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New fluorescence method for detecting haze-forming proteins

he methods currently used for testing heat stability of white wine can be time-consuming, expensive and may not always accurately predict the amount of bentonite required to achieve protein stability. This could lead to over-fining, which might strip out phenolics and aroma compounds, or under-fining, which could increase the risk of protein instability. As an alternative, an efficient and rapid fluorescence-based method to detect haze-forming proteins in white wines has been developed at the AWRI, with the work recently published in the journal Food Chemistry.

The method uses a fluorescent compound that binds haze-forming proteins selectively. To validate it, a range of wines were analysed with results compared to an established HPLC method. A linear relationship was observed between the two methods over a range of relevant haze protein concentrations and the new method showed a low detection limit of 2 mg/L. The new technology can be deployed rapidly, without sample preparation, presenting an opportunity for routine testing. The full paper detailing this work is available from the AWRI library:

Mierczynska-Vasilev, A., Vasilev, A., Reilly, T., Bindon, K., Vasilev, K. 2022. Fluorescence sensing technology for the rapid detection of haze-forming proteins in white wine. Food Chem. 374: 131770.

For more information, contact Agnieszka Mierczynska-Vasilev on agnieszka.mierczynska-vasilev@awri.com.au.

Sustainable Winegrowing Australia Impact Report – the results are in

Some key highlights from the report include:

• Energy: The program’s members are transitioning towards the Australian grape and wine sector’s target of net zero emissions, with 100% of members measuring and reporting on scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and 72% of vineyards and 82% of wineries prioritising energy efficient practices.
• Water: 87% of vineyards and 79% of wineries have taken action to plan, monitor and reduce water use to maximise water efficiency.
• Waste: 72% of vineyards and 89% of wineries have diverted waste from landfill and identified recycling and reuse options, furthering the Sustainable Winegrowing Australia’s commitment to the wine sector’s zero waste by 2050 target.
• People & Business: 80% of vineyards and 93% of wineries engage in at least one community or environmental initiative building better connections between wine producers and their communities to further strengthen the sector for future generations.

For more information on membership, visit https://sustainablewinegrowing.com.au/membership/

New partnership with international society

Practices survey coming later this year

The AWRI will be commencing the second edition of its comprehensive grape and wine practices survey in September. This follows the first survey conducted in 2016, which produced a detailed snapshot of vineyard and winery practices and equipment in use at that time. The goal of the survey, which will be repeated every six years, is to provide independent data tracking the evolution of vineyard and winery practices and technology adoption. If there are topics, practices or equipment that were not covered in the original survey that you think should be included in this second edition, we are interested to hear from you. Please email simon.nordestgaard@awri.com.au to suggest new additions to the survey.

New irrigation videos

AWITC – less than a month to go!

It’s hard to believe that in four weeks’ time the 18th AWITC will be in full swing! Preparations are well underway across the AWRI, with staff contributing to the technical poster display, workshop program, plenary presentations and planning committee. Keep an eye on the AWITC website for all the latest news as our industry prepares to gather together in person and we look forward to seeing you at stand 1113 in the WineTech trade show.

Season 2 of AWRI decanted podcast coming soon

Order the latest staff publications online

Accessing the latest AWRI publications is easy. Visit the AWRI Publications web page to:

• View the 10 most recent AWRI staff publications and order the articles online from the AWRI Library
• Search the staff publications database
• Read the full-text of ‘Technical Notes’ from Technical Review (PDF format)
• Read the full-text of ‘AWRI reports’ and ‘Vineyards of the world columns’ published in Wine & Viticulture Journal (PDF format)
• Read the full text of ‘Ask the AWRI columns’ published in Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker

The AWRI’s most recent publications are listed below.

2281 Coulter, A. Ask the AWRI: Interpreting AWRI smoke panel analysis results. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (698): 42-43; 2022 (link to article).

2282 Kassara, S., Norton, E., Mierczynska-Vasilev, A., Lavi Sacks, G., Bindon, K.A. Quantification of protein by acid hydrolysis reveals higher than expected concentrations in red wines: implications for wine tannin concentration and colloidal stability. Food Chem. 385: 132658; 2022 (link to article).

2283 Cordente, A.G., Curtin, C.D., Solomon, M., Kulcsar, A.C., Watson, F., Pisaniello, L., Schmidt, S.A., Espinase Nandorfy, D. Modulation of volatile thiol release during fermentation of red musts by wine yeast. Processes 10(3): 502; 2022 (link to article).

2284 González-García, L.E., MacGregor, M.N., Visalakshan, R.M., Lazarian, A., Cavallaro, A.A., Morsbach, S., Mierczynska-Vasilev, A., Mailänder, V., Landfester, K., Vasilev K. Nanoparticles surface chemistry influence on protein corona composition and inflammatory responses. Nanomaterials 12(4): 682; 2022 (link to article).

2285 Day, M., Wilkes, E., Kirby, J., Wright, C., Krstic, M. Analytical approaches to wine authenticity. Wine Vitic. J. 38(2): 29-31; 2022 (link to article).

2286 Dry, P. Grenache blanc. Wine Vitic. J. 38(2): p. 58 ; 2022

2287 Habili, N., Little, A., Essling, M., Rinaldo, A. Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 and its management strategies in vineyards. Wine Vitic. J. 38(2): 34-40 ; 2022

2288 Ntuli, R., Saltman, Y., Ponangi, R., Jeffery, D., Bindon, K., Wilkinson, K. Applications of flash détente for red wine style differentiation. Wine Vitic. J. 38(2): 20-24 ; 2022

2289 Pisaniello, L., Watson, F., Siebert, T., Francis, L., Hixson, J.L. The varietal influence of flavour precursors from grape marc on monoterpene and C13-Norisoprenoid profiles in wine as determined by Membrane-Assisted Solvent Extraction (MASE) GC-MS. Molecules. 27(7): 2046; 2022 (link to article).

2290 Capone, D.L., Francis, I.L., Clingleffer, P.R. Evidence that methoxypyrazine accumulation is elevated in Shiraz rachis grown on Ramsey rootstock, increasing ‘green’ flavour in wine. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 28(2): 304-315; 2022 (link to article).

2291 Essling, M., Schwarz, C. Ask the AWRI: How to get the most out of copper sprays. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (699): 76-78; 2022.

2292 Onetto, C.A., Sosnowski, M.R., Van den Heuvel, S., Borneman, A.R. Population genomics of the grapevine pathogen Eutypa lata reveals evidence for population expansion and intraspecific differences in secondary metabolite gene clusters. PLoS Genetics 18(4): e1010153; 2022 (link to article).

2293 Wang, Y.M., Ostendorf, B., Gautam, D., Habili, N., Pagay, V. Plant viral disease detection: from molecular diagnosis to optical sensing technology-a multidisciplinary review. Remote Sens. 14(7): 1542; 2022 (link to article).

Acknowledgements

The 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.

Sustainable Winegrowing Australia certification for WIC Winemaking Services

For other wineries or vineyards interested in certification, attendance at a certification training workshop is the first step. To receive notifications of all upcoming AWRI certification workshops, complete this EOI form.

Major grant for no- and low-alcohol production

A $4.8 million grant was recently announced by the South Australian Government for the development of a world-leading no- and low-alcohol (NOLO) wine production capability. This funding will enable industry to undertake pilot-scale production of new NOLO products and better understand the market opportunities in this growing consumer segment. The program funded by the grant will be delivered by the AWRI, the University of Adelaide, Wine Australia and Australian Grape & Wine and is structured as four pillars:

Pillar 1 – Establishment of a pilot/trial-scale production facility
Pillar 2 – Process and sensory optimisation
Pillar 3 – Market optimisation
Pillar 4 – Regulatory framework

The AWRI will be directly involved in Pillar 1 (led by WIC Winemaking Services) and Pillar 2 (led by Dr Wes Pearson, Dr Simon Nordestgaard and Dr Josh Hixson). For more information, contact enquiries@awri.com.au.

Smoke background data published

Vintage trials underway

As vintage 2022 kicks off around Australia, AWRI researchers are also busy setting up this year’s crop of vintage trials, which form an important part of many research projects. Some of the goals of this year’s trials include:

• characterising the relationship between air flow rates, dissolved oxygen concentration and ferment redox state, as the next step in the AWRI’s work on aeration of ferments
• assessing the influence of different yeast strains and diammonium phosphate (DAP) additions on the production of ‘flint’ character associated with the compound phenylmethanethiol
• investigating the effect of different levels of solids (low, medium and high) in Chardonnay from a warmer region and a cooler region, using a high- and a low-ethyl ester-producing yeast strain, to optimise the expression of ‘peach’ character.

The AWRI thanks all the industry collaborators involved in these and other trials and looks forward to sharing the results. For more information on any of these trials, please contact enquiries@awri.com.au.

Resources on scale and sooty mould

Latest information on sensors and automation

AWRI Senior Engineer, Simon Nordestgaard, has been keeping his finger on the pulse of developments in tank instrumentation and has conducted trials of some of the latest sensors that can help to automate manual processes. He published updates on this work in two recent articles in the Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker, with the first focusing on automated ways to measure ferment density and liquid volume, and the second covering new options for measuring H₂S in ferments. This vintage, Simon will be extending this work, focusing on density measurements in red ferments and yeas cultures.

Sustainable Winegrowing Australia Impact report – coming soon

Sustainable Winegrowing Australia will soon release its first ‘Impact Report’ – summarising data collected by the program to demonstrate how Australian grapegrowers and winemakers are working to continuously improve their sustainability practices. The report will include data for vineyard and winery members across six key focus areas: Land and Soil, Water, Energy, People and Business, Biodiversity and Waste. Members of the program will be emailed a copy of the report first and it will then be made available from http://sustainablewinegrowing.com.au by mid-March.

Order the latest staff publications online

Accessing the latest AWRI publications is easy. Visit the AWRI Publications web page to:

• View the 10 most recent AWRI staff publications and order the articles online from the AWRI Library
• Search the staff publications database
• Read the full-text of ‘Technical Notes’ from Technical Review (PDF format)
• Read the full-text of ‘AWRI reports’ and ‘Vineyards of the world columns’ published in Wine & Viticulture Journal (PDF format)
• Read the full text of ‘Ask the AWRI columns’ published in Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker

The AWRI’s most recent publications are listed below.

2263 Mierczynska-Vasilev, A., Vasilev, A., Reilly, T., Bindon, K., Vasilev, K. Fluorescence sensing technology for the rapid detection of haze-forming proteins in white wine. Food Chem. 374: 131770; 2022.

2264 Cruz, F.C.S., Habili, N., Wu, Q., Sagarino, R.B., Randles, J.W. Detection of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma luffae’ in sponge gourd, bitter gourd, and bamboo from Laguna in Luzon, Philippines. Philipp. Agric. Sci. 104(2): 181-185; 2021.

2265 Barter, S., Siebert, T., Bramley, R., Herderich, M., Krstic, M. Better late than never: the formation of distinctive pepper aromas in cool-climate Shiraz. Wine Vitic. J. 37(1): 35-37; 2022.

2266 Dry, P. Inzolia. Wine Vitic. J. 37(1): p. 68; 2022.

2267 Krstic, M. The Australian Wine Research Institute: Annual Report 2021. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (695): 88-91; 2021.

2268 Krstic, M.P., Culbert, J.A., Parker, M., Herderich, M.J. Smoke taint and climate change. Reynolds, A.G. (ed.) Managing wine quality. Volume 1: Viticulture and wine quality. 2^nd Edition: Cambridge, MA ; Oxford, UK : Woodhead Publishing. (Chapter 17.4): 763-778; 2021.

2269 Nordestgaard, S. Beyond Baumé rounds and tank dips. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (695): 76-81; 2021.

2270 Schmidt, S., Holdstock, M. Ask the AWRI: Aerating red ferments. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (695): 53-54; 2021.

2271 Wilkinson, K.L., Ristic, R., McNamara, I., Loveys, B., Jiang, W., Krstic, M. Evaluating the potential for smoke from stubble burning to taint grapes and wine. Molecules 26(24): 7540; 2021.

2272 Espinase Nandorfy, D., Siebert, T., Watson, F., Keast, R., Francis, I.L. Understanding the interactive effects of volatile compounds contributing to ‘stone fruit’ aroma nuances in white wines. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. doi: 10.1111/ajgw.12540 : 1-15; 2021.

2273 Onetto, C.A., Costello, P.J., Kolouchova, R., Jordans, C., McCarthy, J. Schmidt, S.A. Analysis of transcriptomic response to SO₂ by Oenococcus oeni growing in continuous culture. Microbiol. Spectr. 9(2): e01154-21; 2021.

2274 Sawyer, S., Longo, R., Solomon, M., Nicolotti, N., Westmore, H., Merry, A., Gnoinski, G., Ylia, A., Dambergs, R., Kerslake, F. Autolysis and the duration of ageing on lees independently influence the aroma and composition of traditional method sparkling wine. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 28(1): 146-159; 2022.

2275 Villarreal, P., Villarroel, C., O’Donnell, S., Agier N., Quintero-Galvis, J., Peña, T., Nespolo, R., Fischer, G., Varela, C., Cubillos, F. Late Pleistocene-dated divergence between South Hemisphere populations of the non-conventional yeast L. cidri. Authorea. DOI: 10.22541/au.164182824.45750907 /v1: 2022.

2276 Cordingley, B. Ask the AWRI: Sacrificial yeast cultures for SO₂ reduction. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (696): 52-53; 2022.

2277 Keast, R., Liem, G., Francis, L., Nandorfy, D. Food files: unravelling the flavour of white wine. Food Aust. 74(1): 30-31; 2022.

2278 Dixon, R. Ask the AWRI: How to tame an unruly canopy. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (697): 54-57; 2022.

2279 Coulter, A., Baldock, G., Parker, M., Hayasaka, Y., Francis, I.L., Herderich, M. Concentration of smoke marker compounds in non-smoke-exposed grapes and wine in Australia. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. doi: 10.1111/ajgw.12543 : 1-16; 2022.

2280 Nordestgaard, S. Measuring stinky ferments in situ. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (697): 62, 64-68, 70-71; 2022.

Acknowledgements

The 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.

Have you listened to AWRI decanted?

Vale Randell Taylor

Resources on wet weather conditions

The Bureau of Meteorology declared a La Niña event on 23 November 2021, which was not a surprise to many parts of Australia already been experiencing wet and cool weather. A wide range of resources including eBulletins and webinar recordings are available to help growers and winemaking dealing with wetter conditions and the associated disease risks:

• Downy mildew update (eBulletin 18 November 2021)
• Phosphorous (Phos) acid (eBulletin 19 November 2021) and new phosphorous acid webpage
• Managing disease in wet conditions (eBulletin 12 November 2021)
• Seasonal outlook for 2021-2022 (webinar 11 November 2021)
• Getting the most out of ‘biological’ sprays for Botrytis control (webinar 15 October)
• Using sulfur to protect vines under cool conditions (eBulletin 13 October)
• Managing Botrytis in the winery (webinar 18 February 2021)
• Late season Botrytis – the disease and options to control it (webinar 10 February 2021)
• Quantitative methods for Botrytis grey mould detection and estimation in grapes (webinar 28 January 2021)

Still seeking reductive white wines

Do you have a white wine with a reductive character? The AWRI and Charles Sturt University are working on a study to better understand copper addition practices and ‘reductive’ aromas in white wine. A large number of white wines with some degree of reductive aroma are needed for analysis. The researchers leading this study would greatly appreciate if producers could provide examples of wines with sulfide-related aromas. All information regarding the wines will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and no reference to producers will be made. Only information regarding the variety, region, and vintage will be included in the study. This work ultimately aims to provide winemakers with tangible guidance on the best practice use of copper and how to prevent ‘reductive’ aroma formation in white wine. Please contact Dr Marlize Bekker (marlize.bekker@awri.com.au) if you can help or for more information.

AWRI decanted season 1

Aeration workshop recording available

On 30 November the AWRI hosted an online workshop on aeration of red ferments, the recording of which is now available on the AWRI’s YouTube channel. This workshop was designed for both winemakers who currently use aeration during fermentation and those who would like to try it next vintage. It covers the equipment needed, how to set it up and use it, as well as insights into technology for measuring oxygen during fermentation. Presenters include Luke Wilson (Yalumba Wines), Jeremy Nascimben (Calabria Wines), Prof. Roger Boulton, University of California, Davis, USA and Anthony D’Onise (Windowrie Wines). For further information or assistance with adopting aeration of red ferments, contact the AWRI helpdesk team on helpdesk@awri.com.au or 08 8313 6600.

Sustainable Winegrowing Australia update

The AWRI sustainability team has been extremely busy over the past few months delivering certification training to more than 400 members of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia across 31 regions. Participants at these workshops rated the usefulness of these workshops at 98% and more than half said that they’d take the information they heard and change their practices in their vineyards and wineries. Attendance at a certification training workshop is the first step towards becoming a certified member. These workshops deliver everything needed for growers, winemakers and wine businesses to interpret and implement the program for the best outcomes at audit and ongoing program management. If you would like to participate in an upcoming certification workshop, please complete the expression of interest form here.

Order the latest staff publications online

Accessing the latest AWRI publications is easy. Visit the AWRI Publications web page to:

• View the 10 most recent AWRI staff publications and order the articles online from the AWRI Library
• Search the staff publications database
• Read the full-text of ‘Technical Notes’ from Technical Review (PDF format)
• Read the full-text of ‘AWRI reports’ and ‘Vineyards of the world columns’ published in Wine & Viticulture Journal (PDF format)
• Read the full text of ‘Ask the AWRI columns’ published in Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker

The AWRI’s most recent publications are listed below.

2261 Xing, F., Gao, D., Habili, N., Wang, H., Zhang, Z., Cao, M., Li, S. Identification and molecular characterization of a novel carlavirus infecting rose plants (Rosa chinensis Jacq.). Arch. Virol. doi: 10.1007/s00705-021-05260-2: 1-4; 2021.

2262 Longbottom, M. Ask the AWRI: Carbon accounting. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (694): 44-45; 2021.

Acknowledgements

The 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.