A Pair of Under-$25 BC Whites That Will Have You Rethinking Your Commitment to Pinot Gris

The sun’s a shining, school’s soon to end and the grapes in our fave Okanagan wines are once again from the Okanagan.  I’m not quite going to sing “summertime and the livin’ is easy” but, dammit, things are trending in entirely the right direction. So here’s a suggestion: let’s pay that largesse by maybe venturing out of our comfort zone. Say hi to people when you pass them on the street, give compliments even when they’re not warranted—and expand your drinking repertoire past it’s usual parameters.

I’m not here to beat on Pinot Gris: it’s a noble grape that works stunningly in our climate, and the result is that you can drink like a champ all summer, just bopping from one PG to the next (in fact, I’ll shoot out a list of some faves next week).

But fortune also favours the bold: so here’s a pair of gateway wines that might just expand that ol’ melon of yours if you give them a whirl.

Quails’ Gate Heirloom White 2025, $24

The name is new here, but this wine has been a fave a wine nerds for decades, since it first went by the über-catchy name “Chasselas-Pinot Blanc-Pinot Gris.” (Here’s a review the late, great Jurgen Gothe did of this wine 15 years ago). What is Chasselas you ask? Well, an obscure-to-most white grape that’s found almost solely in Switzerland, where it’s their most- planted white varietal. It sometimes pops up in Germany, a bit in the Loire, but it’s a pretty under-the-radar varietal. Which makes the fact that Quails’ Gate has some some almost 70-year-old plantings at their winery one of the coolest, quirkiest grape stories in the country. They pair it with both Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc to round out the flavour profile and the result will be recognizable to most PG fans: ripe fruit, enticing florals. But everything is just wonderfully restrained here, as they opt for elegance over all-fruit-all-the-time. If this was Napa and a benchmark winery had grapes this old and special, this wine would be $100 and on allocation. Here, it’s (wait for it) just $5 more than it was when Jurgen reviewed it in 2011. You find me any other consumable with that insanely low price rise, and I’ll buy you a bottle of this wonderful wine.

Hester Creek Pinot Blanc 2025, $22

Years back, I remember ready an article written by some jackass titled “Pinot Blanc is Better then Pinot Gris.” And since that time, acreage of Pinot Gris has grown by over 15 percent, wheres Pinot Blanc has shrunk. But it’s still worth searching out for the underdog grape and its slightly more restrained, even-keel delivery of crisp orchard fruit. For years, Blue Mountain’s version was the standard bearer for the industry (and it’s still an absolute banger), but I also want to single out Hester Creek not only for sticking by the variety (they have some of the oldest vines of it in the province) but for also always keeping it real on the price (and not just on this wine, but across their portfolio). And that means you can encourage people to experiment with grapes they’re less familiar with and that’s how you develop a passionate and loyal cadre of customers. Love this wine.