Hornby Island: Carbera Vineyard & Winery

When one thinks of the Gulf Island of British Columbia, one might not think of them to produce wine. It was only recently did I discovery that in fact Hornby Island does have a vineyard and winery located on it, in fact there is two of them. Robyn has been wanting to check out one of the vineyards on Hornby Island ever since she took a wine tour of the Okanagan with the girls earlier this year. So we did just that, we popped over to the Carbera Vineyard and Winery while we were on Hornby Island.

Carbera Vineyard and Winery is located [Google Map] along the main road that wraps around Hornby Island. Chances are you will most likely drive past it on your way from or to the ferry terminal.

Situated on 4 acres of south facing land they produce 4 types of grapes; Agria, Gewüztramier, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Rubus Procerus (Himalayan Blackberry). A neat feature of this particular vineyard is that they have built an irrigation pond that they use to help irrigate their grapes during the short water supply during the summer.

Robyn was telling me that it can take up to 6 years before the grapes are able to be harvested for the first time. One needs to be extremely patient it seems when growing grapes for wine. To be able to stick it out for that sort of time period definitely shows enthusiasm to ones dream.

The main reason for visiting Carbera Vineyard and Winery was for Robyn to do a wine tasting. I for one have never liked nor acquired a taste for wine (yet), so I went a bit skeptically of the whole process. In fact I thought it was going to be a long process.

When we entered the small retail portion of the winery we were greeted by a friendly person (unfortunately at this time her name escapes me) and she told us that the wine tasting was free. According to Robyn other wine tastings she has been on, they have been about $5 per person. Free is always good, right?

We started the taste test with their Chardonnay. The order in which we tasted the wines is shown in the above photo. It seems though I left out their Himalayan Blackberry dessert wine, which was more like a Port. Though according to the lady they cannot call it a Port since Hornby Island isn’t in Portugal. The things I learn! I also learned that Ice Wine needs to be able to have frozen berries or something, so since Hornby Island rarely ever sees temperatures below the freezing level, they are unable to produce an Ice Wine.

After trying out all of their wines, Robyn and I decided we liked their Gewürztraminer the best and purchase a bottle to consumer later in the future. Yes, that is me trying out some of the wine, again it was my first experience wine tasting, perhaps I’ll do it again. The wine testing didn’t last as long as I thought it might and the lady was extremely helpeful and knowledgable about not only the wines they sold and produced but also answered any questions we asked.

Now it seems with some wine tours you do get a chance to check out the wine making processes. Since we were only there to do a tasting we didn’t get to see the Italian stainless steel fermentation tanks or their wall of French Oak Barrels and other equipment used in their micro-winery. Perhaps next time we’re on Hornby Island we might look into doing a little tour of how they make their wine. I’ve always thought the process was pretty cool and interesting.

Did I mention that they also have a licensed area outside where you can enjoy not only a great glass of wine, but also their beautiful garden and sunshine? There were a few people doing that as we walked around the vineyard. It definitely looked relaxing.

I do recommend checking out the Carbera Vineyard and Winery if you’re ever on Hornby Island. I am sure we will go back again and again.

If you would like more information on the Carbera Vineyard and Winery check our their website or even their Facebook page.