Now under new ownership, the winery has moved from its former location south of Maple Creek to just north of town, adjacent to Hiway 21.  The new owners are Dan and Kathryn Reesor. Kathryn is the winemaker.

There is a mystic air about the Saskatchewan Cypress Hills located in the southwest corner of the province. A great place to live. This is where we find Marty and Marie Bohnet first opened Cypress Creek winery.  * A working ranch which began producing grapes in 1995 planted their first commercial planting in 2004. In 2005 they started producing fruit wines and opened the winery in 2007. Cypress Hills has the only commercial vineyard on the prairies.

Their production for 2010 will be approximately 32,000 bottles They also produce mead which is made from honey

Signature wines: North Slope Red, A blend of grapes and Rhubarb and Saskatchewan Sour Cherry,

Philosophy: Use what the area has to offer. Make the style of wines that people like

Diane and Walter Banach have been making fruit wine for close to 20 years. When they went commercial in late 1996, they started out with a chokecherry wine called Battle River Red, a wine they'd been making for years named after the river that runs just north of the Town of Battleford.

"I've always jokingly called the chokecherry the 'grape of the prairie', eh," commented Diane.

The Banachs freeze the fruit, thawing it out when they are ready to make the wine. Diane estimates their winery yields about 30,000 to 40,000 bottles a year. Except for bottling time, however, it is only Diane and Walter who do all the work.

Visits by appointment

 

 

Peter and Margaret MacInnis started the Bee and Thistle Winery, located in Debden, as a retirement project. Peter's brother Collin and his wife Anne Greeno are partners.

The Story behind the name? Our family hails from the Morvern area of Scotland. The Chief of Kinlochaline Castle, a MacInnis descendent, was tasked with protecting the castle from the Vikings. While waiting for the impending raid, the Chief fell asleep but awoke when he rolled onto a nest of bees on a thistle. When he lept up, he saw the Vikings approaching and called his men to battle. The Vikings were defeated and the reigning MacDonald clan bestowed their favour by declaring "Friendship will ever be ours, whilst the bee on the thistle is with me and with every member of the Clan MacInnes who carries the favour in his bonnet.” 

Collin owns Ravensfield Farm which supplies Cherries, Black Currants and Saskatoon berries.

Debden is a village in the boreal forest of central Saskatchewan, Canada. Its location is on Highway 55 it is 94 km from Prince Albert and 194 km from Saskatoon .Debden is surrounded by numerous small lakes.

The Bee & Thistle Winery is a family owned and operated fruit winery, specializing in Haskap-based wines, located in Debden, SK. They emphasize locally sustainable production and creation of fruit-forward wines that taste like the fruit they are made from. Currently growing 10,000 Haskap plants of different varieties, 500 German Wine Rhubarb plants, 400 Saskatoon plants, 100 Strawberry plants, 400 Ben Nevis Black Currant plants.

Margaret obtained the UC Davis Winemaking Program certificate in 2019. Her philosophy is to craft fruit wines and adult refreshments into award-winning wines and beverages that taste like the estate fruit from which they were made. 

“Their signature Haskap wine, called Chiad Fhion, and Rhubarb wine, called Loch Aline, were named in honour of the family’s Gaelic traditions in Antigonish, N.S.

In the first two years of operation, Bee & Thistle Winery won 11 awards in both Canada and the United States competitions, including Canada Fruit Winery of the year in both 2021 and 2022 from the New York International Wine Competition.

The winery participates in many Saskatchewan fundraising events that foster community spirit and aid in the betterment of its members.

 

The family crest motto:  “From work comes pleasure”. Our mission is to work hard, nurture the Haskap berry and other fruits, and have them supply and reward us with many years of crafting quality fruit wines for you to enjoy.

 

A family operation north east of Prince Albert. Genevieve Greif and Will Stafford are Co-Owners

Genevieve’s love of nature and the outdoors lead to a 25 year career as a Resource Officer and Ecologist with the Provincial Government. That same love of nature and the outdoors now finds Genevieve busy in the fruit orchards putting her farming roots to work producing the fresh fruit for customers and the kitchen. Genevieve’s creative side and taste for good food also keeps her busy in the kitchen turning the orchards’ produce into a variety of preserves, baked goods, and more recently crafting specialty fruit wines.

 Will is an Orchardist / Beekeeper Growing up in Southern Ontario’s orchard and winery region and being educated in horticulture and vita culture, it was his ambition to develop a winery. He just didn't know that it would happen in Saskatchewan.

Genevieve Greif, Co-Owner / Vintner / Accountant: Growing up on a farm in east central Saskatchewan, Genevieve’s love of nature and the outdoors lead to a 25 year career as a Resource Officer and Ecologist with the Provincial Government. That same love of nature and the outdoors now finds Genevieve busy in the fruit orchards putting her farming roots to work producing the fresh fruit for customers and the kitchen. Genevieve’s creative side and taste for good food also keeps her busy in the kitchen turning the orchards’ produce into a variety of preserves, baked goods, and more recently crafting specialty fruit wines.

Will Stafford, Co-Owner / Orchardist / Beekeeper / Harvester Sales: Growing up in Southern Ontario’s orchard and winery region and being educated in horitculture and vita culture, it was his ambition to develop a winery. He just didn't know that it would happen in Saskatchewan. To support the farm through all the growing years, Will provides services as a GIS / Spatial data consultant and has consulted all over North America in that capacit

From Prince Albert, Saskatchewan: Northeast on Highway 55 East (Nipawin Hwy), 32 kilometres from the Diefenbaker Bridge when leaving Prince Albert. We are on the right (East) side of the highway at the two story blue building.

 

The oldest continuously-owned craft producer of any type (wine, beer or spirits) in the province. The year 2010 brought a new fruit winery to the "Land of the Living Skies Saskatchewan. The winery is owned by Sue Echlin and Vance Lester. Saskatchewan is known as land of the living skies, the name also reflect the owners sense of place. Vance is a duck biologist and Living Sky also speaks to the spring and fall waterfowl migrations.

We care not only for our orchard but for the environment that surrounds it, whether beast, fowl or flora. We believe ardently that local foods and services contribute to the community in a positive way, and try to purchase everything we can from our friends and neighbours. We also believe that life is bloody short and you better enjoy every second of it!

Signature Wines : Rhubarb, Juliett cherry port-style

The winery hopes to begin producing ciders in the near future.

Named Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers for 2012

Winemaker: Dominic Rivard
Philosophy: Artisan, local and committed to the environment and the community.

Located in beautiful Saskatchewan county side 19km west of Moose Jaw SK and 10km south of Caron SK. The meadery is owned by two couples Dennis and Vickie Derksen,Crystal and Gerard Milburn.

They make small batches of mead, many of which include locally grown fruits such as cherry, melon, strawberry, raspberry and haskap.

Their history began with Grandpa's Garden Ltd is a u-pick operation that happened entirely by accident. "It began with a small sour-cherry orchard, as a retirement project for Dennis and Vickie Derksen. Within a year, ambitions had expanded to include a one acre high tunnel growing strawberries. When we found that we couldn't pick them all, we opened up to the public, allowing others to come and pick our berries. Vickie's daughter Crystal, and her husband Gerard, came on as partners, and the u-pick grew to include over 5 acres of raspberries, more strawberries, a small haskap orchard, and several vegetable gardens. Honey bees were introduced to the operation to ensure successful fruiting of the various food plants, and soon we were also selling honey, and making mead at home. Our fruit honey product was developed with the assistance of the Food Centre at the University of Saskatchewan, and as a (possibly) final step, we expanded in the latter half of 2015 to begin making mead commercially. Prairie Bee Meadery at Grandpa's Garden officially opened on June 18th, 2016."

Choosing a name for our Meadery took a lot of time, consideration and argument! We wanted our name to pay homage in some way to the region in which we are located. At length, we chose Prairie Bee because it also let us credit the miraculous and hard-working honey bee, without whom we would have no berries, no honey, and no mead. 

Cider Master: Dominic Rivard
Philosophy: We believe that the best ingredients make the best product. We use light, locally produced honey, mostly from clover, alfalfa and wild flowers, in combination with locally produced fruit, much of it grown on our own land at Grandpa's Garden

 

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Riverlot Orchards is a winery located 3 km west of St. Louis, Saskatchewan, with the beautiful view of the South Saskatchewan river.

They also sell homemade jams, maple syrup and baking goods

They make a honeysuckle port style wine.

 

A fruit winery located in VQu’appelle Valley owned by Dean and Sylvia Kreutze. It was quite the transformation for Dean; from computer programmer to Certified Organic fruit grower. Many people questioned his decision, but never his enthusiasm. 30 years growing up in the city did nothing to prepare him for the trials of rural life, and unfortunately the learning curve was vertical! While Sylvia had grown up on the farm, growing fruit was a lot different than slopping pigs and herding cattle! At least we had the knowledge that before this dream could become a reality, we would have to do a lot of research.

However they believe fruits can make the same impact in Sask as grapes have to BC's Okanagan

They are experiment with grapes such as a variety called Minnesota 78

 

 

Wolf Willow Winery is a family owned winery & orchard that sits on 160 acres of certified organic land, situated on the shores of the South Saskatchewan River. A fruit winery located south of Saskatoon. They produce Cherry and Haskap wine. They have a summer patio featuring pizza and more.

They also make a mead.