The future of wine will also involve vinification in concrete tanks designed with Artificial Intelligence tools.
March 7th – WiseShape, manufacturer of innovative concrete-made wine fermentation tanks, and Inductiva Research Labs, a start-up company working at the intersection of AI and Simulation technologies, announce that the companies have entered into a strategic technological partnership to develop the next generation of concrete-made tanks, with optimal fermentation and aging properties of the wine and, consequently, its aromatic and taste characteristics.
This partnership brings together two start-up companies innovating in very distinct types of business: WiseShape, founded in 2018, has recently introduced a new series of boldly designed concrete made wine tanks in the very traditional market of winemaking, while Inductiva Research Labs, founded in 2021, has been developing AI-based solutions for simulation of industrial processes across industries.
“We are very excited about this partnership, and what this means for the future of our innovative concrete tanks, and ultimately, for the quality of the wine produced by our customers,” said Tatiana Sá Marques. “The wine-making industry is proudly built on strong traditions, so any innovation needs to be fully backed by experience. This naturally slows down the pace of innovation.
Concrete tanks are porous and, in consequence, more oxygen is in touch with the wort during the fermentation process which facilitates a more gradual fermentation and, in consequence, a more authentic representation of the wine, preserving flavors and aromas. However, concrete tanks also bring some challenges due, for example, to temperature variations. The technology we are developing with Inductiva will allow us to quickly simulate the impact of any design change on the quality of the fermentation process and aging before we actually start building new shapes and formats of tanks for live testing and experimentation.”
The AI-assisted design tools provided by Inductiva enables WiseShape to iterate on innovative design solutions much faster, with thousands of possible tank designs being automatically simulated and evaluated each hour. This strategy will allow Wiseshape to reach new concrete winery tank designs that can provide even greater benefits to the entire winemaking and storage process.
“We believe that our Simulation and AI technology is a great match for Wiseshape’s bold ambitions, and we are very committed with this partnership, bringing the next generation of AI simulation tools to such a traditional sector! to bring innovation to such a traditional field, which is central to so many cultures all over the world: winemaking.” said Clara Gonçalves, co-founder and Director of Strategy & Partnerships at Inductiva.
“This partnership is also a great match for Inductiva, since it brings challenges related with the simulation of fluids and with automatic tuning of tank design that can be addressed by the AI and simulation techniques we have been internally developing over the last year. We feel this project involves an exciting combination between traditional knowledge and state-of-the-art AI technology. We are confident that this cooperation with Wiseshape will result in solutions that will bring a lot of value to the winemaking industry as a whole.”
About WiseShape
WiseShape designs and produces a new generation of eco-efficient concrete tanks for fermentation and wine aging. The WiseShape tanks are versatile and feature a disruptive and differentiating design for less interventive winemaking.
Its unique formula contains the right combination of siliceous aggregates and concrete, so that its porosity is similar to oaks. Even though on a microscopic scale, porosity is responsible for micro-oxygenation to aid in initiating the fermentation process.
When fermented in this material composition, wine acquires the round mouthfeel winemakers look for, as it would happen with wine fermented in oak. However, much greater intensity of fruit color and purity of fruit flavor are observed. None of this would be possible with stainless steel vats, as they are completely hermetic.
A crucial differentiation among other wine tanks is that concrete is neutral in a sense that does not add any flavor to wine as oak does. This allows the wine to express its terroir and true identity. Our motto: the most natural way to make wine.
Founded in 2018, WiseShape announced the launch of its first product release in November 2021. At this point, WiseShape initiated the relationship with a group of Portuguese Winemakers and wine producers with the goal of collecting the first live results in wine aging.
The partners include Sogrape – Quinta do Sairrão, Esporão – Quinta do Ameal and Alves de Sousa, the regions include Douro, Azores, Dão and Vinho verde.
About Inductiva Research Labs
Inductiva Research Labs is a research-driven start-up founded in January 2021, headquartered in Portugal, focusing on developing AI-based simulation and combinatorial optimization systems. Our mission is to develop and apply Machine Learning and AI-techniques to accelerate research in fundamental sciences (Physics, Mathematics, etc) and engineering, whose advances then propagate to a large number of practical applications. By focusing R&D work at the intersection of AI and fundamental sciences, we are maximizing positive impact on real-world problems. Inductiva.AI has a multidisciplinary research team with background in Physics, Math and Machine Learning, with international working experience in academia and tech companies like DeepMind, Google, Amazon and Microsoft.
