May 24, 2018 Day one of LVMH at VivaTech: Thursday 24th May 2018

LVMH at VivaTech: Raising a glass to the future of luxury

From vine to wine and beyond, digital is revolutionising the Oenology-or wine development-department at Krug. Stepping on stage with a single black tome (one of a whole library amassed over the years), Krug's oenology department manager and winemaker quality manager outlined their ongoing project of digitising and future-proofing the age-old art of vinification in the hopes of refining and preserving it for future generations of vintners.

Detailing every decision the House of Krug has made since 1843 along with descriptions of each vintage, their library of black books archives a whole host of information pertaining to winemaking, including the species of grape used, the climactic changes and the state of the land, the vinification processes and the feedback from the wine-tasters.

With over 4,000 notes and 3,000 comments on wines recorded each year, Julie and Jérôme muse, 'As you can imagine, trawling through those many black books was hardly efficient, especially in the digital age. It is for that reason that we made the decision to transform our black book into a digital tool.'

'Every decision we make revolves around taste. As such, we decided to pursue digitising this tasting process.' Aside from archiving all the information they have already amassed into a digital database, their Black Book tool allows wine-tasters to record their sensory observations and personal evaluations for each wine they savour directly online. Characteristics such as a wine's complexity, freshness, maturity and elegance are all recorded for posterity and thanks to a powerful search engine, specific wines defined by these characteristics can be relocated in a matter of seconds.

Ending with the words 'Cheers to smart-tasting!', we'll certainly raise a glass to that!