News

19th Annual Sun Peaks Winter Okanagan Wine Festival

November 4, 2016 - The Okanagan Wine Festivals Society and Sun Peaks Resort are delighted to announce the Sun Peaks Winter Okanagan Wine Festival this coming January. Tickets for the 20 plus events are online at www.thewinefestivals.com and www.sunpeaksresort.com. The festival in its 19^th year will run January 13 to 23, 2017. This celebration of fine wine and local cuisine is complimented by one of Canada’s best features – legendary winter recreation. This year’s intimate ten-day festival welcomes guests to enjoy an abundance of snowy outdoor activities paired with innovative wine and food events at the second largest ski resort in Canada. 

“The setting at Sun Peaks for our Winter Okanagan Wine Festival is simply spectacular. The ambiance of Sun Peaks village provides a beautiful scene for wine and food lovers. With the energy and passion present at Sun Peaks, the events are fun, creative and provide a unique way to experience the wines of the Okanagan and the culinary talents of Sun Peaks” said Christa-Lee McWatters Bond, Board Marketing Chair of the Okanagan Wine Festivals Society.

“Over the past 18 years, the Sun Peaks Winter Okanagan Wine Festival has evolved into one of the premier winter wine festivals in North America. Through a strong partnership with OWFS, we have continued to redefine and elevate the guest experience through a variety of new events and product offerings,” says Arlene Schieven, President and CEO of Tourism Sun Peaks. “The steady growth of the festival can be attributed to the perfect combination of the passionate people behind B.C.’s best wines, unique events and the picturesque backdrop of Sun Peaks.”

The 19th Sun Peaks Winter Okanagan Wine Festival has been rated as one of Canada’s top winter parties (MSN.ca). Attracting wine and ski tourists from around the world with 4,270 acres of in-bound ski terrain and an additional 500 acres of challenging ski terrain to the ski area boundary, the festival is infused with mountain personality. A fan favorite, the famous WestJet Progressive Tasting takes over 650 participants into the mountain air and ski-through village to taste Okanagan wineries’ diverse offerings. And that is only one of over 20 events during 10 days at Sun Peaks Resort.

One of the largest winter gatherings of British Columbia wineries, this popular festival is showing strong ticket sales with a number of the events already sold out. Tickets to the events range from $39 to $90, with weekend accommodation packages starting at $285 per person. To get full event details visit www.sunpeaksresort.com/events-and-festivals/winter-festival-of-wine. Tickets can be purchased through Tourism Sun Peaks’ Central Reservations at 1-877-212-7107.

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Suggested Tweet: Join us slope-side at the 19th annual @SunPeaksResort Winter @OKWineFests Jan 13-23, 2017, tix http://ow.ly/HqMQ305HX0y  #bcwine

About The Okanagan Wine Festivals Society

The Okanagan Wine Festivals Society is responsible for the development of the wine tourism sector in the interior of British Columbia. It is well known for producing four seasonally inspired Okanagan Wine Festivals annually in Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Its Winter Okanagan Wine Festival is run in partnership with Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops. It is also responsible for Signature Wine Events including Cropped by Valley First, the WestJet Wine Tastings and others. It also produces and runs the BC Best of Varietal Wine Competition and the Province’s most prestigious and oldest wine competition – the British Columbia Wine Awards. For more information visit www.thewinefestivals.com

For media enquiries, please contact:

Katia Plotnikoff, PR & Marketing Coordinator, Okanagan Wine Festivals Society

[email protected] / 250.861.6654

About Sun Peaks

Sun Peaks is a four season resort community located in the interior of British Columbia. With the addition of two, new alpine ski zones for the 2014-15 winter season, it now ranks as the second largest ski area in Canada. Most recently declared the #2 Ski Destination in Canada by Canadian Living Magazine’s Reader Poll and Best Overall Resort #2 by the Editors’ Choice Awards in the SBC Resort Guide in 2013, Sun Peaks is continually rated one of the top ski experiences in North America. The award winning resort design features three mountains surrounding an intimate ski-in, ski-out village filled with shops, restaurants and hotels. In other seasons, Sun Peaks offers a diverse range of leisure activities including 18 holes of golf on B.C.’s highest golf course, both downhill and cross country mountain biking, lift accessed alpine hiking as well as numerous concert events and festivals. Sun Peaks Resort was the first ski resort in North America and still the only resort in Canada to receive the ISO 14001 designation recognizing the resort’s environmental policies and practices. Sun Peaks can be accessed by two airport gateways - Kamloops (45 minutes) and Kelowna (2.5 hours) and also by car; only a four-hour drive separates Sun Peaks and Vancouver, B.C.

For further information, please contact:

Kyle Taylor, Media Relations Specialist, Tourism Sun Peaks

[email protected] / 250.578.5387