The approaching retirement of Dr. Bruce Reisch, who has led Cornell’s grape breeding program for over 40 years, gives us a chance to take a look at the progress that has been made in developing new grape varieties that are better adapted to an ever-changing environment. The session will include a tasting of a few selections from the Cornell program, including NY81.0315.17, which will have its new name announced during B.E.V. NY!
Bruce Reisch, Professor of Grapevine Breeding, Cornell University
Dr. Reisch specializes in the development of new wine and table grape varieties, as well as modern grape breeding techniques using the tools of genomics, at Cornell AgriTech, the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY. Since joining the Cornell faculty, his program has released 14 new wine and table grape varieties. Disease resistance is a high priority, along with low temperature tolerance and fruit quality, leading to viticultural sustainability and resilience. In addition to his research responsibilities, Dr. Reisch chaired the Grape Crop Germplasm Committee for over 10 years, a national committee advising the U.S. Department of Agriculture efforts to preserve wild and cultivated grapevines. He co-lead the “VitisGen” project to apply next-generation DNA sequencing tools to grape breeding programs across the United States. His studies have taken him to conferences and research stations in Australia, Chile, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Israel, Hungary, Turkey, China, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan. Dr. Reisch has also enjoyed teaching courses in Grapevine Biology, Viticulture, Genetic Improvement of Crop Plants, and general Plant Genetics.
Anna Katharine Mansfield, Associate Professor of Enology, Cornell Craft Beverage Institute
Anna Katharine Mansfield is the associate director of Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, NY, where she also serves as an associate professor of enology in the Cornell Craft Beverage Institute in the Department of Food Science. She received a BA in English from Salem College and graduate degrees in Food Science at Virginia Tech and the University of Minnesota. Mansfield served as Enology Project Leader at the University of Minnesota from 2001-2008, where she developed a new enology extension program to serve the rapidly-developing cold-climate wine industry in the Upper Midwest. She spend a sabbatical leave at l’Institut Universitaire de la Vigne et du Vin Jules Guyot at the University of Burgundy investigating the potential of cork structures to sorb wine flavor compounds. Dr. Mansfield has been a member of the Cornell Enology Extension Lab since 2009, where she strives to aid regional wineries through outreach and applied research on wine phenolics and proteins, sensory perception, impact odorants, and regional typicity.