Cowichan Valley winemaker spills on how a blend can be a work of art
Bailey Williamson made the Blue Grouse Quill Q White 2019 to tell a story of Vancouver Island
“Winemaking requires all the senses from the vineyard to the winery,” says Blue Grouse Estate Winery and Vineyard winemaker Bailey Williamson. Photo by Jacqueline Downey Photography
BLUE GROUSE ESTATE Winery and Vineyard overlooks pastoral slopes near Duncan in the Cowichan Valley, which takes its name from the Coast Salish term Quw'utsun', meaning “land warmed by the sun”.
The B.C. government recently designated the region “a new sub-geographical indication” of the province’s wine industry. “Sub-GI” is an official term protected by provincial law that’s intended to help consumers identify B.C.’s wine origins. (B.C. has nine geographical indications, including the Okanagan Valley, and five sub-geographical indications, such as Naramata Bench. The Cowichan Valley is the first sub-GI outside of the Okanagan.)
October is harvest season, and winemaker Bailey Williamson is marking his ninth at Blue Grouse. The recently released Quill Q White 2019 consists of 35 percent Schönburger grapes, 26 percent Pinot Gris, 22 percent Gewürztraminer, and 17 percent Siegerrebe.
The Schönburger variety makes for the wine’s special sauce. It comes from a small producer in the Comox Valley whose vineyard is about 500 feet above the water looking out to the Salish Sea. (Because some of the grapes for the blend come from outside the Cowichan Valley, this wine gets a Vancouver Island indication but not a Sub-GI.)
Photo by Jacqueline Downey Photography
There’s no pretention with this pour, yet at the same time the wine does away with the myth that blends are inferior. It’s also meant to reveal a sense of place, to illustrate this piece of B.C. known for its cool maritime Mediterranean climate with clean air, clay, and gravelly soil.
“I think often what people view a white blend as is whatever was left over, and that is not the case for me,” Williamson says. “It’s an intentional blend to make an aromatic Island wine.
“This wine tells the story of what we’re trying to do in terms of highlighting the Island and the coastal terroir,” he says. “With Vancouver Island wine, you would notice a little more bracing acidity, naturally occurring; you would see the bright flavours but not high alcohol because we don’t get the sugar accumulation. There’s a purity of the fruit.”
With Quill Q White, you might taste a bit of peach or citrus. Serve it with Kusshi oysters or poke. (It goes for $19.99 via the winery. Fan Club members get discounts: $17 for the Grouchiest; $17.60 for Grouchier $17.60; and $18 for Grouchy.)
Blue Grouse is transitioning to organic certification and is enhancing its focus on Pinot Noir and sparkling varieties, including Chardonnay.
During harvest, Williamson checks the weather about 12 times a day. “It’s an exercise in futility,” he says. “We’re looking for openings when we can pick when it’s dry. We try to be predictive of the rain, because rain can turn everything to mold really quickly. The rain we get here is real rain, not what my friends in the Okanagan call rain. At the end of September, we had seven centimetres in three days. It’s not easy. It’s Mother Nature at her best.
“You have to adapt,” he says. “You cannot just say: ‘here’s the game plan’. You need to be able to think on your feet and adapt to changing parameters. That’s what I love the most—the dynamism.”
While winemaking is highly technical and subject to unpredictable forces, it’s also an outlet for creativity.
“Wine-making requires all the senses from the vineyard to the winery,” Williamson says. “It’s like music: one can play the notes, but without feeling the music, it is flat. Winemaking is the perfect confluence of both science and art: you have to trust your gut. When you break the rules, be clear about why and how you do it. I wish I had more lifetimes to explore this vast realm.”
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