VVA BLOG

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]