Alderlea Vineyard – a BC winery made with passion

We headed up to Cowichan Valley recently, and stopped in at Alderlea Vineyard. It is located along the Vancouver Island Wine Route, a short drive from Victoria, British Columbia. Wine tasting and visits to their cellar shop are by appointment only. 

The owners dedicate their time to your visit and in sharing all their wonderful knowledge of the vineyard, region, and the wine-making process.  Nestled in the Cowichan Valley, it is near Duncan on Vancouver Island. The estate-grown grapes produce a mix of dry white wines including Bacchus, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. Red wines comprise Pinot Noir, Clarinet made from old vine Marechal Foch, Merlot, and a Cabernet Foch blend known as Matrix. This post shares our wine tasting experience at Alderlea Vineyards.

Background of Alderlea Vineyard

From their own website: “Zac and Julie took over Alderlea Vineyard in April 2017 from Roger and Nancy Dosman whose strong vision for an island vineyard and skilled winemaking made Alderlea one of the pioneers in Vancouver Island winegrowing.”  

During our visit with Julie, it was clear that this vineyard is their passion project!  They love the land, the production process, and the resulting wine reflects this.  

Zac Brown learned wine making in the Czech Republic.  He strengthened his skills in Australia.  Years later when he and Julie moved to Montreal, they made wine in a garage.  Eventually, they found their vineyard in Alderlea.  

Location

Well positioned within the Cowichan Valley the vineyard has rows and rows of vines as you drive up to the gate entry, and the tasting room itself is tucked away down the road from the gate.  

Region

Situated in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, this region experiences a unique, cool-climate, Mediterranean-like wine-growing.

Warm, dry summers and mild, moist winters are typical, creating ideal conditions for cool-climate grape varieties. The valley’s location, nestled between the ocean and rolling hills, contributes to its moderate climate, unlike the more continental conditions of the BC interior. 

The nearby ocean moderates the temperatures.  This prevents extreme highs and lows and affords the region a unique microclimate. There are diverse soil types throughout the region.  Gravel, sandy loam, clay and volcanic soils all contribute to significant minerality in the wines.

Grape Varietals

Typical grape varietals in Cowichan Valley include Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Ortega and Pinot Noir. You will also see Pinot Blanc, Siegerebe, Sauvignon Blanc, Marechal Foch, Castel, and Zweigelt. Sparkling wines are also prevalent, made from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier.

Alderlea Vineyard Wine Tasting

When we reached out to Julie to schedule our wine tasting we were advised to put aside 1 hour for the tasting itself.  We were curious just how much we were going to be tasting given this amount of time.  It was well worth it!  The hour was filled end to end with the tasting of seven different wines, with the background on their vine growth, wine making and production.

Wine Tasting #1: Cry With The Saints – Alderlea Vineyard

This was a white wine that was made for the Guilt & Co nightclub in Gastown, Vancouver, BC, Canada.  It was a direct sale to the nightclub under a private label.

This blend had fresh, fruity lemon and orange aromas.  On the palate, it was lively with citrus and pear flavours, balanced acidity and dry.  The grapes – Pinot Blanc (95%) and Siegerrebe (5%) came from a neighbouring vineyard, Cherry Point Estate Wines.  This was a lively wine to with which to start our tasting.

Wine Tasting #2: Valerie

This white wine was a blend of 80% Cowichan Valley Ortega and 20% Alderlea Viognier.  The aromas were of violet, lemon and lime.  On the palate, more citrus and some lovely complexity with added notes of apricots and pear.  Inspired by Julie’s late mother Valerie, it was a fitting tribute – a lovely, dry, balanced acidity wine.  Very good quality.

Wine Tasting #3: Pinot Gris

This is a fuller bodied and complex Pinot Gris.  It has received up to 26 hours on skin imparting a lovely rosy hue to this white wine.  Aromas of fresh red berries and apricot.  On the palate it was dry, with peach and apricot flavours. It had some added complexity with a full mouthfeel, likely from time on the lees.  This is a great sipper, an outstanding Pinot Gris. 

Wine Tasting #4: Rose

This is a rose from 100% Cowichan Valley Pinot Noir.  Aromas of red berries including tart and crisp cranberries and raspberries.  On the palate the berries were more pronounced. It was dry with well balanced acidity.  Full-bodied and tasty! An outstanding rose, and in our experience, atypical for the island – a great discovery for us!

Wine Tasting #5: Pinot Noir 2022 Reserve – Alderlea Vineyard

A gold medal winner, this wine is very good.  Pronounced aromas of raspberries, red plum, toast, and cedar.  On the palate, these fruit notes are repeated. It was lovely, rich and robust. The fruitiness was pronounced. It was dry with medium tannins, and balanced acidity.  This wine was wonderful to sip and we look forward to opening our bottle soon!

Wine Tasting #6: Matrix 2022

Made from a blend of fully ripened red varietals, this is a stellar example of what we can produce here on Vancouver Island (honestly those were notes I made during the tasting!).  Aromas of liquorice, cassis, smoke and a touch of coffee.  These notes are repeated on the palate.  Great for pairing with food.  It is still early in its cycle and will improve with some age.  Dry, balanced acidity and some smooth tannins.

Wine Tasting #7: Contraband 

This is a full bodied red blend that builds on the notes found in Matrix.  It was rich, complex and with still pronounced cassis and liquorice notes along with smoke and cedar.  Outstanding. Loved this one.

Summary of Wine Tasting at Alderlea Vineyard

Overall, we enjoyed a very good wine tasting experience at Alderlea.  Julie and Zac know what they are doing. Julie is a font of information and was generous in their background and experiences in becoming vineyard owners. It was a treat to finally try a number of their wines and to understand the passion that goes into this undertaking for them. It was a wonderful eye opener for us of how good some of our island wines can be!

For more wine tasting notes, click here!