March 31 is deadline to submit wine for the first-ever event

Yavapai Community College is seeking applicants to participate in the school’s first Emerging Winemakers Competition and Symposium. However, the deadline to accept applicants for the competition is March 31.

 The competition and symposium is scheduled on the Verde Campus to run from 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday, April 27.  It is  competition intended for winemakers ages 21 and older whose wine is not commercially available. The event will also offer a variety of concurrent seminars for the community and its emerging winemakers to attend.

Southwest Wine Center wines will be served, along with lunch and live entertainment. Tickets are $35 at the door, $30 in advance.

Receives double gold, silver and bronze medals for various varieties of its 2017 wine

The Yavapai Community College Southwest Wine Center was among 250 entries from 32 labels who competed for the best wines in Arizona at the azcentral Arizona Wine competition at the  Grand Wine Gala held Friday, January 26. This was a part of the ninth  Annual Grand Wine Festival that continued on  Saturday and Sunday at Heritage Square Park in downtown Phoenix – now the largest celebration of Arizona wine in the country.

The Center received a number of medals for its various wines.  It received a double gold medal for its Patada 2017 wine, a silver medal for its Malvasika Bianca 2017 wine, and a bronze medal for its Graciano 2017 and Red Storm 2017 wine.

Congratulations to the Southwest Wine Center for its outstanding performance.

(Source:  Arizona Republic, January 26, 2019, pp. 1C, 3C, 6C.) You may view the entire story about the wine competition in the Arizona Republic  by clicking here.

Tickets are $125 per person, some of which is tax deductible; event begins at 5 p.m.

The annual Yavapai Community College Wine & Dine in the Vines fundraiser will be held on the Verde Campus Saturday, October 27 beginning at 5 p.m.  The event features over 30 winemakers, restaurant owners and chefs who will provide tastings of their favorite edibles and drinkables at the event.

Proceeds directly benefit the Viticulture and Enology (VEN) program, providing scholarships, student activities and education needs.

Tickets may be purchased for the event by going to the college website by clicking here.

The genesis for the current vineyard began in 2009 when the Greater Verde Valley chapter of the College Foundation, which was shut down by President Wills in 2013, supported  construction of an experimental one acre Vineyard.  The chapter arranged with the Brewer Brothers Construction company to clear  one acre of College land without charge. The experimental vineyard was then developed by local  wine maker, Maynard Keenan. With the Community College  showing reluctance to move beyond the experimental one acre vineyard, Randy Garrison, Ruth Wicks, Bob Oliphant, Tom Schumacher, and Paula Woosley put together a business plan for a 20 acre vineyard on Foundation property  adjacent the Verde Campus in 2010. The plan was later presented to the Foundation by Bob Oliphant. The Foundation, after several months study, decided to move forward with a 20 acre vineyard. The Community College later decided to take over the project from the Foundation and the Chapter supported transferring the 20 acres where the vineyard is now located to the College.

The Chapter put on the first fundraiser associated with grape growing on the Verde Campus. This was the “French Flair” fundraiser in 2010 and it was the genesis for the current Wine and Dine fundraiser.  In addition, the Chapter prepared a detailed water study that would lead to the construction of the wastewater line from the Cottonwood Municipal Wastewater plant to the Vineyard.

Pioneers planning for a future College Vineyard: Randy Garrison, Paula Woosley, Ruth Wicks, Bob Oliphant, Tom Schumacher.

Largest and most successful harvest to date

The Southwest Wine Center, located on the Verde Campus in Clarkdale,  announced October 15 that it had completed its most successful harvest of grapes from its vineyard since it began.  The Center picked 24.8 tons of grapes.

The harvest was accomplished with Yavapai Community College students and community volunteers.

Wins Growers Cup for best rose wine plus three first place awards

The Community College Southwest Wine Center on the Verde Campus won several awards at the AzCentral Wine competition event that was recently held in Phoenix.  The competition took place on December 11, 2017 and the winners were announced January 12, 2018.

The Wine Center was awarded the Growers Cup for the best rose wine. That wine is described as a 2017 Amphoria pink wine made with  Sangiovese grapes grown at the Verde Campus vineyard in Clarkdale. 

The Center took first place for the best rose’, best non-traditional Red Blend, and the best Rose Varietal. You may read more about the competition and awards in the Arizona Republic, January 27, 2018, section 1D.

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Mourvedre wine earns top honors in its category; Viognier wine wins bronze medal in the same competition — Second major wine award this year

Students enrolled in the enology program at the Yavapai Community College Southwest Wine Center in Clarkdale were awarded the Jefferson Cup during invitational competition in Kansas City, Missouri on November 16 and 17 for their 2016 Mourvedre wine. They also received a bronze medal for their Viognier wine in the same competition.

The Jefferson Cup was bestowed on 16 of 750 participating wines in the invitational. The competitors came from 27 different states. In January the students won a gold medal for Best Sauvignon Blanc at the Arizona Republic’s Arizona Grand Wine Festival in January.

Michael Pierce, director of YC’s enology program, said the Jefferson Cup awards are a great honor for YC enology students and for the Southwest Wine Center. Both the winning Mourvedre and the Viognier also “are getting good response from our customers in the SWC tasting room.”

You may read more about the awards in the December 6, 2017  Cottonwood Journal Extra by Zachary Jernigan (it will appear later online).  You may  read the College’s announcement of the awards  by clicking here. You may read Mr. Jernigan’s January 2017 article about the gold medal by clicking here. 

College boasts new signage everywhere but seems to have ignored the Winery Tasting Room– but not its revenue goal of $100,000

The College’s signage program appears to have forgotten about the Southwest Wine Center’s Tasting Room.  The Tasting Room is budgeted by the College for the fiscal year 2017-18 to generate sales revenue of at least $100,000 from customers.  It would make sense to construct  a decent sign at the entrance to the Winery  so potential customers could easily locate it when traveling down Black Hills Drive.

The College has paid a lot more attention to placing new signs on the CTEC building at the Prescott airport or other signs throughout the District. Why not the Winery, which is supposed to produce revenue by attracting customers?

Oh well, as District Governing Board member Pat McCarver has said:  “Things will never be equal” on the East and West sides of the County when it comes to investment by the Community College.

Brings in $98,862 in sales on $75,000 budget

Yavapai Community College reported to the Governing Board in August 2017 that the Verde campus winery tasting room had brought in $92,862 for the fiscal year 2016 – 2017. The revenue exceeded the 2016-2017 budget by $25,000. The College did not indicate how it will use the excess revenue generated by the tasting room.

You may view the fiscal year 2016 – 2017 report in the Community College Governing Board agenda for August 2017 by clicking here. 

Harvest appears very good

Yavapai Community College announced this week that it will harvest over 12 tons of grapes this fall from its Verde Campus vineyard. The harvest appears to be very good.

The wine Center has announced a number of events for this fall one of which, Sunset Yoga with Roxanne,  is listed below. The public is invited to join in any of its fall events.