Wine & Viticulture Science

Dr Xinyi Zhang

BSc (Biotechnology), MSc (Plant Science), MSc (Viticulture and Oenology), PhD

Dr Xinyi Zhang is a lecturer in viticulture in the School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in biotechnology from Shandong Agricultural University in China, one Master of Science degree in plant science from Missouri State University in the US, and a second Master of Science degree in viticulture and oenology from Vinifera EuroMaster program in France (Montpellier SupAgro) and Germany (Hochschule Geisenheim University). Then, Xinyi moved to Australia for her PhD study at Charles Sturt University with Professor Andrew Clark. After obtaining her PhD degree, Xinyi joined Andrew’s research group as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, and then was appointed as lecturer in viticulture.

Xinyi is interested in various topics associated with wine chemistry, especially volatile compounds related to wine reductive-oxidative development and influence of diverse viticultural practices on wine.

ORCiD

Dr Xinyi Zhang is involved in the teaching of subjects related to viticulture science and vineyard management in mainly distance education mode. Students enrolled in related subjects are mostly of Wine Science and Viticulture Science undergraduate degrees. The latter degree includes viticulture science, grapevine physiology and vineyard management related subjects.

Dr Xinyi Zhang also supervises HDR students in the area of wine chemistry.

Dr Xinyi Zhang’s research interests focus on wine chemistry, especially wine reductive-oxidative development, aromatic volatile compounds, metal speciation and wine bottle ageing. Her expertise includes analytical chemistry by varied types of instruments, such as mass spectrometry and sulfur chemiluminescence detector. She has been involved in research projects investigating the influence of different vineyard location, variety and maturity of the grape, and oxygen availability and length of ageing time on wine bottle ageing potential, establishing methodologies to quantify different fractions of Cu(II) in wine with different capability to protect wine against reductive development after bottling, and examining the effects of different Cu(II) fractions on detrimental and beneficial sulfur containing compounds (i.e., hydrogen sulfide and methanethiol, and beneficial thiol compounds, respectively) in wine during bottle ageing.

Dr Xinyi Zhang is currently collaborating with Professor Andrew Clark on metal ion speciation project.