John Schreiner's Okanagan Wine Tour Guide 2007

by Schreiner, John

• ISBN13: 9781552858639
• ISBN10: 1552858634
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-05-16
• Publisher: Whitecap Books Ltd

Summary

Explore British Columbia's world famous wine region with wine expert John Schreiner.The lush Okanagan Valley is internationally acclaimed for its wine industry. Updated and revised with 30 percent new material, John Schreiner's Okanagan Wine Tour Guide provides succinct, insider profiles of each winery.Included are thumbnail sketches of proprietors, winemakers, and well-known wineries as well as many new ones. Schreiner peppers the book with fascinating facts acquired through his winery visits: Crowsnest Vineyards offers a red wine from the improbably named Samtrot grape; Hunting Hawk Vineyards has a second winery at the historic O'Keefe Ranch in Vernon, British Columbia; and Two Thumbs Up was the name of the Okanagan's first $100-a-bottle Meritage wine.Schreiner guides the wine tourist to the best wines by sharing his own favorites from the region. Maps, addresses, telephone numbers and website addresses round out this valuable tour guide.

Author Biography

John Schreiner writes for Wine Access magazine and several wine-related websites. The author of 10 books on wine, including the best-selling Wineries of British Columbia and British Columbia Wine Country, he is a frequent judge at international wine competitions.

Table of Contents

Why I Wrote This Book

Geography for Wine Tourists

Okanagan and Similkameen

Wineries Adora Estate

Winery Antelope Ridge Estate

Winery Arrowleaf Cellars Baccata Ridge

Winery Black Hills Estate

Winery Black Widow

Winery Blasted Church

Winery Blue Mountain

Wineyard and Cellars Bounty Cellars Burrowing Owl Estate

Winery Calona Vineyards Cedarcreek Estate

Winery Church and State Wines Crowsnest Vineyards D'Angelo Estate

Winery D'Asolo Vineyards Deep Creek Wine Estate and Hainle

Vineyards Desert Hills Estate

Winery Dirty Laundry Vineyard Dunham and Froese Estate

Winery East Kelowna Cider Company Ecovitis

Vineyard 8th Generation Vineyards Elephant Island Orchard Wines Fairview Cellars Estate

Winery First Estate

Cellars Forbidden Fruit

Winery Foxtrot Vineyards Garnet Valley Vineyards Gehringer Brothers Estate

Winery Golden Beaver

Winery Golden Mile Cellars Gordon James Cellars Granite Creek Estate

Winery Gray Monk Estate

Winery Greata Ranch Vineyards Herder

Winery and Vineyards Hester Creek Estate

Winery Hijas Bonitas Vineyard Hillside Estate

Winery Hollywood and Wine Vineyard House of Rose Vineyard Howling Bluff Estate

Wines Hunting Hawk

Vineyards Hunting Hawk

Winery at Historic O'Keefe Ranch Inniskillin Okanagan

Vineyards Jackson-Triggs

Vintners Joie Wines and Farm Cooking School Kettle Valley

Winery La Frenz

Winery Lake Breeze

Vineyards Lang

Vineyards Larch Hills

Vineyard and Winery Laughing Stock

Vineyards Le Vieux Pin Little Straw

Vineyards Marichel

Vineyard Mission Hill Family Estate

Winery Mistral Estate

Winery Montagu Cellars

Winery Mt. Boucherie Estate

Winery Nichol Vineyard and Estate

Winery Nk'Mip Cellars Noble Ridge

Vineyard and Winery Oliver Twist Estate

Winery Orchard Hill Estate

Winery Orofino

Vineyards Osoyoos Larose Estate

Winery Painted Rock Estate Winery

Paradise Ranch Wines Peller Estates

Winery Pentage

Winery Poplar Grove

Winery Quails' Gate Estate

Winery Qunita Ferreira Estate

Winery Raven Ridge Cidery Recline Ridge

Wineyards and Winery Red Rooster

Winery The Rise Cellars Robin Ridge

Winery Rollingdale

Winery Sandhill Wines See Ya Later Ranch at Hawthorne Mountain

Vineyards Seven Stones

Winery Silkscarf

Winery Silver Sage

Winery Soaring Eagle

Winery Sonoran Estate

Winery Spiller Estate

Winery St. Hubertus Estate

Winery St. Laszlo Estate

Winery Stag's Hollow Winery Stone Mountain

Vineyard Stonehill Estate

Winery Sumac Ridge Estate

Winery Summerhill Pyramid

Winery Tangled Vines Estate

Winery Tantalus

Vineyards Therapy

Vineyards and Guesthouse Thornhaven Estate

Winery Tinhorn Creek Estate

Winery Township 7

Vineyards and Winery Turtle Mountain

Vineyards Twisted Tree Estate

Winery Van Westen

Vineyards Wild Goose

Vineyards and Winery Willow Hill Wines Wine-Speak and Useful

Wine Facts Words to Help You Talk Like a Wine Expert

Winery Listings

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Why I Wrote This Book The first edition of the Tour Guide, my 10th book devoted entirely, or at least in part, to the wines of the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys, was published only a year ago. By mid-year, it was obvious that an immediate update would be required for 2007 just to stay abreast of new wineries. I continue to be surprised (and delighted) by the explosive rate of change since The Wineries of British Columbia appeared in October, 2004. This second edition of the Tour Guide includes more than 30 wineries that have opened, or begun development, since that earlier book appeared. This book profiles a total of 108 wineries, 16 more than a year earlier. In my first wine book in 1984, The World of Canadian Wine, now out of print but hanging around in used book stores, there were only 13 wineries in all of British Columbia. I began touring the Okanagan about 30 years ago and have returned there more frequently than to any of the world's other wine regions (and I have visited many). Obviously, it is closer to my North Vancouver home than most regions, but there is much more to the Okanagan's appeal than accessibility. First, of course, are the wines, which have improved steadily and rapidly in the last decade. Bradley Cooper, now the winemaker at Township 7's Okanagan winery, but formerly a journalist, made one of his first Okanagan wine tours in the early 1980s. He wanted to select a mixed case (12 bottles) of wines to take home, but found only 10 he liked well enough to buy. Today, he observes, you can fill a case with good wine at almost any single winery. This is my experience as well. Now, even when I am not researching a book, I travel to the Okanagan and Similkameen several times a year to taste and stock up on those interesting, limited production wines that seldom make it to local wine stores. Equally appealing is the winery aura. I understood perfectly when Mick Luckhurst, one of the owners of Golden Mile Cellars and a former housing developer, told me there is romance in growing grapes and making wine not always found in other agriculture. If, he said, his vineyard were a potato field, he would be doing something else. It is nice to hang around with people who spend their days seduced by the grape. They are passionate and interesting, proud of what they do and always ready to talk about their wines. In most of the tasting rooms I have visited, everyone is having fun, especially during wine festival time. During the Okanagan's spring wine festival in 2005, I was lounging on the deck at Jeff and Niva Martin's La Frenz winery, savouring a glass of Shiraz, when I struck up a conversation with a wine tourist from Seattle. A first-time visitor to the Okanagan, he was visibly impressed by the region's people and wines, and by the scenery, which he acknowledged with a sweeping wave of his arm toward the view of Naramata Bench spread out in front of us. And, he added, the wine prices are so reasonable. I appreciated hearing this from an outsider because some British Columbians, even including a few winemakers, grumble that our wine prices are high when they have not encountered the sticker shock in Washington State's (admittedly fine) wineries. The scenic and ecological values of British Columbia's wine regions enrich wine touring immeasurably. The self-guided tour at the Burrowing Owl Estate Winery provides at least as much information on the fragile environment as it does about what happens in the winery. The interpretation centre next to the Nk'Mip Cellars winery provides a glimpse into the history of the Osoyoos Indian Band. The tranquil gardens at the Pacific Agri-food Research Centre near Summerland offer the perfect spot to relax between winery visits. The Kettle Valley Trail ascends from Penticton and leads along the upper border of the Naramata Bench, providing stunning vineyard panoramas. The Golden Mile Trail on the hil