In the 1880s, Pierce’s disease caused a devastating, total collapse of the Southern California grapevine industry. Today, growers have hope for the future thanks to new varieties. Adam Tolmach, owner of Ojai Vineyard, planted four of these new varieties as a field trial on a plot of land where Pierce's disease wiped out his grapes in 1995.  Pierce’s disease is a bacterium spread by insects, typically a sharpshooter. One bite and the vine dies within two to three years. To develop resistant varieties, Andy Walker of the University of California at Davis crossed the European grape Vitis vinifera with Vitis arizonica. 20 years later, commercial growers have access to three red and two white varieties. Listen in to learn how Tolmach’s experiment is a success both in the vineyard and with customers. Plus get tasting notes for the new varieties. LISTEN IN Resources:         REGISTER: The Ins & Outs of Developing a New Vineyard Site 89: New

Renaissance Yeast uses the science of selective breeding to create wine yeast strains with superior sensory attributes and technical performance. Their process allows them to isolate and select yeast strains with excellent fermentation kinetics and to produce the flavors and aromas that make a wine exceptional. How do these strains prevent Hydrogen Sulphide? Renaissance Yeast has spent over five years selectively breeding yeast with the strain UCD 932 (H2S-preventing strain from the University of California Davis) with other wine yeast strains. They isolate and select offspring with the H2S-preventing trait as well as other traits that give them excellent fermentation kinetics and normal levels of SO2 production. RENAISSANCE YEAST PRODUCT OFFERINGS Ossia (Saccharomyces cerevisiae hybrid), Renaissance Yeast’s organic H2S-preventing strain, recommended for organic dry white and red wines, fruit wines and cider. Download Product Data Sheet Viva is a H2S-preventing w

Expert Editorial: The Judgment of Paris and Its Impact on the U.S. Wine Industry

By Anthony Zhang    May 24 is a day of celebration for wine lovers across America, as it marks the anniversary of The Judgment of Paris, an event that paved […]

On March 16, 2022, the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology Extension Team will host a Grapevine Red Blotch Disease Symposium. This program will be available both as an in-person program (at the UC Davis Conference Center) and live-streamed as a webinar (on Zoom).  Speakers will include: Cindy Kron, Frank Zalom, Kent Daane, Nitin Nitin, Justin Tanner, Kaan Kurtural, Houston Wilson, Anita Oberholster and more! More details, including presentation titles, will be coming soon. LOCATION This is a hybrid event. Attendees have the option of attending in-person at the Conference Center on the UC Davis Campus, or by live stream. Click here for more info

Renaissance Yeast uses the science of selective breeding to create wine yeast strains with superior sensory attributes and technical performance. Their process allows them to isolate and select yeast strains with excellent fermentation kinetics and to produce the flavors and aromas that make a wine exceptional. How do these strains prevent Hydrogen Sulphide? Renaissance Yeast has spent over five years selectively breeding yeast with the strain UCD 932 (H2S-preventing strain from the University of California Davis) with other wine yeast strains. They isolate and select offspring with the H2S-preventing trait as well as other traits that give them excellent fermentation kinetics and normal levels of SO2 production.

Pellenc America conducted a Trial with UC Davis Winemaking Team headed up by Anita Oberholster Ph.D. and Leticia Chacon Rodriguez with the Pellenc Optical Sorting Line that consists of the Pellenc Selectiv Process Winery-Medium (SPW-M), Vibractiv Table & Selectiv Vision 2. Our control group was handpicked Cabernet Sauvignon from Lodi, CA. that we processed with only the SPW-M that mechanically destems and sorts the fruit with the Pellenc patented Selectiv Process System. Our Trial consisted of 2 sorting levels with the Pellenc Vision 2 Optical Sorter. The first part of the trial we used the lower level Optical of sorting. For the second trial we used the high level of Optical sorting. As the wines matured, we noticed some very interesting results. The bottom line is we could take a harvest of Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon and with different levels of sorting we could change the complexity of the finished wine. We easily understood how to change the settings on the Pellenc Vision-2 to mak