Currently teaches Viticulture and Enology courses at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado

In an April 17 press release, Yavapai Community College announced that Ryan Avery Follensbee will assume the position of Director of its Viticulture and Enology Program on the Verde Valley Campus. Follensbee replaces Michael Pierce, who resigned in January 2025. Pierce served the college for eleven years and played a key role in developing the Viticulture and Enology program. He served as director of the program for more than six years before his resignation.

Follensbee is a certified sommelier (a wine steward)  and a graduate of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He began his formal study of wine in 2013 at Walla Walla Community College in eastern Washington. He later worked as a research associate in Sonoma Valley and supervised coastal operations for both Frei Brothers and Ernest & Julio Gallo wineries in Healdsburg.

He is currently teaching Viticulture and Enology courses at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado.

An eleven year employee involved in the developing the enology/viticulture program, he has served in his current position for over six years: reliable sources claim he has given notice to College of his intent to resign 

Although Yavapai Community College has not officially confirmed his departure, reliable sources have informed the Blog that Michael Pierce, Director of the Viticulture and Enology program, has given two weeks’ notice of his resignation.

Pierce has been with the college for 11 years, serving as Director of the Viticulture and Enology program for more than six of those years. While there has been no formal announcement, it is thought that Pierce may have accepted a position with Arizona State University.

In addition to his role at Yavapai College, Pierce lists himself on LinkedIn as the winemaker for Pierce Wines Arizona, a role he has held for over 15 years. He is currently identified as the winemaker for the company.

Pierce’s journey into winemaking began as a hobby during his college years. According to a 2015 interview with Wines and Vines, Pierce studied electronic media and visual communication at Northern Arizona University, graduating in 2004. After graduation, he initially worked in print and web design but pursued his interest in winemaking by taking online viticulture and enology courses through the University of California, Davis, extension. In 2007, he transitioned to Washington State University’s program.

Pierce told the Wines and Vines interviewer that he gained practical experience by working harvest jobs in New Zealand, Oregon, and Tasmania (Australia). In 2010, he secured a winemaking position at Arizona Stronghold Vineyards. Four years later, he joined Yavapai Community College as the Director of Enology. In 2018, his responsibilities expanded when he was named Director of the Viticulture and Enology program.

Michael Pierce’s departure, if the information provided the Blog is accurate,  marks the end of a significant chapter at Yavapai Community College, where he played a key role in developing the Viticulture and Enology program.

You may Read the full 2015 interview in Wines and Vines at:  https://winebusinessanalytics.com/sections/printout_article.cfm?content=152124&article=feature

Two courses full six weeks from start of fall semester while  others are nearing capacity; new low cost textbooks in use

With classes beginning  August 16 at Yavapai Community College, enrollment in the  Viticulture/wine making program on the Verde Valley Campus in Clarkdale is showing a great deal of early student interest.  Enrollment in almost all of the classes is nearing capacity, if not already full.

For example, the Sensory Evaluation of Wine course taught by Paula Woolsey is already full despite the fact that it is one of two classes that don’t begin until October.  Michael Pierce’s course, which begins in August,  on the Science of Wine Making is also full with students now being taken from a waitlist.

The Winemaking Practicum, also taught by Mr. Pierce, has 18 of its 20 classroom seats already taken.  Robert Alexander’s Viticulture Practicum has only six seats remaining. Craig Martinsen’s Introduction to Viticulture course has 26 of its seats filled with an opening for only four more students.

The Science of Winemaking course to begin in October already has three of the 24 seats taken.

One new feature of the Viticulture program is the use of low cost textbooks in five of the  seven classes being offered this fall.  These textbooks are a part of the Community College’s effort, led by Vice President Diane Ryan, to reduce the student economic  burden of attending the Community College’s  educational programs. 

Yavapai College student-crafted wines win double-gold, silver at Jefferson Cup

[THIS STORY TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESS RELEASE DEC 12]  Add two more Yavapai College student-crafted wines to the list of prestigious award winners.

The Southwest Wine Center’s 2017 Red Storm won a double-gold medal and the 2017 Malvasia Bianca  earned a silver medal at the 2018 Jefferson Cup Invitational Wine Competition. The Jefferson Cup  honors “the best of the best” among American wineries. The 19th annual competition took place in Kansas City, Mo., late last month.

The SWC last year earned the competition’s top award – the Jefferson Cup – for a 2016 Mourvedre. Although not a Jefferson Cup winner, the 2017 Red Storm, a Grenache-based red blend, was a finalist for the top award and one of only 24 double-gold medalists in the 2018 competition that drew 740 participating wines.

The SWC’s Red Storm also was the highest-rated Arizona wine in the competition, said Michael Pierce, director of the viticulture and enology programs at the YC Verde Valley campus in Clarkdale.

Although the SWC has chalked up multiple trophies and medals in wine competitions since the first grapes were planted on its estate vineyard in 2012, Pierce said the latest recognition is especially gratifying for him and his students. “They were inventive and wanted to try many different things. We created 21 or 22 unique wines with them last year – a good diversity of wines.”

Pierce also is grateful for the attention SWC students are generating for their wines and the school. “It’s continued notoriety on a national scale. That’s a very valuable way to showcase the education and what we’re offering to people. We are making wines that compete well on a national scale.”

A number of YC alumni who have launched their own labels also were recognized at this year’s Jefferson Cup competition, adding to the SWC’s standing in the industry. Pierce brushes off the pressure to continue producing stalwart wines. “We’re going to keep trying. I don’t know what the result will be.”

The SWC’s latest award-winning wines are available to taste and purchase. The SWC Tasting Room adjacent to the YC Clarkdale campus, 601 Black Hills Drive, is open from noon to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

Learn more about the SWC and YC certificate and degree programs by visiting the website: southwestwinecenter.com. Spring classes are now enrolling. Register at www.yc.edu.

Short program summarizes student educational experience in wine making

Public radio KNAU highlighted the Verde Campus Viticulture and Enology program during a broadcast on July 11.  The two minute program on Earth Notes summarized a student’s learning experience at the Southwest Wine Center.

You may listen to the radio broadcast by clicking on this link.

Thirteen acre vineyard doing very well

An article in the Verde Independent of June 24, 2018 reported that the Yavapai Community College Wine Center on the Verde Campus in Clarkdale will yield an estimated 16 tons of grapes this year.  The success of the Community College vineyard coincides with the dramatice increase in viticulture in the Verde Valley.

You may read the complete story about the vineyard success appearing in the Verde Independent written by Halie Chavez and originally published online on June 23, 2018 by clicking here.