Rocky Creek Winery has brought more medals home to the Cowichan Valley from the Olympics of the wine world.
“This is special because we want to place the Vancouver Island wine region on the wine world map. There is a young emerging wine region that began with a few small wineries and now has bloomed to 45 wineries all over the wine islands,” company president Linda Holford said last week.
“Why are the competitions important to Rocky Creek Winery? We encourage people to buy local and support local; but we also want them to know that their choices compete on the world stage. Local crafted wines sit well amongst many other wines in the world. [It’s all about giving] our region a try,” she said.
Husband, Mark Holford, Rocky Creek’s winemaker is also keen on spreading the word.
“Managing to produce every wine to a standard where it’s judged blind by an international judging panel and receives medals shows our dedication to producing a quality product that can stand out in any crowd,” he said.
“We truly believe that worldclass wines can be grown in the Cowichan Valley. Winning at this level of competition is significant. It’s like the Olympic games of the wine world: open to every winery, pitting the very best against each other to see which wines come out on top. Standing at any spot on the podium is a real accomplishment. This is especially true since price doesn’t come into play and we’re competing against some of the most expensive wines in the world,” he said.
So where has Rocky Creek been showing the flag?
They’ve picked up 10 medals to date in 2015 with every currently available wine winning an award and continuing to do so almost every year, with a total of 72 medals since they opened 10 years ago.
