Okanagan Wines in Japan – Update August 2008

Hi everyone!

Remember my recent posting entitled “Okanagan Wines at Hanshin Department Store”? The South Okanagan region in British Columbia is an area of stunning, pristine and unique natural beauty and its arid, desert climate is particularly well suited to grape and fruit production. In recent years, Ice Wine, properly spelled Eis Wein due to its origins from Riesling grapes in Germany, have received world acclaim and have gotten rather pricey in the process. Well, I found one of these a few weeks ago at Hanshin and am sorry to say that it must have been a one-off. Still, Hanshin does have regular wine tasting fairs and the next time they promote Eis Wein you should definitely go.

My father chose the Okanagan Valley, in particular Penticton as the place where we would settle down after leaving Germany and after having lived near Toronto for two years. I spent about one fifth of my life living in Germany and about one fifth in Penticton. I grew up there, went to high school, learned to swim, boat, water ski, dive and drink beer on the beaches of Okanagan and Skaha Lakes as a teen-ager. I taught my dog to swim at the very spot on Okanagan Lake in the picture above. All this gives me the motivation to find more of these tasty wines in Japan. No more schlepping duty-free Omiage!

These maps show locations of some of the quality vintners in the South Okanagan. One map shows the deep South with Oliver as the main wine region known as “The Golden Mile”. Heading farther south we get to Osoyoos and the beautiful, warm Osoyoos Lake which is shared by British Columbia and Washington State. The other map highlights Penticton, and a little farther north Summerland and the nearby village of Naramata which boasts some of the finest vintages in Canada.

At last count, there were 71 vintners and wineries in the South Okanagan. Have a look at some of the best in the area to get you started on the research as follows:

Nk’Mip Cellars, Inniskillin, Sumac Ridge, See Ya Later Ranch and Jackson Triggs.

Meanwhile I am on the search for these delicacies here in Kansai and will update as soon as I know. Meanwhile, everyone enjoy August!

Martin W Zander
マーティン・ワーナー・ザンダー
Smith’s School of English Fukushima Osaka Umeda
月謝制 の スミス 英会話　福島 校　大阪 市　梅田 校
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/fukushima.shtml

 
Smith’s School of English Kotoen Nigawa Nishinomiya
月謝制 の スミス 英会話　甲東園 校　仁川 校　西宮 市
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/kotoen.shtml