National Grapevine Collection Coordinator – Phase 2
Summary
Objective
This is the second phase of the National Grapevine Collection program, which aims to implement a strategic framework for the management of Australia’s grapevine germplasm. It will deliver a national system of centrally-managed, coordinated grapevine assets which are appropriately maintained, resourced and protected into the future for the Australian grape and wine sector.
Background
The Australian wine industry is fortunate to have a resource of significant and diverse foundational grapevine germplasm. These comprise physical, and intellectual assets, many of which were developed with industry funding. However, grapevine germplasm collections have been managed as a set of separate entities, are not freely available to the sector, and lack standardised quality assurance, virus status verification, and long-term funding security.
In 2020, Wine Australia commissioned a discussion paper to set out a framework for the future management of Australia’s foundational germplasm resources as a national system of centrally-managed, coordinated assets and resources that are aligned to fulfil specific functions of the collection. There was general agreement from stakeholders for the proposed model, which incorporated findings and recommendations from a significant body of previous work.
As a result, the National Grapevine Collection (NGC) was initiated, with the appointment of a co-ordinator, Nick Dry, to oversee the establishment and maintenance of the NGC and to manage activities under the program. Key outputs in phase 1 (2022-2025) are described in the project report. Ongoing activities in the current phase of the program (2025-2017) include:
- Coordinating the governance structure to oversee the program
- Establishing mothervines for a high security collection
- Supporting the Nuclear Collections of WAVIA and SAVIA
- Identifying and virus testing priority varieties and clones in the collections of CSIRO and SARDI
- Virus testing the AVIA collection
- Co-funding virus elimination from key varieties with industry partners
- Establishing a centrally maintained, publicly available, national database of grapevine varieties, clones, rootstocks and propagation assets
- Contributing to the development of a grapevine certification program and associated propagation standard
- Providing input and support to virus management and trunk disease research to fill vital gaps in quality assurance across the entire supply chain
- Addressing clone identification challenges
- Supporting industry responses to exotic and endemic pest and disease concerns (such as recently experienced with grapevine red blotch virus and an unusual outbreak of crown gall-like symptoms in vineyards).
Sector benefits
Grapevine foundation assets help to secure the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the Australian grape and wine sector through the health, quality and integrity of its vineyards. Benefits to grapegrowers and winemakers of investing in grapevine foundation assets are significant and include:
- More rapid access to new varieties, clones and rootstocks from Australian and overseas breeding programs
- Greater assurance of varietal and label integrity on Australian grape and wine products
- Reliable access to planting material of known identity and health status
- Access to DNA-verified and virus-free grapevine rootstocks for the establishment of high health source blocks
- Greater efficiency in the management of exotic biosecurity threats and outbreaks of endemic pests and diseases
- Preservation of heritage and unique varieties and clones for future generations
- Maintenance of our international reputation for innovation and best practice in supply chain management.