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 new grape research is in the pipeline\u2014whether from tenured scientists or their aspiring students, and see how prior learnings (including from NGRA-initiated research) continue to evolve and inspire new applications and innovations. And they often offer fresh insights and perspectives that somehow land differently when delivered in person. Remarks from several speakers stuck with me this year.<\/p>\n
The early days of Virginia\u2019s wine industry, which Virginia Tech hired Tony Wolf to support in 1986, were defined by large, high-vigor canopies that had to be hedged two to three times per season. One of the most gratifying things about the extension-focused job, he said in his remarks accepting the ASEV Merit Award<\/a> <\/strong>in June, was that \u201cindustry members were very receptive to having someone concerned about their enterprise.\u201d They invited him into their vineyards, asking for his advice and counsel. They read his bimonthly \u201cVineyard Notes\u201d newsletter and attended his grower meetings. And, over time, things changed. Grape-growing and winemaking improved, and the industry took off. \u201cI guess you could say \u2018influencer\u2019 explains what we do in extension,\u201d he said. Certainly, Tony influenced the Virginia wine industry to become one of the top 10 wine producing states, attracting the first investment on the East Coast<\/a> <\/strong>by a top Bordeaux producer earlier this month. The Virginia Vineyards Association awarded Tony their coveted Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023, the year he retired.<\/p>\n Gill Giese served as Chair of ASEV-ES until this month, when he passed the torch (or ceremonial keychain, as it were) to Aude Watrelot. Gill is Assistant Professor of Plant and Soil Science at Arkansas State University\u2014a new role he was transitioning to (from New Mexico State University Viticulture Extension) during his leadership term at Eastern Section. In his outgoing speech, Gill mentioned an article he\u2019d recently read that compared artists to reporters. \u201cThe artist observes the world and reports back,\u201d he said, using a visual medium versus words and language. \u201cThat\u2019s what scientists do, too,\u201d he said, \u201cWe observe and we report back.\u201d<\/p>\n Scientists diagnose diseases and infestations. They analyze genetic composition and gene expression. They study and provide guidance on vine and\/or vineyard performance in the context of production goals, the availability of resources (e.g., cash, labor, inputs), fluctuations in seasonal weather patterns or longer-term climate, and more. Their observations are made through a scientific lens and expressed via a palette of viticulture, enology, genetics, or climate, computer or social science. But their \u201creporting\u201d is no less creative than an artist\u2019s rendering of reality. In fact, coincidentally, Mark Battany, a farm advisor with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, in his remarks while receiving ASEV\u2019s 2024 Extension Distinction Award<\/strong><\/a> at the conference, talked about \u201cflipping dimensions\u201d to deliver extension information to growers more visually. \u201cI feel very lucky to have had a career where I can apply my knowledge and creativity to help growers find solutions to problems we didn\u2019t know existed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Whether they\u2019re influencers or artists, we\u2019re indebted to our grape researchers for all the ways they improve and enrich our industry. May we offer up our vineyard \u201cmedia\u201d and our grape \u201ccanvas\u201d for their ongoing expression!<\/p>\n Donnell Brown<\/strong> 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-industry-news","category-ngwi-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4980"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4983,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4980\/revisions\/4983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPresident<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"