NICC to offer a wine production class in the fall

Northeast Iowa Community College is announcing plans to offer a new Cold Climate Viticulture (grape growing) and Enology (wine making) online course beginning next fall.

The new course will offer students a practical understanding of the obstacles and promise of growing grapes and making wine in cold climates, such as the Midwest. University of Minnesota Horticulture Research Station viticulturist John Thull will teach the course.

Other course topics related to cold climate production include history, physical limits of grapes, successful varieties, viticulture and enology methods for producing quality cold climate wine, the state of cold climate research, a review of resources and marketing strategies in cold climate regions.

"The local grape and wine industry in the Midwest is growing very fast, but growing grapes in cold climates is a specific and emerging technology," explained NICC Science instructor Ronald Lindblom, who added, "To my knowledge, this is the first class in the country that assimilates our current knowledge of cold climate viticulture and enology, and delivers this current research to students."

To learn more about the course, visit vesta-usa.org/Students/Course-Catalog.