February 12, 1998
by Linda McCandless
Geneva, NY - Do not expect much activity in area wineries and vineyards the first week in April because most of the winemakers, owners, salesroom staff, and grape growers in New York, Pennsylvania, the Great Lakes Region, and Canada won't be there. Instead, they are invited to attend the annual New York Wine Industry Seminars, Workshop and Unity Banquet scheduled for April 2-4 in Geneva, NY.
"This year's program will contain four main segments," said workshop organizer Thomas Henick-Kling, who is the Cornell University enologist at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. "Regulations, business outlook, financing and insurance; personnel management and wine marketing; training for tasting room staff; and a wine sensory workshop will cover a wide gamut of needs."
On Thursday, April 2, the New York Wine & Grape Foundation (NYW&GF) will hold seminars on the business of wine. Jim Tresize, president of the NYW&GF encourages winery owners, general managers, marketing directors and key decision-makers to attend. There will be legislative and regulatory updates, a perspective on the New York grape and wine industry, and a much-anticipated research report by Leroy Creasy that demonstrates that New York wines contain more resveratrol than wines from most other regions. The unity banquet and dance will be held Thursday evening, after the "Uncork New York" wine reception.
On Friday, the NYW&GF will offer a special day-long sales training session and a series of tourism-oriented seminars for winery owners, marketing directors and tasting room managers.
The 27th Annual NY Wine Industry Workshop seminar topics on Friday afternoon will include BATF update for winemakers, a report on whether New York's grape supply can match the wine industry needs, making great wine in the vineyard, a review of the 1997 growing season, fruit maturity and wine quality, notes on selected cultivars, and a wine industry dinner. On Saturday, April 4, Terry Acree, a sensory scientist at the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station, will run a wine sensory workshop on "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Review of Wine Aromas." Topics will include wine tasting methods, the physiology and psychology of flavor perception, good cellar management, microbial stress aromas, reducing sulfur stink, aromas of terroir, flavor maturation, oak flavors, brettanomyces, improving wine quality, cork and chemical taints, and others.
The event is being sponsored by Cornell University's Department of Food Science & Technology at Geneva, the NYW&GF, and Cornell Cooperative Extension.
For the first time ever, the seminars, banquet and workshops will be held at the Geneva Lakefront Ramada Inn, in downtown Geneva, NY. "We have outgrown the Station meeting facilities," said Henick-Kling, who expects well over 100 participants.
For reservations, contact Teresa Knapp at the NYW&GF at 315-536-7442, uncork@nywine.com. Participants may register for each segment separately. Update information is available on the WWW at http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/faculty/henick/wiw/index.html
Contact: Linda McCandless, Communications Services
Telephone: (315) 787-2417
e-mail: llm3@cornell.edu
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