The 5 F’s of Dirty Laundry: Stories from the Vault

The normally dry and arid hills of Summerland experienced a once-in-a-lifetime flood in 2007—two weeks after our new vineyards were planted. The fragile vines took quite a beating as three hours of heavy rainfall pelted the soil away from the slopes and flooded the adjacent neighbourhood.

Not long into our next production year, a grass fire swept across the base of Giant’s Head mountain, leaving some damage in its wake. Although the vineyard was spared, we had to admit that nature had scored another point on us.

The nightmare of every vintner, Black Foot Disease affected two acres of our trees three years into their growth cycle. As this disease can linger and lie dormant, we had no choice but to dig up the whole two acres and start again.

The only bar fight in the recent history of Dirty Laundry (to say nothing of what went on 100 or more years ago), occurred when one of our temporary workers got a bit above himself one night with a man who was nearly twice his size. While no one was seriously injured, the legal implications caused quite a fuss and we found our fourth F (or fifth, if you count a felony charge!).

The ultimate goal of our winery. We want to make learning about wine, producing it and drinking it as fun as possible. That’s why we dial back the snobbery and have fun with our labels and our wine tours. We want to make sure the world of wine is open to everyone, and there are no barriers to enjoying a great glass, whether you’re here on our estate or in your own backyard. Cheers!