After taking some time to pause and reflect, the Okanagan Wine Festivals is beginning 2023 with a reset and reboot.
Known in British Columbia for its signature fall wine festival and wine competition, secondary seasonal fests became part of the blend in recent years — pre-pandemic — in spring, summer and winter. However, a new vision is emerging with a fresh board of directors and a new general manager at the helm.
“It was time for a strategic plan, a re-vision and to move forward with a healthy rebound,” explains Kimberly Hundertmark, who stepped into the GM role in late fall. “We know people have missed (the festivals), and if we build it, they will come.”
Hundertmark came to the Okanagan a handful of years ago from Ontario’s wine industry, where she was executive director of the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival, reimagining it, taking out of a deficit and creating new standards for wine tourism and hospitality. Prior to that, she was the first female winery GM in Ontario – Stoney Ridge Estate Winery, a favourite of the Tragically Hip.
“After my first ‘sweeping week’ in B.C., my husband and I decided we needed to be here,” she says. “He wanted to create an iconic wine brand, so it was ‘Who’s going to get a job first?’ ”
It was Jeff Hundertmark in 2017 who landed at Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery in West Kelowna. Kimberly held several hospitality positions in the Okanagan wine sector before joining Okanagan Wine Festivals.
In early December, her first success was bringing back the popular Big Reds at Big White weekend of events at Big White Ski Resort southeast of Kelowna.
Oliver’s Winterfest at The District Wine Village is Jan. 28
In January, the newly re-imagined Okanagan Winter Wine Festival comes to the southern area of the valley, with one pit-stop in the north. Prior winter festivals were held at Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops and featured icewine.
She says while icewine is no longer the focus, there will be icewine cocktails featured at the multi-tasting room District Wine Village in Oliver at Winterfest at the Village on Jan. 28.
The full festival begins a few days earlier on Jan. 22 at Predator Ridge Resort near Vernon with a Burgundy-inspired event featuring Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
The finale weekend takes place Jan. 27-28 in Penticton starting with Sensation — An Eve for the Senses on Friday the 27th. This sensory-inspired grand tasting will feature culinary pairings with both contrasting and complementing wines, as well as entertainment to tease the senses of touch, smell, sight and hearing.
The TASTE Passport will guide guests through six curated experiences at the Wine Village on Saturday, Jan. 28, and serves as a pilot project for the festival. And icewine will play a role in the “cocktail luge” at Winterfest on the 28th, hints Hundertmark.
“I’m really excited for this — and to build this as a shoulder season destination,” she adds.
The Okanagan Wine Festivals Society is planning to bring back the prestigious B.C. Lieutenant Governor’s Wine Awards this spring, paired with launching an elevated spring festival in June.
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