Wine flows through Central Coast and Cal Poly(2)
While wine discounts are not offered to all Cal Poly students, Per Bacco Cellars lends support to wine and viticulture students.
"For wine and viticulture majors we comp the tasting fee," Keggl said. "We give them a free tasting and then a 25 percent discount because we consider them part of the industry."
At local vineyard Domaine Alfred, tasting room manager Andrea Chan has noticed similar trends in student wine tasting.
"They like all of our wines," Chan said. "There's one that is a little less expensive that they seem to be drawn to."
Often students will organize classy winery tours, sometimes renting limos and dressing formally.
"I see a lot more students here, but we've always had students come through," Chan said. "We'll usually get a group of students every Saturday. Usually it's because someone's turning 21."
An increasing number of wine connoisseurs have found their niche in Cal Poly's wine and viticulture major.
Wine and viticulture officially became a degree program spring quarter of 2004, although it had been evolving through Cal Poly's viticulture program for 20 years. The major was developed in response to a growing wine industry, particularly in the Central Coast.
"The feeling was that we needed a strong program to support the industry and there was also a sense that the scope of the program needed to be more than just grape growing and making wine literally," said John Peterson, head of the horticulture and crop sciences department.
Students enrolled in the wine and viticulture program learn about all aspects of the wine industry. It is a major that has high student interest and currently has 300 students enrolled. It combines information and educational coursework in viticulture, the process of growing wine grapes and enology, the process of making wine and agricultural business. Students choose one of these components as a concentration.
"The major is very popular and we are already an impacted program," Peterson said. "There is a lot of support and interest from the wine and viticulture industry, so we are in a good position. Job opportunities are really extraordinary."
