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Mission Hill Sommelier Jesse Harnden leads a workshop called Vines, Grapes and Wines. (Photo Adrian Nieoczym)
Sunday marked the end of the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival, which saw vintages poured, swirled, sipped and paired as the valley was abuzz with wine-based activities.
Christina Ferreira, of Okanagan Wine Festivals Society, said the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival was a busy one and welcomed visitors both local and out of town.
“We still saw a lot of people from Alberta and Vancouver, which is our primary demographic, but also when we were out talking to people and going to events we saw more local people,” explains Ferreira. “We can anticipate that attendance was up.”
While there were more people attending festival events, it appears the number of events per person was down.
“A lot of people were just going to one or two events, where in past years people were doing something every night,” she says, of the festival which hosts many wine-based events up and down the Okanagan Valley.
Ferreira suspects the current economic situation has to do with participants’ tightening of the purse strings.
“It’s just everyone’s thought patterns are that, ‘It’s the economy, let’s just do one or two events,’” she suggests, adding some wine masters’ dinners had to be cancelled due to lack of ticket sales. However, she notes, another factor could be related to the abundance of events that occurred throughout the 10-day period.
Harnden shows off some of the grapes in the Mission Hill vineyard. (Photo Adrian Nieoczym)
While some events were being cancelled, at the same time, a number of events sold out, or came close to it. The inaugural Wine, Dine and Unwind at Manteo Resort was nearly sold out; the WestJet Wine Festival, which moved to a larger venue, grew in size; and the ever popular Festival of the Grape in Oliver brought families to the South Okanagan to celebrate the fruit.
House of Rose Winery, hidden away on Gardner Road, hosts a series of grape stomps and saw about 400 visitors come to the winery over two Saturdays.
“Many came to tick it off their ‘Bucket List,’” says Wouter van der Hall of House of Rose, adding stompers were as young as three-months old to people well in their 70s. Those wanting to feel grapes squash between their toes came from locations as far off as Alberta, Manitoba, Holland, Italy and Romania.
It wasn’t just wine connoisseurs who reaped the benefits of the festival, some local wineries took home medals for their best red and white wines.
CedarCreek Estate Winery was named Best White Wine for its reisling and was given gold medals, two silver and two bronze.
“It’s always nice to get acknowledged for what we do,” says Gordon Fitzpatrick, president of CedarCreek. “It’s a wine that usually sells out before we’re able to make the changeover to the next vintage, so it has a good following.”
Other local award winners include Mission Hill Family Estate, Quail’s Gate, Sandhill Wines, Arrowleaf Cellars and Grey Monk.
But it wasn’t easy–Ferreira reports this year’s judging was more difficult than winemakers may have been used to in previous years.
“The judges this year had a more experienced palate and were a lot tougher,” she says. “We saw a decline in medals…Usually 65 per cent of entries receive medals and this year it was 45 per cent.”
The Okanagan Fall Wine Festival, celebrating 30 years in 2010, is one of four annual fests produced by The Okanagan Wine Festivals Society. The other three, the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival, the Okanagan Summer Wine Festival and Icewine Festival, also focus on locally produced wines and the region’s wine industry.
For more information about the wine festivals visit www.thewinefestivals.com.
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Tags: CedarCreek, christina ferreira, house of rose, okanagan fall wine festival
