News

Elevate Your Palate with Mile High Wine & Music

SilverStar Mountain Resort Hosts Popular Okanagan Summer Wine & Food Festival

VERNON & KELOWNA – June 20, 2016 – The best moments of Okanagan summers are spent outdoors enjoying local food and wine with loved ones. This year, the fourth annual SilverStar Summer Wine and Food Festival brings a multitude of opportunities to indulge your palate with the best of the Okanagan in a three-day feast for the senses, August 12-14, 2016.

This summer savour the fine wines of the Okanagan and revel in fresh mountain air in a stunningly beautiful outdoor setting. 
 The Okanagan Wine Festivals Society and SilverStar Mountain Resort invite you to a British Columbian sensory experience of local wine in a picturesque mountain village at Mile High Wine & Music on Saturday, August 13th. Experience wine tasting to lively bluegrass and country music by the Trips under the open sky as 30 wineries from across the Okanagan Valley showcase their newly released varietals at our signature summer event.

Also on tap for the Festival are Winemasters' Dinners, Know Your Farmer cooking demos, olive oil seminars, and unique café and wine pairings from Starbucks Canada. The dinners offer a relaxing evening of elevated dining featuring some of the best food and wine the Okanagan summer has to offer. The weekend starts on Friday August 12 with the Volcanic Hills Winemaster dinner, where guests can drink in breathtaking views of the Monashees along with wine pairings from the award-winning West Kelowna winery. Diners will enjoy a delectable five-course meal prepared by SilverStar’s chef, Scott Sanderson, accompanied by specially selected vintages. Saturday night after the Mile High festivities, it is an evening of culinary indulgence with a five-course Gastro informal wine dinner sponsored and hosted by BC Wine Shop with Kelowna guest chef Giulio Piccioli along with chef Scott Sanderson and the SilverStar culinary team, and topped off with an exquisite cheese course presented by David Beaudoin of Dairy Farmers of Canada. Then complete the weekend with Sunday brunch at the Red Antler with Okanagan Crush Pad / Haywire wines.

“The Okanagan Wine Festivals and SilverStar have dreamed big to offer over 500 guests the unique opportunity to taste British Columbia wines and enjoy live music from the Trips at the lofty height of 5280 feet above sea level. The outdoors, the big Okanagan sky, and an amazing village setting at SilverStar all lend themselves to an incredible venue for this event," said Blair Baldwin, General Manager, The Okanagan Wine Festivals Society.

“The Mile High Wine and Music Festival is a wonderful pairing of mountain culture and local businesses showcasing their respective world class products. If you enjoy mouthwatering food, outstanding wine and dancing to live music outdoors, this event is for you. It's personally one of my favourites and I'd also suggest people buy their tickets early as this event sells out every year,” said Keelan Murtagh, Events Manager, SilverStar Mountain Resort.

Through the weekend, those with a taste for outdoor adventure can take in SilverStar’s summer activities, which include 85 kilometres of downhill and cross-country mountain biking trails, hiking, wildflower tours, SkyChair rides, and more. New this year are pedal assisted e-bikes for rent, self-guided hikes, and two brand new lanes for summer tubing. Just like tubing at Tube Town in the winter, but now in a different location and in the warm summer sun!

A sampling of B.C. wineries participating include: Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery, C.C. Jentsch Cellars, Culmina Family Estate Winery, House of Rose Winery, Kismet Estate Winery, Monte Creek Ranch Winery, Noble Ridge Vineyard and Winery, Red Rooster Winery, Recline Ridge Vineyards and Winery Ltd., River Stone Estate Winery, The Vibrant Vine, Thornhaven Estates Winery, and Volcanic Hills Winery. Many more will be announced in the weeks to come.

Accommodation and ticket packages are available. Stay two nights and add on any of the Summer Wine Festival events or activities and save 10% on accommodation. Tickets to the Summer Wine & Food Festival events can be purchased online at summer.skisilverstar.com.

-30-

Suggested tweet: Tix now available @OKwinefests @SilverStarMR Mile High Summer Food + #BCWine Fest featuring Trips bluegrass music http://bit.ly/1Sd3fLR

About 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 two annual Okanagan Wine Festivals in spring to celebrate the bud break and in fall to celebrate the grape harvest. Its Winter Okanagan Wine Festival is run in partnership with Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops. It is also responsible for Signature Wine Events including Mile High Wine & Music at SilverStar, Poutine & Pinot in Kelowna. As well as two annual wine judging competitions, the British Columbia Wine Awards and the British Columbia Best of Varietal Wine Awards. www.thewinefestivals.com

About SilverStar Mountain Resort

SilverStar Mountain Resort is nestled in the heart of British Columbia’s Thompson Okanagan region. Less than a one-hour drive from Kelowna International Airport (YLW), the year-round mountain destination offers 3,269 acres of varied skiable terrain with a snowfall of more than 700cm of dry British Columbia interior powder annually. Award-winning SilverStar is recognized as one of Canada’s best family resorts. An intimate, colourful, mid-mountain village provides true slope-side lodging. In summer, the SilverStar Bike Park is ranked as one of the premier downhill mountain bike facilities in North America.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Lori Pike-Raffan, Public Relations Okanagan Wine Festivals Society 604.808.6655 | [email protected]

Keelan Murtagh, Events Manager SilverStar Mountain Resort 250.558.6051 | [email protected]