Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/907666
8 WINES&VINES December 2017 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. President & Publisher Chet Klingensmith Chairman Hugh Tietjen Publishing Consultant Ken Koppel Associate Publisher Tina Vierra Publishing Assistant Ian Fadden Special Projects & Events Coordinator Johanna Rupp Publishing & Events Assistant Emily Rosendahl EDITORIAL Editor Jim Gordon Managing Editor Kate Lavin Senior Editor Andrew Adams Contributing Editor Jane Firstenfeld Northwest Correspondent Peter Mitham Grapegrowing Columnist Glenn T. McGourty Contributing Writers Laurie Daniel, Richard Smart, Richard Carey, Jaime Lewis, 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 DATABASE DEVELOPMENT – INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Vice President — Data Management Lynne Skinner Project Manager Liesl Stevenson Database & Web Development James Rust, Peter Scarborough Research Assistant Sara Jennings EDITOR'S LETTER THE JOB OF OUR EDITORIAL TEAM is primarily to sift through all that's said, done and learned in the North American wine industry each year. We use our best judgment and experi- ence as journalists to decide what news, trends and research might be most important to all of you, and to publish them in the magazine accurately and in a timely way. That's each month in the print edition and each business day on winesandvines.com. An extra challenge comes once per year, when we're preparing the December issue. Then we distill down all the news stories, industry metrics reporting and research results we've published during the previous 11 months to a list of 16 items packaged together here as the "Biggest and Best" of the year. Beginning on page 31, you'll see the results of that distillation in terms of wine sales, industry trends and most-read stories of the year. The devastating Northern California firestorm was a no-brainer as "biggest" story of the year, but the "best" story of 2017 was Cabernet Sauvignon. The king of red wine grapes went from strength to strength this year and showed no signs of slowing down. It wasn't a difficult choice to focus the cover on Cab- ernet Sauvignon, and the photo shot by Bob McClenahan for Napa Valley Vintners worked out perfectly to reflect not only the "Biggest and Best of 2017" report but also to represent a wealth of other grapegrowing articles in the issue. In the first of four pieces about vineyards, regular col- umnist Andy Starr (page 24) reports from Pendleton, Ore., on the Future Farm Expo, where new technology from vineyard robots to remote digital harvesting equipment to the latest aerial drone models were on display. Vineyard drones are also the subject of a practical and witty article (page 61) by Jim Meyers, a New York state extension viticulturist from Cornell University. He gives great examples of what a drone can do to make a grower's life easier. Another contributor from Cornell is Tim Martinson, who writes a persuasive Viewpoint piece about grapevine genetics on page 28. Specifically, he addresses how grapevine genetics for the world's most popular wine types were frozen in place hundreds of years ago in Europe, so the vines have not developed inherent defenses against the many grapevine pests and diseases that have emerged in modern times, Martinson argues that for a number of reasons including climate change, "The narrow genetic base of our current cultivars needs to be broadened." As fascinating as his analysis is, the chart that accompanies it is a story in itself, showing how in- cestuous the family of Vitis vinifera really is. In the final vineyard-oriented article, R. Paul Sch- reiner from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Corvallis, Ore., details his team's findings on the subject of "Probing Nutrient Needs of Pinot Noir Vines" (page 54). The article shows the results of their re- search, including advice on when to apply the nutrients based on the time of year that the vines take them up. That wraps up the highlights of this issue and marks the end of another year of growth and prosperity in the wine industry. From all of us at Wines & Vines, we hope you had plenty of "biggest and best" moments in 2017, and we will be back to serve you in 2018. —Jim Gordon The cover photo reflects not only the "Biggest and Best of 2017" but also represents a wealth of other grapegrowing articles. 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 The Biggest and Best Stories and Lots of Vineyard Coverage