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Viticulture and enology
researchers at California State University, Fresno and industry partners
are completing their second wine grape harvest as part of a five-year
research project that combines satellite, computer and infrared
technologies.
Called “differential harvesting,” the pioneering research increases the
ability to capture quality that exists within a vineyard, said Dr.
Robert Wample, director of Fresno State’s Viticulture and Enology
Research Center and chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology.
“The potential for increasing the quality and value of wine for
consumers also improves the profit margin for wine grape growers,” ample
said. “High-tech differential harvesting can also reduce labor costs.
The ability to do this with a machine harvester is valuable, and
therefore has economic value.”
“Quality fruit in the San Joaquin Valley typically results in less
expensive wine, and this project is all about elevating the quality of
wine more than the price per bottle,” Wample said
Differential harvesting has been honored with awards from the American
Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and from the Central
California Research Symposium.
Currently, the team is harvesting more than 70 acres of Cabernet
Sauvignon wine grapes at Merjan Vineyards, a 159-acre vineyard north of
Madera. It is using a Korvan wine grape harvester. The harvester is
equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) and the ability to
compare its “real-time” position to other areas of the vineyard with
more colorful fruit, which could potentially yield higher quality wine.
Those regions have been identified in the past 10 days and converted
into a “shape file” that is loaded into a computer on the harvester.
Last year, Wample announced a major breakthrough when university and
industry researchers successfully harvested grapes in Lodi using the new
system.
“Over the past year, researchers have taken the project to the next
level by performing this research on a larger scale,” Wample said.
The system uses near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) equipment in
conjunction with GPS to prepare a “quality map” of a vineyard prior to
harvest.
A major difference in this year’s work was the increased acreage that is
being studied, and the fact that this year’s vineyard had been
mechanically pruned, Wample said. Last year, the vineyard was hand
pruned.
In 2006, data was collected from more than 400 sampling points at Twin
Creeks Vineyard, a 45-acre vineyard near Lodi.
This year, researchers have collected more than 2,000 samples at Merjan
Vineyard. Research also continues at the Twin Creeks Vineyard, with the
goal of understanding factors that influence color development in wine
grapes.
In addition to fruit color, comparisons will include berry size,
clusters per vine and yield.
Industry representatives are Oren Kaye, a former Fresno State master’s
student and VERC research technician from Constellation Wines in Madera;
Jim Orvis, Constellation Wines, Madera; Greg Berg, Oxbo International
Corporation, Kingsburg; and Jack Farrior, Merjan Vineyards in Madera,
owned by Correia Farms.
University team members are Robert Cochran, VERC research technician;
Dr. Balaji Seth, an industrial technology professor; and Siva
Sachidhanantham of India, a student research assistant with the
Industrial Technology Department working under the direction of Wample.
Dr. Antonio Odair Santos, research scientist from the Instituto
Agronómico in Brazil, also contributed to the project during his 2005
assignment to VERC. Santos recently returned to VERC for a second visit
and has rejoined the research team.
Earlier this year, Sachidhanantham gave poster presentations on the 2006
research findings at various meetings, resulting in a first-place award
at the university’s Central California Research Symposium, and a
second-place award at the American Society of Agricultural and
Biological Engineers C-N Section meeting.
He was also featured in the spring 2007 and Winter 2006-2007 issues of
Update, a publication of the California Agricultural Technology
Institute on campus.
Funding was provided primarily through VERC. Other funding sources
include the Agricultural Research Institute, American Vineyard
Foundation, Constellation Wines, and the Viticulture Consortium West.
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