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Patrick and Lee Murphy
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Vista D'oro Wine
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Patrick Murphy
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Patrick and Lee Murphy
Early agritourism consisted of hayrides, U-Pick berries and watching somne guy in a plaid shirt milk a cow, but as the interest in local food advanced, more sophisticated concepts like culinary tourism took hold. Producers, like Vista D’oro Farms & Winery, have embraced the need for more mature farm experiences and have been rewarded with visitors from around the globe.
With the on-site winery, artisan preserves and salsas, fruit and heirloom tomato sales, picnic lunches and a tasting room, it seems Patrick and Lee Murphy have found the ideal balance to attract that burgeoning adult crowd. The couple first heard the term ‘culinary tourism’, in the late ‘90s when they purchased a then-abandoned dairy farm in south Langley.
Once they bought the site, they built a house and, as Patrick explains, “I realized I didn’t want to go back to a corporate job.”
Patrick and Lee met Brent Warner, then the industry agri-tourism and marketing specialist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture, and asked what single crop the Murphy’s could grow to sustain a living.
Early agritourism consisted of hayrides, U-Pick berries and watching somne guy in a plaid shirt milk a cow, but as the interest in local food advanced, more sophisticated concepts like culinary tourism took hold. Producers, like Vista D’oro Farms & Winery, have embraced the need for more mature farm experiences and have been rewarded with visitors from around the globe.
With the on-site winery, artisan preserves and salsas, fruit and heirloom tomato sales, picnic lunches and a tasting room, it seems Patrick and Lee Murphy have found the ideal balance to attract that burgeoning adult crowd. The couple first heard the term ‘culinary tourism’, in the late ‘90s when they purchased a then-abandoned dairy farm in south Langley.
Once they bought the site, they built a house and, as Patrick explains, “I realized I didn’t want to go back to a corporate job.”
Patrick and Lee met Brent Warner, then the industry agri-tourism and marketing specialist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture, and asked what single crop the Murphy’s could grow to sustain a living.
“He [Warner] said, ‘In today’s world, it’s not possible’,” Patrick says. But as quickly as that bubble burst, new ideas formed. If one crop wasn’t enough, perhaps a number of crops would be.
Patrick has a passion for growing fruit trees and looked into apple, pear, cherry and plum varietals to fit the site’s climate while also delivering a healthy yield of fruit for culinary purposes.
He also maintains several century apple trees on the site and notes, “The winter keepers all taste totally different, these apples all go into my cider.”
The cider apples are only harvested as they start to fall. Patrick pointed out this sometimes means they hang through the first two or three freezes.
One apple variety Patrick sourced out was the Dutch Bell de Boskoop which produces huge cooking apples; perhaps why Dutch apple pie became so famous.
“Some of them [the apple trees] were hard to find,” Patrick said of the more than 20 varieties at Vista D’oro, like the flavorful Cox’s Orange Pippins.
“They are great for the growing conditions in the Fraser Valley. It didn’t take long until they produced over 600 pounds a tree. I planted a test patch and realized Galas and Fujis don’t do well here unless you’re going to be spraying every week and I don’t spray. I try to work with nature as much as I can.”
Lee took greenhouse classes at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and added cooking school lessons. She spent the first few years selling a number of types of herbs, heirloom tomatoes and jam at the local farmers’ market when Patrick said, “the light went on.”
“We rolled up the barbed wire and pushed back the blackberries,” he said. In 2002 the Vista D’oro name and plan for what the site is today took hold.
The heirloom tomatoes the Murphy’s had been growing soon took a greater portion of the 10-acre site. Fruit not available from their own trees for Lee’s fancy jams was sourced from Keremeos.
Now, on the flip side, the couple sells their best looking fruit and tomatoes.
“It took a lot of years to get to that place,” Patrick noted. “It’s probably one of the most rewarding things to be walking down Howe Street (in Vancouver) with a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes for some of the best restaurants.”
The remaining fruit goes into Lee’s fancy jams, salsas and pickled preserves. The business of artisan jams has grown so much that moms of school aged children put in shifts year round to create the products. This ensures enough product for the latest market – fancy food shows. They make creations like plum with star anise; pear and vanilla; and apple with bacon and scotch in The Preservatory at Vista D’oro.
Currently, 4.5 acres are planted with grape vines including three varieties of Alsation, Schoenberger, Siegerrebe and Ortega. There are test blocks of Pinot Gris and Leon Millot plus two acres of Marechal Foch. Patrick is expanding the grapes and has acquired vines from the plant health testing facility on Vancouver Island.
Coastal varietals are of particular interest. Patrick believes the Vancouver Island, Gulf Island and Fraser Valley wine producers should become a region together.
“We’re not big enough separately and we’re all not far from the growing influence of the ocean,” he said. “We’re all growing grapes in wet soil. So it would be a choice [in BC wine] of Okanagan or coastal grown. I’ve gotten quite a bit of positive feedback from the [Vancouver] Island on that idea.”
A similar regional collective is happening in Nova Scotia, he said, but added that it will be tough to get the concept through the BC Wine Advisory Board.
Early on in owning the property, Patrick and his friend Jerome made walnut wine from walnuts on the site based on the 1796 Dudicort tradition created by Jerome’s family. “We made a walnut wine and drank it all ourselves the first five years. Then we got a license to sell it,” he said. It’s still the farm’s best seller.
Patrick has found the sweet spot for small-scale vintners. “It’s the fun part at two to three thousand cases a year. At about five thousand cases you need infrastructure behind you.”
“It’s a tough gig,” he added. “It’s romantic, it’s fun, but it’s hard work. Five years ago, there was a grape shortage, but those prices are long gone. It’s sales from your winery [that smaller producers need].”
While Lee’s main push has been fancy preserves and Patrick’s love of wine making occupies his time, both share in ensuring their farm is a destination.
“People, when they come to Vancouver, want to do three things. They want to see Victoria, want to go to Whistler-Blackcomb and they want to walk the seawall, but by that fourth day, they want to do something else. We get a lot of people from conventions on that day,” Patrick said.
Vista D’oro has seen visitors from around the globe. Patrick noted Slovenia was hot for tourists this year and the U.S. continues to deliver a large number of visitors. There has even been interest from tour operators to package Vista D’oro into tours with airline carriers geared towards the South-East Asia region.
In May 2013 Vista D’oro combined forces with three other local wineries to establish the Campbell Valley Wine Route, just a 45 minute drive from Vancouver. As Patrick noted, it “Gives people an opportunity to visit the four local wineries. That’s what people want to see.”