Mission Hill Family Estate is a wine grower and producer based in

West Kelowna West Kelowna, formerly known as Westbank and colloquially known as Westside, is a city in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley. The city encompasses several distinct neighbourhoods, including Casa Loma, Gellatly, Glenrosa, Lakeview Heights, Shan ...

, British Columbia, Canada, in the

Okanagan Valley The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is p ...

wine region. The winery is situated atop Mission Hill overlooking a 145 kilometre lake, mountains and vineyards.

History

Mission Hill Family Estate was established in 1966. Anthony von Mandl was a wine seller in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

during the 1970s and assisted in preparing a feasibility study regarding growing grapes in the area for Josef Milz, a Mosel based winery. While the German vintner did not go ahead with a purchase, von Mandl decided that the area was worth investing in, and in 1981 purchased the abandoned Mission Hill estate. von Mandl is also the founder of Mike's Hard Lemonade Co. The first

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 ...

made by John Simes, who had just joined the winery, in the 1992 vintage won the trophy for "Best Chardonnay" at the 1994

International Wine and Spirit Competition The International Wine & Spirit Competition is an annual wine and spirit competition founded in 1969 by the German/British oenologist Anton Massel. Each year the competition receives entries from over 90 countries worldwide. The awards given by ...

, becoming the first Okanagan winery to receive overseas recognition.

Olson Kundig Architects Olson Kundig, is an American architectural firm based in Seattle, run by architects Jim Olson and Tom Kundig. Founded by Olson in 1966, the firm’s work has grown to encompass museums, commercial and mixed-use design, exhibit design, interior des ...

were commissioned in 1996 to rebuild the winery and associated buildings. This was the first winery project undertaken by the design firm. The work was completed in 2002 at an estimated cost of thirty-five million Canadian dollars. The centrepiece and focal point of the design was a twelve-story and 85 foot high bell tower, with four bells cast by

Fonderie Paccard Fonderie Paccard is a French foundry in Annecy. Founded in 1796, the foundry has cast more than 120,000 bells located throughout the world. The foundry has been continuously operated by seven generations of the Paccard family. The largest bell c ...

in Annecy, France who also crafted the bells for St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York and Sacré-Cœur in Paris. The largest bell weighs nearly 800 kilograms.

Vineyards

Until 1996, Mission Hill had purchased grapes from vineyards owned by others to produce wine, with no vineyard holdings of its own. It started to purchase its own vineyards in 1996. Mission Hill Family Estate farms 32 family-owned estate vineyards in the

. Mission Hill has estate vineyards in each of the five growing regions; West Kelowna, East Kelowna,

Naramata Naramata is an unincorporated community in the Okanagan region of south central British Columbia. On the eastern shore of southern Lake Okanagan, the locality is by road about north of Penticton. Name origin In November 1906, John Moore Robinso ...

Bench, Black Sage Bench in Southeast Oliver and Osoyoos. Most of the vineyards are planted on benches above the valley floor; on varying degrees of slope that assist with air drainage, improves frost protection and increases the amount of sun the vines receive.

Wines and winemaking

Michel Rolland Michel Rolland (born December 24, 1947) is a Bordeaux-based oenologist, with hundreds of clients across 13 countries and influencing wine style around the world. "It is his consultancies outside France that have set him apart from all but a handfu ...

, a prominent French

oenologist Oenology (also enology; ) is the science and study of wine and winemaking. Oenology is distinct from viticulture, which is the science of the growing, cultivation, and harvesting of grapes. The English word oenology derives from the Greek word ' ...

, has been consulting at the estate since 2005. Mission Hill estate produces wines across four tiers. Their entry level wines are labeled as "Five Vineyards". The next tier are the "Reserve" wines, followed by the "Terroir Collection" and the top-tier "Legacy" series. The flagship "Oculus" is a

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

style red wine made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It is named after circular windows used in classical architecture.

Other

The estate has a sixty-seat restaurant called "Terrace" that opened in 2002. It overlooks

Lake Okanagan Okanagan Lake ( oka, kɬúsx̌nítkw) is a lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. The lake is long, between wide, and has a surface area of 348 km2 (135 sq. mi.). Hydrography Okanagan Lake is called a fjord lake as i ...

. In 2008 it was named by Travel + Leisure magazine as one of the five best winery restaurants in the world.

References

{{coord , 49.835612 , -119.587684 , display=title Wineries of British Columbia Wineries in the Okanagan West Kelowna 1966 establishments in British Columbia Food and drink companies established in 1966