This has been the Summer of Grape Research, with the annual academic conferences of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) and ASEV-Eastern Section happening just a few weeks apart in late June and early July, respectively. These gatherings are terrific yearly opportunities to meet new colleagues and connect with old friends, learn what […]
Influencers and Artists
Goodbye, Bob Gallo
Bob Gallo passed away on June 22, 2024, at the age of 89. A scion of the Gallo family business, the largest winery on the planet, he was an avid proponent of advancing the grape and wine industry through science. I’m proud to say that NGRA is a small part of his legacy. Bob was […]
A Field Trip to Wolfskill
May began with NGRA’s Mid-Year Board Meeting in Winters, CA. The location was chosen so that Board members could visit the Wolfskill Germplasm Repository there—many for the first time. UC Davis owns the land where the repository lives: the Wolfskill Experimental Orchards. Named for the family that owned and deeded it to the university, the […]
Your Phenotype Is Showing
In my seven years (this month) with NGRA, I’ve found that few topics can stop a conversation quicker than genetics. Start talking to people about the ins and outs of marker-assisted grape breeding and watch the curtain fall across their attention span as they mentally check out. But genetic research is critical to the sustainability […]
Citizen Scientists ‘Scrape for the Grape’ in Virginia
Citizen Science to the Rescue! Scrape for the Grape Eliminates Millions of Spotted Lanternflies in Virginia On Saturday, April 6, 2024, nearly 400 Loudoun County, VA, residents rose up in defense of their beloved vineyards and wineries to “Scrape for the Grape.” This innovative and fun citizen science initiative unleashed volunteers armed with credit-card-sized Scrape […]
’Tis the ‘Season’
This column appeared in the March 2024 NGRA newsletter. Having welcomed spring this month, I’m reminded of a conversation I had a few years ago involving the word “season.” I was talking with a computer engineer about a sensor that had emerged from an NGRA-initiated research project. The developers were planning field trials in five […]
Snag Some Gently Used Automation Equipment
Are you an extension agent, germplasm curator or viticulturist looking to automate vineyard trial plots? Or a forward-thinking farmer seeking to dip a toe in or upgrade your mechanization game? Scheid Family Wines is offering three V-Mech units designed for mechanized pre-pruning and/or shoot thinning, each located at their vineyard in Greenfield, CA. Get the […]
For the Love of Science
February, the month of love, romance or, as some may say, chemistry. Mostly, we view the chemical compounds that attract us to potential mates as positive. For the poor vine mealybug, their sex pheromone may be their undoing. As explained in the Research Focus article in our February newsletter, two USDA-ARS scientists—Jacob Corcoran and Walt […]
A Big Quiet Moment
Despite the frigid temperatures in some parts of the country, January came in hot for NGRA. So much happened this month of 2024! From the annual meeting of a flagship NGRA research project, VitisGen3, to our First-of-Year Board meeting, from our first-ever booth at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium (booth graphics sponsored by Wonderful […]
Sponsor the NGRA Newsletter!
New this year, the National Grape Research Alliance is offering the opportunity to sponsor our monthly NGRA newsletter, the only national industry publication to focus exclusively on grape research. Our newsletter reaches a national audience of 8,000 subscribers (as of June 2024) innovative, first-adopter growers as well as university scientists and federal administrators each month, […]