Meaning of Name
Our name comes from one of the first grape varieties we produced - Pinot Gris.
In Austria and Hungary, this grape is called 'Grauar Mönch' hence the
translation to 'Gray Monk'.
The grape has a very distinctive blue-gray colored berry.
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Estate Winery
In the early 1980's, the BC provincial government defined three types of wineries that
were regulated under these separate categories:
Farm Winery - could only use their own grapes; required ten acres of land and had a
production limit of 5,000 gallons annually.
Estate Winery - first known as "cottage wineries", but soon changed, required 20 acres of l
and; could contract up to fifty per cent of what they owned; had a production limit of
30,000 gallons annually.
Commercial Winery - basically had no restrictions.
When Gray Monk was first started, they began as an Estate Winery as defined by the regulations
at that time.
Today, the rules have changed - there is no more distinction between a farm, estate or commercial
winery - wineries need only to have a license. However, Gray Monk chose to keep the name of Estate
Winery because of it's importance in their history.
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