The Government of Catalonia, the Falset City Council, and IRTA have announced this Saturday the Enolab.cat project, a new digital and sustainable enological research center that will occupy the old Falbar textile factory in Falset. The initiative was presented during the opening of the 31st Falset Wine Fair and contemplates an investment of 4 million euros to enable an infrastructure of over 1,000 square meters dedicated to wine innovation.
Integrated spaces and advanced technology
The facility will house a fully sensorized experimental winery, a multidisciplinary laboratory, and a digital platform based on artificial intelligence and data management. The spaces will comprise an experimental processing room, chemical and microbiological laboratories, aging areas, and advanced monitoring and analysis systems. The project seeks to digitize the extraction, fermentation, and aging processes to optimize production and reduce the environmental footprint of wineries. It will also promote circular economy strategies to manage resources efficiently and add value to byproducts generated.
Scientific collaboration and predictive model
The Minister of Research and Universities, Núria Montserrat, has linked the digital component of the project with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center to process large volumes of information and apply artificial intelligence to the development of predictive models.
This technological link will allow transforming operational data into forecasting tools for the sector. The Director General of IRTA, Josep Usall, has pointed out that the differential value lies in uniting the winery, laboratory, and data in the same facility to generate knowledge transferable to the entire Catalan wine industry."This alliance demonstrates how the country's large scientific infrastructures can generate direct impact in traditional sectors" - Núria Montserrat, Minister of Research and Universities
Boost for Priorat and sector context
The mayor of Falset, Carlos Brull, has underlined that the commitment to research allows facing the future with guarantees in the face of challenges such as the climate emergency, new consumption habits, and market trends. The center will function as a demonstration and technology transfer platform open to other agents in the sector, in order to reinforce the Priorat region as a pole of attraction for agri-food talent and create qualified employment in rural environments. Falset now concentrates research, production processes, and data management in a single space. Catalonia maintains twelve designations of origin, more than 750 wineries, and an annual turnover exceeding 1.2 billion euros.