WHO DOESN'T want to be a rocket scientist? A best-selling novelist? Or, for that matter, a winemaker? Certain professions simply sound more glamorous than others. Yet the aerospace industry isn't exactly thriving, and Amazon can make any book seem like a best seller—at least for a while. Winemaking, too, isn't nearly as romantic as some people might think. This point was driven home particularly well when I visited the University of California, Davis, a few weeks ago.

The UC Davis viticultural and oenology program (or V&E,...