[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 185 (Thursday, December 10, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HONORING MIKE NURY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GEORGE RADANOVICH

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 9, 2009

  Mr. RADANOVICH. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and 
congratulate Mike Nury upon being honored with the ``Lifetime 
Achievement Award'' at the 2009 San Joaquin Winegrowers Association 7th 
Annual San Joaquin Valley Wine & Grape Industry Forum. The luncheon 
will be held in Fresno, California on Friday, November 20, 2009.
  Mr. Mike Nury came to the United States in November 1945 to attend 
American International University in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 
1946 he was drafted into the United States Army and served during the 
Korean War. Upon completion of his military career, he arrived in 
California and attended the University of California, Berkley. He later 
transferred to the University of California, Davis where he earned a 
bachelor of science and master of science degree in food science in 
1952. In 1953, Mr. Nury started his career with Vie-Del Company, a 
Fresno, California based winery, as a research chemist. His role at the 
winery had a tremendous impact on the company, as well as the industry 
as a whole. He played a major role in developing an improved method of 
concentrating grape flavors by adjusting the temperature and time used 
to concentrate the grapes. The outcomes were significant. The new 
concentrate had no ethanol, which was important for those unable to 
metabolize ethanol, thus eliminating ethanol taxes on the original 
concentrate. It also weighed less, reducing shipping costs, and the new 
concentrate made it possible to add wine flavor to more products.
  In 1972, Mr. Nury was named President of the Vie-Del, and in 1990 the 
Nury family purchased the controlling interest in Vie-Del from Joseph 
E. Seagram & Sons. Since then, the company has continued to grow, 
producing millions of gallons of concentrate per year. Mr. Nury has 
served as president and owner, and after his semi-retirement, he served 
as chairman of the board. His family has also taken an interest in the 
wine industry. Two of his three daughters, Dianne and Roxanne, have 
spent many years with the company and his brother, Fred, taught Enology 
at California State University, Fresno and later worked for Seagram in 
the Bay Area. Mr. Nury is only one of three winemakers to have served 
as president of the Wine Institute and the American Society of Enology 
and Viticulture. He has also played an active role with the Fresno 
Rotary for over thirty-five years, served as a member of the Fresno 
Community Hospital Foundation Board and Chairman of the Finance 
Committee.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and congratulate Mike Nury 
upon being honored with the ``Lifetime Achievement Award.'' I invite my 
colleagues to join me in wishing Mr. Nury many years of continued 
success.

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