Teams of students stood at their cooking stations at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, pots and thermometers in front of them, most about to make cheese for the very first time.
Sacramento City College Instructor, Jessica Coppola acknowledged the nerves that come with walking into a new space and told everyone to settle in. Then she got straight to it, “I think we just jump in.”
A quarter-century after its founding, the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science is a place of groundbreaking discoveries, collaborations and educational offerings attracting top-notch students, scholars and researchers.
It’s starting to feel like fall as the UC Davis campus comes alive again, with students moving back and starting classes next week. The new academic year brings new programs and annual favorites as we kick off a year-long celebration.
Last month, we lost a dear friend of the Robert Mondavi Institute, UC Davis, and the wine industry. Walter “Walt” Klenz passed away on July 20, 2026, at the age of 81. Walt invested more than 50 years in the global wine industry, earning a well-deserved reputation as a humble, trustworthy, and kind leader.
We are deeply saddened to share that Walter “Walt” Klenz passed away peacefully on July 20, 2026 at the age of 81. He was a champion of the wine industry and a longtime supporter of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. Our thoughts are with his wife, Sylvia, and their family during this time.
What do cereal mascots and atomic absorption spectroscopy have in common? Both are fair game in the annual College Bowl Competition hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists Student Association, or IFTSA. Started in 1985, College Bowl is a team-based quiz competition about food science spanning universities throughout the United States and Canada.
In July, a team of five proudly represented UC Davis at the national finals in Chicago, Illinois.
The Integrative Center for Alternative Meat and Protein (iCAMP) at UC Davis focuses on developing transformative knowledge and innovation to accelerate the commercialization of alternative proteins, address global food system challenges, and strengthen food security.
This year’s selection of student-made and UC Davis-labeled wines is now available. The next sale date is Friday, June 26, from 12:00 to 2:00 pm, with more dates throughout the summer and fall. Six wines were created by viticulture and enology students as part of the post-fermentation class held each spring.
Fifty years ago, a blind tasting in Paris quietly rewrote the story of California wine. On May 24, 1976, a panel of nine French judges, convinced that California wine could not compete with Bordeaux or Burgundy, scored it higher than both. The Judgment of Paris put Napa Valley on the map and changed the way the world thought about American winemaking.
