Science at UM [S03-ep07]: Understanding Oenology

[Podcast] - Published on November 9, 2023 in Science and Society

This week on "Science at the UM," Fabienne Remize, a biology researcher and director of theUMR Sciences for Oenology , presents the book she co-authored with her colleague Véronique Cheynier: Wine: 60 Keys to Understanding Oenology. In the second half of the program, Hadrien Blayac, a biological technician at the SMEL, introduces us to the “service moyen à la mer.” A program broadcast every Wednesday at 6 p.m. on Divergence FM 93.9.

So wine is on today’s menu. Whether it’s red, white, or rosé; sparkling or mulled; natural or as mysterious as “wine of the veil,” we drink it down to the last drop.

But when exactly did this love affair between humans and the vine begin? The earliest traces of wild grape seeds date back more than 50 million years, but it wasn’t until 11,000 BCE that viticulture emerged during the Stone Age in the Caucasus and the Fertile Crescent.

Since then, this beverage has never ceased to captivate our minds and bodies. It features in countless myths and legends across the globe. In the West, it was Noah who planted the first vine; a little further east, it was Gilgamesh. Wherever it takes root, the vine and wine are symbols of wisdom, spirituality, and even divinity. Wine is also often associated with blood, as in Christianity or among the Egyptians, where it is considered the blood of giants. It is, of course, also a source of trouble and danger—an ambivalence that defines Dionysus and the Bacchanalia of his Roman counterpart, and which justifies its prohibition in Islam. On the medical front, in 460 BCE Hippocrates recommended its “limited but beneficial” use—a debate we have still not resolved 2,500 years later.

So, to help you become experts on the subject at your next Christmas dinner, we’re joined today by a biologist. Fabienne Remize is a specialist in wine microorganisms and heads the UMR Sciences for Oenology. Together with her colleague from the SPO, Véronique Cheynier, she has co-authored a book for the general public titled *Le Vin: 60 Keys to Understanding Oenology*, published by Quae.

In the second half of the program, we continue our tour of the Mediterranean Coastal Environment Station, and this time we’ll explore the Marine Operations Department with its manager, Hadrien Blayac, a biological technician.

At UM Science, you’ve got the program—let’s get started!

Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier
Reporting and editing: Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier
Director: Alice Rollet

Tune in to the show “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: Science at UM, Research, Science, Company