Bala is home to the only two producing commercial cranberry farms in the province. In 1952, Orville Johnston began planting cranberries.

Fifty years later, Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh is the oldest cranberry farm in the province and it is now owned and operated by Orville’s son, Murray Johnston and Murray’s wife, Wendy Hogarth.

In the fall of 2001, the Johnstons decided to begin a new venture, Muskoka Lakes Winery. While grapes don’t grow in the region, cranberries sure do, and Muskoka Lakes Winery specializes in wines made with Muskoka’s native berry. The first release of 600 cases of Cranberry Wine sold out in just 16 days, taking the couple completely by surprise.

"We based our initial production on our juice sales," said Hogarth. "Which we rounded up quite a bit. There were times when we’d look at those big 2,000 litre stainless steel tanks and say, ‘We’ll never sell this much wine!’"

In December, they released 120 cases of Cranberry Blueberry Wine, and that sold out in 4 days. "At that point," said Hogarth with a laugh, "We knew we were in the wine business. What started out as a fun sideline for our business had to become a significant part of the business we do. We didn’t want to known as the winery that always runs out of wine."

The winter was spent renovating space, adding tanks and significantly increasing production. "Last year," says Hogarth, "We produced around 700 cases of wine. This year, we’ll produce 6,000."

The winery has continued to grow and now offers a range of award winning wines which are all available at the winery. The LCBO also carries Muskoka Lakes Winery's two best sellers: Cranberry Wine and Cranberry Blueberry wine.