New “Best of Cowichan” Category

We all have our favourite Cowichan restaurant or eatery. Our favourite wines, ciders, spirits and craft beer. Even our favourite places to shop. Arguably, there is a best version of each we like to honour with the title and they are 100% welldeserved. Cowichan offers a robust selection of awardwinning craft beverages, farm-to-table experiences, outdoor adventures and artisan treasures that form an incredible experience. How could you pick just one?

But something is missing. Let’s propose a new category: Best Spirit or Best Resilience. Or maybe, Best Determination. Best Fortitude. Best Grit. Whatever we call it, there is a clear winner: the staff and volunteers at our Cowichan businesses and organizations. In a word; people.

It’s not just the people we can see that make our favourites what they are. It’s the collective community pulling its weight (and then some) to create an entire region that supports our favourites. We know our dishwashers, cooks and servers are working crazy hours to keep restaurants open, and we are grateful to them. Some of them took on tasks they never dreamed of when they started. Our retail staff, grocery store workers, bank tellers -- all types of jobs and people make this community successful whether there is a global pandemic or not.

There’s also a network of community-minded people who you might never see, but deserve recognition for their contributions to our best experiences. Like the dedicated people who maintain and repair our trail systems, who volunteer with our business improvement associations, who care for and maintain our natural spaces such as estuaries and marshes, and our farmers and agricultural producers. This is hard work, often thankless, but we would notice their absence should they disappear.

Cowichan wineries are just one part of the community known for incredible staff who provide exceptional wine-tasting experiences for locals and visitors. You can rely on their knowledge, commitment to customer service and their flair for connecting with others each time you visit. When you’re at the Cowichan Valley Wine Festival’s Launch Party on August 4 – “The Best Party of the Summer” -- take a moment to reflect on all the people who made the party a success. From the vineyard staff picking grapes, to the bus boy clearing away plates and glasses, people have made the difference in making a good experience your new favourite.