NC’s annual grape harvest received media coverage in Niagara This Week, in which sixty students in the Winery and Viticulture Technician program and faculty canvassed the vineyard at the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake in the early morning hours.
Audet writes that NC had hoped to harvest the grapes for icewine, but the weather forecast was too warm for that designation. Instead, the grapes will be transformed into a special select late harvest Vidal.
Professor Ron Giesbrecht explains that dealing with the climate is a teachable moment for students entering the wine industry. Giesbrecht is quoted, “This is all part of the business of making icewine and actually protects icewine and makes icewine, therefore, more special.”
Dean of NC’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute, Craig Youdale, was in the field with the crew for the 14th annual icewine harvest. Youdale says, “It never gets old for me. I actually do genuinely love it.”
Read the full January 10 story here.
