VICTORIA, British
Columbia – We invite you to discover B.C.'s fastest growing Wine Country. Enjoy
our wineries and cideries, taste the latest vintage, picnic in a vineyard or
orchard - all with a backdrop of verdant hills and scenic landscapes. Visiting
the wineries of Vancouver Island could start with a visit to Marley Farm Winery,
located in Saanichton and Victoria Estate Winery, located in Brentwood Bay.
The wine tour starts in the Cowichan Valley which is reached via the Trans
Canada Highway or if the prospect of negotiating the steep Malahat Drive is
daunting, B.C. Ferries operates a regularly scheduled service from Brentwood Bay
to Mill Bay.
The wine route
begins at Mill Bay, at the Merridale Ciderworks, and then heads north to
Cowichan Bay / Cobble Hill and the Cherry Point Vineyards. Cherry Point offers
guided tours three times a day that provide an in-depth look at grape growing
and wine making at a "farm" winery. Next stop is Venturi-Schulze Vineyards and
the nearby Blue Grouse Vineyards. Follow the Wine Route markers, it is a
fifteen-minute drive north to the southern end of the city of Duncan and Echo
Valley Vineyards, Godfrey Brownell Vineyards and Zanatta Winery. Just north of
the city is Alderlea Vineyards. A half-hour drive north to Nanaimo is the
Chateau Wolff Vineyard, and the northernmost tip of the Island’s wine growing
region.
