Spirit Hills Dande Flower Wine 2020
Reviewed on August 20, 2021
Spirit Hills is a flower winery owned by the Bonjean family who emigrated from Belgium 24 years ago. The terroir comes from the wildflowers and its nectar from the beautiful Rocky Mountain foothills. The two most common flowers grown here are the fireweed and the wild rose. For the Dande wine, they harvest ripe dandelion flowers at the beginning of June.
Spirit Hills have 300 beehives spread out between highway 22 and the sheep river and they have access to another 600 hives in the foothills between the sheep river and highway 3. Bears and skunks pose the biggest threat to the hives. They must fence the hives in for protection. The bears will try and dig under the fences!
The Dande wine reminds me of an off dry Chenin Blanc grape wine. It has aromas of fresh cut straw and honeycomb. On the palate it is off dry (meaning it has a hint of sweetness) with flavours of peach, apricot, honey and a bit of beeswax. If you drink wine for its health benefits, then you may be interested to know that the Dande has 120 times the antioxidants to red wine grapes.
This wine is a pairing dream. It pairs well with barbecued salmon, white meats (chicken/turkey), curry and cheese. I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and try this wine. Chill it like you would a white wine.
Photo - Hugo Bonjean - owner/winemaker
Region - Millarville, Alberta
Where is it?
Spirit Hills Winery is located close to Millarville, about a ½ hour drive SW of Calgary. I recommend checking their website for their hours because they are not open every day to the public. TIP - You can book a tour on-line.