The Board of Directors of the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association is pleased to announce the 2019 recipients of its Monteith Wine Bowl Trophy, Wine Grape Productivity Tray, and Birchenall Award. These awards are presented annually for excellence in increasing the quality of wine produced on the East Coast.
The 2019 Monteith Bowl Trophy, which is presented annually by the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association to recognize individuals or organizations that have performed exceptional contributions to the development and sustainability of the American wine industry, is being presented to Dr. Joseph A Fiola of the University of Maryland.
He has a comprehensive website, and distributes “Timely Viticulture”, a newsletter electronically delivered at the exact time growers should be considering and performing specific practices. He has recently published a workbook on Sustainable Viticulture and always emphasizes practices to maximize fruit quality.
Joe is a certified wine judge, coordinates multiple commercial wine competitions and teaches wine classes. He is an active member of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture and the American Wine Society.
The 2019 Wine Grape Productivity Tray, which is presented annually by ASWA to an individual or organization that has made major contributions to the sustainable growth and viability of the American wine industry, is Anna Katharine Mansfield.
Mansfield is an Associate Professor of Enology at Cornell AgriTech (formerly the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station) in Geneva, NY. She first worked in the wine industry in North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley, received graduate degrees at Virginia Tech and the University of Minnesota, and served as the first Enology Project leader at the University of Minnesota from 2001-2008. In 2007, she completed a sabbatical at l’Institut Universitaire de la Vigne et du Vin Jules Guyot at the University of Burgundy, investigating flavor sorption of natural cork closures.
Mansfield has been a member of the Cornell Enology Extension Lab since 2009, where she strives to aid regional wineries through outreach and applied research on hybrid wine phenolics and proteins, fermentation nutrition, and regional typicity.
The 2019 Birchenall Award, which is presented by the ASWA to members of the wine media for promoting knowledge of the East Coast Wine Industry, is being presented to Nancy Bauer.
In 2010, travel writer Nancy Bauer and her husband and photographer Rick Collier set out on a “150 Virginia Wineries in 150 Days” tour, researching and photographing wineries for a new project – the Virginia Wine in My Pocket smartphone app – one of the first travel apps created in the new world of travel technology. More than 25,000 wine travelers have downloaded the app, and another 60,000 or so regularly use the Virginia Wine in My Pocket website to help them plan visits to Virginia’s more than 300 wineries, cideries and meaderies.
Nancy is also the author of the book Virginia Wine Travel Journal, a unique, full-color, guide with a foreword by Washington Post wine writer Dave McIntyre. The book breaks out of the model of typical travel guides, and includes trip itineraries, articles by local wine experts, “listicles” of the most dog-friendly and child-friendly wineries, top winemakers, and check-off lists along with regional maps, and winery lodging and dining recommendations.
Nancy also writes about Virginia wine travel for Washingtonian Magazine and other local and regional publications. Nancy says, “Every Virginia winery has a story, and in our collective quest to discover those stories, we all receive much more than we ever expect.”
The Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association promotes American wine produced in the seventeen eastern states: all those that touch the Atlantic Ocean plus West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Vermont. This trade organization was founded in 1973 as the Vinifera Wine Growers Association, and renamed in 2008 to reflect an expanded regional focus.
ASWA’s mission is to increase awareness of the fine wines of the Atlantic seaboard through trade and consumer education. Members liaise with national, state, and regional wine organizations to identify opportunities to highlight the wines and winemakers working here.
