Did you say tomato ? Yes, but wine is made with grapes no ? Well I would like to share with you one of the most incredible discovery I made. Sadly I didn’t taste it because it’s not available in France… Maybe tomorrow I will but then it will be easier to take a flight ticket to Québec ! But well, I’m going to talk about this discovery because it’s just amazing !
Omerto (don’t confuse with Omerta… humor !) is a white wine which is made with tomatoes ! The recipe is from Belgium but has been kept secretly during few years before it appeared again in the St-Paul Bay in Québec. Then lets go to the Caribous country !
“Tomato : very shy vegetable – blushes when takes shape“
This picture has been taken on the Omerto official website
In 1938, Mr Omer Miche created his first Tomato Wine in Belgium. With 18% of alcohol, he managed to make a smooth and exciting appetizer ! The name Omerto, given to the Quebecker cuvée, is in his honor. His grandson, Pascal Miche who is the one who moved to Québec, with its associate John Fréchette, keeps going the adventure. But it has not been easy to convince the RACJ (which is a national organism in charge of alcohol, game and race course) to give a permit in order to produce and sell their wine. In fact, for the RACJ, tomato is a vegetable ! Impossible though to create a wine with vegetables ! Then Pascal Miche has written a thesis on tomato during one year. The RACJ needed two more years to understand that tomato is a fruit !
Tomato is a fruit ? Hell yes !! We don’t have to confuse the term “vegetable” used for cooking to distinguish plants that we eat with salt or with sugar. Then tomato is culinary a vegetable. But biologically it’s a fruit (you’re totally passionate right ?!). A fruit is a plant which comes after a flower after fecundation and that contained seeds. Then tomato is a fruit and I’m closing this digression fruit/vegetable, vegetable/fruit…
(Problem resolved in North America… But it’s different for France : Omerto has to choose another name because for the French Government, wine is done with grapes… That’s it.)
Finally, after few peregrinations, Omerto was born. Today, this wine is produced with 16 different varieties of red, black and yellow tomatoes which are resistant to the St-Paul Bay climate. They are growned, turned into and bottled at the property, which allows to Omerto to get a Bio Label. It exists two different tomato wines : a dry and a sweet. Technical question : is it the same vinification method (or tomatification method) than for grapes ? Well, yes : pressing, soaking, fermenting and aging in inox vats. Pascal Miche needs 9 months to produce his tomato wine. 35 000 bottles are sold each year.
This picture has been taken on the Omerto official website.
– Dry Omerto, 18% alcohol (to be served at 4°C).
Don’t be shocked, the color of this dry Omerto is a very nice yellow gold. Did not the Italians say ‘pomodoro’ which means the gold apple, to describe tomato ? The nose is vegetable (like the Sauvignon) with citrus fruits notes like grapefruit. The mouth is fresh with a nice acidity and spices flavours. There are no flavors which remind tomato !
You have to count 35 dollars for a 75cl bottle (but only if you’re living in Québec!)
This comment has been taken on the Omerto official website.
– Sweet Omerto, 18% alcohol (to be served at 4°C).
The gold color is deeper than the dry Omerto and the nose of this sweet wine has got orange blossom, watermelon, citrus fruits, honey and candied fruits flavors. In the mouth there is a nice balance between acidity and sugar. The tasting seems to be like the tasting of a white Port wine or a Pineau.
You have to count 35 dollars for a 75cl bottle (but only if you’re living in Québec!)
This comment has been taken on the Omerto official website.
