Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/619725
10 WINES&VINES January 2016 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. President & Publisher Chet Klingensmith Chairman Hugh Tietjen Publishing Consultant Ken Koppel Associate Publisher Tina Vierra Publishing Assistant Maria Brunn EDITORIAL Editor Jim Gordon Managing Editor Kate Lavin Senior Editor Andrew Adams Senior Correspondent Paul Franson Contributing Editor Jane Firstenfeld Northwest Correspondent Peter Mitham Columnists Grapegrowing: Cliff Ohmart and Glenn T. McGourty Contributing Writers Laurie Daniel, Richard Smart, Richard Carey, Chris Stamp, Andrew Reynolds, Craig Root, Ray Pompilio, Andy Starr, Fritz Westover Practical Winery & Vineyard (PWV) Editor Don Neel Wine East Editor Linda Jones McKee DESIGN & PRODUCTION Art Director Barbara Gelfand Summer Designer Bridget Williams DATABASE DEVELOPMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Vice President—Data Management Lynne Skinner Project Manager Liesl Stevenson Database & Web Development James Rust, Peter Scarborough EDITOR'S LETTER THE MAIN HEADLINE ON THE COVER of this issue is "Work Smarter in 2016." We don't mean to imply that you weren't working smart in 2015, but with all the substantive new research and newly applied practices out there, you're not yet done with your education. The coverage in this special issue includes two stalwart reports that we run every January: the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium preview story and the continentwide vintage report that examines the quantity and quality of the recent harvest region by region. It's smart to get a good look at the best products and services available to the industry at the Unified Symposium's vast trade show, and hear from the most wellinformed speakers in the many content sessions. See managing editor Kate Lavin's preview story on page 47. The symposium runs Jan. 2628 in Sacramento, Calif. It's also smart to know what challenges the other grapegrowers and winemakers in your region and competing regions faced during the 2015 growing season and harvest—plus how they dealt with them. Senior editor Andrew Adams expanded the vintage report this year by surveying hundreds of vineyard and winery staffers to supplement the findings of our regional correspondents and extension advisors. Elsewhere in the issue, our writers address multiple steps in the wine production cycle from new angles. This being the biggest issue of the year, we have lots of room to explore what's new. It would be logical to start before planting with "Breeding for DroughtTolerant Vines" by Kevin Fort and Andrew Walker (page 102) and continue all the way to designing eyecatching packaging at the other end of the wineproduction chain with "Designer Dreamscapes" by con tributing editor Jane Firstenfeld (page 148). Fritz Westover covers the pitfalls of establishing a vineyard in "Top Seven Mistakes New Grapegrowers Make" (page 42). Meanwhile Nathan Gogoll writes about how to protect those vines from vertebrate pests in "Attracting Birds of Prey" (page 98). Andrew Reynolds and his research team at Ontario's Brock University researched how to dial in maximum sensory characteristics in "Impact of Crop Level and Harvest Date" on page 159. Andrew Adams describes how Sonoma County's MacRostie Winery & Vineyards handles Pinot Noir crushing, fermenting and aging in this month's Technical Spotlight story (page 58), while scientists at Lallemand share their research about nitrogen nutrition for fermentation on page 116. A preview story of the second annual Wines & Vines Oak Conference, to be held April 27, introduces the key speakers for the event (page 138). Of course these winemakers and coopers will be speaking about the effects that oak barrels and oak adjuncts have on wine during the aging process. Covering a range of winemaking questions, Laurie Daniel interviews vintner and accomplished winemaker Merry Edwards for her Q&A on page 68. Even after the wine is safely bottled in a beautiful package, the winery's job is not done until the wine is sold. To sell it with the most favorable margin, a winery needs a tasting room and special events. That room and those events also need something else: music. In her story "Keep Winery Music in Harmony" on page 144, Jane Firstenfeld explains that commer cial users of recorded music must pay for the rights to these tunes, and that the recording industry is cracking down on illegal users, including wineries. After that whirlwind trip through the wineproduction cycle, we at Wines & Vines wish you a smarter and more profitable year in 2016. Please stop and say hi at our Unified booths, Nos. 428 and 430, if you will be attending. —Jim Gordon The Winemaking Process From Planting to Packaging In this issue, our writers address multiple steps in the wine-production cycle from new angles. CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS Email: subs@winesandvines.com Online: winesandvines.com/subscribe Phone: (866) 453-9701 EDITORIAL Email: edit@winesandvines.com MAIL 65 Mitchell Blvd., Suite A San Rafael, CA 94903 CONNECT WITH US facebook.com/WinesandVines twitter.com/WinesandVines youtube.com/WinesandVines1919