California lab donates services to FLCC viticulture program

A viticulture and wine technology student reached out to the company as part of a research project.

A California company has pledged to donate lab services worth a total of $6,000 to the Finger Lakes Community College Viticulture and Wine Technology program.

ETS Laboratories in St. Helena, Calif., will offer in-kind analytical services worth up to $2,000 per year for three years. The company will test student-made wine at various points in the fermentation process.

Winemakers test for a variety of compounds, for example, the types and levels of acids. Acidity is one of the key elements of wine. It influences how the wine tastes, how long it will last and how safe it is from harmful microbes. Information about acids helps a winemaker fine-tune the wine for certain characteristics.

The donation of analytical services from ETS Laboratories allows students to work with industry-standard data. They will get experience in interpreting data, making winemaking decisions based on lab results, and understanding the chemistry that underpins high-quality wine production.

“Our students will now be able to take a deeper dive into wine chemistry when comparing fermentation and processing techniques,” said Associate Professor Paul Brock. “This will undoubtedly result in a higher level of understanding of how the winemaking process affects the final product.” 

A research project

Peter Wronski in the teaching winery The donation began with an inquiry by Peter Wronski, an FLCC student who lives in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Wronski has done much of his coursework online. He makes the five and a half-hour drive as needed for in-person labs and other hands-on experiences.

He and his lab partner, Daniel Shafer of Geneva, were experimenting with a different type of yeast in their Enology I class and hoped to get some advanced chemical analyses of the resulting wine. Peter felt comfortable asking ETS for an educational discount because his day job is directing the laboratory and research services for the nonprofit RIH Orthopaedic Foundation.

Instead, he got a donation.

ETS has donated lab services to several West Coast institutions, including California State University, Fresno, and California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. It has also shared research data at Walla Walla Community College in Washington state, where ETS has a laboratory.

“Peter went above and beyond while pursuing analysis services from ETS,” Paul said. “While FLCC has paid for ETS services in the past, Peter was able to explain that he was a student, and now ETS sees FLCC as an investment.”

Peter and Daniel’s class experiment began with a hypothesis that a different kind of yeast might give white hybrid wines greater aromatic complexity. The lab tests showed the wine had different chemical properties but not enough to make a difference in a blind taste test. Part of research is, after all, ruling out some courses of action.

Building a network

Peter and his wife, Jodi Frank, grow an acre of grapes near their home and started making wine as a hobby.

“We got to the point where we just needed to stop learning everything the hard way,” he joked, and he selected FLCC for the mix of online learning and hands-on experience.

“It suits my style of learning better,” Peter said. “It's also about getting to really know the people, not just within the FLCC program, but in the wine industry around the Finger Lakes. I have a network of people that I can now reach out to and say, ‘Hey, I've got this issue,’ or, ‘What do you think about this problem?’ That was an invaluable part of coming out here.”

Peter has one more class, Enology II, before completing the FLCC viticulture and wine technology training. He hopes his formal training will help him elevate his own wine and contribute to the wine culture in his community.

“If I can help bring back to Rhode Island a little bit of that cooperation and quality that the Finger Lakes has developed, that would be wonderful,” he said.