The very first Europeans to plant grapes for the purpose of making wine in British Columbia were missionaries who settled in the Kelowna area around 1860, but really, not much happened until after the First World War.
By 1930, there were a few areas around B.C. producing wines from both grapes and fruit.
The Okanagan region was in its infancy and fruit wine production had begun on the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island.
From there, the industry continued to grow quite slowly and, frankly, had a pretty poor track record from a perspective of quality and consistency.
In fact, until 1988 when the B.C. government started paying growers to replant vineyards with the international grape varieties like the Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot and the Cabernets we see today, nothing of the current thriving industry really even existed.
Today, there are 254 wineries in five major wine producing regions with dozens of emerging subregions.
The Okanagan has long been the darling of the industry and produces 90 per cent percent of B.C. wine. But in the last decade, the Similkameen Valley, Fraser Valley, Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island have all displayed their potential, producing wines of high quality with distinct regional identities. As consistency and quality continues to improve in these regions increases, I see a bright future, as there are now dynamic young producers who are eager to share their wares setting up shop all over southern B.C. I spoke with Patrick Murphy, proprietor and winemaker at Vista D'oro in Langely, about the emergence of what he and some of the other industry leaders here in southwest B.C. are calling "Coastal Wine."
For the pioneers in any new wine region, there is always going to be a period of trial, and possibly error as winemakers unearth the potential of both their individual vineyard sites and the surrounding region.
Understanding what grows best in their vineyards and why, will, in turn, help to determine what wines will be of the highest quality.
Some grapes like Foch for example, that proved to be disappointing in the Okanagan are performing well down here on the coast and islands.
Those, along with some of the more familiar grapes like Pinot Noir, Riesling, Pinot Gris have begun to make a name for themselves. Most of us have had the opportunity to sample the terrific wines coming out of the Okanagan Valley, which is definitely the heart of B.C.'s wine production. But what about some of those aforementioned up and coming areas, what's happening there? For this edition I have sourced wines from some of those other regions and provided some recommendations as well.
The majority of the wines were sourced from the VQA store, Sip Wines at Ironwood Plaza.
For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the VQA store model, it is a special retail licence for the sale of B.C. wines.
And because they specialize in our local wines they can often provide expert advice! So the next time you head out to the Fraser Valley or take holiday on Vancouver or the Gulf Islands, stop in and see what's happening in coastal vineyards. And for further reading, try John Schreiner's BC Coastal Wine Tour Guide.
Vancouver Island: Averill Creek Vineyards (Duncan) - Pinot Noir 2009, $26 Cellar Door at Sutton Place Wine Merchants or Edible Canada Restaurant.
Gulf Islands: Saturna Island Family Estate Winery (Saturna Island) - Riesling Wild Ferment 2009, $18 at Sip Wines.
Fraser Valley: Vista D' Oro Farms & Winery (Langley) - Douro 2007, port style wine, $36 at Sip Wines.
Similkameen Valley: Orofino (Cawston) - Red Bridge Merlot 2011, $24 at Sip Wines.
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