Through research and innovation, climate-resilient and mildew-resistant grapevines have been newly introduced in South Australia’s Coonawarra wine region.
To future-proof Australia’s $45 billion wine industry, national science agency CSIRO and Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) have partnered to develop and trial the new vines. The first of the new progeny were recently planted at Wynns Coonawarra Estate.
Mildew costs the Australian wine sector an estimated $160 million annually in management expenses and production losses. The new mildew-resistant traits were developed through years of selective breeding by CSIRO.
“Using traditional breeding methods, we introduced two distinct genes to the Wynns heritage vines, which give resistance to downy mildew and powdery mildew,” said CSIRO research scientist and project lead, Paul Boss.
“These are from CSIRO-developed breeding lines that confer robust disease resistance and other quality traits onto their progeny.
“Having resistance genes for both powdery and downy mildew makes these plants more robust as it is unlikely the pathogens can break both sources of resistance with a single mutation.”
The mildew-resistant genetics were integrated with TWE’s heritage vines, which have demonstrated strong climate resilience after decades of exposure to extreme weather.
“Creating mildew resistant vines that are also able to withstand climatic variation means we’re setting up our vineyards to continue producing world-famous wine for generations to come,” said chief supply & sustainability officer at Treasury Wine Estates, Kerrin Petty.
The new grapevines are expected to require fewer inputs, such as fungicide sprays, helping to reduce carbon emissions from diesel-powered tractors—adding to the sustainability benefits.
By addressing both climate variability and disease threats, scientific innovation is helping secure a resilient and sustainable future for Australia’s wine industry.