All posts filed under: Education

Benjamen Montpetit is the Marvin Sands Endowed Chair in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis.

Meet UC Davis Yeast Biologist Benjamen Montpetit

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The University of California, Davis, has a long history of groundbreaking research that has significantly impacted the global wine industry. Standing on the shoulders of giants With the retirement of several key academics whose research in the areas of grapevine genetics, fermentation science, and sensory science has played a crucial role in the development and advancement of the modern American wine industry, the Department of Viticulture and Enology now has new leadership. In January 2024, Benjamen Montpetit began his tenure as the Marvin Sands Endowed Chair in the department, succeeding David Block, who spent nearly 13 years in the role. Montpetit’s journey Montpetit’s journey from studying biochemistry to assuming leadership of the world’s top wine-science depart­ment was a natural progression. After earning a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia, he made his way to the University of California, Berkeley, for postdoctoral research in gene expression regulation using yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As a self-described foodie, Montpetit had already formed a deep personal connection to Vancouver’s multicultural restaurant scene, but it was a memo­rable glass …

Learning style

Dismantling the Intimidation of Learning

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For years, I thought there was a secret club of “math people.” They just got it, as if the ability to comprehend complex formulas came baked into their DNA. The textbooks seemed pretty impenetrable, especially for higher-level math and statistics.

Chianti Classico bottles

Chianti Classico Offers Free Online Education

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If studying Chianti Classico has not made your list of New Year’s resolutions, the Consorzi Vini e Olio Classico has just handed you an incentive; a free, online training program – Mooc Chianti Classico.

Bridge leading to a vineyard.

Sweet Wine Becomes a Bridge to Dry

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Let’s introduce novice wine consumers to the sweet wines of the world first and bridge them to dry styles made from the same grape varieties.

Taking a Closer Look at Modern Hybrids

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In the search for alternative ways to control grape vine diseases while reducing the use of synthetic herbicides and pesticides, a cadre of modern hybrids—second- and third-generation interspecific varieties— are demonstrating considerable promise in both the vineyard and the glass.

Highlights from WSET Wine Education Week

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The SOMM Journal’s Global Wine Editor, Deborah Parker Wong, DWSET (’09), recently hosted three professional mixers marking the 50th anniversary of the London-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

Parker Wong teamed up with three Sonoma wineries—Balletto
Vineyards, Sangiacomo Wines, and McEvoy Ranch—in welcoming WSET
alumni and students as well as members of the trade to taste and network
during Wine Education Week, held September 9–15. Three lucky attendees were awarded access to a Level 2 online certification course.

Amorim's Dr. Paulo Lopes.

The Myth Buster: Dr. Paulo Lopes dispels long-held beliefs about cork

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When it comes to wine storage, old habits are hard to break. But Dr. Paulo Lopes, Research and Development Manager at Amorim Cork, advises that if temperature and humidity are maintained at the correct levels, wine can be stored upright with no ill effects. In fact, sparkling wine should always be stored upright: a little-known fact that seems lost on many wine experts. During the course of his groundbreaking research, Lopes has seen no difference in the amount of oxygen found in wines that have been stored horizontally or vertically. Using science to debunk the myths that persist within wine culture is liberating largely because the facts can be even more compelling than the misleading maxims. In his recent presentation at the San Francisco Wine School on the reductive and oxidative nature of wine, Lopes made it abundantly clear that, after bottling, the main source of oxygen in wine comes from the cork itself. Atmospheric oxygen doesn’t make its way through the cork (neither does mold, for that matter); rather, the air trapped in cork’s …

Sicily’s native grapes and the dawn of Italian wine culture

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Sicily’s native grapes and the dawn of Italian wine culture.

The trilemma of primary, secondary and tertiary aromas

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Primary wine flavors (the combination of aromas and tastes) come from the grape variety itself and are almost always fruity except when they’re not. Secondary aromas are those associated with post-fermentation winemaking and include yeast, lees, yogurt, cream, butter or cheese and a full spectrum of flavors derived from oak. Tertiary flavors are defined as deliberate oxidation, fruit development, bottle age or any combination thereof.

Bitterness: Examing the chemistry behind the taste sensation

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Humans are particularly sensitive to bitterness. Thanks to a small but novel family of 30 genes, we can perceive thousands of bitter compounds. Our ability to discern bitter tastes evolved as a way to keep our early ancestors from eating poisonous plants. Bitterness is a taste sensation that we experience when monomeric flavonoid phenols, the compounds that are responsible for bitterness in wine, reach the bitter taste receptor cells on our taste buds. As the receptors send electrochemical signals to the gustatory cortex, we experience bitterness. To what degree determines whether we consider a wine to be merely complex, flawed or faulted. Read the entire article here –Bitterness June July 2016  

The Quality Threshold

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Berry Sensory Analysis: A Common Language for Describing Maturity

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If everyone on your winegrowing and winemaking teams shares a common language, there’s less risk involved when it comes to making crucial decisions. Few would argue that the most crucial decision a winemaker faces is when to pick. Beyond establishing intentions for the style and quality of the finished wine, making confident, proactive picking decisions relies on accurately assessing levels of ripeness. This acquired skill is on that vineyard managers and winemakers typically master through trial and error as they learn to speak the same language when describing degrees of fruit maturity and other sough-after qualities. Using the analytical method of Berry Sensory Analysis (BSA), a technique to describe the characteristics of grape maturity developed by Jacques Rousseau at the Institut Cooperatif du Vin in Montpellier, France, and introduced in Northern California by Enartis Vinquiry in 2006, winemakers can c onfidently assess fruit quality for specific wine styles and, in turn, gain more control over harvest timing decisions and production methods. Read the entire article here: Berry Sensory Analysis

Soil Survey: a crossword puzzle for the terroir obessed

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Dirt.  It’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the influence of terroir and its contribution to the flavor in wine is one of the most controversial and debated topics among wine enthusiasts.  I created this crossword puzzle to help my WSET Level 3 students study soil types in a creative way.  Even if you’re not a student of wine you’ve probably already encountered many of the soils I’ve included here.  So, put on your geological thinking cap and have at it with these clues Soil Survey Clues. You’ll can find the answers here. Soil Survey Answer Key

Eyes on the prize

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Once you’ve made the decision to pursue a professional certification, there’s more to making the grade than meets the eye. For anyone considering, or already pursuing,one of the beverage industry’s most rigorous professional certifications — the Wine & Spirit Education Trust(WSET) Diploma—aligning your expectations and adopting strategies will make navigating the program easier and significantly more rewarding. With only 36 Diplomas awarded in the U.S. by the London-based WSET in 2008 (WSET now lists awards by year and Approved Program Provider), the benefits of sticking out this program, which can be completed in as little as two years or self-paced over a longer period, are many. WSET certification is a proven way to differentiate yourself in any job market. Diploma candidate William Emile Bond III recently accepted a position as a Northern Wildman and Sons, where his WSET status helped him connect. “As far as credentials go, it’s a valuable thing to have on your resume,” Bond says. “The hiring manager at Wildman earned his Diploma in New York, and it definitely caught his eye …