Andrew L. Waterhouse, Ph. D.

Andrew L. Waterhouse is a third generation Californian, but moved frequently while growing up, including some years abroad, living in Thailand, Ghana and Iran before attending university. He received his bachelor's in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame in 1977. Having completed his Ph.D. and a postdoctoral research appointment at UC Berkeley, he joined the chemistry department at Tulane University in 1986.

In 1991, he moved to the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis where his research program has delved into various aspects of phenolics. These naturally occurring compounds, present in grape skins and seeds and extracted from oak barrels, account for several aspects of flavor and bouquet, as well as antioxidant activity, which helps wines age and may reduce chronic disease in wine drinkers. Current studies focus on several aspects of wine oxidation chemistry, closure performance and the absorption and metabolism of proanthocyanidins. His graduate students and post-docs are winemakers, researchers and professors across California and elsewhere around the globe.

He is a Professor Emeritus of Enology and has previously held the John E. Kinsella Chair in Food, Nutrition and Health, and the Marvin Sands Endowed Chair. He has won the Medical Friends of Wine Research Award, a UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow award, holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Bordeaux, and he has been named one of the most highly cited researchers in agriculture by ISI. He previously taught a course on the chemical analysis of wine, as well as a graduate course entitled “Natural Products of Wine.” He also had an appointment at the University of Auckland as Honorary Professor.

In addition to his research and teaching, Professor Waterhouse is Director of the Robert Mondavi Institute, the Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, and has chaired numerous national and international symposia and participates in such professional organizations as the American Society for Enology and Viticulture and the American Chemical Society. At UC Davis he has served as Chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology, Chair of Graduate Council, Associate Dean in Graduate Studies, and in other roles.

August 2022