Department of Enology

The Department of Enology develops, optimizes and evaluates enological and wine-technological processes and treatment substances throughout the whole winemaking process from the grape harvest to the packaging and storage of the wines.  In addition to the interdisciplinary research programs and priorities of Hochschule Geisenheim University, our research projects are also aimed at special interest groups and their specific requirements with regard to wine and the winemaking process.  Besides the legislative bodies and supervisory authorities, these are public advisory services and the stakeholder associations, wine estates, winegrowers’ cooperatives and wineries, as well as the upstream and downstream stages of the winemaking process.

These framework conditions provide the basis for our core areas of activity:

• enological adaptation to climate change and consumer trends
• improvement of process technologies, with a focus on physical processes
• verification of the suitability of materials for winemaking, and
• testing and evaluation of new machines and equipment that become necessary for the winemaking process

Besides maintaining and improving wine quality, these research approaches also address questions of food safety, environmental management and efficiency, thus also incorporating the concept of sustainability.

As our key research areas are intimately linked to other scientific branches and because of the cross-thematic nature of the issues in question, we cooperate closely with the other university departments as well as with external partners.