New labelling device assists wine consumers
It’s filtration time prevent those uninvited guests
A forum to support wineries with technology uptake
Genuine carbon neutral wine recognised for sustainability
Key messages from the AWITC inspire delegates
AWRI poster wins top prize
Botrytis bunch rot a winner for some
Alex’s comments on AWRI website wins a netbook
Australian wine book picks up international ‘best book’ award
Recent AWRI publications order now
Disclaimer
New labelling device assists wine consumers
In conjunction with industry partners, the AWRI has officially launched the PinotG Style Spectrum – a simple labeling device allowing consumers to identify the styles of Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris wines at a glance, before they purchase or open the bottle.
The ‘Spectrum’ represents cutting-edge science which is believed to be a world-first in being able to ‘fingerprint’ wine style, and then graphically represent that style on a wine label.
The launch has generated a great deal of press attention to date, with articles appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, Weekend Age, the Weekend Australian magazine, and the Australian Financial Review, with many web-based articles also appearing in a total of six different countries.
Why PinotG? The Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris variety has been known in Europe since the Middle Ages, chiefly in the Alsace region of northeastern France and in northern Italy. Traditionally, the style of wines produced in northern Italy and labeled Pinot Grigio have been crisp and zesty, while Alsatian wines, labeled Pinot Gris, have been luscious and rich in texture. However, in Australia, a wide range of wine styles are being produced, which has caused confusion. Some wines are crisp and zesty, others are luscious and rich in texture, and some show every conceivable combination of these characteristics. Consequently the name of the variety used on the label is difficult to relate to the wine style in the bottle.
Our tasting panels, which included many Australian winemakers, agreed that some wines were crisp and zesty, while others were luscious and rich, and others showed combinations of those attributes to varying degrees; in fact a ‘spectrum’ of styles was identified.
We then sought to define objectively what caused those differences in the wines, using spectral analysis, and found differences in things such as the flavor molecules, phenolic compounds, and grape-derived acids in the wines; the various concentrations of which could be thought of as a wine’s ‘fingerprint.’ That spectral ‘fingerprint’ looks at everything in the wine, and is a different concept than looking at and thinking about just a few compositional parameters to explain sensory differences between wines.
The broad range of Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio wines which were tasted were put through spectral analysis and advanced statistical techniques were used to find correlations between the spectra obtained and the tasters’ ratings of the crispness to lusciousness of each of the wines. That information was used to build a spectral calibration, so that it is now possible to predict accurately the rating of a trained sensory panel for a wines’ crispness to lusciousness using a scan, thereby positioning the wine on the PinotG Style Spectrum.
Wine producers who would like to investigate using the PinotG Style Spectrum on their labels should contact Peter Godden (Peter.Godden@awri.com.au). More information is available at http://www.PinotG.com.au
It’s filtration time prevent those uninvited guests
In September many wineries are filtering their wines ready for bottling. It is essential the correct grade of filtration is used to avoid unwanted guests. Click here to read the article.
A forum to support wineries with technology uptake
Want to improve your winemaking processes to improve your bottom line, but not sure where to start? What processes can be improved and how can you get more from your supplier? Join our forum.
Successful implementation of technology in the winemaking process has been critical for the Australian wine industry. Technology has provided the tools for Australian winemakers not only to craft high quality wines reliably and reproducibly, but also to do it in an economical manner with minimal environmental impact. However, significant opportunities still exist for the Australian wine industry to make the most of advanced manufacturing approaches that are commonplace in highly engineered industry sectors, such as the automotive and mining industries. Australia’s ongoing success in the wine sector will depend on our ability to harness technology as part of our value proposition in the market place.
The AWRI Commercial Services have established a Winery Operations Improvement Forum to explore opportunities for advancement of the wine industry through adoption of new technologies as follows:
- Understanding barriers to uptake of technology.
- Identification of common applications between wineries that technology provides a strong value proposition.
- Review and evaluate the critical process performance criterion and the technologies needed.
- Establish a forum in which wineries can generate pull technologies from technology suppliers in a cost effective manner.
Our first Winery Operations Improvement Forum meeting was held on 13 July. Eighteen winery operations personnel attended across ten South Australian wineries. One of the key outcomes from the meeting was to establish themes of interest across the wineries for operations technology. The applications of common interest included:
- Alternative cold stabilisation techniques.
- Ullage management technologies.
- Alternative maturation technologies.
- Refrigeration technologies.
These areas will be established as themes for a series of quarterly forums; the first starting on 29 September focusing on Cold Stabilisation Technologies and Methods. The forum will aim to establish the following:
- The utility and performance criterion requirements.
- Available technology options and their relative merits.
- Opportunities to build bridging technologies or new capabilities to meet operations needs.
If you would like to know more, please contact the AWRI’s Commercial Services team
Genuine carbon neutral wine recognised for sustainability
Confirming their wine is 100% carbon neutral through an extensive greenhouse gas life-cycle analysis by Karl Forsyth from The Australian Wine Research Institute has paid off for Taylors Wines.
Taylors Wines has been announced as a finalist in the 2010 Australian Packaging Awards* in the category for the Carter Holt Harvey Sustainability Award. This is on the back of winning Best Green Launch at the 2010 Green Awards in London, run by Europe’s leading drinks publication, Drinks Business.
Taylors most recent recognition is for their Eighty Acres 100% Carbon Neutral range of wine products. “The life-cycle assessment considered every step of the supply chain associated with the 80 Acres product, from spray applications in the vineyard, the winemaking process to the consumer’s car journey,” says Forsyth. This detailed life-cycle assessment was then independently reviewed to ensure the work met the requirements of an international standard. The life-cycle assessment work is believed to be the most detailed and robust ever completed on a range of wine products.
The life-cycle assessment also considered the impact of packaging, which led Taylors to move towards a lighter packaging format, substantially reducing their overall emissions.
*The Australian Packaging Awards – organised by the Packaging Council of Australia (PCA) – are a national competition which recognises and rewards packaging design excellence across a diverse range of categories from FMCG to medical to wine and alcoholic beverages to fashion and cosmetics to industrial and agricultural goods.
Key messages from the AWITC inspire delegates
The Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference is over for another three years and most delegates came away inspired. Industry members from Australia and from more than 13 overseas countries had a feast on offer with workshops starting on the Saturday (2 July 2010); conference sessions, workshops, trade show and posters throughout the next few days; and concluding with workshops again on the Thursday. Click here to read the article.
AWRI poster wins top prize
With more than 200 posters on display, AWRI scientist, Dr Maurizio Ugliano, was delighted that his poster received ‘Best Poster Prize’ at the 14th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference, held in Adelaide, South Australia 3-8 July 2010.
The technical poster display at the 14AWITC enables delegates to learn about a wide range of existing, new and emerging science and innovation being developed for the wine industry. Several posters were recognised for their quality, and prizes were awarded and announced during the conference sessions. Sponsored by the Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker, the Best Poster prize was awarded to Dr Maurizio Ugliano for his poster The role of copper and glutathione addition and oxygen exposure in the evolution of key aroma compounds of Sauvignon Blanc.
Grapegrower & Winemaker‘s Elizabeth Bouzoudis (L) and AWITC Poster Coordinate, Dr Eveline Bartowsky (R) congratulate ‘Best Poster’ winner Dr Maurizio Ugliano.
Botrytis bunch rot a winner for some
Katie Dunne, PhD Candidate of the University of Tasmania, was announced the winner of the Wine Innovation Cluster Best Student Poster Prize at the 14th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference, held in Adelaide, South Australia 3 8 July 2010.
Ms Dunne’s poster presented the results of her research into botrytis bunch rot a disease affecting grapes particularly in cool climate wine regions causing losses in grape yield and wine quality. An experiment examining the spread of the disease indicated that there was little secondary spread of the botrytis infection from the initial location of the disease within a bunch of grapes to other grape bunches.
Supervised by Dr Katherine Evans of the Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research at the University of Tasmania, and in collaboration with Dr Rob Bramely of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Ms Dunne plans to continue this research, examining the secondary spread of botrytis bunch rot in other vineyards.
Ms Dunne was awarded $1000 for her poster and thanked the Wine Innovation Cluster for its support of students presenting posters during the conference, saying “Winning the prize topped off what was a great week for me as there were lots of other great student posters”. The prize was presented to Ms Dunne by Dr Stuart McNab, Chair of the Wine Innovation Cluster and Director-Wine Production Australian and New Zealand of Fosters Group.
The Wine Innovation Cluster is a synergy of four leading grape and wine research agencies; The Australian Wine Research Institute, CSIRO Plant Industry, SARDI and the University of Adelaide, working in collaboration to deliver outcomes for the Australian wine industry.
Ms Katie Dunne, PhD Candidate and winner of the Wine Innovation Cluster Best Student Poster Prize and Dr Stuart McNab, Chair of the Wine Innovation Cluster.
Alex’s comments on AWRI website wins a netbook
Alex Miller, Viticulture Technical Officer from Voyager Estate, took time to give us feedback on the AWRI website at the recent WineTech 2010 and won a netbook!
Alex was one of many WineTech visitors who came to our stand and completed our questionnaire. The feedback we have received will guide our future development of the website, and we thank everyone who contributed. We hosted many visitors on our stand and enjoyed the discussions over the three days about the topics that are important to you. We’ve taken your valuable input back to the AWRI and this will be integrated into our future activities. If you have any suggestions on improvements you’d like to see on the AWRI website, send them along to us on infoservices@awri.com.au
Australian wine book picks up international ‘best book’ award
Australian wine book, ‘A Taste of the World of Wine’, was announced as receiving the OIV’s award for the best book in the category ‘Discovering and presenting wines’
Every year since 1930, the OIV rewards the best works published over the previous two years which provide an original and relevant scientific contribution, with an international significance for the vine and wine sector.
These works are evaluated by a panel of specialists (university professors, journalists, scientists, historians) under the presidency of the diplomat, poet and author, His Excellency FrantiŠek Lipka, currently Ambassador of Slovakia to Montenegro.
Published by Patrick Iland Wine Promotions, ‘A Taste of the World of Wine’ was co-authored by Patrick Iland, Peter Gago, Andrew Caillard and AWRI’s Viticulture Consultant, Peter Dry
Recent AWRI publications order now
Recent publications by AWRI staff can be requested from the John Fornachon Memorial Library. To get your copies, contact Anne, Ingrid and Sean at infoservices@awri.com.au
Bellon, J. Generating interspecific wine yeast hybrids for funky wines. Microbiology Australia (May) : 86-88 ; 2010.
Francis, L. Riesling in Australia. In : Helm, K., Burgess, T. (eds.) Riesling in Australia : the history, the regions, the legends, and the producers. Winetitles Pty Ltd. pp. 40-43 ; 2010.
Godden, P., Muhlack, R. Trends in the composition of Australian wine, 1984 2008. Australian & New Zealand grapegrower & winemaker (558) : 47-61 ; 2010.
King, E., Curtin, C., Francis, L., Swiegers, H., Pretorius, S., Bastian, S. Are yeast-derived flavour differences in young Sauvignon Blanc wines retained after a period of bottle age? Australian & New Zealand grapegrower & winemaker (557a) : 60-68 ; 2010.
Mueller, S., Osidacz, P., Francis, I.L., Lockshin, L. Combining discrete choice and informed sensory testing in a two-stage process : Can it predict wine market share? Food quality and preference doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2010.06.008 : 14 p. ; 2010.
Pretorius, S. Investing for gold medal results. Australian & New Zealand grapegrower & winemaker (557a) : p. 5 ; 2010.
Pretorius, S. Beyond collaboration. WBM (July) : 38-40 ; 2010.
Shah, N., Cynkar, W., Smith, P., Cozzolino, D. Rapid and real-time analysis of compositional parameters in commercial white grape juice. Australian & New Zealand grapegrower & winemaker (557a) : 74-76 ; 2010.
Smith, P., Dambergs, B., Mercurio, M., Robinson, E. The world is waking up to tannin values. Australian & New Zealand grapegrower & winemaker (558) : 62-64 ; 2010.
Waiter, is there histamine in my wine? Histamine in Australian wines a survey over 27 years (1982 to 2009) Australian & New Zealand grapegrower & winemaker (557a) : 69-72 ; 2010.
Disclaimer: The material contained in this publication is comment of a general nature only and is not and nor is it intended to be advice on any specific technical or professional matter. In that the effectiveness or accuracy of any technical or professional advice depends upon the particular circumstances of each case, neither the AWRI nor any individual author accepts any responsibility whatsoever for any acts or omissions resulting from reliance upon the content of any articles. Before acting on the basis of any material contained in this publication, we recommend that you consult appropriate technical/professional advisers.