Tired of the lower mainland and seeking lifestyle improvement, Graydon Ratzlaff boldly bought a winery in Shuswap, which he now runs with his wife Maureen. Although it is a lot of work, they couldn’t be happier: they live in a beautiful spot, have an extremely short commute to work, and really enjoy what they do.
The saying “well-travelled” is most often used to describe people and small portable items such as clothing and books. Larger items sometimes get shipped overseas, but Graydon and Maureen Ratzlaff, owners of Recline Ridge Winery, have a very unusual item that has been across the globe: their log house tasting room.
The house was originally custom built in Salmon Arm for a family in Japan. It was assembled to ensure it all fit together, and then taken down and packed in a container ship. During the long voyage to Japan, the container vessel encountered rough seas and several large storms and parts of the house were damaged by seawater. When it arrived in Japan, the family refused it due to the damage, and it was summarily shipped back to Canada. The disassembled house sat in Salmon Arm for several years, until the previous owners of Recline Ridge came across it and struck a deal.
If you ever find yourself at Recline Ridge, you can say that you were in a house that has literally been to Asia and back.
A typical Canadian log home is about 6000 square feet, but the one at Recline Ridge is much smaller – only 1100 square feet. Its small size is ideal for the winery, and its unusual design and intricate Japanese carvings make it one of the most interesting tasting rooms in Shuswap. If you ever find yourself at Recline Ridge, you can say that you were in a house that has literally been to Asia and back. And the family in Japan? They liked it so much that they had an identical one built and shipped over. This house is not only beautiful, but has a quite the tale to go with it.
Tasting room aside, the winery has other stories to tell, so we phoned Graydon Ratzlaff to ask him more about Recline Ridge and what it takes to run a winery. While relaxing on his patio, admiring a gorgeous view, and listening to birdsong, Graydon happily obliged us.
New District: What does Recline Ridge look like? What drew you there?
Graydon Ratzlaff: The view is awesome. Lots of green – the Shuswap is much greener than the Okanagan – lots of mountains, and of course looking over the vineyard we’ve got acres of grapes growing nicely now. It’s very pretty. The patio is a wonderful spot to sit and take it all in with a glass of wine and some crackers and cheese. And off in the distance I can see lots of blue sky.
As a winery owner, what does a typical day look like for you?
I usually start by getting the wine shop ready for the day’s sales activity by making sure the shelves are stocked and that we are ready for customers in the store and on the patio. I usually spend quite a bit of time in the wine shop working with customers, telling our stories, pouring wines for them, and assisting with sales. I even carry wines out to the customers’ vehicles when required. I also spend time outside making sure the grounds, lawns, beds, etc…are all kept neat and tidy. I do all of the lawn maintenance myself – and I’ve got A LOT – so it does take time. When not in the wine shop or outside, I have to attend to more “admin” things; I’m on the phone, internet, and e-mail constantly, although I do not park myself in front of a desk too much. As you can see, the work day follows no particular pattern, has a lot of elements to it, and gives me a great deal of variety to deal with. All of this is a great way to spend the day, especially when it’s situated here!
Sounds like you enjoy it very much. Why did you decide to open a winery in the first place?
We lived in the lower mainland for about 25 years – although I grew up in the Okanagan – and after living on the coast for 25 years we had decided we’d had enough (laughs). My background is in food and wine and my wife’s is in retail so I thought, let’s look for something connected to that, and we found this project. It was a fully functioning winery and vineyard that was for sale with a house on the same property so the commute is awesome (laughs). It’s about lifestyle improvement really; that’s what drove us here.
Is it just you and your wife or did you bring other family members?
No just my wife and myself. Our kids have their own careers going on. They are interested that we are doing it, but not interested in doing it (laughs).
How did you come up with the name?
The name was in existence when we bought the place. One story is the former owner used to go hunting with his buddies and they would climb the hills and stop for lunch at a particular ridge. They would eat their lunch, while sitting back and enjoying the view – so they were reclining on the ridge. There’s also a nearby mountain range that you can see from the property and along that ridge there’s the shape of a giant sleeping on its back, although you have to kind of use your imagination (laughs).
Did you release wines right away because the vines were already in place?
The original owners cleared land and planted vines back in 1994 and installed the winery building in 1999. When we arrived here in 2010, there were six wines on the shelf and there were two more that needed to be bottled so we had a total of eight going into our first year, and the plan was to release more wines to create some more variety. Our first full year was 2011 and we introduced five new wines on top of those eight, with the idea that we would ration it down; we are currently at eleven wines right now.
We’re not an Okanagan winery and we are trying to make sure that people understand that we are different and that the wines that we have are completely different.
Are there any wines that you are particularly excited about for 2014?
You know we are excited about all of them for different reasons. The one that seems to be showing a lot of promise in terms of interest from customers is our Bacchus – we just introduced the 2013 Bacchus in April (2014) in fact.
I love the name.
I always tell people I’m so glad they didn’t name the varietal after the Greek deity.
Dionysus?
Yes that would just be nonsense! But yes we are excited about that (Bacchus). What we are really focusing on though is grapes of the Shuswap. Stuff that is produced right here. We’re not an Okanagan winery and we are trying to make sure that people understand that we are different and that the wines that we have are completely different.
What type of varietals grow in Shuswap?
These are all cool climate varietals because we get winter here, more so than in the South Okanagan, and there are overnight lows that would otherwise damage some of the main stream varietals. These are grapes that developed out of German plant breeding programs; the grapes were designed to sustain growing through winter conditions. And not only growing but being able to survive.
With travelling houses and slumbering giants whirling in our minds, we left Graydon to get back to his busy day. His enthusiasm, dedication, passion, and patience are evident, and we look forward to tasting Recline Ridge’s wines this year.
You can find Bacchus and all other Recline Ridge wines directly at their shop reclineridge.newdistrict.ca