{"id":70355,"date":"2021-02-03T14:12:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T19:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=70355"},"modified":"2021-02-03T14:29:19","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T19:29:19","slug":"brock-students-learn-to-make-icewine-in-first-of-its-kind-co-op","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2021\/02\/brock-students-learn-to-make-icewine-in-first-of-its-kind-co-op\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock students learn to make Icewine in first-of-its-kind co-op"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not everyone appreciates chilly winter nights, but Niagara\u2019s recent cold snap was welcomed by Brock University students Claire Findlater and Mario Spinosa, as it allowed them to participate in their first-ever Icewine harvest.<\/p>\n

The third-year Oenology and Viticulture (OEVI) students are taking part in a first-of-its-kind Icewine co-op with Pillitteri Estates Winery, and they have been patiently waiting for temperatures to drop below \u20138 C so they could press the frozen grapes needed to make the specialty product.<\/p>\n

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Pillitteri Estates Winery, located in Niagara-on-the-Lake began their Icewine harvest last week, enlisting the help of Brock students participating in a unique co-op term.<\/p><\/div>\n

The co-op gives Brock students hands-on experience with all aspects of working on a Canadian Icewine harvest.<\/p>\n

Jamie Slingerland, Director of Viniculture for Pillitteri Estates, says the partnership between Brock and the winery is beneficial.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a resume-building perspective, working on a co-op at a renowned winery in Icewine is a tremendous opportunity; there\u2019s not too many students who are able to say they\u2019ve done that,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s also an honour to mentor these brilliant, hard-working students because they are the future and helping them learn means helping the future evolution of our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mario Spinosa, a third-year Oenology and Viticulture student, stands in front of a basket press during his co-op at Pillitteri Estates Winery.<\/p><\/div>\n

Pillitteri is one of the few wineries that has chosen to produce Icewine this year \u2014 allowing the students to also work on a rare vintage of the dessert wine.<\/p>\n

Much of Canada\u2019s Icewine sales is driven by tourism and duty-free shopping, which have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. With that in mind, some wineries with enough inventory to meet this year\u2019s demand decided to skip the Icewine harvest and focus more on table wines.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting to do something so special to Canada in such a whirlwind year has been a really cool way for us to get that hands-on industry experience,\u201d says Findlater. \u201cJamie is always so willing to help us with anything we need and there is so much experience and knowledge we are gaining from everyone we\u2019re working with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pillitteri, which is recognized internationally for its Icewine, has been partnering on research, outreach and student learning opportunities with Brock and the University\u2019s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

The winery is passionate about bringing on Brock students and worked with the Co-op, Career and Experiential Education office and Steven Trussler, CCOVI Senior Lab demonstrator and Academic Advisor for the OEVI program, to develop the Icewine co-op.<\/p>\n

The goal is to offer it to students every year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work together, hand-in-hand, to make industry connections, and present our students with amazing opportunities such as this,\u201d says Melissa Beamer, Brock\u2019s Manager, Talent Development and Engagement. \u201cWe are proud to be able to provide our students with great opportunities \u2014 especially during this challenging time \u2014\u00a0and we look forward to continuing this strong partnership and continuing to offer our students unique opportunities in this amazing industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

OEVI students take three co-op terms during their degree.<\/p>\n

Trussler says it allows them to apply what they\u2019ve learned in the classroom to a real-world setting, make important industry connections and see their work tangibly impact the local grape and wine industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis particular experience with Pillitteri also provides practical experience with a style of wine production that not all students will have when they graduate \u2014 which sets them apart when it\u2019s time to start looking for jobs,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

During their work term, the students will tackle everything from working in the field and understanding how the harvesting machinery operates, to crafting the wine itself and learning how it\u2019s promoted and sold in a retail environment.<\/p>\n

Spinosa and Findlater also completed prior co-op terms working in Pillitteri\u2019s vineyard last summer.<\/p>\n

They say the OEVI program offers flexibility to choose co-ops that appeal to their interests and they\u2019ve been able to gain a breadth of valuable learning experiences that will help them achieve their career goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis profession is both an art and a science and you really need to get the hands-on experience \u2014 which is what this co-op really gives you,\u201d says Spinosa. \u201cOur program has given us the ability to learn different things so we can choose what path to go on, and we\u2019ve been able to build a community of contacts in the industry to draw from in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not everyone appreciates chilly winter nights, but Niagara\u2019s recent cold snap was welcomed by Brock University students Claire Findlater and Mario Spinosa, as it allowed them to participate in their first-ever Icewine harvest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":70348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,9794,7,3319,41,1,4],"tags":[5050,61,703,855,3443,3353,6092,6119],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70355"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70360,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70355\/revisions\/70360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}