Blue Grouse Estate Winery — Attraction in Area E (Cowichan Station / Sahtlam / Glenora)

Blue Grouse was beautiful and we enjoyed every second there. The wines we tasted were all lovely, the staff were pleasant, and the pate and olives were tasty and a good portion size. I feel this winery is very decently priced for value and absolutely recommend. However, we did book in advance a “Lunch for Two” which was to include charcuterie. Upon arrival and pulling up our reservation, we weren’t told that they were sold out of charcuterie boards/ingredients. We were presented our wine flight and told afterwards we can let them know if we need anything else or would like to order more. We figured maybe the food was coming but after finishing our flight about 20 minutes later we realized maybe not. So we instead ordered charcuterie and server said “I think we might be out, let me check for you.” and came back to confirm that they were in fact sold out due to the long weekend busyness. Fine, we’re very understanding people, but just found it a bit odd that if you’re out why none of the three staff we spoke with and served us ever mentioned it before seating us despite it being what we reserved, or even contacted beforehand so that we could bring our own charcuterie to enjoy with wine. All of this just to make a small suggestion if I may: If you’re taking reservations perhaps reserve or set aside supply for said upcoming reservation seeing as reservations included a specific food as opposed to simply a spot or tasting.

In the end we happily ordered the only options left, the pate and olives as we came with intentions of eating, as well as a glass of Quill Q White and a slushie, and enjoyed it all very much, and left a bit more hungry than intended and got McNuggets, lol.

Despite this mishap, would still absolutely come again...

Absolutely a delightful experience! It was an unplanned solo visit to Blue Grouse Estate Winery as I was driving by on the highway after a road trip up Island. I spontaneously zipped off the hwy upon seeing the Blue Grouse signs & followed the gorgeous tree-lined country road, winding it's way to the winery & vineyards. The tastings are by reservation and are sit down, but they found a special spot for me & fit me right in for the tasting experience with the lovely Vanessa pouring, explaining each wine & we shared a great bantering conversation!

The Whites were delicious, my favourite is the Blue Grouse Quill 2021 & their Rosé was very yummy, but it was the Reds that blew me away. I seriously thought you could not get beautiful Reds here on the Island but yes, YES! you can, as some of the grapes are grown in Osoyoos & throughout other hotter areas in BC. The winemaker know what they are doing! Superb! My purchases today were the Blue Grouse Quill Red & their Quill Pinot Noir. I'm usually not a big Pinot Noir fan but this had me very happy with a very unique nose to it that appealed to me, had a peppery kick & then a mellow finish. I had such a lovely time, so a big thank you to Vanessa & the beautiful property, workmanship, ownership, staff & winemaker(s) of Blue Grouse Estate Wines & Vineyard for...

Beautiful grounds and building. Worth coming for that alone. We arrived on a busy weekend without a reservation, but our party of 9 was quickly accommodated. Six of us had the tasting. The glasses, with wine already in them, were set up before we sat down. Unfortunately the tasting itself was extremely rushed. The server said at the outset that he would quickly run through the wines and then leave us to taste them on our own. What followed was a rapid fire delivery of a description of each wine, with very little time to actually taste and ask questions. There was no written chart to identify what wines we had in our glasses, and it was impossible to keep track of each description. By the time the server was finished, glasses were out of order and nobody was sure of what they just tried. I understand this is a sacrifice in order to get us seated and served, without a reservation. We were happy to get a table. But it did not serve the winery's interests to sell any of their wines. It is probably better to make a reservation and go during quieter times. Perhaps then your server will have time to allow you to properly taste...