Chr. Hansen to participate in wine study

red-white-wine-bottle-glass-26334569A new four-year project has received a grant of €4 million from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions European Training Network within the EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation.

 

In the project, an international collaboration of scientists from a wide range of universities, research institutions, vineyards and private companies aims to characterise the community of microorganisms that lies at the heart of wine production. An improved understanding of the wine microbiome (exploring the relation between terroir and grape micro flora) is expected to have significant effects on the wine industry.

 

“Chr. Hansen is the major industrial partner in this grant and the only one specialising in microbial solutions. One of the outcomes of this study might be the identification of microorganisms with novel application in the wine industry which can potentially be commercialized in future,” said Dr. Hentie Swiegers from Chr. Hansen’s Wine Innovation department.

 

Swiegers holds a seat on the executive committee of the project, which is led by Professor Lars Hestbjerg Hansen of the Department of Environmental Sciences at Aarhus University, Denmark.

 

Chr. Hansen’s role in the project will be to host training sessions for the 15 PhD students from six countries that are studying the vine (grapes) and wine microbiome to characterise it, thereby eventually providing science-based knowledge that can help winemakers control the processes optimally.

 

“We take pride in being a partner in this project. Not only does it give us a sharp competitive edge in the industry, it is also a blue stamp of our high scientific profile,” said Swiegers.

 

Chr. Hansen is a global supplier of wine ingredients. In September, the company was presented with the 2014 Frost & Sullivan Global Award for New Product Innovation Leadership in wine ingredients.