A new centre being launched at the University of Adelaide will seek to help wine producers make the wines that consumers want against a backdrop of industry challenges.
The ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production will be located at the University’s Waite campus and is supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and 12 partner organisations.
Key objectives are to better manage flavour and alcohol content in Australia’s wines despite environmental and cost pressures.
The centre aims to build knowledge and technologies that will help the wine industry face the challenges of climate warming, water limitations, changing consumer preferences and increasing production costs.
“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,” Professor Vladimir Jiranek, who is a professor of Oenology in the University’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, said.
The knowledge and technologies arising from the Centre will help the industry make the best wines that will be sought after domestically and internationally, according to Jiranek, who is also the director of the ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production.
“We aim to underpin and enable more profitable grape-growing and winemaking while achieving the desired flavour and alcohol balance that consumers want,” he says.
Specific targets include development of 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.
