Plenty of Fish founder Markus Frind sets his sights on B.C. wine industry

. It will start selling in June at its production facility, located on the 13-acre West Kelowna lakeside estate once owned by former premiers W.A.C. Bennett and son Bill Bennett that Mr. Frind purchased for $7.2-million in 2017.

Central to Mr. Frind’s plan is turning 300 acres of hilly grazing land in Kelowna into terrain suitable for vineyards. With no water on site and no opportunity under provincial law to subdivide for development, the land sat on the market for years before he bought it for $3.7-million in September, 2017. Others “didn’t have the vision Markus had,” said Royal Lepage realtor Rob Marak, who represented the seller.

In addition to winemaking, Mr. Frind also owns a steel mill and recently bought control of online furniture and freight logistics firm Cymax Stores Inc.But the $6-million landscaping cost is worth it, Mr. Frind said. After paying about $13,000 an acre, the 260 irrigated acres that will grow grapes could be worth $200,000 each based on the going rate for vineyards. Together with other land he’s purchased, he’ll have 800-plus acres of vineyards .

Mr. Frind brings a technologist’s perspective: He’s invested in optical sorting equipment to keep out the leaves and dirt that can find their way into wines and invested heavily in lab equipment to “track and measure absolutely everything about the grapes every step of the way,” Mr. Frind said.

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