When the thermostat plummets, winemaker and viticulture teacher Alastair Reed heads to his local liquor store for a bottle of shiraz.
And he’s not alone. The Epping campus-based Melbourne Polytechnic senior lecturer says it’s a commonly held belief in the wine industry that weather, and climate, play a significant role in determining wine purchases. But, he adds, the theory hasn’t been adequately tested or quantified.
So Dr Reed and former student Michael Shannon set out to do the tests. Using genetics software and a large amount of data from one of Australia’s two biggest wine merchants, they mapped more than four million wine transactions made in a 12-month period to test whether we drink sauvignon blanc when it’s hot and shiraz when it’s cold.
The former geneticist-turned-winemaker said he was staggered at the extent to which the theory held true. On the whole, their analysis proved that temperature heavily influenced the buying mentalities of Victorian drinkers. “The temperature on the day affects shiraz sales, but this is interesting on a number of levels. Climate change will affect what grapes can grow and viticulture, but it may also affect what people purchase.”
The Altona resident presented the joint findings at the recent American Association of Wine Economics conference, taking the Christophe Baron Award for best presentation.
“There’s nothing like proving something that everybody already knew,” Dr Reed said.
