Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/754815
42 WINES&VINES December 2016 UNIFIED PREVIEW A fter months of campaign speeches, debates and rallies, many Ameri- cans are ready to stop thinking about any and all news coming out of Washington, D.C. But for Lise Asimont, director of grower relations for Francis Ford Coppola Winery, a panel discussion about the Food Safety Mod- ernization Act signed into law by U.S. president Barack Obama in 2011 is going to be a high- light of the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium taking place Jan. 24-26 in Sacramento, Calif. As program chair for the Unified Development Committee, Asimont will moderate the hour- long panel discussion Jan. 26. "We have very few mid-size wineries and smaller wineries that are going to be prepared" when the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is implemented for the wine industry, Asimont said. "FSMA is going to rock the world of compliance. We have seen food companies already changing their protocols, but we have not seen a lot of wineries do it." Asimont told Wines & Vines that coming up with educational sessions that industry mem- bers can learn from and immediately apply to their vineyard and winery jobs is a key factor when choosing topics for the annual Unified Symposium, and FSMA is just one of the items on the agenda to fit that criterion. Clean plant strategies Another topic Asimont believes will be readily applicable for Unified attendees is the Jan. 25 session titled, "Looking Forward: How Grape- vine Clean Plant Strategies Can Be Improved." Asimont is moderating this session as well, and speakers include a who's who of academics, viticulturists and vineyard owners. Deborah Golino, director of Foundation Plant Services at the University of California, Davis, is among the panelists, along with Marc Fuchs of Cornell University and Mike Means of Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, among others. "This is basically where the rubber meets the road on being pertinent with regard to needing clean plants," said Asimont, adding that the discovery of red blotch-associated virus has triggered a huge replanting in Cali- fornia. "We want to give attendees the tools they need to confidently go into a nursery and say, 'I want to test your stock.'" Asimont said there is a lot of coffee shop talk among viticulturists about who has clean KEY POINTS Strategies for planting clean vines is one of the most highly anticipated viticulture panels planned for the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium. Spanish-language sessions will mirror topics also presented in English during the January 2017 event. The joint winemaking-grapegrowing session for 2017 will highlight Sauvignon Blanc and how viticultural and winemaking decisions impact sensory characteristics. Unified Symposium to Focus on Immediate Applications Program chair discusses wine and grape sessions on food safety act and clean plants By Kate Lavin