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"A Family Tradition for 128 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, July 11, 1995 - 3 SI Blea aa™ © ET i --_-- -- D> PORT PERRY STAR COMMUNITY Local wines are award winners By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star Irwin Smith's fledgling win- ery 1s already making its mark after capturing four medals in an international win competi- tion. The extraordinary showing | in the Intervin International, held this spring, came as a sur- prise to Mr. Smith, whose prod- uct was entered along with wines from around the world. His winery at Ocala Orchards will officially open next month, but bottling of a line of fruit wines has been ongoing. Mr. Smith is well- known as former owner of Irwin Smith Music in Port Perry, a business he sold this spring. A panel of 49 judges awarded bronze medal marks to the 1994 vintage of Mr. Smith's Empire Apple, Ocala Golden Pear, Montmorency Cherry, and Spartan Apple wines, mak- ing Ocala's entry onto the wine scene quite remarkable. "I was blown away" when word of the adjudication results arrived in May, said Mr. Smith. "It makes us feel a lot better about opening the door" of the new winery, he said. "We know we're on the right track with the way we're making wines. "It's a good start." The wines in the Intervin event were judged entirely on their own. merits, and were not In competition with one anoth- er. Judges considered the aroma, flavor, and balance of alcohol to acidity in each wine they tasted. "What the judges are looking for are characteristics that make a good wine," said Mr. Smith. The results garnered by Ocala wines place it in the same category as such big- name established Canadian wineries as Pelee Island, Hildebrand, and Peller Estates. The remarkable showing for the Ocala wines coincides with a much more widespread acceptance of fruit wines, which are gaining more credibility as wineries -- particularly smaller operations which grow a vari- ety of fruit -- concentrate on them and add professionalism to the process, said Mr. Smith. He said he'll take note of his early success, and incorporate what he's learned in future vintages. "It at least has given me some guidelines of what to do with my next vintage," he said. "I know I'm on the right track." Ocala Orchards, on High Point Rd. east of Chalk Lake and south of Utica, will open its doors at the beginning of August. Visitors will be able to see the operations in the orchard and sample Ocala's wines, which will be for sale on site. Hi JEFF MITCHELL/PORT PERRY STAR LOCAL WINE MAKER Irwin Smith was surprised and proud when four entries from his Utica-area winery won medals at the Intervin International judging event this spring. His High Point Rd. operation, Ocala Orchards, will open its doors to the public next month. "Make Up Cases' examines Avon ladies Documentary earns Port native a major award By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star A documentary with a dif- ferent approach has earned a former Port Perry woman top honors in a TV Ontario film contest. Marnie Luke acted as a co- producer for Make Up Cases, a film examining the culture of the Avon cosmetics industry's. front-line workers -- we know them as Avon Ladies -- and wound up making a film that captured its subjects, and the imaginations of judges. The documentary -- 1t was pared down from a rough half- an-hour cut to a 13-minute piece -- garnered high marks in all judging categories, and was declared winner in the long documentary category of TVO's Telefest Jury Week, making it the Jay Scott Award winner. The award came as a sur- prise for Ms [Luke, 22, and her partners Lisa Froggatt and Marisa Dragani. Ms Luke grad- uated this year from Ryerson University's journalism pro- gram, and currently working as a producer for CJRT radio. she is the daughter of Wayne and Carolyn Luke of Port Perry, and 1s a former summer stu- dent reporter at the Port Perry Star. She said in a telephone interview from her Toronto office that she and her friends were searching for a unique topic for the year-ending assignment. "We were pretty much given creative control, and we could do whatever we wanted," she said, adding that four years of rigorous training in hard news gathering had left her with a desire to pursue alternative topics. "We thought, let's not do something depressing or boring or serious; let's do something that might put a smile on some- body's face." How the three women seized on Avon ladies, Marnie can't remember. But once the wheels were in motion, the project quickly fell together. She placed an ad calling on Avon workers to come forward with their sto- ries. The response was over- whelming, said Ms Luke, who like many others assumed Avon ladies were a thing of the past. 60,000 in Canada Not so: "There are 3,000 (Avon ladies) in Toronto alone, and 60,000 in Canada," she said. There are 1.5 million Avon sales representatives worldwide. "The phone calls just started pouring in from Avon ladies all over." The production team con- ducted interviews, and selected four women to feature. And yes, there are a couple of Avon men; but the elderly gentleman approached by the journalism students (it turns out he assumed the role after his wife, a long-time Avon salesperson, died) didn't want to take part in the project. The idea was to capture the reality of the Avon industry in the 90's. To that end, the film features no narrative, just slices of life from the people involved. The team went to an Avon motivation session with one subject, and made a sales call with another. And they got to know Eola Clark, head of the Avon Collector's club, who writes a monthly newsletter for enthusiasts and has a house crammed with memorabilia from decades of cosmetics sales. "Her home 1s an Avon shrine," Ms Luke said. She also learned that the motivation for these women 1sn't money; rather, it provides them with a social network, and a sense of accomplishment. : £ 5 The result was a captivating piece that netted the TVO con- test's major award. "We were very, very shocked," Ms Luke said. "We entered Telefest and that was a long shot because there were entries from across the country.'