Montpetit to Focus on New Educational Offerings, Diversity and Investment Ben Montpetit, a yeast geneticist and biochemist, is the new chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis. Montpetit joined UC Davis in 2016 and became department vice chair in 2021. In his new role, he plans to enhance student offerings, continue to advance diversity efforts and foster investment in students, faculty, staff and department operations ..read more

The Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis has almost completed the process of becoming licensed to sell wine and will do so under the entity Hilgard631.  We invite all current undergraduate and graduate UC Davis students, as well as the Department of Viticulture and Enology faculty and staff, to take part in an exciting contest to help design the labels for these bottles.    ..read more

Attendees enjoying lunch on November 9 We hope that harvest finished smoothly for everyone and wish all a happy and healthy new year ..read more

Harvest 2023 came with unique opportunities, challenges, and excitement. We experienced cooler weather overall compared to previous years, and harvest started three weeks later than usual in our winery ..read more

Dr. Luis Diaz-Garcia is an Assistant Professor and Grape Breeder in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. He succeeded Dr. Andrew Walker, who led wine grape and rootstock breeding efforts at UC Davis for over 30 years. Dr. Diaz-Garcia earned his bachelor's degree in Agronomy from Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Mexico. He then completed his master's degree in plant biotechnology at the National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (LANGEBIO) in Mexico, where he used systems biology and bioinformatics to study yeast stress. Subsequently, he obtained his Ph.D ..read more

Justin Ito Congratulations to all students who received scholarships and awards this year ..read more

Year and degree of graduation:  2002 - Bachelor of Science, Viticulture and Enology  Current job title/company:  Winemaker, Mumm Napa  ..read more

Student standing: I am currently a second-year master’s student.  ..read more

DEPARTMENT NEWS  The UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology Broadening Horizons Program was recently selected as one of the Gérard Basset Foundation 2023 grantees. The Gérard Basset Foundation supports global diversity, equity, and inclusion for wine, spirits, and hospitality professionals by funding education, learning, and career-enhancing programmes.    ..read more

Cristina (Cris) is from Valladolid (and the surrounding region), in central Spain. She received her B.S. in Chemistry, a M.S. in advanced techniques in chemistry, and then a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Valladolid. However, she says that her Ph.D. is really in electrochemistry because that was her thesis topic. She worked on sensors to look at ripening in grapes (sugars and phenolics).  ..read more