Returning home to wine country with Valley roots
By VICTORIA CISNEROS, Student Writer
Jordan Paulk (2019) is a senior viticulture student, who chose Fresno State for its unique combination of rigorous academics and hands-on learning. With five years of Central Valley dirt on his boots and a bachelor’s degree in hand, Jordan will be returning home to Temecula, Calif. to work the family winery.
Jordan committed to Fresno State having never seen the campus, but knew that when it came to all things wine, it was the right place to be. Although Jordan has remained a Viticulture major throughout his college career, he recognizes the importance of Enology and interdisciplinary learning.
“Viticulture is all about the vines themselves and farming them and Enology is all about the wine making side, but they really are a set pair. You can’t have one without the other as far as wine grapes are concerned.”
As a Viticulture student, Jordan has taken classes such as Soils Lab, Crop Nutrition, Agricultural Tractors, and Wine Grape Production, all of which teach him the knowledge and skills necessary for vineyard maintenance and cultivation. Toward the end of his sophomore year, he began working at the Gibson Farm Market and started to see his academics come full circle.
“I felt like everything was coinciding. My classes, the farm market, and just farming in general. It was all very cohesive.”
As a senior, Jordan has become the market’s “go-to wine guy,” and learned to translate his coursework to the retail side of the wine business.
“I feel like I’ve been training to go back home because I’m learning all about what I need to do in the vineyard, and then being in the tasting room when you’re selling wine and talking to people, I get all that experience at work. I’ll do wine tasting and think to myself how I’m going to be when I have my own tasting room.”
Although Jordan is excited to take his Bulldog pride back to Temecula and begin his career in the wine industry, a part of him will always stay connected to the home he has made at Fresno State.
“I know I’ll be back, and I hope that I can come back and help the students in the department. It would be an honor to do a seminar series and talk about my experience as a student and maybe talk to some students who are thinking about having their own winery.”
