Island's wineries toasting success

By Patrick Blennerhassett
Victoria News

A threesome of like-minded Vancouver Island groups have banded together to launch the Wine Islands Projects, a joint effort to boost the agritourism industry.

The Wine Islands Vintners Association, B.C. Agritourism Alliance and Cowichan Region Economic Development are looking to boost culinary and agritourism and local wineries with an ambitious new campaign launched Tuesday at the Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub in Victoria West.

The initiative consists of a tour guide offered free to travellers, a website with additional content and a series of downloadable touring maps of agritourism destinations on Vancouver Island. Representatives for the region will also travel within the province, Alberta and Washington State to further educate key stakeholders about the influx of culinary and agritourism destinations on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.

Dave Godfrey, president of the Wine Islands Vintners Association, said the initiative is just the first step down a long road of boosting interest in their respective industries.

"We're already planning next year which will be bigger and better," Godfrey said. "This year was quite tough because it's a new product; so getting people to cop up for a new product can be asking a lot."

By bringing more attention to a booming local wine industry, Godfrey hopes to capitalize on reported 30 to 50 per cent jumps in sales at wineries on Vancouver Island. The initiative also aims to pull out some figures concerning how much total revenue the agritourism industry creates in B.C., as the last study was done a decade ago and is considered out of date....for more of the story