VALLEY VINTAGES

What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful autumn Sunday! Eighteen of us headed up-island to the Cowichan Valley Wine Festival, with Jim behind the wheel of a rented yellow bus to keep us on the straight and narrow. Ann was the instigator of the day's excursion, and a motley crew of friends from her various spheres of influence (work, neighbours, dog friends and dragon boaters--and then THEIR friends) all came together to taste our way around the hillsides of the Cowichan Valley.

It was very impressive to find such a variety of different vineyards tucked away on the sunny slopes of the valley. We started with the farthest north vineyard on the tour map, Averill Creek. Very impressive set-up, lovely setting, great wines, generous tastings. Five samples for five bucks. Well worth it. The first of many bottles of wine got tucked into the back of the bus. Next, on to Godfrey Brownell Winery, a little farther south. This one was a little more tucked away, and its access road and parking area were a bit of a challenge for our yellow bus. Another round of excellent tastings (seemingly unlimited, for a token $2); more bottles into the back of the bus. Some nice tapas-type dishes as well, for those who were feeling a bit peckish. Chris and I each had a Cowichan Valley version of ceviche -- good-sized servings for $4.

We also all raided our food cache in the back of the bus—everything from bread and cheese to 8-layer dip to cookies, veggies and fruit.

From there, we backtracked slightly to the Zanetta Winery. These folks mainly specialized in the bubbly stuff. Very nice champagne-type wines. They were fairly stingy on the tastings, however, with barely enough in your glass to fill a thimble. Unless you coughed up the $7 for a "flight" tasting of four of their wines, complete with, I understand, a fairly comprehensive monologue from the server about each of those wines. So perhaps worth it. I didn't opt for that (although several of our gang did), but instead wandered around the site a bit, enjoying the scenery and taking a few pictures.

Back on the bus, and a scenic journey along some of the Cowichan Valley's backroads until we hit the Island Highway again, and zipped across to the other side and headed towards the Cherry Point Winery. On the way, we passed Hilary's Cheese Company, where a very energetic fellow was waving signs and doing his level best to entice us in. We just grinned as we sailed past, saying "we'll be back" (and we were, once we finished up at Cherry Point). At Cherry Point, it was a much more comprehensive set-up than at any of the other wineries we visited. There was a whole field of artisans, some live music on a stage, and several different tasting stations . There was also lots of easy parking (which made life easier for Jim, who had had some challenges in this regard over the course of the day). We tumbled out of the bus, and headed for the tasting stations, like dogs following a scent. There we were met by jovial pourers doing the honours—a welcome change from what one of our group described as the "wine nazi" at the previous winery, who appeared to have no sense of humour whatsoever, and zilch flexibility if you happened to ask for one of the tastings out-of-pouring-order).

Backtracking again, to Hilary's Cheese Company, at which we arrived just as they were closing the gate for the day. They let us in anyway. The guy at the gate pumped his fist in the air when we arrived—as in "YES! They've returned!" We complimented him on his energetic advertising and reception as we deeked around the gate and headed up towards whatever goodies lay in store. Surprisingly enough, there wasn't a lot of ... cheese. Must have run out of anything other than feta cheese by the time we arrived. But there were lots of other artisan-type culinary concoctions which drew our attention (and money from our wallets). Of particular attractant power was the chocolate wine sauce which—once sampled—proved irresistible to us.

And that was the end of our day of wine touring. Everyone back in the bus, over the Malahat and back to the Tillicum parking lot from whence we had departed in the morning. Everybody cheerfully disembarked, sorted out whose wine was whose from the boxes in the back, and piled back into their respective conveyances for the trip home. Many thanks to Ann for organizing the excursion, to Jim for making it possible for us all to indulge without endangering anyone on Vancouver Island's roads, and to the whole gang for a very splendid day and good company.

More pix at my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26205675@N07/