South Seattle College has had a wine education program for 10 years as part of its culinary arts schedule but two years ago the college built what can only be considered a unique local resource. The Northwest Wine Academy, is a full fledged wine making and education program for the purpose of developing Wine Professionals.

It is the only college program in Western Washington dedicated to training wine professionals, from production to marketing and sales to food and wine pairing. Students create each wine from vine to table. The Academy is supported by the wine community at large - Washington wineries, Washington vineyards, alumni, international partners and the local West Seattle area.

For three days the Academy held a special event, their 10th Anniversary Fall Release featuring wine tastings, food pairings and opportunities to meet with winemakers, both past and present. Many of the students who have completed the two year program at the college have gone on to start their own wineries, or gone into the industry in various capacities.

In time for the event, six wines were prepared. A Chardonnay, a Merlot, a Grenache - Syrah Blend, a Zinfandel and a Sangiovese.

Regina Daigneault is the Program Coordinator and Full Time Instructor for the Wine Technology Program.
She spoke about the wines offered in the release. "We think our Chardonnay is the best one we've made. It's barrel fermented in new French Oak. We only leave it in the barrel for about 40 to 50 days. We blend it with stainless steel fermented Chardonnay. It's nutty and creamy but not over the top buttery. The real charm this year though is our Dolcetto Nouveau. Beaujolais does a new wine every year it's released the third Thursday of November every year. It is grapes harvested that year put in a bottle and three weeks later it is sold. We did the same thing. Only it's the Dolcetto grape instead of Gamay grape. It's Italian, and it's softer, kind of a prettier cherry nose to it. We did Carbonic maceration. Different from regular fermentation. You put the grapes, whole clusters in a tank displace the oxygen with CO2 and intracellular fermentation takes place. It's enzymatic without yeast and it gives the wine a fruity, bubble gummy juicy bright aromas and characteristics. Less tannin, less acid."

They sold almost all of it already.

All the grapes they get are donated from all over the state with many of them coming from the Columbia Valley and the Washington wine growing areas.

"Peter Bos, our winemaking instructor, thinks these are the best wines we've ever made," said Daigneault.

To learn more about the program and wines offered at the Northwest Wine Academy, visit them online at http://nwwineacademy.com/