Wine o'clock
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 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, isalso 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