Winemaking Products

Portofino imports fresh frozen grapes and fresh juices for winemaking from quality vineyards around the world.
Our ongoing commitment to quality and great value provides U-Vins and winemakers across North America with product that guarantees a unique winemaking experience and superior end results.

Gourmet Food Products

Produced using the finest ingredients, our cooking wines and vinegars uphold
Portofino’s commitment to quality.

Grapes & Grape Juices

A wine can only be as good as its grape.
We work together with like-minded international grape growers in order to source the highest quality of grapes and grape juices for our clients.

PORTOFINO offers the winemaking expertise of international vintners and a distinguished passion for quality food and wine products.

OUR HISTORY


PORTOFINO was founded in 1997, and continues to be led by Winemaker and Co-founder Alejandro De Miguel.

Alejandro began his career as a respected winemaker in his native Argentina where he demonstrated from the start his vision for excellence and passion for everything wine. Several years after his arrival to Canada he was able to bring to fruition his desire to share with consumers high quality winemaking and gourmet food products.

Gustavo De Agostini, originally from Uruguay and Alejandro’s right hand man for over 20 years is now a partner and a respected winemaker in his own right. Together, Alejandro and Gustavo continue to strengthen their commitment to quality products making Portofino one of Canada’s leading food and wine enterprises.

WHAT WE DO


Our philosophy is based in the tradition of superior winemaking – a wine can only be as good as its grape. Thinking outside the bottle, we extended that tradition to all of our food products, sourcing and importing only the best from suppliers worldwide.

Our imported frozen grapes and fresh juices are offered year-round to wineries, U-Vins and winemakers across North America. Our master vintners are consistently on hand to assist and ensure a smooth and successful winemaking process.

Our selection of cooking wines and vinegars are both imported and made in-house. Our products are available for food distributors and processors, and can be ordered with our in-house brand or customized for private label.

Our loyal suppliers are skilled vintners from grape growing regions around the globe where old world traditions are infused with innovative viticulture, guaranteeing the best quality grape.

In great challenges always lies an opportunity for innovation. When faced with the challenge of a cold, long Canadian winter and thus a short grape growing season, Alejandro realized that this was a great opportunity to break some long established traditional barriers in the world of wine.

He no longer had to be constrained to working with local grapes for a short period of time in the year. Instead he could source fresh grapes from anywhere in the world and by keeping them frozen until fermentation take advantage of a year long production season.

Today we have grape growing partners in Argentina, Chile, California and Italy who understand and share our commitment to premium grapes and grape juices.

Our grapes are harvested at full maturity in the cool air of the early morning, gently crushed and frozen in temperature controlled shipping containers where they remain until arrival at PORTOFINO.

THE GRAPE DEBATE:
FRESH VS. FROZEN

Fresh grapes are the basis for premium winemaking, and in an ideal scenario – you grow and you harvest in the same place where you crush and ferment. From the moment the grape is picked from the vine, temperature control is the key to preserving the grapes’ flavours and characteristics intact for winemaking.  It is obvious why temperature control presents a challenge when shipping fresh grapes over long distances. The smallest temperature fluctuation sacrifices flavour and aromatics.

For this reason, when it comes to importing frozen grapes are actually better than fresh grapes. Years of experience have proven that there are no quality down sides to freezing grapes for winemaking.  The freezing process causes a gentle intercellular breakdown of red grape cells, releasing more juice and colour without any bitter characteristics – think of it as an extended cold maceration.

In the end we are able to work with grapes that have preserved their characteristics, show to be more naturally sterile and more suitable for fermentation. Perhaps the most significant advantage of working with frozen grapes and juice is timing. Timing allows us to make blends and modify our winemaking protocols in order maximize the grapes’ potential and end result.

 

WINEMAKING PRODUCTS


FRESH FROZEN CRUSH GRAPES

23Kg. Pail
3 pails makes 2 x 23L batches


 

CHILE
MAIPO VALLEY

Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot
CarmenerE

 

ITALY
SICILY

Nero D’avola

 

ARGENTINA
SAN JUAN

Malbec

FRESH FROZEN
JUICES

21L. Pail
Makes 28 x 750 mL bottles


 

CHILE
MAIPO VALLEY

Chardonnay
Sauvignon Blanc

 

Argentina
SAN JUAN

torrontes

WORLD BLEND CONCENTRATE JUICES

22L. Pail
Makes 4 x 23L batches


 

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
MERLOT
MALBEC
SHIRAZ
RUBY CABERNET
PINOT NOIR
VALPOLICELLA
BAROLO
AMARONE
PINOT GRIGIO
CHARDONNAY
SAUVIGNON BLANC
RIESLING
GEWURZTRAMINER
BLUSH ZINFANDEL

GOURMET FOOD PRODUCTS



It is our passion for wine and food that fuels our commitment to quality products. Our food products, just like our wines, are testament to our love for premium ingredients  and our on-going dedication to customer satisfaction.

VINEGARS

{Boxes of 2 x 5 litres}

WHITE BALSAMIC CONDIMENT

BALSAMIC VINEGAR

VINEGARS – CONDIMENTS

{Boxes of 2 x 5 litres}

RED WINE VINEGAR
TARRAGON

WHITE WINE VINEGAR
TARRAGON

BALSAMIC REDUCTION – DECO

{Boxes of 2 x 5 litres}

BALSAMIC REDUCTION
APPLE

BALSAMIC REDUCTION
DECO

BALSAMIC REDUCTION
SPICES

COOKING WINES

{Boxes of 2 x 5 litres and Bag in box of 20 litres}

RED COOKING WINE

WHITE COOKING WINE

Our vinegars and cooking wines are also available in drums and totes.
Ingredients: wine, salt. Contain Sulphites. 10% alc/vol / 1.5% Salt Added. NOT FOR SALE AS A BEVERAGE.
*Our balsamic vinegar is made from a reduction of pressed red grapes. It is traditional in flavour, dark in colour  with a well balanced acidity leaving a sweet taste in its finish.
** Our reduction uses our very own balsamic vinegar as a base. Our balsamic reduce the volume thus concentrating and intesifying the flavours. It’s thick in consistency, sweet in flavour with a soft underlying acidity. Depending on your intended use, each of our unique food items can be packaged and labeled under the Portofino name or with your own private label.
Our food products, standard sizes, packaging and quantities are listed above.
If your preference differs please contact us, as we can easily accommodate variations to the standard request based on quantities and package sizes.

Find Us


PORTOFINO
Juice & Wine Products Inc.

28 Millwick Drive
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M9L 1Y3

info@portofinowines.com
T 416.740.4411
F 416.740.1700
Toll-Free 1.866.513.2982

Our master vintners are consistently on-hand to assist and ensure a smooth and successful winemaking process.

gustavo@portofinowines.com

PORTOFINO

Juice & Wine Products Inc. 28 Millwick Drive Toronto, Ontario, Canada M9L 1Y3