Wines coming to Farmers Market
Look for riesling, pinot grigio and chardonnay between fresh fruit and vegetables this weekend at Kamloops Farmers Market.
Harper’s Trail, one of three new wineries in the valley, plans to take advantage of new B.C. liquor regulations allowing the sale of liquor at farmers markets around the province.
Food and wine go together, so Harper’s Trail hopes that shoppers at the popular Saturday market take advantage of the chance to stock up on local wine as well as produce, says co-owner Vicki Collett.
“Our plans are to be there for Saturday,” Collett said, adding that they’ll have a booth among the stalls on St. Paul Street. She thinks the wine will be a popular item. “I think it will be. It will be one more local source for people to access our wines.”
Their wines are currently sold through the winery, online as well as through private and public liquor stores in the area.
Under the new rule, part of liquor law reform in the province, liquor producers apply directly to the farmers markets where they wish to sell their products. It’s up to the market associations to decide which vintners, brewers or distillers are accepted. Vendors must have training and Serving It Right certification in the interest of responsible sales and preventing sales to minors.
Kamloops Farmers Market is, first and foremost, about foods grown locally. Winemakers represent a growing component of the agricultural sector in the valley.
Along with Harper’s Trail, which has operated the Thadd Springs Winery on Shuswap Road since 2012, two others are either in production or approaching production. John and Debbie Woodward have begun producing their Privato pinot noir and chardonnay over the past couple of years.
Meanwhile, Gurjit Sidhu is bringing Monte Creek Ranch Estate Winery into production for next year. Sidhu bought the historic Monte Creek Ranch in 2007, looking for an Interior site to expand his blueberry production, based in Mission. The blueberries were a no-go, but Sidhu and company have gone instead into grape growing, planting cold-hardy Minnesota hybrids new to B.C, and a half-dozen other grape varieties.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
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