Belinda Kemp, founder of VitiVino Research, outlines the benefits of onsite trials at the vineyard and in the winery.
Across the globe, in all wine regions, it is standard practise for vineyard managers and winemakers to conduct their own on-site vineyard/winemaking trials. Time and labour constraints, experimental design, project and data management issues can all impact the progress and success of the trials. Outsourcing aspects of trials such as identifying the type of vineyard/juice/wine data to collect, producing data collection protocols, data analysis, presentation and the interpretation of results in the context of vines, wine (flavour, aroma) and aging ability is now possible with support from VitiVino Research.
Applied viticulture and oenology on-site trials are invaluable for assessing product quality parameters including wine organoleptic properties, and chemical/microbial analysis. In the UK we have the ADOPT grants that support collaborative farmer-led, on-farm trials or experiments to generate, test and demonstrate innovative solutions and practices to farming challenges. However, not every vineyard-based grant application submitted is likely to be successful.
To assist with guiding in-house research and development, VitiVino can provide vineyard and winemaking technical reports and reviews focused on topics specific to your business needs (e.g. an international research update about a specific grape variety or wine style). These reports comprise the current available knowledge on a topic, identifies new techniques and equipment, and can identify growth opportunities to provide a competitive edge to your business.
VitiVino plans to deliver masterclasses, webinars and workshops as well as custom staff training including phenolic management in low and high tannin varieties, and international sparkling wine research updates.
Microbiome analyses
VitiVino are exploring options to provide a complete microbiome analyses service including sampling protocols and final report. This will be for soil, juice and ferments and profile bacterial and fungal (including yeasts) communities from DNA sequencing. If you are interested in juice/wine microbiome analyses, please contact [email protected] to explore this microbial terroir service.
