Bear Creek Winery and Lodging in Homer, Alaska, is a leader in two industries: wine and hospitality. In the world of wine, the business has spent decades developing a network of local growers, resulting in 15 varietals of fruit wines and fruit/grape wine blends that “provide flavor profiles that can not be found in any grape wines.” This passion grew out of co-founder Bill Fry trying fruit wine at a friend’s home in the 1990s.
Bill and his wife Dorothy’s son-in-law, Louis Maurer, who became head winemaker in 2013, introduced a sister brand, Glacier Bear Wines, dedicated to using only Alaskan-grown fruit. By 2017, Bear Creek was purchasing 90 percent of its fruit from Alaskan suppliers, who hand-pick red raspberries, yellow raspberries, blueberries, black currants, strawberries, gooseberries, apples, lowbush cranberries, and rhubarb. This community sourcing comes in all shapes and sizes, Bear Creek says: “We receive anything from a gallon-sized ziploc bag of blueberries, to crates of apples and rhubarb.” Maurer told KTUU, “We’re getting more and more Alaskan-grown fruit, which is awesome. So, all summer long, we take stuff in. We got 20-thousand pounds of rhubarb last year [in 2016]. We got 8 thousand pounds of blueberries.” It shows the immense variety and beauty of all that Alaska has to offer, and as an added bonus, the traceability also means customers can be sure that no pesticides or chemicals were used.
Photo Courtesy Bear Creek Winery and Lodging
The business’s emphasis on sourcing goes beyond fruit, though. For example, a local Homer business makes all the wine labels, but when Alaskan products are not available, U.S.-made is always the goal. Bear Creek wrote, “We carry this ideal throughout the company, from gift shop items, to packaging materials (i.e. our bottles are made in Washington), to wine-making equipment.”
Meanwhile, in the world of hospitality, the lodge offers a romantic atmosphere, with fantastic views of Kachemak Bay, a koi pond, and blooming flowers in the gardens during the summer. One TripAdvisor reviewer called it “a little piece of paradise.” Every unit comes with a complimentary bottle of wine, Alaskan-made chocolate, and local coffee.
Photo Courtesy Bear Creek Winery and Lodging
Bear Creek is also a leader in sustainable operations. The mission is to provide unique guest experiences so that “guests leave feeling like they are friends and family.” However, as the business describes on its website, “Bear Creek is committed to extending our concept of family beyond our patrons to our community and the environment. We embrace Eco-Friendly and Buy Local philosophies in our business decisions.” For example, a Green Business Policy emphasizes its desire to conserve resources and minimize environmental impact. “We embrace our responsibility for environmental stewardship and are committed to integrating leading environmental practices and sustainability principles into our core business strategy,” the business said.
Green initiatives are visible everywhere you look at Bear Creek. In 2009, the company added a wind generation project to its tasting room, which helped it achieve Green Star certification. In 2022, it added a 45-kilowatt solar system featuring 112 panels to its fermentation facility, which meets about half of the building’s annual electricity needs and contributes to energy savings.
Photo Courtesy Bear Creek Winery and Lodging
Bear Creek also makes its bottles using glass that incorporates recycled materials and is lighter than alternatives, reducing waste in production and saving energy in shipping. A bottle reuse program is also in effect, through which the business collects bottles from regular customers and local restaurants, and then cleans and reuses them.
Plus, its use of natural corks, sourced from the bark of cork oak trees, rather than synthetic alternatives, results in an end product that is biodegradable and recyclable. A partnership with Anorim Cork, which last year World Finance named “Most Sustainable Company in the Wine Products Industry,” means that the specific corks used for Bear Creek’s bottles are carbon negative, thereby assisting in carbon removal.
Photo Courtesy Bear Creek Winery and Lodging
Bear Creek has been recognized for its efforts. Last year, Adventure Green Alaska officially issued a certification of recognition to the business for its contributions to the environmental, social, economic, and cultural sustainability of Alaska’s tourism industry.
The social element should not be overlooked. Bear Creek has held community events on its grounds, including the Fleur De Paeonia Botanical Couture show, and has donated percentages of wine sales to wildfire relief efforts. In 2015, Hospice of Homer awarded the Frys with a Compassion in Action Award, and Executive Director Darlene Hildebrand described to Homer News, “Dorothy and Bill have big overflowing hearts. They always reply with a heartfelt, enthusiastic yes to a request from hospice. We could not ask for more kind, generous, ongoing support.”
Additionally, the annual Bear Creek Winery Music Festival is often the talk of the town, and proceeds from ticket sales go to benefit both the Bill Bell Girls Softball Fund and the Nikki Geragotelis (Fry) Memorial Scholarship Fund, a scholarship fund established in 2013 in memory of one of Bill and Dorothy’s daughters. By 2024, it had raised more than $245,000, with a portion each year going to a local student who “exemplifies Nikki’s sportsmanship, character, athleticism, integrity, and hard-working nature.” The goal is for the fund to provide a $10,000 scholarship annually.
In 2018, Louis Maurer and his wife, Jasmine, took over Bear Creek Winery, taking the family business into its second generation. Jasmine reminisced about the company her parents founded, “The sense and feeling we have about the business is that it’s still a local business, a family business, and we plan for it to remain a positive member of the community as it always has been in the past.”
Photo Courtesy Bear Creek Winery and Lodging
