Editor: Imed Dami, PhD
Assistant Professor and Extension Viticulture Specialist
Department of Horticulture and Crop Science
Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center
1680 Madison Avenue
Wooster, OH 44691-4096
Phone: (330)-263-3882
Fax: (330)-263-3887
E-mail: dami.1@osu.edu
www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/grapeweb/
6 July 2007
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Content:
Cluster thinning and Leaf pulling
2007 Ohio Wine Competition Summary
2007 Ohio Quality Wine
Assurance Summary(attached)
2007 ASEV-E Meeting in PA
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Cluster thinning and Leaf pulling
By David Scurlock
Summer is in full swing and now is the time for the people in northern Ohio to
begin cluster thinning and leaf pulling to promote good cluster development and
to increase the color potential of our red varieties. Southern Ohio is ahead of
northern Ohio in development of the vines as normal by about 2-3 weeks. It was
stated in a recent trip on June 21, to southern Ohio that the drought conditions
are reminiscent of 1930. The last measurable rainfall of 0.8 inches occurred on
April 26. There are areas in the fields that you can literally see 18 inches
down into the ground where the earth has cracked due to lack of rainfall. In
observing these conditions there are probably several scenarios that you could
try to lessen the effects of stress on the vines. Irrigation is not part of the
usual set up in most of our vineyards is the most obvious one. !988 and 1991
were 2 of the driest years that come to memory. Cluster thinning is a
recommended practice for our growers of French hybrids to promote fruit
quality. A vine that is overloaded will be more stressed and require more water
to grow the fruit. A vine will die trying to ripen the crop on an overloaded
vine. We recommend that you try to have 5 shoots per foot of canopy and that
you thin to 1 cluster per shoot. An exception to this rule would be Vignoles.
Vignoles, when balanced pruned, will not need any further reduction in fruit
through cluster thinning but, it has been shown through research that leaf
pulling after fruit set will help reduce fruit rots and increase sugar content.
Vinifera and American varieties are usually controlled through pruning.
Vinifera will have to be observed in the field to see if they are maintaining a
good rate of growth to tell whether any cluster adjustment may be necessary.
Any shoots that are not longer than a foot with clusters at this stage of the
game need to be removed. This will open the canopy up for light penetration and
get rid of fruit sinks that will not ripen properly if left on the vine. Again
at the time of veraision you will want to walk through your viniferas and remove
clusters that are not exhibiting any color change. The American varieties are
never cluster thinned but, they should be shoot positioned at this time to allow
for better light penetration to ripen both the wood for next seasons crop and
the fruit for this years crop. Tablegrapes will need to be cluster thinned to
one cluster per shoot. Leaf pulling and shoot positioning should also be a
practice used to increase color and sugars. Reliance will not get a nice
uniform red color if too many clusters are left on the vine. If you have 30 to
40 clusters per vine in an 8 foot by 10 foot spacing at an average weight of 0.5
pounds to 0.75 pounds per cluster you will obtain a 4 to 6 ton/acre yield.
See attached files. 1.Official Results
and 2.OWC Summary
The 2007 Ohio Wine Competition ran smoothly with the complete satisfaction of
The Ohio State University/OARDC wine competition staff as well as the panel of
seven experienced judges. We have chosen once again to analyze all of the wines
that are entered into the 2007 Ohio Wine Competition and Ohio Quality Wine
Assurance Program. It is our goal to provide an educational tool with the
chemical analysis and judges comments provided in addition to marketing benefits
from any awards that were given.
The 2007 Ohio Wine Competition marked several significant achievements in
competition history. We received the second highest amount of total entries in
the Ohio Wine Competition at 265 wines entered. In addition, the judges awarded
173 total medals, ranking second in the total amount of medals ever awarded. The
2007 competition awarded 25 Gold medals also placing it as the second highest
number of gold medals ever awarded. In comparison to the 2006 Ohio Wine
Competition, with the exception of hybrid category entries, all other categories
showed the same or an increase in the percent of medals awarded within each
category. This represents a good indicator that quality is continuing to get
better and more importantly suggests that we are consistently making quality
wines in Ohio. As represented in the past several competitions, the 2007 Ohio
Wine Competition once again received the highest amount of entries across
Vinifera categories in comparison to Hybrid or American category entries. The
number of fruit wine entries set a competition record with 24 wines entered into
the 2007 competition.
In summary, the information presented above reflects that we are in an exciting
era of grape growing and winemaking in Ohio by producing consistent high quality
wines across the board that are gaining due respect throughout the United States
for us as a great winemaking state and region.
We would like to thank all the participating wineries of the 2007 Ohio Wine
Competition in addition to the excellent panel of judges that dedicated their
time and experience in making this a successful competition. The Ohio State
University/OARDC along with the Ohio Grape Industries Program is committed to
further enhancing wine quality through research and extension in addition to
continued evaluation and improvements of the Ohio Wine Competition and Ohio
Quality Wine Assurance Program. Included in this newsletter are the complete
results of the 2007 Ohio Wine Competition
American Society for Enology and
Viticulture Eastern Section Annual Conference and Symposium
(
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/asev/) Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania July
15-17, 2007
The American Society for Enology and Viticulture Eastern Section’s annual
technical conference and symposium will be held near Allentown, Pennsylvania on
July 15-17. The site for the meeting is the Holiday Inn Conference Center in
the heart of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail (
http://www.lehighvalleywinetrail.com/). This is the best opportunity of the
year for growers and researchers to interact and learn what the other is doing
in the lab and in the field!
The conference begins with a bus tour of four wineries in the Lehigh Valley on
Sunday, July 15. At each site the proprietor will lead a tour of the vineyard
and winery and offer a tasting. A special lunch and dinner with local wines are
part of the program.
July 16 and 17 are devoted to the business of ASEV-ES, that is, presenting the
latest in homegrown viticulture and enology research that will have a direct
benefit to the wine industry in the Eastern Section region. The theme for this
year’s symposium is “Soil Moisture and Vine Vigor.” Grape growers in the
Midwest and East know that vine vigor, usually too much of it, is a constant
challenge to achieving a balanced vine and high wine quality. A distinguished
group of researchers will address this issue. Graduate student and invited
papers will fill out the program. A full program and registration will be mailed
and on the ASEV-ES web site soon. One of the society’s key functions is to
award graduate scholarships. Thanks to a successful benefit auction at Wineries
Unlimited there are funds to distribute to successful scholarship candidates
this year.
ASEV-ES is all about good food and wine and celebrating our industry. The
awards banquet will be held on Monday and a Pennsylvania wine lunch on Tuesday.
There will be plenty of wines from around the Eastern Section region to be
tasted.
While grapes and wines will be the focus for three days there are plenty of
activities for those who want something else to do. Nearby attractions include
Dorney Amusement Park and the Crayola Crayon Factory in Easton and Pennsylvania
Dutch country.
The Holiday Inn Lehigh Valley Conference Center (
http://www.hilehighvalley.com/) will be the location for our meeting. It is
very conveniently located near the junctions of I-78, Rt 100, the PA Turnpike
(I-476). A special ASEV-ES conference room rate is being offered (mention this
when making your reservation). Please reserve now as summer rooms will fill
quickly.
Find registration forms and more information at
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/asev/
Dr. Murli Dharmadhikari, ASEV-ES President, Iowa State University