Visiting Noble Ridge Winery in Okanagan Falls, BC

Noble Ridge Winery's Leslie D'Andrea speaks with BCWineLover.com

It's all about the stories. That's why we do BCWineLover.com. It's also the reason writers like John Schreiner have so much zeal for exploring the BC wine scene. There are so many stories.

This week we had the pleasure to make our first stop at Noble Ridge Winery, which is located in the desert region just between Vaseux Lake (the protected nature sanctuary to their south) and Skaha Lake at Okanagan Falls, BC, to the north. It was a blazing hot July afternoon when we got to speak with Leslie D'Andrea, who along with husband Jim created Noble Ridge early in this decade. They first settled part-time in the area, living in a tent trailer and using an outhouse as a biffy, about 10 years ago. They've since built a fine wine tasting room which opened in 2006.

Leslie manages the business affairs of the winery, and along with Jim they are both on a quest to make the best wine they can. We can vouch for their tasty selections – in particular their Chardonnay.

In our talk Leslie describes the relationship of their winery to its surroundings. The pristine backdrop of Vaseux Lake frames the spot we recorded. My feet in flip-flops began to bake in the hot afternoon sun after only about 10 minutes. Fortunately we had time to cover a few topics, including Noble Ridge's connection to their neighbours – Wild Goose, Stag's Hollow, Tangled Vines and Blue Mountain Vineyards.

Clearly, there has been a lot of toil for Jim and Andrea to get where they are at today with Noble Ridge Winery. But they have done what so many can only dream about – building a winery from scratch. It's a lovely venue and we'll be sure to return on our next stop in OK Falls.

– post by Mike