Provenance project approaching final vintage
The impending 2024 vintage will be the last of 3 consecutive vintages of small-lot winemaking for the research project ‘Understanding the intricacies of provenance in Western Australian wine regions’.
This project was borne from a review of internationally regarded wine regions which noted these regions were highly successful in communicating their unique aspects and how these contribute to their distinct wines of provenance.
The same review was also integral in supporting the completion of the Geology, soils and climate of WA’s wine regions publication which gives great detail into the unique aspects of all of WA’s wine regions.
There remains a gap, however, on understanding how these geophysical and climatic features influence resultant wines. This project begins by focusing on Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon across the Margaret River wine region and Riesling and Shiraz across the sub-regions of the Great Southern. This work may lead to a template for other regions to develop a provenance narrative specific to their region.
Since 2022, the DPIRD lead research team have identified 19 Chardonnay and 19 Cabernet Sauvignon sites across Margaret River. Likewise in the Great Southern, 12 sites of Riesling across 4 sub-regions and 9 Shiraz sites across 3 sub-regions have been selected.
The 20kg fruit parcels have been harvested by Richard Fennessy and Yu-Yi Liao and made into small-lot wines using a standardised winemaking procedure at DPIRD’s Bunbury laboratory. These wines have undergone sensory analysis and chemical profiling to form a large dataset which will incorporate 3 vintages by the end of 2024. Parameters specific to each of the sites will also be included into this dataset.
Once all data is compiled, statistical analysis will be conducted to investigate what, if any, relationships exist between wine attributes and composition to site characteristics.
Recently the Margaret River and Great Southern producers contributing to this project had the opportunity to taste through the last 2 vintages of the respective trial wines which were accompanied by technical information relating back to the site from which they were grown.
The key outcomes of this project are:
- Understand the metabolomics of wines produced from unique geophysical and climatic locales within 2 of Western Australia’s largest producing wine regions.
- Understand the sensory attributes of wines produced from unique geophysical and climatic locales within 2 of Western Australia’s largest producing wine regions.
- Identify relationships between metabolome and sensory profile within region/locality and variety.
- Provide industry with scientific rigour when communicating uniqueness across 2 of Western Australia’s largest producing wine regions.
The DPIRD project team appreciate the support from Wines of WA, Margaret River Wine Association, Great Southern Wine Producers Association and thank the many producers providing access to their vineyards and fruit parcels.
Contact Richard Fennessy for further information.