Celebrate-March2017-PEILiquor

CELEBRATE LOCAL FEATURED WINERY

Rossignol EstateWinery Murray River, PEI How did Rossignol Winery get started? In 1990, I sailed from Ontario to PEI looking for a change in lifestyle. At that time, this land was a potato field and the Liquor Commission didn’t have regulations in place to allow a winery in PEI. After four years, we had built a house, workshop and barn, planted grapevines and worked with the Provincial Government to develop a Winery Act. In the Summer of 1996, the winery opened and we were the first local product on the shelves in the PEI liquor stores!

Why did you choose this location? Beyond the beauty of the location, this is considered the “Banana Belt” in PEI and was where the heat-loving tobacco plants were grown in the past. So, after doing some research with the Department of Agriculture, we realized that this location would be ideal for growing grapes and it also provides amazing views for those wanting to do winery tours. What products do you make at the winery? We started off making fruit wines, then started making traditional red and white wines when our vines started producing and now make wine liqueurs that are sweeter dessert wines.

CELEBRATE WINTER EDITION 2017

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