WINE & VITICULTURE JOURNAL - March/April 2016

MARCH/APRIL 2016 · Volume 31 Number 2

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

• Can you live without a lees crossflow filter?

• Investigating technologies to fight wine fraud • Nitrogen management and wine composition • Talking points of the Australian wine retail sector • Tasting: Cool climate Shiraz

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Sonya Logan, Editor

General Manager: Elizabeth Bouzoudis Editor Sonya Logan Ph (08) 8369 9502 Fax (08) 8369 9501 Email s.logan@winetitles.com.au Editorial Advisory Panel Gary Baldwin Peter Dry Mark Krstic Armando Corsi Markus Herderich EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE Lauren Jones, Write Lane CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Guillaume Antalick Gary Baldwin Peter Barry Stephanie Begrand Stuart Barclay Tony Battaglene John Blackman Jason Brown Andrew Clark Duncan Cook Armando Corsi Roberta Crouch Phillippe Darriet Martin Day Alain Deloire Rafael del Rey Chris Derrez Jean-Baptiste Dieval Peter Dry Leon Garner Rosie Garner Caroline Guthier Markus Herderich Peter Hayes Tony Hoare Bruno Holzapfel Cathy Howard Dan Johnson Geoff Kew Tony Keys Mark Krstic Mardi Longbottom Lucy Maddox Bora Qesja Pascale Quester Doris Rauhut Mark Rowley Leigh Schmidtke Armin Schüttler Manfred Stoll Katja Šuklje Michael Treeby Maurizio Ugliano Stephane Vidal Melanie Weckert Eric Wilkes Jeremie Wirth Xinyi Zhang Advertising Manager: Dan Brannan Ph (08) 8369 9515 Fax (08) 8369 9529 Email d.brannan@winetitles.com.au Production and Design: Luke Westle Subscriptions One-year subscription (6 issues) Australia $77.00 (AUD) Two-year subscription (12 issues) Australia $144.00 (AUD) To subscribe and for overseas prices, visit: www.winetitles.com.au Published by Winetitles Media ABN 85 085 551 980 Address 630 Regency Road, Broadview, South Australia 5083

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ISSN 1838-6547

Conditions

Growth in China drives Australian wine exports to highest value in almost a decade Off-premise driving Australian wine growth in China China set to overtake UK for Australian wine Business is booming for Australian wines in China These are just some of the news headlines from recent months signposting the exciting prospects the Chinese market is offering Australian wine producers.

From this issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal, regular columnist Tony Keys will encourage wine exporters to not lose sight of the US in the enthusiasm for China with a series of articles that will provide an indepth analysis of the present and future of Australian wine in this very important market in the straight up style that he is known.

In the first of these articles (starting on page 12) Tony crunches the latest numbers on the US market, speaks to representatives of a new breed of local importers offering a different avenue to market for Australian wine, and questions the merit of promoting regions.

The focus of this issue of the Journal is Research & Development. To this end, we asked the learned members of our editorial advisory panel you see listed on the left of this page, and two of our long-time supporters in Gary Baldwin and Peter Hayes to tell us what research has particularly caught their eye in the last 12 months (page 18).

Regular writer Cathy Howard talks on this issue’s featured topic of filtration, specifically the use of crossflow technology to filter lees. She speaks with crossflow filter suppliers and winemakers who are using them to find out what results this technology is achieving and what wineries can do to maximise those results (page 21).

Berry shrivel is an often reported occurrence in Shiraz which first-hand evidence suggests affects yield and wine Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter! www.facebook.com/WineAndVitiJournal @WineVitiJournal

The opinions expressed in Wine & Viticultue Journal are not necessarily the opinions of or endorsed by the editor or publisher unless otherwise stated. All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher.

Cover Photo: Photo: Ben Heide

All material in Wine & Viticulture Journal is copyright © Winetitels Media. All rights reserved.No part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic, or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher.

REGULAR FEATURES

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, the published will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published.

quality, yet the influence of the disorder on grape and wine composition has been scarcely studied. Researchers at the National Wine & Grape Industry have sought to rectify this shortfall by studying the effect of berry shrivel in a high yielding Shiraz vineyard in the Riverina. Their findings begin on page 32.

Over in viticulture, the NWGIC has contributed a further two articles to this issue, the first by Melanie Weckert summarises various recent research efforts to determine whether there is a link between vineyard terroir and soil microbiology (page 39), the second coauthored by Bruno Holzapfel with Michael Treeby from the Sunraysia Horticulture Centre on managing vineyard nitrogen for must and wine composition (page 46).

And Geoff Kew is back with his occasional column to help readers describe their soils (page 42).

And be sure to read Armando Corsi’s summary of his popular presentation to the recent Australian Wine Industry Marketing Conference in Adelaide on local wine retail trends (page 59). His article is followed by a look at the latest bulk wine export stats by Rafael del Rey from the Spanish Observatory of Wine Markets - how much of the world’s wine is now being shipped this way, and who are the main exporters and importers?

And remember, be sure to get in touch if you have any feedback about the Journal or would like to suggest a topic for a future Issue: s.logan@winetitles.com.au

News 6 Wine Australia 8 WFA 9 ASVO 11 Tony Keys 12

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

AWRI Report 36 Alternative Varieties 55 Varietal Report 73 Tasting 75

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IN THIS ISSUE

C O NN ET W E N S T S

R E S E A R C H & D E V E L O P M E N T

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

8 WINE AUSTRALIA (Stuart Barclay): Australia Day Tastings indicate a bright future for Australian wine in the UK and Ireland

18 Highlights of the last 12 months in wine R&D

9 WFA (Tony Battaglene): Harmonisation on the table at European Union talks 11 ASVO (Mardi Longbottom): Excitement ahead of the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference 12 KEY FILES (TONY KEYS): American snakes and ladders - Part 1: China may be all the rage but reward for effort also awaits in the US

V I T I C U LT U R E

39 Vineyard terroir – is there a link with soil microbiology?

42 GEOFF KEW: Describing your soil 44 TONY HOARE: Grapevine scale – sucking the profits from vineyards

W I N E M A K I N G

21 CATHY HOWARD: What piece of winery equipment can’t you live without – could it be a lees crossflow filter?

46 Vineyard nitrogen management and must and wine composition 51 Impact of grape cluster zone defoliation, grape must clarification and yeast strain on TDN potential in cool climate wines 55 ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES: Assyrtiko 28 A novel electrochemical approach for rapid analysis of white grape polyphenols and monitoring of prefermentative operations 32 Berry shrivel significantly alters Shiraz grape and wine composition 36 AWRI REPORT: In vino veritas – investigating technologies to fight wine fraud

BUSINESS & MARKETING

57 Innovations in wine labelling and packaging 59 The 9(+1) talking points about the Australian wine retail sector 62 World wine trade in bulk grows, although with great differences

W I N E TA S T I N G

75 Cool climate Shiraz

67 Product innovation and authenticity: The case of wine 70 The Trans Pacific Partnership – which wine-producing country will be the biggest winner?

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S N I P S

PEAK BODIES RESPOND TO RECOMMENDATIONS FROM SENATE INQUIRY INTO WINE INDUSTRY The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) and Wine Grape Growers of Australia (WGGA) have welcomed the focus the recent Senate inquiry into the grape and wine industry has brought on its challenges and opportunities and the sense of urgency the inquiry report conveys for industry-wide change but are disappointed their call to reform the WET rebate has been ignored in favour of recommending it be phased out.

Released on the 12 February, the report on the Senate inquiry contained 12 recommendations, including the phasing out of the current Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) rebate over five years, with the savings to be allocated to a structural adjustment assistance program, including an annual grant to cellar door operators to support their operations.

Other recommendations included an independent review of the Australian Wine Industry Code of Conduct to be carried out and reported to Government before 30 June 2016, and the Government reconsider the development of a mandatory Code in consultation with representative grapegrower and winemaker organisations before the end of 2017 if targets for the increased uptake of the current voluntary Code.

Dissenting reports were submitted by senators Sean Edwards, Bill Heffernan, Nick Xenophon and the Australian Greens.

WFA president Tony D’Aloisio said the Senate inquiry report broadly accepted his organisation’s core proposition that a demand-led recovery was the top priority for restoring profitability to the industry.

However the report was inconsistent with WFA policy in its recommendation to phase out the WET rebate and replace it with a grants scheme to cellar door operators and the development of a mandatory code of conduct.

“WFA’s position is to keep but reform the rebate to ensure it continues to deliver for legitimate wine businesses and the regional communities they operate in. We note that the dissenting report from Senator Xenophon acknowledges this and rejects the recommendation to abolish the rebate,” D’Aloisio said in a letter to his members.

In a subsequent letter to members, D’Aloisio and WFA chief executive Paul Evans advised given the lack of detail on the recommendation to abolish the WET rebate in favour of a grants scheme, it was unclear whether the proposal guaranteed future eligibility to a maximum of $500,000 for all producers who claimed the rebate.

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“That is why WFA cannot support the recommendation and will continue its detailed discussions with Government to ensure this important outcome is achieved and not compromised.”

D’Aloisio said WFA remained committed to a voluntary code of conduct.

“The report recommends that unless higher participation rates in the existing industry code are met, the Government should consider the development of a mandatory code. WFA’s position is clear.

We have a voluntary code in place that we encourage all wine businesses to participate in and we are in a constant process of reviewing the code to ensure it continues to provide a framework for sound commercial practices in the industry. It offers the safeguards needed by all parties to ensure fair commercial dealings.

“We believe a mandatory code would result in a weaker outcome for the industry, be less flexible to changing circumstances, and increase the regulatory burden for all industry participants.

“An independent review of the voluntary code as recommended by the report is not required and WFA will continue to work with WGGA to ensure industry participation rates in the existing code improve and that its benefits are adequately promoted across industry,” D’Aloisio said.

Newly-appointed WGGA executive director Andrew Weeks said his organisation also rejected the Senate inquiry report proposal to abolish the WET and explore a mandatory code of conduct.

“It is understandable that political leaders have found it difficult to interpret the best course of action with regard to taxation of wine and the WET rebate given the deep divisions in evidence reported,” Weeks said. “The lack of support for the WGGA and WFA shared position with regard to WET rebate reform requires further clarity from government about the reasons why; and commitment from all to ensure timely resolution of this issue and a return to profitability.”

He said WGGA supported the inception of the voluntary industry code of conduct and would “continue to advocate for an improvement in commercial practices along the entire supply chain, with a focus on whole of industry improvement.

This is an issue that cannot be ignored.”

The Senate inquiry’s report is not binding on any political party, the Parliament or the Government and the Government can accept the recommendations in whole or in part or reject them outright. It is expected the

W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR NA L MARC H /APRIL 2016

Government will respond to the report within six months of its release.

A copy of the inquiry report and the dissenting reports can be download at http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_ Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_ and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/ Australian_wine_industry/Report DISCOVERY OF RED BLOTCH VECTOR IN US UNDERLINES AUSTRALIAN BIOSECURITY MEASURES The recent confirmation of a vector for red blotch associated virus in the US by University of California researchers has highlighted the importance of biosecurity to Australia’s wine industry.

The researchers confirmed the threecornered alfalfa treehopper (Spissistilus festinus) was able to transmit red blotch associated virus (RBaV) to grapevines in greenhouse tests. It is the first confirmation of a vector for the virus.

Three-cornered alfalfa treehopper, whose primary plant hosts are groundnuts, soyabeans, cotton, and lucerene, is not present in Australia nor have there been any positive tests for RBaV in vines in Australia. The Industry Biosecurity Plan for the Viticulture Industry (Version 2), which provides a framework for biosecurity risk mitigation measures in the industry and was formally endorsed by the viticulture industry in 2009, lists three-cornered alfalfa hopper as a plant pest threat.

Andrew Weeks, executive director of Wine Grape Growers Australia, one of the organisations involved in the review of the plan before its adoption, told the Wine & Viticulture Journal that although growers would be well advised to realise that planting lucerne cover crops “may present a risk”, for that risk to be real red blotch virus would need to be present in Australia as well as a vector to transmit it.

“It will be a safer option to avoid using cover crops that may be an alternate host to insects that are vectors of viruses,” Weeks said.

He said the discovery of the threecornered alfalfa treehopper as a vector for RBaV in the US highlighted the importance of biosecurity for Australia’s viticulture industry.

“Many growers, concentrating on trying to remain viable at present, would not be concerned with potential biosecurity issues such as this, but they are a real and ongoing concern.

“WGGA, as the signatory to the Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed, carries responsibility for the industry, and is taking this responsibility seriously.

“This is an area of increasing workload for a national grower representative body

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that finds itself with a dwindling level of resources at present, in line with the constraints to income that winegrowers across the nation are dealing with.

“WGGA is working collaboratively with WFA and other biosecurity agencies, and there are plans to increase this collaboration with other industry groups in future to try to deliver better outcomes for Australian growers, hopefully for less cost,” Weeks said.

A fact sheet on grapevine red blotchassociated virus can be found in the Biosecurity Manual for the Viticulture Industry (http://www.farmbiosecurity. com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ Biosecurity-Manual-for-ViticultureIndustry.pdf).

Also refer ‘Highlights of a newlyemerging grapevine virus: Grapevine red blotch-associated virus’ (SeptemberOctober 2013 Wine & Viticulture Journal).

SA WINEGRAPE GROWERS SUMMIT TO BE HELD IN JUNE The demand outlook for winegrapes leading into the 2017 season will be a major focus of the third Annual Winegrape Growers Summit in South Australia to be held on Friday 17 June.

Executive officer of the Wine Grape Council of South Australia (WGCSA) Peter Hackworth said the Summit was happening a month earlier this year, giving growers more time to take on board the information they gain from the summit prior to the 2017 season.

“Apart from a look at the state of the industry, demand outlook and vineyard intelligence will be two key topics of the day,” Hackworth said.

“We are also delighted to announce that Professor Ross Garnaut will be a

keynote speaker along with the Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources (Horticulture), Senator Anne Ruston.

“Professor Garnaut brings great experience in key wine industry issues, trade with Asia, changing climate and increasingly prohibitive power charges, while Senator Ruston is a highly successful horticulturist, a passionate advocate for the wine industry and never backward in challenging the industry,” Hackworth said.

The summit will see the first release of pricing and supply data from the 2016 vintage and detailed analysis of the outlook for winegrapes by variety from an expert panel of wholesalers, winery representatives and retailers.

For further information visit the summit website: www.sawggs.com.au.

Meanwhile, the WGCSA is inviting South Australian winegrape growers who have modified machinery or methods to gain improvements to nominate for the PIRSA Winegrape Vinnovation Awards.

The Vinnovation Award was offered for the first time last year which saw Padthaway growers Phil and Bill Longbottom take out the prize with their self-weighing grape bin trailer.

Following the signing of a sponsorship agreement with the SA government the award is now known as the PIRSA Winegrape Vinnovation Awards. Hackworth said that having a sponsor meant the award could be more broadly marketed across the state. "We weren’t sure how this award would be received when we trialled it last year, but we were blown away by the quality of the entrants," he said.

S N I P S

The award is open to anyone in SA directly working in winegrape production that has developed a new approach to solving vineyard problems which is not yet commercially available.

Details on how to enter are available at www.wgcsa.com.au NUMBER OF AUSTRALIAN WINERIES IN DECLINE The recently-released 2016 Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Directory (WID) reveals an industry under increasing pressure and poised for a further downturn in the number of wine producers.

The 34th edition of this annual publication, published by Winetitles Media, shows the number of wine producers decreased for the second consecutive year to 2468 in 2016, down by 13 since 2015 and 105 fewer than the all-time peak of 2573 in 2014.

However wine exports were good news for the industry, rising by 7.8% to almost $2 billion, led in terms of volume

by Accolade Wines which was boosted significantly by its acquisition of Grant Burge Wines. Treasury Wine Estate remains on top of the list for value of wine exports.

The WID has listed Australian wine companies who commercially sell wine every year since 1983, making it an invaluable barometer of trends, personnel and the overall health of the industry.

The WID is available from Winetitles Media (www.winetitlesbookstore.com.au) for A$113.85 in Australia/New Zealand and A$137.00 overseas (all prices include postage and include a subscription to the WVJ online search engine).

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WINE AUSTRALIA

Australia Day Tastings indicate a bright future for Australian wine in the UK and Ireland

By Stuart Barclay, General Manager Marketing, Wine Australia

T

he level of enthusiasm for the Australian wine offering that was evident at our Australia Day Tastings in London, Dublin and Edinburgh in January was wonderful to see, following the growth in exports to the UK and Ireland in 2015. Australian wine exports grew 14 per cent in value to $2.1 billion in 2015, exports to the UK (our second largest market) grew 0.2 per cent in value to $375.6 million and exports to Ireland grew 14 per cent in value to $13.2 million.

They were our most successful Australia Day Tastings ever and the feedback from exhibitors and guests attests to a renewed enthusiasm for Australian wine, with wine influencers claiming Australia is the one to watch in 2016.

Key influencers from Masters of Wine (MW) and Master Sommeliers (MS) through to UK and Irish importers and media are urging their colleagues to explore the diversity of Australian wine, claiming the evolution of new styles – many showcased at the tastings – has made the category more exciting than ever.

Jo Ahearne MW, who attended the London event and participated in its new initiative The Great Aussie Taste-off, said the market is primed to discover the new face of Australian wine.

“The exciting thing is that there is no such thing as ‘one Australia’. There’s all the regions and people can start exploring that now – I think people are ready,” she said London’s Australia Day Tasting on 26 January had a record attendance, with

The Australia Day Tasting held in London on 26 January had a record attendance, with more than 1230 guests sampling 1000-plus wines from more than 240 brands across 80 tables of exhibitors. more than 1230 guests to sample and enjoy the 1000-plus wines from more than 240 brands across 80 tables of exhibitors.

The Great Aussie Taste-Off saw three pairs of MWs and MSs battle it out to choose the best Australian wines to match dishes created by Michelinstarred chef Roger Jones, of The Harrow at Little Bedwyn. The competition was fierce but the crown went to the MSs, who ultimately won two of the three rounds, decided by an audience vote.

More than 250 wines were showcased at the Australia Day Tastings in both

They were our most successful Australia Day Tastings ever and the feedback from exhibitors and guests attests to a renewed enthusiasm for Australian wine, with wine influencers claiming Australia is the one to watch in 2016.

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Dublin and, for the first time in seven years, Edinburgh. Both events were well attended and featured trade master classes on the history and evolution of Australian wine, while in Dublin we included an inaugural consumer tasting in the evening.

Through our promotional events internationally we continue to promote and champion Australian wine, which will help to support the future for a prosperous Australian grape and wine community.

Thank you to all of the winemakers and principals who attended the tastings while vintage was close at hand. Your presence at our Australia Day Tastings helped to tell stories of the people, place and provenance of Australian wine to the guests who attended.

For further information on the UK, Irish or European markets email: uk@ wineaustralia.com.

WVJ

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Harmonisation on the table at European Union talks

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

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ne of the key impediments to trade in wine is differing compositional requirements between markets. Most wine-producing countries have a fairly limited list of permissible wine additives with the objective of minimising intervention in the winemaking process.

Additives are often used to adjust naturally-occurring substances in wine, such as tartaric and malic acid, or as preservatives, such as sulphites, sorbates and dimethyl dicarbonate (DMDC), and antioxidants like ascorbic acid.

In general, we prefer to limit the number of permissible additives that Australian producers can use while recognising our international obligations and permitting the sale of wine made with a wider range of additives in imported wine.

The key element to addressing differing compositional requirements for wine between international markets is through harmonisation. Increasingly, developing markets are basing their compositional requirements on the Codex Alimentarius Commission General Standard for Food Additives (GSFA). Therefore, to maximise opportunities to harmonise wine additives requires the addition of key additives into the GSFA via the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) and then follow-up activity to encourage their adoption. Currently, only five additives (dimethyl dicarbonate, lysozyme, sorbates, CO2 and sulphites) are listed for the food category 14.2.3 ‘Grape wines’. Caramel III and IV are permitted for use in fortified wines.

Additives set for approval by the CCFA in March 2016 include: • citric acid (INS 330) • lactic acid L-, D- and DL- (INS 270) • malic acid DL- (INS 296) • tartaric acid L(+) (INS 334) • ascorbic acid (INS 300) • gum arabic (INS 414) • sodium carboxymethylcellulose (INS 466) • fumaric acid.

Australia has also proposed the following additives for consideration by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) – tannins, yeast mannoproteins and metatartaric acid. Once assessed by JECFA, these

will be assessed for inclusion into the Codex Alimentarius Commission General Standard for Food Additives.

The following additives still require approval: • erythorbic acid • grape skin extract.

If all of these additives are approved within the GSFA, then all commonly used additives will be covered. Key markets that regularly adopt Codex Standards include inter alia: • India • Vietnam • East African nations • China.

However, as this issue of the Journal was going to print, the European Union was set to clash with New World wine producers like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US at a meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Additives in China on 14-18 March, where the EU was going to insist on European maximum limits on additives in wines. Members largely agree on the types of authorised additives as well as limits where there is a health concern, but differ over limits for other additives such as stabilising acids. New World wine-producing countries, including Australia and the US, say the Codex should stick to standards in Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) – a move that would encourage innovation and allow production of better quality wine in line with consumer demands, they say. But the EU insists scrapping limits which could allow producers to mislead consumers and fundamentally alter characteristics of wines linked to grape origins (terroir). I was due to attend the meeting on behalf of the Australian wine industry to help facilitate an outcome.

As the president of Commission III of the international Organisation of Wine and the Vine (OIV) - the European reference body for wine standards – I will be in an ideal position to negotiate.

BILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS In addition to regional approaches, there are bilateral negotiations for some major markets that require specific additives/processing aids. An update on some of these follows:

▶

In general, we prefer to limit the number of permissible additives that Australian producers can use while recognising our international obligations and permitting the sale of wine made with a wider range of additives in imported wine.

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Expert Market Analysis and Vineyard Innovation • 2016 vintage outcomes: price and supply analysis • Varietal demand breakdown: what’s hot, what’s not • Expert panel: innovating for vineyard profitability • Insights: next generation machinery

Adelaide Oval, Friday June 17, 2016

Registration and program: sawggs.com.au

2016 PIRSA Vinnovation Award Promoting Vineyard Innovation Have you invented a new practice, modified equipment or developed a technical advance to improve your vineyard production or solve a vineyard problem? Then you have a chance to win $2,000 and the 2016 PIRSA Vinnovation Award trophy.

The PIRSA Vinnovation Award is now open for entries, with finalists receiving free registration to the SA Winegrape Growers’ Summit where the winner will be announced. Share your ideas!

Details: wgcsa.com.au

Japan The National Taxation Agency of Japan recently issued a notification approving the use of citric acid and sodium carboxymethylcellulose as additives for the preservation of wine. This took effect on 15 April 2015, and removes some of the barriers Australian exporters have experienced in the Japanese market.

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia has also been active in pursuing the approval of copper sulphate as a processing aid for wine sold to Japan. The acceptance of an additive with Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) under the Food Sanitation Act and making a change in the standards of use for copper sulphate is a prerequisite to further the application with the National Taxation Authority. The WFA now has a consultant in Japan to progress our application for copper sulphate approval. We remain hopeful of approval by MHLW, the Food Safety Commission and the National Taxation Authority.

We have partnered with the United States to seek approval for a number of other additives in Japan. This is a long and difficult process, but the potential returns are significant.

China China still has a number of key winemaking additives not approved for use in wine. Ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbate have been approved as processing aids in wine exported to China in GB 2760-2014; ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbate are approved as processing aids in section C-2 for ‘wine producing technology’. However this does not establish what levels are permitted. Erythorbic acid is a permitted additive at 150mg/kg.

European Union countries have completed dossiers on five additives and have several others in the pipeline. Currently, dossiers for five food additives – potassium ferrocyanide, sodium carboxy methyl cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, chitosan and metatartaric acid – have been coordinated by the French embassy in Beijing which has contracted our consultant to submit the applications. Australia’s dossiers on copper citrate, calcium tartrate and DMDC are being revised. The United States has prepared dossiers on potassium carbonate, oxygen and argon. These will be submitted shortly.

Indonesia Indonesia notified changes to food product categories to the World Trade Organisation Technical Barriers to Trade committee on 25 June last year (G/TBT/IND/101). The main problem is the methanol limit (1ml/litre of ethanol).

Indonesia also has a regulation on alcoholic beverages i.e. Regulation of the Chairman of National Agency for Drugs and Food Control Number 36 Year 2013 on Maximum Limit of Food Additives Preservatives. The maximum limits of sulfur dioxide (SO2) for alcoholic beverages including alcohol free or low alcohol content is 50mg/kg. According to the Indonesian authorities, this maximum limit is set by considering the exposure to acceptable daily intake (ADI) which is 60% ADI (adult) for a maximum limit of 50mg/kg, and they cannot go beyond that limit.

South Korea Australia has prepared an application for DMDC to South Korea.

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Excitement ahead of the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference

By Mardi Longbottom, President, Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology

E

xcitement is in the air in the approach to the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference (AWITC) and Trade Exhibition (AWITE), which will be staged in Adelaide from 23-28 July. The ASVO is one of two members of the AWITC and we are thrilled to announce that ASVO members will again receive discounted registration to this must-attend event. This year the AWITC offering will be strengthened with the joint delivery of business and technical programs made possible by the partnership between AWITC and the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) Outlook Conference. Grapegrowers and winemakers will come together to share ideas and forge future directions during the conference and the diverse social program, including the prestigious McWilliams Maurice O’Shea Award Dinner, pop-up bars and other events. The hot tip is to follow the AWITC on Twitter for announcements of the locations and times of other social events (@The_AWITC #16AWITC).

The ASVO will be flying the flag at the Trade Exhibition so be sure to stop in and say hello while you are browsing the expanse of offerings. ASVO board members will also be in action in the plenary sessions and workshops, including a rare opportunity to participate in a special tasting and technical session exploring Australian and Portuguese vintage and tawny wines, with

wines donated to the ASVO. The ASVO is again sponsoring the entertaining student forum – ‘In the Wine Light’. This event is a fast-paced showcase of the future people and projects in grape and wine research and promises to be a highlight of the conference program. The ‘Fresh Science’ new research awards will also be a focus event for the ASVO. Cash prizes will be awarded to the best posters featuring the latest grape and wine research.

The recent release of the ASVO 2015 Wine Show Best Practice Recommendations has stimulated an update of the online Wine Show Judge Register to improve its functionality and ease of use. The register is a database of wine show judges with experience at any regional, national or international wine show and also includes a record of training and experience. Wine shows can access the register on the ASVO website to review and select suitable judges and will enable the monitoring of wine show judges’ professional development. Listing on the new and improved register will be available to wine show judges at all levels and is not exclusive to ASVO members, though we always welcome new members to the ASVO! Work on the register has commenced and is expected to be complete later WVJ this year.

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American snakes and ladders - Part 1 China may be all the rage but reward for effort also awaits in the US

By Tony Keys

This is the first of a series of articles in which Tony will provide an indepth analysis of the present and future of Australian wine in the US market, covering a multitude of topics including the differences between the east and west coast markets of the US, who Australia’s competition is and what they’re doing, and what it costs to get wine on a shelf and whether there are any sweet spots that Australia can meet. In this article, Tony crunches some market numbers, speaks to representatives of a new breed of local importer, and questions the merit of promoting regions.

I

t’s a strange relationship Australia has with America. Sometimes it appears obedient slave, at other times its best buddy. Recently US Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin was in Canberra requesting Australia engage in a ‘freedom of navigation’ operation. That is, send Australian warships cruising up and down the South China Sea passing the hotly contested Spratly Islands, off the coast of the Philippines, and the Paracel Islands, off the coasts of Vietnam and China.

China is building artificial reefs in the South China Sea and installing military bases so they can secure rich deposits of oil and gas. Also after the same prize are Vietnam and Malaysia. This is not a political article so let’s leave it there. The point is, Australia may be best buddies with the mighty America but can it afford to offend its geographical neighbours?

Looking at America and China from an economical view point, Australia’s largest export markets for all goods and services are China (32 per cent of total exports), Japan (16%) and South Korea (7%). The US accounts for just 5% of all Australian exports.

According to the Australian Trade Commission total Australian exports to the United States of America amount to $20,495 million. Coming this way the Americans sent goods and services to the value of $44,081 million. China is a whole different story; exports are worth $90,297 million and $59,496 million in imports.

If the above appears anti-American call it the stick before the carrot, but it’s worth getting the trading situation in the open; the right and wrongs of politics is a different story.

The US population is estimated at 321 million (2015), Canada adding another 35 million. In 2014 Americans consumed

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2.91 billion litres of table wine, or 10.6 litres per capita for the population over 21 (source Wine Institute); other sources put it at 9.5 litres. China may have an extra billion people but wine consumption is lower, estimated at between 1.5 and two litres per capita.

The markets appear to be poles apart, the point of difference is the USA is a mature market while China is a developing market. What Australia needs to make sure is it doesn’t go astray in China as it did in America.

Nor should Australia ignore what the US has to offer while it chases riches in China. The rise and fall of Australian wine in the American market is a fascinating story combining several factors and changes of direction which, in retrospect, Australia should have seen coming and acted on but didn’t.

Australian wine exports to the US in 2015 show tantalising signs the market is recovering and should encourage wineries to reengage with America or consider it as a possible export market.

It should be noted the second wave needs to be gentle. The tsunami of Australian wine that crashed on American shores in the ‘90s and early this century damaged the reputation of Australian wine; the repercussions are ongoing.

Bold, high alcohol wines that had the consistency of maple syrup were in vogue for a while as were critter brands.

Yellowtail was the first and has been successful having carved out a market segment others are envious of. The downfall was the sheep-like mentality that prompted other producers to create their own critter brands. Yellowtail is still there and doing well and a few old vine wines also find market share. The rest have slithered down the snake either to

W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR N A L MARC H /APRIL 2016

oblivion or retreated back home to lick wounds.

To re-enter or approach the US for the first time a new way must be found.

Americans are open to Australian wines but are mistrustful of the past. New wines, new approaches and new attitudes will win them around but they have been burnt so soothing balm is needed.

In the latest Wine Australia export report to the end of December 2015, the comments on America start: “After facing difficult times in the past few years, the tide is turning for Australian wine in the US market. In the year ended December 2015, value increased by 4 per cent to $443 million and volume increased by 2 per cent to 168 million litres. The average value per litre increased by 2 per cent to $2.64. Bottled average value is the main driver behind this rise, increasing by 7 per cent to $3.62.”

The overall figures look encouraging: an increase in value of 4 per cent totalling $443 million and volume up 2 per cent to 168 million litres, or 18.67 million ninelitre cases, including wine shipped in bulk. It’s a staggering amount:” • glass bottle red, 65,246,000 litres, up 2% • glass bottle white, 39,784,000 litres, down 6% • red wine shipped in bulk, 13,601,000 litres, up 4% • white wine shipped in bulk, 47,946,000 litres, up 16%.

Like the UK, Australian sparkling wine is suffering from the duo of Champagne at the premium end and prosecco lower down. Australian sparkling was down 29% to 840,000 litres (Table 1).

The category Wine Australia heads, ‘other wine’, came in at 510,000 litres (up 3%).

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Table 1. Sparkling wine imports to the United States for the year ending December 2015.

Volume

Average value

million litres change

USD/litre

change

Value

million USD

change

France

26.7

7%

$23.36

2%

623.8

10%

Italy

48.5

18%

$5.37

-8%

260.4

8%

Spain

17.6

9%

$4.80

-1%

84.2

9%

Australia

1.0

-15%

$4.32

5%

4.2

-10%

For the 2015 report Wine Australia gets its jollies from the higher FOB price segments but one has to remember it only totalled $33.6 million.

Examining the premium segment in more detail: • $10 to $19.99 segment $19 million

into favour and there is enormous focus on redevelopment of that value segment, we will risk exposure to a lacking respect for our higher quality offering.”

The top five brands by volume of Australian wine sales, according to Impact Databank, are:

• $20 to $29.99 segment $6.7 million

• Yellow Tail: 54.2%

• $30 to $39.99 segment $3.4 million

• Lindeman’s: 10.6%

• $40 to $49.99 segment $735,000

• Fish Eye: 7.8%

• $50 plus $3.8 million.

• Jacob’s Creek: 4.7%

The $10 plus sector totals 1.9 million litres, or 207,000 x nine-litres cases, a small amount compared with the 105 million litres of Australian bottled wine shipped to the US in 2015. The largest sector was wine in the $2.50 to $4.99 FOB per litre (95.4 million litres). That translates to around 90% of Australian wine shipped in bottle to the US which retails between US$4 and US$7 for a 75cl bottle (A$5.61 and A$9.81, respectively).

As in all markets price is important and US$5-$8 (A$7-A$11) is the favoured consumer price point in American retail.

The Australian wines on sale across the US reflect Australian big production, but not the depth of quality, excitement and interest that is available here and could be there.

The question this raises is, does the dominance of the big brands present an image problem for all Australian wine selling in the US? Kathy Marlin, managing director of Negociants USA, says, “In terms of image for Australia it remains static - formulated years ago by consumers and certainly not the ‘buzz’ on everyone’s minds today.

This volume channels predominately into grocery which is not the area we need to concentrate on to build image. I don’t feel this has any real negative impact on our quest to develop the category in the premium segment today or in the future.

No doubt that if the category comes back

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• Little Penguin: 3.2% These brands account for around 80% of Australian sales in the US. It appears the producers of the above brands have become trapped. There is no denying the success of volume but pricing has become stagnant. Established brands have also become the wine of parents, and perhaps in the minds of emerging generations to wine, grandparents. There is also the issue of pedigree - the five wines come from a place that is no place in this universe: South East Australia.

It cannot be denied that the above brands offer what the average American consumer wants as otherwise they wouldn’t sell in such vast volumes. We shouldn’t criticise them for being popular.

Unfortunately, they also swamp the individuality of the remaining 20%. It’s getting recognition for the minority that will in turn show there is suaveness and sparkle to Australian wine, should the consumer choose to go there.

It was the Gen X cohort (birth dates from the early 1960s to the early 1980s) that started to slacken their enthusiasm for Australian big brand wines. To attract the Millennial Generation (birth years from the early 1980s to the early 2000s) companies are creating new brands.

Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) launched 19 Crimes brand in 2011 but grew it slowly, its retail price put at US$12-$14 ($16.70-$19.50). The name and marketing

W I N E & VITICULTUR E JO UR NA L MARC H /APRIL 2016

is aiming to resonate with millennials, especially males.

In an interview with Shanken News Daily last December, the then TWE president Americas, Sandra LeDrew, said the 19 Crimes brand had reached 200,000 nine-litre cases. She also predicted the newly-released Cabernet would reach 100,000 cases within 18 months.

Another misplaced perception Americans have of Australian wine is the dominance of Shiraz. Cabernet Sauvignon is the grape they like. More could be done to promote what Cabernet we have to offer.

Again, tapping into millennial males, TWE via the Lindeman’s brand launched the Gentleman’s Collection in 2015 with a retail price around US$17.

TWE has separated out Penfolds, turning it into a luxury brand. It’s been a smart move instigated by previous CEO David Dearie and continued by current CEO Michael Clarke. It appears to stand alone and above the other brands in the company’s portfolio. In the 2016 Drinks International top 50 most admired wine brands, Penfolds claimed the number one spot. The success of Penfolds in the US has been welcomed by other importers, as they see it braking down the price barriers to their wines.

Marlin says Negociants has weathered the storm and has managed both volume and equity back into its portfolio over the past four years. “We have the healthiest footprint we’ve ever had and are seeing greater interest.” It seems ironic that Negociants’ growth for several wines it represents is slowed due to allocations rather than by demand.

The latest Gallo Consumer Wine Trends Survey, which profiles American wine drinkers, dealt with consumers’ fear of wine. Unfortunately it hasn’t changed a great deal over decades. The success of new brands such as 19 Crimes and Gentleman’s Collection is somewhat reliant on giving the assurance Baby Boomers and Gen X got out of brands such as Lindeman’s and Jacob’s Creek combined with a degree of sophistication that attracts the younger consumer while making them feel comfortable and not drinking mom and pop wine.

The recommendation of friend, family or co-worker is still the most effective form of getting a person to try a new wine.

The survey compares baby boomers ▶ (age 50-70) and millennials (18-35).

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The baby boomers like information; the younger generation can be attracted by the label.

An Impact Databank report projected consumption per capita will decline for the fourth consecutive year in 2015. All wine is under attack from other forms alcoholic drinks. Americans are returning to their beloved spirits. RTDs and cider are also on the increase. Figures from Wine Australia compiled by Peter Bailey and released in October 2015 are depicted in Table 2.

To attract the consumer Australia also needs first to attract both retail, on-sales (restaurants/bars) and media. Wine Australia commissioned Wine Opinions to carry out a five-year comprehensive research program. As part of year one of this program, Wine Opinions conducted a quantitative survey among the US wine trade to establish a baseline of trade sales and perceptions of Australian wines and assess the outlook for Australian wine on the US market in the future from the trade’s perspective. Part of the report released in April 2015 dealt with American trade attendance at tasting events organised by wine producing countries: • Italian wine events (78%) • French wine events (76%) • Spanish wine events (65%) • New Zealand wine events (53%) • Argentinean wine event (52%) • Australian wine events (48%) • Chilean wine events (46%).

Less than half the media, producers, importers and wholesalers - called gatekeepers or influencers - bother to attend an Australian wine event. It that because they think they know Australian wine or think it has little to offer them?

In another part of the report there is a table, ‘Importance of Imported Wine Sales Factors’. Sixty two percent of respondent’s rated style or flavour profile of the wine as very important, with a further 32% saying it was somewhat important. Combining this with the attendance rate at Australian wine events, does this infer they feel Australian wine is somewhat lacking? There is irony in that 74% said wine tastings for the trade were very important, yet only 48% attended Australian events.

The current sales of Australian wine are focused on six of the 50 US states.

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Growth rates 2014

2009-14 CAGR

Beer

2.4%

1.9%

Spirits

4.6%

4.1%

Wine

3.0%

4.3%

RTDs/Premixes

2.0%

7.4%

Cider/Perry

57.9%

46.7%

These key markets in the calendar year 2015 accounted for $287 million of the $443 million worth of wine shipped (figures from Wine Australia): • California – up 3% to $136 million • New York – up 29% to $53 million • Florida – up 36% to $44 million • Texas – up 23% to $28 million.

Unfortunately two of the key markets recorded a decline: • New Jersey – down 32% to $14 million • Illinois – down 11% to $12 million.

Wine Australia says these markets are home to 116 million citizens (36% of the US population) and have the largest and densest cities in the country.

What has to be remembered is Australia is not alone in wanting a share of the US wine market and there is a huge domestic industry led by California.

Bottled wine imports are listed in Table 3. It’s also worth noting the average value and the Australian position at the bottom of the ladder. It puts the $34 million of higher-priced wines in perspective and shows how much work needs to be done before we can gain enough momentum to move off the first rung.

According to Gordon Little, CEO of New York-based Little Peacock Wines, getting wine poured by the glass in restaurants and bars is of great importance in the five boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island). He explains the maths, quoting US dollars: “NYC is its own magical market in that it has many different neighbourhoods catering to many different incomes.

Overall, restaurants want to recoup the bottle cost on the first pour, if not make a little extra. Typically, [there are] four to five pours per bottle. I think of it as: bigger pour of cheaper wine, whereas in

W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR N A L MARC H /APRIL 2016

Table 2. The percentage growth in alcohol categories in the United States in 2014 and during the five years from 2009.

Australia it’s smaller pour of more expensive wine. There is rarely a line on the glass like there is in Australia.

“Brooklyn (and non-NY markets) $8-10 a bottle wholesale is great. For happy hour, we’re talking $5-6 per bottle for a $6-7 glass.

“Manhattan we can go up to about $18-19 a glass which corresponds with other countries wine glass pours, if not higher. I sold a Pinot for $17/bottle and saw it in a restaurant at $19/glass.

“I don’t sell a lot at these prices and when I do I’m usually doing a deal to whittle down stock in order to reduce inventory or move vintage (normal wholesale price would be $20-22 bottle).

“Our most successful pours are in the range of $120-144/case (nine litre) wholesale. There are exceptions. The Beelgara brand is about $7 a bottle wholesale and it can be a pouring wine at $10 a glass because the quality is good and restaurants want to make extra margin so they can fund an orange wine that tastes like rotten apples and costs $20 per bottle but want to put it on for $15 a glass.”

Little is a new breed of importer. His is a small portfolio of interesting wines that Gordon Little and his team (also small) hand sell around finer New York eating establishments and bars. Under the American system wine has to go through a distributer but he doesn’t rely on the distributers’ sales force preferring to use his and his teams’ shoe leather to acquire and maintain listings.

Also in the same vein, based on the other side of the country in California, is Henry Hudson and Tom Donegan who run Hudson Wine Brokers which represents a dozen wineries; again, individual wines that require hard work, hand selling and shoe leather.

In New Jersey, Screw Top Imports, founded by brothers-in-law Mark

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Lightfoot and Joe Bernard in 2014, has the same template Hudson and Little use. Says Joe Bernard: “The fact of the matter is that Australian wines are not well represented here but hopefully that is changing. Our hope is to get enough wineries to share our vision that we can actually market wines of quality from Australia. Cool climate may capture that notion, or it may not, but it would be helpful to have some collective name that captures the personality and quality of the wines and the winemakers. Americans are open to Australian products and culture, we just need to give them a reason.”

It is importers such as Little, Hudson and Screw Top along with others like them that will make Australian wine interesting to the American consumer again. Pounding the pavement and having fun while doing so is part of the sales technique along with knowledge and commitment to the brands they represent.

There can be no denying a brand that sells millions of cases is a success and Casella has been incredibly successful with the Yellowtail brand. But it’s confined to a consumer cohort, hence price sector.

Having acquired Peter Lehmann Wines for $57 million in November 2014 and later Brands Laira from Coonawarra (price not disclosed) it has new brands to promote ranges of wine at higher price points. On acquiring Peter Lehmann John Casella said in an interview with the

Sydney Morning Herald, “It puts us into the premium area faster than if we tried to do it ourselves.” The company wouldn’t comment on Brands Laira’s possible future in the US market but it’s strong in Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet is top of the favourites in the US. According to Wine Australia figures, 88.6% of Cabernet exports to the US in 2014-15 were in the retail price bracket US$5-$8. This would probably include the majority of Yellowtail Cabernet sales.

It’s more than likely Casella is looking to position Brands Laira and Peter Lehmann in higher retail sectors. The US$11-$20 sector is showing double digit growth.

Casella is well positioned to push Peter Lehmann and Brands Laira to greater sales volume and, in turn, promote the reputation of all Australian wine. Treasury Wine Estates is in the same position. One has to smile at the giants of the industry giving a helping hand to smaller producers, even if it is inadvertently. It should be considered a small price to pay but the large volume producers can at times be small minded regarding any competition.

Pernod Ricard is the world’s second largest alcoholic drinks company after Diageo. Its presence in the US is huge.

The US contributed 28% of its total sales in the first half of 2015-16. The Jacobs Creek Brand is important but it has to compete with far more popular brands in the portfolio such as Absolut Vodka and Jameson Irish Whiskey.

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Jacobs Creek as a brand could suffer, as in my opinion does Casella’s Yellowtail, from the past success of the brand name.

In short, it’s hard to get higher prices no matter the quality of wine by introducing a reserve or special. Treasury Wine Estates is ahead of the game in this aspect with its 19 Crimes and Gentleman’s Collection.

Region vs. brand? The critter brands were a huge success and, in a certain sector of the market, still are. Yellowtail can be found in palate stacks, both bottles and magnums (US$11.09, Jan 2016), at Costco warehouses. The TWE brands 19 Crimes and Gentleman’s Collection do not rely on regional identity but the story of the brand. It works for Penfolds Grange so why shouldn’t it work further down the ladder? Worth noting is an article on Californian wine exports titled ‘Pitfalls to avoid for Californian wine exports to UK’, written by Charles Day, the senior vice president and area manager of the North Coast [California] Food & Agriculture group, Rabobank, and published in The North Bay Business Journal (29 February 2016).

Day said: “The number of very specific American viticultural areas, or AVAs, in California is confusing British consumers. While the wine industry has worked successfully to educate domestic consumers on the difference between a Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, for consumers in the UK the 16 AVAs in Sonoma County is too granular ▶ to discern differences.”

Table 3. Bottled wine imports to the United States for the year ending December 2015.

Volume

Average value

Value

million litres

change

USD/litre

change

million USD

change

Italy

253.2

4%

$5.57

-5%

1,410.9

-1%

France

98.9

10%

$9.34

-11%

923.9

-2%

Australia

108.2

-1%

$3.53

-2%

381.9

-3%

Argentina

63.3

2%

$4.88

-2%

309.1

0%

Chile

61.7

3%

$3.88

2%

239.5

5%

Spain

46.1

3%

$5.38

-8%

248.4

-5%

New Zealand

37.7

15%

$7.85

-2%

296.2

13%

Germany

19.7

-7%

$5.10

-7%

100.4

-13%

Portugal

16.6

11%

$5.52

-7%

91.5

4%

South Africa

9.5

6%

$5.15

-4%

48.9

2%

Total

729.5

4%

$5.68

-5%

4,145.5

-1%

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It’s something Tasmania and the Yarra Valley have already worked out; too many sub-regions can be confusing for consumers. It should also be remembered the concept of Australian wine geographical indications holds different meaning for government legislators, lawyers, winegrape growers, wine producers, wine retailers and consumers. The aspect of terroir, which is highly contested for and against among those in the industry/trade, is not as important to the majority of consumers. Consumers more often than not think of soil, topography, and climate as part of the snobby aspect of wine.

This presents a conundrum if critter brands bearing the bland South Eastern Australian GI have peaked in sales and stalled in price, isn’t this now time for the region to shine? In part, but trying to promote more than 60 Australian GIs is a route to confusion. At this stage of transition, the set-back Australia doesn’t need is muddled consumers.

In an unpublished article last November, Jeff Burch, CEO of Burch Family Wines, commented, “How do we promote a fine wine business out of Australia when our largest export is ‘supermarket’ wine which is very price sensitive?

“There are two distinct wine businesses operating out of Australia, one is volume, cheap and acceptable quality for a price, the other is small volume, high quality, high cost,

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aspirational or luxury category.”

Burch questioned the need to have GIs for regions that mainly produce the wines that went into what he calls supermarket wines and for this US article I am calling critter brands.

Burch: “The whole GI thing is largely a waste of time in export markets apart from a few best known GIs like Barossa, Margaret River, Tasmania, Yarra Valley and Coonawarra. Most export customers would struggle to name five Australian GIs and I would not be surprised if Jacobs’s Creek got more votes if a poll was held.”

Burch sees consumer confusion, using the example of wineries in the GI Margaret River explaining why it is different to GI Riverina. He says it leads to the conclusion that there is no fine wine in Australia because most wine exported is from Riverina, Murray Valley and Riverland.

In the same article Robert HillSmith, chairman of Yalumba Wines, gave a practical example of using a state GI over a region (in this case South Australia over Riverland): “I think that is a regional and individual winemaker decision. A lot of creative energy has gone into elevating consumer perceptions but so far have not moved the needle.”

The warning being, if not a noted region such as Margaret River, Barossa Valley or Yarra Valley, expecting the region to give credibility to wine cannot be relied upon and will require a great

W I N E & VITICULTUR E JO UR NA L MARC H /APRIL 2016

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deal of work - perhaps more time and money than a single winery can afford.

To get the regional message across will require full regional support and acting as one in a co-operative action.

Again, money will be the driving force and there isn’t a great deal of promotional money from state or federal coffers.

To build a market, the market needs to be visited and this costs money. The advice from retailers or gatekeepers is two visits a year are required - sound advice in one aspect, but in return the retailer, or collection of retailers, needs to sell wine that is earning (not sales) in excess of $20,000 to fund two visits a year.

Yes, the US has a lot to offer; no, it will not be easy. The worth will have to be calculated by each individual winery.

Those with foresight and ambition will find the path, others won’t.

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

WVJ

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R E S E A R C H

&

D E V E L O P M E N T

Highlights of the last 12 months in wine R&D Few of us have the luxury of being able to trawl through wine industry journals for snippets of research that is of most interest to us or our operation. So, we asked the Wine & Viticulture Journal’s editorial advisory panel and its good friends in winemaker Gary Baldwin and wine industry strategist and advisor Peter Hayes for their thoughts on the most remarkable or interesting research that has caught their eye in the last year.

Mark Krstic Victorian Node Manager Australian Wine Research Institute IMPROVED YIELD PREDICTION This project involves new ways to help rapidly estimate cropping levels in the vineyard.

Having researched crop estimation in winegrapes for nine years, I can tell you the biggest limiting factor is the need for humans to count flowers/bunches/berries. This project opens up new ways for counting yield components for the purposes of improved crop estimation with image capture and analysis techniques.

They are making significant inroads into automated image capture and analysis of yield components for the purposes of improved crop estimation (accuracy). The pathway to commercial reality is still 10 years away, but it is making some good progress.

For further information visit: http://research.wineaustralia. com/research-development/current-projects/improved-yieldprediction-for-the-australian-wine-industry/ OBJECTIVE MEASURES OF POWDERY MILDEW This project aims to develop rapid assessment tools for powdery mildew. It has already led to the recently-released smartphone app PMapp, which allows users to quickly assess visually the severity of powdery mildew on each bunch of grapes by matching it with a computer generated image. The app calculates the proportion of bunches affected (the disease incidence) and surface area affected (severity) and reports the data in a spreadsheet for subsequent analysis.

Objective assessments of any disease incidence and severity in vineyards is hard, yet we set objective measure for winery rejection at somewhere between 1-10% (season and winery dependant). PMapp at least lets users benchmark themselves to known standards and improve their estimation of damage.

For further information visit: http://research.wineaustralia. com/research-development/current-projects/objectivemeasures-for-powdery-mildew-2/ EFFECT OF ELEVATED CO2 AND TEMPERATURES ON SHIRAZ The most interesting aspect of this work has been the effect of increasing CO2 on the carbohydrate storage capacity of vines. Elevated CO2 levels may have some favourable effects on vine productivity. The ramifications of this for industry is still a little unknown, but the effect of elevated CO2 is not all bad. The issue is that the increased temperatures predicted to accompany this will be problematic from a quality and water use perspective.

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For further information visit: http://research.wineaustralia. com/research-development/current-projects/impact-ofelevated-CO2-and-its-interaction-with-elevated-temperatureon-production-and-physiology-of-cabernet-sauvignon/ See also: ‘Effect of elevated CO2 and temperature on phenology, carbohydrates, yield and grape composition – preliminary results’, Wine & Viticulture Journal, JanuaryFebruary 2016 issue STRATEGIES FOR ADAPTING TO A WARMER, DRIER CLIMATE The project involves the evaluation of evaporative cooling through the use of micro–sprinkler irrigation as a means of cooling vine canopies to counteract intense heat events.

It’s early days but it appears that the use of sprinkler irrigation in a vineyard in combination with normal drip irrigation can help to reduce peak temperatures during heatwaves by up to 10°C, thus protecting the crop and maintaining quality. This could be an effective way to manage the influence of a warming climate and help growers adapt to these changes. However, we also need to know the effects on water use and if there are any quality effects.

For further information visit: http://research.wineaustralia. com/research-development/current-projects/cost-effectiveviticultural-strategies-to-adapt-to-a-warmer-drier-climate/ BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE RISK OF SMOKE TAINT THROUGH IMPROVED KNOWLEDGE OF SMOKE COMPOSITION This work is being led by Ian Porter of the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR) in Victoria and director of the Centre of Excellence in Smoke Taint Research.

I have been very close to the smoke taint issue for nearly 12 years now. The biggest gap we have now in our knowledge and what will help us in developing better risk assessment tools is our knowledge of smoke chemistry, specifically the concentration of volatile phenols which is thought to change quite rapidly. We propose that fresh smoke from a fire has high concentrations of these volatile phenols (the compounds responsible for causing perceptible smoke taint in wines), however, the concentrations of these volatile phenols reduces with time in the atmosphere.

It’s early days - work only commenced earlier this year - but we think volatile phenols only have a relatively short half-life in full sunlight (maybe only a few hours), thus smoke becomes more inert with time in the atmosphere.

W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR N A L MARC H /APRIL 2016

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Markus Herderich, Group Manager Research, Australian Wine Research Institute COPPER(II) ADDITION TO WHITE WINES CONTAINING HYDROGEN SULFIDE: RESIDUAL COPPER CONCENTRATION AND ACTIVITY This study won the award for best oenology paper at the ASVO Awards for Excellence and presents the first clear evidence of the difficulties in removing copper sulfide precipitate from wine, and has major implications for the winemaking practice of adding copper(II) sulfate to white wine to remove sulfidic off-odours. This is especially the case for additions made immediately prior to bottling.

The results of this study demonstrate that the added copper(II) is likely to be active in detrimental reactions in the wine regardless of its binding to hydrogen sulfide and/or other wine components.

For further information read: Clark, A.C.; Grant-Preece, P.; Cleghorn, N. and Scollary, G.C. (2015) Copper(II) addition to white wines containing hydrogen sulfide: residual copper concentration and activity. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 21:3039.

MACROMOLECULAR COMPLEXES IN RED WINE This paper highlights the first use of nanotracking analysis (NTA), a new tool with great potential to characterise colloids (though the direct effect on winemaking is not significant in this paper). NTA will allow for the monitoring of the onset of the formation of colloids and hazes - key assess and improve cold stabilisation and filtration procedures.

For further information read: Bindon, K.A.; Carew, A.L.; Mierczynska-Vasilev, A.; Kassara, S.; Kerslake, F. and Smith, P.A. (2016) Characterization of macromolecular complexes in red wine: composition, molecular mass distribution and particle size. Food Chemistry 199:838–846.

THE SENSORY PROFILES OF SPARKLING WINE OVER TIME This paper addresses the topic of how wine aroma evolves over time in the glass. It’s a good and careful study showing that wines have greater differences at five minutes after pouring than one minute.

For further information read: Hood White, M.R. and Heymann, H. (2015) Assessing the sensory profiles of sparkling wine over time.

Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 66:2:156-163.

DIMETHYL SULFIDE IN THE AROMATIC EXPRESSION OF THE AGEING BOUQUET OF RED BORDEAUX WINES This study highlights dimethyl sulfide’s influence, notably on the aged character of red wines.

For further information read: Picard, M.; Thibon, C.; Redon, P.; Darriet, P.; De Revel, G. and Marchand, S. (2015) Involvement of dimethyl sulfide and several polyfunctional thiols in the aromatic expression of the aging bouquet of red Bordeaux wines. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 63:8879-8889.

COMPARISON OF SENSORY PRODUCT PROFILES BY TRAINED ASSESSORS AND CONSUMERS A topic of current interest to sensory professionals, CATA (check all that apply) evaluation of descriptors by consumers can be satisfactory to differentiate samples rapidly and relatively cheaply, without necessarily requiring highly trained assessors. CATA appears particularly useful in studies where measuring small differences is not of primary importance.

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For further information read: Ares, G.; Antúnez, L.; Bruzzone, F.; Vidal, L.; Giménez, A.; Pineau, B.; Beresford, M.K.; Jin, D.; Paisley, A.G.; Chheang, S.L.; Roigard, C.M. and Jaeger S.R. (2015) Comparison of sensory product profiles generated by trained assessors and consumers using CATA questions: four case studies with complex and/or similar samples. Food Quality and Preference 45:75-86.

Gary Baldwin, chief winemaker, Handpicked Wines BE MORE CAREFUL WHEN USING COPPER Copper additions have long been virtually a standard tool used by winemakers to remove unwanted aromas but the latest research seems to have sown seeds of doubt around the practice; or at the very least changed the way we should think about the practice.

On reading the articles by Reschke et al. (2015) and Clark et al. (2015) there now appears to be conflicting evidence regarding the use of copper in winemaking. Reschke et al. (2015) suggest that copper can be used without any negative effects early in the winemaking process, while Clark et al. (2015) seem to imply that there are risks associated with its use. To me this immediately poses the question, what does the practising winemaker take from this apparent divergence of views?

On closer examination both articles had good advice but from different perspectives which made them both very useful, even if a little confusing at first.

Clark et al. (2015) clearly recommend that early copper addition in small amounts will result in the satisfactory removal of unwanted sulphide aromas without any negative effect on fermentation kinetics and lower residual copper concentration in the final wine.

The article is based on a lot of detailed research mostly on model solutions but its essence points to concerns about oxidative spoilage that is caused by residual copper.

On reading these articles in detail they both really suggest that winemakers should be more careful when using copper. Clark et al. (2015) warn against excessive copper in wine and also suggest it may be very difficult to actually remove the copper sulphide (CuS) formed after the addition. Their results indicate that filtration may not necessarily remove the residual CuS. The article discusses the nature of CuS precipitate and the return of sulphide aromas long after treatment.

It seems clear from both papers that the addition of copper to wine is far more complex than many of the text books suggest.

The new techniques for measuring both copper and sulphide concentrations in wine show that there is the potential to understand what mechanisms are taking place in wine and eventually minimise the potential for spoilage, including oxidation and copper casse formation.

Further research on real wines would seem to be necessary to fully understand the nature of residual CuS in wine and at what concentration and in what circumstances it might be problematic.

Further research is also suggested by the AWRI into the sensory effects on wine of copper additions and the timing of those additions.

For further information read: Clark, A.C.; Grant-Preece, P.; Cleghorn, N. and Scollary, G.C. (2015) Copper(II) addition to white wines containing hydrogen sulfide: residual copper concentration and activity. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 21:30-39; Reschke, S.; Tran, T; Bekker, M.; Wilkes, E. and Johnson, D. (2015) Using copper more effectively in winemaking. Wine & ▶ Viticulture Journal 30(5):35-39.

W I N E & VITICULTUR E JO UR NA L MARC H /APRIL 2016

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Armando Corsi, Senior Research Associate/Senior Lecturer, Ehrenberg Bass Institute for Marketing Science, University of South Australia SUITE OF PROJECTS ABOUT CHINA China was really an unknown market not just for Australia, but for all wine-producing countries only three years ago. We still have to learn a lot about this country, but in the last three years the University of South Australia and the Australian Wine Research Institute, funded by Wine Australia, have shed light on several aspects of Chinese wine consumption.

Through this work we know more about the attitudes, perceptions, and behaviour of Chinese consumers; we have improved the way in which we can describe wines to them; we know more about the way in which wine education can be delivered in China; we know more about the message we can use in our advertising campaigns to encourage the consumption of Australia wines; and we know more about what to do with Chinese tourists when they come to Australia to improve their probability of choosing Australian wines when they go back home. All this information is at the disposal of the Australian wine industry through Wine Australia’s website, and through tailored seminars the researchers have delivered and will be willing to deliver again in the future.

Australian wine producers now have access to a knowledge package that other countries don’t have. This allows them to minimise the risks associated with exports to China, and increase the chances of success in this market.

But, we cannot stop researching. What we know now about the Chinese wine market might not be true in three years’ time, given the pace at which the Chinese market is evolving. We therefore need to update the findings we have now in order to provide upto-date insights to the Australian wine industry. At the same time, we need to expand our horizon of knowledge towards retailing and distribution in China. We still don’t know much about wines’ journey from the wineries to the Chinese’s tables. In addition, we need to focus more on Chinese attitudes, perceptions and behaviours towards premium wines, as this is where the great opportunity lies for Australian wines.

Peter Hayes, wine industry strategist and advisor DEVELOPMENT OF MOBILE VINEYARD SENSOR PLATFORMS Recent reports around sensor platforms and related systems to gather relevant in-field data in an uncomplicated, routine, low-cost fashion possibly offers opportunity to see the capacity to generate ever more rich data converted for and applied to better vineyard management. This prospect entails the low-cost capture, analysis, and interpretation of data potentially delivered via data visualisation or a ‘dashboard’ output to enable straightforward incorporation into the daily ‘feed’ of information or integration into more complex management systems.

Two such systems, among others, are the ESOVYM system of vineyard monitoring by the Portuguese company Enermeter, incorporating from the outset industry funding and collaboration; and Hochschule Geisenheim University’s PHENOvines/PHENObot project.

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These systems appear to have been based on the concept of a commercially-accessible mobile platform with sensors and software systems capable of delivering to research and commercial management.

Having demonstrated the prototypes and evaluated their performance, the crucial test will now be around: commercial arrangements - IP and licensing, distribution and support networks; pricing - always a quandary for both the commercial agent and the ‘early adopter’; capacity to integrate into management systems (as stand-alone robot devices) or install onboard currently utilised tractors or other vehicles for routine use; software and user interface - training requirement, adaptation to user needs, effectiveness of outputs, integration with other information platforms; integration into managers’ planning and work routines; value proposition of GPS and time defined ‘invineyard’ data outputs.

Deliberate effort applied to the design, adaptation and validation of a systems approach to integrating mobile and other data sets into/onto an agreed rules-based platform could underpin another major development in the modern era of vineyard management.

Will this be an industry led or commercial agent’s initiative?

For further information visit https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/280133905_ESOVYM_-_Enermeter%27s_system_ of_vineyard_monitoring; and http://www.hs-geisenheim.de/ forschungszentren/institut-fuer-technik/forschung/phenovines. html Peter Dry, former part-time consultant in viticulture at the Australian Wine Research Institute, former senior lecturer/associate professor, University of Adelaide REDUCING FUNCTIONAL LEAF AREA TO SLOW SUGAR RIPENING One of the most exciting areas of research in recent years has been the use of functional leaf area reduction to slow down sugar ripening. When this is done just before or just after veraison, sugar accumulation is slowed down relative to other compositional changes during ripening to achieve wines with reduced alcohol concentration without any undesirable effects on flavour and mouthfeel. In practise, this can be achieved by leaf removal (defoliation above the bunch zone) or by topping of shoots to remove leaf number (Varela et al. 2015 includes a description of the early development of this strategy). Thus far, these techniques have been shown to be effective across a wide range of varieties and environments and are easily mechanised (leaf removal above the bunch zone can be done at a higher speed than conventional bunch zone leaf removal). In a warm climate, there is the advantage that the bunch zone is minimally affected and there is no increased risk of bunch heat damage. Furthermore, the effect may be reproduced by the application of an anti-transpirant spray targeting the same upper part of the canopy. For single curtain sprawling canopies (common in the warm to hot regions of Australia), post-veraison shoot trimming has been shown to be effective.

For further information read: Varela, C.; Dry, P.R.; Kutyna, D.R.; Francis, I.L.; Henschke, P.A.; Curtin, C.D. and Chambers, P.J. (2015) Strategies for alcohol reduction in wine. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 21:670-679.

W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR N A L MARC H /APRIL 2016

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What piece of winery equipment can’t you live without – could it be a lees crossflow filter?

By Cathy Howard

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or decades, a rotary drum vacuum (RDV) filter has been the machine used to recover as much usable wine or juice as possible from lees. There are drawbacks with using RDV filters, the main one being that wine quality is downgraded due to oxygen pick-up, and then there are the occupational health, safety and welfare (OHS&W) risks associated with using and disposing of the perlite or diatomaceous earth (DE).

There is a distinct shift now in how wineries are processing their lees, and it’s a crossflow filter fitted with membranes designed specifically for filtering lees. It’s still relatively new technology, but these filters have been in use in wineries of varying sizes around Australia for the past four to five years.

The use of crossflow filters for wine filtration down to less than 1 NTU and for the selective removal of various taint compounds is now a commonly used technology in wineries around the world. The filtration of lees using this technology has lagged behind the uptake by wineries of crossflows for wine filtration, mainly due to the highly variable and difficult nature of juice and wine lees, but the tide now seems to be turning.

A Bucher Vaslin Crossflow FX6 filter in operation at Naturaliste Vintners in Margaret River during vintage 2016.

Photo courtesy Remi Guise, Naturaliste Vintners.

ERIC BOSCH, PALL AUSTRALIA According to Eric Bosch, using a crossflow filter for lees filtration is a fairly new technology, and it’s a technology that has been largely developed within Australia through extensive R&D over the past five to seven years.

Pall’s Oenoflow™ HS crossflow lees filter utilises microporous membranes similar to the hollow fibre membranes that have become the standard in wine clarification applications. The hollow fibres have a larger internal diameter so that they can process higher solids, up to about 80% by volume.

The main advantages of using a crossflow filter to filter lees, says Bosch, is a reduction in operating costs, production of less waste, including less wastewater entering the wastewater stream, a streamlining of cellar operations and a significant gain in quality in the filtered product. Bosch stated that the return on investment (ROI) from a $500,000 crossflow setup by one winery had been achieved in a four-month period.

A large Barossa-based winery uses a standard hollow fibre wine filtration unit, the Oenoflow XL crossflow filter, in combination with an Oenoflow HS lees crossflow filter, to process the complete tank contents of wines immediately following stabilisation. The streamlined operation allows for the XL crossflow to filter down to the racking valve. It is then moved onto the next tank. The agitator is turned on, and the HS lees crossflow filters the remaining volume in the tank into the same receival tank that the XL crossflow filtered into, and completely empties the discharge tank. This wine clarification process greatly improved the winery’s production efficiency by 15%, and the frequency of chemical cleanings was reduced to ▶ once per week.

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Bosch suggests that the ROI is harder to achieve if it’s a smaller winery crushing less than 500 tonnes, but it does depend on the end price point of the wine being filtered. Smaller wineries often opt for a dual use machine that can filter both wine and lees. Larger wineries over 5000 tonnes often require more than one filtration stream running at a time, so invest in two crossflow filters, with one dedicated to wine filtration, and the second either dual purpose or dedicated to lees filtration.

LUKE WILSON, SENIOR PROCESS ENGINEER, THE YALUMBA WINE COMPANY, ANGASTON, SOUTH AUSTRALIA Yalumba invested in a Pall Oenoflow HS crossflow unit in 2010. In the first few years of its operation, the unit was used to filter cold settled juice bottoms during vintage, but as Yalumba moved to a greater number of wild fermentations, the unit is now being used more to filter juice off finings and pressings.

Wilson states, “The primary function of the filter is for lees, but we are utilising the additional capacity to complement our existing crossflow filtration capacity and reduce the number of lenticular filters being used for final membrane filtration of wines.

“The filter has been well worth the investment. The quality of filtered product from the unit has been excellent, and for us, the largest savings have been realised through not having to downgrade wine that has been recovered from lees as we did when using RDVF. We have also reduced our DE cartage by 76% across both sites. While the crossflow lees filter is handling Angaston’s juice filtration requirements during vintage, we do still use an RDVF at the Oxford Landing Winery

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Sauvignon Blanc (right) and a glass of lees residue following crossflow lees filtration. Photo courtesy Rob Martyn, Delegat Limited. which accounts for the remaining 24% of DE still being used.

“We spent the first 18 months working with the Pall technicians fine tuning the operations of the machine. This assistance is still ongoing with Pall keeping us abreast of modifications it is making to the new machines. This has enabled us to make small modifications to our unit to improve its performance, and to ensure that we are keeping pace with the new units coming out.

“While there is a control system that can react to varying input, we find a well-mixed feed gives better long-term performance.

We feed into a buffer tank and where possible, mix the lees prior to starting and when possible, during the job. We find that less than 30% solids in the feed provides the best results.”

Wilson continues, “We used to have up to four RDVFs to filter lees at our two Barossa wineries. We are now getting through our lees filtration for both sites using a single crossflow machine outside of vintage.”

He said the winery had found some variation in performance depending on the type of lees as follows: • wild ferment and Viognier lees tend to be the most challenging lees to recover • bentonite lees are some of the easiest to recover from, and tend to get the highest solids concentration • the gas that evolves from fermenting juice can cause issues as this works as a blind spot on the membrane (which is hydrophilic) so essentially reduces the available filtration area • carbon bottoms and lees have a tendency to block the membrane channels. These require a bit more work to ensure they are adequately unblocked before moving on to the next job.

“In regards to cleaning the filter,” Wilson said, “carbon finings in the unit tend to cause increased blockage and may take a bit longer to clean out of the unit. By monitoring the flux rates on cleans, we can monitor and act when the unit is getting dirty. Peroxide cleaning the membranes can assist with rejuvenating them, particularly following lots of juice filtration.”

“Our crossflow unit has 24 modules and we have had to replace two due to broken fibres. We have had some issues with housing leaks that have been replaced under warranty. In our

W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR N A L MARC H /APRIL 2016

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initial investment justification, we expected the membranes to last five years between replacement. We are averaging above this at the moment.”

Wilson adds solids percentage is the key to performance of the crossflow.

“What I’d say is that the solids from the lees filter look much wetter when compared with an RDVF due to liquid not being bound up with the filter earth. We have done comparisons across both sites looking at the total volumes being taken off site as filter earth, wine solids for distillation, and the quantity of earth purchased. Using this data we haven’t had any overall increase in solids going off site since running the lees filter suggesting that the lees filter solids, despite appearing wetter, are going off site at the same concentration as with the RDVF. This has been consistent in 2006-2009 and comparable to results obtained in 2010-2014. These findings were presented at the ASVO Efficiency and Sustainability Seminar in 2012.

“The flow rate of filtering clean wine tends to not be substantially higher than running the lees, meaning any additional settling recovery that can be done prior to concentrating the lees will have a big advantage (but we still prefer to feed less than 40% solids into the filter).

“The main advantages in using this filter over an RDVF comes down to one word, quality. The quality of the recovered wine from the filtered lees is excellent. We are putting it back into the original batch (or similar price point) meaning that we aren’t downgrading the value at all of the recovered wine. This lack of downgrade means that the unit has paid itself back in under two years. Another advantage is the OHS&W aspects of reduced exposure to perlite.”

Wilson states, “Having the system on SCADA [supervisory control and data acquisition] enables us to pick up if filter performance is dropping and gives us the ability to look back at historical performance data. This means that if the membranes are fouling, or if it isn’t cleaning appropriately, we can identify that early. We tend not to run the filter unmanned on lees, but we do run our other crossflow on wine filtration unmanned. This is primarily due to the larger batch sizes of wine being filtered. Our lees volumes don’t justify setting the unit up for weekend filtration.”

SAMUEL PLUMEJEAU, BUCHER VASLIN, REGIONAL MANAGER, VICTORIA Over the past few years, Bucher Vaslin, along with many other suppliers, has experienced increasing sales of crossflow filters for wine, and in recent years for lees filtration, and this is a growing trend worldwide.

Plumejeau states, “The newer applications of using these units to filter lees has been slower on the uptake, but there is substantial interest building. Crossflow filters for lees are being successfully used for juice lees filtration, in-line dosing of bentonite for one pass filtration and stabilisation, filtration of barrel lees, and the filtration of fermented lees and wine lees including bentonite and cream of tartar.

“The juice lees crossflow filtering application has been a great success in the Clare Valley, Tasmania and Margaret River. Fermented lees and bentonite lees are usually higher in suspended solids and require an extra large bore in the filter

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A lees sample before and after filtration through a crossflow lees filter, taken during vintage 2016 at Naturaliste Vintners in Margaret River. Photo courtesy Remi Guise, Naturaliste Vintners. membranes. The extra large bore has a very slow flow rate due to a smaller filtration surface area. On the plus side, fermented lees can be processed over a longer period of time. We do use a different type of membrane (titanium oxide and stainless steel) so it is a different type of machine dedicated to this application.”

Plumejeau continues, “The cost savings when comparing a crossflow with an RDV for lees filtration will depend on the volume to be filtered and on the final retail price point of the wines being filtered. In general, the payback time for our clients varies from one year to five years.”

He said the advantages of using a lees crossflow filter included: • an increase in the value of the juice as wineries now can add their filtered juice lees back to the main ferment, with no loss in value • labour savings as the operator is only supervising the operation while doing other tasks • cost savings in raw materials due to the elimination of the purchase and disposal of perlite or DE • elimination of the OHS&W risks associated with handling and disposing of perlite or DE • no degradation of juice or wine quality due to dilution and oxidation.

Plumejeau says the cleaning regime is critical, and that the quality of the water used for cleaning is very important. He recommends getting water tested as it will sometimes need treatment prior to being used to clean new crossflow filters. He also suggests using the recommended chemical products.

With regard to the replacement cost of the membranes he says, “it is significant, however, with a warranty time over 10 years, but even for most smaller wineries, this is not a stumbling block.”

REMI GUISE, WINEMAKER, NATURALISTE VINTNERS, MARGARET RIVER, WESTERN AUSTRALIA For the past four years, Naturaliste Vintners has been using a Bucher Vaslin FX6 crossflow filter. The unit is dual purpose, and Guise states, “We have a set of wine membranes and a set of lees membranes, so we swap them out before and after vintage. ▶ The lees membranes can also filter wine but they are slower.

W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR N A L MARC H /APRIL 2016

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“We never had our own RDV, and used a contractor for larger batches of lees. For all smaller lots of lees, we re-settled then racked again, often more than once, as recoveries on Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon never really exceeded 90%. Now, with filtering juice lees through the crossflow, we are achieving recoveries of 92-98%.”

When asked why he couldn’t live without his crossflow, Guise replied, “Process flow has vastly improved. We are not re-settling juices and storing batches of lees. We have the flexibility now of filtering straight off the press tray, or settling then filtering bottoms. During peak periods when large volumes of fruit are coming into the winery, we easily keep pace with emptying our settling tanks in order to allow for the increase in crush intakes.

This makes labour use more efficient, with cellar staff able to undertake other tasks instead of racking re-settled bottoms, while meeting our customers’ quality needs. Juices need less time to settle as we are not requiring compact lees, so we are also saving on cooling costs.”

Guise does constantly agitate the lees feed tank. “We have not as yet needed to identify an ideal percentage of solids as we have never had any lees that have been too dense to filter. My advice is to keep the bottoms agitated, especially over longer filtration runs as the heaviest solids will settle out to the bottom of your tank and if these heavier solids are then drawn up by the filter at once, it will slow down significantly, and require cleaning” Guise says the crossflow runs at 1200-1800L/hour. With more difficult varieties such as Semillon, they generally have the filter running at 1200L/hour rather than the maximum of 1800L/hour.

The main advantages of crossflow for lees filtration for Guise are quality, improvements in labour efficiency, increased process flexibility and waste minimisation. He concludes, “The crossflow unit is a major step forward for us.”

ROB MARTYN, GROUP WINEMAKER, DELEGAT WINES, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND Delegat uses four Della Toffola Omnia CFKF 170/67 in parallel to filter wine lees. These filters are also used in parallel with a lees aggregation tank to filter juice lees.

“Currently we have only trialled using it for wine filtration, and it has worked well,” Martyn says. “In the future we will use it more for wine filtration to augment the PALL Oenoflow wine crossflow equipment we have operated for the last five years.

The Della Toffola lees filters have been used for the past 12 months.

“Della Toffola assisted with the commissioning and fine tuning of the operating parameters to optimise the processing of juice lees, which in our case is predominantly flotation lees.”

Delegat Wines did previously use RDVFs and Martyn says that the winery changed to using a crossflow for a number of reasons, based on wine quality and staff wellbeing.

“We make only super premium wine labels so all batches need to be processed to optimise the quality of the finished wine,” Martyn explains. “Previously, we used RDVF to recover juice from juice lees with a resulting degradation of juice quality due to oxidation. We took delivery of three Omnias during the 2015 harvest, and by the middle of vintage we had turned off the RDVFs. Wine lees filtered with the Omnia does not result in a juice quality downgrade, and the filtered wine can be added directly back into the main blend.

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Carbon and gelatine lees comprising post crossflow filtered product (far left), before crossflow filter (second from left) and sludge discharge after completion of filtration. Photo courtesy Rob Martyn, Delegat Limited.

“As our production volumes have increased, so has our juice lees filtration earth waste streams. The cost of disposal for this waste stream has been increasing and the move from RDVF to high solids crossflow provided an opportunity to reduce our environmental impact, as well as increase wine quality and remove workplace health and safety concerns.

“Delegat has automated the lees filtration process to a certain degree with the inclusion of a lees aggregation cluster tank. This tank has a master controller for up to five Omnia units and has the ability to start and stop each filter unit as additional capacity is required. This also partially automates the processing load as the filtration units go through their periodic cleaning cycles ensuring that we achieve a continuous less filtration process during vintage.

“The main return on investment capital comes from the reduction in lees waste stream volumes and savings in the direct costs of the DE products and in their disposal. Based on this, we have estimated that our investment in high solids crossflow equipment will show a positive return in less than 10 years. In addition to this, the gain in juice (and wine) quality is significant.”

Martyn continues, “The critical process for efficient lees processing is agitating the lees prior to filtration. The lees aggregation cluster tank actively mixes the lees immediately prior to filtration. Where lees are stored before this step we maintain mixing as much as practical, which can be challenging if the lees has been compacted by settling for a significant period of time. If this happens we would mix them by pump over. The ideal solids range for lees filtration is 35-50%. When filtering juice lees, obviously the thicker the lees produced, the less in total you are required to filter, so it’s all relative. Thick yeast lees from aged Chardonnay barrels seems to be the hardest, but the Omnia can still concentrate this up to 85% solids.”

When asked if the are certain types of lees that can be difficult to filter, Martyn replies, ‘It cannot filter fermenting wine or lees because the gas bubbles make the product compressible which causes cavitation in the circulation pump. It easily filters bentonite lees or tartrate lees.”

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Martyn’s handy hint on using a crossflow unit to filter lees is: “Filters operate best by correlating a DPx number (delta of the pressure at the inlet of the filter housing compared with the pressure at the outlet of the filter housing) with a percentage of solids in the retentate. For example we know a DPx of 1.4 gives us 90%+ on the waste solids on Sauvignon Blanc juice lees”.

DAVID ZERBO, DIRECTOR, RIDGELEA, ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA “Lees crossflow filtration is a relatively new field of filtration where the ultimate goal is to try and achieve the best yields with the least effect on the wine (or juice),” Zerbo says. “In Australia, the intermediate Padovan Dynamos machines have been the most popular (20 and 40 square metre), however I am expecting to be bringing in our first smaller unit (two square metres) fairly soon.”

Zerbo continues, “When comparing the Dynamos crossflow filter to an RDV, it is extremely cost effective.” He said the main running cost savings of 80-90% when compared with an RDV were: • reduced consumable costs (no filtration medium such as earth required) • reduced waste disposal costs • reduced running costs (low electricity use, minimal water use) • reduced labour costs • no downgrade required on your product, in most instances.

Zerbo has found that the ROI is usually well within 12 months, regardless of the filter size. “The largest single benefit of this technology is its ability to produce filtrate of the same quality as the original product.

“The Dynamos filter can also handle additives such as bentonite, carbon, yeast and PVPP. It’s suitable for filtering both juice and wine, and flotation lees, but fermenting juice does present some issues for automation due to the gas in the product.”

CONCLUSIONS By far, the major advantage in using a crossflow filter to filter your lees is the vast improvement in the quality of the juice or wine, and it’s of a quality that can usually be returned back into the original wine. Australian wineries readily embrace new technologies once proven, and this technology has the added benefits of reducing OHS&W risks and at the same time greatly improving processing efficiencies, giving us a competitive edge in an ever-increasing competitive world wide wine industry.

I am sure that in the near future the uptake of crossflow filters for the filtering of lees in many wineries will grow and there will be many more winemakers like Guise and Martyn, and process engineers like Wilson, who won’t be able to live without their crossflow lees filter.

Cathy Howard is winemaker and, together with husband Neil, proprietor of Whicher Ridge Wines, near Busselton, Western Australia, and has been making wine for more than 20 years. She also consults part-time to some wineries in the WVJ Geographe region.

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For further information, please contact Kauri AUS Tel: 1800 127 611 AUS Fax: 1800 127 609 Email: winery@kauri.co.nz

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NZ Tel: 0800 KAURIWINE NZ Fax: 04 910 7415 Website: www.kauriwine.com

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A novel electrochemical approach for rapid analysis of white grape polyphenols and monitoring of pre-fermentative operations

By Maurizio Ugliano, Jeremie Wirth, Stephanie Begrand, Jean-Baptiste Dieval and Stephane Vidal, Nomacorc France, Avenue Yves Cazeaux, 30230 Rodilhan, France. Email: s.vidal@nomacorc.be

A method for rapidly analysing phenolic compounds of grapes and must in the laboratory and winery has been developed that allows for a better adaptation of winemaking practices to the composition of grapes and management of pre-fermentation steps in white winemaking.

INTRODUCTION The phenolic compounds present in grapes are strongly implicated in several aspects of wine quality, including colour and mouthfeel, aroma stability and ageing potential. Grape variety, viticultural factors, vintage, and degree of maturity play a major role in determining the phenolic composition of grapes at harvest, eventually influencing the potential quality of the finished wine. Additionally, grape phenolic compounds undergo major transformation during the winemaking process, especially during the processes leading to their extraction from the grape cells to the must, and the chemical and enzymatic oxidations taking place in must and wine (Singleton 1987). Overall, many of the notions that are positively associated with wine quality, such as balanced structure, smooth mouthfeel, smooth aftertaste and aroma longevity, are linked with the management of wine phenolics.

There has always been great attention to the role of phenolics in red wine.

However, in recent years it has become evident that certain phenolic compounds of white wines have a central role in perceived quality, and are involved in a variety of chemical reactions that are important to wine colour and aroma stability during cellar and bottle storage. In particular, hydroxicinnammic acids and catechins have been shown to play a central role in several of these reactions (Singleton 1987).

At a practical level, it is known that the conditions of must preparation, in particular the type of pressing and fining, the degree of oxygenation, and the application of pre-fermentative skin contact, have a deep impact on the phenolic composition of the finished wine.

Generally speaking, most winemakers tend

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to limit extraction of phenolic compounds in these steps and/or remove them by fining or controlled oxygenation. At the same time, there is an interest in obtaining a sufficient degree of extraction of skin components, as this also increases the concentration of certain aroma precursors, as well as optimal mouthfeel properties.

As in many areas of winemaking, balance is the key and it is at that point that the ability of measuring becomes crucial.

In a typical winemaking scenario, grapes are delivered to the winery and treated with standard protocols of pressing, fining, etc, which in the best cases have been adapted to a certain target product. However, grapes of the same variety but coming from different vineyards can be very different, not to mention the huge influence of vintage characteristics. The possibility to predict the certain winemaking needs of individual grape batches based on simple analytical parameters would greatly assist wineries in their quest for more rationalised and effective winemaking procedures.

Likewise, real-time monitoring of compositional changes taking place during winemaking would allow for more effective decision making, with potential cost saving and quality benefits. Because of the central role of phenolic compounds in wine quality, they appear suitable targets for this type of approach.

The main challenge to the feasibility of real time measurements in the winery lies in the complexity of the analysis itself. Equipment can be quite expensive, protocol might require a certain level of sample preparation (sometimes even the need for sample centrifugation can pose serious barriers) and trained staff, and data interpretation can be complex. Plus, a method providing rapid response is really

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needed, especially for real-time acquisition of results meant to guide the decisionmaking process.

The work of Kilmartin and coworkers (2001, 2002) indicated that cyclic voltammetry as a glassy carbon electrode can be used to analyse wine phenolics and monitor their evolution during winemaking. Martins et al. (2002) also suggested that this technique can be used in the practical management of wine oxidation. Nevertheless, electrode fouling by wine phenolics requires tedious electrode cleaning procedures, limiting practical application of voltammetric techniques in the wine industry. Recent advancements in this field have led to the development of disposable screen printed electrodes, which can greatly facilitate the implementation of routine procedures based on voltammetric methods.

We have developed an integrated approach for the routine use of voltammetric analysis in the winery to analyse grape and must phenolic composition based on the use of disposable electrodes. No sample preparation is required, and raw data can be treated through a software interface to obtain relevant winemaking parameters. Several applications of this novel methodology to white wine production are presented in this article.

MATERIALS AND METHODS The electrochemical set-up used is shown in Figure 1, consisting of a NomaSense PolyScan P200 potentiostat and miniaturised screen printed electrodes (Nomacorc SA, Belgium), containing a reference electrode (Ag/AgCl) and a working and counter electrode made of carbon ink. For each measurement, one

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drop of sample (50mL) was deposited on the electrode strip. Linear sweep voltammograms were recorded from 0V to 1.2V with a scan rate of 100mV/s under ambient conditions. For each measurement a fresh electrode was employed. All measurements were performed in duplicate, with no prior dilution of the sample. Preliminary experiments indicated that sample dilution did not improve the quality of the results, as reported by others for glassy carbon electrodes.

For analyses of the voltammetric profile of grape samples, juice was prepared from 200 berries of freshly harvested grapes.

Berries were crushed using a small laboratory crusher, and samples were analysed immediately after crushing.

Pressing was conducted using a five-litre laboratory press (Parapress, Germany). Each press cycle lasted 10 minutes and voltammetric analysis was carried out at the end of each cycle.

The must oxidation experiment was conducted as follows. Chardonnay and Riesling grapes were crushed using a small fruit crusher, and the juice obtained was used for the oxidation experiments.

Three millilitres of juice were placed in a 5mL vial fitted with an oxygen sensor (Pst5, Presens, Regensburg, Germany) and rapidly brought to a dissolved oxygen content of 8mg/L by vigorous shaking.

The vials were then placed on a SDR sensor dish reader (Presens, Regensburg, Germany) for continuous measurement of oxygen consumption. When the first dose of oxygen was consumed, a small volume was taken for chemical and voltammetric analyses, and then the dissolved oxygen was brought up again to 8mg/L. This sequence of operations was repeated for a total of three consecutive oxygen consumptions, after which the experiment was stopped. Four experimental replicates were carried out for each grape variety,

with analyses carried out in duplicate.

Analysis of total phenolics was carried out as described by Singleton and Rossi, with values being corrected for their sugar content.

Absorbance at 320 was measured using a Shimadzu UV-1800 spectrophotometer.

Analysis of phenolic compounds by HPLC was carried out by direct injection of filtered samples on a Waters Alliance instrument fitted with a diode array detector (DAD, Waters 996) working at 320nm, using a reverse-phase column Atlantis dC18 (250mm x 2.1mm). Five microliters of sample were injected.

Elution solvents were water/formic acid (95/5, v/v) acetonitrile/water/formic acid (80/15/5, v/v/v).

Figure 1. Electrochemical apparatus used for rapid measurement of grape and wine samples.

Figure 2. Analytical sequence for the acquisition of a voltammetric fingerprint.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Voltammetric techniques involve the use of an analytical set-up typically consisting of a three electrode system (working electrode, counter electrode and reference electrode) allowing the study of current (amperes) as a function of the applied potential (volts). During the course of the analysis, the potential is changed, so that different compounds present in the sample are oxidised according to their oxidation potential. Phenolics can be effectively analysed using this technique.

The analytical sequence used in this study is summarised in Figure 2. A drop of sample is deposited on the electrode, after which the analysis is launched. A potential was consequently applied to the electrode, resulting in the oxidation of different chemical components in the sample. Under our conditions, a potential increasing from zero to 1200mV was applied, covering the oxidation potentials of wine phenolics, which can be oxidised according to their characteristic oxidation potential. A voltammogram is obtained, such as the one presented in Figure 2. As

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grape must and wine contain a complex mix of phenolic compounds with similar oxidation potentials, the voltammogram does not provide a series of sharp peaks, but rather a profile characterised by shoulders corresponding to the different groups of compounds being oxidised.

As previously mentioned, routine application of voltammetry in the winery is complicated by the fact that conventional electrodes such as glassy carbon electrodes are rapidly passivated by phenolic compounds adsorbing on their surface, therefore requiring constant cleaning and reconditioning. To bypass this problem, we have developed disposable miniaturised electrodes based on a patented carbon paste ink which is well adapted to the analysis of wine phenolics.

A potentiostat specifically designed for functioning with these electrodes was also developed.

By studying the profile of different wine phenolic compounds we were able to assign specific regions of a voltammogram to individual compounds. The region corresponding to lower potentials (200600mV) is linked to more easily oxidisable compounds such as catechins, caffeic, caftaric, and gallic acids, so that higher signals in this region corresponds to higher content. The peak that was clearly observed in the region around 780mV corresponded to less oxidisable compounds such as coumaric and ferulic acids (REF). Collection of more than 200 voltammograms during vintages 2012-2014, in combination with different analytical determinations of phenolic compounds, in particular total phenolics and hydroxycinnamic acids by UV-Vis and HPLC, allowed us to create calibration curves for oenological parameters relevant to grape and wine phenolic composition.

For example, a value corresponding to total phenolics measured by means of the FolinCiocalteu (mg/L gallic acid equivalents) can

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be obtained by calculating the total charge passed during the analysis (Figure 3). An index corresponding to the current passed in the region of easily oxidisable phenolics can also be calculated. These two parameters, which we have called PhenOx and EasyOx, can be used to characterise grape and must samples with regard to certain oenological behaviours.

PHENOLIC PROFILES OF DIFFERENT GRAPES Figure 4 shows an example of voltammetric profiles of different grape samples, with the corresponding EasyOx and PhenOx values. Viognier, Riesling and Grenache samples all exhibited high PhenOx levels accounting for total phenolics, but Riesling and Grenache were higher in EasyOx, suggesting that musts from these grapes contain higer levels of compounds that can oxidise rapidly, such as hydroxycinnamics acids and catechins. Generally speaking, musts with higher EasyOx levels could benefit from treatments aimed at removing a portion of these easily oxidisable compounds, such as fining or hyperoxidation. Petit Manseng, Chardonnay and Chenin were generally characterised by similar EasyOx values, with Chenin also characterised by lower PhenOx. Interestingly, Viognier, which was relatively low in EasyOx compared with

Riesling and Grenache, showed PhenOx levels in the same range as these other two grapes. This result highlights a lower proportion of easily oxidisable compounds in the Viognier sample, in spite of a similar content of total phenolics.

It is important to emphasise the fact that the voltammetric profile and the relevant EasyOx and PhenOx values were obtained without any preliminary centrifugation, filtration or dilution of the sample. In this sense, the voltammetric approach discussed here represents a great advantage compared with conventional spectrophotometric techniques.

PRESSING Rapid assessment of phenolic extraction during pressing could provide great advantages to wineries in terms of optimised selection of press fractions, with more precise control of wine production and consequent cost benefits.

The results of voltammetric analyses of different press fractions are shown in Figure 5 for Grenache Blanc grapes.

As it can be seen, juice from pressing at 0.4 bars was characterised by higher signals in the region corresponding to hydroxicinnamic acids and other easily oxidisable compounds, with consequent increased EasyOx values. The juice

obtained from pressing until 1 bar resulted in much lower EasyOx values. The peak at approximately 800mV was also lower at 1 bar, so that overall the juice from 0.4 bar pressing exhibited higher PhenOx. Following a mixing and a further increase in pressure, the voltammetric profile of the juice changed. EasyOx values remained similar to the 1 bar juice, while PhenOx values significantly increased due to increased concentration of compounds with oxidation potential in the region around 800mV. This result is the combined action of increased pressure leading to greater extraction of skin components with higher oxidation potential and oxidation taking place during the press cycle, causing the loss of EasyOx compounds, as it will be further discussed later. Overall, these data indicate that voltammetric analysis of grape juice during pressing can provide an effective means to characterise the phenolic content and profile of different press fractions.

MUST CONTROLLED OXYGENATION Controlled oxygenation of must from grapes through the application of large doses of oxygen (typically several saturations) has been proposed as a means of removing easily oxidisable phenolics in white grape must, in order to prevent these compounds from

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EasyOx values ofoftwo musts during a series of sequential Figure 5.5.Voltammetric profiles Grenache blanc samples during pressing theFigure Figure Figure 5.Voltammetric Voltammetric profiles Grenache blanc samples during and pressing and the Figure 6.EasyOx EasyOxvalues values oftwo twomusts mustsduring duringa aseries seriesofofsequential sequential samples during pressing and the calculated phenolic oxygen saturations. calculated phenolic parametrs EasyOx and PhenOx calculated phenolic parametrs EasyOx and PhenOx oxygen oxygensaturations saturations parametres EasyOx and PhenOx

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participating in oxidative reactions in the finished must. Given that each must responds to oxygen application in a different way, one critical aspect for successful application of controlled oxidation is to be able to rapidly assess the actual degree of phenolic removal during the process, in order to avoid excessive or insufficient treatment.

Must obtained from the Riesling and Chardonnay grapes previously analysed were submitted to controlled oxygenation with consumption of three sequential oxygen saturations (Figure 6). Consistent with the data in Figure 4, Riesling must rapidly reacted with oxygen, with a substantial drop of the measured charge already upon consumption of the first oxygen saturation, and continuing up to the third saturation. In comparison, the Chardonnay must treated in the same conditions was far less reactive, with a relatively smaller drop only after the first saturation. Data collected by us so far indicate that EasyOx values lower than 20 should be achieved to have sufficiently low levels of easily oxidisable phenolics.

It can be seen that in the case of Riesling, three oxygen saturations were needed to

reach such values, while for Chardonnay only one saturation was sufficient to achieve adequate removal of must in easily oxidisable compounds. The existence of such difference in response emphasises the need for real-time measurements to assist winemakers in the execution of hyperoxidation operations, which can be done by the voltammetric technique developed.

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to optimise the conditions of must fining and must controlled oxidation. In addition, the method can be applied directly in the winery for real-time monitoring of the phenolic evolution during pressing and must controlled oxidation, improving the decision-making process in the winery.

REFERENCES Singleton, V.L. (1987) Oxygen with phenols and related reactions in musts, wines and model systems: Observations and practical implications. Am. J. Enol.

Vitic. 38:69-77.

Singleton, V. and Rossi Jr, J.A. (1965) Colorimetry of total phenlics with phosphomolybdicphosphotungstic acid reagents. Am. J. Enol. Vitic 3:144-158

These initial results concerning the application of a voltammetric procedure to routine analysis of phenolics in the winery show the potential for this techniques for white grape analysis and the management of pre-fermentation steps. The analytical technique allows the rapid characterisation of the phenolic profile of grapes with a user-friendly procedure, which is easily applicable to standard maturity checks. The results obtained can be used to select grapes for specific wine allocation, but also to finetune winemaking conditions as a function of the specific composition of individual grape batches. For example, it is possible

Kilmartin, P.A.; Zou, H. and Waterhouse, A.L. (2001) A cyclic voltammetry method suitable for characterising antioxidant properties of wine and wine phenolics. J. Agric. Food Chem. 49:1957–1965.

Kilmartin, P.A.; Zou, H. and Waterhouse, A.L. (2002) Correlation of wine phenolic composition versus cyclic voltammetry response. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 53:294-302 Martins, R.C.; Oliveira, R.; Bento, F.; Geraldo, D.; Lopes, V.L.; Guedes de Pinho, P.; Oliveira, C.M. and Silva Ferreira, A.C. (2008) Oxidation management of white wines using cyclic voltammetry and multivariate process monitoring. J. Agric. Food Chem. 56:12,09212,098.

WVJ

ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production The University of Adelaide National Wine and Grape Industry Centre would like to invite you to attend a free industry workshop:

How can we modulate flavour and alcohol levels in times of climate and market change? at: National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Wagga Wagga 19th May, 2015 9.00am – 5.00pm

|

This workshop will communicate the latest knowledge and technologies that will help the wine industry face the challenges of climate warming, water limitations, changing consumer preferences and increasing production costs in the production of wines of targeted alcohol and flavour profiles. Over 20 presentations will cover topics such as the berry sugar and potassium nexus, berry shrivel and cell death, optimisation

of early harvest regimes, the alcohol ‘sweet spot’ and the use of RO, the potential of non-Saccharomyces yeast and winemaking supplements to modulate sensory properties of wines, extraction of greater benefit from waste components of vinification, and much more. There will be opportunity for networking with the Training Centre participants representing major viticulture/wine businesses and research bodies.

For more information and to register please contact Robyn Harrington by phone 02 69332940 or email: rharrington@csu.edu.au by 6 May 2016.

We are looking forward to seeing you at this event.

| The ARC TC-IWP

adelaide.edu.au/tc-iwp/

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Berry shrivel significantly alters Shiraz grape and wine composition

By Katja Šuklje1, Xinyi Zhang1,2, Guillaume Antalick1, John W. Blackman1,2, Andrew C Clark1,2, Leigh M Schmidtke1,2 and Alain Deloire1 1 National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia 2 School of Agricultural and Wine Science, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia

Berry shrivel is an often reported occurrence in Shiraz. It is empirically associated with yield reduction and higher sugar content due to berry desiccation at late maturity stages. Wines made with a high proportion of shrivelled berries are usually described as alcoholic, sweet and often show a stewed fruit character. However, different types of berry shrivel can occur in a vineyard, leading to specific alterations of grape and wine composition. Despite the empirical evidence that berry shrivel affects yield and wine quality, the influence of berry shrivel on grape and wine composition has been studied to a limited degree. This study investigated the effect of berry shrivel occurring in a high yielding (18.6 ± 1.6kg/vine) Shiraz vineyard grown in the Riverina, in New South Wales, by measuring grape and wine composition differences at three harvest dates.

INTRODUCTION Berry shrivel occurs through grape berry water loss due to the alteration of the fruit water budget, when transpiration and potential water backflow exceeds the import of water into the berry through the phloem and xylem (Tilbrook and Tyerman 2009). Berry shrivel can have a significant economic effect, reducing yields by up to 25% (Rogiers et al. 2006).

Berry fresh mass loss is variable between seasons, sites and vineyards and it seems to be accelerated by higher temperatures, water constraints and/or stress and excessive bunch sun exposure (Bonada et al. 2015, Rogiers and Holzapfel 2015).

Four causes of berry shrivel are reported in the literature: 1. Due to sunburn, either before or after veraison, resulting in poor colour development in red varieties and raisin formation in severe occurrences (Krasnow et al. 2010) 2. Late season fruit dehydration, characterised by an increase in total soluble solids (TSS) (Krasnow et al. 2010, Shivashankara et al. 2013) 3. Bunch stem necrosis, characterised by necrotic rachis tissue affecting either the entire cluster or only bunch shoulders and tips (Holzapfel and Coombe 1998, Krasnow et al. 2010) 4. A sugar accumulation disorder resulting in soft, irregularshaped berries with low fresh weight, reduced anthocyanins and sugar accumulation (Bondada and Keller 2012, Knoll et al.

2010, Krasnow et al. 2009, Krasnow et al. 2010).

Depending on the cause, berry shrivel can occur before or after veraison, in both red and white varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Barbera, Grenache, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz and other cultivars (Fang et al. 2011, Fuentes et al. 2010). Shiraz is particularly prone to berry fresh weight loss in late ripening (McCarthy 1997, Rogiers and Holzapfel 2015).

The purpose of this investigation was to characterise

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the changes in grape and wine composition arising from shrivelled berries harvested at three different dates (Šuklje et al. 2016). Due to the fact that there are several causes of berry shrivel that are sometimes difficult to differentiate, all shrivelled berries were compared with non-shrivelled (control) berries. However, visual inspections of the vineyard suggested that bunch stem necrosis was the most abundant type of shrivel. Small-scale vinifications were carried out and the effects of grape berry shrivel on Shiraz wine volatile and non-volatile composition were analysed.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Shiraz grapes were sourced from a commercial vineyard located in Griffith (Riverina, New South Wales, Australia: 34°14’14”, 146°06’00”). This winegrowing region is classified as hot to very warm according to the Huglin index. The vineyard was generously irrigated during the season and was subsequently high yielding, with 92 ± 8 primary shoots per vine (n=23 vines) and an average yield of 18.6 ± 1.6 kg per vine (n=6 vines). Grapes were harvested sequentially at three harvest dates over ripening according to the berry sugar accumulation (Deloire 2013). The first harvest was conducted on 17 February 2015 (H1), second harvest on 1 March 2015 (H2) and the third harvest on 6 March 2015 (H3).

These corresponded to 12, 24 and 30 days after the slowdown of sugar accumulation per berry fresh mass (Deloire 2013), respectively. The H3 harvest preceded the commercial harvest date by three days. Berries were carefully excised from bunches and classified into two classes - shrivelled and non-shrivelled - based on visual assessment and the application of light finger pressure. Grape juice was analysed for basic parameters of maturity and nitrogen-containing compounds (see Table 1). Pilot-scale fermentations were conducted in 1L French Press coffee plungers. A comprehensive suite of wine volatiles were analysed and anthocyanins, polyphenols and tannins were measured.

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Table 1. Basic juice and wine parameters. Univariate ANOVA was used to compare data. Means followed by different letters in a row are significant at p < 0.05 (Fischer’s LSD). All stated uncertainty is the standard deviation of three replicates per treatment.

H1: first harvest date; H2: second harvest date; H3: third harvest date; S: shrivelled treatment; NS: non-shrivelled treatment.

H1S

H1NS

H2S

H2NS

H3S

H3NS

21.0±0.1d

23.0±0.10c

23.1±0.21c

24.1±0.27b

24.6±0.27a

24.4±0.10ab

Tartaric acid (g/L)

3.22±1.09ab

2.50±0.20b

3.70±0.25a

3.50±0.18a

3.78±0.51a

3.52±0.15a

Malic acid (g/L)

3.21±0.05b

3.40±0.01a

2.83±0.12d

3.00±0.03c

2.46±0.14e

2.39±0.04e

pH

4.35±0.02d

4.46±0.02c

4.59±0.02a

4.58±0.01a

4.56±0.01a

4.49±0.02b

FAN (mg N/L)

190.9±1.5e

244.9±1.5c

237.1±2.1d

264.9±2.3a

247.2±3.4c

257.1±4.5b

Ammonia (mg N/L)

30.7±0.6a

29.3±0.6b

26.0±0.0d

27.0±0.0c

27.3±0.6c

25.7±0.6d

Ethanol (% v/v)

10.24±0.18d

11.64 ±0.12c

11.44±0.06c

12.36±0.19b

12.79±0.04a

12.68±0.04a

Glycerol (g/L)

6.93±0.10e

8.63±0.07c

8.35±0.18d

8.96±0.010b

9.15±0.07a

9.31±0.011a

Total anthocyanins (mg/L)

207 ±9e

318±6d

260±5c

353±10b

355±5b

416±20a

Total tannins (g/L)

2.6±0.3b

2.7±0.1b

2.9±0.3b

2.9±0.3b

3.3±0.3a

3.6±0.2a

Total phenolics (a.u)

22.5±0.9d

24.8±0.9c

25.1±0.1c

27.0±0.6b

29.3±0.5a

30.9±1.9a

Concentration a Juice TSS (°Brix)

Wine

HARVEST DATE AND BERRY SHRIVEL MODIFIED GRAPE AND WINE COMPOSITION

SHRIVELLED BERRIES SHOWED DIFFERENT RIPENING TEMPO COMPARED WITH NON-SHRIVELLED BERRIES

In order to clarify the overall effect of harvest dates and berry shrivel on grape and wine chemical composition, statistical analysis (ANOVA-PCA) was conducted on all the measured parameters (grape, grape juice and wine general parameters; juice amino acids; and wine volatile chemical composition).

When considering the dataset as a whole, both harvest date and berry shrivel had a significant influence on the studied parameters (Figure 1A, B). All samples (three different harvest dates and two treatments, i.e shrivelled berries and non-shrivelled berries) could be classified into three groups according to the ‘harvest date’ (Figure 1A), corresponding to H1, H2 and H3, irrespective of shrivel. The samples could also be grouped into two clusters, representing shrivelled and nonshrivelled treatments, irrespective of the harvest date (Figure 1B). The clear separation of clusters suggest that both harvest date and berry shrivel independently influence grape and wine chemical composition.

Figure 2 (see page 34) illustrates that berry fresh mass was significantly influenced by shrivel. However, differences between shrivelled and non-shrivelled berries were minor for H2 and H3, despite the observed visual and tactile shape deformation differences. This observation may have been caused by larger berries undergoing faster water loss compared with their smaller counterparts (Rogiers and Holzapfel 2015).

The increase in TSS concentration was continuous from H1 to H3 for shrivelled berries and only from H1 to H2 for the nonshrivelled treatment. The TSS concentrations were significantly lower in shrivelled berries compared with non-shrivelled at H1 and H2, but the results suggest no significant differences at H3 (Figure 3A, see page 34). Sugar per berry in the non-shrivelled treatment remained stable over the ripening period, confirming that there was no further sugar loading into the berry (Figure 3B). This is consistent with previous studies that reported a ▶ slowdown of sugar

A.

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Figure 1. ANOVA-PCA conducted on the parameters measured on grapes, grape juice and wine A) Scores from ANOVA-PCA for the first two principal components for variable ‘harvest time’ B) Scores for ANOVA-PCA for the first two principal components for variable ‘treatment’.

H1: first harvest date; H2: second harvest date; H3: third harvest date; S: shrivelled treatment; NS: nonshrivelled treatment.

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BERRY SHRIVEL

A.

Figure 2. Berry fresh weight (g).

H1: first harvest date; H2: second harvest date; H3: third harvest date; S: shrivelled treatment; NS: non-shrivelled treatment.

Figure 3. A) Juice total soluble solids (TSS); B) sugar accumulation into the berry (mg/berry). H1: first harvest date; H2: second harvest date; H3: third harvest date; S: shrivelled treatment; NS: non-shrivelled treatment.

accumulation in berries at late ripening stage (Deloire 2013, Rogiers and Holzapfel 2015). Conversely, the shrivelled berries showed a continuous sugar accumulation from H1 to H3 (Figure 3B). Therefore, it seems plausible that shrivel in this study was associated with a decrease in the sugar accumulation rate. This is probably a consequence of a dysfunction in phloem and xylem unloading due to bunch stem necrosis.

Tartaric acid concentrations and pH were influenced by harvest date but not by berry shrivel (Table 1). Malic acid concentrations were lower in shrivelled berries than nonshrivelled berries for H1 and H2. The evolution of malic acid during ripening was, however, not affected by shrivel (Table 1).

Small variations between harvest dates and treatments for ammonia were noticed, with concentrations ranging between 25.7 and 30.7mg N/L. On the other hand, shrivel had a significant effect on free amino nitrogen (FAN). Juice from shrivelled berries had significantly lower FAN concentrations compared with their non-shrivelled counterparts, however the differences at H3 were less apparent (Table 1). Similarly to sugar accumulation, it appears that the shrivelled berries in this study were associated with a delay in the accumulation of amino acids.

WINE COMPOSITION REFLECTS GRAPE COMPOSITION Ethanol and glycerol concentrations increased from H1 to H3 wines for both S and NS treatments. Wines from shrivelled berries resulted in significantly lower glycerol and ethanol concentrations compared with non-shrivelled treatments, with the exception at H3 when most differences between the two factors decreased (Table 1). As ethanol and glycerol originate directly from yeast sugar metabolism, variations observed in wines were very similar to the sugar content variations measured in the corresponding berries.

Spectrophotometric analyses revealed significant differences in total wine anthocyanins, which were reduced in all wines from shrivelled berries. Reduction in total grape anthocyanins in Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon with berry shrivel has been previously observed (Fang et al. 2011, Shivashankara et al. 2013). In the present study, differences in total wine anthocyanins between shrivelled and non-shrivelled treatments reduced with maturity. Berry shrivel also resulted in significantly lower total polyphenol concentrations in wines, although the difference at H3 was not significant (Table 1).

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B.

Wine volatiles were analysed, with a particular interest in esters known to contribute to the fruity aroma of wines.

Various ester groups were altered differently according to the berry shrivel and maturity. Ethyl esters of branched acids were not altered by either shrivel or maturity, whereas small modifications in ethyl esters of fatty acids were noticed.

Higher alcohol acetates (HAA), an important group of esters linked to yeast sugar and nitrogen metabolism, were strongly influenced by berry shrivel and maturity. HAA concentrations generally increased with delayed harvest time and were higher in wines from non-shrivelled berries compared with shrivelled berries (Figure 4). Similarly, as observed for TSS and grape juice nitrogen composition, the differences in HAA between shrivelled and non-shrivelled treatments diminished by the third harvest date. These results suggest that the alterations of berry composition due to shrivel caused a modification of yeast metabolism that consequently influenced the final wine aromatic composition.

Two aromatic compounds, γ-nonalactone and ß-damascenone, previously reported to contribute to the stewed fruit aroma of red wines (Pons et al. 2008), were measured. γ-nonalactone was also suggested to be a possible marker of Merlot wines made with shrivelled berries at their late ripening stage (Dubordieu et al. 2012). Interestingly, concentrations of γ-nonalactone and ß-damascenone, with the exception of ß-damascenone at H3, were higher in wines from shrivelled berries (Figure 5A, B).

CONCLUSION Berry shrivel, in combination with the selected harvest dates, resulted in significant alterations to the volatile and non-volatile chemical composition in grapes and wine.

Contrary to the most common type of berry shrivel in Shiraz, caused by late season berry dehydration, a significant delay in ripening due to shrivel was noticed. Importantly, berry shrivel generally resulted in wines with significant decreases in anthocyanins, ethanol and ester concentrations. However, differences in most compounds between shrivelled and non-shrivelled treatments were less pronounced at the final harvest date. This study has provided new perspectives on the potential influence of berry shrivel and harvest times on wine composition. In particular, the capacity of berry shrivel to significantly alter wine style is suggested, but further investigations, including wine sensory analyses, are required.

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A.

Figure 4. Higher alcohol acetates concentrations (μg/L) in wines.

H1: first harvest date; H2: second harvest date; H3: third harvest date; S: shrivelled treatment; NS: nonshrivelled treatment.

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B.

Figure 5. A) γ-nonalactone and B) ß-damascenone concentrations (μg/L) in wines.

of volatile compounds responsible for prune aroma in prematurely aged red wines.

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56(13):5285-5290.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors thank Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers for their financial support through their investment body, Wine Australia, and the Australian Federal Government. Xinyi Zhang would like to thank the Vinifera Euromaster program (Montpellier SupAgro) for the scholarship supporting her studies in Australia. The authors also thank Florian Imbert (Bordeaux University) for his assistance in the field and laboratory during his internship.

Rogiers, S.Y.; Greer, D.H.; Hatfield, J.M.; Orchard, B.A. and Keller, M. (2006) Solute transport into Shiraz berries during development and late-ripening shrinkage.

American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 57(1):73-80.

Rogiers, S.Y. and Holzapfel, B.P. (2015) The plasticity of berry shrivelling in ‘Shiraz’: A vineyard survey. Vitis - Journal of Grapevine Research 54(1):1-8.

Shivashankara, K.S.; Laxman, R.H.; Geetha, G.A.; Roy, T.K.; Srinivasa Rao, N.K. and Patil, V.S. (2013) Volatile aroma and antioxidant quality of ‘Shiraz’ grapes at different stages of ripening. International Journal of Fruit Science 13(4):389-399. Šuklje, K.; Zhang, X.; Antalick, G.; Clark, A.C.; Deloire, A. and Schmidtke, L.M. (2016) Berry shriveling significantly alters Shiraz (Vitis vinifera L.) grape and wine chemical composition. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 64(4):870-880.

Tilbrook, J. and Tyerman, S.D. (2009) Hydraulic connection of grape berries to the vine: Varietal differences in water conductance into and out of berries, and potential for backflow. Functional Plant Biology 36(6):541-550.

REFERENCES

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Bonada, M.; Jeffery, D.W.; Petrie, P.R.; Moran, M.A. and Sadras, V.O. (2015) Impact of elevated temperature and water deficit on the chemical and sensory profiles of Barossa Shiraz grapes and wines. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 21(2):240-253.

Bonada, M.; Sadras, V.; Moran, M. and Fuentes, S. (2013) Elevated temperature and water stress accelerate mesocarp cell death and shrivelling, and decouple sensory traits in Shiraz berries. Irrigation Science 31(6):1317-1331.

Bondada, B. and Keller, M. (2012) Morphoanatomical symptomatology and osmotic behavior of grape berry shrivel. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 137(1):20-30.

Deloire, A. (2013) Physiological indicators to predict harvest date and wine style.

15th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference, Sydney, New South Wales, 13-18 July 47-50.

Dubordieu, D.; Pons, A. and Lavigne, V. (2012) Le vieillissement prématuré de l’arôme des vins rouges :identification de nouveaux marqueurs. Arômes du vin Toulouse -20 November.

Fang, Y.; Meng, J.; Zhang, A.; Liu, J.; Xu, T.; Yu, W.; Chen, S.; Li, H.; Zhang, Z. and Wang, H. (2011) Influence of shriveling on berry composition and antioxidant activity of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Shanxi vineyards. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 91(4):749-757.

Fuentes, S.; Sullivan, W.; Tilbrook, J. and Tyerman, S. (2010) A novel analysis of grapevine berry tissue demonstrates a variety-dependent correlation between tissue vitality and berry shrivel. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 16(2):327336.

Holzapfel, B.P. and Coombe, B.G. (1998) Interaction of perfused chemicals as inducers and reducers of bunchstem necrosis in grapevine bunches and the effects on the bunchstem concentrations of ammonium ion and abscisic acid. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 4(2):59-66.

Knoll, M.; Achleitner, D. and Redl, H. (2010) Sugar accumulation in Zweigelt grapes as affected by Traubenwelke. Vitis - Journal of Grapevine Research 49(3):101-106.

Krasnow, M.; Weis, N.; Smith, R.J.; Benz, M.J.; Matthews, M. and Shackel, K. (2009) Inception, progression, and compositional consequences of a berry shrivel disorder.

American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 60(1):24-34.

Krasnow, M.N.; Matthews, M.A.; Smith, R.J.; Benz, J.; Weber, E. and Shackel, K.A. (2010) Distinctive symptoms differentiate four common types of berry shrivel disorder in grape. California Agriculture 64(3):155-159.

Mccarthy, M.G. (1997) The effect of transient water deficit on berry development of cv. Shiraz (Vitis vinifera L.). Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 3(3):102108.

Pons, A.; Lavigne, V.; Eric, F.; Darriet, P. and Dubourdieu, D. (2008) Identification

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In vino veritas – investigating technologies to fight wine fraud

By Eric Wilkes, Martin Day, Markus Herderich and Dan Johnson The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO BOX 197, Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064

Managing director Dan Johnson

Many of the great wines of the world have been subject to claims of substitution or counterfeiting, damaging the reputation of the affected brands and countries of origin. This article describes recent work at the AWRI looking at analytical approaches to determine the origin of wine that could form an important part of global efforts to fight wine fraud.

T

he Grocery Manufacturers’ Association estimates that fraud may cost the global food industry between $US10 billion and $15 billion per year, affecting approximately 10% of all commercially sold food products (Johnson 2014). Wine is an attractive target for fraud both for high value iconic products where demand outstrips supply, and in the high volume section of the market. Wine fraud can involve a variety of different activities, including: • dilution or partial replacement with an alternative wine or water to increase the overall volume •

substitution with an alternate (cheaper) wine

•

artificial enhancement of wine through addition of an unapproved additive to improve colour or aroma

•

mislabelling, for example, intentional misrepresentation of country of origin, region, vintage, variety, or production techniques

•

misrepresentation of the geographic origin of a product through false customs documents, particularly for bulk shipments

•

counterfeiting of rare, collectible or well-known wines

•

wine theft and resale through unapproved channels.

In almost all cases, wine fraud is purely economic and does not pose a health risk to consumers.

TESTING THE AUTHENTICITY OF WINES Efforts to fight wine fraud can be broadly split into two areas: •

developing packaging solutions or other product attributes that can be used during manufacturing or at the point of sale to establish product authenticity

•

development of analytical tests which can positively identify the source of a given product.

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AT A GLANCE: • Fraud in the global food industry is estimated to cost between $10-15 billion per year • Wine fraud can involve product substitution or alteration, mislabelling, counterfeiting or sale of stolen goods • High profile cases of fraud have considerable potential to damage the reputation of wine producers • A recent AWRI project investigated the potential for a combination of analytical techniques to predict whether or not a wine was of Australian origin • A combination of strontium isotope ratios and trace metal concentrations gave excellent results in classifying wines as Australian or non-Australian, as well as indications that it could be used to identify the region of origin of Australian wines • Greater sample numbers and additional analytes will be needed to develop these promising results into a robust tool to fight wine fraud.

Attempts to establish robust analytical methods to verify a wine’s authenticity have been under way for many years, particularly in Europe, with mixed success. Some cases of adulteration and counterfeiting can be easily detected through obvious typographic errors on labels or the poor taste of wine, but others require sophisticated analytical approaches. Given the diverse range of methods used to commit wine fraud, no single solution exists. This AWRI report focuses on recent investigations of analytical approaches to authenticate the inherent attributes of a wine.

COMBINING TESTS FOR MORE ROBUST RESULTS One possible avenue to produce more robust tools for determining the origin of a wine (or any food or beverage) is to use more than one unrelated parameter.

Each parameter must be in some manner influenced by the product’s origin, but not necessarily sufficient on its own to provide definitive confirmation.

When used in combination, however, they W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR N A L MARC H /APRIL 2016

can provide increasingly robust results for the identification of provenance. The AWRI recently completed a proof-ofconcept project to investigate whether a combination of different analytical techniques could be used to determine whether or not a wine was made from Australian grapes. A secondary aim was to find out if the chosen parameters could also identify the region of origin of Australian wine.

For the study, 231 commercial wines from major wine regions of Australia were sourced along with 37 international wines from a selection of the major bulk wine-producing countries. The samples were evenly split between red and white wines, specifically Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, with the exception of the red wines from Tasmania where Pinot Noir wines were chosen. The analytical methods chosen were strontium isotope ratios (namely the ratio of 87Sr/86Sr), the concentration of a range of trace metals found in wine and the wines’ spectra in the mid-infrared, near-infrared, ultraviolet and visible regions.

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IS THIS WINE AUSTRALIAN? For the primary question of the study, ‘Is it possible to differentiate wine produced in Australia from those produced in other countries?’, the first step was to review the strontium ratio data in isolation. Using a simple one-way ANOVA test, a distinct difference was found between the 231 wines produced in Australia and the 37 wines from other major wine-producing countries (Figure 1).

However, while the means were statistically significantly different, the range of results showed a degree of overlap (Figure 2). This suggests that in itself, the strontium isotope ratio of any given wine is not enough to confidently classify a wine as being ▶ Australian or not.

0.712

0.720

/ 86Sr

0.711

0.710

87Sr

/ 86Sr

Isotope ratios are generally not affected by winemaking processes. The relative amounts of trace metals are, however, more likely to be influenced by winemaking. Hence, it was important to understand if the chosen parameters were influenced by winemaking practices. Or, to put it another way, to find out if changes in winemaking practice could cloud the provenance determined using the analytical data.

Statistical analysis of the combined trace metals and strontium isotope data showed that once the influence of elements known to be influenced by winemaking practices (e.g. copper) had been removed, there was essentially no difference between the red and white wine samples. This gives high confidence that wine production practices are having little effect on the chosen analytical measures because red and white wines are made by very different processes.

The various spectral techniques investigated were, however, much more dependent on the organic chemistry of the wine in question and, hence, more open to influence from winemaking style and practice. While the spectral data showed some differentiation based on provenance, it was much less robust than that supplied by the isotopic ratios or trace metal concentrations. As such, the use of spectral measures was not pursued further.

87Sr

DOES WINEMAKING HAVE A BIG INFLUENCE ON THE ANALYTICAL PARAMETERS?

0.715

0.710

0.709

0.705

0.708

Non-Australian

Australian

Figure 1. Comparison of the mean value for strontium isotope ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the Australian and international wines.

Aus-87/86 Sr

Australian

Non-Aus_87/86 Sr Non-Australian

Figure 2. Box plot showing the median and distribution of the strontium isotope ratios for Australian (n=231) and international wines (n=37).

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To further strengthen the ability to differentiate the wines, the trace metal concentration data was combined with the strontium ratio data. Statistical analysis showed 11 trace elements (As, Be, Cr, Cu, Li, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sn, V and Zn) were the most promising. The data for copper and tin were removed due to the possible influences from winemaking and packaging processes. The remaining data, in combination with the strontium isotope data, were analysed using partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLSDA), a statistical technique commonly used to understand the relationships between different sets of data. The rate of correct classification from this analysis was 94.7%, with 187 out of 194 Australian wines correctly assigned, and 30 out of 37 wines being correctly assigned to the ‘other countries’ group. While not yet ‘foolproof’, this is a strong result.

It is expected that if the data set were increased to include a much larger set of international wines and an increased range of Australian wines, then a robust classification tool could be developed, particularly if further unrelated analytical measures (such as the stable isotope ratios of other elements such as boron or lithium) were included.

WHERE IN AUSTRALIA IS IT FROM?

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

As an extension of the above study the data was next used to determine if it was possible to identify the Australian wines’ region of origin using similar techniques.

Australia has 67 defined geographical indicators. However, the limited nature of the dataset meant that it was not practical to try to achieve this level differentiation and, instead, analysis was conducted based on the eight production zones represented by the wines in the set. After statistical analysis it could be seen that there was significant grouping of the different production zones (Figure 3) in the PLS-DA data.

Further inspection of these results suggested they were intimately linked to the underlying geology of the regions being studied. This was confirmed by overlaying geological and soil data on the zones and combining those with similar underlying geology. Using this information, it was possible to allocate 85% of wines to their correct region. The strong influence of geology is promising as it suggests that the dataset is likely to become more robust and allow for even more detailed differentiation as the number of wines and regions analysed increases and other geologicallybased parameters are introduced.

It is clear that the approach of using a combination of unrelated analytes such as stable isotope ratios and trace metal concentrations has potential for determining the provenance of wines, both at the country and regional level. The project also suggests that there are unique characteristics derived from the various Australian wine regions, and that they differ from the rest of the world.

This study provides the basis for a database and methodology to evaluate the provenance of wine labelled as Australian.

However, to provide a truly robust tool the dataset needs to be extended significantly to provide the levels of confidence required in the case of disputes. This extension will need to include a much larger group of international wines and a range of other analytes such as other stable isotope ratios, to help further differentiate wine from regions around the world and within Australia. It will also be important to investigate the effect of varietal and vintage changes. A further target will be to develop analytical methods to identify the variety of grapes a wine has been made from. This will require different analytical approaches from those outlined here, with DNA and protein analysis techniques likely to be investigated.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1

This work was supported by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body Wine Australia, with matching funds from the Australian Government. The AWRI is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster, in Adelaide. The authors thank Wine Australia for assistance with sourcing samples, and Ella Robinson for her editorial assistance.

0.8

0.6

Factor-2 (11%, 9%)

0.4

0.2

0

-0.2

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING Everstine, K.; Spink, J. and Kennedy, S. (2013) Economically motivated adulteration (EMA) of food: common characteristics of EMA incidents. J. Food Protection 76(4):723-735.

-0.4

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Frank, M. (2015) Counterfeit wine goes global.

Decanter 40(11):39-41.

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Factor-1 (57%, 8%)

1

2

Barossa Valley

Margaret River

Central Ranges

Tasmania

Yarra Valley

Big Rivers

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Hunter Valley

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Figure 3. Grouping of Australian wines by production zone after statistical analysis of trace metal and strontium isotope data. Dotted ellipses are for clarity of groupings only and are not statistically derived.

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Johnson, R. (2014) Food fraud and ‘economically motivated adulteration’ of food and food ingredients.

Congressional Research Service Report https://www. fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43358.pdf

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Vineyard terroir – is there a link with soil microbiology?

By Melanie Weckert, Senior Research Scientist (Plant Pathology/Soil Microbiology) Department of Primary Industries, National Wine & Grape Industry Centre, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678. Email: melanie.weckert@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Recent research has emerged indicating that soil microbes may have a role to play in wine quality, Melanie writes.

V

ineyard terroir – what does it really mean? It is well known that regions with different climate and soil can produce completely different wines from the fruit of identical cultivars and clones. How does this happen? Well, the climate is an obviously important factor. Regions with long, cool months before harvest will produce different wines from those that have short, hot seasons.

But, we also know of regions with the same climate where the wine quality

differs between vineyards, or even within a single vineyard. Some factors involved in these differences might include geology, aspect and altitude. Interestingly, we are now also starting to see research results indicating that soil microbes might also have a role in wine quality.

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH Chris Penfold (University Adelaide, SA), Andy Whiteley (University Western Australia, WA) and I currently have AGWA

funding to look at the effects on soil microbial biodiversity, vine health and wine quality of different under-vine soil management systems (perennial grasses and legumes) within vineyards in South Australia and NSW. At the same time, we are analysing the microbial biodiversity ‘signature’ (bacteria, fungi, yeasts) on the berry skin. Why? Our hypothesis is that these may be important to wine quality because their presence on berry skins inevitably will influence the fermentation ▶ process.

It is now considered to be likely that changes in community structures of soil microbes indirectly influence wine characteristics.

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SOIL MICROBIOLOGY

Prior to this research, we showed using different analytical methods (traditional culturing studies, molecular studies such as T-RFLP, and the Biolog Ecoplate) that under-vine floor management techniques (mulches, composts, herbicides or cultivated treated controls) produced different grapevine rhizosphere microbial ‘signatures’ in SA and NSW1,2.

NEW ZEALAND RESEARCH: A MICROBIAL ASPECT TO TERROIR A number of viticultural microbiology researchers have recently published papers with interesting results, supporting the idea that microbial ‘signatures’ may contribute to the distinctiveness of wines.

The first of these were University of Auckland researchers who demonstrated regional delineations in the grape berry skin yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) populations in New Zealand’s North Island3. These researchers concluded: “if different regions harbour different communities and populations, as we have shown, these may, in part, contribute to the distinctiveness of wines deriving from that area: that is, there is a microbial aspect to terroir”. Soon afterwards, University of Auckland researchers furthered their research by using next generation sequencing to demonstrate regional differences in grape bunch fungal signatures in four major New Zealand viticultural regions (West Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough and Central Otago)4. In 2015, the NZ team then went on to show that regional S. cerevisiae yeast signatures, collected from native plants, vineyards and spontaneous ferments of fruit from six major regions spanning 1000km across New Zealand, were positively correlated with different NZ wine phenotypes, giving further support to the

concept that there could be a microbial aspect to terroir5,6.

USA RESEARCH University of California (Davis) researchers have also been busy in this area. This research team showed that grape-associated microbial biogeography was non-randomly associated with regional, varietal, and climatic factors across multiscale viticultural zones in California7. These researchers further used next generation sequencing to identify distinctive soil microbial communities associated with different American Viticultural Areas (AVA), thus linking the terroir of wine back to the soil-borne microbial communities8.

An international team (from California, Illinois, North Carolina, Chicago, New York, Massachusetts, Spain and China) then demonstrated a ‘native’ microbial fingerprint between the microorganisms of the winegrape must, grapevine vegetative structures and fruit, and the microorganisms of the vine row soil9.

These international research findings show good support for the soil as a reservoir for microbial populations that colonise grape skins. Dispersal of soil microbes onto the grapevine bunch zone can occur through rain splash, dust from tillage and air movement10. Alternatively, berries can be colonised by endophytic bacteria from the root environment11,12.

Winegrapes harbour a wide range of microbes originating from the surrounding environment, predominantly the soil. As it is now considered to be likely that changes in community structures of soil microbes indirectly influence wine characteristics, we need to do more work in Australia to investigate this important research area.

REFERENCES 1 Whitelaw-Weckert M.A.; Rahman, L.; Hutton, R. and Coombes, N. (2007) Permanent swards increase soil microbial counts in two Australian vineyards.

Applied Soil Ecology 36:224-232.

2 Alonso, M.; Penfold, C.; Raman, H. and Whitelaw-Weckert, M.A. (2016) Changes in grapevine rhizosphere microbial populations after application of vineyard soil amendments (in preparation).

3 Gayevskiy, V. and Goddard, M.R. (2012) Geographic delineations of yeast communities and populations associated with vines and wines in New Zealand. The ISME Journal 6:1281-1290.

4 Taylor, M.W.; Tsal, P.; Anfang, N.; Ross, H.A. and Goddard, M.R. (2014) Pyrosequencing reveals regional differences in fruit-associated fungal communities. Environmental Microbiology 16:28482858.

5 Knight, S. and Goddard, M.R. (2015) Quantifying separation and similarity in a Saccharomyces cerevisiae metapopulation. The ISME Journal 9:361370.

6 Knight, S.; Klaere, S.; Fedrizzi, B. and Goddard, M.R. (2015) Regional microbial signatures positively correlate with differential wine phenotypes: evidence for a microbial aspect to terroir. Scientific Reports 5:14233.

7 Bokulich, N.A.; Thorngate, J.H.; Richardson, P.M. and Mills, D.A. (2013) Microbial biogeography of wine grapes is conditioned by cultivar, vintage, and climate. PNAS E139-148.

8 Burns, K.N.; Kluepfel, D.A.; Strauss, S.L.; Bokulich, N.A.; Cantu, D. and Steenwerth, K.L. (2015) Vineyard soil bacterial diversity and composition revealed by 16S rRNA genes: differentiation by geographic features. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 91:232-247.

9 Zarraonaindia, I.; Owens, S.M.; Weisenhorn, P.; Hampton-Marcell, J.; Lax, S.; Bokulich, N.A.; Mills, D.A.; Martin, G.; Taghavi, S.; van der Lelie, D. and Gilbert, J.A. (2015) The soil microbiome influences grapevine-associated microbiota. MBio 6, e0252702514.

10 Martins, G.; Lauga, B.; Miot-Sertier, C.; Mercier, A.; Lonvaud, A.; Soulas, M-L.; Soulas, G. and Masneuf-Pomarède, I. (2013) Characterization of epiphytic bacterial communities from grapes, leaves, bark and soil of grapevine plants grown, and their relations. PLoS One 8:e73013.

11 Compant, S.; Mitter, B.; Colli-Mull, J.G.; Gangl, H. and Sessitsch, A. (2011) Endophytes of grapevine flowers, berries, and seeds: identification of cultivable bacteria, comparison with other plant parts, and visualization of niches of colonization.

Microbial Ecology 62:188 –197.

12 Gilbert, J.A.; van der Lelie, D. and Zarraonainda, I. (2014). Microbial terroir for wine grapes. PNAS 111, 5-6.

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SOIL HORIZON

Describing your soil

By Geoff Kew Kew Wetherby Soil Survey, PO Box 23 Yankalilla, South Australia 5203. Email: geoff@soilprofile.com.au

The 2015 International Year of Soil might be over, but the need for soils to be described and understood is still present. Having discussed soil texture (May/June issue) and soil structure (September/October issue), Geoff now turns to soil profile and helps growers interpret what they see when they excavate or auger a soil.

A

‘soil profile’ is defined as a vertical section of soil from the surface through all its horizons to parent material, or a selected depth or other consolidated material. The best way to observe a soil profile in a vineyard is to excavate a soil pit to a depth of 1.5m (150cm). This depth accounts for most of the vine’s root growth, depending on soil material. Other methods for observing soil profiles include any vertical exposure (for example, a road cutting), an undisturbed soil core or a disturbed auger boring.

The first rule for describing a soil profile is to describe what you see and not what you want to see. Secondly, don’t focus on the top 10-20cm, but look at the whole profile. Once the soil pit has been excavated, step back at a distance and look over the whole soil profile. Look to see how deep the topsoil (usually the sandy or loamy textured materials) is and what is underneath. Is there clay below the topsoil and does it look really ‘tight’? Or is it ‘friable

Figure 1

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and crumbly’? Is there weathered rock at depth (allowing drainage) or is there more tight clay? Are there bands of gravel or stone? What are the colour changes?

Let’s start by looking at four soil profiles.

What do you see? The first step is to look at the obvious changes or soil horizons and record the depths of those changes. It’s okay to measure to the nearest 5cm as the soil horizons are never a straight horizontal line. In fact, the boundaries can be sharp, clear or diffuse.

Soil 1, Barossa Valley (Figure 1) has major changes at about 35cm and then at 75cm. The soil above 35cm is the topsoil ‘A’ horizon with loamy soil textures. From 35cm to 75cm is the clay ‘B’ horizon, and below 75cm the amount of rock increases with depth to the ‘C’ horizon. These are the major features of the soil profile that you observe in the ‘whole profile look’ approach. Looking more closely shows there is a lighter colour just above 35cm from about 25-35cm. This is a bleached

horizon due to water not penetrating the clay ‘B’ horizon below. The clay below the topsoil in this photograph I described as angular blocky. Vine roots should colonise all the topsoil to 35cm but will only go a further 50cm into the clay ‘B’ horizon. This clay could be ripped in a new development.

Soil 2, Barossa Valley (Figure 2) has major changes at 20cm and 40cm and then a gradual change in colour from 40-140cm. The soil up to 20cm has more organic matter and there are many roots within this horizon. Below, however, the soil is bleached and coarse-textured loamy sand is present which has been leached due to the impermeable clay ‘B’ horizon underneath. Looking more closely at the clay ‘B’ horizon (from 40-140cm), the clay changes colour below approximately 65cm and is mottled in appearance. The mottling is from a mixing with sandy material making a sandy clay texture. Vine roots will colonise the first 20cm and, to a lesser extent, the bleached soil to 40cm.

Figure 2 W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR N A L MARC H /APRIL 2016

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Vine roots will only penetrate the slowly permeable clay below the topsoil another 20-30cm. The aim of soil improvement in this case would be to build up the bleached layer by incorporating fine mulch to improve waterholding capacity and root growth. The soil pH of the bleached topsoil would be expected to be low and would require agricultural lime. Gypsum may be required in the clay below the topsoil if it is sodic, that is, dispersive with an exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) greater than six.

Soil 3, Riverland (Figure 3) is at first glance devoid of any changes, but look again. At about 65cm the soil is darker in colour and this relates to an increase in soil texture from loamy sand above to sandy loam below 65cm. The white lines in the photograph are actual plant roots and it can be seen that they reach to the

Figure 3

bottom of the soil pit (130cm). There would be no soil restrictions to vine root growth if this soil was planted but irrigation management would be critical. The loamy sand topsoil has high soil permeability and low readily available waterholding capacity; over–irrigation could result in waterlogging in a lower part of the landscape.

Soil 4, Eyre Peninsula (Figure 4) has distinctive features and is a calcareous soil profile. There are major changes at 45cm and 95cm. Looking closely there is a change below 20cm. This is an increase in soil texture from sandy loam (SL) above to clay loam (CL) below, as shown by the scratch marks from the hoepick. Plant roots (in this case saltbush) have colonised the topsoil ‘A’ horizons to 45cm, but are not obvious below this depth. At 45-95cm there are large 3-5cm calcrete fragments, but below 95cm the calcrete fragments are

smaller. Vine roots should colonise 50cm into the calcrete soil materials.

The key things to remember about describing your vineyard soil are: •

a backhoe pit will give you the best soil face to examine after you remove the smear from the backhoe bucket

•

look for the obvious changes first, then step back and look at the ‘whole soil profile’

•

use soil colour, mottling, presence of stones and gravels, soil texture and structure and even plant roots as a guide

•

don’t focus on the top 10-20cm of the soil profile, as is the case with most fertiliser management

•

record the depths to the nearest 5cm, as soil boundaries are WVJ rarely flat.

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TONY HOARE

Grapevine scale – sucking the profits from vineyards

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

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rapevine scale (Parthenolcanium persicae) and frosted scale ( pruinosum) are sap-sucking insects that feed on many different tree crops in Australia including winegrapes. The scale insect has various family members with the most common Australian vineyard pest being grapevine scale. In high levels of infestation the effects of scale can lead to the rejection of winegrapes. It is also thought that they are having a damaging effect in reducing yield and spreading virus and botrytis. Due to its lifecycle it is a difficult pest to control with chemicals and although there are biological controls, their effectiveness is not yet well known. What is this pest, how is it affecting Australian vineyards and what control options are being investigated?

THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM Jenny Venus, from Landmark Strathalbyn, in South Australia, has begun a study into scale in various regions throughout the state. The study, which has been funded by Wine Australia, was prompted after Jenny’s field observations of clients’ vineyards and a near rejection of fruit from a client’s vineyard severely affected by scale. The study aims to find out the following: • identify scale species affecting vineyards • assess the geographical scope of the pest and varietal susceptibility • the effectiveness of chemical controls.

Jenny held the most successful AWRI webinar to date recently to discuss the scale issue in Australian vineyards. It attracted almost 80 participants which could be interpreted as a measure of importance of the issue of scale to Australia winegrape growers. She continues to work closely with Wine Australia and Dr Paul Cooper from ANU to research the cause, effect and solution to scale damage in vineyards.

During field grafting last season, colleagues and I noticed a high percentage of vineyards with scale infestations. These observations occurred during spring when we removed bark to expose the adult scale on the trunk. The scale are usually

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associated with an infestation of aggressive black ants. The ants farm the scale and move them around to supply themselves with the ‘honeydew’ the scale suck from the vascular system of the vines. We have noticed the defensive reaction of the ants to attack which bite us after exposing the scale under the bark.

LIFECYCLE OF SCALE IN VINEYARDS Scale hatches in October when the nymphs (crawlers) travel to the backs of leaves. They spend the summer in the leaves and are visible under x20 magnification until they move into spurs around harvest. From the spur they move under the bark where they begin to breed around mid-August.

The activity of the scale and level of infestation seems to be related to climate.

Field observations suggest that scale infestations have increased with warmer winter weather which has aided their breeding cycle. Regions with mild yet cool and wet winters seem to be more prone to scale activity. Dry seasonal weather also seems to be adverse to scale activity.

SYMPTOMS OF SCALE DAMAGE Scale under the bark of vines is identifiable by their disc shape of varying colours and they usually occur in clusters.

During this stage of their lifecycle ants are very obvious as the scale have a strong symbiotic relationship with them. The ants feed from the sticky exudate commonly referred to as ‘honeydew’ which the scale suck from the vines and the ants favour as a food source. In return the ants provide the scale with protection from natural predators by attacking them. What exudate the ants don’t consume remains on the vine surfaces and is then infected by secondary moulds which give a black appearance to vine surfaces. This is referred to as ‘sooty mould’ because of its resemblance to fine black soot.

During summer the nymphs are visible on the backs of leaves where they feed on sap and release the honeydew. Leaf W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR N A L MARC H /APRIL 2016

surfaces have a wet look which can appear shiny. Leaves are sticky and there will be noticeable ant activity. In severe infestations, leaves will almost be dripping and drip lines will glisten. Symptoms are often mistaken for mealybug which releases similar exudates and leaves vine surfaces with an oily appearance as well as sooty moulds. The blackening on leaves can also be confused with powdery mildew in some cases.

IMPLICATIONS OF SCALE DAMAGE Reduced vigour The honeydew caused by scale on vine leaf surfaces has the effect of lowering vine vigour. The coating of sooty mould resulting from the honeydew on leaves reduces the leaves’ photosynthetic potential by creating a barrier between the chloroplasts and sunlight. The removal of sap by the scale from the plant also contributes to lower carbohydrates available for plant function.

Scale also acts as a vector for viruses which can also devigourate vines.

Reduced yield Scale can reduce yields in vineyards in a number of ways. First, the lower vigour of vines infected with scale is usually correlated with a reduced yield.

Secondly, scale can cause the rejection or downgrading of fruit due to the presence of secondary moulds and the greasy appearance of fruit. Another potential effect of scale could be the presence of high numbers of ants in bunches at harvest which may cause a taint when processed at the winery.

Limiting topworking Scale can limit the potential to topwork/ field graft a vineyard. Scale has the ability to transport viruses to healthy vines. One of the limiting factors in field grafting vines is incompatibility caused by viruses.

Nuredin Habili (School of Agriculture, Food & Wine, University of Adelaide) has recently researched the issue and found a positive relationship between viruses and scale spread in vineyards. The devigourating effect of scale can also compromise the V31N2

TONY HOARE

Adult grapevine scale can be found in clusters under the bark of vines during spring (above) while during summer the nymphs are visible on the backs of leaves where they feed on sap and release honeydew (below) (Photo: Jenny Venus).

success of field grafting by lowering vine health.

Greater susceptibility to botrytis Scale nymphs on leaves can move to bunches where they can cause mechanical damage to berries. The damage caused can lead to access points for botrytis infection to occur in favourable conditions. Average winery thresholds for botrytis infections vary. In general, rejection of fruit occurs past 5% infection.

Secondary mould infections The honeydew brought to the surface by scale is a source of nutrition for secondary moulds. These are mainly black in appearance. There is usually a number of moulds present together on a vine leaf or trunk. The secondary moulds can reach a level where they can prevent leaves from photosynthesising and limit a vine's potential to grow.

SPREAD OF VIRUS Grapevine scale (Parthenolecanium persicae) has been shown in recent research by Habili et al. (2016) to be a vector for Shiraz Disease viruses GLRaV-3 and GVA in South Australian vineyards. The mobility of scale which is transferred by ants to other plants and through the movement of nymph crawlers means there is a serious threat to Australian vineyards of an increased spread in Shiraz Disease viruses. Pruning diseased vines then spreads the viruses further. The V3 1N 2

symptoms of these viruses according to Habili et al. (2016) are: • late budburst in spring and/or restricted spring growth • poorly lignified canes, red leaves with red veins, leaf margins curl downwards and turn leathery • poor growth, few bunches and death • retention of leaves through winter.

The association of scale with these damaging viruses has implications for the viability of vineyards, the ability to top work (graft), and the use of vine material for future plantings of Australia’s most widely planted variety.

CONTROL OPTIONS FOR SCALE Chemical A number of chemical controls are available for scale, however they are quite often ineffective because of the difficulties in reaching the target which is covered by bark in its dormant stage. This makes penetration difficult and off target drift can lead to expensive wastage of chemical. Use of a recycling spray unit will improve spray efficiency and timing of the spray should coincide with movement of the scale from beneath bark into the canopy. Monitoring for this movement will further increase effectiveness of the dormancy oil sprays.

Registered oil sprays for grapevine scale are as follows (AWRI ‘Dog Book’ 2016): • paraffinic oil - Bioclear, BioPest, Heavy Paraffinic Dormant Spray Oil, Trump Spray Oil (dormant sprays only) • petroleum oil - All Seasons White Oil, D-C-Tron Plus Spray Oil, Sacoa Summer Spray Oil, Stifle, Vicol Summer Oil, Vicol Winter Oil (dormant sprays only) • spirotetramat (suppression only) - 23 Movento 240 SC (use no later than EL18); this is currently the only chemical control available for targeting the lifecycle of scale when they are more active in the canopy.

Trials Currently, new chemical control options are being evaluated in field trials for their effectiveness: • Applaud – currently effective in mealybug control and showing promise with scale control • Lorsban • Samurai – a systemic spray showing potential with early trials.

Biological There are six species of parasitoid wasps which have shown to target grapevine scale.

Of these, two in particular, Metaphycus W I N E & VITICULTUR E JO UR NA L MARC H /APRIL 2016

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maculipennis and Coccophagus lycymnia, have shown to be the most effective.

Green lacewings larvae (Mallada signatus) and brown lacewings (Micromus tasmaniae) have been shown to have some effectiveness as biological controls of scale by feeding on soft shell scale and crawlers.

These are both common in Australian vineyards and providing pollen sources such as buckwheat or phacelia within the midrow and vineyard surrounds enables their populations to become more effective as biological controls of scale. The problem that reduces their effectiveness is the symbiotic relationship the scale have with ants. Ants protect the scale from natural predators. Any effective biological control of scale it seems will also have to address ant control. The ‘ladybug’ Cryptoleamus montruzieri has shown evidence that this predator of mealybug is also effective as a control of scale.

Control ants While there is no registered control of ants in Australian vineyards, baiting stations on the perimeter of vineyards may provide some control.

Scale populations have steadily been increasing in some Australian winegrowing regions in recent years. The difficulties of targeting the pest with controls, either chemical or biological, have been largely ineffective. The added issue of scale spreading debilitating Shiraz Disease viruses and potentially other viruses has elevated scale as a serious pest of Australian vineyards. At this stage research is under way to trial controls such as systemic chemical controls that can be applied post-harvest through drip systems to control the scale problem.

Effective biological controls do exist for non-conventional vineyards, however their efficacy is severely limited by the presence of ants. The alarm has been sounded and hopefully research into this pest can resolve any potential wide-scale problems in the future.

REFERENCES Venus, J., Landmark Strathalbyn, South Australia, pers. com.

Bernard, M.; Horne, P.A.; Papacek, D.; Jacometti, M.A.; Wratten, S.D.; Evans, K.J.; Herbert, K.S.; Powell, K.S.; Rakimov, A.; Weppler, R.; Kourmouzis, T. and Yen, A.L. (2007) Guidelines for environmentally sustainable wine grape production in Australia: IPM adoption self-assessment guide for growers. Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker 518: 24-35.

Habili, N.; Wu, Q. and Pagay, V. (2016) Virusassociated Shiraz Disease may lead Shiraz to become an endangered variety in Australia. Wine & Viticulture Journal 3(1): 47-50.

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VINE NUTRITION

Vineyard nitrogen management and must and wine composition

By Bruno Holzapfel1 and Michael Treeby2 1 Senior Research Scientist - Perennial Physiology, NSW DPI (National Wine & Grape Industry Centre) 2 Group Leader - Horticulture Production Sciences, DEDJTR (Sunraysia Horticulture Centre) INTRODUCTION Vineyard nitrogen (N) management affects the N status of vines which, in turn, influences the spread — and concentrations — of nitrogenous compounds (i.e. contain N) in berries at harvest. Some nitrogenous compounds are used by yeast to assist in the fermentation of grape sugars to ethanol.

These compounds include most free amino acids and ammonium (NH).

Two amino acids, arginine and proline, are more often than not the most dominant amino acids in must (Figure 1), but proline is one amino acid that cannot be utilised by yeast. Ammonium concentrations decline as berries mature,

and may amount to around 10% of YAN by harvest from a high of 50% at veraison.

The majority of grape N and amino acids are present in the flesh and skins.

The rate of fermentation is directly related to the amount of YAN available to yeast. Figure 2 shows the relationship between amino N (a significant component of YAN) in Shiraz must at the start of fermentation and consumption rate of soluble solids over the first week of fermentation. In this example, musts at the higher end of the amino N scale were fermenting at twice the rate of musts at the lower end of amino N scale.

Besides fermenting slowly, low YAN levels can result in a ‘stuck ferment’; fermentation stops but the fermentation

is not complete. Low YAN levels can also cause the production of undesirable compounds such as hydrogen sulphide.

At the other extreme, excessive levels of YAN lead to fast ferments that appear to be ‘boiling’. Such ferments may require cooling, and lead to the production of urea, which may cause further problems.

A range of 250-350mg YAN/L of must is considered optimum for white grape ferments, but a lower range is considered optimum for red grape ferments due to the longer contact time between skins and the fermenting must.

Insufficient must YAN levels are commonly corrected in wineries by the addition of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP). But, to avoid raising must YAN

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AT A GLANCE • Vineyard nitrogen (N) supply affects vine N status and the amount of N in berries that yeast can use (also known as yeast assimilable N, or YAN for short) during fermentation • N mobilisation from leaves to grapes is an important determinant of how much YAN is present in the berries at harvest • Petiole N and early YAN concentrations are useful indicators of berry YAN levels at harvest • Measurement of must YAN levels prior to fermentation is important to determine additional yeast requirements • Final wine flavour characteristics are influenced by the composition and amounts of YAN in the must to excessive levels, DAP additions must be made in reference to YAN levels in the unadulterated must as well as the amount of sugar that needs to be converted to ethanol by the yeast. In other words, YAN levels in the grapes, and the maturity of those grapes, must be known.

Figure 1. Changes in Riesling juice N as YAN, all free amino acids, arginine, proline and NH from veraison to harvest (adapted from Holzapfel et al. 2014). growth, leading to an undesirable reduction of some berry components (e.g. anthocyanins, terpenes).

Herein lies a balancing act: low vine N status can result in poor cluster initiation and fruitset, and smaller berry size. Fortunately, it is the N taken up by vines during the postharvest period that most affects bud initiation, fruitset and the initial stages of berry growth.

This is because up to about flowering, it is N from reserves laid down before leaf fall the previous season that is the most important source of N for spring growth. Uptake of N from the soil has

Figure 2. Relationship between Shiraz must amino N at the start of fermentation and the consumption of soluble solids over the first week of fermentation. A soluble o solids consumption rate of 1 Baumé/ day is viewed as optimum (adapted from Holzapfel and Treeby 2013). started by flowering, but for all intents and purposes, vine N status at flowering is a reflection of N supply the previous season, particularly in the postharvest period.

These considerations are important in the management of grape YAN levels.

There is a wide range in the efficiency of the various ways of supplying N to vines. Foliar application and fertigation are more effective than ▶ soil application.

VINEYARD N SUPPLY AND MUST N The main factor affecting N uptake is the amount of N fertiliser applied and the timing of its application. Figure 3A (see page 48) shows that application of 40kg N/ha over summer results in higher berry N compared with the same amount applied after harvest the previous season. Irrigation management is also important, but to a lesser extent (Figure 3B, see page 48).

The amount of N applied is usually based on petiole N levels at flowering (i.e. ‘vine N status’) and the current season’s crop load. Berry N is related to the N status of the vine, so the larger the crop the greater that N supply during summer needs to be to bring YAN up to a suitable level. Conversely, the smaller the crop, the less the summer N supply needs to be to avoid raising YAN to excessive levels. Oversupply of N can also negatively affect vine balance, predominantly through excessive canopy

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Up until about flowering, it is nitrogen from reserves laid down before leaf fall the previous season that is the most important source of nitrogen for spring growth and development.

W I N E & VITICULTUR E JO UR NA L MARC H /APRIL 2016

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Figure 3. Effect of vineyard N fertiliser supply (total seasonal: 40kg/ha) timing (A) and irrigation management (B) in a vineyard on YAN in Shiraz grapes at harvest (adapted from Holzapfel et al. 2014).

Figure 4. Relationship between petiole N at veraison and assimilable amino N at harvest (adapted from Holzapfel and Treeby 2013).

YAN ASSESSMENT AND PREDICTION

must YAN levels, but should also take into account fermentation conditions (e.g. yeast strain and temperature) and consider wine style targets. As indicated above, the N compounds present in must influence the volatile compounds and, therefore, the aroma profile of wine (bouquet). Wine flavour is also affected by the production of nonvolatile compounds (e.g. polyols). The stability of wine flavour is influenced by a tripeptide (glutathione), which is also affected by mineral N supply in the vineyard.

A reasonable prediction of final YAN levels can be made from petiole % N at veraison. For example, free amino N (which, with ammonium, makes up YAN) levels of 100mg N/L corresponds to a veraison petiole N level of about 0.5% for red grapes (Figure 4).

Thus, testing the level of N in the petiole at veraison may provide an opportunity for adjustments to postveraison vineyard fertiliser programs to tweak YAN level at harvest.

Final YAN levels can also be predicted by direct determination of YAN in the juice during berry maturation. Ammonium can be measured enzymatically and a-amino N with the o-phthaldaildehyde /N-acethyl-cysteine reagent. But, these measurements are costly to conduct, and of limited usefulness beyond YAN/ winemaking. The measurement of petiole N at veraison, on the other hand, provides information about vineyard fertiliser management in general, as well as serving as a reasonable predictor of YAN in the grapes at harvest. Less expensive alternative techniques are becoming available to determine the N concentrations in plant material.

MUST YAN, FERMENTATION AND WINE CHARACTERISTICS The minimum YAN requirements for completion of fermentation by yeast are about 100 and 150mg N/L for red

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and white grapes, respectively. But, must N levels have implications beyond enabling yeast to ferment the sugar in must through to dryness in a timely manner. In addition, the remaining N after alcoholic fermentation has an important role for the secondary fermentation (malolactic) and microbial stability of the wine.

On the positive side, the C skeleton of some N-containing compounds in must and used by yeast contribute to the flavour and bouquet profiles of the final wine.

On the negative side, when must N is limiting, undesirable thiols (e.g. hydrogen sulphide) are produced from sulfur-containing amino acids during fermentation, and may be above taste and smell thresholds in the final wine.

In contrast, high must N is associated with elevated ethyl acetate, acetic acid and volatile acidity concentrations in the final wine. In addition, higher concentrations of urea, ethyl carbamate and biogenic amines in the wine have also been observed in wines produced from high YAN musts; some of these compounds have implications for human health.

To correct YAN levels and to optimise fermentation, inorganic (DAP) and/or organic N (a-amino acids) can be added to the must. The problem with DAP is that yeast use this form in preference to the amino acid N. It is better to add a complete nutritional supplement to YAN deficient musts.

The required N additions to the must should be made in reference to

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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Nitrogen fertiliser supply, and vine N status in turn, are important factors in the concentrations of amino acids in must at harvest. Yeast assimilable N, which is predominantly amino acids, is crucial for the fermentation process and final wine aroma and flavour. Vineyard fertiliser management to achieve optimum YAN harvest can be based on petiole N status at bloom and veraison. The latter is particularly useful in predicting YAN levels at harvest, allowing additional N applications if required during the final grape ripening phase. Insufficient YAN must levels can be corrected by adding supplementary N in the winery. YAN levels in grapes coming into the winery must be known to determine the level of adjustment required for optimum fermentation. However, it is best to use DAP and other supplements only for

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fine tuning the must, not as a matter of course, and not adding a uniform amount.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank the support from Wine Australia (formerly GWRDC), CSIRO and the industry collaborators in NSW. We also thank past and present staff from the NWGIC, particularly Markus Müller, for their contribution to some of the results presented. We acknowledge the input of the co-authors of the initial DPINSW grapevine management guide that was integrated into this article.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING AWRI website. (2016). https://www.awri.com. au/industry_support/winemaking_resources/ wine_fermentation.

Bell, J.-J. and Henschke, P.A. (2005) Implication of nitrogen nutrition for grapes, fermentation and wine. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 11:242-295.

Choné, X.; Lavigne-Cruége, V.; Tominaga, T.; Van Leeuwen, C.; Castagnede, C.; Saucier C. and Dubourdieu, D. (2006) Effect of vine nitrogen status on grape aromatic potential: flavour precursors (S-cysteine conjugates), glutathione and phenolic

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content in Vitis vinifera L. cv. Sauvignon Blanc grape juice. J. Int. Sci. Vigne Vin 40:1-6.

amino N concentration in Chardonnay grapevines.

Vitis 54:203-211.

Conradie, W.J. (2005) Partitioning of mineral nutrients and timing of fertilizer application for optimum efficiency. In: Proceedings for the Soil Environment and Vine Mineral Nutrition Symposium. Christensen J.P. and D.R. Smart (eds.), pp. 69-81. American Society for Enology and Viticulture, San Diego CA.

Müller, M.C.; Clark, A.; Schultz, H.-R. and Holzapfel, B.P. (2015) Comparison of vineyard nitrogen application practices and winery nitrogen management. Proc. XIXth International Symposium GiESCO, Gruissan, France, May 31June 5, 365-369.

Hannam, K.D.; Neilsen, G.H.; Neilsen, D.; Rabie, W.S.; Midwood, A.J. and Millard. P. (2014) Late-season foliar urea applications can increase berry yeast-assimilable nitrogen in winegrapes (Vitis vinifera L.). Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 65:89-95.

Hannam, K.D.; Neilsen, G.H.; Forge, T. and Neilsen, D. (2013) The concentration of yeast assimilable nitrogen in Merlot grape juice is increased by N fertilization and reduced irrigation.

Can. J. Plant Sci. 93:37-45

Neilsen, G.H.; Neilsen, D.; Bowen, P.; Bogdanoff, C. and Usher K. (2010) Effect of timing, rate, and form of N fertilization on nutrition, vigor, yield, and berry yeast-assimilable N of grape. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 61:327-336.

Nisbet, M.A.; Martinson, T.E. and Mansfield, A.K. (2013) Preharvest prediction of yeast assimilable nitrogen in Finger Lakes Riesling using linear and multivariate modelling. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 64:485-494.

Holzapfel, B.; Blackman, J. and Müller, M. (2014) Nitrogen nutrition and grape and wine production. Grapevine Management Guide 201415. ISSN 1036-7551 (NWGIC, Wagga Wagga), 6-11.

Smith, J.P.; Schmidtke, L.M.; Müller, M.C. and Holzapfel, B.P. (2014) Measurement of macronutrient concentrations in grapevine petioles by ATR-FT-IR spectroscopy. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 20:299-309.

Holzapfel, B. and Treeby, M. (2007) The effect of nitrogen application on the nitrogen status and juice composition of Shiraz grafted on three rootstocks. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 13:14-22.

Treeby, M.T. and Wheatley, D.M. (2006) Effect of nitrogen fertiliser on nitrogen partitioning and pool sizes in irrigated Sultana grapevines. Aust. J. Exp. Agri. 46:1207-1215.

Holzapfel, B. and Treeby. M. (2013) Vineyard and winery indicators of Shiraz must fermentation behaviour. Vitis 52:97-104.

Verdenal, T.; Spangenberg, J.E.; Zufferey, V.; Lorenzini, F.; Spring, J.-L. and Viret, O. (2015) Effect of fertilisation timing on the partitioning of foliar-applied nitrogen in Vitis vinifera cv.

Chasselas: a 15N labelling approach. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 21:110–117.

Holzapfel, B.; Field, S. and M. Müller (2008) Nitrogen and water management implications on grape production in the Riverina wine grape regions in South Eastern Australia. Le Bulletin de L’OIV 81:17-26.

Holzapfel, B.P.; Watt, J.; Smith, J.P.; Šuklje, K. and Rogiers, S. (2015) Timing of N application and water constraints on N accumulation and juice

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Impact of grape cluster zone defoliation, grape must clarification and yeast strain on TDN potential in cool climate wines

By Armin Schüttler1, Caroline Guthier1,2, Manfred Stoll2, Phillippe Darriet3,4 and Doris Rauhut1 1 Hochschule Geisenheim University, Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, Von-Lade-Str. 1, 65366 Geisenheim, Germany 2 Hochschule Geisenheim University, Department of General and Organic Viticulture, Von-Lade-Str. 1, 65366 Geisenheim, Germany 3 Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin, Unité de Recherche Œnologie, EA 4577, h210 Chemin de Leysotte, 33882 Villenave d’Ornon, France 4 INRA, Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin, USC 1366 Oenologie, 33882 Villenave d’Ornon, France

Bottle-aged Riesling is often characterised by petrol and kerosene-like aromas. While well-accepted when in balance with other aged characteristics for their contribution to complexity, such aromas are considered undesirable in young Riesling wines. This following article highlights possible targets in the grapegrowing and winemaking process to tackle the problem of excessive petrol aroma by reducing the potential of 1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene (TDN) – the marker molecule associated with this aromatic expression.

INTRODUCTION Traditional cool climate European viticultural regions are, or will, become affected by climate change.

Warmer temperatures and changes in the amount of rainfall will influence vegetative growth and berry ripening of Vitis vinifera (Hofmann et al. 2008).

Generally, climate change will affect the date of harvest, alter the speed of ripening and almost certainly create new wine styles compared with regional typicity.

During the last decade a reasonable shift toward higher alcohol levels and less acidic wines can be explained through higher Brix in harvested grapes and the resulting musts. With regard to the German wine quality classification system, the number of wines made from grapes representing ‘Spätlese’ (late harvest) has increased while winemakers have struggled to maintain fresh wine styles with moderate alcohol levels of 10-11.5% v/v appreciated by consumers (Schüttler, unpublished data). Internationally, Germany is mostly recognised for its fresh and fruity Riesling styles, of which it is the world biggest producer (DWI 2011).

Besides earlier grape maturities resulting in higher total soluble solids (TSS) at harvest, alcohol levels are not the only factor affected by ripeness.

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Overall berry composition is also affected while environmental factors particularly affect secondary metabolic phenolic and aroma compounds from several chemical classes (Mira de Orduna 2010). These aroma compounds, like polyfunctional thiols, pyrazines, and terpenoid compounds like monoterpenols and C13norisoprenoids, are crucial to perceived wine quality (Darriet et al. 2013).

Besides polyfunctional thiols, monoterpenols and C13-norisoprenoids play a key role in typical Riesling wine aroma (Rapp et al. 1985, Schüttler et al. 2015). The C13-norisoprenoid 1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene (TDN), with its odour reminiscent of petrol or kerosene, is a key aroma marker in bottle-aged Riesling wines (Simpson et al. 1983). Despite the kerosene odour being considered

typical for bottle-aged Riesling wines, it is not considered to positively contribute to the aroma of young wines if TDN concentrations are above 4µg/L (Sponholz et al. 1997, Schüttler et al.

2015).

In general C13-norisoprenoids are breakdown products of tetraterpenic carotenoid compounds that play various roles in biochemical signalling processes such as pheromone production or hormone-like growth regulation in plants (Britton 2008).

The C13-norisoprenoid TDN is transformed into glycosidic bound non-volatile precursors by the plant.

It is liberated during bottle ageing by acid hydrolysis (Waldmann et al.

1992, Versini et al. 1996, Daniel et al. 2009). The biogenesis of these classes of compounds is affected by grapevine growth conditions (Marais et

Figure 1. Geolocation of Hessian winegrowing regions in Germany, where spring begins a little sooner than in other parts of the country, adapted from Hofmann et al. 2008.

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al. 1992a). Wines made from Riesling grapes grown in warmer climates have higher concentrations of TDN (Marais et al. 1992b). Moreover, vineyard management affects the development of this compound (Kwasniewski et al. 2010, Linsenmeier et al. 2007). In addition, grapevine clones and yeast strains also seem to have an effect on TDN concentrations (Sponholz et al.

1997). Therefore, TDN management will be one of the most challenging tasks in viticulture in Riesling growing regions, particularly those in cool climates because of rising temperatures due to climate change. Adapted canopy management of grapevines, as well as an appropriate selection of yeast strain during alcoholic fermentation, are two considered approaches to tackle excessive TDN concentrations in Riesling wines.

inter-vine distance was 1.10m. The experiments were conducted during 2013. In four rows, four treatments were established in threefold repetition according to an incomplete randomised block design. The first treatment was not defoliated, representing the control (CTR); the second treatment was defoliated in the bunch zone after bloom (11 June) only on the eastern side (LREE); the third treatment was defoliated in the grape cluster zone after blossom (11 June) on the eastern and western side of the canopy (LREB); and the fourth treatment was defoliated in the grape cluster zone at veraison (5 September) on both the eastern and western side of the canopy (LRLB). Each treatment consisted of 16 vines. Yield was regulated to two bunches per cane when berries were approximately pea size.

OBJECTIVE

Winemaking The fruit was harvested on 16 October. Each treatment and replicate, 16 lots in total, was harvested and pressed separately using a 20kg press. Grape juice was clarified by

The objective of this research was to study the effect of different defoliation regimes and yeast strain choice on the potential of a wine to produce TDN. We investigated whether there is an opportunity to influence the liberation of aroma-active TDN during bottle ageing.

sedimentation in 48 hours. Then the clarified juice of one treatment was mixed and divided into 750mL bottles.

The juice was inoculated using two commercial yeast strains with vitamin B1 and diammonium phosphate added.

The fermentation was monitored by determining the loss of carbon dioxide.

Analysis of TDN Analysis of TDN and TDN-glycosides was carried out using GC-MS after SPE sample preparation (Friedel et al. 2016).

RESULTS TDN potential in grape juice The four grape juices without leaf removal (CTR) showed the lowest TDN potential of 63 ± 3µg/L, whereas the treatment with the leaves removed on both sides of the canopy at an early stage of berry development (LREB) showed the highest TDN potential of 154 ± 35µg/L. Both the treatment defoliated at an early stage of berry development on the eastern side of the canopy (LREE) and the one defoliated at veraison on both sides of Figure 2. Canopy structure regarding grape cluster zone leaf removal of experimental vine plots (CTR – nondefoliated control, LREB – early leaf removal, both sides of the canopy, LREE – early leaf removal, eastern side of the canopy, LRLB – late leaf removal, both sides of the canopy).

METHODS Experimental vineyard The vineyard was located in Heppenheim, Germany (Heppenheimer Stemmler) and was planted with Riesling vines in 1982 on sandy loam.

The vines were trained to a VSP-type trellis system at six to eight canes.

Inter-row distance was 1.60m, whereas

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Defoliated grape cluster zone in an experimental vineyard. the canopy (LRLB) also showed higher TDN potential (112 ± 9µg/L and 119 ± 6µg/L, respectively) compared with the control treatment, but lower TDN levels

compared with the LREB treatment.

During grape must clarification by sedimentation TDN potential increased significantly compared with freshly

200 180

TDN - Potential [µg/L]

160 140 120

CTR LREE LREB LRLB

100 80 60 40 20 0 P

S

Y-A

Y-B

Figure 3. TDN potential in freshly pressed grape juice (P), in clarified grape must after sedimentation (S), and in wines after fermenting using yeast strain A (Y-A) and yeast strain B (Y-B), with abbreviations indicating canopy management (CTR – nondefoliated control, LREB – early leaf removal, both sides of the canopy, LREE – early leaf removal, eastern side of the canopy, LRLB – late leaf removal, both sides of the canopy).

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pressed grape juice by 24 ± 3µg/L (t-test, a=0.05, p<0.001). A significant decrease in TDN potential was detected during vinification for both yeast strains (t-test, a=0.05, p<0.001) compared with clarified grape juice.

TDN potential in wines After fermentation, the TDN potential was highest for the treatments defoliated on both sides of the canopy (LREB, LRLB) and using yeast strain A (135µg/L and 132µg/L, respectively.

This was also the case for yeast strain B (111µg/L and 100µg/L, respectively).

Furthermore, TDN-potential in the non-defoliated control (CTR) was lowest for yeast B (56µg/L), while the lowest TDN potential obtained from yeast B for LREE equalled the TDN potential from yeast B for CTR (63µg/L and 69µg/L, respectively) and was well under the TDN potential from LREE wines obtained with the same yeast (82µg/L).

Comparing the wines according to the yeast strains used the difference was significant (t-test, a=0.05, p=0.012), with wines fermented using yeast strain B showing lower TDN potential than those ▶ fermented using yeast strain A.

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DISCUSSION The presented results provide evidence that the TDN potential in grape must is highly correlated with the sun exposure of grape clusters, when secondary leaf growth is prevented.

These results also show that TDN potential does not necessarily depend on the timing of leaf removal under those conditions, which is generally in accordance with earlier studies (Kwasniewski et al. 2010, Gerdes et al.

2001). TDN potential also corresponds well with that of the grape juice. It can be observed that after alcoholic fermentation the difference in TDN potential between early and late leaf removal on both sides of the canopy (LREB and LRLB) is less than expected from the grape juice results.

However, not all molecules acting as TDN-precursors during alcoholic fermentation are known or were analysed. There are some indications that TDN can be formed from different precursors (Versini et al. 1996, Waldmann et al. 1992, Daniel et al.

2009), which would fit into the results from this current study. Furthermore, yeast strain has been shown to effect the TDN potential of wines. All wines fermented with yeast strain A showed higher TDN potential than those fermented with yeast strain B. It can be assumed that yeast strains have different enzymatic glycosidase activity during fermentation (Grossmann et al.

1987) and, therefore, can more or less effectively liberate the aglycons from glycosylated precursors.

Regarding the increase in TDN potential in grape must during sedimentation it can be assumed that through enzymatic processes more precursor compounds were accessible to the analytical measurement used in this study. The effect of different grape must clarification technologies on TDN potential will also be studied. Another direction for future research will be the effect of the reduction potential of Riesling wines on TDN potential.

The results of this study suggest the decrease in TDN potential in finished wines can also be considered as a result of the changing redox-status of the matrix wine, compared with the grape must. The reduced form of a glycosylated intermediate seems to

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be the bottleneck in TDN formation (Waldmann et al. 1992). In finished wines, yeast depots create a reductive environment, as does the sulfiting of wines. In those situations all chemical equilibria shift, including that of the precursor molecules of TDN. Despite being speculative and not included as a factor in this study, it can be hypothesised based on earlier findings that creating reductive conditions during wine storage can help to prevent the development of excessive TDN concentrations. However, it should be kept in mind that the development of a wine-aged bouquet is a highly complex process. Manipulations targeting only one aroma compound will have an effect on the perception of the total wine aroma, which can then lead to new or other unexpected undesirable aromatic effects.

CONCLUSION Generally, it can be concluded that grape berry sun exposure does increase the TDN potential in Riesling wines.

During the winemaking process, grape must clarification increased the TDN potential under the studied conditions.

Fermentation decreases TDN potential.

Different yeast strains also show various abilities to decrease TDN potential. Therefore, this study reveals opportunities to extend TDN research in the winemaking process in order to develop practices that reduce their effect on TDN potential.

REFERENCES Britton, G. (2008) Functions of carotenoid metabolites and breakdown products. In: Carotenoids. Eds. G. Britton, S. Liaaen-Jensen and H. Pfander, Birkhäuser, Basel, 319-322 Daniel, M.A.; Capone, D.L.; Sefton, M.A. and Elsey, G.M. (2009) Riesling acetal is a precursor to 1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene (TDN) in wine. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 15 (1):93-96.

Darriet, P.; Nikolantonaki, M.; Schüttler, A.; Rauhut, D.; Pons, A. and Stamatopoulos, P. (2013) From compounds to sensory perception: what effects complexity and uniqueness of wine aromas?

In: Proceedings of 15th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference 2013, Sydney, Australia.

formation in white Riesling grapes. In: Carotenoidderived aroma compounds. American Chemical Society, Chapter 19, 262-272 Grossmann, M.; Rapp, A. and Rieth, W. (1987) Enzymatische Freisetzung gebundener Aromastoffe. Deutsche Lebensmittelrundschau 83(1):7-12.

Hofmann, M. and Schultz, H.R. (2008) INKLIM II plus: Einfluss der Klimaentwicklung auf den Wasserhaushalt von Rebstandorten - Möglichkeiten der Modellierung von Steillagenregionen.

In: Abschlussbericht zum Integrierten Klimaschutzprogramm der Landes Hessen (INKLIM 2012 II plus) des Fachgebietes Weinbau der Forschungsanstalt Geisenheim, Im Auftrag des Hessischen Landesamts für Umwelt und Geologie, Wiesbaden.

Kwasniewski, M.T.; Vanden Heuvel, J.E.; Pan, B.S. and Sacks, G.L. (2010) Timing of cluster light environment manipulation during grape development affects C13-norisoprenoid and carotenoid concentrations in Riesling. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 58(11):6841-6849.

Linsenmeier, A. and Löhnertz, O. (2007) Changes in norisoprenoid levels with long-term nitrogen fertilisation in different vintages of Vitis vinifera var. Riesling wines. South African Journal of Enology and Viticulture 28(1):17-24.

Marais, J.; van Wijk, C.J. and Rapp, A. (1992a) Effect of sunlight and shade on norisoprenoid levels in maturing Weisser Riesling and Chenin Blanc grapes and Weisser Riesling wines. South African Journal of Enology and Viticulture 13(1):23-32.

Marais, J.; Versini, G.; van Wijk, C.J. and Rapp, A. (1992b) Effect of region on free and bound monoterpene an C13-norisoprenoid concentrations in Weisser Riesling wines. South African Journal of Enology and Viticulture 13(2):71-77.

Mira de Orduna, R. (2010) Climate change associated effects on grape and wine quality and production. Food Research International 43(7):1844-1855.

Rapp, A.; Güntert, M. and Heimann, W. (1985) Beitrag zur Sortencharakterisierung der Rebsorte Weißer Riesling. Zeitschrift für Lebensmitteluntersuchung und -Forschung A 181 (5):357-361.

Schüttler, A.; Friedel, M.; Jung, R.; Rauhut, D. and Darriet, P. (2015) Characterising aromatic typicality of Riesling wines: merging volatile compositional and sensory aspects. Food Research International 69:26-37.

Simpson, R.F. and Miller, G.C. (1983) Aroma composition of aged Riesling wine. Vitis 22:51-63.

Sponholz, W.R. and Hühn, T. (1997) Einflußfaktoren von Klonenmaterial und verwendetem Hefestamm auf die Alterung von Riesling Weinen. Viticultural and Enological Sciences 52(2):103-108.

Versini, G.; Rapp, A.; Marais, J.; Mattivi, F. and Spraul, M. (1996) A new 1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2dihydronaphthalene (TDN) precursor isolated from Riesling grape products: Partial structure elucidation and possible reaction mechanism. Vitis 35(1):15-21.

Waldmann, D. and Winterhalter, P. (1992) Identification of a novel Vitispirane precursor in Riesling wine. Vitis 31:169-174.

DWI (2011) Riesling Vineyards World-Wide, Deutsches Weininstitut, Mainz.

Friedel, M.; Sorrentino, V.; Blank, M. and Schüttler, A. (2016) Influence of berry diameter and colour on some determinants of wine composition of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Riesling. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research, accessed 04 February 2016, doi: 10.1111/ajgw.12210 Gerdes, S.M.; Winterhalter, P. and Ebeler, S.E. (2001) Effect of sunlight exposure on norisoprenoid

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Jim Barry Wines to release Australia’s first commercial Assyrtiko this year

By Peter Barry, Managing Director, Jim Barry Wines

I

first tasted Assyrtiko in 2006 while on holiday with my wife, Sue, in Santorini, and again the following year at the London Wine Fair. Assyrtiko immediately stood out as a variety suited to the modern Australian palate. The fresh, crisp, acidic qualities of the wine are perfect accompaniments to contemporary Australian food – it is a natural partner for our climate and cuisine. Considered by wine experts as one of the greatest wine varieties in Greece, Assyrtiko is to Santorini what Riesling is to Clare, representing 70% of the island’s vineyard area. We produce several different dry Riesling wines with a pH generally around 3.00 and titratable acid of 7.0 grams per litre, and with sugar levels around three grams per litre.

After tasting the wine for a second time, I was smitten. I immediately contacted wine writer Max Allen to see if he was aware of any Assyrtiko vines in Australia. After confirming there were none, I contacted Greece’s only Master of Wine (at that time), Konstantinos Lazarakis, for a lead on obtaining cuttings I could then import to Australia. Konstantinos advised me that he had a great relationship with the top three producers of Assyrtiko in Santorini and suggested that I contact Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, at Gaia Wines. Emails between myself and Yiannis ensued, and in February 2008 we travelled to Santorini together to collect the cuttings of Assyrtiko from Yiannis Argyros, at Argyros Winery. We collected eight dormant cuttings from a single vine, thus establishing the true mother vine and our very own Santorini clone. Upon their arrival in Australia, the cuttings were placed in quarantine for a mandatory two years, and following release were propagated from the mother vines with the help of Robert Hill-Smith and the Yalumba Nursery, resulting in the production of 300 cuttings. I collected 32 buds in 2011 and grafted these onto 16 Riesling vines on two sites in Clare.

Over the next two years another 2500 Riesling vines were grafted. On 28 August 2012 we planted 1400 Assyrtiko vines (half a hectare) at our Lodge Hill Vineyard, on the eastern ranges of the Clare Valley. Lodge Hill is a unique site with two distinct soil profiles and, in essence, two vineyards comprising Riesling and Shiraz. The Shiraz vineyard’s soil consists of about 40-50 centimetres of rich, chocolaty loam over rock, consisting of almost vertical sheets. The cracks between the sheets have been filled with soil, providing passage for the vine roots and free drainage. The soil in the Riesling vineyard, on the other side of the crest, is brown loam over a layer of clay and slate bedrock that is about 600 million years old and has cracked just off the vertical so that water can drain freely through it. It’s a soil that nourishes the vines adequately, but makes them struggle just a bit, making it suited to growing intensely flavoured, finely structured Rieslings.

Our Assyrtiko was planted on a south-facing slope at the Lodge Hill vineyard, which at 480 metres is one of the highest points in the valley. Being known to adapt well to different soil types, we had anticipated that the Assyrtiko would do very well

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ASSYRTIKO

By Peter Dry Emeritus Fellow, The Australian Wine Research Institute BACKGROUND Assyrtiko (ah-seer-tee-KOH) is a variety unique to Greece.

Until relatively recently, it was restricted to several islands in the Aegean Sea, and best known for its wines from the island of Santorini. In recent years the variety has been planted on the mainland, particularly in Macedonia, Attiki and Peloponnese. Synonyms include Assirtico, Assyrtico and Asyrtiko. The total planted area in Greece was 902ha in 2010, of which 70% is currently on Santorini. The vineyard area on Santorini has declined substantially over the past 30 years due to reduced export demand for its wine and increased land use for tourism. Although Assyrtiko is the second most important white wine variety of Greece (after Savatiano), it only makes up 2% of the total national area. DNA analysis has revealed that Assyrtiko has a parent/offspring relationship with both Gaidouria and Platini. Also, there is no genetic link with either Spanish or near Eastern varieties which suggests that a possible origin from those places is most unlikely. Outside of Greece, the first commercial planting was made in 2012 in the Clare Valley of South Australia by Jim Barry Wines—the first wine was available for industry assessment in 2015. There are also two very small recent plantings in California.

VITICULTURE Budburst and maturity are late (it ripens two to five weeks after Merlot in Greece). Vigour and yield are moderate.

Bunches are medium to large and compact with large berries. It is tolerant of downy and powdery mildews and is also said to be drought tolerant. On Santorini, old vines are traditionally trained to a basket system (kolouras) and cane pruned; however, newer vineyards (including the mainland) are trellised.

WINE Because Assyrtiko has the ability to retain high levels of acidity, even under hot climatic conditions, wines are fresh with a strong acid backbone and low pH. Descriptors include citrus, green apple and floral. It is prone to oxidation. On Santorini, Assyrtiko is mainly used in blends with Athiri and/ or Aidani (75% or more Assyrtiko) and less commonly for single variety wines. It is usually harvested at relatively high Baumé for a white variety, and wines of 13-14.5% alcohol are common. In Attiki and Macedonia where Assyrtiko is usually blended with Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon, wines are broader with more intense fruit character.

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

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ALTERNATIVE VARIETIES

in Clare and have now planted a total of three hectares at Lodge Hill. On Santorini, Assyrtiko is grown using a unique technique known as the ‘koulara’ method, with each vine woven into a circular basket shape to protect the vines from the island’s strong winds, as well as protecting the grapes from excessive sunburn caused from exposure using typical trellising systems.

We have emulated this method in Clare, with a handful of our own vines grown and pruned using this unique Santorini technique, while the rest are grown on trellises.

We picked our first parcels of fruit in 2014, producing 15 litres of wine (42 half bottles) from our first vintage. Our second vintage of Assyrtiko was picked by hand on 5 March 2015, and then whole-bunch pressed to produce 1000 litres (1341 bottles) of wine with a pH of 2.98, TA of 6.6g/L and 12.7% alcohol v/v. We are planning to plant another 9000 vines this year, with 7000 of these planted using the traditional koulara method.

Similar to the distinct flavours of our site-specific Rieslings (namely The Florita, Watervale and Lodge Hill), Assyrtiko provides a true expression of terroir, exhibiting an earthy and mineral aftertaste reminiscent of the volcanic soil of Santorini. Our soil and climate have imparted their own unique characteristics to our Assyrtiko, however, I believe we have reproduced some of the ideals of Santorini, producing a crisp and dry wine. Only a handful of people have had the chance to taste our 2014 and 2015 vintages given the small quantities produced, however, we are planning our first commercial release of the wine this year. We have been lucky enough to showcase the 2015 vintage at a promotional Greek wine tour in 2015, and more recently at Wine Australia’s Australia Day Tasting, in London. The feedback so far has been positive, with a lot of excitement surrounding the first Australian Assyrtiko.

Australian wine industry consultant Dan Traucki described the On Santorini, Assyrtiko vines are woven into a circular basket shape to protect them from the island’s strong winds, and the grapes from excessive sunburn. Jim Barry Wines has emulated this method in Clare at its Lodge Hill vineyard with a handful of its own Assyrtiko.

Peter Barry with Yiannis Argyros, of Estate Argyros, in Santorini.

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wine in Wine Business Magazine as “stunning, with lovely lemon and citrus peel aromas, crisp, almost steely on the palate with great texture and a clean, crisp, lingering finish. It is an Aussie expression of this classic Greek variety with all the hallmark characteristics, but with slightly softer acidity. A sensational start for the variety in this country”.

My late father, Jim Barry, was a pioneer winemaker in Clare and was a passionate believer of keeping with the times and making wine consumers wanted to drink. In 1966, he urged those in the region to steer away from traditional varieties such as Crouchen, and to plant Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Malbec - varieties that were uncommon in those times.

While the laborious process of importation and quarantine has discouraged many growers in Australia from trying something new, I, like my father, have an interest in growing grapes that have a sustainable future in our region. Assyrtiko is predominantly grown on Santorini in arid, windy and hot conditions. Clare is a cool region with good rainfall, but we must face up to climate change and water scarcity and adapt our management appropriately. Varieties that can grow with minimal irrigation and still produce contemporary wine styles is WVJ what we all look for.

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LABELLING & PACKAGING

BUSINESS & & MARKETING MARKETING BUSINESS

Innovations in wine labelling and packaging Two leading Australian wine label design studios highlight three wines whose labels have pushed the envelope for the way in which they’ve utilised the latest in labelling technology to stand out from the pack.

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cLaren Vale’s d’Arenberg wine company recently added two ultra premium wines to its portfolio of more than 70 wines – The Old Bloke & The Three Young Blondes, a Shiraz-dominant blend with Roussanne, Viognier and Marsanne, and The Athazagoraphobic Cat, a blend of Sagrantino and Cinsault, which both retail for $200. As readers may have heard, The Old Bloke was in the headlines recently after wine commentator Jane Thomson said on social media the name was another case of “everyday sexism”. The Voice design team were behind The Old Bloke’s label which, together with its fellow new addition are also turning heads for their striking labels.

ANTHONY DE LEO, SCOTT CARSLAKE, TOM CROSBY, KIERAN WALLIS VOICE, ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA What makes these labels stand out from the crowd and how did they come about?

Both The Athazagoraphobic Cat and The Old Bloke & The Three Young Blondes employ a combination of traditional labelling and bottle printing to achieve a truly unique and memorable result. The technology required is not particularly new to the wine sector but the way in which it was used is innovative. An emphasis on tactility and engagement was paramount for both products, and it was this that led us to an innovative solution.

In 2015, d’Arenberg released its two most premium wines of its century-long history. To honour this prestigious release, a high-end and unforgettable packaging solution was realised. The wines were limited in number and to be sold exclusively through d’Arenberg’s cellar door.

The Athazagoraphobic Cat is named after Audrey, the d’Arenberg family tabby who suffered from Athazagoraphobia (the fear of being forgotten) and was known for following winemaker Chester Osborn throughout the vineyard. Audrey is brought to life on the bottle using a classic animation technique. A moiré effect made by spinning a cylindrical label on the bottle creates the illusion of a cat treading on the heels of its master’s footsteps.

The interaction between the graphic printed on the bottle and the

The design team behind d’Arenberg’s The Old Bloke & The Three Young Blondes and The Athazagoraphobic Cat (from left) Tom Crosby, Anthony De Leo, Scott Carslake and Kieran Wallis .moving vertical lines on the spinning label creates the illusion of Chester walking and Audrey trotting behind.

The Old Bloke & The Three Young Blondes is so named for the old Shiraz vines and three ‘young’ white varietals from which the wine was made. Each character is represented as a diecut silhouette on an individual label. Much like the wine itself, the four personalities are ‘blended’ together by being overlayed one on top of the other—each creating a window to the next. This is achieved by applying five individual labels directly on top of each other.

Particular care was required to ensure the exact alignment and position of each label was perfect upon application. arossa Valley-based 1847 Wines challenged the team at Graphic Language Design when the wine company selected an unconventional bottle shape for its Grand Pappy’s Semillon. Proprietor Nina Chalmers explains what happened next then explores some labelling technologies that the wine industry could be making better use of in drawing the ▶ attention of consumers.

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d’Arenberg’s The Athazagoraphobic Cat (left) and The Old Bloke & The Three Young Blondes.

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LABELLING & PACKAGING

NINA CHALMERS DIRECTOR, GRAPHIC LANGUAGE DESIGN What makes this bottle and label combination stand out from the crowd and how did it come about?

Standing out on the shelf is a constant challenge for brand owners and their creative teams. Being aware of what is different or new needs to be a part of the design strategy from the start and should involve everyone who will be involved in the project. This includes everyone from the bottle supplier to the printer and even the bottling house.

If the designer knows all the parameters of the project, they are able to work out the design strategy accordingly. It’s certainly not revolutionary to note that successful packaging design is about much more than a logo and fonts on a label.

Collaboration is especially important when a unique element is being introduced into the process, like the bottle our client had selected for its 1847 Grand Pappy’s Semillon.

The exquisite, voluptuously shaped bottle meant that the label shape, size and position needed to be accurately crafted to ensure that there were no creases or hold ups during bottling. In addition to this challenge, the brief involved having gold foil as the base of the canvas. Printing on top of foil is not unusual, however, during the design process we (including the client) fell in love with a particular rose gold foil, which does not allow for over printing in its raw form. The only foil that did was too yellow. Working closely with the printer - while the label was on press - we were able to work out a solution to get the tones and effects our client was after with the paper stock and foils available.

Creating brands with integrity

communicate. collaborate. create.

We’d love to collaborate with you! tel +61 8 8232 3577 info@gldesign.com.au www.gldesign.com.au

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Graphic Language DESIGN

Graphic Language Design director Nina Chalmers.

Are you aware of any labelling or packaging products or innovations scarcely used in the wine industry in Australia currently that offer wineries an opportunity to have their products better stand out from the crowd?

The choice of uncoated paper stocks has become a means of achieving a premium look and feel for wine brands, but the limitation until now is that these papers do not perform well when exposed to excessive moisture. Due to their absorbency, they’ve tended to turn grey, or come off altogether. Fasson (Avery Dennison) has come up with a new paper stock technology that eliminates this greying effect for up to two hours, without losing the tactile advantage of uncoated stock. This is particularly good news for white wine and sparkling brand owners.

Shrinksleeve technology is fantastic for shelf impact as it opens up the possibilities of full bottle artwork. While this may be ideal for smaller runs or lower price points, there has been an increase in direct printing onto glass for more premium brands. Printing onto glass also allows for a full wrap design, whereas traditional pressure sensitive label application presents limitations for label width.

Other technologies now readily available in Australia that wineries could use as a point of difference include chameleon-like thermochromatic inks, which change colour depending on the temperature.

More tactile varnishes that provide a variety of textures that are inviting to touch have also been developed.

Furthermore, highly tactile resin seals, resembling the old wax seals, are now available to add value to packaging by heightening the sense of WVJ heritage and prestige.

The bottle shape of the 1847 Grand Pappy’s Semillon posed some challenges for the Graphic Language Design team.

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BUSINESS & & MARKETING MARKETING BUSINESS

The 9(+1) talking points about the Australian wine retail sector

By Armando Maria Corsi, Senior Research Associate Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, University of South Australia.

Email: Armando.Corsi@unisa.edu.au

Armando elaborates on his recent presentation to the Australian Wine Industry Marketing Conference held in Adelaide in which he highlighted some trends in the wine retail sector in Australia and offered some ideas on how to increase sales in this area.

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ustralia is notoriously an export-driven market, with approximately 60% of the total production shipped overseas (Euromonitor International 2015). Of the 40% staying in Australia, around 80% by volume and 52% by value is sold off-premise (Euromonitor International 2015), making this distribution channel strategically critical for the wealth of the Australian wine industry. I would like to describe in this article some facts happening in the Australian wine retail sector to show how the sector is currently trending, and understand what strategies we can implement to minimise the issues and increase the chances of success for Australian wines in the domestic retail sector.

LIQUOR RETAILING IS GROWING The sector is trending well overall, with an annual average growth of 3.1% between 2011 and 2016. Wine is the second most valuable product, responsible for a 25.5% share of the total value ($9.9 billion) produced by the sector in 2015. The future of the sector is also positive with a forecasted annualised growth of 2.8% (IBIS 2015).

Probably the main factor altering this forecast is going to be the tax reform on alcoholic beverages, which was proposed in 2010 in the report from the Federal Government’s review of Australia’s future tax system, led by Ken Henry, but it hasn’t been ratified yet.

WINE RETAILING IS CONSOLIDATING In the last 10 years we’ve seen a consolidation of the Woolworths-Coles duopoly. The two retail giants are now responsible for 64% of wine sales

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by value (IBIS 2015), up 5% since 2005 (Wine Intelligence 2015), while independent retailers shrank from 41% to 36%. Woolworths and Coles have been able to strike more favourable agreements with alcohol producers, leading to price cuts independent retailers have struggled to match. In order to curb the fall, several independent retailers have joined retailer banner groups, such as Cellarbrations, IGA Liquor, etc., allowing them to generate some economies of scale they weren’t able to create before.

wine, brand name and medal/awards – somehow the ID card of a wine – which are still relatively important, but definitely less than recommendations. Food matching suggestions, the information contained on back labels, information on shelves and the attractiveness of front labels are relatively unimportant. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. In contrast to the majority of readers of this journal, many people don’t want (or just do not care) to know much about wine; they just want to buy something they like, which brings us back to the first point mentioned in this paragraph.

MARGINS ARE NOT THE ONLY FACTOR RETAILERS CARE ABOUT Goodman and Habel (2013) investigated the factors retailers value when choosing the producers and products they want to work with. The questionnaire was distributed to large retailers, independents liquor stores/bottleshops, and fine wine stores.

The aggregate results show that ‘margins’ is the number one factor, followed by the actual price the wine can be sold for, and the fact that the managers/staff members like the wines.

However, a different picture emerges when the results are broken down by type of retailer. For fine wine retailers the taste of the wines is the key selection criterion, to a point where almost all other factors become virtually irrelevant.

For large retailers, on the other hand, although ‘margins’ is still the number one factor, it is a combination of factors that ultimately determines the choice of producers large retailers are going to work with. Other factors include price points, customer requests, advertising support from the producers, and the presence of medals or awards for the wines. The choice criteria for independent retailers seem to reflect the aggregate scenario.

2015 HAS BEEN THE YEAR OF CHAMPAGNE, SAUVIGNON BLANC, AND SHIRAZ Champagne grew 14% by value, while white cask wines (-6%), other sparkling wines (-5%), red cask wines (-5%), and fortified wines (-5%) reported a loss. Red bottled wines increased by 5% in 2015 over the previous year, almost reaching the value of white bottled wines, which remained stable over the last 12 months. Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz are the two most valuable grape varieties with reported growth of 4% and 15%, respectively, compared with 2014 (Wine Australia 2015).

IF CONSUMERS HAVE TRIED YOUR WINE, THEY’RE GOING TO BUY YOU Having tried a wine previously is the key choice driver for wines in Australia (Goodman et al. 2008). This might not sound extremely revolutionary, but it still works as a significant reminder of the fact that it is important to offer trials and make wines consumers like. The act of buying wine, particularly premium wines, is risky. Nobody wants to spend $30-50 on a bottle of wine and be disappointed by the taste later on.

Trials and likeability are so important that the second most important choice driver is, in fact, recommendations by other people. This tells us that if one consumer hasn’t tried a wine directly, it would still be enough if somebody else had tried it, and could act as an advocate for the product. We then have a ballpark of factors including grape variety, origin of the

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REPUTATION, QUALITY AND AUTHENTICITY ARE KEY FOR THE CHOICE OF PREMIUM/LUXURY WINES In the January/February issue of this journal, we argued that it is important for Australia to shake off the cheap-and-cheerful image and steer firmly towards building a more premium image (Corsi and Rowley 2016). But, what does premium mean for Australian consumers when it comes to wine? It essentially comes down to the reputation and trustworthiness of the brand, and the quality of the wine (Sjostrom et al., In press).

WINES SOLD FOR LESS THAN $12 ARE IN DECLINE AND GROWTH HAS COME MOSTLY FROM IMPORTED WINES The majority of Australian wines are sold in Australia for less than $7.99. However, wines in this price range recorded a loss of 4% in 2015 over 2014, while wines priced between $8.00 and $11.99 went down by 6%. At the same time all other price categories were either stable ($12.00-15.99) or increased ($16.00-24.99: +5%, >$25.00: +11%). Imported wines followed a similar pattern with the highest growth recorded for imported wines priced between $16.00 and $24.99 (+12%) and above $25.00 (+15%) (Wine Australia 2015). These changes can be mostly attributed to three factors: the depreciation of the Australian dollar, a progressive move by Australian consumers towards higher quality products, and a fading effect of the wine glut that has pushed down prices for around a decade.

THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO PRICE PROMOTIONS Price promotions are used by retailers to generate instant and consistent sales uplift, which ultimately helps them meet their target volumes. However, price promotions have several negative effects (Sharp 2010) which require us to understand whether there is an alternative way to promote wines without touching prices. The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute conducted a study across 60 stores of a national Australian wine retailer measuring changes in sales before, during and after the introduction of non-price promotional tools. These tools were shelf talkers displayed in front of some selected bottles of wines, and banners displayed at the entrance of stores. The promotional material communicated either about the regionality of wines or their environmental friendliness, and the content was communicated either as a combination of words and logo, or just words. The results showed that the regional shelf talkers generated a higher sales uplift than the environmental ones (+27% and +17%, respectively). Words-only shelf talkers were more effective than words+logo shelf talkers for both the regional (+45% and +10%, respectively), and the environmental

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WINE RETAILING

(+27% and +10%, respectively) shelf talkers. Finally, banners communicating the environmental friendliness of the wines generated a sales uplift of 36% on the bottles displaying an environmental shelf talker (Corsi et al. 2013).

WHEN IT COMES TO THE WAY IN WHICH PEOPLE PURCHASE WINES, THERE ARE SOME REGULAR PATTERNS REPEATING ACROSS MARKETS Wine purchase patterns have been extensively analysed in Australia (Jarvis and Goodman 2005, Jarvis et al. 2006, 2007a, 2007b, Cohen et al. 2012), Italy (Casini et al. 2009, Corsi et al.

2011, 2014), and France (Cohen and Tataru 2011). The results across these markets consistently indicate that the key for brands to grow resides in attracting new buyers rather than selling more to existing ones. Heavy/frequent buyers are eventually going to stop buying your wines, if anything because they might simply get bored of repeating the same action. But if you're able to convince somebody who didn’t buy you before to choose you, you’re going to be on a stairway to success.

BUSINESS & & MARKETING MARKETING BUSINESS

euromonitor.com/wine-in-australia/report.

Goodman, S. and Habel, C. (2013) Australian off-premise: what influences their wine buying decision? The Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker 598:98-100.

Goodman, S.; Lockshin, L.; Cohen, E.; Fensterseifer, J.; d’Hauteville, F.; Ma, H.; Sirieux, L.; Orth, U.; Casini, L.; Corsi, A.M.; Jaeger, S.; Danaher, P.; Brodie, R.; Olsen, J. and Thach, L. (2008) International comparison of consumer choice for wine: a twelve country comparison. Paper presented at the 4th international conference of the Academy of Wine Business Research, Siena, Italy, 17-19 July.

IBIS (2015) Liquor retailing in Australia, available at http://www.ibisworld.com. au/industry/default.aspx?indid=398.

Jarvis, W. and Goodman S. (2005) Effective marketing of small brands: niche positions, attribute loyalty and direct marketing. Journal of Product & Brand Management 14(5):292-299.

Jarvis, W.; Rungie, C.; Goodman, S. and Lockshin, L. (2006) Using polarisation to identify variations in behavioural loyalty to price tiers. Journal of Product & Brand Management 15(4):257-264.

Jarvis, W.; Rungie, C. and Lockshin, L. (2007a) The polarisation method for merging data and analysing loyalty to product attributes, price and brands in revealed preference. International Journal of Market Research 49(4):489-513.

Jarvis, W.; Rungie, C. and Lockshin, L. (2007b) Revealed preference analysis of red wine attributes using polarisation. International Journal of Wine Business Research 19(2):127-138.

Sharp, B. (2010) How Brands Grow, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

Sjostrom, T.; Corsi, A.M. and Lockshin, L. (In Press) What characterises luxury products? A quantitative study across three product categories. International Journal of Wine Business Research.

Wine Australia (2015) Australian wine sector state of play, available at www. wineaustralia.com.

CONCLUSION The Australian off-premise wine sector is in good shape.

The consolidation of the market is likely to continue, but independents have started to find ways to defend themselves. A good wine is always an advantage: marketing is important, but if store managers like a wine, and if consumers like it too, your chances of success increase considerably. The real opportunity for Australian wines lies in the premiumisation of our offer. We have to be prepared for the fact that changes are not going to happen overnight, but this shift is going to pay off in the medium to long term. There’s an alternative to price promotions.

Everybody loves a good bargain, but make sure you discuss with your retailers about the possibility of including other forms of promotions than simple price cuts to your marketing plans. You can still increase your sales without jeopardising margins. And, finally, don’t strive for loyalty, strive for reach. Heavy buyers are going to gradually fade away, but you can find somebody who has never tried your wines to give them a shot. And that still counts as a sale.

REFERENCES

Wine Intelligence (2015) Wine retail trends in Germany, UK, USA, Australia, Japan, France, Spain and Italy’, available at http://www.wineintelligence.com/ wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Wine-Intelligence-for-ProWein-Wine-retail-trends8-countries-presentation.pdf.

WVJ

WHS Consultants

• Specialising in the review, development and implementation of safety systems suitable for small and medium sized businesses, risk assessments and behavioural safety.

Casini, L.; Rungie, C. and Corsi, A.M. (2009) How loyal are Italian consumers to wine attributes? Journal of Wine Research 20(2):125-142.

• High value advice at a low cost. Moore McPhee WHS will beat any geniune quote (conditions apply).

Cohen, J. and Tataru, D. (2011) The structure of the French retail wine market: a duplication of purchase approach. Paper presented at the 6th International Conference of the Academy of Wine Business Research, Bordeaux, France, 9-11 June.

• Servicing all areas including all rural and Hills areas.

Cohen, J.; Lockshin, L. and Sharp, B. (2012) A better understanding of the structure of a wine market using the attribute of variety. International Journal of Business & Globalisation 8(1):66-80.

Corsi, A.M., and Rowley, M. (2016) The only way is up. Wine & Viticulture Journal 31(1):59-61.

Available 24/7 1300 362 351

Corsi, A.M., Mueller-Loose, S. and Lockshin, L. (2013) The value of non monetary-based retail promotions: Comparing an in-store experiment to simulated purchasing. Paper presented at the 7th International Conference of the Academy of Wine Business Research, St. Catharines, Canada, 12-15 June.

Corsi, A.M.; Overton, S.R. and Casini L. (2014) The impact of the new wine common market organization (CMO) on behavioural loyalty toward product attributes: a case from Italy. Journal of Consumer Behaviour 13(4):231-241.

Corsi, A.M.; Rungie, C. and Casini, L. (2011) Is the polarization index a valid measure of loyalty for evaluating changes over time? Journal of Product and Brand Management 20(2):111-120.

vanessa.moore@mooremcphee.com.au www.mooremcphee.com.au

Euromonitor International (2015), ‘Wine – Australia’, available at http://www.

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BULK WINE EXPORTS

World wine trade in bulk grows, although with great differences

By Rafael del Rey, General Manager, Spanish Observatory of Wine Markets (OeMv)

Updated for Wine & Viticulture Journal readers using the latest available figures, Rafael del Rey presents the trends in bulk wine transport as drawn from his presentation to the World Bulk Wine Exhibition held in Amsterdam in November last year.

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hen ready to be consumed, all wines are bottled in either traditional 75cl-bottles, or smaller glass bottles, Tetra brick containers, larger glass bottles or even bag-in-box containers of up to 10 litres. Either way, they are served to consumers in relatively small containers, even if they have been previously moved in bulk prior to bottling. Trade in bulk, then, is just a way of transporting large amounts of wine and it is basically carried out between producers or distributors of the product. Indeed, the distinction between (i) wine bulk trade among producers and (ii) trade from producers to distributors is probably the most interesting trend currently taking place in the international world of wine.

Based on global international trade statistics, analysed by the Spanish Observatory of Wine Markets (OeMv), wine transported in bulk and containers larger than two litres accounted for 38.3% of the total volume in the 12 months ending in September 2015. This equates to almost four billion litres out of total of 10.3 billion litres of wine and must, which is five times more than the total trade in sparkling wine, although still less than wine transported in containers up to two litres. However, this volume of bulk wine does not represent a similar proportion in value.

Only 10.1% of total wine is traded in bulk in terms of Euros, equivalent to 2.8 billion out of a total of 27.9 billion Euros exported in the same period. In this case, bulk wine represented only 56% of total sparkling wines exports and was seven times less important than wine exported in containers up to two litres. The reason for this difference lies in the average prices of different categories of wine. Thus, whereas sparkling wines are traded at an average price of 7.03 Euros per litre and bottled wines at 3.57 Euros, wines in containers above two litres were exported at an average price of only .71 Euros per litre.

However, wines traded in bulk have risen higher in value than other wines in recent years. As shown in Figures 3 and 4, wine in bulk has increased 129% since the beginning of the century from 1.2 to 2.8 billion Euros, compared with the growth of other bottled wines (sparkling, still and fortified) which have only doubled during the same period from 12.5 to 25 billion Euros.

Similarly, bulk wine in volume terms has increased since 2000 by 92.7% (almost doubling from 2 billion litres to 3.9 billion at September 2015), while bottled wines increased 54% from 4 to 6.4 billion litres.

In both cases, value and volume, world trade in bulk wine has increased more than bottled wines, although the result

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Figure 1. The relative evolution of global wine exports by value.

Figure 2. The relative evolution of global wine exports by volume.

Figure 3. The relative evolution of global wine exports according to average price (Euros per litre).

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BULK WINE EXPORTS

Table 1. Total world wine exports in value, volume and by average price for 2015 compared with 2014.

Total exports by product Change in VALUE (mill €)

12 months up to…

Sparkling Bottled

2014

2015

sep.-15

4,620.8

5,046.1

sep.-15

18,241.7 19,890.7

Bulk & > 2l.

sep.-15

2,740.8

Must

sep.-15

104.3

World total

Dif (mill €)

Dif %

425.3

9.2%

1,649.0

9.0%

2,825.9

85.1

3.1%

102.3

-2.0

-1.9%

25,707.5 27,864.9 2,157.4

8.4%

Change in VOLUME (mill l.)

12 months up to…

2014

2015

Dif (mill l.)

Dif %

Sparkling

sep.-15

695.0

717.6

22.6

3.2%

Bottled

sep.-15

5,579.6

5,566.8

-12.8

-0.2%

Bulk & > 2l.

sep.-15

3,751.8

3,962.8

211.0

5.6%

Must

sep.-15

100.5

97.9

-2.7

-2.7%

218.1

2.2%

World total

10,126.9 10,345.1

AVERAGE PRICE (€/l.)

12 months up to…

2014

2015

Dif (€)

Dif %

Sparkling

sep.-15

6.65

7.03

0.38

5.8%

Bottled

sep.-15

3.27

3.57

0.30

9.3%

Bulk & > 2l.

sep.-15

0.73

0.71

-0.02

-2.4%

Must

sep.-15

1.04

1.05

0.01

0.8%

2.54

2.69

0.16

6.1%

World total

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has been a slower increase in average prices (17% in 15 years vis a vis 25% for bottled wines), in a much more erratic evolution.

Indeed, the average prices of wine traded in bulk remain much cheaper, as a whole, than those in other wine categories. Bulk prices are five times less than those for bottled wines, compared with 4.5 times less back in the year 2000. And the difference has increased in recent times.

Comparing prices for the year ending in September 2015 with those of the previous year, average prices for bulk decreased 2.4%, while those for bottled wines grew 9.3% and those for sparkling increased 5.8%. Moreover, the average prices for bulk are very much influenced by their availability in the market and evolve more as a commodity than bottled and branded wines.

Before entering into more detailed analysis of the bulk wine market, two considerations must be made: 1. International customs’ statistics differentiate between bottled wine in containers (glass, can, Tetra Brick or any other) up to two litres and all wines in larger containers, which we generically call ‘bulk’. However, this ‘bulk’ category also includes wines in bag-in-box, mainly of three, five and 10 litres, which are supposed to account for a relatively small amount of the total. Therefore, all comments generically made about ‘bulk’ wines also include such smaller containers. From 1 January 2017, international statistics will include a new differentiation between ‘bottled wines’ in containers up to two litres, wines in containers larger than two and up to 10 litres, ▶ and wines transported in containers larger than 10 litres.

Source: Official customs data gathered from GTA, elaborated by Spanish Observatory of Wine Markets (OeMv).

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BULK WINE EXPORTS

Table 2. Top world exporters of bulk wine and greater than 2L containers.

12 months ending Sep 2015 TOP EXPORTER

VALUE (€)

VOLUME (L)

€/L

Spain

508.4

1,395.3

0.36

Italy

365.8

501.2

0.73

France

310.7

229.7

1.35

Australia

290.3

413.8

0.70

Chile

257.4

368.3

0.70

United States

214.9

187.3

1.15

South Africa

187.4

286.8

0.65

New Zealand

168.8

68.0

2.48

Germany

88.0

70.3

1.25

Argentina

68.1

80.3

0.85

Portugal

46.2

60.0

0.77

Top world exporters

2,505.9

3,660.9

0.68

World total

2,825.9

3,962.8

0.71

% top / world

88.7%

92.4%

Source: Official customs data gathering by GTA, elaborated Spanish Observatory of Wine Markets (OeMv).

2. For an accurate analysis of the evolution of world wine markets we must consider that, within the category of bulk wines, two main groups of transactions may be distinguished:

Both markets co-exist. The former is growing and may keep growing in the future due to the greater influence of retail chains in consumer countries, the search for more efficient transportation, costs and environmental issues.

The latter is a very large portion of the current bulk market in volume. Its future evolution will depend on the needs of producer countries like France and Germany to fulfil their requirements of wine domestically and the capacity of suppliers like Spain, South Africa, Chile and Argentina to get direct access to final consumers with bottled wines at better prices.

Considering all types of sales in containers larger than two litres together, the evolution of this market has been remarkable. During the last 15 years, they have more than doubled in value terms from 1.24 billion Euros to 2.8 billion at September 2015, and almost doubled in volume from 2 to 3.96 billion litres. The slightly better growth in value reflects a slow increase in average prices from .61 Euros at the beginning of the century to .71 Euros by September 2015. This long-term growth, however, shows very different and erratic movements fmro one year to another, which very much depend on some key factors on the demand side but, even more, on fundamental issues affecting the supply side.

On the supply side of the equation, the top 11 producers of wine account for 89% of total exports in value and more than 92% of the total volume. Among them, the recent role of Spain is particularly relevant. Selling a total amount of almost 14 million hectolitres of wine in bulk, Spain more than doubles Italy which ranks second with little more than five million. Other big players are France, Australia, Chile, USA and South Africa, with sales above one million hectolitres each. In terms of value, differences are less significant,

• Sales in bulk from producers to final consumers, which is largely for bottling and distribution in the country of destination. This is the case for most of the wines from Chile, Australia, New Zealand and other producers sent to countries like the USA, UK or Germany, where domestic consumption is large. These type of wines are generally of higher average prices, with good enough qualities to be directly bottled at the distributors’ facilities and probably with brands owned by the distributors.

• Sales between producers themselves. This is the case for very large wine sales from Spain to France, Portugal, Italy or Germany, and some sales from Italy to France and Germany, mostly to be blended with other local wines and either distributed locally at relatively low price segments or re-exported to final consumers. This second type of wines meets very different quality requirements and is generally made at much lower prices.

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Figure 5. The growth in bulk wine exports from 2000 to the latest statistics to September 2015.

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Figure 6. The change in the shipment of wine in bulk and in containers greater than 2L from the world’s top exporters (in millions of litres) between the 12 months to September 2014 and 2015.

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Figure 8. The change in purchases of wine in bulk and in containers greater than 2L between importing countries between the 12 months to September 2014 and 2015.

Figure 7. The share of wine purchases in bulk and in containers greater than 2L between importing countries. although the top eight exporters rank in the same position.

However, as mentioned above, the average prices for each big producer show how different the bulk and >2L market can be. Spain is clearly positioned at the lowest end of the market with only .36 Euros per litre for bulk sales of basic wines, mainly directed to other large exporters such as France, Italy, Portugal and Germany. On the upper side of this market, sales of wines from New Zealand are made at an average price of 2.48€/L and probably include a large quantity of quality wines sold to final consumers such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, as well as a larger portion of sales in bag-in-box containers. Similarly, bulk exports from France are made at an average price of 1.35€/L, which may also include a large quantity of higher quality wines mainly sold in bag in box to Germany (42% of total sales of this category), Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands and Sweden.

Among the top exporters of wine in bulk, the evolution in growth has also been quite different. Spain is again the leading actor in the scene, due to the imbalance between large and erratic vintages, low domestic demand and less

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Figure 9. The trade flows of bulk wines in the last 15 years in the top importing countries. distillation. When the Spanish crop decreased in 2012 a sharp reduction of the international wine supply was experienced, barely compensated by larger exports from Chile and South Africa. Conversely, when Spanish production reached a record high just one year later, much more wine suddenly ▶ entered international markets.

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Two years later and despite lower crops, Spain is still pouring large quantities of wine onto the international market at very low prices. When this happens in such a commodity-type category, other big players like Chile and South Africa reduce sales or increase them at much lower rates, while countries like France and Italy, with new selling opportunities for higher value wines, seem to quit the bulk market and Argentina relies on public purchase to reduce exports at low prices.

On the demand side, only six countries in the world import more than 100 million Euros worth of wine in bulk or in containers above two litres, which account for 60% of the total trade. Figures for the 12 months to September last year show the United Kingdom and Germany leading the ranking with around 500 million Euros each, followed by the USA and France with half that figure. Compared with the previous year, China showed the largest increase (76%) at lower prices, followed by Japan (20%) and Italy (16%), whereas the top two importers, UK and Germany, the opposite happened, with a 3.9% increase in the case of the former compared with a 9.5% drop of the latter.

In terms of volume, though, up to 10 countries buy more than one million hectolitres of this type of wine, led by Germany with 8.8 million hectolitres, France (4.9 million HL) and the UK (4.8 million HL). The USA and Italy import 2.7 and 2.5 million hectolitres, respectively, while Russia, Portugal, China, Canada and Sweden buy between one and two million hectolitres each.

In 2015, China doubled its imports of bulk wine from 65 to 130 million litres, with significant growth also occurring for Italy (26%), France (16%) and Russia (11%), while Germany remained flat and both the UK and the USA bought less bulk wine.

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... only six countries in the world import more than 100 million Euros worth of wine in bulk or in containers above two litres, which account for 60% of the total trade.

Figures for the 12 months to September last year show the United Kingdom and Germany lead the ranking with around 500 million Euros each, followed by the USA and France with half that figure.

As a summary of the trade flows of bulk wine in the last 15 years1 Figure 9 shows how imports of bulk wine have grown in all the top countries but Switzerland, with France exchanging Italian supplies for Spanish wines, Spain gaining sales in Germany, Italy and Russia, and Australia increased its exports of wine in bulk and >2L containers to the UK, Chile and the USA. Finally, some predictions on the evolution of the bulk wine market during 2016 may be obtained from an analysis of estimations of world wine production and demand. For 2015 world production was estimated to increase by 2% to 275 million hectolitres according to the OIV, with France’s production slightly up on the year before, Italy increasing its total crop by more than four million hectolitres, and Spain showing a small decline.

On the demand side, larger crops in France and Italy should reduce their appetite for Spanish wines, which may also increase average prices due to lower yields. Such changes among the top world producers may push down the global trade of bulk wine at the lower end of the market during this year. With regard to trade between the large producers and countries with a large consumption of wine, imports by China may continue to grow at quite a large pace, while imports by Germany and Russia may slow down. We expect Chile and South Africa to take advantage of a lower vintage in the Northern Hemisphere, while Argentina will keep on using public purchase of wine to limit its exports in bulk.

Finally, it is also expected that the average prices for bulk wines may increase during 2016, particularly for basic products. In the long run, volatility will remain a characteristic of the international bulk market, with France tending to get larger supplies from domestic vineyards – according to their own strategic plans – and Spanish cooperatives learning how to improve their direct exports, moving from bulk wine into bottled and higher value products and also converting some sales of basic wines in bulk into better quality varietal products more adapted to international demand. In the longer run, we may expect the trade in bulk among producers to decrease in the future, with strong variations depending on their respective crops, while bulk sales towards countries of final consumption may grow, based on the influence of big retail distributors keen to push their own brands, the desire for lower transportation costs and an increased environmental consciousness.

More detailed information may be found at the OeMv’s website from the presentation given on the 2015 edition of the World Bulk Wine Trade Fair: http://www.oemv.es/esp/ presentacion-oemv-new-bulk-wine-scenes-changes-markets1598k.php 1

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Product innovation and authenticity: The case of wine

By Bora Qesja, Roberta Crouch and Pascale Quester, The University of Adelaide

Drawing on her presentation at the Australian Society of Viticulture & Oenology’s Adelaide seminar held in December, Bora describes a recent study in which the reactions to wines of varying alcohol levels by consumers were assessed.

INTRODUCTION Product innovation is the process of modifying or updating an existing product to present something new to the market (Gruenwald 1997). Satisfying consumer expectations in markets where they are used to continuous product improvement is essential for survival in today’s competitive environment. Hence, successful product innovation is imperative for any business in order to stand the test of time (Kotler et al. 2010).

Compared with just a decade ago, customers now desire products with exceptional value and improved benefits, as well as quality and reliability (Fawcett and Fawcett 2013).

For a business to keep growing and remain competitive, it is important for managers to anticipate changes in technology, customer preferences and industry standards, and execute attractive product innovations on a timely basis. However, meeting consumer expectations is challenging – it is difficult and expensive for companies to introduce products regularly, and even harder to innovate already established ones successfully (Katz 2003).

Launching innovated products comes with high risks and the success rate is usually less than 50% (Taylor and Bearden 2003). This can be explained by the inherent perceptions of uncertainty faced by consumers when purchasing any innovated product. Factors that influence product acceptance by consumers include a belief in superior product attributes due to the innovation, consumer characteristics (product class involvement, culture, and frequency of consumption) (d’Hauteville 1994, Hofstede 2011) and perceptions of authenticity, which according to Gilmore and Pine (2007) has overcome quality as the main purchasing criterion. Additionally, product category has also been found to play a role; for example, consumers tend to welcome product innovations in categories such as computers, software, cars, and other technologies.

However, knowledge of consumers’ reactions to innovations in products steeped in tradition and, therefore, carrying symbolic value such as wine (Meillon et al. 2010), is extremely limited, leading to a substantial gap in our current knowledge with regard to consumer acceptance of product innovations in these categories.

Even though the innovation of even a traditional product typically proposes new benefits, the potential perceived disadvantages of such an innovation, such as loss of perceived product authenticity, might influence its success

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in the marketplace. Therefore, there is a need to investigate how consumers are likely to react when traditional products are innovated. Additionally, the potential moderating effect of consumer characteristics (e.g. risk aversion, cultural linkages to the product in its traditional form, category involvement) on product acceptance needs to be concurrently ▶ investigated.

Research on consumers’ reactions to innovations in traditional products like wine, such as the introduction of low and no alcohol wines, is limited. An Australian study has partially filled the gap by comparing the reaction of consumers to wines of varying alcohol levels both before and after a blind tasting.

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WINE IN TODAY’S GLOBAL SOCIETY Recently, Australia and other countries have seen a marked increase in the alcohol levels of many wines (Chikritzhs et al. 2010). This, in turn, has led to an increase in the per capita consumption of alcohol as reported by the Australian Wine Research Institute (Chikritzhs et al. 2010). At the same time, there is mounting evidence of the economic and social costs from harmful use of alcohol. These include alcohol-related road accidents, crime, domestic violence, loss of productivity and the burden of healthcare expenditures (Skov 2009, Collins and Lapsley 2008).

Indeed, the negative effect that high alcohol consumption and binge drinking has on health and social issues has led the World Health Organisation (WHO) (2004) to introduce a strategy based on reducing alcohol consumption globally.

From the wine industry’s perspective this global strategy deserves special attention as it includes a number of restrictive recommendations with respect to alcohol availability, marketing of alcoholic beverages and pricing policies (Grant 2010). The global alcohol industry is requested to support these initiatives aimed at preventing and reducing the harmful use of alcohol, including selfregulatory actions and initiatives.

These types of pressures, together with growing consumer awareness of heath issues generally resulting in greater demands for ‘healthier’ products (ICAP 2007), have resulted in a growing awareness amongst wine producers of the need to develop new wine products with lower levels of alcohol (Grant 2010). However, previous research indicates generally negative consumer reactions to the dealcoholisation cue influencing the success of these products in the market to date (Meillon et al. 2010, Saliba et al. 2013). Even though some research has been done on analysing consumer perceptions of partially dealcoholised wines (Saliba et al.

2013, Meillon et al. 2010, Josselin et al. 2008), no research has been conducted on analysing perceptions to a completely dealcoholised wine. In order to explore some of these identified questions a qualitative study was undertaken using respondents (wine consumers) in Australia and Indonesia, hence, allowing for a comparison of reactions to low/no alcohol wines between wine buyers in a well-established western wine market to those from a non-traditional emerging Asian wine market.

METHODOLOGY Exploratory research in the form of focus group interviews was employed in both Australia and Indonesia to explore in depth consumer perceptions of wine as a traditional product in the respective cultures. Australia and Indonesia were chosen as they have a vastly different culture and history of wine consumption and, as a result, it is expected that wine will not be considered equally traditional in both locations. Four focus groups were conducted in Jakarta with the respondents stratified into 18 to 35-year-old males (six males), 18 to 35-year-old females (seven females), above 35-year-old males (eight males) and above 35-year-old females (six females). The focus groups were replicated in Adelaide and the respondents were stratified into 18 to 35-year-old males (four males), 18 to

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In contrast to the results of the focus groups in Indonesia, Australian participants considered wine to be a traditional product and reacted more negatively upon finding out that the wines contained no alcohol regardless of whether they had liked the taste.

35-year-old females (seven females), above 35-year-old males (four males) and above 35-year-old females (four females).

The wines tasted by respondents varied in varietal, style and alcohol level (three reds: 0.5%, 7.5%, 15.5% alcohol level, respectively; two rose: 0% and 13.5%; three white wines: 0.5%, 5.5% and 13.5%). No information was given about the wines and the bottles were masked. Respondents answered questions related to history of drinking wine, situation, frequency of drinking, perceptions of low alcohol wines, benefits perceived from consuming low/no alcohol wines, perceived authenticity of the innovated lower alcohol wines compared with wines where the alcohol has not been reduced and, ultimately, the likelihood of purchase and willingness to pay. Participants were also asked to rate the wine overall from zero (really disliked it) to 10 (liked it very much). Moreover, they were asked to guess the alcohol level and to give any comments on the wine. After the tasting, information was shared amongst members of the groups regarding the actual alcohol level of each wine tasted and participants were asked whether their perception of those wines changed and whether they still considered the beverages to be wine – even though some contained no alcohol and many contained very low levels.

This research was conducted by the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformations Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production (www.adelaide.edu.au/tc-iwp/), which is funded as a part of the ARC’s Industrial Transformation Research Program (Project No IC130100005) with support from Wine Australia and industry partners.

RESULTS Results for Indonesian participants Regardless of their history as wine consumers, frequency of wine consumption and wine involvement, the participants failed to link the characteristics of the wines tasted with the respective alcohol levels, and generally vastly over-estimated alcohol levels even in the no alcohol wines. Overall, the no alcohol red wine was the least liked, following the prediction made from the literature review that red wine does not handle the dealcoholisation process the same way as rose and white wines (Josselin 2008, Meillon 2010). The rose wine was met with the most positive reaction, characterised as ‘refreshing’ and ‘easy to drink’. After finding out the alcohol level in the wines tasted, the innovated product was still perceived as authentic and the majority still considered the no alcohol product to be wine. Participants listed different perceived benefits from the innovation such as lower calories, no risk of intoxication, lighter (‘very fruity and light’) etc.

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Disadvantages mentioned related to taste, complexity and method of production (‘undrinkable, a spoiled wine’, ‘awful’, ‘no taste’). Wine was not considered a traditional product by most participants. These participants reacted more positively to the innovation and saw the benefits as overcoming the disadvantages in particular situations.

Men above and below 35 years were the most against the dealcoholised wines, however, the history of drinking and frequency (years of drinking wine) played a moderating role.

Men that had not been drinking for long were more open to lower/no alcohol wines. The same occurred for females below and above 35 years old. However, overall, they were more open to the idea of consuming these wines on occasion such as when wanting to relax after a long day of work, when not eating and during a business lunch (‘I would drink it on occasion when not wanting to get drunk, when not eating’).

On the other hand, the participants that were raised with the culture of drinking wine reacted more negatively to the innovation, seeing the new product as not authentic.

The majority of the women expressed purchase intention while men were more apprehensive, suggesting that the likely consumers of low/no alcohol wines will be women.

Results for Australian participants Similarly to the results in Indonesia, no alcohol wines were the least preferred, and there was a discrepancy between the rating of the white, rose wines and the red. The white and rose wines were considered light and refreshing, while the red was mostly deemed to be ‘undrinkable’ and ‘like fruit juice’.

Moreover, the Australian participants also over-estimated the alcohol level in the wines tasted.

In contrast to the results of the focus groups in Indonesia, Australian participants considered wine to be a traditional product and reacted more negatively upon finding out that the wines contained no alcohol, regardless of whether they had liked the taste. The majority did not see the product as authentic any longer and did not agree with the idea of calling it wine. These participants reacted more negatively to the innovation and saw the disadvantages as overcoming the benefits. Frequency and history of drinking, gender and situation were found to play a moderating role similar to the results with the Indonesian participants.

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fulfilment and customer service: Principles and strategies for planning, organising, and managing fulfillment and service operations. Pearson Education.

Gilmore, J.H. and Pine, B.J. (2007) Authenticity: What consumers really want. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Grant, M. (2010) WHO is leading? In Proceedings of the 14th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference, Adelaide.

Gruenwald, G. (1997) How to create profitable new products – from mission to market. Chicago: NTC Business Books. d’Hauteville, F. (1994) Consumer acceptance of low alcohol wines.

International Journal of Wine Marketing 6(1):35-48.

Hofstede, G. (2011) Dimensionalising cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online readings in psychology and culture 2(1):8.

ICAP. (2007) Lower alcohol beverages. ICAP Reports 19. Washington DC, International Centre for Alcohol Policies.

Josselin, M.; Philippe, A. and d’Hauteville, F. (2008) Effects of non-sensory cues on perceived quality: the case of low-alcohol wine. International Journal of Wine Business Research 20(3):215-229.

Katz, R. (2003) Managing technological innovation in business organisations. In: The International Handbook on Innovation, Elsevier Science Ltd. 775-789.

Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2010) Principles of marketing. Pearson Education.

Meillon, S.; Urbano, C.; Guillot, G. and Schlich, P. (2010) Acceptability of partially dealcoholised wines - Measuring the impact of sensory and information cues on overall liking in real-life settings. Food Quality and Preference 21(7):763-773.

Saliba, A.; Ovington, L. and Moran, C. (2013) Consumer demand for lowalcohol wine in an Australian sample. International Journal of Wine Research.

Skov, S.; Chikritzhs, T.; Li, S.; Pircher, S. and Whetton, S. (2010) How much is too much? Alcohol consumption and related harm in the Northern Territory.

The Medical Journal of Australia 193(5):269.

Taylor, V.A. and Bearden, W.O. (2003) Ad spending on brand extensions: Does similarity matter? The Journal of Brand Management 11(1):63-74.

WHO (2004) Global Status Report on Alcohol 2004. World Health Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland.

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CONCLUSION The study demonstrated that perceived traditionality and authenticity of an innovated product influences its acceptance.

The proposed consumer characteristics were also shown to play a moderating role. The study offers a contribution to the alcohol industry by providing an insight into how consumers perceive the innovation leading to a foundation for lowering alcohol consumption per capita.

REFERENCES Chikritzhs, T.N.; Allsop, S.J.; Moodie, A.R. and Hall, W.D. (2010) Per capita alcohol consumption in Australia: will the real trend please step forward? Med. J. Aust. 193(10):594-7.

Collins, D. and Lapsley, H. (2008) The cost of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug abuse to Australian society in 2004/05, National Drug Strategy Monograph Series, Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing, Commonwealth of Australia.

Fawcett, S.E. and Fawcett, A.M. (2013) The definitive guide to order

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The Trans Pacific Partnership – which wineproducing country will be the biggest winner?

By Mark Rowley, Industry Analyst, Wine Australia

The group of countries involved in the yet-to-be-ratified Trans Pacific Partnership are net wine consumers, which suggests every one of them should benefit from the treaty. However, Mark says there’s more to the story, and has undertaken a more in depth look at each market and the existing Free Trade Agreements to determine what they can potentially gain from it.

T

he Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been heralded as a landmark treaty between 12 countries, including Australia, that will support Australian economic growth and exports including wine. The agreement was formally signed by Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb on 4 February 2016 and was tabled in Parliament on 9 February. The treaty will now proceed through Australia’s ratification process but is unlikely to enter into force this year. For that to happen, the domestic legal procedures of all 12 parties must be completed within two years. Alternatively at least six parties, responsible for 85 per cent of the combined gross domestic product of the original 12 signatories, must have ratified the Agreement. Effectively this means that if either the US

or Japan, for example, fails to ratify the treaty it will not enter into force for any of the 12 parties.

The biggest unknown is United States politics. The TPP has been driven heavily by the Obama administration. However, with an election in November this year, it will not be President Obama who implements the TPP. The TPP has proved controversial and there are differing views from aspiring presidential candidates on the subject. The Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are against the deal, with Sanders stating, “The Trans Pacific Partnership is a disastrous trade agreement”, while Clinton is more tentative stating, “As of today, I am not in favour of what I have learned about it”. The Republican camp is mixed,

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with Donald Trump stating, “The TPP is a horrible deal”, while the other Republican candidates are broadly supportive.

With the 12 signatory countries having a combined population of 800 million people (12% of global production), it is a globally significant deal. Consumption of wine in the area, albeit varying widely in per capita consumption, is also a considerable component of the world market accounting for 4.9 billion litres (26% of global consumption). In 2015, total imports into the 12 countries were valued at US$9.1 billion from 3.2 billion litres.

The 12 countries also include large-scale wine producers accounting for 4.8 billion litres in 2014 (approximately 18% of global wine production). This implies that, on balance, the group is a net wine consumer. This should benefit the region’s producers on aggregate; however, a more in depth examination of each market and existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) is required to assess who has the potential to be the biggest beneficiary.

Assuming the deal is implemented, the biggest beneficiaries will be the major wine producers – Australia, New Zealand, Chile and the United States. However, there are a series of FTAs already in place. As a result, some countries may actually lose a competitive edge established through early adoption of FTAs. Figure 2 illustrates the most important bilateral wine trades in the grouping of countries. For example, Brunei is largely alcohol free, whereas Singapore will never be a wine producer, so any wine trade to Brunei or from Singapore is excluded from this analysis.

The analysis presented in Figure 2 suggests that New Zealand will be the biggest beneficiary from the TPP. It will improve its relative competiveness in six markets including Canada and the US, despite the tariff rates being low. In comparison, Chilean wine producers are likely to be worse off. Their competitive advantage from established FTAs will be eroded to some degree in seven

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Figure 1. Trans Pacific Partnership members and wine market size (million litres). markets. Their wineries will be hoping that their first mover advantage and established relationships will hold them in good stead.

For Australia and the US, both countries will improve their competiveness in four markets. Arguably, Australia will be in a better position. The four markets where Australia will gain a competitive edge import a total of 493 million litres of wine annually, whereas the four markets where the US will improve competitiveness import a lesser 341 million litres.

Australia’s domestic market is its most important and any additional competition would be a concern. As Figure 2 illustrates, Australia already has FTAs with the other three wine-producing countries and would not be subject to any additional significant ▶ competition.

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Vietnam

USA

Singapore

Peru

New Zealand

Mexico

Malaysia

Japan

Chile

Canada

Brunei

Australia

Wine Market

2

Brunei Canada

Wine Producer

Chile Japan Malaysia Mexico New Zealand

1

Peru Singapore USA Vietnam No tariffs due to FTA

No FTA currently in place

1 Australia and New Zealand have preferential treatment, but not the zero rate Chile and the US has in place.

2 Although Australia has an FTA with Malaysia, wine is not included so is treated as ‘No FTA in place’ for the analysis.

Figure 2. Analysis of bi-lateral wine trade among Trans Pacific Partnership members.

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BUSINESS & & MARKETING MARKETING BUSINESS

W I N E

E X P O R T S

Table 1. Trans Pacific Partnership markets and outcomes for Australia.

TPP Countries

Current tariff on Australian wine

TPP outcome

Brunei

Alcohol sale prohibited

Canada

2.75 cents/litre or 4.68 cents/litre depending on alcohol content

No change

Chile

0% (FTA between Australia and Chile)

Japan

11.3%, reducing to 0% by 2022 (FTA between Australia and Japan)

Mexico

20%

Malaysia

Eliminated on entry into force No change Phased out over seven years Phased out over three years for wine > $5/bottle, 10 years for other wines

Seven ringgit/litre still wine, 23 ringgit/litre sparkling wine

Phased out over 15 years

New Zealand 0% (ANZCER)

No change

Peru

9%

Eliminated on still wine on entry into force, over five years for sparkling wine

Singapore

0%

No change

0% (FTA between Australia and the US)

No change

USA Vietnam

56%

Phased out over 11 years

Table 2. Key wine statistics for Trans Pacific Partnership members.

Volume

Australia

Total market (litres)

Total imports (litres)

552,900,000

92,721,755

Australian exports/ Aust. market share sales (litres) 450,000,000

81%

Aust import share na

Brunei

66,649

66,649

270

na

0%

Canada

519,900,000

413,387,432

63,721,730

12%

15%

Chile

225,700,000

2,123,192

24,458

0%

1%

Japan

325,200,000

280,068,995

13,309,185

4%

5%

Malaysia

8,800,000

9,928,790

4,488,919

51%

45%

Mexico

84,600,000

60,953,947

190,886

0%

0%

New Zealand

105,100,000

34,843,949

27,089,909

26%

78%

Peru

51,100,000

9,345,569

4,518

0%

0%

Singapore

10,600,000

31,118,062

5,193,597

49%

17%

USA

3,015,200,000

1,102,100,952

167,927,643

6%

15%

Vietnam

10,300,000

16,076,469

690,526

7%

4%

Total TPP

4,909,466,649

2,052,735,761

732,641,639

15%

36%

For Australia, the market to watch is Mexico. Although Canada is a larger market for wine than Mexico (see Table 2), Australia paid a small fraction of its exports in tariff. In total, Australian exporters paid approximately A$1.75 million from A$135 million worth of exports during 2015. In terms of total tariffs, Australia is only disadvantaged by 2.75c/L compared with Chile and the US. In Mexico, however, an import market of 61 million litres will be opened up for Australia from the removal of the 20% tariff which is not applied to either Chile or the US. Assuming all the political obstacles are overcome, the TPP promises significant benefits for Australian wine exporters.

The potential tariff cuts are summarised in Table 1.

In the case of Japan, Australia’s FTA is in force and already providing preferential tariff treatment so although competitor countries, particularly the US and New Zealand, will benefit from Japanese tariff reductions under the TPP, Australia will remain at least two years ahead on the elimination schedule.

The 15-year tariff phase out period in Malaysia may seem protracted, but given Malaysia’s reluctance to provide tariff

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relief to wine through the bilateral FTA, this is a welcome outcome. Similarly the phase-out period for Vietnam of 11 years extends tariff reductions beyond the commitment made in the earlier Agreement between Australia, New Zealand and the ASEAN countries.

There are also non-tariff related benefits that may flow from the TPP. Wine Australia’s general manager, regulatory services Steve Guy states, “Non-tariff benefits, an annex to the Agreement, provides for the possibility of designing a single label that can be applied to a package of wine, and that package then being sold in all TPP markets.

“Market-specific requirements would need to be displayed on additional labels, but the annex provides that the supplementary label could be applied in the destination market.”

Australia’s export oriented wineries look set to benefit from the TPP, Australia’s export oriented wineries look set to benefit from the TPP however existing FTAs have already reaped much of that benefit for Australia. Australia will benefit marginally in Canada through savings however Mexico appears to be the best WVJ opportunity for opening up a new market.

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

Making cool Shiraz Taking time out from their busy vintage schedules, the makers of the top three wines entered in our recent tasting of cool climate Australian Shiraz (see results page 75) give us some background on their standout tipples.

Leon and Rosie Garner, Viticulturists Lindsay Brown, Winemaker Garners Heritage Wine Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria Wine: Garners 2014 Shiraz (RRP$27.00/bottle)

VITICULTURE Garners Heritage Wine is situated in the foothills of the Strathbogie Ranges. Our Shiraz block has a north-south aspect that gently slopes to the south-east with an elevation of 220m above sea level.

Our mean maximum temperature during the growing season (Sept to March) is 32°C while the mean minimum is 8°C. The warmer summer days experienced in the lower reaches of the Strathbogie Ranges is ideal for developing the succulent fruit flavours of the Shiraz.

Some years we experience the odd mild frost in October and November, so we prepare the previous year’s prunings into eight or nine large bonfires and place them at the bottom of the slope and light them in the event of an early morning frost. In the past this has shielded the young shoots from any frost damage. The warm air rises up over the vines and this is enough to protect them.

The soil is ancient granitic sandy loam, with ironstone gravel, shale and quartz and a clay subsoil.

Our average annual rainfall is 334mm, with the vineyard sparingly drip irrigated from a bore, on average receiving approximately 20 litres per vine during extremely hot weather.

Irrigation is applied on a ‘need’ basis rather than a timetable and some years need less than others.

The vines are own rooted and came from cuttings from a nearby vineyard. They were planted in November 2005 after developing their root systems under sand for three months.

The trellis system consists of a single wire system, cordon trained and spur pruned.

The vineyard measures 1.8 hectares with a planting density of 1200 vines per hectare (vine spacing of two metres, row spacing of 3.2 metres).

The estate vineyard of Garners Heritage Wine is located in the foothills of the Strathbogie Ranges where warmer summer days are experienced, ideal for developing the succulent fruit flavours of Shiraz.

The vines are hand spur pruned leaving two buds per spur and ideally six spurs per arm. Two foliage wires are necessary to keep the canes upright in the predominately southerly winds.

We shoot thin and bunch thin several times before veraison to limit the crop to 10 tonnes per 1.8 hectares. On average we aim to harvest between eight and 10 tonnes, depending on the season.

In December we tip prune the top of the vines to encourage the lateral shoots to spread out over the top and provide a thick healthy canopy.

Leaf plucking occurs on the north-eastern side of the vines towards the ripening stages.

We cultivate under the vines several times during the growing season to limit the weed density. Grass is mown between the rows and mulched to the sides.

Every second year an application of Seasol is put through the irrigation system in the early stages of growth. Once or twice a season a Seasol mix is applied through the sprayer. Our spray regime stops any outbreaks of powdery or downy mildew and botrytis.

Our estate-grown, single vineyard fruit has developed beautifully over the 11 years since we planted it and the qualities we strive to achieve are full bunches of small berries of deep purple colour and flavour-driven fruit.

WINEMAKING

Proprietors and viticulturists for Garners Heritage Wine, Rosie and Leon Garner.

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Samples are taken and tested regularly in the last few weeks of ripening to keep an eye on Baume, TA and pH. We are looking for dense purple colours and rich blackberry flavours. Ideally, we like to pick at 14.2 Baume but it all comes down to colour and flavour and when that is right, we hand pick with a large team over 10 or 11 ▶ hours.

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

The fruit is taken straight to the winery and destemmed, crushed and poured into open vats where 10% whole bunches are added. It is hand plunged three times a day for two weeks. Ferment peaks at 28°C then finishes at 22°C. Skins are pressed off after at least seven days with the first racking within 10 days.

MLF is performed in French and American oak barrels.

On completion of MLF the wine is racked out of the barrels and left to mature in new French and a percentage of second-hand American oak puncheons for 18 months at a temperaturecontrolled 15°C. Puncheons are the preferred barrels for maturation because they are particularly suited to fruit-driven wines that usually don’t need a high oak extraction but rather elegance, finesse, balance and soft integration of toasting and oak tannins into the wine.

Our last shipment of French oak puncheons were sourced from the Troncais forest in France where Napoleon planted hundreds of acres of oak trees to build his ships, but are now used to make French oak barrels.

When we are satisfied with the taste it is prepared for bottling.

We try to keep to the traditional methods of winemaking and allow the fruit to do the talking as a true representation of our terroir.

MARKETING Our wine is sold through our cellar door, online and we wholesale to most of Melbourne’s top golf courses. It is also sold through a selected number of wine shops in Melbourne and we ship to clients mostly on the eastern seaboard of Australia.

Duncan Cook, Lucy Maddox, Chris Derrez - Winemakers Cooks Lot Wines Orange, New South Wales Wine: Cooks Lot 2013 Allotment 8 Handpicked Shiraz

VITICULTURE Vintage 2013 was a perfect Shiraz year in Orange. Even ripening conditions, cool nights and fair weather produced very good fruit. The grapes for this Shiraz were sourced from two well-established Orange GI vineyards in the Borenore area; both north-facing sites, one at

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600m elevation and the other at 820m elevataion, with gentle slopes. The soils are predominantly medium depth red/ brown silty clay loam dermosols. Both vineyards are trellised to a VSP, and bunch and shoot thinned; neither were irrigated in 2013.

Orange region temperatures change dramatically with elevation. Its mean January temperature (MJT) is 19.15ºC at Millthorpe (960m) but increases to around 21.5ºC at Molong (600m) due to the 0.6ºC temperature increase per 100m fall in elevation.

This temperature band is significantly cooler than adjacent wine regions like Mudgee (454m) at 23.25ºC and Cowra (300m) at 24ºC. The Orange region also has a continental climate where there is a wide range (15ºC) between mean summer and winter temperatures. Spring growth begins slowly as the mean temperature reaches 10ºC in mid-September but increases rapidly up to mid-summer. In a similar way, autumns cool down quickly with little fruit ripening achieved after mid-April.

The harvest of grapes in the region extends from February at 600m elevation to March/April at higher elevations. The grape harvest is delayed by about one week for each 100m rise in elevation.

Maximum daily temperatures in January range from 30ºC near 600m down to 26ºC at high elevation.

Orange is regarded as being a humid region, with 60-70% relative humidity at 9.00am in January not uncommon. This reduces the transpiration stress on vines and their water requirements.

Higher elevation also reduces the water vapour content of the air at similar relative humidity levels which assists in reducing leaf and fruit moulds.

The differences in the fruit characters of Shiraz at the various altitudes throughout Orange is as follows: • 600-750m: cherry, red berries, warm spices, meaty • 750-900m: plum, red berries, white pepper, liquorice, • above 900m: white pepper, green herbal tones.

WINEMAKING The lower site Shiraz was harvested in mid-March and the cooler climate parcel at the end of March. Both batches were crushed and destemmed into open

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fermenters via the chiller and cold soaked for 72 hours. During this period the wine was gently pumped over with a protective gas cover. Inoculation with Collection Cepage Syrah was followed by vigorous high temperature fermentation. The first press fraction was filled directly to barrel - mostly older oak. The hard pressings were settled in pre-warmed stainless steel overnight before rough racking to new hogsheads. A selection of barrels was blended for the HandPicked range and these were blended and minimally filtered prior to bottling.

MARKETING The wine is predominantly sold via cellar door customers and on-premise markets.

Jason Brown, Managing Director/ Vigneron Moppity Vineyards Hilltops, New South Wales Wine: Moppity Vineyards 2014 Estate Shiraz (RRP$32.00/bottle)

VITICULTURE The Shiraz for this wine was sourced from our single-vineyard, south-east facing estate block in the Hilltops. The vines are 20 years old and were planted on their own roots; the clone is BVRC30.

Rows are three metres apart and vines 1.8m apart. The trellis used is a VSP, with vines spur pruned to 16 buds for vine, then shoot thinned and bunch thinned to give an average yield of two tonnes per acre.

WINEMAKING The fruit is hand-picked, with 25% whole bunch pressed and the remaining fruit crushed and destemmed. The grapes are then cold soaked and fermented cool. The wine is then matured in French puncheons and barriques for 12 months.

In recent times, our approach to making this wine has seen us use a lot more large-format oak and experimenting with different coopers.

MARKETING This is our third tier label behind Eclipse ($120) and Reserve ($70). The wine is sold mainly on the eastern seaboard of Australia exclusively through independent and on-premise outlets.

WVJ

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V A TASTING R I E T A L NOTES REPORT

This issue’s tasting panellists were Nick Knappstein (right), of Riposte – Wines by Tim Knappstein, and Wes Pearson, of the Australian Wine Research Institute and Dodgy Brothers wine company.

Who’s hot in cool climate Australian Shiraz?

By Sonya Logan

W

ith vintage in full swing around the country in mid-February, the Wine & Viticulture Journal held this issue’s tasting of cool climate Australian Shiraz.

Thirty three wines from regions including Orange, Hilltops, Grampians, Strathbogie Ranges and Blackwood Valley and ranging from the 2015 to 2012 vintages were submitted to the tasting, which were subsequently blind tasted by Wes Pearson, senior scientist at the Australian Wine Research Institute and winemaker for the McLaren Vale based Dodgy Brothers wine company, and Nick Knappstein, brand manager for Riposte – Wines by Tim Knappstein Wes Pearson said most of the wines exhibited “good freshness and vitality” which were hallmarks of cool climate Shiraz. However, he and Nick agreed that the majority of the 2013s did lack some freshness and seemed tired.

Nick added most of the wines had good structure and acid with the range of styles in the line-up suggesting that “cool climate doesn’t necessarily mean whole bunch”. “There were some riper wines in there that didn’t tread on the Barossa style of Shiraz which shows that not everyone needs to go down the carbonic route,” he said.

He said the use of oak was pretty

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Of the 33 cool climate Shiraz in our tasting, seven were from Orange, six from the Hilltops, and the remainder from the Grampians, Geelong, Albany, Yarra Valley, Blackwood Valley, Canberra, Strathbogie Ranges, the Grampians, Pyrenees, Bendigo and Beechworth. Photo: Truc Pham

good in most of the wines. However, the tasting had highlighted the need to be careful with oak selection when making cool climate Shiraz.

“In a few of the wines the oak just didn’t suit the fruit,” Nick said.

Wes agreed, adding that it was easier to get away with less-than-ideal oak in warmer regions.

“You can whack it into whatever oak and it’ll probably be fine. However,

W I N E & VITICULTUR E JO UR NA L MARC H /APRIL 2016

when you’ve got much more delicate fruit the inputs of the winemaker are more obvious,” Wes said.

Of the wines from the 2015 and 2014 vintages, Wes and Nick agreed the best were Moppity Vineyards 2014 Estate Shiraz and Garners Heritage Wine 2014 Shiraz, while of the 2013 and older vintages, the Cooks Lot 2013 Allotment WVJ 8 was the standout entry.

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TASTING NOTES

MOPPITY VINEYARDS 2014 ESTATE SHIRAZ

GARNERS HERITAGE WINE 2014 SHIRAZ

COOKS LOT 2013 ALLOTMENT 8 SHIRAZ

Hilltops, New South Wales 14.0%v/v – screwcap RRP$32.00/bottle

Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria 14.3%v/v screwcap RRP$27.00/bottle

Orange, New South Wales 13.5%v/v – screwcap RRP$35.00/bottle

Best of 2015s and 2014s: Dense dark purple in colour with dark red hues. A complex, intriguing nose with a great fruit lift comprising aromas of red fruits, some greenness, pepper, and whole bunch spice without being stalky and herbal. Palate is viscous and rich but fresh and lively with good balance and fruit concentration; bright acid, ultra-fine tannins and good length. “What you’d expect a benchmark cool climate Shiraz to be,” said one taster.

“Super interesting wine using savvy winemaking and good fruit,” said another.

Best of 2015s and 2014s: Dense, dark red in colour with purple hues.

Aromas of blue and dark fruits, violet florals and great spice. Elegant palate with no pointy edges yet has good concentration of flavour; good length and drive. Oak matched perfectly to the fruit. “Just dances across the palate,” said one taster.

Best of 2012s and 2013s: Dense dark red in colour with a purple tinge. Fairly quiet nose but shows a good balance of fruit and oak and some florals.

A well-balanced palate with good fruit concentration and tannin weight and some richness and length; starting to show some secondary characters

PHILIP SHAW 2015 THE IDIOT SHIRAZ Orange, New South Wales 13.5%v/v – screwcap RRP$22.00/bottle Dense dark purple in colour. Fresh nose, as expected for a wine this young, with lifted florals and subtle oak. One taster thought the nose was a little reductive. Palate is well-balanced and has vibrant fruit characters but is a touch simple; forward and firm tannins. A touch short.

MOUNT LANGI GHIRAN 2014 CLIFF EDGE SHRIAZ

BELLBRAE ESTATE 2014 LONGBOARD SHIRAZ

13.8%v/v – screwcap RRP$30.00/bottle

Geelong, Victoria 13.5%v/v – screwcap RRP$22.00/bottle

Dark red in colour with purple tinges.

Medium intensity nose with a ripe fruit profile featuring dark fruits, some blue fruits, a touch of pepper and perhaps a touch obvious oak.

Round entry in the mouth with good fruit concentration, richness and balance; slightly dusty oak; good length.

Dark red in colour with purple tinges.

Aromas of blue and red fruits, touch of white pepper and a slight stemmy note. Lush fruits on the palate which is round. Soft tannins with some flash oak sitting underneath.

“The winemaking in this wine is very smart,” said one taster. “

TAMBURLAINE 2014 RESERVE SYRAH Orange, New South Wales 14.2%v/v – screwcap RRP$44.00/bottle Dense, dark red in colour with purple tinges. Slightly elevated VA on the nose which has lots of spice, lift and prettiness.

Lacking some fruit concentration and weight on the medium palate but good length and chewy tannins.

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TASTING NOTES

CHALKERS CROSSING 2014 CC2 HILLTOPS SHIRAZ Hilltops, New South Wales 14.5%v/v – screwcap RRP$18.00/bottle Dense dark red in colour with purple tinges.

Medium intensity aroma of red and blue fruits, a touch of florals, plenty of nice wood and some nice spice in the background; a little dusty and leafy.

Low fruit concentration on the palate which is quite rich, plush and ripe; lacking some vibrancy and freshness.

WIGNALLS 2014 SHIRAZ Albany, Western Australia 14.6%v/v – screwcap RRP$28.00/bottle Dense dark red in colour with purple hues.

Nose has a great floral lift, lots of pepper, notes of dark blue fruits and a slight pine edge to the oak; whole bunch fermentation characters evident. Palate is vibrant and moreish with violet florals and spice although lacks a bit in fruit intensity.

Bright acid with solid lingering tannins. One taster thought the acid was a little out of balance and the back palate “a little clunky”.

SOUMAH 2014 EQUILIBRIO SYRAH

BELLBRAE ESTATE 2014 BELLS SYRAH

SOUMAH 2014 SINGLE VINEYARD SYRAH

Yarra Valley, Victoria 13.2%v/v – screwcap RRP$68.00/bottle

Geelong, Victoria 13.4%v/v – screwcap RRP$38.00/bottle

Yarra Valley, Victoria 13.8%v/v – screwcap RRP$37.00/bottle

Dense dark red in colour; showing some advancement. Brett evident on the nose; some fruit apparent but ageing characters dominate. Sweet fruit with good concentration on the palate but it is somewhat stripped and has drying tannins.

Dense dark red in colour. Whole bunch characters evident on the nose; a predominantly vegetal/ green profile with dusty and tomato sauce characters; some ripe fruit also apparent; lacks a bit of freshness and vibrancy. Vegetal flavours continue onto the palate which has good concentration, texture and superfine tannins. “This is an interesting wine although it isn’t a style for everybody, but it’s a good example of a whole bunch style,” said one taster. Another thought the wine was a bit ripe for the style.

Dark red in colour with purple hues. Some red fruits, dusty oak and acetone notes on the nose. Some flavour concentration on the palate which has reasonable balance but lacks vibrancy.

MOPPITY VINEYARDS 2014 LOCK & KEY SHIRAZ Hilltops, New South Wales 14.00%v/v – screwcap RRP$22.00/bottle Dense dark purple in colour with dark red hues. Medium intensity nose of blue fruits, pepper and some quite pretty florals. Palate is balanced, fresh, has good intensity and is very tightly wound.

Pleasant floral fruits combine with some nice oak, but lacking weight and fruit concentration.

“A wine of pedigree; I feel like this wine has a lot more to give with some time,” said one taster.

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TASTING NOTES

HEIFER STATION 2014 SHIRAZ Orange, New South Wales 13.5%v/v – screwcap RRP$30.00/bottle Dark red in colour with a touch of purple.

Nose is somewhat one-dimensional with some fruit, pepper and dusty oak. One taster noted some Brett characters. Sweet fruit on the palate which has some concentration and richness but lacks vitality. Good tannin structure, oak balance and length.

MOPPITY VINEYARDS 2014 RESERVE SHIRAZ Hilltops, New South Wales 13.9%v/v – screwcap RRP$70.00/bottle Bright purple in colour with dark red hues.

Medium intensity nose with aromas of red fruits, confectionery and some florals and spice. “Lacks some vibrancy,” noted one taster. Palate is clean and acid driven with subtle tannins but lacks fruit concentration. One taster said the wine had a “likeable refreshing quality”.

COOKS LOT 2014 ALLOTMENT 1010 Orange, New South Wales 13.5% v/v - screwcap RRP$22.00/bottle Dark red in colour.

Tight, complex nose featuring bright red fruits and florals and well-matched charry oak. “Aroma profile is slightly mature for this wine,” thought one taster. Pretty, sweet fruit and florals in the mouth; excellent concentration with lovely grippy tannins and power to the finish.

One taster thought this wine was a little sweet and sour.

MOPPITY VINEYARDS 2014 LOCK & KEY RESERVE SHIRAZ Hilltops, New South Wales 14.0%v/v – screwcap RRP$27.00/bottle Dense dark red in colour with purple hues.

Very pretty, mediumintensity nose of blue fruits, powdered candy, florals and pepper. One taster thought the nose was a bit dusty. Vibrant and fresh palate with fine tannins and good flavour concentration but finishes a bit short.

COOKS LOT 2014 ALLOTMENT 8 SHIRAZ Orange, New South Wales 13.5%v/v – screwcap RRP$46.00/bottle Dense dark red in colour with purple tinges. A mixture of blue and red fruits on the nose along with some oak and gunpowder characters and some nice spice.

Really nice fruit with good concentration and sweet oak on the palate with some spice buried underneath; fine tannins and good length. Lacking a bit of freshness and vibrancy.

One taster thought the wine was a little high in alcohol.

LATITUDE 34 WINE COMPANY 2014 OPTIMUS THE TERRACES BLOCK 2 Blackwood Valley, Western Australia 15.3%v/v – screwcap RRP$75.00/bottle Dense dark red in colour. A ripe, chocmint flavour profile with some jubey confectionery notes; some VA noticeable at first. Sweet upfront fruit on the palate which is big and ripe and has good fruit concentration and plenty of oak; solid tannins and a long finish. Lacked tension and drive. “An old school style made well,” noted the tasters.

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TASTING NOTES

SHAW VINEYARD ESTATE 2014 SHIRAZ Canberra District 14.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$25.00/bottle Dark red in colour with ink-like density. Aromas of dark fruits and nice florals and oak with a slight jammy/ cooked character; a bit reduced. Viscous and mouthfilling palate which is nicely balanced and has a soft, rich mouthfeel; rich fruit with good tannins albeit a little extracted and a long finish.

LATITUDE 34 WINE COMPANY 2014 THE BLACKWOOD SIR HENRY SHIRAZ Blackwood Valley, Western Australia 14.5% v/v screwcap RRP$50.00/bottle Dense dark red in colour. Low to medium intensity nose which is oak dominant and slightly advanced for its age. One taster detected an acetone character.

Sweet fruit on entry to the palate but falls away.

SHAW VINEYARD ESTATE 2014 RESERVE MERRIMAN SHIRAZ Canberra District 14.0% v/v screwcap RRP$65.00/bottle Dark red in colour.

Ripe, soft fruit on the nose with a slight green character and subtle oak in the background. Soft fruits on the rich palate which has good density and carries quite a bit of oak and tannin well. Lacks flavour, noted one taster.

LATITUDE 34 WINE COMPANY 2014 THE BLACKWOOD TI TREE GULLY SHIRAZ Blackwood Valley, Western Australia 13.5% v/v screwcap RRP$15.00/bottle Dense dark red in colour. Some nice spice, red fruit and floral aromas on the nose along with some greenness and dusty/planky oak. Some good fruit upfront in the mouth but lacks freshness; tannins forward and dusty.

MOUNT LANGI GHIRAN 2013 LANGI SHIRAZ Grampians, Victoria 14.3% v/v screwcap RRP$120.00/ bottle

BLUE PYRENEES 2013 SECTION ONE SHIRAZ Pyrenees, Victoria 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$40.00/bottle

Dense dark red in colour. Rich nose with quite complex ripe fruit characters. Dense plummy fruit in the mouth; nice mid palate softness and weight; soft finish.

Good oak selection for the style.

Dense dark red colour with purple tinges. Mediumintensity, pretty nose of blue fruits, florals and confectionery. Fruit carries through to the mediumbodied palate where some nice oak is apparent. Flavours fall a little short leaving tannins which are a little forward and chewy.

YARRA WOOD 2013 TALL TALES SHIRAZ Yarra Valley, Victoria 14.0% v/v screwcap RRP$26.00/bottle Dark red in colour with purple tinges.

Charry, almost coconut-like oak overshadows the fruit on the nose which is a little on the jubey side; cooked vegetal character also apparent. Wellbalanced, soft and round palate but the cooked vegetable character carries through; lacks fruit intensity, freshness and vibrancy.

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TASTING NOTES

GLENWILLOW 2013 SHIRAZ Bendigo, Victoria 14.5% v/v screwcap RRP$28.00/bottle Dense dark red in colour. Maturing red fruits and dusty oak on the nose along with a touch of VA. Medium to fullbodied palate with good concentration, some freshness, good length and powerful tannins.

“An older style made reasonably well but the VA is a bit too much,” noted one taster.

CHALKERS CROSSING 2013 HILLTOPS SHIRAZ Hilltops, "New South Wales 13.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$30.00/bottle Dark purple in colour with red tinges. Complex nose of blue fruits, creamy oak, spice, pepper and some shaded/leafy characters. Palate builds subtly but lacks the fruit to carry it along.

GLENWILLOW 2013 RESERVE SHIRAZ Bendigo, Victoria 14.5% v/v – screwcap RRP$75.00/bottle Dense dark red colour. Lifted and quite stemmy and herbal nose with evidence of VA. Some sweet upfront fruit on the palate which is overall somewhat sweet and sour and has a herbal edge.

LATITUDE 34 WINE COMPANY 2013 OPTIMUS THE TERRACES BLOCK 2

PHILIP SHAW 2013 NO.89

Blackwood Valley, Western Australia 14.6% v/v – screwcap RRP$72.00/bottle

Dark red in colour.

Some nice spice and lift to the nose which features a touch of red fruits, some stemmy and herbal notes and pepper. “A pepper bomb,” said one taster of the nose.

Some nice yet subtle fruit on the balanced palate along with more pepper; good acid drive; tannin structure is good without being chewy for a wine that has whole bunch qualities.

Dense dark red colour. Solid ripe fruits on the nose as well as dark chocolate, pepper and a lot of oak influence. Good fruit on the palate initially with solid tannins and slightly dusty oak. “A good, old-school style of Shiraz,” noted one taster, “This wine knows exactly what it wants to be.”

Orange, New South Wales 13.8% v/v – screwcap RRP$50.00/bottle

GARNERS HERITAGE WINE 2013 SHIRAZ

FIGHTING GULLY ROAD 2012 SHIRAZ

Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria 15.0% v/v – screwcap RRP$27.00/bottle Vibrant and dense colour of dark purple with dark red hues. Nose is dominated by the aroma of crushed ripe blueberries; violets and a touch of pepper also evident. A fruitforward palate which is balanced, vibrant and has good length; dusty tannins.

13.2% v/v – screwcap RRP$35.00/bottle Dark red in colour with a touch of purple. Maturing dark fruits on the nose with a touch of greenness. A ripe fruit attack in the mouth upfront.

Palate has some good freshness but lacks weight and concentration.

Finishes short.

ALENTED AUSSIE & NZ WINE GROWERS WITH OUR WINE LOVERS.

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www.winetitles. com . au

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PRODUCTS & VA R I E TA L R E P O R T SERVICES

Solar installation on track to save winery $235,000 in electricity costs

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n 2013 a central Victorian winery installed a Blue Tongue solar system with the aim of reducing its operating costs and combating rising electricity prices.

Cooling costs are higher in summer than in winter which matches the solar irradiation pattern well. There is 35% more power generated in summer and so solar is a good fit for wineries.

Blue Tongue Solar engineered the 120-panel system for optimum production and durability over three buildings which generates 47,600 kilowatts per year.

The first step was to determine the winery’s actual cost of power using its power bill. At 21c per kilowatt the solar plant yields $10,000 in savings per year.

As the price of grid power increases, the annual savings will also increase.

Over the 25-year lifespan of the panels the winery is on track for a total $235,000 in savings based on current electricity charges by installing the system.

With good engineering and high quality components, these systems are virtually maintenance free. A biannual panel clean is encouraged.

In addition to reducing its monthly electricity bills, the winery also benefits from the customer recognition of ‘going green’ and helping the environment.

Most installations are cash positive – meaning you can be spending less money straight away, and be paying off the asset.

When you engage Blue Tongue Solar you know you are getting a specialist team working hard for the success of your business.

For further information on Blue Tongue Solar and arrange a detailed investment visit: www.bluetonguesolar. com.au

Wine packaging - why design matters

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on’t judge a book by its cover, we are constantly warned as we become adults capable of understanding comparison. How can you possibly imagine content as voluminous and profound as ‘War and Peace’ simply by the quality, colour or texture of its jacket?

And yet wine is so very different, and we are forever pitching our desires and ambitions against packaging – how heavy is the bottle, how deep is the punt, how textured is the stock, how clear and reflective is the print, how seamless is the foil, muselet and closure?

The fact is, more often than not, the package, design and finish of a bottle is usually a fair indication of the quality and intent of the contents held therein.

And these days, the bar is just getting higher and higher in terms of what is accepted, and more importantly, what is expected by consumers.

Troy Smith, managing director

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of specialist supplier of capsules and closures Enoplastic Australia is particularly insightful on the subject.

“The real impact of the increase in imports is not market share, but rather the changing expectation of Australian consumers. They are now used to seeing superior European design, finishes and closures on products, and expect to find that same level of aspiration, value and commitment on domestic wines.

“At Enoplastic we have responded by developing both capacity and capability to ensure that we can compete, moving away from ‘stock options’, and concentrating on offering higher decoration in terms of quality hoods, precision embossing, multi-colour options and finer detailing such as removing folds in foil finishes.

“For us it is a simple equation: if the consumer moves, so the producer must respond. A producer can only respond if the specialist supplier is in a position to

W I N E & V I T I C ULTUR E JO UR N A L MARC H /APRIL 2016

innovate. It is our job to ensure that we can – it is the very basis of our remaining competitive and relevant,” Smith said.

For further information visit www. enoplastic.com.au

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VA155536

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The result is patented filtration services designed to deliver improved recognition for your wine, and a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

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MMR PLUS – DEGASSING The Juclas MMR Plus enables the control of gases including the reduction and impregnation treatment of gases in wine… the reduction of oxygen and carbon dioxide in young wines, deoxygenation of wines prior to bottling or addition of carbon dioxide to refresh whites or roses when bottling. The MMR Plus can also be used for dealcoholisation.

For further details, contact us on: Melbourne 59 Banbury Rd, Reservoir Ph. 1300 882 850 Adelaide 12 Hamilton Tce, Newton Ph. 08 8365 0044 Western Australia 5/1 Ostler Dve, Vasse Ph. 08 9755 4433 New Zealand 3M Henry Rose Place, Albany, Auckland Ph. 0800 699 599 E. sales@winequip.com.au www.winequip.com.au www.winequip.co.nz