Wine Australia to Fund $5.3M Exclusively for Shiraz Wines R&D

Shiraz is the most important wine grape variety grown in Australia. This makes up about 26 percent of all land under wine-grade grapes in the country. It also contributes to more than 40 percent of exports that have per bottle price of more than A$10. Almost all major winery brands produce Shiraz wines. It is the most preferred wine varietal for domestic consumption within Australia. Australia also lays claim to having one of the oldest Shiraz vineyards in the country. With so much of wine industry revolving around this grape, it is natural for Wine Australia to singularly select this varietal for conducting research and development studies relating to it terroir characteristics. Wine Australia has earmarked a fund of AUD 5.3 Mn for this purpose which will be used over a period of 6 years.

The studies to be conducted will be focussed on understanding how Shiraz grapes grown in different wine regions of the country are able to attain distinctive terroir characteristics and how can this be improved further. In detail, the project will help to understand how the environment factors result in physiological changes (including geomorphological changes) which result in grapes attaining their vital terroir expressions.

This endeavour would be undertaken with the help of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI), National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) and the South Australian Research and Development Institute.