From the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Anita Oberholster, a wine chemist and professor of Cooperative Extension in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at University of California, Davis, died Saturday after a long battle with cancer. She was 50.

Known as a dedicated educator, researcher, mentor and colleague, Oberholster joined UC Davis in 2011 with a background in both wine chemistry and sensory science. She was also charged with working with the industry in her role as a Cooperative Extension specialist supporting the thousands of wineries in California.

“Anita was everywhere and doing everything she could to help the industry, help her students, and help the department,” said Ben Montpetit, chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology. “She was a very dedicated person. It’s a tremendous loss.”

The department will host a Celebration of Life later this year and has set up a tribute page for family, friends, colleagues and others to post condolences, memories and other well wishes.

“Anita Oberholster was a gifted researcher, extension specialist, educator and mentor,” said Helene Dillard, Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.  “Her outstanding work has had a tremendous impact on the wine industry in California, nationally and internationally.  She will be greatly missed by numerous students, colleagues and collaborators around the world.”

From South Africa and Australia to Davis

Oberholster was born in Malmesbury, South Africa, and grew up on a farm as the youngest of three children. She earned her Ph.D. in wine sciences at University of Adelaide in Australia and served as a researcher and instructor at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Her research at UC Davis was wide ranging as the sole extension specialist in wine and addressed the diverse needs of the industry, including the effects of vineyard and winery treatments on quality. Her recent efforts included detecting, diagnosing, mitigating and preventing smoke taint from wildfires and fighting Red Blotch disease in grapevines.

During California’s destructive 2020 wildfire season, Oberholster spearheaded a collaboration with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to conduct commercial analyses of wine and grape samples. She also shared with industry her unpublished, validated assay to detect the seven compounds that were used to indicate smoke exposure in grapes and wine.

“Anita was a rock star,” said Karen Block, the department’s Director of Industry Relations, who worked closely with Oberholster on extension efforts.  “She was the only enology extension specialist for over 4,200 California wineries and always identified the most-relevant industry issues to address for research and to present for extension programs.”

Gifted speaker and leader

Oberholster was a gifted speaker able to distill complex issues into understandable pieces and was known for her speeches, video segments and media interviews. She was a sought-after moderator and served as peer reviewer for dozens of journals.

She was a member of the American Chemical Society, West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Graduate Education Committee.

From 2014 to 2107 she was board director of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, which in 2021 gave her the Extension Distinction Award.

“There are very few people I know that worked harder than Anita,” Block said. “She was both an amazing friend and colleague.”

Awards, honors and accolades were a common occurrence. Wine Business Monthly twice named Oberholster as one of the Top 50 most influential people in the U.S. wine industry. She won the Distinguished Service Award from the UC Davis Academic Federation in 2021, the Leader Award of Excellence from the California Association of Winegrape Growers in 2022 and shared the Wine Star Award from Wine Enthusiast in 2023.

In 2024, U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson honored her with the American Dream Award for Yolo County, which recognizes residents who have come to the United States and made outstanding contributions.

A family affair

Oberholster had a reputation for being kind, supportive, tenacious and able to work with anyone.

“She would take on anything and work endlessly to get things done right,” said Andrew Waterhouse, a fellow wine chemist and professor emeritus enology who helped bring Oberholster to UC Davis. “She could work with anyone and everyone like working with her.”

Her lab and the people who worked there were treated like family and were expected to pitch in when research, harvests and other needs arose. “She really cared about her students and postdocs,” Waterhouse said, “and taught them shared empathy. Anita was a bright star in our midst.”

Her legacy will continue in the long line of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduate trainees she mentored over the years. But her absence will be dearly felt going forward. “Losing someone with her knowledge and expertise at the height of her career creates a void that will long be felt,” Montpetit said.

Oberholster lived in Davis with her husband, Connie, and two children. Funeral services are pending. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in her memory be sent to the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center Research Fund. A UC Davis memorial fund has also been set up in her honor. 

Visit the Department of Viticulture and Enology website for more about Anita Oberholster and the planned Celebration of Life.