The course, which is due to start on February 27, has been running for 21 years and uses a small vineyard of 250 pinot noir and chardonnay vines at the Alanvale TAFE campus to help teach students.

Wine industry teacher Mark Brewer, who offers the certificate II in wine industry operations, said students learnt how to grow wine grapes, including how to pick, prune, irrigate, propagate and control pests and diseases.

He said they also learnt a little about winemaking, with the Eight Rows on Campus wine label producing bottles of wine each year.

‘‘The course has been very good for people wanting to move into the industry,’’ he said.

‘‘Those who want to develop a vineyard, who might want to buy a vineyard, or people who might want a career change or get into the industry as a young person. It is that first step into the industry.’’

Wine Tasmania chief executive Sheralee Davies said there had been a rapid rise in cellar-door tourist sales across the state.

‘‘New cellar doors are opening, and also people are doing different things – for example, more events or increasing the offering that they have, which is just contributing to the overall tourism experience.’’

Premier Will Hodgman said Tasmanian wine continued to tantalise the tastebuds of thousands of tourists holidaying in the state.

‘‘With more than 280,000 interstate and international tourists visiting a food producer in the 12 months to September 2014, that’s almost a 7per cent increase on the same time in the previous year,’’ he said.

‘‘There’s huge potential for more growth, too, with the latest Tasmanian Visitor Survey finding more than 60per cent of Australians planning to holiday in the next couple of years listing a visit to speciality food and wine producers on their must-do list.’’