Burrowing Owl Estate is a Canadian

wine grower A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to deter ...

and producer. The estate is based fifteen kilometres south of Oliver, British Columbia, in the Okanagan Valley wine region.

History

The estate was started in 1993 when Jim Wyse, a developer from Vancouver, was looking for new business ideas and purchased a neglected vineyard south of Oliver. Initial plantings consisted of Chardonnay, Pinot gris, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The estate is named after the endangered burrowing owl (''A. c. hypugaea'' or northern burrowing owl) which resides in the area. Tasting fees from the cellar door are donated to a local conservation society. The first vintage of grapes was processed at another winery facility in 1997, prior to the completion of the on-site winery in 1998 which has been used for subsequent vintages. The winery was set up to use a

gravity flow In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stron ...

processing system. The original winemaker was Bill Dyer from California, who continued in this role until 2005 when Stephen Wyse, Jim Wyse's son, took over the job. Bertus Albertyn, a South African, took over the senior wine making position in 2010. Jim Wyse's son Chris Wyse is the current company president. Burrowing Owl Estate has been described by James Cluer, a Canadian Master of Wine, as a pioneer of the area and one of the iconic wineries of British Columbia.

Wines

Burrowing Owl owns 140 acres of vineyards and produces between 28,000 and 30,000 cases of wine each vintage.

Organic viticulture Organic wine is wine made from grapes grown in accordance with the principles of organic farming, which excludes the use of artificial chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. The consumption of organic wine grew at a r ...

techniques are used by the winery as part of the environmental policy. The estate produces nine wines, entirely from grapes harvested from their own vineyard holdings. Red wines produced are made from

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being us ...

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

Syrah Syrah (), also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse B ...

, a Meritage blend and a new wine released in 2010, the ''Athene'', a blend of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. White wines are made from

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

and Pinot gris.

Other

Burrowing Owl Estate has a restaurant and accommodation at the winery. The restaurant ''Sonora Room'' was opened in 2003 and ten guestrooms were completed in 2006. The cellar door, restaurant, swimming pool and accommodation are powered and temperature controlled by a hybrid

Solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

and Geothermal electricity heating and cooling system that also provides heated water for winery use.

Quails' Gate Winery Quails’ Gate Winery is a Canadian Winery located on the shore of Okanagan Lake in Westbank, British Columbia. Situated in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, Quails’ Gate produces over 50,000 cases of wine per year. Quails’ Gate are best ...

and Burrowing Owl formed a partnership called ''Appellation Wine Marketing Ltd'' in 2009 to sell and promote a portfolio of local and international wines in British Columbia and Alberta.

References

External links

Official Website
{{coord, 49.101297, -119.533482, region:US_type:landmark, display=title Wineries of British Columbia Companies established in 1993 Wineries in the Okanagan