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May 2017 WINES&VINES 79 WINE EAST WINEMAKING Natural Corks Champagne Corks Twinline Corks Bartops VISION Synthetic Corks G-Cap® Screw Caps Sales Representatives: Chris & Liz Stamp info@lakewoodcork.com lakewoodcork.com 4024 State Route 14 Watkins Glen, NY 14891 607-535-9252 607-535-6656 Fax PIONEER INNOVATOR PARTNER concept of wine sensory evaluation," Mitchell says, recalling her summer internship with Penn State Extension. "I remember sitting in the class in Lancaster, and I took so many notes because I was very interested in the material. "Those classes have definitely helped me better define and communicate what I taste in a wine as a winemaker," she notes. "I can ex- plain what I am tasting to people I work with in the cellar and with customers that come into the tasting room. It really helped me define basic descriptors found in wine and form a foundational base in sensory vocabulary." Mitchell also assisted in the development of "at-home" training kits that were mailed to every licensed winery in Pennsylvania as part of WQI's revamped initiatives. While the kit was designed to entice attendance at WQI, it also included real-time training exercises to help wineries identify wine faults through sen- sory evaluation. Mitchell also utilized the kits to train staff members while employed by Mazza Vineyards in North East, Pa. The WQI educational program has contin- ued to evolve, and now attendees can bring their own wines to the short course and have them evaluated blindly by their peers and the program's volunteers during the workshop. After the workshop, each attendee gets a writ- ten report identifying potential problems in the wine they submitted. They can then refer to their WQI notebook, which contains solu- tions to improve their wines. "I see (the WQI program) benefiting the industry in a couple of ways," says Mazza, who continues to volunteer with the WQI program. "Not only does it provide formal sensory train- ing for many that have not been afforded that opportunity, but it also provides skills and structure that they can take back and utilize on a regular basis in their winery as they con- tinue to pursue quality improvements." Many wineries have provided feedback re- garding how the program has helped enhance their operations. Some have found opportunities to train more of their employees on finding po- tential flaws in their wines. Others have created five- to 10-year plans on how to continuously upgrade their production floor. Finally, many begin to utilize analytical testing and production expertise to improve the quality of their wines. Taking advantage of wine education Mitchell participated in the WQI short course as a student volunteer in 2011 and has continued to volunteer now that she is working in a Pennsyl- vania winery. "I actually have a better understand- ing of wine faults that are found in wines due to my participation in the program. It's a great re- fresher for me to step away from the winery, work on preparing wine samples for a few days and smell the spiked wines with industry members," she says. "As winemakers, we make wines all year long, but the class offers us an opportunity to refresh our memories on each fault." Other students help organize, prepare and participate in university extension programs as a way to introduce themselves to winemaking con- cepts and later join the student team that con- tributes to viticulture and enology graduate research. Both undergraduate and graduate stu- dents have opportunities to work in the research- winemaking program and get hands-on experience in grape harvesting, production, sani- tation practices, analytical evaluation associated with quality control and management through harvest operations. They learn to maintain pro- duction and analytical records, and how to handle incoming grapes based on variations in vintage. "My involvement with the WQI Short Course and Extension was phenomenal because it was a foot in the door into the industry for me," Miller says. "I will never forget walking into (extension enology associate) Denise Gardner's office, ask- ing for advice on how I could start a career in winemaking and writing down all of the names of great Pennsylvania wineries that I eventually emailed and received my first internships from. 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