Moët Hennessy, the wine and spirits division of LVMH, Analog Devices and the University of California, Davis said they are working together on technology intended to improve wine quality and support the long-term vitality of vineyards, according to the joint announcement. The three organizations said the platform rests on technology that began in early research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and that ADI has continued to develop. It is meant to detect and interpret volatile chemical signatures given off by grapevines, juice and wine, which the partners said can give viticulture and winemaking teams earlier information about biological processes and possible quality risks.
The first result the collaborators reported concerns Fresh Mushroom Aroma, which the release describes as a quality risk. Researchers at Moët Hennessy's Robert-Jean de Vogüé Research Center assembled a library of samples and associated data to train machine learning algorithms to recognize the chemical signatures linked to it. The technology identified samples at elevated risk of developing the defect at an early stage, before it would traditionally be detected, which the organizations said creates possibilities for earlier interventions in the winemaking process.
The system uses ADI's sensing and machine learning platform, which analyzes a broad spectrum of chemical information and applies AI to work out which signals matter most. Rather than looking only for predefined conditions, the platform keeps learning from complex chemical data, according to the announcement.
Applications being researched beyond Fresh Mushroom Aroma include early detection of vine diseases, soil assessment and identification of other defects, especially those connected to climate change and related events such as wildfires. The partners said the aim is to support rather than replace human expertise, giving researchers, viticulturists and winemakers additional information and context. ADI said it intends to make the technology broadly available for future industrial applications, while Moët Hennessy and UC Davis are exploring how shared reference libraries could benefit the wider grape and wine industry.
