Wine

12 Okanagan Wines Only Available at the Winery

Stock up on these winery-exclusive bottles on your next trip to the Okanagan.

By Neal McLennan /

Stock up on these winery-exclusive bottles on your next trip to the Okanagan.

It’s a big dinner party and you’re hell-bent on impressing everyone with your wine savvy. You can head to the liquor store and lay out a small fortune on a 2010 Bordeaux, but all that shows is the size of your wallet. What you need is something special, and for that we’ve compiled the perfect mixed case of winery-only gems—wines you’ll need to make a journey to the farm gate to find, but that show just how committed you are to sourcing great bottles.

best okanagan wines

From Left:

Elephant Island The Other Way Chardonnay Old-vine wonder from the fruit wine masters.

Stoneboat Solo Pinotage Reserve Shows up only in outstanding vintages.

Culmina Unicus Find out why everyone loves grüner veltliner.

Mission Hill Compendium Left Bank Bordeaux by way of West Kelowna.

Township 7 Black Dog Only the best juice in only the best years.

Okanagan Crush Pad Free Form Natural wine comes to town.

Summerhill Eidse Brothers Zweigelt 42 (!) months of neutral oak aging.

Terravista Albariño Bracing, racy Spanish white.

Poplar Grove CSM Seriously age-worthy blend of cab, syrah and merlot.

Moon Curser Touriga Nacional Already a legend in the valley.

CedarCreek Platinum M The only local version of Madeira there is.

Stag’s Hollow Hawk’s Hollow Smoky, heavy-hitting red.

Want more Okanagan wine picks? Food and travel editor Neal McLennan shares his list of Okanagan essentials right here.

Neal McLennan

Neal McLennan

Neal McLennan is the wine and spirits editor for Vancouver and Western Living magazines, where he susses out the wonderful (and occasionally weird) options for imbibing across Western Canada.