Category: Bacchus

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with winemaker Patrick Murphy at 1909 Estate Winery in Langley.  Patrick has been making wines for many years.  You may recognize his name as one of the owners of Vista D’oro Farms & Winery in the Fraser Valley.  He and his wife sold the winery in 2024, and he has been hired by…

Chaberton Estate Winery is the pioneer estate of the Fraser Valley and in BC. They farm 44 acres of estate-grown fruit with other parcels from across the Okanagan Valley. The winery’s history was initially established by the Violets family, whose European lineage includes a Guinness World Record for a one-million-litre oak barrel.   They sold their winery and vineyard in France…

Chaberton Estate Winery is the pioneer winery of the Fraser Valley. It grows 44 acres of estate-grown fruit with other parcels from across the Okanagan Valley. Claude and Inge Violet sold their winery and vineyard in France and moved to the Fraser Valley in the 1970’s.  They experimented with different grape varieties to see which grew well here, selected the…

The wines of BC and the rest of the world, excluding the USA, were the last of the wines I tasted at the International Festival Tasting Room during VanWineFest 2025.     Read through my wine tasting notes below and if you find some wines that spark your interest, check out your local BC Liquor store, some private wine shops,…

The Heart of Wine Country encompasses Okanagan Falls and Skaha Lake.  This area I feel does exceptionally well with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes.  I look forward to tasting wines from these two places in the Okanagan and having a chance at their The Heart of Wine Country Spring Wine Release.  Here are some of the wines I quite enjoyed….

With the hot summer weather, it was time for me to get out and enjoy it with a day trip to Chaberton Estate Winery in Langley where I met with GM Brian Ensor.  He gave me a guided tour, first bringing me out to the vineyards where the first vines I saw were their 40-year-old Bacchus grapes.  It is hard…

The Vancouver International Wine Festival is almost here.  The last time we had the Festival was two years ago and closed during our COVID crisis, but now it is back and runs from May 16-22.  One of the big attractions for us all is the International Festival Tasting room where wineries from around the world will have tables set up…

Backyard Vineyards is a winery that you may not have heard about, but they are located so close by if you live in the Vancouver lower mainland.  Their winery and tasting room is in Langley.  I’ve visited them for many years and I recently touched base with them again to find out what is new at the winery.  They sent…

In my previous article, I divided BC’s emerging wine regions into a warmer and a cooler side.  In this article I would like to concentrate on the cooler side, which for me covers the Salmon Arm and Lake Country areas to the north of the Okanagan Valley.  Lake Country is warmer than Salmon Arm, which is to the north of…

Everyone knows about the Okanagan Valley as a wine region, and some may also know about the Similkameen which is on the southwestern edge of the Okanagan, but what about BC’s emerging wine regions, covering the Kootenays, Lillooet and Thompson Shuswap?  I had a chance to go on a trip hosted by the Wines of BC to visit Lillooet and…