Conference brings muscadine, bunch-grape researchers to Arkansas on Oct. 3-5

By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Muscadine and bunch-grape growers and researchers have tended to move in their own circles. Until now.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture will host the North American Grape Breeders and Vitis-Muscadine Alliance Conference on Oct. 3-5 at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Science, 1371 W. Altheimer Drive, in Fayetteville.

Fruit breeder Margaret Worthington holds "clamshell" containers of muscadines during a tour of the Fruit Research Station in Clarksville in 2021. (U of A System Division of Agriculture file photo)

“To my knowledge, the conference is one of the first national attempts at a collaboration of people working with Vitis and Muscadinia,” said Renee Threlfall, a research scientist, enology and viticulture for the division’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, and director of the Arkansas Quality Wine program. “Muscadines are very ‘regional’ so many U.S. consumers have never heard of them, never mind having tasted a muscadine grape or a product made from muscadines.”

“Vitis” is the genus that encompasses all grapes, whether they’re grown for food or wine. Bunch grapes — which include those used for wines, raisins and eating fresh — and muscadines, each belong to a separate subgenus. And that’s where things get interesting.

Muscadines, with their distinct flavor and thick skins, have 20 chromosomes, one more than bunch grapes. However, researchers see benefits in creating a hybrid of the two. That decades-long quest is driven by several factors such as being able to lend some of the muscadine’s disease resistance to the table grapes.

“Breeding efforts between these genera have already begun, resulting in new grape cultivars, some with attributes like Vitis, some like Muscadinia, but also many with attributes of both,” Worthington said. “This project is important because we believe there is much more to be gained in future collaborations, bringing the best of two powerhouse grape species together.”

The conference is the culmination of work conducted under a Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA. Threlfall and Margaret Worthington, associate professor and fruit breeder for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, obtained the grant in 2022.

The event is comprised of the North American Grape Breeders Meeting on Oct. 3. The following day includes a tour of the Division of Agriculture’s research vineyards and wineries. Oct. 5 is the Vitus-Muscadina Alliance Conference.

The conference will include discussions of breeding, production, marketing and economics. Threlfall also said the results of a survey on consumer preferences for fresh-market grapes will be revealed at the conference.

“We conducted an online survey of more than 900 consumers from all U.S. regions, asking their preferences for fresh-market grape options,” Threlfall said. “These preferences will be used to inform future breeding efforts.”

Attendance is by invitation. For more information, contact Renee Threlfall at rthrelf@uark.edu.

Learn about the Division of Agriculture’s grape-breeding program.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.

New president of American Society for Enology and Viticulture has Arkansas ties

By John Lovett
U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A former University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture fruit extension specialist was recently confirmed as the new president of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, an organization that supports grape growers and winemakers.

GRAPE MAN — R. Keith Striegler, outreach specialist for E. & J. Gallo Winery and former extension specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, was recently named president of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture. (Photo courtesy National Grape Research Alliance)

R. Keith Striegler, grower outreach specialist at E. & J. Gallo Winery in Modesto, California, succeeded Tom Collins of Washington State University as the 2022-2023 president of the national organization on July 1. Striegler earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in horticultural food science from the University of Arkansas before obtaining his doctorate at Michigan State University.

“Keith has a great understanding of grape and wine production in California and the rest of the nation,” Renee Threlfall, research scientist of enology and viticulture with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture. “Keith is very integrated with the industry, and he has experience in not just research but also teaching, extension and the wine and grape growing industry.”

Striegler served as second and then first vice president of the society before his recent advancement to president. He said next year will mark 50 years since he first began working in the grape growing and winemaking industry. It all began, he said, while still in high school working for Justin Morris, the prominent grape and wine researcher with the Agricultural Experiment Station. Morris, who died in 2014, was widely respected and influential throughout his long career.

“One thing he taught me early on is that there is always a response to a practice in the field which impacts the quality of the product. This is true whether you are working with juice, wine or any other of the many uses of grapes,” Striegler said of Morris.

Sara Spayd, a past president of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, was also a student of Morris.

“Keith is well prepared for the role of president of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture,” Spayd said. “As graduate students at the U of A under the late Dr. Justin Morris, we attended, participated in and learned the value of our professional societies.”

Spayd noted Striegler’s extensive experience with the national grape producer and winemaker industries from the perspective of not only California but also the South, Midwest. and Eastern U.S.

Raised on a family farm near Fayetteville, Arkansas, Striegler has been a member of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture since 1980. He is also a board member of the National Grape Research Alliance as well as holding memberships in the American Society for Horticultural Sciences, the American Pomological Society, the International Society for Horticultural Science, and the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology.

Striegler said his favorite aspect of working in the grape industry has been the vast array of products that can be made from the fruit. He said that the wide number of uses, and variety of grapes has kept the work challenging and rewarding.

In addition to wine, there are grapes for eating and adding to fruit cocktail. Grapes are also pressed for juices, dried and eaten, and even the leaves are used for the appetizer dolmas.

John R. Clark, Distinguished Professor of horticulture for the University of Arkansas, pointed to Striegler’s skills and style of communication as a major attribute to his success.

“He is not only knowledgeable, but he can convey information in a warm, easy, understandable manner,” Clark said. “That makes him among the best in his profession across the country. When I hear Keith speak, I almost always think of his advisor and mentor, Dr. Justin Morris, who provided Keith with the inspiration that he carries out in his role in viticulture today.”

Clark calls Striegler “one of our national leaders in viticulture in the United States” because he is not only well-versed in viticulture in California, the largest wine-producing state, but he also knows viticulture “inside and out in our much more challenging environment of the Eastern United States.”

Before joining E. & J. Gallo Winery, Striegler worked as an outreach coordinator for the National Clean Plant Network and in various administrative, research, and extension positions at the University of Arkansas, Fresno State University, University of Missouri, and Missouri State University.

Striegler was an extension fruit specialist for the Division of Agriculture from September 1998 to June 2003. From 2011 to 2014, he was the proprietor of Flint Ridge Winegrowing Services in Fayetteville.

The American Society for Enology and Viticulture was officially formed in 1950 and now has about 2,400 members, 100 industrial affiliates and three chapters including the Eastern U.S. Chapter, the Pacific Northwest Chapter and the Japan Chapter, according to the society’s website.

“We are all about information and education to influence, motivate and mentor the next generation of leadership,” Striegler said of the society. “Membership in the American Society for Enology and Viticulture gets you access to scientific results, and if you’re a student it gets you access to scholarships. We link students to senior members of the society for a free exchange of information.”