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54 WINES&VINES March 2016 P.O. Box 540, 8 Ashfi eld Road Rt. 116, Conway, MA 01341 Find us at the Eastern Winery Expo Booth #30, Mar. 9-10, 2016 Lancaster, PA Call us for a catalog 800-634-5557 www.oescoinc.com GRAPE EXPECTATIONS Protect your crop with SmartNet netting from OESCO Bird exclusion netting • Insect netting • Deer exclusion netting • Trellis supplies Use our QR code to order anytime YEARS s i nce 195 4 S t. Catharines, Ontario—Re- search pays, according to a study assessing the eco- nomic impact of Ontario's 20-year- old Cold Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI). To- ronto management consulting firm MDB Insight examined the activities of the institute, located at Brock University, and deter- mined that its economic contribu- tion to the province in 2015 was $91.1 million (all values in Cana- dian dollars). This includes 307 jobs within the industry and ancil- lary sectors. "We thought that it was time for us to assess, in dollar values, the kind of impact the institute is now having in the province," Deb- bie Inglis, director of CCOVI, told Wines & Vines. Brock University established CCOVI in fall 1996, and the first undergraduate stu- dents to benefit from the institute began classes a year later. While CCOVI doesn't have students itself (they're officially part of Brock's Department of Biological Sci- ences), their presence is tied to the institute. MDB Insight pegged the an- nual economic benefit of CCOVI's research activities to the industry at $86.3 million in the form of climate and pest research, studies of ice wine and new styles of wine such as appassimento, plus educa- tion and extension work. Research into grapevine cold hardiness, for example, is estimated to prevent the loss of 1,502 tonnes of grapes annually (1 tonne equals 1.1 tons), resulting in $22.2 million more in revenues for the sector as well as savings on inputs. Simi- larly, research into new styles of wine mean growers are able to use an additional 50 tonnes of fruit each year. The biggest impact has been from CCOVI's research into lady- bugs, which has spared 1,570.5 tonnes of grapes worth $23.1 mil- lion as wine. The added crop means jobs for 22 people in the industry as well as 16 in other sectors; when made into wine, a total of 250 jobs are attributable to the work. Matthias Oppenlaender, chair of Ontario Grape and Wine Re- search Inc., a company that allo- c a t e s i n d u s t r y f u n d i n g t o researchers, said it's tough to put a value on research because not all projects yield results that can be put into practice. "Sometimes research is paid for and you're not having a result," he said. But "if you look at our industry in the last 10 years, how it's grown, how we've come to the forefront and how the quality has improved, CCOVI is one of the players that played a part in that." Speaking as a grower—Op- penlaender farms 480 acres of grapes at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario—he said having re- searchers visit his farm vineyard has given him access to expertise that's helped him understand local conditions much better and, in turn, make better informed, more educated decisions. —Peter Mitham CCOVI senior viticultuist Jim Willwerth takes vineyard samples for the institute's VineAlert cold- hardiness program. Research Pays Off for Ontario's CCOVI at Brock University Wine East Covering Eastern North America Service • Selection • Location • Experience It's no surprise we're racking up wineries, distilleries and breweries! Lissa McLaughlin (727) 321-8879 lmclaughlin@allamericancontainers.com Roberta Parmelee (315) 585-6045 rparmelee@allamericancontainers.com BORDEAUX Tempranillo red,red wine... zinfan del Merlot Pinot Grigio Pinot Noir Y D N U G R U B VINO P O R T B A R T O P S full punt m i d punt m i n i punt C aberne CORK IT Malbec Carol Phillips (336) 906-9097 cphillips@allamericancontainers.com www.aacwine.com WINE INDUSTRY NEWS WINE EAST