Field Stone winery takes Buy Alberta award

Times Reporter 

 

On Sept. 23, Field Stone Winery took the ‘Buy Alberta’ food award for their Strawberry-Rhubarb wine.  It is the first year these awards have been held by the Alberta Food processors, to help promote Alberta food products from production to finish. There were 120 food and beverage companies competing in ten categories. Arlene Dickenson, who appears on the TV show Dragon’s Den, was the special speaker at the event.

“It was a great honour to have such a wonderful product honoured in this way,” said Marvin Gill of Field Stone Winery. “A lot of people in Alberta are very creative; making Alberta products as good as anything you can find in the world. I think there are many successes.”

Marvin and Elaine Gill received an etched glass trophy and a cash award to support and develop their business. They grow, press and bottle their wines at their acreage located just off Hwy. 817 south of Strathmore.

“It’s been 15 years since we started the orchard, when I look back it kind of amazes me,” Gill said.

He said when he first started people thought he was a little crazy, but it was a good motivator to succeed. Field Stone Wine is known all over the world. He learned his trade from Dominic Rivard, a world renowned wine maker.

“He taught me everything I know,” said Gill.

For some of the wines, Gill soaks oak chips in the wine and lets it mellow for a month. They press, take out the pulp and pump it into special storage tanks for a month, with a final filtration when it is ready for bottling. They have five different types of fruit wines and five different dessert wines. The wines vary in sweetness from dry through medium to sweet. Gill freezes his fruit after picking, which allows him to schedule his pressing as needed. “This wine (Strawberry-Rhubarb) is our best-selling wine. It has always sold well,” said Gill.

He makes about 6,000 litres of it a year. Last year he made 375 cases, which was all but gone by summer. So this year, he made more. He said 500 cases take a whole day to bottle and he bottles over 10 times a year.

He had some advice for young people considering getting into a similar business.

“You have to know the implications of what you are getting into; it’s a lot of work,” said Gill.

He said there is a quite a financial investment starting out. He talked about regulations for wine sales as an agricultural product. Owners need to have at least five acres of land actively in product and grow 75 per cent of the product themselves. 

Gill said that he sometimes think about retirement.

“For us to sell, it would have to be someone who knew the business and was passionate about it. You have to like agriculture and you have to know about wine and winemaking. It leaves kind of a narrow margin,” said Gill. 

He doesn’t think the recent European trade deal will affect his business much. He said, in fact, the wine prices might decline. He said that producing wine from Alberta fruit is unique and it gives him a bit of an edge on the imported market.

Ken Sobey, a friend of the family, helps sell the wine at Farmer’s Markets; he said when he gives out samples, 95 per cent of the people can’t believe how good it tastes. The Gills have recipes that can be used to make cocktails, and Sobey said many people use the wine in various food recipes.

While they sell through Farmer’s Markets, , they also do direct sales over the internet www.fieldstonefruitwines.com ,and the product is now in many liquor stores. They will have gift packs for the Christmas season, comprised of one bottle of fruit wine and one dessert wine. It will be sold at the Christmas Farmer’s Market in Strathmore, being held on Nov. 30.