10 Years of Extraordinary Endeavours

A love letter, a roast, and a brief moment of reflection from the house that sanity forgot.

Once upon a time in 2013, a scrappy little band of cellar rats, artists, and ferment-happy philosophers decided to hatch a plan. That plan was mostly don’t get hurt and don’t take wine too seriously. A decade later, we’ve grown into a rusted-out rocket ship of vinous rebellion known as the hatch. A home to fine wines, finer people, and the finest bar banter in BC.

From Pipe Dream to Portmanteau

Ten years ago, we didn’t know if the shed would stand - literally & figuratively. We had every doubt, would the wines would ferment, or would anyone would even show up? But they did. And then they came back. And then they brought their cousins and a few confused tourists from Iowa. The hatch opened in May 2015, and not even a near-immediate brush with closure (looking at you 2020...) could slow it down.

There have been many milestones, some official, some... dramatically unexpected. Like the time Pamela Anderson walked through our doors, connected instantly with our winemaker over shared ex-musician chaos, and by dessert had decided she wanted to make a wine with us. She once said she had wanted to work with a B.C. winery for a long time and, for reasons we still don’t fully understand, chose us. We’re still blushing.

From B. Yanco to Ross O., Gobsmacked to Dynasty, we've hatched more wines than we ever intended and given each one a label that probably shouldn’t exist but absolutely had to. These wines are made the way we want to drink them: with acid, character, and zero regard for box-checking.

The Proud, The Peculiar, The Perfectly Hatch

We could talk about reviews. We could show you stars. But instead, here’s what we’re proud of:

• Hosting puppy adoption events on our lawn, where every wine flight came with a side of tail wags and at least one accidental new family member.
• Raising thousands of dollars for the Kelowna Women’s Shelter with our fellow JPC friends, because good wine should do good things.
• Teaching the masses for better or worse, how to open a bottle of sparkling with a rusty old shovel.
• Launching the annual Hatch Olympics, where our very own JPC teams of brave souls compete in cork tosses, vineyard relays, and the now-infamous wheelbarrow Grand Prix (we still think we should be sponsored by Pirelli).
• Creating wines that became cult favourites. Not the scary kind of cult. The fun, viniferia-fuelled kind. 

These are the things that matter. The stuff that makes this whole absurd adventure worth it. The hatch has always been more than a wine shop. It’s a living, breathing, glitter-smeared paradox of art, community, chaos and kindness.

Onward, Into the Weird

Ten years (3652 days (87,648 hours (5,258,880 minutes))) down. More art to make. More rules to break. More Dynasty to build.

To everyone who’s visited, sipped or slurped, adopted puppies, raced a wheelbarrow, shared a bottle, or simply let us be our weird selves, thank you. You’re part of this now. Whether you like it or not.

Here’s to the next ten. And to never, ever, being “just another winery.”

With a full heart and half a glass,

the hatch