VINID’OCC: A Key Initiative to Support Varietal Innovation for the Future of Viticulture and Oenology in Occitanie
On Friday, September 16, 2022, at the Espace Capdeville in the Occitanie region, René Moreno, Occitanie Regional Councilor; Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier; Jean-Philippe Steyer, Deputy Head of the Transform Department at INRAE; and Vincent Charvillat, Vice President Research INP Toulouse, officially launched the VINID’OCC Regional Key Challenge.
Key Challenges Facing the Occitanie Region
The Key Challenges are initiatives launched by the Occitanie Region to support collaborative efforts among research stakeholders in Occitanie. Their goal is to encourage the formation of scientific communities focused on strategic regional issues. Among the 15 Challenges launched since 2021, the University of Montpellier leads the Key Challenges on the themes of biodiversity, water, infectious risks, and vines and wine. Thus, the VINID’OCC Key Challenge aims to develop multidisciplinary, fundamental, and applied research centered on the overarching theme of innovations for the viticulture and oenology of the future in Occitanie.
The VINID’OCC project, winner of the Occitanie Region’s “Key Challenges” competition
Based in the world’s largest wine-growing region by area for wines of designated origin, VINID’OCC will conduct fundamental research with international scope on vines and wine—from the gene to the bottle and the consumer—to acquire knowledge and accelerate changes in viticultural and winemaking practices across the entire chain—plant material, production, processing, and markets—necessary to support varietal innovation. VINID’OCC addresses the challenges of reducing the use of plant protection products, mitigating the effects of climate change on viticulture, and the necessary transformations within the sector. The project brings together all the multidisciplinary scientific expertise present in the region, in alignment with the scientific strategies of the project’s academic partners.
To achieve these objectives, the project will focus on the following areas:
- Characterization of plant material & development of new varieties
- Building knowledge to support developments in viticulture and oenology related to new disease-resistant grape varieties that are more resilient to climate change
- Preparing for the Acceptance of Innovations
This project, with a budget of 2 million euros, is led by Patrice This, Director of Research at the AGAP Institute UMR, and co-led by Fabienne Remize, Professor at the University of Montpellier, UMR SPO, Bruno Blondin, Professor at Institut Agro Montpellier, UMR SPO, and Christian Chervin, Professor at INP Toulouse, UMR LRSV. It will be implemented over a four-year period.
“This fourth key regional initiative led by the University of Montpellier will enable the development of fundamental research with international scope on viticulture and wine, addressing the major challenges facing the sector, particularly in the face of climate change. The Region’s leadership is crucial to this initiative. This challenge brings together an entire scientific community comprising no fewer than 18 research units and over 300 researchers who will work collectively to address these issues alongside socio-economic stakeholders in Montpellier and Toulouse.” Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier
List of the project's academic partners:
- University of Montpellier (UM) – lead institution for the Key Challenge
- CNRS – National Center for Research
- EPHE – École Pratique des Hautes Études
- INP – National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse
- INRAE – National Institute for Research Agriculture, Food, and the Environment
- Montpellier Agricultural Institute
- IRD – French National Research Institute Research Sustainable Development
- UT3 – University of Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier
VINID’OCC research projects already selected (€250,000 per project)
- Plastivigne: To study the diversity of the grapevine genome in order to improve our understanding of the variability of its genetic content and the presence of structural variations that may influence the expression of traits relevant to adaptation to climate change.
- Vitifuture: Generate knowledge about innovative grape varieties, particularly those resistant to fungal diseases, across a range of water availability conditions and within viticultural systems that incorporate agroecological practices. Provide technical guidelines for designing and managing new viticultural systems that address the challenges of the future.
- Oenovard’Occ: To gain a better understanding of the oenological potential of a wide range of grape varieties, including powdery mildew- and downy mildew-resistant red grape varieties, and to identify the key oenological criteria for assessing the final quality of wines.
- Objective: To support the rollout of sustainable plant variety innovations that are tailored to specific regions and markets. To identify and remove barriers to the adoption of plant variety innovations by growers and markets by engaging stakeholders across the sector.
In addition to these projects, the initiative will include the purchase of phenotyping equipment (€300,000), support for complementary research projects, and several outreach activities.