Canada’s Okanagan: Wine Tour

For Canada Day long weekend, Billy and I went out to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. It was a last minute trip and we had one main goal: Fill up our new wine fridge. So we jumped in the car, made the 10 hour drive, and pitched up our tent. In 2 days, we managed to visit 11 wineries and came back with 14 bottles of wine. Some were great, some were average. Nevertheless, we picked up a bottle (or two) at each vineyard and had a story to tell from each one. Here are two great sites to check out when planning your trip – Kelowna Wine Trails and Bottleneck Drive.

We have both been reading up on the Canadian wine regions. In a nutshell, since law changed in Canada that allowed wine makers to import European vines, wine has improved tenfold – basically from “swamp water” to internationally competitive. Unfortunately, there is a high price to pay for 100% Canadian wines (or VQA). We were buying directly from the source so one would expect that there would be a bit of a price break right? Well that’s how it works in France and the rest of Europe. However, in Canada, it isn’t so simple.

The average price of the bottles we picked (and we tried to keep it cheap to moderate) was $27 CAD a bottle. Ouch! Why? Well, Canadian wine producers have to pay exorbitant amounts of money on land for the vineyard, start-up costs for machinery, and labour costs (a grape picker makes an average of $15/hr). One producer we spoke to saved for year and years. After years of hard work, he bought his vineyard and predicted that after 10 years of investment and work he would turn a profit. He’s laughing now, but it sure takes time!

Many wine makers were born into the business. Some came from Europe and have very old documents that have detailed the wine making process resulting from decades or even centuries of experimentation.

So, without further ado, here are the vineyards we went to and our brief review (complete with some photos!).

North Okanagan
Baccata Ridge
Impressions: This was first winery we met on the road; had a cute donkey in the yard. It’s a small vineyard but very homey. The vineyard is organic so the reds were very deep with quite a bit of tannins.

Summerland
Deep Creek
Impressions: Owned by a knowledgeable, but slightly arrogant, German man. He boasts wine that have been developed from ancient documents belonging to his family from the 1700’s. He sells his wine all by word of mouth and mentioned his bottles are flying out of the cellar, primarily being bought up by the Chinese and also selling for 500 Euros in France. Hmm…
Greata Ranch
Impressions: Beautiful location on the lake. Wines are light and fruity; the whites would be great for sipping on the patio on a hot day.
Okanagan Crush Pad
Impressions: Very modern building, leaning on the industrial side of decor. Beautiful, cozy patio to enjoy sipping wines from their state-of-the-art dispensing case (think pop dispenser for wine). If one is interested in making their own wines, but not investing in a vineyard, come to OCP. Here you can grow your own vines, process, bottle, and store your product for a fee. Ingenious.
Bonita’s
Impressions: This vineyard has a great restaurant, where we had the best meal of our trip. The location is beautiful and quiet, tucked away from the highway, down the valley, right beside the lake. While tasting wines here I ran into a former professor of mine from the U of A who taught me all about the Hapsburg monarchy. The wines were alright but still need some development. In our eyes, the best was their pinot noir.
Dirty Laundry
Impressions: There is a lot of hype about this winery because of a well executed marketing and advertising strategy. I enjoy a great campaign but in the end I was a bit let down by Dirty Laundry. The vineyard is located in a house that once was home to a laundry service located upstairs and a brothel and gambling joint downstairs. So the tasting room is littered with some ‘racy’ sex and wine products. There was a lot to taste but we walked away without any bottles and a claustrophobic feeling. Maybe next time..?
Silk Scarf
Impressions: A boutique winery that makes high quality and delicious wine. If you ask me, this is a gem that hasn’t yet been discovered and swarmed by the masses. I shouldn’t even be mentioning we went here because I want to keep it on the down low! We bought two bottles and were impressed by the owner’s knowledge and friendly manner. Delightful!

Thornhaven
Impressions: This is the winery that your classic rock loving parents would want to visit. It’s got a laid-back attitude and cool staff. We spoke to the owner and he was full of enthusiasm about the wine scene in Summerland and clearly loved his lifestyle. Originally from Fairview, AB he enjoys working with his family at the vineyard and the lack of mosquitos in the Okanagan. I was so impressed with the vibe of the winery that I can’t remember too much of the wine. Better open a bottle soon.

Lake Country – Kelowna

Arrowleaf
Impressions: A nice vineyard with some nice white wines. They have a beautiful estate, where I believe one could reserve a picnic table for an afternoon of wine and food. We found this place to be relaxing.

Grey Monk
Impressions: The oldest vineyard in the region. Very nice restaurant (but not as good as Bonita’s). This winery is a big stop on the wine tour road. It’s really busy and has a lot of a wines that are affordable, however they don’t measure up to some of the competition. Their premier label is supposed to be great but we never tried it at the tasting… or bought any bottles.
Ex Nihilo
Impressions: Beautiful showroom and art collection. The staff was very knowledgeable and talkative. We had an interesting conversation with our hostess about pairing wine with cheese, which ended up with us getting a special tasting with cheese that they had chosen for a wine pairing party they were throwing later in the evening. Ex Nihilo’s owners are crazy about the Rolling Stones and have partnered with them to make a wine which features the band’s famous logo.

For the most part, we bought white wines. This could have been due to the hot weather, but we both felt that the whites around the region had more personality and depth compared to the reds. For our next trip, we are eyeing up the highly touted Naramata Bench. There is also a wine festival in October we are planning to visit with Billy’s parents. Looking forward to introducing our Belgian family to Canadian wine!