Andrew L. Waterhouse, PhD

Andrew L. Waterhouse, PhD, is in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis.  

Professor Waterhouse received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame.  Having completed his Ph.D. and a postdoctoral research appointment at the University of California, Berkeley (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 wine oxidation chemistry and the absorption and metabolism of anthocyanins.

Dr. Waterhouse has won the Medical Friends of Wine Research Award, a UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow award, an honorary doctorate from the University of Bordeaux, and has been named one of the most highly cited researchers by Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).  He previously served as the holder of the John E. Kinsella Chair in Food, Nutrition, and Health.  He teaches the popular general education “Introduction to Winemaking” course, and a graduate course entitled “Natural Products of Wine.”  He now serves as Chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology.  In addition to his research and teaching, Professor Waterhouse is associate editor of the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture and serves on the editorial boards of two other research journals.  He has chaired numerous national and international symposia and is active in such professional organizations as the American Society for Enology and Viticulture and the American Chemical Society.