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 Senate Bill 683 law allowing UC Davis to do so, was passed late last year but its recent implementation means that the students’ finished product can now be sold to local producers and even served by the bottle on special occasions. According to Decanter, the university sources grapes from key Napa Valley vineyards in Oakville, and therefore many of the bottles are expected to sell for $80 to $100 each.
The top winemaking and viticulture college of California was previously constrained to drain the wine and waste significant amount it could generate by selling off the wine. Over 90,000 liters of wine are reportedly drained off and not sold to abide by the law.
The new legislation has created a non-profit organisation with a special licence for wine sales, some of which could eventually appear under a UC Davis label, claims the report. Much of the wine may initially be used on campus for special events.
According to Professor David Block, the Chair of the Department of Viticulture and Oenology at the UC Davis, it is not financially sustainable to pour the wine down the drain because of the costs that go into procuring it. He also feels that it is not environmentally advisable to waste the wine, sine it is pro-conserving both water and energy.
Case of UC Davis
Dr.Hildegarde Heymann is a sensory scientist who joined the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the UC Davis in 2003. As a fellow judge, I have been meeting her at every Mundusvini for the last 11 years that I have been judging at this international wine competition in Neustadt in Palatinate (Pfalz) region. When I asked her last month about the significance of the new law, she told me this was not an earth shaking law. All it really meant was that a few thousand liters of wine that was simply drained off as the law did not permit them to sell, could now be sold as bulk wine and whatever little money received from the sales, could be used for upgrading wine facilities at the university.
She shrugged it of when I suggested that the Article in Decanter suggested that the bottles may fetch $80-100. ‘What we have is not great wine worthy of drinking on an as is where is basis. It may be used to mix with some wines or even be sold as bulk wine. It could technically be possible if the students made wine under the supervision of a professional winemaker with commercial disposal as the objective. But that is not our intent,’ she said. The professor also added that in any case, a couple of universities in Australia were already selling such wines. She also felt the same about the State University at San Francisco.
‘Our students make or use wine only as an experiment. In my class, we have had occasions when we might even have bought wine by the barrel and used only 5 liters for experimentation. The rest would go waste earlier; now we can get rid of it in an environmentally sensible way and get some money for it’.
I was curious to know from the learned professor whether UC Davis circumvents California Law that stipulates the drinking age as 18 years. ‘It’s a very interesting question. The law actually does not permit drinking alcohol below 18 years. So we have given an affidavit that the students will sip but not swallow. I can assure you in my class the students are mortally scared of me. Even if I am not looking, they dare not drink the wine during a tasting and always spit it out.’
Hochschule Geisenheim
I had been to Hochschule (University) Geisenheim a couple of year ago in August ,2014 to review their Masters in Wine Business Programme in English and distinctly remember the university wine shop which not only sold wine but had been a part of VDP since 1995. VDP (Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (the Association of German Quality Wine Estates) is over a 100-year old Association of 200 quality German wine producers. It is a matter of distinction to be a part of the Association, the admission process for which is quite rigorous.
Dr. Manuella Webber-Witt is another fellow Mundusvini judge who came from Brazil a decade ago and studied at the Geisenheim University where she also did her PhD in Enology and Viticulture later. ‘I worked in those vineyards when I first came to the University!’ she says with excitement. ‘Of course, we make very good quality wines there. Many of them are stocked out fast as the quantity is small and they are well priced,’ adding that the profits made are re-invested within the enology and viticulture departments.’ I had also taste a few labels and found the wines delicious and good value-for-money wines.
It would be interesting to see how much money is generated through this exercise. However, it appears highly unlikely that the UC Davis plans to sell wine at this stage even though the grapes are sourced from top vineyards.
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