Podcast – AWRI Decanted

Welcome to ‘AWRI decanted’ – a podcast from the Australian Wine Research Institute. Meet the scientists working behind the scenes for the Australian wine industry, hear about their latest discoveries and how they are being adopted by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers. The second series (eight episodes, released fortnightly) shares some of the latest viticultural research from across Australia and stories from the growers who are applying it.

Subscribe now via your favourite podcast app or listen to individual episodes listed below.

AWRI DECANTED – SERIES 2 APPLYING VITICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE VINEYARD

Title Speaker Date Additional resources
Trialling foliar spraying for tropical flavour in an organic vineyard Martin Gransden
Tamburlaine Organic Wines
19 January 2024 Applying nitrogen and sulfur foliar sprays to boost tropical flavours in white wine (AWRI fact sheet)

Foliar spray case studies
(AWRI webpage)

How simple foliar sprays in the vineyard can boost white wine flavour Mark Solomon, AWRI 17 January 2024 Foliar sprays to boost tropical flavours (AWRI webpage)

Enhancing tropical fruit flavour through foliar nutrient sprays
(Wine & Viticulture Journal article)

Influencing tropical thiol concentration in white wine by combining foliar sprays
(AWRI webinar recording September 2022)

Vineyard transformation through automation David Allen, Transformation Manager, Viticulture,
Pernod Ricard
13 September2022 News article about self-driving tractors

Article about autonomous vineyard vehicles developed in New Zealand

Mission possible: Driving autonomous technology in New Zealand vineyards

Oxin website (autonomous vineyard tractor producer in New Zealand)

Autonomous tractors and mechanical weed control Dr Simon Nordestgaard, AWRI 30 August 2022 Autonomous vineyard robots and tractors (industry article)

Autonomous robots and electric tractors – where are they at?
(AWRI webinar)

Benefits of regenerative viticulture practices Richard Leask, Leask Agri 16 August 2022 Is being sustainable enough for Australian wine? Regenerative agriculture can redefine what is best practice viticulture (Nuffield Australia Scholarship final report)

Is being sustainable enough for Australian wine? Regenerative agriculture can redefine what is best practice viticulture
(Nuffield Australia video)

Understanding soil carbon in vineyards – what’s in it for growers? Professor Tim Cavagnaro, University of Adelaide 2 August 2022 Building soil carbon in vineyards (AWRI webinar)

Cover crops and carbon stocks (Journal article – request from AWRI library)

Sown undervine cover crops
(AWRI webpage)

The ins and outs of under-vine cover cropping (AWRI webinar)

How our vineyard weed management has evolved over time Melissa Brown, Gemtree Wines 19 July 2022 AWRI resources on non-chemical weed management

Gemtree Wines website

Controlling weeds without chemicals – cover crops on the vineyard floor Chris Penfold, AWRI 5 July 2022 AWRI resources on non-chemical weed management

Non-chemical weed control
(AWRI webinar)

Wine Australia cover crop resources

Using less water in a warming climate Kim Chalmers, Chalmers Wines 21 June 2022 Techniques used at the Euston vineyard to dramatically reduce water requirement

Chalmers Wines Sustainable viticulture webpage

Optimising vineyard irrigation – current research Mark Skewes, South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) 7 June 2022 Water management
(AWRI webpage)

Water management for wine grapes in a drying environment (Wine Australia booklet)

Vineyard irrigation efficiency
(ASVO podcast October 2021)

AWRI DECANTED – SERIES 1 WINE FLAVOUR

Title Speaker Date Additional resources
Understanding regional flavours in Australian Shiraz Dr Wes Pearson, AWRI 14 September 2021 Understanding regionality in Shiraz (AWITC presentation recording)

Shiraz terroir – linking regional sensory characters to chemical and climate profiles (industry article)

Why are winemakers throwing away flavour? Dr Mango Parker, AWRI 28 September 2021 Boosting floral aroma of wine with flavourless grape extracts (industry article)
Eucalyptus flavour in wine Dr Leigh Francis, AWRI 12 October 2021 Eucalyptus character in wine (fact sheet)
Pepper flavour in wine– what’s going on in the vineyard? Sheridan Barter, AWRI 26 October 2021 Pepper flavour in wine (fact sheet)

Mapping the origins of high rotundone and pepper flavour in wine (industry article)

Stone fruit flavour in white wine Dr Tracey Siebert, AWRI 9 November 2021 Why does this wine smell like apricots? (webinar recording)
Oxygen – breathing life into red wine flavour Dr Simon Schmidt, AWRI 23 November 2021 Aeration of red ferments gets the thumbs up on wine quality (Wine Australia news article)
Why I add oxygen to my red ferments
Matt Zadow
(Yalumba’s Oxford Landing Winery – Operational Winemaker)
7 December 2021 Delivering oxygen to ferments (fact sheet)

The AWRI Decanted podcast is supported by Wine Australia, with levies from Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers and matching funds from the Australian Government. The AWRI is a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster in Adelaide, SA.


AWRI Decanted is hosted by Drew Radford, from PodTalk. Drew is an accomplished reporter and broadcaster who has worked for Triple J, ABC News & Current Affairs and ABC Local Radio in the roles of journalist, Executive Producer and Director of ABC South Australia. Drew is a published author and documentary maker.