Change of name for one of Kelowna’s original wineries
It’s the end of era and the beginning of a new one.
Calona, an Okanagan pioneering wine name that’s been around since 1936, has largely been retired in favour of Conviction Wines.
“Conviction is a name that reflects our conviction to making approachable and fruit-forward wines, which showcases exactly what Calona has always represented,” said Conviction winemaker Sydney Valentino.
The Conviction lineup includes white wines, The Financier Pinot Gris, The Industrialist Sovereign Opal and Movers & Shakers White (mostly Gewurtztraminer), all priced at about $15, all taxes and bottle deposit included.
For reds, there are The Priest Pinot Noir and Dreamers & Schemers Red (mostly Merlot), priced at around $17, all taxes and bottle deposit included.
The five wines effectively replace the Calona Wines Artist Series label.
The Conviction labels feature playful caricatures depicting guys that look like Calona founders Guisppe Ghezzi, Cap Capozzi and W.A.C. Bennett (who would go on to become premier of B.C.) and a priest who might have served up Calona’s early sacramental wines in the Catholic church.
The Calona name was a phonetic nod to the winery's hometown, Kelowna.
The name, and history, will live on with three Calona Artist Series wines, unoaked Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot and Pinot Gris, produced for restaurant wine lists.
In 2005, Calona Wines was sold to Ontariobased Andrew Peller.
As such, the Andrew Peller Okanagan headquarters, winery and tasting rooms at 1125 Richter St. make and-or sell several labels from Conviction, Calona and Peller Estates to Wayne Gretzky Okanagan, Sandhill and Red Rooster.
Financial fun
Kevin Lavigne’s videos show him jumping into the pool at the Delta Grand hotel, tobogganing at Kettle Valley, screeching off in a Porsche from August Luxury Motorcars, boxing and having a glass of wine with his wife at Quails’ Gate Winery.
It all looks and feels like an Okanagan lifestyle series. However, the videos are really promotion for Lavigne's practice as as financial planner at Reid & Associates in Kelowna.
“What I want to do is depict how financial planning can be fun,” said Lavigne. “The videos are all short and funny, about one minute long each, and they're meant to portray that if you have a comprehensive financial plan you can have the time and money cannonball into the pool, meet your wife at a winery, toboggan, box and maybe even burn some rubber in a Porsche.”
Lavigne turned to David Nault of Ultra Digital Media to shoot the videos and they are posted at Lavigne’s YouTube channel, on his PlanFirst.ca website and on his LinkedIn and Facebook pages. So far the videos have had about 10,000 views.
Apple chefs
Do you think the apple risotto, apple fritter, apple and squash soup or apple-carrot cake is best?
Watch the cooking videos for yourself and vote at AmbrosiaApples.com/contest/ to be entered to win a getaway package of three nights at the Delta Grand hotel in Kelowna, along with dinner at its Oak+Cru restaurant, a wine tour and $500 spending money.
B.C. Ambrosia Apples called on four of the Okanagan's most talented chefs to develop the four recipes and the winner will be crowned Ambrosia Apple Chef of the Year.
Chris Van Hooydonk of Backyard Farm Chef's Table in Oliver is behind the apple-carrot cake, Beth Ross of the Delta Grand hotel came up with apple risotto, Adair Scott of Waterfront Beach Resort in Osoyoos put a twist on apple fritters, and Mark Filatow from Waterfront Restaurant in Kelowna warmed up with apple and squash soup.
After being accidentally discovered in the Similkameen orchard of Wilfrid and Sally Mennell, the first Ambrosia tree has been multiplied so that the variety is the thirdmost grown in the Okanagan.
With such a exalted name (ambrosia means food of the gods) and a unique firm texture and sweet, low-acidity taste, Ambrosia orchardists know they have something special and have banded together to fund special marketing and promotion of the apple.
Lane’s back
Kelowna’s Lane Merrifield, one of Club Penguin's co-founders and the current CEO of FreshGrade, has been reappointed to the 15-member Premier’s Technology Council.
The council advises Premier Christy Clark and her government on how to make B.C. one of the world’s top technology centres and ensure all in the province benefit from the innovation and quality of life that comes with a knowledge economy.
Merrifield is the only Okanagan resident on the council.
He became well known in the tech world when the Kelowna company he founded with two partners, Club Penguin, sold to Disney for $350 million in 2007.
Merrifield has since moved on to co-found and be CEO of FreshGrade, a platform for education collaboration amongst teachers, parents and students.
The council is co-chaired by the premier and Don Mattrick, former president of Microsoft Interactive Entertainment, which grew Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console business by 700 per cent to 75 million consoles worldwide.
Tech prowess
Speaking of high tech, Sam Fisher of Hyper Hippo video games in Kelowna drew our attention to a report showing the provincial tech industry is a record breaker.
The B.C. Statistics profile says 101,700 British Columbians work directly in the tech industry, the most ever.
The average weekly wage of tech worker is $1,590, which is 75 per cent higher than the $910 weekly average wage in B.C.
The tech sector employs 4.9 per cent of the workforce and expanded five per cent in 2015 to have record-setting revenues of $26.3 billion.
Fisher pointing all this out to us must mean Hyper Hippo is doing well and many of its employees make $1,600 a week or more. Hyper Hippo developed the AdVenture Capitalist video game and creates apps for Hello Kitty.
Steve MacNaull is a business reporter and columnist with The Okanagan Saturday. Reach him by email at: steve.macnaull@ok.bc.ca.