Sonoma State and Napa Valley College Offer Summer Wine Workshop Series
Rohnert Park, CA – Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute has partnered with Napa Valley College to offer a Summer Wine Workshop Series presented by the Viticulture and Enology Science and Technology Alliance (VESTA). The Summer Wine Workshop Series offers three courses: Unlocking Wine: Sensory Evaluation of Wine, Wine Retailing and Craft Brewing. The workshops will be held at Napa Valley College’s St. Helena campus and will be the first offerings made available through the new partnership with the Wine Business Institute, Napa Valley College and VESTA.
The Unlocking Wine: Sensory Evaluation of Wine workshop will be held on July 15th, 8am – 5pm. The workshop will be led by Melba Allen, a Wine Export Agent at Oeno.com in France and a Sensory Instructor for VESTA’s enology program. Allen will cover methods used in the sensory evaluation of wine and guide students through the science and process of understanding sensory characteristics of finished wine.
The Wine Retailing workshop will be held on July 16th, 9am – 4pm. The workshop will be led by Elizabeth Slater of InShort Marketing and an Instructor in the DTC Certificate program at Sonoma State’s Wine Business Institute. Slater will teach students how to improve customer satisfaction, target and promote events, increase tasting room sales, use social media effectively, craft a story to build a brand and grow wine club memberships and sales.
The Craft Brewing workshop will be held on August 15th, 8am – 5pm. The workshop will be led by Dr. Barry Gump of Florida International University and is designed for novice to intermediate home brewers and will cover the home brewing process from simple extract brewing through mini-mash to all grain brewing. Specific topics that will be covered in the workshop include: brewing ingredients, brewing process, bottling versus kegging beer, brewing equipment and calculations.
For more information and to register for these workshops contact Michelle Norgren, 417-837-2513 or 707-967-2901 or by email atmichellenorgren@missouristate.edu.
About Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute
Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute is located in the heart of California wine country and was created through a public-private partnership between the University and the wine industry. It offers a B.S. with a concentration in wine business strategies (since 1998), an MBA with an emphasis in wine business (since 2008), and an executive MBA in wine business (since 2012). In addition, seminars and an online Certificate in Wine Business Management prepare students and industry professionals on topics such as accounting and finance, wine sales and marketing. Its faculty members are published experts, active researchers, and requested presenters on pressing industry topics locally and around the world. The Wine Business Institute operates within Sonoma State’s School of Business and Economics, a fully accredited AACSB institution. Learn more at sonoma.edu/winebiz.
About Napa Valley College
Napa Valley College prepares students for evolving roles in a diverse, dynamic, and interdependent world. The college is an accredited open-access, degree- and certificate-granting institution that is committed to student achievement through high-quality programs and services that are continuously evaluated and improved. The college serves students and the community in the following areas: transfer courses, career-technical education and training, basic skills, and self-supporting contract education and community education classes. Learn more at www.napavalley.edu.
About VESTA
The Viticulture Enology Science and Technology Alliance (VESTA) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded partnership between the Missouri State University system and colleges, universities, vineyards and wineries across America. These partners share a 21st Century vision for education in winegrape growing and winemaking. The goal of VESTA is to establish programs of study in viticulture, enology, and wine business entrepreneurship through collaborations with educational institutions, government and industry. This unique partnership of universities and community colleges across the nation provides students access to online coursework, thereby enabling learning to occur anytime, anywhere. Learn more at www.vesta-usa.org.
