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6 WINES&VINES June 2016 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. ADVERTISING Vice President and Director of Sales Jacques Brix jbrix@winesandvines.com (707) 473-0244 West Lydia Hall lydia@winesandvines.com (415) 453-9700, ext. 103 Midwest Hooper Jones hooperhja@aol.com (847) 486-1021 East (except New York) Laura Lemos laura@boja.com (973) 822-9274 New York and International Dave Bayard dave@bayard.com (973) 822-9275 DIGITAL EDITION All print subscribers now get digital access to Wines & Vines. You can: • DOWNLOAD pages or full issues • BROWSE current and archived issues • WATCH videos • ACCESS via desktop, tablet or smartphone • SEARCH by keyword or table of contents • NAVIGATE by topic or page thumbnail • QUESTIONS? Contact customer ser- vice at custserv@winesandvines.com or (866) 453-9701 Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. PDT. WINERY & VINEYARD EQUIPMENT 36 WINES& Crusher/ destemmers How new grape processing and fermentation equipment helps wineries improve efficiency and wine quality CONNECT WITH US CONTRIBUTORS Cliff Ohmart, Ph.D., is the longest-running, regular contributor to Wines & Vines. In his Vineyard View column, Ohmart calls out challenges in grapegrowing and backs his perspective with careful re- search. For this issue he revisits a 2013 column about what appeared to be a crisis in staffing California's cooperative extension positions. Are the University of California farm advisors back up to full strength now? Was the shortage a temporary situation or chronic problem? Get the answers to these and other questions starting on page 30. Peter Mitham is the Northwest correspondent for Wines & Vines, covering industry news, grapegrowing and winemaking. A seasoned reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering agriculture and business, he lives in Vancouver, B.C. His Technical Spotlight about Stoller Family Estate's new facility in Oregon (page 42) illus- trates how a growing winery pursues environment-friendly construc- tion while growing production. When Randal Wilson first planted his White Oak Vineyards in Ala- bama almost 20 years ago, the only vines that would grow well in his location were muscadine grapes and hybrid varieties that could sur- vive in the presence of Pierce's disease. In his article "New Vines Are Game Changers in Alabama" (page 61), Wilson describes his experi- ence growing and making wine from several PD-resistant grapevines bred at the University of California, Davis. The 87.5% vinifera vines will give Wilson and other winemakers in the South the opportunity to expand their wines' flavor profiles and be more competitive. WINESANDVINES.COM JUNE 2016 Choosing Mechanical Sorting Tables Has California Refilled Extension Vacancies? How Leaf Removal Influences Pinot Noir Alabama Grows PD-Resistant Vines WELL EQUIPPED FOR CRUSH ON THE COVER Wines & Vines art director emeritus Barbara Summer captured the image on this month's cover during harvest 2015 at Miner Family Wines in Oakville, Calif. In preparation for harvest 2016, Wines & Vines identified the most popular grape-processing equipment for a feature starting on page 36. QUESTION FOR JUNE: What's been the best innovation in grape-processing equipment? Bill Brosseau Director of winemaking Testarossa and Brosseau Wines Los Gatos, Calif. I have never in my 20 years of winemaking seen such smiles on my crew's faces as when we ran the "Cluster Thruster" for the first time. It is a large flat hopper that actuates back and forth to meter fruit to the sorting table. It is crucial to have the first steps of winemaking be pleasurable, otherwise the crew doesn't have energy left for the rigors of crush. Joe Dobbes Founder/winemaker/president Dobbes Estate Wine/Wine by Joe Dundee, Ore. We're demo-ing a machine from Prospero (The Dream) this harvest. Basically it is like a sorter and a sifter based on that technology. You get the MOG out, and the rest is all via gravity. We're hoping that will increase our ability to sort high- end fruit. The key is bringing in high-quality fruit and culling it as best as you can in the vineyard. Simone Bergese Executive winemaker and director of winery operations Chateau Élan Winery & Resort Braselton, Ga. The most impactful innovations have been complete lines with receiving hopper, cluster sorting table, extremely gentle destemmer, post-destemmer sorting table with eventually MOG-separating system and color sorters. Over the years they also became very easy to disassemble, clean and sanitize.