🥃 Pomace
Also known as: grape pomace, grape marc
Grape skins, seeds and stems left after pressing.
Pomace is the skins, seeds and stems of grapes left after the juice is pressed. A lot remains of the grapes even after wine is made. Pomace can be fresh, if juice was pressed from white grapes before fermentation, or fermented, if the wine fermented together with it, as with red wine.
Pomace is not thrown away; it goes into various products. Strong spirits are distilled from fermented pomace, such as Italian grappa: in the EU, grape marc spirit must have at least 37.5% alcohol by volume and must not be flavoured. Grape seed oil is obtained from the seeds. Pomace also yields tartar, tannins and animal feed. EU rules forbid over-pressing grapes: the pomace and the lees must keep a minimum amount of alcohol, at least 5% of the alcohol in the wine produced.
Piquette is also made from pomace; in the EU it may only be distilled or drunk in winegrowers' households. Pomace belongs to grape products, like grape syrup. Using by-products is a sensible way not to waste valuable material. Thanks to this, winemaking gives not only wine but many other products.
How it connects to Wine
🥃 Pomace → kind of → 🥃 Grape products → kind of → 🍷 Wine
Links
- Previous step
- 🥃 Grappa, 🥃 Chacha, 🍷 Grape seed oil
- What is made from it
- 🍇 Pomace spirits, 🥃 Grappa, 🥃 Rakia, 🥃 Tsipouro, 🥃 Marc champenois, 🥃 Marc de Bourgogne, 🥃 Marc des Côtes-du-Rhône, 🥃 Marc d'Alsace Gewurztraminer, 🥃 Marc de Provence, 🥃 Aguardente Bagaceira Alentejo
and 35 more
🥃 Marc du Bugey, 🥃 Marc d'Auvergne, 🥃 Marc de Savoie, 🥃 Marc du Jura, 🥃 Aguardente Bagaceira Bairrada, 🥃 Marc du Languedoc, 🥃 Tsipouro of Thessaly, 🥃 Südtiroler Grappa, 🥃 Grappa piemontese, 🥃 Aguardente Bagaceira da Região dos Vinhos Verdes, 🥃 Grappa della Valle d'Aosta, 🥃 Tsipouro of Macedonia, 🥃 Grappa siciliana, 🥃 Orujo de Galicia, 🥃 Grappa di Barolo, 🥃 Grappa trentina, 🥃 Tsikoudia of Crete, 🥃 Grappa friulana, 🥃 Tsipouro of Tyrnavos, 🥃 Grappa veneta, 🥃 Grappa lombarda, 🥃 Grape rakia, 🥃 Pomace brandy, 🥃 Chacha, 🥃 Marc, 🥃 Zivania, 🥃 Orujo, 🥃 Törkölypálinka, 🥃 Nonino, 🥃 Nonino AnticaCuvée Riserva, 🥃 Nonino Il Moscato, 🥃 Nonino Tradizione, 🥃 Aguardente Bagaceira Alentejana, 🥃 Aguardiente de hierbas de Galicia, 🥃 Komovica - Part of
- 🥃 Grape products
- Similar and different
- 🍷 Pomace, 🍷 Piquette, 🥃 Grappa, 🥃 Pomace brandy, 🥃 Grape seed oil, 🥃 Wine diamonds (tartrates), 🥛 Milk-based and rare distillates, 🥃 Ouzo, 🥃 Sugar cane and molasses
- Wine and milk
- 🧀 Cheese, 🌾 Compound feed
- In other topics
- 🏷️ Olive pomace oil, 🏭 Olive oil mill
Frequently asked questions
Is it true that pomace is simply thrown away?
No. It goes into spirits such as grappa, grape seed oil, tartar, tannins and animal feed.
How does fresh pomace differ from fermented pomace?
Fresh pomace comes from white grapes pressed before fermentation; fermented pomace comes from wine that fermented with it, as with red.
Is over-pressing allowed in the EU?
No. Pomace and lees must keep at least 5% of the alcohol in the wine produced.
What to read next
- 🧀 Cheese — A dairy product made from casein curd; on average about 7 kg of milk per 1 kg of cheese in the EU. Hundreds of varieties, 272 names in the EU register.
- 🍷 Pomace — Skins, seeds and stems left after crushing or pressing.
- 🌾 Compound feed — A ready-made blend of grain, oilseed meal and premix balanced for one species and stage of life.
- 🥃 Sugar cane and molasses — Raw materials of rum, cachaça and other cane spirits: cane juice or molasses; rum made from them is at least 37.5% ABV in the EU.
- 🍇 Pomace spirits — Pomace spirits are made from grape skins, seeds and stems left after pressing: grappa, marc, orujo, tsipouro. At least 37.5% ABV, never flavoured; a name with a place guarantees origin.
Similar
🥃 Pomace brandy · 🥃 Lees · 🥃 Grape rakia · 🥃 Ouzo · 🥃 Rakı · 🥃 Raisin
⚠️ Wine contains alcohol: adults only, drink in moderation. Wine usually contains sulphites; egg white or milk proteins are sometimes used for fining — important for allergies and for vegans.
Sources
- Wikidata
- Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Annex VIII Part II, Section D: by-products (over-pressing, marc, piquette)
- Regulation (EU) 2019/787, Annex I, category 6: grape marc spirit
- eAmbrosia: technical file PGI-IT-01948 Grappa friulana / Grappa del Friuli (category 6, grape marc spirit)
- Nutrients and Nutraceuticals from Vitis vinifera L. Pomace: Biological Activities, Valorization, and Potential Applications (PMC)
- Kurćubić V. S. et al. Valorizing Grape Pomace. Foods, 2024 (PMC)
- Antonić B. et al. Grape Pomace Valorization: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Foods, 2020 (PMC)