Festina Lente Estate Winery (meadery)

Five things to know before you go.

1. It’s a winery, but there are no grapes. Festina Lente is licensed as an estate winery, but everything it makes is mead: wine fermented from honey instead of fruit. The honey comes from its own hives, and any extra flavours come from the farm or from farms within about 5 km. The house style is dry, and the winery likes to say honey wine is the white wine that ages like a red.

2. There are a lot of flavours. Around 35, according to the BC Food Directory and a 2023 WineTrails profile, and they change with the seasons. Fall brings things like pumpkin and cranberry, then a winter spiced mead. It’s worth a tasting even if you’ve never liked sweet mead, because most of these aren’t.

3. It’s a family farm, and it started as a hobby. Owners Bill and Teresa Townsley bought the five forested acres on 16 Avenue in 2010 and keep the bees themselves. The Aldergrove Star reported the meadery’s opening in 2017; a 2023 WineTrails profile counted five expansions by then, and the tasting room and patio grew again in 2021. Festina lente is Latin for “make haste slowly,” which suits a drink that takes this long to make. Teresa Townsley was elected a Township of Langley councillor in October 2026.

4. Weekends have free music. Live at the Hive runs every weekend from early May (it began May 2 in 2026), with the Travelling Tea Party food truck on weekends from April to mid-October. In July the farm hosts a Renaissance and fantasy faire (July 11–12 in 2026).

5. Bring the dog. It’s one of the few tasting rooms that welcomes both kids and dogs, as long as they behave.

Awards and recognition

• 2022 Langley Business Excellence Awards, finalist, Business of the Year (up to 24 employees), from the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce. Chamber announcement
• In its entry in the 2026 Circle Farm Tour guide, the winery says it was named one of the “Best Wineries to Visit” and had one of the “Best Wines of 2025” from Wines of Canada. We couldn’t find those lists on the awarding body’s own site, so we’re giving it as the winery describes it.

Not drinking? The winery doesn’t list non-alcoholic drinks, but on a summer weekend the free music, the food truck and the patio are reason enough to tag along.

Neighbours: Township 7 is just east on 16 Avenue, and The Fraser Valley Cider Company is about 2 km further east.

More: Langley wineries, cideries and meadery

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