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Minnesota Aims To Breed Fruit for All
June 23, 2026 | Good Fruit Grower
The University of Minnesota launched a new licensing arm last fall called Superior Fruit Innovations to direct-market exclusive U of M fruit varieties to growers in the U.S. and Canada. The program is currently focused on three new table grape and three apple varieties. The grapes are cold-hardy seedless table grapes marketed as the Northern Glo series. Specifically, they are MN1369 (now named LumiGlo), MN1296 (EmberGlo) and MN1325 (ShadowGlo).
BIENESIS Begins Deploying 800 Robotic Vineyard Canopies in France and Italy
June 17, 2026 | Vinetur
A French agritech startup called BIENESIS is deploying more than 800 “La Canopée” retractable robotic canopies in vineyards across France and Italy this year to help growers protect grapes from frost, hail, heat waves and heavy rain. The tech is designed to cover vine rows only when weather conditions require it. Two robotic arms deploy a technical fabric above the vines in less than one minute and retract it once the risk has passed. The company says the tech remains out of sight 95% to 98% of the time and can be controlled remotely by smartphone.
April Freeze Stunts 2026 Local Wine Season
June 12, 2026 | The Frederick News-Post
The late-season freeze that set in the early morning of April 21 was one of the worst in Maryland history, said Sara Kidd of the University of Maryland Extension, Frederick County. In the hardest hit vineyards, the stunted growth left behind means the vines will produce no crop. “It will be very difficult for our members to source enough grapes from Maryland because the entire Mid-Atlantic was impacted,” said Janna Howley, the executive director of the Maryland Wineries Association. In response, the state temporarily waived the requirement that Maryland wine be made from at least 51% Maryland fruit.
Researchers Inch Closer to Rapid Smoke-Impact Detection Tool, Seek Grape Sensory Thresholds
June 11, 2026 | WineBusiness Monthly
At the West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force Annual Smoke Summit on June 8, USDA-ARS Research Chemist Arran Rumbaugh shared several promising research advances. The team has identified a commercial technology that can identify smoke-impacted wines from samples within five minutes. They are also establishing sensory thresholds for smoke-marker compounds in grapes, and using on-the-vine simulated exposures to better correlate with real-world fire events. And ARS, UC Davis and InnoVint are partnering to create a database that will provide baseline levels of volatile phenols and glyco-conjugates by cultivar for comparison. It should be accessible by next season.
There’s Something in the Substrate
June 7, 2026 | Offrange
From compost to soil enhancement to bio-enthanol, pigment and packaging, researchers are finding that spent mushroom-growing substrate may have beneficial uses. “It’s early in the process for repurposing this material at scale. But work so far suggests that a solution to many intractable issues may already be there, buried in the substrate,” Offrange reports.
Mothballing vs Removal: Vineyard Decision Guide and Workshop
June 5, 2026 | Bragato Research Institute
The need to remove or mothball vineyards isn’t unique to the U.S. New Zealand’s Bragato Research Institute has developed a yes-no decision tree and model economic analysis to help kiwi winegrowers evaluate the full range of considerations when deciding what to do about their vineyard in a down wine economy.
Innovative Strategies the Wine Industry Is Using To Adjust to Climate Change
June 5, 2026 | ABC News
As excessive heat threatens 70% of the world’s wine-growing regions, producers are finding new ways to adapt. A vineyard in the Willamette Valley is preserving its Oregon white oaks and, at the same time, replenishing mycelium populations in their vineyard’s roots and increasing biodiversity. A California estate adheres to regenerative practices, practicing no-till farming and maintaining cover crops to enhance soil health and improve water-holding capacity.
Interception of Copper-Based Fungicides by Cover Crops: A Way To Prevent Soil Contamination in Vineyards?
June 5, 2026 | Ives Technical Review
The use of copper (Cu) fungicides in viticulture has led to the accumulation of Cu in vineyard topsoils, threatening soil health and the sustainability of vineyard ecosystems. This study examines the potential of cover crops as “umbrella” plants to intercept Cu from Cu fungicides before it reaches the soil, and investigates the mechanisms by which Cu might be retained by leaves exposed to these fungicides. Sourced from the research article: “Interception of copper fungicides by cover crops as a way to prevent soil contamination in vineyards?” (Journal of Environmental Management, 2026).
Scientists Retire ‘Implausible’ Worst-Case Climate Scenario
June 5, 2026 | Science Friday
An international team of researchers released a study finding that a worst-case climate scenario considered in past Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports is now “implausible.” The scenario, known as RCP8.5, posited that temps would rise 4 degrees C (8 degrees F) by the end of the century. The revision came after years of criticism from climate scientists, a recognition that some of the elements in the scenario (like coal-fueled cars) were ridiculous and the fact that some progress has been made. But even though this may seem like good news, “there’s an important caveat,” says an environmental correspondent on this podcast. “We are still targeting pretty extreme climate change that’s going to have dire effects on the planet.”
Climate Change and Wine Grapes: Go, Stay or Change?
June 4, 2026 | Cornell Chronicle
Researchers at Cornell developed a framework to help winegrape growers better understand their options for an evolving climate, using Napa Valley as a model. Should growers use shade cloth to adapt their vines to hotter temps, switch to heat-tolerant grape varieties that might not fetch the same price, or move production to a cooler region? The team surveyed wine consumers to see how such business decisions affected what people would pay. Consumers “appear to be willing to pay a price premium as winemakers adjust to their new normal”…at least temporarily.
Doing More with Less: Vineyard Automation Becomes Lifeline for Growers Under Pressure
June 1, 2026 | WineBusiness Monthly
“Across California and the Pacific Northwest, vineyard operators are making hard decisions about which acres to keep, which to pull and how to farm what remains at a cost structure that pencils out,” reports WineBusiness Monthly. “Automation has increasingly become a central part of that answer, not as an investment in some future efficiency but as a practical, near-term tool to survive a brutal market cycle.” Even just a few cents per vine can add up to huge savings.
OSU Research Identifies Native Microbes That May Protect Wine Grapes
June 2026 | OSU Extension Service
Oregon State University researchers have discovered that two types of naturally occurring bacteria slowed the growth of the fungus that causes Botryosphaeria dieback more substantially than a commercially available product used as a comparison. The native strains worked well across all temperatures tested, including 50°F. That matters because pruning often happens in cooler weather, when available disease-management products may be less effective.
Study Guides Magnesium Decisions in Oregon Vineyards
June 2026 | OSU Extension Service
A three-year study of Pinot noir vines in Oregon’s Willamette Valley found that magnesium sprayed on leaves reduced visible symptoms of magnesium deficiency but did not improve vine growth, yield or fruit composition. The study also found that leaf blades collected at veraison were a better indicator of vine magnesium status than leaf petioles collected at bloom, which are more commonly used for nutrient monitoring in the U.S. By helping growers avoid unnecessary inputs, this research can support more efficient nutrient management while reducing costs and environmental risk.
Trellis Talks: Understanding Napa’s Unusual Growing Season with Daniel Swain
May 28, 2026 | Grown in Napa Valley
Tune in to this podcast to hear climate scientist Daniel Swain explain California’s unusual 2026 growing season and its record-breaking spring heat. He explains the complex relationship between climate change and extreme weather. He also delves into the developing El Niño, which he predicts could be historic. Daniel encourages farmers to see the shifts as opportunities to rethink water management through groundwater recharge, floodplain restoration and capturing excess winter runoff.
The Science Behind Dry Farming
May 25, 2026 | SevenFifty Daily
“As the practice has gained traction across the wine industry, our understanding of dry farming and what it takes to make it work has flattened almost to the point of distortion,” reports SevenFifty Daily. Doing it successfully requires knowledge of annual rainfall thresholds, soil depth and composition, vine age and rooting capacity of the varieties and rootstocks grown. “With climate change making it harder to predict when and where sufficient rainfall will occur, dry farming has only become an increasingly more complex system for winemakers to navigate.”
ViViD-5K: Vineyard Vision Dataset for Field-Based Berry Detection and Segmentation and Grape Cluster Closure Estimation
May 23, 2026 | Cornell arXiv
The rate and relative tightness of cluster closure can significantly impact disease risk, but efforts to track this progression using visual scoring methods are labor-intensive, subjective, lack temporal resolution and therefore aren’t useful for deep learning models. Researchers at Cornell have assembled ViViD-5k, a large-scale in-field Vineyard Vision Dataset containing 5,000 densely annotated images spanning 13 grape varieties. Building on this dataset, they also introduced GrapeSAM, a two-stage visual pipeline that enables automated, in-field estimation of cluster closure with minimal supervision, supporting high-throughput grape phenotyping with enhanced spatial detail.
In the War Against Lanternflies, East Coast Wineries Are Getting Creative
May 22, 2026 | Wine Enthusiast
The Loudoun County, VA, Scrape for the Grape initiative enlists local wine enthusiasts to scrape spotted lanternfly egg masses from vineyards and surrounding areas. Over three years of the program, 2,300 volunteers have participated. Based on self-reports of the number of SLF egg masses destroyed, at an average of 30 SLF eggs per mass, volunteers have eliminated nearly 20 million lanternflies, organizers say. But whether or not scraping makes a difference in SLF populations, participants go home with a personal, tangible stake in the success of the winery for whom they’ve done battle…and often a wine club subscription. Scrape for the Grape organizers are preparing the event as a blueprint for other regions.
Do Plant Growth Regulators Have a Place in Winegrapes with Dr. Matthew Fidelibus
April 28, 2026 | Vineyard Underground
Tune in to this podcast as UC Davis’ Matt Fidelibus breaks down the use of plant growth regulators (PGRs), such as gibberellic acid, abscisic acid and ethephon, in table, raisin and wine grape production. PGRs can influence berry size, cluster architecture, color development, and ripening, and are commonly used in table grape production. But in winegrapes, their application is more nuanced. Even small misapplications potentially can affect fruit set, bud development or yields across multiple seasons.
Climate Change and the Future of Hybrid Grapes
April 1, 2026 | WineBusiness Monthly
“Hybrid grape varieties, particularly the cold-tolerant ones, can play a strategic role in the future of our wine industries and help buffer the effects of extreme weather on production and revenue,” reports WineBusiness Monthly. But that doesn’t mean that, as the climate changes, all vineyards must be converted to hybrid varieties. Many producers are working to identify a mix of vinifera and hybrid varieties that tracks with their climate vulnerabilities, ensuring they will “always have a crop and always be able to produce a new vintage of wine that will sustain them into the next year.”
UC is Leading the Sunpreme and Other Natural DOV Raisin Research with More Research Needed
Feb. 25, 2026 | UCCE San Joaquin Valley Trees and Vines
Sunpreme was the first of a new generation of raisin grapes bred to naturally dry on the vine, a genetic trait that enables completely mechanized production. However, this promising DOV variety also is prone to preharvest fruit drop (shatter), making it potentially difficult to fully dry the fruit in years with heavy crops or poor drying conditions. UC scientists are studying the underlying physiology of both traits to identify management strategies that can help.
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