The Field Blend Project

This week on The Field Blend Project we talk with Dr. Alix Whitener, a PhD in entomology in Washington State. Dr. Whitener works as a technical services and regional manager at a major company in Washington and the Pacific Northwest and today we talk about phylloxera and integrated pest management.

Alix (Dr. Whitener) explains to us the mode of infection for phylloxera, the history of phylloxera, and how rootstocks can combat phylloxera. In addition, Alix also explains to us what integrated pest management is, how it may change from organic to conventional, and how we can use IPM to our necessity and great benefit with minimal intervention.

This is a fantastic episode for viticulture and the first PhD on the podcast - we hope you enjoy the outcome and please let us know what you think!

Music: “Kingsfold” by Cahalen Morrison and Eli West

Please leave us a review and rate us! 

Our goal in producing this podcast is to make wine and wine knoweldge accessible to everyone, so if there's anything we can do to better that experience for you please do let us know. We strive for inclusion, challenge, community, and excitement for knowing more. If we fall short on any of these or fulfill any of these please do send us a note by either rating and reviewing us or you can drop us a line at [email protected].

Cheers, friends

Hi, all!

On this week’s episode of The Field Blend Project we sit down with Pete Turrone of Booker and My Favorite Neighbor in Paso Robles to talk about the concept of manipulation in winemaking and when you have crossed the line from winemaking to manipulation. Is there a line? Is this theoretical line more of a blur? What are the three primary ways we can think of manipulation in?

Pete has his B.S. in Biochemistry from Cal Poly and began winemaking when he realized his love for being outdoors and interacting with this entire process. His biochemical lens and the way he approaches this conversation is evident in this podcast.

If you've ever wondered what manipulation can look like, how we can categorize it, and the incredibly challenging decisions a winemaker has to make when navigating this space, this will be a great episode for you!

We hope hope you enjoy this episode and have a great week!

Music: “Kingsfold” by Cahalen Morrison and Eli West

Please leave us a review and rate us! 

Our goal in producing this podcast is to make wine and wine knoweldge accessible to everyone, so if there's anything we can do to better that experience for you please do let us know. We strive for inclusion, challenge, community, and excitement for knowing more. If we fall short on any of these or fulfill any of these please do send us a note by either rating and reviewing us or you can drop us a line at [email protected].

Cheers, friends

 Natural Wine with Megan Bell

On this week’s episode of The Field Blend Project we sit down with Megan Bell of Margins Wine to discuss natural winemaking and all that those terms may encompass.  Alyssa, Megan and I discuss what it means to be a natural winemker and the defintions of a natural wine, the regulations (or lack thereof), and Megan's philosophical beliefs behind why she chooses to make wine the way she does.

Megan has her background in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis (and she tells a funny story as to how she got there) and now sources exclusively organic and sustainable produce for her winemaking from the central California Coast.

If you've ever wondered what natural winemaking looks like, why someone may choose to make natural wine, and what you can expect from Megan in the future I think this will be a great episode for you.

We hope hope you enjoy this episode and have a great week!

Music: “Kingsfold” by Cahalen Morrison and Eli West

Please leave us a review and rate us! 

We’re honestly not super sure of what it does, but it seems to be important and we want to spread the love, so we would very much so appreciate your help in doing that!

 The Field Blend Project - Enology with Abbey Chrystal

On this week’s episode of The Field Blend Project we sit down with Abbey Chrystal and discuss the day-to-day life of an enologist. We discuss the kinds of analyses we perform as well as what those tests can and cannot tell us. In addition, we also discuss how you can transition from a traditionally lab based scientific background into the cellar. 

I met Abbey in 2013 when I was tasting around the Santa Cruz Mountains (SCM) and she helped me find my first job in the SCM. Abbey uses her graduate level scientific background to create a critical niche for herself in the Santa Cruz Mountains and as a consequence is a staple for the SCM wine industry. 

If you've ever wondered that we do every day, what our life looks like as a cycle of the year, and what the assays that we perform in the lab actually do, this will be a wonderful episode for you!

We hope hope you enjoy this episode and have a great week!

Music: “Kingsfold” by Cahalen Morrison and Eli West

Please leave us a review and rate us! 

We’re honestly not super sure of what it does, but it seems to be important and we want to spread the love, so we would very much so appreciate your help in doing that!

Early V vinifera Genetics

On this week’s episode of The Field Blend Project we dissect early Vitis vinifera (V vinifera) genetics. We discuss Dr. Carole Meredith and her early pioneering work discovering the parentages of some of the most prominent grape varieties in modern viticulture and winemaking.

Dr. Carole Meredith is a graduate of UC Davis and went on to be a Professor of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. Her work uses a technique called “microsatellite analysis” to determine parentages via genetic analysis of specific regions of chromosomes. 

Today we outline how microsatellite analysis works, what an experiment looks like, what the data can tell you, and what the data cannot tell you. We create mock data together, analyze the data, and explain how we find confidence in this data. 

What can this kind of data tell us about V vinifera? Why should we care about parentages of V vinifera cultivars? Does this type of genetic analysis help us better understand what we mean when we say “genetically conserved, but not identical”?

The paper referenced in today’s podcast:

Bowers J, Boursiquot J, This P, Chu K, Johansson H, Meredith C. “Historical Genetics: The Parentage of Chardonnay, Gamay, and Other Wine Grapes of Northeastern France”. Science. 285-5433: 1562-1565 (1999).

Music: “Kingsfold” by Cahalen Morrison and Eli West

Please leave us a review and rate us! 

We’re honestly not super sure of what it does, but it seems to be important and we want to spread the love, so we would very much so appreciate your help in doing that!

Welcome to The Field Blend Project Podcast! 

Here we aim to converge science, wine, art, and education to create resources for a community of scientists, artisans, and the wine industry. We will use this platform to dissect niche topics in wine from a scientific perspective. We look forward to many conversations with this community and thank you for your support!

For more information please visit thefieldblendproject.com

Music: Cahalen Morrison and Eli West: "Kingsfold"