SSU Wine Business Institute snares $3 million donation from Shanken

Sonoma State University has received a $3 million donation for its Wine Business Institute, providing crucial funding toward construction of a new facility that officials envision will be a central hub between academia and the needs of the multibillion-dollar wine industry.

Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Wine Spectator magazine, made the gift to support a new 15,000-square-foot facility that will house three classrooms, a commons area and a center for meetings between students, academics and business professionals. It will be named the Wine Spectator Learning Center.

“Sonoma State University has taken a leadership position in wine business education, a specialized but important field that deserves support,” Shanken said in a statement. “The potential benefits to the wine industry are enormous. We are pleased to be able to help the university and their students achieve their goals.”

The donation follows a ?$1 million gift by Gary Heck, owner of Korbel Champagne Cellars, made in January. University officials estimate that it will take between $8 million and $10 million for construction of the new center, and they plan on raising another $10 million in support of student programs. Construction is expected to begin in late 2015 and be completed by the middle of 2016.

The gift came as a result of outreach to Shanken by two members of the institute’s board of directors - Walt Klenz, vice chairman of the Vincraft Group, and Ron Rubin, owner of River Road Family Vineyards & Winery, said Ray Johnson, the institute’s director.

Johnson said the board of directors has made a big difference in raising funds. “They have a direct line to people like Mr. Shanken,” he said. “They know the industry and they advise on curriculum and what we are doing.”

As part of the donation, the new center will house a food service facility, a place where students, professors and visitors can meet over lunch with a glass of wine, Johnson said. It also will allow the center a greater ability to host evening receptions and provide students an on-site location where they can learn more about the hospitality component of the industry.

“Marvin was particularly interested in bringing some element of food service into the building because of the natural affinity between wine and food,” Johnson said. “It only makes sense to have some representation.”

The institute was founded in 1996 as the first academic program in the country to focus exclusively on the business aspects of the wine industry. It offers a master’s degree in business administration in wine business, and certificate programs. More than 600 people attend programs and classes annually, including online.

The SSU center focuses on the business side of the industry, carving out a niche opposed to more-established viticulture and enology programs at UC Davis and CSU Fresno.

You can reach Staff Writer ?Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.