Wine Education and Tasting Series
Grapes to Glass is a four-session Wine Education and Tasting Series. You will use your senses as you learn about the important elements of wine production, from grape-growing to enjoying the finished product, with a special focus on B.C. wines. Instructor Jay Martiniuk is a UBC Lecturer in Wine Science and Fermentation, who has worked as a cellar master and winemaker. He earned an MSc in Food Science from UBC, specializing in yeast populations in B.C. vineyards and wineries.
Over the course of these sessions, you will taste over a dozen unique wines and tour the UBC Wine Library – home to more than 4,000 unique bottles of wine.
What past participants are saying:
“Very suitable for every wine lover. It was a chance to get to know wine from A to Z.”
“I look forward to coming to the seminar every month to learn a few more things about wine. And of course, enjoy a few wines with laughter and engaging discussions.”
“My favorite part was getting insight into BC winemaking landscape from someone involved with it.”
Grapes to Glass event details:
2024 Session dates: Four Mondays – January 15, February 12, March 11, and April 8, 2024
Time: 5:30 pm-7:30 pm
Location: UBC Food, Nutrition and Health Building – Theory in Seminar Room (Room 220), Tasting in Wine Library. Address is 2205 East Mall, Vancouver Campus. Parking available in the UBC Health Sciences parkade, 2250 Health Sciences Mall.
Price: $315 (taxes included) for all four sessions
Questions?: Email wine.library@ubc.ca
REGISTER HERE: Click this link
All participants must be aged 19 or older. All UBC events are subjected to campus and venue policies.
Directions to the Food, Nutrition, and Health (FNH) Building
Growing up on his family’s vineyard in the Okanagan, and working as a cellar master and winemaker at B.C. wineries, Jay Martiniuk brings wine-making insights from industry to the classroom. Jay earned his BSc in Food Science in Land and Food Systems. He also completed an MSc in Food Science at the UBC Wine Research Centre in 2021 under the supervision of Associate Professor Vivien Measday, where he looked at yeast populations in the vineyards and wineries of B.C.’s Okanagan Valley.
Read more about Jay here.
An introduction to wine, this course will discuss what to look for in a wine. Learn about the different characteristics of wine: acidity, body, alcohol, and more. You will also tour the UBC Wine Library and experience a "how to taste" demo.
Learn about the types of grapes grown in B.C. and why. Discuss the issues surrounding B.C. grape production and compare and contrast with other wine regions of the world. Tour the sensory lab and taste various B.C. wines that illustrate the unique characteristics of our province's wine.
Explore the winemaking practices in B.C., including an overview of reds, whites, ice wines, and sparkling. Delve deeper into the nuance of wine with secondary and tertiary aromas and flavours, then learn what creates them. This session's wine tasting focuses on how different methods of production affect taste.
Study the bigger picture of the wine industry in the province. Discuss strengths and issues, future directions (climate change), cost/value for money, and what to look for on a label. Learn the principles of food and wine pairing, then apply those skills to a 75 minute pairing exercise.