CNM Launches Wine and Distilled Spirits Certificate Programs
After two years of hard work and planning, CNM will soon offer certificates and concentrations in Wine Technology and Distilled Spirits Technology. The new certificates will complement the Brewing Technology certificate, which has been offered at CNM for four years and helps prepare students to work in the beer industry.
“Our goal at CNM is to help provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to fill jobs in local industries, and provide our community and industry partners with the workforce needed to continue their growth, ” says Victoria Martinez, the Academic Affairs Director in the School of Business & Information Technology who will oversee the new certificates.
Victoria says the Wine and Distilled Spirits programs were created in response to industry demand. New Mexico Wine and the New Mexico Distillers Guild both approached CNM independently and asked the college to help them create an employee pipeline similar to the one created by the Brewing program. There are currently 45 wineries and 28 distilleries in the state.
“New Mexico Wine, for example, told us that they are hiring people from out of state, and bringing in apprentices from other countries. They are interested in providing education and training to New Mexicans so they can get jobs in their local communities,” Victoria says.
Just like the Brewing Technology certificate, both the Wine Technology and Distilled Spirits Technology certificates may be completed in one term if students attend classes full time.
Students in all three certificate programs will share about 50 percent of the introductory classes, such as occupational safety, principles of food safety, and beverage production equipment and maintenance, before moving into specific lab courses. Students also have the option of continuing their education and earning an Associate of Applied Science in Beverage Production and Management after they complete any of the three embedded certificates.
Highly-qualified instructors who have decades of experience in New Mexico’s beverage industry will be leading both new programs.
Initial rollout of the new courses is scheduled for the 2021 Fall Term. Additional courses will be offered in the 2022 Spring Term when the new, state-of-the-art Beverage Production labs are finished as part of the Robert P. Matteucci Hall renovation. Thanks to these new facilities, students will be able to gain hands-on experience working with commercial beverage production equipment and will be able to produce a variety of beers, wines, and distilled spirits.
“We are really excited about launching these programs and providing students with the opportunity to access careers in these growing fields, while providing our industry partners with a skilled workforce,” Victoria says.