Wine Culture Magazine

Photo courtesy of Birch Block Vineyard

“Piquette for the people,” is how Sarah Bancroft describes the fizzy wine beverage she and her husband Murray, co-owners of Birch Block Vineyard, are making this summer. “It’s an egalitarian, fun, accessible wine beverage. It’s inexpensive, low alcohol, totally natural, and re-uses grape skins that would otherwise go to waste, which makes it very sustainable, too.”

Inspired by a beverage traditionally served to vineyard workers in France, the Birch Block Pop-Up Piquette is made from fermented Mourvèdre and Grenache grape skins and local honey, with a flavour similar to a fresh, fruity kombucha and an ABV of only eight per cent. Each 473 mL can retails for $10 at select private retailers or through birchblockvineyard.com.

The Pop-Up Piquette is one of several B.C. wines being sold in cans this season, even though the B.C. Wine Authority still won’t allow the Vintners Quality Alliance label on canned wine. Among them:

• Castoro de Oro
• JoieFarm Winery
• Corcelettes Estate Winery Santé
• 50th Parallel Estate Winery Glamour Farming
• The View Bling
• Mayhem
• Recline Ridge Wine2Go

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