When Ontario’s modern-day wine industry began to grow in the mid-1970s, it wasn’t a surprise to find producers from old-world growing regions putting down roots in Niagara and sharing their knowledge.

Fifty years later, Patrick Teas is setting off on a journey that mirrors those industry pioneers, albeit in reverse, bringing Canadian skills to the Italian region of Tuscany — a place where some jest that wine is as old as water.

Teas is building his confidence as a winemaker through Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) and its professional and continuing studies course, Foundation in Winemaking.

“I have been a workaholic for 30 years, and my wife and I have always wanted a farm, so we decided to switch things up a bit,” he says. “Since we were young, we have been into wine as consumers, so we are going for it.”

Teas and his wife sold the family’s Toronto software business this summer. After an extensive search, the pair purchased a 0.6-hectare vineyard in a medieval village in Tuscany.

For centuries, the area has been known for its garnet red wines made from the Sangiovese grape, an earthy varietal known for its dark, rich cherry flavours.

For the next year, however, they will reside in the Alto Adige region of northern Italy while their new farmhouse is renovated.

“While I take the Foundations course, we will be up north surrounded by a region that traditionally grows a lot of great white wines and is a completely different wine region. Hopefully when we get down to Tuscany, we won’t mess it up,” says Teas.

His wife, Erin, already has experience with grape growing, adding to the couple’s confidence in becoming farmers and producers.

“My wife has always had a green thumb,” he says. “She spent a lot of her teenage years working in garden centres and recently completed a viticulture program.”

So, with his wife’s experience and an accreditation from Brock on the way, the couple is ready to take their next step.

Teas says the Brock Professional and Continuing Studies programming offered through CCOVI has allowed him to pursue his aspirations and get started on an exciting new chapter in his family’s life.

“I didn’t have time for a four-year program; that would have been a huge commitment,” he says. “But then I found CCOVI. Our daughter is already a student at Brock so there is a connection, and I thought that the course offered just what I needed. It is an accelerated and online remote course which is a perfect fit. Plus, it is fun to be Brock schoolmates with my daughter for a semester.”

CCOVI Director Debbie Inglis says students like Teas prove that Brock is a leader in creating Canadian-built world-class educational options suited to individuals’ needs.

“This is an example of how CCOVI’s expertise in professional and continuing studies is not only attracting learners from around the globe but also preparing them to share that knowledge internationally,” says Inglis. “It reflects the University’s priority to bring the world to Brock and to bring Brock to the world.”