When winemakers press grapes, they're after the juice. But what happens to the skins, seeds, and stems that make up nearly 30% of the harvest?
At Terra Madre Americas in Sacramento in September 2025, two UC Davis researchers revealed how this "waste" is becoming the wine industry's next frontier of innovation.
The Sensory Theater fell quiet as Ned Spang, Director of the Robert Mondavi Institute, welcomed a familiar face back to campus. Dr. Hoby Wedler, a UC Davis alumnus who has been blind since birth, returned not just as a chemist, entrepreneur, and sensory expert but as the guide for the first public tasting built entirely around UC Davis student-made wines.
Every Thursday evening during the quarter at UC Davis, undergrads, graduate students, faculty, and researchers come together with wine glasses in hand for VITIS, the wine tasting club run through the Davis Enology and Viticulture Organization (DEVO). Here, they taste wines while learning directly from the people making them.
When Michael Mondavi steps into a room, he brings decades of wine expertise and the living history of Napa Valley with him. On October 7, 2025, the "quiet icon" of California winemaking shared his history, and hard-won lessons about surviving the industry's ups and downs, with students, alumni, and faculty at the Robert Mondavi Institute's Sensory Theater.
I am pleased to share the 2024 Robert Mondavi Institute Year in Review. I hope you will read about last year's RMI highlights and accomplishments with a focus on student engagement and partnerships. You can find all of our reports on the RMI website.
Another academic year has come to a close and we congratulate all of the students who graduated this month. I am incredibly proud of the accomplishments of the students and can't wait to see their successes in the future.
For the first time in its storied history, the University of California, Davis, is selling wines to the public made by students, staff and faculty from grapes they grow in the Napa Valley and around campus in Yolo County.
This year’s Women in Wine Symposium boldly embraced the theme “Breaking Tradition.” Hosted by the student-led UC Davis Women in Wine group, the event brought together leaders, students, alumni, and advocates committed to building a more inclusive, sustainable, and innovative wine industry.
The Robert Mondavi Institute courtyard came alive at the UC Davis Alumni Wine Showcase. UC Davis alumni winemakers gathered to pour, connect, and celebrate their shared foundation in the Department of Viticulture and Enology. The event showcased the strength of the UC Davis wine network, from icons like Schramsberg Vineyards, Silver Oak Cellars, St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, and Williams Selyem, to rising stars like Great Bear Vineyards, Eco Terreno, Forgotten Union Wines, and others.
When Alexandra Leite arrived on the UC Davis campus as a viticulture and enology major last year, it was a bit intimidating navigating her new world.
But when she was teamed up with an upper-division mentor through the Davis Enology and Viticulture Organization, or DEVO, all the possibilities of the major opened up as she met other students and attended events.
Have you ever wondered how winemakers and sommeliers seem better at tasting wine than everyone else? It’s not magic. It’s exposure. Over time, they sharpen their senses and learn to taste with intention.
At a special sold-out student-led event, UC Davis Ph.D. candidates Arpa Boghozian and Lik Xian showed us that anyone can develop these skills. With the right approach, we can train our senses to experience wine on a whole new level.
Caviar is known as a delicacy worldwide. Although rightfully expensive due to its 6-10 year long production time and very short six-week shelf life, Tsar Nicoulai Caviar is a company willing to turn these tides. Davis community members paired sparkling wines from Domaine Carneros and sturgeon dishes while discovering the close relationship UC Davis has with this unique industry.
It has only been a month since our last newsletter, but there is so much news to share from both departments and across the UC Davis campus.
For those who knew and admired Anita Oberholster, there will be a celebration of life on Monday, May 12, from 2:00 to 5:00 pm to honor and remember her. Please join us at the UC Davis Conference Center to share memories and stories or join the livestream if you cannot attend in person.
