Wine industry growing on the Gulf Islands
Coastal climate is challenging but idyllic settingmakes effort worthwhile. By Judie Steeves
A
lthough more than 80 per cent of the vineyards of B.C. are located in the Okanagan and Similkameen regions, there’s a growing and evolving grape and wine industry in other parts of the province, particularly in the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands in Georgia Straight.
The first winery in the Gulf Islands was Saturna Island Family Estate Winery, which first planted vineyards in 1995, but today there are a total of 115 acres planted to vineyard and 10 licensed wineries throughout the islands. They are: Carbrea Vineyard and Winery, Little Tribune Winery and Hornby Island Estate Winery on Hornby Island, Domaine Jasmin Vineyard and Winery on Thetis Island, Saturna Island Family Estate Winery on Saturna Island, Sea Star Estate Farm and Vineyards on Pender Island, Southend Farm Vineyards on Quadra Island, and Mistaken Identity Vineyards, Garry Oaks Winery and Salt Spring Vineyards on Salt Spring Island.
Although the wine industry in the Okanagan is ‘new’ in global terms, on the Gulf Islands it’s still less than a decade old, making it so new that vineyards are still disappearing from the charts because the effort has not worked out for its owners for one reason or another. Growing wine grapes surrounded by cooling ocean air is challenging, even if the weather is much drier than usual for an island climate. For big reds, winemakers must import red varietals from the hotter climate of the Okanagan, and this is a controversial practice. Many winery owners feel strongly that the islands must stand or fall on the wines made only from grapes grown locally, on the islands, which means the reds likely will be lighter, although they can still be complex and delicious.
Because there are often years when the grapes do not achieve adequate sugars, many sparkling wines and roses are produced.
On the whole, wineries on the islands tend to be small operations that rely on the proceeds from summer sales to winery visitors. Often they are charming and rustic facilities with a small gift shop as well, or a bed and breakfast, snack option or restaurant to bring visitors in.
Interestingly, many of the operators are highly-educated professionals who have been turned off and have turned away from the stresses of their careers to get back to the land,
18 JUDIE STEEVES
Devlin McIntyre, co-owner of Salt Spring Vineyards Winery shows visitors a planting of young grapes.
growing grapes and making wine in an idyllic setting on islands that provide a more-laid-back lifestyle and a beautiful and peaceful setting.
It’s not just the wineries that attract visitors, though. The islands are dotted with charming accommodations, unique eateries, diverse galleries and shops and picturesque hiking trails and beaches.
Farm stands are not sophisticated affairs, but instead are often a box of sorts along a main or side road, offering the fresh products available that day, but unstaffed, with a mute container trusting that you will pay for what you take. Wineries on the Gulf Islands are a tourism business more than a wine industry, relying on the surge of tourists who throng to the islands during spring, summer and fall. An example is Salt Spring Vineyards on the Fulford- Ganges Road, adjacent to Garry Oaks Vineyard on Salt Spring, the largest of the Gulf Islands. It’s owned by two doctors, Devlin and Joanne McIntyre, who bought it in 2001 and who are passionate about their vineyard and wines.
They also operate a bed and breakfast and have a small gift shop, as well as providing personal tours of their operation and tastings in the gazebo, during the season. They rely on island grapes to make a Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Blanc de Noir, Evolution Red and White, Aromata and Karma, a sparkling wine.
A selection is available at private liquor stores and restaurants, mostly local.
Next door is Garry Oaks Winery, built in 2000 by Elaine Kozak and Marcel Mercier, an economist and an environmental scientist, on a former orchard. They produce a Zweigelt, Labyrinth, Blanc de Noir, Prism, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.
British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Winter 2014-15
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