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Dr Smart's AwardsDr Smart has been the recipient of many awards, please see his CV for details. The award described here is by an international wine magazine
DR RICHARD SMART: INNOVATION The winner of the Innovation award is Australia's Dr Richard Smart. Many winemakers around the world have implemented the advice that Smart provided, contributing to improvements in vineyards and viticultural techniques. This tribute acknowledges that, in the world of winemaking, despite thousands of years of tradition, there is room for innovation and improvement in the vineyard and in the winery - and even in the way wine is packaged and sold. Although modern winemaking techniques are taken for granted in Western Europe and the countries of the New World, 20 years ago things were very different - especially in post-Prohibition America. There are awards for winemakers the world over - but they are rarely for the guy who works unrecognised in the vineyard,' ventures Dr Richard Smart, celebrating, both for himself and all those nameless viticulturalists, receiving this year's Wine Personality of the Year Innovation award. Smart has spent the past 40 years attempting to coax the very best out of the fickle vinifera grape and, in doing so, has - among the many things he has achieved - publicised and popularised the role of viticulture in the wine business. There are now many people toiling in vineyards around the world putting into place Smart's advice, whether it be on canopy management, training, trellising, pruning or yields. And there are many others, such as you and me, who are reaping the rewards in terms of the riper and better wines that these carefully tended grapes are now able to produce. Smart graduated from Sydney University with Honours in Agricultural Science in 1966. He has another three degrees under his belt, including an MSc Honours, with a study of sunlight use by vineyards, and a PhD from Cornell University in New York State, where he studied under Nelson Shaulis, then professor of viticulture. Indeed, when I asked Smart to outline what he is most proud of in his 40 years of work, he said: 'That I have continued the work with the vinifera of my professor Nelson Shaulis when I did a PhD at Cornell. He was one of the greatest and the real father of canopy management - even though he didn't call it such. He taught me a lot.' Asked what he regards as his own greatest personal achievement, Smart says: 'Seeing the viticultural landscape being changed by canopy management. This is not only my work, as many people have contributed to it. We have changed peoples' ideas on the way to grow grapes. It has so far had a bigger impact on the New World than the Old World, but that might change in the future.' A lot of his career has been in viticultural research and teaching. Over the past 15 years, he has focused on his consulting business, Smart Viticulture. His star-studded list of clients include the likes of Penfolds, Cape Mentelle, Errazuriz, Simi and Stag's Leap in California. He now consults in 22 countries, with China a relative newcomer on his books. In the 1980s, he worked as a government viticultural scientist in New Zealand and helped lay the foundations for a globally competitive wine industry, aiding winemakers to achieve better ripeness, thereby producing more fruit and less green flavours. Along the way, he has written or co-written more than 200 publications, including the acclaimed Sunlight into Wine on canopy management. He and John Dyson of New York also developed the Smart-Dyson training system in the early 1980s, which is compatible with mechanical pruning and harvesting. Smart has never been afraid to put his head above the parapet and speak his mind, and consequently he is no stranger to criticism. He's been described as a 'Luddite' by some for his take on genetically modified vine research: 'My criticism is of how much research funds are going into genetic engineering, when we are failing to heed new varieties, or putting funds into rootstock and clonal evaluation.' And somewhat hard to swallow for some traditionalists is that Smart teaches that good quality does not have to mean low yields. 'Some varieties, such as Pinot Noir, to a lesser extent Merlot and maybe Tempranillo, are affected by yield size. But with other reds and most whites if there is a problem it will lie with quality of many factors and not the yield. Vine balance, irrigation and fertility of soil are much more important in affecting the quality.' He also has a warning for Australia and all the New World: 'The New World thinks that it has a stranglehold on modern technology, but it doesn't, especially if you look to what I call the 'New Old World'. For example, in Spain's La Mancha. Carlos Falco [for whom Smart has worked] is using very good technology and getting very good results.' Smart's work is currently focused on Tasmania, where he is consulting for Tamar Ridge winery, developing new, larger vineyards and substantially increasing the area under vine of the whole island. (It is less than 1,000 hectares at present.) As part of his work, Smart conducted a climate analysis of the island, pinpointing suitable sites for vineyards. 'Apart from the mountains in the middle, Tasmania is very like New Zealand. In fact, it could almost be regarded as the West Island of New Zealand. We have located a Marlborough, a Martinborough and a Central Otago-like area. Our ambition is to do as well with Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc as in New Zealand. I think there will be worldwide comparisons within 10 years.' No surprise, then, to see a gold medal for a Tamar Ridge Pinot Noir in this year's 2004 International Wine Challenge. CATHARINE LOWE editor of Wine InternationalTestimonials in Support of the Award There's never been a more fitting surname and his first name should have been "Damn"! When the wine world was talking about cellar techniques, he honed in on the singular most important aspect of winemaking - the vineyard. His theories have been revolutionary and provoked so much thought and debate that it turned our whole approach to winemaking on its head. [He is] always pushing the envelope, not afraid of controversy and always challenging embedded ideas. In addition to all this, he has the ability to communicate, not only with academics and producers, but also with the wine lover.' Richard is, for me, the perfect example of what we French call a Cartesien (disciple of Descartes). Facts, only facts, and nothing for tradition… I like this!'
Dr Smart’s other awards are listed on his CV. |
Dr Smart holds an award given to him by the New Zealand Wine Industry in January 2004, in recognition of services rendered.