This is a challenge in some years because many of the varieties we grow in Davis ripen before classes start. Therefore, we have invested heavily in planting new vineyards with varieties more suited to our warm Davis climate. It is critical that students learn winemaking with the highest quality fruit we can provide. On the research side, quality issues are our main focal points and have been for decades. To suggest that grape quality is not important in teaching and research is simply not true.
Alcohol pollutes the environment, it's like chlorine bleach.
This is scientifically incorrect. Wine, and the alcohol in it, are natural and biodegradable products that do not pollute the environment. In fact, grape residues from winemaking are generally composted and returned to the vineyard, and the waste water that a winery generates is minor, free of toxins and considered beneficial to the biological activity in a waste water treatment plant. Studies at UC Davis have shown that it can be easily recycled in constructed wetlands. In summary, we hope that the California Aggie readers will take note that the department of viticulture and enology is a serious institution aimed at educating the next generation of California's leaders in grape growing and winemaking.