The Cabernet Sauvignon made the best match with dinner. The Barbera and Pinot Noir were the wines I most wanted to taste again.

A truly diverse lineup.

That distinction became the story of a recent dinner at Vancouver’s Blue Water Café, where a selection of Victorian wines gave us plenty to discuss beyond Australia’s reputation for big reds. There was Shiraz, certainly, and very good Shiraz. But some of the evening’s most persuasive bottles came from elsewhere in the state’s considerable repertoire.

With our terrific hosts Stephanie Duboudin, Scott Burton & Mildred Ruiz Leal.

Hosting were Wine Victoria CEO Stephanie Duboudin, GM exports Scott Burton and Mildred Ruiz Leal, Trade Manager, Consumer Goods, with the Government of Victoria. Guests ordered from the restaurant’s menu, tasting successive flights alongside their chosen dishes. It was a useful way to encounter the wines: with dinner, rather than as a succession of isolated samples.

Asked what misconception she most wanted Canadians to reconsider, Duboudin pointed to the assumption that Victorian wines share a broadly similar style, particularly the bold Shiraz many consumers associate with Australia.

By the time we reached the Pinot Noir, that assumption was long gone.

2025 Innocent Bystander Pinot Gris.

We began with oysters and two fresh, inviting whites: the 2026 Redbank Pinot Grigio from the King Valley and the 2025 Innocent Bystander Pinot Gris. At a price point around $24, they made an appealing introduction without requiring a special-occasion budget.

The King Valley’s Italian influence helps explain the presence of Pinot Grigio, but another Italian variety would make a stronger impression later.

First came Chardonnay with sushi: a 2024 Dilworth & Allain from Mount Alexander and the 2023 Yeringberg from the Yarra Valley. Both deserved attention as serious examples of Victorian Chardonnay, with the pairing giving us a chance to consider them beyond the usual roast-chicken framework.

2023 Yeringberg Chardonnay.

Yeringberg also supplied some historical perspective. Established in 1863 and still in the de Pury family, the estate now has Sandra de Pury making its wines. Alongside the more recently established Dilworth & Allain, it demonstrated how much of Victoria’s appeal comes from the coexistence of longstanding family estates and newer producers.

The Pinot Noir flight brought the regional differences into sharper focus. A 2024 wine from South Gippsland appeared alongside the 2024 Dexter from the Mornington Peninsula, paired with sablefish. These are neighbouring parts of Victoria, yet the wines were distinctly different.

The Pinot Noir flight.

Dexter was my preference, and one of the evening’s standouts. Mornington’s maritime setting is central to its reputation for Pinot Noir; here was a bottle worth seeking out on its own merits, regardless of how familiar the region might be. At approximately $65, it also made a convincing argument for looking beyond the most heavily pursued Pinot addresses.

The 2025 Foreign Friends Barbera from the King Valley was the evening’s most unexpected pleasure.

2025 Foreign Friends Barbera.

Foreign Friends brings together sisters Leila and Crystal Davis and their friend Juliette Menneteau, drawing on experience in winemaking, marketing and wine distribution. Their Barbera offered another reason to pay attention to the King Valley’s Italian varieties.

It was a lovely wine, but its place in the lineup mattered too. Between the familiar attractions of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz, it invited us to follow a less predictable route through Victoria. It became one of the two bottles, along with Dexter, that stayed most clearly in my memory.

The 2021 Buller Wines Balladeer Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon earned a different distinction. With beef tenderloin, it delivered my favourite pairing of the night. For all the interest in discovering unfamiliar varieties, there remains considerable satisfaction in a familiar combination done well.

The Shiraz flight.

The Shiraz flight paired the 2022 Best’s Bin No. 1 with the 2023 Heathcote Estate Single Vineyard. Best’s long history in Great Western provided one reference point; Heathcote Estate, planted in 1999, provided another.

Burton suggested that Heathcote Estate often escapes the attention it deserves. On this showing, I agreed. It was also among the wines that reinforced my impression of the evening’s value.

For Duboudin, Canada is a complex market with considerable potential. While provincial buying systems and regulations can be challenging to navigate, the absence of American wines from many liquor store shelves gives Victorian producers an opening to connect with Canadians looking for alternatives.

Her case went beyond shelf space. She sees an affinity between Canadian and Victorian dining cultures, including the substantial influence of Asian cuisines and an appetite for wines that work comfortably with food.

Blue Water’s signature sablefish.

At Blue Water Café, that connection was easy to understand. Mussels, sushi, sablefish and beef each brought a different part of the selection into focus.

When asked to choose one bottle to introduce Canadian wine lovers to Victoria, Duboudin nominated Giant Steps Chardonnay, praising Melanie Chester’s work and the producer’s single-vineyard program. It was a recommendation we could readily endorse as Giant Steps is already a regular purchase in our house.

After this dinner, we have a longer shopping list. Dexter Pinot Noir and Foreign Friends Barbera are near the top, with Buller Cabernet reserved for the next beef tenderloin. That seems a more useful measure of the evening than any broad claim about diversity: specific wines we want to buy, and good reasons to open them.