The Australian Wine Research Institute

 
The AWRI has received queries from a number of potential voters in relation to the AWRI Board election process, some of which relate to the impacts of the recent bushfire events on many producers. For some, this year’s production may have been impacted by these extraordinary events to the extent that they will not be required to pay the Wine Grapes levy for the year ending 30 June 2020.

The AWRI Constitution provides that in order to cast a valid vote in a Board election a levy payer must declare they are a Wine Grapes Levy Payer which has submitted a return to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment in the most recent full financial year and the approximate amount of grapes crushed as declared on the levy return.

Given that the deadline for levy returns for 2019-20 is 30 September 2020, for many producers the most recent full financial year for which a levy return has been submitted is that ending 30 June 2019 (where the levy return was required to be submitted by 30 September 2019). This means that any producers who did not crush grapes in 2020 but did pay the levy for 2018-19 are still eligible to vote in this year’s election, citing the tonnage from the 2018-19 return.

Voting is now open and the ballot will close at 5:00 pm CST on Friday, 11 September 2020. Voting instructions and candidate profiles are available on the AWRI website.

For further information regarding the clarification of voting procedures, or any other queries relating to the election, please contact the Returning Officer, Shiralee Dodd at returningofficer@awri.com.au.

 
Starting Thursday, 3 September, Dr Paul Petrie (SARDI) takes a look at a new water budgeting tool. Additional webinars will run through to January 2021 and cover the impact of COVID-19 on export markets, how and when to consider water additions to must, drivers of regionality in Pinot Noir, the origins of the Gingin Chardonnay clone, a climate outlook for the wine-grape growing industry, a review of methods for measuring Brix or Baume and new approaches for assessing and measuring Botrytis contamination.

Each webinar will include a presentation and an opportunity for audience members to ask questions. Sessions are held on Thursdays at 11:30 am in SA.

All webinars are free to attend but do require pre-registration.

The next eight webinars for the program are:

3 September 2020: Irrigation budgeting – Dr Paul Petrie (South Australian Research and Development Institute)

17 September 2020: Global impact of COVID-19 on the wine export market – Tony Battaglene (Australian Grape & Wine)

1 October 2020: Water addition to must: when to use it and how much? – Dr Keren Bindon (AWRI)

15 October 2020: Provenance of Pinot Noir – drivers of regionality – Dr Fiona Kerslake and Dr Rocco Longo (Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture)

12 November 2020: The origin of Chardonnay clones with historical significance in Australia and California – Dr Anthony Borneman (AWRI)

26 November 2020: Climate outlooks – Dr Naomi Benger (Bureau of Meteorology)

3 December 2020: Measuring Baume and Brix and understanding their relationship with final alcohol concentration – Dr Eric Wilkes (AWRI)

28 January 2021: Quantitative methods for Botrytis grey mould detection and estimation in grapes – Professor Chris Steel (National Wine and Grape Industry Centre)

See the full program here.

System requirements

You will need a computer or mobile device with an internet connection. Audio is connected over the internet using your computer or mobile device’s speakers (Voice over Internet Protocol – VOIP). Participants joining a webinar via a mobile device will need to download a free app available from iTunes or Google Play.

If you’ve missed a previous AWRI webinar, you can watch online via the AWRI’s YouTube channel.

For further information on AWRI webinars, please contact the AWRI information services team.

The August 2020 issue of Technical Review is now available online. Articles and abstracts can be viewed individually, or the full issue can be downloaded. The online format of Technical Review allows you to browse the list of the latest articles on grape and wine production by keyword, view article summaries and order journal articles from the AWRI Library.

For copyright reasons, access to abstracts is available only to Australian winemakers and grapegrowers who pay the Wine Grapes or Grape Research levies. The technical notes authored by the AWRI are, however, freely available. If you have forgotten your password for the AWRI website, please use the forgotten password link to reset your password.

Below is a snapshot of what's in this issue:

AWRI Technical Notes	Sustainable Winegrowing Australia – how is the program supporting producers to improve and demonstrate their sustainability?
AWRI publications	Enhancing tropical fruit flavour in Chardonnay and Shiraz through foliar nutrient sprays Inspirations from the past and opportunities for the future. Part 1: cross-flow filtration and flotation Inspirations from the past and opportunities for the future. Part 2: in-tank fermentation monitoring and continuous processes Ask the AWRI: pre-fermentation skin contact Going green with whole bunches Alterations in yeast species composition of uninoculated wine ferments by the addition of sulphur dioxide
Current literature – oenology	Chemical and sensory effects of cofermentation and post-malolactic fermentation blending of Syrah with Rhône white cultivars Press fractioning of grape juice: a first step to manage potential atypical aging development during winemaking The effects of enzyme and tannin applications on red wine Reduction of sulfur compounds through genetic improvement of native Saccharomyces cerevisiae useful for organic and sulfite-free wine Novel microencapsulated yeast for the production of sparkling wine by traditional method May peppery wines be the spice of life? A review of research on the ‘pepper’ aroma and the sesquiterpenoid rotundone Predicting the post-bottling sulfite concentration evolution and wine shelf-life Smoke signals
Current literature – viticulture	A vision-based robust grape berry counting algorithm for fast calibration-free bunch weight estimation in the field Development and evaluation of a vineyard-based strategy to mitigate smoke-taint in wine grapes Automatic flower number evaluation in grapevine inflorescences using RGB images Soil temperature prior to veraison alters grapevine carbon partitioning, xylem sap hormones, and fruit set Functional microbial diversity responses to biodynamic management in Burgundian vineyard soils Sixty years of hail suppression activities in Mendoza, Argentina: uncertainties, gaps in knowledge and future perspectives Reds, whites, and sulfites: examining different organic wine regulation practices in the United States and the European Union Early leaf removal as a strategy to improve ripening and lower cluster rot in cool climate (Vitis vinifera L.) Pinot Grigio Spatial variability in Ontario Riesling vineyards: I. Soil, vine water status and vine performance

Nominations are open for three levy payer director positions on the Board of The Australian Wine Research Institute Ltd (AWRI).

The AWRI Board of Directors includes six persons who are nominated and/or elected by wine grapes levy payers for a term of three years. In accordance with the Constitution of the AWRI, three of these positions become vacant on 31 December 2020, one in each of the defined small, medium and large categories.

This is an excellent opportunity for an interested candidate to become involved in the Australian wine industry’s own R&D organisation and, in addition to their other duties and responsibilities, provide a ‘coalface’ perspective to the direction and priorities of the AWRI’s research, development, adoption and commercialisation activities.

Current levy payers are invited to nominate suitably qualified candidates for the vacant positions. Nominations must be made in writing on the official nomination form which is available from the AWRI Election of Directors page. Eligible levy payers may propose or second one nomination only.

Nominations are to be received by post to The Returning Officer, The Australian Wine Research Institute Ltd, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond SA 5064 or by email to returningofficer@awri.com.au NO LATER THAN 5 PM FRIDAY 14 AUGUST 2020. If more than one nomination is received in each category, an election in that category will be conducted during August/September 2020.

Nominees are encouraged to prepare a profile/statement, including a picture, of not more than 250 words in support of their nomination, for use in the event that an election is required. The profile/statement must also be received by the AWRI Returning Officer by the nomination deadline of 14 August 2020.

More information is available in the nomination form regarding:

the definition of small, medium and large levy payers
the method of calculation of votes in an election
the clauses of the AWRI Constitution dealing with the appointment of directors by levy payers and their term of office.

A form can also be requested by contacting Shiralee Dodd, the Returning Officer, by email at returningofficer@awri.com.au.