Osoyoos Rotary Club - January 24, 2013

Today our guest speaker was Chris Wyse with Burrowing Owl Estate Winery. Chris has always been a entrepreneur at heart which fit in so well with his family's long term vision for Burrowing Owl. The concept for BOEW came from visits to Australia to create a full experience in wine tourism. When they first purchased their vineyard in it was abandoned but was full of opportunities and at one point was 370 acres of vineyard. They sold a portion to Sandhill vineyards and also developed a tasting room, guest house, and the Sonora Room Restaurant http://www.bovwine.ca/. They are the 4th largest vineyard in BC with 180 acres. They sell wines across Canada and are now getting into other International markets like the US. Part of their vision was to also give back and be mindful of the environment. The facility uses solar energy, geothermal heating and cooling, and all tasting fees goes towards a fund/society to protect the Burrowing Owl which is an endangered species in our area. To date they have raised over $400,000 for this society and SORCOhttp://www.sorco.org/

Chris gave us samples of a new line of wine they have launched called Calliope which are grapes from other locations.