New Zealand spectroscopy company Marama Labs will soon incorporate wine analysis technology invented by the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) into its CloudSpec wine platform.

Back in 2010, the AWRI harnessed state-of-the-art knowledge on tannin chemistry to develop a world-first web-based platform for determining tannin levels in wines. This platform (originally named the Tannin Portal), was subsequently expanded in 2012 to include measurement of tannins in grapes and juice, now known as the WineCloud^TM.

The platform has been used by grape and wine producers across the world, to support critical decisions on harvest timing, fermentation and wine blending/classification. The database used by producers to benchmark their processes now houses data for over 65,000 wine samples and 20,000 grape samples.

Marama Labs’ CloudSpec platform is being rapidly adopted in winemaking for its unique ability to measure the style profile of hazy, unfiltered wine samples. Not having to filter samples saves wineries massive amounts of laboratory preparation time and improves the accuracy of colour and phenolic assessments at key stages, such as juice pressing and ferment management.

After a collaboration in 2020, Marama Labs and AWRI identified that CloudSpec’s hazy sampling ability provides significant advantages for wineries to use the WineCloud analysis to guide winemaking decisions.

Marama Labs has secured the rights to the algorithms used to generate the colour, phenolic and tannin data, as well as the extensive grape and wine database. These will be built into Marama Labs' CloudSpec platform, which will be able to be accessed by users who wish to continue to use the WineCloud technology and generate this important information for their grapes and wines.

Eric Wilkes, General Manager – Commercial and Regulatory Affairs, AWRI, commented on the positive impact this partnership will have for the wine industry. “We are excited for Marama Labs to integrate this technology, developed at AWRI over the past two decades, into the CloudSpec platform. CloudSpec is a unique tool for winemakers to assess wine style and integrating the WineCloud analyses will further help the industry improve quality assessment.”

Marama Labs CEO Brendan Daby says the company is proud to be offering AWRI’s world leading science on its platform. “Wineries are constantly looking for ways to innovate and capitalise on emerging trends, such as evolving consumer preferences and environmental constraints. Combining CloudSpec’s rapid sample analysis with WineCloud’s chemical insights will empower winemakers to build even higher quality products that consumers love, with less time and cost required.”

Details

Marama Labs will be incorporating the WineCloud analysis feature into CloudSpec ready to be rolled out in October 2022 to New Zealand, Australia and the USA. The WineCloud feature will be an additional functionality available on top of CloudSpec’s standard colour and phenolics analysis capabilities. Sample analysis will be performed using a CloudSpec device, and data can be uploaded to CloudSpec’s Insights web app, for data analysis, tracking and visualisation. Clients will require a CloudSpec device and web app login to run the analysis.

AWRI will continue its current WineCloud service until July 2023, during which time clients can transition to the CloudSpec service.

Existing WineCloud customers looking to transition to CloudSpec should contact Marama Labs directly.

Existing CloudSpec customers will be contacted by Marama Labs to discuss the feature roll-out.

For wineries interested in becoming a CloudSpec user, please contact Marama Labs.

For more information, please contact AWRI or Marama Labs.

Contact

Marama Labs: marco.wilkins@maramalabs.com

AWRI: neil.scrimgeour@awri.com.au

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