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Instruction takes place at Shone Farm near Forestville and in the new Shone Farm Winery. "This is the real world," Padgett-Johnson said. "We farm 79 acres of fruit commercially and sell it to Sonoma County wineries. Students see how much it costs and where the fruit goes." Dr. Stephen Krebs and Bryan Avila. Krebs, who has taught at the college since 1986, directs viticulture; Avila joined the faculty in 2008 to teach winemaking at the school's newly bonded winery. NVC offers an AAS degree and certificate programs in three focus Santa Rosa Junior College students watch a pruning demonstration at Shone Farm. SRJC offers certificate programs in both viticulture and wine studies, and Padgett-Johnson sees plenty of cross-pollination within the programs. She credits an active industry advisory board, which gathers every semester to review the curriculum and provide feedback on graduates' work performance keeping abreast of changing industry needs. "The majority of our students are here pursuing the AAS degree and a percentage will transfer to (UC) Davis or Cal Poly," she said. As a member of the VESTA faculty and a UC Davis graduate, Padgett-Johnson recognizes the need for hands-on training. "At UC Davis, I learned at the book level, studying vineyard cycles and making management decisions. But once I was on the job, it was trial by fire." The neighboring Napa Valley region attracts international students to the V&E program at Napa Valley College (NVC), headed by w w w. v w m m e d i a.com areas: viticulture, winemaking and sales and marketing. The school enrolls 1,000 students annually. With an average age of 40, up to 80% of NVC students are already working in the wine industry. Avila points to five major types of students: people who work in the cellar or tasting room, sommeliers who want more hands-on training, home winemakers, and adults looking to change careers. "Our program is grape to table," said Avila, who notes that the students produce approximately 500 cases of wine, which finds its way to lists in Napa Valley restaurants. The program recently hired a fulltime sales and event planning professional to manage hospitality and wine sales. NVC is also expanding its certificate programs. "We're in the process of putting together several short, 12-unit certificate courses in areas like vineyard and labora- tory operations and tasting room logistics," Krebs said. The school will also begin offering a series of six-week, one-unit classes that focus on various wine regions of the world. TEACHING WINERIES FOR EMERGING REGIONS In the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina, Surry Community College opened its teaching winery, the Shelton-Badgett NC Center for Viticulture and Enology, in 2010. The college began offering viticulture courses in 1999 and added enology in 2001. It now offers a degree, diploma and a certificate in viticulture and enology technology, under the direction of David Neil Bower III. Bower, a winemaker, researcher and consultant from upstate New York, is expanding enrollment in the school's degree program and raising visibility for Yadkin Valley producers. His program has expanded with new classes covering the business side of winery management and online "boot camps" – one-day sessions of intensive instruction. Last year, Surry received a $213,000 grant from VESTA to offer V&E courses online and partnered with the organization to host the first Southeastern Grape & Wine Symposium. The event drew an audience from across the Southeast, with attendees from Florida, Alabama, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. "This year's two-day conference concentrated more on wine quality and growing better grapes," Bower said. Finger Lakes Community College (FLCC) in Geneva, N.Y., is also working to develop local winemaking and viticulture talent. FLCC launched its two-year V&E degree program in 2009 as part of the school's Environmental Conservation and Horticulture programs. Developed in conjunction with local growers and winemakers – Anthony Road Wine Co. donated a teaching vineyard to the program – the AAS degree and one-year certificate program were the first of their kind in the Northeast. FLCC focuses on educating the J a n - Feb 2014 | V INE YA RD & W INE RY M A N A G EM EN T 77