The delegate of the Government in La Rioja, Beatriz Arraiz Nalda, visited this morning the “Vine-Bio-Yard Project” of Bodegas Riojanas, subsidized by the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI), dependent of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. The project also has the active participation and funding of Laboratorios Excell, as a member of the R&D consortium.
During the visit, the government delegate was accompanied by Santiago Frías, president of Bodegas Riojanas, and by the oenologist Verónica Remartínez.
For the delegate of the Government, “the support of the CDTI to innovative projects promotes the innovation and technological development of Rioja companies, thus contributing to the training and improvement of the technological level developed in our country.”
In economic terms, the project’s budgeted expenditure amounts to EUR 270,755, of which the CDTI grants a loan of EUR 189,528.50, representing 70% of the budget. This aid from the CDTI corresponds, on the one hand, to a non-refundable part amounting to 20% and another refundable part comprising the rest of the aid and to which an interest of 3.61 percent per year will be applied.
The main objective of the project is to research and develop a holistic map of the soil to address its state of health, with the aim of regenerating it microbiologically and also enhancing the sustainability of the agroecosystem.
Another of the objectives associated with this project is the reduction of the use of pesticides and herbicides, as well as reducing the intensive tillage, thus trying to regenerate the soils and minimize their erosion.
Known the state of the soils is committed to the regeneration of the same with different techniques: use of microalgae as biofertilizer, use of vegetable covers and use of foliar fertilizers.
Derived from the main study, a secondary objective arises: the optimization of yeast multiplication and, therefore, yeast fermentation, adapted to grapes from regenerated soils, through the use of multipliers optimizing growth capacities in bioreactors that enhance the adequate physiological growth of yeast cells in the absence of other contaminating organisms.