Holding a lifetime experience of everything red and white, Niagara College winemaker and professor Terence Van Rooyen helps students go beyond the barrels in his work with Niagara Research.

Since coming to the College in 2007, Terence has participated in several ventures with the College’s Research and Innovation Division, including a three-year project on yeast genetics done in partnership with the University of British Columbia and the University of Guelph.

That project, taking place from 2007-09, researched the genetics of yeast when given certain nutrients during the fermentation process. Terence and his students produced wines that were used for the project, determining how the process was affected when nutrients were added prior to fermentation, as opposed to during.

“The researchers found some very interesting data that nobody had found before,” said Terence.

The winemaker at the Canadian Food and Wine Institute’s Niagara Wine Education Centre has also participated in other research projects, including testing wine coopered in Canadian Oak barrels and the creation of wines from dried grape concentrate.

Giving students the opportunity to test new horizons in the wine industry is the best part of doing research projects at Canada’s only Teaching Winery, he said.

Terence got his Master’s degree in Wine Science from Stellen Bosch University in South Africa before working at the university’s research institute. He then worked there as an associate professor before working in the private sector for KWV and Gilbey’s Distillers and Vintners.

In addition to working as the college’s winemaker, Terence does consulting services for the region’s massive grape and wine industry.