Vigneti Zanatta

Vigneti Zanatta is a pioneering family winery in the Glenora community near Duncan, about ten minutes from town in the Cowichan Valley of Vancouver Island, and it holds a special place in British Columbia wine history as the island's first commercial grape winery. The Zanatta family's connection to these vines runs deep. Dennis Zanatta expanded his plantings in 1970, experimenting with hardy varieties, and from 1981 to 1986 he volunteered an acre of the family farm to the provincial government as a research site, the famous Duncan Project, also known as the Becker Experiment, which helped prove that quality wine grapes could thrive on Vancouver Island and effectively launched the modern island wine industry. Today the estate farms more than twenty-five acres of vineyard and has built its identity around sparkling wine, a specialization that distinguishes it from most other island producers and gives a visit here a celebratory character. The setting is classic Cowichan: rolling farmland and forested hills in a valley whose warm, maritime-tempered summers favour the crisp, aromatic, cool-climate styles for which the region is known. Visitors will find the wine shop and tasting room at 5039 Marshall Road, open seasonally from spring through fall, typically Wednesday to Sunday in the warmer months, so it is worth confirming current hours before making the drive. A tasting at Zanatta is as much a chance to taste a piece of British Columbia wine history as it is to enjoy the wines themselves, and the winery sits within easy reach of both Victoria and Nanaimo on a Cowichan Valley touring loop that can also take in cideries, farm stands and seaside villages. For travellers curious about where island wine began, and for anyone who loves sparkling wine, Vigneti Zanatta is a rewarding and historically significant stop.