So, here’s the thing…one of the first things our consultant said to us after we started working with him was, “This land has been here a long time before you got here and it will be here a long time after you’re gone so while you have it, take good care of it.” 

Solar – Our winery is powered by a solar power system that reflects our commitment to sustainability. We are connected to the grid, allowing us to harness the sun’s energy to run all our operations, including lights, heating, security systems, and appliances. Our solar panels are strategically positioned on the south side of our buildings to maximize sunlight capture throughout the year. This setup enables us to sell any excess power back to the utility, supporting our goal of minimizing our environmental impact while ensuring efficient operations at the winery.

What is Salmon Safe?  Just as the name implies, we are working to keep salmon safe from environmental hazards.  You may be thinking to yourself, “Are there salmon close to Here’s The Thing Vineyards?”  Yes, the Okanagan River just a few hundred meters away is spawning grounds for the migrating Sockeye salmon. Being salmon safe also refers to how we treat our property and how that helps to protect water quality in general.  We are using only organic sprays on our vineyard which not only helps protect the water but the biodiversity on our vineyard – every living organism, even the microscopic ones, help us grow healthy grapes.  Pests, mold and mildew need to be controlled but we can do this with organic sprays.  We think of it as simply as this, if we take you into our vineyard and you want to taste a grape from the vine, do we feel confident that we are not poisoning you?  Yes, and we are so confident that we let our little great nieces and nephews taste grapes directly from the vines.  We feel that having a Salmon Safe certified vineyard is another piece of “taking care of it while we have 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.

We feel like we are doing our best to help our planet in our own small way and we also feel we are heeding our consultant’s words by “taking good care of it while we have it”.