This week I attended the annual meeting of the National Grape Research Alliance (NGRA), a great organization which WineAmerica supports, in Sacramento.
Last week I judged hundreds of wines in Cloverdale, CA at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the nation’s largest with over 5,500 entries.
In December, I delivered an opening keynote address titled, “Cold is Cool, Small is Big”, at a conference called VitiNord highlighting cold-hardy grape varieties.
What ties these three events together? Research.
NGRA, which I will describe in detail in a future newsletter, is all about research—specifically defining grape-related research priorities on a national level. The VitiNord conference–with attendees from Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Sweden, Quebec, and several states—reflected the ability of research to expand our earth’s ability to produce grapes in cold climate regions never thought possible. The Cloverdale competition showed just how good the resulting wines can be.
At the competition, I was on a panel with two colleagues from California, both of them good, experienced judges, but totally unfamiliar with cold climate wines. Before we began tasting, I described what they should expect from each variety—aroma, taste, texture—and said I would not comment further until we finished tasting so there would be no influence during the actual judging. I myself was also unsure how good the wines might be since I hadn’t tasted any for two years due to Covid, when competitions essentially shut down.
Results: Fabulous! We awarded more Double Gold and Gold honors to this group of wines than any other category (Chardonnay, Cabernet, Zinfandel, etc), and they came from lots of different states not generally known as “wine country”: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
These wines were consistently good—so much better than a few years ago—which I attribute in part to a multi-year Northern Grapes Project funded by USDA, spearheaded by Dr. Tim Martinson (now retired from Cornell) and involving 12 states, 12 research institutions, 34 extension agents, 18 private associations, and matching funds by 25 organizations and individuals. Collaboration on steroids!
So how does this research add up to wealth, health and happiness? By focusing on viticulture, enology, and marketing, it basically expanded the earth’s capability for growing grapes in regions thought too cold. The 12 states involved with this study now have 1,290 wine producers (12% of the national total) and 20% ($55 billion) of wine’s total impact on the American economy.
And that means jobs, wages, and happy people. And, oh, by the way, my two California co-panelists have specifically requested to judge these wines at future events.
So this is a reminder for our colleagues who produce cold climate varietals to enter them in major competitions like this one–or the Los Angeles International Wine Competition which is coming up soon. To enter, click here!
Cheers!
Jim Trezise, President of WineAmerica
