WSU students, faculty honored with wine research awards

By Erika Holmes, Viticulture & Enology

wine-80KENNEWICK, Wash. – Washington State University students and faculty dominated awards for research poster sessions and scholarships during the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers 2015 annual meeting Feb. 10-13.

WSU faculty and students won all nine poster awards in the professional, graduate and undergraduate categories. Six WSU students won scholarships totaling $14,000 from the Washington Wine Industry Foundation.

Poster professional category

First place: The economic impacts of grapevine leaf roll disease to growers by WSU faculty Naidu Rayapati and Doug Walsh, and Trent Ball and Ray Folwell of Agri-Business Consultants.

Second place: How grape maturity and ethanol levels impact tannins in wine by WSU faculty Richard Larsen, Maria Mireles and James Harbertson.

Third place: How pruning regulates water distribution by WSU faculty Markus Keller, Sushan Ru and Bhaskar Bondada and alumna Laura Deyermond.

Poster graduate category

First place: A Washington map showing the suitability of different areas for vineyards using soil, topographic and weather data by WSU doctoral student and research assistant Golnaz Badr and WSU AgWeatherNet Director Gerrit Hoogenboom.

Second place: Research on grapevine trunk diseases by WSU graduate student Leslie Holland and WSU faculty Gary Grove and Dean Glawe.

Third place: Research on treating grape pomace waste before applying it to vineyards to avoid wine spoilage by WSU doctoral student Zachary Cartwright and WSU faculty Charles Edwards.

Poster undergraduate category

First place: Research comparing wines produced with the same syrah grape clone on two different grapevine trellis training systems by WSU undergraduate students Joe Sperry and Thomas Spotteck.

Second place (tie): Research comparing riesling wines that have had clarifying agents added either pre- or post-fermentation by WSU undergraduate students Brooke Kietzman and Jameson Clark.

Second place (tie): Research on fanleaf disease and tobacco ring spot virus by WSU undergraduate student Leslie Walker, WSU faculty Basavaraj Bagewadi, Prashant Swamy and Naidu Rayapati, and alumnus Andrew Schultz.

Washington Wine Industry Foundation scholarships

Allison Baker and Zachary Cartwright, doctoral students of food science, each won a $3,000 Washington Wine Industry Foundation scholarship.

Five WSU students studying viticulture and enology won the Walter J. Clore scholarship:

• Madeleine Barcellona, $2,000, undergraduate student of food science
• Zachary Cartwright, $1,500, doctoral student of food science and enology
• William Kade Casciato, $2,000, undergraduate student of viticulture and enology
• Caroline Merrell, $1,500, master’s student of food science
• Bhanu Priya Donda, $1,000, doctoral student of plant pathology

 

Contact:
Erika Holmes, communications coordinator, WSU viticulture and enology program, 509-372-7223, erika.holmes@wsu.edu