Christie projectors display winemaker’s data on ceiling

Christie projection solutions are helping a US vineyard make the fermentation of its wine a more collaborative process.

Six M 4K25 RGB pure laser projectors are displaying real-time data on the ceiling of the fermentation room at Palmaz Vineyards, in California’s Napa Valley.

At the heart of the 18-storey winery is a fermentation dome that houses 24 tanks on a carousel. The grapes from the vineyard are transported here to be fermented into wine.

The vineyard’s software system, the Fermentation Intelligence Logic Control System, takes millions of calculations per second from inside each tank.

Rather than presenting this data on a tablet app or desktop computer, Palmaz Vineyards decided to make the information available to its team of winemakers via projections on the ceiling of the fermentation room, thereby creating a collaborative process.

Palmaz Vineyards’ chief operations officer, Christian Palmaz, says: “We wanted something that worked for the winemakers and we wanted to make it hands free. We didn’t want them living on a screen, as it’s isolating. We had the idea to put all of that information on the surface of the dome. That’s when I started looking into projection technology.

“I happen to be a pilot, and during my annual training, I was in a flight simulator and wondered how they got this perfect curved and blended image. I walked around to the front of the simulator and, lo and behold, I saw six or seven Christie projectors. I called Christie the next day – and we got to work.”

Christie M Series projectors were originally installed. “We needed a huge amount of clarity, brightness and durability,” says Palmaz. “We used the M Series for over a decade and then upgraded to the M 4K25 RGBs for more brightness.”

The increased brightness of the M 4K25 RGBs allows the vineyard to run the room with more lighting, ensuring a safer work environment.

RFID sensors on each tank can identify which winemaker is in front of it, and display customised data on the domed ceiling.

“Colour is really important,” says Palmaz. “Because of our thermographic displays, colour means something to us. Seeing the dynamic colour effect – as the temperatures change when pump-overs occur – it’s like varying shades of bathwater. You’re talking about a 5° to 6° degree change in temperature in the tank. But the range of colour [that the projectors display] helps to visualise slight variations in temperature.”

“It’s something we noticed with the newer projectors – they have such a wide colour gamut and better colour accuracy. It translates to us having a better understanding of the temperature and how it’s distributed inside the tank.”

Joel St-Denis, director of product management at Christie, says: “Over the past decade, Christie has invested significantly in the development of RGB pure laser illumination systems that deliver more than twice the colour of a typical laser phosphor projector.”