CHCH Evening News broadcast this segment with news correspondent Sylvie Lendvay in the vineyard behind Niagara College’s Teaching Winery, where over sixty students and faculty bundled up to brave the early morning cold for the College’s annual grape harvest.
Lendvay explains, “This is the only program in the world that allows students to make ice wine,” referring to NC’s Winery and Viticulture Technician program in the Canadian Food and Wine Institute.
Lendvay interviews students as they harvest grapes, including program graduate Leah O’Shaughnessy, who explains the method of picking the grapes once temperatures have dropped. O’Shaughnessy says, “Ontario and Niagara specifically produce almost 80% of the world’s ice wine.”
Student Thomas Hartlen explains that the “extreme cold” in Niagara makes it the perfect place to produce ice wine.
Although temperatures didn’t drop quite far enough this winter to officially designate the grapes for icewine, professor Ron Giesbrecht explains that the grapes will still produce a premium product – a late harvest wine – which will be available for purchase at the Wine Visitor + Education Centre store in the months ahead.
Watch the January 9 news segment at this link.
