7/29: Today was my first day of classes for the Master’s program. To start off the week at 9am, I have introductory winemaking lecture. W had a brief introduction to the program, the course, and what to expect over the next 2 years. Our lectures are combined with the undergrads, the tutorials are only for post grads and we are split up into different rooms for practicals. We were also introduced to the professors and faculty we will see quite often during the program and class. In lecture, we learned about the basic winemaking steps for red and white wine, as well as the similarities and differences. In our tutorial class, we had a tour of the winery up the hill on campus. This semester and especially next semester during harvest, we will be working on the cellar floor quite often.
7/30: On Tuesdays at 10am, I have viticultural methods and procedures lecture and practical at 1pm. We learned about taxonomy, dormancy, and pruning during the winter. While the vines are dormant, there are two pruning strategies that we can use: spur and cane pruning. We learned how to spur prune in the teaching vineyard during practical this afternoon. Spur pruning is a lot easier than cane pruning. We removed the year-old wood from the previous pruning season so the vines are able to grow as it gets warmer and fruit is produced.
7/31: I have sensory studies lecture at 10am and practical at 1pm. In lecture, we learned about the visual, olfactory, and gustatory characteristics in wine. For the most part, it was a refresher from what I learned in Florence but, it was still interesting. In practical, we had various tasting or smelling activities set up in 8 rounds. We tasted water with varying levels of either sugar, acidity, bitterness or saltiness in the corresponding bracket. Some brackets required us to rank the solution in order of decreasing perceived sugar, acidity, or bitterness. The purpose of these exercises was to learn how to detect each characteristic on the tongue and how it tastes and feels in the mouth. I had difficulty determining which of the two glass had less perceived acidity and which had less sweetness since its possibly for one taste to mask the other.
8/1: At 9am on Thursdays, I have viticultural science lecture and practical at noon. In lecture, we learned about the taxonomy of the grapevine family and bud dormancy. In the afternoon for practical, we dissected buds from the shoots that were pruned on Tuesday and observed it under a microscope. The buds eventually grow into branches on the wine. While dissecting we identified the primary, secondary, and tertiary buds, the leaf primordia and the inflorescence primordia. It was challenging to cut the bud enough to identify the components since the bud is so small. Once we sliced the bud at the correct position and placed it under the microscope, it was incredible to look at.
8/2: Bright and early on Friday mornings at 8am I have intro winemaking practical. Over the first 3 weeks of class we will be conducting experiments which we will use during our fermentation projects in weeks 5 and 6. During our first round of experiments, my group measured residual sugar and alcohol content in juice and wine.
Weekend: On Saturday I attended a fashion market in Goodwood with some friends. It was a neat experience to visit but very small compared to something like this in the US. We then took the tram to the central market and walked around. The market is located near the China Town which is where we ate lunch. I had a spicy beef bento box from a Japanese restaurant. It was very delicious!
On Sunday, I spent a few hours at the library, talked to my dad on the phone and went to the Art Gallery of South Australia. I like how there are 5 museums located on North Terrace and right next to Uni Adelaide. I wish I had classes there so when I have a break I could spend it at the museum. The art gallery was very neat and impressive. Almost all the shops, including grocery stores, on Rundle Mall close at 5pm or earlier on Sundays so I had to make a trip to the store to buy some food for the week. I cooked myself some pasta and prepared my backpack and clothes for class on Monday.
Catch Rachel Down Under 