Melbourne School of Land and Environment VitUM

What's New

Regional Innovation and Technology Adoption (RITA) Projects up and running

At a regional level VitUM collaborates with wine regions to undertake appropriate research of regional impact. Currently VitUM is undertaking two Regional Innovation and Technology Adoption (RITA) Projects funded by the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation.

In the first RITA project VitUM is working with the Strathbogie Ranges Wine Region to develop a spatially referenced inventory of viticultural resources, environments and management practices in current and future climates using GIS technology .This digital overview of the region’s diversity and vineyard resources will be used by the region to develop regional differentiation and enhance future growth and marketing.

The second RITA project, with the Goulburn Valley, Strathbogie Ranges and Yarra Valley Wine Regions aims to dramatically improve our understanding of vine responses to frost for a range of important Australian cultivars and develop set of guidelines outlining appropriate management responses to frost.

Leanne and Snows Visit to China for the Fifth International Symposium on Viticulture and Enology held from April 20-27 2007

The consumption of wine in China has grown rapidly in the last few years and China is now one of the ten largest consumers of wine in the world.  So, how will climate change impact on their wine growing industry with a burgeoning market?

Leanne Webb and her PhD supervisor, Professor Snow Barlow,  were invited speakers to Yangling, shaanxi, (near Xi’an) in China to participate in the Fifth International Symposium on Viticulture and Enology held from April 20-27. The event was held at the College of Enology (wine-making) at the Northwest Sci-Tech University (est. 1985). It is reported that this college is the only school for higher learning in Asia with a focus on enology.

[Photo: Leane presenting her paper]
Leanne Webb presenting her climate change impact paper to the Symposium delegates.
[Photo: Snow Barlow and Ren at the Universities experimental vineyard]
Snow Barlow and Ren at the Universities experimental vineyard (Cabernet Sauvignon vines).

Leanne, a viticulturist before turning to climate science, said grape production and wine making in China are developing quickly to meet the increasing demand for wine. The main grape variety grown is Cabernet Sauvignon. These grapes are harvested less ripe than in Australia (probably to avoid disease), and often the Chinese wine is blended with imported wine or grape must from Southern Europe, South America or Australia to meet the local demand for the Chinese product. Leanne enjoyed the Chinese wine though found it very light bodied compared to Australian Cabernet Sauvignon table wine.

The area planted to winegrapes in China was reported to be 450,000ha in 2004. That is already about three times the area we have planted in Australia, and they are set to expand. It was reported at the Symposium that, for China, climate change may open many new regions as the frost free period for growth is increased with a warmer future. Due to the fact that the industry is in the early stages of development, much of the infrastructure can and will be planned with consideration of projected climate change.

Leanne said the thing that surprised her most was that in some regions grapevines are buried through the winter months so frost damage is avoided. One impact of climate change will be that the ‘bury-line’ of -15°C will move northwards making grape growing easier in some areas in the future.

First VitUM PhD Graduates, March 2007

[Photo: The new Dr Collins and Dr Webb]
Dr. Marisa Collins and Dr. Leanne Webb

Marisa Collins and Leanne Webb successfully completed their PhD Studies last year and were conferred at a graduation ceremony on the 31st March 2007.

Marisa was the first member of VitUM and completed a PhD with Professor Snow Barlow in the School of Agriculture and Food Systems at the University of Melbourne in 2006. Her PhD investigated The physiological responses of field-grown Shiraz grapevines to partial root zone drying and deficit irrigation. Marisa was the Valedictorian for the ceremony and delivered a beautiful speech honouring her time at the University of Melbourne and with our group. Marisa is continuing her research on grapevine irrigation and water relations, working as a Post-Doctoral Fellow under Dr Brian Loveys at CSIRO Adelaide. The focus of her research is optimising irrigation for different grapevine cultivars.

Leanne also obtained her PhD at the same ceremony. Leannes’ research titled The impact of greenhouse gas-induced climate change on the Australian wine industry has attracted international attention and Leanne has appeared on national and international television such as the nine news and BBC and in several international news papers such as the NZ Herald. Leanne is continuing on with VitUM working on several climate related projects. Leanne is currently based at CSIRO, Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research.

 

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