Michigan ranks No. 4 in wine production in the nation and it is Paolo Sabbatini’s job to make the state’s wine production even better.
Sabbatini is assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Horticulture. A native of Italy, he works with graduate students in the field of viticulture.
“Anytime we can discover something together in the vineyard – apply treatments that give us results in improving the quality of the grapes, improving the way that we manage the vines in the vineyard – it gives me a lot of happiness and a lot of satisfaction,” Sabbatini said.
Out of the seven graduate students working with Sabbatini, one student is from Hungary, another from China and four are from Italy. Students are traveling the globe to study wine making in a cool climate similar to Germany and northern France.
“In cool climate viticulture, both Michigan State and the Michigan wine industry are well renowned,” Sabbatini said.
His research focus is how to grow grapes in the summer season to produce higher quality grapes at the harvest. Sabbatini found that when he prunes the vines and allows more sunlight to hit the grape clusters earlier in the season, they achieve better maturation.
After experimenting with the grapes before harvest, the grapes are taken to a lab in which Sabbatini and his students alter the wine with varying yeasts, temperature and time during fermentation.
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