Texas A&M Establishes Enology Certificate Program

Texas A&M University will begin offering an enology certificate during the fall 2017 semester.

College Station, Texas—The Texas grape and wine industry has expanded significantly in the past 15 years. There are now 293 wineries in the state, according to Wines Vines Analytics, more than 4,000 acres of vineyard and eight American Viticultural Areas. With the growth of the industry, there has also been a concomitant increase in the need for trained grapegrowers and winemakers as well as other skilled workers.

When Texas A&M University hired four viticulture program specialists in January 2016 to work in four regions—the Gulf Coast, the Texas Hill Country around Fredricksburg, the High Plains near Lubbock, and North Texas—the university took a major step toward establishing a more complete educational program in viticulture. At that time, Dr. Justin Scheiner, assistant professor and extension viticulture specialist in Texas A&M’s department of horticultural sciences, told Wines & Vines that the university wanted to hire an extension enologist in 2016 to complete the viticulture and enology team.

Dr. Andreea Botezatu joined the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service as assistant professor and extension enology specialist in January. Her arrival was followed by the April 17 announcement that the university will begin an enology certificate program during the fall 2017 semester. The enology certificate is being offered through the horticultural sciences department at Texas A&M, but the courses will be open to students from any major, and there are no prerequisites. The certificate program requires 15 hours of classes. Some of the classes offered include “Understanding Wine: from Vines to Wines and Beyond,” “Concepts of Wine Production,” “Enology (from Small- to Middle-Scale Commercial),” “Viticulture and Small Fruit Culture” and “Sensory Evaluation of Foods.” Botezatu will teach the enology course.

Originally from Romania, Botezatu earned her bachelor’s degree in horticulture, with a major in enology, from the University of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences Ion Ionescu de la Brad in Iasi, Romania, in 2000 and her master’s degree in agricultural management from the same university in 2001. She worked as a commercial winemaker first in Romania and then in Ontario, Canada, and earned a Ph.D. in enology from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, in 2014.

Botezatu’s research in Canada centered on wine aroma compounds and wine faults remediation, with a focus on methoxypyrazines and ladybug taint, from both the chemical perspective and sensory evaluation. At Texas A&M she will be working on wine quality issues frequent in hot-climate winemaking, including low total acidity, high pH, wine color instability and microbiological instability.

Texas Tech University’s viticulture and enology program The enology certificate program at Texas A&M gives students interested in the wine industry additional opportunities to those already available in Texas. There are several other options available in Lubbock and in Fredericksburg. Located in Lubbock, Texas Tech University (TTU) started a four-year undergraduate degree program in 2010 through which students earn a bachelor’s degree in plant and soil science with a specialization in viticulture and enology. Dr. Ed Hellman, professor of viticulture at TTU, encouraged the university to establish the degree program after recognizing the growth of the Texas wine industry and the need for trained winemakers and grapegrowers. Hellman also holds a dual appointment with Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Lubbock.

In addition to the university’s four-year degree program, TTU also offers both the Texas Viticulture Certificate Program and the Texas Winemaking Certificate Program. Produced by the department of plant and soil sciences at TTU and headquartered at the Hill Country University Center in Fredericksburg, Texas, the viticulture certificate program was developed “for wine industry entrepreneurs and prospective vineyard managers” interested in learning viticultural principles and commercial grape-production practices. The program consists of five online courses held over a two-year period and a practical, hands-on module conducted at the TTU teaching vineyard in Fredericksburg. The practical module includes four one-day sessions that are held during key times of the vineyard year to give students the opportunity to experience all the major vineyard activities.

Maureen Qualia was hired in 2013 to develop and teach TTU’s winemaking certificate program. As instructor in the department of plant and soil science specializing in enology, Qualia also teaches undergraduate enology courses in Lubbock via distance learning. Qualia grew up on her family’s winery, Val Verde Winery in Del Rio, Texas, (the oldest winery in the state) and earned a master’s degree in enology from California State University, Fresno.

Like the viticulture certificate program, the winemaking certificate program was produced by TTU’s plant and soil sciences department and is headquartered in Fredericksburg. The online courses are designed for winemakers, cellar workers, prospective winery employees and wine industry entrepreneurs who want to learn the entire winemaking process. In order to complete the certificate, students must take the four core online courses, two elective courses and hands-on training at the university’s teaching winery. The core online courses include: Wine Production 1: Fermentation; Wine Production 2: Post-Fermentation; Essential Wine Analysis, and Sensory Evaluation for Wine Production. Electives are Wine Marketing and Wine Tourism; Winery Regulations; Winery Design, Utilities and Operations, and Viticulture for Winemakers.

New fermentation major in Nebraska With wineries open in all 50 states, there is now a need for trained viticulture and winemaking workers for the many different jobs within the industry—including Nebraska. As of the fall semester in September, Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb., will offer a full major in fermentation science.

According to Dr. David Peitz, professor of chemistry at Wayne State, “The Fermentation Science program curriculum will prepare and educate students in the science and art of fermenting beverages through a rigorous core of classes that includes chemistry, microbiology, wine and beer production and analysis, and the sensory analysis of beer and wine.” The course work will be supplemented with a practical experience internship at a winery, vineyard, brewery or distillery.

Nebraska currently has 31 wineries, according to Wines Vines Analytics, with many of the them located in the southeast region of the state.