APRIL 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Fruit wineries unite to form new association
by DAVID SCHMIDT
RICHMOND – With the proliferation of fruit wineries, meaderies and cideries across the province, it is no surprise efforts are underway to create a new fruit winery association. There are now at least 25 fruit wineries in BC and a first meeting of members of the sector was held in Richmond on March 10. “We would be a separate group within the BC Wine Institute,” explains Caroline Mostertman of Ripples Winery in east Abbotsford. Her husband, Paul, notes that while fruit wineries, meaderies and cideries can be members of the BC Wine Institute, “we don’t have a voice” because the institute focus is on VQA wineries. Only grape wineries are eligible to obtain a VQA designation. Instigating the meeting was former
BC Minister of Agriculture and Lands Pat Bell, who established Northern Lights Winery in Prince George after leaving politics. “The first meeting was a chance for us to meet, identify common goals and brainstorm the direction we want to go,” Caroline Mostertman says. Also attending the meeting were senior politicians and bureaucrats, such as Richmond-Steveston MLA John Yap, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General for liquor policy reform, and Michelle Carr, assistant deputy minister and general manager of the
liquor control and liquor licensing branch of the Ministry of Small Business, Red Tape Reduction and Liquor Distribution Branch. “Pat Bell’s political connections are quite helpful,” Caroline says, adding if he hadn’t launched the initiative, “I would have.”
Her frustration stems from when she wanted to go to a trade show in Germany last year but was told she would not be allowed to exhibit in Canada House “because I wasn’t VQA.” The fruit winery is a new venture
for the Mostertmans, who emigrated from Holland about three decades ago and have been farming in Abbotsford ever since. They spent their first 28 years producing hogs, adding aquatic plants and 15 acres of blueberries along the way. They divested themselves of hogs
eight years ago but continue to grow and market aquatic plants (Woodbridge Ponds) and will hold the official grand opening of their new winery on May 6. Paul Mostertman said they chose to build a winery to add value to their blueberries and minimize their use of fungicides and insecticides. “We grow our blueberries
organically and there aren’t a lot of organic options to control spotted wing drosophila. So we ship our berries to the processors until they want us to spray. Instead of using chemical sprays, we put the berries into cold storage and use them
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Paul and Caroline Mostertman of Ripples Winery in Abbotsford pour themselves glasses of their blueberry fruit wine. The Mostertmans are at the forefront of moves to create a new BC fruit winery association. DAVID SCHMIDT PHOTO
ourselves. Our eventual goal is to use all the berries ourselves.”
Their initial plan was to turn the berries into juice but they soon realized juice was not as worthwhile as wine. “Juice costs more to make and sells for less than wine,” he explains.
The Mostertmans must make a minimum of 4,500 litres of wine per year (they currently make a traditional table wine, a dessert wine and two port wines) to meet their basic licence requirements but hope to make much more, noting they grow enough berries to make up to 40,000 litres per year.
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Don Hooge
Fairway Poultry Ltd. Chilliwack, B.C.
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