Optimizing Yields; Navigating the Future: A Recap of the 2025 VVA Winter Technical Meeting
Written By Jess Trapeni The annual Virginia Vineyards Association (VVA) Winter Technical Meeting took place February 25-26, 2025. This year marked an exciting change in venue to The Madison Hotel in Harrisonburg, Virginia, a move that was well received by attendees. Harrisonburg proved to be a fantastic host city, offering [...]
Spring 2025 Presidents Corner
The VVA INTRODUCES A NEW 5 YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN AT WTM: CREATING A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR VIRGINIA’S VINEYARDS Written By AJ Greely, Hark Vineyards, VVA President Last year, the Board of the Virginia Vineyards Association met several times in person as we planned and eventually implemented a new 5 [...]
VA Grape Breeding Program Cuts
The Virginia Wine Industry Needs Your Support! Dear Members and Industry Colleagues, As you may know, the Virginia grape breeding project is under threat from federal funding cuts. One vital position has already been eliminated. Please contact your United States Congressional Representative and ask him/her to prevent further cuts [...]
2024 Grapevine Disease Summary
Written By Dr. Nita, Edited by Jess Trapeni The 2024 season began similarly to 2023, with a relatively warm winter. As a result, the vines grew faster than usual, leading to bud breaks occurring 2-3 weeks earlier than in recent years. For example, in Northern Virginia, bud break happened in [...]
Fall 2024 Vintage Report
The regional reports for fall of the 2024 vintage follow, these reports were compiled and edited by Jason Burrus. Merlot Grapes Sunset Hills Vineyard Northern Regional Report Jason Burrus, Sunset Hills Vineyard 2024, for the second year in a row, saw above-average Brix across all varieties. In fact, 2024 Brix [...]
Spring 2024 Presidents Corner
With the heat of summer coming on full force for many of us, we’ll hopefully see the vigor start to abate and dry weather continue. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made it out to the 2024 Summer Technical Meeting at Bluestone Vineyards in the Shenandoah [...]
Spring 2024 Vintage Report
Compiled and edited by Jason Burrus EASTERN VIRGINIA (Gonzalo Ortiz, Rustic Vintage, LLC, eastvagrowers@gmail.com) Here in the beautiful Northern Neck of Virginia, rain has been sporadic, daily high temperatures have been moderate, and nighttime temperatures have been cool. On our farm Chardonnay, which is our first to bud, bud break [...]
Dr Drew Harner settles into his new role as Viticulture Specialist with Virginia Tech
Written by Dr. Harner, edited and compiled by Jess Trapeni Research Updates from the Viticulture Lab at Virginia Tech The growing season seemed to start with a bang, and we are now well into my first year of grape cultivation and field research as a new [...]
Research Update from Winemakers Research Exchange – Fruit thinning experiments
Written by Dr. Ting, Compiled and Edited by Jess Trapeni A summary of two fruit thinning experiments involving shoulder thinning and cluster halving. Introduction Fertile Virginia soils can often produce vigorous grape vines with a heavy crop load that struggle to fully ripen. It is common practice to reduce crop [...]
2024 Summer Technical Meeting Recap
Written by David Eiserman The 2024 Summer Technical Meeting was held in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley at the lovely Bluestone Vineyards. The morning started with a talk and demonstration led by Dr. Sally Dickinson from Virginia Tech School of Animal Sciences, about the use of dogs to detect spotted [...]