(Wines&Vines) - With nearly 150 wineries and total wine production surpassing 1 million cases per year, Michigan needs a reliable supply of workers with backgrounds in grapegrowing, winemaking and wine marketing. Recognizing the need, Lake Michigan College (LMC), a two-year community college located in Benton Harbor, launched the Great Lakes Wine Institute (GLWI), the first commercial teaching winery in the upper Midwest.

Now that final curriculum for the enology and viticulture program has been approved and a small teaching winery in the Mendel Center for Arts and Technology has been bonded, Michael Moyer, who was hired in January to serve as director of the GLWI, said he is focusing on finding both students and faculty for the fall semester. Students in the program will work toward a certificate or associate’s degree in enology and viticulture.

“We only sent out a press release about the program a few weeks ago, and already we’ve had five students sign up,” Moyer reported. He would like to have 15 to 20 students enrolled by September.

While Moyer said he may teach “a bit,” an LMC biology professor who is a grape entomologist by training will help with viticulture courses including a plant biology class and one covering grapevine pests and diseases. Several wine industry members of the GLWI Advisory Panel also may teach or help with hands-on aspects of the new program.

Dr. Tom Zabadal, professor and coordinator of the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center (SMREC) and a member of the Advisory Panel, told Wines & Vines, “Our intent is the have students go from the beginning to the end of the whole process of making wine.” Lake Michigan College has an agreement with Michigan State University to utilize the vineyards at the SMREC, about 2 miles from the college, and students will have their “own” vines at the vineyards. “There are a lot of facets to the wine industry,” Moyer noted, “and it’s important for students to get experience in all aspects of the industry. They need to know how the vineyard works, what happens in the laboratory and the cellar. They shouldn’t just have seen it, but done it themselves.”