A South West winery has cloned one of Margaret River’s most famous red wine varietals in the name of future-proofing the industry against climate challenges.
Key points:
- Margaret River’s famous cabernet sauvignon variety is being cloned at a local vineyard
- The findings are expected to benefit Australia’s wine industry
- Researchers say wine cloning is crucial to mitigate the effects of climate change on farming
The industry-funded trial has resulted in 14 different clones of cabernet sauvignon being grown on a plot of land in the heart of the renowned Western Australian wine region.
The genetic qualities of the plant were carefully selected from Australian and overseas sources to create the clones, which have been propagated and built as part of the ongoing trial.
Wine producers across Australia will have access to the results to help them decide which genetic make-up of cabernet sauvignon is best suited to their respective regions, climate and growing conditions.
Howard Park wines chief viticulturalist David Botting said he was pleased with the established site.
“Another unique thing about this site is it’s probably one of the rare occasions where clones have actually been brought together on one site and evaluated side by side,” he said.
“This site will ultimately provide a set of data which [producers] can rely on because it’s got a strong statistical underpinning.
“And now it’s just time and every successive year it’ll just get better and better.”
Benefits beyond the region
Mr Botting said the research would be crucial to farming in the future given the changing climate, but would also help producers make more informed decisions about which clone would work best for their region.
“Cabernet is one of Western Australia’s highest-value wine variety — particularly in Margaret River where there’s both national and international recognition of premium cab sav wines being produced,” he said.
“In my view, this should do a lot for credibility, and, you know, the whole region’s determination around cabernet and staying ahead of the game.”
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) research scientist Richard Fennessy said the clones had been derived from France, California, Australia and also Western Australia.
“It’s really important to have a look at those clones because we understand from the literature how they perform in their countries and regions of origin,” he said.
“But understanding with a degree of confidence how they perform under West Australian growing conditions is really important.
“So to take our cabernet to the next step, we really wanted to make sure that we’re planting the best genetics of that variety in our vineyards.”
Does all cloned wine taste the same?
Mr Fennessy said when WA wine producers were invited to taste the cloned wine they were able to taste differences.
“We’ve just completed a Margaret River tasting earlier this year in January, with close to 40 producers tasting those wines,” he said.
“Producers were very excited by the work.
“[They] commented that there was quite a distinct range of flavours, ranging from savoury red fruits and dark fruits.”
The next batch of cloned wine from the 2023 vintage will be processed in the coming weeks.
