Edge of the Earth Vineyards (Granite Creek Estate)

Edge of the Earth Vineyards is one of British Columbia's smallest and most personal winery experiences, a true farm-gate operation in the rolling countryside of the North Okanagan-Shuswap corridor. Owned and operated by Marni and Russ Niles, the winery grew out of one of the region's pioneering small wineries, Hunting Hawk, which Russ Niles founded in 2001 before the name was sold and the family operation carried on under its current banner. Wines are made from grapes grown right on the property, and the current lineup runs to nine different wines in a given year, a remarkable range for such a tiny producer. Tastings happen quite literally at home: until a new tasting facility opens, the Nileses welcome guests into a dedicated corner of their own house, an experience about as far from a polished corporate tasting room as BC wine gets. Vineyard tours are available, dogs are welcome with advance notice, and the winery keeps seasonal hours through the warmer months, so calling ahead is recommended. Visitors who cannot make it to the farm can find the wines at the Armstrong and Revelstoke farmers' markets on summer Saturdays, at winter markets from November through March, and at select local liquor stores in the Vernon area. For travellers exploring the Shuswap and North Okanagan, where lakes, dairy farms and grasslands meet the first serious vineyard plantings north of Vernon, Edge of the Earth offers a glimpse of winemaking at its most hands-on and human scale. It is the kind of stop where the person pouring your glass also pruned the vines, picked the grapes and made the wine, and where conversation is as much a part of the tasting as the wine itself.