The grape wine industry is confronted with ever increasing challenges. The ongoing climate change requires new cultivars and new production techniques; advances in modern technology call for new skills; the increasing complexity of the social and economic environment demands innovation and anticipation to satisfy rapidly changing needs.
Viticulture and Enology
The Viticulture and Enology Major is offered as a joint diploma between Changins – Haute école de viticulture et œnologie and the Vinifera EuroMaster. Students following this 120 ECTS programme will spend the first year in HES-SO. Their second year will be spent in one of Universities from the Vinifera EuroMaster Consortium.
The Major VE provides students with the tools to analyze and resolve complex problems in Viticulture and Enology, from grape to wine, from management to market, on a strategic and operational level.
Successful candidates are awarded the Graduate Degree “Master of Science HES-SO in Life Sciences, Major Viticulture and Enology” based on 120 credits ECTS as well as The Vinifera EuroMaster diploma.
Watch the presentation of the major:
Objectives
The Viticulture and Enology specialization aims to provide students with the following skills:
- Understand, analyze and judge geological, pedological, and climatic components of the terroir of a vineyard
- Evaluate the genetic variability within vineyard blocks, the plant’s state of health, and the match of the rootstock- grape variety combination as a function of agronomic and enological aptitude
- Understand the chemistry and analysis of key wine molecules and macromolecules and their importance for winemaking techniques, wine stability, color and aroma
- Direct and coordinate the design of a winery
- Evaluate environmental risks linked to the grapevine production and a company’s vineyard structure
- Acquire competences for the restructuring of a company related to viticulture or enology
- Develop valorization techniques through sensory analysis and learn innovative sensory evaluation techniques
Specialization modules
First year
Module | Professor | ECTS | Semester | Location | |
S12 | Grapevine Environment - Sustainable Viticulture | Thierry Heger | 4 | Autumn | Changins |
S13 | Genetic Resources and Grapevine Production | Jean-Philippe Burdet | 4 | Autumn | Changins |
S14 | Winery Design | Liming Zeng | 4 | Spring | Changins |
S15 | Fermented Beverages Technology, Chemistry and Microbiology | Benoit Bach | 4 | Spring | Changins |
S16 | Wine Economics and Management | Alexandre Mondoux | 4 | Autumn | Changins |
Second year
Module | ECTS | Semester | Location | |
Vinifera EuroMaster | 30 | Autumn | 1 of the Universities from the Vinifera EuroMaster Consortium |
Master thesis
The Master thesis is divided into three modules. Please follow the links below to access the module descriptions:
Cluster-specific modules
Module descriptions and further information are available on MSLS Community Centre.
Module | ECTS | Semester | Location | |
F1 | Progresses in Food Processing | 3 | Winter School | Sion |
F2 | Nutrition and Nutrition Related Chronic Diseases | 3 | Winter School | Olten |
F3 | Foodomics | 3 | Spring | Bern |
F4 | Sustainable Sourcing, Processing and Tracing of Food | 3 | Spring | Olten |
F5 | Advanced Sensory Techniques | 3 | Summer School | Changins |
F6 | Journal Club “Food and Nutrition Sciences” | 3 | Autumn | Bern |
Additional Offer from other Clusters
Module descriptions and further information are available on MSLS Community Centre.
Module | ECTS | Semester | Location | |
E2 | Life Cycle Assessment | 3 | Autumn | Bern |
E3 | Sustainable Natural Resource Management | 3 | Autumn | Zollikofen |
E5 | Biodiversity | 3 | Spring | Bern |
E6 | Water Management for Households, Industry and Agriculture | 3 | Spring | Olten |
Professors
![]() | Dr Benoit Bach Professor of enology since 2015. Competences in analytical chemistry, wine and spirit chemistry, role of oxygen chemistry in winemaking, microbiology and colloidal stability of wine. Coordinator of module S15. |
![]() | Jean-Philippe Burdet Professor of viticulture and plant protection since 2002. Competences in plant pathology, plant entomology, symptomatology, integrated pest management, vine training. Coordinator of module S13. |
![]() | Pascale Deneulin Professor of sensory analysis & statistics since 2012. Competences in sensory analysis including physiology of taste, descriptive analysis & consumer preferences, statistical analysis, experimental design, factor analysis, data-mining & textual analysis. Coordinator of module F5. |
![]() | Dr Thierry Heger Professor of soil science since 2017. Research focus on soil biology, bioindication, protistology and soil microbiome. Coordinator of module S12. |
![]() | Dr Alexandre Mondoux Professor of economics and management since 2017. Research activities and competences in wine economics, applied microeconomics and econometrics. Coordinator of module S16. |
![]() | Matteo Mota Lecturer of soil and weed science since 2011 Competences in pedology, plant ecology, vineyard biodiversity and precision aerial imagery (drone mapping and processing software) |
![]() | Dorothéa Noll Lecturer of soil science and GIS since 2015 Competences in pedology, soil protection, GIS, drone mapping and processing software, image processing and analysis |
![]() | Dr. Markus Rienth Professor of viticulture since 2015 Research activities and competences in berry and vine physiology and development in response to abiotic stress and cultural practices |
![]() | Dr Liming Zeng Associate Professor in cellar technology Competences in enology, process engineering, cellar technology, chemical and physico-chemical analysis, and wine conditioning and packaging |
Contact
Liming Zeng
Head of the major
Changins – School of viticulture and Enology
Route de Duilier 50
1260 Nyon
T +41 22 363 40 35
liming.zeng(at)changins.ch