Finish Your Wine: WSU Researchers Explore White Wine Finish and Consumer Preferences “I was teaching a sensory evaluation class which Emily Goodstein was in, and she got interested in time intensity — how long a sensation lingers on the palate,” said Carolyn Ross, an associate professor of food science at WSU and a leading sensory […]
Can Washington Growers Use Rootstocks and Maintain Fruit and Wine Quality? Almost all wine grapes grown in Washington are grown on their own roots. That’s unusual. In most of the world’s other major wine regions, grapes are grown on grafted rootstock. That is, varietal scions (the part of the plant that produces the leaves, buds, […]
Young Scientist Seeks to Soothe Frets about Brett Every time you take a breath, you inhale fungi and fungal spores. In every cubic meter of air there are thousands of spores released by hundreds of species of fungi, according to a study conducted by scientists at the Max Planck Institute. We like to say that […]
Doing Science in a Phenolic Paradise “My main interest is in the kinetics and extraction patterns of phenolics during the maceration process of red winemaking,” Federico Casassa told me when I caught up with the doctoral candidate at Washington State University’s Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser. It took me a minute to […]
New Research Busts Tannin Additions Myth, Sparks Trans-Pacific Collaboration If you’re using tannin additions in your red winemaking process, you may well be wasting your money, according to recently published research by Washington State University enologist Jim Harbertson and Australian wine and grape researcher Mark Downey, a lead researcher at Victoria’s Department of Primary Industries. […]
Rhone Rangers Ride Again Some of wine drinkers’ favorite grape varieties are originally from the Rhône River Valley of France. Now, though, Syrah, Grenache, Viognier and a handful of other varieties are grown in vineyards all over the world, including Washington state. That’s why a U.S.-based organization, Rhone Rangers, recently helped fund the research of […]
WSU’s First Certified-Organic Wine Grape Vineyard Harvests First Study on Weed Control As vineyard acreage in western Washington continues to increase, more farmers seek strategies for controlling weeds, especially in new vineyards. Heightened interest in organic wine grape growing on the west side also has growers looking for certified-organic weed control methods. Researchers Carol Miles […]
When Life Hands You Lemons… When life hands you lemons of any sort, said WSU enologist Jim Harbertson in a recent talk to vineyard managers and winemakers, make lemonade. The metaphorical lemons being grapes from vines infected with grapevine leafroll virus — a serious problem that is best dealt with by ripping out infected plants […]
Going with the Flow Viticulture researchers at WSU’s Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser are going with the flow – the inflow via phloem and xylem, and the outflow via transpiration and xylem backflow, that is. The woody xylem is an essential part of a plant’s plumbing. It’s through the xylem that water […]
Cold-hardiness Prediction Model is (Almost) Ready for Grower Use For vineyard managers, watching the thermometer during eastern Washington winters is a bit like watching their charges dance the limbo: how low can they go? You don’t really want to find out; you just want to know in advance if you need to take frost protection […]