Iced Out No Longer: Okanagan Valley Warms Up to World-Class Wines

Flying at about 5,000 feet over the hillside vineyards and blue lakes of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, then descending into the small city of Kelowna, reminded me of landing in parts of New Zealand’s South Island or in Zurich. The mix of lakes, mountains, clean towns and expensive houses along the water is striking. So are the vineyards, many of them running down hillsides toward the lakeshores.

When I stepped off the De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 turboprop and asked my videographer to shoot a quick video as we walked across the tarmac to baggage claim, I never thought it would get much attention. But the 30-second clip drew more than 400,000 views and over 1,300 comments within a few days. Most were from Canadians wishing Editor-at-Large Jim Gordon, Video Editor Ryan Chau and me a good trip, and offering winery, restaurant and travel recommendations.

A few were concerned that publicity from our visit might expose their under-the-radar wine region to too many people. By the end of our five-day trip in late May, I understood their worries.

We tasted slightly more than 200 wines during our trip, visited nine wineries and spoke with a dozen or so winemakers. The best wines were excellent, particularly riesling, chardonnay, pinot noir and syrah. The landscape was compelling, the wineries serious and the vintners calm, focused and welcoming. Many wineries also have well-designed tasting rooms and restaurants, with reasonable prices and an easy, unforced atmosphere.

I found it hard to believe that I had not visited the Okanagan after more than 45 years of traveling to wine regions around the world. I had heard about the valley for years. It stretches about 150 kilometers from north to south and is about five kilometers wide in places, with Okanagan Lake and two other small lakes running through its center. But I had only tasted the wines occasionally – usually during trips to Montreal or Toronto.

That is part of the problem. Most Okanagan wines are difficult to find outside Canada. Many barely leave British Columbia, being sold solely in Vancouver and wine shops elsewhere in the province, but they can be hard to find in other Canadian provinces, let alone overseas.

Most are sold directly to visitors and locals. Kelowna, the valley’s largest city, reported about 2.4 million visitors last year, and many of the region’s more than 200 wineries have tasting rooms or restaurants. The Okanagan has about 4,000 hectares of vineyards, only slightly smaller than Burgundy’s Cote d’Or. But its climate is more extreme. Winters can drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), while summers can rise above 40. Winemakers also describe large diurnal shifts during key growing periods, especially in August, when early mornings can cool to 18 Celsius or lower.

The growing season is short, and frost is a constant concern. But many producers also see this as part of what gives the wines their freshness and definition. A balancing factor is that days during the summer are long due to the latitude of 49 degrees north. The region has clearly moved toward quality in recent years.

“We have a unique growing season here in the Okanagan Valley,” said Severine Pinte, part owner, winemaker and viticulturist at Le Vieux Pin, where she has worked for more than 16 years after her earlier experience in France, including Bordeaux.

“The viticulture side has changed so much since I arrived,” she said. “The idea of terroir and listening to what the vineyard tries to tell us is very important now. Before, I was shocked by how some vineyards were managed. Some people saw grapes as money. The winemakers were not in the vineyard and there was no connection with the land. It’s different now.”

It is a shame that more people cannot buy Okanagan wines. If they could, riesling, chardonnay and pinot noir would probably be the first things to look for. The three dozen rieslings we tasted ranged from dry, Alsace-like examples to vivid, lightly sweet wines that recalled Germany’s middle Mosel. It is not surprising that Olivier Humbrecht of Alsace is involved in long-lees-aged riesling and pinot gris at Phantom Creek in the southern Okanagan.

“We are such a small region,” said Alan Dickinson of Synchromesh, a small winery specializing in organically grown riesling. “And there is not a lot of wine. The niche here for small producers is the land they own and the wines it expresses.”

He added: “We are starting to hone a particular style, which is important to me. There is a shift to producers with a high level of focus, and they are much more precise in the style and focus of their wines.”

Just about every winery we visited made very good to outstanding riesling. Chardonnay was equally impressive. The best examples were closer to Burgundy in style, with controlled use of oak, moderate alcohol and fruit that was not overripe. The wines had freshness and balance. Some producers admitted to adjusting acidity, but if that is the case, they do it well.

“Chardonnay can be grown from the north to the south,” said Rob Achurch, the viticultural director at Iconic Wineries in the southern Okanagan, which owns CheckMate, a chardonnay specialist. “Chardonnay is really excellent, and it has a real sense of place here.”

Achurch said many producers now source grapes from both the north and the south of the valley, with the north bringing a stronger line of acidity and the south contributing more richness and body.

The pinot noirs also showed freshness and ripeness at the same time. They seemed less ripe than many similar wines from Northern California or Oregon. Dijon and Pommard clones are common, and some producers said heritage clones from California, including Calera and Swan, had found their way into local vineyards.

Syrah was also successful. Most of the examples we tasted showed complexity and balance without the fruit-forward, high-alcohol character found in many warmer regions farther south. We also tasted clear, well-made wines from a wide range of varieties – from subtle sauvignon blanc and true-to-character albariño to gamay noir and sangiovese.

The least convincing category was cabernet sauvignon-based reds modeled on Bordeaux. Many were overripe, overextracted and too marked by oak. Several producers said this older style of red was made for mature consumers who had grown up with these wines, particularly in steakhouses and barbecue restaurants. But there are signs of change. Some cabernet sauvignons, cabernet francs and merlots are moving toward more balance and less oak. We even tasted an excellent cabernet sauvignon made in Tuscan amphoras, although only 40 cases were produced.

“It is very amusing for a Frenchman to be making so many different wines in the same place,” said Jean-Marc Enixon, director of winemaking at Phantom Creek Winery in the southern Okanagan. “It’s like making Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhône and Alsace all in one place.”

Recent years have not been easy for the Okanagan. A severe frost in January 2024 forced many producers to reset. Winemakers said nearly 30 percent of the vineyards have been replanted, while many others have been retrunked, using suckers or canes at the base of the vine to create new trunks. Very little wine was made from Okanagan fruit in 2024, although the provincial government allowed producers to use grapes from other parts of Canada or the United States. We tasted several Canadian pinot noirs made with fruit sourced from Oregon.

I was surprised by how resilient the vineyards looked. We walked at least half a dozen sites, and many vines had rejuvenated quickly. Thin new trunks and shoots already carried four to eight grape bunches as flowering began.

We also tasted many excellent 2025s, including top-scoring rieslings as well as chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, viognier, chenin blanc, pinot blanc, pinot gris and gruner veltliner. The possibilities seem wide open in the Okanagan, and many winemakers appear energized despite the setbacks.

“When you say you produce wine in Canada, people either laugh or think you make ice wine,” Enixon said. “But I will get the last laugh. There is so much great wine to be made in the Okanagan Valley.”

– James Suckling, Editor & CEO

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. 

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