December 31, 2007
Only two or three decades ago there were only a handful of fruit wineries. Today, more than 25 try to entice consumers to try their wares.
Sweet cider has always been popular with consumers of British ancestry, but today young and educated consumers look for dry and subtle wines. Many fruit winemakers are happy to oblige. More importantly, fruit growers seem to be more interested in making and marketing wines for obvious reasons! Value added products are more profitable.
Grape wines are popular practically all over the world, since the fruit has a much wider growing range.
According to archeologists, in Mesopotamia around 8000 B.C. fruit wines were produced from dates, figs and watermelons, whereas grape wine production dates back to 6000 years.
Greeks, Romans, Hebrews and Vikings enjoyed fruit wines, and today millions are discovering the joys of fruit wines.
England, France, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the U.S.A are all large-scale producers and consumers.
In addition to fruit wines, imaginative individuals have used legumes, vegetables, honey and even dandelions to produced fermented alcoholic beverages.
Canada’s fruit wines makers excel in cider, pear, and berry wines, and maed. The following fruits are employed in fruit wine production:
Elderberries, black currants, plums, peaches, nectarines, cloudberries, apricots, blackberries, bananas, blueberries, cherries, mulberries, gooseberries, pears, apples, raspberries, red currants, rowan berries, persimmons, pine apples, quinces, rosehips, strawberries, watermelons, mangoes, cranberries, Saskatoon berries and sweetsops.
But did you know that maed, maple syrup-, rhubarb-, parsnips-, palm-, potato- and peanut butter wines sell well?
Several Ontario beekeepers make fine maed, and according to reports, more will be joining them soon.
England, Poland, Germany are also well noted for their maed.
Maed are generally off-dry or sweet may smell floral and are mostly very smooth and balanced.
Ontario, British Columbia led fruit wine production, but Quebec, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan also contribute to the overall volume.
In general, cider, pear, stonefruits and berry wines enjoy popularity and both Ontario and British Columbia are blessed with abundant supplies.
Sunny Brook, and Southbrook wineries have been producing a wide range of fruit wines for a few decades.
Sunnybrook has a particularly large selection of mostly dry or off-dry elegant and refined wines, while Southbrook specializes primarily in conventional wine but produces three sweet berry wines (blueberry, raspberry and cassis).
Quality Certified (Q.C) standards established by Fruit Wines of Canada require that all Q.C label-carrying wines adhere to certain criteria i.e all fruit must be grown in Canada (province) and contain 100 per cent of the fruit indicated on the label. Blended wines or brands must state fruits used in the blend.
A qualified tasting panel before marketing must approve all Q.C wines.
Red grape wines contain high amounts of histamines that cause headaches in sensitive people. Fruit wines do not contain histamines and happen to be more stable, unlike grape wine, once opened. You can keep any partially used fruit wine for at least two to three days in the refrigerator whereas grape wines must be consumed once opened, unless you take appropriate measures to protect them!
The L.C.B.O carries a very limited selection of imported and domestic fruit wines. Producers offer a much larger and imaginative selection.
For more information google “fruit wines of Ontario”.
Recently, several producers provided an opportunity to taste a wide range of fruit wines.
Sunnybrook Fruit Estate Winery, Southbrook, Munro Honey and Meadery, Rush Creek Winery and Crown Bench Estates stood out with their finely balanced and flavorful wines.
Now he consults and writes to increase wine, beer and liquor awareness. He conducts seminars and would be pleased to consider your requests. To peruse the list of his published books and order please contact him at hirayrberberoglu_3@sympatico.ca
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