5 Successful Winemaking Habits

Winemaking is an unpredictable business. Weather conditions can affect the quality of the grapes, while the cellar temperature can influence the fermentation process. If we want to produce quality wine, all other factors which we can influence should be under maximum control. Through this kind of control and a lot of passion winemakers build their identities, which are then expressed in the unique qualities of their wine.

1. Do the right thing at the right time: Wine production is a delicate process; harvest grapes too late and you will have flabby wine, low on acids and too much alcohol. Be too late with cooling the fermentation process and you’ll ventilate that smooth, fruity aroma you should be proud of. Keeping records on each activity involved in building great wine is a precondition for timely and right decisions.
2. Be in touch with reality: It is not easy to decide which material is the best for the job. Choosing optimal materials for the job to have maximum profits is even harder. Keeping track of costs and having production costs in mind while making wine for specific markets is the key to profitability. Every material, every activity, every cost should be strictly in the service of sales profits and customer satisfaction.
3. Only precise measurements: Once, a lot was left to experience. Today, there is more to precision measuring. Must sugar, acids and pH have to be measured precisely, while precise calculations of required materials for must and wine adjustments are more than ever “conditio sine qua non” to get the desired results. If the market expects a certain wine, you have to deliver it. A bunch of handy tools certainly reduce risks and make things easier.
4. Keep your records: Records on what you have done to get your profitable wine is your know-how. Repeat it over and over and be successful over and over. It is not enough only to have records, it is important to have an easy access to those records.
5. Use easy-to-use equipment and be mobile: A winemaker is not just a winemaker. He’s a work manager, marketing manager, job optimizer and yes, a winemaker too. If you want to have know-how in the system, you have to put it in. You don’t need another hard-to-manage application. Inputs should be automated if possible, and if not automated, then at least easy and quick to add. Your equipment also needs to be mobile, so that you can add data where data occur, and both online and offline.

The new PANTHEON Farming Winery module is designed to give winemakers exactly what they need for successful winemaking:

• In PANTHEON Farming all winery processes can be recorded very quickly and easily;
• You can see the cost of each material you use when you’re entering an activity.
• It includes specialized tools to help you be precise during all your tasks; for example calculating the quantity of sugar that has to be added into the must to get the desirable alcohol content.
• You can easily observe the entire winemaking process for all your wines.
• The PANTHEON Farming Mobile application enables you to enter data on the spot regardless of your internet connection.

Damir Lučić, winegrowing, winemaking and fruit growing specialist at Datalab Agro SI

Damir Lučić is responsible for winegrowing, winemaking and fruit growing modules within PANTHEON Farming. He is a Graduate Engineer of Agronomy and a fruit grower by passion. With 10 years of experience in a consultancy firm primarily responsible for fruit growing, he knows very well which problems farmers usually face and how to solve them. He doesn’t just help growers; he’s a fruit grower himself, growing apples and pears.