News from the winery
1st harvest for Fort Berens Estate Winery (Sept 28th 2011)
Fort Berens picked the first crop of grapes from their 20 acre vineyard in Lillooet. 3.25 tons of Chardonnay were harvested by hand on Wednesday Sept 28th 2011. At 22.4 Brix, the grapes had lots of flavour and remarkably low acids. We are extremely excited by the first fruits of our long endeavour to forge a new wine region in Lillooet.
Bill Pierson appointed new winemaker (Aug 16th 2011)
Fort Berens Estate Winery Ltd is pleased to announce the appointment of Bill Pierson of the Vintage Consulting Group as their new winemaker. Bill will oversee all winemaking operations with consulting advice from veteran winemaker Tom DiBello.
New website live (July 1st 2011)
We have been working hard on a facelift for our website. Lots more content. Technical sheets for all the wines. etc. The style of the site is now a bit more elegant, like our wines. Do you like it? Let us know. Do you have suggestions, let us know too.
Marketing & Sales Partnership with The Delf Group (June 1st 2011)
Fort Berens Estate Winery and the Delf Group are pleased to announcement a sales and marketing agreement commencing June 1st, 2011. The Delf Group will be responsible for the sales and distribution of the full range of Fort Berens wines to restaurants, private liquor stores, and wine shops in British Columbia. Through this partnership, Fort Berens intends to continue to develop relationships and work closely together with its retailers and restaurants in marketing its wines.
GOLD MEDAL (March 27th 2011)
Our Meritage 2008 won a gold medal at the New World International Wine Competition taking on established wineries from California and around the world. From all the Canadian wines submitted, we were the only Canadian winery to win a gold medal in this categorie. Our Chardonnay 2009 and Cabernet Franc 2008 performed well again taking Bronze and Silver respectively.
More Awards... (October 1st 2010)
After our releases of the Meritage 2008, Cabernet Franc 2008 and Late Harvest Riesling 2009, we are fortunate to have been awarded a number of medals for our current portfolio. The Chardonnay 2009 was awarded a bronze medal at Okanagan Wine Festical and at the Canadian Wine Awards. The Cabernet Franc 2008 received the silver medal at both competitions. Our Meritage 2008 was picked among the Top 25 at Cornucopia 2010.
Watch us on YouTube! (June 30th 2010)
On May 18th 2010 we bottled our white wines from the 2009 vintage. Armand Foisy, our vineyard manager, while working hard on the bottling line, saw some time to shoot a video.
More recently Shaw TV came out to shoot a short segment on Lillooet. We were featured in this segment.
Fort Berens Estate Winery Secures Financial Backing (May 30th 2010)
Fort Berens Estate Winery today announced that it has attracted the venture capital necessary to accelerate its business plans and build a new winery facility located in Lillooet, British Columbia. With the new funding, Fort Berens will commence construction of a new wine making operation and shop on its property to produce and sell wines from grapes grown on the winery’s initial twenty acre vineyard. The first crop of grapes is expected in the fall of 2011.
2009 Chardonnay released (May 25th 2010)
This wine made from premium Chardonnay grapes from the Black Sage Vineyard in the Okanagan, is our first wine made in Lillooet. The wine was fermented at a low temperature to retain most of the acids. It is a fruit forward wine with nice aromas of pineapple, white peach and a hint of oak. Enjoy this wine with salmon, chicken or pasta. Currently available at the winery and soon at restaurants and wine stores.
2007 Meritage wins Silver at the All Canadian Wine Championships (May 25th 2010)
We are very encouraged with this award while we work towards our own hand crafted wines from Lillooet. We want to thank everyone who has helped on this achievement.
We have a limited quantity of this (now award winning) wine left. Our Meritage is a blend of 80% merlot, 15% cabernet sauvignon and 5% cabernet franc. This wine aged for 22 months in French and American oak barrels. Enjoy it with BBQ steak, roast beef or aged cheeses. We have just bottled the Meritage 2008, which will be released in a couple of months.
Links to news stories about Fort Berens Estate Winery
July 1st 2010: Pique News Magazine
May 21 2010: Lillooet News
May 3 2010: Lillooet News
Nov 25 2009: Pique News Magazine
Oct 14 2009: Lillooet News
May 20 2009: Lillooet News
