Students handle bottles in an enology class at Highland Community College’s Wamego campus. HCC first started offering courses in 2008 in the fields of viticulture and enology.

Some students make three-hour drives for classes, have to be 21 for certain courses and might get a bit muddy in the process.

But for students enrolled in the viticulture and enology programs at Highland Community College’s Wamego campus, it all seems to be worthwhile.

A couple Kansas winery owners approached the school in the winter of 2007 about offering classes as a way to train future employees in the field. In 2008, HCC started offering a few classes. Viticulture involves the grape growing and cultivation; enology is the study of wine and winemaking.

In 2010, HCC began offering degrees in the two fields. Since then, 103 students have gone through the program, which has benefited wineries across the state.

In 2008, there were 12 wineries in the state. That number has more than tripled as Kansas now boasts 37 wineries.

Students handle bottles in an enology class at Highland Community College’s Wamego campus. HCC first started offering courses in 2008 in the fields of viticulture and enology.

Scott Kohl was administrator at the Wamego campus when HCC started offering the coursework. He helped in getting the classes off the ground and became more knowledgeable about the subject himself. He now concentrates solely on viticulture and enology as program director. Also on staff are Dylan Rolfes, who recently completed his master’s degree in horticulture with an emphasis on viticulture at Iowa State University, and Dave Tegtmeier for winemaking instruction. Tegtmeier is building his own commercial winery in nearby Manhattan.

Kohl said at least half of the current wineries have sent an employee through the HCC program, whether to learn new material entirely or brush up on current knowledge.

Students range in age from 19 to 70, with the average being 45. All students can take viticulture classes, but students must be 21 for enology courses, at least in Kansas.

“Missouri has a rule where if under 21 you can do the wine-making class, as long as you’re in class with the teacher,” Kohl said.

Also, students under 21 can sample the wine to taste, but then must spit it out. The “sip and spit” legislation also is on the books in California and Illinois.

A vine in one of Highland Community College’s vineyards near its Wamego campus yields some hearty grapes.

Younger students still can learn about the process on the viticulture side of things.

Classes generally meet monthly from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays for better accessibility to students near and far.

Kohl said students have come as far away as Hays, Wichita, Independence, Mo., and Wahoo, Neb.

Students can earn an associate degree or receive certificates — 21 credit hours in viticulture and 24 hours in enology — for the two fields.

“They don’t always go all the way through and graduate,” Kohl explained. “But they’re still happy customers. They learn what they need to learn and open a winery.”

The college has more than 5,200 vines among four vineyards, three of which are in and around Wamego. The fourth is at HCC’s Klinefelter Farm near Hiawatha, which is some 10 miles west of the main campus in Highland.

HCC also is the Kansas representative in the Viticulture and Enology Science and Technology Alliance. VESTA is a partnership of 23 colleges that allows for online class opportunities in addition to those offered at the Wamego campus.

The Wamego campus offers classes for various stages of the wine process, but HCC also sells the finished product. HCC has about 50 cases it sells annually. The wine can be purchased at special events, such as the Kansas Sampler Festival, and at the Wamego campus.

There’s no tasting room at the school, but wine can be purchased by the bottle.

“We don’t want students skipping class to come hang out in the tasting room,” Kohl said with a laugh.

Class usually is split between indoor instruction and time out among the vines.

Kohl said some may picture a vineyard as a place to sip wine on a veranda overlooking the vineyard, but there’s more to it.

“It’s farming,” Kohl said. “You go outside and deal with all the things that can happen outside. You’ve got to be able to deal with that.”

And, of course, with any work comes reward.

Highland’s entry at the Kansas Grape and Wine Conference won best in show last year.

The Wamego campus offers a dry and a semi-sweet red wine from a Chambourcin grape, a semi-sweet white wine made from the Traminette grape and a dessert wine made from Norton grapes. The Chambourcin grape currently is the most widely planted grape in Kansas.

For more about HCC’s program, go to highlandcc.edu/pages/grapes.