We arrived at the winery just before they opened, but they were kind enough to let us come in and…read morelook around. What a wonderful spot--such a beautiful, quaint place. We happened to be there on such a beautiful day, which made the experience even more enjoyable. We ended up taking our seats in the gazebo, and our wine tasting guide invited us inside to check out the charcuterie boards they had prepared and wrapped in the fridge. They also offered homemade salmon pâté and olive tapenade as part of the selection. Once we were settled in and enjoying our boards, the tasting began. Our host was incredibly knowledgeable about both the wines and the winery itself. She was warm, attentive, and took excellent care of us throughout the experience. I've visited several wineries in Northern California, and this one was every bit as lovely. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing and memorable wine tasting experience.

Walking up you are surround by 18 acres of incredibly beautiful grape vines! It was unbelievably…read morebeautiful! I instantly knew that I had to stay for a tasting. As soon as we walked into Beaufort Vineyard and Estate. Maddie greeted us. She was very warm and welcoming! As you walk in the door you can see the wines being made. Which, makes you want to dive right into a tasting. The whole place inside was rustic and cute! I loved everything about it! We were told that we could sit wherever we wanted. I chose to sit outside. Maddie, guided us throughout our tasting. She was super sweet and very knowledgeable! I really enjoyed talking with her throughout my tasting. She was unbelievably passionate about Beaufort Vineyard and Estate. She was able to answer all of my questions which impressed me! I enjoyed Ortega, Borealis, Pinot Noir Rosé, and the Foch Nouveau for my tasting. Which, was about 1oz pours. They were all unique one of a kind wines that were bright, light, and Summery! You could taste that they were small batch wines that were artfully crafted. The ambiance outside was sublime! We had a view of the island and of the beautiful vines! A truly unforgettable experience that I'll take with me for the rest of my life. I would suggest this wonderful experience to anyone and everyone! I will continue to share my experiences and will tell people to come here! Beaufort Vineyard and Estate is Vancouver Island's first Certified Organic vineyard. This beautiful Estate sits on 18 acres. They have 18 different varieties of grapes growing. Which, receive on average only 700 sunlight hours. They produce small batch, handcrafted wines. The cool, coastal climate produces bright, balanced, light bodied white wines and fruit forward light bodied reds. They are also, the Furthest North Estate on the island! You simply must experience it for yourself!

Tried their white wine flights, none of them are cold enough. Even their most popular wine is just…read moremediocre.

Came here with a group of friends during a day trip to the Island from Powell River and I'm really…read moreglad we all stopped here at the 40 Knots Winery. The wine-tasting tour was excellent, and it sure helped that the different flavours of wine all tasted great. Staff are very friendly and welcoming especially to out of towners. Prices were reasonable. Would I return? Yeah. I definitely would.

We had a very pleasant experience checking out Coastal Black. The wine is amazing and the staff are…read moreincredibly nice. We also tried their cider which was so good too. We definitely recommend anyone in the area to check this neat winery out!

The sweet berry wines are so refreshing. I suggest getting a group and doing the tour. The dreamy…read moreowner gave us our tour and learning about berry wine is very interesting. Being on the farm was a homey feeling and they also offer food. This place would be ideal for taking friends from out of town. The wine tastings are sure to inspire a few purchases. The winery itself is a beautiful design. The front reminds me of a fairy tale with a large round door. The scenery is worth a visit. The tasting staff are friendly and warm and the wines sweet and cool. If you enjoy berry wines or wine in general try Coastal Black out. They also have annual functions if you look on the webpage. It is a family run local business so it is a great way to support local.

I have to say. I was thoroughly impressed with Jerry (or Gerry) as host and helping us with the…read moretasting. It's the end of the season, but he treated us like we were his best clients. We definitely will be back for their amazing products and phenomenal service. Thanks again Jerry! It made a great anniversary day out that much better!

From the owner: Delicious Dessert and Spectacular Sparkling wines, made from BC-grown fruits and berries read more

Mead is a type of wine made from fermented honey, water, and spices. It is best served cold on a…read moresunny patio overlooking a beautiful forest with the hives that provide the honey buzzing below. Oh! Wow! Middle Mountain Mead has just such a patio! A free mead tasting conducted by the meadery's owner is the best way to get introduced to this beverage. At Middle Mountain they create the best mead I've ever had. Some is mixed with green tea, others with cranberries. Even if you don't like mead, you'll love the view and experience. They also have a fantastic blackberry wine. It's like Port but not as sweet and thick. I am a fan of dry rose so I'm also into really dry, flavorful mead.If you're ever on Hornby, be sure to visit this place.

The only thing it's missing is a dancing Satyr playing the flute! It is a whimsical and magical…read moreplace that should be on the top of your list of places to visit on your first (or every) trip to Hornby. The scenery alone makes it worth the trip... especially if you're not into mead. The tastings are generous and the staff is friendly; there is no "tourist hostility" here. Sit down, close your eyes, and breathe in the scent of lavender and clean forest air. Enjoy a glass of the Magic Mead (it's the best, trust me), and slow down for a moment... which is really impossible NOT to do when you're up there. The only disappointment you'll experience here is when it's time to leave.

This is a very positive review of visiting the winery--best winery visit we've ever had--and also a…read morepositive review of the wine. I couldn't find them on Yelp, so for the first time I've added a business so I could review it. We came by as part of a weekend on Vancouver Island. It's 5-10 minutes off the road between Nanaimo and Tofino. Good thing we had time, because we happily stayed there a good bit longer than we'd expected! We learned a lot about wine and enjoyed drinking some of it. As we drove up one of the proprietors (Vaughan Chase, I believe) came down from working in the field and spent time with us in the small and low-tech tasting room. He brought out the current wines they have in stock and started a great conversation about wine and the making of wine that went on as we tried generous pours of 6 (7?) wines. Marketing-speak was nowhere in sight: the conversation was forthright, specific, as technical as we could handle, and he was very friendly. We learned a lot. He clearly loves doing this, and has a definite principled approach to making wine. My un-professional restatement is that they are geared toward staying close to what the grapes develop into and experimenting with what they have to give rather than processing them to get more standard results or using preservatives to get wines that will travel further but are less distinct. Using more traditional methods, they tend to have more "European" wines--elegant rather than muscular reds, for instance. The most interesting part of the tasting was when we had some merlot that was bottled using a common filtering method, and then some merlot from the same year that was unfiltered. The first merlot was good (along with the fruit it had an earthiness that I look for in merlots), but the second had much more depth, complexity and liveliness. It was a very effective illustration of how much even the bottling technique affects the product, and it was good. We are looking forward to decanting one of the unfiltered bottles we bought. Their approach isn't the only one to making wine, but I was really happy to have tried the results. We went away with as many bottles as we'd be able to carry on the ferry back to Vancouver after leaving our rental car on the island. In fact, I am currently enjoying a glass of their light, summery, not particularly sweet Gewurztraminer right now.

Although the winery is beautiful we recently had a problem with one of the products. When we drank…read morea bottle of Bacchus, a white wine, there were extremely large crystals in the bottle and in our glasses. We did not know what they were and were very frightened that we had ingested something toxic. When we contacted the winery it took them a month to respond, they came up and took our bottle when we were not present from our local business and told us it was potassium tartrate. This is a harmless substance but it affected the quality of the product since it was full of sharp sludge. The winery did not offer us any consolation or to even replace the one bottle of wine. In fact they refuse to even return our polite calls. When a business does not care what its consumers think about its products that is a sign of a poorly run business and makes me concerned about the safety and quality of its other products. I would think twice before purchasing wine from this producer.