Winemaking began on Vancouver Island as early as the 1920s, with fruit wine made from local berries—a traditional that endures today, with not only fruit wine but honey wine (mead) and still and sparkling wine from grapes made here. It was a provincial government research project in the 1980s, tasked with identifying grape varietals that could thrive in the maritime climate (such as many hardy hybrid grapes), that really fuelled the modern wine industry. Today the Island boasts around 30 wineries, from the Comox Valley on the northeast coast down to Sooke, near the southern tip.
Winemaking began on Vancouver Island as early as the 1920s, with fruit wine made from local berries—a traditional that endures today, with not only fruit wine but honey wine (mead) and still and sparkling wine from grapes made here. It was a provincial government research project in the 1980s, tasked with identifying grape varietals that could thrive in the maritime climate (such as many hardy hybrid grapes), that really fuelled the modern wine industry. Today the Island boasts around 30 wineries, from the Comox Valley on the northeast coast down to Sooke, near the southern tip.Â
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