A Saskatchewan wine maker has an encouraging message for other
potential vintners who are afraid of red tape getting in the way of
making red wine.
“A lot of people with lumpy foreheads have gone before you,” Graham
Topp told a small room of people attending Saskatchewan Agriculture’s
Rural Economic Opportunities Conference.
Topp has been banging his head against a bureaucratic brick wall since
his family incorporated their farm as a winery in February 1996.
“By June of 1996 we were going, ‘what the hell were we thinking?’ “
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A maze of rules and regulations governing the manufacture and sale of
alcohol in the province was the source of his frustration.
But a bureaucratic breakthrough in March 2001 has paved the way for the
development of a cottage winery industry in the province.
“It’s the policy that really was the key thing that unlocked the
viability of the whole industry,” said Topp, whose company will be the
first to take advantage of the new rules.
Aspen Grove Cottage Winery of White City, Sask., is on his father’s
18-acre U-pick fruit orchard, which grows saskatoon berries,
raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, cherries, plums, pears and apricots.
Topp, who works for the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board, and
his brother, who works for Farm Credit Canada, run the winery with
their mother and father as a sideline business.
They hired a professional vintner from British Columbia in 1996 to help
them find equipment and work on recipes, but Topp said he wasn’t
interested in fully committing to the project until the province
established a policy for cottage wineries. He worked closely with the
Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority on the policy and is pleased
with the results.
“We didn’t expect the policy to be as good as it was when it came out.”
Saskatchewan wineries such as Topp’s can now market their wine directly
to consumers, restaurants, bars and hotels, rather than selling through
provincial liquor outlets, which charge a 121 percent markup on a
bottle of wine.
“It’s the difference between night and day really,” he said.
To qualify under the new policy, the winery must operate a Saskatchewan
orchard and get at least 25 percent of its raw product from that
orchard. The rest of the ingredients can be a combination of imported
blending wine and fruit from other Saskatchewan orchards.
The winery must produce at least 4,500 litres of wine a year but no
more than 45,000L or it is considered a commercial winery.
Topp said his family doesn’t plan to produce more than 45,000 L, which
amounts to 60,000 bottles of wine.
So far they have made 2,000 L of saskatoon berry wine, 2,000 L of
rhubarb white wine and 400 L of raspberry wine. A red wine is also in
the works. He describes his products as dry table wines, not the sweet
dessert wines that many people associate with non-grape wines.
A bottle sells for $8.95 to $9.95 at the winery, but retails higher at
beer and wine stores.
The winery sells to five locations, but Topp is looking for a broker to
broaden distribution.
The marketing effort that is just getting under way will help pay for
the large capital investment.
“I’ve never even bothered adding it up. I’m probably scared to,” Topp
said. But he estimates he has spent approximately $100,000 on
consulting fees, building permits, construction of the 135 sq. metre
winery, and equipment, which includes eight stainless steel tanks from
B.C. and Italy. It wasn’t all their money.
“There are subsidies for agricultural value-added initiatives that you
can tap into that will help you develop your business,” he advised
other potential vintners.
Topp has a “Vegas mentality” with the winery business – the more
competition, the merrier he will be. He said it would spur sales and
help create an association so that lobbying government isn’t such a
lonely pursuit.
