This is the first of a five-part series on Canada's wine regions. Find the other parts here: North Okanagan, Vancouver Island, Prince Edward County and Niagara.
John Skinner, the owner of Painted Rock Estate Winery in British Columbia, loves visitors. When he’s on site at his arresting property in the Okanagan Valley, he often whisks tourists to the cellar for a treat. “There’s nothing more pleasurable for me than to take people into the winery and taste from the barrels and tanks,” he says.
Though generally offered only at small operations such as Painted Rock, a new cult-wine star nestled on an undulating ridge that straddles Skaha Lake south of Penticton, barrel tastings are among the special joys of wine country travel, now in full summer swing in British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Boldly bracing, young wines can tease the palate with their unmeshed components – fresh fruit, toasty oak and mouth-parching tannins. It’s like stealing a nibble of fresh ingredients in a chef’s kitchen before the meal comes together.
At Painted Rock, the experience is even more special this summer because there’s less wine in barrel than usual. Its 2010 vintage now maturing in cellar was ravaged by a band of British Columbia’s most imposing fruit burglars: black bears. Denied their usual sustenance of forest berries because of poor weather, the interlopers managed to scarf down more than three acres’ worth of Painted Rock’s $30-$55-a-bottle fruit before Mr. Skinner’s team could complete the harvest. “I think they were very anxious to get fattened up,” Mr. Skinner said.
It’s a revealing and quintessentially Canadian vignette of the challenges winemakers face in this rugged, awesomely beautiful valley, which stretches 2-1/2 hours by car from Kelowna to the Washington state border. Painted Rock’s gate (the only breach not lined with new electric fencing), is off Eastside Road, which hugs the eastern shore of Skaha Lake. It’s a scenic drive, by itself worth the trip. Then there are the splendid wines, especially Painted Rock’s full-bodied Bordeaux-style blends. On a recent visit, I was treated not to bears, but to the equally majestic sight of deer leaping across the road that leads to Blue Mountain Vineyard, which crafts some of the most elegant pinot noirs and sparkling wines in Canada.
If you continue to aim your car past the town of Oliver, with its municipal sign proclaiming that you’ve reached the “Wine Capital of Canada,” the sun-drenched vineyards of Osoyoos unfold before you. The wavy rows of green on the slopes above the parched, sagebrush plain of Canada’s only hot-weather desert are an intriguing sight. Think True Grit meets Sideways.
Here’s a short and – painfully for this wine lover – selective list of worthy pit stops south of Penticton. You’ll want to be selective anyway, because it’s a big place. As John Schreiner, author of the excellent Okanagan Wine Tour Guide, says: “Look very hard at the road map and figure out the time involved, and don’t try to do it all in two or three days.”
Painted Rock Estate Winery
The hysterically tiny tasting room stands alone on a slope like a misplaced tool shed. But inside are some of the best fermented beverages made in Canada. “We’re not wine-shop driven; we’re wine-driven,” says owner John Skinner. First launched in 2009, the offerings – a syrah, a chardonnay and three Bordeaux-style reds – caused an instant stir. Mr. Skinner, 52, spared no expense when he decided to retire after a successful career as an investment adviser. Poring over statistical data on local microclimates, he settled on an abandoned former apricot orchard, once the largest in the British Commonwealth. Working with Bordeaux-based consultant Alain Sutre, he directs staff to lop off between 30 and 50 per cent of the grape clusters mid-way through the growing cycle, a sort of vineyard bloodletting designed to ensure better ripeness in the remaining bunches. Taste the wines and see why black bears have made Painted Rock their preferred dinner table. 250-493-6809, www.paintedrock.ca
