Maverick Estate Winery

Reserve Tasting Experience

Working with fruit produced exclusively in our estate vineyards, we make our wine with minimum intervention. We choose not to add inoculants, sugar or other additives because, though they speed up the process and sweeten the product, they mask and muddy the flavour subtleties only available from nature. Our simple, patient approach builds wines of beauty and detail: rich, daring reds and flavourful, elegant whites.

Maverick Estate Winery’s emblem is inspired by the blending of ancient pictographs drawn on cave walls around South Africa (reflecting the origin of the winery’s founding families) and cave drawings found peppered throughout the Okanagan Valley. The Maverick man represents the enthusiastically unconventional free thinker. Whether in ancient times or today, Mavericks are not afraid to forge their own paths and stay true to what they believe in. We are mavericks: uncompromising in our pursuit and unrestrained in our enjoyment of exceptional wine.

Co-founders Schalk de Witt, daughter Elzaan and husband Bertus Albertyn, an accomplished winemaker, purchased the acreage that is now home to the Maverick Estate Winery in 2009. The first vintage of Maverick Estate wine, produced in 2011, drew high praise from critics and customers alike.

In April 2020, the Albertyn and De Witt families sold the winery and vineyard to Ontario native and winemaker Andrew Windsor and Okanagan native Jan Nelson. Andrew and Jan met at Tinhorn Creek Vineyards, located just 6km north of Maverick, and they partnered with Bob and Barb Shaunessy, one of the founding families of Tinhorn Creek, to purchase the winery. Jan and Andrew are inspired by the amazing vineyards, vibrant communities and delectable wines of the south Okanagan, and searched far and wide to find just the right home in the area.  Andrew and Jan believe Maverick is a perfect fit for their philosophy, dedication to people, land and community, and approach to winemaking.

Today, Maverick Estate wines are gaining a strong following for their consistency, elegance, complexity and balance.

We believe the better the grapes, the better the wine. Balanced wines can only come from balanced soil. For that reason, we leverage both nature and science to nurture the health of our vineyard soil. From improving the microbial activity to increasing our soil’s water holding capacity to moving away from the use of conventional chemicals, we are constantly working to support our soil’s ability to grow great vines.