For Canadian wineries, producing a consistent, high-quality wine is becoming more challenging. That’s because warmer temperatures and increasingly unpredictable growing seasons can change the sugar, acids and other compounds in grapes.
For Volta Estate Winery in Prince Edward County, and other Canadian wineries, meeting this challenge goes beyond just doing more testing. It involves getting the right information at the right time.
Benoît Lessard, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Engineering and head of the Lessard Research Group, sees an opportunity for his field to support winemakers.
“Climate change is making it harder for wineries to produce the same high-quality wine year after year,” says Lessard. “By giving winemakers real-time information, they can make better decisions, adapt to changing conditions, reduce waste and not only maintain quality but continually refine their processes to produce even better wines.”