Robert's Report

Bob Bell


Barbara and Bob Bell

Twenty five years ago we began boasting about Canada's wines and our passionate owners, vineyard managers and winemakers keep proving how right we were and how bright the future is..

Yes its been twenty - years ! It was late fall a few weeks after returning from our honeymoon in Napa Valley we found our shelf's selecting wine at our local store. I picked up a pamphlet, I do not recall the name. It listed Canadian wineries. My wife asked me what I was reading and she quickly suggested I do a website on wines. A fantastic idea.

I began by learning how to create a website; which was started on one of those free sites. Back then we called the site Wines of the World; having no idea just how big this topic was.

When we realized the pamphlet ,we started with listed, only the wineries that were retailed in the Government store and there was a whole new world of wines out there the site was changed to Wines of Canada. Thus a twenty year passion of maintaining a website and enjoying Canada's greatest wines.



Our original subtitle was called Challenging the Word. The full titled been


Wines of Canada
Challenging the world

Information about the wineries of Canada was not that easy to find. There were few websites in those day and only two that even mentioned Canada's wineries. In time I found Tony Aspler's book Vintage Canada. Followed by the book The World of Canadian Wines by John Schreiner. I began sending out e-mails to all the wineries requesting information. Only a few responded.

Having the wineries aid and assists over the years has always been a challenge. Some responded quickly with little information, other supplied a great deal of information, and others have never responded. But I keep trying.

We have visited numerous wineries ( not as many or as often as we would like as our budget often says no). At first almost no one cared that we had a website on Canada's wines. Respect grew slowly but respect is something you earn. We write the stories of our trips and publish them. We write about all our visits and wine tastings. The website grew. We had special features and the website grew even more popular.

Over the years John Schreiner has been a strong supporter, providing information and moral support.
Including autographed copies of his numerous books. We also appreciate the sponsorship of a few wineries, some B&Bs and a few individuals.

As the years went by and Canada exploded on the worlds stage finally achieving her due for her wines. We saw a major growth in the number of wineries in Canada. Although www.winesofcanada.com was suppose to be a hobby I find myself working 6 to 10 hours a day seven day a week on the site. We removed the subtitle as Canada no longer was little guy struggling to get noticed in the world of Wine. Our wine industry was equal or better than other major wine producing countries(Icewine comes to mind).

I am grateful for the help and support of my wife Barbara and the contributions of Fred and Sue Couch and Dee Newman. We also receive support from Okanagan MP Dan Albus.

In the first five years we thought 10 to 15 hits a day was fantastic. Today we consider that to be a slow thirty minutes. People visit from all over the world. My e-mail box is full almost daily. We get invited to most of the major media events. I never thought one day I could call myself Media.

I like to think I have helped promote Canada's wine industry and our great country..

We feature a strong Social media presence. You can find us on Facebook. Twitter @winesofcanada and our blog.

A great big thank you to all the wineries that took the time to send us information.

Blog ~ ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ go fund Me

Bob Bell

Thank you to all the wineries, wine associated people, advertisers who have helped to support www.winesofcanada.com

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