Fort Berens Winery, aka Fort Berens Estate Winery, is a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

and

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

based in

Lillooet, British Columbia Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On British ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Located in East Lillooet, near the site of the never-built

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

's Fort Berens, it is the first successful attempt at a commercial winery in the area in the 20th Century and has won numerous awards for its wines. It is the only commercial winery so far in the newly designated Lillooet wine region, though there are established local vineyards which are non-commercial and a history of wine cultivation at nearby

Fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...

. It was founded by Rolf de Bruin, who immigrated to Canada with his family in 2008 from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

with his wife Heleen Pannekoek and their family. They chose Lillooet over the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also called the Okanagan Valley and sometimes the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of ...

because land values there were a quarter what they were in the Okanagan, which is the centre of the BC wine industry. Though the winery's first commercial vintage was made from grapes and wine brought in from the Okanagan, their first bottles made from grapes grown only in Lillooet were opened on April 30, 2012. The winery first started operations in 2009.

Wines and grapes

The winery's vineyards comprise twenty acres on the east bank of the

Fraser River The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

opposite downtown Lillooet, at an elevation of 230m, which was formerly ginseng farm and, before that, alfalfa farm and prior to that, market gardens. Fort Berens wines feature images of burros, canoes railroads, and other modes of 19th century transportation, with a new "23 Camels" vintage featuring camels, evoking the story of the

Cariboo Camels The Cariboo camels were a number of camels that arrived in British Columbia, Canada, as pack animals. The Bactrian camels were used on the Douglas Road and the Old Cariboo Road in 1862 and 1863 to haul freight during the Cariboo Gold Rush. Althoug ...

, and which is also seen locally in the name of the Bridge of the Twenty-Three Camels, which is the crossing of the

by BC Highway 99. Current production is shown in the following list, where cited:, *Pinot Gris (275 cases) *Pinot Noir Rosé (90 cases) *White Gold Chardonnay (98 cases) *Riesling (175 cases) *Meritage (Merlot/Cabernet Sauvigon/Cabernet Franc) *23 Camels White (Pinot Gris/Chardonnay/Riesling) *23 Camels Red (Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc)

Awards

* All Canadian Wine Championships, 2010, for the 2007 Meritage * All-Canadian Wine Festival, 2013: **Gold medal for the 2012 Pinot Gris **Silver medal for the 2012 Rose **Bronze medal for the 2012 Riesling **Bronze medal for the 2011 Pinot Noir *

Los Angeles International Wine Competition A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages, categories, and/or brands of wine. Wine competitions generally use blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the judges. Types of w ...

, 2013 **2012 Riesling *Okanagan Best Varietal Awards **2011 Pinot Gris

Other products

Fort Berens also sells wine-related products such as glasses and decanters and racks. It also has a small gallery featuring pottery, utensils and photography by area craftsmen and artisans. Condiments made from local fruit and produce include: *Chardonnay jelly *23 Camels jelly, made from the wine of the same name *Pumpkin chutney *tomato salsa

References

{{reflist

External links

Fort Berens Estate Winery
2009 establishments in British Columbia Lillooet Country Wine regions of British Columbia