Using technology to craft a great bottle of wine
ST. CATHARINES — When most people think of smart technology, they’re not envisioning it being applied to grapes growing in vineyards in Ontario’s wine country. Instead, what comes to mind is some Jetson-like version of the future: automated homes, driverless cars, and artificial intelligence.
Premier Kathleen Wynne echoed that sentiment Thursday during a morning visit to Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery. In Niagara to participate in the Ontario Economic Summit taking place in Niagara-on-the-Lake, she stopped by the winery to learn more about a smart tech pilot program in place there utilizing environmental monitoring technology to help boost production.
The pilot is part of a new partnership pairing Bell with Mimicobased Internet of Things (IoT) solutions company BeWhere and China-based tech company Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker.
“When I visited Huawei on a previous trade mission, I didn’t think about a vineyard as a place where they might be an application,” said Wynne, speaking in the winery’s Barrel Cellar.
“We were in this really glamorous showroom, with things talking to the IoT and all of these gadgets in the house talking to one another. We were talking connected cars, and talking to your house when you’re miles away, but I didn’t think of a vineyard.”
The companies have developed an environmental monitoring solution to improve the health and quality of plants in the vineyard. Using sensors, connected to Bell’s LTE-M wireless network, the product will remotely monitor temperature and water levels, and automatically adjust as weather conditions change.
The technology will help lower costs for the winery, keep more vines alive longer, and promote greater sustainability.
“We’ve always embraced technology,” said Paul Speck, president of Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery. “In order to make a great bottle of wine, you need to blend technology, science, art, and craftsmanship — all of those things come together.”
Speck and his two brothers Matthew and Daniel own the winery they named after their grandfather. He said while he always thinks of winemakers as the “best dressed farmers you’ll meet” at the end of the day, they’re still farmers and everything happens in the vineyards.
Wynne said when she travels around the world, she hears how impressed businesses and officials are with the Canadian workforce and the people within it who are leading innovation.
“That’s what investors are looking for,” she said.