Best Wineries under 90 mins from Vancouver

British Columbia wine use to be the ugly step child of the world wine industry. Over the last 40 years the BC wine industry has shaken it’s reputation for cheap, sweet, fizzy wines like Baby Duck, and blossomed into a respected wine region on the world stage. There are currently 370 winery manufacturing licences in BC, with 34 in the Lower Mainland alone. Most of the Lower Mainlands’ wineries fall in the Fraser Valley between Langley and Abbotsford, because very the availability of farm land and relatively good grape growing micro climate in South Langley. However, there are a few urban wineries in Metro Vancouver’s cities.

Most wineries offer a standard four wine tasters, and normally you are welcome to share with your friend. Typically the tastings fee is waved with a bottle purchase, so make sure to pick up a bottle, or go for a winery tour and support you local wine maker.

Township 7 (Langley)

Township 7 is Located in the heart of the South Langley Wine Route. Sporting an intimate tasting room overlooking rolling hills covered in grape trellis, and a cute white farm house. Township 7’s quaint picturesque beauty will make you consider quitting your job, selling everything and starting a small vineyard. Like most Fraser Valley wineries, Township 7 grows some of their white varietals in Langley, but the majority of their grapes are grown in the Okanagan. Township 7’s Okanagan vineyard and winery is located in sunny Naramata Bench. It is definitely worth checking out if you find yourself in the Penticton area.

Don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions about Township 7 wines or wines in general. The staff are friendly, passionate and knowledgeable about their own and other wines, without being pretentious. I think that Township 7 is one of the best places in the Lower Mainland to learn about wine. For example every year they age a portion of their house chardonnay in oak barrels and a portion in stainless steel tanks; it is an unmatched to experience how oak barrels increase the complexity of wine.

Website: https://township7.com/

Phone: 604 532 1766

Address: 21152 16 ave, Langley Township, V2Z 1K3

Distance from YVR Airport: 50 km; 47 min drive

Best time of year to visit: September for grape harvest or after a little dusting of snow

Recommended Wine: Oaked and unoaked chardonnay (buy one of each for education purposes)

Vista D’Oro Farms & Winery Farmgate

Do you often find yourself thinking “I want a glass of  rustic wine and to eat artisan jam with a spoon”? Then Vista D’Oro Farms & Winery Farmgate is the place for you. It is like grandma’s kitchen and grandpa’s old wine cellar was a physical pinterest board. The food is a nostalgic trip back to before fad diets but don’t worry grandma still thinks “you are too thin”.

Located steps aways from tranquil Campbell Valley Park in South Langley. Vista D’Oro is a great place to stop while on a wine tour or a walk in the park.  The winery and tasting room’s aesthetic fit right into the hobby farm and equitation history of Brookswoods-Fernridge.

Website: https://www.vistadoro.com/

Phone: 604 514 3539

Address: 346 208 st Langley Township BC V2Z 1T6

Distance from YVR Airport: 52 km; 45 min drive

Best time of year to visit: During a late spring visit to Campbell Valley Park

Recommended Wine: Walnut Fortified Wine

Backyard Vineyards (Langley)

Backyard Vineyards hosts a down to earth, non pretentious tasting room. The staff are very knowledgeable and service focused. Other large tastings rooms get busy and the staff start to rush guests along, but that is not the case at Backyard.

Don’t let the down to earth attitude fool you; they have some wonderful top-shelf wines, so don’t be afraid to request some reserve wines with your tasting. Backyard offers a wide range of blends and single varietal wines in the $18 to $25 range, and some reserve wines starting at about $45 that truly punch above their weight class.

The food menu is limited to cheese platters and charcuterie plates, despite being surrounded by hobby farms there are not many dinning options in the immediate area.

Backyard Winery tasting room

Backyard Winery’s Tasting Room

Website: http://www.backyardvineyards.ca/

Phone: 604 539 9463

Address: 3033 232 St, Langley Township, BC V2Z 3A8

Distance from YVR Airport: 57 km; 53 min drive

Best time of year to visit: September for grape harvest

Recommended Wine:

  • 2014 Reserve Cabernet Franc
  • 2015 Gewurztraminer (if you can find it)

Glasshouse Estate Winery

Glasshouse Estate Winery is the kind of posh that only happens when to marry the historical attention to detail of old-world estate winemaking with the process-focused hospitality of the Joseph Richard Group.

The tasting room, vineyard, “glasshouse” event space are all immaculate and nearly awe-inspiring. The staff are approachable and very knowledgeable. 

Their wines start on the expensive side when compared to the other entry-level bottles in the Fraser Valley (don’t go here if you want a $12 red blend). But you can get some very well-crafted bottles for about $35.

Website: https://www.glasshouseestatewinery.com/

Phone: 604 427 3225

Address: 23449 0 ave, Langley Township, BC V2Z 2X3

Distance from YVR Airport: 58 km; 50 min drive

Best time of year to visit: During your rich cousins’ wedding

Recommended Wine: 2018 Viognier

Fort Wine Co. (Fort Langley)

Located a short drive east of the Fort Langley Village, Fort Wine Co is a fruit winery best known for their cranberry wines. Cranberry wine tend to be very tart, but they are a native to North America and the Fraser Valley. It is hard to think of a more uniquely local Fort Langley product than a bottle of cranberry wine.

If you have never seen cranberry during harvest, I recommended that you visit the Fort Wine Co during the Fort Langley Cranberry Festival or watch the video below.

How cranberries are harvested 

Website: http://thefortwineco.com/

Phone: 604 857 1101

Address: 26151 84 ave, Langley Township, BC V1M 3M6

Distance from YVR Airport: 65 km; 70 min drive

Best time of year to visit: The Saturday before Thanks Giving during the Fort Langley Cranberry Festival

Recommended Wines:

  • Mighty Fraser Red Cranberry Wine
  • Ghost of the Bogs White Cranberry Wine

Seaside Pearl Winery (Abbotsford)

Seaside Pearl Farmgate Winery is a stunningly beautiful with views of green fields and a spectacular view of Mount Baker. But what it is the cute chapel tasting room that truly sets Seaside Pearl apart.

Owned and operated by Allison and David Zimmerman. You will find Allison playing hostess and personally pouring wine. Her welcoming hospitality will make you feel like you are simply visiting a friends large personal wine cellar. David spent years working in the mining industry. All the time dreaming of opening his own winery. Now you will find David managing all aspects of the wine-making process, caring for the vineyard, and leading tours.

Website: https://seasidepearlwinery.ca

Phone: 778 856 1312

Address: 5290 Olund Road, Abbotsford, BC, V4X 1V6

Distance from YVR Airport: 74 km; 66 min drive

Best time of year to visit: September for grape harvest

Recommended Wines: 2016 Interurban Cabernet Foch

Maan Farms (Abbotsford)

Between the fruit and grape winery with a tasting bar, a quick service restaurant, fruit and vegetable store, u-pick berries, goat petting zoo, kids’ playground, pumpkin patch, and Halloween haunted corn maze. There is not much you can’t do at Maan Farms and it will easily keep your whole busy family all day.

Although Maan Farms grows and ferments pinot noir, siegerrebe and a white blend from their own farm in the Fraser Valley, they are mostly known as an estate berry winery. They offer blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry rhubarb table wines for under $20 per 750 ml bottle, along with fortified blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry dessert wines for under $30 per 375 ml bottle. Each bottle of wine contains about 2 to 3 pounds of berries, creating a very full-bodied blackberry and blueberry wines that are often mistaken for grape wine. The strawberry and raspberry wines are aromatic and playful.

Located in Abbotsford BC on a farm owned by the Maan family for 3 generations. The farm was started in the in 1977 after the family’s now retried grandfather emigrated to Canada in the early 1970s. The first road side fruit stand was opened in 1982. Winery Manager, Gaurav Maan, started making fruit wines in 2013 with the help of French-trained consultant winemaker and distiller Laurent Lafuente. The family now farms about 80 acres and offers a wide range of agricultural tourism activities.

Website: https://www.maanfarms.com

Phone: 604 864 5723

Address: 790 McKenzie Road, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7N4

Distance from YVR Airport: 85 km; 80 min drive

Best time of year to visit: October for the pumpkin patch, haunted corn maze, and of course wine

Winery Tour

Visit the Fraser Valley Wineries with a winery tour. Take a tour bus from downtown Vancouver to 3 Fraser Valley Wineries. Enjoy free guided wine samples and learn about the Fraser Valley terroir. Book your winery tour here.

Nathan Griffiths Operations Manager

Nathan Griffiths is the Operations Manager for Lifty Life Hospitality. He has over a decade of experience managing small and medium-sized hospitality businesses across western Canada. Nathan has a unique ability to improve operational efficiency and profitability of every property he manages.