Thematically appropriate for the spooky season, four NGRA members and I spent the beginning of October up close and personal with one of the grape and wine industry’s biggest bogeymen: the spotted lanternfly. The five us spent two packed days, October 2-3, 2024, on an SLF Field Trip in Berks County, PA, creeped out and […]
Projects Underway
Wild Things
In the last couple of months, a number of articles cropped up related to climate change and what it means for us as farmers and eaters. It’s as if, as more extreme and erratic weather swirls around us, the conversation is intensifying about how we might have to change, too. In July, climate observer David […]
Nominate a Leader for the 2025 Rich Smith Award
Richard (Rich) Smith, founder of Valley Farm Management, Paraiso Vineyards and Smith Family Wines in California’s Santa Lucia Highlands wine region. He was an ardent family man and a successful grape grower, winery owner and respected colleague. He was a highly effective, collegial and tireless leader whose significant and selfless contributions of time, energy and […]
Community Matters
I did a radio interview with the Pacific Northwest Ag Network recently, where I talked about NGRA’s community-building ethic. I told host Glenn Vaagen that a vital part of our research mission is to “build a sense of community around people who believe in science as a means of advancing the industry.” Among the joys […]
Influencers and Artists
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 […]
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 […]
’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 […]
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 […]