OOWA Member Package – Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country

Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country

ABOUT THe ASSOCIATION

Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country Regional Badges - Black Sage Bench

Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country Regional Badges - Osoyoos

about our association

Who We Are

The Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association is a member-based, non-profit society with the express purpose of drawing awareness and visitation to our region through collaborative marketing and events, educating the public on the agriculture, viticulture, and vinifera of the South Okanagan, and collaborating on methods of providing funding to meet these objectives.

Originally founded in 2006 as the South Okanagan Winery Association, in 2011 the 13 member wineries of Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association defined our constituted purpose and made application to register with the province of British Columbia as a non-profit society.

Our Mission

Increase awareness of Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country as Canada’s premier wine region
Increase opportunities for wine sales by members at the cellar door
Generate marketing funds for the organization

Our Vision

The members of the Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association will work collaboratively to create a brand identity that is synonymous with Canada’s premier wine region.

Where We Grow

Our region extends from ‘Border to Bluff’, spanning a mere 33 km from the southernmost point of Osoyoos to the tip of McIntyre Bluff, north of Oliver. Narrowly bordered by mountain ranges, rivers, and lakes, the area is majestic by nature – and naturally unique.

Our unique growing conditions offering diverse terroir and multiple microclimates allow for a great many varietals to be successfully grown here; the region grows more than 60% of all wine grapes within the province.

What we do

The Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association promotes our member wineries and regional awareness through: signature events; partner events; media and press trips; passport program; wine education; and social engagement. Together these marketing initiatives bring the wines of Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country to wine enthusiasts globally and contribute to increasing visitation to the South Okanagan. Our motto Uncork the Sun stems from the high level of sunshine hours that contribute to our world-class wines.

about our projects

Signature Events

Our Signature Events bring visitors to Oliver and Osoyoos and raise marketing funds for the organization to continue to contribute to the economic stability of the region. Annually we host Pig Out the (often the first weekend of the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival) and the Half Corked Marathon (often the last weekend in May).

Partner Events

To increase awareness of the caliber of wines being produced in Oliver and Osoyoos, we partner with restaurants in key areas to bring awareness of the region to people directly. Partner events take place throughout British Columbia and into Alberta. Our regional events take place under the Savour the Sun banner where we bring Uncork Together.

Media and Press Trips

The association welcomes with regional, provincial, national and international media to produce pieces that encourage readers and viewers to want to try the wines of Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country and ultimately visit the region. These press experiences allow us to educate the public on what makes Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country unique as a wine destination.

Passport / Digital Passport Program

Most synonymous with wine touring locally are our passports that encourage visitors to experience multiple wineries and plan their route. To support the passport program we are continuing to enhance our website to provide tools helping people customize their visit by selecting wineries with family-friendly facilities, dining options, or specific wines. This also includes the development of a new digital passport in 2023.

Wine Education

As we continue to move forward we are creating tools to help individuals self-educate on wines of Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country with a podcast and educational series as well as learning more about our micro-regions.

Social Engagement

Through our many events, newsletters, social media, website we are able to interact with thousands of people annually in sharing the stories of Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country – our wines, our people, our experiences, and our region.

Our projects allow us to meet our constituted objectives of: increasing awareness and draw to the South Okanagan; providing education to the public on agriculture and viticulture of the region; educating the public on grape growing in the South Okanagan; and raising funds for the society.

Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country

2023 Association Highlights

US MARKET ENGAGEMENT (CONSUMER) – TEDx DESTINATION CANADA

TED @ Destination Canada, New York – February 23

Wines from Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country members were presented and poured to guests attending Destination Canada events, held in New York City. Guests included Canada’s brightest speakers and biggest change-makers following the recording of their landmark TED Talks, as well as New York business leaders, dignitaries and visionaries. Extensive relationship build and discussions with Destination Canada for OOWA to be chosen as a partner.

US MARKET ENGAGEMENT (MEDIA) – TEDx DESTINATION CANADA

Icons of Wine Country press trip, June 12-15, 2023

With the support of Destination BC (flights) and Watermark Beach Resort (accommodation) we arranged a group trip for three, top tier US travel writers: Carrie Honaker, freelance for Virtuoso, Travel + Leisure; Sofia Perez, freelance for BBC, Wall Street Journal, Conde Nast Traveler; and Joelle Quinn, freelance for Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine. Media profiles HERE. In-kind support to the amount of approximately $8700 was secured from supporting partners (hotel, flights), significantly reducing the budget required by OOWA to make the trip happen. Confirmed coverage upcoming in Virtuoso Magazine, Travel + Leisure and Wine Enthusiast (all 2024 publications).

US MARKET ENGAGEMENT (MEDIA) – TRAVEL CLASSICS

Travel Classics – welcome dinner wine partner – September 14th, 2023

OOWA was invited to be the exclusive wine partner for the Travel Classic media conference welcome dinner, held at the JW Marriott Parq Hotel in Vancouver. This prestigious conference is attended by editors and freelancers for some of the leading travel and lifestyle publications in North America, including AFAR, New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, enRoute, Travel + Leisure and more. Road 13 Vineyards and Hester Creek Estate Winery supported the event with paired wines for each course, and other member wineries were well represented at the OOWA tasting bar during the reception. Supporting wineries were invited to address the room, while their wines were presented to share their wineries stories to the room of 120 media guests.

HALF CORKED MARATHON

Secured group of five individual media guests to join for Half Corked Marathon weekend
- Hanna MacLean (food editor) and Darcy Matteson (editor-in-chief) – DailyHive
- Lisa Kadane, freelance writer for Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, CNN Travel
- Sonia Sidhu, influencer @soniasid
- Jenna White, content creator @thatbcwinegirl
- Jenn Chan, content creator @jennchanmedia
Launched 2023 OMG tickets on March 31 – currently a total of 76
- Contesting aligned with OMG ticket sales:
  - DailyHive https://www.instagram.com/p/CqJ-UGGMC8a/ (1906 entries)
  - CTV Calgary (346 entries)
Developed over 800 new assets for both HCM weekend and select wineries. Galleries here: HCM, Primavera, DOTF.
Launched 2024 Early Bird tickets to Half Corked Marathon, SOLD OUT at 864 sold

SAVOUR THE SUN DINNER SERIES

Savour the Sun Calgary – April 12

We hosted a group of 45 guests at Yellow Door Bistro for a Savour the Sun dinner in partnership with Chef Quinn Staples. Attending wineries were Burrowing Owl, Gold Hill and Road 13. We also secured a local photographer, Jess Harcomb Fleming to create assets during the dinner, which can be used for future STS events.

Savour the Sun Calgary media lunch – April 13

In partnership with Oxbow Restaurant, we hosted a small media lunch with nine editors, freelancers and content creators with the goal to engage Calgary travel, wine and food media, share stories from our region and introduce them to supporting wineries for their own relationship builds. Media guest profiles are HERE.

Savour the Sun Vancouver – June 8

We hosted a group of 30 guests at H Tasting Lounge at the Westin Bayshore Hotel for a Savour the Sun Vancouver dinner on June 8th. Attending wineries were Nostalgia Wines, Castoro de Oro and vinAmite Cellars.

Savour the Sun Vancouver media lunch – June 9

To maximize the opportunity for supporting wineries, we hosted a small media lunch in Vancouver at the Westin Bayshore, with the goal to engage Vancouver writers and editors and share timely stories and inspire angles for the year ahead. We hosted nine media guests – profiles HERE.

WINE COUNTRY DIGITAL PASSPORT

Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country proudly launched our new digital passport in May 2023!

This year touring our beautiful wine region can bring you an even better experience at all of our member wineries… lots of special offers and deals are available in tasting rooms and there are many prize packages to be won. All you have to do is check in at our participating wineries! Just scan the QR codes to activate offers and collect digital stamps to enter for prizes… the more you visit, the better chances you have at our Grand Prize announced on October 30th, 2023!

To learn more, register for your account, and to see prizes, visit winecountrypassport.com. To check out our participating wineries visit our member wineries page.

We look forward to seeing you in Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country, and hope you can fill your digital passport with stamps and great memories this Summer!