Germany wine body rewards innovative tech

The German Winegrowers Association has announced the winners of its viticulture Innovation Awards.

A steep slope harvester and a filtration system took the top awards in the scheme which recognises technical innovations that can benefit winemakers, viticulturalists and wineries across the world.

Mosel-based machinery company Carl Hoffmann Landmaschinen from Piesport bagged a gold award for its harvesting machine, which addresses the problem of winegrowing on steep slopes, while Italian wine equipment specialist TMCI Padovan also  won a gold for its high-performance crossflow filter machine which it says minimises the energy required filtering lees from the wine.

A Silver award was given to microbial specialist Erbslöh for its Trenolin®BouquetPlus enzyme, which is designed to improves varietal aromas, for still and sweet wines and optimise the wine’s quality. Two corks companies, German-based Amorim Cork, and M. A. Silva Corticas from Portugal, were also awarded silver medals for their development of preventative testing procedures that guarantee tasteless corks.

The Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture in Veitshöchheim also won silver for its BayWeinTEK marketing initiative, a contact point wineries looking to renovate and expand their wine estates.

Speaking at the awards, DWV President Norbert Weber said the awards recognised the superb achievements of companies who are contributing to the progress of our industry. “Technical innovations allow us to continuously improve the quality of the products and acquire customers in a competitive global environment,” he said.

The winning products will be showcased at the Intervitis Interfructa Hortitechnica trade show, organised by the German Winegrowers’ Association in Stuttgart on 27-30 November.