O’Rourke Family Estate

About O’Rourke Family Estate

O’Rourke Family Estate in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley is Lake Country’s newest state-of-the art winery and culinary destination. Inspired by Dennis O’Rourke’s pioneering spirit and passion for innovation, this novel 200,000 square foot multi-purpose development will be opening its doors to the public in 2023. From indoor and outdoor concert arenas and restaurants, to luxury accommodations, to boat access and a tasting room on Lake Okanagan, this project provides attraction for everyone. Various private dining areas, boardrooms, and tasting facilities throughout the property will allow the culinary team to demonstrate the importance of local produce and perfect food and wine pairings.

The Carrs Landing Estate is a 300-acre property with panoramic views of surrounding orchards, vineyards, rolling mountains and the glistening water of Lake Okanagan. Inspired by Europe’s most famous wineries, the property features 110 acres of vines, 300 metres of winding tunnels and 12,000 square-feet of cave space to store and age wines. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Sparkling Wine will be the focus of the O’Rourke Family Estate portfolio. Each year there will be an Estate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay produced, and depending on the vintage, the winemaker will decide to make clonal selections, block selections, or other premium wines released under our Gratitude Series labels.

Representative Biography

Nikki Calloway, Winemaker

Nikki Callaway joined our team in June 2019 and brought with her a serious winemaking pedigree. She completed a Masters in Enology from the prestigious Université de Bordeaux and gained viticulture and winemaking experience in various regions of France including Beaujolais, the Loire, and multiple appellations in Bordeaux (Margaux, Pessac-Leognan, Blaye and Cotes de Bourg).

Nikki returned to Canada 12 years ago to work in the Okanagan Valley, a region that was brand new to her at the time. Since then she has specialized in northern valley fruit including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and aromatic whites. When asked why she is so passionate about Cool Climate Chardonnay, she responded, “Chardonnay is known to easily adapt to the surroundings it’s planted in. It tells you what it wants to be, all I need to do is give it the resources to shine. In our northern Okanagan vineyards, it gleams with tension, acidity, fruit-forwardness and elegance, everything I love in a Chardonnay.”

Nikki has proven her talents through significant roles at major British Columbia wineries such as Mission Hill and Quails’ Gate. In 2011, a Pinot Noir she produced was awarded the ‘World’s Best Pinot Noir’ at the Decanter World Wine Awards. Nikki possesses a keen interest in both viticulture and winemaking. Her passion for small-lot premium production combined with her attention to detail make her the perfect match for our state-of-the-art project and 100% estate grown Lake Country fruit.

Why We're Cool

The viticulture region of Lake Country encompasses the west-facing slopes and benches overlooking Okanagan Lake in the central Okanagan Valley. It’s approximately 2500 ha along 20 km of eastern shoreline of the lake up to a maximum elevation of 650 m. The combinations of slope, elevation, and landscape position create a large range of mesoclimates. The predominantly western aspect, gently sloped topography, and close proximity to the Okanagan Lake create ideal climatic conditions for production of premium wines. This region has a relatively long, cool growing season and the excellent cold air drainage and temperature-moderating influence of the lake create a relatively low risk of frost and winter cold damage to vines. Lower elevations along the lakeshore are covered in fine-textured materials such as sand and silt, basically anything found on the ancient lake bottom. At higher elevations are gravelly glacial till materials deposited directly beneath glaciers during the last ice age.

Chardonnay makes up 23% of our 110 acres planted at our Carrs Landing Estate Vineyard. The Chardonnay plantings are at higher elevations of our property (400-470 m), where the soil is composed of stones within a matrix of sandy loam texture. The majority of our vineyards were planted in 2013-2016, and 4 clones of Chardonnay (76, 95, 96, and 548) are planted throughout the various blocks.

2020 was the inaugural vintage at O’Rourke Family Estate, as this was the first year the winery was built and commissioned. Our winemaker wanted to ensure indigenous yeast from our surrounding vineyards populated this virgin winery and the use of pied-de-cuves was implemented. As the Chardonnay grapes reached optimal maturity and flavour, the winemaking team started small natural ferments in the vineyard and these were subsequently added to all the Chardonnay barrel ferments. All fruit is hand-picked by block and/or clone, sorted, and whole-bunch pressed. It is settled overnight, then racked to French Oak barrels for fermentation and ageing in the caves. Natural bacteria are employed for partial Malolactic Fermentation, and the barrels age for 10-11 months before being blended and bottled.