A new wine research centre that will help the industry face up to challenges posed by climate change, water restrictions and changing consumer preferences has launched at the University of Adelaide's Waite campus.
The ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production will be targeting key objectives such as managing flavour and alcohol content in Australia's wines, despite growing environmental and cost pressures.
“We have a portfolio of 18 projects which together take a ‘grape to glass’, multi-faceted approach to tackling these key issues facing the industry,” said Professor Vladimir Jiranek, Professor of Oenology in the University’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine and Director of the ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production.
“The knowledge and technologies arising from the Centre will help the industry make the best wines that will be sought after domestically and internationally.
“We aim to underpin and enable more profitable grape-growing and winemaking while achieving the desired flavour and alcohol balance that consumers want.”
Specific targets include: viticultural practices to optimise yields of flavour-rich grapes that are not necessarily high in sugars; treatments and winemaking practices that will maintain flavour while controlling sugar and alcohol content; and working with producers and retailers to define precisely the type of wines that consumers want.
“The Centre will also strengthen links between research, industry and education and produce highly skilled PhD and postdoctoral researchers honed for working at the industry/research interface,” says Professor Jiranek.
The Centre builds on a long tradition of research and multi-agency collaboration in winemaking and viticulture at the Waite Research Precinct. The Waite accounts for 62 percent of the nation’s wine research capability and outputs.