EXTENDED OENOLOGY

Leaders: Joan Miquel CANALS (URV), Jorge RICARDO DA SILVA (ISA LISBOA), Matteo MARANGON (U. PADOVA)

The key objective of this workgroup is to favour networking between partners aimed at the preparation of joint projects.

The group is actively involved in oenology, engineering innovations and processes challenges with several approaches.

The main subjects of interest are:

• Sulfur dioxide alternatives in oenology
• Grapes cleaning treatment
• Grapes and wines quality control, innovative analysis and markers, sensorial aspects (aromas, phenolics, polysaccharides ...)
• Organic grapes and wines
• New innovative technologies, processes and treatment during winemaking and ageing
• Wine stabilization (Protein hazing in white wines, aroma compounds interactions with (wine) proteins and processing aids)
• Alcohol Reduction in Wines
• Oxygen and Wines
• Vines and Wines Bio-refineries
• Food safety and health of consumers
• Sustainable oenological practices 
• Precision Oenology
• Authenticity of Wines

EXTENDED VITICULTURE

Leaders: Markus Rienth, (Haute Ecole de Viticulture et Œnologie de Changins), Paolo Sabbatini (UNITO)

Possible OENOVITI projects in the fields of grapes breeding:

Identifying the pedigree of traditional Viti vinifera varieties

In contrast to most other crops, grapevine varieties are rather old; riesling more than 500 years, Pinot noir possibly 2000 years and some of the older table grape varieties, e.g. Sultana or Afus Ali even more than that. Many of these varieties are natural hybrids of others. The knowledge of varieties' ancestry could help to unravel their parentage and geographic origin and understand the development and spread of viticulture in history. A lot of work in this field has already been conducted by a number of work groups using microsatellites. This work is not fully completed, plus a link with archeology is still missing. The idea of the project is to complete picture of varieties' parentage and geographic origin.

Pest and disease tolerance mechanisms

The three major pests and diseases in viticulture are phylloxera, downy and powdery mildew. All three originate from North America and were introduced into Europe in the middle of the 19th century, where in particular phylloxera devastated huge areas. The phylloxera problem could be overcome by the development and use of American rootstocks, while downy and powdery mildew are controlled by fungicides. Resistance breeding has the potential to provide a biologic alternative to fungicide application, but is time consuming. This is the reason that only now the first mildew tolerant varieties with high wine quality enter the market. If resistance is based on one mechanism only, there is always the threat of resistant pathogens developing. A possible solution is the combination of several resistance mechanisms in a variety, called pyramidising. This requires the understanding of the various resistance mechanisms and the use of molecular markers to identify their presence in a possible parent and hybrid. The aim of the project is to investigate resistance mechanisms for phylloxera, downy and powdery mildew and develop of markers for marker assisted selection in resistance breeding of grapevines to enable the development of multi-resistant rootstocks and scions.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Leaders: Sebastian Vargas Soto (Concha y Toro), Etienne Neethling (ESA Angers)

Contemporary human activities are mainly responsible for the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, contributing to a significant shift in the earth’s global climate. With rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns and extreme weather events, the wine sector is increasingly exposed to many agronomy and wider socio-economic impacts, requiring urgent adaptation and mitigation response strategies.  

The goal of this workgroup  is to prepare international network projects, seeking to collect and transfer knowledge and innovation among stakeholders, policy makers and scientists. The group is actively involved in addressing the issues of reducing impacts and building resilience, while also pursuing to reduce environmental impacts and limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The main subjects of work are:

• Modeling current and future climate conditions and impacts
• Identifying critical process points most affected by climate change
• Stakeholder perceptions of and adaptations to climate change
• Evaluating robust and flexible adaptation solutions
• Building climate change resilience across the supply chain
• Seeking synergies between adaptation and mitigation responses

INDUSTRIAL TRANSFER

Leaders: Gilles BRIANCEAU (Inno’vin), Gracie BOLAND (Inno'vin), Gianni TRIOLI (Vinidea)

The main objective of this working group is to create a network proposing a global industrial transfer to the wine business companies in the world. Today, already 15 members from 9 countries are part of this group.

For industrial topics, it appears necessary to combine the labor of two or more different labs or institutes.

Services:

• Extension services, consulting, expertise
• Developing applications of research for companies. Innovation.
• Provide tools and methods for professionals (sensory method simplified for example)
• To bottom up the request of professional
• Organizing congress for professionals, communication, books excepts Scientific publication
• Training programme for professional, including extension officers, except formal students
• Transfer science to lay audience
• Conference for companies’ communication to their clients
• Professional or scientific thesis (doctorate) linked with professionals issues (industrials)
• Licensing and patent. Adding value of a transfer activity (not research activity)
• Communication of Transfer units (private units backed by labs for industrials)

WINE MANAGEMENT AND TOURISM

Leaders: Nashidil ROUIAI (UBx), Tatiana BOUZDINE-CHAMEEVA (KEDGE), Noriaki KAWASAKI (U.KYOTO)

The brief description of our activities includes:

1) the organization of

• a Webinar in November or December 2021 with the members of the Group;
• the Summer school for 2022 or 2023 around “tourism and sustainability” topics ( focusing on green aspects of wine and spirits tourism and agritourism) and including not only classic lectures but also the presentation of recent research in the field by the academics and talks to be given by the professionals of the sector;
• workshops on specific themes related to wine tourism (e.g. business models of wine tourism, digitalisation in tourism, logistics and sustainable aspects, etc.) to be defined later;

2) development of several case studies around the world (with the Oenoviti network partners – in Italy, Portugal, Greece, Chili, Argentina, Spain, etc.) with specific issues depending on the country and the wine/agricultural region;

3) writing of a collective book on the theme of wine and spirits tourism around the world, highlighting territorial, geographical and cultural

WINE AND HEALTH

Leaders: Iva FERNANDES (U. Porto), Fabio CHINNICI (U. Bologne)

This workgroup is actively involved in the establishment of a network of experts in wine safety for human consumption and wine health effect. This network will also seek for funding opportunities to valorize wine consumption supported by scientific data.

The main topics of this workgroup are:

1. Wine safety
• New strategy to reduce the amount of alcohol, SO2, allergens and unhealthy compounds (metal contaminants, biogenic amines, pesticides/mycotoxins, phthalates,…)
• Control of sugar and alcohol content in wines (with exception of some styles: sweet wines, some fortified wines, botrytized wines,....) in relation to human health
-Bio-protection and microbial resources as a tool/strategy to enhance wine safety

2. Wine and Human Health
•More scientific proves and examples to support an informed and balanced debate that the wine, if consumed with moderation, is beneficial to health.
• Promote serious and relevant independent research on the benefits of moderate wine consumption, including evidences from in vitro studies and clinical trials in healthy and in volunteers with pathologies; benefits in health of wine consumption, including bioavailability issues.
• Identification of new claims addressing differences with other alcoholic beverages; studies aimed at defining more objectively the safe level of alcohol consumption and the levels that are potentially healthy.
• More precise studies to characterize wine consumption habits for health purposes. Use of digital tools in consumer surveys to establish in a more informed and scientifically based way the health effects of wine consumption in the diet.
• Health effect by the consumption of wine polyphenols (different classes of phenolic compounds and its combination), and knowledge of its mode of action in the body.
•The role of wine, in the frame of the diet and lifestyle, to the promotion of healthy ageing.
• Wine consumption and mental health (and happiness levels). Can wine partially replace anxiolytic drugs?
• Health and Wine labelling: establishing shared criteria for health claims
• Quality vs quantity, consumer personalized wines, acceptable lower alcohol products;
• Search for new co-products derived from winemaking for revalorization (i.e. lees extracts, grape skins, pips, pomace, grape seed oil, etc.).

INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC FUNDING

Leaders: Christiane Jost (HGU)

The main objectives of this workgroup are:

Exchange of knowledge and good practices in cooperation, mobility, internationalization, strategic monitoring of opportunities for funding, comparison of procedures and administrative rules for degree delivery, mobility and accreditation, comparison of organization of international departments and their missions to help researchers and students, main obstacles of the cooperation...

DIGITALIZATION AND ROBOTIZATION

Leaders: Carlos Lopes (U. Lisboa), Gianluca ALLEGRO (Università di Bologna)

The digitalization process underway in agriculture sector and the evolution of new technologies such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, robotics and big data, among others, will help the Viticulture and Oenology sector to save labor and improve the management processes and practices. It will also improve the resource use efficiency and the accuracy of the decision-making, therefore, promoting the sustainability of the grape and wine production.

The main objectives of the work group is to promote collaboration among Oenoviti members by exchange knowledge, experience and ideas in order to foster the development of joint actions (e.g. training and research projects, organization of events), in the areas of Digitalization and Robotization of the Viticulture and Oenology production chain.

TALENTS AND CAREERS: YOUNG RESEARCHERS

Leaders: Jennifer Borde (UBx), Chantal Maury (ESA), Nashidil ROUIAI (UBx)

Talent and Young Researchers Work Group Actions

This group is dedicated to the career of young researchers, meaning people being at their last year of PhD until 5 years after graduation.

This group aims help young researchers to grow in confidence, capacity and creativity and discover the vine and wine enterprise world.

For that, we propose to work in different axis:

• Networking:
  • creation of a database of all young researchers of the network
  • Discover the enterprise world by annual seminar with presentations of non-academic institutions and possible jobs

• Growing skills:
  • Organization of oral presentation coaching in order to help young researchers improving the quality of their scientific presentations
  • Dedicated sessions in all seminars and conferences in the frame of Oenoviti International network
  • Mapping of possible scholarships

• Get confidence:
  • Mentoring: providing feedback/advices about the evolution of his/her career. Involvement of all partners needed.
  • Animating good practices seminars dedicated to young researchers

If you have any idea to propose and/or you want to join us, please contact us: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.