SIMEI 2015, the International Enological and Bottling Equipment Exhibition organised by UIV, Unione Italiana Vini, that is taking place now at fiera Milano Rho, is the ideal platform of a professional confrontation on the topic, more and more discussed, of sustainability of the production chain also related to sensory analysis. Two congresses of high profile, the fists “Sustainability as a tribute to wine quality” that was held in the afternoon of the first day of the exhibition and the second, “Discover the sensory factors”, held in the second day.

Many speakers were present to stress the importance of both contents that were debated during  these clue events of the 26th edition of Simei. The discussion was opened by Domenico Zonin – President of Unione Italiana Vini – that said “We are here again, operators and international associations, to talk about sustainability. Talking about good wine means to talk about “sustainable” wine and with this we intend to develop a holistic concept.

We cannot considerate sustainability as an abstract concept, as we believe it is part of a social behavior that is related to culture and history. UIV is today confirming its effort in involving in this discussion table the most important stakeholder of the wine production chain: producers, services suppliers, operators involved in sustainability projects, consumers”.

To the first appoinment, natural sequel of the sustainability congress of Simei 2013, Ettore Capri – Professor  in Agricultural Chemistry at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza and Director of the Research Center OPERA,  together with Ulrich Fisher – Professor at the Viticulture and Enology Department,  Kompetenzzentrum Weinforschung DLR Rheinpfalz, Neustadt, and with the contribution of Anita Oberholster – Enology and Viticulture Department of UC Davis, gave an update of the concept of sustainable development for the vine and wine industry and its impact on the economic growth and ecological innovation, creating value in the hole value chain.

Other speakers such as Allison Jordan - Vice President Environmental Affairs for Wine Institute and Executive Director California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance and member of Sustainability Group at FIVS, Jean Claude Ruf - Scientific Coordinator OIV, Ignacio Sanchez – General Secretary EU/CEEV, explained the importance of the holistic approach to wine sustainability.  Patricio Parra – General Manager Consorcio Vinos de Chile  has then summarized the theme of the session stating that “the real challenge is to translate declarations into practical management, for this reason decision making processes and transparency in communication with all the stakeholder are crucial”.

Open discussion table session followed these interventions. These were coordinated by experts of the sector such as Lucia Bailetti, Director of the Italian Center for Sensory Analysis, Osvaldo Failla – Associate Professor Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Dept, Università degli Studi Milano, Mike Veseth – Wine Economist and Economic Professor University Puget Sound,  and Karissa Kruse – President Sonoma County Winegrape Commission.

In the afternoon during an interesting video conference, Roger Boulton – Department of Viticolture and Enology, University of California, Davis, presented the famous sustainable cellar Jess Jackson Winery, case of success characterized by several peculiar elements.

An original interactive format, successfully implemented in 2013 for the first time, was used in conducting the congresses: at the end of each session all the attendants could actively participate in the discussion interacting directly with the speakers and participating to a survey about their level of engagement in the focus, in this case sustainability and sensory analysis.

The second congress that ended yesterday introduced the questions discussed during the day: what is the right definition of “good wine”? What is the wine quality relevance and how can we measure it? “Sensory analysis is a scientific discipline” declared Zonin during its welcome speech.

A video message of Anita Oberholster, was followed by the intervention of Ulrich Fisher that spoke about the sensory techniques used to understand the consumers preferences and “Sensory Toolbox” main elements: test, descriptive analysis, analysis methods that consider the time factor in wine tasting, the definition of wine quality from consumers and from experts points of view.

In the morning Jennifer Jo Wiseman, Vice President Consumer and Product Insights of  E. & J. Gallo Winery and Carol Karahadian, Director Product and Process Technology and Sensory di Starbucks, made their presentations describing how sensory analysis is applied in their companies to best develop their products, so that the reference target can better appreciate it.  

“Sensory experience drives decisions” said Jennifer Jo Wiseman. In the same morning Jessica L. Ginger, Member Operations and Implementation Manager di The Sustainability Consortium, presented its organization that operates globally to supply data and resources in the field of sustainability to its members. She stressed that “identifying opportunities to implement more and more sustainable practices should not exclude sensory analysis”.

In the afternoon, during the open table session the stakeholders debated about sensory analysis as a way to develop and evaluate the regional peculiarities of wines and about the most successful sensory factors in different consumer regions. Also the neuromarketing applied to the wine sector was brought to the audience attention in order to understand and evaluate emotional reactions of consumers.

Info: www.simei.it