Can wineries be a winter destination too?

• Most winemakers close their doors over winter
• The View Winery and Wards Cider is open year round
• Customers can snowshoe through 100-year-old vineyard

The busy season for most wineries is certainly not winter, but one legacy grower hopes to change people’s perception that visiting a vineyard is exclusively a summer activity.

“We noticed that there’s a real seasonal slump in the wine industry. People just kind of forget to come wine touring,” Jennifer Turton-Molgat, president of The View Winery and Wards Cider told Kelowna10. “It’s a double-edged sword because people wouldn’t come so the wineries would close. Because the wineries are closed, people didn’t come."

To change this, the View decided to stay open for year-round wine tastings and winter events. Turton-Molgat said she’s hopes to encourage others to do the same.

Since 2018, the View has hosted a ‘Slip’n Sip’ to bring in winter visitors.

Participants sign up for a snowshoe tour through the vineyard, a family run establishment for five generations.

On the tour, snowshoers can visit some of the cider trees, which are over 100 years old; planted by Turton-Molgat’s great grandfather George Ward.

Following the trek, they’re led back inside to enjoy fondue, food, and wine tastings underneath the 100-year-old chandelier in the barrel room.

Turton-Molgat said last year there was more grass than snow, but this year, they are welcoming a generous serving of powder.

“I think we have more snow this year than we’ve had in the six years we’ve lived here,” Barry, a customer participating in Slip’n Sip said.

He and his wife Lynne brought their own snowshoes. They moved to the Okanagan from Alberta for the sunshine but were happy to embrace the perfect winter setting.

The View is a dog friendly business. Turton-Molgat was accompanied by Milly, the vineyard’s own Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. They welcome visitors to bring their own canine companions.

As she explained, walking the resident dogs on the premises is part of the inspiration behind the Slip’n Sip event.

“I would take the dogs for walks in the vineyard [in winter] and marvel at how beautiful it is and I thought we need to get people out in the vineyard.”