Bees & Honey

One of a kind location

The Canadian Rocky Mountain Foothills

Spirit Hills works with beekeepers who have their bee-yards in the pristine ranch-lands of the Rocky Mountain foothills. These areas are abundant with wild flowers and free of any chemical pesticides, herbicides, and GMOs. For the bees this is a true paradise. It allows them to return to their natural environment in which they thrive and in which they provide such an immense service to mankind. In return these bees harvest the one of a kind wildflower nectar we are after.

One of a kind challenges

Of bears, skunks and wildflowers

Keeping bees so close to the mountains in such pristine territory comes with its challenges. Bears and skunks like to eat the bees and the hive products which means the beekeeper has to protect the hives with electric fence.  The flowers in this region also do not grow as dense as in mono-culture canola fields. In turn that means fewer beehives per square mile. As a result of these factors the cost, time and work to harvest the pristine wildflower honey exceeds the price of commodity honey.

One of a kind flavours

Vintage

Because the bees forage in a natural and unspoiled wildflower environment, the fluctuations and the weather do affect the honey harvest every year. The back label of the Spirit Hills flower wine displays the vintage year of the honey which is influenced every year by the dominance of a particular wildflower. Not only does the honey affect the vintage, but so do the berries and the flowers. The winemakers at Spirit Hills have noticed that the flowers can change dramatically in taste from year to year and adjust their recipes accordingly in order to deliver consistency between the vintages. A hand crafted product will always be unique so if you like a certain vintage, realize it is one of a kind.