Local Booze 101

Evan and I have been looking around for local food and drink to serve at our wedding. We were at Calgary Farmer's Market today, despite the carbon footprint that got us there, and the regrettable fact that a good one third of the food available at CFM is decidedly non-local. Ah well.. we still check it out every once in awhile. They do have some really wonderful regional producers like Gull Lake Greenhouses and Blush Lane Organics.

We did find Saskatoon berry juice concentrate from Pearson's Berry Farm. And, more importantly, we found the new Field Stone Fruit Wines booth. Marvin Gill was graciously offering samples. The wines are quite interesting.. the fruit lends the wines a very strong character, that is not overly complex compared to grape wines, but is really nice. We tried cherry, strawberry-rhubarb and raspberry. We left with a bottle of raspberry wine and a fortified black cherry dessert wine (16%, yeah that's fortified alright.. ). After the field trip, we had a beautiful evening in the back yard with our neighbors, watching our dogs chase each other around and sampling the wines. They went down pretty easy, surounded as we were by springtime and the sounds of birds in the trees... happy easter all..