ApresVin Grapeseed Oils

Indigenous cultures are reputed to use every part of a kill, right down to the ear bone on a buffalo. Enter ApresVin, who just couldn’t stand to see any part of a wine grape go to waste. French for “after the wine,” ApresVin has adapted European expeller presses to squeeze all the juice out of select vineyards’ leftover grape seeds. With a little abracadabra and some flavoring, the result is a series of dipping oils made from 100% pure varietals.

The oils are really tasty. The 2007 Yakima Valley Chipotle Merlot oil is surprisingly spicy on the finish, and the 2007 Yakima Valley Roasted Garlic Chardonnay oil would make a perfect appetizer for an Italian meal, the kind that makes the meal unnecessary. There’s also Lime Riesling, Mélange a Trois, and others, each of which offer the kind of surprise you get by reading the solution to an Encyclopedia Brown mystery.

But, ApresVin isn’t finished there. There’s more to be used. After the oil is expelled, the press cake is milled to produce pure varietal grape seed flours. Gluten-free and packed with antioxidants, the flour is supposed to be mixed into other dry ingredients as you bake. The 2007 Yakima Valley Merlot flour made a loaf of basic bread a bit more dense, really dark, and tasting remarkably like…bread. A little disappointing for a wino looking for happy hour in loaf form.

The ApresVin oils and flours would make good gifts for a wine hobbyist, or to feature at a wine-centric dinner party where everyone stands around the kitchen with full glasses of vino in hand.