Charles Dickens may not have made it to British Columbia’s wine country, but he certainly left an impression when he came up with a fairly well-know line from a fairly well-known story:

“Please Sir, can I have some more?”

Here’s how this phrase really ties this all together:

• fast-forward about 170 years, replace gruel (because inquiring minds want to know) with wine

• replace London, England with Oliver, British Columbia

• replace a 19th century English workhouse with a modern-day winery (the one in the picture)

• replace the main character with yours truly, and…

…bingo! You’ll end up with how I felt when we visited Bruce and Denice Hagerman’s Oliver Twist Estate Winery in Oliver, British Columbia (the second timinganddelivery.com post in our Wine Tour ‘07 series).

Now I know what you’re thinking…that’s long time ago…that’s a lot of replacing…that’s not really making any sense to me…that’s a lot of Olivers. Yes indeed, my friend, that is a lot of Olivers (the rest you’ll have to bear with me on), but this one’s a little different. It makes wine! Really good wine…which one, in particular?…a varietal belonging to the Riesling family by the name of Kerner (a must try).

Their Chardonnay is also another sure crowd pleaser and will undoubtedly keep the in-laws coming back (which could be either a good or bad thing), but let’s get to the heart of this thing (like Huey did back in ‘85).

As I’ve said many times before, I’m here (and always have been) to focus on the service experience. In typical timinganddelivery.com fashion, I’m going to boil the ocean for you and give you what you need to know about this place and why you need to know it:

• Walking into Oliver Twist Estate Winery feels like you walked through your friend’s front door (who just happens to have a REALLY big front entrance filled with bottles, decanters, glasses, people, guestbooks, tables, and a very cheerful Bruce and Denice Hagerman)

• Bruce and Denice are engaging hosts who not only seem interested in talking to each and every guest that walks through the door…they actually are interested (instantly made a connection with us and our hosts at our bed and breakfast)

• We found the Oliver Twist Estate Winery story fantastic which made the wines we tasted that much better

• When you are there you are never pressured into buying anything (no Artful Dodger tactics here)…the product sells itself not only because of the personal experience you get but because of its quality (always nice to find the two paired together, don’t you think?)

• It felt good to help support ‘the little guy’ in an area increasingly being filled with ‘the bigger guys’

We bought a whole whack of Oliver Twist’s Kerner and are already flat out – it’s that good. All in all, we had a really good feeling when we came out of Oliver Twist…unlike some other places we went to.

There are a lot of choices in the Okanagan when it comes to wineries…some are great, some are not-so-great, and some are just, well….there. Oliver Twist Estate Winery is the real deal in my mind and is proof that good things (products and personalized service) really do come in small, Charles Dickens-like, packages.

darren