Eileanan Bragha Vineyards has bountiful first harvest

Cape Bretons Eileanan Bragha Vineyards has wrapped up its harvest of almost 12,000 grape vines for the season.

Owner Ken MacLellan says it was a good year, especially for one variety, the Cayuga grape.

"Its been excellent for the Cayuga, very little mould or mildew compared to last year. Overall its been nice, the grapes are in better shape, the sugars are higher, the diseases lower. We were better prepared this year for it. Last year we had a lot of rain and it was our first year owning it start to finish," he says.

MacLellan bought the vineyard in Marble Mountain from former owner John Pratt in 2012 and built a winery on site.

The winery sold its first batch of wine under the Eileanan Bragha label this summer.

MacLellan says they sold between 350 and400 cases from the vineyard and in restaurants around Cape Breton.

Hoping to expand

Next year he hopes to be selling at farmers markets.

MacLellan, who is new to wine making, splits his time between the vineyard and working as a contractor in Alberta.

His long-term goal is to run the winery full time.

Theyve planted 200 new vines this year and plan for another 4,500 next year.

MacLellan says hes still learning the business.

"Before I started, I did an online course at UC Davis in California and I did a lot of reading. It was a huge learning curve. Im seeing what people in the Valley are growing, whats working for them, and also since we are a little bit shorter season, doing my own research online trying to come up with some new possibilities," he says.

Eileanan Bragha sits on almost five hectares overlooking the Bras DOr Lakes and has three full-time employees and three part-time employees.

MacLellan says they also had extra help hand picking the grapes.

"We were lucky we had lots of volunteers coming up to help us. The workers have got it down to a science now. When I bought it, the same crew stayed on. They knew what they were doing," he says.

The biggest challenge so far, MacLellansays, has been keeping animals out of the vineyard. He says birds, wasps and deer have done their share of damage but theyre getting better at protecting the grapes.

The reviews so far for the three wines the vineyard sold this summer have been good,according to MacLellan.

"Its exciting, different people have a lot of different reactions. Ive only gotten two emails where people didnt like it but Ive gotten a lot of positive responses, they far outweigh the negative," he says.

"Like anything, if people taste it and theyre expecting their style of wine without actually knowing what theyre buying they might not like it but two out of all the cases weve sold, Im not complaining about that."