Friday, July 20, 2007

One man's trash

Lori Ramonas and her husband Eric Leber have taken this old saying to heart and started their own business. It is called the Apr s Vin company, which is French for "after the wine", and they produce several different kinds of grapeseed oils. As the name states, grapeseed oil is oil made from grape seeds and it used in a similar fashion to olive or corn oils. The true brilliance of what Romanas and Leber are doing is they are obtaining their oil by way of reclaimed [and "donated"] chardonnay, riesling, and merlot grapeseeds. They have partnered with several Washington State wineries, who usually pay to have their left over crushed stems, skins, and grape seeds removed, and receive their raw material nearly free. Sounds like a win-win situation for both Apr s Vin and the wineries they server.

But wait, there's more - working with a firm called Fruitsmart Incorporated, who are experienced in seed milling, they have developed their process for turning winery waste into grapdeseed oil with a by-product of ground up seed meal, known as presscake. They dried and ground it some more to make flour, but pure merlot or chardonnay flour. This new flour is then being used by Vinman's Bakery to produce whole grain bread and baguettes. Next the bakers are looking at making chardonnay and merlot croutons.

So you take a little good old fashion wisdom, add in a dash of entrepreneurial spirit and a healthy dose of what-little-thing-can-we-do-for-the-environment and what do you get? Trash turned into treasure - and some pretty damn good wine flavored oil and bread. Win, Win, Win!

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