By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

WOOSTER, Ohio — Mention wines and most naturally think of Napa Valley in California. But Ohio will host this year’s National Grape and Wine Conference. The event will take place July 20-22 in Painesville.

“It’s an honor to host this meeting and a demonstration that Ohio is an important player in the grape and wine industry,” said Imed Dami, state viticulture specialist with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. “It is also a recognition that our program is relevant to the nation’s grape and wine industry in both research and outreach.”

This is the 34th annual conference of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture-Eastern Section (ASEV-ES). The meeting will take place at Quail Hollow Resort in Painesville, just east of Cleveland near Lake Erie.

The conference will bring together university specialists and professionals from vineyards, wineries and industry organizations east of the Rockies, where grape and wine production has substantially increased the past few years.

“We’re successfully competing with traditional West Coast wine regions at national quality shows,” Dami said.

On the first day attendees will start a tour of northeastern Ohio vineyards and wineries, visiting many of the vineyards along Lake Erie. The tour costs $85 and includes bus transportation and lunch at Debonne Vineyards and dinner at Ferrante Winery and Ristorante.

Day two includes a technical session. Activities include presentations by experts in the fields of viticulture and enology. A technical session will be followed by a wine reception and ASEV-ES awards banquet in the evening. Topics covered in the technical session include freezing tolerance of various grape varieties, issues affecting ice wine production, herbicide-treated mulch as an option to reduce soil erosion and pesticide runoff.

Day three will include a symposium entitled “Wines and Vines in a Changing Climate.” Addressed will be the challenges facing vineyards and wine making practices in the 21st century, including the high demand for increased quality, the effects of global warming and climate change, and a potential labor shortage.
“This symposium will include presentations by a panel of enology experts and wine makers from the East and the Midwest, and they’ll share their experiences on how to deal with unusual cool or warm vintages in the cellar,” Dami said.

Ohio has become one of the top wine producers in the nation, with 2,500 acres of grapes and an annual production of nearly one million gallons from 120 wineries. The Ohio grape and wine industry has an economic impact of more than $400 million each year.
For more information about this conference contact Nancy Long at 315-787-2288.