The selection process for the scientific papers nominated for the 2019 Research for Development Awards, a competition promoted by the Italian Society of Viticulture and Enology to foster dialogue between research and production in the field of viticulture, has been concluded.
The Research for Development Awards arise from a collaboration with Assoenologi, Fondazione Edmund Mach and Oenoppia.

Peculiarity of the award is the primary role given to agronomy and oenology technicians in defining the winners, preliminarily selected by a qualified Scientific Committee, composed in 2019 of 49 scientists in the field, including 26 Italians, 15 Europeans and 8 non-Europeans.
The presentation to the technicians of the selected candidate researches took place at Enoforum, the biennial conference, a privileged place for meeting and dialogue among technicians, researchers and suppliers of the international wine sector, which celebrated its 12th edition in Vicenza in 2019 with the participation of more than 1,200 people.

The SIVE OENOPPIA 2019 ES Prize is dedicated to International Research and is now in its fourth edition, having been established in 2013; it is sponsored by the Oenoppia ES association, which brings together the main players involved in the production and development of oenological products and aims in this way to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the wine sector.
Thirty-seven scientific papers from 22 research groups participated in the international competition, 15 of which were selected by the Scientific Committee to be presented orally at Enoforum 2019.

The winner was Antonio Morata of ETSIAAB, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain), who with colleagues Iris LOIRA, María Antonia Bañuelos, Anna Puig-Pujol, Buenaventura Guamis, Carmen González, and José Antonio Suárez-Lepe presented the results of his research on “Use of ultra-high pressure homogenization in winemaking.” The work concerns the transfer to oenology of a technology used in agribusiness, with the treatment of must to control potentially contaminating microorganisms before fermentation and thus reduce the addition of sulfites.
The cash prize of €7,500 paid into the laboratory’s research fund is funded by the international association Oenoppia.

Finalists of the 2019 edition of the Oenoppia ES Prize.

With the highest scores in the evaluation of technicians, they were found in addition to the winner (in alphabetical order of the main author):

• Matteo Gatti, Alessandra Garavani, Cecilia Squeri, Irene Diti, Tommaso Frioni, Stefano Poni, DI.PRO.VE.S., Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Piacenza with the paper: “Management of intra-parcel variability in the vineyard by variable rate fertilization”
• Encarna Gomez-Plaza, Andrea Osete-Alcaraz, Ana Belén Bautista-Ortín, Department of Food Science and Technology, Universidad de Murcia (Spain) with the paper “Approaches to limit interactions between cell wall polysaccharides and tannins”
• Matteo Marangon, Mark Crumpton, Andrew Alkinson, DAFNAE – University of Padua with the paper “Effect of adding CMC and sugar to the dosage on the foam of a sparkling wine
• Pedro Melo-Pinto, Véronique Gomes, Armando Fernandes, Ana Mendes-Ferreira, CITAB, Universidade de Tras-os- Montes e Alto Douro (Portugal) with the paper “Assessment of wine grape ripening using hyperspectral images.”

SIVE Awards are adjudicated on the basis of evaluations by industry experts

The selection process involves three steps:

1. candidates send research paper abstracts to the SIVE Secretariat, which assesses their eligibility and submits them to an initial judgment of the SIVE Scientific Committee (composed of 50 Italian and foreign researchers) based on the criterion “degree of innovation and interest of the topic”
2. the best-ranked papers in the first stage are included in the program of oral presentations at the Enoforum conference and the participating technicians give their assessment of them based on the criterion “usefulness for the development of wine production”
3. the finalist papers are then evaluated again by the Scientific Committee, which assesses the “scientific value” of the papers and validates the result of the technicians

Winners of past SIVE Research for Development Awards.

• SIVE Award 2007: Emilio CELOTTI, Giuseppe CARCERERI de Prati and Paolo FIORINI – “Modern approach to quality management of red grapes.”
• SIVE Award 2009: Raffaele GUZZON, Agostino CAVAZZA and Giovanni CARTURAN – “Immobilization of malo lactic starter. Technology, biological effects and experimental fermentations with O. oeni strain immobilized in hybrid silica/alginate matrices.”
• SIVE VERSINI Award 2011: Matteo GATTI, S. CIVARDI, F. BERNIZZONI, S. PONI – “Differential effects of bunch thinning and early defoliation on yield, grape composition and wine quality in Sangiovese”
• SIVE VERSINI Award 2013: Diana GAZZOLA, S. VINCENZI, A. CURIONI – “Evaluation of the clarifying capabilities of a new protein adjuvant extracted from grape seeds.”
• SIVE INTERNATIONAL AWARD 2013: Ramon MIRA DE ORDUÑA – “Complete automation and control of vinification using FT-NIR spectroscopy: An innovation that presents revolutionary opportunities.”
• SIVE VERSINI Award 2015: Fabio CHINNICI and C. RIPONI – “Control of (+)-catechin oxidation by chitosan: hypothesis for use in sulfite-reduced winemaking”
• SIVE OENOPPIA 2015 Award: Vicente FERREIRA – “Understanding and managing reduction problems.”
• ASSOENOLOGI VERSINI Award 2017: Daniela FRACASSETTI – “The taste of light in white wine: mechanisms of formation and prevention”
• SIVE OENOPPIA Award 2017: Ricardo CHAGAS – “Protein turbidity formation in white wine – the basic role of SO2 in the mechanism of protein aggregation”