A nationally and internationally recognized winemaker, wine pioneer, and wine leader, Zelma started her wine career with studies at U.C. Davis in the late 1960’s. Since then she has worked for Robert Mondavi winery for a decade; then Simi Winery (LVMH subsidiary) as winemaker and CEO, retiring from the latter position to start her own vineyard and winery in the Cape of South Africa. She consults internationally, currently in Israel and France, in addition to local winemaking consulting. During her career she has received many awards, has been active in the California wine industry and at U.C. Davis in various capacities, and is the subject of an oral history by the Bancroft Library of U.C. Berkeley.

Desiring to deepen her decades long interest in art, in 2009 she applied for, and was admitted to the U.C. Davis Performance Studies Ph.D. program where her goal is to study the multi-generational effects on art performance in artistic families.

Current Activities

My current activities focus on class work that will relate to my research on South African and Native American multi-generation artist families and the impact of the multi-generations on the performance of the art. I am also laying the foundation for m 2012 Performance Research which will be a curatorial project; and planning for a series of photography studies that will enable me to document my thesis subjects..