The Australian Wine Research Institute Annual Report 2019 Board members Ms L.E. Rose Dr J.S. Harvey Prof. K.D. Kirk Mr M.Y. Woods BAppSc (Oen), BSc, GAICD BSc (Hons), PhD, MBA, GAICD BSc (Hons), PhD, DPhil BAppSc (Vitic), MBA Chair – Elected a member under Elected a member under Clause Elected a member under Clause Elected a member under Clause 25.2 (c) of the Constitution 25.2 (c) of the Constitution 25.2 (b) of the Constitution Clause 27.1 of the Constitution (from 19 October 2018) Mr T.J. Bekkers Dr D.L. Johnson Ms E.A. Riley BAppSc (Ag) (Hons), BSc (Hons), PhD, MBA, GAICD BAppSc (Wine) Grad Cert (Mgt) Ex officio under Clause 25.2 (a) Elected a member under Clause Elected a member under Clause of the Constitution as Managing 25.2 (b) of the Constitution 25.2 (c) of the Constitution Director of the AWRI Mr M.R. Watson Ms W. Cameron Mr I.M. Jones BEc, MBA, CA, RITP, MAICD BAppSc (Biochem and BSc, MSc Elected a member under Clause Microbiol), MSc, BAppSc Elected a member under Clause 25.2 (b) of the Constitution (Wine Sci), MW, GradDip (Ed), 25.2 (c) of the Constitution GradCert (Bus) Elected a member under Clause 25.2 (c) of the Constitution The company The Australian Wine Research Institute Ltd was incorporated on 27 Integrity April 1955. It is a company limited by guarantee that does not have • Accountability to stakeholders a share capital. • Dealing honestly, impartially and consistently • Scientific and professional rigour The Constitution of The Australian Wine Research Institute Ltd (AWRI) sets out in broad terms the aims of the AWRI. The AWRI’s activities are guided by its business and research, development Passion and extension plans, and its stated mission, values and behaviours: • Enthusiasm for our people, our industry and our products • Spirit of creativity • Enjoying work and celebrating achievements Mission • Desire to do better • Pursuing knowledge and understanding Supporting the Australian grape and wine industry through world- class research, practical solutions and knowledge transfer. The AWRI’s laboratories and offices are housed in the Wine Innova- tion Central Building within an internationally renowned research cluster on the Waite Research Precinct at Urrbrae in the Adelaide Values foothills. Grape and wine scientists from other organisations are co-located with the AWRI in the Wine Innovation Central Building. Values provide guidance in how the AWRI will deliver on its mission. These values are: The Waite Research Precinct is also home to other research and teaching organisations including: Australian Centre for Plant Func- • Excellence tional Genomics (ACPFG), Australian Genome Research Facil- • Integrity ity (AGRF), Australian Grain Technologies (AGT), Australian Plant • Passion Phenomics Facility, CSIRO, South Australian Research and Devel- opment Institute (SARDI), the University of Adelaide’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine and the Waite Research Institute. Behaviours Behaviours in support of those values are: Registered office Cnr Hartley Grove and Paratoo Road, Urrbrae, SA 5064 Excellence Postal address: PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, SA 5064 • Outcomes focused, delivering results Telephone: (08) 8313 6600 • Personal mastery – being the best one can be Fax: (08) 8313 6601 • Asking and answering the right questions Internet: www.awri.com.au • Relevant to industry Facebook: www.facebook.com/The.AWRI • Collaborating to achieve faster, better or cheaper outcomes Twitter: www.twitter.com/The_AWRI ABN: 83 007 558 296 Contents Chair and Managing Director’s report 2 Board notes 6 Highlights of the year 8 Staff 14 Staff activities 18 Project reports 20 Customers, consumers and markets 20 Extension, adoption and education 23 Performance, products and processes 29 Environment, sustainability and natural capital 46 Foundational data and support services 52 Financial statements – Directors’ report 58 Notes to and forming part of the financial statements 64 Memorial funds 73 Appendix 1 External presentations 75 Appendix 2 Events organised 84 Appendix 3 Posters 87 Appendix 4 Teaching responsibilities 88 Appendix 5 Student supervision responsibilities 89 Appendix 6 Media interviews 90 Appendix 7 Papers published9 92 Staff Photograph 96 65th Annual Report – 30 June 2019 Presented to the Australian grape and wine community 1 Chair and Managing Director’s report Positive sentiments continue to be evident in the Australian grape Commitment to diversity and wine community. Despite some localised losses and fears of a The AWRI was proud to be one of the first organisations to sign Aus- subdued vintage size, solid overall yields were achieved in vintage tralian Grape & Wine’s Diversity and Equality in Wine Charter. This is 2019 (just 1% below the 10-year average). Both wine exports and not an end in itself, rather a public signal of commitment to treating grape prices are continuing to increase, with China the stand-out all people with respect and fairness, maintaining a safe work environ- market. Industry sentiment at the recent Australian Wine Industry ment and promoting a culture that values diversity. The AWRI already Technical Conference (AWITC) and WineTech was buoyant, with the embodied those principles both because they are the right thing to event attracting the largest attendance in its 50-year history. Indeed, do and because diversity of thought, skills and experience is directly the scale, focus and volume of trading at WineTech points to a belief beneficial to the quality of the AWRI RDE program. Of the AWRI’s among producers and the industry supply chain that the industry is staff, 57% are women, with those individuals increasingly holding facing a positive trajectory. leadership roles; 20% speak English as a second language; and 17% were born and trained outside of Australia. The AWRI looks forward Challenges are, however, ever present. The place of alcohol in society to supporting Australian Grape & Wine as it pursues the action plan and the terms of trade among various industry participants continue associated with the charter. to attract external scrutiny. Water access, climate variability, regulatory changes and biosecurity threats are among the issues that are keep- Benchmarking grape and wine research globally ing growers and winemakers up at night. To ensure Australia is keeping pace with global benchmarks and that Australian grapegrowers and winemakers have access to world-class As our industry begins work towards a new long-term strategy, in a research and practical solutions to support their innovation efforts, process led by Australian Grape & Wine and Wine Australia, the need during the year the AWRI sought independent assessments of its for innovation – both collectively and within individual companies – performance. The analysis focused on the quantity and quality of cannot be overemphasised if we are to meet the opportunities and scientific output from the world’s grape and wine research institu- challenges we are facing. The AWRI exists to provide the technical tions over the last 15-20 years. Scientific publishing is by no means the support base for these innovations and the industry prosperity that end goal for AWRI research – rather, the end goal is industry uptake they underpin. and innovation. However, scientific publishing can be considered the ‘currency of science’, is an important part of the process of innovation Sustainable Winegrowing Australia and contributes to international reputation and attractiveness for The formation of a unified national sustainability program, Sustain- collaboration. It is therefore a useful basis for international comparisons able Winegrowing Australia, was a major achievement during the and a (imperfect) proxy for international standing. year, and an example of what can be achieved when industry bodies work together to put Australian wine first. The program provides a The analysis revealed that the AWRI is number one or two in the world unified sustainability framework for all Australian grapegrowers and among grape and wine research institutions on all major publication winemakers to demonstrate their sustainability credentials, bench- citation metrics, and second in terms of the volume of articles pub- mark performance and identify opportunities for improvements. The lished. In particular, the quality of the AWRI’s publications was assessed launch of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia represents the culmina- as a positive point of differentiation. When the results are normalised tion of several years of hard work and cooperation among a large for R&D investment levels, the number of contributing scientists and number of wine sector people and organisations. The AWRI looks the size of the national/regional grape and wine industry, the AWRI is forward to continuing to work collaboratively with all stakeholders arguably a world leader. These results present a positive picture of the to support the program and grow its membership and its global quality and breadth of the research conducted by the AWRI and its impact. The program will continue to develop, with background industry and research collaborators. research projects already underway and new modules and expanded scope under consideration. However, the analysis also highlighted areas of caution. The volume of output in grape/wine research in Australia is likely static or declining, AWITC largely because of declining investment (in both absolute and real Any year that leads up to an AWITC is a busy one at the AWRI. It is the terms) from traditional sources. Over the last decade the AWRI