We are very busy at this time as people try to get their wines bottled before the holidays. It is a good idea to plan ahead and book your appointments early.

The new white wines (Chilean Sauvignon Blanc and Australian Traminer Riesling) are receiving great reviews from our customers.

We wish you and your family a very happy season.

May Palmer

Our new website is now up and running. We have live update information from Winexpert and ourselves. You can search by wine style and type and there is a lot of great information available to you. On your invoice you will now see a number specific to your account. You can enter this number and see your wine history, book appointments, see where your wine is and ask questions from the comfort of your computer. We will all need a bit of patience as we all learn what we can do. You may start to get e-mails letting you know your wine is ready or for reminders of appointments. Also for those people interested in oak barrel ageing of their wines we plan to develop a list of interested customers so that we can send regular updates as to which wines we are barrel ageing.

Lots of people are now placing their reservations for the limited edition wines. Don't forget to order yours. The selection this year is outstanding and Pat and I will certainly be rebuilding our celler.

We are really enjoying having the Tzouhalem Spinners and Weavers show in The Loft Art Gallery. Members of the group are here every day to talk to people about their work. The group is planning live demonstrations November 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th. View the video on the website and come in to check out their beautiful work.

One of the priviedges from being a Rotarian is that you get to hear about some great projects that are being done around the world. This week we heard briefly from Richard Calverley who has just returned from Ethiopia where he and other Rotarians were dsitributing polio shots to children as part of Rotary's polio erradication project. (Did you know The Bill Gates Foundation has donated over 350 Million to support this project) We also heard from a teacher from Lester Pearson school who has been involved in a girls school in Malawi. It is humbling to hear about these projects and know the difference our efforts can make.

This year we roasted a whole pig and showed the movie “Flawless”. We run these nights as fundraisers for the South Cowichan Rotary Club. With the grate bar-b-cue built by Helmut Eckhardt and a wonderful tasting pig from Cowichan Valley Meat Market and Quist Farms.

Funds were raised to purchase a “Shelter Box” and we managed to raise enough to purchase 1 ½ boxes. These boxes are filled with tents and equipment to look after a family of 10 in the case of a disaster. South Cowichan Rotary has purchased more than 47 of these so far.

Thousands of these Shelter Boxes have been distributed throughout the world to many disasters over the last few years. For info check out www.shelterbox.ca This site has short videos and information on the program and the deployment to date. 

We charged $35 per person and the group enjoyed appetizers, wine, pig roast and dessert. It was so well received we have already started planning next years. One thing that made this year so special was the support we received from Dave Quist who along with Calvin came to the event with platters of spiced sausages and then helped us carve the pig. This was above and beyond and we really appreciate their community spirit. The pig roaster that we have built is available for rent from South Cowichan Rotary check with Peter at the store if you are interested in holding your own pig roast.

See the other local Rotary events available at www.clubrunner.ca/southcowichan/

This year we had the support of Thrifty’s in supplying the food. Clay Brown and his Japanese exchange student worked the Bar-b-cue for the early shift. Chris Gale from United Way slaved as cook for the whole 4.5 hours and added a fun element for the whole event. Thanks to this support we were able to raise $475.69 for the United Way this year. We met some wonderful people and had a great day.