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Marci & Larry Heck own and operate Fireside Winery and Market Garden near Stettler, Alberta. They make wine from the wide variety of fruit grown in their five and a half acre orchard. Their crops include black currants, raspberries, Evans cherries, plums, saskatoons, strawberries, chokecherries, crab-apples, and rhubarb.
You can find Fireside Winery and Market Garden at Alberta approved farmers’ markets in Stettler, Castor, Bashaw, and Delburn. To learn more about them, follow their Facebook page.
How Fireside Winery and Market Garden began:
In 2002, Marci and Larry moved from Red Deer to their current acreage. They’d always enjoyed wine making in their spare time. They began making wine from wild saskatoons and chokecherries they picked and loved the flavour. What began as a hobby then turned into a full-time passion.
In 2006, they decided to begin growing fruit on their land. Having both grown up on farms with large families and large gardens, Marci and Larry have an exceptional amount of knowledge about growing plants that are right for their area. They started with a small garden and expanded by planting the suckers and runners from their fruit trees and bushes as well as growing some of their orchard by seed.
How they’re doing it differently:
From picking the fruit to applying the labels, their winemaking process is done almost entirely by hand.
They pick the berries by hand, clean them by hand in their outdoor kitchen, then freeze the fruit until they’re ready to process it into wine later in the season. When making wine, they boil the fruit without adding any sulfites, squeeze the fruit in a twelve-tonne press Larry built, and then transfer the juice to barrels where it will take three weeks to a month to ferment. In a season, Larry and Marci produce roughly 1500 to 2000 litres of wine.
In order to have purified water for their wine making, Larry and Marci worked with The Water Clinic in Saskatoon to set up a system that takes the water from their well, removes the sodium and rust present in the artesian well water, and, through reverse osmosis and filtration, purifies it for their use.
One of the biggest challenges in Fireside Winery’s orchard is pest control. Cedar waxwings come in large flocks to enjoy the fruit of Marci and Larry’s hard work so they have to net their trees and bushes to save their crops. Their crops are precious because growing their own fruit takes patience and perseverance. For example, the plum trees Larry and Marci started from seed take at least five years to produce a viable harvest.
While most of the work is done by Marci and Larry alone, they do have many friends and family members who come visit and help them process their wine.
Their connection to their customers and community:
As of 2016 there were only 15 wineries and meaderies in the province operating under small cottage winery licenses. Larry and Marci are proud to be part of a small, dedicated industry. Fireside Winery was one of the earliest to receive their license and they have been a source of information and education for many newer operations. They see a lot of repeat customers at their farmers’ market stalls, with their Black Currant wine being their best seller. Choosing not to use sulfur in their process is something that Marci and Larry find really resonates with their customers, and each year they sell out of their product line.
Fireside Winery is open year-round but visitors are encouraged to call ahead to make sure Marci and Larry are around. They offer free tastings at the winery and their farmers’ market booths. They have a beautiful patio area with an inviting fireplace and they love to host groups at the winery. They encourage people to enjoy their orchard while sampling their products.
The future of Fireside Winery and Market Garden:
They’re looking forward to incorporating their plums and crab-apples into their wine selection in future years and, in 2017, they hope to expand the number of markets they’ll be attending.
“As long as we’re still able to do it and have the knowledge, we’re going to make wine.” – Marci Heck
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