This story was updated Oct. 20, 2022 at 2:38 p.m.
Fresno State viticulture and enology students showcased award-winning wines during Friday Night Flights, a student-run wine-tasting event.
The event launched in September and will run through the beginning of December, with specific dates listed on the Fresno State website. On Fridays, the event will be at the campus winery on Barstow Avenue from 4 to 7 p.m.
Patrick Hungate, a senior studying enology, frequently hosts the Friday Night Flights along with Kevin Smith, the business and marketing operations manager for Fresno State Winery, and award-winning winemaker Tom Montgomery.
Hungate said events like these show Fresno State’s ability to help students like himself develop hands-on experience.
“I don’t think I could ever get that in the classroom,” Hungate said. “We’re all super passionate about winemaking and what we’re putting into this product, so it’s a great way for the faculty, professors and students 21-plus to taste what we’re putting all this effort into.”
The event is $10 per person, but the fee is waived for attendees who purchase a bottle or are members of the Fresno State Wine Club.
The club is a free membership for all interested and includes benefits such as small batches of student winemakers’ hand-crafted wines, priority access to premium black label wines and exclusive discounts at events as well as online and at the Gibson Farmers Market.
It also offers exclusive invitations to member parties, dinners and access to wine sensory seminars.
“This was the first commercial winery on a university campus in the U.S., and now, it’s by far the largest… They’re actually doing what we’re doing in the real world on a fairly large scale,” Montgomery said.
In 1997, the Fresno State winery became the nation’s first full- production, commercially bonded university winery. This enabled the winery to produce, bottle and sell wine. The program was founded by Dr. Vincent Petrucci, a well-known figure in the world of viticulture and enology research. Petrucci passed away at the age of 91 in November 2016.
“The university and industry owe [Petrucci] a great deal not only for the tutelage and preparation of students in viticulture and enology but also for his vision and direction in research that have made significant contributions in terms of what we know today in the fields of grape and wine,” said Kenneth Fugelsang, a former professor and winemaker, to the website Growing Produce in 2016..
A limited-edition, student-produced vintage known as The Petrucci’s Crush was produced in his honor. Petrucci’s Crush was a red wine that was developed by Petrucci himself. The vintage consisted of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, malbec and merlot grapes.
The award-winning vintages are rotationally featured on the Fresno State Winery website, along with other locally produced wine.
Most recently, Friday Night Flights featured the winery’s alicante bouschet, a two-time silver medal vintage that was recognized in 2021 by the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Joaquin Valley Winegrowers Association.