South Okanagan Vineyards in BC Canada

The South Okanagan Valley is the heart of the grape growing area in British Columbia. Roughly 60% of the total grape acreage for all of BC is found between the towns of Oliver and Osoyoos. The vineyards you can see in the photo are a part of the growing area called the Golden Mile. Wineries such as Tinhorn Creek, Gehringer Brothers, Hester Creek, Inniskillin Okanagan, Golden Mile Cellers, and Antelope Ridge are all found in the Golden Mile portion of the Okanagan Valley. There are many other smaller independently owned vineyards in the Golden Mile that sell their grapes to wineries throughout BC. On the West side of the valley in the Golden Mile area grapevines are planted in gravelly soil with some clay and sand. The lake you barely see in the back ground is Osoyoos Lake (looking south). The vineyards on the left side of the photo (eastern side of the Okanagan Valley) are the vineyards of the Black Sage Bench (spot the patches of dirt of the feed lots against the eastern mountains and Black Sage is just to the right of them over the hill). Black Sage is one of the largest grape growing areas in British Columbia with over 1500 acres of vineyards. Black Sage Bench Vineyards on the east side of the valley grow in deep deposits of sand. In the 1980s the majority of this area was planted with Hybrid grapes. The 1988 free trade agreement between Canada and the United States saw the implementation of a major vine pull out program. During the grape pullout program of 1988, most of the vines were taken out and replanted with Vinifera (Old World) types of grapevines or classic European grape varieties. Some of the more successful wineries in the Black Sage Bench are: Burrowing Owl Vineyards, Black Hill Winery, Desert Hills, Silver Sage Winery, and Carriage House Wines. The mountains on the opposite side of Lake Osoyoos are actually in Washington State (USA). The desert terrain of the Oliver area actually extends south through eastern Washington, Oregon, California, and Mexico. The Okanagan Valley is Canada’s only desert pocket. Although the vines in this area have more than enough sun light to ripen every year the average rainfall is only 9 inches per year. In order to survive most grapevines need around 18 – 22 inches of rainfall each year. That is why all the vineyards around this area are irrigated.