Appalachian State Goes Transatlantic

North Carolina university to launch ambitious viticulture and enology program

Grant Holder (left) with a colleague during a recent visit to China.Boone, N.C. -- Appalachian State University (ASU), in the mountains of western North Carolina and home of the Center for Mountain and Steep Slope Viticulture, will broaden its contributions to the state's growing wine industry with a baccalaureate degree in Wine Production and Management. The new degree program will include a minor in entrepreneurship through the ASU's Walker College of Business and the College of Arts & Sciences. It has already been approved at the university level, and is awaiting official approval from the UNC system's general administration in anticipation of a 2009 launch.

"This degree is designed to be international in flavor, but with an entrepreneurial and value-added focus on the smaller producer," according to program director Grant Holder. In 2006, Holder and his colleague Lucian Georgescu received a $65,000 Department of Education grant under the EU-Atlantis program to develop a consortium of universities to teach Principles of Agricultural Value Addition (TAPVO) within the ASU's Oenology, Viticulture and Natural Products department.

The resulting collaboration includes viticulture and enology programs at the University of Udine in Italy's Friuli region, the University of Bordeaux, France, and the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal. Holder told Wines & Vines that the program "combines the best of existing winemaking knowledge, while providing a content that is relevant to North Carolina, where graduates will be exposed to a balance of business, science, and hospitality and tourism. This will give them the skills necessary to open their own small wineries in North Carolina, where tourism is a $14 billion annual industry."

The plan, Holder said, "is for participating students to begin at Appalachian, study a semester or a year at one of the EU schools using the coordinated curricula, and then return to finish and receive their degrees." He explained that the EU schools were carefully selected--Friuli because of its thriving white wine industry and climate similar to ASU's; Bordeaux for red wine expertise and its "exemplary model of university/industry cooperation," and Lisbon for its unusual grapes, commercial success from steep hillsides and concentration on fortified wines.

Because of its international focus, the new degree program has a foreign language requirement. Currently, language choices include French, Spanish, German or Chinese; Italian and Portuguese options will soon be offered. "China is included because it represents an important industry that is developing at a rapid pace," said Holder, who just last week returned from an extended visit there. "We all know that, and should welcome them without fear. We have sought out several partners in Asia to participate. The TAPVO consortium will grow with new universities in both Asia and Europe once we have finished the mechanics of the degree."

 
 
Lucian Georgescu poses before ASU's WISELAB.Holder pointed out that North Carolina's wine industry is growing rapidly, increasing from 12 wineries in 1999 to more than 70 currently, with approximately one new winery opening every month and more than 350 vineyards producing mostly hybrid grapes, native labrusca and Muscadine.

"The ceaseless work of winemaking entrepreneurs, almost always small family operations, has brought the quality of North Carolina's wine far beyond what one might have expected at this point," he said. "Small operations have small budgets for things not associated with production. One of the most important options not making the list of discretionary income is the advanced scientific equipment used to determine the chemical indicators defining--sometimes--the relationship between vineyard practice and quizzical looks in the tasting room."

To that end, with the help of the U.S. Small Business Administration and North Carolina's GoldenLEAF Foundation, ASU developed two key tools. The first is WISELAB, a mobile laboratory equipped with spectroscopic equipment for rapid analysis of basic quality benchmark parameters of wine and grapes. WISELAB hit the highway last year. Find a list of services and prices here: wiselab.appstate.edu.

The second tool is the Oenology, Viticulture and Natural Product Development Lab on the ASU campus. This contains more sophisticated equipment for quantification of wine and grape properties at the molecular level, with a focus on "the business applications of science, specifically quality enhancement and new product development." Holder said that the two labs will "provide the basis for participation in global research initiatives," in addition to supporting the state industry.

Holder and his colleagues are also seeking approval for a student cooperative winery, "A wonderful model to encourage local growers to plant small vineyards that preserve the land in agriculture and also tie in with our local tourism industry. It will one day be jewel of the program, and show how public and private creativity can combine to transform a region.

"The future of winemaking will be the small entrepreneur making wine, preserving the land and interacting with the public in an entertaining way, as well as handling the financing, marketing, etc., like any other small business person. Not many of us will have an established business dropped in our laps upon graduation. The small entrepreneur has to do it all. With an education providing the necessary tools and connections to the world, perhaps it will seem a somewhat less daunting task," Holder said.