A smoke sensor system that has been trialled in vineyards in north-east Victoria over the last couple of seasons is a step closer to being ready for roll out across the sector following the recent signing of a commercial partner to progress the technology to market.
Called Wine Industry Smoke Detectors (WISDs) – colloquially known as ‘wizards’ – the field data loggers provide a real-time assessment of smoke taint risk to give vineyard managers an immediate heads-up about whether smoke in their areas is a threat to their vineyards. This information can be used to make informed decisions regarding grape testing, vineyard management, and winemaking strategies to minimise smoke taint and reduce costs.
The prototype smoke loggers have been developed by Victoria’s La Trobe University and supported with funding from Wine Australia, La Trobe University and other partners, including the Victorian Government and regional wine associations. A network of 100 prototype loggers were deployed in vineyards in north-east Victoria during 2021 and 2022, with the technology refined in the months that followed.
Operating like the networks that continuously monitor air quality for human health, the data loggers calculate risk ratings for smoke taint drawn from 10 years of smoke, grapes and wine data collected by La Trobe.
This knowledge links smoke dose to smoke composition, phenol levels in grapes and wine and their sensory outcomes in wines. It also incorporates the critical risk factors for smoke taint, including burn conditions, distance from the burn, grapevine variety and the timing of exposure during the season.
The smoke and other data collected by the WISDs, such as temperature and humidity, are transmitted to a central server that calculates a traffic light risk rating for smoke taint. The risk rating is communicated to vineyard managers in real time via a mobile phone app and can also be accessed via a dedicated website.
Australian agtech provider Goanna Ag has signed on to commercialise the WISDs over the next two years. During this time, the WISD hardware and algorithm will be further validated in real-world fire events and the network of WISDs expanded to other wine regions across Australia.
“Goanna Ag has a terrific track record of working with proven science to help growers solve genuine, well recognised challenges,” said Jock Ferguson, Goanna Ag’s Winegrape Business Development Lead. “We are particularly excited to be involved in the commercialisation of the WISDs. They are a vital industry breakthrough with appeal to stakeholders throughout the grape and wine sector in Australia as well as winegrowing regions around the world.”
Professor Ian Porter leads the team at La Trobe that has developed the WISDs and the risk model.
“The WISD is an amazing breakthrough for Australian growers and wine producers. It provides the sector with an extremely valuable tool to use during any smoke event to determine whether there is a problem or not”, he said.
“Having results in real time greatly reduces stress for growers and winemakers and allows them to market their grapes and produce wine with confidence,” Ian said.