Cowichan Valley Wine Festival

The Cowichan Valley Wine Festival turns the whole of August into a self-guided tour of one of Canada's most distinctive wine regions. Rather than a single ticketed day, the festival runs all month and invites you to explore twelve local wineries at your own pace — pick up a festival map and tasting glass, then plan a route across the valley for a single afternoon or spread your visits over several weekends. Each estate offers its own tastings, its own character, and wines that reflect the Cowichan Valley's unusual, almost Mediterranean climate.

The Cowichan Valley sits between Victoria and Nanaimo and has quietly become one of the Pacific Northwest's premier wine and cider destinations. Warm summers, cool nights and varied soils suit a wide range of grape varietals, and the result is a scene of small, hands-on producers where you often meet the winemaker pouring your glass. Because the festival is spread across the region, it doubles as a tour of the valley itself — farm gates, cideries, farm-to-table restaurants and the rolling countryside around Duncan, Cobble Hill and Cowichan Bay. It is an ideal, unhurried way to spend a summer day on Vancouver Island: sample local vintages, pick up a case or two, and linger over lunch with a view of the vines. Tickets include the map and tasting glass; check the Cowichan Wineries Society for the participating list and to plan your route before you set out.