It’s said it takes a lot of beer to make good wine.
One could also argue it takes a lot of wine knowledge to make good beer.
That’s why Victor North, Brewmaster Support Liaison at the College, was keen to join Hospitality Professor Kristina Inman in a Wine Scholar Guild education program focused on French tipple.
Now, both NC faculty members can call themselves certified French Wine Scholars.
In Inman’s case, the prestigious achievement helps her stay relevant in front of a class and as a CAPS Sommelier.
For North, being a French Wine Scholar helps him stay on trend in the world of suds, especially at a time when brews such as grape ales are becoming more popular. Grape ales are made by fermenting grape juice, grape must or skins with typical beer ingredients, making them a beer-wine hybrid.
Students are asking more often about making them, North noted.
“The industry is always changing and two of the current trends are grape ales and seltzers,” North said. “(Grape ale) is … a Niagara thing. You’re seeing more of it here. Oddly, you can learn a lot about brewing beer by studying wine.”
Both Inman and North signed up for the French Wine Scholar program in 2020. The course, which is self-directed and takes about a year to complete, covers all the wine appellations of France in great detail, doing deep dives into soil types, climate, topography, history, grape varieties and growing restrictions in each region.
They’re topics Inman learned about when she studied to become a sommelier “but this takes it to another level,” she said.
“As an educator, there’s always more to learn,” Inman said. “You want to stay relevant and this guild is very good at keeping up with the details. As someone who studied wine, it’s important I stay current. These are all things I can teach in my classes.”
France, she added, has had huge influence on Niagara’s own wine industry, from the type of grapes grown here to the oak used to age vintages. Inman plans to make those connections for her students.
Studying to become French Wine Scholars was as much a way to get through the pandemic as it was a professional development opportunity. Largely working from home for the past 19 months, Inman and North studied together over video calls and did tastings and analysis in person when rules allowed.
Study sessions became social event with North, a national BJCP judge of beer, cider and mead, practising his skills as a pâtissier. He would regularly bake gougères, canelés, tarte tatin and other French pastries for the sessions. Inman, also a certified tea sommelier, would bring French cheese to pair with the wines they studied.
“It was such a highlight because although we were learning, we were learning together and socializing,” Inman said. “And I have young kids so having a conversation with an adult was really exciting.”
Their efforts culminated with an intensive exam and the desire to learn more. Both have signed up to do a master-level program with the Wine Scholar Guild that’s focused on the Loire region of France.
The Loire is one of the world’s most famous wine regions. Its climate and grape and wine production, focused on Cabernet Franc as a single-varietal vintage, Sauvignon Blanc and Gamay Noir, are similar to Niagara, Inman noted.
“It’s cool for us to make these connections and compare them to what we do in Niagara,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for us as teachers as well.”
