For anyone who likes wine, Yavapai College offers classes that teach the art of wine-making from the ground to the bottle and beyond.
A person can take the classes just for fun, to learn how to make wine for their own use or to learn enough so they can get a job at a winery or resort. If they are really serious, they can get a two-year degree in the subject.
“Even though we are a community college, we are the only people who are doing the program in the inland Southwest. We do get a lot of people moving from other parts of the country,” said Nikki Bagley, director of viticulture, who teaches the vineyard side of the process. “We even had a student from Napa Valley.”
Others have come from as far away as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia, she says. “The program itself is unique,” she said.
Michael Pierce, director of enology, teaches the wine-making part of the classes.
“If you love wine, you we probably have a class for you,” said Pierce.
The majority of his students have already taken some viticulture, which gives them a better understanding of the process – but it is not a prerequisite. Many of his students are looking for a second career or a retirement hobby, he notes.
After the student has learned how to grow vines and make wine, Paula Woolsey teaches them how taste and appreciate wine.
She calls her class “the third leg of the stool.”
“It’s fun for sure, but it is a class and can be part of the degree program,” she said. “I do lectures devoted to tasting based on regions we are studying. We compare and contrast.”
She started a class in wine-tasting in 2009. She says she did not expect many students.
“I just wanted to see if there was any interest. It filled up!”
The classes have filled up every time they are offered and this is her 14th semester of teaching it.
The reason students have hands-on training is that there is a wine center right on campus.
“Students are making wine right now,” Pierce said.
He says 10 tons of grapes have been brought in to make about 600 cases of wine for this year’s wine.
The wine center will soon open a tasting room, which will give students the opportunity to experience the entire process of wine-making and drinking.
Although at the present, much of the grapes are purchased from other vineyards, eventually 100 percent of the grapes will come from the college’s own property. Soon the college will have 17 acres devoted to growing grapes for the wine, Pierce says.
The plan for the future is that the school’s property will eventually produce 3,000 cases of wine per season, under the label of Southwest Wine Center, their logo.
Wine is a growing industry, Pierce notes. In Arizona, there are now 100 winery licenses. In 2006, there were only 16.
“Wine is a passion career for many people,” Bagley said.
Her students range from 18 to 80 and these numbers are continuing to evolve.
“We started out with backyard gardeners,” she said. “Now we have students from all over the U.S. and abroad. My students have gotten a little younger.”
She says she sees some of her students getting in the business by becoming owners or getting into some other facet of the business.
Part of her class is hands-on at the campus and half is online.
“We try to offer some opportunities for students to get some additional experience in the field through employment with a wine co-op, so they can get their feet wet and practice what they have learned about making and selling wine,” Pierce said.
Pierce says that a person could take similar courses such as UC Davis, but they would be stuck in a classroom discussing theory.
“We are a hands-on program,” he said. “You go into the wine center to work. You’re not going to get that kind of education in a four-year degree.”
Woolsey’s class is not all the tasting of different wines; she also teaches about wines of the world and the United Sates.
“I teach about laws and history and about how wine is ingrained in human history,” Woolsey said.
Her goals for her students leaving her class are that they will be confident enough in their own palate be able to determine “in a blind wine taste what a certain wine is and describe it to someone else,” she said.
“After taking the [three] classes, they can go into sales, work at a tasting room, distribution or a work in marketing, bottling or a number of other factions in the industry. Many of the Arizona resorts are looking for wine professionals,” Bagley said. QCBN
To learn how to sign up for one or all of these classes, call 928-634-6586.
The college is at 601 Black Hill Drive in Clarkdale, Arizona.