After officially opening just in May of last year, Prohibition Vineyard had a successful year, to say the least.

“We sold out of all of our wine,” says owner Ashley Rice, who owns the boutique North Saanich winery with her husband, Mark. “We were seeing 100 people a day and we were even having to turn people away, telling them to check out other wineries and come back.”

But what made the Rice’s winery one to watch wasn’t just their notable wines. It was the fact that they stumbled on something that they didn’t realize the industry was missing.

Their 10 minutes of TikTok fame came serendipitously this past summer. It was a hot week, but lacking the right space or resources then and there for a patio, Ashley improvised: some new furniture, a roped-off area and a wine-slushie machine.

Suddenly, there were lineups of 50 people on weekends, which Ashley attributed to the social media influence of a couple UVic students.

“It just went crazy. Someone came in and said, ‘You’re really famous on TikTok right now.’ I was like, I don’t have TikTok; should I get TikTok?”

While she ultimately decided to stick with Instagram, she took away a powerful lesson.

“It really made me realize that we’ve been listening to the demographics of ‘wine drinkers are down, people aren’t drinking.’ And then I saw these huge influxes of people. I realized that, well, no, they just want an experience.”

Since that moment, Prohibition Vineyard has honed in on experiences. Chase Varnes, the incredible talent from American Idol who also performed at Sunfest, performed on their patio, visitors invited to bring blankets. “There was such a great vibe,” Ashley said.

Their 45-minute wine tasting also became an attraction, centred on storytelling. “Every single wine has a funny story,” Ashley said. That includes the “Holy Foch” – based on the colourful words from her husband when he first tried it.

Even the name Prohibition Vineyard is birthed out of story. It came from a night of wine drinking with past property owner Carol Wallace, and her stories of “massive parties” she used to have at the barn down below called The Dance Hall.

“People wanting to break up parties would drive around and try to figure out where this party was, because they could hear it but could never find it,” Ashley said.

That building, with hundred-year-old iron windows and chandeliers, is there to this day and will be transformed into the new tasting room coming in May, keeping the spirit of those hidden parties and the winery’s “hidden gem” appeal alive.

There was also the time when, three days before the Rice’s vineyard officially opened, one of their sheep had five babies – a one-in-a-million chance that gained them press coverage across the Island thanks to her husband, who she calls “the true marketer.”

“He was like, ‘Pen goes right there for visibility. Call the press, and you need to tell them to mention we’re opening.’”

Immersed in an experience

The Rices have come a long way since they first purchased the property, formerly 30-year-old Dragonfly Hill vineyard, from Carol in 2021. It started as a “romantic” idea, one that became far more work than Ashley – even with a farming background – had ever imagined, but also, far more rewarding. “I fell so deeply in love with it,” she said.

Long-time neighbours of the property, the Rices promised to continue Carol’s legacy, and Ashley worked the vineyards with her for close to six months. Later, Ashley described nights of obsessive research on how to grow grapes the right way, knowing even the soil would influence how they would ultimately taste.

Now big things are on the way. In May, they open their new tasting room plus manufacturing building in the property’s lower valley, plus they will expand the vineyard. (The Rice’s, owners of Coldwell Banker Oceanside Real Estate, also lease acres of vineyard on the Saanich Peninsula, and have grape contracts with a 30-acre property next to Zanatta in Cowichan Valley).

Their brand is 100 per cent Vancouver Island-grown, bolstered by the growing recognition for Vancouver Island grapes. Prominent is their Castel, a “big, red wine which we’re not known on the Island for making,” which Ashley says has excited sommeliers and sold out in 2025.

Their pinot noir – known as a challenging grape to grow on the Island – is also causing buzz and has been flagged as a potential medal winner, Ashley said. Champagne is also potentially on the horizon.

Prohibition’s momentum is growing: they produced 5,600 litres of their first vintage in 2023. In 2025, they made 30,000 litres, and now plan to eventually double that with the help of professional winemaker Liam Kidner, previously at Cherry Point Estate Winery and Spearhead, who was hired this year.

While Ashley said it is all “super exciting,” she says she is always asking, “What’s next?”

And for this boutique vineyard, asking that question keeps the story the heartbeat and helps them remain true to that valuable lesson:

“People don’t want to be just handed a glass of wine – they want to be immersed in an experience.”