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48 WINES&VINES June 2016 ASEV PREVIEW T he rains of winter and spring may have filled reservoirs throughout California, but using less water and using it more efficiently remain top priorities for most in the wine industry—especially if a strong La Niña effect ushers in the return of drought conditions across much of the West. Understanding those concerns, the organizers of this year's na- tional conference of the American Society for Enology and Viticul- ture put together a full-day sym- posium about vineyard water management and a seminar about water use in winemaking as parts of their three-day event. The conference takes place June 28-30 in Monterey, Calif., and the water symposium is the first day of the event. The symposium features experts from California, Washing- ton state, Canada and Australia delivering presentations about how vines are affected by water stress as well the latest technology to moni- tor plant water use. Mike McCarthy with the South Australian Research & Develop- ment Institute will deliver two pre- sentations: one on using rootstocks to deal with drought and another about irrigation decisions. James Harbertson is an associ- ate professor of enology at the Washington State University Wine Science Center and interim pro- gram director with the ASEV. He said he and other conference orga- nizers wanted to provide attendees with current, topical material. Arsenic in wine Another issue that recently gener- ated national headlines is con- cern about the amount of arsenic in wine. In March 2015, a South- ern California law firm filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the wine produced or sold by 28 com- p a n i e s i n c l u d i n g T h e Wi n e Group, Treasury Wine Estates, Constellation Brands and others contained unacceptably high lev- els of arsenic. The lawsuit used lab tests that indicated wines produced or sold by the companies had levels of ar- senic higher than what is allowed in drinking water. The issue garnered more pub- licity after an electrical engineering professor at the University of Washington conducted a similar study of 65 wines from California, Washington, New York and Oregon and found all but one had levels of arsenic higher than the limit for drinking water. The class-action lawsuit has since been dismissed, but the stud- ies comparing wine to drinking water may have raised some linger- ing concerns among consumers about arsenic in wine. The conference keynote ad- dress, "Arsenic in Wine: A Scien- tific Perspective," takes place June 29 and will be delivered by Dr. Carl Winter of the University of California, Davis. Winter is a specialist in the cooperative ex- tension of food science and tech- nology and an expert in the detection of pesticides and natu- rally occurring toxins in food. "That's clearly something that's on a lot of people's minds in the wine industry right now," Harb- ertson said, adding that Winters should provide some scientific context to the issue and "set ev- eryone straight about the risk." Harbertson said Winters is an entertaining speaker and someone from outside the world of wine academia who can provide an "outside of the box viewpoint" on the issue. "We tried to get some- body who approaches it from the food toxicology standpoint." Winters told Wines & Vines that he plans to discuss "arsenic toxicology, the presence of arse- nic in all foods and then specifi- cally the presence of arsenic in wines and its very low contribu- tion to dietary exposure. "I might also include a little bit on glyphosate in wine, since this has been getting a lot of atten- tion," Winters said of the active i n g r e d i e n t i n t h e h e r b i c i d e Roundup. "If I do that, I might wrap up with a (musical) rendi- tion of 'I Sprayed It on the Grape- vine,' although I need to talk with meeting organizers to get their thoughts on this as well." (Listen to some of Winter's greatest hits at foodsafe.ucdavis.edu.) Sulfur, salinity and sustainability Other sessions at the conference will include a joint winemaking and grapegrowing seminar about sulfur management from the vine- yard to the cellar. Confirmed speakers include Tom Collins from Washington State University and Misha T. Kwasniewski from the University of Missouri. The conference also features two sessions dedicated to wine- making or grapegrowing, and both concern water. The grapegrowing seminar will focus on dealing with soil salinity. It's an issue confronting growers in many regions of California be- cause the drought caused an ac- cumulation of salts in the soil. The ASEV has also organized a tour of Monterey County vine- yards and wineries that will take place June 27. The national conference will take place at the Portola Hotel & Monterey Marriott in Monterey, Calif. For more details and a com- plete schedule visit asev.org. ASEV Returns to Monterey National conference features water symposium, keynote address about arsenic and wine By Andrew Adams AWARDS FROM ASEV In addition to sessions about winemaking and grapegrowing, the an- nual ASEV conference will include several award presentations. Dr. Douglas O. Adams, professor and biochemist for the Depart- ment of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Da- vis, will receive the ASEV's Merit Award, the ASEV's highest honor. During his time at Davis, Adams has studied biochemical changes during grape berry ripening and the development of skin and seed tannins in red grape varieties. His research led to the development of the Adams-Harbertson Phenolics Panel, which is used to deter- mine tannin and polymeric pigment content in grapes and wine. After accepting the award June 30, Adams will present a lecture entitled "Representations and Interventions in Growing Grapes and Making Wine." Dr. Bruce Zoecklein is the recipient of this year's Extension Dis- tinction Award. Zoecklein is a professor emeritus with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and has worked with the school's extension program since 2010. Authors of the best enology and viticulture research papers pub- lished in 2016 will also be delivering presentations on their work. The papers are online at asev.org.