Archived Articles

By: Kirk Williams, Lecturer-Texas Tech University Nutrient management is a critical practice to have a healthy and productive vineyard. Nutrition management in grapevines is a long-term process where nutrients can be added over time and the effects of these additions monitored over time as well. Grapevines do not require large ...

Small Batch Wines With Big Personalities By: Gerald Dlubala Blu Dot Farm & Vineyard is a boutique farm, winery and vineyard with a notable history and a bright future. Nestled between the shores of Lake Charlevoix's and Lake Michigan with terroir directly influenced by the Great Lakes and historical glacial ...

By: Trevor Troyer, 
Vice-President of Operations 
for Agricultural Risk Management What is Federally subsidized crop insurance? What is Grape Crop Insurance and how does it work? The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) was created in 1938. Originally coverage was limited to major crops. It was basically an experiment at that ...

By: Alyssa L. Ochs It is common knowledge that wineries produce a significant amount of wastewater. Still, it's imperative to understand your winery's wastewater characteristics to choose the right solution. Fortunately, many eco-friendly options are available now to help wineries reduce their environmental impact while using water. These options can ...

By: Becky Garrison This year marks the 40th anniversary of Oregon's Willamette Valley AVA, which runs from Portland in the North to Eugene in the South. According to the Willamette Valley Wineries Association's website this AVA consists of 931 vineyards and 736 wineries that represent a total 3,438,000 acres. Currently ...

By: Cheryl Gray No vineyard wants to watch its profits disappear. Yet, left undetected, pests can feed and multiply on the fruit, vine, leaf, root and even the soil of vineyard plants. While many of these threats are undetectable to the naked eye, the end result is all too visible ...

By: Tod Stewart Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! Readers of a certain vintage may recall the pandemonium at the local wine purveyor upon the unleashing of that phrase. It was the official annual call for wine lovers to storm the shelves and grab as many bottles as possible (or cases) ...

By: Becky Garrison In What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health (W.W. Norton & Company), authors David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé expound on their research into regenerative farming practices that can put carbon back into the ground and improve soil health. This research ...

By: Thomas J. Payette, Winemaking Consultant Welcome to Eastern Winery and exploring this article. Preparing for bottling is no easy challenge. [This article can also be adapted for onsite bottling as well.] However, the key to success while preparing for the mobile bottler to arrive is communication and planning. This ...

By:  Judit Monis, Ph.D. - Vineyard and Plant Health Consultant The National Clean Plant Network (NCPN) is a USDA funded program focused on specialty crops such as berries, citrus, grapevines, fruit trees, hops, roses, and sweet potatoes. The clean planting material is to be distributed to nurseries for further propagation ...