Five fast-facts on UC Davis and Wine

Grand sponsor UC Davis has a long history of innovating in grape growing and winemaking. Here are five contributions their multidisciplinary approach has made to what’s in your wine glass and how you experience it.  Do not miss the UC Davis Wine Discovery Session at 1:45 on Friday!

1. Global Influence

Researchers at UC Davis have vastly expanded knowledge of factors that impact grape and wine characters, influencing winemaking around the globe. In fact, some people point to just two degrees of separation between UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology and anyone in the wine world.

2. Wine aroma wheel

The industry’s first lexicon for wine appreciation was developed at UC Davis in the 1980s by sensory chemist and professor Ann C. Noble, who was the first woman hired as a faculty member of the department of viticulture and enology. Noble created the wine aroma wheel as a tool to help inexperienced wine tasters train their brains and noses to connect aromas with the appropriate terms.

 

3. The modern winery

UC Davis established the world’s first LEED platinum certified Teaching and Research Winery at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. The adjacent Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building houses the equipment needed to maximize the environmental capabilities of the winery, brewery, and food-processing complex.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Water-to-wine

UC Davis researchers are developing more water-efficient winemaking systems. Just processing one gallon of wine takes about six gallons of water, and vineyard irrigation—depending on location and grape variety—can more than double that figure. The UC Davis researchers aim to trim that down to a one-to-one water-to-wine ratio using new wine-grape vines and rootstocks, as well as new vineyard irrigation and winery processing systems.

5. Wine label archive

Maynard Amerine, a professor of viticulture and enology at UC Davis for nearly four decades, is widely considered to be the driving force behind the post-Prohibition wine industry in California. The over 5,000 labels he collected tell a story of the global wine industry from the 1800s through the 1950s. Learn about (and participate in!) efforts to make these valuable pieces of history accessible in a searchable database.

 

 

 

 

 

To learn more about UC Davis wine innovations, check out the department of viticulture and enology timeline, visit the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science website or peruse UC Davis news articles.