Wine 2030 Researcher
Christopher Ford

Current position

Senior Lecturer in Wine and Horticulture

Special Expertise

Wine making within tightening energy and water constraints
Growing grapes in the climate of 2030

Current Research

Current research in my group is within the following areas:

• Organic acid metabolism during grape berry development - we continue to develop our understanding of how grapes synthesise and use organic acids including tartaric, malic, oxalic and ascorbic acid, as berries grow and ripen. Ultimately this information will enable the optimisation of berry acid levels at harvest, thereby permitting reductions in the current levels of acid additions made at the crush.
• The role of extended maceration during red winemaking - the role of extended maceration has been often promoted and little researched. Over the past 4 years we have studied using both analytical and sensory experiments the outcomes in terms of wine composition arising from increasing the period of skin contact before or after alcoholic fermentation.
• The control of secondary metabolite glucosylation in grape berries - this area of research builds on the earlier investigations of glucosyltransferases in anthocyanin formation, and seeks to understand how the thousands of compounds found in the berry are made more chemically stable through the enzymatic activity of at most a few hundred glucosyltransferase enzymes.

Contact Details

Christopher Ford