Huron County is moving closer to being an active part of Ontario’s wine industry.

Plans for Dark Horse Estate Winery were unveiled at a special ceremony at the Huron Country Playhouse in South Huron. Construction is expected to start next year, and the goal is to have the winery open in the spring of 2016.

Huron County Economic Development Officer Mike Pullen says after several years of experimentation, high quality grapes are being grown successfully in the Seaforth area.

Other people are experimenting with different varieties on a smaller scale.

Pullen explains the next step is to bring the growers together with wineries, agriculture and food processing, and tourism.

“As we move forward it’s really important that we now start to connect the people that are building the wineries to the people that are interested in growing grapes and work with those people to network and build a grape growers and wineries group or association for Huron County,” says Pullen.

Back Row (left to right): John Rasenberg, Dark Horse Estate Winery; Craig Horlor, Dark Horse Estate Winery; Mike Pullen, Huron County Economic Development Services; Murray Watson, Project Consultant; Roger Vail, Vailmount Vineyards Ltd.; Bill Krohn, WJK Architect Front Row (left to right): Scott Rasenberg, Dark Horse Estate Winery; Sue Ann Rasenberg, Dark Horse Estate Winery; Ashley Horlor, Dark Horse Estate Project Consultant; Krista Hulshot, Veld Architect