First Day of Viticulture School

It's great to be a student again! Love the Santa Rosa Junior College campus. This semester only one class will be on campus (lecture) and the rest will be hands-on at Shone Farm vineyards.

First class up, Basic Wine Grape Viticulture. Tonight we learned about the history of grapes and wine, origin of THE vine, Vitis vinifera (present day Georgia - NOT the U.S. State, but the area between the Caspian and Black Seas), and how grape cuttings were distributed around the world. CLIMATE - temperature - determines what kinds of grapes grow where. Cabernet grapes like it warmer; Chardonnay grapes prefer cooler temps.

Macroclimate, Mesoclimate, Microclimate, Root stocks and Degree Days, Phylloxera, scions and cultivars. My head is already spinning.

I learned a new word: Vigneron. That's someone who grows the grapes AND makes the wine.

I have a new friend in class, Eduardo. Just graduated from high school and is already working in a vineyard. So cute - so young! He did not have his lecture material printed out so I shared mine...looks like I might have to keep an eye on this one. You know, as a mentor :-)