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Press releases12/03/2026
The Technical and Innovation Department (PTI) of the Bourgogne Wine Board leads or co-funds around sixty research and experimental projects dedicated to preserving the quality of Bourgogne wines and ensuring the sustainable evolution of the region’s winegrowing and winemaking heritage.
At the heart of this programme, three projects are entering into a crucial development phase this year: the experience-sharing platform on adapting practices to climate change (Vitilience CAP-2050), the research programme on the longevity of white wines (Apogée), and the programme for developing resistant grape varieties with regional typicity (CEPInnov).
Over the past ten years, the Bourgogne Wine Board has steadily increased its investment in research aimed at addressing the challenges and consequences of climate disruption. With a budget of more than €3 million, the strategy relies on a multidisciplinary team of twenty people firmly rooted in the region in order to:
• Support winegrowers in adapting their practices both in the vineyard and in the winery
• Anticipate future challenges and build sustainable production models
• Place négoces and estates at the centre of the projects
• Develop co-construction methods with the wide diversity of stakeholders in the sector
• Implement a collective, step-by-step approach to ensure long-term change
Among the department’s key developments in 2026, three initiatives deserve particular attention.
VITILIENCE CAP-2050 aims to strengthen the resilience of the Bourgogne vineyard in the face of climate change by 2050. Launched in January 2026 for a three-year period, its ambition is to design and test innovative viticultural systems enabling Bourgogne wine businesses to adapt to future production conditions and remain economically robust by 2050.
This project is distinctive in that it is based on four “combinations of levers” that will be assessed in a demonstrator to explore new production systems: several modifications that individually have only a small effect within a production system can, when implemented together, have a very significant impact on the resilience of that system.
These levers are:
• Diversifying plant material
• Protecting vines from climatic hazards (frost, hail, sunburn)
• Reducing the carbon footprint through planting density and plant material
• Managing heat stress while preserving the typicity of the wines
To achieve this, CAP-2050 relies on a main demonstrator – a physical site comprising experimental vineyard plots at the Vinipôle Sud Bourgogne, as well as on a network of pilot wine estates located across the entire vineyard area.
This year, the demonstrator will welcome négociants and winegrowers on the occasion of seven events across Bourgogne: in the three Cités des Climats et vins de Bourgogne, in Viticulture Colleges, during open days held in experimental plots, and in the pilot wine estates.
One of the most visible consequences of climate disruption is the increasing pressure from powdery mildew and downy mildew, a situation that is difficult to reconcile with the desire to reduce the use of plant protection products.
The CEPINNOV programme, conducted in partnership with Champagne, aims to create new grape varieties that retain the qualities of Pinot Noir or Chardonnay while requiring far fewer plant protection products to combat these diseases.
The creation process replicates the work of nature while allowing the selection of the desired qualities for these new varieties. It generally takes around fifteen years to achieve.
These are not GMOs: the vines are produced by applying pollen from resistant varieties to the flowers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. After this initial stage, several thousand resistant seeds were collected. From these, 350 seedlings were selected and planted, with five vines per seedling. Over six years, they underwent extensive testing and micro-vinifications to assess their potential and identify the most promising candidates.
Launched ten years ago, CEPINNOV is now entering a pivotal phase: the final selection. This will lead to the planting of an experimental plot in the Côte Chalonnaise (with Champagne establishing a twin plot). Around forty selections that showed promising results during six years of testing and micro-vinifications will be planted in larger numbers. Researchers will then be able to verify both their resistance to disease and their organoleptic qualities.
Ultimately, the few new grape varieties that successfully pass all stages could be included in the specifications of Bourgogne AOCs, but only as accessory grape varieties, meaning they could not represent more than 10% of a blend.
The Bourgogne Wine Board, in collaboration with the University of Bordeaux, is advancing a key issue for winemakers: gaining a better understanding of, and ability to anticipate, the longevity of Chardonnay white wines.
Launched five years ago, the APOGÉE programme tackles what is often described in the field as a “black box”: the intrinsic composition of wine and its role in sensitivity to oxidation. The objective is to develop an early diagnostic tool capable of assessing ageing potential beyond already known external factors (temperature, oxygen, closure choice).
A major milestone has recently been reached. APOGÉE has redefined longevity in operational terms as the ability to develop a typical ageing bouquet (white-fleshed fruits, citrus, hazelnut) rather than shifting towards oxidation aromas considered negative (walnut, honey, boiled potato).
In this context, the boiled potato aroma compound, methional, has emerged as a central marker of premature ageing in Chardonnay.
A true time bomb, this molecule can now be quantified, making it possible to estimate a wine’s future sensitivity. Researchers have also succeeded in developing an analytical method enabling the early identification of a wine’s sensitivity to oxidation. The next stage of the research programme will focus on making this method accessible to oenological laboratories.
At the same time, trials on harvest dates have shown that these also influence the amount of methional present in wines.
The programme will continue for two more years, with three priority areas:
• Making analyses easier for winegrowers
• Exploring the feasibility of an even earlier diagnosis (at must stage)
• Consolidating the results so that all winegrowers can benefit from them
Contact: Cécile Mathiaud - Head of PR at the BIVB
Phone: +33 (0)6 08 56 85 56 - cecile.mathiaud@bivb.com
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Press release: Technical Expertise and Innovation (March 2026)