Wine Australia has announced plans to invest $5.3m ($3.96m) for six years in new research and development (R&D) projects to study how the country’s environment influences wine's style and quality. 

Institutions that would undertake these research projects are the University of Adelaide, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC), South Australian Research and Development Institute and the Australian Wine Research Institute.

Wine Australia deputy chair Dr Brian Croser AO said: “Australia makes wines of exceptional quality and finesse that reflect their provenance and terroir, but they don’t currently receive the international recognition they merit.

“It is these wines that will most quickly elevate the image and reputation of all wines we produce. We are focused on building international recognition for our wines to increase demand and the price paid for all Australian wines.

“We already know that unique Australian terroirs exist and that climate, topography, soil chemistry and soil physical properties are the most important factors contributing to the differences between wines from different sites.”

"Australia makes wines of exceptional quality and finesse that reflect their provenance and terroir, but they don’t currently receive the international recognition they merit."

These projects are aimed at understanding the way environmental signals translate into physiological changes in grapevines that result in changes in berry composition.

The primary focus of the research is on Shiraz as this variety is widespread in Australia and occupies 26% of the country’s vineyard area.

Dr Leigh Schmidtke from Charles Sturt University at the NWGIC will lead the sensory-focused project looking for correlations between the sensory properties of large and diverse set of Australian Shiraz wines.

The vineyard terroir project to determine marker compounds and chemical profiles for unique Australian Shiraz wines would be led by the University of Adelaide associate professor Cassandra Collins.