A newly expanded tasting room. More new plantings in the vineyard. Winery and vineyard tours. A large patio with gorgeous cedar pergola and tables. Oh, and really, really good wine. Return visitors to Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery in Creston (or, to be more precise, Erickson) are going to notice that a lot of changes have taken place since the winery opened last summer.
“We kind of like to do everything twice,” owner Bob Johnson laughed as he showed a visitor the expanded and revamped tasting room, about double its original size.
The addition of the patio and pergola will allow guests to purchase a glass of wine and/or some deli food, creating an on-site picnic to soak up the sun’s rays (assuming they ever arrive) and enjoy the wonderful views from the gently sloping vineyard. With the addition of an event tent on the adjacent lawn, the patio will turn into a perfect site for a wedding or special event. A small building on the patio opens up to become a service bar. Johnson expects the picnic liquor licence to be in place within a week.
A number of different licences are required to allow customers to enjoy the full winery experience and one has been obtained to allow the owners (Johnson and his wife, Petra Flaa) to offer walking tours of the vineyard and winery. From a personal perspective, it was tours and tastings with winery owners that hooked us on the joys of wineries many years ago, so I have no doubt visitors and locals alike will be happy to get a personalized lesson about what it takes to turn grapes into wine.
Johnson and Flaa knew what they wanted when they sold a cherry orchard they had purchased earlier in the decade and bought the Erickson property that is now covered with tidy rows of grapevines. Quality wine was the goal, and they were fortunate to find winemaker Dan Barker. The owner of Moana Park Winery in New Zealand has turned out to be the perfect match for Baillie-Grohman. He continues to win accolades for the wines he makes back home and brings a level of expertise, passion and commitment to the Creston Valley, where he truly believes great wines can be made.
Baillie-Grohman wines have been featured in wine magazines, websites, newspapers and radio stations across the country, not least because of another canny decision the owners made. Johnson and Flaa hired Coletta and Associates to come up with a name and branding plan. Christine Coletta, who now owns her own Okanagan winery (Haywire) with her husband, brought plenty of experience with other wineries with her when she paid several visits to the Creston Valley. She and her colleagues came up with the name and label from the legend that has William Baillie-Grohman “discovering” the Creston Valley while hunting mountain goats with U.S. president Teddy Roosevelt. The very classy label stands out beautifully on store shelves and the name itself provokes interest in Kootenay history.
Visitors to the winery will arrive through a set of iron gates and see vines planted right to the front (west) of the property. Those rows of Kerner vines have been planted for a specific reason—to take advantage of winter cold snaps to make ice wine. The rest of the property is planted mostly to Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer.
Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery is located in Erickson, a short distance from downtown Creston. Turn south from Erickson Street onto 25th Avenue, then east on Connel Road, which leads to the winery. The tasting room is open Thursdays through Sundays through Labour Day, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Next week: A tasting tour through the Baillie-Grohman wine selection.
Lorne Eckersley is the publisher of the Creston Valley Advance.