Church & State Wines (Brentwood Bay)

Church & State Wines is one of British Columbia's rare two-region wineries, with a home base on Vancouver Island and estate vineyards in the South Okanagan. The Brentwood Bay location, at 1445 Benvenuto Avenue on the Saanich Peninsula, sits roughly half an hour north of downtown Victoria in gentle countryside better known for gardens and country lanes, making it a natural wine stop on a Saanich Peninsula day trip. The company sums up its approach in three words, eat, drink, experience, and the Vancouver Island property delivers on all of them: a tasting room pours a broad portfolio spanning red, white, rose, sparkling and dessert wines, including the playfully labelled Lost Inhibitions collection, while an on-site bistro makes the winery as appealing for a long lunch as for a flight at the bar.

Church & State describes its winemaking as an effort to capture a sense of place, drawing from the terroir to showcase character and elegance, with much of the portfolio rooted in its Coyote Bowl vineyards near Oliver in the South Okanagan. Visitors to Brentwood Bay can book a guided tasting, settle onto the bistro side for food and wine pairings, or plan ahead for one of the weddings and private events the venue regularly hosts. A wine club offers early access to new releases along with discounts at the bistro and at the tasting bars of both locations, which is a nice perk for travellers who split time between the Island and the Okanagan. For visitors basing themselves in Victoria, Sidney or near the Swartz Bay ferry terminal, Church & State is a convenient full-service winery stop on southern Vancouver Island; check the website for current tasting and bistro hours before visiting.