2025 Year in Review
Letter from the Director
2025 was about collaboration across our programs, events, and efforts. As you read our Year in Review, I hope you take note of the array of on-campus and external partners representing a wide range of academic disciplines, specialties, and industries. We also supported student organizations, sensory studies and campus-wide events, such as Picnic Day. On a day-to-day basis, RMI staff support our partners by coordinating the use of the Sensory Theater and conference room, organizing tours for dignitaries and visiting scholars, assisting with partner event logistics and promotion through our communication channels.
Collaborations continued through Terra Madre Americas, a three-day international culinary convergence that showcased UC Davis excellence through dozens of panels, tastings, and presentations at the UC Davis Health pavilion. PBS KVIE was another new partner, and An Evening with Pati Jinich was well received by our supporters and nearly 800 attendees.
All of our events with tastings sold out quickly, proving that our audience is hungry for in-person, interactive programs. Topics ranged from caviar and sparkling wine, blind wine tasting, the art of wine tasting, our annual Taste fundraiser, and a new event, the Alumni Wine Showcase. Almost half of the attendees are local, with a significant number traveling from the Bay Area and as far afield as San Diego, Georgia and New York.
Event recordings for our lectures were also popular, with more than 400 viewing hours for AI in Food Innovation, Is Wine Healthy?, and Michael Mondavi’s presentation on cycles of demand in the wine industry. We are proud to provide free access to important topics for a wider audience. Our student writers also do a wonderful job with event recaps on our blog.
In spring, the RMI was honored to host the Davis Chancellor's Club’s Bevy of Beverages. Donors tasted coffee, tea, wine, and beer while touring the facilities. They learned about the critical and innovative work being done by UC Davis faculty, researchers, and students and how they are shaping the future of the food and beverage industries.
The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences welcomed Dean Ashley M. Stokes after Dean Helene Dillard retired. While giving Dean Stokes her first tour of the RMI facilities, we had a very productive discussion and both agreed that the Robert Mondavi Institute plays a significant role at UC Davis as the premier public venue for food and beverage-related events on campus.
I am pleased to congratulate Professor Selina Wang, who was recently appointed as faculty director of the UC Davis Olive Center. She served as research director at the Olive Center from 2011-2022, leading the center’s research efforts in olive oil quality, purity, and standardization, managing research collaborations, and developing several extension courses. We are excited for her return and the next phase of the UC Davis Olive Center.
Lastly, our programs are supported in part by philanthropic gifts from the Friends of the Robert Mondavi Institute. Thank you to our friends for supporting public education in wine, brewing and food science. You can join our circle of friends at rmi.ucdavis.edu/friends.
We are keeping up the momentum in 2026 and warmly welcome you to join us at an upcoming event as we continue to build on our collaborative successes. Sign up for our monthly newsletter to be one of the first to hear about our high-demand tasting events..
Thank you for supporting the Robert Mondavi Institute.
Sincerely,
Ned Spang
Director, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science
Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology
2025 Event Series
In February, guests at the Caviar and Sparkling Wine Tasting experienced the ultimate luxury delicacies while learning about and tasting premium American caviar and sturgeon products, as well as méthode traditionnelle sparkling wines. Speakers included Jackson Gross, Cooperative Extension aquaculture specialist at UC Davis; Ali Bolourchi, president at Tsar Nicoulai Caviar; and Remi Cohen, CEO of Domaine Carneros. They shared how aquaculture research at UC Davis helped jumpstart farmed caviar, focused on sustainability and transparency, and explained how best to enjoy it with sparkling wines.
The 12th Annual Taste once again welcomed a sell-out crowd to the courtyard of the Robert Mondavi Institute for a beautifully cool fall evening of community and camaraderie. The Ryan Nason Ensemble provided a musical backdrop as guests tasted an array of fabulous wines and a spread of delicious foods from local and regional wineries, restaurants and food producers. Thank you to the vendors for their generosity, to the student workers and volunteers who helped make the event possible, and to our campus partners and Dean Stokes for their support. Taste proceeds support public scholarship through the Robert Mondavi Institute, showcasing food and beverage innovation and research at UC Davis.
In October, Michael Mondavi presented a lively lecture on The Cycles of Demand in the Wine Industry, discussing the history of the Napa Valley, how it evolved into what we know today, and how it weathered significant swings over the decades. He drew on his decades of experience in the wine industry as a co-founder with his father of Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville; as founder and chairman of Folio Fine Wine Partners; and as founder of Michael Mondavi Family Estate. He also shared insights and opportunities relating to the current downturn in wine consumption with guests, students, alumni, faculty and industry colleagues.
Student Organizations
We connected the Food Tech Club and the Davis Alt Protein Project with opportunities to participate in Terra Madre Americas programs for an international audience and provided event and communication support for the 2nd Annual Women in Wine Symposium. In addition to promoting the Davis Enology and Viticulture Organization’s fundraising event, the Winkler Dinner, we also produced a video highlighting DEVO's history and impact on students and distributed it as part of an article by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Student Workers
Arpa Boghozian
Christopher Chiu
Katherine Chiu
Jane Park
Lanie Whaley
Student Writers
2025 Special Events
2025 Savor: Lectures on Food and Wine
In May, AI in Food Innovation highlighted the potential for AI to accelerate product development, the technology's limitations, and the social, cultural, and ethical implications. Robert Mondavi Institute Director, Ned Spang, moderated the conversation between Carrie Alexander, postdoctoral scholar for Socioeconomics, Ethics, and Policy at AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems, Justin Shimek, CEO and Chairman at Mattson & Co. and Julien Delarue, associate professor in sensory and consumer science in the Department of Food Science and Technology.
In September, Is Wine Healthy? Exploring Science and Culture Inside the Wine Glass welcomed a sell-out crowd to explore emerging research, discuss longstanding ideas about what’s in your wine glass and put the changeable and contentious history of wine health into perspective. Speakers included Dr. Laura Catena, a Harvard and Stanford-trained biologist and physician, author, fourth-generation vintner, and founder of the Catena Institute of Wine; Lisa Jacobson, a professor of history at UC Santa Barbara; Sean Adams, M.S, Ph.D., scientific director for the UC Davis Center for Alimentary and Metabolic Science; and moderator Andrew Waterhouse, professor emeritus of Enology at UC Davis.
Friends of the RMI
Thank you to our 2025 Friends of the Robert Mondavi Institute and their commitment to public outreach, highlighting UC Davis food and beverage innovation and research across campus.
The Friends of the RMI are donors who provide ongoing support for programs that advance our mission to enhance the public’s understanding of wine, brewing, and food science. There are many benefits for our Friends, including Uncorked, an exclusive pre-performance wine tasting at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.
Thank You to Our Friends in 2025
Wayne and Jacque Bartholomew; Jacqueline Beckley and Leslie Herzog; Darrell Corti; Mary Horton; Cathryn and Robert Kerr; Robert and Barbara Leidigh; Jennifer and Clifton Linton; Jina Lopez; Fritz and Beverly Maytag; Harold McGee; Pamela Rohrich and Karl Gerdes; William and Linda Schmidt; James and Penelope Shackelford
Collaboration is key to expanding public outreach and building a more robust conversation around food and beverage. We are proud to partner with and support the work of the following departments, centers, institutes and organizations across UC Davis.
Thank you to our partners!
Agricultural Sustainability Institute
AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems
Arboretum and Public Garden
Cal Aggie Alumni Association
Center for Wine Economics
College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences
Continuing and Professional Education
Department of Animal Science
Department of Entomology and Nematology
Department of Food Science and Technology
Department of Viticulture and Enology
Development and Alumni Relations
Global Affairs
Global Tea Institute
Graduate School of Management
HUB for Sensory and Consumer Science
Innovation Institute for Food and Health
Integrated Center for Alternative Meat
and Protein
Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum
of Art
Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts
Student Farm
Student Housing and Dining Services
Thinking Food at the Intersections
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
UC Davis Brewing Program
UC Davis Coffee Center
UC Davis Library, Archives and Special Collections
UC Davis Health
UC Davis Olive Center
In the fall, the Robert Mondavi Institute partnered with PBS KVIE for An Evening with Pati Jinich. Nearly 800 food lovers gathered for a special conversation with James Beard Award-winning chef and Emmy-nominated host Pati Jinich. She is the culinary force behind PBS shows Pati’s Mexican Table and La Frontera. Charlotte Biltekoff, the Darrel Corti Endowed Professor in Food, Wine, and Culture at UC Davis, moderated the conversation, which celebrated the power of food to connect cultures and communities, even across borders.
In September, Terra Madre Americas came to Sacramento, welcoming 165,000 guests over three days. Hosted by Slow Food International and Visit Sacramento, the free event was an international culinary convergence modeled after the bi-annual Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin, Italy. We were proud to partner with UC Davis Health to help mobilize faculty, staff and students for dozens of panels, tastings and demonstrations. Topics included climate change, food and wine, regenerative agriculture, waste reduction, biodiversity, and so much more.
UC Davis was also represented throughout Terra Madre programming, and RMI Director Ned Spang moderated a mainstage panel with Mas Masumoto, farmer and celebrated author; Ryan Galt, director of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UC Davis; and Tiffany Nurrenbern, director of Program Zero Foodprint. It was a lively and dynamic discussion on the importance of small farms.
Terra Madre Americas will return to Sacramento in 2027.
