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University of Adelaide

World of Wine: From Grape to Glass

University of Adelaide via edX

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Overview

Think about your favourite wine. Imagine the brilliance of its colour in the glass, the ripe fruit aromas on the nose, a hint of toasty oak and lingering tannins on the back palate. Perhaps you like a specific wine, but can’t pinpoint the reason why. The attributes that make wine so enjoyable are achieved through the expertise of viticulturists and winemakers, whose decision-making in the vineyard and winery is underpinned by science – to be precise, viticulture and oenology.

The finer details can take years to learn, but in a matter of weeks this course will give you a broad understanding of the principles and practices used to grow grapes and make wine, and their impact on wine appearance, aroma, flavour and taste. You’ll also gain an appreciation for how cutting-edge research is helping to secure the future sustainability of the global wine industry. Whether you’re a wine novice or a seasoned oenophile,, this course is for anyone who loves wine and wine tasting. You’ll even get to make your own wine-- virtually at least!

Confidently describe wine appearance, aroma, flavour and taste.

Syllabus

Week 1: Wine Styles and Sensory Evaluation

  • Explain the classification of wine, wine styles and wine regions
  • Describe the basic sensory processes and their application to wine evaluation
  • Describe the key components of wine and their influence on wine appearance, aroma, flavour, taste and/or mouth feel properties
  • Explain the Odour Activity Value and how it can be used to determine the impact of volatile compounds on wine aroma
  • Describe and compare the varietal characteristics of different white and red cultivars
  • Evaluate and communicate the sensory attributes of wine using appropriate descriptive terminology.

Week 2: The Grape Vine

  • Describe the structure, growth and development of grapevines
  • Identify the different structural components of shoots, leaves and bunches
  • Explain the seasonal cycle of growth of the grapevine
  • Explain the factors which influence crop yield
  • Identify the important factors to consider when selecting a site to grow grapevines.

Week 3: Understanding the Planning Phase

  • Explain the objectives of key vineyard management practices
  • Understand the differences between spur and cane pruning
  • Describe the physical and compositional changes that occur during berry development and ripening
  • Explain how and why we undertake maturity and quality assessment during the ripening period
  • Compare the advantages/disadvantages of hand vs. mechanical harvesting
  • Describe ways in which vine performance is measured.

Week 4: Determining Project Risk

  • Describe the processes involved in making different styles of wine
  • Explain the objectives of pressing, crushing and draining processes
  • Contrast the different winemaking techniques employed in the production of red and white wines
  • Explain the impact of skin contact during red winemaking
  • Describe what happens during alcoholic (primary) and malolactic (secondary) fermentation
  • Recall the parameters that need to be monitored during fermentation
  • Discuss the origin of different classes of wine components and their impact on the appearance, aroma, flavour, taste and/or mouthfeel properties of wine
  • Understand the objectives of clarification and stabilisation processes.

Week 5: Wine Making

  • Outline how wine maturation can be undertaken
  • Explain the purpose of blending wine
  • Describe the processes involved in bottling wine
  • Explain the influence of different packaging materials of wine quality
  • Identify the ways in which oak components are incorporated into the winemaking process
  • Outline the various sources of taint compounds in wine and their sensory impact.

Week 6: Grape and Wine Science

  • Demonstrate an understanding of how research can be used to solve or address issues of interest or concern to grape growers and/or winemakers
  • Describe the facilities and functions with a commercial winery.

Taught by

Paul Grbin, David Jeffery, Cassandra Collins and Kerry Wilkinson

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Reviews

4.0 rating, based on 6 Class Central reviews

5 rating at edX based on 7 ratings

Start your review of World of Wine: From Grape to Glass

  • Keith Okan
    This was a more advanced course than others I have come across on this subject. There were lectures that dealt more with chemical properties. However, this shouldn't dissuade you from the course. The lectures on pruning techniques, critiquing wines and creating wines was very interesting.
  • Anonymous
    I have learned quite a lot. In fact, it was a much better course than I thought it would be. I did not complete any assignments because I was just auditing it for my own pleasure and taking it at my leasure.
  • Mary Angella Nakiyingi
    Amazing course for wine enthusiasts, vintners and whoever is interested in grapevine growing and winemaking.

    This course is a whole package.
  • Andrew Pribram
  • John Walsh
  • Colin Khein
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