Elephant Island co-owner Miranda Halladay likes to recount how her grandfather, a Polish immigrant, made fruit wines and distillates illegally on the Naramata Bench. They were all created for personal consumption.

“He had been in Canada for years and years and was actually a professor of engineering,” Halladay told the Straight by phone. “In his retirement, he sort of rekindled some of his remembrances of youth and took up the crusher and fermenter, and had at ’er.”

When her grandmother was finally ready to sell the property, Halladay and her husband, Del Halladay, decided to take up the mantle. “We used some of my granddad’s original recipes and strains and started the winery, which at the time focused exclusively on crafting fine wines using traditional techniques from fruits other than grapes,” she said.

Now into its 15th vintage, Elephant Island offers a full spectrum in its portfolio, including wines made from blackcurrants, pears, raspberries, cherries, and crab apples. In 2009, the couple bought a vineyard so they could produce Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, and Viognier, which were labelled Elephant Island Too for a while before reverting back to the Elephant Island brand.

The winery’s tasting bar offers visitors a chance to sit in the shade surrounded by an orchard, a pleasant respite on hot Okanagan summer days. This year, Halladay revealed, the winery will open a room dedicated to “very focused tasting” of small-production wines.

“We’re calling it the Sideshow at Elephant Island,” she said. “That’s going to run all year, but only on the weekends. We’re looking forward to being able to dial back the tasting experience and have a little bit more of an intimate format again.”

Elephant Island is one of the original five wineries on the Naramata Bench. Halladay said she’s amazed by how the local wine industry has taken off in recent years.

“The degree of passion that exists there now is really inspiring,” she stated. “There’s a lot of very interesting collaborative stuff that’s happening.”

Signature wine: The Little King is a sparkling wine named in honour of the Halladays’ deceased child. “We give all the proceeds of that particular wine to B.C. Children’s Hospital and try to keep his legacy alive,” Halladay said. “I think we’re up to $80,000 that we’ve raised on the sale of that wine.”

Fun fact: Del Halladay is a former professional lacrosse player.

Address: Elephant Island Orchard Wines, 2730 Aikins Loop, Naramata, B.C., 250-496-5522.