Experimenting drying grapes in a greenhouse:
Canada: The secret behind Appassimento wines
Neighbouring Niagara region winery owners John Young (Angels Gate Winery and Kew Vineyards) and Graham Rennie (Rennie Estate Winery) are big believers in Appassimento wines produced domestically. The process allows for enhanced development of flavours, concentration of sugars and contributes to more complex aromas in wines made from high quality grapes harvested in cool climate areas with shorter growing seasons.
Right: Bernard Goyette
Currently, there is no Appassimento wine category at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). However, in 2010 the crown corporation showed net sales nearing $40 million for this style of wine with just eight percent originating from Ontario. This is a great opportunity for domestic producers. “Consumers are looking for better quality Ontario red table wines. Our approach is to blend small amounts of Appassimento wines with our Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in order to enhance the overall quality and consistency of our red table wines. Our 2011 Soldier’s Grant is an example of this approach that has shown a tremendous success,” says Young.
In 2011, Rennie and Young partnered with Vineland to develop a reliable grape-drying system for their wines. “We were experimenting drying grapes in a greenhouse with varying results. We wanted to perfect the ratio of temperature to humidity levels as well as to create a process that would result in a long period of slow, measured drying of our premium fruit. That’s when we approached Vineland,” comments Rennie.
Led by Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) and through funding provided by the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence program, Vineland and a number of other regional partners were already studying different drying techniques. Partnering with the two winery owners to develop a proprietary system calibrated to Ontario’s growing conditions and customized to wineries’ specifications just made sense.
“The drying methods currently used in the industry are sometimes unreliable and labour-intensive. We have developed a forced-air drying process that takes into account Ontario’s unique weather conditions and that is fully controlled and adjustable to adapt to varying harvest conditions and winery requirements,” says Dr. Bernard Goyette, Vineland’s Research Scientist, Postharvest Science. Rennie’s “G” 2011, Rennie’s Scarpata 2011 and Kew’s Soldier’s Grant 2011 wines were crafted from grapes dried by this drying system during the pilot project.
So what’s next? Vineland will build small prototype units housing its proprietary drying system and install them at partnering wineries for testing and scale-up during the 2014 harvest.
Rennie Estate Winery’s “G” 2011 is a wine made with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grapes dried using the Appassimento method while Rennie Estate Winery’s Scarpata 2011 is a Ripasso-style wine which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes fermented with the skins used in the production of the “G” wine. Both can be purchased at the Malivoire Wine Company in Beamsville, Ontario and at select restaurants in the GTA and Niagara. Kew Vineyards Soldier’s Grant 2011 is available at the Beamsville winery and for a limited time in the Vintages section at the LCBO. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc with approximately 12 percent of the latter produced in the Appassimento style. The wine won a silver medal at the 2013 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada.
Vineland’s industry-focused research creates impactful results for the Canadian wine industry.
For more information on Vineland’s Appassimento research, please contact:
Dr. Bernard Goyette, Research Scientist, Postharvest Science
T: 905-562-0320 x169
[email protected]
Lana Culley, Director, Business Development a
T:905-562-0320 x 747
[email protected]
