District Wine Village - A new way to experience wine in the Okanagan

Gismondi On Wine

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This video takes a look at District Wine Village a new, innovative, communal wine production centre, due to open in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, just in time for the fall 2020 crush. It could play a vital role in attracting young winemakers with garagiste attitudes, currently marginalized in a market that requires loads of capital.

Pipes were already being laid in February at the 10-acre site located just south of McIntyre Bluff. Construction is lead by Matt Kenyon, co-owner and GM of Greyback Construction, whose family has a 30-year history of building major projects throughout the Okanagan Valley, including many wineries.

Kenyon developed the idea of a village concept over several years with his friend Max Brock, who had visited similar business models in the US. Brock passed away last year. To keep the project going, Kenyon asked wine consultant Mike Daley, a 15-year veteran of Vincor/Arterra, to oversee consumer and marketing developments.

Some readers may be familiar with village clusters in the US, such as the Lompoc Wine Ghetto, located in Santa Barbara County, near the famed Sta Rita Hills sub-AVA. The Ghetto is, in fact, a collection of single-story metal buildings that house 13 tasting rooms and 20+ production facilities for local winemakers. It functions as a community that shares pallet jacks, grape presses and barrels between neighbours when needed, and the wines produced are serious. The Lompoc Ghetto happened organically, with wine tasting rooms added to raise some quick on-site cash. Unlike Lompoc, Kenyon and Daley have designed a site with the consumer in mind, so it looks less like an industrial park, and more like an inviting space, that encourages visitation to all of the growers equally. And, it will include food, craft beer and a distillery built around a central shared space for entertainment.

An immediate flow of consumers is just part of the benefit to the tenants, with most of the infrastructure and crush pad already in place. Kenyon and Daley hope that some of their tenants will use the space as a stepping stone, graduating to their own wineries and opening up spots for a fresh set of garagistes. It can only be good for BC's wine industry, with new and creative people, sharing resources and ideas.

For more information: https://districtwinevillage.com/

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