En Sante Winery

En Sante Winery
Box 110
Brosseau
Canada T0B 0P0
Phone: 780-657-2275
http://www.enSantewinery.com

Contact: Victor & Elizabeth Chrapko
Email: [email protected]

Vineyards: 3.65 hectares

Hours of Operation: Year round, by appointment.

Tour Hours: By appointment in summer.

Away back in 1927 John S. and Eva Chrapko started the homestead that now operates as Orchard Palace and En Santé Winery. Located near the shores of Lac Sante in North Eastern Alberta, 100 miles (160 km) East of Edmonton. Here they took on a leadership role in the community and raised five children.

Their middle son Victor took over the farm in 1974 from his parents along with his wife Elizabeth.
They begin the first steps toward a low-impact, "environmental" approach to cultivating the land.
In addition, the En Sante orchard operation partnered with the University of Saskatoon in developing hardy fruit varieties that can take advantage of the local soil conditions and growing season.

The whole Chrapko family enjoyed the distinction of being honored with a provincial “Farm Family Award” in 1990, partly attesting to their ceaseless pursuit of big-picture, modern farming as well as strong citizenship.

In 1997 they began to experiment with fruit wines. In 1999 "Orchard Palace" is designated Certified Organic for agricultural production by Organic Crop Improvement Association International and later in 2001 they pursued the idea of an Organic fruit winery. In their typically forward-thinking style, the Chrapkos began lobbying the Government of Alberta to create the new Alberta Cottage Winery license. Their efforts attracted other supporters, fruit growers, and the Alberta Beekeepers' Association. After many years, the Cottage Winery Act was recently passed into law

The Forbidden Fruit name was chosen to signal the fact that En Sante's offerings transcend the fruit "corner" of the wine-making world. After 10 years of refining its recipes and production methods while waiting for the Cottage Winery license to come into existence, En Sante now has wines that are enjoyable with a meal, on their own (sipped like you would enjoy port or sherry), OR as accompaniments to dessert. An official license was received February, 2006, en Santé Winery became Alberta's very first Organic-Fruit, Cottage Winery En Santé from the French equivalent of saying "cheers!" which translates as 'to your health'

Victor was nominated to the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame . This honor recognizes people who have made significant, lifelong and on-going contributions to one of Alberta's primary economic and social sectors.

Wines include Saucy Saskatoon, Wild Wild cherry all bottled under the name Forbidden Fruit

2015 - Now know as Birds & Bees Organic Winery and Meadery

Winemaker: Victor Chrapko

Distribution: Farm Gate, AGLC distribution in AB, select Farmers Markets

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