TIA works closely with wine and cider industries, supporting Australia’s reputation as a producer of premium beverages. Our industry-focussed research is conducted on vineyards and orchards around Tasmania, as well as in the lab, ensuring it is directly applicable for commercial producers.
Supporting premium wine industry
At TIA, we are passionate about supporting Tasmanian and Australian winemakers. We work closely with the wine community and support them to build actionable knowledge to consistently deliver premium grapes and wine, supporting Australia’s reputation as a pre-eminent wine producer.
Our viticulture and oenology team has a reputation for excellent industry engagement and undertaking research that is responsive to industry needs.
We take a co-innovation approach and work alongside and within commercial ventures to define the problem and tailor solutions. All of our research is industry embedded. This close engagement allows rapid ground-truthing of research outputs and the ability to identify intervention points to achieve premium wine outcomes.
“One of the strengths of our research is that it is done directly with industry. For example, one of our sparkling wine research trials takes place at the Josef Chromy winery in Northern Tasmania,” Viticulture and Oenology Researcher Dr Fiona Kerslake said.
“As part of another trial we conducted a wine tasting panel that directly engaged the majority of Tasmania’s sparkling winemakers to taste the results of trials. It’s great that we’re able to work closely with wine makers to ensure our work is focussed on industry priorities and gain this real-time feedback.”
Our research
- Collaboration with 100+ local and national wine businesses
- Engagement with Tasmanian vineyards through viticultural trials
- Engagement with Tasmanian and interstate winemakers through research tastings
- Linkages with national research institutes
- High-profile international partnerships
- Strong links with Wine Tasmania
Key areas of expertise
- Yield Stabilisation
- Predictive modelling
- Viticultural manipulation of fruit composition
- Oenological manipulation of wine chemistry for targeted Pinot noir and sparkling wine styles
Cider Research
TIA’s cider research started in 2013 after the burgeoning industry approached us for help. The research group followed some Tasmanian sparkling winemakers into cider production and the associated research needs.
A similar co-innovation approach is taken as with our wine research, consulting industry along the way to help solve their problems. Researchers have been invited to present findings both nationally and internationally.
Our research
- Collaboration with local and national cider and orchard businesses
- Engagement with Tasmanian orchardists through orchard trials
- Strong links with Cider Tasmania
Key areas of expertise
- Orchard management for cider production
- Orchard manipulation of fruit composition
- Varietal evaluation of apple suitability for cider production
Our Team
Researchers
- Dr Fiona Kerslake
- Rocco Longo
- Dr Jo Jones
- Dr Kathy Evans
- Associate Professor Dugald Close
- Dr Angela Merry
- Dr Nigel Swarts
PhD candidates
- Gail Gnoinski (sparkling wine)
- Madeline Way (cider)
- Harriet Walker (grapevine yield)
