Grape Wine Collaboration

The Penn State Grape and Wine team is committed to effectively addressing grape and wine production and quality challenges in the eastern US by fostering strategic relationships across disciplines and institutions.

This team has proven itself to be successful in securing extramural funding to conduct a number of collaborative research projects over the past 10 years. SNIP funds will further allow the team to explore creative solutions by inviting researchers and extension specialists at other universities (e.g., Cornell, Virginia Tech, and selected 1890 land-grant institutions) to participate in working group meetings/workshops. Stakeholder concerns will be identified through a series of needs assessments. Under the “Advanced Agricultural and Food Systems” umbrella, the team will develop a cohesive plan for coordinating and synergizing multistate, multi-institutional, and multidisciplinary (viticulture, pathology, entomology, enology, sensory, and marketing) efforts. It is expected that deliverables will include a USDA-NIFA SCRI and a USDA REEU proposal that will be submitted at the conclusion of this project. With a team already in place, Penn State is poised to be a leading institution in promoting a cutting-edge viticulture and enology research program that is recognized at national and international levels.