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B.C.'s Best Pinot Noir?
By Christina Burridge published Nov 1, 2008
Andy Johnston reckons the slopes of Mount Prevost in the Cowichan Valley could be the Côte d’Or of Canada, the preeminent place to grow Pinot Noir in the entire country. And that he will be the man to make the quintessential Canadian wine from this alluring, enchanting, but fickle grape. Express even a hint of skepticism, and he’ll insist you try his 2006 vintage, only the third he’s made. The proof, he says, is in the glass.
Johnston bought a 46-acre parcel of land just north of Duncan in 2001 when it was just bush—all maples and broom, next to small farms, gravel pits, and light industry (but with a spectacular view down to Cowichan Bay). A successful Edmonton doctor with a chain of clinics, Johnston could have gone anywhere—indeed, he looked at France and New Zealand as well as the Okanagan before settling on Vancouver Island, in part to be near his daughters. The size of what he named Averill Creek Vineyard was right, the elevation was right, the heat units were right, and the soil—10 metres of sand and gravel—was perfect. In some ways the property reminded him of his childhood home on a Welsh farm on the slopes of Mount Snowdon.
