by Courtney Llewellyn

“When I was just starting to drink, I discovered I couldn’t drink beer, or tequila, or vodka. I had this whole experience of what I couldn’t drink,” Karen Hoskin recalled, laughing. “And then I’m in India, and I’m on the beach and I’m bummed because I’m living with this Hindu family and they don’t drink at all. I had a bartender put some rum in front of me and I thought ‘Yes, more of that.’”

by Diana Barnum
The March 2014 swift-moving fire in downtown Garrettsville, Ohio, proved to be a top industry challenge for Candlelight Winery this past year. However, that devastating event hasn’t stopped their business growth and sales.
“We are currently facing an issue of lack of tourism in our town,” said Amanda Conkol, co-owner with husband Chris of Candlelight Winery in Garrettsville. “As a small town, we prided ourselves on small family owned niche stores. Unfortunately a fire wiped out 1/3 of our downtown shopping area and 13 businesses. We are working on creating larger events each month to bring the tourists back to the winery and to Garrettsville.” (more…)

by Sonja S. Stark
Roots are dependent on three basic tenets to grow:  water, soil and oxygen. Before long an intricate system of subterranean branches, twisting in all directions, will hold the tree securely in place. Should one small shoot die, it won’t matter, there are plenty more to sustain the tree.
Metaphorically speaking, Common Roots Brewing Company (CRBC), a microbrewery celebrating their first year of brewing, subscribes to a similar philosophy. It’s no surprise that their logo is the profile of a burgeoning sapling with roots digging deep into the ground. An outline of a mountain range, presumably the Adirondacks, is etched into the foreground. (more…)

Ironclad Distillery to Open City’s First Craft Distillery, Source 100% Virginia-grown Products
RICHMOND, VA — Governor Terry McAuliffe announced recently that Ironclad Distillery will open a new small-batch bourbon distillery in the City of Newport News. The company, the first craft distillery in revitalized downtown Newport News will create eight new jobs in the city and source 100-percent of its corn, wheat and rye needs from Virginia agricultural producers. The Commonwealth of Virginia is partnering with Newport News and Ironclad Distillery on this project through the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund (AFID).
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by Michelle Sadler, Dairy One
Do you know if the nutrient additions you make during the winemaking process are correct or even necessary at all? The Finger Lakes Wine Laboratory is here to help, offering tests on must and wine to provide you with information that allows you to make informed decisions throughout the winemaking process. Early evaluation of must can help avoid delayed or stuck fermentations and later evaluation can test for the completion of the secondary malolactic fermentation. (more…)

Napa, CA – Held during Women’s History Month (March) the first of its kind symposium celebrates the achievements and advancement of women in the wine industry spanning the globe. As part of the two day event, the “Women of the Vine” Grand Tasting Gala will be held Saturday, March 14, 2015, 5:00pm – 7:30pm at The Meritage Resort and Spa, Napa, CA.
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JEFFERSON, Ohio – Whether it be clearing brush from the vineyard, installing wire or work as specialized as laying tile drainage, viticulturists and other experts from Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences want to gauge how much Ohio grape growers pay farm workers and machinery operators to work in their vineyards as part of the college’s inaugural Ohio Vineyard Custom Rate Survey.
The survey is being conducted by Ohio State University Extension educators as a means of determining the cost of work completed on a vineyard by others, which is often referred to as custom work, said David Marrison, an OSU Extension educator. OSU Extension is the outreach arm of the college. (more…)

by Karl H. Kazaks
PATRICK SPRINGS, VA — “It’s time to break it in,” said Elsie Stanley.
She stood on the crush pad outside her family’s winery, watching as her husband Nelson and son David performed a few last-minute tweaks to a new CMA crusher-destemmer.
Soon, the machine was processing its first fruit — a batch of estate chardonnay. Berries fell into a Bucher XPro press, stems collected in an adjacent bin.
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by Sanne Kure-Jensen
In the eastern United States, soils are generally fertile and vineyard managers mainly focus on disease management. Soils are the basis of plant fertility and play a large part in determining vine and crop potential.
Speaking at a risk management workshop hosted by Greenvale Vineyards, Cornell University Viticulture Extension Specialist Hans Walter-Peterson shared his experience with an audience of vineyard owners and managers, extension staff and hobbyists. (more…)

by Emily Enger
Attracting a crowd of 3,000 people over the course of two days may seem like a high goal, but Forestedge Winery accomplished it this summer at their art fair, held Aug. 16-17. In fact, they gather about that many people every year at the annual event.
The winery is co-owned by Paul and Sharon Shuster and John Wildmo. Before becoming winery owners, the Shusters were artisan production woodworkers, creating wood-based cooking utensils. That career took them across the country, where they traveled the art show circuit. When they decided to open Forestedge Winery, hosting an art fair themselves was a natural next step. (more…)

Join the Washington State Grape Society and the WSU Viticulture and Enology Program, as they host the 2014 Statewide Viticulture Field Day on August 15th!
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The ninth annual Big E Northeast Gold Wine Competition showcased some of the best tasting wines of New England and New York! The 240 entries from 38 wineries were judged at Eastern States Exposition on June 14, 2014 by a panel of wine aficionados from across the country.
Judges evaluated the wines based on the 20 point UCAL Davis System and the medals awarded were Double Gold, Gold, Silver and Bronze. There were also awards given for each state and best of each category. (more…)

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by Stephen Wagner
To much of the public they are simply fruit flies. Entomologists prefer using the term ‘fruit flies’ for what they deem authentic fruit flies — apple maggots and Mediterranean fruit flies that attack healthy fruit. The spotted wing Drosophila (SWD) species are called pomace flies or vinegar flies. Or (more…)

by Sally Colby
Tam Cloer is a horticulturist and second-generation owner in his family’s nursery business, but he knew that one day he’d have a vineyard.
Tam and his wife Pam of Apex, NC, had been growing grapes for about 18 years, mostly as a hobby. Like many other growers, they started their (more…)

Resveratrol has long been cited as the key component in red wine that benefits cardiovascular health by dozens of peer-reviewed scientific studies from around the world.  But a new study conducted by Harvard Medical School and published in Science (more…)