Lieutenant Governor tours award-winning wineries

While she’s not a big wine drinker – she admits to having only a glass with dinner now and then – Lieutenant Governor Iona Campagnolo is, indeed, a fan of icewine.

"Isn’t it wonderful? I like to put it on ice cream," she said, while standing under a white tent gazebo in the Dark Horse Vineyard, at Inniskillin Okanagan.

Campagnola was touring the valley recently with a group of consul generals from the BC Consular Corps, stopping at wineries to taste wines and give out a few awards.

"I like to bring all these nations here to sample these wines," she said, adding in the past, BC hasn’t had the best reputation when it comes to wine – but that is changing. The 2006 Lieutenant Governor Awards of Excellence in BC Wine winners each had a visit from Campagnolo, who presented them with crystal trophies and framed certificates.

"This is a great tribute to the wine masters of this valley," she said at Inniskillin on Wednesday, August 2. The tour visited Summerland’s Sumac Ridge Estate Winery, Naramata’s La Frenz winery, and OK Falls’ Wild Goose Vineyards on Tuesday. On Wednesday, she stopped at Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estates, Inniskillen, and Nk’Mip Cellars.

The reception at Inniskillen was held in the vineyard to the south of the winery. It’s a section known as the Dark Horse Vineyard. The award-winning wines – the 2004 Discovery Series Malbec, and the 2004 Riesling Icewine – were available for tasting.

There were 148 entries in the contest this year, said Campagnolo. They were judged by a panel of wine critics and writers at the Pacific Agri-food Research Centre in Summerland. The judges chose seven winning wines, six of which are from the Okanagan. Three of the wineries won two awards each.

Langley’s Domaine de Chaberton Estates won for its 2003 Canoe Cove Shiraz; Inniskillen Okanagan Vineyards won for 2004 Discover Series Malbec and 2004 Riesling Icewine; Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estates won for their 2003 Sunrock Shiraz and 2004 Proprietors’ Grand Reserve Shiraz; Nk’Mip Cellars won for their 2003 Quam Qwmt Merlot; Wild Goose Vineyards won for their 2005 Pinot Gris and 2005 Mystic River Gewurztraminer; and La Frenz won for their 2004 Reserve Chardonnay.

Part of the excitement for Campagnolo was the opportunity to bring representatives from big wine-producing countries.

Maria Eliana Cuevas is the Consul General of Chile.

"I am very happy to be here," she said. "I was very curious about what you were doing here in the Okanagan Valley. I was very impressed by the wine."

She wasn’t exactly surprised by the quality.

"I knew you were producing some very good wines, so I can’t say I was surprised."

Ramon Fresneda is a sommelier from Spain, and he had only good things to say about Okanagan wines.

"Beautiful. Ten years ago, you could only recommend the whites. Now I can recommend red and white," he said. "The only problem is there’s not enough of it. The area is too small to meet the demand."

Inniskillin viticulturist and winemaker Sandor Mayer was pleased with the entourage.

"We are very proud. I am very proud on behalf of my Inniskillin Okanagan team," he said. The land his grapes are planted on is part of the Golden Mile, and is ideal for red wine.

"Dark Horse vineyard is on the west side of the Okanagan Valley," he said. It has a layer of gravel under a rich loam.

"It is great soil, it warms quickly. It absorbs heat, and releases it at night," Mayer said. "The wine speaks for itself."

Smoke from U.S. affecting area residents

The yellow moon isn’t the only side effect of smoky air

Bill Collen is having trouble breathing this week.

"I’ve got lung problems, and this smoke closes them down," said the long-time Oliver resident. "It makes it real hard to breath."

Collen has long-term lung problems, likely from the industry in which he worked all his life. He uses puffers to help him breath – but something that’s just not enough, especially with all the smoke.

"If they don’t work, I try to stay inside."

The smoke in the air is still from forest fires in Washington State. The Tripod fire is about 90 km south of Keremeos, and winds are bringing it up to Canada.

According to Eric Taylor, air quality meteorologist from the environmental protection division with the BC Ministry of Environment, the smoke is definitely bothering some.

"For many people it’s not a big problem, but for some people it can be," he said. The smoke contains organic compounds that are breathed into the depths of the lungs and even the bloodstream.

"When you smell smoke, you are actually getting doses of these organic compounds."

It can bother anyone, but those with compromised health – lung or heart problems – it is worse. According to a report by the Provincial Health Officer in 2003, called Every Breath You Take, reducing the quantity of micrograms per cubic metre of air by only six would save the lives of 71 people per year.

On average, on a very clear day, the smoke concentration could be anywhere from one to five micrograms per cubic metre, measured in Osoyoos and Kelowna.

"We look at a cubic metre of air, and we pass it through a filter and we measure the weight of the particulate that accumulates," Taylor said.

During the fires of 2003, the smoke in the air reached as high as 250 micrograms per cubic metre. Lately, with the smoke from the U.S., it’s reached as high as 100 micrograms per cubic metre.

In Kelowna, on Monday, August 7, concentrations reached 66 micrograms per cubic metre.

"You can smell smoke, at 66," said Taylor.

He is predicting that weather changes in the next week will turn the problem around. A cold front is coming in, and maybe showers. The wind will probably come from the west, or west-northwest, Taylor explained. "So the smoke should stay on the other side of the border."

It’s not only the fires in the U.S. that are contributing to smoky skies, though. Taylor explains fires in Russia are affecting our air – but at a much higher elevation.

"The smoke from Russia would have diluted through the atmosphere," he said, adding it was sitting at a level higher than 35,000 feet.

"The sky was not quite as blue as usual – it was kind of a milky colour." That was the smoke from Russia.

He also explained why the sun and moonlight is looking orange lately.

"Smoke is very fine particles," he said. "These very fine particles can scatter light. It’s easier for the particle to scatter light of higher frequency."

Red and yellow light travels at a lower frequency than blue light. That means when white light comes off the moon, or the sun, and is travelling toward us, the smoke particles get in the way.

"The blue, and the higher frequency (rays) get scattered away, and what you are left with (and what you see) is the reds and yellows."

Island for sale: Vaseaux Lake sanctuary

Whoa, slow down … did I see that right? An island for sale? Really? After all, how often does a person see an island for sale?

But motorists travelling along Highway 97, south of Okanagan Falls, have recently noticed a sign advertising the sale.

Not a lot people even realized there was an island in Vaseaux Lake, and since the sign went up along Highway 97, it has spiked a bit of curiosity.

The 3.2 acre island is located at the south end of Vaseaux Lake, which lies between Oliver and OK Falls. It has been owned by the same family, for four generations.

Vancouver’s Alyson Hay was born a Hatfield, and she is part owner of the island. Her grandmother, Roberta Hatfield (nee Christie), originally purchased the island approximately 100 years ago from some old-timers who had a chicken farm on the island.

Hay said her grandmother purchased the island after moving to the area from Nova Scotia, with her husband, Arthur Seaman Hatfield, and son Harley, aged two.

"My parents lived on the island during the Depression," explains Hay. Then in the ‘40s and ‘50s, the Hatfield families spent many summers – and winters – on the island.

No one has lived there full-time for a while, but Hay remembers one winter when the lake froze over completely and the family spent the winter skating on the frozen lake.

Kevin Hatfield, Hay’s cousin from Penticton is also part owner.

"We used a toboggan to cross the lake in the winter," he said.

Though it might seem more logical to use a snowmobile for access to the island, it is forbidden – even if the lake were to freeze hard enough.

The area is considered a migratory bird sanctuary, and that protects the natural wildlife on Vaseaux Lake.

According to the Oliver and District Chamber of Commerce website, the focus of Vaseaux Lake Park is the preservation of riparian and wetland breeding habitat necessary to support the local wildlife, and the area around Vaseaux Lake has been a migratory bird and waterfowl sanctuary since 1923.

The lake was once an important part of the canoe route used by the fur traders. Vaseaux Lake is famous as a birdwatcher’s delight. Among the birds that frequent the sanctuary are the great horned owl, canyon wren, chukar partridge, woodpeckers, sage thrashers, and the burrowing owl.

Canada’s smallest hummingbird and the magnificent golden eagle can also be found here. Waterfowl thrive in the natural habitat of grasses, reeds, willows, and shrubs along the shoreline. Look for Canada geese, trumpeter swans, herons, blue-winged teals, widgeons, and wood ducks.

Of course, toads, beavers, turtles, muskrats, rabbits, and deer also make the sanctuary their home, states the site.

But though the restrictions benefit the birds, they also limit access. Due to bird sanctuary restrictions, motorized or power propelled water vessels are not allowed on the lake – however, if you need to bring supplies onto the island by a motorized water vessel, you can apply for a special permit available through Canadian Wildlife Services.

Tammy Huffman, owner of Fun-4-U Kayaks, has spent a fair amount of time circling the island. She has been taking kayak tours out on Vaseaux Lake for the past six years, and got up extra early on Sunday morning to escort this writer over to the island.

"Everybody asks about the island," Huffman said. "A lot of people were hoping that (an environmental organization) would buy it."

Hay said that was an option.

" Before going on the market, the sale was offered to various environmental groups in the area," she said. But it’s time for the family to sell – they are asking $1.8 million – and that’s what they are trying to do.

"Grandma (Hatfield) had originally divided the island into two halves, but with the growing families being spread all over, it’s difficult to keep dividing the property," Hay said.

According to Royal LePage agent Eric Inglis, the island boasts two rustic cabins. They are equipped with drilled water, plus a septic field for each cabin.

According to Al Patton, Area C director, the island is zoned as a conservation area. If a new owner wanted to build on the island, they would have to apply for a development variance permit.

"Usually what we look at is what the footprint that is there already," he said.

"The board would look at it quite carefully, especially since the island is surrounded by a highly sensitive area."

But as they are, the cabins already have some special features. For example, in one of the cabins, the brickwork behind the fireplace holds a pictogram of native drawings.

"You can see more native artwork under the cliff overlooking the west side of the river between McIntyre Bluff and the railway trestle," said Hay.

The CPR used to run along the west side of the lake, and was the largest employer in the area, said the family.

When the Hatfields first moved to the South Okangan, Arthur was captain of the mail boat delivering mail on Skaha Lake, between Penticton and Kaleden.

Later on, Hatfield and his sons, Harley and Philip, started up Interior Contracting and built many of the roads. They also worked on the railway along the Coquihalla, near Kamloops, Hay said.

Interior Contracting became the second largest employer in the area, employing more than 300 people. Harley – who was two-years-old when the family bought the island – passed away in 2000, at the age of 95.

Deterrence?

Director Al Patton raises an important issue when he complains of the fine the regional district is contemplating against Mark Anthony Cellars for having built a pump house without proper authorization.

If we are to have by-laws that protect the public interest, they must have consequences proportionate to the offence and of sufficient sting to dissuade those who might attempt to ignore the restrictions or requirements. Patton’s point is that the $1,324 fine and fee for a half million dollar job hardly acts as a deterrent. If another developer realized that their plans didn’t qualify under an existing by-law, what is to prevent them from making a conscious decision to proceed without permission and then pay a small fine for the variance from the law? When fines just become the cost of doing business, our laws only apply to those with shallow pockets. It will deter the small farmer but will be a mere inconvenience for the large corporations.