The Washington State University Viticulture and Enology Program is offering a Winery and Vineyard Tour to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia from May 18 to May 20. This continuing education event is a technical tour that goes behind the scenes with winemakers and grape growers, both large and small. This tour is only being offered to people in the industry, or studying to enter the industry, but participants may bring a guest. Registration is limited to 25 persons.
There are still a few seats left on the Spain winery tour, April 10-22. Join V&E director Thomas Henick-Kling on this tour starting in Barcelona and continuing on to visit winemakers in Penedes, Priotat, Montsant, Toro, Reuda, Ribera del Duero, and Rioja. The tour is a blend of old traditions and new techniques of wine making, with an immersion into the culture and food of Spain along the way.
Evolution of V&E Tour Program
In 2009 the V&E Certificate Program offered the first Winery and Vineyard tour to profile wineries in Prosser and Red Mountain. The comments from participants proved the educational value of a technical winery tour was too great to pass up. In 2010 we included our first international winery tour – to New Zealand – and again the responses about the educational value were overwhelmingly positive. Since then we have visited winemakers in seven countries and nine wine regions in Washington, California, and Oregon.
These tours were originally only advertised to the industry in Washington state, as well as current and former certificate students, but word spread quickly. We’ve now had participants from 15 states and Canada.
The newest evolution in the V&E winery tour program is a tour to Tuscany that will benefit the VE student Scholarship fund. This trip is for anyone who is interested in the food, wine and culture of Tuscany.
To learn more about the tours, go to:
http://wine.wsu.edu/education/certificate/international-winery-tours/