Not all wine lovers will be excited about today’s tech news, but those who adore everything tech related will undoubtedly be ecstatic.
The age-old winemaking process in Spain is stepping right into the heart of the 21st century. In Pago Aylés, a Zaragoza-based winery that makes vintages which consistently rank as some of the finest wines in Spain, have started using sensor technology in order to enhance production.
Julio Prieto, the vineyard’s agronomist, said that this was necessary. He added: "I make a number of in-situ measurements. Coupling them with data provided by stations and soil sensors can help us obtain crucial information to make early decisions for greater efficiency and lower production costs."
Pago Aylés joined forces with remOT Technologies, a project of the University of Zaragoza in Spain’s northeast that specialises in agricultural measurement. Together, they are developing an IoT project that will “model the future”, as Prieto describes it.
The project gathers data that could reveal predictive behavioural patterns in vineyards related to potential pests, biological cycles, production, grape quality and plant diseases.
The IoT technology is the result of work done by Libelium, a Zaragoza firm (founded by David Gascón and Alicia Asín 12 years ago) that markets a software and hardware platform to "connect any sensor to any cloud using any wireless technology.” This includes CAN bus and similar industrial protocols.
The researchers have installed a network comprising well over 100 checkpoints across nearly 25 measurement parameters in the vineyard. This automatically measures soil and air temperature, environmental pressure, humidity, wind speed, rainfall and wind direction.
The data recorded in this way is then transmitted via a 4G connection to a web application programmed by remOT. This is stored remotely on Microsoft Azure Cloud, so users are able to view statistics in either chart format or as a table and then make comparisons between parameters on various dates.
Prieto said: "This way we speed up all the data post production. We can have, for example, the maximum production potential for, let's say, the following month, which can save a lot of money."
According to Libelium, the use of its IoT system combined with the remOT app Agrimés, which also functions offline, not only improves the quality of the end product but also helps to avoid diseases and boost productivity.
Prieto agreed with this, and added that the claim could be substantiated by a 30% increase in the vineyard’s quality measures. This, he added, was vital if they wanted to maintain their position in the market and their pricing strategy.
The vineyard’s 2015 S de Aylés wine recently won the Grand Gold Bacchus award at the Bacchus Wine International competition.
There is, however, a long road ahead before IoT technology will be used widely in viticulture. Prieto said that only a few agronomists were currently using it.
“I know of just seven or eight winery agronomists in Spain that have delved into IoT. And it's a pity, as in a single season the return of investment is guaranteed", he concluded.
Today’s technology news was brought to you by TD SYNNEX – the UK’s number one distributor.
