Wine making may seem easy enough: grow grapes, crush and let ferment. But there are dozens of other factors involved that can make or break a bottle of wine. Those X-factors have begun to be explored by researchers at UBC-Okanagan who are about to bottle their first vintage.
“It’s a nice colour,” says Cédric Saucier, PhD, an Associate Chemistry Professor at UBC-O of the Pinot Noir fermenting in their lab. “It’s a very nice intense colour.”
Saucier shows off the first vintage of UBC-O wine, excited about the research project he’s heading at the Kelowna university campus, an endeavor which will have a big influence on the future of BC wines.
“Wine making has always been a mix between an art and science,” says Saucier. “The more you know about science, the more you can control and avoid defects.”
The science in the 18 fermenting jugs this November day is about nitrogen fertilizer use in Okanagan vineyards. Nitrogen contributes to a wine’s flavour and colour. It’s necessary for the sandy and dry vineyard soil of the Okanagan Valley. But the question is, how much is enough?
“If you don’t put enough nitrogen for sure, you will have not a healthy vine,” says the wine chemist from Bordeaux, France. “But if you put too much then you will decrease colour and aroma.”
UBC-O wine chemistry students hand picked and crushed 50 kg of grapes in October. The juice is now into its second fermentation and will be transferred to 36 bottles for aging in the next two weeks.
“There is a lot of science to transfer but also to invent here in the Okanagan,” says Saucier, who was recruited from a French university two years ago. “It’s a good place to grow grapes: probably one of the best, if not the best in Canada.”
Saucier says BC wine country is an ideal place for his research and to teach others more about viticulture science.
“Is this wine that you would drink?” I ask the imported expert from the world renowned wine region.
“We hope, yes,” answers Saucier. “We hope we do really the best we can to have real taste and real flavour in the wine, for sure.”
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