I Built an iOS App for BC's Okanagan Wine Country — Because Nobody Else Did
Over a million visitors travel to Okanagan wine country every year. There was no app built for them. So I built one.
Every summer, I make the drive into British Columbia's Okanagan Valley. The same winding roads, the same stunning lake views, and the same problem I've had for years: figuring out which of the 180+ wineries to visit, which ones are actually open, and how to plan a route that doesn't waste half the day backtracking.
I tried every app I could find. Vivino is great for wine — but it's not built for wine tourism. Google Maps doesn't know which wineries are open seasonally. The BC Wine Authority website is helpful but not designed for someone standing on a road in Naramata trying to decide which way to turn.
So I did what software developers do when a tool doesn't exist: I built it.
The Problem Was Hiding in Plain Sight
BC's Okanagan wine region generates over $600 million in annual tourism revenue. The Naramata Bench, West Kelowna, Summerland, Oliver — these are world-class wine destinations drawing visitors from across Canada, the US, Japan, and Europe.
And yet there was no dedicated iOS app. Not a good one, anyway. The apps that existed were either outdated directories with no map integration, generic travel apps where wineries were buried among campgrounds and gas stations, or subscription services that treated a casual visitor like a wine industry professional.
What visitors actually needed was simple: an interactive map, real-time hours, a way to plan a route, and a place to remember the wines they loved. No account required. No subscription to look up an address.
Every winery detail in one place — photos, hours, amenities, and your personal notes.
Building It
I built Okanagan Wineries entirely in SwiftUI, which meant I could ship a polished, native experience for both iPhone and iPad without compromise. MapKit powers the winery map — real-time open/closed status shown directly on the pins, colour-coded so you can see at a glance what's available right now.
The trip planner was the feature I'm most proud of. Planning a multi-winery day in Okanagan is genuinely complex — you're juggling drive times, opening hours, sub-regions, and personal preferences. The app handles the routing and logistics so you can focus on the tasting.
The tasting journal came from a personal frustration: I'd try six wines in a day and remember almost none of them by the time I got home. Now every wine gets logged with a photo, a rating, and my own notes — stored privately on-device, no account needed.
Log every wine with a photo, rating, and notes — stored privately on your device.
Making It Work for Every Visitor
Okanagan wine country attracts visitors from around the world. Japanese tourists, European wine travellers, French-Canadian visitors from Quebec — they all deserve an app in their language.
The app ships with full localization in 11 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Dutch, and Arabic. Every screen, every label, every error message — fully translated.
It also works offline. Wine roads in the Okanagan don't always have reliable cell coverage. All winery data is cached locally so the app works whether you have signal or not.
Multi-day trip planning with route optimization — less planning, more tasting.
What's Next
Okanagan wine season runs from May through October, with peak season in July and August. If you're planning a visit — or dreaming of one — the app is free to download on iPhone and iPad.
A premium upgrade unlocks the full trip planner and wine cellar tracker for serious collectors, but everything you need to explore and discover is available for free.
The Okanagan deserves a great app. We think this is it.
Also published on Medium.
Plan Your Trip with the App
Browse 180+ Okanagan wineries, log tastings, plan multi-stop tours, and track your cellar — all offline.