Evaluate the vineyard with the Bigot Index

Everyone claims that a great wine is made in the vineyard, but is it possible to measure the quality of a vineyard? The Friulian agronomist Giovanni Bigot presented a preview of the evaluation index he developed during a meeting held at the Castello di Cigognola in the Oltrepò Pavese, during which interesting interventions were made by the producer Angelo Gaja and Stefano Poni, professor at the Catholic University of Piacenza.

 

Bigot took into consideration the viticultural factors that have a direct influence on the quality of the wine: production, foliage, relationship between leaves and production, grape health, bunch type, water stress, vigour, biodiversity and microorganisms, age of the vineyard. The main objective of the Bigot Index is to give winegrowers an objective method for the synthetic evaluation of the quality potential of a vineyard, taking into account the 9 most important agronomic parameters that are individually recognized internationally as quality factors.

 

This method of vineyard evaluation is therefore based on objective observations. The measures to calculate it are all simple and fast (maximum 60 minutes total per season per vineyard), no special equipment or tools are needed, at most a field balance and the 4grapes application to record data (created precisely to make an intelligent monitoring of the vineyard).

 

The weight of the different factors and their evaluation were determined by twenty years' experience of systematic observations in vineyards combined with the results of international wine research. The Index indicates the best way to achieve the maximum evaluation, as the parameters still to be improved will be evident.

 

Measurements can be made by anyone who attends the vineyard with care (and passion), as they are precise, but also easy to perform.

 

 

The originality of the Bigot Index lies in the type of parameters considered and their combination:

 

1- the aspects related to the quality of the grapes, the productivity of the single plant, the health of the bunches and the environmental aspects in which the plant and the bunches have developed and interacted and which directly affect the quality of the final wine have been taken into consideration

2. each of them is scientifically recognized as related to quality

3. have been united and interrelated to achieve a unique value.

 

The choice of these parameters is based on the simultaneous presence of three factors: 1) the knowledge of the results described by international viticultural research, 2) the method in quality observations in the vineyard, 3) the critical evaluation of the wines shared with the company staff.

 

How to do data collection in the vineyard: the 4grapes App

 

The ideal tool for data collection and recording is the 4Grapes App. It is the most qualified, in-depth, professional monitoring tool based on an innovative method that allows geo-referenced observations, based on more than 20 years of experience and data collection of Giovanni Bigot in the management of defense, quality and productivity of the vineyard. The application, easy to use, allows to have under control the phytopathological, phenological and productive situation at any time, wherever you are thanks to the use of innovative solutions, functionalities based on European standards and an optimized monitoring protocol for each area.

 

It has been designed for all the people involved in the wine production chain: owner, vineyard manager, vineyard worker, university researcher, agronomist, oenologist... The information collected will no longer be "lost", as often happens today, but stored and shared in real time in the company network, so as to have a global view of the vineyard at all times.

 

And for those who are not yet able to recognize the symptoms of vine diseases, the 4grapes app is fully integrated with the neural/artificial intelligence network for image recognition.