Okanagan Wine Country
CANADA’S NAPA VALLEY.
Wait, what? Wine in Canada? That’s what I thought when I met a couple this spring who told me about their recent trip to Penticton, BC. They had brought a bottle of BC cabernet sauvignon to share at a wine tasting party, and they said they’d spent several days visiting wineries making good and relatively inexpensive wine. In July I decided to hop in the car and check it out for myself. I was already east of the mountains, so I drove north and crossed the border at Oroville, WA and Osoyoos, BC. As soon as I crossed the border into the Canadian Okanagan Valley there were vineyards and wineries everywhere!
According to the British Columbia Wine Tour Guide, which you can pick up at most wineries for free, BC’s wine industry started taking off in the 1990’s. Where there were fewer than two dozen wineries in 1990, there are nearly 300 wineries in BC today. Who knew? I didn’t.
I stayed just outside of downtown Penticton at the south end of the Naramata Bench, which the locals have designated “Canada’s Napa.” Naramata Bench is a sub-region of the Okanagan Valley Geographical Indicator and runs north to south parallel to and around 200 feet above Okanagan Lake. The huge granite faces of the mountains along the bench reflect the warm sunlight and the cool breezes that come off the lake make this an ideal area for vineyards. There are around 50 different wineries along the Naramata Bench that are easily explored by car or bike; in fact, Penticton is very bike friendly.
Nichols Winery, Naramata Bench
I explored the entire length of the Naramata Bench. The Naramata wineries are mostly small and family operated endeavors. One of the earliest wineries established on the bench is Nichol Vineyards, at the north end of the bench. Their first vineyards were planted in 1989, and the winery has spectacular views of the lake and mountains surrounding the valley. I also visited one of the newest wineries, Chain Reaction, started by husband and wife team Joel and Linda Chamaschuk who left their tech jobs in Vancouver to start a winery; they planted their first vines in 2019. One day I took a side trip to the Similkameen Valley, another stunning Geographical Indicator of British Columbia wine country, where I learned about a threat to Clos du Soleil’s Saturn wine I’d never thought of before: bears!
The wineries I visited offer a wide range of varietals, though whites seemed most prominent: lots of pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, riesling, and gewurztraminer. I was told these varieties have proven to flourish in the higher elevations found around the bench. They were so good! There were plenty of reds, too, but those grapes were often sourced from vineyards down by Osoyoos where the valley’s summer sun is warmer. I tasted delicious cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, syrah, merlot and gamay.
If you’re looking for a new wine region to explore, add Penticton and the Okanagan Valley to your list. Tasting fees were usually $10-$20 (Canadian $) and almost always waived with the purchase of a bottle. I didn’t make any reservations, but I was there mid-week; reservations would be a smart idea for a weekend trip. If you find wine you want to bring home, you can bring two bottles back over the border without paying duty tax; every bottle beyond that is subject to a “hefty” $0.25 duty.
Curious? Feel free to stop by and ask questions!
Abby Larson, Portalis team member
QUICK NOTE FROM JULIE & JENS.
Sadly, wines from Canada’s Okanagan Valley are seldom available in the Seattle market, so if you want to try these wines…. you’ll have a to take a jaunt northwest across the border!