The new technology to sort the grapes using air blasts. Credit: Riversdale Estate.

Australian wine producer Riversdale Estate is opening a winery in Australia featuring European technology to produce wines.

Located in the Coal River Valley in southern Tasmania, Riversdale Estate is a family-owned business, which produces single-vineyard wines.

Its portfolio includes Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling, as well as Sauvignon Blanc, Musca Syrah, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris.

Riversdale Estate official Rainier Roberts says the facility will use fully-automated processes.

It will leverage French technology to sort the grapes using air blasts, for harvest and process within 20 minutes.

An optical sorter, capturing more than 7,000 photos per second, will remove discoloured berries and sticks, as well as leaves.

Roberts said: “The suite of technology here isn’t that common, there’s only two in Australia but in terms of the full suite, we’re the only ones to have it.

“Solar power will allow us to keep everything, without affecting the environment too much. Our plans are to put 100KW in the winery and that will allow us to be self-sustainable. We predict by 2023 we’ll get there, with [the addition of] some batteries as well.”

Technology installation will also allow Riversdale to sort berry colours and improve wine quality, increasing wine quantity produced annually.

Additionally, Riversdale aims to become fully solar-powered by 2023.

Roberts said: “We’ve got a lot of our pipework and plumbing in a central membrane, which will allow us to control all of the heating and cooling in the facility. It will allow us to be about 30% to 40% more efficient in our electricity usage.”