Wine Australia and CSIRO sign $37 million investment agreement

A 5-year $37 million co-investment agreement signed today between Wine Australia and the CSIRO will benefit the Australian grape and wine sector and consumers alike, with research into areas such as winegrape quality, climate adaptation and disease resistance under the microscope.

The agreement, which will run from 2017 to 2022, covers research and development activities that reflect a high level of strategic alignment between the two partners, allowing for longer term strategic investments that will benefit levy payers and the whole Australian wine sector.

Key grape and wine sector priorities to be addressed under this agreement include:

• developing and evaluating new winegrape varieties with robust disease resistance
• breeding new rootstocks with greater tolerance to pests, salinity, heat and water stress
• producing wines with unique flavours from grape varieties bred specifically for Australian conditions
• developing new strategies to manage harvest timing and alleviate compressed ripening and harvest windows caused by climate change
• new digital technologies to better estimate yield, crop condition and grape quality, and
• future proofing Australia’s grapevine germplasm.

Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark said, ‘This strategic agreement with the CSIRO will help to support the profitability of the Australian grape and wine sector and deliver timely, relevant and valuable outcomes for Australia’s grape and wine community.’

‘We are delighted to continue our long-term partnership with Australia’s internationally renowned research organisation and we eagerly anticipate the benefits for the Australian grape and wine community from robust new varieties with greater pest and disease resistance that make wines with unique flavours. Growers and winemakers will also benefit from better vineyard management tools, and an ongoing source of excellent planting material for the Australian winegrowing community.’

CSIRO Agriculture and Food Research Director Dr Lynne McIntyre said, ‘These research projects will help to secure the productivity and sustainability of Australia’s wine sector for the coming decades, and provide even better products for Australian and international consumers.’

‘CSIRO has worked with Wine Australia since its inception to deliver solutions to problems facing the Australian grape and wine community. This new co-funded collaborative agreement recognises the importance of developing innovative solutions to the economic and environmental challenges facing the Australian wine sector over the next 30 years, and will build on past achievements, as well as utilising exciting new technologies.’

Under the strategic partnership agreement, Wine Australia will contribute $19 million and CSIRO $18 million towards the priorities.

This agreement is the second in a series of bilateral partnerships between Wine Australia and major research institutions under a new research and development funding framework that aims to allow the Australian grape and wine community’s research partners to be better able to make strategic investments and plan for the future, maintain technical capabilities in key areas, and have greater flexibility to pursue promising research results within an overall agreed framework.