Southeast Alaska Wine

Southeast Alaska's panhandle, stretching from Ketchikan to Juneau through the Inside Passage, is the only part of Alaska with a climate mild enough to support any form of commercial winemaking. The temperate rainforest environment produces an extraordinary diversity of wild berries, from salmonberries and huckleberries to lowbush cranberries and crowberries, that form the basis of the region's fruit wine tradition. Meaderies using fireweed and wildflower honey add another dimension. Alaska Wilderness Winery in Ketchikan and Bear Creek Winery near Homer produce wines from these indigenous ingredients that are genuinely unique in American winemaking. The experience of tasting berry wine overlooking a glacier-fed fjord while eagles circle overhead is unlike anything in the lower 48.