TOM SMITH ’80
It’s not been easy. All kinds of things can go wrong in winemak- ing, cautions Smith ’80, a Gallo winemaker for the last decade. “The wine in the glass is the product of hundreds of dis-
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creet decisions a winemaker makes. And it all relies on science,” Smith says. That includes plant biology, biochemistry, chemi- cal engineering and crucial decisions on when to harvest grapes, what yeast to choose and how to regulate fermentation, tem- perature, oxygen levels and aging. Plus, how to be good stewards of the 16,000 acres under cultivation in California and embrace the new ideas that pour from the $10 million Gallo spends each year on winemaking research. “A good wine relies on the senses but also on every bit of sci- entific information available,” Smith says. And it also factors in consumer tastes and preferences, which makes winemaking even more delicate and the reason no winemaker worth his “must” will acknowledge producing the perfect wine. There’s always something to improve or change or adjust to. It took eight years just to hone the ability to taste wine properly, Smith says. You don’t just uncork that skill; you have to learn it. “Winemaking is a combination of science and art and is why
we’ll never completely understand everything about how those 4,000 chemicals interact in that barrel,” he says. But that doesn’t keep Smith from trying. And it’s the reason he combined a fascination with wine from his undergraduate days at HMC with a wish for a life in rural California. He added a master’s degree at U.C. Davis, worked for a few small wineries here and there, and then settled at Gallo, whose 5,000 employ-
“The wine in the glass is the product of hundreds of discreet decisions a winemaker makes. And it all relies on science.”
TOM SMITH
There’s no whining in winemaking. You don’t get to gripe and snigger when the vintage doesn’t measure up. Or blame the soil or the rainfall or the harvest moon. What you get to do is hun- ker down in the chem lab and ride out to the vineyards and climb down to the wine cellar until you figure out what made those 4,000 chemicals in that barrel of wine taste so unbeliev- ably good? bad? dull? distinctive? Welcome to Tom Smith’s world. He’s vice president of
worldwide winemaking for the E. Gallo Co., the largest winery in the world. He’s also a guy who’s spent 31 years since graduat- ing from Harvey Mudd College with a chemistry degree trying to learn everything possible about the science of grape-growing.
ees worldwide allow the family-owned company to produce 60 brands and do business in more than 90 countries. It’s been wonderful, Smith says, with the best yet to come— quality wines produced sustainably. Winemaking in the future will require that wineries operate with zero emissions and be net energy exporters instead of consumers. They’ll also use less synthetic fertilizer and pesticide and employ creative devices for combating weeds and pests such as sheep and falcons. “That’s a really, really big deal,” he says. Sustainable produc- tion is right up there with developing new markets in China and expanding his knowledge of grape-growing, Smith says. With that knowledge, he’ll always know that when the glass is half empty, it’s because it’s being thoroughly enjoyed. “I learned how to think and reason at Harvey Mudd,” Smith acknowledges gratefully. “I was pretty lucky.”
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