A sold-out room of 250 guests cast corks and caps course by course Saturday night at Niagara College’s NOTL campus, where Team Wine broke a 9–9 deadlock to win the 19th Caps, Corks and Forks.
The annual dinner pits students from the winery and viticulture technician program against their peers in the brewmaster and brewery operations management program, pairing beverages with a five-course meal prepared by the college’s Benchmark team.
After each course, guests vote with a wine cork or a beer cap, with results tracked live. This year, Team Wine secured the trophy with 604 corks to 564 caps, ending a rivalry that had sat even at nine wins each.
Niagara College president Sean Kennedy told the room the stakes before service began.
“Your job is to eat, drink and vote,” he said.
Students planned the menu, crafted the food and beverages, presented the pairings and delivered every plate and glass throughout the night.
“My favorite moment, after working all 19 of them, is seeing the students in action,” said Sarah Scott, Niagara College event specialist.
In attendance was Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges and Universities, who spoke to the crowd and framed the night as a showcase of career-ready education.
He lauded the province’s recent lifting of the tuition freeeze and $6.4 billion post-secondary funding commitment, saying it will help students in Niagara College and across the province prepare for the workforce.
“This is education aligned directly with employer needs,” said Quinn. “Education that equips students to launch meaningful, in-demand careers.”
Additionally, OSAP funding will be reduced to a maximum of 25 per cent for grants, down from 85 per cent starting in September.
The Wine and Beer student teams next to Quinn while he spoke the crowd were noticeably less than appreciative of his praise for the OSAP cuts.
Rowan McDowell, a second-year winery and viticulture technician student, was hoping to return to Niagara College for further studies in distilling but the stark increase in student loans she would need to take out has made her uncertain.
“As much as I’d like to come back, I don’t really know if I can,” she said.
Behind the scenes, professors described the event as a public test of industry skills between students. Brewmaster professor Adrian Popowycz, supervising Team Beer, said students must learn to sell their product, not just produce it.
“You can make the best beer in the world, but if you don’t sell it, your brewery’s going to fail,” said Popowycz.
Wine professor Peter Rod pointed to demand for the event, which has grown from attracting only 40 guests in its first year to a 250-seat gala.
“If we didn’t do it year after year, there’d be a riot, because those people buy tickets so damn fast. It sells out so quickly,” said Rod.
The five-course menu included tuna aguachile, smoked trotter pho, Hudson Valley cured duck breast, truffled beef cheek crépinette and a chocolate peanut butter crunch pâté. Students sampled and debated dozens of beverage options before settling on final pairings in January tastings.
Flora Rofouyan, a second-year culinary student responsible for creating the first course, described her journey in leaving a legal career to pursue cooking full-time.
“I studied law and I worked in an office for almost 10 years. Then I decided, in one day, that I want to quit and do my passion.”
Stan Cho, Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming, was also in attendance and connected the event to the province’s “Destination” Niagara strategy, announced in December.
“It attracts 13 million visitors a year. We have some very ambitious plans to double that number, and the people who are going to make that happen are right here in this group.”
The competition will return in February 2027, when Team Beer will look to even the score once again.
