WSU program looks to keep up momentum

A few years ago a farmer carried a bucket of bad grapes into the lab of viticulturist Markus Keller at the Washington State University Prosser Research Center. Keller had never seen anything quite like it, clusters of shriveled, sour, colorless fruit. It’s like the plants decided they had had enough and quit, he says. When a few other farmers invited Keller to their vineyards to diagnose the same problem, he realized the concern was widespread.

The grape shrivel is a mystery to Keller and his colleagues from British Columbia to California. The strange thing is that it’s affecting red grapes in Washington, white grapes in Canada, and both types in California, says Keller.

Because the problem is so new and grape growers don’t want to broadcast the bad news, Keller is struggling to grasp what’s happening and where. What he does know is that it’s serious. In some vineyards up to 30 percent of the grapes can be affected. Oddly, it doesn’t impact all bunches of grapes on the vines, and vineyards that might have been affected last year aren’t showing the problems again this year, he says.

This may be the most urgent research on Keller’s plate, but it’s hardly his only work. From the beginning, WSU has been in on the state’s wine action with Walt Clore’s grape trials, Chas Nagel’s tastings, Ray Folwell’s economic studies, and alumni who are now firmly planted in Washington’s wine business.

In the late 1990s, WSU began work with the wine industry to develop a viticulture and enology degree program. In 2001, the school created the Washington Viticulture and Enology Wine Consortium with Yakima Valley Community College, Walla Walla Community College, and WSU Tri-Cities, offering a bachelor’s degree in horticulture with a focus on wine. The WSU program currently serves 30 undergraduate students, as well as a small group of graduate students. “We anticipate the demand to grow as we see what kind of jobs these students get when they complete their degrees,” says William Hendrix, chair of WSU’s viticulture and enology program.

In 2003, WSU obtained $1 million in state funding to develop the wine program, adding faculty positions and room for more students. Other schools, such as U.C. Davis, have strong wine programs, but Washington needs students trained to grow grapes and make wine with Washington’s climate and soils, say the experts.

Meanwhile, the business school has retooled its beverage program to include a more deliberate focus on wines. Last year, professor of hospitality business management Dennis Reynolds invited the owner of Compass Wines in Anacortes, Wash., Doug Charles to speak to students about the role of wine in the hospitality industry.

Charles procures hard-to-find wines, particularly older Washington vintages. He hosts tastings offering top-line French Bordeaux alongside Washington’s reds. It’s a worthy comparison, he says. “Quality-wise, the best in Washington can measure up with the best anywhere else in the world.” The good thing is that the university recognizes that and has found ways to contribute, he says.