Vancouver Island’s newest winery, Beaufort opened this spring on a farm just north of Courtenay in the Comox Valley. This is a second career for the owners and co-winemakers, Susan and Jeff Vandermolen. She is a chemical engineer, he is a business graduate, and both spent years working in the oil industry in Canada and abroad before trading in the fast lane for a seven-acre vineyard.

Because the vines will not be producing a great deal of fruit until next year, they made their 2007 vintage with grapes purchased from elsewhere in Vancouver Island and the Okanagan. This Pinot Gris is a blend of fruit from both regions. The wine is refreshingly fruity, with flavours of pear, apple and pineapple. 87

It has been selling so quickly in the Beaufort tasting room that half is already gone. That could have something to do with the fact that Beaufort won silver for this wine at the 2008 Northwest Wine Summit.

There is an image of an Easter Island moai on the label because the Vandermolens, who once travelled to Easter Island, had their own moai carved from a huge tree trunk. It now serves as their vineyard guardian.