Viticulture and Enology

Viticulture and Enology

Viticulture and Enology

About

The University of California at Davis holds an extensive collection of materials pertaining to the growth and development of the wine industry. The papers of individual wine researchers, merchants, and historians, and the archives of wineries, trade associations, and governmental agencies are represented. Collections in this subject category focus on grape growing, wine making, marketing, and distributing wine and other fermented beverages.

The collection development policies for the Viticulture and Enology Collection and for the Wine Writers Collection outline the principles upon which these collections are built.

The growth and development of the California wine industry is chronicled in several collections. The archives of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, a federal regulatory agency, contains early tax records of established wineries including corporation papers, vineyard acreage, facilities, and production. Promotional and educational organizations created to support the wine industry are represented in the Wine Institute collection and the Wine Industry Technical Seminars archives. Efforts by individual wineries to change their image or appeal to new audiences can be found in the graphics in the Reid papers. Among the papers of Leon Adams are treatises on wine’s medicinal properties and a variety of wine cookbooks.

Both the California and the French wine industry owe much to the efforts of the Davis faculty and extension agents, who furnished vineyards with healthy grape stock and pest management advice. The papers of Dwight Morrow record the phylloxera epidemic in Europe which nearly decimated French vineyards, and the efforts of Davis viticulturists to alleviate the epidemic. The papers of other Davis faculty members focus on improving wine varieties and wine making methods. Of particular note are the papers of Maynard Amerine, a world renowned wine researcher and consultant, whose work on taste perception and home wine making methods helped promoted the consumption of wine as a popular beverage.

Archival records and promotional materials relating to individual California wineries and industry cooperatives can be found in the Italian Swiss Colony archives, which contain crush reports, grower records, and financial transactions of an early California winery. The Baccigaluppi papers contain advertising and marketing tools in a variety of formats. The Corti Brothers, Inc. collection and the Kew collection contain cost and distribution records, and promotional materials relating to the broker industry.

Several collections contain records relating to the wine industry at the international level. The Cebis collection contains subject files and ephemeral materials with a focus on Eastern Europe. The Portuguese Wine Pamphlet collection, the Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro collection, and the records of Newton, Gordon, & Johnson, Merchants focus on the wine trade in Portugal. The French wine market is the subject of the Napoleonic Wine Trade collection, the Lebaustri collection, and the Jones papers.

Ephemeral collections are continually supplemented and include broadsides, posters, newsletters, pamphlets, scrapbooks, labels, and realia. Collections in this category comprise nearly 500 linear feet and there are no geographical, chronological, format, or language limits. Related materials can be found under the headings of Agricultural Technology and Food Processing and Manufacture, in the University Archives under the Department of Viticulture and Enology, and in the rare book collections of the California State Board of Viticultural Commissioners and of the Inglenook Winery.

The library is actively expanding its Wine Writers Collection. Wine writers have made a tremendous impact on both the wine industry and the public’s appreciation of wine. They are the storytellers who give lasting life to the people and places connected with wine, moving beyond regions, types of wines, and ratings to influence the very aesthetic and legacy of the industry. Wine writers offer unique insights into what made the wine industry what it is today. Not only does their writing help shape the wines that consumer choose, but it can influence which new technologies, techniques, and trends take root in the winemaking world. The library is honored to hold the papers of writers including Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson, Charles Sullivan, Leon Adams, Bob Thompson, and others.

Viticulture and Enology Manuscripts