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Research and Development Projects
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| Continuous work on the land. |
1. Development of new types, evolution of quality and stabilization of Navarre’s red wines (CDTI and Government of Navarre).
The project was carried out between years 1994 and 1996.
2. Design of a new wine with six months of barrel-ageing and a new 500 ml. container. (Muscat with little berries) (CDTI and Government of Navarre).
This project, made in 1994, gave as a result the Moscatel Ochoa. Bodegas Ochoa became a pioneering winery producing a muscat white wine that stands out for its aromatic potential and its balance between sugar and acidity.
This was our first project carried out with the help of the CDTI and the first R & D made by a Spanish wine cellar. Our muscat vineyard is located in Traibuenas estate facing south, which allows the small berries over maturating in the late harvest.
We make a handpicking and we select the best grapes with high sugar contents. In this way, we obtain a sweet wine with an aromatic potential and an appropriate balance between sugar and acidity.
3. Making of different varieties of red wines without using SO2 (ATYCA, CDTI and Government of Navarre).
The project was carried out between years 1997 and 1999.
4. Development of technologies for the extraction of the grape’s phenolic compounds (INIA). The project was made between the years 2000 and 2001.
5. Development of new sweet red wine. (PROFIT, CDTI and Government of Navarre).
6. The 30th of November of 2007 we introduced the mono-varietals wine MdO, Moscato de Ochoa. It’s an sparkling of a low alcohol content (only 5’5 º), semi-sweet, of natural fine bubble, made from the fermentation of the must coming from the Muscat with little berries variety (Moscatel de Grano Menudo) grown at the “El Bosque” estate and hand harvested.
The MdO forms a part of the innovation and improvement line of white wines of Bodegas Ochoa: it was set a R & D project together with the CDTI (Centre for the Technologic Industrial Development) and the Government of Navarre in collaboration with Asesoría Zabala. The mark we got with this project was the highest and, from that moment, we started visiting the areas of Italy where similar sparkling wines are produced until we finished the process buying the piece of equipment for the making and bottling.
7. Making of high expression wines with Tempranillo grapes. (PROFIT, INIA, CDTI and Government of Navarre).
Between 2002 and 2005. Innovative red wine made 100% with tempranillo grape.
8. Optimize the super intensive growing of the Arbequina variety of olive tree in Navarre. (CDTI and Government of Navarre).
In 2004 the new innovative impulse of Bodegas Ochoa focused on producing extra virgin olive oil made from olives coming from the super-intensive growing of arbequina variety olive trees, grown in the climatic conditions of the middle area of Navarre.
Our 20.000 olive trees are classified as “The New Olive culture”, which is based on the intensification and mechanization. These olive trees are small and suitable for the super-intensive growing. Thus, we pick the olives using the same machinery we use for the vineyard and we make our oil by means of the cold extraction, keeping intact their biological characteristics.
In this way, many production systems ad clones have been developed allowing to consider the olive tree a profitable species of intensive management as any other woody fruit tree.
Thanks to these systems, the entrance to the production is fast, the production per hectare is high and the management and growing costs are reasonable and the quality of the product keeps the same.
9. Techniques for managing the water stress in vineyards of the Tempranillo variety directed to the oenological high quality production, in collaboration with the Public University of Navarre (viticulture and fruit growing department).
The tests were carried out during the years 2003-2006 at el Bosque estate and they consisted in evaluating the effect of replacing the conventional model of the water management by two regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) strategies over the production and the quality of the tempranillo variety.
Two regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) strategies have been tested and then compared with the most common strategy used in the Spanish irrigating vineyards (RI, regulated irrigation) that consists in keeping a high level of water availability until the véraison and, from then on, suspend the irrigations as many CRDOs require (initials in Spanish for the Regulating Council of the Designation of Origin). In the vine stocks of the RDI treatments we have used the vegetative covering for the management of the ground, while in the RI we have worked the land. This difference is due to, as it was proved in the first tests, the cover is essential to reach the stress levels required at the end of June in the RDI treatments.
In that respect, we could say accurately that the RDI irrigation strategies allow the grapevine to grow in conditions more similar to dry lands than the conditions that can be achieved managing decreasing irrigation intensity in tilled land crops especially on not very deep grounds, that is, with low capacity for the water storage.
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