The Gill family from Osoyoos are thrilled and excited about Friday’s opening of its impressive new tasting room at Bordertown Vineyards and Estate Winery. The winery is owned by Mohan Gill (second from left) and his wife Charanjit. His father Narjan Gill (third from left) and uncle Gurnam Gill will be greeting visitors when they visit the tasting room on Friday. (Keith Lacey photo)
For Mohan Gill, the opening of his new Osoyoos winery is the culmination of a lifetime dream and living proof that hard work pays off.
‘I’m not afraid of hard work … and a lot of hard work has gone into making this dream a reality,” said Gill, who is the proud new owner/proprietor at Bordertown Vineyards and Estate Winery, a 35-acre vineyard that has been producing craft wine grapes for top wineries across the Okanagan Valley for several years.
This Friday night, the impressive new tasting room built by Gill, several family members and good friends will open to the public.
The Gills are a fifth-generation family originally from India.
Mohan, his wife Charanjit, brother Gurmit, sister Barjit and father Narjan will all be on hand when the tasting room officially opens for business on Friday evening.
Since arriving in Canada back in 1997, Mohan Gill and his family have built a solid reputation as fruit and grape growers, supplying some of the South Okanagan’s best fruit to a select few wineries and winemakers.
Their vineyards are recognized as some of the most highly regarded in all of B.C. and their list of clients include Vincor and Andre Peller Estates, which help produce some of the best and most acclaimed wines in Canada.
“I started my first orchard near Oliver back in 1996 and then we moved to Osoyoos back in 1997 and me and my brother bought another one,” he said. “We started with mixed orchards that produced apples and peaches … and then kept purchasing more orchards as time went on.”
He and family members decided to convert 20 acres of fruit trees to grapes in 2007 and the dream of owning and operating their own winery began back then, he said.
“I was hauling fruit to Vancouver every week and I remember my father telling me that this was crazy and I should be working for myself and should start my own business,” he said. “I always remembered those words and for the past 10 years I’ve been working towards opening my own winery.”
The new winery is located on the edge of town limits in Osoyoos on Hwy. 97, adjacent to the Shell gas station property.
Mohan and his family and friends started building a manufacturing plant two years ago and have spent the past several months erecting the new tasting room.
After years of talking about starting his own winery, those conservations became a reality with the harvest of the first grapes destined for Bordertown Vineyards and Estate Winery in the fall of 2013.
He has been operating an “oak barrel program” for the past two years and sold thousands of bottles of wine in bulk over the last two years, waiting for the tasting room to be completed, he said.
“Last year, we produced over 12,000 cases of wine, but only sold just under 1,500 so we’ve got more than 10,500 cases to sell,” he said. “It will be so nice to be able to sell our wine from our own location, rather than sending out product in bulk. Finishing the tasting room is finishing what we’ve been working on for almost 10 years.”
Jason Parke has been hired to be the chief winemaker and he has earned a sterling reputation working with other top wineries in the South Okanagan, said Mohan.
Parke has captured multiple award-winning wines during his career and having him on board, as his winemaker is very exciting, he said.
The five varieties currently being produced by Bordertown include a 2013 Living Desert Red and Shiraz as well as 2014 Pinot Blanc, Riesling and Gewurztraminer.
He and his brother Gurmit and good friend Ranjit Butter spent the past four months building the tasting room building, retaining wall and parking lot.
His family have loved living in Osoyoos and he’s hopeful local wine lovers will enjoy the wine Bordertown will produce for many years to come, he said.
“I’m most excited because I truly do love living in Osoyoos,” he said. “This is my home and the people of Osoyoos have been so kind to me and my family.
“I’m hoping the people of Osoyoos will enjoy the wine that we will be making.”
Mohan is confident opening the new tasting room will dramatically increase the success of Bordertown.
“My goal for the first year is to produce 5,000 cases per vintage or 25,000 cases in total,” he said.
“Production won’t be a problem as we now own more than 100 acres of grapes and we have the option of converting our fruit orchard to grapes if we have to.”
The tasting room at Bordertown will be open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. seven days a week starting Friday.
“We hope to have a grand opening in a couple of weeks,” he said.
“There’s no better place to enjoy Bordertown wine than right here in our tasting room. Feel free to visit and try our wines or sit back and relax with a glass of wine while overlooking the beautiful vineyards and enjoying our great weather in Osoyoos.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
Mohan Gill, the proud new owner of Bordertown Vineyards and Estate Winery in Osoyoos, shows off the massive containers inside the manufacturing plant that help produce the five different vintages for Osoyoos’ newest winery. (Keith Lacey photo)
