The Seventh Annual International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration (i4C) has wrapped up in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. It was a series of seminars, lunches, and dinners that filled an entire weekend from July 21-23, 2017. I was privileged to be invited to attend this event; coming from British Columbia. We are also a cool climate region, and I was glad to see that there were two BC wineries attending the i4C, pouring their Chardonnay. Which ones? You will have to read my upcoming articles.
While approximately half the wineries participating were from Ontario, the other half come from around the world.
Chardonnay is a very malleable grape in my opinion. It can be affected by elevation, nearness to large water bodies, climate; cool vs warm vs hot; to create flavours and aromas from citrus to stone fruits to tropical fruits. It can as well be shaped or guided by a winemaker’s hands and tools, from yeast type, barrels, and more.
To kick off the i4C, we had a full-day of semi-technical seminars followed by an evening at an airport hanger enjoying “Flights of Chardonnay“. Our remaining two days centered around tasting wines paired with food at two winery lunches, and the Cool Chardonnay World Tour Grand Tasting & Dinner.
In my following articles, I will take you through the events I attended, wines tasted, rated, and more. Enjoy.
My Upcoming i4C Articles
- The School of Cool: Soil Smackdown at i4C
- The School of Cool: Chardonnay, I Do It My Way at i4C
- The School of Cool: The Sugar Trials at i4C
- i4C Taste of Terroir with Peller Estates (this one is already posted)
- i4C More Food and Wine From Flights of Chardonnay and the Grand Tasting Dinner
