The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

20 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday July 20, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com Wine competition was golden for Glass Half Full By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF They took on some of the best wines North America had to offer and today are toasting to success. Denis and Nicole Porlier of Oakville's The Glass Half Full, a make-your-own-wine establishment, are enjoying a well-earned victory after wines they sent to the WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition in the U.S. netted them four medals. This win is no small achievement when you consider that a total of 3,422 wines were entered in this year's competition with submissions coming from 40 American states as well as eight Canadian provinces. "We're pleasantly surprised," said Denis. "We submitted seven wines and we did expect to have one winner out of them, but we were pleasantly surprised to find out that there were four." Denis' entry of a KenRidge Founder's Series Mosel River Riesling was chosen over 87 other entries to receive the gold medal and the silver medal in the Riesling category. Another Porlier submission entitled Selection Estates Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon received the bronze medal in its category defeating 224 other competitors. The Porliers' Cellar Craft Classic Port beat 121 other entries to also receive a bronze medal in the Port category. The Porliers founded their, now award-winning, "Now we have something to show people that it's not just us saying we're better than most, it's recognized by our peers in the wine industry." DAVID LEA / OAKVILLE BEAVER Denis Porlier, The Glass Half Full AWARD-WINNING WINE: Denis and Nicole Porlier display their award-winning KenRidge Founders' Series Mosel River Riesling. The wine beat out 88 other entries to win a gold and silver medal in the Riesling category of the WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition. wine business in 2004, the opening of which was the culmination of a lifelong dream. "We've had a passion for wine for a long time. I personally had always aspired to be in the wine business having studied and received formal certification for wine knowledge and wine appreciation," said Denis. "Being the hands-on person that I am and also loving to share what I do with other people, I found this was the ideal business for me to be in." Gaining the knowledge to do this required Denis to take wine industry correspondence courses through the University of Guelph as well as a number of other courses through the LCBO. Besides these, Denis also studied with an organization known as the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, based out of London, England, from which he earned a higher certificate with distinction. "It's beneficial to have a lot of knowledge starting from the grapes, grape varieties, how they're grown, how they're made into wine. It's also important to know about the various wine growing regions through BEACHCOMBER Super Summer Sale SAVE $ 3,200 "LE" sulation Package with ......................................................... $460 Double Ti See Make page 21 SKILLED TRADES at Find out more at www.thecentre.on.ca Begin an exciting new career residential construction pre-apprenticeship Receive in-class and hands-on training machinist/millwright pre-apprenticeship $299 $329 $449 $299 $229 $431 $499 $269 $162 $299 QEW SPEERS RD. BRONTE For more information, call 905-333-3499, ext. 121 860 Harrington Court, off Harvester Road, in Burlington 4TH LINE DORVAL NEXT INFORMATION SESSION: thursday, july 26 at 6 pm