The Australian Wine Research Institute

The Australian Wine Research Institute Blog

Technical Review June 2018 issue available online

12 June 2018 >

The June 2018 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
AWRI publications
  • Ask the AWRI: carbonic maceration
  • Effect of white wine composition on protein haze potential
  • Investigation of ‘stone fruit’ aroma in Chardonnay, Viognier and botrytis Semillon wines
  • Volatile compounds related to ‘stone fruit’ aroma attributes in Viognier and Chardonnay wines
  • Managing the impact of smoke taint in the Australian wine industry
  • What makes red wine green?
  • Sooty mould winemaking trial: the impact on processing, composition and sensory attributes of Shiraz wine
Current literature – oenology
  • Australian organic whites impress
  • Smoke taint in wine: how smoke-derived volatiles accumulate in grapevines
  • Water into wine: pre-fermentation strategies for producing lower alcohol wine
  • Role of elemental sulfur in forming latent precursors of H2S in wine
  • The chemical reaction of glutathione and trans-2-hexenal in grape juice media to form wine aroma precursors: the impact of pH, temperature, and sulfur dioxide
  • Oxidation of wine polyphenols by secretomes of wild Botrytis cinerea strains from white and red grape varieties and determination of their specific laccase activity
  • U.K. and global wine markets by 2025, and implications of Brexit
Current literature – viticulture
  • Partial solar radiation exclusion with color shade nets reduces the degradation of organic acids and flavonoids of grape berry (Vitis vinifera L.)
  • How climate change affects winegrowing
  • Understanding the effect of smoke taint in grapes and wine
  • A pruning technique for improved vine health and longevity
  • Integrated, organic and biodynamic viticulture: a comparative 10-year study
  • Exploring NZ’s vineyard virome
  • Fruit flies play role in sour rot complex: training system can impede development of disease
  • Dolcetto: stepping out from the shadows of Nebbiolo and Barbera at Parish Hill
  • A cool change: a ‘new wave’ of Tasmanian winegrape producers explore cool-climate varietal options
  • A little water can go a long way when battling heatwaves

eNews – May 2018

14 May 2018 >

2000th paper features secrets of stone fruit flavour

Shipwreck beer brought back to life

CO2 – an important component of still wines not just sparklings

Help for grape and wine producers to access grants

Practice trends and oxygen management at WineEng2018 conference

‘Ask the AWRI’ columns at your fingertips

Communication survey still open

Start of the wine show season for ShowRunner

Save the date – the 17th AWITC will be held 21-24 July 2019

Order the latest AWRI staff publications online

Acknowledgements

2000th paper features secrets of stone fruit flavour

The AWRI is pleased to announce that it has recently published its 2000th article since its founding in 1955. The 2000th paper, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry describes cutting-edge research on the peach and apricot flavours found in white wines. Conducted in a collaboration between the AWRI, the University of South Australia and the University of Bordeaux in France, this research combined sensory analysis, chemical analysis of wine volatiles and painstaking reconstitution experiments to identify the most important compounds involved in stone fruit flavours.

A key finding was that a combination of monoterpene compounds, previously known to contribute citrus and floral characters, were also in fact the most important contributors to apricot aroma in white wines. This work formed a major part of AWRI Senior Scientist Tracey Siebert’s PhD studies and Tracey is congratulated on having recently had her PhD thesis accepted as well as being lead author on the 2000th paper.

The full paper detailing these results is accessible via the AWRI library:
Siebert, T.E., Barker, A., Pearson, W., Barter, S.R., de Barros Lopes, M.A., Darriet, P., Herderich, M.J., Francis, I.L. Volatile compounds related to ‘stone fruit’ aroma attributes in Viognier and Chardonnay wines. J. Agric. Food Chem. 66(11): 2838-2850; 2018.

Shipwreck beer brought back to life
In 2016 AWRI scientists were involved in a unique project isolating yeast from beer bottles found in the 1797 shipwreck of the Sydney Cove in Bass Strait. Genetic analysis showed that the yeast was a rare hybrid strain with differences from modern ale strains. Now, through a partnership with the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery in Launceston and James Squire, the yeast that was isolated has been used to produce a new brew. Known as ‘The Wreck – Preservation Ale’, the porter-style beer will be launched at the GABS Beer Festival in Melbourne and Sydney and a special event in Launceston later this month. More information about the wreck, the partnership and the new beer can be found at: https://www.jamessquire.com.au/news/the-story-behind-the-wreck/.

CO2 – an important component of still wines not just sparklings
All still wines contain dissolved carbon dioxide CO2, and in fact, if levels are too low a wine can taste ‘flat’ and appear to lack ‘freshness’. Recent work at the AWRI has delved deeper into the role of CO2 in still wines – exploring if specific tastes and textures are influenced by CO2 and investigating how other wine components interact with dissolved CO2.Chardonnay, Viognier, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon wines were prepared with a range of CO2 levels. The pH, alcohol and (in the case of red wines) tannin levels of the wines were also varied in combination with dissolved CO2. The wines were then tasted under conditions that reflected typical wine consumption, with tasters rating a range of flavour and mouth-feel attributes. Dissolved CO2 concentrations of the wine in the glass were simultaneously measured using a modified Orbisphere system that took ‘parallel’ measurements of dissolved CO2 from replicate wine glasses at the moment the wines were being tasted. This attention to detail was necessary as wine temperature, glass shape, pouring, and the time between pouring and tasting can all affect dissolved CO2 at the moment of tasting, which could in turn influence the taste and mouth-feel.

The trial has been completed and the results to be published shortly will include details of the dynamics of dissolved CO2 losses during pouring and before they are tasted. It will also describe the interactions between dissolved CO2 and the wine matrix on the tastes and textures of white and red wine.

Help for grape and wine producers to access grants

Many different state and national government bodies offer grants to businesses, including grape and wine producers. With so many schemes around, it can be difficult to keep track of them all and make the most of the opportunities that are available. To provide a quick reference, the AWRI has summarised many of the grants currently available to grapegrowers and winemakers in a new table on the AWRI website. This table will be updated regularly, and the link will be included in future editions of AWRI eNews. If you are aware of any grant programs available that have not been included, please contact Tadro Abbott on tadro.abbott@awri.com.au.

Practice trends and oxygen management at WineEng2018 conference

AWRI research will be on show as part of this year’s Winery Engineering Association conference in Nuriootpa on 25 and 26 July. Simon Nordestgaard will deliver the keynote presentation on trends in wine production practices, featuring data from the AWRI’s major practices survey. AWRI staff will also participate in a cross-industry oxygen management forum featuring speakers from the wine and beer industries. Other topics to be covered at the conference include refrigeration, batteries, scheduling software, stainless steel selection and structured problem-solving. In addition, there will be a beer tasting led by a Coopers brewer and optional tours of local wineries. For more information or to register visit http://www.wea.org.au/.

‘Ask the AWRI’ columns at your fingertips
Every month, the AWRI publishes its ‘Ask the AWRI’ column in Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker. These are succinct, question & answer-style articles on technical issues across viticulture, winemaking, analysis and health that stem from the activities of the AWRI helpdesk team. More than 50 past columns are now available for download from a new page on the AWRI website, covering topics including: filtration, skipping vineyard sprays in dry years, wine and heart health, pinking and sooty mould. For help with technical issues, or to propose a topic for an upcoming column, please contact the AWRI helpdesk on helpdesk@awri.com.au or 08 8313 6600.

Communication survey still open

The AWRI recently distributed a survey about its communication channels and publications. The response to the survey has been excellent and thanks are extended to all of those who have taken the time to contribute. If you haven’t yet had a chance to complete the survey, but are still interested in doing so, the survey is still open and can be accessed here. Results will help guide planning of the AWRI’s future communication efforts, so they can be targeted to achieve the greatest impact.

Start of the wine show season for ShowRunner
The AWRI’s wine show management system, ShowRunner, kicked off its 2018 wine show season at the Langhorne Creek Wine Show this month, with around 230 exhibits tasted and judged using the software. Results were produced within 20 minutes of the Champion of Show being judged.

ShowRunner brings together all the administration and manual processes of organising a wine show and makes running a wine show simple and seamless. One system supports online entries, judging via electronic devices at the show and generation of results. Wine show organisers can contact Francesca Blefari on showrunner@awri.com.au or 0437 871 011 for more information.

Save the date – the 17th AWITC will be held 21-24 July 2019
It’s hard to believe, but it’s less than 15 months until the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference returns to Adelaide! Next year’s program will feature WFA Outlook sessions, plenary presentations of the latest content from across the globe, hands-on workshops, Fresh Science, an extensive poster exhibition and the student forum ‘In the wine light’. The conference will be staged side-by-side with WineTech – the Australian Wine Industry Trade Exhibition – delivered in partnership with Fair Events and WISA. The conference’s association with the McWilliam’s Maurice O’Shea Award Dinner will also continue, forming a major highlight of the social program. Make sure the dates of 21 – 24 July 2019 are locked in your diary, as you won’t want to miss the Australian wine industry’s biggest technical event. For more information visit http://www.awitc.com.au/ or contact Kate Beames on kate.beames@awitc.com.au.

Order the latest AWRI 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’ published in Wine & Viticulture Journal (PDF format).

A list of AWRI publications published since the last eNews is included below:

1993 Gawel, R., Schulkin, A., Smith, P., Kassara, S., Francis, L., Herderich, M., Johnson, D. Influence of wine polysaccharides on white and red wine mouthfeel. Wine Vitic. J. 33(1): 34-37; 2018.

1994 Essling, M. Ask the AWRI: Spray drift. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (650): 34-35; 2018.

1995 Godden, P. Sooty mould winemaking trial: the impact on processing, composition and sensory attributes of Shiraz wine. Wine Vitic. J. 33(2): 19-24; 2018.

1996 Capone, D., Pearson, W., Bindon, K., Kassara, S., Solomon, M., Bey, L., Francis, L., Herderich, M., Johnson, D. What makes red wine green? Wine Vitic. J. 33(2): 32-35; 2018.

1997 Krstic, M., Porter, I., Plozza, T., Dunne, K., Herderich, M., Culbert, J., Zhang, P., Bui, J. Managing the impact of smoke taint in the Australian wine industry. Wine Vitic. J. 33(2): 47-49; 2018.

1998 Teissedre, P-L., Stockley, C., Boban, M., Gambert, P., Alba, M.O., Flesh, M., Ruf, J-C. The effects of wine consumption on cardiovascular disease and associated risk factors: a narrative review. OENO One 51(1): 67-79; 2018.

1999 Siebert, T.E., Barker, A., Barter, S.R., de Barros Lopes, M.A., Herderich, M.J., Francis, I.L. Analysis, potency and occurrence of (Z)-6-dodeceno-γ-lactone in white wine. Food Chem. 256: 85-90; 2018.

2000 Siebert, T.E., Barker, A., Pearson, W., Barter, S.R., de Barros Lopes, M.A., Darriet, P., Herderich, M.J., Francis, I.L. Volatile compounds related to ‘stone fruit’ aroma attributes in Viognier and Chardonnay wines. J. Agric. Food Chem. 66(11): 2838-2850; 2018.

2001 Siebert, T.E., Barter, S.R., de Barros Lopes, M.A., Herderich, M.J., Francis, I.L. Investigation of ‘stone fruit’ aroma in Chardonnay, Viognier and botrytis Semillon. Food Chem. 256: 286-296; 2018.

2002 McRae, J.M., Schulkin, A., Dambergs, R.G., Smith, P.A. Effect of white wine composition on protein haze potential. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. doi: 10.1111/ajgw.12346: 1-6; 2018.

2003 Dry, P. Mencia. Wine Vitic. J. 33(2): p. 59; 2018.

2004 Cowey, G., Ranjitkar, S. Tooth care for wine professionals: protect your teeth against occupational hazards. Wines Vines 99 (1): 148, 150; 2018.

2005 Cowey, G. Ask the AWRI: Carbonic maceration. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (651): 70-71; 2018.

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.

 

Technical Review April 2018 issue available online

24 April 2018 >

The April 2018 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
AWRI publications
  • Ask the AWRI: wine instabilities – the solids won’t hurt you
  • Comparison of consecutive harvests versus blending treatments to produce lower alcohol wines from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes: impact on polysaccharide and tannin content and composition
  • Chemical and sensory profiling of Shiraz wines co-fermented with commercial non-Saccharomyces inocula
  • Gains in speed, labour and gas consumption for winemakers: membrane contractors for management of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide
  • Predicting outcomes: learning about ferments from big data
  • Ask the AWRI: volatile acidity
Current literature – oenology
  • Solid solution: making a case for concrete and ceramic vessels in the winery
  • Fire recovery begins; demand for flash wine treatment strong
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae, non-Saccharomyces yeasts and lactic acid bacteria in sequential fermentations: effect of phenolics and sensory attributes of South African Syrah wines
  • Influence of sequential inoculation in the first fermentation on the foaming properties of sparkling wines
  • Microbial resources and innovation in the wine production sector
  • Chemical gradients in pilot-scale Cabernet Sauvignon fermentations and their effect on phenolic extraction
  • Oxygen and SO2 consumption rates in white and rosé wines: relationship with and effects on wine chemical composition
  • Organic wine purchase behaviour in Germany: exploring the attitude-behaviour-gap with data from a household panel
Current literature – viticulture
  • Dry matter accumulation and nitrogen and potassium partitioning in the roots and trunk of field-grown Thompson Seedless grapevines
  • Phenolic characteristics and antioxidant activity of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon wines increase with vineyard altitude in a high-altitude region
  • Does full exposure of clusters have any negative effects on Tempranillo (Vitis vinifera L.) grape quality in La Rioja, Spain? The use of severe cluster-zone leaf removal after berry set
  • Effect of different cutting heights of mechanically pruned grapevines cv. Merlot over three consecutive seasons
  • Double-pruning grapevines as a management tool to delay berry ripening and control yield
  • Crop level and harvest date impact composition of four Ontario winegrape cultivars. I. Yield, fruit, and wine composition
  • Shoot trimming effects on Pinot Noir
  • Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Grapevine Downy and Powdery Mildew, July 17-19, 2017, Corvallis, Oregon, USA. Oregon State University
  • Managing grapevine trunk diseases with respect to etiology and epidemiology: current strategies and future prospects
  • What’s the right spray? The best spraying options for keeping fungal disease at bay
  • Water management of irrigated Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines in semi-arid areas

eNews – March 2018

19 March 2018 >

Vintage research in full swing

Cabernet winemaking trial underway

Colony picker boosts biosciences research

Latest knowledge on grape objective measures and malolactic fermentation

New method for routine sulfur dioxide analysis

Order the latest AWRI staff publications online

Acknowledgements

Vintage research in full swing
While grapes are being picked and crushed across Australia, the AWRI’s researchers are also enjoying their busiest time of the year. Vintage trials form a key part of AWRI research, as the opportunity to put theory into practice and set up the experiments that will be monitored and tasted during the rest of the year. Thanks are extended to the many industry contributors working alongside the AWRI to conduct these trials who generously provide access to experimental vineyard sites, grapes, wines and other facilities.

This year vintage trials are happening across a diverse range of areas. AWRI bioscience researchers are trialling the latest hybrid yeasts, yeast strains that produce high levels of ‘rose’ aroma compounds and new strains of malolactic bacteria. In the area of process improvement, trials are investigating effects of oxygen in red ferments and the impact of juice pasteurisation. Other researchers are assessing the effects of vineyard nutrient sprays and sun exposure on grape composition and wine flavour, mapping grape aroma compounds in cool climate Shiraz, investigating the flavour and mouth-feel consequences of whole bunch ferments, and evaluating management strategies for processing smoke-tainted grapes.

Results from these projects and others will be published as they become available; however, if you’d like to know more about any of this work, please contact the AWRI (Ella.Robinson@awri.com.au or 08 8 313 6600).

Cabernet winemaking trial underway
The first fruit has been harvested for the AWRI’s 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon winemaking trial, in which eighteen 150 kg ferments will be conducted, with a single winemaking variable being changed in each one. This trial follows on from two successful previous vintage trials with Pinot Noir and Shiraz, the wines from which have been presented in tastings across Australia. The treatments in the current trial were chosen in consultation with some of Australia’s leading Cabernet Sauvignon producers, and where possible, they have been tailored to complement previous and current AWRI research projects. The aims of the trial are to illustrate the sensory effects of applying specific techniques during winemaking, and to provide advice on the practical application of those techniques in a commercial setting. The wines made during the 2018 trial will be presented to industry in tasting workshops in 2019.

Colony picker boosts biosciences research
A new arrival in the AWRI research labs is automating the isolation of yeast and bacterial colonies collected from ferment samples. The Singer Instruments PIXL microbial colony picker can separate hundreds of individual microbial colonies from an agar plate and place them onto a fresh plate for further analysis, at up to 1,536 colonies per plate. This instrument is critical for AWRI research, including the metagenomics project that is isolating thousands of microbes from wild ferments across the country. Previously such projects called for each colony to be manually collected from agar using the tip of a sterile toothpick, a labour-intensive process that limited the scope of what could be achieved. The PIXL is the latest design of colony picker from yeast handling specialists Singer Instruments and is the first of its type to be installed in a lab anywhere in the world!

Latest knowledge on grape objective measures and malolactic fermentation

Two new fact sheets have recently been added to the AWRI website. The first, Objective measures of grape quality, summarises results of a project that investigated predicting grape grade based on chemical or spectral analyses. The second focuses on achieving successful malolactic fermentation in white and sparkling wines. This includes tips for managing challenging ferment conditions and choosing the best strain for the job. The AWRI fact sheets collection contains more than 100 fact sheets covering topics across oenology, viticulture, environment and wine and health.

New method for routine sulfur dioxide analysis

AWRI Commercial Services is now using a discrete analyser instrument for routine free and total sulfur dioxide analysis. This new instrument replaces an ageing flow injection analysis instrument and can process more than 100 samples each day, with very limited staff input. The same instrument can also be used to analyse other wine components such as glucose, fructose, malic acid and volatile acidity (as acetic acid). However, the team won’t be getting rid of the sulfur stills any time soon – the Rankine/Pocock aeration/oxidation method is still the reference method for SO2 analysis. More information about the new method and how it was developed is available in a recent article published in AWRI Technical Review.

Order the latest AWRI 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’ published in Wine & Viticulture Journal (PDF format).

A list of AWRI publications published since the last eNews is included below:
1987 Pereira-Caro, G., Ordóñez, J.L., Ludwig, I., Gaillet, S., Mena, P., Del Rio, D., Rouanet, J-M., Bindon, K.A., Moreno-Rojas, J.M., Crozier, A. Development and validation of an UHPLC-HRMS protocol for the analysis of flavan-3-ol metabolites and catabolites in urine, plasma and feces of rats fed a red wine proanthocyanidin extract. Food Chem. 252: 49-60; 2018.

1988 Schelezki, O.J., Smith, P.A., Hranilovic, A., Bindon, K.A., Jeffery, D.W. Comparison of consecutive harvests versus blending treatments to produce lower alcohol wines from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes: impact on polysaccharide and tannin content and composition. Food Chem. 244: 50-59; 2018.

1989 Stockley, C. Ask the AWRI: wine instabilities – the solids won’t hurt you. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (649): p. 66; 2018.

1990 Wilkes, E. [Is it the fault of the closure or the wine?] È colpa del tappo o del vino? OICCE Times 73 (18): 15-18; 2017.

1991 Gawel, R., Schulkin, A., Smith, P., Kassara, S., Francis, L., Herderich, M., Johnson, D. Influence of wine polysaccharides on white and red wine mouthfeel. Wine Vitic. J. 33 (1): 34-37; 2018.

1992 Dry, P. Dolcetto. Wine Vitic. J. 33 (1): p. 56; 2017.

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.

 

Agrochemical update – spray drift

5 March 2018 >

Off-target agrochemical exposure or ‘spray drift’ has been gaining attention recently in mainstream and social media. This agrochemical update provides a reminder of who to contact if a spray drift incident is suspected.

Reporting spray drift incidents

Agricultural chemical users have a legal obligation to ensure that the chemicals they apply stay within the target area. If a spray drift incident is suspected, it should be reported to the appropriate authority, so they can investigate the extent of the damage, advise on the possible causes and take further action. Responsibility for addressing incidents of off-target spray drift lies with each state and territory government. The table below provides phone numbers for the relevant organisation depending on your location. Further details are also provided on the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority website, but if you are in any doubt, please contact the AWRI helpdesk for assistance.

State or territory Who to contact in case of spray drift
Australian Capital Territory Environment Protection Authority – 132 281
New South Wales Environment Protection Authority – 131 555
Queensland Biosecurity Queensland – 132 523
South Australia Biosecurity SA – 1300 799 684
Tasmania AgVet Chemicals Program – 03 6777 2133
Victoria Agriculture Victoria – 136 186
Western Australia Department of Health – 08 9222 4222

Testing vines or wine for residues

Residue testing of foliage, fruit or wine may be appropriate depending on the circumstances of the spray drift incident and grape purchaser requirements. Contact the AWRI helpdesk to discuss the best options.

For further information about spray drift or any other technical matter, please contact the AWRI helpdesk on (08) 8313 6600 or email helpdesk@awri.com.au.

More imports of brown marmorated stink bug to Australia

28 February 2018 >

Additional recent pest detections

  • Two further detections of the exotic pest brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) have been reported in Horsley Park, NSW and Perth, WA.
  • Dead and live bugs were found in separate shipments of electrical components and bricks that had been imported from Italy.
  • The federal and state biosecurity agencies are working together to manage the incidents, using well established response arrangements and processes including chemical treatment and surveillance.
  • Photos and technical information about brown marmorated stink bug can be found in this Plant Health Australia fact sheet.

Impact in vineyards and wineries

  • Low numbers of brown marmorated stink bug (three per bunch) may result in physical damage to berries which predisposes them to bunch rots and yield loss.
  • Brown marmorated stink bugs have a foul smelling odour when disturbed.
  • Brown marmorated stink bugs are known to cause wine taint if they end up in ferments.

Identifying BMSB

BMSB is one of many nuisance stink bugs and is easily confused with other stink bugs, some of which are present in Australia. The appearance of BMSB changes through its lifecycle. Adult BMSBs are characterised by a 12-17 mm mottle brown coloured, shield-shaped body (see photos below).

BMSB egg mass (left) (photo: David Lance, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org), nymph (middle) (photo: Gary Bernan, Bugwood.org), adult (right) (photo: Mohammed El Damir, Bugwood.org)

A collection of nymph and adult BMSBs on a leaf (left) and feeding damage on fruit caused by BMSB (photos: Gary Bernon, Bugwood.org)

Biosecurity awareness and reporting

Importers

  • If growers or winemakers transport or receive goods from overseas, they should always keep an eye out for pests and other biosecurity risks. Pests stow away in shipping containers, on machinery, and inside cartons and packaging, including timber pallets.
  • If you find any type of live pest while unpacking or moving your goods:
    • Collect and contain a specimen.
    • Re-seal any opened boxes, re-pack the container where possible, and shut the container doors.
    • Don’t move the container, especially to an outside area.
    • Report it quickly to the See. Secure. Report. hotline on 1800 798 636 for assistance.

Vineyards / wineries

  • If growers or winemakers think they have seen BMSB (or any other exotic pest) in the vineyard or winery they should phone the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881.


For further information about wine industry biosecurity arrangements, please contact Andrew Weeks, CEO Australian Vignerons on 0403 520 242.

For technical information about brown marmorated stink bug, please contact the AWRI helpdesk on 08 8313 6600.

Technical Review February 2018 issue available

14 February 2018 >

The February 2018 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
AWRI publications
  • Resveratrol, human health and winemaking perspectives
  • ASVO announces 2017 AWAC scholarship winner and winemaker of the year finalists
  • Struck match, freshness and tropical fruit: thiols and Chardonnay flavour
  • Rapid assessment of wine yeast viability and vitality
  • Ask the AWRI: biosecurity and viticulture
  • Top tips for wine stabilisation
  • Evaluation of putative precursors of key ‘reductive’ compounds in wines post-bottling
Current literature – oenology
  • Alternative vessels to ferment and mature
  • Rethinking oak budgets: the real cost of barrels
  • Is yeast affecting the taste of your wine? Yeast breeding as a tool for wine stylistic manipulation
  • Quantitating organoleptic volatile phenols in smoke-exposed Vitis vinifera berries
  • Technical feasibility of glucose oxidase as a prefermentation treatment for lowering the alcoholic degree of red wine
  • A full factorial study on the effect of tannins, acidity, and ethanol on the temporal perception of taste and mouthfeel in red wine
  • Sensory quality of wine: quality assessment by merging ranks of an expert-consumer panel
Current literature – viticulture
  • How do herbicide drifts affect your grapevines: symptoms and vine sustainability
  • Allometric relationships for estimating vegetative and reproductive biomass in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.)
  • ABA application during flowering and fruit set reduces berry number and improves cluster uniformity
  • South America's extreme terroirs
  • Leaf removal and cluster thinning efficiencies are highly modulated by environmental conditions in cool climate viticulture
  • Fungicide resistance – where to now?
  • Growers’ grapevine Pinot Gris virus questions answered
  • Approaching a century of growing Mondeuse at Brown Brothers
  • Malbec across the Andes
  • Future opportunities of proximal near infrared spectroscopy approaches to determine the variability of vineyard water status
  • Spatial variation of winegrape yield and berry composition and their relationships to spatiotemporal distribution of soil water content

eNews – January 2018

31 January 2018 >

Grapevine virus testing and elimination

Advances in dissolved gas management

Results from AWRI Vineyard and Winery Practices Survey

Research reports available from AWRI website

Optimise ferments in vintage 2018

Events across Australia

Order the latest AWRI staff publications online

Acknowledgement

Celebrating 25 years of the Advanced Wine Assessment Course
The AWRI and the University of Adelaide recently annouced an agreement to transfer the grapevine virus testing and elimination services previously provided by Waite Diagnostics to the AWRI. The services offered, which include testing for 12 grapevine viruses and phytoplasmas, as well as other pathogens responsible for crop diseases, will continue to be provided by the same experienced personnel, including virologist Dr Nuredin Habili. Dr Habili has more than 20 years’ experience working with plant viruses and has been involved in the research and development of the services provided. In addition to identification services, elimination of deleterious viruses from grapevines using chemotherapy is also available. More detailed information and sampling requirements can be found on the virus testing page of the AWRI website. The virus testing team can be contacted on 08 8313 7426 or commercialservices@awri.com.au.

Advances in dissolved gas management

Automated dissolved gas management systems using membrane contactors for gas transfer have recently been introduced to the Australian wine industry. They potentially allow for faster and more precise dissolved gas adjustment and reduced gas consumption. AWRI Senior Engineer, Simon Nordestgaard, recently published an article in the January issue of Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker reviewing how these technologies work and comparing them with alternatives: Click here to access the article.

Results from AWRI Vineyard and Winery Practices Survey

A major survey of Australian vineyard and winery practices was conducted in late 2016. Around 690 responses were received, covering 19% of Australia’s vineyard area and 74% of tonnes processed. Thanks are extended to all producers that participated. Follow-up visits were performed during 2017 to provide context to industry trends, and a final report will be issued later this year. This is one of the most comprehensive surveys ever taken in the Australian grape and wine sector and it is intended to be repeated at regular intervals so that trends in technology adoption and practice change can be tracked over time.

Preliminary vineyard data was presented at the ASVO seminar in August where it formed the basis for a panel discussion on the take-up of technologies such as mechanised cane pruning, treatment of pruning wounds, recycle sprayers, mechanical leaf plucking, precision viticulture and destemming harvesters. Preliminary winery data was presented at the Crush Symposium in November, including information on the take-up of cross-flow filtration, flotation, and different heat and cold stabilisation techniques. Click here to access a pdf of the most recent survey presentation. For more information, contact Simon Nordestgaard on simon.nordestgaard@awri.com.au or 08 8313 6600.

Research reports available from AWRI website

In late December 2017, Wine Australia approved the AWRI’s Final Reports for projects conducted in 2013-2017. Those reports are now available for download (8 MB pdf file) from the RDE projects page on the AWRI website. That same page also provides a list of the AWRI’s current research, development and extension projects. For more information, please contact Ella Robinson on ella.robinson@awri.com.au or 08 8313 6600.

Optimise ferments in vintage 2018
The online AWRI Ferment Simulator has been updated for vintage 2018 and is available through the WineCloud. This free app uses powerful algorithms to model ferments as they progress and predict problems before they occur. A number of improvements have been made for 2018 based on user feedback, including the calculation of ferment rate and peak rate. For more information and to register for an account, visit the Ferment Simulator webpage.

Events across Australia

The AWRI is visiting 17 regions in January/February to deliver tastings and workshop events before vintage 2018 gets into full swing. The ‘Shiraz winemaking trials tasting workshop’ being presented across Australia showcases how different winemaking practices can influence final wine style. Fifteen different wines have been made from the same batch of Shiraz grapes using a range of different harvest dates and winemaking techniques. Tasting these wines is a great opportunity to explore the stylistic and compositional differences achieved when one winemaking variable is changed at a time.

In Victoria the Shiraz tasting is being combined with a ‘Pre-vintage workshop’ in three locations, which presents a range of practical tips to make the most of the upcoming vintage. In Tasmania, an ‘Addressing regional challenges’ workshop will be presented in Launceston and Hobart in mid-February. This workshop includes information on the latest technologies, analyses, process options and efficiencies to enable optimal quality grapegrowing and winemaking, with specific topics selected by the regional association.

Visit the AWRI events calendar now for a full list of upcoming events or contact the events team on events@awri.com.au or 08 8313 6600.

Order the latest AWRI 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’ published in Wine & Viticulture Journal (PDF format).

A list of AWRI publications published since the last eNews is included below:
1965 Chen, L., Capone, D.L., Jeffery, D.W. Chiral analysis of 3-sulfanylhexan-1-ol and 3-sulfanylhexan-l-ol acetate in wine by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Anal. Chim. Acta 998: 83-92; 2017.

1966 Jayokody, H., Liu, S., Whitty, M., Petrie, P. Microscope image based fully automated stomata detection and pore measurement method for grapevines. Plant Meth. 13(94): 1-12; 2017.

1967 Bekker, M.Z., Wilkes, E.N., Smith, P.A. Evaluation of putative precursors of key ‘reductive’ compounds in wines post-bottling. Food Chem. 245: 676-686; 2017.

1968 Stockley, C. Ask the AWRI: Wine – a weighty issue. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (646): p. 44; 2017.

1969 Cowey, G., Coulter, A., Wilkes, E. Top tips for wine stabilisation. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (644): p. 71; 2017.

1970 Longbottom, M. Ask the AWRI: biosecurity and viticulture. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (647): 44-45; 2017.

1971 Johnson, D. 2017 Report. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (644): 4p.; 2017.

1972 Rinaldo, A., Bartowsky, E., Amos, J., Scrimgeour, N. Rapid assessment of wine yeast variability and vitality. Wine Vitic. J. 32(6): 18-21; 2017.

1973 Capone, D., Francis, L., Williamson, P., Herderich, M., Johnson, D. Struck match, freshness and tropical fruit: thiols and Chardonnay flavour. Wine Vitic. J. 32 (5): 31-35; 2017.

1974 Dry, P. Mondeuse noire. Wine Vitic. J. 32(5): p. 57; 2017.

1975 Pearson, W. Ladder of development: How scientific principles can help you refine your business. Thought Leadership 1: 80-85; 2017.

1976 Li, S., Wilkinson, K.L., Bindon, K.A. Compositional variability in commercial tannin and mannoprotein products. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. doi: 10.5344/ajev.2017.17057: 1-25;2017

1977 Longbottom, M. ASVO announces 2017 AWAC scholarship winner and Winemaker of the Year finalists. Wine Vitic. J. 32(5): 10-11; 2017.

1978 Dry, P. Barbera. Wine Vitic. J. 32(6): p. 52; 2017.

1979 Pastor, R.P., Restani, P., Di Lorenzo, C., Orgiu, F., Teissedre, P-L., Stockley, C., Ruf, J.C. Quini, C.I., Tejedor, N.G., Gargantini, R., Aruani, C., Prieto, S., Murgo, M., Videla, R., Penissi, A., Iermoli, R.H. Resveratrol, human health and winemaking perspectives. Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr. DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2017.1400517: 1-19; 2017.

1980 Sadras, V.O., Moran, M.A., Petrie, P. Resilience of grapevine yield in response to warming. OENO one 51(4): 381-386; 2017.

1981 Coulter, A. Ask the AWRI: volatile acidity. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (648): p. 16; 2018.

1982 Abbott, T., Wilkes, E. Predicting outcomes: learning about ferments from big data. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (648): 54-55; 2018.

1983 Nordestgaard, S. Gains in speed, labour and gas consumption for winemakers: membrane contractors for management of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (648): 61-67; 2018.

1984 Stockley, S. Where’s the limit? Drinking guidelines around the globe. Aust. N.Z. Grapegrower Winemaker (648): 58-60; 2018.

1985 Hranilovic, A., Li, S., Boss, P.K., Bindon, K., Ristic, R., Grbin, P.R., van der Westhuizen, T., Jiranek, V. Chemical and sensory profiling of Shiraz wines co-fermented with commercial non-Saccharomyces inocula. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. DOI: 10.1111/ajgw.12320: 1-15; 2017.

1986 Pereira-Caro, G., Ordóñez, J.L., Ludwig, I., Gaillet, S., Mena, P., Del Rio, D., Rouanet, J-M., Bindon, K.A., Moreno-Rojas, J.M., Crozier, A. Development and validation of an UHPLC-HRMS protocol for the analysis of flavan-3-ol metabolites and catabolites in urine, plasma and feces of rats fed a red wine proanthocyanidin extract. Food Chem. 252: 49-60; 2018.

Acknowledgement

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.

 

New home for grapevine virus testing

30 January 2018 >

The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) and the University of Adelaide have jointly announced that plant virus testing and elimination services formerly provided by Waite Diagnostics have been transferred to The Australian Wine Research Institute.

Christmas closure

22 December 2017 >

The AWRI will be closed over the Christmas/New Year period from 1:00pm on Friday 22 December and will re-open at 8:30am on Wednesday 27 December.

AWRI Commercial Services
The Commercial Services laboratories will be closed from 1:00pm on Friday 22 December and will re-open at 9.00am on Monday 8 January 2016.

Industry support
Telephone and email support will be available during the office closure. If you require assistance over the holiday period, please contact:

Con Simos 0448 889 432 or helpdesk@awri.com.au for winemaking technical problem solving issues.

Marcel Essling 0418 816 311 or helpdesk@awri.com.au for viticulture and agrochemical issues.

Library
The John Fornachon Memorial Library will be closed from 1:00pm on Friday 22 December and will re-open at 9.00am on Monday 8 January 2016. Access to the library’s online database will continue to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during this period via the AWRI website.