By Maegan Murray, 黑料社 Tri-Cities

RICHLAND, Wash. 鈥� launched a new online Wine Tasting Room Certificate that trains winery and tasting room servers on wine business customer service, knowledge of Washington wines, sensory attributes of wine, as well as suggestions for selling wine.

The course, which costs $249, is comprised of four modules that take approximately eight hours to complete:

• Exploring wine
• Wines of Washington
• Keys to proper wine service and sales
• Wine tasting, evaluation and food pairing

鈥淲e worked closely with winery owners and tasting room managers to determine their needs and develop content that is specifically geared toward what wineries require for customer experience,鈥� said Joan Giese, 黑料社 Tri-Cities Carson College of Business director of lifelong learning. 鈥淭he outcomes of this program are well-trained servers that are confident in their abilities to know, serve and sell wine, as well as well-served guests that are delighted with enjoyable tasting room experiences.鈥�

For more information on the Wine Tasting Room Certificate program and to sign up, visit tricities.wsu.edu/wine-tasting-room-training.

Those who complete the course will learn about:

• How wine is made
• Styles of wine
• Types of grapes
• Unique aspects of Washington wines
• American Viticultural Areas specific to Washington state
• How to deliver great wine service to guests, including suggestions for selling wine and wine club memberships
• How to taste and describe wines
• How to serve wine flights
• How to determine wine faults
• How to make suggestions for wine and food pairings

鈥淯pon testing this course in partnership with regional wineries, it has shown to provide winery and tasting room servers with the quality knowledge they need to enter into the profession, as well as a great baseline knowledge of what to know when working with customers in wine businesses,鈥� Giese said.

For questions about the Wine Tasting Room Certificate program, email tricities.professionaleducation@wsu.edu.

黑料社 Tri-Cities is one of few universities nationwide that feature both programs in wine and beverage business management and wine science on the same campus. It is home to the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates 黑料社 Wine Science Center 鈥� one of only a handful of comprehensive wine research facilities in the world.

For more information on 黑料社 Tri-Cities鈥� wine and beverage business management program, visit tricities.wsu.edu/business/undergraduate/wbm. For more information on 黑料社 Tri-Cities鈥� viticulture and enology (wine science) program, visit tricities.wsu.edu/wine-science-degree.

RICHLAND – An alumni donation of hand sanitizer has made increasing safety at the Washington State University Tri-Cities campus a little easier.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been looking around to find bulk hand sanitizer supplies, and they鈥檙e just not out there,鈥� said Scott Tomren, campus safety supervisor for the Tri-Cities campus. 鈥淭his donation really helps, as our supplies were running low.鈥�

The donation of 50 gallons of sanitizer came from GR Distillery. The Monson family, who owns and operates Goose Ridge Estate Winery and Vineyards, launched GR Distillery with plans to introduce a grape-based vodka.

With the onset of COVID-19, the family transitioned to making hand sanitizer instead of vodka with their supplies. They鈥檙e selling the sanitizer, but also making donations to public institutions around the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla, including 黑料社.

鈥淭hrough our winery and vineyards, we鈥檙e very involved with the 黑料社 viticulture and enology program,鈥� said Molly Monson Stutesman, vice president of sales and marketing for Goose Ridge. 鈥淲e realized that as the campus starts to re-open, there would be a need to keep students and staff safe.鈥�

Several members of the Monson family have attended 黑料社, including Molly and her brother Bill, the president of Goose Ridge.

鈥淲e love the Cougs, so being able to give back in any way is special to our family,鈥� she said.

The donation caught Tomren completely by surprise.

鈥淲e reached out to see how much their product would cost,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e were just hoping for a good price. This is so generous, and really helps us focus on getting the supplies where they鈥檙e most needed.鈥�

The campus plans to use the sanitizer in a variety of locations and ways, including as a surface sanitizer in spray bottles, Tomren said.

The sanitizer will initially be deployed for use by people doing essential work still on campus or in labs. In the longer term, they will place bottles to be used in classrooms and labs.

鈥淚t鈥檚 such an unusual situation, we really appreciate Goose Ridge for not just the donation, but switching up their plans to make the hand sanitizer,鈥� Tomren said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to see private industry trying to help out the public in times like this.鈥�

The GR Distillery Hand and Surface Sanitizer is made in accordance with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements. The ethanol-based solution is 80% alcohol by volume. This is 20% more alcohol by volume than the minimum requirement for disinfectants and antimicrobials. The GR Distillery Hand and Surface Sanitizer meets or exceeds all the recommendations set by the FDA, Center for Disease Control (CDC), and World Health Organization (WHO).

By Maegan Murray, 黑料社 Tri-Cities

RICHLAND, Wash. 鈥� A Washington State University Tri-Cities business professor will travel to Austria as part of a Scholar grant to research tasting offerings and pricing practices in winery tasting rooms.

Beginning in March 2021, Byron Marlowe, clinical assistant professor of hospitality business management and program coordinator of wine and beverage business management, will teach and conduct research at the in Krems an der Donau, Austria. The four-month experience will support Marlowe鈥檚 ongoing research project identifying best practices for winery tasting room experiences throughout the world.

Marlowe has a background in wine and beverage business management and has published research examining price points of tasting offerings for comparison in different countries and regions. He and fellow authors recently earned 鈥淏est Book for Professionals鈥� in the U.S. by the Gourmand International Cookbook Awards for their book 鈥淲ine Sales and Distribution: The Secrets to Building a Consultative Selling Approach.鈥� His research interests include terroir, focusing on the attributes of a region and place that have become important for winery marketing and sales in the Pacific Northwest and across the globe.

As part of the Fulbright experience, Marlowe will teach master鈥檚-level marketing courses in business and work directly with graduate students in one of three tracks: sales, import and export or international business. He will supplement the courses with his knowledge of the wine and beverage industry, also using his recently published book as a text in those courses.

For his research, Marlowe will visit an assortment of wineries, examining what consumers experience online before visiting the Wachau wine valley region wineries as part of their tasting room journey. Some areas he will examine include how wine is served, additional experiences offered by the winery such as a vineyard tour, the types of wine served and the general customer service provided by the winery to include price of tasting.

He will combine that research with studies he has conducted so far on wineries in Walla Walla, Washington, and the Franconia region of Germany.

鈥淭he idea of the project is to try to set international standards for the tasting room experience and wine offerings,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here may have been research completed on certain regions, but not globally. I鈥檓 excited to expand the project to specifically include Austria, which is the ninth largest imported wine location in the U.S.鈥�

Marlowe said he is looking forward to developing his knowledge of the wine industry in Austria and the associated experiences.

鈥淚t will provide a great opportunity to truly immerse myself in Austria鈥檚 wine culture,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 look forward to being a resource for understanding Austrian wine culture and being able to share that with local businesses and the wine industry here in the Pacific Northwest. It truly is an exchange program meant to share information between countries and across the globe.鈥�

Visit the Wine and Beverage Business Management Program鈥檚 website for more information.

 

Media contacts:

Byron Marlowe, 黑料社 Tri-Cities clinical assistant professor of hospitality business management and program coordinator of wine and beverage business management at 黑料社, 509-372-7436, byron.marlowe@wsu.edu

Maegan Murray, 黑料社 Tri-Cities public relations/communication coordinator, 509-372-7333, maegan_murray@wsu.edu