WARREN — On April 29, Boreal Winery in Warren hosted a wine and cheese party (with tasty northern Thornloe cheese, of course) to celebrate forthcoming changes to Ontario’s liquor laws.
On hand for the occasion was Timiskaming-Cochrane MPP John Vanthof and representatives from the Municipality of French River, Markstay-Warren, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and other economic partners.
Bill 110 will allow fruit wineries and cideries to sell at farmers markets, enjoy lower tax rates, and get wines and ciders into grocery stores.
Boreal Berry Farm & Winery was started in 2011 by Greg and Mira Melien, with a goal to introduce northern hardy berries and encourage others in growing viable crops in Northern Ontario.
It is now Canada's only commercial, Certified Organic Haskap farm and the largest organic specialty fruit orchard in North America. They produce Haskap, Cherries, Saskatoon, Aronia, Seabuckthorn and Lingonberry on their organic, sustainable, and biodynamic farm in Warren.
The couple said the upcoming changes in Bill 110 will open the door to various large-scale markets, ranging from grocery channels to licensee sales, greatly increasing demand.
This will require rapid scaling up in production, an increase in labour needs and agriculture expansion, the Meliens said, as they look to increase the size of their orchard, in addition to purchasing their fruit from other local organic contract farmers.
Boreal Berry Farm & Winery looks forward to boosting the agricultural sector and expanding market growth in Northern Ontario with the new sales avenues opened by Bill 110.
