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74 W i n e s & V i n e s s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 4 WineEast Winemaking "We had to learn the hard way in terms of experimenting ourselves and trying things out. But we would certainly welcome more research to be done," Crispino told Wines & Vines. And a five-year project led by Debbie Inglis, director of the Cool Climate Oenol- ogy and Viticulture Institute at Brock Uni- versity in St. Catharines, Ontario, is doing exactly that. The gathering of industry participants in 2010 highlighted the diversity of opinions regarding how appassimento-style wines should be made, and CCOVI took the lead in tackling one of the thornier questions: how to dry local grapes to produce a wine typical of the style. "There were a number of people that thought their method was the best, but we weren't really sure," said Jamie Sling- erland, director of viticulture at Pillitteri Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, who attended the 2010 meet- ing. "CCOVI comes along saying, 'Look, we've got to provide something to the wine industry so that there's not this whole hodge-podge.…Let's put some science behind it." Pillitteri believed in the endeavor enough to pledge a block of some of its best Cab- ernet Franc to research, amounting to 1.18 tons (1.3 tonnes) of fruit per year. research study Launched in 2010, the project focuses, ac- cording to CCOVI, "on the composition and sensory characteristics of wines produced using traditional and climate-controlled methods for varietals grown in the Ontario climate." The research, backed with a slice of $2.86 million (CAD) in provincial funding for projects related to climate change, aims to provide comprehensive information about the various drying methods, their effect on wine quality, and reduce the guesswork for winemakers considering adopting the style. Brix levels of 26° and 28° were targeted, and as the research enters its final year, Slingerland said the results are proving helpful. Pillitteri, for example, seldom sought to achieve 26° Brix in its grapes prior to par- ticipating in the CCOVI project. "The true criteria for appassimento dry- ing has been to 26° Brix," he said. "We've brought them out at 24.5°, 25° at the high- est. And so what we did was upscaled the value, or the quality of the grapes, but we didn't go to the full appassimento criteria that they're using today." That's changed, with grapes now being harvested at 24.5° Brix at the tail end of the season, and dried to 26° Brix. "If they stay on the vine another 10 days, they desiccate by up to 1.5° Brix. Now "The method of drying should be apparent (on the wine label)." J A M I e S L I N g e r L A N d P I L L I t t e r I e S t A t e S