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Leeko Lee started out as a winemaker at Gillis of Belleisle, a small winery on Belleisle Bay in New Brunswick. He ran the harvest, managed fermentation, and made a cranberry fruit wine that won a Gold Medal. At the same time, in Seoul, Hae Yean Park was building her own career in wine — running a culinary academy, earning her WSET wine certification, and later helping one of Korea's largest restaurant groups choose their wines and open new restaurants.

Leeko later earned a PhD in oenology and viticulture at Brock University, studying the science behind fruit flavour, before coming home to New Brunswick to consult for local wineries. Hae Yean kept working in Korea's wine trade, learning exactly how to get a new wine onto a restaurant's list and into people's glasses.

That is how Maritime berry project came together. The company is leasing the same Belleisle winery where Leeko once worked, to can three sparkling berry spritzers: Blueberry, Cranberry, and Mixed Berry. It's a homecoming for the founder, and a new purpose for a building that already knows how to make good things from Maritime fruit.

Hae Yean Park will lead the company's move into South Korea. Launching a new drink into Korean restaurants and stores is work she has already done before — this is not new territory for her.

The company is built on an old winery and two careers: one that knows how to make the fruit into something worth drinking, and one that knows how to sell it, even on the other side of the world.