Media releases

• Fizz Club on tour: Canadian sparkling winemakers are Italy bound

  Friday, June 15, 2018 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 14 June 2018 – R00126

  Fizz Club, a networking group for Canadian sparkling winemakers, is trading in its usual classroom meeting spot at Brock University for the scenic views of the Italian countryside next week.

  Thirty winemakers from four provinces will join Fizz Club organizer Belinda Kemp, a Senior Scientist in Oenology at Brock’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI), on a five-day technical tour of Italian sparkling wine facilities beginning June 25. The tour will connect the Canadian winemakers with their highly regarded colleagues and sparkling wine scientists in Franciacorta, Trentino and Conegliano.  

  “We are often able to get Ontario winemakers together but to have winemakers from British Columbia, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick join us is a great opportunity,” Kemp said. “Organized Fizz Club excursions like this give busy winemakers time and space to talk to each other and learn from their international colleagues.”

  To plan the tour, Kemp has been working with Niagara winemakers Craig McDonald, Vice-President of Winemaking at Andrew Peller Limited, and Elisa Mazzi, Assistant Winemaker at Malivoire Wine. 

  Fizz Club was created at Brock five years ago to provide the technical foundation for the growth of Canada’s sparkling wine industry. The network has an annual meeting where the latest CCOVI research is presented and gives winemakers the opportunity to exchange practical advice on all stages of production. 

  “Our region is really collegial among winemakers,” McDonald said. “We need to maintain and nurture that and Fizz Club is the greatest platform we have not only within Ontario but also nationally to do that.

  “We’re really happy and very fortunate to have a person of Belinda’s calibre involved in this. To not only have a winemaker with a PhD but to also have someone who really believes in the potential of the industry is exciting for the winemakers.”

  This marks the second time that Fizz Club has gone abroad. In 2016, Kemp led 26 Ontario winemakers on a technical tour of France’s Champagne region, where they gained insights from top producers and consultants. Mazzi was on that tour and is excited to now be showcasing her home country of Italy to her Canadian colleagues.

  “Champagne was a great opportunity for us to actually talk to winemakers, because when you just taste wine you don’t have an idea of what’s going on behind the scenes,” Mazzi said. “It’s important to understand their philosophy, see what their mentality is and what drove them to start their sparkling program.”

  As the winemakers prepare for Italy, the quality of Canadian bubbly is garnering international attention. Earlier this month, two Ontario wineries received Platinum medals with a score of 97 points for their sparkling at the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Kevin Cavanagh, Interim Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, Brock University kcavanagh@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5888 or 905-321-4310

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio. 

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock awarded $1.6 million in SSHRC funding in 2018

  Wednesday, June 13, 2018 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 13 June 2018 – R00125

  Scores of Ontario residents did something last week that may soon be a thing of the past: they lined up at polling stations, ballot in hand, ready to cast their vote to determine the next provincial government. 

  While elections will remain, the physical queues at polling stations may one day be replaced by online and telephone voting, the implications of which Brock political scientist Nicole Goodman and her colleagues are exploring in their research.

  Goodman is one of 11 researchers at Brock who were recently awarded Insight Grants of more than $1.1 million from the federal government’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). In addition, 16 students were awarded SSHRC student grants totalling $565,000, contributing to a $1.6 million Brock grand total.

  Examining select municipalities in the 2018 Ontario municipal elections, Goodman is studying how online and telephone voting impacts voter turnout, the composition of the voting population and residents’ attitudes towards local political institutions and representatives.

  This is a significant issue for Canada. Paper voting has been eliminated and replaced with either online voting or a combination of internet and telephone ballots in select Ontario and Nova Scotia municipalities, making them the only jurisdictions in the world to do so, she says.

  “Online voting is becoming more commonplace: people are using it, and we know little about the effects,” says Goodman. “Nobody knows what happens when you make elections fully electronic. This research will give academics and government officials a sense of what types of effects this policy change could have.”

  In addition to Goodman’s work, other examples of research funded through 2018 Insight Grants include:

  • Examining how people of all age groups can use physical activity as a tool to love and respect their physiques.
  • Reviewing young people’s reflections on early paid employment in Canada.
  • Exploring the economic consequences of ‘greenwashing.’
  • Looking at how to connect school science to local communities, promoting meaningful engagement for students.

  Brock Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon noted how the success rate for Brock researchers applying for Insight Grants was 55 per cent in this latest competition, up from 32 per cent last year.

  “I’m delighted by the wide range of research being funded,” says Kenyon. “This variety reflects the diverse interests and expertise of our researchers as we engage with the issues of our community, country and world.”

  Examples of student research funded through SSHRC grants include:

  • Examining perfectionism, social experience and mental health in adolescents.
  • Studying the history of the Anishinaabek peoples on Manitoulin Island.
  • Exploring make homosociality in team sports.
  • Looking at the creativity of children with reading disabilities.

  SSHRC’s Insight Grants program provides funding for three to five years for research that accomplishes a number of goals, including building knowledge and understanding, supporting new approaches to research and providing training experiences for students.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Maryanne Firth, Writer/Editor, Brock University maryanne.firth@brocku.ca, 905-688- 5550 x4420 or 289-241-8288

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases