A passion for wine leads to a first for Guernsey

Friday 02 July 2021

A small business owner’s passion for wine has led to a new product being brought to Guernsey - natural wine.

Emily Trebert owns Vinoteca on the Bordage, an Italian wine and food shop that emerged from a lifelong passion with both Italy and wine.

“I like reading about wine, I like looking at wine, I like trying wine, I’m a big wine geek,” she said. “I came across this product by doing lots of research.”

Mrs Trebert now stocks ‘natural wines’, a back-to-basics wine and a first for Guernsey.

“It’s naturally fermented, so it’s how wine used to be made, essentially it’s made just with the grapes. 

“There’s natural yeast on the skin of the grapes and you can leave it to ferment after the grapes have been macerated, they’ve been doing it since biblical times,” she said.

Pictured: Mrs Trebert said her stock of natural wines has been very popular.

There are three suppliers in Italy Mrs Trebert orders her wine from; “one is from an island near Sicily, and the other two are from Tuscany,” she said.

“They all use indigenous vines, the vines that grow in the region naturally.”

Pictured: Vinoteca has become a passion project for Mrs Trebert, who studied in Italy – she stocks the store with a personally chosen selection of wines.

The importation of natural wine follows a growing trend for ‘organic wines.’ These lack additives and sulphites; Mrs Trebert says up to 200 chemicals can be added to your usual store-bought wine.

“It’s unfiltered as well, sometimes they filter wine to get rid of sediment, but this can also get rid of some of the taste,” she said.

She urges people not to be scared of specialist wine shops like hers, and to try something a little different.

“It’s slightly tarter than normal wine, it’s a different flavour experience, but it’s delicious!”