Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Naramata Bench


The Naramata Bench located on the south-east side of Lake Okanagan has become one of Canada's prime wine growing regions. There are now close to fifty wineries operating on the bench. It all began back in the 1980s when Vera and Bohumir Klockockas founded Hillside Cellar. Lang winery opened in 1990 and became the first Farm Gate winery in BC.

With abundant sunshine, the cooling of the lake waters and moderate temperatures along with great terroirs grapes have prospered producing fine wines. This of course, brought others to the bench.

Tim Watts and Bob Ferguson started planting their vineyards in 1989. They named their winery after the railroad that once ran through Naramata, Kettle Valley.

D'Angelo winery open in 2002 when winemaker Sal D'Angelo a very successful Ontario winemaker and winery owner was extremely impressed by the Okanagan he  decided to open on the bench. Sal has had great success with the Tempranillo grape.

One of the most successful and very popular wineries  is Poplar Grove under winemaker Ian Southerland. Another winery that became very popular was Red Rooster originally founded by Beat and Prudence Mahrer. They sold it to Andrew Peller Ltd. but loved the business so much they came back and opened Ruby Blues winery.

Recently Black Widow owned by Dick Lancaster has been collecting more than its fair share of rewards including Gold at the recent All-Canadian.

La Frenz is one winery you do not want to miss when visiting the bench. Their Liqueur Muscat and Tawny port sensational.

The Naramata Bench is full of wineries that have impressed very one with their wines. The list includes Serendipity under winemaker Bradley Cooper (and his own label Black Cloud),Lake Breeze, Laughing Stock, Marichal Vineyards and fruit wine Elephant Island.

At the far end of the Bench is Van Westen Vineyards  They started as farmers almost 60 years ago and today are know for its cherries and white wines.

Yes I am forgetting to mention so many other wine wineries  like Misconduct, Meyers Family Estate, Moraine Estate and Nichol Vineyards and Perseus.

At the 2015 Canadain wine awards Deep Roots Winery Syrah won for best red. They also won for their unoaked Chardonnay


Se all the Naramata wineries


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