MINUTES
FPS GRAPE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, November 20, 2014, 9:00am-noon
Alpha Gamma Rho room, Buehler Alumni Center, UC Davis
Present:
Maher Al Rwahnih, Rasha Aldamrat, Teri Amely, Kari Arnold, Cory Auric, Michele Barefoot, Diego
Barison, Cliff Beumel, Pamela Bond, Ernie Bowman, Rick Burnes, Leslie Caccamese, Sal Captain,
Susan Captain, Greg Clark, David Cox, Sean Dayyani, Vincent Delbos, Alicia Doohan, John
Duarte, Tracey Echeverria, Anna-Liisa Fabritius, Dennis Frick, Deborah Golino, Mona Gouran,
Stan Grant, Isela Guerra, Francois Guillaume, Bob Herrick, Douglas Hill, Dustin Hooper, Christina
Islas, Humberto Izquierdo, Justin Jackson, Justin Jacobs, Jay Jensen, Benjamin Kaesekamp, Eckhard
Kaesekamp, Vicki Klaassen, Joshua Kress, Karl Krist, Brad Kroeker, Carole Lamb, Phuong Lao,
Judy Lee, Lori Leong, Chris Lindelof, Cliff Little, Adam Lovgren, Kristin Lowe, Joanna Luna, Steve
Maniaci, JaRue Manning, Dan Martinez, Peter Matlock, Glenn McGourty, Butch McKinley, Neil
McRoberts, Julie Mercado, Martin Mochizuki, Michael Monette, Judit Monis, Lindsay Moorhead,
Clint Neagley, Edward Nikssarian, Ken Noren, Nicholas Podsakoff, Tyson Porter, Jim Pratt, Josh
Puckett, Scott Quilty, Melinda Richardson, Ted Rieger, Reid Robinson, Adib Rowhani, Tia Russell,
Franco Sannazzaro, Richard Schaefers, Tom Selfridge, Sue Sim, Anthony Silveira, Eugene Sisman,
James Stamp, Bob Steinhauer, Keith Striegler, Nancy Sweet, Stephanie Syphers, Athar Tariq,
Sebastian Traviesa, Jerry Uyemoto, Sara VanAgt, Adolfo Vargas, Alan Wei, Jeff Wheeler, Judy Yang
Agenda Items:
Welcome and Introductions
Dr. Nick Dokoozlian, Chair of the Foundation Plant Services Grape Advisory Committee,
called the meeting to order and asked the attendees to introduce themselves.
Approval of Minutes from November 18, 2013 Committee Meeting
Dennis Frick moved to approve the minutes from the meeting on November 18, 2013. Dan
Martinez seconded and the motion was approved unanimously.
Recent Grape Introductions and Releases
Nancy Sweet, Staff Research Associate at Foundation Plant Services provided a hand-out
and reported on the nearly 60 new grape introductions to FPS in 2014. She also mentioned
that over 200 new accessions achieved 2010 protocol status and were planted at Russell
Ranch.
Updates on Red Leaf Diseases
Dr. Deborah Golino briefly reviewed the history of grapevine red leaf diseases, of which
Red Blotch is the most recently identified. She made reference to Dr. Marc Fuch’s talk at UC
Davis on November 14, 2013 in which he described the process of discovering & learning
about this family of diseases over the last 200 years. He demonstrated that our rate of
gathering knowledge has greatly increased over the history of studying these diseases. At this
time, Koch’s postulate has not been proven for Red Blotch. It may be similar to what Dr.
Harold Olmo described as White Emperor Disease as far back as 1958. We know that
climate affects symptoms, severity of virus infection, strain, and genotype. Red Blotch
infects all types of grapes, wine, table, rootstocks and is widely distributed. At FPS, all sister
vines of each known infected plant were tested and shown to be negative. At this time we do
not know how it’s spread. National Clean Plant Network funding has established the Russell
Ranch Vineyard which has tested 100% negative to Red Blotch. We believe Red Blotch has
been around a very long time, though un-identified until recently. Dr. Maher Al Rwahnih at
FPS tested numerous UC Davis herbarium samples. Testing was done at a lab that had
never tested grapes before to insure no contamination existed. He found a positive result in
a sample of Early Burgundy from Sonoma County collected in 1940. Dr. Al Rwahnih also
found no positive examples of wild grapes.
Sampling for Red Blotch and Leafroll Epidemiology Research
Dr. Neil McRoberts, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology at UC Davis, jokingly said he is
fed-up with playing fireman & would like to concentrate on prevention. He reported that
having the data on epidemiology vs. diagnostics is really only the beginning, there is still
much work to do. There is still a lot of ignorance about both Leaf Roll & Red Blotch. They
believe the neighborhood group approach to dealing with mealy bugs is currently the best
means to controlling the spread of both diseases. They have been able to show a correlation
in increase of disease with periods of intense planting. Unfortunately, the only way to insure
sampling has detected all presence of virus is to test every vine, there is no magic formula.
They are working on a ‘dipstick’ test that can be performed in the field using ELISA
techniques that could allow for decreased testing costs.
New PD resistant grape varieties
Dr. Andy Walker, Professor in the Department of Viticulture & Enology at UC Davis
presented his research on developing Pierce’s Disease resistant varieties. itis arizonica natural
hybrids are resistant in the wild. He sees promise in selections with a high percentage of V.
vinifera that look & taste like wine grapes but have good resistance to PD and glassy-winged
sharp shooters. He cautions, however, that these varieties may act as hosts to GWSS and
that resistance may break down over time. More testing will be done prior to release.
Update on the potential revision of CDFA’s Grapevine Registration & Certification Program
Nick Condos, Director, Plant Health & Pest Prevention Services Division, California
Department of Food and Agriculture, relayed that growers have recently approached CDFA
with concerns about Reb Blotch not currently being part of the program. A focus group
met, where attendees were reminded that the program is voluntary. They agreed to consider
a mandatory program as well as better traceability, stricter block requirements & more
extensive inspection & testing. Possible roadblocks are funding, lack of scientific knowledge
of vectors & testing protocols. There is a basic misunderstanding of what the current
program actually does by the customer, as well as a general lack of confidence. CDFA will
conduct additional focus groups & begin the process of modifying the regulations.
ADAPT – Advanced Database & Plant Testing
Karl Krist, IT Director at FPS demonstrated portions of the new system currently under
development. FPS is a data driven organization & this will be continually modified to reflect
changing needs.
Progress Report on the Activities of the National Clean Plant Network
Dr. Deborah Golino gave a brief history of the NCPN. Created in 2008 initially supporting
grapes & fruit & nut trees, it has grown to include hops, berries & citrus. There was a delay
in funding in 2012 as a result of the Farm Bill not being passed. At FPS, NCPN funding has
made it possible to import a large number of grape selections, establish the new plantings at
Russell Ranch, replace outdated instrumentation & upgrade greenhouse facilities. We
especially thank Dan Martinez who has graciously served on the NCPN committee.
Other Business
There was no other business.
Respectfully submitted,
Carole Lamb
Analyst
Foundation Plant Services