Okanagan Valley winemakers embrace a strong start to the 2026 season | Canada Voices

In the Okanagan Valley, wine from the terrific 2025 harvest is filling up cellars, and with local hotels anticipating high occupancy rates for this year’s tourist season, wineries in the region are feeling optimistic.

Excitement surrounding FIFA World Cup matches in Vancouver is contributing to a spillover of visitors for the region, explains Kerri Wyse-McNolty, vice-president of marketing and hospitality at Burrowing Owl Estate Winery in Oliver, British Columbia. She says her winery’s 11-room, on-site guest house is booked up for the entire spring and summer season as usual.

“There’s a positive vibe in the Okanagan in general right now,” says Wyse-McNolty, who is also a member of winery and regional tourism organizations.

This Okanagan winemaker is hopeful in the wake of the 2024 deep freeze

After losing most of the 2024 harvest to a January cold snap, winemakers in the Okanagan reaped the benefits of an exceptional quantity of high-quality grapes in 2025 due to the warmest growing season on record. The mild winter weather this year signals the beginning of another promising growing season, bringing hope to an industry that is still recovering from lost production and sales.

Burrowing Owl is one of the Okanagan’s first premium estate wineries. In 1993, Wyse-McNolty’s father, Jim Wyse, purchased 100 acres on what is known as the Black Sage Bench on the eastern slope of the valley. The varieties planted, including chardonnay, merlot and cabernet sauvignon, were used by Calona Vineyards for its premium Sandhill label until the family opened Burrowing Owl in 1998.

Today, Burrowing Owl farms about 210 acres primarily on Black Sage Road and above Osoyoos Lake, near the Washington border. An additional site in the Similkameen Valley is used to grow sauvignon blanc.

Wyse-McNolty credits the family’s ongoing success with the trust they have developed with their customers over the years. Even with a trend toward declining alcohol consumption, Burrowing Owl’s reputation holds with consumers who are drinking less but choosing higher-quality bottles. “They are confident buying our wine,” she says.

From her vantage in the tasting room, Wyse-McNolty’s experience contradicts the common industry complaint that younger people are not engaged with wine. “We’re finding they are really curious. They want to hear the stories and are connecting with the brand,” she says.