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Located in the Southern Interior region of British Columbia, Canada the Okanagan Valley is the second largest Canadian wine region, located within the region of the same name. Along with the nearby Similkameen Valley, the approximately of vineyards planted in the Okanagan account for more than 90% of all wine produced in British Columbia and are second in economic importance for wine production to the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario. Vineyards can be found all along -long Lake Okanagan and many of its neighbouring lakes, including Osoyoos Lake, Skaha Lake and Vaseux Lake. The Okanagan has diverse terrain that features many different microclimates and vineyard soil types,〔J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 133 Oxford University Press 2006 ISBN 0-19-860990-6〕〔The Canadian Encyclopedia '(Wine Industry )"''. Accessed: January 5th, 2011〕 contributing characteristics which are part of an Okanagan terroir. Wine production in the Okanagan dates to the 1850s, with the establishment of Okanagan Mission and the planting of grapevines to supply sacramental wines. In the early 20th century, prohibition in Canada wiped out many of the Okanagan's earliest wineries and the commercial wine industry in the area was not revived until the 1930s. From this time through the mid-1970s, the Okanagan wine industry was based entirely on the production of fruit wines and those produced from hybrid grapes.〔J. Gordon (ed) ''Opus Vino'' pg 126-130, DK Publishing New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-7566-6751-1〕 The first commercial plantings of ''vinifera'' came in 1975 when the Osoyoos Indian Band established Inkameep Vineyards (today Nk'mip Cellars).〔 ==History== The first vineyard planted in the Okanagan was at the Oblate Mission in Kelowna in 1859, planted by French Catholic priest Charles Pandosy and was solely intended for the production of sacramental wine for the celebration of the Eucharist. Several small vineyards, planted mostly with ''Vitis labrusca'' sprang up until prohibition encouraged the uprooting and replanting with other agricultural crops.〔 For most of the 20th century after prohibition, what limited wine production that took place in the Okanagan was mostly fruit wines made from berries, apples, cherries or even table grapes. One winery, Calona Wines founded in 1932, still remains from that period and is the oldest continuously running winery in British Columbia.〔 Eventually the use of French-American hybrid grapes, such as Marechal Foch and Vidal blanc took hold, led by the Stewarts of Quails' Gate Estate Winery.〔L. Alley ‘’”(Canada Finds its Napa )”’’ ''Wine Spectator''. August 17th, 2004〕 In the mid-1970s, several growers began experimenting with plantings of ''Vitis vinifera''. The Osoyoos Indian band established the first commercial vineyard dedicated to ''vinifera'' varieties with plantings of Riesling, Ehrenfelser and Scheurebe.〔 In 1976, notable German viticulturalist and grape breeder Helmut Becker visited the Okanagan and encouraged more growers to consider planting German grape varieties and provided clones of Pinot blanc, Pinot gris and Gewürtztraminer that were developed at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute and bred to withstand the cold, winter temperatures of the Okanagan. Further impetus for the planting of ''vinifera'' came in the late 1980s when Canada entered into the North American Free Trade Agreement that opened up the Canadian markets to American wines from California, Oregon and Washington. The competition from imported wines spurred the Canadian government to implement a vine pulling scheme with grants for growers who uprooted their hybrid and ''labrusca'' vines and replaced them with ''vinifera''.〔 In June 2010, several vineyards in the southern Okanagan near Oliver were devastated by a dam failure that released of water down Testalinda Creek, triggering a mudslide with a wide swath of debris that extended over kilometres of vineyards and shut down the major roadway through the area. More than of vineyards were damaged by over of mud and rock.〔R. Scalza "''(Mudslide Buries Okanagan Vineyards )''" ''Wine Spectator''. June 18th, 2010〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Okanagan Valley (wine region)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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