The ICCWS 2022 will welcome leading scholars in cool climate grape and wine research to speak at the conference, bringing their unrivalled knowledge and expertise to the symposium as invited speakers.
Please note that speakers are subject to change as the conference date approaches. Continue to monitor this page for updates.
Prof. Dr. Monika Christmann is a German oenology professor and the Head of the Department for Oenology and Wine Technology and Winery at the Hochschule Geisenheim University.
The author of numerous treatises on wine research and technology, she completed her BSc in Beverage Technology at the Wiesbaden University of Applied Sciences, followed by both a MSc degree in Oenology and PhD in Agricultural Sciences at the Justus Liebig University Giessen.
Christmann has served on the International Organisation for Vine and Wine (OIV) in various capacities since 1995, where she is now the Honorary President, and lectures in Oenology at the Hochschule Geisenheim University. She also applies her extensive wine knowledge by contributing to continuing professional training programs in countries around the world, including lecturing for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET).
Elizabeth Wolkovich is currently an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia and holds a Canadian Research Chair in Temporal Ecology. She completed her PhD in ecology at Dartmouth, followed by a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, San Diego and a Biodiversity Centre Fellowship at the University of British Columbia, after which she was an Assistant Professor in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. Wolkovich’s research focuses on how phenology shapes plants and plant communities. She is particularly interested in how climate change will affect different winegrape varieties, and how shifting varieties may help growers adapt to warming. Winegrape projects in her lab draw on collaborations and data from France, Switzerland, New Zealand, California and British Columbia.
Kerry Wilkinson is a Professor of Oenology at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. She teaches into the University’s Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology and Master of Wine Business programs and leads a productive wine science research group. Her primary research interests concern the flavour chemistry of grapes and wine: from the viticultural management of green characters to the improved utility of oak for wine maturation, and from consumer preferences for different styles of sparkling wine to applications of technology that enhance wine production and profitability. However, her most significant contribution to wine science is her research into the impact of vineyard exposure to bushfire smoke, which aims to address an issue that remains an ongoing challenge to grape and wine producers around the world.
Miguel A. Torres was born in Barcelona, where he studied Chemical Sciences for 1 year at the University of Barcelona. In 1959 he moved to the University of Dijon, where he specialised in Oenology and Viticulture. In 1992 during a sabbatical year, Miguel studied viticulture at the University of Montpellier.
Miguel joined the family business as a winemaker in 1962. Miguel is married to Waltraud Maczassek, his German wife who helped building up international markets. Together they have 3 children, of which 2 are working in the winery: Miguel as General Manager and Mireia as Manager of R&D&I, Manager of Jean Leon and President of the Familia Torres Foundation.
During his long career Miguel has travelled all over the world, visiting more than 50 countries. Currently he is the President of the company, President of the Spanish Wine Federation (FEV), which represents the Spanish winery industry and President of FIVIN (Foundation for Wine and Nutrition Research).
No one has done more to turn Icewine into Canada’s signature wine around the world than the founding partners of Inniskillin; Karl Kaiser and Donald Ziraldo. Fuelled by a passion for this exceptional wine style, and a pursuit of excellence, this innovator became a tireless global ambassador for Icewine. Partnering with top Sommeliers, wine writers and restaurants, Donald Ziraldo transformed Icewine into a world-renowned luxury brand. Donald continues his impact on the Canadian wine industry to this day. He was the Founding Chairman of the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) and in 2006, was appointed as the Chairman of the Canadian Horticultural Research and Innovation Center at Vineland by the Ministry of Agriculture.
In 1998, Donald received the Order of Canada; the highest tribute paid to its citizens.
In 1999, the National Post Magazine chose Donald as one of the top twenty-five Canadian CEO’s of the century. In 2008 Donald was awarded the Premio Masi by his peers in Verona, Italy, the Folio D’oro in Friuli, Italy in 2010. He sits on various Board of Directors including as Shaftsbury Films (Murdock Mysteries) and Genome Canada. Donald and Victoria are co-chairs of 2016 Niagara Leadership Campaign for United Way. Donald is the author of several books, including Icewine: Extreme Winemaking. With his Ziraldo label, Donald continues in his role as a global ambassador for Canadian Icewine creating another luxury Icewine Brand. A passionate skier, a collector of Art Deco. Donald, with wife Victoria and son Aspen (6 yr old) resides in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada.
Kimberly Nicholas is an Associate Professor of Sustainability Science at Lund University in Sweden. She studies how to manage natural resources to both support a good life today, and leave a thriving planet for future generations. In particular, her research focuses on sustainable farming systems that benefit both people and ecosystems, the wine industry under climate change, and linking research with policy and practice to support a zero-emissions society that she hopes to live to see. She nearly became a consultant to the California wine industry instead. She holds a BSc and PhD from Stanford University and MSc degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California-Davis.
Rachel B. Allison, PhD is a recent graduate from the Sacks Lab at Cornell University. Her doctoral research in wine flavor chemistry focused on the development of reduced off-aromas related to copper fining and canned wine formats. She received her undergraduate degree in Engineering Chemistry at Queen’s University and is a past recipient of NSERC Canada Graduate and Postgraduate Scholarships and the American Society for Enology and Viticulture President’s Award for Scholarship in Enology.
Dr Eveline Bartowsky is an Applied Microbiologist at Lallemand Oenology (Australia) and Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide. Eveline has a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Adelaide and over 30 years’ research experience. Currently she oversees all winemaking trials and R&D research projects with Universities and Research Institutes in Australia and New Zealand and works with the wine industry providing microbiological and fermentation technical support for the application of yeast and bacteria. Previously, Eveline was at The Australian Wine Research Institute as a Senior Research Microbiologist leading the wine bacterial research team and Manager of the AWRI Wine Microorganism Culture Collection. She has over 25 years’ experience in wine microbiology with research interests focused on wine bacteria and malolactic fermentation, wine aroma and flavour, and minimising wine spoilage by lactic acid and acetic acid bacteria.
Eveline is an Editor on three international microbiology journals: the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research, the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, and the Annals of Microbiology.
Stephanie Bolton leads the Grower Research, Education, & Communications initiatives for the Lodi Winegrape Commission, along with the LODI RULES program. Bolton provides targeted and daily support to Lodi winegrape growers in the areas of advanced grower education and outreach, marketing and promotions of the region’s diverse winegrapes, and – most notably – viticultural research and sustainability programming, including Lodi’s world-renowned LODI RULES sustainable winegrowing certification program. The Lodi AVA (CA Crush District 11) contains over 100,000 acres of grapevines, with a unique profile where new vineyard plantings exist alongside century-old vines, soil types range from sandy loam to volcanic terrain, and just about every trellising system invented is being used. In this dynamic region, Bolton’s role is key in facilitating effective networking and scientific communication for progressive winegrowing among the 750 farmers in the community – linking growers to the resources they need to farm to their full potential.
Dr. Amy Bowen is the Research Director of Consumer Insights at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Ontario, Canada. She oversees the operation of Vineland’s trained sensory and consumer research panels to understand the drivers that impact consumer preference and choice for horticultural products. Amy leads a team of researchers to create value-added results to inform breeding programs, brand development, new variety introductions, and commercialization. Amy has a BSc.H from the University of Guelph in Molecular Biology and Genetics and a PhD from Brock University in Biological Sciences with a specialization in Plant Science, Oenology and Viticulture. She is a certified sommelier through the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers and serves on the board of directors for the American Society of Enology and Viticulture – Eastern Section.
Daniel Brett works as the Technical Support Person for the Brock University Digital Scholarship Lab. He has a Bachelors degree in Interactive Arts and Science and is a certified Software Carpentry instructor. Half of his time in the Digital Scholarship Lab is spent working with researchers to develop tools and proficiencies and the other half is spent running workshops on a wide variety of digital tools. As someone with a penchant for the lighter and sweeter things in life, Daniel prefers a nice icewine in the summer and a lighter Rosé the winter.
Kelly Brown is the Executive Vice President, People, Legal & Corporate Affairs for Arterra Wines Canada Inc. Arterra is the leading wine producer in Canada with 8 wineries and such iconic brands as Inniskillin, Jackson-Triggs, Kim Crawford, and Robert Mondavi. Kelly is also the Chair of Wine Growers Canada. Prior to joining Arterra, Kelly was the Chief People, Legal & Corporate Affairs Officer for Molson Coors Canada.
Kelly received her law degree from Dalhousie University and her BA (Hon) from McGill University. Kelly is called to the bar of the Law Society of Upper Canada. In 2006, Lexpert named her one of Canada’s “Top 40 Lawyers under 40”. In 2012, Kelly went “undercover” for Molson on the popular television series “Undercover Boss Canada”.
In her spare time, Kelly serves on the Board of Canada Soccer. Originally from Montréal, Kelly now lives in Etobicoke with her husband and her daughter.
Lawrence’s exposure to the wine industry began right from his youth, where he spent a lot of time travelling overseas with his family. His father’s passion for wine coupled with his family travels gave him the opportunity to become exposed to wine regions around the world. After high school, he began studying chemical engineering in university. He realized, however, that he had a passion for wine, which led him to attend Algonquin College’s Sommelier Certificate program. Following this passion even further, he then transferred from engineering at University of Ottawa to Brock University, finishing his science degree in Oenology and Viticulture in 2003. After graduating, he joined Peller Estates, allowing him to become part of a large winemaking team, travel to other wine regions of the world including France, Chile, Argentina and Australia. He spent many years there, working with the company from 2003 to 2011.
From there, Lawrence made his way to Ontario’s Lake Erie North Shore work at Colio Winery from 2012 to 2015 before heading to Western Canada to work at Time Winery and Evolve Cellars in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley from 2015 to 2018. In March of 2018, he would bring his winemaking experience back home to Ontario, securing the Winemaker position at Henry of Pelham.
“Having the opportunity to work in and visit many different wine regions has allowed me to gain a better understanding of winemaking and create a network of colleagues internationally,” he said. “Although international travel has many benefits, working in Canada’s different wine regions has been the most exciting. Between Niagara, Lake Erie North Shore and the Okanagan, I have had the opportunity to work with amazing winemaking teams.”
Dr Dimitra Capone is an ARC Research Associate with the University of Adelaide’s ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production. She has more than 24 years of experience in the area of aroma and flavour chemistry and has co-authored more than 60 peer reviewed publications as well as numerous technical articles and book chapters. Dimitra has extensive experience in both targeted and untargeted methods for the analysis of many classes of volatile compounds and their precursors in grape and wine samples, using techniques such as GC and HPLC with MS detection. Methods are developed and used routinely for research and encompass groups of compounds arising from grapes, fermentation and ageing. These range from monoterpenoids including 1,8-cineole, norisoprenoids, ethyl esters, lactones, and oxidised compounds, to taints such as chloroanisoles and chlorophenols. Dimitra’s research has also involved some of the most analytically-challenging compounds, such as potent thiols associated with ’citrus’, ’grapefruit’, ’smoke’ and ’roasted coffee’ aromas in certain wine styles. Analytical approaches using GC-MS, GC-MS-Olfactometry, and HPLC-MS/MS have led to the identification of compounds deemed responsible for characteristic aroma attributes including ’plastic-like’ taints from various sources, and compounds important to ’green’ aroma in red wine. Continuing with her passion for wine chemistry, Dimitra is currently investigating drivers of the distinctive flavours in Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dr. Castellarin is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, and a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Viticulture and Plant Genomics. Dr. Castellarin’s research focuses on grape production, and how the climate affects grape ripening and quality. In 2009, he received the Rudolf Hermanns Prize (Geisenheim, Germany) for outstanding scientific achievements in horticulture and viticulture. Dr. Castellarin investigates the ripening processes in grapes and the biological mechanisms that determine grape and wine quality. Moreover, he studies how grape quality is affected by environmental factors (temperature and water). Dr. Castellarin is developing viticultural strategies (irrigation, crop management, hormone applications, leaf removal) to improve ripening and the production of phenolics and aromatics in grapes.
Michela Centinari is an Assistant Professor of viticulture at The Pennsylvania State University. She completed her PhD in viticulture at the University of Bologna, Italy, and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cornell University. Her research and extension programs focused on the effects of environmental factors and cultural practices on grapevine production and grape and wine aromas. She studies how low temperature stress, competition with cover crops, source-sink manipulation, and invasive pests impact grapevine physiology, health and wine quality.
H. Shawna Chen is an associate professor of entrepreneurship and the LCBO Spirit of Inclusion Initiative Research Scholar at Goodman School of Business, Brock University. Shawna received her Ph.D. from Texas Tech University under the supervision of Dr. Ronald K. Mitchell. Her research focuses on entrepreneurial mindset and action to empower the overlooked and underestimated, such as women, BIPOC, and members of LGBTQ2S+. Specifically, she examines the way in which we cooperate, innovate, pivot, and strategize are influenced by the ways we monitor progress and seek feedback. Her most recent project aims to identify the current equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) climate in the wine, beer, and spirits industry, as well as the barriers to enter and advance careers in the industry for women and visible minorities. Shawna’s research is funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada (2017-2019, 2020-2022) and the LCBO Spirit of Inclusion Initiative (2021-2024). Her research is published in Financial Times top 50 journals, such as Journal of Business Venturing.
Andrea Dal Cin is a winemaker and viticulturist. He has a Diploma in Oenology and Viticulture from Cerletti in Conegliano Treviso. He currently works as a Technical Director for Masi Agricola SPA Group, the leading producer of Amarone and Appassimento wines. Managing over 1.350 hectares of vineyards located in best areas of Valpolicella, Bardolino and Soave in Classica region, Veneto, Friuli. Also Trentino Alto Adige with Cantina Conti Bossi Fedrigotti, in Valpolicella Classica and Toscana with Serego Alighieri and in Argentina with Masi Tupungato SA. Since 2017, he has worked with Canevel Spumanti SPA one of the best producers of Prosecco Superiore di Valdobbiadene. Andrea is part of International Organization of Wine and Vine (OIV) as the Technology Expert, and wine evaluation for the commission of Trentino and Veneto as one of the Presidents. Andrea is also a member of the Association of Italian Oenologists.
Scott D’Cunha is a seasoned marketing and ecommerce executive with over twenty-five years of experience in delivering ambitious visions and executing plans across multiple industries, and leading people to work together to deliver exceptional results. In addition to marketing and ecommerce, Scott’s expertise extends across strategic market planning, business development and customer acquisition, and loyalty and retention management.
Scott is the Vice President, eCommerce, of the LCBO, with responsibility for building out and growing their online channel and digital capabilities in Ontario and has grown the channel by over $100M in the last 2 years. Prior to joining the LCBO, Scott led Staples’ commercial marketing and commerce functions in Canada, building an industry award-winning team and managing the P&L for Staples’ online business – doubling online revenues over his tenure to create one of the largest online businesses in Canada. Previously Scott spent almost five years consulting with Capgemini, a major multi-national consulting organization, focusing on delivering Strategy & Transformation projects across the retail, government, energy, lottery and entertainment sectors, specifically in the areas of Marketing and Merchandising. Prior to consulting, Scott worked for well-known retailers, Marks & Spencer and Bata International. Through his career, Scott has worked across North America and Europe, and has a strong global perspective.
Scott received his BA (Hons) in Economics from Lancaster University in the UK, and his MBA from the Schulich School of Business, York University. Scott also holds a Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic Marketing and a Diploma in Digital Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK), and is an accredited Chartered Marketer in both the UK (CIM) and in Canada (CMA). Scott has also completed courses with the Schulich School of Business in Leading Sustainable Strategic Change, and Creating Extraordinary Customer Service and Client Marketing Strategies. He is also a desired speaker on the topics of Customer Loyalty, Customer Experience, Digital Transformation and Strategic Marketing.
Scott resides in Oakville, Ontario with his wife and three children, and enjoys travelling, watching soccer (a die-hard Liverpool supporter), playing tennis, reading classical history and listening to 1980’s British pop music. Scott is currently the Vice Chair of Tree Canada, the only national non-profit organization dedicated to planting and nurturing trees in rural and urban environments, and is on the CX Advisory Council for the Canadian Marketing Association. He has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Oakville Literacy Council and the Canadian Office Products Association and regularly volunteers with Junior Achievement.
Dr Roberta De Bei is a research fellow in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine of the University of Adelaide where she moved after completing a PhD in viticulture at the University of Padova, in Italy. In over a decade at the University of Adelaide, Roberta has worked on various projects including the physiology of water stress, near infrared applications, carbohydrate metabolism, vine balance and digital/precision technologies for information-driven vineyard management. She is the co-inventor of VitiCanopy, an image-based App to measure grapevine canopy size and assess vineyard variability in real time. Roberta is currently working on improving and expanding digital techniques into innovative tools for growers and viticulture practitioners which will assist in better management of vineyards across Australia.
Although it was in University that Katie found her passion for wine, she always knew she would be working in the field of Agriculture. Growing up on a farm she had a strong appreciation for the land and a love for the excitement of harvest, so it was a perfect match when she found wine through a course within the Food Science program at the University of Guelph. A first vintage in Ontario led to many more travelling and making wine overseas. With time spent in world class vineyards in the Okanagan, New Zealand and France, Katie returned home to Ontario and joined Peller Estates as winemaker in 2012. Upon returning to Peller, Katie has focused on elevating wine quality through viticulture management and has taken on a greater role managing Vineyard Operations for Andrew Peller Limited nationally. With vineyards in the Similkameen, Okanagan and Niagara, Andrew Peller is committed to practical improvements and greater understanding of site specific terroir with the goal of reflecting the style of each site in the fruit it produces.
Steve Dorling is Professor of Meteorology and Director of Innovation in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA), UK. Steve’s expertise is in applied meteorology and climatology, understanding how weather and climate variability lead to risks and opportunities in the energy, food and drink sectors. He is also Chief Executive Officer at Weatherquest Ltd, a private company supporting a wide range of businesses since 2001 in risk management relating to weather and climate.
Steve is a member of WineGB’s R&D group and he recently led UEA’s contribution to the CREWS-UK project – Climate Resilience in the English Wine Sector – funded by Research Councils UK. CREWS project findings were featured in the recently published Third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment. Working with Dr Alistair Nesbitt, Steve has published three recent papers charting the growth, suitability and future prospects for UK viticulture.
Janet Dorozynski has had a two decade long, multi-faceted career working in and with the international and Canadian wine industry. After teaching and completing a PhD at Concordia University in Montreal, Janet became fascinated by all things wine (and beer, spirits, cider and food), first while living and working in Brussels and then while working with Wines of South Africa in Stellenbosch, where she decided to pack in the books and papers to pursue a career in the wine industry. Since returning to Canada in 2001, she has worked in international business development, marketing, media and public relations and as an educator at Niagara and Algonquin Colleges. She currently divides her time between her day job as trade commissioner for Canadian wine, beer and spirits at Global Affairs Canada where she works with the Canadian industry on export initiatives and manages a programme to assist Canadian embassies around the world with purchasing and serving Canadian wine, beer and spirits. Janet is regularly invited to speak and present at academic and industry conferences, trade events and masterclasses and is a WSET Diploma holder, WSET certified educator and a Professional Affiliate of Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI). On her own time, Janet has been reviewing, writing, travelling to wine regions and judging at competitions in North and South America, Europe and Asia for over two decades. She is currently a writer and judge at Wine Align, the wine columnist for Luxe Magazine Ottawa and has written and consulted for The World Atlas of Wine, Gismondi on Wine, Vines Magazine and an early Canadian online publication and TV series WineTelevision.com.
Born and raised in the Mosel valley in Bernkastel-Kues, Ulrich Fischer graduated from the University of Applied Sciences in Geisenheim with a degree in Viticulture and Enology, he continued his education in the graduate program of UC Davis. Working with Ann C. Noble he studied the impact of ethanol on the temporal perception of bitterness and astringency and on the modification of individual saliva flow of judges. He joined the food chemistry institute of Ralf. G. Berger at the University of Hannover. His PhD project focussed on the impact of dealcoholization on the sensory properties and composition of aroma compounds. In 1995 Dr. Fischer was employed at the state teaching and research center in Neustadt and is involved in research, teaching and consulting and chairing the viticulture and enology department. In 1997 he started teaching at the University of Kaiserslautern, which awarded him a honorary professorship in 2003. Since 2009 he teaches at the University of Gastronomic Sciences at Pollenzo, Piemonte Italy enology and wine Technology in the Master Program for International Food Culture and Communication. their sensory impact and how they can be altered by enological means. In 1997 he started his teaching at the University of Kaiserslautern, which awarded him a honorary professorship in 2003. Since 2009 he has taught at the University of Gastronomic Sciences at Pollenzo, Piemonte Italy enology and wine Technology in the Master Program for International Food Culture and Communication. their sensory impact and how they can be altered by enological means. In 2009 Prof. Fischer acted as the founding director of the newly established dual B.Sc. program for viticulture and enology at the WineCampus in Neustadt. His current research includes Riesling, microoxygenation of red wines, the cause of bitterness in white wine, measurement of grape-derived aroma precursors by FT-IR analysis as well as sensory changes induced by partial dealcoholization.
Marc was born and raised in the grape growing region of Alsace in France. He received his Master’s and PhD degrees from the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg. He then worked on grape viruses at INRA in Colmar, France before joining the Department of Plant Pathology at Cornell University. His program emphasizes translational research on virus diseases. Primary research goals are to (i) investigate the nature of virus populations to better understand disease spread, (ii) elucidate the interface between viruses, their vectors, and plant hosts to characterize pathogenicity and spread, and (iii) explore innovative approaches for disease management. Extension efforts of the Fuchs program focus on the identification of emerging virus diseases, and the dissemination of information on the biology and ecology of virus diseases.
Peter Gamble’s firm has been dedicated to providing a broad range of expertise to prestige wineries in their start-up phase — from viticultural establishment and winemaking to winery processing designs and marketing strategies. A professional winemaker for the first decade of his career, as well as a recognized international wine taster and educator, Gamble then became the founding Executive Director of the Vintners Quality Alliance, first for Ontario then nationally. In this capacity, Gamble spearheaded the industry’s first push for national and international recognition as a premium wine-producing region. Returning to winemaking and winery consultation in 2000, Gamble has since acted as lead consultant for the establishment of a number of Canada’s most reputed wineries. Stratus Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake was the first winery to achieve full LEED accreditation and is heralded as one of the world’s most oenologically sophisticated facilities; Benjamin Bridge is a top-end winery in Nova Scotia whose classic sparklings have been hailed by several top wine writers as Canada’s finest; Ravine winery in St. Davids, and Lightfoot & Wolfville — Demeter certified and thrice consecutively awarded Winery of the Year at the Atlantic Canadian Wine Awards. In addition to several other current prestige start-ups, Gamble, with his winemaking consultant wife, Ann Sperling, co-own and operate a vineyard/winery project in both Mendoza , Versado, a high altitude 1920 Malbec planting, and in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley,- Sperling Vineyards.
In 2019, Gamble was presented with the inaugural ’Karl Kaiser Winemaker Emeritus Award for Outstanding Services to the Canadian Wine Industry’ and, previously, in 2000, he was honoured as the inaugural recipient of the Tony Aspler Award for contributions to the Ontario wine industry.
Denise Gardner is the founder and wine consultant of Denise Gardner Winemaking (DG Winemaking). Denise provides focused consulting and educational services that improve wine production efficiency, quality, and marketability. With virtual convenience, educational tools are available to all clients in the DGW Community, which help minimize stress and uncertainty in the cellar. She assists wineries by developing fermentation plans that optimize quality, providing effective wine processing decisions in real time, assisting with compliance, and crafting wines with intention. Denise’s passion and enthusiasm for wine began at age 16 where she started growing wine grapes in high school, and spent those early years enrolled in viticulture extension programs while working for local wineries. She has a B.S. in Food Science from Penn State University with a minor in Horticulture (2007), a M.S. in Food Science and Technology from Virginia Tech University (2009), the Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) accreditation from the Society of Wine Educators (2013), and the Level 3 certification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET, 2015). She was the 2017 American Society of Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) – Eastern Section chair, which provides current, research-driven information to the regional wine industry and viticulture and enology student scholarships.
A native of the Loire Valley in France, J-L Groux studied winemaking both at the College de Beaune in Burgundy and at the University of Bordeaux. He subsequently traveled the globe to learn more about the world’s wine regions and styles of winemaking – a journey that eventually brought him to the Niagara region in the early 1980s. Drawn to the ideal, natural grape-growing climate of the Niagara Peninsula and intrigued by how different it was from the vineyards in the Loire Valley, J-L Groux joined Hillebrand Estates in 1989. At Hillebrand, Groux seized the opportunity to experiment with grape varieties, winemaking techniques and wine growing practices within the rebirth of the Canadian wine industry.
In 2004, J-L joined Stratus Vineyards, Niagara’s ultrapremium and world’s first fully LEED® certified winery, as the Director of Winemaking. At Stratus, J-L is renowned for his passion for creating distinctive wines based on the principle of assemblage – the art of crafting several different grape varieties to produce a wine that is the most complex expression of the vineyard’s terroir. The wines of Stratus have set the highest standard for quality and continue to impress both critics and consumers alike.
J-L lives in Niagara-on-the-Lake with his wife Béatrice and and has two children Gaëlle and Corwan attending university. Beyond his dedication to wine and family, he is a global traveler, culture buff and volunteers for Amnesty International.
Jim Handman is Executive Director of the Science Media Centre of Canada. Before joining the SMCC in 2017, he spent 17 years as Executive Producer of the award-winning CBC Radio science program, Quirks & Quarks. During that time, Jim won numerous prizes for science journalism, including the prestigious Walter Sullivan Award from the AGU. He has also taught broadcast journalism at Ryerson University, was Science-Writer-in-Residence at the Journalism School of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was the CanWest-Global Fellow in Media at Western University, where he taught a graduate seminar in science journalism. Jim is a frequent speaker on the topic of science and the media, and also conducts training workshops in communications for scientists in Canada and the US. He most recently gave his SciComm presentation to science graduate students at McGill, Western, and McMaster Universities.
Jennifer’s love affair and studies with wine started over 20 years ago by taking an interest course at the local college in wine studies. From there, she immediately leapt into the Sommelier Certification from ISG graduating top of class, then Diploma of Wine from WSET, followed by the Advanced and finally the Master Sommelier Exams-becoming Canada’s first female Master Sommelier in 2011 graduating in Dallas Texas.
Her restaurant industry is vast, starting off in Toronto Restaurants a few decades ago is where she found wine. Jennifer has also worked for Canadian owned Cliff Lede Vineyards based in Napa Valley, and for 7 years ran one of Canada’s top wine programs at MLSE in Toronto, spanning over 6 restaurants and overseeing a multi-million dollar beverage program, while mentoring the properties 11 Sommeliers. Jennifer most recently was employed with California based Jackson Family Wines representing their brands throughout Canada. Jennifer is now writing a book on plant based food & wine matching and feels that this is the next huge wine trend and also is a curator for the popular Gargoyle wine club which sells wine across Canada.
Jennifer has been integral in the Canadian and Ontario Sommelier Competitions, overseeing all technical aspects for the past several years and also assisting on the Canadian Competitions. She is also an active teacher with the Court of Masters, and mentors several Advanced and Master Sommelier Candidates throughout Canada. Jennifer sits on the Board of Directors for Guild Somm and has helped popularize the site and membership throughout Canada and spends a percentage of her work week giving back to the wine community.
Dr. Inglis is currently the Director of Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) and one of the core research scientists within the institute. She attained her BSc and PhD in Biochemistry from McMaster University, graduating in 1995. After three years in the biotechnology industry, she joined Brock as a faculty member in 1999 teaching wine chemistry, wine microbiology and metabolic biochemistry in the oenology and viticulture undergraduate program. Her research focuses on priority areas of the Canadian grape and wine industry for premium wine production including new emerging wine styles for Ontario such as appassimento wines; Icewine fermentation and factors affecting Icewine quality; factors affecting the grapevine biochemical responses responsible for cold hardiness; grapevine diseases and detection diagnostics; optimizing tannin in red wine production and reducing green flavours in cool climate wines. She took on the directorship of CCOVI in 2008 and under her leadership, research outputs from the institute are now assessed at contributing an annual economic impact of $91 million to the Ontario economy. Debbie has been involved in the grape and wine industry her entire life as her family were grape growers in the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario. She herself is a second generation grape grower and was crowned Grape King for Ontario in 2010 based on vineyard excellence. She and her husband Rob still run their own vineyard in Niagara on the Lake.
There are many things that Jason James loves about making wine. From the organized chaos of crush to tasting barrel samples and tweaking his final blends, the winemaker at Black Sage Vineyard enjoys the entire process. James discovered his passion for the grape after receiving an Honours degree in Biology at the University of Guelph and his Certificate in Oenology and Viticulture in 2001 from Brock University in his home province of Ontario.
In 2004, James became winemaker for both Thomas & Vaughan and Eastdell Estates with a production of 12000 cases. The West was calling though. “I was keen to experience winemaking in British Columbia,” says James. “I knew about the climate and growing conditions. Sumac Ridge’s reputation is known throughout Canada, so I jumped at the chance to join the team in 2005.” James took over the reins of Sumac Ridge in 2010, the year that Black Sage Vineyard launched under its own label. “It was an exciting process to see the transformation of something that had always been a part of Sumac to stand on its own. It focuses the consumer’s attention on wines that maybe they hadn’t explored in the past. The wines from Black Sage had always been great – I wanted to take them to the next level.”
Since heading up the cellar, James has worked to improve upon every vintage. “It’s still a thrill: the promise of a vintage even better than the last; the chance to change the style, or to improve from last year’s triumphs.” James is excited about this next chapter for Black Sage Vineyard. “The vineyard has some of the oldest plantings of late ripening grapes in the valley. I’ve just been so impressed with the quality of fruit that the Black Sage Vineyard delivers every year.”
Born and raised in the Niagara Peninsula, Suzanne’s passion for agritourism took root during her first job as a teenager at Kurtz Orchards. Intrigued by the many Asian clients she met there, Suzanne spent three years working in Japan and Korea after completing her degree in Business Communications. The evolution of Niagara’s wine and culinary scene drew her back home in the mid 90’s and since that time, she has dedicated her career to growing the region’s wine industry. Suzanne spent several years as Director of Tourism Marketing at Chateau des Charmes where she developed the winery’s visitor, travel trade and events program. A decade later, she joined the opening and present-day management team at Stratus Vineyards. In her current role as Estate Director, Suzanne oversees Stratus’ retail operations, digital efforts, hospitality programs, media and public relations as well as product, packaging, sustainability and partnership initiatives. Respected throughout the industry for her thorough understanding of Niagara’s wine evolution, progressive approach and global vision, Suzanne actively participates on numerous industry committees and boards. She has served as Board Chair for the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership ’Touring’ Committee, Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake and the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration. When she’s not at the winery, Suzanne can be found on her yoga mat or happily sharing life’s adventures, culinary, cultural and otherwise, with her two young sons, Ellis and Félix.
Annamma Joy is professor of Marketing at the Faculty of Management, UBC. Her research spans the domains of art, fashion and fine wines. She is an expert on luxury brand management and more recently has added fine wines to her repertoire of brands to study. She has received several grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to do research on wine. She has won several awards for her research, the most recent being the Louis Vuitton and Singapore Management university award (second place) for best paper at the Luxury Brand conference in 2018 . Her work has been published in the Journal of Consumer research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Business Research, Consumption, market and Culture, Journal of Consumer Culture, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Arts and the Market, Tourism Recreation Research and the Journal of Wine Research. She has several chapters in Handbooks of Consumption and Marketing. She is currently editing a trilogy on the related topics of artification, sustainability and digitalization in art, fashion and wine. The first one has just been published in 2022. The other two will follow in 2023. She has also completed level three WSET wine education and received certification for the same.
Magdalena has been in the wine industry almost her entire life. She began working at Inniskillin Wines as a young teen and bottled wine with co-founder and father Karl Kaiser at the age of five. With over 35 years’ experience in wine, culinary tourism and communication strategy both domestically and internationally, she brings passion and expertise to the industry she loves. A lifelong promoter of local wine, she is now the Director of PR at the Wine Marketing Association of Ontario where she proudly showcases VQA Wines of Ontario wine to top media and trade from home and abroad. WSET certified and currently enrolled in the Master of Wine program.
Markus Keller is the Chateau Ste. Michelle Distinguished Professor of Viticulture at Washington State University’s Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in the Pacific Northwest. He received his MS in plant science and PhD in natural science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich and has conducted viticulture research and taught in North and South America, Europe, and Australia. His research focuses on environmental factors and management practices as they influence crop physiology of wine and juice grapes. He is the author of the textbook “The Science of Grapevines” and currently serves as the science editor for the two journals of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture.
Kathy Kelley is a Professor of Horticultural Marketing and Business Management at The Pennsylvania State University. She teaches a Retail Horticultural Business Management course and her research interests include studying consumers’ wine consumption and purchasing attitudes and behaviors, wine tourism and what encourages tasting room visits, and related. She also has extension responsibilities that include developing business and marketing educational programs for wine brands and winery tasting rooms.
Jennifer Kelly is a post-doctoral fellow at the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) at Brock University. She completed her PhD in Biotechnology in 2019 at Brock University, with a research focus on optimizing appassimento wine style in a cool climate wine region. She is currently working on a project to improve the aromatic profile and quality of Vidal table wine, a widely planted hybrid grape variety in the Niagara region, utilized for Icewine production. Kelly was awarded the American Wine Society Educational Foundation Cleveland, Ohio Chapter Scholarship and the 2018 President’s Award from the American Society for Enology and Viticulture. She was a recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship in 2017 and of the Cuvee Graduate Scholarship in 2016, 2017 and 2019. She has published original research articles in oenology, flavour and fermentation journals. Kelly earned degrees in Natural Sciences (BSc) and Psychology (HBSc) from Lakehead University, in her hometown of Thunder Bay, ON in 2009. She also graduated from the Wine and Viticulture Technician program at Niagara College in 2012. Her winemaking experience extends from Niagara (Stratus Wines and Flat Rock Cellars) to the Barossa Valley in Australia (Two Hands Wines). Driven by a passion of researching human behaviour and wine science, Dr. Kelly is interested in working within the wine and grape research sector with a focus on consumer behavior and sensory science.
Belinda Kemp is currently the Senior Staff Scientist in Oenology at CCOVI, Brock University, Ontario, Canada and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Biological Sciences. Belinda gained her PhD in 2010 at Lincoln University, New Zealand studying Pinot noir tannin, flavour and sensory characteristics of wine. As well as a scientist, Belinda has gained practical winemaking in commercial wineries in New Zealand and the UK. Her research focuses priority areas of the Canadian grape and wine industry for premium wine production including: red wine tannins, optimum conditions for Maillard Reaction in sparkling wine, influence of yeast nutrients on sparkling wine flavour, off-flavours in wines, and the impact of sugar and dosage solutions on sparkling wine flavour and aging. She currently organises FIZZ Club for Ontario sparkling winemakers to disseminate research results and serves on the Vintners Quality Alliance – Ontario (VQA-O) Wine Standards Development Committee and the VQA-O sparkling wine regulations committee. Belinda is thrilled to be presenting the “Great Chardo Swap” wines at ICCWS 2022, the culmination of three years of collaboration with twelve Niagara wineries.
Paul Kilmartin gained a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Auckland in 1997. He is currently a Professor at the same university, where he established a postgraduate Wine Science programme in 2003. His research focuses on electrochemical sensors, the use of grape marc as antioxidants in active packaging, winemaking effects on Pinot noir phenolic profiles, in addition to the influence of harvesting methods and storage conditions on Sauvignon Blanc and other white wine aroma profiles. This research has engaged around 70 MSc and PhD students and has appeared in over 200 referred publications. Paul is an Associate Editor for the journals Food Chemistry, and the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research.
Florine Livat has received her PhD. in Economics in 2005. Her field is Agricultural Economics and her works focus on markets in an information asymmetry context, especially wine markets. She studies reputation, expertise, and prices. Member of the American Association of Wine Economists, she has also contributed to create the research group ’Bordeaux Wine Economics’. She has published academic articles in several journals: Economic Modelling, Food Policy, Applied Economics, Journal of Wine Economics, Economie et Prévision, Journal of Marketing Management, Applied Economics Letters, Economics Bulletin, Wine Economics and Policy, International Journal of Wine Business Research, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business. Florine worked several years as an economic analyst in the wine sector before joining Kedge Business School in 2006. During the 2018-19 academic year, she was a visiting scholar at Cornell University. She is currently an Associate Professor of economics at Kedge Business School in Bordeaux, France.
Elsa is the sixth Canadian and second female in Canada to achieve the title of Master of Wine. She holds an undergraduate degree from Ryerson University in Toronto and a Master of Science in Telecom from Syracuse, New York. Since her 2003 major career shift from Management Consulting in Telecom and Financial Services, Elsa has worked in the wine trade in sales, marketing and education roles. Elsa serves on the national board for the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers and is certified by the same body. Elsa also works with several wine schools in Canada delivering WSET diploma and other master classes. Elsa has extensively traveled the wine world and her Master of Wine final research paper was titled “Consumer Opinion of Apassimento Style Wines from Niagara Peninsula”.
Dr. Greg MacNeill, completed his PhD in molecular and cellular biology at the University of Guelph studying plant metabolism, and is now a business development specialist with Mitacs, co-funded with Brock’s Office of Research Services. Prior to his PhD, he worked as an environmental consultant in a research-based start-up, focused the remediation of petroleum impacted soils.
Paula Martins-Lopes was born in Canada and has a degree in Agriculture Engineering (1996), a M.Sc. degree in Genetic Resources and Plant and Forestry Breeding (1999), a Ph.D. in Genetics (2006) and a Habilitation in Comparative Molecular Genetics (2019) from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. Both her M.Sc. and Ph.D. research was carried out in collaboration with the Cereals Department of the Cambridge Lab, John Innes Centre in Norwich, U.K. At present, Paula Martins-Lopes is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Portugal. Her research has focused on food authenticity, specifically wine and olive oil, using molecular markers on PCR and Biosensor platforms and, crop biotic and abiotic stresses. Paula is author/co-author of 48 full papers published SCI journals, 4 patents, 6 book chapters and more than 100 abstracts at conferences. Her work has been granted several awards, among them an OIV nomination in 2016 in Oenology category for her participation in a book (edited by Curvelo-Garcia and Barros) and in 2018 was awarded the 1st place for the CNOIV innovation award for her wine authenticity work.
Melanie McBride is an adjunct professor and postdoctoral researcher with Ryerson University’s Responsive Ecologies Lab and founder of the ’Aroma Inquiry Lab.’Dr. McBride has undertaken site-specific research of aroma culture in France, the US and Canada to investigate the selection and use of raw, living and processed aroma materials as resources for ’inquiry-based’ learning, making, communicating and cultural mediation. Departing from dominant sensory-perceptual and scientific paradigms, Dr. McBride’s emphasis on knowing through making reflects her pedagogical focus on ’informal’ learning, as distinct from formal and discipline-specific traditions of educating.
Eddie McDougall is an award-winning winemaker, chairman of the Asian Wine Review, wine critic and TV personality behind The Flying Winemaker, one of Asia-Pacific’s most dynamic wine brands. In 2018 he was presented the prestigious Young Achiever of the Year award by the drinks business. Passionate about bringing rosé wines to the masses, Eddie in 2011 had brought to life Asia’s largest rosé festival, the Rosé Revolution. With his immense contribution to growing the Rosé category Asia-Pacific, Eddie has now become a leading voice and technical adviser on rosé production and its commercial development across multiple markets.
Eddie holds a Bachelor of International Business from Griffith University, Australia and a Post Graduate Diploma of Wine Technology and Viticulture from the University of Melbourne. In 2013, Eddie was one of only 12 elite wine professionals selected for the Len Evans Tutorial, regarded as the world’s most esteemed wine judging program.
With over 15 years of winemaking experience, Eddie has worked with some of the most influential wineries in the New and Old World including the likes of Vietti, Mas de Daumas Gassac, Giant Steps, Deep Woods Estate and Silver Heights. In 2010, the young winemaker took his first step as a young entrepreneur, creating his Australian wine brand, Eddie McDougall Wines. 2018 brought on new and exciting challenges for Eddie as a winemaker as his business acquired a wine estate by the name of Gladstone Vineyard, located in the Wairarapa, New Zealand. Gladstone Vineyard is one of the country’s most established producers of Pinot Noir which dates back to 1986. When not spending time hanging out with his lovely wife Freddie and sons Hugo and Benji, Eddie is madly obsessed by all things related to rugby union.
Glenn McGourty is the County Director and Winegrowing and Plant Science Advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension Offices in Lake and Mendocino County. He received an AB degree in Botany from Humboldt State University in 1974, and an MS degree in Plant Soil and Water Science from the University of Nevada Reno in 1979. He worked for the University of Nevada Reno Cooperative Extension as an urban horticulturist in Las Vegas from 1979 to 1981. He also taught at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Department of Environmental Horticulture, as an instructor from 1983 to 1985 teaching plant materials, diseases and pests of ornamental plants and nursery practices. Glenn joined UC Cooperative Extension in 1987, and conducts an applied research and education program for wine grape growers, wineries, nurseries, landscapers and vegetable growers. He is known for his work on alternative farming systems, cover crops and Mediterranean wine grape cultivars. He lives with his wife Jan in an old farm house that they have restored on a 16 acre ranch along the Russian River where he has a small vineyard planted to the Italian white variety ’Arneis’, and the Rhone white cultivars ’Viognier’, ’Marsanne’, and ’Roussanne.’
Marianne is a Senior Lecturer in Oenology at Stellenbosch University (SU), with a passion for teaching and learning (T&L), and the mysterious art and science of wine aroma. She has a BSc in chemistry and geography from University of Cape Town (UCT), an MSc (Agric) and a PhD in Oenology from SU. In her early career, she worked as an analytical chemist at UCT, specializing in ICP and HPLC. She worked in the UK as an operations manager in clinical trials and validation services for pharmaceutical companies, returning to oenology and academia as a lecturer at Plumpton College, Brighton in 2000. She became interested in T&L at Plumpton, and achieved a PGCE while working there. She returned to South Africa in 2007 and has been at SU since then. Marianne’s research has taken her into some varied territory, from volatile phenol interactions and smoke taint in wine to decolonial learning methodologies and sensory evaluation. Her T&L research now has a strong focus on engaged T&L and transformation and decoloniality in science. She has published in oenology and T&L, and is recognized for her contributions in both fields. She has won a number of teaching related awards and fellowships.
Eugene Mlynczyk’s love of wine began in California while studying at Stanford University, where he earned his BA in Painting and Drawing (and later his MFA in Painting at Indiana University). Eugene’s interest in wine grew further after his return home to Toronto, Canada, inspired by the emerging local Niagara region. Eugene started studying wine in earnest in the late 1990s and launched a new career in the wine trade in 2001 while he was also completing his WSET Diploma with Honours. Eugene’s work role is National Sales Manager for the Principle Fine Wines team at Arterra Wines Canada, where he oversees four team members selling a global range of Luxury Wines across the country. With the support of many, Eugene became a Master of Wine in 2015, and is currently one of only six MWs in Canada. Eugene was presented with the Robert Mondavi Winery Award for the most outstanding performance across all the theory papers. His Research Paper topic was on local VQA Sparkling Wines, mirroring one of his specific wine passions. When not tasting and talking about wine, Eugene focuses on family activities, and can often be found running in the woods competing in his favourite sport, orienteering.
Born and raised in Fergus, Ontario, Shiraz entered the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University and was a member of its first graduating class in 2000. In the fall of that year, Shiraz joined the staff of the Malivoire Wine Company, a new winery on the Beamsville Bench recognized for raising the bar of Ontario wine with innovative methods, as Assistant Winemaker. He became Winemaker in 2005 and has embraced Malivoire’s founding philosophy: a winery’s excellence begins with healthy soil and vines. Shiraz continues to design and identify sustainable wine growing practices in Ontario, respecting each vintage as a unique event. Shiraz believes that the Niagara Peninsula is still defining its terroir, and he is determined, with each succeeding vintage, to contribute to that definition. Shiraz also owns a small Beamsville Bench vineyard, purchased in 2003, where he and his wife Isa live and farm three hectares of chardonnay and pinot noir. When not on the tractor or walking Rudy the dog, he can be found with his three children; biking, skating on the frozen pond or roasting marshmallows over a bonfire.
Alistair is a Viticulture Climatologist with significant expertise in how weather and climate interface with wine production, globally. He holds a PhD in viticulture and climate science and a BSc and Master’s degree in Viticulture & Oenology. Alistair lectures internationally on viticulture – climate relations, consults to new vineyards, governments and the global wine industry, and draws on 20-years’ experience to help UK wine production businesses establish and operate sustainably. Alistair began his career in 1998 working in vineyards in Western Australia and New Zealand and has subsequently worked in France, Switzerland, Germany, China, Georgia and England. In 2010 Alistair began lecturing in Viticulture and Wine Science (Undergraduate and Master’s level) at Plumpton College (Sussex) where he also helped establish a UK wine-industry training program – WineSkills. Alistair is Owner of Vinescapes, an international company that primarily helps wine producers mitigate, adapt to, and manage environmental risks. Vinescapes is closely involved with cutting edge climate and wine research to better understand the impacts of weather and climate on varietal suitability and yields. Through this research Alistair and his team have modelled and identified the most suitable areas for wine production in the UK, down to field scale. This work helps those looking to invest in UK viticulture target investments in locations with more sustainable business prospects.
Sandra grew up in Northern California and earned a degree in International Business and a Master’s in Enology from the University of California Davis before moving in 1995 to British Columbia to start Tinhorn Creek Vineyards. Over the next 20 years as winemaker she was the first in Canada to use Stelvin screw top caps, expanded the marketability of Cabernet Franc and along with her husband Kenn, created the Oliver Festival of the Grape. When Sandra stepped into the CEO/President role she continued with innovative initiatives such as driving for BC’s first sub appellation—the Golden Mile Bench–establishing Canada’s only carbon neutral winery and winning both Canada’s safest employer award for Hospitality and Canada’s Top 100 Powerful Women awards in 2016.
When Tinhorn Creek’s major shareholders sold the winery in the fall of 2017 Sandra and Kenn began anew, starting Elysian Projects, a beverage and tourism consulting company. She launched the Fortify Conference in 2018 that helps the mostly small wineries, breweries, cideries and distilleries at managing human resources, marketing and financial issues. She continues to run the weekly #BCWineChat on twitter every Wednesday night which she created in 2011.
James is as an Associate Professor and Enology Extension Specialist in the Food Science and Technology Department at Oregon State University and a member of the Oregon Wine Research Institute. He received his PhD from Washington State University in 2005 researching interactions between wine yeast and malolactic bacteria after which he spent time in his native New Zealand working at the University of Auckland and Delegat’s Winery. His current research focuses on the impact of wine microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria, Brettanomyces, and non-Saccharomyces yeast on wine quality. James is the statewide Enology Extension Specialist for Oregon providing outreach programs for the Oregon wine industry. In addition, James teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in support of the enology and viticulture program at Oregon State University.
Dr. Amber Parker is a Senior Lecturer in Viticulture at Lincoln University, New Zealand. She completed her PhD at Lincoln University in collaboration with Bordeaux Sciences Agro-ISVV-Ecophysiology and Functional Genomics of Grapevines, France, worked as a scientist in grapevine modelling at Plant & Food Research after her PhD, and has been at Lincoln University since 2015. Her research has focussed on modelling phenology, investigating the impacts of effects of source-sink modifications of the grapevine on phenology and asynchrony of fruit composition, and understanding impacts and adaptations for viticulture in the context of climate change.
Maria Paz Diago is a researcher at the Instituto de Ciencias de la Vid y del Vino (Institute of Grapevine and Wine Sciences), in La Rioja, Spain, and a lecturer in Viticultural Practices and Precision Viticulture at the University of La Rioja. She received her PhD in Food and Agricultural Sciences from the University of La Rioja, and her M.S. in Viticulture and Enology from the University of California, Davis. Dr. Diago’s research is focused on the use and application of new, non-invasive technologies for plant phenotyping and vineyard monitoring in the context of precision viticulture. She has participated in several European and national research projects on agriculture and food science and has authored more than 60 publications in SCI journals.
Dr Wes Pearson is a research scientist at the Australian Wine Research Institute in Adelaide. He holds a BSc in Wine Biochemistry from the University of British Columbia, a diploma in Applied Sensory and Consumer Science from the University of California Davis and a PhD from Charles Sturt University. He has worked in the sensory group at the AWRI since 2010 and has completed hundreds of sensory studies and authored over 25 papers in that time. He is an alumnus of the Len Evans Tutorial and of Wine Australia’s Future Leaders program. He is also an accomplished winemaker, having made wine in Canada and Bordeaux, and currently makes wine under his Dodgy Bros and Juxtaposed labels in McLaren Vale, South Australia.
Dr. Pedneault holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a Master’s and PhD in plant biology from Université Laval, with a specialization in the extraction and characterization of secondary plant metabolites. She starts her career in wine science at E & J Gallo Winery (Modesto, California). She developed an expertise on the maturity of hybrid grape varieties in Quebec (2011-present) as an on-grant scientist at the Center de développement bioalimentaire du Québec and at Institut de recherche en biologie végétale (Montreal Botanical Garden; 2016-present), and as a professor in the Department of Science of Université Sainte-Anne. Her research focuses on the biochemistry of cold and disease resistant grape varieties, their cultivation in challenging environments, and the relationships between grape and wine quality and terroir. Since 2012, she contributed to the training of more than 30 graduate students and interns. With her students, she is the author of more than 100 publications, including 25 publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. She currently leads one project from the Canadian Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada Cluster on viticulture and enology (2018-2023) and recently received funding from the Research Nova Scotia Trust for the establishment of an experimental winery in Université Sainte-Anne.
Gary is a full Professor with the Departments of Biological Sciences and Psychology at Brock University in the Niagara Region, Canada. He is also a researcher at Brock’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute and Environmental Sustainability Research Centre. He received his PhD in Wine Science from Lincoln University in New Zealand.
His research focuses on flavour science and the psychophysics of taste; understanding human perception of flavour and how it can be optimized through production practices. Recent research has also focused on climate change psychology and communication. He has won several research awards, published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, proceedings, books and patents and is affiliated with a number of national and international research organizations, including The Network for Sensory Research (University of Toronto) and the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre at Charles Sturt University in Australia.
Sudarsana Poojari is a Senior Scientist at Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI). Sud received his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Washington State University in 2013. Before joining CCOVI, Sud completed his NSERC postdoctoral fellowship at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Summerland, BC. Currently, Sud leads the national grapevine virus testing facility at CCOVI and his research is focused on advanced molecular diagnostics and epidemiology of grapevine virus diseases.
Niagara based artist, Melissa Proudlock created her first wine painting back in the Fall of 2013. She is a full-time graphic designer for a local winery and while she was creating a wine label of a cello made out of vines, the idea of using wine as paint was born. Using wine as an artistic material is unique, unpredictable, and impossible to control. Through trial and error, she has perfected her craft and discovered that wine provides a variety of colours. She found that the same varietal from a different wine region results in different colours; a Pinot Noir from the Niagara Region would have a different hue than a Pinot Noir from France. The process of preparing the wine to use as the medium has also been perfected (aging, reducing, and adding lees which is sediment found at the bottom of wine tanks). The wine needs to be the right consistency before she can even begin to create her artwork. She paints everything from portraits, animals, landscapes, musicians to fan & horror art and welcomes commissions. Her artwork has been showcased around the Niagara Region and she has been recognized around the world.
Pieter Raeymaekers is Co-Founder and Winemaker at Belgian based Vinetiq. Vinetiq is a cool climate wine importer and has a 4ha boutique winery, Valke Vleug. Vinetiq is the first cool climate wine distributor in the world. Pieter holds an engineering degree with a background in Strategy and Innovation, working as a future foresight and innovation consultant for various multinationals prior to Vinetiq. Pieter got inoculated with the wine virus after his studies, working at Pegasus Bay, Fromm and Ata Rangi in New Zealand. This winemaking experience was the beginning of his entrepreneurial dream, reflecting in Vinetiq. With a solid WSET4 diploma background, Pieter set foot in the winemaking arena only 3 years ago, resulting in his own first harvest in 2019 and a portfolio of 70 cool climate wineries with exclusivity for the Benelux.
Head Winemaker at Hattingley Valley in the UK, Emma’s role is varied, including overseeing the development of our own and partner vineyards, making the highest quality sparkling wine for us and our numerous contract winemaking clients. As a director of Hattingley she is involved in all major decisions for the running of the business. Alongside being awarded the UK Winemaker of the Year in 2014 and 2016, Emma has won numerous international trophies and medals for both our wines and those of our clients. Wines coming out of the Hattingley stable have won more Gold Medals than any other winery in the UK over the last 6 years.
Before retraining as a winemaker, at Plumpton College, Emma held varied roles in the London wine trade – she was Editor of Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2002-2004 and worked for a specialist Burgundy importer. In 2012 she co-authored The UK Winegrowers” Handbook with Dr Belinda Kemp; she is the Chair of the Wines of Great Britain Winemaking Committee and sits on the Management Advisory Committee for WineGB.
Bradley Rickard is the Ruth and William Morgan Associate Professor of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. He grew up on a fruit farm in Ontario Canada and studied agricultural business at the University of Guelph. In 2003 he received his Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Davis and his first teaching position was in the agribusiness department at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. His teaching and research activities at Cornell focus on the economic implications of policies, innovation, and industry-led initiatives in food and beverage markets. Results from his research have been highlighted by various media outlets including Buffalo News, The Economist, Freakonomics.com, National Public Radio, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Wine Spectator. During the 2016-17 academic year, Professor Rickard was a visiting scholar at KEDGE Business School in Bordeaux, France.
Treve Ring is a wine writer and editor, judge and speaker, and perpetual traveller. A certified sommelier, WSET diploma holder, French wine scholar and instructor, and Sherry instructor, she is based on Vancouver Island, Canada, though is most often found on a plane or in a vineyard. After completing her Art History degree with Distinction from the University of Victoria and being exposed to the world of wine business at Christie’s in London, England, she switched gears, leaving the realm of art for the world of wine. Focusing on wines of place and time, Treve been writing professionally since 2001. Her work is regularly seen in numerous publications including World of Fine Wine, Meininger’s Wine Business International, Wine Anorak, Wine & Spirits, Sommelier Magazine, Wine Enthusiast, WineAlign, The Alchemist, Quench Magazine, Vitis, Lonely Planet Travel, and others. In addition to her role as executive editor and critic at Gismondi on Wine, she is an editor at large for Scout Magazine, and SIP Northwest Magazine. She tastes thousands of wines each year, and is an established wine judge in Canada, the UK, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United States. In 2012, she co-founded Cru Consultancy, a boutique wine education and consultation company. Though her travels take her all over the wine world, Treve has spent the last few years concentrating and researching sparkling wine globally.
For over three decades, Brian Schmidt has faithfully served Vineland’s vineyards and cellars with a steady, farsighted view to promoting complete integration and natural synergies. This holistic approach has resulted in specific tiers of wines that continue to voice a clear expression of time and place. Brian maintains, “It is critical to understand the soil and site where your grapes are grown while developing a defined, yet flexible frame to react to the curve balls that Mother Nature likes to throw.” Brian continues, “I do have an untamed passion for growing all cool climate varieties, but I must admit that I have a particular love for Riesling and Cabernet Franc.” Brian Schmidt was born in Kelowna, British Columbia and raised on a vineyard that had been in the family for three generations. The Schmidt family was one of the founding families of the Okanagan wine industry and this was the bedrock of Brian’s interest in winemaking. Brian has experimented, researched and traveled extensively throughout Europe’s cool climate regions studying winemaking and the specific connections to the land. This intensive experience has resulted in the creation of a winemaking style that has become Vineland Estates Winery’s signature. Brian is most concerned with how the public receives and embraces Vineland’s wines but the wines have also garnered formal, national and international recognition. One notable achievement was the awarding of the 2003 VinItaly Grand Gold trophy as the highest scoring winery in a field of over three thousand wines. This was the first time this trophy had ever been awarded outside of Europe.
Dr. Donna Sears holds a PhD from McGill University and an MBA from the University of New Brunswick. Her research focuses on hedonic consumption experiences, particularly as related to wine consumers and wine tourism. She has presented her work at various international conferences such as Advances in Consumer Research, Academy of Wine Business Research, Wine & Culinary Tourism Futures Conference, Society for Marketing Advances, and International Wine Tourism Conference. She has also chaired the Atlantic Schools of Business Conference (2017) and currently serves on the executive of the Atlantic Schools of Business Conference Society. Dr. Sears often works with organizations in the community and regularly presents her work to community and industry groups. Dr. Sears is actively involved in promoting Nova Scotia as a tourist destination, sitting on the Board of Directors for the Province’s Crown Corporation responsible for tourism, Tourism Nova Scotia. Most recently, Dr. Sears has extended her research to the potential impacts of legalized recreational cannabis (in Canada) on other hedonic products, services, and experiences.
Nathalie Spielmann (PhD) is Professor of Marketing and Director of the MSc Wine & Gastronomy at NEOMA Business School in Reims, France. She is also the co-owner of a Champagne bar in the heart of the Mountain of Reims. In her past life, Dr. Spielmann was an advertising executive in Montreal, Canada. Today, as an academic, Dr. Spielmann’s research centers on understanding how product and advertising cues, especially those related to traceability, authenticity, and sustainability, are likely to persuade and influence consumers. She has a particular fondness for terroir and territorial brand management. Her research has been published in the Journal of Business Ethics, International Business Review, Journal of Business Research, the European Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Advertising Research, the Journal of Service Research, among others. Since 2015, she has been a special consultant for the City of Reims and works with them on projects related to territorial attractivity and tourism. She is currently finishing her WSET Diploma studies.
Eric T. Stafne is an Extension and Research Professor at Mississippi State University and the Coastal Research and Extension Center. His office is at the South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station in Poplarville. Dr. Stafne holds a B.S. in Forestry from Michigan State University, an M.S. in Horticulture from the University of Arkansas, and a Ph.D. in Plant Science from the University of Arkansas. From 2005 to 2011, Eric was on the faculty at Oklahoma State University where he was the primary instructor for the annual Oklahoma State University Grape Management Short Course and conducted research on various aspects of vinifera and hybrid grape production. From 2009 to 2014, Stafne served as Project Director for the national eXtension Grape Community of Practice which include members from the U.S. and Canada. He also served on the national guiding committee for eXtension Educational Technology Learning Network. Dr. Stafne was on the American Society of Enology and Viticulture-Eastern Section Board of Directors from 2012-2014. Also, during his career, Eric was vice-chair of the National Grape and Wine Initiative extension and outreach theme committee and president of the American Society for Horticultural Science-Southern Region. He is currently working with grape growers and wineries interested in interspecific hybrid winegrape production in southern Mississippi as well as the expansive blueberry industry that supplies fruit for wineries in Mississippi and Alabama.
Dr Creina Stockley, PhD MBA, has 28 years of experience in the alcohol and health arena, and was based at the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) from 1991 to 2018. Her academic background is clinical pharmacology and physiology, and she has also been associated with public health projects via the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University. She is a currently a consultant to the alcohol beverage industry and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide. In 1997, she was appointed the Australian government representative on the Health and Safety Commission of the Organisation International de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV) and served as President of the Commission IV Safety and Health, being awarded the Knight of the Order of Agricultural Merit (France) in 2015 and, more recently, the OIV Merit Award. She has been actively involved in the preparation of alcohol policy, such as reviews of the National Alcohol Strategy, the NHMRC Australian Alcohol Guidelines and warning labelling, as well as actively being involved in wine research projects on a range of health, nutrition and safety related issues. These have included the potential allergenicity of wine, and the effects of wine and wine-derived phenolic compounds on cardiovascular diseases, cognitive function and cancers. She has presented papers at in excess of 115 conferences and workshops and published in excess of 70 peer-reviewed papers, 85 non-peer-reviewed papers and 12 book chapters.
Dean has lived and worked his entire life in Niagara. He was raised in a wine family with vineyards and cellars as his childhood playground at winery harvest and holiday parties. In 1978, his father worked in the production facility at Brights Wines in Niagara Falls until he retired in 2020. Dean’s Stratus Career began in 2010 working the tasting bar while he was studying for a Wine and Viticulture diploma at Niagara College. Fall of 2010 was his first harvest at Stratus as he was hired as Lab technician while he finished school, graduating in 2011. During his time at Stratus, Dean has held positions within the laboratory, vineyard, and winery until his promotion in 2022 to Winemaker at Stratus. When not making wine, you will find Dean writing, travelling, at the gym, or riding one of his many bikes around the region.
Melissa Stunden is a certified Sommelier through the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers. She began her passion for wine at a young age growing up in the wine country of Ontario. Upon graduation the CAPS program in 2006, Melissa worked with a team of women at MLSE led by Master Sommelier Jennifer Huether. In 2010 Melissa took a role with Lifford Wine & Spirits where she looked after some of Toronto’s key restaurant and National Account partners. In the fall of 2017 Melissa and fellow Lifford colleague Andrea Backstrom founded A+M Consulting Inc. and took on the national market development for New Zealand Winegrowers. Together they continue to expand their business consulting for various partners in the Canadian wine and spirits industry. Melissa is also the recipient of OHI Top 30 under 30 award and a regular contributor to the CAPS Board of Directors.
Narongsak (Tek) Thongpapanl is the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Programs, and Professor of Marketing and Product Innovation at Goodman School of Business. He received his PhD in Management and MBA in Technological Entrepreneurship from the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He also holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering (Magna Cum Laude) from the School of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Thongpapanl—or known in Thailand as ศ.ดร. ณรงค์ศักดิ์ (เต็ก) ทองประพาฬ—is a Research Fellow with the Research Administration Centre at Chiang Mai University, and the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) at Brock University.
His main research and teaching expertise includes wine marketing and business management, new product development, innovation and technology management, e-commerce/m-commerce, strategic marketing management in high-tech environments, marketing knowledge creation and management in highly dynamic settings, and the integration of marketing and technology competences. Dr. Thongpapanl’s work—funded by both internal and external grants, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC)—appears or is forthcoming in several leading management and business journals. In addition to reviewing for many respected journals in the field, he also currently serves as Associate Editor of Technovation (the International Journal of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology Management) and the Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, and as Member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of International Marketing, the Industrial Marketing Management, the Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Wine Research.
Dr. Elizabeth Tomasino is an Associate Professor of enology at Oregon State University and a core member of the Oregon Wine Research Institute including management of the winemaker sensory panel. Elizabeth’s Ph.D. in Oenology was earned from Lincoln University in New Zealand and incorporated components of microbiology, winemaking, sensory science, chemistry and food science. Her knowledge of wine was expanded through multiple industry experiences with E & J Gallo, Yalumba Winery, Robert Mondavi Winery, Giesen Wine Estates, and Pernod Ricard NZ. These experiences have helped fuel her interest in applied wine research. Elizabeth’s current research program is at the interface of wine chemistry and sensory and she integrates her research findings into her undergraduate and graduate teaching program. Of particular interest, she links chemical compounds to sensory perception, exploring the many interactions that occur. Projects include the impact of chiral terpenes in aromatic white wines to aroma perception and determining the causes of fruity aromas in wine using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). She is also uses advanced chemical analysis to differentiate and characterize Pinot noir wines from the sub-AVAs of the Willamette Valley. New projects are investigating the impact of norisoprenoids to Pinot noir, determining how lipids define mouthfeel in Pinot Noir, and developing predictive models for tropical fruit aromas in white wine. She is always looking for new ideas and collaborations and welcomes the chance to discuss and enjoy wine!
Maya Toussaint is a facilitator, presenter, and content tour guide with over 15 years of recruitment and HR experience in both Montreal and Toronto. Maya brings a sense of humour, empathy, and real-world context to topics such as Diversity & Inclusion, allyship and anti-racism practices. Maya is easy to spot and hear in a crowd with her big hair and hearty laugh. While she doesn’t leverage it professionally, Maya has completed her Level 1 & 2 WSET certifications just for the love of wine. She currently works remotely for Shopify, one of Canada’s leading software companies, as a Senior Program Manager, Diversity in Engineering.
Vasseur is a full professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Brock University where she is a member of the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre. She holds the UNESCO Chair on Community Sustainability. Her research is interdisciplinary and links issues such as community-based ecosystem management, climate change adaptation and resilience, and sustainable agriculture. Her climate change adaptation research is on agriculture and rural community of Lincoln. In the Chimborazo, Ecuador, she focuses on ecosystem-based adaptation of rural native communities. She is President of the Canadian Commission UNESCO and vice-chair for North America of the Commission for Ecosystem Management – IUCN. Two major projects focus on organic and sustainable vineyards in the Niagara region where she studies responses of the ecosystem to alternative techniques.
Lisa Wambold is a Viticulture Specialist with TerraLink Horticulture Inc., a leading manufacturer and retailer of crop inputs in Western Canada. Based in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Lisa has a strong background and interest in soil health, vine nutrition plus pest and disease management in both conventional and certified organic viticulture.
After obtaining her Hons. B.Sc. in Biology from McMaster University in Ontario, Lisa got her first taste of the viticulture as an entomology technician with Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada. She quickly realized that there was much to learn and in 2002 obtained her Post-Graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology from Lincoln University, New Zealand. Gaining vineyard and winery experience first in Central Otago, Lisa then moved to the Okanagan Valley and worked as a Viticulturist for several acclaimed wineries. She is an active member on several B.C. wine industry committees including the Minor Use Committee, and as part of the B.C. Wine Grape Council, Lisa contributes to both the Research and Development, and Sustainable Winegrowing Committees.
Christopher Waters has been writing about wine for two decades. He is the wine and spirits columnist at The Globe and Mail, education director of IWEG Drinks Academy in Toronto and a WSET (Wine certified instructor at the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, Brock University. For 21 years, he was the editor/co-founder of Canada’s largest circulation wine publication, VINES Magazine, and author of the nationally syndicated column, Waters & Wine. An internationally recognized wine judge, Christopher served as head judge, and organizer, of the InterVin International Wine Awards from 2009 to 2019 and continues to represent Canada for the Six Nations Wine Challenge. He was awarded the Business Citizen of the Year at the 2011 Niagara Grape and Wine Festival and was received the VQA Promoters Award for Education, also in 2011.
Fritz Westover is Viticulturist and owner of Westover Vineyard Advising, based in Houston, Texas. Fritz obtained his BS in horticulture and MS in Plant Pathology from Penn State University, where he worked on projects including grapevine decline, grape disease management, and the science of compost application in vineyards. He specializes in vineyard consulting for over 1,500 acres of vineyard, and is active in research and education in the south and southeastern US, drawing from more than 15 years experience in the vineyard industry including extension and outreach positions in Virginia, Texas, and California. Fritz contributes to wine industry educational programs in several states and is founder of Virtual Viticulture Academy, a leading resource for practical grape growing information for all levels of wine grape production.
Elizabeth Willing is a Brisbane based visual artist whose works are performative and often participatory explorations of food as art material. Primarily working in sculpture, installation, and performance, Elizabeth’s work additionally takes the form of concept dinners, collaborative performances that use the dining table as stage for interactive designs and experiences.
Elizabeth has undertaken professional development mentorships in New York with Janine Antoni (2011), with the Experimental Food Society in London (2012) and then with Thomas Rentmeister in Berlin (2014). In 2019 she completed a Masters of Fine Art (research) at Queensland University of Technology. In 2014 Elizabeth was the recipient of the Australia Council Kunstlerhaus Bethanien one-year residency. Furthermore Elizabeth has undertaken residencies at Helsinki International Art Program HIAP, New England Regional art Museum Armidale, The Australian Wine Research Institute in Adelaide, and a one year residency at Metro Arts Brisbane. Exhibitions and concept meals have been held in Australia and overseas at Tolarno Galleries Melbourne, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin, Trapholt Museum of Art and Design Denmark, and Gallery of Modern Art Brisbane.
I am honoured to be presenting at this year’s International Cool Climate Wine Symposium at Brock University. My position at Sonoma State University is the Hamel Family Chaired Professor, within the Wine Business Institute of the School of Business and Economics. You can’t hear my accent as you read this, but I am an Australian citizen, mais grâce de mes 9 ans d’expérience en habitant en France, je parle français et aussi(e) English. My background is almost uniquely in the wine sector. I began as a wine sales assistant in my parents’ convenience store when I was 13 years old. My parents both had sales backgrounds, and after realizing that in the alcohol categories, beer was ordered by the colour of the can, and spirits were requested based on the category within which the consumer was searching, I recognized that wine was an unknown to anyone entering the store. As such, I realized that if I knew enough about wine, I could assist my parents in running a profitable business.
Following that early lesson in my career, I spent the next 10 years working as a professional in wine sales, service, promotion, distribution and production. This experience culminated in the epiphany that wine didn’t need more experts, but better business people. Thus, I turned to education in wine business as my way to contribute to the wine sector’s rebirth and growth. My education led to the completion of 4 degrees in wine business, which opened up the opportunity of an academic career covering research interests in wine marketing practice, the adoption of closures (eg. Screwcap, ZORK, synthetics and technical corks), the constraints to successful use of social media in wine business (specifically in twitter and LinkedIn), and the on-going challenge in both attracting new wine consumers, while learning how to encourage existing consumers to drink more frequently and spend more per purchase. I have published and presented more than 100 times on the topic of wine business, and in contributing to this panel at the ICCWS I will convey the challenges and opportunities for wine producers looking to take advantage of the wine market in the 21st Century.
Dr. Jim Willwerth is the Senior Staff Scientist in Viticulture in the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, where he focuses on applied research and outreach for the Canadian grape and wine industry. The major component of his research program is focused on grapevine cold hardiness physiology and understanding how to maximize cold hardiness in V. vinifera. Other projects include grapevine clone and rootstock evaluations to see how clone and rootstock selection can impact performance, including cold tolerance and wine quality in cool climate regions; novel freeze and crop production strategies, and viticultural practices to improve sparkling and still wine production. Dr. Willwerth has outreach responsibilities to provide effective technology transfer to the grape grower community across Canada to improve grape production and quality across the sector. He works very closely with industry on their priorities and provides knowledge transfer through workshops, seminars and research demonstrations. One of the major outreach initiatives includes spearheading the VineAlert cold hardiness risk management program, an interactive web-based grapevine management program and early warning system for cold injury used by grape growers to mitigate the impact of cold weather events. Dr. Willwerth collaborates with researchers within CCOVI, across Canada and the US on both research and outreach activities.
New Zealand native Ross Wise is based in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, where he works as Winemaker for Black Hills Estate Winery and as a Senior Winemaker for Andrew Peller Limited. Ross kicked off his wine career in 2002 by studying Viticulture and Wine Science at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Hawke’s Bay. Following graduation, he went on to work with several exceptional wineries and vineyards in the Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough and Central Otago regions. In 2009 Ross moved to Canada and established Wise Consulting, providing viticulture and winemaking consulting to several wineries across Ontario. In 2015 he completed the WSET Diploma and shortly after was accepted to the Master of Wine study program, going on to pass all theory and tasting exams at the first attempt. In 2016 Ross moved west to the Okanagan Valley. Since arriving in the Okanagan Valley, he has expanded his organic and biodynamic viticulture knowledge, researched the potential implications of climate change in the valley, and developed a reputation as a prolific sourdough bread baker.