Wine made from ... tomatoes

Making wine from grapes is not an esoteric formula through four generations of the Pascal Miche family (Belgian) but from . tomatoes.

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Pascal Miche, about 40 years old and used to sell pork, is proud to say that his family's tomato wine has been 'commercially successful' , when annual consumption reaches 34,000 bottles, only Three years after Miche carried out the project to bring this special wine to market.

'I want to complete the work my father started in the 1930s,' Miche told AFP news reporter when he visited his 6,200 tomato fields in Charlevoix, Montreal (Canada). ) about 400km northeast, Saint Lawrence riverside picturesque scenery.

Miche immigrated to the province of Quebec (Canada) 7 years ago. Miche said, he always harbored the idea of ​​selling the family's esoteric wine market. Miche began to implement his plan in 2009 and the harvest of tomatoes in mid-August 2012 will launch a third batch of tomato wine.

Mr. Pascal Miche on the tomato wine pot.(Photo: Internet)

To select the six tomato varieties that can grow well in the cold climate in Quebec, Miche initially had to plant 16 tomato varieties. The process of making tomato wine, from the time of harvesting tomatoes in the field, until the wine is bottled, takes about 9 months. Miche's final product is an 18% alcoholic white wine named Omerto , named after Miche's Omer. There is no trace of tomatoes in this final product, even the taste of Omerto wine does not smell tomato.

Miche said the stages of making wine from tomatoes are like grapes, such as crushing, fermentation and water extraction. Miche's tomato wine has two types: Pure wine and blended wine. After the creation of this unique product, to be recognized by the local authorities as wine, Miche has been searching for documents about tomatoes from the 15th century to prove that tomatoes are really a kind. fruit. According to Miche, in terms of botany, tomatoes are a fruit because it contains seeds. But in terms of use, tomatoes are cooked with other vegetables so there are many ideas that it is a vegetable.

The story of tomato wine attracted many people to Miche's tomato field to see firsthand and taste this special wine when the wine was just 'released'. Those who have tasted the wine made by Miche hardly realize it comes from tomatoes. ' Made from a kind of fruit with a very delicious taste, like sweet cake . with a bit of molasses, very suitable for aperitif and delicious when combined with spicy dishes' , Elen Garon, a customer of Miche, describes Omerto.

Miche's Omerto wine is now sold for $ 25 per bottle at some shops and hotels in the provinces of Quebec and Manitoba. Omerto sales are on the rise and Miche is planning to bring tomato wine into the markets of the US, France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

In North America, Miche can call his product 'wine' legally. However, he will have to change this name if he pursues a plan to export tomato wine, especially to France, where only alcoholic drinks made from freshly fermented grape juice are called alcohol. wine.