UCC will open at 10am today.
UCC will open at 10am today.
Winemaking at UCC began in 2012 after an aggressive fundraising campaign allowed the Danny Lang Teaching, Learning, and Event Center to be constructed on the campus of Umpqua Community College. The winery in the Lang Center was conceived as a state-of-the-art wine production and teaching facility with energy-saving design and cutting-edge safety features. UCC’s Wine Production/Cellar Management program teaches a broad overview of wine production which includes equipment sanitation, grape processing, fermentation science, cellar operations and procedures, cellar record keeping, barrel and tank management and bottling/packaging practices. Upon completion of the UCC Wine Production/Cellar Management program, students will be qualified for entry-level winery positions that can lead to a fulfilling career in winemaking.
The winery was designed for a production capacity of 3,000 cases per year. As part of their coursework, students participate in making wines for the college’s UCC Cellars label, which produces about 500 cases annually. The remaining production capacity is slated for use as a winery incubator. Wine industry entrepreneurs can develop their own business plan and receive TTB and OLCC licensure to utilize UCC equipment and cellar space to start their own brand. This allows them to craft quality wines while aiming start-up capital towards permanent facilities of their own. UCC has received funding from both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Economic Development Administration for both the teaching winery and the winery incubator. Because of these grants, the UCC winery is outfitted with the best available equipment for high-quality winemaking on a small scale.
The winery production floor is open and modular to allow for many configurations to meet the needs of students and incubator clients. The winery is equipped with glycol chilling for tanks and 3 individually temperature controlled barrel or case goods storage bays. The main production floor is not temperature controlled, but is well-insulated and has a night air cooling system which blows in cool air and evacuates warm air through skylight vents. All areas of the cellar are monitored with carbon dioxide alarm systems. In addition all high voltage electrical outlets are specially designed to promote a safe work environment. The main fermentation room has a slip-resistant epoxy floor coating which is easy to clean and acid-resistant. A mix of different types of tanks, pumps, and filtration / processing equipment have been purchased to give students a full picture of the different options available and to provide maximum flexibility to incubator clients.
Wines are produced with our students as part of their winemaking coursework in the Wine Making & Viticulture program. Students harvest, crush, and press grapes in the fall term, learn about barrel storage and aging in the winter term, and stabilize, filter, and bottle wines during the spring term.
All UCC wines are produced using fruit from the Umpqua Valley, Southern Oregon, or the Southern Willamette Valley as well as our own estate vineyards. We also occasionally have fruit donated from conscientious growers who support our educational mission.
Two acres of vineyard property along the west-facing knoll of the UCC facility were designated the Scott Henry Vineyard, in recognition of Roseburg vintner C. Scott Henry III and his vision and steadfast commitment to the project.
Two years later, an additional two acres of Tempranillo and Syrah were planted and named after supporter, Charlie Williams. Both vineyards have been certified sustainable through the Low Impact Viticulture and Ecology (LIVE) organization.
The vineyards offer an excellent opportunity for students to learn proper vineyard development principles, including trellis placement, crop management, and drip irrigation installation. In addition, students have a living laboratory in which to learn the practical application of vineyard management principles.
In 2008, a wine-making and viticulture program was established at Umpqua Community College. With a mission to serve the wineries of Southern Oregon as a resource for skilled winery workers, the Danny Lang Teaching, Learning & Event Center was created. The facility is accessible to the wine industry community and continues to raise the profile of the wine-growing regions that surround it.
This state-of-the-art living laboratory of student-cultivated vineyards, includes a well-designed gravity flow crush pad, a temperature controlled cellar (ideal for barrel aging), and essential equipment needed for transferring, filtering, and packaging wine. All of this is included in an incubator program, which allows start-up wineries to produce high-quality wines while putting their start-up capital where it is really needed. Besides serving as a venue to pour award-winning wines, the tasting room offers amazing views and space available to the public to rent for special events.
