Volume 29 · Number 4 · Summer 2012
Alumni Profiles
Alumni winemaker: Karl Wente, M.S. ’01
"Good food. Good wine. Good people. Good music." Karl Wente, M.S. '01, recites those four reasons in explaining why he became a winemaker. Family history and a renowned wine program, he said, are what brought him to UC Davis to refine his craft.
"UC Davis is a great school for winemaking," Karl said. "Plus, my family has such a great legacy in the wine business there."
Karle Wente
The award-winning Wente Vineyards in Livermore, founded in 1883, is the nation's oldest continuously operating family owned winery. The family's connections to campus go back to its earliest days as the University Farm — Karl's great-grandfather Ernest Wente was a member of the first class of students in 1909. Karl's father, Eric, and his uncle, Philip, both earned degrees from UC Davis in 1974 — Eric, his master's degree and Philip, his bachelor's.
Karl Wente learned much about the wine business while growing up. But after earning his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Stanford in 1999, he came to UC Davis to study the science of grape growing and winemaking.
After graduating, he worked through a harvest at the Peter Michael Winery in Sonoma County, followed by another harvest at Brown Brothers in Australia. Now, senior vice president of winemaking and viticulture and in his 10th vintage at Wente Vineyards, Wente says, "I feel like I'm finally in touch with all the intricacies of the vineyards and wines."
His passion for winemaking is mirrored by his passion for music. An accomplished guitarist, he started a program called Discover the Wine, Discover the Music, recommending singles by emerging artists to pair with his wine.
Music and wine complement one another, Wente said. "Both are great forms of art in which the very question of quality is constantly tested and in which subjectivity plays a healthy role. Being a musician makes me a better winemaker and being a winemaker makes me a better musician."
Busy running the family's nearly 3,000 acres of vineyards, Wente said he doesn't visit campus as often as he would like. So he stays connected by participating in the UC Davis Alumni Wine Program. "It was an easy decision," he says. "I thought it was a great opportunity to get involved and show the university that we appreciate everything they do for the wine industry."