A Fairview of the Okanagan

I must say I am always the first to denigrate our local BC product, and I do see that from Tawney's (and Sommelier's) posts I am not alone. We have together resisted any seduction into the peculiar provincial 'culture'. We generally contended it was inferior product, certainly for the price (or cost).

There is a possibility that my views could change. This of course will surprise friends and family, and certainly hearten my enemies.

I recently spent a number of days on the Okanagan estate of Screwtop and family. It was a rather charmed tenure, with a few certainties: fine weather, refreshing white not later than 5pm, two sunsets due to the low mountain to the west, and the rediscovery of Led Zeppelin from the passing boats long after the white was drained.

We did, also, visit a winery or two, which gave me a small insight into the business. This is, if you want the wine, you should visit the winery.

I will not claim that I can defend the quality, or price of these vintages. However, I can say that I tasted some pretty good stuff. But one would never get it in the liquor store. It seems that most of it is sold right off the estate. And so it could escape attention. I will give one example.

We visited Fairview Estates. This is a small winery, perhaps 6 or 7 acres, which apparently is a good terroir, etc. etc. These sell in a number of restaurants, but it seems the proprietor has no difficulty in getting his modest volumes of stock moved through his own sales, either at the winery or wider direct delivery.

In fact, so smitten was I with this concept that I bought a half dozen bottles. Perhaps it was the light-headedness from the tasting, or his fine suggestions on ways to commit murder with a wine press, or most probably that I liked it, but i found myself walking out with a bottles that I cannot open for at least a year. That is (for me) deep commitment to the cause. I will stack these '05 Cabernet Merlot faithfully beside the '03 bordeaux and the '04 rhone in my closet, swelling my burgeoning wine collection to something in the neighbourhood of 14 bottles.

It does seem that there might be decent and appropriately valued wines to be enjoyed from our native soils. I do think that the Okanagan question deserves revisiting. Or visiting.