"varietals" news and stories

I've heard of making oil... and making wine, but making oil from wine? Or bread? I ran across this article and it seems that a while ago a chemistry professor asked his students to come up with as many products as they could from the agriculture waste from the wine industry. They came up with over 40 products, including cooking oil rich in vitamin E and polyunsaturated oils derived from the grape seed. I had heard of grape seed oil before, but never really thought about the process of how it is made.

The difference in these new products from other grape seed oils, is that the oils are collected from specific varieties of wine grapes and not mixed. So they are producing the first varietal grape seed oils made from premium chardonnay, merlot, and riesling grapes which are grown in Eastern Washington state, then cold pressed into extra virgin cooking oils.

The company, Aprs Vine, has plain varietal and infused varietal oils like "Chardonnay Provenal, a chardonnay oil infused with a fragrant mixture of herbs, including tarragon and rosemary; Riesling Citron Vert, a very light oil infused with lime; and Merlot Chipotle, a richer, more complex oil that tastes like scotch, infused with chipotle peppers, for a spicy finish."

An added benefit from the process is that they are also making merlot and chardonnay grape seed flours as well. After the oil has been extracted from the crushed seeds, they are then made into a "fragrant, healthy flour full of antioxidants" that can be mixed with regular flour and used for baking.