Vancouver Island boasts plethora of local wineries

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/11/2018 (2496 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“We could check out some wineries while we’re there.”

My head snapped up in surprise at this comment from my husband Ken. I hadn’t even considered doing such a thing, which, given my passion for the fermented fruit of the vine, seemed completely ridiculous. Especially since I’ve sought out Vancouver Island wines in Victoria’s many liquor stores several times over the years.

But while we were flying to the Island for our nephew Jeremy’s wedding, we were renting a car and staying for a few extra days in Victoria after the festivities. And the vehicle would allow us the flexibility to visit some wineries and sample their wares.

“Cool!” I thought, and thanked my husband for being smarter than I was.

So one afternoon, when we were planning to head up-island to Shawnigan Lake to have supper with our other nephew, Mike, and his mom (my husband’s sister, Lindley, who, like us, had extended her visit), it was my turn to be clever.

“Rather than sit around and just wait to leave in time to get there for dinner,” I suggested at lunch, “why don’t we leave now and check out a few wineries along the way?”

Ken thought this was a splendid idea, so we finished our meal, headed back to our condo to get ready for our adventure, and headed out the door.

Just so you know, I’m doing columns this month on Vancouver Island wineries because, as I explained in last week’s column, I know a ton of folks from this area who escape our less-than-temperate winters for the warmer weather of Victoria. And since there’s so much there to appreciate wine-wise, I hoped this might be helpful for those folks who venture beyond the city to explore what the rest of the island has to offer. And believe me, for wine aficionados, there’s a lot to see and sample.

The only cautionary note is that, because November to March is off-season for them, it would be a good idea to check with the wineries beforehand to ensure they’re not only open but will have product for you to taste.

While many of the wineries are well marked by road signs, several are not, so the GPS on my phone came in exceedingly handy. And since some of the places are a few miles off the main road, the Malahat, which is also the Trans-Canada Highway, it would have been tough to get to them without the technology.

On most of the brown paper bags used by both provincial and private wine and spirits stores, there’s a map showing the locations of the 15 wineries, two distilleries, two breweries, and one ciderery that are located, mostly in the Duncan area, between Victoria and Nanaimo. (There are several more wineries on the road to Victoria International Airport on the Saanich peninsula, but I didn’t realize that until we were on the way to airport to fly home.) So this was also a handy guide.

We set out figuring we’d maybe get to about four or five places in the three hours we had to spend, but that was stupidly optimistic. The fine folks at the two wineries we visited that day were incredibly friendly, and when they found out I wrote this column, they treated us royally and let us sample some wines not usually included in the tastings, for which I was most grateful.

Our first stop was at Unsworth Vineyards, and I’d been desperately trying to remember the name of a local wine I’d bought in Cowichan Bay in February of 2017 and very much enjoyed. All I could recall was that the winery started with a vowel — I didn’t know which one — and that the specific wine I’d tried began with the letter A. Imagine my delight when the very helpful pourer pulled out a bottle of Unsworth Allegro!

“That’s the one!” I practically shrieked.

And it was every bit as good as I remembered.

We also tasted a their 2017 dry Gewurztraminer — I’d never had a dry one before, only sweet — and it was delicious! With hints of rose petal, this is a refreshing taste experience not to be missed. I was also blown away by the Unsworth 2017 Sauvignette, a grape unique to Vancouver Island. With hints of pineapple, citrus and vanilla, I wrote “I love this” in my notes.

My husband very much liked Unsworth’s off-dry creations — the Riesling TimBuckTwo and the Petit Milo. We also were impressed by the Ovation non-vintage Port-style, which was a perfect finish to our tasting.

We left after purchasing the Charme De L’ile Sparkling Rosé, and it’s now sitting on my wine rack waiting for the appropriate occasion to pop the cork.

Just down the road, and after a few twists and turns, we came upon Enrico Winery, where Lisa and Barb treated us to not only to almost their entire line — two sparklers, Celebration and Revelation, their Tempest Ortega, Shining Armour Pinot Gris, Duchess Pinot Gris Reserve (which was particularly splendid), Nobel Chardonnay, Red Dragon Rosé, and the bottle I bought to bring home, the 2016 Newton Pinot Noir (redolent with aromas and flavours of figs and plums with herbal hints of sage, thyme and eucalyptus), but they gifted us with two wineglasses bearing the Enrico logo. It was also delightful to be on the outdoor deck while tasting these impressive products.

We had a splendid time at both wineries, and enjoyed meeting the folks we did. But we spent so much time talking wine and sipping and finding out the stories behind the names of the products, we were late for supper at Mike’s. But when he found out what we’d been doing, he more than forgave us. And he suggested a few more wineries we could try on Saturday, when we were heading further north to Nanaimo to visit my aunt and uncle.

Needless to say, we took his advice and managed to check out four more wineries on that jaunt. And you can read all about them in next week’s column.