Photography and writing by David Eiserman
This year’s Summer Technical Meeting was held at the Alison H. Smith Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Winchester. This facility is managed by Virginia Tech and has been in operation for roughly 100 years. This facility’s mission is to support research and education on and around tree and vine fruit, making it an invaluable resource to our industry. We are all very grateful to all the AREC and VT staff who helped host the event, with a very special thanks to Dr. Nita! It was a great opportunity to see the campus and view the various research projects in person. This event would also not have been possible without the help of our wonderful sponsors and vendors. Thank you to everyone who worked hard to make this event a success!
We would also like to provide a huge thank you to Beth Sastre with the Virginia Cooperative Extension, who provided Spanish interpretation for the duration of the event. This was a massive gain for the value of our technical meeting, and we are so pleased to have the opportunity to have Beth’s help. We hope to support the Spanish speaking members of our industry more at our technical meetings in the coming years.
This year’s STM was held closer to verasion than in the past, and with grapes ripening across the state and in AREC vineyards, the buzz of harvest was in he air. The day began with a quick stroll across the beautiful AREC campus bringing the meeting to a research vineyard hosting several trials, a few of which were planted by the one and only Dr. Tony Wolf.
In the vineyard, guests were provided with hands on presentations on a variety of topics with Dr. Drew Harner, Dana Acamovich, and Tremain Hatch leading these discussions. These talks focused on achieving and maintaining vine balance, when and how to perform petiole sampling at verasion, and pruning and training considerations. A demo was also performed by Drape Net, showcasing the deployment of over-vine netting.
Everyone was given ample time to explore the research vineyards before returning to the shelter for the rest of the meeting. The Vineyard included a randomized variety trial of several of the modern Resistant Variety(RV) VCR Clones, and also several other soil treatments trials, including a cover crop trial and the root-bag experiments weve all heard about over the years. It was a real treat for everyone to see the VCR clones mature and bearing fruit!
After a short break, the meeting continued with updates from AREC Research staff regarding the ongoing Resistant Variety and Bio-pesticide trials that are well underway at AREC. These two topics are very important to our industry, and it was really valuable for attendees to be able to see them in person.
Everyone was then delighted with an introduction to Virginia Tech’s new Enologist and Extension Specialist, Dr. Demetra Perry, who is quickly settling in at AREC and is excited to jump into harvest this year with plans to perform wine-making on the VCR Variety Trial. We wish her well in settling in during such a busy time for our industry and look forward to seeing more of her over the coming years.
After lunch, the group was updated on ongoing research by Dr Nita, and then a panel of veteran growers discussed late season disease management. The panel took many questions from the audience, and provided everyone with lots of valuable ideas to consider as we enter late season in our own vineyards, with harvest right around the corner.
Finally, to close out the day, Dr. Kendra Baumgardner introduced herself and discussed some practical methods for addressing weak areas in the vineyard. Dr. Baumgardner has recently relocated from the West Coast, where she worked for many years as a plant pathologist with the USDA and UC Davis. Kendra has joined the VVA Education Committee, and we are so pleased to have her expertise for planning and executing future technical meetings and member events.
After a hot day filled with valuable discussions, rain clouds rolled in just as the wines were being opened. Members were able to chat and catch up while sampling each others produce while rain pelted down. The storm left just as fast as it had come, leaving a substantial amount of rain on the ground, reminding growers of the challenging season we have had thus far. The morale was generally optimistic with regard to the 2025 vintage, and that would only be possible with skilled growers managing our states wine grape production. With Sun in the forecast at the time of writing this we wish everyone the best for harvest 2025.
