Enologist Hired to Nurture Growth of Colorado's Wine Industry

 

Stephen Menke is the newly appointed enologist in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, and will help nurture the growth of Colorado’s wine industry. Dr. Menke joined the faculty on February 1 as Associate Professor of Enology. This new position is funded by Colorado State University, the Colorado Department of Agriculture (Colorado Wine Industry Development Board) and the Rocky Mountain Association of Vintners and Viticulturists.

 

Steve happily spent his first 18 years on a three generation, irrigated, mixed production farm in the Platte River Valley in central Nebraska. Having already experienced stability, he followed his nose and heart to various places and endeavors, always carrying his love of family agriculture and good meals with him. He then discovered wine with his meals, and it has been important to him ever since.

   

 

Steve earned a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan in 1980, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from the University of Wyoming in 1992. He did post-doctoral work on Pierce’s Disease in grapes at the University of Arizona, and worked as a manager/assistant winemaker for several years at Sonoita Vineyards in Elgin, Arizona. He then served as Enology Specialist in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois, funded as the first Illinois State Enologist by the Illinois Grape and Wine Resource Council. There, after a comprehensive initial industry survey, he set up and administered both outreach and research programs, and taught classes on wine/food interactions. His research there focused on chemical and sensory analysis of hybrid wine aromas and flavors, especially Chardonel, Frontenac, and Chambourcin.

 

Just previous to coming to Colorado, Steve was the first state-wide Extension Enology Educator for Penn State University. After an initial industry needs survey, his transfer of information and methodology centered on the establishment of tight linkages between grape vineyard quality, winery processing quality and market definitions of quality. He emphasized increasing the sensory quality of Pennsylvania wines and focusing on quality and niche differentiation as marketing tools for industry growth. Targeted steps toward quickly increasing wine industry quality included: increased knowledge of winery sanitation parameters; better planning for winery start-ups; designing and implementing the PA Quality Wine Initiative (PQWI). The PQWI includes a Wine Quality Standards Panel and Wine Sensory Quality Evaluation Panels, uniquely combining training of panelists to quantitative standards for wine sensory faults and to qualitative expert sensory atributes. These trained panelists can also serve on research panels, to help determine the comparative effectiveness of quality assurance methodologies and to help better define standards for complicated market-based sensory attributes and niches.

 

Steve hopes to apply the lessons from all these experiences to his new ventures in the wineries, vineyards, classrooms, research laboratoreis, and wine consciousness of Colorado. He will be based in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, serving from both the Orchard Mesa Agriculture Research Center in Palisade, and the main campus in Fort Collins, Colo.

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