The extension and industry relations team was busy as usual these last few months.  We had a booth at the virtual Unified Symposium in January 2021, and although we did not have as many people stop by, those who did had some fruitful conversations.  We presented three “On Campus” programs via Zoom: Healthy Vineyard Soils; Wine Regulations; and Recent Advances in Viticulture and Enology (RAVE). 

We also presented three On the Road Programs for: Kern County with Tian Tian; Madera, Merced, and Mariposa Counties with Karl Lund; and Alameda and Contra Costa Counties with Kamyar Aram.  Recordings of the On the Road programs are available on our YouTube Channel.  In addition, on April 27, we hosted Episode 15 of “Office Hours with Dave and Anita: Honoring Glenn McGourty!”  Glenn talked about some of the projects he worked on during his 30+ years as a Viticulture and Plant Science Advisor for Lake and Mendocino Counties, which resulted in so many lively discussions that we ran out of time.  We are so thankful for his many years of service, and wish him good luck with his new job, representing District 1 on the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors.

Since January of this year CE Specialist (in Enology) Anita Oberholster has, in addition to the extension events organized by UCD V and E, also contributed to the content of various symposia, group meetings, news stories, and podcasts. Examples include her participation in panels at the 2021 Wine and Grape Unified Symposium focused on grape smoke exposure and red wine color; her participation in the Oregon Wine Symposium, in the section titled “Up in Smoke”; as well as presentations at Lodi Grape Day, for the Paso Robles Wine Alliance, at the Laffort Rendezvous, the Napa Valley Vintners roundtable, and the Women in Wine forum. 

Meanwhile, our CE Specialist in Viticulture, Kaan Kurtural, organized and spoke at all three sessions of the Lodi Winegrape Commission’s ‘Water Management Workshop’, offered in partnership with UCANR during April and May.  Kaan is a member of the Committee on Drought with UC ANR and Cal DWR.  They put together UC ANR Drought Tips for the North Coast and San Joaquin Valley and they also recorded a webinar titled, “UC ANR Mitigating Drought for Wine Grapes.”  Kaan made 22 farm calls related to delayed Spring Growth/Cold Damage in Lake, Mendocino, and Sonoma Counties.  In addition, Kaan was the featured speaker at a tailgate meeting in the foothills, with Lynn Wunderlich (UC ANR Central Sierra Viticulture Farm Advisor) which covered “Delayed Spring Growth and Cold Damage.”

We are planning a couple more virtual programs over the summer and then planning for (hopefully) in-person programs starting in the Fall.  On June 7, we are hosting a DEI Program via Zoom from 9:00 am until about 12:30 pm.  There is no charge to attend, but you must register.  On June 17, we are hosting our 16th episode of Office Hours with Dave and Anita:  Delayed Spring Growth and Cold Damage in the Vineyard.  This episode will feature Kaan Kurtural, Larry Bettiga, and Mark Battany.  We will take a small break around ASEV, Macrowine, and July 4th, returning on July 27 for Office Hours Episode 17:  Harvest readiness in times of wildfires, with Anita Oberholster as our featured speaker.  We have scheduled the first On Campus program for November 10, with Kaan Kurtural hosting a seminar on Canopy Management.  The program will include tastings from Oakville Experimental Station Trials.  We are also planning for an Alumni Celebration on December 3, 2021 (This is the 4th date we have set (due to COVID) for this celebration of 140 years of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis).

We hope to start visiting various regions soon.  We are planning to visit Shasta, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Central Sierra (Foothills), and Sonoma Counties, so if you are in one of these areas and would like to hear about a certain topic, please email us.  We are thankful for the AVF extension grants we have received and for the additional support we receive through our Extension and Industry Relations Partnership program.

We will keep you informed as to the status (in-person or virtual) of future events as more information becomes available. If you are not already receiving extension programming information and would like to be added to the distribution list, please contact Karen Block or Caroline Firman.