The wine group joins the Spanish wine industry in this plan, in which will invest 2.8 million € until 2011
Matarromera, within its undeniable wager on research and development, will invest 2.8 Million Euros in Cenit Demeter Project until 2011.
The Consortium Cenit Demeter (Development Strategies and Methods of Viticulture and Oenology against climate change. Application of new technologies that improve the efficiency of processes Resulting) is composed of 26 companies linked to Spanish wine, of which 67% are wineries and the remaining 33% is for ancillary businesses.
Through this project, which will involve an overall investment of nearly EUR 27 million over 4 years, there will be conducted several investigations with 31 research groups belonging to 17 public research centres and 5 Technology Centres, among them, the Scientific Research Supreme Council, the College of Agricultural Engineers in Madrid or the University of Salamanca.
Between the lines of research that are going to be developed, there can be found the Transcriptomics pursuing studies linking changes in gene expression with the process of maturation of the grapes (synthesis of sugars, aromas and polyphenols ...), the study of wine-growing techniques of adaptation of the Vineyard to the new conditions resulting from climate change, the study of strategies for adapting yeast and bacteria to the new membership of must and wine, the incorporation of advanced technologies in the management strategy of wine as adaptation to climate change, the study of Adaptation to climate change in the sector of cava, and the study of environmental measures such as wastewater reuse and life cycle analysis in the sector of the cork.
The studies have been initiated in 2008 and will continue until 2011. There are going to be four years of intense work on a research project that aims to achieve that Spanish viticulture and oenology gain the access to a leadership position in a global context, and where Matarromera Group will continue to demonstrate its commitment to the Research and Development.
What is a Cenit project?
The Spanish government began in 2005, the strategic plan Ingenio 2010 with the aim of increasing the resources devoted to R & D of the Spanish industry with a budget of 8,000 million euros in four years. Within the same project, it comes Cenit (National Strategic Technical Research Consortium). These projects are entirely novel and created to encourage research work as a team and to ensure an important scientific component to have a high percentage of participation of the research centres.
The management of R & D is divided from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Center for Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI). This institution has convened 4 editions of Cenit projects. In this fourth convocation 14 projects have been approved with a total budget of 377 million euros divided by sectors as follows:
Security 22%, Mobility 22%, Information and Communications 14%, Materials 7%, Environment and Energy 14%, Alimentation industry 14% and Biomedicine 7%.
Cenit seek to increase the scientific knowledge of the industry, improving university-business relationship, promoting research work in teams. To encourage the involvement of companies CDTI subsidize these projects with aid of up to 50% of the budget.
Why does the Spanish wine industry enters Cenit projects?
The wine has a great importance in the Spanish economy. Spain has the largest vineyard in the world with 1,174,000 ha (14.85 global area) and it is the third largest wine exporter in the world with about 14 million hectoliters (17% global volume).
In recent years, some grape growers and winemakers have been observing certain changes in the process of maturation of the grapes. There is a tendency to be a mismatch between the maturity in the sugar content, and early maturity of aromas and polyphenols, later. So it is difficult to determine the optimum point of harvest because if we have the appropriate grade, the maximum aromatic intensity has not been reached yet and the tannins are still green. This gap is a challenge for manufacturers because consumers prefer wines of intense aroma, ripe tannins and lower alcohol content.
The observed changes are due to new weather conditions that were consistent with the results that emerge from the study on climate change in Spain drawn up by the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the University of Castilla la Mancha. The study provides the following changes:
1. Progressive trend of increased average temperatures throughout the century, especially in the summer months.
2. General trend towards a lower cumulative annual rainfall.
