Robert Bell's

Wines of Canada

Since 1992

Featured Winery

Here's The Thing Vineyards

4740 Black Sage Road,
Oliver British Columbia

Here's The Thing Vineyards

The black Sage Road winery is owned by Jamie and Leah McDowell. From first thinking about starting a winery until they actually purchased the property only ten weeks went buy. Leah owned and operated two VQA stores . Over the course of her journey, She had the opportunity to taste many wines from every grape-growing region in BC and she also interacted with thousands of wine drinkers sampling wines in my stores every weekend. Eventually, I developed a palate that appreciated all BC wines – the nuances of different regions, the touch of different winemakers and the impact that each different growing season had to offer. Leah also had the privilege of getting to know a number of people with intimate knowledge of the BC wine industry. All of which was hugely helpful as we were developing our winery. Leah also had a very good idea of what everyday people liked as they tasted wines "I will happily blabber away all day long about the wines, the winery, the branding or whatever else you’d like to talk about. Vineyard work? No thank you."

Jamie was a distribution and logistic manager. Her get to over see the vineyard. The property has 11 acres of which 10.5 acres are planned with Cab Fran, Roussanne, Gamay Noir and Viognier. They plan to add Merlot.

The name...I have been in the BC wine business for a long time and often told my staff that we don't so much sell wine as we sell the story of wineries and winery people. Keeping with the "story" theme, we think that many good stories start with "Here's the Thing..." Our back labels all start with "So, here's the thing...and go on to tell a story about that wine. We wanted something casual and fun even though we are very serious about making and drinking good wine.

Jamie and Leah refer to their property as "Home Sweet Farm" And why do we say “Home Sweet Farm”? Well, because we also live on this piece of property. It is a very convenient, short commute to work and a continental shift from our days on the lower mainland slugging our way west on Hwy. 1 to our jobs five mornings a week. It is very satisfying to sit on our east-facing deck at the end of the day and look over the vineyard and buildings. Even after having the property for five years, we can hardly believe that it is all ours!

The McDowells realize the land is their's for only a short time and they need to take care of it!

Sustainability is a word that is often used but perhaps not always correctly. Searching dictionary.com I found this – “conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources.” Used in a sentence, “…our fundamental commitment to sustainable development.” That sounds really lofty for a teeny winery but the spirit of it holds true for us – doing everything we can to take good care of this little patch of heaven and it may interest you to know that many of our neighbours are doing exactly the same thing. One last word on this because clarity is important to us: we do not claim to be an organic vineyard and our wines are not organic. The certification process is something we are looking at and planning for which is why we have chosen to take the step to use only organic sprays on our vineyard.

Winemaking Philosophy: Farm responsibly, do the best you can, take what the earth gives you and make the best wine possible.

They are a Salmon Safe winery working to keep our urban and agricultural watersheds clean enough for native salmon to spawn and thrive. Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) and Fraser Basin Council joined forces in 2010 to launch Salmon-Safe BC with pioneering growers. To date, more than 40 farms and vineyards across British Columbia have achieved Salmon-Safe certification.

Word has it that Jamie and Leah are very friendly people and love to chat with their guests.

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