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Wines of Canada

Since 1992

 

Yukon Wines

Yukon Wines award winning Haskap

North to the Yukon home of Yukon Wines and Solstice Cider Works.

Kyle Marchuk, Stephen Mooney, Colin Nickerson, and Harold Roche are the owners. They launched these companies in May 2020. Kyle Marchuck got the ball roling by starting by starting Yukon Berry Farms2014 to introduce haskap berry agriculture to the Yukon.

Haskap is the Japanese name for Lonicera caerulea, also known as Edible Blue Honeysuckle, Honeyberry and . Haskap is an ancient Japanese name of the Ainu people of Northern Japan for the fruit meaning “berry of long life and good vision”. The first introduction of the cultivated plant to Canada was at Beaver Lodge, AB in the 1950s. The fruit was bitter and not palatable. It has been found in the wild in every province in Canada except for British Columbia.

The name “Haskap” was chosen as the brand name that have been applied to new varieties bred by the Fruit Program at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Haskap berries come from varieties common to a circumpolar species native to northern boreal forests in Asia, Europe, and North America. It is mainly found in low lying wet areas or high in mountains, in a variety of soil and growing conditions.

Kyle Marchuk
Kyle Marchuk

“We want something that preserves well, you know, that has a decent margin and is fun to do, and so wine and cider it was,” Marchuk said.

When the first wines were released in 2020 the enuthiasum was over welling the wines sold out in two day.

As for the cider applea are brought in from the Okanagan.

Stephen Mooney, is the former director of cold-climate innovation at the Yukon Research Centre

In order to create a profitable business Yukon wines found the best route was to export their wines to Asia especially Japan. “The reason we are targeting Japan is because the haskap is a Japanese berry. There’s a connection to the berry and a respect for the berry. We wanted to make a higher-end product that we could sell.”.


Yukon is the smallest and most western of Canada's three territories. It is the most densely populated of the three territories, with an estimated population of 46,948 as of 2024, though it has a smaller population than all provinces. Whitehorse, the territorial capital, is the largest settlement in any of the three territories.

The territory is the approximate shape of a right triangle, bordering the U.S. state of Alaska to the west and northwest for 1,210 kilometres (752 mi) mostly along longitude 141° W, the Northwest Territories to the east and British Columbia to the south mostly along latitude 60° N.[15] Its northern coast is on the Beaufort Sea. Its ragged eastern boundary mos/tly follows the divide between the Yukon Basin and the Mackenzie River drainage basin to the east in the Mackenzie mountains.

While the average winter temperature in the Yukon is mild by Canadian arctic standards, no other place in North America gets as cold as the Yukon during extreme cold snaps.

Unlike most of Canada where the most extreme heat waves occur in July, August, and even September, the Yukon's extreme heat tends to occur in June and even May. The Yukon has recorded 36 °C (97 °F) three times. 

The Yukon's major industry is mining (lead, zinc, silver, gold, asbestos and copper).

Maps

 

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