2010 Olympics – Day 5

I love a good fruit based wine – it is such a refreshing change from grape based wines and our next winery – Sleeping Giant Fruit Winery – is one of two fruit wineries we will highlight during the course of the 2010 Olympics. This winery boasts 21 fruit wines with a sugar level of anywhere from bone dry (0) to a Late Harvest level of 7.

Sleeping Giant Fruit Winery has a long and interesting history. Originally, Ted Atkinson founded Summerland Sweets in an effort to help fundraise for his local Rotary Club by making a fruit jelly candy using the fruit from the orchard he owned. From that small fundraising effort grew a “retirement project” and Summerland Sweets Ltd. was born. After years of Summerland Sweets Ltd., Sleeping Giant Fruit Winery was created and is now thriving under the same principles that have made Summerland Sweets Ltd a family name. To compliment the thriving sweets business, Ted hired Ron Taylor to become Sleeping Giant’s winemaker. Ron had previously worked for over 20 years with Andres wines – a massive wine company responsible for producing over 5 million liters of wine annually. Ron had retired from Andres a few years previously but had been working with a variety of small wineries in both British Columbia and Washington state as well as some consulting jobs in mainland China. His focus had been on reviving the fruit wine component of the industry so when the opportunity came along to work with Sleeping Giant, it seemed like a natural fit.

Looking at their list of wines, which is impressive, there are two that intrigue me and they both have Pumpkin in their name. I have an uncle who is a Pumpkin fanatic – he would love to have pumpkin pie with ever family dinner if he could but we insist on Plum Pudding for Christmas. In fact, one year I even made him Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream – in the dead of winter – for Christmas dinner. Now, my Uncle doesn’t drink but I always find it interesting when I come across something that is not normally pumpkin based so that would definitely be one wine I’d like to try out myself.

Winery open daily for tasting and purchases
Sleeping Giant Winery (at Summerland Sweets)
6206 Canyon View Road
Summerland, BC V0H 1Z7
1-800-577-1277
(250) 494-0377
email: sleepinggiant@telus.net
http://www.sleepinggiantfruitwinery.ca