Rohnert Park, CA – Students studying wine marketing at Sonoma State University and Texas Tech University are concerned about the toll craft beer and spirits may take on wine market share in the US. In order to combat this, they are engaging in a friendly contest between universities to see who can concoct the most creative and tasty wine cocktail.
Professors of wine business, Dr. Liz Thach, MW from Sonoma State and Dr. Natalia Velikova from Texas Tech, hatched up the idea for the friendly wine mixology competition when attending the Wine Industry Financial Symposium last autumn. “While we were listening to some of the speakers describe the gains in market share of craft beer and spirits, and the allure of mixology,” explained Thach, “we started wondering why people weren’t doing more with wine mixology.”
“Many wine countries around the world have a healthy culture of wine cocktails,” added Velikova, “but except for wine spritzers, the US hasn’t really shown much creativity around wine mixology.” Therefore the two professors developed a joint project for the spring semester, and are encouraging students to research wine cocktails of the world, and add some new ingredients and clever names to create a renewed interest in wine mixology.
Students will present their projects the first week of April and each university will vote on their top three. The final six wine cocktails will then be judged blind by a panel of experts who will decide on the first, second, and third place cocktails. The experts include two Master Sommeliers from California, Ian Cauble and Gillian Balance, and two Master Sommeliers from Texas, James Tidwell and Melissa Monosoff. Tim Hanni, MW, who has an excellent background in food and wine recipes, will make up the five person panel.
The results will be released in mid-April. Winners will receive cash prizes that have been donated by the Wine Industry Symposium Group, Young’s Market Company, and Dolan Family Ranches. All of the wine cocktails will be featured on a new blog, https://winecocktails.wordpress.com/.
About Sonoma State University’s School of Business and Economics:
Sonoma State University School of Business and Economics’ mission is to create extraordinary learning experiences for our students and to advance best business practices in the North Bay and beyond. Its Wine Business Institute is recognized around the world for its expert faculty, business-focused research, and the first undergraduate and graduate degree programs in wine business in the United States. Creating a vibrant community, developing a sustainable business model for entrepreneurship in higher education, and developing and delivering innovative programs are the goals for its campus-wide, community-reaching entrepreneurship initiative. With undergraduate, graduate and executive programs serving over 1600 students each year and degrees and concentrations in Accounting, Finance, Management, Marketing, Wine Business, and Economics, the School offers the most in-demand programs on the Sonoma State campus. The School of Business and Economics is accredited by AACSB (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), making it one of 15% of all business schools in the world to meet these standards for excellence. For more information visit, www.sonoma.edu/sbe
For more information about Texas Tech, visit, http://www.rawlsnews.ba.ttu.edu/
