Okanagan (Western Canadian) Superlative Wines

There are a few Okanagan wines worth a look. Though far fewer than our tourism industry would have you believe.

In the $20-$50 USD range we have some very attractive QPRs.

I’d like to distill several years of tasting/living in the area for you, in as brief text as possible. We’ll start with the standouts. Then move to the also-rans, and end with the cult expensive wines.

But first, the varieties that seem to excel in the Okanagan.

GRAPE VARIETIES

As of this writing, we seem to excel at:

  • Chardonnay
  • Pinot Noir
  • Riesling
  • Cabernet Franc

There is a lot of hoopla about Rhone varieties. And while I would like that, at this point only a few producers are dialing those in. But one would expect VRM / GSM blends to take off in the South Okanagan at some point.

Common history (and popular wine writers) will tell you that the Okanagan has an abundance of Merlot and Pinot Gris. You’d do well to avoid them in most cases.

THE BEST OF THE BEST

Okanagan Falls

  • Meyer Family
    (pinot noir, chard)
  • Synchromesh
    (riesling, cab franc, pinot noir)
  • Blue Mountain
    (pinot noir, chard, gamay, sparkling)

Notes: the Synchromesh estate vineyard (called Storm Haven) is the standout here. But this is really THE region of Western Canada, and – if I may say so – competitive on a worldwide scale.

Naramata

  • Foxtrot
    (pinot noir)
  • Amulet
    (Rhone red and white blends)
  • Roche
    (bordeaux red blend)

Notes: Foxtrot is now owned by Doug Barzelay and considered one of the most exciting vineyards for pinot noir in North America (own-rooted 115). Amulet is a mailing-list only boutique venture run out of Roche. Some vineyards in Naramata and some in Oliver/Osoyoos to the South (closer to the Washington border). Roche pulls grapes from the same areas, and the husband-wife team is trained in Bordeaux and Burgundy (Dylan, Canadian) and a member of a sixth-gen Bordeaux family (Penelope, Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion).

Summerland

  • Lightning Rock
    (pinot noir, chardonnay, viognier, sparkling)

Notes: Lovely young husband-wife team of natty winemakers who toured all of Europe tapping the brains of the top natty folks there before starting their own enterprise here.

Similkameen

  • Orofino
    (chardonnay, gamay, cabernet franc)
  • Little Farm
    (riesling, chardonnay, cabernet franc)

Notes: if you are a fan of minerality, this is the region for you. While both of these producers are low-intervention, Little Farm is more the natty bottle-variation type, and Orofino has tons more SKUs than I could represent here (including heavy reds), but they are all interesting. Orofino also makes a wild ferment syrah from a concrete tank that is very fun.

Kelowna

  • Quail’s Gate
    (chardonnay, pinot noir, chenin blanc, syrah)
  • Summerhill
    (sparkling)

Notes: Quail’s has a chard/pinot for whatever your personality (Stewart’s Family Reserve for the opulent lovers, and some single blocks for the more – ahem – reserved). Summerhill makes tourist-trap still wine but magical sparklers in their Cipes lineup. The blanc de noirs is a particular standout. They have a weird pyramid of some kind of occult black magic.

ALSO RANS (some items of interest but not as great as the above)

Oliver/Osoyoos/etc

  • Fairview Cellars
  • Burrowing Owl
  • Black Hills
  • Le Vieux Pin
  • La Stella
  • Painted Rock (technically Okanagan Falls / Skaha Bench, ~30min north of Oliver)

Lovers of bigger wines may want to try these guys. Le Vieux Pin is the best of the lot, and makes interesting Rhone white blends and some single syrahs.

CULT WINERIES (I’m being a bit playful here)

These tend to have over-sized reputations and/or are over-priced. But if money is no option, they are worth trying.

  • Bella
    (sparkling)
  • Checkmate
    (chardonnay, merlot)
  • Martin’s Lane
    (riesling, pinot noir)
  • Mirabel
    (pinot noir)

FINALLY…

If you want to get a comprehensive list, here are a few more of interest:

  • Coolshanagh
    (chardonnay, pinot noir)
  • Tantalus
    (riesling)
  • Terravista
    (Spanish whites, Rhone whites)
  • Nichol
    (syrah, st laurent, pinot gris)
  • Road 13
    (Rhone red and white, gamay)
  • Lock And Worth
    (semillon, cabernet franc)
  • Scout
    (riesling)
  • 1 Mill Rd
    (pinot noir… new mailing-list only winery, just their first year but the little I have tried seems promising)

One winery I have a very personal affinity for is Corcelettes. They are (as objectively as possible) good but perhaps not great. Very nice dry Gewurztraminer, rose, occasionally interesting Pinot Noir reserve, and a Syrah-Cab blend called Menhir. Lovely family, beautiful setting, and the best place to end a day of wine tasting.


Full disclosure: I am friends with some of the owners/staff of wineries I recommend; in each case I established that friendship after first liking the wines. My girlfriend now works for one of them, again, long after I loved them and was a club member.

I have a lot more info on local restaurants, where to stay, and how to plan multi-day trips to different areas. But with Covid this seems less pressing. Happy to answer questions about it here or in PM. Or if there is interest, I can start a thread in the Travel section.

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Awesome information here–thank you! I hope to visit/taste in the Okanagan some day.

Tantalus is in no way a straggler. They make outstanding Riesling, and their other wines are delicious as well. Visited them in 2018, and wish there was some way to get the wines here in the USA. They were by far the best of our trip to BC.

I loved the Le Vieux Pin syrah I had in vancouver.

Sean, thanks for the info. My wife and I honeymooned in Vancouver and Victoria nearly two years ago, and really enjoyed it, and we found a number of wines that we really liked. Although we were not tasting critically, just enjoying wines with meals or in wine bars, we found a number of wines that we would try again if we could find them:

Sea Star Rose
Day Dreamer Syrah/Viognier
Fitzsimmons Brut
Tantalus Riesling
Synchromesh Cab Franc
Mission Hill Reserve Pinot Blanc
Blasted Church Pinot Gris
Terravista Fandango
Fairview Gruner
Bartier Brothers Syrah
Seven Directions Cab Franc Rose
Moon Curser Arneis
La Stella Rosato
Le Vieux Pin Ava

We hope to revisit Canada within a couple of years and actually spend some time in wine country there.

Awesome, glad you enjoyed yourself!

The Okanagan is very beautiful and absolutely worth a visit.

I should probably add Bartier and Daydreamer to my list above, because they make some interesting wines. Bartier for whites in particular.

About Victoria, they also have a handful of wineries on the Island, although I have less experience with those. Friends tell me that some interesting ones are:
Averill Creek
Emandare
Rathjen
Unsworth
Kutatás

Their Old Vines Riesling is nice, especially with a couple years on it.

Did you get a chance to try the rieslings from Synchromesh, Little Farm, or Scout Vineyards (which at that time was being made by Orofino)?

Unfortunately no. We had planned to taste quite widely, but I picked up a cold, and lost 2 days of tasting.

Sean – thanks so much for this! I am going to save it, as I hope to get back to the Okanagan soon. I was there once last year, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We had a nice tasting at Le Vieux Pin – though I tend to agree with you that while they make some interesting wines, rhone blends are not the standouts at the moment. Like David, I loved Tantalus – particularly their old vines riesling. In fact I bought some additional bottles of their wine once I got back to the US – it is sitting there waiting for me to come pick it up. (Yes, it is really frustrating that there is no way to mail or ship the wines to the US!).

There are a lot on your list that we did not try. So I am looking forward to getting to them some day. We did try Checkmate. I thought the chardonnays were good, but as you say, I am not sure they are worth the price or hype. To me fair we did just one tasting there. But the prices (including for the tasting) was significantly higher than other wines.

You nailed it about Checkmate, Ron. Part of their marketing is to push the price into that perceived “cult” territory. And it seems to be working, so all power to them. Just when advising consumers I can’t really recommend it when Meyer and Blue Mountain (among others) are making such delicious chard for, in many cases, half the price.

That frustration about the border goes both ways! We wish it was easier to ship Washington and Oregon wines up here.

Thanks for the recommendations. We hope to visit next year when the border is hopefully reopened.

We should meet half way and trade!

Yes, those are terrific wines, closer to Northern Rhone in style than the vast majority of California syrahs.

I’ve had some terrific riesling from Joie, but it’s hard to find. Evidently it sells out quickly. Their other aromatic whites are pretty good, too, but not in the same league as the riesling.

A few years ago, I had a current-release Osoyoos-Larose, the Bordeaux blend made as a joint venture with Gruaud Larose, that was quite good. I recently spotted a 2005 at Chambers Street for US$40 and grabbed that. I’m very curious to see how that has developed.

John, if you dig the bordeaux blends from the area, you may want to put the 2016 “Chateau” from Roche on your list. It’s franc dominant, and I found it lovely and restrained compared to many of the other red blends in the area.

I’ve had Okanagan wines every time I’ve been to Vancouver, and I want to visit the area. But the last time I tried to get any in the US (a few years ago), I was stymied. Is there a cost effective way to buy and get them delivered in the US?

A waitress at the Fairmont at Whistler suggested a glass of Tantalus Riesling to me a bunch of years ago and that glass actually is why I started paying attention to wine. I used to go up to Vancouver and Whistler often for work and would always haul back 3 or 4 bottles of their wines including the Old Vines —- I miss then so much. Drank my last bottle of Old Vines at my dinner at Schwa … so good.

Fun fact: the town of Kelowna is where they invented the Kelownoscopy.

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Burrowing Owl, Checkmate, Osoyoos Larose, Laughing Stock, and Nk’MIP, are making really nice wines. Fairview makes a decent Gruner Veltliner. Platinum Bench is worth visiting for the bread.

Just like any area, there are a lot of not-so-good places, but there are some standouts.

I’m by no means a Pinot Noir expert but I’ve had the Blue Mountain entry level bottling that the OP mentioned several times in BC and it was really good at a pretty outstanding price (WS has it in the US for $20-30).