Cassini Cellars

Reviews

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  Cassini Cellars My girlfriend and I were on vacation through Okanagan wine country. Over six days, we visited sixty wineries. You can follow our various locations with this disclaimer. That’s sixty wineries, not an exaggeration. We ended the trip with 120 bottles acquired. Despite being on the “we also went to” list of wineries, Cassini Cellars is a worthwhile visit. I’m not going to lie, it’s one of the smaller wineries, and it mimics the design of many of the others like Gold Hill and Tinhorn. I said in my review for Tinhorn that there either must have been some collective agreement or there was a huge discount on mustard paint. So, given that single criticism of similitude, why do I love Cassini Cellars? Well, for one, it has an awesome name—I must come clean with that one. If I punch in “Cassini” in Google, that brilliant Skynet-like algorithm gives me neither the winery nor a town in Australia, but rather the name of the mission to Saturn. You see, Cassini is a name synonymous with knowledge, with four generations of French/Italian scientists stretching two hundred years. So right from the gate, I’m predisposed to like Cassini Cellars. The name here refers to its owner and principle winemaker, so there could, in fact, be a genetic connection. Wouldn’t that be awesome? I never asked. I should have. The man himself greeted us and offered a quick tour. The tasting room is one of the best in the region, tall, with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bottles dominating the walls and tables. I adore the fanatical dedication Cassini has with their wines, one of the few with colossal double magnums reinforced in steel and wood cages waiting for purchase. I couldn’t justify that, so a nominal magnum maximus was enough for me. Adding with a few others, we were eventually able to fill a box to ship back home. Yes, one the few places where we did that. The boxed maximus dominates my shelf to this day. Ignoring the resemblance Cassini has with other wineries, it also holds the distinction of being one of the few that could transport you spiritually (not physically, I’m not the character from Jumper) to France or Italy. Despite not hawking tourists with tours, a restaurant, and some trained animal in the corner begging for treats, Cassini is still one of the must-see locations between Oliver and Osoyoos. I also found it cool that when I planned my trip, I contacted nearly every winery, and Cassini himself was one of the few people that responded. That's got an additional mark right then. You can’t miss Cassini Cellars…literally. It’s on the highway between the two towns, so you would be factually improvident to avoid it. It would be like watching Rogue One and scoffing at Darth Vader’s final scene. It would be like going to Disneyland and not picking a fight with an underpaid actor in an unventilated foam body suit. Why go if you are going to skip the highlights? Cassini is another in a long list of must-see wineries in southern BC, and unlike the others, it’s not all polished paint over particle board; there is real wood underneath there. Yes, it’s not just a pretty face; the wines are actually good, and why else would you come?
  By Chris Dias, February 14, 2017

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About Cassini Cellars in Oliver