‘Labour of love’: New app to help you explore Okanagan wineries

A new app launched that is meant to help people discover wineries, plan tours and explore the Okanagan.

The free Okanagan Wines Passport app from Okanagan Wine Club, has 190 wineries mapped out across the valley as another way to attract more tourism and especially to hidden gem, independent wineries.

Co-founder Kelsey Andersen with Okanagan Wine Club said making the app was a passion project to help the local industry.

“We’re grassroots, bootstrapped ourselves. It was me and a coworker that put it together. It’s just been a labor of love,” she said. “We’re on version 183. It’s been insane. It’s not like we slapped it together on a weekend… this has been a lot of work.”

Each winery listing includes features about the winery like what kinds of facilities, wine varieties and events they have. It can also work offline to make touring through areas with poor reception easier.

There are also features to help wine lovers track their tastings and remember what vintages they enjoyed the most and it’s available on iOS, Android and through a browser.

Most of the features on the app are free like browsing wineries, taking notes and planning routes, but there is a paid passport feature that lets people collect benefits by visiting wineries around the valley.

It has more than just the Okanagan, there are wineries listed from 15 sub-regions including Similkameen, Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and more.

Andersen said the people behind Okanagan Wine Club are entrenched in the industry and know it could use a leg up these days.

“We’ve seen them go through it with the fires and then with the frost… they’ve had a really rough couple of years. So it’s kind of like a rising tide lifts all ships in that sense,” she said.

Andersen said it’s important to help get the word out about smaller wineries so when people come to visit larger ones like Mission Hill they can also hear about cool spots elsewhere in the valley.

“We’re all small, independent folks,” she said. “You just got to get the word out to everyone and anyone we can about small business and support local.”