Dr. Stephen Krebs and His Vineyard Classroom
All images courtesy of Dr. Stephen Krebs
Meet Dr. Krebs
As a young man, Dr. Stephen Krebs dreamed of being a farmer. His favorite place on earth was his grandparents’ “Home Farm” in Wisconsin. His second favorite place was the public library, where he devoured biographies and history books.
After his studies, Dr. Krebs realized his childhood dream of becoming a farmer, working the land on beautiful vineyard properties across California as a viticultural manager.
During this time, wine industry leaders in the Napa Valley were frustrated with the lack of well-trained employees for vineyard and winery jobs in the fast growing industry. They petitioned the Napa Valley College to start a program, and the College answered the call. The Viticulture & Wine Technology (VWT) Program was launched, headquartered in a small wood-frame shed on the corner of campus. At its inception the Program offered three classes, and 32 students enrolled.
The College needed a director to develop the Program, and as you may suspect, Dr. Krebs was the man for the job. In 1984 after what he calls a series of lucky incidents, Dr. Krebs became the “Father” of the Program. For almost thirty years, with a gentle demeanor that belies a fierce determination, Dr. Krebs fostered industry partnerships and navigated bureaucratic tape to create a thriving hands-on and results-oriented Program.
Today the VWT Program offers over 40 courses, and includes a seven-acre campus vineyard, state-of-the-art laboratory facility, and bonded teaching winery. Tens of thousands of students have enrolled, and employment prospects for graduates are virtually guaranteed. The Napa Valley wine industry enjoys a well-trained workforce in its vineyards, cellars, tasting rooms and marketing departments, and donates generously back to the Program.
With his signature modesty, Dr. Krebs explains that because the VWT Program was unformed when he took the helm, “there was nowhere to go but up.” The road upwards, however, was unpaved and rife with hurdles. Fortunately, Dr. Krebs had the ingenuity and dedication necessary to make the Program a success.
The Farmer Work Ethic
As a teenager, Dr. Krebs would travel with his little brother on a Union Pacific passenger train from California to Wisconsin to work on their grandparents’ dairy farm for the summer. The tough manual labor required on “Home Farm,” which spanned hundreds of acres and grew all of the feed for its cows, hogs and chickens, taught Dr. Krebs how to work hard and be industrious.
The farm work was interspersed with summer lightening storms and weekend ball games with hordes of cousins. Dr. Krebs reminisces, “there is nowhere I’d rather be than the family farm.” He credits his summers on Home Farm for solidifying his dream to be a farmer.
Dr. Krebs attended UC Davis because it was “the greatest Ag school anywhere.” In college he put to use his industriousness and family farm work-ethic, managing a ten-unit apartment complex in exchange for free rent, and cultivating a communal vegetable garden with his co-tenants. Free time outside of class was spent at Shields Library on campus, working as a night and weekend supervisor 20 hours per week. During breaks he would read any and all books on agriculture. “I loved libraries from a young age. I was always reading.”
After obtaining his undergraduate degree in Plant Science, Dr. Krebs stayed on at UC Davis for a Master’s Degree in Horticulture, where he served as a Teacher’s Assistant and was told by students that he had a knack for explaining things.
He was inspired by professors who piqued his interest in the grapevine, in particular his graduate advisor Dr. James A. Cook. Even though he was not a wine drinker at the time, Dr. Krebs felt an affinity for the grapevine, which was a complex organism capable of being manipulated and shaped.
After finishing his Master’s degree, Dr. Krebs spent a decade living on beautiful vineyard properties primarily in Napa and Sonoma Counties as a viticultural manager. He has especially fond memories of Mayacamas Vineyards, a rugged 400 acre forested property founded in 1889 off Mount Veeder Road in Napa County. He lived in an old stone house and managed the 50 planted acres. “It felt like I had been transported to a magical land and I never lost that feeling during the entire four years that I lived there.”
Dr. Krebs working the land at Mayacamas Vineyards
Back to Campus
Eventually, Dr. Krebs felt he had gotten the most that he could from viticultural manager positions, and plotted his next move. After the disappointment of being passed up for a Sonoma County Farm Advisor job that he thought would be the perfect fit, he contacted Napa Valley College. He thought he could be of service teaching practical classes such as vineyard pruning and integrated pest control, but was encouraged to apply for the vacant position of Director of the College’s new VWT Program. The position appealed to Dr. Krebs, with its practical and academic aspects.
Dr. Krebs felt positive about his chances for the Program Director job, but he was nervous. He recalls driving from Santa Rosa to Napa for the interview in his beat-up old car without air conditioning, planning to change from shorts into his suit and tie on campus. However, after parking he was not sure where to change clothes, and spotted a grove of trees nearby. The future Director of the VWT Program hid in the grove of trees to change into his suit. Luckily, nobody spotted him (as far as he knows).
Dr. Krebs completed a series of interviews, and got the job. Not only did he have the right credentials, but he is a self-described “practical guy,” which was exactly what the VWT Program needed. For instance, during the early stages of growing the Program, he did not hesitate to get down on his hands and knees to lay tile in a classroom.
The Program did not have college funding beyond faculty salaries. To create a source of income — and learning opportunity for students — local vintners had donated materials and labor to plant the initial two-acre student vineyard. With $5,000 in proceeds from the first grape harvest, Dr. Krebs bought a used tractor that he spotted for sale on the side of Highway 29. These grape sale proceeds were helpful, but the Program clearly needed much more funding.
Dr. Krebs driving a tractor on the Napa Valley Campus student vineyard
Dr. Krebs envisioned a larger student vineyard and a campus winery, where students could learn to make wine from the grapes they grew and gain experience marketing that wine. The profit margin on sales of commercial wine is exponential compared to selling grapes, and having a campus winery would truly make the Program financially independent.
In order to make that vision a reality, the man who had once dreamed of a simple farming life suddenly found himself wearing multiple hats: professor, staff recruiter, program advocate, community liaison, and even champion of new legislation. (Also, husband! Dr. Krebs met his wife Julie when she took his Wines of California class after moving to town to work for Napa Legal Aid. They have been married for over 30 years).
Live Teaching (and Live Music)
Dr. Krebs adopted a new “central organizing principle,” which stayed with him for the next 30 years: to help his students develop solid career positions in the wine industry. To accomplish that, he believed in “live teaching” — making sure that his students saw and touched in the lab and vineyard every concept that he lectured about. Throughout his teaching career he used a chalkboard even when others modernized with power point slides.
Dr. Krebs set the tone of his Program, and camaraderie developed between the students. Together, they rolled up their sleeves and tended to the campus vineyard and harvested grapes. With 75% of the students in the Program already working in the industry, new students could easily make connections and gain career opportunities.
Dr. Krebs found his students to be motivated and “fired-up” about the industry. The Program was diverse in ages and socioeconomic backgrounds, and two-thirds of the classes were offered at night to accommodate the working students. He jokes that he never had to take away a comic book — his students were perfectionists, and wanted to know every detail and how to do it right at each step. He says this made his job easy.
Dr. Krebs spent time on campus tending to the vineyard and teaching classes during the day, as well as teaching night classes after sundown. And for several years, he commuted to UC Davis to get his PhD.
Dr. Krebs worked with his brother to create this visual in support of his dissertation, depicting the lifecycle of the grapevine pest Phylloxera
During downtime between night classes, Dr. Krebs would often play his electric guitar and sing to let off steam. He recalls an incident where a Japanese exchange student came by his office to ask a question, only to find his Professor cranking out Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” on the guitar and singing at the top of his lungs. It is not surprising that Dr. Krebs was a student favorite, earning the McPherson Distinguished Teaching Award in 1994.
Dr. Krebs at his trusty chalkboard
Major Milestones
Recognizing the importance of industry and community partnerships for the unfunded Program, Dr. Krebs made outreach a top priority. He accepted every speaking engagement he could to talk about the Program and get publicity. He even made regular appearances on local radio shows. When asked if he is a natural people-person, Dr. Krebs jokes “I’m easy to get along with when I want to be.”
His outreach paid off, and the Program was able to grow thanks to industry donations. He used the funds to make improvements to the wine lab, add staff and adjunct professors, plant more grapes, add a vineyard shed, and buy numerous tractors.
After a decade, enrollment had reached over 1,000 students per year, and Dr. Krebs felt the Program had sent capable students or “ambassadors” into the wine industry — from vineyard and cellar workers with better hands-on skills, to tasting room salespersons specialized in wine sensory evaluation, to award winning wine makers. He approached college and industry stakeholders about raising money for new infrastructure.
His idea was well-received, and in 1999 the Trefethen Viticultural Center was completed thanks to donations from local vintners and philanthropic organizations including the Trefethen family.
This new Center was the first privately-funded building on the Napa Valley College campus, and included a classroom, state-of-the-art laboratory and staff offices (a big improvement from the original shed).
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Dr. Krebs still dreamed of having a campus winery so that students could experience the winemaking cycle from grape to glass hands-on. He knew that it could be done because Fresno State University had recently built a student winery, although no community college had done so — yet.
The industry response to the fundraising for the Trefethen Viticultural Center had been so positive that Dr. Krebs approached the Napa Valley Vintners Association to apply for funding from the 2000 Wine Auction, the industry’s annual philanthropic event. In what Dr. Krebs saw as a vote of confidence from the industry, his project was selected for funding.
Two years later the campus winery was completed and operational thanks to the Wine Auction funds, a College capital campaign and donations of equipment from industry partners including barrel builders, tank makers and pump suppliers. Dr. Krebs was thrilled to finally realize his dream of a student winery.
In order for a winery to sell wine commercially, however, it must be “bonded.” This means it produces and stores wine under a bond with permission from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, to guarantee payment of the federal excise tax. As soon as the campus winery was funded, Dr. Krebs and stakeholder partners began the process of getting the winery bonded. This turned out to be an incredibly complex obstacle.
Dr. Krebs wore a new hat, ushering through unprecedented paperwork and approvals to create a new foundation to serve as the bond applicant, and to pass a California Senate Bill granting the College permission to seek bonding of the winery (education and booze are a touchy mix).
Dr. Krebs was not only motivated by the vision of a commercially viable wine operation for the students’ benefit, but the Program was now losing significant amounts of revenue. Over the years, the Program had made one million dollars from grape sales to local wineries, but it was now forfeiting those revenues to use the grapes in the student winery — to make wine that could not legally be sold.
As frustrating as the process was, Dr. Krebs persevered because he could not take no for an answer. For six years he continued to pursue the bond, acting as the liaison between the foundation, the College, state and federal agencies, and of course attorneys.
In 2008, the College Winery received its bond. The VWT Program was finally self-sustaining, producing award-winning “estate” wines that it could sell commercially for a significant profit.
Dr. Krebs gives credit to the entire network of stakeholders for the success of the VWT Program, from the College to the industry supporters to the adjunct faculty to the students. If he was the “Father of the Program,” this “village” helped raise it to maturity.
Dr. Krebs engaged in live teaching
A Fruitful Legacy
In 2013, Dr. Krebs was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Realizing that he would not be able to continue the hands-on “live teaching” that he felt had the most impact on his students, he retired in 2014. He was with the College for 28 years and taught his favorite General Viticulture class 58 times.
Dr. Krebs loved having a vineyard as his classroom. He recalls at one point there were 70 different varietals planted in one section of the student vineyard, and walking through that section during harvest was like walking through a candy store.
In 2018, Dr. Krebs donated his lifelong collection of viticulture-related books to the Napa Valley Wine Library in St. Helena. This was not only generous but fortunate, because two years later his home and all of his family’s belongings were lost in the LNU Lightening Complex wildfire that destroyed 1,500 structures in Napa and Solano Counties. Readers are encouraged to visit the Wine Library in St. Helena and peruse the prolific Krebs Collection.
Dr. Krebs’ legacy lives on through the Krebs Collection; the VWT Program that is thriving at Napa Valley College; and via his former students who are the backbone of thousands of wineries and vineyards across the Napa Valley and beyond (and in many cases the owners and head winemakers). Dr. Krebs remains devoted to his former students, and is always available for advice, even in retirement. When asked if that statement should be included in this article, his response was: “They know.”
Without Dr. Krebs’ vision and commitment to his students, it is uncertain if the VWT Program would have ever become more than a shed and small vineyard. It is inspiring what a book-loving farm boy can accomplish.
