Winemakers Research Exchange

Winemakers Research Exchange PROMOTING INDUSTRY RESEARCH: The Winemakers Research Exchange (WRE) is a research cooperative for any and all wineries interested in participating.

The Winemakers Research Exchange is group of winemakers engaged in practical research at the production level in wineries across the state of Virginia with the objective of learning, improving, and sharing results. The primary focus of the WRE is on enhancing wine quality and economic profitability through the evaluation of different vineyard and winemaking practices on the chemical and sensory characteristics of finished wine. The WRE helps wineries plan projects that are of interest to each individual winery to ensure acceptable levels of scientific rigor, consults with winemakers on how to successfully implement these projects, coordinates shipping of samples, organizes and funds laboratory analyses, sets up sensory sessions on experimental wines, and summarizes and presents results in a coherent, transparent, and public manner. These services are all provided to the winery free of charge. The WRE’s ability to provide strong results is improved by widespread winery participation, as well as by multiple wineries performing similar experiments to compare the effect of different treatments across wineries throughout similar regions.

Thankful to for hosting our sensory tasting session today. The support of our industry partners is vital to what we do.
04/14/2026

Thankful to for hosting our sensory tasting session today. The support of our industry partners is vital to what we do.

Thankful to Bluestone Vineyard for hosting our sensory tasting session today. The support of our industry partners is vi...
04/14/2026

Thankful to Bluestone Vineyard for hosting our sensory tasting session today. The support of our industry partners is vital to what we do.

All set up for a day of education with the industry

We are pleased to see a WRE experiment highlighted in WineBusiness Monthly and to see our own Emily Hodson and Joy Ting ...
03/10/2026

We are pleased to see a WRE experiment highlighted in WineBusiness Monthly and to see our own Emily Hodson and Joy Ting mentioned.

WRE is pleased to be presenting at the joint Annual Meeting of the Maryland Grape Growers Association and the Maryland W...
01/28/2026

WRE is pleased to be presenting at the joint Annual Meeting of the Maryland Grape Growers Association and the Maryland Wineries Association (Maryland Wine) today.

If you are attending, please say hello!

The WRE is pleased to highlight research just published in the journal “Beverages” focused on Petit Manseng in Virginia....
08/02/2025

The WRE is pleased to highlight research just published in the journal “Beverages” focused on Petit Manseng in Virginia. You can find the entire publication at https://doi.org/10.3390/beverages11040108.

This is work funded by the Virginia Wine Board, performed as a collaborative effort with and .

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Emily Hodson and Ben Jordan, two of our WRE board members, are presenting today as part of the Virginia Resistant Variet...
07/16/2025

Emily Hodson and Ben Jordan, two of our WRE board members, are presenting today as part of the Virginia Resistant Varieties (ViRV) project, a collaborative grape-breeding initiative between the Virginia wine industry and USDA‑ARS (Agricultural Research Service). This project is funded by the Virginia Wine Board and USDA ARS via a CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development Agreement).

This is an innovative, region‑focused grape-breeding project that seeks to combine wine quality and disease resistance tailored for Virginia’s vineyards. By bringing together academic, government, and grower expertise with modern breeding tools, the goal is to launch new varieties in the next decade, enhancing sustainability and profitability for Virginia winegrowers.

Last sensory session this year: "Enhancing the Profile of White Wines: Approaches to Creating Structured, Layered, and A...
07/11/2025

Last sensory session this year: "Enhancing the Profile of White Wines: Approaches to Creating Structured, Layered, and Age-Worthy Varietals."

Included was a discussion of the sensory impacts of mannoproteins.

The recording is now available at https://youtu.be/UDDiquHKp3w

Our final sensory session for this year focused on "Enhancing the Profile of White Wines: Approaches to Creating Structu...
07/09/2025

Our final sensory session for this year focused on "Enhancing the Profile of White Wines: Approaches to Creating Structured, Layered, and Age-Worthy Varietals."

Included was a discussion of the advantages, disadvantages, and potential challenges associated with the technique of lees aging.

The recording is now available at https://youtu.be/UDDiquHKp3w

Our final sensory session for this year focused on "Enhancing the Profile of White Wines: Approaches to Creating Structu...
07/08/2025

Our final sensory session for this year focused on "Enhancing the Profile of White Wines: Approaches to Creating Structured, Layered, and Age-Worthy Varietals."

Included was a discussion of the mechanism of yeast autolysis,

The recording is now available at https://youtu.be/UDDiquHKp3w

Our final sensory session for this year focused on "Enhancing the Profile of White Wines: Approaches to Creating Structu...
07/07/2025

Our final sensory session for this year focused on "Enhancing the Profile of White Wines: Approaches to Creating Structured, Layered, and Age-Worthy Varietals."

We were pleased to have Winemaker Melanie Natoli from Cana Vineyards and Winery of Middleburg join us to delve into her experiment investigating the impact of extended lees aging on her Albariño. The discussion covered the advantages, disadvantages, and potential challenges associated with this technique.

Winemakers from across Virginia participated in a blind tasting of the outcomes, offering their sensory evaluations and selecting their preferred wine.

The recording is now available for your review at https://youtu.be/UDDiquHKp3w

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Charlottesville, VA

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