasing (page 56).

Robert Ashton, of Duke University in North Carolina, discusses the implications of research for both wine producers and consumers that shows how little known, low-priced wines often fare well in tastings with their betterknown, higher-priced counterparts (page 63).

I’m sure many of you popped the top off a bottle of sparkling wine over the festive season. University of Adelaide researchers reveal the findings of a recent consumer survey into their preferences for different sparkling wine styles (page 71).

And, of course, we have the results of our recent Roussanne tasting (page 78).

Is there anything you’d like to see covered in a future issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal? Then please drop me a line – I’m all ears: s.logan@winetitles. com.au

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Cover: This month's cover marks the onset of vintage 2015 in Australia

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News 6 AGWA 8 WFA 9 ASVO 10 Tony Keys 11

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AWRI Report 28 Alternative Varieties 54 Varietal Report 74 Tasting 78

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I n t h i s i s s ue

c o n t en t s

48 Wrapping arms for cordon establishment: is it a stressful practice for grapevines?

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

8 AGWA (Aaron Brasher): Reminding Australian drinkers: there’s no place like home 9 WFA (Tony Battaglene): 2015 – The year ahead

51 New app to help vine nurseries and growers evaluate the quality of planting material while workshop focuses on standards 54 ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES: Prosecco

10 ASVO (Mardi Longbottom): New faces at the ASVO 11 KEY FILES (TONY KEYS): Wine exporting: understanding the ins and outs – Part 1 33 CATHY HOWARD: Business sustainability and resilience – size doesn’t matter

business & marketing

56 Trial-purchase-repurchase of the brand: How does a cellar door visit impact future sales?

W I N E M A K I N G

14 Copper fining of sulfidic off-odours – some complex white wine chemistry with practical outcomes 17 Pulsed electric fields: a technology for improving phenolic extraction in red wines 22 Application of molecular biology in wineries 60 The thin green line - the legal dangers of green marketing and how to do it safely 63 Price, prestige and the sensory perception of underdog wines 67 What every wine brand needs to know about on-premise in China 69 The age old problem of maturing wine consumers 26 New tool for wineries to tackle refrigeration costs

71 All that sparkles: consumer perceptions of sparkling wine

28 (AWRI REPORT) Applying spectral technology to improve winemaking efficiency W I N E T A ST I N G

78 Roussanne and Roussanne-dominant blends

V I T I C U LT U R E

38 Climate change: science, risks and responses 43 Ramsey and 110 Richter rootstocks perform well under water stress conditions in South Australia’s Barossa Valley 46 TONY HOARE: Peter Belej – an A-grade grower, an A-grade bloke

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S N I P S

Time nearly up for written submissions to AGWA’s five-year strategic plan Members and stakeholders of the Australian wine industry have until 20 February to have their say in the strategic priorities of the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) over the next five years.

AGWA released a discussion paper to stimulate discussion for its five-year strategic plan for 2015-2020 in December.

Written feedback submissions on the discussion paper will be accepted until 20 February.

“Australia makes beautiful fine wines that reflect their regions and I believe Australia has the resources and capability to be recognised internationally as the world’s pre-eminent wine producing country,” said AGWA chair Brian Walsh.

“We believe our two strategic priorities should be to increase demand and the premium paid for Australian wine and to increase the sector’s competitiveness.

“We look forward to hearing from levy payers and I encourage them to make their views known to either their peak representative organisations -Wine Grape Growers Australia (WGGA) and Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) - or to their state or regional association as we’ll be consulting directly with these bodies.” Walsh said.

AGWA will consult directly with key bodies and associations throughout Australia in February and March.

The discussion paper, details for submitting feedback and the consultation meeting schedule can be viewed on the AGWA website: www.agwa.net.au/agwastrategic-plan The five-year Strategic Plan will be submitted to the Minister for Agriculture by 30 April 2015. wine code changes to benefit growers and wineries The national Wine Industry Code of Conduct has been revised to improve how winegrape price disputes are resolved.

Developed jointly by the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) and Wine Grape Growers Australia (WGGA) in 2008, the updated code, which was foreshadowed in the September/October issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal (pg8) came into force in time for the 2015 harvest.

WFA chief executive Paul Evans said disagreements arose in some transactions between winemakers and winegrape growers from time to time and having disputation procedures in the code was a business safeguard for both parties.

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“It is inevitable that some disputes will occur but having a code of practice with a disputation process would help parties resolve differences without necessarily having to seek expensive legal advice,” Evans said.

“Where disputes do occur, the code aims to resolve them as quickly and as amicably as possible and for this reason it makes sense for all wine companies to sign on to the code if they haven’t already done so.”

As part of a wide-ranging review of the code last year, the WFA and WGGA have agreed to extend the time when a dispute over final price can be mutually resolved from 14 to 60 days during the harvest period.

WGGA executive director Lawrie Stanford said the extension would allow growers during the busy harvest period to effectively mount and resolve a dispute.

Current signatories to the code are estimated to account for around 40% of the Australian winegrape crush.

Visit www.wineindustrycode.org for an updated copy of the code.

Rootstocks delivering returns from the ground up A report showing a minimum $11 return for every dollar invested in new and improved rootstocks for winegrape growers has been published by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA).

A cost–benefit analysis of 26 research projects funded by AGWA found the major benefits of rootstock use include improved resilience against soil-borne pests, improved water-use efficiency, reduced potassium and salt uptake, and enhanced vineyard establishment and production.

Around 31 percent of Australia’s winegrapes are planted on rootstocks with the top three varieties being Chardonnay, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The 26 research projects represented an investment of $19 million in 2014 dollar value terms. The net industry benefit was estimated at $201m between 2007-2040 with around 64% of the estimated benefits derived from nematode resistance, 22% from bringing production of new plantings forward and 14% from improved water-use efficiency. This represents an estimated $11 return to industry for every $1 of R&D investment. However, this estimate was said to be conservative as not all benefits were considered and attributes such as yield gains from nematode resistance and improved WUE were likely underestimated. By applying higher yield gains, the estimated rate of return would W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2015

increase markedly with a benefit cost ratio as high as $20 for each $1 invested.

The key areas and major outcomes of rootstock use identified by the report included: • Phylloxera: use of tolerant rootstocks in phylloxera-infested areas of the Yarra Valley (Vic) were estimated to avoid an expected net income loss by 8% (for the region). Own-rooted vineyards may face substantial crop loss and lose the majority of vineyard income following a phylloxera infestation • Nematodes: nematode-resistant rootstocks avoided yield losses estimated at 10% • Vineyard establishment and production: the nature of rootstocks saw new vineyards come into production one year earlier compared with own-rooted vines • Water use efficiency: larger root systems, improved water regulation and transport around the vine has increased water use efficiency (WUE) by 20% in rootstocks compared with own-rooted vines • Potassium exclusion: reduced potassium levels in must were estimated to save wineries $12/ tonne by avoiding unnecessary pH adjustments in the winery • Shorter time to production: the additional cost of rootstocks compared with own-rooted vines was returned within two years of planting, an estimated gain of one year.

New regional director for Wine Australia in UK and Europe Laura Jewell MW has been appointed Wine Australia’s regional director for the UK and Europe after the position was left vacant following the death of Yvonne May. Jewell was due to take up the role in late February having held a position as category product development manager wine at Tesco where she oversaw its wine portfolio in 11 markets.

Andreas Clark, acting chief executive of the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) said Jewell was well-known and highly regarded by her peers in the wine trade community.

“The UK remains our largest export market and Laura will be a strong advocate for Australian wine, leading our team in London and driving efforts to maintain our market share and remain competitive.”

Jewell said: “I’ve dedicated my career to wine and worked across many different parts of the value chain. I’ve always found Australian wine to be of consistently high quality and the diversity of Australia’s 65 wine regions is an incredibly exciting story to tell.

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“I can’t wait to get started and work with Australian wine brands and exporters on a calendar of innovative events and initiatives for local trade and consumers that builds on the solid reputation that Australian wine already has in the UK and European markets.”

Who will be the industry’s next Future Leaders?

People with the skills to contribute to the future success of the Australian wine community are invited to apply for the next intake of Future Leaders, the grape and wine sector’s leadership development program.

Funded by the sector and coordinated by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA), Future Leaders will be offered to 15 applicants with “open, creative, inquisitive minds who are earlyto mid-career and already demonstrating leadership potential”.

The program has produced 75 alumni from the grape and wine community in the 10 years it has been running, including winemakers, grapegrowers and viticulturists, business managers and marketers, suppliers and researchers.

AGWA program manager Anne Duncan said that Future Leaders was for committed wine people who wanted to develop leadership skills, extend their knowledge of the sector and foster collaborative partnerships.

“Future Leaders identifies up-andcoming leaders with the skills and knowledge to sustain Australian wine into the future. We’re looking for emerging leaders who have demonstrated their commitment to the prosperity of Australian wine – innovators,

collaborators and game-changers who not only ask questions but also seek solutions.”

Matt Fowles, chief executive of Fowles Wine and Future Leaders 2006 alumnus, said the program opened many doors and created a network of industry colleagues and close friends.

“Future Leaders was a great opportunity to glean an insight into Australian wine sector leadership: the history, the structures, the people, and how they all interrelate. I understood more about effective leadership for the sector and developed greater skills and knowledge for my own businesses.”

The successful applicants will commence a six-month program in June, including four face-to-face sessions across the country.

Applications close on Friday 13 March.

Future Leaders is supported by AGWA, Wine Grape Growers Australia and the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia.

For more information visit www. futureleaders15.com Proctase gets greenlight The protease enzyme mixture known as Proctase has been approved for use in Australian winemaking for wines sold domestically or exported to New Zealand

by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).

This approval provides the Australian wine industry with an alternative to bentonite which although effective at removing proteins, its use results in significant wine losses. One study estimated the annual hidden cost of bentonite in the global wine industry at $1 billion dollars.

Also manufacturers of

• S G Spur Pruners • Single Side Pruners • Vine Cane Sweepers • Hydraulic Power Packs • Double Acting Cutter Bars

S N I P S

“It is very exciting that the first practical, economically-viable alternative to bentonite has now cleared the final regulatory hurdle for use in Australia,” said AWRI managing director Dan Johnson. “This excellent result stems from sustained industry investment in fundamental research and industryrelevant development.”

Proctase is used to treat hazeforming proteins in grape juice prior to fermentation. Johnson said sensory testing has shown no negative impacts from using Proctase compared with standard industry bentonite use. He said trials had been successfully carried out at laboratory, pilot and winery-scale, with 5000-litre volumes of Riesling, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc treated at two wineries during the 2012 vintage.

He added the costs of Proctase and juice heating were considerably lower than the batch bentonite treatment used in all but the largest wineries.

Paul Smith, AWRI research manager – chemistry, said research was in progress to build on this success.

“We’re really pleased with how effective the use of proteases with heating has been and look forward to supporting the adoption of this process by Australian winemakers. In the meantime, the team at the AWRI is continuing to investigate several additional promising alternatives to bentonite.”

The AWRI is interested in hearing from winemakers interested in tasting the three commercial-scale Proctasetreated wines and their bentonite-treated equivalents, or in trialling Proctase during the 2015 vintage.

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AGWA

Reminding Australian drinkers: there’s no place like home

By Aaron Brasher Regional Director - Australia & Emerging Markets, Wine Australia

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s Dorothy said while clicking her heels, ‘there’s no place like home’.

Indeed, the domestic market for Australian wine is worth approximately $2.5 billion1 and with consumption sitting at close to 25 litres per capita and stable, there are still many opportunities to realise.

A decade ago Australian wine accounted for 95 per cent of the local market—that number is now 85%.

Over the past 10 years, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has accounted for a large percentage of the white wine market and a high Aussie dollar has encouraged more European imports, meaning shelves and wine lists around the country started to look decidedly ‘un-Australian’.

Regions that invest in the userpays SIP have the opportunity to welcome some of the country’s top wine professionals and immerse them in the wines, people and stories of the region.

Participating regions in past years include Langhorne Creek, Wrattonbully, King Valley and Rutherglen with general feedback confirming the SIP as a valuable opportunity to get influencers to its region and ‘walk the dirt’, try the wines, meet the people and hear the stories that are unique to its area. Each region has its own story to tell and SIP is an effective way to reach influential trade.

Wine Australia conducts the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) approved one day wine school

Wine Australia has activated a number of trade and consumer activities that aim to showcase the people, provenance and personality of Australian wine.

Wine Australia began executing a domestic marketing platform a little more than three years ago. Since that time, buoyed by enthusiasm from the sector, Wine Australia has activated a number of trade and consumer activities that aim to showcase the people, provenance and personality of Australian wine.

‘Influencing the influencers’ has been a priority, whether they’re sommeliers, journalists or retailers.

In 2012, Wine Australia instigated a category within the Gourmet Traveller Wine ‘Wine List of the Year’ awards for the best representation of Australian wine. In 2014, the category saw 63% more entries compared with 2013. The sommeliers from those establishments shortlisted as finalists are chosen to take part in our Sommelier Immersion Program (SIP).

1 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 9 December 2013, ‘Domestic Sales of Australian Wine by Winemaking Businesses’, table

annually for trade such as retailers, restaurateurs, sommeliers and educators. The course covers topics including Australian wine regions' micro-climates and geology; local wine production and insights into the state of the Australian wine sector, all while tasting a selection of regionally distinctive, local wines. The students who attain the highest marks in the exam at the end of the day earn a spot on Wine Australia’s Trade Immersion Program (TIP) where, again, influential wine professionals visit some of our local regions to have an immersive Australian wine experience.

Ultimately, it is consumers who make the final decision about what they want to drink, and Wine Australia has a key role in promoting Australian wine to domestic consumers.

Aussie Wine Month returns for the fourth year in 2015 and is all about raising awareness of the wine regions in our own backyard. In 2014, 150 events across 35 regions took place throughout May. Wine Australia

encourages wineries, regions, restaurants and bars to get onboard this year and host an event that promotes Aussie wine to consumers.

Wine Australia will again be executing a national public relations campaign to support this initiative and the calendar of Aussie Wine Month events.

During the campaign, Wine Australia engages the on-trade fraternity, encouraging venues to run an exclusively Australian wine-bythe-glass program with the top list, as judged by a panel of experts, to earn a spot for its venue on the TIP. Restaurants that participated in 2014 included Black by Ezard, Aria, Quay, Flower Drum and FermentAsian.

Promoting wine education at a consumer level, Wine Australia continues to curate content for the Good Food and Wine Show events held around the country, facilitating masterclasses that reach close to 2000 people. These intimate and informative sessions have various themes but all highlight the quality, diversity and personality of Australian wine.

Wine Australia’s Level 1 and Level 2 education platform that has proven so successful in Asia has recently been implemented domestically in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. The courses are open to the public and trade, with courses to be made available in Mandarin in the near future.

A proposed expansion in 2015 for the wine education program targeting international students will continue our efforts to foster an appreciation and love for Australian wine among visiting students, and inspire them to share their knowledge and experience when they return to their home markets.

Wine Australia encourages every local wine brand to be proactive in our home market; speak to your regional body, get involved with food and wine shows or get in touch with me directly so I can work with you on building stronger foundations in our own backyard. The heel clicking is optional…

Email: aaron.brasher@wineaustralia. com or telephone (02) 9361 1227.

WVJ

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2015 – The year ahead

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

Tony briefly outlines some of the factors that will influence profitability in the Australian wine sector in 2015.

A

s the 2015 vintage unfolds it is worthwhile to pull out the crystal ball and take a sneak preview of the year ahead.

One thing we can be sure of is that the international competitive pressures on the marketplace will not be less.

Although there is a reduction in European vineyards, grape production is increasing as vineyards are being restructured, increasing yield and quality. Despite a couple of poor vintages in some key European-producing countries, production in the southern hemisphere and in the United States continues to increase. The concerns over supplydemand imbalance being experienced in Australia are not being reflected by our major competitors and they continue to invest in vineyards.

However, there are some good signs in the international economy that may provide growth in exports and, in particular, higher value exports.

The declining Australian dollar and a recovering United States economy are good news for the sector and hopefully we will see some pull-through effects late in the year. However, this will be tempered by low consumer confidence in the Australian economy. The sector has a good opportunity in 2015 to lay the ground work to re-establish Australian wine at the forefront of consumers’ minds. It is important we don’t miss this opportunity.

It is also clear that, in general, countries a round the world have no greater appetite to liberalise trade in 2015 than they did in 2014. The World Trade Organisation released its annual report on developments in the international trading environment in November 2014. The report highlights that in a climate of global economic uncertainty the continued accumulation of trade-restrictive measures pose a clear risk. And despite the glimmers of recovery in the United States the current prospects for world output and trade are far from favourable. We have witnessed a substantial increase in the number of trade-liberalising measures and there is some evidence that, more recently, the application of trade-restrictive measures

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is leading to heightened friction between members on trade issues. On the positive side is Australia’s new-found emphasis on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). The recent conclusion of the agreements with the Republic of Korea, Japan and China will provide a boost for Australia’s wine exports in the medium term. Importantly, the work in this field has only just begun, with government commitments to finalise negotiations on the Transpacific Partnership Agreement and with India over the next 12 months. Both of these agreements have major positive implications for Australia’s wine trade.

Technical market access issues continue to grow in our major markets, impeding trade and adding costs to producers. This year we expect to see

others, including notably the alcohol, food and beverage industries. The Australian wine sector strongly opposes this view and believes that if we are to deal with problems concerning the inappropriate consumption of alcohol and dangerous drinking patterns, then the alcohol industry, including the wine sector, needs to be part of finding the solution.

The economic think tank, the OECD, is also becoming active in the space of work on policies to tackle harmful alcohol use.

The OECD and its partners are developing an International Alcohol Policy Decision Support Model, a platform that will be used to evaluate the health and economic impacts of alternative prevention and treatment strategies across a range of high and middle income countries,

The concerns over supply-demand imbalance being experienced in Australia are not being reflected by our major competitors and they continue to invest in vineyards. an increase in these barriers, as nonproducing countries try to improve their food regulation systems. We are taking a strategic response to try and harmonise wine regulation through a number of international forums including APEC and the Codex Alimentarius Commission. On a bilateral basis, we expect China to seek to make changes to its certification system to try and lower the risk of fraud by improving traceability. We will be seeking to work with the Chinese authorities to solve some of the outstanding technical issues (manganese, total dry extract and sweetness declarations) as well as simplifying certification.

On the domestic front, the anti-alcohol lobby has been very active in pursuing an agenda to try and lower consumption and tax the wine industry out of existence.

However, internationally there has also been a strong lobby working in the World Health Organisation with similar goals. For example, although there is agreement that WHO should not engage with the tobacco and arms industries, this restriction, in the view of a number of member states, should be extended to W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na L JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2015

including the United States, Canada, Chile, Finland, Mexico, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom.

While this should be a positive step, previous work from OECD has focused on policies that reduce consumption and do not address harmful patterns of consumption or the underlying causes of alcohol abuse. The work of WHO and OECD are often used to direct member state polices and we are seeking a more balanced approach in these forums to help guide domestic policy in 2015.

In conclusion, 2015 looks to be a challenging year, but is also full of promise. The sector has strategies in place to deal with most of the risks coming our way as a result of government intervention, but the real challenge remains in re-taking our market share from our competitors and selling more wine internationally and domestically.

Hopefully, the newly-formed Australian Grape and Wine Authority, together with the peak representative bodies WGGA and WFA, will be able to spearhead and improve industry profitability through targeted R&D, creative marketing and WVJ strong advocacy.

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ASVO

New faces at the ASVO

By Mardi Longbottom President, Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology

T

he ASVO recently welcomed two new board members, David Wollan, representing Victoria, and Tony Proffitt, representing Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.

Currently studying for a Master’s degree by research at the University of Adelaide, David brings significant winemaking technical expertise to the board. Similarly, Tony has a long history in viticulture, including consultancy, extension and education.

He has also served as a member of the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference planning sub-committee and, in 2013, he was a finalist for the ASVO Viticulturist of the Year award.

After four years at the helm, Paul Petrie stood down from the president’s role in November. During his term as president, Paul was instrumental in building the financial stability of the ASVO and has been committed to seeing the society continue to deliver eminent professional events and support to its members. The ASVO directors congratulate and thank Paul for his leadership.

AWRI senior viticulturist Mardi Longbottom has been elected to the role of president and is supported by vice-president Brett McClen, chief viticulturist from Brown Brothers. Riverina Wine Grapes Marketing Board industry development officer Kristy Bartrop continues in the role of treasurer for a second term, and Paul Petrie takes on the role of secretary. Continuing the second year of their terms are Mike Trought and Anthony Robinson, and Tony Battaglene retains his seat on the board. University of Adelaide professor in oenology Vladimir Jiranek retains his

position as regional director for South Australia. More information about each of the directors can be found on the ASVO website.

Awards for Excellence At the Awards for Excellence dinner held in Adelaide in November, the ASVO Viticulturist and Winemaker of the Year were selected from an exceptional line-up of applicants from across several states. Viticulturist of the Year award winner Matthew Bailey, of Taltarni, was honoured for being at the forefront of integrated pest management in the wine industry, thanks largely to the success of his insectarium, a vegetation corridor of 2000 native plants that provides a pollen and nectar source for a range of beneficial insects. The other viticulture award finalists - Ben Harris, of Treasury Wine Estates; Cecil Camilleri, of Yalumba; Liz Riley, of Vitibit; and Tony Proffitt, of AHA Viticulture and Curtin University - all demonstrated significant dedication to an area of viticulture and winemaking that is likely to significantly impact the future of the Australian wine industry.

The ASVO Winemaker of the Year was awarded to Sue Bell, of Bellwether Wines. The judges noted that Sue’s role in the industry “has been quite inspirational, showing how much can be achieved with passion and commitment”. Bellwether’s wines reflect Sue’s focus on original and honest winemaking. While Sue’s current business operation is not heavily weighted to research and development, her point of difference in the wine industry, which is passion and community, is making a significant difference.

Another finalist in this award was Julian Alcorso, of Winemaking Tasmania. Judge Anthony Robinson commented that Julian’s work in Tasmania has been vital to the entire developing industry of that state, and also played an important role in highlighting the vast climatic regions that Australia has to offer on the world stage. Our 2014 awards evening was a great success and enjoyed by all those who attended.

Latest ASVO fellow Fellows of the ASVO are awarded this honour in recognition of outstanding and meritorious contributions to the grape and wine industry. Our most recently appointed fellow is Paul Henschke, who accepted this honour at the recent awards dinner. During Paul’s extensive career in wine research, he has been a significant contributor to the ASVO. He has co-authored more than 100 scientific and technical papers, made more than 100 scientific and technical presentations and co-supervised 21 post-graduate students. In his heartfelt and generous response to the award, Paul said that it was an unexpected but great honour to be offered a place amongst eminent and distinguished fellows of the ASVO. “I wish to dedicate this honour to the memory of my late father, Cyril Henschke,” he said.

Planning for the future Planning is under way for both the Mildura and Adelaide seminars later this year. The board is being led by members’ input to come up with exciting programs for both events. We look forward to announcing the seminar topics and dates in the coming months. The ASVO is also working closely with the AWRI in the early stages of preparation for the next Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference, scheduled in Adelaide in July 2016.

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Wine exporting: understanding the ins and outs – Part 1

By Tony Keys

There was much talk at last year’s Wine Industry Outlook Conference about the need for Australian wine producers to get on planes and pound the pavements in export markets to drive more growth for the greater good of the industry. But exporting isn’t for everyone, so who does it suit? Over the next two issues, Tony will explore the business of wine exporting, including what went wrong with the export boom of the 1990s and the lessons learned, and what benefits lie in store in the current climate for those who are contemplating booking a plane ticket.

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ow well does the Australian wine industry understand export?

Few understand the business of export very well and many have little or no understanding of the subject. And what went wrong with the explosive export period during the ‘90s?

Exporting any product is simple, difficult and complex; the simple part comes in the form of an overseas customer placing an order, the difficult part is obtaining the customer in the first instance, and the complex part is the bureaucratic hoops that have to be jumped through to satisfy the Australian Government and the government of the country the goods or wine are destined for. With patience, persistence and investment these issues can be overcome. The question that remains is, is it worth the effort?

The alternative is to stay in the domestic market, whether nationally or locally.

Without slighting grapegrowers or winemakers, growing grapes and turning them into wine is the easy end of the business; the hard part is selling the finished product. To sell wine there has to be a demand for it. That demand can be based on several factors. Scarcity is one aspect but it needs to be combined with reputation and, sadly, very few Australian wines are globally sought after.

The main attraction for importing wine is the export price being asked by the producer no matter what country it comes from. In the 21st century very few Australian producers can meet the low price points consumers demand from their retailers, and retailers, now dominated by supermarket groups, are happy to oblige consumers so they can earn good margins on baked beans, disposable nappies or toothpaste.

It’s not an encouraging start to 2015 but the reality is exporting is a slower process than we wish or realise and this writer and long time observer of the industry remains

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highly suspicious of rapid success. That suspicion was honed in the ‘90s when it became obvious that the success of Australian wine in overseas markets was way too fast and if it didn’t slow it would crash.

Before looking to the present and future path its worth returning to the glory days of the mid ‘90s. Note this comment from Jancis Robinson buried in the midst of an extremely postive article on Australian wine written in 1996: “Certainly, I’m tasting more and more wishy-washy stuff at the bottom end of the market over here [UK], usually own labels which will not do Australia any good at all.”

the reality is exporting is a slower process than we wish or realise Robinson wasn’t a lone voice. Oz Clarke, one of Australia’s greatest supporters in the ‘90s, wrote in the 1990 edition of Webster’s Wine Guide on Australian wine: “There have been too many disturbing reports round the country from retailers who say the quality is not what it was.”

In the mid ‘90s I was asked to present a wine tasting using a supermarket range of Australian wine, mostly own label. They were appalling quality. It was not only a hard tasting to conduct in a postive manner but also embarrassing presenting such an array of rubbish from an industry I had, until then, held great respect for.

How did Australian wine take off in the UK? There are several points where we could start the story but essentially it was when the everyday drinking wine coming out of France, Italy and Spain in the ‘80s and into the ‘90s was extremely poor while Australian wine, although more expensive,

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was clean, fresh wine that could be drunk with ease and enjoyment.

Price is an important factor. In 1991 Tesco was selling its own brand Australian Chardonnay for £4.05 while a bottle of Wilhelm Walch Termeno Chardonnay was £3.55. Over in Oddbins a 1986 Sandeman Claret retailed for £3.99 while a David Wynn Cabernet was priced at £4.99.

The point being, Australia held a price advantage because the consumer thought it worth paying the extra.

This advantage was eroded as Australian producers strived to fulfil orders not only to the UK but the booming US and Canadian markets. The truth emerging was, it couldn’t be done. Australia simply didn’t have the amount of quality wine required. What it did have was every winemaking and marketing trick known in the universe and the Australian producer, along with UK wine buyers’ palates, turned away from quality.

Put bluntly the Australian wine industry sold its reputation for pennies in the bank. A good example was the fad for Chardonnay which was fed with wine made from 85 per cent inland Semillon, 15% inland Chardonnay and a touch of raw oak chip. So enamoured were UK consumers they focused on the word Chardonnay not the word Semillon on the label and certainly not the region, the innocuous South Eastern Australia being the norm.

What they got was flabby wine of no character and definition. It’s no wonder British consumers turned away from Australia. It was a classic case of fooling some of the people some of the time but not all the people all the time.

Meanwhile in Australia, wineries were being listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and large global drinks companies were showing interest in acquiring an Australian wine producer to put in their portfolio. Interestingly, Diageo, one of the world’s largest drinks

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51 UK pence. For it really to have an effect on wine exports it needs to be closer to 70 cents and 40 pence.

Steve Dorfman (wine broker for Ciatt), speaking at the Wine Industry Outlook Conference in Adelaide in October, told delegates the US has a huge future for bulk wine. He, as did others, told producers they needed to visit the market and knock on doors. He also said Australia is known for just one brand, Yellow Tail. His research showed Americans are drinking more wine, and there is not enough produced in the US to feed this. Chile is supplying Cabernet Sauvignon at 58 cents a litre; Dorfman says Australia needs to match the price. It may be true but can a producer make any money at that price?

Speaking at the same conference, Angie Slade, regional director - North America for AGWA, reinforced the point about the importance of visiting the market as did Lulie Halstead, chief executive of Wine Intelligence.

Slade suggests two or three visits a year are needed. One can see the sense of this but the reality is that a visit costs a lot of money, not only in fares and accommodation, but in events hosted.

My estimates suggest a visit amounts to between $10,000 and $20,000, and few can afford that unless they return with container orders, rather than single-pallet orders. According to Slade, there is a sweet spot for Australian wine retailing between US$11 to US$15.

She says Australia needs to reconnect with the gatekeepers, sommeliers, independent retailers, Masters of Wine, etc. She also believes American consumers are looking for innovation and just got tired of Australian wine. She stated firmly: “No one is anti-Australian. Americans like Australians, and Australian winemakers need to tell their story, not the story of Brand Australia.”

Murphy comments on the US market: “Although I do not work there the US is worth investment of time and funds. Tough market, yes, but they speak the same language (nearly), drink wine and there are a lot of them.”

At this point in time Australian eyes are turning to Asia, especially China.

Wahlquist says: “Australia is very well positioned in China though. The average price point is high. Australia as a country is well regarded. Links between Australia and China are growing, with

The problem of the ‘90s wasn’t what was going right; it was the undercurrent of unease pointing to what might be going wrong.

Winemakers and official bodies had deaf ears and blinkers on. They were only interested in the postive aspects... companies, repeatedly announced it was looking but the price was far too expensive.

Despite the warning signs emerging from the UK it was an exciting period in Australia. In 1995 and 1996 the lavish Wine Australia Yearbook boasted of great times and the celebration of everlasting great times to come. Then Prime Minister Paul Keating wrote the foreward to the 1995 edition, citing 4000 grapegrowers supplying 700 wineries in an industry worth $1.2 billion with exports of $360 million in 1993-4.

In 1994 Southcorp bought 220 hectares of Coonawarra land (179ha planted) for the then astronomical sum of $12 million, with chief executive Bruce Kemp saying, "the investment is principally export driven".

The problem of the ‘90s wasn’t what was going right; it was the undercurrent of unease pointing to what might be going wrong. Winemakers and official bodies had deaf ears and blinkers on. They were only interested in the postive aspects of what Clarke, Robinson and others were writing not the warnings being issued.

The export figures were impressive; the projected growth in 1995 is outlined in Table 1. The levels achieved were not as much as the 32% modelling but were ahead of the 15% projections. Financially it was a fantastic success. Sadly, it was at the expense of quantity as liquid dullness became the leading factor for the majority of Australian wine and quality was discarded as was reputation, leading to UK wine correspondent Tim Atkin writing in The Observer in 2005, “at the lower end of the market, Aussie wines are in danger of becoming the new liebfraumilch: bland, confected and boring. Our retail shelves are dominated by virtually interchangeable brands, most of which are overpriced”.

Volume and value peaked in 2007, 786 million litres worth a fraction over $3 billion. The peak years for value per litre were 2000 and 2002 at $4.78 litre.

As head of the London-based Australian Wine Bureau, Hazel Murphy AM was charged with the promotion of Australian wine in the UK, Ireland and what was then quaintly called Continental Europe. From the mid ‘80s until the early 2000s Murphy was credited as the driving force behind the success of Australian wine exports in the UK and Europe.

In a conversation for this article, I asked for her initial thoughts on the current woes

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of Australian wine exports: “I suppose latterly you could say it’s the economy stupid! But that isn’t it. More appropriate could be it’s the exchange rate but that’s not the whole story either.”

How true that is. So what is the story and can wine producers in 2015 benefit from exporting? The quality of Australian wine has never been higher but the damage done has lost many once loyal fans in the major export markets of the UK, USA and Canada. Murphy points out other hurdles now facing the exporter such as political, economic and social.

She muses, "access to new markets and changing established ones makes it very hard for any producer unless a global player to keep up with it all let alone make future predictions".

In a weird twist of logic (mine) the strengthening Australian dollar has been a ready excuse for the wine industry. If it wasn’t for the dollar wine producers may have had to face the reality there were other more direct and more hurtful reasons for the decline.

On the current slightly improving exchange rate Roland Wahlquist, chief executive of Brown Brothers, says, “exchange rate improvement or not, the going is still very tough in the UK and USA”.

But he sees the bigger issues as, “the flood of Aussie wine being sold there below cost of production has done Brand Australia no favours, and an enormous amount of rebuilding has to be done”.

Murphy agrees, adding the postive aspects, believing Australia is poised for a revival with the rider, “not the huge leaps and gains in export of previous times but perhaps a more sustainable position”.

Murphy says in the markets she now works in (UK, Continental Europe and Canada) consumers still like Australia and Australian wine. “It’s a good starting point,” she says.

At the time of writing this article the exchange rate was hovering between 81 and 82 cents to the US dollar and around Table 1.

Year

At 15.45% increase

At 32.6% increase

Actual recorded

1996

$528.7 million

$801.3 million

$551 million

1997

$610.4 million

$1.06 million

$687 million

1998

$704.6 million

$1.4 million

$884 million

1999

$813.5 million

$1.87 million

$1.2 million

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President Xi Jinping’s recent visit and the Free Trade Agreement announcement being very positive steps".

Mike Brown is chief executive of Gemtree Wines and on China he says the language barrier is the first difficulty. His observations of the drinking habits in that country is that there is a lot of white wine being drunk at room temperature, so not enjoyed as it should be. Red is better understood, because the Chinese understand tannin via tea.

At the Wine Industry Outlook Conference, Brown said China was a good place to be because Australian wine is thought of as fine wine and value for money. “Education is very important, but it takes time,” he said, adding that it’s important to have a trusted person on the ground and to follow any wine dispatched through the chain to the consumer.

Sean Shortt, export director for the Spanish-owned Wingara Wine Group (Katnook and Deakin Estate Wines), is pro Asia saying the higher price obtained there has mitigated part of the ‘dollar value’ decline from Europe. He adds, “sounds almost ridiculous but we would sell more Katnook Estate, Odyssey, Prodigy in countries such as Laos, Cambodia (as well as the obvious candidate China) than we would in any market in Europe".

Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) is another company investing time and effort in Asia but does warn in its 2014 annual report, “Asia, continued strong volume growth in Hong Kong and increasing momentum in South East Asia was offset by the impact of austerity measures in China, particularly in the first half".

In the 2014 financial year Asia accounted for just 4% of TWE’s volume and 8% of its income but its earnings before interest and taxes contribution was 21%.

Like many involved in export the proximity to Asia is also proving an advantage. Most destinations can be accessed within a day’s travelling and the time difference is two to three hours. As it was once in the UK but now lost, Shortt says, “Asia is also upbeat about Australia. Distributors welcome you and Australian wine is a mainstay on lists from Kuala-Lumpur to Hong Kong. It’s not like you are on the back foot as in many markets in Europe.”

Wahlquist adds a dose of reality with the following warning: “However it [success] will all count for nought if we can’t resolve some technical barriers.

“The issue with manganese has been well documented and there appears to be no solution in sight. It excludes much of Australia’s red wine from China.

“And sugar-free extract. Like manganese, it is based (perhaps deliberately) on poor science and a misunderstanding of winemaking processes. With many of our sweeter wines, the standard error in the sugar test used is greater than the total quantum of the sugar-free extract. So, depending on what day of the week the test is done, the wine may or may not be deemed to have sufficient sugar-free extract. There is no appeal, no retesting.

“AGWA are at their wits end on this. The technical people in China have their orders. We are hoping the new Agricultural Counsellor to China will take this up, and work out where the blockage is. Meanwhile shipments are being turned back and opportunities lost.”

Confidence in Asia is growing but thankfully appears to be tempered by lessons learnt in Europe and the USA. Shortt ponders, “Is Asia our future?” He replies: “I certainly think we have learned a lesson from having too many eggs in the traditional baskets of the northern hemisphere, but equally we can’t just spend our time 100% focused on Asia. We are trying to balance, or ‘re-balance’."

Murphy points out the online UK retail structure is changing with the advent of discounters, on-line growth and increased independent presence. This can be taken as a good sign but it’s worth remembering Australia has fallen out of fashion (Shortt refers to it as the “boredom factor”) and there are many more wine-producing countries looking for a slice of the UK market

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“This time around I think we are all a lot more cautious and sensitive about how we sustain and nurture the growth, and we are all probably a lot more humble in our approach to the [UK] market than the glory days of Australia advancing fair on the unsuspecting wine world.”

- Sean Shortt, Wingara Wine Group and it will be a brave independent that now makes a focus of Australian wine. It’s also possible the discounter chains such as Aldi and Lidi will influence the established supermarkets to stock fewer lines but at rock bottom prices. This works well for a company the size of Accolade Wines, Australian Vintage or Kingston Estate which can offer large amounts at the price supermarkets require, but leaves out the majority of producers.

Shortt has directed the Wingara brands towards on-premise in the UK and is pleased with the last 12 months of trading saying globally they are up 40%. He points out two factors that all should consider before getting over enthused with any pronouncements on export success that may be issued in 2015: “We lost a fair amount of ground between 2009 and 2013 and the Freixenet group [owner of Wingara] has chipped in with new listings, with orders coming from Russia, Mexico, Caribbean, USA and lots of smaller markets where they have strong distribution.”

It’s as Murphy has said, the strength is in being a global company. But what about those small to medium sized wineries?

Can they find any export opportunities? The quick answer is ‘yes’, followed by ‘caution’. One step at a time. Establish trusted partnerships and sell goods only at a price that returns a profit.

Production has to be calculated in terms of sales; excess inventory is not an investment unless it’s calculated to return a higher price for being aged stock.

As tourism is an export, the declining dollar should encourage more overseas visitors to Australia. This country is fortunate to have numerous attractions and the beauty of many of our vineyard regions matches others around the world. Food and accommodation is in general of a high standard. If a winery works on the tourism aspect it is also working on its export potential.

Now over to Shortt and Murphy for the last words of this article: Short on the UK: “The truth was that we, like many Australian suppliers, over-estimated the loyalty to Australia and as a consequence saw Chile and European producers (in very premium packaging relative to what we and other Australians were putting out) take over the volume ‘pouring’ slots.

“This time around I think we are all a lot more cautious and sensitive about how we sustain and nurture the growth, and we are all probably a lot more humble in our approach to the market than the glory days of Australia advancing fair on the unsuspecting wine world.”

Murphy: “I do not believe that Australia’s problems are much different from most wine-producing countries in the world and the challenges are smaller than for many. If they really want to get better prices for their wines they have to prove to both trade and consumer that the wine (the total package) is worth it.”

Wine industry commentator Tony Keys has spent more than 30 years in the wine industry including the retail sector in the UK and roles with the Australian Wine Export Council and the Australian Wine Bureau in London. He is author of The Key Report, a weekly report containing news, views, analysis and opinions on the wine industry: www.thekeyreport.com.au WVJ

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Copper fining of sulfidic off-odours – some complex white wine chemistry with practical outcomes

By Andrew Clark1, Natalie Cleghorn2, Paris Grant-Preece1 and Geoff Scollary3 National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678 2 Yalumba, Angaston, South Australia 5353 3School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 1

Researchers have shown that winemakers cannot avoid the presence of residual copper in finished wines containing hydrogen sulfide that have had an addition of copper(II) and attempts have been made to remove copper sulfide (CuS) precipitate. Further, residual copper remains active in mediating oxidative reactions.

T

he chemistry of reduced sulfur compounds that give rise to sulfidic off-odours is highly complex and has been one aspect of our research for many years. The term ‘reduced’ applies to compounds such as hydrogen sulfide and methanethiol that give rise to aroma descriptors including rotten egg and cooked cabbage.

Hydrogen sulfide, the main focus of this article, is a weak acid and its acid-base chemistry is shown in Figure 1. At pH of 3.2, the proportion existing as H2S molecules is close to 100%, although a trace amount of sulfide (S2-) will be present. H2S is readily volatile and the concentration in the vapour above the liquid surface is about 10 times that in the wine. Its aroma threshold is 1.6µg/ litre (Siebert et al. 2009).

Copper(II) is commonly added to white wines to remove sulfidic offodours that result from the winemaking process. The additions may occur during maturation of the wine, as well as just prior to bottling. The copper fining process has been a standard practice for many years and is welldescribed in winemaking textbooks (Iland et al. 2012) and oenology teaching notes. Bench sensory trials are normally performed to determine the most appropriate level of added copper to remove the H2S aroma with typical incremental addition rates of 0.25mg/ litre copper. Post-addition copper(II) concentrations in the bottled wine can be 0.5mg/litre or even higher in some cases. The copper(II) is usually added as copper(II) sulfate, although more recently, copper(II) citrate has been used as, for example, Kupzit®.

The chemistry underpinning the use of copper(II) to remove hydrogen sulfide is based on the formation of the insoluble copper(II) sulfide and removal

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of the precipitate from the treated wine.

The solubility product for copper(II) sulfide (Ksp; see Figure 1) is sufficiently low (6.3 x 10–36 (mol/L)2 (Dean 1999)) that the precipitation reaction should essentially remove equal amounts of copper(II) and sulfide ions. As the sulfide ions react with copper ions and form precipitate, then more sulfide will become available from hydrogen sulfide via the equilibrium shown in Figure 1, and precipitation of CuS will occur until either copper(II) or the hydrogen sulfide or sulfide reach near depletion.

Consequently, the solubility product suggests that for a hydrogen sulfide concentration of, say, 10µg/litre, only addition of 20µg/litre of copper(II) ions (or 0.020mg/L) should be required to reduce the hydrogen sulfide to well below sensory thresholds. However, as winemakers know, the amount of copper(II) required to remove the olfactory sensation of hydrogen sulfide is much higher than the amount calculated from the solubility product considerations outlined above.

This chemical and thermodynamic approach is, however, based on the assumption that the copper(II) ions are available as ‘free aquated’ ions, represented as Cu2+(aq) in Figure 1.

‘Aquated’ indicates that the Cu2+(aq) or copper(II) ion is surrounded only by water molecules and ‘free’ reinforces this by indicating that the copper(II) ions are not bound or interacting with other wine components that make them unavailable for reacting with sulfide.

For example, we know that copper(II) ions bind strongly to tartrate at wine pH (Clark 2001) and the large excess of tartaric acid compared with copper may be interfering with the CuS precipitation process through competitive binding.

There are two other anecdotal winemaking observations that suggest that the chemistry of the copper fining process is not as simple as the thermodynamics would suggest. First, there are reports (e.g. Harbertson 2009) that the precipitate of CuS may not be seen, suggesting that it remains dispersed as small particles in the wine matrix and not removed during settling.

Secondly, there are instances where the sulfidic off-odour would appear to return over time in some wines, despite the presence of copper, implying that the sulfide was not actually removed from the wine matrix by copper(II) fining. In addition, recent research suggests that the presence of copper in some situations appears to enhance the

Figure 1. Schematic representation of the chemistry of hydrogen sulfide.

For each step, the direction of the larger arrow indicates the compound that dominates the equilibrium.

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Figure 2. Residual copper concentrations in 14 white wines with copper(II) to hydrogen sulfide ratios of 1:1. Treatments were racking or filtration (0.45 or 0.22 micron pore size filters, F0.45 and F0.22, respectively). Error bars represent the standard deviation (n=3). production of hydrogen sulfide during wine ageing.

We commenced this project to generate some basic data on copper(II) sulfide chemistry in white wine. Our intention was to track the fate of the added copper(II) after its addition to finished wines that contained known amounts of hydrogen sulfide. As copper(II) is known to enhance oxidative processes in wine, we examined an option to assess residual copper activity on an oxidative process.

Experimental approach Fourteen white wines were obtained commercially for this study. The copper concentrations ranged from the trace level to 0.36mg/litre. A known amount of a standard solution of sulfide was added to 100mL aliquots of each wine and after equilibration, a copper(II) sulfate solution was added to bring the total copper concentration in each wine to 1.0mg/L. The mole ratio of hydrogen sulfide to copper in each sample was 1:1. While the amount of hydrogen sulfide in the samples was higher than would normally be found in wine, the intention was to try to totally deactivate the copper through its reaction with sulfide.

After one day (five days in some cases), a portion of each 100mL treated sample was decanted and regarded as the ‘racked’ sample. A second portion was filtered through a 0.45 micron filter and a third portion filtered through a 0.22 micron filter. The residual copper concentration was then measured and compared with the original 1.0mg/litre value before sample treatment. Similar experiments were also performed

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with model wines, and all experiments were carried out in triplicate to allow assessment of experimental error.

Results of the precipitation studies Figure 2 shows the results for the residual copper concentration.

It is clear that there has been little to no removal of copper, even with the smallest pore size (0.22 micron) filter. Although not shown here, some samples were allowed to stand for five days and the copper concentration in the racked samples was essentially identical to the one-day racked sample for each wine. A sensory assessment of the wines after one day showed no apparent aroma for hydrogen sulfide.

These results suggest that CuS is being formed, but that the resulting particle size is too small for removal by racking or filtration.

To confirm that the hydrogen sulfide was being removed by our experimental procedure, we used a tartaric acid based model wine at pH3.2, which allowed us to measure the hydrogen sulfide concentration as well as the copper concentration. After addition of sulfide first and then copper(II) to the model wine to give a 1:1 mole ratio, the racked samples again showed negligible loss of copper. However, a reduction of the copper concentration by 56% (0.45 micron) and 61% (0.22 micron) was found after filtration. Hydrogen sulfide could not be detected in the copperfined samples, whereas in the absence of added copper(II), the concentration was measured to be the same as that added to the model. These results provide additional evidence that the

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instruments The right chemistry.

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racked wine sample to which both sulfide and copper(II) had been added, significant xanthylium cation production was observed after incubating the wine at 45°C for a number of days. In fact, the colour development was essentially the same as for the wine containing copper(II) but without sulfide addition. This implies that, even though the copper(II) is apparently bound to sulfide in the racked sample, it remained active in terms of mediating the colour development reaction.

Whether this is a consequence of the reaction conditions causing breakdown of the copper sulfide particles to enable copper(II) to mediate pigment production is the subject of present work. In fact, we are examining a range of options to assess potential copper(II) activity post-fining as a tool to aid winemakers in the careful use of copper fining.

Next steps

Figure 3. Residual copper concentrations in model wines with copper(II) to hydrogen sulfide ratios of 1:1. The model white wines contained tartaric acid (TMW) or were free from tartaric acid (NMW). Treatments were racking or filtration (0.45 or 0.20 micron pore size filters). Error bars represent the standard deviation (n=3). addition of copper(II) has, in fact, bound the sulfide, but that the CuS solid has not been removed by racking and only partly removed by filtration.

There are some suggestions (e.g. Ribéreau-Gayon et al.

2006) that the copper sulfide particles carry a negative charge on their surface. Such a charge would cause the particles to repel one another and minimise the possibility of aggregation for particles to grow to sufficient size to form a precipitate.

Surprisingly, it has been proposed that protein be added to assist with the coagulation of the copper sulfide particles (Ribéreau-Gayon et al. 2006). This may well induce protein instability and is hardly a suitable option for wines to which copper(II) has been added just prior to bottling.

The possibility of wine components interfering with the precipitation process needs to be considered, as agents that can bind copper(II) may interfere by making the copper(II) less available to react with sulfide. Figure 3 compares the extent of copper removal in two model systems, one with tartaric acid present and the other without, but with identical ethanol concentrations and pH values. More copper is removed by filtration (0.45 and 0.20 micron) in the absence of tartaric acid. Whether this is a consequence of the tartaric acid sequestering the copper ions or whether tartrate itself is being adsorbed onto the surface of the copper sulfide particles and thereby impeding the particles’ ability to settle remains to be determined.

Assessing residual copper activity One of the winemaking concerns with the use of copper(II) to remove the hydrogen sulfide is the potential reactivity of any residual copper(II) towards oxidative spoilage processes.

We know from our extensive work on copper wine chemistry that copper(II) can mediate the reaction between catechintype phenolic compounds and glyoxylic acid to produce a yellow pigment called a xanthylium cation (Clark et al. 2003).

When the colour development reaction was performed on a

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Full details of our study will soon be published in the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. We recognise that our studies at this stage are very much in their infancy.

Regardless, the results summarised here clearly show that after addition of copper(II) to finished wines containing hydrogen sulfide and attempts to remove the CuS precipitate, the presence of residual copper is unavoidable and remains active in mediating oxidative reactions. The presence of residual CuS may provide a source for the return of the H2S aroma as the wine ages, which is in line with recent work that proposed a pool of sulfide compounds in wine that can be released (Franco-Luesma and Ferreira 2014).

The observation that tartrate influences the capacity to remove residual copper requires a more detailed investigation of the impact of other wine components on the CuS precipitation process. There is also increasing evidence that other metal ions may influence the copper/hydrogen sulfide chemistry (Viviers et al. 2013).

We have been fortunate to obtain funding from AGWA for a collaborative project with the AWRI on the chemistry of copper and iron in relation to sulfidic off-odours and oxidative spoilage. Anyone who wants more information or who may wish to participate should contact Andrew Clark by email: aclark@csu.edu.au REFERENCES Clark, A.C. (2001) Studies on the copper-mediated oxidation of white wine.

PhD thesis. School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic., Australia. 211-229.

Clark, A.C.; Prenzler, P.D. and Scollary, G.R. (2003) The role of copper(II) in the bridging reactions of (+)-catechin by glyoxylic acid in a model white wine. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 51:6204-6210.

Dean, J.A. (1999) Lange’s handbook of chemistry. 15th ed. (McGraw-Hill: NY, New York, USA). 8.9-8.10.

Franco-Luesma, E. and Ferreira, V. (2014) Quantitative analysis of free and bonded forms of volatile sulfur compounds in wine. Basic methodologies and evidences showing the existence of reversible cation-complexed forms. Journal of Chromatography A 1359:8-15.

Harbertson, J.F. (2009) A guide to the fining of wine (Washington State University Extension: Pullman, Washington) 6-7, http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/ CEPublications/em016/EM016.pdf Iland, P.; Bruer, N.; Ewart, A.; Markides, A. and Sitters, J. (2012) Monitoring the winemaking process from grapes to wine: Techniques and concepts. 2nd ed.

(Patrick Iland Wine Promotions Pty Ltd, Adelaide, Australia). 83-85.

Ribéreau-Gayon, J.; Glories, Y.; Maujean, A. and Dubourdieu, D. (2006) Handbook of oenology: The chemistry of wine stabilisation and treatments. Vol. 2 (Wiley: Chichester, England). 102, 290.

Siebert, T.; Bramley, B. and Solomon, M. (2009) Hydrogen sulfide: aroma detection threshold study in white and red wine. AWRI Technical Review 183:14-16.

Viviers, M.Z.; Smith, M.; Wilkes, E. and Smith, P.A. (2013) Effects of five metals on the evolution of hydrogen sulfide, methanethiol and dimethyl sulfide during anaerobic storage of Chardonnay and Shiraz wine. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 12,385-12,396.

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Pulsed electric fields: a technology for improving phenolic extraction in red wines

By Elisa Luengo, Ignacio Ă lvarez and Javier Raso* TecnologĂ­a de los Alimentos, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain *Corresponding author: jraso@unizar.es Introduction While white wine is made by fermenting must obtained by pressing white grapes, red wine is obtained from the must of red grapes that undergoes fermentation together with grape skins. In this step, called maceration fermentation, yeasts convert the sugars of the must into ethanol, but phenolic compounds are also extracted from the grape skin. Phenolic compounds have an important impact on the quality of red wine. They make an essential contribution to red wine organoleptic attributes, particulary colour, bitterness, astringency and mouthfeel.

They also have a major influence on the ageability and health properties of wine1. The phenolic content of the wines depends on both the grapes and the winemaking practices used, which may significantly affect the extraction of phenols during the maceration fermentation step and their subsequent stability in the wine 2. Nowadays, deeply-coloured, full-bodied wines, rich in phenolic compounds are highly valued in the market. For this reason, different techniques have been developed to enhance the extraction of phenolic compounds. A common practice in wineries is to extend maceration times, prolonging the skin contact with the must after fermentation.

However, this technique requires increasing the number of fermentation tanks, makes it difficult to control the fermentation temperature, and there is also a risk of obtaining bitter and astringent wine due to over extraction of proanthocynindins from grape seeds. Other techniques that aim to increase phenolic concentration in red wines include thermovinication, must freezing, flash release and use of pectolytic enzymes that may damage the cell membranes of the berry skin and, thus, increase extraction into the fermenting must 2. Pulsed electric fields technology (PEF) could be an alternative technology to accelerate

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and increase the phenolic extraction during the maceration fermentation step of red winemaking process.

Pulsed electric field technology Pulsed electric fields (PEF) is a non-thermal emerging processing technology that has attracted great interest in recent years in the food industry. The treatment involves the intermittent pulses of high voltage for a very short period of time (microseconds to milliseconds) through a material placed between two electrodes. This voltage results in an electric field (0.1-40kV/cm) that if it is sufficiently high, causes the electroporation of the cell membrane. Electroporation means an increase in the cell membrane permeability, enhancing the transport of ions and macromolecules across the electroporated membrane. Key parameters that determine the efficacy of PEF are electric field strength, which depends on the voltage applied and separation between the electrodes, and the treatment time.

Several theories have been proposed in order to describe the events underlying electroporation.

However, nowadays, there is broad consensus that electroporation is best described by the theory of aqueous pore formation3 (Figure 1). The cell membrane consists primarily of a thin bilayer formed by phospholipids that oriented their non-polar part inward and their polar part pointing outward, contacting the water.

Therefore, the hydrophobic interior of the cell membrane makes it almost impenetrable for polar molecules located on both its sides. The application of an electric field strong enough induces a voltage across the bilayer, reducing the energy required for the formation of aqueous pores in the bilayer, thus facilitating a greater number of pores, including those that are more stable than in the absence of electric field.

Based on the electroporation of the cell membrane, PEF has gained increasing interest in recent years for liquid food pasteurisation and for improving mass transfer operations in the food industry. ď‚„

Figure 1. Lipid bilayer formed by phosholipids, without any pore (A), with a hydrophobic pore (B), with its reversible transition to a hydrophilic pore (C), and its irreversible transition to an unstable and self-spanding hydrophylic pore (D).

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The capability of PEF to inactivate vegetative cells of pathogenic and spoiling microorganisms at temperatures below those used in thermal processing makes this technology very attractive for extending the shelf-life, and guarantees safety of heat-sensitive foods such as fruit juices. On the other hand, the increase in the cell membrane permeability caused by the PEF-treatment reduces the resistance of the cytoplasmactic membrane to the migration of substances into or from the food tissues. It has been demonstrated that electroporation of plant cells improves mass transfer in different operations of the food industry such as expression of juices from fruits; extraction of different valuable compounds from the inner part of the cells such as sugar, colorants or polyphenols with antioxidant activity; or removal of water during air drying4.

Improving phenolic extraction in red winemaking by PEF In the last few years, the effect of PEF electroporation in the extraction of polyphenols has been investigated in different vegetal matrixes including grape berries (Figure 2).

Furthermore, different studies have demonstrated the potential of using PEF as a pre-treatment of grape berries to obtain red wines with a higher content of phenolic compounds and reduce the duration of the maceration step during vinification. Initial studies conducted in batch at laboratory scale demonstrated that the application of PEF treatments at different intensities (2-10kV/cm; 0.4-6.7kJ/kg) to the grapes before the maceration fermentation resulted in obtaining just fermented wines from Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mazuelo and Graciano with a higher total polyphenol index (TPI), total anthocyanin content (TAC) and colour intensity (CI)5-7. The increment in these indexes varied depending on the grape variety and maturation step from 14-45% of the TPI, from 18-43% of the TAC, and from 19-62% of the CI. In order to evaluate whether the benefits observed just after fermentation were maintained during wine maturation, further studies were conducted in a flow system at pilot-plant scale (118kg/h)8.

In this study, although the maceration time for wine obtained from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes treated by PEF (5kV/cm, 150Âľs, 3.67kJ/kg), it was 48 hours shorter. After four months of ageing in bottle, the TPI, TAC, and CI of the PEF wines were 10%, 18%, and 27 % higher, respectively, than in the controls (Figure 3). HPLC polyphenolic profiles of both PEF and controls were similar, indicating that the PEF treatment did not produce a selective effect on

any polyphenol9. A parallel study showed that the better chromatic characteristics and higher polyphenolic content observed in the PEF treated wine after the fermentation process remained or even increased after ageing wine in oxidative conditions in American oak barrels for six months, and posterior storage in bottles for eight months10. The implementation and performance of PEF systems in existing production lines at processing in order to evaluate the industrial feasibility of PEF technology. Trials performed in a small winery (Figure 4 - see page 20) in which 6000kg of grapes of Garnacha variety were PEF treated (4kV/cm, 60Îźs, 1.5kJ/kg) at a flow of 1900kg/h confirmed results obtained at laboratory and pilot plant scale11. Wine obtained from PEFtreated grapes with a maceration time of seven days was compared with wines obtained from untreated grapes with the current maceration time (14 days) used by the winery.

The evolution of CI, AC and TAC of both the control and the wine obtained from grapes treated by PEF followed the same pattern. However, after seven days of maceration, the TPI, TAC and CI of the wine obtained from grapes treated by PEF were 23.5%, 25% and 12.5% higher, respectively, than in wine

Figure 2. Colour of wine must obtained from untreated grapes (control) and PEF-treated grapes at 1kV/cm and 5kV/cm after one hour of maceration.

Figure 3. Evolution of TPI (A), TAC (B) and CI (C), during the vinification and maceration of wines obtained from untreated (dark grey) and PEF-treated (light grey) grapes. EM: end of maceration; EAF: end of alcoholic fermentation; EMF: end of malolactic fermentation; B: bottling; B4: four months after bottling.

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obtained from untreated grapes. After two months in bottle, a triangle test was conducted to determinate if panellists (nine trained judges) could detect differences between PEF-treated and control wines. The sensory analysis revealed that the wine obtained from PEF treated grapes with a maceration of seven days was more significantly preferred (95% CL) than the control with a longer maceration time (14 days).

Other potential applications of PEF in wineries In addition to the enhancement of phenolic compounds extracted during maceration of red wines, the application of PEF to improve white winemaking has also been investigated.

White wine is made by fermenting the must that is obtained from pressing crushed grapes. Expression of juice from white grapes is a critical stage for the final quality of white wine.

The effect of the application of PEF to different white grapes (Muscadelle,Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Chardonnay) on the must yield and characteristics of must has been investigated at laboratory scale12. The application of a moderate PEF-treatment (0.75kV/cm; 20kJ/kg) to white grapes before pressing increased the yield around 20% compared with the must yield obtained from untreated grapes. The quality of the PEF-treated grapes must was similar or even improved with respect to the control, because the application of the PEF-treatment led to an increase of the polyphenol content and a decrease in the must turbidity.

These promising results conducted in batch at laboratory scale should be validated in continuous flow PEF systems and vinifications should be performed with the must obtained in order to evaluate the influence of the treatment on wine quality.

On the other hand, the development of spoilage

microorganisms is one of the most important problems causing great economic losses in wineries. The growth of these spoilage microorganisms limits the development of fermentation starters added to the must, and also may produce important sensorial changes in the wine. A usual practice to decrease the risk of microbial spoilage during the winemaking process is the addition of sulfur dioxide (SO2). However, the World Health Organisation has recommended reducing its use because it can negatively affect the health of consumers with a particular sensitivity. Several studies have demonstrated that PEF is an effective non-thermal technology for inactivation of bacteria and yeast in must and wine. The application of a PEF-treatment (31 kV/cm; 150 kJ/kg) achieved a reduction from three to four log cycles of Dekkera anomala, Dekkera bruxellensis, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus hilgardii in must and wine13.

This reduction could be enough to control the development of microbial spoilage during the winemaking process. Therefore, the application of PEF before fermentation could reduce the SO2 concentration to safer levels or even eliminated. Moreover, as PEF-treatment did not modify the wine composition, PEF treatments together with the inoculation of a starter strain of yeast could lead to a reproducible fermentation of must without significantly modifying the composition of volatile compounds responsible for the typical flavour of wines.

Conclusions Research conducted in the last few years has demonstrated PEF to be an effective technology to improve the competitiveness of wineries through improving different processes conducted in these facilities. The electroporation

Figure 4. Pulsed electric field system developed at the University of Zaragoza implemented in an existing processing line in a small winery. The system has been designed to treat the grapes in order to improve the extraction of phenolic compounds during the maceration fermentation step of red winemaking (to see the PEF system working visit: http://youtu.be/YBhrj6W9N2M).

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of grape skins led to wines with a higher content of phenolic compounds or reduced the maceration time during vinification, without impairing, and even improving, its sensorial attributes.

Moreover the electroporation of grapes skin and pulp increases the must expression yield in the white wine process. On the other hand, the capability of PEF to inactivate spoilage microorganisms at temperatures that do not cause any deleterious effect on flavour, colour or nutrient value in must and wines may contribute to enhancing the quality of wine by ensuring reproducible fermentations or by reducing or replacing the SO2 in winemaking.

The recent development of PEF apparatus with sufficient power to process large quantities of products, the easy implementation of the treatment chambers into existing processing lines (Figure 4) and the low energy consumption (0.56-6.76kJ/kg for improving polyphenol extraction and 150kJ/ kg for microbial inactivation) are the keys to PEF technology becoming a commercially viable technology in wineries in the near future.

References 1 Vidal, S.; Francis, L.; Noble, A.; Kwiatkowski, M.; Cheynier, V. and Waters E. (2004) Taste and mouthfeel properties of different types of tannin-like polyphenolic compounds and anthocyanins in wine. Analytica Chimica Acta.

513: 57-65.

2 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. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture. 56:197-206.

3 Weaver, J.C. and Chizmadzhev, Y.A. (1996) Theory of electroporation: A review, Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics. 41:135-160.

4 Puertolas, E.; Luengo, E.; Alvarez, I. and Raso, J. (2012) Improving mass transfer to soften tissues by pulsed electric fields: Fundamentals and applications, in: M.P. Doyle, T.R. Klaenhammer (Eds.) Annual Review of Food Science and Technology, Vol 3, Annual Reviews, Palo Alto. 263-282.

5 Lopez, N.; Puertolas, E.; Condon, S.; Alvarez, I. and Raso, J. (2008) Effects of pulsed electric fields on the extraction of phenolic compounds during the fermentation of must of Tempranillo grapes. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies. 9:477-482.

6 Lopez, N.; Puertolas, E.; Condon, S.; Alvarez, I. and Raso, J. (2008) Application of pulsed electric fields for improving the maceration process during vinification of red wine: influence of grape variety. European Food Research and Technology. 227:1099-1107.

7 Lopez, N.; Puertolas, E.; Hernandez-Orte, P.; Alvarez, I. and Raso, J. (2009) Effect of a pulsed electric field treatment on the anthocyanins composition and other quality parameters of Cabernet Sauvignon freshly fermented model wines obtained after different maceration times. Lwt-Food Science and Technology. 42:1225-1231.

8 Puertolas, E.; Lopez, N.; Saldana, G.; Alvarez, I. and Raso, J. (2010) Evaluation of phenolic extraction during fermentation of red grapes treated by a continuous pulsed electric fields process at pilot-plant scale. Journal of Food Engineering. 98:120-125.

9 Puertolas, E.; Hernandez-Orte, P.; Sladana, G.; Alvarez I. and Raso, J. (2010) Improvement of winemaking process using pulsed electric fields at pilot-plant scale. Evolution of chromatic parameters and phenolic content of Cabernet Sauvignon red wines. Food Research International. 43:761-766.

10 Puertolas, E.; Saldana, G.; Alvarez, I. and Raso, J. (2010) Effect of pulsed electric field processing of red grapes on wine chromatic and phenolic characteristics during ageing in oak barrels. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 58:2351-2357.

11 Luengo, E.; Franco, E.; Ballesteros, F.; Alvarez I. and Raso, J. (2014) Winery trial on application of pulsed electric fields for improving vinification of Garnacha grapes. Food and Bioprocess Technology. 7:1457f1464.

12 Praporscic, I., Lebovka, N., Vorobiev, E. and Mietton-Peuchot, M. (2007) Pulsed electric field enhanced expression and juice quality of white grapes.

Separation and Purification Technology. 52:520-526.

Puertolas, E.; Lopez, N.; Condon, S.; Raso, J; and Alvarez, I. (2009) Pulsed electric fields inactivation of wine spoilage yeast and bacteria.

International Journal of Food Microbiology. 130:49-55.

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Application of molecular biology in wineries

By Alana Seabrook, Microbiologist/Research and Development Manager, Yalumba Wine Company Introduction One of the most fundamental aspects of winemaking is the interaction of microorganisms, from vineyard to the finished bottled product. This includes but is not limited to critical steps such as alcoholic and malolactic fermentation where the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisae and the lactic acid bacterium Oenococcus oeni typically play primary roles. Conversely, many microorganisms are responsible for spoilage and product downgrade, thus incurring great losses for wineries.

The ability to identify microorganisms is a great asset to a winery in order to understand the resultant chemical and sensory profile. Traditional microbiology includes microscopy and culturing techniques which can be delayed in the case of culturing, and inconclusive in both practices. With an increase in knowledge from both research and technology, there is a greater need for absolute and timely information on the identity and quantity of the microorganisms present.

Microbiology has evolved exponentially in the past decade – traditional microbiology is progressively existing in conjunction with molecular techniques in all industries. As discussed, the culturing of yeast and bacteria is not sufficient for absolute identification, whereas molecular detection can absolutely identify the microorganism at a strain level. Any target microorganism may be identified in wine by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Table 1. PCR reaction components.

PCR component

Function

DNA (wine sample)

Template DNA (target)

Forwards and reverse primers

Small fragments of DNA that bind to the target

Buffer with magnesium

rovides a suitable environment for the enzyme to P function

Nucleotides

Building blocks to create more target DNA

Enzyme (thermostable polymerase)

Carries out the amplification of the target sequence

Fluorescent probe or fluorophore

inds to any target DNA produced and fluoresces – thus B enabling its detection

All genetic material is stored in the nucleus, or the ‘brain’ of the cell. Once the cell is opened, either by mechanical or enzymatic methods, all of the cell’s genetic material (in the form of DNA) is exposed. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is made up of many nucleotides (nucleotides are composed of a nitrogenous base, a five-carbon sugar (ribose or deoxyribose), and at least one phosphate group) linked together which form amino acids. The sequence in which they are found codes for everything about the cell; how it reproduces, how it will produce energy and deal with environmental stresses. DNA could almost be described as the ‘blueprint’ of an organism. By knowing this sequence, we can identify region/s (target sequence) that are specific to that particular species and design short fragments of sequence that will bind to the target sequence (forwards and reverse primers). The target sequence can then be amplified exponentially in suitable thermal

Figure 1. Schematic representation of the amplification of DNA derived from a yeast cell.

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conditions. A PCR reaction involves the components listed in Table 1.

By attaching a fluorescent probe to the target sequence which is copied, large amounts of the amplified DNA may be detected in real time via an increase in fluorescence. Real-time PCR detects the presence or absence of these microorganisms via the measurement of a fluorescent signal released when bound to target DNA in real time (Figure 1).

The Yalumba Wine Company has made the decision to invest in molecular biology to develop assays and methods to support the winemaking process by identifying and quantifying both desired and spoilage microorganisms.

For example, some of the target microorganisms include Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Figure 2A), desirable nonSaccharomyces species in spontaneous fermentations, undesirable nonSaccharomyces species which can take over inoculated fermentations, Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Acetobacter species.

Non-Saccharomyces such as Kloekera sp., Candida sp. and Torulaspora species play a critical role in spontaneous fermentations. They can add complexity via the production of volatile compounds and fatty acids which contribute to mouthfeel (Ciani et al. 2011). Most of these non-Saccharomyces species have low alcohol tolerance and, so, their presence is critical in the early stages of fermentation. Non-Saccharomyces yeasts can have an antimicrobial effect on other yeast which can be a mechanism of spoilage control. There is an interest in understanding the

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microorganisms present in spontaneous fermentations, gain a greater knowledge of the microorganisms that are beneficial, those that originate from particular vineyards and how we can better suit our practices to minimise any taints and promote complexity and quality.

Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis is a common spoilage organism in the wine industry (Figure 2B), causing offflavours and aromas from the production of 4-Ethylphenol and 4-Ethylguiacol such as barnyard, horse, Band-aid (Chatonnet et al. 1992). It is a slow growing yeast which is not inhibited by the alcohol concentrations present in wine, and can be resistant to molecular sulfur dioxide (SO2) levels under 0.8mg/L of molecular SO2 (Barata et al. 2008). This results in offflavours and aromas from the production of 4-Ethylphenol and 4-Ethylguiacol. Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis can be derived from vineyards, winery equipment, and both new and used barrels. The production of 4-Ethylphenol and 4-Ethylguiacol

A

For further information, please contact Kauri

B Figure 2. Dekkera bruxellensis (1000X magnification) (top) and Saccharomyces cerevisae using and electron microscope.

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There is an interest in understanding the microorganisms present in spontaneous fermentations, gain a greater knowledge of the microorganisms that are beneficial, those that originate from particular vineyards and how we can better suit our practices to minimise any taints and promote complexity and quality. would appear to be correlated with the growth of the microorganisms, and most likely the start point of this process is strain and wine matrix dependant.

Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis may be detected before the production of 4-Ethylphenol and 4-Ethylguiacol becomes a problem, thus making greater assay sensitivity a priority.

Acetobacter species are also a common spoilage microorganism in winemaking and are able to proliferate in bottle when the seal is compromised (Bartowsky and Henschke 2008). Tanks on ullage are able to build up a critical mass of these microorganisms due to SO2 stratification and oxygen surface exposure. Acetobacter spp. are typically present in most red wines in storage at a level of 103cells/mL, and Acetobacter

pasteurians has been found to be more predominant in unspoiled red wine, whilst Acetobacter aceti is the primary strain present at the vinegar stage. A molecular SO2 of 0.825mg/L is recommended by the Australian Wine Research Institute to avoid the growth of any undesired microorganisms (http://www.awri.com.au/ industry_support/winemaking_resources/ calculators/molecular-sulfur-dioxide/) Commercially available kits The beverage industry in Australia is looking at implementing this kind of technology. Pall has released the GenediskŽ platform which can identify more than 20 species of lactic acid bacteria for spoilage detection in beer – a set-up which involves minimal operator

input and no knowledge of method development. With regards to Dekkera/ Brettanomyces bruxellensis detection from wine, Bio-Rad and Life Technologies more recently have released wine extraction and subsequent amplification/ detection assays. The capital involved in a DNA extraction and amplification set-up is significant (typically from $A40-60k), as well as substantial amounts of labour and expertise. The cost of one reaction can vary depending on the method in question.

The benefit of customising assays allows greater flexibility to take cost effectiveness and recent research findings into account.

Sample preparation The sample preparation from wine is not uniform and has a more complex medium than a pure culture grown in culture media. Given that the cell numbers can be very low, a concentration step is usually required. Published methods proposed for wine industry application include membrane filtration of 1mL plus overnight incubation on YPD media, addition of another yeast culture and subsequent centrifugation of 50mL and analysis of the pellet and centrifugation of 50mL. Centrifugation may seem like an obvious method but, in many instances,

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the complex wine matrix is thought to have an interaction with the cells, thereby keeping them in suspension (unpublished data). Enrichment can be an issue in the case of particular microorganisms that may not grow in a uniform manner such as Dekkera bruxellensis. Studies such as Serpaggi et al. 2012 suggest that there may be a viable but non-culturable state (VBNC) for Dekkera bruxellens, which would also suggest that an enrichment step would not be a suitable method.

Yalumba methods With this in mind the Yalumba methods have been designed to find the most sensitive assay based on current literature and commercial methods and compare this to data derived from culturing. Two sample preparation methods have been developed for a standard amount of high and low turbidity wines, including a concentration step. The subsequent DNA purification method has been automated to eliminate technician variablity and remove any inhibitors from the wine which may affect the PCR reaction. Assays for D. bruxellensis, A. pasteurians, A. aceti, S. cerevisiae, S. bayanus have been validated with the integration of appropriate controls.

Conclusions and future directions It is hoped that the data derived from this analysis coupled with contributions to key AGWA (previously GWRDC) funded projects will enable a better understanding of the interaction of microorganisms in the wine environment.

Some of the key objectives entail determining the presence, growth kinetics, inhibitory thresholds, and tailored sensitive detection methods of microorganisms which can both value add and compromise wine quality. A robust correlation is sought between taint production, species and strains, cell numbers and health.

This information will benefit the entire industry in an ever-changing distribution climate and varying weather conditions. Wineries are encouraged to approach the Yalumba Wine Company for the purpose of troubleshooting and absolute identification of particular microorganisms, as this is now offered as a commercial service. For further information, email: aseabrook@yalumba. com References Barata, A.; Caldeira, J.; Botelheiro, R.; Pagliara, D.; Malfeito-Ferreira, M. and Loureiro, V. (2008) Survival patterns of Dekkera bruxellensis

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in wines and inhibitory effect of sulphur dioxide. International Journal of Food Microbiology 121(2):201-207.

Bartowsky, E.J. and Henschke, P.A. (2008) Acetic acid bacteria spoilage of bottled red wine—a review. International Journal of Food Microbiology 125(1):60-70.

Chatonnet, P.; Dubourdie, D.; Boidron, J-N. and Pons, M. (1992) The origin of ethylphenols in wines. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 60(2): 165-178.

Ciani, M. and Comitini, F. (2011) NonSaccharomyces wine yeasts have a promising role in biotechnological approaches to winemaking. Annals of Microbiology 61(1):25-32.

Phister, T.G. and Mills, D.A. (2003) Realtime PCR assay for detection and enumeration of Dekkera bruxellensis in wine. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 69(12): 7430-7434.

Serpaggi, V.; Remize, F.; Recorbet, G.; GaudotDumas, E.; Sequeira-Le Grand, A. and Alexandre, H. (2012) Characterisation of the ‘viable but nonculturable’(VBNC) state in the wine spoilage yeast Brettanomyces. Food microbiology 30(2): 438-447.

Tessonnière, H.; Vidal, S.; Barnavon, L.; Alexandre, H. and Remize, F. (2009) Design and performance testing of a real-time PCR assay for sensitive and reliable direct quantification of Brettanomyces in wine. International Journal of Food Microbiology 129(3):237-243.

Torija, M.J.; Mateo, E.; Guillamón, J.M. and Mas, A. (2010) Identification and quantification of acetic acid bacteria in wine and vinegar by TaqMan–MGB probes. Food Microbiology 27(2):257-265.

Willenburg, E. and Divol, E. (2012) Quantitative PCR: An appropriate tool to detect viable but not culturable Brettanomyces bruxellensis in wine. International Journal of Food Microbiology WVJ 160(2):131-136.

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R E F R I G E R AT I O N

New tool for wineries to tackle refrigeration costs

A

new free online tool that enables wineries to analyse and manage their refrigeration demand has been released by the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI).

The need for such a tool was identified and developed by Dr Richard Muhlack, of the AWRI, in 2012 as part of the AWRI’s Riverina Regional Node key priorities.

AWRI manager – industry engagement and application Peter Godden said while the project stemmed from a regional priority its much broader application for the whole industry was evident from the beginning.

“It was clear from the start that Riverina wineries weren’t alone in the need to improve their financial bottom lines or in seeking ways to improve refrigeration costs and energy use,” Godden said.

“It’s taken considerable work to get the software and application right – but the early feedback we’re receiving and the results we saw during validation show the calculator has the potential to definitely help cut costs and improve

refrigeration for many wineries.”

Godden said the calculator allows wineries to enter in a range of production data and grape intake to simulate refrigeration demand across their entire production cycle.

“Users are also able to assess the

effect of factors such as cellar storage, cold stabilisation temperatures, fermentation conditions, climate, brine temperature, tank size and insulation on their refrigeration demand and energy costs,” he said.

Three wineries in the Riverina and

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600.00

Refrigeration Energy Demand 500.00

400.00 Energy Demand (kW)

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200.00

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0.00 22/11/2013

three in Hunter Valley, through the AWRI’s regional nodes, helped the AWRI team to validate and test the calculator.

“When we first started to test the calculator only one of the six wineries actually had a dedicated power meter in their winery to record electricity usage and peak demand times,” he said. “Not knowing your electricity or refrigeration usage often means you can’t fully identify problems or the areas where easy efficiencies can be found. If you can’t measure your performance, then you have no way of assessing if you have improved, or if any changes you make actually lead to greater efficiency. The new calculator allows you to measure your improvements.

“The AWRI has developed a large amount of resources and best practice advice in this area – but not taking that initial step to investigate or analyse usage means it’s difficult to know what questions to ask to get the right answers and advice.

“Eventually, and in line with feedback we’ve already received, we’d like to see the software improved so it can be used on a web-based platform and integrated with the full range of

WINEMAKING

An example of a chart that can be generated using the AWRI’s Refrigeration Demand Calculator - a spreadsheet-based tool designed to allow wine producers to analyse and manage their winery refrigeration demand and assess the effect of factors such as cellar storage, cold stabilisation temperatures, fermentation conditions, climate, brine temperature, tank size and insulation. current mobile devices,” Godden said.

The AWRI Refrigeration Demand Calculator was funded by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority and can be

downloaded from the AWRI website at: http://www.awri.com.au/industry_ support/winemaking_resources/ WVJ refrigeration-demand-calculator/

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A W R I

Applying spectral technology to improve winemaking efficiency

By Peter Godden, Neil Scrimgeour, Eric Wilkes, Wies Cynkar and Dan Johnson The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064

Managing director Dan Johnson

Spectral technologies have been developed for the rapid and simultaneous analysis of sugar and colour levels in red grape homogenates, and of yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN) and other compositional variables in white juice. The technologies have been extensively trialled in large wineries over several vintages, with useful data obtained in real time. This ongoing work demonstrates the significant potential of spectral analysis to replace many expensive and time-consuming traditional laboratory methods, providing winemakers with opportunities to optimise winemaking processes.

Introduction In the current challenging economic climate, one of the strategies that the Australian wine sector can adopt to compete with lower-cost producers is to embrace new technologies to improve winemaking efficiency. Implementing process measurement technology is widely recognised as a key way to reduce operating costs, increase production capacity and improve product consistency.

Process measurement technologies are successfully used by many industries, including beer, soft drink and dairy, but the wine industry has been slow to adopt them, largely due to the lack of demonstrated performance in a winery environment. The lack of real-time analytical data available to winemakers can, therefore, result in either a conservative approach to winemaking or an increase in risk when process decisions are based on limited amounts of objective information.

The Australian wine industry has a clear need for rapid methods to measure grape, must and ferment composition to: determine optimum harvest dates and appropriate remuneration for grapegrowers; identify areas in the vineyard with similar fruit composition to aid batching and streaming of fruit at the winery; assess the need for additions to must (e.g. diammonimum phosphate [DAP] and acid); reduce inputs; and improve control of fermentation to reduce the incidence of problem ferments and improve tank utilisation.

Previous research at the AWRI (AWRI publications #1185, #1340, #1360) has demonstrated that process measurement tools can be used to provide real-time information for winemakers and help reduce costs across a number of

operations. Rapid spectral methods have been employed in the last decade by some large wine producers for prediction of a range of grape and wine compositional parameters. However, success in implementing these methods has been limited and the level of adoption across the industry remains low.

Spectral measurement technologies typically have lower operating costs than traditional methods and have the advantage of being able to monitor multiple analytes simultaneously. Previously, the cost of buying instruments has been prohibitive for medium and small-sized wineries.

That situation is now changing with the availability of a new generation of smaller and cheaper instrumentation. This new generation technology has recently been used to develop rapid methods for two specific applications: analysis of colour (total anthocyanins) in red grape homogenates and analysis of yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN) in white juice.

Rapid measurement of colour (total anthocyanins) in red grapes Some wine producers use red grape colour as an important indicator of grape quality for grower payment purposes.

However, the standard analytical method for grape colour employed by industry (AWRI publication #531) can be relatively time-consuming. A rapid method could provide significant savings for wine producers, especially if the method is used to monitor grape maturity as well as final colour levels used for grower payments.

In recent vintages, the AWRI has worked collaboratively with several wine producers to develop calibrations for the analysis of total anthocyanins in grapes, as well as

At a glance •

Spectral analytical techniques are commonly used for wine analysis, especially in large winery laboratories and contract bottling facilities.

•

A new generation of smaller and cheaper spectral analytical instruments makes it possible to analyse juices, grape homogenates and samples taken directly from fermentations, potentially providing winemakers with real-time data to optimise decision-making.

•

Advantages of spectral analysis include the ability to analyse several compositional variables simultaneously; minimal sample preparation; and, in many cases, the elimination of the need for laboratory reagents.

•

Spectral analysis is reliant on calibrations referenced against standard analytical techniques. The development of such calibrations can represent the greatest technical challenge to the adoption of these technologies.

•

The AWRI has been working with industry collaborators to develop robust calibrations used to provide real-time data for a number of grape and wine compositional variables during vintage.

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simultaneous measurement of total soluble solids (TSS), pH, titratable acidity (TA), and dry matter, using mid-infrared (MIR) technology. The initial calibration models included data for Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, from grapes sourced in South

Australia during the 2011 and 2012 vintages. Collaboration with wineries in the Riverina region in 2013 provided a significant amount of additional data; more varieties were included, and the concentration range of the calibration was expanded to include both

Figure 1. Correlation of anthocyanin values measured using reference method (x-axis) against values predicted using an MIR spectral method (y-axis) KEY: N= number of samples; R2=coefficient of determination (a measure of how well a set of data fits a statistical model); SHZ – Shiraz; CSA – Cabernet Sauvignon; MER – Merlot; PNO – Pinot Noir; RCA – Ruby Cabernet; DUR – Durif; MAT – Mataro; PVED – Petit Verdot; SAN – Sangiovese;TEMP – Tempranillo.

high and low colour levels (Figure 1).

Validation of this model was carried out in 2014, with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot comprising more than 90% of samples in the validation set (Figure 2). For these three varieties, measurement errors in the

Figure 2. Validation of anthocyanin concentration during vintage 2014. Data shown are reference method (x-axis) against values predicted using an MIR spectral method (y-axis).KEY: SHZ – Shiraz; CSA – Cabernet Sauvignon; MER – Merlot.

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business A W & marketing R I

Figure 3. Correlation of anthocyanin values measured using reference method (x-axis) against values predicted using an MIR spectral method (y-axis).

Figure 4. Correlation of 2013 YAN values measured using enzymatic reference method (x-axis) against values predicted using MIR spectral method (y-axis).

KEY: DUR – Durif; RCA – Ruby Cabernet; PVE – Petit Verdot

spectral predictions were, on average, higher than the stated measurement error for the laboratory reference method.

Although the relative errors in the rapid method are slightly higher than desired, this method could be used to track grape maturity in the vineyard with reasonable accuracy at low cost. The technology is also well suited to streaming grapes, as it gives results in minutes rather than hours. Further work is required to understand the true accuracy of reference methods currently used in industry

and how rapid methods might be better tailored to improve the accuracy of measurements.

For varieties with relatively high concentrations of anthocyanins, such as Ruby Cabernet (RCA), Durif (DUR) and Petit Verdot (PVE), the rapid spectral measurement tended to under-predict the true concentration. Consequently, a separate calibration model was developed that allowed more accurate measurement of grape anthocyanins for these varieties (Figure 3). This demonstrates the way spectral calibrations can be tailored to suit specific sample sets.

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Wine compositional variables that are critical to fermentation efficacy include YAN, tannin, alcohol content, pH, titratable acidity (TA) and sugar content (Brix). Some of these are able to be rapidly and easily monitored in a lab environment using standard analytical methods, but some (specifically YAN) require more sophisticated equipment and/or methods. Previous AWRI research has shown that most of these parameters can be monitored using rapid spectral methods (AWRI publications #1185, #1436).

YAN is a measurement of nitrogen from ammonia and amino acids, forms that can be utilised by yeast as nutrients during fermentation. Measuring YAN concentration prior to fermentation is very important because insufficient YAN (<160mg/L) in the juice/must can result in sluggish or stuck fermentations and the production of hydrogen sulfide. Conversely, elevated levels of YAN (>350mg/L) can lead to the formation of undesirable flavour and aroma characteristics in the resultant wine. However, few producers measure YAN on a regular basis because, until now, its analysis was relatively slow and expensive.

As a consequence, many producers rely on ‘preventative’ routine additions of DAP to all juices, which pose the risk of elevating the YAN concentration to undesirable levels, or of incurring unnecessary additive costs.

Recent work at the AWRI has focused on using MIR technology for the simultaneous analysis of white juices for pH, TA, Brix and YAN. Prototype calibrations were developed and the project was extended in the Riverina for further development and validation across multiple vintages (Table 1). Samples were also collected, and calibrations validated, for samples from South Australia and the Hunter Valley.

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Table 1. YAN ranges observed for juice samples from various wineries and regions across the 2011-2013 vintages and the proportion of samples that were found not to require a DAP addition.

Region

Riverina

Winery

Vintage 2011

Vintage 2012

YAN Range (mg/L)

% juices not requiring DAP addition

Winery 1

66 - 109

Winery 2

57 - 417

Vintage 2013

YAN Range (mg/L)

% juices not requiring DAP addition

YAN Range (mg/L)

% juices not requiring DAP addition

0

61 - 220

13

-

-

94

109 - 417

84

89 - 534

94

Winery 3

114 - 505

78

32 - 345

54

50 - 256

41

Winery 4

69 - 294

68

54 - 424

57

-

-

Winery 5

-

-

-

-

203 - 406

100

Hunter Valley

98 - 286

43

South Australia

31 - 539

67

The data collected on YAN concentrations in juices across multiple vintages (Table 1) showed that approximately 60% of samples tested did not require a DAP adjustment, even though many producers make routine standardised additions to every fruit parcel without regard to actual YAN concentrations.

Validation results generated during vintage 2013 showed that pH, TA, Baume and YAN could be measured with reasonable accuracy using the rapid spectral method developed. Table 2 summarises the relative measurement errors inherent in the spectral method.

Figure 4 shows the performance of the YAN calibration model for white juices during vintage 2013. The standard error of measurement was 29.4mg/L, with samples from all regions showing good agreement with the reference analysis method. Samples obtained from South Australia tended to exhibit higher YAN levels (ranging from 250-550mg/L), with the rapid spectral method showing higher errors at this level.

The rapid method developed for YAN measurement showed that the level of accuracy was dependent on a number of factors: •

the relative levels of YAN in the samples (lower and higher values were more poorly predicted)

•

whether the sample was taken prior to or during ferment (ferment samples exhibited higher levels of variability)

•

the region samples were taken from (Hunter Valley samples showed a greater degree of accuracy).

Table 2. Measurement errors observed for multiple parameters in juice samples from various wineries and regions during 2013 vintage.

YAN (mg/L)

pH

TA (g/L)

Baumé (o)

257

250

229

205

Coefficient of determination (R2)

88.8

91.7

95.9

99.1

Standard error

29.4

0.06

0.31

0.15

Validation range

54-527

3.03 - 4.23

2.6 - 9.75

7.9 - 16.3

No. samples

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The method developed shows the potential of using MIR technology for semi-quantitative juice monitoring prior to ferment. Even at the early stages of development the accuracy achieved can be used to provide rapid feedback on nutrient status (as low, medium or high) and minimise unnecessary DAP additions.

Conclusion Rapid measurement technologies show significant potential to replace many expensive and time-consuming traditional laboratory methods. With future developments in this area, there is potential that these technologies will be available in cost-effective units in the vineyard or at the weighbridge and applied to real-time process measurements. Previous modelling against the typical costs for a medium to large winery found that rapid

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A W R I

measurement technologies could cost as little as one-third the cost of traditional methods, including factoring in the cost of the instrument amortised over its lifespan (AWRI publication #1340).

The capability to rapidly and cheaply collect large amounts of compositional data may have significant implications beyond immediate cost savings. Its application might allow important relationships between grape and wine composition to be revealed, allowing the full value of grapes to be realised and targeted wine styles to be achieved with a greater degree of certainty and consistency. Current research at the AWRI on objective measures of grape quality has already identified a correlation between MIR spectra and grape quality grades assigned by a large wine company.

In the future it should be possible to apply rapid methods to set more objective targets for grape composition and wine style, and to assess adherence to such targets during winemaking.

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The capability to rapidly and cheaply collect large amounts of compositional data may have significant implications beyond immediate cost savings. Its application might allow… the full value of grapes to be realised and targeted wine styles to be achieved with a greater degree of certainty and consistency.

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

References AWRI publication #531 Iland, P.G.; Cynkar, W.; Francis, I.L.; Williams, P.J. and Coombe, B.G. (1996) Optimisation of methods for the determination of total and red-free glycosyl glucose in black grape berries of Vitis

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2015

vinifera. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 2(3):171-178.

AWRI publication #1185 Shah, N.; Cynkar W.U.; Smith P.A. and Cozzolino D. (2010) Use of attenuated total reflectance mid-infrared for rapid real-time analysis of compositional parameters in commercial white grape juice. J. Agric. Food Chem. 58:3279–3283.

AWRI publication #1340 Cynkar, W.U. and Wilkes E. (2011) New breed of infrared analysis instruments. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker 575:64-66.

AWRI publication #1360 Cozzolino, D. and Dambergs, R.G. (2010) Instrumental analysis of grape, must and wine. Reynolds, A.G. (ed.)

Managing Wine Quality, Volume 1: Viticulture and Wine Quality. CRC Press: 134-161.

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.

WVJ Appl. Spectrosc. 66:656-664.

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INDUSTRY SUSTAINABILITY N E W S

Business sustainability and resilience – size doesn’t matter

By Cathy Howard

Cathy caught up with the winners of the recent Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology awards Winemaker of the Year Sue Bell, and Viticulturist of the Year, Matthew Bailey – who were acknowledged as being leaders in the Australian wine industry for environmental sustainability and management.

W

hen the term sustainability is used, it is most readily associated with the environment and with terms such as ‘carbon footprint’, ‘biodiversity’ and ‘green credentials’.

Business sustainability is, however, a much broader concept. It is often talked about as managing the triple bottom line in which businesses manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities.

During my research, I found a much broader definition of business sustainability which incorporates resiliency of a business over time. A sustainable business is one that can

•

•

Environmental management systems: These systems provide the structures and processes that help embed environmental accountability into a business’s culture and provide it with the tools for managing and adapting to environmental risks such as climate change. The most widely recognised standard worldwide is ISO 14001, but numerous other industryspecific and country-specific standards exist, one example for the wine industry in Australia is Entwine.

Life cycle analysis: Those businesses wanting to take a large

A sustainable business is one that can survive shocks over time because it is intimately connected to healthy economic, social and environmental systems. survive shocks over time because it is intimately connected to healthy economic, social and environmental systems. The business creates economic value. It contributes to healthy ecosystems and to strong communities.

For a business to develop and grow sustainably over time, it must address important issues such as economic efficiency (innovation, prosperity, productivity), social equity (poverty, community, health, human rights) and environmental accountability (climate change, land use, biodiversity).

There are a number of best practices and strategic tools that businesses can utilise to plan, develop and manage their long term sustainability, including: • Stakeholder engagement: Businesses can learn by engaging with their customers, suppliers, employees and the surrounding community. Engagement is about understanding the needs of various stakeholders, finding common ground and involving stakeholders in joint decision-making.

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•

•

•

leap forward could systematically analyse the environmental and social impact of the products they use and produce through life cycle analysis.

Continuous process improvement: Continuous monitoring and improvement of various processes within the business to increase productivity and processing efficiencies, reduce operating costs, minimise wastage, and increase profitability.

Investing in innovation & technology: To increase business profitability by introducing more efficient and cost effective production technologies into the production process, to reduce input costs, and to better utilise resources.

Collaboration: The formation of networks with similar businesses and with research institutions for facilitating knowledge sharing and enhancing innovation. Why reinvent the wheel so to speak, when you can tap into and share existing

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na L JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2015

knowledge and information with others.

The inspiration for this article came from the winners of the recent Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology (ASVO) awards: Winemaker of the Year Sue Bell, from Coonawarra’s boutique Bellwether Wine, and Viticulturist of the Year Matthew Bailey, from Taltarni in Victoria’s Pyrenees region. What caught my attention was the ASVO press release stating “These …. winning awards … establish a model for new thinking as the industry prepares for the impact of climate change”.

Matthew Bailey, Vineyard Manager & Horticulturist, Taltarni, Victoria Bailey was recognised as being at the forefront of integrated pest management in the wine industry due to the success of his insectariums vegetation corridors of native plants that provide a pollen and nectar source for a range of beneficial insects. This natural approach to pest and disease control has allowed Taltarni to reduce its chemical use and associated costs by 75% over the past decade.

Bailey has achieved a successful and sustainable outcome with his insectariums through innovation, continuous process improvement and collaboration. After 10 years of collecting data on the variety and population growth of a number of beneficial insects, and working in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, he has achieved his goals of establishing permanent populations of beneficial insects in and amongst the vineyard blocks, along with a significant reduction in vineyard management costs.

Bailey looked specifically at vegetation corridors that could be used to establish large populations of beneficial insects within the vineyard. As well as limiting the use of insecticides, the more important

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INDUSTRY SUSTAINABILITY

C A TH Y HO W A R D

and long-term viable solution is to encourage beneficial insects to stay in the vineyard and to establish strong and stable resident populations. This can be done reasonably simply by increasing the availability of flowering plants whose nectar and pollen are used as essential or supplementary food sources for these beneficial insects. Bailey continues: “The idea of establishing a mix of plant species was because one single flowering plant species was unlikely to provide a food source to sustain large and healthy populations of a range of beneficial insects over time.”

After initial research in 2006, Bailey planted the first insectarium in 2007.

He has changed his insectarium design over the years. “The first two insectariums were planted in large areas close to vineyard blocks. The third was planted within a waterway,” he said. “After seeing the dramatic increase in beneficial insects within the first three insectariums I realised that I needed to get the insectarium closer to the vineyards. Therefore, all new insectariums are now established within and between the blocks, and are linked together, and if possible, also linked to the surrounding bushland and to existing waterways. This linking of insectarium corridors promotes movement and distribution of beneficial insects throughout the vineyard.”

Bailey’s initial research indicated that beneficial insects can travel 50150 metres from the insectariums, “depending on what type of insect we are talking about and the weather conditions”. “You don’t what your insectarium planted too far away from the vineyard, however, and 5 to 25 metres is ideal,” he said.

The size and shape of each insectarium is obviously dictated by the vineyard block layout and the topography. Bailey stated: “The insectarium needs to be between or along headlands in and around vineyard blocks, so the size, shape and topography is taken into consideration.

Establishing links with existing waterways and natural vegetation to the insectariums maximises the potential habitation areas for the beneficial insects.”

With regard to taking into account prevailing winds affecting and disrupting insect movement Bailey added, “If you strategically place the insectarium corridors between and throughout the vineyard, insect travel will be assisted by the windy conditions and the insectariums will also act as buffers in retaining insects within the

34

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vineyard even if they are blown across vineyard”.

When asked about the plant species used within the insectariums, Bailey replied, “After initially trialling European cottage mixes of perennial and annual flowering plants and vegetables such as fennel and nasturtiums, mixed in with some native plants from WA and SA, we now only use natives, and more specifically indigenous plants sourced from the local area.”

With plant species selection, the broad criteria used for suitable plant selection is that the plant: • is attractive to a wide range of beneficial insects • is easy to grow and maintain, and requires minimal inputs such as water • does not compete with the vines for water and nutrients • flowers for extended periods during the grapegrowing season • is not a suitable host for pests such as lightbrown apple moth (LBAM) and vine moths • does not have a propensity to become an invasive weed • is ideally self-sowing as an annual or perennial.

Bailey continued: “All my research and plant selections were done inhouse, with Melbourne University providing insect identification and information on the insects. Dr Linda Thompson has been very supportive of the insectarium concept and is a great source of encouragement.“ According to Bailey, insectariums

are very easy to set up and maintain.

“A small planting of around 200 plants would cost approximately $200 to $600 depending on individual plant costs if you plant yourself. Depending on your soil type, you may need to add in the cost of preparing the ground before planting, such as deep ripping, and depending on your rainfall you may or may not have to irrigate. I would suggest planting in rows, spaced one to two metres apart to create a dense vegetation. A hint here is not to use big trees as they out-compete other plants for water. Instead, only use small shrubs, two to three metres in height.

For larger plantings, factor in an extra cost of approximately $1.50 per plant in labour.”

Bailey maintains records on the performance of the insectariums.

“I monitor yearly with three survey samples. The sampling timings coincide with pre-flowering, fruitset, and veraison in the vineyard blocks. I set yellow sticky tapes, approximately 100 in total, throughout the vineyard blocks and also one in each insectarium including natural bushland, and one at a control site, plus a few pitfall traps.

Our sampling has shown that we have increased beneficial insect species and numbers of parasitoids (wasps) Trichogramma, Dolicho and Coleoptera latriididae, Staphylinida and Diptera hover flies, Empididae, Sciaridae (fungus eating), lacewings, assassin bugs, praying mantis, dragonflies, predator shield bugs, lady birds, spiders, predatory thrips and mites, as well as an occasional unknown insect. I

Matthew Bailey (right), vineyard manager for Taltarni, accepting the award for Viticulturist of the Year at last year’s ASVO Awards from Hugh Armstrong of Bayer CropScience, sponsor of the award.

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am also seeing more lizards and frogs.

“I have seen a dramatic reduction over the years in vine moth caterpillars, for example seeing a potentially high population level before your eyes eradicated in a few days. I feel in time that we will be able to contain the LBAM pest to a suitable level as we increase our insectarium plantings,” Bailey said.

When asked about operational cost reduction, Bailey stated: “With additional plantings of vegetation corridors we have seen a significant reduction in operational inputs. The insectarium concept will reduce your operational inputs, while maintaining and improving the quality of your product. It isn’t just limited to a reduction in insecticide sprays; it flows through to all vineyard operations from weed control, use of fungicides, repair and maintenance to irrigation, and the biggest saving of all is, of course, in labour, the largest expense in any agriculture enterprise.”

Bailey is also adapting his mid row and undervine management practices to encourage beneficial insects within the vineyard. “Initially in 2005-09, I planted cover crops in the mid rows and rolled or crimped them flat for weed suppression and to create a moisture retention bank with good results. I have now changed to encouraging indigenous grasses to grow in the mid-row and under the vines, which I do still roll or crimp. I have trials running where I have not used any under vine herbicides for four to six years with good success.

For example, this season alone I have increased the non-herbicide area to 10ha and will double this area next season as a result of the native grasses suppressing board leaf weeds.,” he said.

Bailey concludes by saying, “There are a number of growers who have been in contact with me over the years, and who are now using the insectarium concept locally and interstate”.

Wines within a relatively short space of time through stakeholder engagement, the most important of those being her local community and her suppliers, and through collaboration with wine industry and local business networks.

Bell started off making 800 cases of Cabernet in 2008, and is now making a total of 2500 cases. She now produces 1000 cases of Tasmanian Chardonnay and Coonawarra Cabernet at $50, and 1500 cases of a secondary label with a price point of around $28. Bell makes six wines in total. She is not planning

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to compete in the $15 to $25 pricepoint and doesn’t discount at all. Bell says, “My customers respect the size that I am, making niche, occasion wines”.

She now has distribution in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, and soon to be in Western Australia.

Bell has slowly built this up over the past six years and waited for distributors who were a good match for her. “Up until then, I did it myself but I wasn’t great at it. I am good at tastings and telling my story, but then find it too hard to follow through and close

Sue Bell, Winemaker & Owner, Bellwether Wines, Coonawarra, South Australia Bell was acknowledged by the ASVO when winning her award “for her enthusiasm, community involvement, leadership and passionate advocacy of women in wine, and for her commitment to trialling new grape varieties that are suited to dry regions, such as Nero d’Avola and Vermentino”. The judges noted that her role in the industry “has been quite inspirational, showing how much can be achieved with passion and commitment”.

Bell has achieved a successful and sustainable outcome for Bellwether V3 0N 1

The central insectarium (top) and one of the vegetation corridors that have been established within and between vineyard blocks at Taltarni in Victoria’s Pyrenees to attract and retain large populations of beneficial insects.

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Sue Bell, of Bellwether Wines, delvers her acceptance speech for Winemaker of the Year during last year’s ASVO Awards for Excellence. a deal! I decided instead to initially focus on my strengths, and work on creating the substance of my brand and building that up. Six months later, I had distributors approaching me. I have been quite selective in choosing each of my distributors and find that ones in a similar growth stage to myself and Bellwether Wines, that is, small in size but growing and both wanting the same long-term goal of building strong relationships over time, works well,” she said.

For Bell, the key to her business sustainability comes from collaboration with her stakeholders: her grapegrowers, the local community and with various wine industry bodies.

When setting up Bellwether Wines, Bell had a choice as to where to locate her new business. “To ensure that my new business would have a strong support network, I decided to base myself in Coonawarra and source grapes from outside the region as well as from within. I have been living and working here for a number of years, and had built that network up here already, so why move? It didn’t make sense.

Sure there are logistical challenges getting low sulfur, chilled but not cold high turbidity Chardonnay juice transported from northern Tasmania to the Coonawarra, but I now have a wonderful system in place which has that juice arriving here 48 hours after being crushed at Josef Chromy,” Bell explained.

A strong working relationship with her growers is extremely important to Bell, and mutual respect is at the core of developing and maintaining sound

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professional relationships with each of them. “My growers provide good payment terms to me, and in turn, I pay good prices for their grapes. It’s all about building long-term business partnerships”. Bell added that after delivering their grapes her growers will stay on and help her out with crushing.

Bell contributes as much as she can to the local regional wine association and other regionally-focused business associations. “You can become a mushroom working for yourself, and volunteering for regional boards and associations keeps me in touch. I find that by doing this, when the next Technical Conference rolls around, I am not too far out of touch,” she said.

Bell adds that there are extra benefits for volunteering for various committees and boards, as she may receive in return discounts on seminar or workshop registrations. All very useful if your financial resources are stretched!

The local community is incredibly important to Bell, and she aims to work with other local rural industries. She acquires invaluable knowledge through the cross pollinating of ideas, most notably, contributing to local leadership training initiatives. “Rural industries do share many common challenges, and by supporting and working together solutions can be found that are relevant to a diverse mix of industries. I have found that collaboration between similar, like-minded businesses in the local region have been hugely beneficial for all of us. Building up strong community links can be something as simple and relatively inexpensive as an annual Christmas party to say W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2015

‘thank you’ to local suppliers and business colleagues. It is powerful how something so small, such as doing favours for others, pays itself back in spades,” Bell said.

Outside the local community, Bell is also actively involved with industry groups such as the AWRI and the Alternative Varieties group which has members from small to large companies. She finds that the exposure to a wide range of ideas and opinions is useful, as well as keeping up with current research findings and having the opportunities to keep her palate tuned by being involved in regular tastings.

Building long-term relationships with sommeliers and the trade are also a key element for her business success and long-term sustainability.

Since downsizing, Bell has found the AWRI more valuable than ever before and utilises the organisation not only for routine wine analyses but also for advice and keeping up with the latest research trends, as well as being involved as much as possible with tasting panels and conducting trial work at Glen Roy with the AWRI. Of her various wine industry awards and achievements, Bell rates a number of key milestones as having the most positive impact on her brand Bellwether Wines, and her success so far with promoting her brand and her wines, and her business. “Each step of renovation at the 1850 Glen Roy Shearing Shed is a major step towards success, running water, flushing toilets, hot water, solar power, all exciting. The simple things mean so much when you have had to make do without. Receiving a Federal TQUAL tourism grant was very encouraging too. From a personal point of view doing the Australian Rural Leadership program and being named dux of the Len Evans Tutorial have helped me in my progression from big company winemaker to tiny winery operator. I think it takes equal portions of vision, madness and stubbornness to persist with a project like this, because if just driven by profit it would not have got past year 1. In all honesty I am still working towards success, having all your bills paid, money in the bank and all my work done with time to play.

Moving my office from my laundry to the winery has been my recent achievement; now I just need to get reliable internet service!”

With her own business, Bell takes the approach to thinking outside the square and finding something different that works. For instance, developing glamping at the historic Glen Roy shearing shed, and providing a luxury

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bathroom and camp sites is something that gives her a point of difference. Bell has installed a kitchen on site in the old shearing shed, now winery, and she makes this available to local businesses to use for conducting cooking classes and for promoting local produce.

Bell holds various events through the year at Glen Roy. These are usually low key events, some with industry friends, and other events in collaboration with other small local businesses to jointly promote the region and local produce.

When asked about short and long term strategic planning, Bell states “for all my chaos I actually love a plan, but fully accept it will change. I am more of a long term vision person, with complete acceptance that the path to that vision is unchartered. What happens along the way always makes the end result better, you gather wisdom and ideas slowly, building better foundations and support along the way. The discipline to write a business plan or a grant application is always a worthwhile process and quite surprising to look back on to see how you are tracking. I think it is important to think ahead but somehow remain adaptive and flexible”.

When asked what she considered as being the biggest challenge ahead for the wine industry, Bell quickly replied: “Climate change, which will be a massive challenge to adapt to.

There is a pressing need for us to target varieties and regions to minimise longterm risk. For example, on the positive side, Coonawarra is ripening now more consistently but on the negative, it has a declining annual average rainfall. Any wine business not factoring climate change into their long-term strategies will regret it. With more severe climate events such as hail, frost and fire, it becomes increasingly more difficult to maintain consistency of brand quality.”

Climate change is part of the reason why Bell has branched out sourcing alternatives varieties from various locations outside of Coonawarra. 2015 will see her release the first of these - a Nero d’Avelo sourced from Ricca Terra Farms in South Australia’s Riverland and Vermentino from Chalmers vineyard in Heathcote, Victoria. New varieties from the 2015 vintage will include Bianco d’Alessandro and Montepulciano.

Bell’s tips for staying positive in an industry that can tough if you’re a small producer are to: “Not take yourself too seriously, and work with optimistic people around you, supporting you. My growers are some of the most positive and optimistic people I know, and working with them inspires me, which is great!

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The interior and exterior of the Bellwether winery in Coonawarra.

When asked what she considers her greatest strengths that will sustain her business into the future, Bell says, “As a small producer I can put my neck out and have a play with different wines, small parcels, stay interesting and interested. The relationships I develop with growers, suppliers, distributors and customers are personal and sincere, I can also make significant long term decisions or changes without exhausting consultation”.

Conclusions Business sustainability is achievable, no matter what size your business is.

You can be on the road to improved sustainability both economically, socially and environmentally by actively and positively engaging with you various stakeholders, by developing and W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na L JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2015

nurturing local support networks within your local community and amongst your suppliers and wine industry associations.

Sustainability can be enhanced by being innovative and by working in collaboration with research institutions, with other rural based industries, and with local businesses with similar longterm interests and goals.

The end result for you and your business will be a resilient business that survives over time, and one that is enjoyable to be a part of.

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 WVJ wineries in the Geographe region. www.winebiz. com . au

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Climate change: science, risks and responses

By Will Steffen, Climate Council of Australia, The Australian National University

Climate change is one of the most important challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. A destabilising climate creates a wide range of serious risks for many aspects of contemporary society, with the some of the most important and immediate risks facing industries, such as the wine industry, that rely on stable patterns of climate for the success of their businesses. In this article which is based on a presentation delivered at the launch of the Australian Wine Research Institutes 'Opportunities in a New Climate' program last year, we outline the basic science of climate change – how and why the climate system is changing – and the risks that a rapidly changing climate system presents for Australia’s primary industries. Finally, we briefly explore the actions that are required to stabilise the climate system.

How is the climate changing?

The iconic indicator for climate change is the global average temperature, as measured at the surface of the land and the ocean. This is an aspect of climate that all people directly experience. Figure 1(a) shows that the global average surface temperate has been rising over the past century, with the most pronounced warming occurring since the mid-20th century and especially since 1970 (IPCC 2013). There is much variability from year-to-year that can mask the longerterm trend on short timeframes. Figure 1(b) shows the temperature trend as decadal averages, thereby smoothing out much of the interannual variability. This shows the strong warming trend since 1970 more clearly.

A better indicator for the warming of the climate system, though, is the heat content of the ocean. Nearly 70% of the Earth’s surface area is covered by ocean, often at depths of several kilometres, and the much greater capacity of water to absorb heat compared with air means that the ocean has much higher capability to absorb heat. In fact, since about 1970, when reliable measurements of the ocean’s heat content became available, it is clear that the vast majority of the additional heat accumulating at the Earth’s surface – about 93% of it – is being stored in the ocean, with only 1% of the heat accumulating in the atmosphere. The remaining 6% is divided about equally between the land and the ice sheets (Figure 2). The trend of changing ocean heat content since 1970 shows a strong increase up to the present day, with an increasing amount of heat being stored deeper in the ocean over the past two decades (IPCC AR5).

Many other features of the climate system show changes characteristic of a strong warming trend. The extent of sea-ice on the Arctic Ocean is decreasing, global sea level is rising, sea surface temperature is increasing, the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere is increasing, the amount of ice in the large polar ice sheets (Greenland and Antarctica) is decreasing, and the volume of glaciers is diminishing (CSIRO and BoM 2014). In summary, warming of the climate system is unequivocal (IPCC 2013).

What is the cause of climate change?

The reason for a warming of the climate system – the enhanced greenhouse effect – is known with a high degree of certainty. The greenhouse effect (Figure 3) is caused by a layer of gases in the Earth’s lower atmosphere that allow solar radiation to penetrate to the Earth’s surface, but absorb some of the outgoing heat that the Earth emits to maintain

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Figure 1. Change in global average surface temperature from 1850 to 2012, relative to the 1961-1990 average (IPCC 2013).

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its energy balance. This is a natural phenomenon that keeps the Earth’s surface 33oC warmer than it would otherwise be without these gases. The addition of more of these gases from human activities, which is clearly documented by many types of evidence (IPCC 2013), thus traps more heat in the lower atmosphere and at the Earth’s surface, leading to the observed warming of the climate system.

Figure 2. Change in ocean heat content from 1970 to 2011, compared with the warming of land, ice and atmosphere over the same period (IPCC 2013).

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In addition to the well-known physics of the greenhouse effect, there is a large and growing body of evidence for the ‘attribution’ of a warming climate to human activities.

An example of this is the pattern of the warming, with the lower atmosphere and surface of the Earth warming and the upper atmosphere cooling. This pattern is typical of warming caused by an increase in greenhouse gases, but is not the pattern that would be observed if the warming were caused by an increase in solar radiation. Furthermore, models of the climate system can simulate the observed warming during the past century only if the additional greenhouse gases from human activity are included in the model (IPCC 2013).

In summary, human influence on the climate system is clear. The largest contribution to the increase in energy in the system is the additional greenhouse gases that have been emitted by human activities since the beginning of the industrial revolution. The most important of the greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide (CO2), with most of the increase in CO2 coming from the burning of fossil fuels since 1950. On the basis of the wealth of evidence of a warming climate and the well understood physics of the greenhouse effect, the IPCC concluded that “it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century” (IPCC 2013). 

Figure 3. The greenhouse effect and its enhancement by human emissions of greenhouse gases. Yellow lines and arrows represent visible light and ultraviolet radiation from the sun, some of which is reflected by bright clouds and bright surfaces on the Earth. Red lines and arrows represent heat (longwave radiation) emitted by the Earth out towards space.

Some of the outgoing heat is absorbed by the greenhouse gases and re-radiated into the lower atmosphere and to the Earth’s surface (Climate Commission 2013).

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What are the major risks of a changing climate?

Climate change creates risks for many aspects of human society, none more direct perhaps than the risks for primary industries, such as the wine industry, that rely on regular patterns of climate for their livelihoods. The seemingly slow and small changes in the climate system, shown by indicators like global average temperature, may seem unimportant, but they can lead to much larger and more significant changes in extreme weather events. It is the latter that have the most profound

impacts on primary industries and create the most serious risks for the future.

Extreme temperature events – heatwaves and exceptionally hot days – are becoming increasingly common in Australia and around the world, and it is likely that climate change is contributing to the increase in hot weather (IPCC 2013).

In Australia, the incidence of hot days, as measured by days where the average temperature is above the 99th percentile, has increased significantly through the last century, and particularly over the past few decades (Figure 4). The characteristics of heatwaves are also changing across

Figure 4. Increase in hot weather in Australia. Number of days each year where the Australian area-averaged daily mean temperature is above the 99th percentile for the period 1910-2013 (CSIRO and BoM 2014).

Australia. Over the 1950-2013 period, the number of heatwave days has increased; heatwaves are occurring more frequently; the duration of the longest yearly heatwave has increased; the first heatwave of the season is occurring earlier; and the hottest day of a heatwave is becoming hotter (Perkins and Alexander 2013).

Heatwaves have important impacts on the wine industry. For example, the extreme heat in southeast Australia in 2009 caused significant heat stress-related damage in many vineyards (Webb et al. 2010).

With the increase in heat, the risk of bushfires is also increasing. Climate change influences bushfires in many ways, such as the amount and condition of the fuel load, but the most direct influence is on the incidence of high bushfire danger weather. These are the very hot, dry, windy days on which bushfires often break out.

An indicator for this type of weather – the Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) – has increased over the 1973-2010 period in 16 of the 38 weather stations around Australia where it is measured; none of the stations showed a significant decrease (Clarke et al.

2012). Most of the increases have occurred in the southwest and southeast regions of the country, where many vineyards are located.

Changes in the patterns of rainfall are also important for the future of the wine industry. Figure 5 shows the recent change in rainfall across Australia for the cooler months of the year (April-November) since 1996, compared with the long-term average. The pronounced drying trends in the southwest region of Western Australia and in the southeast, encompassing some of the most important wine-growing areas of the country, are apparent. The projections of climate change models and analyses of the changes in circulation patterns suggest that this drying trend will continue; average annual rainfall in southern Australia is projected to decrease further through this century (CSIRO and BoM 2014).

How can we stabilise the climate?

Figure 5. Changing rainfall patterns across Australia since 1996 during the cooler months of the year (April to November), relative to the entire rainfall record since 1900. Warmer colours represent lower rainfall in the post-1996 period and the blue colours higher rainfall (CSIRO and BoM 2014).

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To cap the worsening risks that climate change creates for the wine industry at levels that the industry can cope with requires that the climate system be stabilised as soon as possible. A target that nearly all countries around the world, including Australia, have agreed is to limit temperature rise to no more than 2oC above the pre-industrial level. Global average temperature is currently about 0.9oC above pre-industrial (IPCC 2013).

Scientists commonly use the ‘budget’ approach to assess what level of emission reductions is required to stabilise the climate system (Meinshausen et al. 2009;

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Figure 6. Overspend in the carbon budget. Each CO2 symbol represents 10 billion tonnes of CO2 (Climate Commission 2013).

IPCC 2013). One application of the budget approach estimates that to have a 75% chance of stabilising the climate at or below the 2oC target, the world as a whole

can emit no more than 1 trillion (1000 billion) tonnes of CO2 from the year 2000 until around the middle of the century (Meinshausen et al. 2009).

We are now in 2015, so about 25% of the budget period has passed. Figure 6 shows the status of emissions compared with the budget; nearly 40% of the budget – around 390 billion tonnes of CO2 – has already been emitted since 2000. That is, we are overspending the budget at a significant rate. Worse yet, the discovery of new fossil fuel reserves means that the amount of fossil fuels in the ground that are targeted for exploitation is growing, while the budget is shrinking. The numbers are sobering. If all of the world’s known fossil fuel reserves were burnt, the CO2 emissions would be close to 3000 billion tonnes of CO2 (IEA 2012), nearly five times the allowable budget of about 600 billion tonnes. Thus, most of the world’s known fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground to have a reasonable chance of meeting the 2oC target.

Time is running out to get on top of the climate change challenge. To have any reasonable chance of meeting the 2oC target, global greenhouse emissions, and especially emissions of CO2, will need to be trending strongly downwards by the end of the decade. Furthermore, the investment

decisions we make over the next 5-10 years must be able to deliver a low-carbon global economy by 2050. This is the critical decade for action. It’s time to get on with the job.

References Clarke, H.; Lucas, C. and Smith, P. (2012) Changes in Australian fire weather between 1973 and 2010.

International Journal of Climatology 33:931-944.

CSIRO and BoM (2014) State of the Climate 2014.

CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne.

IEA (International Energy Agency) (2012) World Energy Outlook 2012. International Energy Agency, Paris.

IPCC (2013) Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the IPCC 5th Assessment Report- Changes to the underlying Scientific/Technical Assessment.

Accessed at http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1.

Meinshausen, M.; Meinshausen, N.; Hare, W.; Raper, S.C.; Frieler, K.; Knutti, R.; Frame, D.J. and Allen, M.R. (2009) Greenhouse-gas emission targets for limiting global warming to 20C. Nature 458:11581162.

Perkins, S. and Alexander, L. (2013) On the measurement of heat waves. Journal of Climate 26:4500-4517.

Steffen, W. and Hughes, L. (2013) Climate Commission. Critical Decade Update: Climate Change Science, Risks and Responses.

Webb, L.; Whiting, J.; Watt, A.; Hill, T.; Wigg, F.; Dunn, G.; Needs, S. and Barlow, E. (2010) Managing grapevines through severe heat: A survey of growers after the 2009 summer heatwave in south-eastern Australia. Journal of Wine Research 21:147-165.

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Ramsey and 110 Richter rootstocks perform well under water stress conditions in South Australia’s Barossa Valley

By Catherine M. Kidman1,2, Sandra Olarte Mantilla1, Peter R. Dry1,3, Michael G. McCarthy4 and Cassandra Collins1† School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Research Institute, PMB 1, Glen Osmond, SA 5064 2 Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Memorial Drive, Coonawarra, South Australia 5263.

3 The Australian Wine Research Institute, Wine Innovation Cluster, Glen Osmond South Australia 5064 4 South Australian Research and Development Institute, Research Road, Nuriootpa, South Australia 5355 † Corresponding author: Dr Cassandra Collins, phone +61 8 313 6813, email: cassandra.collins@adelaide.edu.au 1

Introduction The use of grapevine rootstocks in South Australia has increased steadily over the past 30 years, yet rootstock use still only accounts for 20% of total plantings (Dry et al. 2007).

Reproductive development may potentially be managed through the use of rootstocks (Candolfi-Vasconcelos and Castagnoli 1995, Cirami 1999, Whiting 2003, May 2004, Dry 2007). Although the effect of water deficit on reproductive development has been well documented (Matthews et al. 1987, Matthews and Anderson 1989, Poni et al. 1993), water use efficiency remains a critical issue for expansion and sustainability in Australian viticulture. Indeed, there is growing interest in the use of rootstocks to minimise the impact of possible future water shortages on production and wine quality, as may occur under future climate change.

This project was initiated by the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia in response to industry concern about water deficits during the 2006-2007 drought and was supported by the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, now the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA).

The aims of this research were to examine the effect of a prolonged water deficit on grapevine reproduction and ascertain whether rootstocks could mitigate the effects of water deficit on the variety Shiraz – the most commonly planted red variety in Australia.

Method Vines were grown on own roots (Shiraz BVRC30) or grafted to 110 Richter, 1103 Paulsen, 140 Ruggeri, 99 Richter, Ramsey or Schwarzmann (Table 1). Vines were either unirrigated, with irrigation lines bypassed for the duration of the three season experiment, or drip irrigated

Table 1. Rootstock parentage and associated common names used in the trial at Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley, South Australia.

Rootstock parentage

Common name

Vitis, riparia x V. rupestris

Schwarzmann

V. berlandieri x V. rupestris

1103 Paulsen 110 Richter 99 Richter 140 Ruggeri

V. champinii

Ramsey

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using irrigation sourced from either a bore or water from the Murray River using the Barossa Infrastructure Limited (BIL) scheme. Applied water was between 56mm/ha and 128mm/ha across the three seasons.

Results and discussion 2008-2009 season Yield response was driven by a combination of bunch weight, bunch number and seeded berry number and was negatively correlated to seedless berries and millerandage— an abnormal condition of fruitset that results in a high proportion of seedless berries and live green ovules (LGOs) within the bunch (Collins and Dry 2009). Unirrigated 1103 Paulsen, Ramsey and 99 Richter had a high proportion of millerandage and seedless berries. Bunch weights and seeded berries were highest for own-roots Shiraz, both irrigated and unirrigated and 110 Richter unirrigated.

2009-2010 season Low yields were due to low bunch and berry weights in unirrigated 1103 Paulsen, 140 Ruggeri, Schwarzmann, 110 Richter and 99 Richter compared with the other treatments.

Bunch weight, yield and berry weight were positively correlated with each other while fruitset was negatively correlated with coulure—an abnormal condition of fruitset that results in a high proportion of flowers failing to develop or fertilise, also defined as excessive shedding of ovaries or young berries (May 2004, Collins and Dry 2009).

2010-2011 season Fruitset was positively correlated with the number of seeded berries, cane number and berry number and negatively correlated with coulure and berry weight.

Overall, for Shiraz, rootstocks caused a higher incidence of coulure and a lower fruitset than own roots. Indeed, some varieties, for example Shiraz, are more susceptible to coulure than millerandage (Dry et al. 2010).

The absence of irrigation reduced yield by 25% in 2008-2009, 22% in 2009-2010 and 23% in 2010-2011 (Table 2, see page 44).

Yield was lower in unirrigated treatments due to fewer bunches per vine, lower bunch and berry weights. Overall, zero irrigation reduced the number of LGOs and seedless berries and increased the proportion of seeded berries within a bunch. Rootstocks with the lowest yield across the three seasons were unirrigated 1103 Paulsen, Schwarzmann, 99 Richter and 140 Ruggeri (Table 2).

A cumulative effect of prolonged zero irrigation was observed through yield decline due to a reduction in bunch number and

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Table 2. The effect of zero irrigation on yield across the three seasons of the trial based at Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley, South Australia.

Rootstock yield (kg/m cordon) 110 Richter

Ramsey

Shiraz own roots

Schwarzmann

140 Ruggeri

99 Richter

1103 Paulsen

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

Full irrigation

3.04

3.2

3.3cd

Zero irrigation

1.87dc

2.6de

3.1cde

Full irrigation

1.64cde

3.2bc

4.2b

Zero irrigation

1.54def

3.4ab

3.5c

Full irrigation

4.17a

3.6a

3.5c

Zero irrigation

3.83a

3.0c

2.9ef

Full irrigation

1.71cde

3.6a

3.3cde

Zero irrigation

1.47def

2.4de

2.0fg

Full irrigation

2.75b

2.7d

4.0a

Zero irrigation

1.60cde

1.7f

3.2cde

Full irrigation

1.7cde

3.3abc

3.5c

Zero irrigation

1.1f

2.3e

3.0de

Full irrigation

1.99c

2.3e

3.3cd

Zero irrigation

1.35ef

1.7f

2.4fg

0.003

<.001

<.001

P-value

b

bc

ANOVA of rootstock x irrigation interactions for the three seasons of analysis. Comparison of rootstock x irrigation interaction are given by P <0.05, P <0.01, P <.001 and not significant (n.s). Numbers within columns followed by the same letter are not significantly different from each other. For all rootstock x irrigation interactions, each value represents the mean of 21 replicate samples for each rootstock and irrigation combination.

weight. Unirrigated Ramsey rootstock was best able to mitigate the effects of prolonged drought and maintain yields comparable with irrigated Ramsey, with the exception of season 3. Overall, 1103 Paulsen unirrigated in every season was associated with the lowest yields, and has previously performed poorly in the absence of irrigation (McCarthy et al. 1997). Despite its poor performance, 1103 Paulsen continues to be ranked as drought tolerant for Australian conditions (Nicholas 1997, Dry 2007). Therefore, based on the results of this study, the

A

classification of drought tolerance as defined by the ability to maintain yield (McCarthy et al. 1997) would include Ramsey and 110 Richter. In contrast, rootstocks susceptible to drought (i.e., suffered significant cumulative yield decline in the three year absence of irrigation) include 1103 Paulsen, ownroots Shiraz, 140 Ruggeri, 99 Richter and Schwarzmann. These outcomes have significant consequences for rootstock choice in grapegrowing regions of similar soil type. It is clear the soil type of the vineyard (Light Pass fine sandy

B

loam A horizon overlying a red brown mottled clay B horizon (Northcote 1954)) influenced these drought tolerant rankings, in particular, the ability of 1103 Paulsen and 140 Ruggeri where elsewhere, on soil types such as coarse sand (Carbonneau 1985), and presumably with less root restrictions, these rootstocks were classified as drought tolerant.

The seasonal effect on yield outweighed many of the rootstock effects, which is consistent with findings of Keller et al. (2012). Unirrigated, ownrooted Shiraz was as drought tolerant as irrigated own-roots Shiraz for only the 2008-2009 season (season 1). Thereafter, a cumulative decline in yield was observed due to a reduction in bunch number and weight accompanied by reductions in FW:PW, which declined in each season.

This infers that the unirrigated vines became progressively unbalanced in the absence of irrigation, producing more vegetative growth relative to reproductive growth due to a combination of reduced fruitfulness and bunch weight. Previous research has identified a negative carry over effect on productivity in the following season (Matthews and Anderson 1989, Petrie et al. 2004).

There was no significant effect of zero irrigation on fruitset in any of the three seasons. Matthews and Anderson (1989) also did not find an effect of irrigation on fruitset, which they attribute to an absence of water deficit at this phenological time point. Our results support a similar finding.

Conclusion The absence of irrigation strongly influenced vine growth and performance.

Although yields were reduced in all seasons due to zero irrigation, this was mainly due to a reduction in bunch number, bunch weight and berry weight rather than fruitset. In the absence of irrigation, Ramsey was the best

C

Figure 1. The effects of zero irrigation on the canopy of Shiraz unirrigated year 1 (A), Shiraz unirrigated year 2 (B) and 1103 Paulsen unirrigated in year 1 (C).

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B

Figure 2. The comparison of Ramsey rootstock irrigated in year 2 (A) and unirrigated in year 2 (B), showing little differences between treatments. performing rootstock and maintained values similar to irrigated treatments.

In contrast, unirrigated 1103 Paulsen in every season was associated with the lowest yields. These findings may have significant consequences for rootstock choice in grapegrowing regions faced with future drought and water allocation issues.

For full results and details refer to Kidman et al. (2014).

References Candolfi-Vasconcelos, M.C. and Castagnoli, S. (1995) Choosing phylloxera resistant rootstocks for Oregon vineyards: The impact on vine performance and productivity. North West Berry and Grape Information Network http://owri.oregonstate.edu/ sites/owri.org [accessed 29/12/2011] Carbonneau, A. (1985) The early selection of grapevine rootstocks for resistance to drought conditions. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 36:195-198.

Cirami, R.M. (1999) Guide for the selection of phylloxera resistant rootstocks. Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia. Lythrum Press. Adelaide, South Australia.

Collins, C and Dry, P.R. (2009) Response of fruitset and other yield components to shoot

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topping and 2-chlorethyltrimethyl-ammonium chloride application. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 15:256-267.

H.R. (1987) Phenologic and growth response to early and late season water deficits in Cabernet Franc. Vitis 29:147-160.

Dry, N. (2007) Grapevine rootstocks: Selection and management for South Australian vineyards.

Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia. Lythrum Press. Adelaide, South Australia.

May, P. (2004) Flowering and fruitset in grapevines. Lythrum Press. Adelaide, South Australia.

Dry, P.R.; Longbottom, M.L.; Mcloughlin, S.; Johnson, T.E. and Collins, C. (2010) Classification of reproductive performance of 10 wine grape varieties. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 16:47-55.

Keller, M.; Mills, L.J. and Harbertson, J.F. (2012) Rootstocks effects on deficit irrigated winegrapes in a dry climate: Vigour, yield formation and fruit ripening. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 63:40-48.

Kidman, C.M.; Olarte Mantilla, S.; McCarthy, M.G.; Dry, P.R. and Collins, C. (2014) Effect of water stress on the reproductive performance of Shiraz (Vitis vinifera L.) grafted to rootstocks American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 65:60-72.

Lebon, G.; Wojnaroweiz, G.; Holzapfel, B.; Vaillant-Gaveau, N. and ClemĂŠnt, C. (2008) Sugars and flowering in the grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) Journal of Experimental Botany 59, 2565-2578.

Matthews, M.A and M.M. Anderson (1989) Reproductive development in the grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.): Responses to seasonal water deficits.

American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 40:52-60.

Matthews, M.A.; Anderson, M.M. and Schultz,

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McCarthy, M.G, Cirami R.M and Furkaliev D.G (1997) Rootstock response of Shiraz (Vitis vinifera L.) grapevines to dry and drip irrigated conditions.

Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 3:95-98.

Nicholas, P.R. (1997) Rootstock characteristics.

The Australian Grapegrower and Winemaker Vol. 400:37.

Northcote, K.H. (1954) Soils and land use in the Barossa district, South Australia. Zone 1. The Nuriootpa Area. CSIRO publishing, Melbourne, Australia.

Petrie, P.R.; Cooley, N.M. and Clingeleffer, P.R. (2004) The effect of post veraison water deficit on yield components and maturation of irrigated Shiraz (Vitis vinifera L.) in the current and following season. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 10:203-215.

Poni, S.; Lasko, A.N.; Turner, J.R. and Melious, R.E. (1993) The effects of pre- and post- veraison water stress on growth and physiology of potted Pinot Noir grapevines at varying crop levels. Vitis 32:207-214.

Whiting, J. (2003) Selection of grapevine rootstocks and clones for greater Victoria. DPI Victoria, Australia.

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Peter Belej – an A-grade grower, an A-grade bloke

By Tony Hoare

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

Tony shares his memories of vigneron Peter Belej, who began his grapegrowing career in the Murray Darling before turning a rundown vineyard in South Australia into a producer of A-grade fruit. Peter died unexpectedly just prior Christmas.

As part of his strategy to sell fruit, Peter Belej decided to make some wine to show buyers the true potential of his vineyard, enlisting the help of winemaker Chris Dix. The pair would go on to win six trophies at the 2008 McLaren Vale Wine Show for their 2006 Nangkita Shiraz.

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hen I first met Peter Belej, it was like I had known him for years. I was greeted with a warm smile and a firm handshake from his well-worn, hard working hand. On our second meeting, as I went for the handshake, there was the firm grip, however I was then pulled in for a hug.

I’m not a traditional hugger myself and this came as a surprise; Peter could probably tell from my reaction hugging blokes was not something to which I was accustomed. I soon became used to it with him though. I was at his Nangkita vineyard in the old shed making our first vintage of Greco. It was 2009 and we were in desperate need of cooling to make this wine and a mutual friend had suggested I contact Peter. I made the call and without even a face to face introduction,

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Peter insisted that we make it in his shed and use his milk vats for cooling. Peter would not take any money and insisted on doing most of the cellar work in his immaculate shed to help us make our first Greco. I was to discover that this was typical of Peter who just wanted to offer any help he could so he could see you succeed. His happiness was not in financial gain; just giving people around him wings and watching them fly.

Little did I know then that at the same time, Peter had grown and, with the help of winemaker Chris Dix, was about to make the best Shiraz of his life in that same shed - an achievement that would be immortalised in the record books.

I had come to know Peter’s Nangkita vineyard after driving past it for five years on my way to Wirra Wirra’s W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2015

Finniss vineyard. From the road, it initially looked the equivalent of ‘regional Siberia’, but I began to sense there was a new owner when it began to look healthy and well balanced.

The difference was Peter. Bought in partnership with his wife Maureen, their daughter Tania and her husband Darren, the vineyard was starting to flourish with Peter’s love and care.

Peter was born to get his hands dirty and was happiest outside in the elements growing anything. The son of Ukrainian peasants, it was in his DNA. I never saw him dressed in anything other than his KingGee overalls and trusty cap. He was always ready to work. And work he did with his trusty workmate Jimmy by his side, Peter turned the Nangkita vineyard around.

When he wasn’t training vines with his V30N1

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Vigneron Peter Belej in his Nangkita vineyard, situated between the towns of Mt Compass and Finniss in South Australia, and over the hill from McLaren Vale.

Belej turned the vineyard into a producer of A-grade fruit.

I had come to know Peter’s Nangkita vineyard after driving past it for five years on my way to Wirra Wirra’s Finniss vineyard. From the road, it initially looked the equivalent of ‘regional Siberia’, but I began to sense there was a new owner when it began to look healthy and well balanced.

The difference was Peter. transistor radio strapped to his front, he was doing cellar work in the shed.

He’d laugh at how he had retired briefly after a long stint on the family block at Gol Gol that he and Maureen took over from his parents. It was at Farm 81 that Peter and Maureen raised their five kids and enjoyed the rewards of hard work and living in a great community. He was the first to volunteer for any fundraiser or offer assistance when needed, whether it be at the local footy club or his beloved Catholic parish. Farm 81 was supposed to see Peter out, but unable to deny his connection to the land, he reinvested at Nangkita at perhaps the worst time possible during an oversupply of cool climate fruit from known regions, let alone a no-name region with zero pedigree.

Where is Nangkita, you might ask?

Nangkita is situated between the towns of Mt Compass and Finniss in South Australia. It’s over the hill from McLaren Vale and before the river at Langhorne Creek. You might say the middle of nowhere, and you’d be right.

The Nangkita vineyard was established V3 0N 1

during the optimistic period of vineyard expansion during the Australian wine boom in the 1990s. Unfortunately the wine industry landscape changed before Nangkita had cemented its place on the world wine scene as a noteworthy wine region. Peter Belej was about to change that reputation with the Madeleines 2009 Shiraz from Nangkita by winning the Shiraz trophy at the 2011 National Wine Show. Peter wasn’t the sort of bloke who was fussed by pedigrees, and he looked at the vineyard as he did people - on face value. After trying a few of his warm climate viticulture techniques, he soon realised that this was not what wineries were after and he began a carefully thought out process of maximising quality in all his blocks at Nangkita. As part of this strategy to sell fruit, he decided to make some wine to show buyers the true potential of the vineyard. He enlisted the help of winemaker Chris Dix. In the first few years the fruit was only destined to be blended and sold at bottom-ofthe-market pricing. It fell out of any regional pricing guidelines. That was W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na L JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2015

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until the 2006 vintage when Peter and Chris made history with a $20 Shiraz from Nangkita.

The 2006 Nangkita Shiraz won six of the seven trophies at the 2008 McLaren Vale Wine Show and gold medals at the Royal Hobart and Sydney Wine Shows. Then the 2007 Madeleines NSX Shiraz won gold at the Royal Melbourne Show and placed third in the 2011 Internationl Winestate Shiraz Challenge.

If you consider how many decades it has taken regions like the Barossa Valley to assert their international reputation as a Shiraz producing region and how many growers have contributed to that worldwide standing, Peter Belej did it in a few vintages almost entirely by himself on an unknown patch of dirt. To Peter, this was no fluke. He knew there was potential and was quietly confident that he had the skills, experience, touch and work ethic to make it happen. The Shiraz from the Nangkita vineyard finally achieved A-grade status with Treasury Wine Estates in vintage 2014.

While Peter had grown the fruit, it was thanks to the dogged persistence of viticulture consultant Peter Raymond and his contacts that helped ensure it was given its chance to impress in the winery. Peter Belej was over the moon and, as was his typically humble nature, would only smile a little more than usual to celebrate.

The success of the Nangkita vineyard was due to the vision, passion and tenacity of Peter. He never gave up during the tough times and was always optimistic that the tide would turn.

His greatest source of pride was not in the medals and trophies for his wines.

It was his family. I admired Peter for many reasons as a grower but even more so as a person.

Peter Belej passed away unexpectedly just before Christmas.

He had been working in the vineyard all day and according to his good mate Geoff he left with a smile.

Thank you to the family and colleagues for allowing me to share my memories of their beloved Peter.

Before setting up his own vineyard and winery consultancy business with wife Briony, Tony Hoare established and managed the Ablington Vineyard Estate block in the Lower Hunter for five years before joining Wirra Wirra in McLaren Vale in 2002 where he managed the winery’s estate and contract vineyards. He and Briony also have their own wine label and cellar WVJ door, Beach Road Wines.

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Wrapping arms for cordon establishment: is it a stressful practice for grapevines?

By Luciano Ricardo Caravia Bayer*, Cassandra Collins, Jana Shepherd and Stephen Tyerman, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide *Corresponding author: luciano.caraviabayer@adelaide.edu.au

A Barossa Valley trial has been established to determine whether the practice of wrapping cordon arms onto a wire makes them more susceptible to trunk diseases and other stresses associated with a changing climate.

T

he effects of global warming on the wine industry have been widely reported (Duchêne et al. 2010, Hall and Jones 2009, Jones 2007, Jones 2008, Keller 2010, Tomasi et al. 2011, Webb et al. 2005, Webb et al. 2007, Webb et al. 2008). From this perspective, increased temperatures, water scarcity and interest in improving quality through irrigation management are part of Australian viticulture (Edwards et al. 2007). At the same

estimated a total cost of approximately US$260 million in Eutypa management (Gubler et al. 2005). The economic loss that dead arms could represent to the Australian wine industry has been estimated to be around A$8.3 billion (Sosnowski et al. 2013).

Asymptomatic infected vines suggest that trunk diseases are triggered by stress (Van Niekerk et al. 2011). There is evidence that trunk

The wrapping of cordons on the cordon wire has been a traditional practice for establishing vines in Australia... We hypothesise that the constriction that wrapping imposes to the arms will become worse over time and can restrict the normal movement of water and nutrients in the arm through the xylem. This, in turn, will be exacerbated under water stress and heat events... This may be a reason for the higher incidence of dead arms observed during the last decade.. time, concern about trunk diseases has also become important. For example, Eutypa lata (dead arm) symptoms are widespread across South Australia and severe infections are common (Wicks and Davies 1999). Moreover, Eutypa has been referred to as a major limitation against the sustainability of Australian wine production (Pascoe and Cottral 2000). Another challenge to this scenario is that there are many plant species that host Eutypa lata (Gubler et al. 2005), thus, limiting its inoculation is not as easy. Almost two decades ago, Highet and Wicks (1998) conducted a survey across 44 vineyards in eight districts in South Australia, where 4.7% of vines tested were infected. This incidence was even higher in Shiraz and Grenache at 8.1% and 9.3%, respectively. Negative effects on yield and quality are related to the degree of Eutypa (Wicks and Davies 1999). In California, the wine industry

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diseases do not lead to symptoms in healthy unstressed vines. For instance, Phaemoniella chlamydospora related to Esca and Petri disease (Edwards et al. 2007, Fischer and Kassemeyer 2012) or Xylella fastidiosa which causes Pierce disease (Choat et al. 2009, Choi et al. 2013) can be symptomless in the absence of stress. In another study, it was found that symptomless vines were not different compared with healthy vines in terms of leaf proline content, which is related to vines’ defence response against pathogens (Goodwin et al. 1988). Moreover, in another study, no differences in terms of the fungi population (amount or diversity) was observed between healthy or affected wood, which suggests that Esca disease could be more a saprophyte process rather than an infection process (Hofstetter et al. 2012). Similarly, Eutypa infection

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has the ability to infect and spread through wood, but this is not related to its ability to develop symptoms (Sosnowski et al. 2007). Furthermore, vines with latent infections can be symptomless for up to 10 years (Rudelle et al. 2005).

It has been argued that the occurrence of the wood pathogen and, more importantly, the occurrence of symptoms seems to be related to rainfall regime and temperature (Sosnowski et al. 2007, Van Niekerk et al. 2011). It has been reported for potted Cabernet Sauvignon vines infected with Pierce’s disease that the visual symptoms as well as the transcription of defence-related genes were exacerbated under water stress conditions (Choi et al. 2013). In another study the visual symptoms in water stressed vines occurred earlier and were faster than in well-watered vines (Thorne et al. 2006). It is also possible that the vascular occlusion observed in Pierce’s disease could exacerbate water stress (Ferreira et al. 1999). For instance, the xylem flow rate observed in infected vines was six-fold lower compared with healthy vines (Goodwin et al.1988). Sun et al. (2013) reported for Pierce’s disease a decrease in xylem conductivity between 30-90% due to Tyloses vessels occlusion of around 20-60%, respectively. Similarly, Petri disease increased water stress in infected vines compared with uninfected (Edwards et al. 2007).

Disease severity has been positively correlated with water stress (Edwards et al. 2007, Ferreira et al. 1999, Fischer and Kassemeyer 2012). Previous studies have reported that vines undergoing water stress may be more susceptible to Eutypa (Sosnowski et al. 2011). In the same study it was suggested that deficit irrigation may compromise the vine’s defence response (Sosnowski et al. 2011). While in another study it was suggested

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Figure 1. Wrapped and unwrapped cordon arms: treatments in a research trial established in the Barossa Valley. that ABA, which increases with water stress, could play a key role in Petri disease by blocking or decreasing defence responses (Choi et al. 2013).

Interestingly, girdling or leaf removal did not correlate with Eutypa severity in inoculated potted vines (Mundy et al.

2012). This supports the idea that dead arm symptoms are more dependent on water stress than other stress-related conditions, such as carbohydrate deprivation. Similarly, another disorder observed in California named â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Shiraz declineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was not correlated to presence of a common virus found in grapevine, although its incidence and spread was related to the adoption of deficit irrigation practice and the occurrences of drought (Battany et al. 2004). All of the above suggests that trunk diseases may be exacerbated in the future due to global warming, as it has been suggested for Eutypa lata (Sosnowski et al. 2011).

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Apart from chemical control, it has been suggested that late pruning during spring would naturally protect vines from Eutypa due to an increase in wound healing and epiphytic competition, since at that time in the season there are less favourable conditions for the disease dissemination compared with pruning when vines are dormant (Gubler et al. 2005). The same was suggested

by Gu et al.(2005), who observed that Eutypa development was less severe in mechanical pruning, only when it is done late in the season. Similarly, it has also been reported that a lower incidence was linked to a warm spring that was conducive to high shoot vigour, which may dilute the toxins released by the pathogen (Sosnowski et al. 2007).

Ground truth assessment of Eutypa in a large area can be impractical, which may contribute to the

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perceptible lack of direct measurement of its incidence. In a previous study the use of NDVI index from Greenseeker at cordon height was suggested as a tool for dead arm assessment, but this needs more study (Degaris et al.)

The wrapping of cordons on the cordon wire has been a traditional practice for establishing vines in Australia. The beneficial aspect is that it provides a self-supported arm without using any securing ties, and is only required to be done once when the arms are established. In contrast, in Chile where labour is less expensive, the cordon arms are located over the wire without wrapping. They are secured at three positions across each arm. The cordon arms require the use of canopy wires to ensure the shoots grow vertically, and to avoid rolling of the canopy. After the arms have grown strong enough to be self-supported, a transition to sprawl canopies is possible. Interestingly, however, wrapping has been adopted in the past five years in Chile as a way to decrease operational costs.

We hypothesise that the constriction that wrapping imposes to the arms, will become worse over time and can restrict the normal movement of water and nutrients in the arm through the xylem. This, in turn, will be exacerbated under water stress and heat events. This stress may decrease the vineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capability of dealing with other stress conditions such as water stress. This may be a reason for the higher incidence of dead arms observed during the last decade.

For this reason a project lead by the University of Adelaide in collaboration with Treasury Wine Estates has been established this season in the Barossa Valley. Both wrapping and tying of canes for cordon establishment will be compared in a Shiraz vineyard (Figure 1). A potted grapevine trial has also been set up at Waite Campus. The stress assessment will be based on the hypothesised decrease in xylem conductivity through the cordon and the resulting increment in water stress. We also rely on earlier studies where leaf xylem pathway (conduit) was observed by using a filtered 0.1% Toluidine Blue solution (Chatelet et al. 2006) as a possible technique, as well as morphometric assessment of vessels diameter (Lovisolo and Schubert 1998). The study aims to determine if wrapping of cordon arms should be avoided in the future to ensure vine survival and, hence, vineyard sustainability.

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Cordon wrapped onto wire in a Shiraz block planted in 1992.

References Battany, M.; Rowhani, A. and Golino, D. (2004) Syrah in California: decline or disorder. Practical Winery and Vineyard 26:20-35.

Chatelet, D.S.; Matthews, M.A. and Rost, T.L. (2006) Xylem structure and connectivity in grapevine (Vitis vinifera) shoots provides a passive mechanism for the spread of bacteria in grape plants. Annals of Botany 98:483-494.

Choat, B.; Gambetta, G.A.; Wada, H.; Shackel, K.A. and Matthews, M.A. (2009) The effects of Pierce’s disease on leaf and petiole hydraulic conductance in Vitis vinifera cv. Chardonnay.

Physiologia plantarum 136:384-394.

Choi, H.-K.; Iandolino, A.; da Silva, F.G. and Cook, D.R. (2013) Water deficit modulates the response of Vitis vinifera to the Pierce’s disease pathogen Xylella fastidiosa. Molecular PlantMicrobe Interactions 26:643-657.

Degaris, K.; Kidman, C.; Wotton, C and Balnaves, P. Eutypa Impacts: Ground-truthing of Infrared Technologies. Report to Limestone Coast Grape and Wine Council Duchêne, E.; Huard, F.; Dumas, V.; Schneider, C. and Merdinoglu, D. (2010) The challenge of adapting grapevine varieties to climate change.

Climate Research 41:193-204.

Edwards, J.; Salib, S.; Thomson, F. and Pascoe, I.G. (2007) The impact of Phaeomoniella chlamydospora infection on the grapevine’s physiological response to water stress-Part 1: Zinfandel. Phytopathologia Mediterranea 46:26-37.

Edwards, J.; Salib, S.; Thomson, F. and Pascoe, I.G. (2007) The impact of Phaeomoniella chlamydospora infection on the grapevine’s physiological response to water stress-Part 2: Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

Phytopathologia Mediterranea 46:38-49.

Ferreira, J.; Van Wyk, P. and Calitz, F. (1999) Slow dieback of grapevine in South Africa: stressrelated predisposition of young vines for infection

by Phaeoacremonium chlamydosporum. S. Afr. J.Enol. Vitic.20(2):43-46.

Fischer, M. and Kassemeyer, H.-H. (2012) Water regime and its possible impact on expression of Esca symptoms in Vitis vinifera: growth characters and symptoms in the greenhouse after artificial infection with Phaeomoniella chlamydospora. Vitis 51:129-135.

Goodwin, P.; DeVay, J. and Meredith, C. (1988) Roles of water stress and phytotoxins in the development of Pierce’s disease of the grapevine.

Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology 32:1-15.

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Gu, S.; Cochran, R.C.; Du, G.; Hakim, A.; Fugelsang, K.C.; Ledbetter, J.; Ingles, C.A. and Verdegaal, P.S. (2005) Effect of training-pruning regimes on Eutypa dieback and performance of Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines. Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 80:313318.

Gubler, W.; Rolshausen, P.; Trouillas, F.; Úrbez-Torres, J.; Voegel, T.; Leavitt, G. and Weber, E. (2005) Grapevine trunk diseases in California.

Practical Winery and Vineyard Magazine 6-25.

Hall, A. and Jones, G. (2009) Effect of potential atmospheric warming on temperature-based indices describing Australian winegrape growing conditions. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 15:97-119.

Highet, A. and Wicks, T. (1998) The incidence of Eutypa dieback in South Australian vineyards.

Australian Grapegrower and Winemaker 441:135137.

Hofstetter, V.; Buyck, B.; Croll, D.; Viret, O.; Couloux, A. and Gindro, K. (2012) What if Esca disease of grapevine were not a fungal disease?

Fungal Diversity 54:51-67.

Jones, G.V. (2007) Climate change: observations, projections, and general implications for viticulture and wine production. Practical Winery and Vineyard, July/August, 44-64.

Jones, G (2008). Climate change and the global wine industry. Proceedings of the Proceedings Thirteenth Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference.

Keller, M. (2010) Managing grapevines to optimise fruit development in a challenging environment: a climate change primer for viticulturists. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 16:56-69.

Lovisolo, C. and Schubert, A. (1998) Effects of water stress on vessel size and xylem hydraulic conductivity in Vitis vinifera L. Journal of Experimental Botany 49:693-700.

Mundy, D.; Haycock, S.; Manning, M. and McLachlan, A. (2012) The response to stress treatments of potted grapevines inoculated with Eutypa lata and Botryosphaerea lutea, fungi associated with trunk disease. New Zealand Plant Protection 65:228-235.

Pascoe, I. and Cottral, E. (2000) Developments in grapevine trunk diseases research in Australia.

Phytopathologia Mediterranea 39:68-75.

Rudelle, J.; Octave, S.; Kaid-Harche, M.; Roblin, G. and Fleurat-Lessard, P. (2005) Structural modifications induced by Eutypa lata in the xylem of trunk and canes of Vitis vinifera. Functional plant biology 32:537-547.

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Sosnowski, M.; Ayres, M.; Wicks, T. and McCarthy, M. (2013) In search of resistance to grapevine trunk diseases. Wine & Viticulture Journal 28:55.

Sosnowski, M.; Luque, J.; Loschiavo, A.; Martos, S.; Garcia-Figueres, F.; Wicks, T. and Scott, E. (2011) Studies on the effect of water and temperature stress on grapevines inoculated with Eutypa lata. Phytopathologia Mediterranea 50:127138.

Sosnowski, M.R.; Lardner, R.; Wicks, T.J. and Scott, E.S. (2007) The influence of grapevine cultivar and isolate of Eutypa lata on wood and foliar symptoms. Plant Disease 91:924-931.

Sun, Q.; Sun, Y.; Walker, M.A. and Labavitch, J.M. (2013) Vascular occlusions in grapevines with Pierce’s disease make disease symptom development worse. Plant Physiology 161:15291541.

Thorne, E.T.; Stevenson, J.F.; Rost, T.L.; Labavitch, J.M. and Matthews, M.A. (2006) Pierce’s disease symptoms: comparison with symptoms of water deficit and the impact of water deficits.

American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 57:111.

Tomasi, D.; Jones, G.V.; Giust, M.; Lovat, L. and Gaiotti, F. (2011) Grapevine phenology and climate change: Relationships and trends in the Veneto region of Italy for 1964-2009. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, ajev. 2011.10108 v10101.

Van Niekerk, J.; Bester, W.; Halleen, F.; Crous, P. and Fourie, P. (2011) The distribution and symptomatology of grapevine trunk diseas pathogens are influenced by climate.

Phytopathologia Mediterranea 50:98-111.

Webb, L.; Whetton, P. and E. Barlow (2005) Impact on Australian viticulture from greenhouse induced temperature change. In Zerger, A. and Argent, R.M. (eds) MODSIM 2005 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand, December 2005, 170-176.

Webb, L.; Whetton, P. and Barlow, E. (2007) Modelled impact of future climate change on the phenology of winegrapes in Australia. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 13:165-175.

Webb, L.; Whetton, P. and Barlow, E. (2008) Climate change and winegrape quality in Australia.

Climate Research 36:99.

Wicks, T. and Davies, K. (1999) The effect of Eutypa on grapevine yield. Australian Grapegrower and Winemaker-Annual Technical Issue 15-17. WVJ

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New app to help vine nurseries and growers evaluate the quality of planting material while workshop focuses on standards

By Helen Waite, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales

K

eeping the wine industry strong and healthy through the transformation of new knowledge into decision-making tools underpins the approach to research at the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga. The release last September of a new app for smart phones and tablets for evaluating the quality of grapevine planting material is one of the outcomes of the Wine Growing Futures Young Vine Decline (YVD) research project, led by Dr Melanie Whitelaw-Weckert. The app, developed by Helen Waite and funded by the NWGIC, is designed to be used by both vine nurseries and grapegrowers for evaluating the quality, disease status and overall ‘fitness’ of grapevine planting material. Vines are assessed against comprehensive and standardised quality criteria including the results of peer reviewed Australian and international research, and the quality criteria outlined in the recently published Australian Standard for Grapevine Material (AS5588 – 2013; Standards Australia Limited, 2013).

Fit Vine was developed to help ensure that only vines that will establish well and be productive are planted. Healthy productive vines are the foundation of vineyard and wine industry sustainability.

However, sporadic failures of newlyplanted vines and the early decline of young vineyards caused by defects in planting material have had significant short and long-term impacts on some grapegrowing enterprises. Because defects and symptoms of disease are not always obvious to the casual observer, nurseries and grapegrowers may not be aware that some batches of vines are defective until they fail in the vineyard, by which time a great deal of time and money has been lost.

The Fit Vine app enables nurseries to check the quality of vines before despatch and growers to evaluate vines prior to planting. Features include: an accurate assessment of vine quality, illustrations and descriptions of high quality vines and common defects and a short, one-minute animation that guides the user through

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dissection and internal assessment of a random sample of vines to check for internal signs of disease or injury. Fit Vine is quick and easy to use in the field and requires no special tools or training. Fit Vine calculates a risk score for each batch of vines that helps the user decide if the vines are likely to underperform in the vineyard. The batch identification details and assessment results are recorded on the user’s device (smart phone or tablet) and can also be sent to any email address.

There is a feedback page and users are encouraged to send their thoughts on any features of Fit Vine that could be improved.

Although Fit Vine is primarily designed to ensure that weak or defective vines are not planted, it is also designed to be used as a tool for nurseries to benchmark their products for quality assurance schemes and provide a point for trace back if changes in quality are detected.

To download Fit Vine, visit https:// itunes.apple.com/au/app/fit-vine/ id928430666?mt=8.

Home page of Fit Vine app.

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Diagram showing the structure of the Fit Vine app.

Screen shot showing one of the questions in the whole batch vine assessment section of Fit Vine. www.winebiz. com . au

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VINE PLANTING

To further assist nurseries produce vines that are consistently uniform and healthy, a specialist workshop for nurseries – ‘Growing to the Standard’ was organised to coincide with the 9th International Workshop on Grapevine Trunk Diseases (IWGTD), that was held in Adelaide last November. The aim of the workshop was to discuss the Standard for Australian Grapevine Material and to address the principles and methods that underpin the Standard. Speakers included local and international experts in the fields of grapevine pathology and propagation, many of whom were in Australia for the 9th IWGTD. The program commenced with a presentation by Peter Hayes, who outlined the processes involved in the development of the Standard and the factors that prompted the wine industry to codify quality parameters for grapevine material, including the problem of conforming to ‘truth in labelling’ regulations for wine that can arise from misidentification of germplasm, and the quarantine issues associated with importation and distribution of vine propagating material. Hayes stressed that although there are some gaps in the Standard that need to be addressed, it is a living document and will be regularly reviewed and refined, starting in 2015.

Peter’s presentation was followed by a presentation by Richard Smart, who outlined some of the problems associated with poor quality planting material he has seen in grapegrowing regions around the world. Smart commented that the major problems he sees are associated with apparently healthy planting material that is infected with trunk disease pathogens and stressed that the problem of trunk disease infection in young vines is an international issue that affects grape and wine production worldwide.

The vital role vine improvement schemes and nurseries play in protecting the grape and wine industries from serious pests and diseases was highlighted by Prue Henschke, who spoke about the necessity of preventing the introduction of exotic pests and diseases to Australia that have the potential to threaten the sustainability and viability of the grape and wine industries.

Henschke also emphasised the importance of vine improvement schemes and nurseries in controlling the spread of serious endemic pests and diseases such as phylloxera through the production of clean, healthy cuttings and planting material.

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Florence Fontaine’s presentation at the Growing to the Standard workshop.

Maintaining vineyard health and productivity in the face of adverse environmental conditions and pests and diseases through the CSIRO rootstock breeding program was the focus of Peter Clingeleffer’s presentation. Clingeleffer discussed the limitations of current rootstock varieties, mentioning the poor drought tolerance and/or excessive potassium uptake of some commonly used rootstocks. He then outlined the selection criteria and techniques the CSIRO team uses in the breeding program to develop rootstocks of moderate vigour that are resistant to phylloxera and nematodes, drought and salt tolerant and do not take up excessive amounts of potassium.

CSIRO has now released three new rootstocks to licensed propagators and five more are in the final stages of evaluation.

Nuredin Habili, from Waite Diagnostics, then discussed the threat viruses pose to the grape and wine industries and the need for vigilance to prevent the introduction and spread of new and endemic grapevine viruses via propagation and top working of established vines. Habili also described the symptoms and effects of known viruses and the methods used

by Waite Diagnostics to detect viruses in vine tissues. He also explained the thermotherapy and chemotherapy methods used to clear viruses from germplasm used for establishing mother vine blocks.

After lunch several speakers addressed the issue of trunk disease transmission in propagation. Laura

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Mugnai, from the University of Florence, Italy, set the scene with an international perspective on trunk disease identity, distribution and epidemiology, emphasising that different pathogens can cause similar symptoms that make it difficult to diagnose infections by visual symptoms alone. Mugnai also pointed out that there is a large number of organisms associated with trunk disease symptoms and numerous alternative hosts, such as olives, and stone and pome fruit trees, that can act as a source of inoculum. Mugnai commented that mixed infections are usual and that more information on the impact of environmental factors and the relative titre (concentration) of pathogens in vine tissue on disease expression is needed to help formulate the most effective control strategies.

David Gramaje, from Spain, then followed with more descriptions and pictures of trunk disease symptoms in young and old vines and their effects on vine longevity and productivity. In a later presentation Gramaje also spoke about managing mother vines for the production of healthy viable cuttings.

He emphasised the need to manage rootstocks for wood production and that cultural methods are necessarily different to those for growing vines for fruit production. Gramaje told the audience that cuttings taken from rootstock mother vines that are trellised rather than allowed to sprawl along the ground are more even, have a better strike rate and are less likely to be infected with trunk disease pathogens.

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Following on from David Gramaje was Marlene Jaspers, from Lincoln University, in New Zealand, and Regina Billones-Baaijens, now at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, who spoke about managing trunk disease pathogens in nurseries. Jaspers described research at Lincoln that showed mustard meal applied to field nursery soils reduced the inoculums of black foot pathogens in the soil by more than 30%, but emphasised that good pathogen control in nurseries requires an integrated approach that includes using only high quality cuttings with a low inoculums load, hot water treatment of cuttings and vines, high levels of general sanitation in the nursery to avoid cross contamination and careful management of field nursery soils. The need for high standards of nursery sanitation was also emphasised by Billones-Baaijens, who showed that Botryosphaeria infections can occur in nurseries during the propagation process and that apparently healthy cuttings and young vines can be carrying latent infections that express soon after planting in the field nursery or vineyard.

Florence Fontaine, from the University of Reims, France, described

the symptoms of trunk diseases in mature vines including dark staining in the woody tissue and sudden collapse and death of the whole vine. Fontaine also described the effect trunk diseases have on vine physiology at the molecular level and the overall effects of trunk diseases on vine performance including a reduction in photosynthesis and loss of berry quality. Dion Mundy, from Plant and Food Research, New Zealand, also spoke about the effects of trunk disease infections in young and mature vines and included pictures of some common defects, such as ‘J’ roots caused by poor planting practices.

Melaine Whitelaw-Weckert, from the NWGIC, Wagga Wagga, explained that the young vine decline in the Riverina district of NSW has now been shown to be caused by sequential infections: first by Botryosphaeriaceae fungi from rootstock cuttings and, then,

by Ilyonectria (grapevine black-foot disease) fungi from the field nursery soil. Black-foot inoculum builds up in the nursery soil with repeated planting and long-lived spores can survive in the soil for up to 15 years. WhitelawWeckert’s team is investigating the efficacy of mustard in vineyards and field nurseries as part of the control

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strategy for black-foot pathogens and nematodes in soil.

In the final part of the workshop José Ramón Úrbez-Torres, from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, described a range of molecular techniques that can be used for identifying trunk diseaase pathogens in dormant grapevine material and presented a new technique for rapid identification of multiple pathogen species in one cost-effective test.

The last presentation that preceded a general discusion session led by Peter Hayes was from Helen Waite, who described the effects that some common nursery practices such as hot water treatment have on cutting physiology and outlined the techniques that could be used to mitigate any potentially negative effects.

During the discussion session the implications of the research presented at the workshop were canvassed by both the speakers and the audience and resulted in the vine nursery industry representatives indicating their desire to review the current accreditation manual to incorporate the most up-to-date information on best WVJ practice grapevine propagation.

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SARSil High analysis liquid potassium silicate SARSil hardens the plant against disease infection.

ORGANIC CROP PROTECTANTS PTY LTD 61 Turrella St, Turrella NSW 2205 Australia Telephone: 1800 634 204 www.ocp.com.au

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NSW/WA/SA James VIC/TAS Scott QLD Andrew

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0408 025 139 0488 717 515 0448 016 551

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ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES

Dal Zotto pioneers Australian Prosecco in the King Valley

By Michael Dal Zotto, Dal Zotto Wines, King Valley, Victoria

I

n 1999, inspired by a childhood growing up in the town of Valdobbiadene, the birthplace of Prosecco, my father Otto Dal Zotto planted the first Prosecco vines in the King Valley, making him the pioneer of the variety in Australia.

It was our family’s connection with the town of Valdobbiadene and its long established understanding of the variety’s fresh fruit-driven style and natural vibrancy that immediately appealed to me and my brother Christian. Thus began the project of trying to source the planting material to produce Prosecco in Australia.

I made some inquiries to vine nurseries to find out if Prosecco had been imported into the country. Fortunately an Italian migrant had imported the variety to Australia, and Customs had the gentleman’s contact details. This allowed us to contact him to find out if cuttings of the variety were available. In the spirit of cooperation common in the Australian wine industry, the gentleman obliged and stage one of the dream of Dal Zottos growing Prosecco in Australia proceeded.

In 1998 we were able to obtain some Prosecco cuttings which we had DNA tested to confirm that they were, in fact, Prosecco. It took a further 12 months to produce grafted Prosecco vines in sufficient number to allow a viable planting to be undertaken.

By the end of 1999, we had planted our first Prosecco vines on our Cheshunt property. The overall project, from sourcing the material to making the first bottle of Prosecco, took six years (1998-2004) of hard work, with the first vintage released in December 2004 under the new-look Dal Zotto brand created by Christian.

My father said he always knew the King Valley, with its Mediterranean climate, was the perfect place to grow Prosecco. As a sparkling variety Prosecco ripens late so the warm days and cool nights allow for a long, stable ripening period.

I first developed a passion for Prosecco during a visit to Valdobbiadene in the province of Veneto, in north-eastern Italy, with my father. This is where my dad’s family also had a small planting of Prosecco from which his father used to make their own wine, and it gave me a deeper appreciation of the numerous family conversations had around the dinner table about the resemblances of the King Valley with Valdobbiadene and my father’s inspiration to grow and produce Prosecco.

In 2008 I was awarded a fellowship from the George Alexander Foundation which enabled me to travel and study how Prosecco in Valdobbiadene is grown, manufactured and marketed. I studied and experienced first-hand the manufacture of Charmat-style Prosecco with winemakers,

viticulturists and university professors.

Having visited numerous destinations throughout the Veneto region where I spoke with experts, I determined the most aromatic and intense flavours come from fruit on the south-west facing slopes of Valdobbiadene. Aromatics include citrus blossom, wisteria and jasmine with lemon and lime on the palate. Harvest focused on flavour with a strong emphasis on the level of acidity, trying to make sure it was between 5.8-6.3g/L and a pH of around 3.2.

In addition, harvesting Prosecco occurs at around 18°Brix, ensuring there is enough natural acidity.

Michael Dal Zotto with father Otto.

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Prosecco

By Peter Dry Emeritus Fellow, The Australian Wine Research Institute Background

Prosecco grown for Dal Zotto is arch cane pruned as they find this gives the most even ripening and consistent production from year to year.

Viticulture Currently, we are growing Prosecco in a number of vineyards ranging from 300-400 metres above sea level. These vineyards are throughout the King Valley in Whitfield, Cheshunt and the Rose River Valley. The vines are arch cane pruned as we find this gives the most even ripening and consistent production from year to year. Budburst tends to occur in mid-September with harvest taking place around the last week of February to the middle of March. The variety can be quite generous which is a reason for our change from spur pruning to arch cane, and we tend to have a yield of 10 to 15 tonnes to the hectare. The variety is quite disease resistant and it has an open bunch.

Winemaking Dal Zotto Wines employs two methods to produce Prosecco, these being for its L’Immigrante Prosecco, which is the traditional method champenoise, while the majority of the harvest goes into making the Vintage Pucino Prosecco and NV Pucino Prosecco produced using the Charmat method. In Italy the Charmat method would be used for 99% of all Prosecco produced.

The fruit is generally harvested at around 9-10.5°Baume by machine and top loaded into the press. The juice is then racked and inoculated with fermentation taking approximately two weeks, aiming for a temperature range of 14-16°C throughout the ferment.

We ferment the wine dry and then during the Charmat process aim to ferment back to our desired residual sugar level and a CO2 level of around 9.5-10.5g/L. The final wine is fresh with delicate aromatics of jasmine, wisteria and citrus blossom, while on the palate there is crisp apple and citrus flavours and a good balance between acid and residual sugar.

The 2014 vintage marked the 10th anniversary of producing Prosecco at Dal Zotto Wines, a wine which started from humble beginnings in 2004 when only 350 cases were produced to more than 40,000 half-dozen cases in 2014 - an increase of more than 5000%.

In 2012, the Australian Grape and Wine Authority undertook a Prosecco audit in the King Valley. It revealed that approximately 40 hectares are planted, producing approximately 750 tonnes of fruit. With new plantings harvested in 2014 more than 1500 tonnes produced 1.4 million bottles resulting in approximately 120,000 cases. The King Valley Prosecco audit also identified an increased number of vines being grafted to Prosecco but did not calculate future production from this observation.

More fruit will be available in 2015 for processing from an increased number of growers in the King Valley. It is predicted the plantings of Prosecco in the King Valley alone will have increased more than 300% by 2015 compared with plantings in 2012. Experts predict that by 2015-16 the King Valley will be producing 2250 tonnes of Prosecco, resulting in approximately 2.16 million litres.

Prosecco (pro-SEKK-oh) has been known in northeastern Italy since at least the 18th century. However, there is now good evidence supporting an origin in the Istrian peninsula of Croatia. Previously it was thought that there were at least three different clones but recent DNA research has revealed that vines known as Prosecco comprise three distinct varieties now known as Prosecco, Prosecco Lungo and Malvasia Bianca Lunga. Prosecco and Prosecco Lungo have a strong genetic relationship. Prosecco was renamed as Glera in 2009 to distinguish the variety from the eponymous appellation. Synonyms include Briska Glera (Slovenia) and Teran Bijeli (Croatia). Prosecco is one of the main varieties of the Veneto region of north-eastern Italy, mainly grown in the province of Treviso (10,000ha) to produce sparkling wines in various appellations: Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOCG, Colli Asolani Prosecco DOCG and Prosecco DOC. The total vineyard area in Italy has been estimated as 16,500ha (2010) but both Prosecco and Prosecco Lungo are included.

Nevertheless, the proportion of Prosecco Lungo appears to be small. There are also small areas in Slovenia and Argentina.

Prosecco is a relatively recent introduction to Australia. There are currently at least 21 wine producers in Australia, mainly in cool regions. King Valley has the most and the remainder are found in at least 11 other regions. There are 14ha planted in SA (Wrattonbully, Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale and Currency Creek).

Viticulture Budburst is early and maturity is late (although because it is often harvested at 9-10° Be it may be said to be midseason). Vigour is high with sprawling growth habit. Bunches are medium to large and loose with medium thin-skinned golden yellow berries. Yield is moderate to high and regular.

Because fruitfulness is high, bunch thinning may be required.

There is clonal variation for both yield and vigour. Cane pruning is used in Italy but both spur and cane pruning have been successfully used in Australia. In Italy, Prosecco is said to be susceptible to fungal diseases, drought and millerandage but the Australian experience suggests that disease susceptibility is only moderate.

Wine Wines are relatively neutral (particularly if yield is high) with light body. The best wines have a pleasing slightly lemony note and are lightly floral (Prosecco Lungo is spicier). Other descriptors include jasmine, citrus blossom, apple and pear.

Clones differ in their degree of floral and fruity characters.

Both still and sparkling versions are made. In Italy, Prosecco may be blended with Verdiso, Verdicchio Bianco or Garganega.

Australian experience indicates that Prosecco loses acid rapidly during ripening and is more floral in cooler climates.

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.

WVJ

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Trial-purchase-repurchase of the brand: How does a cellar door visit impact future sales?

By Johan Bruwer1, Larry Lockshin1, Anthony Saliba2 and Martin Hirche1 1 School of Marketing, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, University of South Australia 2 School of Psychology and National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Charles Sturt University

An AGWA-funded study has been conducted with the aim of better understanding the role of cellar doors in building ongoing brand awareness and repurchasing.

Introduction The Australian Grape and Wine Authority (formerly GWRDC) funded research to understand the impact of a cellar door visit on future purchases of the brand’s and region’s wines. The research was executed through a collaboration between senior wine marketing researchers from two of Australia’s leading ‘wine universities’, namely the University of South Australia (UniSA) and Charles Sturt University, under the leadership of Associate Professor Johan Bruwer, of UniSA. The project represents one of the first opportunities to date to track cellar door visitors’ postvisit consumption changes and associated buying behaviour.

More specifically, its objectives were to: •

track during a six-month period, the incidence and extent of purchase at cellar door and subsequent repurchase of the wineries’ wines at off-premise, on-premise and direct-to consumer (DTC) channels among a cohort of cellar door visitors

•

determine the effect of the cellar door visit on future wine consumption in terms of regionality, type/style, and price/quality

•

establish the amount and type of consumer communication resulting from a cellar door visit.

For small and large wineries alike, the cellar door presents a unique opportunity to introduce consumers to

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the winery and its wines, which could then drive changes in their current and future purchasing of these brands in off- and on-premise outlets (Alant and Bruwer 2010, Bruwer 2002). Setting up, staffing and operating a cellar door is an expensive proposition. However, the actual value of the cellar door as a unique entity to change wine consumption behaviour and act as catalyst for future sales in the retail sector is unclear (Bruwer, Lockshin, Saliba and Hirche 2014). We contend that the potential of cellar door to act as change agent for future purchase behaviour is significant.

Notably more than half of the revenue for wineries in the United States producing less than 50,000 cases now comes from direct sales. All of these main sources of DTC revenue (cellar door, wine club and online) are growing strongly (Silicon Bank 2014).

Trial-purchase-repurchase of brands At the basic level the buying process broadly follows the awareness-trial-repurchase (ATR) model (Ehrenberg 2000).

Consumers become aware of a wine through purchase or, in this context, through a visit and tasting at cellar door.

The question is how powerful is the effect of awareness and tasting at a cellar door in influencing future purchase behaviour? We already know that regular wine consumption is strongly associated with wine tourism activity factors (Bruwer and Lesschaeve 2012, Bruwer, Lesschaeve and

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Campbell 2012), which has profound implications in practice. This pinpoints that wine tourism’s potential should be better used by wineries as a DTC sales vehicle and a driver of ongoing sales through the off- and on-trade retail sectors, where the vast majority of all wine volume is sold in Australia.

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Table 1. Change(s) in overall wine consumption and in consumption of the region’s wines of origin after visit to a winery’s cellar door.

Change in wine consumption

Overall

Region of origin

Method

Yes - overall wine consumption changed

20.6%

41.5%

During the first stage of the project, 3368 visitors in 15 wine regions at 79 cellar doors representing large, medium and small wineries across Australia participated (also see: Bruwer, Lockshin, Saliba and Hirche 2014a, 2014b). The second stage followed a cohort of these cellar door visitors with two more surveys to determine the incidence and extent of changes in the consumption of wine in general and the repurchase of the identified brands in different retail channels during the subsequent six months. The monitoring period of six months was deemed an appropriate minimum level to establish brand purchase and repurchase patterns of consumers of a product category such as wine.

Visitors who completed the survey at a cellar door were contacted by email; the purpose of the follow-up surveys was explained to them, and a request made for them to participate in the surveys. Follow-up requests were sent on two occasions to encourage participation. Only Australian residents were included in the follow-up surveys, since it would have been difficult to track brand purchases in a longitudinal study in several countries. Respondents were required to complete the questionnaire by clicking on a direct link provided in an email to a web platform resulting in an online survey. Wave 1 of the follow-up surveys was administered to the cellar door visitors three months after their visit and Wave 2 was administered three months later.

The response rates were higher than expected: 49% for Wave 1 and 45% for Wave 2 (91% of Wave 1), resulting in a final retention rate of 57% and yielding a sufficient number of responses (n = 1902) to achieve the study’s objectives.

No - overall wine consumption did not change

79.4%

58.5%

Nature of the change in wine consumption

Overall

Region of origin

Increase in quality of wine consumed

35.6%

24.6%

Change in wine type (grape variety) consumed

26.0%

12.4%

Increase in quantity of wine consumed

18.5%

47.3%

Higher value (price) of wine consumed

15.8%

14.8%

Decrease in quantity of wine consumed

3.9%

0.9%

Decrease in quality of wine consumed

0.2%

-

Decrease in value of wine consumed

-

-

Table 2. Change in attitude towards visited wine region: before vs. after visit.

Attitude towards the wine region 1 Very negative

Before visit -

After visit 0.1%

2

0.4%

0.1%

3

1.9%

1.7%

4 Neutral

28.9%

2.0%

5

21.8%

7.6%

6 7 Very positive Mean

24.9%

40.2%

22.0%

48.3%

5.35

6.31

Results We provide a summary of some of the findings of our study to illuminate the high importance of a cellar door visit on subsequent purchase behaviour.

The cellar door visit as a change agent It has long been one of industry’s desires to find ways in which to influence and eventually change the consumption behaviour of Australian wine consumers. Our research measured this vitally important aspect and found that a visit to a wine region and a few cellar doors changes behaviour, as shown in Table 1.

Six months after visiting a cellar door, visitors reported a change in both their overall wine consumption (21%) and that of the region of origin where the cellar door is located (42%).

The main factors of change in their overall consumption was an increase in the quality of wine consumed (36%), while from a regional viewpoint, 47% reported an increase in the quantity of wine consumed from that region. Other notable changes were in overall consumption of the varietal (26%) and a better quality of region of origin wines consumed (25%). If these changes are permanent, industry would benefit profoundly by selling more wine of higher quality at higher prices. Follow-up research in this regard is needed.

Most of the cellar door visitors would have formed a perception and, thus, an attitude towards the wine region prior to visiting the cellar door. This would have occurred

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either through previous visits and/or awareness created by a host of other factors (i.e., word of mouth, information search, etc). It makes sense to expect that a positive firsttime or repeat visit experience could influence their attitude positively, provided that the cellar door experience was positive. Table 2 shows that by the time six months had elapsed since the visit, the attitudinal score of visitors has shifted upwards from 5.35 to 6.31 on a seven-point scale, representing an increase of 18%.

The visit creates brand ambassadors Cellar door visitors are known to seek information about the region and its wineries before and during a visit (Alant and Bruwer 2010) for a variety of reasons. However, there has been little, if any, research to determine the nature, extent and direction of visitors’ communication following a visit. Our study sought information about these aspects (Tables 3 and 4, see page 58).

Table 3 reveals that 83% of cellar door visitors recommended a wine of the visited winery to someone else within the six-month post-visit period. Also, this occurred on 3.4 separate occasions to 2.4 different reference groups.

Friends (43%) were the most frequented reference group, followed by family (29%) and work colleagues (23%). This underlines the fact that the cellar door visitors assumed a brand ambassadorial role, which holds great future

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Table 3. Whether the visitor recommended any of the winery’s wines after the cellar door visit to someone else.

Recommendation incidence

%

Yes, I have recommended a wine to someone

82.6

No, I have not recommended a wine to anyone

17.4

Table 4. Communication sources(s) (media) used to recommend wine to others.

Communication Type (Source/Media)

% % Share Incidence

Face-to-face conversation

81.4

64.6

Telephone conversation

20.2

16.1

Email

10.4

8.3

Number of times recommendation given (mean)

3.41 times

Relationship with person recommending to (reference group)

% incidence

% share

Friends

88.4

43.1

ocial media S (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blog, etc)

9.1

7.3

Family

59.4

28.9

Skype conversation

2.4

1.9

Work colleagues

47.9

23.4

Website (travel or wine-related)

1.7

1.3

Other person(s)

9.4

4.6

Writing a paper copy document and mailing it

0.4

0.3

2.39 group

Text (SMS) message via mobile phone or tablet

0.3

0.2

Number of reference groups recommended to (mean)

benefits for winery owners. By delving deeper into how this communication occurred, it was found that the oldfashioned face-to-face conversation medium represented an astounding 65% of all communications (Table 4). Electronic media (excluding telephone conversation) collectively accounted for only 19% of communications. Social media at 7% clearly has a long way to progress before creating the level of impact predicted for it.

Purchase-repurchase impact The main underlying premise of our research study is that a cellar door visit can change a visitor’s wine consumption behaviour and translate into his or her buying of the brand post-visit. Table 5 exhibits the metrics specific to the ATR model.

Table 5 shows that 54% of cellar door visitors purchased and/or repurchased the wine brand during the six-month period post-visit and that this amounted to just over nine bottles (4.9 bottles if non-buying visitors are included). It

Table 5. The winery’s wine brand - previous awareness/ actual experience and buying metrics.

Awareness/actual experience/buying metrics of the wine brand

%

HEARD of the BRAND prior to the cellar door visit - Awareness

78.5%





OUGHT any wine of the brand within 12 months prior to B cellar door visit - Experience

61.0%





OUGHT any wine of the brand at the cellar door during the B visit – Experience/Conversion

69.5%





OUGHT any wine of the brand in retail* -- Penetration @ B three months post-visit 

48.7% 

OUGHT any wine of the brand in retail* -- Penetration @ B six months post-visit 

53.7% 

umber of bottles bought during six-month period N (buyers and non-buyers)

4.89 bottles

umber of bottles bought during six-month period N (buyers only)

9.11 bottles

* includes buying during revisiting the cellar door

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is also clear that a high level of awareness (79%) already existed prior to the visit. This raised the inevitable question whether these results were not simply reflective of people already buying the brand before visiting and continuing to do that post-visit? Figure 1 puts this into an entirely different perspective.

Although several permutations are possible, we contend that the most robust measure of the influence of a cellar door visit on sales of the brand is to focus only on people who had never bought the brand prior to the visit. Figure 1 shows that 39% of visitors had not bought the brand until the time of completing their cellar door visit. Six months on, 41% of these have bought the brand, which equates to a net gain of 16% of visitors who bought 2.4 bottles of wine on average. Using these metrics on a national, regional and individual winery basis demonstrates the actual value of a cellar door visit in monetary terms across both the visit and the six-month post-visit time period.

Conclusions The winery cellar door is a powerful catalyst to invoke various change(s) in the wine consumption of visitors. The challenge lies in how to use the cellar door to the maximum of its potential as a ‘change agent’ to cause these changes to occur. However, the first priority should always be the building of a strong relationship between consumer (cellar door visitor) and the wine brand. People visiting a cellar door become more educated about the wine region, its wineries, wines and people and this increases the consumption of wines of that origin. This foundational study also highlighted the pressing need for further research in this field.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The funding provided by AGWA for the execution of this research project is gratefully acknowledged.

References Alant, K. and Bruwer, J. (2010) Winery visitation sets: Intra-regional spatial movement of wine tourists in branded wine regions. International Journal of Wine Business Research 22(2):191-210.

Bruwer, J. and Lesschaeve, I. (2012) Wine tourists’ destination region brand image perception and antecedents: Conceptualisation of a winescape framework. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 29(7):611-628.

Bruwer, J.; Lesschaeve, I. and Campbell, B.L. (2012) Consumption dynamics and demographics of Canadian wine consumers: Retailing insights from the tasting room channel. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 19(1):45-58.

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Figure 1. Never before bought the wineries’ wines until the cellar door visit metrics.

Bruwer, J.; Lockshin, L.; Saliba, A.J. and Hirche, M. (2014a) The cellar door as a catalyst for wine consumption and multiplier of sales in the Australian wine market, GWRDC USA 1204 Project, Australia, January, 1-32 [downloadable from: http://www.gwrdc.com.au/wp-content/ uploads/2014/03/Interim-Research-ReportGWRDC-USA-1204-Stage-1-Cellar-Door-20131.pdf]

Bruwer, J.; Lockshin, L.; Saliba, A.J. and Hirche, M. (2014b) The cellar door: Cornerstone of the direct-to-consumer marketing channel.

The Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker 608:22-26

& Winemaker 467:67-70.

Bruwer, J. (2002) Marketing wine to generation-X consumers through the winery cellar door. The Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower

Silicon Valley Bank (2013) Secrets of a successful tasting room: 2013 survey results.

California: USA. 1-20.

Ehrenberg, A.S.C. (2000) Repeat-buying: Facts, theory and applications. Journal of Empirical Generalisations in Marketing Science 5:392-770.

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'GREEN' CLAIMS

The thin green line - the legal dangers of green marketing and how to do it safely

By Kyra Reznikov, Special Counsel, Finlaysons. Email: Kyra.Reznikov@finlaysons.com.au

Green’, ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘organic’, ‘biodynamic’, ‘natural’ and ‘carbon neutral’ are all convenient ways to communicate to consumers that a wine or winery has environmental credentials. But there are hidden dangers in making these and similar ‘green claims’ that can lead to significant legal consequences.

T

here is no doubt that increasing numbers of consumers consider environmental performance when making purchasing decisions. More and more wineries are taking steps to reduce their environmental footprint, or adopt organic, biodynamic or ‘natural’ techniques, and are seeking to use their environmental credentials to differentiate their wines in the market.

When green claims are made correctly, they are legal and justifiable. There is no reason why a wine business can’t take credit for its environmental initiatives. The trick is differentiating between acceptable green marketing, and claims that mislead consumers about what is in the bottle, or what has been done in the making of the wine.

Australia’s consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has been taking a firm stance on misleading claims about environmental performance, and there are a few simple guidelines that every wine business should follow to ensure that its green marketing does not overstep the thin green line.

The Australian Consumer Law The rules governing the use of green

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claims are set out in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), which is enforced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) under the Federal Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Some similar provisions that apply specifically to the wine industry are set out in the Australian Grape and Wine Authority Act 2013, and are enforced by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA).

Under the rules, a green claim is unlawful if it amounts to a false statement, or to misleading or deceptive conduct.

Companies caught making unlawful green claims can be fined up to $1.1 million, and be required to withdraw products from sale, publish corrective advertising, set aside contracts and pay damages. Additionally, any person (such as a customer or competitor) can obtain a court order requiring the company to stop making an unlawful claim, or take other corrective action.

The rules apply in all states and territories in Australia, and apply regardless of whether the claim is made to a single person or to the world at large.

What types of claims are covered?

The rules apply to both written and verbal statements and other

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representations made via symbols or visual cues. This includes claims on labels and packaging, brochures and other promotional materials, posters, billboards, print advertising, websites, blogs, social media, newsletters and mailouts, television and radio advertising, direct emails to customers, and even conversations with customers at a cellar door.

That’s why it’s critical that all staff who communicate with third parties about the business’ environmental initiatives are fully aware of not only the details of the initiatives, but also the requirements of the ACL. In the context of green claims, it’s important to be aware that the rules apply to green claims in all of their different forms: Direct claims These are statements about a characteristic of the product, or the environmental initiatives being undertaken by the company. Examples include statements that a product is ‘organic’, ‘biodynamic’ or ‘carbon neutral’, statements that packaging is ‘biodegradable’, ‘recyclable’, or ‘made from recycled material’, or statements about measures taken in the vineyard or winery

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to reduce the environmental impacts of the operations.

Symbols and certification marks Examples include organic and biodynamic certification marks.

Consumers are entitled to rely on these marks as confirming that the product has very particular features or meets a specific standard that it has been rigorously audited against.

Short-hand green claims or catch phrases Examples include terms such as ‘green’, ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘eco’, ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘sustainable’. They suggest that the product or company has environmental credentials but don’t specify what those credentials are.

Visual cues The colour green, pictures of trees, leaves, grass, frogs, the Earth and water droplets give consumers the impression that the product or business has some environmental benefits, again without specifying any details.

This means that a product label with a cartoon of a leaf and the words ‘environmentally-friendly wine’ in green lettering will be judged to the same standard as a label that says ‘this wine

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bottle is made from 100% recycled glass’. The second green claim is clear and unambiguous, whilst the first could cause a reasonable person to reach a number of different conclusions. Is the ‘environmentally-friendly’ wine also bottled in recycled glass? Is the bottle lightweight? Is the wine organic, biodynamic or natural? Has the winery taken steps to reduce its environmental footprint? Is it carbon neutral? One or more of those reasonable conclusions is likely to be wrong, and that’s where the potential for an unlawful green claim arises.

Unlawful green claims There are two main ways that green claims can be unlawful – as false statements or as misleading or deceptive conduct.

The rules around false statements are straightforward. A claim is in breach of the ACL if it isn’t true. A few years ago, an Australian nappy company was prosecuted on the basis of its ‘100% biodegradable’ claim. Since the nappy contained plastic parts that would not break down naturally in the foreseeable future, the nappy company was found to have made a false statement.

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Misleading or deceptive conduct is more common and is, in essence, the presentation of information in a way that does not accord with the truth. It can be unlawful not only if a person is actually misled, but also if a court determines that a claim was merely likely to mislead. A claim is likely to mislead if there is a real and not remote chance or possibility of misleading a consumer to a wrong conclusion. This need not be more than a 50% chance.

What’s also important to understand is that the intent or belief of the party making the statement is no defence. A claim can be unlawful even if the maker didn’t deliberately set out to mislead, and even if they actually believed the statement to be true.

Instead, we simply consider the response of an ordinary, reasonable person who is exposed to the claim. This analysis is known as the reasonable person test.

To apply the test, first consider the range of people who are going to see or hear the claim. Then consider what an ordinary, reasonable person in that position could conclude as a result of the claim, ignoring any extreme, fanciful or extraordinarily stupid conclusions that could potentially be reached. 

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Could any of the reasonable conclusions be wrong? If so, the claim fails the reasonable person test and is most likely an unlawful misleading claim.

In applying the test, the context in which the claim is made is also relevant. A green claim on a billboard advertisement for an ‘eco-friendly’ car that refers to a website for further details will be viewed differently from a wine label with the same form of green claim. In the case of the ‘eco-friendly’ car, a person seeing the billboard is usually not making an immediate purchasing decision on the basis of the billboard alone, but is likely to visit the website and consider the detailed supporting information supplied there before deciding to purchase the car.

In contrast, a person who sees an ‘eco-friendly’ wine at their local bottle shop is less likely to go away, read up about the wine’s environmental footprint on the internet, and make a fully informed decision before returning to the bottle shop to buy the wine. Instead, until in-store internet surfing or the use of QR codes becomes the norm, wine purchasers will generally purchase wine based on only the wine label and information in their immediate field of vision. Consequently, a greater level of clarity is expected for green claims on wine labels by virtue of the circumstances in which they are seen.

Guidance from the ACCC A large number of green claims have already been subject to enforcement action by the ACCC. A particularly illustrative example of the dangers of using short-hand green claims involved a range of luxury cars.

The manufacturer planned to plant 17 native trees as a carbon offset for each car bought during a promotional campaign.

Advertisements contained the taglines ‘Grrrrrreen’ and ‘Shift to Neutral’. The ACCC alleged that these advertisements were misleading on the basis that planting 17 trees would only offset the emissions from a single year’s fuel consumption rather than the full lifetime of the car, and there was nothing else about the car that was any ‘greener’ than any other. Ultimately, the dealer responsible for the campaign was required to plant an additional 12,500 native trees in order to offset the lifetime emissions of all cars sold during the course of the campaign.

Key learnings from this case are to be clear in carbon offsetting claims about exactly what part of the product lifecycle is being offset, and to only use terms such as ‘green’ where a number of environmental initiatives have been undertaken, rather than on the basis of a carbon offset in isolation.

Following this case and others, the ACCC published guidance on green marketing and the law1. Among other things, claims should: •

be accurate (that is, they shouldn’t claim something that isn’t true)

•

be able to be substantiated (for instance, with laboratory reports, meter readings, audit statements or other evidence)

•

be specific, rather than unqualified or general statements (‘packaged in 100% recycled cartonboard’ is less open to misinterpretation than ‘100% recycled’, which could reasonably refer to any part of the packaging or the product itself)

•

consider the whole lifecycle of the product.

Further, the ACCC specifically recommends that great care be taken when using the terms ‘green’, ‘eco’, ‘environmentally friendly’ and ‘environmentally safe’. These terms are considered

by the ACCC to be vague and likely to invite a wide range of interpretation, which raises risks that a consumer is misled. In addition, they are phrased in absolute terms, which can suggest that the product has no environmental impact. If short-hand green claims such as these must be used, consider using them in a comparative sense – ‘taking steps to make our winery greener’ is less misleading than saying that operations are ‘green’.

‘Carbon neutral’/’carbon offset’ Australia has a National Carbon Offset Standard which sets out methods for calculating and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions associated with organisations, products and events.

The ACCC recommends that ‘carbon neutral’, ‘carbon offset’ and similar claims only be used where the offsetting has been undertaken in a manner consistent with the Offset Standard.

‘Organic’/’biodynamic’ Organic and biodynamic claims may only be made on exported products where the product has been certified under the National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce.

There is no requirement to be certified in order to make ‘organic’ or ‘biodynamic’ claims on labels of products sold within Australia. However, the ACCC recommends that products and processes be consistent with the requirements of the Australian Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Products AS 6000-2009 in order to justify an ‘organic’ or ‘biodynamic’ claim.

‘Natural wine’ There is no official standard or certification program that applies to so-called ‘natural wines’, and even the general industry understanding of what constitutes a ‘natural wine’ has been the subject of some debate. The ACCC has not yet made any public statements about use of the term. Given the ACCC’s guidance in respect of green claims more generally and the making of organic or biodynamic claims, it would be prudent for producers of ‘natural wines’ to minimise risk of misleading consumers by only using the term if their practices are consistent with the broadly accepted meaning (minimal intervention and minimal additives) and providing some clarification on their labelling and other promotional materials of what they mean by that description.

Managing your risk Missteps in making green claims can not only lead to significant legal and financial consequences, but can also cause irreparable reputational harm. Wine companies seeking to make green claims should ensure that they undertake appropriate checks before claims are printed or published and that relevant employees have been trained about working within the Australian Consumer Law. Operating sustainably makes good business sense, and so does telling the world about what you’ve done. What makes even better business sense is doing so and, at the same time, taking steps to ensure that your green marketing always stays on the right side of the thin green line.

This article is adapted from a webinar presented by Finlaysons in partnership with Wine Communicators of Australia in December 2014.

1 At the time of printing, the guide book was available on the ACCC website at http://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Green%20 marketing%20and%20the%20ACL.pdf.

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Price, prestige and the sensory perception of underdog wines

By Robert H. Ashton, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States

What are the implications for wine producers and consumers of research that shows how little known, low-priced wines often fare well in tastings with their better-known, higher-priced counterparts?

Introduction This paper summarises research that I and others have conducted, showing that ‘underdog’ wines (little known, low priced and unprestigious) often fare remarkably well in competitions with ‘top dog’ wines (well known, high priced and prestigious). Implications of the research for wine consumers and wine producers are explored.

The dictionary definition of an underdog is the competitor considered least likely to prevail in a contest, struggle or fight. Labelling a competitor as an underdog entails a strong expectation of how the contest will turn out. The definition of a top dog is, of course, just the opposite—the dominant competitor that is fully expected to prevail.

Expectations that confer top dog and

underdog status are well-founded if the competitors in question have consistent track records of winning or losing in head-to-head competitions. Sometimes, however, expectations are driven by the presence of certain cues in a particular setting that can be misleading or invalid for judging the relative strengths and weaknesses of the contestants.

In the area of consumer products, for example, the influence of expectations on product perception depends on both intrinsic and extrinsic product cues.

Intrinsic cues are inherent attributes of the product (e.g., the seating capacity of an automobile), while extrinsic cues are product-related but not part of the product itself (e.g., the automobile’s price). Research shows that consumers’ expectations about a product are strongly influenced not only by intrinsic cues,

but also by extrinsic cues such as price, brand, country of origin, packaging and labelling, and that the influence of extrinsic cues on product perception is related to both consumers’ level of knowledge about the product and their confidence in the knowledge they possess (e.g., Dodds, Monroe and Grewal 1991, Hurling and Shepherd 2003, Lee and Lou 1992).

In the specific domain of foods and beverages, intrinsic cues involve sensory attributes of the product, while extrinsic cues involve various nonsensory attributes. It is well-known that expectations formed by exposure to nonsensory cues can enhance or degrade the pre-consumption perception of a product which, in turn, can influence sensory perception during consumption (Cardello 1994, Deliza and MacFie 1996). In fact,

Research has shown that when wine consumers know (or think they know) a wine’s price, they say it tastes better if the price is high rather than low. But when no price cue is provided, wine consumers do not exhibit a preference for higherpriced wines, and sometimes prefer lower-priced wines. Photo: 06photo/123RF.COM V3 0N 1

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...the non-sensory cues exerted greater influence on tasters’ sensory perceptions than did the sensory cue, with price by far the most influential cue. the presence of non-sensory cues often overwhelms the influence of sensory cues in terms of both sensory perception and subsequent purchasing behaviour.

The sensory perception of wines is a case in point. Sensory cues include attributes such as colour, aroma, taste, aftertaste and mouthfeel, all of which are expressions of what’s in the bottle.

Non-sensory cues include many things, but can be grouped into two categories— price and prestige. Prestige encompasses attributes such as country of origin, the specific region or sub-region within a country, the chateaux or producer, whether the wine is a ‘reserve’ or ‘regular’ bottling, and the wine’s vintage or age. Of course, price and prestige are related since high-prestige wines are generally higher priced (indeed, wines are sometimes considered prestigious because they are higher priced), but price and prestige are distinct concepts.

Underdog wines are low in prestige, price, or both. As a result, one might naturally assume they are unlikely to fare well in competitions that include top dog wines (which are high in prestige, price, or both) in terms of either sensory perception or subsequent purchasing behaviour.

Research has directly examined the influence of price and prestige cues on wine consumers’ sensory perceptions with a wide range of wines. A good example is a study conducted in Australia

by Veale and Quester (2008). These researchers measured the influence of two non-sensory cues (price and country of origin) and one sensory cue (level of acidity) on wine consumers’ sensory perceptions with a large sample of consumers drawn from the general population of Adelaide. Each cue was

presented at one of three levels—$53, $16 and $6 for price, and France, US, and Chile for country of origin (prestige).

Three levels of acidity were achieved by adding 0.0, 0.5 or 1.0g of tartaric acid per litre to a single Australian Chardonnay. There are 3x3x3=27 possible combinations of three variables at three levels each, but by using a sophisticated research design the researchers were able to measure the influence of acidity, price and country of origin with nine combinations of cues. In other words, each consumer (unknowingly) tasted the same Chardonnay nine times, where the non-sensory cues (price and country of origin) were prominently disclosed but the sensory cue (acidity) had to be tasted.

Each time, the consumers were required to rate the extent to which they liked the wine. The results indicate that both of the non-sensory cues exerted greater influence on tasters’ sensory perceptions than did the sensory cue, with price by far the most influential cue.

Evidence This section briefly summarises four tastings I conducted recently involving wines that varied greatly in price (Ashton 2014a), and another three tastings involving wines that varied greatly in prestige (Ashton 2014b). The reader is referred to the full reports, both published recently in the Journal of Wine Economics, for more details.

Also included in this section is a brief summary of similar research conducted by others.

Information concerning two of the four price-related tastings is shown in Table 1. One tasting involved six red

Bordeaux from the 2006 vintage with a price range of $22-119, and the other involved six white Burgundies from the 2009 vintage with a price range of $22-90 (amounts in US dollars). The wines were blind-tasted by two different groups of tasters (members of a wine club), who can be described as interested and enthusiastic wine consumers. The tasters were told nothing about the wines prior to tasting (they could, of course, observe whether they were tasting reds or whites).

The tasters rated the extent to which they enjoyed each wine on a 10-point scale.

It is easy to see in Table 1 that the mean enjoyment ratings do not align well with price in either tasting. More formally, the correlation between price and enjoyment for the red Bordeaux is not statistically different from zero, indicating there is no relationship between price and enjoyment. For the white Burgundies, the price/enjoyment correlation is statistically significant (though small) but is negative, indicating tasters actually prefer the less expensive wines.

To ensure these results are not driven by the specific wines tasted, both studies were repeated with two new groups of tasters (from the same wine club) and two new sets of wines, also red Bordeaux from 2006 and white Burgundies from 2009. This time, the reds were Pomerols and St. Emilions (price range: $28-119) and the whites were Chablis and CortonCharlemagne (price range: $20-109), all from highly reputable and well-known producers. No statistical relationship between price and enjoyment was found in either tasting.

I conducted similar tastings to examine the influence of a wine’s prestige (in this case, region of origin) on consumers’ sensory perceptions, using members of the same wine club and the same 10-point enjoyment scale. Tasters were presented with six red wines from the US, four from California and two from New Jersey. California is, of course, widely known for producing quality wines

Table 1. Prices and mean enjoyment ratings in Bordeaux and Burgundy tastings.

2006 Red Bordeaux

Price

Mean

2009 White Burgundy

Price

Mean

$90

4.55

Ch. Pichon Lalande Pauillac

$119

3.70

ierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chassagne-Montrachet P Premier Cru Les Caillerets

Ch. Montrose St. Estephe

100

4.30

Guy Amoit Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Les Demoiselles

90

4.27

Ch. Leoville Barton St. Julien

80

2.90

Marc Colin Saint-Aubin Premier Cru En Remilly

35

5.27

Ch. Calon Segur St. Estephe

65

3.90

Céline et Vincent Dureuil Rully Premier Cru Montpalais

35

4.45

Ch. Clerc Milon Pauillac

50

4.30

Saumaize-Michelin Saint-Veran Les Créches

25

6.00

Ch. Clarke Listrac-Medoc

22

4.00

Buissonnier Vignerons de Buxy Montagny

22

5.82

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Table 2. Mean enjoyment ratings in New Jersey vs. California tastings.

Prestige Cue Provided Prestige cue not provided

All wines

Identified as CA

Identified as NJ

Artesa Elements Red Wine Sonoma County 2009 (CA)

5.47

5.33

5.70

4.88

Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2007 (CA)

4.87

5.39

5.85

4.20

Heritage Vineyards Estate Reserve BDX 2010 (NJ)

5.40

5.33

5.67

4.67

Unionville Vineyards Red Montage 2010 (NJ)

4.87

5.11

5.92

3.50

Orin Swift Papillon Napa Valley 2009 (CA)

5.27

5.22

5.64

3.75

Worthy Sophia’s Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2007 (CA)

5.27

5.06

5.73

4.00

CA average

5.22

5.25

5.73

4.29

NJ average

5.14

5.22

5.79

4.08

Overall

5.19

5.24

5.75

4.22

and, thus, enjoys top dog status among US wine-producing regions. In contrast, New Jersey wines are almost completely unknown throughout the US, and to claim they are underdogs in this setting is a significant understatement. The average price of the four California wines was $40 (price range: $20-70), while the New Jersey wines cost $30-35. The California wines were chosen to be representative of California Cabernets and Cabernet blends in a price range many consumers can afford. The New Jersey wines were chosen from those that survived an earlier screening of a larger set of New Jersey wines in conjunction with the 2012 Judgment of Princeton tasting that pitted New Jersey wines against French wines (for more information on this tasting, see articles in Vol. 7, No. 2, 2012, of the Journal of Wine Economics).

The results are shown in Table 2.

The mean enjoyment ratings in the first column are from a blind tasting in which tasters were told nothing about the geographic origins of the wines; they knew only that the wines were red. In this tasting, in which a ‘prestige cue’ is not provided, the mean enjoyment ratings of the California wines (5.22) and the New Jersey wines (5.14) are almost identical.

In a post-tasting debriefing, the tasters were extremely surprised to learn that New Jersey wines were in the mix— especially tasters who had rated them higher than California wines.

To ensure these results are not simply due to the wine club members’ relative inexperience with wines or wine tastings, the study was repeated with wine professionals whose experience in various aspects of the wine business averaged about 14 years. While the professionals rated all six wines higher than the wine club members, there was again no meaningful difference between their

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average ratings of the California wines (6.50) and the New Jersey wines (6.38).

Thus, when region of origin (an indicator of a wine’s prestige) is unknown, neither wine club members nor experienced wine professionals distinguished between these California and New Jersey reds in terms of enjoyment.

What if the prestige cue had been provided prior to tasting? To examine this issue, the study was repeated again with a new group of tasters from the same wine club. In this study, however, the tasters were informed that two of the wines they would be tasting were from New Jersey and four were from California. After tasting the wines, they indicated which two they believed to be from New Jersey and rated their enjoyment of all six wines.

When the enjoyment ratings are averaged across all six wines, the same pattern emerges as before—an overall mean that differs by only one-twentieth of a point (5.19 vs. 5.24) and very similar mean ratings for the California and New Jersey wines for both groups of tasters.

But when the results are broken down by whether the tasters believe they are tasting New Jersey or California wines, striking differences emerge.

Across all wines, when tasters believe the wines are from California the mean rating is 5.75, but when they believe the wines are from New Jersey the mean rating is only 4.22. Considering only the actual California wines, when tasters (correctly) believe they are from California they are rated 5.73, but when tasters (incorrectly) believe they are from New Jersey they are rated 4.29. Likewise, considering only the actual New Jersey wines, when tasters (incorrectly) believe they are from California they are rated 5.79, but when tasters (correctly) believe they are from New Jersey they are rated 4.08. All of these differences are highly

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statistically significant via t-tests.

The studies summarised earlier in this article are not the only ones to examine the influence of price and prestige on enjoyment. The Veale and Quester (2008) study was described earlier. Two other studies involving price are also notable.

Goldstein et al. (2008) report the results of 17 blind tastings involving hundreds of tasters and hundreds of wines from many different countries, regions, and grape varieties. For the 12 percent of tasters who had some wine training or who worked in the wine business, there was a small but statistically significant positive relationship between price and enjoyment, but for the other 88% (described as ‘average wine drinkers’) there was a small but statistically significant negative relationship.

In contrast, Plassmann et al. (2008) served the same wine to tasters twice, explicitly telling them it was expensive ($45 or $90) on one occasion and inexpensive ($5 or $10) on the other.

When the tasters had been told the wine was expensive, they rated it significantly higher than when they had been told it was inexpensive. Thus, a clear pattern emerges from the research on price that has been conducted so far: (1) When wine consumers know (or think they know) a wine’s price, the wine tastes better if the price is high rather than low; (2) but when no price cue is provided, wine consumers do not exhibit a preference for higherpriced wines (and sometimes prefer lower-priced wines).

Others have also studied the relationship between a wine’s prestige and the extent to which consumers enjoy it. Weil (2001) had consumers blind-taste wines from excellent vs. average vintages (according to Robert Parker), and Weil (2005) had consumers blind-taste wines designated as ‘reserve’ vs. ‘regular’

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In general, underdogs have much to gain and little to lose by facilitating opportunities for consumers to learn from direct experience, while top dogs benefit by impeding such learning. bottlings. In both studies, the tasters were able to correctly identify the more prestigious wines (those from excellent vintages and the reserve bottlings) at only slightly better than a chance level. Even when they did correctly identify the more prestigious wines, they preferred them to their less prestigious counterparts only about half the time.

In a particularly clever study, Brochet (2001) served the same wine to tasters twice (an ‘average’ Bordeaux Superior), but first poured the wine into a bottle bearing either a prestigious (Grand Cru) label or an unprestigious (vin de table) label—which was in plain sight during the tastings. The tasters strongly preferred the wine when they saw the Grand Cru label (describing the wine as full, complex, balanced, and long) instead of the vin de table label (describing the wine as light, unbalanced, short, and faulty). This is a vivid illustration of what the famous French oenologist Emile Peynaud has described as ‘label drinkers’ (Peynaud, 1987, 1990). As with the studies of price, a clear pattern emerges from the research on prestige that has been conducted so far: (1) When wine consumers are given a prestige cue, high-prestige wines taste better than low-prestige wines; (2) but when no prestige cue is provided, wine consumers do not exhibit a preference for more prestigious wines.

Implications What do results such as these mean for wine consumers and wine producers? The issue for consumers is whether (and how) they wish to explore wines that are unfamiliar and for which their expectations may be low. Teil (1999) describes two categories of wine consumers—those who seek variety in the range of wines they consume and who enjoy the journey of discovery that variety-seeking entails, and those who “are forever re-experiencing the same small number of products, the slightest gustatory detail of which they know and the optimal tasting conditions of which they master completely.” The challenge for producers of underdog wines is to move consumers from the second category to the first.

Underdog producers must somehow achieve greater awareness and acceptance of their wines vis-à-vis

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those of top dog producers. Research shows, perhaps not surprisingly, that direct experience with underdog products is the best way to overcome the “lethargy and lack of curiosity” (Hoch and Deighton 1989) that characterises many consumers. In general, underdogs have much to gain and little to lose by facilitating opportunities for consumers to learn from direct experience, while top dogs benefit by impeding such learning.

The problem for underdogs is that learning from direct experience can be slow, as it relies on three critical features of the learning setting: familiarity, motivation and ambiguity.

First, even if consumers are motivated to try something unfamiliar, learning from direct experience can be difficult because they do not have well-developed knowledge structures for assimilating what they are learning. Second, while motivation to learn is a necessary condition for learning, it entails the possibility that novice consumers may not know what they don’t know, while more experienced consumers may think they already know all they need to know.

Finally, learning from direct experience can be problematic in ambiguous information environments, e.g., settings in which quality has a large subjective component (as in wines).

In spite of these difficulties, several approaches exist for overcoming consumers’ negative expectations concerning the sensory properties of low-price, low-prestige wines. In a comprehensive analysis of how consumers learn from direct experience, Hoch and Deighton (1989) identify six tactics that can be effective for underdog products: (1) comparative advertising, (2) side-by-side displays or sales promotions, (3) blind taste tests, (4) personal selling, (5) targeting small groups of consumers who are considered opinion leaders to promote word of mouth, and (6) developing alternative distribution channels such as ‘home parties’, where consumers are exposed only to the underdog brand.

In practical terms, these tactics amount to getting consumers to explore underdog products, either in isolation or in a comparative setting with top dog products. The key challenge is to disrupt consumers’ expectations which, of course, is easier to say than to do.

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In the case of wine, such disruption is extremely unlikely to occur in the absence of blind taste tests in which price and prestige are varied widely and systematically. Assuming that underdog wines fare reasonably well in such tests (and evidence suggests they will), the results can be disseminated using some of the other tactics identified by Hoch and Deighton, potentially benefitting consumers and producers alike.

References Ashton, R.H. (2014a) Wine as an experience good: Price versus enjoyment in blind tastings of expensive and inexpensive wines. Journal of Wine Economics 9:71-182.

Ashton, R.H. (2014b) Nothing good ever came from New Jersey: Expectations and the sensory perception of wines. Journal of Wine Economics 9:304-319.

Brochet, F. (2001) Chemical object representation in the field of consciousness (application presented for the Grand Prix of the Académie Amorim following work carried out towards a doctorate from the Faculty of Oenology, University of Bordeaux).

Cardello, A.V. (1994) Consumer expectations and their role in food acceptance. In H.J.H. MacFie and D.M.H. Thomson (Eds), Measurement of Food Preferences, Glasgow: Blackie Academic and Professional.

Deliza, R. and MacFie, H.J.H. (1996) The generation of sensory expectation by external cues and its effect on sensory perception and hedonic ratings: A review. Journal of Sensory Studies 11:103128.

Dodds, W.B.; Monroe, K.B. and Grewal, D. (1991) Effects of price, brand, and store information on buyers’ product evaluations. Journal of Marketing Research 28:307-319.

Goldstein, R.; Almenberg, J.; Dreber, A.; Emerson, J.W.; Herschkowitsch, A. and Katz, J. (2008) Do more expensive wines taste better?

Evidence from a large sample of blind tastings.

Journal of Wine Economics 3:1-9.

Hoch, S.J. and Deighton, D. (1989) Managing what consumers learn from experience. Journal of Marketing 53:1-20.

Hurling, R. and Shepherd, R. (2003) Eating with your eyes: Effect of appearance on expectations of liking. Appetite 41:167-174.

Lee, M. and Lou, Y-C. (1992) Consumer reliance on intrinsic and extrinsic cues in product evaluations: A conjoint approach. Journal of Applied Business Research 12:21-29.

Peynaud, E. (1987) The Taste of Wine: The Art and Science of Wine Appreciation. Translated by M. Schuster. San Francisco: Wine Appreciation Guild.

Plassmann, 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 105:1050-1054.

Teil, G. (1999) The wine criticism: Between the analysis of the greatness of wines and setting up the pleasure of drinking. Journal International des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin (special issue on wine-tasting) 141-146.

Veale, R. and Quester, P. (2008) Consumer sensory evaluations of wine quality: The respective influence of price and country of origin. Journal of Wine Economics 3:10-29.

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

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

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CHINA

business & marketing

What every wine brand needs to know about on-premise in China

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

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n-premise channels generate approximately A$37 billion in China (Euromonitor International 2014). On-premise is more accessible for many wineries than traditional retail formats, which require larger volumes and more complicated distribution agreements. In addition, on-premise is often the initial route-to-market for most small and medium-sized Australian wine brands. Acquiring an understanding of the who, what, when, where, why, and how of this lucrative channel can provide Australian producers with a competitive edge.

This article presents key insights from the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) funded China Wine Barometer (Wave 3) collected in March/ April 2014. The sample (n=1012) is sociodemographically representative in terms of age, gender and income of the uppermiddle class urban population aged 18-49 living in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Chongqing who drink imported wine at least twice a year.

Who buys wine on-premise The vast majority (98%+) of people in the socioeconomic demographic of our study buy wine on-premise. They are mostly 30-39 years old (45%) males (67%) with an income of more than RMB10,000 (approximately A$1800) per month (52%), have an academic degree and are English speaking (80%) and reside in Shanghai (37%), Chengdu (12%), Beijing (11%) and Guangzhou (11%).

What wines are bought on-premise?

We asked respondents to recall their last two bottles of wine purchased onpremise to give us an idea of what these consumers are actually buying. The data show that French and Chinese wines are the most purchased countries with a penetration (frequency among our sample of actual purchases) of 46% and 32%, respectively, and a repeat purchase rate of 29% and 32%. The repeat purchase rate indicates the probability that a wine from the same country will be purchased on the second purchase. Australia occupies the third position with a 6% penetration,

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but it secures a higher than expected repurchase rate (15%), suggesting a good level of satisfaction by its drinkers.

However, only 6% of our sample purchased Australian wine on-premise.

Ningxia and Bordeaux are the most purchased (27% and 26%, respectively) and repurchased (24% and 19%) wine regions, with Burgundy in third place with a penetration of 9% and a repurchase rate of 5%. Chinese consumers struggle to remember any other region, with the majority of Australian wine areas, such as Hunter Valley, Barossa Valley, Margaret River, McLaren Vale and Yarra Valley, showing penetration values between 0.4% and 2%.

Cabernet Sauvignon is the undisputed grape variety leader (37% penetration and 32% re-purchase rate), but Merlot (11%) and Cabernet Franc (9%) show higher than expected re-purchase rates, a factor which could be attributed to the ‘Bordeaux blend’ phenomenon. Hardly any consumers remember choosing Shiraz, while Sauvignon Blanc (6%), Chardonnay (4%) and Riesling (4%) are the three most recalled white grape varieties.

The most typical prices range between RMB150 (A$30) to RMB700 (A$130).

However, consumers tend to stick to the same price range within each tier of approximately RMB150 each, suggesting a structure of the market where most

consumers buy similarly priced wines for most on-premise purchases.

When are wines bought on-premise?

The frequency of wine consumption is the highest (weekly or more often) at restaurants on average with slightly less regular consumption (one to three times per month) occurring at the other locations for almost half of wine drinkers.

Where are on-premise wines bought?

Restaurants are dominant (26%) followed by bistro/café (17%), pub/bar (15%), street food (13%) and karaoke (13%). At a friend’s house (16%) was included to illustrate that Chinese do entertain at home (see Figure 1).

Why are wines bought on-premise?

Wine is consumed for a number of occasions. High-priced wines (RMB 700+) are most likely to be purchased for business occasions, whilst low-priced wine (RMB <250) are dominant for informal occasions (see Figure 2, see page 68).

How are wines chosen on-premise?

Having tried a wine previously is the most important choice driver, followed by food-matching and recommendation by a dining companion. Standard cues like region and grape variety are not as valued

Figure 1. Where wines are bought on-premise – by venue.

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Figure 2. Why are wines bought on-premise? as one might anticipate. Recommendations by the restaurant play a minimal role in wine choice, suggesting that service providers must gain the trust of their customers and raise their level of wine knowledge to have an impact. Wines are mostly chosen individually, but one-third of all wine choices are made by a group.

In conclusion, our results confirm that wine is consumed

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in restaurants for business occasions at high-price points.

However, our data also show the existence of other important venues where wines are consumed for informal occasions: pubs, bars, bistros, cafes, and friend’s houses. As we have previously indicated (Wine & Viticulture Journal, 29(4):6667) regular wine consumption is growing across a variety of occasions, so, whilst nurturing the relationship with restaurants, importers and distributors should not forget to pitch their products to the other up-and-coming venues.

In terms of products, it is important to have a Cabernet Sauvignon in a winery’s portfolio. Promotional activities should be conducted to increase the awareness of other key Australian grape varieties, such as Shiraz and Pinot Noir as well as Australian wine regions. This includes simple things like highlighting the region and variety on wine lists and menus, tasting for consumers, and on-premise promotions.

Increasing mental availability will lead to sub-category growth.

Australia has a good reputation in China and these activities can build on that. Producers should not ignore white grape varieties in the Chinese market. The current sales of these varieties are not high, but consumers’ awareness is growing.

As wine knowledge and experience evolve in China, there will be growth in consumption of these grape varieties too.

Price-wise, there is certainly a space for very high-end wines (RMB700+), but the reassuring news for Australian producers is that ‘being expensive’ in not a key choice driver.

The majority of wines are purchased on-premise between A$30-130. This is certainly a very wide range, but also a range where Australian producers have the wines to make an impact.

Finally, wine is an experiential product, and China is no exception to this rule. Wait staff and the use of electronic devices, such as smartphones, seem to have very little influence on choices, as wines need to be tasted to be remembered and comfortably chosen by consumers. Together with this, the quest for food-wine matching should continue, and should focus not just on pairings with Western cuisine, but also try to meet with local culinary tradition.

For more information, download the China Wine Barometer reports from the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) website at http://research.agwa.net.au/resource_categories/ WVJ consumers

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WINE CONSUMPTION

business& &marketing marketing business

The age old problem of maturing wine consumers

By Mark Rowley, Industry Analyst, Wine Australia

D

emographics slowly but surely change the consumption habits of a nation. An ageing economy will demand less jet skis and more gophers. But where does wine fit? Will more or less wine be consumed, and which brands are more likely to appeal to an older marketplace? Not wanting to stereotype my older readers, I would hazard to guess Kaisler’s ‘Old Bastard’ label would be more appealing than Some Young Punk’s ‘Naked on Roller Skates’, although I could be wrong!

As I’m not a marketer, the question of demographics will be examined, leaving readers to ponder the other points with their marketing managers.

According to Euromonitor, in the decade to 2013, global wine consumption increased by 11% to 23.9 billion litres.

Meanwhile, due to the effects of population growth, per capita wine consumption grew at a slower rate, up 2% to 4.05 per litre (of course, with a huge variation depending on geographic location). The top 12 markets in 2013 accounted for nearly three-quarters of global wine sales. Therefore, the trends in these markets have the biggest effect on the supply-demand equation. Unfortunately for the wine industry, five of these major markets have been in decline over the past decade – France, Italy, Argentina, Germany and Spain. Considering that these five countries account for roughly two-thirds of total wine production, it is no surprise that Australian wineries have faced stiffer competition in the international wine marketplace in recent years.

Figure 1. Some Young Punks ‘Naked on Roller Skates’ and Kaisler’s ‘Old Bastard’ – presumably older drinkers would find the latter more appealing than the former.

As Figure 2 illustrates, the ascent of China’s middle class and North America’s shifting preference towards wine has offset the declines in the traditional markets.

There is much conjecture about the growth in these two markets and whether the alcohol drinks preferences will continue to

Figure 2. Total wine sales by country. Source: Euromonitor

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shift towards wine, but what could be of greater consequence is whether the declines in other major markets will stabilise.

In all five markets where wine sales declined, a declining per capita consumption rate has been the driver of lower wine sales. Spain is an exception because the country also recorded a small decline in population over the decade, whereas all other countries recorded an increasing population. Of course, there are a host of reasons why consumption has declined in these countries. Some countries have had large increases in alcohol taxes in response to pressure from health lobbies and weak fiscal positions.

In some cases preferences have simply switched with younger generations not wanting to consume in the same manner as their parents. Immigration has also impacted on consumption patterns.

However, there is no denying that an ageing population has a strong impact on consumption.

Figure 3 illustrates the Australian path of wine consumption through the age groups compared with consumption for all alcohol beverages (note: the data is from 2007). Although total alcohol consumption is highest from the ages of 18 to 24, it is steady for the next 30 to 40 years before declining rapidly in retirement. Meanwhile, wine consumption begins at a low rate and then peaks around the time of retirement before declining. Assuming a similar pattern of wine consumption has occurred in Europe, this has huge implications for

Figure 3. Australian per capita wine consumption by age.

Source: AGWA modelling, Roy Morgan

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Figure 4. Dashboard - age distribution and per capita wine consumption. Source: Euromonitor, UN

consumption in countries with ageing populations where higher consuming people have begun to drink less wine.

Throughout history, populations have exhibited a pyramidshaped distribution. Short life spans and high infant mortality led to low proportions of the elderly and high proportions of children.

However, the combined effect of the ‘baby boom’ and advances in medical science has led to developed nations exhibiting a distinct diamond-shaped distribution. Figure 4 illustrates that Japan, Germany, Spain and Italy have the most distinct diamond pattern, while Canada, USA, Australia, France and UK also exhibit the diamond shape, but with relatively higher populations of youths.

China’s population is dictated by policy, primarily the ‘one child policy’.

Assuming that younger people will follow the path towards higher consumption and retirement will bring lower wine consumption, Figure 4 shows some key areas of concern. I will highlight some of the more prominent of those:

INCREASING

• There is a bulge of Germans from 40 to 60 years that are most likely in their ‘sweet spot’ for wine consumption. There will be less people moving into that age range over the next decade and, furthermore, this larger group may follow their elders and drink less wine.

• The Spanish ‘population bulge’ is at a younger age bracket, lending to the theory that demographics hasn’t been the leading cause of lower wine consumption. The ageing of this group may be the reason Euromonitor has predicted that per capita consumption will stabilise over the following five years.

• Canada also has a large cohort of 50 to 60 year olds which has the potential to curb the increase in wine consumption recorded over the past decade.

• Who is drinking the wine in China? The rise in grape wine popularity is likely to more than offset any negative effect that demographics may cause. However, China’s ageing population is a concern to economists and the ageing population may impact upon incomes as more and more Chinese retire.

NEUTRAL

• Australia and USA both have larger proportions of youths.

Immigration has played a major role in this and this should be something to consider as traditional wine drinkers will become a smaller percentage of the population. Ethnicity definitely has a role in wine consumption and also the type of wine those consumers enjoy.

DECLINING

Without more detailed consumption data by age, it is hard to calculate future outcomes. However, Figure 4 puts in perspective that wine consumption continues to shift not just towards Asia and North America, but also within the age brackets within countries. If a brand’s wine sales begin to decline, it may not be because its customers have moved to another brand or beverage, it may be because they no longer drink alcohol.

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business & marketing

All that sparkles Consumer perceptions of sparkling wine

By Naomi R. Verdonk, Julie A. Culbert and Kerry L. Wilkinson*, The University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond, South Australia. *Email: kerry.wilkinson@adelaide.edu.au

With summer upon us and a celebratory bottle of bubbly or two popped during the recent festive season, sparkling wine sales are peaking - but what exactly are we drinking?

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ince the early 2000s, global trade in sparkling wine has steadily grown. In 2011, 617 million litres of sparkling wine worth US$5.4 billion, was sold worldwide (Wine Australia 2012).

Sparkling wine represents a small but significant proportion of the Australian wine industry’s total production (approximately 10%, 37 million litres in 2012) and, importantly, a market sector for which there is growing consumer interest. However, in recent years, the industry has experienced a downturn in sparkling wine sales, attributed to increased international competition and unfavourable exchange rates (Wine Australia 2012).

Our domestic sparkling wine market is quite diverse and comprises Moscato and white, rosé and red sparkling wine

12%

styles, as mono-varietals and blends, at various price points; as well as imported sparkling wines, including Champagne from France. Recent growth in domestic sparkling wine sales has largely been driven by Champagne and Moscato (Table 1). Indeed, Australia remains a significant importer of Champagne with sales increasing from 8% in 2005 (worth A$34 million) to 19% in 2012 (worth A$102 million) (AC Nielsen). Although Australian winemakers now produce sparkling wines which rival those from Champagne houses in France, the tradition, heritage and prestige associated with the Champagne brand infer superior product quality and reliability and, therefore, represents less purchase risk to consumers (Charters 2009). Sparkling white, red and rosé wine sales slowly

14% Champagne

9%

Sparkling white wine Prosecco Moscato

18%

Sparkling rosé wine

42%

Sparkling red wine

5%

Figure 1. Australian sparkling wine consumers’ (n = 1030) consumption of different sparkling wine styles.

Table 1. Distribution of sparkling wine sales in Australia for different wine styles based on percentage of overall sales values of A$444 million in 2005 and A$545 million in 2012 (AC Nielsen). % share of sales (by value)

Wine Style

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2005

2012

Champagne

8

19

Sparkling white wine

64

54

Sparkling rosé wine

9

7

Sparkling red wine

4

3

Moscato

0

8

Other

15

9

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declined between 2005 and 2015.

These results are similar to findings from a recent consumer survey which investigated regular sparkling wine consumers’ preferences for different sparkling wine styles (Figure 1). Sparkling white wine accounted for the lion’s share (i.e., 42%) of the 1030 participants’ total sparkling wine consumption, followed

by Moscato (18%) and then Champagne (14%). Sparkling red (12%), rosé (9%) and Prosecco (5%) were consumed less frequently.

The same consumers were asked to indicate their overall liking of each sparkling wine style using a ninepoint scale, where 1 = strongly dislike, 5 = neither like nor dislike, and 9 = strongly like. Sparkling white wine and Champagne were liked the most, but all styles were rated favourably (Figure 2, see page 72). Since it is quite likely that consumer demographics, particularly age and gender, will influence sparkling wine preferences, additional statistical analysis of consumer data is being performed, including segmentation and cluster analysis.

Irrespective of demographic characteristics, consumers were expected to have considerably different perceptions (and preconceptions) of the various sparkling wine styles available on the domestic market. To explore these perceptions, consumers were asked to list the words they associated with Champagne, sparkling white wine and Moscato – and the vocabulary used for each differed considerably (Figure 3, see page 72). The descriptors given primarily related to quality (e.g. expensive, luxury, special, premium, value), occasion (e.g. celebrations, weddings, party, summer) and sensory attributes (e.g. bubbly/ bubbles, elegant, fresh, dry, fruity, sweet, light). In the case of Champagne, ‘expensive’, ‘celebration’, ‘French’, ‘quality’ and ‘bubbly/bubbles’ were the most frequently used terms; whereas sparkling white wine was described as ‘bubbly’, ‘refreshing’ and ‘fresh’, and a significant proportion of consumers described Moscato as ‘sweet’. It was also suggested that Moscato might be a ‘girly’ or ‘ladies’ style of sparkling wine.  www.winebiz. com . au

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Prosecco

5.33

Sparkling red wine

5.68

Sparkling rosĂŠ wine

5.99

Moscato

5.95

Champagne

6.75

Sparkling white wine

7.33 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Figure 2. Average liking scores (n = 1030) for different sparkling wine styles.

Estimated Price Per Bottle

$70 Label

$60

Tasting

$50 $40 $30 $20 $10 $0 $12

$40 French

$70

$12

$40

$70

Australian

Figure 4. Consumer perceptions of wine price per bottle, based on the front label and blind tasting.

During a preliminary study examining consumer preferences for Australian sparkling wine versus Champagne, consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; age and gender, together with label design, the country of origin, occasion, price and taste were all found to influence sparkling wine purchasing decisions. Discussions held during a series of focus groups suggested younger women preferred sweeter styles of sparkling wine, whereas men (of all ages) preferred sparkling red wine. However, participants of all ages, and irrespective of gender, agreed that their sparkling wine choices were highly dependent on the situational context; with Australian sparkling wines being consumed more frequently at casual situations and Champagne preferred when celebrating special occasions.

Country of origin strongly influences consumer perceptions of quality and, therefore, price (Veale and Quester 2006).

When regular sparkling wine consumers (n=95, 36% male and 64% female) were asked to estimate the price per bottle of a range of sparkling wines, two French Champagnes ($70 and $40 per bottle), a

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French sparkling wine ($12 per bottle), and three Australian sparkling wines ($70, $40 and $12 per bottle), the French wines were considered to be more expensive than the Australian wines (Figure 4).

However, when consumers blind tasted the same wines, they could not determine wine price, with all wines estimated to be between $21 and $30 per bottle. Brand recognition also played an important role.

Most consumers recognised both the $70 French Champagne brand (n=48, 51%) and the $12 Australian sparkling wine brand (n=78, 82%), which likely explains why (label-based) price estimates for these wines more closely reflected retail prices. This also demonstrates the extent to which extrinsic cues influence consumer perceptions of quality.

Of the six sparkling wines tasted, the $12 Australian sparkling wine was liked the most, while the $70 French Champagne was liked least. This probably reflects compositional and, therefore, sensory differences between the wines; i.e., the $12 Australian sparkling wine was fruit-driven with softer acid, whereas the $70 Champagne was more complex

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Figure 3. Word clouds generated for Champagne, sparkling white wine and Moscato. and quite acidic. Interestingly, differences were not observed between male and female participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; wine preferences.

Finally, to investigate the purchasing behaviour of sparkling wine consumers, an observational study was conducted in 10 liquor stores across metropolitan Adelaide. The age (i.e., under or over 35 years) and gender of consumers (n=300) who purchased sparkling wine were recorded, together with the time taken to make a selection, whether wine selections were pre-determined, whether chilled sparkling wines were purchased, whether staff were asked for advice, whether wine back labels were inspected, and whether other beverages were also purchased. These observations resulted in the selection of 800 bottles of 380 different sparkling wines (due to multiple purchases of the same wine) of which 285 (75%) were Australian sparkling wines and 73 (19%) were French Champagne.

The percentage breakdown of age, gender and purchasing behaviour are shown in Figure 5.

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quality. This project is being undertaken collaboratively by Associate Professor Kerry Wilkinson, Dr Julie Culbert, Dr Renata Ristic and Dr Daniel Cozzolino, from the University of Adelaide; Associate Professor John Wilkinson and Dr Karma Pearce, from the University of South Australia; and Professor Anthony Saliba and Dr Leigh Schmidtke, from Charles Sturt University. The study involves characterising the array of Australian sparkling wine styles to gain insight into consumer preferences for these styles and their sensory properties. It is hoped that improved knowledge of consumer preferences will identify production and/or marketing strategies that enable industry to capture a greater proportion of both existing and emerging sparkling wine markets for financial benefit.

90 80 70 Percentage (%)

business varie t a&lmarketing rep o r t

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Figure 5. Demographics and purchasing behaviours of sparkling wine consumers (n = 300).

The majority of consumers purchased either one (55%) or two (21%) bottles of sparkling wine, and most (61%) took less than a minute to make their selection.

Demographics of the ‘average’ sparkling wine consumer were somewhat biased towards females over 35 years of age, who didn’t seek advice from staff or

read the wine label, but instead made a predetermined choice, taking less than one minute to make their selection.

The research described in this article forms part of a larger study funded by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority, which aims to identify objective measures of Australian sparkling wine style and

References AC Nielsen (2013) Australian sparkling wine sales data.

Charters, S. (2009) An ambivalent luxury: Images of Champagne in the Australian market, paper presented at Beccus Wine Conference: Fourth Interdisciplinary and International Wine Conference, Dijon, France, 7-9 July.

Veale, R. and Quester, P. (2009) Do consumer expectations match experience? Predicting the influence of price and country of origin on perceptions of product quality. International Business Review 18:134-144.

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Raising the roof with Roussanne There were four stand-out wines in our recent blind tasting of Australian Roussanne and Roussannedominant blends (see results page 78), according to our judging panel, and we asked the producers behind them to tell the story of their creation.

Sarah Gough, Owner/Manager Box Grove Vineyard Goulburn Valley, Victoria Wine: Box Grove 2011 Roussanne (RRP$28.00/bottle) (100% Roussanne)

Owner and manager of Box Grove Vineyard in Victoria's Goulburn Valley, Sarah Gough.

VITICULTURE The Roussanne grapes used to make this wine are estate grown. Box Grove Vineyard is located in the parish of Tabilk, in the Nagambie Lakes sub-region of the Goulburn Valley in central Victoria, 110 kilometres north of Melbourne.

Rhone varietals have been grown in this region, in amongst the tall river red gums, for more than 100 years. Roussanne has been in the area for 20 years. Our 2.5 hectares of Roussanne were planted in 1996. The scion material was taken from the St Huberts vineyard and grafted onto phylloxera-resistant rootstock at the then Chalmers Nursery, at Euston.

During the drought, as an experiment, a small portion was grafted onto the drought-resistant Paulsen rootstock. It is amazing to see the two blocks side by side on the same soil with the same watering regime and, yet, with such dramatically different canopies and bunch sizes and flavour.

At first this posed a considerable conundrum, gauging ripeness across the block. But once I began growing for my own label I could pick them separately and use their fruit for completely different products.

The larger bunches of shaded fruit from the heavier canopy on the drought-resistant rootstock have a steely acid backbone and delicate fruit flavours of pear. They have emerged to be perfect for use in verjus (crushed, filtered and bottled unripe grape juice), which I sell to leading restaurants in Melbourne), and the sparkling Roussanne, which I make from methode champenoise (I am currently selling the 2010 vintage which has spent four years in bottle). This is served by the glass at some of Melbourne’s better restaurants.

The smaller bunches from the lighter canopy are shaded through canopy management techniques but do get filtered light which turns them an attractive russet colour as they ripen.

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These are used for the dry table wine, like the 2011 Roussanne.

Like many vineyards in the area we have a mixture of deep red soils (where our red varieties are planted) and banks of granitic soils over ancient river gravel. Our white varieties are planted on the banks of granitic soil. They develop a distinctive minerality and complexity, characters we feel can be attributed to the soil they are planted on as much as the simple and traditional techniques used in the vineyard and winemaking.

The vineyard can be frost prone. We suffered a very severe frost in early spring 2006 and another one late in October 2013 which dramatically affected the sizes of our 2007 and 2014 vintages. As Roussanne is usually one of our last varieties to go through budburst, in most years it escapes the nips from the early frosts that worry the Italian varieties – Prosecco and Vermentino.

Tabilk usually enjoys warm, dry summers, cold wet winters, gentle springs and long, lingering ripening conditions over autumn.

The Roussanne vines were planted at a conventional planting rate of around 750 vines per acre, 1.8 metres apart. The scion material has its origins in four buds brought to Australia in the 1970s by Guille du Pury, of Yeringberg fame. He was encouraged to plant Roussanne by the late, great Rhone winemaker Gerard Jaboulet. He met Guille at a dinner in Melbourne and told him he could not imagine a vineyard planted to Shiraz and Marsanne alone. He said that Guille would need the perfume and elegance of Roussanne in his white wine as well.

Those four buds were cultivated by the CSIRO and cuttings were planted at Yeringberg, and later taken by St Huberts, Yering Station, Mitchelton, Tahbilk, Giaconda and Box Grove. No doubt others have taken some since then.

The vines were originally trained to VSP. The variety’s natural growth habit is erect, so it responds well to such trellising.

Box Grove Vineyards grows two blocks of Roussanne – one grafted to phylloxera-resistant rootstock and a small portion grafted to the drought-resistant Paulsen rootstock.

Although the two blocks are side by side on the same soil and are subjected to the same watering regime, both have dramatically different canopies, bunch sizes and flavour.

The larger bunches from the Paulsen rootstock have proven to be perfect for use in verjus and for making sparkling Roussanne, while the smaller bunches from the phylloxeraresistant rootstock are used to make the table wine.

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During the hot, dry years of 2007, 2008 and 2009 we found it beneficial to encourage some canes to droop to partially shade the fruit and protect it from the heat of the sun. It was particularly critical on the western side of the rows which took the full force of the hot afternoon sun in those years. With shading, the grapes ripened in cooler conditions and suffered less sunburn.

Pruning techniques over subsequent winters encouraged these laterals to grow out from the cordon at right angles and droop naturally. We developed a sort of ballerina trellis for the variety which was fantastic until the cool wet year of 2011 when we had to radically rethink our canopy management and lift the canes to allow good airflow and prevent mildew build up in the humidity. It also allowed whatever sun we could get onto the fruit.

I don’t think we even turned an irrigation pump on in 2011, so wet were the spring and summer. Roussanne just loves a drink and it soaks any rain or watering straight up in to the fruit.

Watering has to be judicious at the best of times.

In the cool, wet summer of 2011 the vines kept drinking up the rain and the crop grew bigger and bigger.

The sun was weak and it was becoming apparent that I may not ever get the heavy crop ripe. That was when I decided to strip fruit off, and rather than throw it on the ground I made my first verjus from the first green fruit harvested (6.0 Baume).

I also made a second pass through the vines and picked again at 10.5 Baume and made a substantial parcel of sparkling wine, again to lighten the load on the vines. The slow ripening and lean acid backbone in the grapes were perfect for the style.

All this enabled me to inch the fruit left on the vine toward the ripeness I wanted for a table wine. It was less rich and viscous as previous years. But it clearly had depth and perfume and texture.

We regularly mulch the vineyard and every winter spread a natural humus mix from Hybrid Ag, particularly on one poorer patch with clay soil. I make my own compost and we spread this in the parts with poorer soil as well.

The vineyard is pre-pruned late in winter and just before budburst we prune, hoping to delay budburst just a little longer beyond the dangerous frost period. The amount of two-bud spurs left per cane depends entirely on each vine. Those that are thriving are allowed four two-bud spurs per arm, while the vines on the poorer soils are limited to three two-bud spurs per arm.

WINEMAKING Roussanne is usually one of the last varieties to ripen in our vineyard, well after the Shiraz and often after the Cabernet.

As with Viognier, Roussanne develops its signature flavours of sweet ripe pear and minerality just as it is ready to pick. We pick it immediately or it can get very ripe and the alcohol too rich.

It would not be hard to achieve an alcohol of well over 14% in Roussanne in our area.

In 2011, however, the variety inched slowly toward ripeness.

I picked five tonnes for table wine and then wondered what I could do with the rest of the fruit. As we had made such little wine I decided to have a play. We did a small parcel as an ‘orange’ ferment to see what flavours we could produce in Roussanne using such a process.

To make an ‘orange’ wine you ferment the white grapes on skins (in an open grape bin) just as you would a simple red wine. As the ferment continues the colour turns orange (which would normally make you very nervous!); wonderful wild, funky flavours emerge, and the palate becomes even more textural.

The wine is made at Fowles winery and some of the cellar hands gazed in horror as the ferment continued; a small portion

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of this wine was used in the final 2011 blend. A small bit of that wine goes a long way!

The rest was picked a week or so earlier and crushed and fermented on wild yeast. It was fermented warm, some in very old barrels, more for complexity than to gain oak characters.

The wine was then racked off gross lees and left on fine lees in tank for close to a year. The lees were stirred occasionally.

We have found that this practice really builds the texture of our Roussanne. We use this technique every year. We have not made an ‘orange’ wine from Roussanne in any subsequent years.

I love the complex textural flavours of Roussanne. Using the simple techniques of picking at the right ripeness, a wild ferment and resting on lees for the best part of a year with occasional stirring, we can coax these flavours out further.

MARKETING Roussanne is, sadly, very much a niche variety. It has passionate followers but it is not featured on many wine lists. I find this disappointing as it is a very versatile accompaniment to a wide range of foods – I have sold it to Thai restaurants, Italian style wine bars, and restaurants serving traditional French cuisine and it makes a beautiful partner to all those styles of foods. It is also sold through small specialist retailers, many of whom love it, and to a devoted group on my mailing list.

Those that love it adore its long lingering flavours, which it leaves long after the last drop has been drunk. Interestingly, I have also found it very saleable in China, perhaps because of its perfume and textural qualities; for those new to wine it has the mouthfilling flavour of a red wine, yet as a white it appeals to women. As very little white wine is chilled in China, even in summer, its perfume and texture are allowed to sing uninhibited (Roussanne can be chilled too much and becomes shy on the nose and palate if it is served too cold; I like to serve it at cellar temperature).

I have just had a special six-pack lay-flat gift box made and sell my Rhone varietals in this. I encourage my mailing list to mix and match their pack – three Shiraz Roussanne (my Shiraz has 3% Roussanne in it, produced through a co-ferment) and three Roussanne, or three different vintages of the Roussanne or two vintages of Roussanne and two bottles of the Shiraz Roussanne - that way they can explore the variety and the different flavours and characters different vintages produce.

It can also hold the 500ml bottle of Late Harvest Viognier and Roussanne I made in 2013 and a bottle of the sparkling Roussanne.

Michael & Susan Papps, Owners/Winemakers Yelland & Papps Barossa Valley, South Australia Wine: Yelland & Papps 2013 Devote Roussanne (RRP$35.00/bottle) (100% Roussanne) Viticulture The fruit for our 2013 Devote Roussanne comes from a single grower (David Materne) at Greenock, in the north-west corner of the Barossa Valley. The vines were planted in 2002 on their own roots (clone unknown) in an east-west direction at an altitude of approximately 270m. Rows are 3.6 metres apart and vines 2.1m apart. The soils in the vineyard consist of a shallow (about 30cm) bed of sandy loam on top of a medium clay.

The vineyard is hand pruned to 14 buds per vine and is trellised to a single wire with a catch wire. Crop levels are aimed at 2.5-3 tonnes per acre.

We find Roussanne is very susceptible to sunburn, so David has implemented an early watering strategy to establish a

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for six to eight months to achieve a creamy texture. The wine spends a total of eight to 10 months in barrel before racking, stabilising and filtering to bottle.

Marketing

Susan and Michael Papps, owners and winemakers for Yelland & Papps based in South Australia’s Barossa Valley.

At Yelland & Papps we are a big fan of Roussanne; we think it is a beautiful varietal.

This wine sits in our Devote range, and is a traditionally made, single vineyard wine. In contrast, our Second Take Roussanne is basically unfiltered, with a lot more lees stirring; a very textured and cloudy wine.

Our Roussanne is mainly sold through our tasting room and mail order, but can also be found in restaurants and small independent liquor stores. People are still getting their head around Roussanne, and we see a huge difference in the exposure of this variety compared with when we first started making it. Here at Yelland & Papps we have Roussanne t-shirts and encourage the use of a Roussanne hashtag in social media, all in the name of getting this wonderful varietal out there and in the mouths of the people.

Peter Fraser, Winemaker Yangarra Estate Vineyard McLaren Vale, South Australia Wine: Yangarra Estate 2008 Roussanne (RRP$32.00/bottle) (100% Roussanne)

The distinctive ‘russet’ colour of Roussanne is evident in this batch of grapes harvested for Yelland & Papps. full canopy to avoid this happening. Watering after this is very weather dependant and generally may consist of six six-hour waterings throughout the growing season. David utilises drip irrigation which draws water from the Barossa Infrastructure Limited system.

Winemaking The grapes are hand-picked towards the end of February or start of March depending on the season. We aim for a Baume level of between 11.7-12.7 and a pH between 3.2-3.4.

When these numbers are close to being achieved we constantly taste the fruit and wait for a balance of fruit, sugar and acid to be reached. We also try to avoid the bitterness that comes with Roussanne and its thick skins.

Once picked, the fruit sits in the cool room overnight to drop temperature as low as possible prior to destemming and crushing. Being a boutique producer we do not have a bag press, so all fruit is put through a basket press. We generally press as quickly as possible to avoid oxidation, but still try and press as gently as possible to avoid phenolics. The juice is then settled in tank overnight prior to racking with some fluffly lees and then transferred to 100% French oak, of which 10% is new. The juice is left to start fermenting naturally without the addition of any commercial yeast. Once primary ferment has finished (normally about 20 days), depending on flavours the wine is either left to naturally go through partial malolactic fermentation or sulfured. The wine is then stirred fortnightly

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Winemaker for Yangarra Estate in McLaren Vale, Peter Fraser.

VITICULTURE The grapes are sourced from a two-acre plot on our estate at Kangarilla, in McLaren Vale. The site has a north-east aspect, and is approximately 150m above sea level. The overlying soil is sandy with washed ironstone pebbles, under which is a clay layer at about 90cm. The Blewitt Springs/Kangarilla area is one of the cooler sub-districts of McLaren Vale. The site is relatively protected from wind and frost.

The Roussanne vines were grafted in 2004 onto Cabernet Sauvignon vines that were first planted in 1999. They are trellised to a single cordon at 900mm, with two-wire vertical shoot positioning. We prune to approximately 28 buds per vine, and then shoot thin in November to only two shoots per spur. We leaf pluck the south-east side of the canopy in mid-December.

Irrigation is managed accordingly to growing tips and rainfall, but basically just keep the vines happy without creating too much vigour.

The estate is certified biodynamic. During the winter months the undervine is managed by cattle or sheep, with only

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undervine mowing carried out during the growing season.

We distribute mature compost (we do not band undervine) as required, and include fish and seaweed emulsions in foliar spray applications. We also apply 500 and 501 once to twice a year depending on the season.

Roussanne has quite slow sugar accumulation, and tends to be generally a later ripening variety. We find yields average between 2-2.5 tonnes per acre. We find it is important to get even sunlight into the bunches until we see quite even ‘russet’ colouring throughout. We generally pick at around 12-12.5 Baume depending on the season and flavour development.

WINEMAKING We hand-pick the Roussanne into half-tonne bins. In most years we simply whole bunch press in a basket press. In extreme vintages we may destem and remove either raisined (hot year) or squishy berries that maybe caused by botrytis (wet/cold year) using our mechanical sorting table. No PMS or SO2 is added. We generally do not acid adjust. No other additives are made.

About a third of the juice is transferred to old oak barrels for fermentation, with a third destemmed and put into 675L ceramic eggs to ferment on skins where it remains for between 90 and 120 days. No sulfur is added until coming off skins.

Malolactic fermentation is not encouraged, but without SO2 it may happen. We sulfur the wines not on skins on completion of fermentation. The wine stays on lees for five to six months, some stirring of the lees.

We usually bottle in September; the wine is not fined but it is filtered.

MARKETING This wine is predominantly sold on-premise at very wine savvy outlets run by passionate wine staff who like to hand sell emerging and more unknown varieties to their customers.

The smaller, high quality independent retailers are also strong supporters. We have developed a loyal following by direct customers that love the richness, savoury and textural properties of this wonderful unique variety.

Leigh Gilligan, General Manager Gilligan McLaren Vale, South Australia Wine: Gilligan 2013 Roussanne Marsanne (RRP$25.00/bottle) (70% Roussanne/30% Marsanne) VITICULTURE Our 2013 Roussanne Marsanne was made from single-vineyard fruit grown on The Wetlands Vineyard, located on California Road in McLaren Vale and owned by Sami and Robyn Gilligan, Alison MacDonald and Mark Vincent. There are 0.42 hectares each of Roussanne and Marsanne planted in this vineyard on clay-loam soils. The Wetlands Vineyard borders the California Road wetlands and is approximately 25 metres above sea level and 10 kilometrres from the Gulf of St Vincent. The vines are planted in east-west rows with a northerly aspect. The climate experienced in the vineyard is Mediterranean with warm summers and mild rainfall-dominant winters. Temperatures from October to April can range from the low-mid teens to over 40°C. The Roussanne and Marsanne were planted on own roots in 2007. The Roussanne clone is SAVII 1 while the Marsanne clone is ‘McLaren Vale’. The vines are trained on a single cordon trellis, with a two-wire fixed offset. Row spacing is 3m and vine

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Father and son Leigh and Sami Gilligan – partners in Gilligan and The Wetlands Vineyard, at McLaren Vale, which provided the fruit for the 2013 Gilligan Roussanne Marsanne. spacing 1.5m. The crop is shoot thinned and then bunch thinned if necessary.

As McLaren Vale can be quite warm and sunny and both Roussanne and Marsanne are susceptible to sunburn it is important to maintain good leaf cover.

Permanent swards (mainly fescue) between the vines are mowed with the cuttings thrown under vine for mulch. One compost application is carried out per year at the rate of 8m3 per hectare.

Vines are hand-pruned to two-bud spurs giving approximately 25-30 buds per vine.

The fruit is hand harvested.

Minimal spraying is performed but lightbrown apple moth, downy and powdery mildew are major threats in the district.

Both varieties are quite susceptible to botrytis (for example, in vintage 2011 we did not pick any fruit after a mid-harvest rain ruined the crop).

The vines yield approximately seven tonnes per hectare.

WINEMAKING Fruit is hand-harvested with picking based on analysis and flavour profile. In 2013, both varieties were picked on 3 March with the Marsanne crushed and held in tank. The Roussanne was destemmed, crushed and received about three hours skin contact before the majority was pressed off into oak – two new and two one-year-old French oak hogsheads - for primary fermentation. It was left on lees for three months and stirred weekly. The balance of the Roussanne was transferred into the Marsanne tank for cold settling, racking and then primary fermentation. Both batches were fermented with Melody yeast. The Marsanne was a 13-day ferment from 13.4 Baumé; the Roussanne a 17-day ferment from 13.7 Baumé.

We gave the 2013 wine less skin contact and time on lees than previous vintages to retain more fruit freshness and reduce phenolics.

MARKETING We make two premium wines under the Gilligan label - the Roussanne Marsanne and a Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre blend - and two entry level wines (made up of any barrels not deemed to make the cut for Gilligan). These are a red called Little Brother and a white named Little Sister.

Since starting the label in 2001 most of the wine has been exported mainly to Germany, Denmark, Canada, USA and Hong Kong. A small amount is sold directly via mail order and to several restaurants and independent wine stores in Australia. WVJ

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Savoury and textural Roussanne – the red wine drinker’s white

By Sonya Logan

Our inaugural tasting of Australian-made Roussanne and Roussanne-dominant blends comprised a mix of full, ripe styles and lean, green examples.

Just prior Christmas, the Wine & Viticulture Journal held its first tasting of Australian Roussanne and Roussannedominant blends.

Seventeen table wines – including 13 made from 100% Roussanne and four blends – as well as a sparkling version thrown in for interest were tasted blind by our panellists Peter Fraser, of McLaren Vale’s Yangarra Estate; Andy Coppard, part-time winemaking consultant to McLaren Vale’s Kay Brothers as well as a producer of his own label Lino Ramble; Sue Bastian, senior lecturer of oenology and sensory studies at The University of Adelaide; and University of Adelaide PhD student Sijing Li. Both Fraser and Coppard make Roussanne and Roussane blends themselves and have tasted and experienced Roussanne production in the Rhone wine region in southern France where the variety is believed to have originated.

Peter Fraser said that the tasting highlighted that Roussanne was a very savoury variety with none of the wines in the line-up expressing a lot of primary fruit characters.

“Personally, I prefer the fuller, riper styles. Leaner styles, to me, are more vinous and if I was going to make a fresh, fruity style of wine I probably wouldn’t use this variety, but that’s a personal view.

“I preferred the single varieties in the tasting. There was some interesting expression in the single variety wines while the blends seemed to be safer. In other words, the blends were probably more consumer-friendly but less quirky and interesting.”

Fraser said Roussanne was a “pretty forgiving variety”, adding: “All the French winemakers I’ve spoken to about Roussanne have said you really have to get it ripe otherwise it’s pretty flavourless. It can also be prone to sweet and sour flavours; if don’t give it the right amount of sun exposure you end up with bunches that are either dark green and hard or you get fruit that is fried and brown. Shoot thinning on the eastern side of rows helps that.”

He said Roussanne was ideal for people who don’t normally like white wines.

“It’s the red wine drinkers white wine because it’s got that richness and tannin. An example of a good Roussanne is one that has a crunchy lime peel, pithy, fresh, textural finish.

Sometimes Roussanne can also exhibit brine and oystershell characters."

Fraser said one of the downsides to working with Roussanne, like many Rhone varieties is that it has to be pressed fairly gently.

“You can’t press them very hard so your extraction rates are low which puts them in that slightly higher price point of around $30 a bottle. So, if you want to go down to a $20 price point you probably have to push the envelope a bit from an extraction point of view,” he said.

Andy Coppard said the “great diversity of styles” in the tasting was pleasing.

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Our panellists for our Roussanne tasting were (from left) Sue Bastian, senior lecturer of oenology and sensory studies at The University of Adelaide; University of Adelaide PhD student Sijing Li; Andy Coppard, part-time winemaking consultant to McLaren Vale’s Kay Brothers and producer of his own label Lino Ramble; and Peter Fraser, of McLaren Vale’s Yangarra Estate.

“There were lighter, leaner and greener styles to more fuller, richer, riper styles. That diversity is one of the good things about the style as some people like the warmth and glycerol characters of the latter while others like the citrus characters of the earlier-picked styles.

“Roussanne has great texture and a good mid-palate. You can work with that to a greater or lesser degree depending on the style you wish to make.”

Referring to the Roussanne/Marsanne blends in the tasting, Coppard said Marsanne was more of a mid-palate wine while Roussanne had more line and length.

“For that reason the two can work well together in harmony like Cabernet and Merlot. But when you have good fruit to work with, by themselves the varieties also have their place. The standalone Roussannes in this tasting were better than the blends. There were some very good examples of the style and there weren’t too many that were faulty or hot or over-oaked.”

Sue Bastian said the tasting had demonstrated the textural properties of Roussanne.

“I love these wines because they’re interesting. For Chardonnay drinkers it’s a fantastic alternative. Some wines in here would be fantastic with rich food. If you don’t want a red then perhaps this is a good alternative,” Bastian said.

The panellists rated the following wines as the best in the tasting: Box Grove 2011 Roussanne, Yelland & Papps 2013 Devote Roussanne, Yangarra Estate 2008 Roussanne and the Gilligan 2013 Roussanne Marsanne.

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Box Grove 2011 Roussanne (100% Roussanne) Goulburn Valley, Victoria 13.0% v/v - screwcap RRP$28.00/bottle Best of tasting: Mid yellow gold in colour with green tints.

A perfumed, very attractive, medium-to-high intensity, complex nose with obvious brine and oystershell characters which can be a feature of Roussanne. Other aromas include white blossom, ozone, talc, lychees, and citrus blossom. Very streamlined palate that has lemon and lime characters and a lime peel finish that is typical of Roussanne. Zesty acid and intense citrus notes with some grapefruit pith. A warming finish.

Yelland & Papps 2013 Devote Roussanne (100% Roussanne) Barossa Valley, South Australia 13.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$35.00/bottle Best of tasting: Mid yellow gold in colour which is quite bright with a gold rim. High-intensity nose featuring some exotic tropical fruit, kaffir lime, toast, vanilla oak, butterscotch, a hint of wood smoke and slate-like minerality. Rich, medium-to full-bodied palate which is rich, round and complex with layers of flavour and texture. Oak is prominent but matched by lashings of fruit, particularly citrus.

Gilligan 2013 Roussanne/Marsanne

Michael Hall Wines 2014 Roussanne

(70% Roussanne, 30% Marsanne) McLaren Vale, South Australia 13.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$25.00.00/bottle

(100% Roussanne) Barossa Valley, South Australia 11.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$38.00/bottle

Best of tasting: Mid to deep straw in colour with a bright yellow rim. Very attractive nose with characters of blackcurrant leaf, citrus blossom, gooseberry, lychees, cloves, spice and toast. Very intense, medium-bodied palate where more blackcurrant leaf and gooseberry is evident along with paw paw, limes and a hint of oak and vanilla. Excellent length, weight and balance. Slightly sweet.

Mid golden yellow in colour with a yellow-gold rim. Moderately intense nose featuring apple, quince, sultana, peach blossom, honeysuckle, butterscotch and a hint of lemon rind; caramel character also evident. Intense, medium-to-full bodied yet soft palate with notes of pear, lemon rind, vanilla, dried apricot, peach and nectarine; some lime rind on the long mineral finish. One taster thought the acid was “a little too soft”. “Quite varietal with a great palate,” said another.

Yangarra Estate 2014 Roussanne

Campbells 2014 Limited Release Roussanne

(100% Roussanne) McLaren Vale, South Australia 13.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$32.00/bottle Mid yellow gold in colour with a slightly brown hue. Nose is quite complex and savoury featuring characters of white peach, honeydew, freshly-cut hay, toast, honey and vanilla bean. Rich and ripe in the mouth with lots of savoury characters as well as honey, toast and apricots and a hint of crème brulee. Grippy tannins but provide good structure; long finish which is a little hot. “Lovely rich wine with a mix of youth and aged characters for a heartier dish,” said one taster.

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(100% Roussanne) Rutherglen, Victoria 13.0% v/v - screwcap RRP$28.00/bottle Bright colour of pale yellow gold with slight green flashes. Nose is light to medium bodied and somewhat subdued with some slate, mineral, cut grass, white flowers and citrus characters evident. Simple, citrus palate which is light to medium bodied and warming.

“Not a great deal of depth or excitement but still very drinkable,” noted one taster.

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Yangarra Estate 2008 Roussanne ((100% Roussanne) McLaren Vale, South Australia 13.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$32.00/bottle Best of tasting: Mid yellow gold in colour; almost fluorescent yellow with a gold rim. Nose is showing some development and is complex, rich and ripe with butter, straw, honey, spice, stewed pear, lemon rind, lime cordial and toast characters. Palate is full, fresh, rich, ripe, round and textural with pear, honey and toast; attractive burnt toffee character on the back palate.

Warm lingering finish.

Turkey Flat 2014 Roussanne (100% Roussanne, 5-months skin contact) 12.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$28.00/bottle Mid yellow gold with a brilliant yellow rim. Medium-tolow intensity nose with savoury notes of smoked nuts, bacon, lemon rind and some green characters. Light to medium bodied palate which has excellent line and length and is somewhat sweet and sour; flavours of apricots, lemon rind, honeysuckle, freshly squeezed limes and lots of quartz-like minerality. Nice acid finish.

St Huberts 2014 Roussanne (100% Roussanne) Yarra Valley, Victoria 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$30.00/bottle Mid straw in colour with a green tinge. Palate is light but fresh and inviting with notes of white flowers, hair oil, blackcurrant leaf, bubblegum, creamy lees, minerality and a hint of some stylish oak and gun flint. “Almost Chardonnay-esque,” said one taster. Rich, soft, light to medium palate with some fine tannins and a hallmark crunchy lime finish. Layers of flavours which are rich and include honey, vanilla and tropical fruits with a slight sweetness. Excellent balance, length and weight. www.winebiz. com . au

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T A ST I N G N OT E S

d’Arenberg 2013 The Money Spider Roussanne

Indigo Wine Company 2013 Secret Village Roussanne

(100% Roussanne) McLaren Vale, South Australia 13.4% v/v - screwcap RRP$20.00/bottle

(100% Roussanne) Beechworth, Victoria 13.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$30.00/bottle

Bright colour of mid straw with green flashes. Nose is light, fresh, zesty and fairly fruit-forward featuring white flowers, nectarine, honey. Zesty acid on the palate with a hint of nectarine and gun flint. Interesting bubblegum and apricot character through the mid-palate. Slightly sweet finish.

Bright mid-straw in colour with yellow and green flashes.

Medium intensity nose which is ripe and fleshy of white flowers, white peach, rockmelon and some delicate nutty notes. Big, soft and juicy in the mouth with lively acid and some lemon curd, butter, honey, rockmelon, lychee and pineapple. A broad mid-palate with a warm, visceral finish. “A very user-friendly wine; safe but well made,” said one taster.

Mid yellow gold in colour with a bright yellow rim.

Intense, complex, rich and ripe nose that is showing some development; notes of lime cordial, grapefruit and honey and a hint of smokiness. Grapefruit and honey follows through onto the palate; lovely phenolic finish. Perhaps a bit warm on the finish which is tight and lingering. “A lovely food wine,” thought one taster.

“Probably reached its peak with the meat just starting to fall off the bone,” said another.

Lino Ramble 2013 Roussanne, Marsanne Viognier

Glenlofty 2012 Roussanne Marsanne

Chambers Rosewood 2009 Roussanne

(60% Roussanne, 30% Marsanne, 10% Viognier) McLaren Vale, South Australia 12.8% v/v – screwcap RRP$28.00/bottle

(79% Roussanne, 21% Marsanne) Pyrenees, Victoria 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$25.00/bottle

(90% Roussanne, 10% Marsanne) Rutherglen, Victoria 11.9% v/v – screwcap RRP$7.00/bottle (cellar door)

Mid-straw in colour with green tints. Lean, tight citrus characters dominate the nose with quince, hazelnut, hair oil, florals, talc and a hint of barley sugars also evident.

Mouth-watering, fresh acid in the mouth which shows steely citrus characters, vanilla and nuttiness with barley sugar coming through on the finish. “Lacking some fruit weight to balance the oak and yeast autolysis,” said one taster.

Mid yellow gold in colour with a bright yellow and green rim. Moderately intense nose of honey, butter, ripe peach, mangoes and some tropical peach notes. Steely, lean, tight and full-flavoured palate with nice complexity; citrus, lemongrass and dried hay characters evident. Good line and length.

Orange to yellow gold in colour. Honey, apricot, yellow peach, orange blossom and wet hay on the nose which is lacking freshness. Light-bodied, developed palate which is a bit oxidised and has characters of preserved lemon, bread, honey and toast; lively acid.

Torbreck 2012 Woodcutters Roussanne Viognier Marsanne

Chambers Rosewood 2008 Roussanne

Box Grove 2010 Sparkling Roussanne

(61% Roussanne, 28% Viognier, 11% Marsanne) Barossa Valley, South Australia 13.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$21.50/bottle

(90% Roussanne, 10% Marsanne) Rutherglen, Victoria 12.7% v/v – screwcap RRP$12.00/bottle (cellar door)

(100% Roussanne) Goulburn Valley, Victoria 12.2% v/v - screwcap RRP$30.00/bottle)

Bright mid-straw in colour with some yellow and green tints. Characters of citrus, roasted nuts, vanilla, honey, bread, butter and baked apple pie on the nose. Palate is light-to-medium bodied, slightly reduced and sweet and showing some development; firm, drying acid with characters of white nectarine and a creamy, nutty mouthfeel; slightly phenolic finish.

Pale straw in colour with a bright green rim. Medium to high intensity nose which features some pretty floral notes and apricot kernel which is unfortunately masked

by SO2. Light to medium-bodied palate which is lean and has lovely layers of fruit, including citrus, as well as hints of white peach and florals and overt SO2.

Bright in colour which is pale to mid straw. Freshly cut hay, citrus blossom. Honeydew and rice crackers on the nose. Palate is fresh, vibrant and lifted with a juicy rich mouthfeel and firm acid; toast and fino sherry notes.

“Different but I like it,” noted one taster. “A rustic wine,” noted another.

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W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2015

Box Grove 2010 Roussanne (100% Roussanne) Goulburn Valley, Victoria 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$28.00/bottle

V30N1

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Use them individually. Use them together. Contact us today to find out how. www.winefile.com.au sales@winefile.com.au Tel: +61 2 9807 6077

P R OD U C T s & SERVICES

Greenleaf - not a new capsule concept but a revolution

P

lacing a shrink capsule or tamper evident sleeve over the top of a screw capsule is nothing new in the wine industry, however Enoplastic has developed a capsule that takes this concept to a new level.

The Greenleaf capsule concept is a specially-designed shrink capsule that can be placed over a 30 x15mm screw capsule. Following extensive testing and a number of successful product launches in Europe and the UK, the Greenleaf capsule is available in Australia and New Zealand.

The benefits to industry stakeholders are: • Winery/brand owner: superior decoration and branding, current bottle and darton components; existing bottling equipment; decrease in packaging cost; economical run sizes; wine integrity;

less packaging storage Retailer: increased brand awareness/identification; decoration attracting consumer; tamper evidence/social responsibility; brand protection and identity; lower packaging carbon rating • Consumer: all the current screw capsule advantages; greater awareness of tamper evidence and food safety; product experience and connection during opening; consumer feel-good factor - better for environment during purchase and recycling Enoplastic Aust does not manufacture or commercially offer screw capsules and advises that advice on this item should be sort from screw capsule suppliers.

For further information visit www. greenleafpackaging.it or contact Brodie Atkinson at Enoplastic Aust: b.atkinson@ •

enoplastic.com or Kevin Vujcich at Enoplastic NZ: k.vujcich@enoplastic.com

Greenleaf is a specially-designed shrink capsule that can be placed over a 30 x15mm screw capsule.

Radical development in testing for Brett

A

new way to test for Brettanomyces bruxellensis (Brett) has been launched in Australia.

Developed by Invisible Sentinel at the request of American wine producer Jackson Wines, the Ver iflow Brett system provides winemakers with a quick test they can complete themselves.

Although winemakers know to test for Brett, Andrew Odd, scientific division manager for Australasian Medical and Scientific Ltd (AMSL), said the options open to them were time consuming and expensive.

“Our visit to Griffith recently turned up that Brett was a major concern, so much so that winemakers were intervening in the winemaking process whether they had Brett or not. This involved adding sulfur dioxide or sterile filtering, or even pasteurisation,” he said. “The problem

with these treatments is they both cost money and have the potential to reduce the quality of the wine.”

Odd said intervening before a problem occurs was unnecessary and could affect the quality of the wine.

“You lose some of the complexities of the wine by intervening when you don’t have to,” he said. “It can be detrimental to the quality of the product. Winemakers don’t want to worry about anything happening to the wine, so they do these processes just in case whether they need to or not.”

Odd said the Veriflow system allowed winemakers to screen for the organism and only intervene when Brett was detected.

“The testing process was simple, time saving and produced a better quality of wine,” he said.

Odd said the Veriflow testing process was designed to be user-friendly for winemakers and does not require a microbiologist, providing results in four hours as opposed to 14 days with traditional methods.

For further information phone AMSL on phone (02) 9882 3666 or visit: www. amsl.com.au

Emblem now registered to control Eutypa in grapevines

R

egistration of the vineyard fungicide Emblem has been extended to cover Eutypa dieback in Australian grapevines. It is the first and only fungicide registered to control the trunk disease that can be applied with a vineyard sprayer.

Registration of the product occurred at the end of October just ahead of the 9th International Workshop on Grapevine Trunk Diseases held in Adelaide.

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Convenor of the workshop Dr Mark Sosnowski said having a registered Eutypa fungicide that can be applied post-pruning with a vineyard sprayer was a significant step forward in the bid to save Australia’s premium quality vines from devastation by trunk disease.

“The most cost-effective method of Eutypa control is to prevent disease entry into the vine by protecting pruning wounds,” Sosnowski said.

An Australian Grape and Wine W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2015

Authority (AGWA)-funded study ranked trunk disease as the fourth-most economically-important grapevine disease behind powdery mildew, downy mildew and botryitis.

“While there are many effective registered treatments for the first three diseases, there has been very little registered for trunk disease, and before this Emblem registration there was nothing that could be applied with a commercial sprayer,” Sosnowski said.

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08 8240 3333 winesolution@coldlogic.com.au www.coldlogic.com.au

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Easyfloat for 1,000-50,000L tanks

JUICE TRAY TRAY TO INOCULATION IN LESS THAN 4 HOURS IMPROVEMENTS IN EFFICIENCIES · Reduction of refrigeration loads · Elimination of cold settling · Three times faster than largest centrifuge · Large reduction in diatomaceous earth requirements · Reduction of downgraded juice · Accelerated turnover of tanks · Decrease in waste products

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