(Wines&Vines) - Starting Aug. 12, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will have a full enology team in place, just in time for the 2013 harvest. That’s the day that Dr. Amanda Stewart will officially assume the position of assistant professor of enology and fermentation in the Department of Food Sciences at Virginia Tech. Stewart will work closely with Molly Kelly, who assumed responsibility for the department’s enology extension programs Dec. 25, 2012.

When Dr. Bruce Zoecklein retired in 2010 as professor of food science and technology and became professor emeritus at Virginia Tech, he was immediately rehired as a consultant for two years to help determine how to set up the enology program at the university for the future. In an attempt to meet the needs of both the university and the Virginia wine industry, Department of Food Science chairman Dr. Joe Marcy and Virginia Tech’s dean Alan Grant decided that Zoecklein’s position should be replaced with two faculty positions: one for enology extension and another for enology teaching and research.