After celebrating—on February 11th, the first anniversary of its establishment, in a festive mood, the Agromediterranean Faculty opened a new complex—the Oenology (or winemaking) Practice Room. This project was realized with the help of the relevant Ministry of Agriculture, Forests, and Fisheries, based on an agreement on equipping and arranging Agromediterranean Faculty’s building.
The space that last year was a storage room has been transformed into a multifunctional laboratory with 15 seats. Some equipment has already arrived, and some is on its way: we are expecting binocular magnifiers, stereomicroscope, laminar flow hood, digester, lyophilizer, and specialized devices for analysing olive oil and wine. The rooms are air-conditioned and equipped for conducting classes, which have already begun. In another room, there is an archive, and in the third unit, barrels for wine storage, stills for brandy distillation, and state of the art technology—fermentation tanks with double jackets, through which coolant circulates. As Monika Prović, manager of Dalmacija Wine Association, explained, this setup controls temperature of must during fermentation, particularly important for white wines, to prevent temperature increase which leads to unwanted compounds. Today’s market quickly recognizes such mistakes, so education is essential.
Today, after a year of work, we can educate our students more effectively. They demand better conditions—and they are right to. We now have top-notch facilities for conducting winemaking courses. We will continue to use existing training bases (university-industry cooperation), but when students experience work in a serious laboratory, that reflects positively on the results. Our “product” is a graduate engineer—an expert ready for the labour market. We will also be able to cooperate better with the economy, which is one of our key tasks, assoc. prof. Leo Gracin stated.
This year, upon students’ initiative, new courses are being introduced: sparkling wine production and prosecco production. The laboratory will be used to conduct controlled fermentation of white wines, cooled fermentation for producing sparkling wine and other oenological procedures. Plans for future include procuring additional equipment for advanced wine analytics, all with the aim of enabling students to expand their knowledge and provide services to producers, thereby strengthening Faculty’s connection with the economy.
