RICHLAND, Wash. — As the newest adjunct faculty member in Washington State University’s Department of Viticulture & Enology (V&E), Bob Coleman will use his nearly 30 years of industry experience to help WSU students and wine science researchers.
Coleman has grown increasingly involved in the Washington state wine industry during recent years, frequenting WSU wine science classes as a guest lecturer, and serving on several thesis committees for the department’s graduate students.
“WSU has amazing faculty, and it’s wonderful to formalize the work we’re already doing together,” said Coleman, who lives in California and works as a technical winemaker at Treasury Wine Estates. “It’s rare that I don’t speak with at least one WSU student each week. It’s been very exciting to see the students develop their research and grow as individuals while they pursue their PhDs.”
In his WSU lectures, Coleman covers topics ranging from sensors and technology to fermentation and wine oxidation. He also hosts WSU students from colleague and friend Tom Collins’ winery operations and equipment class when they visit Beringer, a Treasury brand, as part of their annual field trip to California wine country.
“Bob works closely with our students, reviewing manuscripts, proposals, theses, and dissertations,” said Collins, WSU’s Jackson Family Wines Endowed Professor. “He brings terrific enthusiasm to his lectures and valuable industry insight to thesis committees, providing strong support to our students and the entire V&E department.”
Born and raised in Santa Rosa, California, Coleman earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from UC Davis. Returning home to the Sonoma area after graduation, Coleman quickly found a career in winemaking, thanks to a few influential industry mentors.
“When you have a biochemistry degree in Sonoma County, you go into the wine industry,” Coleman said. “At the time, I thought I was going to be a wine chemist who worked in the lab. But I ended up working in the cellar and loved every bit of it.”
Coleman has worked at Treasury Wine Estates or one of its affiliates for more than 20 years. It was while he was employed as an associate winemaker at Chateau St. Jean that another mentor — Tom Collins — first came into the picture. At the time, Collins was earning his PhD at UC Davis while working at Treasury as the research manager.
As the two colleagues collaborated on wine oxidation research and Coleman began to consider graduate school, Collins encouraged Coleman to connect with Roger Boulton, a well-respected wine science industry expert at UC Davis.
“Grad school was always a dream, it just wasn’t always possible,” Coleman said. “As an undergraduate, I didn’t have the necessary focus to continue with school. But 15 years into the industry, I knew what I wanted, where I wanted to go, and the mentors who could take me there. Roger and Tom were those mentors.”
Shortly after Coleman went back to school in 2014, Collins moved to Washington state to join the WSU V&E program. Despite being in different locations, the two continued to stay in touch and partner on wine science research. Now, as an official WSU employee, Coleman is eager to collaborate even more closely with Collins and other scientists in the V&E department.
“We’re hoping to implement some of the technology that I work with at Beringer,” Coleman said. “This will bring even more innovation to WSU’s winery space.”
He is also excited to continue mentoring V&E students as they make groundbreaking strides in the field. “The students’ projects are so interesting, and I love the energy they have for their research,” Coleman said. “They’re finding answers to important questions related to smoke exposure, oak products, and more. It’s really neat to see WSU and its students leading the industry with cutting-edge discoveries.”