Summerland Redux

Summerland, BC, feels like a well-kept secret, with its rolling green farmland, country roads and the Kettle Valley Railway. It is blossoming as one of BC’s best wine-making sub-appellations.

On this second day trip to Summerland with our pals Paul and Leanne, we visited for the first time Adora Estate Winery, Dirty Laundry Vineyard, Sonoran Estate Winery and Greata Ranch Vineyards (warning: GRV’s website is an annoying Flash real estate brochure).

Adora Winery is located just off Highway 97, and could be confused with another fruit stand. We’ve never heard of Adora before this visit, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the presentation and the wines. One distinct difference between Adora and most other BC wineries is that they bottle age most of their wine before selling it. I couldn’t think of too many other wineries where you can sample a 5-year old red. Our purchase was Adora Vineyards Elements Pinot Noir 2001.

The country back roads of Summerland provide many charms. If you’re lucky like we were this day, you’ll get to see the Kettle Valley Steam Train up close.

Dirty Laundry Vineyard probably wins the prize for the cheekiest (and successful) re-branding of a BC winery. The former Scherzinger Vineyard relied on wine branding expert Bernie Hadley-Beauregard to tap into a little local lore (read here about the history) to rename and re-brand this Summerland stop. While it has changed over ownership a few times in recent years, I don’t see how it has affected the quality of wine, or the venue. As we arrived they had just erected a big sign that said Wine is Fun, and I think every one of us felt the fun. Our Dirty Laundry purchases on this day were:

Dirty Laundry Chardonnay Private Reserve 2006
Dirty Laundry Woo Woo Gewurztraminer 2006

Moving north along Highway 97 we stopped at Sonoran Estate Winery. This was a very low key operation, but the wines were very good and the pours generous. Sonoran is distinguishing itself with bottles in blue glass. This might be a tricky strategy to maintain in the long run. While some might like to keep the bottles, most of them will just wind up in the recycle box in the long run. Sonoran, which might be confused with the Sonora Ranch low-price series offered by Mission Hill, is planning to move their wine operation to the south side of Summerland next year. We purchased the following from Sonoran Estate Winery:

Sonoran Desert Morning 2004
Sonoran Forbidden Love Icewine 2004
Sonoran Gewurztraminer 2004

Our final “Summerland” stop, Greata Ranch Vineyards, took us took us to the outskirts of Peachland, the sleepy Okanagan town at the east end of the Coquihalla Highway. Greata (pronounced ‘gree-ta’) Ranch’s winery is owned and operated by Cedar Creek Winery‘s Fitzpatrick family. Greata Ranch is an impressive wine tasting centre in an unlikely location. It is a bit of a drive from wineries to the north in Westbank, and about 15 min. beyond the popular Sumac Ridge winery on Highway 97. What is driving GRV is a huge and exclusive housing development + marina being built by Vancouver’s Concord Pacific.

So, yes, you might feel like you’ve walked into a condo showroom at Greata Ranch, but there is no mistaking that this is a winery, and a good one too. We picked up bottles of their Chardonnay and Merlot/Cab blend, but would have considered other wines available too. Where this winery will fit within hundreds of swanky new homes and yachts remains to be seen.

BC Wine Lover’s picks from Greata Ranch:

Greata Ranch Chardonnay 2005
Greata Ranch Merlot Cabernet 2005