“Good Chemistry" → VTCRC President & CEO Brett Malone discusses how drone technology is making Virginia’s wine industry a global player with Bruce Zoecklein & Mickey Cowden

About: Bruce Zoecklein & Mickey Cowden

Cowden Family Farms vineyard and Cowden Technologies

Creating Virginia wines that showcase the uniqueness of being grown and produced in the Appalachian Region.

Enology and Viticulture @ Virginia Tech

Research in enology is focused primarily in the area of grape and wine flavor components in addition to evaluation of vineyard management and processing alternatives. The influence of grapevine canopy management on the incidence of fruit rot metabolites and their effect on native grape aroma components is currently being investigated. Viticultural and enological practice affecting grape phenols and their polymerization and stabilization is also investigated. The evaluation of new cultivars and the wines produced from those cultivars attempts to provide practical information to enhance the growth and development of the Virginia wine industry.

Emphasis Areas

• Relationships between vineyard management and grape aroma components
• Grape and wine flavor component isolation and characterization
• Grape and wine phenols and phenol stability
• Processing methodologies for flavor enhancement
• Evaluation of new cultivars

The Analytical Services Laboratory, part of the Wine/Enology Grape Chemistry Group at Virginia Tech, was established to fulfill the analysis requirements of the regional wine industry.  

The goal of this analysis program is to provide very rapid turn-around, with optimum precision and accuracy.

Designed as a fee-based, full-service enology laboratory, we provide chemical, physical, microbiological and sensory analyses, including standardized reagents.  The services are available to wineries in any state, including importers and wholesalers.  Additionally, we provide analytic procedures to the individual wineries as requested.  These procedures are equipment-relevant, and do not necessarily reflect the types of analyses performed at the Enology Service Lab.

For data reporting a secure website has been established.  Results of analyses are only available to the individual winemaker and to select staff members of the Enology Service Lab.  The data is posted as results are obtained.  Results of previous analysis are continuously maintained, allowing winemakers to see trends in their juice, must, or wine samples.  The website is continuously monitored for security and system back-ups are performed daily to provide the utmost in stability, security, and availability.