Winery Marketing Ideas: What 7 Okanagan Wineries Could Do Next

When we asked an AI assistant to recommend a BC wine club that ships across Canada, none of the seven Okanagan wineries we studied came up. Five of them made its list of the valley's ten best wineries to visit. That gap, between being known as a place to visit and being chosen as a place to buy, is where most of the opportunity sits for these wineries.

We're a Vancouver marketing agency that runs SEO, Google Ads and Meta ads and AI search optimization for local businesses. In late October 2026 we looked at seven well-known, family-owned Okanagan wineries the way a buyer and a search engine see them: their Google results, their ads, what AI assistants say about them, and their websites. Every one of them is doing something well. Every one of them has a clear next move.

• When people search an area, like "winery in Oliver", Google shows three businesses on a map above the regular results. That map box is where these wineries win most often. Quails' Gate holds the top spot for "vineyards in Kelowna BC", a search made about 12,100 times a month.
• Below the map, the regular results are mostly directories, tourism sites and TripAdvisor.
• Searches for Okanagan wineries more than triple from December to July.
• When we searched Meta's Ad Library on 29 October, just ahead of holiday gift buying, we didn't find active ads from any of the seven.

‍

How we looked at each winery

Google results here are what a person searching from Vancouver saw on 30 October 2026, and they change from week to week. We pulled the live results with DataForSEO. Search volumes are Google Ads monthly averages for Canada. Ads come from Meta's Ad Library. AI answers come from Perplexity, asked three questions a visitor or buyer would ask. We left out wineries owned by large wine companies, since their marketing is run centrally.

‍

When people search for wineries: summer planning, winter gifting

Okanagan winery searches peak in July and bottom out in November and December, the gift-buying months. The six area searches below add up to about 42,900 searches in July and about 11,500 in each of November and December.

That has two consequences for a winery:

1. Spring and early summer are when visitors choose where to go, so that's when area rankings and map listings pay off most.
2. In November and December, fewer people are planning trips, but past visitors are buying gifts. That's a job for email and ads aimed at people who already know the wine.

‍

Painted Rock Estate Winery, Penticton

Painted Rock already shows up where reputation counts: Perplexity named it in its top ten Okanagan wineries, and travel writers include it on their best-of lists.

What's working:

• Named in AI answers. It was one of five of our seven in Perplexity's list of the valley's best wineries to visit, described by its Skaha Lake views and estate wines.
• On the lists people read. Winetraveler's "15 Best Wineries in Okanagan With Great Views" and TripAdvisor's Penticton list both feature it, and both show up on Google for Penticton winery searches.
• The right tools. Commerce7 runs the shop and club, and Tock runs tasting bookings. Both can feed customer data straight into marketing.

What we'd do next:

1. Earn a spot in the map box for "Penticton wineries". About 1,900 people a month search it, and 4,400 did in July. Today the box shows Poplar Grove, Four Shadows and Three Sisters. A complete Google Business Profile with the right category, fresh photos of the view and a steady flow of reviews is how a winery gets in. A short email to each Tock guest the day after their tasting can ask for that review.
2. Build a Penticton and Skaha Bench visit page. Tasting times, the drive from Penticton, what a visit includes, photos of the view and answers to the questions people ask before they book. It gives Google and AI tools a page that answers the area search directly.
3. Turn the weddings page into a venue page. Adding capacity, dates, pricing guidance, a gallery and a short enquiry form lets it compete for Okanagan wedding venue searches, which bring couples planning a whole day at the winery.
4. Connect bookings and sales to measurement. Send Tock bookings and Commerce7 orders into Google Analytics 4 as conversions, and add the Meta pixel. Then every ad dollar and every ranking can be judged by tastings booked and wine sold.
5. Turn tasting guests into club members. Tock collects an email for every booking. A three-email welcome series after a visit (thanks, the wines you tasted, an invitation to the club) works on people who already liked the wine.
6. Run a small gifting campaign in November and December. A Meta campaign to past buyers and tasting guests, with a gift set and a ship-by date, reaches people who already know the wine at the time they're buying gifts.

‍

Hester Creek Estate Winery, Oliver

Hester Creek has the best rating in the Oliver map box: second for "winery in Oliver" with 4.7 stars from 390 reviews.

What's working:

• In the map box for "winery in Oliver" (about 1,600 searches a month).
• Terrafina, its restaurant, has its own map listing and sits third for "restaurants in Oliver BC" with 4.5 stars from 525 reviews.
• AI assistants describe it by its Golden Mile setting and old vine Trebbiano, which is a specific, memorable story.

What we'd do next:

1. Get into the Osoyoos results. "Osoyoos wineries" gets about 1,900 searches a month, and Hester Creek is a short drive away. A visit page aimed at people staying in Osoyoos, linked from the Google Business Profile, would put it in front of them.
2. Get Terrafina into AI restaurant answers. When we asked for the best winery lunches with a view, Terrafina wasn't named. Restaurant listings on OpenTable and local food guides are the sources those answers draw on.

‍

Burrowing Owl Estate Winery, Oliver

Burrowing Owl leads the south Okanagan map results: first for "winery in Oliver" and second for "Osoyoos wineries". About 9,900 people a month also search for it by name.

What's working:

• In the map box for both of the south Okanagan's main area searches.
• The Sonora Room, its restaurant, is on page one for "restaurants in Oliver BC".
• Named in Perplexity's top ten.

What we'd do next:

1. Get the Sonora Room into the map box. The map box for "restaurants in Oliver BC" shows three places, including Terrafina, while the Sonora Room appears in the regular results below. A complete Google Business Profile for the restaurant, with menus, hours, booking and photos, is what moves it up into the box.
2. Let search engines read the homepage first. The age check appears before any content. A check at the point of purchase, or one that doesn't hide the page, lets Google and AI tools read what the winery is about.
3. Turn brand searches into club sign-ups. With this much name demand, a clear wine club offer near the top of the homepage converts people who are already looking.

‍

Summerhill Pyramid Winery, Kelowna

Summerhill is in the map box for the biggest search in this study: second for "vineyards in Kelowna BC", about 12,100 searches a month and 22,200 in July.

What's working:

• Also third in the map box for "Okanagan Valley winery".
• The most distinctive story of the seven: organic and biodynamic wine, aged in a pyramid.
• Klaviyo for email and OpenTable for the bistro.

What we'd do next:

1. Own the organic angle in AI answers. Summerhill wasn't in the AI list of top wineries to visit. Pages and listings that answer "organic wineries in the Okanagan" and "biodynamic wine BC" give AI tools a specific reason to name it.
2. Keep the reviews coming. Its 4.2 stars from 1,400 reviews hold a top spot today. A short review request after every tasting and bistro visit protects it through the busy summer months.
3. Point pyramid visitors to a visit. Add a clear "see it in person" section to the pyramid page so curious readers become tasting bookings.

‍

Quails' Gate Estate Winery, West Kelowna

Quails' Gate is first in the map box for three of the biggest searches in the valley, backed by 4.7 stars from 4,400 Google reviews.

What's working:

• First in the map box for "vineyards in Kelowna BC", "West Kelowna wineries" and "Okanagan Valley winery".
• About 18,100 searches a month for "Quails Gate winery".
• AI assistants named it in the top ten wineries, for lunch with a view (Old Vines), and for weddings.

What we'd do next:

1. Move from visit to buy in AI answers. It already wins visiting questions. Its wine club wasn't named when we asked about clubs that ship across Canada. A clear club page with shipping provinces and what each shipment includes gives AI tools something to quote.
2. Use the winter dip. Searches for its name fall from about 40,500 in July to about 8,100 in December. Past guests are the audience in winter: a holiday offer to the club and tasting list keeps sales moving when visitors don't.

‍

Phantom Creek Estates, Oliver

Phantom Creek's own website is the first regular result for "Osoyoos wineries", ahead of every directory.

What's working:

• First regular result for a search of about 1,900 a month.
• Its homepage marks up seven videos for Google, more than any of the others.
• Tock for tours and tastings.

What we'd do next:

1. Join the map box for Oliver. "Winery in Oliver" shows Burrowing Owl, Hester Creek and Black Hills on the map. Reviews and a complete Google Business Profile are what move a winery into that box.
2. Get the restaurant found. For "restaurants in Oliver BC", The Restaurant at Phantom Creek shows up only through Oliver Tourism's page, not in the map box. A complete Google Business Profile and a restaurant page with menus and booking give it a path into the map box.
3. Earn a place in AI answers. It wasn't named in the AI lists we checked. Coverage in BC travel guides and wine writing is what those answers lean on.

‍

Poplar Grove Winery, Penticton

Poplar Grove owns "Penticton wineries": first in the map box and third in the regular results below it.

What's working:

• First in the map box with 4.3 stars from 657 reviews.
• Named by AI for top wineries, lakeside lunch and weddings.
• A Meta pixel on the site, so it can already advertise to past visitors.

What we'd do next:

1. Use the pixel for the holiday season. A November and December gift campaign to recent site visitors and wine club pages is ready to run.
2. Bring the 30th vintage story into search. A page and press push around 30 vintages gives writers and AI tools a fresh reason to mention it.

‍

What every Okanagan winery can do this winter

These four moves apply to all seven, and to most wineries in the valley.

1. Answer the wine club question. Publish a club page that says what's in each shipment, how often, the price and which provinces it ships to. That's what AI assistants look for when someone asks which club to join.
2. Tell Google you're a winery. Add Winery structured data to the homepage with hours, address and booking links. None of the seven had it.
3. Run gifting ads in November and December. Tasting season is over, but gift buying isn't. A small campaign to past guests and buyers, with a ship-by date, keeps sales moving through the quiet months.
4. Treat the Google Business Profile as the front door. For area searches, the map box comes before any website. Complete categories, current photos, and a review request after every tasting decide who's in it.

If you run a winery and want this kind of look at your own marketing, I'm happy to put one together for you. You can reach me through our contact page.