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Destination: KELOWNA, B.C.
Days of wine and monsters
B.C.'S OKANAGAN VALLEY BOASTS VINES, WINES AND THE OCCASIONAL SWIMMING SERPENT
By DAN LEETH -- Special to Sun Media
Binoculars raised, I scan the surface of British Columbia's Okanagan Lake. This snakelike body of water stretches 83 km from tip-to-tail, and between its shorelines lies an underwater canyon deep enough to cover a skyscraper. Like Scotland's Loch Ness, the inland abyss may hide a monster. Named Ogopogo, the tubular lake serpent is said to bear a goatish head and eyes the size of melons. Witnesses claim it snags birds as appetizers, gulps horses for entrees and may occasionally nab humans for dessert. A $2 million bounty was recently offered to anyone who could prove the existence of this Canadian demon of the deep. Unfortunately, the only Ogopogo I spy is a park statue located in Kelowna, the largest city along the lake. Although the swimming critter proves elusive, the region's swilling matter does not. Okanagan Lake lies in central B.C., 325 km east of Vancouver. Sandwiched between the Cascades and the Rockies, the area is warm and dry making it ideal for growing grapes. Over the past two decades, the region has blossomed into western Canada's leading wine producer. Kelowna is becoming the Napa of the Great White North. "We are currently at about 5,500 acres (2,200 hectares) in vineyards," says Wayne Wilson, director of Kelowna's Wine Museum. "We have a way to go, but I think we're making our mark on the market." Wilson admits that Canadian wines were once downright bad. With competition induced by the North American Free Trade Agreement, the product has improved greatly and local vintages now garner gold at international competitions. Accomplished wine makers seem to be drawn to the Okanagan's eclectic potpourri of grapes and the chance to live in comfortable Kelowna. PLENTY TO DO AND SEE Home to 100,000, the city offers resort hotels, fine dining, boutiques, golf courses, museums, galleries and theatres. There is even a casino. Vineyards and wineries are minutes from town. Unable to find the lake brute, I decide to search for bottled bruts. "If you drive on your own, you will be with the general public and paying for some tastings," says Vicki Molly of Okanagan Wine Country Tours. "Because of our insider knowledge, we go into cellars, do barrel tastings with the wine maker and visit parts of the facility not normally open." Our first stop is Calona Vineyards, the region's original winery near downtown. Since 1989, its winemaker has been Howard Soon. After spending five years brewing beer for Labatts, he shifted from cans to corks.
Soon shows us German-made crushers-destemmers and membrane presses modelled after those developed in Champagne, France. Expensive American and French oak barrels rest on floor-to-ceiling racks. "Our winery technology is equal to anybody else's in the world," claims Soon. "It's how you apply the methods and the kinds of grapes you work with that make the difference." Soon says most of his winery's grapes are grown in the valley's south end, which he says is desert country complete with scorpions, cactus and sand. Our tour continues in the opposite direction. The roadway winds between lake and mountains. On this sunny day, only sails and speedboats break the shimmering blue surface. Nary a lake demon lurks in sight. Owner Trudy Heiss greets us at Gray Monk Estate Winery, a half-hour north of Kelowna. She explains that she and her husband once considered raising mushrooms, but decided on grapes. They sold their first harvests to commercial wineries, but after concluding they could do a better job, they started their own operation.
"In 1980 we made 1,330 litres. We now bottle over 380,000 litres," says Heiss. Their signature wines are secret blends marketed as the Latitude 50 Series, reflecting their location near the 50th parallel. It's about the same as the Rhine wine region of Germany. Returning to Kelowna, we cross Okanagan Lake on a 1.5 km floating bridge held in place by monster-proof 70-ton anchors. Before the span was built, traffic sailed shore-to-shore on a ferry boat supposedly fitted with Ogopogo repelling devices. Native people called the creature N'ha-a-tik, and when they traversed the lake by canoe, they brought a small animal to toss in as an offering. Pioneer John McDougal did likewise. One day in the 1860s he forgot. He was paddling with his swimming horses tethered behind when something suddenly sucked the animals under. Only a line-cutting knife saved McDougal from joining them.
A dozen years later, Susan Allison became the first settler to glimpse Ogopogo. She and her husband John farmed on the west side of the lake, and he often canoed across to town. One day while he was gone, a violent storm pelted the valley. Scanning the water for her husband, the worried wife thought she saw a log. But this "log" had eyes and was churning against the current. The Allisons' cabin still stands in its original location, now the grounds of Quails' Gate Estate Winery. The rough-hewn structure serves as the tasting room and store. Llane Stewart, daughter of the owner, gives a vineyard history. It began when her great-grandfather planted what he thought were table grapes from Washington. "He didn't realize until they started producing fruit that they were actually wine grapes," she giggles. BOUTIQUE WINES
The crop was originally sold to a winery on Vancouver Island. The Stewart's estate-bottling operation did not start until 1989. Joanne Hooper, wife of wine maker Ashley Hooper, explains how they are positioning themselves in the boutique wine business. "We came from Australia two years ago," she says. "Instead of quantity, Ashley looks toward quality. He wants to make a name for the Canadian industry on an international market." We visit Mission Hill Winery, whose Tucsan-inspired grounds feature a courtyard in the shadow of a 12-storey bell tower, a colonnaded loggia overlooking the lake and an amphitheatre that hosts Bard In The Vineyard plays in the summer. Last stop is Summerhill Winery where a five-metre bottle of brut tilts in the air as if an invisible giant is eternally pouring himself a flute of bubbly. Beyond, a four-storey pyramid pokes skyward.
"It's scaled to the same precise angles as the Great Pyramid of Egypt," says owner Stephen Cipes. He leads us into the structure's inner chamber, lit only by candles. There, he employs Einsteinian theories to explain how pyramids form an interface between positive and negative space-time. He claims that in here unhomogenized milk will turn to yogurt rather than rot, meat will petrify and flawless wines aged within will have their qualities enhanced. In taste tests of otherwise identical bottlings, guests always favour ones from the pyramid. Cipes asks us to do an experiment. We divide into pairs and hold up hands, palms toward but not touching our partners. "You feel anything?" I ask my confederate. "Ooh, I can!" she exclaims. "It's like there's a pull." The only draw I feel is to the tasting room. There, a young woman offers a glass of pyramid-aged Cipes Brut. I take it outside where the Sunset Bistro overlooks the vineyards and lake. Below, a dark object floats in the water. This could be my chance to capture Kelowna's beast of the deep. Turning to get my camera, I come face-to-face with the flying bottle and great pyramid. Maybe it isn't Ogopogo after all. Maybe it's just the wine. BOTTOM LINE GETTING THERE: Air Canada (888-247-2262, aircanada.com) and West Jet (888-937-8538, westjet.com) are among the airlines providing service from from Toronto. ACCOMMODATIONS: Options in Kelowna range from orchard-side B&Bs to lakefront resorts such as Grand Okanagan (800-465-4651, grandokanagan.com). The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce (800-663-4345, kelownachamber.org) has a list. WINE TOURS: Okanagan Wine Country Tours (866-689-9463, okwinetours.com) offers tasting adventures ranging from a three-hour "afternoon delight" $45, to a seven-hour "daytripper" $110. For $25 VIP services can be added -- private tours, etc. WINERIES: - Calona Vineyards (888-246-4472, calona.kelowna.com), 1125 Richter St. in Kelowna. Open for tours seven days a week. - Gray Monk Estate Winery (800-663-4205, graymonk. com), 1055 Camp Rd. in Okanagan Centre. Tours and tastings daily. The Grapevine Patio Grill serves lunch daily and dinner Tuesday-Saturday during the summer. - Quails' Gate Estate Winery (800-420-9463, quailsgate.com), 3303 Boucherie Rd. on the west side of Okanagan Lake. The Old Vines Patio, featuring Kevin Costner's onetime private chef, Judith Knight, opens for lunch and dinner May through October. Tours and tastings are held daily. - Mission Hill Winery (888-999-1713, missionhillwinery.com), 1730 Mission Hill Rd. on the west side of Okanagan Lake. Lunch on the Terrace, weather permitting, and daily tours year-round. - St. Hubertus Estate Winery (800-989-9463, st-hubertus. bc.ca), 5225 Lakeshore Rd., Kelowna. Daily tastings in the summer and Tuesdays through Saturdays in winter. - Summerhill Winery (800-667-3538, summerhill.bc.ca) and its famous pyramid lies at 4870 Chute Lake Rd. in Kelowna. Forester's at the Summerhill Sunset Bistro is open for lunch and dinner year-round. Tastings, tours and trips into the pyramid held daily. MORE INFO: Contact Tourism Kelowna (800-663-4345, kelownachamber. org) or the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (800-567-2275, thompsonokanagan.com).
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