(scroll further down for information on our "Wine Boot Camp "

Experts Can't Tell Wine Made at Fermentations From Commercially-Available Brands

 Think you can tell the difference between a bottle of wine you make yourself at Fermentations from store-bought wines? Think again.  On November 8, 2011, Fermentations held a blind tasting challenge at Globe Bistro. Wines were organized into six flights by region and varietal, with each flight comprising four popular wines purchased from the LCBO and one wine made at Fermentations. The judges included wine expert Alan McGinty, sommelier and wine consultant Zoltan Szabo, and wine bloggers Michael Di Caro and David Fang.  Overall, 60% of the time the experts were not able to identify the Fermentations wine as the non-commercial brand. Instead, they frequently identified one of the commercial brands as homemade. The score sheets also revealed that though the judges felt that it was "obvious" which was the homemade wine 73% of the time, half of those guesses turned out to be incorrect.  Fermentations Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot were sampled alongside popular Niagara wines as well as imports from Italy and California. The store-bought wines ranged in price from $14 to $34 (compared to approximately $7-8 per bottle at Fermentations).   In the white wine categories, the experts preferred Fermentations Chardonnay over Penninsula Ridge's; Fermentations Riesling over Cave Spring's and Henry of Pelham's; and Fermentations Sauvignon Blanc over Jackson Triggs'.  The red wines did even better. One expert wrote on his evaluation sheet that Fermentations Cabernet Franc is "savoury and food-friendly" and scored it equal to the bottle from Inniskillin. In the category Merlot blends, another expert noted that Fermentations Merlot was "full bodied, with good structure and balance, and oak finish," and gave it the same score as the most expensive bottle of Italian Merlot in the flight. And in the flight of California Merlots, one expert preferred the Fermentations Merlot to Berringer Founder's Reserve, which he described as "awful".   When the experts gathered after the event to discuss the wines, Zoltan Szabo commented that the Fermentations entry was best in the flight of Merlot blends, a flight which included a bottle of Bolgheri Micheletti that retails for $19.95, and said, "The Fermentations red could be mistaken for any commercial wines."   Added Alan McGinty, "Several of the Fermentations wines scored quite closely behind commercial wines averaging more than twice the price, but the big surprise for me was the Fermentations wine beating four commercial wines in the Italian Merlot blends category."  

The secret behind the high-quality wine at Fermentations is the grapes. Real grapes are brought in from the Niagara region, California, and Europe. The wine experts proved it. Wine you can make yourself at Fermentations is equal in quality to many popular wines you're buying from the liquor store, and less than half the price.

 

Ontario Championships confirm our quality!

At the 2011 AWO Provincial Championships, Greg, Scott and I walked off with medals for the following:

2010 Late Harvest Apple Wine:  merit 

2008 Zinfandel: bronze     2007 Meritage:  bronze             

2009 Vidal:  bronze           

Honey Lager :  bronze               Belgian Honey Lavender :silver

Blackberry Porter:  silver          Swartzbier:  silver

Double IPA:  gold

These results are a reflection of the dedication and passion we put into our jobs, especially the part about doing "quality control and market research", when it comes to analyzing commercial products (ie, drinking a lot outside of work), and figuring out how we can make them even better.  Cheers!

 

Wine Boot Camp

In just ninety minutes, you can learn the secrets of wine tasting- how to taste once, and then smell twice on just one sip of wine.  Pair that up with  learning how to match wine with foods, and you will have the winning combination!   Seminars are limited to 20 participants max, so please call to confirm your spot.  Seminars being held on the following dates and times (with additional dates added in regularly):

 

Saturday, Jan 14   6 pm               

Sunday, Jan 22  1 pm

Saturday Feb 4 6 pm

Sunday Feb 5 1pm 

Saturday Feb 18  6 pm

Friday Feb 24   7 pm

 

Looking To Buy and Drink Locally?

Passionate about great beer? - Try it with Local Organic Hops   We have received our Harvest 2011 crop of organic local hops!  Hallertau, Fuggles and East Kent Goldings, picked whole and immediately vacuum packed for us! Think of the most perfect lagers, and add the organic Hallertau.  Imagine exceptional English Bitters and Pale Ales, and add the Fuggles or the Goldings (or why not both?). We have limited qualities so order yours soon.

Thirsting for splendid cider? - Try Our Local Organic Cider  Imagine a blend of three or more delicious apples, lovingly pressed to order, and delivered to us fresh- and then fermented to make quite simply the most refreshing sparkling cider you have ever tasted!

Looking for Something Different? - Try Our Marvelous Mead.  Think of the most fragrant flowers Mother Nature grows, then add in the delicious smooth sweet character of local Ontario honey - together they make a fantastic sparkling mead, an unctuous sweet ice wine style mead, or a tremendous cassis flavored mead cooler.  Let your imagination, and tastebuds run wild!

 

 

Fermentations owner, Charles Fajgenbaum has been helping clients make outstanding wines and beers since 1993. In judged competitions against commercial wines, wines made at Fermentations have outscored commercial wines costing upwards of $20.00. During our Chilean Grape Harvest Festival 2011, with a 26 or 72 bottle batch of wine made from fantastic Chilean grapes costing as little as $7.15 ea., our clients can make truly exceptional wines, while enhancing their wine cellars at a fraction of the cost of buying wine via the regular retail channels.

Fermentations! is located at 201 Danforth Avenue in Toronto. For more information, please call us at 416-778-9000.