Photo by www.dreamstime.com Andrew Zimmer
Pomace
Pressed grape pomace, seeds and skins can be turned into flavour enhancement ingredients.
Okanagan-based Winecrush has received research and development support from Agriculture and Agri Food Canada for its innovative “Marlee” Project, a new bio-mechanical process to transform the food grade wine derivatives - typically discarded after harvest and crush - into a high-performance flavour enhancement ingredient.
Winecrush has developed a new, patent-pending bio-mechanical process to cost effectively upcycle wine-making derivatives into high-performance food ingredients.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has awarded funding to Winecrush through its Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) program, which invests in the research, development, and adoption of clean technologies leading to the promotion of agri-based bioproducts.
“We are honoured to receive support from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Their ACT program was a perfect fit for our stage of development,” says Bill Broddy, co-founder and President of Winecrush. “The Marlee Project is designed to give wineries an effective alternative for the derivatives from the winemaking process, rather than let these food grade materials go to waste.”
Sending these materials to the landfill or leaving it on winery property leads to methane emissions and soil contamination. This new process developed by Winecrush is designed to cost effectively convert these materials into natural food additives suitable for a variety of health and food products, with both high nutritional and monetary value.
As part of its pilot program, Winecrush worked with 10 Okanagan-based wineries to collect their pomace (also known as marc, the grape skins and seeds left after grapes are pressed), and lees (the sediment left behind). A total of 150 tonnes of wine derivative was saved from landfills, avoiding the release of a total of 6,500 kilograms of methane, the equivalent of 175 carbon credits.
“We weren’t sure what to expect when we signed up to partner with Winecrush, but their vision for sustainability and environmental preservation seemed to be in line with what we are trying to achieve here at Stag’s Hollow Winery,” says winemaker Kiera LeFranc.
“The team at Winecrush was extremely responsive in addressing any questions and concerns we brought forth, and they were diligent in ensuring the entire process was as non-disruptive, easy, and streamlined as possible,” LeFranc added. “We are very excited to partner with them again for the upcoming 2021 harvest season, and we appreciate the focus on environmental sustainability that their initiative is bringing to the wine industry.”
Based on the success of the program so far, Winecrush is already putting plans in place for the 2021 harvest.