My visit to an organic winery

[blue_lotus13]

Today I drove two hours to the north east area of the province. I had never been up to that area, and it was a lovely day. It was about 27 C and sunny and the leaves were starting to turn red, yellow and orange.

I drove up to visit the En Sante Winery . I had talked to the Chrapko family a few times and just managed to get out to their place today. The Chrapkos have been long time organic farmers. In fact, they started farming organically back in the 1970s and were awarded a provincial award for Farm Family of the year back in 1993. Sadly, Victor Chrapko, the patriarch, was killed back in 2008. He was delivering a load of organic hay to someone in central Alberta and his truck was hit by another truck.
Victor's death represented a huge loss to the organic community in Alberta. There has been talk of nominating him for the Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Since I had never written about him before, I really wanted to make sure that my story encompassed some details about his life and legacy. Apparently, the family started growing fruit trees back in the 1990s. They had excess fruit and wanted to use it for wine and started experimenting with recipes. However, there was no legislation for people to have wineries in Alberta, so Vic started with the government to bring about the legislation to make that happen. By 2006, he and his family were selling wine.

The Chrapkos were the first to have an orchard in north eastern Alberta and they tested and grew many varieties and tried a lot of new apple varieties. (I liked this part) They also worked with the horticulture department at the University of Saskatchewan to test new fruit varieties to see what grew well on the prairies.

They now have 8 varieties of wine. including an organic apple wine called Adam's Apple that I just love. I've also tried the Calypso rhubarb wine (tasty) and Raspberry delight. I haven't tried the saskatoon or the cranberry wine, and didn't like the alfalfa wine which is called "Green Envy."


Anyway, it's a great story and I had a nice time talking with Vic's daughter, Xina. However, she did get a bit teary talking about her dad, so I said to her, "Don't worry, this is heavy stuff."

Her dad really made an impact in the organic and food and wine industries in Alberta and was also really active in his community. He campaigned against the development of a hazardous waste facility in his area, arguing that the hazardous waste could potentially seep into the prime agricultural land and water in his area. It turns out he was right. That same facility in now in another location, which is experiencing significant environmental damage.


After we talked, we walked around and Xina showed me how to pick an apple correctly. I didn't know there was a proper way to do it. You turn the bottom part of the blossom (bottom part of the apple) towards the sky and bend it off.

I learn something new every day ;)

Comments

[elf-chick.livejournal.com]

What a cool post! Thanks for sharing your adventure :)

I need to explore some more wineries. There's one I like in MI and of course I had fun at the meadery with seriousleopold recently. It's something I could get my parents to do too since they are more into wine than I am.

[starfishchick]

Interesting!! So sad about his death, though.

[kelly-yoyo.livejournal.com]

Very cool!

I included En Sante in a short blurb about off-the-beaten-track winderies in Chataleina a few months ago.