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A new winery set to open in the middle of downtown Kelowna will break the traditional mould with more than just its urban location.
Jason Alton says he’s trying to do something different with Ricco Bambino, by creating a more vibrant and social atmosphere inside the winery.
“I wanted to steer heavily away from the traditional approach that many wineries have—which is that artesian, hand-in-the-grapes, wood, rusty metal, brick, dark orange motif—and play on…what the feeling is when you drink wine: which is bright, cheerful, happy, somewhat sophisticated, somewhat opulent—those kinds of elements,” he explains.
To do that, Alton has planned a space splashed with bright colours, accented with features like living walls and focused more on getting people to stick around and enjoy their wine.
He says he’s “baffled” there’s no established wine bar in Kelowna’s downtown core, and that with Ricco Bambino he hopes to fill the void.
“What I wanted to do was create a space that is a wine-making facility, but feels a bit also like a wine bar—so you can come and enjoy having some wine, and not just walk in and buy a bottle and leave,” he says. “It’s a new concept I feel hasn’t really been done in many places.”
Alton says Ricco Bambino will also produce wine that is as natural as possible. To do that, he’s enlisted the help of lauded winemaker Matt Dumayne (of Okanagan Crush Pad), who will use only organic or “sustainably sourced” fruit.
Many of the winery’s varietals will be unfined, and some will be unfiltered. They will also be aged in special concrete vessels, a more porous material Alton says allows wine to breathe and evolve.
“Our philosophy is we want to make minimal-intervention wine, which means we don’t want to add a lot of crap to the wine. We want it to be as natural as possible,” Alton says.
He adds that Ricco Bambino will be a smaller winery, producing about 3,000 cases in its first year, and capping out at around 5,000 cases after a few seasons.
He has planned a soft opening for May 1. Ricco Bambino will be located at 1630 Pandosy St., in the former home of The Garage Sale Luxury Auction House.
More information is available on Ricco Bambino’s website.
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