Region in Focus: Tasmania

Nitrogen is the focus of two projects under way in Tasmania with funding from Wine Australia as part of the Australia-wide Regional Program.

The first is analysing nitrogen use for leaf retention and improving vine reserves. In Tasmania, the late vintage and early onset of wintry weather means there may be few green leaves available after harvest to accumulate carbohydrates for the next season.

‘Judicious timing and rates of nitrogen can improve vine vigour and retention of leaves later into the season, allowing the development of vine reserves sufficient to promote even and strong budburst and growth in the subsequent season’, said Wine Tasmania’s Industry Development and Extension Officer, David Sanderson.

The second project is trialling nitrogen use to improve fruit set and wine phenolics.

‘Nitrogen has a critical role to play in viticulture anywhere but is often misunderstood and maligned’, David said. ‘In Tasmania, we are looking at its capacity to be targeted in its application timing and rates to improve fruit set while also having a positive impact on wine quality. Poor fruit set is a persistent risk in our cool climate.’

‘We are looking at running at least another season of nitrogen work, with additional metrics such as pruning weights and an assessment of phenology and wine quality parameters.’

Another recent initiative was the Wine Tasmania Field Day dedicated to mechanisation and future trends. Held at Brown Brothers Tamar Ridge vineyard at Kayena, presentations and workshops looked at the integration of mechanisation into high value viticulture and wine businesses, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and the potential use of robotics.

‘It was a really interesting day, with a blind tasting of sparkling wines under different harvest regimes and at different price points to illustrate that machine versus hand harvest does not necessarily dictate the perceived quality of the wine’, David said.