As grape-picking season gets started in some areas for this year's wine harvest, more French wine-growers are using satellite technology to improve the quality and profitability of their wine.

"/> As grape-picking season gets started in some areas for this year's wine harvest, more French wine-growers are using satellite technology to improve the quality and profitability of their wine.

" />
SHARE
COPY LINK

WINE

Wine growers call in help from satellites

As grape-picking season gets started in some areas for this year's wine harvest, more French wine-growers are using satellite technology to improve the quality and profitability of their wine.

Wine growers call in help from satellites
John Said

The satellite-based Oenoview system takes a picture from 800 kilometres above the earth that can give a precise breakdown of the quality and quantity of vines, newspaper Aujourd’hui reports. The infrared images show the extent of vine growth, how much water is in the fruit and can help determine when grapes are ready to harvest.

The data can also help vintners manage their crops to increase yields and improve the quality of the finished product.

“The benefit is improved profitability by not mixing grapes of average and excellent quality,” said Jérome Hourdel, from the Wine Cooperative Institute (ICV), which has developed the technology in partnership with Astrium, a subsidiary of aerospace giant EADS.

Jean-Pierre Drieux, a vintner in the Gascony region of southwest France also known for its foie gras and Armagnac, is using it for the first year. He believes it should be seen as a valuable addition to centuries-old expertise.

“It’s a great complementary tool,” he told the newspaper, “but it can’t replace the human hand.”

Fifty wine-growers are now reported to be using the tool, mostly in the south of France.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

FARMING

Cold snap ‘could slash French wine harvest by 30 percent’

A rare cold snap that froze vineyards across much of France this month could see harvest yields drop by around a third this year, France's national agriculture observatory said on Thursday.

Cold snap 'could slash French wine harvest by 30 percent'
A winemaker checks whether there is life in the buds of his vineyard in Le Landreau, near Nantes in western France, on April 12th, following several nights of frost. Photo: Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS / AFP

Winemakers were forced to light fires and candles among their vines as nighttime temperatures plunged after weeks of unseasonably warm weather that had spurred early budding.

Scores of vulnerable fruit and vegetable orchards were also hit in what Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie called “probably the greatest agricultural catastrophe of the beginning of the 21st century.”

IN PICTURES: French vineyards ablaze in bid to ward off frosts

The government has promised more than €1 billion in aid for destroyed grapes and other crops.

Based on reported losses so far, the damage could result in up to 15 million fewer hectolitres of wine, a drop of 28 to 30 percent from the average yields over the past five years, the FranceAgriMer agency said.

That would represent €1.5 to €2 billion of lost revenue for the sector, Ygor Gibelind, head of the agency’s wine division, said by videoconference.

It would also roughly coincide with the tally from France’s FNSEA agriculture union.

Prime Minister Jean Castex vowed during a visit to damaged fields in southern France last Saturday that the emergency aid would be made available in the coming days to help farmers cope with the “exceptional situation.”

READ ALSO: ‘We’ve lost at least 70,000 bottles’ – French winemakers count the cost of late frosts

SHOW COMMENTS