Merit Award

ASEV Selects Dr. Sara Spayd of North Carolina State University to Receive Its Highest Honor

Davis, Calif., March 21, 2019… Professor Emerita Dr. Sara Spayd of North Carolina State University, Raleigh, has been selected to receive the American Society for Enology and Viticulture’s (ASEV) Merit Award for 2019. Dr. Spayd will be presenting the Merit Award Presentation, “Grape and Wine Industry, Research, Extension and Education: It Takes Villages,” at the 70^th ASEV National Conference on June 20, 2019 in Napa, California.

Dr. Spayd was an Extension Viticulture Specialist at the Department of Horticultural Sciences at North Carolina State University, Raleigh. Prior to that, she was an Extension Food Scientist/Food Scientist at the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Washington State University, Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center.

She has been a member of ASEV (National) since 1980, holding various positions that include serving as the 2011-2012 President, and chairing multiple symposia and committees. She received three Best Viticulture Papers Awards (1994, 2002 and 2009). She’s currently a member of the ASEV Eastern Section. Other previous membership and committee services include the ASEV Northwest Chapter, American Society for Horticultural Science, Institute of Food Technologist (National and Lewis and Clark Section), Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, Central Washington Wine Technical Group and Washington State Grape Society. Dr. Spayd’s research and extension work has generated over 50 international and national speaking engagements that resulted in international vineyard consultations and several awards, including the Krezdorn Award and National Food Processors Award  in addition to the three Best Viticulture Paper Awards. She is well known for her deep commitment to her community and mentoring students as early as high school. 

“Dr. Sara Spayd embodies what ASEV was designed to do: develop research, create a network, share the knowledge and mentor new leaders. She’s an exemplary colleague who’s produced decades of brilliant research, was actively involved in multiple projects and could be depended on to get you results. But the one thing that stands out about Sara is her ability to bring along students into the industry. With her warm infectious charm, she introduces and guides them into careers and networks they would have never thought to investigate. She introduced me to ASEV and is why I am part of the Society. That is her legacy,” said Jim Harbertson, ASEV Past President, Washington State University, Tri-Cities.

Dr. Spayd graduated from the University of Arkansas with a master’s degree (1977) and a doctorate (1980) in Food Science, both under the mentorship of Dr. Justin Morris. She was the first student to receive a doctorate from the newly named Food Science Department.

Read Dr. Spayd’s Full Talk

From Methyl Anthranylate to Mercaptohexanol: Measuring Wine Qualia

Davis, Calif., March 22, 2018… Dr. Terry Acree is Professor at the Department of Food Science of Cornell University, New York.

The ASEV Merit Award is presented annually to an individual who has significantly contributed in an outstanding manner to the progress and advancement of enology and viticulture to the industry and/or to the Society. This award acknowledges excellence in the fields of education, technology, research, management, public relations, or any discipline related to enology and viticulture.

The ASEV Board is pleased to honor Dr. Terry Acree of Cornell University, New York as ASEV’s 2018 Merit Award recipient.

Dr. Acree, a professor in the food science department at Cornell University in New York, primarily focuses on food composition and its relationship to the chemosensory perception of flavor. In his laboratory, he and other scientists have identified odorants that affect flavor in food. As a result, Dr. Acree and Henry Arn established their site Flavornet in 1997 to compile the identified aroma compounds found in human odor space. Using Gas Chromatography–Olfactometry, Dr. Acree’s research has explained, at least in terms of their most prominent features, the odors of complex foods like the lychee fruit aroma in Gewürztraminer wine. Ultimately, he hopes to be able to explain how sensory composition of food contributes to food perception, choice and enjoyment.

The Southwestern Vitis – a Grape Breeding Motherlode

Davis, Calif., March 27, 2017… Dr. Andrew Walker is Professor and Geneticist for the Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis.

The ASEV Merit Award is presented annually to an individual who has significantly contributed in an outstanding manner to the progress and advancement of enology and viticulture to the industry and/or to the Society. This award acknowledges excellence in the fields of education, technology, research, management, public relations, or any discipline related to enology and viticulture.

The ASEV Board is pleased to honor Dr. Andrew Walker of the University of California in Davis as ASEV’s 2017 Merit Award recipient.

Dr. Andy Walker’s lab focuses on grape breeding and the genetics of resistance to pests and diseases. He breeds rootstocks for resistance to nematodes, phylloxera, fanleaf, drought and salinity, and wine grapes with resistance to Pierce’s disease and powdery mildew. He served as the Louis P. Martini Endowed Chair from 2000 to 2015 and was recently appointed the Louise Rossi Endowed Chair in Viticulture in 2015.

Dr. Walker is currently a professor and geneticist at the University of California, Davis, teaching general viticulture and grapevine identification. Dr. Walker has a long history of involvement with ASEV, serving as secretary/treasurer from 1999 to 2004 and technical program director from 2011 to 2015. He was also ASEV’s Honorary Research Lecturer in 2009.

Representations and Interventions in Growing Grapes and Making Wine

Davis, Calif., May 9, 2016… Dr. Douglas O. Adams, Professor & Biochemist for the Department of Viticulture and Enology Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis

The ASEV Merit Award is presented annually to an individual who has significantly contributed in an outstanding manner to the progress and advancement of enology and viticulture to the industry and/or to the Society. This award acknowledges excellence in the fields of education, technology, research, management, public relations, or any discipline related to enology and viticulture.

The ASEV Board is pleased to honor Dr. Douglas Adams of the University of California in Davis as ASEV’s 2016 Merit Award recipient.

Best known for his research work on grape berry ripening, Dr. Adams has concentrated his efforts in two principal areas: (1) the biochemical changes that occur during ripening and (2) the development of tannins in skins and seeds of red wine varieties, which led to research related to tannin extraction during winemaking. His work on tannin development during ripening also led to the Adams-Harbertson Phenolics Panel, a protein precipitation assay designed to aid real-time winemaking decisions. He also has a project aimed at understanding factors that influence amino acid metabolism in grapevines and the amino acid composition of grapes at harvest. This work hopes to provide an analytical tool for viticulturists that will inform them about vine nitrogen status in vineyards managed for commercial wine production.

Dr. Adams is currently a viticulture professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis. He teaches Introduction to Winemaking and a graduate level class in grape berry development and composition. He was the recipient of the ASEV’s Honorary Research Lecturer Award in 2006.         

Politics and Wine – Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Davis, Calif., April 2, 20`15… Mr. E.B. “Pete” Downs, Consulting Enologist and Retired Senior VP for External Affairs, Kendall-Jackson, California

The ASEV Merit Award is presented annually to an individual who has significantly contributed in an outstanding manner to the progress and advancement of enology and viticulture to the industry and/or to the Society. This award acknowledges excellence in the fields of education, technology, research, management, public relations, or any discipline related to enology and viticulture.

The ASEV Board is pleased to honor E.B. “Pete” Downs of Kendall-Jackson Winery as ASEV’s 2015 Merit Award recipient.

As the external affairs senior vice president for Kendall-Jackson Winery, Downs worked with legislators, regulators, and other members of the industry on a local, state, national, and international level.

He served as an advisor for vital industry issues such as wine shipment regulations, and his efforts were pivotal in winning USDA funding for research and control of the spread of the Glassy-winged sharpshooters and Pierce’s disease. He was also part of the World Wine Trade Group that worked to minimize international trade barriers through international labeling requirements.

Downs served as ASEV president from 1991 to 1992 and has been an active member since 1973, holding several positions, including secretary/treasurer (1985-87 and 1995-99), membership committee chair, and public relations committee chair, and he was a member of the Unified Symposium organizing committee. His professional membership affiliations include Wine America, Family Winemakers of California, Sonoma County Wineries Association, Coalition for Free Trade, World Wine Trade Group, and the International Federation of Wines and Spirits.  He was appointed by California’s secretary of agriculture to the Pierce’s Disease Glassy-winged Sharpshooter Board, and has served as a legislative committee chair for Family Winemakers of California, as well as the international committee chair for the American Vintners Association.

ASEV to Recognize Dr. Bisson with Highest Honor at the National Conference in Austin

Davis, Calif., May 5, 2014… Professor and geneticist Dr. Linda Bisson of the University of California, Davis, will join a prestigious group of wine and grape industry leaders who have received the American Society for Enology and Viticulture’s (ASEV) Merit Award for outstanding contribution to the Society and the industry. The long-time American Journal of Enology and Viticulture (AJEV) Science Editor will receive the 2014 Merit Award following her presentation, “The Information Landscape Transformation: The Changing Role of Scientific Societies,” on June 26, 2014, at the 65th ASEV National Conference in Austin, Texas.

Dr. Bisson is a trained yeast geneticist and physiologist whose research focuses on sugar catabolism and the understanding of metabolic basis for slow and incomplete fermentations. She is a respected professor and former chair at the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology and has received the prestigious Maynard A. Amerine Endowed Chair funded by Ernest Gallo. Bisson is Chair of the UC Davis Academic Senate and, most recently, was the recipient of the UC Davis’ Charles P. Nash Prize. She currently serves as AJEV Science Editor and has held this position for more than a decade. She is a four-time ASEV Best Enology Paper Award author, the 2000 Honorary Research Lecturer and has more than 25 years of service with ASEV as a Board Director (1988-1990) and volunteer for committees that include program organizing and planning, scholarship, publications and technical projects.

Read Dr. Bisson’s Full Talk

The Changing Role of Extension in the Modern Winegrape Industry

Davis, Calif., November 21, 2012… The ASEV Board is pleased to honor Dr. Jim Wolpert of the University of California, Davis, as ASEV’s 2013 Merit Award recipient.

Jim Wolpert is a native of Indiana.  He received his bachelor of science from Purdue University in Horticulture in 1973.  He took further training at Michigan State University, receiving a Master’s degree in 1978 and a PhD in 1983.  Both thesis projects involved research on production practices of ‘Concord’ grapes and how these practices influence vine cold hardiness.

In 1983, he joined UC Davis and from 1983 through mid-1985, he worked as a postdoctoral scholar in the Pomology Department, working on production problems of pistachio nut trees in California.

In 1985, Jim joined the Department of Viticulture and Enology as viticulture extension specialist, where he is responsible for applied research and grower education programs for winegrapes in Northern California.  His main areas of research are performance of rootstocks, winegrape clones and varieties, as well as improvements in vineyard design and cultural practices as they influence wine quality.

He has been invited to speak at industry meetings in Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, New York, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington, as well as in Canada, Germany, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand and Spain, and is the author of more than 50 scientific and technical publications.

He is past-president of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture and was co-organizer of many successful ASEV symposia on topics such as rootstocks, winegrape clones, and alternative varieties. In July 2012, Jim was the recipient of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture – Eastern Section, Outstanding Achievement Award. He is also past chair of the Department of Viticulture & Enology, where he held the title of Marvin Sands Endowed Department Chair and was instrumental in creating the Department’s Board of Visitors and Fellows to help guide the future vision of the department in sustaining continued excellence. Please join us in our many tributes to Jim for this well-deserved award at the National Conference in Monterey, California, June 24-28, 2013.

Discovery and Innovation and the Role of Research Funding

Davis, Calif., June 11, 2012… Roger Boulton came to the University of California, Davis from the University of Melbourne, Australia, in 1976, at the age of 27. He took on the responsibility for the Wine Stability and the Distilled Beverage Technology courses, formerly taught by Professors Harold Berg and Jim Guymon. He developed a new course in Winery Equipment and eventually the course in Winery Design. In 1982 he established the first Teaching Winery in the US that had small commercial-sized stainless steel fermentors and related equipment. These would become the first on-line wine fermentors that followed fermentation progress and had automated pump-overs in 2001.

His significant research contributions include: first cross-flow filtration of juice and wine, first continuous juice flotation system (1976), first kinetic model for wine fermentations (1978) and its extension for the evaporative loss of ethanol (1983), first fouling models for membrane filters (1982), mechanism for potassium exchange in grapevines that led to the complete understanding of pH and titratable acidity (1980), development of stability tests for tartrate, protein and colloid in wine (1979, 1982), initial studies of the HPLC method most widely used for sugars and acids in wine (1979), a method for free sulfur dioxide using capillary electrophoresis (1996), a computer simulation of winery operations (1988), fluidized-bed crystallizer for tartrate stability (1995) and the first regenerable particle column for heat stability (1990), quantification of red wine color and copigmentation (1996), and a UV-visible spectral model for anthocyanins, tannin and non-tannin phenols (2006).

During the past decade he has been involved in the design and development activities for the LEED Platinum Winery at UC Davis, and instrumental in the establishment of the world’s first self-sustainable winery, both funded entirely by private support. He has taught more than 2000 students during his career and as many again in University Extension short courses and abroad, in particular the Chemical Engineering of Winemaking at the University of Sydney. With three colleagues, Vernon Singleton, Linda Bisson and Ralph Kunkee, he authored the Principles and Practices of Winemaking, now the most widely-cited text book in winemaking, which was awarded the OIV Prix en Oenology in 1998. He was selected for the Society’s annual (AJEV) Best Paper Award on four occasions, including both the viticulture and enology awards in 1980. He was inducted into the Jurade de Saint Emilion (France) in 1999 and awarded the Stephen Sinclair Scott Professorship in Enology in 2000 which he continues to hold. In 2000, Wines and Vines Magazine named him among the 50 Most Influential People in the US Wine Industry. He presented the Society’s Honorary Research Lecture in 2003 and the James F. Guymon Lecture in 2007. He has coauthored more than 100 presentations at ASEV national meetings, served on its Board of Directors, developed the first ASEV workshop (on HPLC in 1980) and proposed the first ASEV Poster Session in 1981. His contributions to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, at UC Davis, were recognized with the 2010 Faculty Award of Distinction.

Read Boulton’s Full Talk

Jerry Lohr Selected to Receive ASEV’s Highest Honor

Davis, Calif., November 10, 2010… Jerry Lohr, president and owner of J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, has been selected by the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) to receive the prestigious Merit Award, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the wine industry. The ASEV Merit award, which has previously been granted to industry leaders such as Ann C. Noble, Robert Mondavi, Louis P.Martini, Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo, will be presented during the ASEV’s National Conference on June 21-24, 2011, in Monterey, California, near the location where Jerry Lohr planted his first vineyard in 1972.Lohr was selected for the ASEV Merit Award on the basis of his many accomplishments in the industry, especially those that reflect his commitment to research and education.

“Highly respected by the industry for his vast knowledge and practice of California winegrowing, Jerry Lohr exemplifies the Society’s standards for the Merit Award,” said Lyndie Boulton, ASEV executive director. “His leadership, dedication and vision to cultivate an appreciation for wine – from vineyard to bottle – illustrate his passion for creating a sustainable industry.”

Jerry Lohr established J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines as one of the world’s great independent wineries, with an acclaimed 3,700-acre estate program spanning the Central Coast and Napa Valley. As a respected member of the industry, Lohr uses his extensive knowledge of the California winegrowing process to address the subject from a wide range of perspective – from scientific to agricultural.

“The ASEV’s leadership efforts have helped researchers, students and industry representatives advance the wine industry’s technical position worldwide, for the benefit of all,” said Jerry Lohr. “As a longtime California winegrower with a passion for wine education, I’m deeply honored to receive this distinction from ASEV.”

After taking root in the Arroyo Seco region of Monterey County and Paso Robles, Lohr has built a notable portfolio of wines over the decades, which includes J. Lohr Estates, J. Lohr Vineyard Series, J. Lohr Cuvée Series and J. Lohr Gesture. He has helped to build the reputation of both regions, cementing Monterey County and Paso Robles as significant winegrowing regions in California. But Lohr’s dedication goes beyond J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines. His work on behalf of the entire industry has included posts as director and chair of the Wine Institute and chair of the Monterey Winegrowers Council. He is also one of the founding members of Wine Vision, a group that promotes a long-range view of the wine industry. Additionally, Lohr founded the National Grape and Wine Initiative, a coalition representing winegrowers, wineries and academic institutions committed to improving the industry. In 2007, the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science at UC Davis honored Lohr with its Award of Distinction; in 2008, the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance named him Wine Industry Person of the Year; in 2010, the New York Institute of Technology awarded him its Professional Excellence in Oenology distinction; and most recently Wine Enthusiast Magazine named J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines 2010 American Winery of the Year.

Life among the Grand Crus

Davis, Calif., May 6, 2010… Ellen Butz, a 25-year veteran of wine production, works as a consultant at Vintage Winery based in Indiana. Since 1988, Butz has been a member of the board of directors of the ASEV Eastern Section and played a key role in the chapter’s development. She was an active chapter board member for eight years, holding positions as chairperson and treasurer. Butz’s extensive wine career has taken her around the world. In 1995, she received a notable honor when the Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance invited her to participate. As a result, she spent two weeks in Tirana, Albania, with a project title of “Wine Quality Control Technology and Applied Research,” followed by one week in Krasnodar, Russia, working with the Temryk Small Scale Wine Production Project. Butz co-authored the book Commercial Winemaking, From Grape Growing to Marketplace with Dr. Vine, and upon her retirement in 2007, she and Richard Vine established Vintage Winery Consultants.

Read Butz’s Full Talk

The Impact of ASEV on Wine Science and Winemaking in Japan

Davis, Calif., May 6, 2010… Since the early 1980s, Dr. Yokotsuka has served as the executive director of the ASEV Japan Chapter and was instrumental in its formation and ongoing operations. Dr. Yokotsuka is also professor emeritus and vice president and executive director for research and planning at the University of Yamanashi. He has worked with the University since 1970, when he began as associate professor of enology. He also studied enology in California at UC Davis. During Dr. Yokotsuka’s 38-year tenure, he has conducted chemical studies of the relationship between wine quality and grape components. As a result of his extensive career, he has published 100 papers in English journals, 54 papers in Japanese journals, 35 reviews and 10 books.

Read Dr. Yokotsuka’s Full Talk