Wine

University of California, Davis, scientists will lead a collaborative effort to study grapevine red blotch disease, which threatens the $162 billion U.S. grape industry. The virus causes red veins and blotches on grape leaves. The fruit on diseased plants is smaller, ripens more slowly, and its sugars and colors are muted.

When it comes to hands-on learning, Isabelle Straka doesn’t limit herself to the classroom. The second-year master’s student in Viticulture and Enology puts newly acquired skills to the test in producing her own wine label.

Northern California fires will have some impact on the wine industry 

On-going wildfires have created great devastation in Napa and Sonoma Counties and have spread into Mendocino and Solano Counties as well. This region is among California’s best known wine-growing regions and many are interested in how these fires damage the wine industry and affect grape and wine supply and markets.

Local climate and environmental conditions leave a specific "fingerprint" on the composition of wine.

Regionally distinctive groups of bacteria and fungi, associated with local climate and environmental conditions, may leave a very specific “fingerprint” on a wine’s chemical composition, report University of California, Davis, researchers who collaborated on a new study with two Napa Valley wineries.