CGCN Committed to Research

Canadian Grapevine Certification Network
Canada-Wide

Science Coordination involves the coordination and monitoring of Cluster science and research activities. This includes liaising with Principal Investigators, ensuring research is aligned with program priorities, reviewing annual and final results reports, and assisting researchers in organizing and executing Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) activities.

Canadian Grapevine Certification Network
Canada-Wide

Knowledge mobilization and technology transfer initiatives will be accessible to end-users in all provinces across Canada involved in the grape and wine industry to ensure maximum adoption and impact. Through partnering with academic, federal, and provincial research institutions across the country involved in the cluster, new knowledge and technology transfer initiatives will be developed and pre-existing, successful programs exploited for this purpose. While every activity in this project has its own approach to deliver Knowledge and Technology transfer, CGCN will develop tools to complement this work.  

Canadian Grapevine Certification Network
Canada-Wide

The Impact Assessment activity will be used to identify impacts and outcomes of the first Grape and Wine cluster, which operated under CAP from 2018-2023. This assessment will consist of both qualitative and quantitative components in order to fully capture the value of the research conducted during the first cluster.

Mehdi Sharifi, David Ensing
AAFC Summerland

This research is about finding ways to use the natural and cultivated plants (non-crop vegetation) in vineyards alleys and rows to enhance the environment sustainability, and the yield and quality of wine grapes. The researchers want to understand how these plants can benefit vineyards in Canada, especially in dry environments.

José Ramon Urbez-Torres
AAFC Summerland

The focus of this project includes: i) evaluation of the effectiveness and economics of rogueing, a cultural practice focus on the removal and replacement of virus infected vines; ii) investigation of novel techniques to prevent infections based on recently developed molecular techniques; iii) assessment of methods to manage insect vectors responsible for the transmission of GLRaV-3 and GRBV; and iv) determine the economic impact that both GLD and GRBD have on grapevine production in Canada.

José Ramon Urbez-Torres
AAFC Summerland

The current project aims to understand the role that stress factors caused as a result of climate change (water stress, heat domes, freezing events) factors play on GTDs development. In addition, this research project aims to develop and implement the first biocontrol strategies against these diseases in Canada and identified locally sourced biocontrol agents with high control activity against GTDs fungi.

Ben-Min Chang
AAFC Summerland

This research activity will integrate plant stress sensing technologies, geographic information systems, existing cultural practices, and automatic control technologies for drought and heat stress management.

Wesley Zandberg
University of British Columbia

To improve our predictive abilities, research will be conducted in improving existing analytical tests, assess the differences in grape varietal sensitivity as well as attempt to correlate simpler atmospheric measurements with the air-borne concentrations of volatile phenols (VPs). Detection efforts will also focus on the development of analytical procedures that can be used in nearly real-time by vineyard or winery staff. Finally, prevention and mitigation strategies will explore the applicability of approved agro-sprays for blocking the absorption of VPs into grape tissues as well as several techniques enabling their targeted elimination either before or after primary fermentation.

Simone Castellarin and Nathaniel Newlands
University of British Columbia and AAFC Summerland

This project aims to assess the effects of heat stress on grape production and on developing new strategies to mitigate heat stress effects in vineyards. We will elucidate whether varying irrigation levels influences the response to a heatwave in Okanagan Valley vineyards and study the capacity of bio-stimulants and an anti-transpirant to mitigate heat stress and heatwaves in vineyards. We will also assess how eight major grape cultivars grown in BC are susceptible to heat stress and which cultivars better recover from heat stress. Finally, we will conduct a regional-scale study of temperature effects on grape quality (sugars, acids, and aroma) in the Okanagan Valley, and model optimal environmental conditions for grape quality.

Wendy McFadden-Smith and Oualid Ellouz
Brock University and AAFC Vineland

The goal of this project is to determine a baseline of incidence of grapevine trunk diseases, the pathogens responsible for them, the timing of inoculum presence (when infection could occur) relative to weather and vine development, and to identify possible cultural, chemical and biological management options.

Debbie Inglis
Brock University

This project has two main objectives in wine flavour modification, addressing key areas of concern in the Ontario grape and wine industry with application to industries in British Columbia, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Objective 1: Assess the commercial application of locally isolated S. uvarum strains to mitigate the impact of botrytis and sour rot taints in white grape varieties through consumption of acetic acid and assess their use to form volatile fatty acids and acetate esters that increase the fruity volatile aroma compounds in Riesling and Chardonnay wine.

Objective 2: Increase volatile thiol concentrations in Vidal table wine through a yeast micronutrient additive, fermentation temperature and yeast strain to enhance the “Sauvignon blanc” characteristic of Vidal to diversify uses of the Vidal grape, improve marketability and increase the domestic wine market share.

Jim Willwerth
Brock University

The goal is to improve the sustainability of grape production by greater cold tolerance resilience through identification of superior vine material and their genomic and metabolic signatures and mitigation strategies such as the use plant growth regulators such as Abscisic acid analogs.

Justin Renkema
AAFC Vineland

Overall, the goal of the project is to provide new insights about the secondary spread of grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV) by insects in Ontario so that the grape industry can take appropriate action to mitigate losses due to GRBV.

Andréanne Hébert-Haché and Caroline Provost
Centre de recherche agroalimentaire de Mirabel (CRAM)

This project was designed to address the current challenges in the industry and the gap in literature regarding the scientific knowledge and application of specific technologies with regards to cold events in the winter and in the spring. To achieve this, the project proposes three specific objectives: 1) to improve bud survival and overall yields by strengthening our knowledge of site differences and physiological influences on cold hardiness for hybrids and Vitis vinifera cultivars, 2) reduce cold damage under geotextiles by a better understanding of their impact on acclimation, maximum hardiness, deacclimation, and bud break, and 3) mitigate yield reductions associated to primary bud damage and tissue mortality caused by deep-freeze event and spring frosts by using novel protection methods in vineyards.

Karine Pedneault
Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO)

Grapevines are particularly promising due to their resilience and ability to thrive in diverse environments with minimal inputs. However, challenges such as climate change-induced extreme weather events and energy-intensive practices threaten the industry's sustainability. Our project seeks to address these challenges by developing innovative viticulture and winemaking techniques that prioritize carbon sequestration, low input usage, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Caroline Provost, Mamadou Lamine Fall, and Odile Carisse
Centre de recherche agroalimentaire de Mirabel (CRAM) and AAFC Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu

Objectives:

• Evaluate and optimize the potential of new and existing grape cultivars under the growing conditions of Eastern Canada to increase wine production in Canadian vineyards
• Understand the impacts of GLRaV-3 and GRBV on grapevine physiology and productivity in hybrid cultivars
• Characterize the impacts of floor management on ecosystem resilience, grapevine performance and pest management in organic vineyards
• Develop and validate disease decision tools to improve the management of the main grapevine fungal diseases under conventional, in transition, and organic production systems

Debra Moreau, Vicky Lévesque, and Derek Lynch
AAFC Kentville and Dalhousie University

The proposed research will use a multi-disciplinary strategy to introduce and evaluate how soil amendments can enhance various ecosystem services to improve vineyard resilience in eastern Canada. The overall focus of this activity is to develop innovative best management practices that will include enhancing ground and soil through the use of organic amendments like biochar, wood chips, green compost and wildflowers in conventional and organic production systems.

Harrison Wright
AAFC Kentville

In this project, Objective 1 will facilitate the transition to a machine-learning based wine grape hardiness prediction model to be made available to industry for a basket of Nova Scotia cultivars, while Objectives 2 through 4 address the main challenges to growing resilient and hardy hybrids in the region: virus impact, vine balance / nutrition, and rootstock.