Lumen Autumn 2025 - Flipbook - Page 35
Wine
Wine o’clock
Time’s capacity to refine, enrich, and preserve.
“Our fortified winemaking, perhaps more than any
other wine discipline, captures the essence of time.”
By Jill Bauer
In the vineyards and winery on the Waite
campus, time is more than a concept: it’s
a vital component of grape growing and
winemaking. From the detailed cultivation
of vineyards to the maturation in barrel
and bottle, time is the invisible hand
shaping every wine.
This temporal knowledge informs
winemaking production, research and
education, bridging past traditions with
future innovations.
In a nod to our history, and in
collaboration with our current students, we
have recently been renewing the legacy of
brandy spirit and fortified wine production
of our former location at Roseworthy with
the release of Waite Brandy and the Fortified
Trio. The fruit for these new fortified wines
and brandy is sourced exclusively from the
Waite campus vineyards.
The disciplines of fortified and spirit
production are deeply entrenched in the
Australian winemaking landscape and
reflect a balance between fermentation
science and artisanal distillation
craftsmanship.
From the late 1980s, Roseworthy
College was instrumental in the research
and improvements of brandy composition
through novel distillation methods. By the
mid-20th century, Roseworthy graduates
were leading fortified wine production
nationally, refining techniques that are still
revered today.
Our fortified winemaking, perhaps more
than any other wine discipline, captures the
essence of time. Grapes remain longer on
the vine to fully ripen, concentrating sugar
and flavours and reducing natural acids.
Waite Semillon brandy spirit is slowly
integrated to halt fermentation and
preserve sugars.
The process then turns to the long
maturation in oak barrels, where time
weaves its influence, shaping the final
character of the wine. The maturation
period is not a passive waiting game but
an active transformation where the wine is
concentrated and
engages in a slow and deliberate evolution.
Oxygen gently permeates into the barrel,
concentrating flavours and acid, softening
and rounding tannins, and adding layers
of complexity.
Over the decades, fortified wine
and brandy spirit production have
evolved through a careful process of
experimentation and adaptation. Each
barrel represents a continuum of inputs,
where the slow progression of
transformation is central to achieving the
depth, complexity, and balance that define
excellence in fortified wines. Fortified
wines such as Tawny and Muscat rely on
years, even decades, to achieve their
renowned depth.
In keeping with this tradition, at Waite
we are the custodians of an extraordinary
selection of barrels and fortified wines
produced at Roseworthy that we estimate
originate from the 1980s. These treasured
vessels have been integrated into a system
that guarantees continuity and longevity.
The Solera system, a hallmark of fortified
winemaking, epitomises temporal devotion.
A Solera is a fractional blending method
used primarily in fortified wine production,
where older wines are progressively blended
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with younger wines over multiple tiers of
barrels. Picture a pyramid where the top
barrel is filled annually with components
from the barrels below. This continuous
process creates a consistent and complex
final product. As each blend contains
components from many vintages, it ensures
consistency while allowing each passing
year to contribute its nuances.
As the University of Adelaide Winery
carries forward the Roseworthy legacy, it
reminds us that time, while relentless, is
also a partner. In each barrel, time works
its magic, transforming potential into
enduring excellence.
Fortified winemaking is more than a craft;
it is a tribute to our history and to time’s
capacity to refine, enrich, and preserve,
ensuring that future generations can taste
the past while re-imagining the future.
Jill Bauer is a Scholarly Teaching Fellow at
Waite. Jill was the STEMM Educator of the
Year in 2023 and in November 2024 she was
named Best Wine Educator by Wine Business
Magazine.
You have a chance to win one of five Waite
Fortified Trio packs in this issue of Lumen.
Contest details are on page 29.
The University has also launched a new online
wine shop - www.adelaideuniwinery.com.au.
