Wine tasting in Langley
My friend Fatima took me on a wine tasting day trip in Langley where we visited 4 local wineries: Backyard Vineyards, Chaberton Estate Winery, The Preservatory and Township 7 Vineyards & Winery.
How does wine tasting work? Well let me tell you based on this one day I had.
You start off with wine tasting. This is usually $5 per person and you get to taste 4 different wines off of a menu. You may start off with a bubbly wine and go from white to rose to red wine. You sometimes may end off with a dessert wine.
When you arrive at the winery, one of the staff will become your host. This is the person who will be pouring you wine and telling you about how it’s made. If you know nothing about wine, you will feel inclined to smile and nod at them as they share their knowledge with you.
After you taste your different wines, you have 2 options:
- Leave and pay your $5 tasting fee
- Buy a bottle of wine and they usually waive the $5 tasting fee for you
So if you’re still with me, you will see that the economical choice is to buy a bottle of wine. A bottle of wine can cost anywhere from $12 to $40 based on the menus I saw.
Backyard Vineyards
We spend the most time at Backyard Vineyards because it is our first stop and we want to take photos and chat.
For wine tasting, we try the following:
- Blanc de noir brut (sparkling white)
- Sparkling rose
- 2017 Reserve chardonnay (white)
- 2017 Gossip blanc (white)
- 2016 Syrah (red)
- 2017 Cabernet franc (red)
- 2017 Cabernet merlot (red)
- Porch wine (red dessert wine + chocolates)
After our wine tasting, we end up purchasing a bottle of white wine called the Nosy Neighbour ($17). It won a gold award in LA International. We also order their cheese & charcuterie board ($19) and move over to their picnic area to enjoy our wine and cheese.
Backyard Vineyards also has a gazebo where you can sit and drink/eat across from the open picnic area.
Chaberton Estate Winery
Chaberton Estate Winery is our second stop. We taste the following:
- 2018 Gewurtzraminer )white)
- 2018 Estate grown dry bacchus (white)
- 2018 Valley pink (rose)
- 2017 Chaberton red
- 2017 Single vineyard pinot noir (red)
- 2015 Meritage (red)
- 2015 Syrah (red)
We enjoy the Valley pink rose so I purchase it for $21.95. They only waive one of our wine tastings because we are only buying one bottle. Chaberton is the only winery we went to that did this – all the other places waived both of our tasting fees.
They have a cute little front yard set up with circular picnic tables but it is away from the vineyards so you are unable to see that view.
The Preservatory
The Preservatory is the most different from all the wineries we went to. It is a quaint little house on a hill and the wine tasting occurs in their backyard patio.
For tasting, we do not get to choose from a menu so unfortunately I don’t remember exactly what we tried, but we did taste 1 white, 1 rose and 2 red wines.
One interesting thing about The Preservatory is that they are actually more focused on jam! They have jam tasting and we really like the figs & walnut jam ($3.50) – very unique.
Township 7 Vineyards & Winery
Okay guys so I still made it to our 4th stop but I am definitely not sober at this point. Township 7 closes at 6pm and we got there just 30 minutes before that. Do not ask me what I tasted because I really don’t remember.
They have a large patio with sofa seating and hipster standing tables at the entrance. Their vineyard is probably the prettiest one out of the 4 that we went to.
Final thoughts
Out of the four, I enjoyed Backyard Vineyard and Township 7 the most. This is because they both have the largest and nicest picnic area/resting area to relax and drink. Chaberton rubbed me the wrong way when they didn’t waive both tasting fees. The preservatory was cute and different, but I came to drink wine not buy jam (really unique jams, though).
Wine tasting is a lot of fun, especially for an alcoholic like me! I find it is an awesome way to spend a sunny day. You’re not allowed to drink in parks, but you can at the vineyards. I saw lots of people bringing their own food, blankets, camping chairs and even their dog and just spend the afternoon relaxing with friends.
It’s also not hard to organize your day as these vineyards are so close to each other. Bless my friend for being DD and planning our awesome date.