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Could billionaire Oxford University donation benefit wine?

05 December 2024 By Sarah Neish

Larry Ellison, founder of software giant Oracle, plans to funnel US$165 million into research across four areas at Oxford University. Could it have far-reaching implications for the wine trade?

Larry Ellison, who is the fourth richest person in the world, made his billions in software, co-founding Oracle (formerly Software Development Laboratories) in 1977 before acquiring multiple other software companies to expand his empire.

Oracle is a leading player in cloud management and artificial intelligence. In 2022 the firm shared a joint US$9 billion contract issued by the US Department of Defence for the purposes of cloud computing with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

Today, Ellison is still chairman, chief technology officer and cofounder of Oracle, of which he owns around 40%, and he has also previously sat on the board of directors at Tesla.

According to Forbes, he is worth around US$231.1 billion.

Important innovation

Ellison once famously said: “When people start telling you that you’re crazy, you just might be on to the most important innovation in your life.”

That theory might be put to the test once again as this week he announced he would be investing up to US$165 million into research projects at Oxford University. The research, which relates to four specific areas, will be carried out via his own Ellison Institute of Technology, which is on track to open a new campus in Oxford in 2027.

According to Professor Irene Tracey, vice chancellor at Oxford university, the Ellison Institute of Technology will inject millions into research into confronting “humanity’s most pressing challenges.”

Among these are health and medical science, clean energy, government innovation in the age of AI, and most importantly for winemakers — sustainable agriculture.

Commercialising scientific discoveries

Through his significant investment, Ellison says he aims to improve the UK’s record in commercialising scientific discoveries.

This is something that wine producers are gradually becoming more savvy about. Speaking to db recently, Alvaro Comenge, co-owner of Ribera del Duero winery Comenge, revealed he has a side line in selling a local yeast product from his vineyard to “a multinational yeast company”, marketed as Blizz.

“We get 10% of its sales,” he said. Why yeast? “Acidity is always a nightmare in Ribera del Duero, because we have very low acidity, so all producers use tartaric acid (though not all will admit it), and tartaric is very expensive.”

The cash injection from the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) could enable more winegrowers and producers to bring their sustainable farming products to market, securing an additional revenue stream during more challenging vintages.

And while EIT has said it intends to share the fruits of its joint research with Oxford University globally, the proximity of England’s winemakers to the facility may mean English Sparkling benefits first. In June, db reported that Britain is expected to be hit by a deluge of “never-ending rain” during the next 10 years, sparking concerns over rot in English vineyards.

Sustainable and efficient drainage solutions could offer much-needed solutions for producers, and capital income from those who can design and implement them.

Wine world

Growing wine grapes sustainably is increasingly at the forefront of industry discussion as regions battle with climate change, particularly more regular and long-lasting episodes of drought and frost.

From Champagne maker Ruinart trialling ‘vitiforestry’ in its vineyards (planting trees and hedgerows to provide habitats for pest-managing creatures) to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in Napa gaining Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) status, producers are prioritising farming sustainably in order to preserve the future of their business.

In March db reported that the Wine Society will award grants to encourage its supply chain partners to adopt regenerative farming practices.

The Society told the drinks business that the emphasis would be on soil health, which it believes offers the “greatest potential” for carbon sequestration and helps make vineyards more resilient.

“We know that soil has the potential to sequester more than 30% of the world’s carbon emissions so we see this as the best way for the wine industry to mitigate climate change”, he explained.

Its sentiments chime with those of leading guru Jagadish Vasudev, better known as Sadhguru, who flew the flag for soil health at COP29.“Human physical and mental wellbeing is being directly impacted by the soil,” he said.

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