Wine Goes to College

Filed in archive Wine Resources on April 25, 2006

What a great idea - this junior college in El Reno, Oklahoma has started a wine college. Okay, it's not exactly a wine college, it's more like a program, but this makes a lot of sense with the popularity of wine these days.

From KTEN.com:EL RENO, Okla. A central Oklahoma junior college starts a program to aid the state's grape and wine producers.

Redlands Community college in El Reno volunteers have planted more than 200 vines in a test plot and will test 26 varieties to see which ones might be more successful growing in Oklahoma.

Andrew Snyder is the program's instructor and says that developing the plot will cost five-thousand dollars an acre but could produce an annual crop of grapes worth more than three-thousand dollars. Even more money could be made from winemaking, he says.

It will take awhile before the success of the plot is known as it usually takes three years for the first grapes to grow and a full harvest isn't possible until five years after planting.

A grant from the State Regents for Higher Education is helping pay for the new program. Oklahoma has about 30 wineries.

I found the college's web site, and this past February they even offered an on-line wine appreciation class.