Huron Expositor, 2014-09-03, Page 22 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Huron East welcomes the county's first registered winery
Photo submitted
Jim Landsborough and Catherine Peckitt-Landsborough examine some of the grapes growing on
their farm.
Fields of grape vines are growing right here in Huron East, thanks to the Landsboroughs'
Maelstrom's Vineyard.
RITZ LUTHERAN VILLA RIT
kaVarLY) NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING Viratri
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual Meeting of the
Members of Ritz Lutheran Villa, a charitable corporation,
will be held at Mitchell Legion, 175 St. Andrew St., Mitchell,
Ontario on Wednesday, September 17,2014 at 7:30 pm to:
• Receive Reports including financial statements,
together with the Auditor's Report thereon;
• Elect Directors;
• Appoint Auditors;
• Transact such other business as may properly come before
the meeting.
Annual Members are cordially invited to attend this meeting.
If you had been a Patron or Lifetime member in the past and
have applied for a 'waiver of fees" you must still renew your
membership annually to attend this meeting.
Annual Memberships may be purchased up to and including
Friday September 5, 2014 at the Business Office at
Ritz Lutheran Villa during normal business hours.
Must be a member of the corporation to attend the AGM.
Proposed amendments to bylaws will be presented to the
Membership for their consideration.
Copies of these amendments are available by contacting the
Business Office at 519-348-8612.
Whitney South
Huron Expositor
After visiting a small
winery in Meaford, Ont.,
Huron East residents Jim
Landsborough and Cathe-
rine Peckitt-Landsbor-
ough knew they wanted to
try something a little
different.
"We saw what they were
doing and we thought -
wow you can grow grapes
this far north?" explained
Catherine, adding the
couple chose to plant a
test plot in a remote pas-
ture field, just to see what
would happen. "We had
been looking for some-
thing to plant in there and
it wasn't the best part of
the farm. But we had seen
this winery and thought -
we could do that."
At first, Catherine says
things didn't go quite as
planned.
"The first year we
thought our dream was
dead in the water because
it was May and we still
didn't have any buds on
the vine," she laughed.
"But it was only because
they were new vines and
dormant and we hadn't
pruned them, so all of a
sudden they grew and we
knew we could grow
grapes here."
"We talked to a lot of
people," added Jim. "We
asked them how they did
it and what their mistakes
were."
And so, after a lot of
research, as well as hiring
renowned cool climate
consultant Kevin Ker,
Maelstrom's Vineyard was
born as Huron County's
first registered winery.
The idea for the name
came from Edgar Allan
Poe's short story, A
Descent into the Mael-
strom, a tale of finding
beauty even in the darkest
of times.
"It had a literal and figu-
rative reference to us,"
Catherine explained. "The
literal is that out of adver-
sity can come some really
wonderful things when
you stop to see the beauty
of the storm. You can actu-
ally see some opportuni-
ties, and that's kind of like
wine production in Huron
County."
Figuratively, she went
on to explain the irony of
the main character surviv-
ing the storm by grabbing
onto a cask of wine and
floating to the top, out of
the water.
For the Landsboroughs,
further inspiration for the
name came from some-
thing a little closer to
home.
"We registered in 2013,
which was the anniversary
date of the big storm on
Lake Huron," said Cathe-
rine. "We also thought that
was a good tribute too,
that was a big tragedy in
Huron County, so we
thought it was timely."
Maelstrom's goal is to
produce the highest
quality wine from the very
best grapes that can be
grown in Huron County,
spreading over eight acres
and housing 9,600 vines.
"We talked to a lot of
people at all different win-
eries around Canada and
the U.S.," said Jim. "We
asked them how they did
it and what their mistakes
were and then we found
Kevin who was quite well-
known to kind of guide us
in terms of how to plant
and soil testing."
Processing began last
year, and though the har-
vest may not have been
large, the couple was able
to start playing around.
"We have the machinery
we need and we've been
making our own wine for a
few years, but it's gone
beyond that," said Jim.
"We knew we didn't want
to just grow grapes, we
wanted to sell them within
the region. It was really
important for us to do it
right from planting to
processing."
Maelstrom Winery will
produce red, white, and
rose wines as well as
blends and sparkling
cider, with production set
to begin this fall. The cou-
ple hopes to have a selec-
tion of white wine and
cider ready as early as
February.
For more information
on Maelstrom Vineyard,
contact the owners, Jim
and Catherine at jclan-
dsb@tcc.on.ca.
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