 Who is Bo Skapski? |
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Bo Nose Wines!
WINE COUNTRY REAL ESTATE Looking for a Winery or Vineyard property? Bo has all the connections with the industry and resources to introduce you to all available properties and help you make an informed decision. Looking for a wine country home, a resort property or a country acreage? Bo can help you find the right property for you, throughout the Okanagan Valley. Thinking of selling? Call Bo to discuss how to get the best results, fast! OKANAGAN WINE LINKS Here are a few links to help you get around Okanagan Wine Country and learn about the Okanagan Wine Industry. Wine Tastings Wine Links BO'S LINKS TO ALL THE OKANAGAN WINERIES Kelowna Area Wineries Naramata, Penticton, Summerland Area Oliver, Osoyoos, Okanagan Falls Area North Okanagan Area
BC is Years Ahead of Ontario Wineries The first bottle that kindled my interest in Canadian wine did not originate in B.C., it came from Ontario. It was 1990 and I was on a bicycle tour of the Niagara region with a couple of friends. Our third stop was this tiny winery called Marynissen Estates which had just opened its doors that year. The wineshop attendant, who could have well been the proprietor John Marynissen himself, poured us a taste of the 1989 chardonnay of which he was clearly proud. One taste and I was hooked. I bought four bottles and drank them within the next two weeks. Little did I know that same wine would go on to win best of show and best vinifera at the American Wine Society competition that fall. To me it was simply a great wine. I can't recall how that wine tasted now. But the impression it left is the reason I'm writing these columns today. I knew then that despite less than stellar beginnings, the Canadian wine industry had the stuff needed to compete with the big boys. Much has changed since, in both BC and Ontario. The industry locally has grown exponentially. In Ontario, the development in the last decade has also been notable, but the pace has been much slower than here, it seems. I attended a wine seminar on Ontario wines at Whistler's Cornucopia wine festival. It had been some time since I had the opportunity to sample a broad selection of Eastern wine, and well, there are few available locally. The seminar was led by David Hulley, a wine consultant, lecturer and oenologist from Ontario. When asked if Ontarians embrace the local industry, Hulley said, "If we had the support there you have here, there would be multi-millionaires all over the place." The Ontario wine industry is the largest in Canada with more than 90 wineries producing $338 million worth of product off of 12,000 acres of grapes (we have about 6,000 acres planted here). Yet producers have had a heck of a time convincing consumers, restaurateurs and even their own liquor board of the value and merit of their wines. Hulley says the wine drinking public in Ontario is still stuck on European, U.S. and Australian wines. Many top-end restaurants don't list a single Ontario wine. Local producers can certainly attest to how important the restaurant market is to their business. Perhaps the biggest challenge eastern winemakers have is the distribution system. It's not so hot here, but in Ontario it's downright appalling. There are no VQA stores or privately operated beer and wine shops. Outside their own winery stores, distribution of local wines is solely in the hands of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). The monopoly held by the LCBO is mind-blowing. It is the largest single buyer of wine in the world. And while the LCBO does purchase and promote Ontario wines in a respectable fashion, getting a product listed within a system that huge is arduous. Hulley says Ontario producers view BC's system of VQA shops, like the ones in the Wine Museum in Kelowna and the Wine Information Center in Penticton, as revolutionary. They applaud it as a sensible distribution method that both embraces and fosters the industry, while making local wines accessible to consumers. Unfortunately, Ontarians are a long way from putting anything similar into place, Hulley says.
THE OKANAGAN WINE INDUSTRY I have to confess! I'm a wine guy. For years I have enjoyed traveling to different parts of the world, visiting wineries and tasting wines, and bringing a few back home with me. I have to admit that a number of years ago, I wouldn't have considered touring and tasting at BC wineries. Now, I want to tell the world about them! What happened to change my mind? Up to about 1986, the BC wine industry lived in a protective cocoon of tariff protection. Their wines were mediocre, at best, made from a number of lesser grape varieties. About that time, the North American Free Trade Agreement came along and the protective tariffs were removed. "We'll go out of business!" cried the wineries, at the time. Instead, they adapted, learned to make world-class wines, and many new wineries have come into existence. Traditional high quality vinifera grape varieties from around the world are being cultivated, with excellent results. Areas under cultivation have more than doubled during the last few years, and the wine industry is booming. The transformation is nothing short of amazing! I'm pleased to tell you that the BC Wine Industry is producing excellent wine and visiting wineries, touring and tasting their wines and learning about the different Okanagan wines is a real treat! If you haven't tried it yet, there's no time to start like the present. Bo
WINE APPRECIATION The enjoyment of wine is a very personal thing. You don't have to be an expert, you just need to trust your own taste. Each time you taste a new wine your awareness of the character and subtle differences will be expanded. Tasting wine is like a sport, the more you practice the better you become. To enhance your appreciation and enjoyment of wine, follow the five simple steps below: LOOK SWIRL SMELL TASTE SPIT
NEW WINERIES AND BO'S WINE PICKS I don't pretend to be a connosieur - just someone who really appreciates and enjoys win. I know what I like, and many of my friends appreciate my suggestions about wine so I decided to add some picks of wines and information on some new wineries I have visited recently. Here are a few wines I have sampled lately and added to my collection. New Wineries Three new wineries have opened in the Okanagan recently. These are Adora Estate Winery in Summerland, Arrowleaf Cellars in Okanagan Centre and Greata Ranch Winery near Peachland. Both Adora Estate and Greata Ranch are very easy to find, as they are located right on Highway 97. Adora Estate is located at Trout Creek, just south of the main part of Summerland and Greata Ranch is locates 9 kilometers south of Peachland. Arrowleaf Cellars is located on Camp Road in Okanagan Centre (Winfield), just above Gray Monk Winery. It offers a spectacualr wiew of Lake Okanagan looking up towards Carr's Landing. Here are some of the wines I was impressed by at each winery. Adora Estate offers a range of several white wines, most of which are well made and very drinkable. However, my favourite Adora Estate wine (so far) is the 2000 Elements Merlot. It's an unfiltered wine showing vanilla, ripe Okanagan cherry and blackcurrant flavours. There are also hints of red currant and blackberries, with a toasty butterscotch finish. Unanimously enjoyed by my friends now, but worthy of a few years in the bottle. I'm looking forward to some of their upcoming releases! Arrowleaf Cellars opened in June. When I visited them they were offering 7 wines, two reds (2001 Merlot & 2001 Zwiegelt) and five whites (Pinot Gris, Auxerrois, Bacchus, Vidal Late Harvest, and a Pinot Gris/Auxerrois blend called "Barrique". All are 2002). Most of the wines were well made and generally of good value, but the ones that stuck out for me were the Pint Gris and the Barrique. The Pinot Gris has good fruit with flavours of honeydew melon and a crisp finish. I particularly liked the Barrique, a barrel aged wine with a unique flavour. It is the closest thing to chardonnay produced by Arrowleaf (if you prefer Chardonnay) but has a distinctive flavour that you have to try for yourself. Greata Ranch opened in May 2003. The wine tasing room is located on the Greata Ranch property, between Peachland and Summerland, on Highway 97. Although the wines are processed and bottled at Cedar Creek's state of the art facility, most of the varieties under the Greata Ranch label are grown on the Greata Ranch property. Greata Ranch wines are available exclusively at the wine shop. I enjoyed the Greata Ranch 2000 Chardonnay and the 2000 Select Chardonnay. Also worth buying is the 2002 Ehrenfelser, one of the better versions of this variety I have tasted and, at $13.99 well priced for your summer drinking. |
