Special Okanagan Edition: Week of August 21, 2023

     I grew up in the Okanagan Valley, alongside a new, vibrant, and bursting wine scene. At the time of my childhood, there were nothing more than a dozen wineries in the entire valley, but by the time I left, there were hundreds. It seems that every week a new winery springs up in the Okanagan, taking advantage of dry weather, fertile soils, and a booming tourist industry. Golf courses evolved alongside the wineries, pandering to retirees seeking a cozier life, and soon enough micro breweries established a strong foothold from the southern border all the way up to the Thompson-Nicola. The area flourished for three decades, cities grew, and investments multiplied greatly.

    This last winter, temperatures plummeted to unforeseen degrees for an unforeseen amount of time. This harsh cold wiped out a lot of vines, which ran shockwaves through the entire wine industry -- not just in the Okanagan, but also throughout every other region in British Columbia where there are wineries that rely on the Okanagan to provide fruit for their businesses. Not every vineyard suffered from this winter, but the season did expose the "fringe" vineyard locations in the valley, of which there were enough of to drastically damage the overall yield.

    The winter was a bit of a shock, but what we can see now has been predicted numerous times: whatever the frost didn't kill, fires and smoke are now taking as much as they can, and the smoke with finish off the rest. We are looking at not only the devastation of vineyards, however, but also homes. The wine industry is taking a pummeling, and that will reflect on the rest of the industries in the region.

    Although I normally don't buy Canadian wine due to the lack of value, I cannot ignore the importance of buying local, both as an investment in our local communities, but also to keep carbon emissions down. 

    With that, this special edition of The Thrifty Sipper will be not-so-much thrifty as it will be my recommendations of my favourite wineries in the affected areas. We may not save so much money this week, but at least we can enjoy a more ethical bottle.

Spearhead Winery:    This is a great little Pinot house located in East Kelowna. These wines are designed for cellaring, but are also extremely quaffable at only a couple of years. I had a 2019 Pinot Gris last week, and it was peaking perfectly. Try the Clone 95 Chardonnay and the Saddleblock Pinot Noir, but if you want something bright and crisp, go for the Riesling.

Indigenous World Winery:    This winery sits in Westbank First Nations, and has been producing high-quality wine for years. Check out the Hee-Hee-Tel-Ken White Blend and the Cabernet Franc Select Lot for something bigger and jucier.

Kalala Winery:    This is a beautiful winery in West Kelowna with some of the best fruit growers in the country. It took me a while to locate some of these wines, but when I did, I was pleasantly surprised. Try the Dostana Riesling, the Rosé, and the Dostana Malbec for something truly unique.

50th Parallel Estate Winery:    Sitting on a lakeview in Lake Country, 50th Parallel has made a boom in the valley over the past decade. A impressive building, a vineyard with great growing conditions, and superb winemaking under Matthew Fortuna, has created a trifecta of quality. Go for the Blanc de Noir, the Rosé, and the Pinot Noir.

The Hatch Winery:    Another West Kelowna winery, one of the immediate endearing things for The Hatch wines are their labels. Once the bottle is open, you can also taste the quality. Open a bottle of Octobubble, Hobo Series Gewurztraminer, and Hobo Series Gamay.

    So, this week was not so thrifty, but it was important for our little wine regions out here in the Pacific Northwest. Globally, wine has been around for nearly 8000 years, and throughout that time, many regions have disappeared, maybe due to regional or political influences, or even due to microscopic organisms that can wipe out an entire continent's plants, but now we're dealing with something more harsh. Climate change is affecting many famous wine regions around the world. We can only  hope that new regions will pop up in strange locations so that we are not depleted of the most beautiful libation in the history of the world.