2022 Eastern Winery Exposition

Eric Aellen

Linganore Winecellars

Owner & Vineyard Manager

Eric is a second generation owner/vineyard manager at Linganore Winecellars. The Aellen family started growing grapes in 1972 after purchasing a dairy farm in the rolling hills of Mount Airy, MD. After finishing college, he came back to the farm to take over the vineyards. Over the last 28 years the vineyard has expanded to over 75 acres with a diverse mix of hybrids and viniferas. Eric is actively involved with the Maryland Wine Association and Maryland Farm Bureau. His grapes have been used to produce award winning wines in the state, including Alberino, Cab Franc, Chambourcin, Traminette and Saperavi to name a few.

Thomas Bachelder

Proprietor & Winemaker, Bachelder | Winemaker, Le Clos Jordanne

Although Thomas and his wife Mary make wine in Oregon and Niagara as well, Burgundy is Thomas’ spiritual home – the sacred ground where the Chardonnay and Pinot noir grapes first evolved, then happily grew and acclimatized. There Thomas works, where possible, with organic vignerons to ensure that the local sense of place is best expressed. The same is true for Niagara and Oregon. The Bachelder vineyards stretch from Nuits-Saint Georges in the north, through Beaune, heading south to Puligny-Montrachet. Bachelder has rented very modest cellars just outside of Beaune and leads a Garagiste-like existence. In Niagara, they work with growers all along the “Bench” from St. David’s through Vineland to Beamsville (where they rent cellars), and in Oregon, they work mostly with fruit from the Yamhill-Carlton Appellation, and can be found making their wine at the Carlton Winemaker’s Studio. Wherever he works, Thomas crafts wines that sing of their origins with as little “make-up” as possible – wines that are finely-perfumed and tightly-wound, offering the classic refined fruit and textured minerality of the best terroirs, whether grown in the Limestone-laced Burgundian earth, with the silty calcerous Espcarpment soils in Niagara, or the complex sedimentary and volcanic-derived soils of Oregon. The Three Terroirs series is now making nearly 15 different Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays made by Thomas in Burgundy, Niagara and Oregon!

E08 | Growing & Making Quality Pinot Noir

Ernest “Bubba” Beasley IV

HydroGeo Environmental, LLC

Geologist and Principal

Bubba helps winegrowers see the complete picture of what’s underground so they can avoid making bad decisions and maximize wine quality. An internationally recognized terroir scientist, he couples his training in classical geology with modern technology to help growers make informed decisions about everything from site selection to vineyard layout and design. His studies in soil mineralogy and potassium (K) with Lucie Morton and Clifford Ambers helped to revolutionize industry-wide soil K nutrition recommendations for the Mid-Atlantic. Bubba will be sharing case studies from real-world scenarios to help you avoid making big mistakes and maximize your site’s potential so you can establish a legacy of excellence for your vineyard.

V06 | Vineyard Establishment and Expansion

Peter Bell

Winery Consultant

Peter, a Canadian native, was the winemaker at Fox Run Vineyards from 1995-2022. He holds degrees in Enology from Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, Australia and in Anthropology from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. He worked as a winemaker in Australia and New Zealand before landing in the Finger Lakes region of New York in 1990 to be head winemaker at Dr. Frank’s. He was also an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University and lectured to wine industry professionals throughout the world.

Peter is also a member of the EWE Program Advisory Board. He retired from full-time winemaking in 2022 and is active as a consultant to wineries in the eastern U.S.

Tim Benedict

Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards, Hazlitt Red Cat Cellars, East Coast Crush & Co-Pack

Consultant Winemaker

Tim is a native of the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York who grew up around his grandfather’s vineyards. His early formal training was in the field of music but other than an inspired period as a traveling musician, he brought the creative sensibilities of a musician to the craft of winemaking. Tim has 30+ years experience in the grape and wine industry. Throughout his career, he has crafted many award-winning wines from vinifera, hybrid, and native varieties, specializing in dessert wines like port, sherry, late harvest and ice wines. In recent years he has expanded his portfolio to include formula wines, hard cider, and wine spritzers. Tim is an experienced project and production manager and has judged wines in several international competitions.

Mike Beneduce

Beneduce Vineyards

Owner and Winemaker

Mike graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University with a degree in Viticulture and Enology. He gained experience working at Sawmill Creek Vineyards in the Finger Lakes region of NY, where he was trained in the arts of pruning and canopy management by a 4th generation grower. He is a Certified Sommelier under the Court of Master Sommeliers, and remains an active professional member of the international gastronomic society the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs. Mike volunteers on the Board of Trustees for America’s Grow-A-Row, a nonprofit farm dedicated to sustainably growing and donating fresh produce to people in need. He has served as Chairman of the Garden State Winegrowers Association and continues to push for an increase in the quality of wine made in New Jersey. Mike was named New Jersey’s Outstanding Young Farmer of the Year in 2022.

V07 | Five Crop Load Treatments for Pinot Noir

Anthony “Jay” Borzillo III, CPA

HBK CPAs & Consultants

Principal

Jay is a Principal in the Blue Bell, PA office of HBK. He has provided consulting services to vineyard and winery owners for many years and has a deep understanding of how the varying businesses comprising a vineyard/winery interrelate. Among his many projects, he has developed a cost accounting model for determining per bottle costs by varietal, helping design and implement vineyard and winery operations entity structures, developed an industry specific chart of accounts, and advised on the utilization of a branding entity to leverage intangible assets.

J. Stephen Casscles, Esq

Winemaker, Dear Native Grapes Winery; Owner, Cedar Cliff Vineyards

Stephen comes from an old Hudson River Valley fruit growing family and worked at Benmarl Vineyards in Marlboro, NY from 1973 to 1986 where he worked with French-American grape varieties. Stephen has had a long career as an attorney for the NY State Senate and the NY State Department of Health. Stephen wrote 27 laws related to the production, distribution, and sale of wine, spirits, beer, and cider, in addition to laws related to his legal specialty of insurance, health care financing, municipal finance, and racing law.
In 1990, Stephen established Cedar Cliff Vineyards and Nursery in Athens NY where he evaluates 19th century Hudson Valley and Boston’s North Shore heritage grape varieties and other cool climate grapes. Stephen was a winemaker at Hudson-Chatham Winery in Ghent, New York, from 2007 to 2020, where he made wines from French-American & heritage hybrid grape varieties. From 2021 to 2023, he was appointed director/winemaker of Milea Estate Vineyard’s Hudson Valley Heritage Grape Project. He now works at Dear Native Grapes Winery, in Walton, NY.
In 2015, Casscles wrote Grapes of the Hudson Valley and Other Cool Climate Regions of the US and Canada, which is now in its 2nd Edition (2023) with 2 new chapters on grapes bred in New England. He is associated with 3 small nurseries that propagate rare nineteenth-century heritage and other cool climate grape varieties. He is an award-winning winemaker who has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Post, Wine Enthusiast, Forbes Magazine, Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book (2021), the Albany Times-Union, and the Hartford Courant.
Stephen lecturers on wine, grape cultivation, and nineteenth-century American horticulture throughout the East Coast. In addition to his full-length works on grape varieties, grape cultivation, and 19th-century horticulture, he is a contributor to academic and trade journals for UMass Amherst, the New Jersey Horticultural Society, and Arnold Arboretum (Harvard). He also advises and lectures at the Fermentation Sciences Program at SUNY at Cobleskill and has a working relationship with many in the Korean wine industry. His new book, The Grapes of Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea, should be in print by early 2024.

Katie Cook

Scott Labs

Northeast Sales Representative

Katie fell in love with the wine industry in 2004 while taking a course in the south of France which led to harvest internships in California, Argentina, and Australia. She completed a master’s in Enology (Diplôme National d’Œnologue) at the University of Burgundy in 2009 and worked three harvests in France while getting her degree. In 2010 she accepted a position as the Enology Project Leader for the University of Minnesota, which gave her some good experience working with cold-hardy hybrids. In 2014 she moved to the Finger Lakes, NY with her husband where she spent several years working in production again before accepting a position with Scott Labs as their sales rep for the Northeast.

Corry Craighill

Septenary Vineyards

Winemaker & Vineyard Manager

Corry Craighill began her winemaking career in 2011 as an intern at Blenheim Vineyards. This internship led her to travel and work in other wine regions around the globe including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France, California, and Oregon. Back in her home state of Virginia, she spent two years as assistant winemaker for both Blenheim and King Family. She was the head winemaker for four vintages at Sunset Hills Vineyard in Loudoun County. In 2020 she returned to the Monticello AVA as the winemaker and vineyard manager for Septenary Winery located in Greenwood, VA.

E06 | Cap Management Options & Alternatives

Robert Crandell

TTF Group, Inc.

Program Director

With 21 international cooperages under its umbrella, Tonnellerie Francois Freres (TTF) is the largest barrel cooperage company in the world. As a TTF program director Rob travels the U.S. and the Caribbean consulting with wine makers and craft distillers, guiding them through the nuances of oak maturation to match varietals, terroir and flavor profiles. He trains regularly with the Research & Development teams in France, Spain and California. Rob also oversees Speyside Specialty Casks – his pet project – where he imports specialty casks from France, Spain, Portugal, Madeira and Italy for cask finishing wine and spirits.

Carlo DeVito

Hudson-Chatham Winery

Wine and Spirits Author

Carlo is the former owner of the Hudson-Chatham Winery and the author of more than 20 books. He has edited and written on wines, beers, and spirits. His authors include Kevin Zraly, Oz Clarke, Matt Kramer, Tom Stevenson, the New York Times, and Wine Spectator among others. He has been profiled in Beverage Media, the Wall Street Journal, Edible Hudson Valley, Hudson Valley magazine, and many other journals and magazines. He is a member of the New York Wine Media Guild, a contributor to The Cork Report and edits the blog East Coast Wineries. His winery’s Paperbirch line of sherries are made using a 20 barrel solera and have won numerous awards.

W02b | Panel Tasting: Sherry Wine

Steve DiFrancesco

Winemaking Consultant

Steve became fascinated with wine while working in a restaurant during college and became the wine specialist there. He graduated with a BS in Plant Science from Stetson University, entered the wine business in the Finger Lakes of New York, and has since enjoyed 42 harvests there (plus one in Chile).

Steve worked with Guy DeVaux and Charles Fournier at Gold Seal Vineyards (owned by Seagram’s), with their excellent sparkling wines, from the late ‘70’s to the mid ‘80’s. He then worked with high quality red hybrids at Bully Hill Vineyards, and became an assistant winemaker at Glenora Wine Cellars in the late ‘80’s. He became winemaker at Lucas Vineyards in the early ‘90’s and helped expand production in high quality sparkling and still wines.

Steve returned to Glenora in 1995 and has helped expand its reputation and production. In 2000, the owners of Glenora purchased Knapp Winery, and Steve was responsible for production at both wineries. Riesling is at the forefront of a broad production line, including sparkling wines, red and white viniferas, as well as hybrids and natives.

During Steve’s career he has been involved in scale-ups, scale-backs, acquisitions, start-ups, and shutdowns. His wines have won over 450 gold medals in regional, national, and international competitions. He has made over 40 professional presentations in the Northeast and Midwest.

He has judged in wine competitions from California to New York to Virginia. In 2022, Steve was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Eastern Winery Exposition. He is also a board member for the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association. Steve retired during the summer of 2021, and is now available as a winemaking consultant.

Contact: steve.difrancesco@gmail.com | P: 315-719-2113

David Falchek, Moderator

EWE Moderator

David is executive director of the American Wine Society, the oldest and largest organization of wine consumers in the U.S. He serves as publisher of the AWS’s two publications, the AWS Wine Journal and AWS News. A longtime wine writer, he continues to write a weekly wine column for several publications in Pennsylvania and New York that are part of Times-Shamrock Communication. David has a Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from the Kania School of Management at the University of Scranton and he teaches bartending and bar management at Luzerne County Community College. He is a member of the Order des Compagnons du Beaujolais. For several years he was an elector in the Vintners Hall of Fame in Napa Valley.

Matt Falenski

Laurel Highlands Meadery

Meadmaker and Co-owner

Matt has been involved with fermentation and alcohol production for twenty years and has been making mead for fifteen years. In 2010 he and his wife began Laurel Highlands Meadery in Greensburg, PA. While building their business, Matt earned a degree in Viticulture and Enology and has dedicated himself to educating people about the world’s oldest fermented beverage.

W01e | Melomels & Pyments

Dr. Joseph A. Fiola

University of Maryland

Professor and Specialist in Viticulture & Small Fruit

Joseph has over 30 years of academic and industry experience in research and extension in viticulture, small fruit culture, and enology. He is currently a professor and specialist in Viticulture and Small Fruit for the University of Maryland. He coordinates a statewide R&E program, concentrating on grape variety testing, as well as conducting small batch winemaking studies of the experiments. He also has been awarded 12 patents for small fruit variety development and has extensive experience fermenting berry and fruit wines.

Marc Fuchs, PhD

Cornell University

Professor, Plant Pathology

Marc was born and raised in the grape growing region of Alsace in France. His research and extension program at Cornell University focuses on virus diseases of fruit and vegetable crops. Marc has worked on grapevine viruses over the past 35 years, developing rapid detection techniques, understanding their dissemination, and investigating effective management strategies.

V01 | Elimination of the Crown Gall Pathogen

David Gadoury

Cornell University

Sr. Research Associate, Department of Plant Pathology

David is a plant pathologist at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, NY. His research has focused on pathogen ecology and epidemiology over the last 35 years in a variety of fruit crops, including apples, strawberries, and grapes. His most current research area deals with how light, both visible and UV, can be used to suppress plant diseases. He has successfully used shortwave UV to control powdery mildews and certain arthropod pests on a number of specialty crops, and is now collaborating with researchers in North America, Europe, and New Zealand to make the technology more accessible by designing practical devices for field applications, and through pairing the application technology with autonomous agricultural robots.

Miguel I. Gómez, PhD

Cornell University

Associate Professor, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

Miguel is an economist who specializes in marketing and food distribution, pricing and price analysis, and quantitative methods. His work on the wine value chain has covered a variety of topics including cost of establishment and operations of vineyards and wineries, effective wine tasting room marketing strategies, study of wine consumer preferences, assessment of wine distribution channels, and optimal disease control strategies in vineyards.

V05 | Cost of Establishment & Production of Vinifera Grapes in the Finger Lakes: 2019

Barry H. Gump, PhD

School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, Florida International University

Harvey R. Chaplin Eminent Scholar in Beverage Management

Barry is the first holder of the Harvey R. Chaplin Eminent Scholar’s Chair in Beverage Management at Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. In this position he has developed new graduate and undergraduate beverage classes to expand the offerings of the Beverage Management curriculum. Barry is Emeritus Professor of Chemistry and Emeritus Adjunct Professor of Enology at California State University, Fresno. He has had a long association –over forty years– with the wine industry, conducting research in analytical methodology applied to grapes, juices, and wines.

E09 | Advanced Lab Analysis

Morten Hallgren

Ravines Cellars

Owner & Winemaker

Morten is a native of Copenhagen, Denmark. He grew up on Domaine de Castel Roubine, a 250 acre estate in Cotes de Provence producing about 40,000 cases annually. After working on a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics in the U.S., he returned to France in 1993. He completed his Diplome Nationale d’Oenologue at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Agronomie in Montpellier. After an internship at Chateau Cos d’Estournel in St. Estephe and winemaking positions for Cordier Estates in Ft. Stockton, TX and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, he held the position of chief winemaker at Dr. Frank’s for six years before concentrating on Ravines Wine Cellars. Together with his wife Lisa, Morten founded Ravines in 2002 as perhaps the first winery in the Finger Lakes to focus on traditional dry wines. Currently, Ravines farms about 125 acres of vineyards and produces about 25,000 cases annually. His wines have consistently gained accolades and have contributed to bringing more recognition to the wines of the Finger Lakes.

Ken Hardcastle

Hermit Woods Winery

Partner/Winemaker

Ken was born in Stoneham, MA and grew up in Southern California. He received his undergraduate degree at Occidental College, CA, Master’s degree from Queens College, NY, and PhD in structural geology from UMass Amherst. He is an independent exploration geologist scientist and for the past 30 years, when he has not been looking at rocks or seeking out groundwater deposits, he has been making beer, wine, cider and mead. In 2010, Ken made it official when he became partner and vintner at Hermit Woods Winery. He can still be found looking at rocks, but this passion is now shared with his passion for the art and science of making wine, cider and mead.

W01b | Panel & Tasting: Berry Fruit Wines

W01d | Panel & Tasting: Mead Fermentation Issues

W01e | Melomels & Pyments

Molly Kelly

Penn State University

Extension Enologist

Molly joined Penn State University as the enology extension educator in the Department of Food Science in February 2018. She has led workshops including winery sanitation, filtration, microscopy, wine analysis and berry sensory analysis. Her research has focused on the effect of nitrogen and sulfur applications on Petit Manseng wine aroma and flavor. Current research includes the impact of the spotted lanternfly on wine quality.

Prior to this, Molly was the enology extension specialist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg VA. She also held the position of enology instructor at Surry Community College in Dobson NC, where she developed the enology curriculum and managed all aspects of the college’s 1,000-case bonded winery. Under her direction, Surry produced numerous international award-winning wines. Prior to her position at Surry, she was a biodefense team microbiologist with the New York State Department of Health.

Scott Kuyon

Deer Run Winery

General Manager/Vineyard Manager/Assistant Winemaker

Originally, Scott had decided to assist his family in opening Deer Run Winery while taking a break from his career in the marine industry. After a few seasons under his belt and a new appreciation and enthusiasm for wine, he decided to stay on and make winemaking his new career. Scott has now been making wine in the Finger Lakes region for over 16 years and has earned over a dozen gold and double gold medals, as well as three Best in Category awards, as Deer Run Winery’s winemaker.

W02e | Reserve/Multi-Vintage Port Style

Ed Lutjens

Bluet

Cellarmaster

After managing a small cooperage, Ed meandered into winemaking through Bluet’s Maine wild blueberry sparkling wines. Under the guidance of founders Michael Terrien and Eric Martin, Ed has managed growth from 250 cases in 2017 to 4,000 in 2021. While Bluet is one of Maine’s biggest wine producers, exploring wine from wild blueberries is still in its infancy. With over 6,000 identified varieties, from field to field and farm to farm, the varietal character is amazing! With a 100-ton harvest in 2020, Ed and Bluet are striving to positively affect the Maine blueberry industry and to influence further appreciation of this 10,000 year old native fruit. Bluet is releasing its first appellations in 2022.

W01b | Panel & Tasting: Berry Fruit Wines

Frederick T. Merwarth

Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard

Winemaker

Frederick is the winemaker, vineyard manager, and grafting manager of the Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard in New York. He comes from a strong agricultural background and attended Cornell University to pursue his deep rooted interests in agriculture and German studies. Since starting as an intern in 2001 under the watchful eye of Hermann J. Wiemer, he quickly became the key decision maker in every aspect of the winery, vineyard, and nursery operations. In 2007, Frederick assumed management of Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard, which continues to produce the top rieslings in the country.

E04 | Achieving Optimal Balance with Riesling

E05 | Using Large Format Oak Containers

Tom Payette

Winemaker & Winemaking Consultant

Tom is a hands-on, analytical, East Coast pioneering, winemaking professional with a Food Science Degree. His extended expertise focuses on winemaking, winery and vineyard start-ups and expansions, still and sparkling wine and general winery issues. Tom has over three decades of well-rounded experience in still and sparkling wine production in Virginia along with nine years in ultra-premium Bordeaux varietal wine production in Napa, CA. Tom studied under famed Bordeaux enologist Jacques Boissenot. He was awarded Winemaker of the Year in 1999 by Vineyard & Winery Management and most recently named a “Wine Industry Leader of the Year” by Wine Business Monthly. Visit winemakingconsultant.com to learn more about Tom.

Maria Peterson

Scott Laboratories

Filtration Specialist

Maria grew up in South Africa on the family wine farm where filtration of wine with a pressure leaf filter was one of many chores as a teenager. She graduated with a BSc. Agric. degree specializing in Enology and Viticulture from University of Stellenbosch, South Africa in 2000. Maria made wine and managed vineyards all over the globe–South Africa, Australia, France, USA–for 13 years.

She has been working for Scott Laboratories of California for the last eight years and is currently part of the newly minted Beverage Integrity and Filtration department within Scott Labs where the focus is on sustainable filtration and stabilization technologies with applications such as wine, cider, beer (including seltzer), distilled spirits, RTD cocktails and others.

Phil Plummer

Montezuma Winery

Winemaker

Phil has been making wine in New York’s Finger Lakes region for over a decade, spending the bulk of those years at Montezuma Winery, where he has served as head winemaker since 2013. In his time at Montezuma, Phil has led the development and production of a wide array of innovative wines made from grapes, fruit, and honey. Working on such a diverse portfolio of wines has given Phil a wide understanding of what wine can be, and he’s always hungry to learn new winemaking techniques and approaches.

Andrew Reynolds, PhD

Consultant

Andy is a viticulture consultant in the Niagara Region of Ontario. His activities include writing, editing, reviewing manuscripts, grant writing for businesses, and vineyard consulting. Prior to this he was: Professor of Viticulture, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, 1997-2020, and Research Scientist, viticulture & enology, Agriculture Canada Research Station, Summerland, BC (1983-1997). Andy’s education includes: BSc (Agr.), horticulture (1978), Univ. of Guelph; MSc, plant breeding & genetics (1980), Univ. of Guelph; PhD (1983), Cornell Univ., horticulture and plant physiology; thesis: grapevine canopy microclimate in relation to wine quality.

Andy has been conducting research in grapes and wines since his MSc studies in 1978. Major research interests include precision viticulture and use of geomatic technologies and remote sensing for studying the terroir effect; wine aroma chemistry; irrigation and water relations; cultural practices, site, and soil and their impact upon wine flavor; canopy management. His publications: more than 150 in refereed journals and symposium proceedings, as well as two books, and several articles and one book still in progress. Awards: OIV Award for Best Book in Oenology (Managing Wine Quality; 2011); Decanter Award (Grapevine Breeding Programs for the Wine Industry; 2015); ASEV/ES Outstanding Achievement Award (2010); Brock University Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching (2009). Andy has been very active in the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) including Associate Editor since 1995. ASEV/ES activities include: Director 1997-99, 2002-06; Chair 2000-02; Section Rep. 2006-2020. Andy is a frequent speaker at conferences internationally, or at least was, prior to COVID.

V03 | Precision Viticulture II

Joyce Rigby

Winery Business Consultant, Rigby Viniculture & Vineyard Manager, Boxwood Estate Winery

Joyce has been involved with Eastern viticulture since the early 1980s. Her degree in Industrial Engineering has been advantageous, as she now applies those concepts and experience to business planning and winery design. In 2000 she began a vineyard management and winery design consulting firm and has consulted for vineyards and wineries in MD, NC, PA, RI, TN and VA. For seven years she taught viticulture and winery design in the Enology and Viticulture associate degree program at Harrisburg Area Community College in PA. Since 2019 she has been the Vineyard Manager for Boxwood Estate Winery in Middleburg, VA.

Dominic Rivard

The Ultimate Fruit Winemaker's Guide

Consultant, EWE Moderator

For the past 25 years Dominic has pioneered the development of fruit wines and ciders across the world. He has been running wine production and exportation projects with producers across North America, Europe and the Far East. He is a recognized authority on fruit wine production and marketing, a qualified sommelier, award-winning commercial winemaker, distributor, exporter and author. Passionate about wine and wine innovation, he provides consulting services to producers to drive innovation and change.

W01a | Fruit Wine Fermentation Issues

W01c | Panel & Tasting: Stone Fruit Wines

W01d | Panel & Tasting: Mead Fermentation Issues

Jennifer Phillips Russo

Lake Erie Regional Grape Program

Cornell Viticulture Specialist

Jennifer’s work at the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program brings local experience and research-based solutions together to provide projects aimed at increasing yields, product quality, diversity and improvement of cultivars, efficiency of production, profitability and adoption of environmentally sound cultural management strategies. Emphasis is on soil and grapevine health, site selection, growth control, nutrition and water management, and harvest management. As part of the Efficient Vineyard Project, Jennifer has worked to help growers and industry to better evaluate the amount of crop in their vineyards and in the industry belt-wide, respectively. Understanding this is an important starting point as we progress through the growing season and are able to implement variable rate vineyard management. She has been instrumental in developing new technology to assist with the process.

V03 | Precision Viticulture II

Georg Schweitzer

Wine Burgenland

Managing Director

Georg is a WSET level 4 graduate and passed the theory part of the MW examination in 2018. He was born and lives in Austria in the region of Burgenland, especially known for the Blaufränkisch grape (aka Lemberger). He fell in love with wine in the mid-1990s and has been teaching about wine since 2001. As managing director of Wine Burgenland, he takes care of supporting marketing activities for the wines of Burgenland within Austria and in the export markets. Part of these activities are educational master classes and in-depth tastings of wines focusing on the specifics of origins and varieties.

E02 | Austrian Quality Parameters for Gruener Veltliner & Blaufrankisch

Vijay Singh, PhD

Sky Acres Winery

Biotech Scientist & Owner

With a PhD in Biochemical Engineering, Vijay spent most of his career developing processes to manufacture pharmaceuticals using fermentation. In 1996 he developed a novel way of culturing cells in disposable bags and founded the company Wave Biotech to manufacture and market this device known as the Wave Bioreactor. In 2013 he discovered winemaking, and took the UC Davis courses, but wanted to apply his chemical engineering and disposable technology background to winemaking. This resulted in a novel device that makes winemaking easy, requires almost no water, minimal labor and little investment. In 2014 he set up a commercial winery, Sky Acres Winery, to test and develop the winemaking machine now named the GOfermentor. The winery has won numerous awards over the last three years. In 2017 the commercial manufacture and sale of the GOfermentor began and in 2019 a home/microvinification version was introduced. Vijay has over 20 patents in diverse fields ranging from winemaking, biotechnology, gunsights, hydroponics and mixing.

E06 | Cap Management Options & Alternatives

Chris Stamp

Lakewood Vineyards

Winemaker

Chris has spent much of his life in the grape and wine business. He grew up on his family’s grape farm in Watkins Glen, NY. His interest in winemaking was piqued by the newly burgeoning small wineries in the area. Summer jobs at Glenora and Taylor Wine Company augmented his education while he attained a BS in Food Science from Cornell University. He began his winemaking career as winemaker at a small winery in the Finger Lakes. This was followed by a four year stint as extension and research associate at Ohio State University (OARDC, Wooster, Ohio).

In 1989, Chris moved back to the Finger Lakes to help his family start Lakewood Vineyards. Over the years Lakewood has grown to an annual production of over 100,000 gallons, producing a wide range of wines from vinifera to mead. He is an occasional contributor to Wines & Vines magazine and has given dozens of winemaking presentations. Chris and his wife Elizabeth are also sole proprietors of Lakewood Cork, importing and selling high quality wine corks in the Eastern U.S. They have three children (Ben, Abby and Amelia), 1 dog (Piper) and three horses (Buddy, George and Remi). Interests include flying and enjoying wine with friends, but not at the same time.

W02d | Ruby Port Styles

Joy Ting

Virginia Winemakers Research Exchange

Research Enologist

Joy is the Research Enologist for the Virginia Winemakers Research Exchange, a non-profit organization founded in 2014 to promote innovation through experimentation and education in the wine industry. Each year, the WRE supports 30-40 production scale experiments around practical questions focused on improving wine quality in VA. Prior to joining the WRE, Joy was the winemaker and enologist at Michael Shaps Wineworks, and she continues to produce small batch wines under her own label.

Samuel Weiner

WineryConnect

Founder and CTO

Sam has over 25 years of experience in software, with a particular focus on Enterprise Architecture and Enterprise Application Integration. He helps businesses use technology to address immediate business challenges, positions them to drive towards their long-term business objectives, and works to minimize both up-front costs and total cost of ownership by selecting and integrating best-of-breed technology partners. Since 2013, Sam and WineryConnect have worked with wineries, breweries, cideries, and distilleries to develop broad “virtual IT department” solutions for beverage producers.

M01 | Master Data Management

Christine Vrooman

Ankida Ridge Vineyards

Owner & Vineyard Manager

As co-owner and vineyard manager of Virginia’s Ankida Ridge Vineyards, one of the East Coast’s premier Pinot Noir producers, Christine is passionate about implementing environmentally sensitive practices in the vineyard and balancing the considerations of nature with the pragmatism of producing a crop in the humid Mid-Atlantic regions. She embraces the French philosophy of “la lutte raisonnée,” the reasoned struggle.

Ankida added a planting of Gamay in 2017, with the first commercial crop in 2023. The role of serendipity was prominent in the family’s decision to plant a Pinot Noir vineyard in 2008. This journey is being documented in Christine’s forthcoming memoir, Terroir of a Dream, that tells the story of her journey of creating this family business where her son Nathan became the winemaker.

Christine has been active in the Virginia wine industry and is currently working on a new AVA petition for High Elevation Vineyards in Virginia. She has served on the Virginia Wine Marketing Grant Committee and is enthusiastic about the future of the Virginia wine industry.

Dr. Yuri Zambon

Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo, VCR

Technical and Sales Manager

Yuri received his PhD in Plant Pathology / Biotechnology with a focus on Viticulture at Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna (Italy) where he participated in many national and international projects and publications. After several years in private and public technical consulting service in both the agronomic and technical fields, he is currently employed at Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo where he focuses on sales and technical business in the vine nursery sector.

V02 | New Cold-Hardy, Mildew-Resistant Hybrids

John Cifelli

Unionville Vineyards

General Manager

For nearly a decade, John Cifelli has been at the forefront of the fine wine movement in New Jersey. As General Manager of Unionville Vineyards, John has driven several key initiatives to improve quality, authenticity, recognition, and sustainability of this 6,000 case winery with four unique vineyard sites planted from East Amwell to Princeton. He is a past executive director of the Garden State Wine Growers Association and current executive director of The Winemakers Co-Op, a coalition of New Jersey wineries promoting and encouraging fine wines from New Jersey grown grapes. He is also a certified sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers.

W02e | Reserve/Multi-Vintage Port Style

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John Cifelli

Unionville Vineyards