Largest vineyard in Shropshire is first to have a UV machine
Veenow Vineyard, based in Waters Upton, is proud to announce that after extensive research and assistance it will be the first operator and sales agent of the UV Boosting technology to be at the forefront of sustainability in UK vineyards.
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After a year of research into the usage of UV-C and the different application methods, Robert and Katie came across UV Boosting based in France and made contact with Emanuele who was very helpful in explaining independent research and historic data from trials covering over seven years. After testimonials from other operators around the world on what they can achieve it was a straightforward decision with a visit to the headquarters just outside Paris.
“We decided to choose UV Boosting due to the patented technology, robust build quality and technical ability within the team, which made it a great partnership” says Robert Greenow from Veenow Vineyard. “The benefits are huge across our 40 acre vineyard which are not only financial but they also increase the sustainability of our spray regime”.
The effect of using UV-C from the UV Boosting Flash Technology allows Veenow to:
- Reduce the risk of frost by up to 50% pre-stimulating the vines at bud burst with a single pass up to 48 hours before a frost period.
- Reduce the amount of chemicals by up to 60% when treating downy and powdery mildew with 3 to 4 stimulations per season.
- Reduction of disease within the vineyard of 40% on average with mildews.
- Enhance vine vigour which leads to a potential 13% increase in yield as the vine has had less stress periods from stimulating self defence mechanisms prior to the problem developing within the vine.
Veenow plans to carry out 4-5 passes over the season but also run trials amongst its varieties such as Pinot Noir, Bacchus, Chardonnay, Meunier and Cabernet Noir. “Interestingly the key benefit with a PIWI due to its existing resistance to mildews is frost protection and yield increase” which alone pays for the application of UV-C” says Robert Greenow.
“We decided to be the first in the UK as our passion is sustainability while maintaining quality clean grapes for harvest” explains Katie Greenow. “Combining this technology with digestate application and specialist cover cropping is hopefully setting an example that monoculture, mass production vineyards are different to us here,” she adds.
“We are very excited at UV Boosting to have a first unit running in the UK in 2025” says Baptiste Rouesné, CEO of the company. “We have seen the British vineyards grow rapidly in the last years and hopefully we will be able to deploy many more units in the coming years” he adds.
