Wild Goose Winery

QUICK FACTS

Opened: 1990 Proprietors: Roland Kruger & Hagen Kruger Winemaker: Nik Kruger Viticulturist: Nik Kruger Vineyard size: 11 hectares Key grape varieties: Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot Production: 22,000 cases in 2020 Wines: Riesling, Riesling Stoney Slope, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Mystic River Gewürztraminer, Mystic River Pinot Blanc, Autumn Gold, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Black Brant, Red Horizon Meritage Food Facilities: Smoke & Oak Bistro "Southern Flavours with Okanagan Flare"

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HISTORY

The Kruger family began planning this winery in 1988 when the outlook for Okanagan wineries was exceptionally bleak. Two-thirds of the valley’s vineyards were pulled out that fall because the free trade agreement was taking away the wine industry’s protected status. One exceptionally pessimistic Victoria bureaucrat told Adolf Kruger that Wild Goose Vineyards would be lucky to sell 2,000 bottles of wine. Seldom has a prediction been so wrong. Wild Goose has grown to one of the largest and most awarded of the Okanagan Falls wineries, including nine Lieutenant Governor’s Awards of Excellence in Wine Making. The vineyard name was prompted when Adolf flushed several Canada geese from the sagebrush in 1983, while inspecting the barren four-hectare site he was purchasing for a vineyard. Born in Germany in 1931, Adolf had come to Canada when he was 20 to take up a career in engineering, drafting and yacht design. Living in Vancouver, he also became a serious home winemaker. When there was a downturn in the engineering business in the early 1980s, he prepared for a career switch to an Okanagan Falls vineyard. In 1984, he planted Gewürztraminer and Riesling; varieties he was familiar with from his youth near the Rhine where his taste for wine had developed. The winery regulations at the time required estate wineries to own or manage a minimum of 20 acres. In June of 1990 Adolf, along with the owners of two small vineyards on the Naramata Bench, persuaded the provincial government to create regulations allowing “farmgate” wineries on smaller vineyards. Wild Goose was the first licensed to grow, make wine and bottle on site! The winery, which continued to sell most of its grapes until 1995, opened in modest quarters in the family home, expanding carefully as demand grew for the wines. Finally, in 2012, Wild Goose made a substantial addition that includes a spacious wine shop, facilities for food services and conferences, a deck with a view over the vineyards and a 40 seat restaurant. Wild Goose has become a multi-generational family winery. Hagen Kruger,  Adolf’s eldest son became both the winemaker and the viticulturist. His brother Roland is the General Manager of the winery. Upon Hagen’s retirement, his son, Nikolas, born in 1985, became the winemaker. The Smoke & Oak Bistro at Wild Goose Winery is celebrating continued success with a great chef, kitchen crew, and an outstanding menu. The Bistro takes guests on a culinary trip around the world with a menu inspired by the smoke flavours of the Southern USA . Vine trunks and oak staves are used to smoke our meats in an authentic competition worthy smoker, imported directly from Tennessee.  Chef David Simenoff uses flavours and accents to keep the dishes’ main ingredient the star of the show. The three generations of winemakers at Wild Goose welcome you to the winery to share a table and a glass of wine with your friends and family, in a fun, family friendly BBQ environment.