2021 Oregon Wine Symposium | Irrigation Research and Management Strategies | Investigación sobre riego y estrategias de gestión

Dr. Nazareth Torres holds a bachelor degree in biochemistry (2013) and a master’s degree in biomedicine research (2014) from the University of Navarra (UN) in Spain. She conducted her Ph.D. in the Plant Stress Physiology Group at UN entitled, “Influence of the mycorrhizal inoculation on phenolic composition and antioxidant capacity of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cv. Tempranillo in different climate change scenarios” (2018), getting the maximum score, the International Doctorate mention and the 2018-2019 Extraordinary Doctorate Award of UN. In 2019 she started her postdoctoral research at the University of California, Davis, working in several projects related to viticulture. Her area of expertise involves irrigation management, soil health, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi-grapevine symbiosis and climate change mitigation.

Dr. Alexander (Alec) Levin is a viticulturist at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center (SOREC) and assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University. He also is a core faculty member of the Oregon Wine Research Institute (OWRI), and serves as the chair of the Grape Genetics, Physiology and Management working group in the International Society for Horticultural Science. Dr. Levin completed his Ph.D. in horticulture and agronomy at UC Davis investigating physiological differences in drought responses among several red wine grape cultivars. Since 2016, he has been leading the Southern Oregon viticulture research and extension program at SOREC, located in the heart of the Rogue Valley. Dr. Levin conducts applied viticultural research focused in the fields of grapevine water relations and ecophysiology, and vineyard irrigation management. His ultimate research goals are to develop sustainable vineyard management practices tailored to production goals.

Dr. Simone D. Castellarin obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Udine in 2007. He has studied and worked as a scholar at the Hochschule Geisenheim University (Germany) and at UC Davis (USA). In 2009, he received the Rudolf Hermanns Prize (Geisenhem, Germany) for outstanding scientific achievements in horticulture and viticulture.

Simone investigates the ripening processes in grapes and the biological mechanisms that determine grape and wine quality. Moreover, he studies how grape quality is affected by environmental factors (temperature and water availability). He is developing viticultural strategies (irrigation, crop management, hormone applications, leaf removal) to improve ripening and the production of phenolics and aromatics in grapes.