A little primer on fortified wine in Canada

In the basic sense, fortified wine is fermented wine that includes the addition of distilled alcohol to raise the alc/vol to above 16% (usually from 17 to 22.5 %). This is done in several ways depending on the stylistic goals of the Winemaker and the limitations of the rules we follow. The two main methods involve fermenting, either completely or partially, and fortifying at different stages of the fermentation (to either stall or amend the fermentation). If you wish to read about fortified wine around the world to get a sense of what we are making, refer to Robert Bell’s Fortified Wines of Canada for an exhaustive explanation.

November 2021

Different types of spirits are generally used for fortification. What makes Bee & Thistle’s Fortified Haskap Wine so special is the addition of true Haskap Distillate, or eau-de-vie, which is distilled from the wine that was fermented from our premium Haskap varieties. The true name for the distillate made from fruit wine is fruit brandy or eau-de-vie and, in our case, Haskap eau-de-vie. The wine used for this ambrosia was from 2021’s highly flavourful and intense berries. Due to the extremely hot and dry summer we had, the flavours of the berries intensified and that is further accented in the wine. With the supervision of Mark Holinaty of Great Gido’s Homebrew, Peter distilled a quantity of our premium fermented Haskap wine and used that distillate to fortify the same vintage batch it came from (2021). The flavours will be allowed to blend and intensify over the coming weeks. A small batch will also be aged; eventually, we hope to age a batch in oak for a year, creating even more intensity and flavour.

November 2021

Bottled 25 cases of 375 ml for inclusion in our 12 Days Holiday Boxes (2 - 375 ml bottles of The Abbey per Advent Box).

December 2021

Bottled 17 cases of 375 ml for sales distribution.

May 2021

Made a second batch of Fortified Haskap Wine and bottled 42 cases. This wine is very popular at tastings and tradeshows.