Latest / GO TEXAN THE Truly Significant / GO TEXAN Truly Significant Texans in Agriculture honors Dr. Andreea Botenzatu, Wine Industry Scientist

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GO TEXAN Truly Significant Texans in Agriculture honors Dr. Andreea Botenzatu, Wine Industry Scientist · GO TEXAN THE Truly Significant

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hot in Texas found across the state. Ride it's how
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: we look kid risk. It is unusty boots, it's what
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: we're wearing horses. Yeah, we may ride, no farm it
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  Speaker 1: is zior rewarding branch. Should we do with ride? And
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  Speaker 1: we a sub s. What's left is just styne. It's done.
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  Speaker 1: What you go say, it's no intrun.
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  Speaker 2: I am Rick Tokini.
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  Speaker 3: We're here at the truly significant Texans booth that is
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: at the Texas Wine and Grape grow Association. And there
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: is a special guest that is dropped by a courtesy
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  Speaker 3: of Merrill Bonnarigo, and it is Andrea, the Zatu Texas
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  Speaker 3: A and M professor and works for the Texas Agrilife
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  Speaker 3: Extension Service. We're going to have a fun conversation with her.
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  Speaker 3: I hope that you enjoyed and especially her story from
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  Speaker 3: Romania about her wonderful grandfather.
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  Speaker 2: Enjoy Hey, welcome back.
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  Speaker 4: We are interviewing here at the Texas.
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  Speaker 3: Wine and Great Growers Association. Merrill from Messina hoffkeeps bringing
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: by these brilliant people to our booth.
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  Speaker 4: And look who came to the booth. Tell us your
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  Speaker 4: name and what you do. Go ahead and step up.
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  Speaker 5: Hello. My name Isandra bou and I am the State
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  Speaker 5: Anologist for Texas, meaning the wine science person for the
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  Speaker 5: State of Texas. I'm an Associate professor and Anology Extensive
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  Speaker 5: Specialist with's Texas A and M I Grew Life Extension
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  Speaker 5: Services ye.
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  Speaker 4: GAM class is seventy eight. I thought you were going
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  Speaker 4: about yeah, sure, well what and inside of all that,
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  Speaker 4: what do you enjoy most in your role?
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  Speaker 5: So many things. First of all, supporting the industry is
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  Speaker 5: a big one. Making connections and communicating and understanding what
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: the issues are and how it can help the support
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  Speaker 5: I can give. Education and then applied research. A big
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: part of what I do is applied research at the university,
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  Speaker 5: and I focus on the issues that are importance to
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: the industry. Here in Texas pH a, citity management, Texas
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  Speaker 5: expression in wines, and now Texas oak too. You might
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: have heard the talk about Texas grown white oak and
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: the use in barrels and alternatives, so we have a
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  Speaker 5: project on that as well. It's all kinds of different projects,
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  Speaker 5: fermentation and also teaching, so preparing the next generation for
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  Speaker 5: working in the industry. We have an academic certificate for
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  Speaker 5: viticulture and analogy. We have a non academic certificate. I
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  Speaker 5: take care of the analogy for the wine scentest part
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  Speaker 5: in that, so developing all the courses, taking care of
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  Speaker 5: the learning experience. So lots lot.
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  Speaker 4: That's amazing. Your plate is full.
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  Speaker 3: What tell us about when the light bulb went on
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  Speaker 3: for you to be in this position in the industry
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  Speaker 3: and kind of bring your your passion. Yes, as your
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  Speaker 3: advocation and vocation have intersected. So tell us about the
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  Speaker 3: light bulb moment.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm lucky that way, light bulb. I don't know.
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  Speaker 5: I've been exposed to wine and grapes since I was
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  Speaker 5: a child. I was born and raised in Romania, excuse me,
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  Speaker 5: and Romania is a big wine producing country. I think
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  Speaker 5: it's the fifth biggest in Europe. So I grew up
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  Speaker 5: surrounded by great My grandfather used to grow grapes and
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: make wine every summer, and I would help him pick
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  Speaker 5: the grapes and crush the grapes, and it was so
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  Speaker 5: much fun. It's like play for me at the time.
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  Speaker 5: And then I grew up and I studied forticulture because
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  Speaker 5: I was always into plants and environment and sustainability and
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  Speaker 5: all that, And there I was exposed to enology in
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  Speaker 5: a scientific way, organized fashion, and I liked it, and
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  Speaker 5: I decided that I will follow that. So I did that,
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  Speaker 5: and then I worked as a commercial winemaker for six
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  Speaker 5: years in Romania and Canada. Then and then I did
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  Speaker 5: my PhD in Canada Broke University, and my post dog
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  Speaker 5: there in mine, obviously in anology. And then this position
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  Speaker 5: came up and I applied and I was offered it,
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  Speaker 5: so I moved to Texas.
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  Speaker 4: That is it's a lifetime.
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  Speaker 5: Then it is there really is.
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  Speaker 4: In along the way. You picked up some degrees, some.
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  Speaker 5: Degrees here and there, But the love for it started
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  Speaker 5: really young, and I just have those memories and I'm
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  Speaker 5: so fond of them. They're very bright, luminous images in
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  Speaker 5: my brain.
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  Speaker 4: Let's get sentimental for a second.
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  Speaker 3: If Grandpa was sitting the air across what would he
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  Speaker 3: say about you today?
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  Speaker 5: I never thought of that. I think you would be
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  Speaker 5: cold to see the granddaughter do that. Yeah, I think
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  Speaker 5: he would very much like I think you get a
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  Speaker 5: kick out of it. Probably he'd probably enjoy having some
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  Speaker 5: wine with me, you know. Adults to adults.
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  Speaker 4: Tell us about the top three issues that the industry
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  Speaker 4: faces and that are a particular interest to you knowing
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  Speaker 4: that you can do something about them.
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  Speaker 5: Right. So, from a chemistry perspective and wine science perspective,
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  Speaker 5: the ghost pressing issue is the high pH low acidity
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  Speaker 5: the grapes in Texas. Because of the heat here and
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  Speaker 5: the fact that we don't really have temperature differences between
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  Speaker 5: day and night, or they're very small, we tend to
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  Speaker 5: lose acidity really fast in the grapes, which means higher pH,
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  Speaker 5: which means bigger instability in wine. Of course, there are
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  Speaker 5: many methods of mitigating that, but that was one of
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  Speaker 5: the focus points for my research management of pH and
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  Speaker 5: acidity in wine and stability in wine. And then in
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  Speaker 5: terms of the Texas industry coming into its own and
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  Speaker 5: maturing and expressing to the highest potential. Texas wine expression
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  Speaker 5: is another itematic interest. So how are Texas wines different
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  Speaker 5: than other wines? Are they different? What should we be
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  Speaker 5: aiming for? Is there a character of Texas wines a variety?
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  Speaker 5: Are there varieties that have the potential to represent Texas best?
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  Speaker 5: That is also of interest. Sustainability, winery waste products reused.
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  Speaker 5: That that is of interest. So Virgue Thomas all of
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  Speaker 5: that second finding second uses for that the Virguon project
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  Speaker 5: was a big, big project that I did and then
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  Speaker 5: had a lot of interest in Texas and outside of
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  Speaker 5: Texas actually as well. I've had people from California contact
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  Speaker 5: me from Georgia. Actually there's going to be a presentation
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  Speaker 5: about that asive National to digress. But anyways, Virgiu was big,
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  Speaker 5: the green juice from green grapes and the ripe grapes,
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  Speaker 5: and now the Texas Oak project. There's a lot of
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  Speaker 5: interest in that. It just came out from the tasting
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  Speaker 5: that Pending Branch did with their Texas Oak whine. So
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: I'm working with the coverage that is producing Texas o
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  Speaker 5: barrels in characterizing Texas Oa from a sensory perspective to
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  Speaker 5: see how that compares. They're right there, standard coverage.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, so you have actual You've crossed over into what
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  Speaker 4: the product is packaged in for it's finished.
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  Speaker 5: Well, it's less a matter of packaging more a matter
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  Speaker 5: of aging and impacting wine quality. So wine ages in
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  Speaker 5: barrels or ages in tanks with barrel oak inserts, chips, staves,
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  Speaker 5: what not, cubes in this particular instance, and that influences
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  Speaker 5: the aroma and flavor profile of the wine. So again
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  Speaker 5: the chemical component and sensory component of things, which is
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  Speaker 5: my focus as a researcher at the university. So looking
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  Speaker 5: at the chemical fingerprint of Texas oak and wine, that's
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  Speaker 5: what I'm doing compared to other.
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  Speaker 4: Oaks we interviewed them earlier.
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  Speaker 3: Cool and I am the son of a clock builder
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  Speaker 3: who used oak, so I know enough to be dangerous about, okay,
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  Speaker 3: and what you do when you burn it. And then
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  Speaker 3: I inspected what I expected over there and saw that.
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  Speaker 4: Now, how are you not a governing rule over them?
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  Speaker 4: But are you influencing how they're actually burning the inside
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  Speaker 4: of that oak to for a finished taste and its
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  Speaker 4: effect on them?
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  Speaker 5: I am not. I am just giving them feedback on
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  Speaker 5: what's in there. Generally speaking, it's the industry who decides
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  Speaker 5: the toasting level what they want in the toasting level
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  Speaker 5: of a barrel or o alternatives. Most popular, most in
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  Speaker 5: demand toasting level is medium to medium plus and then
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  Speaker 5: you have the light and the heavy. Those are you know,
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  Speaker 5: more rare but still still in demand. I have nothing
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  Speaker 5: to do with that. I just analze the samples and
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  Speaker 5: give feedback.
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  Speaker 4: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: So one of the things that you you will eventually
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: do in your career is to find your replacement.
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  Speaker 5: Yep.
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  Speaker 3: Hopefully, Yeah, yeah, hopefully, and it'll be a very difficult task.
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  Speaker 3: I'm encouraging you today if you haven't start looking, because
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  Speaker 3: it could be a ten year runway. And if there
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  Speaker 3: was a ten year runway, what would you want to
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  Speaker 3: start preparing that person for today? Knowing that you have
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  Speaker 3: this gigantic plate of responsibility and a lot of things
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  Speaker 3: spill over sometimes because you got some stuff.
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  Speaker 5: I think what made the biggest influence in my career
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  Speaker 5: as an academic speaking of replacements, was the fact that
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  Speaker 5: I had hands on experience as a winemaker by far,
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  Speaker 5: because I got to do all the things that winemakers
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  Speaker 5: do and understand the pain points and really understand winemaking
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  Speaker 5: and how winery operate, which takes a huge difference when
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  Speaker 5: you're doing applied research. It keeps you really grounded. So
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  Speaker 5: I would like, I would hope that whoever follows me
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  Speaker 5: in this position would have that kind of experience. I
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  Speaker 5: love working with graduate students and undergraduate students, so I'm
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  Speaker 5: trying to prepare all my graduate students to be able to,
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  Speaker 5: you know, take over if need me, to have that
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  Speaker 5: perspective and to understand that reality and appreciate it. So
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  Speaker 5: I don't know. I guess we'll see, but I would
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  Speaker 5: very much hope that whatever comes will have the Winery
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  Speaker 5: experience makes a big difference.
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  Speaker 3: Last question for you, with the extensive career you've got
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  Speaker 3: in real world and academia, I want to know from you,
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  Speaker 3: what do you.
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  Speaker 4: Think success looks like versus significance today?
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  Speaker 5: It's an interesting question, success versus significance. I guess success
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  Speaker 5: is a more subjective metric. You can consider yourself successful
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  Speaker 5: based on your own inner criteria, whereas significance is really
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  Speaker 5: the impact that you're actually having on whatever field you're in.
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  Speaker 5: So one can think of themselves as successfully they make
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  Speaker 5: a lot of money, or travel a lot, or they
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  Speaker 5: publish a lot of papers academic or otherwise the kind
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  Speaker 5: of field, whereas significance is okay, and then so what
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  Speaker 5: how did that make an impact in the field that
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  Speaker 5: you are working in? In my case, for the industry
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  Speaker 5: that I'm trying.
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  Speaker 3: To nice, because I think your gift of significance is
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  Speaker 3: you're over an ecosystem.
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  Speaker 4: So therefore you've.
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  Speaker 3: Got a lot going on because you're looking at a
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  Speaker 3: system and you're putting in processes and approaches and new perspective,
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  Speaker 3: and you've earned your way to.
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  Speaker 4: Position where you can have significant Sure.
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  Speaker 5: We hope so yes, and I like to feel that
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  Speaker 5: I do Yes, I hope.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us on this Go Texan podcast.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: We thank Commissioner Sid Miller and the team at the
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Texas Department of Agriculture for their support, and we urge
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: you to support the Texas wine industry and the hundreds
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: of wineries and thousands of great growers out there in
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: our state. When dining out, consider ordering Texas wines and
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: remember Texas agriculture truly matters and our wine industry is
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: robust because of you. This show is produced in connection
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: with the Texas Department of Agriculture. The original music is
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: from Tsbrocks dot Com, the truly significant band. Until next time,
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Go Texan.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Texas found cross the state right.
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  Speaker 3: I looked in.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Really it is n a play goose. It's what we'll
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: wear it horses here, we may ride farm. It is
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: so rewarding branch and we do with riding and we
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: ja sun sad. What's left is just empty nails. It's
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: not what you are says it's no in true sign
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  Speaker 1: play ca