Gewurz Across the Strait

Last Fall, I was saying how little I see or hear of Vancouver Island wineries. I know they're out there and I've even tried a few of them, but not nearly to the extent that I know and enjoy wines from the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys. Lately, however, I seem to be continually running across Averill Creek - one of the newer wineries in Vancouver Island's Cowichan Valley.I saw that the BC Wine Appreciation Society recently held an Averill Creek tasting. We weren't able to make it that evening though.

I then ran across them at the Playhouse Wine Festival last weekend as they were one of only fifteen BC wineries that were invited to participate this year. I just saw an article about them in the local EAT magazine. And, finally, to top it off, we were just given this bottle.

Someone must be trying to tell me something. Best get this bottle added to The List, I figure.

432. 2009 Averill Creek Gewurztraminer (Vancouver Island)

It's interesting that we're trying a Gewurz since almost every reference to them that I see involves a story about how owner, Andy Johnston, started the winery to try and achieve his dream "to make the quintessential Canadian Pinot Noir" - to the extent that he chose the Cowichan Valley and Vancouver Island location because he thought the climate as better suited to growing the "heartbreak grape" than the hotter Okanagan would be. Part of his reasoning was that Cowichan is found at the same latitude as Dijon and the Burgundy region in France - home to arguably the world's greatest Pinot Noirs.

But all the Pinot talk will have to be a story for another occasion.

Like all of Averill Creek's wines, all the grapes for the Gewurztraminer were estate grown - which is good news for Vancouver Island (where a number of wineries will "import" grapes from the Okanagan). I'm not generally the first to reach for this varietal but I thought this bottle was fine - neither overly floral, nor off-dry.

This may be my first entry involving Averill Creek, but I dare say it won't be my last.