Wine rescued from dumping becomes vodka, other spirits

California sidecar

Winemakers often bleed off some juice before fermentation as a sacrifice to intensify the resulting wine and get a better concentration of color. Called saignee (literally “bleeding”), this runoff is sometimes used to make rosé wine but more often is simply discarded, expensively and wastefully, and treated in septic systems to prevent damage to the neighboring soils.

At RE:Find Distillery in California’s Central Coast region, Alex and Monica Villicana have found another use for this tasty grape juice: making spirits. They distill the grape juice they used to discard during production of zinfandels and syrahs, among other varieties, at their winery, creating truly local gin and vodka from Paso Robles.

Grape-based spirits are higher in glycerol compared with more traditional grain-based spirits, which creates a sweeter, softer mouthfeel and sexy legs on the glass.

Technically, grape-based ounces RE:Find [e] barrel-finished vodka ounce Cointreau orange liqueur ounce fresh lemon juice Rim a cocktail glass by dipping half in lemon juice, then sugar, if desired. Place the ingredients in a shaker with ice, and shake until well chilled. Strain and serve up, with a lemon twist. spirits are brandies. But unlike grappa or marc, which are made from the pomace (skins, seeds, stems) after pressing (and, in the case of marc, subsequently aged in wooden barrels), the RE:Find spirits are distilled from 100 percent juice.

The most distinctive of their products is the RE:Find [e] barrel-finished vodka, which is aged in used whiskey barrels and new American oak barrels to add a layer of richness, color and spice. It looks like a whiskey and drinks like a young bourbon, with notes of toasted marshmallow and caramel. Says distiller Alex Villicana, “Most people don’t barrelage vodka, but we think the sweetness and texture of our grape-based spirit lends really well. We bring it to events in a brown paper bag, and it is really neat to see people’s reactions.”

Villicana likes it best neat or in traditional cocktails like Manhattans, Old-Fashioneds and boulevardiers, but we think its lighter, fruitier nature is well-suited to brighter cocktails, like a version of the classic sidecar. A nod to [e]’s roots in both brandy and bourbon, the cocktail is essentially a cognac sour updated with the substitution of the unique barrel-aged vodka. In true California spirit, Villicana sees it as “a way to use the resource that we have locally” — a sustainable spirit made from recycled wine.

ROBIN BLACK PHOTO At RE:Find Distillery in California’s Central Coast region, Alex and Monica Villicana have found another use for grape juice that was once discarded in production: making spirits.