A group of 35 extension educators, Cornell scientists and graduate students, and industry people from throughout the Northeast, Midwest, and Ontario, Canada, converged at Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station on August 11 and 12 for a workshop highlighting grape genetics and breeding research in Geneva, New York.

The workshop, organized by Senior Extension Associate Tim Martinson, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists Peter Cousins, Chuck Simon, Amanda Garris, and Cornell scientist Bruce Reisch, Department of Horticultural Sciences at Geneva, featured morning lectures and a full afternoon of field tours of grape collections and breeding program field evaluation sites at Experiment Station vineyards.

“With establishment of the USDA’s Grape Genetics Research Unit, continued characterization and expansion of the Plant Genetics Resource Unit’s cool-climate grapevine collection, and Cornell’s successful grape breeding program, the resources devoted to understanding grapevine genetics at Geneva have expanded greatly over the past five years,” said Martinson. “We wanted to show participants how this effort—from DNA sequencing through field evaluations of new cultivars—works together to ultimately incorporate improved traits into new varieties to benefit the industry.”

The morning program featured presentations on the Plant Genetics Resource Unit’s (PGRU) Grapevine Germplasm collections by grape curator Chuck Simon, presentations by Gan-Yuan Zhong (Overview of Grape Genetics Research Unit—GGRU), program leader at GGRU, GGRU scientists Peter Cousins (Rootstock Breeding) and Amanda Garris (Grapevine Genomics), and Bruce Reisch (Cornell Grapevine Breeding Program).

The afternoon was devoted to field visits to grapevine blocks at three field locations.  First stop was at the McCarthy farm to see the Grapevine Germplasm collection (led by Peter Cousins and Chuck Simon) and the no-spray breeding program nursery (Bruce Reisch, Steve Luce, and Pat Wallace). The group then visited the “No-spray” evaluation block at the Robbins Farm. Final stop was at Research South, where Justine Vanden Heuvel talked about her 2006 field planting established to test spacing, training, and other viticultural aspects of new selections and varieties, including Noiret, NY76.0844.24 and NY95.0301.01. The group finished the day at Bruce’s “Demo Block,” which includes heritage varieties, named Cornell varieties, and examples from other breeding programs.

A reception featuring products of the Cornell Breeding Program—Finger Lakes wines made from Cayuga White, Melody, Traminette, Noiret, Corot Noir, and Valvin Muscat--preceded the workshop.

Learn more about the Enology and Viticulture Program at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences New York State Agricultural Experiment Station.
www.grapesandwine.cals.cornell.edu/