- Fall 1999 "Update" Newsletter Article -
Research plantings
yield winning wines
Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved.
Research trials on the campus of California State University, Fresno, have led to production of new award-winning wines, including a Shiraz judged "Best of California" in the prestigious California State Fair competition held recently in Sacramento.University winemaster Ken Fugelsang brought home armloads of awards for five wines that were among the first produced by Fresno State’s new commercial winery. Several of the wines, including the Shiraz, came from grapes grown in university research trials over the last several years.
The Shiraz wine was produced from Syrah grapes grafted onto Teleki 5C rootstocks and grown on Fresno State’s University Farm, located near the center of California’s San Joaquin Valley. Production began in 1996 as part of a study of red wine grape varieties directed by Keith Striegler, a research scientist and former director of the Viticulture and Enology Research Center (VERC).
The Syrah cultivar is known to have originated in France and is widely grown in Australia. Its most notable asset, stated Striegler in first outlining his project, is its ability to thrive in hot, dry regions. The Syrah grown at Fresno State underwent different pruning treatments, including hand, machine and minimal pruning.
Preliminary results from that project suggested that Syrah "is a promising red wine grape cultivar for the San Joaquin Valley," Striegler wrote in a 1997 CATI research report titled "Effect of Production System on Vegetative Growth, Yield, and Fruit Composition of Syrah Grapevines Grown in the Joaquin Valley." That assessment proved accurate under Fugelsang’s winemaking skills. Out of 88 entries in its class at this summer’s state fair, the Fresno State 1998 Shiraz won top honors and a double gold rating, scoring 99 out of a possible 100 points.
In addition to the Shiraz, four other Fresno State wines won awards at the fair. They were the 1998 Sunshine, Chardonnay and Barbera, which received silver medals, and a Valley Nouveau, which received a Bronze. Several varieties used in blending these wines were grown in another Fresno State study focusing on canopy management practices for red wine grapes. The study, which included Syrah, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Barbera, and Merlot varieties, also revealed promising data.
"Syrah and Barbera had high yield, good vegetative growth, and acceptable fruit composition. Cabernet Sauvignon had good yield, good vegetative growth and the best fruit composition," wrote J.A. Affonso and Striegler in a report titled "Evaluation of Cultivar and Canopy Management Practices for Wine Grape Production in the Southern San Joaquin Valley."
Fresno State is the first and only university in the nation to be licensed to produce, bottle and sell wine commercially. Production in 1998 was limited to lots of 600 cases for the various vintages, Fugelsang said. The 1998 lot of award-winning Shiraz is sold out, with a few cases still left of the other wines, he added.
The publications mentioned in this article are available for viewing on the CATI website at cati.csufresno.edu/verc/rese. Single copies also may be ordered by using the form on Page 7.
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