2021 Oregon Wine Symposium | Extreme Heat Events and Their Impacts on Grape Development | Eventos de calor extremo y su impacto en el desarrollo de la uva

Dr. Gregory V. Jones is the director of the Evenstad Center for Wine Education, holds the Evenstad Chair in Wine Studies, and is a professor and research climatologist at Linfield University. He specializes in the study of climate structure and suitability for viticulture and how climate variability and change influence grapevine growth, wine production and quality. He conducts applied research for the grape and wine industry in Oregon and many regions worldwide and has given hundreds of international, national and regional presentations on climate and wine-related research. He is the author of numerous book chapters and other reports and articles on climate and wine-related research.

Dr. Benjamin Bois is an assistant/associate professor (“maître de conference”) at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France. He teaches viticulture, GIS, terroir and climatology at the University Institute of Vine and Wine (IUVV – Institut Jules Guyot). His research, performed within the Climate Research Center (Biogeosciences Lab, University of Burgundy) focuses on climate-viticulture relationships. He focuses specifically on the analysis of climate features at various spatial scale levels, from local temperature and rainfall variability at local scale to winegrowing regions’ climate characteristics analysis worldwide. Benjamin has served as vice president of the Viticulture Commission of the International Organization of Vine and Wine since 2019.

Dr. Thibaut Scholasch is one of the founders of Fruition Sciences, a company specializing in vine health and viticulture consulting. Fruition works with wineries worldwide towards the renewal and transformation of vineyard operation decisions. The shift is based on the deep knowledge and understanding of plants’ needs considering the impact of local climate, terroir and varietals.

Thibaut leads a team of passionate viticulturists. Their research has generated practical applications for Fruition’s clients, for example: 1) data-based monitoring of vine functions and data-driven decision making; 2) development of a method that achieves significant water savings in arid and irrigated wine regions (Australia, California, Israel, Chili, Portugal, France); 3. solution to improving production, sustainable viticulture, vineyard resistance to drought and vine performance prediction. Thibaut and his team are focusing on the impact of global warming on vine development stages and fruit composition. He has created a conference series called Vintage Report to share his knowledge and new results.

Dr. Joanna Gambetta has studied in Peru, France and Australia. She has a master’s degree from Montpellier SupAgro in oenology and viticulture and a Ph.D. in wine science from the University of Adelaide. Her previous research has focused on the determination of objective parameters to assess the quality of Chardonnay grapes, juice and wines. Some of Dr. Gambetta’s research focus includes the determination of the effect of different biotic and abiotic stresses on the aroma composition of grapes and wines by combining field experiments, advanced analytical techniques and chemometrics. She is currently working at the South Australian Research and Development Institute on finding practical solutions to delay maturity as well as on modelling vine phenology in an Australian context.