The story behind the vineyard.
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Corlan Vineyard is situated on a south-facing slope nestled within a cedar and fir forest in the heart of Denman Island, BC. Our soils are mostly sandstone with some clay. We have built the soil with the use of a “weed badger” and mowing, as we started with forest soils. We do not irrigate, so the vines show some variable growth; but we believe that this stressing will be reflected in the flavour of our wine. During the winter the Farm’s sheep are pastured in the vineyard where they lamb in early spring.
Corlan Vineyard owners Pat and Selwyn Jones began clearing their ten-acre property on Denman Island in 2006, planted 5,000 vines propagated from their own cuttings. After several years of nurturing and using sustainable practices to produce 100% certified organic fruit without irrigation, they held the grand opening of Corlan Vineyard with their first batch of wine on Canada Day in 2015.
Since then their wines have won international acclaim with four Gold Medals, five Silver Medals and one Bronze Medal.
Selwyn, born in Wales, has a background in silviculture and owned Sylvan Vale Nursery in Black Creek for more than two decades propagating seedlings for forest companies. He took up vine propagation in the mid 1980s when he began propagating up to 20,000 vines a year for Cowichan Valley wineries.
Pat has spent most of her life on the Gulf Islands, growing up with small scale market gardening and poultry raising. She is also a talented Tartan weaver.
The couple previously built and operated a Bed and Breakfast together. They love to talk to visitors about their process from propagation to bottling.
A flock of Clun Forest Sheep play an integral part in maintenance in the off season by roaming the vineyard eating weeds and grass between rows. During the growing season the sheep are relocated to another field.
Our vision has come to fruition with award-winning wines, a restaurant, and accommodation for farm stays.
Ortega – A cross between Muller-Thurgau and Siegerrebe, this is our main white planting. They give us a consistently generous crop and make a crisp, aromatic wine, lovely for summer sipping. We call this wine Sandy Island White; Sandy Island being the marine park at the northern tip of Denman Island.
Siegerrebe – A smaller, more recent planting showing much promise. We have a limited amount of this aromatic white for sale.
Marechal Foch – A French-American hybrid, this red grape ripens dependably in our climate. It produces an inky red wine. This vine needs very little intervention beyond pruning, so is very suited to our certified organic vineyard. We call this wine Chrome Island Red after the very picturesque lighthouse at the south end of our island home.
Leon Millot – A sister grape to the Marechal Foch, but with a somewhat milder presence.
It takes know-how, patience, and hard work to build a successful micro-winery. These qualities, along with an incredibly supportive wine-loving community, helped Denman Island’s Corlan Vineyard to rack up ten awards for their To Ewe organic wines – in just five years of winemaking
A combination of our own thornless and Denman wild blackberries, this achieves a high alcohol content with no fortification. It takes a year to finish fermenting, so is released in limited quantities. Our 2017 Blackberry Dessert Wine was a Silver Medal winner at the Finger Lakes International Wine Festival!
A small propagating greenhouse and nursery grows bedding plants for the garden as well as grapevines (table as well as wine), various shrubs, trees and herbs.
A sampling of available plants for sale includes:
TREES: Arbutus, English Walnut, Sequoia, Meta Sequoia, Pine Nuts
SHRUBS: Kerria Japonica, Romneya Coulteri, Echinops, Virginia Creeper
VINES: Interlaken (white table grape), Marechal Foch, Siegerrebe, Ortega
Corlan Vineyard invites volunteers to participate in the fall harvest – a fun, educational experience rewarded with a community feast.
Inquire about pruning demonstrations.
A flock of Clun Forest Sheep play an integral part in maintenance in the off season by roaming the vineyard eating weeds and grass between rows. During the growing season the sheep are relocated to another field.
The word “Corlan” is a Welsh word meaning sheepfold. A corlan is a stone circle where the sheep in North Wales are brought for shearing and other attentions, as seen on the To Ewes Wine labels!