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September 2018 WINES&VINES 21 W arren Winiarski, the founder of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, committed $3.3 mil- lion to build what's being touted as the world's most comprehen- sive collection of wine writing at the Univeristy of California, Davis. According to a news release by UC Davis, the gift by the Winiarski Family Foundation will preserve and increase access to the works of Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson and other celebrated wine writers including book authors, editors, wine journalists, critics, colum- nists, bloggers and the creators of other editorial content. "My hope for this gift is that it will create a powerful resource for people who want to see how writers helped develop the wine industry itself and how they influenced the aesthetics of wine," Winiarski said in the UC Davis statement. "Wine writers didn't write just about the regions or types of wine. They gave winemakers the tools they needed to make wines better." British wine writer Hugh John- son has described the UC Davis' current collection as "the greatest wine library in the world." The library holds more than 30,000 wine books and special col- lections of manuscripts, maps and other materials on wine dating back as far as 1287. Its collections also include papers and books from wine notables such as Robert Mondavi, Leon D. Adams, Roy Brady and Rob- ert Thompson, among others. Winiarski, was the first wine- maker of Robert Mondavi Winery in 1966, and said wine writers helped identify and winemaking styles that were used by winemakers. Winiarski said he hopes the UC Davis library's wine writer collec- tions will leverage the works of these authors so they can be used to create even better wines in the future. "It's about helping to refine truth through history," he said. "It's not just about preserving their work, but also building a home where something new can be cre- ated from the past. We need to continue to get more finesse in our wines and I'm hoping that this col- lection will help bring about those developmental benefits for the industry for many years to come." Winiarski's earlier gifts to the l i b r a r y h a v e t o t a l e d n e a r l y $400,000. In addition to support- ing the wine writer collections, the funds will also support the Warren Winiarski Wine Writer Collection Fellow to help curate, manage and promote the collection. —Wines & Vines staff Winiarski Gives $3.3 Million for Wine Writing Library Warren Winiarski (right) and professor Roger Boulton with the University of California, Davis. WINE INDUSTRY NEWS