Bountiful berries: Warren farm producing commercial wine.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: NEWS

On an old Finnish homestead that dates back 80 years. Greg and Mira Melien are establishing Northern Ontario's first commercial winery.

Boreal Berry Farm and Winery in Warren is producing wine from the haskap berry, a hardy, cold-tolerant fruit of the honeysuckle family that resembles an elongated grape and tastes like a cross between a blueberry and raspberry. With hints of dark berry, vanilla and licorice, the wine has been compared to a pinot noir Located 40 minutes east of Sudbury, the farm also grows a variety of fruit, including Saskatoon berries and cherries, and produces haskap wine jellies, jams and dessert toppers. The couple is also hoping to put in a juice-producing facility.

"We were just looking for the right farm and this was it," Mira said. "We tested the soil and determined it was suitable for the fruits we wanted to grow, and they're doing very well."

Their target market is Toronto and Ottawa, and the Meliens primarily promote their wares at the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair and La Foire Gourmande. They also run the Ontario Haskap Association.

The proprietors don't come from a farming background, but they had been experimenting with fruit wines as far back as 2005 when Greg was stationed in Petawawa. Boreal Farm is organic, biodynamic and sustainable. No herbicides are used on the crops, and all the fruit is hand-weeded and hand-picked by the Meliens.

"The growing experience just came from trial and error over time," Mira said. "We've taken some courses as well, just to learn about wine-making, and we also teach courses here."

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Situated along the Nepewassi River flood plain, the farm is the only one in the area with silt loam on it. The couple has cultivated 40 acres of tile-drained land, on which they've planted 7,500 haskap plants. This year they've added 400 grape plants to their orchard; if the plants overwinter well, they'll add an additional 1,600 plants in the spring. Another 40 acres of land is currently used as pasture.

The farm is located in growing zone 3b, which is characterized by a short growing season and high potential for frost in late spring. But it also takes less time for fruit wine production. It takes roughly three months to produce a fruit wine, while traditional grape wines can take up to 18 months to produce.

Italian-made 2,000-litre tanks can produce up to 10,000 litres of wine, but the Meliens will make 3,000 litres...