Vine & Wine Department

Growing vines, making wine, understanding the Terroir and adapting to climate change

The Bordeaux Sciences Agro Viticulture-Enology department has 13 faculty members with very diverse profiles. Half of the team is made up of international scientists. Many of the faculty have strong links with the wine industry and are very active in knowledge transfer. All of the team’s members are part of the Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin’s (ISVV) ‘Œnologie’ or ‘Écophysiologie et Génomique Fonctionnelle de la Vigne’ joint research units. The team’s scientific output is very high, and it has won worldwide academic recognition.

The Viticulture-Enology (V&E) Department at Bordeaux Sciences Agro offers training in viticulture and enology. In the French engineering program, the traditional specialization is ‘Viticulture-Enology’. It is also possible to follow the ‘VitiManager’ specialization (in English), which prepares students for international wine business management, and an ‘AgroViti’ program, which is offered in association with the Agroecology department. The V&E Department also offers programs on viticulture and enology in English, with a Bachelor’s degree in Viticulture and Enology and a Master of Science in Vineyard and Winery Management. It also runs a module in the Erasmus Mundus ‘Vinifera’ Masters, offered by a consortium of 11 European universities. A number of short courses are offered in both French and English.

The activities of the V&E Department have given rise to the Vitinnov transfer unit (6 people), which aims to transfer research results to the industry and to an observatory of the biodiversity of enological micro-organisms.

The Department was also a driving force behind the creation of the ‘Organic Agriculture’ Chair at Bordeaux Sciences Agro.

IVES publications

The department’s faculty led the creation of the International Viticulture and Enology Society that publishes research results in Open Access. IVES edits 3 journals: ‘OENO One’, ‘IVES Technical Reviews’, and ‘IVES Conferences Series’.

Viticulture & Enology at Bordeaux Sciences Agro : international programs

Kees van Leeuwen: Bordeaux Sciences Agro has a broad program in international courses, probably the most elaborate of all French universities and Institute’s so we have a master course a Master of Science in Vineyard and winery management. We also have two programs with other european institutes and Bordeaux Sciences Agro, and we have a Bachelor in English. Besides these bachelor and master, we also have short courses which are more for viticulturists which lasts one week in sensory analyzes in terroir and vinification.

Georgia Lytra: Bachelor started in 2018 with the specialization at enology viticulture and sensory analysis. To enter, the bachelor candidates need to have two years of studies… chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, or a feedback of phenology. Thanks to this program, students come to France for 10 months and during those 10 months, they can visit several areas of France: they can learn the savoir-faire of these areas Bordeaux, Montpellier, Toulouse, Dijon…

Gregory Gambetta: The core of the program is built around the faculty at Bordeaux Sciences Agro but Bordeaux is obviously it’s a wine centre and so there’s also the University of Bordeaux and all of us at Bordeaux Sciences Agro are also scientific researchers at the Institute for the science of the vine and wine. So that’s the core of the faculty but we’re really well integrated with the local industry and also the industry viticulture international region, so this I think, is one of the main strengths of the program is that it’s grounded in the science but we want them to be able to apply it in a practical way.

Douglas Olson: Coming to Bordeaux Sciences Agro, I was working within the wine profession for the last 13 years working restaurants production as well as for large distributors selling wine. So far the program has exceeded my expectations there has been many many opportunities to get outside of the classroom and get the hands-on knowledge that solidifies what goes on in the classroom working at a prestigious Chateau – le Château L’Angelus. It has been nothing short of a dream come true. There’s been everyday new learning lessons to be able to really create a better wine, make a wine manager and a state manager out of myself.

Mark Gowdy: There’s programs elsewhere in the world but this one really appealed to me because it’s in France and because of the broad nature of the curriculum covering business winemaking and viticulture. I’ve really wanted that broader perspective.

Kees van Leeuwen: Although is a great place to study, there is a lot of expertise in the field of enology and viticulture and a lot of great places to do internships that there is 120 thousand hectares of vineyards around Bordeaux with some of the finest wines in the world are produced in Bordeaux. So really Bordeaux is a very hot place to be.