The Australian Wine Research Institute

Building demand for high-end products in international and domestic markets

In November the AWRI is presenting a series of workshops that will help wineries enhance their profitability using luxury business strategy and design thinking tools.

Participants will learn how to move from products that sell based on price to those that consumers seek out independent of price.

Each workshop includes two sessions, one full-day and one half-day, held across two weeks:

• The first session focuses on luxury business strategy and is presented by Dr Anne-Flore Maman Larraufie from the ESSEC Business School, France, at Ayers House in Adelaide, SA.
• The second (half day) session focuses on understanding what it is that creates value for consumers of high-end wines and how to build it. This session is facilitated by George Peppou from the University of Technology, Sydney at the AWRI in Urrbrae, SA.

One of the workshops has been fully subscribed, there are two remaining workshops scheduled, with a 20-seat capacity:

• Workshop 1 – all-day session on 14 November; half-day session on the afternoon of 23 November
• Workshop 2 – all-day session on 18 November; half-day session on the morning of 24 November

Registration is $825 (inc GST) per person. To book a place, click on the links below:

For more information, check out the workshop program on the AWRI website or contact Gregoire Patacq on 08 83136600 or gregoire.patacq@awri.com.au.

5 October 2016

The AWRI recently distributed information on Managing vineyards after a wet winter and spring. Since then, several regions across New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria have experienced extreme weather in the form of damaging winds, heavy rainfall and flooding.

The Bureau of Meteorology has also just updated its seasonal outlook and information on current climate influences, with the latest information now available at the following links:

• El Niño – Southern Oscillation index wrap up
• Climate Outlook overview
• Climate outlook video

Current predictions for the October to December period include a strong chance for above average rainfall in southeast and northwest Australia and cooler days and nights.

At any stage of the season growers can access links to weather information and useful references from the AWRI Climate Adaptation webpage.

Waterlogged soil

A flooded vineyard or heavily waterlogged soil can be damaging to grapevines. The sooner surface water is drained or pumped away the better. Useful links on managing flood affected vineyards are provided below:

• Managing crop recovery after flooding – grapevines
• Checklist for flood recovery – grapevines
• Flooded vineyard case studies

The full impact of flooding may not be apparent for some time after the event so monitoring is important. Slow grapevine growth after the water has cleared can be caused by:

• Carbohydrate depletion in vines that have been waterlogged
• Root death
• Soil nutrient loss from leaching
• Cold and wet soils.

Clay soils can set hard and become compacted after the water has drained. Action such as light cultivation or mulching may help alleviate this. Cover crops or permanent sward plants will help with the drying process as they use soil moisture, provide avenues for water to drain and reduce erosion.

Additional information on re-entry periods

Further information about re-entry periods after spraying has now been added to the online version of the ‘Dog book’. For each active constituent, the range of re-entry periods specified on labels of different products is now listed, rather than just the most stringent re-entry period. In all cases, growers should refer to the label of the product being used for specific re-entry period directions. Additional information about how to interpret the re-entry period information is included on page 22 of the ‘Dog Book’.

Need help? The AWRI helpdesk provides technical support and advice to Australian grapegrowers and winemakers. Contact the helpdesk on 08 8313 6600 or email helpdesk@awri.com.au.

Winter and spring rainfall has been above average in many grapegrowing regions this year. This is positive for soil moisture levels, but may pose some problems with access to vineyard blocks and interruption of early season sprays. In such cases there is a risk that fungal diseases like powdery and downy mildew will take hold and become more difficult to control once normal spraying resumes. In a season like this, there are a number of factors to consider when getting into the vineyard to conduct the first few spray applications.

Things to consider

• As soil temperatures increase, growers can anticipate vigorous early season growth due to high soil water content. More spray applications and/or different fungicides are likely to be required, especially during the early part of the season.
• It’s important to ensure access to an adequate stock of fungicide, especially curative downy mildew treatments, in the event wet weather continues.
• Higher than usual disease pressure caused by missed sprays and vigorous growth increases resistance pressure. It is essential to use fungicides from different groups to avoid fungicide resistance. Refer to the new CropLife resistance management strategies in the ‘Dog book’ or the CropLife website for more information.
• The wet soil profile will stimulate midrow and undervine growth. Maintaining some of this growth will draw water from the soil profile, reduce vine vigour and help maintain soil structure under traffic. That said, excessively vigorous undervine growth will increase humidity and restrict airflow, which are important contributors to disease pressure.
• In high disease pressure situations it’s important to take extra care with spraying and not cut any corners. Ensure that equipment is correctly calibrated and that spray coverage is complete.

Getting access to wet vineyards

• The temptation to spray as soon as possible will be high, but safety should not be forgotten. Tractors and sprayers are more unstable on wet soils and adjustments should be made to minimise risks to personnel and equipment.
• Soil compaction can be a significant issue when traffic resumes after wet weather. To minimise damage to soil structure, allow surface water to drain and ground to become firm before attempting any tractor passes. If possible, part-fill spray carts to reduce weight and minimise soil compaction.
• For smaller areas, spray application via an all-terrain vehicle or knapsack sprayer may be the only option to access the block.
• Aerial spraying may be a practical alternative in some situations. Growers need to ensure the product is registered for aerial application (refer to label) and neighbours are notified (as per state legislation). Growers should also consider the effectiveness of coverage and risk of off-target drift from aerial applications.

Medium-term weather outlook

The Bureau of Meteorology forecast for spring is for average rainfall. The main factor contributing to the recent wet weather (a negative Indian Ocean Dipole) is weakening and any La Niña event (typically the cause of wet conditions) is predicted to be short and weak. For more detail about this watch the recent spring outlook on the BOM website.

Need more information?

• A series of spray application workshops will be held across South Australia and Victoria in October. To find the closest workshop to you, visit http://www.grapeandwineevents.com.au/.
• Fact sheets on spray application, pests and disease and other relevant topics can be found on the AWRI and Wine Australia websites.
• The AWRI helpdesk provides technical support and advice to Australian grapegrowers and winemakers. Contact the helpdesk on 08 8313 6600 or email helpdesk@awri.com.au.