Meet Phil Crews

Passionate home-wine-maker and UCSC professor takes his "hobby" public. Phil is a professor of chemistry at UCSC's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, a noted expert in marine sponges. As part of his curriculum, he also teaches a course titled, Introduction to Wines and Wine Chemistry.

Phil says his goal in life is to combine his love of winemaking and his university work with sponges. He notes that the wetsuit he brings along for sponge-foraging expeditions serves three purposes: 1) it protects him from things poisonous or venomous, 2) it keeps him warm, and 3) it's ideal for transporting four bottles of his Pelican Ranch wines to the expedition site - a bottle in each arm, a bottle in each leg.

It's this light-hearted nature that makes Phil a popular winemaker in our region.