Richard Smart (viticulturalist)
Richard Ernest Smart was an Australian viticulturalist and leading global consultant on viticulture methods, who was often referred to as "the flying vine-doctor". He is considered responsible for revolutionising grape growing due to his work on canopy management techniques.
Life and career
Born at Windsor, New South Wales, on 6 March 1945, Smart graduated from the University of Sydney with an honours degree in agricultural science in 1966. He went on to earn a MSc degree from Macquarie University following a study of sunlight use by vineyards, and a PhD from Cornell University in New York state studying under Nelson Shaulis. In 1995, he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree in agriculture by Stellenbosch University, South Africa, in recognition of research into canopy management effects on vineyard yield and quality.Smart developed 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.
Smart wrote the book Sunlight into Wine, contributed to several trade publications, and was the viticulture editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine.
Smart died from cancer in Victoria, on 2 July 2025, at the age of 80.