A Concrete Idea

While sorting through my photos of my trip to Ontario wine country, I was reminded of the experimental storage of bulk wine that Hillebrand winery employed. They created a large cement casks to store reisling wine in bulk. It was interesting to see two large cement wine casks sitting in the midst of its storage facility. One also contained patched cracks because cement, as we all know in Manitoba, cracks due to seasonal temperature differences.

Traditional oak in the background and innovative concrete in the foreground.

The belief was that the cement would impart minerals into the wine during its storage in the winery. Hillebrand’s counterpart winery Peller Estates has also tried this experiment and had bottled a Sauvignon Blanc. Upon tasting the Sauvignon Blanc it was very apparent that the mineral content enhanced the fruity and earthiness of this great white.

So if you venture somewhere in wine country, see if the wineries are doing their part to enhance the wine experience like these two wineries do.

Cheers,

Brian (Wine Sense- Portage Ave.)

NOTE* Wine Sense wines that would really display a natural mineral characteristic would be 2006’s Limited Edition Australian Verdelho and this year’s Limited Edition Austrian Gruner Veltliner.

Filed under: General, Wine by Craig