Fresno State

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

Other gear includes reverse osmosis equipment from Millipore, a Velo filter from Scott Laboratories as well as a scraped surface heat exchanger plus a belt conveyor from Westec and Cellarmaster hose from Valley Pipe.

Fresno State's first commercial crush was last year and honored Petrucci. There were two bottlings of white wine, including a Thompson Seedless, and a 100% Shiraz.

Carlos Muller said other donors include Seguin Moreau and World Cooperage, Western square, Lechler, Barrel Builders, California Glass, Juvenal Direct, Landmark Labels, Lallemand, Associated Winery Systems and Great Western.

What's more, as Fresno State looked to a crush of more than 100 tons, with some varieties mostly from university - sorry, Fresno State-owned vineyard - this year, it is anticipating a donation from World Cooperage and the John Boswell Foundation for a barrel room, with barrels, and with barrel racks provided by Western square.

Despite budgets, things are looking up at Fresno State. There is a compliance officer, Susan Schink, and Diana Burnett is teaching wine marketing and sensory evaluation classes. The word is out for a new entry level enologist to bolster the teaching and research capabilities since, with 79 majors and 11 graduate students, more staffing is required.

Back to the budget situation: at one point Muller and his department had been looking at about $900,000 to outfit the commercial winery. Well, one thing led to another and the next thing you know, some $400,000 was whacked out of the budget for other things. Not to worry: the approximate value of the items Carlos, which is how he's known by the junior colleagues, is about $1.5 million. This is not bad cumshaw by any sailor's reckoning.

What was interesting about the fall visit, in addition to the update on what's happening, wine-wise, at Fresno State, was the fact that for the first time students from another college, in this case Modesto J.C., provided some hands-on winemaking presence. OK, so a lot of it was hauling hose; ever made wine before?

Carlos Muller said the reason the Fresno State winery is open-air is that, during fermentation, with students crowding around, oxygen can be replaced by C[O.sub.2] with potentially fatal results. Also, it beats hell out of hauling hoses in dank, dark cellars in February. (Hauling hoses in February rain/fog is no day at the beach, either.)

Dave Baggett, a cheerful, wheelchair-bound arborist from Ohio (wheelchair-bound because he fell out of a tree) brought the Modesto students down to Fresno. From all accounts, including some from other Modesto educators, the weekend was a hit, even though some of the j.c. students won't be able to taste the result of their labors for a while. Carlos Muller said Fresno State would be approaching other community colleges, such as Santa Rosa, and U.C., Davis for future participatory winemaking sessions.

We asked Mitch Long if the Defranceschi press performed up to par. He said yes, it easily handled four tons of whole-cluster Chardonnay, and could easily dispose of 12 tons of crushed red grapes.