Enhanced wine making techniques

The Alcohol & Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO the folks who license and regulate us) announced that Ferment on Premise facilities will be permitted to combine multiple customers’ ingredients, allowing innovative practices such as barrel aging.

 

This change allows us to utilize winemaking techniques such as fermentation in stainless barrels as well as aging wines in oak barrels to enhance your wines.

 

Wine is aged in barrels for flavor development, maturity, and longevity after bottling. The main positive effects of aging (controlled oxidation) include enhancement and stabilization of red colour, softening of tannins, development of complex aromas and improvement in wine's body and mouth feel. In short, it allows the slow ingress of oxygen–a process which makes wine taste smoother and less astringent.

 

Oak aging can aid in the development of various aromas and flavours: Vanilla, Caramel, Smoke, Chocolate, Coffee, Toffee, baking spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg.

 

Steel barrels are a type of barrel made from stainless steel used to ferment and age wine. The steel imparts no flavor to the wine: it merely holds the wine for a period of time while it stabilises and the flavors integrate. Steel barrels also don’t let any oxygen come into contact with the wine. This type of fermentation and aging helps wines retain the fresh fruit aromas that degrade with exposure to oxygen. A noticeable enhancement to white wines fermented and aged  in this fashion.