16 September 1994 'For Quality Wine, Get Your Grapes Right First'

The importance of the quality of grapes to the final quality of wine cannot be over­ emphasized, says Lincoln University viticulture lecturer Dr Mike Trought.

"The quality of the wine in the bottle is first and foremost a reflection of the composition of the grapes arriving at the winery," he says. "This is what the wine-maker has to work with when converting the fruit to the flavours and aromas that are distinctive to each bottle of wine.

"It all starts in the vineyard."

Dr Trought is one of six specialist speakers who will address Lincoln University's inaugural Spring School in Grapes and Wine being held over 23-24 September.

With an emphasis on the growing side, Dr Trought will discuss the role of soils in vine growth and grape quality.

Other speakers include Australian Dr Richard Smart, who will also stress the importance of grape quality in relation to the final character of the bottled wine.

Dr Smart is the author of a celebrated book "Sunlight Into Wine" which won a prestigious award from the international wine industry. Its title sums up Dr Smart's belief in the importance of factors affecting the raw material of wine - the grapes - before the wine­ making process begins.

In his work, Dr Smart has shown that the European vineyards of note do not obtain quality by chance but by integrating soils, climate, and vine management to achieve specific canopy characteristics.

Other overseas speakers at the Spring School will be Steve Price from Oregon, USA, where the wine industry has many similarities to that in the southern areas of New Zealand and Andrew Ewart an oenologist from Adelaide who has studied wine science and viticulture in California and worked in the South African wine industry.

From New Zealand speakers will include Steve Smith, vineyard manager for Villa Maria Wines and Dr David Jackson of Lincoln University.

Associated with the two-day School is the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation's Charity Wine Auction.

The School marks the 21st anniversary of the first grape plantings at Lincoln and the start of Canterbury's cool climate viticultural industry.

Registrations for the School are still open and the contacts for full details about the programme are Jan Latham or Errol Costello of Lincoln University's Centre for Continuing Education, telephone (03) 3252-811.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.