FOOD, WINE and SPECTACULAR SCENERY. We LOVE this revised tour to REFLECT COVID-19.Join Island Time Tours for a lovely relaxing adventure exploring the Cowichan Valley. We visit 3 (4 if time permitting) of the prettiest vineyards and do our own thing to avoid any line-ups. We offer you a wonderful experience at each vineyard.. First stop includes bubbly with orange juice (optional) w/ fresh warm bake goods. Relax, inhale and take in this beautiful countryside. LUNCH is filled with afternoon tea delights with WINE served weather permitting in the great outdoors. Dessert w/wine complete this tour at another picturesque vineyard. Great food, award winning wines and spectacular beauty. Let's go!

Sample Menu

Main

Charcuterie picnic

Lunch offers an excellent selection of Locally Grown and Harvested produce and many items produced in-house.Diet issues no problem with notice.

What's Included

Driver/guide
3 wineries with tastings/fees at each stop.
Lunch

Gratuities
Alcoholic Beverages

Meeting And Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

10:00 AM

Pickup details

We depart our first location at 9:45am. The Hotel Grand Pacific. Due to new bike lanes we have limited access to many hotels and traffic issues. We have chosen several different areas to pick up, covering 4 quadrants of downtown. * Hotel Grand Pacific is our first departure point * Clipper Ferry Terminal parking area * Royal BC Museum (out front of Museum entrance, on Belleville street, please be on the sidewalk area) * Double Tree Hilton or Marriott (next door to each other first reservation will meet at that hotel we will advise you prior if you pick this option) No luggage or storage in our vehicles. (walkers or wheelchairs for example we have zero storage) Anything you bring must fit on your lap or at your feet. Local groups of 6 please call our office for a flexible pickup location.

What To Expect

Located just outside of Victoria, Cowichan Valley is Vancouver Island’s thriving wine region. This half-day tour takes you to several family-owned wineries and through scenic landscapes along the way. While wine is the focus, the day also features a farm-to-table lunch of your choice paired with a flight of local, organic hard ciders.
After pickup from your downtown Victoria hotel (reservation needed), hit the road by late morning. The Cowichan Valley wine region uses no pesticides or insecticides. At each winery that you visit, grapes are grown on the same lands where the vintage owners live and work.
Savor different varietals of wines you're introduced to at each winery. Purchase along the way as you like. (Wine cannot be shipped to the US, only Canada. US guests may buy as much as they like with little duty due.)
Have the opportunity to stop at a nearby seaside village and check out the charming stores. The village shop serves local delights, such as cheese and charcuterie. Don’t miss the delicious offerings at the organic bakery.
Please note: This tour is available Wednesdays through Sundays all year except in January. You must be at least 19 years old to participate. If you wish to book the tour as a private one for your family, there are no age restrictions to join, but you must be at least 19 years old to taste wine.

Vancouver Island

40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
24 hour notice Vegan/Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
Must be 19 years or older to join tour and taste wine
Service animals allowed
Groups of 6 or less

Near public transportation
Not recommended for pregnant travelers
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travelers can participate
Service dogs only with proof of License and must be in uniform and working
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 6 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Theresa_L

Spent a great day touring 3 vineyards with our guide Colleen who was very knowledgeable and a lot of fun. Definitely recommend this tour 🍷😊

Reviews

5.0

79 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

Showing 1-10 of 79 reviews

Unique Experience

Linna_H, Jun 2023

Colleen creates a unique experience every time and is knowledgeable of the land’s geography and history. Marilyn at Venturi Schulze was delightful and their farm has created the most flavourful wines and balsamic we’ve ever tasted! Loved the quick visits with the donkeys Bailey & Randy at Cowichan Station Creamery and picking up delicious tarts and recipes at South Island Saskatoon Pies!

Response from Host, Jun 2023

Hey it was great to see your family again. Thanks for joining our tours when you visit Victoria. It was a great day out! Look forward to seeing you all again next year? Cheers. Colleen

Great wine tour in BC!

Mary_K, Feb 2023

The pick up location worked great for us, and we loved the wine tour! Colleen was very informative of the area and wineries. Lunch was great!

The tour guide had a...

Rebecca_P, Jul 2022

The tour guide had a great personality and all vineyards were welcoming and provided exquisite knowledge about their facilities.

Fun day

Theresa_L, Jul 2022

Spent a great day touring 3 vineyards with our guide Colleen who was very knowledgeable and a lot of fun. Definitely recommend this tour 🍷😊

Response from Host, Jul 2022

Thanks for the recommendation. The wineries, region, of course wine add so much to this day out. Thank you for taking the time to write a review. We appreciate your suppot.

Fun experience.

Keith_M, Apr 2022

Enrico and Blue Grouse Wineries were excellent in presentation, and were fun experiences. Tour guide was pleasant and helpful.

10/10 host, wineries, food, and wines

Henry_H, Oct 2020

Colleen is the best host, she knows so much about wines and the wineries we visit. She even knows about the owners, and the people giving tours - gave us an entertaining and fun rundown while driving to the wineries We got to taste over 10 wines! And the lunch was absolutely delicious, and accommodates our dietary needs 10/10 will recommend to all my friends visiting Victoria, night have to go again next year!

Small group wine tour

Madi, Aug 2020

Colleen our guide was so nice and knowledgeable about the region, we went to 4 different wineries and the Covid procedures set in place were great and didn’t affect our experience at all. The wines were lovely and cowichan valley is beautiful.

Wine tour -Duncan/cobblehill area winery’s

John_M, Aug 2020

Excellent job supplying a nice tour within the constraints of the COVID-19 guidelines. The first 3 winery’s were great, the 4th very average. Pickup and return to our drop off were excellent, no waits. Tour guide was a wealth of knowledge about the island area and winery’s. Will do this again and recommend to friends.

Response from Host, Aug 2020

Thank you for the review and supporting our business in this odd time in our world. I like the part you will do again and tell friends! Yes please. We look forward to meeting you again. Drop us a line prior and we'll try to mix things up. Tour is refreshed and changed each season.

A great way to spend a day!

MLroams, Aug 2019

A wonderful and relaxing day- beautiful scenery, great narration/history of Victoria, Vancouver Island and the wine industry in Victoria and BC. The winery stops were interesting, especially the trip to Venturi-Schulze, a small family- owned vineyard. The Cidery is a lovely property, and we enjoyed flights of hard cider with a tasty meal- we tried the pot pie and the apple-brie melt, both of which were satisfying and delicious. Our guide, Pamela, was a certified sommelier, which made for interesting conversation and perspective on what we were drinking. She could compare and contrast the grapes and wine characteristics of Victoria with other regions of the world.

Fab wine and cider tour

Lindsey W, Jun 2019

I can’t recommend this tour enough - led by the brilliant Don We were driven around to 3 vineyards and 1 Cidery to sample the products and learn a little about each respectively. Each were very interesting in their own way and the whole experience was very enjoyable. We also got a lovely lunch at the cidery. The whole thing was brilliant, Don was excellent and it felt like good value for money. I would highly recommend

Really great tour!

Frdryque_R, Jun 2019

Really great tour! We taste different type of wine and it’s was really interesting! We really loved it! Thanks you! :)

We loved this tour! Our guide was...

Tia G, Oct 2017

We loved this tour! Our guide was informative, funny and engaging. Unfortunately I have forgotten her name, but she is the owner of the company. The tour was everything described in the listing and more. The people at the wineries were attentive and educational.

We had a good trip, visited 3...

Beverly B, Sep 2017

We had a good trip, visited 3 wineries and a lavender farm. We liked the diversity of the wineries and our tour guide actually the owner of the company was our guide. She provided a light lunch and wine for us. Being picked up at our hotel was also a big plus. Having her as our guide was a bonus because she had so many stories to tell. She has definitely built a bond with the wineries as the interaction with her and the winery hosts was very noticeable. We are from California and it was great to taste and learn about the wine region in British Columbia. I would definitely recommend this tour.

We had a great tour to 3 Cowichan...

Timothy C, Sep 2017

We had a great tour to 3 Cowichan Valley wineries. David, our tour operator, carefully selected the wineries to visit, each one unique. From the moment he picked us up at our hotel, we had an entertaining experience, stopping at memorable spots for the incredible views. Each winery that we visited was unique. The first was a small family winery that prides itself on making wines because they like the particular winery. The second was a larger winery with good wines and at that one, David prepared us a picnic lunch which we enjoyed on picnic tables next to the vines. The final winery was medium sized with unusual varieties of grapes. We highly recommend this trip.

I've been on several wine tours in...

Katie M, May 2017

I've been on several wine tours in Napa and Sonoma. They all had nothing on this tour. I enjoyed the small group we had 5 total, which meant we weren't waiting around for drifters to get on to the next place and actually got to hit 4 wineries and stop for some scenic views. The lunch provided was delicious and our tour guide Don was an amazing guide. He even dropped us off right in front of our Air BnB apartment versus the selected hotel point. Would definitely recommend this to anyone traveling to Victoria that wants to get out of town for the day.