Associate Professor Paul Grbin

• Biography/ Background

  In 2018 Paul Grbin was appointed the Head Winemaker located at the Hickinboth Roseworth Wine Science Laboratory, Waite Campus. In 2001 along with Professor Vladimir Jiranek, they formed the Wine Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology Group within the School of Agriculture, Food & Wine.
  
  The research conducted within this group is principally funded through the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) and the Australian Research Council (ARC) with strong support from the Faculty of Sciences and the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine.

  Research Goals
  
  Our group is devoted to new grape and wine microbiology and biotechnology initiatives to bring long-term benefits to the Australia wine industry. We are located in the  Wine Innovation Cluster (WIC) situated on the Waite campus. This state-of-the-art facility brings together all partners on the Waite campus that are devoted to research for the Australian wine industry. The partners include AWRI, CSIRO and SARDI . The critical mass of personnel coupled with research infrastructure is unique in Australia and allows for rapid targeted viticulture and oenology research to address industry needs.

  
  Research Opportunities
  
  A number of research opportunities exist for joining our group especially for projects in collaboration with our WIC partners or other external national and international collaborators. You can join our group as a Summer Scholar, Honours student (half year (12 points) or full year (24 points)), Masters by research (half time or full time), PhD by research, visiting Research Associate or Postdoctoral Fellow. Appropriate backgrounds may include: oenology (winemaking), microbiology, biotechnology, biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, food science, and plant pathology students. Please see below for vacant research positions or contact Paul Grbin or Vladimir Jiranek directly.
  
  Further information about studying in these fields is available from our Student Services page. Industry top-up scholarships of approx. 26K/annum are available for all PhD students with appropriate academic records.  Current Honours/Masters (12 Unit) Scholarships are detailed below via a downloadable file. These Scholarships are sponsored by Lallemand Australia.

  Adminstrative Responsibilites

  • July 2018-current: Head Winemaker
  • June 2015-December 2015: Head (Acting) Department of Wine and Food Science
  • 2002-2010: Program Coordinator BSc (Viticulture)/B Oenology
  • 2014-2019: Program Coordinator Grad Dip/Master of Viticulture & Oenology
  • 2006-2019: Member of School of Agriculture, Food & Wine, Learning & Teaching Committee
  • 2005-2008: Convener of Marketing, Outreach & Communications Committee School of Agriculture, Food & Wine
  • 2010-2020: Marketing, Outreach & Communications Coordinator, School of Agriculture, Food & Wine
  • 2010-2013: Member of Executive Committee, School of Agriculture, Food & Wine
  • 2011-current: Convener of the Wine Alumni Network Steering Group
  • 2016-2019: Faculty of Science Represetitive University of Adelaide Alumni Council

• Awards & Achievements

  • South Australian Interactive Media Excellence Award (Government, Education & Non-profit) with K Wilkinson, D Jeffery & C Collins, 2015
  • Best Wine Educator, Wine Communicators of Australia, withK Wilkinson, D Jeffery & C Collins, 2015
  • Alumni Fellow, 2012, University of Adelaide, in recognition of contribution to the governance of the Alumni Association, the establishment of the Wine Alumni Network and selection committees for alumni awards
  • 2nd Place ("My Wine World" with K Wilkinson, M Rousey, C Hull, C Rogers) Zen eChallenge Entrepreneurs' Challenge 2012, University of Adelaide
  • Faculty of Sciences Overseas Conference Scheme 2012, to attend as Invited Speaker the 13th International Congress on Yeast, 26-30 August 2012, Madison WN, USA
  • Best Enology Paper 2012, American Society for Enology and Viticulture

   

• Teaching Interests

  Areas of teaching responsibility:

  Programs: Bachelor of Viticulture & Oenology, Graduate Diploma/Masters in Vitculture & Oenology

  Course Coordinator (both Undergraduate and Postgraduate streams):

  Cellar & Winery Waste Management III

  Winemaking at Vintage III

  Fermentation Technology III

  Other teaching:

  Introductory Winemaking II

  Wine Packaging and Quality Management III

  Massive Online Open Course (MOOC)

   

• Research Interests

  Research Projects

  Developing a fundamental understanding of the microbiological treatment of winery wastewater

  Most wineries (>1000 tonnes) use biological treatement to remove organic compounds from wasterwater at a significant cost (∼$30/tonne crushed). Biological treatment uses microogranisms in a controlled process to metabolise the organic substrates, either in the presence or absence of oxygen (aerobic vs anaerobic processin) with the aim of producing high quality effluent from winery wastewater (WWW).  WWW is very dyamic due to the dramatic seasonal flucuations in composition and volume, and consequently a unique approach to the management of these systems is required to optimise their performance. We have identified 3 distinct periods in WWW treatment that have unique micrcobiological and operational problems that need to be address namely; start up pre-vintage, peak vitnage flow and quiesent (post vintage). All have unique treatment challenges. This project aims to increase efficient and cost effectiveness of biological treatment of WWW by enhancing and improving the microbiological performance of treatement systems at these key stages of the annual treatment cycle.  A multidisciplinary approach is being undertaken to correlate the true microbiology, process operations and WWW chemistry.
  

  Distinctive wines through an improved understanding of uninoculated fermentations

  Excellent winemaking outcomes and commercial success can occur for wines produced via uninoculated (indigenous) fermentations.  However, only limited research has been undertaken regarding the nature and contribution of the microbial populations involved and what characterises the reported benefits.  A number of key questions remain, in particular what is the nature, diversity and dynamics of these populations and how do they vary from variety-to-variety and year-to-year?  Critically there is a dearth of information related to the contribution of these populations to wine composition as compared to fermentations inoculated with commercial yeasts.  Empirical observations suggest that there is an enhancement of wine mouthfeel, as well as differences in flavour/aroma compounds and ethanol yield; however, there are few scientific studies to confirm this.  Questions also exist around ferment reliability, thus the feasibility and desirability of controlled inoculations of selected indigenous strains warrants investigation, whereby some of the perceived benefits of uninoculated fermentations may become available in a reliable manner. The objectives of this project are to undertake a comprehensive analysis of uninoculated fermentations and will seek to achieve these by investigating uninoculated fermentations to by defining the nature and diversity of yeast and bacterial populations, characterise the dynamics during fermentation, determine the consistency in the nature and dynamics from variety-to-variety and year-to-year, comprehensively determine the contribution of these populations to wine composition as compared to fermentations inoculated with commercial Saccharomyces yeasts.

   

  Growth and physiology of Dekkera/Brettanomyces yeast and the production of flavour impact compounds in wine

  Molecular and biochemical identification of a phenolic acid decarboxylase from Dekkera/Brettanomyces species has been the principle goal. Screening of Dekkera/Brettanomyces yeast for mousy off-flavour N-heterocycles and detailed investigation of the biochemical pathway of mousy off-flavour production has been undertaken.

   

  Use of innovative, Adaptive Evolution strategies to develop superior bacteria for ready application in the wine and related industries

  Evaluating the applicability of Directed Evolution to the optimisation of industrial bacterial strains for wine production.

   

  Evaluation of high-power ultrasound as an innovative tool for sanitation, colour/flavour extraction and fermentation enhancement in winemaking

  High-power ultrasound (HPU) is being investigated for it possible role in oenology. Of particular interest is the use of HPU to clean and sanitise oak cooperage and the application of HPU in fermentation.

   

  The enzymatic activities of wine lactic acid bacteria

  Previous work in our laboratory identified a number of enzymes of oenological significance from wine strains of lactic acid bacteria. Biochemical characterisation of the esterase activities of wine lactic acid bacteria was carried out. Molecular characterization and expression studies of 3 putative LAB esterase are currently ongoing.

   

  Innovative strategies for managing flavour, mouthfeel and alcohol in Australian wines

  This project aims to investigate strategies whereby reduced alcohol white wine (8.5 – 10.5 % v/v) can be produced in conjunction with improvements to flavour and mouthfeel. Several strategies have been identified for this investigation including harvesting grapes early for low potential alcohol and build body and flavour into the wine through the use of additives and winemaking techniques.

   

  Use of active dried wine yeast: impact of rehydration and inoculation rate

  Model fermentation studies were carried out to investigate the impact of rehydration conditions on yeast fermentation performance. The AWDY inoculation rate for high stress fermentation conditions was also studied, in both model and small-scale winemaking trials.
  

   

  Funding: AGWA, ARC Linkage, Yalumba Wine Company, CHR Hansen.

  Collaborators: AWRI, CSIRO, Laffort Oenologie, Lallemand Australia, Yalumba WIne Company, JJC Engineering, Cassella Family Wines, Pernod Richard Winemakers, TWG

   

• Publications

   

  orcid.org/0000-0002-7997-6131

  Books:

   

  Iland P., Grbin P., Grinbergs M., Schmidtke L. & Soden A. (2007) Microbiological Analysis of Grapes and Wine: Techniques and Concepts. (Patrick Iland Wine Promotions: Adelaide) ISBN 978-0-9581605-3-7.

   

  Peer Reviewed Papers:

   

  See Resercher Profile for up-to-date publication list

• Professional Associations

  • Professional Member, Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology, since 1989
  • Professional Member, American Society for Enology and Viticulture, since 1992
    
  • Program Committee 2nd Wine Innovation Cluster Crush Conference, Adelaide, South Australia, 15-16 November 2012.
    
  • Organising Committee 4th Australian Yeast Group Conference Yeast: Products and Discovery. Adelaide, South Australia, 2-4 December 2009.
    
  • Organising Committee 23rd International Conference on Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology, Melbourne, Victoria, 1-6 July 2007.
    
  • Organising Committee 3rd Australian Yeast Group Conference Yeast: Products and Discovery. Barossa Valley, South Australia, 4-6 April 2004.
    

   

• Community Engagement

  Wine Alumni Network: linking Roseworthy Agricultural College and University of Adelaide Wine Graduates

  The Wine Alumni Network was launched in August 2012 at historic Urrbrae House by the inaugural Network Patron, Dr Patrick Iland OAM, Professor Mike Wilkinson (Head of School) and Paul Grbin from the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide.
  The Network aims to link past and present students and staff from Roseworthy Agricultural College and the University of Adelaide from the wine–related programs encompassing the disciplines of viticulture, oenology, wine marketing and wine business.

  
  Hear from the Network:

  The main contact from the Network is via email, including a regular newsletter. To ensure you receive this and other communications from the Network you need to make sure your email address is up to date on your alumni profile and that you have registered for the Wine Alumni Network. To do this visit Adelaide onLION, the University of Adelaide‘s online alumni community, at www.alumni.adelaide.edu.au/adelaideonlion. If you are an Adelaide onLION member (you already have a username and password) login and check your profile to make sure your email address is up to date. If you have not previously received login details for Adelaide onLION, you can use the link to request an account. Our team will send you your login details (note this may take a couple of days). You can then login as above and check your details.
  To register (be part of the Network) for the Wine Alumni Network, simply tick the ‘Wine Alumni’ box in the Alumni Network tab within your Adelaide onLION profile.
  If you have any issues updating your profile, please send an email to alumni@adelaide.edu.au stating your full name and date of birth and the Development and Alumni staff will help you complete the process.

  You can also join the "Wine Alumni" group on www.linkedin.com

• Files

  • Lallemand Honours/Masters Scholarships - Lallemand_projects.pdf [163.0K] (application/pdf)

Entry last updated: Thursday, 12 Jan 2023

To link to this page, please use the following URL:  https://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/paul.grbin