If you have ever been to a wine tasting, you will know that most wine tasters and sommeliers tend to spit their wine out into containers, after holding it in their mouths for a bit. They do this in order not to get drunk after tasting several wines. This is definitely pity, especially when it comes to fine wines! Just think about tasting a Brunello di Montalcino or a Barolo being spit out as though there were something wrong with drinking them!
Bear with us for a second, but have you ever thought about recycling that wine, and introducing it back into the wine market? Yes, this sounds like pure madness. But it is a madness which is being put into practice! Peter Bignell, who has a distillery on the island of Tasmania in southern Australia has thought of recycling wine. Believing that all the wonderful wine that is spit out at wine tastings is simply going to waste, he decided he wanted to save that wine somehow. He, along with two others, collected over 500 liters of leftover wine, and took them to a Sydney distillery which was the closest distillery to the events from which the “wine spit” was collected. From here, the concept of “Kissing a Stranger” came about. Twelve months later, all that spat wine was transformed into a type of “brandy”. A very drinkable type of wine. But how did this idea even cross Peter Bignell’s mind and what makes it drinkable?
“The ethanol contained in the wine is distilled off” explains Bignell, “which at very high temperatures kills off all germs and bacteria.” “This is not an uncommon concept if you think about it. Water from the tap in most big cities, passes through thousands of taps” Bignell argues, “and the filter used is just a bit of chlorine. Distillation actually sterilizes much better!”
Bignell is convinced of his business of recycling wine, assuring consumers that the process of distillation also brings about a pleasant smell. “It reminds me of the aromas in my house when I was younger, when my grandmother and mother would prepare blueberry and blackberry jam.” Bignell also associates this anti-waste movement to humanitarian efforts, with proceeds from the sale of these wines going to associations that help young Australian Aborigines who are economically struggling. Now it is up to us to decide whether or not we are willing to drink spat (distilled) wine in order to save that prestigious Brunello or not. The jury is out!
Bear with us for a second, but have you ever thought about recycling that wine, and introducing it back into the wine market? Yes, this sounds like pure madness. But it is a madness which is being put into practice! Peter Bignell, who has a distillery on the island of Tasmania in southern Australia has thought of recycling wine. Believing that all the wonderful wine that is spit out at wine tastings is simply going to waste, he decided he wanted to save that wine somehow. He, along with two others, collected over 500 liters of leftover wine, and took them to a Sydney distillery which was the closest distillery to the events from which the “wine spit” was collected. From here, the concept of “Kissing a Stranger” came about. Twelve months later, all that spat wine was transformed into a type of “brandy”. A very drinkable type of wine. But how did this idea even cross Peter Bignell’s mind and what makes it drinkable?
“The ethanol contained in the wine is distilled off” explains Bignell, “which at very high temperatures kills off all germs and bacteria.” “This is not an uncommon concept if you think about it. Water from the tap in most big cities, passes through thousands of taps” Bignell argues, “and the filter used is just a bit of chlorine. Distillation actually sterilizes much better!”
Bignell is convinced of his business of recycling wine, assuring consumers that the process of distillation also brings about a pleasant smell. “It reminds me of the aromas in my house when I was younger, when my grandmother and mother would prepare blueberry and blackberry jam.” Bignell also associates this anti-waste movement to humanitarian efforts, with proceeds from the sale of these wines going to associations that help young Australian Aborigines who are economically struggling. Now it is up to us to decide whether or not we are willing to drink spat (distilled) wine in order to save that prestigious Brunello or not. The jury is out!
