“We believe in making wine with minimal interference and low impact techniques to showcase varietal characteristics, through our sustainable grape growing practices,” says Bobby Gidda, (pictured), proprietor of Volcanic Hills Estate Winery in West Kelowna. “Our winemaking philosophy is also very creative when it comes to making very unique and unusual blends.”Volcanic Hills is a truly family business. The Giddas have been growing grapes since 1978, and in May 2010, the children of Sarwan Gidda fulfilled their father’s dream of establishing Volcanic Hills Estate Winery. “Our focus is to produce distinctive, fruit forward wines by utilizing premium grapes,” says Bobby Gidda. “The vineyards are located on volcanic soils which impart a distinct minerality to our wines.” Currently there are 65 acres of vineyards in West Kelowna within 10 kilometers of the winery.
Bobby says that for new releases, Volcanic Hills is planning to add a reserve Viognier that has been barrel aged and a regular Viognier without any oak. Their wines are made from a number of varietals growing in their estate vineyard, but they are well known for their flagship wines made from Pinot Noir, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris.
“We are also trying to increase production,” says Bobby. “We doubled the grapes we purchased from 2014 to 70.20 short tons. “We also had all our tanks added to our automated temperate control system—before we only had 10 tanks.”
~ Dona Sturmanis