Space vineyards, it will be the European Space Agency to predict the wine of the future

Take advantage of satellite and terrestrial sensors to feed mathematical models able to predict certain quality factors of the wine produced from the monitored vineyards, immediately reporting any critical aspects for the vines: it is the mission of Esa, the European Space Agency, which launches, by financing it, a revolutionary project opening a new space era and an unprecedented perspective in the wine world, for the possibility of obtaining quantitative information on the wine of the future that will be produced before the grapes are pressed, thanks to a monitoring process that will at the same time help winegrowers to protect their vineyards, in collaboration with Ticinum Aerospace, an academic spin-off of the University of Pavia, and the Terre d’Oltrepò winery to lead the way.
“Thanks to the data produced by the European Sentinel constellation, models will be developed that link the trend of different vegetation indices and environmental conditions to the characteristics of the grapes produced and the wine produced. Data from the ground will be provided by innovative weather stations, based on a patent held by Ticinum; thanks to the use of the most advanced technologies, these devices are completely maintenance-free and therefore able to operate for years without intervention once installed, thus minimizing the maintenance costs for the growers”, explains Nicola Parisi, agronomist of Terre d’Oltrepò, who will coordinate the participation of the winery by making available to the project not only technical but also operational knowledge, and suggesting the best approaches for the integration of the system in order to maximize the benefits for wine production. “Parisi’s attention to technological developments and his passion for innovation - said Andrea Giorgi, president of Terre d’Oltrepò - have played a fundamental role in making this project possible, contributing to create a convincing and proactive project proposal, which the European Space Agency has assessed very positively”.