OCTOBER 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Viticulture tech program responds
to industry need Penticton gives students exposure to different growing conditions
by TOM WALKER PENTICTON – The new
Okanagan College viticulture technician program got off to a bubbly start as students and faculty made a small toast to the first day of their program.
“I will teach you how to
taste, not how to drink,” stressed Dr. Gabriel Balint, viticulture professor at the college and program chair. “The sign of someone in the trade is to spit out the wine.” Balint demonstrated how to open the sparkling wine – six turns and there should only be a tiny pop of the cork – one of three bottles donated to the program by Gray Monk Winery. “As a viticulturist, you
should know wine because winemakers will tell you what they want,” says Balint, who in addition to his PhD in viticulture, is also a trained sommelier and has worked in the restaurant trade. “The wine that they will make begins with you in the vineyard.” The new two-year program has 13 students enrolled in its first year. They come from varied backgrounds: some have university training, others bring farming experience. Two students have completed the college’s viticulture certificate. Balint expects the exchange between teacher and student to be two-way. “I want you to be involved
and share your experiences,” he says, clearly enthusiastic. “My dream is to have you leave here knowing more than me.” With degrees and work experience in Romania, Balint completed his PhD in Enology and Viticulture at Brock University in Ontario. He taught at Brock, Harrisburg Community College, PA, and more recently, managed a viticulture program in Southern Oregon, working at the Oregon Wine Research Institute and Oregon State University.
Balint will teach core courses such as vineyard health and management, soil and water management, irrigation and trellis systems and grape harvest and sensory management. Other instructors will deliver courses such as irrigation and
trellis systems. Math and writing courses are also required, and students will complete a four-month paid summer co-op placement between their first and second years. “The industry is very willing to come in and work with the students and to have the students come out to their locations,” says Balint. “I’ve had a couple of phone calls about summer placements in a tasting room, but that’s not what we are looking for. A co-op in the vineyard is a very important part of our program. Learning by doing is a very efficient way to learn in our industry.”
Industry demand
“The industry came to us about starting the program,” says Jonathan Rouse, associate dean at the Okanagan School of Business and director of its food, wine and tourism program. “It’s been a four-year process.” The human resources committee of the BC Wine Grape Council (BCWGC) began with a study to address grape industry labour needs. “They looked at the need
for talent in the vineyard,” explains Rouse. Committee members included representatives from Mission Hill, Quails’ Gate, Gray Monk, Tinhorn Creek, Le Vieux Pin, Summerhill, Wild Goose and Culmina, as well as independent growers. “A labour market analysis identified the key competencies and skills required,” Rouse explains. “BCWGC contacted the college and asked if we could design a curriculum around
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CHEERS! Jonathan Rouse, associate dean at the Okanagan School of Business, left, toasts the class of 2018 on their first day of a new two-year viticulture technician program at Okanagan College. TOM WALKER PHOTO
these key skills and then followed through and had the college build the program.” It is a very authentic
program. All the learning objectives are linked to what the industry has identified. “It is all driven by the
research that the BCWGC human resources committee undertook,” says Rouse. The students visited two Naramata wineries the afternoon of their first day. Township 7 winemaker
Mary McDermott, an alumna of Brock University, explained how she works with growers to develop the potential of the vineyards from which she sources fruit for the wines she makes. Kathy Malone, the
winemaker at Naramata’s Hillside Winery, explained the variations between and unique characteristics of Naramata vineyards as she led students through a tasting of her wines. Hillside is notable because it occupies a former apricot orchard that was pulled out to make way for some of the area’s first vinifera plantings in 1984.
Teaching vineyard A teaching and research
vineyard is planned for the Penticton campus of Okanagan College to bring the vineyards closer to students. “We will plan it together and each of you will have your own row,” Balint told the students.
Being based in Penticton and close to the Naramata Bench is an advantage for the program.
“Naramata has a variety of
microclimates and soil types that will give the students exposure to a range of growing conditions within a short distance,” Balint said. And the other two bottles
of sparkling wine? Students signed both and they will be stored in the climate-controlled cellar that is part of the BC Wine Information Society Sensory Centre. “The first one we will open at the end of the two years when you have all completed the course,” Balint told them. “And the other, at our 20-year reunion.”
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