Case Study Tipchenitza

Tipchenitza Winery

name

region

Tipchenitza village, North-West Bulgaria

hectares

28

About the winery:

Tipchenitza Winery is a small boutique winery in the picturesque village of Tipchenitza located in the North-West of Bulgaria – a region with a tradition of producing excellent wine quality from some of the finest grape varieties. The soil, the favorable environmental conditions and the mastery of Tipchenitza wine producers can be felt in every sip of their wines. We at BeVine are very pleased to collaborate with the Tipchenitza team for a second consecutive year in their strive towards precision viticulture and informed vineyard management.

Advantages of using the BeVine smart vineyard management solution

During these two years, the vineyard management software we onboarded at Tipchenitza has proved to be vital, as it allowed the team to monitor the vineyard’s health remotely and accurately predict vine diseases.

The accuracy of the disease prediction models is crucial for Tipchenitza’s consultant-agronomist Georgi Nikolov. As part of his job, Georgi consults multiple wineries remotely and regularly travels between locations. Georgi can now access the BeVine app in real-time from any device and make informed decisions about the activities carried out on-site at the vineyard. The mobile sensing platform also allows him to monitor not only infection predictions but also weather conditions, rain forecasts, wind temperature, solar radiation and humidity, etc.

Georgi relies on the BeVine smart software during spraying time as well. Within the app he utilizes the data gathered via a wireless sensor network from weather stations in the fields to track weather conditions like how strong the wind is anticipated to be. With this information, he can calculate when and how to spray most efficiently. 

“In my job as a consultant at Tipchenitza, I constantly maneuver between securing healthy and protected vineyards and saving unnecessary production costs for the winery. I had some previous experience with precision agriculture tools but they were rather very basic. Since the BeVine app reads data from sensors that are placed on a BIO crop array (spraying with copper and sulfur only), I find it very helpful when the BeVine disease prediction model clearly shows that there is no risk of infection in the BIO varieties. This way, I can reallocate resources such as tractors, workers, spraying machines, etc. to other arrays that are more risk prone. I have quickly embraced the technology and I truly believe it's the future of the wine industry, when it comes to wine quality”

In his experience with the BeVine software thus far, Georgi has been impressed by the accuracy of the mildew prediction models. Employees at the winery confirm that going on-site in the fields, they can see oily spots of mildew are beginning to appear on crops exactly as indicated by the BeVine software. This helps them take timely measures to protect their vines and optimize the vineyard management process.

Summary

Using BeVine’s precision viticulture technology for two harvesting seasons already, Georgi shares with us that he now has complete confidence in the software and trusts it to make critical decisions remotely while hopping between places. The remote sensing and prediction solution not only saves him a lot of time and traveling but also gives him a piece of mind that the vines’ health is under control.

 

Georgi trusts that electronics in agriculture have been a major contributor to the wine industry in the last few years. Remote sensing data, real-time analysis, field mapping and management and smart suggestions are just part of the features Georgi enjoys with BeVine’s precision viticulture technology. In addition, Georgi cannot imagine the future of commercial vineyards without smart agriculture solutions like BeVine.