Wine & Food

Fruit came first. Cherries, peaches, and apricots have ripened on the same terraces as the vines in the Okanagan Valley long before wine was ever made here. Sockeye salmon swim up Okanagan Lake every summer to spawn, just as the Syilx have known for centuries. That's no coincidence.

Grilled sockeye salmon, often seasoned with nothing more than salt and a splash of lemon, is a regional classic that pairs beautifully with two completely different wines. A creamy, oak-aged Chardonnay from around Kelowna carries the fish's richness with ease. A pale Pinot Noir from the Naramata Bench instead cuts through the fattiness, bringing its own cherry fruit to the table.

Fresh Okanagan cherries or a peach salad, on the other hand, call for something other than a dry wine. An off-dry Riesling or Ehrenfelser with a touch of residual sweetness picks up the fruit's sweetness instead of fighting it, while the bracing acidity in both varieties keeps the wine tasting fresh. A bone-dry wine would suddenly taste sharp and thin next to such sweet fruit.

A name tells a deeper story here. Next to Nk'Mip Cellars in Osoyoos sits a restaurant named after a Syilx legend: "the Bear, the Fish, the Root and the Berry," honoring the four food chiefs—black bear, Chinook salmon, bitterroot, and saskatoon berry. The menu features bison tartare and wild salmon, served with views over Lake Osoyoos and the vine rows of Nk'Mip. Wine and cuisine from the same story, quite literally side by side on the hillside.

To finish, an ice wine belongs on the table—though not alongside the fish. A warm cherry or peach crumble made with Okanagan fruit, paired with a glass of chilled ice wine, brings the valley's two industries together without detour. Orchards and vineyards grow on the same terraces and, in the end, land on the same plate.