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Terroir: The sandy soil of the Black Sage Bench near Oliver reaches 300 feet deep in places.

Terroir: The Okanagan Valley has five officially recognized sub-regions — Kelowna, Naramata, Okanagan Falls, Golden Mile, and Black Sage/Osoyoos.

VQA: VQA=100% BC - All British Columbia wines bearing the VQA symbol must be made from 100% BC grown grapes. The wines are screened by a professional tasting panel and wines found faulty cannot be sold as VQA wines.

Varietals: 49% of British Columbia’s wines are white. 51% are red. In the last acreage survey conducted, 97.1% of the yield was from vinifera grapes and 2.9% from hybrids.

Growing Regions: There are five main DVAs (Designated Viticultural Areas) in British Columbia — the Okanagan Valley, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, the Fraser Valley and the Similkameen Valley.

*Schreiner, John - British Columbia Wine Country, Whitecap Books Ltd., 2003

 
 
DIG A LITTLE DEEPER
 


Visit our members’ websites – using the drop down menus on the right. Our 92 winery members and 15 grapegrowers represent 95% of BC VQA sales, 95% of the total wine production in the province and produce 88% of 100% BC grape wine production. They also produce most of British Columbia’s award-winning wines.

These web sites are great resources for gathering information to plan a tour of a region or discovering specific winemaking philosophies and geographic differences. Best of all, some offer wine for sale on their sites (shipping restrictions apply) and will add you to an email list to notify you when limited releases are available.


BC WINE REGION MAPS
 

There are five main wine regions or DVAs (Designated Viticultural Areas) in British Columbia, each producing a range of grape varieties and wines – the Okanagan Valley, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, the Fraser Valley and the Similkameen Valley.

Map of North/Central Okanagan

Map of South Okanagan & Similkameen Valley

Map of Vancouver Island & Gulf Islands

Map of Vancouver & Fraser Valley



 
© 2006 British Columbia Wine Institute.  All rights reserved.