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GRAPEGROWING ASEV to Honor Jim Wolpert Well-liked UC Davis viticulturist to receive Merit Award By Andrew Adams I n a remote corner of Mendocino County, Calif., Glenn McGourty and Jim Wolpert found themselves sitting at a picnic table outside an old farmhouse. The two University of California viticulturists were scouting historic vineyards and looking for clean vine cuttings for a "heritage vineyard" that Wolpert wanted to plant. McGourty recalls the two were lunch guests of the property owner, an old Italian-American farmer whose family had planted the vines a generation ago. On a search to discover cuttings to preserve California's most unique wine grape selections, the two were not served a rare vintage from the farmer's property, but instead glasses of the farmer's favorite wine, an inexpensive industrial plonk, over ice. "We were sitting around this table with this wine and Jim says to the farmer, 'Oh this is really, really quite refreshing on a day like today,'" McGourty recalls with a laugh. "It was more a vacation sometimes when we were out there in the field, rather than work." Friends and colleagues say that Wolpert, 63, who recently retired from the University of California, Davis, has a unique skill for connecting and communicating with nearly anyone. This trait served him well both as a researcher and while he was chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology facilitating multimillion-dollar donations from the likes of Robert Mondavi. Jim Wolpert jumpstarted the fundraising campaign for the new Robert Mondavi Institute at the University of California, Davis. skill in communication with the growers and the people we came into contact with," said Mike Anderson, who managed Wolpert's research lab for 15 years. Anderson and Wolpert drove to nearly every corner of California's wine grape growing regions to conduct rootstock trials. While traveling with Wolpert, Anderson said he gained more respect for him as an academic and, "Spending so many hours and days driving with him was a treasure. He's a really good friend." Wolpert grew up in Indiana and received a bachelor's degree from Purdue University in 1973. He earned his master's and doctorate degrees from Michigan State University. He came to UC Davis in 1983 to do research on pistachio trees as a postdoctoral scholar in the Pomology Department. Two years later, he joined the Department of Viticulture and Enology as a viticulture extension specialist focused on evaluating rootstocks and clones. Wolpert also had to call on his communication skills when he led the task force to study the phylloxera outbreaks in California's North Coast during the 1980s that ultimately led to UC Davis rescinding ASEV Merit Award its recommendation of AxR1 rootstock Rootstock research was a cornerstone of because of a new phylloxera biotype. Wolpert's career. He helped organize the Wolpert connected well with growers at Rootstock Symposium that will kick off a personal level, as McGourty observed in this year's annual meeting of the AmeriMendocino County, traveling across the can Society for Enology and Viticulture. state of California checking on rootstock Wolpert, fellow UC Davis researcher trials and seeking out vines for the ZinAndrew Walker and Nick Dokoozlian, fandel Heritage Vineyard at the Oakville a research viticulturist with E. & J. research center in Napa Valley. "One of Gallo Winery in Modesto, Calif., brought the things that really struckMichaelDusiWarehouse_Dir07 10/25/06 11:49 Italy, Page 1 me was his together experts from Australia, AM FOOD DIAGNOSTICS 'Ensuring quality from vine to wine' RX monaco Wine & beverage testing kits available: Acetic Acid Ammonia Copper Ethanol Glucose/Fructose Iron RX monza Lactic Acid Malic Acid Potassium Total Antioxidant Status Total Sulphite (TS02) Trucking, Harvesting and Warehousing Available! Randox Food Diagnostics, 515 Industrial Boulevard, Kearneysville, West Virginia, 25430 T +1 304 728 2890 F +1 304 728 1890 E enquiries@randoxfooddiagnostics.com I www.randoxfooddiagnostics.com 46 W in es & V i ne s J U NE 2 013 AV1237 Food Diagnostics - Wines and Vines - Wine APR13.indd 1 • Climate Controlled Bonded Wine Storage Facility • Cased Goods, Full Barrels, and Dry Goods • Centrally located in Paso Robles • Unix Inventory System 22/04/2013 12:27 3230 Riverside Ave, Ste # 150 Paso Robles, CA 93446 Phone (805) 237-9499 Fax (805) 237-9599