by Linda McCandless
Geneva, NY - "Build it and they will come," could well be the motto of the new 2,000 sq. ft. Vinification and Brewing Technology Laboratory (V&BTL) which is due to open at Cornell University at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY, in the next 6-12 months. The project is being launched at a press conference and wine tasting at the Station on Tuesday, July 8, when Scott Osborn delivers a $5,000 contribution on behalf of the Seneca Lake Wine Trail in support of the new facility.
"Industry will be able to use the new facility to develop uniquely New York wines, beers, meads, vinegars and other fermented products by working closely with scientists at the Experiment Station," said Mark McLellan, director of Cornell University's Institute of Food Science (CIFS), and chairman of the Food Science & Technology department at Geneva. "Together, we will also use it to train students and industry personnel and as a proving ground for new technology and equipment.
"Suppliers and manufacturers will also be able to use the space to place pilot scale winery and brewing equipment to run small scale trials and offer operational and testing courses for people in the winemaking and brewing industries," he continued. "Currently, there is nothing likes this in the East."
McLellan expects the new fermentation facility to be shared by wineries, breweries, suppliers, and equipment manufacturers, as well as educators, consumers, national associations, and students, all of whom will directly benefit from the teamwork, expertise, and services that the Station can provide.
The Institute already offers extensive technical expertise to the food industry in five other Cornell laboratories: the New York State Food Venture Center, the Fruit and Vegetable Research Pilot Plant (both at Geneva); and the Food Processing and Development Laboratory, the USDA Approved Meats Laboratory, and the Seafood and Poultry Product Development Laboratory (on the Ithaca campus).
The Vinification and Brewing Technology Laboratory's inception is being celebrated on July 8, from 3-5 pm, when Scott Osborn, president of the Seneca Lake Wine Trail Association, delivers a check for $5,000 to Station Director Jim Hunter.
"The Seneca Lake Wine Trail is helping to finance the development of this fermentation facility because we believe it will help the industry produce more and better wines," said Osborn, president of Fox Run Vineyard and Winery in Penn Yan. "By giving us better information on how to improve our products, we will be better able to compete in the national and international wine markets." Osborn noted that the wine industry in California has been supporting fermentation research for years.
"The $5000 contribution is the first contribution from industry and it represents a momentous first step," said Station Director Jim Hunter. "We will use the money to begin renovations by adding additional utilities, floor drains, and an analytical lab and office to the existing space, which is a former machine shop, and sealing and painting floors and walls."
Long term renovations will include independent access with loading dock and ramp for fork lifts; sloping and tiling the floor; and adding additional staff support. Plans are for the west end of the facility to focus on brewing. Equipment will include a mash lauter, boiling kettle, fermenters and tankage. The east end will hold three 200-500 gallon storage tanks and an office/lab. The central workspace will include a stemmer and crusher, fermenter and pasteurizer.
Funding is expected to come from a variety of sources. Initially, the Station will rely heavily on contributions from industry to help get the facility up and running. Equipment manufacturers are being contacted for in-kind donations of pilot scale winery and brewery equipment, including tankage, presses and filtration units. More extensive renovations are scheduled as part of the major construction project that SUNY expects to start in the next three years. Funding for staff support is one of the positions included in the Station's $2.5 million GENEVA Plan currently before the New York State legislature.
An Industry Fundraising Team will be in place this fall and is being chaired by Domenic Carisetti, manager of winemaking at Canandaigua Wine Company, who has more than 20 years of experience in the wine industry in New York.
"The Vinification and Brewing Lab to be built at the Agricultural Experiment Station represents a commitment to excellence and innovation as we enter the next millennium," said Carisetti. "The Seneca Lake Wine Trail Association's generous donation underscores their commitment to excellence. These wineries know that their return on this investment will be magnified through new products, preventive management, new processes/systems/technology, cost improvement and education. There is no limit to the possibilities."
There is a strong tradition of applied research at the Station. Researchers have been making major contributions to New York State agriculture for 117 years, and the grape and wine industry have been particularly well served. Food scientists have developed proven expertise in enology, brewing, fermentation, quality assessment of beverage products, flavor, engineering, process technology, and food safety. Horticultural scientists have developed new varieties of wine and juice grapes particularly suited to the New York microclimate, and made innovative changes in the growing, training, and feeding of grapes for the juice and wine industry. Entomologists and plant pathologists have focused on managing insects and diseases.
In the last 20 years, New York has emerged as the #2 wine producing region in the country, behind California, which is #1. There are 110 wineries in the state; 96 of which have been established since 1976, when the NYS legislature passed the Farm Winery law. New York is first in the nation in terms of grape juice production, and second in total grape acreage. In New York, there are 1,000 vineyards, covering 33,000 acres, producing 175,000 tons of grapes annually, worth $40 million. Of those grapes, 50% are used for grape juice and 45% are used for wine.
Thomas Henick-Kling, who runs the Station's Enology Program, looks at the facility as "an important resource" for teaching and applied research. "In the joint viticulture and enology program, we will be able to expand our evaluations of grape quality and vinification techniques, expand the size of our fermentation lots and test new equipment," he said, noting that the current winemaking facilities in the Station's Fruit & Vegetable Research Pilot Plant are limited. "We have reached the limit of fermentation lots that we can process and the floor space to add new processing equipment," said Henick-Kling. "The expansion will allow us to bring in more small lots of grapes from collaborating commercial vineyards for experiments in grape maturity, grape selection, and processing techniques."
Henick-Kling is equally optimistic about the growth potential for specialty breweries in New York State. "The first microbrewery in the Finger Lakes will open at Wagner Vineyards in August, and they will be producing 6 specialty beers," he said. "Microbreweries as well as established regional and national breweries will benefit from these facilities."
Kathleen Russell, secretary of the western New York district of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas, said members are very enthused about this new facility. "There are three large breweries in upstate New York, and 35 to 40 microbreweries," she said. "Microbreweries are a growth segment of the brewing industry in New York as well as many other regions of the country."
"Those larger breweries with national and regional offices include Anheuser-Busch, in Baldwinsville, F.X. Matt in Utica, and Genesee in Rochester, and there are a growing number of microbreweries," said McLellan. "We offer them an East Coast facility for the purpose of training, applied research, technical support, and demonstrations. We hope to do as much for the brewing industry in the next 20 years as we will be for the wine industry."
Currently, Karl J. Siebert, Terry Acree, Chang Lee, Robert Kime, McLellan, Henick-Kling and other food scientists at the Experiment Station perform research in a number of areas related to fermented beverages, including alcoholic fermentation, yeast, flavor, honey filtration, and the chemistry of haze and foam. The Station also offers technical seminars, workshops, tastings, technical analysis, and quality assurance of beverages and other food products.
In addition to wine and beer, other fermented beverages that will be developed and tested at the new facility include mead, hard cider, fruit wines, and vinegars. "Beyond that, the only limit is the imagination," said McLellan. "This will be a facility for people in the industry to try new ideas and new technologies, to operate and test new equipment, and try out new products that just may be too radical for full-scale production right off the bat."
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