1285 Smethurst Road
Naramata, BC
Alex and Kathleen Nichol, who opened this winery in 1993, were the first in Canada to grow syrah, now one of the most prominent red varieties in the Okanagan. For many years, the vineyard also had the Okanagan’s only St. Laurent, an Austrian red that kept a low profile because Nichol only made a few barrels each year, selling it to private buyers.
Deciding to retire from grape growing, the Nichols sold the winery in 2005 to Ross Hackworth, a young Vancouver paper company sales executive. Hackworth grew up on a Naramata orchard and is returning to his agricultural roots. In 2006, Hackworth completed a major expansion of the winery and contracted additional grapes on Naramata Bench.
Through label design, he differentiates his estate-grown wines from non-estate wines because the estate wines benefit from kid-glove treatment in the cellar.