Wine column: West Kelowna winery releases bottles made from Washington state, Oregon and California grapes

The promotional tagline for these wines is: A daring adventure into uncharted territories.

It couldn't be more true.

When the January 2024 cold snap decimated buds on grape vines, ensuring next to no fall 2024 harvest, Quails' Gate Winery in West Kelowna immediately got to work on alternatives.

Luckily, Quails' Gate also has two wineries in California -- Lake Sonoma and Valley of the Moon.

Lake Sonoma winemaker JJ Dowell and Quails' winemaker Jeff Del Nin quickly started to source grapes from Washington state, Oregon and California.

The result is the Quails' Gate Field & Flight portfolio of Pacific Northwest or Cascadia wines.

Cascadia is the west coast region that runs from southern British Columbia, through Washington state, Oregon and California.

The goal was to produce high-quality, great-tasting, accessible and affordable wines that you can drink now.

The goal was also to keep staff at Quails' Gate's winery in West Kelowna employed during tough times.

All workers were kept on, busy blending and bottling the Field & Flight wines.

Because Quails' Gate was so quick off the mark, the initial releases of Field & Flight wines doesn't benefit from the BC government's support for 2024 replacement grapes.

As such, the Field & Flight wines are also a preview of the type of wines that will come out of other Okanagan wineries in the spring, made with grapes they sourced in the fall of 2024 from Washington state, Oregon and California.

Quails' Gate has done an excellent job labelling and marketing Field & Flight.

Quails' Gate's name is prominently displayed on all of the front labels of every bottle to let people familiar with the brand know its made by the popular West Kelowna winery and carries a promise of quality.

However, also on every front label is a clear 'state of origin' watermark to let consumers know the grapes used to make the wine are from Washington state, Oregon and-or California.

The back labels again carry the Field & Flight name along with the 'A daring adventure into uncharted territories' tagline with an explanation of the Cascadia program, complete with map, reiterating where the grapes came from and gives a profile of the wine.

- Field & Flight 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon ($29), made with grapes from California

Bold and smooth with a jammy blackberry-and-raspberry profile.

- Field & Flight 2023 Pinot Noir ($26), made with grapes from Oregon

Aromas and flavours of bright cherry and spicy earthiness.

- Field & Flight 2023 Pinot Gris ($25), made with grapes from Washington state and California

Pear-and-pineapple profile with nice minerality.

- Field & Flight 2023 Chardonnay ($27), made with grapes from California

Aromas and flavours of peach and lemon cream.

To keep the labels separate and to avoid customer confusion, Field & Flight wines are not for sale as Quails' Gate Winery and not for sale on the winery's website, either.

Instead, Field & Flight wines are for sale at Save-On Foods grocery stores and private liquor stores such as Angry Otter, Everything Wine, Liquor Depot, Wine & Beyond, Liquor Plus and Cascadia.

Field & Flight does have its own website at https://fieldandflight.quailsgate.com/#wines, but you cannot buy wine online there.

By April, Field & Flight will have three new releases all from the 2024 vintage -- Pinot Gris, Riesling and Rose.

Steve MacNaull is a NowMedia Group reporter, Okanagan wine lover and Canadian Wine Scholar. Reach him at smacnaull@nowmediagroup.ca. His wine column appears every Friday afternoon in this space.