Provinces Link for Wine Research

Ontario and British Columbia research centers collaborate on grape and wine research and outreach
 
St. Catharines, Ontario -- A long-sought grape and wine research network linking eastern and western Canada launched recently with the signing of an agreement between leading research institutions on opposite sides of the country. Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology & Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) in Ontario joined with the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre (PARC) in British Columbia.

The new PARC-CCOVI Wine Grape Research network will advance the Canadian wine industry in a number of ways, including joint research to address national priorities, communications activities such as lectures and seminars to share information, and career and skills development for students, technicians and research professionals in both provinces. Organizers envision that the national network will expand in the future to include Nova Scotia and other provinces.

Coordinating the program at the start are Dr. Pat Bowen, research scientist at PARC, based in Summerland, B.C., and Dr. Debbie Inglis, director of CCOVI in St. Catharines, Ontario. Inglis told Wines & Vines that “all the pieces are in place to implement concrete collaborative projects that will generate useful information for grapegrowers and wineries across Canada.”

One early project began in March, when CCOVI made its lecture series accessible from coast to coast via live webcasts. The CCOVI lectures feature 13 experts covering topics ranging from grapegrowing and winemaking techniques to the marketing of Canadian wines and how the emerging wine-producing region of China might impact world markets. The schedule for the series, which runs through May, can be found at brocku.ca/ccovi. In addition, previous lectures from the 2010 series have been archived and may be accessed on that webpage. Webcasts from British Columbia are expected to follow.

PARC in British Columbia is one of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s national network of 19 research centers. The Summerland research site is home to AAFC’s largest winegrape research team.  CCOVI, founded in 1996, focuses on research priorities of the Canadian grape and wine industry and the continuing educational needs of its community.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced last December that CCOVI will receive funding for outreach and research programs, one of which is a winter hardiness project that will have national relevance. Funding was included for the addition of two new researchers at CCOVI: a viticulturist specializing in grapevine cold hardiness and an enologist focusing on grape and wine flavor chemistry.

Interviews for these positions are expected to be completed within the next month. One outreach program has already become a reality with the establishment of a testing lab to serve growers and wineries. The lab also offers project design analysis services for both industry and CCOVI research projects.

rio and British Columbia has come from the federal government’s Developing Innovative Agri-Products Program (DIAP). Credit for this increasing interest in research priorities also goes to the National Wine Research Advisory Council whose members consist of industry organizations such as the British Columbia Wine Grape Council, the Grape Growers of Ontario and the Wine Council of Ontario. The Advisory Council is chaired by winemaker Donald Ziraldo, ziraldo.ca founding chair of the Vintners’ Quality Alliance.

Creation of the national research network was welcome news to Pat Bowen at PARC. “This agreement is a first for Canada and will strengthen cooperation between researchers in Ontario and British Columbia, which in turn will advance the grape and wine industry.”