Open Wine University is the viticulture and wine university open to all. Created in 2015 by the University of Burgundy, the MOOC OWU1 was a pioneer in the field of viticulture and wine. Today, this MOOC returns with the version OWU2, including new content and activities, all fully available in four languages: French, English, Spanish and Chinese. During this five-week course, participants will discover the many facets of wine.
After a few reminders on basic concepts, we will be asking whether wine is threatened by climate change, diseases or pests, and then we will explore the make-up of soils and how wine is made. Next, we will look at how ‘terroir’ develops and is promoted. Before the wine is ready to be served, we'll need to look at bottling and aging. We will be looking at wine economy and history. Finally, we will discover that wine communication is a world in its own right.
Course map
Week 1: Introduction
Between soil and climate
Wine micro-organisms
First steps in wine-tasting
+ winemaking of white and red wines
Week 2: Is wine in danger?
Climate and viticulture
Major grapevine diseases and pests
The global wine economy after the phyllioxera crisis
Week 3: Crafting wine
Geology and soils of Burgundian terroirs
Wine and microbial diversity
Wine markets
Week 4: Harnessing your terroir
Creating terroir in the context of viticulture
Special winemaking techniques, example of winemaking of "vins jaunes/yellow wines" from Jura
Wine flaws
Week 5: Final steps in getting the wine ready to be enjoyed
Wine bottling
Wine ageing
Wine: an approach for communication
