SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. (KGUN) — Cochise College is expanding its Career Technology Education department by adding a viticulture program. The program focuses on growing grapes to make wine.
James Perey, Executive Vice President for Academics, and Quint Molina, Dean of Business, Career, and Technical Education have been working on a viticulture program for the past six months.
“The viticulture component really ties nicely into some of the existing programs that we already have in our career and technical education center,” Molina said.
Perey says the idea came from talking with vineyard owners in Cochise and Santa Cruz counties.
“In working directly with the growers and talking to them in Willcox and even in Sonoita and Elgin, is that their need is really in the viticulture,” he said.
Currently, Yavapai Community College is the only school in the state with a viticulture program. However, 75% of the grapes used for wine in Arizona are from the Willcox area.
"We want to make sure that we're lockstep with what the industry needs and what the growers are telling us they need," Perey said. "That's why we're beginning this program, specifically in viticulture.”
Molina says they also spoke with local realtors, who told him people are actively looking for land on which they can plant grapes.
“There are people who are looking for properties on a fairly consistent basis, to go ahead and start new vineyards," he said. "It's turned out to be a pretty opportune moment to really jump into it (adding this program).”
In January, the college was awarded a few million dollars from an estate to help start this program, which will be named the Ann Marie Stephens Viticulture Program.
“It is a significant gift, and one that, again, allows us to do some innovative things,” Perey said. “[What] the gift is going to allow us to do is, create a program that has more facets than or more opportunities than we might have if we were just doing it alone.”
If everything goes according to Perey's and Molina's plan, the program will start in the fall of 2025, and some of those donated funds will be used for scholarships for students enrolling in the program.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
