The Fort Berens Estate Winery in Lillooet

A special fundraiser to try and help with the rebuild of Lytton.

The Fort Berens Estate winery in Lillooet will be selling 120 cases of a Special Edition Pinot Gris made with grapes from the Winch Spur vineyard in Lytton, which survived the fire last June.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Fort Berens co-founder and co-owner, Heleen Pannekoek, says they’ve been sourcing grapes from the vineyard owned by Chuck and Nonie McCann for years.

“The wine has always been blended with our own grapes to make one big blend but this year we wanted to make sure that it did not end up in a blend,” she said.

“So what we decided to do is make a special edition wine that is 100 per cent from the grapes that survived the fire in Lytton to raise funds to rebuild the community of Lytton.”

If you want to sample this wine, you’ll have to act quickly, Pannekoek says there will be just 120 cases – 1,440 bottles – of this wine for sale.

“The only way to get a hold of this wine is to sign on for the fundraiser between June 3 and 12,” she said. “We will be selling lots of three bottles at a time. We just hope that this will make a big impact before the anniversary of the devastating fire.”

The goal is to $125,000, in part by donating the proceeds from the sale of this wine. There will also be a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle but people will also be able to donate directly to the campaign.

“Lytton is our neighbouring village and we’ve seen the smoke, we’ve seen the people coming to town with nothing left,” Pannekoek said.

“Our goal is to raise funds to create a special gathering place for the community. We don’t know yet exactly what that would will look like, but it is going to be something that is going to benefit the whole community.”

Pannekoek adds Fort Berens is also looking for corporate sponsorships, donations for the silent auction, and volunteers to help with the fundraising campaign. You can reach out to by email.