Primary Issue:Production and quality of wine is changing due to the harsh conditions of global warming.
Secondary Issues:
Smaller issues with global warming that helped me shape my primary design problem, is the increase carbon dioxide (green house gasses), making the temperature rise. With the increasing temperature, it effects the harvest cycle of the grapes, making them undrinkable. Vineyards have to produce a certain yield every year; therefore they are forced to put substitutes in the wine. When fermenting the wine with these substitutes or excess sugar from the grapes (from the heat), it produces wine with a higher alcohol content which is affecting the culture of drinking.
Smaller issues with global warming that helped me shape my primary design problem, is the increase carbon dioxide (green house gasses), making the temperature rise. With the increasing temperature, it effects the harvest cycle of the grapes, making them undrinkable. Vineyards have to produce a certain yield every year; therefore they are forced to put substitutes in the wine. When fermenting the wine with these substitutes or excess sugar from the grapes (from the heat), it produces wine with a higher alcohol content which is affecting the culture of drinking.
Design Problem:
Due to global warming, the chemistry within the wine is changing. However, the tradition culture between wine and the consumer has maintained the same the wine industry is in danger. Therefore by creating a product that can guide people to change their habits when drinking or maintain wine will slow down or put global warming on hold.
Due to global warming, the chemistry within the wine is changing. However, the tradition culture between wine and the consumer has maintained the same the wine industry is in danger. Therefore by creating a product that can guide people to change their habits when drinking or maintain wine will slow down or put global warming on hold.
Stake Holders:
People that could be affected or important to focus on would be:
Wine drinkers: Ranging from casual drinkers to experts. It is important to reach everyone that has contact with wine to make a difference and they will be the clientele that would be using this product.
Wine glass companies: There is a whole industry that focuses on gadgets and vessel specifically designed for enhancing the flavors of wine. These companies can either be competitors or partnerships.
Vineyards: creating a product that changes the culture of drinking could affect vineyards in terms of how they would be perceived, are they going to be part of the new world or the old world, are they producing wine that can become vintage or should be consumed right away.
People that could be affected or important to focus on would be:
Wine drinkers: Ranging from casual drinkers to experts. It is important to reach everyone that has contact with wine to make a difference and they will be the clientele that would be using this product.
Wine glass companies: There is a whole industry that focuses on gadgets and vessel specifically designed for enhancing the flavors of wine. These companies can either be competitors or partnerships.
Vineyards: creating a product that changes the culture of drinking could affect vineyards in terms of how they would be perceived, are they going to be part of the new world or the old world, are they producing wine that can become vintage or should be consumed right away.
Experts:
People to work with:
Vineyards: To understand the chemistry or tools/machines during production or to understand changes they have created to adapt to the change in wine.
Wine Gadget Companies: To understand their product and process, and what things have been done, or could be done.
Sustainable Experts: Focus on carbon footprint within the product.
People to work with:
Vineyards: To understand the chemistry or tools/machines during production or to understand changes they have created to adapt to the change in wine.
Wine Gadget Companies: To understand their product and process, and what things have been done, or could be done.
Sustainable Experts: Focus on carbon footprint within the product.
3 comments:
Hi Vanessa,
interesting project. I am not sure if the higher alcohol content actually might as well be market driven. "New World" wines have traditionally a higher alc content just because of their constantly warmer climate. Here rules, laws and traditions do not seem to apply the same way.
Also legislation might be interesting to look into. Different tax categories for different acl contents.
There is a documentary from 2004 called Mondovino which might interesting to. I'll try to find it. I think I have it somewhere laying around here.
Dear Vanessa,
I have been doing a little reading about phenological sequence as it relates to cultivation of wine grapes. I want to make sure that I understand the issue that you are researching. I found quite a lot of information about this, but it seems to be pretty complicated.
I thoroughly endorse this thesis topic, because it does seem like something that could be addressed through product design. As you have pointed out, there are several constituencies would be potential users of a product you could create:
1. vintners
2. sellers
3. drinkers
The problem that you are focusing on is that the amount of alcohol contained in wine is increasing due to global warming. How has this affected the "culture of drinking"? Because people get drunk quicker, they cannot drink as many glasses, so they don't tend to linger over a meal, converse, and do other things that usually accompany drinking wine in social settings? I can imagine a number of products that help people adapt to these changes, perhaps some kind of device that measures alcohol content so that people can pace themselves better. Or, you could focus on making something used by vintners, to make their jobs easier. But I am leery about your attempting to create an agricultural product that increases yield, or helps mitigate the effects of climate change on the grapes themselves, because that is very science-based, and may not be something you can learn about quicly. I recommend producing a new kind of container for wine, maybe one that includes some new form of warning about alcohol content, or a racking system that improves longevity of wines in response to changing chemistry, or something like a wine drinking accessory (cork screw, glasses, open-bottle storage system). I wonder, what is the future of corks? I know that some good wines now come with screw tops instead of corks. Does the cork have a positive impact on the wine? I think the key for you is to try to imagine what wine drinking will be like in the furure (say, five years from now) and start to develop a product to serve a need you believe is coming, not necessarily one that is here now.
steven
Hey Vanessa,
This is quite an interesting discussion and big business and it is close to my own interests. You may know that I have a degree in Sommelier.
In the production of wine, the alcohol content is closely monitored and the amount of alcohol is not just something that "happens". It is part of quality control and a winery knows very well what is going on in their tanks. They are constantly tasted, tested and later often mixed to ensure that the bottle you buy today will taste the same as it will tomorrow with maybe minor fluctuations. Look into Champagnes for example. Only a teny-tiny percentatge of wines are actually "year" wines and taste differently depending on the year of harvest.
It is actually pretty easy to control the amount of alcohol through limiting the growth and fermentation process.
Also, as far as I am aware, all wine bottles sold on the open market must indicate the alcohol content, at least here in Europe. This might be different in the US but it would surprise me.
My guess would be that the market asks for stronger beverages and this is why the winemakers consider to produce stronger wines, which arguably becomes easier through a warmer climate.
But of course, it is not "global warming" everywhere. Many classic wine regions have a lot of trouble with harsher winters and lower yields. Also the often wet environments are not beneficial, considering that wine is grown in sloping regions.
I would recommend to look into wine laws. The "Old World", basically central and south of Europe, have very high and stringent regulations for terroir, grape type, production method and alcohol content. In the "New world" (Australia, South Africa, the Americas and New Zealand), these laws are not as tight.
However, the fermentation does end at around 15 vol % (30 proof), since the yeast "dies" of alcohol poising. Anything that is stronger than that has some sort of distillate added. From the top of my head, the Italian Amarone wines come to mind with around 15, but they have been produced for centuries. Those are fermented from dried grapes which increases the sugar content in relationship to water.
Cork is definitely on its way out. The big issue with cork is the emotional and nostalgic attachment we have with it. Otherwise, it is quite an unpractical way of sealing a wine bottle. I have learned that every tenth bottle of wine with a cork has some sort of defect. Most of the times not noticeable by the average drinker.
Plastic corks have become more and more popular and still provide the emotionally important joy of using a cork screw and getting the "plopping" tactile feedback.
I personally believe that the wine market will slowly move away from bottles all together. They are too heavy to ship and too unpractical to pack.
The future for the common wine market will be in bag-in-box, which has many advantages. For example wine can be bought in higher quantities and consumed whenever wanted. The wine is protected from its biggest enemy, air, since the bag in the box creates a vacuum as soon as you pour wine out of it, not allowing any oxidation at all. There is absolute quality control for both user and producer.
Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions or would like to discuss this project. We could also skype if you like.
Best,
ben
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