Parksville Uncorked

The first wine tasting for 2017 on Vancouver Island happens Friday, February 24th at the Beach Club Resort in Parksville.

Aptly named “Swirl”, this soiree is part of Parksville Uncorked, a wine, food, spirits, cider and beer festival.

The focus is on BC wines, sampling outstanding libations from BC’s many wine-growing regions.

Oliver, the hottest and driest sub-region of BC, is home to both Tinhorn Creek Vineyards and the Hester Creek Estate Winery. Both producers create some of the BC’s richest red wines. Be sure to stop by their booths.

Slightly north of Oliver, land around Okanagan Falls is suited to cool climate grapes. Wild Goose Vineyards focuses on cool-climate white wine grapes like Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Blanc. All the white wines from Wild Goose are lush and full of fruit flavours. My favorite, the Autumn Gold, is best described as “sunshine in a bottle.”

Vancouver Island has a unique climate, beautifully suited for the Pinot Noir grape.

At Swirl, Cowichan Valley’s Averill Creek Vineyards will be pouring its stellar Pinot Noir. A great deal of care is put into Averill Creek’s Pinot grape growing and wine making.

Often referred to as “the heartbreak grape”, Pinot Noir is delicate, prone to fungus and disease. To counter such disaster, the Averill horticulture team covers its Pinot Noir vines with temporary greenhouses in the spring to accelerategrowth. Harvesting can thus take place before Vancouver Island’s sometimes cool, wet fall encourages fungus growth. The result is some of the island’s best Pinot Noir
The current vintage of Averill Creek’s Pinot Noir is one of the best yet, bursting with aromas of blackberry and cherry complimented by smoky butterscotch. Flavours of black cherry and ripe plum with a bit of spice are delivered on medium body with delicate tannins.
This beauty is great on its own. Paired with salmon, mushrooms or lean lamb it really sings.

To my palate, Vancouver Island’s Pinot Noirs, overall, have more elegance, complexity and subtle finesse than those from other BC region.

Our island’s Pinot Noirs are such that they may soon rival those from Oregon, considered North America’s leading state for Pinot Noir wines.

At Lucky’s Liquor we are proud to sell more Vancouver Island Pinot Noir than from any other BC region.

Swirl will have hundreds of excellent BC wines to try. Get your tickets early. The event always sells out.