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Barb Rees
Looking over Fort Berens vineyard
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Barb Rees
Hillsides along Fraser River
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Barb Rees
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Barb Rees
Wine tasting with Rolf
Story & photos by Barb Rees
A Savoury End to Summer - Annual Lillooet Harvest Festival, Sept. 10, noon-6pm
Farm to table food, award winning wine, cider, beer, crafts and music make up the Annual Lillooet Harvest Festival. We came to the festival as vendors. Just north of Lillooet on Hwy 99 we took a winding road down to Fraser Cove Campground where 20 full hook-up sites have spectacular riverfront views. Jagged mountains of rock punctuate the shore along the fast moving muddy river. On the sandy beach our dogs ran in wild abandonment.
In the distance an old suspension bridge is part of a trail into Lillooet. There are 11 trails in and around town. A group of volunteers created the Jade Walk with over 30 pieces of jade displayed in various locations.
Fort Berens Estate Winery was our destination. This isn’t the Okanagan where you’ll find hundreds of wineries, but this estate winery has a west-facing hillside of soil left over from the ice age, and warm dry temperatures much like the Okanagan.
It all started in 2009 when Rolf De Bruin, his wife and young family arrived from Holland. They were joined by other visionaries to build a 900 sq m (9,500 sq ft) winery and named it Fort Berens after the Hudson’s Bay post that was never completed. In order to reduce energy costs, 75% of the building is sunk into the ground. Jump forward to 2015 and there are 8 ha (20 ac) planted. British Columbia wines have come a long way since 1990 when there were only 17 wineries. Now there are 322 including fruit wineries. Fort Berens is one of the 43 wineries that have a restaurant. Enjoy gourmet locally sourced food on their patio overlooking fields of vines and the valley from the end of May to Oct 10.
The pioneers of old came for gold but the founders of Fort Berens found gold in the grapes. They’ve won many medals in international wine competitions. Using 100% estate grown grapes they produced a 2012 Riesling that won the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in BC wines. Their Chardonnay is quite enjoyable without the oak taste. “23 Camels” is our favorite crisp white wine. The name comes from John Callbreath, who in 1862 figured he’d get rich by importing 23 camels to use as pack animals for the gold rush. That met a disastrous demise because mules or horses don’t get along with camels resulting in stampedes and death. Rolf and Heleen, modern day pioneers named the wine after the camels.
What a celebration for the end of summer. Fort Berens is on St’At’Imc territory (pronounced Stat-lee-um), so it’s fitting the festival opened with a prayer and speech by one of their members. He acknowledged the importance of the land, the harvest, for his people and those at the winery. Accompanied by a drum he sang a prayer of thanksgiving.
That set the tone for six hours of music, delicious aromas filling the air, wine tasting and the laughter of crowds of happy visitors. Inside the tasting room people lined up to taste the wines served by volunteers in orange t-shirts. Rolf, also in orange, helped out where needed. Below the ‘adults only’ area, was a playground and petting zoo to keep the kids amused.
Spray Creek Ranch brought pasture raised chicken. I had their chicken cooked up by Chef David Toombs with Terra Restaurant in Kamloops. They serve local food with the idea to, “Keep it simple and let the ingredients shine through.” He’s not a fan of adding fancy sauces and spices that disguise the real flavors.
Unique beverages were on the menu as well, as Kate and her sister Theresa run Left Field Cider on their parent’s ranch. Using only BC apples they make six varieties of crisp cider. Dogwood Brewery uses organic hops for their beer. Clair Wilson worked as a brewer for 14 years before starting Dogwood Brewery. Pemberton Distillery offered vodka, gin, apple brandy and more. Darryl from Xwisten Tours demonstrated how to sharpen a filleting knife with a chain saw, then how to fillet and lay out the salmon to dry.
Fort Berens and the Harvest Festival provide a delicious way to celebrate the end of summer.
Barb Rees is a speaker, customer service trainer, and author of five RV Canada books from the working holidays her and husband Dave have made from coast to coast to coast of Canada. She presents at the RV Lifestyle Seminars in Kelowna annually. Her books can be found at: www.write2dream.com