The new eco-friendly wines and spirits to look out for
telegraph.co.uksloemotiondistillery.com) is very good neat over ice, or long with tonic and a sprig of mint.It’s not the only drink being made with what would otherwise be thrown away.
William Grant & Sons launched the Discarded range in 2018 with Sweet Cascara Vermouth (Waitrose, £19 for 50cl), a good sweet red vermouth made from the fruit of the coffee berry, usually thrown away once the bean is extracted.
Try it in a boulevardier cocktail, a whiskey-based take on a negroni made by stirring two parts bourbon with one part Campari and one part red vermouth, along with ice and a paring of orange zest.Discarded also sells a rum flavoured with banana peel, and recently released a Chardonnay vodka made using pomace – the solid waste of skins, seeds and stems left over from winemaking.Thriftiness with the by-products of wine is nothing new for mainland Europeans – I think we are all familiar with marc and grappa – and now our own wine and spirits industry is adapting and innovating, too.
Spirits made from pomace are emerging from English wine producers including Rathfinny Estate and Chapel Down.The wine writer Matthew Jukes had the interesting idea of using the skins of Pinot Noir – one of the finest red grapes – to flavour a soft drink.
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