News & Events

The VitisGen and VitisGen2 projects represent major investments in understanding grapevine genetics – and particularly in identifying markers associated with desirable traits for use in ‘marker-assisted selection’.   DNA markers identified by geneticists and breeders are now incorporated into several selections and mapping populations by grape breeding programs in California, Minnesota, New York, and Missouri.

Professor Bruce Reisch, VitisGen2 Project Director and Breeding and Local Phenotyping Team Lead, was interviewed in 2020 for Episode 87 of the Sustainable Winegrowing with Vinyard Team podcast.  His episode on Developing New Winegrape Varieties made their list of top 5 downloaded podcasts in 2020. Congratulations, Professor Reisch!

To listen to the podcast, visit Sustainable Winegrowing with Vineyard Team episode 87: Developing New Winegrape Varieties.

Our VitisGen2 team is innovating grape breeding for disease resistance through the use of phenotyping robots that can analyze a whopping 15,000 samples a day. This innovative research is helping researchers identify resistant genes for new cultivars, which will in turn help growers use less chemicals.

Cornell and Penn State Extension have teamed up to create the Eastern Viticulture and Enology Forum – a monthly webinar series that will bring you the latest in research results in viticulture and enology, with a focus on concepts that underlie the practical aspects of growing grapes and making wine. Webinars occurred once per month in November 2020, December 2020, and January 2021, and  will happen twice per month in February, March, and April 2021. Webinars will start at 3 PM EST and will run about an hour-long each. Schedule – Eastern Viticulture and Enology Forum Final

Marisa Sergi ('15) participated as a panelist at the Johnson School 2016 Families in Business Conference as part of their "CEOs under 30" panel. A third-generation winemaker, Sergi drew up the plans for RedHead Wine as a capstone project in Cornell’s Viticulture and Enology program.

‘Traminette’ – a mid-season white-wine grape released by Cornell’s grape breeding program in 1996 – was named the Outstanding Fruit Cultivar for 2015 by the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) at its annual meeting in New Orleans August 7.

Two upcoming EnoCert courses for winery employees will be offered Aug. 4 (EnoCert 203 Winery Sanitation and Safety) and Aug. 5 (EnoCert 202 Tasting Room Sales Strategies).

Cornell and the University of Minnesota have developed hybrid grapes that withstand brutal winters and disease — and provide the quality and consistency needed to produce fine wine in places like Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio.

Thinking in pictures and shapes – rather than mere words – will lead to improved consumer sensory memories about wine, said Kathryn LaTour at the inaugural Women of the Vine symposium, held in March at Napa, California.

Cornell’s recently expanded student winery is preparing students for the future of the wine industry. Viticulture and enology students use the facility to explore regional winemaking challenges.

Lindsay Springer, an accidental wine expert and a graduate student in the field of food science, won the Graduate Research Award March 24 for her work in red wine quality.

In Cornell's young wine and grape program, a former graduate student and two professors have earned 2015 scientific paper of the year honors from the American Society for Enology and Viticulture.

Beginning with the School of Hotel Administration’s wine course as an undergraduate at Cornell, Prof. Bruce Reisch ’76, horticulture, has become an expert in wine variety development and plant breeding, having introduced 13 new grape varieties — both wine and table grapes — to the viticulture industry.

Two studies in the current issue of the International Journal of Wine Business Research point to service in winery tasting rooms being the most important factor in boosting wine sales at wineries.

Western New York grape growers who used mechanical crop thinning techniques saved millions of dollars of crop damage.

The décor and menu are the most useful predictors of whether restaurants across the state will offer New York wines, according to new Dyson School research.

Grape growers, food processors and even concrete makers all benefit from water sensors for accurate moisture readings. Cornell researchers have developed a fingertip-sized sensor that is a hundred times more sensitive than current devices, and they hope to produce it for as little as $5 each.