When in Canada’s wine capital… Part 1

Orderly rows of grapevines blanket the rolling foothills around us, their stripes following the earth’s curves. Surrounded by the highest density of wineries in Canada, we felt duty-bound to embark on an ambitious program of wine-tasting during our winter stay in Osoyoos, B.C.

Over the years, we’ve sporadically tasted the wares at wineries in Portugal, Spain, France, New Zealand, California, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario. We’ve even hosted wine-tasting parties ourselves. But in between these events, we forget the details. Now, in a place where we see vineyards out our windows, we can concentrate on learning, tasting, and comparing wines over seven months.

Let me back up that density claim with some numbers (approximate; they vary by year):

• Ontario has 183 wineries, and its Niagara region has about 101 wineries spread across 13,600 acres of vineyards, making it the largest wine-producing region in Canada.
• British Columbia has 224 wineries, and its Okanagan Valley has 185 wineries in just 8,830 acres, giving it the highest density of wineries.
• The small town of Oliver, just up the road from us, claims the title of “Wine Capital of Canada” because it has 3,543 acres planted in vines, and about 40 wineries.

For us, being able to walk or cycle to half a dozen wineries is a treat. Jump in our van, and we can drive to any of 50 wineries within 20 minutes, or get to any of the Okanagan’s 185 wineries, stretching from here to the far north end of the valley, within 2.5 hours. We’ve never lived in a place like this before!

Sampling the wares, however, takes considerably longer. We’ve spread out our wine-tasting ventures for several reasons: cost (we always buy a few bottles), confusion (sample too many in one day and you can’t recall which was which), and Covid (many wineries have limited or closed their tasting-room hours).

Where do we start?

“In the 1980s, a wine tourist could conceivably visit every winery in the [Okanagan] valley in a single day,” said Luke Whittall in his book Valleys of Wine: A Taste of British Columbia’s Wine History. Now, it’s days, weeks or, in our case, months.

I began by searching out the award winners, which didn’t help. Just about every winery claims some sort of award. Some wineries had closed their tasting rooms due to Covid, which narrowed the list a bit. Crossing off dumb winery names helped too (Dirty Laundry? Eww.) As October gave way to the winter months, more wineries began closing for the season, while others limited their tasting hours.

We began with wineries closest to Osoyoos, then expanded our wine-tasting education northward. If you don’t know much about wine but want to learn more, the Okanagan is an approachable place to start. Most wine-tasting hosts happily share their knowledge and answer the most basic questions with a friendly smile. We have not encountered any wine snobs.

So far, we’ve visited 13 wineries. Here are our five nearby favourites.

Nk’Mip Cellars

On a sunny January day, with a sprinkling of snow atop the mountains but warmth below, we walked up to Nk’Mip Cellars on a trail through the vineyard for our second wine-tasting experience there. Like our first visit in October, we had a hard time choosing which wines to buy.

Nk’Mip (pronounced ‘INK-ah-meep’) Cellars is the first indigenous-owned winery in North America and its development illustrates the history of winemaking in the Okanagan Valley.

Father Charles Pandosy planted the first grapes in the Okanagan in 1859. He turned them into sacramental wine for the Oblate Mission he established in Kelowna. However, grape-growing and winemaking didn’t develop much further until after 1920, when Prohibition ended and the dry desert valley lands were irrigated.  

The first wineries used the Vitis labrusca family of grapes, which produced big crops and were considered the best grapes to survive Canada’s winters.

“The main drawback to labrusca grapes was that their intense, less-than-desirable flavours were reinforced when made into wine,” said Whittall in Valleys of Wine (which offers a deep dive into the long, convoluted history of B.C. winemaking.) Fortifying the wines masked the icky labrusca flavours.

As the decades progressed, wineries experimented with French hybrid grapes, although the wine quality wasn’t much better than labrusca wines. That’s when the Osoyoos Indian Band decided to get in the game. They began growing hybrid grapes in 1968 on their land, which covers a huge swath of the southern Okanagan, and sold them to wine-makers, according to the Nk’Mip winery information panels.

‘Quantity over quality’ describes the B.C. wine industry in 1989, when the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect and marked an abrupt turning point for winemakers. To compete with Californian wines, they realized they’d have to up their quality game. Along with most other vineyards, the Osoyoos Indian Band ripped out their hybrid vines and replanted with European Vitis vinifera vines.

In the 1990s, wineries learned how to produce high-quality wines. Smaller, estate and family-owned wineries began popping up all over the valley, surpassing the much larger commercial wineries that had dominated until then. The Osoyoos Indian Band finally realized its dream of opening a winery: Nk’Mip Cellars opened in 2002. Now, 24 percent of all B.C. grapes are grown on band land.

Friendly, chatty hosts ensured a pleasant tasting experience at both visits. Janie recommended restaurants, other wineries, and the Osoyoos Loop Facebook group for local happenings. Alisha explained that Nk’Mip ships only to Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia; it’s technically illegal to ship to other provinces, such as Ontario.

“We’re still fighting it,” she said. “We’re following the rules. We wish we could [ship to Ontario].” However, the LCBO carries some Nk’Mip wines.

We went home with:

• 2019 Pinot Blanc. A new discovery for me; I’m not sure I’ve ever bought a pinot blanc before. An easy drinking white that we both enjoyed.  
• 2018 Merlot. Bill always gravitates toward merlots. He bought this medium-bodied one after both our tastings. “What’s wrong with that?” he said. “I like it.”
• 2019 Q^wam Q^wmt Chardonnay. Q^wam Q^wmt (pronounced kw-em kw-empt) in the Osoyoos Indian Band’s Okanagan language means ‘achieving excellence’ and points to estate wines produced in limited quantities from the best grapes. I’ve always loved chardonnays and this lightly oaked one deserves the Q^wam Q^wmt label.

Other notables included the full-tasting Q^wam Q^wmt Riesling and the 2019 Mer’r’iym (pronounced mur’-eem and means ‘marriage’) White Meritage, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. This one surprised me since I’m not usually a Sauvignon Blanc fan.

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards

Tinhorn Creek, overlooking an historic gold mine and creek of the same name, was the first Canadian winery to be certified as carbon neutral. Farm vehicles run on biodiesel; 85 percent of bottles are lightweight glass, which uses less fuel to ship; and the move from overhead to drip irrigation saves water as well as the energy needed to run pumps.

Judy started our tasting with a Gewurtztraminer, describing its floral notes. “I think it smells like roses,” she said.

I should admit that I find it difficult to distinguish the different aromas and tastes in wine. Is that lychee? Black currant? Grass? Vanilla? Candied ginger? What does minerality mean? As an oaky-Chardonnay lover, I can successfully judge how oaky a wine is, as well as sweet versus dry. But the aromas and tastes challenge me. After several months of wine-tasting in the Okanagan, I’m getting better: I can now spot a citrusy flavour. Usually, though, I rely on the host to describe the aromas and tastes and then try to pick them out myself.

With his reduced ability to smell anything, Bill dismisses that level of detail. “You either like it or you don’t.” Still, I keep trying.

We bought:

• 2018 Gewurztraminer. I bought one from the last case of 2018s and enjoyed it with my Christmas turkey dinner.  
• 2017 Oldfield Reserve Merlot. Regardless of the black cherry, black licorice, and black currant it’s supposed to have, Bill just likes merlots.

Tinhorn Creek wines are available through MyWineCanada.com, an online ordering system that will ship across provincial borders – a controversial subject mired in grey bureaucratic aromas. When we lived in Ontario, we had wine shipped to us regularly from CedarCreek Estate Winery in Kelowna, B.C. and other wineries do the same. Some arrives by Canada Post and some by ATS Healthcare.

So, I emailed MyWineCanada to ask how that worked, since provinces like Ontario have barriers to shipping from B.C. despite federal law that allows it.

“Our philosophy has always been to support the spirit of the federal law Bill C-311, which was passed in 2012 and which allows the interprovincial shipment of wine,” explained Stephanie at MyWineCanada. “However it is up to the purview of each winery that we work with as to where, and how, they will ship their wine.”

My conclusion: Canada is byzantine when it comes to wine shipping.

Adega on 45^th Estate Winery

Shortly after arriving in Osoyoos, it hit me that the land looks much like the Algarve region in southern Portugal: dry, tan-coloured earth with spots of green that are either scattered pine trees on the mountains, sage brush in the uncultivated natural desert land, or glossy grape vines and fruit trees where there’s irrigation. Just sub in vineyards and apple orchards for the cork and orange groves, plus Osoyoos Lake instead of the Atlantic Ocean, and you’re not far off.

Adega on 45^th is a tribute to Manuel and Felicidade Farinha, parents of the current owners. Like many Portuguese families in town, they emigrated to Canada and the Okanagan Valley in the 1950s. Manuel worked as a farm labourer until 1966 when he bought 20 acres on 45^th Street in Osoyoos and planted fruit trees. Eventually, daughter Maria and son Fred took over the family business, replanted the land with grapes and opened the Adega winery in 2009.

The current winemaker, Alex Nunes, who married Maria, happened by and we chatted about how so many Portuguese families ended up here.

“The first ones that came spread the word,” he said. “My uncle went to Newfoundland first, didn’t like it, then came here with a friend.”

We went home with:

• 2019 Felicidade. This blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Orange Muscat Riesling, and Gewurztraminer is a tribute to Felicidade Farinha. I thought it would be sweet but it’s not.
• Portao Da Adega Branco (White Port Style). Traditional Portuguese-style blend of Moscat and Gewurztraminer grapes, fortified with distilled wine. It took us back to Portugal and our port sampling.

“Do you want to try it with chocolate?” asked host Karen, spooning a tiny white chocolate chip into each of our palms. We sipped the port, ate the chip, then sipped again. What a delicious combination!   

Moon Curser Vineyards

Moon Curser’s strange name refers to the gold-smuggling history of Osoyoos, just a kilometre north of the U.S. border. Gold-smuggling miners made for the border at night, “trying to avoid customs agents at all cost. Often, the light of the moon would foil their plans, shedding light onto their surreptitious travels and activities,” said the winery website. They cursed the moon, hence the name.

I enjoyed the light-hearted, whimsical approach. On the website, wines are under the ‘Contraband’ tab, awards under ‘Hearsay’ and the wine shop described as possibly “a front for other nefarious activities.”

The wines themselves also break with tradition; they’re made “from old-world grape varieties not previously planted in the Okanagan such as Tannat, Dolcetto and Touriga Nacional.”

Unfortunately, all the whites were sold out when we visited, but Bill enjoyed the unusual reds still on offer. (With the exception of port, red wines give me migraines.)

The Touriga Nacional is a Portuguese grape used for port, although Moon Curser doesn’t make it. Tannat grapes, common in Uruguay, combine with Syrah for the Dead of Night blend. But Bill went home with:

• 2018 Petit Verdot. Rare to see this as a single varietal. It’s earthy, smoky and can be cellared up to 10 years, although it didn’t last 10 weeks with Bill.
• 2018 Malbec. The grape usually associated with Argentina does well in Osoyoos, with similar weather and soil, but is uncommon here.

Burrowing Owl Estate Winery

Burrowing Owl began as a vineyard in 1993, when established wineries were adjusting to the Free Trade Agreement and dozens of smaller new vineyards and estate wineries were starting with vinifera grapes.  

“The industry we have today would not exist without the sudden, forced change caused by the FTA and the innovation driven by smaller, quality-conscious estate wineries,” wrote Whittall. Between 1988 and 1993, “commercial wineries saw a 13.8 per cent increase while estate wineries saw a 233 per cent increase. Clearly, the market for high quality wines from small producers was leading the charge in growth.”

Sitting midway up the Black Sage hills, Burrowing Owl has a stupendous view down to the Okanagan River. Near the tasting room entrance, a donation box sign says the suggested $5 fee will be donated to the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of British Columbia.

The adorable little owls – just eight inches tall – live in holes in the ground but are endangered. They were declared extinct in B.C. in 1980, but have made a comeback thanks to the conservation society, which breeds them in captivity and releases them in non-developed areas.

“They’re about the size of this bottle,” said our host, pointing to the smaller port-style bottle, the contents of which we were sampling.

Although grape vines are not native plants here, the winery does its best to work in tune with nature, using alternative pest control systems. They have 100 bluebird boxes and two bat nurseries, protect meadowlark ground nests from farm workers and machinery, relocate snakes, and safely discourage bears from sharing the harvest. They also have electric vehicle charging stations and lots of solar panels. A big sign near the road says “yes” to the proposed South Okanagan-Similkameen national park reserve, under formal discussion since 2003. (Sadly, most signs we’ve seen are an emphatic “No.”)

All great reasons to like this winery, plus their wines are decent, although more expensive than others. Notables included the 2018 Viognier (lemony, zesty and good to pair with spicy foods) and the 2018 Chardonnay (lightly oaked with a deliciously long aftertaste).

We bought:

• 2019 Pinot Gris. It’s light and crisp, with a smooth taste that lingers.

The LCBO carries some Burrowing Owl wines.

Read Part 2 of our wine-tasting adventures when we examine what ‘terroir’ really means.