The Vineyard

We spent about 8 months designing, and simultaneously preparing the land for, our vineyard. Our first vines, Leon Millot, went into the ground in May ‘07, and the last vines, Cabernet-Foch, were planted in mid-July of 2007.

The vast majority of our grapes were chosen for our cooler climate and condensed growing season, and are proven winners on Vancouver Island and the Pacific Northwest. These include Marechal Foch, Leon Millot, Cabernet-Foch X, Ortega (Riesling X), and Siegerrebe (Gewürztraminer X). We’ve also planted several hundred vines of Pinot Gris, which should ripen, but may be a push for our growing season. We've already pulled out our first vines: 250 Merlot -- which grew very nicely, but will not likely ripen without a lot of extra energy. In early July, we replaced the Merlot with Schönburger, which will very likely ripen here -- and produce a beautiful, sweet, winegrape. 

At the end of our first leaf, in Fall 2007, we were very pleased with the growth of our newly planted vines. In their first two years, we will be focussing on developing the vines’ root systems. We are not likely to take any crop in year two (2008), and will defer any picking until the vines' third leaf (2009) -- at which time we will likely only get about 1/4 of max. production. We expect to crop at between 2 and 2 1/2 tons/acre at full production, which should be in the vines' 5th year (2011). 

If you would like to view a presentation Jeff gave to the Wine Island Growers Association in March 2008, click here.  This presentation includes details of our site selection, varietal selection, vineyard layout and installation, costs, lessons learned and a great list of references.

Geologic History of the Comox Valley and Beaufort Vineyard

80 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the east central coast of Vancouver Island was submerged beneath a warm shallow sea. Since that time tectonic forces have uplifted the area to expose an ancient sea floor. As we understand it, Grantham Ridge, where our vineyard is located used to be part of an island in this shallow sea. The vineyard certainly has enough sand and gravel to make you think you are on an old beach! Lucky for us, grapes love sand and gravel.

For more information on the geologic history of our region, please click here. 


 Dawn in the beaufort vineyard.

 

 

 A beautiful Beaufort Mountain view!

 

 

First Harvest 2009

 

Production & Growing Guidelines

Our key grape production and growing guidelines can be summarized as follows:
- Grow the best grapes we can, to make the best wine possible.
- Minimize inputs into the vineyard i.e. reduce/minimize sprays of all kinds, fuel, etc… (click here to see all of our Environmental and Sustainable Practices)
- Customize vine management to the particular varietal, and/or location within the vineyard.
- Hand prune, and hand harvest.

If you would like to visit us and have a tour of the vineyard and winery, click here for more information.

For our location and hours of operation click here.

 

Pruning in January 2010

 Young vines in early summer 2009.

 

 

Beaufort vineyard with barrel room in the distance.