The Australian Wine Research Institute

The AWRI helpdesk provides a free-of-charge advice service to Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers who pay the Winegrapes and/or Grape Research levies. Advice is available on winemaking, viticulture and regulatory issues from experienced winemakers, viticulturists and scientists.

The AWRI helpdesk also offers an investigative service for problems that cannot be resolved by advice over the phone or by email. Samples of grapes or wine can be sent in for independent analysis and interpretation to determine the root cause of an issue, with a formal report prepared if required. Typical investigations include:

• identification of hazes and deposits from wines
• identification of grapevine pest, disease or other vineyard issues
• identification of taints or faults in grapes and wine
• diagnosis of packaging-related issues such as reduction, oxidation, microbiological spoilage, leakage, or wines returned via customer complaints

The AWRI helpdesk is supported by Wine Australia, with levies from Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers and matching funds from the Australian Government.