2026 ASEV-ES Awards Presentation

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OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 

Recipient
Mr. Jonathan Held, Stone Hill Winery, Missouri 

This award is given in recognition for the lifetime accomplishments of individuals who have meritoriously contributed to the advancement of Enology or Viticulture, or to both fields.   

In 1965, Jon Held started working at age 7 at his family’s Stone Hill Winery in Hermann, Missouri, a passion that led him to earn a summa cum laude BS in Enology and Viticulture from California State University, Fresno in 1980. After gaining experience in Switzerland and Canada, he returned to Stone Hill in 1983 and, together with his wife Karen, purchased the winery from his parents Jim and Betty in 2017, serving today as its President. Named Winegrower of the Year in 1994, Jon has been a tireless industry advocate, serving on numerous state and national viticulture committees and recently securing $3 million in funding for expanded wine research facilities at the University of Missouri. He and Karen are the proud parents of two sons, Nathan and Eric, both of whom have followed him into the wine and grape industry.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD

Recipient
Dr. Molly Kelly, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park

This award is given in recognition of individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the wine and grape industry through teaching, research, extension, administration, industry leadership, entrepreneurship, or volunteerism.  

Molly joined Penn State University as the enology extension educator in the Department of Food Science in 2018. She has led workshops including winery sanitation, filtration, wine microbiology, wine laboratory analysis and faults training. Her PhD research focused on the effect of nitrogen and sulfur applications on Petit Manseng wine aroma and flavor. She is currently working on the impact of spotted lanternfly on wine quality. She conducts applied research including the presence of non-Saccharomyces yeast on incoming fruit and its impact on wine volatile aromas. She recently received a grant to examine oxygen uptake in PA wines including bottling line audits across the state. She is also completing an on-line introduction to winemaking course for Penn State Extension

Prior to this, Molly was the enology extension specialist at Virginia Tech. She held the position of enology instructor at Surry Community College in Dobson, NC, where she developed the enology curriculum and managed all aspects of the college’s 1,000-case bonded winery. Under her direction, Surry produced numerous international award-winning wines. Prior to this, she was the lead biodefense team microbiologist with the New York State Department of Health