Seminars and company events
50th Parallel Estate hosts corporate groups from 10 to 350 people and weddings of up to 175 guests, with private rooms, winery spaces and an in-house restaurant on one site. The estate is in Lake Country, British Columbia, on a slope above Lake Okanagan at the northern end of the Okanagan Valley.
For working sessions, the estate sets aside the Private Green Room for meetings. Larger groups can use the Event Hall or the newer Event Centre, and the production buildings, the Winery Tank Hall and the Winery Crush Pad, can serve as reception spaces among the tanks. A typical company day might pair a morning session in the Green Room with a seated lunch in one of the private dining areas and a guided tasting in the afternoon. Group experiences, from a tasting to a full event, are arranged by the estate's events team, which also runs seasonal ticketed events on the property.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings take up to 175 guests, with the ceremony and the reception held on the estate. The venue presents the Infinity Event Pad, the Winery Tank Hall, the Crush Pad, the Gravity Lounge and the Event Centre as its wedding settings, and couples can request a date directly through the estate. Dinner is prepared by the estate restaurant, so the menu and the wine list come from the same team.
Rooms and capacities
The estate lists nine event areas: an indoor private dining area, an outdoor private dining area, the Private Green Room, the Event Hall, the Gravity Lounge, the Infinity Event Pad, the Winery Crush Pad, the Winery Tank Hall and the Event Centre. Capacities for each room are not published. The overall limits, 350 guests for corporate events and 175 for weddings, give the frame, and the events team assigns spaces by headcount and format. With both indoor and outdoor areas, a summer program can stay outside and move under cover if the weather turns.
Catering
Food is handled in-house by BLOCK ONE, the estate restaurant, which cooks with regional and seasonal ingredients. The same kitchen serves the private dining areas and the weddings. Pairings draw on the estate's own range: Pinot Noir, about 35 percent of production and the only red, plus Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Chardonnay, a dry Pinot Noir rosé and a traditional method sparkling wine.
History and setting
Curtis Krouzel and Sheri-Lee Turner-Krouzel founded the estate and planted its first 10 acres of vines by hand in 2009. The property now covers 61 acres, with more than 55 acres under vine. Its winery buildings have received international architecture awards. The site looks out over Lake Okanagan and sits near Coral Beach, a public waterfront with a pink granite shoreline.
Getting there
The estate is at 17101 Terrace View Road in Lake Country, about 15 minutes by road from Kelowna International Airport, which makes a single-day program workable for teams arriving by air. There is no passenger rail in the valley, so organisers should plan cars or a shuttle, especially for the return after an evening event.
