Niagara College wine wins Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence

Niagara College Teaching Winery’s 2017 Gastronomy Chardonnay made the shortlist of 11 winning wines at the 2019 Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Excellence in Ontario Wines.

This is the second award for the student-crafted, barrel-fermented Chardonnay from the college’s on-campus estate vineyard (St. David’s Bench), which won gold at the 25^th annual Ontario Wine Awards this June for the Oaked Chardonnay Award Under $20 category.

Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, presented the awards at a ceremony on June 24 during the fourth annual Winetario event at George Brown College. The Niagara College Teaching Winery 2017 Gastronomy Chardonnay was competing with big names in wine for overall excellence, including Peller Estates, Jackson-Triggs, and Trius. The winning wines were chosen from 542 wines submitted by 78 wineries.

“It’s always great to see our teaching winery products do well in competitions because it demonstrates to our students – who are very much a part of our everyday winemaking operations – that the lessons that we deliver in lecture and labs hold true when scaled-up in commercial application,” said Gavin Robertson, winemaker and instructor at Niagara College’s Teaching Winery.

The award-winning wine is available at Niagara College’s Wine Visitor + Education Centre, located at the Niagara-on-the-Lake. Proceeds from sales support student learning.