Pauline Gagnon of Black Hills Winery holds the trophies which will be presented at the WInemakers Cup, set for March 27-29 at Big White Ski Resort.
Dale Cory Photo
While playing golf in the morning and going on a wine tour in the afternoon may be considered the norm for visitors to the South Okanagan – and just another day in paradise for those of us who reside here – the people involved in the local wine industry are more focused on hitting the slopes these days.
Call it a bit of fun prior to the beginning of the ‘crazy’ season.
The 8th Annual Winemaker’s Cup is set for March 27-29 at Big White Ski Resort outside Kelowna.
For the first few years of the event, the majority of competitors, and participants, were from Oliver and Osoyoos wineries.
But Pauline Gagnon, General Manager of Hospitality at Black Hills Winery, says the ski event now includes many more wineries, and a lot of people tied to the wine industry in other ways.
“It makes up for the bit of a lull in the wine industry,” explained Gagnon. “It was a great time to get the cellar hands and the vineyard workers and the office staff all together to have a little bit of fun. Over the past eight years, we’ve had anywhere from a dozen up to two dozen wineries participate. The event has evolved to not only wineries, but winery buyers, and breweries participating as well.”
For the first six years, the event took place on the slopes at Mount Baldy, located east of Oliver, and, for the most part, included only locals.
With Baldy staying closed during the 2013-14 ski season, the event was moved to Big White Ski Resort east of Kelowna.
Gagnon is adamant the shift in venues has not detracted from the local feel of the event, and has instead led to increased exposure.
“The first couple of years, it was just local wineries,” says Gagnon. “For the past five years we’ve had wineries all the way from Fruitvale, and Osoyoos, and even thought we’ve moved up to Big White, they still come from all over.”
The event may be known as ‘The Winemakers Cup’, but Gagnon wants to make sure others understand they too can participate.
“It’s not just for the wineries. It could have to do with any facet which touches the wineries. We’ve got some wine reps that are participating, we have some suppliers as well,” explained Gagnon. “We have some restaurant people that are participating. We try to get a few restaurant people then pin them against each other. It just makes for some friendly competition going down the hill.”
There will be a fun dual-slalom ski race on the Big White Skier cross Course with prizes being given out to Top Skier (Male & Female), Top Snowboarder (Male & Female), Top Telemarker, Best wipe-out and Worst times (Male & Female) as well as prizes for any kids that enter.
“Yeah, we try to make it fun,” added Gagnon. “We’ve got the coveted trophy for the fastest snowboarder, and fastest skier. We’ve got a lot of little trophies for the best wipeout, worst time, best costume, and so forth.”
Those people involved in the wine industry, restaurant industry, beer industry and any other hospitality-related places of work who would like to enter The WInemakers Cup can check out: www.bigwhite.com for details.
You can get ahold of Gagnon at Black Hills Winery at 250-498-0666, or email her at: [email protected].
“It’s a good networking opportunity,” summarized Gagnon. “If you are not in the industry, but thinking about coming into the industry, it’s really great to come up and meet a whole bunch of people.”
Dale Cory
Oliver Chronicle
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- Dale Cory Photo
