This Issue of The Grapevine Magazine

(Warminster, PA USA) In food processing, dairy, beverage, chemical, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical facilities maintaining a clean environment is critical. High temperature washdown equipment is used to quickly and efficiently clean and sanitize equipment in place to keep production running on time. These washdown stations mix steam and cold water to provide hot water for facility clean up.   Maintaining competitor washdown units can be time consuming due to complex disassembly, special tooling requirements, and non-reusable components. ThermOmegaTech®, a leader in self-actuating thermostatic valve technology, supplies an innovative solution to the challenge of difficult to maintain washdown units.   ThermOmegaTech®’s STVM® Washdown Station delivers a high temperature wash at a user-defined temperature using our proprietary Silent Venturi Mixing Valve (STVM®) to […]

Tom Payette, national winemaking consultant, was awarded Virginia Tech’s Department of Food Science and Technology’s Distinguished Alumnus in Government or Industry Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Science Alumni Organization on Friday, March 22, 2019.  The Ut Prosim Award is given annually to an alumnus who has excelled in their profession as well as contributed extensively to the betterment of their industry through community service. Tom Payette with Department Chairman of Food Science Technology, Dr. Joe Marcy Dr. Alan Grant, Dean of the Department of Agriculture, Tom Payette and Dr. Joe Marcy, Chair of Food Science Technology Since Tom graduated from the Department of Food Science & Technology over 30 years ago, he has become one of the […]

  We wrote this article to promote the use of the Scott Henry training system in vineyard regions of North America; for reasons which we do not completely understand the system has been overlooked,  under-researched and also under-promoted. For those growers who use this system, mostly overseas, the benefits are substantial. They might be summarised as improved yield and fruit composition and reduced disease incidence. Wine quality is also improved. The system is not difficult to manage, contrary to some rumours in this regard. It is a matter of learning new tricks, mostly about timing, so not too difficult for commercial grape growers. For those growers prepared to try new ideas, you will be rewarded, and the winemakers (and bank […]

  This year I was invited to speak at different events organized by the Chilean Nursery Association (AGV) and Wines of Chile. While in Chile, I attended the 19th Congress of the International Council for the study of virus and virus-like diseases of the grapevine (ICVG). The ICVG meeting was held and hosted in Viña Santa Carolina Winery facilities near Santiago.  While I was traveling in South America, I had an opportunity to visit vineyards in Argentina and Chile.  Today I will share information I learned about winegrowing in Argentina and Chile.  As you know my interests are in grapevine diseases, how to prevent disease development and spread in the vineyard.   So, it will not be surprising that this article […]

Irrigation system maintenance is a vast topic of discussion—so much so, to do this article, we needed a team of experts to address it—in two parts. Mark Hewitt, the district sales manager for the ag products division of Rain Bird Corporation in Azusa, California, put it this way: “These are huge topics! People write books about these subjects! 1,500 words? Good luck!”  Yet we understand it’s essential to initiate an open forum periodically to ask about research, various applications or innovations that might help keep your system—and the entire growing season—flowing smoothly. In the first part of this story, the experts provide tips for what you may need to know immediately to start operations and remedy any issues. In the […]

  Having worked in intellectual property for nearly 20 years, I often take for granted that people have a working knowledge of the different types of IP rights.  That misconception is frequently revealed when a friend or family member (with whom I’ve had many conversations about IP) asks, “didn’t you patent that company’s logo?”  “Well, no,” I explain, “but, I did get it federally registered as a trademark.”  Taking a step back, I realize that it can be quite confusing.  So, this article is meant to introduce the four main types of intellectual property and how they apply to the wine industry. Patents Protect Ideas – Sort Of Most people have a general understanding that a patent protects an “invention” […]

OK– your wine smells good but can it have a better aroma?  Always keep this in mind as a winemaker or winery owner.  The largest violation of “house palate”, a process where winemakers overlook their wine flaws because they taste their own wines too often, is the oversight that their wines may be reduced.  Reduced or reductive is a broad term that covers many sulfide compounds ranging from hydrogen sulfide, rotten egg, to other more complex aromatics that may smell like cabbage, dill weed, onions or even garlic. Early detection of these flaws is imperative to clean up the wines and to make sure these compounds do not evolve toward other more difficult to remove compounds, mercaptans, often needing ascorbic […]

As the spring season brings new life to the vineyards and offers opportunities of growth, so too are winery owners looking for new growth in their operations with increased sales.  Having a great experience at a winery results in improved customer loyalty, increased publicity and more sales. One way to maximize your public exposure is by hosting events.   The activities can be small and simple such as an acoustic guitar on the back patio or larger concert exposures.   Events can include wine club dinners, fund raisers, vendor shows or weddings. In planning for the events that will best suit your operations and facility, several key elements should be reviewed to help minimize losses and protect your assets.  Understanding your target […]

We hear a lot about hybrid cars, hybrid fruits, hybrid vegetables and even hybrid animals, but what about hybrid grapes? Traditionally, wines made from hybrid grapes have been a non-starter for wine lovers, but that’s about to change. As we prepare to enter a new decade, more and more wine professionals are taking a second look at hybrids, and pioneering winemakers and scientists are working to improve existing varieties and introduce new ones. A Double-edged Vine Hybrid grapes are the product of crossing breeding two or more Vitis species. In the U.S., these grapes are cultivated by combining the rootstock from Vitis vinifera, a European wine grape species, and North American vines, commonly Vitis labrusca and Vitis riparia. Vitis vinifera […]

  It is 2019. We shouldn’t be having the conversation about whether you should email or not. If you feel you are bothering your customers, then the problem is with your content, not the delivery vehicle. Email is not dead, in fact it’s as relevant as ever. The accompanying infographic to this article contains what we found to be the most diagnostic recent statistics, including the facts that over three quarters of us prefer emails and the sweet spot seems to be around an email every other week. The conversation now should be about how our customers want to read emails, how they consume the content, and how emails should be integrated into our communication channel with our customers. Typical […]

For almost a century, Canadian wineries have been prevented from shipping their wines direct-ly to customers living in other provinces. After the most recent federal budget announcement earlier this year, however, wine industry leaders say they are cautiously optimistic that Prohibi-tion-era rules restricting trade could soon be relaxed—a move which industry leaders say could be a game-changer for Canada’s many boutique wineries. In March, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government announced that the 2019 federal budget would remove a requirement that alcohol shipped across provincial borders must be sold or consigned to a provincial liquor authority. According to Canadian Vintners Association presi-dent Dan Paszkowski, if the proposed rule change passes in June, it would remove the last federal barrier to internal […]

  The Canadian Pacific Railway was built between Eastern Canada and British Columbia in the late 1800s. Thousands of Chinese laborers were contracted to work under extremely dangerous conditions. One of these brave men, Sam Suey, decided to abandon his unrelenting position on the railroad in favor of opening his own Chinese Laundry Service in lower Summerland, B.C. With the nearby wharf home to an abundance of local freight and passenger traffic from the Okanagan sternwheelers and plenty of folks circulating in dirty clothes, Suey’s enterprise swiftly gained popularity. The downstairs served as a laundromat, while upstairs clients were free to drink, gamble, and as the story goes, enjoy the company of a few scantily clad women. The locals managed […]

  Whether the choice is wood, stainless steel or a hybrid combination, barrel makers have unique processes they follow to provide the best possible vessel to their customers. Each type of barrel has had successful wines poured from them. The key is to be consistent in supplying a quality barrel to the customer so that they may, in turn, deliver a quality product to their consumers. The Certainty Of Science: Trust Cooperage “We apply science to craft,” says James Molnar, President of Trust Cooperage. Exclusively an oak barrel crafter, Trust cooperage uses predominantly Hungarian Oak in their manufacturing process. They are the largest cooperage East of France, with lab services and a quartet of technicians that look at, study and […]

  With wine, it’s not only important to control what’s inside the bottles, but also how those bottles are sealed and packaged. There are numerous types of wine bottle closures available to wineries today, including corks, caps, and seals made from both natural and synthetic materials. The bevy of options poses certain challenges for wine producers looking to choose the best closures for their bottles based upon cost-effectiveness, overall benefits, and current trends. Types of Wine Bottle Closures Corks are the most traditional and familiar type of closure in the wine industry, yet these closures come in the form of natural corks, plastic corks, and technical corks. There are also different types of caps, such as screw caps and crown […]

  Vineyard pests are more than just unwanted guests. They can devastate crop yields, attract other pests, and bring along disease and contamination. Depending on the grape varietal and its location, landscape, and environment, the type and number of pests grape growers battle can change on an annual basis. Ground Battles The most common type of pest control is the use of pesticides. According to Lisa Malabad, Product Marketing Manager and Cannabis segment lead at Marrone Bio Innovations, pesticides are most successful when the vineyard manager considers the necessities of the vineyard before purchasing a product. “There are no silver bullets because there are many factors that go into pesticide choice, including application window, ease of use, maximum allowance/season, application […]