Our Faculty
Douglas Adams, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis and an associate biochemist at the Agriculture Experiment Station. His research is related to the biochemstiry of fruit ripening in grapes and the physiological and environmental factors that influence fruit composition. His most recent work has been aimed at understanding the tannin composition of red wine grape varieties and how they combine with pigments during winemaking.
Linda F. Bisson, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. She is trained as a yeast geneticist and physiologist. She is the holder of the prestigious Maynard A. Amerine Endowed Chair.
Margaret Davenport began her career in the wine industry in 1980 at Simi Winery, Healdsburg, California, as a harvest lab technician. Ms. Davenport enrolled in the MS program at UC Davis in 1981, completing her thesis on yeast vitamin requirements in 1985. She made sparkling wine at Wente Brothers in Livermore from 1983 – 1986, then became an assistant winemaker at Clos du Bois. She rose to Vice-President, Director of Winemaking and retired in 2003 to launch her consulting business and start her own brand, Davenport and Company.
Jill Davis has been making wine professionally in Sonoma County and the Napa valley for the past 25 years at wineries ranging in size from 500 cases to 200,000 cases. She holds a degree in Fermentation Science from UC Davis. Her wines are widely respected and have received many awards. Throughout her career she has been a frequent lecturer on wine and wine production.
Hildegarde Heymann is a professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis.
Ralph Kunkee, Ph.D., is an emeritus professor of enology, having been active as a wine microbiologist in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis for several decades. He is the author or co-author of some 150 research papers and of two practical winery textbooks. He has been awarded the Annual Research Lectureship and the Merit Award by the American Society for Enology and Viticulture and is a Fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science.
James T. Lapsley, Ph.D., has worked as a continuing education specialist at UC Davis Extension for more than 25 years. He is the author of Bottled Poetry, a history of fine wine production in California and is the former owner of a small winery in Woodland, California. Along with Kirby Moulton, Ph.D., he co-authored the wine economics book, Successful Wine Marketing, which won an international book prize for wine.
Brent Trela, Ph.D., is the program director of online education in winemaking for UC Davis Extension.
Andrew Waterhouse, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis.
If you have a question about the content of the courses or how to proceed through the program, please feel free to send an email or call (530) 757-8899.
