Wineries Unlimited 2009 showcases wine trends in the East and Midwest

The buzz in wine circles this year is not unlike the drama in the Detroit auto industry: staying alive, getting green, upping the quality, creating new models.

For wineries outside the West Coast, the place to get a crash course in all these matters is the 33rd annual Wineries Unlimited March 10-13 at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, Pa. It's the largest wine conference and trade show held East of the Rockies, drawing upward of 1,500 attendees, not including exhibitors. And despite the sagging economy, the trade show this year will be bigger than ever, with more than 230 exhibits.

While the event is not open to the public, or even of much interest to most wine drinkers, it offers an incredible snapshot of what winemakers are talking about -- from Missouri, Michigan and Ohio to Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York and beyond.

Wineries Unlimited is a rare a confab of the top vintners around the country, including the rising stars, along with esteemed scientists and educators from places like Cornell, Purdue, Penn State and Virginia Tech.

"This year, we have a big emphasis on practicality and how vineyard and winery businesses can work more efficiently, save money and increase sales and customer satisfaction," said Rob Merletti, publisher and president of Vineyard & Winery Management Services, which sponsors the event.

"The seminar theme is sustainability in the East, but a key part of sustainability is staying in business," Merletti said. And sustainability is a subject on everybody's lips these days -- it's a big word for growing the best grapes on a particular site in a way that respects the environment.

The trade show lures hundreds of winemakers -- where they can touch barrels, bottling lines, plows and the latest cool souvenirs to sell in tasting rooms. But the real beef at the event is the conference program, lined up by Merletti, Richard Leahy and a board of advisers.

Here's a small sampling of this year's topics and a few of the presenters:

• Sustainable/biodynamic/organic viticulture: Ed Boyce of the hot Maryland winery Black Ankle Vineyards will describe the vineyard's biodynamic efforts that helped land him the highest award in that state last year, the Governor's Cup, for a Bordeaux-style blend.

• Successful Cabernet Francs in two opposite vintages -- the cold 2006 and hot 2007: Two winemakers from Virginia will weigh in. Jason Burrus of Rappahannock Cellars will discuss his 2006, which won Double Gold and Best of Category at the San Francisco International Wine Competition, and Matthieu Finot of King Family Vineyards will present his 2007, which won a Certificate of Greatness at last year's Jefferson Invitational.

• Making quality port wines: Peter Bell, winemaker at Fox Run Vineyards in New York's Finger Lakes, has a special interest in fortified wines from his days in Australia at Charles Sturt University and is one of the few winemakers in the Finger Lakes to make port in the traditional way. Fox Run produces ruby- and tawny-style ports. Andrew Hodson at Veritas in Virginia will pour his Othello for attendees; it's a port-style blend of Tannat and Touriga Nacional, and sometimes Petit Verdot, aged two years in French oak.

• Making quality red wines, and the art of the Bordeaux blend: What a lineup! Dr. Thomas Henick-Kling, a hero in the East for his work in setting up the enology and viticulture program at Cornell, recently was hired away from Charles Sturt University in Australia to run the new enology research lab at Washington State University. Also slated to talk: Virginia winemakers Luca Paschina of Barboursville and Jim Law of Linden, who test the limits of red winemaking; Bernie Parker, who coaxes incredible flavors out of Oliver Winery's Creekbend Vineyard in Indiana; and Kareem Massoud of Long Island's Paumanok Vineyards, whose 2005 Cabernet Franc got 90 points in Robert Parker's "Wine Advocate" last year.

• And not to forget the luncheon keynote speaker: It's Karen Ross, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, one of the country's most visible and hardworking activists promoting sustainable winegrowing practices. She was honored with the Wine Industry Integrity Award in 2008 for being "the voice, conscience and prime advocate" for California grape growers. (And she's from Nebraska, and still runs a grain farm there.)