Lyndsay O’Rourke was in a good mood when the Straight reached her by phone in late March.

“Just yesterday, we found out our Viognier won a double gold at the Great Northwest Wine Competition,” she said.

After she and her husband, Graham O’Rourke, studied viticulture and enology in New Zealand, they bought a 10-acre apple orchard on the Naramata Bench and converted it into a vineyard. In the meantime, Graham worked for Mission Hill Family Estate as a viticulturist while Lyndsay was employed as a winemaker at Ruby Blues Winery. They produced their first Tightrope wine in 2012.

Graham noted that growing grapes is more of a science than an art. “You’re always looking at the vine response to the conditions, and you’re looking for any kind of stress indicators on the plant,” he said. “Plus, I have some technology in the vineyard I can use to back up my decisions, like moisture sensors in the soil and temperature sensors in the soil and aboveground in the canopy. You kind of always know what’s coming next as far as the phenological stages of the plant. You’re making sure the plant is ready nutritionally.”

Lyndsay said that when she makes wine, she tries not to manipulate the process very much. “The more simply I can make the wine, the happier I am,” she revealed.

Like her husband, Lyndsay is also a stickler for detail, making sure the fruit is clean and ripe. “You stop the ferment at the right time if you want to leave a little bit of residual sugar,” she said.

They’re specialists in viticulture and winemaking, but when it came to choosing a name, they sought the help of a branding expert. “The name Tightrope kind of stuck,” Lyndsay said. “It’s all about balance and getting from one end of the tightrope to the other. That’s what you do during the growing season and making wine—it’s one step at a time. You have to balance the whole way.”

The O’Rourkes expect to produce 2,500 cases this year, up from about 900 cases in each of their first two years.

“We grow the wine ourselves,” Graham said. “We grow the fruit ourselves. Instead of using [wine] consultants, we decided to go back to university and learn how to do it ourselves.”

Signature wine: “Our flagship for red would be Pinot Noir, and Viognier for the whites,” Lyndsay said, prompting Graham to add, “We feel like all the wines belong in the Tightrope portfolio.”

Fun fact: When he worked at Mission Hill, Graham oversaw 400 hectares. Now, he’s managing a vineyard about one percent that size.

Address: Tightrope Winery, 1050 Fleet Road, Penticton, B.C., 778-476-7673