This conference was an excellent opportunity to get an overview of the progress made in terms of reproduction strategies and in all scientific fields directly or indirectly related to grapevine selection.

With over 70 speakers, 330 participants and 26 countries from 5 continents represented, GBG2018 – placed under the patronage of the OIV – has allowed for the coverage of a number of themes, for example: the maintenance and extension of genetic resources; the genetic, phenotypical and physiological characterisation of grapevine populations; as well as the functional characterisation of the genes involved in the control of berry development, maturation and composition, and in the adaptation to biotic and abiotic stress.

Representing the OIV, the Head of the Viticulture Unit, Alejandro Fuentes Espinoza, met various experts in these fields and presented the role of the OIV and its work under way within the OIV “Genetic resources and vine selection” (GENET) Expert Group. The OIV, an organisation of a scientific and technical nature, has been working for some years now on the characterisation and evaluation of principles and of methods of production and sustainable selection for grapevine genetic resources. This is an important strategic axis in order to be able to provide appropriate responses to the vitivinicultural sector.

All of the themes addressed during the Conference resulted in an important exchange of data and information that are at the heart of the viticultural issues of tomorrow in terms of sustainability.

2018 OIV Awards

Viticulture Award / EX ÆQUO

Vinifera, l’Italia dei Vitigni
Riccardo Cotarella

&

GUIDE PRATIQUE DE LA TAILLE GUYOT Prévenir les maladies du bois
Marco Simonit, Massimo Giudici,
Lorenzo Manfreda, Marco Ostan,
Riccardo Turata, Alessandro Zanutta

Special Mention

El Potencial Aromático de las Variedades de Vid Cultivadas en Galicia
Mar Vilanova De La Torre,
José Maria Marques Oliveira,
Ricardo Rivas Barros

Viticulture and Enology Award

Vines & Vinification
Sally Easton

2 Enology Award / EX ÆQUO

Vinařská Technologie
Josef Balík, Jan Stávek

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Guides de bonnes pratiques d'hygiène - Filière vins
Coordinated by Aurélie Camponovo

Special Mention

Understanding Wine Chemistry
Andrew L. Waterhouse, Gavin L. Sacks,
David W. Jeffery

3 Economy Award

1) Wine Globalization : A New Comparative History
Kym Anderson, Vicente Pinilla

With

2) Global Wine Markets, 1860 to 2016 : a statistical compendium
Kym Anderson, Signe Nelgen, Vicente Pinilla

Special mention

Análisis de un sector : Rioja 4.0
Emilio Barco Royo

4 Fine Arts, Painting

LE VIN DES PEINTRES - Une histoire hédoniste de l’art (XVe-XXe siècle)
Jean Serroy

4 Fine Arts, Adults' Comics

Dans les coulisses du champagne
Scriptwriter: Maxe L'Hermenier
Drawer: Benoît Blary

4 Literature, Novel

Special Mention

Le testament de Virgile
Isabelle Chrétien

4 History and Literature

Special Mention EX ÆQUO

CHILEAN WINE An Illustrated History
EL VINO DE CHILE Una Historia Ilustrada
Rodrigo Alvarado Moore
Alejandro Hernández Muñoz
Illustrated by
Fabián Todorovic Karmelic

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LES VINS DE BORDEAUX à l’épreuve de la Seconde Guerre mondiale 1938-1950

5 Wine and Health

L'ivresse du Soldat
Charles Ridel

6 Discovering and Presenting Wines

Granddad Tell me about Grapevines!
Pascale Bounet, Françoise Etourneaud

Special Mention EX ÆQUO

Australian Wine - Style and taste, people and places
Directed by Patrick Iland, with Peter Gago, Andrew Caillard, Peter Dry

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Vous allez enfin vous y connaître en Vin
Sébastien Durand-Viel and David Cobbold, authors
Illustrations of Bertrand Hoquet

7 Wines and Territories

Wines of Japan - 日本 の ワ イ ン
Teiji Takahashi, Kimie Harada, Kazuhiko Kobayashi,
Hiroshi Saito

8 Wines and Gastronomy

Les accords mets-vins. Un art français
Directed by Jean-Robert Pitte

9 Monographs and Specialised Studies

Le Val de Loire, Terres de Chenin
Christian Asselin, author coordinator of the collective of nearly 100 contributors

Special mention EX ÆQUO

Champagne Vinet Och Odlarna
Britt Karlsson, Per Karlsson

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Diversità dei vigneti della Svizzera italiana : stato attuale e prospettive
Valeria Trivellone, Marco Moretti

10 Symposia proceedings

Proceedings of the 16th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference
Coordinated by Kate Beames,
Ella Robinson, Peter Dry, Dan Johnson

Winners of the 2018 OIV Awards presentation textes

On 5 July in Paris, the international OIV Award Jury gave out 14 Awards and 10 Special Mentions among 51 competing works representing 19 countries: a very good 2018 vintage for the OIV Awards!

On 18 September at the prestigious OIV Awards Ceremony – which was attended by numerous representatives from the Diplomatic Corps, the new OIV President Ms Regina Vanderlinde, OIV Director General Mr Jean-Marie Aurand, President of the OIV Award Jury Mr František Lipka, and Scientific Secretary of the Award Jury Mr Jean-Luc Berger – the 2018 winners were presented with their awards.

Scientific and technical works, in addition to works intended for the general public, were honoured by the Jury.

Read full press release

At the request of the scientific community of the OIV, the members of the OIV Award Jury, who met in Paris on 5 July 2018, decided unanimously to create a new Awards category: “Sustainable vitiviniculture”.

This 11th category will take into account a topic that is a major concern for OIV experts.

It responds to a growing number of works addressing sustainable development in the field of vitiviniculture – which is something the OIV Jury thus wishes to strongly encourage.

For the next OIV Awards, which will be open for submissions from 1 September 2018 to 28 February 2019, works covering the 3 pillars of sustainable development (environment, society and economy) will be able to compete in this new category.

*Submission forms available on the OIV website from 1 September 2018 here

Contact: jurydesprix@oiv.int

Organised by the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture on the theme of ‘new strategies and technologies for the Lebanese wine industry’, the event, held at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), brought together leading companies from the sector united under the Union Vinicole du Liban (Lebanon’s association of wine producers), as well as a number of industry experts.

Speakers from different countries (e.g. France and Italy) offered insights into the latest technical, scientific and economic developments.

The Director General of the OIV, along with his Assistant, took part in the day’s activities. On this occasion, Jean-Marie Aurand emphasised the ‘close and fruitful’ relationship enjoyed with Lebanon since the country became a member of the OIV in 1995.

Vitivinicultural activity in Lebanon has experienced remarkable growth over the last 20 years

As early as 1997, the Union Vinicole du Liban was created on the advice of the OIV. In 2000, Lebanon passed a law relating to wine, on the basis of which the National Institute of Vine and Wine was created in 2013. Over the last six years, and under the dynamic leadership of Director General Louis Lahoud, the relationship between the OIV and Lebanon has grown even stronger.

Mr Aurand also noted the success of the Lebanese Wine Day events, which were held in Paris in 2010 and 2013, in Berlin in 2014, in the United States in 2016 and 2017, and this year in Switzerland. Organised by the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture, this year’s event attracted a large audience of specialists who, over the course of one day, had the opportunity to discover the diversity and quality of Lebanese wine production. He praised the involvement of the Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Louis Lahoud, and the support of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Gebran Bassil.

During his visit, the Director General of the OIV was received by the President of the Lebanese Republic, General Michel Aoun, and by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who both assured him of their country’s support in the activities of the OIV.

Demonstrating the importance of the vitivinicultural sector in the country, high-level meetings were also held with the Minister of Economy, Mr Raed Khoury (1); the Minister for Justice, Mr Salim Jreissati (2); the Minister for Information, Mr Melhem Riachi (3); and the Minister for Tourism, Mr Avedis Guidanian (4).

Vitivinicultural activity in Lebanon has experienced remarkable growth over the last 20 years; today it has almost 50 wineries whereas 20 years ago it had eight.

The country produces about 80,000 hL of wine a year and exports half of its production. It also promotes native vine varieties such as Obeidy or Merweh in an effort to rediscover the roots of this age-old winemaking tradition.