Pangzhen Zhang
veski sustainable agriculture fellow
veski board director 2018 – 2022
The University of Melbourne
Dr Pangzhen Zhang became an inaugural veski sustainable agriculture fellow in 2015, completing his fellowship in 2018 having developed the first model to estimate wine rotundone content from climate data.
Pange became a member of the veski board of directors in November 2018 as a representative of the veski alumni and concluded his term in November 2022.
Research title: Peppery flavour, climate and an app are key to selling Victorian Shiraz
The veski sustainable agricultural fellowship was awarded to support the development of a method to define, quantify and differentiate regional Victorian agricultural products like Shiraz, and develop an app to provide industry with access to relevant data and information including a Victorian-wide rotundone map to help Victorian grape growers estimate their rotundone concentration at each vintage based on climate data in their region.
The project provides information for future production by combining the climate-rotundone model and Australian Bureau of Meteorology climate projection to estimate rotundone production over the coming 50 years. Based on this modelling, they will design a specific vineyard management protocol to maximise rotundone production under different climate scenarios.
The inaugural veski sustainable agricultural fellow is a promising scientist in the field of horticultural and viticulture studies with expertise in climate modelling. Pangzhen has established an excellent working relationship with the Australian Wine Research Institute, CSIRO, Australian Grape and Wine Authority, Wine Victoria, Rathbone Wine Group and Mount Langi Ghiran Winery.
Pange’s viticultural research enables him to deliver professional vineyard management advice to Victorian grape growers and wineries through a partnership between the Australian Grape and Wine Authority, Wine Australia, the Australian Wine Research Institute, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Wine Victoria and member wineries.
He has experience as a wine chemist at Yerring Station Winery, and has also established a small-scale commercial vineyard from scratch.
Pange is a researcher and viticulturist at the University of Melbourne. He completed his PhD in Viticulture and Encology at the University of Melbourne in 2014.
Pangzhen Zhang – veski announcement profile
Defining the distinctiveness of Victorian Wine using quality markers and climate modelling: now and into the future
veski sustainable agriculture fellowships
View the veski sustainable agriculture video to hear from our fellows on the benefits of the program