It’s a vintage year for Team Wine, after winning the trophy at Caps, Corks and Forks.
The sold-out event, which took place on the evening of Feb. 24 at the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake, challenged wine and beer students to come up with the best pairings to complement an elegant feast prepared by students from the School of Culinary Arts. It was 17th time students from the College’s wine program (Team Wine) faced off against students from the Brewmaster program (Team Beer). The winner was determined by votes cast by more than 200 guests for the best pairing to each dish – with a cap (beer) or a cork (wine).
Wine faculty Gavin Roberson, who co-led the wine team alongside winemaker Allison Findlay, was elated to win the trophy. He credited the hard work of Winery and Viticulture Technician students on the team who came up with incredible pairings and “delivered brilliant speeches that grabbed the audience.”
“The slim margin of victory shows that Team Beer was just as successful and deserve all the same credit,” he said. “At the end of the day this is a win for the entire division: a motivated and talented group of literally hundreds of NC students, faculty, support staff and managers pulled off our largest Caps, Corks and Forks to date, an experiential learning phenomenon like none other, and if I can gauge by the smiles of the crowd as they made their way home, it was a smashing success.”
Wines poured at the event included:
Course 1: 2017 NCTW Chardonnay Pet Nat; Estate/campus fruit, hand-picked with students, wild fermented and bottled down early to capture natural carbonation;
Course 2: 2019 Tawse Carley’s Block Riesling; sourced from a single acre of premium fruit in the 20-Mile Bench, beautiful fruit quality and acid-sugar balance;
Course 3: 2020 Stratus Cabernet Franc Rose; bright fruit with savoury and mineral undertones, matched perfectly with the salmon course;
Course 4: 2017 Creekside Broken Press Syrah; Structured, dense, complex and spicy red with a small proportion of Viognier skins co-fermented with the Syrah; and
Course 5: 2020 NCTW Dean’s List Fortified Cabernet Sauvignon; hand-picked estate fruit, fermented hot and fortified with neutral grape spirit that we made at the NC Teaching Distillery, then pressed off and aged for 3 years in 50% new American Oak, hand-bottled in the last month and not yet released to the public.
“This was a unique sneak peek for guests,” said Robertson.
The win broke the tie between Team Wine and Team Beer, who had eight wins each prior to this year’s event.
This was the first time culinary students have prepared the menu for the event as their final exam.
