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Fresh Tap Kegs
The production room at Vancouver Urban Winery where wines are stored in kegs, pressurized with nitrogen to prevent spoilage.
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Wine in kegs and available on tap
Vancouver Urban Winery introduced the new approach to selling wine by the glass to B.C.
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Wine List
The list of available wines gives an idea of just how many wineries are signing on to the concept of the Fresh TAP system.
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Mike MacQuisten
CEO Mike MacQuisten with one of the wine kegs allowing consumers in bars and restaurants to have wine on tap.
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Production Room
The production room at Vancouver Urban Winery where wines are stored in kegs, pressurized with nitrogen to prevent spoilage.
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Vancouver Urban Winery
Vancouver Urban Winery’s wine bar and lounge seating.
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Fresh Tap Kegs
The production room at Vancouver Urban Winery where wines are stored in kegs, pressurized with nitrogen to prevent spoilage.
The FreshTAP system – wine in kegs and available on tap, draft beer-style – has been pouring into gastropubs and restaurants in key markets across North America. With only one or two modest exceptions (Nichol Vineyard’s Pinot Gris at Naramata Heritage Inn and prosecco imported from Italy), FreshTAP stayed out of B.C., at least until early 2012 when Vancouver Urban Winery arrived on the scene. Since then B.C. wineries have been quick to jump on the bandwagon and try out the new approach to selling wine by the glass.
Big in wine-savvy U.S. markets, the system’s popularity with boutique wineries has been its greatest success. Touted as a cost-saving, eco-friendly packaging system, the keg supply industry boasts that serving wine from reusable kegs reduces costs for bottles, corks and labels, as well as for shipping.
According to Mike Macquisten, CEO and a founding partner of Vancouver Urban Winery, there are other benefits. “The quality of the wine out of the keg mimics how wine is kept in the winery,” he says. “At a time when serving wine by the glass is on the increase, representing as much as 80% of wine sales, you never know what state the wine will be in when it comes out of the bottle.”
Macquisten first learned about FreshTAP from a former colleague at Earls who saw it in action on a visit to the U.S. At the time Macquisten and Steve Thorp, his partner in a marketing company, were on the hunt for new opportunities. A UBC graduate, Macquisten began his career “behind the bar through university” and worked at Earls for five years before moving into sales for Molson and Corby, where he was introduced to high value spirits and wines. Thorp, a snow boarder who took the business program at Capilano University, ran an action sports equipment business. Recognizing the potential of FreshTAP, they traveled to the U.S. to research keg packaging suppliers, and within a few months, developed the plan for bringing the concept to B.C.
Their model meant obtaining a commercial winery license and finding a suitable location for kegging –packing wine in kegs– close to the B.C.’s biggest concentration of consumers and licensees. Getting the stamp of approval from the city for housing Vancouver’s first winery proved to be a major hurdle. Officials turned down three sites they proposed, before they uncovered a 10,000 square foot heritage building in a revitalized commercial district called Railtown, neighbouring Gastown.
Built in 1922, it started with a masonry company as the first occupant, still evident in some of the stone work incorporated into the building. That was followed by a manufacturer of landing gear for airplanes during WWII, and most recently a steel foundry.
Now it provides plenty of space for Vancouver Urban Winery’s FreshTAP operation. That includes a Sake crafted on Granville Island and two Cellared in Canada varieties from wines imported by Vancouver Urban Winery under the proprietary brand name Roaring Twenties Wine Co., a separate business operation under the same roof.
Along with storage of kegs, tanks and barrels, the facility houses a large area with a bar –its base made of elaborately carved stone. Vancouver Urban Winery welcomes the public to do tastings, tours and hold private events like weddings.
No other facility in B.C. can claim up to 36 taps at a tasting bar, serving multiple varieties from many participating wineries with up to five one-ounce samplers per customer.
With Macquisten as CEO, Thorp took on the COO role, preferring more technical pursuits such as keg logistics. They hired consulting winemaker Kelly Symonds-Mean to oversee kegging, cleaning the new and used kegs, and meticulous lab testing to ensure quality and consistency.
Client wineries ship the wine to be kegged directly to Vancouver Urban Winery in 850 litre stainless steel tanks or oak barrels, in some cases unfiltered. The 19.5 litre kegs, custom-engineered in the U.S., are filled from the tank or barrel, until an overflow sensor turns off the flow. “Using sterilized tops and nitrogen under pressure, FreshTAP is a closed system,” Macquisten explains. “It picks up less than 1% oxygen, compared to 4 to 5% for a bottling line.” Custom graphics liners are installed over top. After use, the kegs are returned and cleaned for reuse.
“Over 70 bars and restaurants are serving wine by the glass with our system,” Macquisten says. “Employing a nitrogen injection system and cooling for whites, conditions are ideal for storing wine in kegs for six to eight months.
“In our first year of operation, we kegged the equivalent of 10,000 cases of wine, saving over 100,000 bottles and shipping costs for empty bottles from Washington or China,” Macquisten says. “With 37 wineries on board and over 70 pubs and restaurants on the receiving end, FreshTAP’s been a hit out of the gate.”
Acting as a third party provider of its service, FreshTAP garners a fee for packaging the wine. While contracted wineries are responsible for selling their own kegged wines to licensees, Vancouver Urban Winery is hard at work educating consumers and licensees on its availability, use and benefits. “We value the support behind the product they offer,” says Alison Scholefield of Okanagan Crush Pad, a FreshTAP client. “They are enthusiastic and innovative in their efforts to promote and expand the market for wine on tap.”