Painted Rock Winery
HISTORY
Painted Rock Estate Winery, envisioned as a family legacy by Proprietors John and Trish Skinner, began in 2004 with the purchase of a 56-acre bench in Canada’s Okanagan Valley.
They chose to plant and build their winery on a unique west sloping bench in Penticton, British Columbia because it offered the perfect combination of elements to realize their vision for an ultra-premium Okanagan winery, worthy of the international stage. The estate is dedicated to producing terroir expressive wines from their single vineyard estate and is known for their bold single varietal reds and flagship blend Red Icon.
The wines are produced exclusively from fruit grown on the single estate vineyard located on Skaha Bench, the Eastern bench of Skaha Lake in Penticton, British Columbia.
The vineyard has been sustainably farmed since the end of 2010. No pesticides are used to control for weed or pests. The bluffs behind the vineyards are home to predator birds including hawks, owls and turkey vultures which control rodent and small bird populations.
Winemaking at Painted Rock is collaborative. Consultant Alain Sutre of Ertus Consulting in Bordeaux oversees the vineyard and winemaking team, lead locally by Gabriel Reis. At Painted Rock, there is a deep understanding that winemaking begins in the vineyard. We use only fruit grown on our single estate vineyard, and never purchase additional fruit. Through cropping and canopy management we methodically control the yield and ripening schedule to ensure consistency from vintage-to-vintage.
All oak used is French, aside from a small portion of new Seguin Moreau American Oak used for Syrah each vintage.
- Collaborative winemaking. Consultant Alain Sutre of Ertus Consulting in Bordeaux oversees the vineyard and winemaking team, lead locally by Gabriel Reis.
- 100% single varietal wines. All varietally labelled wines are true single varieties.
- Hand harvested. To ensure pristine berries, only undamaged clusters are harvested, gently destemmed and hand sorted.
- No transportation. With our winery and vineyard onsite, there is no travel or delay between harvesting and processing, and no environmental impact from grape transportation.
- Unfiltered. Our red wines are never filtered to ensure their most complete expression.
- Renewable Energy. Solar panels were installed on our winery in 2017 to provide the power needs for the estate.
It is now 17 years since the planting of the estate vineyards and the property is living up to its potential in every regard. When our 2017 Red Icon was named a Decanter Wine of the Year in 2020, it validated the progress made by the team and steeled its resolve. At Painted Rock there is a firm belief that by aiming highly and working cooperatively, British Columbia wines can compete with the finest in the world.
