Missouri Grape Growers Association Field Day with Richard Smart

June 27, 2019

Missouri Grape Growers Association and the Grape and Wine Institute will be hosting Richard Smart for the MGGA Field Day at Les Bourgeois Winery and Vineyards. Smart, most widely known for his book “Sunlight into Wine,” will provide in-depth seminars on the topics of canopy management and grapevine trunk diseases. The MGGA and Missouri Vintners Association will also conduct their annual business meeting during the day.

Register

Les Bourgeois Winery and Vineyards
Rocheport, MO

Agenda

8:30–9 Registration/Meet with Sponsors and Exhibitors

9–9:10 Welcome and Introductions

9:10–12 Presentations:

Identifying and Managing Grapevine Trunk Disease: Should We Bother to Control Them, as Does the Rest of the World?

Canopy Management: How to Do it Properly for Maximum Profit and Wine Quality

12–1 Lunch and Industry Updates:

Missouri Grape and Wine Alliance
Missouri Wine & Grape Board

1–1:30 Business Meetings: MGGA and MVA

1:30–4 Field Demonstrations: Grapevine Trunk Disease Canopy Management

About Richard Smart

Dr. Richard Smart is best known for his pioneering studies in winegrape canopy management, techniques applicable to modern and high vigor vineyards leading to improvements in yield, and wine quality and reductions in some diseases. He is author of the award-winning definitive book on canopy management “Sunlight into Wine.”

His recent interests include grapevine trunk diseases, a problem that is threatening vineyards the whole world over. Dr. Smart has attended and spoken to scientist and grower meetings on the subject, as well as authored many articles; he has developed pruning and training methods and protocols to overcome the problem in mature and young vineyards and in mothervine source blocks.

Dr. Smart has been aware of fossil fuel burning-induced climate change since around 1974; he has been lecturing and writing about the implications for the world wine industry since. He is author of the saying “the wine industry is the canary in the coalmine for the world’s agriculture.” More recently, his activities have concentrated on mitigating climate change by encouraging wine sector activities such as the use of prunings and pomace as an alternate energy source.

Throughout his career, Smart has had extensive contact with the wine making sector in Australia and overseas, and is familiar with wine making technology, wine products and the international wine market. He also has extensive experience speaking to farmers and grower organizations.

A feature of Richard Smart’s career has been an interest in publication of technical articles in trade journals for the benefit of grapegrowers and winemakers. These publications number well over 200 in Australia, USA, NZ and, more recently, UK. He has also published scientific papers in journals and conference proceedings and books, including as the viticulture editor of the Oxford Companion to Wine.

Over recent years, Smart has co-authored papers about enology, including development of a new red wine fermentation technique known as ACE, which has led to the development of a commercial machine DTMA by Della Toffola of Italy.

Please extend a thank you to the Missouri Wine Marketing and Research Council for providing funding to bring Richard Smart to Missouri. Many thanks to Sarah Schmidt at Baltimore Bend.