SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Frigid temperatures have reaped dramatic grape crops losses in northern and central Illinois during the past two years, so the Illinois Wine Conference has one of its focuses on dealing with the cold.

Grape-growing programs at the Springfield conference, Jan. 29-31 at the Crown Plaza Hotel, include how to select grape varieties best suited for extreme cold, recognizing freeze damage and applying for federal disaster assistance.

“We did certainly face, at a minimum, a reduced crop for this past year. Southern Illinois experienced some of the same cold but not to the extent that we had in northern Illinois,” explained Dick Faltz, viticulture chairman of the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Assoc. and owner of Fox Valley Winery in Oswego in northeastern Illinois. He said this translated into crop losses up to 40 percent.

As many as 500 grape growers, wine makers and others in the wine industry gather each January in Springfield to trade technical, marketing and other information. Illinois is host to 103 licensed wineries and more than 300 vineyards.

Friday evening from 6 to 10 p.m. brings the public a chance to learn more about Illinois Wine at the Winter Wine Festival, a ticketed event with wineries offering tastings, glasses or bottles of their wines along with culinary offerings staged throughout the ballroom to allow attendees to create their perfect food pairings.

Clark Smith, internationally acclaimed author, winemaker and inventor, will tackle the complex relationship of oxygenation and reduction management in wine. 

Saturday’s programming brings concurrent educational tracks: one for wine lovers and marketing professionals and one focusing on viticulture (grape growing) topics. 

The viticulture keynote will be given by Jim Law of Linden Vineyards exploring the impact of terroir (local geography and climate) on winegrowing and marketing. 

And Clark Smith continues sharing his expertise and will deliver the marketing highlight with an exploration into how to use music with wine pairing. Other marketing topics include using humor and mobile strategies for the winery.

New studies show that wine preferences can be strongly influenced by music. 

“The more we explore it, the more mysterious wine seems. It appears to provide a mirror to our feelings,” Smith said. “We associate different wine types with different moods, just as we do with music. When the wine and the music match, both improve. When they clash, it can be awful!” Smith will demonstrate his research by pairing wines and music and polling audience preferences. The workshop will also explore some lighting effects to show how our perception is colored by our surroundings.

The conference closes with the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association Annual Banquet and Auction, which features five courses of culinary delights, each paired with the Best of Show and Governor’s Cup winners from the 2014 Illinois State Fair Wine Competition.

Go to www.illinoiswine.org for conference information.