The OIV president tasted Brazilian grape juice. She wants Europe to take notes
Yvette van der Merwe, at Consevitis-RS in Bento Gonçalves, said she absolutely loves the juices. About half of Rio Grande do Sul’s grapes go to juice, not wine.
Half the fruit in Rio Grande do Sul is not a failed wine. It is a product.
On Friday 28 August, OIV president Yvette van der Merwe sat at Consevitis-RS in Bento Gonçalves. Gisele Flores reported it for Jornal O Sul. Van der Merwe is South African. The OIV is the intergovernmental wine science house in Dijon, 51 member states.
Eduardo Piaia, who runs Consevitis-RS, walked her through Brazil’s three systems: traditional vines in the South, winter-cycle grapes in the Southeast, tropical viticulture in the Northeast. Embrapa researchers Marcos Botton and Henrique Pessoa dos Santos talked climate, soil and cultivar genetics.
She was surprised by how many small family farms in the Serra Gaúcha stay economically alive, often inside cooperatives. Economic sustainability, she said, is an OIV subject that needs more care. Not only a Brazilian problem.
Then she tasted grape juices from Embrapa’s BRS cultivars, the “uvas do Brasil” breeding programme. Her line: “I absolutely love Brazilian grape juices.” In Rio Grande do Sul about half the grape crop becomes that drink. It is one of the state’s main grape products, not a leftover.
On climate she turned the map around. Europe is looking at Brazilian tech. “We can learn a lot from you and you from us.” Keep doing what you are doing, she said. It is incredible.
She was in the Serra for the 2º EnoMeeting by ConceptWine, 27–29 August.
Mini-concept: juice can be the point of a vineyard, not the thing you make when wine does not sell.
A flavoured can is a recipe. This glass is half a state’s grapes, pressed as juice.
Remember: about half of Rio Grande do Sul’s grapes go to juice, not wine.
Source: Jornal O Sul