Steamworks Brewing Co. in Burnaby has announced the release of their Piquette, the company’s first foray into wine.
“Piquette boasts high drinkability thanks to its delivery of light, fruity effervescence and low ABV (typically only 5-7%),” says a news release. “Most easily compared to petillant-naturel, a piquette offers a palate of bright acid and soft tannins. A perfect summer sipper that has been steadily gaining popularity as its exposure and availability has increased.”
Made by adding water to the skins and other material left behind after grapes are pressed and fermenting the resulting liquid until it sparkles, piquette was traditionally made by vineyard workers as a way to give a delicious and refreshing second life to grape pomace, a news release said.
“Sadly for British Columbians, VQA rules prevent many of our local Okanagan vintners from producing a-typical products like Piquette without forfeiting their VQA credentials, meaning the selection in our local liquor stores has been very limited,” said the release. “For the team at Steamworks, the opportunity to divert a small amount of this winery waste stream and experiment with a sustainable and unfussy product was an exciting prospect not to be passed up.”
“When our team started thinking about piquette we realized it was a perfect product for our team’s skillset,” says Brett Jamieson, R&D Lead at Steamworks Brewing Company. “Piquette is unpretentious and easy-drinking in a way that made us think of beer, and it’s a wine that would be totally appropriate to break out at typical social occasions when diving into a bottle of 14-16% ABV wine might be a bit full-on.”
Steamworks Piquette is made with BC-grown Viognier and Cabernet Franc pomace, fermented with wild yeasts, and conditioned in bottle with Fraser Valley Honey and cultured m. reukaufii.
Features and benefits of Piquette include.
- A wine drinker’s answer for early afternoon refreshment and onwards thanks to a low alc./vol at 6.2%.
- Easy to share with a unique flavour that appeals to both wine and beer drinkers.
- Smaller carbon footprint with an inherently sustainable and ecofriendly production process.
Piquette will be available for purchase at select local retailers beginning the week of June 14.
This story was originally published by Vancouver is Awesome.
