WINE & VITICULTURE JOURNAL Volume 30 Number 6

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER · Volume 30 Number 6

RISK MANAGEMENT

• How juice solids affect the composition and mouthfeel of white wine • Minimising the risk of wine spoilage • Delayed grape ripening - more spice • Turning Chinese tourists into long-term customers • Tasting: Sparkling wines from non-traditional varieties

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Publisher: Hartley Higgins

Sonya Logan, Editor

General Manager: Elizabeth Bouzoudis Editor Sonya Logan Ph (08) 8369 9502 Fax (08) 8369 9501 Email s.logan@winetitles.com.au Editorial Advisory Panel Gary Baldwin Peter Dry Mark Krstic Armando Corsi Markus Herderich EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE Lauren Jones, Write Lane CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Sheridan Barter Tony Battaglene Keren Bindon Dimitra Capone Luciano Caravia Justin Cohen Cassandra Collins Armando Corsi Wies Cynkar Matthew Dahabieh Christopher Davies Martin Day Peter Dry Anthony Fensom Leigh Francis Richard Gawel Tony Hoare Cathy Howard John Husnik Dan Johnson Stella Kassara Geoff Kew Tony Keys Eleni Kinti Richard Lee Larry Lockshin Mardi Longbottom Mark Rowley Alana Seabrook Alex Schulkin Jana Shepherd Paul Smith Mark Solomon Jessica Swanson Stephen Tyerman

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

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

This time last year I had the pleasure of informing readers that the Journal’s regular contributor Cathy Howard had picked up the gong for Best Trade or Technical Wine Writer at the 2014 Wine Communicator Awards.

Well, another of the Journal’s contributors has struck the jackpot at this year’s version of the awards! Just as this issue of the Journal was going to print, it was announced Richard Smart took out the same award.

Richard began a column titled ‘Smart Thinking on Viticulture’ for the Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal (the Wine & Viticulture Journal’s predecessor) in about 1987 which was published regularly until 1999 when it became semi-regular. As readers would know, he continues to be an occasional contributor to the Journal, with his last offering appearing in the SeptemberOctober issue in which he proposed a protocol to overcome trunk diseases in vineyards.

Richard was unable to attend the awards ceremony, with him now spending most of the year residing in Cornwall, England. His eldest child, Rachel Cooper (pictured with Wine Communicators of Australia 2015 NSW Legend of Vine Award recipient Rob Hirst, of Fine Wine Partners), accepted the award on his behalf, delivering the following message from her father: “I am sorry that I cannot be with you tonight. In fact I am committed to a wine education event at Bristol, teaching a ‘Weekend of Viticulture’, mostly to MW students.

“I am really happy to receive this award. I have had several from overseas, this is the first from my homeland Australia. I have enjoyed my 49 years in grapes and wine immensely.

I have been lucky to work in many of the worlds’ wine regions, in around 40 countries, from the traditional like France to the unusual like Myanmar.

Now most of my work is in China, yet to make its mark on the world of wine.

Trust me, it will.”

A hearty to congratulations to you, Richard – a most deserving reward for the many thousands of words you’ve punched out over the years.

Happy reading and all the best for the coming vintage to those of you who’ll be in the thick of it by the time our next issue comes around.

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@WineVitiJournal Cover Photo: Marking the onset of vintage in Australia, Grenache from the historic Marion vineyard in Adelaide on the morning of harvest. Photo: Ben Heide

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REGULAR FEATURES

News 6 Wine Australia 8 WFA 9 ASVO 10 Tony Keys 12

4 www. wi n e t i t les.com.au

AWRI Report 33 Alternative Varieties 53 Varietal Report 73 Tasting 77

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IN THIS ISSUE

C O NN ET W E N S T S

V I T I C U LT U R E

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

8 WINE AUSTRALIA (Liz Waters): Apps to help bring research to the vineyard

39 TONY HOARE: Everything that’s old is new again – reworking in Australian vineyards

9 WFA (Tony Battaglene): Managing export market risk: the case of maximum residue limits for agrichemicals

41 Delayed grape ripening – more spice

10 ASVO (Mardi Longbottom): A successful seminar and Awards night

46 Wrapping arms for cordon establishment could be a stressful practice for grapevines

12 KEY FILES (Tony Keys): UK and US markets: it’s not the arrival but the journey

W I N E M A K I N G

20 Murky winemaking: How juice solids affect the macromolecular composition and mouthfeel of white wine 23 Hydrogen sulfide production by yeast during alcoholic fermentation: mechanisms and mitigation

51 SOIL HORIZON (Geoff Kew): Soil structure or ‘pedality’

30 Minimising the risk of wine spoilage

53 ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES: Friulano

BUSINESS & MARKETING

55 CATHY HOWARD: Harvest need not be a risky business 60 Independent contractor, labour hire worker or employee? Know exactly who you are taking on this harvest and avoid the risk of breaking the law 35 AWRI REPORT: Applying the latest understanding of grape composition

64 They came, they like and they buy: Turning tourists into long-term customers 67 The sun also rises: Trade deal lifts Japan exports

W I N E TA S T I N G

75 Sparkling wines from non-traditional varieties

69 Water issues emerge again

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N E W S

S N I P S

AUSTRALIAN VINE PLANTINGS DOWN 13,000HA, CENSUS SHOWS The area of land planted to winegrapes in Australia fell 13,375 hectares between 2012 and 2014-15, according the recently-released, Wine Australia-funded Vineyards Census 2014-15.

Compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the census provides insights into grape varieties, yields and water use in each of Australia’s 65 wine regions.

It revealed that South Australia produced the most amount of winegrapes (739,324 tonnes) in 2015, followed by New South Wales (495,789 tonnes).

Red winegrape production increased 5 per cent in the 2015 vintage, to an estimated 844,000 tonnes, compared to the same figure for 2012, the last time census figures were collected, with red wine grapevines accounting for 64% of all vines planted in Australia.

South Australia produced the majority (54%) of Australia’s red winegrapes in 2015 with 454,000 tonnes, followed by New South Wales (25%) and Victoria (19%).

Shiraz remained the most popular red winegrape produced throughout the nation in 2015 at 395,000 tonnes, representing almost half the total red wine production, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon at 203,000 tonnes and Merlot at 112,000 tonnes.

Conversely, white winegrape production fell nationally (2% to an estimated 764,000 tonnes) and in all states and territories except Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory compared with 2012.

Chardonnay continued to be the top white winegrape variety with an estimated 341,000 tonnes produced in 2015 - almost half the nation’s white wine production. The second largest white produced was Sauvignon Blanc with an estimated 84,000 tonnes.

The census also estimated that 440,000 megalitres of water was used to irrigate vineyards across the country.

This represented an 18% increase on the 2012 estimates, with the increase attributed to the dry conditions experienced in many regions.

South Australian vineyards accounted for 46% of the total water used on vineyards nationally and New South Wales 32%.

There was an overall decline in plantings in the warm inland regions of the Riverland, Riverina and Murray Darling/Swan Hill of 4521ha compared with 2012, with the greatest decline in each of the three regions in Chardonnay.

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Yields marginally decreased in the cool and temperate regions of Australia.

Of the 10 largest regions, two had an increase in yield compared with 2012, with Coonawarra up 2% and Adelaide Hills up 44%. The number of hectares planted in the cool and temperate regions overall declined 11%. However, in Tasmania, plantings grew 14% to 1505 hectares.

The Vineyard Census 201415 is available at http://www. abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/ mf/1329.0.55.002?OpenDocument.

WGGA NOTES POSITIVES IN SUPPLY ADJUSTMENT - BUT URGES MORE IS NEEDED Wine Grape Growers Australia (WGGA) has welcomed the positive signs in the supply adjustment in the Vineyard Census 2014-15 but has stressed more is needed.

The organisation released an analysis of the 2014-15 vineyard survey results, positively noting the 17% reduction in the national vineyard size from its peak in 2007-08 and the record low non-bearing areas reported, which would continue to move the wine sector toward supply-demand balance. “The combination of these two factors, in the right market conditions, should lead to upward pressure on winegrape prices sometime in the future,” outgoing WGGA executive director Lawrie Stanford said.

But there was nevertheless “a strong qualifier” that further reduction was needed given current demand levels and the continued indicators of supply side stress. These indicators included ongoing net removals of vines, grapes left on the vine or dropped at harvest and winegrape supply starting to edge up again in recent years due to increasing national average yields in tonnes per hectare.

“The long and painful adjustment in winegrape supply is headed to a desired position for balance but there is no certainty yet for businesses that are eating into assets in order to survive until better times arrive. Better times are unlikely to be immediate,” Stanford said.

The WGGA report says around 1500 (23%) of the winegrape growing businesses that existed in 2010 have since exited the industry.

“The adjustment has been long and difficult and the positive indicators that are emerging now, come too late for some,” Stanford said.

The WGGA report can be found at: http://wgga.com.au/wp-content/ uploads/2015/11/Analysis-of-2014-15Vineyard-Survey-OCT-2015.pdf W I N E & V I T I C ULT UR E JO UR N A L NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

PYLLOXERA BOARD CHANGES ITS NAME

The board responsible for protecting South Australian vineyards from pests and diseases since 1899, the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board, has changed its name to Vinehealth Australia.

The organisation said the name change was part of the board’s fiveyear strategic plan to work and collaborate nationally to safeguard South Australia’s $1.79 billion wine industry from diseases, pests and other conditions that may affect vine health and help maintain South Australia’s phylloxera-free status.

South Australia Agriculture Minister Leon Bignell said Vinehealth Australia would strengthen its role in delivering grape and wine biosecurity knowledge across Australia, which would deliver benefits for the local wine industry.

“Vinehealth Australia will continue to develop policy, test new tools and technology, and facilitate collaboration across Australia to protect our vineyards.”

Remaining firmly anchored in South Australia, Vinehealth Australia will continue to operate under the existing Phylloxera and Grape Industry Act (1995). The fight against phylloxera will remain at the core of its operations, however it will look at the risk other diseases and pests pose to the health of vines in South Australia.

Vinehealth Australia’s presiding officer Ben Gibson said this was an exciting milestone which embodied the visionary insight of industry pioneers who back in 1899 urged the government to establish the Act under which the organisation continues to operate today.

BILL CALABRIA HONOURED AT NSW WINE AWARDS Calabria Family Wines head winemaker Bill Calabria has been awarded the Graham Gregory Award for his outstanding contribution to the New South Wales wine industry at the state’s wine awards.

Calabria received the award at the New South Wales Wine Awards gala lunch at Pier One in Sydney in front of many peers from the state’s wine industry of which he has been a part of V30N6

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SA WINE INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION TURNS 175

Calabria Wines head winemaker Bill Calabria (far right) with son Andrew, wife Lena and the Graham Gregory Award. for more than 45 years. He started out working with his father in the family winery in the Riverina before taking the reins in 1977 and growing it to be one of NSW’s largest wineries. This is all in the face of an allergy to alcohol which sees him never actually drink his wines and always using a spittoon when tasting.

Calabria said he was humbled and honoured to receive the Graham Gregory Award, and follow in the footsteps of 23 of the NSW wine industry’s greatest contributors.

“You don’t set out in the winery everyday hoping to receive a personal accolade but I’m proud to receive this award, and have loved crafting and championing the wines of the Riverina and NSW,” he said.

Past and present members of the South Australian wine industry gathered at the National Wine Centre of Australia in Adelaide in early October to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA).

SAWIA is the nation’s oldest wine industry body, although it has undergone various name changes since its formation in 1840.

“When SA’s winemaking pioneers founded this organisation 175 years ago they could never have dreamed what they were setting in motion,” said SAWIA president Ben Gibson.

“Their efforts…were the catalyst for an industry that is now global in scale and reputation. Would they have ever envisaged that in 2015 South Australia would be crushing 716,000 tonnes of grapes representing just under half on the national crush with a value of $447m to the state’s economy,” Gibson said.

“Our 171st vintage or thereabouts has been another great one, very good in fact, across the state. However, there is ongoing concerns for our industry’s profitability, particularly in the warm inland regions. While there is some help in sight with more favourable exchange rates and new free trade agreements, the structural mismatch between supply and demand continues to be a concern.

“Undoubtedly these are challenging times for everyone. However, we’ve

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been through them before and like our predecessors, the future is in our hands. SAWIA is strongly committed to helping the industry navigate its way through this difficult period. We face some complex issues and to overcome them strong collaboration is essential,” Gibson said.

The night ended with SAWIA life members Peter Wall, Karl Seppelt, Brian Walsh, John Angove and d’Arry Osborn taking the stage and recalling their earliest memories of wine, their more unusual vintages, the people who most influenced their careers, varieties they have worked with that have come and gone, the wines they are most proud to have been involved with and the wine they would take if forced to live on a desert island.

South Australia Wine Industry Association life members (from left) Peter Wall, Karl Seppelt, John Angove and d’Arry Osborn.

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WINE AUSTRALIA

Apps to help bring research to the vineyard

By Liz Waters RD&E Portfolio Manager, Wine Australia

T

he widespread availability of smartphones has transformed the way that we access information.

Smartphone applications, or ‘apps’, can be a helpful tool for delivering knowledge generated through research and development in a practical format so that it can be used by the grape and wine community in the vineyard, winery, cellar door and many more situations.

Wine Australia is currently supporting the development of two smartphone apps that take research findings and transform them into in-vineyard tools to facilitate and improve vineyard management.

The apps are part of two broader Wine Australia-funded projects being carried out by The University of Adelaide that are looking to establish better measures for vineyard performance, disease management and grape and wine quality.

THE VITICANOPY APP The VitiCanopy app provides a convenient and practical way of measuring vine balance, based on research that identified the vine canopy measures that most accurately indicate optimal vine balance (i.e., the balance between vegetative and reproductive growth) and performance.

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A common way to measure vine balance is the Y/P ratio – the relationship between yield and pruning weight – but this is rarely done in commercial settings because it is much too time consuming. The VitiCanopy app helps to overcome this problem.

VitiCanopy looks at the structure and vigour of the canopy and allows the calculation of some measures that can be used to decide whether or not a vine is in balance. By measuring the vine canopy in this way, it then becomes possible to make systematic decisions on canopy management and to manipulate the canopy to optimise grape quality towards a preferred wine outcome.

Key to the measurement process are algorithms originally developed in the forestry industry, which analyse a photographic image and provide an estimate of the leaf area index and canopy porosity. However, a challenge in designing the app for use on an iPhone or iPad was adapting the code, which was originally written for more complex and expensive software programs, and to make it easy to use.

The developers have now successfully achieved both of these objectives.

THE PMAPP POWDERY MILDEW ASSESSMENT APP The second app, PMapp, is designed to identify and assess powdery mildew using a simple tool that efficiently and accurately captures information in the vineyard. It also helps growers improve their disease recognition skills.

Powdery mildew can be difficult to assess because it appears indiscriminately and the fungus can be difficult to see in less-than-perfect light, or it can be confused with dust or spray residue.

The information component of the app is reasonably straightforward, although there are software smarts behind it. App users simply input the patch/block details and their estimate of the percentage of powdery mildew present on each bunch being assessed.

The screen displays the number of bunches assessed, the previous five assessments, and constantly updated figures for the total incidence (number of bunches deemed affected) and severity (calculated from the average of the scores for the amount of the surface of the bunch affected).

All results are stored and can be emailed from the device as CSV or XML files, for further interpretation and recordkeeping purposes.

Just as important for this app are the training components. An image bank containing photos and computer-generated images of powdery mildew infections helps users to become familiar with various disease patterns and severities, while a self-testing tool marks their assessment of a range of provided scenarios and indicates whether their tendency is to over- or under-estimate infection severity.

The VitiCanopy app is now available through iTunes and the PMapp app is coming soon. Android versions are currently being developed.

For more information about the projects, visit research.wineaustralia.com

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W FA

Managing export market risk: the case of maximum residue limits for agrichemicals

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

Winemakers’ Federation of Australia works on many activities aimed at promoting and expanding trade and overcoming obstacles to increase profitability in the Australian wine sector. Tony puts the microscope over maximum residue levels and the progress being made to harmonise MRLs across key markets by 2018.

A

grichemicals are an essential part of the grape production process.

While all grapegrowers strive to minimise their use, the vagaries of weather and pests on this agricultural crop inevitably mean some agrichemicals need to be applied. The by-product is residue left on the grapes and then in the wine.

Governments regulate the use of agrichemicals by setting maximum residue levels (MRLs) for active constituents and apply them to various crops. In setting MRLs, scientific data associated with the chemicals and residue trials is examined and occupational health and safety aspects of use are assessed, along with exposure-assessment studies.

The concentration that makes up the MRL is usually expressed in milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of the product.

An MRL does not automatically indicate the amount of a chemical contained in a product. This is simply the highest limit legally allowed. That is why limits are generally set well below any level that could potentially cause harm to consumers.

MRLs differ between countries for several reasons. Often it is because some of the agrichemicals used in the production of various foods are not set overseas due to the fact that they do not grow or harvest these products in that particular location. Therefore agrichemical use on these foods needs to be monitored carefully so they comply with many differing countries’ MRL standards and do not impede on the ability for international trade. If a country does not have an MRL, then any presence of the active substance in the wine is normally not permitted for sale.

Differing MRLs are major impediment to trade and add considerable cost to production as wine for export must comply with the destination market requirements.

This often means the cheapest and most effective agrichemicals cannot be used.

The requirement for wineries to export to a number of markets further limits

their availability and use. In many cases, failure to properly control the supply chain results in product rejected at the border.

Aware that differing MRLs pose a risk to grapegrowers and wineries, Wine Grape Growers Australia and Winemakers’ Federation of Australia continue to be actively involved in this area. These national bodies work on a number of activities that aim to reduce the risk bilaterally as well as to establish systems to reduce the risk on a multilateral/ plurilatral basis.

“…the European Union recently announced it would change its MRL for Captan... the proposal would remove the ability of Australian producers to use this chemical on wine destined for Europe...Quick intervention with the assistance of the Australian Government appears to have given us a stay of implementation for two years and an opportunity to develop a case for an import tolerance.”

On a bilateral basis we are seeking MRLs for phosphorous acid in China. We have currently prepared an application to be considered by the Agriculture Products Quality and Safety Supervision Bureau which holds its annual meeting in November. If successful, we expect an official announcement in December.

We have also sought approval for phosphorous acid in Canada. In 2013, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency, under the authority of the Pest Control Products Act and Regulations, granted full registration for chemicals containing the active

ingredient mono- and di-potassium salts of phosphorous acid for use on grapes. In this case, no MRL was required as there was no risk to human health.

We also work on issues as and when they arise. For example, the European Union recently announced it would change its MRL for Captan. Essentially, the EU’s proposal would remove the ability of Australian producers to use this chemical on wine destined for Europe which essentially removes its use at all.

Quick intervention with the assistance of the Australian Government appears to have given us a stay of implementation for two years and an opportunity to develop a case for an import tolerance.

We are also seeking to harmonise MRLs in the APEC region through the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum and the APEC Wine Regulatory Forum.

Through this and additional work

by Australia (led by FSANZ with WFA involvement), the APEC Forum has adopted a guideline to permit the adoption of import tolerances for MRLS. The guidance document will be an important practical tool in promoting the alignment to relevant international standards wherever possible and consistent with WTO obligations. The APEC WRF was due to meet in Adelaide on 11-13 November 2015 and propose that each member economy, with the assistance of the guidelines, seek to establish MRLs for several priority substances. The outcomes of this process will then: • test the validity of the guidelines • test the legislative processes • test the data/information requirements.

Our objective is to harmonise MRLs across key markets by 2018. This summary is just a small insight into how WFA, WGGA, governments and others are working together to help reduce risk to wine exports and, at the same time, enable the trade of Australian wine around the world.

WVJ

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A S V O

A successful seminar and Awards night

By Mardi Longbottom President, Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology

O

n 19 November, the ASVO held its annual Adelaide seminar, ‘Earlier, shorter, hotter managing compressed vintages’.

Each year it seems that harvest starts a little earlier and, when it does start, everything seems to be ripe at once. This season is starting to shape up similarly. The ASVO seminar presented an exceptional opportunity for the audience of more than 100 participants to exchange experiences on the challenges faced during early, short vintages and to receive stateof-the-art information on practices to overcome them. The seminar covered topics that ranged from predicting harvest date to winery technologies for faster vintage processing and options for dealing with over-ripe fruit, through to consumer perceptions of higher alcohol wines.

Attendees took home messages from industry authorities including the chair of Wine Australia, Brian Walsh, who opened the seminar, to early career researcher Bora Qesja who provided insights into consumer perceptions of high and reduced alcohol wines.

Highlights included Professor Greg Dunn, from DPI New South Wales, who shared his latest results on yield forecasting and yield regulation, and Olaf Schelezki, PhD student at The University of Adelaide, who presented his innovative ideas about maturity variability. Dave Pearce, one of New Zealand’s most distinguished winemakers, asked attendees to think about what might be happening in their vineyards to explain earlier ripeness and harvest.

Many of the day’s discussions were continued late into the evening at the ASVO’s annual Awards for Excellence dinner.

Moving into the winery, Russell Johnstone, director of Winecycle, provided options for modelling harvest optimisation and processing logistics to reduce fraying nerves during vintage, while Matt Holdstock, senior oenologist at the Australian Wine Research Institute, gave an overview of the most common trends in winemaking challenges being monitored through the AWRI helpdesk.

In the afternoon, Dr Ellie King, from the National Food Lab in California, challenged attendees to think about the sensory issues with higher and reduced alcohol wines, and Ana Hranilovic, another PhD student from The University of Adelaide, shared her work towards managing alcohol reduction.

To this end, the elephant in the room, the topic of alcohol ‘correction’, tackled

by Tony Battagelene, general manager of strategy and international affairs with the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia, provoked a closed door discussion to be aired.

Many of the day’s discussions were continued late into the evening at the ASVO’s annual Awards for Excellence dinner. Two awards, sponsored by Wine Australia, were presented for the best research papers published in the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. The winning viticulture paper was authored by Gareth Hill, Katherine Evans, Robert Beresford and Robert Dambergs and was titled ‘Comparison of methods for the quantification of botrytis bunch rot in white wine grapes’. The best winemaking paper was awarded to Andrew Clark, Paris Grant-Preece, Natalie Cleghorn and Geoffrey Scollary for their paper titled ‘Copper(II) addition to white wines containing hydrogen sulfide: residual copper concentration and activity’.

The ASVO Viticulturist of the Year, sponsored by Bayer CropScience, was awarded to Ben Blows. Ben, a winegrape grower from the Adelaide Hills, who has developed and trialled a practical and cost-effective solution for targeting Eutypa fungicides with his own design of spray unit. The award judges said that Bens’s concept demonstrated his ongoing commitment to improving the Australian wine industry and his influence will extend well beyond his own region. Read more

about Ben’s innovation on the ASVO website.

The Winemaker of the Year was awarded to Ed Carr. Ed is a passionate winemaker who, as a result of his foresight, identified an opportunity to redefine Australian sparkling wine and gain international credibility in the world of sparkling wines. Ed’s commitment saw him develop and improve his winemaking techniques over a number of years and has resulted in a consistent and prestigious record of wine show awards. The judges of this award cited Ed’s work as inspirational to others trying their hand at sparkling wine production.

The inaugural award of a scholarship to attend the Advanced Wine Assessment Course (AWAC), sponsored

by Seguin Moreau Australasia, was awarded to Richard Fennessy. Richard is a highly engaged professional who contributes to industry in Western Australia and nationally. The judges were particularly impressed with Richard’s ability to articulate his desire and potential to benefit from the AWAC. The ASVO held its annual general meeting on 18 November. At the meeting the society was pleased to report a small surplus for the year.

This was a good outcome considering the state of the industry and reduced membership numbers.

The results of the election were announced with Dr Anthony Robinson and Matt Holdstock newly elected to the board and three directors re-elected.

The ASVO has lost one of its most experienced voices in Dr Paul Petrie who has stepped down after serving six years on the board with three of those as president.

Paul said he had enjoyed his time on the board and as president and was leaving the ASVO in a strong position. “This has been a wonderful and rewarding experience for me and I leave the board in the hands of talented and experienced people,” he said. “Not only has the ASVO’s financial position strengthened, but it has developed many new initiatives for members whilst continuing to deliver the best technical seminars in the country.”

WVJ

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F I L E S

UK and US markets: it’s not the arrival but the journey

By Tony Keys

Tony looks at the history of growth of Australia’s wine exports to the US and UK and observes some interesting comparisons in the latest stats between these two markets and China. With the percentage of bottled Australian wine exported to China currently beating the US and UK in every price bracket above $5 per litre, Tony asks, can we stop China going the same way as the UK and US and is it possible for Australia to recapture the reputation it once had in those latter markets?

T

here was a time in the middle 1980s when Australian pace was rapid and one couldn’t get off until the next exit, if one wine was all the rage in London. Its fame spread and could get off at all. within months it was all the rage from Land’s End to The American consumer was on a slightly different route.

John O’Groats. It was also finding a footing in New York, or did They had to deal with the classic wine snobbery of French wine San Francisco come before New York? and the home-grown but still rather snobbish Napa Valley wine.

It’s hard to remember the order and it doesn’t really It was a lot to contend with. A great deal of Californian (sans matter as the main factor was the excitement. It was high and Napa) wine was jug wine and, rather like the Australian cask, Australian wine was riding the wave. Australian winemakers was considered down market. The eastern states, such as were fun and they talked to New York and Virginia, were consumers, drank wine with starting to shrug off the consumers, most of all joked wines made from indigenous “Australian wine was attracting a plebeian following; with consumers and, better varieties such as Concord, the everyday working man or woman, many coming to Niagara, Delaware or hybrid still, demystified wine for consumers. wine for the first time, were loving this clean, fresh and varieties but their time in the The excitement was modern era was yet to come. extremely drinkable form of alcohol….Producers didn’t heartwarming, it lifted the Like English consumers, spirit; Australian wine was realise it at the time but it was locking itself into a sector in fact like most French or striding through the stuffy Italian consumers up until of consumer who enjoyed wine but were only prepared the 1980s, wine was either oak-panelled drawing rooms of the English wine trade. top end and expensive or low to pay a moderate amount for it.”

At that time one wouldn’t end and cheap (disregarding be considered wrong if they tax). Top end was also proclaimed Australian wine was going to conquer the world. complex, required knowledge and often involved snobbery.

In America the wave wasn’t as large at that time but the Low end was the drink of foreigners (England) or immigrants excitement was building about a new wine offering that was (America and Australia). All Frenchmen, even if farming carrots giving the French something to grumble about. There was a lot up on the border of Belgium and a beer drinker, believed French of fun to be had in observing the French put down Australian wine was the best in the world. Italians and the Spanish were wine as industrial rubbish with no soul or character, in fact much the same, a parochial outlook and belief in something not wine at all, but a foul substance. The classic, cool, suave they didn’t always understand.

Frenchman turning into an angry, red-faced person of boiling The Australians knew they were making good wine in the hatred was pure spoilt child having a tantrum.

1980s and there is plenty of evidence they had been making The UK consumer wasn’t fooled; they knew a decent drop good table wine for decades. But it must be remembered, when they tasted one. Not only that, they could read the label fortified and cask held sway. Winemakers deferred to the and understand what the wine was. No mind-numbing lecture centuries of established winemaking they believed France had. on the left or right bank, no need to get the head around The history appears daunting but factor in phylloxera Premiers Cru, Troisièmes Cru or Cinquièmes Crus. No need at and downy mildew nearly wiping out the whole French wine all. Australia represented good, honest wine suitable for good, industry towards the end of the 19th century and causing great honest folk to drink and enjoy, a wine that could be shared with damage throughout the rest of Europe, it raises the question, friends over a natter and bowl of peanuts. just how ancient is the global wine industry in practical terms This accessibility was to become a major point in the journey rather than myth? Add in a couple of world wars and financial but there was also another angle. There was a yet-to-bedepressions it could be wiser to look at wine in a practical sense determined factor creeping in at this stage. Australian wine was from the 1950s. attracting a plebeian following; the everyday working man or Walter James, writing at the beginning of the 1950s, said, woman, many coming to wine for the first time, were loving this “Australians must be led gently. To most of them, all wine clean, fresh and extremely drinkable form of alcohol. is plonk and they go on drinking beer.” Australian wine was The factor was partly price. Producers didn’t realise it at establishing a new identity on the domestic market. The the time but it was locking itself into a sector of consumer who traditional sherry and port market was declining and table wine enjoyed wine but were only prepared to pay a moderate amount was taking its place. Table wine consumption entered the 1970s for it. This part of the journey can be described as ‘about to around nine litres per capita and departed the decade at 17 enter the on ramp to the highway’. The trouble was, once on, the litres per capita.

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Australian table wine really got going in the 1960s, gathered pace in the 1970s and exploded in the 1980s and the point this article is making, it was the same for European wine-producing countries and those of North and South America. In fact, what we in the industry/trade and consumers accept as table wine in the 21st century is no more than 50 years in the making, no matter the amount of prehistory.

Exports of Australian wine in the 1980s and into the 1990s gave its producers a confidence that in hindsight was too much, too quickly. Note the words ‘much’ and ‘quickly’; not unwarranted. Australian winemakers and the wines they produced forced the French, Italians, Spanish and Germans to look at the quality of wine they were exporting at the bottom end of the price ladder.

In America the arrival of Australian wines filled a space between jug wine and wines selling for US$100 bottle. It didn’t take long before the Europeans and the Americans realised they could also make wine that was appealing to the masses.

The market was changing in wine production as it was changing in wine retailing. If one accepts my theory the modern wine era is around 50 years old, I ask you also to believe there have been several rapid changes within that period.

Returning to the beginning of the UK golden period in 1985, it should be remembered at that time the Australian domestic market was consuming vast amounts of wine but around 60 per cent of it was cask. The finer offerings needed new markets and the Brits, not used to cask, found bottles of Rosemount, Penfolds, Rothbury, Hill-Smith, Brown Brothers, Hardy’s, Tyrrells and Wynn’s very drinkable wines indeed. The Australian wine star was in its ascent. A couple of years later America came under the Australian spell.

The Australian wine star we all thought would last for decades started to waver within five years. The justified confidence in wine quality is evident in these extracts from Webster’s Wine Guide 1985 which stated: • “And we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg over here.”

• “The result is the most exciting wine land in the world today.” …then encouraging the UK public to drink more Australian wine, and if they didn’t: • “We’re going to miss out on some of the most sensational taste experiences the world of wine has to offer.”

Five years later, although Australian wine was still gaining market share and remained popular in the UK, one could see small cracks appearing. The Webster’s Wine Guide 1990 contained these following statements: • “In the United States the Aussies have managed to overtake the Spaniards and are now they’re the fifth largest supplier of table wine.”

• “The Americans predict that they will take three million cases of Australian wine by 1993.”

• “The message is stark, staring, plain as a pikestaff. Where is all this wine going to come from?”

• “There have been too many disturbing reports round the country from retailers who say the quality is not what it was, while the prices climb ever higher. Last Christmas £3.99 is already this Christmas £4.99.”

It could be said the growth of the American market put too much strain on supply. By the end of the 1990s it was becoming clear two Australian wine industries existed: one was easy drinking, well-made varietal wines such as Chardonnay and Shiraz. To quote Hugh Johnson writing in 1998, “Australia has mastered easy-drinking wine and is making some of the world’s best.”

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In America the arrival of Australian wines filled a space between jug wine and wines selling for US$100 bottle. It didn’t take long before the Europeans and the Americans realised they could also make wine that was appealing to the masses.

A common theme in the 1990s amongst the English wine media was under supply and Australia thought it was reassuring the world by undertaking a massive planting program. In hindsight it would have been better to keep the world on a tighter restraint, build slowly and, hopefully, profitably.

Unfortunately Australia tried to keep all markets supplied and, yes, quality did slip. But did it ever slip to the depths of many French/Italian or Spanish country wines or the ubiquitous Liebfraumilch? No, is my simple answer but I will admit there were some good European wines coming onto the market that started to challenge Australian wines. There were also wines from South Africa and South America looking to take a slice of what Australia had.

I recently wrote, “What mystifies is how these two Californian brands (Blossom Hill and Echo Falls), which occupy places in the 10 biggest selling wine brands in the UK, with Gallo making a third, do not seem to pull down the reputation of Californian or American wines in the same way that our large brands, such as Hardy’s, Lindeman’s, McGuigan and Jacob’s Creek, pull down

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K E Y

F I L E S

Figure 1. The share of bottled Australian wine exports between each price sector to the USA for the year ending September 2015.

Figure 2. The share of bottled Australian wine exports between each price sector to the UK for the year ending September 2015.

the reputation of Australian wines. In short, our brands taste better than their brands, so why the cringe?”

put Australian wine on the table in the UK. This stems not from lack of quality but because of the mass of own label or wine on promotion that can be found in every UK supermarket almost every week of the year.

This predominance of special offer wine has infected all Australian wine to such a degree that even if a top quality Margaret River or Coonawarra wine is put on the table hosts are worried their guests will think poorly of their wine choice.

The question at this juncture must be, is it all talk or is there fact to justify the talk? Or dismiss it as belligerent gossip?

Looking at the pros and cons of the latest export report to the end of September 2015, the summary contains the following:

Australia is not the only country in the world that makes wine that appeals to the masses but we seem to be the only one that suffers from doing so. Recent discussions involving myself and leaders of wine companies are disturbing as we feel there is a cringe factor growing in the UK and USA regarding Australian wine.

The ironic aspect is the effect this cringe factor is having is not on the basic entry level Australian wine offering but further up the price and quality scale.

Anecdotal discussions are pointing to an embarrassment to

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14

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• The average value of bottled wine increased 4 per cent to $5.00 per litre ($45 case) • All of the key price segments recorded growth, with strongest growth seen in the premium price segments.

Wines above A$10 per litre increased 28 per cent to A$426 million, a record for exports in this segment. The A$7.50 to A$9.99 segment recorded growth of 7 per cent to A$138 million. The promotion of Australia’s distinctive fine wine is a long-term strategic priority for Wine Australia and it’s encouraging to see strong export figures in the premium end of the market. Ultra-premium segments also continue to rise, the A$20 to A$50 segment increased 13 per cent to A$88 million while wines above A$50 increased 54 per cent to A$133 million. While exports to Asia saw the biggest gains, other international markets in growth included United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Denmark and France.”

It’s good to see such positivity but it’s also worth noting the diversion between the newer upcoming markets of Asia and the established markets of the UK and USA. Looking at bottled exports to the USA and the percentage in each price sector as set by Wine Australia (see Figure 1).

The 3.06 per cent at $2.49 litre or under could only be making money if it was at the top end of the sector that is around $22.50 per case of 12 bottles and, if after going through all the channels, ended up on a US retailer’s shelf at US$9$11.00.

The 90 per cent of wine in the next FOB bracket of $2.50 to $4.99 litre (around $22.50 to $45 a case of 12 X 75cl bottles) really needs greater division as it puts wine on retailers’ shelves between US$9 to US$22.00. However a $22.00 wine could end up at US$12.99 when discounted. Whichever way the sums are done it boils down to large volume and minuscule margins. It involves a lot of cutting to the bone of every aspect from the prices paid for grapes through to final margins. It also involves

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Figure 3. The share of bottled Australian wine exports between each price sector to China for the year ending September 2015.

Table 1. Australian wine export volumes in each price sector in ‘000 litres for the year ending September 2015.

Price bracket

China

USA

UK

$5.00 to $7.49

8899

3367

3194

$7.50 to $9.99

F I L E S

beating off the competition wherever it comes from, South America or Europe.

The UK receives a lot of wine in bulk containers for local bottling which will twist the figures, but staying with bottled exports, the percentages across the price brackets is in Figure 2.

With the amount of bulk wine going to the UK and top class bottling facilities available one has to wonder at the amount of wine shipped in bottle at $2.49 litre or below. This is a dead end for the Australian wine journey and continues to do damage to the reputation of all Australian wine in the UK. In contrast, China shows a different spectrum of FOB prices (Figure 3).

The $2.49 and under percentage is worrying as the volume is more than the USA but total bottled exports are less than half. It was the largest market for wine in this price bracket. The $2.50 to $4.99 bracket was in better balance but the real interest came in the higher and more profitable sectors (Table 1).

In every price bracket above $5/litre, China beats the USA and UK. Does this indicate the Chinese have better taste in Australian wine, or greater disposable income or is it because they haven’t been bombarded with the amounts of wine at the lower price points?

There is little doubt the route to market in the UK and USA has gone astray. The questions are: • Can we prevent newer markets such as China from going the same way?

The culture of fermentation 3248

2196

1314

$10.00 to $19.99

4205

1309

1017

$20.00 to $49.99

1043

409

258

$50.00 and above

449

36

23

• Is it possible to recapture the reputation Australian wine once held in both UK and USA?

Those with positive outlooks will say “yes, of course”. Let’s hope they are right.

WVJ

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15

Some of Australia’s Sources of inspiration from every wine region

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

RICK

O R B U RY

– 2007 – WESTERN AUSTRALIA

TIM

WILKIE

– 2003 – WESTERN AUSTRALIA

First impressions may deceive There is a complexity about this flagbearer for the Swan Valley and Margaret River that discerning judges quickly come to appreciate.

Grown on an exposed north-facing slope refreshed by Indian Ocean breezes, the Horbury balances light initial roughness with a smooth, gentle finish.

HUGH

RM

A

S T RO N

– 2002 – SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Science meets inspiration Bold, vibrant freshness with a dry finish characterise this very approachable blend of sophisticated chemistry and youthful exuberance. Despite many years of very enjoyable drinking to come, such a clever example of the scientific approach to winemaking is already worth getting to know.

Intriguing complexity rewards investigation

G

H

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

DARREN

A

XANDE LE R

– 2014 – SOUTH AUSTRALIA

A rewarding challenge for the more refined palates, the ‘Hughie’ can make a slightly abrasive first impression but quickly mellows once given a bit of air. There are complex hidden depths here that gradually open up and reveal a veritable encyclopedia of flavour from which ample grace notes constantly emerge.

Intense power with an expansive palate The quintessential South Australian experience: full-bodied and powerful with a bold, charismatic style that will soften over time with no loss of character. Drinking magnificently for some years already, the onset of full maturity will surely just enrich the lasting enjoyment.

NEW SOUTH WALES

IAN

M

c

MASTER

– 2009 – WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Steadily climbing towards a distant peak Despite showing abundant youthful promise and drinking well already, the McMaster won’t peak for a good many years yet. Complex fruit undertones are already much in evidence with very low acidity, so great things are predicted by many good judges.

One to watch.

GRAHAM

NICOL

– 1994 – NEW SOUTH WALES

There’s no time like the present!

A lush late picking ripe for full enjoyment right now, the pride of Mudgee embodies the joys of life.

After years of flavour development, cellaring at this stage would be a criminal waste. Our advice: track down Graham Nicol and prepare to spend a few hours engrossed in pure quaffing pleasure!

finest VICTORIA

GREG

DAV I E S

– 2010 – VICTORIA

SHANE

T

RAINER

– 2007 – VICTORIA

The perfect companion for al fresco eating Like the most robust sparkling shirazes of a bygone era, here’s the perfect complement to festive occasions. Opens with a pop, fizzes with enthusiasm and brings the party to life. But below the bubbly surface lies the sort of substance and structure only insiders truly appreciate.

Climatic extremes provide fine balance Transplanting from Margaret River to the cooler climate of Victoria demands some fairly drastic climatic adjustment. Yet the transition has been smooth in this case. Early results are very promising, with surprisingly little change in character detected so far. A valued product of the west now seems set to flourish in the east.

MICHELLE

BURNS

– 2015 – VICTORIA

AEDEN

RMAN GO

– 2014 – VICTORIA

A touch of class from across the ditch A relative newcomer further enhancing Marlborough’s reputation for irresistible appeal, this classy import has crossed the Tasman with undiminished charm. A surprising effervescence simply underlines the initially disarming blend of forward freshness and underlying finesse.

Full-blooded early bloomer set for stardom A Sunraysia classic in the making.

Already well-rounded, this product of Mildura stock has soaked up the abundant sunshine and turned it into a rich and concentrated blend that packs a lot of punch. The Gorman’s early development has been rapid, but the real glory years still lie ahead.

Packing some punch ALISTAIR

BEYER

– 2007 –

Unmistakably central Victorian in character: substantial and deceptively high-powered, but will soften with age. Very robust with emerging signs of refinement. You won’t forget an encounter with Alistair Beyer in a hurry and many wine lovers are left raving about the experience.

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I NEE M MA GG WW I N A KKI N I N

FERMENTATION

Murky winemaking: How juice solids affect the

macromolecular composition and mouthfeel of white wine

By Richard Gawel, Martin Day, Alex Schulkin and Paul Smith The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064

How do ‘solidsy ferments’ and the clarification method used to achieve a certain solids level affect the composition and resultant mouthfeel of white wine?

INTRODUCTION

1. whole bunch pressing

Bitter

Astringent

Viscous

An equivalent high solids juice was collected after a coarse racking off gross lees (without enzyme addition). The juices were fermented in duplicate 20L lots using standard winemaking protocols. Polysaccharides were precipitated from the different wines using ethanol and then treated to remove low molecular weight compounds. The amount of polysaccharides present was measured by peak areas obtained from size exclusion chromatography. Total phenolics were determined by UV-Vis spectroscopy, and specific phenolics were measured by reverse phase C18 chromatography. The textural characteristics of the wines were profiled by 10 trained tasters experienced in rating the mouthfeel attributes of white wines. Full details of winemaking, analytical methods and sensory analysis can be found online (Smith and Waters 2012).

pH Phenolics Ethanol Polysaccharides Glycerol

Bitter

Astringent

Viscous

Study 1 Chardonnay and Viognier grapes from the Barossa Valley and Riesling grapes from the Eden Valley were harvested by hand.

Low solids juices were produced using three juice extraction methods:

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3. from a hard (2 bar) pressing fraction also cold settled using pectolytic enzymes.

Hot

SAMPLE PREPARATION AND ANALYSIS

18

2. draining off free run juice before adding pectolytic enzymes and cold settling at 4oC for 36 hours before racking

Hot

Fermenting juices that contain some grape solids is an increasingly popular option among producers of fuller-bodied, complex white wine styles. Contemporary interpretations of wine complexity and overall quality generally include the contribution of mouthfeel or texture, which covers the stylistic attributes of viscosity, oiliness, creaminess, and astringency or dryness, and those that negatively affect quality perception such as metallic mouthfeel and hotness.

The probable influencers of white wine mouthfeel include phenolics, polysaccharides, organic acids, glycerol and ethanol. Their effects on mouthfeel both individually and through interaction have been investigated at the AWRI either by assessing the change in mouthfeel after adding them to either model or real wine, or indirectly by correlating mouthfeel attributes with wine composition. Current findings concerning the contributions of phenolics, polysaccharides, organic acids, glycerol and ethanol to white wine mouthfeel are summarised in Figure 1.

Solids consist of the insoluble grape debris, mostly pulp and skin fragments, that remain in the juice after grape crushing and draining (Karagiannis and Lanaridis 2002). They comprise 75% polysaccharides by weight (Alexandre et al. 1994) and also contain phenolic compounds making them a potential source of both polysaccharides and phenolics in white wine.

Polysaccharides are ‘protective colloids’ as they are capable of inhibiting tartrate precipitation and protein instability. The presence of polysaccharides in wine, therefore, has the potential to increase winery efficiency by lowering energy demands and reducing bentonite use. In contrast to the extent of reports on their technological benefits, the effect of polysaccharides on white wine mouthfeel are less understood, but their ability to cross-link to form macromolecular structures suggests that they could increase wine viscosity and, therefore, fullness.

Grape solids also contain essential sterols needed for the production of glycerol by yeast, and phenolic compounds which could potentially be released into wine during settling and fermentation.

This article presents the results of two studies. The first compared both the non-volatile composition and the mouthfeel of wines made from high and low solids juices obtained using different methods of juice extraction. The second study compared the effects of juice solids level and the method of clarification on the non-volatile composition of wines using a single juice source.

Figure 1. Summary of mouthfeel effects of white wine components. Green indicates a positive relationship, red indicates a negative relationship. Depth of colour indicates the strength of effect. For example, the dark red box indicates that pH has a strong negative relationship with astringency, meaning lower pH wines are more astringent (Gawel et al.

2008, 2013, 2014).

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WHAT WERE THE RESULTS? Polysaccharides Figure 2 shows the relative polysaccharide content of wines made from three varieties using ‘low solids’ ferments from juices produced by whole bunch pressing, free run and hard pressings followed by enzyme cold settling, compared with equivalent high solids ferments. High solids ferments produced wines with significantly more polysaccharides than low solids ferments regardless of juice extraction method and variety/juice source.

Results from the small-scale ferments of the same juice but using different solids levels clarified using enzymes, bentonite and without a clarifying agent (study 2) were consistent with those from the larger-scale winemaking trial. Higher solids content in juices resulted in higher wine polysaccharide concentrations (Figure 3). Clarification method also affected polysaccharide levels, with wines made from juice settled on bentonite being less rich in polysaccharides than wines made from juice that had been either enzyme-treated or simply gravity settled, with no clarifying agent. ▶

Polysaccharides (Riu)

20

Chardonnay Riesling

15

Viognier

10

5

0

Bunch Press

Free Run

Hard Press

High Solids

Low Solids

Figure 2. Polysaccharide content of wines made from high solids juice, and low solids juices produced using different extraction methods (study 1).

175

Polysaccharides (mg/L)

Study 2 This study compared the effects of different levels of solids (100ntu, 500ntu and full solids) from a single Chardonnay juice, obtained by three clarification methods (pectolytic enzyme [0.4g/L], bentonite [1g/L] and no clarifying agent). Controls for each solids level/clarification method combination were obtained by centrifuging to less than 40ntu. Ferments (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, strain EC1118, 18oC) were conducted in triplicate using 500mL fermenters simulating tank-like dimensions. Total polysaccharides from triplicate extractions were measured using the classic phenol-sulfuric method with mannose as the standard.

Total phenolics were measured spectroscopically at 280nm, and glycerol concentration by HPLC.

W WI INNEE M M AAKKI NI G N G

Full solids 500 NTU 100 NTU

150 Centrifuged Juice

125

100

Enzyme

Bentonite

None

Figure 3. Effect of juice solids level and method of clarification on total polysaccharide concentration. Line represents the average level of polysaccharides from centrifuged juices from all three treatments (study 2).

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19

FERMENTATION

Figure 4. Total phenolic content of wines made from high solids juice, and low solids juices produced using different extraction methods (study 1).

3.5 3.0

10

2.5

8

2.0

Bentonite

Enzyme

Control 100 ntu

Control 500 ntu

Control Full

Control 100 ntu

Control 500 ntu

Control Full

Control 100 ntu

1.0

Control 500 ntu

1.5 Control Full

Total Phenolics (au)

4.0

None

Figure 5. Effect of juice solid level and method of clarification on total phenolics. ‘Control’ represents wines made from juices settled to the corresponding ntu in the manner stated (bentonite, enzyme, no clarifying agent) but then clarified to <40ntu by centrifugation.

20

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6 4 2 0

Bentonite

Enzyme

<40 ntu

High Solids

100 ntu

Hard Press

Full

Free Run Low Solids

500 ntu

Bunch Press

100 ntu

0.0

<40 ntu

1.0

500 ntu

2.0

Glycerol Fermenting on full solids resulted in wines with around 1g/L higher glycerol concentrations than the lower solids wines, regardless of the method of clarification (Study 2: Figure 6).

Notably though, the moderately high juice solids level (500ntu) did not increase wine glycerol concentration when compared with wines made from centrifuged juices. While higher wine glycerol levels from higher juice solids is expected due to the greater nutritional status of the must, the results suggest that high solids levels are necessary to effect an increase in wine glycerol levels.

However, given that glycerol production by yeast depends on a number of factors including strain and fermentation temperature, further work is required to establish the applicability of these results. While a 1g/L increase in glycerol can potentially increase perceived sweetness (as glycerol is as sweet as glucose in the concentration range found in wine), it is unlikely to produce an increase in the perception of viscosity (Gawel and Waters 2008).

Full

Viognier

100 ntu

Riesling

3.0

<40 ntu

Chardonnay

Glycerol (g/L)

Total Phenolics (au)

4.0

by centrifugation) were inoculated at the same time as juices containing solids (Figure 5). The total phenolic level of wine from full solids juice (no clarifying agent) was not different from those fermented on effectively zero solids (Figure 5). Earlier studies, in which high and low solids juices were simultaneously taken from the bottom and top of settling tanks and fermented, reached the same conclusion - higher solids ferments did not result in higher wine phenolics (Singleton et al. 1975, Ollivier et al. 1987).

While the act of adding a clarifying agent and then simultaneously inoculating the ferment is not a typical commercial practice (full bentonite and enzyme treatments, Figure 5), these combinations were included as controls. Their inclusion provided interesting insight into the extraction of phenolics into wine from grape solids. The total phenolics from full solids ferments were lower with bentonite added, but higher with enzymes added compared with wines from the same juice with solids removed just prior to fermentation (Figure 5). The authors speculate that the low density grape particles may have better mixed the bentonite into the ferment via the action of carbon dioxide, resulting in a loss of phenolics by absorption, and that the pectolytic enzymes aided the breakdown of the grape particle cell walls releasing phenolics. However, both of these explanations require further testing.

Notably, the full and low (100ntu) solids ferments resulted in wines with higher phenolics than the ‘medium’ (500ntu) solids wines regardless of the clarification method. The observation that total phenolic content is not linearly related to juice solid content suggests a complex mechanism of gains and losses by extraction and fining-like mechanisms by grape solids.

Full

Phenolics The effect of juice solids on wine phenolics is less clear than that on polysaccharides. The results of study 1 show that the total phenolics of the solids wines did not differ from the free run wines (its logical control) in two of the three juice sources, while in the case of the Chardonnay juice, higher solids resulted in higher phenolic wines (Figure 4). As expected, the total phenolics in wines from bunch-pressed fruit was substantially lower and the hard pressing juices higher (albeit only marginally so) compared with the free run and solids wines.

The phenolics in white wine consist of a diverse group of complex monomeric compounds (benzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids, flavanols, flavanonols, flavanones, flavonols and flavononols), with most being in esterified forms with tartaric acid or ethanol, glycosylated by various sugars, or conjugated with amino acids. A more detailed HPLC analysis of individual phenolic compounds showed that the high solids wines had a different phenolic profile from the whole bunch pressed, free run and pressings wines made from lower solids. The high solids wines were richer in flavanols, flavanonols and caftaric acid, but less abundant in free hydroxycinnamic acids (data not shown).

Study 2 was designed to assess the influence of both the amount of juice solids and the method of clarification on wine phenolics. Control juices (i.e., effectively solid-free juices produced

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Figure 6. Effect of juice solid level and method of clarification on glycerol production.

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4.5

Free Run-Low Solids

4.0

Free Run-High Solids

3.5 3.0 Intensity

The effect of solids fermentations on white wine mouthfeel Forty years ago Singleton and co-workers measured the effect of fermenting on solids on the total phenolics and resulting astringency and bitterness of white wine (Singleton et al. 1975). They found that solids content did not affect total phenolic levels, but the high solids wines were perceived to be more astringent (equivalent to fermenting for two days on skins) and slightly more bitter. In the current work (Study 1), it was also found that the high solids free run juices produced wines with similar total phenolics, but the wines had a more ‘oily’ and ‘metallic’ feel (Figure 7). Using contemporary analytical methods we found that the high solids wines contained more flavanols (e.g. epicatechin) and flavanonols (e.g. dihydroquercetin) which are phenolic classes that have been associated with bitterness in both wine and other beverages such as tea. Juice solids content did not significantly affect wine astringency. All wines were pH adjusted before tasting to avoid confusion between the drying sensation from wine acidity and any possible phenolic-derived astringency which may explain the differences between studies with respect to this attribute.

The greater perceived ‘oiliness’ of solids wines could be attributed to both phenolics and polysaccharides. Recently, work has shown that phenolic compounds in white wine can contribute to oily texture (Gawel et al. 2014). In that study, the flavonol glycoside, quercetin glucuronide, correlated most strongly with oily mouthfeel. Perceived viscosity and oily mouthfeel were moderately correlated suggesting some overlap in their interpretation by tasters. Recent work at the AWRI indicates that differences in polysaccharides at wine realistic concentration ranges has a positive influence on white

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2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0

Astringency

Viscosity

Hotness

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Oily

Figure 7. Mean intensity rating of mouthfeel characters of wines made from low and high solids free run juice. Average of three varietal juice sources. wine viscosity, and others have demonstrated a link between polysaccharide level and white wine ‘fullness’ (Okuda et al.

2007). Therefore, a link between greater oiliness in the higher solids wines and their polysaccharide content cannot be ruled out.

The impact of juice solids on the composition of volatile compounds that affect the aroma and flavour profiles of white wines is well known - higher juice solids give rise to wines with lower concentrations of esters and greater concentrations of higher alcohols (Daragiannis and Lanaridis 2002), which logically should manifest in wines with less distinct varietal characters. While study 1 reported here focussed on mouthfeel effects, tasters were also asked to formally rate the overall

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flavour intensity of the wines. The high solids wines were significantly more flavoursome than the low solids free run wines. Individual flavour attributes were not assessed, but later informal evaluation by highly experienced tasters indicated the wines were generally less varietal but were nevertheless complex, an observation which is consistent with the assessment of others (Williams et al. 1978).

CONCLUSION Fermenting juice containing grape solids is often done in an effort to enhance the body and texture of white wine. These two studies at the AWRI showed how the levels of juice clarity and the method used to achieve it affect the phenolic and polysaccharide profile and resultant texture of white wine. Key results were: • higher solids increased wine polysaccharides and glycerol levels • solids content modified wine phenolic profile but not total phenolics • juice solids level affected the mouthfeel of white wine.

REFERENCES Alexandre, H.; Nguyen van Long, T.; Feullat, T. and Charpentier, C. (1994) Contribution à l’étude des bourbes: influence sur la fermentescilibité des moûts.

Revue Francaise d’Oenologie 146:11-20.

Gawel, R. and Waters, E.J. (2008) The effect of glycerol on the perceived viscosity of dry white table wine. Journal of Wine Research 19:109-114.

Gawel, R.; Van Sluyter, S.C.; Smith, P.A. and Waters, E.J. (2013) Effect of pH and alcohol on the perception of phenolic character in white wine. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 64:425-429.

Gawel, R.; Schulkin, A.; Smith, P.A. and Waters, E.J. (2013) Taste and textural characters of mixtures of caftaric acid and grape reaction product in model wine.

The Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 20(i):25-30.

Gawel, R.; Day, M.; Van Sluyter, S.C.; Holt, H.; Waters, E.J. and Smith, P.A. (2014) White wine taste and mouthfeel as affected by juice extraction and processing. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 62:10,008-10,014.

Karagiannis, S. and Lanaridis, P. (2002) Insoluble grape material present in must affects the overall fermentation aroma of dry white wines made from three grape cultivars cultivated in Greece. Journal of Food Science 67:369-374.

Okuda, T.; Fukui, M.; Hisamoto, M.; Iino, S.; Hikawa, Y.; Ogino, S.; Takayanagi, T. and Yokotsuka, K. (2007) Relationship between macromolecules and thickness of dry white wine. Journal of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture (Japan) 18:15-21.

Ollivier, C.; Stonestreet, T.; Larue, F. and Dubourdieu, D. (1987) Incidence de la composition colloidale des mouts blancs sur leur fermentescibilite.

Connaissance Vigne Vin 21:59-70.

Singleton, V.L.; Sieberhagen, H.A.; de Wet, P. and van Wyk, C.J. (1975) Composition and sensory qualities of wines prepared from white grapes by fermentation with and without grape solids. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 26:62-69.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body Wine Australia, with matching funds from the Australian Government. The authors also thank Pernod Ricard Winemakers for its support of the AWRI’s research on white wine phenolics. The AWRI is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster, in Adelaide.

Smith, P.A. and Waters, E.J. (2012) Identification of the major drivers of ‘phenolic’ taste in white wines Final Report #Project Number AWR 090 http:// research.wineaustralia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/AWR-0901-FINALREPORT.pdf Williams, J.T.; Ough, C.S. and Berg, H.W. (1978) White wine composition and quality as influenced by method of must clarification. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 29:92-96.

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Hydrogen sulfide production by yeast during alcoholic fermentation: mechanisms and mitigation

By Matthew Dahabieh, Jessica Swanson, Eleni Kinti and John Husnik Renaissance BioScience Corporation, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Advances in the understanding of the yeast genetic mechanisms of hydrogen sulfide production have led to the recent development of a number of non-GMO yeasts that prevent the rotten egg gas from forming.

These strains enable winemakers to fully prevent H2 S rather than rely on remediation methods.

H

ydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a chemically reactive, volatile, organosulfur compound common to fermented alcoholic beverages, including wine, cider, beer, sake, distilled spirits and others1. Collectively, H2S and its derivatives—mainly ethyl mercaptan (ethanethiol) and diethyl disulfide2—impart a ‘reductive’ characteristic to wine, most notably described as aromas of rotten eggs, garlic or burnt rubber3. Although the effects of H2S can be mitigated by various means, its high aromatic potency (detection at ~2ppb)4 suggests that, even at very low concentrations, H2S can impact the sensory profiles of wines. When left untreated, or when present in sufficient concentrations beyond the capacity of remediation methods, H2S contamination can result in complete spoilage3,5.

Conventional practices for the post-fermentation removal of H2S include aeration, inert gas stripping, precipitation by copper (II) sulfate, and blending6. Although these methods can be effective, they can also be subject to secondary cost, quality and efficiency problems7. For example, post-fermentation H2S removal techniques are non-specific in their mechanism. That is, while they remove H2S, other compounds—many of which may be desirable, e.g., volatile aroma compounds such as esters, thiols and terepenes—can also be removed. In addition, conventional remediation methods remove H2S subsequent to its formation; thus, problems associated with H2S-derived compounds (mercaptans and disulfides) can still occur2,8.

In contrast to H2S, these chemicals have lower sensory ▶ thresholds and are not easily removed9.

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Figure 1 Until recently, the only (semi)-preventative method to mitigate H2S formation by yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) during fermentation has been nutrient supplementation.

Indeed, it is well-established that nitrogen limitation (especially the amino acids serine, aspartic acid, cysteine and methionine) and vitamin limitation (specifically, pantothenic acid) potentiate yeast’s ability to form H2S1,10,11. However, other factors also play a role in determining the volume of H2S a given yeast strain will produce. These include high levels of elemental sulfur in the grape juice and/or vineyard12, high levels of sulfur dioxide (SO2) during fermentation13-15, and the presence of organic sulfur-containing precursor compounds16. In addition to these environmental variables affecting H2S production, genetic differences among yeast strains dictate each strain’s response to these variables.

Indeed, surveys of various yeast strains indicate that, while all yeast strains produce some level of H2S, there is a high degree of variability in the amount of H2S produced.

Moreover, even in well-fed fermentations, i.e., those with sufficient nitrogen and vitamins, many yeast strains still produce H2S16-19.

Broadly speaking, H2S is formed as a byproduct of yeast metabolism during primary alcoholic fermentation3,5. More specifically, the sulfide (S2-) ion—which forms H2S upon leakage out of the cell into the acidic wine environment20—is formed as an intermediary molecule in the sulfate-reduction sequence pathway (Figure 1). This pathway is responsible for the yeast’s ability to utilise sulfur so as to produce the sulfur-containing amino acids (cysteine and methionine) needed for growth1,12. Briefly, exogenous sulfate (SO42-) from the juice is imported into the cell, where it is reduced through a series of enzymatic steps to form sulfite (SO32-), and then

Sulfate (SO42- )

Extracellular Intracellular

SUL1,2 Sulfate (SO4 2- )

SSU1

MET3 Adenylylsulfate (APS) SKP2

MET14 Phosphoadenylylsulfate (PAPS)

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Serine acetyltransferase

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MET17

Homocysteine

Cysteine

MET6 Methionine Figure 1. Sulfate reduction sequence (SRS) pathway in S. cerevisiae. Adapted from Wang et al10. Metabolic compounds are shown in black; genes encoding the relevant enzymes are show in red.

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further reduced to sulfide (S2-). This sulfide is then used by the cell as a sulfur donor for the production of homocysteine and cysteine, as well as an assortment of downstream sulfur-containing compounds, including methionine, MettRNA, S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM), glutathione, etc19.

However, when environmental conditions are such that sulfide production is out of equilibrium with its utilisation (as discussed above), excess sulfide diffuses out of the cell and into the wine, where it forms H2S and results in spoilage.

An understanding of the genetic underpinnings of H2S formation, as well as the observation that certain yeast strains produce little to no H2S during fermentation, have led to the idea that strains of yeast—both natural and engineered—may be used as a tool to prevent H2S contamination of wines. Indeed, a number of non-GMO H2S-reducing/preventing commercial winemaking strains have recently been developed, each of which is based on a different core genetic technology.

TECHNOLOGY 1: MET2/SKP2 – JN17

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Numerous genes involved in sulfur metabolism have been implicated in yeast’s propensity to produce H2S. The most notable of these are genes directly involved in the enzymatic conversion of sulfate into sulfide (MET2, MET3, MET5, MET6, MET10, MET14, MET17, MET16, and CYS4)22-27. However,

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other genes, such as those involved in the regulation and stability of the SRS pathway enzymes (MET4 and SKP2), have also been implicated in H2S production28. Collectively, these data suggest that this trait is, in fact, controlled by multiple distinct genetic mechanisms that may interact in a complex way.

To begin to resolve this interplay, Nobel et al. recently performed a quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of two wine yeast strains: a high sulfite-producing strain (JN10) and a low sulfite-producing strain (JN17)29. QTL is a genome-wide, linkage analysis tool that allows researchers to dissect the contribution and interaction of different genes to complex multi-genic traits, such as sulfide production. In this way, Nobel et al. were able to genetically map versions of the MET2 and SKP2 genes that drive H2S production in the highsulfite strain JN10. To develop a commercial product, the authors then used genetic breeding and selection to transfer the lowsulfite versions of MET2 and SKP2 from JN17 to the high-sulfite yeast JN10. In this way, the authors were able to replace the MET2 and SKP2 genes of JN10, thereby reducing its propensity to form H2S, SO2 and acetaldehyde. This novel yeast strain is currently commercially available, and is marketed as a general strain for “young, fresh and aromatic rose, white, and red wines.”

TECHNOLOGY 2: MET5/MET10 – PDM As previously mentioned, the SRS pathway converts sulfate into sulfite and then sulfide. Sulfite reductase, a heterodimer enzyme encoded by MET5 and MET10, catalyses the key enzymatic step that forms H2S21, and a positive correlation has been observed between H2S production and sulfite reductase activity30.

Given the relationship between sulfite reductase and H2S, Cordente et al. were able to use chemical mutagenesis and selection methods to isolate lowH2S variants of the wine yeast PDM31. Genetic characterisation of these variants confirmed that a variety of single amino acid mutations within both MET5 and MET10 were causative of the stains’ reduced propensity to form H2S. Analysis of basic chemical parameters in the finished wine, including residual sugar, glycerol, acetic acid and SO2, indicated that the mutagenised strains were similar to the parent PDM—except for SO2, which was much higher in some of the mutant strains31. A number of these novel strains—all derivatives of PDM—are currently commercially available. They are marketed as general strains “ideal for all varietals and wine styles” and recommended for the production of “fruit-driven wines with only a small contribution from the yeast.”

TECHNOLOGY 3: MET10 – UCD932 Several lines of evidence have established the importance of the MET10 sub-unit of sulfite reductase in determining how much H2S a given yeast strain produces. Indeed, numerous mutations in MET10 have been shown to modify its activity, thereby lowering H2S levels31,32. Moreover, a genome-wide screen of yeast identified MET10 as one of four genes that, when deleted, eliminate H2S production27.

In an attempt to identify strains producing low H2S, two independent screens identified a Italian vineyard isolate, UCD932, that produces no detectable H2S17,19. Genetic analysis of UCD932 identified a single amino acid mutation in MET10 that results in the strain’s characteristic inability to produce H2S during fermentation7. Further characterisation of the strain indicated that the version of MET10 in UCD932 does not affect the strain’s ability to synthesise methionine, nor does

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Figure 2

Figure 3

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Figure 2. Fermentation kinetics analysis. Laboratory-scale fermentations (300mL) of Chardonnay grape juice (Brix 19.9°, YAN 182g/L, total SO2 28ppm, free SO2 5.76ppm) were conducted at 21.5°C for 15 days. Fermentation kinetics were measured by CO2 weight loss. A) Fermentation kinetics throughout fermentation. B) Cumulative CO2 loss relative to EC1118 at the end of fermentation.

Figure 3. H2S production analysis. Laboratory-scale fermentations (300mL) of Chardonnay grape juice (Brix 19.9°, YAN 182g/L, total SO2 28ppm, free SO2 5.76ppm) were conducted at 21.5°C for 15 days. H2S production was measured

by Sensidyne H2S Precision Gas Detection tubes fitted to the fermentation vessels. A) Cumulative H2S production as measured at the end of fermentation. B) H2S production kinetics in the first eight days of fermentation.

it alter the strain’s fermentation rate and fitness7. To develop a commercial product, researchers have used breeding and selection to transfer the H2S-preventing version of MET10 from UCD932 to various winemaking yeast strains. By replacing the version of MET10 in any particular parent strains with that of UCD932, a novel H2S-preventing strain is created. To date, a variety of H2S-preventing yeast strains, all incorporating the MET10–UCD932 technology, are currently commercially available for white and red varietals. Each one is developed and marketed for a specific application, e.g., general white, aromatic white, clean white, general red, full-bodied red, Pinot Noir-specific and organic.

EXPERIMENTAL METHODS

OBJECTIVE Recent advancements in the understanding of yeast genetics and sulfur metabolism have led to the development of a variety of low or no-H2S winemaking yeast strains. To compare the performance of these strains, we conducted fermentations of Chardonnay grape juice and evaluated the strains in terms of fermentation kinetics, H2S production, SO2 production and volatile acidity (acetic acid). In all of these tests, we compared the low or no-H2S strains to EC1118 (a popular generalist winemaking strain) and Montrachet 522 (a common strain known to produce high levels of H2S).

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Commercially available active dry yeast suitable for white wine production (i.e., no red wine-specific strains were evaluated in this study) were rehydrated and inoculated into 300mL fermentations of flash pasteurised Australian Chardonnay juice (Brix 21.1°, YAN 182g/L, total SO2 28ppm, free SO2 5.76ppm) according to manufacturers’ instructions.

Fermentations were incubated at 21.5°C for 15 days and kinetics were monitored by CO2 loss. H2S was measured by Sensidyne H2S Precision Gas Detection tubes (0.75-300ppm Tube No. 120SB, 25-2000ppm Tube No. 120SF) fitted to the fermentation vessels. Total SO2 was measured by iodometry (A17 revised by 377/2009). Method: OIV-MA-AS323-04B. Acetic acid was measured by rapid, manual end-point AK/PTA enzymatic method (Megazyme International, Ireland 2015, K-ACETRM 06/15).

RESULTS As shown in Figure 2, the majority of the low or no-H2S strains were able to complete the fermentation within 15 days, with the ‘UCD932-General White’, ‘UCD932-Aromatic’ and ‘UCD932-Organic’ strains having comparable kinetics

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some low or no-H2S strains have been noted to result in high SO2 production22-24,31. While SO2 production by yeast can be helpful in terms of microbial stability of the wine, excess SO2 is detrimental, as high levels of SO2 strongly inhibit malolactic fermentation, impart sensory defects, and can exceed legal limits in various markets. To determine if any of the low or no-H2S strains produce excess SO2, we measured total SO2 levels at the end of fermentation (Figure 4A). Compared with the conventional strains EC1118 and Montrachet 522, all of the low or no-H2S strains, with the exception of ‘Mutagenesis–General 1’, produced comparable volumes of SO2 (approximately 20ppm). In contrast, the ‘Mutagenesis–General 1’ strain produced significant amounts of SO2 (79ppm) (Figure 4A).

In addition to H2S and SO2, yeast also produce acetic acid in response to nutrient imbalance and stress. Excess acetic acid (>0.8g/L) can result in high levels of volatile acidity that negatively impacts wine quality and can exceed legal limits in various markets33. To determine if any of the low or no-H2S strains produce excess volatile acidity, we measured acetic acid levels at the end of fermentation (Figure 4B). Compared with the conventional strains EC1118 and Montrachet 522, a number of the strains—namely, ‘MET2/SKP2–General’, ‘Mutagenesis–General 2’ and ‘UCD932–Aromatic White’ produced equivalent amounts of acetic acid (approximately 0.65g/L) (Figure 4B). In contrast, three of the UCD932-based strains (‘UCD932–General White’, ‘UCD932–Clean White’ and ‘UCD932–Organic’) produced less acetic acid, approximately 0.5g/L (Figure 4B). However, one strain—’Mutagenesis– General 1’—had elevated levels of acetic acid (0.86g/L) ▶ (Figure 4B).

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Figure 4. SO2 and acetic acid analysis. Yeast strains do not produce excess SO2. Laboratory-scale fermentations (300mL) of Chardonnay grape juice (Brix 19.9°, YAN 182 g/L, total SO2 28ppm, free SO2 5.76ppm) were conducted at 21.5°C for 15 days. A) Total SO2 was measured at the end of fermentation by iodometry (A17 revised by 377/2009). Method: OIV-MA-AS32304B. B) Acetic acid was measured at the end of fermentation by rapid, manual end-point AK/PTA enzymatic method (Megazyme International, Ireland 2015, K-ACETRM 06/15).

Error bars represent one standard deviation in triplicate experiments.

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to the conventional strains EC1118 and Montrachet 522.

Interestingly, the two mutagenesis-derived strains (General 1 and General 2) were approximately one to two days slower than the rest of the strains, with General 2 achieving only 92% of the CO2 loss of the control EC1118 within the 15-day fermentation (Figures 2A and 2B). In addition, the ‘MET2/ SKP2–General’ strain and the ‘UCD932–Clean White’ strain were able to achieve only 96% and 95%, respectively, of the CO2 loss of EC1118 (Figure 2B).

We next examined H2S production by the yeast during the fermentations (Figure 3). As expected, the conventional strains EC1118 and Montrachet 522 produced significant amounts of H2S: 375 and 800ppb, respectively (Figure 3A). Moreover, these yeast produced H2S early in the fermentation: between two and six days after inoculation (Figure 3B). In contrast, the majority of the low or no-H2S yeast did not produce any detectable H2S throughout the fermentation (Figures 3A and 3B). Surprisingly, however, the ‘MET2/SKP2–General’ did produce 175ppb of H2S between day two and day five of fermentation (Figures 3A and 3B).

Given the interplay between H2S and sulfur metabolism,

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DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

sulfur on the formation of off-odours in wine. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 13:133–140.

The recent development of low or no-H2S yeast strains is an exciting new tool for winemakers. Born of a more thorough understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying yeast sulfur metabolism, these yeast strains can limit or prevent the production of H2S during fermentation.

In doing so, these strains enable winemakers to fully prevent H2S rather than simply focus on remediation. However, to be useful to winemakers, low or no-H2S yeast strains must perform comparably to conventional strains in a number of key attributes.

In this study, we evaluated the performance of a range of low or no-H2S strains derived from three distinct core genetic technologies: 1) genetic mapping and breeding of MET2/ SKP2 variants; 2) mutagenesis and selection of MET5/MET10 variants; and 3) breeding and selection of MET10-UCD932. In doing so, we measured a number of key functional attributes of winemaking yeast, including fermentation kinetics, SO2 production, volatile acidity and H2S production.

Our data indicate that low or no-H2S yeast strains are not equal with respect to some of these key parameters. For example, we observed that the ‘MET2/SKP2–General’ actually produced notable amounts of H2S under the conditions tested—none of the other low or no-H2S strains produced any detectable H2S (Figure 3). In terms of fermentation kinetics, the ‘Mutagenesis–General 1’ and ‘Mutagenesis– General 2’ strains were slower than conventional yeast and the rest of the low or no-H2S strains (Figure 2). Moreover, the ‘MET2/SKP2–General’ and ‘UCD932–Clean White’ strains were able to achieve only 92%–96% CO2 loss, relative to the conventional strain EC1118. In terms of SO2 production, we noted that the ‘Mutagenesis–General 1’ strain produced significant amounts of SO2 during fermentation— approximately four-fold more than the conventional yeast and the rest of the low or no-H2S strains (Figure 4A). Finally, when we examined volatile acidity, we noted that the ‘Mutagenesis–General 1’ strain produced elevated levels of acetic acid, approximately 1.5-fold more than the other strains (Figure 4B).

In conclusion, our data highlight the variability in winemaking attributes between low or no-H2S strains, and especially between different H2S-preventing core genetic technologies. As such, it would be prudent for winemakers to critically evaluate their options in selecting low or no-H2S yeast strains, so as to choose strains that provide optimal performance and results in any given application.

REFERENCES 1 Vos, P.J.A. and Gray, R.S. (1979) The origin and control of hydrogen sulfide during fermentation of grape must. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 30:187–197.

2 Bobet, R.A.; Noble, A.C. and Boulton, R.B. (1990) Kinetics of the ethanethiol and diethyl disulfide interconversion in wine-like solutions. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 38:449–452.

9 Goniak, O.J. and Noble, A.C. (1987) Sensory study of selected volatile sulfur compounds in white wine. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 38:223–227.

10 Wang, X.D.; Bohlscheid, J.C. and Edwards, C.G. (2003) Fermentative activity and production of volatile compounds by Saccharomyces grown in synthetic grape juice media deficient in assimilable nitrogen and/or pantothenic acid. Journal of Applied Microbiology 94:349–359.

11 Giudici, P. and Kunkee, R.E. (1994) The effect of nitrogen deficiency and sulfur-containing amino acids on the reduction of sulfate to hydrogen sulfide by wine yeasts. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 45: 107-112.

12 Rauhut, D. and Kurbel, H. (1994) The production of H2S from elemental sulfur residues during fermentation and its influence on the formation of sulfur metabolites causing off-flavours in wines. Wein-Wissenschaft 49:27–36.

13 Stratford, M. and Rose, A.H. (1985) Hydrogen sulfide production from sulfite

by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Journal of General Microbiology 131:1417–1424.

14 Nickerson, W.J. (1953) Reduction of inorganic substances by yeasts. I. Extracellular reduction of sulfite by species of Candida. The Journal of Infectious Diseases 93:43–56.

15 Schütz, M. and Kunkee, R.E. (1977) Formation of hydrogen sulfide from elemental sulfur during fermentation by wine yeast. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 28:137–144.

16 Acree, T.E.; Sonoff, E.P. and Splittstoesser, D.F. (1972) Effect of yeast strain and type of sulfur compound on hydrogen sulfide production. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 23:6–9.

17 Kumar, G.R.; Ramakrishnan, V. and Bisson, L.F. (2010) Survey of hydrogen sulfide production in wine strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 61:365–371.

18 Mendes-Ferreira, A.; Mendes-Faia, A. and Leão, C. (2002) Survey of hydrogen sulfide production by wine yeasts. Journal of Food Protection 65:1033–1037.

19 Spiropoulos, A.; Tanaka, J.; Flerianos, I. and Bisson, L.F. (2000) Characterisation of hydrogen sulfide formation in commercial and natural wine isolates of Saccharomyces. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 51:233–248.

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

21 Thomas, D. and Surdin-Kerjan, Y. (1997) Metabolism of sulfur amino acids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 61:503–532.

22 Hansen, J. and Kielland-Brandt, M.C. (1996) Inactivation of MET2 in brewer’s yeast increases the level of sulfite in beer. Journal of Biotechnology 50:75–87.

23 Donalies, U.E.B. and Stahl, U. (2002) Increasing sulfite formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by over-expression of MET14 and SSU1. Yeast 19:475–484.

24 Hansen, J. and Kielland-Brandt, M.C. (1996) Inactivation of MET10 in brewer’s yeast specifically increases SO2 formation during beer production.

Nature Biotechnology 14:1587–1591.

25 Spiropoulos, A. and Bisson, L.F. (2000) MET17 and hydrogen sulfide formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 4421–4426 26 Linderholm, A.L.; Olineka, T.L. and Hong, Y. (2006) Allele diversity among genes of the sulfate reduction pathway in wine strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 57(4):431-440.

27 Linderholm, A.L.; Findleton, C.L.; Kumar, G.; Hong, Y. and Bisson, L.F. (2008) Identification of genes affecting hydrogen sulfide formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 74:1418–1427.

28 Yoshida, S.; Imoto, J.; Minato, T.; Oouchi, R.; Kamada, Y.; Tomita, M.; Soga, T. and Yoshimoto, H. (2010) A novel mechanism regulates H2S and SO2 production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast 28:109–121.

29 Noble, J.; Sanchez, I. and Blondin, B. (2015) Identification of new Saccharomyces cerevisiae variants of the MET2 and SKP2 genes controlling the sulfur assimilation pathway and the production of undesirable sulfur compounds during alcoholic fermentation. Microb Cell Fact 14:68.

Eschenbruch, R. (1974) Sulfite and sulfide formation during winemaking - A Review. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 25:157–161.

30 Nowak, A.; Kusewicz, D.; Kalinowska, H.; Turkiewicz, M. and Patelski, P. (2004) Production of H2S and properties of sulfite reductase from selected strains of wine-producing yeasts. European Food Research and Technology 219:84–89.

4Herderich, M.J.; Francis, I.L.; Ugliano, M.; Siebert, T.E. and Jeffery, D.W. (2011) Analysis and formation of key sulfur aroma compounds in wine, 267–286.

In Qian, M.C.; Fan, X. and Mahattanatawee, K. (eds.), Volatile sulfur compounds in food. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC.

31 Cordente, A.G.; Heinrich, A.; Pretorius, I.S. and Swiegers, J.H. (2009) Isolation of sulfite reductase variants of a commercial wine yeast with significantly reduced hydrogen sulfide production. FEMS Yeast Research 9:446–459.

5 Bisson, L.F. and Karpel, J.E. (2010) Genetics of yeast impacting wine quality.

Annual Review of Food Science Technology 1:139–162.

32 Sutherland, C.M.; Henschke, P.A.; Langridge, P. and Lopes, M.deB. (2003) Sub-unit and co-factor binding of Saccharomyces cerevisiae sulfite reductase — towards developing wine yeast with lowered ability to produce hydrogen sulfide.

Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 9:186–193.

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6 Iland, P. (2004) Monitoring the winemaking process from grapes to wine: Techniques and concepts. Patrick Iland Wine Promotions 7 Linderholm, A.; Dietzel, K.; Hirst, M. and Bisson, L.F. (2010) Identification of MET10-932 and characterisation as an allele reducing hydrogen sulfide formation in wine strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Applied Environmental Microbiology 76:7699–7707.

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33 Cordente, A.G.; Curtin, C.D.; Varela, C. and Pretorius, I.S. (2012) Flavouractive wine yeasts. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 96:601–618.

Thoukis, G. and Stern, L.A. (1962) A review and some studies of the effect of

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Minimising the risk of wine spoilage

By Alana Seabrook, Microbiologist/Research and Development Manager, Yalumba Wine Company

In keeping with this issue’s theme of risk management, Alana explores the steps winemakers can take to minimise the risk of spoilage in wines that either have low alcohol, high pH or high sugar levels.

INTRODUCTION It is commonly accepted that wine is a hostile environment for any microorganism to survive due to its low pH (3.0 to 4.0), high alcohol (typically >12%v/v ethanol) and minimal amounts of residual sugar (typically <2.5g/L sugar).

And yet a number of microorganisms are not only able to survive, but proliferate in these adverse conditions. It is important to understand which microorganisms will grow in each wine environment in order to minimise the risk of spoilage.

Saccharomyces cerevisae is commonly responsible for carrying out the primary alcoholic fermentation in wine (both in inoculated and spontaneous fermentations). In the case of spontaneous fermentation, species of the genera Picchia, Candida, Hanseniaspora, Torulaspora, Hansenula, Issatchenkia, Metschnikowia, Kluyveromyces and Zygosaccharomyces may contribute to the initial stages of fermentation (Nicola et al. 2010). The microflora may be present on the grape berry, winery equipment and surroundings, and many are considered to be spoilage organisms in wine that can produce high amounts of volatile acidity if given the opportunity to grow. The presence of microflora on cellar equipment is influenced by winery sanitation practices and winery set-up (fixed lines versus mobile hoses, more or less automation, etc). Bacteria in wine can be beneficial and necessary in the case of malolactic fermentation (MLF) conducted by lactic acid bacteria, but also cause undesirable spoilage characters to a wine (in the case of Acetobacter spp).

WINE STYLE The three main high risk wine styles are low alcohol, high pH and high sugar wines. Due to changes in market trends, there has been an increased production of ‘low alcohol wines’, which can have as

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Figure 1. Alcohol is a very good antimicrobial agent. However in low alcohol wines, yeast species such as Zygosaccharomyces spp, are able to metabolise any residual sugar and produce carbon dioxide. Zygosaccharomyces rouxii pictured at 1000x magnification. low as 4.5%v/v alcohol and still be called wine. Many of these wines may also have higher levels of residual sugar making them high risk wines from a spoilage point of view.

Low alcohol wines (<10%v/v) Alcohol (mainly ethanol in wine) is a very good antimicrobial agent. Some of the spoilage-causing non-Saccharomyces yeast present early in fermentation cannot survive over 6%v/v alcohol (Torija et al. 2001). It is also the reason pathogenic species aren’t likely to pose a threat in alcoholic beverages. However in low alcohol wines, yeast species such as Candida spp, Saccharomyces spp, Zygosaccharomyces spp (Figure 1) are able to metabolise any residual sugar and produce carbon dioxide. The use of Dimethyldicarbonate (DMDC) Velcorin® may be used for low alcohol, high sugar wines to prevent re-fermentation in bottle. This kills any microbial cells via the inactivation of enzymatic function to then break down into small amounts of methanol and carbon dioxide, which are both natural constituents of wine.

Alternatively, the use of sulfur dioxide (SO2), benzoic or sorbic acid may be used in conjunction with low pH to combat refermentation in bottle (Praphailong and Fleet 1997). Whilst not being dangerous, re-fermentation causes a change to the product in terms of turbidity and gas production which may compromise packaging.

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High pH wines Some European red wines have pHs above 3.8-3.9. A low pH ( <3.5) is desirable due to the higher availability of SO2 in the molecular form which has the greatest amount of anti-microbial action. It also inhibits or slows the growth of many microorganisms found in wine as they have a preference for higher pH (>4.0).

If the fermentation process is delayed in any way, an environment is created that is conducive to the growth of many microorganisms in the presence of sugar and in the absence of SO2. Factors like high alcohol levels and temperature play a role here.

High sugar wines Any amount of residual sugar in the form of glucose, fructose or sucrose can be a problem. Chemical parameters in the wine will determine which microorganisms may make use of this sugar. Levels over 0.2g/L can promote the growth of Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis in an incrementing trend (Barata et al. 2008). This species happily thrives in anaerobic conditions present in bottle and will cause spoilage in the form of off-odours and flavours due to the production of 4-ethylphenol (4EP) and 4-ethylguacol (4EP). At higher levels of alcohol, Zygosaccharomyces spp are typical spoilage agents, resistant to high levels of preservatives including sulfur dioxide (Martorell et al. 2007).

Specifically Z. rouxii is particularly

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osmotolerant and is often a contaminant in grape juice concentrate (Membre et al. 1999). Z. bailli is better known for being preservative resistant and is often a contaminant of food and beverage products considered microbially unstable (i.e., presence of residual sugar, a low level of preservatives, high pH (Warth 1986).

PROCESS STAGE The presence of microflora on cellar equipment is influenced by winery sanitation practices and winery set-up (fixed lines versus mobile hoses, more or less automation). Ultimately, it is the wine parameters that will determine which microorganisms proliferate in the wine.

Fermentation During fermentation there are a few key species to be aware of. Early in the fermentation most microorganisms are able to proliferate given the high levels of sugar and lack of alcohol. Spontaneous fermentations are routinely practised in industry involving both Saccharomyces spp and Non-Saccharomyces spp. If well managed the advantages of this technique are desirable mouthfilling characters which can be found in the wine as a

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non-Saccharomyces yeast species and will likely produce a much cleaner product if this is what is desired.

Stuck fermentations can cause problems in that residual sugar may be metabolised by other types of microorganisms (Acetobacter spp, lactic acid bacteria) in the absence of SO2 to produce significant amounts of volatile acidity. Moving forward, the residual sugar can cause more of a risk in wine storage (see below). Factors that may cause stuck fermentations are high levels of alcohol and over fining which can strip the wine of valuable nutrients.

Uncontrolled temperatures may also cause the yeast to get â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;shockedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and not finish the fermentation. Cross seeding with an active ferment is a common remedy as well as building up a fresh culture slowly incorporating the problem wine. The problem wine may need to be filtered in order to remove inhibitory compounds.

direct result, as well as a cost advantage (Ciani et al. 2011). However, if left unmanaged, the fermentation may favour the proliferation of high volatile acidity or aldehyde-producing yeast and bacteria.

Typically, Saccharomyces bayanus has been noted as being a high aldehyde producer that is able to dominate the fermentation. In these cases filtration and reinoculation with Saccharomyces cerevisae may resolve the problem by overtaking the fermentation and metabolising some of the aldehyde produced.

4-EP and 4-EG are typically produced by the spoilage yeast Dekkera/ Brettanomyces bruxellensis later in the winemaking process because this yeast can tolerate high alcohol and SO2 conditions as well as being a very slow growing yeast. Pichia spp are also able to produce these compounds early in the fermentation to levels well above their detection threshold (Saez et al. 2011).

Fortunately, Pichia spp cannot tolerate levels of alcohol above 6%v/v so it may only be a problem when the processing stage is delayed. In many cases the presence of these species may be linked to a particular vineyard.

The use of SO2 in the vineyard and at the processing stage will select out many

Storage Once the wine has finished primary fermentation and, if relevant, malolactic fermentation, the three primary microbial concerns are: Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis; Acetobacter spp and, to a â&#x2013;ś lesser extent, lactic acid bacteria.

When setting priorities, we always start at the top.

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change if there is a problem. A wine that has been sterile filtered and is stored for six months in tank will have yeast, mould and bacteria grow on a plate if analysed – but it is a change in the wine chemistry that will determine if the growth is a problem.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU HAVE A PROBLEM – HOW TO PREVENT FURTHER LOSSES?

Oak barrels are often a source of contamination due to their porous nature and difficulty in sanitising all levels of the wood.

A molecular SO2 of 0.825mg/L is recommended by the Australian Wine Research Institute to avoid the growth of any undesired microorganisms (http:// www.awri.com.au/industry_support/ winemaking_resources/calculators/ molecular-sulfur-dioxide/) including Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis. As previously mentioned, this slow growing yeast can produce barnyard, horse, and Band-aid characters attributed to the production of 4-EP and 4-EG (Chatonnet et al. 1992). It is not known at what point precisely that the yeast begin to produce 4-EP and 4-EG but they will surface as cell numbers increase depending on the wine type and matrix. There is much unknown about this species despite all the research surrounding it and the concept of viable non-culturable Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis as an underlying problem is a possibility (Serpaggi et al. 2012). Sterile filtration with the subsequent addition of SO2 will likely fix the problem. Oak barrels are often a source of contamination due to their porous nature and difficulty in sanitising all levels of the wood.

Understanding where the problem has come from is a critical factor.

Acetobacter spp produce acetic acid from alcohol. They thrive in oxygenated environments and are usually present in all unfiltered wines in levels of 103 cells/mL. Tanks on ullage can allow a critical mass of these organisms to build up and turn the wine ‘volatile’. Keeping wines off ullage with sufficient levels of SO2 will avoid this problem.

Lactic acid bacteria can be a problem where MLF has not been carried out and it happens spontaneously in storage. The wines need to be checked on a regular basis and have sufficient levels of SO2.

In barrel, this can present the problem of some barrels going through MLF and others not, as well as the production of mousy taint being produced by the

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bacteria. In all of these instances, any level of residual sugar will accelerate, accentuate and exaggerate the problem.

Bottling Understanding the wine type is most critical at bottling. Sterile filtration in the most sanitised in-line, fixed line facility cannot totally combat the risk of re-fermentation if your wine has high levels of sugar, low levels of alcohol and insufficient levels of antimicrobial agents for that particular wine matrix on that particular day.

Oxygen ingress due to compromised packaging can allow for the proliferation of Acetobacter spp in bottle, the risk elevated in high temperature storage conditions (Bartowsky and Henschke, 2008). Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis are also able to grow in the anaerobic conditions present in bottle making SO2 and sugar levels critical at bottling.

Manage your risk and preventative measures Factoring in any sugar level over 0.5g/L may be of assistance when working out what kind of preventative measures to take as a starting point. Whilst there is much debate over how much free and total SO2 is present in red wines given the nature of the molecule to bind and change form, it is important to understand that the closer your pH is to 3.0 rather than 4.0, the more available molecular SO2 will be available for antimicrobial and anti-oxidative purposes. Wines with sugar levels of 0.5-2g/L may need extra preventative measures such as sterile filtration, SO2 additions, or other antimicrobial agents (e.g., chitosan derivatives, DMDC, sorbic or benzoic acid).

Monitoring the wine on a regular basis is a good practice to follow. More often than not the chemistry is the first thing to

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The main point to take away from this article is the concept of understanding what is causing your problem. Experience and chemistry data is often enough to determine the problem at hand, and in most cases sterile filtration with the subsequent addition of SO2 to the levels recommended by the AWRI will fix the problem.

REFERENCES Barata, A.; Pagliara, D.; Piccininno, T.; Tarantino, F.; Ciardulli, W.; Malfeito-Ferreira, M. and Loureiro, V. (2008) The effect of sugar concentration and temperature on growth and volatile phenol production by Dekkera bruxellensis in wine.” FEMS Yeast Res. 8(7):1097-102.

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

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

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

Martorell, P.; Stratford, M.; Steels, H.; Fernández-Espinar, M.T. and Querol, A. (2007) Physiological characterization of spoilage strains of Zygosaccharomyces bailii and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii isolated from high sugar environments.

International Journal of Food Microbiology 114(2):234-242.

Membre, J.; Kubaczka, M. and Chenem, C. (1999) Combined effects of pH and sugar on growth rate of Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, a bakery product spoilage yeast. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65(11):4921-4925.

Praphailong, W. and Fleet, G.H. (1997) The effect of pH, sodium chloride, sucrose, sorbate and benzoate on the growth of food spoilage yeasts. Food Microbiology 14(5):459-468.

Saez, J.S.; Lopes, C.A.; Kirs, V.E. and Sangorrín, M. (2011) Production of volatile phenols by Pichia manshurica and Pichia membranifaciens isolated from spoiled wines and cellar environment in Patagonia Food Microbiology 28(3):503-509.

Serpaggia, V.; Remizea, F.; Recorbetb, G.; Gaudot-Dumasb, E.; Sequeira-Le Grandc, A. and Alexandre, H. (2012) Characterization of the ‘viable but nonculturable’(VBNC) state in the wine spoilage yeast Brettanomyces. Food Microbiology 30(2):438447.

Torija, M.J.; Rozès, N.; Poblet, M.; Guillamón, J.M. and Mas, A. (2001) Yeast population dynamics in spontaneous fermentations: comparison between two different wine-producing areas over a period of three years. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 79(3-4):34552.

Warth, A.D. (1986) Effect of nutrients and pH on the resistance of Zygosaccharomyces bailii to benzoic acid. International Journal of Food Microbiology 3(5):263-271.

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Applying the latest understanding of grape composition

By Paul Smith, Alex Schulkin, Stella Kassara, Sheridan Barter, Mark Solomon, Wies Cynkar, Dimitra Capone, Leigh Francis, Keren Bindon and Dan Johnson Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064

A wide range of compounds that contribute to wine’s appearance, aroma, flavour and texture are derived from compounds present in grapes. Quite a lot is now known about these compounds, their origin, how to measure them and how to influence their concentration through viticultural and/or winemaking practices. This article describes how key grape-derived compounds influence wine and discusses a project that is applying the latest compositional knowledge to improve the objectivity of measures of grape quality and style.

T

AT A GLANCE • A large body of research has established the importance of a range of grape-derived compounds in influencing wine sensory properties • Some of these compounds transfer directly from grape to wine while others are transformed during grape processing and fermentation • Chemical and spectral measures of compounds in grapes have been used to successfully predict grape allocation grades in an ongoing collaborative study • Adoption of objective measures when assessing grapes could have benefits for both grapegrowers and winemakers. rotundone, methoxypyrazines are also easily extractable and the concentration in free-run wine is principally determined by that in the grapes (Sala et al. 2004). Approximately two-thirds of the amount present in grapes is extracted with traditional red winemaking practices (Ryona et al. 2009). ß-Ionone is a C13 u .a sit om Vi t.c s du op st

he important grape-derived compounds in wine fall into four main categories: • grape compounds that are directly extracted into wine, without undergoing any changes • compounds that are formed from grapes during processing steps such as crushing, with minimal yeast involvement • compounds created by the action of yeast or bacteria on grape compounds • compounds that are influenced by both processing and yeast effects.

A summary of the key impact compounds that fall under these categories is provided below, with a brief background outlining the points in the wine production process most relevant to their development.

Managing director Dan Johnson

GRAPE COMPOUNDS THAT ARE DIRECTLY EXTRACTED INTO WINE Compounds in this category include rotundone (black pepper/spicy aroma), methoxypyrazines (green bean, capsicum and asparagus aromas) and the C13 norisoprenoid ß-ionone (raspberry, berry and violet aromas). These compounds are present in grapes and end up in wine without undergoing chemical changes.

Rotundone is found primarily in grape skins, but has also been reported in leaves and stalks. It increases during grape ripening and is easily extractable (AWRI publications #1060, #1061, #1356, Caputi et al. 2011). The effects of viticultural and environmental factors on rotundone formation are currently being investigated, including fruit exposure, leaf removal time, crop load and vine vegetative vigour. Most recent results suggest that sunlight exposure and the temperature of grape bunches are key factors. Methoxypyrazines are found in Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes. They are present in grape stems, skins and seeds (but there is very little in grape flesh) and although they are not found in grapes of Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Chardonnay and Riesling, the stems of these varieties can potentially contribute them to wine. It is generally considered that the concentration in wine depends on berry maturity, climate, fruit exposure and to a lesser extent skin contact during winemaking and pressing. In common with

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norisoprenoid present in the grape berry that is also directly extracted from grapes into wine and contributes positive red fruit and floral characters. Norisoprenoids are generally found at higher concentrations in sunlight-exposed bunches.

COMPOUNDS FORMED FROM GRAPES DURING PROCESSING, WITH MINIMAL YEAST INVOLVEMENT Compounds in this category include some terpenes (e.g. geraniol, linalool, nerol, ß-terpineol and wine lactone), the C13 norisoprenoids TDN (aged Riesling characters) and ß-damascenone (sweet, fruity, cooked apple aroma) and the C-6 alcohols (fresh cut grass aroma).

Monoterpenes are a class of approximately 70 identified compounds that generally exhibit floral and citrus aromas. Their aromas are thought to be additive and they have been well-researched and reviewed (Mateo and Jimenez 2000). Free terpenes of particular relevance in very young wines include geraniol and nerol (present in grape skin), while in somewhat older wines linalool (present throughout the berry) and ß-terpineol play a more significant role. Free terpenes can

be extracted directly from the grape but enzymes and acid release the glycosylated precursors that are also extracted from grapes into wine. The polyhydroxylated monoterpenes are a class of terpenes that do not contribute aromas themselves but are reactive and can easily rearrange during fermentation to give pleasant and potent aromas.

Examples include cis-rose oxide which gives the lychee and rose aromas characteristic of Gewurztraminer and wine lactone which gives a coconut/lime aroma commonly observed in Riesling wines. The volatile compound TDN (1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene) contributes to aged characters in Riesling wines and at high levels can give a kerosene-like aroma. ß-Damascenone is another C13 norisoprenoid, which forms during grape berry metabolism through carotenoid degradation. It acts as a general aroma enhancer, lifting the perceived intensity of other molecules.

The C6-alcohols give a fresh cut grass aroma in wine and they form through enzymatic oxidation of grape fatty acids. Solids in ferment are considered to increase their concentrations.

Characteristic compounds include 1-hexanol and cis-3-hexenol.

COMPOUNDS CREATED BY THE ACTION OF MICROORGANISMS ON GRAPE COMPOUNDS Examples of compounds in this category include acetic acid (VA), fatty acids (short and medium-chain acids that give rancid, sweaty, cheesy aromas), esters (fruity aromas) and alcohols (rose, lilac, solvent). Yeast produce a wide range of volatile compounds through metabolism of amino acids, with the amino acid profile of a juice considered to be important to the pattern of aroma compounds produced in wine.

Acetic acid is the main volatile acid of relevance and, as with fatty acids, derives from the action of yeast and bacteria.

Although commonly found in wine, both are generally only of major sensory relevance in microbially spoiled wine.

Esters are very significant in defining the sensory profile of a wine and are generally absent from grapes. Important classes of esters include the acetate esters derived from acetic acid and fusel alcohols, and the ethyl esters derived from ethanol and fatty acids. Characteristic compounds include 3-methyl butyl acetate responsible for banana aroma and ethyl hexanoate which gives a pineapple aroma.

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Australian Products for Australian Wineries

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Rotundone, responsible for black pepper/spicy aromas, is present in grapes and ends up in wine without undergoing chemical changes. Rotundone is found primarily in grape skins, and increases during grape ripening.

Choice of yeast and the level of yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN) in must can significantly influence both the profile and concentration of esters that are formed during fermentation. A range of alcohols also contribute to the aroma profile of wines and are formed primarily through yeast metabolism of amino acids and sugars. Characteristic compounds include 2-phenylethyl alcohol (rose, lilac) derived from the amino acid phenylalanine, isobutanol (solvent, harsh) and isoamyl alcohol (whiskey, malt, burnt).

COMPOUNDS INFLUENCED BY BOTH PROCESSING AND YEAST EFFECTS Examples of compounds in this category include the so-called varietal thiols (passionfruit, grapefruit, box hedge), colour compounds in red varieties, tannin (astringency, texture, mouthfeel) and polysaccharides (texture, weight).

Varietal thiols are important impact odorants in Sauvignon Blanc wines, and are major contributors to the tropical flavour of other varieties such as Chardonnay and Riesling. They are released from flavourless cysteine and glutathione conjugates by yeast. The conjugates are themselves formed as a result of complex changes that occur after the crushing of the grape berry.

Red wine colour has long been known to have a positive relationship with quality and flavour. Grape colour comes from anthocyanins which are mostly located in grape skin. These are found in grape must, ferments and young wines, but are not very stable under wine conditions so their contribution to wine colour decreases quite rapidly as wine

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ages. Stable red wine colour comes from the formation of pigmented tannins, which are coloured compounds formed through the reaction of anthocyanins with tannins during fermentation and wine storage. Choice of yeast strain has been shown to influence the formation of stable red wine colour. The tannins (also known as proanthocyanidins) in red wine strongly influence mouthfeel, particularly with respect to astringency (Gawel 1998). Tannin concentration has been shown to correlate strongly with perceived astringency intensity (AWRI publication #1086, Kennedy et al. 2006) and both total tannin concentration and aspects of tannin composition have both been shown to be positively associated with wine allocation gradings from major commercial wineries (AWRI publications #1254, #1323). Grape tannins are present in both the seeds and skins of grapes and are chemically different from wine tannin. The relationship between grape tannin and wine tannin has not yet been fully established and can be influenced by a number of winemaking practices and techniques, including choice of yeast, fermenter type and size, cap management and temperature.

Polysaccharides can also influence wine style, but significant knowledge gaps exist in the understanding of the magnitude of their influence on sensory aspects of wine. They derive from both grapes and the action of yeast and are generally considered to contribute fullness in wines and to modulate the perception of astringency (AWRI publication #763). More research is needed in this area to understand the roles they play in defining wine style and â&#x2013;ś their relevance to consumers.

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DEVELOPING OBJECTIVE MEASURES FOR GRAPES The body of knowledge about the most important compounds in grapes that relate to wine appearance, aroma and flavour has been applied in a project working to develop objective measures for grapes that relate directly to attributes that confer value to wine. For both grapegrowers and winemakers, such measures could provide specifications that would allow the most value to be achieved from grapes. The project, funded by Wine Australia, has been carried out in partnership with Accolade Wines and FABAL vineyard managers.

The project aimed to measure a range of chemical compounds in multiple grape batches of different grades and determine which compounds, independently or in combination, could differentiate between grape grades. The objectives were to determine how variable the chemical measures were across a wide range of fruit grades; if there was a relationship with fruit grade; and if the fruit could be classified based on similarity of chemical composition. A further aim was to assess the practical application of grape compositional grading measurements and to support wine producers who intend to apply these measures in their systems.

Findings from this project based on data from Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Chardonnay grape lots from the 2014 vintage are summarised below.

WHICH CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS WERE ASSOCIATED WITH HIGHER VALUE FRUIT? Grapes from a range of quality grades were sourced by representative sampling of vineyards from multiple regions across Australia, and a wide range of chemical analyses were

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Compounds influenced by both processing and yeast effects include anthocyanins, which form grape colour and are mostly located in grape skin. These are found in grape must, ferments and young wines, but are not very stable under wine conditions so their contribution to wine colour decreases quite rapidly as wine ages. Stable red wine colour comes from the formation of pigmented tannins - coloured compounds formed through the reaction of anthocyanins with tannins during fermentation and wine storage. performed to determine the concentration of compounds known to affect wine style and key sensory properties. The grading data were supplied by the grower or winery contracted to make wine from those grapes. Accolade Wines grades grapes and wines on a scale from one (highest value) to nine.

Using the chemical data, statistical models based on discriminant analysis were developed to predict the grade of the fruit samples. The models were successful, able to classify samples correctly to a high degree (85-93%). Almost half of the incorrect predictions were less than two grades away.

Using an alternative statistical approach (partial least squares regression) also gave models with a good ability to predict grades, with overall R2 values of 0.65 to 0.78 (65-78% of the variance in the grade was explained by the chemical measures), which is a promising result. The regression models can be used to determine which aspects of grape composition are most important in differentiating between grades. Coefficients can be positive or negative depending on whether higher values for particular measures are associated with better grade or poorer grade.

Breaking the 2014 vintage dataset down by variety, for Cabernet Sauvignon there was a moderately successful prediction of grape grade (R2 of validation = 0.71). The significant variables that were higher in higher grades were some specific amino acids, tannin, glycosyl glucose (GG) and absorbances at some specific UV-Vis wavelengths. The concentration of C6 compounds, YAN and some amino acids was higher in lower grades. Discriminant analysis was 90% correct for grade prediction.

For Shiraz there was also a moderately strong prediction of grade (R2 of validation = 0.65). The significant variables that were higher in higher grades were some amino acids, UVVis absorbances, tannin, GG and unlike for Cabernet, also C6 compounds and YAN. Only the amino acid aspartic acid was higher in lower grades. Discriminant analysis was 85% correct for grade prediction.

For Chardonnay there was good prediction of grades (R2 of validation = 0.78). The significant variables that had higher values in higher grades were GG, precursors to the varietal thiol 3MH,

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malic acid, ammonia nitrogen, two C6 compounds and ammonia.

The measures of UV-Vis absorbance at 370nm (flavonols, a sun exposure marker) and proline concentration were higher in lower grades, and higher pH and a C6 compound were also associated with lower grades. Discriminant analysis was 93% correct for grade prediction.

Grape spectral data only (a combination of UV-Vis spectra of grape extracts, MIR spectra of juice and NIR spectra of grape homogenates) was able to predict grade better than 90% for Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Chardonnay. Spectral tools used to obtain such data are rapid and would be more readily accessible to industry than some of the more complex and slow chemical measurements.

In summary, a number of important chemical measures were identified as being related to grade across the 2014 dataset for the different varieties. Measures that were positively associated with higher value grade included total soluble solids (TSS), total phenolics, red colour, hydroxycinnamic acids, a range of amino acids (some of which may be precursors to aroma compounds), glycosyl glucose (GG, aroma precursors), tannin and thiol precursors. Compounds that were negatively associated with grade included nitrogen measures, several other amino acids and the two C6 ‘green’, ‘grassy’ compounds Z-3-hexenol and E-2-hexenol. Tannin, GG, TSS, total phenolics and red colour have all been previously demonstrated to be generally positively associated with grape and wine quality in Australia and the results from this dataset are consistent with those previous observations. Across two seasons studied, total phenolics, tannin and colour were consistently positively associated with grade in Cabernet Sauvignon. Many of the identified chemical measures can be accessed through commercial laboratories or can be implemented with low to moderate technical investment

depending on the facilities available to the winery or grower.

The project has continued in 2015 and wines have been made from the grape samples under standardised conditions to allow the assessment of wine sensory properties and to relate these to the grape compositional measures.

CONCLUSION Developing an understanding of the relationships of available objective measures to well-established subjective grading systems is one application of the extensive research that has been done across the world on grape and wine composition. The application of such measures has the potential to significantly reduce production costs and increase value by ensuring that fruit is used in the most efficient production stream and that maximum value is returned from the end-product. It could also lead to significant savings in the costs of assessing vineyards through more effective application of resources and clearer understandings of geographical, viticultural and climatic drivers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body Wine Australia, with matching funds from the Australian Government. The AWRI is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster in Adelaide. The authors are grateful to Alex Sas and Warren Birchmore (Accolade Wines) and Dr Bob Dambergs (Wine TQ Consulting) for support of the project and discussion of results. Ella Robinson is thanked for her editorial assistance.

REFERENCES AWRI publication #763 Vidal, S.; Courcoux, P.; Francis, L.; Kwiatkowski, M.; Gawel, R.; Williams, P.; Waters, E. and Cheynier, V. (2004) Use of an experimental design approach for evaluation of key wine components on mouth-feel perception. Food Qual.

Pref. 15:209-217.

AWRI publication #1060 Wood, C.; Siebert, T.E.; Parker, M.; Capone, D.L.; Elsey, G.M.; Pollnitz, A.P.; Eggers, M.; Meier, M.; Vossing, T.; Widder, S.; Krammer, G.; Sefton, M.A. and Herderich, M.J. (2008) From wine to pepper: Rotundone, an obscure sesquiterpene, is a potent spicy aroma compound. J. Agric. Food Chem. 56:3738-3744.

BUYERS’ GUIDE For experienced wine & grape industry suppliers

AWRI publication #1061 Siebert, T.E.; Wood, C.; Elsey, G.M. and Pollnitz, A.P. (2008) Determination of rotundone, the pepper aroma impact compound, in grapes and wine.

J. Agric. Food Chem. 56:3745-3748.

AWRI publication #1086 Mercurio, M.D. and Smith, P.A. (2008) Tannin quantification in red grapes and wine: Comparison of polysaccharide- and proteinbased tannin precipitation techniques and their ability to model wine astringency. J. Agric. Food Chem. 56:5528–5537.

AWRI publication #1254 Mercurio, M.D.; Dambergs, R.G.; Cozzolino, D.; Herderich, M.J. and Smith, P.A. (2010) Relationship between red wine grades and phenolics. 1.

Tannin and total phenolics concentrations. J. Agric. Food Chem. 58:12,313-12,319.

AWRI publication #1323 Kassara, S. and Kennedy, J.A. (2011) Relationship between red wine grade and phenolics. 2. Tannin composition and size. J. Agric. Food Chem. 59:8409-8412.

AWRI publication #1356 Capone, D.L.; Jeffery, D.W. and Sefton, M.A. (2012) Vineyard and fermentation studies to elucidate the origin of 1,8-cineole in Australian red wine. J. Agric. Food Chem. 60:2281-2287.

Caputi, L.; Carlin, S.; Ghiglieno, I.; Stefanini, M.; Valenti, L.; Vrhovsek, U. and Mattivi, F. (2011) Relationship of changes in rotundone content during grape ripening and winemaking to manipulation of the ‘peppery’ character of wine. J. Agric. Food Chem. 59:5565-5571.

Gawel, R. (1998) Red wine astringency: a review. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 4:74-95.

Kennedy, J.A.; Ferrier, J.; Harbertson, J.F. and Gachons, C.P.D. (2006) Analysis of tannins in red wine using multiple methods: Correlation with perceived astringency.

Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 57:481-485.

Mateo, J.J. and Jimenez, M. (2000) Monoterpenes in grape juice and wines. J. Chromatog. A 881:557-567.

Ryona, I.; Pan, B.S. and Sacks, G.L. (2009) Rapid measurement of 3-alkyl-2methoxypyrazine content of winegrapes to predict levels in resultant wines. J. Agric.

Food Chem. 57:8250-8257.

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Sala, C.; Busto, O.; Guasch, J. and Zamora, F. (2004) Factors affecting the presence of 3-alkyl-2-methoxypyrazines in grapes and wines. A review. Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain. [http://www.tesisenred.net/bitstream/handle/10803/8653/15WVJ PaperC2.pdf?sequence=15]

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TONY HOARE

VWI ITNI EC M U A L TK UI N RG E

Everything that’s old is new again – reworking in Australian vineyards

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

Tony has spent the last few months travelling to numerous wine regions throughout Australia, as he has done for several years, grafting for clients. In his travels he’s noticed plenty of replanting and top working being carried out. So, what’s prompting this activity and what are the best options for going about it?

A

ustralian vineyards are being reworked across most wine regions. Winter landscapes in wine regions were dotted with the burn piles of old cordons and in some cases what were once whole vines. The sight of these piles has not been witnessed since the great vine pull of the 1980s. In contrast to that dark period of our history, the current era of vineyard removal and renovation is the product of a new optimism amongst growers who are preparing their vineyards for the next era of demand for winegrapes.

for periods beyond 12 months and growers can now invest in vineyard improvements with a greater confidence that there will be a return on that investment.

Renovation rescue For many vineyards planted during the boom growth period of vineyard expansion, the time has come for a renovation. Many of these vineyards have suffered from the insidious trunk disease Eutypa lata, commonly referred to as Dead Arm, and its mates

TRIGGERS FOR VINEYARD REMOVAL/RENOVATION Right variety, right place, right time For many growers the harsh economic reality of demand for winegrape varieties best suited to their region has forced them to adapt or perish. The rationalisation of winegrape varieties based on winery demand for ‘high value’ regional champions has forced many growers to either remove, rework or replant under-performing varieties. The boom mentality that drove the speculation of planting of varieties not traditionally associated with wine regions is well over and even the uptake of new alternative varieties seems to have stalled.

A cursory review of vine nursery and top working demand illustrates that there is a rationalisation in favour of traditional varieties that are proven performers and easier to sell. In cool climates, varieties with the potential for premium pricing and grading bonuses are now back in vogue. The cyclical period of ‘shaking out’ unwanted and unviable vineyards has finally been forced upon those investors in vineyards who were either too late or too stubborn to recognise that the market was not going to turn in their favour. The flipside of this harsh economic reality is that professional growers can now finally enjoy some improved market stability as these unviable vineyards are condemned to piles of ash. Some wineries are now offering sales contracts

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In the rush to plant vines during the rapid growth in plantings of the 1990s which led to limited vine supply, compromises were quite often made in the selection of clonal material.

Since then, restrictions in water availability, increases in water costs and other costs of production, coupled with winery focus on high value, premium wine production in cool climates has rendered many clones of varieties obsolete in the current market.

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Esca and Botrysphaeria. All of these slowly-spreading, incurable trunk diseases have been gradually decreasing yields in vineyards to the point where even at high price points for winegrapes, vineyards have become economically unviable. The question of how and when to renovate these vineyards is a compromise for many growers between lost yield and the expense of renovating during the reworking phase. Reworking options vary depending on the severity and incidence of trunk disease and can range from part cordon removal to full cordon and trunk removal below the infection.

Some varieties respond better than others to various renovation levels for old wood removal. From my own experience, Cabernet Sauvignon does not tend to throw watershoots on old trunks as well as Shiraz when the cordons are removed. It will produce watershoots from the ground, however, the benefits of having an established trunk are lost and the vine training is equivalent to establishing a new vineyard. Top working with grafts into the trunk will preserve the trunk if it is free of Eutypa and can allow a change of clone or even variety at the same time.

Current Australian vineyard research is looking closely at the problem of Eutypa and hopefully some tangible outcomes will surface in the coming years to assist growers in the long-term management of this crippling disease. Recent breakthroughs have included the registration of sprays for post-pruning protection from Eutypa and examination of the effects of wrapping cordons onto cordon wires and its possible contribution to the spread of Eutypa (see related article page 46).

Clonal selection In the rush to plant vines during the rapid growth in plantings of the 1990s which led to limited vine supply, quite often compromises were made in the selection of clonal material. The classic example is Pinot Noir where the clones designed for yield in sparkling base production were being grown in an attempt to produce high quality dry red wine styles. Since the vine planting boom, restrictions in water availability and increased water costs as well as increases in other costs of production, coupled with winery focus on high value, premium wine production in cool climates has rendered many clones of varieties obsolete in the current market.

Advancements in clonal selection within Australia and the importation of clones based on a new selection of quality wine production rather than yield means there is a much greater diversity of clonal selection in Australia. New clones can easily be grafted onto vine trunks when renovating a vineyard to realise a quick turnaround within 12 months to full yield. New clones from overseas are being imported and are now available for planting to replace under-performing clones with bad habits of bi-annual

Another reason to renovate a vineyard is ageing infrastructure: broken trellis posts, slack wires, and old inefficient irrigation systems.

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yield, ‘hen and chicken’, weak canopy growth and poor resilience to dry and hot seasonal climate conditions.

Trellis and irrigation repairs Another reason to renovate a vineyard is ageing infrastructure: broken trellis posts, slack wires, old inefficient irrigation systems. Bent trunks or an inappropriate planting density are also good reasons to renovate to preserve the established vine material’s root system and establish a new healthy vine that is functional and economic.

Advancements in vineyard trellis materials now offers the grower a selection of vineyard trellis materials not available until recently. Many vineyards have had maximum capital depreciation and could now make trellis post selections based on more environmentally-sensible materials such as steel, recycled plastic and concrete in preference to treated timber products of CCA and creosote. The stock pile of broken CCA posts around Australia continues without a solution and creosote continues to leach its unstable carcinogens into its surrounding environment on hot days.

REPLANT OR FIELD GRAFT Replanting existing vineyards can be done by inter-planting existing vines; removing old vines and replanting directly into existing soil; or, removing all trellising and replanting into ameliorated and ripped soil. All three options are viable, however, the first two are the obvious economic choices as they retain the existing trellis infrastructure. Sandy and loamy soils are better for inter-planting and replanting without ripping, although I have seen a heavy clay soil replanted with great success. The choice of replanting compared with top working or field grafting is dependent on a number of factors. Field grafting can only occur if the virus status of the rootstock is compatible. Ideally trunks are free or have low incidence of Eutypa infection and are straight. Replanting with grafted rootlings has a 12-month lead time to grow the rootlings. Field grafting only needs dormant cuttings for budwood which can be taken in the months preceding spring grafting conditions. Field grafting is cheaper per vine than replanting and can deliver a full yield two to three years earlier than replanting.

RETRAINING – SOFTLY, SOFTLY OR EXTREME The approach with retraining is really dependent on the health of the vine trunk. If a trunk is free of Eutypa and other debilitating trunk diseases then it is suitable for reworking. If the trunk or cordons have disease present then they should be cut-off 10cm below the infection to help establish a healthy vine which should then remain healthy long into the future. If cutting off in winter, then a wound paint will be required on newly-cut pruning wounds for protection from Eutypa. If cutting off in spring or early summer the sapflow will provide natural protection for the wound and painting is not required. Removing cordons can also be done by machine for large areas or wires can be cut and cordons removed on the wire which can be recycled after the vines are burnt.

The decision to renovate vineyards should be based on economic return. If the vineyard is consistently yielding below regional averages or not delivering a profit, then renovating should be considered.

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

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GRAPE RIPENING

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Delayed grape ripening – more spice

By Christopher Davies, Christine Böttcher and Paul Boss CSIRO Agriculture, Waite Campus, Wine Innovation West Building, Hartley Grove, Urrbrae, South Australia 5064

Researchers at CSIRO Waite Campus have been investigating ways to manipulate berry development to help alleviate problems associated with compressed harvest seasons using plant growth regulators, with one showing particular promise with the potential bonus of also positively altering wine flavour.

T

he most recent grape harvest has, in many Australian growing regions, been a striking example of the trend towards an apparent new reality. Harvests are occurring increasingly early and the length of the harvest period is increasingly shorter. These changes have resulted in what has been called ‘harvest season compression’ where early and late-ripening cultivars ripen within a much compressed timeframe instead of during the extended period experienced in the past. This obviously causes problems with the logistics of harvesting and winery intake and processing.

The solution of increasing processing capacity and using it over a shorter window is not an attractive option for winemakers. The other solution, adopted by necessity, is little better i.e., to spread the season out by harvesting some fruit well before the required ripeness, and harvest some fruit after optimum ripeness (or, worse, not harvest it at all). The wine made from these two extremes is then either too young

(having green flavours but lacking in ripe flavours) or overripe (flabby, jammy). Larger producers then have the option of blending this wine of sub-optimal quality and style with other wine, but it will still produce a product of potentially lower value.

The likely cause of this shift and compression of harvests is the changes in the timing and rate of berry development, in particular, the timing of veraison and the rate of post-veraison sugar accumulation. These effects may be related to altered climate conditions such as increased temperatures, increased CO2 levels and changed rainfall patterns. These are changes which have been developing over a long period but whose effects are now clearly being felt (Steffen 2015).

Our team at CSIRO Waite Campus, supported by funding from Wine Australia, has been investigating ways to readjust berry development to help alleviate problems associated with ▶ compressed harvest seasons.

In addition to controlling the timing of ripening and harvest, treating grapes with a synthetic plant growth regulator, auxin, has been shown to have the unexpected benefit of increasing the sychronicity of ripening.

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Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are important controllers of grapevine vegetative and reproductive development.

They are highly active molecules that are effective at low concentrations and regulate most aspects of plant growth and metabolism (Böttcher and Davies 2013). As such they are also tools that can be used to manipulate fruit development, in this case to better manage ripening and, therefore, harvest date.

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA, Figure 1), a naturally occurring PGR, is a member of a group of simple molecules known as auxins. Auxins are associated with the promotion of cell growth and are involved in a wide range of processes. IAA is the main auxin found in grapes and its concentration is highest in young berries and decreases to low levels as veraison approaches (Böttcher et al. 2010). Figure 1 shows that the high concentration of IAA (blue line) in flowers and young berries decreases rapidly to be at low levels before the increases in Brix (hexose accumulation, black line) and colour (anthocyanins, purple line) occur. This decrease is essential for ripening to take place because auxins, while important in promoting cell division during the first few weeks of berry growth, inhibit the onset of veraison. A family of enzymes that conjugate IAA to amino acids (IAA amido synthetases), thereby inactivating it as a PGR, appear to be important in the postflowering reduction in IAA levels (Böttcher et al. 2010, 2011a).

A demonstration of the ability of auxins to delay ripening comes from experiments using the synthetic auxin 1-napthalene acetic acid (NAA, Figure 2). This auxin is used as it remains active in the berry a little longer than IAA which is readily inactivated through conjugation by the enzymes described above (Böttcher et al. 2011a). When Shiraz bunches were sprayed with a dilute solution of NAA (50mg/L) and a commercial wetting agent two weeks before veraison, the

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA)

Figure 1. The chemical structure for the auxin found in developing grape berries, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), is shown in the panel above. The graph shows the changes in levels of total soluble solids (oBrix, black line), anthocyanins (absorbance 520nm, purple line) and IAA (blue line) during Shiraz berry development. The red ‘V’ marks veraison.

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1-Napthaleneacetic acid (NAA)

Control

NAA (50 mg/L)

Figure 2. The chemical structure for the synthetic auxin, 1-napthalene acetic acid (NAA), which is closely related to that for IAA (compare with Figure 1), is shown in the above panel.

The photograph on the right is of a Shiraz bunch taken several weeks after spraying pre-veraison with NAA (and wetting agent) while the bunch to the left of this was treated with wetting agent alone. Note that the NAA-treated bunch is much less coloured indicating that ripening was delayed by auxin treatment. onset of berry ripening was delayed. This can be seen in Figure 2 where fruit from the control treatment (treated with wetting agent alone) are considerably more advanced in colour development than the NAA-treated fruit. The ripeningassociated accumulation of sugars and increase in weight were also delayed in NAA-treated fruit (data not shown). The auxintreated berries remain in the pre-veraison state until the auxin is inactivated naturally within the berries via mechanisms such as conjugation (see above). Delays in the range of 10-30 days in ripening/harvest have been achieved depending on the concentration of NAA, the timing of application and the regional climate. Delays in harvest have been achieved in both red and white cultivars and under different climatic conditions (Böttcher et al. 2011a, 2011b, 2012; Davies et al. 2015, data not shown). When the auxins present in fruit have been reduced in concentration, ripening commences and continues through to harvest as normal. There is a window of opportunity for effectiveness of these treatments, since if applied near to veraison the delay will be reduced, but if too early, the auxin may be reduced via metabolism to an ineffectual concentration before the onset of veraison. The process described could obviously be used to manage grape ripening to spread the load of harvesting and, so, ease problems with winery intake and processing, thus reducing costs and increasing product value. This can be achieved without having to replant to ‘early and late’ cultivars or other time and labour expensive interventions. Further testing will examine the compatibility of auxins with other commonly used spray applications. It may also be possible to develop cost-effective tests for berries that can be done in the vineyard to improve the timing of spray ▶ application.

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GRAPE RIPENING

In addition to controlling the timing of ripening and harvest, auxin treatment has been shown to have the unexpected benefit of increasing the synchronicity of ripening as shown by the reduced variance of malic acid and sugar levels in berry populations of treated berries (Böttcher et al.

2011b, 2012). A snapshot of this is shown in Figure 3 where the Brix values were determined for hundreds of individual berries that were either NAA-treated (red dotted line) or treated with wetting agent alone (control, black line). The number of berries at different Brix values is displayed to show what happened in each of these berry populations. As expected, the control fruit began to ripen earlier than the NAA-treated fruit and the control berries in general had higher Brix values. The NAA-treated fruit had also begun to ripen at this time but ripening was delayed relative to the control. However, the NAA-treated population was much more compact (higher and narrower peak with fewer outliers) i.e., ripening was much more synchronous. This trend continued throughout ripening and is supported by statistical analysis of variance. Eventually, at full ripeness, both populations had similar Brix values with similar variance as they reached the maximal levels possible.

Some wines made from NAA-treated grapes delayed in ripening could not be distinguished from control wines by sensory analysis using difference testing (Böttcher et al. 2011b), despite these wines displaying some small differences in flavour and aroma compounds as measured by chemical analysis. However, in other cases differences in sensory attributes occurred between wines produced from NAA-treated and control fruit. These differences, found in wine from both red (Davies et al. 2015) and white (Böttcher et al. 2012) auxin-treated grapes were, in most cases, insignificant or minor and modest differences in some metabolite levels were also detected. These differences could be a direct effect of auxin treatment, but it seems more likely that the observed differences are due to the delay in ripening/harvest as these berries ripen under different environmental conditions, which are often cooler compared with the untreated fruit.

In a recent collaboration with The University of Adelaide (Prof. Taylor and Assoc. Prof. Bastian), we have shown that in the case of Shiraz, auxin-induced ripening delay can increase wine peppery flavour and aroma. Chemical analysis shows that the levels of rotundone, the sesquiterpene compound responsible for pepper aroma/flavour, are higher in the wine from NAA-treated fruit (29ng/L) that are delayed in ripening compared with wine from the control fruit (not detected) (Davies et al. 2015). The lower limit for sensory detection is 16ng/L (Wood et al. 2008). Sensory descriptive analysis showed that the wine from NAA-treated fruit had significantly more pepper aroma and flavour compared with the control.

Delaying ripening can, therefore, in some cases, also alter flavour. In the case of Shiraz this may be another advantage of this process as peppery notes are seen as distinctive for some Australian Shiraz wines. Again the difference between the wines from control and delayed-ripening fruit could simply be due to the delay in ripening (as distinct from a direct effect due to NAA) and this is a focus of ongoing research. This discovery may be an important step towards elucidating the factors that control rotundone accumulation which are, as yet, not clearly defined.

A better understanding of the action and metabolism of grape PGRs has led to some interesting discoveries and methods that can be used to control grape ripening and harvest with possible benefits to the grape and wine industries, including the ability to manipulate flavour.

Figure 3. Total soluble solids (oBrix) distribution profiles for control (black line) and NAA-treated (red dotted line) Shiraz fruit. Control fruit were treated with wetting agent alone, NAA-treated fruit were treated with both wetting agent and NAA. The graph shows the data for one time point only where the Brix values of approximately 150 individual berries were measured for each treatment. Brix values were separated into classes with a range of 0.5 degrees and the number of berries per class was plotted against the Brix class. Note that the ‘NAA’ curve is delayed in Brix increase and the Brix values have a ‘tighter’ distribution compared with the control fruit.

REFERENCES Böttcher, C.; Boss, P.K. and Davies, C. (2011a) Acyl substrate preferences of an IAA-amido synthetase account for variations in grape (Vitis vinifera L.) berry ripening caused by different auxinic compounds indicating the importance of auxin conjugation in plant development. Journal of Experimental Botany 62:4267-4280.

Böttcher, C.; Boss, P.K. and Davies, C. (2012) Delaying Riesling grape berry ripening with a synthetic auxin affects malic acid metabolism and sugar accumulation and alters wine sensory characters. Functional Plant Biology 39:745-753.

Böttcher, C. and Davies, C. (2013) Hormonal control of grape berry development and ripening, In: The Biochemistry of the Grape Berry, H. Gerós, M.M. Chaves, S. Delrot (eds) (Bentham) eISBN: 978-1-60805-360-5.

Böttcher, C.; Harvey, K.E.; Boss, P.K. and Davies, C. (2013) Ripening of grape berries can be advanced or delayed by reagents that either reduce or increase ethylene levels. Functional Plant Biology 40:566-581 doi: 10.1071/ FP12347.

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

Böttcher, C.; Keyzers, R.A.; Boss, P.K. and Davies, C. (2010) Sequestration of auxin by the indole-3-acetic acid-amido synthetase GH3-1 in grape berry (Vitis vinifera L.) and the proposed role of auxin conjugation during ripening.

Journal of Experimental Botany 61:3615-3625.

Davies, C.; Nicholson E.; Böttcher, C.; Burbidge, C.A.; Bastian, S.E.P.; Harvey, K.E.; Huang, A-C.; Taylor, D.K. and Boss P.K. (2015) Shiraz wines made from grape berries (Vitis vinifera L.) delayed in ripening by plant growth regulator treatment have elevated rotundone concentrations and ‘pepper’ flavour and aroma. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 63:2137-2144.

Steffen, W. (2015) Climate change: science, risks and responses. Wine and Viticulture Journal 30:38-42.

Wood, C.; Siebert, T.E.; Parker, M.; Capone, D.L.; Elsey, G.M.; Pollnitz, A.P.; Eggers, M.; Meier, M.; Vössing, T.; Widder, S.; Krammer, G.; Sefton, M.A. and Herderich, M.J. (2008) From wine to pepper: Rotundone, an obscure sesquiterpene, is a potent spicy aroma compound. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56:3738-3744.

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Wrapping arms for cordon establishment could be a stressful practice for grapevines

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

As reported in the January/February issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal this year, a University of Adelaide study has set out to discover whether wrapping arms onto cordon wires causes significant stress to plants. The researchers present some initial findings.

INTRODUCTION Some viticultural procedures may impose a stress on vine function even though they may solve a particular structural or logistic problem for cultivation and harvesting. Vines subjected to a particular de-vigorating stress may become more vulnerable to other stresses, including pests and disease.

Caravia et al. (2015c) presented the hypothesis that wrapping arms onto the cordon wire may cause a significant stress by constricting the vasculature of the cordon (Figure 1a). This may restrict the normal flow of water and nutrients through the cordon (Figure 1b).

Trunk disease infection can remain

unexpressed for years. Moreover, as reviewed in Caravia et al. (2015c), the transit from a symptomless trunk disease infection to an active infection seems to be dependent on water stress. Based on our hypothesis, water stress will be exacerbated by arms constriction because of wrapping the cordon shoot onto the cordon wire. Therefore, one obvious feature of this continuous stress might be reduction in total growth (expressed as LAI or pruning mass decline) in wrapped cordons during the first years which might precede a future arm collapse.

The wrapping of canes onto the cordon wire to establish a permanent cordon has been a traditional practice for vine establishment in Australia for

many years. The benefit of this approach is that wrapping a cane produces a self-supported arm without the need for securing ties, and is only required to be done once when the arms are established. In contrast, in Chilean viticulture where labour is less expensive, the cordon arms are positioned along the wire and held in place with securing ties (Figure 1d). Canes are secured at three positions along each arm and two foliar wires in three possible positions are required to ensure the shoots grow vertically, and to avoid rolling of the canopy. After the arms are strong enough to support themselves, a transition to a sprawling canopy is possible (Figure 1c).

Interestingly, wrapping (i.e., spiralling

Figure 1. Wrapped vines from Barossa and non-wrapped vines from Chile: a) wrapped vines with twisted arms, (b) wrapped vine with significant decrease in arm growth at the apical portion, (c) non-wrapped Sauvignon Blanc vines (15 years old, Casablanca Valley, Chile), initially vertically shoot positioned (VSP), from year 11, trained to sprawling canopy and d) non-wrapped Chardonnay VSP trained (six years old, Casablanca Valley, Chile).

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Figure 2. (Left) Wrapped (a) and non-wrapped (b) vine at budburst.

Figure 3 (Above). Wrapped (a) and non-wrapped (b) vines before pruning. Arrows indicate the three sections in which the arm was partitioned: central area around the trunk 0.4m, intermediate portion (next 0.2m at each side) and distal portion of the cordon. The inset (c) shows the arm transversal area ATA measurement, which were done at each arrow point (0.15-0.5-0.7m from the trunk). the cane above and below the wire) has been adopted in the past five years in Chile as a way to decrease operational costs. Although wrapping has been perceived as a harmless practice, it could be responsible for a permanent stress that disturbs the water conductivity of the cordon. This could compromise growth of distal shoots and may influence the vine’s ability to adapt to water and heat stress.

In September 2014 (before budburst) an experimental trial was established to investigate the impact of cane-wrapping to establish a cordon compared with positioning a cane along the wire and securing with ties. Here data is presented from the first season of a longer-term trial to investigate this relationship.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

2 shows an example of a wrapped and a non-wrapped vine at budburst.

A frost event during spring (30 days after the treatments started, 30 DAT) damaged 70% of the shoots (the shoots were on average 30cm at that time). Ten days after the frost the trial was split in two groups, managed for frost and not managed. In the managed portion all of the suckers on the trunk were eliminated, and all the shoots that were undamaged during the frost event were severely tipped above the last bunch, in order to decrease their dominance and to promote even growth. Each group (managed and non–managed) comprised one set of five rows of control (wrapped) and five rows of treated vines (non-wrapped). Thereafter the measurements were performed on vines managed for frost.

Experimental site and design A commercial Shiraz vineyard in the Barossa Valley was made available to establish the experimental field trial.

Shiraz vines clone Kalimna 3C, grafted to Richter 110 were trained to a VSP trellis, with north-south row orientation. Vines were planted in 2013, at 2m spacing between vines and 3.35m spacing between rows. Standard irrigation and viticulture practices typical for the region were applied (46.9mm of irrigation distributed from October to February were applied). Before budburst of season 20142015 (15 September 2014) two groups of five rows were not wrapped (NW) and the canes were tied to the wire using rubber ties. Another group of two sets of five rows were set as controls (wrapped, W), where canes were wrapped around the cordon wire. Each row comprised 75 vines. Figure

Measurements Arm Transversal Area (ATA) (cm2) was determined at three distances along the cordon starting at the trunk. This measurement was performed twice, 68 and 207 days after the treatment was applied (68 and 207 DAT). At 68 DAT the measurement was done on one arm per vine (0.15, 0.35 and 0.6m from the trunk, trunk=0) and at 207 DAT the measurement was done on both arms (0.15, 0.5 and 0.7m from the trunk, trunk=0). The measurement was done with a flexible tape measure at the above mentioned points across the arm (Figure 3). The reduction in ATA from proximal to distal was calculated as percentage (100% x (distal-proximal)/proximal).

Two weeks before harvest berries were randomly collected from nine vines in total, as three vines from three

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rows per treatment. The samples were collected separately from each arm section (150 from centre, middle and distal). Sub-samples were used to determine fresh berry mass, berry water content and total soluble solid concentration (TSS, °Brix). At harvest, 10 vines per row were hand harvested and bunch number and total yield recorded.

Three vines per row were selected from this group and 200 berries were randomly collected from each. From this sample, fresh berry mass, berry water content and TSS were obtained (100-5050 berries, respectively) as in Caravia et al. (2015a).

Midday stem water potential was recorded twice at 68 and 147 DAT over nine vines per treatment from three positions across the cordon (central, intermediate and distal as explained below). Pruning mass was recorded at 215 DAT (15 April 2015). Here the measurement was split into three portions: the central area around the trunk approximately 40cm (20cm at each side of the trunk), then the intermediate portion which was the next 20cm at each arm and the distal portion of the cordon, which varied in length, but was on average 0.3m at each side (Figure 3 shows the vines before pruning). The measurement was recorded on 30 vines per treatment in the frost managed block.

Non-structural carbohydrate status (carbohydrate reserves) was measured from wood (top trunk and distal portions of the arm) samples during winter (21 July 2015) by enzymatic assay following the methods outlined in Edwards et al. ▶ (2010) based on a colorimetric assay.

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Figure 4. Changes in arm transversal area (ATA) from portions proximal to the trunk to the distal portion in the cordon (a) from wrapped vines (¢, l) and non-wrapped vines (¢,l) at two sampling days 68 DAT (¢, ¢) and 207 DAT (l,l). (days after treatment DAT). b) Decrease in ATA from proximal to distal portion of the cordon at 68 DAT (one side arm, n=9), c) decrease in ATA from proximal to distal portion of the cordon at 207 DAT (two sides arm, n=20 in 10 vines). Data are mean ± SEM. Stars indicated level of significant (*p<.05).

RESULTS The ATA decreased from the proximal part of the cordon near the trunk (0.15m) to the distal portion of the arm in both treatments, and at both time measurements (Figure 4). The ATA decreased from 1.65cm2 (at 0.15m from the trunk) to 0.46cm2 at the distal portion of the arm (0.6m from the trunk) in the control (wrapped) and from 1.58 to 0.82cm2 in the distal portion of the non-wrapped vines at 68 DAT. Therefore, the reduction in ATA from trunk proximal

portions to the distal portion of the arm was significantly lower in non-wrapped than wrapped vines (46% and 72.5%, respectively, Figure 4b). The differences in the reduction in ATA observed in November were corroborated in the second measurement at 207 DAT; wrapped arms had ATA reduced by 51.5% while this reduction in the non-wrapped vines was 37.4% (Figure 4c).

The midday stem water potential was recorded at 68 DAT and showed no differences between the treatments. The water potential slightly decreased from

proximal to distal portion of the cordon (-0.73 to -0.78 MPa). Two weeks before harvest the water potentials indicated a severe water stress (less than -1.5MPa).

No differences were observed between the treatments, or different cordon portions (0.15, 0.3 and 0.7m). Some yellow leaves, defoliation and uneven ripening were observed in all the vines regardless of the treatment. No differences between treatments were found in the berry assessment performed two weeks before commercial harvest. However, the values recorded showed large variation,

Figure 5. Berry assessment at harvest from wrapped vines (red bar) and non-wrapped vines (blue bar), (a) total soluble solid, (b) fresh berry mass and (c) berry water content, yield component, (d) yield per vine, (e) bunch number and (f) bunch mass. Data represent mean ± SEM. (n=14 and 30 in berry assessment and yield components at harvest, respectively). Stars indicate level of significant (*p<.05).

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which could be related to the water stress imposed at ripening. The berry assessment at harvest (Figure 5) showed that the non-wrapped vines had lower TSS (25°Brix compared with 29°Brix in control), fresh berry mass, and the berry water content was significantly higher.

However, no significant differences were observed in total bunch number per vine, yield per vine or average bunch mass, although the trend was to higher values in non-wrapped than in wrapped.

Pruning mass was significantly higher in the non-wrapped vines for the distal region of the cordon (Figure 6). No significant differences in pruning mass were observed in the central and middle portion of the arm. As expected for the first season of the trial, no differences were observed in shoot number per vine.

The average mass per shoot in nonwrapped vines was significantly higher only when the whole vine was analysed but not at each individual cordon section (central, middle or distal).

No differences were found in starch, soluble sugars or total carbohydrate reserves in the trunk (Figure 7), although, there was a trend for higher starch concentration in trunks on non-wrapped vines (103.5 compared with 89.46mg g-1 in NW and W, respectively). Soluble sugar was significantly higher in distal portions of the arm in non-wrapped vines (84.5 compared with 75.4mg g-1 in NW and W, respectively). However, no differences were observed in starch or total carbohydrate reserve concentration on a dry weight basis.

DISCUSSION The first season of this trial had two additional stressful conditions; a frost event in spring and a severe water stress during ripening. Both treatments were exposed equivalently to these external factors, which indeed, helped us to test which cordon establishment procedure coped better under these conditions. The pruning mass was around 20% higher in the non-wrapped vines, suggesting a more

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Figure 6. Pruning mass assessment of wrapped vines (l, red bar) and non-wrapped vines (l, blue bar) a) pruning mass (kg m-1) at each arm section (centre, middle and distal), b) total pruning mass per vine (kg m-1), c) shoot number (shoot m-1) and d) average individual shoot mass per vine (g). Data represent mean Âą SEM. (n=30).

Stars indicated level of significant (*p<.05). favourable condition for growth. These values are comparable to a 20-25% decrease in pruning mass observed after severe water stress in Malbec vines (Dayer et al. 2013). Moreover, the ATA was significantly higher in the distal portion of non-wrapped vines, which matched a higher pruning mass from this portion of the arm. This is in agreement with the expected decrease in growth (leaf area) as the sapwood cross sectional area is reduced assuming a constant Huber Value (HV) (Tyree and Ewers 1991). The same reduction in arm growth can be observed in Figure 1c, while in the sprawl canopy (non-wrapped vine) the arm growth is more constant across the cordon.

Based on visual observation, it is highly likely that phloem vasculature was also constricted by the cordon wire. Phloem interruption can be observed in old cordons

as the wire goes inside the arm or in severely twisted arms (Figure 1a). In this regard, vegetative growth was negatively affected in vines that were girdled at veraison during winter crop cycle (Li et al.

2015). During the dormancy period there were some trends in carbohydrate reserves that also suggested less stress in nonwrapped vines. For instance, significantly higher concentrations of soluble sugar were observed at the distal portion of the arm in non-wrapped vines (Figure 7) and there was also a trend (though not significant) that higher trunk starch concentration occurred in non-wrapped vines. However, as suggested by De Bei et al. (2011), differences in total (nonstructural carbohydrates) in response to water stress are more likely to be evident after harvest. Moreover, trunk starch peaked between harvest and leaf fall and

Figure 7. Starch (a), soluble sugar (b) and total carbohydrates reserves (c) from trunk (solid bars) and distal portion of the arm (bar with vertical lines) from wrapped vines (W, red) and non-wrapped (NW, blue) during dormancy.

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had minimum values at dormancy, while soluble sugar peaked at dormancy (Holzapfel and Smith 2012). A decrease in trunk starch has been attributed to increasing water stress (De Bei et al. 2011, Dayer et al. 2013, Pellegrino et al. 2014), although, no effect of water stress on trunk starch was observed by Holzapfel and Smith 2012. Therefore, it is possible that wrapping arms, then phloem disruption, might also cause a reduction in trunk NSC as well as water stress. Thus, a decrease in carbohydrate reserve might have a long-term effect impacting growth in futures seasons (Bennett et al. 2005).

The lack of significant differences in yield at harvest could be due to the severe water stress masking any impact from wrapping. Interestingly, the lower TSS, higher fresh berry mass and water content in the non-wrapped treatment may indicate some effect on fruit water relations from wrapping. Similar results in TSS, fresh berry mass and berry water content have been obtained in response to overhead shade treatment in Shiraz vines exposed to less heat and water stress (Caravia et al. 2015b).

The alternative procedure for cordon establishment suggested here where canes are tied above the wire (without wrapping) and foliar wires used during the establishment seasons to keep the canopy growing vertical and to avoid canopy roll, involves potentially a more expensive management strategy. However, the cost of tying the arms must be cheaper than wrapping since it is a faster process. The non-wrapped tied arm may prevent the physical stress that could induce a wound response and restrict the normal flow of water and nutrients along the cordon.

Consequently, the vine may grow more vigorously compared with the situation where a sustained constriction is imposed by traditional wrapping (Figure 1a,b). This would implicate a change in management due to potentially greater vigour, such as foliar wire movement, vine trimming, pruning and so on. On

the other hand, assuming that the wrapped vines may need replanting or top work after 20 years, which is not an uncommon practice in the Barossa, it would be expected that from year 11 until year 20 yield and quality would progressively decline and a negative impact on the management cost of the wrapped vineyard expected. For instance, harvest when part of the cordon is dead will be inefficient. Although, these results need to be confirmed in future seasons, with more sites and varieties, the results from this first season a new consideration to Australian viticulture management.

In a warming climate it would be expected that a ‘wrapping stress’ may exacerbate potentially unavoidable water stress. As part of the next step of this research water conductivity along cordon arm sections and xylem (vessel) morphological responses to wrapping need to be assessed. Examination of susceptibility to trunk diseases (Eutypa lata and Botryosphaerea lutea) will be another target assessment of this research.

CONCLUSION Wrapping arms restricted arm growth during the first season of the trial: the arm transversal area decreased significantly less in non-wrapped vines with distance from the trunk.

The pruning mass was around 20% higher in non-wrapped vines with higher pruning mass occurring at the distal portion of the arm.

At harvest berry assessment suggested non-wrapped vines were exposed to less water stress.

Trunk starch and soluble sugar on distal portion of the cordon were higher in non-wrapped vines.

These finding are important because they corroborate the hypothesis that wrapping vines has a restricted growth effect on the distal portion of arms and is worthy of further investigation.

REFERENCES Bennett, J.; Jarvis, P.; Creasy, G.L. and Trought, M.C. (2005) Influence of defoliation on overwintering carbohydrate reserves, return bloom, and yield of mature Chardonnay grapevines. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 56(4):386-393.

Caravia, L.; Collins, C.; Petrie, P. and Tyerman, S. (2015b) Application of shade treatments during Shiraz berry ripening to reduce the impacts of heatwaves. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 15-088.

PRINT & ONLINE

Caravia, L.; Collins, C.; Shepherd, J. and Tyerman, S. (2015c) Trunk diseases: Wrapping arms for cordon establishment: Is it a stressful practice for grapevines?

Wine & Viticulture Journal 30(1):48-51.

Caravia, L.; Collins, C. and Tyerman, S. (2015a) Electrical impedance of berries correlates with decreasing cell vitality during ripening in Shiraz. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 21(3):430–438.

Dayer, S.; Prieto, J.A.; Galat, E. and Perez Peña, J. (2013) Carbohydrate reserve status of Malbec grapevines after several years of regulated deficit irrigation and crop load regulation. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 19(3):422-430.

De Bei, R.; Fuentes, S.; Sullivan, W.; Pech, J.; Edwards, E.; McCarthy, M. and Steve, T. (2011) 29 August-2 September 2011, Carbohydrate dynamics of Chardonnay grapevines affected by irrigation reduction and recovering regimes.

In: Novello, V., Bovio, and Cavalletto, S., ed. Proceedings of the 17th international symposium giesco, Asti-Alba (CN), Italy; (Le Progres Agricole et Viticole- Maison des Agricullteurs Lattes: Montpellier, France. 267-269.

Edwards, E.J.; Downie, A.F. and Clingeleffer, P.R. (2011) A simple microplate assay to quantify nonstructural carbohydrates of grapevine tissues. Am. J. Enol. Vitic 62(1):133-137.

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Holzapfel, B.P. and Smith, J.P. (2012) Developmental stage and climatic factors impact more on carbohydrate reserve dynamics of Shiraz than cultural practice. Am. J. Enol. Vitic March 2012.11071.

Li, K.-T.; Chang, J.-C.; Wang, L.-L.; Liu, Y.-T. and Lee, C.-L. (2015) Girdling improved berry coloration in summer but suppressed return growth in the following spring in ‘Kyoho’ grapevines cultivated in the subtropical double cropping system.

VITIS-Journal of Grapevine Research 54(2):59-63.

Pellegrino, A.; Clingeleffer, P.; Cooley, N. and Walker, R. (2014) Management practices impact vine carbohydrate status to a greater extent than vine productivity.

Frontiers in Plant Science, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2014.00283.

Tyree, M.T. and Ewers, F.W. (1991) The hydraulic architecture of trees and other woody plants. New Phytol. 119:345-360.

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Soil structure or ‘pedality’

By Geoff Kew, Kew Wetherby Soil Survey Pty Ltd, South Australia. Email: geoff@soilprofile.com.au

In his last two articles Geoff talked about how far vine roots will grow and the influence of soil texture on waterholding capacity. Here he discusses soil structure and its importance to root growth and waterholding capacity.

J

ust as we age and develop cracks and pores, some faster than others, so do rocks and other parent materials weather by the action of water and wind to form soil.

Sand, silt and clay are the primary soil particles of weathering and they aggregate to form ‘peds’ or soil structures. A ‘ped’ is, therefore, a soil aggregate made up of sand, silt and clay particles and is separated from other peds by voids (cracks or pores) or surfaces of weakness. The cracks and pores allow water and air to enter the soil, and their extent is important for vine root growth and waterholding capacity.

A so-called friable soil has many soil peds that are not too big and when a clump of soil is pressed lightly in the hand, the peds separate easily. An example of this is sub-angular blocky peds (SB) (Figure 1). Each of these peds have many small surfaces where it was joined to another ped. There are too many surfaces on the ped to count. Another friable soil structure is angular blocky peds (AB) that look like little house bricks. Angular blocky peds have less surfaces than subangular block peds and it may be possible to count the main ped surfaces. As I mentioned in a previous article, vine roots should grow 50cm into soil with these types of peds. Do you

Figure 1. Sub-angular blocky (SB) and angular blocky (AB) peds with white plant roots growing along ped surfaces.

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Figure 2. A sandy clay soil with no obvious soil peds and limited access for plant roots. need to rip these types of soil structures? Probably not, but they are commonly ripped during vineyard development.

In some cases, the soil may be made up of many sand grains (fragments of quartz composed of silica) which are angular or rounded. Quartz is very hard and does not breakdown readily in the weathering process of water and wind. The small fragments of quartz may be wielded together by clay, silt or organic matter so there are not many cracks or pores for water and roots. A soil dominated by this type of structure is usually referred to as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;massiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (V) and would need to be fractured by ripping to try to create pathways for water and vine roots (Figure 2).

Soil structures that are slowly permeable and will restrict vine root growth, water and air entry into the soil profile include prismatic (PR), columnar (CO) and lenticular (LE) peds. These structures, when below the topsoil, will need to be fractured by ripping to allow greater colonisation by vine roots. They may also need some form of amelioration such as applying gypsum and/or organic matter in the ripping or planting row. If organic matter is applied a better result will be achieved by laying a fine organic matter that will spread over a greater surface area within the fracture created by ripping.

Prismatic peds (PR) are orientated in a vertical direction and have well-defined boundaries adjacent to usually large neighbouring peds (Figure 3). The edges (surfaces) of the peds line up with the neighbouring ped and they are usually angular and rectangular in the vertical direction. Prismatic peds are usually made up of smaller angular blocky peds.

Columnar peds (CO) are similar to prismatic peds but have a domed surface, usually the result of excess sodium which causes dispersion and rounding of the top of the peds below the topsoil (Figure 4). The topsoil above these soil structures is usually bleached as water has sat or run over the top of the clay and leached out the clay, silt and organic matter leaving a lighter textured material that may feel gritty due to the hard quartz grains remaining. Lenticular peds (LE) have a convex lens shape, usually break up into sub-angular blocky ped shapes, and usually occur as the second clay layer below the topsoil. Vine roots in general will only grow 30cm into prismatic and columnar peds when below a sandy or loamy topsoil. Lenticular peds are like the plug in the bath and they will reduce soil permeability, create perched watertables and there is usually no vine root growth into clay with this soil structure.

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Figure 3. Prismatic structured ped (PR) showing it breaking to angular blocky peds.

Figure 4. Large columnar peds (CO) with domed tops and plant roots only access gaps between the large peds.

I have mainly talked about the shape of peds, with the aim of making a user-friendly, rough guide to recognising the different ped types. However, the size and arrangement of the peds is just as critical in determining how far water and vine roots will travel through soil dominated by a particular type of soil ped. A cracking clay soil that allows you to put your arm down the fracture between the peds will have different vine root growth and soil permeability compared with friable subWVJ angular clay above limestone.

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ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES

V II T T II C C U U L LT T U U R R E E V

Canopy management crucial for botrytis-sensitive Friulano

By Joel Pizzini Winemaker, Pizzini Wines, King Valley, Victoria

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ur family began experimenting with alternative grape varieties in the early 1990s, initially with Nebbiolo, then Sangiovese, Arneis, Verduzzo and Pinot Grigio. Prosecco, Verdicchio, Brachetto and then Friulano followed in the mid to late 2000s.

We have vineyard sites dotted along the river flats beside the King River as well as sites on the surrounding hills.

Many of the early ripening, aromatic white varieties are planted along the flats.

Our family’s drive to foster the development of alternative grape varieties comes from a desire to experiment with different King Valley vineyard sites and the resultant fruit characters. The outcome is the production of wine styles that are layered and savoury and made to be enjoyed with food.

We released our first Friulano from fruit grown on the estate in 2014.

The wine is dry, refreshing and easy drinking. It is a style that is best drunk while the wine is young but can be cellared for up to five years.

VINEYARD SITE Our Friulano vines are planted on the river flat on one of the coolest sites on our King Valley property. The King Valley is a true valley - the King River runs the length of the valley and the river flats are flanked by rolling hills that at certain points are between 200 and 800 metres above sea level.

Each night, cold air drains from the surrounding mountain ranges and filters through the valley floor out to the Oxley Plains. This cold air usually comes through at about 9pm. It has been nicknamed the King Valley Doctor (after the Fremantle Doctor in Western Australia). The proximity of the river to the Friulano sites further influences the cooler temperatures experienced on this site.

The vines are planted on the old King River path. The soils here are a sandy clay loam packed with varying sized river rocks.

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Pizzini Wines winemaker Joel Pizzini. Photo: Jamie Durrant VINEYARD MANAGEMENT Over recent years we have spent time on redeveloping vineyards – grafting over existing sites with new varieties - and planting out new sites on the hillsides with new clones of Sangiovese, Pinot Grigio and Nebbiolo.

The Friulano site was originally planted to Sauvignon Blanc which was on Schwarzmann rootstock. The site was grafted over to Friulano in 2012.

The rows are 2800mm apart and the vine spacing is 1800mm. Now almost all of Pizzini’s vineyards are cane pruned, with two fresh canes left and

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arched over and the canopy vertically positioned. There are about six to eight buds on each cane. There is quite a lot of space between the vines. This is mainly because the vine spacing is so wide and was spur pruned when it was Sauvignon Blanc.

Just after budburst, all the double shoots are removed along with some shoots from the crown to reduce congestion and to make the cane selection during pruning quicker.

To improve filtered light though the canopy some lateral growth and grape bunches may also be removed.

Friulano’s characteristic big berries,

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ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES

FRIULANO

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

Flowering Friulano in the Pizzini Wines vineyard on the river flats of the King River ahead of vintage 2016. Joel Pizzini says Friulano’s characteristic big berries, tight bunches and thin skins cause it to be botrytis sensitive, so canopy management is crucial to help in preventing this. His winemaking approach is also based around creating a style that acknowledges this botrytis sensitivity. tight bunches and thin skins cause it to be botrytis sensitive, so canopy management is crucial to help in preventing this.

WINEMAKING The winemaking approach is based around creating a style that acknowledges the fact that it is very botrytis sensitive. Therefore, the fruit is harvested when the grapes are at a potential alcohol between 10.511.5% alcohol volume. This provides the flexibility to harvest early and not change wine style and also to harvest clean fruit.

The fruit is mechanically harvested and crushed, destemmed and pressed to remove the skins from the juice as quickly as possible to reduce the impartment of bitter characteristics from the skins. The juice is cold settled and racked for fermentation

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BACKGROUND In Australia, we know this variety as Friulano (FREE-ooh-LAHN-oh).

However, Sauvignonasse is the preferred international name. Sauvignonasse is an old variety from the Gironde—but it has never been important in southwest France where it was usually grown together with Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc (but it is no longer in official records). Today, Friulano is best known in north-east Italy where it has been grown in Friuli since the early 19th century as Tokai (Tocai). It is used in both varietal and blended wines in many different appellations, mainly in Friuli (e.g., Colli Orientali del Friuli), Lombardy and Veneto. Under pressure exerted by both Tokaj producers in Hungary and the EU since the early 1990s, Italy reluctantly agreed to discontinue the Tocai name in 2008 and consequently adopted the name Friulano. Slovenia also changed to Zeleni Sauvignon or Sauvignonasse. Other synonyms include Occhio di Gatto, Sauvignon de la Corrèze (central France), Sauvignon Gros Grain (central France), Sauvignon Vert (central France, Chile), Tai Bianco (Friuli) and Tocai Italico (Lombardy, Veneto). The so-called ‘Sauvignon Vert’ of California is actually Muscadelle. In 2010, there were 2911ha in Italy and 190ha in Slovenia. It is also grown in Ukraine, Russia and Argentina (515ha).

Chile has 785ha—many of the oldest so-called Sauvignon Blanc vineyards in Chile were discovered to be Sauvignonasse in the late 20th century. Although they have now changed the name it is possible that Sauvignonasse is still a component of Chilean ‘Sauvignon Blanc’ wine. In Australia, Friulano has been found in old vineyards in Great Western, Mudgee and Goulburn Valley. There are at least four wine producers in Australia, mainly in cool regions.

VITICULTURE Budburst is late and maturity is midseason. Vigour is high with an erect growth habit. Bunches are medium and well-filled to compact with small to medium berries that are gold with orange tints when ripe. The skin is thin but not as much as either Semillon or Sauvignon Blanc. Yield is moderate to high.

Cane pruning is mainly used in Italy due to the low fruitfulness of basal nodes but long spur pruning has also been used in Australia. Friulano has average susceptibility to downy and powdery mildews but is sensitive to botrytis bunch rot. This variety is relatively homogeneous with some clonal variation in wine flavour profile and structure.

WINE Wines are delicate, medium to full bodied, and have low acidity unless corrected. Descriptors include bitter almonds, dried grass, pear, apple, fennel and mint. There is some similarity with Sauvignon Blanc but Friulano wines are less crisp and aromatic with more body. Friulano is a good blending partner: for example, some Friuli producers use 40% in combination with Chardonnay (40%) and Sauvignon Blanc or Ribolla Gialla (20%). Some Australian producers have successfully blended it with Pinot Gris.

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

and inoculated with Zymaflore VL3.

Fermentation occurs between 13-16°C to preserve fruit aromas. After ferment the wine is racked off the heavy lees and left to stay with the light fluffy lees for maturation.

As the wine is picked at quite a

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low Baume, keeping the wine on fermentation lees for about four months helps to build some richness and fullness on the palate. The wine is bottled towards the end of the year it is made, giving the wine more time to WVJ develop prior to its release.

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BUSINESS & & MARKETING MARKETING BUSINESS

Harvest need not be a risky business

By Cathy Howard

In the increasingly harder game of growing and selling grapes and making wine, Cathy takes grapegrowers and winemakers through some steps to help them manage and minimise their risks and asks some members of the industry for their top tips for building good grower-winery relationships.

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rowing grapes and making wine is a risky business, and it seems to have become that much harder in recent years with droughts, floods, heatwaves, a global financial crisis, and heightened financial pressures that have resulted in some wineries going bankrupt and growers not being paid. There have also been increasing pressures through the supply chain from grapegrowing to winemaking to decrease costs and deliver a product to a customer at a price that hasn’t kept up with increasing production costs.

While researching, I found a quote which summed it up brilliantly: “Even in good times, the wine business is tough.

Wine may be liquid, but a lot of winery balance sheets aren’t.

The business requires a lot of capital, because compared with most others, the investment in fixed assets is high, the return on assets is low, and the lead time before raw materials are sold as finished products is immense. In hard times, the wine business is even tougher, as wineries have hit the recession trifecta: Consumers (and especially business entertainment expense accounts) cut discretionary spending; parts of the distribution channel become slow pay or ‘pray-they-pay’; and the credit crunch means wineries facing a cash squeeze can’t borrow more against their assets or find an easy exit by selling the business to a buyer who uses lender funds to make the deal.” (Gloster & Lewis 2009).

ASSESSING AND MANAGING RISKS: SWOT ANALYSIS AND RISK MATRIX So, what can you do as a wine business owner to manage and minimise the risks associated with being in the business of growing and selling grapes, or making wine?

As a small wine business owner, the one thing that has greatly assisted me with answering this question was attending a Building Food Business Capacity workshop provided by the Department of Agriculture Western Australia (DAFWA), and run by Growing Australia. It has been one of THE most valuable business management and planning programs I have participated in. It focussed on farming businesses, which in our group was very diverse from wineries, beef, dairy, free-range egg producers, orchardists, a truffle grower, and a chestnut grower. The ultimate aim of the workshop was to develop sound, workable strategic plans for each farming business, and provide business owners with various planning and management tools to develop sustainable, viable businesses that are adaptable to change and are successful in the long term. Two of these tools I will discuss shortly as they can be used to assess, prioritise, manage and reduce risks to your wine business in the present and into the future. It’s far better, and less stressful, to spend time planning, assessing and managing your risks rather than suddenly being plunged into crisis management at vintage time.

The DAFWA workshop introduced risk management with the concept, ‘understand risk and choose the events that will influence you’. A definition of risk then followed: “Risk is the possibility of adversity or loss, and refers to ‘uncertainty that matters’. Consequently, risk management involves choosing

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among alternatives to reduce the effects of risk. It typically requires the evaluation of trade-offs between changes in risk, expected returns, entrepreneurial freedom, and other variables.

Understanding risk is a starting point to help businesses make good management choices in situations where adversity and loss are possibilities.” (Harwood et al. 1999) During this first session, SWOT analysis was discussed in detail which many of you would be familiar with. It is a tool for documenting the internal strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) in your business, as well as external opportunities (O) and threats (T) (Figure 1). A tip given to us at the workshop was, ‘to work out if something is an internal or external factor, ask yourself if it would exist even if your business didn’t. If it would, it would be an external factor’.

Your strengths are obviously what you are good at and you would look at ways to build on these. Your weaknesses are your ‘ball and chain’, what you are not good at and these would be areas that you would look to improve on and minimise.

Opportunities are there to be seized, and are created by change.

So you would be looking at ways you can take advantage of opportunities by making changes to aspects of how you do business. Lastly, threats are out of your control and if they occur, they lead to decreased business performance. You need to be aware of them so that you can strategically plan to counteract them when the need arises.

To get the most out of your SWOT analysis, you should have a question or objective in mind from the start. For example, if you are a grower selling your grapes to a number of wineries, you may set your objective as, 'Establish long-term, mutually-beneficial grape supply agreements with x number

Figure 1. A SWOT analysis. Source: Wikipedia

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Very likely

Medium

Extreme

Likely

2 1 1

Hight

Low

Medium

High

Low

Low

Medium

Minor

Moderate

Major

Unlikely What is the chance it will happen?

3 2 1

5 3 2

Impact

Figure 2. An example of a risk matrix.

Source: www.austrac.gov.au of wineries'. If you are a winery purchasing grapes from a number of growers, you may set your objective as, 'Establish long-term grape purchasing agreements with growers who will consistently provide us with A and B grade quality grapes'.

Following our SWOT analysis, we then moved onto risks, which included climate change, access to water resources, government regulation, taxation, global financial crisis, crowded markets, competition from competitors, competition from similar industries, rising production costs, downward pressure from customers on purchase price, and access to labour. There are various risk management tools available to identify and determine the degree of risk that each of your identified risks poses to your business. Risk matrices are commonly used (Figure 2), which come in many forms, but whichever one you choose, use the same version consistently. These matrices encourage discussion within your business and will also assist in prioritising your responses to the threats and opportunities identified in your SWOT analysis in a methodical, consistent way.

When used effectively, a matrix is a very useful tool to focus your efforts on issues of highest importance, i.e., those you have rated as ‘high’ and ‘extreme’.

The good news is that the risks in grower-winery relationships, like many of the other challenges we face growing grapes or making wines on a day-to-day basis, can be planned for, managed and reduced by focussing on those that are the most important risks to act upon now, in six months' time, in one year's time and in three years' time.

Don’t sit back and wait for someone else to take charge! Do your homework and carry out due diligence before entering into any grape purchase agreement. Be realistic about the quality of fruit you have on offer, and also have a good understanding about what is required to grow fruit that is ‘fit for purpose’ for your winery customer. When you are asked for any information such as spray diaries, promptly provide that information to your winery customer. Seek constructive feedback at the end of the season, and accommodate reasonable suggestions that will result in improvements.

2. Managing expectations: There must be clarity around fruit price, and bonus and payment terms, and this needs to be documented where possible. Have a good understanding about what your fruit is worth in the marketplace and be equipped with the knowledge needed to successfully negotiate the sale of your winegrapes. Have a clear understanding of the fruit maturity, purity and condition schedule in your grape sale agreement and ensure you produce fruit that meets these requirements. If you do not understand how particular parameters will be assessed, ask. If you are uncomfortable with the provisions outlined for the downgrade or rejection of fruit, or if this is not clear, negotiate their change.

3. Good communication: Start communication about the upcoming season early and keep the fruit purchaser updated throughout the growing season verbally and via email. The aim here is for both parties to be encouraging frank and open discussion about any concerns that arise so they can be addressed quickly and don’t fester into larger issues. Know who your key contact(s) are and develop a good working relationship with them. Involve them in discussions at the beginning of the season, encourage visits at strategic times throughout the season, and seek feedback about your fruit as it ripens in the vineyard and once it has been made into wine. If there are any issues that arise during the growing season, raise them first and offer a solution at the same time as identifying the problem.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT ON RISK MANAGEMENT FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES I approached several viticulturists, growers and winemakers for their top tips on developing and maintaining a sound, workable, beneficial, sustainable grower-winery relationship.

Mary Retallack, Viticulturist/Managing Director, Retallack Viticulture, Crafers West, South Australia Mary has been providing viticultural consulting services for many years to growers throughout South Australia. Retallack says, “There are a number of things winegrowers can do to ensure they are on the front foot. Present yourself in a professional manner, consider your ‘brand’ and how you can differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace. Be proud of the way you present your vineyard and the grapes you are producing.”

Retallack’s top three tips for growers are: 1. Building trust: Be willing and open to share your viticultural management approach and environmental credentials.

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Mary Retallack, viticulturist and managing director of Retallack Viticulture, based in South Australia, says there are a number of things winegrape growers can do to ensure they are on the front foot when it comes to developing and sustaining a good grower-winery relationship. “Present yourself in a professional manner, consider your ‘brand’ and how you can differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace. Be proud of the way you present your vineyard and the grapes you are producing.”

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Colin Bell, Viticulturist/Director, AHA Viticulture, Dunsborough, Western Australia Colin Bell works for one of the south west of Western Australia’s larger vineyard consulting companies covering the winegrowing regions of Geographe and Margaret River, and oversees the management of a diverse range of vineyards. Many of these vineyards are not owned by a winery, but rely on selling their grapes to one or more wineries in these regions.

1. Understand the quality potential of your grapes: It is essential that growers understand the potential of their blocks in terms of wine quality. Grape marketing needs to target suitable wineries, wine styles and price points.

Relationships that are built from these foundations are more symbiotic for both grower and wine producer and invariably more profitable for both parties.

2. Understand the end purpose for your grapes: Before a contract is entered into, both parties need to have an agreed understanding of the destination or end purpose for those grapes. This is easy to achieve if the grape quality is well matched to the desired wine quality. It can be beneficial for both parties when guidelines are included in an appendix of the contract e.g., pruning styles, canopy management techniques and harvest methodology (right through to visitation protocols). Talking about this early in the relationship allows the winemaker to direct the inputs he or she believe are required and also gives the grower a better understanding of the likely cost of production. Once this is established an appropriate price and supply agreement can be negotiated for the sale and purchase of the grapes.

3. Building trust: Growers and wine producers who enter into relationships with realistic goals, based on historical performance and mutually reciprocal financial outcomes, are likely to have smoother vintages and longer associations. Aim to become an indispensable supplier to a winery, and you should find that the tougher issues can usually be weathered in the spirit of staying in business together. Finally, read your contract carefully and then maybe just one more time for luck. If you are not happy, negotiate for amendments.

Colin Bell, viticulturist and director of Western Australiabased AHA Viticulture, says it is essential that growers understand the potential of their blocks in terms of wine quality in pursuit of a good grower-winery relationship. He says grape marketing needs to target suitable wineries, wine styles and price points, adding relationships built from these foundations are more symbiotic for both grower and wine producer and invariably more profitable for both parties.

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Ashley Ratcliff, operations manager at Yalumba and owner of Riverland vineyard Ricca Terra Farms, says one of his top tips in developing good grower-winery relationships is that a grower should over deliver on attitude. “If I don’t find that the service or the quality of the food at the local pub is up to my standard, I won’t go back. So why should winemakers continue to buy grapes from growers who are difficult to deal with or who grow grapes that are not fit for purpose?”

Ashley Ratcliff, Operations Manager, Yalumba, Angaston, South Australia Ashley Ratcliff is operations manager at Yalumba, as well as the owner of a vineyard in the Riverland.

As operations manager at Yalumba, Ratcliff’s three top tips for establishing and maintaining a healthy and beneficial grower-winemaking relationship are: 1. Recognise that the Winemaker is the Customer: I find the ongoing conversation about grower entitlement very interesting. If I don’t find that the service or the quality of the food at the local pub is up to my standard, I won’t go back. So why should winemakers continue to buy grapes from growers who are difficult to deal with or who grow grapes that are not fit for purpose? One thing that drives wineries mad is continually asking for spray diaries to be returned on time, or having up-to-date vineyard maps, or trying to defend why they have used the grower’s grapes in a particular wine.

Many growers may not understand the increasing complexity winemakers face, and how restricted their time may be. The winemaker’s customers (big and small) are demanding more and more of them, and in some cases due to budgetary cuts, wine companies are employing less winemakers. Customers love to meet the winemaker, so in an attempt to increase sales winemakers are dedicating more time to trade and travel. The sacrifice of less winemakers and greater marketing effort is less time to spend in the vineyard.

To enhance a healthy grower-winemaker relationship a grower should over deliver on attitude. This potentially can be built into a competitive advantage!

2. Understand Wine: Most winemakers are university qualified and spend years learning about wine. I personally never question winemakers about what they taste in the vineyard or what they see in the glass once wine is made. I am not a winemaker! The best thing a grower can do is to build his or her knowledge about wine so that a more meaningful conversation regarding grape quality and potential wine ▶ quality can be had between the grower and winemaker.

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This will not only be beneficial for the grower, but it is likely to build respect and understanding between the grower and the winemaker. Once again, building a competitive advantage.

3. Lead and not wait to be led: Many growers wait to be directed or told what to plant by their wineries. There is a sea of market-based information available for a grower to be able to predict consumer trends. In many cases this information can be obtained at industry seminars. A good tip would be for growers to skip seminars on how to control pests and diseases (most growers do a reasonable job at this already) and spend time at marketing seminars. The lag phase from the time of selecting and planting a new variety, or new clones of existing grape varieties, to the time of production is lengthy, so waiting to be told what to do can lead to wasted opportunities. Growers need to gather information, take a risk (and thereby be willing to fail) and back themselves rather than always waiting for the winery to tell them what to do. I am sure Steve Jobs didn’t wait to be told what to do when he developed Apple. Having a ‘can do, willing to fail’ attitude can, again, be built in to a competitive advantage.

Corey Ryan, General Manager – Group Winemaking & Viticulture, Dorrien Estate Winery, Tanunda, South Australia Ryan’s top three tips in establishing and maintaining a good grower-winemaker relationship, fine-tuned over his many years as a winemaker, comprise “the three Cs”: 1. Constant communication: It is vitally important to be touching base, and keeping in regular contact with your growers throughout the whole year. Work on building trust into what will be a long-term relationship.

2. Clear communication: All expectations need to be clearly spelt out and understood by both parties. Fruit quality expectations, terms of the grape supply agreement, all need to be discussed and documented.

3. Courtesy (aka respect and understanding): A mutual understanding of what both parties need to be sustainable, viable businesses in the long term.

Corey Ryan, general manager – group winemaking & viticulture at Dorrien Estate, based in the Barossa Valley, believes it’s vitally important for a good grower-winery relationship for wineries to keep in regular contact with their growers throughout the year. “Work on building trust into what will be a long-term the relationship.”

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Cliff Royle, winemaker and general manager at Flametree Wines, in Margaret River, says wineries should avoid micro managing their growers. “I trust mine completely to manage their vineyards. However, a grower must be clear on the winemaker’s requirements.”

Cliff Royle, Winemaker/General Manager, Flametree Wines, Margaret River, Western Australia Flametree Wines does not own any vineyards and sources all of its grapes from the entire length of the Margaret River region. Royle’s top three tips are: 1. Communication: There is a need to find a better balance in communication with grower-winery relationships and the communication must be mutually respectful. I have oneon-one meetings with my growers annually, but I am now working towards holding an annual growers’ day where each of my growers can taste the wine produced from their grapes, and compare and benchmark against others.

Avoid micro managing growers. I trust mine completely to manage their vineyards. However, a grower must be clear on the winemaker’s requirements. Growers need to work on developing good communication skills as well as the winemakers. If communication is good between the two parties, combined with the grower providing the grapes fit for purpose and to the terms in the supply agreement, then the groundwork is set for a sound, long-term association.

2. Grape supply agreement: I am actively involved with grape supply contract writing these days. I use a two-page document that is clear and concise and says and does what it needs to say. It is more written in the form of ‘hand shake’ agreement with fairly broad spec guidelines (specs and tolerance ranges for MOG, pests and diseases, Baume, crop level). Specifying crop levels is a fairly recent addition to my contracts as it has become more of a wine quality issue with certain varieties in Margaret River. If a problem arises, the agreement is to bring in a third party to assess.

I show genuine interest in my growers’ businesses, aiming to offer prices for grapes that everyone is happy with and agrees to. In recent years in Margaret River, the notion of loyalty to a winery is no longer part of the equation, and with a shortage of Chardonnay this vintage, I’ve had growers who were contracted to Flametree who jumped to another winery willing to pay more.

3. Keep in regular contact with growers: Involve growers in the process of winemaking, include them in tastings, and present your growers with a product they can be proud of.

Xanadu has set an example for me which I am planning on following, with the winery’s annual growers’ day

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incorporating a tasting of its wines, involving the growers in blending exercises and lunch. This type of exercise allows growers to see how their grapes affect the blend, and they taste another grower’s wine and compare, and maybe aspire to improving their grape quality. It is a valuable networking occasion for growers too.

We need to break down the ‘us and them’ mentality. The wine industry has been through some tough times and there are a lot of jaded people out there. Growers have been taken advantage of. Now, growers need to empower themselves and say, “this isn’t working for me – I’m going out of business”.

They need to be strong, and they have to know what they want out of a grape supply agreement; “I want to do this and to achieve this”, be it variety, or price. Growers and winemakers need to work at coming to a consensus on where the growerwinemaker relationship is going.

CONCLUSIONS

To minimise your risks as a grower or a winery leading up to vintage, work on building upon your strengths, work at minimising your weaknesses, and seize the opportunities to change.

Forward planning and having strategies in place to assess and manage risks will also reduce your stress levels at a stressful time in the winegrowing calendar, resulting in a change also perhaps in optimism levels from glass half empty and ‘us versus them’, to a glass half full and together we can achieve great things! The end result should be a growerwinery relationship that is in a much happier space.

REFERENCES A Guide to SWOT Analysis for Businesses, Queensland Government. https:// www.business.qld.gov.au/business/starting/market-customer-research/swotanalysis Harwood, J.; Heifner, R.; Coble, K.; Perry, J. and Somwaru, A. (1999) Managing Risk in Farming: Concepts, Research, and Analysis. Agricultural Economic Report No 774, US Department of Agriculture.

Gloster, D. and Lewis, M. (2009) Managing risk. Wine & Vines, October.

We are in an industry that is still facing some significant risks and challenges, and the business landscapes that we operate in now require us to be adaptable and proactive in seeking ways to minimise our exposure to risks that may harm our businesses in the short, medium and long term.

The growers and wineries that will be most successful in navigating through times like these are those that accept the reality of each other’s situations, treat each other with respect, communicate in a businesslike way and look for the best deal that preserves both their business and their relationship. They also think in the long term.

SE ARCH & FILTER

W I N E& MMARKETING AKING BUSINESS & MARKETING BUSINESS

Retallack, M. (2012) What can be done in the vineyard to manage risk in difficult seasons? Part 1. Grapegrower & Winemaker Issue 586:30-37.

Retallack, M. (2012) What can be done in the vineyard to manage risk in difficult seasons? Part 2. Grapegrower & Winemaker 587:30-34.

Cathy Howard is winemaker and, together with husband Neil, proprietor of Whicher Ridge Wines, near Busselton, Western Australia, and has been making wine for more than 20 years.

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

WVJ

Australian wineries search & filter functions

• Geographic Indication Zone & Region • Average annual Tonnes Crushed • Varieties used in production • Wine producer name & brand name • Export markets

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S TA F F I N G

Independent contractor, labour hire worker or employee?

Know exactly who you are taking on this harvest and avoid the risk of breaking the law

By Sarah Hills, Business Services Manager, South Australian Wine Industry Association

The following article is drawn from a recent series of seminars conducted by the South Australian Wine Industry Association across SA and in the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula aimed at refreshing employers’ knowledge about those aspects of the Wine Industry Award 2010 more commonly used during the vintage period, updating them on changes to the Award and the Fair Work Act 2009 made in the last 12 months, and what changes are on the horizon.

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ou cannot have missed the media’s attention on the alleged underpayment and mistreatment of migrant workers and labour hire staff in the fresh food industries broadcast in May this year by the ABC’s Four Corners program. The story triggered the State and Federal governments to launch various types of inquiries into the use, nature and regulation of the labour hire industry and migrant workers in Australia. Following this a number of regulatory bodies, including the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, increased their presence and activities by conducting random audits across Australian agricultural regions to check compliance with various laws, including the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Migration Act. The wine industry, like many other industries, has seasonal peaks and troughs that often require greater numbers of workers for short busy periods. In such times use of labour hire and independent contractors is necessary. Engaging a contractor or utilising labour hire staff are both legitimate forms of employment but there are dangers in this type of engagement where the relevant laws are not effectively applied.

WHAT AND WHO DO YOU NEED? In determining your pruning or harvesting requirements and deadlines what are your workforce needs? What sorts of timeframes are required? Will you need to employ or engage people for a short period (e.g. up to 12 weeks) or a longer term (e.g. up to six months).

Table 1.

Casual Grade 2 Vineyard worker

$22.87 per hour

9.5% superannuation

$2.17

Wage Cost

$25.04

ReturntoWork Premium 3.8%*

$0.95

Payroll tax 4.95%

$1.24

Minimum Cost (No margin)

$27.23

Assumed margin 4% Total cost * relevant premium in SA scheme

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$1.00 (on wage cost) $28.23 per hour

With that determined, what’s next? You have a number of different options, either directly employing staff on a casual or fixed-term basis, engage an independent contractor or contract with a labour hire firm to carry out the additional tasks in the vineyard or the cellar. This requires a level of understanding by you of the relationship you hold with the person you are contracting with or engaging to provide labour hire staff. This understanding ultimately needs to be clearly articulated to that contractor or labour hire owner to ensure that each party knows who is responsible for what and how the obligations will be managed. These are things that must be discussed alongside the details about the job or task itself, the price and the timeframe.

EMPLOYEE OR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR Just because a person wishes to be engaged as a contractor, has an ABN number and you enter into an agreement calling them an ‘independent contractor’ does not automatically mean they are one. Often relationships are disguised in being given a label when, in fact, the relationship in practice is something different. The courts look at a number of indicators in the relationship and weigh them up to assess who holds the control in the work or task to be performed.

An employee performs work under the ‘control’ of another person in exchange for payment for the services he or she provides. Indicators of an employment relationship include: • Control by the employer. For example, instruction as to how to carry out duties, uniform and hours of work, etc. Control indicates an employment relationship.

• The expression of the relationship by the parties in writing.

For example, calling a contract an ‘employment contract’ or a ‘service agreement’ is persuasive but not determinative.

• The terms of the contract. For example, is paid annual leave provided? Employment entitlements such as annual leave, long service leave and parental leave are employment entitlements.

• Was the worker in business on his/her own account? Were tax invoices rendered? Did the worker use his or her own ABN? Is there an entrepreneurial-like element about the business?

• The worker operating an independent business indicates that the worker is an independent contractor.

• Whose tools and equipment are being used?

• Was the worker required to work exclusively for the company? Exclusivity of arrangement indicates an employment relationship.

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Independent contractors need to manage their own business and acquire their own insurance for their own negligence and own income maintenance/protection. They are distinguishable from employees (and labour hire workers) by the fact that they take personal risk associated with their business activities. While an independent contractor is responsible for their own business (including any employees they employ) when on your site they have a joint responsibility with you for your employees with regards to work health and safety.

The importance of knowing who you are contracting with is highlighted by the fact that an intentional act to disguise an employment relationship by calling the employee an ‘independent contractor’ is an offence called ‘sham contracting’. If sham contracting is proved there are heavy penalties to be incurred by an employer (both as a company and/or the individuals managing the company) under the Fair Work Act 2009.

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR OR LABOUR HIRE WORKER? In the wine industry there is a need to be able to engage labour on an ‘as needs’ basis for peak periods without the obligation to provide ongoing employment. Therefore, a business (the host employer) with this need enters into a contract with another employer (the labour hire business) to use the labour hire firm’s employees to perform work. The labour hire business is the employer of the labour hire workers and retains overall responsibility for employment entitlements. However, a host employer can be held partially liable for the breaches of employment entitlements by the labour hire business in certain circumstances, by association.

A misconception about utilising labour hire staff is that you are saving costs and transferring your risk to the labour hire firm. However a labour hire business needs to comply with its employment obligations (including paying award wages and entitlements such as penalties, overtime and superannuation), be registered for and pay workers’ compensation, pay payroll tax or ensure that the labour hire workers are legally entitled to work in Australia (if migrants). If the labour hire business is not complying with any one of those aspects, then chances are you, as the host employer will not be complying with your legal duty by way of association. However, the extent of responsibility does vary depending on the issue. But at the end of the day host employers need to understand the extent of their responsibility and be satisfied that those labour hire businesses also understand and are complying, in order to be actively managing the risk. Table 1 depicts a potential costing example, including on-costs, that a labour hire business would need to recover for a Grade 2 casual working in a vineyard covered under the Wine Industry Award 2010.

As a minimum, the labour hire business needs to have a good understanding about:

While it is not a vineyard owner’s responsibility to run the labour hire business that they enter an agreement with, it is his or her responsibility to insist and remind the business that it complies with its legal obligations.

ages and employment entitlements for the labour hire W workers it employs: • Coverage by the relevant Modern Award that applies to the actual work being performed.

• Must understand: • the relevant Modern Awards • classification structure (grading) • difference between permanent/casual employment • applicable minimum wages • any minimum engagement • penalty or overtime payments • piecework arrangements applicable under Cl 23 of the Wine Industry Award 2010 – including the requirement to have a written agreement with each labour hire worker • entitlements under the National Employment Standards (NES).

• Access to copies of the Modern Award and the National Employment Standards (NES).

While there is no positive duty on the host employer to ensure compliance, if the cost of doing business with a labour hire firm is cheaper than employing for yourself, chances are there are breaches, and you could be an accessory to that ▶ breach.

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ines Great Western, Bremerton Wines, Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard Pty Ltd, Campbells Wines, Cas a Group Pty Ltd, Cellarmaster Group, Charles Melton Wines, Clover Hill Wines, CMV Farms, Coriole Vin ards, Delegats Wine Estate, Delegat’s Wine Estate Limited, DogRidge, Edgemill Group, Fanselow Bell, Fi ar Wines, Fowles Wine, Fuse Wine Services Pty Ltd, Gemtree Vineyards, Glenlofty Wines, Harry Jon ines, Henry’s Drive Vignerons Pty Ltd, Hentley Farm, Hope Estate, Hospitality Recruitment Solution oward Park Wines, Hungerford Hill Wines, Inglewood Wines Pty Ltd, Innocent Bystander, Jack Rabb neyard, Jim Barry Wines, KarriBindi, Kauri, Kingston Estate Wines Pty Ltd, Kirrihill Wines Pty Lt rinklewood Biodynamic Vineyard, L’Atelier by, Aramis Vineyards, Leeuwin Estate, Make WInes Austral cWilliam’s Wines Group, Memstar, Mondo Consulting, Moppity VIneyards, Moxon Oak, Nadalie austral exthire, Oenotec Pty Ltd, Options Wine Merchants, Orlando Wines, Ozpak Pty Ltd, Patrick of Coonawarr antagenet Wines, Portavin Integrated Wine Services, R&D VITICULTURAL SERVICES PTY LTD, Robe atley Vineyards, Rymill Coonawarra, Seville Estate, Stella Bella Wines, Streicker Wines, The Gilbert Fa y Wine Co, The Lane Vineyard, The Scotchmans Hill Group Pty Ltd, The Yalumba Wine Company, Tinta inery, Tower Estate Pty Ltd, Treasury Wine Estates, Turkey Flat Vineyards, Two Hands Wines, Tyrrel ines, Vinpac International, Warburn Estate Pty Ltd, WebAware Pty Ltd, Wine and Vine Personnel Intern onal,Wines Overland, Wingara WIne Group,Wirra Wirra Vineyards, Zilzie Wines, Accolade Wines Austr Limited, Aravina Estate, Australian Vintage Ltd, Barwick Wines, Beltunga, Bests Wines Great Wester remerton Wines, Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard Pty Ltd, Campbells Wines, Casama Group Pty Ltd, C rmaster Group, Charles Melton Wines, Clover Hill Wines, CMV Farms, Coriole Vineyards, Delegats Wi state, Delegat’s Wine Estate Limited, DogRidge, Edgemill Group, Fanselow Bell, Five Star Wines, Fowl ine, Fuse Wine Services Pty Ltd, Gemtree Vineyards, Glenlofty Wines, Harry Jones Wines, Henry’s Dri gnerons Pty Ltd, Hentley Farm, Hope Estate, Hospitality Recruitment Solutions, Howard Park Wine ungerford Hill Wines, Inglewood Wines Pty Ltd, Innocent Bystander, Jack Rabbit Vineyard, Jim Bar ines, KarriBindi, Kauri, Kingston Estate Wines Pty Ltd, Kirrihill Wines Pty Ltd, Krinklewood Biodyna Vineyard, L’Atelier by, Aramis Vineyards, Leeuwin Estate, Make WInes Australia, McWilliam’s Win roup, Memstar, Mondo Consulting, Moppity VIneyards, Moxon Oak, Nadalie australia, Nexthire, Oenot y Ltd, Options Wine Merchants, Orlando Wines, Ozpak Pty Ltd, Patrick of Coonawarra, Plantagenet Wine ortavin Integrated Wine Services, R&D VITICULTURAL SERVICES PTY LTD, Robert Oatley Vineyard ymill Coonawarra, Seville Estate, Stella Bella Wines, Streicker Wines, The Gilbert Family Wine Co, T ane Vineyard, The Scotchmans Hill Group Pty Ltd, The Yalumba Wine Company, Tintara Winery, Tow state Pty Ltd, Treasury Wine Estates, Turkey Flat Vineyards, Two Hands Wines, Tyrrell’s Wines, Vinp ternational, Warburn Estate Pty Ltd, WebAware Pty Ltd, Wine and Vine Personnel International,Win verland, Wingara WIne Group,Wirra Wirra Vineyards, Zilzie Wines, Accolade Wines Australia Limite ravina Estate, Australian Vintage Ltd, Barwick Wines, Beltunga, Bests Wines Great Western, Bremert ines, Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard Pty Ltd, Campbells Wines, Casama Group Pty Ltd, Cellarmast roup, Charles Melton Wines, Clover Hill Wines, CMV Farms, Coriole Vineyards, Delegats Wine Estate, D at’s Wine Estate Limited, DogRidge, Edgemill Group, Fanselow Bell, Five Star Wines, Fowles Wine, Fu ine Services Pty Ltd, Gemtree Vineyards, Glenlofty Wines, Harry Jones Wines, Henry’s Drive Vignero y Ltd, Hentley Farm, Hope Estate, Hospitality Recruitment Solutions, Howard Park Wines, Hungerfo ll Wines, Inglewood Wines Pty Ltd, Innocent Bystander, Jack Rabbit Vineyard, Jim Barry Wines, Ka Bindi, Kauri, Kingston Estate Wines Pty Ltd, Kirrihill Wines Pty Ltd, Krinklewood Biodynamic Vineyar Atelier by, Aramis Vineyards, Leeuwin Estate, Make WInes Australia, McWilliam’s Wines Group, Memst ondo Consulting, Moppity VIneyards, Moxon Oak, Nadalie australia, Nexthire, Oenotec Pty Ltd, Optio ine Merchants, Orlando Wines, Ozpak Pty Ltd, Patrick of Coonawarra, Plantagenet Wines, Portavin In ated Wine Services, R&D VITICULTURAL SERVICES PTY LTD, Robert Oatley Vineyards, Rymill Coon arra, Seville Estate, Stella Bella Wines, Streicker Wines, The Gilbert Family Wine Co, The Lane Vineyar he Scotchmans Hill Group Pty Ltd, The Yalumba Wine Company, Tintara Winery, Tower Estate Pty Lt reasury Wine Estates, Turkey Flat Vineyards, Two Hands Wines, Tyrrell’s Wines, Vinpac Internation arburn Estate Pty Ltd, WebAware Pty Ltd, Wine and Vine Personnel International,Wines Overland, W ra WIne Group,Wirra Wirra Vineyards, Zilzie Wines, Accolade Wines Australia Limited, Aravina Esta ustralian Vintage Ltd, Barwick Wines, Beltunga, Bests Wines Great Western, 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Plantagenet Wines, Portavin Integrated Wine Serv , R&D VITICULTURAL SERVICES PTY LTD, Robert Oatley Vineyards, Rymill Coonawarra, Seville Esta ella Bella Wines, Streicker Wines, The Gilbert Family Wine Co, The Lane Vineyard, The Scotchmans H roup Pty Ltd, The Yalumba Wine Company, Tintara Winery, Tower Estate Pty Ltd, Treasury Wine Estate

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The gamble of burying your head in the sand can lead to fines under the Fair Work Act 2009 or the Migration Act, being prosecuted and fined under the relevant system of work health and safety, to increased premiums under the relevant system of workers’ compensation. And let’s not forget being in the media for all the wrong reasons. Your reputation (and indeed a whole industry) can suffer the effects of not understanding and managing these relationships. Indeed, the rise and phenomenon of social media, regardless of fairness, can deal swift justice more swiftly than the usual judicial process.

Exporting deals with some international companies or countries demand that supply chains are ‘socially responsible’ and won’t do business with someone who is being prosecuted.

TIPS TO TAKE AWAY Just because a person wishes to be engaged as a contractor, has an ABN number and you enter into an agreement calling them an ‘independent contractor’ does not automatically mean they are one.

ealth and safety for the labour hire staff it employs. The H labour hire business must: • ensure so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its workers • understand that induction is a necessary part of this responsibility • report any work-related injury requiring medical treatment or income support to the relevant workers’ compensation authority • pay the workers’ compensation premium • prevent discrimination, harassment and other unlawful acts • this is a shared responsibility with the host business.

Get it right from the start and prepare. Before vintage or pruning, work out what is needed in terms of labour and what your business requirements are. Document the terms of any engagement and clearly articulate the relationship and who is responsible for what (in accordance with the law) – regardless of whether you are employing an employee, engaging an independent contractor or getting some labour hire workers, get the ‘deal’ documented.

If you’re not sure, advice should be sought as a matter of risk management, particularly if those relationships and your ‘grape’ or ‘wine’ reputation are valuable to your business. The South Australian Wine Industry Association can provide advice in this area. Just as you know best about growing grapes, making or selling wine, we know best about the employment and safety issues relevant to the wine industry.

WVJ

Immigration for the labour hire staff it employs. The labour hire business must: • ensure that it is complying with the Migration Act 1958 and not providing workers who are “unlawful non-citizen” • not refer workers for work where their visa does not permit work to be undertaken or they would be working in breach of a visa condition (duration, maximum hours per week, etc.)

Both labour hire firm and host are responsible to varying extents.

When you enter into an agreement with a labour hire firm you must ensure that the potential risks are identified and addressed, that you know how the labour hire staff will be paid, that you know who is responsible for verifying the work rights of the staff (if migrants) and that you have implemented processes and procedures for identifying, reporting and managing work health and safety risks, hazards, risks and incidents.

While it is not your responsibility to run the labour hire business for them, it is your responsibility to insist and remind them that they comply with their legal obligations.

Don’t let the liability for this be brought to your attention only after the worker has had an accident or made a claim for an underpayment. It can end up causing you no end of extra time and money.

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THE RISK OF NOT BOTHERING At the end of the day, actively ensuring these responsibilities are clearly understood by the parties and addressed means that you are managing your risk – and that risk comes in all shapes and sizes.

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CHINA

They came, they like and they buy: Turning tourists into long-term customers

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

The following article is based on a recent Wine Communicators of Australia webinar in which Richard Lee described how targeting Chinese tourists while they were in Australia could help them become long-term buyers and advocates of our wines once they return home.

I

magine being a tourist in Italy. You’re enjoying your trip and you come across some leather jackets you really like, which the country is renowned for. Fast track a year later, and you are shopping for a leather jacket back in Australia.

Would you have a preference or bias to buy a leather jacket from Italy, compared with leather jackets from other similarly well-known high-quality leather manufacturing countries? It seems yes, and this is the key finding of a recent comprehensive study funded by the Wine Australia. The project studied how targeting Chinese tourists while they were in Australia could favourably influence their perceptions of Australian wines, thus helping them becoming long-term buyers and advocates of our wines when they are back in China.

Given the critical role China plays for Australian wine export, it is important for our brands to grow in salience and preference among Chinese consumers. Unfortunately, some barriers prevent us from reaching these objectives. Australian wine brands often lack a direct access to the end consumers, given that wine retailers in China – both in on-trade and offtrade – do not dedicate to Australian wines the same amount of space and visibility they allocate to other countries, such as France or Italy. In addition, while it is possible for Australian wine brands to mass advertise, the highly fragmented Chinese media landscape – where each city has its own local and provincial newspapers, radio and TV stations, on top of nation-wide media such as CCTV and China Daily – would place significant cost on such an approach to promote the wine.

In view of these challenges, this project shows an alternative, yet effective way to increase the competitiveness of Australian wines in China by targeting Chinese consumers while they visit Australia as tourists. Previous literature shows that the tourism experience acts like a halo to colour

Chinese tourists in Australia are more likely to enjoy than be disappointed with their tourism experience, hence, there is a greater propensity of them forming positive perceptions of Australia’s products. As a consequence, when Chinese tourists come back home and want to buy a bottle of wine, Australian wine brands will be forefront in their minds.

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the perceptions of the country’s products (Elliot et al. 2010, Lee and Lockshin 2012). While this might mean that product perceptions may suffer in case a person has a less positive tourism experience, countries with a well-established tourism industry such as Australia are well-positioned to take advantage of this phenomenon. Chinese tourists in Australia are more likely to enjoy than be disappointed with their tourism experience, hence, there is a greater propensity of them forming positive perceptions of Australia’s products.

As a consequence, when Chinese tourists come back home and want to buy a bottle of wine, Australian wine brands will be forefront in their minds. What’s more, these returning tourists can become effective word-of-mouth advocates for the brands.

A particular piece of research is also lending further credence to this strategy of targeting tourists to enhance export competitiveness. According to Tourism Australia (2014) more than 700,000 Chinese tourists landed in Australia in 2013. This represented an increase of about 15% over 2012. Numbers are projected to grow at a compound rate of just under 10% until the end of the decade. These largely middle-class consumers who come from many different cities and provinces in China mostly visit popular locations (e.g.

Sydney), and marketing efforts can be directed at them in a cost effective, yet flexible manner. This point is especially pertinent given China’s highly fragmented and expensive media landscape. This is also good news for smaller wineries who do not have the size or budget to directly market offshore.

Briefly, the method involved surveying Chinese tourists while they were holidaying in Australia and compared them with Chinese wine consumers, who have never been in Australia. The surveys took place in Adelaide, Sydney and Cairns between March 2013 and June 2014, while the nonvisitor survey took place in the Chinese city of Chengdu in August 2014. In all surveys, participants answered a pen-andpaper questionnaire about their perceptions of Australia as a tour destination and their perceptions of Australian wine.

Both visitors and non-visitors also evaluated the wine after a tasting. As we mentioned above, the main finding of the study is that Chinese consumers who have visited Australia reported a more favourable image than those who have not.

However, the research revealed other interesting results.

First, the findings are not distorted by seasonal factors.

This means that this tourism engagement approach is flexible, and can be planned and executed all year round.

Also, given the lack of significant differences in responses between cities, we also believe the project’s methodological approach is generalisable to other Australian cities frequented by Chinese tourists but not covered by this survey (e.g. Perth and Melbourne).

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...brands have a year to take advantage of the positive inclination Chinese tourists have towards Australian wines, which, in turn, implies that Australian wine exporters need to continue marketing to the them after they have returned home in order to maintain or at least retard the decline of the initial positive perceptions.

Secondly, the strategy works only in situations when tourists expect to encounter wine. For example, exposing tourists to wine while they are visiting a natural reserve or a shopping centre is unlikely to engender strong influence on the product.

Conversely, offering them a chance to taste wine in a winery or even at a restaurant is likely to lead to them developing a favourable impression of the wine – provided they have had a good tourism experience prior to the wine exposure. And this is good news for smaller vineyards who don’t have cellar doors to offer a wine tasting experience or who are out of the way for tourists to visit; it appears that venues such as restaurants work equally well. Therefore, the identification and selection of congruent venues is key to a successful execution.

Third, the project tracked visitors for a further 12 months after they had returned to China, and a key finding that emerged is the decay of the tourism effect. Tourists’ perceived image and purchase probability of Australian wine eroded over time,

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after they had returned to China. Indeed, about 12 months upon their return, there were no difference between visitors and non-visitors in their perceptions of and willingness to buy Australian wine. This, however, means that brands have a year to take advantage of the positive inclination Chinese tourists have towards Australian wines, which, in turn, implies that Australian wine exporters need to continue marketing to the them after they have returned home in order to maintain or at least retard the decline of the initial positive perceptions. Social media, newsletters and other direct communications to refresh the memories of visitors would be something worthwhile pursuing.

In conclusion, despite the long-term perceptions decay, the idea of targeting tourists to sharpen country competitiveness in the tourists’ home country should be considered a part of an Australian wine brand’s overall marketing strategy. It is effective, it is cost-efficient and it offers an alternative platform for wine brands to nurture long-term consumers. Today, the main focus is the Chinese market, but Australia also has many visitors from the US, UK and Japan, all of whom are critically important markets for our wine. So, it seems that the effects of this tourism halo can indeed cast a long and useful shadow.

For more information about this project we invite interested readers to read the full report, accessible from the Wine Australia website at http://bit.ly/harnessingchinesetourists REFERENCES Elliot, S.; Papadopoulos, N. and Kim, S.S. (2010) An integrative model of place image: exploring relationships between destination, product, and country images, Journal of Travel Research 50(5):520-534.

Lee, R. and Lockshin, L. (2011) Halo effects of tourists’ destination image on domestic product perceptions, Australasian Marketing Journal, 19(1):7-13.

Tourism Australia (2014), China – Market Profile, available at http://www.tourism.

WVJ australia.com/documents/Markets/MarketProfile_China_May14.pdf

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

POST - PO Box 1039 • Kent Town • South Australia 5071 OFFICE - 5 / 5-7 Union Street • Stepney • South Australia 5069 CONTACT - Ph +61 8 8363 5188 • Fax +61 8 8363 6188 • info@austwine.net.au

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De Bortoli looking to turn Chinese cellar door visitors into brand ambassadors back home

By Sonya Logan

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mong those who tuned into Richard Lee’s recent webinar in which he outlined the results of his research into how to turn Chinese visitors into long-term customers (see page 64) was Leanne De Bortoli, manager of De Bortoli’s Yarra Valley winery in Victoria.

De Bortoli has been exporting to China “seriously” since 2004. Around 2.5% of the company’s production goes to China these days, representing 10% of its export sales. And sales are on a fairly rapid ascent, with it currently experiencing 50% year-to-date growth, and the company predicting sales to double in the next four to five years.

In the past, most of what De Bortoli exported to China was red wine. But Leanne said whites were “starting to increase”.

“It’s around $15-20 where we see the most opportunity. China has a huge middle class. We feel that as they get into wine more and more over there they are not going to be any different to average consumers in Australia that want good quality wine that doesn’t cost a bomb,” Leanne said.

While China has been taking an

increasing amount of De Bortoli’s wines, so too have more of their citizens been turning up at its cellar door.

“In years gone past, 70 per cent of our cellar door visitors were from Australia. Now, it’s more like 50%, and the Chinese share of those international tourists is quite large,” Leanne said.

“The wine knowledge of our Asian visitors from places like Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia is quite high.

They get food and wine. I don’t think it will be too long before we find the Chinese visitors coming through will get it too and it won’t just be about buying fancy-looking bottles or wines that have red on the label.”

In the meantime, De Bortoli has a Mandarin speaking member of staff on hand to help guide its Chinese visitors through tastings and encourage those who know nothing about wine, and often go straight for the most expensive product on the list to take back home, to try something else.

“We had her working casually in the cellar door to start with. When we noticed more visitors coming in who spoke Mandarin, we put her on full time. Perhaps we are getting more

In years gone by, around 70 per cent of visitors to the DeBortoli cellar door in Victoria’s Yarra Valley were from Australia. Today, visitation is split roughly 50-50 between Australian and international visitors, with Chinese visitors making up an increasingly larger portion of the overseas contingent.

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Chinese visitors out here now because it is known we have a Chinese-speaking staff member,” Leanne pondered.

“For a lot of Chinese visitors still learning about wine, I’m sure having somebody who can speak to them in their language makes their experience a little easier.”

While Leanne said De Bortoli was still exploring ways to connect with Chinese visitors so that they might become ambassadors for the winery when they return home, the winery is already involved in one initiative that may help things along.

For the past five or six years, the winery has teamed up with the nearby Healesville Sanctuary to offer tourists a ‘Wine & Wildlife Tour’.

The tour involves a trip to Healesville Sanctuary where a personal guide takes guests on “an interactive and information tour of Australia’s unique and endangered wildlife”, and a two-course lunch and tasting at De Bortoli’s Yarra Valley winery. In the last 18 months or so, the package has also entailed a visit to The Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery.

“We also offer a service with some of our wines which enables visitors to pay for their purchases here and have them delivered to their home country,” Leanne added.

“Many Chinese tourists are just happy to come out and see our blue skies, the fresh fruit and vegetables that we grow around the restaurant and smell our clean air. When we host visitors at night we often turn off all the lights at the house and let them look at the stars.”

While creating fond memories of their visit to the Yarra Valley may assist with their recall of De Bortoli when they return, Leanne said staying in touch with Chinese tourists once they’re home could also assist.

“There must be a way for us to keep in contact with them. The only way we can is if people leave their contact details to receive our newsletter. This may be an area we have to look at more closely if we start seeing more and more Chinese tourists on our doorstep,” she said.

WVJ

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JAPAN

BUSINESS& &MARKETING MARKETING BUSINESS

The sun also rises: Trade deal lifts Japan exports

By Anthony Fensom*

A

ustralia’s new trade deal with Japan has quickly boosted the nation’s wine exports to Asia’s second-largest wine market.

However, building Australia’s image as a premium producer against established international competitors will take a longer-term effort, according to industry experts.

Announcing the signing of the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEPA) in July 2014, Trade Minister Andrew Robb declared it “the most ambitious trade deal Japan has ever concluded”, with the reduced trade barriers extending to wine. Two-way trade amounted to $70 billion last year, making Japan Australia’s secondlargest trading partner, while Japan is currently Australia’s ninth-largest wine market.

Australian winemakers praised the trade pact, with Victor De Bortoli, export manager at De Bortoli Wines, telling the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) it was “great news”.

“Australian wine exporters have been under pressure in the Japanese market, holding volume but losing value. JAEPA gives us the ability to claw back sales,” he said.

Implemented in January 2015, JAEPA eliminated Japan’s previous 45 yen per litre excise on bulk wine shipments.

Its 15 per cent tariff on bottled and sparkling wine will be phased out over seven years, with the first two rounds of cuts in January and April this year slashing the rate to 11.3%.

The results have been immediate, with a 10% rise in Japan wine exports to $44 million in the year to June 2015, with record volume of 12 million litres, up 28%, according to Wine Australia.

The strongest growth came in bulk wine exports, where volumes increased five-fold to 3.5 million litres as buyers took advantage of cheaper prices.

The value of bottled wine exports rose

*Anthony Fensom is a communication consultant and freelance writer based in Brisbane, Australia.

Having spent six years in Tokyo, Japan, and currently vice president of the Queensland Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he keeps a close eye on Australia-Japan ties and is a particular fan of Australian wine and Japanese whisky.

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A display of Sirromet wines in Japan. by 4.3% to nearly $35 million, while premium wines priced at $10 and above per litre posted a large 51% gain to $8.1 million.

Renewed Japanese interest in Australian wine was seen at September’s annual Australian Wine Grand Tasting, in Tokyo, with Wine Australia reporting a significant increase in the number of exhibitors and a record attendance of more than 500 guests.

Wine writer for Japanese journal Daily Wine and Spirits, Makiko Morita, said there was now “genuine excitement” in Australian wine.

“I was thrilled to witness something that appears to be an evolution because I believe change is an opportunity. For Australian wine, I felt this evolution is an opportunity to create a new position in the Japanese wine market,” he was quoted saying by Wine Australia.

JAEPA has also put Australian wine exports to Japan on a level playing field with second-largest importer Chile, which has grown market share from 7% to 25% on the back of its 2007 trade deal with Japan. Chile now trails only France among Japan’s top importers, which include Italy, the US and Spain.

W I N E & V I T I C U LTUR E JO UR NA L NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

PREMIUM PUSH Rather than competing against low-cost producers, Wine Australia and exporters such as Sirromet Wines are focussed on the upper end of the market.

“JAEPA has been a trigger for both the Japanese and Australian industry to take a fresh look at the Japanese market for Australian wine,” said Wine Australia’s regional manager Japan, Hiro Teijma.

“The question is whether we want to become a volume-driven wine country like Chile, or do we want to gain greater respect and higher expectations as a premium wine country, and the direction we are taking is certainly the latter,” he said.

Tejima said the focus of his marketing activities, including the annual grand tasting, the recruitment of 37 Australian wine ambassadors, and seminars and industry visits to Australian wine regions, was aimed at building Australia’s image as a premium producer. He pointed to changing tastes among Japan’s emerging wine connoisseurs as a key ▶ opportunity.

www.winetitles. com . au

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“The Japanese wine industry is going through a generational change.

Those sommeliers working in Tokyo and Osaka aged in their 20s and 30s, have a different style…they are curious about not just European but also New World wines. With these people as targets, I’m confident we can change the landscape of the Japanese wine market to benefit Australian winemakers,” he said.

Tejima has urged Australian producers to show their “personality, passion and philosophy” in Japan, which has a preference for doing business based on strong personal relationships.

Ko Nagata, managing director of Tokyo-based Global Sky Group, is among a new breed of Japanese entrepreneurs seeking to put Australian wine on the map in the world’s third-biggest economy.

In late 2014, his company acquired wine distributor Winetree, with a focus on promoting Sirromet and other James Halliday five-star rated Australian wines in Japan. Japan’s ‘Iron Chef French’, Hiroyuki Sakai was recruited to help promote Australian wine, with the celebrity chef having earned himself nationwide acclaim in a country which prides itself on its food culture.

“Sakai-san is known for his refined tastes and we’re confident he will help put premium Australian wines on the map in Japan,” Nagata said.

“With a sophisticated and expanding customer base, Japan offers an enormous opportunity for Australian winemakers, which thanks to JAEPA can now compete on a level playing field with other New World suppliers.”

Nagata is now planning Japanese weddings, gourmet and wine tour stays at Sirromet’s Mount Cotton winery, among other promotions aimed at putting some sparkle back into a longstanding trade relationship.

TEN-YEAR OVERNIGHT SUCCESS According to Sirromet’s director of sales and marketing, Rod Hill, Japan has been far from an overnight success.

“We’ve been in Japan for about 10 years, but our export market has only really opened up in the last 12 months with the signing of a new distribution agreement,” he said. “This year we’re expecting really good growth out of Japan, and it’s all around premium wine.”

Japan has grown to represent 40% of the Queensland winemaker’s export sales, second only to its Chinese exports. According to Hill, Asian consumers have a preference for high quality, fruity red wine, with its Petit

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Japanese celebrity Hiroyuki Sakai, who was recruited by the Tokyo-based Global Sky Group to help promote Australian wine.

Verdot sparkling red its biggest seller in Japan.

“About 10 years ago, sparkling Shiraz was making inroads in the local market, and although our winemaker thought it had merit, he thought Petit Verdot could be a great red varietal to turn into a sparkling red. We put it into Japan and it’s grown to the point we now produce 50,000 bottles a year and 85% of it is sold in Japan,” he said.

“Everything we do with that product is tailored to the Japanese consumer – from the profile of the fruit flavour, to the dosage at the time of bottling. We’ve just found that it’s really hit a sweet spot with the Japanese consumer.”

Japan’s famously unique culture has made it seem a tough market to crack, but Hill says it is simply a matter of having a quality product.

“First and foremost, the Japanese really understand quality. Not just the quality of the wine, but the way the product is presented. When we dispatch wine in Japan, every label is hand checked before it leaves to make sure it’s perfect, and if it’s not perfect it doesn’t get sent because it will come back,” he said.

Hill said winemakers should expect a high level of scrutiny from Japan’s “extremely well-educated consumers,” backed by an army of sommeliers.

“They really understand what’s going on in the world wine market. I’m of the belief that Japan has more sommeliers per head of population than any other country in the world, so they cast a

W I N E & V I T I C ULT U R E JO UR NA L NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

really critical eye in a positive way – they’re very knowledgeable and know what’s good from bad,” he said.

“Another thing that was a great success for us in Japan was earlier this year we invited a small group of sommeliers and influential people in the Japanese wine industry out here to Sirromet, and they spent a couple of weeks with our winemaker onsite, actually working…That’s the way we’ve approached it: to understand they are knowledgeable, they have a thirst to grow that knowledge and that’s something we can help with.”

Like any export market, Hill suggests the key ingredient is finding the right partner, “people who have the same values and drive that you do.”

“It’s actually quite easy finding a distributor; what’s hard is finding one who is going to get behind the product and drive it as hard as you would yourself,” he said.

Asked about the future for Australia’s wine industry in Japan, Hill says: “At the end of the day, we’ve got to make great wine, and we’ve got to tell the story about where the wine comes from and what makes it great,” such as Queensland’s Granite Belt.

“Look at France’s Champagne – they have a few hundred years on us, but they’ve told the greatest wine story in the world and been authentic since they started. We have to go out there and consistently show the world that we also have great quality wines that are worth paying for.”

WVJ

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DROUGHT EFFECTS

BUSINESS& &MARKETING MARKETING BUSINESS

Water issues emerge again

By Mark Rowley, Industry Analyst, Wine Australia

D

rought is starting to make headlines once again.

Australian farmers’ most dreaded weather system, El Niño, has already hit and the Bureau of Meteorology predicts it will persist until at least early 2016. This has a shortterm effect on winegrowing regions that rely predominantly on natural rainfall and on regions that rely on rainfall in upstream catchments.

Australia has been drying with rainfall in a long-term decline. Without dealing with climate change in this article, it is generally accepted that Australia will continue this trend – especially agriculturally useful rainfall in winter and spring. This article examines the effects of this drying on two key regions.

CASE STUDY 1: THE BAROSSA VALLEY In regions where natural rainfall is considered more important, such as Barossa Valley, there is a strong relationship between spring rainfall and average district yields. In Figure 2, the average yield for Barossa Shiraz is plotted against average spring rainfall.

Figure 2 shows a strong relationship between the two variables exists; in fact, 39 per cent of the variation in yields can be explained by the variation in spring rainfall over the past 15 years. On average, every additional

Figure 1. Rainfall - the chance of above median for October to December. Source: Bureau of Meteorology, 8 October 2015 10mL of spring rainfall has resulted in an additional 178 kilograms of Shiraz grapes per hectare. With climate change predicted to lead to lower rainfall into the future, this raises important management questions for growers. Growers will need to either adapt to lower rainfall or look at other irrigation options. Figure 3 (see page 70) illustrates that spring rainfall is on

Yield (tonnes per hectre)

Trend details y = 0.0178x + 3.7078 R² = 0.3924

8 7 6 5 4 3 2

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Spring Rainfall (mls)

Figure 2. The relationship between spring rainfall and regional Barossa Valley Shiraz yields. Source: Bureau of Meteorology, Healthy Vines & Wine Australia V3 0N 6

CASE STUDY 2: WARM INLAND – RIVERLAND, RIVERINA AND MURRAY DARLING – SWAN HILL Although spring rainfall is usually welcome in the Riverland, more important is rainfall further up the catchment and the storage levels of dams within the basin. The current and forecast health of the river system will determine whether growers will get their full water allocation. There are currently restrictions in New South Wales1 and Victoria2 and, worsening the outlook for allocations, winter and the start of spring have been dry and the outlook for achieving average rainfall is poor.

Water in storage has been declining.

Water levels are decreasing in Dartmouth, the Murray Darling Basin’s largest dam

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a downward trend, with the past three springs being particularly dry. This situation is not unique to the Barossa.

Over the past 20 years, lower than average rainfall has been recorded in the key winegrowing regions including Rutherglen, Coonawarra, Hunter Valley, McLaren Vale and Margaret River.

W I N E & V I T I C U LTUR E JO UR NA L NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

High security allocation for Murray is set at 97 per cent at 1 October 2015 1

High reliability allocation for Murray is set at 76 per cent for 2015–16 2

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DROUGHT EFFECTS

that is capable of holding almost 4000 gigalitres (theoretically enough to supply warm inland winegrapes for 13 years).

Figure 4 illustrates that from 2012 to 2014 the dam was essentially full, but volumes have been declining steadily over the past year.

When the last drought hit in 2007 and 2008, winegrape growers were able to purchase water to supplement their reduced allocations. These allocations generally were purchased from cotton growers. However, since the last drought winegrape growers have new competition for water with large-scale plantings of almonds along the Murray. The declining outlook for water allocations has seen prices increase from around $50 per megalitre in July 2014 to $259 per megalitre on 4 October 2015 (South Australia temporary entitlement). In 2008–09, the price of one megalitre reached highs of $1100–1200 per megalitre. However, most water was traded in the $500–600 range.

As mentioned, the agricultural mix has been changing. Since 2006, the planted area of almonds in Australia (mostly in the Murray Darling, Swan Hill and Riverland) has doubled to 28,967 hectares. In 2015, it is estimated these almonds required 405,000 megalitres compared with the estimated 300,000 megalitres required by the area’s winegrapes. Furthermore, the average price of winegrapes has declined from $538 per tonne in 2008 to $289 per tonne in 2015.

The current buoyant situation for almonds, and the opposite situation for winegrapes, give almond growers an advantage in the water market. For every megalitre of water used for the 2015 harvest, almond growers produced on average $2163 worth of almonds, which compares with $864 of produce for every megalitre for winegrape growers. Looking purely on a revenue basis at 2015 prices, almond growers are at an advantage to outbid winegrape growers for the 2016 harvest.

This analysis highlights the complicated nature of farming today.

Growers need to calculate their water needs and the expected value of their fruit to make the best possible business decisions. The current weather pattern adds another layer of uncertainty to the mix.

With the price of water rising and anticipated prices for winegrapes remaining low, it is expected that many winegrape growers will be doing the sums on whether they are better off selling their water rights or irrigating their vines.

WVJ

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Table 1. Comparison of almond growing versus winegrape growing in Riverina, Murray Darling-Swan Hill and Riverina.

Almonds

Warm inland winegrapes

ML/hectare

14.0

5.3

tonnes/hectare

2.5

15.9

$/tonne

$12,000

$289

Revenue

$/hectare

$30,283

$4594

Total planting area

hectares

28,967

56,271

$/ML (Sep 2015)

$259

$259

Revenue per megalitre

$/ML

$2163

$864

Return on water

Ratio

8.4

3.3

Estimated total water usage

MLs

405,538

299,276

tonnes

80,570

454,202

$

$ 966,840,000

$ 328,459,052

Average water usage Average yield Pricing

Current cost of water

Total harvest Estimated total farmgate revenue

Source: Wine Australia & Almond Board of Australia Spring rainfall (MLS) 350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Figure 3. Spring rainfall in the Barossa. Source: Bureau of Meteorology

Figure 4. Dartmouth storage volume. Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority W I N E & V I T I C ULT U R E JO UR NA L NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

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BUSINESS& &MARKETING MARKETING BUSINESS

APPS & OPS

ADVERTORIAL

Vinwizard for smartphones and tablets - control and monitor winery tanks or plants on the go

By Rick Nilsson, Managing Director, Wine Technology Australia

In a nutshell, what is the Vinwizard app all about?

The app is an add-on specific to our Vinwizard tank farm and winery control system. It allows winemakers to monitor and adjust tank settings from their mobile device when walking around the tank farm or away from the winery.

It’s also a useful tool for maintenance staff when fault finding, testing or commissioning in the field.

What was the reason behind its development?

The original inspiration was a commissioning tool for our technician so that one person could do what previously took two people, making this process more efficient. Winemakers saw us using it and wanted it so we released it to our customers.

What does the Vinwizard app bring to the market that differs from other similar products?

This app is specific to our Vinwizard winery control system so it’s more a matter of how it differentiates our system over others that don’t have this option. The control system can email or text alarms to the winemaker/maintenance staff and they can use the app to jump in and have a look or make adjustments from anywhere. It also means winemakers can make adjustments in the field or if, for example, they leave work and realise they forgot to turn a tank on or off or make an adjustment, they can do it without having to return to the winery.

Explain its suitability to wine companies?

The apps and our control system have been developed specifically for the wine industry so they are very suitable.

How does the Vinwizard app integrate with similar systems a wine company might already be operating?

In many cases we are able to setup our Vinwizard software to run in parallel with an existing control system which then gives access to the mobile apps/functionality.

How easy is the Vinwizard app to operate?

Very user-friendly. Like all of our Vinwizard applications we try to make them as intuitive as possible. We design systems to make the winemaker’s job easier not harder and the smartphone, tablet and smart watch apps are no different. I guess the proof is in the response we get from our customers and their feedback has been very favourable.

How long has the Vinwizard app been available to the wine industry in Australia or overseas?

We released the iPhone app in 2007 followed by the Android version around 18 months later. We have since developed apps for tablets and our smart watch app is undergoing final beta testing.

Can you name a few wineries in Australia already making use of the Vinwizard app?

We have more than 40 customers in Australia and 160 worldwide many of whom use the apps. Please contact us for a customer list.

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Can you give a rough guide on how much it would cost to purchase the Vinwizard app, what is included in the price and any ongoing operating costs?

The Smartphone apps are free, the tablet apps are POA as they are more comprehensive and, therefore, need to be customised to suit each winery.

Is there anything else you’d like wine companies to know about this product?

The app also supports QR and barcode reading so these can be placed on tanks and you can simply read the code and jump directly to that tank in the app.

Where can wineries go for further information?

Smartphone apps can be downloaded by Vinwizard customers from the iTunes or Play Store: • itunes.apple.com/au/app/vinwizard-v4-for-iphone/ id934962874?mt=8 • play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.VinWizard&hl=en

For further information visit: www.vinwizard.us

W I N E & V I T I C ULT U R E JO UR NA L NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

WVJ

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VA R I E TA L R E P O R T

Making sparkling wine from varieties other than the usual suspects Few of the wines in our recent tasting of sparkling wines made using varieties other than Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Prosecco and Shiraz really shone for our panellists (see results page 77) but they agreed the following showed promise of holding their own alongside the more traditional styles in the category.

Kim Chalmers, Director Chalmers Heathcote, Victoria Wine: Chalmers 2014 Felicitas (RRP$43.00/bottle) (100% Fiano) VITICULTURE Our Felicitas is made from 100% Fiano, all estate grown at our Heathcote vineyard in Victoria. After the success of the very first Chalmers sparkling wine the Lambrusco in 2012 - we decided to give a traditional method white sparkling a try. The obvious choice for fruit was Fiano, a variety not unlike Chardonnay in its body and texture and with very high natural acidity, which is a great asset to sparkling wine production.

Our Heathcote vineyard is located in the northern part of the Heathcote GI on the Mt Camel ridge. The site is an eastfacing slope home to two distinct vineyard blocks: one at 120-170m elevation and the other at 200-240m. Fiano grows in the lower block which comprises the famous deep friable red Cambrian earth of the region.

The Fiano was planted in 2009, clone VCR3 on 110 Richter.

The vines are planted with a row and vine spacing that gives 4545 vines per hectare. They rows have an east-west

orientation running up and down the hill which gives good air drainage and even sun exposure. Conventional viticulture is practised with a strong emphasis on soil health such as the use of organic carbon.

The vines are trained to a unilateral cordon VSP and arched cane-pruned. No thinning is required.

Low volume drip irrigation is used to supplement the rainfall when required in dry periods. The water is sourced from the Murray Goulburn river system and stored in a lined dam on farm.

The bulk of the vineyard’s nutrients are delivered annually via a liberal application of certified organic composted cow manure. An annual cover crop of rye grass is grown in the midrows to soak up excess spring moisture and is periodically slashed onto the under vine area as a mulch during the growing season.

The Fiano is 100 % hand pruned: arched rod cane pruned to 10 buds.

Fiano is a very hardy variety with thick skins and good disease tolerance. Our Fiano is often the best quality fruit in the vineyard despite Heathcote being known primarily as a red wine region. It is a grapegrower's dream and never requires acidification in the winery.

The Fiano can be sensitive to sunburn if fruit is over exposed in extreme heat conditions but the canopy is up and

Fiano in the Chalmers Heathcote vineyard pictured in early November this year.

Chalmers director Kim Chalmers said this year’s canopies was larger than usual at this time in the season due to some unusually warm October weather.

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W I N E & V I T I C U LTUR E JO UR NA L NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

outward growing so usually shades itself very nicely.

We are very happy with how the vines are being managed at the moment and haven’t changed it for years.

At harvest we look for fresh acidity in the fruit with no green skin flavours.

Fiano has a strong Granny Smith apple character in the lead up to maturity so it’s important to balance this with fruit characters.

The fruit is harvested one week to 10 days earlier for sparkling production compared with dry white. The vines yield an average of 8-9t/ha, the equivalent of 1.75-2kg per vine.

WINEMAKING The fruit for the 2014 Felicitas was processed at Kilchurn Wines, a sparkling wine contract facility in the Macedon Ranges. The Fiano was received at Kilchurn on 20 February 2014 with the following analysis: 11.5 Baume, 8.1 TA, pH 3.09.

The fruit was whole bunch pressed with a press cut at 500 litres per tonne for a free run and pressings of 150 litres per tonne. Both parcels were lightly fined and received a 40ppm SO2 addition.

The juice was cold settled for 24 hours before racking and combining the free ▶ run and pressings.

Chalmers director Kim Chalmers. www.winetitles. com . au

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The juice was inoculated with PDM yeast and fermented at 13-15°C in a stainless steel tank. The ferment lasted 20 days and was sulfured at the end of the primary ferment. It remained on lees until May when it received further fining and was then stabilised and crossflow filtered. The wine was tirage bottled on 15 May 2014.

The sparkling Fiano spent 14 months on lees in the bottle before being disgorged on 21 July 2015. As with the 2013 Fiano, it was deemed not necessary to add any sugar as the wine was well balanced, so a 40ppm SO2 addition was the only addition made at the time of disgorging.

Kilchurn made a sparkling Fiano for Chalmers in 2013 and 2014. On both occasions the fruit was treated in a similar manner to a Chardonnay base wine with a view to maintaining freshness and capturing the varietal character of Fiano. The difference between the two wines was mainly in the lees bottle age. The 2013 spent nine months on lees while the 2014 spent 14 months on lees.

MARKETING The name of the cuvee is from the Roman goddess of good luck and happiness, Felicitas. In ancient Roman culture felicitas (from the Latin adjective felix, ‘fruitful, blessed, happy, lucky’) is a condition of divinely inspired productivity, a quality expressing the close bonds between religion and agriculture.

The Felicitas is sold mainly onpremise (95%) through our distributors in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. It is often utilised in a degustation match or in a wine savvy venue where skilled wine staff can explain the wine.

A small amount is sold to boutique independent retail outlets.

It’s also sold through our website.

Jeremy Dineen, Cheif Winemaker/ General Manager Josef Chromy Wines Tamar Valley, Tasmania Wine: Josef Chromy NV Pepki Sekt (RRP$27.00/bottle) (100% Riesling) VITICULTURE The Riesling used to make the Pepik Sekt is estate-grown, single-vineyard fruit sourced from our vineyard at Relbia, 15km south of Launceston, Tasmania.

There are 61ha of vines growing in this vineyard in total, which has an elevation of 85-170m above sea level. The slopes

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The Riesling used to make the Josef Chromy NV Pepik Sekt is estate-grown, singlevineyard fruit sourced from the company’s vineyard at Relbia (pictured), in the Tamar Valley. in the vineyard face north and north-east.

Soils range from deep black, selfmulching clay to shallow, brown clay with high gravel content.

The mean January temperature in the vineyard is 16.7°C and it receives an average annual rainfall of 679mm, although this has been less than 640mm for the last 10 years.

The average vine age of the Riesling is 16 years and are planted on a mixture of own roots and rootstocks.

The vines are trained to a mixture of Scott-Henry and VSP trellises and have a vine density of 2415 per hectare.

The vines are crown thinned every year, with shoot and/or bunch thinning carried out depending on the year.

A permanent sward is grown in the mid-row to reduce erosion and farmproduced composts applied.

The vines are mainly hand cane pruned with limited mechanical spur prepruning undertaken.

Botrytis is the biggest disease risk for the Riesling, which yield an average of 11.5t/ha.

WINEMAKING The Riesling is hand-picked and whole bunch pressed which usually yields a free run of 500L/tonne and pressings of 200L/tonne; the pressings are fined separately.

The base juices are settled and combined prior to primary ferment; MLF is not carried out. Juices are then cold stabilised, partially heat stabilised and crossflow filtered.

The secondary ferment begins in tank and bottled when a viable cell count reaches target. A tirage ferment at approximately 15°C is completed.

The wine is bottle aged for 12-18

W I N E & V I T I C ULT U R E JO UR NA L NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

Josef Chromy Wines chief winemaker and general manager Jeremy Dineen. months prior to disgorging.

A dosage liqueur is added to retain fresh Riesling characters so it contains a final sugar content of 11-13g/L sugar.

MARKETING Our Sekt sits in the Pepik range of more accessible, fun wines but is still marketed as a high quality, bottle fermented, 100% Tasmanian sparkling wine.

The wine is available nationally, predominantly in on-premise outlets and independent retailers. Small quantities are exported.

The wine is marketed as Sekt to differentiate it from our more conventional sparkling wines. Josef Chromy is originally from the Czech Republic and most sparkling wine produced there is labelled Sekt, so it provides a link to Joe’s past.

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VA R I E TA L R E P O R T

Graeme Shaw, Proprietor Michael Shaw, Viticulturist Shaw Vineyard Estate Canberra Region Wine: Shaw Vineyard Estate 2015 Sparkling Cuvee (RRP$22.00/bottle) (100% Semillon) VITICULTURE Shaw Vineyard Estate was established in 1998 by Graeme, Ann and their son Michael Shaw on ‘Olleyville’, a 700-acre historic, fine wool producing property located in Murrumbateman, in New South Wales - the centre of the Canberra cool climate wine district.

Our vineyard is located in a prime position at an elevation of around 640 meters. Although there is a frost risk between October to December, several of the sites have sloping aspects that help to mitigate against potential frost risk by allowing good air drainage over the vineyard.

There are 33 hectares under vine, with 4.5ha planted to Semillon - the largest

Shaw Vineyard Estate viticulturist Michael Shaw (above) and production manager Michael Olinder with their recently acquired Pellenc Selectiv’

Semillon planting in the region. The soil is sandy, clay loam over light granite-based clay.

The property supplies Shaw Vineyard Estate with its entire production.

The entire vineyard was planted on rootstocks between 1998 and 1999 including the Semillon used in our sparkling. The Semillon clone planted is D41612.

The vineyard slopes down to the north with the rows running north-south. Rows widths are three metres and vine spacings 1.8 metres.

We use a VSP trellis system where the vine shoots are trained upward in a vertical, narrow curtain with the fruiting zone below. We find the VSP is a good canopy management system for low to moderate vigour vines and is very common in cool climates where it is used to invigorate shoots and ensure that buds and fruit are adequately exposed to sunlight.

VSP also has the advantage of being compatible with our mechanical harvester.

Our vineyard is drip irrigated sourced from a large bore. Our main irrigations generally take place from November to January.

Shaw Vineyard Estate is conscious of the importance in reducing its greenhouse emissions and the use of chemicals in the production of its wines. The vineyard has HACCP Food Safety Accreditation for grapegrowing. No pesticides are used and sprays used to control mildews are based on natural products. Extensive tree planting has occurred with an additional planting of up to 100,000 trees in the spring of 2007. These plantings have created additional natural habitat for the area’s indigenous birds and animals.

Pre-pruning is performed mechanically followed by hand spur pruning. We prune to two-bud spurs and 16 spurs per vine.

Disease concerns are minimal unless we have excess rain. Bird damage is our biggest concern therefore, we are forced to net the vines every year.

A view across the Shaw Vineyard Estate vineyard in Murrumbateman, New South Wales, in the Canberra district.

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The only other concern for these vines is slight sunburn on the western side in a hot year.

The Semillion yields an average of 8-10 tonnes per hectare.

WINEMAKING The Semillon grapes are harvested during the night to ensure fruit is delivered at optimum temperatures. The grapes are gently crushed then pressed in an air-bag press. The juice is then fermented slowly at very cool temperatures. The wine is aged on primary fermentation lees before being stabilised, then undergoing secondary fermentation in a speciallydesigned pressure tank using the Charmat method. After the second fermentation takes place the wine is then filtered and bottled under pressure to produce a delicate sparkling wine.

We harvest the grapes using a Pellenc Selectiv’ Process Harvester which we purchased from France. The harvester comprises a high frequency destemmer and an onboard sorting table which removes more than 90% of leaves and stems from the harvest. Only whole bunches go through the machine’s destemmer which means that most fruit passes straight through without further intervention, resulting in more whole berries in the load. Leaving green matter in the vineyard reduces processing costs and time in the winery. The machine has twin bins rather than an arm conveyor, which further reduces resource use as chaser tractors are not following the machine up and down the rows. Each bin carries 1.5 tonnes with a combined hold of 3 tonnes.

MARKETING Our Sparkling Cuvee is marketed along with our Estate Range of wines, which is our cellar door range. It is sold through our cellar door, via online sales, and via our distributor in the ACT, New South Wales, Victoria and, very recently, Queensland. We also export our sparkling, mainly to Asia.

We initially labelled this wine under a label called Cielo and marketed it as a fun, fresh, easy-drinking wine. It didn’t take long to realise the potential of this wine as it quickly became our best seller due to the fact that it fits nicely on the fence of a sweet and dry wine meaning that both sweet and dry drinkers were purchasing this wine. The success of this wine sparked a label change, as it really didn’t make much since (or good marketing practice) in having our best seller without the name ‘Shaw’ on the front label. Thus Shaw Vineyard Estate Sparkling Cuvee emerged.

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GRAYSWINE, YOUR ONLINE SALES PARTNER

GraysOnline, Australia’s leading online wine auctioneer and retailer now has a new address www.grayswine.com.au We bring together talented Aussie & NZ wine growers with our wine lovers and collectors. Why you should sell through us: • We attract 1.3M monthly unique visitors • Offer fast payment to vendors • Provide warehousing & logistics • Marketing value-add to lift your brand • We’re the 3rd largest online wine destination in Australia

Contact us to discuss how we can help grow your business.

Simon West, General Manager simon.west@grays.com.au | 0412 913 120

W I N E TA S T I N G

A bottle of bubbles can be made from varieties other than the usual suspects – but do they sparkle?

We often feature sparkling wines in our tastings at this time of year in keeping with the festive season.

For this tasting, we strayed outside the box a little more than usual by putting to the test sparkling wines made from non-traditional varieties.

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he Wine & Viticulture Journal’s latest tasting was open to dry white or red sparkling styles made from varieties not traditionally associated with sparkling wine production.

This meant bubbles made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier were put to one side, along with Prosecco and Shiraz with the latter two featuring in previous Journal tastings held in recent years.

White styles made up the bulk of the 16 entries, with the varieties used to make them including Riesling, Colombard, Savagnin, Vermentino, Fiano, Semillon, Petit Meslier, Roussanne, Moscato Giallo and Gewurztraminer as well as a Vermentino/ Sauvignon Blanc/Verdehlo blend. In the reds, Gamay and Lambrusco featured, along with a blend of which Grenache made up 85%.

The tasting panel comprised Kate Laurie, winemaker for Deviation Road Winery, in the Adelaide Hills; Tony Hooper, sparkling winemaker for Pernod Ricard Winemakers; and Dan Hills, winemaker for Shingleback Wines, in McLaren Vale.

Kate Laurie said that if the making of these ‘alternative styles’ could be perfected, wines such as these promised to invigorate the sparkling market.

“If we get these wines right, they will make the sparkling landscape in Australia really exciting, given we are an industry that likes to be known for trying new things, being edgy, creative and innovative,” Laurie said.

However, she said many of the wines in the tasting failed to meet fundamental expectations for sparkling.

“I was expecting these wines to have the basic structural elements of sparkling wine. But the acid-sugar levels were out of balance in many of them. You’ve got to tick that off in a sparkling first of all and I was surprised not to see that in more of the samples. I know that’s probably a varietal thing, with the wineries trying to allow the varieties to express themselves. But if the sweetness dominates or the acid dominates it lets the wine down regardless of what it is.”

She urged producers to make sure their ferments are clean.

“Make sure the yeast are happy going into bottle if that’s your style,” she said, referring specifically to the two wines in the tasting made using the ‘ancestral’ method, “or make sure the base wines you are using are sound so that you’re not throwing things at them to deal with them.”

Laurie said the Chalmers 2014 Felicitas Sparkling Fiano showed the most promise for holding its own alongside the more traditional styles in the category.

“The Fiano had the elements that could be seen as sparkling-

The panellists for our ‘alternative sparkling’ tasting were (from left) Dan Hills, winemaker for Shingleback Wines, in McLaren Vale; Kate Laurie, winemaker for Deviation Road Winery, in the Adelaide Hills; and Tony Hooper, sparkling winemaker for Pernod Ricard Winemakers. like with all our comments noting that it was in the mineral/citrus spectrum. The primary fruits didn’t dominate and the wine has the structure of a sparkling that could potentially age,” Laurie said.

Tony Hooper agreed, saying the Josef Chromy NV Pepik Sekt Riesling was another example of an ‘alternative sparkling’ that could hold its own in the category, noting the secondary characters in that wine.

All panellists questioned whether the price of some of the wines had been set too high.

“If someone goes into a bottleshop and spends $45 and it doesn’t have the finesse that they’d be expecting at that price point from a traditional sparkling then it could give the sector a bad name,” Laurie said.

However, the panellists agreed the pricing may have been influenced by the fact the wines had been produced in small runs or were cellar door only releases.

Not surprisingly, the panel members named the Chalmers Fiano and Pepik Sekt Riesling among their top three wines of the tasting, along with the Shaw Vineyard Estate 2013 Sparkling Cuvee Semillon. The team also included a blend comprising 85% Grenache in their top wines, but the winery that submitted it subsequently advised it wished to withdraw the wine from the WVJ tasting.

GRAYSWINE, YOUR ONLINE SALES PARTNER To turn your liquid asset into cash, contact Simon to find out how.

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TA S T I N G N OT E S

JOSEF CHROMY NV PEPIK SEKT RIESLING (100% Riesling) Tasmania 12.0% v/v - cork RRP$32.00/bottle Best of tasting: Yellow in colour with a green hue. Mousse is sherbetlike. Clean and pretty nose featuring honeyed characters and some citrus and patisserie notes. Palate is clean and fresh with a good balance of acid and sugar; citrus and some yeast characters apparent. Soft finish which is a little sweet and sour. “A good flavoured and structured wine,” noted one taster.

CHALMERS 2014 FELICITAS SPARKLING FIANO

SHAW VINEYARD ESTATE 2013 SPARKLING CUVEE SEMILLON

(100% Fiano) Heathcote, Victoria 12.5% v/v – crown seal RRP$43.00/bottle

(100% Semillon) Canberra 11.5% v/v - cork RRP$22.00/bottle

Best of tasting: Yellow in colour with green hues. Slightly reduced nose but it isn’t offensive and gives it a slightly toasted character; green apple, pear, some blossom and hints of Vegemite and seaweed also apparent. Some citrus and stonefruit on the balanced palate as well as grapefruit, quince and peach. “Plenty of acidity and some juicy, moreish yeasty notes,” noted one taster.

Nice, crisp, citrus finish; good length. “A few layers but they’re all in check,” said one taster.

Best of tasting: Gold in appearance with green hues.

Aromas of potpourri, some citrus, slight tropicals and complex yeast/custard notes; some saltiness. Rich, ripe fruit characters on the palate which has a sweet entry, some secondary flavours from the yeast, a nice body filled out with some residual sugar and a sweet finish. Showing some interesting, attractive developed characters.

PRIMO ESTATE NV PRIMO SECCO (100% Colombard) McLaren Vale, South Australia 11.5% v/v - cork RRP$20.00/bottle Pale gold in colour with a clean, fresh nose of citrus, yeast, lime juice and some tropical characters; some confectioned tropical notes also apparent with some seaspray giving it a nice savoury edge. Lime and lemon juice characters on the palate as well as some tropical fruits and citrus; good acid and structure; some grapefruit bitterness on the finish. One taster thought the wine lacked some mousse and finished a little short as a result.

PAULETT WINES NV TRILLIANS SPARKLING RIESLING (100% Riesling) Clare Valley, South Australia 12.5% v/v - SPK RRP$22.00/bottle Golden yellow in colour with a clean, fresh and alluring nose that has characters of tropical fruit, sweet canned fruit, lemon and quince; a touch of VA makes the aromatics quite pungent. Fine mousse. Ripe fruit on the sweet palate which is a little bit broad featuring tropical notes, some citrus and a custard-like element; a bit sweet and sour. One taster thought the wine needed a little more acid to balance the richness in the palate.

WE BRING TOGETHER TA

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FOX CREEK WINES NV ARCTIC FOX GRAND CUVEE

SASSAFRAS 2015 CANBERRA SAVAGNIN ANCESTRAL

(45% Vermentino, 30% Sauvignon Blanc, 25% Verdelho) McLaren Vale, South Australia 12.5% v/v - cork RRP$23.00/bottle

(100% Savagnin) Canberra 11.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$24.00/bottle

Quite pale and watery in appearance. Musky nose with a foxy/spice character, slight grassy/herbal/straw note and a hint of gooseberry; lacks fresh fruit. Palate is clean, straightforward, a little simple and short with a hole in the mid-palate; grassy/ herbal notes follow through and again lacks some fruit; acid line is tight but ends hard and a little dirty. Slightly dry and phenolic finish.

Cloudy in colour in keeping with the style. Yeasty nose with some green apple, some light tropical fruit and citrus characters.

Good flavour in the mouth, particularly tropical flavours; a good balance of acid and sugar; soft finish.

VIGNA BOTTIN 2013 VERSECCO (100% Vermentino) 11.00% v/v - cork RRP$35.00/bottle Pale gold in colour. Slightly reduced albeit complex nose of toast, honey, yeast, some citrus fruit and wet dog/hessian.

Yeasty palate to begin with which becomes more complex with characters of marzipan and citrus; a touch firm and drying on the finish. “A bit feral but interesting,” noted one taster.

SASSAFRAS 2014 TUMBARUMBA GAMAY ANCESTRAL (100% Garney) Canberra 12.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$24.00/bottle Deep coppery red/pink in colour with a slight haze consistent with the style and a nice persistent mousse. Young and bready nose but with some sweet cherry, spice and some citrus characters. Mid-palate is quite sweet which contributed to the body of the wine but it needed a little more acid to back it up; lacks fruit flavour.

YELLAND & PAPPS 2014 DEVOTE SPARKLING VERMENTINO (100% Vermentino) Barossa Valley, South Australia 11.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$35.00/bottle Yellow gold in colour with a persistent mousse. Lemon peel, lychee, citrus and some tropical notes on the nose with a hint of honey and toast.

Palate also features citrus and tropical characters. Panel was somewhat divided on whether the palate was in balance with comments that it had a good acid/sugar balance in contrast to observations that it had a hard acid edge. Soft but somewhat sour finish.

ALENTED AUSSIE & NZ WINE GROWERS WITH OUR WINE LOVERS.

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SALENA ESTATE 2012 SPARKLING MESLIER (100% Petit Meslier) Riverland, South Australia 12.0% v/v - cork RRP$20.00/bottle Gold in colour with green hues. A light mousse.

Aromas of toast, honey and developed characters on the nose, as well as a slight pine/minty note; lacks some fresh fruit. One taster noted a ‘barnyard, aged’ character on the nose, and questioned whether the base wine had been aged for a while before the secondary ferment.

Palate has some nice weight and is clean but a bit simple and short; developed characters also apparent as well as honey and some herbal notes; sugar fills out the mid-palate; again, lacks some fresh fruit; a bit drying on the finish.

BOX GROVE 2011 QUEALY 2011 SECCO DELATITE 2011 CUVEE SPARKLING ROUSSANNE SPLENDIDO SPARKLING GEWURZTRAMINER DRY MOSCATO GIALLO (100% Roussanne) Goulburn Valley, Victoria 11.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$35.00/bottle

Deep yellow in colour. Panel was somewhat divided over this wine, with one member noting “dirty oak, bruised fruit and wet dog” characters on the nose, another stating the nose was “slightly reduced with some yeast, toast and honey characters” and another observing “subdued complexity with some herbs and citrus aromas in balance”. Palate observations by one panellist included “clean, zesty entry with balanced fruit, lime characters and some yeasty notes; long, dry finish”, while another said “nice developed characters with some citrus but overall a bit simple”.

(100% Moscato Giallo) Mornington Peninsula, Victoria 12.50% v/v – crown seal RRP$25.00/bottle Deep gold to brown in colour. Hint of rose petal, ginger, lychee, botrytis and Gewürztraminer-like characters on the nose with some volatility which is a bit over-powering. Palate lacks freshness and cleanliness; hints of caramel, bitter orange and nuts. “Could have been a real pretty wine if it weren’t for the volality,” noted one taster.

“Complex, individual style,” noted another.

(100% Gewurztraminer) Upper Goulburn, Victoria 12.0% v/v – cork RRP$35.00/bottle

Yellow gold in colour with fine bubbles. Slight reduced character on the nose with some citrus and tropical fruit, ginger, lychees, nuttiness and toast. One taster said the nose had a character that suggested the wine may have been made with an aged base wine. Palate is also slightly reduced with some citrus/lemon and ginger characters evident. “Some good acid balance gives it length and a fresh finish,” said one taster.

CHALMERS 2013 METHODE TRADITIONNELLE LAMBRUSCO (100% Lambrusco) 11.0% v/v – crown seal RRP$43.00/bottle Deep purple to black in colour with a persistent mousse.

Aromas of dark plums, blackberries, blueberries, Christmas cake, vanilla and liquorice. Palate is soft, relatively dry, has good weight and shows sleek tannins – not too extracted; plums and blackberries also evident here.

“Good flavour and balance; clean, fresh and fruity,” noted one panellist. Another taster thought the wine was a bit heavy for the mousse: “I would like to have seen more fresh characters coming through to cut through the heaviness of the wine the way I think it needed to.”

GRAYSWINE, YOUR ONLINE SALES PARTNER To turn your liquid asset into cash, contact Simon to find out how.

E. simon.west@grays.com.au M. 0412 913 120

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Lallemand – Experts in bacteria production

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allemand is one of the world’s leading companies in producing bacteria for a wide range of markets, including the pharmaceutical industry, human health, animal nutrition, agriculture, bakeries, the cheese-making industry and, of course, oenology.

A certain level of expertise is required to obtain selected bacteria adapted to the particular conditions of wine. For example, the production process for Oenococcus oeni is a lengthy one (more than six weeks) and requires meticulous attention at each step of production, but it also varies from one strain to another.

With this in mind, a specific production process for each type of bacteria needs to be developed.

Supported by experienced teams of technicians and process engineers specialised in bacteria, Lallemand has developed high-performance expertise in the industry. This expertise has been supported by the extensive scientific knowledge Lallemand has cultivated in the field of winemaking.

Each type of bacteria is the result of a selection program that often involves partnerships with technical institutes validating the oenological interest of the bacteria, institutes such as the Institut Français de la Vigne et du Vin (IFV), the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC), and the Edmund Mach Foundation, formerly the Istituto Agrario di San Michele all’Adige (IASMA) in Italy.

Once validated, the feasibility of industrial

Simon Kinley, Lallemand Australia’s technical sales manager, addresses a recent distributors’ conference in Adelaide. production is studied and, if the results are satisfactory, a specific and optimised production protocol is developed. Only through careful attention can an effective product be delivered.

Beyond complying with the standards defined by regulations on bacteria populations and microbiological purity, Lallemand has developed its own criteria for quality and malolactic activity based on

years of experience. These criteria allow Lallemand to guarantee the availability of products with a long, stable shelf life that are robust and vigorous as soon as they are inoculated into musts or wines around the world.

For further information on Lallemand’s range of wine bacteria visit www.lallemandwine.com

A moment with wine consultant Nick Bulleid Q: What does your work entail, Nick?

Nick Bulleid (NB): Mostly helping wine companies with tasting, quality evaluation and blending.

Q: So, for single companies?

NB: And with benchmark tastings for winegrower associations. Clients of contract winemakers, too, helping them position their wines correctly in the market.

Q: And what else?

NB: I do some work as an expert witness.

Q: That’s different! Such as…

NB: Quite a variety – supposed winemaking incompetence, contaminated additives, frozen and damaged shipments, disagreements between brand owner and distributor.

Whenever two parties can’t reach agreement, really.

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Q: How do you keep your palate honed?

NB: Judging certainly helps and shows keep me in touch with trends in varietal and regional wine styles. I’ve just finished chairing the Victorian Wines Show, for instance.

Q: And are you doing much writing?

NB: Not much, really, but doing and writing up the tastings for Gourmet Traveller WINE magazine are another way of keeping on top of the great wines that are out there. The industry gossip from the panel’s great, too!

Q: So that’s it?

NB: Just about, and getting my hands dirty on my own block of Pinot Noir.

Contact Nick Bulleid MW on 0418 688 794 or email: nick_bulleid@bigpond.com or visit www.nickbulleid.com

W I N E & V I T I C U LTUR E JO UR NA L NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

Nick Bulleid www.winetitles. com . au

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Anton Paar’s Alex 500 – bringing the lab to the winery in a compact design

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new alcohol and extract meter, Alex 500 from Anton Paar, frees winemakers of the need for external laboratories.

Alex 500 places producers at the helm of their entire production process, from fermentation monitoring to quality control of the bottled product. The compact, easily operated instrument can be used in two modes: in the fermentation monitor mode, it directly displays a fermentation curve, assigned to a tank via sample ID. At the end of the fermentation, Alex 500 can be switched to its standard mode to determine the alcohol and total extract content with lab-grade accuracy.

Alex 500 measures alcohol with an accuracy of 0.2%v/v and determines density with an accuracy of 0.001g/cm³.

Speed is one of many differences that set Alex 500 apart from the glass hydrometers still commonly found in smaller wineries. In contrast to these, Alex 500 covers the entire measuring range, not just part of it. Producers are provided with direct, real-time results, without the necessity for a separate calculation or distillation. They only need one single instrument for all samples in their production – a really robust one that will not break. In addition, all data is automatically documented and perfectly traceable.

The full range of Anton Paar instruments and solutions is available in Australia and New Zealand through MEP Instruments - a Metrohm and Anton Paar Company.

For further information visit www.mep.net.au or www.mep.net.au

The Anton Paar Alex 500 enables winemakers to determine wine alcohol and total extract content in-house.

Take action before the dust settles from vintage

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olo Citrus Australia is an Australian-owned company that has been a leader in dust suppression products for the mining and extractive industries for more than 20 years.

It has a large customer base including the major players in this market segment. With the design and testing of its new product Road Con finalised, the results across several different locations throughout Australia has been exceptional and beyond Polo Citrus’ expectations.

Following the completion of the trials at various sites, the product was launched onto the market with the feedback from clients favourable.

Predominately developed for the extractive industry, Polo Citrus then looked to the grain industry for application of the product. Trials were completed at several grain loading terminals during 2013-14 harvest where trucks and machinery are active and cause airborne dust to cover sites.

Companies were looking for a product

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that could stop the dust becoming airborne, leading to a relatively dust free site that would protect their finished product from dust contamination. Dust control was also vital for the safety and wellbeing of employees and visitors to the site.

Controlling site dust emissions also helped protect company assets and equipment. With the initial trials a huge success, the companies rolled out orders nationally for Road Con for the 2014-15 three-month harvest period. With just one application this product will see the three-month harvest period through to completion.

With great success and positive feedback from the grain industry, Polo Citrus is now marketing Road Con to the wine industry. With the summer months upon us, there are many benefits in having a dust-free environment, beginning at the main entrance driveway to cellar doors where presentation is imperative. With customers travelling through this area, the last thing they and you would want is bellowing dust clouds W I N E & V I T I C ULT U R E JO UR NA L NO V EMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

upon arrival that consume vines and grapes near the driveway area.

Other areas that would benefit from Road Con would be the gravelled areas around processing zones where traffic is constant. Dust from vehicles entering or leaving these processing areas could have a detrimental effect on the final product. Access roads throughout vineyards where dust could have an effect on the growing product could also benefit from the use of Road Con. With its ease of application and price structure, Road Con is an ideal product for the wine industry.

Either applied via a water truck or simply from the back of a ute with a dribble bar that can be supplied, Road Con can be used in its concentrated form for the best longevity of the product or mixed at a dilution rate of 50:50 with water for a lesser effect. At $1.00 per litre, it is a very suitable product for the viticulture and wine industry.

For further information visit www. polocitrus.com.au V30N6

Equipment

FROM GRAPE TO THE BOTTLE

REFRIGERATION MONOBLOCS Europe’s leading refrigeration supplier now in Australia Kreyer are specialists in manufacture of products for temperature controlled processing of grape juice, fruit juice and wine. All products are made in Germany and carry a 2 year warranty and a 24 hour customer support service.

Kreyer’s range includes ‘MCK” and ‘Chilly Max’ monobloc chillers and heaters for all sized wineries as well as the unique ‘Kreyopack’ range with built in tube n tube for fast and efficient temperature control.

Also available are individual and multi tank temperature control systems.

KREYOPACK 9-100KW Cooling Capacity

MCK 18-85KW Cooling Capacity

Tank Control Systems with Digital Thermometer

CHILLY MAX 6 – 11KW Cooling Capacity

For further details, contact us on: Melbourne 59 Banbury Rd, Reservoir Ph. 1300 882 850 Adelaide 12 Hamilton Tce, Newton Ph. 08 8365 0044 New Zealand 4c Titoki Place, Albany, Auckland Ph. 0800 699 599 E. sales@winequip.com.au www.winequip.com.au www.winequip.co.nz

Solenoid Valves and simple control boxes with BUS interface