24 Oct 2020
Speaking from the OIV’s headquarters in Paris, by web conference, Director General Pau Roca, presented on 27 October, the first estimates of 2020 world wine production.
- Lower than average production volume in the EU, where measures to reduce the harvest volume had a significant impact in Italy, France and Spain notwithstanding the overall favourable climatic conditions.
- First harvest forecasts in the US indicate volumes in line with 2019, but uncertainty caused by wildfires might lead to further revisions.
- Drop of South America’s wine production, especially in Argentina and Chile due to unfavourable weather conditions.
- South Africa finally back to “normality” after several years of drought.
- Australia records a low harvest due to bushfires while New Zealand shows a record harvest volume in 2020.
18 Oct 2020
Within the framework of OIV Agreements, Russia will be responsible for the financial costs of introducing this new language over the course of a three-year period. This should allow for translations of all OIV recommendations and fundamental texts to be made quickly available. The plan will enable the Russian-speaking community to better understand and take on board the international standards and practices the Organisation has adopted to improve the conditions under which vine and wine products are produced and marketed.The proposal is to be presented during a General Assembly at the end of November. Following its acceptance by Member States, Russian speakers will join the Italian, German, French, Spanish and English speakers who already benefit from the five official languages of the OIV. This will facilitate active participation and the exchange of expertise across a scientific network of countries with long viticultural traditions.
14 Oct 2020
To attend this press conference, journalists are kindly asked to send an email with their name and their professional contact details to press@oiv.int.
- Date: Tuesday 27 October 2020
- Time: 3pm CET
- Location: Zoom; YouTube livestreaming
14 Oct 2020
On 13 October 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) published its arbitration decision on the Boeing subsidy dispute. This ruling allows the European Union to request authorisation from the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to take countermeasures with respect to the United States to the maximum total amount of 3,993,212,564 USD per year. The 13 October decision echoes the permission the WTO granted the United States a year ago to raise tariffs on European products by 7.5 billion USD.The 16-year battle is linked to the national subsidies received by the two airplane giants, Airbus and Boeing. The parties do not believe the estimated damages to both sides over the course of the trade war can be compensated for solely through measures concerning aircraft construction and trade. As such, sanctions have been authorised for other products. Wine has thus become a bargaining chip in a quarrel that it has seemingly little to do with. The sanctions taken by the United States last year as part of the same dispute have already had a severe impact on the European wine sector. The 13 October decision opens up several avenues of negotiation to the two parties. One option is an escalation of new retaliatory measures. In actual fact, the United States is still a long way from reaching the 7.5 billion USD authorised last year, and the European Union now has the option to begin rolling out a plan for sanctions of up to nearly 4 billion USD. Another approach is that of dialogue and the release of products not directly related to the dispute from negotiations.Although this fight between the two giants demonstrates the importance of wine for the economies involved, the OIV is calling for this opportunity to be seized and all necessary efforts made to re-establish free market conditions for wine.The Director General of the OIV, Pau Roca, reiterated that “the wine sector has been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis throughout the world and it has also been impacted by events linked to climate change”. He called for “every effort to be made at all levels to limit stressors and work towards facilitating recovery.”
23 Sep 2020
On Tuesday 22 September, the Director General of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), Pau Roca, and the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili, welcomed speakers from the wine tourism sector and participants from all over the world for a webinar jointly organised by the two organisations.Held in cooperation with the International Wine Tourism Think Tank and moderated by Mariëtte de Toit-Helmbold, based in Cape Town, the focus of the webinar was put on “Innovating in wine tourism in the context of COVID-19". Speakers from Argentina, Chile, France, Italy and Spain shared their recent experience on how they have dealt with the impact of COVID 19 on their wine tourism activity. Some common trends have emerged in how to innovate in order to rethink and recreate wine tourism in the current context. The importance of local markets, new partnerships, open air experiences and digital transformation were highlighted.Get to know the customers to offer a personalised experience, finding the right balance between technology and human contact are fundamental for the participating panellists, as digital modifications are here to stay. Along with these changes, improving local tourism turned to be the key for recovery, having sustainability as a pillar.Read full press releaseWatch the webinar here:
13 Sep 2020
On 8 September 2020, the International OIV Jury, composed of the scientific and technical elite of a number of OIV Member Countries, awarded 19 OIV Awards and 10 OIV Special Mentions. The winners were selected from a list of 30 nominated publications: 27 books and 3 websites.
2020 Awards winners here [FR/EN]The President of the Award Jury, Azélina Jaboulet-Vercherre, and the Scientific Secretary, Richard Pfister, thanked the many readers from around the world who had evaluated the publications presented with impartiality and professionalism.The 2020 Awards mark 90 years since the creation of the Awards of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine. This year has seen a particularly diverse range of submissions, with 25 countries in 4 continents represented across the 11 categories for this prestigious Award, which is internationally recognised in the vitivinicultural sector.On this Anniversary, the Jury also wanted to congratulate and show support for publishers, thanks to whom the work of authors, photographers and illustrators is showcased to a high editorial quality.With this in mind, the Acknowledgement of the 2020 OIV Award Jury was awarded to 4 Publishing Houses.Submissions for the 2021 Awards are open from 1 September 2020 until 28 February 2021.Publications, including books or websites, from around the world (OIV Member Countries as well as non-Member Countries) are anticipated to continue the long history of the OIV Awards – the aim of which is to promote the dissemination of knowledge about vine and wine among professionals in the sector, enthusiasts, and even novices.
01 Sep 2020
On Wednesday September 2nd, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) had the pleasure of organising a virtual welcome meeting jointly with the Great Wine Capitals Global Network (GWC) to celebrate the recent observer status of the network at the OIV. The President of the OIV, Regina Vanderlinde, addressed the opening speech expressing her desire of a fruitful feedback relationship between the two entities: “As an intergovernmental organisation of a scientific and technical nature, the OIV provides a comprehensive overview of the global state of the vine and wine sector. It works to harmonise practices, supports the evolution of the sector as it faces contemporary challenges, such as digitalisation, climate change or wine tourism, thanks to its large network of international experts. And it relies on its observers to bring up the very concrete aspects of the field. Each observer, through the specific nature of its activity, contributes to providing the OIV with food for thought. They represent a direct contact with the actors and stake-holders of the sector, which is fundamental for the OIV.” During this meeting, the Director General of the OIV, Pau Roca, and the Managing Director of GWC, Catherine Leparmentier, presented their respective structure and the advantages that this collaboration will generate. Three speakers from GWC and its President, Jacques Faurens, then provided the attendees with an insight on different cities member of GWC.Read full Press ReleaseThe meeting participantsWatch the meeting here
26 Aug 2020
OIV Awards: information and the registration form of the 2021 Edition are available here.Registrations: September 1, 2020 - February 28, 2021● Paper printed books in the 11 categories.● Interactive digital Tool (Websites, Webformation) in the categories: Viticulture and Sustainable Vitiviniculture, Oenology, Vitivinicultural Economy and Law, History, Literature and Fine Arts, Wine and Health.Magazines, commercial guides and commercial Websites are not accepted.For any question: jurydesprix@oiv.int
26 Jul 2020
2020 - OIV Research grant program in support of priority programme fieldsAll information here.
26 Jul 2020
In the interests of best serving the Member States that make up the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, the responses were analysed and sent to the platform in question, to improve this service for potential future virtual meetings. Here is the analysis and proposed explanation. Out of the 150 responses obtained (37%), users indicated that, overall, they were satisfied, with an average rating of 8/10. Over the 22 meetings of the 4 Commissions and Sub-Commissions, almost half of the experts (48%) participated in 2-5 meetings. In cross-analysing the responses to questions 1 and 4, it can be observed that the difficulty in using the platform decreases drastically as the number of uses increases. The OIV had drawn up a user guide beforehand to prepare attendees as best as possible, with a list of steps to follow to ensure meetings are conducted properly. The relevance and usefulness of this approach will be re-evaluated based on the average rating, which was 8/10.Points to be improvedThere were some shortcomings encountered when joining and participating: 41% of respondents had issues connecting to the internet, 31% had sound problems and 10% had camera problems. Additionally, 16% of the experts found the KUDO platform difficult to use: as an example, 11% of experts had difficulty requesting access to the floor (space to speak). As a reminder, requesting to speak on KUDO entails two steps: first, a request to speak from the expert, and second, the moderator's acceptance so that the expert may appear on the floor and speak. Due to the way it functions, the KUDO platform can host up to 5 people on the floor at any one time. Nevertheless, the absence of visibility during meetings was a concern for 20% of experts surveyed. The limitation on the number of people is due to the bandwidth required by KUDO, and it was the OIV’s decision to treat the floor in the same way as during in-person meetings.Other minor problems were indicated, such as the time window for meetings (8%), a lost password (9%) or firewalls blocking KUDO (9%), and these should also be kept in mind for the future. However, despite the difficulties encountered, 83% of the experts surveyed agreed that these technical problems were resolved efficiently by the technical team available to them. Indeed, the problems experienced by each participant were continually monitored throughout the month of meetings. Strengths of the platformAt the same time, there were some notable advantages that emerged from using this platform for the spring meetings. The availability of simultaneous interpreting was welcomed by 83% of respondents. Indeed, the KUDO platform enabled experts to follow the meetings in the 5 official languages of the OIV – an essential prerequisite that was decisive in the OIV's decision to use KUDO. The possibility of joining meetings from their country of origin was one of the main advantages for 68% of those surveyed. Holding virtual meetings not only allowed for progress to be made on the work, with 18 resolutions being advanced to step 7, but also resulted in a 56% increase in expert participation between 2019 and 2020. Despite the absence of direct contact, the vast majority of participants indicated they were generally satisfied (7/10) with the capacities for interaction and requesting the floor provided by this platform.There was an open question at the end of the first part of the questionnaire, where the experts were invited to make suggestions to improve future OIV meetings on the platform. The OIV took careful note of the 85 responses received and sent these comments to KUDO. The main trends that emerged relate to optimisation of the chat (direct channel with the operator, more clarity in private chats, etc.), the need to clearly identify who is speaking, and the sometimes-lengthy registration process. Some respondents suggested also using the platform for the electronic working groups in order to get better acquainted with it. The OIV expert profile and cross-analysed trendsA second, optional questionnaire was made available to draw up a portrait of the typical user during the June meetings. The typical expert worked from home (59%) on a professional computer (64% [57% specifically on a laptop]) that was less than 3 years old (42%). A total of 86% of users ran Windows and 91% used Google Chrome as their browser. WiFi connection was preferred (57%) and 43% used fibre optic. The accessories used were mainly components built into their computer, with 86% having an integrated camera and 39% integrated audio. However, 39% also used a headset. Finally, among the people who did not participate in the meetings, 53% cited lack of time as their reason for not joining, rather than technical issues. Cross-analysing data to create this profile has enabled us to understand the origin of some failures. For example, use of the Chrome browser was necessary for fluidity of speech. The first graph shows that only 13% of experts who used this browser had problems with requests to speak, compared with 60% of those using Firefox. In the same vein, people using 4G had many more connection problems (66%) than those using cable or fibre optic (38% respectively). Finally, many sound and video issues can be explained by an absence of use of appropriate hardware devices: for example, the use of an external headset reduced the citing of sound problems from 37% to 16%. Following a debrief meeting with KUDO and the questionnaire feedback, a second document will be drawn up with the specifics of points to be solved before the next meetings. Click here to see the meetings in pictures!