Dr. Stephan Sommer is the new Associate Professor of Food Science and Extension Specialist for Enology and Fermentation at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His Extension objectives include establishing a service laboratory for grapes and wine, improving the overall perception and quality of wine in Tennessee, and developing innovative winemaking techniques for new grape cultivars and advanced breeder selections for the Southeast. Applied research objectives include all aspects of wine stability, beverage microbiology, and wine aging.
Born in Germany and raised in a rural area among vineyards, Dr. Sommer had his first winemaking experience at the age of 16 when he did a harvest internship at a local winery. The decision to be involved in the production of wine was made then but since he had no family winery to go back to, he did internships in different areas such as wineries, sparkling wine companies, breweries, table water production, and related fields including industrial flavor production.
After earning an Engineering Diploma in Beverage Technology from Hochschule Geisenheim University in Germany and spending some time at UC Davis in California, he started working with wine analyses as a laboratory manager at a federal research institute in Germany and discovered his passion for teaching. He earned a PhD in Microbiology and Wine Science from Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany and moved to the US to start teaching full time. Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, was the first step where Dr. Sommer taught wine and fermentation classes.
Dr. Sommer went on to California where he was the Director of the Viticulture and Enology Research Center (VERC) at California State University, Fresno. As Director of VERC, he provided research and administrative leadership by planning, promoting, and administering all viticulture and enology research programs. Extension at the University of Missouri was the next step before he joined the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in January 2026. He provides extension support for all wineries and related fermentation industries in the state and teaches fermentation classes at the university. This split appointment of 70% extension and 30% teaching will allow him to strengthen the wine industry, while helping to develop a workforce that can grow grape and wine production in Tennessee.
Dr. Sommer’s applied research program covers all aspects of wine stability and shelf-life with a specific focus on additives, fining agents and the influence of microbial interactions on product stability. The results will help the Tennessee wine industry with their wide variety of wine styles that are produced throughout the state, ranging from Vitis vinifera to hybrids to muscadines and fruit wines.
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