Recently, I had the very fortunate opportunity to go to Checkmate Winery in the Okanagan. Situated in Oliver, it is a very small winery owned by Mission Hill. The word on the street is that Anthony Von Mandl, owner of Mission Hill, wanted to further the already very good reputation of Okanagan wines with a passion project.

I was very fortunate to be able to be part of a private tasting and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The winery is small at this point. There is a tasting area, shop floor and aging cellar - none of them that big but all having state of the art technology. There is also a pop up tasting room under construction that hadn't opened yet but had almost all of the necessary parts including wine fridge, counter, etc. as well as fantastic views. If not open yet. it should be open soon.


For our tasting, the woman from Checkmate set up a tasting mat with a variety of different wine glasses on the corresponding spot with the wine's name.

She then proceeded to pour - and rather generous pours.

The first type of white was Chardonnay. All of the wines have a chess themed name. They were similar in taste but also different. I didn't take tasting notes but the wines were all very nice. I particularly like the Queen Taken Chardonnay - it had some nice peach and even pineapple tastes to it and had a super long finish. However, at $125 a bottle, I resisted purchasing the bottle.

As a special bonus, the woman brought out a bottle of Bear Move. This wine was not actually ready to sell yet - close but not close enough - but she was happy to let us taste it. It was wine that was left outside in a vat to ferment and age (I believe) and a bear managed to wander over to the container it was contained in. Apparently, the bear knocked off the top of the container and was scared away by the strong gases (CoO2?) releasing out of the container. The staff then found bear paw prints and nose prints on the container the next day and thus became Bear Move. It was a very interesting Chardonnay - and had an almost wild taste to it! It's hard to explain in terms of taste but I have never had a Chardonnay quite like it! Unfortunately, I haven't seen it on sale but have my fingers crossed that it will be available before the summer

The other type of wine that the winery does is Merlot It was amazing that one winery can make so many different types of Merlot that taste similar but different. All of these were $65 so after tasting them all, I chose a 2013 End Game that I promptly stuffed in the cellar when I returned home. This had a hint of vanilla, some nice plum and currant tastes, and a wonderful long finish.

I would have liked to have one of each of the Chardonnays and the Merlots and then do some tasting with friends at home, but the budget just wasn't there. I would strongly suggest taking advantage of the tasting room when it opens. This is a different kind of winery and well worth a visit.

If only that bear wine would hurry up and be available...