Wireless Pen Scanner For Note Taking

new favorite wine comes from Robert de Niro lands

Tradition and innovation go hand in the vineyards of Bodegas Terras Gauda . Nestled in the Galician coast under the appellation of origin Rías Baixas , stands a modest winery, with a turnover of just ten million euros annually, has been able to conquer the tables spread over forty countries, from America to India.

By: Sergio Saiz

His secret, good wine fruit of the commitment to pioneering projects in R + D + i, in which science evolves in the field and aged in the bottle.

One of his best known achievements is to have captured the attention of actor Robert de Niro which serves the Abbey of San Campio Albariño Bodegas Terras Gauda in the chain of Nobu restaurants United States. However, the success of Galician SME has little to do with famous fans to their wines, but lies in a more unknown: R + D + i.

In a conservative industry, such as agriculture, the birth of Terras Gauda in the late eighties already suggesting that it was a firm that came to break with the traditions that were incapable of Albariño wine to cross frontiers. In the land of small farms and small producers with limited capacity to address international markets, the promoters of the new winery had to buy up to 500 plots and then exchange them for a mountain village in O Rosal valley, which today are 90 hectares of vineyards, which are producing grapes add another 70 hectares of farm partners.

Step by step

The first harvest in 1990, was 37,000 bottles. Two decades later, the production reaches one million and a half. "The winery's philosophy was that the Albariño, being a noble variety, could achieve greater dimensions in combination with other native strains that will bring new nuances," explains the project promoters.

The first step was to clonal selection of the best plants, both for disease resistance and agronomic traits as and organoleptic. In addition, the company decided to retrieve a grape variety that had virtually disappeared from the Galician fields: caíño white, despite their quality had fallen into disuse because of their greater frailty and lower performance than other fruits. However, this grape is the key to the personality of one of its star wines, which receives the same name as the winery and has emerged as picture and letter of the Galician company.

After the field, the R + D + i jumped into the process. The Terras Gauda's technical director, Emilio Rodríguez, explains that the company has won two patents with its research in the field of yeast. To achieve this breakthrough, the key to increase the uniqueness and sensory quality of wines from the cellar, the company worked closely for four years with professionals in the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC).

While Terras Gauda was based on research to overcome the crisis, has not neglected the commercial side and internationalization, diversifying into other markets outside of Spain. "Our biggest competitor is ignorance," said Enrique Costas, director of the group. Even so, 20% of its production just on tables where people speak English, German or French. Terras Gauda also produces red and rosé wines in Bierzo (León), which under the brand Pittacum exports about 40% of its bottles.


winery's wines English wines rub shoulders with the world's most exclusive hotel in the Burj Al-Arab dubaití, the establishment of seven-star luxury in the world.

Vineyards where it grows R & D + i

Bodegas Terras Gauda is an example of how investing in R + D + i is also available to small and medium enterprises. With an annual investment not exceeding 100,000 euros (plus a similar amount provided by official agencies in grants to support to innovation), the company has launched several research projects with applications for both the field and for the production of wine. Now the company is engaged in a program of precision viticulture, which through the location of wireless sensors on the ground serve to monitor the status of vineyards and grapes through a GPS system.

Robert de Niro prefer to provide a albariño

Source: Expansion