FRANCE: Wine growers in the south of France are using satellite technology to observe their vines as they ripen, leading to targeted harvesting and a higher quality product

Record ID: 702316

  • Title: FRANCE: Wine growers in the south of France are using satellite technology to observe their vines as they ripen, leading to targeted harvesting and a higher quality product
  • Date: 10th September 2012
  • Summary: CHATEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE, VAUCLUSE, FRANCE (AUGUST 31, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GRAPE HARVESTING MACHINE HARVESTING GRAPES
  • Embargoed: 25th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Business,Industry,Science / Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVA10OYMCZZNG1HGWZT2FP9TAG5C
  • Story Text: Modern science is lending a hand to the ancient practice of viticulture in the south of France where satellite technology is enabling local wine producers to get the most out of their vines.
    The service, called Oenoview, helps wine growers to gauge how ripe the fruit is in different areas of the vineyard so that the all-important harvest takes place at the optimum time.
    As the annual "veraison" gets underway down on the ground -- the season when the grapes are ripening about six weeks before the harvest itself -- 800 kilometres overheard, two satellites are scanning the terrain to provide computer-generated images which detail what is growing along each row of vines.
    About thirty vineyards and wine-growing co-operatives already make use of the technology in France, and the concept is being exported to Canada, Morocco, Greece and Japan.
    Cedric Hallereau is a vineyard manager and wine-growing consultant at the Co-operative Wine Institute, one of the bodies behind the operation. He says the satellite images are marked with different colours which indicate variations in soil type, allowing growers to target particular areas of the vineyard at certain times to make the most of prevailing conditions.

    "We can see colour differences which allow us to target our interventions in the vineyard to see what these different zones have to do with the quality of the grape to be able to separate them during the harvest and then also to be able to use this map for different jobs like fertilising, pruning and removing buds and so on," Hallereau said.
    He added that with two different sorts of satellite in use for the operation -- Spot 5 and Formosat 2 -- even very large estates can be accommodated and surveyed.
    The Fortia Chateau vineyard in Chateauneuf-du-Pape uses the technology on its entire 31 hectare estate at a cost of 5,000 euros ($US 6,400) a year.
    Pierre Pastre manages the estate where production is up to 110,000 bottles a year, 75-80 percent of which is exported.

    "Thanks to the mapping of this plot, we have been able to prune quite severely in February/March this year, and adjusting the numbers of bunches in June/July by so-called 'green picking'. So now we can take the benefit to have a very nice bunch of grapes," he said.
    The impact of this work on the quality of the wine is marked according to oenologist Didier Robert.
    Over a glass of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, he said that the technology would help produce a more consistent wine.

    "The map will help us to obtain this result every year because we can choose the right vineyard to elaborate the right style of wine," he said.
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