Do wine and tech
Wine making has thousands of years of history and with a wine consumption that is expanding, wine making is now an industry embracing hi-tech, but the conditions of the industry are changing according to the International Organization of Wine and Vine (OIV). Wine is finding new consumers in large countries such as Brazil, and with younger generations. At the same time wine makers in Europe, world leading wine producer, are being challenged by new producers in China and Canada. It is no surprise wine makers now are turning to technology to improve their production and grow their market share. According to analysis company Mordor Intelligence, the industry is set to hit $4.2 billion by 2022!
Big data in wine production
One of the biggest challenges for wine producers is that they don’t have control over the actual grape growing season. The most variance in the vintage quality is, by no surprise, usually in the places with the most variable weather. A bad vintage means dramatically reduced revenue for winemakers and a far smaller supply of wine from certain estates, ultimately making prices higher for the consumer.
Adelaide University in Australia has developed an app that measures the growth of the ‘vineyard canopy’ to manage the balance between leaf size and fruit production and improve harvests. Vines with a large canopy bear less and lower quality fruit. Previous manual readings were slow and time consuming. Using the VitiCanopy app, the wine maker takes a photo of the vine on a smartphone and a reading is returned. A GPS capability shows where the ‘canopies’ need to be cut back.
Technology – helpful tool in traditional production
Most vineyards track data, but much of the collection has been manual and the analysis labor intensive. IoT has the power to deliver intelligence quickly and easily to enhance vineyard planning and sustainability programs.
Low lower, rugged wireless sensors are buried in the ground to monitor the health and condition of vines. These sensors run off batteries or energy harvesting devices such as solar panels. This data is collected and relayed to the cloud for analysis to monitor vine health levels for example or to predict the optimum time for harvesting the grapes. Connectivity is provided via low power networks such as LoRaWAN.
Traditional wine making techniques are still as important in the wine industry as ever, but technology can be a huge aid in protecting vines and terroir. Baron Philippe de Rothschild, for example, is experimenting with a robot at his Château Clerc Milon to help with soil cultivation and weeding the vines. As well as cutting down on arduous chores, it will reduce the use of fossil energies in the vineyards. Fascinating how technology now are of big importance for an old and growing industry!
Wine and tech - two of my favourite subjects! I find it fascinating to consider how much of what we consider today "artisan craftsmanship" or the magic "human element" is really just our brains' ability to process masses of data and learn from years or accumulated experience. All things that in fact computers and sensors may eventually be able to do better than us. The traditional wine making techniques remain critical for now but one day will tech be able to "out taste" us too and optimize production to create better wines than we can do ourselves?