Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/658375
8 WINES&VINES April 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 Tiffany Maxwell 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 Graphic Designer Rebecca Arnn Design & Production 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 APRIL IS OFFICIALLY THE OAK ALTERNATIVES ISSUE, but this one could have also been titled the Grapegrowing Issue or the Yeast Issue. So if you're not into oak chips like those on the cover—although we know many of you are—read on anyway. We have four really authoritative viticulture articles in this issue. The first, by Dr. Mark A. Matthews of the University of California, Davis, is the most thought-provoking takedown of conventional wisdom that we have published for many years. Matthews has just published a fascinating book that enthusiastically and carefully takes apart several commonly held misper- ceptions about grapegrowing and winemaking. It's called Terroir and Other Myths of Wine Growing (University of California Press). The March issue carried a glowing review of the book, and in this issue (page 68) we are excerpting Matthews' chapter "What Is the Expected Relationship of Grapes and Wines to Yield?" If you're like me and get sick of hearing winemakers and wine writers unequivocally equate high yields with low quality, then you've got to read this excerpt. It will give you plenty of scientific ammunition for your next debate with a grape buyer or even the wine- maker at your own property. The second article that both growers and winemak- ers on the West Coast should read is "Where There's Fire, There's Smoke" by columnist Glenn T. McGourty. Glenn's title for the column (page 36) really cuts to the chase. His goal is to advise how to manage fire and smoke damage after the fact. Two other grapegrowing articles dig into the details of minerals and other micronutrients in the soil. Dr. Larry Parker, a soil microbiologist, uncovers the uses of man- ganese, zinc, boron, seaweed and humic acid extracts to fight Botrytis and other vine diseases (page 75). Meanwhile, Stan Grant of Progressive Viticulture explains how growers can maximize the effectiveness of costly mineral nutrients and also meet environmental concerns (page 77). The coverage of oak alternatives, aka oak adjuncts and barrel alternatives, starts with a report by Australian researcher Kerry Wilkinson and colleagues at the University of Adelaide (page 42) about a new way to reclaim or rescue perfectly usable and pristine oak from used, neutral barrels. We all know about services that shave, grind or blast with dry ice the inside of used barrels to restore them, but the method detailed in this article goes even further. So if you use oak staves as adjuncts and would like total assurance about where those staves come from, be sure to read this report. Also on the topic of oak, senior editor Andrew Adams covers an array of new oak alternative sizes, flavors and formats in this month's Product Focus (page 48). The coverage of yeast in this issue includes one of the most unlikely news stories (page 60) on California state taxes that we've seen in a long time (in which taxes are reduced!). The other is a fascinating article that shares some detective work in New York state by Dr. Anna Katherine Mansfield and Camila Tahim of Cornell University to identify the "wild" yeasts at work in non-inoculated fermen- tations (page 82). There is not enough space here to highlight all the good stuff in this 92-page edition, so you're now on your own to explore the rest of the issue. If you want to react to any of the articles pro or con, please email me at jim@winesandvines.com. We'd appreciate hearing from you. —Jim Gordon Oak Alternatives, Yeast and a Great Book Excerpt If you get sick of hearing wine- makers unequivocally equate high yields with low quality, then you've got to read this excerpt. 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