Wine & Viticulture Journal

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 · Volume 27 Number 1

I N D U S T RY S U S TA I N A BI L I T Y • Opportunities to improve winemaking profitability • A measured approach to sustainable farming • Regional focus: Swan Valley • Varietal report: Petit Verdot • Profile: Dorham Mann

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

Sonya Logan, Editor

C

hristmas trees are back in their boxes for another year and there’s been a noticeable increase in traffic on the roads signalling that most of the population is now back at work from their festive season break.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a safe, happy and successful New Year as they brace for vintage 2012.

Welcome to the first issue of the Journal for the year. For those that have been with us since the Journal was relaunched at the beginning of last year to incorporate Australian Viticulture, thank you for sharing the journey that was our inaugural year. We hoped you enjoyed it and, if you didn’t, be sure to drop us a line and let us know where we could improve.

Both new and existing readers of the Journal will be pleased to learn that this issue is the first to be available online to all subscribers.

That’s right, from now on, subscribers will be able to view their copy of the Journal online.

This will no doubt be music to the ears of those who own a tablet computer and lap up reading anything on it that they can get their hands on.

Personally, I am still a traditionalist and prefer to do my reading the old-fashioned way – try swatting a fly with an iPad! – but at least now both mediums are satisfied.

If you haven’t done so already, you will shortly be receiving notification of your individual password to access your online copy of the Journal.

The theme of this issue is ‘industry sustainability’. In keeping with this theme, there are articles on how to improve the profitability of winemaking, improving refrigeration efficiency, the prospects for regional winery wastewater treatment plants, how to take a measured approach to adopting sustainable farming practices and a thought-provoking piece on the prospects of the alcohol industry becoming the target of plain packaging legislation.

If you’re a bit squeamish I’d steer clear of pages 34-37, but if you regularly taste wine and are interested in preventing tooth erosion – and who wouldn’t be? – I’d chance it.

So, sink your, er, teeth into this issue of the Journal before the frenzied activities of vintage bite (sorry)!

Cover: H ighlighting this issue’s regional report on Western Australia’s Swan Valley,

which starts on page 78, are Arch and John Kosovich, of John Kosovich Wines.

Regular features

News WFA Wine Australia ASVO Tony Keys Richard Smart AWRI Report Tony Hoare Toby Bekkers

6 9 10 11 12 15 18 38 44

Ursula Kennedy Alternative Varieties Mark Rowley Wine Intelligence Industry profile Regional report Super Wines Varietal report Tasting

54 63 74 76 78 80 86 87 90

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Win e & V iticultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

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I n t h i s i s s ue

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

c o n t en t s

V I T I C U LT U R E

8 OPINION (David Bruer): A word on the Federal Government’s Clean Energy legislation 9 WFA (Robin Shaw): Postive response to new tourism strategy

44 A measured approach to sustainable farming 48 Sustainability in viticulture: assessment and adoption 51 Organic viticulture research at The University of Adelaide

10 WINE AUSTRALIA (Aaron Brasher): A renewed focus on Australian wine consumers 11 ASVO (Paul Petrie): Positive results from recent winemaking seminar and AGM 12 KEY FILES: Did things go wrong or are they just evolving?

Applying 2020 hindsight to Strategy 2025 15 RICHARD SMART: Evaluating the data and discussion in Wine, Terroir and Climate Change 54 Vineyard sustainability - a case study from Queensland 55 Dissecting the Draft Murray Darling Basin Plan 58 A comparison of handling methods for production of bench-grafted grapevines 63 Olssens continue on learning curve with Carmenére

business & marketing

38 TONY HOARE: The latest innovations from SIMEI

65 Is the wine industry next in line after tobacco to fight health warning legislation?

68 Alcohol and human health – sorting out the facts

W I N E M A K I N G

70 Wine shows can give exhibitors more than medals 74 The nation’s vineyard – 40 years of evolution

18 AWRI REPORT: Opportunities to improve winemaking profitability 22 What’s old is new again in refrigeration efficiency

76 How do you judge a book, then?

Consumer perceptions of wine labels

26 Closing the loop on winery wastewater – a regional reality? pr o fi l e

30 Innovations in bottling

78 Dorham Mann goes in to bat for the Swan Valley

REGIONAL REPORT

80 Swan Valley, Western Australia

VA R I E TA L R E P O R T

34 Prevention of tooth erosion and sensitivity in wine tasters V2 7N 1

87 Petit Verdot

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

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5

N E W S

River irrigators still have questions over Draft Murray Darling Basin Plan

T

he Draft Murray Darling Basin Plan released on 28 November has done nothing to allay the concerns of the major winegrape growing communities in the Basin over its effect on their local communities, with many questions still remaining as to exactly how much they will have to contribute to the draft water saving target.

The Draft Plan has identified a target saving of 2750GL of water per year by 2019, of which 1068GL has already been recovered (or is contracted to be recovered) for the environment, including through water purchased by the Australian Government and infrastructure projects, such as Stage 1 of the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project. Of the remainder, the Draft Plan states that 632GL per year will be recovered from water savings projects, such as stage two of the NVIRP which is estimated to deliver another 214GL. The plan also proposes that irrigators in the southern Basin reduce their surface water use by 971GL a year to “meet the needs of the River Murray”. A review of these reductions is proposed for 2015.

Murray Valley Winegrowers (MVW) executive officer Mark McKenzie said there was “information gaps” in the Draft Plan’s proposed water reductions.

One of these gaps was how the southern Basin water reductions will be divided up between states and regions. Another was the expected gains from water savings projects.

“The MDBA estimates that 632GL will be saved through these projects.

We think this saving is very conservative given that 214GL alone will be saved from Stage 2 of the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project. Therefore, we believe there needs to be a lot more working done ahead of the 2015 review to determine the exact savings these infrastructure projects will deliver.

“Until we know how much water these projects will save, we can’t accurately determine how much water is then still needed for environmental flows.”

MVW is also curious about how the environmental flows will be distributed.

“How much water could be saved through efficient use of water on environmental sites, for example? We

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are concerned that if the Government doesn’t distribute environmental flows efficiently but significantly reduces allocations in pursuit of the target figure for 2019, that will have a dramatic effect on irrigation enterprises and communities and might even effect future allocations.”

McKenzie said MVW also remained unconvinced that the figure of 2750GL was needed to return the river to health.

“We’re not saying that 2750GL is the right or wrong figure. But, we don’t believe we have the environmental data to make that call yet.”

McKenzie said MVW was also worried about what influence the Greens may have on the figure when the final plan is eventually presented to Parliament.

“We’ve been particularly distressed by the emphasis that the Greens continue to put on the magical figure of 4000GL. If the Greens stick to their guns and don’t accept anything less than 4000GL, our feeling is that we will be doomed.”

Another concern MVW has with the Draft Plan is its effect on the temporary water trade market.

“During dry periods, the Murray Valley is heavily reliant on the trade of temporary water which is purchased on annual basis out of Murrumbidgee and Goulburn Valley. We are concerned that the Draft Plan may limit the amount of this water available in dryer periods.”

North of the Victorian border in the New South Wales’ Riverina region, Brian Simpson, chief executive of the Wine Grapes Marketing Board (WGMB), said the reduction figures proposed in the Draft Plan could result in a 38% reduction in high security water in the region.

“As this would need to be purchased from licence holders, those that remain in the region would be affected by increased water charges as the cost of running the system would be carried by thee irrigation licence holders left in the region,” Simpson said.

He said the WGMB would like to see more focus on the development of infrastructure across the entire Basin.

“The investment can secure ‘new’ water savings and use this for environmental purposes.

“The other matter of concern is the Environmental Watering Plan. The Federal Government has decided it will W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

be a state-managed process but has not indicated whether funding will be made available for this to occur adequately,” Simpson said.

In mid-December, a large percentage of the winegrape grower base in the Riverina attended a public consultation meeting in Griffith organised by the Murray Darling Basin Authority.

Simpson said the feedback he’d received from some of the growers who attended the meeting was that the Government was “listening but not hearing the concerns of the region”.

“If productive water assets decline in the region, the community will suffer and this point was raised time and again at the meeting,” he said.

Chief executive of the Riverland Winegrape Growers’ Association Chris Byrne said South Australian River Communities – a group formed some 18 months ago to deliver a united message in relation to the Murray Darling Basin Plan from the growers, irrigation trusts, and local councils it represents – was still working through its response to the Draft Plan.

However, he said the Riverland could probably accept a contribution of 21GL to the 971GL proposed for recovery across the southern Basin but not 65GL as has been suggested could be the region’s share.

“We probably wouldn’t have too much trouble finding 21GL, most of which would probably emerge from people who are willing to sell their water. But, because of the very low overall percentage of water that the Riverland takes from the Murray River, 65GL would cause very serious harm to the remaining infrastructure and industry. So, many farms would go out of production.”

He said there was also “room for improvement in engineering works” in the south-east of South Australia which hadn’t been considered in the Draft Plan.

“By spending money in the south east of the state, some of the water that currently drains out to sea could be diverted to the Coorong and then into Lake Albert and Alexandrina. That could provide up to 20-30GL a year and would appear to be immediately beneficial for the Coorong and the lakes and would very likely relieve some of the burden in finding extra water elsewhere,” Byrne said.

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BRIEFS

McLaren Valley Shiraz named top export wine Hedonist Wines, of McLaren Vale, has won the George Mackey Memorial Trophy for its 2009 The Hedonist Shiraz after being judged Australia’s most outstanding export wine.

The award is presented annually by Wine Australia to the most outstanding export wine of the year. Initial nomination is made by Wine Australia wine inspectors, who set aside the best wines during the daily inspection of every exported Australian wine. Last year, 53 wines were eligible from a pool of more than 14,500 and the judges included Peter Godden, from the AWRI, Chapel Hill winemaker Michael Fraggos, and Peter Welch, from Edinburgh Cellars. To be eligible, at least one pallet of wine must be exported within the year of nomination.

The Hedonist winemaker Walter Clappis said his team was “overwhelmed and honoured” by the award, particularly having regard to those export wines which The Hedonist triumphed over.

“The crème de la crème of Australian wine being exported was vying for this award and our wine was judged to be the best which makes us incredibly proud,” he said.

AWRI welcomes new board members The board of the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) has welcomed two new members in Liz Riley and John Harvey as directors.

In announcing the two appointments, chairman of the AWRI, Peter Dawson acknowledged the contribution of outgoing board members Jim Lumbers and Jan O’Connor.

Appointed as a ‘special qualifications director’, Liz Riley brings to the board 20 years’ experience in the wine industry, with six years spent in viticultural roles with Southcorp Wines and the last 11 years as a viticulture consultant. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Wine) from Roseworthy Agricultural College and is currently also an independent expert for the Wine Industry Code of Conduct for Wine Australia and member of the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology, the Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association (HVWIA) and the NSW Farmers Association.

The HVWIA named Riley its ‘Viticulturist of the Year’ in 2011 and she was awarded the Australian Nuffield Farming Scholarship in 1997. Her tenure as a director of the AWRI commenced on 6 December.

Elected in the ‘small winemaker’ category (crushing up to 2000 tonnes), John Harvey commenced his tenure as a director on 1 January. Harvey is managing director and owner of Bathe Wines, which produces wines from the Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale and Tasmania. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a PhD and MBA from the University of Adelaide.

Harvey was formerly executive director of the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation and member of the SA Premier’s Wine Council and is currently a member of the executive committee of the Adelaide Hills Wine Region and advisory committee for the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research.

New addition to Wine Australia’s China office Wine Australia has appointed Jessie Qian as its market development officer – China.

Qian graduated from Fudan University, in Shanghai, before joining Washington State’s China Office as project manager where she was responsible for promoting the US state’s exports to mainland China.

In 2008, Qian joined Austrade, working with Australian exporters as business development manager in the food and beverage team.

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N E W S

Prior to officially joining the Wine Australia team on 28 November, Qian was involved with some of the collaborative projects between it and Austrade China, such as the Grand Tasting in Beijing and the Vintage 2011 trip in April last year which saw 100 Chinese wine trade, media and educators tour various wine regions across Australia.

WGGA launches new online help for contracts Australia’s independent winegrape growers have been urged against taking a ‘business as usual approach’ in negotiating contracts with grape purchasers for the 2012 harvest.

Wine Grape Growers Australia (WGGA) executive director Lawrie Stanford gave the warning while launching new online information tools to help growers negotiate their grape sales.

The online initiative was launched at WGGA’s annual general meeting in Adelaide on18 November.

Stanford said while most producers were acting fairly and ethically in the current challenging operating environment, some were exploiting the financial plight of independent growers to negotiate unfavourable contracts in a ‘David versus Goliath’ scenario.

As a way of assisting growers desperate to sell their fruit and to hold their own in a market with depressed prices, WGGA has launched three new online information tools for growers: • a checklist of things to consider for growers entering into grape supply contracts • an easy-to-use contract template that is fair to both growers and producers.

• an ‘at a glance’ outline of the dispute resolution process within the Australian Wine Industry Code of Conduct.

These information tools can be downloaded from the WGGA website at www.wgga.com.au.

Stanford said there was evidence of a range of unfair contract practices in the lead-up to the 2012 harvest. These included re-interpreting standard clauses in ways that are convenient to the purchaser, setting prices or price determination mechanisms that did not accurately reflect grape quality and a trend towards ‘disposable’ contracts that had unbalanced ‘get out’ clauses.

Stanford said to avoid being taken advantage of, growers must be willing to “walk away” from grape purchasers offering financially unsuitable or damaging terms.

“It’s critical that growers are well-versed in what is needed in a contract, such as clarity on the quality and price for grape tonnages or a price setting mechanism, who has liability for damaged fruit during the harvesting and sales process, and payment terms,” he said.

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7

O P I N I O N

A word on the Federal Government’s Clean Energy legislation

By David Bruer, Chief Executive, Temple Bruer, Langhorne Creek, South Australia

We asked David Bruer - a long-time practitioner of sustainable vineyard practices and whose wines from the 2011 vintage onwards are carbon neutral - to give his thoughts on the Federal Government’s Clean Energy legislative package. Passed by the Senate on 8 December, the package includes the controversial carbon tax, which he believes has been set too low, and the Carbon Farming Initiative, which he applauds.

T

he Federal Government’s Clean Energy legislative package was passed by the Senate on 8 December. While my initial assessment of the package was that it was a bit anaemic, due mainly to the low price at which the carbon tax has been set, there are aspects of the package that have made it somewhat better than it seems on face value.

The carbon tax will apply from 1 July and has been set at a fixed price of $23/tonne and, over the next two years, will rise in line with inflation at around 2.5%, the mid-point of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target range for inflation.

From 1 July 2015, the price paid per tonne will then be set by the market via a cap and trade system – an emissions trading scheme.

It is axiomatic that we price pollution.

In a civilised society such as ours, it is unconscionable that the environment be regarded as a free good. However, in my view, the Government has set the carbon tax too low.

Financial modelling suggests that a carbon price in the vicinity of $40/t is needed to force a switch from coal to natural gas to generate power.

Why natural gas? Because it has approximately half the carbon footprint of coal. Furthermore, in order for renewable energies, such as solar and hydro power, to be attractive, the carbon prices needs to be more in the order of $110/t.

However, a carbon price of $23/t will force polluters to look at their carbon budgets to work out how they can minimise their carbon footprint.

Fortunately, the carbon tax is indexed, so it will go up.

The most appealing aspect of the Clean Energy package is the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI). This allows landholders to earn carbon credits for reducing their emissions or storing carbon on their land. These credits can then be sold to people and businesses wishing to offset their emissions.

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It’s an extremely good scheme, so good that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has indicated he would keep it if he wins the next election, despite his pledge to repeal the carbon tax.

The CFI has two categories of projects for which farmers can earn carbon credits. The first is through increasing the carbon stored in their soils and vegetation. However, for the moment, there are only three methodologies to generate carbon credits: capture and combustion of landfill gas, destruction of methane generated from manure in piggeries, and environmental planting.

The latter involves the establishment and management of permanent native forests or planting and/or seeding native species on cleared or partially cleared land.

The species must have the potential to attain a crown cover of at least 20% and a height of at least two metres. Clearly, vine plantings will not generate carbon credits under this scheme. But, this doesn’t mean there won’t be scope for them to be included in the future when other methodologies are established under the CFI. For a permanent planting of a native forest or species to generate carbon credits, the sequestered carbon must stay there for a minimum of 100 years. As we know, Australia has some iconic vineyards that are more than 100 years old.

If I was managing a citrus grove, chances are I would replant the grove at some stage during a 100-year period.

Citrus production peaks at around 18-20 years and by the time the trees are 35 years old they are often removed.

But, several years before they are removed, new trees are planted in the inter-row space to replace the trees that are to be removed. This kind of practice guarantees that the citrus grove sequesters carbon for 100+ years and could easily be modified to suit a vineyard. But, first the somewhat arbitrary height restriction would need to be changed.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

The second category of projects that will earn farmers carbon credits are those that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases – specifically carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – to the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide is produced through the degradation of synthetic nitrogenous fertilisers, such as urea, calcium nitrate and diammonium phosphate. If using soluble nitrogenous fertilisers, approximately half ends up as nitrous oxide, which has around 300 times more impact on global warming than carbon dioxide.

The amount of nitrous oxide produced by growers who manage their plantings organically is almost negligible, so may be able to generate carbon credits under the CFI. The CFI also includes the Biochar Capacity Building Program, which will invest $2 million between 2011-12 to 2013-14 to support research into how biochar mitigates greenhouse gas emissions; on-farm demonstrations of biochar; and the development of offset methodologies for landholders to participate in carbon markets through the CFI. Biochar is a soil amendment that is produced by burning organic matter, such as wood or crop waste, in a low oxygen environment. Not only is it used for improving soil health, but it has also shown potential in sequestering carbon.

Furthermore, research in sugar cane crops has shown that biochar and compost work better together than separately. Biochar also hosts bacteria that are favourable for humus formation.

If biochar can eventually be classified as an offset methodology under the CFI for generating carbon credits, this will have additional spin-offs for farmers, including winegrape growers, in that not only will those who use it be reducing the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, they will also be improving their soil fertility. Studies have shown that biochar increases soil fertility, and there would be few grapegrowers who would argue that increasing soil fertility wasn’t a good thing.

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W FA

Positive response to new tourism strategy

By Robin Shaw, Manager Tourism & Business Development, Winemakers' Federation of Australia

In collaboration with other key wine and tourism bodies, WFA is now set to further roll out its new wine industry tourism strategy. Industry members at a regional echelon are encouraged to participate, as this is the key sector for the strategy’s primary work.

I

nitial response to the new wine industry tourism strategy released in August has been extremely positive.

Wine regions have been quick to realise the framework’s potential in guiding their own plans, while commercial operators can see the merit in aligning their product development with its objectives. Several exciting initiatives already being scoped will directly benefit wine and food tourism operators. Since the release, WFA has begun an engagement process with stakeholders at national, state and regional level to encourage the uptake of the framework. Wine, food, tourism and business stakeholders have already got together in four regions that are keen to be recognised as signature wine and food tourism regions, and the main national stakeholders – WFA, Wine Australia, Tourism Australia, Restaurant & Catering and the Australian Tourism Export Council – met in early December. We are well aware that the strategy’s objectives can only be achieved if all stakeholders play their role, so the focus of this initial national meeting was on establishing key areas of influence and action. The reality is that the primary work needs to occur at the regional level.

This requires that industry understands what motivates visitors – domestic and international – and develops ‘products’ in the form of experiences that not only meet their needs, but also match the scale and scope of the region to which they belong.

The resultant products must then be ‘packaged’ for sale within the tourism distribution system by specialists who can promote effectively to target markets. Tourism organisations are key stakeholders in assisting industry to identify the key markets, then develop and promote relevant experiences. WFA is working with organisations to provide self-help information business programs and promotional campaigns. A new Wine Tourism Toolkit will be available online in the near future. If you have not read the new strategy – officially entitled Harnessing the potential of wine and food tourism in Australia – I encourage you to do so. You can download a PDF version from the homepage of our website at www.wfa.org.au Talking about ‘wine and food’, rather than wine alone, is deliberate and, in itself, is a significant progression from past thinking. The concept of wine in tourism is also a key component in positioning wine as an essential ingredient in the Australian story.

The strategy takes the view that wine tourism in Australia is at the crossroads. It can continue as a useful add-on for individual operators and some regions, or we can strive to harness its true business potential to help underpin the next phase of the sector’s development. To achieve the latter will mean taking a broader view, adopting a consumer mindset and understanding the brand, marketing and sales advantages of inspiring international and domestic visitors to experience our wine and food regions first hand.

We need to: • increase the number of globally-recognised Australian wine and food tourism regions by leveraging the current success of signature regions • develop clusters of wine, food and agri-tourism in regional destinations that support sustainable business development • identify the key domestic and international markets, and develop relevant product for each segment • encourage specialisation of cellar doors to develop discrete visitor segments V2 7N 1

• invest in the necessary support infrastructure, training and business development programs • establish a national approach to recognising authentic wine and food tourism experiences through appropriate accreditation schemes • improve the knowledge and understanding of how to efficiently source, use and promote Australian wine and food as part of a tourism experience • develop and communicate the collective and individual stories of Australia’s wine regions through wine and food tourism experiences.

The ultimate success of the strategy depends on individual enterprises embracing the concept of developing and delivering genuine wine and food experiences that match the needs of visitors, with support from industry and tourism organisations.

Developing the new materials has been a significant undertaking, supported in part by a TQUAL grant from the Federal Government.

For further information, or to arrange a regional presentation, please contact me on (08) 8222 9255 or robin@wfa.org.au WVJ

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9

W I N E A U ST R A L I A

A renewed focus on Australian wine consumers

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

Wine Australia is answering the call of the Australian wine community to increase promotion of its wine in the domestic market, thereby tapping into Australian consumers’ patriotic drinking trends.

A

ustralian wine consumers have historically been a patriotic group: they have embraced the great wine made in their own backyards, raised a glass to iconic Australian wine labels, and flown the flag for the wine sector in all parts of the globe.

In recent years, those same consumers have become a little more adventurous and, while they have not lost their patriotism, they have demonstrated willingness to experiment with imported wine and other beverages, such as cider.

There is no doubt that domestically, the wine industry is losing market share to imported wine and other beverages. The strong Australian dollar has meant the price of many imported wines – which were once viewed as purely ‘aspirational’ to the vast majority of wine consumers – has dropped, providing the opportunity for domestic consumers to explore the imported wines on offer.

Australian wine still has a strong following domestically and while there is experimentation with other beverages and imported wines, we still have a strong core group of Australian wine consumers.

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There are also some positive signs within the domestic wine sector. Recent Nielsen data indicated that Riesling in the $20-30 retail price bracket was in growth to the tune of 20% moving annual total (MAT). Encouragingly, Chardonnay in the same price bracket was showing 8.5% growth MAT. Bringing back the energy and excitement about Australian wine will ensure our ‘followers’ return with vigour and that new consumers will be enticed to experience what is great about Australian wine.

It is for this reason that the Australian wine community needs to stand up and show domestic consumers that there is more to discover about Australian wine.

As an industry, we are extremely proactive in singing our virtues in key export markets and there is no reason why we should not be doing this in our own country.

Wine Australia recognises the need to focus on domestic marketing in the future. My role as regional director - Australia and emerging markets, was created for this reason to develop and implement marketing programs aimed at rejuvenating the domestic market.

In discussions with industry in the past 12 months, it became clear that the wine sector wanted Wine Australia to place a greater focus on activities in the domestic market and plans are well under way to deliver an innovative domestic marketing program aimed at recapturing the excitement of the Australian category.

One of the initiatives already generating fantastic interest is the A+ Australian Wine Celebration, which is happening in April 2012.

The A+ Australian Wine Celebration is an opportunity for the Australian wine community to come together to collectively promote the quality, diversity and value of our wine – in our home market.

For consumers, there will be a dynamic mix of events and celebrations across Australia encouraging them to discover more about Australian wine. At the end of November, around 60 events across a huge range of wine regions and capital cities had registered to be a part of the celebration.

The initiative provides consumers with a great opportunity to celebrate the great wine created in their own backyard. For regions and wine brands, it provides direct access to consumers, and involvement in events and opportunities that form part of an overall celebration of Australian wine.

Other domestic initiatives developed for early 2012 include initiating online activity to encourage Australians to drink our own wine on Australia Day; involvement in the South Australian Cellar Door Festival, in Adelaide, in February; support for the hugely popular Tasting Australia event, in April/May; and involvement in the Noosa International Food and Wine Festival, in May. There will be an increased investment in developing exclusive and innovative consumer programs, as well as a focus on targetting the millennial generation. Activities will include further enhancement and use of Wine Australia’s new consumer website www.apluswines. com; involvement in consumer food and wine festivals; and a focus on using social media to communicate and encourage a new domestic audience.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

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ASVO

Positive results from recent winemaking seminar and AGM

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

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n 22 November 2011, the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology (ASVO) held its annual winemaking seminar, followed by its annual general meeting (AGM). A total of 120 delegates attended the seminar, with people travelling from throughout Australia to participate. Standout presentations included those by Peter Hayman, who spoke about how last season's weather ranked among historical norms, especially considering that the incredibly wet summer was followed by a relatively dry winter; AWRI’s Con Simos, who discussed the various kits that are available for laccase testing; David Morrison, Peter Fraser and Jacques Lurton, who compared their experiences with sorting fruit prior to crushing, particularly in relation to the potential to remove disease-affected fruit from the must (Peter Fraser's comments on the changes in wine flavour profiles as a result of using a vibrating sorting table were especially engaging, and I am sure his proceedings paper will be one to look out for); Bala, who gave an interesting profile of how harvest decisions are managed in New Zealand, with its fine balance between maturity versus disease pressure, and risk versus value. The panel discussion during the last session of the workshop - ably chaired by Paul Henry - also created lively debate, particularly with the input from the international speakers. The ASVO is looking to continue this format for future seminars.

The conference proceedings are currently being compiled, and will be distributed electronically in the first quater of 2012. Planning has also commenced for next year’s seminars. ASVO members, please watch your inbox for a survey asking what you would like to see.

At the AGM, we were pleased to be able to announce the election of Samantha Connew and Alan Hoey to the board, as well as the re-election of Mark Gishen, Greg Dunn and myself. There was a strong field of 13 candidates and the ASVO thanks everyone who nominated for a role. Thanks are also due to Liz Waters, who acted as secretary for the past two years, and Corrina Wright, who both stepped down as board members at the recent election.

Please approach any of our board members directly or when you meet them as part of your normal work, if you have any concerns or suggestions about the direction of the society – or, if you are interested in joining.

The new office bearers for 2012 were also decided: I have replaced Mark Krstic as president; Alan Hoey is vice-president; Bob Dambergs is secretary; and Mark Gishen will continue as treasurer. Continuing as a board member, Mark Krstic has led the society through a difficult transition period and all members are grateful for the energy and foresight he has shown in driving a number of difficult decisions regarding our administrative structure. He has also established a series of strategic

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At the AGM, the ASVO board was also pleased to announce an operating surplus for the first year since 2006. This is a direct result of the board working hard on behalf of members to ensure that the society remains operational and active. We have also begun to replenish our financial reserves, especially due to the voluntary donations that have been preserved. These will provide a valuable buffer in the event that a seminar or other project turns out to be less successful than expected. The improvement in the society’s financial position has been due to a move to outsourcing both its administrative support and conference management. It is acknowledged that during these changes, not all members have received the level of support that they would like. However, many would have met Chris Waters (our new administration manager) at either the seminar or the AGM. Please feel free to contact him if you have any questions or concerns regarding your society membership (details are available at www.asvo.com.au/contact).

Expanding the ASVO membership base to the broader Australian wine industry, particularly outside of South Australia, will become a major focus for the new board.

Integral to this objective is the challenge of ASVO staying in touch and of value to all members around the country.

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Did things go wrong or are they just evolving?

Applying 2020 hindsight to Strategy 2025

By Tony Keys

Tony Keys questions whether the Australian wine industry is at a turning point in its evolution, or if the cogs are about to engage a different gearing, sending it off in a new direction.

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here did it all go wrong? It’s a question many involved in both the past and present business of wine ask of themselves and others.

Note that I say ‘wine’, not Australian wine production, UK retailing or any single aspect of the business.

Even with the benefit of hindsight, it’s hard to identify defined periods in time or, indeed, episodes that could be said to be ‘the definitive turning point’.

What this really leads to is the big question, ‘Was there ever a turning point?’

Is not the production of wine constantly changing, markets moving and retailing evolving? Growers need producers who,

If studying the modern Australian industry, a point of interest and debate would be Strategy 2025, released in June 1996. In hindsight, the most important statement was the disclaimer which included, ‘Scenario values are based on uncertain assumptions and estimates and, hence, can be relied on for illustrative purposes only’.

The Strategy was a product of its time; it was also parochially Australian in the sense that it promoted and played to the Australian quality of optimism.

Many readers of the Strategy took it as ‘the future’, rather than a ‘vision of the future’.

......It was the particular failure of the Howard Government and WFA in 1998 and 1999 to reform the taxation of the wine industry that led to the obnoxious compromise creation of WET and the WET rebate. in turn, need growers. Producers need retailers but, as there is a surplus of one and a shortage of the other in the 21st century, retailers do not need producers as much as producers often think they do.

All parties need consumers, and as retailers are closer to customers than producers, they understand them better (but try telling a producer that). Note that at this point, growers have dropped out of the scenario; is this fair or just? No, but it’s factual. For example, in many consumers’ view, it’s the supermarket that sells wonderful tasting carrots. The farm or country that the carrots originated from is mostly irrelevant to these buyers.

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Stephen Shelmerdine, of Shelmerdine Vineyards, Heathcote and Yarra Valley, was WFA president from December 1994 to October 1997. He says, “Strategy 2025 was a roadmap, not a blueprint.

However, the history of the Strategy 2025 document is more complex than any article could cover.

“The origins do go back to the Federal election victory of Keating in March 1993 (after Keating had successfully campaigned against Hewson’s Fightback program).

“Having defeated Hawke and then Hewson, Keating exiled Crean (his arch enemy) to the Primary Industry portfolio W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

(including wine). In the August 1993 budget, Keating and Dawkins announced (for reasons never fully explained) a massive increase in taxation on wine, overnight. Crean claimed he knew nothing in advance about this increase.

“WFA campaigned against this increase and, eventually, in October 1993, a ‘Heads of Agreement’ was signed by its then president Brian Croser and Minister Dawkins. This agreement included various phased tax increases, depreciation on new vineyards allowances, and export market development incentives.

“The key promise was for an Industry Assistance Commission (IAC) review of the wine industry to address issues such as taxation. This review (with IAC chair Bill Scales, Professor John Freebairn and Brian Croser as commissioners) ran for 18 months.

“WFA’s Economic and Social Policy committee responded throughout the review process and, in the rejection of the shallow and unimaginative Industry Commission Report recommendations, devised Strategy 2025.

“The intent of Strategy 2025 was clearly enunciated: that this was a view of the industry’s potential - out one generation - to 2025. It viewed Australia to be ‘the most profitable and influential wine industry’.

“Strategy 2025 was launched deliberately at the inaugural Wine Australia conference, in Sydney, in 1996.

The failure of the industry to build Wine Australia into the Southern Hemisphere’s equivalent of Vinexpo is another story of wasted opportunity and short-sighted anti-Victorian bigotry.

“The reform of the industry could have proceeded (including tax reform) V27N1

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from then, but was stalled in the political process and the mirage of the (then) ever-expanding export horizon.

“It was the particular failure of the Howard Government and WFA in 1998 and 1999 to reform the taxation of the wine industry that led to the obnoxious compromise creation of WET and the WET rebate. Let it not be forgotten that there would be no WET rebate if there was no WET tax in the first place.

“Equally, in 2008 and 2009 the Rudd Government and the process-corrupted Henry Tax Review failed to address tax reform of the wine and alcoholic beverage issues,” Shelmerdine said.

In 1996, John Quirk was consulting to wineries in Victoria and Western Australia.

Quirk said, “The Strategy 2025 process would have engaged the ‘brightest and best’ names in the industry at the time (but it is so far back that I forget who they were) and, no doubt, engaged in consultation with many players in the industry. So, it had a fair bit of intellectual input. Readers such as you [TK] and I (during a period of fantastic growth and optimism) could not have helped but to have been swept up in the optimism. So, I don’t blame anybody in the industry for being wildly optimistic about the future at

the time of release of the Strategy 2025 document.

“I realise that a lot of it now looks like hubris, but no-one ever calls actions, attitudes and swagger until after the event. At the time of its release, the Australian wine industry was on a roll and awash with orders.

We all believed that we controlled our destiny, whether by good product, good marketing, competing against Old World producers who seemed to be flat-footed as we stole their customers, or by our seductive powers with UK and US supermarket buyers.

But, we were ahead of ourselves. Our export boom only started in 1986 and, in building a brand (Brand Australia, Grange, Gillette, Coca-Cola, etc), the most important ingredient is time… easy to forget when you are on a roll.

Don’t blame the vision, blame human nature!

“The things that have floored the industry are largely two ‘uncontrollable’ factors. The first is investment in viticulture driven by tax benefits for (mostly) wealthy Australians. Now, some of this was encouraged by shrewd wine companies who were happy to offload

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‘agriculture risk’ to someone else, and to quarantine investment funds and build a bigger/better winery or invest in marketing (market development or brand development). So, while the wine industry was not entirely blameless in the rampant vineyard investment from the mid-1990s, it was over-run by an ‘external’ force it could not control.

“The other uncontrollable factor, of course, was the exchange rate. I think we all thought that we could live with an Australian dollar below 40 pence and US75c. I don’t recall any economist telling Australian export industries to plan for the A$ at 62-63 pence or US$1.10.

“We heard what we wanted to hear and few industry players in the mid-1990s would have set up a safety net. Overseas travel was exciting, and Australian wine producers and marketers got to travel to lots of interesting places to sell a few cases of wine, often at a loss… but who cared? The Export Market Development Grant scheme rebated a nice proportion of your export-related expenditures. See how seductive it all was? When you are being seduced, you ▶ stop thinking with your brains!

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“I believe we would be in this position today without Strategy 2025.

As was pointed out earlier this year in a Key Report, canny operators like Alistair Purbrick no longer have an export-focussed business and he has been able to retreat and still hold his business together, but there was a time when Alistair was at all the overseas wine shows promoting his brand.

Fortunately, he probably called the retreat earlier than many others. So, even good operators bought the dream in the mid-1990s. It would have been un-Australian not to do so,” Quirk said.

As can be seen from Quirk and Shelmerdine’s comments, in no way did the authors of Strategy 2025 mean for it to deceive. However, the way readers interpreted it was often reckless. One sentence it contained that many would have skipped over at the time was, ‘There is a remarkable agreement amongst today’s economists, sociologists and intellectuals that the world is on the brink of an era of massive and unprecedented change’.

It’s an all-encompassing statement and properly put in as dressing. In retrospection, the world has changed, not only quicker, but more drastically than even those prophesied words anticipated. World events aside, the '90s saw a renewed financial interest in wine production. At the same time, the retailing of wine was changing in the UK and the power of critic Robert Parker was on the rise in the US. China?

China was someplace else and not yet considered of any consequence for wine consumption.

The financial interest grew from Australian wine export success (at the time mainly to the UK), which enthused many to believe Strategy 2025 was, in fact, a blueprint and not a roadmap.

Can any one of the following financial transactions be considered a turning point? Did it all start to go wrong with the merging of Penfold’s and Lindemans, the growth of Southcorp, the swoop of Constellation Brands on BRL Hardy, or Lion Nathan on Petaluma and Banksia Wines? Perhaps it was Rosemount taking over Southcorp, or Foster’s buying Mildara Blass, then Beringer Wine Estates and, finally, acquiring Southcorp?

Again, argument can be put forward for and against some mergers and/ or acquisitions. However, the world of wine is not centred on Australia. To the French wine industry’s surprise and slow acceptance, nor is it centred on them. At the same time (for better or for worse) Australian mergers and acquisitions were taking place,

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It should be no surprise that, globally, Australian wine sales rose and are currently in decline.

It is a surprise that many involved in the Australian industry believe it should not be happening.

Australian wine sales in the UK were reaching giddy heights. The trouble was, it was mainly wines at the popular cheaper end of the price spectrum. Exports to America were increasing as the UK was reaching a peak. This was a blessing for many producers, as the initial US attraction was higher prices. At first, the range of quality wines going into the US was broad but, then, the influence of Robert Parker increased with the highest points having a tendency to go to rich, high alcohol styles. At the other end of the quality spectrum, aptly-named ‘critter wines’ were gaining popularity. There was also a short-lived wine investment angle.

The two polarising styles of wine would, in time, like the UK consumer perception, lead to the pigeonholing of Australia, leaving many of the better or interesting wines sidelined.

As much as is included in this article, there is a great deal more left out. Like Newton’s cradle; lifting and releasing one sphere will send the force through the line of separating spheres and push the last one upward. Each incident, whether political, production, marketing or financial, has had a counter action. It has not always been predictable or always bad. Unlike Newton’s cradle, often and inexplicably, it’s a ball in the middle that has shot sideways.

Australian wine did not go as well as was predicted in certain markets (e.g., Germany, Japan). Unfortunately, any warning signs of failure were ignored.

The success and optimism gained from successful markets relegated failure to the too-hard basket. Vineyard plantings were increasing, mainly Chardonnay and Shiraz, and the rest of the grapegrowing world was observing the Australian success. Chile started to lift its game and South African wine was being accepted after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990. New Zealand was gaining favour and Old World producers were making an effort to retrieve lost markets.

So, the global evolution of wine continues.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

China is not only an emerging market; it’s also an emerging producer as, indeed, is India. Both countries have had success for their product in the 2011 Decanter wine awards.

Theoretically, if weather patterns continue to change, could the quality and quantity of English sparkling wine take global market share from the (perhaps) declining quality of champagne in the next 50-100 years?

Australia went into oversupply without the safety net for excess production that European producers have. It was a lesson learned at home, but it should also have been a lesson that should have been taken note of by New Zealand. It did not and now finds itself in a mess. If there is any linking theme to this article, it is national pride. Any wine-producing nation believes it makes the best wine in the world.

Consequently, the rest of the world wants to drink their wine, not one of the inferior products. Earlier this year, with reported global oversupply of wine and the lessons that Australia and New Zealand should offer, Chilean winemaker Luis Felipe Edwards Jr. was advocating that Chile increase its planting program.

Think of any country’s wine production as a cog, and its wine retailing system as another, with consumers a third.

Picture those cogs sometimes coming into alignment. Australian wine retailers, primarily in the UK, US and Canada, and consumers in those countries synchronised from the mid-1990s to around 2006. Since then, the cogs have been disengaging. It should be no surprise that, globally, Australian wine sales rose and are currently in decline.

It is a surprise that many involved in the Australian industry believe it should not be happening.

The Australian wine industry will continue to evolve, even if that means shrinking. But, can any past incident - financial, viticultural, wine style, marketing or retailing - be identified as a turning point or, worse, deemed to be ‘where it all went wrong?’

It is plain to see that the Australian industry is at a turning point, or the cogs are about to re-engage in a different gearing. What is harder to understand is why, in the 21st century, with the benefits of lessons learned - not only our own, but of others - plus the realisation that the majority of wine production is now a service industry to the world’s supermarkets, is it taking so long? My theory is that some simply refuse to make an effort to understand any more than their own patch. They do not understand – or they refuse to understand – the whole picture. It seems there are still too many WVJ questions and not enough answers.

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Evaluating the data and discussion in Wine, Terroir and Climate Change

By Richard Smart

To coincide with this issue’s focus on ‘Industry Sustainability’, we asked Richard Smart to present his thoughts on John Gladstones’ book Wine, Terroir and Climate Change, which was released early last year. Smart argues Gladstones’ discussion on the components of terroir ignores the human and social environment, and he is uncomfortable with Gladstones’ manipulation of temperature data and his views on climate change.

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n the preface to Wine, Terroir and Climate Change, John Gladstones states that the impetus for his latest book arose from a paper delivered at a terroir conference at the University of California, in 2006. He considered from the conference that there was a need for more review of the concept of terroir, and the book is the result. Further, he considered that “the concept of terroir was becoming overshadowed by fears of drastic climate change” and, so, he also included this consideration. From personal discussion, I was aware that Gladstones could be considered a climate change sceptic and, so, I wondered how this issue would be treated, but more on that later.

In my opinion, Gladstones has given the components of terroir a good review, concentrating on temperature and other climate components, geography, topography and soil, the below-ground environment, vine balances and management, nutrition and geology and soil type. There are aspects of vineyard terroir that I think are well-presented and well-referenced, and I believe the author’s arguments are quite sound. These chapters would be useful reading for someone wanting a scientific understanding of the components of vineyard terroir.

However, Gladstones ignores the human and social environment. Professor Warren Moran, Emeritus Professor of Geography at Auckland University, believes that the human factor is an important component of terroir. See, for example, http://www.nicks.com.au/Index.aspx?link_id=76.565 and The Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal (the former name of the Wine & Viticulture Journal), Volume 16 (2001), pages 32-51. I share Moran’s opinion that terroir cannot be separated from human influences, especially as the notion has developed in France, where the human influence is so notable. Moran was a keynote speaker at the same University of California Davis conference at which Gladstones presented.

I am in agreement with Gladstones in that temperature has a pivotal role in viticulture, and wine style and quality.

This is because it has a predominant influence on vine phenology and physiology. He spends a good part of the book repeating and justifying his method of temperature analysis, that was in his first book, Viticulture and Environment.

I have always been uncomfortable with his treatment of temperature data, especially where mean temperatures are capped at 19°C in calculating his ‘biologically-effective degree days’. This means that cooler wine regions can have the same ‘effective degree days’ in mid-summer as a hot region, a concept which I find difficult to embrace, and to relate to my experiences with vineyards and wine.

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Figure 1. Mean monthly temperatures for Launceston (LST), Coonawarra (CWRA), Nuriootpa (NURI) and Renmark (REN).

I do not understand why this concept has not been more questioned by viticultural climatologists. Certainly, in my experience of searching for temperature homoclimes, the Gladstones index has limited utility, unless one considers cool regions only where the 19°C ‘cap’ does not apply. In fact, I find the chapter about temperature effects on vines and terroir largely a justification of Gladstones’ manipulations of temperature data.

To illustrate my point, I have calculated Gladstones’ ‘biologically-effective degree days’, or BEDD, for four Australian viticultural regions - Launceston, Coonawarra, Barossa (Nuriootpa) and Renmark - using Bureau of Meteorology climate data from www.bom.gov.au. I compared these values to the normally calculated heat degree days (HDD). HDD are calculated for each month by calculating the monthly mean ((max+min)÷2), and multiplying this value by day number per month, giving degree Celsius days. For Gladstones’ index, if the monthly mean value is more than 19.0°C, the mean is set at 19°C. Then, the mean value is multiplied by the day number per month.

The mean values that are ‘capped’ at 19°C tend to obviously be the warmer summer months. This occurred for no months at Launceston, two in Coonawarra, three at Nuriootpa, and five at Renmark. Figures 1, 2 and 3 (page 16) show plots of mean temperature, and HDD and BEDD for September to April for the four locations. The plot of mean monthly temperatures in Figure 1 shows the expected temperature gradation for each month, from Renmark ‘hot’ to Launceston ‘cool’. The curves are more or less parallel. In Figure 2, the HDD per month are shown, and the values for February show a deflection downwards, due to 28 days per month, fewer than for January and March (31 days). ▶

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Figure 2. Heat degree days per month for the same locations.

Figure 3. Biologically-effective heat degree days per month for the same locations. Note how the values for warmer regions are truncated for summer months compared with Figure 2.

Figure 3 shows the effect of temperature capping at 19°C for BEDD due to Gladstones’ index. Values for January and February for all four regions are similar (mean temperatures of 18.2°C and 18.3°C, respectively, for Launceston) and close to the 19°C cap set by Gladstones, which all other regions use. For my part, I find it hard to accept in either a viticultural or oenological sense that Launceston temperature conditions are close to that of the Coonawarra in January and February which, in turn, is exactly the same as Barossa and Renmark.

This is the reason I felt discomfort with this index. I think similar value numbers should yield similar effects on the vines and wines.

I would have hoped for more of a review of known temperature effects on vines and wines in the book, linking to concepts of terroir. I would have thought that an inter- and intra-regional comparison of temperatures, vine phenology and wine style and quality would be essential here, and a necessary component to justify claims that temperature is so important.

There have been significant developments in the availability of climate data since the publication of Gladstones’ first book Viticulture and Environment, in 1992. These are especially in GIS software and in the nowcommon availability of so-called ‘gridded’ climate data. Once, climate data analysis was restricted to climate-recording stations, but this has now changed. Climatologists have developed methods to predict climates in between recording stations, with resolution for rainfall and temperature of 2.5km, for example, with Bureau of Meteorology data.

Recent publications, for example, about global warming and viticulture, present data in this format, but not so Gladstones.

In fact, I did not see any reference to such procedures in his book. In reviewing the soil environment, Gladstones makes an interesting case for hormonal control of fruit ripening,

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which can explain some observed and significant effects of vine response to soil conditions. For many, including me, ‘terroir’ effects at the mesoscale can be mostly explained by variation in soil attributes, especially those to do with water supply to the vine. The hormone ABA may have a useful regulating role here, as suggested by Gladstones.

Many studies over the last decade or so have shown the relationship between soil attributes, vine attributes and fruit and wine composition using GIS and so-called precision viticulture. Several companies in Australia and overseas are taking advantage of such technology for differential harvesting to improve quality.

Now, we come to the vexed issue of climate change. Most chapters in the book are around 10 or so pages, but the one on climate change is 55 pages! Gladstones obviously has a point-of-view to express here, which he summarises as: “...warming by anthropogenic greenhouse gases has been much over-estimated. The widely publicised claims of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have depended too much on computer models, unable to encompass the complexity of real climates; on uncertain data, dubious assumptions and, in some key cases, biased statistical procedures; and particularly on ignoring the historical record of past climate warmth”.

These are strong words, and defiant ones at that, making such charges against the ideas of the majority of climate scientists around the world. One might also say brave. There is no doubt that Gladstones puts his own point-of-view, rather than even-handedly reviewing current literature on the subject. I have problems with this approach, and the conclusions, which seem self-serving. I am not sure why Gladstones did not publish his thoughts on climate change elsewhere, say, in a relevant climate science journal, rather than presenting a one-sided point-of-view in what is effectively a book on viticulture. This part of the book seemed to me to be really out of place. If Gladstones were to consider terroir from a climate change perspective, he might at least have discussed the implications for terroir of climate change postulated by climate scientists, which many think is the most important issue facing the viticultural world.

But, no, Gladstones chose to refute IPCC findings, and does not discuss their substantial implications for terroir effects. Coonawarra wine styles becoming like those of the Barossa, and the Barossa like those of the Riverland...these ideas, so important for the Australian wine sector and its future, are not discussed, nor are the overseas equivalents.

I do believe in IPCC and other scientific concern for climate change and, for that reason, I organised the successful Climate Change Colloquium at the 2007 Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference. That event should have been a wake-up call for the Australian wine sector, but it was not, and we have seen little leadership from peak organisations on the issue. This is the time for industry restructuring, and surely climate change must be considered.

In conclusion, this book is a mixed bag. A large part of it is concerned with the apparent justification and repetition of Gladstones’ method for analysing temperature data for viticultural regions, much of which was presented in his first book. In my opinion, the large emphasis in the book discounting climate science consensus about global warming is out of place. Why present such arguments in a book on terroir? I hoped for comment about how climate change would affect notions of terroir, rather than a debunking of climate change. This is a substantial issue and, in my WVJ opinion, the greatest viticultural matter of this century.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

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A W R I

Opportunities to improve winemaking profitability

By Dr. Vince O’Brien and Dr. Dan Johnson The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, SA 5064 Email: vince.obrien@awri.com.au

Managing director Dan Johnson

A team of process experts at The Australian Wine Research Institute is offering a paradigm shift for grape and wine producers competing in a crowded global market. The approach is highly practical and focussed on efficiency, drawing on the team’s collective years of experience in technical winemaking and advanced manufacturing methods.

This article is based on a presentation delivered to generate discussion at the Crush 2011 wine science symposium held in Adelaide on 28-30 September at the National Wine Centre and the Waite Campus of The University of Adelaide .

I

f the Australian wine industry was a restaurant, it would be employing some of the world’s leading chefs.

Their creations would be worthy of Michelin stars, and recognised globally.

The problem is that our ‘restaurant’ has competition, located directly alongside our shopfront. The competition also employs outstanding ‘chefs’, but with much lower labour costs. The result is that our restaurant is losing money. So, our industry is not flourishing, despite our reputation for excellence, capacity for innovation and ability to deliver quality.

The wine industry is not alone. A number of sectors – from hospitality to manufacturing – have experienced and survived similar competitive pressures.

The car industry, for example, continues to see global realignment as both New and Old World economies jockey for position.

The wine industry must learn from the thinking that has transformed successful manufacturing companies’ practices over the past two decades. That thinking comes down to one key concept that is well-known to marketing strategists, as well as process experts.

The concept is this: maximisea product's worth to the consumer and seek, development and apply the most cost-effective ways to meet this market demand. This poses several questions: • What does the market want?

• How can we create a process – or value chain – that delivers?

• How can we deliver, and make money?

Traditionally, many Australian wine producers have tended to make outstanding wine and, then, rely on promotional efforts to target and build

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market share. This approach is effective when competition is scarce, and the market values outstanding quality.

Unfortunately, to many wine consumers, the product’s value proposition is not immediately apparent, in contrast to buying clothes or a car.

Many wine consumers know little about wine. A number of research studies – conducted by the AWRI and other research bodies – show that in blind tastings, consumer preference is driven by experience and engagement, and that most consumers lack sufficient appreciation for outstanding quality.

The less informed consumer, making up the majority, is more likely to be driven by a general preference for sweet, fruity wines.

The more consumers know about wine, the more likely they are to recognise and dislike wine faults and appreciate quality attributes, such as flavour intensity, complexity and mouthfeel.

An approach to winery costreduction strategies We will outline the paradigm of what consumers value, to highlight opportunities to improve profitability through cutting production cost; ‘consumer value’ being product attributes that a customer is prepared to pay for. This same thinking can be used in efforts to improve profitability though ‘premiumisation’ or generate niche markets; for example, using process expertise to create identified product attributes and increase profitability through increased sale prices.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

Except for the very small market segments that buy iconic and ultra-premium wines, price is always a purchasing criterion.

Consequently, successful businesses will seek to maximise customer value and minimise production cost.

Consumer research results have the potential to be confronting. A wine that is appealing to the trained and experienced palates of Australia’s dedicated winemakers would not necessarily be the preference of the majority of consumers that like sweet, fruity wines. Depending on why you are in business, the challenge for winemakers is to design wine styles that may not be to their preference, or only invest resources in the production of attributes that meet the preferred profile of the target market. Are there opportunities to reduce winemaking costs by limiting resource use to create wines with attributes that many consumers prefer?

The AWRI’s process experts have been trained to identify how to align production operations with the creation of product worth at minimal cost. Indeed, as process experts who have worked in the mining and car industries, its team is focussed on knowing where dollars can be spent, and saved, at every stage of the production process.

The approach is simple, setting out to deliver maximum customer value, with minimal waste, where value is defined as an attribute for which a customer will pay. Experience has taught us that of all the tasks performed in manufacturing industries, typically only 5% add to the value of the raw materials they process.

However, the most successful, advanced manufacturing companies operate at percentages significantly higher than this.

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Figure 1. Example of relative winery operations input costs for a medium-sized winery, used to highlight that a 10% improvement in some inputs will generate much larger bottom-line savings.

In some wine companies, less than 5% of all activity is value–adding.

Benchmarking work conducted in some wineries has shown us that there is significant opportunity to cut costs and increase profitability.

Improving profitability requires more than mere efficiency. Our thinking goes beyond bargaining

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for better deals on grapes, glass or labelling.

Our approach, as process experts, requires interrogation of the steps taken to produce wine. Across every step, we ask: ‘Why, and how?’ Why is this step necessary, and how does it relate directly to market need?

Our findings, to date, have revealed

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

some obvious targets. Consumers do not want to pay a premium incurred due to costs attached to waiting or under-productivity by production people or equipment; equipment sitting idle is an unused resource, and people paid to wait, or unable to use their skills or expertise to generate value, undermine cost-efficiency. ▶

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A W R I

eyes from grapes through the production process as a whole, grape production is a key area to consider.

Three potential strategies could be used to improve profitability in grape production from a process optimisation perspective. First, is the maximum use of low-cost grapes as ‘fillers’ in wine styles that are specifically tailored to meet consumer taste preference profiles. New processing technologies, such as Ferment Aroma Capture, have the potential to assist in extracting maximum benefit from lowcost fruit by enhancing flavour and aroma through back additions.

This complements a focus on higher yields in the vineyard itself – our second recommendation when targetting reduced cost in grape production, and this may require a different approach to irrigation, pruning regimes and trellis design. While some market segments, varieties and wine styles require low vineyard yields, this principle does not necessarily apply to all market segments.

Finally, the cost-saving strategy advocates wine styles that allow minimal separation of press fractions and less conservatism in the cuts required.

The outcome is grape juice at a lower cost – an important saving when producing

Similarly, queues of material can be minimised, along with scrap or the need to correct errors. Transportation is also an area of opportunity, with the potential to reduce transport distance, cost and time.

Finally, we are also able to identify cases of over-processing and over-production – where effort and resources are invested in creating wines that the market does not necessarily want or need in that brand’s market segment and price point.

As Figure 1 illustrates (see page 19), grape production and packaging account for the largest areas of expense in wine production. Just a 5-10% saving in one or both of these areas stands to make a significant financial impact on overall profitability, compared with efficiency measures in other areas. While there are significant opportunities to save cost through reducing power, development work conducted by our process experts demonstrates that focussing on grapes and value-chain analysis may produce bigger savings.

Extracting more value from grapes If the aim is to identify how we can maximise value creation in the consumer’s

wines that meet customer demand in some market segments. Any risk of product quality lost through applying these initiatives could be off-set by implementing new process technology.

As mentioned, one such technology is called Ferment Aroma Capture. During fermentation, 10,000 litres of grape juice emit some 500,000L of carbon dioxide, accompanied by other compounds that play a key role in determining wine flavour and aroma. The AWRI process experts have demonstrated technology to ‘add back’ those compounds lost through the fermentation process, enhancing the sensory and aromatic qualities of wines.

Scientists at the AWRI have also demonstrated that winemakers are not capitalising on the full potential of flavour and aroma precursors in grapes. Very little of the available flavour and aroma precursor compounds in grapes are actually released to add value to the wine.

Research is demonstrating improvement opportunities, such as increasing the length of time between mechanical harvesting and pressing, to increase the generation of tropical thiols during fermentation, or the use of yeasts proven to release more flavour-active compounds.

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For further information, please contact Kauri NZ Ltd. NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 NZ Fax: 04 910 7415 AUS Fax: 1800 127 609 Email: winery@kauri.co.nz Web: www.kauriwine.com

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A W R I

Figure 2. Oxygen diffusion rate into a sealed tank evacuated with carbon dioxide at time t=0 days.

Value stream analysis In order to work out where efficiency savings can be made, process experts use ‘value-stream analysis’ to evaluate where opportunities lie to eliminate waste in a production process. Any activities that do not transform raw materials or information are not adding value. The higher the ratio of value adding to non-value adding activities, the better business efficiency will be.

The value-stream analysis should include value-stream mapping, process mapping and strategic analysis activities to align resource use with value as perceived by the customer.

Value-stream mapping draws a visual presentation of every process in the material, and information flows from the customer to the raw material supplies. This provides a platform for assessment of whether the workflows are optimal. Process mapping is a more detailed assessment of the tasks involved in each process and whether there are opportunities to eliminate waste.

A value-stream analysis conducted on a medium-sized winery highlighted wine transfer operations as a significant source of waste. Finished wines were often transferred eight times, simply to avoid tanks being left ‘on ullage’. Wine transfer costs, such as staff time, wine losses, cleaning chemicals and wastewater generation, are all waste as they add no value to the consumer. Research is under way by AWRI Commercial Services to develop improved technology, so that wine can be safely stored in ullaged tanks. Part of this work investigated the effectiveness of powdered CO2 in removing and keeping oxygen out of the ullage space.

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The research demonstrated that not only does CO2 dissolve in the wine, creating a vacuum resulting in airflow into the ullage space – it also showed it is a misconception that CO2 creates a fully effective barrier over the wine (see Figure 2). In the meantime, wineries seeking to reduce transfers between tanks can do so by producing fewer quality categories and product types, and by blending earlier in the value chain.

In the wine industry – as in any industry – it is essential to understand what customers value; value being a product’s attributes for which customers are prepared to pay. This enables wineries empowered with this information to build additional value into their products targeting increased market share or sales prices, and to reduce cost through eliminating resource use that does not create value. This article has focussed on opportunities to improve profitability through identification and reduction of waste in production, and through the use of lower cost resources which still deliver a wine with high consumer appeal. It is important to state that this is not the whole story, as consumers buy into more than just the contents of a bottle. Other product attributes, such as its brand image and perception, are also a critical factor to consider. While this subject is not covered in this article, the same principles can be applied - ensuring the whole package presented to the market place is aligned with what consumers value.

Acknowledgement The Australian Wine Research Institute is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster. The authors thank Sharon Mascall and Rae Blair for their editorial assistance.

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

www.seguinmoreau-icone.com Graeme Little

Mobile: +61 (0)437 060 943 glittle@seguinmoreau.com.au

Dan Eggleton

Mobile: +61 (0)438 824 493 deggleton@seguinmoreau.com.au SEGUIN MOREAU AUSTRALIA Post Office Box 5 Hindmarsh, South Australia 5007 Tel.: +61 (0)8 8340 5400 Fax: +61 (0)8 8340 5401 admin@seguinmoreau.com.au

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What’s old is new again in refrigeration efficiency

By Mark Holden, Director, Business Development and Engineering, Oomiak

With rising energy costs, there would be few winery operators in Australia who wouldn’t be looking at ways to reduce their consumption. But, where do you start, and is there any new technology that can assist?

T

he rising cost of electricity and gas, coupled with the impact of the carbon tax and the requirement for many businesses to report on their energy usage, ensures that finding ways to improve energy efficiency remains a critical discussion topic for all business.

With refrigeration generally consuming 50%-70% of a winery’s energy, it is not surprising that in any discussions about improving the energy efficiency of a winery, the focus is on refrigeration. While it is refrigeration relating to the winemaking process that is predominately reflected in the significant energy consumption, there remains a significant refrigeration requirement to serve cellaring, barrel storage and office air-conditioning.

So, where should you start if you are really focussed on reducing your winery’s energy consumption, and what is new to assist? Refrigeration plant efficiency has been a strong topic of discussion for more than 10 years. In that time, we have seen the development and implementation of a wide range of new technologies and improved equipment efficiencies. We have also seen the construction of new wineries designed around these technologies.

.......Not all efficiency improvements are costly or difficult to implement and, when planned, can also be incorporated as part of ongoing replacement or expansion activities, thereby further reducing the cost of implementation.

While much of the initial activity was led by big business that could afford to take a long-term view to investment in efficiency, we have since seen the price of such technology come down and the range of energy efficient equipment broaden to make smaller facilities and retrofit projects financially viable.

Knowing what you want achieve from any project is a significant start to meeting your objective. Understanding your refrigeration needs and how you currently meet them will allow you to effectively plan the reduction of energy consumed by refrigeration and, as is often the case, deliver a better operational outcome.

Not all efficiency improvements are costly or difficult to implement and, when planned, can also be incorporated as part of ongoing replacement or expansion activities, thereby further reducing the cost of implementation.

Critical approach to assessing your refrigeration system and where to look for opportunities When considering how to assess and improve the efficiency of your facility, it is important to work through the process in an order that will ensure any investment you make is consistent with your needs, both current and future. For that, we recommend the following approach.

System design Tremendous opportunities to influence energy efficiency can be found in an analysis of the refrigeration system design compared with the needs of your business. This must include: • a thorough understanding of the site process requirements, including load profiles, processing temperatures and winery layout

Low power, high performance air conditioning Climate Wizard is a completely new category of cooling – a highperformance, indirect, evaporative air conditioner. It uses the same principles as traditional (direct) evaporative cooling, but does not add water to the air as it cools. This means that Climate Wizard’s cooling performance can rival that of refrigerated systems, using up to 80% less energy. Climate Wizard is suitable for use in switch rooms, barrel cellars, plant rooms, bottling halls and bottling line rooms. Capable of being retrofitted to existing air conditioning systems enabling it to introduce more fresh air while reducing energy consumption of the existing system, Climate Wizard is also suitable as air conditioning in offices.

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• assessment of all product from coolant to heat exchange equipment, including tank jackets, spears, must and juice chilling, etc • secondary glycol cooling infrastructure (where utilised), including pipework, pumps and control • primary refrigeration cooling plant.

An energy efficient refrigeration system should be designed to: • achieve the required product conditions with the highest possible evaporating temperature (increasing compressor efficiency) • operate with the lowest realistic operating condensing temperature (reducing compressor energy consumption for the same output) • minimise compressor stop/start, particularly at periods of low load • consider the splitting of large refrigeration loads working at different operating conditions, such as crushing versus cold stabilisation, barrel store conditioning, etc (higher temperature loads can be met more efficiently with chillers operating at higher conditions) • minimise pumping distances for secondary refrigerants and unnecessary line losses (reduces pump energy input and parasitic loads) • consider refrigerant choice (for highest operating plant COP– coefficient of performance) • avoid or eliminate the use of liquid injection oil cooling on screw compressors (these are parasitic loads and affect compressor efficiency)

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An evaporative condenser with variable speed drives for fan and floating condensing pressure control.

Voltage Optimisation Technology

• utilise VSD (variable speed drives) on pumps, fans and compressors (to optimise operational performance and control of selected equipment across all operating load conditions) • take advantage of heat reclaim from the refrigerant plant for heating processes in the winery (reduces refrigeration plant energy and heat source requirement for heating process) • the use of power factor correction technology.

While many of these design elements are being used across the industry to varying degrees, the following is a relatively new technical development that should be considered:

a good drop needs ideal conditions

Voltage optimisation technology is an example of a relatively new technology that can have significant energy savings in situations where motors and equipment operate at voltage levels higher than what they were designed for.

In these situations, there is degradation of the equipment and energy is lost through heat, vibration, etc. The overvoltage results in higher electricity consumption as energy is wasted. Voltage optimisation reduces the supply voltage to be in line with what the connected load requires.

Application of voltage optimisation technology is site specific and the benefits

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A packaged air-cooled chiller with multi-stage capacity control and large volume secondary refrigerant charge for smooth and accurate control. are dependent upon where a winery is located on the electricity grid. Reduction in energy consumption of up to 13% has been achieved with this technology.

Equipment Selection One of the most significant areas of opportunity for improving energy consumption is equipment selection.

Two critical aspects about equipment selection are:

• selecting the right equipment for the task e.g., pumps with the correct curve for the duty, correctly sized compressors for the compression ratio, pipework and valving for minimum pressure loss, etc • choosing efficient equipment e.g., electric motors with high efficiency, compressors with high COP, evaporators with minimal pressure loss and a suitable allowance for fouling factor.

A very good example of a new technology

being applied to packaged, air-cooled chiller equipment is the EC fan motor.

EC (electronically commutated) fan motors are, in simple terms, brushless DC motors. While brushless DC motors have been around for many years, the EC technology integrates electronics that can be connected directly to an AC mains supply. In addition, the electronics convert AC to DC and control the fan speed by regulating the power to the motor.

A DC motor is around 30% more efficient than an AC motor because the secondary magnetic field comes from permanent magnets rather than copper windings. An AC motor consumes additional energy solely to create a magnetic field by inducing current in the motor.

They are now being offered by some packaged chiller manufacturers for condenser fans but mainly as an option.

Control Strategies Another important component of the refrigeration system is the control strategies that are in place to run the refrigeration plant and system. A well-designed control system will monitor and measure plant operation to enable the control of whatever plant type or size is in place.

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In simple terms, an effective control strategy matches the equipment and components of the refrigeration system to the required cooling load at all times, minimising energy input, reducing stop/start, short cycling (excess starts), etc. Effective control strategies include: • control compressor and chiller capacity to meet the load, minimising over-cooling or losing control of product temperature (reduced compressor input energy) • combined with VSDs on compressor motors to infinitely match compressor capacity to the applied load (eliminates over-cooling and excessive stop/starting) • provide the ability to vary condensing temperature to take advantage of favourable ambient conditions (reducing compressor energy consumption for the same output when conditions allow) • combined with VSDs to match the pump capacity to match the required secondary glycol flow rates (reduces pump energy input and the parasitic pump energy added to the glycol) • allow the floating of secondary glycol temperatures to match the process load (improving chiller efficiency when conditions allow) • enable shifting peak daytime loads to lower ambient night time conditions (e.g., over-cooling stored wine and juice to act as thermal storage for use during the day or at periods of high crushing load).

Commissioning Ensuring the system design is implemented and the selected equipment is correctly installed to deliver the desired capacity and operating efficiency is critical to achieving the design goals. This is a vital function in the delivery of both new installations and the installation of new equipment. The importance of accurate commissioning of plants is often overlooked with a lot of good plants installed but never achieving the intended operating performance. Important considerations for commissioning plant are: • commissioning documentation is in place, setting out a control strategy and all required operational settings • completed commissioning sheets confirm final settings and functional testing for review and sign-off by the design engineer • a copy of the final commissioning documentation saved on-site for future reference by maintenance personnel • operator and maintenance personnel training in the specific operation of the plant and settings.

A regular ‘re-recommissioning’ of the refrigeration plant is a relatively new service being offered, which ensures that the plant and equipment are functioning at desired levels and settings are optimised for the operating conditions. This is best achieved V2 7N 1

with engineering personnel and skilled technicians working in combination in assessing the operating conditions and the plant performance.

Maintenance The importance of maintenance as a strategy for energy efficiency cannot be overstated. Poorly maintained equipment not only increases the risk of breakdown, but can significantly reduce the operating efficiency and increase energy consumption.

Maintenance routines should ensure: • a planned and systematic approach to all maintenance activities is undertaken • all activities are scheduled and the scope of work is clear • all necessary repairs are attended to • any work undertaken is documented for future reference.

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Audits and Forward Planning Beyond maintenance there is a need to assess equipment performance and sustainability of plant condition for a changing load, and to benchmark performance. This can include changes to operation, changes to plant and capacity, and the ability to identify new opportunities for improvement and areas of performance that may have slipped.

Planning for improvement and implementation of change is vital, not only from a financial perspective, but also operationally. Planning for the future must take into consideration the many external factors that can influence the refrigeration requirement and its effect on an individual winery, including: • site processing requirements • plant and equipment performance, including supporting services • equipment condition • maintenance regimes • compliance.

So, What Is Really New? What has changed in the last few years is awareness of the importance of altering the way we approach the use of energy and, also, the amount of information and products available to allow change. Along with accessibility, the cost of these technologies has greatly reduced, making them more affordable and easier to justify.

There is no end to the improvements that will continue to occur in design and the range of efficient equipment being offered to the market, therefore, greater efficiency opportunities will continue to be introduced.

Willingness to commit to improve and the support of a highly skilled technical service provider that understands your business goals and drivers are critical for achieving WVJ greater energy efficiency.

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

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

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WINERY WASTEWATER

Closing the loop on winery wastewater – a regional reality?

By Sonya Logan

I

n a perfect world, all the winery wastewater produced in any given wine region would be collected and treated at community facilities then piped to the surrounding vineyards to use for irrigation.

The reality is, the technology to make this happen is available right now. What isn’t on tap is the significant financial investment needed to fund such schemes.

“Collaborative schemes are good in theory. But, they require a group of like-minded people who are prepared to fund them on a long-term basis,” said Mike Carson, operations manager for JJC Operations, which manages a small-scale regional winery wastewater treatment plant in South Australia’s Barossa Valley.

JJC Operations was also involved in designing and building upgraded treatment facilities for the plant which is owned by North Para Environment Control (NPEC), a joint venture that

was set up in 1975 between Tarac Technologies and three surrounding wineries - Penfolds, Kaiser Stuhl and Tolley Scott and Tolley - to manage the effluent generated from the four businesses. NPEC is now jointly owned

by Treasury Wine Estates and Tarac and, over the last 11 years, has undergone various upgrades. Today, it is turning some 230 megalitres of winery effluent and stormwater a year into A-class irrigation water which is distributed to six nearby vineyards and used onsite.

Carson said local councils would be best-placed to drive the establishment of large-scale regional winery wastewater treatments plants like NPEC as they had a good understanding of their regions’ water needs, and the potential for wastewater treatment and reuse by their communities. Furthermore, they could access the sizeable land needed to host a large regional wastewater treatment plant and it was likely that municipal wastewater and stormwater would also

need to be treated by such a system given that winery waste is only produced for a couple of months a year.

“Unfortunately, councils are not usually resourced to the extent that they can drive forward with such a project and, therefore, would need Federal Government funding,” he said, adding that NPEC had recently been the beneficiary of $140,000 in Federal support which helped pay for the extension of the distribution pipeline to vineyard customers.

“If the Federal Government was prepared to fund such a scheme to make the project happen then that’s when other parties would tend to get interested in it and, potentially, provide some funding of their own. But, although most wineries could see the long-term benefit of a regional winery wastewater treatment plant, they simply wouldn’t have the funds to commit to such long-term and expensive infrastructure projects,” Carson said.

The 22 megalitre covered anaerobic lagoon that forms part of the North Para Environment Control biological winery wastewater treatment plant.

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He explained that an ongoing objective of NPEC was to integrate its wastewater treatment plant with the distribution network of Barossa Infrastructure Limited (BIL) – the company that supplies supplementary irrigation water from the River Murray to vineyards in the Barossa – to reduce its reliance on river water.

“A fairly small amount of infrastructure is required to bridge the two together.

Over the last 10 years, we’ve managed to gradually invest in infrastructure so that we’re now in a position where there’s not going to be much in the way of an infrastructure burden to join NPEC with BIL. However, we are yet to convince the BIL shareholders to do so.”

NPEC is a biological treatment plant spread over 75 hectares that removes biodegradable matter from winery wastewater through a combination of three anaerobic and aerobic bio-treatment lagoons: a 22ML covered anaerobic lagoon, a 10ML aerobic polishing lagoon and 120ML aerobic surge lagoon. The treated water moves through all three lagoons before being pumped to an on-site dam for storage over winter.

“The problem with winery wastewater is that most of it is produced from March to May but it is needed (for irrigation) from November to January. Tarac’s operations

Conventional

WIN EB AR of ort nsp tra nd ga lin

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do provide the system with wastewater for six to seven months of the year through its distillation activities which extends the vintage period a little. But, we still have a need to store the treated water and we’ve got capacity for 200ML on site,” Carson said.

Before being distributed to its vineyard customers, the stored water is sand filtered at the point of discharge to remove the residual solids that have grown in the water during storage. Some of these customers further filter the water before applying it to their vines.

The ratio of winery wastewater to stormwater that the plant treats every year depends on the amount of rainfall in any given season. One of the primary objectives of NPEC is that it treats the wastewater produced by its shareholders, namely Tarac and Treasury. Due to the wet weather that occurred in the season prior, the treatment plant reached capacity in 2011, which meant one of the three other third-party wineries that have hooked up to the plant to provide their own winery wastewater for treatment, which includes Peter Lehmann Wines, were put on hold.

However, of the 250ML treated each year, around 190ML is usually wastewater. One of the main reasons that the NPEC captures

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stormwater, all sourced from the Beckwith Park/Penfolds winery site, is to reduce the salt level in the winery wastewater generated by such practices as washing out tanks with caustic soda.

“The treatment process doesn’t remove the salt in the water. We could segregate it with reverse osmosis (RO), but then we’d have the issue of what to do with the reject salt; it creates another waste stream that can’t be disposed of to land. Hence, the system takes stormwater to dilute the salt concentration in the wastewater. Some customers also shandy the wastewater with their regular irrigation water.”

Costing between $4.00-$5.00 to treat a kilolitre of wastewater, NPEC customers get a bargain in being able to purchase it at just over $1.30 a kilolitre, an attractive option for customers over mains water.

Currently, around 50 percent of NPEC’s treated water is exported to customers while the rest is used onsite for irrigation of pasture and crops. Carson said he would like to see the percentage being exported increase to 75-80%.

To help attract customers, NPEC set up a trial on a Shiraz vineyard adjoining the plant which has been looking at the impact of the water on soil, grapes and wine ▶ compared with BIL water.

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WINERY WASTEWATER

The NPEC treatment site with the surge lagoon in the foreground, polishing lagoon behind on the right and the covered anaerobic lagoon behind on the left. Winery wastewater is first screened for solids, such as seeds and skins, and settled for fine solids (earth and grit), before undergoing anaerobic treatment in the covered lagoon and aerobic treatment in the polishing lagoon. The treated water is then stored in the surge lagoon and other storage dams ready for use by customers.

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Chris Zajac, director of NPEC and chief executive of Tarac, said the results from the trial over the last six to seven years had been “extremely positive” with “no long-term impact on soil condition or the vineyard from using NPEC water”.

However, Randolph Bowen - who together with wife Anita purchase NPEC water to irrigate their 26ha vineyard of Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot and Grenache and a bit of Chardonnay and Viognier - admits the results of the trial did not influence them to become customers.

“We were enticed to use it because it was cheap – about half the price of off-peak water from SA Water,” Bowen said, explaining that the vineyard was irrigated with less than 0.5ML/ha. “We started using it about three to four years ago. The Federal Government paid for the pipeline to the vineyard.

“We take the water in off-peak time and store it in our dam.

We mix it with river water – about equal portions – to lower the salt load.”

Bowen said the only barrier to more vineyards using treated wastewater from plants such as NPEC was people’s views of the salt content and its impact.

“But, if you get a reasonable rainfall, you’ll get a reasonable flush of the build up anyway,” he said.

Fellow NPEC customer Paul Schutz said in the three to four years that he had been applying the treated water neat to his vineyard he had not experienced any salt issues. Schutz takes in NPEC water as the need arises, stores it in a tank and then runs it through a disk filter before putting it straight on his 10ha of Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro vines. Schutz said the NPEC water contributed 95% of his irrigation water needs.

“I’ve never found the salt load in the water to be a problem in the vineyard, nor has the winery commented on it,” he said, saying that he regularly undertook soil and petiole tests.

Schutz applauded NPEC for the quality of its treated water.

“When I first started using the water I regularly had problems with blocked drippers but they’ve since upgraded their filters.

Now I only get a blocked dripper every now and again,” he said. WVJ

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N E W in B o t t l in g

Innovations in bottling We profile three innovations in wine bottling launched over the last couple of months, of which two are aimed squarely at reducing the wine industry’s carbon footprint.

The paper wine bottle

A

British company that invented the world’s first paper milk bottle has developed a prototype paper wine bottle that may be available to the British public as early as this year.

The milk and wine bottles are the brainchild of Martin Myerscough, the founder of GreenBottle, the company marketing the containers. Myerscough came up with the prototype for his paper milk bottle in 2006 following a chance conversation with a waste tip supervisor worried about the growing problem of plastic bottle waste.

The milk bottle is currently being used by two dairies and being trialled in ASDA supermarkets in the south-west of the UK. GreenBottle is hopeful of a national rollout of its milk bottle in ASDA stores early this year.

GreenBottle is made of two parts: a paper outer shell and an inner liner made of plastic. The bottle has been designed to split apart so that the paper can be disposed of in paper recycling and the inner liner either placed in general rubbish bins or in plastic recycling streams where such facilities exist. The material used to make the inner liner is changeable depending on the type of product in the package, but it can be recycled.

GreenBottle’s outer shells are currently produced in Turkey and assembled with the plastic liner in the UK. The company is aiming for all the components to be made in the UK in the near future.

A spokesperson for GreenBottle said its milk container had been exceptionally well received, with more than 80 percent of consumers saying they would continue to use GreenBottle once they had tried it.

“We have had considerable interest in the product from retailers, product manufacturers and packaging companies for all types of applications and we are in talks with several major companies in the household, oil, wine, milk, juice, home and garden sectors,” the spokesperson said.

“GreenBottle was always planned to have wide applications - it is an ideal universal liquids packaging solution. Milk just so happened to be the starting place.”

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Inventor Martin Myerscough with his paper wine bottle.

The company spokesperson told the Wine & Viticulture Journal it was in talks with a number of wine companies interested in using the paper bottle, but couldn’t reveal any names due to client confidentiality.

“GreenBottle offers a lower carbon footprint than all its alternatives, including lightweight glass, bag-inbox and PET. In the case of glass, it is a non-breakable, lightweight solution.

Compared with PET, it uses less than a third of the plastic and the carbon footprint is considerably lower.”

When asked if the plastic liner could in any way impact on wine quality or flavour, the spokesperson said: “As far as we are aware, there are no issues with this.”

“The container is aimed more at the ‘buy and drink’ market for everyday wines that are not laid down for any period of time,” the company said.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

While GreenBottle is currently focussing its activities on the UK market, the company said Australian wine producers interested in the paper bottle could contact it directly (www.greenbottle.com).

Single serve wine bottle A new single-serve wine package has been launched in Australia.

The container was created by English entrepreneur James Nash, whose brother is heavily involved with outdoor festivals in the UK. He spent five years designing and manufacturing the machine that fills and heat-seals his PET goblets with wine with a foil-top lid, giving the wine a 12-month shelf life. The package has been brought to Australia by Georgia Beattie whose agreement with Nash’s company enables her to market the product within Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

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Beattie studied International Business and Entrepreneurship at RMIT and grew up around wine when her father turned a hobby into career by purchasing a wine retail, wholesale and bottling company called Swords Wines in early 2004. She originally planned to produce her own single-serve wine container after asking for a glass of wine at a Melbourne music festival in 2008 and being told it was unavailable as a result of being too hard to serve.

“I questioned why wine was so hard to serve outdoors.

Beer and spirit companies seemed to have developed flexible packaging. It was from this experience that I realised there was an opportunity to create wine in a single serve format.

“Wine is a very popular drink amongst my social group yet packaging hasn’t kept up with the changes in our drinking culture. We are spontaneous with our decisions and we need a package that can keep up with us, such as a spontaneous picnic.”

During her Entrepreneurship Business Degree, Beattie wrote an extensive market analysis and business plan to take a singleserve glass of wine to market. But, after experiencing production hurdles with her own product, she chanced upon James Nash’s appearance on the UK TV show Dragons’ Den where he was pitching the single-serve concept.

“Having only just finished my business degree I decided to jump on a plane with the only remaining money in my bank account to visit James in London. After meeting James, I successfully negotiated the production and distribution rights to his single serve product in Australia, New Zealand and Asia,” Beattie said.

The single-serve PET containers are produced at a factory in outer Melbourne.

“The process is very similar to your standard bottling line where wine is shipped in and moved into our tanks ready to be processed through the filling line. My father is the production manager and makes sure the wine is handled correctly,” Beattie said.

Beattie launched the containers in Australia in Melbourne towards the end of last year at the Melbourne Music Festival under the label Lupé. The glasses were $10 each and were available in a new Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Victorian rosé or Coonawarra Shiraz.

“The common response was ‘about time’. We had consumers just loving the fact that the hassle had been taken out of wine and it was now easily available outdoors.

“Moving forward, we believe Pinot Noir is the next big variety so we’ve got our eye on a couple of excellent winemakers for the Lupé range,” Beattie said.

The single-serve glasses were subsequently introduced to Japan under the brand Tulip, which were distributed across the country just prior to Christmas to a selected group of high end department stores.

“We’ve had a great response so far from the Japanese market; we’re really excited by the opportunity.

“The single serve has proven to suit the Asian lifestyle very well for a number of reasons. We have noticed that the singleserve glass creates a more efficient way to introduce wine to a new market in both smaller volume and price. It is also hygienic and tamper evident which is very appealing.

“We are taking it very slowly on the Australian market while we establish our export market. We are creating the market for the single-serve in Australia with Lupé but don’t intend to really push our own brand. We’ll leave that up to the wineries that have spent years establishing their own brands in the on and off-trade markets.

“We are in discussions with two large wine brands for a new range for 2012. They’ve got some really exciting new avenues for wine, which the single-serve has given them the ability to ▶ capitalise on,” she said.

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wine pre s en tat i o n

These single-serve PET wine glasses were launched at the Melbourne Music Festival in November under the label Lupe which is being used to market the product in Australia.

“The single-serve has proven to have quite a diverse application; high volume venues that require fast service and chill time to places where it’s illegal or inconvenient to sell in glass, which have jumped at the new form of packaging.

“The exact portion control means spill wastage is eliminated and removes any issues with glass. Our long-term goal is to have a single-serve version available in all mainstream wine brands,” Beattie said. www.lupewines.com, phone (03) 9348 9687, email: lupe@lupewines.com.au New addition to Lean+Green range

The Premium Burgundy PVS is the latest addition to O-I’s Lean+Green range.

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O-I has launched a new 750mL Lean+Green® Premium Burgundy wine bottle which is 26 percent lighter but retains its premium look and feel than regular glass.

Manufactured exclusively at O-I’s Adelaide plant, the bottle’s weight has been reduced from 545g to 405g and is available in antique green and French green colours.

Like the rest of the Lean+Green range it is produced using narrow neck press and blow (NNPB) technology, which also reduces energy and water consumption while maintaining proportions and premium design cues brand owners require.

NNPB allows O-I to take out considerable weight, energy and water consumption from each bottle. It allows the company to be more consistent and precise in its glass wall thickness, therefore reducing weight.

O-I says the new bottle produces 16% less CO2 emissions per container compared with standard glass, uses 16% less water per container and delivers a 9.7% improvement in freight efficiency.

The lightweight Premium Burgundy BVS bottle is the seventh Lean+Green option to be released by O-I, which have been adopted by an extensive range of wine brands, including high-volume W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

brands designed for export markets as well as makers of niche boutique wines.

Cumulus Wines is the latest customer to adopt the Lean+Green range.

From the 1 September, the entire production of Cumulus Wines’ Rolling and Climbing brands are all bottled in Lean+Green. This represents more than 80% of Cumulus Wines’ entire production.

Cumulus Wines’ production and logistics manager James Karbowiak, said the decision to adopt the Lean+Green bottle was an “important part of conforming to its environmental credentials”.

“We were also mindful of the requirements from some overseas markets to reduce bottle weights,” Karbowiak said.

Cumulus has its own bottling line which had to be modified to accommodate the Lean+Green range.

“New change parts were needed on every piece of equipment, including the filler, capper, rinser, labeller and case packer, because the bottle is ever so slightly narrower than regular glass.

It also meant we had to redesign our cartons too,” Karbowiak explained. “It was a significant capital expense but the changeover was very quick and easy and well worth the pain; we had great technological support from O-I.” The Rolling and Climbing brands are sold in supermarkets in Australia and 23 overseas countries. Neck tags have been produced to hang on the new bottles to highlight them to customers.

“Side by side, most consumers would not notice any difference between the old and the new bottle,” Karbowiak said. “But, there are going to be certain markets, such as China probably, where a heavy bottle and deep punt are seen as signalling a premium wine, that probably won’t accept Lean+Green bottles for a while. But, we’ll go fully into the other markets with Lean+Green.”

He said because the Lean+Green bottle was narrower than traditional glass, as palleted dry goods it was possible to fit more on palate which delivered a transport advantage which flowed right through to the finished goods.

“Australia has led the way with screwcaps. Now we’re doing it with lightweight bottles,” Karbowiak said.

O-I plans to continue to add to its Lean+Green range.

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W I N E T A ST I N G

Prevention of tooth erosion and sensitivity in wine tasters

By Sarbin Ranjitkar, Roger Smales and Dimitra Lekkas School of Dentistry, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005. Email: sarbin.ranjitkar@adelaide.edu.au

There is surprisingly little information published or available within the wine industry on the potential occupational hazard of tooth erosion affecting the livelihood of wine tasters, despite the large numbers of professional wine tasters internationally, including several thousand winemakers and judges in Australia. Possibly, this situation is a reflection of more serious occupational safety and health hazards (such as accidental death from hypoxia in wine storage tanks, traumatic injuries and adverse outdoor working conditions) that may affect and engage wine industry workers and companies. However, destructive, painful tooth erosion has the potential to reduce the livelihood of wine tasters.

THE EXTENT OF TOOTH EROSION PROBLEMS Wines are acidic (approximately pH3-4), containing organic acids such as tartaric, maleic, lactic and citric acids, among others. Tooth enamel will dissolve below pH5.5, and the less-mineralised dentine (beneath the enamel) even more readily. White wines and champagnes are more acidic than red wines, and the erosive capability rises with increasing temperature of the wines. Most of the scientific information on tooth erosion caused by wines and from wine tasting has been based on laboratory studies, clinical case reports of both professional tasters and recreational drinkers (Figure 1), and a few clinical surveys of wine tasters. Three small overseas surveys all found substantially more severe tooth erosion in wine tasters than in comparable non-taster populations.

In the wine tasters, tooth erosion was present in 14-74% and dentine was exposed in 37-39% of persons. Most of the wine tasters had been employed for less than 8-10 years, which implies that some persons may leave the industry following the onset of painful dentine sensitivity after approximately 5-10 years into their careers. In two of these surveys, anywhere from 20-150 wines were generally tasted each testing day, and the wines were held in the mouth for approximately 15-60 seconds during each tasting. In a survey of 74 wine tasters attending the Wine Assessment Courses at The Australian Wine Research Institute in South Australia in the late 1990s and early 2000, 72% of wine tasters reported suffering from tooth sensitivity, with its

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Figure 1. Erosion of the posterior teeth towards the top surfaces away from the gums, showing ‘cupping’ of the cusp tips and exposure of underlying dentine in a person who enjoyed sipping red wines over many years. (Published with copyright acknowledgement Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers Pty Ltd). onset being 5-10 years into their careers.

This prevalence is one of the highest reported in the literature and reflects the seriousness of discomfort that can result from long-term wine tasting. However, erosion and tooth sensitivity do not occur in all wine tasters, indicating that salivary protection and oral hygiene practices largely determine the risk of dental problems.

THE APPEARANCE OF TOOTH EROSION Initially, acid-affected enamel tooth surfaces appear glazed and smooth from loss of surface detail (Figure 2). This is W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

followed by progressive enamel thinning, and the formation of rounded tooth surfaces and shallow concavities, with the teeth appearing more yellowish because of the underlying dentine ‘shine-through’ (Figure 3, see page 36). Subsequent exposure of the dentine follows ‘cupping’ of the cusp tips of posterior (back) teeth (Figure 4, see page 36), and ‘grooving’ of the incisal edges (top edges away from the gums) of anterior (front) teeth where the thinned enamel leads to an increased grey appearance (Figure 3). Dental fillings may appear raised above the adjacent eroded tooth surfaces (Figure 4).

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During active erosion, the exposed dentine may become very sensitive to temperature changes (heat and cold sensitivity lasting for a few seconds to lingering pain), and touch (during tooth brushing). Extensive erosive loss of tooth structure and fracture of unsupported enamel can result in a disfigured appearance (Figure 5, see page 36).

The location of erosion is related to the method of wine tasting, and the number of years in the industry. Holding wine on the tongue raised against the upper teeth results in erosion at the back of these teeth (i.e., palatal erosion), holding wine passively in the mouth affects mainly the occlusal surfaces (top surfaces away from the gums) of the lower teeth, and swishing or rinsing wine around the mouth also involves erosion of the buccal surfaces of the posterior teeth (towards the cheek) in particular.

Over time, the tooth erosion sites become progressively more widespread, and heavily worn teeth may require extensive dental treatment, including expensive fillings costing around $10,000-50,000, or multiple extractions followed by wearing dentures. It should be realised that these costly treatments do not completely restore the strength and

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integrity of natural teeth, and that they can fail catastrophically. Furthermore, the treatments need expensive regular maintenance over the years. To avoid a lifetime of debilitating teeth, expensive treatment and discomfort from extensive wine tasting, tooth erosion should be detected early so that preventive treatment can be administered.

ADDITIONAL RISK FACTORS The erosive effects of wine tasting may be worsened by acid reflux from the stomach due to gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and chronic vomiting. The erosive effects may also be worsened by acids present in many foods and drinks, and in some medications. Citric acid, which is present naturally in citrus fruits and is also added to many commercial soft and sports drinks, is particularly erosive. Other important causes of further tooth surface loss include tooth grinding, an inadequate salivary flow, and the use of abrasive toothpastes and tooth brushing immediately after wine tasting.

Therefore, the risk for erosion from wine tasting will be affected significantly by many other factors that need to be identified by each wine taster. ▶

Figure 2. Initial erosion has caused the smooth rounding of tooth cusps, and the loss of surface details, such as grooves from the enamel. (Published with copyright acknowledgement Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers Ltd).

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W I N E T A ST I N G

This is important for occupational health and safety reasons, and both employers and employees should take necessary steps to minimise the damage of extensive wine tasting on teeth.

THE PREVENTION OF TOOTH EROSION

Figure 3. Shallow erosion concavities with indistinct margins have formed in the thinned and yellowish enamel of the upper incisor teeth (near the gums), and there is also an increased greying at the chipped incisal edges (towards the tips).

Figure 4. There is extensive ‘cupping’ of the cusp tips with exposure of dentine. The amalgam filling protrudes above the adjacent eroded occlusal tooth surface. (Published with permission by the Academy of General Dentistry. Copyright 2003 by the Academy of General Dentistry. All rights reserved).

First, a comprehensive dental assessment of the present risk status of the wine taster is needed. In addition to a careful case history, this involves the obtaining of (i) baseline records of the location and extent of any tooth erosion present by using photographs and study casts (models) for subsequent monitoring; (ii) whether or not the erosive process is active; and (iii) recording tooth sensitivity and staining. A dental examination could include making a note of other co-existing causes of tooth surface loss, the appearance of the saliva during rest, and the rate of unstimulated (during rest) saliva flow from the lower lip glands. The oral presence of additional acid from the stomach, from acidic diets and other possible sources of erosion should be determined - the wine taster must be honest in providing this information. Your dentist will provide individual advice on the preventive dental treatment (including possible clear resin tooth-coating and night-guard construction) or restorative treatments required, and the need for any medical consultations.

Prevention of enamel erosion by wine tasters involves essentially minimising acid contact in the mouth, retaining protective salivary pellicle and plaque on tooth surfaces, and chemically strengthening tooth surfaces with the home-based application of fluoride toothpastes, such as Sensodyne Fresh Impact (GlaxoSmithCline, Australia) and Colgate Neutrafluor 5000 Plus (Colgate Palmolive Pty Ltd, Australia), and by using fluoride mouth rinses, such as Oral B Mouth Rinse Mint – Sensitive (Procter & Gamble, Australia) and Colgate Fluorocare 200 Mouthwash (Colgate Palmolive Pty Ltd, Australia), and by applying casein-derived pastes, such as Tooth Mousse Plus (GC Asia Dental, Singapore). Wine tasters should ensure that the preventive methods used do not affect perceptions of taste and smell. Appropriately timed check-ups (recalls) with your dentist are also very important for the prevention of tooth erosion, and professional cleaning may be indicated for the removal of staining. The use of tooth-whitening products, including whitening toothpastes, is usually contradicted for stain removal in an acidic mouth because of the potential to worsen tooth sensitivity.

The night before intensive wine tasting Brush the teeth gently using a small, soft, multi-tufted toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste. Then, apply Tooth Mousse Plus with a finger. Spit out the excess, and do not rinse your mouth with water. Wear a custom-fit night-guard if tooth grinding during sleep has been identified.

In the morning of intensive wine tasting Do NOT brush your teeth, which will remove protective pellicle and plaque. Use a sodium fluoride (220-250ppm) mouth rinse instead, and chew a sugar-free, non-flavoured gum to promote saliva and to freshen up your mouth.

Figure 5. Extensive tooth erosion in the mouth of a professional wine taster, following many years of dental neglect. (Published with permission by the Academy of General Dentistry. Copyright 2003 by the Academy of General Dentistry. All rights reserved).

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During the day of intensive wine tasting Drink tap water frequently to avoid dehydration, and use water to rinse out your mouth. Use fluoride and casein-based preventive pastes at the beginning of long breaks. Avoid acidic foods and drinks and hard foods at meals. Do NOT brush your teeth.

After intensive wine tasting Do NOT brush your teeth for at least two hours, as brushing will remove the protective mineral-rich pellicle and plaque and the underlying softened enamel and dentine. Instead, use

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a fluoride mouth rinse, followed by the finger application of Tooth Mousse Plus.

Spit out the excess, and do not rinse your mouth with water.

Lussi, A. (2006) Erosive tooth wear - a multifactorial condition of growing concern and increasing knowledge. In: Dental Erosion: From Diagnosis to Therapy. Lussi, A. (Ed). Basel: Karger AG. Monogr. Oral. Sci. 20:1-8.

Acknowledgements

Mandel, L. (2005) Dental erosion due to wine consumption. J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 136:71-75.

This article is based partly on the Australian Dental Association (ADA) Oral Health Committee report published in the ADA News Bulletin 2010 (August); 390:26–30. We gratefully acknowledge the grants provided by the Australian Dental Research Foundation Inc. and Dentsply Australia Pty Ltd for research projects on dental erosion. We would also like to recognise the contributions of Drs Diane Hunt and John McIntyre to wine research over many years. Our proposed protocol for the prevention of wine erosion is based on their protocol.

Mok, T.B.; McIntyre, J. and Hunt, D. (2001) Dental erosion: an in vitro model of wine assessor’s erosion.

Aust. Dent. J. 46:263-268.

SUPPORTING PUBLICATIONS FOR FURTHER READING Bartold, P.M. (2006) Dentinal hypersensitivity: a review.

Aust. Dent. J. 51:212-218.

Cheung, A.; Zid, Z.; Hunt, D. and McIntyre, J. (2005) The potential for dental plaque to protect against erosion using an in vitro model – A pilot study. Aust. Dent. J. 50:228-234.

Chitke, U.M.; Naidoo, S.; Kolze, T.J. and Grobler, S.R. (2005) Pattern of tooth surface loss among winemakers.

Sth. Afr. Dent. J. 60:370-374.

winemakin g

Prevention of tooth erosion: key information

Mulic, A.; Tveit, A.B.; Hove, L.H. and Skaare, A.B. (2011) Dental erosive wear among Norwegian wine tasters. Acta Odontol. Scand. 69:21-26.

Ranjitkar, S.; Hunt, D. and McIntyre, J. (2010) Erosion in professional wine tasters: an occupational health issue? Aust. Dent. Assoc. News Bulletin 390 (Aug.): 26-30.

Rees, J.; Hughes, J. and Innes, C. (2002) An in-vitro assessment of the erosive potential of some white wines. Eur. J. Prosthodont. Restor. Dent.

10:37-42.

Smales, R. and Yip, K. (2006) Prevention and control of tooth erosion. In: Tooth Erosion: Prevention and Treatment, by Yip, K.H.K.; Smales, R.J. and Kaidonis, J.A. (Eds). New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers 36-46.

Witktorsson, A.M.; Zimmerman, M. and AngmarMansson, B. (1997) Erosive tooth wear: prevalence and severity in Swedish winetasters. Eur. J. Oral Sci. 105:544-550.

Yip, K.; Smales, R. and Kaidonis, J. (2006) Diagnosis and control of extrinsic tooth erosion. In: Tooth Erosion: Prevention and Treatment, by Yip, K.H.K.; Smales, R.J. and Kaidonis, J.A. (Eds). New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers 63-68.

WVJ

What is tooth erosion? What is its impact on oral health and the livelihood of wine tasters?

• tooth erosion is the dissolution of the mineralised component of the tooth due to wine acids • erosion is a potential occupational hazard to wine tasters and may negatively impact on a wine tasting career • it can lead to thinning of the tooth; tooth sensitivity (mild to severe pain); functional and aesthetic impairment and a lifetime of dental treatment.

How can wine tasters prevent tooth erosion associated with extensive wine tasting?

• seek dental treatment (including regular recall appointments); identify risk factors for tooth wear from wine tasting and other sources; have a customised treatment plan • implement a preventive action plan before, during and after each wine tasting event.

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The latest innovations from SIMEI

By Tony Hoare

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

Regular Wine & Viticulture Journal contributor Tony Hoare recently travelled to Milan, Italy, to attend SIMEI, the International Enological and Bottling Equipment Exhibition, and ENOVITIS, the International Vine and Olive Growing Techniques Exhibition, which are held concurrently over four days every two years. We asked Tony to highlight the innovations that caught his attention at both exhibitions across the various aspects of wine production.

T

he latest technology from no less than 700 manufacturers servicing all aspects of wine production from the vineyard through to packaging materials was on display at the simultaneous SIMEI and ENOVITIS exhibitions held recently in Milan. The displays are designed to showcase the best of Italian and international technological ingenuity, and attract around 50,000 visitors.

The exhibitions were held at the Fiera-Milano exhibition centre in Rho, which was opened in 2005 at a cost of €755 million. The fairground is enormous, encompassing an indoor exhibition area of 345,000m2 and outdoor area of 60,000m2. It took a good 15 minutes just to walk to the pavilions from the exhibition entrance! Inside, wall-to-wall winery

and vineyard equipment from the who’s who of the Italian and international wine industries were on show over some seven hectares. The exhibition is the platform for manufacturers to showcase their products and launch cutting-edge equipment from vine ties to cane pruners, hand operated wine presses to nitrogen gas-filled bag presses, hand corkers and robotic bottle packing machines.

This year’s SIMEI and ENOVITIS exhibitions saw the debut of an ‘innovation prize’ which was awarded to four companies for having the best product and processing innovations on display.

The prizes were determined by a panel consisting of university researchers and technical specialists from Italian wineries.

Four companies were awarded the prize, as mentioned as follows.

Tony Hoare, far right, with Ian Healey, from Drink Technology and Marketing magazine (Germany) and Rodica Popici-Delis, the Romanian host of the international press delegation who attended SIMEI.

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SIMEI SIMEI has been showcasing winemaking and bottling technology for the past 50 years. Manufacturers at the 2011 SIMEI had a focus on ‘quality, continuous improvement, ethicality and eco-sustainability’.

Below are some winemaking innovations that particularly caught my eye.

Bottling Gruppo Bertolaso was one of the four recipients of the inaugural ‘Viticultural and Oenological Innovation Prize’ for its bottle filling system. The automated, integrated bottle handling system was considered to be highly innovative for its functionality, increased productivity, reduced consumption, improved product quality and improved safety for operators.

Contact Gruppo Bertolaso S.P.A. Tel: +39 0442450 111 or visit www.bertolaso.com It was difficult to not stop and stare in disbelief at the robotic arms of a machine designed by Logik for automatically palletising and de-palletising wine (Figure 1). When I saw it in action, the ‘robotic island’ was loading laydown cartons for Prosecco bottles. You couldn’t help but wait for it to drop one! However, there was no spilled Prosecco while I was watching and no sound of broken glass during the exhibition.

Contact Chiara Reverberi email: c.reverberi@emmeti-spa.it or visit www.logik.it Wine and lees filtration TMCI Padovan presented the Dynamos rotary cross-flow filter to SIMEI visitors and was awarded one of the four ‘innovation’ prizes. It is the first rotating, dynamic crossflow filter with an innovative back-pulse system. Backwash of filtered output with V27N1

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Figure 1. A robotic palletising and de-palletising machine from Logik.

Figure 2. Two of the tipper trailers and receival hoppers by Sthik on display at SIMEI. an inert gas enables lees filtering without damaging the product or the use of filter aids.

Contact David Zerbo, of Ridgelea, the distributor for TMCI Padovan in Australia, email: david@ridgelea.com.au Winery products The Dal Cin company has two exciting new products for fining wine. First, the DC-Pol G PVPP with miniTubes technology.

It’s used on musts and wines to remove oxidised and oxydisable polyphenols. The product allows for maximum efficiency when using PVPP. It eliminates dust for operators and allows for complete dissolution in wine without the risk of waste through dust. The second product developed

by Dal Cin is Grandeco, agglomerated carbon for winemaking. Grandeco is a plantbased carbon that can be used to remove V2 7N 1

polyphenolic compound and fix potential colour issues that may occur in wine. Once again, the product is a dust-free pellet that can be rehydrated in water or wine more readily than conventional carbon products.

Visit www.dalcin.com Crushing Sorting tables of all shapes and sizes were on display. It seemed that every destemmer/crusher manufacturer had a grape quality selection process consisting of sorting tables and conveyors. The Sthik company produces high quality, functional tipper trailers and receival hoppers for the controlled feed of grapes, both hand and machine picked, to crush pad equipment (Figure 2).

Contact info@sthik.com or visit www.sthik.com ▶ W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

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Pressing Nitrogen generators for bag presses also attracted a lot of interest at SIMEI (Figure 3). The nitrogen is used inside the press, as well as the juice collection hopper. There appears to have been little interest in the generators so far in Australia, despite the obvious advantages of this system.

The Australian contact for Enoveneta is Vince Tallarida, of RD Tallarida Engineering, mobile 0419 345 394 or email: vince@tallarida.com.au Velo presses, distributed in Australia

by JMA Engineering, also have the ability to use nitrogen in their presses (Figure 4, see page 42).

To contact JMA Engineering, call David Bernardi on mobile 0408 001 020 or visit www.jmaeng.com.au

Figure 3. A nitrogen generator from Enoveneta.

Oak maturation There was a vast array of barrels in various formats on display, however, no real innovations. The egg barrel depicted in Figure 5 (see page 42) stood out for its beautiful shape and craftsmanship. I would imagine, despite any of its oenological advantages, it would create some interest among cellar door customers.

Fermentation There was discussion at the seminar I attended on ‘real time’ fermentation monitoring and management of fermentations using predictive control strategies. The equipment mentioned in the seminar that have been used to gain information on ferment status were: IDP Sistemi manufactures radiofrequency identification (RFID) systems for remote reading of water and gas meters, as well as real time fermentation monitoring equipment.

Email: info@idpsistemi.com TankNET®, by Acrolon, is a webenabled winery control system that allows for improved control of fermentations, barrel room environment control and monitoring of critical refrigeration equipment.

Email: info@acrolon.com Laboratory equipment Foss was one of the four companies to receive the ‘innovation prize’ at SIMEI for its new WineScan SO2 (Figure 6, see page 42). In addition to scanning for 30 quality control parameters for winemaking, WineScan now includes rapid testing of free and total sulfurs. The rapid testing of sulfurs adds to the appeal of this

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Figure 4. An Enoveneta press with a nitrogen gas generator.

Figure 5. An eye-catching oak egg barrel.

(Figure 8). The post has a steel core and a recycled plastic moulding on the exterior, which allows for wire placement into premoulded slots. The only drawback with the innovations in vineyard posts is the cost of freight, which makes their export to Australia cost-prohibitive due to the weight of the posts.

Visit www.palolite.com or email info@palolite.com

Figure 6. The team from Foss are presented with an innovation prize at SIMEI. analytical system, which is now even more integrated and convenient for wineries.

Contact Foss on phone +45 7010 3370 or email: info@foss.dk or visit www.foss.dk Another interesting device was the CyFlow® Oenolyser by Partec GmbH, a unit that rapidly and accurately tests for Brettanomyces in wine.

Visit www.partec-international.com Also of interest was the Jaz optical sensing unit – a series of stackable, modular and autonomous components that combine to create a suite of smart sensing instruments - which has been used in Chile to assess the maturity of winegrapes.

Visit www.oceanoptics.com ENOVITIS The aim of ENOVITIS is for trade operators to showcase technology and manufacturing advancements that improve

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the efficiencies, quality and sustainability of the vineyard and olive industries. The only exhibitor at ENOVITIS to receive an ‘innovation prize’ was Ero Viteco, of Germany, for its cane pruner (Figure 7). The pruner is particularly suited to Guyot or arched cane systems. From an Australian perspective, this machine could be well-suited to vineyards where cane pruning using the Guyot or arched cane systems are routinely practised.

Visit www.ERO-Viti.com or email Christoph Klein at Cklein@ERO-Weinbau.de Trellising I was particularly interested in the trellising options on display at ENOVITIS, considering the issues faced in Australia with treated timber. Steel, concrete and plastic-coated steel posts were on show with the latter, plastic-coated Palolite post, impressing with its innovative design W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

Vine tiers I discovered vine tiers (see Figure 9) that I thought would be appealing to anyone who has held wire vine ties and spiked their fingers while training vines or securing canes to cordon wires. I did not establish a contact with the French-based manufacturer (StyleSnaf) or distributor, however, I am sure that this device would save time and effort in cane tying for Australian grapegrowers.

Vine remover/planter An innovative piece of machinery on display was the Gramegna SB1 hole digger (Figure 10). This machine mimics the action of hand digging with a spade or shovel, and is a useful tool for the complete removal of vines or the planting of new vines and trees. The benefit of the implement is that it can make an ideal hole in the space of a few minutes without compaction.

Visit www.gramegna.com New grape varieties Given my passion for Italian grape varieties now being grown in Australia, I was particularly keen to visit the stand of Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo (VCR) nursery at ENOVITIS. The Australian distributer of the clonal material from VCR is Binjara V27N1

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Figure 8. Palolite steel trellis posts coated in recycled plastic.

Figure 7. This cane pruner by Ero Viteco, of Germany, was awarded one of four ‘innovation prizes’ at SIMEI and ENOVITIS for having one of the best product and processing innovations on display.

Figure 9. French based StyleSnaf's vine tiers.

Vine Nursery (formerly Chalmers Nursery), in Euston, NSW. VCR had an amazing clonal selection of varieties still to be seen in Australia and there were plenty that have merit for use in Australia.

If you are interested in any existing clones or new clones yet to arrive in Australia from Italy, contact Binjara on (03) 5026 1661 or visit www.binjara.com.au V2 7N 1

Viticulture Innovation Seminar Seminars were held each day of SIMEI and ENOVITIS to address topics related to innovations in the viticulture and wine sectors. The seminar I attended focussed on ‘Developments in the use of innovative sensors in vine-growing and enology applications’.

The seminar featured seven speakers over three hours who spoke briefly about their fields of expertise and research.

The moderator, Professor Attilio Scienza, commenced the seminar with a mention of the concept of ‘precision’ being the elemental objective of science and research.

He went on to clarify the significance of precision analysis of viticultural management and winemaking, and to discuss the application of technology to the wine industry in this area. The use of optic sorters for grape sorting and real time monitoring of ferments using new monitoring technology were key points for discussion during the seminar.

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

Figure 10. A Gramegna SB1 mechanical digger for planting new vines or removing old vines.

From a viticultural perspective, there was discussion on the merits of precision viticulture using remote sensing. Australia is well down the track with this technology, especially with respect to its practical application to improve the productivity and efficiency of vineyard management. The use of near infra-red (NIR) spectroscopy in the field with hand-held devices was mentioned with the advent of new portable NIR spectrophotometers, which are anticpated to be able to assist with infield assessments of fruit development during WVJ maturity. www.winebiz. com . au

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A measured approach to sustainable farming

By Toby Bekkers Email: toby@tobybekkers.com

Many growers recognise the potential benefits of so-called sustainable farming systems. However, they are often discouraged by a perceived fundamentalist view of organics that promotes an ‘all or nothing’ approach. Toby says it is possible to take a measured, staged approach to adopting some of these practices, adding that those that take this approach are often the growers who prevail in the long term, whether or not they choose to adopt organic certification.

I

n my experience, many growers wish to explore sustainable practices without necessarily making an instant transition to the full use of organic systems. The motivations of certified organic producers generally include a philosophical aversion to chemical use or a desire to assure customers about the organic status of their product.

Many mainstream growers, however, are more interested in the potential to improve their farming systems, soils and, consequently, fruit quality. They may also be daunted by the rigours of becoming an organic grapegrower and the number of changes required to achieve certification in a short period of time.

Most certifiers, through the Organic Management Plan process, encourage careful contemplation about where the challenges and pitfalls may lie before a commitment to certification is made.

Unfortunately, it is nonetheless common for growers to be discouraged from adopting some of these practices by those who promote an ‘all or nothing’ view of organics. That is, if you are not compliant with the rules of certification, then your motives and credibility are questionable. This is unfortunate, because I believe everyone should be encouraged to adopt at least some of the components that make sense for their property and objectives.

Depending on the grower’s motivation for adoption, a staged approach, which allows the grower to build skills and confidence, often results in a longerterm commitment to sustainable farming than a failed attempt at full certification without the necessary experience or preparation. If, like many, you are interested in taking some first

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Depending on a grower’s motivation for adopting organic practices, a staged approach, which allows the grower to build skills and confidence, often results in a longer-term commitment to sustainable farming than a failed attempt at full certification without the necessary experience or preparation. steps, where are the most obvious areas to begin in order to build skills and confidence in the system without feeling like you are putting your business at risk? Some of the recommendations are simply good business practice; others are more focussed, practical shifts in farming techniques.

Some basic principles of transitioning to organic grapegrowing Understand why you are making a change It is critical to have a clear vision of why you are making a change in practice.

Are you interested in reaching the W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

certified organic segment of the wine market? Do you have a philosophical aversion to chemical use? Are you trying to encourage vineyard resilience, reduce water use, or improve fruit quality?

There are a myriad of reasons why a grower might wish to adopt some sort of sustainable practice. Clearly defining why you are doing so will greatly affect the way you approach your farming and construct your system.

Start small Too often, newfound enthusiasm results in an immediate and largescale change in practice. Consider that you will be making a transition from a product-based system (where remedies to problems are easily available) to a V27N1

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years later. Those that start with a cleaner vineyard give themselves the best opportunity for success in the long term.

skills-based system (which relies much more heavily on prevention and human observation). It is almost always better to make changes to a small section of the property in order to gain the necessary skills and experience. Going ‘all in’ across the entire enterprise can be demoralising if a problem arises on a large scale. Remember that a business is not sustainable if it isn’t profitable, so, placing the entire property at financial risk before you have the necessary skills and experience is simply a bad business decision.

Have a plan (and a budget) All smart businesses have a management plan and this is equally important for those considering an organic transition. Most certifiers produce examples of an organic management plan and these are required as part of the certification process. Whether you are considering certification, or just adopting some of the principles, it is worth analysing your business and creating a document that outlines how you will address each area of farm management. Soil fertility, pest and disease control and weed management are some of the important headings. I also encourage clients (whether conventional or organic) to produce a detailed budget they can use to assess the effect of any management change on business profitability. If you don’t know what something is going to cost, then start on a small scale, rather than committing the whole business immediately.

Start cleanly Have a good look around your property and try to identify where there are problems that will hamper conversion to organics in the long term.

The most common example I see is noxious or difficult weed populations.

I encourage clients to spend a year or two eradicating weeds such as couch grass by using conventional methods before attempting a conversion. This attention to detail in the short term pays off over the long term. Many growers abandon herbicide immediately and, then, find non-chemical weed control too hard and forsake organics a few

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Spend the time Recognise the shift from a productbased system to a skills-based system.

The biggest change to be made in this respect is that someone needs to be in the vineyard much more often. Helping vineyard owners and staff to be better and more frequent observers is a key to success. Walk the vineyard more, and accept that it will take time to learn how to operate new machinery or recognise problems early.

Some practical actions In this section, I have listed some of the changes that are possible to make in order to build skills and confidence in alternative farming systems. Remember that it is not necessary to do them all at once. Trying a few of the components will likely have benefits, depending on your property and your objectives. The idea is to make a start without committing to something overly ambitious that cannot be sustained over the long term.

Try some compost A foundation of organic farming is the application of compost in preference to inorganic fertiliser. Compost delivers not

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Clean cultivation is a traditional way to manage vineyard mid-rows in organic systems, especially in tandem with under-vine weed control.

This system is now less common, with recognition of the benefits of an active, biodiverse mid-row sward becoming more widespread. only nutrient, but also microbial activity and large volumes of organic matter.

Compost use in organic systems is viewed as a soil conditioner, helping to create an environment where natural recycling of nutrients occurs in stable, plant-available forms. Improved waterholding capacity and vineyard resilience are also cited reasons for compost use.

However, make sure that the compost you use is of good quality. Ask to see the Australian Standard and/or organic certification status of commercial composts, as these will have been subject to sufficient heat loads to eliminate weed seeds and pathogens.

Ensure that you understand the analysis of any compost you apply to your soils, and obtain some advice from a soil specialist as to whether the analysis and rates are acceptable for your needs.

Good soil testing will not only provide the basis for these decisions, but will allow good commercial operators to blend amendments such as gypsum or sources of specific nutrient into the compost before application. Do a section with and a section without, so you can assess the results.

Have a good look at your pest and disease program Pest and disease control is typically the area of greatest concern for grapegrowers considering a transition to organic. It seems to me that the wet 2010-11 season has quite rightly focussed people’s attention on their fungicide programs.

However, it is important not to over-react to extreme events such as last season.

There were examples of both organic and conventional vineyards that harvested clean crops last vintage. There were also examples of both that lost crops

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to disease. Have a good look at your program for this season. Are there sprays you have added this year in response to last year’s conditions that may be unnecessary? If you do choose to simplify your fungicide program (for example, a simple sulfur or copper program), have you attended to the small details that will make the difference? Bear in mind application timing, correct water rates and good coverage probably have a greater influence on disease control than the registered chemical you choose. If you are not comfortable with trying something new across the board, try it on a section first to build confidence in your abilities.

Monitor carefully and more frequently to catch any problems early.

Assess vine canopy architecture Have a good look at your vine canopies.

Are they suited to the changes you plan to make? Open, well-ventilated canopies and moderate yields make successful organics easier. Spray penetration and natural ventilation is better, thereby lessening disease pressure. Smaller crops ripen earlier and are off the vine sooner. There are many management tools to achieve these aims, from careful, well-spaced pruning to shoot thinning or careful trimming.

In commercial grade vineyards, consider that small increases in yield may have significant impacts on the rate of ripening and risk of disease. The principle at work here is to accumulate a number of small changes in order to maximise the potential for success under an organic regime. It is the consideration of these small details that may help to explain the improvement in fruit quality in many vineyards after a transition to sustainable farming systems.

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Well-recognised relationships, such as fruit exposure resulting in better colour and flavour accumulation, are often the result of the more careful thinking that accompanies sustainable farming practice.

Assess your mid-row The way in which you manage the vineyard mid-row can also make organic transition easier. Clean cultivation is a traditional way to manage the midrow in organic systems, especially in tandem with under-vine weed control.

This system is now less common, with recognition of the benefits of an active, biodiverse mid-row sward become more widespread. A diverse mid-row provides habitat for beneficial organisms, a source of vegetation for nutrient cycling, a source of nitrogen, root activity to encourage soil porosity and structure, and erosion control.

However, an unsuitable mix may provide host plants for pests, become weedy, or aggressively compete for water and nutrients. Assess the mid-row population in your vineyard against all these criteria and any others that are applicable to your goals. Modifying the mid-row mixture to simplify management is a good starting point when adopting an organic system.

Finally, consider what you will do with the material once it has grown: will it be mown and, if so, will it be thrown under-vine or left in the mid-row?

These activities will have implications on the ease of under-vine weeding, for example.

Trial an under-vine mower or weeder When considering a shift towards organic practice, the most costly change V27N1

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can be weed control. A transition away from herbicide use may encourage better soil structure, infiltration of rainfall, and biological activity undervine. However, it comes with the disadvantage of being perceived as difficult and expensive. This perception is accurate if non-chemical weed control is approached poorly. There are a number of considerations that will improve the potential of success. First, what method will be used? Under-vine weeding with a mechanical weeder has traditionally been the most common method. Once soils are conditioned over a couple of years, this method can be effective both in terms of result and cost. However, bear in mind that a skillful operator is required and experience is key. Soils with a history of herbicide use are typically hard and, therefore, not easy to work. It takes a couple of years to condition the soil to accept a cultivator readily. Mechanical weeding relies very much on attention to detail, particularly in the area of timing.

Weeds that are too large, or soils that are either too wet or too dry, will make life difficult, if not impossible. Once the window for control is missed, there are few remedies.

For these reasons, under-vine mowing is becoming popular, especially when applied in tandem with careful manipulation of the vineyard floor plant population. A carefully mown vineyard floor (including under-vine) that consists of plants that stop growing during summer can be an effective method of weed control. Desirable species tend to become dominant at the expense of undesirable broadleaf species, such as wireweed, marshmallow and fat hen. Where cultivation or herbicide creates a vacuum for these species to repopulate, mowing maintains cover and an undisturbed meadow population.

Whatever method is chosen, the recommendation remains the same: start with a small parcel and convince yourself that you have the confidence to move forward to bigger things.

Summary While organic certification is an independently audited stamp of approval for use in the marketplace, many growers are interested in taking small steps in this direction without necessarily committing to full organic management. What these new entrants intuitively know is that it is essential to understand a new system

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and develop the necessary skills before fully committing their businesses. Some may never move to certification, as they are happy with the positive results they are achieving on the farm, while many will observe the positives and become stimulated to move further down the path. For this reason, everyone should be encouraged to adopt at least some of the components. Although experience suggests that they work better when applied in combination, even a single shift in practice can bring benefits.

Organic growers, in the main, encourage new entrants, but there is a small, yet vocal minority who subscribe to the ‘all or nothing’ mentality. This minority, in my opinion, hamper a wider shift to sustainable practice. If a grower is truly motivated by a commitment to sustainability, then encouraging the mainstream to participate is the only way to really make a difference.

Most of those who adopt a single component become better observers and are, therefore, more connected to their farms. In general, he or she moves much further down the path to becoming an organic grower than they expected to at the outset. This is surely something to be encouraged.

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Sustainability in viticulture: assessment and adoption

By Irina Santiago, Johan Bruwer and Cassandra Collins School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, Waite Campus Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia. Email: irina.santiago@adelaide.edu.au

As part of a three-year project, PhD candidate Irina Santiago is investigating the assessment and adoption of sustainability in vineyards, to ensure growers’ longevity in the wine business.

Introduction: the term ‘sustainability’

T

he world is in constant change.

Scientific findings challenge old practices as newer, cleaner and more efficient technologies become available. Vineyards worldwide adopt new practices in an attempt to be more sustainable, but it seems that the term is perceived differently depending on the background, experiences and mindset of the person who is defining ‘sustainability’. Interestingly, because of our difficulty to have a universallyaccepted definition, and because of the common use of the word in our everyday lives, there is a trend to talk about the undesirable effects of our unsustainable practices, such as increased footprint, greenhouse emissions, water pollution, etc. This is often at the expense of discovering feasible ways to promote sustainability, thereby ensuring the longevity of the vineyard business.

The guidelines to achieve sustainable development were proposed by the United Nations (UN) in 1983.

Sustainability was defined as the interrelationship between economic, social and environmental variables within a system (United Nations 1983). Elkington (1998) coined the term ‘triple bottomline’, turning the UN’s definition into a commonly accepted rule for assessing sustainability among organisations. The UN also defined sustainable development as development that ‘meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (World Comission on Environment and Development 1987).

Scepticism about the longevity of conventional agriculture has resulted in the perceived need for sustainable agriculture. In agriculture, comprehension of the full scope of the

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In agriculture, comprehension of the full scope of the concept of sustainability is essential to increase an understanding of reconciling productivity with natural resource preservation, and to prevent degradation of farms, including vineyards. concept of sustainability is essential to increase an understanding of reconciling productivity with natural resource preservation, and to prevent degradation of farms (Abbona et al. 2007), including vineyards. These components are intrinsically related, therefore, it is not possible to assess the outcomes of a sustainable vineyard in an isolated way.

Vineyards that enhance one component may do so at the detriment of others, which could be unsustainable in the medium or long term. For example, a profitable vineyard today might not be sustainable in the long term if no action to amend the soil and keep it productive was taken. A ‘model’ vineyard in terms of biodiversity enhancement might not be sustainable because its managers are unable to sell the grapes.

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When the long-term sustainability of a multi-billion dollar industry that accounts for 10% of all rural exports and 1.5% of Australia’s exports of all products comes under serious threat, there is indeed cause for concern. In 2009-10, the total sales value of wine produced by the Australian industry amounted to $4.4 billion (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010). The wine industry does a lot of things right, environmentally speaking. Winegrapes are part of a complex value chain due to the close overlapping interests and interactions between grapegrowing and wine production, as well as the consumption of wine by consumers.

Moreover, wine-producing regions are important for rural development, landscape preservation and tourism.

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Innovations are most likely to be developed within higher value crops, where the costs of improvements in the process of production can be most easily or best compensated by the gains resulting from these innovations.

Winegrape production is the most economically valuable fruit crop in the world (Jackson 2008). In 2010, vineyards covered about 8 million hectares worldwide (International Organisation of Vine and Wine 2011) and there were 5536 grapegrowing businesses in Australia. The Australian wine industry provides direct employment for 31,000 people and indirect employment to a further 27,000 people. The vast majority of this industry’s economic activity and contribution is rural-based and it is, therefore, in the national interest that this momentum and balance be maintained and even increased.

Furthermore, 73% of wineries are mostly family-owned and owner-operated small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) processing less than 100 tonnes of grapes among the industry’s 2477 producers (Winetitles 2011).

In recent years, one of the main pressure points for the Australian industry from a sustainability viewpoint has been the oversupply of wine. To remain (economically) sustainable, the industry removed close to 10% of its total vineyard, an action equating to the disappearance of ±16,000 hectares previously under-vine. The major industry bodies are on record calling for a further equivalent number of hectares to be grubbed, which is a debatable action as demand indicators in world markets over the medium- and long term are slowly trending upwards.

There are already several sustainable networks operating in wine-producing countries, such as the US, New Zealand, France, Chile and Australia, among others. Those programs assess sustainability using indicators.

Disagreements over a commonly understood concept for sustainability and its multi-dimensional characteristics have produced many different proposals on how to assess sustainability (Abbona et al. 2007, Pacini et al. 2011).

This project aims to increase the sustainability of vineyards by proposing the following objectives: • define the status quo of sustainability programs in viticulture worldwide • propose a methodology to increase engagement of farmers towards more sustainable practices and strengthen the usefulness of indicators for winegrape growers • propose a methodology to assess, implement and improve sustainability V2 7N 1

of viticulture systems, based on systemic indicators in conjunction with farm workflows, outcomes and outputs • assess the rigour and adoption rates of programs on the sustainability of vineyards.

Retailers and consumers demand more sustainable practices Australia is in the privileged position of being the fourth largest wine exporter in the world (International Organisation of Vine and Wine 2011). In its recent history, Australia has exported more than half of its production to the UK and US. These countries are also among the most demanding in terms of environmental credentials or certifications, particularly from the retailing side of the wine value chain.

Consumers are also demanding higher quality for ever lower prices, and there is an increasing environmental concern and understanding that resources are not infinite. Winegrape growers need to manage their vineyards to promptly adapt and innovate to preserve the environment, as well as to produce high quality grapes in the most efficient way possible for both current and future generations.

Performance: need to measure sustainability The need for a definition of the term ‘sustainability’ and ways to assess it in a vineyard might be seen as a theoretical exercise. However, it needn’t be perceived this way. A common understanding of the term is essential to develop programs and policies that can actually contribute to increasing the sustainability of any business, including vineyards.

It would be too simplistic and unrealistic to say that sustainability is only about reducing inputs. According to Saltiel et al. (1994) the complexity of the sustainability concept has led to researchers being more focussed on adoption of conservation practices than adoption of sustainable technologies. A representative example of this situation is the popularity of the so-called LISA (low-input sustainable agriculture) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This approach had the objective of reducing the usage of inputs in farms. Inputs are certainly an important part of the evaluation of a vineyards sustainability, but a bigger picture approach needs to be taken, where the outcomes of the vineyard (profitability, grape quality, land conservation, etc.) are considered against regional benchmarks.

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To understand how a vineyard is performing, we need variables that are measurable and linked to sustainability.

In many systems, the assessment is restricted to the amount of inputs used.

Furthermore, we need to be able to see where we are, where we want to go and how we want to get there to be able to achieve our business objectives.

There is not a universal right and wrong option. There are many ways to develop a sustainable vineyard. Desirable fruit quality, vineyard sizes, location (soil and climate), market and personal beliefs are examples of some of the factors that might directly contribute to the choices toward certain practices.

Sustainability assessment and indicators Individuals, organisations and societies need models, metrics and tools to evaluate unsustainable production activities in order to help decisionmakers to move away from unsustainable practices (Bebbington et al. 2007).

Indicators are used both by governments and sustainability programs.

Governments use indicators to help them design policies and guidelines for specific programs, while sustainability programs use indicators to create benchmarks that might be used either to guide their participants or set certification rules (Rigby et al. 2001). A good indicator should reduce the complexity of the assessment of the studied system.

Outcomes of such policies and programs encouraged by governments are still uncertain and difficult to measure. The analysis of results should bring a systemic understanding of the impacts of human actions on the whole (Liu et al. 2007). The indicator alone is not enough to bring such results. To date, the biggest problems of qualitative assessments are their inability to measure the totality of effects of practices toward sustainability.

Environmental, economic and social dimensions are dependent variables and ‘subject to trade-offs’. Accomplishing one objective frequently means backpedalling on another (Böhringer and Löschel 2006).

A methodological limitation on the use of indicators does not invalidate their usefulness to assess sustainability because thresholds or benchmarks might be defined from data collection (indicators) within a specific system.

However, indicators do not guarantee sustainable development. Indicators are not automatically linked to sustainability unless a clear threshold is attached to each of them (Lancker and Nijkamp 2000). For example, an efficient system to www.winebiz. com . au

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sustainable practices in vineyards, but it seems that regional solutions might be the easier way to achieve practical results in sustainable viticulture.

References Abbona, E.A.; Sarandón, S.J.; Marasas, M.E. and Astier, M. (2007) Ecological sustainability evaluation of traditional management in different vineyard systems in Berisso, Argentina. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 119:335-345.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010) Australian Wine and Grape Industry. Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011) Agricultural Commodities Australia 2009-10 [Online]. Canberra.

Available: http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/ subscriber.nsf/0/20042E8A21DCF545CA25786C001589 8B/$File/71210_2009-10.pdf [Accessed 27 July 2011].

Bebbington, J.; Brown, J. and Frame, B. (2007) Accounting technologies and sustainability assessment models. Ecological Economics 61:224236.

Winegrape growers need to manage their vineyards to promptly adapt and innovate to preserve the environment, as well as to produce high quality grapes in the most efficient way possible for both current and future generations. collect data on diesel used per hectare in vineyards does not assure fuel-use reduction. The indicator only measures a given situation or the progress towards a goal (if a threshold is defined and compared over time). A practical application or usefulness of the exclusive use of indicators at the farm level, for instance, is still uncertain (Pacini et al. 2011).

If something cannot be measured, it is unlikely it will be improved.

During the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the UN recognised the importance of indicators for helping decision-making (Commission for Sustainable Development 1995). If a country or organisation does not know their position in the market, it is likely that they will end up in a different place than the one they originally intended (Böhringer and Löschel 2006, Savage 2010). Indicators should be seen as the starting point of sustainability assessments.

Most research on sustainability seems to have a stronger focus on the environmental impacts of productive processes. The environmental appeal is unquestionably important in sustainability assessments. To be able to continue to exist, it is necessary to preserve the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land that produces the food we need. At the same time, policies, programs and communication campaigns that focus on environmental sustainability seem to compromise the full understanding of the importance of the equilibrium between the environmental, social

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and economic components of the sustainability concept. These, in turn, are related to the development, wealth, and long-term welfare of any system.

Sustainability is about us.

The expected outcomes from this research are: • help growers to learn how to be more sustainable in all dimensions • give governments and sustainability programs enough feedback to justify their investments as supporters or sponsors of such programs and policies.

Conclusions It is still too early to draw conclusions on what and how we can increase and promote sustainable vineyards through programs. However, there is some evidence from previous research that shows: • sustainable programs for viticulture will only be successful if the farm is the client • programs should aim to help the grower to see a clear pathway to improve his or her sustainability • indicators must be relevant to the reality of what can be improved in the vineyard • there is a direct correlation between the usefulness of the program and the adoption rates of the proposed practices and programs • smaller growers do not share the same reality as big organisations.

Vineyard size matters. Location matters (climate and soil). Intended fruit quality matters. There is no silver bullet to increase adoption of W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

Böhringer, C. and Löschel, A. (2006) Computable general equilibrium models for sustainability impact assessment: Status quo and prospects. Ecological Economics 60:49-64.

Commision for Sustainable Development (1995) Indicators of sustainable development: Guidelines and methodologies. New York: United Nations.

Elkington, J. (1998) Partnerships from cannibals with forks: The triple bottom-line of 21st-century business. Environmental Quality Management 8:3751.

International Organisation of Vine and Wine (2011) State of the viti-viniculture world market.

March 2011. Available: http://www.oiv.int/oiv/info/ enconjoncture?lang=en.

Jackson, R.S. (2008) Wine science: principles and applications. Academic Press.

Lancker, E. and Nijkamp, P. (2000) A policy scenario analysis of sustainable agricultural development options: a case study for Nepal. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal 18:111-124.

Liu, W.; Wu, W.; Wang, X.; Wang, M. and Bao, Y. (2007) A sustainability assessment of a highyield agro-ecosystem in Huantai County, China.

International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 14:565-573.

Pacini, G.C.; Lazzerini, G. and Vazzana, C. (2011) AESIS: a support tool for the evaluation of sustainability of agro-ecosystems. Example of applications to organic and integrated farming systems in Tuscany, Italy.

Rigby, D.; Woodhouse, P.; Young, T. and Burton, M. (2001) Constructing a farm level indicator of sustainable agricultural practice. Ecological Economics 39:463-478.

Saltiel, J.; Bauder, J.W. and Palakovich, S. (1994) Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices: diffusion, farm structure, and profitability. Rural Sociology 59:333-349.

Savage, C. (2010) Sustainability in the Californian wine industry. 14th AWITC - Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference. Adelaide: AWRI. United Nations (1983) Process of preparation of the Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond A/RES/38/161 [Online]. United Nations.

Available: http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/38/ a38r161.htm.

Winetitles (2011) Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Directory. Adelaide.

World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Annex ‘Our common future’ of the Report of the World Comission on Environment and Development [Online]. Tokyo: United Nations.

Available: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/ GEN/N87/184/67/IMG/N8718467.pdf?OpenElement [Accessed 20 April 2011].

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Organic viticulture research at The University of Adelaide

By Luke Johnston, Chris Penfold, Petra Marschner, Ben Pike, Irina Santiago, Susan Bastian, Chris Coffey, Dale Godfrey, Eileen Scott and Cassandra Collins, The University of Adelaide

This article provides an overview of some of the various comparative organic, biodynamic and conventional viticulture projects currently under way by researchers at The University of Adelaide and reveals some preliminary results.

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group of researchers, academics and students at The University of Adelaide have been investigating the effects of organic, biodynamic and alternative viticulture practices on soil health, disease control, grape production, fruit quality and management costs.

Comparison of organic, biodynamic and conventional viticultural management systems in McLaren Vale Soil, vine and wine (Johnston, Marschner, Penfold, Coffey, Bastian and Collins) In 2008, a replicated field trial at Gemtree Vineyards, in McLaren Flat, South Australia, comparing organic, biodynamic (BD), and both low-input and high-input conventional systems was established. For the last three growing seasons, soil biological and chemical properties, vine vegetative and reproductive growth, vine and juice nutrition, fruit composition and wine quality measurements have been recorded. As this is the first time a

Since 2008, a replicated field trial has been under way at Gemtree Vineyards, in McLaren Flat, comparing organic, biodynamic, and both low-input and highinput conventional systems. These photos of the conventional (left) and organic treatments were taken recently after three seasons.

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Researchers have installed gypsum blocks at the Gemtree Vineyards trial site to monitor the differences in water stress by the systems. project of this sort has been established in Australia, we have collaborated with colleagues at Geisenheim Research Centre, in Germany, where a similar trial was established two seasons earlier (Johnston 2009).

During the first two seasons of data collection, few differences in vine and grape parameters were found between management systems. However, in the third season, organic and BD plots had less shoot growth, reduced pruning weights, bunch and berry weights and yield, compared with the two conventional systems. The reduction in growth and yield was found to be primarily due to under-vine growth competing for nutrients and water.

Management systems have not had any significant effect on fruit composition, such as Brix, TA, pH, yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN) and total anthocyanin or phenolic levels. Smallbatch wines were made from the second and third seasons, and are currently being evaluated by way of ‘descriptive analysis’ and by an ‘expert’ panel (using a 20-point scale). Grape berry differences were also evaluated using descriptive analysis in the second season.

A major focus of this study has been to measure the management system effects on soil biological and chemical properties. Previous research has shown organic and BD practices to improve the physical, biological and chemical properties of soil (Gehlen et al. 1988, Probst et al. 2008, Okur et al. 2009, Stamatiadis et al. 1996). However, in these trials, organic treatments have used compost, while the conventional have not used any organic amendments.

Compost is well-known to improve soil properties (Pinamonti 1998) and,

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hence, the major aim of this project was to investigate whether compost had a greater influence on soil properties than the system per se. To assess this, plus (+) and minus (-) compost treatments were included in each of the management systems.

Compost had a greater effect on soil properties than the management systems over the three-year conversion period. Compost increased soil organic carbon (C), microbial biomass C (abundance of microbes), cumulative respiration (biological activity), available nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and soil water content. Management systems did not have any consistent effects on soil organic C, available N, P and microbial biomass C. Cumulative respiration did increase in the organic and BD systems at two of the four sampling times.

At budburst in 2010, cumulative respiration was higher in the organic and biodynamic treatments than the two conventional systems. However, there was no difference between systems at harvest in 2010. During winter and spring, under-vine weeds were allowed to grow in the organic and BD systems, while the conventional systems remained weed-free due to herbicide applications. Therefore, the organic and BD budburst samples were taken from the rhizosphere (root-tips) of these weeds, whereas the conventional system samples were taken from ‘bulk’ soil, without any living plants. It is well-established that rhizosphere soil is higher in microbial activity than bulk or root-free soil, due to the substrates produced by the plant being translocated to the roots, hence, giving the microbes a constant food source (Das and Dkhar 2011, Kelting et al. 1998).

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However, in January 2011, the under-vine area was cultivated to eliminate weeds that were competing with the vine for water and nutrients (as demonstrated in the vine physiology results). In the soil sampling at harvest, cumulative respiration was the same for all four systems. This result confirms the concerns many soil scientists have with organic and BD growers using cultivation as a form of weed control. Although cultivation will initially increase microbial activity, once the labile C has been used by the microbes, it will decrease over time compared with undisturbed soils, hence, reducing soil organic C in the long term.

This study has focussed on the ‘conversion period’; the first three years of production when converting from conventional to organic or BD management. This trial has recently received additional funding from the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation to continue for a further three seasons. This is an important opportunity, as it will allow us to assess if any further changes to soil properties have subsequent effects on grape and wine parameters.

Powdery mildew and Botrytis control (Pike, Penfold, Scott and Collins) Two trial sites are being used to compare organic, BD and conventional vineyard management inputs and their effect on grapevine susceptibility to botrytis bunch rot and powdery mildew.

The first uses the established trial site at Gemtree Vineyards, in McLaren Flat. The second is a trial with potted vines established at The University of Adelaide, Waite Campus.

The Waite-based project has been designed as a comparative trial.

Treatment applications have been designed to mimic those of already established practices in conventionally and organically managed vineyards.

The two biodynamic treatments mimic practices as prescribed by Biodynamic Agriculture Australia and include soil, compost and foliar applications.

As sulfur is an allowable input in BD systems, one treatment includes sulfur while the other does not.

Monitoring for both fungal diseases at both sites started in the growing season of 2010-11. Disease incidence and severity data were collected and are currently undergoing statistical analysis. Detached leaf assays will be performed to assess the effect of treatments on subsequent disease development in a controlled V27N1

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environment. Other facets of vine physiology will also be examined; shoot weight and length, pruning weights, canopy density, and bunch and berry size and weight. These data sets will continue to be recorded over the next two seasons and results will be published in 2013.

Cost comparison between biodynamic and conventional systems (Santiago, Ayers and Collins) This Master’s research surveyed 24 BD vineyards (representing 32% of total BD-certified vineyards in Australia in 2010) to assess vineyard operations and costs and, then, compare these findings to current conventional standards. This methodology took into consideration economies of scale, operational efficiency, climate and region, planting density and the length of time BD growers had used such practices (BD development stage). The survey revealed that the main operations that were potentially different between BD and conventional systems included pest and disease management, weed management and nutrition.

Comparative field-based research suggests that organic farming systems (including BD) decreases grapevine yield. However, in this survey, only 33% of respondents reported a yield reduction since using BD practices.

The total increase in costs between conventional and BD vineyards was 11%, but the study concluded that it should be regarded with extreme caution, as this varies enormously depending on whether the analysis is carried out according to economies of scale or BD development stage.

Total costs were lower for large BD vineyards and higher for mediumsized vineyards when compared with equivalent conventional vineyards.

Generally, BD practices increased under-vine management costs and decreased canopy management costs.

Further research is needed to better understand the relationship between vineyard size, length of time BD practices have been applied, and their effects on costs.

The use of milk and whey as alternatives to sulfur (Scott and Godfrey) This research aims to identify and evaluate milk, and its components and by-products for control of powdery mildew of grapevine. Within this research program, Dr Dale Godfrey V2 7N 1

has investigated the preventative and curative effects of milk treatments on powdery mildew disease in the laboratory, greenhouse and field. Using in vitro detached leaf assays, reducedfat and full-cream milk exhibited both protective and curative concentrationdependent activity. Two fatty acids, when used at concentrations equivalent to milk, exhibited significant curative, but not protective activity. Several milk by-products also exhibited antifungal activity against powdery mildew in detached leaf assays. However, at a concentration equivalent to that found in milk, the known antimicrobial protein lactoferrin exhibited neither protective nor curative activity against powdery mildew. In greenhouse trials, reduced-fat, full-cream milk, the two milk fatty acids and a milk by-product all reduced the severity of powdery mildew of grape.

In field trials at Waite Campus in 2009-10, diluted full-cream milk reduced the severity of powdery mildew on leaves and bunches of Chardonnay vines, which confirmed previous findings (Crisp et al. 2006).

The addition of a wetting agent did not increase the efficacy of milk treatment.

The effects of milk treatment on grape and wine quality, without the confounding effects of disease, were assessed on milk-treated Verdelho vines at Temple Bruer Wines, in Langhorne Creek, where disease failed to develop (Roberts 2010). Regular application of milk had no discernable effect on pH, titratable acidity, sugar, YAN and protein concentration of grape juice, nor did it affect fermentation rates. Likewise, preliminary results indicate that there was no consistent effect of milk on sensory properties of the wines produced from treated Verdelho grapes.

In field trials at Waite Campus in 2010-11, milk and the milk by-product reduced severity of powdery mildew, on both Chardonnay and Semillon grapevines to levels comparable with that of the non-sulfur organic industry standard (4g/L Ecocarb®, 3mL/L Synertrol Horti-Oil®). However, the degree of control was not adequate to meet the industry standard (less than 3-5% of bunches diseased).

The unusual weather conditions experienced in the 2011-12 season were ideal for fungal diseases and many growers, both conventional and organic, experienced crop losses.

In such seasons of high disease pressure, sulfur would need to be used in combination with these ‘softer’ treatments to control powdery mildew.

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A third season of field trials is under way at Temple Bruer Wines and the Waite Campus to assess the minimum concentration of milk and the milk by-product required for controlling powdery mildew in the vineyard.

Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge Melissa Brown and Troy Elliker, from Gemtree Vineyards, for their continued support of the McLaren Vale trial. We also thank Tom Ayers, from In-field Ag, for his support and guidance with the comparison of biodynamic and conventional vineyard management costs, and Alexandre Abellan, AnneChristin Trautwein and Margot Moulin for their help in the laboratory. We also acknowledge the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, Australian Research Council, McLaren Vale Grape, Wine and Tourism Association; Peats Soils; Jeffries Compost; Soils and Mulch; Temple Bruer Wines; MG Nutritionals; and Organic Crop Protectants for financial and logistical support.

References Crisp, P.; Wicks, T.J.; Bruer, D. and Scott, E.S. (2006) An evaluation of biological and abiotic controls for grapevine powdery mildew: 2. Vineyard trials. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 12:203-211.

Das, B. and Dkhar, M. (2011) Rhizosphere microbial populations and physico chemical properties as affected by organic and inorganic farming practices. Amer-Eurasian J. Agric.

Environ. Sci. 10:140-150.

Gehlen, P.; Neu, P. and Schröder, D. (1988) Soil chemical and soil biological properties of conventionally and organically managed vineyards at the Mosel River. Wein Wissen 43:161-173.

Johnston, L. (2009) Organic practices abroad – observations from a tour of Germany, France and the US. Australian Viticulture 13(6): 26-31.

Kelting, D.; Burger, J. and Edwards, G. (1998) Estimating root respiration, microbial respiration in the rhizosphere, and root-free soil respiration in forest soils. Soil Biol Biochem 30:961-968.

Okur, N.; Altindisli, A.; Cenge, M.; Gocmez, S. and Kayikcioglu, H. (2009) Microbial biomass and enzyme activity in vineyard soils under organic and conventional farming systems. Turk. J. Agric. For. 33:413-423.

Roberts, J.P. (2010) Use of milk to control powdery mildew: impact on wine quality. Honours thesis. The University of Adelaide.

Pinamonti, F. (1998) Compost mulch effects on soil fertility, nutritional status and performance of grapevine. Nutr. Cycl. Agroecosys. 51:239-248.

Probst, B.; Schuler, C. and Joergensen, R. (2008) Vineyard soils under organic and conventional management – microbial biomass and activity indices and their relation to soil chemical properties. Biol. Fertil. Soils. 44:443-450.

Stamatiadis, S.; Liopa-Tsakalidi, A.; Maniati, M. and Karageorgou, P. and Natiot, E. (1996) A comparative study of soil quality in two vineyards differing in management practices. In: Doran, J. and Jones, A. (ed) Methods for assessing soil quality, Soil Science Society of America, Wisconcin WVJ 381-392. www.winebiz. com . au

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Vineyard sustainability – a case study from Queensland

By Ursula Kennedy University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland 4350. Email: Ursula.Kennedy@usq.edu.au

Granite Belt producer Symphony Hill Wines has its sights set firmly on producing award-winning wine well into the future by employing environmentally sustainable vineyard practices today.

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ver recent decades, many of the world’s wine-producing countries have shown concern for the industry’s future sustainability and, as such, are assessing and adopting more environmentally-friendly growing and winemaking practices. The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia has been instrumental in adopting policies surrounding issues such as use of genetically modified organisms, water sustainability, climate change and biodiversity, while providing support to wineries wishing to improve their environmental performance.

International bodies have also joined forces to support the Global Wine Sector Environmental Sustainability Principles - a set of seven key principles developed by the FVIS (the international alcoholic beverage trade association) to address issues surrounding the protection and improvement of natural resources through sustainable practice.

Symphony Hill Wines, in Queensland’s Granite Belt region, was established in the late 1990s. The vineyard, situated at the top of the Great Dividing Range at more than 1000m elevation, was set up with a focus on future sustainability.

Prior to establishment of the vineyard, a grid of soil pits were dug, and soil profiles were used to aid soil preparation and choice of variety and rootstocks. At the time of establishment, the vineyard was deep ripped to 1.1 metres depth to break up subsurface clay, and drainage was laid out in a herringbone pattern to maximise run-off.

Drains are situated to allow water to run off to the adjacent dam and creek. Soil preparation included growing covercrops, such as sorghum and canola, and application of organic compost across the vineyard to increase soil matter. Vine rows were carved out in a V-shape to further aid drainage, with soil mounded into the vine row to increase available root volume.

Schwarzmann was the rootstock of choice, as it is well-suited to cooler climates and is useful for controlling vigour.

Clonal choices were made with a view to not only fruit flavour characteristics, but also for fruit characteristics, such as loose bunches and thick skins, permitting lower

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impact vineyard management. Vines were trained to a Smart Dyson trellis to maximise leaf exposure, and increase airflow and spray penetration.

Ongoing management of the vineyard focusses on encouraging natural predators for pest control. Maintaining a sward provides a harbour for beneficial insects and allows the vineyard to be run without application of pesticides. This sward is managed by slashing alternate rows annually. One row is maintained as a harbour for beneficials, while the next row slashed and thrown under-vine.

The slashed row is re-seeded with a mix of fescue, cocksfoot and ryegrass, with volunteer vegetation also permitted to flourish, thereby creating a two-year cycle of mid-row management, which negates any requirement for pesticide application or soil cultivation. Other pest management measures include netting for bird control.

The fungicide program includes copper hydroxide, sulfur-based fungicides, Ecocarb™, and application of seaweed and compost tea products. Seaweed extract sprays are applied six times over the growing season to promote root and shoot growth, and to protect vines from fungal disease and insect attack. Compost teas are applied at least once during the growing season to aid in protecting foliage from fungal infection by increasing foliar populations of antagonistic microorganisms.

Vines receive a good layer of sugarcane mulch to maintain a cool and moist rootzone and encourage microbial populations in the soil, while composts are applied to the soil every two years. Organic sugarcane mulch is chosen due to its low nitrogen drawdown effect, and its ready availability in Queensland. Applied to a depth of 75mm in a 1m strip below-vine, the sugarcane mulch is reapplied every three years.

The vineyard fertiliser program is based on all natural products. Chemical fertilisers are avoided, as the vineyard water runs off to the irrigation dam and a waterway.

A compost of chicken and bull manure, combined with mushroom compost and seaweed extract, is applied every two to three years. A budburst application of OM3TM fertiliser is also made.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

Mike Hayes, from Symphony Hill Wines, discusses some of the sustainable practices employed in his vineyard with Wine Science students from the University of Southern Queensland.

The effect that mulching and application of composts has had on the soil is profound.

Vineyard soils are regularly assessed to gauge the effectiveness of soil treatments - soil pits are dug to a depth of 1.2m every two to three years to check the effective root depth. Soils are also assessed for percentage of organic matter content and, since planting, the soil organic matter content has risen from less than 1% to well over 3%. Visual soil assessments are also conducted monthly. Soil is checked for friability and ease of penetration, while the top-soil is inspected during the growing season for feeder-root activity.

During winter, the vineyard is still tended with care and focus is on low input management, with prunings removed from the vineyard and burned to minimise fungal inoculum levels.

Further information: http://www.wfa.org.au/resources/5/PDF_Resources/Resources/ OIV%20Sustainable%20Vitiviniculture%20Guide.pdf http://www.wfa.org.au/files/what_we_do/GWSESP_Brochure.pdf http://fivs.org/wm/about.htm http://www.symphonyhill.com.au/ http://www.yalumba.com/library/nursery_ggw_april2007.pdf) http://www.eco-carb.com/ http://www.growingsolutions.com/home/gs2/page_194/Vineyard http://www.yalumba.com/library/nursery_ggw_april2007.pdf) http://www.growmore.com/productpages/seaweed.html http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/agriculture/farming-management/ organic-farming/organic-viticulture/organic-viticulture-manual/ disease-management V27N1

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Dissecting the Draft Murray Darling Basin Plan

By Waterfind, www.waterfind.com.au

Following the release of the Draft Murray Darling Basin Plan on 28 November, Adelaide-based water brokerage Waterfind undertook an analysis of the plan and its impacts on water markets. The following is an extract from the report on this analysis and focusses on the major differences between the Draft and the original Guide released in 2010 and examines the Draft’s regional environmental water targets.

Process for developing the Murray Darling Basin Plan

I

n October 2010, the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) released the ‘Guide’ to the Murray Darling Basin Plan. This guide was not required by the Water Act 2007, but was released to allow public insight and engagement with the direction of the MDBA. The guide proposed three scenarios for cuts to water use of 3000, 3500 or 4000 gigalitres. The guide was severely criticised by irrigation communities, principally due to the severity of the cuts in available water and was also criticised by the CSIRO which said in its response to the guide that: “There are a number of areas where our (CSIRO’s) view is that what is documented in the guide either does not represent best available science, or does not represent appropriate application of best available science in the context of the Basin Plan and the wider context of the National Water Initiative1.”

In response to the guide, the Commonwealth Water Minister Tony Burke questioned the MDBA’s interpretation of the Water Act and argued that it can consider community impacts (socioeconomic factors) with equal weight to the environment. Following these responses, the then chair of the MDBA resigned and was replaced by former NSW State Government Water Minister Craig Knowles.

Since then, Knowles and Minister Tony Burke have made public statements that the Draft Murray Darling Basin Plan will weigh the needs of irrigation communities more heavily than was provided for in the guide. The plan will also pursue a greater cooperation between the Commonwealth and irrigators in achieving water savings for the environment.

Following the release of the Draft Murray Darling Basin Plan on 28 November 2011, a 20-week statutory consultation period is now under way before the results of the consultation are used by the MDBA to develop the final Murray Darling Basin Plan. Once the Murray Darling Basin Plan is passed into legislation, all state-based water management plans will be required to be made consistent with the plan as each state's program expires. The last state-based water management plans will expire in 2019 and Knowles has stated that he intends the process of recovering environmental water to be completed at this time.

Major Changes BETWEEN the ‘Guide to the Basin Plan’ AND the ‘Draft Basin Plan’ Suspension of large-scale water buybacks in the Southern Basin until 2013 The major change in the Draft Plan for water markets is Minister Burke’s announcement that the Commonwealth will not be conducting large-scale water buybacks in the Southern Murray Darling Basin until at least 2013.

This is very different to the approach used at the release of the guide, where a large-scale buyback was conducted within two months of its release.

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This announcement was made as part of the Commonwealth Government’s response to the Windsor Inquiry on the ‘Restoring the Balance’ program. The full text of the Commonwealth Government's response to the issue of strategic buybacks is as follows: “(The Commonwealth Government) agrees to consult further with industry on a program that will integrate water purchasing with infrastructure reconfiguration, and on the development of a publicly-released water recovery strategy that will give communities confidence in the water recovery program.

"Whereas in recent years buyback money has outspent infrastructure funds, the Government has committed that infrastructure spending will now be prioritised.

"Buyback spending for the remainder of 2011 and 2012 will focus on targetted purchases and the development of a program for subsystem retirement and reconfiguration.

"The Government is not considering general tenders in the ▶ southern-connected system prior to 2013.2 "

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MDB DRAFT PLAN

Table 1. Draft Basin Plan gaps to be secured for environmental flows by region.

Reduction from BDL (GL) Total Southern shared Northern shared Estimated NVIRP return Paroo Warrego Nebine Condamine Balonne Moonie Qld border rivers NSW intersecting streams Barwon Darling NSW border rivers Gwydir Namoi Macquarie Lachlan Murrumbidgee NSW Murray Lower Darling Victorian Murray Kiewa Ovens Goulburn Broken Campaspe Loddon Wimmera Mallee SA Murray SA non prescribed Eastern Mt Lofty Marne Saunders

2750 971 143

1066.53 0 264

0 8 1 100 0 8 0 6 7 42 10 65 48 320 262 8 253 0 0 344 0 18 12 23 101 0 0 0

8 1 5 0 7 0 6 0.1 42 5 65 0 48 137 194 0.4 190 0 0 245 0 6 2 0 79 0 0 0

Waterfind's interpretation of this response is that the Commonwealth will be considering conducting general tenders in the Southern Murray Darling Basin in 2013, particularly if consultation with industry leads to a creation of a water recovery strategy.

Water Recovery Targets in the Draft Basin Plan Water recovery targets by region The MDBA has calculated that the Murray Darling Basin requires 2750GL more environmental water from 2009 diversion levels to maintain the system at a level of good health. The MDBA has also calculated that: • Between 2009 and September 2011, there was 1068GL of water secured for the environment through infrastructure upgrades and buybacks.

• The Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project (NVIRP) Stage 2 initiatives will possibly deliver 214GL to the environment.

• This leaves 1468GL of water to be recovered from the Murray Darling Basin between now and 2019.

The MDBA has also noted that prior to 2009, there was 959GL recovered for the environment. This brings the total volume of water that will be made available to the environment to 3573GL

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Secured for environment 2009 – 2011 (GL)

Gap to be secured from 2011 to 2019 (GL) 1469.5 971 117 -525 0 0 0 95 0 1 0 0 6.9 0 5 0 0 183 68 7.6 0 0 0 0 0 12 10 23 22 0 0 0

since efforts to secure water for the environment began. In setting the proportions of this Basin-wide target that need to be recovered in each region, the MDBA has used a set formula that takes into account reductions in water diversions that have already occurred.

There are several key elements to this formula: • The Baseline Diversion Limit (BDL) – The BDL is the volume of water that has historically been sourced from each river. This is calculated by using 2009 water management arrangements as a baseline and, then, factoring in longterm climatic conditions for each region.

The BDL also takes into account water transferred to the environment prior to 2009.

• Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL) – The SDL is the maximum long-term average volume of water that can be sustainably taken from each river system and is calculated as the BDL minus the Local Reduction Amount and Shared Reduction Amount.

• Local Reduction Amount (LRA) – This is the volume of water that is required to be secured from water users within a river system to reduce the allowed extractions to each region’s Sustainable Diversion Limit.

• Shared Reduction Amount (SRA) – This is the volume of water that needs to W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

be secured from water users across the Southern and Northern Basins to achieve the Basin-wide Sustainable Diversion Limit. The MDBA has stated that the division of the Shared Reduction Amount will occur in consultation with irrigation communities and Basin states.

The MDBA has declined to specify the shared reduction amount for each region and, because of this, Sustainable Diversion Limits are not provided in the Draft Plan. It has been emphasised by the MDBA that knowledge of exactly how much water can be saved in each region through infrastructure upgrades or river management changes is inadequate.

Therefore, the MDBA will not determine each region’s contribution to the shared reductions until this knowledge is stronger.

This is expected to occur through a major review of the water recovery process that is scheduled to occur in 2015.

The Local Reduction Amounts for each region have been provided in the Draft Basin Plan and these reduction amounts are all set as a reduction on the Baseline Diversion Limit. As reductions are set from the BDL, this means that water secured from the environment between 2009 and September 2011 has been taken into account and the LRA have been reduced accordingly.

This means that, for example, in the NSW Murray, which has a Local Reduction Amount of 262GL, 194GL has already been secured for the environment since 2009. This leaves only a further 68GL to be secured for the local environment.

The targets for each region are shown in Table 1 along with the shared reduction volumes for the Southern and Northern Basin, as well as several adjustments that the MDBA made in developing its totals.

Converting long-term flow volume to entitlement volume The targets in the Draft Basin Plan refer to average volumes of water taken from river systems, not volumes of permanent water entitlements. The difference between these two figures is that the volume of actual water that is yielded for each depends on the security of the entitlement.

An example of this difference is the NSW Murray, which has a remaining Local Area Reduction of 68GL. In past tenders, the Commonwealth has purchased NSW Murray General Security entitlements that have a long-term yield6 of 81%. This means that over a long-term period, which includes average rainfall years, floods and droughts, 1ML of entitlement would yield an average of 0.81ML of water allocation each season over the long term. This means that to recover 68GL of long-term yield, the Commonwealth would have to purchase 83.9GL of NSW Murray General Security entitlements.

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Table 2 shows the Local Reduction Amounts (which represent long-term flow volumes) for selected regions with the volume of permanent entitlements that need to be purchased to achieve each region’s target.

The values of the Shared Reduction Amounts are included for illustration purposes only. They give a sense of the scale of what the MDBA is attempting to achieve with the Murray Darling Basin Plan, and the potential impact on the local economies of irrigation communities. The exact value of the Shared Reduction Volumes will depend entirely on the exact portfolio of water entitlements recovered. For example, if the Southern Shared Reduction was made up of only NSW Murray General Security entitlements, then the value would be $1.07 billion; however, if it were made up of SA Murray High Reliability entitlements only, the value would be $2.02 billion.

Potential Volumes to be Recovered through Infrastructure Upgrades In the Draft Basin Plan, the role of infrastructure upgrades has been emphasised as a critical component of the strategy of returning water to the environment. As each megalitre saved through infrastructure upgrades will not be purchased from the general water market, these initiatives will have a significant impact on the dynamics of the broader water market.

The Commonwealth conducts grant programs that are aimed at specific irrigation infrastructure types, such as ‘On-Farm Irrigation Upgrades’, and have also partnered with state governments and other organisations to undertake projects,

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Table 2.

Water market region

Long term volume target (ML)

Condamine Balonne NSW Border Rivers Namoi Murrumbidgee Campaspe Loddon NSW Murray SA Murray Lower Darling Northern Shared1 Southern Shared1 Total

95,000 7000 5000 183,000 12,000 10,000 68,000 22,000 8000 117,000 971,000 1,521,500

Typical buyback entitlement type

Indicative buyback value of Gap

95,000 6494 285,938 12,634 10,528 83,951 24,445 9865 248,936 1,277,632 2,055,423

$142,500,000

$11,039,800 $197,265,970 $20,214,400 $16,002,560 $75,304,047 $45,394,365 $8,848,905 $399,293,344 $1,633,590,473 $2,549,453,864

General Security General Security General Security High Reliability High Reliability General Security High Reliability General Security Avg. Security Avg. Security

including the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project.

The total funds budgeted to irrigation infrastructure upgrades in the Murray Darling Basin program is $5.8 billion. To date, this budget has been committed to 14 distinct initiatives that have been publicly announced. Several of these projects have funds committed but not yet been distributed.

An example of this is the $110 million that has been committed to the ‘Private Irrigation Infrastructure Upgrades’ initiative. To date, only $22.4m has been distributed to specific projects within this program, leaving a further $87.5m to be allocated to future projects within the initiative.

The performance of infrastructure upgrades in the Murray Darling Basin varies significantly between projects, and the final performance of the program will be determined by future decisions about where to commit resources.

For further information or a complete copy of this report, visit www.waterfind.com.au or contact Waterfind on 1800 890 285.

Delivering Water Solutions to the Wine Industry

Entitlement volume required (ML)

FOOTNOTES 1 Prosser, Ian; CSIRO response to the Guide to the Murray Darling Basin Plan, December 2010 2 Australian Government response to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Australia Committee Report: Of Drought and Flooding Rains – Inquiry into the impact of the Guide to the Murray Darling Basin Plan in Regional Australia - Hansard 3 In the Draft Basin Plan, the MDBA reports that it has secured 1068GL and needs to recover a further 1469.5GL, Waterfind cannot account for the 1.5GL variance in this figure. The figures in this table are as they appear in Schedule 2 of the Draft Basin Plan.

4 In the Northern Basin, there has already been 26GL more recovered for the environment than is required by the Local Area Reduction volumes. This 26GL has been allocated to the Northern Basin Shared Area Reduction volume, reducing it from 143 to 177GL. 5 The NVIRP Project is expected to return 214GL to environmental flows; 162GL has been allocated to the Goulburn and Victorian Murray systems, leaving 52GL, which Waterfind has assumed will be assigned to the Southern Shared Reduction Amount. This division has been derived from analysis and is not described in the Draft Basin Plan.

6 For historical reasons, the long-term yield is referred to as the long-term cap equivalent (LTCE). The terms are used interchangeably in this report.

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GRAFTING

A comparison of handling methods for production of bench-grafted grapevines

By Brady P. Smith Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA 16802 Current address: CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, PO Box 350, Glen Osmond, Adelaide, SA 5064.

Email: brady.smith@csiro.au. Telephone: +61 8 8303 8637.

Vitis vinifera Shiraz scions were bench-grafted onto Schwarzmann rootstock and subjected to a combination of pre-grafting and post-grafting handling treatments to determine the most effective method of minimising grapevine mortality.

Introduction

S

uccess rates of bench-grafted Vitis vinifera (L.) were determined to be below a financially accepted level at a nursery in Western Australia.

Two factors that were identified as potential causes were pathogens infection and/or poor callus formation at the graft union. Bench-grafting of grapevines is the process of joining dormant lignified canes, typically with a single bud fruiting scion, to a de-budded rootstock. The ‘graftling’ is held in a low light, high humidity environment for four to six weeks while a callus develops at the graft union, linking the cambium, and roots develop at the basal end of the rootstock. The success rate of rootstrike and time required for callus formation is dependent on genotype (Tangolar et al. 1997a,b), environmental factors (Nicholas et al. 2004), position of cutting along the shoot (Burrows 1995, Keeley et al. 2004, Weaver et al. 1975), time of collection of canes (Dardeniz et al. 2007, Keeley et al.

2003, Maigre and Epard 1997, Weaver et al. 1975), storage methods (Alley 1979, Blennerhassett and Considine 1979, Maigre and Epard 1998, Treeby and Considine 1982, Waite et al. 2004) and handling procedures (Harmon and Weinberger 1963, Kamiloglu and Tangolar 1997, Kracke et al. 1981, Trifonova and Danailov 1998).

Vitis vinifera ‘Shiraz’ scions were grafted onto Schwarzmann rootstock, which is a natural hybrid of Vitis riparia (Michx.) x Vitis rupestris (Scheele) (Pongrácz 1983). Schwarzmann produces first-grade grafted vines at a rate similar to 1103 Paulsen and Teleki 5C, (Hurn 2004) which are described by Pongrácz (1983) as easy to root and graft.

Ungrafted Schwarzmann forms roots on 75-88% of dormant canes (B. Smith, unpublished data).

Three different treatments for control of pathogen were applied to determine the minimal application required.

Solutions of a mild fungicide, Sporekill® (quaternary ammonium), a strong fungicide Spin Flo® (carbendazim) and biotic control agent Trichoflow® (Trichoderma spp.) were prepared for soaking of material prior to grafting.

Quaternary ammonium is a broad spectrum fungicide, not considered a carcinogen, while carbendazim is a systemic fungicide known to cause birth defects in laboratory animals.

Trichoderma spp. is an immunising commensal that has been shown to provide protection against the fungal pathogen Eutypa lata (Pers:Fr.) and promote root development (Hunt 2004, Messina 1999, Jin et al. 1992).

The effect of orientation of vines (horizontal versus vertical) during callusing has not been compared in a systematic manner. A few authors have

recommended callusing bench-grafts in a horizontal position (Abu-Qaou 1999, Weaver 1976, Ziraldo 1974), with the majority of text recommending vertical orientation (Harmon and Weingberger 1963, Nicholas et al. 2004, Perold 1927, Winkler 1962) with no quantification of the effect on final mortality. The effect of covering of the graft union in conjunction with coating with paraffin wax while callusing has not been fully explored, with conflicting recommendations in the literature on the subject (Harmon and Weingberger 1963, Nicholas et al. 2004, Perold 1927, Romberger et al. 1979, Tangolar et al. 1997a, Winkler 1962).

Bench-grafted vines were callused in wetted vermiculite media inside styrofoam boxes in a temperature and humidity-controlled room. Various media that have been used to callus benchgrafted vines include sphagnum moss (Alley 1974, Loenholdt 1974, Perold 1927), sand (Alley 1960, Burrows 1995, Harmon and Weinberger 1963), sawdust (Bradt and Hutchinson 1970, Gladwin 1920), perlite (Nicholas et al. 2004), perlite/vermiculite mix (Kawai 1997), vermiculite (Nakano 1981, Nicholas et al. 2004), volcanic tuff (Kamiloglu and Tangolar 1997, Tangolar et al. 1997b), and combinations of various medium (Harmon 1944, Romberger et al. 1979).

There is little research on the effect that the different callusing media has on callus and root development.

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Kamiloglu and Tangolar (1997) found no difference between sand and volcanic tuff and Nicholas et al. (2004) lists vermiculite, perlite, peat and sawdust as commonly used media, while Romberger et al. (1979) recommend avoiding the use of sand as the callusing media in regions that experience cold spring weather.

Application of the phytohormone auxin, such as indole butyric acid (IBA), has been shown to increase rootstrike, especially for hard-to-root varieties (Harmon 1944). Use of auxin powder on basal-end hardwood cuttings of easy-to-root varieties provides only modest gains (Burrows 1995, Kracke and Cristorferi 1983). Schwarzmann is considered to root easily (Pongrácz 1983) and, therefore, the application of IBA was expected to have little effect on rooting.

Material and methods One-year-old hardwood cuttings of Schwarzmann were collected from dormant mothervines at the nursery in late June. Material for grafting was selected from the fifth to 20th internode of shoots from the mothervine. Canes were cut and graded, with the material to be used for grafting being more than 400mm in length, generally straight, and 5-10mm in diameter below the top bud, with a minimum of four to five internodes per cutting. Hardwood cuttings were soaked overnight in a solution of Sporekill (10mL/1000mL water), and then sealed in polyethylene bags and kept in cold storage at 2-4°C until the day of grafting.

Scion material (V. vinifera ‘Shiraz’) was collected from the customer’s vineyard in Western Australia. Scion material was more than 400mm, generally straight, and 6-12mm in diameter below the top bud. Canes for scions were disinfected and stored in the same manner as rootstock material.

Pre-graft treatment trial The control for fungicide treatment was the current practice at the nursery.

This was to soak the scion and rootstocks in a solution of Sporekill (10mL/1000mL water) for 15-30 minutes on the day of grafting. Grafted vines were layered horizontally in wetted vermiculite in 35L styrofoam boxes, with the lids left unsealed. The experimental treatments of carbendazim and Trichoderma spp. were prepared in the same manner. Spin Flo (550g/L carbendazim) treated vines were soaked in a solution of 1mL/1000mL water. Due to the potential toxicity of Spin Flo, grape material was soaked for no longer than five minutes. The solution of Trichoderma spp. (Trichoflow at 2g/L water) was not adjusted in the pre-graft V2 7N 1

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Table 1. Post-grafting treatments of bench-grafted grapevines to examine effect on final mortality. Prior to bench-grafting, vines were packed in moist vermiculite for callusing with a combination of three treatments.

Callus box orientation

Graft union treatment

Box lid

Horizontal Horizontal Horizontal Horizontal Vertical Vertical Vertical Vertical

Uncovered Covered Uncovered Covered Uncovered Covered Uncovered Covered

Unsealed Sealed Unsealed Sealed Unsealed Sealed Unsealed Sealed

treatment trials, and the tap water at the facility was measured to be between pH6.5-7.

Rootstocks were de-budded and pruned below the bottom node with a perpendicular cut. Canes for scion material were cut into single bud pieces and kept hydrated. Scions were dipped in IBA powder (4000ppm), matched with rootstock of a similar diameter, and joined to the rootstock with a pneumatic omega blade press.

Callusing treatment trial Grafted vines for all treatments were prepared in the same manner.

Rootstocks were de-budded, and soaked in 2g/L solution of Trichoflow (adjusted to pH4-5 with citric acid) for 15-30 minutes.

The scion material was removed from cold storage as needed, cut into one-bud pieces, soaked in Trichoflow for 15-30 minutes and dusted with IBA powder (4000ppm) and joined to the rootstock with a pneumatic press. Grafted vines were dipped in melted paraffin wax to cover the top of the graftling to approximately 5-10cm below the graft union.

Combinations of the three treatments were replicated as three boxes of 180 grafted vines (Table 1). The handling treatments involved arranging the callusing box in horizontal or vertical orientation, with the graft union covered or not covered with moist vermiculite, and sealing or not sealing of the callus box lid with packing tape.

These treatments were suspected to affect the micro-environment humidity and heat dispersion in the callus box.

Each treatment was prepared with an accompanying control of the current standard practice of horizontally layered vines with graft unions covered by the callusing media, lids left unsealed and boxes placed horizontally in the callusing room.

Waxed graftlings were placed in previously unused styrofoam callusing boxes (35L capacity). Nine layers of 20 graftlings were placed horizontally in W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

Number of boxes 7 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

7000-9000g of wetted vermiculite, each layer separated by approximately 5cm of vermiculite.

The callusing room had a concrete floor, tin walls with two wire shelves and no windows. Oscillating fans were used for air circulation. Ambient air temperature was set at 30°C and controlled with electric heat. The internal temperature of the callusing box was monitored in three control boxes evenly distributed in the callusing room. Callus room humidity was set at 90%.

Boxes were opened after 19-21 days to observe callus formation, and returned to the callusing room if there was not sufficient callusing on at least 80% of vines.

After 26-32 days, boxes were removed and initial mortality (no callus at graft union or root formation) was recorded.

Graftlings were planted in a light potting soil in 15x5x5cm pots. Each lot was tagged and randomly placed in a polyethylene greenhouse for hardening off. Plants were re-examined at twoweekly intervals, with final mortality recorded after eight weeks.

Statistical analysis of treatment effects was conducted with SigmaPlot 11 (Systat Inc).

Results Pre-graft treatment trial The mean internal temperature of control callus boxes was 30°C. There was no significant difference in temperature among the three blocks. This is near the optimal temperature of 28°C (Pratt 1974) and 29.5°C (Alley and Peterson 1977).

In the pre-grafting handling treatment trials, carbendazim had a significantly lower mortality rate (19.34%) than Trichoderma spp. (26.49%) (Fishers LSD p =<0.001) (Figure 1). There was no significant difference in mortality rate between the other pre-grafting handling treatments.

The mean increase in mortality from removal from callus box to eight weeks after planting was 15.5% www.winebiz. com . au

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The covering of the graft union resulted in a mean mortality rate of 21.99% which was significantly different (Fishers LSD p=0.006) than the exposed graft union mean mortality rate of 29.82% (Figure 4).

A comparison of the days in the callus room with final mortality showed a correlation (adjusted r2=0.55) for the seven control boxes (Figure 5).

Discussion

Figure 1. Final mortality rate of bench-grafted vines for pre-graft treatments.

Bench-grafted vines were subjected to three different treatments to control pathogen growth. Sporekill® is a mild fungicide, Spin Flo® is a strong fungicide and Trichoflow® is a biotic agent. Treatments with the same letter are not significantly different (Fishers LSD p =<0.001). Bars indicate standard deviation.

Figure 2. Final mortality of bench-grafted vines with combinations of different treatments during callusing. Vitis vinifera ‘Shiraz’ was bench-grafted on Schwarzmann rootstock and packed in wet vermiculite in styrofoam boxes for graft union callus development and basal root formation. A combination of three different treatments was applied to three replicated boxes of 180 grafted vines.

Treatment combinations with the same letter are not significantly different (Fishers LSD p =<0.001). Bars represent standard deviation. (+5.9%). The mean increase from initial mortality and final mortality for two treatments were significantly different from the mean increase in mortality for all other treatments (vertical/uncovered/ unsealed:+3.3%, and vertical/covered/ unsealed: +23.2%; data not shown).

Callusing treatment trial In the post-grafting handling trial, the lowest final mortality (16.11%) (Figure 2) was for the combined treatments of vertical callusing box, with the graft unions covered and box lid sealed. However, this was not significantly different than the mortality rate of all treatments where the

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callus box was arranged horizontally (18.11-22.88%). The highest mortality (36.39%) was observed for vines that were in vertical callus boxes with noncovered graft unions and sealed boxes.

This treatment combination was not significantly different (Fishers LSD p =<0.001) from vertical callusing boxes with lids unsealed and graft unions exposed (30.23%) or covered (36.31%) (Figure 2).

The orientation of the callus box had a significant effect on mortality (t test, p=0.016) with horizontal boxes having a lower mean mortality rate (21.85% +3.347) than vertical boxes (29.96 +10.22) (Figure 3).

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Pre-graft handling with a strong fungicide had a significant decrease in initial mortality rates compared with a biotic control agent and a less noxious fungicide. However, the decrease in mortality was only from 24.75% to 19.34%. The strong fungicide has carbendazim as the active component, and since the time of this trial, has been suggested to be a mammalian carcinogen (Nufarm - MSDS). The moderate gain from its use does not seem warranted in light of the potential harmful effects. The inoculation of material with Trichoderma spp. resulted in a slightly higher mortality rate (26.49%) than the control treatment of mild fungicide (24.76%) and was not significantly different. Trichoderma spp. can be cultured by operators, thereby reducing operating costs. In the pregraft handling trials, the Trichoderma spp. culture was prepared in tap water without adjustment for pH. It was noted that the optimal pH for Trichoderma spp. growth is between pH4-5. In the post-graft handling trials, all vines were treated with Trichoflow, which was re-suspended in water adjusted with citric acid to pH4-5. The mean mortality rate in the post-grafting trial for vines with pH-adjusted Trichoderma solution and the same post-grafting handling treatment was 23.75%, which is lower than treatment with Spin Flo in the pregrafting trial.

In the post-graft handling trial, the lowest mortality was for the vertical boxes, with graft union covered and lids sealed with packing tape but, overall, the boxes orientated vertically had a higher mortality rate. One possible explanation for the higher mortality rate is that the boxes remained in the callus room longer (the two highest mortality rates were for boxes that were kept in the callus room for 32 days). Tangolar et al. (1997a) found that it took 32-47 days for maximum callusing of some varieties. The nursery had observed that Shiraz grafted to Schwarzmann required 21-30 days for sufficient callus development.

The initial determination to accept or reject a graftling is based upon the appearance of the callus at the graft V27N1

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union and root emergence from the base of the rootstock. The callus at the graft union may develop, but may be formed from only one of the members of the graft union, and no cambium fusion has occurred (Nicholas et al. 2004, Perold 1927, Pratt 1974, Tangolar et al. 1997a).

The final mortality rates are affected by many factors, such as poor cambium fusion, latent disease development, and environmental variation in the postpotting facility. Also, mechanical injury of the delicate grafted vine during potting and subsequent handling can lead to mortality. These factors were considered uniform across the randomised arrangement of vines.

The differences in mean mortality rate at removal from callus box and eight weeks after potting does not change the rankings for the three treatments with lowest final mortality rate, and only changes ranking by one for the four treatments, and a change of two places for one treatment. The vertical callusing boxes with graft unions uncovered had the highest rates of initial mortality (20% and 33%), which was well above the mean for all other treatments (5.0%+3.2%).

The possible reason for higher initial mortality of vertical boxes may be due to the weight of the medium pushing against the box lid and allowing for escape of water vapours, and lower humidity drying out the graft union.

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Figure 3. Final mortality rate for grafted vines with callus box in horizontal or vertical position. The orientation of vines during callusing had a significant effect (Fishers LSD p=0.018) on the rate of final mortality of bench-grafted vines.

Conclusions The orientation of grafted vines during callusing does not seem to be as an important factor as the prevention of disease and desiccation of the graft union for final success rate. Callusing of vines in the horizontal position is generally more reliable for graft union callus development. The final mortality rate was lowest when vines were callused horizontally, the graft union was kept hydrated, and hygienic conditions were maintained throughout the grafting process.

Figure 4. Final mortality rate for grafted vines with graft union covered or exposed in callus box. The covering or non-covering of the graft union with wet vermiculite during callusing had a significant effect (Fishers LSD p=0.006) on the rate of final mortality of bench-grafted vines.

References Abu-Qaou, H. (1999) Performance of different grape cultivars for rooting and grafting. An-Najah University Journal of Research 13:1-8.

Alley, C.J. (1960) Factors affecting the rooting of grape cuttings. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 11:145-148.

Alley, C.J. (1974) Bench-grafting as done in Germany and France. Wine Vines 55:33-36.

Alley, C.J. (1979) Grapevine propagation. XI. Rooting of cuttings: Effects of Indolebutyric Acid (IBA) and refrigeration on rooting. Am. J. Enol. Vitic.

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Alley, C.J. and Peterson, J.E. (1977) Grapevine propagation IX. Effects of temperature, refrigeration and indolebutyric acid on callusing, bud push, and rooting of dormant cuttings. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 28:1-6.

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Figure 5. Linear regression of days in the callus room and final mortality rate.

The final mortality rate of the seven control treatments (horizontal callusing with graft union covered and boxes sealed) had a strong positive correlation with days in the callusing room.

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Blennerhassett, R.M. and Considine, J. A. (1979) Propagation of Vitis champinii (Planchon) cv Ramsey, storage and field Practices. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 30:7980.

Bradt, O.A. and Hutchinson, A. (1970) Grape rootstock studies at Vineland 1959-1970. Rept. Hort.

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Gladwin, F.E. (1920) Studies on the cost of producing grapes. Geneva, N.Y: New York Agricultural Experiment Station.

Keeley, K.; Preece, J.E.; Taylor, B.H. and Dami, I.E. (2004) Effects of high auxin concentrations, cold storage, and cane position on improved rooting of Vitis aestivalis (Michx.) ‘Norton’ cuttings. Am. J. Enol. Vitic.

55:265-268.

Kracke, H.; Cristoferi, G. and Marangoni, B. (1981) Hormonal changes during the rooting of hardwood cuttings of grapevine rootstocks. Am. J. Enol. Vitic.

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Kracke, H. and Cristoferi, G. (1983) Effect of IBA and NAA treatment on the endogenous hormones in grapevine rootstock hardwood cuttings. Acta Horticulturae 137:95-102.

Loenholdt, J. (1974) The Grafting of Grapevines.

Hammondsport, N.Y: Pleasant Valley Wine Co.

Harmon, F.N. (1944) Influence of indolebutric acid on the rooting of grape cuttings. Proc. Am. Soc. Hort.

Sci. 42:383-388.

Maigre, D. and Epard, S. (1997) Influence de la date de recolte et du mode de conservation des bois de porte-greffe Fercal sur les taux de reussite au greffage de la vigne. Revue Suisse De Viticulture Arboriculture Horticulture 29:173-178.

Harmon, F.N. and Weinberger, J.H. (1963) Benchgrafting trials with ‘Thompson Seedless’ grape on various rootstocks. Proc. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. 83:379383.

Maigre, D. and Epard, S. (1998) Influence de la duree et de la temerature de stratification sur le taux de reussite au greffage de la vigne. Revue Suisse De Viticulture Arboriculture Horticulture 30:137-141.

Hunt, J.S. (2004) Trichoderma and trunk disease fungi: prospects for new protective management options. The Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker 484:17-20.

Messina, J. (1999) The use of beneficial Trichoderma in grapevine propagation. Combined proceeding of International Plant Propagator’s Society 49:145-148.

Hurn, A. (2004) Rootstocks - a nursery perspective.

The Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker 484:54.

Nakano, M.; Yuda, E. and Nakagawa, S. (1980) Studies on rooting of hardwood cuttings of grapevine, cv. Delaware. Jap. Soc. Hort. Sci. 48:385–394.

Kamiloglu, O. and Tangolar, S. (1997) A comparison of three methods producing grafted vines.

Acta Horticulturae 441:395-398.

Nicholas, P.R.; Chapman, A.P. and Cirami, R.M. (2004) Grapevine Propagation. In: Coombe, B.G.; Dry, P.R.; (Eds.): Viticulture. Vol. 2 Practices. (Winetitles: Adelaide).

Kawai, Y. (1997) Effects of exogenous BAP, GA3 and ABA on endogenous auxin and rooting of grapevine hardwood cuttings. J. of Jap. Soc. Hort. Sci. 66:93-98.

Perold, A.I. (1927) A Treatise on Viticulture.

MacMillan and Co. London.

Romberger, G.A.; Haeseler, C.W. and Bergman, E.L. (1979) Influence of two callusing methods on benchgrafting success of 12 Vitis vinifera L. combinations in Pennsylvania. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 30:106-110.

Tangolar, S.; Ergenoglu, F.; Gok, S. and Kamiloglu, O. (1997a) Research on determination of callus formation capacity in different grape rootstocks and cultivars. Acta Horticulturae 441:399.

Tangolar, S.; Gok, S.; Ergenoglu, F. and Kamiloglu, O. (1997b) Rooting characteristics of several grape cultivars and rootstocks. Acta Horticulturae 441:403.

Treeby, M.T. and Considine, J. A. (1982) Propagation of Vitis Champini (Planchon) cv. Ramsey: Relationship between carbohydrate metabolism during storage and cutting performance. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 33:53-56.

Trifonova, D. and Danailov, B. (1998) Studies of the effect of ionizing radiation on the regenerative and growth processes of grafted vines. Lozarstvo i Vinarstvo. 3:17-19.

Waite, H.; Jaudzems, G. and Faragher, J. (2004) Recent advances in grapevine propagation research.

The Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker 485a:39-41.

Weaver, R.J. (1976) Grape Growing. Wiley, New York.

Weaver, R.J.; Lavee, S. and Johnson. J. (1975) Rooting and end of rest in ‘Carignane’ cuttings as affected by collection time and cane segment used. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 26:164 - 167.

Winkler, A.J. (1962) General Viticulture. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Jin, X.; Hayes, C.K. and Harman, G.E. (1992) Principles in the development of biological control systems employing Trichoderma species against soilborne plant pathogenic fungi. In: Leatham, G.F. (Ed.): Frontiers in Industrial Mycology, 174-195. (Chapman and Hall: London)

Pongrácz, D.P. (1983) Rootstocks for Grapevines.

Keeley, K.; Preece, J.E. and Taylor, B.H. (2003) David Philip, Cape Town, South Africa.

Ziraldo, D. (1974) Grafting of grapevines. Proceeding Propagation and tissue culture - Increased rooting of of theAragónez International Plant Propagator’s Society 24:367Pratt, C. (1974) Vegetative anatomy of cultivated ‘Norton’ grape cuttings using auxins and gibberellin Abouriou Acolon Agiorgitiko Aglianico Aleatico Alexandrouli Alfrocheiro Preto Alicante Bouschet Alvarelhão Brancelho Ancellotta Aramon Aspiran Aubun Băbească Neagră 369. grapes.

Am. J. Enol.

Vitic.

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Olssens continue on learning curve with Carmenère

By Kevin Olssen Olssens of Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia

C

armenère was planted at Bass Hill Vineyard, the Olssen family’s new vineyard in the southern part of the Clare Valley, in 2002. Planting of the 0.8 hectare block was completed in 2003.

The Bass Hill Vineyard project started in 1998 with the acquisition and planting of land north-west of Auburn. The land is in close proximity to other vineyards of significant pedigree and has proved its potential for the production of high quality winegrapes.

The second stage of vineyard development of approximately 6.3ha coincided with the planting of Carmenère in 2002. The whole vineyard now measures 27.3ha and includes nine red winegrape varieties and Riesling.

Prior to planting Carmenère, we already had five of the six Bordeaux red grape varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot) growing at Bass Hill and early signs were promising. The first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon in 2002 was of high quality, and was viewed positively by the winery that bought the fruit. In 2003, a blend of the five varieties was made at Knappstein Wines. All five varieties were co-fermented, mainly because of the small quantities of each of them. This blend ended up in the 2003 Knappstein Cabernet Merlot. Despite the blend being made from mostly first-crop fruit, its high quality at the time of classification in June 2004 was surprising.

A desire to grow all six of the traditional Bordeaux red grape varieties led us to source the ‘lost sixth’ variety, Carmenère. This enabled us to explore the possibilities of making a six-variety blend, and also to have Carmenère as a single varietal wine. Being the first Australian producer to release a Carmenère has provided Olssens of Watervale with a point of difference, an important characteristic for small wine producers.

Planting material was purchased through South Australian Vine Improvement Inc. (SAVII) following an approach made through Wayne Farquhar (SAVII executive officer) in 2001. At the time, there were just two Carmenère V2 7N 1

Carmenère was planted at Bass Hill Vineyard, in the southern part of the Clare Valley, in 2002 as part of the second stage of development of the new vineyard owned by the Olssen family. Olssens of Watervale was the first Australian producer to release a straight Carmenère. vines in one of the Government nurseries in the Barossa Valley and the planting material for Bass Hill Vineyards came from these. We chose to establish the block of Carmenère as a Clare Valley Vine Improvement Society Source Block, so Carmenère cuttings would be available to other Australian grapegrowers.

The small vines came to us in pots. In the first year, they made little headway but, in the second year, good growth was achieved. It was not possible for SAVII to provide all of the required material in the first year, so approximately 0.3ha was planted in 2003.

Our Carmenère is planted in northsouth oriented rows, 3m apart with 1.83m between vines on a single cordon wire.

Irrigation is via mains water, delivered through 2L/hour drippers, one per vine.

Watering has never been more than 0.4ML/season. The soil is mainly red clay-loam over calcareous material, with top-soil approximately 25-30cm deep.

The southern end of the block is slightly more exposed with the soil changing to shallower, red clay-loam over slate and shale. The block is approximately 370m above level.

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

Fruitfulness diminished after the first two vintages, so we changed from spur pruning, to rod and spur pruning, with no more than two rods per vine. This was an attempt to simulate cane pruning without having the burden of re-starting the training process and having to sacrifice the crop for a couple of years.

Rod and spur pruning has resulted in a better yield, except for the more exposed vines on slate or shale. They have always been less fruitful than the rest and have experienced setting problems.

Two moveable catch wires were installed and used to lift the canopy during the middle part of the growing season. We were doing this consistently across all varieties but, more recently, we have changed to a range of approaches in different parts of the vineyard. With Carmenère, we now use the western wire as a ‘permanent’ wire to which the rods are attached during pruning, while the other is used as a wire to lift the canopy and provide light on the eastern side.

During the more difficult, drier years (e.g., 2007) Carmenère canopy development was still reasonable and the vines coped well with the heat. ▶ www.winebiz. com . au

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Carmenère Background Carmenère (pronounced kah-men-air) was known in the Medoc area in the 18th century, often associated with Cabernet Franc. This is not surprising, given that we now know that Cabernet Franc is actually one of the parents of Carmenère. It was gradually replaced by other Bordeaux varieties during the replanting that followed the phylloxera invasion in the late 19th century — reportedly because it has irregular yields, late ripening and ‘green’ wine character. In 2006, there were only 15ha recorded for the whole of France. It is now best known in Chile, where it was originally thought to be Merlot—it was not until 1994 that the mistaken identity was confirmed

by French ampelographer Jean-Michel Boursiquot. There are now around 9000ha under-vine in Chile. Curiously, under current Chilean legislation, it is acceptable to label Carmenère wine as ‘Merlot’. There has also been some confusion in northern Italy, with more than 4000ha of Cabernet Franc identified as Carmenère in 1991. Carmenère has many synonyms, including Caberne Karmener, Cabernella, Cabernet Carmenère, Cabernet Cosmo, Cabernet Grande, Cabernet Grosso, Cabernet Italico, Grande Vidure, Kaberne Karmener and Kabernel. There are currently nine Carmenère wine producers in Australia according to the 2011 Wine Industry Directory and small areas in both Washington (US) and New Zealand.

Viticulture Carmenère ripens two to three weeks later than Merlot. Berries are medium and bunches are small and usually well-filled to compact; however, because it is prone to poor fruitset, like Merlot, bunches can be loose. The variety is reported to have gone out of favour in Bordeaux due to its ‘shy’ bearing; but in both Chile and Italy, yield is generally good and may require restriction to avoid problems with ripening and quality. Growth habit is erect. Cane pruning is recommended in Italy and France because basal bud fertility is only moderate; however, spur pruning and cordon training are successfully used in both Chile and Australia. It is susceptible to powdery mildew and botrytis, less so to downy mildew. In Italy, it is said to be susceptible to potassium deficiency, bunchstem necrosis and drought. Six clones are available in Italy, with variation in botrytis susceptibility and yield.

Wine Carmenère wines are medium to full-bodied, with good colour and spicy, plum, berry and pepper notes. It may be used alone or in a blend, often with Cabernet Sauvignon. It can have higher methoxypyrazine levels than Cabernet Sauvignon and wines may be excessively vegetative if fruit does not reach adequate maturity. The best wines from Chile come from the warm Maipo and Colchagua regions, where it can get fully ripe and wines may be cherry-like, with smoky, spicy and earthy notes.

This is an extract from the manual developed for the Research to Practice workshop on ‘Alternative varieties: emerging options for a changing environment’ (Tassie, L.; Dry, P.R. and Essling, M. 2010).

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

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Berries retained their form, and flavour ripeness occurred at 13.0-13.5°Baumé.

Typically, berries are reasonably large with quite thick skins. Bunch weights are around 120-140g. Close to picking time, Carmenère berries are a little reminiscent of blueberries, both in appearance and flavour.

Carmenère is predictably late to ripen, but at Bass Hill, it has always been picked before Petit Verdot. Picking times (and yields) for the last four vintages (not including 2011 when the fruit was not picked due to botrytis infection) were: • 7 March 2007 (1.35t/ha) • 7 March 2008 (1.95t/ha) • 21 April 2009 (8.4t/ha) • 22 March 2010 (4.45t/ha).

Given the short time that we have been growing Carmenère, it is difficult to draw too many conclusions. The lack of uniformity of the vintages over that period has further diminished the potential to state too much.

However, it is our opinion that Carmenère is a robust, viable variety to grow. It reaches ripeness at low Baumé, leading to balanced wines with good structure, excellent colour and depth of flavour.

The Olssen Carmenère wines and the blends that include Carmenère have been well-received and reviewed positively.

There has been a lot of interest from the public in this variety. Olssens of Watervale has released only two vintages of Bass Hill Vineyard Carmenère, with the 2006 vintage gaining a blue gold medal at the Sydney International Wine Competition in 2009, and the 2009 vintage awarded 94 points in the 2011 Australian Wine Companion,

by James Halliday. The Olssen Bass Hill Vineyard Carmenère wines have great depth of colour, a dried herb characteristic that I have not seen in other varieties, berries and a hint of coffee beans. Occasionally, in individual barrels, this has even looked more like espresso coffee. Fine tannins give the wine a soft, textural mouthfeel.

Two vintages of The Olssen Six (a blend of all six of the Bordeaux red grape varieties) have been released. The 2005 was awarded a double gold medal at the San Francisco International Wine Competition, and the 2006 was the equal highest pointed wine in the Cabernet and Family section in the 2009 edition of the Australian Wine Companion. Nearly all of the fruit for these wines came from Bass Hill Vineyard with a small quantity of Cabernet Sauvignon included from the home block at Watervale.

In addition, three vintages of Olssen Second Six have been released, all of which have received positive reviews, including a gold medal at the San Francisco International Wine Competition in 2009 for the 2005 vintage, and a silver medal for the 2006 at The International Wine Challenge.

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business & marketing

Is the wine industry next in line after tobacco to fight health warning legislation?

By Stephen Stern, Partner, Corrs Chambers Westgarth

With extensive experience in patent, copyright, trademark and wine law litigation, Stephen Stern is currently acting for British American Tobacco Australia in its challenges to the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011. We asked Stephen to comment on whether the alcohol industry and, therefore, wine companies may be the target of similar legislation in the future, given the ongoing calls for all alcohol products to bear health warnings – the short answer is ‘yes’.

W

ine industry, beware! You are likely to be the new target of the health advocates who see alcohol as the next great evil after tobacco.

If you believe that I am being dramatic, look at the poster in Figure 1, which is a copy of a full-page advertisement taken out by the Comité National des Interprofessions des Vins d’Appellation d’Origine (the CNIV) in major French newspapers about two years ago. The French wine industry has seen the clear writing on the wall, and it is called the ‘Loi Evin’, which bundled alcohol and tobacco into the same legislation, and imposed draconian restraints on the advertising and promotion of both alcohol and tobacco products.

On 21 November 2011, the Australian Parliament passed the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011, which will prohibit the use of any tobacco trademark save for the product name and a variant name. By way of example, the familiar red and white packets of Marlboro cigarettes will disappear, to be replaced by products covered solely in health warnings save for the name Marlboro and the name of the particular variant.

The use of colours, logos and any other indicea of Phillip Morris will disappear, their use being prohibited.

The goal is to have all cigarette packaging become generic so that each packet, no matter which brand or manufacturer, will look identical, save for the principal word trademark and variant name, which are required to use a specific typeface and size and placement.

To put such a plan in context for the wine industry, imagine Penfold’s Grange, with a plain brown label on the front and back, each bearing large warnings about the serious dangers of alcohol, and including a graphic health V2 7N 1

warning that occupies about 90% of the back label. To recognise the wine as Grange, you would have to look very carefully amongst all of the other bottles of wine, each looking identical in every respect, save for the producer's name and the wine name. Henschke’s Hill of Grace, or Mount Mary Cabernets, would be indistinguishable from Penfold’s Grange, or each other, or from any wine until you were close enough to make out the small names on the front in 12-point type.

Why should the Australian wine industry have any reason to believe that the path that health advocates have trodden against the tobacco industry will be in any way similar to their position against the alcohol industry?

The answer is quite simply that this is exactly what the health advocates have publicly proclaimed that they will do, namely use the methods and processes they perfected in the fight against the tobacco industry, and use them against the alcohol industry. Admittedly, the industry was granted a temporary reprieve on 30 November when the Government announced there would be no changes to wine labelling laws.

However, it would be dangerous to see this as permanent protection, as new laws are so often driven by department staff, not by Government ministers. So, while the pressure may have currently dissipated, the battle is not, in my view, over.

If you believe that this is simply scare-mongering, then consider this.

One of the first steps taken by health advocates was to move to restrict the advertising and promotion of tobacco products, so as to limit where tobacco advertising could be placed. You will probably remember the recent calls, in the last 12 months, for restrictions to be placed on the appearance of alcohol advertising, with suggestions W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

Figure 1. Translated from French, this poster reads: Tomorrow, in France, hundreds of journalists and (wine) professionals will be reduced to silence. being made that advertising of alcoholic products be prevented at sporting venues. This should now start to sound a little familiar. Thankfully, the suggestions did not get any traction, but do not believe that that fight has been won and the other side vanquished.

The second key plank in the fight against the tobacco sector was the continual publication of reports that showed the links between tobacco and cancer. While in 2011 that might not seem revolutionary, it certainly was in the 1960s and 1970s. Do you recall reading recently about the several studies that have ‘proven’ the link between drinking alcohol and cancer?1 There have been several such studies published recently, many of which have www.winebiz. com . au

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Figure 2. In 2009, VicHealth together with the Social Research Centre conducted a survey using this image and others to test the public’s reaction to graphic health warnings about alcohol consumption. been roundly criticised by reputable medical professionals2, as being ‘deliberately misleading’, but the pattern is clear.

In 2009, VicHealth together with the Social Research Centre, carried out a survey as to the reaction shown by members of the public to alcohol products which bore graphic health warnings3. If you believe that the shocking images borne on cigarette packets are reserved solely for that industry, then think again. The survey used images such as that shown in Figure 2. A media conference was held after the surveys had finished and the keynote heavily promoted by VicHealth was that "85% of people interviewed support the introduction of labels detailing health information on a product". When read carefully, the press release contains a number of qualifications that consumers expressed about the proposals, but the Alcohol Policy Coalition continues to lobby the Federal Government to introduce graphic health warning labels for all alcoholic products. The Alcohol Policy Coalition cites the success of health warnings on cigarette packets as proof that health warnings on packaging can change consumer behaviour.

The alcohol industry is already facing increasing demands to label all alcohols, including wines, with various health warnings. These include details

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showing precisely what preservatives are contained within the wines and signs indicating that it can be dangerous to drink while pregnant.

The path of least resistance, namely to agree to each of the small changes sought, is an easy path to follow but it is also a very dangerous one. Remember that the first warnings on Australian cigarette packets were relatively small, merely requiring a warning message to be printed without any particular size requirement. It wasn't a big imposition (especially for an industry under siege in the US by plaintiffs' lawyers pursuing class actions). However, subsequent generations of health warnings required 25% on the front of the packets and 33.3% of the back of the packets to bear health warnings and, later, legislation required 30% of the front of the packets and 90% of the back of the packets to bear health warnings, with the back health warnings required to include graphic health warnings.

So, too, it must be tempting for the wine industry, that sees other day to day pressures as more important, such as tax issues and declining export markets and the power of large retail chains, to give in to the demands of the health lobbyists, rather than open a battle-ground on another front.

However, the new battle-front should not be ignored. No concession made will or can legally prevent further demands from being made by the Government, urged on by health lobbyists and health advocates. By agreeing to any labelling demands, the wine industry is just another step along the road to the same destination now faced by the tobacco industry, namely the realities of generic (or plain) packaging.

What can be done legally? First, be aware that the tobacco industry is fighting the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 in the High Court, arguing that the prohibition on use of its graphical and coloured images and trademarks effectively constitutes an acquisition of these marks by the Government.4 The argument is that if one has property, then the advantages of owning that property are the rights to use and enjoy that property. By way of analogy, were the Government to legislate so that you could no longer harvest grapes from your vineyards, nor prune the vines, nor tend them, nor lease out the vineyard to someone else, nor even walk through it, your lawyer would undoubtedly tell you that you have lost all of the benefits of ownership. While the Government would no doubt assert that the title to the vineyard property remained yours, and you could sell the land (but subject to the W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

same restrictions on a purchaser who couldn't use the land in any way), your lawyer would respond that that type of ‘ownership’ was meaningless.

The legal arguments as to exactly what benefits the Government would obtain in exchange for ‘taking’ your right to use your labels for its own health messages are self-evident. With the High Court case started by the tobacco companies in train, it is not appropriate to ventilate the full issues in this article.

It is suffice to say that the arguments will be hard fought from both sides.

There are some in the tobacco industry who are asking, "Why didn't my company fight the health warnings 30 years ago?" It's now too late to turn back the clock.

No-one is denying the dangers of tobacco smoking. The question is not whether consumers should be educated, because that is clear. So, too, does the wine industry recognise the need to educate consumers to enjoy alcohol in moderation. The difference is between the choice for the industry to decide how it educates consumers, and the use of mandatory labelling that could well grow from ‘just a prominent label on the back’ to mandatory health warning labelling that takes over an entire label.

The Australian Consumer Law 2010, previously known as the Trade Practices Act 1974, contains a provision that enables the Government to mandate the placement of product information notices on products, informing consumers about matters such as product safety or handling issues. The warning that ‘smoking kills’, and the use of graphic health warnings for tobacco goods are mandated under these provisions.

However, the recent introduction of the Australian Consumer Law 2010 also brought a provision into the law which provides that, amongst other things, if the requirement to place product information notices on products constitutes an acquisition of property by the Government, then the Government must pay just compensation. This is a right enshrined under the Australian Constitution to prevent the Government from acquiring property for its own purposes without payment, as illustrated by the movie The Castle.

The relevance of this new provision is that if the Government takes the property of vignerons, making them place warning notices on their labels, then, at some point, that might constitute an acquisition of property. If the warnings are small and still allow the vigneron to promote his or her products, then it could be said that there is no ‘acquisition of property’.

But, in the tobacco industry, the laws V27N1

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mandated that a certain percentage of the labels be occupied by the compulsory health warnings. That might not have seemed so onerous when the percentage was (about) 30% of one label. However, when faced with laws that came into effect in 2006 that mandated the use of 90% of the rear label and 30% of the front label with warnings that basically said “Don’t buy this product”, the question that is raised is whether that was an acquisition of the property. This allimportant question will be played out in the High Court.

There is no bright line at which one can say that the mandated use of a certain percentage of label space for product information notices is an acquisition of property. However, the experience of the tobacco industry is one that should sound a warning to the wine industry. Toleration of mandatory product information notices has been shown, in the tobacco industry, to amount to a creeping acquisition.

My advice to the wine industry is this: Certainly, continue to alert the public about the need to consume alcohol in moderation, and promote strong education at all levels of the community about the dangers of excessive

consumption of alcohol. Equally, the industry must maintain publicity concerning the health benefits of alcohol, a privilege unavailable to the cigarette industry. However, the wine industry should NOT allow the Government to mandate the placement of product information notices on alcohol products in the same manner that was done for the tobacco industry. Where the first such encroachment can be challenged, then that should occur.

Should mandatory health warnings be introduced, the wine industry should seriously consider making a claim for compensation, on the basis that its property is being acquired. As noted earlier, the critical issue is when to first make such a claim, should labelling laws begin to be imposed – a question that cannot be definitively answered here.

However, it is clear that the wine industry should learn from the tobacco industry’s experience, which shows that the taking of packaging and labelling space (which is said to be an acquisition of property rights) is incremental, but has serious implications over time. Just like a friend asking for a drop of wine, and another drop, and another drop until the bottle empties – the laws taking away labelling

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I acknowledge the assistance of Isabelle Prentice, a law student, who carried out helpful research used in preparing this article.

REFERENCES 1 See, for example, Cancer Council Australia ‘Position Statement, Alcohol and Cancer Risk’ (2011) and ‘National Cancer Prevention Policy’ (2007-2009), available at www.cancer.org.au and Cancer Institute NSW ‘Cancer and Lifestyle Factors’ (2008), available at www.cancerinstitute.org.au. Such reports were widely reported in the media, see ‘Warning over longterm drinking link to common cancers’, Kate Hagan, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 May 2011, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation interview with Ian Oliver, 2 May 2011.

2 See, for example, Boston University School of Medicine, Institute of Lifestyle and Health, Critique 058, available at www.bu.edu.

3 See ‘Alcohol Health Information Labels: Report of qualitative research into health information labels on alcoholic beverages’, 2 August 2009, available at www. vichealth.vic.gov.au.

4 British American Tobacco launched its High Court challenge against the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 on 1 December 2011, within hours of the legislation receiving Royal Assent.

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Alcohol and human health - sorting out the facts

By Creina Stockley Health and Regulatory Information Manager, The Australian Wine Research Institute

In light of Stephen Stern’s article on page 65 of this issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal in which he asserts that the wine industry is likely to be the new target of health advocates who see alcohol as “the next great evil after tobacco”, we asked Creina Stockley to summarise the latest research into the effects of alcohol on health.

T

he latest review of the most important lifestyle and environmental factors responsible for 42.7% of all cancer in the UK in 2010 are tobacco smoking (19.4%), followed by a deficient consumption of fruits and vegetables (6.15%), occupational exposure (4.9%) and alcohol consumption (4.6%) for men, and being overweight or obese (6.9%) and contracting an infection (3.7%) for women (Parkin et al. 2011).

The alcohol-related cancers are of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus (collectively known as the aero-digestive tract), liver, colon and rectum, as well as breast in women. It has been suggested that the risk of developing a cancer of the aero-digestive tract is less when alcohol is consumed with food (Dal Maso et al.

2002).

Another relatively recent review of alcohol and cancer also stated that drinking, especially heavy drinking, increases cancer risk (Boffetta and Hashibe 2006), but it concluded that ‘Total avoidance of alcohol, although optimum for cancer control, cannot be recommended in terms of a broad perspective of public health, in particular in countries with high incidence of cardiovascular disease’. The current National Health and Medical Research Council’s (2009)1 guidelines recommend a maximum of two standard 10g alcoholic drinks per day for both men and women to minimise risks to human health.

This can be considered to be moderate consumption.

The immoderate consumption of alcoholic beverages can definitely cause adverse health effects, such as selected (but not all) cancers, as well as alcoholinduced cardiovascular disease, alcoholinduced liver disease and pancreatitis, where there may be a threshold effect. The moderate consumption of http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/your-health/alcoholguidelines

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alcoholic beverages (including wine) can cause beneficial health effects, such as a reduced risk of developing and dying from selected cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cognitive function disorders. Overall, there is a j-shaped relationship for alcohol consumption and death from all causes.

Reductions in risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cognitive function disorders are underpinned by a range of clearly-defined and credible biological mechanisms for the alcohol component common to all alcoholic beverages, as well as for the phenolic component specific to wine.

Indeed, sound scientific data over more than 30 years suggests that moderate alcohol consumers are at considerably lower risk of cardiovascular diseases; and newer studies also indicate that they are at lower risk of other diseases of ageing. Cardiovascular diseases include atherosclerosis (hardening and rigidity of the coronary artery wall), high blood pressure, heart attacks, heart failure and ischaemic strokes from blockages of brain blood vessels. For example, analysis of 84 observational studies of cardiovascular disease comparing alcohol consumers with abstainers showed that the relative risks for alcohol consumers compared with abstainers were: 0.75 for overall cardiovascular disease mortality, 0.71 for coronary artery disease and 0.75 for death from coronary artery disease, 0.98 for strokes, and 1.06 for death from strokes (Ronksley et al. 2011). If the relative risk was 1.0, the risk would be the same for alcohol consumers and abstainers. This analysis also showed that alcohol consumption at 2.5–14.9g/day, or approximately 0.25-1.25 standard drinks, was consistently associated with a 1425% reduction in the risk of all health outcomes assessed, compared with abstaining from alcohol.

W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

Consistent with a j-shaped relationship, the risk elevated with increased consumption, but differed for the various cardiovascular disease outcomes. The cardioprotective association with alcohol was consistently observed in diverse patient populations and in both men and women, and was apparent when controlling for known confounders, such as tobacco smoking, diet and exercise.

In addition to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of dying from all or any causes (all-cause mortality). A recent study of 16,958 individuals in the US, who were followed for 18 years by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), examined the relationship between four low-risk behaviours and mortality.

‘Moderate consumption of alcohol’ was considered as one of ‘four healthy lifestyle behaviours that exert a powerful and beneficial effect on mortality’ (Ford et al. 2011). Moderate or low-risk alcohol consumption was defined as less than or equal to two drinks per day, but more than zero for men and less than or equal to one drink/day, but more than zero for women. The other low-risk behaviours were non-smoking, eating a healthy diet, and physical activity.

The CDC study authors stated that: ‘The number of low-risk behaviours was inversely related to the risk for mortality. Compared with participants who had no low-risk behaviours, which included abstinence from alcohol, as well as excessive alcohol consumption, those who had all four experienced significantly reduced all-cause mortality, mortality from malignant neoplasms [cancers], major cardiovascular disease, and other causes’, that is, the men and women were 63% less likely to die, 66% less likely to die from a malignant neoplasms, 65% less likely to die from major cardiovascular disease and 57% V27N1

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less likely to die from other causes.

Considering the potential dangers of excessive drinking, the CDC study authors also conducted sensitivity analyses omitting moderate alcohol use.

The authors reported, ‘The mortality risk for those who also consumed alcohol was significantly lower than for those having only the three other behaviours. Chiuve et al. (2006) also included light-to-moderate alcohol consumption (5-30g/day) as one of five low-risk behaviours associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease, irrespective of concurrent medication for hypertension or hypercholesterolemia.

These behaviours were based on the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), created by the US Department of Agriculture to assess how well the US population met dietary recommendations based on the Food Guide Pyramid and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The HEI defined moderate alcohol consumption of 1.5-2.5 drinks/day as ideal servings for men and 0.5-1.5 drinks/day as ideal for women on the basis of the lower risk of cardiovascular disease associated with moderate alcohol consumption (McCullough et al. 2002).

An Australian study of 7989 individuals aged 65-83 years, who were followed

for five years, showed consistent results with this CDC study (Spencer et al. 2005).

The eight selected low-risk behaviours included having no more than two alcoholic (total 20g alcohol) drinks/day. Individuals with five or more of the selected lowrisk behaviours had a lower risk of death from any cause within five years compared with those having less than five. More importantly, the study showed that while most individuals already have some healthy habits, almost all could make changes to their diet and lifestyle to improve their health. The study did not suggest abstinence from alcohol, and avoidance of heavier alcohol consumption is also inferred.

Sun et al. (2011) also recently showed that in addition to lower mortality, women who consumed moderate amounts of alcohol surviving to age 70 years and older generally had less disability and disease, and more signs of ‘successful ageing’. For ‘regular’ or moderate alcohol consumers (drinking on 5-7 days/week), there was an approximately 50% greater chance of such successful ageing compared with non-drinkers.

Therefore, the moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages, but not immoderate or heavier consumption,

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may be a legitimate adjunct to a healthy diet and lifestyle for certain consumers.

References Boffetta, P. and Hashibe, M. (2006) Alcohol and cancer. Review. Lancet Oncol. 7: 149–156.

Chiuve, S.E.; McCullough, M.L.; Sacks, F.M. and Rimm, E.B. (2006) Healthy lifestyle factors in the primary prevention of coronary heart disease among men.

Benefits among users and non-users of lipid-lowering and antihypertensive medications. Circulation 114: 160167.

Dal Maso, L.; La Vecchia, C.; Polesel, J.; Talamini, R.; Levi, F.; Conti, E.; Zambon, P.; Negri, E.; Ford, E.S.; Zhao, G.; Tsai, K. and Li, C. (2011) Low-risk lifestyle behaviours and all-cause mortality: Findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III Mortality Study. Am. J. Pub. Health 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300167.

McCullough, M.; Feskanich, D.; Stampfer, M.J.; Giovannucci, E.L.; Rimm, E.B.; Hu, F.B.; Parkin, D.M.; Boyd, L. and Walker, L.C. (2011) The fraction of cancer attributable to lifestyle and environmental factors in the UK in 2010. Br. J. Cancer 105:S77-S81.

Ronksley, P.E.; Brien, S.E.; Turner, B.J.; Mukamal, K.J. and Ghali, W.A. (2011) Association of alcohol consumption with selected cardiovascular disease outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br. Med. J. 34(3):363-370.

Spencer, C.A.; Jamrozik, K.; Norman, P.E. and Lawrence-Brown, M. (2005) A simple lifestyle score predicts survival in healthy elderly men. Prev. Med. 40(6):712-717.

Sun, Q.; Townsend, M.K.; Okereke, O.I.; Rimm, E.B.; Hu, F.B.; Stampfer, M.J. and Grodstein, F. (2011) Alcohol consumption at mid-life and successful ageing in women: A prospective cohort analysis in the Nurses’ Health Study. PLoS. Med. 8(9):e1001090. doi:10.1371/journal. pmed.1001090.

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Wine shows can give exhibitors more than medals

By Maame Yaakwaah Blay, Anthony Saliba, Jim Hardie, Tom Carr and Hildegarde Heymann Introduction

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Public tastings, like wine festivals, are open to the public. The major point of difference between these two events is that the wines available at public tastings have been judged by experts before being exhibited to consumers. No pre-judging occurs with wine exhibited at wine festivals. There is currently no formalised structure on how public tastings should be organised which, therefore, gives rise to variations between different shows. A more comprehensive review of Australian wine show public tastings will be the subject of another article.

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As we have indicated, given the high cost involved in carrying out consumer product testing, we suggest one avenue would be to tap into existing public tasting events as a way to obtain consumer preference information on wines exhibited at the wine shows. In order to do this, however, a validated method is required. It is important that the right consumer is used for a preference test, so that the results may reflect the general consumer population (McDermott 1990).

For example, it has been suggested that wine festivals could be a good way to tap into future target markets and attract new consumers to be interested in wine (Yuan et al. 2005). It has been found that wine festivals do attract a mix of consumers, including the demographic group who eventually go on to purchase wine (Houghton 2008). However, is not known if the same demographic groups that attend wine festivals also attend public tastings.

Perhaps consumers at public tastings could be the right people to provide meaningful consumer insight into wines exhibited at wine shows, giving wine exhibitors provide a little more information about their wines.

On the other hand, there is the possibility that only highly experienced consumers attend public tastings, making them unrepresentative of the general winedrinking population. This, in itself, may

What are wine show public tastings?

br

F

or several years, many Australian wine businesses have known the benefit of using a consumerled product development approach to winemaking. Consumer preference mapping is one technique that helps winemakers understand which sensory attributes drive consumer preferences.

Although the benefits of such an approach are well-known (Costa and Jongen 2006), the cost involved in consumer preference testing (Resurreccion 1998), which is the underlying method of a preference mapping technique, means that not all wine businesses can afford to incorporate this method into their production process.

In Australia, a unique opportunity to make consumer preference testing readily available to winemakers presents itself in the form of the consumer public tasting days associated with wine shows. For brevity, we’ll call them ‘public tastings’ and ‘wine shows’ and will refer to the whole show event, including the expert judging. The history of Australian wine shows has been documented (Dunphy and Lockshin 1998b), and the two important roles of these events is appreciated within the wine industry. First, they provide a forum to educate winemakers on technical trends in winemaking to improve quality. Secondly, the medals awarded to outstanding wines play a marketing role (Dunphy and Lockshin

How can the public tasting benefit the wine industry?

1998a). Medalled wines are, therefore, believed to have higher saleability in competitive wine markets. The public tasting events, however, are not wellunderstood within the wine industry and not much is known about their purpose.

Some wine show organisers consider these events a good way to utilise excess wines after the judging event, while others consider it a good way to educate wine consumers and to promote wines from particular regions. We suggest that public tasting events could become an important avenue to provide wine exhibitors with useful information about consumers’ wine preferences and we have been exploring suitable methods to obtain that information.

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Figure 1. Gender demographics at Australian wine show public tastings in 2010.

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Figure 2. Consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; age demographics at Australian wine show public tastings in 2010.

Figure 3. Average household income of consumers at Australian wine show public tastings in 2010.

Figure 4. Highest education level for consumers at Australian wine show public tasting.

Figure 5. Occupation types of consumers at Australian wine show public tastings in 2010.

Age categories The age demographic was widely distributed, with the majority of respondents falling within the 25-64 years category (Figure 2). Slight differences were noted on a location basis. For example, the highest percentage of 18-24 year olds was found at L6 in Bathurst, New South Wales, but none of this age group was found at L9 in Daylesford, Victoria (figure not shown in this article).

professionals (Figures 4 and 5). A small percentage of students and retired people were also present. Most of the students came from L6 in Bathurst, which also had the highest percentage of 18-24 year olds.

not be a problem. A key question is, who attends wine show public tasting events?

We discuss the data we collected to answer this question in the next section.

Our method Consumers who attended 10 different wine shows across Australia were identified and characterised using a written questionnaire, and a total of 610 consumers took part. The wine shows that participated in the study were geographically distributed as follows: six shows in Victoria, two shows in New South Wales, one show in Queensland, and one show in Tasmania. At least 30 consumers participated in the survey at each location.

The percentage participation in the survey at each location was between 12% and 82%.

Results from the 2010 survey Who attends public tastings?

Overall, there were approximately equal proportions of men and women who took part in the survey across all 10 wine shows (Figure 1). At some shows, however, slight differences between gender proportions were noted.

For example, at location L2 in Cairns, Queensland, there were more women than men, while the opposite was true at L7 in Hobart, Tasmania.

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Household income About 60% of respondents had an estimated household income lower than A$100,000, while 25% had a household income between A$100,001 and A$200,000 (Figure 3).

Highest education level and occupation type The highest education level for most respondents was a Bachelors degree, with most respondents employed as

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Wine involvement Consumer involvement with the wine industry may influence their level of expertise with wine. A highly involved consumer may be too expert to qualify as a general wine consumer. This is another way to characterise consumers at wine shows, to determine their suitability as being representative of the general wine-drinking population. Based on their involvement with the wine industry, two main types of consumer attendees were identified: affiliated consumer and unaffiliated consumer. The unaffiliated consumer had no involvement with the industry, while the affiliated consumer was involved in the wine

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W I N E SHO W S

Figure 6. Percentage of unaffiliated and affiliated consumers at Australian public tastings.

Figure 7. Average number of years of drinking wine across different wine show locations.

Figure 8. Frequency of wine consumption of consumers at Australian wine shows in 2010.

Figure 10. Frequently mentioned reasons for attending wine show public tastings.

Figure 9a. Wine styles often consumed.

Figure 9b. Amount spent on different wine styles.

industry as winemaker, grapegrower, wine student, wine writer, wine trade person, or in other ways, such as hospitality, tourism, education or research.

Overall, more unaffiliated consumers attended the public tastings days than affiliated consumers – i.e., 66% and 33%, respectively. On a location basis, significant differences were noted as shown in Figure 6. At locations where this happened, the exhibitor and public tasting were held on the same day, but at different times. There is a chance that some exhibitors were included in the survey.

the public tastings was 21.8 years (Figure 7).

Significant difference in the average number of years of drinking wine was noted between consumers at location L1 in Mornington, Victoria, and L6 in Bathurst, NSW. These differences could be due to the age group of consumers at these shows. Consumers at location L6 had the highest proportion of young wine consumers, hence, the significantly lower average number of years of drinking wine.

Enthusiasm, knowledge and years of drinking wine Some researchers have used knowledge of wine (Dodd et al. 2005), interest in wine and the number of years of drinking wine as indices to segment wine drinkers into experienced or novice consumers (Blackman et al. 2010). In our research, enthusiasm rather than interest was measured.

Overall, consumers were quite enthusiastic (5.7) about wine and moderately knowledgeable (4.1) about wine. Both enthusiasm and knowledge for wine were self-rated by respondents on a seven-point scale, where one meant ‘not at all’ and seven meant ‘very much’. Enthusiasm for wine and knowledge of wine were found to be positively correlated, therefore, consumers who rated highly for one, rated highly for the other, also.

Years of drinking wine Overall, the average number of years of drinking wine for all consumers across all

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Wine consumption pattern Another useful way to segment wine consumers is by considering their wine consumption pattern (Spawton 1991). In this study, consumption indices measured were frequency of wine consumption, volume of wine consumed on weekends and weekdays, the style of wine often consumed, and amount spent on the different styles consumed.

Frequency and volume of wine consumption Overall, most respondents could be considered regular wine consumers, with more than 70% consuming wine at least several times a week (Figure 8). Only 14.5% consumed wine once a week and less than 5% consumed wine less than once a month; these respondents could be considered non-wine drinkers and may be at the shows as designated drivers. Respondents reported consuming more on a weekend (5.6 standard drinks) than on a weekday (2.6 standard drinks). Consumers from location L6, however, consumed almost as much on a weekend as on a weekday.

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Style of wine consumed and amount spent on style The wine style most often consumed by respondents was red wine, followed by white wine, then sparkling wine (Figure 9a). Rosé wine was the least often consumed wine. A similar trend in the amount spent on these styles was noted. Consumers spent more on red wine than on white wine. The least amount was spent on rosé (Figure 9b).

Public tasting attendance Generally, consumers heard about wine shows through word-of-mouth from event organisers or friends. Local newspapers were also common channels for information on which shows to attend. Surprisingly, tourist information centres were not a popular source of information on shows to attend. This further emphasises the difference between wine festivals and public tastings. On average across all the shows, consumers travelled about 150km to attend wine shows. The majority of respondents, however, travelled less than 100km to wine shows, suggesting a fairly local demographic. At a few shows, however, consumers had travelled internationally to attend.

Reason for attending public tastings The most important reason why consumers attended public tastings was because they had an interest in wine (Figure 10). This was not unexpected. Another frequently mentioned reason was to learn about different wines and to socialise.

Interestingly, knowing which wines won medals was not a major popular reason to attend wine shows for most consumers.

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Discussion The results suggest that consumers who attend wine show public tastings are enthusiastic product users, with moderate subjective knowledge about wine, and most of them have no involvement in the wine industry. This is important, since it has been established that experts have different wine preferences to novices (Blackman et al.

2010). This implies that consumers who attend public tastings would be non-expert consumers and may represent the general winedrinking population.

The age group demographics of consumers who attend public tastings are similar to the age demographics of Australian wine drinkers, as noted by Stanford (1999). It should be noted, however, that compared with Stanford’s demographics, the 65+ years age group was slightly lower compared with the wine shows demographics, possibly because of the travel involved in getting to the events. The original data used in Stanford’s methodology involved home visits, hence, a higher percentage of people aged 65+ would have been interviewed. This similarity further illustrates the suitability of using consumers from wine show public tasting events as a sample to represent the general Australian wine show-attending population. The overall balance of gender demographics implies that consumers from different shows would need to be pooled together to give a better representation of the general wine-drinking population if results are to be extrapolated.

For consumers included in this survey, the reasons for attending wine shows were quite similar to reasons why consumers attended wine festivals (Houghton 2008), suggesting that they may also be the target market for the wine industry.

Dodd et al. (2005) has suggested that consumers with high selfrated or ‘subjective’ knowledge of wine are able to make informed choices during the wine-purchasing process. Although he does not provide an empirical value of subjective knowledge, for comparison, it could be deduced that the consumers included in the 2010 survey had a moderate level of subjective knowledge of wine (i.e., 4.1 on a scale of 1-7, where 7 is very knowledgeable). Therefore, it is not surprising that to know which wines to buy was an important reason for these consumers to attend public tastings. They may represent informed wine buyers in the population who base their wine choice on subjective knowledge of wine and not external cues, such as medals. This is further supported by the low interest shown by these consumers in knowing which wines won medals. This is an important finding, as most wine exhibitors enter shows to win medals, with the impression that medalled wines have high saleability. It will appear that this is not always the case, at least not for consumers with moderate subjective knowledge of wine.

These results suggest that it is possible to use consumers at wine show public tastings for preference tests. A useful addition to the traditional medals awarded at wine shows could be to have a consumer ‘judging’ session included as part of the public tasting, as some less formal shows already do. Since consumers were not interested in knowing which wines won medals, perhaps, the consumer ‘judging’ need not be in a format similar to the medal awards system used by the experts to select a single wine as the winner. Rather, it could be an interactive method, taking into account the social ambience of these events, which is important to consumers.

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knowledge of wine. They are also representative of the wine-drinking population in Australia, as their age demographics suggests. These consumers can, therefore, be used in a validated test method to provide useful consumer information for wine exhibitors to help them make wines that consumers like. A follow-up survey to determine the change in consumer demographics within a year was completed in 2011 and the data are being analysed. Also, a validated method to use within this context has been tested at selected wine shows, the data from which is also being analysed.

References Blackman, J.; Saliba, A. and Schmidtke, L. (2010) Sweetness acceptance of novices, experienced consumers and winemakers in Hunter Valley Semillon wines. Food Quality and Preference.

Costa, A.I.A. and Jongen, W.M.F. (2006) New insights into consumer-led food product development. Trends in Food Science & Technology 17:457-465.

Dodd, T.H.; Laverie, D.A.; Wilcox, J.F. and Duhan, D.F. (2005) Differential effects of experience, subjective knowledge, and objective knowledge on sources of information used in consumer wine purchasing. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 29:3-19.

Dunphy, R. and Lockshin, L. (1998a) A contemporary perspective on the function of the Australian wine show system. Australian & New Zealand Wine Industry Journal 13:137-146.

Dunphy, R. and Lockshin, L. (1998b) A history of the Australian wine show system. Journal of Wine Research 9:87-105.

Houghton, M. (2008) Classifying wine festival customers: Comparing an inductive typology with Hall’s wine tourist classification. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research 2: 67-76.

McDermott, B.J. (1990) Identifying consumers and consumer test subjects. Food Technology 44: 154,156,158.

Resurreccion, A.V.A. (1998) Consumer sensory testing for product development, Springer, US. Spawton, A. (1991) Grapes and Wine Seminar—Prospering in the 1990s: Changing your view of the consumer. International Marketing Review 8:32-43.

Stanford, L. (1999) Observations on alcohol beverage consumption: Australian demographics and consumption characteristics. Adelaide: Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation.

Yuan, J.J.; Cai, L.A.; Morrison, A.M. and Linton, S. (2005) An analysis of wine festival attendees’ motivations: A synergy of wine, travel and special events? Journal of Vacation Marketing 11:41-58.

WVJ

Conclusions The purpose of this study was to determine if consumers who attend public tastings are representative of the Australian winedrinking population or a particular group within it and, therefore, is able to provide valid consumer feedback on wine for exhibitors at wine shows. All the indices measured in this survey suggest that consumers who attended wine show public tasting days in 2010 are suitable consumers to use for wine consumer studies as they are enthusiastic product users, with an average level of subjective V2 7N 1

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N a t i o na l vineyar d

The nation’s vineyard – 40 years of evolution

By Mark Rowley, Industry Analyst,Wine Australia

Underpinned by Wine Australia statistics, Mark Rowley gives a historical overview of the changes Australia’s national vineyard has undertaken since the 1970s.

A

ustralia’s national vineyard has transitioned through the past few decades from mainly multi-purpose grape and fortified varieties, to one nearly entirely focussed on production of table wine from French varieties.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the area of Australia’s national vineyard was in decline. The government-subsidised vine pull scheme in the 1980s helped reduce the area undervine from a high of 75,560 hectares in 1977-78, to a low of 56,773ha by 1987-88. Shortly after the end of the vine pull scheme, the Australian wine sector began experiencing an export-driven boom. As Figure 1 illustrates, red grape plantings increased rapidly after the mid-1990s and, in turn, accounted for a larger share of the national vineyard than whites for the first time in Wine Australia’s vineyard database. However, Figure 1 does not illustrate the fact that Chardonnay displaced Sultana in the white mix and, hence, white wine production was increasing at a much faster rate than white plantings.

The national vineyard expanded until 2006-07, when the total area under-vine reached 173,794ha. Around this time, it was becoming obvious that too many winegrapes were being produced and, as a result, up until 2009-10, 17,162ha of vineyard had been removed.

Figure 1. Vineyard area by winegrape colour (1972-73 to 2009-10).

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

French classics - the big four of winemaking in Australia Over the past 40 years, Shiraz has been Australia’s most prominent winegrape variety1. In 1976-77, there was 10,420ha under-vine. However, the vine pull resulted in the variety’s area plummeting to a low of 4904ha in 198788. Figure 2 illustrates that it took until 1995-96 to regain the lost area, but it has since increased substantially to 44,000ha in 2009-10.

Chardonnay was virtually non-existent in Australia until the early 1980s. Once introduced, the variety boomed.

Plantings rapidly increased and by 1995-96, the variety had quickly become the second most prominent variety. The current area planted to Chardonnay is 28,000ha.

Cabernet Sauvignon, currently the third most prominent variety, has grown from 11th rank in terms of winegrape production in the early 1970s. The vine pull scheme had an impact, but not to the extent of the other established varieties of the time.

Statistics on Merlot were not officially recorded in Australia until 1986-87. Plantings have since grown rapidly and, in 2002-03, it became the fourth most grown variety. The current area planted to Merlot is 10,000ha.

1

Sultana was the most prominent grape variety planted in Australia until 1997.

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Figure 2. Vineyard area by variety (1972-73 to 2009-10).

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Sultana - filling the shortages The multi-purpose variety Sultana has played an important role when shortages of winegrapes have occurred in Australia during droughts and demand shocks. Figure 3 highlights that in 1975-76, in response to a 31% decline in national grape production, the share of the Sultana harvest used for winemaking jumped to more than half, from 15% the year before.

A similar pattern occurred in the early 1990s. When exports boomed, the share of Sultana grapes used for winemaking doubled. As plantings of winegrapes increased

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Rather than blow our own trumpet, we thought you’d rather hear what our clients think of us:

“Omond & Co has been an invaluable legal resource for our company.”

Christina Tulloch, Tulloch Wines

“We happily recommend James Omond to our wine clients because he provides a pragmatic, level headed approach to the law and also applies his vast experience across all facets of the wine industry to any situation.”

Jamie Cook, Dig Marketing Group

Figure 3. Vineyard area growth, export volume and Sultana use (1972-73 to 2009-10). Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, and Wine Australia. to eventually fulfil demand, the use of Sultana in winemaking again declined, albeit there was a small increase again in 2007 in response to the drought and water restrictions. Also during this time, a lot of Sultana production was grafted or displaced by other winegrape varieties. Today, there is very little use of Sultana for winemaking, with only 442ha used for that purpose.

Rising stars - from rare to everyday A few varieties have grown from obscurity in Australia to relative prominence, albeit not to the same extent of the classics already mentioned.

Pinot Gris is the star of the ‘naughties’. Statistics on the variety were first collected in 2003-04, when a total of 329ha were recorded. The area under-vine significantly increased to 3518ha in 2009-10.

The collection of statistics on Petit Verdot also occurred relatively recently. However, growth has not occurred to the same extent as Pinot Gris. Total area grew from 370ha in 1998-99, to 1226ha in 2009-10. Viognier was also recorded for the first time in 1998-99. Its area has since grown from 130ha to 1451ha.

Some other varieties have had a long history in Australia, but have only recently become a more important piece of the national vineyard. In 1972-73, Sauvignon Blanc accounted for just 0.1% of the national vineyard (66ha). The variety has since grown steadily and now accounts for a 4.5% share (7114ha). Pinot Noir has also become an important variety in the mix, growing from 44ha in 1972-73, to 5061ha in 2009-10. Verdelho has also gained share of the national vineyard, but not to the same extent.

Providing specialist legal advice to the wine industry for over 15 years, including: •

Grape purchase, contract processing and packaging contracts • Agency and distribution agreements and terminations • Winery, vineyard and business sales and purchases • TM registrations, oppositions and infringement • Leases, and sale & lease‐backs

Proud supplier of legal services to:

Varieties in decline – changing consumer preferences Some varieties of winegrape have recorded significant declines or disappeared completely.

In the 1970s, Grenache was the third most planted variety and accounted for a 9% share of the national vineyard. The vine pull had the greatest impact on the variety and the area undervine is just a third of what it was in the early 1970s. Plantings of the variety increased in the early 2000s, but area is currently declining once again.

A few varieties have almost disappeared from the national vineyard. In the 1970s, more than 2000ha of Doradillo (used for fortifieds) was under-vine. Today, there are only a handful of producers and statistics are not collected. Trebbiano, Waltham Cross and Palomino (although all not grown quite to the scale of WVJ Doradillo) have all since succumbed to a similar fate.

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____________________________________ Omond & Co 15B Merton Street, Albert Park, Vic, 3206 T +61 3 9682 6688, F +61 3 9682 6466 Email: mail@omond.com.au www.omond.com.au/winelaw.htm

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W I N E I N T E LL I G E N C E

How do you judge a book, then?

Consumer perceptions of wine labels

By Richard Halstead Chief Operating Officer, Wine Intelligence. Email: info@wineintelligence.com

Wine Intelligence recently conducted a study of UK and US consumers to assess the general meaning and value placed on certain styles of wine labels. This article is a brief overview of the key research findings.

I

f you have ever been taken to task by a fully paid-up wine snob about the importance (or, more accurately, the lack of importance) of wine labels, I know how you feel.

This year, I celebrated 10 years in the wine industry and, during that time, I have lost count of how many occasions I have been ear-bent by some expert or other (be they industry practitioners or just highly involved consumers). Their thesis, in summary: label designs, and words on labels, are trivial window dressing; what’s in the bottle is the only thing that matters. Typically, they will then go on to trash the idea of market research in the wine sector, at which point the conversation tends to stiffen up somewhat, given it is how I earn a living.

One thing that a decade in the wine industry has given me is a sense of perspective. It does not mean that I can speak with authority of an industry eminence grise – quite the opposite, in fact. Most people that my company, Wine Intelligence, works for have been in the industry for far longer than me, and know more than I ever will about terroir, pruning, frost, and the encyclopaedia of functions that are required to turn grapes into wine.

Instead, I offer the perspective of one who is still relatively ‘wet behind the ears’ in wine industry terms, and still remembers life as an ordinary shopper and restaurant-goer.

If I were able to telephone my earlier, pre-industry self and interrogate him, I expect he would say something like this: “Sure, the actual wine matters – I want to buy something I like. But, in the end, I have to decide on what to buy based purely on the outside of the bottle – the label, the wording, and, of course, the price – so, of course, packaging matters, too.”

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Fortunately, I don’t have to dip into my sub-conscious to remind myself of this fact.

I am in the privileged position of listening to consumers around the world talk about wine on a regular basis through the various focus groups, in-depth interviews and street-intercept product tests that Wine Intelligence undertakes for its clients. A consistent element in all of these pieces of research is how significantly the label influences how people feel about the product.

Once, a client and I played a rather underhand (but legitimate) trick on respondents who were gathered for a sensory testing focus group in the UK. We poured four tasting samples of a white wine from four very different bottles: one was a tall Riesling-style green bottle with a Germanic label; one looked a bit like a Loire Sauvignon Blanc; another looked like a typical New World wine; and one was made up to look like an Italian white. The trick: all the samples were exactly the same wine (a pleasant, reasonably priced German Riesling, as it happens).

We didn’t mention anything about the packaging, but simply asked people to taste and record their thoughts on answer sheets – which one was their favourite, what the taste was, etc. Our objective, in case you hadn’t guessed, was to see what happened when UK consumers were given a product that many of them thought they disliked (Riesling) in packaging that suggested it was another type of wine entirely.

A couple of the respondents almost rumbled our scheme, but the remaining six gave what they felt were genuine answers that differentiated between the ‘products’ being tasted. Several respondents were quite adamant that they liked wine B much better than wine D, and gave quite detailed explanations, despite the fact that they were describing the same wine. The result: the Riesling bottle came last by a long way, and the ‘Loire’ bottle came first, with the Italian and New World bottles a fairly close second and third, respectively.

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Of course, a contrived test with a few respondents in a focus group proves nothing, but the episode has always stuck with me. Despite my growing experience in this industry, I do find myself buying wine for my own consumption that fits certain visual cues of attractiveness in terms of label design and presentation.

Rather than leave things there, the researchers in us wanted to get to the bottom of this label-centric behaviour.

Earlier this year, we invested our own money in a series of research exercises in the UK and US using a series of dummy labels designed by Neil Tully MW, of Amphora, one of the best designers operating in the wine label business.

Tully developed eight different label designs which broadly reflect the way consumers themselves categorise the bottles they see on shelves. We gave them names such as ‘stately’, ‘contemporary’ and ‘light-hearted’ (see Figure 1). Different types of label appealed more so to different age groups and genders – more of which shortly.

Wine Intelligence chose France and California as sample countries of origin for the experiment, because these are the topselling producers of wine in the US market.

For the corresponding piece of research in the UK, we chose France and Australia, the number two and number one selling countries, respectively.

Our primary research question focussed simply on how the label cues would influence how people felt about the product, what occasion it would be appropriate for, and how much it would cost. We then showed these series of labels, plus accompanying questions, to a sample of 2000 consumers in the US, and 1000 in the UK, in an online survey conducted in March 2011.

We discovered some interesting things as a result of the work, which we made into a report (see note at the end if you’re interested in learning more). Some of the top lines: wine labelling in the US is a bit of a broader church, with more opportunities for V27N1

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along if the joke was low key, and appropriate; on the other hand, inexperienced consumers (who are often younger) generally found it a turn-off.

The secondary research question was around how the country of origin as listed on the label affected people’s views. Suffice to say, there are certain things that Old World countries can get away with that don’t fly for New World countries – and vice versa. I apologise that page space, and my colleagues in the sales team, prevent me from revealing more: if you want the details, you’ll have to buy the report!

Having done the exercise, we took a step back and tried to rationalise what we had found. Certain home truths were clear: packaging, in general, and labels, in particular, form a crucial element in the decision-making process (take that, harrumphing wine snob!) Most people are not going to spend hours choosing a wine to buy. Amid a wide range of choice, they are looking for shortcuts – ‘heuristics’ to use the behaviourist’s phrase – to get where they want to go.

The short-cuts could be rational or emotional: ‘Merlot’ is a big signpost for lots of people; so is the picture of a Chateau (or something that looks a bit like a Chateau). The use of gold tells people things; as does the use of calligraphy and stamps or icons.

Our work has only really scratched the surface. The language of wine labels is a dream study for a university semiotics department: layers of meaning, complex consumer needs, competition between the rational and emotional. It’s almost as complex, perhaps, as making the wine itself. As it turns out, it’s just as important...if not more so.

The Wine Intelligence Labels Report is available for the UK and US markets: contact Reports-Shop@wineintelligence.com or go to www.wineintelligence.com/reports-shop for more details.

Surf here

FIRST!

Figure 1. a broader spectrum of symbols and semiotics. In the UK, however, the ‘code frame’ of what a wine label should do was much more prescribed, and it was harder to get British consumers to empathise with more quirky approaches.

Broadly speaking, older consumers find traditional labels reassuring, especially for more formal occasions. It’s an oversimplification to say that that over-55s are suckers for a crest and a little gold panelling, but such design cues certainly seem to resonate with seniors.

Women are drawn to eclectic and contemporary label designs more than men, the research found, but that doesn’t mean they think they are the highest quality. Neither does it mean that such wines will always trump rivals with more conservative labels when it comes to actually making a purchase. Such wines may be fine for an informal occasion, but for a dinner party or a celebration, women actually prefer the labels classified as ‘stately’. They are also more comfortable offering wines with stately labels as gifts.

One thing that the work rather punctured was the conventional wisdom that the wine category needs to ‘jazz itself up’ to appeal more to the young. It is true that younger consumers (especially in America) were more open to modern and contemporary styles, but not to the exclusion of the more conservative approaches. Humour was something of a lit firework when it came to wine labels: more knowledgeable and confident consumers were happy to play V2 7N 1

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• Buyers’ Guide, which enables visitors to search suppliers to the wine industry.

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PROFILE

Dorham Mann goes in to bat for the Swan Valley

By Matt Byrne

Opening the batting for this issue’s regional report on Western Australia’s Swan Valley is our profile on the region’s industry veteran and cricket tragic Dorham Mann – son of legendary Swan Valley vigneron Jack Mann, who worked 51 consecutive vintages at Houghton Winery and created Houghton White Burgundy. Raised at Houghton, Dorham was a winemaker for the WA Government and played an important role in the development of Margaret River before becoming winemaker at Sandalford from the mid ‘60s to the late ‘70s, and then started up his own label consisting of just two wines.

D

orham Mann has had a great innings in the Western Australian wine industry and he’s still planning his next dig.

At 72 not out, magnanimous Mann has spent his lifetime nurturing and shepherding the WA wine industry, from the birth of Margaret River to protecting the Swan Valley from urban encroachment.

Wine judge, roving oenologist, consulting viticulturist, shire councillor and keen first-grade Guildford cricketer, Mann’s all-round abilities have provided an ongoing service to the WA wine industry.

Mann was brought up at the famed Houghton Winery, where the family house was surrounded by verandahs the size of cricket pitches.

“All of my early life was spent there with my sister Corin and brother Tony, who was some sort of a cricketer (Tony Mann was a leg spinner for Australia),” he said. “Tony was nearly as good as me; he had to be or he’d never get a hit…no, he was a fantastic cricketer.”

Not surprisingly, Houghton Winery – where his father worked 51 consecutive vintages and crafted Houghton’s famous White Burgundy - holds a special place in Dorham Mann’s heart.

“Dad started working at Houghton under my grandfather George when he was 16 in 1922, and took over as winemaker in his own right in about 1930,” he said.

“I always loved the vineyard and remember walking along behind the plough seeing this beautiful red dirt getting turned over.”

Mann said the red soil had been “a strong part of the reason why I am where I am now”.

“I always thought I’d like to one day have a little property on the Swan River with this beautiful red soil,” he said.

Mann said his official training for the wine industry began when he finished high school.

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At 72 years of age, Dorham Mann is still involved in the wine industry and making his beloved méthode champenoise wines.

“I did an agricultural science degree at the University of WA and I was a State Government Agriculture Science cadet from 1958 to 1961,” he said. “In my final year, I suddenly realised in my own heart that I wanted to be involved in viticulture and wine.

“I was never pushed into it by Dad, but I guess there was a sense of family tradition. In my final year I was permitted to do a little thesis on viticulture. I also did one year at Roseworthy College and have great memories of my time with family there.”

Mann’s return to WA coincided with the arrival of Californian Professor Harold Olmo, a key consultant in the development of WA’s Mount Barker area.

“Professor Olmo was here for the best part of a year and produced the Olmo Report on dried fruit, grapes and wine,” he said. “He became strong family friends with us, and we talked about the prospect of cool climate wine in the Mount Barker area.”

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Mann said there were two “significant” aspects of Olmo's report that proved fruitful for the WA wine industry and himself.

“It said that the Government should consider establishing an experimental vineyard for cool climate wine near Mount Barker,” he said. “And, that it should appoint an oenologist to look at helping small winemakers in WA to start growing good grapes for table wine.

That opened the door for Mann to become WA’s roving oenologist.

“I joined Government viticulturist Bill Jamieson and, together, we were the viticulture section,” he said. “But, Bill was weighed under by paperwork, so my main job was to help small winemakers at vintage time. I would take along various equipment like my ebulliometer, and go from one place to another testing alcohols, mainly bulk dry red.

“It was a courageous initiative to have an oenologist offer this help, because no other state provided any service like this to the wine industry.”

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Mann also played a formative role in the development of Margaret River’s wine industry.

“I chose a lot of the properties down there while making all the wines from the experimental vineyard at Mount Barker,” he said.

While working as the state’s consulting winemaker, Dorham and his wife Sally bought a 2.4ha property on the banks of the Swan River in 1966 – featuring the rich red alluvial soil that had charmed him at Houghton’s years earlier.

“The property we bought was an old vineyard planted to currants for drying and a few sultanas, and there was citrus on the slope at the end of the river,” he said.

“The slope was so steep and dangerous to farm. I rapidly had the citrus trees pruned with a bulldozer.

“I replanted it nearly all to Cabernet Sauvignon, as I had been indoctrinated by the variety; my father always said it was the greatest grape.”

Mann left the employ of the Government in the late 1960s to assume the role as winemaker at Sandalford because he could see that “if you were any good in the Department, you got promoted up the ladder to become a glorified clerk”.

“Sandalford was a great place to work and they initiated their big Margaret River vineyard, which I had chosen.”

At Mann’s suggestion, the Roe family, who owned Sandalford at the time, purchased a 280 hectare property in the Wilyabrup sub-region of Margaret River, which was planted with vines in 1970, thus marking the winery’s expansion into the region.

During his time at Sandalford and the years that followed, Dorham Mann continued the family tradition of making méthode champenoise from Cabernet Sauvignon, sourced from his vineyard.

“I love méthode champenoise. It has been part of my family right back to when I was a little tacker,” Mann said. “Christmas and birthdays at home were always associated with a méthode champenoise that my father made totally from the free run juice of Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s always been my favourite wine to drink.”

In 1988, Mann gave in to demand to make the family treasure available to the public and has since produced 550 cases of the much-loved dry, sparkling méthode champenoise every year, which is mainly sold through the Mann cellar door.

“We always release it on 1 August when it is 2.5 years old and it usually sells out by Easter – sometimes earlier than that. We close the winery for a few months until the next one is released.”

Mann also produces several hundred cases of a unique variety called Cygne V2 7N 1

Dorham Mann with the two wines he produces under his own Mann label, a méthode champenoise Cabernet Sauvignon and Cygne Blanc.

Blanc, a variety which his wife Sally discovered in their garden.

“In 1989, the year Jack passed away, my wife left a seedling vine in the garden while weeding because it had grown big enough that she noticed it had a Cabernet leaf. We thought we’d leave it there, just for a bit of fun, to see what sort of mongrel red grape we got.

“We were surprised to discover it was a white grape not a red grape, with all the Cabernet characteristics and also genetic connections.”

Mann kept it quiet for a lot of years while he grafted from it, planting enough vines to eventually make a bit of wine.

“I tasted enough fruit to know that this was something pretty special,” he said.

“And, after making up to 50 cases I then had the variety patented. We named the variety Cygne Blanc, the ‘white swan’, after the Swan Valley.”

In 2000, Dorham granted an MIS scheme located at Mount Benson, near Robe, in south-eastern South Australia, an exclusive licence to plant Cygne Blanc.

Some 70 acres were planted and a couple of vintages of wine produced before the scheme was wound up.

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“It was tremendously sad after all the research and work that went into it,” he said. “But, we’ll crank it up again in the future; it’s not a dying swan.”

Mann’s self-designed label sums up his pride in his local area, love of the Swan Valley and attitude to the WA wine industry.

“The hound’s head acknowledges our district locality of Baskerville - a la Sherlock Holmes - the swan is for the Swan Valley and vitis custos means guardian of the vine,” he explained.

“But, as my late father said, when people said it was a nice label, he much preferred the adornment on the inside of the bottle.”

These days, Mann’s eldest daughter, Anthea, a molecular biologist, helps her father run the family wine business, and Mann is currently chair of the judging panel for the Swan Valley Wine Show.

He said the Swan Valley had a healthy future and he was glad to still be playing a role in that.

“When I look at the wine at the Swan Valley Show there’s virtually not a poor wine there, and the people of Perth know how important the Swan is to the city and WVJ the state.” www.winebiz. com . au

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Swan Valley holds back the urban tide

By Matt Byrne

Journalist Matt Byrne travelled to the Swan Valley in late November where he caught up with a number of the region’s vignerons to hear about its threats by urban encroachment, its Croatian heritage and the influence of Houghton Winery, which recently celebrated its 175th anniversary.

T

he Swan Valley wine region is one of the nation’s oldest and has been the food basket, recreation reserve and convenient vineyard of Perth for 175 years.

Situated on Perth’s doorstep, only minutes from the airport, the area that was first targetted by Captain James Stirling as the agricultural heart of the young WA colony, is now avoiding the grip of urban sprawl.

The home of major wineries like Houghton and Sandalford, yet overwhelmingly represented by small to medium wineries, the Swan Valley is determined to preserve its status against the growing tide of suburbia.

Upstaged by its cool climate, southern, relative newcomer Margaret River, the Swan has no intention of dying.

Swan Valley Winemakers Association president John Griffiths is confident the approaching houses will not invade the heart of the wine region.

“Planning threatens us and concerns us, but it’s not the overriding thing that unites us,” Griffiths said. “The first thing that unites us is winemaking; we are all interested in making great wine and we all love living here.

“There’s a lot of friendship and camaraderie, in this region.”

The Faber Vineyard boss said the Swan Valley Planning Act, which aims to preserve the rural character of the valley within defined boundries, did a “more or less reasonable job” of protecting the wine region from further urban development.

“Areas like Happy Valley, in Adelaide, or Minchinbury, in Sydney, are long gone but we’re still here. We’re very, very fortunate but that’s not something we can take for granted.”

Griffiths said the WA Department of Planning was currently undertaking a strategic review of the Swan Valley.

“It is widely recognised by the State Government and local government that the Swan Valley is one of the state’s key attractions, along with Kings Park and Fremantle, the beaches, the river and so on,” he said. “The Swan is identified as the key recreational hub for the City of Perth as it doubles in population in the next 20-30 years.

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(Back row, from left) Duncan Harris (Organic Wines), Derek Pearse (Upper Reach), John Griffiths (Faber Vineyard), (front row from left) Carl Lancaster (Lancaster Wines) and Anthony Turisich (Olive Farm Wines) drink to the Swan Valley’s future.

“There’s a great desire for the Swan Valley to continue in a similar format to what it is now; that’s very fortunate.

“Nevertheless, there are individuals and groups and businesses who own land in the Swan Valley who think that if they had the opportunity to subdivide like other areas have done around Perth, then they would have a great commercial opportunity.”

Griffiths said those people would continue to pursue the ability to subdivide to achieve that economic benefit.

“But, I don’t think that’s what the Government wants, and it’s not what the majority of people in Perth want. I don’t think encroachment is coming. I think we are in a pretty good place, but it has to be continually managed.”

Griffith said ongoing dialogue with Government was crucial.

“The Swan Valley Planning Act is operated by a committee established by the Department of Planning; we have always had a representative on that committee,” he said. “At times, our W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

representative has been chair of that committee. We’re as well informed as any other group.”

Griffiths said the proximity to Perth that threatened the Swan was also its greatest advantage.

“The fact that we’re right next door to Perth and we have a great market of people who like to visit and enjoy our wines, that’s a fantastic advantage that we have. Our kids have great educational opportunities, and there are great services available to us as winemakers winery suppliers, financial services - that we can access right on our doorstep.”

Griffiths said the issue of urban encroachment had to be kept “in perspective”.

“There is urban encroachment, but it’s not going to overrun the Swan Valley,” he said. “We just have to monitor it to make sure it doesn’t get silly.

“We need to maintain the heritage values of the Swan, the vistas of the Swan over paddocks, hills and vineyards, without seeing the arrival of large buildings that are inappropriate.

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(Back row from left) Fiona Lamont (Lamont Wines), Julie Church (Swan Valley and Regional Winemakers Association), Anthea Mann (Mann Winery), Deb Harris (Organic Wines) and (front left) Laura Pearse (Upper Reach Wines), Jane Micallef (Faber Vineyard) and Maaike Berns (Sitella Wines).

“If you look around the Swan Valley it is very close to its original state. We can still see where the original English explorers came up the river and declared this was a fantastic place to start a colony. That’s a fantastic thing.”

Fourth generation winemaker Anthony Yurisich, from Olive Farm Wines, WA’s oldest winery, said his business had directly experienced the effect of encroaching urbanisation.

“Up until 2005 we ran a café, winery, vineyard and function centre at South Guildford,” Yurisich said. “But, in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, there was an increasing pressure from urban sprawl around us to move out. We were in a residential/light business area.

“By then, we had bought our own bottling line and other capital equipment.

We picked a lot of the fruit by machine, which was done in the middle of the night.

People around us were really angry and started complaining about what we were doing.”

Yurisich said urban encroachment “ultimately wasn’t the main reason we left, but definitely had an impact on our decision”.

“By 2003-2005, Dad had a perforated ulcer, and we had to make a decision, whether to finish up or move the operation.

“It was pretty hard to move from the riverbanks after three generations of hard work there. It was big call, but when we look at it now, it was definitely the right and the smart thing to do.”

Carl Lancaster, of Lancaster Wines, said, “clearly, we are champions for the region and there are planning issues facing us. But, while we are advocates for V2 7N 1

the region and believe in its longevity and existence as a tourism region, we’ve got a whole lot of other people out there who believe in its future.

“The community loves having this asset,” Lancaster said. “People are drawn to the area. The reason there is encroachment is that we are offering something they can leverage off; so many developers want to hang off that Swan Valley shingle.”

Upper Reach Wines boss Derek Pearse said there were no urban centres in the Swan.

“Therefore, there’s no opportunity for any infill to happen, so new housing happens on the boundaries,” Pearse said.

“I think the will of the Government, which recognises the will of the people of Perth, is that the Swan Valley is a great asset and they are not about to give it up.

“We don’t take the Swan for granted, that it will remain like this. But, we also think there’s no overriding Government ambition to subdivide it or develop it.”

Lamont Wines boss Corin Lamont, daughter of famed Houghton winemaker Jack Mann, said the Swan Valley Planning Act meant that the vast majority of land in the Swan could not be subdivided any smaller than 4ha.

“That may change, because there will be pressures, but it will take an Act of Parliament to do it,” Lamont said.

Lamont winemaker Digby Leddin said urban encroachment was “going to happen, it’s a reality”.

He said the biggest loss from urban encroachment, when it happens, was fortified production.

“We have 100-year-old vines in the Swan Valley that are going to be pulled out and turned into smaller lots,” he said. “When W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

Lamont Wines winemaker Digby Leddin and boss Corin Lamont. the older generations pass away, their children don’t want to crop one tonne to the acre and, when you are sitting on a million dollar property, that property will get subdivided and all that old material will be lost. You can’t replace that, you can’t just go somewhere else.”

Dorham Mann said urban encroachment had been reasonably well-managed up to now.

“I became a shire councillor in 1972 with the prime objective to try to do something to get a firm government planning commitment to retain the Swan Valley proper,” Mann said. “That was the beginnings of the Swan Valley Planning Act.” Mann said any attempt to urbanise the Swan would “create an uproar”.

“There’s many thousands of people who would leap up in horror and speak out if things were done to encroach more on the Swan Valley vineyards,” he said. “But, the Swan Valley Planning Act is working well to keep the balance between lifestyle and winemaking.”

Faber Vineyard’s Jane Micallef said “the essence of agriculture” had to be maintained in the Swan.

“We want people to visit here, but not to live here; we are an agricultural region,” Micallef said. “Tourism is important, but we must have agriculture first.”

Anthea Mann, from Mann Winery, said tyring to stop urban encroachment was “like trying to hold back waves”.

“We need to make sure the agricultural integrity and identity of the region is maintained,” Mann said. “We are now an agri-tourism wine region, and we have to maintain the balance between preserving the vineyards and being accessible to WVJ people.” www.winebiz. com . au

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Croatian heritage continues to drive the Swan

By Matt Byrne

T

he Swan Valley owes a huge debt to the hard work and persistence of its Croatian migrants and their winemaking descendants.

The Croatian influence in the Swan is as significant as the German heritage in the Barossa, or the Italian heritage in the Riverland or Granite Belt.

When these industrious people arrived as early as 1911 in search of gold, then in a wave of Government-sponsored European immigration in the 1920s and 1930s, the Swan Valley was still in its agricultural infancy.

They set out to satisfy the fortified market, providing wine for the mining regions like Kalgoorlie and the huge influx of Croatian and Italian migrants used to having wine as part of their daily ritual.

Their diligence helped transform the Swan Valley from traditional farming country to the rich wine region it is today, and has provided Perth with a prime tourism attraction and wine resource right on its doorstep. They brought peasant farming skills from the picturesque Dalmatian Coast back in Croatia, and a basic knowledge of winemaking, to a harsh environment that tested their resolve but forged the valley’s future.

These days, the Swan Valley has many wineries run by their descendants.

Mentored by Swan Valley icons like Jack Mann, the Croatians further developed their winemaking skills, eventually embracing table wines, but never forgetting the fortifieds their reputations were first built on.

John Kosovich Wines

No winery better personifies the passion and persistence of the Croatian contribution to the Swan Valley than father and son team John and Arch Kosovich, at John Kosovich Wines.

Arch has won acclaim as the family winemaker, while John runs the vineyard, and his viticultural knowledge is greatly revered by his peers.

“We were known as Westfield Wines until 2003, when the name was changed to John Kosovich Wines to commemorate Dad’s 50th vintage,” Arch Kosovich said.

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Arch (left) and John Kosovich at John Kosovich Wines.

In 1995, John Kosovich was awarded an Order of Australia and, in 2004, won the Jack Mann Memorial Medal, both acknowledging his outstanding contribution to the WA wine industry.

Arch said the winery was a family business that was proud of its Croatian heritage.

“Our main varieties here are Verdelho, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chenin Blanc and our classic fortified styles, grown in a warm climate on rich loam soil where all the fruit is hand harvested,” said Arch Kosovich.

“We also have 15 acres down at Pemberton under-vine producing cool climate Chardonnay, Verdelho, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir.”

John Kosovich said the Croatian contribution had been “very significant for the Swan”.

“They succeeded because they were from a basic peasant background; they knew how to survive, whereas others didn’t,” he said. “They made a bit of wine back home in Croatia; they weren’t great winemakers, but they grew up with wine and the Swan was the right place to try.

“My grandfather came out for a better life like most did (and) went gold mining for a few years. He decided to buy our W i n e & V i t i c ult ur e Jo ur n a l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

current property in 1922 with money he’d made. There were no gimmes or free air flights; they had to struggle every inch of the way.”

Kosovich said at primary school in 1945 to 1950, at least half the kids had surnames with ‘ich’ on the end.

“Cousin followed cousin and brother followed brother out from Croatia and that’s how they built up their holdings in the Swan.”

Olive Farm Wines Olive Farm is a fourth-generation, family-owned operation and, indeed, is WA’s oldest winery.

Winemaker Anthony Yurisich said his family bought Olive Farm Wines in 1933.

“My great grandfather, Ivan Yurisich, emigrated to Australia in 1900 from Corcula, in Croatia,” Yurisich said. “He came out, tried to make money from mining gold but couldn’t find any, so he went cutting sleepers down south.”

Ivan eventually bought the Olive Farm Wines property in South Guildford – on the banks of the Swan River and on the edge of the Swan Valley wine region - and tried his luck at winemaking, using the skills he had learnt in Yugoslavia by watching the locals.

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“He started with about six hectares.

The vineyard was mainly planted to Shiraz and Grenache, and he started making clarets and fortified reds, mainly to send out to the miners in Kalgoorlie. He did that in 1933, with no formal education; it was just going with the knowledge he had from winemaking back in the old country.

“The range of wines expanded to include dry white style wines, and my grandfather, Vince, bottled our first 750mL bottle table wines in the late ‘60s.” Vince was one of the first in WA to produce méthode champenoise, and one of the first to use cold fermentation techniques and selected yeast strain fermentations.

Anthony’s father Ian studied at Roseworthy in the late ‘70s where he met his wife-to-be, Judith, before returning to the Swan Valley.

“My father, Ian, raised production levels and the varietal range, concentrating on producing wine from small batches.”

He also purchased a second block in the Swan Valley, where he and Vince developed close to 16 hectares of vines, which proved fortuitous in light of urban encroachment that would eventually have an effect on the business.

“We had truck stops on one side and houses on the other and, in 1988, we opened a café and function centre and that brought many people to the winery,” he said.

“We had up to 40 staff, and Mum and Dad were working seven days a week.”

In 2005, the pressure of urban expansion forced the Yurisich family to move their operation to deeper within the Swan Valley, which reopened in 2007.

“We built our brand new winery in 2007 and I am continuing in the Yurisich family tradition of winemaking, with Dad and I doing everything from growing the grapes to making and bottling the wine.”

Yurisich said his Croatian heritage really hit home when he returned to visit the Dalmatian Coast, and the towns and islands around Split.

“It really put into perspective the beauty of what they had left behind and the sacrifices they had made to come out here,” he said. “We thought, ‘why would you leave this paradise?’ But, obviously they wanted to try their luck in Australia. It showed me how proud I was for my ancestors to come here.

“We are more Australian than not, but saying that, we still have those very strong Croatian ties within our family, and across the Swan Valley region.”

Talijancich Winery James Talijancich has fortified the reputation built by his Croatian grandfather, the late Jim Talijancich, who arrived in Fremantle in 1926.

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Olive Farm Wines winemaker Anthony Yurisich with some of the fortified wines he produces.

James Talijancich is the third generation of his family to run Talijancich Wines.

The few years that followed saw him seek employment as a sleeper cutter in the forests of the south-west of WA. In 1932, he married Ljubica Svetanovich, and purchased their Swan Valley vineyard, producing their first vintage, all fortifieds, from Muscat and Shiraz.

Jim Talijancich passed suddenly in 1945, which saw his son Peter take the reins at age 13 to help his mother in the vineyard.

Peter’s son and current winemaker James Talijancich said driving the horse and plough was one of his father’s first responsibilities.

“There was also no electricity in those days, it was very hard yakka for the family,” Talijancich said. “All the cultivating was done by draughthorse as no-one could afford a tractor, and all the spraying was done via a backpack, so it was completely manual.”

Peter eventually got to work alongside Jack Mann at Houghtons as a cellar hand, where he realised he wanted to make his own liqueurs, muscats and ports.

“In 1949, aged 18, he came back determined to make a living from making wine and that’s when we became commercial,” James said.

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“I joined the family business when Dad retired in 1977 after an amazing 50 vintages. “ Talijancich and wife Hilda bought the business in 1998 where he “pushed for Verdelho and Shiraz”, but the liqueurs remained an important focus for the winery.

Talijancich said the Croatian migrants had been encouraged to come out to Australia in the1920s and 1930s, “just like the British in the 1950s and '60s”.

“Thousands of Croats came to WA, and a small percentage of them got involved with wine, and an even smaller percentage would have been involved with the wine industry back home.

“They were told they were coming out to a better life,” he said. “But, both my grandparents on both sides got here and wanted to go home because what they had come to was so harsh: living in tin sheds where it was stinking hot in summer and freezing their butts off in winter with no running water or power for the first 10 years here, whereas their friends in the city had all that.

“Still, they saw the opportunity they had been given and learned to love it here in the WVJ Swan,” James said. www.winebiz. com . au

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Houghton Wines marks 175 years

By Matt Byrne

H

oughton Wines celebrated its 175th year in style last November, as the people who made it great gathered with the public to reflect on this Swan Valley icon.

Established in the heart of the region by a syndicate of three British army officers in 1836 – and named after its most senior-ranked member Lieutenant Colonel Richmond Houghton - the winery, now owned by Accolade, today sources grapes from a variety of the state’s wine regions, including the Swan Valley, Gingin, Margaret River, Frankland River, Mount Barker and Pemberton.

One of the secrets to Houghton’s sustained success has been the continuity in winemaking: only 13 winemakers in its 175 years.

Leading the way was the Swan Valley’s icon Jack Mann, who oversaw 51 consecutive vintages during his career from 1922 to 1972. Mann’s crafting of Houghton White Burgundy – now known as Houghton White Classic - put WA wine on the national and international map.

The first vintage of White Burgundy was created in 1937 but in keeping with consumer tastes of the time, the mainstay of Houghton’s production at the time was fortified wine, with Jack Mann’s Oloroso winning the Champion Prize at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show 13 years straight.

But through Mann, Houghton led the change from fortified to table wines.

“You can exist without table wines, but you cannot live,” Mann famously stated along with, “Cabernet Sauvignon is the only variety that would be tolerated in heaven”.

In charge of winemaking at Houghton these days is senior winemaker Ross Pamment, who has spent more than 13 of his 22-year career at Houghton.

“I started my career at Houghton in 1989 after being introduced by a mutual acquaintance to Peter Dawson, who was senior winemaker at the time,” Pamment said. “I was seeking to gain some practical experience before undertaking studies and was given a job as a cellar hand.

“I then worked overseas, and was delighted to get an opportunity to be a winemaker at Houghton in 1999.”

Pamment said Houghton was “the perfect place to learn”.

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Houghton winemakers Courtney Treacher and Ross Pamment toast 175 years of Houghton history, with a selection of bottles of Houghton White Burgundy, now known as Houghton White Classic, produced over the years since the first vintage in 1937.

Five generations of the Mann family gathered at Houghton Wines in the Swan Valley in October to celebrate 175 years of the winery. Included in the photo are Jack Mann’s son Dorham and daughter Corin who operate their own wineries in the Swan Valley.

“As far as developing winemaking knowledge, there probably is no better place to do that than here,” he said.

“Houghton sources fruit from every major premium grapegrowing region in the state and makes a diversity of wine styles.

There is also a growing momentum in producing wines that express a sense of region and place, and Houghton is extremely well-positioned in that regard.”

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Pamment said contributing to the heritage of winemaking at Houghton was “a real honour”.

“I feel privileged to be part of Houghton’s history,” he said. “The heritage here instils a great sense of personal achievement and pride, knowing that we are part of its history.

“The wine industry landscape has changed over the years, but V27N1

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the contribution Houghton made to put WA on the map should never be underestimated.”

Houghton offers wines across a number of styles and price points. Its most popular wines are marketed under the ‘Stripe’ range, which includes the famous Houghton White Classic. The premium range includes the ‘Jack Mann’, the winery’s flagship red wine based on Cabernet Sauvignon, which comes from Frankland River. An icon Margaret River Cabernet, called ‘Gladstones’ – in acknowledgement of the contribution of viticulturist John Gladstones to the region – is also produced.

Houghton has won more than 4000 trophies and medals in the past three decades and, most recently, took out the prestigious Bill Jamieson Trophy for most successful WA exhibitor at the 2011 Perth Royal Wine Show.

Pamment said the influence of the Mann family in his life extended beyond the wine industry.

“Funnily enough, Tony Mann (Jack’s son) taught me mathematics in high school when I was 14, long before my interest in wine developed,” he said. “I’m also a cricket tragic, so the association of Houghton and cricket is something I cherish.

“I see or speak with both Tony and Dorham Mann regularly, and really enjoy listening to the history of Houghton and the influence Jack Mann had on the evolution of the WA wine industry.”

“Dad was always very proud of being encouraged by his father to use his initiative,” Dorham Mann said. “Always be prepared to depart from the orthodox in order to advance’ was his creed; you have to be different to be better.

“He persuaded the Fergusons to buy a Seitz pad filter from Germany in the mid1930s. It enabled him to sterile filter – a first for Australia – the white table wine, mainly made from Chenin Blanc.

“The consequence of this was that the white table wine that he put into the 1937 Melbourne Show was awarded first prize by renowned judge, W.W.W. Senior. Senior made special mention of this beautiful white wine from WA, which reminded him of the best white burgundies that he’d seen in France. That was the reason that my father called that wine White Burgundy.

“It was a Burgundy in style because it was flavourful and had a soft finish, but it was made from Chenin Blanc in our climate.”

Courtney Treacher and Garth Cliff represent the rising generation of Houghton winemakers based at the Swan Valley headquarters.

They studied winemaking at Curtin University together and are now V2 7N 1

Houghton’s famed winemaker, the late Jack Mann. processing 5000 tonnes of fruit each vintage for the Houghton Classic ranges.

“Houghton is steeped in tradition.

We are an old winery that is proud of its heritage,” Cliff said. “But, Houghton has always been at the forefront of new techniques.”

Treacher said the Houghton vineyard and brand had been developed through time and careful acquisition.

“We have stuck to our core brands and making consistent quality wines through the years,” Treacher said. “We have developed relationships with good growers, so getting nice fruit, getting the best fruit, is a very big part of that consistent quality.”

Cliff said Houghton had controlled its own destiny.

“We own a large proportion of the vineyards that produce the core brands like the White Classic,” he said. “So, we do have good control over the quality.

“Chenin Blanc and Verdelho, which are our major plantings up here, do really well in the warmer climate.”

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Cliff said 2009 was a really good year for whites, and 2012 was looking promising.

“It has some of the hallmarks of being a great year,” he said. “We’ve had good winter rain, with an almost weekly topup. You can see the vigour in the vines, so it’s needed controlling, and we’ve had to spray more. The vineyard manager’s been pretty jittery.”

Pamment said Houghton’s respect for the past was always balanced by an inventive eye for the future.

“Looking ahead, we will capitalise on Houghton’s strengths by expanding on what we do well and what does well for us,” he said.

“We have identified the Asian market as having great potential for us and, being in Western Australia, we are wellpositioned given our proximity to Asia and our product offerings.

“The challenge lies in educating the Asian consumer as to the great wines we produce, and also that screwcap closures WVJ are a good thing.” www.winebiz. com . au

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SUPER WINES

Kingston Estate Wines Echelon Petit Verdot In the late 1990s, Kingston Estate winemaker Bill Moularadellis established Australia's largest single planting of Petit Verdot in South Australia’s Riverland and it has become the winery’s signature variety. In support of this issue’s Petit Verdot tasting starting on page 90, we asked Bill to brief our readers on the 2008 Kingston Estate Echelon Petit Verdot - the latest vintage of the winery’s flagship Petit Verdot which is made each year from the best parcels of fruit from its plantings of the variety.

LOCATION OF VINEYARD Kingston Estate Wines’ vineyards are in the Riverland, at Kingston-on-Murray, in South Australia.

THE VINEYARD SITE The vineyard has an elevation of 46m above sea level, and is gently undulating.

It is 190km from the coast, 1.5km from the Murray River and 2km from Wachtels Lagoon. The top-soils are generally loamy or sandy loam in texture. Depth ranges from very shallow (15cm or less) in the lower lying areas, to deep (more than 60cm) on the sand dunes that run north-easterly to south-westerly across the vineyard area.

The shallow soils are underlain by unbroken sheet calcrete.

The soils are alkaline, ranging from pH7.9-8.7.

The mean January temperature is 22.8°C. February is the warmest month, with a mean temperature of 23°C. Heat summation is 2060°C days. The Riverland is a continental climate, with large daily and seasonal temperature ranges due to the absence of a nearby large body of water.

Annual rainfall is 275mm. The highest rainfall occurs during late winter and spring, although, the highest rainfall intensities occur in summer if tropical moisture in-feeds eventuate.

Frost occurrence during the growing season is rare in the Riverland. There is an average of 14.6 days where the temperature falls below 0°C, but these days are mainly during winter when the vines are dormant.

The Riverland is a moderately windy area, with the highest average

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wind speeds during spring. The prevailing wind direction is south-west during this time.

THE VINES We have 93.45 hectares of clone G7V1 Petit Verdot, as it was the best clone available at the time of planting in 1998 and 1999, and still appears to be the superior clone for this site and climate. The vines are on own-roots and planted to a density of 3.3m row spacing by 1.5m vine spacing.

Trellising is managed using a two-wire vertical system.

VINE MANAGEMENT The vines are drip irrigated. Irrigations are scheduled using a combination of the measurement of soil water tension and evaporation, visual appearance of the vines and the growth stage of the vines. Irrigations are typically applied daily during hot days when vines have a full canopy. On average, 5.5ML/ha is applied (550mm).

The vines are trimmed once or twice per season depending on growth to improve canopy ventilation and light incidence on bunches.

The aim of the soil management program is to increase organic matter levels and improve the soil biota. An annual cereal cover crop is planted, then it is slashed and spread under-vine in early spring. Grape marc is spread throughout the vineyard at 30t/ha. Organic composts, such as cow manure, have also been applied to the sandier areas of the vineyard.

Cultivation practices in the vineyard include incorporating the marc, levelling the vineyard floor and preparation for sowing the cover crop. The vines are machine spur-pruned with a hand clean-up to approximately 80 buds per vine. Due to the warm and dry climate of the Riverland, pest and disease pressure is low. Petit Verdot also has relatively high resistance to the major diseases. The application of pest and disease-control chemicals is able to be minimised and, where possible, restricted to inorganic chemicals. The programs are based on the use of simple protectants, such copper and sulfur for downy and powdery mildew, respectively. Insecticides are not used.

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AVERAGE YIELD OF VINES The Petit Verdot yields around 25t/ha.

DESCRIBE THE WINEMAKING PROCESSES USED TO MAKE THE WINE The grapes were crushed and destemmed before going into 20t static fermenters. Pump-overs were conducted three times per day. The pH was adjusted to 3.4, with tartaric acid and Lalvin 2323 yeast added. The individual vineyard components were fermented separately in static and rotary fermenters.

Ferment temperatures started at around 20°C and were allowed to peak at 28-29°C. At 3°Baumé, 300L/t was drained off from skins and allowed to finish alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in new French and American oak hogsheads. Heave pressings were separated and not used in the blend.

Post-MLF, the wines were racked, SO2 added and final pH adjustments made before the wine was returned to barrel. A further two rackings occurred during 18 months of barrel maturation.

The finished wine has a residual sugar of 3.65g/L, total acidity of 6.3g/L and 14% alcohol by volume.

PRICE OF WINE Approximately $28/bottle QUANTITIES MADE Limited quantities produced WHERE SOLD Australia and Asia.

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Australian producers make the most of the poor cousin of the red Bordeaux varieties Petit Verdot is the poor cousin of the five classic red varieties permitted to be planted in Bordeaux but, in recent years, has found favour with a number of wineries in Australia. The Wine & Viticulture Journal recently conducted its first tasting of Petit Verdot and asked the producers behind three of the wines deemed by the tasting panel to be among the best in the line-up for some background on their production.

David Lowe Chief winemaker Lowe Wines Mudgee, New South Wales Wine: 2008 Louee Petit Verdot (RRP$25.00) Viticulture The vineyard from which the fruit for this wine is sourced is located in Rylstone, part of the Mudgee GI, and has an elevation of 650 metres. There are 3ha of Petit Verdot in this vineyard, which were planted on their own roots in 1996.

The vines are planted 1.5m apart and are now grown on an Aussie sprawl system, having previously been grown on a VSP. The soil is acidic and sandstone-based, much like the Hunter Valley. Frost can be an issue, which is why the vines are trellised at 1.2m.

UV light is a problem at high altitudes, so a VSP trellis leads to poor colour; this is why we need a shaded canopy to protect against UV damage to grape skins.

Since 2007, we have ceased to irrigate the vines, which has led to greater concentration. Poor flowering from early moisture stress has led to better wine from smaller bunches.

A pasture of legumes, vetch, and permanent rye grass has been introduced in the mid-rows. Because of the elevation and cool climate, the clover grows through the summer months and helps maintain good nitrogen levels.

The vines were hand spur-pruned until 2009, but we have gone back to cane pruning bilateral cordons consisting of eight buds per side and two replacement spurs in the crown.

Petit Verdot, in my experience, is relatively disease-free, as long as you get a small, loose bunch that occurs with a low irrigation regime.

Picking of the Petit Verdot is based on colour and tannin, which the variety produces easily enough; getting it to have the structure of ripe fruit that isn’t green and hard at lower alcohol is my main task.

We are doing this by changing the pruning to cane, eliminating irrigation to reduce the crop and picking it earlier.

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Lowe Wines’ chief winemaker David Lowe.

A typical analysis of the Petit Verdot at harvest: Baumé 14.0 pH 3.35 TA 7.0 In 2008, the vines yielded 4.016t/ha.

Winemaking The grapes were hand-picked on 14 April and crushed in an old crusher that leaves many whole berries, which lifts the fruit character. The fruit was then fermented in an open vat, with hand rolling of the cap carried out two to three times per day, i.e., gentle. The fruit spent 13 days on skins before being drained and pressed with a gentle airbag press.

Malolactic fermentation was carried out in barrel with time on lees to build richness. Racking was carried out before spring. Maturation took place in three to five-year-old seasoned oak. Bottling was completed in August 2009.

Petit Verdot is too often regarded as only a blending wine, so the merits of its appeal need to be better promoted.

A section of the 3ha of Petit Verdot in Lowe Wines’ vineyard at Rylstone, in the Mudgee GI, which were planted on their own roots in 1996.

Julie Mortlock Senior winemaker De Bortoli Wines Riverina, New South Wales Wine: 2 009 Deen De Bortoli Vat 4 Petit Verdot (RRP$12.90) Viticulture The Petit Verdot sourced for the 2009 vintage was from three vineyards in the Riverina region. The vineyard located W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

De Bortoli senior winemaker Julie Mortlock. www.winebiz. com . au

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to the west of Griffith, which produces approximately 60% of the final blend, is grown on a double wire trellis on sandy loam soil and crops at 14t/ha. Drip irrigated, the vines were planted in 2000 on Ramsey roostock. The clone is G7V1 clone. This vineyard has been a consistent producer of high quality Petit Verdot fruit over a number of years.

The remainder of the blend comes from two vineyards where the vines are trellised to a single wire, are drip irrigated and are on their own roots: our own vineyard, which is near the winery, was planted in 1999 on clay loam soil and is low-producing (8t/ha); the other vineyard was also planted on sandy loam soil, is located to the south-east of Griffith, was planted on own roots in 2005 and yields 14t/ha.

Griffith is situated 130 metres above sea level and is well-known for its warm to hot climate, which was evident in the 2009 vintage. After some good spring rains and a mild December leading into vintage, we then experienced a very hot January with two weeks in excess of 35°C, which stalled ripening for up to three weeks. Due to this weather event occurring early in the ripening period for the Petit Verdot grapes, they experienced no ill effects.

Petit Verdot is a variety that excels in warmer regions throughout Australia as the grapes need to reach 14-15oBaumé before harvesting to exhibit the full gamut of flavours, such as blueberry, violet and other dark berry fruit, and for the tannins to fully ripen.

2009 was an excellent year for Petit Verdot to reach maturity but, in cooler years, this variety can be troublesome in reaching full ripeness, which unduly affects the rich flavours that Petit Verdot can develop.

A typical analysis of the Petit Verdot at harvest: Baumé 14.15 TA 4.0-5.0g/L pH 3.60-3.80

Geddes Wines winemaker and proprietor Tim Geddes. to soften the tannins and assist in the integration of the oak into the wine.

Ninety-one percent of the final blend was matured for 12 months in predominately American oak barriques, of which 36% were new American barriques from three different coopers, each imparting a different oak profile to the finished wine to add complexity and depth of flavour.

Once the wine was transferred out of oak, it was blended with a parcel of unoaked Petit Verdot to provide a fresh fruit lift to the rich barrel-matured wine.

Petit Verdot is a rich, full-flavoured wine with a firm tannin structure.

Winemaking

Marketing

All three vineyards were machine harvested on 27 March, with the fruit crushed, destemmed and transferred to potter fermenters. The fruit was chilled to 10°C for 24-48 hours to enhance flavour and colour retention. The must was allowed to warm naturally to 18-22°C to undergo fermentation with a cultured yeast for 7-10 days. The wine was pressed off skins and completed malolactic fermentation prior to clarification and stabilisation. Thirty-five percent of the final blend underwent malolactic fermentation while on American oak staves with micro-oxygenation applied

Deen De Bortoli’s vision for the Vat Series range was to produce wines that were full-flavoured and exhibited their varietal characters in both traditional varieties and the newer varieties to Australia, such as Petit Verdot, at affordable prices so that everyone can enjoy these delicious wines.

This price point gives many people a chance to try Petit Verdot, a variety unknown to many without investing a great deal of money.

It is widely available throughout Australia in both retail stores and in restaurants.

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Tim Geddes Winemaker/owner Geddes Wines McLaren Vale, South Australia Wine: 2 008 Seldom Inn Petit Verdot (RRP$22.00) VITICULTURE Fruit for this wine was contracted from two vineyards: 30% from Leask Vineyards on Sand Road, east of McLaren Vale, and 70% from grower Daryl Hunt, whose vineyard is located on South Road, at Maslin Beach.

Leask Vineyards is a flat block with north-south facing rows. The soil in the block is red brown earth, with alluvial ironstone. The vineyard receives 580mm of rain per year and is prone to afternoon gully winds in summer.

There are 2.9ha of Petit Verdot planted in this vineyard – clone G7V1 on own roots. The vines are trellised to a single cordon and planted with a 2.75m by 1.5m spacing. Vigour is moderate, with the vines shoot-thinned once at 10-20cm shoot length. There is a single catch wire and the vines are allowed to sprawl; usually, no trimming is required.

The vineyard is drip irrigated with recycled water from the Willunga Basin via one 4L/hr dripper per vine. Irrigation mainly takes place from December to V27N1

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Petit Verdot vines just a kilometre from the coast at Maslin Beach, on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula, the fruit from which makes up 70% of the 2008 Seldom Inn Petit Verdot.

March, comprising 40L per vine per week in two separate irrigation events.

The vineyard has a permanent sward of mixed grasses and clovers that is slashed in late spring after seed maturation and then again during summer.

Organic compost is broadcast over the vineyard in late autumn to help build up organic carbon levels.

During the season, a mix of organic luminates and micro-nutrients are applied as needed as determined by regular tissue tests throughout the season.

The vines are hand pruned to 20-25 buds per vine.

The variety is disease resistant at this site, with an open canopy and loose bunches, giving no concern for diseases.

Daryl Hunt’s vineyard at Maslin Beach is flat with east-to-west rows. The vines are 900m to 1km from the beach front, so are subject to sea breezes. The soil is light loam over limestone.

The vineyard has 1ha of Petit Verdot of clone G7V1, which is on own roots. The vines are trellised to a single cordon and have a row and vine spacing of 3m by 1.8m respectively.

Vigour is moderate, with the vines shoot and bunch thinned once or twice a year. There is a single catch wire and the vines are allowed to sprawl; usually, no trimming is required.

The vineyard is drip irrigated with one 4L/hr dripper per vine, and is mainly irrigated from January to March consisting of 20-40L/week depending on the temperature. The irrigation water is a mixture of recycled water from the Willunga Basin water and mains water (about 50/50).

The vineyard has a permanent sward of grasses and clovers that is slashed after budburst and then once in January.

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broadcast over the vineyard in June to help build up organic carbon levels.

The main attributes I keep an eye on at harvest are Baumé, as it can struggle to reach over 14Be, and phenological ripeness, as it can show green characters up to one week prior to harvesting The variety is late ripening, hence, the fine balance between crop load and seasonal temperature; in moderate temperature years, it stays on the vine until 5-9 April, while in warmer years, it comes off around 20 March.

Shoot and bunch thinning is required as Petit Verdot has a tendency to have two to four bunches a shoot. Excess bunches and shoots need to be removed to put the vigour into the fruiting cane to get enough length and hold enough mature leaves.

The cooler but drought-affected 2007 vintage produced a naturally light crop, with the fruit harvested with the following analysis: 13.8Be, pH3.68 and 5.4TA . The 2008 vintage was classified as hot with 15 days of more than 40°C occurring from late February to early March. The Petit Verdot thrived in this temperature, where it showed no signs of berry shrinkage with the fruit harvested with the following analysis: 14.8Be, pH3.76 and 5.4TA. In the 2009 vintage, when the berries were pea-size and warmer conditions occurred in late January to early Feburary, the fruit aborted and 1.6t was harvested from 1ha.

The more typical McLaren Vale vintage of 2010 produced fruit with the following analysis: 13.5Be, ph3.7, 5TA at 4.18t/ha.

Winemaking All fruit was machine harvested with PMS added to gondolas of larger volumes, while hand-harvested fruit from smaller crop loads had PMS added at the crusher.

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The fruit was crushed and destemmed and fermentation carried out in open fermenters. The temperature peaked early in the ferment at 30-32°C and then fermented out at 25-28°C for 7-10 days. Depending on the vintage and tannin content, tannin may be added at 50-200ppm. The must was then basket pressed to a settling vessel and racked into French oak hogsheads. Vintage variation will dictate whether the fruit goes into 30-60% new oak.

The winemaking approach has changed, with a portion now cold soaked for four to six days, fermented for 7-10 days and post-maceration occurring for 30-60 days in French oak open fermenters; the balance will remain as per previous techniques.

Petit Verdot has great depth and vibrancy of colour, with firm, yet, fine-grained tannins.

It is very aromatic with violets, pepper and plums and great balance between ripe fruit flavours and acidity/vibrancy. The main focus during fermenting is extracting the fruit generosity versus tannin extraction.

Marketing The Petit Verdot is one of four reds in the Seldom Inn range with the others being Shiraz, Cabernet and Grenache/ Shiraz/Mouvédre. They are sold in boutique bottleshops and on-premise outlets mainly in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney, with a small amount sold in Adelaide.

Once buyers try the wine, they love it, but they still aim for the safety or security of Shiraz or Cabernet.

In selected vintages, it is blended with Cabernet (60% Cabernet, 40% Petit Verdot) to make a reserve wine.

Other growers and wineries in McLaren Vale have found this variety hard to sell and vineyard plantings have decreased over the past couple of years, with a small proportion WVJ kept for blending. www.winebiz. com . au

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Pleasant Petit Verdot

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n November last year, the Journal held its inaugural tasting of varietal Petit Verdots in the sensory room of The University of Adelaide, at its Waite Campus, in Adelaide.

Thirty wines were received for the tasting following an invitation to Australian producers to submit their wines on the e-news bulletin Daily Wine News. The Petit Verdots came from a range of regions including the Riverland, Granite Belt, Mudgee, Hunter Valley, Margaret River, Canberra and McLaren Vale.

The wines were presented blind to a five-member panel consisting of Brett Duffin, senior winemaker, Kingston Estate, Riverland; Shane Harris, winemaker, Pertaringa, McLaren Vale; Peter Rogers, senior winemaking specialist, Victorian Department of Primary Industries, and proprietor and winemaker, Oakworks, Riverland; and University of Adelaide students Narelle Schiller and Leah Adint.

Brett Duffin said there was a “big role” for Petit Verdots less than five years old because of their “vibrancy and showiness”.

“They’ve got a real pleasantness about them, provided they’re in balance.”

He said the key characters he looked for in Petit Verdot were violets and blueberries, as well as some honeycomb.

“A good, complex Petit Verdot with a bit of age can handle some oak but, if you want to drink a young style, you need fresh, young fruit,” he said, adding that some winemakers tended to make young styles with too much acid. “I like them to be softened back because, if they’ve got a strong structure, they can be a bit aggressive when young.

“The most important thing for a Petit Verdot is balance, whether full-bodied, light or complex - when the tannin, acid and fruit concentration are harmonious.

“Petit Verdot works as a varietal, although we use it for blending a lot because it adds so much to a wine.”

Duffin said because of its thick skin, Petit Verdot tended to be disease resistant, but its late ripening made reaching Baumé a challenge in cooler, wetter conditions.

“The only problem with PV is its lack of ripeness if it’s in an area that gets a lot of rain. If you don’t get the ripeness you don’t get the full fruit flavours,” Duffin said.

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Posing for a photo following the tasting are panel members (from left) Narelle Schiller, PhD student, University of Adelaide; Shane Harris, winemaker for Pertaringa, McLaren Vale; Brett Duffin, senior winemaker, Kingston Estate, Riverland; Leah Adint, oenology student, University of Adelaide; and Peter Rogers, senior winemaking specialist with the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, and proprietor and winemaker of Riverland-based winery Oakworks.

Brett Duffin, Shane Harris and Peter Rogers sample their way through Petit Verdots in the sensory room at The University of Adelaide’s Waite Campus.

Shane Harris said there was a tendency for winemakers to try to get “every last bit” out of Petit Verdot, leaving the wines over-extracted with a distinct cold earl grey tea character. He said it was important for Petit Verdots to exhibit fresh fruit characters and texture, and urged winemakers to not add too much acid.

“One of the highlights of the variety is its consistency through various vintage conditions to produce good wines. It’s found in so many blends because it adds so much to a wine.”

“As a varietal, Petit Verdot makes a very good wine,” Peter Rogers added.

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winemakers to have a bit of a play with oak. It can be quite a complex wine that can be worked without overworking it.

“Some of the more powerful Petit Verdots can be out of balance with the amount of fruit. So, winemakers really need to tone down the tannins and fruit character to an acceptable level,” Rogers said.

Of the lighter style Petit Verdots in the line-up, the panel particularly liked the De Bortoli Wines 2009 Deen Vat 4 and Kingston Estate 2010 Petit Verdot, while of the bigger styles, they rated Lowe Wine 2008 Louee Petit Verdot, Geddes Wines 2008 Seldom Inn Petit Verdot and Ben Potts Wines 2007 Gipsie Jack the highest.

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De Bortoli 2009 Deen Vat 4 Petit Verdot

Kingston Estate 2010 Petit Verdot

Lowe Wines 2008 Louee Petit Verdot

Riverina, New South Wales 14.85% v/v – screwcap RRP$12.90/bottle

Riverland, South Australia 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$14.99/bottle

Mudgee, New South Wales 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$25.00/bottle

Deep and vibrant red/purple in colour with a youthful hue. Ripe fruit on the nose including mulberries and blueberries, with a chocolate/mint lift. Good texture on the palate carried by a fresh, pulpy mid-palate.

Toasty wood spices and bitter chocolate on the finish. A balanced, complex wine that has good acid balance.

Dark ruby hue. Nose has a youthful lift and features violets, bitter chocolate, almonds, mint, blueberries/ mulberries and a good oak balance in the background.

“A little ‘tanky’, but not enough to be an issue,” said one taster. Good balance of texture and structure on the palate. Mint carries throughout the palate, which has a lively freshness. Slight bitter finish. An attractive drink.

Black cherry in colour with deep red and purple hues. Lifted fragrance jumps out of the glass. Fresh blackcurrant, black pepper, spice, violets, raspberry and complex oak characters on the nose. Good varietal expression on the palate which is structured, focussed and rich, featuring red and black currants and pleasant leafy characters. Good oak-to-berry ratio. A wellbalanced, complex wine that finishes well.

Geddes Wines 2008 Seldom Inn Petit Verdot

Ben Potts Wines 2007 Gipsie Jack Petit Verdot

Salena Estate 2010 Ink Series Petit Verdot

McLaren Vale, South Australia 14.7% v/v – screwcap RRP$22.00/bottle

Langhorne Creek, South Australia 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$22.00/bottle

Riverland, South Australia 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$20.00/bottle

Very deep red, youthful hues. Good complex oak upfront on the nose married with ripe fruit, more in the dried fruit than fresh fruit spectrum, which could come from the influence of older-barrel oak. Big fruit bomb upfront in the mouth with good varietal characters and a sensible use of oak. A soft and balanced wine with a strong tannic finish supported by warm, ripe fruit.

Deep red/purple in colour that is holding up well.

Marzipan, almond, oak, black pepper steak, blackberry, peppermint, cherry and mulberry characters on the nose. Rich warm palate with plenty of fruit and is full from front to back. Solid, soft tannins. A good, balanced wine with a toasty oak finish that is holding its freshness well.

Deep, vibrant, concentrated purples and good depth of colour. Nose of coffee, berries, chocolate and almonds.

Very good fruit weight upfront on the palate together with chocolate, coffee, blackberry, and cherry characters.

A full-bodied, complex wine that has good structure, length, balance and texture despite a slight bitterness on the back palate. One taster thought the wine was a little over-extracted.

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Yarran Wines 2010 Leopardwood Petit Verdot

James Estate 2010 The Estate Petit Verdot

Barton Estate 2010 Petit Verdot

Riverina, New South Wales 14.1% v/v - screwcap RRP$18-22.00/bottle

Hunter Valley, New South Wales 13.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$16.00/bottle

Canberra, ACT 14.0% v/v - screwcap RRP$22.00/bottle

Brick red in colour, which has good depth, but lacks youthful vibrancy. Nose is very oak dominant and lacks fruit definition beyond general briary berries and freshness. Quite fruit-sweet with a slight sourness and pronounced acidity on the palate, which is lacking definition and berry characters and is over-shadowed by oak. Slightly lean but long finish.

Brick red in colour with good depth. Good balance of savoury notes and fruit, predominantly blueberry, on the nose which is slightly uplifted. One taster thought the alcohol was a little overpowering on the nose. Oak influence adds to the lift of the wine without dominating.

Palate slightly meaty, quite soft and approachable with good fruit weight from the mid to back palate. Good tannins with a slightly acidic finish.

Dull red in colour which lacks depth – brick red, no purples. The nose features leathery, sweaty, horsey characters, as well as green beans, herbs, cedar, tomato bush and cherries. Soft upfront on the palate, with some berry fruit on the mid-palate and some honey and sweet and sour characters. Lacks texture and structure, and falls away on the finish.

Leconfield Wines 2010 Petit Verdot

Banca Ridge 2009 Petit Verdot

Salena Estate 2009 Founders Reserve Petit Verdot

Coonawarra, South Australia 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$29.95/bottle

Granite Belt, Queensland 14.5% v/v – screwcap $16.00/bottle (cellar door)

Riverland, South Australia 14.0% v/v - cork RRP$40.00/bottle

Deep red colour with an excellent hue. A bit non-descript on the nose with a slight salty, oyster sauce character, as well as fresh, young fruit, dark cherries, almonds and black pepper. Soft front palate, good mouthfeel with a tannin-dominant finish. One taster thought the wine was “a little overworked”.

Deep red/purple in colour, which is vibrant and youthful.

Toasty oak on the nose lifts the ripe fruit. Violets also evident on the nose, which has a briary berry lift.

Berries upfront on the palate, which is rich, lush and generous, boosted by juicy acidity. Tannins are evident, but balanced. A good, commercial style that is big and fruit-driven with slightly high acid. A standout among the 2009s in the line-up.

Deep, concentrated red in colour with a hue that is slightly developed. Cherry cola, licorice, hay and honeyed characters on the nose. Big palate with sweet and sour and licorice characters and plenty of mid-palate fruit, dominated by tannin and acidity.

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to et d y e e ttl ell Bo lab e of be tim g a t st i n ta

Symphony Hill 2009 Reserve Petit Verdot

Arimia 2009 Petit Verdot

Bellarmine 2009 Petit Verdot

Granite Belt, Queensland 14.1% v/v - screwcap RRP$45.00/bottle

Margaret River, Western Australia 14.7% v/v – screwcap RRP$26.00/bottle

Pemberton, Western Australia 15.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$36.00/bottle

Youthful, deep purple hue. Oak upfront with some raspberry, strawberry and vanilla on the nose and a hint of crushed bugs. Well-balanced palate with good fruit and oak upfront and a strong tannin finish. Lacks a bit of fruit concentration from the mid-palate onwards.

Medium red in colour. Slightly flat on the nose with characters of shoe leather, light red berries, freshly-laid asphalt, cedar and red currants. One taster thought the nose was slightly reductive, finding it a little distracting without being too offensive. Medium fruit weight on the palate, which is quite warm and features good berry concentration and some fruitcake, chocolate and cherry characters. Mid-palate falls away to drying tannins.

Deep vibrant red in colour. Slightly reductive on the nose, which features rhubarb, red currants, cedary oak, spice, honeyed fruits, cinnamon and chariness. Sweet and sour characters on the palate, as well as ripe, red berry fruit.

Slightly bitter in the mouth with a short finish.

Ceravolo 2009 Petit Verdot

Kingston Estate 2008 Echelon Petit Verdot

Ceravolo 2008 Petit Verdot

Adelaide Plains, South Australia 15.0% v/v – cork RRP$19.95/bottle

Riverland, South Australia 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$27.99/bottle

Adelaide Plains, South Australia 15.5% v/v – cork RRP$19.95/bottle

Purple/brick red in colour. Flat and leathery on the nose with black olives/lavendar, porty, nutmeg, herbal and over-ripe characters. Sweet and sour on the palate with stalky, vegetative characters, as well as slightly raisined fruit. Dry tannins and herbal overtones. Finished short.

Deep red in colour with good density. Nose is slightly closed and dull and features a slight briony/iodine character, as well as dusty cedar and blueberry notes.

Very round fruit on the palate with a good level of extraction, ripe berry characters, warmth, softness, and nice fine-grained tannins. Lacks a bit of punch and looks a bit tired, but a good drink.

Good deep, dark red in colour. Honeyed nose with earth, spice, vanillan, tobacco and rich ripe fruit on the nose.

Concentrated palate that is full throughout. A couple of the tasters thought the palate was flat and a couple identified porty characters. Finishes very strong with nice tannins and perhaps slightly drying. A great drink, but lacks varietal flair.

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T A S t I N G N OT E S

Driftwood Estate 2008 Petit Verdot

Malmalling Vineyard 2008 Petit Verdot

Symphony Hill 2008 Petit Verdot

Margaret River, Western Australia 14.0% v/v – cork RRP$23.90/bottle

Perth Hills, Western Australia 13.0% v/v – cork RRP$22.00/bottle

Granite Belt, Queensland 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$35.00/bottle

Deep red in colour showing some development. Soft fruit, capsicum, herbal tea, peppermint, white pepper, cedary oak, tobacco, leather and char on the nose with some drying. Fruit bomb upfront on the palate with some white pepper, clove, red cherry and raspberry characters. One taster described the palate as a “little mean and green, but should calm down over time”. Slightly acid finish.

Deep, red purple hue. Almond, marzipan, cedar, craft glue and wet dog characters on the nose with dull fruit.

Weak berry fruit on the plate leaves the back palate acid and tannin hanging. A simple wine that lacks intensity and freshness. Finishes short.

Bright red/purple hue with medium density. Light and soft on the nose with blueberry, mulberry, violets and cherry blossom characters and no intrusion from oak.

Quite simple but appealing lighter style that is fresh, not over-acidified and has good structure. A good example of a lighter-bodied style.

Victorian Alps Winery 2007 Gapsted Limited Release Petit Verdot

Symphony Hill 2007 Reserve Petit Verdot

Driftwood Estate 2007 Petit Verdot

King Valley, Victoria 14.0% v/v – screwcap $27.00/bottle (cellar door)

Granite Belt, Queensland 15.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$45.00/bottle

Margaret River, Western Australia 13.0% v/v – cork RRP$23.90/bottle

Medium red in colour. Cedar, meaty and berry characters on the nose with hints of mint and cornbread. Good, strong mid-palate fruit with a lasting, medium-bodied finish and fine, powdery tannins. Acid could be slightly high. Slight green tea character on finish. Good example of an older style.

Deep red in colour with good density. Lifted fragrant spices and berries on the nose with a warming lift. Very concentrated fruit and good underlying oak in the mouth, which has an almost soapy feel; lacks some freshness and lift. Finishes short, but has loads of nice, fine tannin.

Deep brick red in colour, showing a bit of age. Charred coffee, oak and cinnamon on the nose with some raisin fruit. Medium to lightweight fruit on the palate dominated by lean acidity and a tannin finish. Lacks fresh fruit characters and balance.

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T A S t I N G N OT E S

Victory Point Wines 2007 Petit Verdot

Anderson Winery 2006 Petit Verdot

Lowe Wine 2006 Louee Petit Verdot

Margaret River, Western Australia 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$40.00/bottle

Rutherglen, Victoria 14.9% v/v – cork RRP$39.50/bottle

Mudgee, New South Wales 13.7% v/v – screwcap RRP$25.00/bottle

Deep red in colour. Blackberries, black olives, rosemary, red berries, licorice and cedar oak on the nose with spices and a hint of paint/boot polish. Good intensity and freshness on the palate for its age, but a little light on acid which is disappointing, as the rest of the wine is delightful. Bordering on porty with a good level of extraction and texture. Lean and tannic on the finish.

Dense, brick red hue. Leather, berry, mint, dank oak, meat, cherry cola, raspberry and tobacco on the nose.

Very good fruit/oak balance. Ink-like intensity on the palate where concentrated ripe fruit supports the big mouthfeel of the wine. Sweetness supports the acid and tannin on the finish to give a very full-bodied drink.

Holding up very well for its age.

Strong, deep red in colour. Very fresh for its age with minty gum leaf, chocolate, currants (red and black), mulberry, tobacco, tea leaf and boot polish on the nose.

Fruit from the nose carries through to the palate where black tea and spice are also evident. Mouthfeel is slightly soapy, accentuating slightly bitter tannins. A complex, well-balanced, mouthfilling and powerful wine without being overdone.

LiebichWein 2006 Ron’s Selection Petit Verdot

Happs 2006 Three HillS Petit Verdot

Barton Estate 2006 Petit Verdot

Barossa Valley, South Australia 16.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$20-25.00/bottle

Margaret River, Western Australia 15.0% v/v – cork RRP$36.00/bottle

Canberra, ACT 13.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$22.00/bottle

Dense, brick red/orange hue. Honeyed, waxy nose with light red fruit and good quality oak evident in the background. A fruit-sweet palate that is a little porty and warm. Fruit falls away on the mid-palate with the chalky tannin on the finish made slightly unpleasant by the acidity.

Dense, deep red in colour. Lanolin, sheep and medicinal characters on the nose, along with chocolate, fruitcake, mint, box hedge, saddle leather and good aged Petit Verdot characters. A soft mouthfeel with good acid balance and wood spice, cherry and cola characters.

Drying tannin bitterness at the finish. One taster said the wine was a “very good example of an aged Petit Verdot”.

Brick red in colour. Dusty violet fragrance on the nose, with green tea and aged honeyed tones; a little lacklustre and the fruit has dropped away. Soft, sweet palate with good berries upfront which fades slightly at the back. Good balance and structure, but lacks punch and concentration. Easy drinking.

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JOHN GLADSTONES

‘Just when I thought I had it all sorted after 18 years of travelling with Viticulture and Environment and giving a copy to all of my friends, the grand old renaissance man of

Wine, Terroir and Climate Change

viticulture has produced Wine, Terroir and Climate Change. Not only do I have to buy a whole new set of his books to give away, I have to rethink my long term viticultural strategy of defence against climate change in the much more comfortable logic he presents of the resilience of terroir. John Gladstones’s intricately researched understanding of climate mechanisms and history, geology, soil and biology has created a welcome antidote to climate hysteria.’

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Praise for Viticulture and Environment ‘No-one else could write such a volume … [it reminded] me of the feelings I had, many decades ago, when I read The Origin of Species – the similar attention to detail, the precise but mesmerising prose, and the gradual building towards broad conclusions new to the world. It is a work of scholarship that presents a new set of methods for considering the effects of climate on plant performance, in this case winegrape ripening, wine style and wine quality … This is a seminal work.’

Bryan Coombe Front cover photograph: Red Hill South overlooking Western Port, courtesy Peter Dry

For anyone interested in the future interaction between climate, climate change and viticulture, this book simply has to be read.

Dr John Gladstones’s painstaking research is

ISBN 978-1-86254-924-1

the foundation for his equally carefully constructed conclusions that robustly challenge mainstream opinions.

9 781862 549241

the Grapevine:

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taming the screw

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Wiley Series on Mass Spectrometry Dominic M. Desiderio and Nico M. Nibbering, Series Editors

Mass Spectrometry in Grape and Wine Chemistry RIESLING IN AUSTRALIA

a taste of the World of Wine

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Preparation is the key when tackling a silent killer in grapes G rapegrowers around the nation were at the mercy of the weather last season when unexpected rainfall created the perfect conditions for disease to attack grapevines, causing mass destruction.

Botrytis, a disease often likened to a ticking time bomb, was the silent killer that induced expansive losses after appearing to lie dormant throughout winter and spring.

The invisible disease survived on canes, old berries and plant material in the canopy and on the vineyard floor before spreading to flowering vines and berries as the season progressed.

The fruit-bearing crops became even more susceptible as they matured in moist conditions.

“Botrytis is most likely to attack when grapes become ripe and their skin gets thinner and weaker – add water to the mix and you have a recipe for disaster,” said Hugh Armstrong, viticulture market development manager for Bayer CropScience.

“Botrytis is always there in the background, just waiting to explode – you can’t see it, but it’s there, surviving in latent form, waiting to attack from the inside out – and under the right conditions it can ignite, spread and destroy a crop within three days.

“The threat of infection hangs over most Australian vineyards every season, but growers still wait for tell-tale signs before taking action.”

Hugh advises that the best form of defense against botrytis is preparation early on in the season.

“In many cases, the extent of botrytis infection at harvest can be directly related to the level of infection at flowering, so you really need to do something about it well before harvest,” said Armstrong.

Bayer CropScience developed the specialty botryticide Teldor® so that growers could be prepared for the season ahead rather than fighting the disease reactively, which can become quite costly.

“Used early in the season around the flowering period in November and December, it can stop botrytis in its tracks, preventing the disease from permeating the crop by creating a strong protective film around the berry,” Armstrong explained.

Teldor is the only Group 17 (J)

V2 7N 1

Hugh Armstrong, viticulture market development manager for Bayer CropScience product registered for use against botrytis in grapevines and there has been no documented resistance or cross-resistance with other chemistry groups – so it can be used in the same tank as a range of other fungicides and insecticides required at the same stage for other diseases.

As Teldor is not harmful to insect predators when used as directed, it is also highly compatible with integrated pest management (IPM) programs using a range of beneficial parasitoids, predatory mites and insects.

“Last year many growers didn’t spray for botrytis until it was too late, and when it’s too late it’s hard to get spray coverage. Once it’s visible it’s nearly impossible to target effectively through shrouding or shading of bunches,” said Armstrong.

W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur na l JANUARY/FEBR UARY 2012

“Very little can be done to limit the disease in winter because it is also harboured in so many surrounding plants and decaying materials, but there is hope,” he advised.

According to Armstrong, growers can pay close attention to their canopy management and review and revise spray programs to plan use of the most appropriate chemistry at the critical flowering stage.

“The main thing is planning your spray program early.”

In addition, Armstrong saidgrowers could maximise spray coverage by using the most effective equipment.

“Because you’re aiming at a small target within the canopy you need to make sure your spray equipment has the capability to target bunches effectively,” he said. www.winebiz. com . au

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