Current Issue

January/February  2009 | Volume 24, Number 1

The Wine Industry Journal is proud to be the extension vehicle of choice for many researchers wishing to convey their latest research results that will work to improve the Australian and New Zealand wine industries, and the January/February 2009 issue features several papers that make for a great start to what will be provided to readers during the year. Professor Larry Lockshin, Dr Eli Cohen and Dr Steve Goodman look at the measurement issues associated with wine marketing and the use of Best-Worst Scaling to segment wine consumers across 11 export countries. In other business research, Simone Mueller and Wendy Umberger present part one of a two-part series identifying the Australian cask wine consumer, reporting that while cask wine has lost market share to bottled wine over the last decade, total domestic sales volume of cask wine has slightly grown. Jonathan Scott visited Canada, Australia’s third largest export market, in November 2008, and provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges that the highly regulated country presents to prospective wine exporters. The presentation of wine deserves a lot of thought long before it is ‘sitting pretty’ on the retail shelf. Innovation for Success columnists Vince O’Brien and Chris Colby are joined by co-author Mai Nygaard in this issue to provide answers to the question of whether oxygen is a winemaker’s friend or foe. The Australian Wine Research Institute and Nomacorc recently collaborated to benchmark how well current oxygen management practices are being performed at bottling in selected wineries in Australia. Still on the topic of bottling, Portavin Melbourne shares its latest study results of the suitability of 187ml polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles for packaging wine in Australia. This research is required reading for all producers considering packaging wine in PET, but might be concerned for the semi-permeability of the material to oxygen. The regular New Varieties, New Opportunities column is collectively creating a catalogue of information about the emerging, most often European, grapevine varieties appearing in Australian vineyards that can withstand the harsh climatic conditions. Kim Chalmers and her parents, Bruce and Jenni Chalmers, are renowned leaders in bringing new grapevine materials to market, and in this issue’s column, Kim discusses the need for diversity in new grape plantings to do what she says will “help produce high quality, environmentally friendly, distinctive and characteristic wines that help Australia to maintain and expand market share”. Exploring another interesting and emerging sector of the industry, research conducted by the Australian Wine Research Institute has exposed the secrets of using mid infra-red spectroscopy to test the compositional parameters of organic wine. Daniel Cozzolino and his team suggest that compared with traditional laboratory methods, spectroscopic techniques often give improved insight into complex problems by creating a ‘fingerprint’ of each sample by measuring the wine’s chemical compounds. Enjoy this issue of the Wine Industry Journal and please contact editor Lauren Jones on +618 8292 0810 or email lauren@winetitles.com.au with your feedback about any of the articles, or ideas about topics you’d like to see more of in future issues.

AWRI Report

• 18. Scientists at the AWRI have been part of a worldwide search to discover whether moderate wine drinking benefits human health and why. Creina Stockley and co-authors detail some of the newly identified opportunities for investigation.

Business

• 52. In the first of a two-part article, Simon Mueller and Wendy Umberger go ‘myth busting’ about the identity of the Australian cask wine consumer.
• 46. The wine marketing professionals at the Ehrenberg Bass Institute of Marketing Science and the University of Adelaide Business School highlight the process of overcoming measurement errors when segmenting wine consumers across 11 export countries.
• 41. Considered to be one of the major export for opportunities, Canada is highly-regulated, but can bring results, as Jonathan Scott reports.

Business, Marketing & Export

• The Australian wine sector needs to lift the value of its UK exports to keep pace with the record volume.

Gewürztraminer Varietal Report

• 74. New Zealand led the field in this issue’s tasting of 18 Gewürztraminers from Australia and New Zealand.
• 65. Top Gewürztraminer producers share their ideas about what makes a quality grape and a top drop – and how to entice wine drinkers to give Gewürztraminer a go.
• 63. Gewürztraminer is difficult to grow and perhaps even more difficult to pronounce, but that has not stopped pioneering producer of the variety David Ritchie, of Delatite Winery in Central Victoria, in believing it will one day gain acclaim among a developing niche market.

New Varieties - New Opportunities

• 9. Kim Chalmers, of Chalmers Wines Australia, has a long history in securing new clones of winegrape varieties for planting in Australian vineyards. She says taking advantage of the immense regional variation in all facets by adopting new varieties will offer greater diversity in Australia’s wine offering.

Opinion

• 4. Californian vigneron John Hilliard gives his view on the principles of biodynamic viticulture and tells why he chooses not to grow his grapes using such practices. In turn, Daily Wine News subscribers share their thoughts on the beliefs of the ‘father’ of biodynamics, Rudolf Steiner.

Richard Smart

• 6. Shoot-positioning has become common practice in vineyards around Australia, but how often is it being done correctly? Richard Smart gives a practical account of shoot-positioning to help producers understand how to carry out the task in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Valmai Hankel

• 80. Late last year, Valmai Hankel attended the 120th anniversary of Chateau Mildura’s foundation. In this article, Valmai tells the story of the Chaffey brothers and the beginnings of winegrowing along the Murray River.

Wine Presentation

• 40. Damien Wilson, Wine Industry Journal French correspondent, shares his insight to what makes a brand memorable, considering consumers with limited experience with wine.
• 31. Portavin Melbourne shares the results of its study of suitability of 187ml PET bottles for packaging wine in Australia.
• 24. AWRI Commercial Service and Nomacorc recently collaborated to study the management of oxygen ingress in bottles, using Nomacorc’s proprietary PreSens technology for oxygen measurement in wine bottles. This issue’s ‘Innovation for Success’ column details the study’s outcomes.

Regulars

• AWRI Report
• Jonathan Scott
• Opinion
• Richard Smart
• New Varieties, New Opportunities
• The Key Files
• WFA
• AWBC
• Varietal Report
• Winetitles Bookstore
• PP Bradshaw