Richard Smart (born 6 March 1945 in

Windsor, New South Wales Windsor is a historic town north-west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the council seat of the Hawkesbury local government area. The town sits on the Hawkesbury River, enveloped by farmland and Australian bush. Many of the oldest s ...

) is an Australian

viticulturalist Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

and leading global consultant on viticulture methods, who is often referred to as "the flying vine-doctor". He is considered responsible for revolutionising

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

growing due to his work on canopy management techniques.

Biography

Smart is a graduate from

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

with honours in agricultural science in 1966. Additionally he holds the degrees MSc (Hons) from

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of ...

following a study of sunlight use by vineyards, a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in New York State studying under the Professor Nelson Shaulis, and in 1995 awarded a

D.Sc. Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

in agriculture by the

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

, South Africa, in recognition of research into canopy management effects on vineyard yield and quality. Smart is the developer of the Smart-Dyson Trellis, a modification of the Scott Henry trellis, with curtains trained up and down from the one cordon, along with John Dyson of California.winepros.com.au. Smart is the author of the book ''Sunlight into Wine'' as well as a contributor to several trade publications, and the viticulture editor of ''

The Oxford Companion to Wine ''The Oxford Companion to Wine'' (''OCW'') is a book in the series of Oxford Companions published by Oxford University Press. The book provides an alphabetically arranged reference to wine, compiled and edited by Jancis Robinson, with contribution ...

''.winepros.com.au.

Global warming changes

Smart has warned that as a consequence of the ongoing ramifications of global warming, there will be a variety of effects on viticulture, among which that some red grape varieties may lose colour, some wines will lose varietal flavor, some white varieties may disappear. He has also warned of the consequent dangers of vine infestation as temperatures rise, particularly in the case of the

glassy-winged sharpshooter The glassy-winged sharpshooter (''Homalodisca vitripennis'', formerly known as ''H. coagulata'') is a large leafhopper (family Cicadellidae), similar to other species of sharpshooter. Description These sharpshooters are about in length. The ...

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

Pierce's Disease ''Xylella fastidiosa'' is an aerobic, Gram-negative bacterium of the genus ''Xylella''. It is a plant pathogen, that grows in the water transport tissues of plants ( xylem vessels) and is transmitted exclusively by xylem sap-feeding insects such ...

, and the aphid ''Hyalestes obsoletus'', which spreads a

phytoplasma Phytoplasmas are obligate intracellular parasites of plant phloem tissue and of the insect vectors that are involved in their plant-to-plant transmission. Phytoplasmas were discovered in 1967 by Japanese scientists who termed them mycoplasma-lik ...

disease Bois Noir. Higher temperatures mean both insects will be able to survive winters and move further. ''Hyalestes obsoletus'' has recently been found in German vines. Furthermore, he has stated that following the Earth's changes,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

is set to come to prominence as a wine-producing region.

References

Richard Smart bio
smartvit.com.au ;Footnotes

External links

Smart Viticulture official site"Terroir Unmasked"
Dr. Smart article, ''Wine Business Monthly'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, Richard Living people Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni Australian viticulturists 1945 births

Biography

Global warming changes

See also

References

External links