Stephen Carter & Valérie Tremblay
BC Wine Studio is a unique spot in the Okanagan Valley. It’s the home of the property’s signature estate label – Carter Wine Company - but it’s also an incubator of much more.
Wine lovers can visit the studio and do an in-winery tasting or participate at some fun events happening in The Heart of Wine Country.
Hawk’s Vineyard in Okanagan Falls
Today, Hawk’s Vineyard is planted to 5 acres including 13 varietals. Its fruit goes into the wines of Carter Wine Company, the studio’s flagship label. Val and her team farm the 40-year-old vines with minimal intervention, so the fruit can best represent the terroir of the area. Vines are trimmed for a low yield, which results in concentrated flavours with great depth and complexity.
Like Stephen, the expert viticulturist Val also had dreams of doing more. She wanted to try her hand at winemaking. Soon, she’d take the fruit she’d been nurturing in the vineyard and start producing the wines that would form the basis for Carter Wine Company.
Carter Wine Company - low intervention estate wines with great character
Under the tutelage of Mark Simpson, the winemaker for Siren’s Call, Val learned the craft of winemaking, taking the reins of Carter Wine Company, and transferring her passion for growing great fruit into making remarkable wines.
In 2020, Val – the first ever female French-Canadian winemaker in Okanagan Falls - won her first medal for 2018 Ehrenfelser Riesling.
Visit BC Wine Studio
When you visit BC Wine Studio, you’re right in the middle of the action. Across from Stephen and Valerie’s log cabin home, you’ll find BC Wine Studio’s working production facility. When you sample the studio’s wines you’ll do it right in the winery itself, surrounded by fermenters and barrels of aging wine for Carter and the studio’s other wine brands. You also might find the winery’s three dogs - Bubbles, Ruby and Grapes - lazing in the vineyard or dropping by the winery to say hello.
All told, it’s the dream Stephen Carter had a decade ago. Except this time it’s not a dream. It’s the life he and Valerie have built together on a remarkable piece of land in Okanagan Falls. And they’d love to welcome you when you’re in the area.
Make your wine at BC Wine Studio
BC Wine Studio offers custom crush and winemaking services for dreamers and rebels like Stephen and Valerie. If you’ve dreamed of starting your own wine brand, we can help make it happen. We do everything from source your fruit to make your wine to finish your blends to teach you a bit about the art and science of winemaking.
Learn more