To: Virginia Vintners

From: Bruce Zoecklein

Subject: Viticulture and Enology Interns

Internships. In 1995, the Enology-Grape Chemistry Group, in the Department of Food Science and Technology at Virginia Tech, established an annual internship program. This program has allowed qualified viticulture and enology students to gain practical skills, while providing a new and often technical prospective. Originally established for my graduate students, this program was expanded to include students of horticulture, chemistry, biochemistry and related fields. This mutually beneficial experience has served the students, the Department and our industry quite well. Due to the high demand, we expanded our internships to include recent graduates, undergraduate students, and additional interested wineries.

Each year at about this time, we inform Virginia Tech students of our internship program. I ask those with an interest in viticulture, enology or both to provide me with a written letter of intent, a resume and collegiate transcripts. Following a review, we interview qualified students and I make my recommendations to the winery. Students are selected on a competitive basis for internships in viticulture, which run from mid-May to mid-August, or in enology, which run from mid-August to mid-November.

Wineries interested in participating in this program for either enology or viticulture students should contact me ASAP. The most important requirement for a participating winery is to outline the student's role and involvement in vineyard/winery activities, and the winery's expectations. This program is not designed as a source of cheap labor, but to help students in their technical and practical understanding of the Virginia grape and wine industry. Additional winery requirements include a modest salary for the students, usually $100-$200 per week, and often lodging. The compensation specifics are between the student and the host winery.

For additional information, please contact my office. If you are interested in either an enology or viticulture intern, please email me and provide, in outline form, the specific tasks the intern would perform, any specific qualifications you would require, etc. Again, the money aspects of this experience would be between you and the student.

Subscription to Enology Notes. All past Enology Notes and Vintner's Corner newsjournals are posted on the Enology-Grape Chemistry Group's web site at: http://www.fst.vt.edu/zoecklein/index.html.

Enology Notes are slightly different in content from this subscription based Vintner's Corner newsjoural. To be added to the Enology Notes list serve send an email message to bzoeckle@vt.edu with the word "ADD" or "REMOVE" in the subject line.

Dr. Bruce Zoecklein
Associate Professor and Enology Specialist
Head Enology-Grape Chemistry Group
Department of Food Science and Technology
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg VA 24061
Enology-Grape Chemistry Group Web address: www.fst.vt.edu/zoecklein/index.html
Phone: (540) 231-5325
Fax: (540) 231-9293
Email: bzoeckle@vt.edu