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38 Wines&Vines February 2015 winemaKer interview by this winery. Paul specifically instilled in me the appreciation f o r c r a f t s m a n s h i p i n w i n e production. By 1995 I was hooked on the chemistry of red wine tannins. These are amazingly interesting molecules that have tremendous importance in red wine quality and yet in so many ways are still a mystery. My initial interest stemmed from the idea of tannin "ripeness." While working at Ridge, I became fascinated with the quality of tannins coming into the winery and the notion that tan- nin perception and astringency quality was changing in the vine- yard. At the time, we knew very little about how precisely tannins were changing during berry devel- opment, and that thought in- trigued the heck out of me. Imagine that something that is so sensorially apparent, and the chemistry is poorly understood. I wanted to understand that at the chemical level. I've scratched the surface, but there's still so much that's not understood. I am keen on tannin chemistry (thank you, Dr. Singleton) and appreciate that the finest red wines are crafted not assembled (thank you, Paul Draper). Q Where is your current re- search focused? My current area of research is fo- cused on understanding tannin structure-activity relationships as they relate to red wine produc- tion. Activity in this case is how we perceive tannins. Imagine chewing on a green banana or an unripe persimmon. What you feel when you do this is astringency or what we call the response when tannins "stick" to and precipitate salivary protein. We all know an- ecdotally that wine-production practices influence tannin percep- tion: Whether it is the source of fruit, different types of maceration or aging in an oak barrel, we all know that tannin perception is impacted. My research is very much focused on understanding how tannin structure changes dur- ing operations such as these and determining the effect of structure on activity. The newest tool in the toolbox for me is an analytical method that has been developed in my lab. This method measures tannin activity so that we can now more effectively investigate the role of tannin structure. Q As a graduate of the Uni- versity of California, Davis, and now chairman of the De- partment of Viticulture and enology at Fresno state, you are in a unique position to talk about how the programs differ and how they complement each other. How is Fresno state different from UC Davis and other such programs? Does it attract a different type of student? Those are great questions. I grew up in Davis, was educated at UC Davis, and it goes without saying (although I will!) I am an Aggie, through and through. With that, I have been at Fresno State for a while now, and as hard as it may be for some of my Aggie compa- triots to hear, I have become a tremendous supporter of Fresno State. The beauty is, these pro- grams are not mutually exclusive. They are unique in their own ways and very much complementary. Given the size of our industry, there is clearly a need for both programs. How are they different? With regard to instruction, I guess the simplest way to state it is that UC Davis stresses science and Fresno State stresses practice. Both pro- grams deliver instruction in the science and practice of grape and wine production; we just empha- size different aspects. With re- gard to research, I believe that Fresno State stresses near-term solutions and UC Davis stresses long-term understanding. From my experience, I do think that UC Davis and Fresno State attract different students, but they're equally passionate about their chosen profession. Currently Fresno State has C H A R L O I S C O O P E R A G E , U S A 1 2 8 5 S . F O O T H I L L B L V D C L O V E R D A L E , C A 9 5 4 2 5 P H : ( 7 0 7 ) 2 2 4 - 2 3 7 7 F A X : ( 7 0 7 ) 2 2 4 - 2 3 9 0 P R E M I U M A M E R I C A N O A K B A R R E L S Contact: Michael Mercer Nor th American Sales Manager Cell: (707) 508-5006 michael@char loiscooper ageusa.com I am keen on tannin chemistry and appreciate that the finest red wines are crafted, not assembled.