Winemaker plant expansion could lead to increased agrifoods opportunities

A local wine manufacturer is expanding into the manufacture of fruit juices and nutraceuticals. Markland Cottage Winery near Whitbourne is undertaking a $370,000 expansion with $50,000 help from the Department of Development and Rural Renewal�s Small Business Seed Capital Equity Program. The funding will be used to construct a 2,400 square foot building for research and development into the nutraceutical plant sea buckthorn, and new uses for native berries including the production of high-value fruit juices for the New York market.

"Dr. Hilary Rodrigues is the founding father of Newfoundland and Labrador�s commercial wine industry which is based on native berries. He is now extending his product line which could increase his requirement for berries from 150,000 pounds a year to several million pounds. This will not only create eight new jobs and increase our exports, but it could also create new business opportunities for many people in rural Newfoundland and Labrador in the growing and harvesting of berries," said Ernie McLean, acting Minister of Development and Rural Renewal.

"Blueberries have the highest concentration of anti-oxidants in any foods in North America," said Dr. Rodrigues, president of Markland Winery. "The Newfoundland partridgeberry has almost the same concentration of anti-oxidants as blueberries. We will be undertaking research and development into the production of high quality juices from these berries. We will also be dehydrating blueberries then powdering them. There is a high demand in Japan for powdered blueberries."

Construction of the new facility will commence next week. It will house a research laboratory, six 3,000 gallon storage tanks and pasteurizing equipment. Dr. Rodrigues says research into juices, which will all be kosher products for the Jewish market, will continue until next spring. However, the company already has markets for its new products in New York. Markland Cottage Winery is the only producer of kosher wines in Canada and one of a select few to sell into the large American Jewish market.

Dr. Rodrigues will also undertake research into sea buckthorn, a spiny plant imported from Russia which has been used for centuries in the treatment of skin and digestive disorders. He says the plant is extremely high in vitamin C and produces six-to-eight per cent oil that is also high in vitamin E.

"Sea buckthorn could be very profitably grown in rural communities," said Dr. Rodrigues. "It produces anywhere from 15-20 tons per acre and the value of the crop is roughly $2 a pound. The oil is worth about $280 a kilogram and is used in cosmetics, for aging skin, and for radiation and chemical burns."

The company will be assisted in its research by the National Research Council and by agrifoods experts in the provincial and federal governments.

Media contact: Clifford Grinling, Development and Rural Renewal, (709) 729-7066.

2000 11 01 4:05 p.m.