Smart cowrote Sunlight into Wine, which quickly became an essential reference for grape growers around the world.SAMRANG PRING/Reuters
When Australian grape expert Richard Smart toured Niagara vineyards in 2008, he was surprised to see cabernet sauvignon vines planted.
“I regard you all as extraordinary optimists,” Smart told members of Ontario’s wine industry during a presentation at the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University. ““Why do you do it? All the other cool climate areas grow more whites and early- to mid-season varieties.”
A founding father of Canadian wine still has work to do
Known widely as “The Flying Vine Doctor,” Smart and agricultural engineer Mike Robinson released Sunlight into Wine in 1991, which quickly became an essential reference for grape growers around the world. The 96-page volume explains how canopy management of a vineyard, particularly arranging the grape vine’s shoots and leaves to expose grape clusters to sunlight, helps produce better quality grapes. Smart also served as viticultural editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine over the course of five editions.
His research, writing and lectures helped transform grape growing around the world and resulted in better wines for consumers to enjoy. Smart passed away July 2 after a long battle with cancer. He was 80.
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Following stints in the Barossa Valley in the 1970s and New Zealand in the 1980s, Smart started his own viticultural consultant business in 1990, working with clients in more than 30 countries. In Niagara, he helped Don and Elaine Triggs establish Delaine Vineyard (a contraction of the couple’s name) on the Niagara River Parkway and served as a professional affiliate with the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University.
While Smart’s canopy management advice helped propel winemakers to commercial and critical success, rising temperatures and climate change require growers to embrace a different mindset today. The development cycle of grapevines finishes more quickly today. In warmer regions, ripening and harvest have shifted from cooler autumn to warmer summer weather.
Hot regions face the biggest risks from climate change, he explained. Smart told attendees at the Wineries for Climate Protection conference held in 2011 in Barcelona he suggested that Bordeaux growers may wish to plant the heat-loving grenache grape. “I may live to see it happen,” he said.
