Upper Bench Winery & Creamery – A passion for flavour.
Wine and cheese are classic companions. Their perfect pairing is celebrated every day here on British Columbia’s picturesque Naramata Bench… How could it be any other was with the passionate and dedicated guidance of husband and wife team, Winemaker Gavin and Cheesemaker Shana?
From the vines to the wines
Making great wines starts in the vineyard. Gavin and crew carefully manage the vineyard using sustainable agriculture methods including:
- Controlling weeds and pests without chemicals, pesticides or herbicides
- Planting cover crops such as red clover to add nitrogen to the carefully analyzed and protected soil
- Using drip irrigation to conserve water
- Applying in-depth knowledge of our micro-climate to all his practices
- Careful hand pruning
- Hand picking
Attention to detail and the right blend of creative talent and technical expertise align to produce high fruit quality all while conserving energy, resources, and finances.
Gavin takes the same approach in the winery. Upper Bench wines are crafted using minimalist techniques to let the grapes shine through. Using only French oak barrels, the attention to detail continues through all the steps until the award-winning wines are carefully bottled, labelled and packaged – all in house.
Upper Bench Creamery
Just as great grapes make great wines, Cheesemaker Shana and the creamery team use the finest milk from family-run D Dutchman Dairy in Sicamous, to make our lovely cheeses.
Using the traditional methods, the artisanal cheese are hand-milled, hand-washed and hand-salted before being carefully wrapped and labelled in-house.
Be sure to peak in the creamery window of cheese making days to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the Blue, Brie, and washed-rind cheeses are crafted.