Southbrook Winery
Located on a 150 acre property with 60 acres of vines, Southbrook Vineyards and Winery is a business dedicated to sustainable viticulture. By 2008, they had created the first wine estate in Canada to earn both organic and biodynamic certification for its vineyard and winery. Further, the design and construction of Southbrook’s hospitality pavilion to LEED®-Gold standards also embraced many more green initiatives covering water management, energy conservation, sustainable materials and resources and indoor air quality. Finally, Southbrook takes a leadership role in the wine community by mentoring, educating and sharing in an effort to encourage a growing understanding of organic and biodynamic methods.
Location: 581 Niagara Stone Rd. RR#4
NOTL, ON, Canada L0S 1J0 Phone: (905) 641-2548
Fax: (905) 641-2549 Visiting Hours: The facilities are open for visiting Monday to Friday 11 am-5 pm. Certain tours run on weekends. The tour that I recommend only runs in early October.
Targeted Age Group: Grades 9-12
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Tour Costs: The 'Join the Harvest' tour (described below) is complementary on the weekends. If you wish to have this tour during school hours there may be a fee depending on availability.
Booking a visit: Reservations are not required for the 'Join the Harvest' tour, just keep an eye on the website for dates and times (as they will change each year depending on harvesting weather).
Tours Offered: The tour I recommend for a class trip is called 'Join the Harvest'. Owners Bill and Marilyn Redelmeier and their winemaking team will tour you around the property, showcasing what makes Southbrook uniquely eco-friendly and explaining what it means to be an organic and biodynamic vineyard. Later, the winemakers will show your students first-hand how Southbrook sustainably harvests its grapes. This tour is an excellent opportunity to show your students that a green business can be a successful one, hopefully inspiring innovation and environmental consciousness in your students. For your own interest/information, you may wish to read up on the green initiatives of this business here. If you are looking for a follow-up lesson idea on green businesses, PBS has an excellent example entitled A Piece of the Energy Pie, including a lesson plan, required resources, and even curriculum links.
Most of the above information was taken from the Southbrook Vineyard website. For additional information on the vineyard please visit http://www.southbrook.com/about_southbrook. The followup lesson exemplars were taken from PBS (see link for details).