Selecting the Stanford Wines

In 1981, the Stanford Alumni Association launched the Stanford Wine Collection as an experiment. More than four decades later, the program is a popular annual alumni tradition generating vital revenue supporting Stanford alumni events and services.

Each wine collection is carefully selected by a panel of alumni wine industry experts. The panel gathers on campus each spring to identify the best wines to offer from dozens of submitted samples. At this blind tasting, the judges rank the wines and assign points. After nearly two hours of sipping and swirling in library-like conditions, the judges submit their tasting cards. The results are confidentially tabulated and the winners are selected. A series of commemorative Stanford labels is designed for each collection.