How Penn State’s Grape and Wine Team is tackling industry challenges in PA and beyond

Did you know that, no matter where you are in Pennsylvania, you’re always less than an hour away from at least one winery? Or that the Pennsylvania wine and grape industry has a direct economic impact of $1.77 billion? Or even that Pennsylvania is fourth in the United States for wine production?

Despite these facts, and while Happy Valley has its own share of beautiful vineyards and wineries, Pennsylvania might not always be your first thought when thinking “wine country.” However, the above data from the 2023 Economic Impact Study of the Pennsylvania Wine & Grape Industries, produced for the Pennsylvania Wine Marketing & Research Program, shows wine is big business in the Keystone State.

On a more local level, the study reported that, in Centre County, the wine and grape industry results in a total economic impact encompassing nearly 250 jobs, more than $14 million in wages and more than $40 million in output.

However, while all of this data may be surprising to the average Centre Countian, it’s not a surprise to the Penn State Grape and Wine Team . There, a range of experts representing myriad disciplines come together to support the state’s wine and grape industry via educational resources, research and consultation.

“We’re a team of researchers, classroom instructors and extension personnel that strives to be a technical resource for the grape and wine industry, whether that be through consumer [and] business research, sensory research or education and applied research on best management practices in the vineyard and best wine production practices in the winery,” described Cain Hickey, assistant teaching professor of viticulture in the department of plant science at Penn State.

“There are so many different facets [of the industry] we cover,” he added. “A few of us work on grape growing — viticulture — and pests in the vineyard setting. Several of our team members work on enology, fermentation [or] winemaking practices. ... Then, there are team members that work on sensory science and others that work on business [and] marketing. We have a very wide, overarching breadth of specialties, and all are pieces that the grape and wine industries find value from.”

This wealth of expertise is unique to Penn State and made possible partially via industry support. While Penn State, as a land-grant university, views this industry focus as valuable, the industry and stakeholders are also vocal about their needs and, in some instances, provide grant funding.

Combine this intradepartmental university expertise and industry support, and the Penn State Grape and Wine Team is equipped to take on a wide range of industry issues. But two that specifically stand out are changing climate and the threat of the spotted lanternfly.

“We’ve done lots of industry-facing research and extension work, where we ask for industry collaboration and participation, for instance to understand more about how growth stages are differing now that the climate is more dynamic, and how grape ripening patterns vary between cultivars and regions across Pennsylvania,” Hickey said.

One of the biggest challenges, Hickey said, is the climate’s unpredictability and implications of that in the vineyard and winery.

“There are winemaking and market challenges that the team is addressing,” Hickey said.

His specific role focuses on issues in the vineyard.

“As of late, bud break in the spring is occurring earlier, so you have this risk of spring frost injury and reduced crop yield,” he added. “Then, diseases are a big issue. Education and research about disease management is important, especially in humid climates. We have a team of researchers, from the vineyard all the way to the winery, that have been working on spotted lanternfly [research] for at least seven years or more — how to manage them, what kind of damage they can do to the grapevines, and work is ongoing to determine if there are impacts on juice [or] wine quality potential.”

Hickey’s colleague Molly Kelly, enology extension educator, meanwhile, is taking on challenges of another sort.

“As an enology extension educator, I work closely with grape growers and winemakers to provide education, support and research-based solutions. Our team is dedicated to advancing the wine industry in Pennsylvania through innovative research, sustainable practices, and comprehensive educational programs,” she said. “For instance, finding skilled labor for vineyard and winery operations, especially during peak seasons, is a persistent challenge. I am developing an online, extensive enology course to assist in training of an enology workforce.”

The team isn’t just impacting Pennsylvania wineries and vineyards either. The advent of webinars and similar online education has broadened the team’s footprint, and the team collaborates with other universities in the region to provide viticulture and enology webinars that attract attendees from across the country and world.

Additionally, this year, Penn State added the first full viticulture class for undergrad students to its course catalog, an effort Hickey said will “hopefully build up interest from the student body, help them understand what viticulture is and help them realize that there’s a grape and wine industry right here in Pennsylvania.”