Category: Okanagan

Here in British Columbia, we love our local wines. But a question always lingers in the minds of serious wine lovers: how do our favourites truly stack up against the world’s established benchmarks? To try to answer that question, I attended the seven stars Masterclass hosted by Township 7 Vineyards & Winery who are celebrating 25 years of producing sparkling…

My last winery visit while I was staying in the Osoyoos area was the La Stella Winery.  I met with tasting room manager, Wade Martin, as he poured me their recent wine releases and discussed wines in general.  Their winery like other Okanagan wineries was affected by the 2024 winter blast.  Out of 70 acres of planted vines, they were…

Vanessa Vineyard, located in the Similkameen Valley, may not be a well-known winery to many, but it should.  Winemaker, Howard Soon, joined Vanessa in 2017 after retiring from Sandhill Wines.  He has won over 100 awards for the wines he has crafted and has received the Order of Canada.  Recently there was the 2025 Top 50 BC Wine awards and…

I had a wonderful visit at Hester Creek Estate Winery in Oliver, where head winemaker, Mark Hopley, took me behind the scenes to view the working harvest in the winery, to try tank samples, as well as a few finished wines.  Here are a few of the things that Mark and I spoke about. The 2025 Harvest: A Year of…

If you have not heard of After 93 Vineyards & Estate Winery, you are not alone.  It was also new to me.  But, it is owned by the same family that operates Bordertown Vineyards & Estate Winery in Osoyoos, BC.  In 1993, the Gill family embarked on a journey to Canada with the aspiration of forging a brighter future.  In…

If you visit Osoyoos and stay at the Spirit Ridge Resort or visit the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, you will drive past Adega on 45th Estate Winery.  The winery and tasting room is at the top of a hill slope and gives you a wonderful view of Osoyoos.  The winery was recently taken over by Gate 22 Winery, which has…

I’ve been tasting a shipment of wines from Bordertown Vineyards & Estate Winery at home in Vancouver, but since I was in Osoyoos, I thought I would visit the winery and taste a few of the wines that were not sent to me.  I tried two white wines and two red wines.  Let me tell you about them. My Wine…

Did you know that Nk’Mip Cellars is North America’s first Indigenous-owned winery?  An enterprise of the Osoyoos Indian Band, the winery’s core identity is linked to the land, its Syilx heritage, and a mission to express its culture through internationally award-winning wines. The winery’s mission is to express its cultural identity and history in every aspect of its operation and…

Moon Curser Vineyards in the south Okanagan, Osoyoos specifically, is well-known for their big red wines.  I recently visited the winery and tried four red wines and one white wine.  Moon Curser was unfortunately affected by the 2024 winter cold snap, so lost some of their vines.  As such, they brought in some grapes from Washington state to help make…

This week we had a trade event featuring the latest BC white wines, many from 2024, as well as some red wines.  In 2024 we had a terrible winter freeze that killed most of the grape vines in the interior of BC, so BC wineries were given permission from the BC government to source grapes from outside BC.  Many winemakers…