Water Music: WSU Grad’s Research Shakes the Grape Vine
When Marco Biondi came from his native Pisa, Italy to Pullman in August, 2004, he barely spoke a word of English. But by the time the young viticulturist graduated with a Master’s of Science from Washington State University in December, 2007, he was speaking fluently in his new language.
 Marco Biondi, who just graduated from WSU's V&E program with an M.S., and Kerry Ringer, associate food scientist and extension specialist, representing WSU at an Enological Society meeting in Seattle |
Biondi enrolled in an intensive English-language program at WSU. “I lived with other students in Perham Hall,” he said. “A big part of my success was that I was in Washington, where everybody was so friendly. I made lots of friends and they all helped me—we went out and had fun, and that helped me learn the language. In the dormitory, I was just one of many people who didn’t know each other. We all became friends and those friendships have lasted.”
Biondi came to eastern Washington hoping to earn a graduate degree in viticulture at WSU. Animated, friendly and outgoing, Biondi contacted several WSU faculty members and even before he was officially enrolled in a graduate program had formed strong relationships with his future professors.
During the summer of 2005, he hooked up with Markus Keller, a horticulturist based at WSU’s Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser. Keller, whose research focuses on viticulture in support of Washington’s burgeoning grape and wine industry, agreed to mentor Biondi and server as his research advisor.
The match up was immediately fruitful. “I wanted to focus my research on irrigation,” Biondi said, “because water is the big thing, especially in the grape industry, the world’s most widely grown crop.”
In much of Europe, it’s illegal to irrigate wine grapes after veraison. Veraison, originally a French term, refers to the change of color that occurs in grape berries as they ripen. Because of ancient traditions, rather than science, growers aren’t allowed to irrigate post-veraison for fear of diluting the berries’ sugar content or Brix.
For over 20 years, the scientific dogma has been that berries are hydraulically isolated after veraison, that is, that no water from the roots enters the berries. But dogmas are not facts and Biondi and Keller set out to find the truth of the matter.
Working with both Vitis vinifera (wine grapes) and Vitis labruscana (juice grapes), Biondi performed a variety of experiments. He used high-tech sensors to measure change in berry size and color as the fruit ripened. He grew vines in a pressurized system in order to determine how water circulates within the plant and its berries. And he put dye in water to visually inspect circulation.
The results of Biondi’s experiments are startling and fly in the face of viticultural tradition. “We proved that berries are not hydraulically isolated during ripening,” he said. Indeed, Biondi’s experiments show that berries absorb water in a variety of ways, including through the skin and not just through the root system, as commonly believed.
“Irrigation doesn’t decrease Brix,” Biondi said, “but irrigation does increase photosynthesis in the leaves, and photosynthesis in turn increases Brix.”
Biondi said that this research will certainly result in changes in textbooks, which have long taught that deficit irrigation (starving the plant of water after veraison in order to increase Brix) is the way to go. But will it change the way grapes are actually grown? Only time will tell.
Recently graduated, the globe-trotting Biondi is bound for Costa Rica—not for grapes or wine, but for his third language. “After a Spanish language intensive in Costa Rica, I’m headed for Mendoza, Argentina, for winemaking experience during crush in the southern hemisphere. Then it’s back to Italy later in 2008.”
“I want languages and cultures!” Biondi enthused.
Will the polylingual multiculturalist ever return to Washington and its premium wine industry? The world is his oyster, but don’t be surprised if you someday see this WSU-trained viticulturist standing in your wine-country vineyard: Biondi is planning on a career as a viticulture and enology consultant.
“For now, though, it’s all about learning,” Biondi said. “School is good training for your brain.”