Toulouse, France, (July 1st, 2009) – The ICV (Institut Coopératif du Vin), a cooperative company founded in 1946 and based in Montpellier, has joined on 1st July 2009 the international association of oxygen management in wines O2inWines™ as premium member.

With 70 technicians and 60 enologists, the ICV is dedicated to research for improving wine quality along the Mediterranean basin and the Rhône Valley. It produces over 800 000 analysis a year and has more than 1200 clients.

Daniel Granès, scientific director for the ICV says: “The ICV has always been working towards the improvement of oxygen management especially during alcoholic fermentation. We have also worked on micro-oxygenation management and, with the help of the INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research), we have been working for the past five years on the measurement and management of dissolved O2. We are now performing more than a dozen diagnoses every year. We have decided to join O2inWines™ because we believe that still more research is needed on this topic and we think that O2inWines™ is best positioned to coordinate this research.”

Didier Théodore, Business support manager at Lallemand and treasurer of O2inWines™ adds: “We look forward to working with the ICV which is in direct contact with winemakers and large scale industrial wineries. Thanks to these contacts, the ICV will be able to provide O2inWines™ with a practical approach on oxygen management. We will also benefit from their R&D program that includes several trials around oxygen management at different stages of winemaking every year. With the ICV, O2inWines™ reinforces its regional representation and will continue to work towards a better understanding of oxygen impact on wines.”

About O2inWines™ O2inWines™ is an international nonprofit association created by leading companies specialized in the wine trade (Nomacorc, G3 Enterprises and Lallemand) and academic leaders. It is composed of suppliers and service providers to the wine industry, all leading innovators in their fields and heavily involved in researching oxygen management. World-renowned researchers underscore the quality of the research programs facilitated by the association. The objective of the association is the promotion of scientifically based solutions for oxygen management challenges in the wine industry. O2inWines™ is based in Toulouse, France. For more information, visit www.O2inWines.org.

About the ICV The ICV offers a wide range of services and products around the Mediterranean basin and the Rhone Valley (must and wines analysis, consultancy, R&D, microbiology assessment, vineyard management, quality management). The ICV is a member of the OIV experts’ board (technology and analysis groups), the EC “enological practices” expert group and the AFAQ - AFNOR "food industry" expert committee. It participates to regional R&D groups (Languedoc-Roussillon, Institut Rhodanien, Centre du Rosé) and has created a R&D network with 10 leading cooperative wineries in order to assess new techniques and new tools. It is in the process of creating a “good diagnosis practices” guide for dissolved O2 management.