{"id":134814,"date":"2026-07-18T19:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T19:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/134814\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T19:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T19:40:09","slug":"canadas-okanagan-valley-is-now-a-playground-for-wealthy-wine-lovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/134814\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada’s Okanagan Valley Is Now a Playground for Wealthy Wine Lovers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIf you made a list of Canada<\/a>\u2019s best-known exports\u2014oil, car parts, precious metals, Celine Dion\u2014wine<\/a> wouldn\u2019t clear the top 20. But that hasn\u2019t stopped one of the country\u2019s increasingly renowned grape-growing regions from punching well above its weight.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Okanagan Valley, roughly a 45-minute flight from Vancouver, may not be as recognized by wine lovers as Napa or Willamette, but its dedicated vintners are focused on changing that. And an influx of investment in the area\u2014particularly in Kelowna, on the Okanagan Lake\u2019s eastern shore\u2014is turning it into a playground for wealthy oenophiles.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"O\u2019Rourke<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tO\u2019Rourke Family Estate, the newest winery in Canada\u2019s Okanagan Valley, was built around (and inside of) the granite outcropping that gives its grapes their character.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJon Adrian<\/p>\n

\n\tThis summer saw the grand opening of O\u2019Rourke Family Estate<\/a>, which has been more than a decade in the making. The property\u2014producers mainly of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay\u2014is the brainchild of Dennis O\u2019Rourke, a gregarious proprietor whose success in construction gave him a leg up when he decided to build his own winery. \u201cI don\u2019t have much fun sending my money to New York, to investment bankers, and looking at it down there,\u201d he says. \u201cI have much more fun building something, creating something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the help of architect John Taft of Backen & Backen<\/a> (the firm has penned a number of West Coast wineries, as well as the Beverly Hills home of Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis), O\u2019Rourke created a sprawling campus in conversation with the landscape, centered on a massive granite outcropping that set the stage for the estate\u2019s success. \u201cThis is the geology of the space,\u201d Taft says. The rock \u201cis that monolith left over from glaciation, but it is also what is in the vineyard\u2014that rock and everything is what makes their vines struggle, which is, of course, what makes really, really intense and great fruit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Wine<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWine barrels anchor a lab.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJon Adrian<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the property was designed to do more than just host wine tastings and tours of the vineyards. With 220,000 square feet of interior space across its various buildings, it has been designed as a full-service hospitality venue: There\u2019s the fine-dining restaurant Row 188<\/a>, as well as the more casual Granite Caf\u00e9<\/a>. Event spaces range widely enough to host everything from small meetings in tucked-away rooms to concerts for hundreds\u2014either in the forthcoming indoor theater and event center or in the concrete amphitheater, which offers sweeping, southern-facing views of the valley.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen all is said and done, the vast property will have up to 100 bedrooms; currently there are 23, including four plush, private suites in the Owners House. The estate has already held an event for Rolls-Royce clients, during which the marque drove its Spectre E.V. directly into the wine caves.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Martin\u2019s<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMartin\u2019s Lane Winery owned by billionaire Anthony von Mandl.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoselle Ebrahimi<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile O\u2019Rourke is the latest entrepreneur betting big on the Okanagan, he isn\u2019t the first. It\u2019s hard to talk about the area without also mentioning Anthony von Mandl, the billionaire founder of White Claw and Mike\u2019s Hard Lemonade. In 1981, he established Mission Hill Family Estate<\/a>, one of the very first wineries in the region. The Olson Kundig<\/a>\u2013designed property has its own outdoor amphitheater\u2014a grassy venue where the likes of Melissa Etheridge, Sarah McLachlan, and Lyle Lovett have performed\u2014plus a boutique where you can snap up vintage Louis Vuitton and Goyard trunks. That\u2019s not to outshine the wine, though: Mission Hill\u2019s 2020 Oculus vintage, released in 2024, was honored as the first 100-point Canadian red wine. (Throughout the valley, there are several microclimates: The northern end, where Kelowna is located, is relatively temperate, while the southern end has much more arid weather, ideal for big, bold reds like Merlot and Cabernet.)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Mission<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMission Hill Family Estate, also owned by von Mandl.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Mission Hill Family Estate<\/p>\n

\n\tPinot Noir and Riesling snobs may prefer to hop across the lake to von Mandl\u2019s winery that concentrates solelyon those grapes\u2014Martin\u2019s Lane<\/a>. The stylish space, also designed by Olson Kundig, debuted in 2016, but you have to inquire online to schedule one of its rarely available tastings. The payoff? The chance to sample the winery\u2019s bottles, produced using a unique gravity-flow system that takes advantage of the sloped landscape.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile von Mandl helped put the Okanagan on the map, there\u2019s enough potential there that O\u2019Rourke may not be the last to put down roots. He calls his new property a \u201cfamily legacy project\u201d that his children can carry on some 25 years down the road. By then, the Okanagan may no longer be a hidden gem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tAuthors<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Tori<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTori Latham\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Tori Latham is a digital staff writer at Robb Report. She was previously a copy editor at The Atlantic, and has written for publications including The Cut and The Hollywood Reporter. When not\u2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t
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