Grapes to Wine, December 01, 2015

Agronomy Lisa Scott, M.Sc., R.P.Bio. Coordinator, Okanagan and Similkameen Invasive Species Society (OASISS)

Spiny Invader Wreaking Havoc in BC’s Interior One can only assume that there is something undesirable, if not menacing, about a plant that goes by such names as devil’s thorn and tackweed. If you’re a grape grower in the South Okanagan or Lower Similkameen Valleys, you have likely encountered this spiny invader, which is most commonly referred to as puncturevine (Tribulus terrestris).

A quick Internet search reveals that this plant, which is native to southern Europe and Mediterranean regions, reportedly aids a wide variety of medical concerns including kidney problems, skin disorders, heart and circulatory system problems, cancer and male sexual problems. Purported benefits aside, this invasive plant is unquestionably on the move in BC’s southern interior and it’s having negative environmental, social and economic impacts.

Puncturevine is a mat-forming summer annual with sharp, spiny seedpods growing along stems that reach up to 10 feet in length. Since its initial discovery in Washington State in 1924, human activity has introduced and spread the plant throughout the Pacific Northwest. It was first recorded in Canada in 1982 in Osoyoos, BC. Since its introduction, puncturevine has spread throughout the southern portions of the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys, with isolated patches as far north as Vernon. It is currently unknown elsewhere in Canada.

Puncturevine typically infests vacant lots, gravel parking areas, roadsides, unpaved trails and beaches. The spiny seedpods readily hitch a ride on an unwary shoe, hoof, paw or tire. The spines are so long and sharp that they easily puncture a bicycle or wheelbarrow tire.

is a loss of competitive vegetation on treated sites. This equates to significant herbicide use, potential herbicide resistance, high treatment costs, impacts to non-target plants and lack of efficacy as few landowners/managers are committed to the frequency of application necessary to control these weeds during any one growing season (3-5 applications).

It is believed that there are more effective herbicides and non-herbicide options that have yet to be field trialed in Canada, which will improve the management of this harmful invasive plant.

To this end, the Okanagan and Similkameen Invasive Species Society (OASISS) embarked on a project in 2015 to conduct research trials to demonstrate the effectiveness of these options.

Funding was received through the Agriculture Environment Initiative, with the funders being Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, BC Ministry of Agriculture and the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. The project objectives are to identify practical and cost-effective options for the management of puncturevine in agricultural settings, and effectively engage producers to adopt appropriate techniques.

Ken Sapsford, research agrologist, was hired by OASISS to investigate the effectiveness of several pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicides.

Mulching and competitive seeding were also trialed; these techniques may be suitable control options and could be applied in organic settings or near sensitive environments. Cedar Creek Winery generously provided the land base for these trials, on the east bench of Osoyoos.

Initial results suggest that some of the products registered in vineyards, orchards and vegetable crops are giving season-long suppression of puncturevine. Mulching at depths of 3-4 inches also appears to be an effective option for small areas. These preliminary results were showcased as part of a field day held in September. We hope to continue another year of research in the South Okanagan to confirm these findings.

More recently, this invader has moved onto agricultural lands, particularly where crops border roads, in sandy headlands, between crop rows and in other locations where there is limited vegetation to compete with the puncturevine. It is tolerant of drought conditions and survives well in sandy or gravelly soils. Not only can this invasive plant Having clearly identified options to effectively cause physical injury to field workers and manage puncturevine is anticipated to reduce domestic pets, it can also spread into hayfields costs and environmental impacts of consistently where it can markedly reduce the quality of hay. using a non-selective herbicide. Practical and As well, the sharp spines can injure the mouth cost effective choices will also help to increase and digestive tract or feet of animals, and it may the uptake of these management options by contribute to nitrate poisoning in sheep and agricultural producers. The results of this project cattle. Of course the endless number of popped will be relevant to all agricultural sectors in AEI Field Session showing puncturevine in the vineyards. bicycle tires is frustrating for local residents and the Okanagan- Similkameen and to roadside tourists alike. treatment. Agricultural areas elsewhere in Canada (and the US) that are impacted now or in the future by puncturevine will also benefit from the research results.

So why exactly is this plant so challenging to control? It is a summer annual which means that germination starts during warm spring weather and continues until frost. Seedlings tend to emerge in For further information on invasive species go to our website: www.oasiss.ca flushes following rainfall or irrigation. Flowers appear as early as three weeks after germination and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/invasivespeciessociety or contact the Program Coordinator fruits with viable seed appear one to two weeks later. for the Okanagan-Similkameen, Lisa Scott, at 250-404-0115 or oasiss@shaw.ca Unfortunately, effective treatment options are limited and management of puncturevine is The Author: Lisa Scott is a Registered Professional Biologist and proprietor of Eco-Matters complicated by the plant’s biology, its mode of dispersal and a lack of engagement by agricultural Consulting. Her work includes invasive species management, environmental impact assessments, producers and other landowners. Glyphosate products are currently the main herbicide used to treat habitat assessments and conservation planning. She has been the Coordinator of the Okanagan puncturevine in the Okanagan-Similkameen. However, application of a non-selective, non-residual and Similkameen Invasive Species Society for 19 years. Lisa grew up in the Okanagan Valley and herbicide means infestations must be re-treated multiple times during the growing season and there currently lives in Summerland with her husband and two daughters.

Page 4 Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015

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BC Wine Region

Improving BC WIne One Yeast At A TIME Unique tools being developed to identify novel yeast in spontaneous wine fermentation In increasingly competitive wine markets, British Columbian wineries must differentiate their products from their international competitors by making high-value wines that express the unique character -- the terroir -- of their region. Major wine regions worldwide have demonstrated that product differentiation by terroir enhances the marketability and perceived value of their wines. This unique expression is typically started through the growth of yeast on the grapes before they reach the winery- it happens in the vineyard.

A novel research project, funded in part by Genome British Columbia (Genome BC) will provide valuable information to BC wine producers about indigenous yeast populations in the vineyards of the Okanagan wine region. This information, not before studied in this manner in BC, will aid fermentation management and exploit a potentially valuable resource of novel yeast species and strains that may enhance a wine’s quality and regional character.

“Characterization of regional yeast populations could increase the market value of both our user partners’ and other BC wines, while providing more insight into this underexplored area of research,” says Dr. Vivien Measday, Associate Professor, Wine Research Centre/Michael Smith Labs at the University of British Columbia. “Genomic tools are commonly used in yeast research and this project builds on existing knowledge to bring BC winemakers to the forefront and enable them to compete on a global scale.”

The partners involved in this project include Okanagan wineries Okanagan Crush Pad (OCP) and Stoneboat Vineyards (SBV) but the information gleaned from this research could have a broader impact on the BC wine industry.

Last year, BC’s over 300 wineries produced 20.8 million litres of wine with a commercial value of over $254 million. The direct output of the Okanagan VQA wine tourism industry in 2010 was estimated to be over $87 million and provided 1,145 full-time jobs.

This collaborative project, valued at $132,000 will meet three objectives:

• To characterize the yeast microbiomes of OCP’s Pinot Gris and SBV’s Pinot Noir vineyards, including identification of novel S. cerevisiae strains.

• To examine how the winery environment, through introduction of resident indigenous or commercial yeasts, influences yeast diversity in fermentations.

• To determine if an indigenous yeast starter culture can reduce commercial yeast strain dominance in OCP Pinot Gris fermentations.

“Genome BC’s investment into this research with Okanagan Crush Pad and Stoneboat Vineyards will use this research to optimize their fermentation and sanitation protocols in future vintages, thereby improving product quality,” says Dr. Alan Winter, President and CEO of Genome BC. “Our hope is that success of this project will lead to further development of the technology to identify novel yeast isolates in future fermentations.”

This project, funded through Genome BC’s User Partnership Project (UPP), will provide OCP and SBV with new knowledge and tools to achieve the best outcomes for their spontaneously fermented wines: enhanced quality, regional typicity, and ultimately greater value in the marketplace.

About Genome British Columbia: Genome British Columbia is a catalyst for the life sciences cluster on Canada’s West Coast, and manages a cumulative portfolio of over $710M in 254 research projects and science and technology platforms. Working with governments, academia and industry across sectors such as forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, agri-food, energy and mining, environment, and human health, the goal of the organization is to generate social and economic benefits for British Columbia and Canada.

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Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015 Page 5

Winemaking Tom DiBello Winemaking Consultant

Everything you wanted to know about Microoxygenation but were afraid to ask Part TWO

Now here is the hard part, describing the changes taking place and what to do. There are other ways do describe these reactions, this works for me.

Phase 1 – Hardening Do not let the malolactic fermentation start until the MOX is done!

The wine usually starts to harden 2-5 days after turning the O2 level way up, first off it takes a couple of days for the O2 to start replacing the CO2. Once this happens you will taste some very hard tannins forming. The fruit aromas will decrease, the tannins become very hard and the acidity will really stand out. Doesn’t sound good, but it is what needs to happen first.

Phase 2 – Structuring In this phase tannins are polymerising, as the chains grow they soften, the color attaches becoming darker and more stable. Typically you should decrease the O2 dose by 25-30% now. Describing the changes taking place here and what to do is difficult. As the chains grow the tannic mouthfeel becomes softer, the fruit flavours increase and the acidity seems to decrease but doesn’t really change. The trick is to decrease the O2 when this reaches its optimum level. This phase typically is 2-3 weeks and just as typically 2 months. You will be adjusting the O2 dose during this period by slow decreases 2-5 (mg or ml) /litre/month. When the tannins start to give a nice mouthfeel (softer but still there as a young red should have some guts) decrease the O2 dose to 25-30% of the original dose. If you do this too early the wine will reduce within 12-24 hours. In which case turn to O2 back to where it was. A good way to judge if you are done is to turn down the O2 dose and see if the wine reduces.

Phase 3 – Finishing (actually semi-finishing) AKA Harmonization – Put the wine into Barrels. If you have done everything right the wine will reduce slightly (a little bit of eggy-ness) this is good, the barrels will introduce enough O2 to finish the job. Those of you who have made enough wine might recognise that your best wines are the ones that reduce slightly in the barrel then come around, if you pull this off you rock.

If you are not going to put the wine in barrels turn the O2 dose rate down to 1-2 (mg or ml) /litre/month, roughly the equivalent of what happens in a barrel.

Microoxygenation has many good uses beyond tannin integration.

I find it is just a good tool to have in any winery. Probably one of the biggest uses that I haven’t talked much about is just using your equipment to give a tank the same amount of oxygen it would have seen had it been aged in a barrel. Usually one would set the MOX at 1-2 (mg or ml) /litre/month. The length of time you do this for is the same as if it had been aged in a barrel. This keeps a red wine from reducing. When using a high quality oak in the tank it results in a pretty good facsimile of a barrel aged wine. For oak to integrate well Page 6 Canadian Grapes to Wine •FallWinter 2012 2015

into a wine it requires some oxygen, this is why adding oak to a tank without oxygen doesn’t taste nearly as good. Although this process is usually done with red wines, it also works well with white wines.

Something we all run into at some point is a wine that just wants to reduce. When you have wine in a tank or barrel reducing, oxygen is your friend. Depending on the wine and the condition of the lees (if the lees stink rack the wine off it first) applying oxygen usually at a rate from 5-10 (mg or ml) /litre/month is enough for a week or 2 followed by 1-2 (mg or ml) /litre/month will clear up reduction problems without using copper which I am loath to use. A natural fix to a problem we all run into.

You will run into wines that need more, say 20-30 (mg or ml) /litre/ month, start high and slowly reduce the amount of oxygen you add as you smell it getting better. There is a cautionary tale to tell when using O2 to fix an H2S problem, if the wine is starting to verge on a disulfide problem, don’t do it, you will just drive it into disulfides.

You will have to use your own judgement and experience here and fix the problem another way. As an easy rule is if copper fixes it in a lab trial O2 will too. Don’t worry (too much) about oxidizing your wine H2S is a very good antioxidant and will use all the O2 without oxidizing your wine, do monitor it carefully. As a little story of how much O2 a white can take, I had a very nice chardonnay that started developing H2S in tank, I started at 10 (mg or ml) /litre/month saw nothing happening upped it to 20 (mg or ml) /litre/month still wasn’t getting a reaction and eventually moved it up as high as 100 (mg or ml) /litre/month and left it there for a week and a half before slowly dropping it to nothing. This wine finished as an excellent reserve quality Chardonnay with no sign of oxidation or reduction, it still drinks well 7 years later. You just never know, that was higher than I’ve ever MOX’d any wine.

Stuck fermentations happen to all of us eventually, by far (really far) the best way I’ve found to get them to finish is MOX. Usually 10-20 (mg or ml) /litre/month gets them going, usually 20 being the number that usually works. Don’t heat the wine much 20 degrees C is enough. I’ve done a few side by side experiments with this and found the traditional methods barely work and they scream through with some oxygen. This alone is a good reason to have an MOX device around.

As we should all know MOX helps get rid of vegetative aromas in red wines. This happens because compounds like pyrazines are bound up with the polyphenols thereby eliminating their aromas. Well the same thing happens with 4-ethylphenol. If you have a big structured wine MOX will bind up the Brettanomyces aromas with the tannins, this will only work with a big enough wine. Another way to fix these by filtering them out by reverse osmosis with a slightly bigger pore size called a nano filter the same way you fix smoke taint. Good luck with all these methods, make great wine. www.cdngrapes2wine.com

Education 28Th Annual CuvÉE Grand Tasting Set For March 4, 2016 Mark your calendar. Cuvée, one of Canada’s most prestigious wine Cuvée manager Barb Tatarnic says that the move this year to a new venue will allow celebrations, will take place March 4 to 6, 2016. The wine weekend’s signature event the event to continue to build on its reputation. the Cuvée Grand Tasting will take place Friday, March 4, 2016 at the Scotiabank “The Scotiabank Convention Centre will allow us to continue to grow which will in Convention Centre in the heart of Niagara Falls’ casino and tourism district. turn help increase the impact of Cuvée’s legacy fund,” says Tatarnic.

Organized by Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI), the 28th Grand Tasting will mark the second year that proceeds from the Scotiabank Convention Centre’s president and general manger Noel Buckley event will support a legacy fund. The fund provides student bursaries scholarships says that they are proud to partner with Brock University on such a prominent Niagara-based event. and supports research projects that benefit the Ontario grape and wine industry.

The Cuvée Grand Tasting features Ontario’s best VQA wines complemented by culinary offerings prepared by local and guest chefs at live cooking stations. Guests then get to dance the night away at the Après Cuvée after party. The Cuvée Grand Tasting ticket and gives participants access to exclusive tasting flights across Niagara.

Passports are included in the Cuvée ticket price or can be purchased individually.

“Ontario wines, particularly those from Niagara, are some of the finest in Canada and the world and the Cuvée Grand Tasting is the perfect opportunity to celebrate this fact,” says Buckley.

Tickets are on sale now. Take advantage of early bird pricing until Dec. 31 at cuvee.ca

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Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015 Page 7

Winemaking

Preparing WINE for bottling Fining Fining agents can be used on wine to deal with a variety of issues but it is important that treatments are done at the proper time. Fining can help enhance a wine’s clarity as well as improve filterability. In general, fining is recommended to take place 6-9 weeks prior to bottling.

Filtration The cleaner your wine is before filtration, the more cost effective that filtration will be.

Limited contact and settling time for fining agents may result in incomplete effect and higher clogging during filtration. More clogging leads to higher filtration and labor costs.

Finishing and Fine Tuning Wines The best time to make final adjustments to a wine is 6-9 weeks prior to bottling. This can include blending as well as tannin additions for fine tuning of aroma, fruit or mouthfeel.

Heat and Cold Stabilization Prebottling Once a wine is blended, clarified and/or adjusted, it is often protein stabilized with bentonite and tartrate stabilized by one of several methods. It is recommended to heat (protein) stabilize prior to cold (tartrate) stabilization as bentonite additions may alter tartrate stability. It is important to use a bentonite that has good protein removal capacity. Sodium based bentonites have better protein removal capacity than calcium based bentonites, while calcium based bentonites compact lees compact lees better. Sometimes a blend of the two can produce the best results. Bench trials for stability and compaction can save time and money.

Bentonite is an effective adsorption tool that is also indiscriminate between desired and undesired proteins. Strategies can be employed to mitigate large bentonite adds. Small additions (2g/hL) of FT Blanc help form tannin protein complexes reducing instability. Colloidal silica, such as Gelocolle, works on high molecular weight proteins while bentonite works on low molecular weight proteins. Colloidal silica/Gelocolle can be used to reduce total bentonite requirements.

Bentonite should be added first then Gelocolle. Bench trials should be run to determine correct additions.

Provided by Scott Labs

may alter pH. Ion exchange machines use resin to substitute more stable ions (usually Na+) for the potassium in the wine. Both of these processes require special equipment and a great deal of water that results in salty effluent.

Tartrate Stabilization by Inhibition Claristar is a mannoprotein derived from wine yeast. It does not change the charge of your wine. It will not remove KHT. It will inhibit nucleation and crystal growth while increasing the solubility of the KHT in your wine. No final blending, acid adjustments or concentration additions may be added after Claristar has been added. It is important to note that adding a mannoprotein to a protein unstable wine may only further exacerbate the protein instability.

CMC is a well-known synthesized chemical for food products. It is an etherfied cellulose obtained by alkaline carboxymethylation. It works on crystals by defacing them and restricting further growth. Generally the crystals are flattened. CMC should only be used in white wines.

It may precipitate color in red and rose wines. If a wine is protein unstable, CMC may increase this instability and cause a haze. CMC should never be used in wines that have been treated with lysozyme as it will cause a protein precipitation haze. Bench trials should always be done for color loss and filterability.

T artrate stabilizers such as Claristar or CMC are utilized just prior to bottling on protein stable wines.

Prior to adding Claristar or CMC the following should be adhered to: • Confirm protein stability using a hot bath and turbidity meter.

• Claristar or CMC should be added 48 hours prior to bottling so it has enough time to “seat itself” in the wine.

• Before adding Claristar or CMC, wine should be filtered through 1-2 micron depth filter media. The finer this filtration, the more crystal nuclei will be removed.

Colloidal Stabilization Gum Arabic products act as colloidal stabilizers by using electrical charge attraction and repulsion. Gum Arabic is only effective in conditions of very low to no tartrate instability. They are often more effective at color stabilization by complexing with tannins and polyphenols.

Performing a rough filtration prior to heat stabilization whether the Photos provided by Judi Bishop - The Travelling Eye wine was fined or not, will help create a clearer product to stabilize.

When adding Gum Arabic the following should be considered: For rough filtration we recommend using a 3-10 micron range depth filter media.

• These products should be added 24-72 hours prior to bottling.

• Always check filterability after adding these products.

Stabilization by Removal • Gum arabic should not be added to your wine immediately prior to filtration as it may clog Traditional tartrate stabilization involves removal of the unstable crystals and their precursors. membrane filters. Adding right before a crossflow filtration can also place undue pressure on The common methods used are cellar cold stabilization, electro dialysis and ion exchange. the elements and cause long-term damage.

Cold Stabilization chills the wine to near freezing to lower the solubility of tartaric.

Ideally micro-pulverized KHT (cream of tartar) is added to provide nucleation sites for crystal Bottled Wine formation. Once the tartrate crystals have formed, the wine is racked and/or cold filtered.

Stabilizing your wine before bottling reduces the chance of haze or precipitation in the bottle.

Cold stabilization often results in lower titratable acidity and may alter pH. Wines that drop tartrates are subject to colloidal precipitation and vice versa. This can leave bottled wine prone to oxidation and microbial problems if filtration is not performed. For the Electro dialysis machines pass wine through charged membranes that substitute stable ions for final filtration, we recommend a .45 micron membrane filter. those that could cause instability such as K+ and HT+. This process lowers titratable acidity and

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Page 8 Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015

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Canadian Vintners Dan Paszkowski CVA President & CEO

Celebrating our national wine identity

Wines of Canada Wines of Canada Mission: To be the most talked about and trendsetting wine industry in the world by leveraging our collaborative culture, hunger for innovation and world class wine regions.

Wines of Canada Vision: Redefining the next generation of wine drinkers.

Recently, Canada’s first national, industry-led, online winery directory was launched. Wine411.ca includes more than 800 grape and fruit wineries, as well as cideries and meaderies from coast to coast.

The directory is a joint initiative between CVA and BlackSquare Inc., who identified the need for a comprehensive Canadian wine industry resource.

With more than 3 million visitors to Canadian wineries annually, and a national annual industry economic impact valued at more than $6.8 billion for grape wine alone, Wine411.ca will support further industry growth and For the past two years, CVA, regional wine associations and wineries across enhance public awareness of Canadian wine.

Canada have been working together to create a national wine brand, with the object of developing greater awareness and presence for Canadian wines. Few countries in the world have a resource like Wine411.ca, which is a userThis ambitious initiative has included wineries of all scales of production friendly, visually impressive directory and intended for use by wineries, travellers and regional organizations–British Columbia Wine Institute, Wine Marketing and anyone interested in Canadian wineries and wine regions. It is organized Association of Ontario, Winery & Grower Alliance of Ontario, Vignerons by province and geographical region, providing winery contact information, production volumes, varietals and awards received, as well as consumer-friendly indépendants du Québec and Winery Association of Nova Scotia. data on visitor facilities, social media links, wine club information and more.

This has been a lengthy and thoughtful process, engaging representatives across the Canadian wine industry, as well as hundreds of consumers. As a result of This project required a significant investment and commitment from BlackSquare the process and our collective determination, the new design is one that we and CVA–from content compilation to the development of a customized online believe will enhance visibility and credibility of Canadian wine domestically platform–and the benefits of the effort are numerous. Wine411.ca includes the ability to review and update content regularly, which is essential in an industry and internationally. experiencing rapid growth. While there is no cost or membership requirement

The Wines of Canada brand development process first engaged the talent of for wineries to have a listing on the directory, wineries are requested to review Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Shikatani Lacroix Design Inc., who worked with industry their information for accuracy. stakeholders to define the qualities of Canadian wine, including the mission and vision for the Wines of Canada brand. Following this, Zenergy Communications Canada is a world-class, premium wine producer and CVA believes it is was engaged to take the research and work with industry to create the visual important to encourage wine enthusiasts in Canada and abroad to discover and fully understand our wine regions and producers. We encourage you to share brand identity for Wines of Canada. this resource with your colleagues, friends and family and help us celebrate our The approved brand captures a modern and expressive design that celebrates the industry from coast-to-coast. industry’s diversity and growth, from vine to wine. The strong maple leaf was a key visual element for all stakeholders, symbolizing 100% Canadian pride and We would like to thank all participating associations, members, partners and quality for domestic and international consumers. Overall, the design features the Government of Canada for their support of these ambitious initiatives. allow flexibility and adaptability for the Canadian wine industry, ensuring the logo can be easily adopted to meet any promotional requirements.

CVA and regional associations have developed a Wines of Canada media brochure to complement regional communication materials and plans are underway for a website. Associations are also continuing to identify additional promotional opportunities to build the brand.

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Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015 Page 9

Cider Production Justin Skladan is on the Technical Equipment team at cellar•tek supplies.

He can be reached by email at jskladan@cellartek.com or on his cell at 778-215-8324.

ASK JUSTIN Q: Hi Justin, We’ve got an orchard with a good selection of

apple and pear varieties planted including some heritage cider apples. We’ve looked at the numbers and realized we haven’t made any money selling the fruit since we started so we’re thinking about opening a cidery and using our own fruit for the project. Unfortunately we don’t have a clue about any of the equipment necessary for cider production. Can you give us a “Cider Making Equipment 101” crash course so we can wrap our heads around the processes involved?

A: I sure can. You’re on the right track opening a cidery because ciders

are now the fastest growing alcoholic beverage category on the continent!

The process is very similar to making white wine, it’s just the equipment that’s different. That’s where a manufacturer like VORAN Machinery steps in. We recently signed on as distributors in Canada and Washington/ Oregon for VORAN, one of the most established fruit processing equipment manufacturers in the world. They’re a family owned Austrian company established in 1925 and have evolved their production facilities and techniques to reflect the most state of the art, automated & robotic manufacturing technologies available. However, despite their continuous investment in modern technology, it was their early-on dedication to listening to customer’s needs that lead their development and innovation and saw them grow to become the industry leaders they are today.

But enough about VORAN, let’s talk about cider making equipment & processes step by step.

Fruit Reception/washing: This is the ini-

manual feeding & average volumes in the range of 650 - 2000 kg/hr all the way up to automatic, integrated washing/shredding machines that directly feed a continuous belt press in volumes up to 8000 kg/hr.

Fruit Pressing: The next step is separating the juice from the shredded

pulp using one of three common press designs. The most basic press, the basket press, is one that has been documented since the early Greco-Roman periods with only the means of applying pressure seeing any change since its invention. As the name implies, the pulp is loaded into a “basket”, typically made of vertically aligned wooden slats spaced to allow the juice to run out without letting too much pulp escape. The basket is often lined with mesh to hold back the pulp. A hydraulic ram has replaced the traditional screw to apply pressure on the pulp. The pressure is increased incrementally by lowering the ram a set distance and allowing the juice to flow at each level before proceeding to the next increment. The process in continued until the juice stops flowing. The loading and unloading of the basket tends to be a labor intensive and messy process, however, the entry level pricing is what usually attracts the small start-up producers. VORAN manufactures basket presses in 180 kg/hr and 300 kg/hr capacities.

Next in the line of apple pressing technology is the Packing Press. This design is similar to the basket press in that it uses direct hydraulic ram pressure to extract the juice. The difference from the basket press is in the evenly packed layers of pulp separated with screens and drain inserts that allow for higher juice yields. However, like the basket press, the Packing Press relies heavily on manual labor for loading and unloading the pulp.

Capacities for Packing Presses in the VORAN portfolio range from 150 kg/ hr up to 1200 kg/hr.

tial stage when the fruit hits your crush pad, typically in ¼ , ½ or full ton bins. Depending on your volume of production and style of picking bins, you could wash the fruit manually by simply filling and draining the bins with water. At higher production volumes, you would incorporate a semi-automatic bindumper to meter the fruit into a water bath prior to the milling process.

Fruit Milling: This is a crucial point of dif-

ference in the cider making process. Unlike grapes that are simply destemmed, or not, before freely giving up their fermentable VORAN WASHING-MILLING juice under minimal pressure, apples and MACHINE pears need to be coaxed a bit more by preshredding them to make the juice more accessible when the pressing starts.

The shredding mills range in design from small, free-standing units with Page 10 Canadian Grapes to Wine Winter 2015

photo: www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca www.cdngrapes2wine.com

Cider Production ASK JUSTIN CONTINUED...

By far the most efficient method for extracting apple and pear juice from the pulp is the self-cleaning Continuous Belt Press. Positioned adjacent to an automatic washer/milling unit, the Belt Press is designed to take a continuous feed of pulp and efficiently press the juice out by squeezing the pulp between two porous mesh belts with a series of tensioned rollers within the press. The belts are constantly moving in a threaded loop configuration with incorporated automatic rinsing to keep them cleared for continuous, high-yield juice extraction. The dry pulp is expelled off the belts at the end of the machine and collected in a ½ ton bin for easy handling. The Belt Presses from VORAN represent the pinnacle of innovation for their company and are offered in models with capacities ranging from 300 kg/hr right up to 7000 kg/hr.

Fermentation & Beyond: Once the juice is in tank the rest of the equipment and processes are very similar to those used in making sparkling wine. There are a number of specialty yeasts and enzymes recommended for cider fermentations and more information is being published every year as the cider industry rapidly evolves around the globe. Ask your trusted local supplier for more details on cider-specific products and the technical support to use them correctly.

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Ontario

Meet The grower Harwood Family

Farm location: Prince Edward County, P.E.I. Total Farm Acreage: 10 Acres Varietals grown: Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, St. Laurent, Frontenac Gris, Marquette, La Crescent, Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay

Off-Grid Grape Success Nestled in the plains among solar panels and garden beds sits Harwood Estate Vineyards.

Set in beautiful Prince Edward County, this 10-acre vineyard utilizes organic growing practices to produce Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, St. Laurent, Frontenac Gris, Marquette, La Crescent, Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay grapes that are transformed into awardwinning wine.

Harwood Estate Vineyards is the dream of two couples: Don and Judy Harwood and their daughter and son-in-law, Kerry Wicks (President and CEO) and John Rode. Before the family purchased the land that would become Harwood Estate, there were grape vines planted, but there was no power running to any of the buildings. The new owners quickly determined that this would be a costly fix that might well put their dreams of a vineyard on hold. Fortunately, Rode had studied electrical engineering and had the knowledge and skills to begin putting together an off-grid solution to their power problems.

Over the next several years, they worked to install their own solar energy power station, which continues to be Harwood Estate Vineyards’ sole source of electricity. With the exception of occasional fuel costs, the vineyard has no ongoing power bill. Thanks to

Rode’s ingenuity, the vineyard can now run a huge, power-hungry wine press—that dates back to World War II—without worrying about running short on energy. In addition, the Harwoods, Wicks and Rode are also great at conserving energy. During the fall, which is the vineyard’s busy season, the operation runs on a “most important tasks first” basis.

Due to their devotion to energy conservation and sustainability, the Harwoods, Wicks and Rode have sought to make Harwood Estate Vineyards as low-impact as possible. They have installed LED lights and an array of solar panels to provide additional power. Their battery bank is extensive and they have plans to insulate the property’s buildings with tin foil sheets that feature a bubbled exterior. They have also made it their personal goal to hire locally, reduce their water consumption and be conscious about their pest management techniques.

Whether they’re making award-winning Friends Rosé or looking out for the environment, Judy, Kerry and John (Don passed away in 2014) can be found at Harwood Estate doing what they do best: using organic growing practices to make great wine in Prince Edward County.

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Page 12 Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015

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Ontario Jamie SLingland, Grape King The tribe has spoken! Congratulations to Jamie Slingerland, Viticulture Director at Pillitteri Estates Winery and newly crowned 2015 Grape King.

According to Grape Growers of Ontario Chair Bill George, Jamie is a fitting ambassador for the grape and wine industry.

He grew up on a Niagara-onthe-Lake (NOTL) grape and tender fruit farm, coming from a long line of fruit farmers.

In fact, the Slingerland family has farmed in NOTL since the 1780s. As a result, Jamie understands firsthand that great wine starts in the vineyard.

Jamie is “a testament to true leadership in the grape and wine industry,” says Kimberly Hundertmark, Niagara Grape and Wine Festival’s Executive Director. “His commitment to innovation, progress, and sustainability are reflected in the quality of his vineyards and the fruit they bear.”

Jamie’s marriage to Connie Jamie Slingland in the vineyard.

Pillitteri, daughter of Pillitteri Estates founders Gary and Lena Pillitteri, was a winemaking match made in heaven. Today, the award-winning vineyards of Pillitteri Estates managed by Slingerland account for Canada’s largest estate winery production of Icewine. The business is a true family affair.

Working side-by-side with Gary and Lena are Jamie, Connie (CFO),

son Richard and son-in-law Jared Goerz (both on the management team). Jamie’s daughter Rachel is a lawyer. Jamie’s Grape King honor is especially notable, considering that his father-in-law Gary Pillitteri was Grape King in 1981.

After graduating from the University of Guelph, Jamie worked as an inspector for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and later served on NOTL’s Court of Revision and Committee of Adjustment.

His long history of service includes serving as inaugural chair of NOTL’s Agricultural subcommittee, which established a comprehensive zoning bylaw and an irrigation system for local wineries.

He also was instrumental in transitioning the many individual winery signs that used to dot the Queen Elizabeth Way to today’s consistent and recognizable “Wineries of NOTL” signage.

Among Jamie’s other honors was the 2012 Premier’s Award for AgriFood Innovation Excellence, which he received for introducing the three Verona grape varieties to Canada, and shortening the period to establish new varieties and clones. As Grape King, Jamie will represent the region’s grape and wine industry at events across the country. In September, he appeared at the Mayor’s Grape Stomp and 64th annual Grande Parade.

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BC Wine Region Laura Kitmer Media Relations Manager, BC WIne Institute

THE RISE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WINE TOURISM A stellar wine touring year for BC wineries!

Wine tourism in BC is on the rise, reporting a record high in visitors and sales this year, and gaining accolades as a world-class wine destination from publications and wine critics around the world.

Season highlights for Kamloops Winery Association included the opening of Monte Creek Ranch Winery and the installation of specialized Highway wine trail and wine route signage in partnership with our Minister of Transportation. “Visitor experience feedback has been very positive, people are loving to discover BC’s This year, the Okanagan Valley was named one of the 10 best newest wine region.” Says Morelli. wine destinations of 2015 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine, ranked #1 wine region in the world by The Huffington Post and dubbed Fort Berens Estate Winery in Lillooet, another emerging wine the 2nd best wine region to visit by USA Today. In August, the BC region in BC, expanded their winery this spring opening a new Wine Institute hosted acclaimed UK wine writer Steven Spurrier on-site patio restaurant to accommodate the increase of visitors here for the first time, and in the fall edition of The Somm Journal coming through. “People like the combination of drinking quality he proclaimed, “For me, wine is the three Ps: the place, the people wine for a good price while enjoying excellent food and a view,” and the product. British Columbia ticks all three boxes with says Rolf Berens, owner of Fort Berens Estate Winery. “Duffy Lake Road is one of the most scenic drives in BC and we wanted to exuberance, elegance and conviction.” provide an additional feature for travelers to experience it.”

BC VQA Wine sales are at an all-time high, up 8.96 per cent from 2014 across all channels with 30 per cent of VQA wines sold “There are now over 43 restaurants at BC Wineries; that’s more directly from cellar doors – a direct result of BCWI and Destination than 20 per cent of wineries offering a myriad of cuisine to go BC collaborate marketing efforts to date. Visitors to BC in the with their experience. Very unique in the world of wine touring,” first eight months of 2015 were also higher than ever before with remarks Sandra Oldfield, CEO of Tinhorn Creek Vineyards and an increase of 7.1 per cent from last year according to Statistics Miradoro Restaurant.

Canada.

Back by popular demand this fall, Communal Table Dinners by Wine touring, which had long been the sole ventures of connoisseurs Miradoro Restaurant paired with Tinhorn Creek wines are available and official “wine lovers” now attracts a much broader range of every Tuesday until Dec 29 bringing together locals and visitors to tourists who are looking for a variety of experiences. “Wine tourism celebrate local food and wine. is still relatively new in British Columbia, though more and more people are expressing an interest in it, evidenced by many of BC’s Also, for the first time this winter CedarCreek Estate Winery wineries expanding their guest experiences to include more than and Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate Winery will continue to simply wine tasting.” notes Maggie Anderson Marketing Director offer wine and food pairing tours during the off-season. “We are excited to extend our winery hours and provide our visitors with for the British Columbia Wine Institute. an experience that is otherwise hard to offer in the busy summer Of the 320 wineries in BC, 275 of them have now opened their months.” Says Anahita Pouget Marketing Manager at CedarCreek doors to wine tourism offering services including tastings, on-site Estate Winery. restaurants and shops, wine and food pairing experiences, cooking classes, vineyard tours, concerts, accommodation and much more. As the sector leader for Wine & Culinary Tourism in Destination British Columbia’s new Co-operative Marketing Partnership As the wine industry continues to grow in BC, emerging wine regions program, the BC Wine Institute looks forward to continuing to are also becoming more popular travel destinations. “It’s been an grow BC’s vibrant wine and food culture, giving visitors more incredible first season for the Kamloops Wine Trail,” notes Trish opportunities to discover our pristine region as we roll into 2016.

Morelli Marketing Director for Kamloops Wineries Association.

“All of our wineries had record numbers in visitors and sales. Our For a full list of winery events, services and experiences this winter longest standing winery saw an increase of 73 per cent in July’s year go to www.WineBC.com. over year tasting room sales, and triple digit growths (266 per cent) were reported from one of our newer wineries.”

Page 14 Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015

www.cdngrapes2wine.com

BC Wine Region The wines of british columbia shine at the judgement of bc wine tasting with steven spurrier and DJ Keanery

The Wines of British Columbia atof The TheShine Wines British Colu The Wines of British Columbia Judgment were put to the ultimate at the JudgmentTasting “We have Judgment to measure against ourWine international peers. I DJ was very oftestBC Wine withourselves Steven and Kearn of BCSpurrier Tasting with St

of BC on Tuesday, August 25, pitting 12 BC Wines against 12 acknowledged pleased with the performance of the Syrahs. Chardonnay is a work in global benchmarks. We are proud to announce BC’s C.C. Jentsch Syrah progress. There were 24 top flight wines in the tasting, not one that I wouldn’t The Valley Wines offirst British Columbia to the ultimate test at the of uB 2013 from the Okanagan ranked among the flight of Syrah,were have my dinner table.” noted JohnColumbia Schreiner.

Theonput Wines of British wereJudgment put to the and Soumah Chardonnay Single Vineyard 2013 from Valley, Victoria Tuesday, August 25,Yarra pitting 12 BC Tuesday, Wines against 12 25, acknowledged August pitting 12 BCglobal Winesbenchmark against 1 Australia came out on top for the flight of Chardonnays.

“The Chardonnay in BC is not showing enough distinct terroir as others from are proud to announce BC’s C.C. Jentsch Syrah 2013 froma BC’s the C.C. Okanagan Valley rank are proud toSyrahs announce Jentsch Syrah 20 around the world but are making statement, ranking first, fourth and among theof Paris flight of famously Syrah,depicted and inSoumah Chardonnay Single Vineyard Inspired by the legendary Judgment in 1976, fifth in tough company.” observed Sid Cross.

“It shows the2013 Syrah isfrom world Yarra among the flight of Syrah, and Soumah Chardonna the Hollywood blockbuster “BottleAustralia Shock,” the Judgment of BC was on a blind peers.” of Chardonnays.

Victoria came out topclass foramong theitsAustralia flight Victoria came out on top for the flight o tasting of 12 Chardonnay wines and 12 Syrahs; 6 were from BC and 6 were Inspired byBritish the wine legendary of Paris famously depictedofinParis the in Holl by in the1976, legendary Judgment 19 international benchmarks.

Renowned critic Steven Judgment Spurrier, Inspired “Bottle of BC was aShock,” blind tasting of 12 Chardonn who was responsibleblockbuster for the original Judgment of ParisShock,” nearly forty the years Judgment blockbuster “Bottle the Judgment of BC ago, and currently the consulting editor Decanter Magazine and Chair wines and 12forSyrahs; 6 were from wines BC andand 6 were international benchmarks.

12 Syrahs; 6 were from BC and 6Renow were of the Decanter World Wine Awards, scored the wines along with 16 expert CHARDONNAY RESULTSSteven ORDER British Steven Spurrier, who was for Spurrier, the original wineresponsible critic whoJudgment was respo Canadian wine judges includingwine Barbara critic Philip MW, Brad Royale, David British 1. Soumah Chardonnay Single Vineyard 2013 | Yarra Valley, Victoria | $27 Magazine a nearly years andTreve currently theforty consulting editor Decanter Scholefield, Terry Threlfall, Tim forty Pawsey, Sid Cross, ago, Kurtis Kolt, Ring nearly years ago, andforcurrently the consulti 2.

Kumeu River Chardonnay Hunting Hill 2012 | Auckland, New Zealand | $35 and John Schreiner. Chair of the Decanter World WineChair Awards, scored the wines 16 expert of the Decanter Worldalong Winewith Awards, scoredC

WINNERS

3. Hamilton Russell Chardonnay 2014 | Hemel-en-Aarde, South Africa | $40

wine including Philip MW, BradChablis Royale, David Scholefield, Terry wine judges including Barbara MW, BradThr Ro 4. Jean-Marc Brocard Premier Cru Montmains 2012Philip | France | $45 “For me wine is the three ‘P’s’:judges the place, the people and theBarbara product. British 5. Bouchard Père & Filsand Meursault PremierSchreiner.

Cru Genevrières 2011 | France | $86 Ring and Timboxes Pawsey, Sid Cross, Kurtis Kolt,Tim Treve Ring John Columbia ticks all these with exuberance, elegance and conviction.”

Pawsey, Sid Cross, Kurtis Kolt, Treve 6. Blue Mountainthe Chardonnay Reserve 2012 | Okanagan Valley, BC | $30 British Col noted Steven Spurrier.“For me wine is the three ‘P’s’: the place, people and the product.

“For me wine is the three ‘P’s’: the place, the pe 7. Tantalus Chardonnay 2012 | Okanagan Valley, BC | $24 allpoint these boxes exuberance, elegance and conviction.” noted Steven Spu all these boxes exuberance, “It was a courageous ticks tasting. The was about discoverywith and learning, not ticks 8. Robert Mondavi Chardonnay Reservewith 2012 | Carneros, California | $44 elegance “It It’s was a pushing courageous The “It point aboutPerpetua discovery andThe learning, not about abou about winning or losing. about ourselves in tasting. our wine regions” waswas a Chardonnay courageous tasting.

9. Mission Hill 2012 | Okanagan Valley, BCpoint | $50 (tie)was noted DJ Kearney, curator of the event.

“The globalIt’s benchmark winespushing were winning 10.ourselves Quails’ Gate Rosemary’s Blockregions” 2013 |pushing Okanagannoted Valley, BC | $30 winning or losing. about in our wine DJ(tie) Kearn orChardonnay losing.

It’s about ourselves in of a very high calibre. It was important to be challenged by high quality 11. Meyer Family Chardonnay Micro Cuvée 2012 BC |$65 event.

“The global benchmark wines were of | aOkanagan veryValley, high calibre.win It of the event.

“The global benchmark international wines, curator and we were.of Andthe we will do it again.

We must do it curator 12. Haywire Chardonnay Canyonview 2013 | Okanagan Valley, BC | $25 important to be challenged by high quality international wines, were.intern And again.” important to be challenged by and highwe quality do it again. We must do it again.” do it again. We must do it again.”

Although we are thrilled with the results, the goal of this tasting was to SYRAH RESULTS ORDER Although we are and thrilled with results, the goalthrilled of this tasting was to honestly we are with the results, the goa honestly assess the current state of grapegrowing winemaking in BC the in Although 1. C.C. Jentsch Syrah 2013 | Okanagan Valley, | $30 theperspective current of grapegrowing and winemaking inBCorder to and provide a clear order to provide a clear of thestate distinct characteristics of British the current state in of BC grapegrowing winemakin 2.

Langmeil Shiraz Orphan Bank 2012 | Barossa, South Australia | $68 Columbia wine in relation to global standards, and distinct to achieve a characteristics focused perspective perspective of the of British wine in relation gl of the Columbia distinct characteristics of to Briti 3. Domaine Vincent Paris Cornas Granit 60 2013 | France | $66 vision for the continued evolution of the BC Wine Industry. standards, and to achieve a focused vision of thefor BCthe Wi standards, and tocontinued achieve focused vision 4. Nichol Syrahfor 2012 |the Okanagan Valley, BC | $40aevolution 5. Le Vieux Pin Syrah Cuvée Classique 2013 | Okanagan Valley, BC | $50 Industry.

“We are extremely proud of how the Wines of British Columbia showed Industry.

6. Ojai Syrah 2011of | Santa Barbara, California | $30 at this monumental“We tasting,”are remarked BC Wine Institute President and “We extremely proud of how the Wines British Columbia showed at thisof Bri are extremely proud of how the Wines CEO Miles Prodan. “The modern winemaking industry in BC is still in its 7. Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Sunrock Shiraz 2010 | Okanagan Valley, BC | $30 tasting,” remarked Wine Institute President and CEO Miles Institute Prodan. monumental tasting,” remarked BC Wine infancy compared tomonumental many regions around the world with this year marking BC 8. Orofino Syrah Scout Vineyard 2012 | Similkameen Valley, BC | $29 isJ.L.still in its Crozes-Hermitage infancyindustry compared to the 25th anniversarymodern of BC VQA. Itwinemaking is astounding to seeindustry how much thein BC BC modern winemaking in BC is stillregions in its ina 9.

Chave Selections Silène 2012 | France | $40many th th Wine Industry has evolved in such a with short time and year to have marking the likes of the 10. Tyrell’s Shiraz Vat 9 2011this | Hunter Valley, South Wales | anniversary of BCNew VQA. It the is$49astounding to the world this 25 anniver world with year marking 25 Steven Spurrier endorse the wines as heartily as he had. Our grapegrowers 11. Laughing Stock Syrah 2013 | Okanagan Valley, BC | $38 how much theof the BCexcellent Winequality Industry evolved in such a short time and have the how much the BC Wine Industry has to evolved in sul and winemakers should all be very proud we have has 12. K Vintners Syrah The Beautiful 2012 | Walla Walla, Washington | $70 Steven as heartily as he had. Our and as achieved in our beautiful regions.”Spurrier endorse the wines Steven Spurrier endorse the grapegrowers wines as heartily winemakers should all be very proud of the excellent weproud have of achieved in winemakers should allquality be very the exce beautiful regions.” beautiful regions.”

AGRICULTURAL NETTING & FABRICS “We have to measure ourselves against our to international peers. I was veryour pleased “We have measure ourselves against intern the performance of the Syrahs. Chardonnay is a work in progress.

There were is24a to the performance of the Syrahs. Chardonnay w wines in the tasting, not one thatwines I wouldn’t on my table.” noted have John in thehave tasting, notdinner one that I wouldn’t ● Unbeatable bird protection ● Strong HDPE knit, open-mesh nets Schreiner.

Schreiner. ● 10 year UV warranty Hail, shade, rain & other fabrics ● Easy to apply and remove ● Nets for grapes, cherries & berry crops ● Custom nets and structures “The Chardonnay in BC is not showing distinct terroir others from around “Theenough Chardonnay in BC is notasshowing enough dist Neal Carter & Associates Ltd. 250-494-1099 www.farmsolutions.net neal_carter@telus.net world but Syrahs are making a statement, fourth aand fifth in tough world butranking Syrahs first, are making statement, ranking www.cdngrapes2wine.com Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015 Page 15 company.” observed Sid Cross. “Itcompany.” shows the observed Syrah is world class “It among itsthe peers.”

Sid Cross. shows Syra ●

Awards

the royal wine competition Niagara College Teaching Winery takes home Best in Show The judges in The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair’s 7th annual wine competition are raising their glasses to the Niagara College Teaching Winery.

The Independent Wine Education Guild is recognized as the premier organization for wine and spirits education in Canada. Its experienced faculty has graduated thousands of students, many of whom have progressed to leading positions in the Canadian wine and spirits industry.

The student-run winery at the college’s Niagara-on-the-Lake campus took home Best in Show Red and Best in Show Overall prizes for its delicious 2012 Dean’s List Merlot in The Royal’s wine competition earlier this month.

John Switzer, a Toronto wine writer, educator and chief judge at the Guild, oversaw the judging panel at The Royal Wine Competition. “The quality of the wines that competed this year was high,” Switzer said. “It was also satisfying to see the high quality of the red wines submitted to the competition, considering that many think Ontario is a place only known for its whites. This was a very positive aspect of the competition.”

“It is a real honour to be recognized for such a prestigious wine award, particularly with consideration to the wide field of extremely high-quality VQA wines from well-established Ontario wineries that this competition attracts,” said Gavin Robertson, Winemaker at the Niagara College Teaching Winery.

Guild Executive Director Paul Miles said The Royal Wine Competition helps raise the profile of participating wineries and Ontario’s wine industry as a whole.

“The more consumers know about VQA wines and get to try them, the more they learn that our wines are as good or better in many cases than top wineries from around the world,” he said.

Robertson said the warm 2012-growing season in Niagara helped produce spectacular later-ripening red Bordeaux varieties with a good balance of flavours and structure. “I’m happy that we were able to carry this quality through to bottle, and it’s wonderful that the end product of a great growing season in the vineyard and gentle handling in the winery should be recognized as it is now,” he said.

Organizers are hoping to build on the success of this year competition and draw even more entrants next year.

Other winners at the event included Frisky and Gamble Cellars in Port Dover who won Best in Show White for their Smoke and Gamble Chardonnay, Megalomaniac Winery in Vineland who won Best in Show Rosé for their Pink Slip Rosé and Sue Ann Staff Winery in Jordan who won Best in Show Dessert for their Howard’s Vidal. Winning wines will be served at dining venues at The Royal and featured at various events during its 10-day run from November 6-15, 2015 at Exhibition Place in Toronto. The event, run in co-operation with the Independent Wine Education Guild, served up an opportunity for wineries to earn recognition for VQA wines made with 100% Ontario grapes from a judging panel of some of the province’s most-respected experts.

“The Royal is all about celebrating the best of Ontario’s agricultural and food industries, which makes it an important venue for wineries to showcase their wines to thousands of visitors from across the country,” Switzer said. The City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario have provided funding support for The Royal.

About The Royal: The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair is the world’s largest combined indoor agricultural and equestrian show.

This year, the 93rd Royal Agricultural Winter Fair runs November 6-15, 2015 at Exhibition Place, Toronto.

For competition schedules, live webcasting, results and to purchase tickets, please visit www.royalfair.org.

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Wine Business Geoff McIntyre CA

Geoff McIntyre is a Business Advisor to the Agri food industry and Chartered Accountant for MNP LLP.

risky business Farm Income Assistance programs only work if the government knows you are farming Farming is risky business. Weather is becoming more unpredictable each year But there’s a relatively simple solution. Even if you structure combines your vineyard and it seems, and Canada’s grape growing regions are no exception. For this reason, most producers purchase some form of crop insurance coverage to help mitigate this uncertainty.

But there are other factors beyond a grape growers control which can affect their bottom line – grape prices, labour costs and input costs to name a few. Fortunately, the Federal and provincial governments have implemented a suite of risk management programs under the current Growing Forward 2 (GF2) policy framework which extends until 2018. In addition to crop insurance coverage provided through AgriInsurance, there are also the AgriInvest, AgriStability and AgriRecovery programs designed to mitigate small, moderate and severe drops in income respectively.

Unfortunately, when Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada renewed the Growing Forward program in 2013, the benefits available under AgriInvest and AgriStability were watered down somewhat. Yet there are significant benefits available. If you are growing grapes and not participating in these programs, you are potentially leaving money on the table and ignoring a low cost form of insurance for your vineyard. Rather than get in to the details of how these risk management programs work in this article, I want to address a major barrier participation by estate wineries in these programs, and how this barrier can be overcome.

By definition, a land-based or estate winery is one where the owners grow grapes in their own vineyards and go on to produce and sell wine made from those grapes. There’s no question that this process involves farming. The problem arises in how the business activity is reported for tax purposes.

Most estate winery owners view their operations as a single business and that is the way they report for tax purposes. We see time and time again with our new winery clients that they have been reporting their entire winery operations as regular business operations, not a combination of farming and non-farming businesses.

Here’s the problem. The most important prerequisite for participation in these government farm income programs is that you must be farming. The indication that you are farming is that you are reporting income from farming on your tax return. So if you have been reporting everything as non-farming business income, you are out of luck before you even get started.

Harvesting Your Succession Potential Succession planning is a critical part of the future success of any winery business, yet more than 50% of business owners admit they have no formal transition plan in place. That’s where MNP can help. Working closely with you, MNP will deliver the transition strategies you need to increase the value of a business, minimize tax consequences and reduce risk, so you can harvest your full succession potential.

Contact Geoff McIntyre, CPA, CA, Business Advisor, B.C. Wine Industry at 1.877.766.9735 or geoff.mcintyre@mnp.ca

winemaking activities in a single corporation, you can still segregate and report your vineyard revenues and expenses as farming income for tax purposes. This simple change in reporting can unlock the door to potentially lucrative government farm income program protection.

For most wineries we have worked with, it is pretty easy to identify the vineyard expenses.

There may be a little work involved in allocating costs such as labour between cellar and vineyard. Most wineries will include these costs with their other wine production costs when determining the cost of their wine inventory. Instead, we look at the tonnage of grapes produced and used in production and determine a value for that grape production using the current market value of the grapes. This amount becomes the farming revenue. It’s important that you be able to support the prices you used to value your production in case this is reviewed by the farm income program administration. If you sell some of your grapes to a third party, this would be good evidence for valuing the same type of grapes you use in your own production.

Now you have a number for farm revenue and you have identified your related farm expenses.

Corporations use a coding system called the General Index of Financial Information (GIFI) when reporting their financial information to CRA. There are special GIFI codes for farming revenues and expenses. Using these codes when filing your company’s tax return will ensure these revenues and expenses are considered farming revenues and expenses for tax purposes.

You now have a basis for participating in government farm income programs.

Now, let’s look briefly at the programs themselves. The AgriInvest program allows producers to contribute up to 1% of their annual net sales to a special savings account at their bank and receive a matching government contribution. Withdrawals can be made at any time, although the idea is to save funds and withdraw them in years when income is down. Tax on the government contribution as well as interest earned is deferred until the funds are withdrawn.

Now 1% may not seem like much, but participation in this program is very simple. The producer simply files their annual farming revenues and expenses on a specialized form within their tax return (form T1273 for individuals) and indicates that they wish to participate in the AgriInvest program. There should be very little incremental cost for tax preparation.

The AgriStability program is designed to assist farmers who experience a sudden and severe (greater than 30%) drop in their historical profit margins due to circumstances beyond their control. The AgriStability program has a reputation for being confusing and costly to participate in from the standpoint of professional fees. But the truth is, in the case of vineyards, the application process is not all that complex. This is because the grape crop is typically sold by year end and there is little, if any, carry over of inventory, receivables or prepayments from one year to the next. You should view AgriStability as inexpensive insurance that will cover you for a much broader range of risks than crop insurance will.

Finally, AgriRecovery is a pool of government funds set aside to assist industry segments that are hit by severe broad-based circumstances and disaster circumstances. Widespread disease affecting grapevines in a geographic area might be an example. Typically, these types of ad-hoc assistance programs “piggyback” off of financial information already submitted under other programs, so if you have not been reporting farm income, you could be facing an uphill battle if you ever need to request assistance under an AgriRecovery-assisted program.

It’s clear that as an estate winery owner, you are also a farmer, even if you don’t always think of your business that way. By ensuring you are reporting your vineyard activities as farming income for tax purposes, you can clear the way to participation in valuable government risk management programs. Failing to do so means you could be leaving benefits on the table and exposing your winery to more risk than is necessary.

Geoff McIntyre, CPA, CA is a partner in MNP’s Kelowna office. Geoff advises the BC Wine Industry. To find out what Geoff can do for you, contact him at 250.763.8919 or Geoff. mcintyre@mnp.ca.

www.cdngrapes2wine.com

Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015 Page 17

BC Wine Region

Back to the basics: Natural is trending in the wine world It’s a warm breezy day with the sun starting to set. You’re relaxing on a

winery patio, looking past Summerland’s Switchback Organic vineyard and across the water to the Naramata side of Lake Okanagan. The wine in your glass is not the typical colour for a white wine. It’s hazy with an orange to golden hue and it looks like unfiltered sediment is sitting at the bottom.

No, the wine has not gone bad. In fact, it’s as good, real and natural as Mother Nature intended it to be. It’s a natural wine with nothing added or taken away.

Most [conventional] wines are in large amounts and artificial controls are introduced at every stage of production. They are created from grapes that have been grown using artificial fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides and pesticides.

During the winemaking process, artificial yeasts are used, along with more than 20 permitted additives that are intended to improve the body, colour, clarity and taste of the wine. Large amounts of sulphur dioxide are also added as a preservative.

As defined in the word “natural”, natural wine is living, real, sustainable and minimally intervened. There are no chemicals, additives or commercial products like yeasts, enzymes or sulphur added. A winemaker’s intervention and technological manipulation is also very minimal in both the cellar and vineyard.

One can say that it’s almost naked, and as Matt Dumayne, winemaker from Okanagan Crush Pad (OCP) says, “it’s about letting the grapes and wine choose its own path to shine.”

Origin of natural wines

While this natural winemaking technique has only started to buzz throughout Canada in recent years, this natural wine movement has already taken off on a global scale. Surprisingly, it has had a long but quiet existence in the winemaking world, dating as far back as to when winemakers from the Old World wine regions first started to make wines thousands of years ago. At the early times, there were no commercial packaged yeasts, powdered tannins or any other additives to use to preserve, to speed up the winemaking process or to create a desired flavour profile. Wine was made naturally until winemaking and viticulture became increasingly industrialized and mass-produced.

Then in the 1940s, Jules Chauvet, a French chemist, expert wine taster, grower and author in the Beaujolais region of France began researching winemaking styles and pushed for a philosophy of winemaking that was back to the basic: natural winemaking. His argument was simple yet practical. Chauvet tasted a wide selection of wines and his exquisite palate eventually picked the best tasting wines to be those made naturally, with no added sulphur or sugar. These natural wines were well balanced, complex and had a beautiful, long finish.

Chauvet’s natural winemaking movement eventually influenced producers throughout Europe and in the New World wine regions. This natural winemaking trend continues to grow and is starting to emerge in Canada, alongside organic and biodynamic grape growing practices.

Why natural wines?

When Alberto Antonini, an Italian oenologist and international winery consultant visited Summerland, British Columbia’s Okanagan Crush Pad in 2010, he pointed out that adopting the natural winemaking process is more than being a part of a growing global trend. It’s about creating wines that have an authentic representation of its place.

Page 18 Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015

As first-time vineyard farmers and winery owners, Okanagan Crush Pad’s Steve Lornie and Christine Coletta were more concerned with planting and farming a vineyard that was comparable to the standard and practise of neighbouring vineyards in the region. Like most others, the conventional winemaking approach was adopted to better control grape yield and the practise.

Initially, this conventional method of winemaking seemed fine, but Antonini suggested otherwise. He expressed the philosophy that grapes and wines needed to be alive and the wine given the freedom to express its unique terroir.

The three-prong approach

Natural winemaking is not just about limiting what you add, remove or the level of intervention involved during the winemaking process. Think of it as a three-prong approach. To achieve natural winemaking, it’s essential to have the counterparts of an organic viticulture practice.

Antonini says, “You cannot make wines with a sense of place if that place is not a healthy, vibrant environment, so the two concepts go hand in hand.”

Think of it this way, an organic viticulture practice is what happens in the growing condition of grapes out in the vineyard. Natural winemaking is the process that winemakers take to follow through once the grapes have been harvested and taken into the cellar. An organic vineyard finds its balance under careful farming. It becomes an environment with biodiversity that is capable of fighting off disease pressures, as plants have built up strong immune systems.

Organic grapes are necessary to create wines with regional expression, as they are the foundation for wines that convey the sites where they are grown. Organically grown grapes are not manipulated with artificial fertilizers or other chemicals. In addition to being safer for human and animal health, there is natural variation among the resulting wines from vintage to vintage due to the changing climate.

Hence the resulting wines are more expressive of their place, soil and climate.

Grapes can be grown organically or in a biodynamic environment. But the wine is not entirely natural if it’s not followed through in the cellar.

It’s the three components together that create a holistic, additive-free, pesticide-free and natural winemaking cycle that provides a healthy and vibrant environment for grapes to freely and consistently express their terroir in each bottle. www.cdngrapes2wine.com

Back To Basics cont’d...

How does natural winemaking work?

• No filtration except a gentle Microflex occurs prior to bottling.

• Barrel use is eliminated as of the 2014 vintage.

Organic grapes are more than the fruit off a vine.

The grapes are vibrant, alive and full of all kinds of goodness that can work to the advantage of an experienced winemaker.

Dumayne, who practices natural winemaking at OCP shares, “a ripe, organic grape is full of natural sugars and has wild yeasts native to the vineyard living on its skin. If done properly, winemakers can use those wild yeasts to start fermentation, and avoid using commercial yeasts. The use of wild ferments also adds to the authenticity of a wine and brings the true flavour of each vintage to every glass.”

As Switchback Vineyard been farmed organically since 2011, biodynamic viticulture is also maintained through the vineyard’s sheep, chickens, ducks, dogs and other occasional visitors including hawks and the microorganisms or bugs living in the soil.

Not an easy place to affect new thinking

Stephen Cipes, Summerhill Pyramid Winery founder, pioneered organic viticulture in the Okangaan Valley more than 20 years ago.

OCP’s sheep fertilize, mow and aerate soils while chickens and ducks roam on bug patrol and offer the winery team eggs. This creates a biodynamic environment for the grapes to grow in that closely mimics the richness and vibrancy of the greater ecosystem.

Since receiving its official organic certification in early August 2015, Dumayne and his winemaking cohort, Jordan Kubek have been using the naturally occurring wild yeasts to create wines with minimal intervention. Sulphur dioxide is used sparingly, if at all. The use of oak has also been radically reduced, with any wines that are oakaged done in old neutral barrels that do not impart flavour. Oak barrels were fully replaced by concrete tanks for fermentation and aging as of harvest 2015.

As part of the natural winemaking process, Dumayne and the OCP winemaking team opt for concrete tanks rather than steel tanks for the Haywire and Narrative wines. Unlike the walls of steel tanks, the walls of concrete tanks are porous and breathable. The upright, oval shape of the concrete tank also creates a natural stirring effect during fermentation. By fermenting wine in these concrete tanks, it allows yeast and bacteria to breathe, ferment and continue to live and grow naturally from vintage to vintage.

Even though British Columbia’s Okanagan is one of the world’s youngest wine regions, it is not an easy place to affect new thinking. Fortunately, Stephen Cipes, Summerhill Pyramid Winery founder, and Hans Buchler, organic grape grower, pioneered organic viticulture in the Okanagan Valley more than 20 years ago. While Summerhill continues to lead and emerging wineries like Okanagan Crush Pad follow, the unique terroir of this New World wine region, of this ‘New Okanagan’ is only starting to take shape and be known.

Some may criticize natural winemaking, or organic and biodynamic viticulture as a marketing scheme.

But the results of organic grape growing has proven out in the wine, with the Switchback Vineyard Pinot Gris, produced under Coletta and Lornie’s Haywire Winery label, receiving top accolades.

Wine is more than fermented grape juice. It’s alive and every bottle comes with a personality and a story of its place, people and land that is best expressed in the most natural ways. Regardless of the critics or accolades for this winemaking style, it’s established that natural wine is already exploding in the winemaking industry and only time will prove itself.

While Canada does not currently have an official standard or certification in place for natural winemaking, the natural winemaking protocols at Okanagan Crush Pad include: • No commercial yeasts are used, as it is 100% native fermentation.

• No additional additives including nutrients, DAP, tartaric, tannins, enzymes, ML bacteria are used.

• Minimal So2 is used to coincide with good vineyard practices and the use of screw cap closures.

• Processing of grapes utilizes gravity filling of tanks and pumping of must and fruit has been eliminated.

• Amphorae are filled by hand, cap wetting by hand, no punch downs.

• Red fermenters are using less extractive techniques to highlight the fruit. Very gentle punching to purely wet the cap.

• Wine sits on its gross lees throughout the year for textural enhancement.

No racking is undertaken through the year, minimizing mechanical contact. www.cdngrapes2wine.com

Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015 Page 19

Marketing Leeann Froese Leeann Froese co-owns Town Hall Brands, a marketing agency based in Vancouver BC, which specializes in wine, food and hospitality. She has worked to market and publicize wineries from all over the world for the better part of two decades.

She is a bonafied #winelover (as the organization’s official ambassador for Canada), and is a member of the BC Chapter of Les Dames d’ Escoffier, a society of professional women supporting women in careers related to wine, food and hospitality.

See more of Leeann’s work at townhallbrands.com or find Leeann online at @leeannwine or @townhallbrands

Build your brand through gratitude There are many different ways that customer service can have

Strategically Say Thanks

an impact on your brand: whether it’s a first impression, or repeat business and multiple service situation, how you treat your customers results and how they feel about you, whether you receive repeat business, and what they say about you to others. So at this time of year when our minds are on giving, gratitude and reflection, realize that you can also build your brand through gratitude.

There’s also a strategic approach in showing thanks toward your customer base. If you reach out to them and say thank, you’re going to have one more opportunity to communicate with them. They will also feel that you are thinking about them. The strategy here is that you will create a cycle of positive communication, relationships will strengthen, and repeat business will follow.

From a branding perspective there are three approaches to take with your gratitude: the genuine approach, the strategic, and the tactical.

Tactical Ways of Showing Thanks

Being Genuinely Thankful A while back when I had a different career, in retail, I used to do customer service training using a program implemented by the company I worked for called C.A.R.E.: Customers Are Really Everything. The heart of this training philosophy that we in sales needed to realize that with no customers, we would have no business, and that customers really are the core of why we exist.

Unless you are making your wine for yourself, you really need your customers to be there. You need to appreciate this fact and actually show your gratitude to demonstrate you understand that without these people you would not exist as a business. The genuine approach to gratitude is being so openly thankful toward the person or company that is buying from you each and every time you have a customer interaction. And remembering to say thank you to each of them at the end of the year is a great way to keep that thankfulness alive and show them that you really do mean what you say.

Give a big thank you to all of your customers, both business customer and the public. Also thank anyone who supported you in the media.

Tom Di Bello

Wine Consulting Ltd.

250-689-1723 tdibello@eastlink.ca winebuoy@eastlink.ca Services Provided: • Winemaking and Viticulture • Picking decisions, vineyard decisions, additions, crush processing, winery logistics, winery design, barrel selection, elevage, blending, fining, filtration, pre-bottling decisions and fixing problem wines.

• Daily, Weekly, Monthly & Yearly Packages Page 20 Canadian Grapes to Wine • WInter 2015

An even more tangible and tactical way to show gratitude: implement some programs that are based on saying thank you to your existing customer base (or even new ones for that matter). Offer a discounted purchase option at the end of the year, or a special thank you gift to be given with purchase. This can be offered at your winery or you can send along with their delivery.

Take out an ad in publications that your customers read that says thank you to all of the customers. Without them, you would not be around, and to thank them they’ll get some sort of special deal when they come visit you at the winery.

Show off your philanthropy. What did you do this past year that was philanthropic? What charitable programs did you support? Who did you give your wine away to? I do not know of a single winery that is not asked to give their wines away every single day. So which opportunities did you choose?

From a tactical standpoint this is a great time to share with your customers who it is that you partnered up with over the past year and also thank the people that you partnered with for the opportunity to help them with what they are doing. Get these messages of thanks out with a newsletter, or again through an ad, or on your website, or social media.

In the end of it all, no matter how you say thank you, you need to do it often, and as sincerely as possible. Let your customers know what they mean to your bottom line as well as the fact that they flatter you by choosing your products in a saturated marketplace. This cannot be understated. The difference between you saying thank you, and your competition not saying thank you, could be the deciding factor of whom they decide to support next time. The outreach on your brand will help people remember who you are and also think fondly of you.

Di Bello Wine Consulting Ltd. Sevices Provided It’s with gratitude in mind I want to end the year off and welcome the new Winemaking and Viticulture one by thanking everyone for reading this column. I hope that it’s helpful Picking decisions, vineyard decisions, additions, crush proces to you, and that you’re getting something each time you read these words. I winery logistics, winery design, barrel selection, elevage, blend wish everybody the best of the holiday season and we will talk more about fining, filtration, pre-bottling decisions and fixing problem wine ways to build your brand next year.

Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly Packages Comments? Questions? Send to me as above or send a note to editor@ CDNgrapes2wine.com

©Judy Bishop The Travelling Eye

www.cdngrapes2wine.com

Wine Business Patti Tattersall, CPA, CA Senior Manager and Chartered Accountant at BDO

CASH IS KING

How To Manage The Slow Times

Being a proprietor of a winery can be a very rewarding venture, both personally and financially. However, operating a winery is filled with many challenges such as high capital costs, regulatory changes, ever-changing technology, and seasonal sales to name a few. One key to managing these obstacles is managing cash flow. As the old saying goes, “cash is king” and without it, businesses cannot survive.

Sure there are many credit facilities out there that will enable you to finance your operations but at the end of the day, you still need to be able to repay those loans. Whether it is a line of credit to help with the day to day bills, or a secured loan to finance expansion, the only way to repay these is with cash.

How do you best manage cash flow? It starts with a budget and requires an ongoing process and continual refinement; not just set it once a year when you meet with your accountant and then forget about it. A budget is a tool to plan for a defined future period of time which may include sales volumes and revenues, costs and expenditures, assets, liabilities and cash flows. Your budget should help in the planning of actual operations and how various conditions might change your cash flow. Once you understand where you are at financially, you will be able to plan with the foresight required in an ever-changing market. It is also vital to remember to compare your actual results to your budget projections to ensure that the tool being used (in this case your budget) is the right one to do the job, or to make adjustments for future planning.

• C onsolidate your debts to help reduce monthly cash outflows.

By consolidating your debts, you are usually able to repay the debt over a longer period of time thus reducing your monthly cash outflow. This method will enable you to take advantage of low interest rates from lenders especially when compared to your credit card, suppliers, or Canada Revenue Agency.

• Take advantage of government grants and programs. There are a number of programs and grants available; meet with your accountant to understand them, and to determine which, and how, they can benefit your business.

• Review your margins and expenses against industry statistics. Many times you feel you are having a very successful year, yet you are still behind the industry standard. By reviewing industry standards, you may be able to identify areas of your operation that can be adjusted to maximize margins and, ultimately, cash flow.

• When assessing your operations and specific expenses, remember to ask yourself if you can afford this. We all know that financing is necessary in today’s world, but you must always be able to afford the cost of borrowing.

Ultimately, do you have the cash coming in to afford this expense?

For help on budgeting, cash flows, or other accounting and advisory needs, please contact your local BDO Canada LLP office or visit www.bdo.ca.

If you are in your first cycle of wine making, producing a budget may be a little more difficult as you are without any historical data to rely on in terms of sales volumes or production costs. However, you should be able to estimate your total production, capital and selling costs. Once you have a few years of sales, you can review your historical data and use this information to project for future periods of your budget. It is important that you estimate your sales based on the fact that the majority of sales will likely occur in the summer season when tourism and consumption is at its peak.

Planning for expenses may be a little more difficult as they usually fall within one of two categories; fixed or variable. Fixed expenses are those that are consistent and don’t fluctuate with production. Examples would be salaries, debt repayments, occupancy costs, and insurance. Variable expenses on the other hand, vary with production and would include materials, production, farm labor costs and packaging supplies.

While preparing your budget may be the easy part, managing your cash flow is usually a little more demanding. You must ensure that you have enough cash to manage your expenses throughout the year and unfortunately, your peak revenue periods don’t usually match your peak expense periods due to the buying and preparation cycles of the industry.

This is where using your budget comes in. By budgeting your revenues and expenses on a monthly basis (or more frequently if needed), you will be able to adequately plan for, and account for, expenses that will occur outside of your peak revenue periods. For example, when revenues are at their peak, your budget should account for grape harvesting expenses that will occur later that year when revenues are down. This will help ensure that you have enough cash in the bank to pay your expenses as they become due.

Other methods to help with your cash flow include the following: • C onsider leasing equipment as opposed to buying equipment. Leasing usually requires a lower initial payment and lower monthly payments as compared to the principal and interest payments that are required under a purchase. www.cdngrapes2wine.com

Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015 Page 21

Education Goodman School of Business honours business leader and healthcare advocate Rossana Magnotta Rossana Magnotta, a leader in the wine industry and a strong advocate for healthcare, has been selected as the 2015 Distinguished Leader of Brock University’s Goodman School of Business.

The Goodman School’s Distinguished Leader Award honours prominent Canadian business leaders and connects the recipients with current students through the annual Distinguished Leader Lecture Series.

A vibrant visionary, Magnotta’s dedication to leadership by example is powerful and has been instrumental to her success in the business world. She was selected as Goodman’s 2015 Distinguished Leader in recognition of her leadership capabilities, entrepreneurial drive and her remarkable contributions to the community.

Her influence and passion for helping people extends to the healthcare field. In addition to her involvement with several area hospitals, she is the founder of The G. Magnotta Foundation for Vector-Borne Diseases, a non-profit organization that is helping to establish the nation’s first research facility for Lyme disease.

Magnotta has been the recipient of many awards for her business and philanthropic achievements and is an extraordinary role model, especially for students who are looking to effect positive change in their communities as they look forward to soon joining the business.

On Nov. 12, Magnotta spent a day on campus speaking with an exclusive audience of Goodman student leaders and delivering the annual Distinguished Leader Lecture to students, faculty and members of the Brock community.

As founder and CEO of Magnotta Winery, Magnotta Past recipients of the award include Len Pennachetti of has proven her excellence in business and leadership by Cave Spring Cellars, Ned Goodman of Dundee Corporation, continually surpassing her customers’ and employees’ Rossana Magnotta Donald Ziraldo of Ziraldo Estate Winery, Galen Weston of expectations. Magnotta Winery is the third largest winery in Ontario and has expanded into several global markets. It is also home to over Loblaw Companies Limited, Michael McCain of Maple Leaf Foods, John McCall MacBain of 180 wines and has won an array of product awards. Magnotta’s commitment to increasing McCall MacBain Foundation and Paul House, formerly of Tim Hortons. customers’ product knowledge is exceptional and has led to a loyal and empowered customer base.

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Page 22 Canadian Grapes to Wine • Winter 2015

www.cdngrapes2wine.com

Supplier News Chelsey Peterson Announced As cellar•teks new In HOUSE winemaker Cellar•tek Supplies Ltd. is proud to welcome Chelsey Peterson to their progressive team of passionate and professional individuals servicing the Wine, Beer & Cider producers across Canada. As of November 2, Chelsey will manage the winemaking products in cellar•tek’s portfolio including yeast and ingredients from AEB & LAFFORT as well as oak barrels and alternatives from INNERSTAVE, FRANCOIS FRERES, SAURY, LEROI and CHARLOIS cooperages. Her territory will include all the major winemaking regions of BC from the Okanagan Valley to Vancouver Island.

Chelsey Peterson pictured here with Perry Maxfield (center) GM of Cellar Tek and Marco Bertaccini GM of AEB, North America. At SIMEI in Milan Italy.

Chelsey brings with her a wealth of knowledge, both local and international, in winemaking and viticultural practices. Her work experience includes winemaking stints at Neudorf Vineyards in New Zealand, Creekside Estate in Niagara and most recently, for the past two years as the cellar master at one of the Okanagan’s most well known wineries, Cedar Creek Estate.

Wineries and Cideries in BC are encouraged to contact Chelsey directly via email at cpeterson@cellartek.com or on her cell phone at 250-878-5957 for any inquiries regarding cellar•tek’s line of wine and cider making products. Customers can also look forward to meeting her in person as she begins her new position by visiting wineries across the province.

Awards 2015 Regional Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence For Viticulture and Winery Sustainability Certification The Grape Growers of Ontario are pleased to announce that their joint Viticulture and Winery Sustainability Certification project with the Wine Council of Ontario has been awarded one of fifty Regional Premier’s Awards for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence.

“It is a privilege to receive a Regional Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence,” says Bill George, Chair Grape Growers of Ontario.

“The award recognizes our ongoing commitment to grower innovation and sustainability.”

For over 90 years, Gusmer has offered a full range of innovative enological tools that enable your creative expression through unique and interesting wines. Equipment, analytical instruments and processing aids brought to you from leading suppliers in the wine industry, all backed by strong Gusmer technical support. The options for expression have never been greater and the tools have never been better – so go ahead, be unique, express yourself. For more information, contact Gusmer today.

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Chris Ballard, MPP Newmarket-Aurora, Debbie Zimmerman, CEO and Mary Jane Combe, Market Analyst, Grape Growers of Ontario.

“Ontario’s grape and wine industry is committed to enhancing its environmental performance by introducing an auditable certification program to formally recognize the sustainable practices adopted by its members,” says Debbie Zimmerman, CEO Grape Growers of Ontario.

The Viticulture Sustainability program recently launched through the GGO’s eGrape database system, when combined with the WCO’s Sustainable Winemaking Ontario Charter and thirdparty audits provides a “soil to shelf” package that will help sustain Ontario’s success on the world stage as consumers and wine connoisseurs embrace local, environmentally friendly products. The voluntary modules have been developed as educational tools as well as an opportunity for growers and wineries wishing to receive sustainability certification. The program recognizes that environmental stewardship; conscientious production, economic considerations and care for workers’ well-being are all important components to a sustainable industry. The Ontario Viticulture and Winery Sustainability Certification raises awareness of our industry’s commitment to the environment and provides an opportunity for Ontario’s wines to compete domestically and internationally. www.cdngrapes2wine.com

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The Revolutionaries Behind Wine’s Visionaries Canadian Grapes to Wine • Wnter 2015 Page 23

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