Fresno State

Wines & Vines, Dec, 1998 by Philip E. Hiaring

How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm, after they've seen... Fresno State? Actually, it might be easier to keep 'em down on the farm, your farm, that is, if the" 'em" in this equation has a degree from the soon-to-be Department of Viticulture and Enology at old Fresno State, now part of the California State University system but probably destined to be known forever as "Fresno State".

As a graduate of San Jose State, I can take the "university" status, but with perhaps a grain or more of salt. What the hey, San Jose State was a teacher's college, but it also had a pretty good journalism/advertising/public relations curriculum as well.

In any case, it was with a certain anticipation about returning to campus that I went to Fresno State in September for a joint crush effort - Fresno State and Modesto J.C. students - crushing grapes at the Fresno State commercial winery. This is the only university known to have a commercial winery - others have experimental wineries for educational purposes. How Fresno State came to have a commercial enterprise reveals a bit of legal slight-of-hand.

But let's retrace some steps as to how Fresno State got in the viticulture and enology business to begin with - an eventuality that did not sit well with the late Maynard Amerine, then head of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at U.C., Davis.

I guess some folks don't like competition.

In any event, we learn from the late Leon D. Adams' The Wines of America that the 5,000 gallon model (experimental) winery was built in 1958 despite opposition from local Drys.

Joe Heitz of Heitz Cellars was the first (1960) enologist in charge and Vince Petrucci, professor emeritus, was "an Escalon farm boy", per Leon, who headed the viticulture program since 1947. As Vince has said, he got the job because he knew how to drive a tractor.

Heitz, incidentally, was followed by Elie Skofis - good company, indeed, then Raoul DeSoto, Dick Norton and Dr. Fred Nury. Dr. Sigmund Schanderl was named enology professor in 1973 (leaving in 1977) and the present director of enology, Dr. Carlos Muller, came on board in 1979.

It should be noted that Fresno State's program emphasizes applied research, stuff the vineyard operator or winemaker can use.

Its list of grads includes, but is not limited to, Dick Arrowood, of Arrowood Winery in California, John Hofherr of St. James and Patricia Held of Stone Hill in Missouri. Further, students (junior colleagues, per Carlos Muller, a U.C., Davis Ph.D.) come from all over the globe, including Pennsylvania, Michigan plus exchange students from New Zealand, Argentina, Germany, Japan, Chile and Colombia.

Let's segue back to the event at hand, the commercial crush at Fresno State with Modesto J.C. students lending a hand. Fresno State has a commercial bond because, under state law, a license cannot be held by a state institute, i.e., Fresno State. But - zing - it can be held by the Agricultural Foundation of California State University, Fresno, technically not a state institution. Catch 22, or whatever.

The crush, Chardonnay donated by E. & J. Gallo from a vineyard at Snelling to the Northeast, also featured the first use of a donated press from Defranceschi of Italy via Mitch Long of Valley Pipe & Supply, Inc., of Fresno. Mitch and son Chris were on hand to make sure the new membrane press performed properly; it did, to the satisfaction of Fresno State's winemaker, Dan Baldwin, and winemaster, Ken Fugelsang.

Incidentally, it should be a no-brainer that donating equipment to schools like Fresno State can be good for business. For one thing, the donation is a write-off. Duh. For another, in a couple of years hundreds of future winemakers of America have used your press, crusher; tanks, hose, valves, etc. Gee, does donating equipment sound like a good investment, or what? After all, Carlos Muller can always use "more stuff."

In the Navy, we called guys like Carlos and, before him, Vince Petrucci, "cum-shaw artists." That's because they could always beg, borrow or - in extreme cases, maybe - trade whatever you might need. Whatever, they delivered the goods.

In the early days, an enology student earned a b.s. degree in Agricultural Science with the emphasis on enology. In 1980, however, the enology program director (Muller), helped set in place a move to combine nutrition, enology and food science into a single Department of Enology, Food Science and Nutrition

Given state education budgets, in even a more precarious state given the spending favoring prisons vs. education today, the university sought help - in the form of donations - from the industry it aimed to help. So, potential donors were approached and two presses, Vaslin and Bucher, were donated along with a Vaslin rotary fermenter, tanks (including a drainer from Santa Rosa Stainless Steel), a Demoisy crusher/stemmer from Process Engineers plus other equipment from such wineries as Canandaigua, Beringer, Chateau St. Jean, Cribari, Gallo, Fetzer, St. Francis and Pirelli-Minetti, to name a few.