It’s Summer, so Quill Out

Leeann Froese owns Town Hall Brands – a marketing and graphic design agency. townhallbrands.com

At Blue Grouse Estate Winery, the team is thrilled that Summer is upon us, and travel is opening again. We are welcoming new and familiar faces who pop by the winery for a tasting and a chance to relax.

The bright, airy, sustainablyconstructed and COVID-19 friendly tasting room at Blue Grouse opens onto a sundrenched patio. You can learn more about this biodiverse, progressive, eco-conscious winery and more when you reserve your next tasting. On the menu is wine flights, and the uber-popular wine slushys, and charcuterie boards are back by popular demand.

These gentler days of Summer are just begging you to put up your feet and relax, to “Quill out”, one might say… so we suggest you DIY your own wine flights with your friends, and a fun way to do that is to create a sampler of Quill.

The second label of Blue Grouse Estate Winery, Quill wines offer great quality, value, and beautifully balanced flavours. The lineup of Quill wines was developed as an addition to the winery’s portfolio of estate wines. The difference is most of the Quill wines are made from grapes grown by partner growers located in both the Cowichan Valley and the interior of British Columbia.

The Quill wines are bottled in the same ecologically friendly glass as the Blue Grouse estate wines. Due to its weight, and the need for long distance transportation, the glass bottle is a winery’s single biggest greenhouse gas contributor. The Blue Grouse team is addressing this problem by using bottles made from recycled Eco Glass (see ecoglass.org). Eco Glass uses 25% less glass than a typical wine bottle. It weighs less, requiring less fuel to transport it, and produces less carbon dioxide in its manufacture. Blue Grouse sources its bottles in the Pacific North West and sell most of their wines within a 100 kilometer radius of the winery, further reducing that footprint.

So now that you can feel good about the earth friendliness of Quill, you will be impressed by the best part: the flavours. The winery team suggests you create your own flight with these wines to start:

2020 Quill Pinot Gris

This Island grown Pinot Gris features grapes sourced from three separate Cowichan Valley vineyards, that were kept separate until final blending. The finished wine emits a bouquet reminiscent of Dogwood flowers, and on the plate find apple compote, Pomelo and lemon curd. A great match to the region’s shellfish, or enjoy with an endive salad or Manchego cheese.

2020 Quill Rosé

This rosé is made from 100% Gamay Noir grown in the Cowichan Valley This is a wellbalanced wine, with flavours of strawberry, pink grapefruit, and forest floor on both the nose and palate. A lovely sipping wine for a warm summer day. For the adventurous, pair it with cedarplanked salmon, or a watermelon and goat cheese salad.

2019 Quill Syrah

Did you know: Syrah & Shiraz are the same grape? With fruit from the Okanagan Valley this 100% Syrah you can enjoy now or age for an additional 3-5 years. The nose and palate have black cherry, cocoa, pepper, coffee and chocolate, and the wine is bold enough to stand up to beef stew, BBQ, or braised vegetables.

Find us at the Duncan Farmer’s Market on Saturdays!

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