Column: Exploring Haywire Winery in B.C.'s Summerland

Did you know most wines here are fermented in concrete tanks?

During my recent trip to Summerland and Oliver, B.C., I visited Haywire Winery. I stayed at the Summerland Waterfront Resort, which has a collaboration with Haywire Winery where, if you book certain hotel packages, you are welcomed with a complementary bottle of Haywire wine with a custom label that captures the essence of the Summerland Waterfront Resort Hotel experience. The Summerland Waterfront Resort is a perfect base for your wine adventures in the Okanagan.

Haywire Winery is less than a 10-minute drive away from the Summerland Waterfront Resort. Haywire Winery was purchased in 2005 by Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie. The site they purchased was originally used to grow fruit but they replanted their Switchback Vineyard with Pinot Gris grapes in 2006.

The winery was originally named Okanagan Crush Pad, but it was rebranded to Haywire Winery in 2023. There are three other labels owned by the winery but Haywire Winery is their flagship label. The winery building features a bold graffiti mural which was created by Vancouver artist Scott Sueme in 2020.

Their tasting lounge and their outdoor patio provide you with a choice of environments to enjoy your wine experience at Haywire. Before you taste their wines, you will get a short tour of the Switchback Vineyard site and their winemaking facilities. I found the whole experience very relaxed and unpretentious.

Staff were very knowledgeable and passionate about the winery. Haywire Winery is known for championing minimal-intervention, texture-driven wines. No oak (other than neutral oak) is used for their wines.

Most of their wines are fermented in concrete rather than stainless steel. In 2010, Haywire was the first Canadian winery to use black egg concrete tanks, which have temperature-controlled tubing embedded into the walls of these tanks. They believe that concrete, which has been used for centuries in winemaking, gives the wine more complexity and vibrancy compared to stainless steel, which is basically inert.

The use of concrete gives Haywire wines their personality while allowing the grapes to express their true nature without being dominated by oak influences. Their philosophy is to let the fruit of the grape show through. They use organic grapes, native yeast in the fermentation process and avoid the use of sulphur dioxide if possible.

This natural approach is evident in their wines, which cleanly express the fruit. These are consumer wines meant for people who want to enjoy a nice bottle of wine at an affordable price. Honest wines that bring wine drinkers back to the reason they became passionate about wines: to enjoy them on the patio or with great food.

I tasted a number of their wines during my visit. I was very impressed with their 2023 Switchback Vineyards Pinot Gris ($28.99 at BC Liquor Stores). This is their signature grape coming from their most beloved vineyard site.

The grapes are whole cluster pressed (which provide purer, more delicate juice) and then aged on lees for 11 months, which gives the wine creaminess and texture without oak influences. You will also get smoke, grapefruit and peaches on the nose with citrus, orange peel and minerality on the palate. Well priced and delicious.

Another great wine I enjoyed was the 2018 The Bub ($34.99. available at the winery). This is a fun, crowd pleasing sparkling wine named after the nickname of the owner’s daughter. It is a blend of 64-per-cent Chardonnay and 36-per-cent Pinot Noir grapes from vineyards in Oliver and Summerland.

Primary fermentation took place in concrete tanks before bottling for secondary fermentation. The wine is aged on lees for 30 months before release to add creaminess and complexity. You will get citrus and pear flavours with toastiness on the finish.

It is a great alternative to much more expensive European sparkling wines. Finally, I was impressed with their 2025 Merlot King Family Vineyard ($33.99, available at the winery). The grapes used to produce this wine come from a vineyard site north of Penticton.

You will get blackberries with some spice and cloves. It is a robust wine that might need a good decant before drinking. For a full review of my visit to Haywire Winery, see here.

There is still plenty of time left in the summer to visit the winery. For more information about the winery and their winery tours, see here. Until next time, happy drinking!

Tony Kwan is a Richmond News columnist. Lawyer by day, and a food and wine lover by night. Kwan is an epicurean who writes about wine, food and enjoying all that life has to offer.

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