A future chapter in Amanda Fleming's story as a winemaker and researcher takes her to Graz University of Technology in southeast Austria this spring.

Fleming, a food science Ph.D. student in the U of A's Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, recently received an Austrian Marshall Plan Scholarship to strengthen her research on wines made from American native muscadine grapes, Vitis rotundifolia, and traditional European wine grapes, Vitis vinifera. 

She leaves in March for four months at Graz. 

Making wine better

"My goal is to assist wine producers and grape growers in the southeastern United States make wines from native and hybrid species comparable in quality to those made from Vitis vinifera, and to ultimately improve public perception of hybrid and native wine grapes," Fleming said. 

To do this, Fleming will assess the impact of co-fermenting the two types of grapes with various treatments to improve flavor, aroma and color stability. She will also evaluate different strains of Lachancea thermotolerans, a yeast that is used to improve acidity, aroma and flavor attributes of wines produced from Chambourcin, a French-American hybrid grape that grows well in humid climates like Arkansas.

Austro-American relations

The scholarship, offered through the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation, provides academic exchanges between students at U.S. and Austrian universities to foster Austrian-American relations in the spirit of the post-World War II Marshall Plan, and to strengthen scholarly and scientific cooperation. The scholarship is awarded to students at U.S. universities conducting research for their bachelor's, master's or Ph.D. degrees at the University of Graz, or degree students at University of Graz conducting research at U.S. institutions of higher education.

Fleming will be the first researcher from the university's Department of Food Science to participate in the program since Sarah Mayfield in 2019, mainly due to the pandemic, which halted the program.

From west to east

Prior to working on her doctorate in enology, or wine chemistry, Fleming was a winemaker at Post Winery in Altus and spent a decade working at wineries in California's wine regions, mainly Napa and Sonoma. She is originally from Colorado.

In Austria, Fleming will work with Erich Leitner, an analytical chemist at Graz who has established relationships with the U of A over the years through food science faculty including Renee Threlfall, an associate professor of food science and a research scientist in enology and viticulture for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the U of A System Division of Agriculture. Fleming said Scott Lafontaine, assistant professor of food science and flavor chemist with the experiment station and Bumpers College, also helped solidify the connection. 

"Dr. Leitner is well-known as an analytical chemist who studies volatiles in beverages and foods, but he has a specialty in wine and state-of-the-art equipment for analysis of those products," Fleming said.

A family adventure

Threlfall said Fleming's research results will be beneficial to a multi-state project called "Vitis x Muscadinia," which is co-directed by Threlfall and supported by a $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Fleming will retain her status as a student and research assistant in the Department of Food Science while participating in this study abroad.

Joining Fleming on the four-month adventure in Austria will be her husband, Jacob, and their 4-year-old daughter, Vivian. Her husband is an artist-illustrator.

"Aside from the exciting research experience, we are thrilled to try new foods and wines, see museums and travel on the weekends," Fleming said.

To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website. Follow us on X at @ArkAgResearch, subscribe to the Food, Farms and Forests podcast and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.

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About the Division of Agriculture: The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation's historic land grant education system. The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses. The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.