Painted Rock Estate Winery

06/11/2026

Friends always ask me my "must-do's" in Penticton with kids. I am a mom who lives in Vancouver but works in Penticton so we visit multiple times a summer. These are the spots we hit every time we are in town.

Drop your family-friendly recommendations in the comments!

Discover the ultimate family guide to Penticton, featuring fun attractions, dining, and wine country experiences for all ages.

05/29/2026

One of the world’s most influential wine critics, .suckling, is in the Okanagan Valley this week for the first time.

For Canadian wine, this should be a massive economic opportunity.

And yet, one of the first things he noted in his introductory videos was that most BC wine is consumed in BC.

Part of that is something to celebrate. BC wineries have worked incredibly hard to build loyal local followings and strong direct relationships with BC consumers.

But part of it is also the result of outdated policy and internal trade barriers.

Because despite years of conversations around internal free trade — and commitments to remove barriers by May 2026 — Canadian wineries still face enormous barriers accessing consumers across their own country.

Now we have a global wine audience paying attention to British Columbia through James’ coverage.

Wine-loving Canadians across the country will see these wines featured and recommended… then discover they cannot find many of them on shelves or legally order them to their homes.

Meanwhile, when international wines receive the same attention, they are already sitting on shelves across Canada because imported wines move through our domestic market more easily than Canadian wines do.

Think about how backwards that is.

At the exact moment international attention is landing on BC wine, Canadian businesses are still heavily constrained in how they can respond to demand inside their own country.

And that matters economically.

For every dollar spent on imported wine, Canadian wine delivers approximately 5x more economic impact back to Canada through agriculture, tourism, hospitality, manufacturing, transportation, and rural employment.

This is not just a wine issue.

It is a real-time example of the gap between global interest in Canadian wine and our ability to capitalize on it domestically.

05/28/2026

Today someone very important in the wine world mentioned seeing our beautiful valley by helicopter. How cool, right!?

It’s such a special way to see the Okanagan. I thought you might want to see a little preview of what it looks like at the Skaha Bench, both from the ground and above. Did you know anyone can get this view? If you’re feeling inspired, be sure to reach out to our friends at ! They do helicopter wine tours and it’s the coolest way to see our entire valley in a single day.

Photos by
Video by

05/26/2026

Their favourite place to run wild ❤️

05/24/2026

A beautiful day on Skaha Bench! The Chardonnay is looking mighty happy in the sunshine.

05/22/2026

Our 2025 Chardonnay and 2023 Syrah will be available to members of our Skaha Six and Iconic wine clubs on Tuesday, May 26th at 10am PDT.

We are incredibly proud of these small lot wines and cannot wait for you to try them!

Due to limited inventories, both of these wines will remain exclusively available to our wine club members. We do not expect to have a future public release at this time.

Members of our Skaha Six club, your 2 bottles of each of these wines are guaranteed for your September shipment. Members of our Iconic club, your two bottles of the Syrah are guaranteed for September. We do not expect there will be inventory available to add more bottles at that time.

What do you want to know about these wines? I’ll answer any questions in the comments!

05/21/2026

What if I told you that provincial governments controlled grocery stores and chose to stock mostly imported beef instead of beef raised by Canadian ranchers because it was cheaper?

Most Canadians would find that unacceptable.

We would expect Canadian-grown and Canadian-raised products to at least have a fair opportunity to compete on our own shelves.

And yet, that is effectively what is happening in wine.

Canadian farmers are growing grapes here in Canada. Canadian wineries are producing world-class wines here in Canada. Yet provincially controlled liquor systems continue to overwhelmingly favour imported wines because they deliver stronger direct margins to the retailer.

What gets lost in that equation is the broader economic impact.

Canadian wine generates approximately 5x more economic impact than imported wine through agriculture, tourism, hospitality, manufacturing, transportation, and rural employment.

And still:
• In five provinces, premium Canadian VQA wines account for less than 5% of total wine sales.
• In Quebec, Canada’s largest per capita wine-consuming province, domestic wine accounts for approximately 0.025% of total wine sales.

This is not about protectionism or limiting consumer choice.

It is about recognizing Canadian wine as a high-value agricultural product and giving Canadian producers a fair opportunity to compete in their own country.

We need a Team Canada approach to wine — one that treats Canadian wine regions as partners building a national industry together, not as outside competitors crossing provincial borders.

**Please link, share or comment if you agree. Let’s make sure the people that need to see this see this.

05/19/2026

We are hosting some events at the winery this summer! Both of our Wine Club Dinners featuring are sold out. But! Don’t fret. We have some seats remaining for our July 10 Alfresco Dinner featuring . Just don’t wait long, those tickets are selling quick too.

Tickets are at the link in our bio. We can’t wait to share these evenings with you!

05/15/2026

We are now open daily! Hours are 11am-5:30pm with above noted exceptions. See you soon!

05/14/2026

Hi 👋 It’s time I reintroduce myself. I’m Lauren Skinner Buksevics - 2nd generation of Painted Rock and the current Managing Director.

I also answer to the “the daughter” for anyone who has previously met my parents, John and Trish. As in “Oh! Are you the daughter?” Yes, yes I am.

I’m “Mom” for my daughters Evelina and Stella and I also answer to “Lo”, “Skinny” or “Laur” for friends and family…

There are more of you following in recent days. I hope that’s because I use this platform to advocate not only for our family business, but also for our Canadian wine industry.

In addition to the roles of Managing Director and Mom, I am also a board member for , elected to represent the small winery category. [I’m also on my kids school PAC but don’t worry, I won’t ask you to buy raffle tickets here 😉 ]

At the winery, I’ve done almost very job aside from winemaker, vineyard manager or accountant. I’ve been our sales agent in BC, worked the old tasting room shack for a summer, booked weddings, managed our wine club, and done export work alongside my dad.

Now I get to lead the most incredible team doing all those jobs. I also continue to be the one sending you emails, posting on social media and answering [email protected].

In my free time, I’m either travelling with my family, have my nose in a book or, as of recently, puttering around my garden. That’s my newest obsession.

I hope you follow along and I really hope you help me amplify any advocacy work over the next little while. Our Canadian wine industry has incredible potential and it’s time we were untethered from bureaucracy and barriers. I am going to use my voice, whenever it makes sense, to try to make that happen.

I’ll also be posting more of this work on my personal LinkedIn page if you want to connect there too.

Thanks for being here!! 👋

📸 by my lovely friend