Wine & Islands Cruise with Maple Leaf Adventures and TT Wine Explorer

British Columbia’s first wine cruise to launch this fall

Wine cruises exist in many regions — from barge explorations of Burgundy to small ships in Oregon and California. Now, as British Columbia is coming of age as a wine destination, it’s got its first wine cruise.

Launching this October, this boutique-sized, 5-day journey explores British Columbia’s wines, and the people and natural world that creates them. The trip includes plenty of time exploring little-known gems from the mediterranean-style western islands to award-winning reds from the semi-desert Okanagan and Similkameen regions.

Operated aboard award-winning operator Maple Leaf Adventures’ new luxury catamaran, this trip goes beyond the standard wine tour to include hidden treasures — great wines, off-the-beaten-track islands and wineries to explore, local harvest cuisine, and interesting people behind the wines. The focus is on access to remote locations, and to wines and people that cannot be reached any other way.

Explore the breadth of BC wine, its people and place through this special tasting, culinary, culture and nature adventure. Guided by our on-board experts, as well as other wine industry leaders and pioneers, each day you’ll learn about and taste the best wines from BC’s distinct wine regions.

From geology and philosophy, to aroma, construction and the pairing meals our chef creates, this is a deep journey into what shapes our wine. Augmenting the wine exploration, we’ll also take in the region’s spectacular nature with naturalist guides, as we island-hop the Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands region, anchoring in remote locations inaccessible by any other means.

Culinary Experts: Wines & Islands

Connecting with our coast takes all five senses. Our naturalists help you learn about the flora and fauna through sound and sight. Our captains and mates take you to new places immersing you in the land and water through touch. But it is our culinary experts whose job it is to connect you to the geography of the place through smell and taste. From geology and philosophy, to aroma, construction and the pairing meals our chef creates, this is a deep journey into what shapes our wine with the best wines from BC’s distinct wine regions. For the first time, Maple Leaf Adventures is proud to offer our Wines & Islands itinerary; a culinary tasting cruise aboard MV Cascadia this October.

Wine Guide: Tania Tomaszewska:

For Tania, wine is not just a social elixir that can connect us all, but an exciting vehicle through which we can travel to places, share ideas, and experience history, the arts, science and cultures. Tania’s background is in international relations, humanities, law, and wine. Tania makes it her business to explore all the BC wine she can, but one of her go-to grapes is Pinot Noir — it’s fantastically food-friendly and can beautifully express a sense of place.

Lead Chef: Jonathan Carmel

Jonathan is an accomplished chef who has designed and cooked meals for private clients around the world, in his own restaurant along the French Riveria, to fine dining at a prestigious heli-skiing resort, and along the coast aboard our ship Cascadia. For the past season, Jonathan has worked as Cascadia’s head chef, bringing an elite level of creativity and flavour to our floating table. Jonathan goes on a week-long camping trip in the Okanagan each summer to get to know the best of BC wines. His favourite wines are Burrowing Owl’s Shiraz and Meritage, and his favourite meal to prepare is a duck confit with homemade gnocchi, mushroom and asparagus, honey mustard, truffle oil and parmesan.

Trip Details

Wines & Islands, Oct 28-Nov 1, 2019

Salish Sea, Sidney to Sidney

Cabins starting at $3,980 CAD / person all inclusive before tax

Sample itinerary

The entire trip is designed to give you special experiences not available to the general public. The ethic is the same approach as our Craft Beer Cruise (going on its 14th season), but wholly customized to BC’s wine regions and winemaking ethic.

2019 guide is Tania Tomaszewska. Tania is passionate about travel and stories about wine. For her, a glass of wine is not only a social elixir that can connect us all, but an exciting vehicle through which we can travel to places, share ideas, and experience history, the arts, science and cultures.