If you haven't already heard it through the grapevine, Blue Grouse are winners in wine making. 

Blue Grouse was voted the best winery by community members in last year's Best of Cowichan Valley. Staff were humbled by this recognition and are excited to get the new year started on a positive wine note.

"We are just really excited about what's happening in the valley in general," said Tasting Room manager Pamela Sanderson. "We are really big advocates of bringing the whole wine industry in the valley forward, not just this winery. Everybody does so well, and it's important that everyone be recognized. That raises the whole profile of the region, and that is a big focus for us."

Blue Grouse has quite the storied, and intoxicating history. 

The region of Vancouver Island saw its first commercial wineries near Victoria in the 1920s at a time when loganberries were the main ingredient. Fast forward to the early 1980s when 'The Duncan Project' came to life on the Zanatta Farm in the Cowichan Valley.

It was during this time that the BC Land Commission provided funding for a total of seven years for the testing of wine grapes where more than 100 varieties were trialed before the B.C. government withdrew funding. After a few failed attempts to raise money for an estate winery in the Cowichan Valley, and the intent to use federal funding from a Scientific Research Tax Credit program never saw maturation, it was well-known and respected viticulturist John Harper who began planting more than 100 varieties of test vines on what is now the Blue Grouse property between 1986 and 1988.

The property's grape adventure came at the end of the decade when trained scientist Dr. Hans Kiltz, and his wife Evangeline purchased Westwood’s test farm. He was inspired by a bird that lived in the region and the project Blue Grouse Vineyard then took flight.

"There is a curve to our main winery building and tasting room which the architect used the back of a blue grouse for its inspiration," said Tasting Room manager Pamela Sanderson. "There are also the blue hues, and the mural on the front of the building which was inspired by the torso of the blue grouse, so there are lots of blue grouse inspirations that came into the building." 

The main building where both the magic of production and tasting happen began construction in 2013 and was open to the public in 2015. This was under the leadership of the second owners of the winery, the Brunners, who purchased it from the Kiltzs in 2012, but let's not the pop the cork on the original proprietors who started it all just yet.

Dr. Kiltz made a varietal selection based on what he thought would ripen in the Cowichan Valley and in 1989, the first grapes were harvested and sold to home winemakers. He was also responsible for importing some of the last Pinot Noir vines from France and Germany, before the Canadian government put plant importation restrictions in place. In 1992, Blue Grouse vineyard received the second ever licence to be issued on Vancouver Island which allowed them to operate a winery, retail store and sell its wines and by the following year.

They opened a retail shop and tasting room in the basement of their house on the estate, and by the start of the millennium in 2000 the Kiltz family built a new winery on the property. Twelve years later the Brunner family fell in love with the Cowichan Valley and bought Blue Grouse Estate after Kilts decided to retire, revitalizing the brand the following year in 2013.

"Each era has its value," said Sanderson. "The Kiltzes established Blue Grouse, but it was a small vineyard, a small footprint and a family operation. I feel that the Brunners really represented growth and expansion and were able to acquire 25 acres from the property next door. It was like the next evolution. The Kiltzes built this strong core which meant the Brunners could expand. They were responsible for the building of the winery and tasting room, and acquired adjacent properties, bringing what started off as a just under 10 acre vineyard, up to nearly 70 acres."

Paul and Christina Brunner also sparked the idea of making sparking wine. Its first brand, the 2012 Paula Sparkling, was named in honour of their daughter Paula when she was 20. 

"When the Brunners took over Paul brought in the winemaker Bailey Williamson who had a reputation for making sparkling wine, and geographically and climatically this region is ideal for making sparkling wine," said Sanderson. So the combination of the region and a skilled winemaker is how we ended up with this product."

Blue Grouse has been making these products every year since in a traditional method which means it is produced in the same way that one would make champagne, which suggests a high quality.

"We have had tons of accolades, awards, and reviews on our sparkling wine that would support that," said Sanderson. "Just this year we released another sparkling wine in the same production method they would use to make a prosecco wine called Charmant. 

"Someone in this region came up with the term Charme De L'ile which translates to Charmant of the islands," said Sanderson. "It only has significance to those who live on the island. This year we just launched a white and a rosé Charme De L'ile which is very exciting for us, and received a shoutout on our white sparking wine in the 'Globe and Mail' who were highlighting some of the best sparkling wines for the holiday season."

The Brunners planted the property's fist vineyard in 20 years in 2017, and turned their focus to making Pinot Noir, and Pinot Gris. It was three years later that Sanderson, who grew up in Comox Valley and spent several years in Victoria, moved to the Cowichan Valley in 2020 to take on the role of tasting room manager.

"We have the nicest clientele," said Sanderson. "Our guests are probably the best part of what we do. We have a fabulous setting, a beautiful site and building, and in general people are always quite happy when they come here. From a hospitality perspective this is probably some of the nicest clientele I ever worked with."

The year after Sanderson came on board, the Brunners planted another 20 acres and expanded their focus to Chardonnays, Gamay Noir, and Pinot Meunier, but all grape things must be passed on before passing the torch to second and third generation members of the Jackson family who are famous for their Kendall-Jackson wine in the U.S. and based out of Sonoma, California.

According to Sanderson, the wine industrialist family have over 40 wineries across the world. The only two they have in Canada are both located in the Cowichan Valley. The Jacksons had owned South Cowichan's Unsworth Winery for five years before spreading their wings to Blue Grouse, and it was repeated visits to the region that allowed them to seize the opportunity when the Brunners were ready to pass the bottle. Sanderson said it was during that time that they would always put their best foot forward when hosting the family for tours and tastings during their vineyard visits, then a few years later they became the head of the Blue Grouse family.

"The Jacksons are a large family with three generations involved in the wine industry," said Sanderson. "It really spoke a lot to their optimism and enthusiasm about this region for its future because from a wine perspective they could go anywhere they wanted to in the world and they have chosen two locations in the Cowichan Valley region to develop."

With over 50 years in the wine industry, the Jackson family have the resources to invest, not just financially but also intellectually as they bring the experience to navigate any problem that may arise, which is huge in the wine world, not to mention having the capital to develop more vineyard which means more fruit and increased wine production.

"They have the resources to do that because it takes so much money to acquire land, build infrastructure, and plant grapes," said Sanderson. "Then of course you have to wait three or four years until you see your first crop, then another two years after that until you see your end product from that crop, so you are looking at not seeing a return for nearly a decade, and not too many people can afford to do that. They also have winemakers from all around the world dealing with challenges from climate to marketing and they are able to bring that knowledge here."

When asked what sets Blue Grouse apart from other wineries, Sanderson said simply geography, climate and the maturity of the vineyard. Geographically and climatically the winery has a south facing slope so they tend to see more heat than other wineries which plays a big role in the ripening of fruit.

"I think our site, and the legacy of the Kiltzes sets us apart because the vineyard got started so long ago," said Sanderson. "A lot of the original site is over 30 years old and in the wine world if your vineyard is more mature it is considered to produce a lower yield but a higher quality, so having a mature vineyard is something that is really sought after."

Blue Grouse Estate Winery lives by one simple philosophy — stewardship.

Their aim is to make everything that they touch better than it was when when they found it. This is applied when training their team members on the environment that hosts their vineyard and home as well as the vines they grow and the wines they make. Sanderson said when the Brunners took over they were very forward thinking from a water management perspective. When they began construction on the main building in 2013, it was built with geothermal energy, reducing Blue Grouse's carbon foot print. The infrastructure that supports the winery and vineyard was built with both wood and stone sourced locally.

"I feel that our commitment to stewardship is very important and that our philosophy had a lot to do with the acquisition from the Jackson family," said Sanderson. "When they were coming to visit us, we talked a lot about our stewardship and our philosophy towards agriculture and farming, and the winery just in general which all aligned very much with their own values. If you look at the family on an international level they are leaders from a sustainable agriculture perspective."

For wine world and vineyard newbies who want to gain a little perspective of what the timeline is of the process at Blue Grouse which is currently open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sanderson said that the harvesting of grapes starts at the beginning of September, while the making of wine takes place during the months of November and December. The wine then gets clarified, and filtered in the spring, while whites and rosés might get released early in the spring or late summer; reds are typically released a year behind them.

Blue Grouse which is located at 2182 Lakeside Rd. in South Cowichan is using their down time over the months of January and February to dedicate time to some unique interactive wine tasting opportunities which can be booked through their website at .

"During the off season when things are a little quieter we tend to be able to do things that might be a little more time consuming," said Sanderson. "We are going to offer some wine tastings which are vertical which in the wine world is just a reference to trying different vintages, so we'll do a 2020, a 2021, and a 2022 vintage of our Pinot Noir."

Sanderson said they are strong advocates that people should experience everything that Cowichan has to offer, not just Blue Grouse, whether that's visiting local cheese-makers, breweries, other wineries or other hidden valley treasures. 

"I feel that sometimes the Cowichan is not appreciated for all the richness that it has and if you just drive through it on the highway, you really miss a lot of it," said Sanderson. "We want people to not only fall in love with Blue Grouse and the site and to walk away having a fabulous experience, but to also see all the potential that the entire Cowichan Valley has to offer."