Golf legend and winemaker Greg Norman took a wine-tourism detour after visiting Peachland, where he checked up on his Greg Norman-designed golf course, which is in development.
The Florida-based Australian flew by helicopter to Hillside Estate Winery accompanied by his daughter Morgan-leigh Norman, who is in charge of the Greg Norman family of international wines, and Norm Porter, who is CEO of Tree Group Developments, the company in charge of the Ponderosa development in Peachland.
Norman also brought along a camera crew that was filming the pilot for a reality TV series about the construction of Ponderosa, which is eventually expected to have 2,000 homes as well as the golf course and an as-yet unnamed winery.
Norman launched Greg Norman Estates (GNE) in 1999 in partnership with Fosters Group. GNE now produces wines both in Australia and California.
“[Norman] wanted to find out more of what the Okanagan wine industry was about,” Hillside Estate Winery co-owner Bill Carpenter told Business in Vancouver June 7.
Norman stayed several hours, went on a guided tour and sampled some of Hillside’s wines, which have increasingly become premium products.
Carpenter’s winery from has grown from five acres five years ago to 45 acres.
He has virtually stopped buying grapes from other producers and whittled down his production to 10,000 cases last year compared with 14,000 cases five years ago.
B.C.’s top wines are widely considered to be Mission Hill Family Estate Winery’s Oculus, Black Hills Estate Winery’s Nota Bene and Osoyoos Larose’s Le Grand Vin.
“We’re easily rivaling them, but we don’t blow our own horn,” Carpenter said of his winery’s $40 Bordeaux-style wine, Mosaic.
Glen Korstrom
Twitter: Glenkorstrom