South Okanagan winery principals are opening restaurants, taking part in quirky wine festivals and doing everything they can to attract tourists while the high Canadian dollar lures British Columbian wine travellers south of the border.
Hester Creek Estate Winery and Road 13 are both opening restaurants this week in the Golden Mile area south of Oliver. Their neighbour, Tinhorn Creek, opened a restaurant in April.
The openings come in the lead-up to the third annual Osoyoos Celebrity Wine Festival June 9 through 12.
That festival, spearheaded by Black Hills Estate Winery principal Glenn Fawcett, has attracted actors such as Jason Priestley, Bruce Greenwood and Tiffani Amber Thiessen.
Road 13’s eatery is more of a light-snack lounge whereas the other two restaurants will be full-service bistros aimed at pleasing tourists who previously had only one nearby option to have a meal while overlooking vineyards: Burrowing Owl Estate Winery.
“It’s all about retaining people and tourists in the south end of the Okanagan Valley. To do that, we need quality places for them to be able to dine,” said Hester Creek general manager Mark Sheridan.
“We don’t see the other winery restaurants as competition. We see them as being operated by colleagues.”
Prince George businessman Curt Garland bought Hester Creek for $5.2 million in 2004 after it had fallen into foreclosure. He then spent an undisclosed amount to build six guesthouses that he started renting in late 2007. Next came a new winery building.
Garland’s most recent investment was tens of thousands of dollars to renovate an old tasting room to create a 75-seat restaurant that includes 30 patio seats.
“We’re all about the wine and food experience,” Sheridan said. “We have a beautiful demonstration kitchen in our winery and chefs such as Umberto Menghi have come. The new restaurant is a natural progression.”
Like Burrowing Owl, Hester Creek entered into a management contract for a third party to operate the restaurant.
Burrowing Owl co-owner Jim Wyse told Business in Vancouver that he gets a slice of his restaurant’s gross sales but the restaurant manager gets all profit. In exchange, Wyse makes repairs to the bistro that he spent $350,000 to build in 2003. He can also veto menu items and require that his wines be front and centre at the eatery.
In contrast, Tinhorn Creek co-owner Sandra Oldfield entered into a simple lease agreement with Vancouver’s Manuel Ferreira, who has operated Le Gavroche on Alberni Street for decades.
Ferreira essentially pays the rent and has full control over his Miradoro restaurant, which has 130 seats including 65 seats on a heated patio. That patio has high glass walls to protect diners from wind and a misting mechanism for hot summer days.
Oldfield, husband Kenn Oldfield and partners Bob Shaunessy and Barb Shaunessy combined to spend $2 million to build the restaurant.
Road 13’s husband-and-wife ownership team Pam Luckhurst and Mick Luckhurst spent about $3 million to build a 10,000-square-foot building that houses their new eatery and tasting lounge.
The building also has a mechanical room and storage space.
“We expanded our production and ran out of storage space. With our fantastic view, we thought, ‘We can’t just build a warehouse.’ So, we built a winery lounge,” Pam Luckhurst said.
Luckhurst’s eatery will initially only offer charcuterie, cheeses and breads. But, because there is a kitchen, she expects that in the future she will start offering tapas plates.
“The licensing requirement to operate the lounge is that we have to offer some food,” she said.
The Luckhursts spent $2 million to buy the former Golden Mile Cellars and 24 acres of land in 2003. They rechristened their venture Road 13 and have since bought an additional 22 acres of land.
Production has increased from 1,000 cases in their first year to 20,000 today. Their new storage space will soon enable them to produce 25,000 cases in a year.
“We’re starting to work closely with tour companies and will soon start daily tours,” she said.