Chad Vargas Creates Agrothermal Systems Applications Service for the Willamette Valley
Oregon viticulture veteran and experienced Thermaculture developer to offer application services and expertise to regional growers
January 11, 2017 Napa, CA Today Chad Vargas, President of newly created NewGen Vineyard Services in Newberg, Oregon and Marty Fischer, CEO of Agrothermal Systems of Napa, CA jointly announced their strategic partnership to expand Thermaculture use in the Northern Willamette Valley region. Vargas, in his capacity as Viticulturist and Vineyard Manager for Adelsheim Vineyard began using Agrothermal technologies in 2012 and was one of the initial development partners for this innovation. While Vargas is leaving his full-time role he will consult for Adelsheim. Effective January, 2017 he has formed NewGen Vineyard Services to bring the benefits of Thermaculture and other proven new technologies to area growers seeking innovative and sustainable viticulture practices and vineyard management services.
According to Fischer, "We are delighted to see Chad take the lead for Agrothermal in Oregon since very few people know our technology better."
Chad saw the potential benefits of in-field heat treatments in 2012 and was the first to prove its effect on wine quality improvement. Since the 2012 vintage of Pinot Noir, Agrothermal has enjoyed serving Adelsheim heat treated and control block wines to demonstrate the differences Thermaculture can make in wine flavor and aroma. Chad also pioneered the use of heat to dry off clusters after rains and to improve BRIX levels with heat.â€
Vargas is a well know Viticulturist and involved with many industry groups.
He has served as Chair of the Board of Directors for Low Input Viticulture and Enology (LIVE), a third party certifying group of vineyard and winery sustainability. Vargas was honored in 2015 with the Oregon Wine Industry's Annual Outstanding Industry Service Award. He worked with Adelsheim beginning in 2006 after starting his career with Kendell Jackson and holds BS and MS degrees in Crop Science and Plant Pathology.
According to Vargas, "This just seems like a natural step for me to take at this point in my career. Bringing my Vineyard Management experience to other Oregon wine grape growers and introducing them to new technologies like Thermaculture is both exciting and challenging." In talking about the benefits of Thermaculture, Vargas went on to say, "My experience with Thermaculture has resulted in better fruit set that increases yields. Research has shown that heat treatments create abiotic stress and this leads to increased phenol and antioxidants in the wine to enhance flavor and provide greater human health benefits. At Adelsheim we have seen consistent wine characteristic differences from heat treated wines that we prefer in blind tastings over control block wines. This is really exciting technology and it will benefit growers in Oregon's unpredictable climate."
Vargas will also be working closely with Agrothermal Systems to pioneer the use of heat treatment for other Oregon crops for which past trials have shown grower benefits from the use of Thermaculture. These include cane berries, cherries and various trellised orchard crops. Chad can be a big help to us beyond wine grapes. We hope to interface him with our various operations and science development efforts in both hemispheres . In addition to the US, Agrothermal has equipment in the EU, Mexico, New Zealand and South Africa and expects to expand to other parts of the world in 2017 and beyond.
Agrothermal Systems <http://www.agrothermalsystems.com/> is based in Napa, California and is a dba of Lazo TPC Global, Inc. a California Corporation.
Agrothermal pioneered the use of Thermaculture <http://www.agrothermalsystems.com/thermaculture> as a means to increase yields, reduce pesticide needs, manage crop damage from inclement weather events and improve crop qualities. The company holds patents on Thermal Pest Control and has patents pending on other aspects of heat treatment for agricultural crops.
