SHAKSHUKA WITH A TWIST
Try it at brunch with sparkling wine
Okanagan wine legend Harry McWatters has had more encores than a Broadway superstar, which is why his most recent corporate moniker — Encore Vineyards Ltd. — is the perfect fit for a man who has launched yet another wine adventure.
On the cusp of his 51 vintage, McWatters and family, daughter Christa-Lee and son Darren, have opened Time Winery in downtown Penticton.
There’s some symmetry in the latest McWatters wine venture. It’s been 50 years since he entered the workforce at Casabello Wines, only three kilometres south of Time Winery in the old Pen-Mar (Penticton and Martin Street) Theatre.
McWatters vaguely recalls his first visit to the theatre. “I was 12 and on a date. I can’t remember which movie was showing, but I remember the girl I took to the show.”
You need an excellent memory to keep track of all the McWatters adventures that began in earnest in 1979 when he bought the Summerland-based Sumac Ridge Golf Course along with then partner, Lloyd Schmidt. They planted nine holes to grapes, ran the golf course, the restaurant and the winery on a wing and a prayer.
Among his finest achievements was planting 115 acres of mostly red grapes on the Black Sage Bench when many thought they would never ripen. He convinced the Meritage folks in the United States to allow Canadian wineries to use the term and immediately set about describing his red and white Bordeaux-style blends as Meritage red and Meritage white.
In 2000, McWatters received “an offer he couldn’t refuse” and sold Sumac Ridge and half the Black Sage site to Vincor, which morphed into Constellation and now Arterra Canada Wines. He stuck around for eight years as president of vineyard operations and vice-president of Vincor Canada before returning to the 60 acres he still owned on Black Sage Road.
The plan was to build Time Estate Winery, but somewhere along the way yet another offer he couldn’t refuse crossed his path. This one came from Richmond businessman Richter Bai, who coveted the vineyard land and half-built winery for his showpiece Phantom Creek Estate, now nearing completion on the historic site.
With no estate and a barrel full of cash, McWatters returned to his roots after touring a “for sale” movie house in downtown Penticton. It wasn’t long before the idea of opening a full-sized, working winery inside the multitheatre structure was born. Seismic upgrades and a host of challenges overcome, Time
Winery opened in mid-July. The newly minted facility is a masterful design and frankly a much-needed addition to Penticton’s downtown amenities. The on-site restaurant with a large, street patio (on the shady, west side of Martin street) is sure to be a hit.
Now that it’s open, McWatters hopes Time can be more than just a winery. Theatre four is being reconstructed to serve as both a theatre and meeting space for public and wine industry types. McWatters hopes to entice local winemakers to drop by and discuss their wine or the wine topics of the day.
If you think this is the end of the road for McWatters, think again. He’s launching a sherry project at Time in the spirit of “No one is really doing anything in the Sherry spectrum.” If it sounds crazy,
so did making sparkling wine in the Champagne-method back at Sumac Ridge. The hand-riddle Steller’s Jay was a trailblazer for the now burgeoning B.C. sparkling wine market.
The original VQA program has McWatters’ fingerprints on it and he’s travelled to London, New York and China to champion British Columbia wine when many thought selling wine in Canada was more important. They were wrong.
This month you’ll likely find McWatters seated by the wine bar near the front door of Time Winery greeting everyone walking through the door. The wine preacher is doing what he’s always done: taking wine off its pedestal and placing it in a glass for regular folks to enjoy in a friendly environment, only this time you don’t have to leave town.