Jason Parkes has outdone himself.
The punk rocker and rebellious winemaker from Jason Parkes Customs has just opened Crown & Thieves in West Kelowna, a winery that defies explanation.
Located in a vineyard just off Brown Road, the winery rises over four floors and resembles the ruins of a 400-year-old castle.
Inside, however, the atmosphere and decor is a whisper bar and a haunted house from the Prohibition era.
Parkes’ other properties are funky too, including The Hatch and Black Swift Wineries, also in West Kelowna, and Truck 59 Cider next to Crown & Thieves.
But Crown & Thieves upped the ante.
“It was a dream for Jason to implement this concept,” said Shannon Forgues, manager of the tasting room.
“We just opened up and let it go crazy.”
The building is so eye-catching, cool, fancy, eccentric and unconventional that it caused a sensation when it opened last month and people asked for a look and a taste.
Of course, it’s oh-so-Instagrammable too, and it has made Crown & Thieves a social media darling.
“People are always after what is exciting and new, and during COVID, when people have little else to do, being exciting and new has really helped us,” Forgues said.
Crown & Thieves was a wine brand from The Hatch for years.
But Parkes felt it was time Crown & Thieves had their own bizarre digs to immortalize the motto “made by villains, slurped by kings”.
The villains are the “thieves” who steal from tanks and barrels to make wine, and the kings are the “crowns” or customers who drink the vintages.
Crown can also refer to the theme of castle ruins and thieves a nod to all the mug shots of criminals from the 19th century on the walls.
It’s all well and good to have a gimmick, but the wine has to be tasty, and it is.
The winery has a line-up that includes a Winemaker’s Wench white blend named for Parkes’ wife, Hickenbothom Chardonnay, Scoundrel’s Punch and Dimber Damber red wine mixes, Crybaby Malbec, Roussanne, Chenin blanc, and Gewürztraminer.
The architect Kimberly Fuller of Lake Monster Studio in Vernon designed the winery and Bronag Contracting built it.
Both companies also worked on the Black Swift Winery.
Parkes’ next project is the under construction The Hatching Post microbrewery in West Kelowna, which will be similarly whimsical with a Wild West facade and theme.
Jason Parkes Customs also makes wine for the Indigenous World Winery in West Kelowna, the Burnt Timber Winery in Kelowna and advises the Lakeside Winery in Osoyoos.
Crown & Thieves currently has limited opening times for tours and tastings due to COVID, Thursday to Monday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
After the pandemic, the winery will make full use of its speakeasy bar in the basement, the tasting room on the ground floor, the wine shop and terrace, the mezzanine on the third floor and the roof terrace.
