Voice of the Vine

Auction Items, Breaking a Million, Self-directed Study

Exciting, Unusual Auction Items Highlight ’09 “A Celebration of Washington Wines” A ride in a Christen Eagle aerobatic biplane is just one of many items up for bid at this year’s “A Celebration of Washington Wine.” Have you always had a burning desire to experience aerobatic barrel rolls, loops, Cuban 8’s and wingovers in a […]

Yeast, Wine Auction

King of the Yeasts Partnering with the commercial yeast producer Lallemand, WSU food scientist Charlie Edwards and his colleagues formulated strains of yeast that can stand up to high-sugar grape musts. Top: Lallemand products. Bottom: yeast cells. Where does a great glass of wine get its start? In the vineyard, certainly, as the foundation for […]

Cold Hardiness, White Wine Quality

Cold Hardiness System Gives Growers a Warm Feeling Visit the Grape Cold Hardiness Web site: http://tinyurl.com/5vndbx. The site has year-round value for grape growers, including information on Powdery Mildew, precipitation, growing degree days, and evapotraspiration. Want the scientific low down on how Keller’s team is collecting cold-hardiness data? Fire up your browser and visit the […]

Henick-Kling Wins Award, Future Grape

Henick-Kling Wins Outstanding Achievement Award Thomas Henick-Kling checking the progress of fermentation in this batch of experimental wine at Geneva. Henick-Kling is the former head of the enology program at Cornell Univeristy. Photo courtesy of Cornell University. The American Society for Enology and Viticulture-Eastern Section presented Thomas Henick-Kling with its Outstanding Achievement Award at the […]

New V&E Director, First Crush

International Wine Expert to Lead WSU V&E Program Thomas Henick-Kling is the new director of WSU’s program in viticulture and enology. Photo courtesy of Cornell University. Thomas Henick-Kling, an international leader in wine research and education, is the new director of WSU’s viticulture and enology program. Dan Bernardo, dean of the WSU College of Agricultural, […]

Research Winery, Cougs in Industry

WSU Opens Research Winery Top: Ringer (L) and Harbertson designed the new research winery in order to address questions of concern to the Washington wine industry. Middle: Harbertson plucks grapes for later chemical analysis. Bottom: Harbertson empties a box of chardonnary grapes into a press, starting the first batch of white wine in the new […]

New Scholarship, Taste WSU, Wine Auction

New Scholarship Supports V&E at WSU http://alumni.wsu.edu/ Wine-By-Cougars has announced the development of the WBC Viticulture and Enology Scholarship fund. “WSU’s viticulture and enology program is nationally recognized and provides the booming Washington wine industry with research innovations and talented graduates to recruit,” a Wine-By-Cougars representative said. Wine-By-Cougars is a wine club that features “premium, […]

AgWeatherNet, Riesling, Taste of WSU

Aussie Viticulturists Pick Up Tips from WSU Data from AgWeatherNet’s statewide system of weather stations is displayed on user-customizable maps. Gary Grove, center, is the director of AgWeatherNet. Will Corsi, bottom, AgWeatherNet technical coordinator, near a recording station. WSU plant pathologist Gary Grove recently lent his expertise to the Australian viticultural industry. Speaking in Mudgee, […]

Sensory Science, Microclimates

Pucker Up for Sensory Science Volunteers tasted red wines in a study designed to correlate astrigency with tannin levels in red wine. Astringency or “mouth feel” in wine has long been attributed to the presence of tannins and other phenolic compounds. Because astringency is an at least somewhat subjective evaluation, though, scientists at WSU tested […]

Julia Kock, Stan Clarke, Sustainability

WSU V&E Alumna Grows World-Class Grapes Julia Kock, Klipsun Vineyard manager, and her dog Brix. Kock was one of the first graduates from WSU’s program in viticulture and enology. Check out a video interview with Kock on our You Tube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_fJppzsvio Julia Kock had been working as a human resource manager in the aluminum […]