Adventures on a Pale Blue Dot: Visit to Fort Berens Winery in Lillooet BC

Brian Fitzpatrick and I were on a mission to pick fresh tomatoes at the Old Airport Garden in Lillooet. We were hunting for accommodation for the night. In our pursuit of shelter, we met a representative of the Fort Berens Winery in the oddest combination of hotel lobby/beer and wine store.
The woman ( Georgia Colton ) showed us the various products on the shelf of the store and then invited us to stop by the next day for a tasting.
Brian had never been to a winery or a tasting...he was very happy to add that to our list of things to do in Lillooet the next day.
The next day after photographing rusty things, chatting to a saw mill owner, and picking veggies....we stopped in a the winery.

The winery itself is a small, intimate affair with a more fun and relaxed feel, than some other places offer up. The other people at the tasting were at ease and talkative, it felt like being amongst friends.Georgia was part sales person and part entertainer for the time we spent sampling the goods.

Brian sampled several types of white and must have thoroughly enjoyed them as he purchased two bottles. This would be his first ever purchase from a winery. This is assuming that we aren't going to be counting the home-made hooch that might have been horse-traded in Pemberton, back in the day.

I am a red kind of guy, so I tasted and bought one bottle of the Meritage wine.
( Meritage..a name made up by the wine industry...a mix of "heritage" and "merit"for better quality blended reds of a certain type ) I had to look that up.
Georgia double dog dared me to see if I could put it aside for 5 years and let it come into it's own ( age as gracefully as I do, hopefully )

Georgia Colton with two other customers. The guy on the right had a Tesla jacket. He said that he just ordered one of the company's new electric hot rod cars. The fella beside him ended up knowing Brian from the Pemberton days

Brian, on the right, at his first tasting ( invitational at that )

I don't know if I could hold off for five years, that just might be too much to ask.

Here's the side notes...
Don't get the wrong idea about me writing about wine and wineries. Brian and I were both loggers and construction workers in days gone by. We spent our entire lives with dirty hands and tired backs.

Brian was on a mission to bring farm fresh tomatoes back to his wife, Charisse. The winery stop was a very fun side tour. Georgia Colton made the visit very casual and laid back...no pretensions, no snobbery.

I don't know the fine details of properly tasting wine, but I do know that the Fort Berens wines were above average. In the future, when I spend extra dollars for a very good wine, this brand will be on my list...for these reasons...
1. I had a great time during the visit
2. Georgia and the other customers were very friendly and open.
3. The wine tastes very good, and when you spend hard earned money on a better quality vino...it's good to know that you won't be disappointed.