Nichol Vineyard

Nichol Vineyard & Estate Winery holds a special place in Okanagan wine history as one of the first three pioneering wineries on the Naramata Bench, with its home vineyard first planted in 1989 and completed in 1991. Tucked at the end of Smethurst Road in Naramata, beneath the clay cliffs that define the Bench's eastern edge above Okanagan Lake, the winery has spent more than three decades proving what this narrow strip of land can do, and its tagline, village grown, world class, captures both its rootedness and its ambition. Syrah is the calling card: Nichol planted some of Canada's earliest Syrah vines and the variety remains central to the portfolio, joined by Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and other small-lot wines that reflect the estate's hands-on, tradition-minded approach. The tasting room welcomes visitors daily from late morning to late afternoon, with advance reservations required, which keeps visits unhurried and personal; guests taste with people closely connected to the vineyard just outside. The setting rewards the short detour off Naramata Road, with the vineyard sitting near the Kettle Valley Rail Trail, making the winery a favourite stop for cyclists rolling along the old rail grade above the lake. Naramata itself, a lakeside village a short drive north of Penticton, anchors one of Canada's most beloved wine touring areas, where dozens of small producers, farm stands and beaches line a single scenic road. Within that crowd, Nichol stands out for its history and its consistency, a small estate that helped establish the Bench's reputation and continues to carry the tradition forward. A wine club with shipping benefits lets visitors continue the relationship from home, but tasting these small-production wines at the source, under the cliffs where the story began, is the way to understand them.