Vineyard & Winery Management

March/April 2013

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Information EAST COAST WATCH MARGUERITE THOMAS Stations A wealth of resources is available to budding growers and vintners nterested in a career in the Eastern wine industry, yet have no idea how to find out about job opportunities and the training you'll need? One place you might look is at a first-rate community college such as Finger Lakes Community College in upstate New York. Like other community colleges with good programs geared to grapegrowing and winemaking, FLCC offers both basic and advanced courses. Its graduates have several potential career opportunities in fields such as vineyard management, tasting room operations, wine center management, wine tasting operations, cellar procedures, equipment operation and pesticide program management. A degree from FLCC also prepares graduates to transfer to a four-year institution such as Cornell University. But let's say you're an established vintner in North Carolina who's been considering replanting or expanding a vineyard, and you aren't sure which grape varieties to choose. Where can you find the most reliable information and advice? Well, here's one suggestion: Sign up for a workshop at Appalachian State University that focuses on selecting appropriate rootstocks and scions for East Coast conditions. As one of the fastest-growing wine states in the nation, North Carolina offers a host of viticulture and enology education resources at not only Appalachian State in Boone, but also Surry Community College in Dobson and North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Whatever the viticultural or enological question or quandary, there's an answer out there. Wading through the Internet can, of course, net some good background material, but for more personalized and indepth advice and support, every state in the East has at least one agency whose mission is to provide specific information w w w. v w m media.com and instruction on topics ranging from planting vines to marketing wine – and everything in between. START WITH COOPERATIVE EXTENSION One of the first places to look for guidance about local issues is the nearest Cooperative Extension office. This is a nationwide, non-credit educational system with an office at each state's landgrant university, plus a network of regional offices; the National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA) is the Co-op Extension's federal partner. In the Northeast, + Whether yours is a start-up winery the New England Wine or an established estate, a wealth of Grape Growers' Assoinformation is readily available to help ciation, a division of the move your business forward. University of Massachu+ Cooperative Extension programs are setts-Amherst, hosts a designed to provide guidance and website (see "Education conduct research in fields relevant to Resources" sidebar) for viticulture and enology. vintners in Connecticut, + From New England through the southMaine, Massachusetts, ern states, data relevant to specific New Hampshire, Rhode climate and growing conditions is Island and Vermont. being refined and disseminated. The site is designed to provide information – + Collaborative efforts between univerespecially to new winsities and viticulturists lead the way in eries – and help create supporting growth and sustainability a sense of community in the East. among members of the rapidly expanding New England wine industry. New York's Cornell University Cooperative Extension is one of the most in-depth wine services in the country. Cornell's offerings range from viticulture and enology courses, to a free quarterly e-newsletter (Appellation Cornell) designed for a multistate audience. Tim Martinson, Cornell's senior extension associate, elabo- SHORT COURSE M a r - A p r 2 0 13 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 29

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