Our Story • Chaberton Estate Winery
Our Story
The history of Chaberton Estate Winery dates back to 1975 when our founders, Claude and Inge Violet sold their winery and vineyard in France and decided to start their next chapter in the “New World”.
Finding the perfect spot.
After visiting California, Ontario, and the Okanagan of British Columbia, the Violets felt that they would be able to provide their customers with better service by being located in what is now the Metro Vancouver area. Their extensive research proved that the terroir in South Langley was similar to that of some of the best wineries in Northern France, making it the ideal place to grow a range of different cool weather grapes.
Early experimentation.
In the beginning, the Violets started out by experimenting with numerous grape varietals to find out which ones would be best suited for growing in the Fraser Valley climate. After years of experimenting, they began planting their new vineyard in earnest in the mid 1980s.
First year of production.
In 1991, their first year as a Farm Gate winery, the Violets produced 3,000 cases of wine.
Here we are today.
Today, Chaberton Estate Winery produces over 50,000 cases of wine a year, made not only from grapes grown in our vineyard but also from grapes grown in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys.
After owning and running the winery and vineyard for over 25 years, the Violets decided to retire, selling the winery to Anthony Cheng and Eugene Kwan. Anthony is a business executive who resides in Hong Kong and has had business interests in Vancouver for over 30 years. As a connoisseur of fine wines, Anthony is instrumental in overseeing the blending and finishing of our wines. Eugene is a business executive and retired lawyer who was born in Shanghai but grew up in Vancouver, graduating from UBC. Eugene is actively involved in the wine industry and is a former member of the Wine Industry Advisory Committee.