The wine world is filled with lots of stories about wineries that got their start when a hobby went out of control. However, few home winemakers are so obsessed that they buy and plant their own vineyards. Even fewer - and likely none - plant three vineyards just to get the grapes they want to feed their hobby.
But that's how Bob Ferguson and Tim Watts launched Kettle Valley Winery, our 2009 British Columbia Winery of the Year.
Ferguson and Watts met in 1980 in Vancouver when they began dating two sisters - they're all in-laws now - and began making wine together soon after. By 1986, the hobby was a serious obsession, so much so that the pair purchased property on the Naramata Bench near Penticton and planted vines the following year. In 1988, they bought another parcel and planted it, then acquired a third piece of land in 1990.
And they still had no intention of making it a commercial operation. What did the wives think of this?
"I didn't dare ask!" Ferguson said with a laugh. In fact, he still hasn't asked his wife, Colleen.
Watts, a geologist, and Ferguson, an accountant, decided to start their winery with the 1992 vintage and opened their doors in 1996. The operation is named after the Kettle Valley Railway, which operated in the region from 1915 to 1989.
Today, Kettle Valley produces about 10,000 cases of wine, two-thirds of which are red. Their vineyard operations have grown to 40 acres, primarily on the Naramata Bench, and Watts and Ferguson contract for another 35 acres.
They see the Naramata Bench as a special place to grow wine grapes. The soil is heavy glacial silt, so it retains a fair amount of moisture and makes controlling water easier. Okanagan Lake moderates temperatures throughout the year. In the summer and fall, temperatures are slightly cooler than the area around Oliver to the south. And this winter, when temperatures reached as low as 27 below 0 Celsius elsewhere, they dropped to only 18 below at Kettle Valley. The vineyards also receive more afternoon sunshine than those on the west side of the valley.
Watts oversees the vineyard operations, and the two make the wines together. Ferguson handles the business side of the winery, including the distribution. Colleen oversees the tasting room and much of the paperwork.
They produce 29 different wines - "Far too many," Ferguson laments. Most are crafted in extremely small lots, making the lucky few who acquire the wines feel fortunate indeed. For example, a Cab from the estate Crest Vineyard often will produce just a barrel of wine, resulting in about 25 cases.
"We're not blending a lot together," Ferguson said. "Virtually everything we do is in small lots. We keep each vineyard and variety separate throughout the process and try to release wine as vineyard-designated products. It's a lot of fun to work that way."
Selling the wine is never a problem, either, as the winery has gained near-cult status in British Columbia and beyond. The vast majority of the wine is sold to restaurants, primarily in Vancouver, Whistler, Tofino and Victoria.
When Kettle Valley started in 1992, only two other wineries were operating on the Naramata Bench and fewer than 20 in the entire province. Today, 22 wineries are on the Bench and nearly 200 are operating in B.C., primarily in the Okanagan Valley.
"I would never have dreamed this would have happened," Ferguson said. "In the first few years we were in business, we were pioneers. It hadn't been proven you could grow grapes here. Now, more people are coming because it's been proven."
And with land prices today, there would be little chance of someone starting a winery the way the boys at Kettle Valley did. An undeveloped
5-acre site on the bench likely would run $1.25 million today.
"In today's market, it would be very, very difficult," Ferguson said. "We were fortunate enough to start small and get larger."
Kettle Valley Winery, 2988 Hayman Road, Naramata, B.C, V0H 1N, 250-496-5898, kettlevalleywinery.com
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