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INNOVATION AWARDS 2013

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INNOVATION AWARDS 2013

TRENDS - INNOVATIONS HIGHLIGHTS - FORECASTS

The quality of the innovations presented by exhibitors once again confirms SITEVI’s position as a world leader and the number one exhibition for the vine/wine and fruit & vegetable sectors. This position has been built up over many years due to the ability of manufacturers from different continents to produce new tools for vineyards and develop increasingly effective techniques for producing, ageing, blending and packaging quality wines, and their solutions tailored to suit issues in the fruit and vegetable sector, with ever-more innovative specialized equipment and techniques. After lengthy discussions, of the 80 applications submitted this year, the panel has selected 22 products. The 2013 awards include: 2 Gold Medals, 6 Silver Medals and 14 Commendations. One of the main trends to be seen is the simplification and safety of work, with increased flexibility in machines and less manual intervention, whilst ensuring operator safety. This is a trend to be found across the board in wine-growing (e.g. pulling wood prunings) and winemaking, sorting and packaging. The other strong trend at SITEVI this year is towards improving product quality and achieving greater precision in the execution of work. This trend relates firstly to sensitive operations such as harvesting grapes and filtering wines. The quality of products then comes into play from harvest time with improved sorting operations (sorting the harvest), and in fact even upstream of that, through better knowledge of plot potential and - more particularly - intraplot variability. And then there is sustainable development: Developments leading to greater control over plant health processes are to the fore again this year, with tools to limit product fall-out and others providing better knowledge of processes used during treatment. Likewise the very strong awareness of the carbon footprint observed at SITEVI 2011 is widely evident again this year, with many manufacturers exhibiting products focusing on carbon production. But the strongest trend this year is the affirmation of the break with the use of fossil fuels alone, as seen in proposals for "all-electric" high-clearance tractors. First trend: Simplification of operations and operator safety This first trend has a very profile at SITEVI 2013 because it relates to almost 50% of the award-winning products. The category includes innovations aimed at improving existing systems and increasing their flexibility and/or simplicity (Gai, Calibrex, D2E, Neotic) and others automating what were previously manual tasks (Mas Pack, Michael Paetzold, Provitis). Gai France is offering new electropneumatic spouts (Commendation) that can be used to fill containers with still and carbonated liquid products alike, without requiring any modifications or additional equipment. Keeping the bottle airtight throughout every phase limits the ingress of oxygen and thus of sulphites. The (patented) sterilization system using false electric bottles delivers optimum quality and cleaning precision in all circuits. An innovation from Calibrex is its Novagram + (Commendation), a versatile electronic sizer and scale, oval in shape, designed for fragile fruit and vegetables with diameters of 35 to 100mm. Surplus fruit is expelled in a completely reliable process, achieving a filling factor of 100%.

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While these innovations concern operations that are already largely mechanized or automated, others automate operations that have previously been manual. Mas Pack is offering a new machine that bands bottles (Commendation), an operation that until now has been done by hand. The machine can handle various types of bottles with different diameters and heights and the system does not have to be modified for changes in format, which saves a substantial amount of time. The company Michael Paetzold offers its "Eternam" service (Commendation), which caters for great estates wishing to exploit their stock of old vintages. Eternam is a service that meets the technical requirements for rebottling old vintages point by point, with an ingenious system that ensures nothing is left to chance. The attention given by manufacturers to the laborious task of pulling vines is evidenced by Provitis and its machine for pulling vine shoots (Commendation), which is particularly interesting because it works in a way that so closely resembles manual practice. Its action can be adapted to suit many vineyards. A single pass by a tractor pulling this machine in combination with a shoot shredder takes care of the entire process, which is otherwise both heavy and cumbersome. Under the heading of operator safety, IRSTEA is offering a new design for a three-point tractor coupling (Commendation) that reduces the risk of operators being crushed or trapped, or the tool overturning during coupling or uncoupling, whilst at the same time making these operations more user-friendly. Tonnellerie Vicard shows its concern for operator safety in wine cellars with its new design for barrels (Commendation) where the innovation lies in offsetting the filling axis and the bung on the rim and side of the barrel. This offset improves the safety of operators working at a height, and makes barrels more accessible for filling, draining and cleaning. It is not only manual operations that can be simplified; there is also room for simplification in more "intellectual" tasks such as data entry and management support. All publishers of technical management solutions face the issue of user-friendliness when it comes to data input, because users must be able to input any type of event (which means there are many possibilities) but at the same time there is a need to limit their workload and/or searches for correct data in what could be very long lists. Online IT is also gaining ground in the fields of wine selection management and decision support. That is why D2E is offering a new module for its Process2Wine program (Commendation), which automatically generates end-of-day activity reports for each employee, plot and type of work. Tractors are equipped with GPS trackers for this purpose and operators on foot, with smartphones. An analysis of the geolocation data in conjunction with the farm work schedule provides a Crop Manager with a daily activity report for their teams without the need to re-enter the data manually. For its part, Neotic is exhibiting its Oasis solution (Commendation), which has been developed to accelerate and optimize data entry. Oasis is capable of learning the user's practices from their previous entries. It predicts the next task to be entered by using the relevant agronomic rules. The most probable tasks are suggested and displayed in a modern intuitive interface that enables users to validate their work in one click. Last but not least, Nyseos offers Kallosme (Silver Medal), which is the first online wine aroma management program, and is designed to help producers, oenologists and marketeers to optimize or simulate blends, create new types of wine, predict aromatic development, manage their wines etc.

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Second trend: Product quality, precision and trackability of work Product quality has become a decisive factor in the value of these products, and it is therefore imperative that such quality is achieved either through excellent control of the agronomic and/or oenological process, or by the elimination of non-compliant products and foreign bodies. Various manufacturers are offering sorting and harvesting systems that all contribute towards greater sorting quality and increase output, whether the sorting is done in the cellar or directly on the harvester. New Holland Agriculture is therefore exhibiting a machine whose originality lies in its ability to provide high quality sorting (Gold Medal), which was previously only possible when grapes were sorted in the cellar (optical sorting etc.). Elements that hitherto could not be sorted - either by competing mechanical systems or even by hand - are now eliminated. Sorting is carried out at the beginning of the harvest process, as soon as the grapes are collected and even before the harvest is taken into the machine. OptiGrape™ limits the quantity of green waste that comes into contact with the harvest during its transfer to the cellar. ERO Geratebau has developed a harvester with a transverse conveyor (Commendation), which can accommodate both a stalk separator and a sorting table. This is the first automated harvesting machine in the world combining three systems: transverse conveyance, stalk separation and sorting. It is particularly well suited to countries with large plots where the harvest is continuously discharged into a trailer moving in the neighbouring row. Product quality is further achieved in the cellar through the use of efficient filtration techniques, which must also focus on increasing output. This is the purpose of Liatech's Dynamos filter (Gold Medal), the first tangential filter with rotating discs for filtering products containing large quantities of suspended solids. The Dynamos technology prevents clogging and makes the filter very easy to clean. The versatility of this filter provides filtered lees and wines of high quality, and enables products to be bottled without further filtration, along the lines of the traditional wine filtering process. But agricultural products are characterized by a high level variability and it is important to have an in-depth knowledge of this, either in order to take this variability into account or limit its effect. Knowledge of this variability is relevant to both producers and technicians, and can be augmented throughout the growing cycle. Remote detection services and onboard sensors have been showcased at previous SITEVI shows. This year, two innovations from Force A in association with other partners complete the panoply of new tools for producers and technicians. Firstly, Force A, in partnership with the CIVC and ERECA, has produced an automated solution for mapping pruning (Silver Medal), which (1) automatically measures prunings directly on the plot and (2) automatically reproduces the data acquired as intra- and inter-plot cards for important parameters (number of shoots per m², average diameter of vines and woody biomass). This service, provided by Force A using the Physiocap® sensor, is a major advance in the precision field of wine-growing, and also in that of applied research. Force A is also offering - in partnership with New Holland Braud - an onboard system to measure harvest quality (Commendation). The system consists of an optical Multiplex® sensor developed by Force A, modified to be able to be fitted in New Holland Braud machines. This provides real time readings of the average anthocyanin content and an indication of the heterogeneity of the grapes contained in each of the trailers. Furthermore, the machine's GPS can be used to georeference the data acquired.

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But product quality also depends on other links in the chain, and in particular the use of totally healthy vines. This is why Les Pepinieres Mercier has produced CleanPLANT (Commendation). This is a grafted vine that is healthier than a "classic" plant due to a unique patented process that uses different methods of disinfection during the production stages to clean and disinfect plants and protect them from fungi connected with vine diseases (ESCA/BDA). ICV has developed Okay (Commendation), a winemaking yeast selected by combining classic assessment techniques with the QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci) technique. It combines hardiness with very low production of SO2, H2S and acetaldehyde to facilitate malolactic fermentation in the event of inoculation with lactic bacteria. Third trend: Sustainable development As production factors impacting the carbon footprint begin to be recognized, so sustainable development is gaining in visibility. Many manufacturers and suppliers of these carbon-producing factors are now focusing on reducing their carbon impact, for example in the corks and packaging sector. This can no longer be classified as a trend, and should rather be seen as very strong confirmation of the trend observed in 2011. But the awareness of the need for sustainable development does not stop there, and a trend that began a few years ago is now expanding rapidly: the use of electric engines as opposed to hydraulic or diesel engines. This trend was originally seen in the replacement of small hydraulic engines with electric engines. A more significant step has been taken this year with battery-powered "all-electric" high-clearance tractors. So Kremer Energie has produced the T4E, a 110bhp (80kW) electric high-clearance tractor (Silver Medal), and Tecnoma is offering its VOLTIS electric high-clearance tractor (Silver Medal) in 74kW and 100kW versions. These various high-clearance tractors offer the same functionality as traditional high-clearance tractors, but with the added advantage of using an alternative to fossil fuel, which is beneficial not only from an environmental but also an economic and health point of view. They constitute a major advance in that they reduce expenditure on fuel and maintenance, cut noise pollution and vibrations, improve driving safety and prevent pollution of the atmosphere, soil and plants by hydrocarbons and/or exhaust gases. While these machines are not yet approved, they are indicative of a move towards a break with the consumption of fossil fuel. As far as their use in France is concerned, wine-growers are required in terms of the opinion published in the Journal Officiel on 1 August 2013 to wait for national type approval to ensure compliance with the technical rules for health and safety in the workplace applicable to this type of machinery. One of the key aspects of wine-growing remains the spraying of crop protection products. It is crucial that the use of these products is reduced (and in particular losses into the air and the environment) but they still need to be highly effective in protecting vines and grapes, together with other trees and fruit grown on fruit farms. Gregoire is exhibiting Ecoprotect, a new crop sprayer (Silver Medal) designed to meet future environmental requirements and delivering a high quality process with no wastage. This sprayer is quicker and more plant-friendly than previous devices, and enables significant savings on spray products. Air from the sprayer turbine causes flexible modules to swell and become stiff, forming two flexible casings that envelop the vine. The process remains enclosed, so there is therefore less pollution and fewer risks to the user and the environment. Once the modules have swollen, they remain relatively flexible, limit breakages and are kind to the vines. Bobard Jeunes is offering the Polyjet (Commendation), a machine that sprays crops from all sides, designed for high density vines and combining three spraying technologies

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(projected spray, carried spray and pneumatic diffusers) in the same device. This combined system enables wine-growers to adapt their method of spraying to suit the different stages in their vines' growing cycles and minimizes the risk of wastage during the early treatments. But advances in the management of plant protection treatments are difficult due to the complexity of the fruit-hedge in both wine- and fruit-growing, and the highly seasonal and fleeting nature of the situations requiring analysis. It was to provide a tool to enable work under controlled and repeatable conditions that the IFV and IRSTEA developed EvaSprayViti (Silver Medal). Not only does this tool quantify the proportion of a product that actually settles on a plant, but also its distribution. The EvaSprayViti is adjustable and can be used to simulate the diversity of situations in French vineyards as required. It is therefore a new and essential tool when it comes to improving best practice for crop sprayers currently in service and making investment decisions, and will also play a vital role in the development of new, effective, environment-friendly equipment.

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2013 INNOVATION AWARDS

RESULTS

Gold Medals LIATECH Tangential filter with rotating ceramic discs

NEW HOLLAND AGRICULTURE Optimized sorting system for grape harvesting machines

Silver Medals FORCE A Automated solution for mapping pruning

GREGOIRE Enclosed processing system enabling products to be recycled

INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE LA VIGNE ET DU VIN

Test bench for assessing the agri-environmental performance of crop spraying equipment

KREMER ENERGIE Electric high-clearance tractor

NYSEOS Wine aroma management software

TECNOMA Electric high-clearance tractor

Commendations

BOBARD JEUNE A machine that sprays crops from all sides and combines the three spraying technologies (projected spray, carried spray and pneumatic diffusers)

CALIBREX Electronic sizer and scale, oval in shape, designed for fragile fruit and vegetables

D2E Automated activity monitoring

ERO GERATEBAU Harvester with transverse conveyor belt, stalk separator and sorting table

FORCE A Quantification of anthocyanins on harvesting machines

GAI FRANCE Electropneumatic filling spout

ICV Winemaking yeast

IRSTEA Assisted agricultural three-point coupling with increased safety

MAS PACK Bottle bander

MICHAEL PAETZOLD Rebottling service for old vintages

NEOTIC Intelligent and easy input assistance tool

PEPINIERES MERCIER FRERES Vine produced through a new process

PROVITIS Machine for pulling vine shoots

TONNELLERIE VICARD Cylindrical-conical barrels

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2013 INNOVATION AWARDS

Gold Medals

LIATECH

Tangential filter with rotating ceramic discs Product trade name: DYNAMOS

Dynamos is the first tangential filter with rotating discs (the discs rotate in the product being filtered), for filtering products heavily laden with suspended solids. The Dynamos technology helps to prevent clogging and makes the filter very easy to clean. This is a winemaking machine with a high yield and limited production costs. The filter recovers 95% of the product being processed. The Dynamos is an alternative to

press and rotary vacuum filters. The Dynamos also has the major advantage of filtering without kieselguhr (cellulose, perlite etc.). Its versatility enables both lees and wines to be filtered with optimum results. Tests and installations have shown that the filtration is of high quality, enabling products to be bottled without further filtration, along the lines of the traditional wine filtering process. The process allows long filtration cycles (over 48 hours non-stop), delivering a high yield but with no red colour reduction (Abs. at 520 nm.) and allowing almost no oxygen pick-up.

Contact Philippe Vincent - Tel.: +33 (0)6 78 71 24 21 LIATECH - 10 Rue des Meuniers - Parc d'activité d'Egly – 91520 Egly - France

NEW HOLLAND AGRICULTURE

Optimized sorting system for grape harvesting machines Product trade name: NEW HOLLAND – OPTI-GRAPE™

Winegrowers and oenologists are always striving to improve harvest quality in their quest for the perfect harvest (zero waste in the crop). They need look no longer, thanks to Opti-Grape

™,

developed by New Holland Braud. This new system is both a genuine innovation and a technical feat, due to all the elements it contains and the quality of the harvest it delivers. Each part of the harvest is covered by a separate process and optimized. There are five sub-assemblies working in conjunction to ensure the harvest runs smoothly. The two best known are the pre-sorter and the separator. The pre-sorter uses rollers to separate the harvest gently into two batches: whole bunches, which go to the de-stemmer, and individual berries, which go straight to the

separator. The entire harvest eventually passes through the separator (berries, berries from the de-stemmer, waste, leafstalks and pieces of leaves from the pre-sorting). The berries are separated from the waste by a forced-air cushion. Everything that is round (berries), rolls off the air cushion and falls into the trailer. Other waste (leafstalks, pieces of leaves, stems, withered or botrytized berries) are lifted on the air cushion and removed from the harvest. The Opti-Grape

™ innovation delivers harvests

of excellent quality (less than 0.1% of waste in the harvest), and even removes waste that would not be picked up in a manual sort (pieces of leaves measuring 1 cm², withered berries). It has the advantage of being onboard the harvester and is therefore clearly more effective than sorting in the cellar, whilst still retaining the production output expected of a Braud machine. Contact Philippe Boisseau - Tel.: +33 (0)6 37 58 65 29 C N H France - Route d'Aizenay - 85220 Coêx - France

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2013 INNOVATION AWARDS

Silver Medals

FORCE A

Automated solution for mapping pruning Product trade name: PHYSIOCAP®

The product presented at this year's SITEVI is an automated solution for mapping pruning. The first stage of the process is the automatic measurement of wood prunings directly on the plot. The second stage is the automatic reproduction of the data acquired as intra- and inter-plot cards for three parameters, which are:

the number of shoots per m²,

the average diameter of the vines in mm,

the woody biomass in grams per m². Following a more in-depth study of the information obtained, clients can be provided with agricultural advice to help them formulate rules for making decisions that will enable them to

adjust their technical processes. The Physiocap® sensor was invented by the CIVC (Comite

Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne) and was patented jointly with E.RE.CA, which developed the onboard electronics and industrialized its production. Force-A has developed an online platform for the automatic processing and mapping of data on wood prunings. This measurement service is offered in conjunction with maps and analyses of the data in question. This service, provided by Force-A using the Physiocap

® sensor, is a major advance in the precision field of winegrowing, and

also in that of applied research.

Contact Charlotte Milhade - charlotte.milhade@force-a.fr - Tel.: +33 (0)1 69 35 88 39 FORCE A - Centre Universitaire Paris Sud - Bât. 503 - 91893 Orsay - France

GREGOIRE

Enclosed processing system enabling products to be recycled Product trade name: ECOPROTECT

This new crop sprayer is designed to meet future environmental requirements and delivers a high quality process with no wastage. It is quick and enables significant savings on spray products. Air from the sprayer turbine causes flexible modules to swell and become stiff, forming two flexible casings enveloping the vine. The base of the casing is hermetically sealed and contains a filter to catch the spray and direct it to a recycling mechanism. In order to increase the effectiveness of the system and limit product wastage, the space between the two casings is closed by a film of air forming a barrier and thereby enclosing the treatment zone. In this way, a treatment

"bubble" is created where:

the concentration of the product is increased, speeding up the process;

the particles of the product in suspension are recovered, filtered and reused, thereby decreasing consumption of the product;

the process remains enclosed, so there is therefore less pollution and fewer risks to the user and the environment.

Once the modules have swollen, they remain relatively flexible, limit breakages and are kind to the vines.

Contact Christophe Baron - christophe.baron@gregoiregroup.com - Tel.: +33 (0)5 45 82 23 49 GREGOIRE - 89 Avenue de Barbezieux - CS70213 Châteaubernard – 16111 Cognac Cedex - France

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Silver Medals

INSTITUT FRANÇAIS DE LA VIGNE ET DU VIN & IRSTEA

Test bench for assessing the agri-environmental performance of crop spraying equipment

Product trade name: EvaSprayViti

IFV and IRSTEA have developed an adjustable artificial vine called "EvaSprayViti" that enables spraying to be measured objectively and the performance of different crop spraying equipment to be tested. The aim is to assess the spraying of crops and product losses into the environment. This test bench artificially reproduces four rows of vines, each 10m long. It consists of two distinct parts:

"collection benches" made up of collectors imitating vine leaves, used to quantify the amount of spray settling on the vegetation;

"edge benches" simulating a sufficient length of vine to limit the effect of the edges and enable the amount of spray landing on the ground to be quantified.

There are three different configurations of the bench corresponding to three growing stages of the vine (beginning, middle and full vegetation) and these are used to test the performance of crop sprayers as the vegetation progresses. The quantities of the product deposited on the leaves can be measured for the different stages of development of the vine, together with the distribution of the product on the plant and deposits on the soil. EvaSprayViti quantifies the proportion of a product that actually settles on a plant under controlled and repeatable conditions, together with its distribution and losses into the environment. The tool is adjustable; it is possible to simulate the different configurations of French vineyards (spacing between rows, thickness, leaf area etc) as required. Different application parameters and techniques can be tested (wind, temperature, types of crop sprayers and diffusers, volumes/ha, precision of settings etc.). The fact that this bench is so easy to use means that it is possible to routinely carry out a large number of tests in a manner that is precise, reliable and repeatable, and produces valuable references. Until now, there has been nothing like it. The data produced during the tests can be used in a number of forms:

advice for improving best practice for crop sprayers currently in use and for making investment choices;

development and promotion in partnership with manufacturers of new efficient, environment-friendly equipment using the analyses and digital simulations from data measured using EvaSprayViti.

Contacts Patrick Montegano and Sebastien Codis - patrick.montegano@vignevin.com and sebastien.codis@vignevin.com - Tel.: +33 (0)6 14 26 26 02 IFV - IRSTEA - 361 Rue Jean-François Breton - 34196 Montpellier - France Bernadette Ruelle - bernadette.ruelle@irstea.fr - Tel.: +33 (0)6 08 98 19 38 IRSTEA - 361 Rue Jean-François Breton - 34196 Montpellier - France

KREMER ENERGIE

Electric high-clearance tractor Product trade name: T4E

The T4E is a 110bhp (80kW) electric high-clearance tractor that offers the same functionality as a traditional high-clearance tractor, but with the added advantage of using an alternative to fossil fuel (like its less classic predecessor the T3E), which is beneficial not only from an environmental but also an economic and health point of view. Since its inception, Kremer Energy has been pursuing the use of electrical energy in wine-growing high-clearance tractors, delivering major advances for both wine-growers and their customers. In particular:

reducing energy and maintenance costs, sound pollution and vibrations,

improving driving safety,

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preventing pollution of the atmosphere, soil and plants by hydrocarbons and exhaust gases,

an extremely reduced cost of use (8 hours is enough to recharge the batteries for an estimated bill of less than €10),

almost non-existent maintenance costs due to the absence of a heat engine and the low quantity of organic hydraulic oil carried (only 12 litres).

With its two electrical power take-offs, the T4E is able to pull all types of classic tools used for mechanized work in narrow vineyards (milling, topping, treatment/processing, working the soil etc.). It automatically recognizes the electrical tools to which it is connected and adapts to the operating requirements provided by the tool manufacturers, which generates substantial savings in terms of energy autonomy and work efficiency. Together with the tractor's electronic management system, the easy-to-use joystick that controls its movement and manages the tools simplifies handling and day-to-day work, relying particularly on the robust BUS-CAN technology. Also, the integrated program managing the functionalities of the T4E can easily be updated using a USB key, delivering the latest technological developments with regard to performance and compatibility with tools or options. As far as the use of these tractors in France is concerned, wine-growers are required in terms of the opinion published in the Journal Officiel on 1 August 2013 to wait for national type approval to ensure compliance with the technical rules for health and safety in the workplace applicable to this type of machinery.

Contact Vincent Denisart - v.denisart@kremer-energie.fr - Tel.: +33 (0)7 77 90 38 97 KREMER ENERGIE - La Pierre qui Tourne - 51480 Oeuilly - France

NYSEOS

Wine aroma management software Product trade name: Kallosme

Kallosme is the first online wine aroma management program. It models the expertise of Nyseos through artificial intelligence tools. With or without aroma analysis, Kallosme offers six modules that meet genuine and operational requirements of oenologists, producers and marketeers. It is now possible to recognize the aromatic quality of wines online or on a tablet to:

optimize or simulate blends,

create new types of wine,

carry out real product benchmarking,

predict aromatic development,

manage stocks of wine etc. Users subscribe to the modules they wish to use and define the number of analyses they will require. As they go along, they send samples of wines to Nyseos which then feeds into its database the results of the analyses and the information transmitted by the users themselves. Users connect to their customer space which gives them access to their database and the modules to which they have subscribed. These modules enable users to use various calculation, modelling and interpreting tools on their results to meet their requirements for managing blends, diagnose their market positioning, predict developments and display the qualitative level of their production on original dashboards.

Contact Remi Schneider - remi@nyseos.fr - Tel.: +33 (0)4 99 61 25 08 NYSEOS - 2 Place Pierre Viala - 34060 Montpellier - France

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Silver Medals

TECNOMA

Electric high-clearance tractor Product trade name: VOLTIS

Tecnoma's Voltis electric high-clearance tractor offers an alternative to using fossil fuel, for more sustainable wine-growing. The use of electrical energy presents a number of advantages for both wine-growers and consumers: economic (consumption, maintenance), comfort (reduced noise level), safety (braking, grip, stability), health (lack of pollution of the environment and plants by hydrocarbons and exhaust gases). The Voltis uses a Lithium-Iron-Phosphate battery pack to store electrical energy. A full charge requires 8 to 9 hours on a standard electricity network, and the tractor then has a range of 4 to 12 hours depending on the nature of the work, the speed

and the relief. Its small back-up generator set (optional) can be used to provide additional range or merely return the high-clearance vehicle to base if the batteries run down completely. The tractor uses electrical energy for propulsion and to operate its tools via two power take-offs or current outputs. With a power output of either 74kW or 100kW, the drive train is based on four asynchronous electrical geared motors integrated in each of the wheel hubs. The tractor is steered by a joystick in the cabin, and an electronic system controls all the functions (speed, electricity consumption, acceleration, deceleration, torque, battery pack temperature and gears etc.). As far as the use of these tractors in France is concerned, wine-growers are required in terms of the opinion published in the Journal Officiel on 1 August 2013 by the Ministry for Agriculture to wait for national type approval to ensure compliance with the technical rules for health and safety in the workplace applicable to this type of machinery.

Contact Jerome Mestrude - jmestrude@tecnoma.com - Tel.: +33 (0)6 12 99 07 12 TECNOMA - 54 Rue Marcel Paul - 51200 Epernay - France

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2013 INNOVATION AWARDS

Commendations

BOBARD Jeune (Ets)

A machine that sprays crops from all sides and combines the three spraying technologies (projected spray, carried spray and pneumatic diffusers)

Product trade name: POLYJET

The Polyjet is a machine that sprays crops from all sides, designed for high density vines and combining the three spraying technologies (projected spray, carried spray and pneumatic diffusers) in the same device. This combined system enables wine-growers to adapt their method of spraying to suit the different stages in their vines' growing cycles, to minimize the risk of wastage during the early treatments and to control their fuel costs by only using the turbine on full power for the later treatments. The turbine

produces a volume of air that is transported by flexible hoses to the Polyjet downfeed. The system consists of: a casing through which pressurized air is transported to the diffusers, a set of rigid conduits that transfer the liquid under pressure to the nozzles of an upper fitting that enables the downfeed to be sacrificed if it gets tangled up and that can be used to rapidly adjust the distance between lines.

Contact Pierre Bachelet - pierre.bachelet@bobard.com - Tel.: +33 (0)3 80 24 34 53 ETS. BOBARD JEUNE - 19 Rue de Réon - 21200 Beaune – France

CALIBREX

Electronic sizer and scale, oval in shape, designed for fragile fruit and vegetables

Product trade name: NOVAGRAM +

Novagram + is a versatile electronic sizer and scale, oval in shape, designed for fragile fruit and vegetables with diameters of 35 to 100mm. Its innovative design ensures a filling factor of 100% by expelling surplus fruit in a completely reliable natural process. On the other hand, it can size both small fruit (such as apricots/plums/kiwis) and medium-sized fruit (such as peaches/apples/pears/tomatoes etc.) because they are weighed on the curve. The Novagram + is fed through an upstream pre-aligner and

consists of three sections with highly specific functions:

a straight section where the fruit is positioned randomly on small dishes and an initial natural elimination of extra fruit takes place;

a second, curved section, where the dishes move apart and the second (and final) elimination of extra fruit is achieved through centrifugal force, while the remaining fruit is then weighed under ideal conditions (even if over 76mm in diameter);

a third straight section where the sized fruit is directed towards the packaging area.

Contact Chantal Durand - info@calibrex.fr - Tel.: +33 (0)6 22 42 55 61 CALIBREX - 291 Route d'Avignon - 84800 Cavaillon - France

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Commendations

D2E

Automated activity monitoring Product trade name: PROCESS2WINE

Process2Wine offers a new geolocation-based activity monitoring module, which automatically generates end-of-day activity reports for each employee, plot and type of work. Tractors are equipped with GPS trackers for this purpose and operators on foot, with smartphones. An analysis of the geolocation data in conjunction with the farm work schedule provides a Crop Manager with a daily activity report for their teams without the need to re-enter the data manually, which loses time and causes errors.

The report is produced automatically by factoring in the geolocation (to identify the plot being worked) the sender (to identify the operator) and the work schedule (to determine the type of work being carried out). The Crop Manager accesses Process2Wine on the Internet from their computer to consult and possibly correct it, then approves the activity report. This is the first application to offer an automated real-time method for recording times. Their transmission in real time also means it is possible to monitor a property remotely without having to be there physically. The data is centralized on the server so it can be shared, progress can be monitored and interaction with operators is possible in real time (for example sending a message to an operator concerning re-entry times for a plot as they approach it). On the other hand, the integrated GIS enables realistic progress maps to be shown that reflect the actual movements of operators or machines. This data may also be used to calculate areas completed or remaining to be completed, or can be used in third party decision support tools.

Contact Emmanuel Thibierge - e.thibierge@process2wine.com - Tel.: +33 (0)6 71 61 09 88 D2E - 19 Rue Jean Odin - 33000 Bordeaux - France ERO GERATEBAU

Harvester with transverse conveyor belt, stalk separator and sorting table Product trade name: ERO-Grapeliner 6000

ERO has developed a harvester with a transverse conveyer which can accommodate both a stalk separator and sorting table on board. This is the first harvester in the world combining the three systems: transverse conveyance, stalk separating and sorting. The machine has a 1,500 litre bucket and is well suited to large plots. While the machine is harvesting a row, a tractor pulling a trailer moves down the neighbouring row at the same speed. The transverse conveyor continuously pours out grapes into the trailer. The driver merely has to press a button in the cabin to

activate stalk separation and sorting, if they wish, which improves the quality of the harvest. With this system, a driver can switch from transporting the grapes on the transverse conveyor to unloading them into the bucket and vice versa, simply by pressing a button. As the user is not obliged to stop the machine, the system generates not-insignificant savings of time and money. These machines are particularly well suited to overseas countries (America, New Zealand and Australia) characterized by large plots and increasingly concerned with the quality of their products.

Contact Nadine Klein - Nklein@ERO-Weinbau.de - Tel.: +49 (0)67 61 94 40 94 71 ERO GERATEBAU - Simmerner Strasse 20 - D55469 - Niederkumbd – Germany

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Commendations FORCE A

Quantification of anthycyanins on harvesting machines

Force-A has developed an innovative system whereby it is possible to access information on grape quality in all mechanized harvests undertaken using a New Holland Braud Series 9000 harvester. The system is able to provide average anthycyanin content in real time, together with an indication of the heterogeneity of the grapes contained in each of the trailers transporting them between the plots and the cellar. The measurements are taken using a Multiplex

® optical sensor developed by Force A and adapted

to be fitted on board machines. New Holland Braud has developed a page on the IntelliView III terminal that enables the system to be operated from the cabin. The results are also displayed instantly on this page. It is then possible to print the screen to reproduce the information in the cellar in real time.

Furthermore, by coupling it to the machine's GPS, data can be georeferenced to provide an additional functionality that maps the spatial variability of anthocyanins in the plots harvested.

Contact Sébastien Evain - sebastien.evain@force-a.fr - Tel.: +33 (0)1 69 35 88 81 FORCE A - Centre Universitaire Paris Sud - Bât. 503 - 91893 Orsay - France

GAI FRANCE

Electropneumatic filling spout

The new electropneumatic spouts from Gai (patented) can be used to fill containers with still and carbonated liquid products alike, without requiring any modifications or additional equipment. The "liquid" and gas circuits open and close at the lower end of the spout. The operating cycle, which is programmable by robot on a touch screen, is controlled at all times by a pressure transducer connected with four solenoid valves. The user can tailor the filling cycles to the product, its temperature and pressure. Keeping the bottle airtight throughout every phase limits the ingress of oxygen and thus of sulphites. Settings for levels are centralized

and electric, and therefore very precise. The (patented) sterilization system using false electric bottles delivers optimum quality and cleaning precision in all circuits.

Contact Fabrice Plancon - contact@gaifrance.fr - Tel.: +33 (0)4 94 50 08 40 GAI FRANCE - ZAC de Gueiranne - Chemin des Costettes - 88340 Le Cannet des Maures – France

ICV GROUP

Winemaking yeast

Product trade name: LALVIN ICV OKAY®

Lalvin ICV Okay® winemaking yeast is the result of collaborative scientific research by the ICV Group,

Lallemand, SupAgro and INRA Montpellier. It has been selected by combining classic assessment techniques with the QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci) technique, which identifies the regions of the genome involved in the functions of interest. The innovation lies in successive back-crosses between a particularly effective yeast from a winemaking point of view and a yeast with original genetic characteristics (a very low capacity for producing sulphur compounds). The selection was finalized by testing the descendants of these back-crosses under high-volume winemaking conditions in such a way as to confirm their qualities and sensory impact.

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Commendations Results: this yeast combines hardiness (Killer K2, short lag phase, ability to ferment at over 30°C, ability to ferment must with an alcohol potential of 15.5%) with very low SO2, H2S and acetaldehyde production. These latter characteristics help to decrease the SO2 content during vinification. Suited to all three colours, Lalvin ICV Okay

® is particularly impressive in white and rose wines,

producing low volatile acidity levels and promoting aromatic esters. It imbues freshness and balance on the palate. Prior to use, Lalvin ICV Okay

® must be rehydrated in lukewarm water (35°C). Inoculation is carried out

after the must has been re-acclimatized to the temperature, or at the bottom of the tank in the case of wines being made from entire, destalked or pressed grapes.

Contact François Nathan-Hudson – fnathan-hudson@icv.fr - Tel.: +33 (0)4 67 07 05 72 GROUPE ICV – La Jasse de Maurin – 34970 Lattes - France

IRSTEA

Assisted agricultural three-point coupling with increased safety Product trade name: AttelAgri

Coupling and uncoupling tools to tractors or self-propelled farm machines regularly present difficulties and risks to both equipment and humans. If the towing vehicle is not perfectly positioned, the process needs to be repeated. If it is only approximately positioned, the operator needs to force the lower arms of the coupling system into position, which is not easy and increases the risk of accidental crushing or trapping, particularly if the tool being coupled up is unstable. The solution proposed by IRSTEA results from the application of the innovative IRAD

design method developed by its engineers and researchers in partnership with Cachan's ENS, the CCMSA and the Ministry for Agriculture. Without fundamentally calling the existing machinery into question, three major constraints were revealed and were incorporated into the specifications to make the coupling phase between the tractor and tool safe using the three-point connection:

the need to avoid the risk of the tool turning over during coupling,

the need to reduce amount of time the user is present in the coupling zone,

the need to minimize the weight of the bars during coupling. AttelAgri is a solution to these constraints. The solution is characterized more particularly by its simple ergonomic design and the addition of joints between the lower arms and the chassis of the tractor or self-propelled farm machine so as to make it easier to move the ends of the arms when a machine is being coupled up or uncoupled. The tool is locked in place by a hook during work and transport phases. Registered under Patent No. 1351137 as a device forming a three-point coupling for an agricultural machine pulled by a tractor or self-propelled farm machine, this solution is awaiting transfer to the economic sector (manufacturer(s) and/or component manufacturer(s)) for industrialization so that farmers may benefit from it as soon as possible.

Contact Nicolas Tricot - nicolas.tricot@irstea.fr - Tel.: +33 (0)1 40 96 65 45 IRSTEA - 1 Rue Pierre-Gilles de Gennes - CS10030 - 92761 Antony

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Commendations MAS PACK

Bottle banding machine

This new machine enables the automation of an operation that until now has been carried out by hand. It accelerates production speed, increases the precision of work and, more particularly, decreases the cost of work. Having a perfect cork seal is basic for its function of protecting the bottle and the aesthetics required by the market. The machine can process various types of bottles of different diameters and heights without having to change the system to accommodate the different formats, and thus without significant loss of time. The bottle banding machine consists mainly of a set of bottle sockets for bottles manipulated by an anthropomorphic robot, conveyor belts to transport the bottles and a store for the cork seals (foil or paper).

Bottles arrive in the machine and stop, and are then engaged in, and moved along by the bottle sockets by the robot equipped with a special bell that acts pneumatically on the collar of the bottle. The operations to cut the labels and roll them around the bottles are executed with precision and without altering the shape of the paper.

Contact Massimo Lailo - m.mailo@maspack.com - Tel.: (+39) 01 41 85 67 23 MAS PACK PACKAGING SRL - Regione Leiso 95-96 - 14050 San Marzano Oliveto (AT) - Italy

MICHAEL PAETZOLD

Rebottling service for old vintages

Product trade name: ETERNAM®

Eternam® fulfils the need of great winemaking estates to

exploit their stock of old vintages with a service that meets technical rebottling requirements point by point, with an ingenious system that ensures that nothing is left to chance. The Eternam

® rebottling service for old vintages consists of a

bottling line staffed by three operators. Until now, rebottling has cellars has depended on the knowledge, experience and skill of the individual operator. The Eternam

® equipment has been designed and built with the

prime objective of protecting the wine against the risk of dissolved oxygen from the moment the cork is withdrawn until it is replaced. The extraction of the cork, the tasting of the wine, the ullage of the bottle, the vacuuming of cork debris and the re-corking are all carried out in an inert atmosphere. Each workstation, operating in semi-automatic mode, combines the use of innovative technologies (three patents lodged) with the dexterity of the operators on the rebottling line. The operators initiate the various operations using control screens. The "tasting" station uses micro-aspiration. At the "upgrading" station, the wine is transferred from the ullage bottle under nitrogen by a peristaltic pump. The level is detected by a photoelectric sensor. At the station vacuuming up cork debris, the operator starts a suction tube whilst viewing the surface of the wine through an endoscopic camera. The automatic corking machine manages the inerting and the vacuum. The bottle can then be marked with a laser. This last point is fundamental because, by preventing fraud, it guarantees the greater appeal of the bottle to future buyers. Auction house experts are quite unanimous on this issue: a wine from chateau stocks rebottled under

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optimum conditions will realize 20 to 30% more. Chateaux and great wine merchants still hold large enough stocks of old vintages to make these rebottling operations worthwhile from a financial perspective. This is a prestigious market and the service will provide a more solid foundation for transactions by extending the conservation times of these various bottles.

Contact Claire Gouty - cgouty@michaelpaetzold.com - Tel.: +33 (0)7 77 70 18 70 MICHAEL PAETZOLD - 3700 Avenue de Toulouse - 33140 Cadaujac – France

NEOTIC

Intelligent and easy input assistance tool

Product trade name: OASIS

All publishers of technical management solutions face the issue of user-friendliness when it comes to data input. Oasis has therefore been developed to accelerate and optimize this stage. Capable of learning from previous entries, it predicts the next tasks to be

entered by using the relevant agronomic rules. The most probable tasks are suggested and can be confirmed with one click. Oasis does not require any preliminary configuration; it is based on business process logic to give a relevance factor of over 80%! In addition, Oasis offers the recovery of information recorded by users, which forms the basis for a prediction engine capable of anticipating forthcoming work. The performance of the prediction engine is based on the agronomic rules orienting the research. The relationships between the different events recorded are analysed at different time intervals to take account of the repetitiveness of work over short periods, together with its seasonal nature. The data can be also explored in geographic zones ranging from the plot about which the input is made right up to the winegrowing region. The proposals made by Oasis are therefore derived from work of the preceding day or year on the plot or those surrounding it. The set of proposals by the engine is then displayed within a modern intuitive interface that enables users to validate their work in one click. This operation, which only concerns work in the cellar, is currently being extended to work being carried out on vines. Currently deployed on web platforms, Oasis will soon be accessible on mobile platforms.

Contact Anthony Clenet - aclenet@maferme-neotic.com - Tel.: +33 (0)4 34 35 20 50 NEOTIC - Hotel d'Entreprises du Millénaire - 120 Allée John Napier - 34000 Montpellier - France

PEPINIERES MERCIER FRERES

Vine produced through a new process in a nursery

Product trade name: CleanPLANT This is a grafted vine created through a unique patented process that uses different methods of disinfection during the production stages to clean and disinfect plants and protect them from fungi connected with vine diseases (ESCA/BDA). The process is based on the use of a neutral anolyte (a contact biocide that does not affect the environment, unlike the fungicides used nowadays) in various aqueous concentrations. Laboratory checks are carried out during the different production stages to monitor the health of the wood. CleanPLANT is healthier than a "classic" plant as a result of these methods of disinfection being incorporated into the production process, from the harvesting of the basic material to the packaging of the plants. The work put into researching and developing this new process to produce

healthy, more environment-friendly vine plants in a nursery, deserves recognition.

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Contact Stefan Raoult - stefan.raoult@mercier-groupe.com - Tel.: +33 (0)6 99 00 29 74 PEPINIERE MERCIER FRERES - 16 Rue de la Chaignée - 85770 Vix - France

PROVITIS

Machine for pulling vine shoots Product trade name: VSE 430

The machine for pulling vine shoots extracts shoots after the pruning of the vines in winter, an operation mostly carried out by hand until now. It consists of a support frame bearing devices to feed shoots in, and transfer and extract. These devices are driven on vertical axes at a tangential speed proportional to the forward speed. A notched disc pushes the side of the shoots to feed them towards an extraction chain and rollers. The pulling is therefore done laterally, as if by hand. Less effort is required for tying than would be the case if pulled upwards, which avoids all the drawbacks of existing machines:

substantial tension of tying wires to prevent them being carried away by the machine;

stakes for vines planted at a substantial depth to prevent them being pulled out.

A deflector at the exit forces the shoots towards the middle of the row for easier collection. The concept for this machine was invented by a wine-grower in the Saumur region, Mr Jean-Yves Deze, who has developed the design through trial and improvement. The Provitis VSE 430 machine pulls shoots after pruning, reproducing what is currently done by hand, without compromising the training of the vine.

Contact Didier Andelfinger - didier.andelfinger@provitis.eu - Tel.: +33 (0)6 80 66 48 44 PROVITIS - Rue des Freres Peugeot - 68127 Sainte Croix en Plaine - France

TONNELLERIE VICARD

Cylindrical-conical barrels

Product trade name: ERGONUM®

The classic form of a barrel imposes points of filling and emptying on the same vertical axis, which passes through the centre of the structure. The regular need to access these points involves delicate, even dangerous, working positions (climbing to sit astride the barrel or crawling to reach the barrel end when a bent feedback with a valve on the front of the barrel is seeping at the interface between the wood/stainless steel and the seal of the three-piece connection). The value of the Ergonum

® lies in its cylindroconical shape that displaces the

filling/draining axis towards the front, providing benefits in respect of ergonomics, safety, mechanics (sturdiness of construction), quality (wine processing, cleaning), economy (saving time and water) with an eco-impact due to energy saved in the manufacture of the product. Access becomes possible with a rolling ladder, or a cradle in the case of

large-scale operations. The bungholes of the barrels face into the central aisle. For access to a classic barrel, the operator places a ladder on the edge of the metal hoops but cannot secure it against sideways or backwards movement. Vicard Tonnellerie and Heric Distribution, a specialist in the design and installation of fermenting rooms, have been concerned about these problems, and for the past five years have been systematically fitting ladder supports on all barrels supplied by them. Potential improvements were researched and the idea of the Ergonum was born. The partnership between Vicard Tonnellerie and HERIC Distribution has enabled this project to become reality.

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Contacts Pierre Marchais - pierre.marchais@groupe-vicard.com - Tel.: +33 (0)6 28 96 05 83 Tonnellerie Vicard – 184 Rue Haute de Crouin – 16100 Cognac - France

Eric Hugues – eric.hugues@hericdistribution.com – Tel.: +33 (0)6 71 00 17 23

Heric Distribution - 3-5 Rue des Grands Cotes – 51150 Ambonnay - France