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Winery hopes to bear fruit

Before there can be Northern Lights wine, there must first be northern leaves. From the leaves and flowers will come fruit. From the fruit will come the north's first commercially-produced estate vino.
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Noemie Touchette, manager of agriculture, plants a fruit tree at the Northern Lights Estate Winery Wednesday afternoon.

Before there can be Northern Lights wine, there must first be northern leaves. From the leaves and flowers will come fruit. From the fruit will come the north's first commercially-produced estate vino.

Winery owners Pat Bell and his son Doug were standing in the sunshine of their North Nechako property as the first trees and berry bushes were planted in what they expect to soon be a full-production winery at the base of the cutbanks.

Apple wine will be one of the priority wines produced by Northern Lights Estate Winery. Two-year-old Goodland and Honey Crisp trees have now been planted, in anticipation of fruit production two more years from now.

"We relied heavily on the experience of Jos Van Hage [owner of Art Knapp's Plantland], Karen Kellett [owner of Northern Farm Products Ltd. and Sweder Berries U-Pick] and [sustainable food advocate] Don Bassermann for a lot of our thinking around what to plant," said Pat Bell.

He also pointed to another central figure in their startup agri-food business, their recently hired agriculture manager Noemie Touchette.

"Noemie is French Canadian, she got her degree from Laval University and her passion is cold weather agriculture and production in marginal climates," he said. "We feel we were given a gift when she showed up. She is so knowledgeable we just do whatever she tells us."

"They chose the varieties, but I know what to do to bring from these trees the greatest plant health and best yields," said Touchette. "I'll be working with soil nutrients, moisture levels, all the growing conditions."

She is pouring herself into the job motivated by gratitude similar to what the Bells feel about her arrival on their threshold. She is a five year veteran of evergreen production at PRT Red Rock seedling nursery, followed by three years on parental leave.

"I came to this area because of forestry, and I love this place for raising my family, I do not want to leave, so my goal was to jump on the best career I could in agriculture," she said. "I knew there were not many professional agriculture positions in the region, but I had faith that something would come up. It's like this job was written especially for me."

More than 900 plants were installed at the winery site on PG Pulpmill Road last week, and 1,300 more are scheduled to be planted in the next couple of weeks. The first wave of planting happened on the shoreline section of their property between the Nechako River and the road, with the subsequent planting between the road and the cutbanks.

In the meantime, the winery has contracted other fruit and berry growers to buy their produce for wine making while they wait for their own plants to mature, and, said Doug Bell, they would always need an intake from local growers.

"We see the opportunity for our operation to be the catalyst for fantastic expansion of agriculture capacity across the whole area," Doug said. "Their growth plans and our growth plans will fit nicely together. The broader wine and agriculture industries have been incredibly supportive of our plans, and it seems that we will be complementary to the expansion of this region's product possibilities."