A two-hour ferry across the Salish Sea from the city of Vancouver is the 285-mile-long Vancouver Island, a picturesque landscape that delivers classic Pacific Northwest panoramas: crystalline lakes, dense forests and cold beaches. Plus, wouldn’t you know it, high-quality, under-the-radar wine.
Most wine is being made in Cowichan Valley, a bucolic pocket on the southern half of the island that orbits around Cowichan River, Cowichan Bay and Cowichan Lake.
Winemakers there have been slowly building and finessing the region’s potential. But if you’ve never heard of Cowichan Valley, you’re not alone.
“Historically Cowichan Valley, alongside the tiny island wineries that dot the Strait of Georgia, have been so small with miniscule productions that the wines rarely left the islands,” says Brad Royale, a Calgary Alberta-based sommelier and wine consultant who works with a handful of Cowichan wineries. “You really had to travel to them to drink them. As such, knowledge of the wines through the rest of Canada was extremely limited.”
Official Geographical Recognition
In 2020, Cowichan Valley was recognized as a sub-geographical indication; one that stretches from the eastern coastline at Mill Bay to west of Cowichan Lake. Nearly half of all of Vancouver Island’s wineries fall within this prized stretch of land—a cool-climate region primed for juicy, high-acidity fruit.
This designation was big news in Canada, but some would argue that Julia Jackson and Barbara Banke, of California’s Jackson Family Wines (JFW), acquiring Unsworth Vineyards, one of the region’s most popular producers, that same year was even bigger.
Though Unsworth is more of a personal undertaking for Jackson and Banke, JFW doubled down on Cowichan in 2022 when it officially added Blue Grouse, one of the oldest estate wineries in British Columbia, to its global portfolio, which includes projects in Italy, South Africa and Chile. This turned even more heads toward Vancouver Island.
According to Christopher Jackson who runs JFW’s Stonestreet Estate Vineyards, the company’s “intention was to look north for opportunities to future proof our business as climate change continues to create challenges for growing regions around the world.”
Thanks to the milder conditions on Vancouver Island, plus the moderate amount of rain it receives during the winter, Cowichan Valley hasn’t suffered the fires that have afflicted California and the Okanagan Valley in recent years. This has made it an attractive and promising wine region to invest in.
Where a Wide Array of Varietals Thrive
And of course there are the grapes: Blue Grouse’s 65-acre property on Cobble Hill, not far from Mill Bay, grows everything from Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir to lesser known German white-grape varietals like Ortega, Siegerrebe and Bacchus.
But now that JFW has gotten involved, a lot of the agricultural focus will shift to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to take advantage of the temperate, maritime conditions that JFW has favored for growing these kinds of noble grapes.
And Blue Grouse isn’t the only one that’s banking on Cowichan’s abilities to produce high-quality fruit.
Averill Creek, whose vineyards are located in Mount Prevost and enjoy soils of sandy loam mixed with glacial sediment, have been bullish on Pinot Noir as the premier grape of the region. In fact, Averill has been hosting a now three-year-old event called Noir Fest, where they celebrate all things Pinot with both local and international winemakers.
Brent Rowland, winemaker at Averill Creek, says that in Cowichan (and Mount Prevost in particular), plants can have immense root structures that permeate the terroir, seeking out moisture and nutrients as they travel through layers of soil. “This helps us make wines that are complex and developed but still fresh and juicy thanks to a cool-climate region,” he explains, adding that thanks to ample wintertime precipitation, most local vineyards don’t require irrigation.
When Rowland arrived on Vancouver Island in 2018, there was already quite a lot of excitement around Pinot but he was surprised to learn that Chardonnay was barely being planted. “I thought to myself, ‘How can this be the only place on earth where you can ripen Pinot Noir but not Chardonnay?’” Rowland says.
So, in 2021, convinced that the grape would do just as well as Pinot, he convinced Averill Creek owner Andy Johnston to purchase a 24-acre vineyard, dedicating half to Chardonnay.
“The early results are phenomenal: Chardonnay is definitely the future of Vancouver Island,” Rowland raves. “We can’t ripen the fruit to make something big, buttery and powerful, but we can make tighter Chards that are firmer and fresher, in the spirit of Chablis or Puligny Montrachet.”
Royale agrees that Cowichan’s potential for Chardonnay “will go nowhere but up in terms of quality. The pretty nature of the wines will resonate with a modern drinker who likes high-acid, tangy wines.”
Prime Sparkling Wine Territory
And where there is quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, there’s also an opportunity for sparkling wine. Stacy Hornemann, former assistant winemaker at Jackson family’s Stonestreet Estate, was recently named the new winemaker at Blue Grouse and Christopher Jackson says that she will call on her tenure at Stonestreet Estate in Sonoma to launch bubblies very soon. There’s a lot of anticipation for how she’ll interpret Cowichan fruit into Charme de l’île and Charme de l’île Rosé, the island’s take on the charmat (or tank) method. Unsowrth was among the earliest champions of the style, but Averill and many other local wineries make their own, too.
A federal trademark in Canada since 2019, a Charme de l’île sparkling needs to be made in the charmat method exclusively with fruit from the island, but from there, winemakers can craft the wine however they please.
Unsworth’s uses a Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir-based blend to create a zesty, apple-forward wine; whereas, Rowland’s Charme de l’île at Averill Creek, similarly made from primarily Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, can be described as a bit creamy but still lively and refreshing.
Royale, who pours both styles of Charme de l’île at Hotel Grand Pacific in nearby Victoria, says, “Guests love it as it’s wine you can’t find anywhere else. Plus, the prices are also quite attractive, so it’s not a hard investment to explore around.”
Charmat’s stylistic profile—light, acidic, pretty—aligns very closely to how other marquee wines from Cowichan can be characterized. And according to Rowland, not only does this reflect modern movements in wine-drinking, but it’s also a way for Cowichan to produce world-class wine.
More British Columbia Coverage
In the Shop
Find a Personalized Glass for Every Sparkling Moment
Published: July 31, 2024
