Cowichan Valley, B.C.

A friend and I recently took a drive out to the Cowichan Valley for a wine tasting expedition, à la Sideways. (We managed to refrain from making snotty comments about Pinot or dumping the contents of the spit bucket on our heads after a disappointing call from a book agent.)

Our first stop was the Merridale Estate Cidery, where we wandered through the apple orchard, learned a bit about how they make apples into cider, and lined up for the tasting. (She carded me. But not my (male) friend. Why do servers so often ID only the "ladies" in the group?)





Ok, so that wasn't exactly wine tasting. Blue Grouse had lots of grapes and wine for us to try, though, with a view of the mountains to boot.





My favourite winery was Echo Valley, because the estate was absolutely stunning. Their grapes are very young and not yet ready for wine-making, but they had horses! I bought a bottle of their Nouveau Gamay 2003.





I'm starting to learn about wine, but my tastes aren't yet that discerning. At one of our last stops I bought a bottle of French Oak Chardonnay, even though I don't normally drink white wine, because it had an aftertaste that reminded me of caramel. He said this had something to do with it being oaked in the barrels for two years instead of one.

On the way home we drove through Cowichan Bay, yet another beautiful spot on the island: