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those found around Maryland. He then imports these varieties of grapes, grows
them, takes notes on them, and, most importantly, makes wine out of them.
“I always say that my data is the wine, basically,” he said. “If you’re growing
strawberries or peaches, people just taste the fruit and then they’re good, but with
grapes, you can’t just taste the grapes and say, ‘Well, this is a good place to grow
grapes.’ You have to really taste the wine.”
Fiola does his research and informs area growers about a grape’s yield, disease
resistance, cold hardiness, and other factors. “And then I can let them taste the
wine, because that’s the bottom line. It doesn’t matter how good the grape grows
if it doesn’t make a good wine,” he said.
Since leaving Rutgers University to take his current position in 2001, Fiola says
he’s worked with nearly every winery in the state at one time or another. “The older
wineries, when they’re planting new stuff, they’ll come to me and say, ‘Hey, what’s
hot? What can we add to our repertoire of grapes that we’re currently growing?’”
he said. “If a new grower comes in and says, ‘I have no idea what to grow,’ I can
say, ‘Come to my research farm. Here’s the data and here’s the wines that I’ve
produced in an area very similar to your climate and your soils.’”
Fiola began his career working with other small fruits like raspberries and
strawberries, but he found himself drawn to the grape research. He says that,
having growing up in an Italian family, wine was part of his culture.
“Sunday afternoon, you have your homemade pasta dinner with your little glass
of wine there—not the best stuff in the world, but it’s part of the meal. So I’ve
always had that interest in it,” he said. “It’s pretty seductive to get involved in the
industry. It’s a great group of people and it’s fun to grow the grapes and then
make the wine.”
And how many people are actually encouraged to drink on the job?
“When your final data is a glass of wine that you get to drink,” said Fiola, “that’s
a pretty good industry to be involved in.”
MWP
P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F E D W I N H A R L A N R E M S B E R G