Get spooky at this South Okanagan winery's Halloween event
Spooky season is here and the owner of a South Okanagan winery is celebrating his favourite holiday by holding a Halloween bash complete with dinner, wine and a mandatory costume contest.
“It’ll be a typical Giant Head event where there'll be really, really good food, costumes, music, dancing, laughter and love,” said John Glavina, owner of Summerland’s Giant Head Estate Winery, located at 4307 Gartrell Road.
The small lot winery’s events are usually wine-club only with their production of 1,000 cases a year but this year Glavina is changing things up and the Halloween celebration is open to the public. Tickets are available to purchase through Giant Head’s website and more information can be found through the winery’s social media sites.
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Glavina encourages guests to purchase tickets early as tickets will increase in price each week as we creep closer to the event.
Giant Head also hosts special events, like sketching and drawing nights, artist events, wine tastings, Saturday movie nights and more. The beautiful venue also overlooks Trout Creek Canyon which is a perfect location for a wedding ceremony and catering can be provided, he said.
Glavina, along with his wife Jinny Lee, planted the vineyard back in 2006. What started as an apple orchard, born from Lee’s dream to farm, turned into a vineyard and “the winey only started because it’s pretty hard to live in a vineyard and not make wine,” Glavina chuckled.
Pinot Noir, Merlot, Riesling and Gewurztraminer grapes are grown on site. They also source other grapes from the Trout Creek Canyon area to create different types of wine. It’s the perfect location bordered by the former volcano, Giant’s Head Mountain, with ideal soil conditions and microclimate for wine making, Glavina said.
The pair have established two labels, Giant Head and their premium Canyonview Wines. Canyonview Wines has been recognized internationally with two silver Decanter World Wine Awards in 2021 for its Chardonnay, 2017 vintage, and the Sauvignon Blanc, 2019 vintage.
The label is called Canyonview Wines because of its location north of Canyonview Road and Canyonview railway. It originally formed from a friendship between Glavina and master French winemaker Krimo Souilah. To this day Glavina maintains the Canyonview brand and still develops wine using grapes from Souilah's vineyard.
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“We select wines from the best vineyards in this very special appellation,” Glavina said. “Some of the best wines come from this area.”
Recently, Giant Head was featured in Forbes Magazine, a feat Glavina said means the Okanagan is starting to get some international attention.
“The writer really did seem to capture what we were striving for in the wine and the beauty of the wine, it was recognized and really appreciated.”
To learn more about the winery, visit its website or call 250-460-0749.
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