Grape Grower & Wine Maker July 2022 by Provincial Press Group

JULY 2022

V22

A ‘HIGHLY REGARDED’ VINTAGE

TREATED TIMBER POSTS A THORNY ISSUE FOR GROWERS

IS CARBON CAPTURE FROM FERMENTATION OVER-INFLATED? 2022 ANNUAL THEME: SUSTAINABILITY | ISSUE THEME: VINTAGE REPORT

July – Issue 702

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

contents JULY 2022

ISSUE 702

JULY 2022

V22

A ‘HIGHLY REGARDED’ VINTAGE

TREATED TIMBER POSTS A THORNY ISSUE FOR GROWERS

IS CARBON CAPTURE FROM FERMENTATION OVER-INFLATED? 2022 ANNUAL THEME: SUSTAINABILITY | ISSUE THEME: VINTAGE REPORT

Cover: The July 2022 edition of Grapegrower & Winemaker explores the ins and outs of the 2022 vintge in warm climate regions. The cover image shows vintage in Hunter Valley. Photo courtesy of Elfes Images. elfesimages.com

REGULARS 8

What’s online

In this issue

International briefs

Ask the AWRI

106 Producer Profile: Elena Brookes

107 Calendar

107 Looking Back

108 Marketplace Classifieds

NEWS

14 16

Winners from Australia’s first Zero Alcohol Wine Show announced Eco-bottle targets wine industry’s carbon hotspot

Wine Australia strengthens focus on sector’s sustainability Introducing Affinity Labs – a new identity for the AWRI’s commercial activities

Treasury Wine Estates switches to solar

SPECIAL FEATURE: 2022 VINTAGE REPORT PART 1 19

2022 Vintage Report – warm climate regions

GRAPEGROWING 40

43 50 52

10 4

Grapegrower & Winemaker

56 62

FEATURE Disposing of treated timber posts A technique with growing potential Exploring the advantages of sap flow pruning

WINEMAKING 73

Australian technology transforming viticulture through 5G

Tasmania cheers for 60 pioneering years

FEATURE The cold facts about managing vineyard frost

Grüner Veltliner Uncorked

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Over-inflated? Are Australian wine producers keen to capture carbon from fermentation? FEATURE Added benefits Oenological management strategies for nitrogen Exploring the total cost of tank automation systems

Behind the Top Drops: Seppeltsfield 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny Young Gun Peta Kotz

July 2022 – Issue 702

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY 94

FEATURE The industry’s worker shortage of Vintage 2022

Rising production costs and impacts of war a concern for producers

Hans Mick Editor

40 SALES & MARKETING 97

FEATURE Aussie icon wines feature on Japan e-commerce page How much will preferential tariff entry into India boost Australia’s wine exports?

102 FEATURE Real gains to be made from innovating brand strategies

As we present Part 1 of our annual Vintage Report, we’re reminded of the ups and downs of the sector at present. While many of the warmer regions have reported some excellent results for fruit this season, producers have also acknowledged the challenges they’ve had to overcome: from adverse weather events to a lack of seasonal workers to unsustainable grape prices. Despite this though, many regions say Vintage ’22 will go down as ‘highly regarded’ and we look forward to discovering the wines to emerge from this year. Read our regional vintage reports from page 20. Speaking of challenges for the winegrowing sector, we also look at the thorny issue of disposing of treated timber posts as industry addresses related health and environmental concerns (page 40). Writer Simon Madden-Grey explores the benefits of sap flow pruning (page 43), while journalist Harrison Davies examines the ‘cold facts’ about managing vineyard frost (page 52). Mark Smith writes about a significant milestone in Tasmania – 60 years of production at Moorilla, regarded as a ‘jewel’ in the island state’s ‘wine crown’ (page 56). For

our Uncorked column, we profile an ‘Austrian in Australia’, Grüner Veltliner (page 62). Heading into the winery, journalist Sonya Logan speaks to producers to find out if there’s an interest in capturing carbon from fermentation (page 73). We learn about management strategies for nitrogen (page 79) and we delve into the potential of tank automation systems to provide cost savings and greater efficiencies (page 81). For Behind the Top Drops we find out the story of Seppeltsfield 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny (page 86), and we also meet this month’s Young Gun, the Hunter Valley’s Peta Kotz (page 90). One of the challenges thrown up during V22 was an inability to secure seasonal picking staff and we find out how producers dealt with this widespread problem (page 94). We also learn about how much Australian wine’s preferential tariff entry into India will boost exports (page 98). There’s plenty more inside – enjoy the read!

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ABOUT Grapegrower & Winemaker The Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker is a practical, solution-based journal

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NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE WINE INDUSTRY SINCE 1963 Publisher and Chief Executive: Hartley Higgins General Manager: Robyn Haworth Editor: Hans Mick h.mick@winetitles.com.au Associate Editor: Sonya Logan s.logan@winetitles.com.au Editorial Advisory Board Denis Gastin, Dr Steve Goodman, Dr Terry Lee, Paul van der Lee, Bob Campbell MW, Prof Dennis Taylor, Mary Retallack and Corrina Wright Editorial: Harrison Davies h.davies@winetitles.com.au Advertising Sales: Louise Reid sales@grapeandwine.com.au

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Compiled from data provided by New Zealand Winegrowers, our Winetitles Insights page report features industry sales and production insights to keep growers and winemakers informed on the latest trends.

MARCH 2022 - KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Keep an eye on how New Zealand wine is performing both domestically and internationally.

GROWTH MARKETS

USA

1.91

BILLION

154.2

PACKAGED WINE EXPORT

PACKAGED PRICE

9.14

UNPACKAGED WINE EXPORT

DOWN

106.8

41.7

DOMESTIC SALES, VOLUME

DOWN

4.32

UNPACKAGED WHITE WINE PRICE

DOWN

FOB VALUE

TOTAL VALUE OF EXPORTS

14%

All figures for the 12 months to the date specified, figures are in $NZD unless otherwise specified

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news

what’s ONLINE Pernod Ricard’s NZ sustainability roadmap Tracey Marshall can frequently be found in cross-globe video calls, discussing the carbon, circularity, waste and wellbeing targets of Pernod Ricard’s 2030 Sustainability and Responsibility Road Map. But her favourite topic of conversation is far closer to home, amid Marlborough’s flourishing Kaituna wetland, where 13 years of planting and pest work are rewarded with an abundance of trees, raupō, birds and insects. Source New Zealand Winegrower

Aussie wine heading to India as China tariffs hurt winemakers Winemakers are feeling the pinch of supply chain pressures 15 months after China introduced tariffs on their products, an industry leader has revealed. China, Australia’s top wine export market, placed tariffs of 116-218 percent on bottled Australian wine imports in March last year. Mitchell Taylor, the managing director of South Australian-based winery Taylors, said the industry was blindsided by the move. Source: 9 News

Villa Maria parent company receivers seeking NZ$5m for court fees Lawyers for New Zealand wine-making pioneer Sir George Fistonich argue the demand to retain NZ$5 million is “very unusual”. The receivers of the Villa Maria wine empire are seeking to retain NZ$5 million from the receivership proceeds to fund their legal defence against claims brought by the wine business’s former owner. Source: Newsroom

In this issue

“Viticulture here is challenging. Our soils are pretty diverse. We have four metres and more of deep, silty clay. But there’s also risen siltstone bedrock on only a few centimetres of sand. Those growing conditions not only bring massive differences in vine size, vigour and fruit composition, they result in significant yield differences.” - Conor van der Reest, p. 60 “It appears to be suitable to replace part of the inert gas usage in wine transfer and ullage management with minimal filtration. However, we need more information on the level of filtration required for it to be used for sparging and carbonation purposes.” - Mark Davidson, p. 75 It was a long slow ripening period for McLaren Vale, so those vintages always work smoothly as there isn’t any rush for picking that happens in heat wave years. This was probably lucky that it was a cooler ripening period given the lack handpicking labour access. Our vineyard crew was similar to usual as we were able to spread out the machine picking and didn’t need to do so much night work to avoid the heat of the day given the cooler conditions.” - Corrina Wright, p. 96 India has a whopping 150% tariff on all wine imports, but has agreed to reduce that on Australian bottled wine from the outset of this agreement coming into force. The tariff will be immediately lowered to 100% for bottles in the US$5 to $15 range and to 75% for bottles above US$15. - Kym Anderson and Glyn Wittwer, p. 100

Daily Wine News is a snapshot of wine business, research and marketing content gleaned from local and international wine media sources, with a focus on Australian news and content.

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VINEYARD & RURAL

Trophy winners: Ross Marshall, managing director, Fourth Wave Wine; Lexi O’Toole, senior brand manager, Pernod Ricard Winemakers; Dan Chorley, country manager, Giesen Group; and Chris Hatcher, chief winemaker, Wolf Blass. Photo: Edgeline Photography

Winners from Australia’s first Zero Alcohol Wine Show announced The winners of Australia’s first wine show dedicated to zero alcohol wines have been announced. The 2022 Winepilot Zero Alcohol Wine Show tasting was held in May with five of Australia’s leading wine judges tasting through most of the zero alcohol wines currently available in Australia.

experienced palates including chairman and leading winemaker, PJ Charteris; winemaking consultant Mike DeGaris; Winepilot publisher Angus Hughson; Solotel Group beverage manager Annette Lacey MW; Group wine ambassador Matt Dunne; as well as renowned wine writer and judge Tony Love.

Forty-nine wines were judged in four classes with trophies awarded to the best wines in each class as well as for Best Winemaker and Best Wine overall.

Founder of the Zero Alcohol Wine Show, Angus Hughson commented: “Zero alcohol and low alcohol is the fast growing wine category and our judging showed that, at this moment in time, the larger wineries are leading the pack.

Some of Australia’s and New Zealand’s largest wineries scooped the awards with trophies awarded to Jacob’s Creek and Wolf Blass. The only small winemaker to win a trophy was Sobriety Society, which was awarded the Best Chillable Red Trophy. The overall winner was the Ara Zero Sauvignon Blanc NV which won Best Wine and Best White Wine Trophies with New Zealand’s Giesen Group also named Best Winemaker. Judges for the Winepilot Zero Alcohol Wine Show included a panel of

“It was also fascinating to see that some wine styles are better suited to zero alcohol than others and that some unusual styles, such as sparkling Riesling, actually work very well in a zero alcohol context. “Zero alcohol is a brave new world for the wine industry and offers the opportunity for winemakers to innovate, and potentially develop new wines that become best-sellers in local and export markets.”

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Eco Flat Bottles. Photo: Accolade Wines

Eco-bottle targets wine industry’s carbon hotspot A wine bottle made entirely from Australian-sourced 100 per cent recycled PET plastic hopes to reshape the carbon footprint of wine by targeting the industry’s environmental hotspot, the glass bottle.

Sustainable packaging manufacturers Packamama and Taylors Wines are collaborating for the launch of the Australian market debut of the ecobottles, packaging wines from Banrock Station and Taylors.

it would cut approximately 250,000kms of road freight a year or the equivalent of a semi-trailer travelling from Melbourne to Broome 50 times While the shape of the eco-bottle is a departure from the traditional round wine bottle, Packamama’s chief executive and founder, Santiago Navarro, said the time is right for Australian winemakers to respectfully challenge a couple of centuries of tradition.

The eco-bottle shares the classic highshouldered silhouette of a traditional ‘Bordeaux’ wine bottle, but when turned to the side, it reveals a slimmer, flatter profile that allows twice as many bottles to fit in a standard wine case – making it more efficient to transport.

“Australia is globally recognised as a leader in wine packaging thanks to break-through innovations, including bag-in-box casks and screw-top caps for wines and we are highly motivated to launch our climate-friendly bottle at Coles with Accolade Wines and Taylors Wines,” Navarro said.

Using recycled PET also saves weight and with the bottles being 83 per cent lighter, emissions in transport are reduced as well as the energy in production and recycling to further tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

Accolade Wines, who launched the ecoflat bottle two years ago in Europe, is on a mission to improve the sustainability of the wine industry and has ambitious targets to advance circular economy packaging across its entire portfolio.

The freight-friendly bottle has the potential to significantly reduce the road transport burden and emissions for wine in Australia. Were both Accolade Wines and Taylors Wines to switch entirely to eco-bottles, 10

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“In the last 18 months alone, we have launched a variety of sustainable and innovative packaging solutions including wine in cans, wine on tap, bagnums, as well as a world-first circular, sustainable packaging solution for on-premise www.winetitles.com.au

partners,” said Sandy Mayo, Accolade Wines global chief marketing officer. “We chose Banrock Station to launch the eco-bottle in Australia because the environmental credentials fit perfectly with the brand’s 25-year sustainability heritage and its commitment to forging a more sustainable future for the planet. The potential for the eco wine bottle to improve the carbon footprint for winemaking is important for Taylors Wines, particularly given that viticulture is one of the most climate-sensitive agricultural businesses. Taylors third-generation winemaker and managing director, Mitchell Taylor, said the eco-bottle delivered a more sustainable bottle for consumers and provided another way for wineries to improve their carbon footprint. “We know that Australian wine drinkers are very open to innovation when it provides real benefits, like this sustainable eco-bottle does,” Taylor said. “Australia led the global change from cork to screwcap and Taylors was the first major producer to bottle all our wines under the closure. We believe Australians will again lead in adopting this more sustainable bottle.” July 2022 – Issue 702

INTERNATIONAL ENOLOGICAL AND BOTTLING EQUIPMENT EXHIBITION

LEADER IN WINE & BEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY

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Wine Australia strengthens focus on sector’s sustainability Wine Australia has announced a new multidisciplinary focus on sustainability, and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG). Rachel Triggs, Wine Australia’s general manager ESG and market access, will reportedly lead a multifaceted program incorporating expertise from across the grape and wine landscape to build a sector-wide sustainability and ESG strategy for the Australian grape and wine sector. Wine Australia chief executive officer Dr Martin Cole said the new program is the result of feedback from the Australian grape and wine sector. “Many across our grape and wine community are already applying sustainable practices and are undertaking initiatives to improve the environments that we operate in,” Dr Cole said. “However, our conversations with our community have confirmed that it’s increasingly important that we invest further in sustainability and ESG. “There is an urgency to see our sector’s efforts expanded beyond environmental sustainability to incorporate ethical and economic sustainability in a greater capacity.

“Sustainability continues to play an increasingly important role across the wine sector, not just in terms of stewardship of our environments, but increasingly in meeting the needs of all stakeholders of the Australian wine sector,” chair of Australian Grape & Wine’s Sustainability Committee and Wine Australia deputy chair Cath Oates said. “We’re thrilled to see the topic in sharp focus for Wine Australia and the incorporation of ESG frameworks for the sector as this will support a vibrant and valued wine community into the future.” AWRI managing director Dr Mark Krstic added that they were pleased to support this new direction at Wine Australia “To see Sustainable Winegrowing Australia playing a vital role. This is a great opportunity for our sector and the AWRI to continue to work together to provide a solid scientific evidence base to support Australia’s sustainability credentials,” he said. In the coming months, Wine Australia will work closely with its customers across the Australian grape and wine community to co-design the sustainability strategy and future directions.

“The global operating environment for our sector is on the cusp of considerable change and there is a strong desire to incorporate a greater scientific evidence base to demonstrate our credentials on the world stage. “Ms Triggs is a leader at Wine Australia with significant expertise to support the sector and I am thrilled that she will be helping our sector to achieve these goals and take a leading role internationally in sustainability and ESG.” Triggs said that the rapidly changing international landscape means there is a significant market access risk over the medium- to long-term if the sector does not act. “Globally, there is an increasing expectation that ESG frameworks be contemplated in assessing the impact and ethical practices of companies, and these are having a significant impact on global market access dynamics, including on purchasing and investment trends,” Triggs said. “We intend to support the Australian grape and wine sector through demonstrating its sustainability and ESG credentials across the triple bottom line – ethical, economic and environmental sustainability. “The Australian grape and wine community can be a leader in sustainability and ESG, and it’s vital that we act now. I’m delighted to be supporting the sector in this critical area and look forward to working with our community in driving meaningful change.” The announcement has received support from the grape and wine community, with Australian Grape & Wine and the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) welcoming the strengthened focus.

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Introducing Affinity Labs – a new identity for the AWRI’s commercial activities By Eric Wilkes and Mark Krstic The Australian Wine Research Institute has offered commercial services to grapegrowers and winemakers for more than 30 years. What started as a small analytical service has grown into a major provider for our industry, delivering a wide variety of specialised services including: • Routine and export analysis • Trace analysis of flavours, taints and residues • Sensory assessments • Microbiology and molecular biology analysis • Grapevine virus testing and elimination • Packaging and microbiological audits • Shelf-life testing • Sustainability assessments • Technical consulting Since its inception, the AWRI’s commercial arm has evolved with the times, constantly tailoring its services to meet changes in industry demand. Now, the business is taking its next evolutionary step, expanding its offering and focusing on improved customer service under a new banner –Affinity Labs. 14

Grapegrower & Winemaker

Affinity Labs will continue providing the same high level of technical support to the Australian grape and wine industry, while developing new services for the food and beverage sector, including for beer and spirits. This expansion will bring benefits to grape and wine producers through improved economies of scale and an increased knowledge base. In addition, this step is considered essential in ensuring the ongoing sustainability of the AWRI’s world-class research, development and extension activities, in an environment of constrained R&D funding. The AWRI will remain focused on the grape and wine industry, delivering the cutting-edge research needed to respond to our industry’s challenges and opportunities and providing valued services to grapegrowers and winemakers. AWRI’s current services supported by Wine Australia, including the helpdesk, roadshows and library services, will remain free to access for all Australian grape and wine levy payers. It is also important to note that the AWRI’s commercial activities have always been independent from levy funding and this will not change. All proceeds www.winetitles.com.au

from Affinity Labs will be reinvested in improved services and research. The creation of Affinity Labs is not just a rebrand. Significant focus has been placed on improving the customer experience for all Affinity Labs customers, through the development of a standalone website with simplified sample submission and reporting. The team is working to ensure seamless and responsive customer support, with products and services tailored to customer needs. Affinity Labs’ overarching goal is to be a trusted and dependable partner for all its customers, supporting them to achieve their business goals, while helping further enhance Australia’s reputation as a world-class producer of food and beverages. Affinity Labs was successfully launched at the recent WineTech trade exhibition, with attendees able to try out the new website (affinitylabs.com.au) and speak to members of the team. Any industry members with questions are encouraged to contact AWRI Managing Director Mark Krstic or Affinity Labs General Manager Eric Wilkes on 08 8313 6600 or enquiries@awri.com.au. July 2022 – Issue 702

news

Treasury Wine Estates switches to solar Australian wines like Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Wynns, Squealing Pig and Pepperjack will reportedly be produced using 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2024, after Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) announced Australia’s largest winery solar installation across its Barossa and Karadoc wineries.

“It paves the way to meet our target of net zero direct emissions by 2030 and forms the foundation for future innovation and resilience.

Around 9,500 solar panels will be installed by the end of 2022 at Barossa Winery and Production Centre in South Australia, and Karadoc Winery in Victoria.

“Sustainability is front of mind for our consumers, customers, and our employees globally, and we’re proud to be making progress towards our bold targets. Cultivating a brighter future for everyone means taking action and leading the industry to produce cleaner, greener wine that’s enjoyed by consumers all over the world.”

The installations, which include solar powered employee carparks, are expected to generate more than 5,500 megawatt-hours of electricity per year, the equivalent of powering 900 homes.

Shell Energy Australia CEO Greg Joiner said TWE’s commitments in renewable electricity were an important step in becoming a sustainability leader in the global wine and beverages sector.

TWE chief sustainability and external affairs officer Kirsten Gray said moving to 100 per cent renewable electricity was the most significant contribution the company could make on its journey to net zero direct emissions.

“With nearly 13,000 hectares of vineyards all over the world, TWE has an opportunity to shape how the wine industry navigates the energy transition,” Joiner said.

The initiative was developed in partnership with Shell Energy and is part of TWE’s broader plan to make wine sustainably. “Electricity makes up about 70% of our Scope 1 and 2 emissions, so switching to renewables is the single biggest and quickest action we can take to reduce emissions,” Gray said. 16

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The Barossa and Karadoc installations are part of TWE’s wider plans to install more than 29,000 solar panels at its wineries and vineyards across the globe and purchase offsite renewable electricity. At the start of 2022, the company’s Melbourne, Victoria and Napa Valley, California headquarters became the latest of its corporate head office sites to become powered by 100% renewable electricity. Last year, the company also joined RE100 – a global renewable power initiative that aims to accelerate the transition to a clean economy.

“TWE’s investment in renewable energy and emissions reduction roadmap ensures it has a clear and considered pathway to achieving its global sustainability goals. “Shell Energy’s expertise in end-to-end low carbon solutions means the plan incorporates emissions reduction across the wine company’s operations: from the cellar door to offices, packaging centres and vineyards.” www.winetitles.com.au

TWE chief sustainability and external affairs officer Kirsten Gray

July 2022 – Issue 702

international briefs

Positive signals for Burgundy’s 2022 crop

“There is absolutely no frost damage, aside from the odd bud here and there,” commented Frédéric Barnier, technical director at Louis Jadot in Beaune. Unlike Chablis, the Côte d’Or dodged the worst effects of France’s adverse weather, so much so that damage from bud-eaters, which was limited, was reportedly more significant than that of frost, reported Vitisphere.

South Africa reveals ‘small but mighty’ ‘22 vintage

According to the annual South African Wine Harvest Report, the country’s 2022 grape crop is smaller than last year, with Stellenbosch proving an exception. A largely cool season and moderate weather conditions led to slower-than-usual ripening in most of South Africa’s wine-producing regions this year. However, producers say this has resulted in “stunning flavour and colour” in its wines, according to The Drinks Business:

July – Issue 702

Portugal wine exports “reduce significantly”

Portugal’s wine exports – so recently robust – have suddenly come crashing down, at least in Europe. After two-digit growth through 2021, exports have seen just 0.28 per cent growth in the first four months of 2022. According to Portugal Resident, sales in terms of volume have fallen 3.63% – a drop of four million litres compared to the same period last year – while average prices per litre have grown 4.6%.

British wine producers booming despite pandemic hit to hospitality

The top producers of English wine have seen their turnover increase by another 4.5 per cent last year. Proceeds from British wines went from £24.3m in 2019/20 to £25.4m in 2020/21, despite sales to the hospitality sector being heavily impacted by COVID. City A.M. reported that sales to hospitality venues and events organisers such as conferences, awards and weddings have traditionally made up a considerable proportion of English wine sales, leaving producers exposed to the effects of repeated lockdowns. www.winetitles.com.au

Washington grapegrowers face a future altered by COVID, weather, smoke

Like all agricultural producers in the state, Washington’s winegrape growers have faced myriad challenges since the onset of the pandemic. Tasting room closures, hot temperatures, wildfires, inflation. “It won’t go back to what the market looked like prior to COVID,” Vicky Scharlau, executive director of the Washington Wine Growers Association told Tri Cities Business News.

The rise and fall of a North African wine giant

During the first half of the 20th century, the world’s fourth-largest producer of wine was Algeria. The Muslim-majority nation in North Africa was under wine-loving French colonial rule at the time, and scores of European winegrowers, many reeling from the Great French Wine Blight that destroyed vineyards across southern France in the 1870s and ’80s, had crossed the Mediterranean in search of fertile lands. Wine Enthusiast reported that the current political climate makes the work of Algeria’s two major winegrape cultivators difficult. Grapegrower & Winemaker

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2022

WARM REGIONS

PART 1

Harvest at Olivers Taranga in McLaren Vale. Photo: Nicky Connolly

There have been some positive results reported from this year’s vintage despite diverse conditions being experienced across warm regions. Despite a number of ongoing challenges for producers, overall fruit quality has been high and in many regions it’s being proclaimed that Vintage 2022 is likely to go down as highly regarded.

July – Issue 702

2022

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2022 PART 1

South Australia

McLaren Vale In the McLaren Vale Wine Region, reports from the wine community have been positive. Vines held condition well due to a cool summer, and winemaking was made easier by gentle ripening conditions. There were key climatic similarities between Vintage 2022 and the preceding Vintage 2021. This bodes well for wine quality as Vintage 2021 is already highly regarded. In comparison, for both Vintages, while it was a wet La Niña influenced year for other parts of Australia, McLaren Vale vineyards received below average rainfall. Both vintages started with above average winter and early spring rains, before experiencing dry conditions throughout summer and autumn, leading to lower rainfall overall. There is a notable difference between 2021 and 2022. Unfortunately, tonnages 20

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were lower than those of 2021. The lower yields were largely due to cold and windy weather during flowering (mid spring). Additionally, November was about 1.5°C cooler than average. This contributed to a lower percentage of berry set, with less berries per bunch, and explains why yields were lower this vintage. Berry set was lowest for vineyards close to the Gulf of St Vincent where they are most exposed to cold south-westerly winds.

Overall, we would class Vintage 2022 right up there for quality. Continuing the parallels between vintages, both had mild summers without heatwave conditions. January and February 2022 recorded no days above 40°C. The mild summer was followed by a warm autumn, as with Vintage 2021. www.winetitles.com.au

This produced a gentle and slow ripening period and delayed harvest. Both seasons had late veraison colour change dates and corresponding later harvest dates. Both vintages generally harvested grapes free of botrytis bunch rot which improves the ability of the resultant wine to age in the bottle. For 2022, harvest dates were similar to 2021. Grape picking took eight weeks to complete starting at full pace in the first week of March and ending in the second week of April. Both vintages were drawn out compared to what has been the recent experience. Overall, we would class Vintage 2022 right up there for quality. Reds have intense, rich and balanced flavours and colours. Whites have pretty aromatics and natural acidity. It may be as well regarded as 2021. Report provided by viticulturist James Hook for McLaren Vale Grape Wine & Tourism. July 2022 – Issue 702

WARM REGIONS

South Australia Barossa Valley Barossa experienced fantastic winegrape growing conditions this season, with harvest starting around two weeks later than the past 10 years’ average. The majority of the main variety In Barossa Valley, Shiraz, was picked mid to late March and harvest of the higher altitude Eden Valley Shiraz ran into late April, followed by the other main red Barossa varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache and Mataro. Soil moisture during the growing season was optimal, with above average rainfall in June and July – and again in October and November. A 28 October hailstorm was devastating for some growers, whist others had varying degrees of crop loss. Fruit set was patchy in some areas and this, along with the hail damage, has resulted in an average – or slightly below average – winegrape yield.

The summer was relatively mild, with only a couple of heatwave periods, so the canopies held up well and ripening conditions have been perfect. Around 20mm of rain fell in early February, which was welcome and contributed to vines functioning healthily. This was followed by a 5-55mm rain event (depending on the area) on 28 February, which was early enough in the ripening season not to cause any damage to the crop.

Vintage 2022 will definitely be a sought-after year for Barossa wines.

Vintage 2022 will definitely be a soughtafter year for Barossa wines. The reasonably wet winter and spring, followed by mild summer temperatures, has enabled a long, slow ripening period with optimum development of colour, fruit sweetness and tannins in the reds, and crisp, fresh whites. Report prepared by Nicki Robins, viticultural development manager at Barossa Grape & Wine Association

Photo: Barossa Grape & Wine Association

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

2022

WARM REGIONS PART 1

South Australia Coonawarra Coonawarra experienced another strong vintage in 2022. With stable conditions, high-quality fruit and moderate to good yields we ended slightly below the longterm average for the region. The vintage start was consistent with whites’ long-term average before moving into Shiraz, finishing with Cabernet in the second half of May. Coonawarra received close to the longterm average rainfall throughout winter. Overall it was a mild growing season, with no prolonged heat waves or hot days—perfect ripening conditions for Cabernet Sauvignon. October and November were cooler than average before warming up in late November, just in time for flowering,

resulting in a very even fruit set. The temperature throughout January was slightly above average before returning to the long-term average throughout February and March.

rainfall events in mid-spring, which combined with cooler temperatures, reduced the irrigation needs for the remainder of the season, which was beneficial to general vine health.

The Bonney Upwelling commenced in early February, with the Southern Ocean temperature dropping significantly, moderating the afternoon and night temperature across the Limestone Coast.

These climatic conditions lead to steady increases in maturity levels, allowing winemakers to pick at optimum levels for ripeness and flavour.

The ideal flowering conditions and above-average temperature throughout January resulted in all varieties going through veraison quickly. A great sign of a very even year, with minimal variability between bunches and within bunches. Dry conditions continued through summer, and consequently, berries remained small with thick skins. Coonawarra did receive a couple of

Based on the colour and aromas that are coming through in the finished ferments, 2022 points to a good vintage with lovely firm acidity in the whites and good fruit expression and tannins across all reds, which will translate into wines that have good cellaring potential. Cabernet Sauvignon was a standout variety during the 2022 vintage. Report prepared by Ockert Le Roux, executive officer of Coonawarra Vignerons

Overall it was a mild growing season, with no prolonged heat waves or hot days—perfect ripening conditions for Cabernet Sauvignon.

Highbank Vintage. Photo: Coonawarra Vignerons

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

2022

WARM REGIONS PART 1

South Australia Riverland The 2022 season was mild in terms of weather, and the season started with some early moderate rainfalls in September. Storms on 28 October in some parts of the region, and again in early November, brought hail in some areas. As is often the case with hailstorms, the incidence was very patchy, and while not significant in terms of total regional production it was devastating for the growers affected. Some vineyards had significant areas with posts laid flat and requiring repair. The mild weather carried through to the harvest period, and it was a rare summer with very few days over 40°C. This led to slower ripening across different parts of the region, with some producers reporting a late finish to the vintage.

growers, there were few incidents of disease or other damage to yield and quality of fruit. Most of the current concerns in the region centre around the combined impacts of the sudden loss of the Chinese wine market and global supply chain disruption.

As is often the case with hailstorms, the incidence was very patchy, and while not significant in terms of total regional production it was devastating for the growers affected.

This has impacted not only on wine value and the resulting fruit prices, but also on costs of inputs. The price of red winegrapes in 2022 was typically around half that paid two years ago, and some fertilizer costs more than doubled over the past few years. As a region that is heavily focused on exports, there will be strong focus and hopes of increased market success, and soon. Many growers and winemakers are looking at the potential for change, both in the product mix and value offering generated from the region. Report prepared by Andrew Weeks, Riverland Wine

Disease was not a major factor, with some patches of Chardonnay having issues with powdery mildew requiring treatment early in the ripening period. Overall disease issues were limited to regular ‘hot spots’, but it was insignificant in regional terms. There were no reports of major problems with insect pests. The protracted ripening led to fruit being in good condition without damage from heat waves characteristic in previous hot summers. The cool weather caused two major ‘flat spots’ where sugar accumulation stopped, but overall fruit achieved harvest maturity in good condition. Fruit quality is assessed as being better than 2021 vintage, and the resulting wines very good. Yields were down on the 2021 harvest for red varieties, but at least the same level as last season for white grapes. Most producers are predicting a regional harvest around 10-15% below last year for red varieties, and similar yields for white. This would place the estimated regional production at around 400,000 tonnes. While there were significant setbacks from severe weather events for some 24

Grapegrower & Winemaker

Shiraz Harvest, Image courtesy Riverland Wine

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July 2022 – Issue 702

There is no shying away from the fact it has been a tough year in the industry given the challenges already noted around the pandemic, export and supply chain issues.

WARM REGIONS

South Australia State Langhorne Creek Langhorne Creek had a fruitful 2022 vintage and an estimated 38,000 tonnes has been loosely bandied around. Langhorne Creek Grape and Wine Incorporated executive officer Lian Jaensch said the association was keeping an eye out for the country wide reports. “We will be interested to see how that compares to the Annual Crush Survey results,” she said. Adding that the yields in Langhorne Creek were expected to be a lower production than Vintage 2021. “[We are] hearing star reports about quality from the region with particular mention of Cabernet Sauvignon, a regional favourite,” Jaensch said. An unusual year of weather impacted the whole country and Langhorne Creek was no different. An early frost event impacted some vineyards (mainly white varieties) and cold wind and rain into flowering led to some uneven fruit set. Lighter Shiraz crops were also noted. An ultimately mild season resulted in a more protracted vintage than has been seen in Langhorne Creek for some years.

Fortunately, Langhorne Creek has been spared bushfire impacts. Moderate crop levels and ongoing mild ripening conditions helped balance vineyard uniformity. Consistent water management and light rain during January and February no doubt helped. Pests and disease pressure was reportedly low. Downy mildew was distributed across the region later in the season but did not impact fruit at that point in development. Vine scale is present in the region but the relatively mild and dry summer in Langhorne Creek kept any adverse impacts from the likes of sooty mould at bay. Jaensch said that growers and producers in the region had a hard time dealing with COVID and supply chain issues throughout the year. “There is more pain to come for the industry as a whole from the export and supply chain issues,” she said. “The pandemic meant high vigilance with procedures and testing again this vintage to ensure workforce continuity to get the fruit in and processed.

“There is no shying away from the fact it has been a tough year in the industry given the challenges already noted around the pandemic, export and supply chain issues. “These are not going away anytime soon and growers will be grappling with increased costs and the threat to grape prices and contracts. Wineries too have cost, sales and distribution challenges to meet. “These are not necessarily new issues but certainly heightened to the pointy end right now. The focus seems soundly set around reducing inputs, sustainable management practices and environmental impact, but all tempered within the rationale of business capacity. “There is beautiful product from the region to be proud of, and this will continue to be so. Inspiration, innovation and resilience will come to the fore, and we look forward to Langhorne Creek remaining a key player in the Australian wine industry.” Report provided by Langhorne Creek Grape and Wine Inc.

Lake Breeze Wines 2022 Vintage. Photos: Langhorne Creek Wine Region

July – Issue 702

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

2022

WARM REGIONS PART 1

South Australia

Winemakers are excited that 2022 Riesling is looking exceptional as the Clare Valley celebrates the 21st birthday of the screw cap closure, an innovation pioneered by the region. Vintage at Pikes Wines in the Clare Valley. Photo: Nadinne Grace Photography

Clare Valley Quality was consistently high across both red and white varieties in 2022, a vintage which also recorded strong yields. Cool, dry weather through summer and early autumn provided favourable ripening conditions, producing fruit with good natural acid levels and full varietal flavour.

The season in 2021 began with a dry cool autumn which led into good winter rains and above average spring rainfall. The timing of this rain led to decent soil moisture during the growing season even though the annual rainfall was down on average.

Winemakers are excited that 2022 Riesling is looking exceptional as the Clare Valley celebrates the 21st birthday of the screw cap closure, an innovation pioneered by the region.

The cool wet spring delayed budburst slightly and, combined with a cool summer, led to one of the latest starts to the vintage in more than a decade. Flavour ripeness developed before Baume specifications necessitated picking and wineries had time to process the fruit without the capacity issues that occur in a compressed vintage.

It is also an extraordinary year for red varieties which are showing a combination of quality and yield not seen for several years, with Cabernet Sauvignon looking like a real standout.

A couple of frosty nights in midOctober caused some isolated damage and wet conditions through flowering in November led to poor fruit set in some varieties and blocks. But overall,

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the region escaped damage from fire and hail and as a result reported a total yield of 10-15% up on last year. Early indications estimate a regional yield of 26,000-27,000 tonnes, just slightly above the long-term average. Clare Valley Wine & Grape Association chair Martin Ferguson said the vintage brought good news for wineries and grapegrowers after a hard year for business, shaped by increasing costs of production, labour constraints and market challenges. “We look forward to celebrating vintage 2022 wines in future Clare Valley Wine Shows and the highly anticipated 2022 Riesling spring release,” Ferguson said. Report prepared by Anna Baum, executive officer, Clare Valley Wine & Grape Association July 2022 – Issue 702

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WARM REGIONS

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2022

WARM REGIONS PART 1

New South Wales

Photo: Riverina Winemakers Association

Riverina Vintage 2022 and the growing season leading up to it has been a challenging time for growers in the Riverina; unfavourable climatic conditions and price reductions in red varieties due to flow on effects from the Chinese tariffs tested the resilience of growers. 317,775 tonnes made it across the weighbridges of local wineries, this was down by 26,630 tonnes on Vintage 2021. White varieties fared better than the reds, with Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling and Traminer all exceeding last vintage intake. Semillon showed the biggest drop with a reduction of 4565 tonnes from 2021. The red varieties took the brunt of the disease pressure with a drop of 26,630 tonnes on what was picked in 2021. Cabernet Sauvignon intake was down by 14,121 tonnes, and Shiraz was down by 11,612 tonnes. 28

Grapegrower & Winemaker

Durif was the standout with 2,003 tonnes more delivered than in 2021, this was due to new plantings coming into production or yield increases on young blocks. Disease pressure was high, especially from downy mildew due to the excess rain that was experienced in the region in late 2021 and early 2022, and botrytis during vintage, especially the latter part. Some blocks were rejected by wineries due to disease issues, as well as some fruit being downgraded to concentrate, so it is difficult to tell what could have been the result had all gone well. While the MIA did not suffer from the effects of bushfires, hail did have an effect with more than six scattered events causing extensive damage to those who were unlucky enough to be in the path of these storms.

relief form the weather for next growing season, while trying to come to grips with the long-term implications of oversupply that have been caused by the Chinese tariffs. Report prepared by Riverina Winemaker Association CEO Jeremy Cass

Durif was the standout with 2,003 tonnes more delivered than in 2021, this was due to new plantings coming into production or yield increases on young blocks.

At this stage there has been very little feedback from winemakers on grape quality, while growers are hoping for www.winetitles.com.au

July 2022 – Issue 702

WARM REGIONS

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

2022

WARM REGIONS PART 1

New South Wales Hunter Valley It’s been a season with similarities to 2021 but overall of higher quality. La Niña once again made for a wet cool season, albeit tempered by wind which kept the canopy and midrow dry enough to allow sufficient spray protection for disease control. Pokolbin had reached its annual rainfall by the end of November, with November being the wettest on record. We ended up receiving 956mm for 2021. Tyrell’s managing director Bruce Tyrell reflected on the weather in his vintage report and said the vintage had remarkable conditions.

“The weather gods continued to smile on us with about 30°C days and a cool dry south easterly wind. I [watched] weather reports and every time it looked like we were going to get a decent dump of rain it either petered out or went around us,” he said. “The amazing thing is the quality of the fruit. It should be rotten and lying on the ground. The bunches [were] still open, and air can get through, and there [was] no sign of rot. Following on from this, below average rainfall for January was very welcome. Yields returned to average following four years of drought but extractions rates were above average. The hallmark of the season was slow, late ripening and natural acidity.

It is the latest that we have picked Semillon and Shiraz in my time in the Hunter Valley. Shiraz was mostly picked by the end of February but later ripening blocks and varieties were impacted by further rain. COVID isolation and diagnoses created challenges for producers across the region, Tyrrell adding that having access to mechanical harvesters was a boon in a challenging season for staffing. “The number of pickers has become a problem as almost half of our crew were off in COVID isolation,” Tyrrell said. Report prepared by Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association chair Stuart Horden, with additional information from Bruce Tyrell

The hallmark of the season was slow, late ripening and natural acidity.

Vintage 2022 in the Hunter Valley. Photo by Elfes Images (Copyright) 20210114_0011_17A9956 Used with permission.

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2022

WARM REGIONS PART 1

New South Wales Mudgee Wineries and grapegrowers in the Mudgee region of NSW are celebrating what has been a surprisingly excellent vintage. Following on from the similarly difficult vintage of 2021, most winemakers are breathing a sigh of relief, after another high rainfall year creating angst and the potential to lower the crop quality. Luckily, the gods were kind, and gave us some tough but manageable conditions with just enough sun and dry spells to ripen the grapes well. We had more rain in the growing season of 2020/21 than in the 2021/22 season, but a lot less rain in February 2022 with only 49ml recorded, allowing us to keep the fruit clean and to ripen well.

There was a late start to harvest in 2022 with the sparkling base Chardonnay and Pinot Noir being picked on the second to third week of February, with early whites being harvested soon after and into early March.

excellent and it seems our Riesling could be the overall star of this vintage. It is exciting to see more batches of alternate red varieties such as Tempranillo, Barbera and Montepulciano and all are looking excellent in barrel.

Luckily we then had four weeks of relatively drier weather, allowing us to concentrate on ripening red varieties.

All varieties show excellent natural acidity from the cooler vintage and we were lucky to ripen them with harvest being in the middle of the major rain events and slightly lower cropping levels.

The cool, slow ripening conditions ensured natural acids were retained, with lower than normal Baume but flavours were able to develop gradually, meaning whites like Riesling and reds like Cabernet Sauvignon are particularly exciting. Most early red varieties including Shiraz were picked on the second and third week of March, before the rain events at the end of March.

The rain produced numerous downy events through the growing season, but luckily most vineyards were vigilant enough to protect the fruit and produce good quality winegrapes leading into harvest.

Vignerons were worried about the later red varieties, and some suffered, but most powered through this rain event and we were lucky to have three weeks of dry weather to harvest the later Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and some later alternative varieties.

Congratulations to all the Vignerons who battled through another tough high pest and disease pressure season.

The highlights of Vintage 2022 in Mudgee look to be early white varieties and Cabernet Sauvignon but rosé is

Mudgee topography, with elevated and mostly sloping vineyard sites, and being a warm climate region, were the major factors in us having a good vintage. Surprisingly, even in a wetter than normal year, most of the Shiraz is showing good concentration and lightmedium bodied with bright purple colour and displaying cooler spice and nice red fruit characteristics. With Mudgee cellar doors experiencing a massive influx of tourism and wine lovers, it’s the vintage we needed to fill up our cellars and keep our family owned cellar doors operating at full capacity into the year ahead. Report prepared by Jacob Stein, director and chief winemaker, Robert Stein Winery, Mudgee

With Mudgee cellar doors experiencing a massive influx of tourism and wine lovers, it’s the vintage we needed to fill up our cellars and keep our family-owned cellar doors operating at full capacity into the year ahead. Photo: Define Wine Marketing & Communications

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2022

WARM REGIONS PART 1

New South Wales Canowindra The 2022 vintage is now safely tucked away in Canowindra in the NSW Central Ranges. The growing season presented numerous challenging moments, with above average rainfall during October and November. Given the wet conditions, the window for actually getting tractors on the vineyard during the critical flowering period was extremely narrow. We only had eight days during November that were dry enough, so it was important to go hard when conditions were suitable. Following an even fruit set it became apparent that downy mildew damage to

the vine rachis was causing some berries to abort. We were pleased with the fruit set and then, as it warmed up, we observed significant rachis scaring. This caused the loss of up to 20% of bunches in the most affected varieties. The cool and wet conditions continued through to veraison which was two weeks later than average. The ripening period however was comparable with the best we have experienced in our 35 years of growing grapes in the region. Cool conditions, coupled with only 25mm of rain during February and March, allowed for great flavour development across all varieties.

“Like everyone in the industry, finding the right staff to help and the threat of COVID derailing the vintage was an ongoing challenge,” Windowrie winemaker Anthony D’Onise said. “We were one of the lucky ones, having an excellent team for vintage ‘22 which allowed us to get the fruit into the winery in pristine condition. “The long, cooler finish to the season ensured that the quality is some of the best we have ever seen. It’s exciting to see how the wines are developing in the winery.” Report provided by Jason O’Dea, Windowrie Estate, Canowindra

The ripening period was comparable with the best we have experienced in our 35 years of growing grapes in the region.

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July 2022 – Issue 702

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Queensland

Whites were outstanding with many reporting the best quality in decades and reds on the Granite Belt showed great fruit intensity and silky tannins.

Steven and Mario Gangemi during vintage at Ballandean Estate on the Granite Belt

Queensland After the worst drought on record, Queensland has received a drenching that has been compared to Biblical times. Solid rainfalls throughout early spring delivered valuable moisture to the beginning of budburst. Temperatures were a blast from the past with warm days, cool nights and generally mid a 20s maximum right through.

and reds on the Granite Belt showed great fruit intensity and silky tannins. Rain began to fall in late February, however the growers who worked on canopy management and vine vitality were handsomely rewarded. Whites are a definite 9/10 and reds in most cases will be 8/10.

No bushfires were reported due to the increase in moisture and water supplies were returned to pre-drought levels. Crop levels increased significantly from the 2021 vintage and bunch sizes were increased by at least 50%.

We are in for a bleak winter period with a wetter than normal rain event expected. The region is experiencing an incredible increase in visitation with some producers recording up to a 500% increase in cellar door activity. The future is looking great for the district with the region finally being noted for its high quality wines from diverse varieties.

Whites were outstanding with many reporting the best quality in decades

Report provided by Mike Hayes, president, Queensland Wine Association

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2022 PART 1

Victoria

Murray Darling and Swan Hill The 2021-22 growing season was punctuated by a number of rainfall events, rounding off a season that was full of challenges mostly brought upon by Mother Nature. Rainfall in January was almost four times the 50-year average (86.2mm cf. 23.1mm). Fortunately, the majority of the Murray Valley area did not suffer major crop loss due to these weather events. Plenty of water through full allocations and lower pricing in the temporary market allowed growers the solace of focussing on vineyard management without the added distraction of water supply issues. Like most of South-East Australia, the season was very mild, with more rainfall and humidity than normal, many cloudy days and very minimal hot 36

Grapegrower & Winemaker

days above 40 degrees. These conditions were the most favourable in many years for the development and onset of powdery mildew, increasing the need for preventative sprays for most growers. Adding to this, cooler soils meant that vine phenology was delayed and so too was nutrient uptake, leading to a season 10-14 days behind average. Harvest started in mid-January and finished in early May, a later finish than the region would expect but signifying the difficulties wineries experienced with available tank space hindering intake scheduling. The various rain events and cooler weather also meant that ripening, particularly for red varieties, was slow. Details of the final crush report are not available at the time of writing, however estimates suggest the crop will be in the www.winetitles.com.au

range of 320-340,000 tonnes – slightly below the 2019 and 2020 vintages, but well below the significant 400,000 tonne crop produced in 2021. Over the course of the season, thirteen disease alerts were issued for the region from GrowCare via Murray Valley Winegrowers (from data received through MVW’s network of weather stations). Subsequently, there were some small pockets of disease around the district (downy, powdery and botrytis, as well as pressure from light brown apple moth and mealy bug), but generally most growers were able to manage their crop through to harvest. Wineries have indicated the cooler growing season supported good varietal expression of the whites, with aromatics highly evident; whilst reds are noticeably July 2022 – Issue 702

WARM REGIONS

Victoria Rutherglen Producers in Rutherglen were pleased with the results of Vintage 2022, which provided progress from 2021 as well as what is expected to be high quality fruit. Based on the last vintage report for 2021 – in which the Rutherglen region crushed roughly 7,000 tonnes – it is estimated that yields increased by approximately 15% to around 8,000 tonnes. Vintage 2022 was cooler than the average vintage with significant rainfall across the growing season which posed a few challenges in the vineyard and winery. The vintage went against the trend with early budburst, flowering and harvest and with vintage starting later than average. Late spring and early summer were wet and cool resulting in disease pressures impacting to different degrees across the vineyard for early ripening varieties, but also with some excellent quality parcels of fruit such as Durif and Muscat. With the cooler temperatures and good rainfall, the grapes should retain more bright in fruit character – Merlot and alterative varieties being the highlights for vintage 2022. The greatest challenge by far was the difficulty selling red grape varieties, with little interest shown in many uncontracted reds and an estimated 15-20,000 tonnes being left unharvested at the end of vintage. This is heartbreaking for those growers that put their resources into producing a crop that was ultimately unsaleable due to geopolitical and logistics factors well outside of their control. Fortunately, fifty per cent of grapes grown in the Murray Valley are white varietals, and demand for whites was reasonably strong, although this did not translate into improved prices for many varieties. The reduced demand July – Issue 702

Overall, Vintage 2022 was largely disappointing for growers in the Murray Darling and Swan Hill regions. Having produced another excellent crop but failing to achieve sustainable prices for reds has left many at a juncture and wondering what the future will hold. for red grapes in 2022 saw a collapse in prices, with saleable grapes achieving approximately half what they did only www.winetitles.com.au

acid and be a little more elegant and have fruit vibrancy.

The main challenge was managing vineyard disease due to frequent rain events across the growing season. The main challenge was managing vineyard disease (botrytis and mildew) due to frequent rain events across the growing season. Rain events throughout the summer posed several challenges in terms of disease pressure and grapes splitting resulting in some fruit unable to be harvested. Additional time in the vineyard was necessary to mitigate the risk of disease, with canopy management practices such as side trimming aiding airflow through the vines. Report provided by Greg Ley, Stanton & Killeen Wines, Rutherglen two years ago. Such was the decline in in demand for reds that many wineries resisted “package deals” and were foregoing whites rather than taking unwanted reds with them. Overall, Vintage 2022 was largely disappointing for growers in the Murray Darling and Swan Hill regions. Having produced another excellent crop but failing to achieve sustainable prices for reds has left many at a juncture and wondering what the future will hold. As always, the year ahead will present an assortment of challenges for growers, but some may be questioning their renowned resilience in the face of the current industry adversity. Report supplied by Murray Valley Winegrowers Inc. Grapegrower & Winemaker

2022 PART 1

Western Australia Margaret River Although summer has been warmer by about a degree statewide on average, the good rains during the 2021 winter and warm dry weather over summer were welcome return to a favourable weather pattern for Vintage 2022. We experienced very hot conditions in December, January and February. Both minimum and maximum temperatures were significantly above average. Grape quality was excellent throughout the season and throughout the varieties with near perfect weather and virtually no disease pressure. Even the short episode of wet weather coming around Shiraz picking time seemed well-timed to finish the red ripening. Opportunities were wide open for stylistic choices in the picking dates. I’d expect 2022 to be remembered and tasted as a fantastic harvest for the region. In vineyards, most outfits seem to deal with COVID quite well, with only minor delays, being able to work at good distances and with increased machine sanitation protocols.

The impact seemed higher in wineries, notably with groups of cellar hands/ whole shifts sick at the same time. The community spirit really kicked in with volunteers jumping in to help along the process and great attention to sanitation and safety rules.

Full phenological ripeness seems to be a standout in the white varieties and perhaps also with the upcoming red varieties which sustained and steady berry metabolism will result in great seed ripeness, a full spectrum varietal flavour at lower baumes and good acid retention.

Labour shortages were difficult from pruning to harvest. Growers struggled to access staff and the cost of labour put pressure on operations. Access to necessary agricultural inputs was difficult and prices increased weekly. We expect the supply and costs of labour, and goods and services to continue to be difficult.

Hand-picks for Chardonnay and labour availabilities were a challenge due to lack of labour in the region, resulting in reliance on in-house resources to overcome the challenge.

Minor hot spells around Christmas and four weeks later in January were well managed with irrigation and reduced canopy manipulations (leaf-plucking) resulting in favourable cropping levels, with only very minor losses to sunburn and vine stress.

The sustained summer weather resulted in a narrower picking window than usual, however a cooler change in the night temperatures in late February and early March have helped spread the northern and southern fruit intakes, as post veraison they looked to all be coming on at once. Report prepared by Chris Gillmore, company viticulturist, Clairault Streicker, and Margaret River executive officer Amanda Whiteland.

Chris Gillmore at Ironstone Harvest. Photo: Margaret River Wine Association

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July 2022 – Issue 702

WARM REGIONS

Western Australia Geographe Excellent quality across the reds for the 2022 vintage with lots of “rich flavours and balanced acids” are the words Mark Cumbers, winemaker at Vineyard 28, to describe this year’s vintage in Geographe. The Geographe region was fortunate to not be impacted by any bushfire activity this vintage, nor was there significant impact from disease pressure or insect activity. Thankfully there was little to no powdery mildew and very little botrytis compared to previous years. Across the region the Marri trees flowered strongly early on, with some vineyards that harvested later on in the season feeling the bird pressure as the blossom was already gone, and damage was evident in those vineyards that were un-netted. Compared to last year’s vintage, which saw a cooler lead up, this season suffered a hot start to the summer. However, the wet spring that preceded it provided us with a more normal season, keeping the ground cool and allowing for slow ripening. Vintage got underway in the north of the region during the first week of February, and we saw the last harvest occurring in mid-April for those making fortified styles. Yields were a little up from last year across the breadth of the Geographe region, with the average yield sitting slightly higher than 2021. Chardonnay and Grenache yields were down overall this year, with low bunch weights. There were some concerns around the acids this year, with the worry that the acids would drop out

Peel The 2022 Vintage quite difficult.

for

Peel

was

Warm dry conditions generally meant very little disease impact, however the July – Issue 702

with the heat, however most whites were fresh, and the reds ripened nicely. “The 2022 ripening period started perfectly with weeks of uninterrupted sunny days that helped all white varieties to be harvested at optimum ripeness,” Stuart Pierce, winemaker at Harvey River Estate said. “With the whites all in and taken care of, it was now up to Mother Nature to look out for the reds. “As it happened the weather did hold out for some time, though the weather outlook became more uncertain due to the unpredictable nature of severe storm activity coming down from the north. “Holding out the reds for as long as possible were nervous times, as high rainfall events did take place and bird damage become increasingly evident. “Thankfully some lengthy periods of open blue skies allowed the opportunity for the reds to be harvested with full flavours and ripe tannins.” Geographe like most regions was concerned about having sufficient resources to harvest the grapes, especially since many of our vineyards are picked by hand. Last year’s Geographe Grape Pickers Facebook page, where local growers put the call out to community members whenever harvest workers were required, was repeated for vintage 2022, again proving to be very successful. Our growers are extremely grateful to the local population for their community spirit and enthusiasm. Report prepared by Geographe Wine Region chair Preeti Nirgude

extreme heatwave with six days over Christmas above 40 degrees, caused very significant losses (in some cases total), particularly to white and earlier ripening varieties. More inland the effect was not quite as marked. www.winetitles.com.au

Images: Frances Andrijich Photographer

Generally, red varieties were less affected but overall yields were down, but quality of fruit was good. A most challenging year overall. Report by Bernie Worthington, Peel Wine Association Grapegrower & Winemaker

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Trellising & Posts

Disposing of treated timber posts Tackling a thorny issue for the winegrowing sector Timber posts used to line vineyards the country over, providing necessary support to vine rows in rain and shine. The grim reality of these posts came, however, when it was time to replace them once they degraded. Harrison Davies spoke to those involved in efforts to find the posts a place to rest.

ooden posts were once a go to for viticulturists looking for an easy material to line their vineyards with.

Senior RD&E program manager at Wine Australia, Alex Sas, said there was space for a new approach for disposing of the old posts.

The issue with timber is that it’s an organic material and can degrade due to factors such as weather, pests and general decay.

“We need to know the approximate volume and condition of posts so that we can work with these businesses to develop regionally-specific options for growers looking to dispose or repurpose old posts,” he said.

The solution way back in the 1930s was to treat the timber with a variety of minerals, most commonly arsenic and copper – a substance known as CCA. The substance was widely used and resulted in the commonly seen green tinged wooden posts that population the viticultural landscape. However the posts were found to be potentially toxic to people and produce in their vicinity. Wine Australia is currently conducting a survey to find where the treated timber posts are located and what producers have done with them. 40

Grapegrower & Winemaker

The use of CCA treatment went more or less un-noticed for decades until 2005 when the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) released a report into its effects on people. The report laid out several suggestions for its removal, including its removal from children’s play equipment and also advocated for their removal from vineyards. While the research suggested the posts would not leach chemicals to the fruit themselves, there was evidence that www.winetitles.com.au

AT A GLANCE As an organic matter, timber posts degrade from weather, pests and general decay • CCA was created in the 1930s to treat timber posts to improve their lifespan • The use of CCA-treated posts in vineyards went largely unnoticed for decades • Some research suggests chemicals from treated posts could leach into surrounding ground • The disposal of treated posts remains a challenge • Growers have been warned not to burn treated posts • Used treated posts should be disposed of at an accredited waste facility • Potential health implications have led many growers to adopt posts made from materials like steel or plastic

July 2022 – Issue 702

suggested chemicals could leach into the ground surrounding the posts.

water quality, human and animal health, and soil quality.”

“New information, some from overseas and some from Australia, indicated that dislodgeable residues [those capable of being transferred from timber through contact] on CCA-treated timber structures may be higher than previously believed,” the APVMA report said.

Finding a place for old posts

The potential for health implications

CCA and creosote posts are one of the products commonly used in vineyards and it’s a product that we need to consider for disposal or reuse in a way that will not create an additional burden on growers.

Sas said the purpose of the survey was to develop methods and initiatives to responsibly remove posts from properties without causing further threats to vineyards and local environments. “While growers may think of old CCA and creosote posts as a waste stream, other businesses may consider them a resource that can be repurposed,” he said. “The purpose of the survey is to get an idea of the likely stockpile of posts in each region. “The survey has already received lots of support from growers around Australia, which I’m really grateful for, but we need more responses to get a good picture of the volume and condition of posts in each region.”

Alex Sas

Wine Australia is working to map out a database of where posts in Australia are and what condition they are currently in.

lead many wine producers to look toward changing their vineyard posts from the traditional timber to something more weather resilient, like steel or plastic, in order to remove the health risks the treated timber posed.

The survey is being conducted alongside the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life (NCTDDL) who focus on designing timber that not only has longevity but is also sustainable for people and for the environment.

Many producers removed their posts but remain with the challenge of disposing them.

NCTDDL director and professor at University of Sunshine Coast Jeff Morell said the collaboration hopes to find a strategy to manage unused, treated posts.

Sustainable waste bodies like Green Industries SA warn against the burning of treated timber and state that any treated timber must be taken to an accredited waste facility rather than being burned. “[Wine businesses] in South Australia widely use CCA timber, leading to growing quantities of treated timber waste being generated and stockpiled,” a report by Green Industries SA states. “Given the recent global reviews of CCAtreated timber for toxicity risk assessment and leachate generation, the EPA promotes precautionary management of waste CCA timber. “Burnt treated timber posts and treated timber ash is also highly hazardous. The heavy metals in treated timber ash present risks to ground- and surfaceJuly – Issue 702

VINEYARD & RURAL

“The goal of the survey is to find out what they’re doing and figure out where they are,” he said. “The biggest issue is because you have a relatively low volume material and you have to be able to move it fairly efficiently.

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“We have had Ocloc posts in for many years, over this time we have spent ‘Zero $’s‘ on maintenance together with a much cleaner pick increasing yield and returns per ha.” Zarella Vineyards, McLaren Vale

“There’s a lot of different options and you have to explore what might be best for the material and where it is. “Some of the bigger stuff that we work with… you could take the poles and resell them and make timber out of them, which some companies already do, whereas some might be composted. “Then we’re talking to some mining refineries who might use it for bioenergy to replace coal. www.winetitles.com.au

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While growers may think of old CCA and creosote posts as a waste stream, other businesses may consider them a resource that can be repurposed. Alex Sas

Another suggested material is recycled plastic composite.

“The other thing we’re looking at is pyrolysis in localised pyrolysis where you produce biochar for soil amendments is another possibility.” The survey also looks to find what producers have done to re-use posts in areas that are safe and functional. One possible use for posts after their lifespan is to be used in fencing and landscaping, as they are still resistant to decay and insects. “The sector as a whole is working to improve its sustainability, and reducing carbon emissions and waste to zero by 2050,” Sas continued. “CCA and creosote posts are one of the products commonly used in vineyards and it’s a product that we need to consider for disposal or reuse in a way that will not create an additional burden on growers. 42

Grapegrower & Winemaker

“The survey results are the first essential step in developing a project to provide options for growers, which could include some uses for posts that have not previously been considered. “The goal of this project is to remove stockpiles of treated timber posts from grower’s properties, reducing the risks involved in storing them, for example the accidental release of toxins from old treated timber posts when burnt during bushfires.” There are several alternatives that are suggested for producers to use after removing their CCA timber posts. The first, and most common, is steel. This is a very resilient material and can be recycled many times. Despite higher initial costs, they are also easier to dispose of once they have completed their lifespan as they do not need to go to landfill and can be sold as scrap metal to recyclers. www.winetitles.com.au

This material is typically made from waste materials gathered from residents’ recycling bins in local councils and actively uses waste materials to contribute to the circular economy whilst also diverting waste materials from landfill. Recycled plastic posts and plastic coated timber posts don’t rot, splinter, or weather with age or UV radiation and are impervious to pests like termites.. While the costs of these different materials may be initially higher than that of CCA timber, the cost of disposing them is far lower, and Green Industries SA warned producers that costs of disposing treated timber should be considered. “In South Australia, the only available disposal option for CCA posts is to send to a suitably engineered and licenced landfill,” The report stated. “The cost of sending CCA posts to landfill is an important part of considering the overall cost of ownership.” July 2022 – Issue 702

A technique with growing potential

VINEYARD & RURAL

Exploring the advantages of sap flow pruning Winter activities in the vineyard are underway and interest in sap flow pruning is increasing as growers investigate the benefits offered by this method, as SImone Madden-Grey writes.

ap flow pruning is an historic technique known variously as Poussard method, vascular flow or soft pruning. Designed around promoting and protecting sap flow, pruning decisions are guided by the creation of structural elements rather than aesthetic or geometric designs. There are nuances in the implementation of this technique but in general terms, smaller cuts are made on one side of the vine away from live wood. This is to manage desiccation and preserve the flow of sap on the other side of the vine. Global consultants François Dal and Simonit & Sirch have been instrumental in the promotion of this technique.

Benefits Designed primarily for grapevine trunk disease management, additional benefits of sap flow pruning include long-term productivity, yield and quality consistency, disease and weather event resilience and greater labour force engagement. At Clos Henri in Marlborough, Damien Yvon, originally from France, says he is amazed at how few dead vines he sees in the valley. Nonetheless, a proactive approach combined with a visit in 2007 from renowned practitioner François Dal, saw existing vines converted to,

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OCLOC MADE IN AUSTRALIA ADVANTAGES: • Significant savings compared to traditional post replacement • Time and motion savings, single pass (200 stackable Ocloc’s per pack vs 60 woods) • Installed and attached next to existing broken wooden post • No wire or post removal • Substantial ecological and cost advantages • Galfan coated High Tensile steel for strength and durability

“We have been using Oclocs for post renewal over the last 7 years they have reduced our post maintenance costs and broken post piles significantly.” Matt Ward, Randall Group

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grapegrowing At Craggy Range, Martinborough, the standardisation of pruning is an invaluable tool for Fabiano Frangi. Previous employment during the implementation of sap flow pruning techniques at Clos Henri means Frangi has worked with this technique for more than a decade. He describes the method as a mathematical process for pruners, “you have a spur on each side of the plant carrying two buds each, one for the cane, the other for next year’s spur. It is easy to stick to this system and it is always three cuts on one side of the plant, three cuts on the other side. You always angle the tools the same way to prune on each side.” In Frangi’s experience it generally takes two to three days for pruning speed to increase after initial training.

Resources Researching sap flow pruning methods has until recently been limited to a few publications, fewer still if English is the required language. Fortunately, the library of resources is growing. Place of Changing Winds have been working on a translation of the original Poussard book by René Lafon. This is due to be released in English and French in the second half of the year through the Ex Vinum imprint. Ex Vinum is also the distributor for the Simonit & Sirch guides in Australia, including the Guyot Methodology guide in English, which is available now. and new vines pruned using the sap flow method. This approach forms a key part of the long-term vision for Clos Henri. Yvon says the ultimate goal is vine longevity in order to benefit from the inherent quality and complexity older vines offer wine. For Yvon, the region’s long-term reputation will be strengthened through the preservation of older vines, which can be achieved with quality pruning. The goal at Place of Changing Winds, Macedon, is healthy 60-year-old vines capable of producing good wine. Robert Walters and Rémi Jacquemain see significant value in sap flow pruning due to the accumulation of living wood. The preservation of functional vascular tissue helps increase carbohydrate storage. As a result vine resilience is increased, vine mortality reduced and quality and yield in old vines improved. 44

Grapegrower & Winemaker

At Black Estate, Waipara, Nicholas Brown says sap flow pruning was chosen for work with their old, low vigour vines. Four years later the entire vineyard is pruned using this technique. Brown says each year has presented thicker, more fruitful canes and stronger canes in the critical position on the underside of the spur. Crew engagement is necessarily higher when the method relies on reading cues from individual vines. Manual force is reduced because pruning is done using secateurs rather than loppers and saws. For Brown, the initial investment was quick to pay off, “by the end of the season pruning was a similar speed to previous years but to a much higher quality with more long-term benefits”. Pruning costs have also come down as efficiency has increased, fewer cuts are made and saws and pruning paste are no longer used. www.winetitles.com.au

From June until August 2022 Mia Fischer of Simonit & Sirch will return to New Zealand and Australia, hosting a series of workshops and client visits. In collaboration with Farmlands New Zealand, Fischer will visit growers in Hawkes Bay, Marlborough and Central Otago. The aim, she says, is to understand the methodology being used in each region and where support from Simonit & Sirch might be beneficial. In Australia, Fischer is working with AWRI and Dr Mark Sosnowski, senior research scientist at the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), to present full-day workshops across Australia in July and August. The latest vine health and pruning techniques research will be presented together with interactive field demonstrations and specific regional advice. Fischer says increased publications linking trunk disease and pruning have July 2022 – Issue 702

raised industry engagement with soft pruning techniques. Despite postponements caused by COVID, Fischer is keen to progress discussions about the importance of minimising trunk disease risk, increasing vineyard longevity and the role pruning has to play in this. In France, as part of his work in Centre Loire at Interprofessional Service for Agronomic Advice, Vinification and Analysis of the Centre (SICAVAC), François Dal has published several books since 2008, sharing research and expanding on the original work of Poussard. Subsequent editions have included guidance for Guyot, Guyot-Poussard, Gobelet and Cordon Royat systems. The latest edition includes a section on establishing new vines using sap flow pruning and is due for release in August 2022. Dal also holds an annual week-long workshop for practical experience. The aim is to train industry members who can then share what they have learned. This is in part, he tells me, to manage the increase in demand for his skills locally and internationally.

Labour Changing a pruning method is not without challenges, particularly when closures and enforced quarantine for international workers have exacerbated labour shortages. The result has been a reduction in the number of experienced crews available and an immediate premium on vineyard wages. To manage this, some growers have limited contract work to stripping, wrapping and clean-up while spending more time shadowing workers in the vineyard. This is in addition to whiteboard sessions, practical demonstrations and self-written manuals. At Clos Henri, Georges von der Decken tells me this is the first year the team will allocate part of the cutting work to contractors, preferring a team with no prior vine pruning experience. He says this has two benefits, “They are a blank canvas so we can teach them from scratch and they may also return to work with us the next year, bringing the return on our investment back to us.” This year’s team at Place of Changing Winds has been drawn from applicants who responded to a call-out over social media. The response was good says Jacquemain, with people keen to learn more about this particular pruning method. Increased interest in sap flow pruning has also helped source labour at Black Estate. Brown says that previous applicants wanted experience in organic and biodynamic viticulture, now that has expanded to include learning this specific pruning technique. The hope is that when international travellers return, labour shortages will ease. At Clos Henri, Yvon says another challenge is a culture of undervaluing pruning work, viewing it merely as a steppingstone to another role. “In reality,” he says, “it is a skilled and important job that is fundamental to quality wine production”. Von der Decken agrees, “the importance of pruning should not be underestimated because that is how you set your vineyard up for the whole lifecycle of the wine”. At Black Estate, Brown tells me he was drawn to sap flow pruning because it emphasised pruning as a craft with significant value when done to a high level.

suggests there is a place for this historic technique as part of longterm investment in vine quality, resilience and productivity. Simone Madden-Grey is a writer based in Melbourne, Australia writing about the people, places and stories she has discovered on her travels. Her portfolio can be found at happywinewoman. com including articles on climate and sustainability in the wine industry and travel covering the wine, regions and gourmet destinations of Australia and her home country, New Zealand.

Further information AWRI workshops July – August 2022: www.awri.com.au/ events/pruning-and-vine-health-for-vineyard-longevitymclaren-vale/ François Dal, SICAVAC publications and workshops: www. vins-centre-loire.com/fr/1/67/sicavac.html / https://www.vinscentre-loire.com/fr/1/82/Manuel-des-pratiques-viticoles/1.html Simonit & Sirch: https://simonitesirch.com/simonitesirchpruning-method/

References ‘Pruning for Sap Flow: Extending Vineyard Life & Improving Output’, Sarah Bray, GuildSomm, Published 8 October 2021. www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/ sarah-bray/posts/pruning-for-sap-flow Video: ‘Sap Flow Pruning: Country Calendar New Zealand, episode 1’, Hannah Lewis, Published 17 August 2021. www. youtube.com/watch?v=VOvimL_tFos

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The increased number of growers using sap flow pruning July – Issue 702

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Hans Herzog Estate introduces Blaufränkisch grape variety to New Zealand

arlborough based winery Hans Herzog Estate has released New Zealand’s first Blaufränkisch, also known as Lemberger.

Blaufränkisch translates to ‘blue wine of the Franks’, the Austrian name for the increasingly respected middle European black grape variety.

Blaufränkisch translates to ‘blue wine of the Franks’, the Austrian name for the increasingly respected middle European black grape variety. From pre-medieval times it was common to divide grape varieties into the (superior) ‘fränkisch’, whose origins lay with the Franks. DNA profiling has shown that Blaufränkisch is a cross between Gouais Blanc (Weißer Heunisch; male parent) and Blaue Zimmettraube (aka Sbulzina in north-eastern Italy). The culmination of many years of dedicated and painstaking work in the vineyard has manifested itself in this first small batch production of the noble Austrian grape variety, Blaufränkisch, with Vintage 2019. Being a parent of Zweigelt together with St Laurent, Blaufraenkisch completes the estate’s Austrian family, grown on one organic single vineyard. 46

Grapegrower & Winemaker

The 2019 Blaufränkisch is from a purposely tiny yield of 800g per vine for a natural concentration. Vigneron Hans Herzog described the wine as, “a refined wine with smooth tannins and savoury acidity, it is beautifully balanced”. “[The wine] demonstrates its heritage: single vineyard, hand-picked from the lowest yield. Untamed with long skin contact for intricacy and texture, natural fermentation with indigenous www.winetitles.com.au

yeasts in French barriques, no fining, no filtration,” he continued. With a hands-on approach, Herzog himself runs the organic 11.5-hectare vineyard, one of the warmest sites in Marlborough. Herzog is famous for his experimentalist stance and, unfettered by commercial considerations, grows an unconventional range of many exciting grape varieties for age-worthy wines of complexity, concentration, and balance. July 2022 – Issue 702

History made as SA Pruning Championships return

new record was set at the 2022 SA Pruning Championships, held in the Clare Valley at Kilikanoon Wines in June, with a woman being crowned the winner for the first time.

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Consistency across both individual open events saw Laura McEwan of the Barossa take home the Wolf SA pruning champion Laura Blass Shield for the champion McEwan. Photo: Clare Valley pruner. McEwan came third Wine & Grape Association in the individual rod and spur and fourth in the individual spur, resulting in the highest individual aggregate score. McEwan also won the Eclipse ladies spur event. Kilikanoon’s Leigh Victor, who won the Wolf Blass Shield in 2016, got off to a flying start, winning the individual rod and spur event. Clare Valley dominated in this event with the second prize also going to Clare Valley competitor Brett Smith from Jim Barry Wines. Barossa Valley’s Jim Boehm won the individual spur with Amanda Mader, also from the Barossa, claiming second prize, and local contractor Ghulam Mohammadi securing third place.

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The highlight of the competition was the team spur event which focuses on speed but can be influenced by clever strategy between the three members of the team. Barossa team Ted Dendril and the 2 Bud Spurs claimed victory this year, with Barossa’s Sizzling Secateurs hot on their heels and the Killa Crew from Kilikanoon close behind. Healthy rivalry continues between Clare and Barossa Valleys, producing a close tussle for all events in 2022, according to Clare Valley Wine & Grape Association executive officer Anna Baum. “The two regions take it in turns to host the event and provide a strong field of competitors,” she said

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“We had incredibly strong support from industry this year with four companies donating electric secateurs as major prizes and Techgrow donating $2000 in cash prizes,” she said.

“There was a lot of interest from competitors and spectators in the vineyard and pruning equipment on show with 15 wholesalers and retail dealerships participating in the trade display.” This year Darren Sparks was the lucky winner of the entry prize, a pair of Mobishear electric secateurs. “Many competitors take a day off work to participate in the competition and an entry prize ensures that all competitors are in the running for a major prize,” Baum said. July – Issue 702

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Sustainability

Soil carbon increases under cover crops

Planting cover crops directly underneath grapevines can help mitigate the effects of climate change and improve land sustainability, according to a new study.

esearch conducted by the University of Adelaide has found the level of soil organic carbon (SOC) was almost 23 per cent higher in areas that had cover crops directly below vines, when compared to a standard method of spraying herbicide on the soil. Increasing levels of SOC can promote soil structure, improves soil aeration, water drainage and retention, along with removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Lead author Joseph Marks, a PhD student with the University, said while the benefits of planting cover crops between the rows of vineyards was well known, less research had been conducted on the effects of under-vine cover crops.

Researcher Joseph Marks with a split core sample of soil that is used to analyse carbon levels of cover crops planted below grapevines.

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July 2022 – Issue 702

“We found that cover crop-managed soil under-vine retains up to 23% more soil organic carbon (SOC) as the traditional, herbicide practice over a five-year period of growth,” Marks said. “Microbial activity increased by more than double in cover crop soils, owing to an increase in dissolved organic carbon and that there is evidence for more resistant carbon in cover crop soils. “These results suggest that cover crop management under-vine is a potential solution to increase SOC stocks within vineyard systems. “Taken together, the results of this study indicate that a shift from bare earth to cover crops in the under-vine region has the potential to contain carbon in vineyard soils.” The study was conducted on two vineyard sites established in 2014, examining soil from four different treatments, including

two cover crop combinations, a straw mulch and a herbicide-managed control.

…the results of this study indicate that a shift from bare earth to cover crops in the under-vine region has the potential to contain carbon in vineyard soils.

Cover crops are planted to provide soil cover rather than for the purpose of being harvested. They are used to slow erosion, improve soil health, enhance water availability, smother weeds, help control pests and diseases and increase biodiversity. Dr Thomas Lines, Chris Penfold and Professor Tim Cavagnaro also contributed to the research.

Joseph Marks

The findings of the research were published in Science of The Total Environment.

Soils were sampled under-vine to depths of up to 30cm and were analysed for concentrations of soil organic carbon and bulk density, to determine the level of soil organic carbon in the soil.

The research wouldn’t have been possible without Wine Australia, who provided support through its top-up scholarship program and awarded Joseph Marks the inaugural Dr Tony Jordan OAM Award in 2020, providing additional funds towards his research.

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Sustainability

Australian technology transforming viticulture through 5G

Precision farming is about to get a whole lot more precise with a wave of 5G technology showing economic and productivity benefits to the viticulture industry, as Edon Abbot writes.

rowers are increasingly interested in the advantages that 5G has to offer the industry by saving money, time and maximising yield. Platfarm is a spatially based tasking and GPS tracking app for the viticulture industry developed at Lot Fourteen in Adelaide that allows growers and farmers to manage their land via a smart device. CEO and Co-founder of Platfarm Lyndsey Jackson said that with a mobile

phone and a good antenna, you can get 1cm of accuracy. “Being able to really accurately know where either the machine is or fences vine rows, things like that are going to be really critical,” Jackson said. This precision is important in the viticultural industry by tracking what vine rows have been worked on to avoid complications.

“If you’re spraying for pests and diseases but have to go fill up your tank… when you come back and you’re a row out, then that can dramatically increase the chance of pests and fungi – that’s how outbreaks happen,” Jackson said. “But with 5G, if you get down to 1cm accuracy, then you’re starting to be really precise about where the location is.” Last month, Platfarm went to a demonstration day supported by Wine

We can definitely see that things are changing – the climate’s changing, fertilisers are getting more expensive, customers are demanding more sustainable growing methods that are improving the quality of the soil. Lindsey Jackson

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work for their team while they’re out in the vineyard.” Jackson said that farmers have reacted positively to this AgTech innovation as it becomes increasingly popular among growers. Lindsey Jackson

Australia in the Mornington Peninsula to be a part of a 5G/GPS trial with Frontier SI and Position Partners to evaluate its economic benefit. The trial was funded by the Australian Government as part of the Australian 5G Innovation Initiative to demonstrate the benefit that 5G has on precision farming. Position Partners used drone flyovers for Near Real-Time Image Processing while Platfarm looked at testing the accuracy for the GPS tracking in the vineyard, through the capabilities of 5G. “You can start to have really accurate movement of data and location,” Jackson said. “Then you’re building a tool that really help growers with analysis and directing

“We’re really hitting at a point where our farmers are really positive about adopting technology on their properties,” she said. “We can definitely see that things are changing – the climate’s changing, fertilisers are getting more expensive, customers are demanding more sustainable growing methods that are improving the quality of the soil.” Jackson said in broadacre they can afford to have lots of tech – especially expensive tech – because the machinery and scale is already so big. “They have really good receivers and they’re using satellite for that GPS location,” she said. But in viticulture and horticulture they have smaller blocks and tractors, where they don’t have the technology in them which is unaffordable.

5G technology will provide a more affordable option for farmers via their smart device. “As 5G improves, the accuracy from just a mobile phone is going to improve,” Jackson said. “You can see that then you’re starting to make things really affordable and that technology is getting really cheap and accessible at that level.” Jackson said in the future technologies will increase productivity such as robots and autosteer where GPS precision is essential. “If you’re a farmer and you’re on your auto-steering tractor… you still have to be on it, but your hands are free to do other things, you don’t have to just have your hands on the wheel,” she said. “So growers are really excited for that cause it means that they can do more with what they’ve got.” This article originally appeared in The Lead.

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Frost Management

The cold facts about managing vineyard frost

Preparing vines for cooler morning conditions

The onset of climate change means different conditions than what have historically been recorded. Harrison Davies explores the increasing threat posed by frost conditions in vineyards and how producers can mitigate the impact on their vines.

Pruning frost prune areas as late as possible to reduce the risks of an early budbreak can be important in vineyards with some risk, and is a good strategy even in very low frost risk areas. Fred Peacock Vines singed by frost at the Tablas Creek Vineyard. Image Tablas Creek

veryone remembers mornings as a kid when their lawn would be coated in a thin, white layer of frost.

It always seemed a magical moment when one was rugged up in a blanket with a mug of cocoa on hand, but the harsh realities of frost become clear with age. Frost can be a significant threat to vineyards if not prepared for properly and wine regions the world over have been experiencing greater periods of frost in recent years. Producers in Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne all tore their hair out due to frost conditions persisting longer into the year than what was normal, and many lost part of their yield due to it occurring during budburst. Frost in Australia is commonplace in cool-climate regions (see the map on page 54) and is defined by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) as: “a deposit of soft white ice crystals or frozen dew drops on objects near the ground; formed when the surface temperature falls below freezing point”. Frost can form in two circumstances when the temperature is low enough. The first and most common form is 52

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known as radiation frost; the type of frost that occurs when the air and ground temperatures cool due to the loss of heat in the atmosphere. It begins at ground level and then rises as the temperature persists. Most of the time this type of frost will occur under clear skies. The second way frost can form is called ‘advection frost’ and occurs when a mass of very cold air moves over an area, replacing the warmer air, however this rarely happens in Australia. A spokesperson for BOM said conditions for frost had to be still, dry and with clear skies. “In Australia, frost is more likely to form under a clear sky, with low humidity and light surface winds,” they said. “Clear skies favour the escape of radiation (heat) from the earth’s surface to space. Clouds reflect the outgoing radiation, slowing the cooling at the surface. “When the air is more humid, internal processes relating to the change of state of water between vapour-liquid-solid causes the release of heat (latent heat). This slows down the cooling, decreasing the likelihood of frost. www.winetitles.com.au

“At night, wind can act to mix the cooler air near the surface with warmer air just above it. This slows the radiative cooling at the surface, making frost formation less likely.”

Frost in vineyards Frost poses a significant threat to grapevines, especially when it occurs around the same time as budburst. Vines affected by frost can experience lowered yield and even eliminate the crop itself in extreme cases. Injury from frost occurs due to the freezing of plant cells as ice forms outside or inside the cell itself. According to the Australian Wine Research institute’s (AWRI) fact sheet on frost; young or immature plant tissue is the most prone to damage and air temperatures of -3.4°C or less will damage 50% of vine buds at the woolly bud stage. While frost is hasn’t been a major concern for Australian winemakers in some of the warmer regions, it is a yearly concern for those in America. Jordan Lonborg is the viticulturist at Tablas Creek Vineyard in central July 2022 – Issue 702

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grapegrowing their vines were still affected by low temperatures. “Those earlier frosts that hit Oregon really hard and northern California didn’t really make it down to us,” he explained. “Unfortunately it was that late [frost] in late May that really, really rocked us.”

The Tablas Creek Vineyard. Image Tablas Creek

California and said that frost had been a greater concern in recent years. “So we’re located near Tablas Creek in the Adelaida AVA of Paso Robles. So we’re about 20 minutes west of the town of Paso Robles,” he said. “As a crow flies it’s probably like 10 to 15 miles and then we’re 10 miles to the ocean. “We get these insane diurnal swings which is why it’s such a great growing climate and we’ll consistently [reach highs of] 32-35 degrees but quite often see temps from 40 plus. Then everyday it will drop to a minimum of 0 degrees.” Lonborg said they had used their frost protection technology for the last several years and that they had used it around 10 times in the last growing season. While the frost that rocked producers further north didn’t affect them as much,

Vines on several of their blocks were reportedly singed by the frosts but yields on most of the vines were saved for the most part. Looking Down Under, producers in Tasmania frequently have to navigate seasons with high frost probability due to the region’s cool climate – with some vulnerable areas having a potential 30 per cent loss in a year with bad frost.

The AWRI and Lonborg also suggested that varietal placement would assist in preventing damage from frost, although Lonborg admitted that sometimes it’s hard to think that far in advance. “Varietal selection and where you plant it in the vineyard is important;, you know, putting a white varietal that breaks bud early in a cold spot is very risky,” Lonborg explained. “Putting something that is a late budbreaker is, is typically helpful in colder spots. But at the end of the day, most vineyards are already planted.” Organising vine plantings based on soil temperature and area climate is a good way to protect fruit that is likely to be affected more by frost.

Bream Creek, located in Tasmania’s east, frequently considers the threat of frost in relation to the health of their vineyards.

Peacock said site selection was a good way to ensure vulnerable vines weren’t placed in areas that would help mitigate risk.

Bream Creek viticulturist Fred Peacock has worked in vineyards with frost issues throughout his career and said it was part of life when making wine in Tasmania.

“With Tasmania having significant changes in topography over short distances it is important to assess frost risk very carefully,” Peacock said.

“In some areas frost is a definite threat. Site selection should always take note of the “local” frost risk,” he said.

“Making sure air drainage lines are clear to help stop the depth of cold air increasing to a damaging height.

Management strategies

“Ensuring the vineyard is mown short in late winter to increase incoming and outgoing radiation from the soil surface.

There are a number of ways that producers can mitigate the threat of frost in the vineyard, but there is also no silver bullet solution.

“Pruning frost prone areas as late as possible to reduce the risks of an early budbreak can be important in vineyards with some risk, and is a good strategy even in very low frost risk areas.” There are also several tools producers can use to prevent the onset of frost. The most common and the most preferred amongst those spoken to for this story is frost sprinklers. Sprinklers work well in an Australian context because much of the frost sets in due to radiation frost, which comes from the ground and sets in dry air. The sprinklers add humidity in the vicinity of the vines and helps to level out extreme temperature spikes. Peacock said sprinklers were a good tool that producers could use but that they still had their limitations. “Frost protection via sprinklers will protect more reliably against the more

Frost probability in Australia. Map Bureau of Meteorology.

Grapegrower & Winemaker

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July 2022 – Issue 702

severe frosts, and water protection is not impacted as much as fans by very cold breezes that are below 0 degrees. Most vertical frost fans have wind speed limitations,” Peacock said. “Additionally, existing pump capacity might need to be increased to enable a sufficient water application rate over a large area to meet the frost protection requirements. Because of the high diurnal variation in the climate in Tablas Creek, Lonborg also endorsed the use of sprinklers. “Well, in terms of protection without question, the best type of frost protection you can have in your vineyard is using sprinklers,” Lonborg said.

“When you’re seeing temps under 0 degrees for three or four or five hours, the best form of protection is water.” This mirrored the AWRI’s advice for mitigating frost, where the factsheet suggested that using sprinklers would prevent the onset of frost due to the presence of moisture. Vineyard fans are another common tool that producers reach for to protect from frost and they work by circulating higher, warmer air with cooler air that may have been caught in pockets of the vineyard. Peacock said these too came with advantages and disadvantages. Frost fans aren’t used as commonly as they work more efficiently against advection frost, which is less common in Australia.

“Fans are easier to retrofit in large areas as compared with increasing water storage and running larger water mains in existing vineyards, and are independent of the water supply,” he said. “Dry seasons tend to be more frost prone seasons, so water supply could be a problem in many locations. “There are enclosed horizontal frost fan (SIS) systems that are not impacted by very cold drifting air, so these would be preferred in many blocks both for their ability to withstand breezes and also emit less noise so would be preferred in more settled areas/near close neighbours.”

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Tasmania cheers for 60 pioneering years

Picturesque riverbank setting of Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). Photo: Image credit: MONA/Jesse Hunniford

From its early humble beginnings, Moorilla is today regarded as a ‘jewel in Tasmania’s wine crown’. It’s been six decades since the first wines were produced from the site overlooking the Derwent River. That milestone was recently celebrated, as Mark Smith writes.

f you hadn’t heard of Tasmania’s David Walsh before January 2011, the opening of his Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) at Berriedale on the outskirts of Hobart is bound to have grabbed your attention. The professional gambler and art collector received countless plaudits for the way in which he changed how Australians looked at art and indeed Tasmania itself. The curation of his vast collection of antiquities, books and contemporary artworks was — and remains — innovative and unconventional. Decades earlier, the 9ha site overlooking the River Derwent witnessed an act of creative expression that was similarly innovative and unconventional — the foot stomping of six cases of homegrown winegrapes.

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Italian immigrant Claudio Alcorso and his three-year-old daughter Caroline had bared their feet to make a little wine for family and friends. It turns out their tiny batch of 1962 vintage Riesling also made

As a child, I walked past many times. Had I entered, I would have encountered Claudio’s earliest vintages. When the family company foundered, I bought Moorilla on a whim in 1995. David Walsh www.winetitles.com.au

history. Today, Alcorso and his beloved Moorilla are regarded as Tasmanian wine pioneers. Back in mid-April, Walsh marked 60 years of Moorilla winemaking with a day of celebration on the busy property, 10km north of Hobart. Before COVID-19, MONA had been welcoming 360,000¹visitors annually. (Tasmania’s population is 519,000²). Guests come to experience Australia’s largest private museum. Many enjoy on-site food, wine, entertainment and luxury accommodation. Moorilla’s 2ha vineyard is home to a modern winery that deals with the practicalities of processing fruit for still and sparkling wine production. July 2022 – Issue 702

Around 200km away, the 14ha Tamar Valley vineyard of St Matthias fulfills additional demands for top quality Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. A smidgen of Bordeaux reds underscores the property’s 40-year heritage, while Shiraz provides hope and direction for the future. Alcorso became a household name during the 1960s and 1970s as a patron of the arts and creator of Silk and Textile Printers Pty Ltd (now Sheridan Australia). “I was raised just up the road from Moorilla,” Walsh recalls. “As a child, I walked past many times. Had I entered, I would have encountered Claudio’s earliest vintages. When the family company foundered, I bought Moorilla on a whim in 1995.” Alcorso died in August 2000 while resident on the property along with his wife Lesley.

Moorilla founder Claudio Alcorso in the vineyard, 1998. Photo: Mark Smith

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Moorilla founder Claudio Alcorso in the vineyard, 1998. Photo: Mark Smith

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Aerial view of Moorilla and Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) Photo: MONA/Stu Gibson

“I didn’t buy Moorilla for the wine,” Walsh admits. “I was seeking an art warehouse. Now it’s the site of MONA, I see myself as custodian of Claudio’s heritage and of those that were here for thousands of years before him. Buying Moorilla is among the best decisions I’ve ever made.” Moorilla winemaker Conor van der Reest says the vineyard began with 90 Riesling cuttings planted in 1958. They were sourced by David Wynn, founder of Wynns Coonawarra Estate and Mountadam Vineyard. The cuttings came from a large vineyard planted at Modbury in Adelaide’s northeast in 1947. Alcorso’s autobiography³ notes Wynn was so impressed by the juice he subsequently tasted from Moorilla’s Riesling that he sent his friend 90 Cabernet Sauvignon cuttings. “It was validation of Claudio’s faith in his ambitious project,” van der Reest adds. 58

Grapegrower & Winemaker

Those early years saw friends and government agencies actively discourage him from planting vines. Conventional wisdom asserted Tasmania was too cool for viticulture. ‘Apples and pears, Mr Alcorso,’ said one Ag Department official.

Ironically, those same fruits were already established on the property Alcorso came to purchase in 1947. Erosion caused by inappropriate farming practices and the lack of irrigation provided evidence of neglect rather than success.

Conor van der Reest

Few plantings from the 1960s and 1970s remain. They include three rows of old soldiers that survived transplanting from a utilitarian, wired-caged environment, torn down when a visitor centre and new landscaping were created at the end of the 1980s.

“Those early years saw friends and government agencies actively discourage him from planting vines. Conventional wisdom asserted Tasmania was too cool for viticulture. ‘Apples and pears, Mr Alcorso,’ said one Ag Department official.” www.winetitles.com.au

Walsh almost fell into a similar trap by adopting a French-style, unirrigated approach to management during his first years of ownership. Failure to take into account modest annual average rainfall — 573mm⁴ — put a significant number of vines on death row, he says. Insidious splitting of critical vine architecture aided and abetted the spread of trunk diseases.

“Many vines were removed or succumbed to eutypa after suffering reduced yields,” Moorilla’s winemaker explains. July 2022 – Issue 702

Moorilla Pinot Noir on lyre trellis, vintage 2022. Photo: Peter Mueller

“The old Riesling had gone before I arrived in 2007. Moorilla’s celebrated Gewürztraminer (clone 48) was replaced by Pinot Noir about eight years ago. The vineyard is almost all Pinot Noir now, with the exception of 0.4ha Riesling I helped plant by the entrance.

Viticulture ‘challenging’ “Viticulture here is challenging. Our soils are pretty diverse. We have four metres and more of deep, silty clay. But there’s also risen siltstone bedrock on only a few centimetres of sand. Those growing conditions not only bring massive differences in vine size, vigour and fruit composition, they result in significant yield differences. “We’re always among the first to harvest in the Derwent Valley. Pinot Noir usually comes off around the middle of March, and we work hard to tailor our handpicking to avoid everything coming in at once. Harvest this year took around three weeks. That included fruit from our northern vineyard. That’s the shortest vintage I can remember here.” July – Issue 702

‘The quest for the varieties best suited to our place, the optimum spacing, the best trellising, the correct level of pruning proved to be a long one — more than 20 years,’ Claudio Alcorso observed during his last decade on the property. Canadian-trained van der Reest is awestruck by the results Alcorso and his winemaker son Julian achieved during their 37 years of vineyard development. The pair may have made plenty of sound decisions along the way, but chance also played its part. Chris Harrington arrived at Moorilla in the 1970s to take on a day’s gardening for Lesley Alcorso. Before long, he was planting vines, bringing lofty ideas down to earth. By 1983, Harrington was Moorilla’s full-time vineyard manager, chasing his own dreams. When Alcorso joined the State Committee of Australia’s premier scientific and research organisation in the mid-60s, he met Dr Don Martin, officer-in-charge of CSIRO Hobart. www.winetitles.com.au

Martin was a botanist by training, a true believer in Tasmania’s potential for cool climate wine production5.

CSIRO collaboration He arranged for CSIRO’s horticultural research station at Merbein to install instrumentation at Moorilla to monitor growing conditions and vine behaviour. The project lasted five years. Importantly, it appeared to confirm Alcorso’s assertions that Moorilla’s climate was indeed similar to some wine regions of northern Europe. Collaboration also enabled CSIRO researchers to assess the performance of a range of cool climate grape varieties and clonal selections that were not wellsuited to Victoria’s warm Murray Valley. Martin gradually assumed the role of winemaker for the small family company, calling on the support of not only CSIRO but the skills and expertise of wine industry professionals like Dr Bryce Rankine. With Julian Alcorso at the helm in the 1980s, consultative roles Grapegrower & Winemaker

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Winemaker Conor van der Reest assessing Moorilla wine. Photo: MONA/Jesse Hunniford

fell into the hands of a new generation of highly trained and experienced professionals, including the late Dr Tony Jordan.

Dijon 113, 114 and 115 had somewhat uncertain or clandestine origins. In the early 2000s, clone 777 joined Moorilla’s Pinot Noir fraternity.

During the same decade, the property received numerous visits from established mainland producers as well as international luminaries like Professor Maynard Amerine (USA) and Dr Walter Eggenberger (Switzerland).

Riesling selections across the decades have included the McWilliams clone and perhaps GM198 (0011) and GM239 (0012).

Early Moorilla wine quality was helped in no small way by Martin’s periodic sojourns at wine research institutes located in Canada, Germany and the USA. Meanwhile, Claudio and Lesley Alcorso had the good fortune of being in Bordeaux in 1979 when Professor Alain Carbonneau released the results of his ten-year study of vineyard trellising. Moorilla thus became the first commercial vineyard in Australia to adopt the French researcher’s innovative ‘lyre system’. In little more than a decade, the distinctive U-shaped trellising was lending support to new clones of Pinot Noir. D5V12 (2051), MV6 and the Swiss Wädenswil and Mariafeld selections were early introductions. Others like 60

Grapegrower & Winemaker

Moorilla’s commitment to lyre trellising helped usher in industry moves to high density plantings, especially on Pinot Noir sites. Vine spacings of around 1.2 metres by 1.5 metres may have been ground-breaking at the time but made precision viticulture a feature of daily life in the vineyard. Mechanisation was hampered by the lack of access to — or availability of — technology that could combine laboursaving with effectiveness. The restricted working area between and under vines often required work crews to attend to weeding, shooting-positioning and leaf-plucking on foot and by hand. Ineffective spray penetration could allow unwanted plant growth among vine trunks and between leaf canopies. Ultra-low fruiting zones made harvesting uncomfortable for pickers www.winetitles.com.au

and allowed bunches to become easy targets for marauding rabbits and nearby populations of ducks. Today, Moorilla is a jewel in the Tasmanian wine crown. It’s not one Walsh will allow to become tarnished during his reign over the company, says Conor van der Reest. Vineyard managers Peter Mueller (Moorilla) and Jesse Graffam (St Matthias) cherish the 60-year legacy bestowed upon them by Claudio Alcorso. “If MONA is irreverent, Moorilla will always be reverent,” says van der Reest.

References 1. Tourism Tasmania Tasmanian Visitor Data, year ending December 2019. 2. Australian Bureau of Statistics Census 2016: Tasmania. 3. The Wind You Say. 1993. C. Alcorso, Harper Collins. 4. Hobart Botanical Gardens - www. bom.gov.au/climate/data/ 5. Dr Don Martin. 2003. State Library South Australia, Digital Collections, Oral History. July 2022 – Issue 702

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Grüner Veltliner An Austrian in Australia

Uncorked

Grüner Veltliner is a fast emerging white variety that has its roots in the Austrian foothills and plains. Across Australia it has been identified as a hardy variety that suits a bevy of growing conditions and is seeing significant interest in Australia’s cooler climate regions. Harrison Davies learnt more about why this is a variety to watch.

he north-east of Austria is Grüner Veltliner country. The variety accounts for roughly 30 per cent of Austria’s winegrape production and the variety is seen as the principle variety of the country.

however, Grüner has found a home in the Adelaide Hills, being spearheaded by Hahndorf Hill Winery.

The variety is also grown throughout central Europe, with significant plantings also found in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

The variety has also captured the attention of sommeliers, who look to the variety as it offers similar textural qualities as red wines and pairs well with food like pork, asparagus and charcuterie.

In recent years, the variety has also found a home in Australia, and particularly in the Adelaide Hills. The variety began to pick up more notoriety in the early 2000s when Financial Times wine writer Jancis Robinson organised a Tasting of Paris style tasting and pitted the variety against several prominent Burgundy whites. Similar to the infamous 1970s tasting, which pit Napa Valley wines against those from Bordeaux, the Austrian variety trumped those from Burgundy and interest in Grüner has been on the rise ever since. The variety was first brought to Australia in the late 2000s and Lark Hill Winery in the Canberra District was the first to release wine made from the variety. Since being brought to Australia,

The grape ripens in the middle of the season and relies on hot days and cold nights for the best results.

Grüner Veltliner has had a busy 20 years since the tasting in 2002, and in her column following the tasting, Robinson seemed to pat herself on the back for exposing the wider wine world to this exciting alternative variety. “It is perhaps significant that I marked the Grüner Veltliners highly even though I spotted in most cases that they were not Chardonnays,” she wrote. “They were simply well-made, wellbalanced, full-bodied, peppery, refreshing, interesting wines.”

At home in the Hills Grüner is a cool climate grape but relies on diurnal variation, the fluctuation between a day’s high and low temperatures.

Grüner Veltliner over time Roman Times

The grape is believed to have originated; however, there is a lack of documentation to prove this.

Grapegrower & Winemaker

1855

The variety is first

1950s

Following the introduction of

documented under the name

the Hochkultur system of vine

recognised as Weißgipfler.

becomes the most widely-

Grüner Veltliner. Prior it was

www.winetitles.com.au

training, Grüner Veltliner

planted winegrape Hahndorf Hill Grüner Veltliner

in Austria.

July 2022 – Issue 702

A greater diurnal variation is essential for successful Grüner growth, and it’s this climatic feature that makes the Adelaide Hills perfect for growing the variety, as it allows for the grapes to develop higher sugar levels but still balance their acidity at night.

Jacobs imported a Grüner Veltliner clone in 2008 and first produced wines with the variety in 2010.

The Adelaide Hills account for over half of Australia’s Grüner Veltliner plantings and much of this was spearheaded by Larry Jacobs, co-owner of Hahndorf Hill Winery.

Grüner Veltliner can be produced in a variety of styles: from simple jug wine to be drunk soon after vintage all the way through to ageworthy wine that can continue to develop in the bottle.

Jacobs was among the first producers in the country to take an interest in Grüner and founded the Grüner Growers Group, which aims to push the agenda of making the Adelaide Hills the premier Grüner region in Australia. Jacobs said the process of growing Grüner in the Adelaide Hills began as a way to diversify their portfolio at a time when everyone was looking for Sauvignon Blanc. “We wanted something that had really fit in very specifically with the terroir conditions of our region; the climate, soils, the nature of the farming, that sort of thing,” he said. “So we started testing around with all the various options and the one variety which I was smitten with straight away was Grüner Veltliner. I was completely smitten and did a bit of research on it and then it gave us an excuse to go to Austria. “The Austrian winemakers said that you have to have this significant diurnal shift in temperature between the maximum day and the low at night during the growing season. “Well, I thought, hallelujah. This is what we have in spades in the Adelaide Hills, the diurnal variation in Adelaide Hills is extraordinary.”

2002

Jancis Robinson organises

Uncorked

The grapes reportedly produced very large fruit in the first few years of production, but reduced in size and improved in balance as the vines grew in age. “The only real problem is that it’s a very generous variety and you have to control your yields. Because the first few years tend to be abundant to generous and you get really biblical crops,” Jacobs continued. “So you have to be pruned very meticulously and you prepare to do a lot of green thinning and dropping fruit on the ground.” Grüner Veltliner is primarily grown in the Adelaide Hills in Australia, but the variety is seeing a great deal of interest across many other regions as well. Wangolina in Mount Benson is another winery that has been championing the variety in recent years and its owner, winemaker and grower, Anita Goode,

2009

“We made three tonnes or something in the first year to sort of dip our toes in and then we had a couple of really low yielding years. “And I wanted to get it to a point where we actually have it so that I’m not having to release it straight in June when it’s bottled, because we’ve sold out. “Because it’s such a dynamic wine and it changes a lot over the course of the year, I actually think it looks better in March, April and May when it’s just about to sell out normally.”

A different kind of white As a wine, Grüner Veltliner provides a surprisingly textural product with a significant amount of savouriness: the wine has notes of dried sage, loose tobacco, fennel seed and wild thyme.

Well, I thought, hallelujah. This is what we have in spades in the Adelaide Hills; the diurnal variation in Adelaide Hills is extraordinary. Larry Jacobs

Early 2010s

2013

Grüner Veltliner earns

produce wine with the

established by Hahndorf

Australian Alternative

whites from Burgundy, and it

variety in Australia.

July – Issue 702

“When we took our first crop off in 2018 it just went gangbusters and it hasn’t stopped since.

The Grüner Growers

Canberra is the first to

is favoured.

“We’ve got three rows of each of the Hahndorf Hill clones and it just seems happy here,” she said.

Lark Hill Winery near

a tasting pitting Grüner

Veltliner against a selection of

said the variety was partly responsible for her interest in alternative varieties.

www.winetitles.com.au

Group (GGG) is Hill Winery.

its own category at the Varieties Wine Show.

Grapegrower & Winemaker

grapegrowing Best in tasting Grüner Veltliner K1 BY GEOFF HARDY 2021 Adelaide Hills, South Australia 13.0%v/v RRP$25.00/bottle Pale lemon yellow with a slight green tint. Great savoury line on the nose which has good varietal definition – notes of celery, root vegetables (radish, turnip) and grapefruit. Pepper, celery and apple characters on the palate which has great fruit weight and intensity. Nice mouthfeel with a good acid line although acid is a touch puckering and sour. “Extremely varietal,” noted one taster. LONGVIEW 2021 MACCLESFIELD Adelaide Hills, South Australia 12.5%v/v RRP$30.00/bottle Bright colour of pale to mid straw with a yellow rim. Ripe, lifted, fruit-driven and varietal nose featuring notes of quince, mandarin, lemon/ lime, custard apple, turnip, grapefruit and tinned pineapple. Nose is bright, fresh and clean and has a great lift. Bright, fresh and fruit-driven palate which has some sweetness. Nice acid balance. Spicy finish. “A very drinkable, well made, modern style – a good ambassador for the variety,” noted one taster, adding that it is “not too savoury that it will put people off”. EDEN HALL 2020 Eden Valley, South Australia 12.4%v/v RRP$35.00/bottle Pale straw in colour with a green hue. Nose has a quite Chardonnay-like framework; aromas of quince, red-skinned apples, grapefruit, root vegetables (including radish, parsnip and celeriac), Bickfords lime cordial and hints of lemon detergent and tinned beans. Great weight, texture, energy, balance and complexity on the palate which features notes of quince, pear, stonefruit and spice. “A very well made wine in a riper style that has been well thought out,” noted one taster, adding the wine was “screaming out for food”. “Riesling feels with a citrus follow up,” noted another taster.

The full results of the recent Grüner Veltliner tasting can be found in the Winter issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal.

The balance of sweetness and acidity also means that the wine lends itself to a bit of age, and Jacobs mentioned that the variety could take a fair bit of age when compared to other whites. “When you go to Austria they will go through great pains to print upon you before you leave, to tell you to understand fully that this is a variety to age,” he said.

When we took our first crop off in 2018 it just went gangbusters and it hasn’t stopped since. Anita Goode “It’s an extremely complex variety; very versatile, and you kind of categorise it as light to medium. It’s very interesting.” Once bottled, Jacobs said the wine can withstand 10 years of aging or more and some producers are experimenting with aging the wine in oak and in cement prior to bottling.

Grapegrower & Winemaker

www.winetitles.com.au

July 2022 – Issue 702

Grüner Veltliner producers in Australia

Uncorked

Tasmania Stefano Lubiana Wines Wines for Joanie Winter Brook Vineyard

ACT Linear Wines

It is believed that Savignin is a parent variety to Grüner Veltliner.

New South Wales Centennial Vineyards Collector Wines Courabyra Wines Lark Hill Lisa McGuigan Wines Ravensworth Topper’s Mountain Wines

Victoria Billy Button Wines Delatite Winery Granite Hills Winery Jean Paul’s Vineyard Michael Unwin Wines Wolf Blass Visitors Centre and Bilyara Winery

Queensland Symphony Hill Wines

Hahndorf Hill co-owner Larry Jacobs

Goode explained that she started looking at using concrete to age her Grüner after seeing another producer age Chardonnay using the same method. “We do experiment a bit with the winemaking side and I saw somebody making Chardonnay in concrete over in Geelong,” she said. “I liked the texture of it and I wanted to try and make textural Grüner. I’ve always found that you get that real texture through the Austrian wines and I felt it was something that I wanted to see in mine. “I managed to find a ceramic egg second hand and haven’t broken it yet and we put a bit of [Grüner] into it and it just added this beautiful texture. “We did a bit of ceramic, we did a bit of oak and we did the rest in stainless just to see how everything worked and it ended up that we really liked all of the components, so we put them together and got really nice textures all through the wine. “I think that texture is what makes the wine so dynamic and keeps it interesting. It’s what gives it really interesting complexity.” July – Issue 702

Western Australia Frankland Estate

South Australia Alpha Box & Dice Artis Wines Artwine Bassham Wines Cape Barren Wines Catlin Wines CRFT Wines Hahndorf Hill Winery Henschke Honey Moon Vineyard Ladbroke Grove Wines Landhaus Estate Longview Vineyard Mordrelle Wines Mt Bera Vineyards Paracombe Premium Wines Pike & Joyce Wines Samuel’s Gorge Vinternational Wangolina Wines by Geoff Hardy

THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND

WINE INDUSTRY

DIRECTORY

PURCHASE YOUR COPY HERE

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Looking for varietal producers? Find them in the Wine Industry Directory

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Grapegrower & Winemaker

supplierupdate grapegrowing

Ocloc S strainer, Ocloc AW first in post

Ocloc by Ocvitti: eco-friendly, robust and cost effective

cvitti manufactures Ocloc, a total steel trellis system for viticulture, table grapes, horticulture, together with rural posts and strainers for exclusion fencing and stock retention. Ocloc posts are manufactured specifically for all Australian soil types and conditions. The vineyard product range encompasses ergonomically designed line posts, strainers and accessories through to a simple post repair system, Ocloc V for broken wood, and Ocloc M to repair steel posts. Ocvitti has developed relationships with leading grapegrowers to develop a universal and flexible system to encompass total greenfield developments, restructuring existing and general trellis maintenance. Oclocs have been engineered for longer functional life to reduce long term maintenance costs and longevity. Trellis is the most important construct for wine and table grapes to grow on

Grapegrower & Winemaker

for mechanical procedures, so it has to be robust enough to buffer the rigors of mechanised, spraying, under vine tillage, picking and pruning. Trellis is expensive to maintain, upgrade or change. Ocloc has eased the long-term cost and expense with any trellis system; with simple two wire or an intricate vertical shoot positioning, Ocloc has simplified and alleviated the need for retrofitted staples and clips. Ocloc manufacture strong and easy to install Ocloc A, 86mm wide line post to light weight intermediates, such as Ocloc B and Ocloc C, an economical post for smaller crop loads. The Ocloc AW is the supplier’s maximum strength post, as a ‘first in’ post to take the pressures of mechanisation, exceptionally large crop stress or excessively windy areas. Ocloc S strainers and end assemblies act as extremely strong anchorage for trellis systems. Ocloc NSC is the latest accessory: a www.winetitles.com.au

dual function netting cap that allows for netting application as well as a spray frost protection system. Micro sprays are concealed to stop catching, as well as remaining permanently which reduces the need for removal prior to machine pruning or picking, diminishing the workload involved in pre-operational removal. Economical repair of existing wooden vineyard posts is achieved by Ocloc B V, a low-cost repair for broken wooden posts, reducing replacement costs, extending post life and keeping treated pine out of the growing on-farm toxic piles of CCA and creosote posts. Similarly, the Ocloc M is a repair clamp to restore all types of broken steel posts, reducing the time and cost associated with mending and extending the life of trellis infrastructure Oclocs are designed and produced in Australia using high tensile steel, premium Galfan coatings for longevity in trying Australian conditions and July 2022 – Issue 702

100% carbon offset for ecological responsibility. Ocloc steel trellis systems have evolved through addressing the concerns of viticulturalists and have now proven themselves over the last 12 years to be eco-friendly, robust, efficient and cost effective initially and are especially durable, as corroborated by long term users below. “I have been using Ocvitti vineyard products now for many years with great success, explained Dick Bryksy, operations manager at Kirribilly Viticulture’s Clare vineyards. “I have worked very closely with Brian and Nigel to modify the engineering on their vineposts to suit my needs. The great thing about Ocvitti is they are willing to make changes to improve the product and satisfy individual needs. “I manage 600 hectares of vineyards with varying soil and challenges in terrain and have not found a better product on the market. We now use the Ocloc M stake repair kit, as well as the Ocloc A TWS and VSP 2.4m vineyard stakes, very strong stakes with plenty of wire positioning lugs at 75mm spacings.. “I now only use Ocvitti vineposts for all trellis replacements and have not used a CCA wooden post as a vine row replacement since. We recently planted a greenfields vineyard using only Ocvitti steel vineposts. Their products are value

for money and the Galfan coating will provide very long protection against rust, giving me much greater confidence than standard galvanising. “Brian and Nigel are fantastic to work with and you always get prompt delivery to order. I can’t recommend Ocvitti products highly enough.” Meantime, Richard Leask, from Leak Agri and Hither & Yon in McLaren Vale run their own vineyards and provide contract viticultural services in the region. “We have worked with Ocloc and their ever-expanding product range for nine years. We now use them almost exclusively and find them to be functional, strong and most of all cost effective.

“Ocloc products have shown us that steel is really the way forward for trellis, considering they are a similar cost to install, last longer and far better environmentally, it’s just responsible viticulture, they are quite simply a ‘no brainer, Leask said. Nigel Blieshke, viticulturist at Torbreck Vintners says he has been trialling metal posts since the mid-1990s and that the Ocloc A posts are by far the best metal posts he has used.

“We have also seen a marked reduction in our trellis installation costs due to the ease and speed of installation. Since 2016, Torbreck has installed close to 50ha of Ocloc A posts in both new and existing vineyards. We are exceptionally happy with the strength and appearance of the posts and highly recommend Ocloc as they save both time, money and the environment.

July – Issue 702

OCLOC™ NSC SYSTEM

NETTING / SPRAY CAP MANUFACTURED IN AUSTRALIA 4

Climate Change Ocloc ™ Solution 1 Ocloc Netting Spray Cap 5

Manufactured in Australia a

Netting cap no sprays.

Extreme heat events.

Netting cap with sprays.

Potential fire protection.

Frost protection.

“The Ocloc steel vineyard posts are the way forward for conscientious viticulture and has been as important to the vineyard as the screw cap has been to the winery.” www.winetitles.com.au

Pulsator & flow3reducer. Minimal water usage.

6 4 5

“The Ocloc S strainer is incredible, we have used it to replace and fix existing strainers at any time of the year; it’s so simple and unbelievably easy to use whether it be for maintenance or greenfield developments.

“The Ocloc A posts are far stronger and wider than other equivalent metal posts and the rounded, re-enforced wire holders make fixing and moving wires very easy and contained reliably.

A new development of Ocloc A posts in Coonawarra

VINEYARD & RURAL

A - NETTING CAP NO SPRAYS B- NETTING CAP WITH SPRAYS FOR FROST PROTECTION

™ NSC System Ocloc 1 Ocloc NSC Netting 4 2 x Ocloc micro spray cap

1 2

sprayers

Ocloc NSC Netting spray cap

flow regulator

pulsator and 2PipPip pulsator and flow regulator

connector connector and tube 33BarbBarb and tube

2x Ocloc micro sprayers

Screw

Fits Ocloc A, B

6Fits Ocloc or AW A, B or WA

Ocloc products are 100% carbon neutral

Nigel Catt 0418 832 967 nigel@ocloc.com w w w. o c l o c . c o m . a u products are supplied 100% carbon offset

Nigel Catt 0418 832 967 nigel@ocloc.com.au

www.ocloc.com.au Grapegrower & Winemaker

grapegrowing supplierupdate Best-in-class for mildew control and value REVUS® fungicide has been used by viticulturalists for over 10 years to control downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola). It has been the go-to fungicide for reasons beyond exceptional efficacy but let’s take a look at why REVUS® fungicide is so good. REVUS® fungicide contains the active ingredient mandipropamid (Group 40). Upon application, REVUS® fungicide bonds quickly and strongly to the waxy layer of the leaf surface, locking to the leaf surface. It then has rapid translaminar movement through the plant to protect both sides of the leaf. This LOK + FLO action provides rapid rainfastness and is critical for effective disease control since downy mildew attacks the plant through the stomates on the undersides of the leaves. REVUS® fungicide specifically targets downy mildew by stopping spore germination and creates a barrier to prevent fungal penetration into the plant. Unlike traditional protectant fungicides, like mancozeb and copper, that can be washed off with rain, REVUS® fungicide is completely rainfast once the spray has dried. Even under extreme weather conditions you can be reassured with the

confidence of long-lasting protection of up to 21 days when used at 60 mL/100 L. With downy mildew occurring in many viticultural regions last season, REVUS® fungicide delivered consistent and reliable disease control. Timely applications before a rain event offered growers long-lasting preventive protection against downy mildew, particularly when humid, wet conditions persisted during the growing season. To offer optimum protection of fruit, apply REVUS® fungicide at the critical period of flowering. It is important to follow the CropLife Resistance Management Strategy for downy mildew. REVUS® fungicide fits into a complete downy mildew program from Syngenta including, BRAVO® WEATHERSTIK® fungicide, RIDOMIL® Gold Plus fungicide and AMISTAR® 250 SC fungicide, delivering effective disease control and resistance management solutions. For a reliable, rainfast and long-lasting solution for both powdery and downy mildew protection, look no further than MIRAVIS® fungicide and REVUS® fungicide. Conveniently packaged in one box as Mildew Manager, this pack

covers more than 30 hectares in one spray and provides a saving of over $6/ha when compared to buying the products separately (subject to your chosen water application volume). “Not only does the Mildew Manager pack save money on the cost of the products, but it also saves time and the cost of an additional spray as these complementary products can be used together, which when applied prior to E-L19 can give you excellent downy and powdery mildew control through that critical flowering time period,” said Syngenta viticulture product lead Scott Mathew. “MIRAVIS® and REVUS® fungicides represent the best-in-class management for downy and powdery mildew, providing protection for up to 21 days and with the Mildew Manager pack, it also represents exceptional value for money.” To learn more about Mildew Manager visit www.syngenta.com.au/mildewmanager for more information or speak to your local Syngenta representative about where you can find Mildew Manager in your area. ®Registered trademark of a Syngenta Group Company *Registered trademark

Figure 1. Applied preventatively, REVUS® fungicide delivers excellent efficacy against downy mildew, in high pressure situations, compared to other fungicides when applied at 21 day intervals. Incidence on leaves 63 days after final application, all sprays at 4X concentration (232L/ha). Shiraz vines, Yarra Valley, Victoria 2005-6.

Grapegrower & Winemaker

www.winetitles.com.au

July 2022 – Issue 702

MILDEW MANAGER for ultimate mildew protection Mildew Manager is a co-pack containing 1 x 5 L MIRAVIS® fungide + 3 x 5 L REVUS® fungide The use of MIRAVIS® fungide and REVUS® fungide builds on the complementary strengths of these two powerful fungicides for the control of powdery and downy mildew in grapes. The Mildew Manager pack offers:

 A best-in-class, noticeably superior fungicide combination, for the management of powdery and downy mildew

 Rainfastness within 1 hour, providing peace of mind and flexibility in all conditions

 Long lasting disease protection, giving growers confidence to extend the application window

 Up to 21 days of residual protection, less spraying saves both time and money

POWDERY MILDEW

DOWNY MILDEW

•

Powerful and dependable control

•

Strong protectant chemistry

•

Long lasting protection up to 21 days

•

Reliability of complete rainfastness

Maximises yield potential

•

Persistent protection in all conditions

•

At a dilute application volume of 800 L of water/ha, the Mildew Manager pack will treat 31.25 ha, providing you with a potential saving of over $6/ha.

For further information contact your local Syngenta representative or visit syngenta.com.au/mildew-manager

® ©

July – Issue 702

Registered trademark of a Syngenta Group Company. 2022 Syngenta. AD22-213

www.winetitles.com.au

Grapegrower & Winemaker

Techniques to detect Brettanomyces before it’s too late The early detection of Brettanomyces bruxellensis yeast or ‘Brett’ can allow winemakers to take action before the concentration of volatile phenols becomes detrimental to wine quality. In this article, AWRI Oenologist Ben Cordingley answers questions on different technologies for the detection of Brett cells in wine. What are the main technologies used to test for Brett cells?

are cultured/grown on agar plates in the laboratory

Most available Brett testing methods fall into two main categories:

• Culture-independent methods where Brett cells are detected by other means. This includes molecular tests using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to

• Culture-dependent methods where colonies of Brett cells from a wine sample 70

Grapegrower & Winemaker

www.winetitles.com.au

detect Brett-specific DNA sequences, as well as flow cytometry methods that automate the identification and counting of Brett cells in a wine sample. Each testing method works differently and can generate different results for July 2022 – Issue 702

the same sample due to the detection of different forms of Brett cells that can exist in a wine. A sample may contain a culturable population of viable Brett cells capable of growth. Several studies have reported that Brett can also exist in a dormant or viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state (Capozzi et al. 2016). In this theoretical state, live Brett cells may be metabolically active and capable of producing volatile phenols but temporarily unable to multiply (Nunes de lima et al. 2021). A sample may also contain dead Brett cells that contain detectable DNA, as well as free (extracellular) Brett DNA released during cellular lysis of dead cells. How are Brett cells quantified by culturing?

Culturing of the microbes in a wine sample is a commonly used technique to quantify viable Brett cells. Volumes of wine are usually filtered through a sterile filter membrane which is transferred onto an agar plate and incubated. Brett colonies are observed and counted after seven or more days. Results are usually expressed as the number of colonyforming units (CFUs) per a given volume of wine. Specialised growth media can exclude the growth of other yeast types. Growth media containing the antibiotic cycloheximide will allow the growth of many non-Saccharomyces yeast species, meaning that Brett colonies must still be correctly identified. VBNC and dead Brett cells are not detected by culturing. How do molecular tests using PCR detect Brett cells?

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a molecular test that uses enzymes to make copies of Brett-specific DNA. Brett DNA is recognised by synthetic molecules called primers that allow a part of Brett DNA to be amplified over multiple heating and cooling cycles. The number of Brett cells present in the sample is proportional to the amount of DNA that results from amplification. Conventional PCR methods have a predetermined number of amplification steps followed by a semi-quantitative estimation of the resulting amount of Brett DNA produced in the reaction. Quantitative PCR methods count the number of amplification steps needed to reach a threshold amount of Brett DNA that is detectable by the instrument. The number of amplification cycles required July – Issue 702

to reach this threshold level is used to precisely determine the number of Brett DNA copies in the sample prior to any amplification.

result expressed as the number of cells per mL of wine. Is there a threshold Brett cell density that

Are dead or VBNC Brett cells detected by PCR methods?

is a concern for winemakers?

Conventional PCR technologies will generally detect all intact Brett DNA from living and dead cells, and also free extracellular DNA. Some wines may contain high numbers of dead Brett cells that would still be included in a PCRbased cell count. The portion of dead cells present in a sample could depend on if there had been a treatment to kill Brett and how recently this treatment was applied. The time required for dead Brett cells to break down to the extent that their DNA is not detected by conventional PCR is unclear but may depend on wine conditions. Some newer PCR methods do not detect dead cells and only detect viable and VBNC Brett. These methods exclude DNA from dead Brett cells by making use of specialised dyes that are not able to enter viable cells but are able to enter dead cells. These dyes integrate within the DNA structure to prevent amplification by PCR (Navarro et al. 2020).

densities to result in a wine containing

What other options for Brett testing exist?

More recently, flow cytometry-based methods have become available that directly count the individual Brett cells in a sample. These work by creating a thin stream of the sample that flows past several detectors that can identify Brett based on its physical properties. Flow cytometry techniques often use fluorescent dyes that selectively stain either living or dead Brett cells, so it is possible to distinguish between viable populations (potentially including VBNC Brett) and dead Brett cells. Rapid molecular tests using LAMP technology (loop-mediated isothermal amplification) have been developed for the detection of Brett (Hayashi at al. 2007). This technology works similarly to PCR to amplify specific DNA sequences. The main difference is that LAMP uses a complex set of multiple primers that identify and amplify a Brett-specific DNA sequence at a constant temperature. LAMP is a rapid testing method that gives qualitative results (positive or negative) rather than a quantitative www.winetitles.com.au

Brett cells can multiply from very low high

levels

volatile

phenols.

Detection of any number of Brett cells should therefore prompt winemaking interventions to inactivate or remove Brett if a ‘Brett character’ is to be avoided. Wine conditions and the specific Brett strain can influence the production of volatile phenols, meaning that the Brett cell density is not a direct indicator of the level of potential ‘Brett character’. For

further

information

about

Brettanomyces bruxellensis detection or other technical winemaking or viticulture questions, contact the AWRI helpdesk on (08) 8313 6600 or helpdesk@ awri.com.au

References Capozzi, V., Di Toro, M.R., Grieco, F., Michelotti, V., Salma, M., Lamontanara, A., Russo, P., Orrù, L., Alexandre, H., Spano, G. 2016. Viable But Not Culturable (VBNC) state of Brettanomyces bruxellensis in wine: New insights on molecular basis of VBNC behaviour using a transcriptomic approach. Food Microbiol. 59: 196-204. Hayashi, N., Arai, R., Tada, S., Taguchi, H., Ogawa, Y. 2007. Detection and identification of Brettanomyces/ Dekkera sp. yeasts with a loop-mediated isothermal amplification method. Food Microbiol. 24(7-8): 778-785. Navarro, Y., Torija, M.J., Mas, A., Beltran, G. 2020. Viability-PCR allows monitoring yeast population dynamics in mixed fermentations including viable but non-culturable yeasts. Foods. 9(10): 1373. Nunes de Lima, A., Magalhães, R., Campos, F.M., Couto, J.A. 2021. Food Microbiol. 93: 103617. Grapegrower & Winemaker

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winemaking

Sustainability

Over-inflated?

Are Australian wine producers keen to capture carbon from fermentation?

Winery operations manager for Taylors Wines, Clinton Taylor.

Although carbon dioxide emissions from fermentation are currently excluded from carbon calculators for the wine industry, this hasn’t stopped experimentation in capturing and sequestering such emissions. As previously reported in the Grapegrower & Winemaker, one such winery to experiment in this area is Spanish-based Familia Torres which announced late last year it had designed a system to capture and reuse the CO₂ from fermentation tanks at its Pacs del Penedès winery. Sonya Logan spoke with four Australian wineries to gauge their current and future interest in such systems as they seek to improve on their environmental performance.

here are two schools of thought when it comes to the question of what to do about carbon emissions from fermentation. One is nothing given that the CO₂ is captured from the

July – Issue 702

atmosphere by vines so its impact on the overall production of wine is net zero; hence, fermentation emissions are currently not included in carbon calculators for wine. The other view www.winetitles.com.au

is that CO₂ emissions are not trivial – UC Davis professor Roger Boulton has described them as being five times more concentrated than planes and cars – and should be sequestered by wineries. Grapegrower & Winemaker

winemaking The fact is, more substantial reductions in emissions are possible in other aspects of the wine production process. In 2015, The Australian Wine Research Institute conducted a life cycle assessment of the environmental impacts associated with the production of Australian wine which drew on data collected from members of Entwine, the predecessor to the industry’s national sustainability program Sustainable Winegrowing Australia. The analysis calculated the average carbon footprint (CF) for Australian wine was 1.16kg CO₂e per litre (Abbott et al. 2016). Packaging, transport and energy use in vineyards and wineries were the biggest contributors to this tally. The AWRI’s investigation showed the carbon contributions from the act of making wine specifically comprised 17% of the wine sector’s CF, with electricity the largest contributor to this total (at 82% of winemaking emissions). In an article published in the September 2020 issue of the Grapegrower & Winemaker, Smart et al. (2020) stated fermentation resulted in carbon dioxide emissions of 0.11kg CO₂e/L — or 9.5% of the average carbon footprint of Australian wine.

There are cost and environmental advantages if this can be achieved with a reasonable payback period. Mark Davidson “If these fermentation emissions were captured and used to eliminate importation of carbon dioxide into wineries, it could result in a 9.5% reduction in carbon emissions associated with Australian domestic bottled wine (representing more than half of the emissions associated with winemaking),” the authors stated, adding, “sequestration of fermentation emissions present a significant mitigation opportunity”. While capturing carbon emissions from barrel fermentation is likely to remain impractical for some time, the technology already exists to harvest the gas emitted from fermentation in tanks. What happens to the gas after that is where the technology is evolving. As previously reported in the Grapegrower 74

Grapegrower & Winemaker

Familia Torres has designed an innovative system to capture and reuse the CO₂ from its fermentation tanks at its Pacs del Penedès facility in Spain. As wine ferments and releases CO₂, the gas is captured inside balloons which inflate. The gas is then compressed to a pressure that allows it to be transferred to a storage tank for reuse later as an inert gas when filling tanks.

& Winemaker, one wine producer to take advantage of the innovations in this area is Spain’s Familia Torres where tanks have been adapted to enable the CO₂ produced during fermentation to be collected in large balloons positioned above them. The gas is then compressed and transferred to another tank where it is stored for use as an inert gas when filling tanks. www.winetitles.com.au

Whilst many of Australia’s wine producers have taken steps to identify and reduce their carbon footprint, is capturing the carbon emitted during the fermentation process in their sights? One Australian winery that regularly assesses its CO₂ emissions is Tamburlaine Organic Wines. The company owns two wineries — its original 500t winery in the Hunter Valley and the much larger July 2022 – Issue 702

12,000t winery at Cudal in Orange which it acquired in 2020. Tamburlaine’s managing director and head of grape and wine production Mark Davidson said the results of these calculations were assessed by a team of staff at least twice a year. The company is also considering becoming certified under the Federal Government’s Climate Active initiative — a certification only awarded to businesses and organisations that have achieved net zero emissions. Tamburlaine has also been a member of an international carbon trade exchange for more than a decade and buys offsets to cover its emissions. Davidson says his company has made numerous decisions over the last 10 years or so to improve its operations and upgrade equipment in pursuit of reducing power and inputs. This has included the installation of solar technologies and upgrades to lighting and diesel farm equipment. He says these decisions have resulted in “large improvements” in its CO₂ emissions as a result.

“It seems like a logical and very good idea,” admits Davidson. “We would like to capture the CO₂ from ferments and use it to replace purchased CO₂ used for both inert gas usage in wine transfer, ullage management and for sparkling wine carbonation.

“It appears to be suitable to replace part of the inert gas usage in wine transfer and ullage management with minimal filtration. However, we need more information on the level of filtration required for it to be used for sparging and carbonation purposes,” he adds.

“We are currently investigating it. We estimate our current CO₂ emissions from fermentation to be about 10% of our total company carbon footprint.

Like Tamburlaine, Taylors Wines is watching developments in fermentation carbon capture technology with a keen interest.

“Regardless of the current determination to exclude ferment CO₂ emissions from CF assessments, it would seem reasonable that CO₂ emissions from fermentation that can be captured and reused relatively easily, should be,” Davidson continues. “There are cost and environmental advantages if this can be achieved with a reasonable payback period.”

The Cellar-Mate can’t make the coffee...

So what would be the tipping point for the idea to become a reality? “We still need to assess the available

But tanks, technology But it it can can automatically automatically fill fill tanks, more fully, for example, is “Futurerack projects include ongoing process tanks, fill barrels, empty it suitable for outdoor installations such rack tanks, fill barrels, empty barrels, barrels, and equipment upgrades, replacing as at our Cudal winery, estimate the prepare blends, fill feed blends, fill tankers, tankers, feed ‘black’prepare electricity purchase with capital investment necessary to capture filters, carry out pump overs, fill renewable or carbon neutral and,overs, filters, carry outsupply pump fill the required volume of CO₂ and then flex containers... possibly, carbon farming,” he explains. flex containers... assess the ROI,” Davidson explains.

With such a focus on reducing its carbon “Some degree of government support for emissions, has Tamburlaine considered this kind of project would certainly assist the prospect of capturing its output from moving this up the priority list and help make the likely ROI more attractive. fermentation? Telephone Telephone 03 03 9455 9455 3339 3339 Fax Fax 03 03 9459 9459 5232 5232 Email: rapidfil@rapidfil.com.au Web: www.rapidfil.com.au Email: rapidfil@rapidfil.com.au Web: www.rapidfil.com.au

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Innovative tactics like this contribute to the many ways wineries could reduce their emissions to be carbon zero by 2050. Clinton Taylor “We are certainly keeping an eye on it as part of our overall work to reduce our total emissions,” says Clinton Taylor, winery operations manager for Taylors Wines, which recently became the first independent Australian winery to become a signatory to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). As the name suggests, the initiative enables businesses to set emissions reduction targets in line with science and the family-owned winery has set a target to achieve at 50% reduction in its scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

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The Cellar-Mate can’t can’t Cellar-Mate can’t TheThe Cellar-Mate can’t make the coffee... coffee... make coffee... make thethe coffee... But automatically tanks, But it it can can it fill tanks, But can automatically fill tanks, But it can automatically fill tanks, But it can automatically fill tanks, rack tanks, fill barrels, empty barrels, rack tanks, tanks, empty barrels, rack tanks, fill barrels, empty barrels, rack fill empty barrels, rack tanks, fill barrels, barrels, empty barrels, prepare blends, fill feed prepare tankers, feed prepare blends, fill tankers, feed prepare blends, fill tankers, feed prepare blends, fill tankers, feed filters, carry out pump overs, fill filters, overs, fill filters, carry out pump overs, fill filters, carry out pump overs, fill filters, carry out pump overs, fill flex flex containers... containers... flex containers... flex flex containers... containers...

There is There better way! a betteris away! There There There isis aa better better way! way! TelephoneTelephone 03 9455 3339 Fax3339 03 03 9455 Fax5232 03 9459 5232 Telephone 03 9459 9459 5232 Telephone Telephone 03 03 9455 9455 3339 3339 Fax Fax 03 03 9459 9459 5232 5232 Email: rapidfil@rapidfil.com.au Web: www.rapidfil.com.au Telephone 03 9455 3339 Fax 03 9459 5232 Email: rapidfil@rapidfil.com.au Web: www.rapidfil.com.au Email: rapidfil@rapidfil.com.au www.rapidfil.com.au Email: rapidfil@rapidfil.com.au Web: www.rapidfil.com.au Email: Email: rapidfil@rapidfil.com.au rapidfil@rapidfil.com.au Web: Web: www.rapidfil.com.au www.rapidfil.com.au

July – Issue 702

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winemaking Environmental advantages Taylor says that although the winery has not made any moves to implement carbon capture from fermentation, the environmental advantages in doing so were evident. “Anything we can do to capture and prevent carbon from being emitted into the atmosphere is a worthwhile endeavour. Innovative tactics like this contribute to the many ways wineries could reduce their emissions to be carbon zero by 2050,” says Taylor, alluding to the Australian wine industry’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 as part of Australian Grape & Wine and Wine Australia’s ‘Vision 2050’ plan. “The more opportunities and options we have, the better.

a decade. Clinton Taylor says the EMS has enabled the company to identify and control its impacts on the environment across the business and establish a framework for continual improvements. Improvements in the winery to date have included the implementation of energyefficient tank refrigeration and barrel hall temperature control. Although Victoria’s oldest family-owned winery, Tahbilk, has been measuring its CO₂ emissions since 2012 at both a product and organisation level, and consequently implemented various measures to reduce them, the company is yet to consider the possibility of capturing CO₂ from fermentation tanks at its two wineries in the Nagambie Lakes region. For Tahbilk, the incentive for such an investment hasn’t materialised. “It is something we are aware of,” says Hayley Purbrick, environment manager for Tahbilk. “It appears to be a hot topic of conversation currently.

Innovative tactics like this contribute to the many ways wineries could reduce their emissions to be carbon zero by 2050. Clinton Taylor

“Given fermentation is a process of carbon release — one molecule of sugar releases two molecules of ethanol and two molecules of CO₂ — no doubt there is some impact on CO₂ emissions,” she continues. “My gut says the impact is nominal when compared to other sources of CO₂ in the production process. Environment manager for Tahbilk, Hayley Purbrick.

“We can model the amount of carbon emitted during the fermentation process as part of our overall carbon footprint, but capturing it and directing it to various uses will come down to what percentage of the total emissions could be captured,” Taylor continues. “There are still many questions about how this system could fit in with our current workflow at the winery. We need to understand a bit more about how we could use the emissions as there are many options for how the CO₂ could be utilised and the systems needed to make this happen. It will also take more understanding of how the system could integrate with the current infrastructure at the winery.” Taylors Wines has maintained ISO 14001 Certification for its environmental management system (EMS) for more than 76

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“I am sure there could be benefits in reusing CO₂ as it would technically mean you shouldn’t have to purchase CO₂ to use at different stages of the winemaking/ bottling process.” But Purbrick conceded that capturing fermentation emissions and using them elsewhere around the winery sounded “very complicated”. Asked what it might take for Tahbilk to be prompted to install a system for capturing CO₂ emissions from fermentation, Purbrick says “an understanding of the measurable factors for CO₂ emissions currently by the fermentation process which is reliable and accurate”. “This would enable us to get a picture of the size of the problem, if there is one. Then we could act as appropriate which would include costing any infrastructure required.” While carbon capture from fermentation might be currently on the back burner at Tahbilk, the company continues to implement other measures to reduce its CO₂ emissions. Since 2013, it has www.winetitles.com.au

reduced emissions by 45% across the organisation, including its 2500t Tahbilk winery and its 12,000t subsidiary winery Moncrieffs in Nagambie, with the help of 160ha of native revegetation on its estate vineyards and the purchase of offsite carbon credits. It is the only winery in Australia accredited carboNZero at a product and organisation level. Purbrick says assessments of the wine company’s CO₂ emissions have shown that 60% of its greenhouse gas emissions are due to energy consumption. This has seen Tahbilk focus its carbon-reduction activities on initiatives that reduce its energy consumption, such as upgrading machinery and equipment and reducing its reliance on non-renewable sources by introducing solar. Among the other actions Tahbilk has taken to reduce its CF from winery July 2022 – Issue 702

Senior winemaker for the Brown Family Wine Group, Cate Looney.

activities is the use of heat reflective paint, replacing chiller units, eliminating polystyrene packaging and enrolling staff in LEAN training programs. Three years ago, the company also took the step of employing an environment and vineyard research analyst. John Brown was ahead of his time when, many years ago, he installed a passive inert gas system to capture CO2 from white wine fermentation tanks at the Brown Brothers winery at Milawa, Victoria. Servicing more than 300 tanks, the system holds the gas and redistributes it around the winery. Although it needs topping up outside of vintage to ensure gas supply is maintained to all tanks, senior winemaker for the Brown Family Wine Group, Cate Looney, says reducing the need to purchase gas is welcome. “Purchasing CO₂ is expensive so any July – Issue 702

upcycling a winery can make will have environmental benefits and benefits to their bottom line,” Looney says. The Brown Family Wine Group has been a member of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA) for a couple of years now and is currently going through the process of benchmarking itself against other members in the industry to get a good understanding of where the company can best concentrate its efforts to improve its environmental, social and economic sustainability. Looney says that although the company doesn’t currently measure its CO₂ emissions, it plans to do so as part of its SWA certification which was expected to be achieved in mid-2023. She says that although the idea of capturing CO₂ emissions from the fermentation process is a great idea, www.winetitles.com.au

the justification for the infrastructure needed to set it up is undermined by the fact that fermentation only happens “in a small part of the year”. “The brewing industry that ferments all year round are making some really good gains in this area,” she offers by comparison.

References

Abbott, T.; Longbottom, M.; Wilkes, E. and Johnson, D. (2016) Assessing the environmental credentials of Australian wine. Wine & Viticulture Journal 31(1):35-37. Smart, R.; Bruer, D.; Collins, C.; Corsi, A.; Jeffrey, I.; Karantonis, C.; Lockshin, L. and Muhlack, R. (2020) Towards Australian grape and wine industry carbon neutrality…the possible dream. Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker 680:100-105 Grapegrower & Winemaker

winemaking

Industry remembers low carbon wine pioneer: Vale Graham Dixon

outh Australian biochemist Graham Dixon is being remembered as a pioneer of low carbon wine and an advocate for tackling poverty overseas. Graham, who began his winemaking career at Penfolds in the Barossa Valley, died in April after undergoing a lung transplant at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital. Known for his quirky humour and inventive mind, Graham was busy in recent years perfecting a carbon capture process for white winemaking. Low Carbon Wine, as he named it, is made by recycling carbon dioxide emitted during fermentation, and by returning aromas captured from the CO₂ stream back into the wine. Graham’s aim was to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of wineries globally by reducing the need for energyintensive refrigeration during vintage to retain beneficial volatile aroma compounds, and by capturing the CO₂ produced through fermentation. He 78

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was keen to show the wine industry that carbon capture equipment could be “cheap and low tech” and beneficial not only for the planet, but for wine companies’ budgets. Graham had worked on the process in Europe prior to COVID and was trialling the technology at the Australian Wine Research Institute in Adelaide. In his words: “We have already established that low carbon wine is comparable to conventionally made white wine, but with a nuance of an aroma signature discernible by experienced tasters. The nuance can be amplified by increasing the time between capturing and returning the volatiles to the ferment. We think this is because the extra time allows for esterification of some aroma compounds.” Graham, who was a prominent member of the South Australian chapter of Mensa, studied microbial genetics at Flinders University and worked in diverse www.winetitles.com.au

scientific fields, from experimental commercial cheesemaking with the CSIRO, to quality assurance in the fruit juice and wine industries. He spent many years in Eastern Europe, working with the World Bank in places such as Moldova, helping to improve winemaking practices and broaden countries’ wine export markets. Graham was a passionate believer in the potential for high quality wine industries to help steer struggling nations out of poverty. While Graham was an active and healthy man, over the past year he had suffered from a debilitating and life-threatening lung condition. Doctors hoped a lung transplant would extend his life, but, devastatingly, Graham died in hospital surrounded by family on April 22. Graham Dixon is remembered by his loving wife, Iuliana, his four daughters, Robyn, Sally, Cobi and Georgia, and his six grandchildren, who share his love of nature and insatiable curiosity. July 2022 – Issue 702

Additives & Gasses

Added benefits

Oenological management strategies for nitrogen

Winemaker Paul Le Lacheur examines the advantages of nitrogen additions to the winemaking process.

hen discussing nitrogen level management during winemaking, some key questions immediately arise. When, where and in what form does the nitrogen need to be monitored, added, or adjusted? In a recent study (Gobert et al. 2019), there were some surprising findings. Contrary to the generally accepted view, only a limited fraction of most of consumed amino acids are directly incorporated into proteins by the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain. So there’s the challenge: how do we, as a winemaking sector, meet consumer expectations regarding the sensory profile of our wines while still ensuring our fermentation processes are efficient? Nitrogen is a key factor which has a major impact on wine fermentation. It is the most important yeast nutrient, influencing both fermentation kinetics and wine quality. It is also essential to yeast growth and yeast metabolism. Nitrogen is metabolized by yeast to synthesize proteins.

Nitrogen is a key factor which has a major impact on wine fermentation. It is the most important yeast nutrient, influencing both fermentation kinetics and wine quality. Yeast Assimilable Nitrogen (YAN) is composed of ammonium ions (except proline) and the important building blocks of flavour - amino acids. Other roles for nitrogen in fermentation include: July – Issue 702

the stimulation of yeast multiplication, keeping yeast metabolism active, preventing H2s and mercaptan from forming and the generic stimulation of desirable aroma production. Winemakers have noted that the timing of nitrogen addition widely impacts yeast genes. In particular, their expression and production of aroma compounds during fermentation was positively influenced (Swingers et al. 2015). Results from these research papers indicate that nitrogen metabolism, especially central carbon metabolism (CCM), as well as fermentation kinetics and fruity aroma production, were all significantly impacted by nitrogen additions. This research seems to reinforce the importance of favouring oenological nitrogen additions over the same additions in the vineyard. Timing is vital though. Fermentation additions must be at the stationary phase of that fermentation for maximum efficiency. New winemaking strategies using nonSaccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains in the industry’s newly favoured co– fermentations or sequential fermentations have shown improved nitrogen level management. Nitrogen is also highly impactful in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain production of esters (acetate and ethyl esters). These compounds are now provably the genesis of the highly-regarded fruity aromas, especially in young wines (Swingers et al. 2015; Gobert et al. 2015). Gene expression analysis has shown that the genes responsible for glycerol synthesis are repressed following nitrogen additions, regardless of the timing of those additions (Gobert et al. 2019). This appears as more evidence supporting the notion that well timed www.winetitles.com.au

AUS: 1800 127 611 E: info@kauriwine.com NZ: 0800 528 749 W: www.kauriwine.com

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Nitrogen additions can produce wines featuring those much sought after, highly ‘lifted’ fruity aromatics in the young, finished wine. Although nitrogen in organic (amino acids) or mineral (ammonium) forms is already present in grape must in the winery, there is compelling evidence that extra nitrogen added will help overcome the problem of slow fermentations (Salmon, Rollero et al. 2015). So even though it is an undeniable fact that the grape must nitrogen levels may have come from vineyard additions, there is still cause for oenological additions to sustain yeast and in promoting efficient, clean fermentation completion.

Selected Suppliers of Gases in Australia and New Zealand Air Liquide Australia T: (03) 9697 9888 industry.airliquide.com.au Air Liquide New Zealand T: +64 9 622 3880, Freecall: 0800 838 838 (NZ only) industry.airliquide.com.au BOC Limited T: 131 262 (Australia only) www.boc.com.au/shop/en/au/ home Bürkert Fluid Control Systems T: 1300 888 868

www.burkert.com.au/en Gas Generation Australia T: 1300 650 659 www.gasgeneration.com.au Ibex Australia T: (03) 8318 4000, 1300 854 520 www.ibexaustralia.com.au Supagas T: 13 78 72 www.supagas.com.au Wine energy T: 0439 021 913 www.wineenergy.com

Did you You can find know? gases suppliers here 80

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Winesave T: (03) 9028 2763 www.winesave.com

The entire Australian & New Zealand wine industry in one book. ORDER YOUR COPY: winetitles.com.au/WID or phone +61 08 8369 9500

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July 2022 – Issue 702

A dollar in line saves nine… or maybe twelve

Exploring the total cost of tank automation systems

Chris Hoey, managing director of Bürkert Fluid Control Systems, delves into the potential of ‘smarter field connection technology’ to provide cost savings and greater efficiencies in winery operations.

e hear a lot about digital connectivity and how it is making our old hard-wired systems obsolete, but what value does it deliver to us in the field?

dairies and breweries; however, you will learn how the physical requirements of fermentation and storage tanks really lend themselves to a smarter connection technology.

In this article, we explore the significant savings that can be realised with smarter field connection methods and how these can deliver more flexibility for our everchanging environment.

The visible and hidden costs

We will look deeper into the overall cost in dollars, time and ease of maintenance in a real application. You may feel that this type of technology is suited to highly automated sites like

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Too often, we rely on a project tender to source our components and then our install costs or we anchor our pricing against previous systems we have built. Of course, any engineer will consider newer technologies, but the challenge is determining whether these new technologies actually deliver value. Experienced project engineers understand that the actual component

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costs in an automation system amount to around 15% of the overall project cost. The 85% comprises additional hardware required, engineering, installation, cable runs, termination at both ends, commissioning, training, life-cycle, safety, servicing, and more. Newer technology hardware may cost a little more, however it can significantly reduce the hidden costs and complexity of a project, and most importantly the time it takes to deliver a working system. Winery installations in particular can save significant costs due to their inherent physical layout and the distances involved.

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winemaking

Figure 1. Field Wiring Options

What are my wiring options? There are three types of wiring methodology, as shown in Figure 1; however, this was not the case in years gone by. Original control systems, or controller panels, were ‘centralised’ and all field components wired back to a large control panel. The cost of such systems was prohibitive and only larger producers were able to get a viable return on investment. Smaller wineries installed stand-alone controllers wherever they could and had no central control. As technology progressed, we saw things like multiplexers or microPLC controllers that could collect our IO from a group of tanks, maybe 24 or so, and then transmit these back to a SCADA or PLC system. This was the onset of a ‘distributed’ installation. Whilst there was no central point, there was still a lot of individual wiring in the tank clusters and unless designed into the original system, there was little flexibility for expansion or change. If we continue along the technology timeline, add another 15 years or so, we see completely new methods of field termination enabling infinitely flexible and expandable systems that simply plug together in the field. These systems are truly ‘decentralised’.

Example system for comparison Let us consider a small winery project where there are 32 tanks in four groups of eight. On each tank, there is one temperature transmitter, a brine/glycol valve, and two process butterfly valves. Each of the valves is fit for purpose and has open/close feedbacks as well as visual indication of status. The temperature sensor has either a 4-20mA transmitter installed in the connection head, or is digitally connected. We have chosen PLC control and SCADA visualisation, in-line with the ‘fictitious’ site standards. Our goal is to install these devices in the simplest and lowest cost way. 82

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Figure 2. Example System

If we wire in our distributed method, the first thing we have to do is engineer and specify our bespoke IO enclosure. This enclosure has to connect all the cables from the individual devices (128 of them) and provide DC power and control components to put these items into the PLC network. This will be a quite sizeable enclosure. Cable tray will need to be installed that can handle the 128 cables, which should be separated from any power cables. The estimated number of individual terminations is ~1,300 considering both the devices in the field and the panel. Using standard contractor calculations, this alone will take 130 hours to complete (around 16 person-days). If your electrical contractor charges you ~$70/ hour for site work, this will amount to well over $10K, and still does not include the running and strapping of a single cable, installation of cable trays or any consumables. Considering 5m of cable at the tank, tanks 5m apart and spurs 30m apart you are looking at over 15 kilometres of cable for this installation. Considering the cheapest overall screened PVC sheathed instrument

cables with the right number of pairs, you need to allow around $34,000, more if you want a higher specified cable. It would not be unreasonable to consider a total install cost as high as $100,000 for this project. The major limitations of this type of installation is the flexibility to alter or change the system after installation. As an example, the winemaker decides he wants a pressure transmitter added to 16 of the tanks, with the other 16 to follow next vintage. Unless you designed the original panel with over 100% spare analogue capacity in this case, you will have to add another panel. Even then, you are back to running cables in trays and all the associated terminations. There is often an argument that such installations are ‘simple’ and easy to fault find. However, one has to consider with all that cable and 1,300 terminations, isolation relays and all the IO cards, there is quite a lot of potential failure points, not to mention those caused by incorrect wiring. Such system installations are still quite standard in today’s wineries and there

Figure 3. Distributed System

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July 2022 – Issue 702

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Type 8805/2671 ELEMENT On/Off Hygienic Butterfly Valve for decentralised automation, IP65/67/NEMA4X, easy integrated control top (IO-LInk, ASi, DeviceNet, CANopen)

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July – Issue 702

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winemaking may be specific reasons that it remains a viable solution. These systems however are not fully compatible with, or able to upgrade to, a fully digitalised system with asset management and diagnostics capabilities. Pros:

Cons:

Field equipment slightly lower cost

Bespoke control panel, requires enginnering

All technology in one enclosure

Considerably longer time to implement

Figure 5. Tank Connections

Considerably higher installation cost Many potential points of possible failure 240V in the field, personnel safety issue Inflexible to changed IO requirements Not a a future-proof solution (compatible with i4.0 or IIOT, asset management, diagnostics, etc.)

The game changers One low technology advance in the last years has been the adoption of quickconnectors. You now find these on valves, sensors and IO blocks, on the DC power connections and even the Ethernet cable that runs back to the PLC. They meet documented standards, which makes them multi-vendor and cross compatible. Now entire field wiring systems are installed without the need for any bespoke engineering, junction boxes or terminals, and without the use of a screwdriver. Most importantly, they ensure the termination of all devices is correct, safe, waterproof, easily replaceable and simple.

Figure 4. IP67 Quick-Connection

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Figure 6. Decentralised System

Now we complete the same project in a decentralised format using digital connectivity. The first thing you will note is that there is no IO or distribution enclosure to be designed, built or wired. As you can see in Figure 6, we are using an IP67 connection block per tank. In this case we will have 50% spare ports available at each tank for future expansion and we keep cabling to an absolute minimum. Individual sensors and valves are connected directly to the blocks with a single IP67 quickconnector, which includes power and digital communications. From the block we daisy chain the Ethernet and power cables with IP67 quick-connectors, between the tanks. In comparison to the distributed design, there is no cable tray to be run and the 128 cables have been reduced to two. These could be tied under a walkway or in a piece of tube or conduit. The distance limitations are 100m between blocks (Ethernet standard) and 20m between the block and any device. In this instance there is sufficient power, however if more was required then a field supply could be added at any point in the installation to boost the energy available. www.winetitles.com.au

If we allow 5m of cable from block to each device (as we did on the distributed example) then this entire installation is now completed with 1040m of cable in total, versus the over 15 kilometres in the traditional installation. But the biggest savings and value comes from the fact that there are zero field or panel terminations, all connections are completed with the M12 quick-connectors. We would still recommend that the cables are well routed and marked, so allowing the same contractor rates we do for terminations, we would estimate around $3,000. This is so drastically reduced as the time to install has now come down to just four person-days. Having terminations reduced to plug-in connections, also eliminates the possibility of incorrect wiring, mistakes, loose terminations, and any chance of equipment damage. Whilst cables with quick-connectors on board are more expensive than raw cable, the cables for this installation would be around $13,000, a saving of $17,000. Considering all the data above, we could roughly estimate that the project could be completed for around $30,000. Adding the extra cost of digital capable devices (valves and sensors) at around $13,000 and the blocks in the field at $20,000, we July 2022 – Issue 702

still have a project saving of $37,000 and can compete it at least four times faster. Now consider the winemaker’s postproject addition of pressure transmitters as we did before. As visible in Figure 5, this is as simple as plugging in a new sensor in the field, and then addressing it in the software. Even if there were no spare ports, another block could be added at minimal cost. In this example, even if the devices on the tank were doubled, the only addition required would be an IP67 power supply booster, at around $800.

What if something fails? It is 10pm, a cellar hand yanks on a hose and clean snaps off a temperature transmitter. They can go to the store, grab a replacement, install it and plug it in. As the programmed device configurations are held in the field blocks, the device is recognised as missing and once a new one is connected it immediately reassigns it and downloads any configuration. You are up and running in seconds. The installation of a new digital connection system will require some local training on the configuration and maintenance of the system. Most equipment or automation vendors can support with this. Pros: Lower project overall cost

Cons: May require some site training of personnel

How do I integrate into my automation system?

Asset management and diagnostics available

In the above examples, I have purposely just used the term ‘Ethernet’ however; these systems exist in every form or Ethernet, or for every automation vendor. Therefore, no matter what system you have on site, there will be little challenge in connecting to the system. It will also be pleasing to know that these systems are built to accepted IEC standards and are generally available from many vendors without fear of connection issues. One other key advantage is that these systems can be installed cost effectively in very small wineries, and then be expanded easily as the need arises.

Easy to add devices post project

Future proof?

Faster to implement the project Significantly reduced engineering and fiield labour All field equipment 24VDC (extra-low voltage) Fully compliant with new digital standards

Fast and easy to repair with selfconfiguration Easily scaleable from very small sites to larger ones July – Issue 702

The above shows how the installation and wiring is considerably cheaper and faster, but this is not the only advantage that digital connectivity adds. This decentralised installation has also delivered a completely digitally www.winetitles.com.au

connected system, a system that is fully compliant with newer Industry 4.0 or IIOT standards. From the PLC, SCADA or a maintenance PC, you now have full asset management and diagnostic capabilities. This data can be used locally or in the cloud to prevent possible downtime and deliver even more value to the plant. Bürkert is the leading partner in fluid control systems. For over 70 years, they have partnered with large and small wineries all over the world. Their passion for wines and winemaking has given them a deep respect and understanding of the complexities of crafting great brands. Strength in their partnerships stems from a comprehensive range of German designed and manufactured products, coupled with local experience in winery engineering. Creating better processes for wineries helps to improve efficient running costs and ensures sustainable solutions for a better bottom line. Grapegrower & Winemaker

winemaking

Behind the Top Drops

Seppeltsfield 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny

Earlier this year, Seppeltsfield released the 1922 vintage of its 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny. It’s the 45th consecutive release of the remarkable drop, which matures in oak in Seppeltsfield’s Centennial Cellar in the Barossa Valley for 100 summers and winters before touching the lips of consumers — continuing a tradition set by Oscar Benno Seppelt way back in 1878 to lay down a barrel of his finest wine from each vintage. Seppeltsfield’s chief winemaker Fiona Donald revealed to Sonya Logan the history and production practices behind this century-in-the-making fortified, which is rated ‘Exceptional’ in Langton’s classification of Australian wine. The 1922 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny was released in 100ml bottles for $1500, which are hand filled to order, and can also be tasted at the Seppeltsfield cellar door for $90. The inaugural barrel that matured the first 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny before its release in 1978.

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July 2022 – Issue 702

Tell us about Oscar Benno Seppelt and his role in the production of the very first 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny?

Cellar — a truly unique and unparalleled system of maturing single barrels of vintage Tawny for 100 years before release.

Seppeltsfield’s history is punctuated with many moments of visionary foresight. Seppeltsfield’s founder Joseph Seppelt and his eldest son Benno were particularly renowned for their longer term vision for the estate, closely following custodianship principles to ensure a legacy was passed onto future generations.

In 1866, plans to build a new bluestone cellar were started by Joseph. Twelve years later in 1878, following the passing of his father, Benno completed the stone cellars. In a gesture both unique and inspirational, Benno selected a puncheon of his finest wine and gave instructions that it was not to be bottled for 100 years.

This is no more evident than Benno Seppelt’s inception of the Centennial

This single barrel of 1878 Tawny port was to remain maturing in a separate room within the bluestone cellars, untouched,

in the same location for 100 years. The tradition of laying down a barrel of the finest wine from each vintage was continued every year following and continues to do so today. The Centennial Cellar now comprises an unbroken lineage of every vintage from the current year back to 1878. A living museum of Australian winemaking history and undoubtedly the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the Seppeltsfield estate, the Centennial Cellar is an absolute must see.

All grapes that go into the 100 Year Old Para Vintage blend are estate owned. Shiraz and Grenache are used but the source vineyard can change from vintage to vintage.

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winemaking I am truly honoured to be part of the team who are the current custodians of the Centennial Cellar. What do we know about the varieties and vine sources that went into the inaugural release in 1978?

We cannot confirm for sure, but records from the era about varieties and purchase prices for growers would indicate Mataro, Grenache and Shiraz were used from the estate and local growers. Have the varieties changed much over the years?

There has been a shift away from Mataro to a Shiraz/Grenache blend. Has it been released every year since the inaugural release?

Seppeltsfield chief winemaker Fiona Donald

Yes, even through the various owners. It is a remarkable legacy. Describe the varieties and vine sources that have gone into the more recent vintages:

All grapes that go into the 100 Year Old Para Vintage blend are estate owned. Shiraz and Grenache are used but the source vineyard can change from vintage to vintage. At the time of

Seppeltsfield chief winemaker Fiona Donald in the Centennial Cellar that has housed the single barrels of vintage tawny to make the Keira O’Brien. Photo: Rivulet Wines 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny since 1878.

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July 2022 – Issue 702

vineyard assessment, grapes for the 100 Year Old and Tawny production in general are selected for medium sized berries, good fruit condition i.e. no shrivel, vibrant colour and strong fruit flavour over overt tannin. Describe the current winemaking process:

Fruit is harvested at optimum flavour and condition and at 14.5-15 Baume. Fruit is crushed to a stainless steel, closed, top fermenter where it remains for approximately 72 hours. After adjustments and seeding, the ferment is pumped over every 12 hours. At the desired Baume the free run juice is run to a tank and fortified with brandy spirit. After clarification the blend is finalised and put to wood — puncheons. The wine is matured in uninsulated cellars where the heights of summer and the depths of winter are experienced! The wine is topped within itself until one puncheon remains — after that, a program of downsizing occurs — hogshead, barrique, quarter, octave. Has much of that process changed over the years, to the best of your knowledge?

It is my understanding that the process has changed very little over the decades.

What can you tell us about the evolution of the wine’s packaging over its 45-year history?

We have stayed true to the original, with minor updates to evolve the overall look and feel. Where is the 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny sold?

Exclusive to our cellar door, located in the heart of the Barossa, with a very small selection available at high-end restaurants. Most cherished accolades?

James Halliday 100 Points, the perfect wine, for fourteen consecutive vintages. What’s your favourite food pairing?

This is difficult as the 100 Year Old is such an intense, sensory experience! Sometimes 80% dark chocolate with a nut and brown spice influence works, sometimes a washed rind cheese works. Is it true that Seppeltsfield is the only winery in the world to regularly release a wine with a century of age?

Yes, we are so fortunate.

After clarification the blend is finalised and put to wood — puncheons. The wine is matured in uninsulated cellars where the heights of summer and the depths of winter are experienced!

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winemaking

Sabi Wabi winemaker Peta Kotz. Photos: Sabi Wabi

Young Gun - Peta Kotz Honing in on kinks and quirks

With natural wine becoming a more prominent part of the industry, it takes new minds for a style in the zeitgeist to become a classic rather than go down in history as just a fad. Hunter Valley winemaker Peta Kotz is at the forefront of natural winemaking and shared her story with Harrison Davies. 90

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here are many who will argue that natural wine is the future for the Australian wine industry, pointing to its low-footprint sustainability as a reason why more producers should consider taking up at least some of the practices. This trend follows from the cellar to the cellar door, with a growing, young demographic that are keen to put down some of their hard-earned cash to get a bottle or three. This places producers using lowintervention practices at the forefront of innovation when it comes to Australian winemaking and one of the most buzzed about names in the field right now is the Hunter Valley’s Peta Kotz. Kotz’s label, Sabi Wabi, has only existed for several years yet has already earned accolades for its bold, textural wines that emphasise the terroir of the sites her grapes come from. The name, Sabi Wabi, references the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi; a worldview that accepts the imperfection and transience of nature. This philosophy guides her winemaking and helps her accept and understand that she is making wines that reflect the place they came from and embracing all those qualities. Kotz found her passion for creating wines that reflect the conditions of the Hunter as a child when she grew up in the region.

upon which Sabi Wabi is known for. Semillon is also a major variety in the Hunter, thus making it an obvious choice for Kotz to explore and toy with. “The Hunter Valley has a rich history of wine, with Semillon putting it on the global map,” she said. “I aim to express Semillon in a new non-traditional light. I love natural/ lo-fi wines, and being surrounded by tradition, I want to experiment with Semillon and show it in a new light.

I aim to express Semillon in a new non-traditional light. Peta Kotz

“Here in the Hunter, Semillon is traditionally fermented in stainless steel and bottled early, I want to make a more textural style of Semillon, fermenting in ceramic and neutral oak, along with skin contact and carbonic techniques. “I strive to make wines that are transportive and take you on a journey, with Hunter Valley Semillon as the focus.” Kotz sources all her grapes from the Hunter and her winemaking is a direct reflection of that region.

While many producers are busy exploring all that new and alternative varieties have to offer, Kotz is exploring the ways alternative and low intervention techniques can change her wines. Her winemaking emphasises the importance of minimal intervention and all wines are un-fined and unfiltered, with minimal sulfur. The result is a range of wines that express different flavours from your average Semillon, Merlot or Shiraz rosé. “Sabi Wabi is drawing inspiration from the ancient Japanese philosophy of ‘Wabi-Sabi’ which is best described as to find beauty amongst imperfection,” she explained. “I like to make wines that are minimal intervention in style, unfined and unfiltered that reflect the season and site, wines that are textural and interesting. “I feel this connection in my wines, which are not fine tuned to ‘perfection’, no heavy manipulation, more of an honest winemaking approach, trying to capture the season and expression of the environment the best I can.” Kotz sources her fruit from mostly organically certified vineyards around the Hunter. Sites around mainly Pokolbin, Lovedale and Luskintyre provide the fruit that forms the foundation of Sabi Wabi wines.

“I always enjoyed gardening as a kid and being outdoors, growing up in the Hunter Valley, with neighbouring properties planted to grapevines,” she said. “I was always intrigued by the process, so I guess that was where I first found my passion for all things grapes and wine.” Following a Viticulture Diploma in 2004, and then Bachelor of Wine Science at Charles Sturt University, Kotz was well on her way to becoming a fully-fledged winemaker. Now a leading low intervention winemaker, Kotz is one to watch as the industry changes with the winds.

From the earth to the bottle Semillon sits at the centre of Kotz’s winemaking and has become the flagship July – Issue 702

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winemaking I hope to continue spreading the love of Lo-fi wine from the Hunter Valley. Peta Kotz

A focus on what’s there Since Sabi Wabi’s first release back in 2019, Kotz has welcomed many to the natural winemaking bandwagon. Kotz’s passion for expressing the flavours of the Hunter is exuded by her winemaking and has brought many who may not have been interested in the phenomenon to give it a second try. “Natural wine is a beautiful and special thing,” Kotz explained. “There are little kinks and quirks in these wines that are unique and interesting, that excites me. Wines with soul. “I think natural wine in the modern wine industry is a great thing, it is pushing winemakers, growers and consumers.” A wet vintage in the Hunter in 2022 has Kotz excited for the new wines that are in store. “Despite the wet conditions during the harvest period here in the Hunter Valley, the wines look great, whites in particular,” she said. “New wines for this vintage include a Petillant Naturel made from Chardonnay, along with a Syrah Nouveau. “The first release for Sabi Wabi was in 2019 and each year new wines are being added to the lineup, which is exciting. “[In the future I will be] producing small batch wines, I hope to continue spreading the love of lo-fi wine from the Hunter Valley.”

Sabi Wabi Syrah Nouveau.

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EQUIPMENT READY FOR VINTAGE 2023? Concerned about shipping and timings?

With the current state of delivery and shipping lead times, Tanium has managed to secure of a range of new and used Europress presses and crushpad equipment that will be available for installation in time for Vintage 2023.

Call 03 9555 5500 to enquire about the range available for Vintage 2023 delivery. info@tanium.com.au | grapeworks.com.au

business & technology

Human Resources

Pickers can be choosers

The industry’s worker shortage of Vintage 2022

The COVID pandemic produced numerous challenges for wine producers in Australia: from dismal visitation to sales that stayed at the bottom of the barrel. Another complication was the closure of borders and lack of seasonal workers. Harrison Davies spoke with producers to see how they dealt with a vintage worker shortage in 2022. Calls for help rung from coast to coast as Vintage 2022 got underway across Australia. Producers the country over scrambled to find workers to help pick fruit and process grapes. “Hi there winos. Is anyone still looking for a last minute vintage position? We still need a few cellar hands,” said one producer in the Pyrenees. “We are looking for V2022 workers in Clare Valley, South Australia. We will need two people. Start around last week of January till end of April,” said another in the Clare Valley. Similar concerns echoed across vineyards and in cellars as wine businesses struggled to keep up with a fruitful vintage and a lack of seasonal staff. Most years the vintage is covered by working holiday makers, seasonal workers who only expect a few months of work before moving on.

This year, however, vintage landed in the last few weeks of “fortress Australia”, when the borders were closed, preventing anyone from coming or leaving. Producers were quickly finding themselves short staffed and struggling to keep up with the busy pace of vintage. The previous federal government put though several policies to try and alleviate some of the challenges. Then Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke, released a statement saying that working holiday rules would become more lenient to make up for the worker shortfalls. “Until the end of 2022, there will be no limit on the length of time working holiday makers can work for the same employer,” he said in a statement. “The above measures are temporary and designed to provide immediate

assistance to Australian businesses that are currently facing critical workforce shortages, to enable them to continue delivering goods and services to the community.” These changes seemed to be too little, too late and producers began to look for other ways to get grapes off vines and into the cellar. Some brought all hands on deck for all parts of the vintage, bringing cellar hands into the vineyards to pick fruit and bringing vineyard hands and viticulturists into the cellar to provide assistance. Some called upon friends and family to help pick grapes and offered them food and drinks in exchange for their work. Others were simply fed up at the quality of work provided by locals, as one New South Wales producer lamented. “Anyone else had a gutful of pickers this vintage?” he said in a Facebook post.

The staff at Oliver’s Taranga in McLaren Vale during Vintage ‘22

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“Tax free cash in hand, no care, no responsibility, a whinge a minute. What happened to the Australian work ethic?”

Many hands make light work Finding vintage workers has proven a significant challenge over the 2022 vintage for both large and small producers alike. Vas Sekerin is a winemaker in the Adelaide Hills region and his boutique label, State of Nature Wines, navigated similar challenges to all throughout the industry. The Adelaide Hills usually find their grape pickers from contractors who bring their workers to small vineyards throughout the harvesting season. The Hills are somewhat unique to other regions in South Australia as many of the grape pickers come from Adelaide and vineyards don’t rely so heavily on international work. Because of the shortage of international workers, however, contracting groups were spread thin across neighbouring regions, creating head scratching challenges for Sekerin at State of Nature.

“This year because there’s a very limited supply of workers, we had to lock in picking days a lot earlier than we would like to, just because we need to guarantee that we’re going to have pickers.

“Our vineyard crew was similar to usual as we were able to spread out the machine picking and didn’t need to do so much night work to avoid the heat of the day given the cooler conditions.”

“That adds a little bit of a complexity to the vintage because ideally, you want to be able to make a picking call a lot closer to when you want to pick grapes.

The lack of staff also bred conditions that made picking rate rapidly rise and create competition amongst producers to get workers.

“Because of the scarcity of work, I had to pick one of the vineyards at a sub optimal time, because I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get someone together at all.” Oliver’s Taranga in McLaren Vale faced similar problems when looking for pickers and found different solutions, as they had a larger staff on hand to help get grapes off vines. They faced trouble finding workers, especially for hand picking, and were lucky enough to have a cooler vintage. Oliver’s Taranga winemaker and director Corrina Wright said they were thankful for cooler temperatures over summer.

“[The Adelaide Hills] is serviced mostly by residents of Adelaide and they have little groups of people who are organised usually by a foreman,” Sekerin said.

“It was a long slow ripening period for McLaren Vale, so those vintages always work smoothly as there isn’t any rush for picking that happens in heat wave years,” she said.

“It’s very hard to organise, picking, because that’s usually either international workers, or friends and family.

“This was probably lucky that it was a cooler ripening period given the lack of handpicking labour access.

Sekerin said a common issue that was blown out this year was the trust between picking crews and producers. “Some pickers don’t like to work with new clients as they might not be able to guarantee payment - our picking crew has been burned in the past with a producer who didn’t pay their bills on time, and they were put out quite significantly,” he explained. “It’s all about trust and building the relationship with your picking crew. “The prices have gone up again this year and people are asking more and more year to year for harvesting, which is on the one hand good because people are getting fair wages for their work, which is hard work.

TIPSY

Director of Dog Stuff

Tipsy is a star employee. She’s always the first to greet guests and effortlessly provides an ice-breaker for those on a first date and nervous about their [lack of] wine knowledge. To reduce wastage she’s tasked with polishing off any leftovers and is always the first to mop the floor after spills. Concerned with making city-folk feel more at home in the country, she’ll ensure they leave with a little dirt on their dress, and is key to boosting customer and staff morale. Other duties include hole-digging (for future plantings), bird/mice removal and paper shredding.

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The cost of wages for pickers was much higher for many producers due to the fact that residents demand higher rates as well as the demand for work being exponentially higher than in other seasons.

Monthly staff favourite from the Top Dogs Competition 2022

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business & technology “But on the other it’s becoming harder and harder for small producers like myself to be able to pay those bills.” With rising costs across the industry, the South Australian Wine Industry Association conducted a survey to create a guide for employers to see how wages and salary had changes throughout the industry in the last year. SAWIA business service manager Henrik Wallgren said that while the lack of workers was causing upward pressure on wages, there were more structural factors at play. “Whilst a tighter labour market is putting upwards pressure on wages, the issue about staffing shortages is broader than wages, many of them being long-term,” he said. “An ageing population, challenges recruiting for work in regional locations, lack of affordable housing in regional locations, COVID-related international and state border closures further limiting the supply of labour. “It is an employee’s market, with a large number of job openings across industries and employees at times applying for more than one job at a time. “Employers tried to work around this in a number of ways, including commencing recruitment earlier than otherwise, getting in touch with vintage workers from previous years and focusing on retaining workers, including owner/ operators and existing staff working longer hours. “Anecdotal evidence suggests that this at times have caused challenges and unexpected vacancies nearing vintage. It was also reported that at times not all positions could be filled.” Competition between producers to get pickers also meant somewhat of a bidding war started between producers to get boots on the ground. Wright mentioned that there was tension in McLaren Vale when trying to get pickers. “Everyone was scrambling for handpickers. We had to get the whole cellar door team out to pick a couple of times,” she said. “Be thankful for backpackers and fingers crossed that they come back soon.” 96

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Rising production costs and impacts of war a concern for producers The ‘rise and rise’ of input costs and fallout from the war in Ukraine are weighing on sentiment in Australia’s agricultural sector, with producer confidence declining in the latest quarter. Results of the quarter two Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey reveal optimism about high agricultural commodity prices has been reined in by the increasing cost of vital farm inputs such as fertiliser, fuel, freight and machinery and broader inflationary pressures in the Australian economy. In addition, the latest survey reveals 50 per cent of Australian producers believe the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine will have a negative impact on farm businesses, while 25% expect the effect could be positive. While income projections for the 12 months ahead remain stable, the number of producers looking to increase investment has declined slightly this quarter. The latest survey, completed in May, found 28% of Australia’s primary producers now expect business conditions to improve in the coming 12 months (down slightly from 31% with that view in the previous quarter), while 16% are anticipating a deterioration (from 14% previously). More than half (53%) of respondents expect business conditions to remain stable in the year ahead. This marks three consecutive quarterly declines in net rural confidence and brings farmer sentiment back to levels last seen in June 2020, after the first pandemic lockdown. Rabobank Australia CEO Peter Knoblanche said producers had been enjoying high agricultural commodity prices and generally-excellent seasonal conditions in many parts of the country for more than two years, but many in the sector were now facing considerable margin pressure with input costs rising on all fronts. www.winetitles.com.au

“The benefits of those investments are certainly helping farmers create some efficiencies, but the cost pressure is not easing and producers definitely need those higher commodity prices in order to meet rising input costs,” he said. The latest survey found the expectation of rising commodity prices remains the main driver of optimism among respondents with a positive outlook, while 62% of those expecting conditions to deteriorate cited rising input costs as a key cause for concern, ahead of falling commodity prices (27%), overseas markets (15%) and labour shortages (9%). Knoblanche said the Russia-Ukraine war was also hanging over the sector, with its impacts on key inputs of fuel and fertiliser sending prices for both skyrocketing, cutting farmer margins in a range of sectors. “It is undoubtedly exacerbating many of the cost and supply issues which were already in play last year,” he said. “But for some sectors, especially grains, we are seeing the conflict impact global supply and push prices higher, and also deliver higher local prices with strong demand for Australian grain as the world turns to our producers to help meet critical food needs. “But as the next round of EU sanctions come into force, there is a lot of caution among farmers about what this will mean for the longer term, which is flowing through to lower levels of optimism.” This quarter, producers were specifically asked their views about the impacts of the war in Ukraine on agribusiness. Of the 50% believing it would have a negative or very negative effect on their farm business, the main concerns were in relation to higher fuel prices (cited by 49%) and increased costs for inputs including fertiliser and freight (cited by 61%). July 2022 – Issue 702

IT Sales Innovation

Aussie icon wines feature on Japan e-commerce page

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten has agreed to sell more than 400 additional South Australian food and beverage products in a new partnership with the government of South Australia.

he Japanese online retailer Rakuten, which is second only to Amazon with a 27 per cent share of Japan’s e-commerce sector, launched a dedicated South Australian products page in June. The South Australian Department for Trade and Investment brokered the “Tasting South Australia” page deal and helped nine of the state’s businesses to feature on Rakuten’s e-commerce platform of more than 111 million Japanese users. The companies export products ranging from wine to pet food. South Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Nick Champion said the partnership would increase the number of South Australian products featured on Rakuten to around 2500 and provide additional support and exposure to more than 70 companies already in the market, including over 50 wine producers such as D’Arenberg, Henschke and Penfolds.

honey, almonds, seafood, sweets, spreads and pet food, along with fashion and beauty products. “With that increase comes an anticipation that this initiative will yield an increase in the value of our export sales into the Japanese market.” Japan is currently South Australia’s fifth biggest export market, according to Champion, with an export value of just under $700 million a year. South Australian companies that will feature their products on the Tasting South Australia page include NovaFarms, Buzz Honey, Hither & Yon, Prohibition Liquor Co, Southern Kuya, Apiwraps and Pet Snacks.

CEO Wes Heddles of Prohibition Liquor, one of the SA companies to feature their products, said the e-commerce platform was the most logical option to enter the Japanese export market. “We saw Rakuten as the most premium opportunity to launch into Japan as a sophisticated alcohol market and then use the sales data as market research to present our range to more traditional retailers; bars, bottle shops and restaurants, knowing what products are most popular,” he said. This article originally appeared at The Lead South Australia

“Along with a firstmover advantage on Japan’s premium e-commerce platform, we are seeking to establish our own unique footprint in the Japanese market,” Champion said. “South Australia will be the first Australian jurisdiction with a standalone designated page that showcases the very best of our state’s premium wine, beer, gin,

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sales & marketing

How much will preferential tariff entry into India boost Australia’s wine exports? By Kym Anderson¹ and Glyn Wittwer²

ith grapes left on the vine this vintage for want of tank space following the loss of China’s wine market, the industry cheered the news on 2 April 2022, of an interim Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between Australia and India being signed by the two countries’ trade ministers. The possibility of such an agreement has been talked about since 2011 but negotiations lapsed in 2015, before re-opening in June 2020. Many still had low expectations of an agreement being reached promptly, and few expected wine import tariffs to be among those lowered most.

...India has committed to extend to Australia any market access improvements it may offer other countries in future bilateral, regional or multilateral trade agreements.

India has a whopping 150% tariff on all wine imports, but has agreed to reduce that on Australian bottled wine from

the outset of this agreement coming into force. The tariff will be immediately lowered to 100% for bottles in the US$5 to $15 range and to 75% for bottles above US$15. Each of those two tariff rates will then be lowered further, by 5 percentage points every year for a decade. Since Australia’s wine exports to India are almost all in the bottled commercial premium range, it means by the early 2030s those entering India’s market with a CIF price in the US$515 range will face a tariff of just 50%, and those above US$15 will be hit with just a 25% tariff instead of the current 150%. Moreover, India has committed to extend to Australia any market access improvements it may offer other countries in future bilateral, regional or multilateral trade agreements.

¹Kym Anderson Wine Economics Research Centre, University of Adelaide, Adelaide and Arndt-Cordon Department of Economics, Australian National University, Canberra kym.anderson@adelaide.edu.au ²Glyn Wittwer Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia glyn.wittwer@vu.edu.au

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To see how that might boost Australia’s wine exports and offset the loss of the China market, this article first provides a summary of the Indian market and then uses our model of global beverage markets to assess the wine trade impacts of CECA. Massive though this sudden preferential access might sound for Australia in this rapidly growing market, it will not solve Australia’s current wine surplus problem for two reasons: India’s wine consumption is still tiny compared with China’s, and most of Australia’s exports to India are currently well below US$5 per litre where tariffs are unchanged. Nonetheless, this new bilateral trade agreement provides a great opportunity for Australia to boost its exports of higher-quality wines to India.

India’s wine market India has a small wine market, accounting for barely 0.1% of the nation’s alcohol consumption. It is largely supplied by domestic producers because of a 150% tariff on all wine imports and myriad behind-the-border regulations, taxes and charges by both central and state governments that add further to the

cost of penetrating this market (Wine Australia 2021; Madras Consultancy Group 2021). As a result, India accounts for just 0.1% of global wine imports. Thus any conceivable market expansion via income and population growth, or changes in policies or consumer preferences, is unlikely to have any discernible impact on international wine prices in the near term.

by value (four times Australia’s share of global wine exports) and 41% by volume (six times Australia’s global export share). That is, Australia already has a much stronger foot-hold in India’s wine market than any of its competitors, accounting for about 7% of Indian wine consumption volume and expenditure. Yet India accounted for just 0.3% of Australia’s wine exports in 2018-20 and 0.6% in 2021.

…this market is growing rapidly from its low base, and Australian wine is contributing disproportionately to that.

Given Australia’s recent loss of access to China’s wine market (Wittwer and Anderson 2021), it has ample scope to expand its exports to India without putting immediate upward pressure on the prices or volumes of Australia’s exports to other markets. Meanwhile, India’s wine market is growing at 12% per year, according to Madras Consultancy Group (2021).

Nonetheless, this market is growing rapidly from its low base, and Australian wine is contributing disproportionately to that: it was the largest importer of wine into India by both value (slightly ahead of France) and volume in 2018 (USDA 2019). Australia’s shares of India’s wine imports in 2018-20 averaged 25%

More specifically, the Indian market in 2018-20 involved average annual domestic wine production of 18 ML, wine imports of 4 ML, and wine consumption of 22 ML (or 0.02 litres per adult per year); and its wine imports were valued at US$20 million. Australia accounted for US$5m of that, but in 2021 it rose to US$8.8m, all bottled. The average

India’s wine market is growing rapidly from its low base

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price of the 1.6 ML imported by India from Australia in 2018-20 was US$3.20/ litre, or about one-third above Australia’s average price of exports to the rest of the world. In the 12 months to March 2022, 85% of the value of Australia’s wine exports to India had an import price of less than US$4/litre. Another 4% were in the US$4-6 range, 2% were in the US$68 range, and the remaining 9% were above US$8, while in volume terms those shares were even more skewed at 95%, 3%, 1% and 1%, respectively (Table 1). These data suggest less than one-sixth of the value of India’s imports of Australian wines in the past year were above the threshold of US$5/litre required to qualify for a reduced tariff under the interim CECA agreement, and just 5% of the volume of those imports. However, with the progressive lowering of tariffs on higher-priced Australian wines, exporters will be encouraged to export more than the currently miniscule volumes of super premium wines to India, 100

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as consumers there take advantage of the tariff-inclusive lowering of their price. In addition, those Australian exporters whose wines currently are priced in the US$3-$5/litre range will find it in their interest to raise their price to that first threshold of $5 to attract a lower tariff, just as those in the US$12.50-$15/litre range will find it worth raising their price to US$15.

Modelling the wine trade impacts of CECA To estimate the impact of CECA on the Indian wine market and its imports of wine from Australia and elsewhere, a global model of beverage markets is needed. This is because any new preferential access to a market can lead to trade creation and diversion for the favoured trading partner country but

Table 1: Shares of volume and value of Australian wine exports to India, by price range, and average fob export price, 12 months to March 2022 (% and US$/litre) Price range (US$/litre):

Volume (%)

Value (%)

Average price (US$/litre)

Less than $4

2.95

$4.00-5.99

4.18

$6.00-7.99

6.23

$8+

30.22

100

3.28

TOTAL

Source: https://marketexplorer.wineaustralia.com/export-dashboard, accessed 7 June 2022 and converted at AUD1= 73.8 US cents.

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also trade diversion and possibly a trade reduction for some other countries. Wittwer and Anderson (2020, 2022) recently generated and enhanced such a model, the GLOBAL-BEV model. It identifies three red still wine qualities, three white still wine qualities, and sparkling wine, in addition to having a beer sector and a spirits sector in each country. The middle of the three still wine quality ranges is commercial premium wine with an fob export price between US$2.50 and $7.50 per litre. We use that model here to assess the likely impact of the new CECA on: • India’s wine imports, • Australia’s wine exports, and • Wine exports of the rest of the world. We first project the baseline in the GLOBAL-BEV model to 2025 assuming business as usual with these markets growing according to World Bank projections of income per capita and population plus the authors’ expectations of trends in beverage preferences on the July – Issue 702

demand side and productivity growth on the supply side. This baseline is then compared with two scenarios in which Indian market access to Australian wine is one-third the way along its 10-year liberalisation path. We do so assuming the tariff on Australia’s wine is down to either 85% or 50% for wines with an Indian import price range of US$5-15 per litre. The lesser liberalisation (to 85%) would imply a delay until 2023 in ratifying the CECA to trigger the reform path; the greater liberalisation case (to 50%) provides a sense of how much larger the annual trade could be once the reform is fully phased in over the next 10 years. Because our model’s commercial premium wine sector is defined as between US$2.50 and $7.50 per litre, we assume that only one-fifth of that sector’s wine would enjoy that tariff cut (after some bottles currently priced in the US$3-4.99 range are assumed to be re-priced above $5 so as to enjoy the lowered tariff). www.winetitles.com.au

Results Table 2 reports the difference between the 2025 baseline (no CECA) and what it would be if one-fifth of Australia’s wine exports to India by then faced a preferential tariff of 85% (Sim 1) or 50% (Sim 2) instead of the 150% faced by all other exporters of wine to India. Sim 1 can be thought of as the lower-bound projected outcome, while Sim 2 indicates how much greater that difference would be if the preferential tariff was 50% -- as it will be by the early 2030s for Australian wines in the US$5-15/litre range. Sim 1 suggests India’s wine consumption would be 0.5% above the baseline (no reform), but Sim 2 suggests it could be as much as 1% above when Australia’s preferential tariff is as low as 50% (row 1 of Table 2). A short-hand way of describing that result is to say India’s wine consumption would be 1-2% larger thanks to the CECA. Its annual imports would be about 1 ML or US$2-4 million larger (rows 2 and 3). Australia’s wine exports to India would be larger by 1-2 Grapegrower & Winemaker

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sales & marketing ML or US$4-6m. By contrast, the rest of the world’s wine exports to India would be lower by US$2-3m (row 8 of Table 2) as they would be less able to compete with Australia there. The story does not end there though. Assuming that stocks are not run down in Australia (as this modelling does, even though that is unrealistic given the current high stock-to-sales ratio), then Australia would export less to the rest of the world, by US$2-3m, while other countries would export more to the rest of the world, by US$2-4m (rows 9 and 10). This partial preferential liberalisation by India thus will boost annual world wine exports by US$2-5m (row 11 of Table 2). The estimated impact on wine producer prices in Australia is tiny (row 12) and would be even smaller if Australia’s greater exports were taken out of excess stocks rather than from current supplies. Australia’s share of India’s wine import market will rise from about one-quarter in value terms to nearly one-third, and even higher in volume terms (rows 13 and 14 of Table 2). This modelling has ignored the wines above US$15/litre, as they currently represent well under 1% of the volume of Australia’s exports to India. That share could grow a lot, though, with tariffs on those imports to halve initially to 75% and then progressively fall to 25% by the early 2030s.

Conclusion Welcomed though this interim trade agreement has been by vignerons in Australia, a net increase in Australian exports of US$2-3 million (row 7 plus row 9 of Table 2) is but a very small (<1%) offset to their loss of wine exports to China since 2000, which in 201820 averaged US$745 million. Hence the on-going importance of the multiple efforts currently under way to find other new markets for Australian wine. These are not the only benefits of CECA to our wine industry though. Just as important are the enhanced opportunities to work with the Indian wine industry’s leaders and policy makers on technical standards, which can otherwise impede trade. Encouraging India to join the World Wine Trade Group (www.wwtggmcv.org) could be an additional means to that end. And greater familiarity in each country will foster more investment 102

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Table 2: Differences in India’s wine market and Australia’s wine exports as a consequence of the interim Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between India and Australia, 2025,a (%, ML and US$ million) Sim 1 (85%)

Sim 2 (50%)

Row India’s wine consumption volume (% change)

0.5

1.0

India’s wine import volume change (ML)

0.6

1.2

India’s wine import value change (US$ m)

2.0

3.8

India’s self-sufficiency in wine (percentage point volume change)

1.0

2.0

India’s self-sufficiency in wine (percentage point value change)

0.8

1.6

Change in volume of Australia’s wine exports to India (ML)

1.0

1.8

Change in value of Australia’s wine exports to India (US$ m)

3.6

6.4

Change in value of rest of world’s wine exports to India (US$ m)

-1.6

-2.6

Change in value of Australia’s wine exports to rest of world (US$ m)

-1.8

-3.0

Change in value of rest of world’s wine exports to rest of world (US$m)

2.2

4.0

Change in total value of world’s wine exports (US$ m)

2.4

4.8

Producer price of Australian wine (% change)

0.0

0.1

Australia’s share of India’s wine import volume (%): base = 42%

Australia’s share of India’s wine import value (%): base = 27%

a Sim 1 reports the difference between the 2025 baseline (no CECA) and what it would be if Australia by then faced a preferential tariff of 85% instead of the 150% faced by all other exporters of wine to India; Sim 2 reports how much greater that difference would be if the preferential tariff was 50% (as it will be by the early 2030s). Source: Authors’ GLOBAL-BEV model projections.

in the other’s industry, which brings with it mutual benefits from two-way information and technology exchanges.

References Madras Consultancy Group (2021), Alcoholic Beverage Opportunities and Path to Market for India: Guide for Australian Brands to Sell Alcoholic Beverages in India, Report for the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), Chennai, September. USDA (2019), India: Wine Production and Trade Update, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, GAIN Report No. IN9073, Washington DC, 7 August. Wine Australia (2021), Export Market Guide: India, Adelaide: Wine Australia, April. Wittwer, G. and K. Anderson (2020), “A Model of Global Beverage Markets”, Journal of Wine Economics 15(3): 330-54, August. Wittwer, G. and K. Anderson (2021) “How Will Markets Adjust to China’s New Tariff on Imports of Australian Wine?”, Wine and Viticulture Journal 36(2): 66-70, Autumn. www.winetitles.com.au

Wittwer, G. and K. Anderson (2022), “Enhancing a Model of Global Beverage Markets”, Wine Economics Research Centre Working Paper 2022-04, University of Adelaide, June.

Corresponding author: Professor Kym Anderson, Executive Director, Wine Economics Research Centre School of Economics and Public Policy University of Adelaide Adelaide SA 5005, Australia Phone +61 (0)414 254 121 kym.anderson@adelaide.edu.au

Acknowledgement: The authors are grateful for financial support from Wine Australia, under Research Project UA1803-3-1, and from the University of Adelaide’s Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics and the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine. Forthcoming in the Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker, Issue 702, July 2022. July 2022 – Issue 702

Sales Innovation

Real gains to be made from innovating brand strategies

Winemaker and writer Paul Le Lacheur examines how companies with a clear market focus for their wine brand and products can be rewarded with positive sales.

noteworthy report on wine sales by drinks market analysts the IWSR (International Wine & Spirit Record) revealed positive longterm signs for Australian producers in our domestic market. At 40% of total sales, the domestic market is by far our largest individual market sector. Its share of total sales has grown steadily over the last few years and is now made up of approximately 45% white, 40% red and 15% sparkling wines. In 2016, the IWSR report highlighted an increase to 29.6 litres per head per annum after five years of decline. It forecast that sales would continue to grow slowly over the next five years while also highlighting what was already then a clear trend toward consumers drinking higher priced wine. Wine sales above $10/L in particular have increased markedly from 2017 onward.

July – Issue 702

Conversely, the trend for wine below $10/L has clearly been down during the same period. Other figures show continued growth in lighter styles of red wines and an ‘increasing familiarity’ with alternative varieties.

The value proposition for the brand is more aligned to the social responsibility of accessing environmentally-friendly packaging and low waste. A more recent report from Wine Australia, titled ‘Wine Channel Purchase Behaviour of Australian Wine Consumers’ was released in December www.winetitles.com.au

2021. Those channels include bottle shops, cellar doors, online retailers, winery websites and mailing list sales. This report has become a particularly relevant reference because as it so clearly demonstrates the changes in wine buying behaviour between late 2019 and late 2020 – a recent snapshot that captures a period of pandemic-induced market disruption. Among the report’s key findings were that nearly all channels experienced a decrease in frequency of use during 2020, although online sales did overtake cellar door sales to become the second most popular sales channel after bottle shops. Importantly, many consumers thought this would continue, with younger wine buyers found to be more likely to purchase wine through ‘non bricks and mortar’ channels than older surveyed Grapegrower & Winemaker

103

sales & marketing respondents. But the report showed that despite widespread confidence in using the internet to buy goods other than wine, roughly only half of all wine consumers used this channel to actually make a wine purchase. So now we have data from two different sources, and from that we can deduce that a minimum of (at least) half of Australian consumers do buy through the internet – it’s just that not all of them will do this for wine. What could possibly be a sales solution for wine producers? Well, one company has consciously made their online offerings look much less like the internet, so to speak. In doing so, Riot Wine Co. has therefore allowed for the possibility that their wines might be perceived as less ‘risky’ to purchase in the marketplace. It worked. Riot strive to match their advertising messages to the lessons learned from the report produced for Wine Australia, i.e. that people now want fresher, cleaner, lighter-bodied, easier-to-access wines.

Aligning brand values These parameters were deemed by Riot’s management to approximate their own brand values: sustainability, quality and, simply, ‘good fun times’. This seems to be more than just another packaging solution. It’s truly innovative to fastidiously select the distribution channel which best matches the personality you have assiduously carved out for your brand in an overcrowded marketplace.

centre of the livery. Sensibly though, Riot has taken advantage of the knowledge gained from the recent research data. These figures show a trend toward consumer willingness to buy more wine at higher price points (particularly above $10/L). Cleverly, Riot wines are not entering the market at necessarily lower price points. The wine producer has sought to directly convey a ‘value’ message through parameters other than product ‘positioning’ via pricing. The value proposition for the brand is more aligned to the social responsibility of accessing environmentally-friendly packaging and low waste. This seems to be the payoff for finding and choosing such brands. Early adopters love the personal pride visited through quickly becoming prominent: new market influencers for a new brand. This is especially so when the decisions (to be brand loyal) are directly in line with their deeper core values. Other points to consider for this sector of the market are the lower packaging weight of canned wine leading to a much smaller transport carbon footprint and big savings in inventory/handling costs. Early adopters even wear these choices as ‘badges of pride’. In turn, this market niche quickly builds strong loyalty to the brand as something more akin to a happily unintended consequence. Riot Wine Co. has certainly been adept at reading the market signs for the ‘situational usage’ pattern of consumption for their brand. These include: informal outdoor ‘picnic’ drinking without the

concern of ‘difficult-to-dispose-of ’ packaging types, a one-can shared usage and the often-cited ‘drink one wine serving on its own’ usage. The need to comply with what is seen to be outdated wine and food combination rules is thereby simply extinguished.

…a growing number of consumers seem to be overtly rejecting such inconveniences as belonging to a stuffy bygone era in which they will not voluntarily participate. There are many more powerful yet subtly influential variables which support purchase and consumption of wine in these patterns. As a final benefit, this section of the market sees wine going to market in a can as obviating the need to carry corkscrews, glasses or other wine paraphernalia. Such affectations may well even be deemed by these same modern consumers as superfluous. Indeed, a growing number of consumers seem to be overtly rejecting such inconveniences as belonging to a stuffy bygone era in which they will not voluntarily participate. Wine marketed in a can is certainly a sales ‘solution’ which has succeeded in introducing a whole new generation to the very joys of wine.

An important part of any successful marketing plan is, of course, the packaging itself. In particular, which kind of packaging best establishes, reflects and overtly suits the character of your brand. These decisions are a key cog in the bigger marketing wheel. Specifically, the Riot Wine Co. has bravely taken the big decision to market its wines in a small (250ml) can format. A brave decision indeed, because this doesn’t necessarily reflect any huge increase in the number of companies choosing that packaging format for quality wine distribution. However, in many other ways, the wines are very much marketed ‘traditionally’ (read ‘deliberately’), where varietal labelling, vintage recognition and style assignation stand proudly at front and 104

Grapegrower & Winemaker

Riot Wines’ Pinot Noir

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producer profile I always follow the varietal spotlight in Grapegrower & Winemaker as well as keep up to date with viticulture. - Elena Brooks on the Grapegrower & Winemaker

Dandelion winemaker Elena Brooks after winning the McLaren Vale Bushing Monarch award. Image courtesy Dandelion Vineyards.

ELENA BROOKS Winemaker, Dandelion Vineyards

How did you get your start in wine?

I come from northern Bulgaria where my mother worked in a rather large winery. I grew up around grapes, barrels and winemakers. It was an Australian winemaker, Stephen Bennett, that encouraged me to pursue winemaking after doing some home fermentation of Chardonnay grapes at age 16. What is the best thing about working in the wine sector?

I like the creativity that comes with being a winemaker and that every year we have a chance to improve our work. I like that working with wine takes me around the world. For example, we have a Spanish wine label called Cien Y Pico. What have been some of the highlights of your career in wine?

There have been many – from wining trophies around the world, the most recent Bushing Monarch in McLaren Vale, to buying one of the most magnificent vineyards in McLaren Vale. As well, the great success that we have achieved with Dandelion Vineyards. What are some characteristics of Australian wine that help it stand out from other countries?

As Australian winemakers we strive to do the best with the grapes we have, 106

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in vintage and region. That shows in the wines we make which represent variety and region so well. There are no old traditions that stop us from advancing the best we can do. We are innovative and exciting. How have you been able to explore winemaking throughout your career and across different regions?

Dandelion Vineyards started across four regions with the first vintage. Multiregional winemaking is engraved in our philosophy. We only make wines from the right variety and region combination. Our Riesling is from Eden Valley, Chardonnay is from Adelaide Hills, Grenache is from McLaren Vale, but GSM is from Barossa. We find that winemaking is easy when choosing the right pairings. What are some of the challenges involved with being a part of the winemaking industry?

During the last couple of years it has been difficult to fill positions from viticulture to hospitality. www.winetitles.com.au

What would be your advice to someone just entering the industry?

Choose the style of wine that best represents your liking. Learn from and respect the older generations - most of the time they have done it all. Do you think alternative varieties, like Tempranillo and Grüner Veltliner, have a viable future in the Australian wine scene?

Alternative varieties add a lot of ‘colour and movement’ in our industry. We make Roussanne, Tempranillo, Touriga because we have a story to tell. Our climate is so versatile and suitable to alternatives. There is a lot of diversity in the food we eat and the society we live in which drives our consumer’s palate.

Location: McLaren Vale, South Australia

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Plenty of action in India’s wine sector

International 13-15 July

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American Society for Enology & Viticulture Annual Conference – Eastern Section, Hilton Minneapolis/ Bloomington, Minnesota, USA www.asev-es.org/Conference.php

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The contemporary Indian wine sector is entering its third decade of colourful, accelerating growth. There was a sharp setback after the Mumbai bombing and the global financial crisis, and some of those effects are still lingering – notably the shrinking status of industry pioneer, Indage Vintners, and some struggling who have had to accept lower prices for their winegrapes.

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Defining the sustainable vineyard

Today’s consumers are demanding that primary producers provide quality products that have been grown in a sustainable manner and without any negative effects on the environment. But how do you define a sustainable vineyard? What indicators do viticulturists have that will provide them with the confidence that they are indeed sustainable?

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Current projects in the Riverina

In late June a visit to the Griffith and Leeton area of New South Wales allowed me a chance to meet many winegrape growers and a number of winemakers. The Standing Committee for Viticulture met on one day and considered a wide range of industry issues impacting on the Riverina. Attention was given to developments in the ‘Riverina Clean’ concept of low chemical input, low residue viticulture. Did you know that your digital subscription to the Grapegrower & Winemaker allows access to archived digital copies of the magazine dating all the way back to 2005?

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THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND

WINE INDUSTRY

Grape Grower & Wine Maker July 2022

Articles inside

Producer Profile: Elena Brookes

FEATURE Aussie icon wines feature on Japan e-commerce page

Rising production costs and impacts of war a concern for producers

FEATURE The industry’s worker shortage of Vintage 2022

Young Gun Peta Kotz

Ask the AWRI

Exploring the total cost of tank automation systems

Tasmania cheers for 60 pioneering years

Behind the Top Drops: Seppeltsfield 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny

FEATURE The cold facts about managing vineyard frost

Over-inflated? Are Australian wine producers keen to capture carbon from fermentation?

Australian technology transforming viticulture through 5G

FEATURE Disposing of treated timber posts

Introducing Affinity Labs – a new identity for the AWRI’s commercial activities

Eco-bottle targets wine industry’s carbon hotspot

Wine Australia strengthens focus on sector’s sustainability

2022 Vintage Report – warm climate regions

International briefs

Winners from Australia’s first Zero Alcohol Wine Show announced

Treasury Wine Estates switches to solar