Film documents UK’s role in wine-making process
March 24, 2015
By Anne Halliwell
UK Research Communications, Reveal and the Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments detailed UK research’s part in the winemaking journey, from vine to glass, in “Thrive: The Kentucky Wine Tradition.”
The half-hour documentary premiered in the Davis Marksbury Building Monday afternoon.
“Thrive” follows UK researchers and members of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Extension research team in their work in vineyards across the state.
Extension enology specialist Tom Cottrell said in the film that his job, as a winemaking expert, is to dispense information to farmers and winemakers that will ensure the best crop and product.
“It’s a balance of science and art,” said UK grape and wine researcher Jeff Wheeler in the film. “But you also have to be out in the field, have to get your hands dirty.”
Wheeler said in the film that UK researchers are testing about 50 “cultivars” to see what grows best in Kentucky’s climate and produces the best wine.
“A majority of our research is really designed to help out growers … so they can have businesses that are profitable,” Wheeler said in the film.
Alicia Gregory, a member of UK’s “Reveal” Research Information Services, said the work done at UK’s South Farm on Nicholasville Road fascinated her when the project began in July 2013.
“I think wine is one of those things that interest people … (and) it’s just a nice bridge to talk about research, how it affects the state and business and local farmers,” Gregory said.
The documentary will air on KET on March 29 at 3:30 p.m. Afterward, it will be available on the UK Reveal website.
The film also indicated that Kentucky is now the third-largest wine-producing state in the U.S., a title that has risen after the tobacco settlement forced farmers to consider alternative crops.
The film featured members from Kentucky vineyards like Jim Wight of Wight-Meyer Vineyard and Winery, who made his winemaking hobby into a small business.
“We want to take wine to the next level in Kentucky,” Wight said. “We want to take people who know fine wine and introduce them to Kentucky fine wine.”
