As Brazil increases its production and vine area, the country is set to improve the quality of its wines with the launch of a new national technical network.

The National Viticulture Science and Technology Network is worth €500,000 (1.5m Real), and is charged with investments in oenology, research and modernisation throughout the country.

In southern Brazil the network will take in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southern most state, Santa Catarina, which includes Planalto Catarinense, and Pernambuco in the northeast, which includes the Vale do Sao Francisco region.

Arnaldo Passarini of Ibravin, Brazil¹s wine development body said he believed the system would enable the country to ‘compete on a worldwide level’.

Wine production in Brazil increased from 389m litres in 2007 to 428m litres in 2008. However, provisional 2009 figures indicate lower yields due to bad weather.

The national area planted with vines is up 38% since 2002, according to the International Wine and Vine Organisation (OIV). Exports are also up with a provisional 215% increase in volume between 2007 and 2008.

Written by Sophie Kevany

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Sophie Kevany
Sophie Kevany
Bordeaux Expert, Decanter Magazine

Sophie Kevany is a freelance journalist, editor and researcher who is based in Bordeaux, France.

For Decanter, she reports on the news in Bordeaux, as well as covering various areas of the world wine industry such as environmentalism and reporting on wine markets.

She has formerly written for Agence France-Press, Dow Jones Newswires and the Profitable Ideas Exchange in Bordeaux.