Sip Northwest, Summer 2014
OROFINO VINEYARDS SIPNORTHWEST COM When John and Virginia Weber of OROFINO VINEYARDS rst moved to Similkameen Valley in 2001 it was an unknown spot on the map Now its touted as a hidden gem of British Columbia The couple grew up in Saskatchewan and after years of traveling and working around the world ended up back home in their respective careers teaching and nursing We had reached a point where we had to decide says John Weber is this what we are going to do Virginia began studying horticulture at the University of Saskatchewan with the tentative plan to buy a greenhouse business We knew we wanted to farm says Weber And we knew we wanted to run a business together One morning while ipping through the newspaper they read an ad for a vineyard for sale in the Okanagan The same owner had a property for sale in the Similkameen Valley with more vineyard acreage and a smaller home The next week they drove through the night to see the property Coming from Saskatchewan where its at and very prairie ish you get into this valley and its quite exotic says Weber of the cherry tree in the yard ve almond trees and apples and peaches and nectarines All these things that prairies dont have The couple put an o er in that weekend It was accepted We quit our jobs and moved says Weber We had no experience Never even sat on a tractor before At the time they moved to the area there were only three wineries in the valley Its been called a bit of a frontier says Weber But they made it through the rst year of growing grapes contracting and selling all of their fruit in 2001 and 2002 while gaining an understanding of their land In 2003 Weber made his rst wine at a neighboring facility During this time the couple was also taking classes in winemaking and viticulture at Okanagan University College now Okanagan College In 2004 the couple built a winery Canadas rst and only strawbale winery A tasting room followed in 2005 with a total production that year of 550 cases The winery grew slowly and deliberately Last year Oro no produced approximately 5000 cases of wine When asked what advice hed give to aspiring winemakers Weber replies Know what youve got that other people dont In the end its all about taking a chance SIMILKAMEEN SERENDIPITY
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