North America’s next generation of wine and winegrape growing researchers got an added boost last week in Seattle when the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) awarded over $60,000 in scholarships and announced recipients of the best student oral and poster research presentation awards.

More than 500 wine industry leaders, researchers and other academic representatives attended the Society’s National Conference, which focused on current winemaking and grape growing research issues vital to the rapidly evolving and competitive wine industry.

“The Society has a long tradition of recognizing and supporting future leaders in the wine industry,” said ASEV Executive Director Lyndie Boulton. “The success of our industry hinges on the innovations, ideas and research that the next generation will deliver, and the ASEV regards our efforts to foster that through scholarships, networking opportunities and programs as vital.”

Students recognized for their wine and grape research presentations included Nick Gislason from the University of California, Davis, who was honored with best enology student oral presentation for “Hydroxycinnamate α, β-Unsaturated Sidechain Moieties Are Potent Antioxidants,” and Tymari LoRe from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, for her enology poster presentation of “Effect of Bentonite Additions Prior to Fermentation on Protein Stability in Edna Valley Sauvignon blanc.”    The ASEV enology student awards are sponsored by Lallemand. The winners for the best viticulture student presentations were Keir Keightley from the University of California, Davis, who presented “A Snapshot of Vineyard Carbon: Using a New Technique to Facilitate Low-Impact Organic Carbon Measurement in a California Vineyard,” and James Meyers from Cornell University, New York, for his poster on “Improving Efficiency of Research and Vineyard Operations via Spatially-Explicit Sampling Protocols.”

This year, the ASEV awarded more than $60,000 in scholarships to 13 different enology and viticulture students throughout the United States and Canada. The recipients are as follows:

• Michael Anderson, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Marin Brewer, Cornell University, New York
• Arturo Calderon Orellana, University of California, Davis
• Lauren Dooley, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
• Levi Fredrikson, Oregon State University, Corvallis (ASEV Michael Vail Scholarship)
• John Jackowetz, Cornell University, New York
• Rebecca Nelson, Cornell University, New York
• Steven Smith, California State University, Fresno
• Amanda Stewart, Purdue University, Indiana
• Michael Tracy, Cornell University, New York
• Amanda Vance, Oregon State University, Corvallis
• Jorin Weber, Oregon State University, Corvallis
• Eric White, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

In addition to an extensive agenda for the International Cool Climate Symposium with presentations by respected speakers from over 13 countries, ASEV honored Dr. Koki Yokotsuka of Japan and Ellen Butz of Indiana at the National Conference. They each were presented with the prestigious Merit Award for their contributions to ASEV chapters and their impact on the entire industry.

The 62nd ASEV National Conference will be held in Monterey, California, from June 20-24, 2011. For more information, visit www.asev.org.