Giovanni Bigot monitoring a vineyard with his app A detailed method to establish a vineyard's health and potential, and how to improve both. It's the Bigot Index and it's been developed by Giovanni Bigot, a Friulian agronomist and researcher and founder of Perleuve (his wine consulting firm based in Cormons), who's been collecting data about vineyards and vines for over twenty years and decided to turn all those information into a tool to help winemakers enhance their wines' quality.
The Bigot Index was implemented officially in 50 wine firms all around Italy one year ago, and recently they have been awarded the Bigot Certificate for their vineyards' performances. The results were made public during a ceremony in Castello di Cigognola (a winemaking firm based in an ancient castle near Pavia, in Lumbardy) at the beginning of February and among those who scored over 90 out of 100 points there are a few winemakers from Friuli Venezia Giulia: Vigne di Zamò's Refosco Buttrio vineyard (in Rosazzo, Udine), Sturm's Tocai Bert vineyard (in Cormons, in the Collio area) and Russiz Superiore's Sauvignon Lungo Strada vineyard. Other excellent performances were recorded in Piedmont, Tuscany and Sardinia.
«The method I developed through years of observations and data collecting, during its first year of enforcement directly on the field has been welcomed warmly by many firms who are well aware that great wines come from great vineyards – Giovanni Bigot says – Many winemakers showed interest in it, because applying in a vineyard the method that underlies the Bigot Index helps point out the tools needed to improve its grapes' quality».
The Bigot Index: how it works and the App 4Grapes®
The winning feature is that the Bigot Index takes into consideration not single but multiple factors all at once, considering those ones who affect directly a wine's quality in the vineyard: production, exposed leaves' surface (SFE – Superficie Foliare Esposta), the ratio between leaves and production (SFE/kg), grapes' health, grape variety, the grape bunch's shape, hydro-stress, strength, biodiversity and microorganisms, the vineyard's age.
The goal is to “measure” a vineyard's quality by resting on reliable scientific data which are easily-attained thanks to the App 4Grapes®, developed by Bigot. The app allows constant monitoring of the actual situation as to grapevine diseases, quality and production. All the people who work in the vineyard can use it as a mean of observation and data collecting: «We receive all the data through the App 4Grapes®, then we process them and send back a form detailing all factors and final results for every vineyard – Giovanni Bigot explains – In our Certificate we include all the infos, the vineyard's evaluation and which elements need to be improved, as well as the positive aspects».
The database on which the app relies for its functioning is huge. More than 80,000 georeferencing observations – most of which complete with photos – have been collected over 20 years directly in 2,000 vineyards belonging to 250 wine firms, all over Italy and abroad, and they're now stored in the app. Besides, also one thousand wines' evaluations were made along with winemakers to set the standards. And thanks to the amount of data and to the pictures taken, the app can also spot grape diseases, thus allowing the owners to act rapidly in order to tackle them and limit possible damages.
And to further fulfill his purpose, alongside Perleuve Giovanni Bigot last year founded his very own Academy 4Grapes®, the first Italian online academy aiming to educate specialists in vineyard's monitoring through observation and implementation of the App 4Grapes®.
The Bigot Index was implemented officially in 50 wine firms all around Italy one year ago, and recently they have been awarded the Bigot Certificate for their vineyards' performances. The results were made public during a ceremony in Castello di Cigognola (a winemaking firm based in an ancient castle near Pavia, in Lumbardy) at the beginning of February and among those who scored over 90 out of 100 points there are a few winemakers from Friuli Venezia Giulia: Vigne di Zamò's Refosco Buttrio vineyard (in Rosazzo, Udine), Sturm's Tocai Bert vineyard (in Cormons, in the Collio area) and Russiz Superiore's Sauvignon Lungo Strada vineyard. Other excellent performances were recorded in Piedmont, Tuscany and Sardinia.
«The method I developed through years of observations and data collecting, during its first year of enforcement directly on the field has been welcomed warmly by many firms who are well aware that great wines come from great vineyards – Giovanni Bigot says – Many winemakers showed interest in it, because applying in a vineyard the method that underlies the Bigot Index helps point out the tools needed to improve its grapes' quality».
The Bigot Index: how it works and the App 4Grapes®
The winning feature is that the Bigot Index takes into consideration not single but multiple factors all at once, considering those ones who affect directly a wine's quality in the vineyard: production, exposed leaves' surface (SFE – Superficie Foliare Esposta), the ratio between leaves and production (SFE/kg), grapes' health, grape variety, the grape bunch's shape, hydro-stress, strength, biodiversity and microorganisms, the vineyard's age.
The goal is to “measure” a vineyard's quality by resting on reliable scientific data which are easily-attained thanks to the App 4Grapes®, developed by Bigot. The app allows constant monitoring of the actual situation as to grapevine diseases, quality and production. All the people who work in the vineyard can use it as a mean of observation and data collecting: «We receive all the data through the App 4Grapes®, then we process them and send back a form detailing all factors and final results for every vineyard – Giovanni Bigot explains – In our Certificate we include all the infos, the vineyard's evaluation and which elements need to be improved, as well as the positive aspects».
The database on which the app relies for its functioning is huge. More than 80,000 georeferencing observations – most of which complete with photos – have been collected over 20 years directly in 2,000 vineyards belonging to 250 wine firms, all over Italy and abroad, and they're now stored in the app. Besides, also one thousand wines' evaluations were made along with winemakers to set the standards. And thanks to the amount of data and to the pictures taken, the app can also spot grape diseases, thus allowing the owners to act rapidly in order to tackle them and limit possible damages.
And to further fulfill his purpose, alongside Perleuve Giovanni Bigot last year founded his very own Academy 4Grapes®, the first Italian online academy aiming to educate specialists in vineyard's monitoring through observation and implementation of the App 4Grapes®.
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