Rania Burns hopes that we see Prairie Souls as the small Alberta wine label that could.
The initial releases of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are available in select liquor retailers in Alberta — and it’s hard to miss the bottles, with labels created by artist Suzanne Sandboe, from Sexsmith.
Burns, a former national-team rugby player who worked in the wine industry in both California and British Columbia before coming back home to Edmonton, wanted to have Alberta artists showcase their work on the bottles. Sandboe’s wintery windmill scene adorns the red, while a prairie grain elevator against a big sky backdrop is labeled on the white.
Burns said that Sandboe’s art will remain on the first two releases of Prairie Souls wine, then another Alberta artist will be selected for the next batch of labels.
“I think people have been appreciative of the art and that it’s a small project,” says Burns. “Since COVID, we’re cheering for the small guy.”
The wine itself is a “custom crush” from a vineyard in Lodi, California. Burns wanted the wine to be representative of two California wine mainstays. Because of the limited labels, she hopes it’s a wine for gift-giving — and, for that reason, she didn’t want what’s inside to be overly complex, or be an acquired taste.
“Cabernet and Chardonnay are two classic California varieties,” she says. “They are not obscure. When I was tasting, I wanted classic wines that were easy to understand.”
The first release is limited to 280 cases — 158 red, 112 white.
She says that, initially, she wanted to partner with a Canadian vineyard for the initial Prairie Souls release, but that the timing just isn’t working out.
“Kelowna is a tough market right now, they’ve struggled with some unexpected weather and the impact of the fires,” she says.
