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Black Bear Farms gets its paws on 11 medals for fruit wine at NY competition By Sheila McBrayne
Black Bear Farms of Ontario Estate Winery Inc. has accomplished in less than two years what some wineries work a lifetime to achieve. The local winery on County Road 20, just west of Kingsville, won 11 medals out of their 12 entries into the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition held in New York in April. The family owned and operated fruit farm started producing fruit wines in 2007 with the official opening in December 2008. The Rondolez family – Jerome and Madeline and their children William, Jerome and Michelle – operated the fruit farm on the 83–acre site since 1992. “We always had the fruit and then we expanded and we started to ask ourselves what we could do with the excess. We played around with making wine for seven or eight years and then decided to get a license and sell it,” said winemaker William. Since acquiring their Liquor Manufacturing License, Black Bear Farms has never questioned their decision to enter the winemaking business. With a haul of 11 medals, it appears they have found the right blends. At the New York competition there were 665 competitors from 15 countries. Nine provinces of Canada were represented, as well as 50 states. Black Bear farms won: Gold – Elderberry Gold – Red Raspberry/Purple Plum Silver – Papa’s Special Reserve Bronze – Purple Raspberry Bronze – Black Current Bronze – Bear’s Reserve – Black Raspberry Bronze – Golden Plum Bronze – Mama’s Special Reserve Bronze – Golden Raspberry Bronze – Red Raspberry Bronze – Strawberry This was only the second competition that Black Bear had entered. Last year they earned a gold and bronze medal from the All Canadian Wine Competition. Papa’s Special Reserve won gold and Purple Raspberry won bronze. Black Bear Farms is an exclusive fruit wine producer. “It’s all fruit wines, no grapes involved. We’ll leave that for the other wineries in the area,” said William. Black Bear Farms is gearing up for their third wine competition, the All Canadian Wine Champions Competition in Windsor, held later this year. Black Bear Farms produces approximately 20,000 litres of fruit wine annually. Located in southwestern Ontario, one might wonder where the name Black Bear came from, but William explains that “Bear was the family’s dog for 14 years, and besides, bears like berries, right?”
William Rondelez shows off the 11 medals (2 gold, 1 silver and 8 bronze) that Black Bear farms Estate Winery recently won at the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition in New York. (Sun Photo)
William is currently working on a new variety to be released this fall, a strawberry/red raspberry blend. Last year, the winery introduced 10 new varieties. “We have fun doing it. We learn by trial and error and the errors aren’t bad either. It’s just fun and nice to share with customers,” said the self-taught winemaker. Black Bear Farms is open for tastings and purchasing Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.