Innovation


Wine waste put to the taste


Winecrush getting a chance to convince business ‘dragons’ that its products are worth investment.


By SusanMcIver this fall. C


The company uses leftover product from wineries to enrich and enhance food.


“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said company co- founder and product developer Tyson Still. The Dragons’ Den provides aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to convince one of the six business dragons to invest in their fledgling business.


“A dream come true,” said sales manager Allie Broddy, whose father Bill Broddy founded Winecrush with Still.


The concept for the burgeoning gourmet food company began in 2015 when Bill, a recent computer technology retiree from Ontario was riding his bicycle along Okanagan back roads.


A sourdough bread enthusiast, he wondered if the yeast on the wild grapes he saw could be used in making the bread.


“He contacted me, and I started playing around with the idea,”


BC TV’s popular Dragons’ Den program will feature Penticton-based Winecrush


SUSAN MCIVER


Winecrush co-founder Tyson Still and sales manager Allie Broddy. Tyson said.


A cook at Nk’Mip Winery, Tyson began sharpening his baking skills. The sourdough project was eventually terminated because of difficulty in selling enough bread the same day it was baked. However, the experience served as the spring board for processing the marc or pomace—what’s leftover after the grapes are crushed—from Okanagan wineries into a line of fine foods. Winecrush meat products are Cabernet Salami, Pinot Chorizo and Pinot Gris Turkey Sausage. “Our sausage maker, Helmut in Vernon, was blown away with the idea. He said we’d started a whole new food category,” Tyson said. Other products include Gamay goat cheese, Surlee red cheddar, mustards and wine crisps. A new cheese, Mari Gouda, hits the market in June.


There is also a selection of wine powders—Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Merlot and Malbec—that customers can use in their own recipes. An enthusiastic cook since youth,


Tyson posts his favourite recipes, such as, Winecrush dry rub for steaks and roasted vegetables, and beer-brined pork loin with Winecrush chorizo and roasted cauliflower hash on winecrush.ca All foods are developed in the Winecrush facility in Penticton. “We try to use only Okanagan products and businesses,” Tyson said.


These include not only the many wineries which supply the marc, but also Castle Cheese in Lumby, Happy Days’ Dairy in Salmon Arm and Salubrious Seeds in Summerland.


Steve and Kristi Manke, owners of Salubrious, use specialized food processing equipment to make oils and powders from grape seeds. Winecrush foods and powders not only taste good, they are good for you.


Tyson said about 75 per cent of the grapes’ nutrients remain in the marc after pressing, and that for every three bottles of wine there is one bottle packed with nutrient- rich leftovers.


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Summer 2018 17


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