"The pick of the crop" (continued)

Cairn O'Mohr shop.

Sources and production

Nowadays they work as a team although, Ron says, "Judith definitely works harder than me. She's on production and makes the wine. I source the ingredients and do the selling and marketing. The gooseberry wine is made with gooseberries from Jack Cameron at Pittormie, near Cupar-Fife. We made rhubarb at first almost for a laugh and are now at recipe number 6. Rhubarb is tricky but recipe number 5 has turned out to be the best. We made a limited quantity last year and it sold out in a month.

"Bramble is more prickly than tricky! Like all fine wine it should be opened and allowed to 'breathe' well before drinking. One of the fascinating things about making fruit wines is - just like wine from grapes - what works one year won't work so well the next. It all depends so much on the growing and ripening conditions of the ingredients. We've just completed the raspberries for this year and I had to go out and about quite a bit to find the varieties that make the best wines - Malling Jewel, there's so little of it left, and Glen Prosen. Most farms have gone over to growing Glen Ample, but it doesn't make the best wine.

"As for strawberries, I have to source the best-tasting as possible. Originally, I wasn't too happy about Elsanta but we find it gives the wine a really beautifully aroma.

"I'm quite fussy about acquiring ground-grown strawberries - not hydroponics. They haven't yet got the flavour of hydroponics quite right and I like my strawberries to ripen on straw, not plastic. The polytunnels have certainly improved fruit quality. Fruit can be picked regularly and there are no mouldy berries. I buy what are now known round here as wine berries. The supermarkets like to buy under-ripe fruit to guarantee shelf-life. So I get beautifully ripe fruit sometimes in funny shapes. We really couldn't be better placed for fruit than the Carse of Gowrie with Strathmore just over the Sidlaws."

Given the popularity of Cairn O'Mohr's elderberry and elderflower products I asked where the raw materials came from for these, to be told their origins have long been down to scrumping - but not for much longer!

"We are now growing our own elders - creating the first elder plantation in Scotland. Our 2-acre plantation here - and a further plantation near Kirriemuir - is planted from cuttings from our favourite elder trees and bushes all over the Carse, in fact from Bridge of Earn to Inchture, and up the hills behind. It will be 5 to 6 years before we can get full-on cropping and because we don't have varietal names we've named our trees mostly after the places we found the best wild elders.

"For instance, there's Dinnerplate - they came from outside the old canteen at Bridge of Earn Hospital. You can guess where we found X-ray and Boilerhouse! Occasionally, just occasionally, some pickers have been sent on their way - and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Jeff Brown for tolerating us on his land. One of our varieties is called Car Door because once Judith and I were picking super elderberries on a spot where we'd never picked before when suddenly I heard a noise exactly like a car door slamming. Oh, oh, here we go! I thought and listened again. Sure enough there was a sound like another car door closing. I was on the point of suggesting to Judith we make a run for it when we realised what we'd heard was the thump of bunches of elderberries hitting the bottom of Judith's plastic container! We've planted half an acre of Car Door. I'm hoping for 2 to 3 tonnes of fruit this year.

"Elderberries have enormous health properties. They're very high in vitamin C and are full of anti-viral things. I can see an enormous potential in elderberry."

We probably all have memories of someone - probably granny - making elderberry wine. But if, like me, you have a memory of having to be polite about granny's endeavours, you'll find the Cairn O'Mohr version in another league altogether.

And Scots aren't alone in appreciating Cairn O'Mohr fruit wines. Their on-line shop trade is building all the time and they distribute wines all over the UK. The Germans are enthusiastic about the wines and there is now an American distributor. Work has begun on new labelling etc. to satisfy the US authorities."

"Most of our marketing is direct," Ron told me. "We go to shows - to more than 400 events a year. Everything from farmers' Markets to dog shows. We give tastings and direct selling is a very big factor for us. These days there are very few delicatessens but the farm shops are filling a gap there and visitor outlets like these are good for us. Our forward plans include a new visitor centre here with regular tours of the winery.

"We've lately invested around £100,000 in a new auto-bottling line, beginning to gear ourselves up carefully from a cottage industry to coping with increasing production, but keeping a very close eye on the quality that has given Cairn O'Mohr its place in the market."

There are many contributory factors to the on-going success of this remarkable enterprise. Top of the list is the expertise and the enthusiasm of Ron and Judith Gillies alongside the quality of the fresh and lush ingredients they source locally. Inevitably what they produce is of a very high quality indeed.

And as I write this I am sipping a delicious chilled Cairn O'Mohr sparkling strawberry and elderflower and have no hesitation is raising my glass to the enterprising and hard-working Gillies's at Cairn O'Mohr Winery.

The website with online shop is at www.cairnomohr.co.uk