Today we were in the Okanagan for the beginning of their busy visitor season, and for the launch of Blasted Church’s Menu Revelation. This is the latter.
We were welcomed to their cabin shaped tasting room and wine shop with a glass of their flagship 2024 Hatfield’s Fuse. This was the perfect segue to learning more about the history of the winery and its unique moniker.
Blasted Church is named after an actual church, that was actually “blasted”. The story starts with a Preacher without a church and the offer for him to have the one un-used in Oliver. However, there was a need to move it to OK Falls, himself. This was done in 1929, where they had to “blast” the base of the church with dynamite in order to be able to. Since then the church was given the nickname “the blasted church”. This winery is named after that church, which is still in operation, and hosts mass every Sunday.
Hatfield’s Fuse is a blend of Viognier, Pinot Gris, and Reisling. It is named after the engineer who helped them trouble shoot, having to move the church. They have been producing this since 2002, with slight changes per vintage. It is tropical with papaya notes.
My biggest takeaway was the significance of Blasted Church’s Renaissance collection and its labels. On top of art work that looks like it is pulled from paintings, each bottle features places in and around Vancouver as their backdrop. A North Vancouver car wash, in front of No.5 Orange, on the top deck of a ferry, English Bay with its water and boats in the distance, and even at a Canucks game, in the stands by the ice.
As a group we took a tour of the property, taking the “pilgrimage”. We all loved how they stayed consistent with the biblical theme. This “pilgrimage” had us waking amongst their soon to be budding Merlot vines, to take in their unobstructed view point with bench to watch it from. At the Pilgrimage Viewpoint we enjoyed the crisp apple flavours of their 2024 Pinot Gris.
Blasted Church focuses on regenerative farming. Interplanting: replanting within blocks to bring their vineyards to 100%. Currently their buds are breaking earlier than expected in early April. Where we typically see this growth in late April to May. Therefore this has left the wine maker scrambling to prune in time.
We took in the sights, staying warm and cozy, wrapped in fleece blankets. This path led us past their pool. Typically it serves as a decorative centre piece, but in July 2nd, 2024 they will be opening it to the public for their first ever block party. From 12-7pm guests are invited to enjoy this free family event with the pool open for swimming, a live band, food trucks, and all day long happy hour.
Our tour then headed into the “house” and the winery’s kitchen, helmed by their in-house Chef John Burke.
We were all invited to take a seat around their long table, where we enjoyed food and wine pairings, course by course; gaining a more intimate look at the 2026 Spring Menu. The following are seasonal and date specific offerings available at Blasted Church, to have with your wine tasting or during Happy Hour.
To start, we had a scaled down version of both the Feta Dip & Charcuterie. The latter is normally served in a box and features local meats, cheese, dried fruit, nuts, and spreads. The pea pesto and feta dips are made in-house. Both were so tasty that I found myself using them well in to the following courses, until there was no more. The peas were refreshing and bright and the feta creamy with a milky saltiness. Both of these items are available only from April 3rd to May 8th, 2026.
For wine we had both a white and red option, to be able to pick our favourite pairing. The white was the Swear to God Chardonnay 2023. It had vanilla and sugar crystals on the nose and a bouquet of lemon cake on the tongue. This crisp sweetness was great at breaking into the umami cream.
The Syrah 2023 went best with the pesto with its higher acidity and juicy tannins, cutting into all the dip’s fragrant herbaceous-ness.
From April 3rd to September 25th, 2026 Blasted Church launches Fromage Fridays. The occasion has rotating cheese-centric features for lunchtime. Today we had Truffle Gouda melted into a garlic herb cream sauce gnocchi, topped with porcini mushrooms, whole garlic cloves, and celery. Being able to watch our chef prepared this on a regular kitchen stove made it all the more homey and comforting. The textures were fantastic and everything was so well crafted.
It was served with a freshly baked individual loaf of French bread. It is not made in house, due to the limitations of their residential kitchen, but they buy it from Cobs to serve fresh.
Here, the Merlot 2020 with tart berry was ideal in cutting through the richness of the butter and cheese.
On June 13th, July 18, August 22, and September 5th Blasted Church is celebrating the “Haute Dog Days of Summer” where guests can build their own hot dog. You can craft your own with your favourite toppings, or put your faith in the Chef’s Choice for the fully “blessed” all-dressed dog. The latter is what we had, and the one I would encourage you to get as well.
This is an all- beef, grass-fed hot dog from from Two Rivers, using our Chef’s Grandmother’s mustard recipe, kewpie mayo, relish, red onions for balance, and crispy fried onions for crunch. This was equal parts bougie, comforting, and satisfying. With classic ball park flavours, but done to the extreme.
For its wine pairing we had the 2022 Cabernet Franc with notes of green strawberries and red fruit. The tannins helped to add acid and freshness to combat and balance out all the zesty toppings. This I found a great pairing.
And for dessert we had a Chocolate Truffle. This was not a part of their regular offerings. Just something special, the Chef whipped up for us, just for the day. With dark chocolate, cayenne, cinnamon, and allspice; we left the table with the sweet note, and one complementary to red before.
For our dessert wine we had their “Amen” port, this was yet another cleverly named pun. It was rich with brown sugar and raisin.
In closing, this was a great way and place to spend the day in OK Falls, and it is so great that they know serve food!
Blasted Church Vineyards
378 Parsons Rd, Okanagan Falls, BC VOH 1R5
(250) 497-1125
blastedchurch.com
