2024 Symposium Presentations

Tracy Genesen

Tracy serves as Vice President & General Counsel at Wine Institute, a California-based winery trade association representing over 1,000 wineries. Prior to joining Wine Institute, Tracy served as Vice President and General Counsel of Edrington North America, a Scottish-based ultra-premium spirits group that produces Macallan Scotch Whiskey amongst other world-famous products. In addition, during the course of her legal career, she has successfully represented individuals seeking political asylum in the United States. Tracy holds an adjunct law professor position at many top law schools, including Stanford and Berkeley Law Schools. Lastly, Tracy is an author/contributor to a number of publications including Wine Law in America: Law and Policy.

Terry Bates

Dr. Terry Bates is a Senior Research Associate in the Cornell School of Integrative Plant Science and the Director of the Cornell Lake Erie Research and Extension Laboratory, a 50-acre production research vineyard in the Lake Erie American Viticultural Area. Dr. Bates has 25 years of experience in vineyard mechanization, including mechanical grapevine pruning, shoot thinning, fruit thinning, and harvesting. His current research program integrates agricultural sensors, spatial data processing, and variable-rate mechanization for precision vineyard management.

Oliver Trapp

Dr. Oliver Trapp is the grapevine breeder at the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), the Federal Research Center for Cultivated Plants in Germany. He studied biology with a focus on molecular biology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and received his PhD in 2013 in the group of Prof. Holger Puchta. Since 2016, he works as grapevine breeder at the Institute for Grapevine Breeding at the JKI and since 2021 he is Deputy Head of the Institute. His work focuses on breeding new grapevine varieties adapted to climate change with high levels of resistance against grapevine pathogens and high wine quality.

Mireia Taribó Tena

Mireia was born and raised in Catalunya, in the northeastern part of Spain. Her interest in wine started at a very young age. Growing up in Spain, wine is considered a food and was part of almost every meal. Mireia knew from a young age that she wanted to learn more about wine.

Mireia graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Barcelona, and then earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Enology at the University of Rovira and Virgili. When she was in her last year of studies, she came to California as an intern for a harvest season, which is where she met her wife, Tara Gomez. When that harvest finished, Mireia went back to Spain. In 2008, she accepted a harvest position at Castell d’Encus, a start-up winery in the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain. She quickly earned a winemaker position and worked there until 2014. While working at Castell d’Encus, Mireia went back to school to earn her Masters in Enology, Viticulture, and Marketing of Wine. Meanwhile her relationship with Tara grew and they traveled the world and visited all the wine regions together. In 2014, Mireia moved to California and began working as a wine broker and wine consultant.

In 2017, she started Camins 2 Dreams, a new adventure with her wife, Tara Gomez, making hand-crafted, terroir-driven wines that are fermented with natural yeast and use minimal intervention in the winery, and sourcing from organic, biodynamic and regenerative farmed vineyards that share the same values of respect for the land and their workers.

Mireia serves on the board of directors for the Sta Rita Hills Wine Alliance since 2019.

Leticia Chacón-Rodríguez

Leticia, a wine professional with more than 20 years of experience in California, and currently the Winemaker and Winery Manager at the University of California, Davis. Previously, Leticia has been at Safe Harbor Wine Storage, Treasury Wine States, E&J Gallo Winery, Golden State Vintners (now Wine Group) and Delicato Family Vineyards.

She is on her third year as co-chair of the Program Development Committee for Unified Wine and Grape Symposium and participates actively on the Spanish Track.

She is an active member for the American Society for Viticulture and Enology (ASEV), a professional society dedicated to the interests of enologist, viticulturists, and others in the fields of wine and grape research and production. She is past President (2012-2013) for this Society, and she has served as a Poster Chair for the National Conference, Best Paper Award Committee, and others.

She enjoys her free time with her husband and her two young sons in various activities like cooking, reading, swimming, biking, watching movies, attending symphony orchestra concerts, among others.

MS in Food Sciences (Enology emphasis), UC Davis.
BS in Chemical Engineering, Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City.

Jeff Bitter

Jeff Bitter is a life-long resident of California. Born into a family vineyard operation, Jeff has always had a passion for agriculture and specifically grape growing. Jeff is the President of Allied Grape Growers (AGG), a 500-member statewide grape growers cooperative marketing association. AGG markets approximately $100,000,000 worth of grapes annually to wineries, shippers, packers and dehydrators. In addition to managing AGG, Jeff is a fourth-generation California grape grower, actively farming winegrapes in Madera County, where he resides.

Jeff earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Business from California State University, Fresno and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the same. Jeff is also a graduate of Class XXXII of the California Agricultural Leadership Program, a prestigious two-year fellowship program emphasizing leadership training and development for those involved in California agriculture.

Jeff participates on numerous industry boards, committees and task forces and spends his free time farming, traveling and enjoying time with family and friends. Jeff has one minor and three adult children, one of which is married and provided Jeff with his first grandchild in 2024.

Gene Russell

Gene Russell is President and CEO of Manex. Mr. Russell has held three successful CEO positions over a 23-year period for businesses that included early-stage, private equity and non-profit. He has served as senior leadership in global Fortune 100 and iconic consumer branded companies. Prior to Manex, Mr. Russell led a turnaround at a small / midsized privately held California manufacturer.

The Corporation for Manufacturing Excellence dba Manex was founded in 1995 as a nonprofit 501c3 corporation to partner with the U.S. Department of Commerce as an NGO Manufacturing Extension Center under NIST MEP. Today we also work hand in glove with the California Manufacturing Network to bring all possible resources to drive manufacturing success throughout the State.

Manex works extensively in the several wine supply chains including companies specializing in labeling, corks, tins, packaging, and directly with wineries in the areas of lean and ERP systems implementation.

Most Manex clients take advantage of our multi-employer contract with the State of California’s ETP Program. As a trusted “MEC” with the Employment Training Panel (ETP) we take the hassle out of securing these training dollars for small to midsized companies. The ETP was created in 1982 by the California State Legislature and is funded by California employers through a special payroll tax.

This is a significant benefit to owners, executives, managers, and employees in California. It is an earned rebate based on qualified employees training hours in areas of lean, quality, food safety, leadership skills, and more.

Mr. Russell holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. MBA Essentials from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Mastering Design Thinking Certificate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management, AI / Machine Learning Strategy Certificate from Berkeley Haas Graduate School of Business.

Jeff Yasui

Jeff Yasui has been with the Risk Management Agency (RMA) since 2012, serving as the Director of the Regional Office that oversees the administration of crop insurance in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. Prior to joining RMA, he served as the Farm Program Chief for the Farm Service Agency in California for several years. Jeff’s family farmed in San Joaquin County, and he is a graduate of UC Davis.

Encarna Gómez-Plaza

I got my Ph.D. from the University of Murcia (1992) being the main topic of the doctoral thesis the study of the volatile components of grapes and wines. I did a post-doctoral research stay at Fresno (California, USA) for 16 months, hired by the Agricultural Research Service and California Raisin Advisory Board. The objective was to carry out a research project regarding the presence of trichloroanisoles in raisins.

I returned to Spain and continued working on grapes and wines for three years, focusing the research on their polyphenolic and chromatic characterization (1994-1996). I joined the University of Murcia in 1997, first as an Assistant Professor and later as a Full Professor in the area of Food Technology and from 2007 as a University Professor.

I have participated in more than 25 research projects, with regional, national and European funding, being the Research Leader in 15 of them and almost all of them have been related to the study of different aspects of grapes and wines with a special focus on the studies of phenolic compounds of grapes and wines, the different phenomena associated with them, affecting both to chromatic and gustatory properties (such as the astringency associated with tannins) and the modulation of their concentrations by applying various oenological techniques, such as the use of high power ultrasound.

Due to our large knowledge of wine properties and our experience in technological approaches, I have also led several contracts with different companies. With one of these companies, I have participated in a SME instrument on the Horizont 2020 framework, working in the development of an ultrasound system for wineries and we have been, together with Agrovin S.A., the promoters for the approval of the use of ultrasound in oenology, participating as representatives of the Spanish delegation in the meetings of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) for three years.

Jasmine Yook

Jasmine Yook is a brand and content marketer whose experience lies in brand storytelling. She’s worked the last 10 years growing brand-love for companies like Amazon (Fashion & Alexa), Nike, and now Hashflow, a decentralized crypto exchange platform, through content, social, and experiences. Her approach to content and social marketing encompasses balance between data, creative, and customer insights, which has propelled her to create one-of-a-kind campaigns for the top companies in the world. For example, her work at Amazon Fashion includes launching the brand’s first record-breaking TikTok Hashtag Challenge and first viral items shop and at Nike, where she concepted the brand’s first plus-size women’s campaign. She also has a penchant for wine as she received her WSET III pass with merit. Jasmine resides on the East Coast with her dog Louie.

Oliver Trapp

Dr. Oliver Trapp is the grapevine breeder at the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), the Federal Research Center for Cultivated Plants in Germany. He studied biology with a focus on molecular biology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and received his PhD in 2013 in the group of Prof. Holger Puchta. Since 2016, he works as grapevine breeder at the Institute for Grapevine Breeding at the JKI and since 2021 he is Deputy Head of the Institute. His work focuses on breeding new grapevine varieties adapted to climate change with high levels of resistance against grapevine pathogens and high wine quality.