Thirty years ago, I tasted troubled whites and grating reds in the Okanagan Valley, in Canada. These are fresh wines today, which you can slurp down in the finest tasting rooms and adjoining restaurants
Text: Jacques Hermus | Image: Unsplash
In 1981, I drank my first wine from Okanagan Valley in Western Canada. I was a vinous kid still, but thirstily drinking along with the tough guys at a party in Vancouver. I remembered mostly stodgy whites from winemakers who had planted old German and Alsatian grapes. And reds from the Maréchal Foch, one of those hybrids that does well in cool climates but grated along my tongue.
Fast-forward: three decades later, young winemakers at Mission Hill, Quail's Gate and Mission Hill had shaken off traditional feathers and transformed tired classics into fresh wines. And they were also investing heavily in the finest tasting rooms and adjacent restaurants. No wonder we hardly know these Canadian wines with us: local oenotourists and the laid back elite of Vancouver and surrounding areas - also known as La-La-Land - drink it themselves. Fortunately, I visit there often enough to take a sip.
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