William Metz et senseFly™ au VDEWS

Cette année, au VDEWS, un nouveau prix (€ 10.000) a été créé. Destiné à un jeune de maximum 30 ans, le Lauréat choisi par notre Comité de Sélection est un américain de 24 ans, en master à l'Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Changins (Suisse). Son nom : WILLIAM METZ.

Ce Prix sera financé, ainsi que pour d'autres candidatures prévues pour l'édition 2016 du VDEWS, par une vente aux enchères de 90 magnums, répartis en 30 lots de 3 magnums lors de la soirée du 8 novembre.

Nous donnerons ultérieurement la liste de ces magnums, offerts très généreusement par des vignerons, des propriétaires, sensibles à ce Prix destiné à un jeune ayant un beau projet pour le monde du vin. Ces donateurs méritent pleinement notre chapeau bas ! L'ensemble de ces dons est simplement exceptionnel.

La société suisse senseFly™ (ICI), dont le propriétaire majoritaire est Henri Seydoux, prête pour ce projet qui s'étendra sur 12 mois, un de leurs derniers drônes professionnels, avec tout l'équipement, les logiciels de traitement et l'assistance technique. Une valeur de plus de € 20.000. Là encore, dans un contexte économique pas évident, un geste de grande élégance de la part du propriétaire du Groupe Parrot.(ICI)

Un grand merci au membre du GJE qui m'a permis de convaincre Monsieur Seydoux de l'intérêt de cette initiative.

Résumé du projet de William Metz en français :

Utiliser les drones pour analyser et comprendre les terroirs

Les applications de la technologie récente des drones (UAV pour unmanned aerial vehicle) sont illimitées. Mon projet est de l'utiliser en l'associant à la capture et l'analyse d'image de haute résolution, de façon à étudier les différents aspects du développement du vignoble, notamment les composants et les effets du terroir, dans les principales régions viticoles d'Europe.

A l'aide d'un drone à ailes fixes (SenseFly®) des photos multispectres de haute résolution seront prises à différentes périodes puis analysées, dans différents vignobles. Les données générées seront intégrées dans une base de données géospatiales, avec les informations connues sur le climat, les propriétés physicochimiques du sol et les pratiques culturales du vigneron. Ces informations apporteront des connaissances supplémentaires sur ce qui constitue le Terroir.

Et ci-dessous détails du projet en anglais :

Project Proposal for the Grand Prix du Vin du Villa D'Este Wine Symposium (William Metz)

Project title:

UAV terroir study

Lead Organization:

Villa D'Este Wine Symposium and the Grand Jury Européen

Potential Partners:

SenseFly- a Swiss firm and leading producer of small light weight fixed- wings UAVs for use in Agriculture.

Participating domains in important wine-growing regions across Europe ( Germany, Austria, - Burgundy, Bordeaux, Alsace, Rhône Valley, Champagne, Portugal, and- Spain)

Primary Objective:

Use a UAV to observe aspects of terroir in wine-growing regions across Europe. Analyze and present this information at the 2015 Villa D'Este Wine Symposium.

Beneficiaries:

Villa D'Este Wine Symposium; Participating domains

Budget:

To be determined

Funding:

Wine auction held at the 2014 Villa D'Este Wine Symposium

Start date:

November 2014

Duration:

12 months

Motivation

The idea of the project is to use newly available unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology and the associated image processing to capture various aspects of vineyard development, including components and effects of terroir, throughout the most important wine growing regions of Europe. 

The concept of terroir is a complex one; outside of climate and soil it also includes the individuals, organizations, and agricultural practices which take place. To quantify the terroir effect, using components outside of taste, has been in important task for vineyards, AOCs, and regions to further distinguish their product. In the past, this task has been necessary for organizing international trade rules and rules for competition; in the future it is necessary as continued explanation and justification for the origin of incredible uniqueness. Of course, while the terroir effect on wine is undeniable when in the glass, measuring and quantifying the relationships between the various assumed aspects and the final results has been a difficult and elusive task.

Remote sensing by UAV is a new technique that could be used for better understanding and tracking the effects of terroir in the vineyard. As is such, it has recently gained much attention as a tool for precision viticulture, where it can geospatially classify observable differences within a single vineyard. The benefits of remote sensing by UAV rather than by small aircraft or satellite are not only in its flexibility and limited cost of use, but also that UAVs are capable of much higher resolutions making the received data more meaningful. Indeed UAVs are certainly an ideal tool to compare vine related information in a geographic sense at any size scale.

Viticulture boils down to a continuous series of observations and reactions. No decision or action can be made in a vineyard without justifiable reason, typically coming from the manager's observation and historical experience with the property. If it is important for a vigneron to walk his vines observing and monitoring vine health and development as a basis for his farming decisions, then a UAV is merely a tool to provide a different vantage point for which to make field observations.

Project Summary

The project aims to utilize a fixed wing UAV (SenseFly) to continuously take high resolution multispectral images to monitor, track, and compare different terroirs of Europe. This information can then be integrated in to a geospatial database along with the known climate, physical properties of the soil, and grower practices to give global view of all of the elements of terroir.

The project proposes to work with collaborating producers in important regions throughout Europe, including but not limited to regions in Germany, Austria, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Alsace, Rhône Valley, Champagne, Portugal, and Spain.

Periodically throughout the year, once per season, the UAV will be deployed in order to capture high-resolution images of what is occurring in the vineyard at that time. Winter is a good time, as there is no canopy, to establish exact GPS coordinates for each specific vine. This is important to do, because as once this is done the information is there for subsequent flights. As the   vine canopy grows it can be difficult to identify the exact location a single vine because of obstruction by leafs. Later on in the growing season we can observe, and to an extent quantify, aspects such as relative vine vigor, the vines relationship with soil water, and incidence of disease. Towards the harvest period we can expect to see the potential yield of different parts of the vineyard. It is important to keep in mind that the advantage of using a UAV to obtain this information is that it can now be seen in a spatial sense; we will be able to see differences within a single vineyard, and between different established terroirs. When this becomes most interesting is when all of the observations are combined, along with climate, known soil properties, and analyzed in a single place. It is then we can make better hypothesis as to how the terroir effect and different aspects of vine development.

Deliverables

The deliverables of this project will be a final presentation of the information gathered made at the Villa D'Este Wine Symposium in 2015. Information gathered from each participating domain can then be reviewed with the domain managers. At the conclusion of the study all images and data collected will be relinquished to the Villa D'Este Wine Symposium.