The Wine Knows

Today marks the end of the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival, one of four annual wine festival's held in British Columbia's major wine region.

The Okanagan Valley "gets it." About a quarter-century ago, Harry McWatters from Sumac Ridge Estate Winery visited the Tri-Cities Wine Festival, at that time considered one of the region's top wine festivals. McWatters took ideas back north and was instrumental in starting the Okanagan Wine Festival.

Today, the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival draws thousands upon thousands, lasts 10 days and includes 150-plus events. The other three festivals don't draw nearly as many, but they supplement an already-growing wine tourism industry. Meanwhile, the Tri-City festival is relatively unchanged.

The Okanagan is a joy to visit - Wine Press Northwest Managing Editor Eric Degerman is heading back from the Spring fest right now - for several reasons. First and foremost, the area is beautiful. The wines - especially the whites - are spectacular (and the reds are making great gains). And the area welcomes visitors with open arms. No fewer than a half-dozen wineries have on-site restaurants (and there are plenty of high-end eateries from Oliver to Kelowna).

If you haven't visited the Okanagan, plan a long weekend and head to the B.C. Interior (about three hours east of Vancouver). If you haven't tried a B.C. wine in the past decade or so, the industry is on the upswing, so give it another chance.