Unified Wine & Grape Symposium January 25 th- 28th 2009

Every year in January the city of Sacramento hosts the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium where everyone who is anyone in the wine-making industry attends. Aimed at grape growers and wine makers, at the conference you will find the newest technology being used out in vineyards and down at the winery, also present are industry suppliers including coopers and bottle, cork, and label producers, to mention just a few. At the tradeshow there were a handful of barrel washing systems, wine-making utensils and lab equipment, and all kinds of oak chips, planks, and oak pieces used to enhance the aroma experience…

The tradeshow was held at the Sacramento Convention Center in center of Sacramento, California. To attend the conference, first you need to register. Once you register, you will receive a card to hang around your neck that has your name, country or state you're from, and a barcode. If you go to one of the stands and want to receive information about one of their products, all you have to do is give them your card to scan, and already they will have all the information they need to send you what you requested.

I saw a lot of new and interesting things at the tradeshow. The newest grape harvesters, for example, harvests the grapes by taking just the grape to the processing unit, in perfect condition, cooled, and works with practically 100% efficiency. If you can afford one, there are machines out there that could make cultivating hundreds of acres of vineyard a one-person job. There were all types of super modern equipment; I liked the digital refractometer the best. All you have to do is place a drop of grape juice onto the prism and it will tell you the extract.

There were many coopers present and the convention as well. Next to the well-known French manufacturers were two Hungarian (or American?) barrel makers as well--Trust and Kádár. And of course I couldn't go Sacramento without tasting some wine. One of the best wines I tasted was from the Molnár Family winery, a Chardonnay that got 90 points from Robert Parker. Peter Molnár is one of the owners of Kádár Kft. He was born in America, but his father is from Pécs, and they have a winery in Napa and a vineyard of about 200 acres.

At the trade show you can sign up for any one of many seminars. There are seminars on many topics such as aromas, and one of the hot topics this year was the environment and energy conservation. I would have loved to attend one of the seminars, especially the one on aromas, but unfortunately it cost a lot of money--more than $500. To read more, check out the symposium's website at http://www.unifiedsymposium.org/

See pictures in our gallery!