Arizona wine industry boosting ties to University of Arizona

(AZStarNet) - The Arizona Wine Growers Association is rolling out a plan to bolster the state's burgeoning wine industry with the help of the University of Arizona.

The UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will establish the Southwest Wine Library in Tucson to complement Yavapai College's Southwest Wine Center in Clarkdale, which includes a working vineyard.

The programs anchor the association's "Emerging Wine Industry Strategic Plan" to strengthen the state's fast-growing wine industry. The payoffs would be especially big for rural economies of the Verde Valley and Southern Arizona wine regions.

The UA has committed to working with the winegrowers association, but many details have yet to be decided, said Jeffrey Silvertooth, the college's associate dean for economic development and director of Arizona Cooperative Extension.

The UA's role will include research, working with wineries to test soil for things such as the deadly Pierce's disease and establishing the library to catalog the industry's history and future, from vine to bottle, he said.

"That is a young organization, and they don't have the mechanism in place for collecting funds among their growers to direct toward research," Silvertooth said.

The UA also will offer advanced educational programs in such areas as plant, food and soil sciences, horticulture, food safety and retail management that could support the wine industry.