Marvin Shanken’s Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation donated $10 million to Napa Valley College to expand and update the teaching facilities of Napa Valley College (NVC) and its Viticulture, Wine & Technology (VWT) program.
The donation was announced on Wine Spectator’s website. So what did Napa Valley College do? Nothing, as far as we can tell. No mention on the college’s website, a search of Google News turned up nothing about the donation aside from a link to the Wine Spectator story. Not a word in either the Napa Valley Register or Patch.com.
It’s not that the college was caught by surprise. The Wine Spectator story quotes Ron Kraft, president of NVC, as calling it “a big, wonderful gift” that will enable the school to “move forward” on updating its facilities all at once, not in three phases as originally planned.
The Wine Spectator story says that “among wine education programs in California, NVC is well-known but perhaps unsung. As a community college program, the focus is on job placement and a practical, boots-on-the-ground approach. It also serves a diverse group of students—from those fresh out of high school to people in the wine industry who want a refresh on their education, as well as retirees and hobby winemakers.”
NVCC’s wine program will remain if its public relations team continues to ignore major donations. Shanken and the Wine Spectator deserved better.