Pomace wine is made from the leftover material after fruit juice is squeezed out. It has a lower alcohol and sugar content and less complex flavor than regular wine. It can be made from various fruits and is often distilled to improve flavor.
Pomace wine is a wine obtained from pomace, the material left over after squeezing the fruit to produce the juice. True pomace wine is relatively rare in the modern era, because the flavor tends to be less than stellar, but a number of pomace grappas, made by distilling the pomace, can be found, and some of these products are quite good. Especially large liquor stores and some specialty stores may carry pomace wine, for people who are interested to try.
When the fruit is pressed into the juice, a pulp of flesh, seeds and stems is left behind. This pulp is known as pomace and has numerous uses. It can be used as a fertilizer, for example, or processed to extract useful substances. When people want to make pomace wine, they soak the pomace in water and allow it to soak briefly, and sometimes to ferment. They can also use must, freshly squeezed juice, as a soaking medium.
After the pomace has soaked, it is pressed again to produce a weak juice that can be fermented into wine. Pomace wine tends to have a lower alcohol and sugar content than first pressing wine and the flavor is generally not very complex. It’s also short-lived, designed to be drunk right after brewing.
In ancient times, pomace wine was sometimes used as a cheap substitute for wine, for tables where regular wine was too expensive and some winemakers drank pomace wine, selling their real wines. Others have developed various distilled versions of pomace wine, which tend to be more flavorful and complex, as the distillation process extracts more flavor.
Many languages have a specific name or slang term for pomace wine, indicating that it was relatively widespread at one point. In some regions of the world, pomace wine can still be found; artisanal winemakers are sometimes a good source, as their crops are small enough that they cannot use the pomace for other commercial purposes. Some pomace wines are purposely handled to extend their flavor and produce a more interesting product, while others are made indifferently and not very exciting.
Incidentally, while “wine” evokes the image of a product derived from grapes, pomace wine can be made from many types of fruit, including apples. It may also be referred to as pomace cider or weak cider, especially when made from apples.
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