EAST COAST ENOLOGY PROGRAMS

I recently read that Cornell has the only undergraduate enology program east of the Mississippi. It apparently has been very useful to the Finger Lakes wine region. Also recently, I ran across some information about the Coastal Wine Trail, which includes nine wineries from Cape Cod through the South Coast of Massachusetts and along the Rhode Island coast, all part of the Southeastern New England appellation. A third thing happened recently. The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth has acquired what was formerly known as Southern New England Law School to form the first public law school in Massachusetts, the UMass Law School.

These three bits of information caused me to wonder that perhaps UMass Dartmouth should consider initiating an enology and viticulture program. The school lies smack in the middle of the Coastal Wine Trail and there are dozens of other vineyards in New England could probably benefit from such a program. I recognize that there are practical issues involved. First, UMass Dartmouth does not have any agricultural based programs so an enology program would be a bit off its normal path. However, such a program could be an interdisciplinary one associated with Biology, Chemistry, Biotechnology and/or others.

A public program could help promote the development of vineyards in New England and help strengthen the economic vitality of an agricultural activity where preservation of agriculture is a strong goal.