Each year, on April 22, we celebrate Earth Day as people worldwide unite to promote the protection of our planet and environment. But for vineyards and winegrowers, every day is a reminder of the need to protect the environment. Effects of climate change on viticulture Climate change has profound impacts on the viticulture industry, which faces unprecedented challenges—from rising temperatures to severe storms and increased drought conditions. Temperatures are rising in many traditional wine-growing regions to levels once considered too hot for grape cultivation. As grapes ripen too quickly, t ..read more

Grapevine flower development is a complex and fascinating process that spans over two growing seasons. Understanding grapevine flower development and structure is key to adjuting vineyard management practices to optimise grapevine growth, fruitfulness, and yield. Grapevine flowers development Similar to many other perennial crops, the formation of grapevine flowers in temperate regions extends over two seasons, starting with the summer shoot growth in the first year and ending with the onset of flowering in the second year. The whole process of grapevine flower development is very complex and ..read more

The integration of eVineyard and vintrace brings together two industry leaders, digitally connecting vineyard to winery to provide winemakers with an unprecedented level of control and insight into their entire production process, from vineyard to bottle. eVineyard and vintrace have joined forces to deliver an integration that connects vineyard and winery software. The integration removes double data entry during harvest with seamless connectivity that saves wineries significant time. eVineyard is a powerful vineyard management software that combines vineyard data analysis with work and cost t ..read more

Wine sales typically spike from September to December as consumers purchase wines for holiday get-togethers and gifts. Thus this is the time for wineries to execute holiday sales and marketing campaigns to increase wine sales during the holiday season. To help you increase sales during the holiday season, we have gathered the best sales tips proven to work. 4 proven to work Holiday season wine sales tips 1. Offer discount Offering a discount is, by no surprise, the best and most effective way to boost wine sales. However, you want to be smart about it and not have discounting as a long-term st ..read more

Summary: Frost events during the grapevine growing season can cause extensive frost damage and thus enormous economic losses for winegrowers across the globe. As active frost protection measures can be very costly, we looked into the possibility of using UAVs (large, machine-powered drones), which are getting more and more space in the viticulture industry – to help prevent frost damage in the vineyards. For this purpose, several subsystems were developed, and several field test experiments were conducted over the 2021 grape growing season. With several tests, we proved that flights could be t ..read more

Traditionally most wines are sold from September to December. In the US, wine sales start to rise for the Thanksgiving celebration, while in parts of Europe, with the celebration of St. Martin’s Day, and ends after the New Year on both continents. While the peak sale period is right before the start of the Christmas-New Year holiday season. Although the holidays are still a month and a half away, it’s crucial to sell as much as possible before the start of the Holiday season. This year especially, due to the latest news on the lack of shipping containers, and the rise of covid cases. Namely, l ..read more

Summer is the time of the year when most people get a bit more relaxed, go to summer holidays, eat ice-creams, have BBQs, and in general spend more time outdoors. Having this in mind when planning sales in your winery will help you boost summer wine sales. Although the summer of 2021 will not be an ordinary summer as the Covid-19 still threatens us, it doesn’t mean you can’t boost wine sales. Guarantee good wine sales this summer by following the below tips, while taking all the safety precautions for you, your employees, and your customers. 1. Use social media Yes, we are putting social media ..read more

The year 2022 is slowly coming to an end; thus, now is a perfect time to make review of the past vintage and start thinking about the next year. While one chaotic year is ending, it seems that another one is coming. Uncertain future due to current economic outlooks and the effects climate changes have on vineyards can be stressful. However, there are a few things vineyard managers can do to map out the successful year 2023. A quick review of the past viticulture year At the start of the 2022 year, there were still some Covid-19 restrictions in place; however, a warm spring washed most of them ..read more

No matter where on Earth you grow your grapes, nor what kind of pest management approach you are following: conventional, integrated, or organic, you have to apply fungicides to control or prevent grape fungal diseases to be able to harvest healthy grapes.  Depending on the weather, pest management approach, presence of disease, and fungicides used the number of spraying activities in one growing season varies. Based on a study made in the famous wine-growing region Bordeaux, France, on average 8-9 fungicide applications during the growing season are required to control the Downy mildew a ..read more

Long after the traditional harvest season has ended, some winemakers are still patiently waiting for their perfect moment to harvest grapes. They are waiting for the temperatures to drop sufficiently so that grapes will freeze on the vines, and they can start with the winter harvest and production of ice wine. Namely, grapes for ice wine must be harvested and processed while frozen. Ice wine is a style of dessert wine that is very sweet and balanced by bright acidity. It could be made from white and red grape varieties. If compared to other dessert wines, grapes for ice wines should not be aff ..read more