Virtual wine tasting becomes a reality

University of Adelaide students of oenology and viticulture are blind tasting wines in the familiar surrounds of their homes as part of their online learning.

”We wanted to ensure students’ receive the wines in the same condition that was intended by the winemaker when they bottled them,“ says Associate Professor in Oenology and Sensory Studies, Sue Bastian from the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University
of Adelaide, the course director who runs the online
tutorials.

“Wines are carefully prepared by specialised staff using protective food grade CO₂ gas and out of necessity supplied to students by post, home delivery or from organised collection points in consideration of their health and wellbeing.

‘In previous years students tasted the wines at the Waite campus but with the COVID-19 pandemic preventing face-to-face contact, they are following their course remotely and will attend the tutorials virtually. Some students have even stated that they find the virtual tasting lab more intimate and less confronting.”

Experts from South Australia’s wine industry are assisting with the students’ learning experience by attending the tutorials. They include well known wine writer Tony Love, Peter Godden, Manager, Industry Engagement and Application from the Australian Wine Research Institute and Anna Fisher from Zonte’s Footstep wines.

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