Dr. Petrucci’s Legacy

The Fresno State Winery is world renowned, and we have Dr. Vincent Petrucci to thank for that.

Dr. Petrucci is the founder of the Fresno State Viticulture and Enology Department. His wife Josephine died this past November and shortly after Dr. Petrucci passed away. Both died at the age of 91 and had been married for 69 years.

In his 46-year career, Dr. Petrucci founded the winery at Fresno State and established the Petrucci Library. Petrucci’s assets to the University made Fresno State the first campus to combine a winery and research studies together for the products to be able to be commercially sold.

This past December the wine and viticulture department had the privilege of honoring Petrucci with a new limited wine named after him.

Winemaker Matt Brain says Petrucci’s Crush carries a double meaning. First, the department wanted to commemorate the start of Petrucci’s career when he used an old crusher to crush the grapes. Second, they wanted to celebrate and honor Petrucci’s wife, Josephine, who had been the winemaker’s first and only “crush” for 69 years.

Brain says Petrucci was loved by students and faculty alike.

“My best impressions and my take home from Vince is he was very very kind and very engaging and was very interested in exchanging information as you would expect from a life-long teacher,” Brain says.

Fresno State is the first university to combine a winery and academic offerings. Petrucci librarian Britt Foster remembers the founder as a good educator, gentleman, and a friend. “He was very warm hearted. Incredibly generous with his time, his resources and experience,” Foster says.

Assistant winemaker Nassaeth Ordaz says he remembers Petrucci as an inspiration. He was a student when he met Petrucci. “One thing that stood out was his passion that he had. He would always no matter if he was in the vineyard or winery he would always have a glow in him that he felt proud and was always willing to make everything better and excited to hear what was going on.”

“One thing that stood out was his passion that he had,” Ordaz says. “He would always, no matter if he was in the vineyard or winery, he would always have a glow in him that he felt proud and was always willing to make everything better and excited to hear what was going on.”

Petrucci’s 46-year career was a lifetime service to the wine and grape industry in the Central Valley and Fresno State.