New winery and tasting room set to open in Summerland, B.C.

Solvero Winery is now one of two wineries in the Garnet Valley region along Summerland’s Bottleneck Drive.

Over a decade in the making, a brand-new winery and tasting room is set to officially open this weekend in the South Okanagan.

Solvero Wines is now one of two wineries in the Garnet Valley region along Summerland’s Bottleneck Drive.

“We’re excited to introduce our brand-new tasting space out here in Garnet Valley. We are introducing people to this region sometimes for the first time,” said Solvero’s Winemaker and General Manager Alison Moyes.

“It was just a dense forested mountainside, very steep slopes, very challenging terrain to farm. But over the course of two years, a 16-acre vineyard was planted in 2016. And then we started building the winery in 2020 to be able to produce the wines. And then finally, we’ve just finished this beautiful new tasting room and watch we’re ready to launch this year.”

The new tasting room providing some optimism for the industry amidst troubling times.

Wineries are still dealing with the impact of two severe cold snaps, that resulted in major crop loses across the Okanagan.

“(Red Rooster) were closed for the winter and they’re going to be open for the summer. They have a lot of products so we’re just thrilled to start to see some of this percolating along and coming back.”

Although the full extent of the damage won’t be known until the spring, most wineries in the region are predicting a more than 90 % crop loss.