Thirsty? For those with a taste for fruit wines and ice wines, Richmond offers a couple of vintage winery experiences on self-guided wine tours.
Sanduz Estate Wines
Situated on a 10-acre berry farm, Sanduz Estate Wines (12791 Blundell Rd.) has been open since 2006, and is now BC's largest fruit winery. Emphasizing locally grown fruit flavours and others from the Thompson Okanagan in the interior of the province, the company makes both table wines and dessert wines. Popular choices include blueberry wine, cranberry wine, Granny Smith apple wine, and black currant wine. Using a commercial air dryer and industrial microwave, Sanduz has also done pioneering work with dried berry products. For instance, it's currently developing a line of dehydrated blueberry snacks that retain the antioxidants and nutrients of fresh blueberries.
The store and tasting room are open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
Blossom Winery
Since 2001, Blossom Winery (5491 Minoru Blvd, relocating to 16680 Westminster Hwy in April 2009) has specialized in ice wines certified by the VQA (Vinters Quality Alliance). About 30,000 people a year visit its tasting room, where they can view a video on the ice wine-making process. Canada is the only country in the world that has perfect conditions for making ice wine each and every year. Blossom Winery sources its ice wine grapes from Okanagan vineyards, and also offers aromatic blueberry and raspberry wines. At the 2005 Northwest Wine Summit, its "Eros Passion Fruit Wine" was selected as the best fruit wine.
The store and tasting room are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.