Professor & Biochemist Department of Viticulture and Enology Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Ph.D., Plant Physiology, University of California at Davis

Research

Dr. Adams' research program focuses on grape berry ripening. He has concentrated his efforts in two principal areas: the biochemical changes that occur during ripening, and the development of tannins in skins and seeds of red wine varieties. The latter leads naturally into research related to the level of tannins in wines, a topic Dr. Adams pursues with Food Science masters students whose primary interest is in winemaking. His most recent work on tannin development during ripening has led to the development of the Adams-Harbertson Phenolics Panel for the analysis of tannins and polymeric pigments in grapes and wines, which is currently available commercially. The second project in Dr. Adams' laboratory is directed at identifying genes involved in grape berry ripening. Dr. Adams teaches VEN 3: Introduction to Winemaking, as well as VEN 210: Grape Berry Development and Composition. He created Plant Biology 293: A Seminar in Postharvest Biology; a student participation seminar in which he organizes the class around natural products in fruits and vegetables that have been implicated to have benefits for human health. He is currently the Chair of the Scholarship Committee and serves on the Teaching Committee at the Department of Viticulture and Enology. Dr. Adams received his Bachelor's in Biochemistry and both his M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from the University of California, Davis. In 2006, Adams was selected as the Honorary Research Lecturer by the American Society of Enology and Viticulture. The honorary research lecturer is granted to an individual with a current national or international reputation in his or her field of research and actively involved in scientific research.