September is the best time to enjoy the majestic beauty of our vineyards. Regardless of your preference—wine, raisin, table or juice grapes—Mother Nature has provided a variety of berry shapes, sizes, colors, aromas and flavors to enjoy. The diversity of grape varieties results from the differences in their genetic code. Some of those differences evolved […]
Projects Underway
Future Focus
When WineAmerica’s Jim Trezise, a longtime NGRA Board member, invited me to write a “Future Focus” feature for his weekly WineAmerica Perspectives e-newsletter on August 22, I knew immediately what I’d write about: grape genetics. It’s not a topic that most in the grape and wine industry would say applies to them or their business—at […]
The Pizza Test
Research takes time. And really big, complex research projects require teams of people, collaborating, advising and managing the work to accomplish game-changing results, typically within four or five years. That’s a long time to work together, managing millions of dollars and attempting to solve priority problems with people you may not know very well—if at […]
It’s Not All Bad
June 2025 Earlier this month, NGRA Board member and Lodi Winegrape Commission Research & Education Director Stephanie Bolton wrote a blog post for the Commision’s website titled, “Five Pieces of Good News in the Research World.” In it, she celebrates research-related news in and around the Lodi AVA, including the highly anticipated, forthcoming hiring of […]
Meeting the Moment
With “national” being the operative word, members of the National Grape Research Alliance and I found ourselves in locations across the country this month, all in the pursuit of driving grape research. In early May, I attended the Congressional Fly-In put on by WineAmerica, a founding NGRA member-organization. The event annually gathers wine industry members […]
Getting Smarter
A year or so ago, I was talking with a colleague who’s an executive at a premium wine brand that had downsized its operations. He was in charge of making the cuts. He felt for the people who’d been separated from the company and acknowledged the pain of having to find another job. And he […]
Assets and Allies
Amid all that’s been going on in the world that impacts grape research, a significant bright spot stands out: the committed leadership of our industry-led nonprofit organization. The election of NGRA Board Directors and officers in late January is an annual reminder of our strongest assets and biggest allies. NGRA’s 30-member Board of Directors is […]
Hearts Grown Fonder
If February is the month for affairs of the heart, February 2025 was a blowout. In the span of 28 short days, the grape and wine industry went on a heartrending rollercoaster ride with our grape-research colleagues at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS). At least seven of them, all within their three-year probationary period, […]
Federal Funding Freezes and Staff Cuts Make Untold Impact on Grape Research
For immediate release SACRAMENTO, CA, February 20, 2025 – One week after news of the firing of staff scientists at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) began to unfold across the country, the broad arc of the devastating impact of federal cost-cutting measures on the grape and wine industry has begun to take shape. For […]
Emily Hodson Wins 2025 Rich Smith Award
2025 Rich Smith Award of Excellence Presented to Emily Hodson of Virginia SACRAMENTO, CA, January 29, 2025 —The ninth annual Rich Smith Award of Excellence for outstanding contributions to the American grape and wine industry was presented today to Emily Hodson, the winemaker at Veritas Vineyards and Winery, a co-owner of Flying Fox Vineyards and […]