From Vine to Wine: Highlights from Special Collections

The Birth of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California

During the 1870s the California wine industry was beset by problems of inferior products due to a lack of knowledge and skills in producing wine. Wine was often bottled and sold soon after fermentation before it had a chance to properly mature, placing it on an uneven footing with the aged fine wines from Europe. Growers had sought the University of California’s help after the phylloxera louse, discovered in California in 1873, destroyed their vineyards. By enacting Assembly Bill 374 on April 15, 1880, the California Legislature charged the University of California with the task of leading research and instruction “pertaining to viticulture and the theory and practice of fermentation, distillation and rectification, and the management of cellars.” Once legislation passed, the University expanded its work on wine research, improving the quality and prices of California wines, and studying the phylloxera problem. The department was officially named the Department of Viticulture in 1919.

Courses in viticulture and enology at Berkeley first consisted of a few lectures and laboratory work until Prohibition in 1919 banned commercial winemaking and put an end to research in enology. The department was subsequently named the Department of Viticulture and Fruit Products. After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the department divided into the Department of Fruit Products at Berkeley and the Department of Viticulture at Davis in 1935. Once more the department could concentrate on improving the grape growing and winemaking industries of California through research, experimentation, and instruction. Thanks to the department’s research in enology, producers learned new techniques for stabilizing, aging, cooling, and controlling fermentation of wine as well as the proper use of pure yeast cultures and sulfur dioxide. The Department of Viticulture and Enology was officially created in 1954.

Research in viticulture and enology has been shared and distributed in numerous publications such as in reports, bulletins, popular and technical articles, and books. This research and scholarship has helped us to learn that region, variety, and viticultural and enological practices are the primary factors that determine the quality of California wines. The California wine industry started to make great progress between 1966 and 1981 after growers began planting the finer wine grape varieties (e.g., cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, zinfandel, etc.) recommended by the University.

Archives and Special Collections at UC Davis Library holds the papers of the researchers who were behind the improvement and growth of California’s wine industry.

This page has paths:

Contents of this path:

This page references: