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Posts Tagged ‘Syrah’

Before we took a brief break for our holiday in the Mediterranean, I was invited by Jelly Marketing to experience the Langley Passport Wine Route. It is a new program that encourages visitors to check out the seven wineries in Langley. Yes, there are indeed 7 wineries in Langley. I knew about 5 of them prior to this tour — in fact, I visited 3 of them just three years ago — so some were new to me and I was quite excited about visiting them. Especially after our wine getaway in Oliver this summer (see Part 1 and Part 2 here), I was keen to find out what’s available much closer to home.

Beginning of the Langley Passport tour

Beginning of the Langley Passport tour

The premise of the program is quite straightforward. You pick up a copy of the passport at any of the participating wineries or partner hotels in Langley, then you take your time to visit each winery, get a stamp after each visit, and then you will be entered into a draw for some great prizes. Don’t worry, you don’t have to visit them all on the same day, because that would be quite irresponsible to ask you to drink that much in one day. Well, we did on the tour, but we had the luxury of travelling on a coach bus.

First stop, Township 7. Manager Jason gave us a background on Township and explained each wine in detail. We tried 2 whites and 4 reds, including a barrel sample of the Black Dog, which is a wine club exclusive with limited availability (only 118 cases).

Wine tasting at Township 7

Wine tasting at Township 7

We also took a sneak peek at the new wine tasting room and new wine labels. (more…)

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This is Part 2 of our winery visit in Oliver. Click here to read about our experience at Le Vieux Pin and Stoneboat.

Driving by more rows of vines, we had arrived at our next stop.

Endless rows of vines along Black Sage Road

Endless rows of vines along Black Sage Road

Church & State Wines

We pulled into the driveway of Church & State Wines, a bigger winery with two locations, one in Oliver and another in Victoria. It charges $8 for 4 wine samples, and waived when purchasing two bottles of wine.

Church & State Wines

Church & State Wines

While their wines were quite good, the best part of our visit at Church & State was its outdoor wine bar. Its view was gorgeous!!! Situated on a small hill, you are looking over vineyards and mountains and open fields. It took my breath away! (more…)

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Many people go camping on the Labour Day long weekend, taking advantage of the last few days of summer. We were no exceptions. This past Labour Day weekend, Mr. and I, along with CC and DF, went camping in Oliver. You know what Oliver is known as? The Wine Capital of Canada! Obviously we didn’t waste our 4.5 hour drive to Oliver – we spent quite some time at local wineries, and here are some highlights.

Welcome to the Wine Capital of Canada

Welcome to the Wine Capital of Canada

About The Black Sage Bench

The Oliver/Osoyoo area has two premium growing areas, known as the Golden Mile (along Highway 97) and Black Sage Bench. As suggested by its name, the Black Sage Bench covers the dozen or so wineries along Black Sage Road.  Just about every square inch is filled with grape vines.

Rows and rows of vines

Rows and rows of vines

With the short stay it’s impossible to swing by every winery on the Black Sage Bench. We picked out ones that we know of, or simply made an impulse turn-off based on how the winery looks. (more…)

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