Ohhh Canada….

We pulled in to Victoria, British Columbia this morning around 8am to a pleasant 60 degrees. Had an early excursion, leaving at 9:45. We were smart enough to grab some bread from the buffet the night before but we would learn later that we should’ve got a bit more. Disembarking the ship was the quickest of all the ports we’ve visited. Also the smallest ramp at that. Our bus was also the nicest we’ve been on. Leather seats but kinda weak AC. But then again this is Canada, not Texas. 

Downtown Victoria is extremely picturesque. From the Empress, a very grand Victorian (no pun intended) hotel to the parliament building. There was a bronze statue of Queen Victoria just outside but it was halfway covered by a sequoia tree that was evidently a gift from California. Who ever planted it apparently didn’t know how big it would get. 

Our first stop the Enrico winery. The winery was an old sheep farm until they bought it in 1998. Beautiful vineyard, very friendly and informative staff. We tried about 6 wines, their standard tasting flight. One of the white wines aside, very meh. 

Second winery was Cherry Point. An old Colombian couple ran it. The husband looked a little like a mad scientist but he actually taught us a great deal, like how European wineries label their wines based by the land it’s built on while most modern wineries label them by the grape. The wines here were much better, or at the very least they weren’t bad. Unfortunately they don’t ship stateside. 

We kinda learned after we went through 2 tastings, about 3-4 glasses worth of wine, that MAYBE we should have ordered some food. Fortunately the cider farm, Merridale, had some bread/humus platters we were able to munch on. 

Merridale was far and away the best spot. We learned that, at least at THAT orchard, they use apples of a non-edible variety, known as spitters. You can figure out why I’m sure. The place looked small at a glance but they had over 100 trees on the premise, that yield about 70 tons of apples annually. According to Roddy, our guide, they use the apples to make cider but also use it to distill several spirits. They have their own vodka, gin, and other liqueurs. We ended up buying a raspberry liqueur that was rather tasty. They had several ciders on tap, tried their Apple Pie Cider. Wow. So good. Hope they ship to the states. 

We came back somewhat disappointed that we couldn’t find any coffee crisps and were also extremely hangry. So we took our empty stomachs to the buffet for one last round of hotdogs, bread and ice cream. We packed everything rather stressfully. Went up to observation for one final drink(the best bartenders on the ship by far) then to the local for one final round of pretzel bites and fries. 

Gonna be a long ass day tomorrow flying back to DFW…even longer day driving back to Lubbock on Wednesday… 

Bonus- below are my notes on the wines and ciders we tried. I do not nor would I EVER claim to be ANYTHING resembling a sommelier. Just some notes on what we had. 

Enrico Winery

Celebration (Sparkling white wine): Crisp and clean, kinda citrusy

Tempest(white, Pinot Gris I think)sweet fruity, peach/mango notes. This was probably my fave of the flight. 

Shining armor (white) sharper than Tempest, very lemony 

Red Dragon (Rosé) NOPE, wayyy too tannic. Somehow everyone seems to like this one. 

Lionheart (Port) Good flavor but a heavy dry kick ruined it for me. Heard someone say “I could drink that out of a paper sack”. Wasn’t sure how to take that.

Cherry Point Estate Winery (The ‘Estate’ means they use their grapes and ONLY their grapes)

Pinot Gris- very good, smooth and fruity

Ortega- not bad, clean, dry, lemony 

Ortega 2- less dry, fruitier. Good

Pinot Noir- One of the better reds I’ve had- dry, heavy blackberry notes. Not bad, better after the second sip, had a big dry kick on the first. Kinda reminds me of the blackberry wine Nicole and I get from Spec’s.

Merridale Cidery

1100 trees, non-edible apples used, spitters

Nothing artificial in cider, all organic. 

Harvest 70 tons of apples yearly

Elk and bears BAD

Wasps are beneficial, eat the worms that would otherwise eat the apples.

Cider #1 Scrumpy- heavy, very dry

Cider #2 Cowchin dry- lighter, more apple flavor

Cider #3 Mo’Moro- Nope. They said they added some other fruit to this, can’t remember what but the flavor was weird. 

Raspberry liqueur- VERY GOOD. Smooth, almost no burn, great raspberry flavor. 

Apple Pie Hard Cider(From one of their taps, pictured above)— OMG that was so good. Literally like drinking a slice of apple pie. Sweet but not overpowering, hints of cinnamon and other apple pie spices. If they ship to the US, I may have to order a case.