British Columbia Wines List

This list contains approximately 3200 wines and ciders that are produced in British Columbia.

The wines are listed by name or varietal, vintage, type of wine, and the winery or cidery that produces the wine. For some of the wines produced by Virtual wineries or cideries, the name of the producer is included when known.

The wine types used are; white wines, red wines, pink wines, red blended wines, white blended wines, late harvest wines, ice wines, and fortified wines, fruit wines, honey wines, ciders, and rice wines.

Red wines are wines made from red varietal grapes.

White wines are made from white varietals, but can be made from red varietal grapes.

Rose wines (or Blush wines) are wines that have a pinkish colour. For the wine to get a pinkish colour it would have to be made from a red wine grape but another way this could be achieved is by adding a splash of red wine to white wine. Mind you some people would not consider that a true Rose Wine.

To make a distinction in Fruit wines, they are either classed as table or a dessert wine. In general a table wine is a wine that contains 14% or less alcohol. If the alcohol content is higher than 14% the wine is classified as a desert wine. This also applies to Grape wines but these are not classified as such in general in this wine list.

If the wine is bubbly it is classified as a sparkling wine. There is no distinction made in how it is made to bubble or what is added to the wine.

Blended wines are made up of two or more varietals of grape. However if one of the varietals used in a blend is very small, it could be listed under either the white or red wine types in this list. Some well-known blends are named Bordeaux and Meritage.

Wines listed as Late Harvest Wines are listed as such if classified as this type of wine by its producer.

Ice wines are wines produced from Vitis vinifera varieties or Vidal Blanc when the grapes have been naturally frozen on the vine while the air temperature is -8 C or lower.

Fortified Wine is a wine made with the addition of some kind of spirit to boost the alcohol content of the wine.

Ciders are listed as Apple Cider or if made out of pear juice with no apple juice added as a Pear Cider. Many ciders are lightly carbonated by adding a bit of sugar just before bottling, but unless the producer names it a sparkling cider, it will not be listed under Sparkling Cider type. Ciders appear to be trapped between beer or being wine. It is not a beer and it is not a wine. Regular Cider usually has no more than 7% alcohol content. In most cases, if the alcohol content of the cider is higher than that it will be listed as a Fortified Cider.

Honey Wines (Mead) are made by fermenting honey with water and in most cases there is some kind of fruit or spice added.

Rice Wines (Sake). These wines are made from rice. Just like Ciders they are not wines technically speaking but they have the look and taste of wine.

All the above pertains to how the wines are listed in our list and yes there are many more terms that could have been used and different ways wines can be classified and listed.