As wine has captured the American palate, the industry of wine production and retailing is booming. This expansion has touched every state and created a demand for specially-trained graduates to fill jobs in the expanding industry.

Texas Tech University is the first in Texas, and one of only a handful of schools in the country, to offer an undergraduate program in viticulture and enology, the study of grapes and wine. Students pursuing horticultural degrees can specialize in viticulture and enology, and by 2010, there will be courses on winery business planning, wine marketing, vineyard management, winemaking, and wine tourism.

"The wine industry has expanded rapidly in the past five years or so, and not just in Texas," said Ed Hellman, a Texas Tech professor of viticulture. "This has created a need for graduates, which is why we can offer this new degree specialization. Even eight years ago, we couldn't have been teaching these subjects; we didn’t have the faculty to teach them."

According to a study presented before Congress in 2007 by the Congressional Wine Caucus, the Wine Industry has grown 70 percent in the last five years, with wineries in all 50 states, employing 1.1 million full-time equivalent jobs.