OWU2 - Open Wine University 2

About the course

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 format

Open Wine University is organized over 5 weeks.

There will be three lecture videos a week, each with its own quiz.

Throughout the program, participants are encouraged to create their own back label to describe a wine of their choice.
This activity is evaluated by the other students.

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