Respected leaders in the wine industry have formed a new international association of oxygen management in wines called O2inWines™. An international nonprofit organization, O2inWines™ brings together industry and academic partners to share research and promote scientifically based solutions for oxygen management challenges in the wine industry.

Key stakeholders include manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and service providers in the wine industry that are leading innovators in their field, heavily involved in researching oxygen management and dedicated to oxygen management awareness. World-renowned research institutes and universities recognized for their research on the influence of oxygen on wine quality are also members of O2inWines™.

Founding industry members of O2inWines™ include Nomacorc, the leading producer of alternative wine closures ; G3 Enterprises, a world-class provider of beverage packaging products and services ; Lallemand, which supplies the wine industry with the largest selection of wine yeast, bacteria, and fermentation nutrients ; and Linde Gas, the leading supplier of gases worldwide ; Other companies are expected to join soon.

“Our goal in creating the O2inWines™ association is to accelerate the industry’s learning of oxygen’s impact on wine quality and to have this understanding based on credible data that is supported by a large group of influential players,” said Dr. Olav Aagaard, director of global research for Nomacorc. “We intend to use this knowledge to provide winemakers with better tools and insight into how to optimize wine production.”

Early academic members include the University of California at Davis, the Australian Wine Research Institute and the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique at Montpellier. “As oxygen management is one of the key elements of wine development, it is clear that we needed to be a part of the O2inWines association,” said Dr. Anne Ortiz-Julien, R&D manager for Lallemand. “In addition, it is a unique opportunity for us all to work across disciplines with partners that are complementary to one another in order to build a broad base for understanding oxygen’s impact on wines.”

As its first initiative, O2inWines™ will sponsor a conference on June 2 and 3, 2008, in Montpellier, France. Academic and industry experts will introduce state-of-the-art knowledge on oxygen management in wines. Sessions will address measuring oxygen and oxidation ; understanding the impact of oxygen ; and controlling oxygen during all stages of the winemaking process.

O2inWines™ is based in Toulouse, France. For more information, visit o2inwines.org.