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Earnest ‘Bubba’ Beasley, HydroGeo Environmental, LLC
Bubba first brought his expertise in the earth sciences to the wine industry in 2005, working in tasting rooms in Central Virginia. He has a unique perspective on local viticulture, having built the foundation of his earth science knowledge in the Mid-Atlantic, a region with highly variable and complex geology. His Virginia Wine Board research in the recent years has shed light on non-invasive geophysical surveying techniques, which facilitate efficient mapping of soil variations as they relate to vine performance and wine quality. He is currently working with a team of viticulturists and geologists to study how the mineralogy of vineyard soils in
Virginia affects grape chemistry. Mr. Beasley is a Virginia Certified Professional Geologist with a B.S. in
Geology from James Madison University, an M.S. in Geology from The University of Georgia, and is currently pursuing a Viticulture certificate.
Jim Benefiel, Benevino Vineyards
Jim established his first vineyard outside Winchester, VA in 2002. He now has 25 acres under vine in the Shenandoah AVA. He has been recognized as a premium grower, his grapes having contributed to numerous State, national, and international awards, most recently the 2014 Governor’s Cup; Williamsburg Winery’s Adagio. He has been an officer of the Virginia Vineyards Association for the past 6 years, and has actively promoted research and educational efforts to improve Virginia grape quality.
Tom Burke, VDACS
Tom is a Pesticide Investigator for the VDACS, Office of Pesticide Services. He has been in his current position with OPS since January of 2002 and with the Virginia of
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services since 1996, joining VDACS as an inspector with the Weights & Measures and the Feed, Seed, and Fertilizer programs. Tom has an undergraduate degree in Biology from Virginia Commonwealth University, and has been actively working with regulatory interpretation and enforcement matters for approximately 3 decades.
Skip Causey, Potomac Point Winery
Skip, along with his wife, Cindi, are Widewater residents who had a dream of opening up their own winery. The Causeys trace their interest back to the early 1990s when they started visiting wineries in the Napa Valley and Sonoma regions of California. They based
Potomac Point Vineyard and Winery on multiple Mediterranean cultures, Italian, French,
Spanish as well as American – specifically Napa and New Orleans, opening in 2007.

Doug Doohan, Ohio State University
Doug is a Professor and State Specialist in the Department of Horticulture & Crop
Science at Ohio State University. He is located at the Ohio Agricultural Research and
Development Center in Wooster and holds a 75% appointment with OSU Extension. Dr.
Doohan grew up in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He received his training at The
Nova Scotia Agricultural College, University of Guelph, and North Carolina State University. Prior to joining
Ohio State, he was Provincial Weed Specialist in New Brunswick and IPM Team Leader in Nova Scotia.
Julien Durainte, DuCard Vineyards
DuCard comprises 7 acres of French vinifera and native Virginia varieties, located at an elevation of 1,000 feet on a picturesque slope in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and are tended by winemaker, Julien.
DuCard produces grapes that reflect the rocky soils and rugged landscape of Madison County, Va., and yields wines of unique character and complexity.
Mark Fedor, North Gate Vineyard
Mark has been a part of the winemaking and grape growing scene in Virginia since 2002.
He and his wife, Vicki, together established North Gate Vineyard on their 26-acre farm just north of Purcellville in Loudoun County, VA. The first grapes were planted in 2002 and the winery was licensed in 2007. Currently, Mark and Vicki run North Gate in their
LEED Gold Certified Tasting Room and Production Facility, the first of its kind in
Loudoun and the second in Virginia. Mark received a BS in Computer Science in 1986 from the State University of New York at Oswego, and was one of the early pioneers in developing the network technology, which formed today’s Internet.
Marc Fuchs, Cornell University
Marc was born and raised in the grape growing region of Alsace in France. He received his Master’s and PhD degrees from University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. Marc joined the Department of Plant Pathology at Cornell University in 2004 with research and extensive responsibilities on viruses of vegetable and fruit crops. He has worked on fanleaf and leafroll viruses over the past 25 years, and more recently on red blotch virus, developing rapid detection techniques, understanding their dissemination, and investigating management strategies.
Karl Hambsch, Loving Cup Vineyard and Winery
Karl is the vineyard manager for Loving Cup Vineyard & Winery, an organic vineyard in
Albemarle County. Karl's #1 piece of advice for a prospective grower is to “seek the advice of a viticulture consultant as early in the process as possible (like before your vines are ordered)”.
Tremain Hatch, Virginia Tech
Tremain works to deliver innovative research to Virginia grape growers to improve their sustainability and fruit quality. Tremain first became involved in the Virginia wine industry in 2002 when he helped his father install a vineyard on their cattle farm.
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Tremain has completed a master’s degree in viticulture at Virginia Tech with Dr. Tony Wolf. Tremain competed vineyard internships in Italy, New Zealand and Virginia. He continues to help on his family farm with their livestock, vineyards and winery. Tremain has been in his current role with Virginia Tech since 2010.
Cain Hickey, Virginia Tech
Cain’s main research interests include understanding environmental effects on vine growth and grape composition as well as optimizing common vineyard management practices to increase concentrations of grape compounds that positively impact wine sensory perception. After he is finished with his graduate work, he hopes to continue to work in viticulture, by educating growers, students and conducting research.
Chris Hill, Glendower Vineyard
Chris earned his BS (1976) and MSc (1980) degrees in horticulture at Virginia Tech. He went on to establish Glendower Vineyard in Albemarle County with George and Kathleen
Jackson in the fall of 1981. He planted Vidal Blanc obtained from Doug Flemer at
Ingleside Plantation and cuttings obtained from Lucie Morton the following spring. Chris harvested a beautiful crop from some of those same vines this past September (“Thanks
Doug; thanks Lucie”). Chris continues his commercial wine grape production and is a paid consultant with nearly 35 years of industry experience.
Greg Jones, Southern Oregon University
Greg is the Director of the Division of Business, Communication and the Environment and a professor and research climatologist in the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Southern Oregon 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 holds a BA and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in Environmental
Sciences with a concentration in the Atmospheric Sciences. He conducts applied research for the grape and wine industry in Oregon 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 wine economics, grapevine phenology, site assessment methods for viticulture, climatological assessments of viticultural potential, and climate change. He was named to Decanter Magazine’s 2009 Power List representing the top 50 most influential people in the world of wine, named the Oregon Wine Press’s 2009
Wine Person of the Year, and has been in the top 100 most influential people in the US wine industry in 2012 and 2013 (intowine.com).
Taylor Jones, Virginia Tech
Taylor joined Virginia Tech in 2010, working both in the lab and field, utilizing plant pathology, entomology, and viticultural practices to study grapevine viruses and their vectors in the state of Virginia.
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Paolo Lenzi, Virginia Tech
Paolo is a plant molecular biologist, currently working as a Research Associate at the Alson H.
Smith Jr. AREC, Virginia Tech, Winchester, VA. He holds a PhD in Plant Biotechnology. As a student and as a post-doc at the John Innes Centre (Norwich, UK), he worked on the production of plant-based vaccines and biopharmaceuticals, using a variety of plant transformation techniques. He currently works on North American Grapevine Yellows, an insect-transmitted disease of grapevines, caused by phytoplasmas.
Jim Law, Linden Vineyard
Jim is the owner/winemaker of Linden Vineyards and winegrower of Hardscrabble. He studied in Europe.
Two years teaching agriculture, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zaire, led to the desire to grow grapes.
Jim’s first vineyard job was in Indiana where he traded work for a place to live. He then got a real job in Ohio, at Chalet Debonne, where he learned the nuts and bolts of grape growing and cellar work. In 1981 Jim was hired to start a winery in the
Shenandoah Valley where he fell in love with the area and the viticultural possibilities. In the mid 1980s, while establishing Linden Vineyards, he consulted for other wineries and taught winegrowing at local community colleges.
Molly Kelly, Virginia Tech
Molly joined Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, as
Enology Extension Specialist in the Food Science and Technology Department in December
2013. Previously she held the position of enology instructor at Surry Community College in
Dobson, N.C., where she developed the enology curriculum and managed all aspects of the college’s 1,000-case bonded winery. Under her direction, Surry produced numerous international award-winning wines. Prior to her position at Surry, she was a biodefense team microbiologist with the New York State Department of Health. She completed a Ph.D. in food science under the direction of Dr. Bruce Zoecklein in 2013. Her dissertation research focused on the characterization of the aroma composition of Petit Manseng.
Matthew Meyer, The Williamsburg, Winery
Born in Great Britain, Matthew learned to appreciate wine from his Father. It was this early passion for wine that took Matthew to the University of California at Davis, where he obtained a double degree in Oenology and Viticulture with a minor in Business and
Marketing. In addition to schoolwork, Matthew also worked part time in the Sierra Foothills and as a research assistant. Upon graduation Matthew worked for Grgich Hills Wine Cellars in Napa Valley California. In 1998 Heitz Wine Cellars hired Matthew. In 2002 Matthew moved to Williamsburg Virginia where he took the position of winemaker, and soon after promoted to Executive Vice President, and now a small shareholder. In addition to making wine for The
Williamsburg Winery, Matthew also makes wine in Mendoza, Argentina every year, and along with his wife,
Elena, has a wine brand called “M”. When not making wine, Matthew consults for other wineries and gives lectures and seminars to many different organizations, both nationally and internationally.
Lucie Morton, Morton Viticulture
Lucie is an independent viticulturist based in Virginia. She is an internationally recognized author, ampelographer, lecturer, and consultant. Her higher education in viticulture occurred
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in Europe, while her practical education began as vineyard manager on the family farm along the banks of the
Potomac River, Virginia-side. She is working on a new book on rootstock called The Roots of Fine Wine to be published by University of California Press.
Martha (Marty) Mueller, Geisenheim University
Marty has an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Furman University and a Masters in
Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis. Following her graduation she landed in the Virginia wine industry after a year of working internationally. Here she worked as a winemaker for
Virginia Wineworks and later Barren Ridge Vineyards until 2014 when she moved to Germany.
She is currently working as a lecturer in the Wine Sensory department at Geisenheim
University in the Rheingau region.
Mizuho Nita, Virginia Tech
Since 2009, when Mizuho joined Virginia Tech, his focus has been to conduct research to improve grape and other plant disease management, and bring the findings to stakeholders through extension activities.
Charlotte Oliver, Virginia Tech
Charlotte is a graduate student in the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed
Science and most recently joined the Grape Pathology lab at the Alson H. Smith Jr. AREC in Fall 2013. Oliver is currently working on a disease called ripe rot of grape, where she is investigating effects of environmental conditions and cluster development on the infection, as well as screening of fungicides for the management of this economically important grape disease. She recently won the Graduate Student Research award at American Phytopathological Society's Potomac
Division Meeting in March 2014.
Doug Pfeiffer, Virginia Tech
Doug has belonged to the faculty of the Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, since
December 1981. His research and extension programs emphasize vineyard, small fruit and orchard crops. Important insects in recent years have been Japanese beetle, grape root borer, grape berry moth, and the sharpshooter vectors of Pierce’s disease. However, current attention has largely shifted to spotted wing drosophila and brown marmorated stink bug, two invasive pests attacking multiple fruit crops, including grapes and caneberries. Dr. Pfeiffer teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in integrated pest management, and a graduate course in insect morphology. He co-directs the college’s Online Masters in Agricultural and Life Sciences degree program.
Greg Rosko, Piedmont Virginia Community College
Since 2007 Greg has been with the college as Program Manager, Viticulture and Enology.
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Jeanette Smith, VineSmith, Inc.
Jeanette began working in Virginia vineyards in 1981 while studying Horticulture at Virginia
Tech. Since receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1983, she has been involved in the planning, management and maintenance of wine grape vineyards in New York, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Jeanette has worked as a vineyard laborer, manager, agricultural extension agent and consultant. She founded VineSmith in 1998. She lives on her farm in Shenandoah County, Virginia.
H. “Rock” Stephens, The Vineyard at Point Breeze
Rock, along with his wife Kris, own The Vineyard at Point Breeze, a twelve-acre vineyard, located on
Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Rock has a Masters in Business Administration from Michigan
State University and is a graduate of The Executive Program, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, at The University of Virginia. After serving his country for
27 years he retired a Captain (Navy). He has been an active member of the Virginia
Vineyards Association since 1997 and served two terms as President. In 2009 he was the first grower representative ever to be elected as Chairman on the Virginia Wine Board, a position he served in until November 2013. In February 2011, he was awarded the 2011 Grower of the Year by the Virginia
Vineyards Association.
Mary Beth Williams, Williams Compliance and Consulting Group
Widely recognized as one of the foremost authorities on beverage compliance, founder
Mary Beth Williams designed Williams Compliance to be a nimble, knowledge-based company. Based on her background and experience, Williams knew West Coast wineries had been using compliance companies for years to bring in an expertise in the area at a significantly lower cost. She believed East Coast producers should have the same opportunity. Taking the calculated risk that all entrepreneurs face, she left her prestigious position as one of the state’s legal eagles and founded Williams Compliance. Today
Williams Compliance serves dozens of clients in the eastern United States.
Tony Wolf, Virginia Tech
Tony is professor of viticulture with Virginia Tech. His graduate education included an MSc at the Pennsylvania State University and a PhD at Cornell University. His current research, funded chiefly by the Virginia Wine Board and by the USDA’s
National Institute of Food and Agriculture, is aimed at vine size management, enhanced grape and wine quality potential, optimized vine nitrogen status, and management of North
American Grapevine Yellows disease. In addition to his viticulture research and extension roles, Dr. Wolf teaches an undergraduate level, 3-credit, online viticulture course, and serves as Director of Virginia Tech’s
AHS Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Frederick County.
Jay Youmans. Master of Wine
Jay has tasted wine professionally for 30 years. He is the Educational Director and owner of the Capital Wine School. Jay has served as a wine judge for numerous wine competitions, and is an Advanced Level Sommelier, a Certified Wine Educator (CWE), and Washington, DC’s only Master of Wine.
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