History

Demonstrated Need

Lowell Ford, a retired dean of student services at Chemeketa, has also been a grape grower for a number of years.  He also had a vision of a viticulture program at Chemeketa.  In September of 1997, Willamette Valley Grape Growers members expressed a need for vineyard managers and continuing education courses in viticulture.  The Oregon Wine Growers Association office in Portland was reporting daily inquiries about viticulture education opportunities.  As a result of this interest, a non-credit Vineyard Practices course was offered spring term 1998 as a pilot to test the Areal@ interest in such courses.  The result was a full class of 30 students and a waiting list of 15.  The subsequent academic year a three term series of Vineyard Practices attracted between 26 and 33 students.  Similarly, non-credit Introduction to Winemaking and Wine Chemistry courses registered 21 and 23 students respectively.  This widespread enrollment in these non-credit courses demonstrated that there was extensive interest and demand for viticulture/winemaking education.  It indicated a need for a credit program.

Additional evidence of “need” was the fact that no other formal, comprehensive training program that led to a degree and/or certificate could be identified in the Pacific Northwest.  The closest was the University of California - Davis.  Also, established vineyards were expanding; acquisitions by outside interests were occurring; and current vineyard owners were in search of managers, because they were busy with other professions or wanted to slow down or retire.  Consequently, a shortage of properly trained-qualified employees had developed.  New landowners that want to establish a vineyard, but have no background, training, or experience have increased in numbers.  Finally, the industry is a very competitive, international business and Oregon wines have captured “premium wine” niche markets.  A person must now know more to produce high quality grapes and wine.  Because of these latter two situations, more people were searching for training and educational opportunities to make them more competitive.

The Oregon wine grape industry has grown dramatically over the last decade. The industry ranks 4th in the nation in production of Vitis vinifera winegrapes and 2nd in the number of wineries. Currently there are 13,700 total acres planted with over 700 vineyards and 300 wineries. The total value of wine grape production is estimated at $32, 200,000 and the number of cases sold in 2004 was 1,286,100 (see Table 1994-2004 Industry Growth).

Program Development

Consequently, Chemeketa embarked upon a yearlong credit Vineyard Management/Winemaking Program development process.  The first step of this process was visits to similar programs in California by Chemeketa’s Board of Education, President, Vice-President, and Deans.  They were favorably impressed with what they observed.  Dr. Stephen J. Krebs, program coordinator, of the Viticulture and Winery Technology Program at Napa Valley College in Napa, California, was retained as a consultant to assist with the early phases of the programs’ development.  Courses were specifically developed to insure that program training is relevant to Oregon’s cool climate growing environment as well as to other Pacific Northwest regions.  Early in this development process an advisory committee of industry representatives was established.  This committee had significant input into the development of the curriculum.  This process culminated with the approval on April 23, 1999 of two degrees and two certificates by the Oregon State Board of Education.