Our Story
French Door Estate Winery is a family-owned and operated winery and vineyard. Founded in 2019, we are located on the beautiful Black Sage Bench, South of the town of Oliver.
This winery was established with a passion for quality wine. Our 10-acre property is planted with 100% vinifera vines on beautiful, expressive soils that have resulted in rich, lush, and character driven wines.
The goal of our winery is to create honest, low-intervention wine, from sustainably grown grapes, in a classic old-world French style. We believe it takes the best kind of grapes to make the highest quality of wine, and to ensure that every bottle is a true expression of us, and our commitment to excellence.
All of our wines are produced in our Barrel Room, which is where you can find our three Tonneau French oak vats and our French oak barrels. The Barrel Room as well at the Tasting Room, are white and bright with black accents to resemble the look and feel of a French farmhouse.
Why the name “French Door Estate Winery ” you may ask? Well, our family was inspired by the simplicity and quality of French architecture, cuisine and wine during our travels to Provence. We believe the Okanagan valley has a similar uniqueness about it, and we wanted to bring these parallels to life through the way our wine is made and discussed.
The symbol of the “French door” is representative of our aspiration to incorporate the traditional aesthetics and values of beautiful Provence into our own backyard, with a modern twist. Our tasting room is encircled by French doors, and each one opens up into a new experience. Whether the doors lead you into our breathtaking barrel room, or onto our one-of-a-kind patio that overlooks the Okanagan valley, you are welcomed by an unspeakable aura that has been created by using the best features of Provence and the Okanagan combined, and this can only be found at French Door Estate Winery.
Our Philosophy
– Pascal Madevon, Wine Maker, French Door Estate Winery Ltd.
Terroir, sustainability and passion are our core principles all the way from soil to glass. At French Door Winery, we create age-worthy wines that can stand-alone but also pair beautifully with food. We want each wine to have layered character that represents the vineyard as much as it signifies the people making it. Since the start of this project, the minimum standard has been organic practice in order to better our vineyard, our wines, ourselves and our planet. This project would not be possible if it was not for the passion of our winemaker, and for the dedication of all of our staff members.
Vineyard
We are passionate winegrowers and all of our vineyard decisions are led by two main ethos: to produce the highest quality of wine in the Okanagan, and do so honestly and sustainably.
Planted in the early 2000’s, the vineyard has developed some beautiful vine age, which has created some very complex terroir driven wines.
We do not grow commercially or for high volume. Our vineyard is 100% hand labor and very low yielding. We produce very limited quantities of quality wine that reveal the incredible terroir of our Black Sage Bench vineyard.
Our vineyard is very sandy and rocky, which results in incredible drainage. Additionally, our fruit is on one of the few vinyards to see the most sun in North America, resulting in very soft, concentrated and ripe wines.
Location:
Soil:
Sandy and rocky soils with a gravel and clay base that are very well drained; granitic sub soil.
Meters above sea level:
365m on a plateau edge overlooking the valley.
Trellis:
Spur pruned.
White Varietals:
Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viognier.
Red Varietals:
Malbec, Gamay, Cinsault, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Grenache and Mourvèdre.
Winemaker & Viticulturist
Brianna McKeage
After a brief stint in finance, Brianna’s wine career stemmed from her lifelong server experience. After completing her WSET 3, Brianna moved her focus to vineyards and production by engaging in seasonal pruning in Vancouver Island’s Cowichan Valley region. In early 2020, Brianna moved to Australia to work at Yangarra Estate Vineyard in McLaren Vale, then following that she became the Assistant Winemaker at Dirty Laundry.
Brianna also has a degree in Winemaking from UC Davis and she is very passionate about sustainable and low-intervention wine production.
Brianna has brought her passions with her to French Door, where she is developing a vineyard management program that can deliver world-class grapes to our fragile environment here in the Southern Okanagan.
“I’m looking forward to continue building on our soil health and structure on the estate. Every bottle of French Door wine starts from our soils, so focussing on the basics and ensuring that our vines have the foundation they need is paramount to the quality we are known for.” – Brianna
Consulting Winemaker
Pascal Madevon
Le vin c’est la vie
“There is something quite special about wine. It plays on nature’s terroir, sparks conversation, and brings people together. It is musical and scientific, calculated and free. A mix of contemporary and traditional, of culture and technique. Wine is full of life, illuminates life, and in essence, represents my life.
It all started in Paris, France: growing up, I was raised with the notion that wine is an important part of education and culture. During my childhood, I would live for the weekends in Burgundy where I spent my days playing with the soil of my grandfather’s vineyard and studying the different hues and bouquets that came from different varietals. It sparked in me a profound appetite for agriculture, and inspired me to move to the wine capital of the world: Bordeaux.
There, I was classically trained as an expert viticulturist and oenologist, and it has always been important for me to be involved in the entire story of a wine. To this day, my mission is to unleash, from the terroir, the true signature of each and every wine. And I have done so, as Head Winemaker of several prestigious estates. From Winemaker at St-Estephe’s Château Laffitte Carcasset and Technical Director of Château la Tour Blanche, a cru bourgeois domain, to General Manager of Château la Tour Carnet, a classified growth in Médoc, these experiences speak to the measure of my 15+ years of background in French winemaking.
Yet, I find that there is always something new to learn and discover when it comes to wine. In 2001, I joined consultant Alain Sutre, for the first harvest of the Okanagan winery known as, Osoyoos Larose. I had never experienced such an interesting and diverse terroir, driven by microclimates and colourful soil types. Impassioned by this new area, I permanently moved from the Old world to the New, and joined the team as Winemaker and Vineyard Manager, forging the legacy of the ultra premium estate.
Once again, looking for a new opportunity to play with wine, I then joined the Triggs family at Culmina Family Estate Winery in 2013. With a common appreciation for the artistry and technique that dictate a wine, we crafted 90+ point wines that best showcase the merit of the Okanagan terroir.
This valley has taught me much of what I know, and I look forward to sharing my expertise with those who, like me, have a passion for vine and wine.
If I am not in a vineyard, in a cellar, or at a wine festival, you will find me in my garden, in my wood workshop, traveling with my wife, or surfing with my three daughters.
Let’s talk soon. A bientôt.” – Pascal
