Wineries, breweries, and distilleries in the region now have access to a state-of-the-art lab at the University of Windsor to analyze their products.
The Wine and Spirits Lab will provide services that can analyze samples for quality and safety purposes.
"There's a ton of things to test for. The basic ones would be alcohol, acid levels, sugar levels, ph, and all of those things. Some of them are needed for legal aspects of labelling and some things are just used as quality markers," said Allison Christ, winemaker at Colio Estate Wines. "So you can get the results back and then you've got better information on how you can affect your product and make it better."
The lab will also provide undergraduate students with authentic lab experiences and internships with local industry experts.
"Not only is it something that is so unique, we're the only university in Ontario with such an opportunity for undergraduate students but the most important thing, they have the analytical and technological skillsets as a result of the work in the lab that will get them jobs in the future. This is a true hands-on experience," said Housser.
The University of Windsor received a $750,000 provincial grant to renovate the lab and purchase the equipment.
"The analytical analysis is very, very important to wine making and beer making and distilling but the equipment is really cost prohibitive to a lot of small producers," said Christ. "That support is crucial to improve the quality of all of the beverage alcohol products that the region makes."
The University of Windsor is one of three educational facilities in the country to have a lab like this.
