Vancouver Island is home to a growing number of wineries and vineyards, and the winemaking industry in general on the Island has been steadily improving. As many new players enter the market, one of the pioneering winemaking families in the Cowichan Valley is expanding its line of grape-related products. Giordano Venturi and Marilyn Schulze moved to the Cowichan Valley in 1987 and since then they and Marilyn’s daughter Michelle have become well-known for wines grown from grapes that are carefully selected for their unique microclimate and terroir. They are experts at blending these grapes, so you don’t often find wines made from single varietals at Venturi-Schulze, but you do get some great names for the blends, such as Hens and Chicks, Brandenburg Number 3, and even Fear of Flying.
So while they don’t really stand on tradition with the names on their wines, but they are very strictly traditional when it comes to growing grapes and making wines that have absolutely no artificial additives or pesticides. And their balsamic vinegar is made according to the Italian tradition established hundreds of years ago in north central Italy, places like Modena and Reggio Emilia. True balsamic vinegar is made from grape must reduced over an open fire, then aged for years and years in a series of special barrels made from different kinds of wood. I spoke with Marilyn Schulze inside the building that house
s all of their imported vinegar barrels.
The story of the vinegar starts even before Marilyn and Giordano met, when he was living in Coquitlam, about 1970, a new immigrant from Italy who decided he wanted to make balsamic vinegar, not exactly a hobby you would expect to undertake in the Lower Mainland of BC. "But he bought grapes, and made some vinegar, but it really wasn't that good until he went back to Italy and brought some authentic vinegar to use as a 'mother'. When we got together and blended our families from our pre
vious marriages and had our own daughter, we started a barrel every year for each of them, and so we had the family series."
A bottle of V-S balsamic vinegar, 250 millilitres, costs about 50 dollars when you buy it directly from the Vineyard. But I firmly believe it's worth it. The flavour is absolutely amazing, and so much labour goes into growing the grapes, then there is the cost of the barrels, and the time it takes before you have an authentic balsamic vinegar you can bottle, which is at least 4 to 6 years.
Those ‘authentic’ balsamic vinegars you can buy for 5 dollars a bottle at the supermarket these days are very industrial products that are made in Italy, according to standards, but the grapes are not organically grown, they could make it overnight by quickly souring an alcohol, and then colourings, sugars and flavours are added. NOT a traditional method.
Another Venturi-Schulze product that’s not quite so expensive is verjus, only 12 dollars for a 375 mil bottle and this is one I haven’t had as much experience with, but verjus literally translates from the French as green juice. Marilyn told me its history goes back to medieval times: "In areas where people didn't have access to souring agents like lemon juice, they would take these unripe green grapes and crush them for the juice, which they could then use in their cooking. In our vineyard we thin out a lot of unripe grapes and it seemed such a shame to just let them fall to the ground, so we started to collect them and crush them to make our own verjus, which we pasteurize and bottle."
You can add verjus to cocktails, or just to soda water for a nice little spritzer, Marilyn gave me a taste of a sorbet made with the verjus and it was tart, sweet and refreshing all at the same time…you can also deglaze a pan with it to make your sauces, among other uses. If you want more info on the Venturi-Schulze products just visit their website. They're located just off the Transcanada Highway on the first right turn you can make after the exit for Cowichan Bay/Cobble Hill. Make sure you call ahead to find out if they will be open when you visit, as they like to spend as much time as possible working in the vineyard. But they are constructing a brand new wine shop, which will make a great addition to their property.
