Senders in the News

Doctors and Wine

One vintner who really applies his medical preparation to making wine is Craig Senders, a professor at UC Davis medical school who also makes wine from Napa and other grapes at Bin to Bottle, Marco di Giulio’s custom-crush facility in south Napa only 45 minutes from Senders’ home.

Senders’ father was an internal medicine specialist, but he ended up a surgeon and is now an academician. Craig Senders, who grew up in Portland, Ore., studied and practiced in the Midwest before deciding to move to warmer climes. He came to Davis in 1984 and is now the residency director of otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) and director of the Cleft and Craniofacial Program at UC Davis.

When he moved to Davis, he had only a drinker’s interest in wine. “In those days, we could afford a $28 bottle of Caymus Special Select on canoeing trips on the South Fork of the American River,” he laments. That wine now costs more than $100.

Then Senders started helping neighbor Henry Spoto make home wine in 1997, and he was hooked. “Perhaps, it is my academic background, as I am naturally experimental,” he said. Soon Spoto suggested he make his own wine.That led to making his first commercial Senders wine, which is just now being released. It’s the 2005 Carneros Pinot Noir and is available at the Bounty Hunter in Napa.

Senders gets pinot noir from Francis Mahoney’s Las Bresas Vineyard in Carneros, and Bordeaux varieties from the university’s experimental vineyards in Oakville, Galleron Vineyards in Rutherford and Steltzner Vineyards in Stag’s Leap District. He also gets some syrah from the university’s vineyard in Oakville.

As a physician and surgeon, Senders has been recognized for his assistance in establishing Face to Face and for his  involvement with third world countries, helping the people with facial deformities such as cleft lips and cleft palates. Face to Face surgeons provide free care to those who suffer from deformities caused by birth or trauma, usually war or domestic violence.

With his background in ear, nose and throat, and his interest in food and wine, he is a frequent lecturer on taste and smell, and on wine and health.

Read the full article here.