If you haven't already heard it though the grapevine, there is a new winery in town.
Steve Beecroft and Tricia Huebner first embarked on their grape adventure last spring when they took over the vineyard formerly known as Damali Winery which the original owners first developed in 2012. Damali was well known for its lavender infused fruit wines and selling other lavender products on site.
The couple bought the property in the spring of 2023, and while Huebner moved from San Francisco to head for Cobble Hill in May of 2023, Beecroft stayed back to work for another year in San Francisco where he was the executive director with UBS, a big investment bank where he worked with Asian equities. Huebner had just retired from her job working for a small consulting firm that helped small and mid-size businesses grow their companies where she honed her marketing and people skills.
"It took a while to get all the licensing transferred, and set up with the liquor board," said Huebner. "There is a lot of bureaucracy, and minutiae in getting this type of business set up and approved."
Before the couple met online in San Francisco in 2016 and found a common love for wine and each other, Beecroft's taste for travel was as worldly as his taste for wine. Originally from Trenton, Ont., he earned a business degree in Guelph, gaining farming experience to put himself through school before crossing the pond to graduate from Cambridge with a Masters degree, and PhD.
"Cambridge had amazing wines, when we had fancy dinners they'd bring up wine from their cellar which I believe had around 35,000 different bottles," said Beecroft. "They'd have old vintage Bordeaux and Burgundy wines and other varietals from around the world, so I learned a lot about wine from that experience."
Beecroft noted that his exposure to wine came much before that as his parents, who were both English, took a more European approach, letting him take sips, as his father quenched his appetite with discussion on each type. Those who come to sip one of the 10 types of wine Cobble Hill winery has to offer will also see that change is good as they take a European approach of their own. Boasting 10 acres of vineyard for their intimate boutique winery their focus is high-quality product from a winemaker with more than 25 years of experience.
"A lot of wines are quite extraordinary as Dylan is a really good wine maker," said Beecroft. "This was his 26th vintage."
When it came to their name, Beecroft said they chose to keep it simple to identify with the local community.
"We do a lot of things that are a little more European than what other people try to do," said Beecroft. "We are introducing new varietals into the island and in B.C. We are doing different wine styles, and regenerative agriculture, so it's very much a wine focus. We want to keep the lavender for its beauty, but we just don't have time to continue to make lavender products like the previous owners."
"We were really excited that the name wasn't already taken because we love the idea of being in Cobble Hill, said Huebner. "The community has been so wonderful with making us feel welcome and seem to be so excited that we are here."
Like every glass of vino starts with a grape, every journey starts with a story.
Upon meeting, not only did the couple quickly discover a fancy for one another, they discovered their fancy for fine wines sipping vintages and varietals from all over the world. While sipping a little closer to home on a wine tasting one day up near Russian River in California, they had made arrangements for an impromptu meeting with renowned and talented winemaker Dylan Sheldon who had been honing his craft for more than 25 years in places like Australia, New Zealand and France, finally spending 20 years in Sonoma, California.
"Dylan is very experienced both in vineyard management and wine-making," said Beecroft. "He had a custom crush operation as well as his own label, Sheldon Wines, in Sonoma. There were a lot of private growers who just have estates and vineyards in California but want to have their own wine and label, so Dylan also made wine for 15 different growers."
With Beecroft's background in wine knowledge and farming, and Huebner's history in marketing and business they already knew that owning and running a vineyard would eventually be in their future.
"I wanted to get back into farming. I've always loved wine and studied it, and since we both have tasted fine wines from all over the world, starting a vineyard seemed like a great lifestyle change while combining things," said Beecroft.
Their serendipitous encounter with Sheldon confirmed that he would be in their future too.
"We spoke on everything from wine styles we liked, to our tasting experiences, regenerative agriculture, and a whole bunch of other things," said Beecroft. "The three of us had a great time, and when we came out of there I turned to Tricia and just said the word kismet, we knew right there we were going to work with him or nobody else, and Dylan felt the same way."
This kismet crossing of paths later inspired one of Cobble Hill Winery's featured vintages of the same name, which exudes a youthful energy with lime zest, citrus blossom, quince, and a touch of white peach and hints of key lime, mint, pineapple, and white ginger flavours, making it a true sensation for the senses.
But one can't put the bottle before the vineyard, so the search for the perfect one began starting with the Okanagan, but climatically it wasn't the right fit. Then the three really had their hearts set on Italy where they looked in Tuscany, and Alto Adige, which Steve personally loved. Italy would have worked well for Sheldon who wanted to include his mother and brother in the move, but after much searching could not find a suitable property in Italy. After a second deeper look in the Cowichan Valley, Huebner and Beecroft fell in love with the former lavender winery in Cobble Hill. Sheldon, who was looking to leave California anyway because willdfires and wine-making don't mix, decided to move his family to North Carolina near the Blue Ridge Mountains and makes the commute to Cobble Hill, raising the valley's grape expectations at the new winery, which opened in June of this year.
"When Dylan moved his family to North Carolina we figured we'd just find a way to make it work, he's that talented and we had no desire to work with anyone else," said Huebner. "So, Dylan will come in for frequent intervals, and will sometimes spend a few weeks doing things with Steve and checking on the wines. He'll be back in mid-September for harvest time and will stay until November, then he'll be back again for pruning and again for bottling."
All of the equipment needed for Sheldon to work his magic is already on site, some of which he merged over from his former label in California, and Huebner noted that compared to other vineyards across the island, their wines are made with lower alcohol.
"For example we do a Bordeaux which is very much a Merlot style. Most people don't realize that a Bordeaux is actually 51 per cent plus Merlot," said Beecroft. "Ours is lighter, and fruit forward yet complex but with much less heavy oak and less alcohol. We are aiming for more elegance, and things that pair well with food."
Huebner said their newly acquired vineyard is in transition as they have been working on new pruning techniques, and nourishing the soil with kelp fertilizer which is a part of their regenerative agriculture approach to make the soil better and allows it to absorb carbon. Beecroft added that they have grated over a lot of the rows which involves him going around to lop off the tops of the vines, which is then followed up by professionals coming in to graft buds from different varietals.
"The idea is that you take a strong root, and trunk and graft in different varietal buds and then next year you will have a full crop of a new varietal," said Beecroft. "We are changing into things that have never been grown here in a lot of cases."
Huebner said a lot of what was grown at the vineyard were ideal for Damali's brand, just not for what they are trying to create. This change came with a lot of construction when the couple first took over, which she calls a heroic feat from several contractors.
Beecroft works the vineyard, manages the labour and while he lends a hand in marketing, he admits he really gets a bang out of getting his fingers dirty with planting. He said their first year of growing grapes went very well until this past August when they saw some hail damage that destroyed two rows of their grapes. He is hoping September's weather will provide a kinder fate for harvest.
"I really like planting," said Beecroft. "I planted 3,300 new vines and grafted on 1,200 vines between here and the two acre vineyard that we lease and manage a bit north of here."
What Huebner and Beecroft really pride themselves on is the experience they offer in their tasting room and patio area which is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends, which includes being present to answer questions — not always a regular occurrence at larger wineries. To book a tasting or tour email tricia@cobblehillwinery.ca.
"We've literally tasted wines from all over the world," said Beecroft. "We like to think we know what works really well and what people like to have. The tasting experience is very important to building relationships with people so they become long term clients."
"After being a guest and tasting wine at so may places you remember your experiences and conversations," said Huebner. "Our whole tasting experience is to come and talk about the wines and share not only the experience of growing the grapes and making the wine, but also just being able to pass on our own knowledge to our guests and even our staff. Here we bring out each wine, introduce it and answer any questions they might have. From our own personal experience what would frustrate us is when we were given a beautiful self-guided flight but didn't have the opportunity to ask questions about it."
The couple, who live on the property that once was the bed and breakfast built by the original owners, are inviting those who popped, and said yes to the 'question' to say their nuptials in the serene setting of their vineyard, and already have six booked for next year.
"I'm really looking forward to hosting people and having them experience the property," said Huebner. "We have a beautiful flat lawn space on the hill which would be perfect for the ceremony, plus we have another area that can be configured for the reception, plus on the other side of the hill we have a nice little gazebo. One thing I think that is great about this property that a lot of people really love is the lavender, and they are welcome to just wander."
Cobble Hill Winery was also one of the stops on the tour for this year's wine festival that concluded at the end of August. Each winery was allowed to pour three types of wines and Cobble Hill served up their Pinot Gris, Rosé, and Merlot.
"It was such a great experience for us because we have a bit of a reintroduction to do in the community and this opportunity brought new people to us," said Huebner. "We have a large community of wine drinkers across the way in Arbutus Ridge, they'll walk over and then the next weekend they are coming back with a group of their friends. We love hearing people say that this is just such a beautiful setting, and that they had a great time."
To add to that great time guests are permitted to both bring their dogs and picnics to enjoy in designated areas. As they settle into the community, the new winery owners hope their guests experience high quality and delicious wine with every sip in a friendly and beautiful atmosphere and to leave with good memories.
"It's one thing to dream about something like this and to talk about it, but then to actually find yourself doing it, is really special," said Huebner. "I love bringing out these wines and hearing what people think about them. The response we have been receiving is that many people had given up on island wines and have just been blown away with what we are offering. We have had many of our new guests say wow, these are really good wines.
"I just want our guests to take away a very memorable time of both our beautiful setting and what we serve them."
