March 5, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mary Pedersen
Associate Dean,
College of Agriculture
(805) 756-2161

Cal Poly Launches Wine and Viticulture Degree Program

SAN LUIS OBISPO – The Cal Poly College of Agriculture is offering a new
bachelor’s degree in wine and viticulture, effective spring quarter
2004.

The new wine and viticulture major will focus on blending viticulture,
enology and the business aspects of the wine industry in a degree
program aimed at producing graduates ready to step right into careers in

California’s multibillion-dollar wine industry, said Cal Poly Dean of
Agriculture David Wehner. California is the fourth largest grape
producer in the world after France, Italy and Spain and accounts for 90
percent of America’s grape production.

“With the addition of the wine and viticulture major, Cal Poly’s College
of Agriculture is now poised to offer students a unique and powerful
hands-on education in all aspects of the wine industry,” Wehner said.
“This program represents a campus-wide academic alliance of our
polytechnic strengths in the applied sciences, production, food
processing, marketing and business supported by solid industry
partnerships,” he added.

California State University Chancellor Charles Reed granted Cal Poly
approval for the program in a Feb. 13 letter to Cal Poly President
Warren J. Baker. Cal Poly added a wine and viticulture minor in 1999
that now has over 127 graduates. The college has been building program
facilities and planning the curriculum for the wine and viticulture
program for the past six years with support from industry partners.

The college is currently partnering with E&J Gallo on a 152-acre,
state-of-the-art vineyard on Cal Poly lands. It also offers a wine
analysis laboratory certified by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms. Students in the new degree program will have the use of both.

The university’s location in the heart of one of the state’s premium
wine growing areas can only strengthen the advantage it offers students
and industry, added Wehner.

The university is surrounded by California’s Central Coast wine country,
which has gained increasing notice since the 1990s as one of the
nation’s emerging premium wine-grape-growing regions. The Paso Robles,
Edna Valley, Arroyo Grande Valley, Santa Maria and Santa Ynez Valley
wine regions are within easy reach of students and instructors.

“The diversity of climate regions on the Central Coast makes it an ideal
area for producing a broad range of varieties, from heat-loving
zinfandel to cool-climate pinot noir,” said Cal Poly Agribusiness
Professor Phil Doub.

Students in the new degree program will have the advantage of being able
to do senior projects, internships and fieldwork at area wineries and
vineyards. The experience will enhance the learning process for students

and provide local wineries with an educated labor pool, said Cal Poly
Viticulture Professor Keith Patterson.
“Our curriculum requires a mandatory industry internship. That’s one
thing that will really set our program apart,” Patterson stressed. “All

of our students will work through summer and spend one quarter working
through the crush and harvest to gain actual experience. That’s one of
the great things Cal Poly offers – that learn-by-doing tradition is
still in operation here.”

With the addition of the new degree, Cal Poly joins UC Davis and Fresno
State University in offering viticulture and enology programs. Both
universities have well-respected programs, Wehner noted, adding that Cal

Poly already has a formal partnership with UC Davis in graduate
agricultural education programs.

The unique focus of the Cal Poly wine and viticulture degree will be the

blending of practical hands-on experience in the vineyards with both
enology science and business and marketing courses, College of
Agriculture officials explained.

“By the time they graduate from Cal Poly,” Patterson explained,
“students interested in going into enology will also know how to market
and sell wine, and students interested in the business side of the wine
industry and wine marketing will know how to grow grapes and make wine.”

For more information on the degree program, visit the College of
Agriculture web site at: http://calpolyag.com/.
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