Cornell has announced plans to launch a 2,400-square-foot teaching winery at the Cornell Orchards this fall to enhance the education of tomorrow's enologists and viticulturists.

Janet Charles

Jim McCormick, center, celebrates his winning bid for a mixed case of magnums from Millbrook Vineyards and Winery during the Cornell Celebrates New York Wines dinner gala and auction April 2 in New York City. Seated with McCormick are Alicia and Tom Settle. All proceeds from the event supported the enology and viticulture program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The announcement was made by Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences, at "Cornell Celebrates New York Wines," a dinner gala and auction held April 2 at Chelsea Piers in New York City to celebrate 100 years of Cornell's partnership with New York's wine industry.

In New York alone, the number of wineries has jumped to 212 from a mere nine 30 years ago. As a result, more skilled experts than ever are needed to manage the growing number of vineyards and wineries in the region, said Thomas Burr, associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva.

Already, Henry said, Cornell has a new undergraduate major in enology (winemaking) and viticulture (grape growing) under review and continues to conduct cutting-edge research to benefit New York's wine and grape regions, from Lake Erie to Long Island. In just the past year, she noted, three new faculty members and an enology extension associate have joined Cornell's enology and viticulture program.

The teaching winery is now in its design phase with architects from Beardsley Design Associates in Auburn, although the project has not yet undergone site review. Construction funding is from the State University of New York.

The facility will be an addition to the existing Pomology Cold Storage Building, where the Orchards Store is located.

Ramón Mira de Orduña Heidinger, Cornell associate professor of enology, said the facility is expected to have "several additional temperature-controlled rooms, giving us the ability to efficiently teach winemaking procedures and chemical and microbiological analyses to our students."

At the gala, more than 20 different wines were served to over 200 guests, and a live auction after dinner offered cases of premium New York state wines. All proceeds from the event went to support Cornell's enology and viticulture programs and field extension efforts.

Cornell's problem-solving research approach is what sets it apart from viticulture and enology research at other schools, said Alan Lakso, Cornell professor of horticultural sciences: "For many ... the focus is on studying abstract theory in order to make it relevant to practical issues. Our approach, instead, is to begin with a problem and then use different aspects of cutting-edge science to respond to it."

Cornell's strong extension component also is unusual, said Tim Martinson, a Cornell senior extension associate. Problems and opportunities in the New York wine industry are explored on an almost daily basis between members of the Cornell Enology Extension Program and grape growers and winemakers in New York. "Many workshops and personal visits are [also] organized in order to facilitate information exchange between researchers and the industry," he said.

To keep such a groundbreaking exchange active, the industry does its part donating time and resources, said Peter Saltonstall, co-owner of King Ferry Winery in upstate New York and chairman of the New York State Wine and Grape Foundation Board of Directors. He recently hosted a class of undergraduate students at his vineyard on the east side of Cayuga Lake, for example. "After years of talking about individual enology and viticulture programs, it was only when the first class came to my vineyard that the whole experience began to feel real," he said.

The event was sponsored by Stoutridge Vineyard, Constellation Wines U.S., Antica Napa Valley, Channing Daughters Winery and Raphael Winery.

Kanika Arora, MPA '07, is a Cornell Chronicle writer in New York City.