Sunny future for Southbrook Vineyards
If I pictured an environmentalist, it would be someone wearing khakis and a Columbia shirt with hiking boots or a pair of Birkenstocks.
But here I was talking with Bill Redelmeier, co-owner of Southbrook Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Redelmeier wearing a fashionable blue blazer and striped tie while I was the one wearing the khakis.
He is way more of an environmentalist, although he doesn’t call himself one more than I am.
Various media were invited along with partners for the “flipping of the switch” as the winery powered up with an array of solar panels.
The winery has always prided itself being an environmentally conscious winery from the get-go with its organic and biodynamic processes, and this was the next step for Redelmeier and wife Marilyn.
A periwinkle blue wall slices through the green vineyards making light traction on the prized land, never overwhelming, somehow blending in perfectly.
“The whole thing was designed from Day 1, to be made LEED gold,” said Redelmeier.
“It takes more paperwork and it costs more to build it, with about 10 years to recoup, but the building will be here 50 years, so why wouldn’t you.”
It turns out that the decision to go solar was made nearly a decade ago.
When the company finally decided to install solar panels, there was some question about unused infrastructure at the back of the building. Not sure, it found the original electrician who said the extra connections were installed at the inception of the Niagara Stone Road winery for future solar installation.
Before Southbrook went ahead with the solar, Redelmeier brought Bruce Taylor on board to go in and assess the already efficient building.
“It’s sexy to put solar and tell everybody how green you are, it makes a lot more sense to cut down energy use before you install the panels,” said Redelmeier.
The winery installed LED lighting and Taylor was able to find an additional 38 per cent in energy savings.
With the savings and new solar field, Redelmeier said that Southbrook was able to cut its energy use from 360,000 kilowatt hours to about 60,000 kWh.
“It’s crazy to me that we can find another 38 percent,” he said.
“We’re using more and more electricity, and we have to recognize that.
“When we renovated our house some years ago the standard had changed from two plugs in every room to one plug on every wall. Today we really need a plug every four feet. We have so many devices were using.”
I would be surprised if other businesses, not just wineries were at his door asking for how Southbrook did it.
Before the announcement, I had a chance to step into the tasting room to sample South brook’ s Orange Wine, something I’d heard about but perhaps hesitated to give a try because of unfavourable experiences I have had with fruit wines.
But this wine is not a wine made from oranges, as you might think. In fact, it’s part of a trend seen around the world, making white wines using red wine techniques, even though that would bean oversimplification.
Award-winning winemaker Ann Sperling uses Vidal grapes and wild fermentation with the skins and stems to provide the wine’s unique orange/amber hue.
The nose explodes with notes of lavender and sweet citrus. The palate shows a medium body and is very dry. Much dryer than one would expect from a Vidal grape. And the acidity with solid tannins proves that this will hold up to a bold meal or age well.
It’s unique, and people at the winery admit it’s a “you’ll really love it or not” kind of wine.
If your palate likes a Negroni (an Italian mixed drink), you’ll probably love this.
The nice thing is, you can try it at the winery and if it’s not to your taste, then you can sample some of the other excellent wines on site.
I hope I’ve piqued your interest, it’s well worth a taste.