Sustainable Winegrowing Australia update
Major grant to bring EU researchers to the AWRI
Advanced Viticulture Course launching in October
Manufacturing modernisation grants
Order the latest AWRI staff publications online
New infrastructure funding |
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The AWRI has secured a major infrastructure funding boost from a combination of Federal and State Government sources. Bioplatforms Australia, which manages investment funding through the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), together with the South Australian Government and the AWRI will collectively invest $11.1m for metabolomics and associated activities at the AWRI from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2023.
This significant investment builds on the success of the AWRI’s existing metabolomics facility, which was established in 2008 with support from Bioplatforms Australia and the South Australian Government. The facility supports local and national researchers and industries through the development and provision of metabolomic analysis. It operates as a collaborative service platform, providing access to infrastructure and specialist expertise to academia and industry across all interested sectors. Metabolomics is the comprehensive analysis of the complete set of all low molecular weight metabolites (the metabolome) that exist within a biological system such as grape juice, yeast or wine. The metabolome consists of hundreds to thousands of molecules with widely varied chemical and physical properties. Metabolomics gives scientists the ability to look at things from a ‘global’ perspective; to see the bigger picture of what happens during biological processes such as fermentation. |
Sustainable Winegrowing Australia updateMembership of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia opened on 1 July and an official launch event was held in Adelaide during the AWITC. With the integration of Entwine and SAW members into a single, united national program, Sustainable Winegrowing Australia now has more than 600 active members across 43 wine regions. Since the opening, new vineyard and winery members from across Australia have also joined. Detailed information about Sustainable Winegrowing Australia is available on the AWRI website. If you are interested in joining the program, everything you need to get started can be found in the Program Guide and User Manual. If you are a member and have not yet completed the membership renewal/workbook information for 2019/20, please log in to the Sustainable Winegrowing Australia website now to do so. Renewing your membership now will ensure you receive a complete benchmarking report in October. For any queries about the program, contact the AWRI helpdesk on 08 8 313 6600 or helpdesk@awri.com.au. |
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17th AWITC wrap-up |
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A positive and well-attended Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference was held in Adelaide in late July. By the time the conference closed on the afternoon of Wednesday 24 July, well over 3,000 attendees had engaged with the event in some way. AWRI staff were involved across all aspects of the AWITC and have been very pleased with the positive feedback that has been received. Webcasts of the plenary sessions are currently available to delegates (via a link that was distributed by email) and will be made available to non-delegates after 1 November. Preparation of the conference proceedings is in progress, and planning for the 18th AWITC commenced at a debrief meeting earlier this month. |
Major grant to bring EU researchers to the AWRIA new grant awarded to the Oenoviti International network of grape and wine research organisations will fund EU researchers to spend time on sabbatical at the AWRI. These placements will benefit the Australian wine industry through enhanced collaborative networks, knowledge sharing and personal relationships within the international grape and wine research community. The successful funding application was made jointly by thirteen partner organisations (including the AWRI) that are members of the Oenoviti International network. Around 11 EU researchers from France, Portugal and Spain are expected to spend time at the AWRI across 2019 to 2023 as part of this international exchange program. AWRI scientists are looking forward to sharing their knowledge and learning from the high-calibre visiting researchers. |
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Advanced Viticulture Course launching in October |
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The AWRI is presenting a new intensive three-day course in October on the latest techniques and technologies in viticulture. Participants will travel in a small group across four SA regions to visit sites and meet practitioners who are at the cutting-edge of Australian viticulture. The course is aimed at practising viticulturists with an interest in innovation and is limited to 20 participants to ensure an intensive and interactive learning experience. This year’s course has sold out; however, expressions of interest in future courses are now being taken. Visit the course page to find out more and register your interest. |
Manufacturing modernisation grantsA Manufacturing Modernisation Fund has recently been announced by the Australian Government. This fund will support manufacturers to modernise, adopt new technologies, become more productive and create jobs by co-funding capital investments and associated reskilling. The program will run over three years and will be delivered through two streams of funding:
Applications for grants under this program, run by the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, close 31 October 2019. Full details can be found here. This fund is one example of the many grant programs offered by different levels of government in Australia that may be applicable to grapegrowing and winemaking businesses. A regularly updated summary of relevant grant programs is provided on the AWRI website. |
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Awards and achievements |
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Congratulations are due to a number of AWRI staff for achievements over recent months. At the Oeno 2019/In Vino Analytical Scientia Conference in Bordeaux in late June, Yevgeniya Grebneva was awarded the first Denis Dubourdieu award for an outstanding presentation by a young researcher. At the AWITC in July, Mango Parker, Eleanor Bilogrevic, Martin Day and Caroline Bartel were all awarded prizes for their posters – with Eleanor winning both a judges’ prize and the people’s choice! Caroline also won one of the two prizes for the Fresh Science presentations in the plenary program and Mango also won the judges’ prize in the student forum ‘In the Wine Light’ for a 3-minute explanation of her PhD research. And, to top off an incredible year, Mango was named one of three finalists in the Researcher/Innovator category of the Australian Women in Wine Awards. Congratulations to all of these high achievers! |
Order the latest AWRI staff publications onlineAccessing the latest AWRI publications is easy. Visit the AWRI Publications web page to:
The AWRI’s most recent publications are listed below. 2095 Mierczynska-Vasilev, A., Wahono, S.K., Smith, P.A., Bindon, K., Vasilev, K. Using Zeolites to protein stabilize white wines. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b01583: 1-8; 2019. 2096 Wilkes, E., Newell, B., Johnson, D. Wine storage temperature – investigating the impact of small differences. Wine Vitic. J. 34(3): 27-29; 2019. 2097 Dry, P. Clairette. Wine Vitic. J. 34(3): p. 53; 2019. 2098 Teng, B., Hayasaka, Y., Smith, P.A., Bindon, K.A. Effect of grape seed and skin tannin molecular mass and composition on the rate of reaction with anthocyanin and subsequent formation of polymeric pigments in the presence of acetaldehyde. J. Agric. Food Chem. 67(32): 8938-8949; 2019. 2099 Canonico, L., Solomon, M., Comitini, F. Ciani, M., Varela, C. Volatile profile of reduced alcohol wines fermented with selected non-Saccharomyces yeasts under different aeration conditions. Food Microbiol. 84(103247): 1-8; 2019. 2100 Hoare, T. Ask the AWRI: Controlling vineyard weeds. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (666): 43-44; 2019. 2101 Gupta, V.V.S.R., Bramley, R.G.V., Greenfield, P., Yu, J., Herderich, M.J. Vineyard soil microbiome composition related to rotundone concentration in Australian cool climate ‘peppery’ Shiraz grapes. Front. Microbiol. 10(1607): 1-19; 2019. 2102 Simos, C. Tech-led evolution of wine shows. WBM (July/August): p. 30; 2019. 2103 Kassara, S., Li, S., Smith, P., Blando, F., Bindon, K. Pectolytic enzyme reduces the concentration of colloidal particles in wine due to changes in polysaccharide structure and aggregation properties. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. DOI:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2019.08.043: 1-39; 2019. 2104 Grebneva, Y., Bellon, J.R., Herderich, M.J., Rauhut, D., Stoll, M., Hixson, J.L. Understanding yeast impact on 1,1,6-Trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene formation in Riesling wine through a formation-pathway-informed hydrolytic assay. J. Agric. Food Chem. DOI:10.1021/acs.jafc.9b03228: 9 p.; 2019. 2105 Coulter, A. Ask the AWRI: Spoilage issues in Pinot Noir. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (667): 68-69; 2019. 2106 Clarke, C.W., Norng, S., Carmody, B.M., Yuanpeng, D., Powell, K.S. Hot water immersion as a disinfestation treatment for grapevine root cutting against genetically diverse grape phylloxera Daktulophaira vitifoliae Fitch. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. DOI:10.1111/ajgw.12407: 1-8; 2019. 2107 Visalakshan, R.M., MacGregor, M.N., Sasidharan, S., Ghazaryan, A., Mierczynska-Vasilev, A.M., Morsbach, A., Mailänder. V., Landfester, K., Hayball, J.D., Vasilev, K. Biomaterial surface hydrophobicity-mediated serum protein adsorption and immune responses. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11(31): 27615-27623; 2019. 2108 Ghaemi, S.R., Delalat, B., Cavallaro, A., Mierczynska-Vasilev, A., Vasilev, K., Voelcker, N.H. Differentiation of rat Mesenchymal stem cells towards osteogenic lineage on extracellular matrix protein gradients. Adv. Healthcare Mater. DOI:10.1002/adhm.201900595: 1-11; 2019. |
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AcknowledgementsThe AWRI acknowledges support from 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, South Australia. |
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