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 encourage dialogue between research and production in the wine field, has concluded.
The Research for Development Awards are the result of collaboration with Assoenologi, Fondazione Edmund Mach and Oenoppia.

A peculiarity of the award is the primary role given to agronomists and oenologists in the definition of the winners, preliminarily selected by a qualified Scientific Committee, composed in 2019 by 49 scientists of the sector, including 26 Italians, 15 Europeans and 8 non-Europeans.
The presentation to the technicians of the shortlisted candidate research took place at Enoforum, the biennial conference that is a privileged place for meeting and dialogue between technicians, researchers and suppliers of the international wine sector, which in 2019 held its twelfth edition in Vicenza with the participation of more than 1,200 people.

The SIVE OENOPPIA 2019 ES Award is dedicated to International Research and reaches its 4th ES edition, after its creation in 2013; it is sponsored by the Oenoppia ES association, which brings together the main actors involved in the production and development of oenological products and thus aims 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, from the ETSIAAB of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain), who together with his colleagues Iris LOIRA, María Antonia Bañuelos, Anna Puig-Pujol, Buenaventura Guamis, Carmen González and José Antonio Suárez-Lepe presented the results of their research on the topic “Use of ultra-high pressure homogenization in winemaking”. The work refers to the transfer to enology of a technology used in the agri-food industry, with the treatment of the must to control potentially contaminating microorganisms before fermentation and thus reduce the addition of sulfites.
The prize, worth 7,500 euros, goes to the laboratory’s research fund and is financed by the international association Oenoppia.

Finalists of the 2019 edition of the Oenoppia ES Award

In addition to the winner (in alphabetical order of the main author), the following were awarded with the highest scores in the evaluation of the technicians:

• Matteo Gatti, Alessandra Garavani, Cecilia Squeri, Irene Diti, Tommaso Frioni, Stefano Poni, DI.PRO.VE.S, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore de Piacenza con la ponencia: “Management of intra-parcel variability in the vineyard by variable rate fertilisation”
• Encarna Gomez-Plaza, Andrea Osete-Alcaraz, Ana Belén Bautista-Ortín, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Murcia (Spain) with the paper “Approaches to limit interactions between cell wall polysaccharides and tannins”.
• Matteo Marangon, Mark Crumpton, Andrew Alkinson, DAFNAE – Universidad de Padua (Italia) con el trabajo “Effect of CMC and sugar dosage addition 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 work «Evaluation of wine grape ripening using hyperspectral images»

The SIVE Awards are granted on the basis of the evaluations made by the technicians of the

The selection process consists of three steps:

1. candidates send their research abstracts to the SIVE Secretariat, which evaluates their eligibility and submits them to a first judgment of the SIVE Scientific Committee (composed of 50 Italian and foreign researchers) on the basis of the criterion “degree of innovation and interest of the topic”.
2. the best ranked papers in the first phase are included in the program of oral presentations at the Enoforum conference and the participating technicians express their evaluation of the papers on the basis of the criterion “usefulness for the development of wine production”.
3. the finalist papers are re-evaluated by the Scientific Committee, which assesses their “scientific value” and validates the technicians’ results.

Previous winners of the SIVE Research for Development Awards

• SIVE Award 2007: Emilio CELOTTI, Giuseppe CARCERERI of 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 starters. Technology, biological effects and experimental fermentations with O. oeni strains immobilized in hybrid silica/alginate matrices.”
• SIVE VERSINI Award 2011: Matteo GATTI, S. CIVARDI, F. BERNIZZONI, S. PONI – »Differential effects of cluster 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 capacity of a new protein adjuvant extracted from grape seeds»
• 2013 SIVE VERSINI Award: Ramon MIRA DE ORDUÑA – «Full automation and control of vinifications by FT-NIR spectroscopy: An innovation presenting ground-breaking opportunities»
• SIVE VERSINI 2015 Award: Fabio CHINNICI and C. RIPONI – “Control of (+)-catechin oxidation by chitosan: hypothesis of use in sulfite-reduced winemaking”.
• SIVE OENOPPIA 2015 Award: Vicente FERREIRA – “Understanding and managing reduction issues”.
• ASSOENOLOGI VERSINI 2017 Award: Daniela FRACASSETTI – “The taste of light in white wine: mechanisms of formation and prevention”.
• SIVE OENOPPIA 2017 Award: Ricardo CHAGAS – “Protein turbidity formation in white wine – the basic role of SO2 in the protein aggregation mechanism”