To see a view of Southern Oregon’s economic potential, one need only climb a hillside on the campus of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg.

Today, an expansive view atop the hill looks down over rows of trellises and newly-planted grape vines, and beyond to the picturesque UCC campus.  A vision is sprouting from the fertile soil below and educators, wine industry leaders, business people and community members from seven counties in the surrounding region all have captured it.

This is the proposed home of a comprehensive teaching, learning and event center to serve the current and anticipated needs of southern Oregon’s most promising growth industry – winemaking . . . a 24,000 square-foot, LEED-certified, state-of-the-art center that will house an array of educational programs, services and businesses designed to support growers and winemakers throughout Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Klamath, Coos and Curry counties.

SOWI offers degree, certificate and continuing education programs that merge conventional classroom training with experiential learning, providing students with the knowledge and skills necessary to either support existing growers and winemakers or establish ventures of their own.

The vision of the state-of-the-art facility to house SOWI programs includes:

• Living laboratory of student-cultivated vineyards

• Commercial-scale winemaking facility.

• Private testing facility to serve all regional winemakers.

• Wine incubator to help artisans plan, start and market their wineries and save the significant costs of starting a winery.

• Event center for conferences, meetings and receptions.

This will be the catalyst southern Oregon’s burgeoning wine industry needs to spark the region’s economic resurgence.

An investment in the Southern Oregon Wine Institute is an investment in the future of our entire region. SOWI will be the catalyst that accelerates the growth of an exciting industry capable of transforming the economic fortunes of communities throughout southern Oregon.
      - Lee Paterson,
      SOWI Capital Campaign Chairman

The Napa Valley of California, of course, is firmly established as America's Number 1 wine destination, while most recently Walla Walla, Washington, has been transformed by a dramatically growing wine industry.  Only a decade ago, that industry looked very much like southern Oregon's today.  Then, in 2000, Walla Walla Community College introduced its enology and viticulture program.

In the few years since, while other economic conditions in the area have remained virtually stagnant, Walla Walla’s wine industry has become a significant new player.

One economic analysis of the Walla Walla wine cluster concluded:
"The wine industry and related economic activities connected to wine tourism are poised to join the major historic pillars of the region's economy of the next 10 years."

If such as transformation can occur in a remote corner of southeastern Washington, what is possible in a region along Interstate 5 that is already home to what one industry magazine now ranks as America’s Number 5 wine destination?

Significantly more, says the author of a 2007 study of the potential economic impact of Umpqua Valley’s wine industry. “Southern Oregon has the potential to realize an eight-year growth factor of 5,000 additional wine cluster-related jobs and $115 million in added income in the labor market,” concluded Hank Robison.

That study was the first step in a region-wide process that fewer than two years later resulted in the first class of students being admitted to UCC’s Viticulture and Enology degree program.

The program has already made a significant impact on the local industry, which enjoyed success in the past despite an ongoing shortage of trained wine makers, vineyard managers, vineyard workers and opportunities for continued learning.

SOWI will help solve the problem today and in the future, as southern Oregon’s wine industry continues its evolution.  Graduates from the first class already are enriching local wineries with their knowledge and skills.  Grape vines have been planted on the hillside overlooking the beautiful Umpqua Community College campus, and a vision is close to bearing fruit.