Planting a hybrid grape designed to withstand -37 C, one couple near Kemptville produce a series of LCBO accredited wines with wild and humorous names.
Wineries in Ontario are creeping further and further north as intrepid wine makers test drive cold weather hybrid grapes in the wine making business. In 2007 the first North Grenville winery received its Liquer Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) accreditation having passed the International Organization of Standards analysis. The accreditation allows them to sell thier wines through the LCBO if they choose to. For now they've opted out, simply because they don't produce enough wine to supply the a distributer of that size. Having the saught after accreditation though definately puts Green Gables Winery, located at the Southeast corner of North Grenville, on the vintners map.
A New Hobby
Started as a hobby, by husband and wife team Gaye and John Spencer, the winery has taken on a life of its own.
“We just opened the store in June, and we’re just thrilled that people like our wines and are buying them,” says Gaye.
So far they produce six wines, three whites and three reds. They’ve named their wines with humour and a total absence of snobbery, with monikers like Oxford Station Libation, Wild Women White, Grape Escape and Roadster Red. They hope the informal names will encourage more people to give wine-drinking a try.
Neither of the Spencers are sommeliers (wine experts). In fact, although the couple spent 20 years living in St. Catherines they never considered wine making at the time, though Gaye concedes she did enjoy sampling the wines of the region. So why now, why here?
“Back in 2002, we wanted more space – we were living in Manotick and saw the city coming,” says Gaye, a petite supply teacher with startling blue eyes. “We wanted some property that we could do something with when we retired.”
They found and bought 75 acres, in Oxford Station, with an old Victorian farmhouse complete with green gables and white gingerbread – so the winery’s name wasn’t lifted off the pages of Maude Montgomery’s tales, but slid off the roofline of the old farmhouse, so to speak. A barn and stable completed the property.
The Bare Basics
Next the Spencers considered their options.
“I didn’t want the land that was already cleared when we bought it to go to waste,” says John. They explored a number of option including berry farming, corn, and tree farming until John had an idea.
“I thought grapes might be fun, and went looking for a grape variety that might work,” he says. It didn’t take long before he stumbled on a cold climate hybrid grape that had been developed at the University of Minnesota and could withstand temperature of up to -37° Celsius. Eureka!
A little more research, soil sampling and surveying and John realized they had good ‘terroir’, that perfect mix of soil condition, geography and climate for that type of grape. In fact their soil turned out to be similar to soil in the Bordeaux region of France. Even the lay of the land gave them the perfect micro-climate for the project, a hill on one side protecting the fields from wind and frost, and mature forest on the other combined with southern exposure.
Reaching their Goal
“It takes three years before the vines produce any grapes, and we’re going into our fifth growing season so we should max out this year,” explains John.
Right now Green Gables Winery produces 6,000 bottles of wine per year, half are from their own grape varieties and half are made using Niagara grape juices and musts they ship in. For now they only sell their wine from their own quaint on farm store.
“Our goal probably is to sell our wines in restaurants and then get into weddings,” concludes John.
