“Beastie Runs”: A Golf and Winery Tour of the Okanagan


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Written by James Ellsworth Tuesday, 22 April 2008 10:04

British Columbia’s golf and winery businesses are mixing pleasure and eco-awareness these days. You can play spectacularly scenic rounds of golf and taste vintages at wineries all named after ‘beasties’ and vicariously you become more aware of BC’s wildlife and environment. By definition, beasties are small animals, which Robbie Burns described as wee and sleekit. The wee may be the quail and the burrowing owl while the sleekit are definitely the bear and the stag.

British Columbia’s golf and winery businesses are mixing pleasure and eco-awareness these days. You can play spectacularly scenic rounds of golf and taste vintages at wineries all named after ‘beasties’ and vicariously you become more aware of BC’s wildlife and environment. By definition, beasties are small animals, which Robbie Burns described as wee and sleekit. The wee may be the quail and the burrowing owl while the sleekit are definitely the bear and the stag.

Of the forty plus golf courses in the Okanagan only a few are beastie related. Kelowna’s Okanagan Golf Club offers you the Quail and the Bear (Nicklaus-designed). These courses have been part of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System of Canada for fifteen years.  All of the Golf BC properties are part of  Audubon International which provides a site assessment and environmental planning for wildlife and habitat management, chemical use reduction and safety, plus water conservation and quality management to help create an ecologically sound environment. To ensure that players of all abilities can enjoy the environment, there are four tees presenting yardages 5800 to 6900 yards at par 72, and from the black tee, a 70/122 rating. It is incredibly scenic too with whispering Ponderosa pines, rain-shadowed Cascade Mountains, river flats, and even an occasional flurry of quails or a whooshing jet at eyelevel on hole #11 overlooking the nearby airport.

 

There are over ten wineries in the area that can boast beastie namesakes. Driving south from Kelowna, the first stop is Quails’ Gate winery. Not only do quails nest among the vines but quail eggs are included in one salad at the restaurant. The Stewart family has taken care to preserve the environment and raise awareness of the ecosystem as well as produce great wines. For instance, their tractors have lowered emissions by 25 percent, they use drip irrigation rather than the wasteful overhead sprays, the restaurant uses a ‘slow food’ seasonal menu, and of course they hand harvest their grapes. They recycle their glass for bottles and are moving to screw caps rather than cork because cork oaks are endangered.  

 

Between Naramata and Osoyoos you will find several beastie wineries but two stand out as sustainers of the unique bio-geoclimatic zone of the valley. Stag’s Hollow owners Linda Pruegger & Larry Gerelus are using geo-thermal heating to save more than 100,000 kilowatts of power, and also use drip irrigation and hand harvest. They believe in quality and produce 4,200 cases, 100% VQA, especially its Renaissance Merlot.  The Wyse family at Burrowing Owl Estates has taken pains to rehabilitate the endangered species of owl to the migratory bird corridor below the vineyard and have allowed bears, who seem to know the day when picking will start, to gorge on ripened Chardonnay in the back acres. They also try to let beneficial insects thrive between the rows and use more natural rather than synthetic fertilizers. Throughout the vineyard they use bluebird boxes and bat boxes as alternate pest controls too. The Wyse family produces about 30,000 cases, its limit for fine handcrafted wine.  

 

You could stay at the Burrowing Owl Estate resort to savor the northern tip of the Sonora Desert and the award winning wines, especially the 2005 Cabernet Franc; or drive back to Vernon for a beastie round of golf at Predator Ridge, at one of the three nine holes courses- Osprey, Red Tail or Peregrine. Bear in mind, you may need hawk eyes to find your errant balls.

 

Burrowing Owl Restaurant and vineyard 

 

 

Teeing off at the Quail, the more difficult of the two courses at Okanagan Golf Club