(Wines&Vines) - Group hires research enologist and exchange coordinater

Charlottesville, Va.—In the four years since three winemakers launched the Virginia Winemakers Research Exchange (VWRE) as a cooperative research program for wineries on the Monticello Wine Trail, the VWRE has grown in both size and scope. On June 1, the VWRE announced it had hired Joy Ting to be its new research enologist and exchange coordinator as the next step forward in its growth.

Ting received her doctorate in applied biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology and also holds a certificate in winemaking from the University of California, Davis. After teaching high school biology for five years, she joined Michael Shaps Wineworks in Charlottesville, Va., as laboratory analyst in 2013. Two years later, she became the winery’s production manager and head enologist. “I managed all aspects of the cellar production and staff and oversaw the day-to-day winemaking as well,” she told Wines & Vines in an interview.