The Oenology Research Unit adopts a long, historical and targeted approach to research involving the acquisition of fundamental knowledge and the development of expertise and innovations for the wine industry. Its central theme consists of the production of activities capable of contributing to the preservation and enhancement of wine quality.
The aim is to carry out activities designed to characterize, preserve and enhance the organoleptic component of wine by developing innovative process (extraction, stabilization, oxygen management...). It also involves developing innovative processes that allow for the preservation of these qualitative components at a time when the wine sector is seeking to reduce the use of chemical inputs.

The ISVV's research teams (more thant 90 persons) belong to laboratories based in the ISVV building and on the INRA campus at Villenave d’Ornon, or off-site laboratories that also develop other research activities.
From the methodological perspective, the range of approaches and techniques used by the researchers is at the cutting edge of technology in numerous fields: agronomics, ecophysiology, microbiology, epidemiology and population studies, chemistry and biochemistry, molecular biology, cytology, sensory analyses and statistical studies, etc.

Vineyard tests are carried out under controlled conditions, including in collaboration with the INRA Winemaking Teaching Unit .
This work leads to multiple collaborations and academic and socio-professional exchanges at the local, national and international levels with the major wine-producing countries, in both research and education.