22 November 2022
The CLIMACAL project, which emerged in October 2021 as a result of the collaboration between Bodegas Faustino, Pernod Ricard Winemakers Spain, and the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development (Neiker), continues to advance in the development of a new intelligent tool for early prediction of grape quality based on agro-climatic conditions in the vineyards.
During the project's development, a compilation of historical quality data from the 2015-2022 campaigns was carried out, and a network of agro-climatic stations was deployed in the plots analyzed in the project. Through interpolation techniques, historical agro-climatic data for these plots (2015-2022) was generated. This allowed for the analysis of data from 8 campaigns to obtain significant results.
The analysis of this information has highlighted the influence of certain climatic indicators, such as the "Winkler Index," on the final quality of the grape. Furthermore, using regression techniques, the project includes the development of a prediction system for the evolution of quality parameters that will take into account climatic predictions provided by AEMET.
CLIMACAL is based on predictive models that will allow for determining grape quality before harvest and, thus, help wineries adapt their winemaking strategies, from harvest planning (date, selective harvesting, grape destination based on wine type) to product and process design (logistics, purchasing, sales, etc.), as well as planning future interventions and management both in the field and in the winery. Considering recent changes in consumption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the incipient economic crisis, and new trends in the wine market, tools based on the use of Big Data, such as CLIMACAL, can be of great help to wineries, providing support in decision-making both in the field and in the winery, enabling them to be more flexible and better plan their strategies, and therefore, their productions and processes.
The CLIMACAL project is co-financed by the Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment of the Basque Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), with a total subsidy of €72,165.25 and will conclude in December 2022. However, information will continue to be integrated into the predictive model, so its accuracy will improve with each campaign as the volume of available data increases.
