Starting with an apprenticeship in a winery Dr. Yvette Wohlfahrt continued with her Viticulture and Enology studies in Geisenheim. In her thesis, she already looked at alternatives in the vinification of Vitis vinifera cv. Riesling and valuable compound changes in wines. After earning her Diploma in 2009 she worked abroad for different wineries in New Zealand, Canada and Australia for a period of two years. Soon after she moved back to Germany she started her master's programme in Enology at the Justus-Liebig University in cooperation with Geisenheim University focusing within her thesis on the aging behavior of red wines from different grapevine cultivars.
In 2014 she started her PhD within the Geisenheim FACE (Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment) experiment for special crops which is part of a research platform to assess the effects of future increasing atmospheric CO2-concentrations on crop cultivation, physiology, soil microbiology, greenhouse gas emissions, pest and disease pressure as well as on quality of grapes and wine. Working with the two cultivars Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling within the VineyardFACE her main interests focused on the effects of elevated CO2 on grapevine physiology, water relations as well as on berry development including aspects on yield, fruit and wine composition. During her PhD she completed research exchanges at the University of Adelaide, Australia and at INRA Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux, France.
Due to her interest in organic and biodynamic grape production, and especially regarding the sustainability aspect in terms of climate change, Yvette expanded her expertise to organic and biodynamic viticulture as a research fellow since 2018. She teaches organic and biodynamic viticultural principles and is a co-investigator within the INBIODYN project. The strong link between climate change and the future potential to reduce plant protection agents in organic viticulture is her current challenge as a PostDoc within the VITIFIT project.
Running here own little winery together with her partner in the Rheingau Valley keeps here close to practice and promotes teaching practical issues of organic and biodynamic viticulture under a changing climate. Yvette is also involved in international collaborations and exchange programmes between research institutions, e.g. OENOBIO project, what additionally contributes to her list of international publications.