Welcome to the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University.  

As the new Director of CCOVI, I am excited to be part of the Institute in an era when we’re growing our research and services capacity, following adoption of the new governance structure: the Institute now reports to the Vice-President, Research, instead of the Dean, Faculty of Mathematics and Science.  

We plan to take advantage of the new governance structure to expand our research mandate into other academic areas, such as the humanities, social sciences and business. This is an important step because research for the grape and wine industry is not exclusive to the sciences.  

In the next few years, we will work to develop new opportunities in Ontario’s wine research cluster and to strengthen Canada’s national grape and wine strategy. This will include research collaborations between CCOVI and other institutes, especially the new Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (VRIC), University of Guelph and Niagara College. 

We will continue to offer unique, relevant continuing education courses and events to the industry and general public. And we aim to have ever better communications with our stakeholders, within Brock and beyond. 

It is with great enthusiasm when I say that we look forward to reaching out to and working with the Canadian grape and wine community in order to achieve the goals we’ve established for CCOVI. 

Sincerely, 

Deb Inglis,

CCOVI Director

CCOVI Background:

The Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) at Brock University was a partnership with the Wine Council of Ontario (WCO) and the Ontario Grape Growers Marketing Board, now the Grape Growers of Ontario (GGO). Since its establishment in 1996, CCOVI has grown rapidly and it is now housed in Inniskillin Hall, a facility dedicated to research in Oenology and Viticulture in cool climate regions. In addition to CCOVI's research programs a complete range of academic programs is available though the department of Biological sciences.

Mission & Vision:

• CCOVI is dedicated to the advancement of the Canadian grape and wine industry, as well as other cool climate grape and wine producing regions of the world.  
• Our vision is to be the world’s leading centre of excellence in cool climate grape and wine research; and one of the top five international oenology and viticulture research institutes

Key Responsibilities:

• To engage leading edge research programs in cool climate viticulture and oenology;
• To provide education and professional development opportunities for the grape and wine community and the community at large;
• To train highly qualified personnel though the Brock oenology and viticulture (OEVI) undergraduate programs and graduate research thesis conducted under CCOVI auspices.

CCOVI Advisory Boards:

CCOVI Research committee is chaired by Dr Allan Jackson, VP Research at Vincor International. The mandate of the CCOVI Research committee is to advise CCOVI Director and research scientists on industry-driven research priorities. Specifically, each member is working closely with research issues of concern to the grape growing community and wine making industry. It is the responsibility of the members of this committee to communicate Institute research activities and to bring research issues, comments and concerns to the Research committee.

This committee meets twice a year.

It is also the responsibility of the Research committee to identify guest lecturers and facilitate the organization of the Triggs International Premium Vinifera Lecture Series.

CCOVI Advisory Council is chaired by Mr Bruce Walker, VP in charge of Government and Industry Relations at Vincor International and Chair of the Canadian Vintners Association (CVA). The Advisory Council is formed by Brock University to advise the Director of the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) on how to optimize its benefits to the Canadian Grape and Wine Industry. The Advisory Council provides a forum for accurate and timely two-way communications among CCOVI stakeholders.  Specifically, the principal objectives of the Advisory Council are:

• To present and consider the opinions of the Canadian grape and wine industries on the structure, content and relevance of CCOVI’s research and educational mission and mandate,
• To advise CCOVI on the changing needs and priorities of the grape and wine industries, and
• To communicate CCOVI’s research and educational activities and achievements to stakeholder communities

The council meets once a year.