VANCOUVER - New funding has been announced for research at the University of British Columbia that is blurring the lines between the art and science of winemaking.
Genome Canada and Genome B.C. are giving the university's wine research centre more than $3 million dollars to continue work on wine grapes and yeast genetics.
The money will fund a number of studies, including a project to measure proteins on growing grapes and another that will examine how yeast genes are affected by fermentation.
Researcher Hennie van Vuuren says he sees winemaking as about 90 per cent science, and 10 per cent art.
He says much of the process - from growing the grapes to the fermentation - is all science-based.
Van Vuuren, who says he's passionate about wine, says the art comes into play when winemakers mix grape varieties to create their own blends.
