Sonoma State University is the first four-year institution in the United States to offer a degree or a certificate in wine business. As a part of the School of Business and Economics, the Wine Business Institute, located in the heart of Wine Country, has led many students to careers in wine business.

Sonoma State University’s Wine Spectator Learning Center is in construction and set to open in 2017. The Wine Spectator Learning Center is located in the east end of campus where the commons used to be. 

The Wine Spectator Learning Center, a $9.15 million project, was financed in part by an initial $3 million contribution from the Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation, according to a press release on winebusiness.com. 

In early November, the Wine Business Institute released a video series centered around leadership. This video series included 30-minute interviews and learning techniques to help teachers integrate their teaching curriculum for the classroom in the Wine Spectator Learning Center.

The Wine Business video series was developed by an Emmy Award-winning team of Dennis Scholl and Marlon Johnson.  

The video series is part of its educational curriculum which is based on real-world case studies. These first seven interviews of the series includes big name wine business owners discussing their achievements and setbacks, as well as the transition period to the next generation of business and technology. 

The interviews included big names in the wine industry such as Andy Beckstoffer of Beckstoffer Vineyards, Mark Couchman of Silevrado Winegrowers and Joel and Sarah Gott of Joel Gott Wines.

There has been interviews locked in for 2017 including Bill Newlands of Constellation Brands, John Dyson of Williams Selyem and Bill Hatcher of A to Z Wineworks.

The video series was unveiled on Oct. 27 and is now available to the public. For more information on the video series or any other information regarding the wine business education program, you can call 707-664-3235 or email [email protected].

You can visit the link at www.sonoma.edu/winebiz.