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Huron Expositor, 2016-07-27, Page 13Wednesday, July 27, 2016 • Huron Expositor 13 This is the horse you didn't see coming Dark Horse Estates Winery opens their doors to the public Lynda Hillman-Rapley Postmedia Network "We are the dark horse in this race," said Ashley Horlor of the first and only estate and tourist destination in Huron County. Her father, and co-founder John Rasen- berg agreed saying this new facility will be an agri-tour- ism experience. "We are the horse you didn't see coming. The trail- blazer determined to carve a new path. We are Dark Horse Estate Winery," Horlor said of the new business with a panoramic view, that opens to the public Saturday. At the launch in the fall of 2014, Dark Horse Estates was an Architect's drawing. Last week that vision came to fru- ition at the soft opening. This fully integrated com- mercial estate winery, owned by the Rasenberg (JMR Electric Lt. in Exeter) family, wine yard and agri- tourism facility is located directly beside the Huron Country Playhouse (HCPH) at the south west corner, in South Huron and will create significant opportunities for enhancing and developing Huron County's already strong and growing tourism industry. "This has been a fantastic journey and experience," Ashley, who is the VP of operations, told the crowd at last week's opening. She explained that the 85 -acres are a winery, vineyard and special event venue. The 31,000 square foot manor includes a tasting room, pro- duction facility, barrel cellar, ballroom, VIP lounge and patio spaces. She gives credit to her mother Sue Ann for the attention to detail, using local, rural flare. In the barrel room a 24 foot 900 -pound table stands among the oak barrels. This 1786 white oak was sourced from St. Thomas and split to create the table. Inside, they found an old musket ball resulting in the black streak on the top. "With our old fashioned rural values this will be a premier event facility," Horlor said. John began with , "Wow, " he said adding the vision of the winery first came to him from his son Scott and he said "no". After Scott did "all the hard work" John saw the potential and moved forward. " It was a lot of initial research and work done on behalf of Huron County that raised their awareness to the potential, from there it was finding the right people and making the numbers work. And now, he says, standing on this site is amazing results. He thanked his wife and co-founder SueAnn for the beauty aspect of the facilility. "We will be adding a strong niche in the Agri - tourism sector within both Huron County and Lambton Shores; adding another travel trigger for Grand Bend." Ashley said her mom came up with the name. "The name Dark Horse itself actually transpired from a social gathering with wine in hand. We choose the name for a few reasons, one for our love and passion of horses, and the other because we are the Dark Horse, we are the unexpected." He explained that in the fall of 2014, Dark Horse Estate Winery underwent a complete under tiling on over 20 acres of land to ensure sufficient drainage in preparation of planting our vines in summer of 2015. The summer of 2015, over 22,000 vines were planted in their vineyard, consisting of such varieties as, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Baco Noir, Vidal, and Mar- quette (Minnesota Hybrid). Dark Horse plans to increase its plantings over the next few years. Dark Horse will be using its own grapes for its wine by 2018. He said they are currently working with Dr. Jim Willw- erth, a CCOVI scientist at Brock University on his research project involving geotextiles. "As a successful vineyard is driven by innova- tion, dedication, and resources, we hope to be the pioneers of Huron County. We will be adding a strong niche in the Agri -tourism sector within both Huron County and Lambton Shores." South Huron mayor Lynda Hillman-Rapley As a dress rehearsal for this week's grand opening the Dark Horse Estates Winery east of Grand Bend invited guests to check it out ahead of time. Ashley and Craig Horlor grace the entrance of Huron County's newest and first and only tourist destination winery Maureen Cole thanked the Rasenbers' for having great faith in the county allowing this project to happen. "Peo- ple like the Rasenbergs have the courage and the vision to make this a reality. SueAnn and John raised their chil- dren to work hard and they have done so creating some- thing in our community we can all be proud of:' Huron Bruce MP Ben Lobb said he didn't have to recite how important the Rasenberg family is to not only South Huron but to Huron County. He said JMR is one of the largest electrical businesses in Canada and one of their first employees still works for the company. "That says something about how they treat their staff," said Lobb. "We need more entrepreneurs here, doing it right. We need more people like the Rasenbergs. He said he knew they would be suc- cesful and was pleased they selected the best county to make their dream a reality. Grand Bend Chamber of Commerce President Glen Baillie said, "The Chamber of Commerce is excited to see the new facility open. We encourage everyone to visit, sample, and purchase their wines. They are a great new calling card to gift to your friends, or entertain them when they visit. We see this winery as another asset highlighting this area as the best in Ontario to visit, to reside in, and to invest in." "Our wines are true pure breds," explained their win- emaker Marc Pistor, " And are produced in their state -of-the-art winery on the Estate. We are committed to quality with Unapologet- ically, One Horse Town and Valegor," he said adding these wines are currently available for purchase. They will be ready to The public is welcome to check out the new facility at their grand opening July 30th 10 a.m to 9 p.m. There will be live music from 4-6. Staff will guide your palate on a journey from vineyard to bottle. They will be offer- ing small samplings of food from a local caterer.