Visitor Information and FAQ
- What is the Winery’s relationship with Morningstar Farm & Little Qualicum Cheeseworks?
-
Morningstar Farm is home to MooBerry Winery and Little Qualicum Cheeseworks. MooBerry Winery is owned by Phil & Laura Charlebois and Clarke & Nancy Gourlay. Morningstar Farm and Little Qualicum Cheeseworks is owned by Clarke & Nancy Gourlay. The Gourlays’ and their 3 boys live on the farm.
- Do they have sweetness levels like grape wines?
-
Our wines vary in sweetness from 0’s to 4’s. So depending on the flavour the sweetness will vary.
- Do I need to chill the wines?
-
The fruit flavours come out more intensely when they are chilled.
- Do you have a signature wine?
-
Yes, Blackberry. We believe Blackberry is the signature wine of Vancouver Island.
- Does the wine age?
-
Fruit wine does get better with age, yet not to the extent grape wines do as fruit wines do not have the same chemical make-up that grape wine has. The acids and tannins in grape wine require more time to soften.
- How long can I keep it opened / unopened?
-
Un-corked wine should be resealed if not consumed immediately. If re-sealed with a vacuum sealer, the wine will keep for several days without oxidizing.
- What is the process of making the wine and how long does it take?
-
Basically all wine is made the same way. Yeast is added to the juice of some type of fruit and the yeast starts to use the sugar in the juice and produces 2 main by-products – CO2 & Alcohol. When all the sugar is consumed the yeast then dies. It is strained and filtered and then bottled. Our process usually takes 4-8 weeks from fruit to bottle.
- Where do you get the fruit from?
-
All of our fruit comes from BC. We always try to buy local fruit first.
Loca