ASEV Announces 2025 Best Paper Awards: New Red Blotch Virus Detection Technique and Determination of Smoky Flavors from Either Oak or Wildfire Events

DAVIS, Calif., March 5, 2025…The American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) has selected the 2025 Best Paper Awards, which will be presented at the 2025 ASEV National Conference in Monterey, California, in June.

Each year, ASEV’s Best Paper Awards Committee evaluates all manuscripts published in the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture (AJEV) from the previous year and selects one paper in enology and one paper in viticulture that reflect outstanding research and make substantial contributions to the field. Both papers are highlighted on the AJEV website and are available for anyone to read, free of charge.

For the 2025 Best Viticulture Paper, ASEV selected “Trunk Cambium Facilitates Pre-Symptomatic and Year-Round Detection of Grapevine Red Blotch Virus Using the LAMP Assay,” written by Jennifer K. Rohrs, Hannah G. Fendell-Hummel, Sarah L. MacDonald, Malcolm B. Hobbs and Monica L. Cooper from the University of California Cooperative Extension, Napa County. This study found that testing grapevines for red blotch virus using a sample taken from the grapevine’s trunk (the cambium layer that separates the bark from the wood, specifically) is more effective than using leaf samples. The new method, which uses the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay, can detect the virus before the appearance of symptoms. Unlike traditional leaf petiole testing which only works during certain parts of the growing season, trunk cambium sampling can be used all year. In Napa Valley vineyards, trunk cambium sampling detected infections at a rate twice that of cane tissue sampling, and over 12 times that of petiole tissue sampling. Many vineyard managers have already begun using this technique, along with visual inspections, to detect the virus early and prevent its spread.

For enology, ASEV selected “Prevalence of Wildfire Smoke Exposure Markers in Oaked Commercial Wine,” by Mango Parker, WenWen Jiang, Adrian D. Coulter, Tracey E. Siebert, Eleanor Bilogrevic, I. Leigh Francis, and Markus J. Herderich from Australian Wine Research Institute. This study examined how to determine if a wine’s smoky flavor originates from standard aging in oak barrels or from exposure to wildfire smoke. Several types of Australian wines that had not been exposed to wildfire smoke were tested to establish baseline levels of smoke-related chemicals. The authors found that oak barrels naturally introduce certain smoky compounds, like guaiacol and syringol, at relatively high levels, and while markers that typically indicate wildfire exposure were present, they only occurred in small amounts. This research presents a clearer picture of the phenolic compounds typically found in oak-aged wines, enabling researchers to confidently identify which of these wines have been affected by smoke.

Committee members read and score each paper, with the ASEV Board of Directors making the final decision. The 2025 Best Paper Awards Committee members include:

• Kristen Barnhisel (Chair), J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, California
• Torey Arvik, United States Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Resource Service, California 
• Jeff Baccus, Advanced Viticulture, Inc., California
• Terry Bates, Cornell University, New York
• Megan Bartlett, University of California, Davis
• Bob Coleman, Treasury Wine Estates, California
• Karl Lund, University of California Cooperative Extension, Mariposa and Merced Counties
• Tian Tian, University of California Cooperative Extension, Kern County
• Jeremy Weintraub, Adelaida Cellars, California

ASEV is an international community of wine and grape professionals that promotes industry vitality through the exchange of information and support of research and education. ASEV hosts the National Conference in June and co-hosts the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in January. ASEV publishes the online American Journal of Enology and Viticulture (AJEV) and awards scholarships to students pursuing a degree in enology, viticulture, or in a curriculum emphasizing a science basic to the wine and grape industry.