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 […]
Grapevine Genetics: The Final Frontier
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 […]
Mothballing: Considerations When Taking Vineyards Out of Production
Cristopher C. Chen, Ph.D., Cooperative Extension, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California, Hopland Research and Extension Center, CA In 2024, the CDFA Grape Crush Report provided data that supports what winegrape growers are experiencing; tonnage of winegrapes crushed in California was down by approximately 21% from 2023 and approximately 20% when compared […]
Safeguarding US Vines and Wines from Wildfire Smoke
By Arran Rumbaugh, USDA Agricultural Research Service As the severity and frequency of wildfires increase globally, the grape and wine industry faces the risk of smoke exposure in its vineyards. Researchers across grape-growing regions are dedicated to elucidating the complex impacts of smoke exposure on grapevine physiology, grape chemistry and wine quality. While it is […]
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, […]