• Communication of the AWRI’s 7-year Research, Development and Extension Plan. The 7-year RD&E Plan was presented to key stakeholders on 10 August 2006 in Adelaide and subsequently presented at local wine association Annual General Meetings around Australia.
• Execution of a 7-year investment agreement between the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation and AWRI. The agreement provides about $65 million, over seven years, directed towards outcomes that will benefit the grape and wine sector in Australia.
• Successfully applied and lobbied for a $2 million grant under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme (NCRIS). To establish the South Australian node of Metabolomics Australia at the AWRI with a specific focus on food and beverage metabolomics, the Australian Government awarded $1.2 million and an additional $0.8 million was awarded by the South Australian State Government.
• Successfully applied to the Premier’s Science and Research Council Fund for a grant of $533,745 over three years for equipment, enabling AWRI to fast-track its yeast-strain development programs.
• Identification of a previously unrecognised ‘pepper’ aroma impact compound. We have identified the sesquiterpene primarily responsible for the spicy aroma of Shiraz grapes and wines, and black and white peppercorns. This key aroma compound was also shown to be present in significant amounts in several other important herbs and spices. A sensitive method for quantifying the ‘peppery’ sesquiterpene in grape and wine samples was developed and validated and we are now able to study the factors affecting its accumulation in grapes, carry-over during winemaking, and longevity during maturation.
• Investigations of into the nature and source of ‘plastic’ and ‘chemical-like’ taints in wines from the 2005 and 2006 vintages were successfully concluded. A range of chlorophenol compounds were found to be contributing to the taints, some at concentrations well below those previously considered a problem in wine. The source of the taint in some wines was found to be tartaric acid, and it was discovered that more of the taint compounds were released from the acid when it was added before, rather than after yeast fermentation.
• A prototype wine yeast was developed that is able to substantially increase fruitiness levels in wine. This prototype yeast possesses enhanced carbon-sulfur lyase activity and released up to 25 times more 4-mercapto-4-methylpentan-2-one (4MMP) and 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol (3MH) in model ferments than any other commercial wine yeast. This knowledge will be used to develop further yeast strains and inoculation strategies to enhance the varietal aromas of wines to predetermined market specifications including an expression of regionality.
• Two new natural oak lactone precursors were identified for the first time in oak wood extracts. Several additional precursors have also been identified tentatively. These observations will enable us to better understand and monitor the oak flavour potential of oakwood products used in wine production.
• It was confirmed that the malolactic bacterium Oenococcus oeni is able to liberate cis-oak lactone from its glucoside precursor, whereas there was negligible release by yeast and other lactic acid bacterial species. This observation supports anecdotal evidence that malolactic fermentation contributes to wine oak character.
• The unknown compound, Factor X, that is required for protein haze formation in white wines was identified as the sulfate anion. This knowledge enables a better understanding of the mechanisms and participants in protein haze formation and might lead to new technologies to control this potential quality defect in wine and to more efficient predictive tools based on rapid compositional analysis.
• The development of a method for in-bottle oxygen measure which allows the calculation of not only the oxygen ingress rate but also the initial amount of oxygen in the headspace of a wine bottle and the amount of oxygen entrapped in the closure. The method can be undertaken in synthetic wine solutions and measured in a wine bottle sealed with closures inserted and stored under normal commercial conditions. The ability to quantify the oxygen ingress through closures is an integral tool required to understand wine development in bottle.
• Understanding the contribution of phenolics to wine composition has progressed, with methods being developed to isolate and/or characterise anthocyanin oligomers, red wine tannins, and white grape and wine phenolics. The MCP tannin assay continues to feature predominantly and a survey of tannin levels in Australian grape and wine samples from different vintages, varieties and regions was completed. In addition, the MCP tannin assay was used as a reference method to develop a predictive model for red wine tannin based on UV spectroscopy.
• A better understanding of fullness and body of Riesling wines. Increasing ethanol has a surprising small impact on perceived body and fullness of Riesling wines. Fullness was most commonly associated with greater flavour and higher perceived viscosity. Neither glycerol nor wine polysaccharides appeared to be a major contributor to perceived viscosity.
• As part of our increased attention on understanding consumer preferences, it was found that Brettanomyces flavour in red wine, even at a surprisingly low level, strongly decreased consumer acceptance.
• Initial survey data indicate that the concentration of 4-ethylphenol from Brettanomyces contamination has fallen by over 90% in Australian Cabernet Sauvignon wines produced in the 2005 vintage, compared to those produced in the 1996 to1998 vintages when the survey commenced. In 39% of the 2005 vintage wines tested, no 4-ethylphenol was detected.
• A novel selection approach has yielded candidate yeast strains with higher tolerance to ethanol and improved wine fermentation properties, providing a new resource for developing better wine fermentation yeasts.
• Construction of the Wine Yeast Gene Deletion Library initiated. This project will systematically produce a library of over 5000 yeast strains, which collectively represent variation in every gene in the yeast genome, providing a rich resource for future studies into improving wine yeast function.
• Demonstrated that infrared and UV-Vis spectra can effectively represent a ‘fingerprint’ of the grape or wine sample being analysed. Such spectra can be used to simplify traditional methods of analysis and reduce analytical times for many grape and wine analytes.
• An Applied Biosystems 4000 Q Trap tandem mass spectrometer combined with an Agilent 1200 HPLC system (LC-MS/MS) was installed in July 2006 and has immediately contributed to the AWRI activities. In particular, the new instrument has made significant impact on progress in our tannin and flavour precursor research and was essential for critical problem solving work such as the investigation into the source of chlorophenol taint found in wines.
• The AWRI Online Image Collection was launched in March 2007 and holds in excess of 2,000 images. The collection of images, some of which are nearly sixty years old, range from wine microorganisms to grape harvesting technology, and will be a useful resource for industry members, researchers, academics and students.
• The Analytical Service provided smoke taint analysis support to the grape and wine sector during the 2007 vintage. Close to 1,000 samples were analysed for the smoke taint indicators: guaiacol and 4-methylguaiacol.
• The second AWRI Commercial Closure Trial was initiated by the Analytical Service in May 2007. This independent evaluation of the performance of different closures is carried out for suppliers ‘in confidence’ over a two-year period.
• Roadshow seminars and/or workshops, were staged in ten grapegrowing regions in four states.
• For the second year in succession, the Industry Services team responded to more than 1,700 calls for technical advice and information.
• The Viticulture team responded to 339 enquiries.
• Eleven thousand copies of the AWRI annual publication, Agrochemicals registered for use in Australian viticulture 2006/2007 were produced and the booklet was made available from the AWRI website. The booklet was distributed with the Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker, AWRI’s Technical Review and the tables were featured in Australian Viticulture and The Grapevine Management Guide 2006/2007. The 2006/2007 maximum residue limits for Australia’s major export markets were updated for the AWRI website. Three agrochemical updates were prepared for industry email subscribers.
• Communication and Information Services group members responded to 3,000 requests for information during 2006/2007.
• Over 17,000 records were added to the web-accessible database of the Library (available only to Australian winemakers and grapegrowers) during the year, making a total of over 50,000 records available for searching, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
• AWRI published 40 papers on AWRI activities in refereed and non-refereed publications.
• AWR staff members gave 159 oral presentations and conducted 15 workshops and presented 9 posters.
• AWRI staff members presented 49 lectures and coordinated the Grape Industry Practices, Policy and Communication six week subject to undergraduate students.
• AWRI staff members supervised/co-supervised 22 postgraduate students.
• AWRI staff members recorded and responded to 5,277 requests for information during the 2006/2007 year, or to put the statistics into perspective, 21 people contacted AWRI seeking information on every working day of the year. This figure does not include the amount of problem samples investigated (2,000) or the number of Analytical Service analyses undertaken (> 100,000) during 2006/2007.

Readers are strongly encouraged to read the 2007 Annual Report in detail rather than relying on the brief details above for information.