2019 Oregon Wine Symposium | The Road to Clean Nursery Stock and Solutions for Red Blotch

Dr. Robert (Bob) Martin is a research plant pathologist with the USDA-ARS Horticultural Crops Research Unit in Corvallis. His research focuses on the characterization, detection and management of viruses in the berry crops and grapes. He also serves as research leader for the Research Unit, which has 15 research scientists of which 10 work on berries and grapes, and is a courtesy professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University. Bob has been involved with the National Clean Plant Network since its inception in 2007 and serves on the grape and berry NCPN Tier 2 boards. He is also active in the International Committee for Study of Viruses of Temperate Fruit Crops. Bob grew up on a dairy farm in central Wisconsin with five brothers and five sisters and spent many hours harvesting wild berries, milking cows and doing farm work in his youth.

Dr. Patty Skinkis conducts applied research and provides outreach and education programs for the Oregon wine grape industry. Her research program focuses on whole plant physiology studies designed to understand causes and management of vine vigor, physiology of vine balance and their impacts on fruit composition and wine quality. Her research also includes work on bud fruitfulness, yield management, fine-tuning canopy management methods, sustainable viticulture production, and understanding production factors that drive industry adoption. As extension specialist, Patty develops educational programs and informational publications for the statewide industry. Her outreach efforts include bringing industry members together in technical groups to foster information exchange between academics and industry. Her efforts in outreach expand beyond that of Oregon, as she is involved in national extension efforts and serves as second vice president on the board of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture.

Dr. Alexander Levin is a viticulturist at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center (SOREC), an assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University, and core faculty member of the Oregon Wine Research Institute (OWRI). He completed his Ph.D. in horticulture and agronomy at UC Davis investigating drought responses among red wine grape cultivars grown under several deficit irrigation regimes at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Since 2016, he has been stationed at SOREC in the heart of the Rogue Valley, and conducts applied research in the fields of grapevine water relations, ecophysiology and vineyard irrigation management. He is an integral part of the viticulture team at the OWRI, whose goals are to develop sustainable vineyard management practices tailored to production goals.

Leigh Bartholomew attended the University of Oregon, then University of California, Davis, where she earned her master’s degree in viticulture. She has worked in wine regions around the world, meeting a host of people from a variety of cultures along the way. She gained experience at such respected properties as Domaine Denis Mortet in Gevrey Chambertin; Seresin Estate in Marlborough, New Zealand; Robert Mondavi Winery in California; Cain Vineyard and Winery in California; Caliterra/Viña Errázuriz in Chile; and Andrew Will Winery in Washington. Leigh joined Results Partners Vineyard Management company in 2014 as the director of viticulture, after working 14 vintages for a local estate vineyard and winery. Leigh and her winemaker husband, Patrick Reuter, co-own Dominio IV Winery in McMinnville.

Dr. Deborah Golino has been the director of Foundation Plant Services (FPS) since 1994. FPS is a unit of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at University of California, Davis. FPS is dedicated to the distribution of disease tested, true to identity plant materials produced by UC researchers or improved by technology developed by UC researchers. At this time, FPS is responsible for programs for grapes, strawberries, fruit trees, nut trees including pistachio rootstock, sweet potatoes and roses. These programs have played a key national and international role in distributing new crop varieties and healthy planting stocks. Deborah is also a cooperative extension specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis, participating in teaching, extension and service. Her research program is directed at improving specialty crop plant material. She is an author of over 100 scientific publications in plant pathology.