Fancy a Silky Pinot? Pour a Glass at These Kelowna Wineries

Get ready to meet your new favorite wine region: Canada’s Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. This ravishingly pretty region of gently sloping hills, pristine lakes and sandy beaches encompasses some of the world’s most diverse vineyard climates, including Canada’s only desert region

Pronounced “oh-can-AH-gan,” the region stretches from Osoyoos in the south, past Penticton and Kelowna, and finally up to Kamloops in the north. Its varying climates mean silky pinot noirs and fruity varietals such as gewurztraminer flourish in the region’s cooler lakeside areas while soaring summer temperatures help grow bold peppery syrahs.

kelowna wineries — Pair excellent wines with delicious food at Summerhill Pyramid Winery. (Photo: Courtesy of Summerhill Pyramid Winery)

Although British Columbia’s first commercial vineyard was established in 1932, wine remains a relatively young industry here. Only in the past 30 years have B.C. wines begun to thrive.

Despite the industry’s relative youth, it’s already making a name for itself on the world stage as wines from British Columbia continue to score gold medals at international wine contests.

But with only around 10,000 acres planted in the Okanagan, relatively small amounts of wine get exported, so your best chance of trying these wines is heading to Canada to taste for yourself.

kelowna winery — Be sure to visit the tasting rooms and farm-to-table restaurant at Summerhill. (Photo: Courtesy of Summerhill Pyramid Winery)

The ideal base from which to explore B.C.’s wine country is Kelowna, a friendly lakeside town known for its truly excellent farm-to-table and boat-to-plate bar and restaurant scene. Explore local wine culture and sniff, swirl and sip your way through the delicious variety that the region has to offer.

3 Can’t Miss Gold-Medal Wineries

Summerhill Pyramid Winery

Multiple award winning, organic and biodynamic (with the certification and compost heap to prove it), Summerhill is Canada’s most visited winery thanks in no small part to its quirky practice of aging all its wines in a pyramid modeled after the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

Visitors can explore that and more on a visit to the winery, its tasting rooms and its farm-to-table restaurant.

Their 2014 Chardonnay Icewine was the top scored wine at France’s 2017 Chardonnay du Monde competition.

CEO Ezra Cipes says, “With notes of honey, apricot, poached pears and minerality, try this wine chilled by itself or pair [it] with panna cotta, sponge cake or fresh fruit. If you are feeling decadent, it is delicious drizzled over vanilla ice cream.”

Quails’ Gate

Housing one of the Okanagan’s best restaurants (the excellent Old Vines) and a brace of award-winning wines, Quails’ Gate in West Kelowna is an unmissable stop for pairing flavorful wines with delicious food.

Their Stewart Family Reserve Chardonnay won gold at the Decanter Awards in London and bagged a double gold at the All Canadian Wine Championships.

“The Stewart Family Reserve Chardonnay is a full-bodied, masculine, bolder New World–style Chardonnay with a lot of texture to it,” says winemaker Nikki Callaway. “It is a big chard, but it goes really well with food, especially roast chicken or maybe gnocchi or pasta with an intensely flavored cream sauce with local mushrooms.”

Sandhill Wines

Visit Sandhill’s funky, modern, downtown tasting room to taste winemaker Howard Soon’s blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc, called “Two.” The blend scored a best-of-class gold medal at the Pacific Rim Wine competition and a silver at the Decanter World Wine awards.

“Cabernet sauvignon, sometimes called the ‘King of Grapes,’ is the framework that gives structure and ageability,” says Soon. “The merlot provides width and generosity in the flavor and mouth-feel. The cabernet franc provides great aromatics along with interesting spice and herb notes.”