Purdue News

November 1997

Purdue to hold days of winery noses

The Heartland Wine School is for commercial winemakers and advanced amateur winemakers. It is designed to teach practical wine science and production techniques in a hands-on format to those who wish to improve wine products and winery operations.

The program topics, presented by 13 university and industry specialists, will cover all aspects of winery operations from harvest decisions to bottling. Lab sessions will cover crushers and other processing equipment, fermentation and fining techniques, analytical methods, and bottling.

"This will be a unique opportunity to bring winery personnel up to speed with practical technical wine issues," says Ellie Harkness, a wine researcher in the Purdue Department of Food Science.

The Heartland Wine School was created in response to requests for a regional opportunity to train winery personnel in classic winemaking principles, and Harkness says she expects attendees from most of the surrounding states and the Eastern Seaboard. "This will be a rare opportunity for people to participate in a program like this east of California," says Harkness, who served as eastern section chairwoman of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture in 1995. "The instructors are all well-known wine experts who have been involved in wine programs at the university level, or are successful and knowledgeable commercial winemakers."

Speakers include Bill Moffett, publisher of Vineyard and Winery Management; vintner Chris Stamp of Lakewood Vineyards, Watkins Glen, N.Y.; enology consultant Tony Carlucci, Geneva, Ohio; and Purdue enologist Richard Vine.

Vine and Harkness oversee the Indy International, the Indiana State Fair wine competition that became the third largest in the country this summer with 1,852 entries. They are part of a team of Purdue Cooperative Extension specialists who help Indiana wineries with grape-growing, wine-making and marketing. Since the wine team's inception in 1991, the number of Indiana wineries has grown from three to 20, with five more in various stages of development.

Vine has written several books on commercial and amateur winemaking, and he is the wine consultant to American Airlines.

Classes will be held at the Purdue campus in West Lafayette, and registration costs $200. Preference will be given to commercial vintners; others will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis, Harkness says. For information, contact Harkness, Department of Food Science, Smith Hall, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN 47907-1160; (765) 494-6704; fax (765) 494-7953; e-mail, Harkness@foodsci.purdue.edu.

Compiled by Chris Sigurdson, (765) 494-8415; E-mail, sig@ecn.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu

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