The Founder of Village Craft Winemaker, Lori Dahlberg is giving clients an opportunity to make their own wine by using the newly legalized Brew on Premise industry.
Dahlberg turned her hobby of winemaking into a business and completed the Wine Spirits Estate Trust (WSET) and completed Level 3 in Italy.
“I never thought I would have become a winemaker, but it has been an absolute joy to help advance the winemaking experience,” Dahlberg said.
“For years, people made wine with a lot of work. Gary Novak patented and manufactured a new way to make wine,” Darlene Novak said.
The Novak’s became Dahlberg supplier of the UWinemaker, which makes wine using less labour, less water, and less utilities.
“UWinemaker is 80 per cent less work. The all-in-one fermenter requires no heavy lifting, no siphoning, and no filtering. The bottling is easy, and the old sprawling mess of winemaking equipment has vanished from your basement. Now the UWinemaker sits on your counter making brilliant, clean tasting, commercial quality wine for a fraction of the cost and it’s fun,” Darlene said.
“We are an up and coming business, and all of us have taken making wine to a whole new level,” she said.
Although Dahlberg and the Novack’s have both received overwhelming support from the community, they are eager to tell more Albertans that Brew on Premise is now something they can do in their own communities rather than travelling to other provinces.
“It’s something that needs to get exposed in Alberta, it’s here, and it’s something that you can actually do while in quarantine,” Dahlberg said.
“The wine is fantastic. Each kit produces 30 bottles that you can entertain at home or give it away as a gift, overall, it’s great,” Darlene said.
“I have clients that say it has better wine than the old pail and carboy system, there is no comparison between the two systems,” she said.
Adding, “People are making wine, and people are generally just happy about their wine.”
Despite the challenges many business owners are facing due to COVID-19, Darlene and Dahlberg are continuing to produce wine for the love of it.
“This is a special time to let everyone know to shop as local as possible. I want to give back to the wine industry, and I want to give back to Calgary the way it has given back to me,” Darlene said.
“For Calgarians, it’s exciting and great to know that there are two businesses that are doing extremely well, even during these times, and businesses can offer so much to families,” she said.
“If you’re a wine lover like we all are, to be able to give the wine, help people with the wine, be a part of the wine, all of it is about the love of wine,” she added.
Moving forward, Dahlberg wants to continue to expand the Village Craft Winemaker to other areas of Calgary and the surrounding area.
“Lori is the best and the greatest in the industry because she has the latest technology, she has the Brew on Premise. When you walk in, it’s not just about buying a product, the knowledge is there,” Darlene said.
“This is the ultimate for me, I’m a gourmet cook, and the food and the wine pair together, it just works,” Dahlberg said.
“I’m more than happy to share suggestions on wine, and even recipes for clients and make it the ultimate for them also,” she added. “They are also expanding their taste buds by suggestions that I’ve made, and they are just thrilled because they’ve found new things that they would have never tried otherwise.”
For additional information on Village Craft Winemaker or UWinemaker please visit, https://villagecraftwinemaker.ca/, and https://www.uwinemaker.com/.
